Chapter 97 - About Her

"Get lost!"

I got a hateful scream at a moment I showed my face to Ruciel.

"I don't understand, why are you always angry at me?"

One end of the girl's mouth twitched after I voiced my question. "Are you truly asking that question?"

"Okay, I'll stop joking," I said as I moved my body to sit in an empty chair. 

In the end, we sat facing at other.

The Fallen Elf girl's appearance was in bad shape. She was still wearing her tattered Armor, her hair was messy, her face was presentable but a little bit dirty, large handcuffs tied her hands into one, and… this girl hasn't showered yet.

The scent of dried blood, sweat, and some other fluids stick clearly into her body.

No… of course, not. I didn't mean to criticize or insult Ruciel. Instead, I was a little excited because of all the scents.

...

Wait a minute, since when do I have a smell fetish?

I shook my head to remove this trivial thought. Then, I smiled at Ruciel. "How are you, Ruciel?"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Very bad."

I could only make a wry smile when I got an answer with that strong tone of antagonism.

"Why did you see me? What do you want? Did you forget that I try to kill you?"

"No, I didn't forget it and I want you to agree to be mine."

"..."

The girl becomes silent. She looked at me with slightly wide-open eyes. From the expression she showed, I could tell that right now that she was processing my words, she was trying to find the true meaning of those words.

"What do you mean?" A question came out of her mouth, she gave up to think.

I nodded and then open my mouth. "Sir Folcion told me. Because of this episode, you will be punished and perhaps, you will become a Criminal Slave. So, I decided to buy you. And before I do that, I want to ask for your consent."

"..." Ruciel didn't say anything. She just looked at my eyes in silence. 

Then!

"You want to die, right?"

Ruciel's question confused me. I slightly tilted my head before saying, "I never said I wanted to die."

"Do you really understand our position and our circumstances?"

"Hmm... Did you mean, I'm Wielth's daughter, the daughter of a man who got you caught up in this predicament. And because of that, you do think, when I say I want to buy you, it becomes an unfunny joke?"

"Yes," replied the girl.

"Well... That doesn't make sense. He indeed gives you suffering. But why should you hate me? You know, I never hurt you."

The girl looked at me sharply. Her long ears make a strong jolt. "I don't care what you think. I hate you, that's all that matters. And to your question earlier, I don't want to be your slave."

"Oh... It's regrettable.'

"That's right, it's regrettable. Now, get lost, find another slave for you to buy."

"Why should I find another Slave to buy?

"So, you never thought to make a decision not buy a slave. Good for you."

"Well… I do need to buy someone to save that someone."

"Whatever, tell me what do you want, truly!?"

"Didn't I say I want to buy you."

"Huh?" Ruciel makes a strange noise with shock

On the other hand, I imitated that strange voice, "Huh?" to ask for a description. 

"Didn't I already say I didn't want to be bought by you? Didn't you have another piece of mind in your head?" Said the girl who was angry at me, again.

"No, I come to see you ask for your consent… oh! I also want to see your conditions."

"Ugh! My head hurt," she said while clutching her head. "Why do you want to buy me?"

"Because I want you."

"Huh?" Once again, she made that strange sound. But now, she made it accompanied by an expression of confusion and shock.

"Why do you look confused? You're going to be a Criminal Slave and I want you. That's why I decided to buy you. I asked for your consent first because it would make me feel relieved. And yes, you need to know, I will still buy you even if you disagree."

"You know, I really want to kill you!" She said it with deep hatred and thick killing intend.

I frowned. "That's extremely scary. You need to know, I saved you by buying you. If I don't do this, maybe you'll be sent to Slaves Trader. And who knows, how many men out there who want a beautiful Fallen Elf girl like you. I'm sure they can't wait to play with you."

"..."

Yes, the thing about "sent to Slaves Trader" was a lie. According to Sir Folcion, Ruciel and the other suspects will be sent to the mine or will be used as free labor to build the kingdom's infrastructure.

Thanks to this lie, Ruciel turned pale now. And I didn't expect that this lie will affect her.

So, why am I lying?

The girl kept saying she was going to kill me, she hated me, she didn't care about me, and yes, she said all of that even though I liked her so much, she set me off. 

That's why I decided to lie and bully her.

And I'm happy when my scheme works.

Seeing the girl become speechless with a pale face made a smile bloom on my face. My fox's ears twitched in happiness.

Let's bully her more.

"I'm sure, being their toy is more - no, being their toy is so much better than you are mine. Living in the embrace of lust sounds fun, right?"

"..."

Ruciel's pale face became even worse and I couldn't help but make giggles.

"It can't possibly be true." She tried to deny it and I won't blame her to do it.

"It can be true for you in quite a distant future. But, how about this, if you're willing to be bought by me, You won't be a toy and I'll grant one of your pleas."

I showed the index finger of my left hand to the girl. Then I was silent for minutes, waiting for the response she would give me.

"Buy my friends," Ruciel said after minutes of silence. "Do that and I'll be yours."

"I can do that but... How many of your friends?"

"Two, Salsa and Vyorn."

Two people. If their price is the same as Ruciel's price, it means I need, roughly a hundred and fifty gold coins to buy them.

That's a lot. It will take years for me to raise all that money if I don't find the Lost City Beldea.

This morning, I talked to Ellis and she said, I got a lot of rewards because I found that ruin. That's right, I being told, Lost City Beldea in this world was not a Dungeon but a ruin.

I have a way out and this makes me relieved.

"Alright, I'll talk about it with Sir Folcion."

"You better do it. If not-"

"I will kill you," I said to finish Ruciel's words. "I understand that clearly."

When I finished voicing all of that, the girl gave me another sharp look.

Kreet.

The door of this room opened and a female knight showed her face. She said, "Miss, your time is up."

"All right," I replied to the knight. Then, I looked back at Ruciel. "See you again, Ruciel."

The girl replied, "Hmph!" and she turned her face away.

I and the female knight left the room, leaving Ruciel.

Sometime later, we — me, Kimi, Chloe, and Alan — returned to Rishtonbell. Bad things happen but we have to keep moving forward. We have to go about our days as usual.

Yes. Wielth's corpse finally got home after the knights performed an autopsy. So, we did a funeral.

Once again, Kimi became sad.

One day after the funeral, I visited the Adventurer's Guild to keep my promise to Ellis. We went back to discussing Lost City Beldea and long story short, the Adventurer's Guild wanted me to sell my claim on the ruins to the Lord of Rishtonbell, a nobleman who ruled this city and the Xaliburn region.

Actually, I don't want to sell my claims. The treasures within the Lost City Beldea were extremely precious. 

I want all those treasures. But, I remember, Lost City Beldea is not a Dungeon. It made me unsure of my knowledge about the treasures buried there.

In the end, I sold my claim. Because of that, I earned Prestige Points and money from the Lord of Rishtonbell. And yes, I didn't forget to negotiate and I managed to earn the right to choose some of the treasures attained from The Lost City Beldea.

So... Thanks to that event, my money bag became full. And I wouldn't be overstating if I said, my money bag is overflowing.

I got a hundred large gold coins. And if that money is added with my savings, that is around one hundred and thirty-one large gold coins, I do have two hundred and thirty-one gold coins.

[231,3 large gold coins.] Beautifully engraved on my Adventurer Card.

Leaving the Adventurer's Guild, I went to the knight's headquarters. I visited the place to be a witness, again.

And yes, I get dozens or maybe, hundreds of questions in there. And in addition to interrogation, the knights also asked my permission to search the jerk's house and confiscate items that could be used as evidence of his crime.

Then, after all of that, I took care of the purchase of Ruciel, Salsa, and Vyorn. Within a day or maybe a few hours after I gained my fortune, I lost a hundred and sixty-three gold coins.

Regret?

I can say I do have little regret because I spent money other than to buy Ruciel. But, I think that's okay. This is my promise to Ruciel.

And talk about Ruciel. Right now, the girl approached me with a furious expression. A moment later she stood in front of me.

As I wondered what had happened to her, she shouted, "You lied to me!"

"What do you mean, I lying?"