Chapter 101: An Affair
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 101: An Affair
The Empire was the most advanced civilized city in this world.
It was a city that had moved beyond a class society divided into nobles and commoners, and had entered the stage of division between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie—the haves and the have-nots.
Naturally, all sorts of entertainment were prepared for the wealthy. In the Empire, if you had money, you could live a life enviable to all, a life truly fit for a king.
“How is it, sir? A steak made from a cow raised on the finest ranch in the Empire, paired with a 200-year-old Yggd-Brittong, fermented in an oak barrel said to be made from a branch of the World Tree.”
“The aroma is wonderful.”
“It’s an extremely rare item, with only a few bottles in the entire Empire.”
Yohan went on a spending spree. He truly spent money like water. It wasn’t his money anyway, and he figured they would just give him more if he ran out.
He also knew full well that one person spending this much wouldn't make a dent in the national economy, which was another reason he felt no hesitation.
And as one would expect—when you spend this much money, you’re bound to attract flies.
“Nobody move—!”
So far, there had been 31 pickpocketing attempts, 18 cases of extortion, and 5 instances of people bumping into him and demanding money for fake injuries.
But this was the first time someone had tried to rob him at gunpoint.
As the people inside the restaurant screamed and ducked for cover, Yohan watched the robbers with an expression of genuine curiosity.
“Empty your pockets! If you don’t wanna die!”
The armed robbers threatened everyone, aiming guns they had acquired from who-knows-where. Fortunately, they weren’t the breech-loading automatic rifles he had seen at the Imperial Palace, but flintlocks that took over ten seconds just to load.
However, they appeared to be already loaded, and though it was only one shot, a gun was still a gun. The people around them obediently placed their wallets and valuables on the tables.
“The hell are you?! Fuck, you wanna die!?”
The robbers, who were collecting money from the patrons, noticed Yohan sitting still without putting anything out and aimed their guns at him.
Even with a gun barrel in his face, Yohan just shrugged nonchalantly and spoke.
“I don’t have anything on me.”
“Then take off your clothes, you bastard!”
“I’m not really into stripping in front of others.”
“You think this is a fucking joke—!”
The robber skillfully spun his rifle and swung the butt of it at the seated Yohan. Proficient rifle handling. From that, Yohan realized his opponent was either a soldier or very experienced in this line of work.
Either way, he was no decent fellow. Yohan leaned his head back slightly to dodge the rifle butt, then, still seated, kicked the robber’s knee.
Stagger—
As the robber lost his balance, about to fall, Yohan snatched the gun from his hands and aimed it at the other robber across the room who was pointing a gun at him.
“You crazy son of a bitch—!”
The moment the other man realized Yohan had a gun, he fired. The hammer struck the powder packed inside the barrel, firing the bullet—and in that same instant, Yohan pulled his trigger as well.
The two bullets, fired simultaneously, collided in mid-air, ricocheting in every direction.
While the robbers stood stunned by the fact that they were both still standing unharmed after firing their guns, Yohan slid forward as if gliding and tripped the last remaining robber who was frozen in place.
He snatched the gun from the fallen man’s hand and aimed it at him. This gun was loaded; the other one was not.
“Surrender?”
At Yohan’s question, the man, apparently lacking the confidence to move like Yohan, slowly lowered his weapon and raised both hands.
Having subdued the armed robbers in an instant, Yohan returned to his seat as he watched the police arrive and arrest them.
“...Excuse me.”
Then, a woman who was, by any standard, quite beautiful, approached and began to hesitate in front of him.
Yohan had a good feeling about this and invited her to sit with him.
Seven witches descended upon the Empire.
They instantly captured the attention of everyone around them, but they themselves paid little mind to the stares.
“Location?”
“...West.”
“The west, is it...”
Margaret left one witch behind and headed to the western edge of the Empire with the others. The Empire was so immense that simply knowing the direction wasn't enough to find him easily.
After pinpointing his location from the western edge, they moved south, north, and in various other directions to zero in on Yohan.
After teleporting six times, they were able to get a rough idea of where he was.
“So he’s in this city?”
Arriving in Yohan’s city, Margaret smiled brightly and began searching for places he might be. Linne, who was with her because she could create a tracker, tilted her head in confusion and asked.
“...Why are we doing it like this?”
“Hm? Ah, you mean why are we being so inefficient?”
“Yes...”
“Well—if we all find his location rationally and together, then I can’t have my disciple all to myself, can I?”
“...What?”
Linne’s eyes shot open as if she had misheard, and she stared at Margaret. But Margaret was completely serious.
“Did you think we were going to share our disciple nicely? No. We all want to have Yohan to ourselves. And now that such a perfect opportunity to monopolize him has come up—there’s no way I wouldn’t use it, right?”
“...Then why am I.”
“You? You’re not in that kind of relationship with my disciple, and more importantly, you can make a tracker to find his location, can’t you? It’s safer for me to keep you with me than to let you meet up with the other witches. Now, hurry up and find my disciple’s location. Quickly.”
Feeling an incomprehensible madness and obsession in Margaret’s eyes, Linne trembled but began to move, using the tracker to find Yohan.
“Um... that was really amazing back there.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. I almost fell for you at first sight. How on earth can you move like that?”
Yohan let out a low hum as he looked at the woman asking him questions. While cutting his steak, he mulled over an answer and finally spoke with a hint of a joke.
“I’m ex-military.”
“Military? But being in the military can’t make you move that fast...”
“I served in a very special unit. I’ve even been inside the Imperial Palace.”
He had served in the Republic of Korea. And he had been in and out of the Imperial Palace thanks to the witches. But the woman, not interpreting his words that way, clapped her hands, her eyes sparkling.
“The Imperial Family! Then are you from the rumored Imperial special forces... the Imperial Guard!?”
“Ah, that’s a secret.”
“Incredible... I’ve never met anyone from the Imperial Guard before! Is it true that the Guard has all sorts of amazing things? I heard the Imperial Family even has a carriage that flies through the sky!”
The woman tried to coax more stories out of Yohan. Without falling for her bait, Yohan slowly recalled the things he had seen in his own world.
This world had trains and electric lights. Its science was roughly at the level of the late 19th to early 20th century.
If so, the next thing to introduce was obvious.
“There are no flying carriages, but there are horseless carriages.”
“What? How can a carriage move without a horse? ...Oh, a train!”
“It would be smaller than a train. But it could replace carriages.”
“Replace carriages? But so many people are involved in the carriage business...”
“It’s not like the Emperor would care about something like that. Or would he?”
The moment he said that, the woman in front of him gently set down her fork and knife. She looked at Yohan with slightly trembling eyes.
Wondering if he had said something wrong, Yohan tilted his head at her. The woman took a deep breath and then cautiously shook her head.
“Yohan... do you have any plans for tonight?”
“Hmm—I don’t think so.”
“In that case, how about we go somewhere we can be alone, like a private room? I think a place without so many prying eyes would be better than here...”
The woman’s face flushed as she spoke. Although Yohan had never experienced anything like this before, he knew exactly what she meant.
Having hit a home run without even trying, Yohan looked at the woman with a bemused expression. Even by his standards, which had been raised impossibly high by the witches, she was quite a beauty.
She wore a bit of makeup, and considering it was covering her flaws, she was a reasonably pretty woman. Any other man would have jumped at the chance and immediately taken her to a nearby hotel.
“I’m not interested.”
“...What?”
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t come out here to get involved with a woman.”
He wasn’t. He, who had fled the witches’ constant semen extractions, going out to pick up women? It was absurd.
However, his attitude seemed to please the woman even more, and she began to pursue him more aggressively.
“Why not? I’m not suggesting we do anything strange. I just really want to be alone with you...”
“That’s the thing, just going to a place like that in the first place is—.”
“—Enough.”
At that moment, Yohan turned to his side with a hardened expression. Wavy hair with a slight purple tint.
A woman, incomparably more beautiful than the one before him, was looking down at him.
“There you are, darling?”
Margaret cooed as she leaned against Yohan.