The Hungry Slave's Demands
The elves showed no noticeable changes after returning from the dungeon.
"I am starving! Starving, I tell you! Do you have some wicked hobby of deliberately starving your own master or making his stomach growl in agony? Food! Food! Bring me food!"
"Damn it."
The elves had been even more demanding than before. They had not grown any kinder.
At the start, for the first few days, they had been gentle and kind while they did the rest work related to the turntable and research. But once all the tasks involving the turntable and the record albums were finished, they instantly reverted to their former selves like ghosts.
"Food! And plum tea! Serve the plum tea first! I feel dizzy already!"
The prisoner was still alive, right? I had only tried to wake him up yesterday after soaking him in honey for so long.
"Is it any of your business? You were the one I hired to deal with that!"
"According to ancient records, slaves like cotton-pickers even handled their masters' household chores..."
"Where on earth did you dig that up from?"
The elves were getting angrier with every word.
But even while muttering complaints, the elf inevitably reached for his holster the moment he saw me glaring. I knew the hit rate was so bad it had gone past zero, but I also knew the saying about blind arrows: sometimes you might accidentally get hit by a blind bullet.
"I normally wouldn't mind obeying your commands in household matters, but my body has been feeling strange these past few days."
"...Strange?"
"As I said before, the dizziness that appeared after we returned from the dungeon hasn't gone away. It's not bad enough to be unbearable, but..."
It had lingered since I climbed onto the Juggernaut's back last time.
The elves and Dyna had seemed perfectly fine, so I figured I must have caught a cold. But in my current condition—almost immune to cold and sickness—a cold was impossible for me.
"Well, it's been a while since we last visited the union. Same thing there."
The elf clicked his tongue in a way that showed he felt no remorse whatsoever, as if deep in thought. I immediately offered him my palm.
"Yes, so give me the money for that land."
"Hoo, what a pure and frugal little monkey you are. Yet every month you take land documents out of my pocket..."
By the way, the elf claimed to be a good master, yet he had never once paid me a salary.
He said he had given me the land documents, and I had accepted them, so you could argue I had never really been paid a salary. But what I meant by salary was actual money in coin form, not wasteland that held no financial value.
"Why do you think I'm squeezing you dry? This is all because you won't pay me a salary..."
"Your breasts are huge, but you should just say what you mean. No one complained before, yet you still ended up buying every inch of land around here, thinking there must be traces of human civilization buried in the ground. That's not my fault."
Of course, I wasn't complaining about giving away the land.
It was just that the land was still untouched—huge enough that you could ride a horse, plant a flag, and divide the territory like some game from a movie or comic. And because the elf had always dumped the management work onto me, it had become extra trouble without any financial value.
"...Weren't you the one who said to speak plainly even if your mouth was crooked?"
"The term 'crooked mouth' can refer to criticizing someone's beautiful appearance, so I let out a small laugh, hehe."
Finally, unable to hold back his temper, the elf reached for his holster again. I entered my teasing time with him like I had been waiting for it.
The elf still believed my hypnosis that I couldn't lie to him. He blushed slightly and pulled his hand from the holster, muttering something like "I see he isn't completely lacking in eyes!"
That opening gave me a chance to ask again.
"So, the salary?"
"What land do you want today?"
"Damn it."
"What?!"
I had no idea where the previous bounty money had gone, but I watched the elf casually open a chest overflowing with land documents and, unable to hold back his curses, hastily throw myself toward the window.
Without a bribe, he probably wouldn't even be able to step inside the house.
After some time, when I had finally escaped the elf's rampage, I had walked across dozens of acres of wasteland until I reached the foot of a massive oak tree. I immediately pulled out the horn from my pocket.
Beeeeep—
Beyond the horizon, I blasted the horn across the endless wasteland, leaned against the oak tree, and let out a deep sigh.
Before long, a shadow fell across me.
"Even though you still have plenty left to give, you called for this lady so early? Truly unexpected."
"You're here? I just blew the horn a moment ago."
I had always wondered where he appeared from, but I looked up and greeted him as if I knew. The dark elf's lips curved into a smile without making a sound.
"Is there something you need? Or, no need to say. The evil elf was probably chasing you with that strange staff that makes thunder sounds."
"It isn't just that. I came to collect the honey as tax, and... maybe I could get some plums too. Dead ones."
"You keep making the same small demands. For my benefactor, I could even pluck the stars from the sky, and if you want this lady, I can give you anything..."
"Don't get your hopes up. It's not empty words coming from Pasuggun-senpai."
Pasuggun was not a title; it was the name of the dark elf in front of me.
Full name: Pasuggun, the Silent Wind Guard.
I didn't know if it was his real name, but this dark elf had a name like the native peoples of some Indian tribe. He was the resident tenant living on the land I had leased from the elves—the tenant on my land.
The elves had hired out the troublesome elf to me the same way I was now renting the land to the dark elf in front of me.
Of course, I collected taxes.
If I managed it myself it would be a headache, but by having someone else handle it, I could keep my hands clean, and even gain the moral superiority of doing a good deed. It was a win-win.
Unaware of my scheming mind, Pasuggun misread my gaze and, with a seductive smile and both hands lifting his bountiful chest as if to present it, said:
"You caught me. In truth, this lady wanted to seduce you with these full breasts to steal the land documents from your arms. As a dark elf of the black race, my heart is also black. To be able to see through this heart that knows no black or white... I could never fool my benefactor's keen eyes."
"Haha."
Unlike the elves, hearing such words from a real black man—or dark elf—made me laugh.
Such teasing lines only tasted right coming from the speaker himself.
I teased the seductive appeal of Pasuggun, who was still showing off his massive breasts as much as the elves, and soon she lowered a few honey jars and a net full of plums from the backpack she carried.
This was to inform him that the land he was now supposed to manage had increased.
"This is... hmm, so you're taking more land..."
"I'm always sorry."
"..."
Pasuggun nodded silently at my antics.
Then she suddenly pulled me close and ran her hands over my back.
"What are you doing?"
"I was checking whether you might be an angel with wings, wondering if the one who has lent you so much land might be the God's messenger."
"Your touch is a bit devious."
"I didn't say anything about stealing—that's a dark elf instinct."
"Then what is this rubbing against my chest?"
"That's the instinct of breeding."
How kind-hearted could she be?
While the Pasuggun, who had been blatantly hired out to manage my land, didn't get angry at all—instead giving me a warm reward by touching my chest—the recent womanly taste made my dick twitch.
I had a reason to hurry back now.
"Then I'll see you in the middle!"
"Wait a second, isn't there still something to say...?!"
*
*
*
"He left..."
Pasuggun sighed as she withdrew the hand she had been stretching toward the human vanishing over the horizon.
"Today I had even planned to seduce the benefactor and give him everything... but I only received more..."
Truly a man with no greed...
Pasuggun looked after the human running toward the horizon with regret she couldn't contain.
"Shall I call him back?"
And the voice came from her own shadow.
The long shadow stretched as if pointing at the human, swaying as if it wanted to follow him right away.
But the Pasuggun, who had been smiling seductively at the human moments ago, now gave a cold, sharp gaze with a sharp look and said:
"Do not be rash. Would you dare to kidnap the benefactor?"
"I did not speak with impure intentions. It's just... I feel so sorry for that man who lent us such a vast land yet only took a few jars of honey..."
"I know your heart as well. I want to give everything to the benefactor right this moment too... but he actually showed that reaction..."
The benefactor had been overwhelmed by the amount of land, and we had nowhere to stay.
Even though we formed an alliance for mutual benefit, we were wandering the world without a place to live.
The one who gave us land to live in was the benefactor.
He claimed it was payment for renting, but considering the rent was only a few jars of honey that were already rotting, it was too small.
That was why I had fallen for him so deeply.
Pasuggun gently stroked her lower belly that had grown hot and said:
"Even the honey. You lent us the wisdom of the honeycomb, so we wouldn't starve. My heart wanted to bear the benefactor's child right away to repay a little of that favor... but it is truly unfortunate."
"Shall I call him back now?"
"It is enough. From how he treated me today, it seems he does not dislike me very much."
He probably thought he had fooled me, but Pasuggun remembered everything clearly.
She remembered the thick belt of his pants that had jabbed into her lower belly when she hugged him.
It was clearly the reaction of a male who recognized her as a female for breeding.
Even from a man who had never given us a chance to repay the favor by clearly separating principle from gain, we could now see the slightest possibility of repaying even a tiny bit. It was an enormous harvest for us.
Smiling faintly, Pasuggun turned to her shadow and said:
"Since I have given it some thought, let's leave it at that for today."
"As you command."
The dark elf's figure disappeared without a trace along with the sandstorm that had once scorched the wasteland.
"Bring me food! Food!"
"I just ate a whole jar of honey, and now it's food again?!"
Of course, the human slave who didn't know this was being kicked in the ass by the elf.