Chapter 10
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Jealousy
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I only did exactly what I did in the game.
Getting past Selena's inspection, tossing Kyle to Bossu, and hopping on the merchant caravan at the right time.
This was the route I knew best and had run the most in the game.
From my perspective, it was as simple as breathing.
So why...
am I in mortal danger at the hands of the Hero?
"Ah... Just so you know, when you said let's be friends... you weren't expecting us to hold hands and go on dates, right?"
The Hero spoke in a voice thick with excitement.
The sharp tip of the rapier dug under my chin, grazing my throat lightly.
A stinging pain shot through my neck.
"That kind of misunderstanding would be a problem, wouldn't it?"
The Hero's foxlike eyes curved into thin slits once more.
"You said you wanted to go east, right? Sorry, but you'll have to devote yourself to the Empire here for a bit."
The Hero cupped her own cheek with her free hand.
As if she pitied me in my current predicament.
"The western front is short on manpower, after all."
The cold flat of the rapier pressed right against my neck.
"I can keep your slave status under wraps. I'll let you live here under a false identity. If I say you're my classmate, it'll work out somehow."
The Hero kept the rapier at my throat as she circled behind me.
It looked just like a hostage scene from a movie.
Then, in a soft whisper right by my ear, she murmured,
"So... what'll it be? I've waited plenty already."
"......I'll do it."
The Hero's rapier inched closer to my neck.
I had no choice but to submit.
"Hm? Who's this?"
"Hero... let's be friends."
I answered her in a trembling voice.
I had no options left.
I hadn't even reached the gate.
My Life Point was still at 1.
Life Point: 1
"Hero? Ah... me? Hmm~."
The Hero seemed satisfied with my answer and pulled the blade away from my neck.
"Then, since we're friends now... we should probably make a contract, right?"
It felt like the definition of "friends" I knew had just changed, but the Hero offered me a contract anyway.
The Hero swished her index finger through the air.
Blue light began gathering in midair.
And soon, it formed a sheet of paper glowing with blue light.
This world's unique ability: the mana contract.
Think of it as the degraded version used by that Bossu monster.
A mana contract was a deal made with mutual consent, while the curse that monster used was one-sided violence.
They looked different, but they were the same type at heart.
"Hm... This should do it, right?"
The contract terms the Hero had in mind appeared on the mana paper.
Once the writing on the mana paper stopped, the Hero handed it to me.
I took the mana paper from her and checked the clauses.
[Contract: Hero & Anderson]
Article 1
The Contractor (hereinafter Naia Rain) shall keep the identity of the Contractee (hereinafter Anderson) secret and act as a reliable 'friend' within the western front.
Article 2
Anderson shall devote himself to the western front for the prosperity and safety of the Empire while Naia Rain remains on the western front.
Article 3
Naia Rain shall conceal Anderson's slave status. However, if Anderson violates the contract or attempts to escape, Naia Rain shall execute Anderson summarily.
This contract remains valid until the Contractor cancels it, violates it, or one of the two parties dies.
The contract on the paper the Hero handed me had three clauses in total.
To sum it up simply:
1. The Hero won't expose my identity.
2. As long as the Hero stays in the west, I'll be slaving away in this hell until I die.
3. If I run, I die.
It wasn't as bad as I'd feared.
Though it was still unfair to me, of course...
Better than making friends with those corpses, at least.
I'd figured I'd end up as the Hero's dog, but she'd even included protections for my status in the terms.
"You know how to use it? Just write your name with your finger."
The Hero kindly... explained how to use the mana contract.
I wrote my name on the paper with my finger.
"Hm... Good. Now handle the rest yourself."
"......Pardon?"
The Hero's expression shifted back to cold mockery.
She sheathed her rapier and walked into the carriage.
She was just going to make the contract and send me off?
"I said handle it yourself. I have places to be. With that rune and your letter of recommendation, becoming the gatekeeper here should be a breeze."
"...Rune?"
The Hero spoke to me while pulling her luggage from the carriage.
At the mention of a rune, I opened the documents.
But there was no rune on the papers.
"Oh, that? I carved it on your glove."
I checked my glove.
There was an unfamiliar rune on the back of my left glove.
Strange words were intricately engraved around a hexagram at the center.
She must have done it when she was behind me earlier.
"This is..."
"It's roughly from our side... Nah, you don't need to know. You'll figure it out eventually."
The Hero hesitated for a moment, then waved me off like I didn't need to worry about it.
It was a rune I'd never seen in the game.
Probably another part that wasn't in the game.
"Why aren't you going? Were you expecting me to make you my personal slave? If you've got nothing to do, help move my luggage."
"......"
The Hero kept waving me away like she wanted me gone quick...
Was it the shock from before? My feet wouldn't move.
It felt like my body was frozen in terror.
Like I'd become prey.
I looked around.
I could see the luggage inside the carriage now, which I hadn't noticed earlier.
Several crates.
And one weapon that stood out especially.
- Thud!
The Hero grabbed a greatsword and slammed it to the ground.
The massive hunk of steel hit with a heavy boom.
"If it's for the Empire, I'll do anything. Even if it breaks the Empire's laws."
The Hero clapped her hands like she'd finished unloading.
Then her gaze turned back to me.
"Devote yourself to the Empire with your abilities. That's the only way you'll survive my grasp. I hope the rumors are true."
The Hero leaned in close, narrowing her eyes as she whispered in my ear.
Like she was telling me to do my best.
"I'll head out first. See you later."
The Hero gathered all her things and walked away from the carriage.
"..."
I... couldn't do a thing until she vanished from sight.
...
- Knock knock.
A knock came at the wooden door.
"Come in."
A neutral-voiced man replied.
"......Um. Isn't the previous gatekeeper here?"
The girl panicked when the old gatekeeper wasn't there.
Eri, the orchard owner's daughter. That was the girl's name.
"...Yes, he was reassigned elsewhere."
The man scratched his head wearily and answered curtly, like he'd heard it a million times.
"Ah... Okay... Then I'll just head back."
Eri, seeing that Anderson the gatekeeper was gone, returned to her village.
"Ha... Isn't this the gate? What the hell is with all these women..."
Florian, the owner of the voice, couldn't make sense of it.
It had started from the day he was demoted to gatekeeper.
Countless women had come asking where the previous gatekeeper was.
Hell, the gate was there to enter the village in the first place.
The village wasn't there to get into the gate.
Anderson.
That man was the culprit.
Even Florian, a guy, could admit Anderson was handsome.
The kind of looks that made you think, "Yeah, I get why women would..."
But he hadn't expected him to charm women to this extent.
And on top of that, he was a criminal who'd committed slave trading, identity forgery, desertion... and more.
Of course, the women didn't know that, but it still grated on him that a guy like that got all the female attention.
And another thing.
His idol, the Empire's 5th Sword, Kyle.
Anderson had treated that Kyle like a buddy.
A mere slave, acting like that.
Florian had always admired and respected Kyle.
He'd copied everything that man did.
He'd come all the way to this backwater because he wanted to follow him.
But... ever since meeting Anderson, Kyle had turned into an idiot, in the vulgar sense.
Kyle had always loved hitting on women.
He'd messed with a noble's wife once and gotten caught.
Even so, Florian respected him.
He saw touching a noble's wife as the right of the strong.
He even blamed the weak noble for losing her.
That's why he thought Kyle's persistence in chasing women even in this rural outpost was admirable.
The Empire needed Kyle anyway.
The Empire couldn't abandon him.
He'd always marveled at Kyle's boldness.
So when Kyle teamed up with Anderson, he'd turned a blind eye.
He figured Anderson would just get used and discarded.
But not only was Anderson not discarded—his position only grew over time.
At some point, Kyle started prioritizing Anderson over him.
That, he couldn't tolerate.
A slave. A criminal.
And after meeting Anderson, Kyle had stopped chasing women altogether.
The Kyle who'd gone after a noble's wife. The Kyle who'd eyed women even out here.
Kyle... from that day on, had been stuck on that weird innkeeper's daughter.
The guy who'd hit the brothel in the next village every day now only went to see that one girl.
Now, just mentioning brothels made Kyle flinch.
There were even rumors they held hands every day in the village.
His beastly idol's... fangs had fallen out.
So he'd tried to set things right.
A way to take down that damn slave without harming Kyle.
In a "whatever happens, happens" move, he'd sent a letter to 'Naia Rain', the Empire's Hero.
The Hero would do anything for the Empire, means and methods be damned.
Even breaking the law, if it helped the Empire, she didn't care.
You could call it arrogant.
But no one in the Empire could stand against the Hero.
She was young, but also the youngest woman to become the Empire's 1st Sword.
Florian recalled the Hero from his military academy days as a junior.
A genius who'd failed a year for skipping classes to fight on the front lines.
A monster who washed with blood more than water.
So with a bit of hope, he'd asked her to investigate under the pretext of a senior officer.
He'd written everything about that slave bastard.
The Hero wouldn't harm Kyle.
Kyle had indispensable military power for the Empire.
But a slave? If the Hero deemed him unnecessary, she'd dispose of him without mercy.
He'd protect his idol while punishing the damn slave.
That counted as successful revenge.
It wouldn't be long before the Hero found out and he got caught.
It was the front lines' rest period now, too.
"Phew..."
Florian let out a sigh.
Sir Kyle had received orders to return to the capital.
He himself wouldn't be staying here much longer.
Time to head out soon...
That was when it happened.
- Bang!!!
The gate hut door exploded inward from a massive force.
Suspicious figures poured into the gate.
"Wh-what the!"
Florian jumped in shock.
The door lay in splinters on the ground.
'What... is this? Attacking the village gate? Enemy raid?'
Looking at the shattered door, bad thoughts flooded Florian's mind.
"Hey... drag him out."
Then an elf with silver-white hair spoke.
The elf's voice trembled with barely suppressed rage.
As the elf spoke, a gang of rough-looking men entered the gate.
"What are you... mmpf! Mmpf!"
Florian was effortlessly dragged outside by the burly men.