Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Iluania
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Originally, I had planned to just walk past her.
The feelings and prejudices I held toward the prostitutes of this era weren't all that great.
In my previous life, I'd never encountered women who did night work, so I hadn't known, but here, it was pretty common to run into them.
Every night, they came out onto the streets like touts, naturally seducing people and leading them into their shops.
And in the midst of that, I'd seen it several times.
Fetal ghosts perched on the women's shoulders, searching for their mothers, or the figures of men cursing them.
Naturally, my perception of them had become distorted inside me.
'But this woman.'
She had none of that. I'd thought, oh, there's someone like this too, and planned to just pass by, but there were two things that bothered me.
One was her condition.
The arm hooked around mine was trembling slightly, her eyes were faintly bloodshot, her lips had lost their color to a dull pallor, and she spoke with an oddly rapid pace.
The other was my own condition.
My heart was pounding wildly. Personally, I felt no emotion toward her at all, but Deus's body was reacting to her.
'Pathetic bastard.'
He had a fiancée named Erica, and yet the woman he supposedly liked turned out to be a prostitute.
The more I learned, the less I liked him.
The woman whispered discreetly so that Deia and Pinden A, approaching from this side, wouldn't hear.
"Colton's looking for you. He says you asked him to supply the drugs, so why aren't you buying?"
"......Hah, what's your name?"
"What? Are you joking? You forgot me?"
"Tell me."
"Tch! You're going with some weird concept! It's Iluania! You hugged me so tight, saying you loved me so much."
Damn you, Deus.
"If you're going to the brothel, can I clock out today?"
"......Trash."
Pinden A hoped to clock out right away, while Deia, who had just arrived, shot me a look of pure disgust.
There was no point in making excuses; with all the things the previous Deus had done, it would just look like sour grapes.
Besides, it didn't seem like I could just leave her be.
"Let's go."
"Awesome!"
"What!?"
At my words that I'd follow the woman, Pinden A and Deia showed opposite reactions. I crushed Pinden A's cheeky expectation of clocking out immediately.
"You come too, Pinden A. It won't take long."
"Premature?"
This damn...
For a split second, I almost lost my temper.
I'd seen so many shocking things since childhood that I usually reacted calmly to most situations, but Pinden A's offhand remarks often got under my skin.
"What premature! When I do it, I last a solid few hours!"
Right next to me, Iluania proudly answered as if it were her own boast.
Pinden A hummed appreciatively, nodding as if it were amusing, while Deia glared at me with an expression that screamed she wanted to kill me for real.
"Deia, go to the 'Scrap Merchants.'"
"Huh?"
Deia hadn't expected me to give her orders, so she uncrossed her arms and asked again.
"......What does that mean?"
"I know you understand."
Deia grumbled, but she realized I wasn't just tagging along to the brothel for fun, so she headed toward the Scrap Merchants' lodging.
Then Pinden A and I followed behind Iluania.
"You're Deus's new girlfriend too? Be careful, since I'm the main one."
"Ha! What bullshit! All I've got for the master is my middle finger! And the tea I brewed!"
The tea that tasted like pig piss. I'd told her last time not to brew it, but she got defiant and kept bringing brewed tea.
Iluania looked startled at Pinden A's words and glanced at me.
"Huh? But Deus said last time that only his sex outlets wear those revealing maid outfits?"
"Ah, he said he's done with that stuff. The other girls are thrilled about it."
Of course they were.
I'd long since burned all those outfits, and the maids who'd suffered through wearing them at least once were relieved.
The only reason Pinden A still wore one was simple.
"Doesn't the master seem like a bit of a perv for having a maid in this getup?"
"Right! Totally!"
"That's why she's wearing it. To rebel against the master a little."
Iluania accepted it indifferently, like, I see.
"And it's prettier than you'd think, right? Our girls were all amazed when they saw me."
As she walked ahead, Pinden A spun around, lifting the hem of her skirt slightly to mimic a maid.
When working with the Resistance, she always had to hide her body in dirty clothes, so she seemed to really like it.
Iluania clapped and cheered her on, giggling.
The two of them got along surprisingly well.
When we arrived at the red-light district in Northsweden, Iluania told us to wait a moment and went into a building.
Pinden A couldn't stand still and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up right away.
"Ah, hot! We're outside, can't you hold off on smoking?"
She only used polite speech when she wanted something from me.
Ignoring her, Pinden A irritably tossed the lit butt on the ground, stomped it out, and grumbled.
"She's a junkie, huh?"
"......You noticed."
When I glanced sideways and spoke, Pinden A placed a hand on her hip, replying scornfully.
"You know the Clock Republic has about three times as many junkies as the Griffin Kingdom, right? More fans of drugs than sane people."
"Most of the drugs are made in the Clock Republic."
"Exactly! For example."
Pinden A let out a deep sigh for no reason, as if trying to hide her expression with her white breath.
"Flower Garden or whatever."
"......"
"Yeah, whatever. Just that kind of talk."
Pinden A clicked her tongue bitterly, instinctively reaching into her pocket for a smoke, but glanced at me and just crossed her arms instead.
"One more. I know something you probably don't. Want to hear it?"
"......"
I nodded for her to go ahead, and Pinden A snickered, looking toward the door Iluania had entered.
"She's doing that right now......"
A moment passed.
Then a group of burly men poured out from the door Iluania had gone through.
They quickly split to either side, clearing a path, and bowed deeply to greet me.
At the end stood a bald man with a long scar across his head, looking utterly menacing.
"Wow, Young Master! It's been so long! I was shocked when I heard you suddenly went off to be an academy professor!"
"Colton, right."
"Yes, that's me. Don't I look a bit more handsome now that we've met again?"
I'd guessed right.
I'd wondered where Iluania was; she was leaning against the doorframe, syringe in hand, grinning vacantly.
Colton approached with a smile.
The stench hitting my nose was incomparable to Pinden A's cigarette smoke.
"We just got some good stuff in, saved it for you, Young Master. Shall we go right in?"
"No. This ends today."
"Yes?"
To Colton, who looked confused, I declared with deep disgust.
"Dispose of all the drugs you have. They're utterly useless in Northsweden."
"......What the hell are you saying?"
Colton's face showed genuine incomprehension. The burly men who had bowed slowly straightened up, glaring at me.
"Young Master—no, Deus. Have you lost it? Too strung out to grasp the situation? Don't you remember licking my shoes like a junkie a few days without your fix?"
"Kek."
Pinden A covered her mouth, laughing as if to say, for real?
I sighed as if I hadn't seen it and slammed my staff on the ground.
"Clean it up, Pinden A."
"Way ahead of you!"
Pinden A's fist immediately slammed into Colton. A strike fitting the winter chill, sharp as an awl.
Nose blood and teeth sparkled in the air, staining the snow-covered ground, and Colton passed out.
"Brother!"
"You bastard!"
"Grab him! Drag him inside the shop first!"
The burly men charged. I walked forward as if they weren't there, and Pinden A moved with flashy skirt-flutters.
In the end, my unwavering steps forward weren't hindered for even a moment.
Pinden A, who had swept through the thugs like a storm, stretched contentedly with a satisfied smile.
Iluania, oblivious to the surroundings, tried to jab a syringe into her arm.
Crack!
My mana aggressively shattered her syringe.
"Huh? Huh? Huh!"
She stared blankly at the syringe, then ground her teeth in fury, glaring at me.
To her, I said bluntly.
"You're not alone anymore. Watch your behavior."
"......What?"
That was it.
Soon after, Deia returned, dragging a crowd from the Scrap Merchants as I'd instructed.
"Oh! Boss!"
"Long time no see! Still as pretty as ever!"
"Nice outfit."
"Right? Don't get too excited, you lot."
Pinden A spun around like she was dancing amid the sprawled thugs and bloodied ground.
In the meantime, Deia approached me, frowning.
"What happened."
"There should be drugs piled up inside. The Scrap Merchants are from the Clock Republic, so they're pros at disposal. Have them destroy every last bit."
"......You didn't do any, huh? I was suspicious, honestly."
I didn't bother answering.
Not now, but obviously in the past, he had.
I clicked my tongue, looking down at Iluania, who clutched her belly protectively like it was precious.
"I'll hire a maid too, so prepare a contract."
"What? Why me......"
"Ah, my baby. My baby."
Deia, about to complain, overheard Iluania's mutter and her eyes flashed.
"......No way, not you?"
To Deia, who looked like that absolutely couldn't be, I sighed and replied.
"She was in Robern for three months. This woman's been at it for about one."
"Right? Phew, good thing. That would really be crossing the line."
I turned from Deia, who spoke as if warning her not to cause trouble elsewhere, and looked at Iluania.
A woman who'd shown up out of nowhere, broken beyond repair. Useless wherever I took her, just a pathetic drug-addled wreck.
'Perfect.'
I was certain she held the key to solving my biggest problem.