Ep.1 - The Great Thief Philmark (3)
Ep.1 - The Great Thief Philmark (3)
*
Ever since the night she glared at me through the iron bars, the thief leader, for some reason, never once took her eyes off me.
Was this some new kind of torture...?
"U-um, excuse me..."
"What."
"Did I... do something wrong..."
Before I could even finish, the sharp glare she shot me made me clamp my mouth shut, words dying in my throat.
"..."
"..."
A heavy atmosphere settled, and the tension, so thick it was hard to breathe, stretched on without end.
I agonized hundreds of times over whether to Load because of her utterly incomprehensible change in attitude.
But with no particular danger present yet, I figured Loading would just waste time, so I held back, gritting my teeth.
I have to return to the original world—fast.
As fast as possible...
Then, suddenly, the phrase the author had left behind floated into my mind.
[Enjoy yourself to your heart's content, roam the world freely, gather kind companions, and escape the world! Good luck!]
It might have been a throwaway line, but as I slowly chewed over its meaning, a strange sense of dissonance crept in.
Gather kind companions and escape?
'Gather'?
Did that mean I couldn't escape without gathering companions?
No, before that.
In this current situation, knowing absolutely nothing about how to escape, what the hell was I supposed to do?
Sure, I'd been captured by bandit women and thrown into a cell as a goddamn sex slave, but right now, my body was relatively comfortable!
At the very least, I'd been given the luxury to worry about the future.
What the hell did I actually need to do to escape?
Did I have to reach an ending?
Or, if this world worked like a game, did I have to clear it...?
If it's clearing the game, that wouldn't mean... defeating the Demon King or something, right?
The Save&Load ability seemed pretty damn good,
but no matter what, if I'm supposed to take down something like the Demon King when even these fucking bandit women overpower me...
"..."
Please, God, no.
"...You."
"Yes?"
The thief leader suddenly opened her mouth and called to me.
"What's your name?"
Name?
All of a sudden?
"Why... why do you ask?"
"I'm asking what your name is, so what's with the 'why do you ask'? What is it!"
Fuck...
I nearly fell over backward in shock.
Why the hell did she suddenly get so angry...
"I, I'm..."
Wait.
If I give my name Korean-style here, it'll definitely raise suspicion, right...?
Since these bitches think I'm a noble, I need a name that sounds as old-fashioned and noble-like as possible...
"Uh... um... I'm, De..."
"De?"
"Del...rin...?"
"Delin?"
"Uh... yeah..."
"Which family are you from?"
Fuck.
I have to make up a family name too?
"Th-that is... so... Roxun family...?"
"...?"
I'm fucked.
Whether she suspected me or not, she raised one eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"Are you from the Holy Kingdom?"
"Uh... yeah..."
"You're from the Holy Kingdom and you came all the way out here?"
Where even is 'here'?
And where the hell is the Holy Kingdom?
"Th-that's right. I had... some business..."
I decided to just bluff my way through for now.
Recalling the story I heard from the bandit woman yesterday, I desperately began patching together my character.
"What kind of business?"
"That... I was exiled from the Holy Kingdom. Marked by... the higher-ups...?"
"Marked by cardinals or archbishops or something? You poor bastard."
"Yes, something like that..."
Seemed like it was going over well enough.
Soon, she looked at me with pitying eyes, then turned her head slightly and mumbled something.
I didn't know what she said, but the red lips resting softly beyond her haughty jawline definitely muttered something.
"..."
After that, a brief silence followed.
The atmosphere was still damned uncomfortable, but I didn't think things had soured enough to warrant a Load.
—————————————————————
After that day, the thief leader stayed by my side every single day.
Putting it that way makes it sound like we were lovers, so to be more precise,
she always stayed on the other side of the iron bars and watched me.
Including right now.
She was over there, just outside.
"Hup, hoo-up..."
There she was, doing push-ups and breathing lightly. Her form was perfect, and the sheer, staggering number of repetitions left my jaw hanging open.
'Just how many is she planning to do...?'
Her godlike physical ability—she'd already blasted well past triple digits—was wondrous.
Yet, as if she hadn't even felt a hint of fatigue, there was no change whatsoever in her speed or form, and her breathing hadn't even grown ragged.
Seeing that, I got the feeling that even back in the original world, I probably wouldn't have been able to beat her.
"Hoo..."
She rose to her feet.
As she patted the dirt off her hands, droplets of sweat trickled down her body.
"..."
It was clear, even on a second look, that she had an incredible figure.
Her glossy, bronze-toned skin laid bare a fierce vitality and overflowing sex appeal that the word 'healthy' couldn't fully capture.
My eyes being drawn to that body felt like an unavoidable biological instinct. My gaze kept drifting toward her.
Did she sense it too?
"..."
I hurriedly looked away before the thief leader's eyes could meet mine, but this time, her gaze fixed on me.
I could feel her staring.
I pretended not to notice and stared intently at the cave wall,
"Hup, hoo-up."
and she soon resumed her workout, expelling hot breaths.
Time passed so goddamn slowly...
———————————————————
The fifth evening I spent inside the hideout.
"Boss, I brought the food!"
One of the bandit women walked in, hugging a large basket overflowing with bread in both arms.
"Phew! I'll bring the other stuff right away!"
She said she was bringing more.
It already looked like enough for about ten people, but the thief leader ate an absurd amount and always claimed she was still hungry even after devouring that much.
"Hnng...!"
Soon, the bandit woman came back, just as she'd promised, grunting and dragging a huge pot.
"Phew... that's heavy as hell. Boss! Enjoy your meal!"
A somewhat familiar smell wafted from inside—something like tomato pasta or pizza.
It was a real, proper dish, the likes of which I'd never encountered in my life so far, having survived on nothing but rough meat and bread...
"Don't bother bringing any for that man. I'll share mine, whatever."
"Yes! Sure, got it. I figured as much and brought two spoons."
The bandit woman left, and we were alone again in this peculiar space.
The boss soon got up and came inside the iron bars, carrying the enormous spread.
Seeing it up close, it was an even more staggering amount.
And the scent of tomato was even stronger and more deeply missed.
"Eat. You've gotta eat well to even serve properly as a sex slave."
"Th-thank you..."
"Do you know how to eat it?"
Couldn't I just roughly scoop it up and eat...?
"Like this. You tear off a piece of bread like that, dip it in deep, and scoop up a generous amount. Try it."
She demonstrated, then shoved a very large bite into her mouth.
"It's edible, so eat. It's my favorite."
She finished speaking and began her meal in earnest.
Woo-jeok, woo-jeok-
The sounds of her eating were so intense they almost evoked the word 'battle'; just watching her, I found myself gulping at her fervent appetite.
"...Thank you for the food."
I tore off a handful of bread, dunked it deep into the red tomato meat stew or whatever it was, and shoved the whole thing into my mouth.
Well-boiled beans and all sorts of vegetables, generously packed high-quality meat.
And the red stew, encompassing it all,
tangy yet subtly sweet.
"Good, right?"
"Yeah. It's really good..."
The meat I'd eaten so far was decent enough, but this dish stirred a strange, stinging sense of longing I hadn't even known I had.
It was as if the original world came to mind. Having started my life in this other world with harsh treatment and persecution, eating a warm dish like this across from someone nearly brought me to tears.
Of course, the person seated across from me, sharing this meal, was the very one who had tormented me...
Just because she was being relatively kind now didn't erase the fact that she had raped me to a cruel degree.
No, perhaps this kindness itself was just another ploy. Like a carrot and stick!
So I must never let my guard down. Because this terrifying world doesn't play nice...!
"...You. I won't handle you roughly from now on, so don't worry."
"...What? Really?"
What was this?
What was she suddenly talking about?
Had she lost her goddamn mind in the middle of eating?
Even for a carrot and stick, isn't this carrot way too big...?
"Really. So just live here. Don't even think about escaping."
Above her chomping mouth,
her single exposed eye quietly surveyed me.
A golden-tinged amber eye...
I was unintentionally captivated by that beautiful eye, the likes of which I'd never seen in the original world, and stared for a moment.
Soon, as if embarrassed, she abruptly whipped her head around and shrieked.
"J-just eat your food! Anyway, you're our... no, my sex slave!"
"Ah, yeah..."
As expected, the sex slave treatment hadn't changed.
Of course not. The thieves had no reason to let me go, after all.
For now, let's just lower my eyes and eat this thick stew and bread. Delicious...
"..."
When she'd first glared at me and started monitoring me, I'd agonized endlessly over whether to Load,
but looking at the situation now, it didn't seem necessary...
And since the way she treated me seemed to have improved quite a bit, should I maybe do another Save?
Nah.
Let's finish eating first and then do it.
It's a pain to have to eat again every time I Load, you know?
"After eating... wash up... you've rested plenty all this time, remember!"
Ah.
She did say she'd let me rest for a week...
Let's do a Save first.
"Save..."
[Save point set!]