Chapter 171: Your Mom Really Is a Whore!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 171: Your Mom Really Is a Whore!
“Our little friend here must have a lot of pocket money~!”
The banker sister was being unnecessarily friendly. I could understand why, though, considering the balance in my account was equivalent to a fresh graduate's annual salary.
Since there’s a social convention that men should be modest, I didn’t say anything. Instead, I just gave a shy bow and handed the bankbook to Ambersteel, who was waiting outside.
“You’re certainly consistent with these deposits…”
“The principal is guaranteed, and it pays regular interest. I’d love to open a savings account, but since I’m just a daily laborer…”
“Uh, um… right!”
The blonde, muscular sister nodded and carefully tucked away my slush fund bankbook. For those who don’t remember who she is, she’s the one who tried to hit on me and then got beaten like a dog by Lisar!
“As expected of the upper class, saving this much money at such a young age… When I was the young master’s age, I was busy throwing punches at punks to see who was stronger…”
“My mom is a civil servant.”
“Ah, yes, I know. Senior Superintendent General Degrain, right?”
I don’t know why my mom is part of that cancerous social cartel, but thanks to her friends’ dirty, petty tactics—like funneling achievements her way and making sure she appears in the media and receives various awards—she was being promoted at a speed that was unheard of for an elf.
Well, typical elves are extremely few in number and usually work in public service roles like the Forest Service or the Environmental Protection Agency, so Mom was a bit of a special case.
Judging by the atmosphere, it looked like she’d be acting as a shadow power player for the next few hundred years, holding down the backbone of the police force while pushing her juniors up the ladder.
Of course, compared to the Duchy of La Croix, being a mere Senior Superintendent General in a single state of the United Kingdom wasn’t that grand despite the title, but the fact that Mom’s salary went up was important.
Thanks to that, Iris, Grasha, and I received a staggering 30% increase in our allowance.
Iris was living off various scholarships and a grant from some organization Camel hooked her up with, so she was putting every penny of the allowance Mom gave her into savings.
As for me, I was already shaking down Mom’s friends for money by acting like I might—or might not—give them the time of day, so the money Mom gave me was basically chump change. I didn’t care much about the raise.
However, the youngest was so shocked by the dramatic 30% increase in her weekly pay that she’d been gorging on snacks every time she left school, which was a major concern for Mom.
Watching Mom worry that Grasha would end up with huge breasts just like her if she ate that much was hilarious—a worry perfectly befitting a sow!
“Sniff, sniff… By the way, Young Master, are you wearing perfume?”
“No. Are you flirting with me right now?”
“No! No! No…! It’s not like that! It’s just… you smell really good…!”
Ambersteel denied it frantically, waving her hands and shaking her head. I wouldn’t mind having a go with a healthy, blonde, muscular human sister like her, but managing the girls who were already sucking me dry was a job in itself.
I put my nose to my arm and sniffed, but I didn’t notice anything unusual.
“I don’t smell anything. Are you sure it’s coming from me? Here, check.”
“Huh?! Oh, well then… Excuse me for a moment.”
Ambersteel put her nose to the arm I held out and began to sniff cautiously. I saw her face, which had been stiff with tension, relax into a slightly dazed expression.
“Haa… You’re right… It smells amazing…”
With her thighs pressed together and her muscles twitching, the muscular sister’s breathing seemed to grow a bit ragged.
“What kind of smell is it?”
“It’s a wonderful scent! Wow, I suddenly feel a surge of energy.”
Ambersteel began checking her condition, clenching and unclenching her fists several times as if she were testing her body after a dose of stimulants.
“Let’s get inside quickly! I feel like I could set a new record today! I want to go measure it right now!”
“Sure, sure. But you know if you swallow my slush fund, you’ll get swallowed by a sea monster, right, Amber? I’ll tell Hindel!”
I took the hand Ambersteel offered.
“I wouldn’t steal such chump change. Compared to how people always call us thugs, mafia, social misfits, or 'inmates-in-waiting,' we actually make a lot of money doing legal work…”
There goes the mafia brat, lying the moment she opens her mouth. Saying something is "legal" is no different from saying they’re performing acrobatics on the edge of the law.
People who don't describe what they do but emphasize that it's "legal" are usually scammers.
She seemed to think I was some naive kid. As if people who wear heavy iron gear and go on rampages with clubs for "riot suppression training" could possibly be legal.
“Mom told me not to get too close to Hindel’s subordinates. She said if she recognizes them during an arrest, she might find it hard to be ruthless.”
“No, the ones who do that kind of stuff are just outliers! And because of Senior Superintendent General Degrain, we’ve mostly washed our hands of that business!”
Saying they’ve "mostly" washed their hands meant they were still doing it. But I knew that if I kept denying the words of this lying thug who was trying so hard to protest, the conversation would never end, so I just gave her a half-hearted "I see."
“Anyway… it seems you’ve been training hard in martial arts lately? Your gait and posture are very stable.”
“You can see that?”
“Yes. The Boss’s subordinates usually come from over there.”
“Over there?”
Was she too embarrassed to call it a colony?
“…Not the colonies.”
“Ah, the Murim world? There?”
“Ack…! Direct mentions are forbidden!”
Even inside the fitness center, it was forbidden? The discipline seemed way too strict.
“They say it’s illegal or whatever and that ordinary people don’t know about it, but everyone around me knows.”
“That’s…! That’s because the people around the Young Master are special…”
It sounded like the dregs of society were sharing the good stuff among themselves and sucking all the sweetness out of it.
“Then does the Empress know too?”
“Yes, well… It was Her Majesty who ultimately approved Marika’s existence. Even if they say the Chairwoman forced her hand to get it…”
From what I heard, it seemed like a place where the high society had stuck their straws in to suck it dry. I understood it as a place where they kept things like elixirs and martial arts to themselves, kicking away the ladder behind them.
“So, what’s it like there? Do people actually fly through the sky and stuff?”
“Yes. Well, no… people fly here too.”
Ambersteel’s cheeky remark dampened my mood.
“Right.”
“Wait, wait, wait! Don’t be upset! It’s just… how should I put it! There, even if you fly through the sky—even if you fly without permission—you don’t get legally punished!”
“…Oh!”
With the advancement of magitech, you needed licenses or legal approval just to use fire or lightning magic. Compared to this boring world, that sounded like a somewhat interesting place.
“And because there’s no basic welfare, starving people and orphans wander the forests.”
“Oh…?”
“It’s technically an Empire, but the central power doesn’t reach the provinces. And since there’s no will to improve things, the Murim families and various martial groups—basically unauthorized private organizations—rule like local kings and force people to follow their own laws.”
“Uh…?”
“The ones who call themselves the Orthodox Faction act like they’re cooperating with the government while doing bad things behind their backs, and the Unorthodox Faction guys are just open bastards.”
“….”
This woman seemed to have a lot of pent-up resentment. Wait, I thought I heard she was from Murim. But she was blonde, so no matter how I looked at her, she seemed like a fake Murim person.
“…How did you meet Marika?”
“Most of the people here were slaves being sold to the Western Region. The ones whose parents sold them were the lucky ones; the rest were children who were kicked out by their parents and lived as beggars.”
Ambersteel suddenly started playing the sympathy card. It was the typical pattern: "We’re bad people, but we had a tragic childhood, so please understand."
“I heard my mother was a whore and my father was a sailor from the West. The Murim world is… similar to a colony, and since I had a decent face…”
“Pfft.”
I shouldn’t have laughed, but I did. I avoided Ambersteel’s glaring eyes.
“Sorry… but Amber, you’re more on the handsome side than the 'pretty' side.”
“You might not know because you’re surrounded by people like the Senior Superintendent General or the Chairwoman, but when I go to the colonies or the Murim side, I’m often called a beauty.”
“…Uh-huh.”
By the standards of my past life, she was a healthy-looking, beautiful older sister. She had quite a bit of muscle, but if she wore loose clothing, she’d just look like a healthy lady with a large chest.
To be honest, even in tight clothes, she was pretty enough to make someone drool while looking at her muscles.
The problem was that my standards had been raised too high by the people around me.
“Anyway, I grew up under someone called a Ruju… basically like a brothel madam. It’s hard to say it’s exactly the same, but anyway. I grew up learning various arts under her. Hidden weapons were the basics, along with infiltration, how to attract people’s favor, kicking techniques, and…”
“Yeah, yeah. You had a tragic childhood. Right, I can understand a little bit why you’re a thug!”
“No, wait… the story is just getting started?”
The blonde sister seemed to want to explain the entire world-building to me, but I was a very busy person.
“You went through all sorts of hardships and struggles, met Marika, and came over here. Right?”
“That’s not wrong… but the story is a bit longer than that?”
“How many minutes?”
“About… fifteen hours should do it…”
I shook off Ambersteel’s hand.
“Ah…!”
“I’m really busy today! I’ll listen to it slowly later! Slowly!”
“But! At least the story of when I was five and escaped the brothel…!”
“Hey, I have to clean out Goldie’s hole today! Get your hand off the button!”
I was appalled by Amber, who was holding the elevator button to keep me from going up.
“Five minutes is all I need! Five minutes!”
“Aw, geez! I came here today with high expectations! I said I’ll listen later!”
“Come on! Just listen for a bit!”
It wasn’t even her hometown, and if she lived in another dimension, who wouldn’t have a past? Forced by Ambersteel’s stubbornness, I had no choice but to press the call button.
—Yes, how can I help you~?
“Amber is holding me here and won’t let go! Bring Lisar!”
“Hiek?!”
At the mention of Lisar, Amber immediately took her hand off the button.
“Important stories like that! You don’t just tell them in passing! You tell them in a good atmosphere! Got it?”
“…Fine, I get it. The Chairwoman is here for the first time in a while, so take good care of her~!”
“Eh? Really? You’re lying, right!?”
“I swear on my mom. For real! Am-chang!”
Amber touched her index finger to her tongue and then tapped her forehead with her pinky. I barely managed to hold back the urge to say, “But your mom really is a whore.” I could feel her sincerity.
I barely managed to hold back the urge to say, “But your mom really is a whore.” I could feel her sincerity.
This was bad. I was planning on spraying some grease into Goldie’s hole today!