Blood Oath with the Bandit Leader
I arrived home with Olivia. As soon as we stepped inside, Dana emerged from the room as if she had been waiting. The moment she spotted Olivia, however, her smiling face hardened instantly. Olivia waved brightly at her.
“Hello~ Princess.”
Dana simply stared back with a wary expression, offering no reply. I kissed Dana on the forehead and spoke in a low voice.
“I’m going to talk with her in the room for a bit.”
“What kind of talk?”
“About the golden ball you mentioned before. It seems Lady Olivia knows something.”
“Can I come in too?”
“The princess can’t.”
Olivia cut in.
“I have some private matters to discuss. I don’t want anyone but Hyunwoo to hear.”
Leaving a visibly displeased Dana behind, Olivia and I entered the room. She sat on the edge of the bed, smiling as she glanced around. I pulled out the desk chair and sat down as well.
“Now, please tell me.”
“Where did we leave off?”
“What exactly is the organization called Nadal’s Rib? Why are they monitoring you, leader?”
“Before that, it’s your turn. You told me about Nancy, so now tell me what you know about her.”
I decided to be honest.
“A letter arrived from Nancy not long ago. She said she’s always watching.”
“She must still be in the area.”
Olivia grinned.
“Is that all?”
I hesitated for a moment.
“If you explain what kind of group Nadal’s Rib is, I’ll continue after that.”
“Nadal’s Rib is a cult that claims to have been born from the ribs of the ancient god Nadal. Nothing is known about their genders or races. All that’s known is that every single one of them is cruel, eerie, and completely mad. They’re also said to possess vast knowledge across many fields and considerable magical power. They’re no ordinary people.”
Olivia leaned back and lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as she continued.
“The reason I came down to the southern region and posed as a bandit leader for two years was because of them. One day I received word that Nadal’s Rib had appeared in the south, so I went. Becoming a bandit was the easiest way to gather information about them. As you know, in the southern region it’s far easier to obtain valuable intelligence as the head of a bandit group than as some clueless lord. While the southern lords are rumored to be incompetent, the bandits gather all sorts of information daily through their own secret network. I needed their reach to track Nadal’s Rib.”
“So did you find them?”
Olivia shook her head.
“Their whereabouts remained elusive for two years. Instead, I managed to capture one of their servants at a site where they had performed a ritual and obtained some useful clues.”
She sat up and met my eyes, speaking in a calm, steady voice.
“The story was that Nadal’s Rib had summoned a foreigner from another dimension called Aranis through a ritual.”
“That foreigner……”
I answered quietly.
“……is me.”
“Yes. It was Hyunwoo. The moment my subordinates brought you to the bandit camp, I knew at a glance. You were a foreigner from Aranis.”
Learning that Olivia had known my identity from the start no longer surprised me. So Aranis referred to Earth.
“You don’t know why it had to be me, or why only I was summoned?”
“According to the servant, the ritual failed. Nadal’s Rib originally intended to open a gate and travel to Aranis themselves, not summon someone from there.”
“In short, I was just unlucky to be dragged here. Out of six billion people, I was the one chosen. What rotten luck.”
Olivia chuckled at my grumbling.
“Don’t be too disappointed. I was quite impressed by your abilities. That’s why I planned to adopt you into our family. Your noble appearance was a big plus. And it’s not just me—plenty of people in this world like you. Take comfort in that.”
“Anyway, I have no intention of going back now. I’ll just have to make a life here……”
I sighed heavily and ran a hand through my hair. Then I pulled Sohee from my pocket and held it out to her.
“Do you know what this is?”
“A golden ball.”
Olivia took Sohee and examined it curiously.
“Hmm, I’ve never seen anything like it…… It’ll need investigation.”
“I’m not lending it.”
I quickly snatched Sohee back and returned it to my pocket, then changed the subject with the question that had just occurred to me.
“Why are you chasing Nadal’s Rib, leader? They seem extremely dangerous.”
“It’s purely for the sake of my family. It’s clear they possess tremendous power capable of changing the world. Yet very few people even know they exist—only a handful in our entire kingdom. If they succeed in reshaping the world, the balance will collapse overnight. To survive that chaos, one must prepare for change in advance and read the currents of upheaval quickly. The family that adapts fastest will become the master of the new era. With luck, they could even rule the entire continent.”
She went on.
“I’m not doing this out of any heroic desire to save the world, nor is my goal to destroy them. I simply want the Penclau family to become the rulers of the new age. At the same time, I intend to watch what Nadal’s Rib is doing and seize any advantage that appears—just as I tried to make you our adopted son after discovering you. Every trace they leave behind helps prepare our family for the coming upheaval.”
“So you’re planning to follow them around and collect whatever they discard? You even picked up this piece of trash called me when they threw me away.”
“Calling yourself trash, huh.”
Olivia burst out laughing.
“Better than trash that can’t even be recycled, isn’t it?”
“More than that, summoning someone and then discarding them because they don’t like what they got—those Nadal’s Rib people are truly absurd.”
“Maybe they have other intentions. The fact that Nancy keeps watching you suggests they have some purpose.”
“Now that I’ve settled in nicely, I’m worried they’ll come bother me for no reason.”
“Then how about forming a sworn sibling bond with me to ease those worries a little?”
I stared at Olivia with wide eyes. She continued.
“I plan to keep tracking Nadal’s Rib. If we become sworn siblings, I’ll share information about their movements. And you wouldn’t want to make an enemy of the entire Penclau family, would you?”
After a long conversation, I finally agreed to form a sworn sibling bond with Olivia. It would help appease the Penclau family’s anger over Dana and allow me to keep receiving information about Nadal’s Rib. There was no downside for me. Olivia could also partially satisfy Marquis Espera’s wishes; even if she couldn’t adopt me, our connection would keep the Penclau family linked to Dana. We performed the ritual immediately. At Olivia’s suggestion we kept it simple, conducting it modestly in the room—though the ceremony itself proved rather embarrassing. We sat facing each other. Without hesitation, Olivia removed her top, revealing her full, alluring breasts. Unlike any I had seen before, hers carried a ripe, seductive allure.
“Bite here.”
Olivia pointed to the upper part of her right breast, just below the collarbone. I nodded once, took the Shai dagger, and lightly drew a one-centimeter horizontal line across the indicated spot. Her defenseless skin was soft, and the blade felt colder and sharper than usual. Blood soon welled up and trickled down her ample breast, staining the flesh-colored areola red. Olivia looked at me with a pleased expression.
“Drink it before it falls to the floor. It’s a ritual of sharing each other’s blood.”
I swallowed nervously and fixed my gaze on her right nipple, where a drop of blood hung precariously. The instant it began to fall, I quickly caught both the drop and the nipple in my mouth. Olivia flinched and let out a low moan. Listening to that suggestive sound, I sucked the nipple clean as though nursing, then licked up the trail of blood and pressed my lips to the wound on her breast. The metallic taste was strong. Once I judged the bleeding had mostly stopped, I pulled away, channeled mana into the Shai dagger, and pressed the glowing blue blade against the cut. A sizzling sound filled the air. Olivia squeezed her eyes shut in pain. The torn skin sealed almost instantly, leaving a burn mark on the upper part of her right breast. She smiled faintly, stroked my head, and whispered in a deep voice.
“Well done. Now it’s my turn.”
I removed my own shirt, exposing my muscular chest. Just as I had done to her, Olivia made a cut on the upper part of my left breast with the dagger and slowly licked her way up, drinking the blood that ran down to the nipple.
“Urgh……!”
When her lips touched the wound, it burned and stung. Having her suck the blood only intensified the pain.
“Remember that pain.”