A Night with the Madam and the Wolf Slayer's Capture
I am not an incubus. I had spent the night with the woman known as the madam who ran the tavern. She seemed to like it, but the next day I was kicked out as if being chased away.
Your Vigor has increased by 6.
Still, my stats went up. I also received the quest reward, so that was something. Memories of her devoted actions from last night floated through my mind. When she clung to me so seductively and pleasured me, there was no way I could dislike it. It was memorable, to say the least.
“What a shame… I wanted to do more.”
I wanted to cling to her even more and thoroughly explore Madam Lucina, but her firm refusal left me no choice but to leave. It’s not like today is the only day. Thinking positively, I turned around and headed for the adventurers’ guild. Once again, I checked the request board to earn some money for the day.
D-rank requests are still too much for me. At first I had underestimated that D-rank goblin quest, but after running into the goblin mother, a harsh lesson in humility had been beaten into me. If that blue-haired woman whose name I still didn’t know hadn’t shown up, I would have died right there.
That said, F-rank requests paid far too little. I raised my standards slightly and looked for E-rank jobs instead.
“Wolf pack…”
The request was simple: [E] Wolf pack sighted near the livestock farm. Reward: 2 gold. It wasn’t exactly a fortune. I figured that at this hour, taking a bed request would earn me more. After all, Isabella paid me ten gold each time. But ranking up as an adventurer wasn’t just about money. To earn a higher-grade adventurer card, I needed to complete a variety of requests, prove my worth, and most importantly, survive.
Even if I was the guild master, there was no way he would hand out E-rank or D-rank cards to someone whose only talent was being good in bed. This is the one for today. The wolf extermination request felt like the perfect fit for my current level. This time I didn’t even need to find party members for safety. I had the noble swordsmanship now.
“Taking another request today?” the receptionist asked.
“That’s right.”
“Your stamina is incredible. Any normal man would rest for a whole week after finishing one job.”
The man at the counter looked at me with genuine admiration. My relentless pace without taking a single day off must have been enviable.
“I’ve rested plenty. I’m in peak condition right now.”
“Wait… is that rumor actually true?”
“What rumor?”
“You know… that you recover by sleeping with women, like some kind of incubus…”
“…That’s not it. It’s a misunderstanding.”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
The village was small. Rumors spread in a single day, and of course they had twisted into something strange. If this kept up and people started calling me a monster or a devil, I wasn’t sure what I would do.
There’s no way it’ll go that far. People aren’t that stupid. I was both curious and worried about how far the rumor of me satisfying Helga would spread. I hoped it would stop here.
Once again I stamped the request form and headed out to meet the client. The livestock farm was located on the outskirts of the village. The client was the ranch owner himself.
“Those damn wolf pups…! They show up every single day and drag off my precious sheep!”
“I see.”
“Just kill every last one of those bastards!”
The ranch owner was clearly on edge from all the damage he had suffered.
“I’ll head out immediately.”
“I’m counting on you!”
I left him behind and made my way to the wide, fenced pasture on the hill.
“Baaaa~”
Sheep and goats wandered across the slope, grazing peacefully. Though there was a fence, the open terrain made it an easy target.
I’ll just wait here… I scanned the area beyond the hill for wolves, but the land was too vast. Searching the entire place in a day or two would be impossible.
Since they’ve already tasted the livestock, they’ll come on their own eventually.
I leaned against the fence and, growing bored, drew the sword hidden beneath my robe.
It was called noble swordsmanship, right?
The sword art I had obtained after rescuing that blue-haired woman. I figured I might as well test it while waiting for the wolves.
Swish! Hwoong! Shing!
The stiff, frustrating movements I had used against the goblin mother were gone. Now the sharp, relaxed swordsmanship she had displayed flowed naturally through my hands. Even without any prior training, the moment I gripped the sword I could feel it—the technique she had spent years honing through grueling effort. And with this sword art came a confidence I had never possessed before.
Whoosh—! Slash!
As I practiced the forms, my final swing sliced through the waist-high grass in a single clean cut.
It feels like my full strength—no, one hundred and fifty percent of it—is being transmitted into the blade.
“Thank you, blue-haired woman.”
Someday, when I met her again, I would make sure to give her the share of the goblin quest reward she deserved.
“This should be doable alone.”
I stared at the cleanly parted grass, sword still in hand.
“Grrrr…”
Drip… drip…
A wolf appeared, drooling heavily. It was clearly starving. The look in its eyes showed it had nothing left to lose.
“Come on.”
“Awooo!!!”
The wolf’s howl echoed across the hill. At the same time, my sword moved with fluid grace. The beast had smelled that I was alone and believed it could kill me easily.
Slash!
“Yelp!”
That simple belief ended with the wolf’s death.
“Grrrr…”
“Grrk…!”
“There’s more than one, huh…”
My sword never stopped. It continued to trace deadly arcs through the air.
The scent of blood flowing beyond the fence rode the wind down the hill.
“You really killed them all by yourself…”
“Yes.”
“Incredible, adventurer!”
It hadn’t been just one wolf. After I killed the starving one, the rest of the pack had shown up. So I killed them all. After finishing off the last one and turning around, I saw the ranch owner arriving at the scene. I wiped the blood from my blade and sheathed it.
“Hahaha! Thank you! With them dead like this, those wolf pups won’t dare come near the ranch again!”
The ranch owner had regained his smile.
“Then I’ll be on my way.”
“Wait! You’re just going to leave these wolves here?!”
“That was the plan…”
“Hold on a moment! Wolf pelts, teeth, and claws are worth good money! I’ll butcher them for you!”
Satisfied with the completed request, the ranch owner offered to process the carcasses himself. He could have kept all the profit if he had butchered them alone, but he didn’t.
“You’re quite skilled.”
“I worked as a butcher back in the day! Used the money to start this ranch. Here you go!”
The ranch owner handed over the materials he had harvested from the wolves.
“This is too much. I’ll only take a portion.”
“You killed them yourself.”
“It’ll be hard to process this much.”
“Look at you, turning down good fortune. Hehehe.”
I couldn’t carry everything. The materials alone were enough to burden four people.
“Then I’ll buy them from you.”
“That works for me.”
The original two-gold request had earned me an extra two gold thanks to the ranch owner’s generosity. He mentioned the butchered materials were worth more than five gold.
I’ll consider that labor cost… Though human rights probably don’t exist in this world.
Jingle~
Thanks to the versatile ranch owner, I walked away with four gold in total.
“Must be because I’m working a side job. The money’s coming in nicely.”
I had already earned back the ten gold I invested in equipment. At this rate, before my sword broke, I figured I could make fifty to a hundred gold or more.
I’m lucky. For the first time, I could see a clear path forward. Before coming to this world, I had always felt stuck in place. Here, everything was slowly but steadily building up.
There are plenty of inconveniences, but this kind of life isn’t so bad…
Squelch.
“Hm?”
While returning to the village lost in thought, I suddenly felt someone’s gaze on me.
“Who—ugh!?”
The instant I tried to draw my sword, someone slammed into my back. At the same time, a handkerchief pressed over my mouth.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
Immense strength. The soft twin peaks I felt against my back…
“A… woman…”
Thud.
“Ugh…”
“Have you come to your senses, black-haired incubus?”
My blurry vision finally focused. Sure enough, I had been kidnapped.
“Cough… cough… Why did you kidnap me…”
“What a bold man. I expected you to wake up crying and begging for your life.”
“…”
With both eyes covered, I heard a low, dark female voice.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”
“Of course not. If you wanted me dead, you wouldn’t have brought me here.”
“Hehe… You seem smarter than you look. Is it because you have black hair?”
Black hair has nothing to do with it…
“This might sell for more than I expected.”
“…”
The word “slave market” flashed through my mind like a warning.
“Slave trader…”
“Not exactly. I just catch good merchandise and pass it along.”
“You must make a lot of money…”
“That’s right. Especially when the slave is a rare specimen.”
“I’ll pay you that money.”
“Huhu… You don’t even know the price and you’re already making offers? Besides, everything you own is already mine.”
Right now I was blindfolded, completely naked, and tightly bound to a chair. I could only move my mouth. My sword, clothes, and bag had surely already been taken by this woman.
“I have saved money.”
“A man who appeared in town just a few days ago claims to have money hidden somewhere? Huhu. How amusing.”
The kidnapper didn’t believe a word I said. She clearly had plenty of experience with this sort of thing.
“You’ve been watching me from the start… Then you must know what clothes I was wearing originally.”
“Hm?”
“They were quite expensive. Especially the belt that even the guild master coveted.”
“Ah…?”
The woman seemed to remember. She clapped her hands in admiration.
“Where is it?”
“Will you release me if I tell you?”
“Of course I’ll release you~”
She’ll release me, sure. I could hear it in her voice. She had every intention of taking the belt too. Even if we made a deal, she would probably just capture me again and sell me off to the slave traders anyway.
Ah… I want to live.