Chapter 108: Intermission Date - Yurdias (1)
Chapter 108: Intermission Date - Yurdias (1)
If there’s one thing I’ve realized since becoming the Young Lord, it’s that the world’s shadows run incredibly deep.
These were things I never knew back when I was just "Ordinary Young Man A."
The dark side of society—things I’d only encountered in the news, movies, novels, or games—was now something I had to face firsthand.
And I had to deal with it.
That is the nature of the position held by Ruji Fermaton.
The life of Young Man A, who spent every day mindlessly pulling gacha, was over. As the King of Capital and the Master of the Labyrinth, I had to give it my all.
That was why I recruited this woman the moment she arrived.
"Yurdias."
"This is unexpected. For the Young Lord to call for me alone."
Approaching in her usual OL suit, Yurdias looked somewhat flustered by Laura’s absence.
"Is the Captain under the desk sucking your dick, by any chance?"
"What do you take Laura and me for?"
"It seems like the kind of play you’d enjoy."
"If I were doing that, I’d be doing it with you. Laura does it right out in the open in front of everyone, so why bother hiding?"
Yurdias scratched her cheek, looking sheepish.
"Laura is currently sparring with Serica. They’re doing close-quarters combat training. The reason I called you isn't for sex."
"Understood. I shall answer seriously then."
Yurdias straightened her posture and put her hands behind her back. To ensure the door to the Sex Room was completely shut—
"Save meeeeeee!!"
"......."
"Good. No one’s around. Let’s continue our conversation."
After confirming the soundproofing was working perfectly, I pushed a booklet toward Yurdias.
"Gather information on the women I’ve checked in here."
"You went through all of this? This many women?"
"Yeah."
What was this data in front of me?
It was the personal records of every woman between the ages of 20 and 34 registered in the Fermaton territory.
Where did I get this?
As the Young Lord of Fermaton, I naturally raided the census records of my subjects.
—Wait, why are you suddenly asking for data on women of childbearing age?
—To see if there are any women fit to bear the Fermaton bloodline. Is there a problem?
—O-Oh, no! Not at all!
The Administrator had been suspicious of my actions, but he shut his mouth the moment I claimed I was looking for women to impregnate.
The destiny of those with Fermaton blood is to give birth to a Fermaton and then die.
If anyone tried to stop me from fulfilling that duty, they would be a traitor to the entire continent.
"There’s something you need to do through the Thief Guild, Hania."
"...So it’s Hania’s turn."
'Hania.'
If Yurdias was the name for her bright side as a member of the Knight Order, Hania was the name used for the Thief Guild Master.
"Investigate every single name I’ve checked. As for the means and methods... use a little discretion."
Honestly, I just said that to sound cool. It didn't really mean anything.
Of course, what I wanted was something else.
"Face, figure, age, occupation, their skill in said occupation, and social standing. That should be enough."
"On the surface, it looks like you're searching for a marriage partner, but..."
"Correct. I plan to recruit them into the Knight Order."
As expected, Yurdias was sharp.
"There’s still a recruitment notice for the Knight Order posted at the Adventurer’s Guild, but even though we’ve cleared up to the 10th floor of the Labyrinth, no one has applied."
"Except for one person who approached with gloomy intentions."
"Is it okay to talk about yourself like that?"
"I’m just stating facts."
This is why I like her. At first, I was afraid she might betray me out of distrust, but now she speaks her mind quite refreshingly.
"Since the conventional recruitment failed, we need to find Knight Order members through other means."
"What about the slaves we get from the Infinite Labyrinth?"
"They are, fundamentally, slaves. Shiro will manage them, but think of them as 'spares' that can be replaced at any time."
No matter how much they looked like women.
No matter if they possessed human-like intelligence.
They were magical creatures.
Monsters that killed people.
Criminals who enjoyed murder.
They were no different from Benia and her Virgin Scam.
"Once they’ve gone through enough personality correction and socialization at the 'Ranch,' we might promote them to squires, but it’s impossible to recruit them into the Knight Order immediately after capture."
"Understood. Then I will do my best to investigate these individuals. However..."
Yurdias pointed to the names marked in the ledger.
"Did you pick these knowing something? Many of these names seem quite familiar to me."
"In what sense?"
"They’re famous beauties."
"Heh."
As I thought.
I figured they’d all be 'Named' characters in this world.
"They must be beauties. Even their names sound pretty, don't they?"
"That’s true, but could you tell me just between us? What was your criteria for picking them?"
I couldn't exactly say, 'I marked every Gacha Pickup Character I could remember,' so I had to come up with a plausible excuse.
"...Half of them are people I’ve had my eye on for a while, and the other half is just a gut feeling."
"Just by looking at their names...?"
"I didn't just look at the names. If I had to put it into words, I picked them based on information I gathered while processing official documents as the Lord."
I pointed to the top of the ledger.
"I’m talking about details I grasped based on their residential districts, addresses, and ages. And the most definitive piece of information is... this."
"Tax records."
"Exactly. This is the ledger recording how much tax they paid last year. Take a look at what they all have in common."
I handed the tax payment records to Yurdias.
She scanned the records quickly, looking back and forth between the ledger and me, her brow furrowing.
"Young Lord. Isn't this a bit too blatant?"
"Blatant? I’m just trying to maintain a public justification."
"Young, single women. Women living alone. With a few exceptions, they all fit the profile. Young women who paid taxes under their own names."
"Precisely."
Normally, taxes for a household are paid under the name of the head of the family.
I had cross-referenced these tax records with personal data to narrow down the candidates.
Women who lived alone, whether they owned or rented.
Women who paid taxes in their own names.
And every woman whose name was the same as or similar to the gacha characters in my memory.
'If I cast a net this wide, I’m bound to catch someone.'
No matter how loose the mesh, if there are enough fish, one is bound to get caught.
"So, tell your people to be careful. I don't want them being branded as stalkers."
"I’ll tell them these are virgins the Young Lord has his eye on. Then they won't touch them."
"That works for me."
A woman I had my eye on.
Would the thieves under Hania be crazy enough to touch them?
Even if they tried, they’d likely be repelled. Most of these were gacha characters, after all—women who could hold their own.
"Now then, Hania. Shall we go investigate the first one ourselves?"
"The Young Lord is going personally...?"
"Yeah. I’ll have some guards following, of course, but if we disguise ourselves well enough, we won't be recognized."
I pulled out some hair wax I had prepared in advance.
"Let’s go. Change your clothes, too."
"Where do you plan to go first?"
"The place where those without money feel the most desperate."
I began unbuttoning Yurdias’s shirt one by one.
"The casino."
* * *
They often say gambling is the fastest way to ruin a family.
No matter how much a country cracks down on it, gamblers will always find a way to create their own dens.
And sometimes, the state operates legal gambling halls.
I’d been to one once on a date, and I saw plenty of gamblers ruin themselves there.
Fermaton had a casino as well.
Accompanied by Yurdias as my attendant, I decided to head to the casino in disguise.
"H-Honey, dar..."
"Hmm? What’s wrong, Hani?"
I wrapped my arm around the waist of Yurdias, who was wearing a grey dress.
My reflection in the distant carriage window was the very definition of—
A thug.
Black sunglasses, a Hawaiian shirt, white shorts, and sandals I’d specially procured.
Regardless of the clothes, the aura Ruji Fermaton naturally exuded was that of a total punk.
"...Why are you taking this so seriously, Young Lord?"
"Uh-uh. Hania. What did I tell you to call me?"
"Sigh..."
Yurdias looked up at the sky for a moment. Only the pitch-black night was visible; not a single star could be seen.
"...Honey."
"That’s right, Hani. Why are you so shy today?"
"......."
Yurdias turned her head away.
The handful of knights following me in case of an emergency kept their faces stiff and said nothing, but they were all barely holding back their laughter.
"...Word has surely spread that a Fermaton has come to the gambling hall with a woman. The customers might not know, but the dealers and the manager will."
I lowered my voice.
The ones who informed the casino of my arrival were, of course, the knights following us.
Information leaks everywhere and at all times; I just had to move accordingly.
"Yurdias. You move separately halfway through. I’ll create a situation, so find out what you can about the person I’m looking for."
"Understood."
"...Shall we go then, Hani?"
I offered my arm to Yurdias, and she took it with a sigh, linking her arm with mine.
"If Captain Laura sees this, she might kill me."
"It’s fine. I’ll just handle it with my dick later."
"Right. ...But Young—I mean, Honey...?"
"Yeah?"
"...If you get an erection in those, won't it be completely obvious?"
"Ha."
I stood tall, spreading my legs confidently.
"That’s exactly why I wore these shorts."
For the sake of sex appeal.
"Women wear skin-tight dresses to show off their figures; is there a law saying men can't do the same?"
"Usually, women don't go around blatantly flaunting a cameltoe, do they?"
"......Hmph. Just you wait until she shows up."
I started walking toward the casino.
"Let’s go. It’s not like it’s my money if I lose here anyway."
Whose money was it?
The assets of the Fermaton territory.
My chips were the taxpayers' money.