Chapter 59: Karami, the Slave Genius
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 59: Karami, the Slave Genius
“Huh? The Reaper? What’s this all of a sudden-nya? Stop talking nonsense, you got any fish-nya? If not, get lost.”
“Eek! The, the Reaper! Don’t you ever say that word in front of me again, Karami!”
“The Reaper… I saw him…. A huge scythe. He cut me and… my soul… floated away…. Gack.”
The cat person foamed at the mouth and fainted. I’d lost count of how many times I’d seen this reaction.
Some said they’d never even seen the Reaper.
Some freaked out at the mere mention of his name.
And some just fainted outright.
Deciding I wouldn’t get any more information by asking around, I sighed and left the alley.
Seira reported the situation with a deadpan expression.
“The cat people were indeed attacked by the Reaper, but aside from the mental shock, it’s safe to say there was almost no actual damage.”
“Is that so…”
“It should be a good thing that there was no damage, yet your reaction is… complicated. Is there something I’m missing?”
“No. I’m just tired.”
I gave Seira a vague excuse, but I had one more piece of information she didn’t know about.
‘The contracts… they’re all broken.’
The soul contracts I had with the cat people were all severed. They were no longer my slaves. Since I couldn’t liberate them, I couldn’t get any points, either.
All the fish I’d invested so far had been reduced to volunteer work to fill their bellies.
It was a painful loss, especially when I was already short on points, but it wasn’t a matter to risk my life over. I wasn’t that desperate for money yet.
It was a huge relief that my connection with Rin hadn’t been severed. I knew from my first slave contract that you can’t re-contract with someone you’ve liberated.
The problem lay elsewhere entirely.
[Fully Liberate the Main Slaves. Progress: 1/5]
The only quest given to me when I was transmigrated into the world of TOS. The number, which should have been 2 after I liberated Mirabelle and Alfia, had changed to 1.
This shouldn’t be happening.
Of all things, this was the one thing that shouldn’t change.
‘Why on earth did the number decrease?’
I didn’t think it was a bug. I couldn’t think of this like a game. In other words, something must have happened to one of the two I had liberated.
Mirabelle.
Or Alfia.
‘It’s most likely Mirabelle.’
Mirabelle’s Reaper appeared, removed the slaves’ shackles, and the number of liberated people decreased, all overnight. I didn’t think for a second that it was a coincidence.
Something must have happened with Mirabelle.
What could be the problem?
As a witch, Mirabelle could use all sorts of magic. By now, with so much time having passed, she could probably use even more magic than when she was with me.
If so, could she have somehow re-established a contract?
…
‘Does that even make sense?’
Who in their right mind would want to become a slave again? My confusion was making me think of absurd things.
First of all, it was definitely not a re-contract.
Then the next possibility…
…
I had no idea.
What should I do?
Should I go and check on Mirabelle?
But I had no way of finding her, and if I did, what if she tried to get revenge…?
My head was spinning.
My thoughts were a mess.
Tug, tug.
Just then, someone tugged on my hand. I looked down to see Rin looking up at me. She ran on all fours when she was escaping, but she knew how to walk on two feet.
…Right.
I couldn’t let myself be shaken by variables.
The most important thing right now was Rin. There was no point in worrying about something I didn’t fully understand. I’d deal with Rin first and figure out the details later.
Think positive.
Thanks to the Reaper showing up, Rin and I had gotten closer, right? Thanks to that, I could proceed to the next step.
“Rin, we have somewhere to go.”
*
[The Fox Who Brings Misfortune]
It feels redundant to explain, but Rin is a gumiho. The nine-tailed fox from the legends.
She doesn’t eat human livers, and she has no desire to become human, so in that sense, you could say she’s subtly different.
The condition for Rin’s complete liberation:
To resolve the trials brought on by the misfortune she passively carries and raise her into a proper gumiho. And in the end, to free her from that misfortune.
To do that, the first step was Rin’s basic growth.
“Rin, kill the slime.”
How to raise this Rin.
When Rin, who is classified as both a beastkin and a yokai, defeats a monster, she can absorb its power. Absorbing this energy increases her spiritual power, the source of her strength.
As her spiritual power increases, she grows stronger and develops.
In short, to make Rin grow, we just had to shut up and hunt. That’s why I brought Rin to the swamp, the slime’s habitat.
“Kyang?”
But Rin just stood in front of the slime and stared blankly at me. Her expression said, ‘Why should I?’ Her affection for me may have increased, but she didn’t follow my orders unconditionally.
But not to worry.
“Ten slimes per piece of pork.”
“…”
“…Beef.”
“Kkang!”
Rin only reacted after I offered a reward. Her fox ears perked up as if an exclamation mark had appeared above her head.
She sure knew that beef was delicious. I kept feeding her expensive food, and now her palate rivaled a noble’s.
Rin placed her hands on the ground, taking a hunting stance.
Well, as long as she followed my orders, that’s all that mattered. If you’re going to show some enthusiasm, I’ll match it.
I thrust my arm forward with vigor.
“Go, Rin! Quick Attack!”
“Kyang!”
“Use Crunch!”
“Kkang!”
“Wind Scar!”
“Kyang!”
Together, Rin and I tore through the swamp.
We combed through the swamp, and whenever we found a slime, she would tear it to shreds and crush its core with her teeth.
The energy that flowed out of the dead monsters’ corpses streamed into Rin. It seemed to be her first time absorbing energy, as even Rin herself looked bewildered.
But the more energy she absorbed, the more accustomed she became, and now she was hunting slimes on her own without any orders from me.
I guessed it was an action based on instinct.
After hunting like that for a while, Rin had already taken down thirty slimes.
‘Should we head back soon?’
Even if we wanted to hunt more, we’d wiped out all the slimes in the vicinity. Since neither of us could use magic, we had to rely on Rin’s sense of smell, but slimes are odorless.
It wasn’t like today was our only chance, so there was no need to go through the trouble of searching the entire forest.
“Let’s go back.”
“Kkang.”
I was about to turn back when Rin barked, staring at a certain spot. A rabbit was nibbling on some grass.
But it was a bit big.
Its teeth were fucking huge, and it had a horn on its head.
It wasn’t an ordinary rabbit, but a demonic beast called a horned rabbit.
They’re highly aggressive, and their horns have high piercing power, so it’s common for people who dismiss them as mere rabbits to end up skewered.
Of course, for Rin, it was an enemy she could easily hunt. Her base stats were on a whole different level.
“Let’s go back. There’s no need to hunt it.”
But I planned to ignore it. After all, Rin’s current hunting style was a primitive one that used her body directly. If she caught that thing, blood would splatter everywhere, and I’d be the one who had to wash it all off.
Blood is scary.
But if there was one thing I overlooked, it was that the more monsters Rin caught, the more her hunting instincts were awakening.
Rin, who had only ever run away, had discovered the joy of being the chaser. Right now, in Rin’s eyes, Horned Rabbit = Meat = Toy.
Pounce!
“Hey, wait—”
I didn’t even have time to stop her.
Rin shot out like a bullet.
The horned rabbit, which had been leisurely grazing, flinched and turned toward Rin, but it was too late. Rin, her claws sharpened, swung her arm wide.
Slice.
The moment her claws touched the horned rabbit’s flesh, they sliced through smoothly with no resistance, as if cutting through wind.
Far from putting up a fight, the horned rabbit didn’t even have time to scream before it was caught in Rin’s grasp.
The horned rabbit, now a lump of meat.
Rin looked down at it, then returned to my side. She looked up at me, wagging her tail furiously. It was her way of saying, ‘I did good, right? Praise me!’
Should I praise her for this, or give her a stern talking-to for running off on her own?
After a moment of deliberation, I just stroked her head.
Rin lifted her chin and put her hands on her hips. Seeing her triumphant expression, I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
‘Looks like I’ll have to buy her a new dress after all.’
The pure white dress, splattered with blood. In a way, it looked like an art piece, paint on a sketchbook. And since it was Rin, a fox, it suited her better than I expected.
Not that I had any intention of letting her walk around in a blood-stained dress. That thing was beyond washing.
Next time, I should just buy several identical dresses.
*
“Kyaaaang!”
“Hey now, hold still. If you run around the house like that, Ms. Seira will kick you out.”
The bathroom in Seira’s house.
Making bubbly soap suds, I was in the middle of washing Rin.
From slime mucus to blood, all sorts of things were caked onto her tail. I was so embarrassed by all the people staring as I brought her here.
Even when I tried to subtly put some distance between us, Rin stuck to my side like a ghost. I was grateful she was following me, but at that moment, I wished she’d acted like a stranger.
I now perfectly understood how parents feel when they have to accompany a daughter who insists on wearing a princess dress everywhere.
“Kiiiiing…”
Rin let out a whine, clearly hating the bath. I wanted to finish as quickly as possible too, but it wasn’t going as planned.
The slime mucus had already hardened like gum, sticking fast to her tail fur.
“Ugh, this isn’t coming off. Maybe hot water will loosen it? Or should I just… cut it off?”
“Kiiing?!”
“Huh?”
Rin jumped up in alarm. She kicked off the bathroom wall, scattering water and soap bubbles everywhere.
Even in a place like this, she performed her escape artist stunt, but her feet were already soapy. She slipped and fell right into the bathtub with a splash.
“Kiiiing!”
Soaking wet, Rin leaped up again. She kicked the door open and ran out into the living room.
“Wait! Dry yourself off first!”
Rin didn’t hear me. Just as naked Rin was darting around the house, making a complete mess, the door opened.
“I’m home. They were selling grilled skewers at the market. I definitely didn’t buy them for myself, they’re for Ms. Rin…?”
“Ah.”
Seira’s eyes met mine. Her eyes widened.
Thud.
She dropped the bag on the floor. Dozens of skewers—at a rough glance—spilled out. The speed of her tail, which had been wagging slightly from side to side, gradually slowed to a complete stop.
“Kiiing, kiiing…!”
Rin clung to Seira. She pointed a finger at me and whimpered pitifully. Seira glanced down at Rin, then her gaze shifted back to me.
At this rate, I was going to take all the blame.
I racked my brain and found the perfect way to get out of this situation.
“She did it. It’s all her fault.”
*
“You must soak it in hot, soapy water to slowly dissolve it, and then gently comb it so you don’t damage the tail.”
“Kkang.”
“That man is a bad slave trader. You never know what strange things he might do. Ms. Rin, you’re a girl, so you need to learn how to do this yourself.”
“Haha, what do you take me for? Where else would you find a slave trader as kind as me…?”
“Hold your arms straight up.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
My brilliant move was a complete failure.
I was punished on my knees.