Vol 1 Chapter 15 – Rampage【Vol 1: A Man Who Wants to Buy a Slave】

Two weeks passed, and we lived separately. I continued staying in the house I’d purchased, while Nemu stayed at an inn called the Evening Mist Inn, located some distance away .

The reason for staying at a distant inn was to give the impression that Nemu and I had a falling out. I figured it would make it easier for the other side to be misled .

Going from living with someone to suddenly living alone left me feeling somewhat lonely. We’d basically eaten meals together and had a decent amount of conversation, which was a big part of it. As reluctant as I was to admit it, I’d been having fun thanks to Nemu .

Honestly, realizing that was embarrassing and painful .

“If Nemu’s okay with it, maybe I’ll let her stay until I buy a slave.”

The day before I was supposed to pick Nemu up, I’d been muttering such carefree thoughts. And the next day, I headed to the Evening Mist Inn to pick up Nemu .

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When I arrived at the Evening Mist Inn, I called out to a man who was spacing out with his elbow on the reception desk, saying I’d come to pick up a cat woman named Nemu who’d been staying there for two weeks. After lightly flipping through the ledger, the man said something unbelievable .

“Ahh, that guest already checked out.”

“Huh? Nemu’s not here!? What the hell do you mean! There’s no way she’d just disappear on her own! She’s only interested in eating and sleeping! Check properly!”

Panicking at the man’s words, I tried to grab the ledger. But the man protected it from me and started flipping through it again himself. Then he pointed at the column with “Nemu” written in it and spread it out in front of me .

“See, it’s written right here, isn’t it? She checked out three days ago already!”

“Y-You’re lying! We promised I’d pick her up today!”

“I don’t know anything about that! Maybe she didn’t want you to come pick her up? Come on, that’s enough! I’ve got work to do too!”

The man said that and kicked me out of the shop. At a loss, I decided to wait in front of the shop, believing the man’s words were a lie .

One hour, two hours—I’d come to pick her up in the morning, but the area was already starting to be illuminated in orange. Even by that time, Nemu hadn’t appeared before me .

“Where the hell did that stupid cat woman go… I won’t forgive her for breaking our promise and going somewhere!”

I kicked the ground repeatedly in irritation. When that girl came back, I’d cut fish out of her meals for a while. Also, I’d increase the maid outfit days to twice a week .

I killed time thinking about such things, but even when night fell, Nemu didn’t appear .

“…Well, maybe I was the only one who thought we’d gotten closer. To Nemu, I was probably just some weird guy who fed her.”

Memories from my previous life flickered through my head. Even when I got close to normal women, they all ended up dating handsome guys or high-earning men. This time was just the same. That’s why I can’t trust women who aren’t slaves .

With heavy steps, I started walking and headed to the Adventurers Guild .

◇

“Hey Yuuki, I’m telling you you’re drinking too much! Stop already!”

“Shut up! I’m pissed off after getting tricked by a shitty woman! How can I deal with this without drinking!”

An hour after calling out Zeke and Rain to start drinking in despair. Normally I drank while sobering up with Detoxification magic, but today I was dead drunk. The two of them were quite flustered, seeing me like this for the first time .

“You said ‘I got tricked by a shitty woman!’ so we came with you, but you’re seriously drinking too much, man. What the hell actually happened?”

“Huh!? …Nothing happened. I just got tricked by a cat-eared, nasty woman, that’s all.”

That’s right, I was just an idiot. I’d spent a month and a half together with her and misunderstood that we’d gotten close. Nemu had just found a better place than my house .

Zeke and Rain reacted to my words .

“Cat-eared woman? You mean that Nemu Shironia!? The Black Cat adventurer!?”

“Whoa, seriously! So your type is that unfriendly woman! What the hell’s good about a woman like that! Right, Rain!”

“That’s right! Women should be charming! Forget about that charmless woman and find another one!”

Apparently Nemu was famous among adventurers. To me, who was only interested in slaves, I’d thought all female adventurers were like pumpkins. But apparently Nemu was different .

I was a little frustrated that they were making fun of her .

“…Shut up!! She has good points too!! She eats the food I make and says it’s delicious! She wears the clothes I buy her happily! Don’t talk like you know anything!!”

I grabbed Zeke by the collar on impulse and argued back at them both. Rain hurriedly stepped between us, probably not expecting me to get angry .

“S-Sorry, Yuuki!! But you don’t know where she went, right? There’s nothing you can do about it then!”

“Shut up… I know that much.”

At Rain’s words, my drunken head cleared up instantly. Nemu would never come back to my house. The next time we met, we’d only meet as ordinary adventurer colleagues .

Realizing that fact again, loneliness washed over me. Just as a single tear was about to fall from my right eye, an exceptionally loud laugh came from the corner of the tavern .

“Gyahahaha!! This is really easy business! They gave us twenty large gold coins for this! As expected of nobles!”

“For real! That woman’s an idiot too! She got totally tricked by Geed! I wonder what’s happening to that cat woman right now?”

At the familiar name and the words “cat woman,” I instantly turned my face toward the voice. There was the group of adventurers who’d surrounded me before, enjoying their drinks with vulgar smiles on their faces .

The man called Geed grinned while looking at the large gold coins spread on the table .

“Who knows… Knowing that perverted bastard, he’s probably loving her up real good right now. Doesn’t matter if she’s Rank A. He’s got plenty of drugs and magic tools prepared, apparently.”

“Ahahaha! He’s a terrible guy, seriously! Well, thanks to that we’re making money though!!”

The group burst out laughing. I immediately activated Detoxification magic to sober up and started walking toward that group .

Shaking off Zeke and Rain trying to restrain me, I grabbed one of the group members by the head and slammed it into the table .

The table broke with a loud crack, and the man collapsed with his eyes rolled back. The men were surprised by my sudden appearance, but seeing their fallen comrade, they got pissed .

“Hey you bastard, what the hell are you doing!! What did you do to our friend!!”

“Shut up. Stay quiet or I’ll fucking kill you.”

I genuinely intimidated the man who’d raised his voice, silencing him instantly. Then I shifted my gaze to Geed, the group’s leader. Despite his companion being knocked down, Geed didn’t care and was leaning back drinking .

Apparently he thought that even though one was taken out by a surprise attack, they had the advantage in this situation with superior numbers. I glared at Geed and spoke in a low voice .

“You guys were talking about Nemu just now, right? Who tricked Nemu? Who’s loving up who? Why don’t you explain it to me in detail?”

At my question, Geed just snorted. Apparently he still didn’t understand my abilities. The others were the same, getting cocky and making a fuss as they grabbed at my collar .

“D-Do you even understand the situation! There’s five of us—”

I grabbed the heads of the men shouting at me and slammed their heads together with all my might. Like the man who’d collapsed earlier, the men rolled their eyes back and fell to the floor. I felt like their skulls dented a bit, but they’d probably be fine .

“That leaves three… So, what did you do to Nemu? I didn’t hear that clearly.”

With only three people left, Geed finally understood the situation and started talking in a flustered manner .

“W-We took her to a noble’s place!! B-But you know, even if a commoner like you hears about it, it’s not something you can do anything about!! You should give up on that cat woman too!!”

Geed said that and tried to persuade me, but for me right now, that had the opposite effect. After knocking out the remaining two the same way, leaving Geed alone, I grabbed his head in a vice grip and started talking quietly .

“That’s not for you to decide. You took Nemu to a noble’s place, right? Then take me to that noble right now. Right now.”

“Hah!? Th-There’s no way I can do that!!”

“This isn’t about whether you can or can’t. It’s about whether you do it, or get beat up by me until you want to.”

After finishing saying that, I turned my face toward the five unconscious people, then quietly turned back toward Geed. He started trembling, knowing what would be done to him .

“I-I got it! I’ll tell you everything! I’ll tell you everything, so don’t say I spilled! If those guys find out, they’ll kill us!”

These were men who had no shred of loyalty to begin with. In the end, Geed immediately started blabbering and promised to guide me there .