That Time a Shut-in for 300 Years Continued to Make Antiques , but All of It Turned out to Be Cheat-Level Magic Tools - Chapter 19

As we found a hidden door leading underground and descended, we discovered Neko Mimi, gagged and crucified against the wall.

A truly perverse situation unfolded before us, featuring a naked old pervert staring lasciviously at the scene. In the pervert’s hand was a rigid rod whip.

“Damn it, there are things you can and cannot do, even if you’re a guest enjoying themselves!”

“Is it really acceptable to crucify a slave and provoke such a shoddy spectacle?”

“No, even if she’s a slave, such treatment is not permissible! But yes, it is indeed shoddy.”

“You guys are quite harsh. It’s shoddy, sure.”

“Stop it!”

The pervert was close to tears, especially hurt by Mei’s treatment of him as something shoddy.

“What the hell are you doing here! I’ll call the guards!”

“Go ahead if you like, but won’t that just cause you trouble? This situation doesn’t warrant such treatment, even for a slave.”

“She’s my slave! How I treat her is my business!”

“Really? What do you think laws are for?”

“Laws? Ha! Who even follows those! Slave traders account for this!”

“The slave trader who took me in is different! They actually care about their slaves!”

Urel argued back, a rare sight of a slave defending a slave trader, indicating deep trust.

“Shut up! She disobeyed her master! That’s why she’s being punished!”

“Was that disobedience about stealing a bag of gold coins from my room?”

“Wh-what nonsense are you talking about!”

“Mei. Look under those discarded clothes.”

“Okay.”

“Hold on!”

But Mei was quick. A magic circle appeared before her raised hand, and flames burst forth, turning the clothes to ash and leaving only a leather pouch.

“I can’t use magic, but Mei can. Once she records the magic formula, she can activate it without chanting and very quickly.”

Mei then handed me the leather pouch. Turning it upside down, gold coins clinked out.

“Do you have any excuses now?”

“That’s not it! This slave did it! That’s why she’s being punished!”

“What’s this then?”

“That belongs to a guest here.”

“I’m not asking that! Why did you lie to me, you lowly slave!”

“It seems he resisted after all.”

“Ah, he saw the pouch of gold coins and still lied about it.”

“Oh! Gold coins, huh? Nice!”

“And he was going to sell that magical tool today for a big sum. Let’s take that too. But first, let’s discipline this beast.”

The pervert stood dumbfounded as he watched the footage. Urel was the same; observation bugs had always been by the man’s side, recording and displaying events as holograms.

“Amazing, is this also a magical tool?”

“Yes, one of my creations.”

“Impossible! I’ve never heard or seen such a magical tool!”

Alas, it seems the technology to record and replay images isn’t widespread yet. A pity indeed.

“Whether you’ve seen it or not, this proves you stole my pouch. And it seems the Neko Mimi slave was trying to stop it.”

“Shut up, be quiet!”

The pervert swung his whip at me, but Mei swiftly twisted his wrist and threw him against the wall.

“Master, are you okay?”

“Yes, thanks to Mei, I’m not hurt at all.”

“Dammit!”

Ah!

Urel exclaimed as the pervert picked up a sledgehammer.

“I’ll kill you! I was once an adventurer. All this nonsense you brought here! I’ll kill you!”

Quite the threat, especially in his undignified state.

“You won’t be able to do it.”

Mei stepped forward to confront the sledgehammer-wielding pervert, confident enough to handle it.

“Such a weapon against a woman? Really?”

“Don’t worry. Just watch.”

“Ha, a maid getting cocky. But, Nee-chan, I don’t dislike a strong-willed dame like you. If you stop this nonsense and serve me, I might forgive you and even take good care of you.”

“How laughable. Only a woman from the same den would be delighted by such a shoddy thing. It’s utterly disgraceful that you can say such lines while exposing yourself.”

Mei, I know I gave her free will, but listening to her like this, she’s unexpectedly, or rather, quite sharp.

The man grimaced and trembled in response.

“I see! I’ll crush your limbs and keep at it until you scream and cry! Here I come!”

The pervert swung a mallet towards Mei’s shoulder. A blow that would shatter the shoulder of an ordinary person, but Mei caught it effortlessly with one hand.

“…What?”

“Oh dear, to think that was all you had, your attack is as poor as you are.”

“What, what the hell, you wench! It, it won’t move!”

“What shall we do, Master?”

“Just knock him out for now.”

“Understood.”

“Ugh!”

Mei used the head of the caught mallet as a pivot to lift the perverted old man with ease. After watching his panicked antics for a moment, she swung him down to the ground.

With a grunt of agony, the man lost consciousness. Truly a pervert unworthy of his own bluster.

“Uh, who exactly are you?”

“Just a regular android maid.”

“Android?”

Urel’s head seemed to be filled with a myriad of question marks. Well, I guess I’ll have to explain that eventually.

“Mei, the cat ears.”

“Yes, Master.”

Putting aside the matter of the pervert, Mei proceeded to release the cat-eared girl who had been crucified on the wall. She also removed the gag, and the girl threw herself into Mei’s chest, sobbing.

That must have been terrifying for her.

“Are you okay now?”

“Uh? Oh, I’m sorry!”

While gently stroking her head, the cat ears girl hastily stepped back. Her face was slightly red.

“Do you have a fever?”

“…I don’t think that’s the case.”

Mei interjected with a strangely cool look, but what’s up? Did I say something odd?

“By the way, it’s nice that you saved her, but what will we do now?”

“And who is this person?”

Urel voiced his confusion about the current situation, and the cat ears girl seemed puzzled by Urel, whom she was seeing for the first time. It couldn’t be helped.

So, I started explaining about Urel to the cat ears girl.

“So, it’s essentially Mr. Edson’s slave.”

“Not just yet.”

“Not yet?”

“What do you mean?”

The two men raised question marks above their heads. Well, they probably don’t understand anything at this point.

“For now, may I ask for your name?”

“Me? You mean me?”

“That’s right.”

“But…”

“What is it? Are you still being considerate towards these guys? You should know by now that they tried to steal my gold coins. Furthermore, they treated you horribly when you tried to stop them. There’s no need to be considerate towards such people.”

With that said, the cat-eared girl seemed to ponder for a moment.

“You’re right… Yes, my name is Carol.”

“Carol, huh? That’s a nice name.”

“Really? Do you think so?”

“Yes, I think it’s a good name too.”

“Ehehe.”

Carol, previously referred to just as ‘cat ears,’ smiled bashfully. It seemed that she was pleased to be complimented on her name, especially since she had been forbidden from even mentioning it herself.

With that settled, we were ready to proceed. After all, we couldn’t have started a proper conversation without knowing her name.

I tied up the two men lying around with some rope and had Mei wake them up.

“Uh, what the heck is this!”

“Why are we tied up!”

“If I don’t tie you up, you’ll just cause trouble, right?”

I questioned the two men who were laid out on the ground. They glared at us with resentful eyes.

“Do you think you can get away with this!?”

“I do think so. Clearly, you’re the ones in the wrong.”

“Don’t mess with us! What are you saying we did!?”

“You stole gold coins from someone’s room. And when it was pointed out, you attacked. That’s a clear crime if I ever saw one.”

As I pointed this out, the two men gnashed their teeth in frustration.

“Hey, you! Do something about them!”

“Eh?”

“That’s right, you belong to us! You have to listen to us!”

“It’s useless.”

“What? What do you mean, useless?”

“Even if you are wearing a slave collar, it can’t force you to commit crimes. This situation is a result of your own wrongdoing, so the power of compulsion in the slave collar doesn’t activate.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

The man shouted, his eyes full of disbelief… but it was true.

Indeed, the slave collar could not force one to commit crimes. However, it was ultimately just a magical device that utilized ancient artifacts almost as is.

Therefore, it can’t make very detailed judgments. Normally, disobedience would lead to severe pain.

But now, that was meaningless. It’s obvious. Such a spell formula had already been rewritten by me.

“Well, it’s time for you to atone for your sins.”

“What are you going to do! Are you going to hand us over to the guards!?”

“That might be, then she might also be released from slavery.”

“Release? Ha, don’t say such foolish things! It’s not so easy to grant freedom to a slave! Even if she leaves our hands, her rights will just be transferred to a slave trader and she’ll be sold to someone else!”

Well, I had expected as much, but there it was.

“Then, you’ll purchase your sins with that.”

“…What? What are you saying?”

“For now—”

I pulled a pen from my pocket and quickly traced it over Carol and Urel’s collars.

—Click.

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

Yes, that should do it. The collars have been successfully removed.

“What, why has the slave collarrrrrrr!?”