Ch.46Knowing How to Play the Victim. An NPC Who Knows How to Cry Foul. (5)

# Do I Have Acting Talent?

“W-wait. What are you talking about…”

“No!! Shit. You were just fondling my slave’s breasts like this! I saw you doing it, and you’re going to deny it?!”

I make groping motions right in front of that big-breasted market lady’s chest, and she looks at me in bewilderment. Hmm, should I keep doing this?

“…I don’t know what you’re thinking, but could you stop acting like some third-rate thug? I roughly know who you are and what kind of journey you’ve been on…”

“What? You knew and still touched her? What’s wrong with you? Are you some kind of pervert too?”

“…Excuse me?”

“You knew but still came at me. All women are my defeated female slaves, and you knew that when you made your move, didn’t you?!!”

Wow, I can’t believe I’m saying these things with my own mouth. It’s a bit horrifying. Lagni, is this right?

“…D-defeated?! Ah, female slave?! L-let’s close the door first! This isn’t something other people should hear…!!”

“Ah!! That’s right! It’s not something they should hear!! The story of how the Market Lady herself was fondling someone else’s slave—a divine quality one at that—because she wanted to buy her isn’t a good story at all!!!”

Perhaps because I kept emphasizing the breast-touching, the woman’s face turns red. Hmm, how much further should I push…

“Haah…!!”

Unable to bear my words any longer, the demon woman finally jumps up from her seat and closes the door herself.

Then, she pulls over another nearby chair and sits down, effectively blocking the entrance.

“There seems to be something you don’t know? A lack of information. Fine. Regarding touching your slave…”

“No!! Say it clearly! Regarding touching my slave’s tits!!!”

“Breasts…”

“Tits!!!”

“…tits…”

“Jugs!!”

“……”

Even though it’s a strategy, I feel like my mouth and brain are melting!!

And in response to my behavior, the demon’s expression completely sours, literally looking at me like a cockroach crawling on the ground.

Shit. I’m not a masochist! Save those eyes for our pets!! Except for Ira!!!

“Haah. Fine, I touched those jugs a bit. So what? How much are you asking for?”

And finally, the mask comes off.

Yes, just as Lagni instructed—make her treat you like a neighborhood thug—she finally starts speaking to me without any courtesy or respect.

“This much for starters!”

“10? 100,000 cans?”

“Shit. Are you joking with me?”

“…Are you talking about 10 million?”

At my words, the demon woman tilts her head in disbelief before speaking.

“Isn’t the average price for an imperial slave, a fallen noble’s virgin, around 3 million? But for just touching her breasts…”

“What?! Shit!! Hey!! That’s not a noble lady, you bastard!! Do you think I don’t know you’re pretending?!!”

“…You really don’t understand what you’re saying, do you?”

No. I do? This is all what Lagni told me to do. She explained everything before instructing me.

“You’re not in a position to joke around with me about money when you’re dealing with royalty from a country, no, an imperial princess. Don’t you understand that?”

Right. She also told me the woman would respond like this.

The demon woman, making a seductive expression, crossing her legs, and resting her arms under her chest as if to emphasize her breasts, looks at me with an expression that suggests she’s already won.

“Huh?! What’s with that shitty expression? And what do you mean you don’t know my position?! Pay up for the sexual harassment…!”

“Do you realize how serious it is that you’ve enslaved an imperial princess who committed no crime?”

“…What?”

I know. The person who sold me the collar explained it to me very thoroughly. I’m the type of person who reads instruction manuals carefully.

However, with possessed-level acting, I furrowed my brow as much as possible, as if I didn’t understand what this woman was saying.

Do I perhaps have an acting skill? The demon twisted her lips upward mockingly and continued.

“You already know? That she committed no crime but you forcibly made her your slave. It seems you were planning to scam me here and then run away with her, but you’re really stupid, aren’t you?”

“Wh-what?! What are you saying…!!”

“Do you know that if you get an international warrant, you’ll have nowhere to go on the continent? This isn’t just about the Empire or Aigram. You’ll have a harder life than those demon cultists you killed.”

“D-don’t talk nonsense!! Evidence! Do you have evidence that she’s innocent?!!”

“Not right now. But I’m in a position where I can inquire directly with the imperial family. There’s no point in wasting time with stupid talk. Once I leave this room, you’ll be a criminal within a week. Don’t you understand?”

As the woman starts speaking to me completely like a subordinate, I sense that the situation is ripening.

Lagni~ Gor~ Isn’t it about time? I’m struggling! I’ve done well to get this far without a script!!

“Here. This check is good for up to 2 million. Take this, hand over the princess, and get out of Aigram. And never mention that you sold the princess to me. Then I’ll also keep quiet about the fact that you made the princess your slave. How about it? I heard you have a younger sister. Do you want to spend your life on the run?”

“……”

The demon throws me a check as if to show off, smiling even more sinisterly as if she’s won.

Lagni said 2 million… Shit, you’re really trying to get something for nothing? And bringing up Ira? I’ll suck you dry to the bone.

“Phew. I see. So that’s what you were threatening Lagni with? And you haven’t even reported it yet?”

“…Huh? Just this? Report? Are you really stupid? International warrant. If you’re caught, execution would be too light; you’d deserve a lifetime of slave labor in the mines. Strange? The princess seemed to understand properly. Didn’t you hear? Or is your head so full of shit that you don’t understand even after being told?”

“I see. Then let me, with my stupid head, ask one more thing.”

“Hmm?”

—I can tolerate being called stupid. It’s a fact that I’m not smart.

I pick up the check she dropped, stuff it into my pocket, and open my mouth.

“What’s the punishment for someone who enslaves and kidnaps an imperial princess for life in the mines, but what’s the punishment for a demon cultist?”

“Hmm? What are you suddenly talking about?”

“Those demon cultists who were scheduled to be executed today, what was their original sentence?”

“Ha! Such trash isn’t even fit to be used as slaves or labor because they’re too dirty. Of course, it’s always execution. Why? Don’t tell me you want more money because you helped catch them…”

“I see. Then the Market Lady should be executed too?”

“…What?”

-BANG!!

“Kyaah?!!”

As the woman frowned in confusion at my words, she was pushed by the opening door and fell flat in front of me with a thud.

Yet without a single injury, she turns around with a shocked expression to check outside the open door.

Lagni drops the package she was holding while standing at the door with Gor, who has his leg raised, and out comes the demon cultist I had captured.

[(!) Interactive Quest: Use the cultist leader to deceive the opponent. (A great reward will be given if used at the most appropriate timing.)]

[Penalty – If not used properly, someone in your party will become unhappy.]

—However, I can’t tolerate her dismissing my companion Lagni as stupid too.

The status window that appeared before my eyes and Lagni’s voice resonated simultaneously.

“Which do you think will spread and be confirmed faster: you checking with the Emperor within a week whether I was kidnapped, or the fact that your secretary was a high-ranking demon cultist?”

With her red eyes glowing brightly, placing her hand near her mouth with a truly seductive expression that was incomparably more alluring than that woman’s, Lagni looked like a queen from a game.

*

“…T-there’s no evidence!!”

“The evidence is right in front of you. The fact that this man is a dark mage can be verified by anyone at the guild within an hour.”

“Ugh!!”

Unbelievable. Lagni truly had no idea that one of the city administrators they had met days ago when weeding out demon cultists was himself a cultist.

If she had had enough time, she might have found this man too, but time was never on her side, and the opponent didn’t leave traces so easily.

Moreover, there was no trace of this man among the people connected to the small and medium-sized merchant groups they had raided that day.

“It will definitely be faster for me to announce that your secretary is a demon cultist than for you to announce that I became Jack’s slave. And even if you do announce it to the end, I’ll claim that I was merely being ‘protected’ by Jack. You heard him, right? I’m ‘divine quality.’ If necessary, I can drop my pants for verification.”

“…C-crazy!! Is that something a princess of a country should say…!!”

“Is that something someone who was fondling a princess’s jugs should say?”

It was terrible. I was saving my body for my master.

But I was blackmailed, completely cornered, and thought he would be harmed, so I had no choice.

So.

“I-if you become enemies with Aigram, do you think you’ll be safe…!!!”

“Of course we’ll be safe. I’m confident I can make you not the Market Lady of Aigram within two days using this secretary. Want to try? If I hand ‘this’ over to the [Holy Church State] branch right now, they’ll be delighted to raid your entire office. You won’t even be able to sit in your office two hours later.”

“…H-ha! Go ahead! I’m innocent anyway…!!”

“I don’t care whether you’re innocent or guilty. What matters is that you worked with ‘this’ for quite a ‘long’ time.”

-STOMP!!

“Umph!”

The male secretary squirming under my foot. Pointing at the demon cultist, I can see the Market Lady’s eyes trembling.

“Yes, now you understand? Whether you were really involved with demon cultists or not isn’t that important. What’s important is that ‘you,’ as the Market Lady, worked with a demon cultist for a long time. And that you failed to notice that this secretary was a demon cultist during that process. And that ‘we,’ as outsiders, noticed and caught him. What do you think the city’s citizens and subjects, as well as royalty from other countries, will think?”

“You! You!!!”

Now that I’m standing in the superior position and completely trampling her, the Market Lady shouts as if having a fit.

Haah, not a bad feeling. Of course, it’s just not bad yet; I’m not satisfied.

“Internally, voices questioning your qualifications as Market Lady will form, along with public opinion that you should be brought down. You’ve been Market Lady for a long time, right? You have many enemies? And foreign countries will say this: Is Aigram so corrupt that outsiders can catch demon cultists one after another in less than a month? Then shouldn’t the title of [Neutral Trade City] be taken away? That’s what they’ll say.”

“Oh, right. Ponia is already suffering severe damage from the monster parade these days, so they’ll definitely jump on this opportunity. How far do you think you can block with just the fact that you yourself are not a demon cultist? How much will the [Holy Church State] cling to you? Since that country has quite weak power in Aigram, they’ll definitely cling to the end to increase their share through this incident. Haha. I’m looking forward to it.”

-GRIND!!

I like the woman’s eyes as she glares at me, grinding her molars.

Yes, I had forgotten lately, being peaceful with my companions.

I’ve always been in this position, crushing opponents like this, making them speechless, breaking them. I’ve never broken innocent people.

But I’ve broken many who were guilty or turned a blind eye to guilt.

And it’s the same now.

‘Ah. The forgotten feeling, the pleasure of subjugation!!’

“Haha! How about kneeling down and pressing your forehead to the ground to beg right now? I might forgive you for touching my breasts to that extent…”

“Enough, enough, how far are you going?”

-BONK!!

“Ouch?!!”

The sense of omnipotence controlling my body. The pleasure of subjugating and crushing the opponent disappears under the pain that falls on my crown, and my lower abdomen tingles.

‘W-what suddenly?!’

“Come on, stop pushing and let’s talk properly. This wasn’t what we agreed on at the beginning, right?”

And suddenly, on top of that pain, I feel a natural, warm caress, and when I look to the side, Jack is looking at me with a bitter smile. Moreover.

“…P-pat?”

“Hmm? Ah, I thought I went too far with the bonk.”

Lagni feels her lower body getting slightly wet at his touch, which is like patting Ira’s head, and the feeling of wanting to subjugate and crush the opponent that she felt just a moment ago completely disappeared.