Ch.93Scent of Hometown…? (3)

“Hey…”

Looks like I’ve been caught red-handed.

“Ahaha…”

When I looked at her with an expression of disbelief, Erika gave an awkward smile and quickly averted her gaze.

“Don’t you have enough material of me already?”

“What are you saying! A new pairing has been trending recently!”

“Pairing…?”

What is she talking about now…

“The forbidden love between the Purple Tower Master and the Blood Tower Master… Doesn’t it make your mouth water just hearing about it?”

“Is that something you should say when the person in question is right in front of you?”

“Oh, right.”

I really want to hit her.

My hand almost went up unconsciously, but I barely managed to hold back.

If I had known it would go this far, I would have given her limited permission.

I told her to do whatever she wanted without much thought, and now I’m paying the price…

“Sigh…”

This is really ridiculous.

“Come on… You gave permission yourself, so it’s not fair to complain now.”

“I did give permission, but I didn’t expect it to be this extreme…”

I silently looked down at the drawing she had been working on until just now.

“…Why am I the one on the receiving end…”

“Always confident but submissive at night… That’s what really turns people on. Unfortunately, you don’t seem to understand that appeal. How pitiful.”

I’d rather be pitiful than understand that kind of thing.

“Because of you, my lewd images keep getting uploaded. What are you going to do about this?”

“They’re uploaded by your beloved students, so can’t you just be generous and… ack…”

“Say one more word and I’ll twist your body.”

“I-I surrender… I surrender…”

When I spoke with my eyes glowing red, she finally showed signs of surrender.

You should have surrendered earlier.

“Fine… Since I gave permission, I won’t tell you to stop completely… but know your limits. What were you thinking, drawing this even when I came to see you? Hmm?”

“Sorry…”

As long as she understands.

I stared down at the drawing of myself.

…

She drew it well.

Of course, “drew it well” is all I can say—it doesn’t evoke any particular emotion in me.

If anything, maybe a slight feeling of discomfort…

Before, I might not have cared, but now I have a sense of ownership over my body…

“Um… Do you want to see more…?”

As I was looking down at the drawing of myself with a complicated expression, she misunderstood my interest and cautiously asked if I wanted to see more.

“No… It’s not like that, so don’t look at me with those eyes…”

What’s with that look, like she’s watching a narcissist?

This seems backward.

I’m the one who should be angry here.

“Anyway, I came here for a different reason.”

“Oh, money?”

“If you knew, why haven’t you paid me?”

Your answer will determine your fate.

At my chilling warning, Erika scratched her head.

“How am I supposed to give you money when I don’t know your account number? I really don’t know.”

“…”

Come to think of it, did I not tell her?

“Well, you should have asked for it then.”

“Usually, the person who lends money asks for it back. People don’t typically say, ‘I want to pay you back, so please give me your account number,’ right?”

“…Is that so?”

When I think about it, that does seem right…

‘No, that can’t be right…’

What am I thinking?

Shouldn’t the person who borrowed money try to pay it back, rather than the lender having to make an effort to collect it?

That’s not right.

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Tsk.”

Realizing her argument wasn’t working, she clicked her tongue with a disappointed expression.

“I can give you the money anytime, but you know what happens when I receive money, right?”

Why is she so confident?

She seems to be unaware.

“Like a true Iron Tower Master, you’re certainly thorough about money matters, but perhaps there’s something you don’t know?”

“Something I don’t know? What are you talking about?”

Hmm.

I thought so.

If she knew, she wouldn’t have reacted this way.

It’s strange that she’s not sensitive about money when this place begins and ends with money.

Unlike other magic towers, this one conducts research to create tangible things, so they need to consider material costs, and there’s no guarantee that what they make will sell well.

After all, they might be making things purely for research purposes, so needing money is natural.

That’s why they’d jump at any opportunity to make money, regardless of what it is.

But apparently not in the other direction?

“Am I selling that well?”

“You’re selling extremely well. It doesn’t cost much to produce, but the profits are astronomical.”

“I see.”

“It’s not just selling in the magic towers, after all.”

“Haha.”

So she knew.

She must have done it deliberately, right?

Hearing my laughter, she seemed to think I was dismissing her words as nonsense and added an explanation.

“You didn’t mishear. It’s selling not just in the magic towers but throughout the entire Magical Kingdom. There are even cases where tower gossip is compiled into books and sold.”

“I see.”

“So probably everyone in the Magical Kingdom knows about you.”

“…”

Right.

In various ways, they might know about me.

More people have been coming to the Blood Tower lately, and I was thinking I should start looking for ways to make money, so this works out well, right?

‘Now I’m living off money made by selling my body.’

A Magic Tower Master selling their body.

Well, that’s quite the material they’d go crazy for over there.

Haha…

“Why did you do it?”

“Huh? Well…”

Erika grinned.

“Because it’s fun.”

“…!!”

“What? Do I look crazy or some… gack, kuhek?!”

This won’t do.

I was trying not to go this far.

“I’ll kill you.”

“Urk, urgh! Wait, wait! I surrender! Surrender!! I did it for the money! It was absolutely not because it was fun!”

“Do you even understand what you did wrong?”

*crack crack crack*

“My, my arm is making weird noises! Kyaaaah!!”

Execution on the spot…

“Money! I’ll give you money! Money!!”

“…”

“I-I’m sorry! I’ve been making money using your image and was supposed to share it but didn’t! I’ll give you all of it! With interest! Okay?”

“Not that.”

“If not that, then what?!”

Knowing about it is one thing, but she doesn’t even know this?

“Why did you sell it throughout the Magical Kingdom without my permission?”

“But you did give permission!!”

“I did?”

When did I give permission?

There’s no way.

If she’s this confident, there must be something to it.

“Huff… huff… huff… I’m alive…”

I’m still angry, but I need to hear her explanation, so I decided to let her go for now.

From the Iron Tower’s perspective, she must feel like she’s just escaped death.

I was actually going to contact Eterna separately to say we might need to find a new Iron Tower Master, but she’s earned one more chance.

Of course, if she fails to convince me this time, there will be one more corpse here.

“Hurry up and explain. If you say anything strange, I’ll slice you up without leaving a trace.”

At my declaration that I would grind up this entire floor, cold sweat ran down Erika’s back.

She seemed to realize I was serious.

“Ha, haha… Okay…”

“Skip the acknowledgment and just explain properly.”

I definitely never gave permission for that.

“Well… you said it was okay… Originally, these things were sold throughout the Magical Kingdom, not just within the magic towers.”

“But why did you sell it?”

“No, listen. Logically speaking, how much could you make selling to just the tens of thousands of mages in the magic towers? You need to sell throughout the Magical Kingdom to make decent money! When it comes to selling something, that’s just common sense!”

“…”

So it was common sense.

“Are you saying I’m stupid for not knowing this ‘common sense’?”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant… I mean…”

“Just say, ‘I deliberately withheld information that should have been disclosed, thereby defrauding you and taking unfair advantage.’ Say that and I’ll spare you.”

“…Didn’t you already agree to spare me earlier?”

“That was then, this is now. Do you think you only did one thing wrong?”

“…I have nothing to say.”

Good that she understands now.

“Yes… I, Erika, withheld information that should have been disclosed, thereby taking unfair advantage, and I deeply regret this… I hereby declare that I will repay the money earned with double the amount…”

“If you had told me from the beginning and then earned the money, none of this would have happened, right?”

“…A merchant doesn’t do things that result in losses…”

“What?”

“Nothing… So what would you like me to do?”

“What’s already out there can’t be helped, so… keep selling those as they are.”

It seems like they’ve been circulating for quite some time.

Trying to stop it now would just cost more money and waste energy.

I’m not stupid enough to do that just for my feelings.

“As for the money, you’ll handle that… and if I feel it’s not enough, I’ll come right over and examine everything thoroughly, so do things properly from the start, okay?”

“Yes.”

“So? Do you have any vision?”

“Vi-vision?”

“We’re going to be business partners from now on.”

“…Is this blackmail?”

“Yes.”

Of course it’s blackmail, what else would it be?

Having already dropped the formal speech, Erika made a dumbfounded expression before turning her head away.

“This might not be so bad…?”

“What are you saying?”

“N-nothing…”

I think she said it might not be so bad.

I must have misheard.

“You heard me!!”

“Well, I didn’t want to believe you were a pervert.”

“That’s not what I meant!!”

Erika shouted as if wronged, but I ignored her.

In my mind, she had long since gone from being a scammer to a pervert.