Chapter 6: SvesDay 3

  I woke up understandably te the next morning to find that Tuuli had washed my clothes and seemed to be impatiently waiting for me to drag my zy butt out of bed. Since breakfast conversation options were limited, I worked on devising an optimal strategy using my ultimate cheat-skill — recollection of the manga.

  Normal plot progression demands that I obtain Roxanne, the first and by far most important sve of the manga. She’s a big-chested wolf-kin — her chest must be acknowledged since it’s basically a major plot element. Despite her exaggerated appearance, she can be considered almost as important to early survival as Durandal. She is an excellent vanguard, hard-working, trustworthy, and pleasant.

  On the other hand, Roxanne is expensive (boob tax), needy, and painfully subservient. Receiving that level of praise and worship would seriously drive me nuts. Another problem, which I’m almost ashamed to admit, is that the thought of her fluffy dog-tail simply creeps me out. We’re all different, but a dog-tail would remind me too much of, well, a dog’s tail. Why do I automatically assume a physical retionship with a sve? It’s the manga’s fault.

  That entire thought process reminded me that I’ve been ignoring an important matter — I’m filthy. I’m certainly no clean-freak, but repeatedly getting drenched in blood requires more than dabbing with a wet rag. At the very least, I should be able to find a spot at a river or ke. I tried to mime “shower” and then switched to the universal gesture of rubbing my armpits, but adding “singing” to my mime routine seems to have derailed the message.

  After breakfast, I fetched a soapberry and we headed off towards the byrinth. [1] The nearby river was thankfully upstream from the city and had a good spot for bathing. I saw several people washing various things so it seemed to be permitted.

  Since I’m not quite crude enough to fully bare myself in public, I just stripped down to my Earthly boxers and jumped in. Initially surprised by my actions, Tuuli stood nearby and watched while I washed my hair and body. Actually, it felt like everyone here was watching me. Maybe this wasn’t really a bathing spot since everyone else was fully-clothed and not standing in the water. Well, we’re far from the town guards and no one’s yelling at me so I guess it’s fine.

  Not having the foresight to bring a towel, I sort of shook off and put on the shirt I had brought along. With no graceful way to change my shorts, I turned away from the onlookers and made it quick. Better get out of here before someone actually does compin. Probably good that I couldn’t understand what the locals were saying. We walked back towards the inn with Tuuli sticking close to me in a protective manner — she’s a good helper.

  Afterwards, we went to the knight’s station to sell status cards. Should’ve looked a bit suspicious to turn in so many, but, as expected, I didn’t get any special reaction. Didn’t even seem that the transactions are being logged, at least, not to my name. As disinterested as usual, the knight came back to hand over a bag containing over 95k. If byrinth diving doesn’t work out, bounty hunting is certainly an option.

  Tuuli must think that I run around killing thugs on a daily basis, which is technically true, but I’m starting to worry more about why she’s still willing to stay with me. Could my actions actually be considered average or even timid in this world? We eventually reached the sve house and Tuuli started getting nervous. Oh crap, maybe she thinks I’m here to break the contract. After asking for the owner, we’re led into a nice sales room. I’m trying to get Tuuli to calm down, but she’s nervously muttering to herself.

  “Ah, nice to see you again, Mr. Moreau. Good morning. How can I help you?”

  “Good Morning, An. I’m interested in purchasing a sve who can teach this woman, Tuuli, how to communicate with me, at least the basics. The three of us will also explore byrinths together. I’m not particur regarding appearance or age, as long as she’s strong enough to keep up.”

  “I understand. Not a dedicated Tutor but a female sve who is strong enough to keep up with you and also teach this sve to do the same.”

  Weird phrasing but he’s right. There’s no way I could trust Tuuli to a male sve nor do I want some frail teacher-type who can’t endure the byrinths with us. “Yes, I want a strong and capable woman.”

  “Certainly, Sir. It’s a very practical man who understands that a pretty face isn’t all that matters.”

  I’m getting the impression that the sver may be getting the wrong idea, but coming here to buy a sve to help take care of my current sve doesn’t help me look honorable. Expining that I just want the sve long enough to teach Tuuli and help me get settled is completely unnecessary. Promising a sve now that she’ll be released soon would just sound insincere. Better to keep my ck of nefarious pns to myself for now.

  “If you’ll pardon me for a moment.”

  After a quick nod, the sver spoke directly to Tuuli. Whatever he said, seemed to ease her anxiety. “Well then, if you care to follow me, Sir, I’ll show you to our girls.”

  The three of us went upstairs and exchanged words with the candidates. Of course, Tuuli spoke too. To my relief, none of them were wearing sve colrs. I guess it really was a visual shortcut — and odd that I’m worried about canon in an artificial world. Also missing was Roxanne. Now that I think about it, she might not speak the local, human nguage.

  We only looked at the female sves since men can’t be trusted. Of the women that seemed reasonable, one was quite young, but seemed arrogant and zy, the second only paid attention to me and the st, Tessa, was just right. Tessa’s a level 12 Warrior who had served as the bodyguard to some lord’s brat. She fell into svery after some incident involving the lord himself — I didn’t ask for details. She’s a cat-kin, but grew-up near here so can communicate with Tuuli.

  Tessa is 23-years-old, tomboy-ish, and not exactly servile. Correspondingly, her price of 300k is notably lower than the um, escort-type girls. Her rough personality isn’t great, but I can’t say I’d act any better in her situation. I’m sure she’ll eventually see that my intentions are honorable (for a sve owner). So, as a first token of trust, I decided to void the traditional sves must follow their owners to the grave part of the contract. I value my own life over others, but that practice is simply barbaric.

  With mercy as an extra cost and my trade cheat, I got Tessa for a bit over 210k. Since Tuuli was cost-free, I effectively got two helpers for that money. Unless I really screw-up, releasing them ter won’t hurt me financially. Heck, for that price I could get another… but not Roxanne. Damn, better get away from here before I do something really foolish.

  Safely outside and still with the bulk of my money, the three of us walked towards the inn… but one of us was barefoot. What’s with the shoes-not-included policy of this world? When we return tonight, I’ll rent a single room for me. May as well give them some privacy. Besides, Tessa might snore.

  “Tessa, what type of weapon do you prefer?”

  “Whatever.”

  “Well, take a look through the pile over there. Otherwise, we’ll get something else.”

  “This one looks OK.”

  “Oh, the short sword? Good. Take it and we’ll sell the rest.”

  “Um, now?”

  “Yes, as soon as you’re ready. There’s some twine over there to bundle them.”

  With Tessa being rather nimble, she chose leather armor, a small shield, backpack and, of course, shoes. We also went to another store to pick out personal items. Other than the occasional gnce that seemed to say “why are you buying all this for a sve,” Tessa remained quite stiff.

  After a small lunch of meat-on-a-stick — essential for any isekai scenario — we went back to the inn to prepare for a quick pass in the byrinth.

  “Um, you want me to carry this sword myself?”

  “Well, yeah. It’s yours after all. Having trouble?”

  “No, it’s just, never mind.”

  We entered the byrinth and I asked Tessa to demonstrate her skill against the monsters. As expected, the monsters were no challenge for her.

  When it was my turn to show off, I had them stay back to witness my great prowess. Just when my dance partner showed up, I heard a “bonk” followed by a “thud”. I quickly jumped past the tree monster as Tessa lunged at me. Fortunately, I was just out of her reach so I opened a warp portal to make a quick escape.

  “Chant-less?!” Tessa rushed to follow when she suddenly fell to the ground with a “thud” of her own.

  I quickly sshed the ignored tree, pulled out the twine we’d used for the swords, and tied Tessa’s hands behind her back. Sure was gd I hadn’t told her about my special warp-behind-your-back sneak attack.

  I checked on Tuuli to see that she’d just been knocked down and not really hurt. She said something apologetic-sounding and I mumbled thanks.

  I picked up the still dazed Tessa, threw her over my shoulder, opened a warp portal to the alley near the sve shop and we all went through. Not certain if Tuuli understood what I’d just done since she was still sort of shocked.

  Soon, Tessa started to regain focus. After a feeble struggle, she barked out, “Where the hell am I? How did we get here?”

  “Well, Tessa, that attack sure was unexpected. If you had a compint, you could have just told me. And why did you attack Tuuli?”

  “Couldn’t risk her interfering.”

  “OK. But, what could I have done to piss you off?” (… other than making you my sve.)

  “You can’t fool me. Tuuli told me what you did.”

  “What? I didn’t y a finger on her. I swear.”

  “So you admit it! That’s disgusting.”

  “Um, what?”

  “Who other than some sick pervert would reject a willing sve? She told me everything. She tried to share your bed, but you… you just pushed her away. I couldn’t just wait around to see what a twisted creep like you might do.”

  “Hm, cultural misunderstanding or maybe you’re just nuts. Either way, we’re done.”

  I pulled Tessa into the sve shop with Tuuli following timidly behind.

  “Welcome back, Mr. Moreau. Are you perhaps having trouble with your new sve?”

  “Yes, she sort of tried to kill me on our first trip to the byrinth. Not really sure why since everything seemed fine up until then.”

  “Oh, very unfortunate and not at all usual for our shop. But, Sir, I must say, it’s for just this sort of situation why ‘on master’s death’ is standard for sve contracts.”

  “Point taken. First-timer’s mistake. Anyway, it doesn’t feel like we’re a good match.”

  “Understandable, Sir. It has been a very short time since the purchase but she will need extensive training. Let’s see, her price was 300,000 Nars, I believe, so I can offer you… 150,000 Nars in return.”

  “That’s fair. I’d also like to cancel the contract for Tuuli here. The nguage issue is inconvenient but I get the feeling that she’d rather go home than live this sort of life.”

  “Understood, Sir. If you’ll just pardon me for a moment.”

  The sver then spoke with Tuuli for a while. Possibly he needed her acceptance but it’s also possible that he wanted to hear her side of the story. Have to admit that’s exactly what he should do. Working with an especially bad customer could damage his reputation.

  After their conversation, Tuuli looked sad but possibly relieved — this sort of life was perhaps a bit too exciting.

  “No problems, Sir. I’ll take care of both matters right away.”

  A little mumbo-jumbo and I’m no longer a sve owner.

  “And here’s 194,610 Nars to you, Sir. This includes our apology minus the small fee for changing Tuuli’s status. I certainly hope this event won’t deter you from owning sves in the future.”

  “Yes, of course. Still, I’ll try to be more cautious next time. Oh, and I want Tessa’s gear and clothing, especially the shoes.”

  I took Tuuli back to the inn to fetch her stuff. I let her keep the spear but switched her job back to Farmer. Walking to an alley near the inn, I warped us back to the little barn in her vilge. Good that no one was there but I didn’t really care at this point. We found the vilge chief and briefly expined the recent events. He nodded and mumbled something like “town folk are nuts”. Tuuli was accepted back into the community.

  I helped Tuuli to her hut. Once inside, she grabbed my arm and had me sit down next to her. Looking rather upset, it was clear that she wanted a warm hug for comfort. Don’t know exactly how, but we ended up comforting each other. I was seduced by an older woman, well, it’s more like I got a casual invitation from a woman in her mid-twenties, but I was happy to accept.

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  [1] The LN implies that there are only two gates, east and west (vol 1 ch 3).