It all started on the wrong foot. That is what Sieg Becker always thinks. For instance, if you trigger a trap with your very first step into a dungeon, you can’t help but feel discouraged, no matter how easy the rest of the path might be. If the first bite of a meal is a lump of salt, no amount of deliciousness following that can undo the damage. Therefore, having a bad start is a quite profound stroke of bad luck in life. At least, that is Sieg’s opinion.
“Damn it. Must be nice. You look so happy. Don’t screw with me, you piece of shit…” Sieg sat cross-legged in the shallows of the bathing oasis, treating himself to some “eye candy.” In this mixed-gender bathing oasis—which could be called a side attraction of Tarc—there were plenty of young couples and families. Everywhere he looked, he saw the “benefits” of co-ed bathing: ogre couples and dark elf families (father and daughters who, no matter how you looked at them, did not look like kin) frolicking naked and flirting. Watching groups of young ogre boys or groups of dark elf girls playing in the oasis brought a sense of happiness, but seeing the couples and families filled him with heartache. Sieg tried to build a mental partition, focusing his gaze only on the solitary girls or groups of female friends as he stared blankly around the oasis. He had initially flown into a rage at Andy’s harem-like situation, but when he tried to imagine whether he could—or even had—achieved something similar, the resulting vision was so depressing that he felt himself withering away as time passed. “If only things hadn’t gone so wrong at the start…” In terms of popularity with women, Sieg belonged to the highly desirable category: his features were as fine as any stage actor’s, he was tall, held a respectable position, was easygoing, and was physically strong. If he went to a rural area where men were few and marriage prospects for women were low, and if he pursued women relentlessly without regard for appearances, it probably wouldn’t be impossible to reach something close to Andy’s harem status if he worked hard enough. Under the marriage laws of Celesta, there would be no issue whatsoever. So, was it actually possible? In Sieg’s case, the answer was no. The truth was, he was a complete amateur—a virgin.
Sieg Becker was an orphan from the western region of Celesta, near the banks of the Great Almonica River. Shortly after he was born, a bandit group raided his home, causing him to lose his parents. He was on the verge of death from starvation when he was rescued and raised by the adventurer Reed Becker. His foster father, Reed Becker, specialized in raiding ruins and was a member of a small bird-like demi-human race known as Birdmen, capable of flight for several dozen minutes at a time. Reed’s style involved charging into the heart of ruins—a move most would call reckless—to snatch treasures, and then using his wings to outrun swarms of monsters in a single, desperate dash. As for Sieg… he often secretly tagged along on his foster father’s adventures, only to end up being chased by swarms of monsters himself after his foster father successfully escaped and left him behind. His superhuman, high-speed movement abilities had begun to blossom during this period. It turns out that when a human faces death, various hidden talents tend to awaken.
“Yo, the human from the Bourgeois Knife yesterday.” “Oh?” When Sieg looked up, a massive ogre was standing there with his arms crossed. He was the man who had been working as a bodyguard at the tavern last night. The impressive “equipment” swinging loosely and without any attempt at concealment was truly magnificent, in typical ogre fashion. It happened to be right at Sieg’s eye level. “Don’t get so close. I can smell your junk.” “Don’t try to suck on it.” “I’ll punch you.” “Hahaha!” The ogre moved about a meter away and sat down next to Sieg. “That was quite a magnificent knife, though. Not that it’s my place to say, having taken it from you, but really? It was a masterpiece that could probably buy a whole house.” “It’s not ‘fine.’ It’s a literal treasure. I’ve got to make sure that girl pays me back for it before I have to pawn it.” ”…What’s with those two? Aren’t they your women?” “No. It’s not like that, man…” “Then you should’ve just bolted without handing over the knife so earnestly… though again, not that it’s my business to say…”
“In that case, things could have turned out even more disastrous…”
Naturally, he couldn’t exactly say that the woman he’d been drinking with last night was actually a dragon. He couldn’t say it, but the sense of tragedy clearly came through, as the ogre’ified his lips into a downturned pout, looking sympathetic.
“Besides, you haven’t pawned it yet, right?” “That’s none of my business. It depends on the pawnbroker.” “Hey, hey, hey, come on, man… Do you at least know a regular pawnbroker you use? Tell me, just in case I need to try them.” “The Trident Trading Company on Lazona Street. If it’s about weapons, their appraisal is flawless.” ”…Trident Trading Company? Wait a second. Are you saying… from the Tricorne Ogres?” “You know them well. What are you, an adventurer? Or a merchant?” “Neither.”
Sieg held his head in his hands. “Oh man… Tricorne… If they’re connected to the Tricorne in the South, things could be bad…” “What’s wrong, kid? You got some bad memories with the Tricorne?” “A little, from a long time ago. Well, I guess I can only pray they aren’t involved…”
The Tricorne Ogres were exactly what the name implied: ogres with three horns. Even among the standard species known as Plain Ogres, the Tricorne were rarer than those with one or two horns, and they were famous for the strong sense of solidarity among their kind.
“Ugh. My jewel knife… Dammit…” “Well, uh, I’ll pray that luck is on your side.” “Yeah… You’re a good guy. Even if you are a bit crude.” “Shut up. It’s proof of how much I use it, so leave it alone.”
Encouraged by the surprisingly decent bodyguard ogre, Sieg left the bathing oasis. Though it was a hobbyist’s item, the loss of something so expensive that it could have built three sun-dried brick houses was a shock Sieg couldn’t hide.
“Dammit… But there’s no way that lady has a way to make up the money, not with yesterday being yesterday…” Even if he felt like rushing to the tavern in a panic, there was nothing he could do without money. Sieg’s job involved intercepting information and important figures, but even he couldn’t go around stealing money and goods from civilians. That was precisely why professional ethics were vital in a profession that was so easy to go astray.
”…Shit. I guess I have no choice but to wait. I just won’t let them leave without checking back.” Since he had only pawned the jewel knife in place of bar money, his wallet hadn’t been touched, so he still had a little cushion in his pocket. He decided to use the money to kill time. Since his booze had been taken as collateral, he didn’t want to look at alcohol right now.
“Then… I guess, women.” Checking the weight of his wallet, Sieg began walking through the back alleys in search of a cheap brothel. Buying women’s company was one of his hobbies. He could never fall in love with a single woman, but since he traveled through various towns as part of his intelligence work, it caused no inconvenience.
“Seriously… Thinking about that bastard Smyson, surrounded by six or seven beauties, getting it for free… it’s just depressing…” Sieg’s expression wasn’t quite as resentful as his monologue suggested. “Really, I wish he’d tell me. The secret to getting close to such high-quality women.” His words were laced with irony, but the sarcasm didn’t carry as much weight as the content itself. The momentary emptiness in his eyes reflected disappointment in himself rather than longing for the situation.
”…I shouldn’t dwell on things that don’t suit me.”
When Sieg was twelve years old, Reed Becker set out for the Western Continent, a land said to hold many untouched labyrinths and ruins. However, Sieg’s repeated, reckless pursuits were discovered, and he was eventually placed in the care of one of Reed’s acquaintances. Even for a parent, despite being a death-defying adventurer, it was an act of parental love—believing that enough was enough.
After spending several months in Timbares, a port town at the mouth of the Great Almonica River, Sieg migrated to Quika. That same year, he passed the Ace Knight exam, earning the title of Ace Knight at the age of twelve—a record for the youngest recipient at the time. Immediately following this achievement, due to his unique style characterized by exceptional prowess in evasion, he was assigned directly to the Special Intelligence Brigade.
After several missions, Sieg experienced his first love at the age of fifteen. While Sieg had been pampered as the youngest Ace Knight, he was treated more like a prodigy—or more bluntly, a freak of nature—rather than a boy of his age. In its own way, this was a comfortable arrangement that fed his youthful vanity, but while it served as fuel for his passion for work, it could never serve as the drop of water to soothe his loneliness. Interacting mostly with Knight-class holders who were far older was by no means easy for an adolescent boy; yet, when he sought peers, the military pre-cadets of similar age were almost all the children of high-ranking officials and nobility, far removed from the front lines of actual combat. They simply had nothing in common. Amidst the praise and admiration, he was lonely. The one who soothed that loneliness was the daughter of a merchant from the Affilm Empire, two years his senior. Her name was Elsa. Being a foreigner, she showed no intimidation toward Sieg, even though he had become a celebrity in Quika as the “Genius Ace Knight.” Furthermore, she lacked even a hint of the uneducated, disreputable aura one might expect; she was Sieg’s ideal. It did not take long for the young Sieg to fall head over heels for her.
As if trying to shake off the memories of his youth, Sieg passed through the entrance of a curtained area, where multiple layers of thin, veil-like cloth hung. Inside, a single young dark elf woman waited, clad in clothes that could hardly be called clothing. “A dark elf, huh?” “You’s looking at me like I’m a rare specimen.” “Sorry. It’s my first time seeing a dark elf in a brothel.” “This is a dark elf colony, you know.” “To a lowlife like me, it just seems strange to see a long-lived race working a profession where they spread their legs in a cheap inn like this. I always figured this was work for the destitute or beastmen.” The dark elf laughed. “Dark elves don’t live on mist alone. We use money to buy bread, and renting a house isn’t free. We fall in love, and we get deceived… and sometimes, we end up with nothing left to sell but our bodies.” “I suppose so.” It was a common tale. A natural part of the social structure. Where there are men and women, money and commerce, and the desire to outmaneuver others, such things will inevitably occur. There will always be women who end up this way. Sieg was no longer at an age where he could feel indignation or righteous fury toward that. He was past such youth. “Well, let’s get started. You said it’s by the clock, right?” “Yes. As long as it’s before the noon bell rings, you can ejaculate as much as you like. Though, for a customer… I suppose it’s more of a ‘slow and heavy until the time is up’ sort of affair.” “You know the drill, then.” Even if told to come as many times as he could, he couldn’t just force himself to ejaculate in such a rush. He wondered briefly how Sympson was doing. He wondered if that guy, in his own way, was struggling to satisfy women because he had increased his number of conquests too much. He imagined that his member probably couldn’t keep up, and that his fingerwork was likely the only thing improving. With that thought, Sieg leaned over the woman. He kneaded her breasts, which were almost entirely exposed save for the edges of cloth and metal fittings. He let his kisses trail from the base of her ear forward, then used his fingers to part her sex, which was barely veiled by a thin curtain of fabric, and began to massage her clitoris. “Ah… mm… Customer, don’t be so sudden… You’re the customer, and I’m the service provider, so…” “Sometimes I just need to confirm that my fingers still remember a woman. Besides, we have time, don’t we? Just show me you can climax at least once.” “Nn, ngh… Honestly…” The dark elf went quiet. Sieg continued to move his fingers. He rolled her nipples with his tongue, peeled back the hood of her clitoris, massaged her anus, and coaxed the nectar from within her labia minora. “Haa…” “Nnh, ahhh…!” Occasionally, he would blow against her ear as a sudden surprise, coating it in the wetness of saliva.
The dark elf surrendered herself to the pleasure. Or perhaps, she merely acted as though she were surrendering. “…………” Even if it was an act, Sieg was not a child to get angry over such a thing. She was a woman of that profession, and that was the spirit of the job. Sieg could rationalize it that easily. Suddenly, he began to loathe himself for being someone who looked so knowing. (…Lying, being tired, pretending to be deceived, pretending to believe the deception is working, and all of us pretending to be captivated by one another… is that it?) In the end, would he also end up wearing a foolish expression and ejaculating for the sake of upholding a layer of painted-on lies? Was he merely paying money to discharge his seed, solely to hide a self that was covered in defensive barriers and incapable of being truly captivated by anything? …A sudden wave of self-loathing struck him, and Sieg whispered to the dark elf girl. “Your name?” “…?” “Not a stage name. I can’t bring myself to climax unless I’m calling out the name of the person I’m holding.” “…I see. Ariel.” “A good name. …Ariel.” For a single moment, he surrendered to his own ego. With that sense of satisfaction, he thrust himself back into the dark elf’s crotch.
Sieg’s habit of searching for a partner’s secrets was a remnant of his first love. He wanted to know. He wanted to know the truth. He wanted to know what the other person tried to hide. He wanted to see the side of them they thought no one was watching. Only then could he feel at peace. Only then could he think, I know.
Though the name he had just learned might also be a stage name.
(…That’s not the point, you idiot!) He felt a surge of intense self-loathing. What use were concepts like love, passion, or even sex when he was so riddled with defensive walls and the voyeuristic urge to peek? In the end, Sieg was unable to focus on the woman for the sole purpose of not wanting to expose his own foolishness. When one becomes accustomed to being an adult, and too accustomed to uncovering the weaknesses of others, one loses the ability to be honest with oneself. Sieg was profoundly bad at the act of colliding with someone else through nothing but his own raw desire and passion, without falsehood or ulterior motive. That was why he envied the youth—and the immaturity—that allowed such a thing. “Ku… ugh…” “…Sir?” The dark elf sat up with a look of suspicion. Sieg’s member had gone soft and slipped out. “S-sorry… I’m not feeling quite right.” “I’m sorry, I…” “It’s not your fault, Ariel. I’m just… a little limp right now.”
The dark elf sat up, hurriedly burying her face between Sieg’s thighs. Unlike with a vagina, fellatio—which targets erogenous zones with pinpoint precision—could not be masked by mere psychological willpower; he was quickly driven to an erection and led straight toward ejaculation. “Ugh… guh…!!” ”…Mm, nng… ngh, ngh… nng, phew…” Then, she swallowed the semen. With a conflicted heart, Sieg stroked the dark elf. ”…♪” “Don’t make such a happy face just because I stroked you.” Once again, he couldn’t help but doubt her. He wondered if, behind that joyful expression, she was actually mocking him. ”…Then stop stroking me.” The dark elf clenched her hands. “Being praised makes me happy. Even if the act is sucking a cock.” “Is that how it is, then?” “Yes.” The dark elf buried her face in Sieg’s crotch once more. This time, her assault was slow and deliberate, devoid of any haste. By the time that intensity built toward a second ejaculation, the midday bell rang.
After leaving the brothel, Sieg bought some thin flatbread from a street stall and jumped, unnoticed, onto the rooftop of a house to enjoy it. With Sieg’s strength, leaping onto the roof of a three-story building was effortless. Compared to his childhood, when he had chased his stepfather through mountain ruins and scaled vertical cliffs with a running jump, this was nothing. ”…Phew. For now, I guess I’ll try making a demand. If Big Sis Dragon doesn’t come through, I’ll just make Smyson pay… and if Smyson doesn’t work out, I’ll just make Mr. Carlos pay his debt.” He muttered to himself, trying to wash away the emptiness rising in his chest. Work and inanimate objects. These two things would never betray him. Complete the work, cherish the objects, and occasionally buy and embrace a woman for a fleeting moment. If things went well, everything flowed together seamlessly, allowing him to live a cool, detached life. Before he knew it, he was thirty-nine. He had become unable to live any other way. “It’s not like I can ever truly get close to a beauty like you this late in life. If there were a way, you’d tell me.” This wasn’t jealousy toward Andy’s “situation.” It was envy of Andy’s “innocent youth.” It was regret for his own life—a life forced into adulthood far too early. The persona he had adopted had, before he knew it, become his entire being; even if he wanted to strip it away, he had no other footing to stand on. Amidst all that, Diane had been the sole exception for Sieg. Diane would never deceive him. She was a woman so strong, serious, and filled with compassion that he could say with certainty that deceiving him would yield neither profit nor pleasure. To Sieg, she was the only person he could trust unconditionally, the one he admired, and—on top of that, someone who perfectly matched his tastes. She was the ultimate, a true goddess. However, his bad habit of peering into secrets and shame always got in the way, preventing him from winning her heart; in the end, Andy had beaten him to it. ”…Well, even with Anzelos… even if we had gotten close, it probably would have been the same as always.” With someone who lacks a basis for trust, one inevitably draws a line. There is no need to be so guarded. There is no need to act so cool. Somewhere in his heart, he understood this, but the “adult persona” ingrained in him would never fade.
Whenever a relationship threatened to grow too deep, I used work as an excuse to run away. Whenever someone began to adore me, I betrayed them while the wounds were still shallow. Alongside the one percent of resentment felt toward Andy for taking Anzelos, there was ninety percent relief—the certainty that Anzelos would maintain a proper distance on his own, without me needing to push him away. Ultimately, that is the life of this man. No matter how capable, handsome, or strong he may be, he is a weak-willed man: a coward, a poser, and devoid of true composure. There is no changing now. I have no choice but to live on, using the rigid facade of the name “Sieg Becker” as a shield, and laughing off the glimpses of my own weakness as if they were nothing more than a joke. I had already given up.
Suddenly, I spotted a familiar face in the back alley below. It was the dark elf I had noticed earlier. “Ariel, I’ve got some great fish in today!” The dark elf—Ariel—smiled at the words of the ogre fishmonger and opened her purse. “Hard at work, aren’t you, Ariel? …If only I could pay you a high enough salary at my place, you wouldn’t have to go to a place like that.” “No, it’s fine. Since I’ve decided to do this, I’m going to be the top earner at that inn.” ”…Yeah, I suppose. But don’t push yourself too hard.” Ariel acted tough in front of the dark elf girl from the clothing shop (who, though she looked like a daughter, might actually be quite a bit older). ”…So it wasn’t a stage name.” Sieg felt ashamed of his own suspicion, and was surprised by the fact that he felt ashamed. It was only natural to doubt. Doubting was the job of an intelligence officer. …As that shock lingered, a sudden roar of fury echoed through the back alley. “Ariel!! The dark elf, Ariel!!” ”!?” The air in the alley grew taut. Several one-horned ogres burst into the alley, sweeping through the stalls as they went. “The take is short! What the hell happened?!” “Th-that’s… I was sick last month…” “Like I care! I don’t give a damn what kind of sickness you caught, it’s not my responsibility! The decent thing to do is to find a loan somewhere else to make up the difference!!” “There’s nowhere left to borrow from…!!” “Ha! Then steal something, then! Don’t start acting all high and mighty now, you slut who happily became a sow!!”
Ah, yes. It’s a common story. A story found everywhere. Falling in love, being deceived, women selling their bodies, and debt collectors. It exists everywhere, in every corner of the world. In the north and the south, among the long-lived elves and the humans alike.
”…Ha.” Sieg Becker closed his eyes for an instant, thinking of the end of his first love twenty-four years ago. The end of his first love was his first murder. Ah, that’s right—spies rarely get happy endings. If I hadn’t done it, Elsa would have been slowly broken, finger by finger, tooth by tooth, during interrogation. It was my fault for being deceived. It was my fault for falling in love. But.
It’s uncool, but that’s all there is to it. Even so, anywhere and by anyone, people fall in love without fearing they will be deceived. And in doing so, they live with their heads held high.
All Ariel had done was state her name truthfully without doubting Sieg, and smile because she was happy. That was all. But Sieg couldn’t even believe that. What of it? That’s the question, but for Sieg, that alone was enough reason to take action to clear his name. It was more than enough reason to engage in the unmanly, pathetic act of trying to look good in front of a woman.
“Hey, you dimwitted one-horns over there.” “Huh!?” Suddenly, a tall, slender middle-aged man appeared beside Ariel. “I couldn’t quite let that slide.” “Who the hell are you…? Get lost, you lanky brat!!” “You’ve got some nerve, trying to commit theft in front of a soldier.” “A soldier…!?” “Hey, don’t panic. This is our colony. …If we just fold it up and bury it, no one will ever know.” The ogre spoke with ominous intent. Sieg let out a smirk and, in a flash, knocked one of the ogres unconscious. “Wh—!?” “What happened!? Guts, what’s wrong!?” Sieg had merely closed the distance in an instant, kicked the man in the temple, and returned to his original position, but the movement had gone unseen by anyone in the back alley. “And… calling such a fine woman a sow in front of me? You’ve got some nerve.” “Who the hell are you…?” “Sieg Becker, 39 years old. Currently looking for a girlfriend.” He gave an uncharacteristic wink and smiled at the stunned Ariel. “Personally, I’d prefer you.”
“This jewel knife… it’s made in the Western Continent, isn’t it?” “Yes.” “There are only four of this type in the Northwest Plains. One is held by the Sylphid Trading Company in the capital of Trot, one is in the Central Museum of the Affilm Empire, and I possess one.” “And the final one is with you, I presume.” “Hmm… Which means that man has come to this city… Heh, heh, heh, heh.” The man’s three horns swayed as a delighted laugh echoed through the air. “Keep an eye on that. …I have waited ten years for this very moment!”
(To be continued)