“For starters, factoring in the value of each jewel, the craftsmanship, and their rarity… I’d say around six hundred thousand gold coins.”
“Six hundred grand? With practical utility taken into account, I think we could push it a bit higher?”
“It’s just an estimate, but let me add some padding… let’s settle on 630,500.”
The weapon shop under the construction union Trident was known as Trident Trading Company. A lizardman clerk, wearing a uniform designed for other races—a three-horned Viking helmet dangling from a chinstrap at the back of his neck—gazed closely at the goods with small pupils while quoting an appraisal value.
Ariel gasped at that figure, while Rose and Sieg furrowed their brows in slight displeasure.
“I can go up to 880,000.”
“As for me… well, even if I cut a bit of slack, it’s still 800,000.”
The lizardman clerk licked his lips with an expressionless face. It might be hard to tell at first glance, but that meant he was worried.
“Come on, give us a break before we close the books. At this time of year, I can’t help it if I don’t get rid of them at decent prices. Sure, if we find enthusiasts when we try to dispose of them, we might manage to raise the price a bit, but if there’s too much delay before disposal, that whole value becomes worthless inventory on our books—that’s a liability issue, you know!”
“Just make it out like I bought it capriciously. You can sell it slowly later.”
“Sister… well, fine then.”
“880,000.”
“Oh ho oh ho. Darn, what kind of favor is that? I didn’t think we’d end up taking in the same item twice in a single day.”
The jewel knife once claimed as Lyra’s tab at an inn ended up circling its way back to being purchased by Trident Trading Company.
“By the way, for reference, how much did you buy it from the tavern?”
“…180,000.”
“What a bastard!”
Sieg nudged the lizardman clerk. At least it was better than having an item bought by someone who truly had no idea about its value.
“Oh, um, that… er, 880,000… is-is that in gold coins?”
Ariel looked up at Sieg and Rose with anxious eyes.
Incidentally, a single gold coin of Celesta currency could buy you a non-alcoholic drink; with ten of them, you could get a decent meal at most restaurants. Speaking of 880,000 coins, in a moderately large city like Tark, that was enough to purchase quite a big house with the land. Of course, compared to Ariel’s debts, that amount was practically pocket change.
“Goodbye, my jewel knife…”
“H-honestly? You really don’t want it anymore, Mr. Sieg!?”
“You’ve got no reason to keep it. I’m a kid who can do anything anyway. It’s just a hobby item; nobody will suffer if I sell it…” Wuuu!
Sieg put on a brave face while crying hard and truly. For some reason, the lizardman clerk was shedding tears along with him.
“How much is Ariel’s debt?”
“Y-yes, 42,000 coins…”
“Well, as always, she’ll try to tack on interest, won’t she? Clerk, just list this gemstone standard at 70,000 and hand it over right now.”
“Yes, yes. You’re the man, old timer.”
“Yeah. I’m becoming a man. But becoming a man… it hurts.”
Although filled with regret, Sieg refused to call off his actions. Seeing this, the lizardman clerk looked at him with eyes of respect (though he had no expression to show it) and patted his shoulders reassuringly.
”…What looks like a buyout.”
Rose teased Ariel as her head spun from the sudden flow of huge sums of money.
“Don’t say things so unkind to others. First, I’ll sever all that troublesome baggage around Ariel, then we’ll get together properly and proudly.”
“I see, I see… by the way, you should understand exactly what it means to hand over a sword and receive one.”
“Huh?”
“Do you mean you’re going to give them the money from the sale right now? Or do you plan to hand over the sword so the dark elf can sell it in your name? The meaning is completely different!”
“Hmm…” Though Sieg was aware of the custom, how deeply he could grasp its weight remained doubtful. He ran his fingers roughly over his scruffy beard, then glanced at Ariel. Handing over gold directly felt undeniably petty and beneath him, yet being bound by a tradition he barely understood struck him as equally misguided.
“Go ahead, Ariel. Do whatever you like. As for the debt, I’ll take full responsibility and wipe it clean. Up to this point, think of it as the reckless act of a man who’s fallen for you. But beyond that? If you’ll spend time with me, I’d be delighted. You’ve only a lifetime with dark elves; give your love to me instead. Please.”
”…I can’t help but feel…” Ariel’s face twisted into one of distress. That Sieg had offloaded his own judgment on receiving the knife onto her, while simultaneously suggesting she shouldn’t consider such a great kindness lightly—these words alone seemed like a death sentence for Ariel. That in just half a day, the fortune and decisions she’d encounter were too immense to bear lightly.
”…”
Rose, who had watched Sieg’s seduction speech in silence, finally straightened her posture and spoke as she noticed the room falling into an uncomfortable quiet due to Ariel’s muteness.
“Perhaps we should discuss that later?”
”…Yes.”
Ariel confirmed this before turning back to face Sieg.
“Very well. Let me attend to my own matter first… Regarding accepting my knife, you won’t get away with pretending it didn’t happen, Becker.”
”…W-Well, yes.”
“You may have been lenient with that dark elf, but don’t expect the same treatment from me… Sieg Becker, you’ve received a marriage proposal. Acknowledging that fact, you still used that knife for something else entirely. You understand now that there’s no chance of returning it?”
”…Uh-huh.”
Completely opposite to Ariel—distrustful of humans and men alike, burdened by misfortune, acting like a timid small creature—stood Rose Alderia, the former captive princess who pursued Sieg with nothing but maximum force. She’d been kidnapped by that thieves’ gang at around seventeen. Now twenty-seven; for an ogre woman known for marrying young, she was already far behind schedule. Yet her position, her presence, and now, after maturing into a fully settled beauty, there was no way to simply let an ogre like her be overlooked. She was by no means a hideous woman who’d arrived late through her own fault. Though petite even for an ogre, the robustness of her physique—strong enough to blast Sieg skyward with a single punch—would certainly meet the standards of a “good woman” among ogres. Having firmly declined numerous suitors before waiting endlessly for this chance to propose to Sieg…
“Or perhaps I could gift you that jewel knife again? No matter what, if you become my husband, it belongs to you once more. Come on, Sieg Becker; don’t you know it’s time to pay your tithe?”
“Mm, mmm.”
Yet Sieg wasn’t quite the selfless warrior of love who’d recklessly accepted everything like Andy did. Ordinary men run away when chased but chase what flees. Is this really right? Is it truly right to tie myself to a woman like this? Really, absolutely, truly… is this okay, Sieg Becker?
A groundless voice stirred unease within his chest. Sieg hesitantly stepped backward; Rose stared him down intently. The lizardman clerk watched the scene with eager eyes, though he didn’t quite grasp what was happening. And then— ”…Still no answer from you, you pathetic bastard!!”
“Ee! C-ch-choooonghuu!!?” Rose’s fist suddenly erupted with fire. Sieg flew sideways, his left cheek the fulcrum for a three-meter tumble through the air. He slid across the wooden floor with a splash. Leaving the stunned lizardman clerk and Ariel behind, Rose grabbed the back of Sieg’s belt after he collapsed and hoisted him up. “You obstructed me. Deliver the knife to my home.” With graceful dignity, she dragged the folded-in-half Sieg out of the shop.
“Ah, wh-what, hey, don’t leave me behind!?”
Ariel rushed to chase after her.
The lizardman shopkeeper watched them go with a flat, expressionless face while slowly flicking his tongue.
”…I’d rather not punch my own wife into submission,” Sieg muttered to himself.
At least no one had heard this piece of criticism aimed at the group’s president; luckily for him, everyone remained blissfully unaware.
Sieg woke from his faint in a dimly lit room.
“Ugh…”
“You’re awake.”
The ceiling.
The colors of a sunset sky.
His bed.
And three horns.
”…Rose?”
“I’m sorry, but I did make it easier for you to make your decision.”
He took stock of the situation.
This dim room was likely an inn; judging by the luxurious furnishings, it was probably one of Thalk’s high-end hotels or something similar.
And on the bed lay himself and Rose. From what she showed above the sheet, Rose was practically bare-chested.
Sitting at the edge of the bed was Ariel, hunched over slightly, staring intently at him out of the corner of her eye.
“Well then, Becker,” Rose said, her tone sharp. “A man doesn’t eat and leave food on his plate—that’s a shame for a guy. …I don’t know what made you do that back then, but it must’ve hurt quite a bit.”
”…Sorry.”
”…Though I’m not actually angry about it. Maybe what was sung brought up something from your past love life that you hadn’t thought about in a while?”
”…………”
It was embarrassing enough when his own trauma became public knowledge.
And besides, she had hit the nail on the head.
”…Yeah, that’s right. I just can’t handle affection from people I don’t fully understand. It makes me uneasy because I feel like they’re hiding something nasty behind that smile.”
“I am…”
”…No, I wasn’t doubting you at all. But it was so damn tempting to think about. That time you were infatuated with that woman? Things seemed to progress way too smoothly for my taste, and now I’m breaking out in cold sweat just thinking about it.”
That’s right. Sieg was merely an orphan, labeled as a prodigy yet managed to pass all trials without defeating even a single enemy—a famous but hollow figurehead ace knight.
Stripped of his pretenses, Sieg was nothing more than a childish dreamer stretching himself beyond his means. And yet, Elsa still loved him, pretending to love him with all her heart.
Behind that affection, there were spy activities—things she had already uncovered so thoroughly about him that he could no longer pretend to know nothing.
If he had realized sooner that she was a spy, maybe he could have fled before his wounds became fatal and given himself a chance to escape.
Such regret had plagued Sieg for years, hardening his heart until even simple physical affection felt like too much of a stretch.
The mistake was made at the start. And it was far worse than just a simple error.
Getting obsessed only to end up stabbing and killing that woman while kissing her—it seemed unavoidable at the time. Such an absurdly cruel ending was just… terrible, the worst kind of over-the-top tragedy.
”…But I’m probably not so old yet that my body will betray me from trauma alone. And even if I did obsess forever about it, why bother? It wasn’t until I met Ariel that things truly shifted.”
And then… he fell in love.
“So, logically speaking, should I be okay?”
“I-I don’t know. But you still aren’t that well-known to me yet.”
“I haven’t changed since ten years ago. The day you rescued me, the moment we left that place—that’s when everything started, and from then on, I haven’t changed!”
As if spurred by her sudden confidence, Rose sat up abruptly with a jerk.
Her body was draped in nothing more than a single piece of cloth.
”…………”
”…………”
”…No, I thought you’d be dressed in something neat and presentable that morning.”
“Eeep…”
“She wasn’t wearing an apron then either.”
“E-eeep, shut up!! You were the one who loudly told that woman what you wanted!”
Upon closer inspection, Ariel was also topless beneath her apron.
…It was a thoroughly unseemly state of affairs for having anything serious to discuss.
”…We’re starting over, you worst-in-the-worst kind of man. I’m demanding a redo on the most miserable memory of my life.”
Rose, sulking with a flushed face and slightly teary-eyed, vigorously stroked Sieg’s member.
Ariel watched her do it with fluttering anxiety.
“Hmm, maybe we should switch? I’ve got experience…”
“Eeep…”
Sieg’s member stubbornly refused to move past semi-erection, leaving Rose utterly at a loss.
Rose was quite simply incompetent at this.
“Is this your first time?”
”…Yeah.”
Rose nodded. Ariel snatched the member from Rose’s hands, attacking it with her hand, tongue, and nipples while letting out a soft laugh.
“Don’t laugh!”
“I-I didn’t laugh! I just thought Ms. Rose was cute…”
“W-what? And I am too! If I’d already gotten my first experience ten years ago, I’d probably be… right about now…”
Sieg reached up, hooking his finger into one of Rose’s small horns as he stroked her head while letting his imagination run wild.
If Rose had just given in and gotten it over with that day—
…Then even if he’d held out hope, she wouldn’t have ended up getting dumped like a rag, spared such a terrible fate.
Perhaps she’d then cherish him somewhere in her heart as a good memory and be properly married to someone by now.
“I did something awful, but thinking about how you still cleaned yourself up and waited for me means it’s not all unlucky. For me.”
Rose tried to hide a slight, happy smile at being told she’d become beautiful, holding herself back with visible effort.
That tiny streak of pride felt wonderfully adorable.
“It was my luck that went bad. Ten years spent worrying why you treated me so awfully. Ten years! Give it back, you idiot.”
”…Is there really something to give back?”
“Ten years, you know. Not cheap at all.”
“Then let’s get away from here.”
“If you try running this time, I swear I won’t forgive you.”
”…Alright, pay me then.”
While they talked, Ariel thrust her rigid member—cultivated by the techniques of a brothel worker—right into Rose’s nose. After Rose instantly gasped in shock, she quickly turned away on all fours, still making a dissatisfied face as she demanded.
“Don’t try running! If you run, I won’t forgive you?”
“Y-yes… then it’s time to go…!”
In those piercing eyes glared the accumulated remains of long-suppressed love; now reigniting, they bore the sweet-and-sour tang of newly awakened desire.
Entering someone who’d been eagerly awaited like this was something completely new for Sieg.
For the first time ever, the person bound by love and affection was truly connected to him on a physical level.
”……Uu… Guoooh…!?”
And so, Sieg finally shed his chastity.
“Nnnkkuuu…!”
Sieg clenched Rose’s massive breasts beneath her apron, barely containing the excruciating arousal that threatened to erupt at any moment.
Fundamentally, it was different.
The pleasure of buying a woman and the pleasure of being enveloped by a woman’s love were entirely distinct experiences.
“Oh! H-hold on, Rose… You really haven’t done this before, have you!?”
Stunned by the vagina’s exceptional condition, Sieg panicked.
He’d only ever partnered with prostitutes; he hadn’t held an virgin maiden in his arms, yet Rose’s intimacy was nothing short of exquisite.
From the very start, she offered him intense, soft, and abundant pleasure, greedily striving to drain his essence completely.
“It’s obviously my first time… I swear…!! Oh! Don’t treat an ogre’s body as if it were human…!!”
“I see, so you were an ogre all along… Th-there really aren’t many…”
It was only now that he realized—Rose had indeed been an ogre.
Ogres possess a vulva capable of withstanding immense girth; since male ogres boast extraordinarily large penises, this adaptation allows for intercourse despite such dimensions.
An ogre female’s massive member is so enormous compared to human proportions that the very act of engaging in sex becomes a moot point before it even begins.
Yet, an ogre woman facing the challenge of receiving her first such extraordinary endowment still retains her hymen. While technically present, it rarely poses any issue when confronted with a human phallus.
However, it isn’t inherently lax.
It contracts firmly and responds with heightened sensitivity to touch.
Though certainly not typical of a situation where an ogre and a man engage in group sex simultaneously, the ogre female’s reproductive organ had indeed adapted adequately for intercourse with humans.
This mysterious anatomy was capable enough to attract even enthusiasts of cross-species ogre风俗—a true natural wonder—and now Siegfried found himself overwhelmed by the double-edged thrill of both innate perfection and passionate intimacy fueled by love.
“Uu… Kkuuu… Damn it! You’re far too good at this, Rose…!!”
“Aa… Ahaha… It’s delightful, so delightful, Mr. Becker…♪”
As Rose swung her hips, she gradually became more sincere.
Slowly, the young girl from a decade ago began to return.
Her once-stern tone softened into something reminiscent of her former self; being addressed as “Becker” morphed back to “Mr. Becker,” and though her body had matured beyond undoing, she indulged in the intoxicating sensation of being embraced by Sieg while carelessly disregarding propriety. Without relying on refined technique, she powerfully ground against him, seeking to extract every drop of his essence.
“Gggh… Aaaaah!!!”
Sieg endured the waves of pleasure.
It was almost a matter of stubborn pride, unconscious in its determination.
Then, as that vulva devoured his shaft ruthlessly from every angle—up and down, left and right—he lost control over his breathing, only to finally:
“Nnn… Aaaaaaaahhh!!♪♪”
Successfully climax Rose.
He withdrew his massive member from within her.
While Ariel watched in stunned silence, lips bitten shut, at Rose’s dynamic lovemaking—so utterly devoid of any manipulative artifice despite its raw power—he gently pressed her down to the bed.
“Kyyah…!?”
”…W-wait, I—I’m… I’m going to… H-ahh, hahh…”
Calming her head, steaming hot with pleasure, he struggled to form words.
Gently stroking Sieg’s face, Ariel smiled.
”…You’re fine.”
”…………!!!”
The girl had also accepted him.
At least, she hadn’t rejected his embrace as a prostitute would have; instead, she had opened her arms to be held.
Sieg, buoyed by what amounted to his first real experience, got even more worked up and shamelessly jammed his pre-cum-slicked penis straight into the crotch beneath the dropped apron.
“Aaahh… fuuuh… I knew it…”
“W-wait, what did you say? What ‘knew it’?”
”…………”
Ariel narrowed her eyes.
“Sex filled with real feeling is different, isn’t it?♪”
Ariel was feeling the same thing Sieg felt.
It was chaotic. It was orgiastic.
Love truly seems to accelerate pleasure.
After so long, having been desired not just as a body but as a person, Ariel began to drown in ecstasy with an expression of pure innocence—far from her rough movements.
“Mmmngh… Siegg… San… You’re… you’re actually lovin’ me… love me…!?”
“Aaaah… I want to love you… over and over again, forever!!”
“Fufu… is that okay…? Am I… ahnn… allowed to want that sort of thing yet…?♪”
“Yes… if it’s from my crotch then damn it, YES!!”
Schluup, schluup, with every thrust of her hips came the sound of friction, as they gripped each other’s pleasure points in an intense, grinding fuck.
Seeing this, Rose began to reach for involvement once more.
“Mr. Becker, me too… let me be loved too… Am I not allowed?”
“You’re not out of it you bitch! How happy this man is!!!”
And then he plunged his hand into Rose’s vagina.
“Kiiyaaah!!?”
“There now, there there!!”
Rose’s vagina was pierced by the sheer presence of Becker’s hand, rupturing her hymen piece by piece.
Though she recoiled in instant shock at his aggressive assault, Rose still offered a tearful, trembling smile.
”…Idiot… the worst… so cruel…♪”
Fucking the dark elf with their crotches together, fucking the ogre with fists.
Sieg finally lost control of his pleasure and climbed to the summit, firmly connecting himself with the two naked-women-apron-served women before him.
“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!”
“Nn… ku… aaaaahhhhh!!!”
“Wooooohh!!!”
And then he ejaculated magnificently.
It wasn’t until late at night that Ariel, led by Sieg, returned to the rented house in the slums—a maze of earthen walls—at his own residence.
She had even paid back the debt she’d incurred from a moneylender affiliated with the Tower Emblem syndicate. Now, no worries remained behind her.
As they walked home, whispering about how to change their lives going forward…
“I can’t offer much by way of hospitality, but I can at least put out some tea.”
“Right. My throat feels like it’s made of dry straw.”
As they smiled at each other and reached for the door handle, a single letter was clutched between the wood and frame.
“This…?”
Ariel opens the letter.
Sieg reads its contents faster than she can, a habit born from his spymaster days that now only fills him with regret.
“Eh… um, person…”
A letter from her former lover, who had vanished on a whim while leaving Ariel behind.
Now that business is finally thriving and he has enough money to repay his debts, he writes that he’d like to come get her.
Scanning the hurried note in the corner of the envelope, it seems he realized she’s around here, but didn’t know exactly where she was, so he asked a neighbor to deliver it.
“No way…”
Ariel’s eyes flutter as she processes this.
Sieg can feel her emotions like a hot flame against his skin.
No matter how selfishly she’d disappeared, the time they shared together certainly hadn’t lasted just one or two days.
Beneath Ariel’s resolve to work without running away burns an unextinguished longing for him.
But Sieg can do nothing about that, and never could.
After all, he merely showed up unexpectedly this morning, confessed in a burst, and inserted his claws into a crack in her heart—nothing more than an interloper who forced his way in using only his money and strength. How much weight could such a man truly carry?
Right.
Just a flashy white daydream.
“Arl… sir…” With her head hung low, turning back to beg for salvation, there was no one left in front of Ariel’s eyes. From the very start, as if nothing had ever happened, not even a footprint remained where he had stood.
”…”
Peering at the moon from a back alley, Sieg stares into a trance.
A shadow mocks him.
“Hah… hah… So you’re not spending tonight in a woman’s bed?”
”…Yo, you guys.”
The three bodyguards of the Ace Knights—clad head-to-toe in leather armor and masks.
“Aw, you look so dashing.”
“Not even close to being that cute, ya moron. After you paid at the Tower office, the original debtor showed up, and now here you are looking all depressed alone… hahahaha!”
“I don’t care about that anyway.”
”…Don’t tell me they hired you guys just to get underestimated by their employers?”
“Yep, exactly. That’s why we were hunting for you, Sieg Becker.”
Maito tilts his head sharply and eyes dart around wildly.
“We can’t stand being looked down on! Gutsless rats like you better die or else it’s time to cut ties… oh right, but you’re all acting so spacey while actually laying mines, setting traps, and pouring oil everywhere.”
“It’s my habit. Even when I don’t intend to do anything, the traps get set somehow.”
A tone as casual as if he were talking to an old friend.
Maito draws a new blade and presses it against Sieg.
“I’ve got you figured out; tricks like that won’t work on us tonight. I want you to die in style.”
“Man? No way, too much trouble.”
Sieg waves his hands with a face drained of all energy.
“Die already, Sieg Becker.”
Maito leaps. Leon sprints along the wall while Davis swings his mace to level the ground, smashing traps as he charges forward.
Sieg casually stands up and, without warning, severs Maito’s head from his body.
”!?!”
It looks as though mere standing caused Maito’s torso and head to split apart in weeping pieces. Davis and Leon freeze, shocked.
Sieg cracks his neck with a series of pops, then flashes bloodied knives with a sharp swish.
“Well, I did say earlier that even thugs shouldn’t kill civilians during the day, but—”
Sieg grins widely, eyes wide open.
“Lie. You damn fools—don’t strike when people are in a foul mood; they’d end up joyful instead.”
The next morning, their bodies were discovered behind the offices of the Tower Emblem agency.
“Haaah…” After having breakfast at Carlos’s residence, Sieg slumped his shoulders and headed toward the carriage departure point. Originally, it was time for him to separate from Diane’s group, report on Lyra’s presence and Andy’s treatment, and seek further instructions regarding future activities from Minister Ashton. At a moment like this, solitude felt refreshing. Still, he couldn’t let loose recklessly; he endlessly berated himself internally: “Think about your age!” and resolved to enjoy a leisurely carriage journey.
That’s it.
“BEECKAAR!!”
“SIEG-SAN!”
As Sieg attempted to board the carriage, an outstretched hand from behind yanked him down.
It was Rose. Beside her stood Ariel, both dressed in travel gear.
“Why did you try to slip away on your own? Marriage isn’t a one-day event, you know.”
“Uh, uh… I’ll consider that knife as accepted! But not as money!”
”…Huh?”
As Sieg stared blankly, the two of them chuckled.
“Proposal accepted!”
Well now, it’s time to reclaim this worst-of-begins.