“For starters, taking into account the value of each jewel, the craftsmanship, and their rarity… I’d say around 600,000 gold coins.” “Six hundred thousand. If we factored in their practical utility value, could you push it a bit higher?” “That’s just an estimate, but if I fudge it slightly… let’s call it 635,000.”
The weapon shop under the Construction and Civil Works Guild Trident umbrella: Trident Trading Company.
A lizardman clerk, who wore his tricorn Viking helm—part of the uniform for non-human races—as a chin strap hanging down his neck, appraised the merchandise, his tiny pupils fixated intently on the items as he spoke.
Ariel stared wide-eyed at the figure, while Rose and Sieg furrowed their brows slightly.
“I think I can get it to 880,000.” “As for me… well, even if I concede a bit, it’s still 800,000.”
The lizardman clerk flicked his tongue around his expressionless face. If you’re not used to them, it’s hard to tell, but that was his version of looking troubled. “Please, cut me some slack; closing is coming up soon. At this time of year, if I don’t offer prices that make disposal easy, I’m the one who’ll be in trouble. Sure, if I look for collectors when disposing of them, I might pull up the value a little, but if there’s a gap before disposal, all these valuations become red-ink liabilities and it becomes a responsibility issue.” “Just say I bought them out on a whim. I’ll sell them slowly later.” “Senpai… well, fine, I suppose.” “It’s 880,000.” “Yes yes. I really don’t know what kind of favor you’re doing me, either. I didn’t expect to have to take the same item off your hands twice in one day.”
The jeweled knife, which had previously been seized at a tavern as Lyra’s drinking tab, had thus circled around only to end up being bought back by Trident Trading Company. “By the way, just for reference. How much did you buy it from the tavern?” “…180,000.” “You really are a bad man, aren’t you, Ei?”
Sieg nudged the lizardman clerk. It was better to think he was buying it from someone who truly didn’t understand its value. “A-Ah, um, that is… uhm, 880,000… gold coins…?”
Ariel looked up anxiously at Sieg and Rose. By the way, one coin of Celesta currency could buy a drink without any alcohol in it; ten coins would get you a decent meal at most cafeterias. 880,000 coins was enough to buy a very large house with land attached, even in a fairly big city like Talk. Of course, Ariel’s debt was on the scale of small change compared to that sum. “Goodbye, my jeweled knife…” “H-Hold on, are you sure about this, Sieg!?” “I’m fine. I’m a ‘doer’ kind of guy, after all. It’s just a hobby item; no one will be troubled if it’s sold… Ugh.”
Sieg put up a brave face while nearly in genuine tears. For some reason, the lizardman clerk was crying along with him. “How much is Ariel’s debt?” “A-About 42,000 coins…” “Sure, they’ll probably tack on interest and try to shake us down. Clerk, just convert 70,000 into base gems and hand them over now.” “Yes sir, yes sir. A real man, the old man.” “Ah. I am becoming a man. But becoming a man is… it hurts, you know.”
Sieg was clingy about it, but he refused to withdraw his actions; the lizardman clerk looked at him with a gaze of respect (though his face showed no expression) and patted his shoulder to comfort him. ”…It’s like indentured servitude or something.”
Seeing Ariel’s eyes roll from the dizzying movement of large sums of money, Rose teased. “Don’t speak so rudely. First, I’m cutting off Ariel’s bad entanglements so we can have a proper, open relationship.” “I get it, I get it. …You really should understand what it means to hand over a sword and receive one.” “Huh?” “Do you plan to throw the money you just got from selling it at her? Or do you hand over the sword, letting that Dark Elf sell it instead? The meaning is completely different.”
“Mm…”
Zieg was familiar with the customs, but whether he truly grasped their weight was another matter. He rubbed his stubble-covered jaw and glanced at Ariel.
Directly paying off her debt felt crude and vulgar, yet holding her to a tradition he barely understood seemed equally wrong.
“Well, do as you please with Ariel. I’ll take full responsibility for erasing that debt myself. Feel free to view this as the capricious act of a man infatuated with you. But on top of all that, I’d be grateful if you would give me a chance. Even if it’s only for a brief moment to a Dark Elf, please bring some love into my life. Please.”
“Even if you say things like that…”
Ariel looked troubled.
Being handed the judgment on receiving the knife was one thing; Zieg suggesting she could casually dismiss such a massive favor was another. For Ariel, who had been traveling the road of misfortune without deviation, the luck—and the decision—she faced in just half a day was far too great to process.
”…”
Rose had watched Zieg’s courtship in silence until Ariel’s silence cast a stagnant gloom over the room. Straightening her posture, she spoke up.
“Can we defer that conversation for later?”
“Yes.”
After confirming Ariel’s agreement, Rose turned back to Zieg.
“Let’s deal with my situation first. …Do not try to fob off the matter of accepting the knife from me, Beccaer.”
”…Yes, I suppose so.”
“You were soft on that Dark Elf, but don’t expect any leniency from me. …Zieg Beccaer, you have accepted a marriage proposal. Acknowledging that, you still used that knife as if it were something separate. You realize this is no longer a situation where returns are possible, don’t you?”
”…Yes.”
In stark contrast to Ariel—who shouldered the burden of distrust toward humans and men along with her general unluckiness, acting like a small prey animal—was Rose Aldera, the former captive princess who delivered proposals in straight lines at maximum velocity.
She was around seventeen when she was abducted by the thieves’ guild. Now twenty-seven, for an ogre woman—a demographic where early marriage was common—she was well past the prime age.
However, her status, temperament, and beauty, which had matured into a composed elegance, were certainly something that could not be left unclaimed even by ogre standards. She was no ugly old maid who had simply run out of options.
Though small for an ogre, her physical vitality, capable of blasting Zieg into the sky with a punch, more than met the threshold of an “ideal woman” in ogre society. It was safe to say she had rejected numerous suitors, waiting patiently for the chance to propose to Zieg.
“If it would help, I could gift you that jewel knife again. No, either way, if you become my husband, it will be yours once more now. Come now, Zieg Beccaer, don’t tell you know it’s time to pay your toll?”
“U-uh…”
However, Zieg was not a self-sacrificing warrior of love who would recklessly accept everything like Andy.
He was an ordinary man: when chased, he wanted to run; when given the chance, he wanted to chase.
Is this really okay?
Is it really okay to be held by this woman?
Zieg Beccaer, is it really, really okay?
A voice without any basis stirred unease deep within his chest.
Zieg edged backward slowly. Rose stared at him.
The lizardman shopkeeper watched with excitement, despite not fully understanding the situation.
And then.
”…Answer me already, you lowest of men!!”
“W-whoa, w-waaah!?”
Rose’s fist erupted in flames without warning.
Zieg spun through the air for three meters, his cheek as the point of impact, like a top losing its spin.
He slid across the wooden floor with a crash.
Leaving the dumbfounded lizardman and Ariel behind, Rose grabbed the back of Beccaer’s belt, lifted him up, and dragged him away.
“Sorry for the trouble. Just have that knife delivered to my house.”
She swept out of the shop, dragging the folded-in-half Zieg with a graceful stride.
「A, ch-ch-cherish, don’t leave me behind!」 Ariel hurried after them in a panic. The lizardman clerk watched them go, sticking his tongue out, his expressionless face betraying no particular emotion. ”……I’m not really a fan of wives who hit their husbands, you know.” It was technically a complaint directed at the group’s overall commander, so it was fortunate that no one had heard it.
Sieg woke from his unconsciousness in a dimly lit room.
“Mmm…”
“You’re awake.”
The ceiling.
The color of the sunset sky.
A bed.
And three horns.
”……Rose?”
“My apologies. But I’ve made it easier for you to decide.”
He took stock of the situation.
The dimly lit room was probably an inn. Given the high-end furnishings, it was likely one of Tark’s luxury hotels or something similar.
In the bed were himself and Rose. Looking at her shoulder peeking out from the sheets, she was half-naked.
At the foot of the bed, Ariel sat with a leg hanging off the side. She kept her head slightly bowed, gazing at him sideways with fixed intensity.
“Well, Becker. There’s a saying: ‘A man who doesn’t eat free food is a shame.’ …I don’t know what came over you at that moment, but you were badly hurt.”
”……Sorry.”
“I suppose so, but truth be told, I’m not all that angry. I just thought… perhaps whatever was being sung about your old love struck a chord with something.”
”…………”
It was troublesome enough that his trauma had become famous.
And, on the whole, her intuition had been correct.
”……Ah, right. I’m a bit bad when it comes to affection from someone who doesn’t fully understand me. It makes me anxious—wondering if there’s something bad hidden behind it.”
“I…”
“No, I wasn’t doubting you, but things were progressing far too smoothly. Just like back then, when things with that woman started moving at a terrifyingly smooth pace, thinking that, sweat broke out all over me.”
That was right. Sieg was just an orphan. Despite being called a prodigy, he had passed the exam without defeating a single enemy in battle—a paper ace knight in name only.
Sieg, stripped of the pretensions, was just a child reaching beyond his stature, yet Elza had loved him—or pretended to love him.
Behind that love lay espionage. By the time things happened, it was impossible for Sieg to pretend he didn’t know; she had already probed every last detail about him.
If only he had realized sooner that she was a spy, he might have been able to give her an opportunity to escape before the wound became fatal.
That regret had plagued and tormented Sieg for years, making him unable to accept superficial, body-first love.
The beginning had been wrong. Too wrong.
To become obsessed with a woman only to stab and kill her while kissing her at the end—to tell himself there was no other choice—was an excessively terrible fate.
”……I’m not old enough for my body to lose control due to trauma anymore, surely. But then again, I realized I shouldn’t keep moping forever about this sort of thing. That’s when I met Ariel.”
And then… he fell in love.
“So logically speaking, it’s okay for me too?”
“I-It’s not that, but, look, I still don’t really know the you from now on.”
“I haven’t changed since ten years ago. Since that morning you rescued me, from that very moment, I have not changed!”
With a rustle, Rose pushed herself up in bed.
She was draped in nothing more than a single sheet of cloth. “……” “……” “No, wait. I thought you were wearing that pretty formal outfit this morning.” “Aaah” “It wasn’t just an apron.” “U-uhhh, shut up!! You’re the one who shouted ‘I want to’ at that woman loud enough for everyone to hear!” Upon closer inspection, Ariel was also in a naked apron state. ……It was far from a serious situation, given how undignified they all were.
“……We’re doing this over. Worst man on earth. I demand a redo of my worst memory.”
Rosalind, her face bright red and eyes welling with tears, scolded Sieg while vigorously rubbing his protruding member.
Ariel watched the scene with a nervous, breathless intensity.
“A-actually, do you want to switch? I’m used to this kind of thing……”
“Uuuu……”
Sieg’s member refused to progress beyond its initial half-hard state, leaving Rosalind completely flustered and at a loss.
To be blunt, Rosalind was terrible at it.
“Could it be that this is your first time?”
“……Yeah.”
Rosalind nodded. Ariel snatched the phallus from Rosalind’s hand, attacking it with her hands, tongue, and nipples before letting out a soft, amused giggle.
“Don’t laugh!”
“N-no, I’m not laughing, I just think you’re cute, Ms. Rose……”
“W-well, duh! If I’d lost my virginity ten years ago, I probably would’ve by now……”
Sieg traced his finger through Rosalind’s small horn and gently stroked her head as he imagined the alternative.
If Rosalind had just gone along with it that day and lost her virginity then.
……Even if she hadn’t suffered the cruelty of having a loincloth thrown at her in disappointment.
Perhaps she would have kept Sieg somewhere in her heart as a good memory, and by now, she’d be solidly married off.
“It was a cruel thing to do, but thinking about how you stayed pure and waited for me means it wasn’t all bad luck. At least not for me.”
Hearing that she had become beautiful, Rosalind almost couldn’t suppress a pleased expression, but she held back.
Sieg found that small display of stubbornness incredibly endearing.
“It was bad luck for me. I spent ten years wondering why you did such a cruel thing to me. Ten years. Pay up, idiot.”
“……Do you want it paid?”
“That was ten years ago. It’s not cheap.”
“Then let’s run away.”
“If you run now, I will absolutely never forgive you.”
“……Then let’s pay up.”
While they bickered, Ariel pressed her firmness—cultivated through the techniques of a prostitute—against Rosalind’s nose. After a moment of shock, Rosalind turned her back in one fluid motion, got on all fours, and demanded with her usual dissatisfied expression.
“Don’t run away now? If you run, I won’t forgive you?”
“Yes ma’am…… well then, I’m coming……!”
In that glaring gaze lived the fermented remnants of love she had held back, now re-igniting into a sweet, sour ache.
For the first time in his life, it was Sieg who entered someone who had waited so desperately for him.
To actually connect with someone through their bodies, bonded by romance or love—this was a first.
”…Uuugh…!?”
And so, Sieg shed his true virginity.
“Mm, ksshh…”
Sieg gripped the massive tits beneath Rose’s apron, enduring the overwhelming excitement that threatened to make him cum instantly.
Fundamentally, it was different.
The pleasure of buying a woman’s body and the pleasure of being wrapped in a woman’s love were entirely distinct things.
“W-What the hell, Rose… are you really a virgin!?”
Overwhelmed by how tight her pussy felt, Sieg panicked.
Though he had only ever been with prostitutes and naturally never fucked a virgin, Rose’s vagina was exquisite.
From the very start, it was hot, soft, and full of rich pleasure for Sieg’s member, greedily trying to squeeze out his semen.
“Of course I am… No! Wait…!! Don’t compare an ogre’s body to a human one!!”
“I see, so you were an ogre after all, huh… K, fuck, ogresses are just this…?”
He realized it only now. Come to think of it, Rose was an ogre.
Ogres had an extremely high tolerance in their vaginas. It was because ogre males had incredibly huge cockers, so their anatomy adapted accordingly.
Ogre members were as thick as a human fist; for a human vagina, sex with one wasn’t even a question of feasibility before it became physically impossible.
The female ogres who needed to accommodate such monstrous organs from the start of sexual experience did have hymens, but human-sized members rarely posed any issue.
But it was by no means loose.
It tightened properly, and she felt strong sexual sensations.
Granted, a situation where an ogre and humans gang-rape her in a short time might be different, but female ogre genitalia were perfectly adapted to humans as well.
That mysterious organ produced enthusiasts of cross-species ogre prostitution, and Sieg found himself tortured by the double-punch pleasure of its natural masterpiece pussy and the passionate coupling born from love.
“Mm… k-kusshhh… Damn it, you’re too tight for me…!!”
“Aa, ahh… I’m happy, really happy, Becker-san… ♪”
Rose swayed her hips, gradually becoming more open.
Gradually, she regressed to the little girl of ten years ago.
Her resolute tone shifted to that of a young girl, and the blunt “Becker” reverted to the old honorific “Becker-san.” Drunk on the reality of her matured body being embraced by Sieg despite its inability to return to youth, she began to drain his essence with powerful grinding techniques that had no finesse whatsoever.
“Gg…!!”
Sieg endured the pleasure.
It was sheer stubbornness, almost unconscious.
And so, ravaging wildly up, down, left, and right inside her vagina, controlling the pleasure through his breathing, he finally—
“Mm, kuuuuuaaaaaah♪♪”
—managed to make Rose climax.
He pulled his member out of Rose’s body.
Overwhelming Ariel, who had been dumbstruck watching Rose’s dynamic sex while contrasting with the clumsiness of her skill in pleasing men with hands or mouth, he pushed her down while biting his lip.
“Kyaa!?”
”…T-Tch… I am… I am, to you… Haa, haa…”
Calm the head that might explode from steam due to pleasure, trying to form words.
Gently stroking Sieg, Ariel smiled.
”…It’s okay.”
”…!!”
This girl had accepted him, too.
At the very least, she had tried to accept his embrace not as a prostitute, but as himself.
Caught up in the fact that this was effectively his first time, Sieg got carried away again and thrust his cum-soaked object mercilessly into her genitals beneath the front flap of her apron.
“Ah… ahnn… …… hehe, just as I thought…”
“What… what do you mean ‘just as you thought’…?!”
“…………”
Ariel narrowed her eyes.
“I always think sex feels different when you’re really into it… ♪”
Ariel felt the same thing Sieg did.
It was a mess. It was a gangbang.
Yet love truly did accelerate the pleasure, making it feel even better.
Longing for more than just physical contact for the first time in a long while, Ariel began to drown in the ecstasy with an expression as pure as a virgin’s, despite the way she moved her hips.
“N-nn, huh-ah… Sieg… Sir… do you… do you love me…?!”
“Ahhh… I want to… I want to love you again and again, forever!!”
“Hehe… is that… okay? …I’m still looking for that kind of thing… isn’t that fine, right…? ♪”
“Yes… if my love is enough for you…!!”
Each thrust of their hips produced a slick zuch, zuch sound as they grinded against each other’s pleasure points in intense fucking.
Into this sex act, Rose tried to insert herself once more.
“Mr. Becker, I want to… I want you to love me too… Is it okay if I’m no good at it…?”
“You’re not no good, damn it… You bastard, I’m so happy!!”
And then he plunged his hand into Rose’s vagina.
“Ky-uu!?”
“Come on, come on!!”
Rose’s virginity was torn to shreds by the sheer presence of Becker’s hand inside her pussy.
She flinched from the forced rape for a split second, but even with tears in her eyes, she managed a smile.
“…You’re an idiot… you’re the worst… so cruel… ♪”
Fucking the Dark Elf between his legs and fucking the ogre with his fist.
Sieg finally let go of control over his pleasure.
Connecting himself firmly to the two women who served him in nothing but aprons, he climbed to the peak.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!”
“Nn, ku, ahhh!!”
“Uooooh!!”
And then he ejaculated with great force.
It was well past midnight when Ariel returned to her rented room deep in the labyrinthine alleyways of the slum’s earthen walls, accompanied by Sieg. She had properly repaid the Tower Emblem-affiliated loan shark she owed, and there was no longer any need to look back. On the way home, they discussed in hushed voices how she might change her life going forward. “I probably can’t offer much hospitality, but I can at least put out some tea.” “That sounds good. My throat is completely dry.” Just as they smiled at each other and reached to open the door, they found a letter tucked under it. “This…”
Ariel opened the letter.
Sieg read its contents faster than Ariel could, a habit formed from his days in intelligence that he now regretted.
“What… what is this…”
It was a letter from her former lover, the man who had left her behind and vanished.
He wrote that things were finally coming together and he had enough money to repay what was owed, so he wanted to come take her back.
The scrawl in the corner of the envelope indicated he knew she was in this area but didn’t have an exact address, so he’d asked a neighbor to deliver it.
“Please…”
Ariel’s eyes trembled.
Sieg could feel her emotions as clearly as if holding them in his hands.
Even though he had simply vanished on his own accord, the time they had spent together certainly wasn’t just a day or two.
Behind Ariel’s resolve to work tirelessly and not run away, there must still be smoldering remnants of her feelings for him.
Sieg couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t.
From the start, Sieg was nothing more than a stranger who had suddenly appeared that morning, made his sudden confession, and jammed his toes into the gap in Ariel’s heart to force his way in. He was just an intruder using money and power to make his demands known.
If he thought about it calmly, how much weight could such a person possibly have?
Yes.
Just a flashy, broad daydream.
“Sieg-san…” Ariel’s ears drooped as she turned back, seeking help. But no one was there in front of her anymore. As if nothing had ever been there, not even footprints remained.
”…………”
In the alleyway, Sieg stood staring at the moon in a daze.
A shadow threw a mocking laugh at him.
“Kukuku… Weren’t you supposed to be sleeping in a woman’s bed tonight?”
”…Oh, hey you guys.”
Three Ace Knights acting as bodyguards, their entire bodies covered in leather armor and masks.
“You have quite the nerve.”
“Not nearly enough. After you paid up at the Tower office, the actual debtor showed up. And seeing you look all dejected alone meant… hahaha, hyahahaha”
“That’s not really my concern.”
”…I got told I wasn’t hired to be looked down on by my employer or something…”
“Ahh, that’s right. That’s why I’ve been looking for you, Sieg Becker.”
Mait tilted his head sharply and narrowed his eyes menacingly.
“I don’t allow anyone to disrespect me; a rat like you, the itinerant kind, needs to be killed or else we’re fired. …Ah, but even with that blank look on your face, I see you’ve set up traps: mines, wire, and oil puddles.”
“It’s a habit, you know. Before I even realize it, I’ve laid everything out.”
Sieg spoke in the tone of someone chatting with an old friend.
Mait drew his new blade and pressed it against Sieg.
“I’ve read your moves by now. No needles or cheap tricks will work on me tonight. Let’s make this death a bit flashy.”
“Ah? No thanks, too much trouble.”
Sieg waved his hand dismissively, his face wearing an expression of utter exhaustion.
“Shut up and die, Sieg Becker.”
Might leaps. Leon scales the wall, while Davis sweeps his mace in a leveling motion, smashing through traps as he closes in. Sieg stood up without ceremony and decapitated Might on the spot. “!?” It looked like Might’s body and head had simply parted in grief just from him standing up. Davis and Leon froze, startled. Sieg cracked his neck, popping it audibly, then flicked his bloodied knife with a sharp swish. “So, I was saying this morning that even as a thug, I don’t kill civilians, but…” Sieg stared wide-eyed, grinning maniacally. “I’m lying, you fucking shitheads. You’re not allowed to come at me while I’m in a bad mood. It makes me happy, y’know.”
The following morning, their corpses were discovered behind the Tower Emblem office.
“Haaah…” After taking breakfast alone at Carlos’s estate, Sieg slumped his shoulders and headed toward the shared carriage station. It was already time for him to part ways with Diane and the others. He needed to file a report regarding Lyra’s presence and Andy’s treatment, then seek instructions from Minister Ashton on how to proceed with future operations. He was glad he could be alone at a moment like this. Maybe I shouldn’t have cut loose so hard, he scolded himself continuously in his head. Keep your age in mind. He resolved to enjoy the carriage ride and take it easy for a while.
Or so he thought. “Becker!!” “Sieg-sensei!” As Sieg was about to board the carriage, a hand reached out from behind, dragging him down. It was Rose. And standing next to her was Ariel. Both were dressed in traveling clothes. “What do you think you’re doing, running off without telling anyone? Marriage isn’t a one-day event.” “Um, um… I-I… count it as having received the knife! Not the money!” “…Eh?” As Sieg stood there dumbfounded, the two of them laughed. “The proposal is accepted!”
Alright then. From here on out, we fix that disastrous start.