Chapter 27

Chapter 27 [Slum Street]

Credit :

Translator : Cnine

Editor : SenjiQ

Proofreader :Eric

Enjoy!!!

When I went to visit the fortress city of Kare, I brought Lara the Lamia together with me. This was because the said person insisted on wanting to go.

I somehow felt anxious since Lara was a monster. Was it really safe for her to sneak into a town full of humans?

But since she declared she could transform into a human, it would not be a problem. So, I allowed her to tag along.

Though Lara could use《Soaring》from True magic, her flying speed was far below mine.

There was also a limit in the distance she could fly in one 《Soaring》.

Since there was no other way, I carried Lara[human form] like a princess and flew towards the city in high speed.

Lara had a tranced look on her face, while she had her slender arms circled around my neck. [TL Lara is a shotacon, just for reminder]

「F-Flying while being carried with Ohimesamadakko[1] by a shota ……………… F, FINALLY I CAN DIE WITHOUT REGRETS」

I said, "Don't call me shota".

[TL : little boy, have high potential to become handsome in the future. just think of him as Negi springfield]        [ED: I think Honey from Ouran hshc is a better example]

First, we decided to visit a synthetic magic tool shop within the fortress city of Kare.

This was to examine the《Telephone Earring》 that went out of tune.

Just as I thought, the《Telephone Earring》 was a defective item.

I received a brand new earring, along with an apology from the shopkeeper.

I waived the compensation money, since I’m not a claimer.

Our next destination was a store called 『Meruru☆Material Shop』.

It was a certain shop in the fortress city of Kare that specialized in trading raw materials stripped off from monsters, ingredients for magic potions, rare plants, etc.

The shop's full name was『Meruru☆Raw Material Shop』.

The cute sounding『Meruru☆Raw Material Shop』 was managed by a baa-san that had long pa.s.sed her sixtieth birthday.

I felt like I was being cheated.

I was informed that she had opened her shop 50 years ago and has been in business since then. Quite the old timer.

The shop's grandma grumbled that her deepest regret was attaching the [☆] mark to the shop name, due to the impulse of her youth.

I noted that if by some chance I opened something like a store in the future, I would not attach a『☆』to the store name.

『Ash☆Raw Material Shop』

Yep, forget it.

『Ash†Raw Material Shop』

If it's that, I might consider it.

…………Store name aside.

I thought I got ripped off because the buying price of the raw materials I brought was less than half the selling price of the store.

It seemed as though they couldn’t do their business if the purchase price wasn’t below half of the sale price.

Hearing that, I finally understood the reasoning behind the low purchase price.

But, I figured there were other places to sell the materials at higher prices.

Like the Dark route, for example. For example, the Dark route.

Anyways, I am currently not financially troubled.

Because of that, I held back from selling the raw materials.

I would sell it here though if there were no other alternatives.

Also, regarding the eggs of c.o.c.katrice, since it was treated as a high-cla.s.s ingredient rather than raw material, it I want to sell it at regular intervals, I was advised by Meruru baa-san to sell it at a trading place.

Regarding the c.o.c.karice eggs, they were considered as high cla.s.s ingredients instead of raw materials, and since I wanted to sell them at regular intervals Meruru baa-san advised me to sell them at a trading place.

I also bought several medicinal plants called 『Stone Ward Gra.s.s(Seki Bousou[2])』since I found them being sold in the shop .

It was a medicinal plant that was effective in preventing petrification.

They were indispensable goods for the c.o.c.katrice ranch plan.

According to baa-san, it seemed that c.o.c.katrices liked to eat that gra.s.s.

Hearing that, I suddenly remembered.

I had seen similar looking gra.s.s at the place where I found those c.o.c.katrices in the great prairie. In the great prairie I had seen similar looking gra.s.s near the location I discovered the c.o.c.katrices.

Thank kamisama. It would be great to have some 『Stone Ward Gra.s.s』in hand to help confirm it at the place later.

It appeared that there was not just monsters and animals at the great prairie, but countless lucrative plants that grew abundantly there as well.

Baa-chan's 『Meruru☆Raw material Shop』 did not just purchase and sell raw material, it even sold 『Books』.

50 Years of Material Collecting was a book written by Meruru baa-san about her personal experiences.

There was an Raw Animal Material Encyclopedia, a Raw Plant Material Encyclopedia, and a Raw Monster Material Encyclopedia book.

The encyclopedias included the ecology of plants, animals, and monsters in them.

On top of that⎯⎯

On top of that, it had which part of the animal or plant could become a raw material, their value, the uses and effects of plants, and the type of magic potion the raw material could turn into—- all written in great detail.

It was very easy to understand thanks to the accurate ill.u.s.trations included.

. [TL : did he just ACCIDENTALLY find a WALKTHROUGH?]

They were like picture books, however, for the price of 5 gold coins for a set of three, they were not cheap at all.

I decided to purchase it anyway because I got the feeling I would need them in the future.

Afterwards, Meruru baa-san asked, "Boy after I retire, if you are interested in my material shop, would you want to take over?" in a tone that was difficult to tell if she was serious or not.

I am 99% sure she was joking.

There was no reason for her to propose to give her store someone she had just met for the first time.

Meruru baa-san then said while blushing, "You look just like my childhood friend that pa.s.sed away last year. You resemble when he was a boy." I think this was a joke too.

When the talk regarding the succession of the store came up again, I gave a suitable excuse to slip away.

Even if the baa-san meant it, I still would not dare to jump carelessly into that kind of talk.

Once I take over the store, I would discover that it was actually heavily in debt, and then I would have to be responsible for it —I can imagine that sort of situation happening.

That's why as a rule, I doubt every elaborate and tempting talk like this, it always has a hidden side [evil intention] to it. It's in my nature as someone who no longer has faith in humans.

Our next destination was the trading place the baa-san told us.

What she had said turned out to be true. c.o.c.katrice eggs were indeed sold at a high price.

The buying price for eggs was 2~5 gold coins, whereas the sale price in the store was twice that. [confirming what baa-chan said about sale price= 2xpurchase]

The variation in price seemed to come from both the size and quality of the eggs. No need for comma

Even though they were expensive, the eggs were popular because they were delicious and had high nutritional value. There was such a high demand that the shop always had shortages.

I realized that there was considerable demand for. them

One or two eggs would not pose a problem. However, it seemed it will be difficult, even if it was this trading place, to receive tens to hundreds of eggs periodically. Regardless of the demand.

First, it would be necessary to affiliate myself with the merchant guild if I was going to do big transactions continuously.

The registration could probably be done using a false name, address, age, etc.

It's just that, if I joined the merchant guild, I will face a certain complication when doing periodic transactions.

I It was called 『Tax』.

The ones who collected the 『Tax』 were the official government(tax official) of this country.

In addition, they took 40~70 percent of the profit.   [ED: Isn't that low? ED2: Fixed]

Even if you try to falsify the amount of profits gained by recording lower-than-actual sale while exaggerating the business expense, it still could not deceive the expert eyes of those tax officials.

It was different if it was a one shot business transaction to gain a small sum of money but, in order to continuously do affiliated transactions with the merchant guild, swindling was no good.

Regarding the merchant guild, it seemed there was also an obligation for filling an entry register with details about the contents of transactions and the dates.

In the end, I thought I should just sell it through the dark route.

So, I went towards the Slum district, along with Lara in her human form.

My purpose was to meet Greed, the dark merchant who was also the leader of the thief guild.

I was walking according to the instructions that I received, looking for the building that was used for the hiding place of the thief guild.

By the way, we stopped concealing our presence some time ago .

The slum district was just like a complex maze with the building structure erected haphazardly; additions and reconstructions within the area were all over the place.

The so called hiding place, located inside of this area, wouldn’t be easily found.

Even if someone received a general landmark along with the address, they still couldn’t find that place easily.

In the first place, they also didn’t know the whereabouts of the address they receive.

Or should I say, currently, I also didn’t know where that address was.

I lost my way in the streets inside of the gigantic labyrinth called the Slum district.

I still lost my way, even when I was flying while overlooking the street below.

There's also the factor that I'm bad with complicated urban district.

Since there was no other way, I stopped concealing myself. I walked around while asking the way and addressed the citizens of the slum district.

We progressed with asking the way, while giving silver and gold coins to the vagrant-like-citizens.

Even so, after quite a struggle, we still didn't arrive at the hiding place.

Because of that, it couldn't be helped that I started to get irritated.

Changing mood, I kept walking with the intention to enjoy the attractions of the giant labyrinth.

The walks became rather enjoyable after I thought of it that way.

In my previous world, I used to kill time by playing around town just like this during my childhood.

Commanding officer=Me, vice commanding officer=Me, reconnaissance troops=Me, Supply group member=Me, ordinary troops=Me—-ALL BY ME— something like that, it was one man exploration party.

When walking along the slum street, there was bad looking humans with evil eyes all over the place. There was a four man group that looked especially bad; they gathered in the narrow alley.

They were blocking the way, I couldn’t pa.s.s through.

That group of four noticed Lara and me.

「Oyaoya, Oh my. Isn’t that a lovely slave you have there?」

「T'is no good. Young master mustn’t enter a place like this. Non~non.」

「Since this place is our black snake head turf 」

「Forget the toll pa.s.s. Leave that beautiful slave behind ………. hihihi, she will receive our affection in your place 」

What was that man laughing at with that vulgar expression.

Hm.

Bury them?

…………. well, I would pardon their lives at least.

How deep a hole I must dig using 《Tunnel》, I wonder?.

That's because previously when I dug more than 10 metres deep, all the hoodlums fell to their deaths.

I wondered, will they die if it was just around 5 metres?   .

Maybe they would break their legs but, that was their own karma.

Since those fellas came to threaten me.

And coerced me to hand over my PROPERTY.

「Leave this to me master」

Lara stepped forward with great confidence.

Holding her wand in one hand, she invoked her magic.

「Nn. But…………Don’t kill them」

「Eh?   Killing is forbidden? 」

Lara stared at me with a bewildered look.

We …………. I was not in the mood to kill someone.

「Leave them half-dead」

「Mmm, though I think it's insufficient, I will do it if that's your wish」

Did my conversation with Lara somehow entered their ears; their faces had quickly turned into ugly ones.

They launched their attack without hiding their killing intent.

「Haah！？　Who will be half-dead ？ 」

「YE b.a.s.t.a.r.d! YOU WILL DIE, KID！」

「THAT WOMAN TOO*！ Don't think ye can get off easy! We had been thinking that we release you and the chap just now after we gang rap*d you in turns. No more!」

「We will give you lots of love for your whole life.      Hihihi, you’re going to become a public toilet for the more than 100 members of the black snake head. That kid, can be sold to the store with that kind of warped ………….. 」

「《Eternal Nightmare(Eternal Nightmare)》」

Lara invoked a true magic that I didn't know of.

Those men groaned, then collapsed.

Though, their eyes were closed like they fell asleep ———— they had an anguished expression on their faces.

「Lara, what was that spell just now？」

「It’s only a spell that makes the target fall asleep, then make them see a nightmare」

「Fu~n, nightmare, huh」

If it only made the target fallen asleep, it wouldn’t hurt them. Maybe it could be said to be some kind of gentle mind system spell.

「The target of the spell will have their mind destroyed, although they will go insane in less than an hour♪」

「……That was a surprisingly strong magic……」

「Moreover, when they go insane, it then restores their mind, only to make them watch the nightmare till they go insane again.   FO・RE・VER♪」

「……That’s more like evil magic」

「That’s why it is forbidden magic.          ufu♪」

「Hey, don't just use forbidden magic like it's nothing 」

I think I pity those hoodlums a little.

Lara approached those men with her expression completely in her “S” mode.

And then, she trampled one of those four, who was continuously making noise in his nightmare, with her foot.

She stepped on the face of that person and grinded her foot there.

By the way, she was wearing high-heel shoes.

While laughing with a really evil smile.

「ARAARA. I wonder what kind of bad dream you'll see in there.   Ufu……fuu」

*GRINDGRIND*

「UFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU♪」

She seemed to enjoy it, indeed.

That girl, could it be that she was not only a Ｍ(Maso) but also aＳ(Sado).

Look like she is equipped with both of them …………. she really is HENTAI woman.

「ARAARA……ARARARARAAA. This person here is already leaking. Such a bad child that pees in his sleep ————- mustn’t left alone UNPUNISHED」

Lara trampled that man's nether region, with smile plastered on her face.

Oioi.

――CRUSH.

The sound of something being crushed could be heard.

「ARARARARARARARARAaa. It was smashed to pieces. You will forgive me right?」

「Your most precious things now smashed A-P-A-R-T♪」

「……Lara, we’re almost there」

I stopped while putting a stop to the “THE EXTREME S MODE” of Lara.

She just repeated her madness again, she was somehow so pathetic.

I put those men in the hole that I dug with《Tunnel》.

「Ara, burying them alive?.   UFUFU, that’s fine too BU-RI-ED-A-L-I-V-E.     Master's hobby is REALLY to my liking」

Lara has misunderstood something while licking her lips.

That err, I’m not particularly digging this hole to bury them alive.

It was only to make sure that they wouldn’t immediately come to attack us once Lara released her magic.

I buried those men, save for their head that I left above the ground.

Though they wouldn’t be able to move, they won’t suffocate to death since their head was above the ground.

Sooner or later, they would get somebody to dig them out of the hole. Maybe.

「You didn't kill them so they would keep on living in shame ———– right. UFUFU」[3]

After that, we were loitering for around an hour in the nearby slum district, and finally, we arrived at the hiding place after a hard struggle.

We were involved with the citizens so many times in that time.

Some of them drew their sharp weapons and attacked us in groups.

There was also a group that was far more villainous compared to those 4 that got involved with us at the beginning.

They looked intoxicated with drugs, and their eyes were jumping about in their sockets. Those brutes just suddenly slashed at us.

It seemed true, that when you're going inside the slum district, you're entering a danger zone and lawless area.

In that kind of place, maybe it was a common thing, that when such a kid(at least when their outward appearance look like one) and a young and beautiful girl walked in there, they get attacked.

Although, those hoodlums were no match for Lara and me.

Today ———— By some coincidence, more than ten brutal citizens, even by slum district standards, disappeared one after another.

Sooner or later, more than half of them were found inside the ground. [TL : it made me worried where the other half went]

[1] [TL : Princess carry. And Lara is a shotacon, just a reminder]

[2] [TL : bousou is wild gra.s.s that can be found on the roadside]

[3] [TL : Lara just smashed their B*lls, just a remainder]