Dark Fantasy Normalized

28 – Bondales

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Risir chuckled at Pien’s suggestion.

However, with a sound of “Huh?” he fell into contemplation.

“Come to think of it, it might not be so bad?”

“…Pardon?”

Pien, who had been watching Lysir’s reaction with a brazen expression as if he had made a terrible joke, showed signs of embarrassment.

“R-really? You want to share a room with me?”

“To save money, right?”

“…”

It was an unconsciousness that overwhelmed shamelessness.

Surely, it was the answer he had been hoping for, but Pien’s reaction was ambiguous.

Meanwhile, Lysir’s gaze turned to Rona.

“Then the room… Oh, wait. What about Rona? What do you usually do with slaves in this situation? Should we leave her in the stable?”

“…The stable?”

Lysir observed Rona’s reaction for a few seconds before answering.

“Of course, it was a joke.”

“If it was a joke, what was that silence just now?”

“I was thinking about what other slave owners would have done. This is my first time raising a slave.”

“Raising…? I’m not a dog, what the-“

“If you were in the opposite position, what do you think Rona would have done?”

“…If I were the master, I would have rented another room!”

“Aha. And then add that fee to the debt and exploit them even more ruthlessly? Carrot and stick? I get the feeling.”

“…It’s a feeling you shouldn’t understand.”

Ahem.

Pien cleared his throat and intervened.

“Rona’s words do have some merit. A master and a slave sharing the same room is absurd. ‘According to Rona’s opinion’, let’s rent another room for Rona.”

Pien spoke as if he was merely following Rona’s opinion.

“Huh? Then what happens to the plan to save on lodging costs by sticking together?”

“…”

Pien subtly avoided Lysir’s gaze with a brazen expression.

“It can’t be helped. Rona, you’ll have to sleep in the stable tonight.”

“…”

Rona’s face crumpled.

When Lisir said it, it sounded like a joke, but when this woman says it, it doesn’t feel like a joke.

“Hey. Pien. Don’t be so hard on her. Rona worked hard too, right? Honestly, I’ve got a new perspective on her. I didn’t know she could be this dedicated. Rona deserves to sleep in a nice inn like us.”

Lisir, as if impressed, casually patted Rona’s back.

Her sweat-soaked shirt delivered a complex sensation to Rona.

“H-hick…!”

Rona covered herself with her arms, moving away from Lisir.

“J-just so you know! If, if you’re expecting anything weird from me, you can forget about it – I, I’m not some kind of wench!”

“Rona. Or, I mean, Aron. Who doesn’t know that? And, just in case you seem to forget it regularly, Rona, that doesn’t change the fact that you tried to seduce me naked in the middle of the night and got rejected.”

“That’s…!”

“Alright, enough with the sulking in front, let’s go inside. Everyone’s tired. Let’s get rooms, take a shower, and rest. They say there’s a private bathroom in the rooms here? Wow. It’s better than the room I used to have in the mansion. This b*stard has good luck.”

Lisir stepped into the inn with a light step.

“…”

“…”

Pien and Rona quietly watched his retreating figure.

They had definitely achieved their intended goal –

So, what was this? This indescribable sense of humiliation.

The two women ultimately declared they would take separate rooms.

“Really? Well, yeah. It was weird, wasn’t it? Three men and women sharing a room. Yeah, whatever, do as you please. Whatever. This b*stard’s gone crazy. The b*stard’s paying tonight.”

And, his completely unbothered, happy acceptance of that made them tremble even more.

*

“Wait! Rona! Pien! I’ve changed my mind! Spend the night with me in the same bed!”

He almost yelled that out the moment he was about to pay the room fee.

He’d had some idea what he was in for, just from looking at how fancy the inn was, but the actual fee was way beyond anything he’d imagined.

The money pouch he’d diligently filled over a year of odd jobs as a b*stard, was already awakening to the doctrine of non-possession and was trying to share that awakening with this b*stard.

Wallet light. Legs heavy.

And it wasn’t just the room fee that was the problem.

After taking a bath, they had dinner with Pien and Rona at a nearby restaurant, and those fees were also considerable.

What’s more, even after paying such a high price, the fact that the quality of the meal wasn’t entirely satisfactory set me off even more.

It was week two of my independence.

I realized that I had become independent in an unexpected way.

‘Just breathing deletes money…?’

I realized it too late.

Why b*stards risked their lives for their status.

When I was a b*stard of Vendel, I lived in a mansion located in the city center as if it were natural, and enjoyed everything related to it (limitedly) as if it were natural-

Living in this city itself was an enormous privilege.

From some perspective, it was worth enduring the despised life of a b*stard to protect it.

I thought about it.

How much money would it take to maintain the quality of life I had enjoyed so far in this place, Bondales?

“Ugh-“

Severe dizziness from external cash deficiency hit me.

The result was that the funds a b*stard had saved for a year would run out in less than a week.

Was the b*stard’s income poor, or was the cost of living in Bondales, a commercialized metropolis, unusual?

Probably both.

At this rate, I would have to move to the outskirts of the city.

The genre of my life would be downgraded from a fantasy world (hope version) to a fantasy world (despair version).

If the innkeeper there asked where I bathed, they would look at me like I was crazy for asking.

If I asked what was in the soup, they would look at me like I was crazy for asking.

If I said the room smelled and there were rats and bugs, they would look at me like I was crazy for saying that.

It was not an environment where I, with the refined sensibilities of a modern person, could endure.

Of course, even if I could endure it, I had no intention of living such a life.

The purpose of my departure was not simple escape.

A better life.

If I had been satisfied with merely escaping the contempt of those around me for being a b*stard, I would not have left the family.

I wanted a better life.

Better than the life I had as a b*stard of Vendel.

Better than the lives of the people of Vendel who looked down on me.

If possible, better than my previous life in the modern world.

Above all, I now had the means to achieve that.

The power of purification and magic.

After finishing my meal and returning to the inn, I sat straight on the bed and calmed my breathing.

Clearing my mind, I prepared to focus.

A luxurious inn with a private bathroom and a high-quality meal.

Today’s indulgence wasn’t just to celebrate the start of a new city.

From Hyern to Bondales.

The first long journey I’ve ever experienced in my life.

The journey was much more arduous than I had imagined.

I tried to squeeze in some magic training here and there, but I couldn’t concentrate at all.

How regretful that was.

In other words, all of this is to soothe that regret.

In a state of perfect rest, in perfect condition, I organize the insights and achievements I gained from this journey.

‘Originally, it would be right to take a deep sleep and then do this-‘

But now, even that seems like a waste.

That’s because I had to leave this inn by tomorrow morning.

‘Even breathing costs money, you know?’

The moderate anxiety I felt now became just the right stimulus.

“…”

As I organized my thoughts, my breathing became sufficiently stable.

I immediately shook off all distractions.

I focus. On the magic flowing through my body.

On that flow. On the sensation of feeling that flow.

What should I call this state?

Setting? Anyway, the preparation is complete.

‘Good.’

First, I took out a coin from my pocket.

A lucky coin.

I plan to recreate it.

According to Pien’s explanation, it was a part of magic called enchantment, which grants specific properties to objects.

-It’s not a technique that can be handled with just the third level of mastery, is it?

At the time of explanation, Pien had even gotten annoyed and demanded an explanation from me.

How on earth did you do it?

I want to ask.

Me. How on earth did you do it?

It was a creation of my unconscious mind.

The purpose of this reenactment is to bring that technique from the realm of the unconscious to the realm of the conscious.

So-called complete mastery through systematization.

“Ha.”

A sudden laugh escapes. Systematization, really.

It’s a term I chose, but it’s quite a sight.

Where is the system in the act of a magic novice locking himself in a room, without any expert guidance or reference materials, just relying on his senses to play a haphazard game of magic sense?

Wouldn’t the orthodox magicians get angry, their beards flying, if they knew?

That’s not magic! They’d say.

But what can I do?

There’s no way a b*stard like me would have a magic mentor or reference books to guide me.

-My disciple~

-I am a book.

“…”

I think I heard a strange voice for a moment, but it must be my imagination.

I rolled the coin around in my hand for a while.

It was a process of recalling the senses from the carriage.

That extremely systematic action did not disappoint me.

“It’s here.”

A flash of sensation.

I don’t let go of that sensation.

I didn’t let go of that sensation.

Even when the color of the sky outside the window changed and I felt something trickling down my nose.

*

Pien was not in a good mood.

-Pien. Shall we go out for dinner together?

It was because the expectation that this morning would be like last night was betrayed.

From early morning, she got up and dressed in a way that seemed both deliberate and effortless. Then, she lay in bed pretending to sleep, waiting for Lysir, but in the end, he did not come.

But it’s okay. She still had something to believe in.

‘I’m just returning what he offered yesterday.’

A hum escaped her lips and her steps were light.

Pien went to Lysir’s room to offer him breakfast.

Knock, knock.

No answer.

Knock, knock.

Still no response.

“Lysir?”

Strange. She could definitely sense someone inside.

“You’re in there, right? I’m coming in.”

As Pien entered Lysir’s room, an extraordinary sight unfolded before her eyes.

“Lysir!?”

Lysir’s lower jaw.

Shirt. Pants. Bed.

Everything was soaked in blood.

Pien’s small body jumped.

She hurriedly approached Lysir.

“Lysir. Lysir! Are you okay!?”

Lysir did not answer. He could not answer.

He was focusing all his nerves to grasp the flickering sensation before his eyes.

“…Phew.”

After examining Lysir’s condition with a serious face for a moment, a sigh of relief escaped Pien’s lips.

Then, her expression suddenly crumpled.

“Really. You’re such an incorrigible person.”

She extended her arm towards him as if in exasperation.

Pien’s power gently enveloped Lysir, and his complexion visibly brightened.

Afterwards, Pien stood nearby, quietly observing his condition.

How much time had passed since then?

“Huh? Pien?”

Lishir, waking from his concentration, discovered Pien standing in front of him.

She was looking down at Lishir with her arms crossed.

“Did you sleep well?”

She spoke in a sarcastic tone, a cynical smile on her lips.

“Still dreaming, it seems? Seeing an angel and all.”

“Looks like you had a good rest. Talking nonsense as if it’s second nature. So- care to explain what this situation is?”

“…Originally, I was planning to master the enchantment, but I got a good idea midway and overdid it.”

“A good idea?”

Pien noticed it belatedly.

The numerous coins scattered around Lishir.

Realizing that each of those coins was not an ordinary coin, a gasp escaped Pien’s lips.

*

She was a woman whose half face was hideously disfigured.

High-ranking adventurer Salana.

Awakened by the sunlight streaming into the room through the window, she started her day by frowning deeply.

As if to preemptively accept the unpleasantness of the terrible things that would unfold for her today.

The woman, rising from the bed, first took out a hand mirror.

Then she grasped a soft cloth in her other hand.

It was Salana’s fixed morning routine.

Wiping away the pus that had covered her face overnight.

A look of resignation and weariness mixed on her face.

“Sigh.”

The woman let out a deep sigh and reflected her face in the hand mirror.

And just as she was about to bring the cloth to her face-

“…?”

Salana’s hand stopped.

She remained in that state for a while.

A voice from outside the door was heard.

-Lisir? Are you inside? I’m coming in.

It wasn’t something Salana needed to worry about.