In all of his 22 years alive in this world, Hideki had never felt as humiliated as when he and his new master approached the refugees from the town. Unable to warn anyone of what the cute girl next to him really was, he just stood at her side and watched as an older woman came by and greeted them. "Are you okay? My granddaughter is about your age and we only just barely made it out of the city. Is he bothering you?" she pointed directly at him.
Seriously? Come on, even at face value I'm not some old creep hitting on a teenager! I'm not even that old myself! he raged on in his mind as the evil bitch put on her cutesy act once more.
"Oh, you mean Poro-tan? He's my big brother! He looks scary, but he's really just a big softie!" she turned and gave him a tight hug while making his body return the embrace.
If he could cringe, he would. Of all the types of magic in the world, few were more taboo than necromancy. The second blow of humiliation was that she literally gave him a cutesy name as well! What the fuck!
Seeing that he wasn't some creepy stalker chasing after a younger girl, the old bag turned and moved on. Megumi let out a girlish giggle as the woman disappeared and they were left alone. "See? Isn't this fun? Being a hero is lame. Evil is the way to go," she grinned at him.
The humiliation didn't end with just the one woman approaching them, however; the same exact scenario played out over a dozen times throughout the early morning as the sun finally rose in the sky and the fires that had been set in the town had died down. Villagers began slowly, but surely, heading back into town to salvage what they could once some soldiers from Northpost arrived and declared the town was safe.
And why is it safe? Thanks to yours truly, of course! Not a god damned word of gratitude, not even from the soldiers, some of whom know who I am and that I was dispatched from the adventurers guild to help clean up this mess. There would be no hero's welcome for him back at the guild hall and no busty, beautiful women to thank him for the heroic deed of slaying the root cause of the undead in Whitegrove; not that he had actually done that anyway. In fact, he was now enslaved to the root cause of that particular disturbance, not that anyone would be able to figure that out anyway.
"It's time for us to go, Poro-kun." She gave him a sly wink and the two of them trudged down the road toward Northpost. Over the next few hours, the two of them stopped at every opportunity to kill the low level monsters that spawned between the two towns. She had explained that she wanted to test out his abilities and see what he could do. An arduous journey and 39 Were-Rabbits later he leveled up. *Ding*
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Congratulations! You have reached level 10!
+1 TP
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Unlike usual, he couldn't bring himself to feel excitement over becoming stronger. A little while later they arrived at the town of Northpost.
What kind of horrible atrocities is she going to make me commit next? he wondered as they made their way into the city. "First thing's first. You're going to go collect that reward for 'subjugating the necromancer of Whitegrove.' " She laughed aloud after she said it. He wondered if this might be his chance to get her killed, so that he could go back to the afterlife and meet that hot angel chick again. Surely the fates would reward him for ridding the living world of this monster.
"Before you get any bright ideas, I'm going with you and if I even see you think about revealing what's going on, I'll burn your soul to ash from the inside out. Understand? That means you will suffer the final death, no heaven, no hell, just the void," she said. "Understand?"
He found that he could speak again, and seeing as there was no way out of this mess right now, he had to roll with it. "I get it, I get it. Let's get this over with."
The two of them continued along the main street of the town and headed to the adventurer's guild hall. Each region held one of these buildings where people like him could go and do quests to earn fame, money, and experience for performing all kinds of tasks. It had taken him four years to gain two ranks and get himself to Class D, and when he was just hitting his stride, completing quests left and right, he landed in this mess.
Upon entering the guild hall, the ranking member, Lucien, greeted him. "Hey there, Hideki, back from Whitegrove? I've already received word of what went on over there. You lost three of our members by your reckless actions today, but you did stop the undead threat, so here," he held out a coin pouch that clinked in his hand. That would be the 200 GP reward that he had been promised. He reached out and grabbed it.
"It's not my fault they couldn't keep up," he answered as he normally would have.
Lucien fixed him with a troubled frown. "Either way, your actions were reckless, and there are consequences for that kind of thing. You've been demoted to Rank E. Check your attitude at the door, and learn to work with a team."
"You son of a—" he was interrupted as Megumi burst into uncontrollable laughter, doubling over next to him.
"Poro-tan... you—" She laughed even harder. "Rank E." More laughing. His face turned red from the embarrassment.
"What's with the girl? You're looking to get thrown in jail yourself if you're going after one as young as her," Lucien said with no mirth in his voice.
"It's not like tha—" he was cut off again as Megumi was now literally rolling around on the floor. Several other guild members were now staring at the spectacle. After several long moments, the wicked bitch finally stopped mocking his existence and composed herself.
"Poro-tan here saved Megu's life over in Whitegrove. He's such a nice man that he agreed to bring me to the city to my extended family. Megu's parents were killed in the evil necromancer's attack," she said with a solemn face.
The gullible idiots actually bought her act and offered her heartfelt condolences. What irony it was that she had literally just sicked an undead army on a town, killing many of its inhabitants, and was now going to take the reward money that he got for saving the town. He felt as though he was going to be sick, although his body wouldn't let him.
After all was said and done, the two of them left the guild hall, and his captor was now 200 GP richer. Megumi led him down some back alleyways to a run down looking building that had a signpost that read: "Toys for Orphaned Children"
Wait just a damned second! I've heard of this charity company before. I've even donated a few GP to it here and there! Don't tell me that she is somehow in charge of it, when she actually creates orphans through her own actions! Hideki fixed his owner with a withering stare. She saw him do it and just gave him a knowing, self-satisfied smile as they entered the building.
The place looked like a real toy store from what he could see. There were colorful, hand-crafted toys on every surface and a kindly looking old man sat behind a desk, carving something out of wood. When he saw the two of them enter the store, his demeanor changed immediately. Megumi reached into the bag on her waist and pulled out a card, almost identical to his own adventurers card. No! It can't be, can it?
"Sounds like you botched up that last quest pretty badly, Megumi. The adventurer's guild stopped you? Pathetic. Tylus isn't going to be happy to hear that you failed." He reached beneath the desk and Hideki heard a click. Some sort of mechanism activated and part of the floor slid down and back revealing a hidden staircase. "Go on down, and take that... thing with you," he said with a disgusted look on his face.
"Come on, Poro-kun, it's time for Megu to show you the ropes of being a villain." She led him down the stairs and into a huge common area where there were all types of people sitting around at tables, drinking and talking loudly. How the hell can it be so loud down here and not be heard above?
"Megumi! You caused such a huge commotion when all you were supposed to do was kill the mayor so we could install our own pawn into the local government. What the hell is the matter with you? There's more to being a villain than watching the world burn, you know," a demon with grey skin and bat wings said.
Megumi simply shrugged. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small pin. It was the kind that mayors wore to identify their station. She flipped it through the air at the man. "Megu did the job as it was written. If you don't like Megu's methods, then be more specific with the quest guidelines. Where's Megu's money?"
The demon begrudgingly tossed her a bag of coins and then the two of them wandered over to a large request board. There were all sorts of sinister acts listed ranging from simple robberies to murders to toppling entire kingdoms. She reached over to the board and ripped off one of the papers, folding it and placing it in her bag. "Time to go shopping, Poro-tan."
Hideki couldn't help but notice that even among the vilest of villains and monsters he had seen down there, everyone gave her a wide berth. On that note they left the basement and headed back into the town. Dear gods, what is this vile bitch going to do to me now? Put me in a pink dress and march me around?! He would weep if he could.