The Hero Became a Succubus! - Chapter 32

Alt link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-XpKDvRwqux5s6ehieqgqSCd2654SkFlRgtEttOWY_Y/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 32

The party of three each sat on a chair of their own, heads hanging like students awaiting punishment from the teacher. Across the desk was a short, chubby human, going over a piece of paper in each hand. He would probably look better without the balding comb over, but no one probably dared tell him because of his position.

After getting busted at the shop, the guards escorted them to the mayor's office. It was better than prison right off the bat. The place was well-furnished, with a fireplace going and many glass display cabinets which had plates of varying patterns on easel stands. One of them which had geometric line patterns Kanae recognized Renya owning the same on her ship. It must be of Ortesian design.

"I am Markus Finnick, the mayor of Orturic. It is my duty to ensure the peace and prosperity of this modest city in Duke Kroenig's domain. Anyone who jeopardizes it becomes acquainted with the dungeons or the pillory to be shamed in front of the city. So I hand the floor to you: do any of you know why you've been brought to me?" Mayor Markus asked without so much as looking up.

They shook their heads.

"B-Because we're jeopardizing the peace and prosperity of this city?" Kanae answered with uncertainty.

"Wait a holy minute!" Arenade jumped out of her seat and slammed both hands onto the desk. "We haven't done anything to cause trouble. If anything, we've been nothing but contributing members of society! Maybe you should take a good look at Oturic and ask yourself why there are so many poor children starving on your streets?"

Both Kanae and Edina were at the edge of their seats, too anxious to say anything. Instead, the mayor finally put his papers down and glanced up at the high elf confronting him.

"Arenade Brightwind. Charged with disturbing the peace, demanding fealty and worship from the citizenry, and vandalizing the statue of the Supreme One." Mayor Markus read aloud Arenade's crimes, causing her to return to her seat and shrink.

"There's got to be a misunderstanding!" Edina began. "We weren't doing anything illegal or—"

"Edina Hackett. Charged with associating with the Outriders, raising undead vermin in the city, and digging up the nearby cemetery for your necromantic experiments." The mayor simply glared when he finished.

Edina also shrunk in her seat.

"A cemetery? Seriously?" Kanae joined the mayor in glaring at her.

"I-I wanted to practice raising undeads instead of summoning them…" The squirreling moped.

"I haven't forgotten about you either," Mayor Markus said, turning to Kanae. "The company you keep is most curious. If fraternizing with a goblin, orc, and a minotaur wasn't strange enough, guards have reported seeing you with the Renya Rown. Not to mention you were also seen with members of the Outriders at Dreizel's bath house, though he tells me it appeared to be an antagonistic meeting."

Kanae swallowed hard and hoped the mayor didn't know about Renya's not-so-legal operations at sea. There weren't any guards in the room, just them. If only he could check whether or not Markus had a sigil, but the sleeve of his robe covered his wrists.

"So… What now?" Kanae asked. "We probably just missed some bureaucratic paperwork to own and run a business. I'm guessing you brought us here to sign some papers and send us off?"

The mayor laughed in their faces. "If only it were that easy! Unfortunately, that particular location was still under investigation after the previous owners' illegal operations. Until all that is sorted out, we will keep your store's possessions under lock and key."

"But that's our money!" Edina exclaimed.

"My Arkesian wine, too!" Arenade cried.

"Ah, yes. I should thank you for that. I will be sure to enjoy a glass or two." He brought the bottle onto the desk to taunt them.

The demigoddess never looked so defeated.

They worked hard for all of that. The business of selling sex toys made of dead slime monsters was starting to really take off, too. Kanae was okay with putting a hold on it, but seeing Arenade agonized and tormented by the mayor pissed him off.

"Fine. It's obvious there's nothing we can do about it, but before we go… I couldn't help but notice you're a collector of fine dinnerware," Kanae said.

"Hmph. What does someone like you know?" Mayor Markus sneered, then popped open the wine bottle's cork.

"I know that one is of Ortesian design." When he pointed directly at the plate in question, the mayor's eyes lit up like a fire.

It was the look of someone who had found a like minded individual.

"Kanae, what in the three hells are you talking about?" Edina asked.

"Just be quiet and let me do my thing." Kanae whispered, then left his seat to inspect one of the cabinets. "It must have taken years to collect all of these, right?"

"Oh, you have no idea!" Mayor Markus emerged from behind his desk to join Kanae. "I put my most prized collection near the top. To gaze upon them always fills me with such joy. Tell me, are you a collector yourself?"

"I-I've only just started collecting. Which is why I'm curious to learn more from a seasoned collector. Maybe you can tell me more about this one?" He pointed to a random plate on a high shelf.

"Your eyes are drawn to true beauty, my lady." The mayor opened the cabinet and reached for the plate with the design of a phoenix. "This was unearthed from Radevic centuries ago!"

When the short man got his hands on the plate, his sleeves lowered just enough for Kanae to see no sigil or tattooing.

"This, you see, is worth almost a million—"

"Charm!" Kanae felt the spell taking effect on the mayor, but the suddenness caused him to drop the plate.

Everyone stared at the shattered pieces.

"He was about to say a million gold, wasn't he?" Edina asked.

A guard threw open the door and a dozen more behind him were primed to charge in.

"Mayor Markus, did something—"

"Excuse me!" The seething mayor turned his anger at the guards. "I don't recall asking for you to barge into my office."

"B-But we heard a crash…"

"I'm trying to show my new friend here my prized dinnerware collection. Now leave before you buffoons cause an accident!" he ordered, shooing them away.

When guards apologized and shut the door, they were able to breathe more easily with them gone.

"That was some quick thinking. I can't believe you actually went and charmed the mayor," Arenade said.

"I didn't like the tone he was taking with you." Kanae went over to the mayor's desk and poured Arkesian wine into a glass, then handed Arenade the cup. "And I'm pretty sure I gifted this to you, not him."

"Th-Thanks." The demigoddess took the glass and turned as red as the wine.

Edina, having learned that the plates were expensive, began to inspect them with greater interest than before.

"What do we do with the bozo now? Think we can nab some of the plates on the way out?" the squirreling asked.

"And just who are you going to find the right buyer to sell it to? As for the mayor, I'm going to have him give us everything back and look the other way. First, I need a little favor. From one collector to another?" Kanae asked the mayor.

"Of course!" Mayor Markus said, eager to please. "Anything for you, my dear friend! What is it that you need?"

The so-called investigation on their shop ended by Mayor Markus' decree, and he gave them the license to own and operate a business in Orturic without being bothered again. However, running a shop required extra hands. Being adventurers, they couldn't always run the place.

Which was why the favor Kanae had in mind involved certain friends.

"You got us a special citizenship to live in the city?" Takumi asked, holding the papers to their entry into Orturic.

"Sure did!" Kanae smiled. "As long as you guys work, obviously. You won't be able to live at the adventurer's hall, but we can convert the shop's storage room into a bedroom."

"I can't believe it… We don't have to hunt anymore!" Manabe cried tears of joy.

"We'll be closer to Kanae and have sex with her whenever we want!" Ichi exclaimed.

"Okay, let's not get too carried away…" He put a hand to his face and sighed. "On that topic, how come you guys haven't touched a hair on her?"

Ingrid, the former slave trafficker-turned sex slave had an apron on and was going around cleaning the cabin. She didn't look too messed up, maybe slightly disheveled from working, but there were no signs that his friends had laid a hand on her.

"I know you wanted us to teach her a lesson, but we aren't rapists! Couldn't even bring myself to ask her for a handjob, so we kinda just told her to help with chores and cooking," Ichi explained.

"Yeah. I mean… it's also hard to get an erection when she looks like she wants to cut our throats," Manabe added.

"You're getting off a lot easier than you should." Kanae compelled her to stand in front of him. Ingrid did so with a scowl so fierce it could scare monsters. He was sure if she wasn't under his control, she would have hit him with the broom and tried to escape.

"These insufferable fools ya call friends sure love running their mouths! Everyday they just talk about how much they want to bed ya, then have the audacity to say sweet and kind things like thanking me or telling me I'm pretty… As if it makes me happy! I ain't doing this because I want to— I'm being controlled!" Ingrid panted at the end of her rant and still looked like she had more to say.

"Oh, drop the tsundere act!" Takumi threw his hands in the air. "We know you secretly enjoy the compliments. You even blush up sometimes. We're just trying to make friends with you!"

"Tsu— what? There ya go again, saying words that don't make no sense. I don't care to make friends with idiots who make a mess of things or sooner blind themselves chucking a spear at a boar!" she groaned.

"Can you blame us? We've never thrown a spear before!"

It seemed a lot happened between them in a single week. Ingrid was still her antagonistic self, but she was less vicious about it, making Kanae wonder if his friends' silliness actually wore down her craggy exterior. Although he wasn't interested in letting her go just yet, bringing her into Orturic posed a problem unless she were to be fully charmed.

"Ingrid, you have two choices coming back to Orturic: jail or work? Either way, I'm charming you to the full extent of my power. It's still more of a choice than you gave every girl you've trafficked into prostitution," Kanae said.

The eyepatched woman was suddenly afraid. To Kanae's surprise, Takumi and the others came to her defense.

"Wait, don't charm her! Ingrid isn't that bad of a person. She just had a shitty life growing up and was forced to make bad choices!" Takumi said.

"She knows I'm a succubus," Kanae fired back. "If we waltz into the city, and she starts yelling, I'll be the one in danger."

"We'll talk sense into her not to blab about you being a succubus. Ingrid's never been much of a choice either. She was sold into slavery by her parents to a jerk named Bardell," Manabe explained.

"The three of ya, I…" Even Ingrid wasn't sure what to say, having been made speechless by them trying to help her.

It still didn't excuse the misery Ingrid put others through.

"Fine." Kanae relented at last. "I won't completely charm her, but she still stays under physical control."

Takumi, Manabe, and Ichi rejoiced. On the other hand, Ingrid remained quiet, but the slackening of her shoulders did show relief in being spared having her consciousness taken from her.

On the way back to Orturic, the guards stopped them at the gate. Any of them would have if they saw a goblin, orc, and minotaur marching toward the city. However, Kanae had the papers recognizing their citizenship from the mayor, so the guards could do nothing but look the other way and let them pass.

The stares their group drew from the citizens were plenty. Kanae was afraid Ingrid might make an outburst at any moment and stood right behind her, ready to cast charm if needed. Thankfully, she stayed obediently silent all the way to the store.

"So, what exactly are we going to be doing?" Ichi asked, his hooves clopping excitedly on the stonecut street.

"You're going to be selling sex toys made of slime," Kanae answered to their utter confusion.

"Eh?" They stared at him blankly.

When Kanae opened the door, Arenade and Edina were inside, restocking the shelves with the help of the charmed roper monster after the stuff was confiscated.

"I'll make sure you're paid and able to live within the safety of Orturic's walls," Kanae added.

Ichi went over to one of the slime molds and poked it. "In elementary school, I put firefighter as my top career choice. If you told me I was going to another world to sell sex toys, I'd think you were insane."

"So, what will I be doing?" Ingrid sighed.

"First," Kanae began, compelling the roper to come over so he could grab a tentacle, "you're going to help expand the merchandise."

Kanae was skeptical about leaving the shop attended by Ingrid and his friends, but after a few with nothing going wrong, he was beginning to become more at ease about it. Them working there freed up time for him and his party. Adventurers were also doing slime quests to bring the monsters back because there was a demand for them now.

"I gotta admit, I thought you were nuts at first, but that idea of yours is a stroke of genius." Edina was rubbing her cheek against the new staff she bought thanks to their added income.

"Entrepreneur by day and succubus by night, I suppose." Kanae mused to himself.

The two were heading back to the adventurer's hall after shopping for new gear when the city bell chimed loudly.

Down the thoroughfare, a gravely injured Estaline was limping through with only two of her unconscious party members underneath her arms. Other adventurers spilled out of the hall to investigate the commotion, and Arenade, buzzed from drinking all morning, stumbled up to Kanae and Edina.

"W-What's going on… hic!" Arenade asked, smelling heavily of wine.

"I don't know, but Estaline looks hurt. We have to help her!" Kanae exclaimed as they ran up to help the drakeling knight.

The Knight of Silver collapsed to her knees and dropped her companions. When Arenade started healing her, the knight pushed her glowing hands to the unconscious ones instead.

"These two first," Estaline urged her.

"What happened?" Kanae asked.

"Aren't you the…?" She winced from a deep gash wound across her abdomen. "The dragon did this…We couldn't beat it. I failed…"

Right then, a bellowing roar much louder than the ringing bell brought many hands to their ears. Powerful beating wings were followed by gale-force winds, knocking barrels down, clothes flying away, and sending hair aflutter. Everyone glanced up to the skies and saw the terrifying black dragon.