"Die!
[Heavy Rending Sword]
!"
A slash from Gilmas that could cleave even rock came hurtling toward me.
I deflected the clashing blade to the left.
A deep gash was carved into the floor.
Wait, you said you were going to make me your slave — were you actually trying to kill me?! No way!
"Impossible! That's a [Swordmaster] technique!"
Sloppy, so sloppy.
If he knew I had [Sword God], I wonder what face he'd make.
He was formerly Mithril-ranked, right?
Then something like this should be fine.
I unleash Sword Saint-class intimidation at him.
"Guh... What is this pressure? I—I can't move..."
Gilmas drops to his knees.
He's gritting his teeth desperately and glaring at me, but he can't move.
The fact that he hasn't passed out is pretty impressive, honestly.
There's a reason he was formerly Mithril-ranked.
But the real fight starts now.
I swiftly swung my sword twice, severing both of Gilmas's arms.
"Guwaaaaaaah!!"
"What's going on, Ragrei!"
Someone burst in from the adjacent room.
"Intruder! Someone, quickly!"
I'm not an intruder.
But explaining myself was too much trouble, so I hit him with my pressure and knocked him out.
Then I shut the door.
So Gilmas's name is Ragrei.
"You think you can get away with doing something like this..."
Without a word, I splashed an elixir on Ragrei, who was still putting on a tough act despite having no arms.
Slowly, both arms began to grow back.
"Wh-what just happened..."
After a while, Ragrei's arms had fully healed, but he still couldn't move since I hadn't released my pressure.
I severed both his arms once more.
"Gaaah... what are you trying to..."
"I was thinking I'd keep this up until your spirit breaks. How many more times should I cut them off and heal them?"
Ragrei went even paler.
"I'm sorry... I apologize for what my daughter, Mithia, did. I won't let her do that again. So..."
"That goes without saying, but since you said earlier you'd make me your slave, you'll be the one becoming mine."
"No, please, spare my daughter! I'll be the one to do it!"
"I don't need some creepy NEET princess. The whole point of the punishment is for the person who declared she'd make me a slave to become one herself. Now, let's go to the Merchant's Guild. Come on, stand up. You can't? Ah, I'll release the intimidation then."
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"Um, Lord Alan. You truly want to make this person your slave? And by mutual agreement, no less... Ah, no, I shouldn't pry. Well then, please drip blood from both of you here."
I asked the very flustered master of the Merchant's Guild to arrange a slave contract between me and Ragrei.
Now Ragrei can no longer disobey my orders.
Still, having the guild master wear a slave collar has got to be completely unheard of.
Now, criminal slaves and debt slaves are fairly common, but there are also contract-based slaves.
Meaning it's consensual but a rare case — almost nobody voluntarily becomes a slave without some extraordinary reason.
So the first thing I ordered was to have Mithia stop overcharging registration fees.
If she pulled that stunt again, Ragrei was to take appropriate disciplinary action.
That should be enough for now.
"Um, Master..."
"Just Alan is fine. If other people hear you calling me that, it'll probably cause more trouble."
"No, with this collar on, I don't think that's really feasible... Ah, understood. By the way, what about rank? Since he can defeat me, even conservatively he's at least silver-tier. With my guild master authority, I can raise him up to bronze immediately, but..."
"If you did that, people would think something was going on between me and the guild master."
"That too, I suppose, but someone with real ability should have their rank raised as quickly as possible."
"Is there any benefit to raising my rank?"
"Yes, the rewards for quests increase. Or rather, the guild's mediation fee decreases, I should say. Also, a higher rank carries prestige, and occasionally nobles will approach you about becoming their private guard."
"And the real reason?"
"Above Silver, there is an obligation to respond to forced summonses. You cannot refuse requests related to Stampede response, or those from lords and the kingdom. Refusal results in the revocation of your qualification."
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Skills: [Reverse], [Divine Eye], [Sword God]
Thank you always for reading!