The reason I didn't ask the Commercial Guild this time was because I didn't want to cause trouble for Eagle-san over at Gilmas.
After all, the target was a feudal lord.
"What the—!? A slave collar! To pull something like this off without even a magical tool — are you a dark mage?"
"Now then, I command you, Viscount. You will not breathe a word of what happened today to anyone. You will not arbitrarily seize anything from your subjects or adventurers. You will guarantee your subjects' quality of life. Otherwise, you'll be struck by excruciating pain."
"I-I can't be— AAAAGH!!"
It activated right away, huh? This guy really doesn't take me seriously.
Well, he can suffer as much as he wants.
That was just a bonus, anyway.
Leaving the viscount to writhe in agony on his own, I walked out of his room.
◇◇◇
"A slave collar, you say...! This means I can't show my face in high society! I can't even meet with the earls, let alone the royal family — how humiliating. I'm completely useless! A noble reduced to a slave — what an utter disgrace! If word gets out, they could even strip me of my title! That damn brat! AAAAGH!!"
Viscount Momentum was struck by excruciating pain once again, having learned absolutely nothing.
He imposed a gag order on everyone in the manor, of course, but that was the extent of what he could command.
Every time he tried to say "anyone who speaks of this will be executed," searing pain shot through him.
This finally made the viscount go pale.
He could keep people silent, but he couldn't punish them, so it was inevitable that word of his slave collar would eventually spread.
Well, it didn't matter — he couldn't meet with any other nobles regardless.
He had to find a solution, and fast.
So he summoned a high-ranking priest from the Holy Church in the royal capital to attempt to break the curse.
But rather than lifting the curse, they couldn't even figure out who had cast it, and that was that.
To make matters worse, the Archbishop — the most skilled in Light Magic — had come in secret to display his own holy prestige, but he too was unable to break the curse. He then threatened the Viscount, saying, "If word of this gets out, the Church will cease all healing activities in the Viscounty of Momentum." And so the Viscount simply gained one more burden on his mind.
On top of that, he had spent a small fortune summoning the priests, depleting his personal wealth. When he tried to raise taxes to compensate, the agonizing pain lanced through him once more — so taxes were off the table, and he could no longer maintain his former comfortable lifestyle.
The stress did slim his body down somewhat, but his cheeks hollowed out, his hair thinned even further until there was almost none left, and he became something of an object that would mutter incoherently and occasionally repeat mysterious
convulsions
over and over again.
Several months more passed.
The Viscount, who had once shown his face everywhere to curry favor with various nobles, suddenly stopped appearing. The royal family, suspicious of this, launched an investigation, but even the court magicians who accompanied the inquiry couldn't determine the cause.
To preserve the court magicians' reputation, the Viscount officially retired due to illness and passed the title to his son, and the matter was buried in darkness.
And then, several months after that, the former Viscount — who had wasted away to a shadow of his former self and become a shut-in — was found dead in his room.
◇◇◇
Turning back the clock, after putting the slave collar on the Viscount, Alan made his way to the Merchants' Guild.
"Well, well, if it isn't Alan. What brings you here today?"
"I've got something to discuss, but first — one Elixir, same price as before, if that's all right?"
"Of course, sir. That would be fifty gold coins. ...Received in full. Now then, what would you like to discuss?"
"I've got the carcass of a White King Tiger Wolf. Would the Guild be willing to take it off my hands?"
"I knew it had to be you, Alan."
"What do you mean, 'you knew'?"
"Well, rumors have been going around about something like this. They originated with an Adventurers' Guild worker, but I couldn't think of anyone else in this city capable of taking down a mutant on the spot other than you, Alan."
I see. So that guy was the one who ratted him out to the Viscount.
Man, there's absolutely no personal information protection in this other world, I swear.
Anyway, I should drive the point home with Laglay.
"I don't think that will be necessary. The other day, a large number of corpses were found at a tavern on the outskirts of town. Among them was that particular employee of theirs."
Whoa, so he was a member of the Dark Guild too?
Wait, was he in the Merchants' Guild as well?
"Just as you suspected, several employees have gone missing. Can't be helped, really. You can't get by in this world without accepting both the good and the bad. They won't seriously oppose us either. As long as everyone keeps things reasonable, I suppose we can tolerate each other."
Oh, for another world, that's actually pretty reasonable.
But I'm not in the mood to play the mature adult anymore.
I'm going with Kill Them All.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Phantom Thief Gentleman] [Dark Magic]
Rank: Iron
Thank you for always reading!