I finished off everyone who'd been at the dark guild's hideout.
Including the ones who came back afterward.
When I searched the basement, I found a mountain of request forms. Among them was a contract to kill me and steal my magic bag.
While I was at it, I also took the gold coins and equipment from the hideout.
Selling them off should net a decent amount of money.
Alright, next up is the real target—the viscount's estate.
Oh right, there was also a floor plan of the Momentum Viscount's estate among the documents.
As expected of the dark guild—they really come prepared.
Though I suppose it's just in case the viscount ever betrays them.
◇◇◇
"Still no contact from the dark guild?!"
"No, my lord. Nothing yet."
"The White King Tiger Wolf that the guild staff member saw. If I present that pelt to the royal family, there's no doubt we'd be reassigned to a far more prosperous territory instead of this backwater. Yes—I could even get the second princess to marry my son. No...
w
a
s
t
e
skill."
"—even if it's the third princess, it doesn't matter. As long as we can forge a connection with the royal family—"
The Viscount Momentum, ruler of the Momentum domain, and his chamberlain.
The chamberlain, asked the same thing multiple times a day, bore it patiently and gave the same answer every time.
But the report was undeniably late.
Normally, the Dark Guild should have made contact at least once a day, without fail.
Could it be that they failed?
And then, night fell.
"Isn't this far too late? But those bastards are an assassin syndicate that boasts a high success rate. Even a backwater branch like this should have considerable fighting strength. There's no way they'd lose to some brat who just picked up an adventurer's license…"
"Hellooo there~. You must be the Viscount, right? Your wish has been granted — I came all the way here for you~"
Standing before him now was a middle-aged man, balding with a sad curtain of hair along the sides.
On top of that, he was plenty wide around the middle.
He wanted to spend a solid hour grilling the guy on why he was so bloated and fat when he'd come from a household as thin and wasted as Maru's.
"Wh-who the hell are you?! How did you get into this room?! What are the guards doing?!"
"Well, the Dark Guild happened to have a floor plan of your estate, so I came straight here. Everyone else is unconscious, by the way."
Those unfortunate enough to run into him had been knocked out cold by sheer killing intent.
"Wha—those guys… You've got to be kidding me."
"Why don't you worry about yourself instead? I've already wiped out the Dark Guild. And now I'm standing here. You can figure out what that means, can't you?"
"So,"
"give me your best"
"bullshit!"
"I mean, you'd figure it out eventually anyway, but you're the one who commissioned someone to steal my White King Tiger Wolf, right? How much did you pay for that commission? Was it really cheaper than just buying it from me fairly?"
"What are you talking about?"
"It's called common sense — even a kid would understand. If you want to buy something, you need money. Try to cheat someone and you'll get punished, on top of never getting what you wanted. Didn't your parents teach you that?"
"Shut your mouth, you damn adventurer!"
This was pointless.
I already knew that from watching my father, a marquis, back home.
Yeah, I just can't get used to how naturally people in this other world look down on others.
"Fine. Since you're the one who hired someone to kill me, you can die the same way. But since you're a noble, I'll make sure you die in a noble fashion."
"What the hell are you saying?!"
I'd thought about it from every angle, but this guy was almost certainly the one who set the Rest Trading Company on me too, and combined with everything else this time around, a normal death simply wouldn't cut it.
So—
"Enforced Servitude, activate!"
I used the Dark Magic I'd already learned beforehand through Reverse to turn this guy into my slave.
The magic to enslave someone fell under Dark Magic.
Of course, since I had no aptitude for it, when I reversed it, it became Dark Magic.
I gifted the viscount — now forcibly bound into a slave contract — a slave collar.
Technically, you could choose whether or not to display it, but there was no point unless everyone could see it.
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Skills: [Reverse], [Divine Eye], [Sword God], [Phantom Gentleman], [Dark Magic]
Rank: Iron
Thank you always for reading!