Love at First (I)

“I’m gonna head out for a bit. You can go back to work now.”

I declare that after lunch as I head for the exit of Ariesa’s house.

Now that I’m free from the cell and no longer bound to any particular mission, I can finally explore the city like I’ve always wanted. It’s been a crazy long tutorial, but I can finally get started on some form of fantasy adventure.

“You’re not taking me with you?” Ariesa asks in surprise.

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m just gonna go for a walk. Plus, the longer you’re away from your duties, the more suspicious the other knights will get, so you should probably head back. Oh, but remember not to tell anyone about me or the Demon Lords.”

“Right…”

Ariesa makes a complex look as I leave the building. She must have several conflicted feelings all jumbled up and competing inside of her right now. She is in a really weird and troubled condition right now after all.

Not that I’d know what to do to help her with that. Nor am I obligated to.

“Haah… tonight’s gonna be awkward… maybe I shouldn’t be staying at this house, after all.”

“Oh, thinking of moving? Maybe it’s time to go steal that mega-mansion you wanted.”

Satanya suggests, popping into view the moment I’m alone again.

It’s not a guarantee, but she tends to quiet down a lot when I’m talking to someone else. Perhaps it’s her own way of being considerate to me. Especially since I’d look crazy if I were just talking to thin air in front of other people.

“Hmmm… getting a new place does sound fun. But there’s not much point to a huge mansion, if I don’t have the manpower to maintain it. No way I’m gonna do the chores to keep that kind of house in check.”

“True, true. In that case, are you thinking of getting more personnel?

“You can just say slaves. There’s no point in sugar-coating it. But… yeah, maybe. It would be useful to have more allies and companions. I am a little worried though…”

I bite my lip as I start to think about the future ahead of me.

“I managed to get Ariesa pretty easily without much trouble, but if I keep using my power to steal things or turn people into slaves, eventually someone will catch on. At that point, I won’t be able to hide that I’m a Demon Lord anymore. And when that day comes, the entire world will turn against me and I don’t stand a chance.”

Although I have this powerful ability in the Crest of Greed, it isn’t invincible. Otherwise, the Demon King who had it before would not have been defeated.

For example, as powerful as it is, the Slave Master ability is still just an ability akin to any other skill that people can use. It has limitations and a cost to it.

Specifically, casting Enslave on someone requires MP. The amount required increases the stronger and valuable the target is.

I had enough MP to use it on even someone as strong as Ariesa, but it’s not infinite. If an entire army of soldiers came at me all at once, I wouldn’t be able to enslave them all. I’d get a few at best and then get dogpiled by the rest.

So, as I am now, I don’t stand a chance if the entire world becomes my enemy.

“Well, in that case, you’ll just have to play it smart.”

“Yeah but… will that be enough? I mean, I doubt I’m as smart as the Demon King was, and even she got defeated. What chance do I have of survival?”

“I think you’re in pretty good shape. The Demon King failed, but only because her goal was too large. She waged a worldwide war after all. Her enemy was the world itself. But if her goal was smaller, she probably would’ve had it easy.”

“Hmm, that’s true… I may be evil now, but I’m not planning to start a second Great War. The only thing I want is to have a good life where I can do whatever I please. I don’t need to become king of the world or anything like that.”

Frankly, that much power doesn’t interest me. All I really want to do is to gain everything I missed in past life and maybe just a bit more. Yeah, I wanna be rich, but I don’t need to be the richest man in the world. So on and so forth.

Well, perhaps it’s ironic of me to be so un-greedy, but it is what it is. To be honest, I can’t even imagine what could’ve possibly driven the Demon King to be as ambitious as she was…

“All right, then I think I’ll keep my head down. I won’t do anything too big to attract the attention of the authorities. It’d be a waste if I got found out now, after I went through the trouble of silencing Ariesa, after all.”

“Sounds good to me. As long as you’re happy.”

As I chat with Satanya and discuss my plans for the near future, I continue my walk through the city and take in the sights.

Since Ariesa’s house is near both the Knight Post and the Governor’s House, I quickly end up in the area of town that I’m already familiar with.

Now that I’m free, though, it all feels like it has a different colour to me. I feel like I can actually enjoy the world for what it is.

“Oh, yeah, I remember this area. I think… last time we were here, we were talking about how there are mainly women now in this world.”

“That’s right. I do recall we were talking about all the single woman available for you~”

“You don’t have to put it that way… but yeah. Thinking about my future, that does seem more and more relevant.”

One of my biggest regrets from my past life is that I never experienced love. If I’m now committed to this path of greed, then I do want to seriously aim for finding someone that I’d fall in love with.

“What about Ariesa? Don’t you have her?”

“Ehhh, well… I do like her, but I’m not sure that’s the kind of pure romance that I want. I mean, at this point, there’s no way she’d ever like me back.”

Thinking about how much disdain she showed me earlier, I get the feeling she’d rather die than start dating me.

“Hmm, indeed. That is a weakness of the Slave Crest. It can’t directly manipulate someone’s emotions, so you can’t force her to love you.”

“Not exactly what I meant, but sure. Either way, that’s route blocked.”

Maybe in another life, I could’ve fully gone down the Ariesa route and gotten her Good Ending, but it’s too late for that now.

“Like I said before, I prefer a proper pure romance where the two people slowly and naturally fall in love with each other. Throwing slavery into the mix there would ruin it. So, I think, if I’m trying to find true love, it has to be without enslaving the girl.”

“Damn, is that even possible for someone so rizzless?”

“Oi, weren’t you the one who said it’d be easy since there are so few men in this world?”

“Well, sure, but that kind of idealistic romance you’re talking about is one a different level of difficulty… you’re asking for a fairy tale here.”

“Well, so be it. What’s the point of all this if I’m not gonna be greedy? I’m gonna try my best to find my one true soulmate!”

I know it’s not so simply, but to me, it’s a goal worth seriously pursuing.

I’ll do my best to grab a hold of my own dream! I won’t wait for it to just appear for me.

After all, it’s not like the perfect girl for me is just gonna fall out of the sky and land in my lap.

Stomp Stomp Stomp!

“Huh? Wait, what’s that sound?”

I stop in my tracks as I suddenly hear a strange mix of sounds near me.

I look up to see a shadowy figure above, running at top speed and leaping from roof to roof.

It lands on the roof of a building right next to me, when all of a sudden—

“Haeh!? Uwaaaaahhhh, watch out!”

“Huh?”

The figure slips, misses a jump, and comes plummeting to the ground.

I see it all happen in slow motion. The sight of the person dropping from the sky.

It’s a girl. Falling. Towards me. Head first. And then—

Smooch~

The sudden sensation of something on my lips.

And just like that, before I knew it, I had my very first kiss.

“Huh. What do you know. Girls do fall from the sky after all.”