The next day came, and the Slavirs began organizing things as they rebuilt their houses.
I was forced to rest outside, laying my head between Fenil's thighs, since she kept insisting.
But I learned a very impressive feature thanks to that.
Last night, before I went to sleep,
Fenil went to me and asked. "Where will you be resting tonight, Master?"
Just after I deployed the new barrier that Grand had developed, I turned around and looked at Fenil, who seemed shy about something.
"I'm planning on resting somewhere quiet for tonight, but first I need to tell the chief about something." I said.
"I see. Please come to me after your discussion with the Slavir's chief." she said, twirling her hair, acting extremely shy and dawning with emotion.
I don't know what's going on with her, but I get the feeling that I should just nod.
I nodded and left her, walking in the direction where the chief was.
The chief glanced at me and noticed that I was heading his way, so without giving me the hassle of walking towards him, he approached me.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"I was just about to inform you that you should just focus on resting since I have applied a new barrier for the village." I said, wearing a serious expression.
"Really? How? We can't even imagine deploying such a wide-area barrier without accumulating a lot of mana energy." He asked in shock after hearing my words.
His unwavering expression, confidence, calm, and dignified posture aren't mere facades to display. Based on his words, I could clearly see the newly deployed barrier, but how? How did he cast such a wide barrier alone? Does he possess a lot of mana energy for him to be able to cast it alone? I've always thought that we, the slavirs, were advantageous in terms of mana energy capacity, but this man somehow surpasses us. I still don't know if he is a human or not; my intuition does not tell me about it. But one thing's for sure, he is not your ordinary man, and he is not from these lands. If possible, he is—no, that individual is described as the definition of disaster. He is far from being that Individual." the chief mumbled in his head, curious about Heinz's existence.
Meanwhile, Heinz was calm and silent, thinking of an excuse not to potentially expose his capabilities.
"I just did something for the village, so please don't ask me about it since I don't want to talk about." I said as I stared into the chief's eyes.
His straightforward attitude—is it confidence? But I like it, and he's really an honest one." the chief mumbled to himself.
I turned, waving my hand, and told him that was all I wanted to say, but before I could leave, he held my shoulders.
I stopped, sensing a bit of tension since I think he didn't like my response about him questioning me.
Just as I turned, he said. "My name is Eric; I forgot to introduce myself. I am a commoner, born within the Alex kingdom's dukedom, Duke Albert Esach's territory. The Floral City of the West."
I never thought of him explaining his introduction in such a detailed manner; it's like he's telling me about his past. But after all, he knows something about me, so I guess he just wanted to even us out.
"I see. Nice to know you, Chief Eric." I said, extending my hand for a handshake.
He glanced at my action and shook my hand.
"I'll be in your care from now on, Heinz." he said.
His words really made me uncomfortable; it's as if he's relying on me for something.
And so, I excused myself and went back to Fenil since she wanted me to come to her after our discussion.
But then, I never expected her to be so clingy.
"Master, if you are willing to, please use me as a pillow." she said, leaving me in surprise.
"Eh? What are you talking about?" I asked while trying to keep my calm expression intact.
"I know you need to rest, master, so I just wanted to propose that you use me as a pillow, whether it'd be my chest, stomach, legs, or even use me as a body pillow; I don't care as long as I'm of use." she said, insisting that I use her as a pillow while her face turned reddish.
Arthur and the others, who were approximately close to us, could overhear our conversation, forcing them to wear strange expressions as if they were disgusted by our conversation.
I'm sure they're just disgusted about what Fenil did earlier. Even for me, I can't bear to sleep beside a woman who just showed me something unhealthy for the mind.
Fenil waited for my response, wearing a distressed expression as if she were about to cry as soon as I rejected her idea.
With that, I concluded that I should just agree and use her as a pillow.
And so I slept between her legs, close to the wooden cage.
Meanwhile, Grand was a bit restless and infuriated about my decision to just calmly sleep between a woman's thighs.
Due to her excessive complaints, Grand asked me for my permission to use autopilot.
[Master, I do not approve of this. Please grant me permission to activate autopilot mode.]
I knew Grand wasn't jealous or anything; she was just trying to protect my well-being by being overly cautious, even if it meant that the person I'm with is someone who pledged their full loyalty towards me.
And that's when I learned about the autopilot mode, a feature where the system overtakes authority over the host's body. It was to maintain and ensure the safety of my well-being while my consciousness rested.
It made me wonder about things, such as myself having an alter ego.
Well, Grand is my partner after all. So I agreed and gave her my permission to activate autopilot.
So I slept like a log between a cannibalistic beautiful woman's thighs, while Grand took over my body, acted asleep, and just stood alert for the entire night.
What a devoted partner.
Back to the current day: it was still morning, and people were already up and energetic, except for Arthur and the others, who had not eaten a single thing since last night.
Grand also told me information about what happened last night; it seems that Rin was having a tantrum and kept on yelling and complaining.
"It's because of her! If I never took this task, I would have been sleeping in the inn right now!" Is what she said, leaving me the impression that someone must have manipulated them, I guess.
But still, I cannot trust them yet. It might be an act to make me feel sympathy towards them, or it could also be true. It was still a fifty-fifty gamble, but I did not care about it since the time for asking about information had come.
The Wild Life party looked at me with fear as they cowered further before me.
"Now, tell me everything I want to know, and I'll let you go." I said, threatening their lives.
Rin crawled closer to me and asked. "Will you really let us go, Sir Heinz?" Her attitude towards me turned drastically. Just yesterday, she mocked me and called me a demon, but now she looked like a puppy that would even give her entire body just to escape death.
Her eye bags grew bigger and darker, while her expression was too pitiful to mention.
"I will." I said, and I paused while their grim expressions lightened a bit.
"But if you lie to me, death awaits all of you. Even if a single one of you dares to lie, I will kill all of you." I said, eyeing them one by one with fear and intimidation.
They all flinched, scared of what might happen to them. Without wasting any second, they began blabbering about things I never expected.
Rin stood closer to me and began talking nonstop.
"It's because of the Fenrir! We weren't really tasked to slay the hobgoblin; we were here to kill the Fenrir. It was an order by her; she said they'd make us nobles if we brought her the Fenrir's corpse."
Tate also jumped into the conversation and started spouting.
"Yes, what she said is true! Our purpose was to slay the fenrir and bring its corpse. We are a party working directly for her."
I glanced at Fenil, who was so angry after hearing their words, but she did not act recklessly and stayed put behind me, holding her anger in.
In the meantime, they kept talking about someone—perhaps their master?" I wondered.
"What they said is true, Sir Heinz, and I will not deny that we did get blinded by our greed. Hearing her words that she'd make us nobles were plausible, since she is a high-ranking individual within our kingdom." said Arthur, feeling apologetic.
Lucas did not say anything, while Rosalie also kept silent.
I took a knee, closer to their faces, and asked. "Who is this? "Her" you keep mentioning?"
The five of them looked at each other and gulped.
"We..."
"Stop it, Arthur! You will die if you say her name!" Rosalie said, stopping Arthur from revealing her identity.
[It seems that a curse magic is placed on them; revealing their master's name would cause their instant deaths.]
Do you have a way to remove this spell?" I asked through thought communication.
[Yes, I will have to first analyze the spell that's been placed on them.]
[It might take a few minutes, but I will do my utmost to remove the curse magic.]
Thanks Grand."
Rosalie and Arthur argued.
"If no one is willing to tell him, I will sacrifice myself for you guys!" Arthur said, his eyes full of determination without any ounce of conflict.
The four looked at him silently, mesmerized by what Arthur had said.
I raised my hand and stopped them.
"Do not tell me her name yet; I will ask for it later." I said, buying some time before Grand could come up with a countermeasure to secure their lives.
I also don't want to see Arthur die; he really has piqued my interest.
Meanwhile, the four were still troubled, thinking that I had just delayed Arthur's death in order for them to say their goodbyes.
But it was all their imagination.
Chapter End.