The Tutorial Boss Makes Her Sign a Promissory Note

Dungeon preparations were proceeding smoothly.

Bordeaux still had one step left, but I had to handle it myself.

I had placed an order for 30,000 potions with Dorea, and Dorea would try to resolve things proactively even if left alone.

It would have been nice to ask the Apothecaries' Guild for help, but even without it, a monthly output of 30,000 would be sufficient, I figured.

I had Fila seek the Magic Association's input and entrusted Fila with sealing the demonic sword.

"For a tutorial, I've really been pushing things hard."

Unlike in the game, no time was skipped, so I had accomplished in a little over a month what would have taken several months of in-game time.

'Going by progress alone, this is a new record.'

The route was the same as when I played as Elena, but it was possible even without Elena.

In the game, everyone had been so captivated by Elena's charm that they helped wholeheartedly, but as Eck, I had somehow replaced that with negotiations.

"It was truly satisfying."

I let out a laugh.

Saving time had ultimately been a matter of personal satisfaction, but the fact that it was actually helpful made it all the more satisfying.

Now there was only one thing left.

Only the biggest matter remained.

The guild building came into view.

The guild consisted of the main building, a dining hall, and a street of basic shops for adventurers, all centered around a dedicated plaza.

A hole had been punched through the main building, the guild's very symbol, and repairs were underway.

I grabbed a passing adventurer by the collar.

"What happened?"

"E-Eck? I heard Elena and the guildmaster got into some kind of fight...!"

"Elena?"

When I released the adventurer's collar, the adventurer hurriedly fled with the companions.

"She fought Rebecca?"

For what reason?

Countless possibilities combined in my head, but the answer that emerged most often involved relationships that had appeared in the game.

'I'm still alive, so it couldn't have played out exactly like the game...'

It had happened immediately after I was kidnapped, so there was a strong chance it was related to me.

'...Does fate not change? No, it will.'

I shook off the ominous thought and entered the guild dining hall.

From early morning, adventurers ate breakfast before heading out to hunt.

The moment I opened the door and entered, the din of murmuring abruptly stopped.

Everyone's eyes focused on me.

The adventurers gathered around the dining tables flinched when they saw me and turned their heads away. They furtively watched me, and whenever I passed nearby, their heads turned in the opposite direction.

'What's going on?'

The atmosphere was strange.

The adventurers' reactions prompted me to ask Eck for his opinion.

Yesterday, I had been drugged and kidnapped.

It was perfect material for looking down on me.

It wouldn't have been strange for someone to lead the adventurers in openly challenging me.

They would have mocked me as unfit for A-rank after I had fallen victim to something resembling poisoning.

"Hmm..."

I sat in my assigned seat.

But their reaction was the opposite.

Had they all eaten rotten meat together and gotten food poisoning?

"E-Eck..."

Jeina approached.

The life had drained from her trembling eyes, leaving them filled with nothing but fear.

Her fingertips had gone white as she set down the cup.

"I-I'm truly sorry about yesterday."

"....."

If I'd handled Jeina the way Eck would have, she'd have ended up dead, so I couldn't bring myself to do it and simply sent her away.

Perhaps that had been the cause, because Jeina's entire body was now a wreck.

Her brown hair had been yanked out in patches and was tangled into a mess. Her left eye was surrounded by a deep purple bruise, and swelling had left it half-closed.

Dried blood stained her split lips. Bruises showed on her exposed neck.

It had been the work of the adventurers.

For all that, Eck had been an A-rank powerhouse who represented the guild's adventurers.

There was no way the adventurers would leave the culprit who had damaged that symbol alone.

'It's a jungle.'

By living safely as Eck on the strength of the reputation and career Eck had built, I had let my guard down until my modern sensibilities showed through.

Even Eck had become lazy, caught up in the modern sensibilities of my previous life, only to jolt awake.

I didn't want to waste mental energy on something like this when I had to deal with nobles today, but...

'...I suppose it can't be helped.'

I would have to spend a long time dealing with the adventurers around the dungeon.

There was nothing to gain from letting them look down on me.

"Jeina."

"Y-yes!"

It had been a while, making it awkward, but even belated punishment was still warranted.

I called on Eck.

Eck, what would you do?

You idiot. You should have turned things upside down the moment it happened.

Fuck.

Even so, the Eck inside me offered an opinion at the speed of thought, and I made my judgment from there.

The attitude Eck would show before people from now on.

I had to show it to everyone here.

"Ugh..."

Jeina bowed her head as if ready to prostrate herself—or even strip off her clothes.

Her shoulders trembled.

The Eck of the past would have started by overturning the dining table. Since he was so predictable, those people were probably expecting it too.

They probably thought I would seize her brown hair and slam her into the floor.

'No matter how I think about it, that doesn't suit me.'

It wasn't that I was trying to pretend to be kind; Eck and those bastards were both simply too extreme.

More than anything, if this continued, instead of imitating Eck, I would have to watch the adventurers' reactions in order to imitate the Eck they expected to see.

At that moment, Eck's temperament began to stir inside me.

'Why should I do something I don't like while worrying about what those bastards think?'

I suddenly started getting angry.

I leaned my back against the chair, crossed my legs, and looked at Jeina.

My gaze settled calmly.

"Jeina."

"C-could you please just spare my life?"

"Raise your head."

At my low voice, she flinched and stiffened. Tears welled in her bruised eye as she looked up at me.

Her face was that of a condemned prisoner facing the executioner who would pronounce the sentence.

"If it were the old me, I would have broken all four of your limbs and thrown you to those bastards."

"Ugh...."

"But I've realized something lately."

I tapped the backs of my hands folded over my lap with one finger.

"I've come to think that beating and breaking people isn't the only way to get things done."

I was no longer the Eck that Jeina and those bastards knew.

Nor could I be Eck, either.

The Eck inside me had also been influenced by the memories and experiences of the modern world.

The Eck inside me agreed.

Violence alone would cost me more than it gained.

Of course, that didn't mean I planned to let the person who had stabbed me in the back off the hook.

I had to repay any harm done to me with something worse to maintain my position in this world.

But Eck had learned something better than violence from my memories.

I rummaged through my clothes and pulled out a crumpled sheet of parchment, an ink bottle, and a quill.

I had been carrying them around because I'd had plenty of use for them lately.

Jeina's eyes wavered when these utterly incongruous items emerged from inside Eck's clothes.

Thunk.

I placed them on the table and pushed them toward Jeina.

"Write."

"W-what...?"

"Write down exactly what I dictate."

Jeina's swollen eyes moved between the parchment and my face.

With trembling hands, she carefully took up the quill.

"I, Jeina, have inflicted immense mental and physical harm upon the adventurer Eck."

At each word that left my lips, her fingertips trembled. The scratching of the nib was the only sound filling the silent dining hall.

"As compensation for this... I swear to pay five thousand gold coins."

Jeina's hand stopped.

Ink clinging to the nib gathered at its tip, slowly seeped out, and fell in round drops.

It stained one corner of the parchment black.

All color drained from Jeina's face, and her lips turned blue.

"F-five thousand gold coins...? Mr. Eck, there's no way I could have that much money...."

It was a fortune she could never even lay hands on after a lifetime of serving in a corner of the dining hall.

Jeina's reaction was only natural.

"Keep writing. Who told you to stop?"

"Ugh..."

My voice was dry, without the slightest tremor.

I pressed down on both of Jeina's shoulders with merciless resolve.

"The term shall be twenty years, with interest paid every month. If you fail to pay the interest..."

I crooked up the corner of my mouth and silently looked at Jeina. She raised her head, and my gaze met her terrified eyes.

"You will surrender your body and become the property of the adventurer Eck, submitting to any fate, whether you are sold to a brothel or used as a meat shield to bait monsters."

"Sob... ugh..."

Tears finally burst from Jeina's eyes.

The drops spilled onto the parchment, but with my gaze fixed on the back of her head, she couldn't sob aloud and kept moving the pen.

At the end, she signed and pressed her fingerprint onto it, then I took the parchment.

"Ah..."

Jeina's soul seemed to leave her body as she stared at the parchment in my hand.

When I held out my hand, she politely held the quill in both hands and passed it to me.

The quill's feathers trembled violently.

I took the quill and also signed and pressed my fingerprint onto the document.

I slowly rose from my seat.

Then I unfolded the parchment and showed it to the adventurers filling the dining hall.

"Take a good look, every one of you."

My voice pressed heavily down on the dining hall.

The adventurers fixed their gazes on the parchment.

"From now on, don't think that getting beaten a few times and dying will be the end of it for anyone who stabs me in the back or tries any funny business."

The parchment was a promissory note.

"Jeina swore here to repay me five thousand gold coins as the price for drugging me at Rebecca's behest."

Jeina merely stared blankly and let her tears fall.

She had thought getting beaten by me and treated at the infirmary would be the end of it, but she now understood the mistake in the form of debt.

"Though I let my guard down, you could easily have killed me."

I shook my head.

"Even I think it's absurd. I suppose leaving the field has killed my instincts. If anyone thinks this is too expensive, come forward."

I shook the promissory note.

It fluttered, drawing the adventurers' eyes.

No one could open their mouth.

I slapped the parchment down on the table and looked around at the adventurers again.

"I used to settle things cheaply. I had such a good method right in front of me and still ignored it. If you thought I was stupid, you'd better be careful from now on."

One of the adventurers swallowed hard.

Violence is over after one beating.

But debt continues until it is paid.

If they didn't want to keep getting entangled with me, they'd have to be more wary of me than before.

From now on, every time Jeina woke in the morning, came to the guild, or saw my face, she'd think of those numbers.

Shackles she could never repay even over a lifetime.

Eck had learned advanced capitalism from my memories.

I rolled up Jeina's promissory note and tucked it into my clothes.

'Now that things have come to this, I should get Rebecca to pay compensation greater than Jeina's.'

I called Jeina while thinking about what would be best.

"Jeina."

"Yes....."

Her voice sounded drained.

It was desperate, as if her throat had split open.

I knew that feeling.

In my previous life, I had also been hounded by mountains of debt.

"Go serve breakfast."

"Yes......."

Jeina rose weakly and staggered back toward the kitchen as if her soul had left her.

I dropped heavily into my seat.

The guild dining hall felt desolate.

Everyone's attention was still fixed on me.

Ignoring them, I swallowed the meal Jeina brought, circulating mana through my body to inspect any poison entering it as I ate.

The moment poison entered my body and began to cause harm, my mana would break it down in an instant.

'Do I have to do this every time I eat?'

It was unbelievably bothersome. Having to do this every time inevitably left my nerves on edge.

Not long afterward, as the dining hall's atmosphere loosened with the turnover of customers, a familiar head of golden hair approached with familiar footsteps.

"Mister!"

It was Elena.

Elena's face lit up when she spotted me.

The way she came hurrying over made her look like a puppy that had found its owner.

"You look happy."

"Were you all right yesterday, Mister?"

"Yesterday?"

"Well..."

"Don't worry about it. If you're asking about that, it's been taken care of."

"...Yes?"

Once I had finished eating and the bowls were empty, Jeina immediately came over and collected the tray.

Elena's eyes followed Jeina.

"More importantly, what brings you here? You won't need to seek me out for a while."

"Well, there's something I wanted to show you."

Elena took a certain potion bottle from inside her clothes and held it up.

"What's that?"

"A woman who used to look after us at our old house gave it to us before she left."

"Hanna?"

"Yes. Did you meet her last time?"

Hanna. I knew her well.

I folded my arms and stared intently at Elena.

"Why did you want to show it to me?"

"I thought you'd know what kind of potion it is. Aunt Hanna said it's a fatigue-recovery potion."

"Hanna was the woman who looked after you when things were difficult. If it was given by the person you trusted most, you'd think you would have gulped it down. Why didn't you drink it?"

"Uh... well. Still, I thought it would be better to know what kind of potion it was before drinking it... Ahaha."

"It's because of me."

"Ugh..."

Elena couldn't bring herself to deny it.

When I held out my hand, Elena came over beside me to pass me the potion bottle, but flinched and stopped halfway.

"What is it?"

"N-nothing."

I took the potion bottle from Elena's trembling hand.

I rolled the bottle around on my fingertip with interest.

I'll take care of all this here.

The identity of this potion was Est.

It was a stamina potion Ellis had made for her sister.