Chapter 523: The Slave Driver
“Heka, I told you I love you more than anything else,” I cupped her cheeks with both my hands, forcing her to look me in the eyes. Her skin was warm beneath my palms, her cheeks flushed with the heat of her frustration. “I have even gone to another timeline for you once, because I love you… Huh? Another timeline?”
“Hm? What timeline?” The question fell from Heka’s lips, her head tilting slightly to the left, a crease forming between her brows.
But honestly?
It was a slip of the tongue. A complete and utter accident.
I don’t know why I said that.
“What I mean is,” I began again, forcing my voice into something softer, calmer, more deliberate—the kind of tone you use when you’re trying to coax a frightened animal out from under a porch, “every single time you get hurt, a part of me also gets hurt.”
I lifted my hand, the motion slow and intentional, and let my palm settle against her cheek.
Her skin was warm beneath my fingers, and I could feel the faint pulse of her jaw muscle twitching as she listened to me.
“I understand and respect your pleasures. I do.” I continued, “The way you throw yourself into a fight, your eyes lighting up when you’re matching blows with something twice your size… I get it. But whenever you go hardcore, you hurt me as well. Do… do you feel good hurting me?”
“I don’t!” Her response came immediately, almost violently, her eyes widening, terrifyingly close to panic. “I swear, I don’t see it that way!”
She grabbed my wrist—the one still resting against her cheek—and held it there, like she was afraid I might pull away before she could finish her words.
Her gaze finally softened, that stubborn fire in her irises dimming into something more vulnerable and understanding.
“Fine,” she breathed out, the word with the weight of a true promise. “Very well. I vow to keep things civil. I got carried away because mother and Sara were not around to hold me back. But I will change for you. I mean it.”
“Atta girl,” I murmured, and before she could respond with another flustered apology, I leaned in and gave her a firm kiss on the lips.
Her mouth softened against mine for just a heartbeat before I pulled back, and that’s when I felt a shift.
The atmosphere in the guild hall had changed. It was subtle at first—just a few conversations stuttering to a halt, a couple of mugs pausing mid-air on their way to thirsty lips, a chair scraping awkwardly against the wooden floor as someone adjusted their seating.
But then it spread, like ripples from a stone dropped into still water, until it felt like every pair of eyes in that space had swiveled toward us.
Some were blinking in confusion. Others wore expressions of mild scandal, like we’d just performed a ritual sacrifice on the welcome mat.
A few—the younger adventurers, probably—looked nearly envious, their gazes flicking between me and Heka with that particular brand of longing that comes from people who’ve spent too many nights alone in cramped inn rooms. Pfft.
Were they not used to people kissing in public? I wondered, glancing around the hall with what I hoped was probably a neutral expression.
I shrugged it off internally.
Let them stare.
Anyway, for the second time now, I turned my attention back to the matter at hanf.
“Eric,” I said, letting my voice cut through the still lingering silence, “you have to make me an adventurer, or you will be breaking the promise you made to me.”
I held up my right hand for emphasis, wiggling my fingers slightly. “You know, my hand still hurts because of that stunt I pulled. And I need my, uh… my adventurer’s card to, uhm, meet the doctors in Thaad for a check-up…”
I let the sentence trail off, then flicked my gaze toward Heka, raising one eyebrow in a silent plea for backup. “Right, Heka?”
“Indeed.” Heka slipped seamlessly into character once again. “Due to the immense strain that flowed into Benjamin’s hand, it still reacts strangely. Twitches, you see. Sometimes at random intervals. The doctor—a very reputable healer from the eastern district—told us three days ago to get our adventurer’s cards in three days’ time to avoid the worst.Today is the deadline. So, if you would please make good on your promise, Mr. Eric.”
I kept my face absolutely stone still, even as my internal voice started screaming in my head.
First of all—she was implying that we’d already gotten a checkup from a doctor without possessing an adventurer’s card.
Second—she’d just claimed that this imaginary doctor had given us instructions “three days ago,” when we hadn’t even known Thaad was a city until approximately four hours earlier.
And third, why in all the hells was she using “Mr” to address Eric all of a sudden?
She was laying on the formality like butter on hot bread, and I could practically see the gears turning behind Eric’s placid, unreadable face.
Despite the blatant and terrible nature of our lie—and the fact that every single word out of Heka’s mouth was verifiable nonsense if anyone bothered to check—Eric let out a long, weary sigh that seemed to deflate his entire frame.
“Fine,” he said and agreed.
I just knew it was going to be another type of trouble. The kind that would snowball into something larger and messier.
But honestly? I didn’t mind.
I’d been running into trouble since the moment I reincarnated into this world.
At this point, It’d be more suspicious if a day went by without something going sideways.
***
By the time Eric agreed, the sun had begun its slow descent toward the horizon. It was getting to late afternoon, by my best estimation.
Though the sun still hung high and mighty, casting long golden rays through the guild’s high windows, there was a shift in the air—a coolness that hadn’t been there an hour ago, a subtle wind that snuck through the cracks in the walls and whispered against the back of my neck.
The evening breeze was sneaking around, playing tag with the warmth of the day, which in my old world would have indicated it was around 4 PM or so.
Of course, a real clock and the timing system of Earth naturally didn’t work here. There were no mechanical hands ticking away the seconds.
Here, they told time mostly from the location of the sun—its angle, its color, the length of the shadows it cast—supplemented by some recurring numbers, like seconds, which were apparently tracked with magic.
“Uhm, Benjamin,” Eric said, his voice pulling me back from my wandering thoughts, “allow us to start with Heka.”
He gestured toward a smaller counter in the corner of the hall, where a few guild staff members were shuffling papers and looking busy. “She also wishes to become an adventurer, yes?”
“Not exactly,” Heka replied with a casual shrug. “I simply do whatever Benjamin ask of me.”
[Hold up! ] I nearly choked on my own spit. [Stop making it seem like I’m some kind of slave driver!]
I shot her a look, but she just smiled sweetly back at me, utterly unrepentant.
Eric, for his part… seemed to be hiding something.
There was a tightness around his jaw that hadn’t been there before, a flicker in his gaze that darted away whenever I tried to meet it directly.
He was fidgeting with the edge of his sleeve, rolling the fabric between his thumb and forefinger in a repetitive motion that screamed nervous habit.
I seriously don’t enjoy reading people’s minds—I’d just rather not, due to the kind of things I inevitably discover when I unintentionally go poking around—so I didn’t give Eric a deep mind-scrape.
I didn’t peel back the layers of his thoughts to see what was festering underneath, but maybe it’s because I didn’t want to know if he was planning to betray us.
Sometimes ignorance was not just bliss—it was necessary.
I can’t have this fun detour end suddenly!