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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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Even if it was a hard day, the sun eventually set. Night always came to us like that, giving sweet rest to our waking minds. The time of the moon when darkness spread everywhere…
“Aight, eat.”
Matching that time of the moon, one female bandit had thrown a bowl roughly near the man’s head. A dagger had been stained with animal blood. The flesh of a wild boar had been cut neatly with it. Various circumstances naturally indicated that a meal had been contained within that bowl.
“Ugh…”
However, the man was not easily regaining consciousness. His body had judged that a moment of ‘power saving’ was needed to process the fatigue and pleasure that had accumulated until then. We referred to that as the survival instinct or the restorative function of the physical mechanism.
“Hey. Hey!”
However, such restorative function, in other words [rest], naturally required a considerable amount of time. The female bandit neither had the leisure to wait, nor a reason to do so.
“Get up!”
She immediately walked up to the iron bars and kicked the man’s butt repeatedly, demanding an immediate reaction.
“Aah…Hng…”
The man woke up. His consciousness returned. Although I wondered if it might have been better for him to remain unconscious, he eventually came to.
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Fuck.
“Eat, I said. Can’t ya hear?”
-Poke, poke
The female bandit nervously poked a bowl placed before my eyes.
“Eat before I spill it over.”
I didn’t know how many times I had heard such coercive words just that day. In this lawless space ruled by force and violence, there was no such thing as human rights… and naturally, no consideration either. With trembling hands, I received the bowl and examined its contents. Meat. Had some time passed since it had been cooked? Red meat juice had pooled at the bottom of the bowl.
“Ugh…”
After watching her, who showed no intention of leaving, for a moment, I picked up the meat and carefully bit into it. Even though in a fantasy world like this, the food would usually taste bad or smell fishy, the meat they offered was so well cooked that I found myself tearing into it greedily without realizing it. Perhaps it was because I was too hungry. It was the first meal I was finally eating after being raped like crazy all day, so anything would probably taste good.
“Was it tasty?”
Seeing the female bandit smiling sweetly like that, I felt like I would spit out the meat I was eating, but if I revealed such thoughts, I didn’t know what kind of things I would suffer again, so I nodded my head with effort.
“Hey, ya can drink, right? Want a drink?”
Want a drink? Knowing what they might make me do… No. Knowing what else they might do.
“Look at his eyes. Not lettin’ go of the strength? Huh?”
For now, I turned my eyes towards the bowl. I didn’t want to get hit. It damn hurt. Every time I was hit, my head resonated with a tingling pain, so now, even if they just raised their hands, my body would automatically flinch. I simply couldn’t understand what made them so strong. In their minds, it seemed they were pulling back their strength and hitting me playfully, but from the receiving end, it hurt enough to lose my mind.
“Anyway, I’ll bring it, so ya drink too. Got that?”
She just spoke her mind incessantly, then abruptly got up and headed somewhere. Only after confirming that she had gone quite far away could I finally examine the space that surrounded me. This place, excluding the entrance completely blocked by iron bars, was entirely blocked by cave walls. A prison.
“Save.”
[Save point setting complete!]
Good. It seemed the time had finally come to properly utilize the Save & Load function. Since the only thing given to me was this one ability, I had to understand it thoroughly and use it well in the right places.
“Hey, catch!”
“Ah? Ju-Just a moment…”
Just as I was looking at the ‘Save complete’ message, a large bottle flew before my eyes. I stared blankly at the bottle that flew into my arms and observed the female bandit’s reaction. She was sending me quite a kind gaze, leaning against the wall and gulping down her drink. I didn’t know why her smile, seen beyond the iron bars, suddenly felt kind. After hesitating for a moment at that fleeting kindness, I just received the drink she offered and drank it.
That liquid, which seemed like a mix of half wine and half vodka, went down my esophagus and warmed my stomach.
“Keck, Kehuk…”
“Pooh! This is strong? He’s truly a young master, I see.”
It wasn’t that. It was because I was drinking alcohol after being squeezed for over ten hours without even drinking water! I quickly wiped my mouth with my wrist and gulped down the liquor fiercely. If it had been my original world, I would never have been able to drink it like this, wondering if I wouldn’t throw up.
“Wow~ He’s finally drinkin’ in a way worth watchin’. He has to do at least that much, ya see.”
It wasn’t that I was drinking to become her drinking buddy. It wasn’t that I was drinking to forget the difficult reality and give up either.
“Puhek, Heeek… Huu…”
The effects of the alcohol would soon rise. My brain would become hazy, my body would grow warm, and a tingling headache would arrive.
“From now on, yer livin’ here. The Boss already gave permission, ya see. The cells inside there is yer home, so remember it well. When ya have to pee or poop, ya can just do it anywhere roughly. ‘Cause it’s a space specially made with the thought of holdin’ ya ’til they extort the hostage ransom, things like excrement are all handled automatically, ya see.”
Yes. It was quite a convenient function. It seemed to be a space where magic was applied. Even if it was erotic, it still felt like a fantasy world. Being able to naturally utter such nonsensical things must have been possible because there were unrealistic abilities like magic. It seemed magic was quite widespread in this world, because even bandits like these spoke as if it was nothing special. Many manga and novels depicted spatial magic as high-level magic, but it seemed this place had a different perspective.
Yes…
“Huu…” The tipsiness was rising.
“Hey, if ya can’t drink, drink slowly. Let’s at least act as talkin’ companions while I stand watch.”
“Why didn’t ya just eat him? That way, time also passes better, ya see.”
“does he seducin’ me? It seems his true nature’s comin’ out ’cause he drank alcohol.”
“That’s how it is, isn’t it? Why does he just standin’ there doin’ nothin’ and only watchin’? When he could touch and knead as he pleased… when he could do everythin’.”
“I’m endurin’ ’cause the Boss said not to lay hands on him for a few days, ya see. I’ll remember the words he just uttered well for a week later, and as soon as the Boss gives permission, immediately…”
Yes. Okay. They weren’t going to touch me for a week.
“Load.”
[Loaded to save point.]
“Hey, catch!”
A large bottle flew before my eyes. The flying bottle, just like before, came right into my arms. Leaning against the wall, the female bandit gulped down her drink. Her gaze was quite kind. Watching that fleeting kindness in silence, I soon received the drink she offered and drank it. The taste was the same, the smell was the same, and the burning sensation that came with the swallow was also the same. There was no sign of tipsiness at all. It would probably arrive soon. Because I just drank it.
“Ugh…”
The first fact I learned: If I loaded to the save point, I returned to the state of my body at that time. The second fact: Nevertheless, my memory remained as it was. The third fact: The moment I yelled ‘Load’, I immediately returned to the save point. Without a moment’s gap, the instant as the word finished, I returned right away.
“He’s drinkin’ a bit? It’s quite strong~”
And even returning to the completely same point, people didn’t seem to feel any sense of incongruity. For now, I would just drink some alcohol and pass the time. Until the day a gap appeared, I would somehow endure, and the moment I saw it, I would immediately use the Save & Load ability to escape.
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“So, our bandit band, against those crazy female knights, eventually succeeded in escapin’ all together with our limbs intact, and further spread the infamous reputation of the renowned Pilmark Bandit Band far and wide! That’s how it was~”
“Yes… Well, that was right.”
Perhaps because she had drunk alcohol and was feeling more excited, the female bandit began to reveal various stories about themselves. How they had robbed the treasures of some royal family, or stolen a necklace from some dragon’s nest, or taken a holy cross and escaped… Listening quietly to her boasting so proudly about such crimes was truly absurd. Why the hell were they doing such things?
Of course, hiding such negative thoughts, I had to listen very carefully to her story. I wasn’t particularly interested, but it was because I could grasp clues to understand this other world. Starting from what kind of countries existed, what kind of monsters existed, to the value of money, the flow of combat, the locations of nearby villages, people’s way of life, even their values… Of course, listening only to one female bandit would be nowhere near enough to understand this other world, but it would definitely be better than not listening at all.
“So, what about next?”
“Next, after takin’ the treasures we brought out and scatterin’ to sell them off…”
“Rami. How far were ya gonna talk?”
Such listening of mine ended due to the appearance of the bandit leader, who looked at the female bandit and me with sharp eyes.
“Bo-Boss…?”
She walked very slowly, yet seemed to be walking very threateningly. Then she placed her hand firmly on the female bandit’s shoulder and commanded in a low voice.
“Go. I’ll do the watchin’ myself.”
“Yes, Yes!”
The female bandit named Rami, noticing the strange aura the boss was emitting, quickly left the spot as if escaping.
“Eh…”
I, left all alone, found myself observing only her mood, agonizing hundreds of times whether to Load or not. That gaze, glaring like a fierce beast, kept shooting at me with the force to chew up anything and everything.
“Ah… I should sleep now… Haaahm…”
I, unable to understand at all what was so hateful, just slowly turned around and lay down, trying hard to fall asleep. Of course, because her sharp gaze kept piercing my back, I simply couldn’t fall asleep.
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