On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

After buying all of the fruits for 6,000 Peculias, which is enough to feed a family of two for an entire month, Vibiane takes me out of the market.

I would like to tell her that she is spending her money carelessly by uselessly buying fruits that are more than she actually needs, but I immediately stop myself from doing that the moment I remember I have also taken more things than I ever need.

If I had bought these things instead, I would have spent more than 6,000 Peculias, which I currently don't have. It would have also been a waste of money, even if I did.

Still, it is good that I can still have things without having to spend a single Peculia, which makes me wonder if Valeria has predicted something like this is going to happen ... Nonetheless, I am thankful to the kind vendors.

In case you are wondering about what Peculia is, it is the currency of this world, which name I don't know yet. Using my mathematics and economy skill, I recount that 1 Peculia roughly equals to 2$.

That means, Vibiane, the idiot, has just spent 1,200$ on fruits that she doesn't even crucially need. I am pretty sure there is no one dumber than her on Earth that purchases more than 1,200$ on fruits for personal consumption.

"We have a lot of fruits, Layland!"

"Yeah, I know you do."

"WE have a lot of fruits!"

"Yeah, we do..." I lightly sigh in exasperation. "What are y—we going to do with them?"

"We are going to eat them obviously!"

"I thought you were going to start a business with them."

"Eh, that was a great idea actually." Vibiane's eyes widen in realization. In the next moment however, the idiot sighs forlornly. "Huuh... Too bad that I am not good at business. Oh! Maybe, you can start it in my stead. What about it?"

"... I will pass up on the golden opportunity."

"I will pay you well," Vibiane exclaims seriously.

"I don't want to have a stupid boss."

"Awh... That's too—hey, who are you calling stupid?!"

Vibiane is testing my sanity in each passing second, and since I am afraid I will lose my mind if I keep minding her, I have decided to ignore her. Blocking my ears with a Spell so I don't hear anything that comes out of her mouth, I enjoy the walk in peace.

I don't even know where we are heading, but I don't think I should mind about it much, since the annoying chatterbox Vibiane is leading the way. She must know where she is going, so I am sure we won't get lost.

I mean, it is not her first time coming to Scentillion. No matter how stupid she is, she won't get lost in a place where she has visited more than once, will she?

"Uh... I think we are lost."

... Apparently not.

I knew as soon as she stopped bothering me that something was wrong. I cancelled the Spell I had cast on my ears, and my feeling was proven to be true when I was greeted by her silence and a light tug on my coat.

"Is this your first time coming here?"

"No, it's my 27th time of visiting the city but..."

"But?"

"It is my first time exploring it... Hehe."

As soon as Vibiane gives me her innocently annoying smile, I immediately have a really great urge to slap her to death. I know that I will never be able to kill her with a slap due to our difference in power, and since I am also a great comrade, I hold my anger back.

Slap!

"Ouch! I am sorry. I didn't have any choice back then. I had no friends that I could ask to explore the city with me!"

... Still, I can't hold my hand back.

Sighing lightly to myself, I look around while ignoring the idiot who is busy rubbing her head that I have just slapped. We are currently in a fairly quiet alley that often becomes the place where criminal activities take place.

The sun is shining down on us though, so we can see everything clearly. Even if we couldn't, there is nothing to be afraid of since I believe the two of us are more than capable of defending ourselves.

I have observed the Monsters in the market enough to know that none of them possesses enough Mana to stand against me. I can even safely say that except the master of this city and the guards, everyone here can't fight at all.

"Ugh... This place is so quiet. I wonder if we will get robbed."

"Do you think there is a Monster capable enough of doing that here?"

"Well, if it's taking your things so quick, you won't even realize... Many of them are capable."

I quirk my eyebrow in interest at that, then spread my Mana to scan my surrounding. I immediately smirk when I feel a presence hiding just a few feet away from me, then turn to Vibiane to ask for some money.

She doesn't even question me in the slightest as she immediately gives me the money in a pouch. I shake the pouch lightly to weigh down the coins, making them go chink as they hit each other, and find that there is roughly 600 Peculias inside.

Dash!

Just as I am about to keep the pouch on my side, I see a movement in my peripheral vision, and it brings a smirk to my face. Something is rapidly coming my way—I believe the pouch is its purpose—but it is not fast enough to outrun my eyes.

When it is right beside me—when it is about to snatch the pouch in my right hand, I retract my right hand and grab whatever it is by its throat with my left hand.

"Kyaak! Don't touch me, you perverted Demon! What kind of sick play you are trying to put me into?!"

As I look at the little furry thing that I am holding by its neck, I can't help blinking my eyes. I have expected it to be a wicked looking rat-like Monster after all, so I am slightly surprised when I see a half-raccoon little girl instead.

She has a pair of raccoon's furry ears, a long black hair, a human child face, a human-like fair skin, a raccoon's furry tail behind her, and a really small human like stature. She is barely half as tall as my foot, but she is really loud.

"Release me already, you sick Demon! Why are you even lusting after a child?!"

... She says some pretty interesting things too.

"What is this midget even talking about?"

"Who are you calling a midget?! I am still growing!"

"... Is your mother a siren or something? You are really loud."

Although I am not exactly choking the midget, I still wonder how she can speak. In any normal circumstances, after all, talking while having someone's hand grabbing your throat is bothersome.

Other than that, the midget also has the audacity to glare at me angrily as if I am in the wrong. I don't know if it's in her nature, but I wonder what kind of parents she has—how they educate their shameless daughter.

'Should I shave all of her fur to teach her some manner?'

As I am pondering about what to do to the midget to teach her a lesson, Vibiane puts her hand on my right arm. I turn to look at her, and she immediately shakes her head.

"She is still a child, Layland. Let her go."

"Being a child doesn't mean you have the privilege to do whatever you want."

"Oh, come on! We've ever been like her too," Vibiane persuades.

"In my wor—hometown, only ill-mannered kids talk trash to the adults and steal people's things. We usually teach them a lesson to prevent them from becoming a criminal in the future."

"... Actually, let's punish her." A few seconds are spent with pondering, but Vibiane eventually nods her head in conviction.

I smirk at her response then turn to the midget, who has lost her cocky smile. She is now looking at the two of us in horror as (I think) she thinks about a cruel fate that will greet her soon.

"I am actually a good child, kind sir. Please, forgive me for the thing I have accidentally done," the midget says docilely while showing me her wide eyes.

I am already numbed with cute things, so unlike Vibiane who falters slightly at the midget's display, I feel nothing. Putting my right palm on her forehead afterwards, I cast a Spell that I have just recently mastered.

[Inis Imperium].

The midget resists when I cover her face with my palm, but the moment my Spell is casted, she stops resisting entirely. When I retract my hand a few seconds after, a Geas like mark is already carved on the middle of her forehead.

"Y-You! What have you done to me? W-Why do I feel like I want to present my everything to you?!"

"This is your punishment—you will be my slave for today," I answer with a smirk.

[Inis Imperium] is a Spell that allows me to create a temporary Geas. It will only bind the person whom the Spell is casted on with one command from the caster, so after fulfilling that command, said person will be freed from the Spell.

I might be a bully for using that to a child, but the look on the midget's face is priceless.