There's a saying that even if a fiend drags you off in its jaws, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.
It's not as if a person is simply fated to die.
Even if you run into a fiend in the mountains and get dragged to its lair, there's at least a sliver of hope that you'll somehow make it out alive.
But was there hope when you'd been dragged off by a psychopathic killer?
He'd said he wanted to hear the screams. That it was such a shame they'd gagged them and killed them quietly.
No matter how hard I looked, there was no hope.
So all he could do was pray. Pray that somehow, someway, he'd survive this lunatic.
"P-please spare me! I-- I want to live!"
Rotan desperately grabbed the man by the leg of his trousers and screamed. But what came back was a bizarre response.
The man seemed as though he genuinely didn't understand what Rotan was saying.
He looked at Rotan as if he were the strange one and spoke.
"Uh...... why are you suddenly crying? Are you feeling unwell? No, more importantly, what do you mean you want to live?"
Five seconds ago he'd threatened to kill him to his face, and now he was looking at Rotan with the most guileless expression and asking this.
Rotan's mind went blank. Pale as a ghost and drenched in cold sweat, he answered the man's question.
"My-- my men, my subordinates......"
He didn't want to end up like his subordinates.
He still had too much he wanted to accomplish.
So please, at least let him keep his life.
He'd been about to make that trite, desperate plea.
But Rotan couldn't continue. Because the next words he heard sent his mind reeling.
"Your subordinates? Oh, they're probably being 'purified' as we speak. We're quite particular about cleanliness, you see."
Purified? That's what he called purification?
He'd never heard anything this deranged in his entire life.
But sincerity was visible in the man's eyes.
That wasn't a lie. The man genuinely believed that burning evildoers alive was purification.
That realization made Rotan's legs shake uncontrollably.
"Everyone, you showed our guests around properly, right? So they can get a nice, thorough wash. Cleanliness is a top priority, after all."
"Yes, Boss. Their very souls will have been washed clean by now. Boss has once again made the world a more beautiful and immaculate place. As expected of you."
"Come on, we just gave some people a bath. There's no need to go that far. Rang, you really do have a tendency to overrate me."
A conversation so deranged he couldn't begin to follow it.
They chattered among themselves for a while, then the man looked toward Rotan. Looked at him and asked with a smile.
"You're worried about your subordinates going missing? That's sweet of you, actually. They've been not just safely looked after, but thoroughly purified too. So there's nothing left to worry about, right?"
Could he possibly be saying this sincerely?
"They'll be returning to you soon, I'm sure."
That their souls had merely been purified, so there was no need to get worked up? That the cleansed souls of the sinners would be with him?
Just listening was enough to make the madness feel contagious.
What kind of deranged world was reflected in those golden eyes? Just imagining it made his head spin.
"That aside, we can actually have a conversation now. And I even got to see a nice side of you -- caring about your subordinates."
The man was grinning about something, clearly in high spirits.
Grinning as he extended his hand.
"Would you be willing to have a conversation now, perhaps? My desire to negotiate contract terms hasn't changed. What do you think, Mr. Rotan?"
He didn't want to take the hand of a devil.
He wanted to ignore everything and run.
He wanted to pretend this whole thing had never happened.
But Rotan wasn't foolish enough for that. He knew this was the only path left to him for survival.
So he desperately seized the Boss's hand.
"I-- I'll talk! I'll agree to everything! Wh-whatever the terms! Slave contract, anything, I'll do it all!"
Never let the other side see you as weak during contract negotiations.
He couldn't care less about that principle anymore.
In a situation like this, who had the luxury of thinking about principles or power plays? Just survive first and worry about the rest later.
"Uh...... are you serious?"
"O-of course I'm serious!"
"The things the workshop kids said they needed...... are these items here. Would you be able to source all of them as fast as possible?"
Just agree to everything first.
Even if it couldn't be done, he had to make it happen somehow. If a bastard like that marked you, there would be no future to speak of.
With that resolve, he was about to nod immediately when.
"Huh......?"
The requested materials were strange.
Desert-grown sunblaze herbs, moonlit silver bellflowers. The kind of materials used in those particular products would be......
'Th-these are bomb ingredients! He said he was making soap! Why is he asking for bomb materials for soap?!'
A pack of psychopaths with a deranged ideology.
Evildoers must be burned to ash and purified.
Let's cleanse their souls and make the world clean.
A gathering of lunatics aiming for world purification.
And such lunatics were making bombs. What that meant was something even Rotan could figure out.
'R-rebellion? These bastards are plotting rebellion?'
The Imperial Family's corruption was a well-known story.
Rumors had even spread that His Majesty used slaves instead of deer when he went on his hunting excursions -- that was how mad this world had become.
There was no way these people would leave that alone.
......If he got entangled with a rebellion, it wasn't just his family -- everyone who'd ever so much as spoken to him could be rounded up and massacred.
So he absolutely had to refuse.
"Ah...... have you perhaps changed your mind?"
A voice reached him.
Emotionless golden eyes.
They gleamed with an eerie light as they looked down at Rotan.
He was afraid. Being entangled in a rebellion was terrifying.
But...... that man was even more terrifying than that.
He couldn't begin to imagine what the man was thinking, or what he'd do if Rotan dared to refuse.
"N-no! Not at all!"
The Imperial Family was less frightening than him.
A simple yet overwhelming reason.
That was what moved his trembling hands.
By the time he came to his senses, he had already signed the contract.
"......A wise decision. I assure you, you will never regret choosing to work with us."
The man took the contract with a smile.
......Had he perhaps made a mistake, swept up in the pressure of the moment?
A rebellion meant certain death, no matter what. Maybe he should have just ignored everything and run.
All manner of thoughts flashed through Rotan's mind, but.
"By the way, where did all your subordinates actually go? Even if they went to wash up, they should've been back by now. Want to go look for your men together?"
"N-no! I'm fine! Truly, I'm fine!"
Any such regrets vanished in an instant.
Turn this lunatic into an enemy?
Joining the rebellion was a hundred times better!
***
I regretted how I'd been acting up until now.
'......I was trapped in my own prejudice too.'
People couldn't be changed.
That was what I'd thought. But Mr. Rotan had a change of heart and reformed.
He genuinely agreed with our purpose and pledged his cooperation under terms that were essentially free labor.
'He'll source the goods without charging commission or shipping? How can such a person even exist?'
Terms so good they made no sense.
He'd even donated his own personal assets to us. It was bewildering how much the man who'd been so prickly before could have changed.
Of course, the shift in attitude had been quite sudden.
"Boss, we should maintain at least a basic level of vigilance, just in case. He did brand himself with a slave seal of his own volition and put his life on the line as collateral, but even so, you never know."
Rang's face looked slightly pouty.
I looked at her and said with a smile.
"Are you still upset about Mr. Rotan throwing the coat at my face? That was a bit rude of him, I'll admit......"
"A bit?! Boss, you are the one who will make this world a better place. You deserve nothing but gratitude, and he has the audacity to be that disrespectful! I will absolutely never forgive him."
"......What kind of existence am I inside your head, exactly?"
I chatted with Rang as we waited for the delivery.
But the promised time came and went with no word.
Rang, who'd been mid-conversation, frowned.
"It's been a good thirty minutes past the agreed delivery time, and he still hasn't shown his face. This is suspicious."
Rotan, who was supposed to deliver the goods today.
He was nowhere to be seen.
"He ran away after all......"
But Rang's words couldn't reach their end.
Because a sound began to grow in the distance.
The sound of a freight cart barreling toward us like mad.
"You damn horses! Faster! Move faster! Your owner is about to get buried alive at this rate!"
CLOP, CLOP, CLOP. CLATTER, CLATTER.
The man approached amid a tremendous racket.
His face was one I'd seen before, so it was familiar.
"I-- I'm sorry I'm late!"
But I couldn't help being a little surprised.
......The goods Rotan had brought.
Because I'd just laid eyes on the mountain of materials piled high.
"I poured in my own funds to get you twice the requested amount, all top quality. W-would this be enough for you to forgive me?"
More than enough -- an overflowing abundance of materials.
The company head had returned bearing a mountain of gifts.
"To be honest, you were taking so long that I was worried you might have run away. Haha, now I feel a bit bad."
"R-run away?! Perish the thought!"
Perfect.
With this, we wouldn't have to worry about materials for a while.
His first impression had been the absolute worst of the worst.
Who would have thought a man like that could deliver results this impressive?
A warm smile spread across my face. And Mr. Rotan, seeing my smile, carefully opened his mouth.
"Um...... was this enough to be helpful?"
"Yes, absolutely."
"Th-then, would it perhaps be possible for me to step back after this job? I promise I won't tell anyone about what goes on inside."
He'd produced results, so naturally I'd reciprocate.
I was the type to listen when a subordinate had a request.
So there was only one thing I could say.
"Naturally, that's out of the question."
There were requests you could grant and requests you couldn't, and this one was clearly the latter.
Let this talented of a person go after using him once?
There was no way I could allow that.
"Congratulations on joining us, Mr. Rotan."
I firmly clasped Mr. Rotan's hand.
As for reciprocating, I'd already prepared something other than letting him quit. I'd thought up the perfect benefit he needed.
"I looked into it and it seems you have a family. Why don't you leave the kids with us? You'll be busy for a while."
I said in a warm voice, with full confidence.
"I'll take very good care of your children."
Mr. Rotan froze solid at the exceptional benefit package.
As expected, bringing modern childcare welfare was the right call.
A smile formed naturally out of sheer satisfaction.
I leaned in with a grin and whispered in his ear.
"Your son is quite cute, you know."