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Chapter 2: The Unruly Catgirl

After Nora’s pact mark was branded, she passed out, and Reiner carried her back to his home outside Melod City.

[Quest: Purchase a slave

Current status: Completed

Reward issued.]

As soon as the system voice faded, 10 Dyast silver coins bearing a coyote emblem materialized beside Nora.

Reiner picked them up and pocketed them.

[Quest update: Take Nora to the Adventurers’ Guild, accept a commission, and complete it.

Quest reward: a vial of healing holy water.]

The blue letters soon faded from his field of vision.

Reiner kept his head down and studied the still-unconscious Nora.

The slaver had said she would wake up shortly.

Yet she had been lying there all afternoon without the slightest reaction.

Reiner poked her cheek with a small wooden spoon, brushed aside her hair, and examined her face.

Although Nora was skin and bones and her face was filthy, her features were surprisingly attractive.

Her brows arched like crescent moons, her lashes were long and thick, her nose was straight and delicate, and her lips, though bloodless, were still full.

If she were washed and dressed up, she would be gorgeous.

Just as he was absorbed in observing her, Nora’s eyebrows twitched.

She slowly opened her eyes, and their gazes locked.

“Ah!” Nora shrieked, shoved Reiner away, and backed off to one side.

In the end she looked like a frightened cat, the fur on her ears bristling as she hissed, “Stay away from me!”

“Calm down, this is my house, you’re safe now.”

Nora cautiously glanced around, taking in her surroundings.

Seeing that Reiner had no intention of approaching, she stuck out her pink tongue and licked the pact mark on her arm.

(It’s all over…)

Tears fell silently from Nora’s eyes.

Reiner switched to the demi-human tongue to comfort her, saying, “Relax, I’ll treat you well.”

Nora lowered her head and said nothing.

Yet her stomach spoke for her with a loud growl.

She was starving.

The greedy slavers kept their captives obedient by never letting them eat their fill.

Judging by her state, she had probably gone several days without a proper meal.

“Wait here.”

Reiner went to the kitchen, found a loaf of black bread, sliced it, drizzled the leftover meat broth from last night over it, and brought it out.

Nora was still curled in the same spot, motionless.

Reiner offered the black bread, and only then did Nora look up at him.

She did not reach for it, her heart full of misgivings.

(Is this really for me? Did he poison it?)

In the end, hunger triumphed over caution.

Nora picked up a slice of black bread and took a cautious bite.

Once she was sure it was edible, she devoured it ravenously.

The black bread was dry and hard, and unscrupulous bakeries even mixed in sawdust and husks, so eating it carried a real risk of choking.

“Slow down, no one is going to steal it from you.”

Nora nodded yet kept stuffing her mouth nonstop.

In less than 10 minutes the plate was clean, yet she still did not seem full.

Seeing this, Reiner returned to the kitchen and sliced another half-loaf of black bread.

He wiped the slices around the nearly empty pot to soak up the remaining broth and carried them out.

Nora tore through the food again until nothing was left on the wooden tray.

Reiner handed her a cup of water so she could moisten her throat.

(Delicious… I wonder when the next meal will be…)

Propping his chin in his hand, Reiner studied her and said softly, “As long as you behave, you can eat like this every noon and evening.”

Nora nodded, whispered a reply, and then, savoring the taste, licked the bread crumbs from her lips with a quiet “Mm…”

“Has it been a long time since you last ate properly?”

Nora nodded again; she did not seem fond of talking.

Reiner sat across from her and, despite knowing, asked, “What’s your name?”

“Nora Hill.”

“Then I’ll call you Nora from now on.”

“Yes, master…”

Reiner looked her over and, seeing the mud-caked linen draped over her, went outside to the small pond and drew two buckets of water.

Back home he told Nora, “Take a bath; I like cleanliness, and it bothers me to see you so dirty.”

He took a clean wool blanket from the cupboard and handed it to her.

Nora looked at Reiner warily yet still said nothing.

(He wants to sleep with me…)

???

That was sheer slander.

Who would be interested in a malnourished bag of bones?

He preferred tall, aloof women with curves.

Reiner said with complete seriousness, “Don’t give me that dirty look; I’m not into skin and bones like you, I like voluptuous women.”

Nora said nothing and laboriously dragged the buckets into a separate cubicle.

Reiner went to the kitchen to fix something for himself.

Up to this point he had eaten nothing all day.

Only three pieces of black bread remained in the basket, and after purchasing Nora he had just 10 silver coins left to his name.

The world’s currencies were not unified; each nation and race used different money, each with its own value and purchasing power, making the system both complex and chaotic.

Take the Dyast Kingdom where Reiner lived as an example.

One Dyast gold coin was worth about 18 silver coins, and a single silver coin equaled roughly 24 copper coins.

A loaf of black bread sold for about 2 copper coins.

Three loaves a day cost at least 6 copper coins, and with one more mouth to feed it would be at least 12 per day.

Ten silver coins, plus various miscellaneous expenses, would not last long.

He planned to visit the Melod Adventurers’ Guild again tomorrow to take a commission and earn living expenses.

He also wanted to see what Nora’s combat power would be like once she was fed.

While Reiner’s thoughts wandered, Nora finished her bath.

Her hair was dripping wet, and she was wrapped in the wool blanket.

After the mud was washed from her face, the ugly duckling became a swan, and her looks rose a whole tier.

At that moment Nora’s inner voice drifted over again.

(Mom was right after all, never get too clean; the moment I finish bathing he stares at me…)

Nora met Reiner’s eyes, then rubbed her hand on the wall and smeared dust back onto her face.

She was dirty again.

???

Dark lines formed all over Reiner’s face.

Whatever, let her do as she likes.

So long as she could make him money later, it was fine.

Seeing that it was late, Reiner lay down on the bed.

Nora continued to curl up by the wall in the corner.

The two of them spent the night under the same roof, wordless yet sleepless.

Nora feared Reiner would do something ungentlemanly to her in the night.

Reiner, in turn, feared Nora would stab him while he slept.

Although the slaver had bragged endlessly about the pact mark’s power, Reiner still doubted the thing and slept uneasily.

At dawn Reiner could not help asking, “You know you can’t kill me, right? We have a contract.”

For a moment Nora’s gaze turned vicious as she growled, “Of course I know.”

She silently cursed that slaver a few times.

As Reiner bent to put on his shoes, a thought floated into his ears.

(Maybe… I can escape.)

When he looked up he saw Nora staring blankly at the woods beyond the village.

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