I Reject Quests

It was also due to this that Olpio didn't require subsidiary powers to keep the nation in control. For example, Avim has City Lords as the governing authority of the cities and State Managers to look after the state. However, Olpio doesn't need that.

It is mostly governed by the King. The reason for "mostly" is because about 15% of the nation is independent. The regions which are ungoverned and independent are known as "Leftovers" while the ones which are governed are called the "States". 

"Is your father a noble?" Rewen asked in curiosity. Even though Olpio was the smallest nation, it definitely isn't the weakest. In fact, it was one of the most progressive nations with dozens of nobles. 

Yukiko shook her head. "He was only a small merchant…" Her mood got worse when she thought about the event from last night. "What… what do you want from me? I have nothing to offer."

"Your body surely does." 

Yukiko bit her lips when she heard the cold words. She wasn't trying to be manipulative but it would be a lie if she said that she didn't expect kinder words. 'He is the worst kind of slavemaster.' Being the daughter of a merchant, she had met all kinds of slavemasters. Prior to meeting them, she thought that they were the most disgusting sorts of people available on the planet.

However, as she talked and interacted with them, she found out that only a small population of them were disgusting. In fact, slavemasters were usually kind to the slaves and did everything in their capacity to not let them be sold. With years of experience, she could accurately determine that the person in front of her was not the 'normal' sort of slavemaster.

Rewen 'hmm-ed' for a while, then got up from his chair and went to the mini-kitchen. Then, he took two glasses and poured water from the filter, and then returned to his chair.

"Here. Drink some water." Rewen passed one of the glasses to her and himself gulped down water from the other glass.

Yukiko hesitantly took the glass and drank the water.

"Do you feel fresh?" Rewen asked. 

Yukiko raised her head and nodded lightly. 'He is better than I was thinking…' 

"Would you not feel fresh if I didn't hand over the glass of water to you?"

Yukiko didn't understand the meaning of his statement and just nodded.

"What would have happened if I didn't give you this glass of water?"

Yukiko's face was full of confusion.

"Nothing would happen, right? What about ten days? Twenty days? Thirty days? Can you survive?"

"No," Yukiko answered in an obvious manner.

"Which means your survival depends on me. If I want you to live, you live. If I don't, you won't live for too long. I'm a close relative of the person who took you in so it doesn't matter if you die."

"..." Yukiko was speechless. 'He is a psychopath!'

"But nah, your body would be of much better use so I'll let you live." Rewen unabashedly stared at the cleavage.

Yukiko immediately covered her chest with her hands. Her heartbeat turned fast as she realized the horror in front of her. "Please… don't do this…" 

Rewen chuckled. "Don't do what?" 

That chuckle sounded like a devil's chuckle to her. Her fear deepened. Straightening herself, she shed all pretenses. "I would be obedient but if you want to have your ways with me, I would bite my tongue."

"Huh?" Rewen blanked out for a while before he started laughing. He wasn't acting. He genuinely found it funny. 'Does she think that she is the main female lead in one of those twisted romances?'

"What's funny?" Although she asked in a straightforward manner, she was very nervous on the inside. The more she listened to the man, the more scared she got.

"It's funny… it's funny because you think I care about your life and death. Why don't you go ahead and bite your tongue?"

Yukiko said nothing. A few seconds later, blood sipped out from the corner of her lips. 

Without a word, Rewen looked at her with an expressionless face.

Yukiko stopped after a while and looked straight at him.

"What's wrong? Please continue." Rewen encouraged her.

Yukiko gritted her teeth and prepared to bite down her tongue but as she was about to do so, she changed her direction at the last second. "..."

"Missed your tongue? Don't worry. Try again." Rewen patted her shoulders.

Yukiko's eyes turned bloodshot and felt a lump on her throat. She opened her mouth several times but failed to speak out a word, and started rubbing her eyes.

"Do better next time." Saying the four words, he got up from his chair and left the basement. This time, he didn't care about her waking the other slaves up. If he left the basement when she was changing, she would have tried to wake up her slaves and most surely, devised some stupid scheme. Also, the fact that he didn't leave upon her mention instilled a small fear into her and changed her perspective of him.

After all this, Rewen can be pretty sure that Yukiko would wake up her fellow slaves and talk about him with them. This also saved him the time and effort to make a fearful image of him in their minds. 'Hopefully, they won't come up with a foolish scheme. Well, whatever.'

"Ah! Rewen!" The moment he got out of the basement, he saw Michi standing under a cherry blossom tree. When she saw him, she walked over to him. "Are you on a break as well?"

Rewen shrugged while smiling. "Well, my job doesn't have any specific work time. I can work however I want and take a break whenever I want."

"How lucky!" Michi said with an energetic voice, then noticed something. "Is it only me or is your change too drastic? I mean, no offense but you were very… very unpresentable a few weeks ago and now… you have gotten more---"

"More handsome?" Rewen asked in a joking tone. 

Michi instantly turned red. "What…"

'Oh shit!' Rewen inwardly cursed out. He forgot that girls here are slightly more reserved.' He immediately realized his mistake and coughed. "Hmph! I know. You are too jealous of my beauty."

"What? Haha!" Michi noticed the satire intended and started giggling. "You are so full of nonsense! Haha!"

Rewen laughed along, then asked. "Why does the Rover City not have cherry blossom trees? This is really strange…"

"There used to be cherry blossom trees. Back when I used to come home from kindergarten with my grandfather during the spring, there were cherry blossom trees all over my neighborhood… but after the green sun incident…" Michi's eyes showed some sadness when she thought about her grandfather but then, it glowed and raised her head to look at the pink leaves.

"I have always wished to give something for my grandfather who selflessly brought me up. I know it's a bit late but I want to have a cherry blossom tree near my grandfather's grave. Every Sunday… I'll go there, talk with him and have a moment of peace… and then…"