I Reject Quests

"... and then, sit under the tree with pink leaves falling from the tree above me…" Michi said with a yearning expression. By the time she was done reminiscing about the past, present, and the future, she realized that had let out her deepest desires to a person and became embarrassed. "Ah, I was just…" 

Shaking his head, Rewen gave a rare gentle smile. "There's no need to feel shy. Your dream is one of the most wonderful things I have heard in my life. I really wish I had a dream like yours." His eyes turned distant as he looked at the clear sky.

Michi's impression of him got better. Subconsciously, a grin appeared on her face. Then, she felt curious upon seeing and hearing the last part of his reply. "What is your dream?"

"Well..." Rewen thought for a moment about how to answer.

"It's okay if you don't want to answer---" 

"No, it's fine. I can answer." Rewen shook his head, then continued with an absent-minded look. "I have some things that I want to achieve… but they aren't really my dreams. A dream is something very personal and dear to one. Would - 'My dream is to find out my dream' - count as a dream?"

"Of course! That is a wonderful dream!" Michi nodded her head repeatedly.

Rewen chuckled. "How is it wonderful?"

"Well… you have… ugh, I don't know…" Michi tried but she couldn't bring out a proper answer.

'Is this the limitation of a 2D character? Maybe I'm being too pragmatic and she's just a hypocrite but I don't think that's the case.' Rewen didn't want to think too much about it. Hence, after chatting for a while, he went back to the basement.

***

A few minutes ago.

"Wake up!" 

Yukiko shook the shoulders of the second-youngest woman, seemingly in her early twenties. Just like her, she too had good-looking features. Her most attractive feature is her slender figure.

"W-who…" She finally woke up by the continuous shakes and saw a younger girl in front of her face. Before she said anything, she felt her hands restrained and freaked out. "What's going on!?"

Yukiko sighed. "We are slaves now. I came from Olpio and got captured for illegally immigrating into this nation."

"Wait, what? We are slaves?" The older female's mind spun around. "For God's sake, I'm a noble! Where is the slavemaster?" 

"A noble from this nation, Central or…?"

"I lived in Windbane and came here… for some business but I came here legally." The older female seemed to have some story that she didn't want to reveal.

"You came alone? Are you a Gruer User?"

"Huh, of course. I'm a Bronze ranked Gruer User. Here…" After saying it in an obvious manner, she tried to use her full strength.

Nothing happened.

Yukiko: "..."

The older female: "..."

After a moment of surprise, the older female couldn't restrain her calm. "Why are my meridians blocked!?" 

Meridians are the vital components for a Gruer User. POW is directly related to the meridians for Gruer Users. After going through <<Awakening>>, a normal body couldn't store excess strength that suddenly came. This is why, during the process of <<Awakening>>, forming the meridians is the first step.

"As expected…" Yukiko said in a disappointed voice, then narrated her story to her. 

Initially, the older female was freaking out but eventually, she accepted her situation. "The slavemaster sounds like a disgusting lecher. If he dares to do anything, I'll go all-out." She said in a grave voice.

Yukiko nodded, her gaze then turned to the other two women.

"Let me wake up the other two.."

"No. Let them sleep tight." A male voice came.

***

Current time.

Rewen stared at the older woman who had woken up for a while, then asked. "How are you feeling?"

"Wait, he is the slavemaster?" From Yukiko's description of his character, the woman in her early twenties originally thought that the slavemaster is someone at least in his twenties. It turned out to be a teen!

Normally, she would have laughed and made jokes about it but she wasn't in a position to make jokes.

Yukiko gave a hesitant nod while Rewen comfortably sat on his chair. 

The woman in her early twenties turned to look at the teenager again. "Hurry up and release me. Don't worry, you can rest assured. I won't pull off any tricks. Even if I manage to somehow get past you, I'm fully aware that I can't leave this place." Her voice was sincere and gentle which made Yukiko suspicious that she was up to something.

Rewen smiled. He took out a small key from his pocket and tossed it over to Yukiko.

Yukiko caught the key with two hands and proceeded to unlock the restraints on the woman in her early twenties. [A/N: I know it's an annoying way of referring to people but I have been following the policy of not mentioning names before spoken out strictly and I'm going to continue with it.]

As the restraints were unlocked, Rewen opened his mouth. "Sure, you can leave this place. How about you make me a hostage and exit? That seems feasible. Huh? Why are you suddenly so quiet?"

"How can I do that?" The woman in her early twenties said in a dry tone and had a downcast look. However, secretly, she was very vigilant and was preparing to attack. 'Should I? He seems very confident.'

Rewen cracked his neck and lazily said. "Since you don't want to give up, let's get this over quickly. Come."

Yukiko wanted to say something to her but didn't and moved to the side after releasing all the restraint.

The woman in her early twenties stared at the man sitting comfortably in a chair for a long time. Then, she sighed and sat down crossed-legged. "Please treat me well."

Rewen smiled. "I can't promise anything. Tell me your identity and why do you think you have been captured?"

"I am the only daughter of a noble in Windbane, Ose Kaori. I came here alone as a spy and got caught. If you need any more information, you can check the internet and search by my family name."

"Sucks to be you. But your father is surely very confident to send his daughter to another country." Rewen carefully examined her face after he said that. 'She is hiding something…' 

A few seconds later, he sighed. "Never mind. How about both of you wake up the other two?" Rewen pointed his index finger to the other two women who were sleeping. Both of them were beautiful. One of them was a blonde-haired woman in her late-twenties or early-thirties. The other was his mother's face. 

Yukiko and Kaori went to the women who were unconscious and started shaking their shoulders.

Meanwhile, Rewen observed the four women. 'Why are women so beautiful in this world? It doesn't make sense. At this rate, it won't take much time for me to get mesmerized by someone. This is getting out of hand...' He might possibly be the only person in the entire multiverse to complain about women being too beautiful. 

However, Rewen wasn't thinking in a sarcastic or joking manner at all.

He was extremely serious about this.