Swan Hunter(7)

"Kind hero, please come in, beat me, and take these two heroines as your wife, don't stand on ceremony outside."

I politely invited my guest inside to slay me take his trophies away.

"WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO, DEMON?"

Hearing my words, the heroic teenager that came to rescue the damsels became quite cautious and asked. I was also feeling a little helpless there. After all, unlike my seniors, I didn't know how to verbally threaten people, I could only beat them up.

But how could I thrash him if he didn't even come in? I was guessing that his father was someone influential within the city to be able to send him here as soon as they got the news and a whiff of the opportunity to play the hero and improve their reputation and standing.

Since I was brought up with a disciple and had a good moral upbringing, I was good at talking to people politely as well. Now, when the idiot standing at the door refused to come in the normal way, I could only use my secret weapon, my polite tongue there.

"There's no plan, kind hero, I'm just a helpless evil villainous toad who was lusting after the swan's meat. Please come in and bring me salvation."

But even after I opened my heart to him and gave him the advantage to come in and slay me first, his cautiousness only increased.

I was becoming disappointed with this guy, how was he supposed to achieve anything in life if he didn't trust in the power of 'love, family, friendship, and power-ups'.

Being headstrong and bashing the walls open with a thick skull was the way of the champs after all, and this guy didn't seem to be one to me.

"...um... ARE YOU... SURE?"

Even as he hesitated, his voice was quite loud and obnoxious. I simply gave up trying to convince him at that point. The dude was just far too cautious for me to do anything.

Even my polite tongue had failed, now I could only resort to asking my new friend for help, Swan B. Therefore, I turned to her, gave her a rueful smile, and told her,

"Scream for help."

When she didn't reply and only took a few steps back, I was forced to introduce the hero to the heroine first, perhaps I misunderstood both of them and they were just shy.

"Yeah, look the damsel needs your help as well."

My dissatisfied stare was, fortunately, enough to do the job this time. Swan B's body shuddered a little and her voice crack just perfectly enough to give the convincing appearance of her being distraught.

"Ooooh, kind hero, you're finally here, please save me from the clutches of this beast."

She was really a great actor, otherwise who else could say something like that against their will and with how kind I was treating her, like a true gentleman, not laying a hand on any part of her body other than her neck and cheeks, how could she be displeased with the treatment?

After being convinced of her acting talent, I decided to use her to invite the fellow in, since otherwise, he would just keep wasting my time. So, I instructed my talented actor again,

"Say, 'I'll be your wife if you do'."

"...do I really have to say–KIND HERO, I'll be your wife if you do."

She was about to nervously refuse but as I raised my hand in a 'please' gesture, she flinched from that slightest movement and screamed right away.

Finally, after all that, the cowardly hero agreed to save the maiden and came in with a shout,

"OHHH, I'M COMING IN, THIRD YOUNG MISTRESS OF THE SAN CLAN."

Coming in, the first sight he saw was that of me and his second heroine looking at him with complicated expressions.

"...welcome?", said Swan B, apparently quite confused by everything.

"You were quite late, hero, I was just about to sleep." I also said ruefully.

The guy was around 5 inches shorter than me, which was quite a lot, but he had broad shoulders, a square face, and a determined expression. I guess even though his voice was young, he was really around 18 years old.

His aura was that of a peak-mage acolyte instead of a true mage, which confused me since I had overestimated myself.

I was thinking, because kidnapping a seemingly famous lady right under the noses of strong guards and mages, they would send someone stronger, like a Low-Grade Mage, but as it turned out, I was just overestimating myself.

Oh well, the aura that I radiated was indeed that of a high-mage acolyte instead of a mage, so I guess they already had overestimated me.

Anyway, this was just the first challenger, I also needed to conserve my stamina for more of them. I was prepared to prove myself for stronger challengers.

Meanwhile, in the back of my head, I was also preparing an escape plan for tomorrow, and I needed more people for that.

"YOU–"

BOOM!

Just as that guy was about to shout inside the cave, I appeared next to him and punched him with all my strength.

It wasn't as if I wanted to catch my opponent off-guard to have an advantage in the fight, I was worried that his echoing shout would wake my lovely Swan A up, but apparently, I didn't think it through and used too much strength, which caused the 'hero' to stick to the inner cave wall, dirty and broken.

The resulting loud noise startled Swan B into letting out a yelp and woke Swan A up.

the first sight that graced Swan A's blurry eyes was that of the first 'hero' falling face down on the ground like a puppet without strings.

THUD!

"...uh", The sound of him falling and his miserable moan made my lips twitch, and Swan A and Swan B both audibly gulped at the same time.

I scratched my head innocently and guiltily apologized to Swan A for waking her up,

"Good Morning, Sleepyhead~~, it's still night, so you can sleep again, hehe, you can also play a fainted damsel if you want."

Swan A looked at me and then looked at the body. After a few seconds, extreme fear registered in her eyes as they turned white and she fell back again.

I felt even more awkward. Even Swan A was so good at acting, her fainting was just... perfect. Perhaps, I was really a toad for not knowing such good acting.