After seeing them calm down at my words, he’d assumed Shiro and Kuro were submissive toward me. Then he’d jumped to the conclusion that they were slaves.
He looked at us with a sleazy grin—one so repulsive it made me want to punch him.
“I’ve been looking for a slave merchant ever since I got here, but I haven’t found one. Come on, tell me where you got ’em.”
The delinquent didn’t stop there.
“If you’re not gonna tell me, then gimme one. I’ll take one off your hands.”
What? Give him Shiro or Kuro? What the hell is this bastard saying? Should I just kill him?
“Why you lookin’ at me like that?” he said.
Wow, I really wanna kill this scumbag right now, but I don’t know how strong he is. Better to play it cool—I so wanna kill him, though! But I can’t take on two unknowns at once!
I glanced at Shiro and Kuro, who were wearing the same grim expressions. That was enough for them to get the message. They quickly wiped the anger from their faces and fell silent.
“Uh, slave trading is illegal,” I said. “It’s a crime. And these two aren’t slaves.”
“Huh? Then why the hell are they listening to a twerp like you? Don’t lie to me. You’re one of us, aren’t you? Just tell me. Or does your cheat have something to do with it? Some kind of charm ability?”
Cheat... Cheat, huh?
That’s definitely been bugging me. Is it like my case, where knowledge and skills are input into your brain? Or is it something more, like being granted actual super powers? Depending on what it is, I absolutely can’t afford to make this guy an enemy. No matter how humiliating his words get, it’s still better than dying. That’s something I’ve learned in this world.
“What’s a ‘cheater’?” I asked.
“Don’t play dumb.”
“No, I seriously don’t know.”
“Liar. What kind of cheat did you get? A charm-type? Spill it.”
“I’m not lying. What does ‘cheat’ even mean? I really don’t know.”
It was getting harder to hide the irritation in my tone. The delinquent visibly flinched. It looked like his confidence was starting to crack.
“O-Only cheaters have black hair and dark eyes!”
Huh? He thought I was a reincarnator just because of that? Sure, it’s rare, but it’s not unheard of. I mean, I’ve only met Ares so far, but still.
I can’t just say “Yeah, you’re right,” though.
“I think there’s plenty of people with black hair and dark eyes,” I said.
“What? I’ve never seen one!”
“There’s a story that a hero had black hair and dark eyes. If that hero had descendants, they might’ve inherited those traits.”
“H-Hero?”
“Yes.”
Upon hearing that, the delinquent started muttering to himself.
“Hero? That’s gotta be a cheater. So there was someone in the past who pulled a hero move? And had descendants? Heroes get lots of chicks for sure, so it wouldn’t be weird for one to have a bunch of kids.”
He’s ignoring the fact that he was trying to buy slaves and accusing the hero of being a ladies’ man.
“Um, like I asked you before, what is this ‘cheater’ thing? I’ve been lost this whole time.”
“Tch! A cheater’s a special human, reincarnated from another world, who was specially granted powers by a god!”
“Granted powers? Like using magic?”
“Not something stupid like that! I’m talkin’ about special skills of the gods!”
He explained it pretty easily. Well, he does seem desperate for validation. But that look on his face when he keeps saying “special” makes me wanna punch him! Whatever. I guess I’ll flatter him and squeeze out as much info as I can.
“Special skills, you say?”
“We cheaters are given three cheat skills! If you only get one, it’s super strong. If you get three, they’re decent but balanced.”
“So do you mean like, being good with a sword, knowing lots of magic, or having sharp eyesight?”
In my case, I had knowledge and skills that already existed in this world directly implanted into my brain. It’s a cheat, sure, but it’s more abstract than something like “skills” in a game. So it’s different?
“Fine! I’ll tell you my cheat skill!”
He’s a jerk, but it’s almost a blessing how easy it is to manipulate him. He just keeps answering my questions.
The girl who was with him looked like she wanted to stop him but didn’t have the courage to speak up. She just kept glancing at me nervously.
“A cheat is something unfair! Like so strong it’s unfair! And special!”
“O-Oh, is it?”
“Hey, you think I’m cool, right? You do, don’t you?”
Where’d that come from? I definitely don’t think you’re cool, but I’ll play along.
“Y-Yeah. Especially your hair. It suits you.”
It looks like a rooster and suits your dumb face!
“Right?! Yeah, you got good taste!”
He’s way too easy! Wait, does he actually believe me? Hasn’t he ever heard of doubting someone?
The girl’s looking at me like, “Is this guy serious?” She seems to think I’m genuinely complimenting him too.
“You’re not lying, right?” said the delinquent.
“N-No, I’m not lying.”
“So, are you a cheater?”
“I’m not.”
The delinquent fell silent for a moment. “Damn.”
His eyes widened in shock. The girl followed a beat later and put on a surprised expression herself.
It’s weird how they keep taking me at my word. I thought he was just easy to manipulate, but maybe there’s more to it? It’s honestly too strange. For some reason, he seems to have complete faith that what I’m saying is the truth. Does he have some sort of lie-detection ability? But if that’s the case, it makes no sense that it’s not working on me. Could it be that, deep down, I actually think he’s cool?
Absolutely not. Ever since he demanded I hand over Shiro and Kuro, I’ve felt nothing but disgust toward him—there’s just no way I could think he’s cool.
“S-So you understand now that I’m not one of those cheaters?” I said.