Chapter 7: I Said I Am the Void Arbiter, Do You Believe Me? (Patreon)

After parting ways with the Cunning Hares crew, Musachi quickly made his way back to the shop.

"Remielle, we're rich!"

Musachi pushed the door open, sounding a little excited.

The pay for this job had been pretty generous.

Honestly, if he'd wanted to, Musachi could have just gone into a Hollow himself and hauled out useful supplies.

But then again...

these days what he really wanted was to experience life.

Back when he'd first transmigrated, he'd been busy pretty much from the moment he regained consciousness as an Ethereal, and after that came the failed speedrun of Hollow Zero that had left him in a deep sleep.

Now that he'd finally woken up, Musachi approached life with a particular mindset.

It was like playing a game — normal players cleared it step by step, and diving straight into a Hollow to handle everything himself would be no different from using cheats.

Of course, that said, if he were ever truly pushed into a corner, he'd probably just lay all his cards on the table.

After all, what he liked was an immersive RPG, not a Soulslike.

Back in his gaming days, he'd always played on the lowest difficulty, just to enjoy the story.

Except once Musachi got a clear look at what was happening inside the bookstore, his expression turned briefly awkward.

Remielle was sitting in his own boss's chair — though that wasn't the important part.

What mattered was the book resting open in front of her — "My Winged Tenant."

Every book in Musachi's store had been hauled out of Hollows in job lots, so the selection was all over the place — a little bit of everything.

Naturally, that included novels of every genre.

Musachi usually sorted these novels into their own section and flipped through them whenever he was bored.

Sometimes, after reading enough of them, he even toyed with the idea of writing one himself someday.

He'd call it "So I'm in New Eridu, a Retired Void Hunter" — but none of these idle thoughts mattered right now. What mattered was how he was going to explain this.

"Seems like our esteemed shopkeeper has quite the rich inner life when he's got nothing better to do~"

Remielle looked at him with a smile, her legs crossed in pure white stockings, the soft flesh of her thighs pressing together into a full, curving line.

At the tip of her toes, her high heel had come loose from its strap and trembled faintly.

With his sharp hearing, Musachi could even catch the faint click of the heeled sandal tapping against her sole.

"It's just something to kill time with. I happened to grab that one, so don't get the wrong idea."

Musachi said, looking at Remielle with a straight face.

"Wrong idea? I didn't say anything~ Is the boss feeling a little guilty?"

Her gaze drifted over him, mischief brimming in her eyes as she laughed softly.

"Of course not. I just care about other people's feelings, so I said something extra in case you got the wrong idea."

As he spoke, Musachi walked over to the desk, casually picked up the book, and put it back on the shelf.

At the same time, though, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

It seemed Remielle hadn't actually opened the book — otherwise she wouldn't be acting so calm about it.

After all, novels like that usually had a few... crowd-pleasing scenes.

And this particular book had no shortage of intimate moments between its hero and heroine.

"I see. Our shopkeeper really is a considerate man. I just wonder which lucky lady will get to be looked after by him someday."

She propped her chin in one hand, smiling sweetly at him.

"That might be tricky. I'm a bit picky."

"How picky?"

The two of them let the earlier topic quietly drop, Remielle's attention now caught by this fresh bit of gossip.

"At the very least, she'd have to be a Void Hunter-level woman. I don't have much sense of security, so if she were Void Hunter tier, she could at least protect me properly."

Musachi said, dead serious.

"Well, that's certainly picky. There aren't even that many Void Hunters in the whole world, and you're only counting women... You're going to be single for life! And you're just an ordinary person — where would you even find a Void Hunter? In a relationship, if one person's power is that far beyond the other's, it causes problems. Are you a Void Hunter?"

Remielle pursed her lips and shot him a glare.

This guy actually had standards that high — where in the world was he supposed to find a Void Hunter willing to be his girlfriend!

Even as she spoke, Remielle found herself pausing.

Wait... didn't she herself, a Void Hunter of the previous generation, sort of count?

But she didn't dwell on it — hardly anyone left in this world would even recognize her anymore.

Unless she gave away her surname, the name Remielle alone was common enough to mean nothing.

"Actually, I really am a Void Hunter. Did you see that Taixu Sovereign on TV yesterday? That was actually me!"

Musachi said, a little indignant, looking at Remielle's mocking expression.

"Actually, I'm a Void Hunter too — I'm the very first Void Hunter, from a hundred years ago. Remielle Dan."

Hearing that, Remielle burst out laughing before shooting back.

"I'm not joking. I really am."

"Neither am I."

The two of them exchanged a glance, then sighed in unison.

These days, why did nobody ever believe the truth...

"All right, quit lying. The first Void Hunter was ages ago — she'd be old enough to be my great-grandmother. Sure, they say a woman thirty years older is worth her weight in gold, but that's taking it way too far."

Musachi pursed his lips.

"Maybe she's an eternally eighteen-year-old beauty? And aren't you the same? How old was that Taixu Sovereign ten years ago — he'd have to be thirty by now at least. What about you? Judging by how you look, you're what, twenty?"

"That's where you're wrong. I just happen to look young — I'm actually thirty already."

"I don't know about looking young, but I do know that yesterday some old man walked in and asked if I was your daughter."

Remielle couldn't help laughing as she said it.

That old man yesterday really was getting on in years, his eyesight none too good, but still — mistaking her for Musachi's daughter was a bit much...

Remielle still remembered the look on Musachi's face at the time.

As for Remielle herself...

Even though she'd been demoted a whole generation for nothing, she hadn't minded at the time — she'd been too busy holding back laughter, terrified that if she cracked up Musachi would dock her pay.

"Anyway, speaking of which... you really need to get your ID reissued."

Remielle looked at the identification sitting in the corner of the desk.

The ID had a five-year validity period, and it had already been expired for five years without being renewed.

"Oh, that. Forgot about it. It's not like it's totally unusable anyway..."

Musachi scratched his head, not making much of it.

He really should find the time to get it renewed.

"What about yours? Does it need renewing too?"

Musachi looked over at her.

"Let's talk about that later."

Remielle, who'd been twirling her hair, stiffened for a moment before shaking her head.