The women I set free are obsessed with me

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"What the hell was that just now…"

Yuhwa, pinned down by Rin, stared blankly into space, muttering incoherently like someone lost in a trance.

I still didn't understand why she was suddenly acting like this or what exactly had happened.

My mind had gone foggy as if in a dream, and when I came to my senses, everything had been resolved.

Maybe Santa Claus had left a gift because I'd been living such a virtuous life. Since this was a beastkin kingdom, was Rudolph in beastkin form too?

I calmed my mind while following this train of thought.

"What will you do now, Celestial Fox? Do you still have no intention of becoming my Rin's teacher?"

Yuhwa's unfocused eyes sharpened as she looked up at me.

"Are you asking me to defy the Mandate of Heaven…?"

"As a person, isn't it more ethical to care for the pitiful child right in front of you rather than following some invisible will of heaven? Even I, a slave trader, understand that much."

"Countless innocents will suffer in the end. Are you not concerned about the harm they'll face?"

"Haha, all I can see is a future where everyone lives happily. I guess that Heavenly Eye isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"…"

Yuhwa fell silent, lowering her gaze.

She seemed to be contemplating what was right.

After a long moment, she looked at me again.

"What do you want from me?"

"Just one thing. Teach Rin magic."

"What will you do if someone gets hurt because of the gumiho's misfortune?"

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen in the first place, but if it does, I will take responsibility. It's a master's role to cover for their slave's mistakes."

"…Very well."

At last, she agreed.

My face brightened.

"Then…"

"However, there's a condition."

What's this?

This uneasy feeling.

"What's the condition?"

"You must pass a test I set."

"Ah."

I wondered why this hadn't come up yet.

I thought we might skip it, but after all this, we've circled back to the test.

"I refuse. I'm in the superior position right now, so why should I take a test?"

"If you refuse, so be it. Have your gumiho tear out my throat. I've lived long enough; I have no more attachment to life."

Usually, old people who say such things are the ones most attached to life. If I threatened her a bit, wouldn't she lower her tail and say, I'll hand over everything—the merchant group, the magic, everything! Just spare me!

"I don't know what you're plotting, but you must have a reason for needing to raise this child into a full gumiho. Then I suppose you can't claim absolute leverage either."

No, this old granny had made up her mind.

As expected of Celestial Fox Yuhwa, her mind worked at a different speed.

"Fine."

I couldn't refuse this either.

It wasn't a problem since this was part of the original plan anyway.

"Then would you mind releasing me now?"

"What are you talking about? We need to write up a contract."

"A contract…?"

"My my~ A person of your stature hardly needs to feign such surprise."

Yuhwa looked at me with shaken eyes, but it was futile.

Since when did merchants make verbal agreements?

"I might trust slaves, but I don't trust people."

We drew up a contract.

The scene of making a contract with the old lady pinned to the ground felt like elder abuse, but there was no helping it.

She might say she trusts me now but suddenly change her mind. I didn't expect luck to be on my side twice.

"Is this sufficient?"

Yuhwa handed over the contract.

It was a contract created using her magic.

Prohibited from taking actions harmful to us.

Agreement to teach Rin magic upon passing Yuhwa's test.

Detailed terms to be renegotiated after passing the test.

Divine punishment for breaking the contract.

"This will do. Rin, please release her."

"Gwanny, if you do something weird again, neck goes snap! Squawk! Got it?"

Rin, who had been holding Yuhwa's arm, stepped aside. She made a throat-slitting gesture towards Yuhwa, who was getting up and dusting off the clouds.

Yuhwa looked at Rin with a complicated expression before shifting her attention to me.

That was the best I could do.

Don't look at me like that.

"Now, about the test. What exactly is it?"

"I simply want to confirm that you have the minimum qualifications to raise a gumiho."

The qualifications to raise a gumiho, Yuhwa's test…

"You're a merchant too, aren't you? Then try to make a name for yourself as a merchant in Vestia."

…was a tycoon game.

***

"W-What? You met the Celestial Fox?"

"That's how it turned out."

"How was she? I'm sure she was young and beautiful."

"No comment."

After leaving the Celestial Pavilion, we had a small gathering with Seira and Bolt.

Upon hearing that I had met Yuhwa, Bolt kept asking about her appearance, but I didn't answer.

I won't be so cruel as to shatter his dreams by injecting the red pill.

"So what happened? Did she agree to help?"

"Not exactly. She gave me a test."

"A test for what?"

"She told me to succeed in business in Vestia. If I pass the test, she'll help."

[Yuhwa's Test: Gain Yuhwa's recognition through business success.]

Time Limit: 30 days.

Reward: Yuhwa's assistance.

If this were a game, such a message would have appeared.

Why is business Yuhwa's test? It might seem out of the blue, but in a way, it would be strange if it weren't. After all, this is fundamentally a tycoon game.

Success meant running a shop and achieving a certain profit and reputation within the time limit.

—You can learn a lot about a person by observing their business. Things like ability, wit, adaptability, interpersonal skills. Moreover, with a gumiho by your side, it won't be as easy as usual. The purpose of the test is to confirm whether you have the ability to overcome any adversity.

That was the exact reason.

In the game, running a tycoon business with Rin was more challenging than usual.

Given the nature of tycoon games where everything needed to run like clockwork, if one area had a problem, it affected everything else. With Rin around, three or four cogs broke down at once.

Every possible misfortune occurred.

—You look unsure. If you don't want to, you don't have to do it. Of course, that means failing the test.

—No, I'll do it. Just wait and see those wrinkles smooth out.

This was my forte.

After being provoked like that, there was no way I could back down.

"But business out of nowhere? It's nearly impossible to gain the Celestial Fox's recognition in just 30 days without any capital. Moreover, you're…"

"Human. So it won't be easy."

Beastkins were wary of humans.

But there was no need to specifically appeal to beastkin.

"I'm thinking of doing business in the sixth district."

"Ah, by sixth district, you mean Edenvar? Indeed, most humans within Vestia reside in Edenvar."

Just as there was a Chinatown in Korea and Koreatown in America, there was a place in the beastkin kingdom of Vestia where humans gather.

My target customer base wasn't beastkin, but humans. I would do business targeting humans.

"Miss Seira, you had a headache because the street cat people were troublemakers, right?"

"That's right, but why bring them up suddenly?"

"They're going to play a big role this time."

I laid the groundwork as soon as I arrived in Vestia.

A race whose actions invite trouble, but also one that avoided extinction solely due to their cuteness.

"I'm going to create a cat café."

***

"You want us to work, nya?"

I immediately headed to the back alleys where the cat people gathered.

I shared the situation with them, but the response was cold. It was natural for those who had been loafing around all day to react negatively when told to work.

"To begin with, when we first made the contract, it was you, human, who said we wouldn't have to do anything, nya. This is a breach of contract, nya."

For a furball to bring up contracts and hit the nail on the head.

I thought all they knew was grooming and eating fish. Not bad.

"You're right. I did say that when we made the contract. That you wouldn't have to do anything."

"So…"

"But now the contract has been terminated, right? So no matter what I ask, it can't be a breach of contract. What I'm proposing is a deal."

Mirabelle's Reaper had severed the cat people's shackles.

Contracts were one-time things.

Renewing them was impossible.

I knew this because I experimented when I made a contract with my first slave, wondering if I could duplicate points. It was why I was extremely cautious when liberating main slaves.

Once liberated, that was the end of it.

Mirabelle's case this time was the anomaly.

In other words, they were no longer my slaves. But even though they were not slaves, I was still consistently supplying them with fish.

"If you don't want to, you don't have to. I no longer have any obligation to give you fish either. I'm not some volunteer worker."

"That's so petty, nya!"

"That's right, meow! If you started something, you should see it through to the end, meow!"

The cat people raised an uproar. They had been eating comfortably without having to risk their lives stealing.

Animals that have tasted the comfort of human care could never return to the wild. They've lived too comfortably.

I drove the final nail in the coffin.

"Responsibility? I'll take it. But there's not enough space for everyone. Only the first ten."

There were about thirty cat people here, right?

Twenty of them would be eliminated.

"Don't fall for it, nya! It's a trap, nya!"

"That's right, meow! Let's show our unity, meow!"

The cat people united in solidarity.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, if you work at my shop, you'll get a full course fish meal three times a day plus lodging—"

"Nyaaaa!"

"You traitor! Don't you have any pride as a street cat person, nya?!"

"Since when did street cat people have pride, nya? Those who kept their pride are all dead, nya!"

Internal strife broke out among the cat people.

No matter how small, once a crack appeared in unity, it took just a moment for everything else to crumble.

"Okay, one spot's already filled. Next. Nine who will work at my shop. Paws up."