"A large sum of money?"
Usually, when a man said he would let her get her hands on a large sum of money, the wisest choice was to stay away.
Nothing good ever came of it.
But Bella could not take her eyes off the gold coin Ian held out.
That single coin would get me safely through this winter.
Only then did she recall hearing that Ian had made a great deal of money during the Ceremony of Light.
She still could not completely cast aside her suspicions, but to Bella, who had been struggling through a life of poverty, it was an offer too difficult to refuse.
"If you have no intention of doing it, I’ll find someone else."
The gold coin that had been rolling between Ian’s fingers vanished from before her eyes in an instant.
It was a simple trick, but it was enough to captivate Bella, who was desperate for money.
"I-I’ll do it!"
"Good."
Ian pulled a small pouch from his clothes and held it out to Bella.
"This is your advance payment."
"Gasp?!"
Bella’s jaw dropped when she looked inside the pouch.
There were no fewer than ten gold coins in the pouch Ian had given her.
"Y-you’re giving me this much?"
"If you work for me from now on, you’ll receive even more money."
Thump, thump.
Bella’s heart pounded fiercely.
Many men had whispered that they loved her while in bed with her, but she had never been as excited as she was now.
"What do I need to do? Run naked through the village?"
"Do I look like the kind of man who would make you do something like that?"
"I-I’m sorry. I got too excited."
"Haha, it’s fine. It was nice to see you so full of enthusiasm."
Ian offered Bella another pouch as he added an explanation.
"There are two things I need you to do. First, you’ll act as a double agent."
"A double agent?"
"Yes. Finn will call in prostitutes. He’ll probably use one to approach Kaelen and John. Finn is going to do something to Kaelen, and after some time has passed, I need you to tell John about it."
It was a delicate job, but deceiving men was child’s play for Bella.
She had spent her whole life watching men’s moods.
"The second thing is to make John take this."
Inside the pouch was an unidentified powder.
Bella immediately sensed that it was dangerous.
"Should I put it in his alcohol?"
"That would work, but it has a higher absorption rate if you give it to him with a healing potion."
"Will I get more if I mix it into a healing potion and make him drink it?"
"If you succeed, I’ll give you another ten gold coins."
"I’ll make sure I pull it off."
At the promise of another ten gold coins, Bella accepted Ian’s offer without even asking why.
If it could free her from her impoverished life, the reason did not matter to her.
"And if you ever have any urges built up, just let me know. I’ll gladly service you as much as you want."
Bella did not miss the chance to naturally solicit his business.
Considering the wealth Ian had displayed, he was a source of money she absolutely had to hold on to.
"That won’t be necessary. More importantly, if you handle my work well, I intend to entrust you with other jobs in the future."
"Will you give me gold coins every time?"
"You could receive something even better. The right to run an inn, for example."
Bella’s eyes changed at Ian’s words.
A larger sum of money was important, but a steady source of income could not be ignored either.
In particular, an inn’s revenue was known as one of the village’s most lucrative incomes.
"Is that even possible? No matter how much money you have, it would be difficult to put a prostitute in charge of an inn."
"It is possible. Of course, it depends on how well you do."
That firm answer turned Bella’s suspicion into certainty.
If she worked under this man, she would surely never have to live in poverty again.
. . .
A man’s shout rang out from the apothecary’s house, which was being used as a temporary clinic.
"W-what do you mean? I-I’m a eunuch?"
"Not quite a eunuch. Fortunately, one of them is still fully functional."
Kaelen, who had been attacked by Finn, had lost one testicle.
He was left with only one ball, but his reproductive ability as a man remained intact.
Of course, there was no avoiding the shame he would feel as a man.
"Finn! That son of a bitch!"
Kaelen flew into a furious rage, but no one tried to stop him.
The villagers did not look at him kindly.
The village watch in particular openly mocked him even with Kaelen standing right there.
"Pathetic bastard."
"How long do we have to stay under that guy?"
"It won’t change until the village chief decides it."
"I wish Ian would lead us instead."
"Did you see him? His skill with a bow was incredible. He took care of the bandits all by himself."
Naturally, Kaelen was not about to simply stand by and watch.
"Are you bastards looking down on me, your captain? Do I look easy because I only have one ball now?!"
"Yeah, we’re looking down on you. So what?"
"You little shits!"
"If you don’t like it, come at us."
When one of the watchmen openly picked a fight, Kaelen was considerably flustered.
Every member of the village watch was glaring at him.
Even for Kaelen, who had ruled the village through his fists, taking on the entire watch would be difficult.
"Fuck!"
In the end, Kaelen tucked his tail between his legs and fled the clinic.
Thanks to the rumors John had already spread, Kaelen’s reputation had hit rock bottom.
No one sympathized with the man who had been reduced to one ball.
"D-doctor, my leg doesn’t seem to have any strength in it."
"Hmm. Did you perhaps use an old healing potion?"
Even after Kaelen fled, the apothecary still had to keep treating patients.
"...I don’t really know about that."
"From what I can see, it appears the wound healed improperly because you used an oxidized healing potion."
"Is there no way to fix it?"
"There’s nothing I can do. You will likely have to pay the Church a substantial sum and receive a miracle."
"T-then am I going to have to live like a cripple for the rest of my life?"
"Not like a cripple. You have become a cripple."
"No. No, fuckkkkk!"
John screamed as he clutched his leg.
His dream was over now.
And he would spend the rest of his life being ridiculed as a cripple.
John could never have imagined that the bright future awaiting him as the village chief’s son would turn out like this.
That apothecary is a quack, though.
As long as it was properly sealed, a healing potion would not oxidize. And if it had oxidized in the first place, the healing potion would not have worked properly at all.
He doesn’t even know that healing potions and blood coagulants must not be used together.
The principle behind healing potions was that they accelerated the division of regenerative cells at the wound site.
That was why the healing process was painful, but it was safer than being healed through holy power.
But what would happen if a blood coagulant were mixed in?
The healing would stop partway through, and the regenerative cells would mistake the current state for a completed recovery and judge it to be normal.
In the game, it was represented as a reduction in maximum HP.
I had thought John would be injured to some extent because of Finn’s betrayal, but I never expected him to hurt his knee.
John really was spectacularly unlucky.
Still, I didn’t expect Bella to do exactly as I told her.
Bella the prostitute.
She had been one of the villains who tormented Adelia after she became a prostitute in [A Country Village’s Circumstances].
The reason she tormented her was simple.
She was getting revenge on Adelia for stealing her customers.
She couldn’t help it when her livelihood was threatened.
In this world, prostitutes were fundamentally among the weakest of the weak.
The Church of the Sun did not care for them, and the nobility did not spare them a thought.
Because of that, prostitutes had to endure abuse from all sorts of people.
But being weak did not mean one’s nature was kind.
On the contrary, they could only become vicious because they were weak, and Bella was a prime example of that sort of person.
That was why she was so easy to use.
People like her will desperately seize any opportunity that comes their way.
A prostitute’s future was uncertain.
She could not sell her body forever, and it was difficult for her to find a spouse willing to take responsibility for her.
I resolved Bella’s worries by putting a great deal of money in her hands, letting her dream of something beyond that life.
Thanks to that, I was able to turn John into a cripple.
She was more capable than I expected.
Bella could handle things that I could not entrust to my women, such as seducing men.
That alone was reason enough to hire her.
"Did you hear? Finn’s execution is happening today."
"Really? Good. They should have done this to that bat bastard a long time ago."
"All the men have to attend, right?"
"Probably."
Finn’s execution was scheduled for this evening.
Finn had tried every trick he could to turn the situation around, but a decision already made could not be changed.
Once a traitor, always a traitor.
The public already wanted him dead, and not even the money-hungry village chief could reverse this decision.
It wouldn’t be any fun if he died too easily.
I had steered things toward burning him at the stake so that he would die in as much pain as possible, but it still did not feel like enough.
I wondered if I should use that after all.
More importantly, I’m worried about Marin.
Marin, who had engaged in frenzied sex with me because of the curse of nymphomania.
By now, she might have come to her senses and be screaming at home.
She had lost her precious virginity because she made a deal with a witch.
She might even be considering suicide.
After all, it was extremely difficult for a woman who had lost her virginity to get married.
Especially someone as plain-looking as Marin.
That won’t do.
Marin still had things to do for me.
She could not die over something like this.
While I’m at it, I should put her properly on a leash too.
I headed to Walter’s house to claim my dairy cow.
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