At this moment, Ren Kuroda was strolling leisurely through the streets of Maris, the capital of Falmuth.
Earlier, he had sold the corpses of the monsters he had hunted to the local merchants' guild, exchanging them for a substantial sum of money. With his pockets suddenly heavy, his mood was correspondingly relaxed.
Although Falmuth was one of the most powerful nations in the surrounding region, the cityscape itself didn't strike Ren as particularly impressive.
The architecture followed a medieval European style. Aside from the noble districts, whose buildings were relatively ornate, most of the residences belonging to ordinary citizens were downright plain—some of them were even less impressive than the goblin village Ren had once seen under Rimuru's rule.
Because of the commotion at the city gates earlier—and the personal instructions left behind by Falmuth's strongest warrior, Fuken—Ren found himself drawing quite a few curious glances as he walked through the streets.
Just as he was planning to head toward taverns, bars, or other entertainment districts to gather information, his attention was suddenly caught by a strange trio approaching from the opposite direction.
They were… odd.
The reason Ren found them strange was simple—their clothing stood out sharply from that of everyone else in this world. Compared to the locals, they looked utterly out of place.
Yet in Ren's eyes, their outfits looked perfectly normal.
"The hell is wrong with that old bastard? He won't even let us leave the city, saying we still need to be 'observed.' I swear, they're basically imprisoning us!"
A black-haired boy with spiky hair stomped down the street, his face twisted with irritation as he cursed someone under his breath. As he passed the stalls, he casually grabbed fruit and took bites without paying, all while the vendors watched in silent fury.
"Ugh—what is this trash? It tastes awful. This dump doesn't even have internet, and now even the fruit is garbage."
After only a single bite of the apple he had taken, Shogo Taguchi spat it out in disgust and casually tossed the half-eaten fruit at the female vendor standing nearby, who clenched her teeth but dared not protest.
Neither of Shogo's companions made any attempt to stop him. In fact, they looked completely accustomed to his behavior, which only made the surrounding merchants grind their teeth in helpless rage.
Back in their original world, Shogo and the others would never have dared act so brazenly.
But here, in this other world, there were no familiar laws restraining them—and more importantly, they possessed overwhelming power.
In this world, strength was everything. The weak existed to submit.
That, at least, was the one thing the trio genuinely enjoyed.
From the moment they arrived, they had never once regarded the people of this world as equals.
To them, this other world was nothing more than a massive, ultra-realistic game. The three of them were the protagonists. Everyone else was just disposable NPCs.
And since NPCs didn't truly matter, there was no need to care about their emotions—or even their lives.
"They can't help it," said Kyoya Tachibana, the narrow-eyed boy with a constant smile, once again playing the role of mediator. "We can't go home yet, so we just have to endure for now. And it's not like they're treating us badly. Sure, the facilities are primitive, but we have power and wealth, don't we?"
His words sounded reasonable, even satisfied—but whether that reflected his true thoughts was impossible to say.
After summoning the three of them, Razan had gone out of his way to stabilize their emotions. He personally brought them to meet King Edmaris of Falmuth.
Upon learning that the trio possessed abilities similar in nature to Fuken's, King Edmaris granted them respectable status within the kingdom.
"Either way, I'm going back to our world," said Noa Mizutani, the only girl among them. "This place has nothing. Look at these so-called 'high-quality clothes'—they're basically rags. The clothes I wore when I came here? I've been washing and re-wearing them every other day. At this rate, I'm going to die."
Noa had no interest in adventure or authority whatsoever.
She enjoyed the ability to order people around, sure—but the living conditions here fell far short of her expectations.
"Hey—wait a second. You ate our apples and didn't pay."
A timid voice rang out.
"These are fruits my mother worked very hard to grow. She waters and fertilizes them every day… She even promised that once they were sold, she'd buy me new shoes."
As the surrounding merchants prayed silently for the three calamities to leave, a barefoot little girl in rough linen clothes suddenly reached out and tugged at Noa Mizutani's sleeve.
The moment the girl did so, the female vendor—her mother—went pale. She rushed forward, clutching her daughter tightly as she bowed repeatedly.
"I'm so sorry, honored guests! She's just a child—she doesn't understand anything! Please forgive her!"
"My fruit is all homegrown. Take as much as you like—no money, not even a copper coin. I just beg you… please forgive my child."
Though she spoke in pleading words, her body trembled uncontrollably.
She had only recently started selling here, but she had already heard from nearby vendors who these three were—guests of Lord Razan, the kingdom's strongest mage. People like her had no right to offend them.
She even regretted bringing her daughter with her today.
Now, she could only hope—desperately—that the infamous trio still possessed a shred of compassion.
"Hey, Noa," Shogo said with a grin, noticing her twisted expression. "Looks like they've mistaken us for villains. What do you think?"
Shogo had been ready to punish the woman, but seeing Noa's face contort unnaturally, he wisely chose to back off and enjoy the show.
"This is the only pretty outfit I brought to this world," Noa hissed. "And you dare stain it with your filthy hands? My one piece of modern clothing!"
A woman's obsession with beauty could be fierce—and Noa Mizutani's was extreme.
Before Shogo could even act, Noa had already stepped forward in a flash, yanking the crying girl out of her mother's arms.
A mother's instinct overrode fear. Despite facing someone she could never defeat, the woman lunged forward to protect her child.
"Stay kneeling. Don't move."
The moment she tried to rise, an invisible pressure slammed down on her body, freezing her in place.
This was the power of Noa's Unique Skill—False Speaker.
False Speaker compelled others to obey spoken commands and subtly manipulated their thoughts—a true word-binding curse.
The woman wanted to save her daughter, yet her body refused to obey her will.
The surrounding onlookers watched in silent fury as the girl was lifted into the air, about to be struck—but no one dared intervene.
Not only were these people connected to Lord Razan, but the sheer terror of being forcibly controlled was enough to paralyze anyone with fear.
As Noa stared at the sobbing girl calling for her mother, disgust twisted her face. She raised her hand—
And then—
Without warning, a figure appeared in front of her and grabbed her wrist.
"If you eat someone else's food, you pay for it," Ren Kuroda said calmly."Even children understand that. Or did you live your lives so long that your brains rotted away? Is your intelligence really so low that you can't grasp basic common sense?"
At first, seeing the oddly dressed trio, Ren had considered approaching them as fellow outsiders, hoping to gather information.
But their utterly shameless behavior had completely enraged him.
Not everyone who came from another world was like Rimuru.
Power and elevated status changed people.
Maybe in their original world, these three had only been "problem kids." But now, with power in their hands, they were no different from outright thugs.
A monster who had reincarnated yet retained human conscience…And humans who remained human in form, yet behaved worse than monsters.
"Monsters like humans… humans like monsters," Ren muttered. "How ironic."
Unfortunately, his quiet remark pushed Noa completely over the edge.
Since arriving in this world, no one had ever resisted her—not even her own companions dared challenge the authority of False Speaker.
"Let go of me," she screamed, "then go kill yourself to atone!"
She activated her Unique Skill without hesitation, commanding Ren to walk away and commit suicide.
Shogo and Kyoya watched with mocking smiles.
Serves him right for not knowing his place.He wouldn't even get the chance to fight.
But Ren didn't let go.
In fact, his grip tightened.
"I really overestimated you," Ren said coldly. "Comparing your intelligence to a dog is an insult—to dogs. What makes you think I'd obediently listen to you and go kill myself?"
Noa screamed as pain shot through her wrist.
But far more terrifying than the pain was the realization crashing down on her—
Why wasn't her False Speaker working?