Apocalypse Landlord: My Tenants Are All Beautiful Heroines.-Chapter 11: Master Manipulator

+++

You’ve been assigned a mission!

• Mission type: Establishing Connections

• Objective: Head to the survivor camp and barter goods for weapons there.

• Bonus objective: Spread the word about the apartments and their safe nature.

• Progress: 0 goods traded.

• Reward: Supervised visitation rights for Lily.

• Upon failure: Demotion to drifter.

• Failure condition(s):

> Rejecting the mission.

> Failing objective.

• Time Limit: 36 hours.

Note: The more goods are traded, the more supervised visits will be allowed.

Accept the quest?

[Yes] [No]

+++

"...supervised visits!?"

James’s eyes immediately lit up. Although it had only been hours since he last saw Lily, she was his only child, so it was natural that he missed her.

Despite that, he had been at ease because he knew Aiden was taking good care of her.

"Yes, I’m sorry, but it’s the most I can do for you at the moment," Aiden replied, patting James’s back. "The wounds are too fresh, and I’m not even sure Alisha would even allow this." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

[Tenant: James Irwin’s trust has increased to 31%]

"I-It’s fine, boss!" James said, wiping his tears. "It’s more than enough. I have a long way to redeem myself. Besides, it shows how much you trust me already!"

"Boss, huh?" Aiden chuckled. "That does have a nice ring to it."

He didn’t comment on James’s claim to Aiden’s trust. Honestly, the enthusiasm almost made him feel bad about what he was doing.

But then again, once Aiden sets his eyes on something, he rarely backs out, and this wasn’t one such moment.

"Before I forget."

Aiden waved his hands and supplies rained down in the living room. No matter how many times James saw it, the scene still made him awestruck.

The food packets, the water bottles, and the medkits. These were unparalleled treasures in the apocalypse, but for Aiden, they were nothing but cheap resources.

"Take this, too," Aiden said, handing James a butcher knife.

The outside wasn’t safe, and the makeshift spear wasn’t a reliable weapon. Even if it worked against monsters like goblins, it was unlikely to cause any harm to evolvers.

Yes, evolvers.

Walking into a shelter with rare resources was like a chicken walking into a KFC factory. Only a fool would underestimate a human’s greed. To ensure James could make trades, Aiden had to ensure his safety first.

The butcher knife wouldn’t do much either, but it’s better either way. Hmm... there’s one way to help him look more intimidating.

James was about to grab the butcher knife when Aiden yanked it back.

"Is something the matter?"

"Wait a second."

Before James could react, Aiden made a deep cut in his palm with the knife. James gasped, his eyes widened in fear.

He had seen Aiden as a practical man, but the sight before him immediately changed his opinion.

He’s crazy!

While James was panicking, Aiden smeared his blood all over the knife before handing it to James.

"Now no one should mess with you," he said, reaching out for a medkit, but then stopped.

"W-What?"

Still a scaredy cat... I had too high hopes for him.

Aiden couldn’t help but roll his eyes at James’s overreaction.

"As long as you brandish a weapon with fresh human blood, any sane person would hesitate before attacking you," Aiden explained his logic to James. "Use that moment to either run away or push ahead and threaten them. Either way, they’d leave you alone."

"B-But couldn’t we use g-goblin blood instead?"

Aiden smiled and took his shirt off before wrapping it around his arm.

"Tell me something," he said once he was done patching the cut. "Would you be more scared of someone who killed a goblin or someone who killed a human?"

James’s mouth fell open for a second before the realization dawned on him.

[Tenant: James Irwin’s trust has increased to 37%]

"Boss... you’re awesome," James said, scratching his head. "But you could have used my blood instead. Why harm yourself...?"

Aiden chuckled. Of course, he had his reasons, but that didn’t mean he could blurt it all out. After all, if James knew what he was planning, all his trust in him would evaporate in a second.

"James, you’re perhaps the most important tenant I have," Aiden said, grabbing James’s shoulder. "You’re the only one who can leave the apartment and execute my will. How can I ever harm you?"

[Tenant: James Irwin’s trust has increased to 51%]

"B-Boss!" James stammered, tears shimmering in his eyes. "I swear on my life I would never betray the confidence you’ve put in me! I swear!"

Aiden just nodded, barely restraining himself from laughing out loud. The fool was so lost in his admiration that he didn’t notice how Aiden’s blood had seeped into his clothes.

"Alright, alright, no need to get all sentimental on me now," Aiden mumbled. "Hurry and try to reach the survivor camp before sunset, or my blood would start attracting the monsters instead."

"Right, boss! I’ll go right away!" James yelled and ran out, not noticing Alisha had been standing right outside.

"Why is he running away? Wait, was... that blood on his shirt?" she mumbled. "No, it can’t be!"

Alisha had feared that James might do something to Aiden in his unstable state. That’s why she had followed Aiden after putting Lily down for a nap.

For some reason, she couldn’t enter her apartment or eavesdrop. So she stood outside, waiting for Aiden to come out. Instead, she saw James running away with bloodstains on his shirt, carrying a bloodied knife.

"Aiden!"

"I’m here."

Alisha was stunned for a moment after seeing him shirtless. The desire in her lit up again, only to extinguish just as fast when she saw the bloodied shirt around his hand.

"What the hell happened here!?" she asked, carefully grabbing his hand.

"It was an accident. No harm done—"

"You call this no harm done!? I can’t believe James would ever do something like this to you of all people! Forget about Lily, just evict that bastard—!"

Before she could complete her words, Aiden wrapped her arms around her before kissing her forehead.

"How can I do that? Lily shouldn’t be punished for someone else’s actions."

Aiden said that and waited for the familiar notification to pop up, and sure enough, it did.

[Tenant: Alisha Irwin’s desire rose to 18%]

A ten percent jump? Woah, I was not expecting that.

"...you’re too kind for your own good," Alisha whispered through stifled sobs as she buried her face in his chest.

Oh, woman, if only you knew the truth.

[I’m not surprised. Host is a master manipulator.]

Feeling jealous, are we? Don’t worry, you’ll have my attention soon.

[I’m not capable of feeling emotions. But I can install a tsundere mod if the host desires.]

Please don’t.

[I-It’s not like I’m doing it for you, baka!]

...fuck my life.