I Can't Exploit Them Because of the Expectations And Evaluations From My Slaves

I Can't Exploit Them Because of the Expectations And Evaluations From My Slaves is a light novel adapted to a manga under the name Dorei Kara No Kitai To Hyouka No Sei De Sakushu Dekinai No Daga written by Isogawa Maware with the manga first available in the west via scanlation in November of 2023 (see wiki for more information). The story features the protagonist (whose former name as a Japanese citizen goes unsaid) being killed on Earth via a freak accident and having his soul possess the recently killed orphan Adventurer Allen by an unnamed goddess as a reward for the heroic act dying to save an unnamed girl. To boost his chances of survival, since Allen died to monsters, the goddess gives him the [Regeneration] skill that allows him to heal any injury or disease in either himself or others. He spends three years trying, and failing, to get himself an adventuring party, but he's shunned because he's so incompetent that he can't even defeat the weakest possible monster one on one. So he takes the only logical option left to him and visits a slave trader. Sticker shock hits him hard, and it costs him three years worth of wages, wiping out his savings, to buy the two cheapest slaves available, and the reason they were so cheap is that they were horribly mutilated and near death. He takes them with him to the abandoned and crumbling monastery he lives in and healed them up to perfect health once he's away from prying eyes, since he doesn't trust the powers that be would treat him fairly if his abilities were known. His slaves, Sylphy the ancient elf, and Noelle, the elder dwarf, can't make any sense of his actions because, for the months that he's lived with them, he never once exploits them for labor, sex, or their magical talents, instead working part-time in a healing clinic trying to make ends meet and living in poverty. The girls know they're alluring and that if Allen were to exploit their magical skills, or even his own, it would be disgustingly easy to get insanely wealthy, and fast. So they challenge him and ask his intentions. He chickens out and starts bull-shitting, rather than admit that all he really wants from them is a quiet life and a healthy sexual relationship. Hilarious misunderstandings and unintended consequences ensue.

Tropes used in I Can't Exploit Them Because of the Expectations And Evaluations From My Slaves include:

• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: The only skinship Allen is comfortable giving to his slave harem is patting them on the head when they come to him and ask for praise, especially Noelle, which everyone finds adorable. He's completely unaware that they'd like it if he pushed the envelope a bit.
• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: As frequently mentioned in the original novel, the fact that Allen has a village full of slaves, he rescued from certain death, by buying them from the slave market and healing them to perfect health, and said slaves are so, so happy working for him that they refuse freedom, has a self-proclaimed "hero" see him as a dangerous threat worth calling a demon lord! In fact, when legit demon lords enter the story, they are genuinely impressed with his acts of charity and goal to end racial discrimination. The "good" humans on the other hand, are classists and hunt the "demon" tribes, like the oni, just because they're another race, plus the "hero" is a murder-hobo that just likes killing things, purely for the heck of it, even getting the title "Hero of Destruction."
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the manga version, Allen cuts off contact with the goddess by duct-taping manga panels over her face. In the web-novel version, he points out, in excruciating detail, just how big the book is whenever he goes into an existential rant, as in "it's been X number of words...." or "It's been Y volumes..."
• Entertainingly Wrong: Although the misunderstandings are absurd to the audience, to the characters who don't have all the information, and from their perspective, the reasoning is sound.
  • Allen, who is rightly concerned that his slave harem is suspicious of him due to their horrific backstories, and have all clearly suffered abuse in human lands, not to mention his own crippling inferiority complex, can only think of them as looking on him with suspicion and contempt for being their slave-master, and actively brow-beat him when they show him their magical talents. In truth, they were rightly suspicious, at first, but they very, very quickly grow extremely fond of him after seeing his gentle, humble, and meek nature. To the point that they would very happily have sex with him if he only asked.
  • On the other end, Allen's slave harem, especially the first two, Sylphy and Noelle, see Allen as being more altruistic than he actually is. Yes, he doesn't exploit them for labor, sex, or their magical talents, and they would be dead had he not bought them and healed them to perfect health, and even takes his obligations to take care of their needs seriously, even though these "obligations" are merely a guideline, not a hard and fast rule, except for maybe the poll-tax, so they're quick to believe him when he bull-shits and says that his end-goal is "ending world hunger" or something like that. In truth, all he really wants is to live a quiet life and shag them silly, but he's, rightly, too timid to ask for it. The reason he doesn't exploit their magical talents is that he can't read the magic scroll he was provided by the slave trader with his purchase and simply doesn't know what they're capable of, but doesn't want to look weak by admitting that. He also doesn't exploit his own magic talent because he doesn't trust the church to treat him fairly. After all, the goddess the church worships is a card-carrying jerk, so how bad must the clergy be. Lastly, he shares modern tech with his slave harem, not for any grand ambition, but only for the personal creature comforts of himself and those close to him (not to mention bragging rights).
• Flash Forward: The story frequently jumps ahead to the future and then proceeds to narrate how the cast got to that point.
• Forbidden Fruit: Though Allen is completely unaware of it, the elf race prides itself on shunning people who openly show interest in them and become romantically obsessed with those who give them the cold shoulder. The fact that Allen, understandably, flinches when they start to flirt with him, and he almost constantly loses the games he "invented" and pouts like a child when he does, makes them look at him like he's a huge tease, and it makes them horny as hell.
• Happiness In Slavery: To the point that Allen, the protagonist, suggesting giving his slaves freedom, is seen by said slaves as a credible threat!
• In Medias Res: The first chapter introduces Allen speaking with his slave harem. In the original novel, he's speaking with an entire village of slave girls, all of whom he owns, regarding events that would take place roughly three years after he buys Sylphy and Noelle. In the manga, the first page has him being cornered by Sylphy and Noelle regarding his intentions, which occurs in the story proper in the manga's chapter 4.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: Allen and his slave harem never get their misunderstandings regarding each others' intentions resolved. Allen spends his days and nights constantly worried that his lovely slave girls are always one mistake away from bringing him to ruin, so he's almost always bending over backwards to make them happy, even offering them a salary so they can buy their freedom, which they actually greatly appreciate. His slave harem, on the other hand, never, ever clues in to the fact that he's a simple man with simple tastes, wants, and needs and actually has no ambition aside from living quietly and losing his cursed virginity.