Master and Slaves

"Next is me."

Dorm took the container that had been set on the desk and headed for Muriel.

But Muriel already had the armor she had received in Torrestia.

"Muriel has armor, so the others... Sophia first."

"Hm, is that so."

Dorm nodded and moved in front of Sophia.

"Hm. An elf... are you."

"Y-yes, that is right. What of it?"

Sophia had just sighed in relief when Doris’s measuring ended, and Dorm came, so she seemed surprised.

And though her hands stayed down, she twisted her body shyly and glared hard at Dorm.

"No. A Dule elf is the first I have seen. Any wishes?"

Glared at, Dorm went on with the talk plainly.

"R-right. I use composition magic, so easier to move in would be better. I use spirit magic too, so metal armor will not do. And I use a bow, so make it easy to shoot arrows. And Hiroyuki likes my legs, so make them look pretty. ...Hyaa!?"

Hey, hey. That last one was unnecessary, wasn’t it?

I moved in a hurry to cut in, but before that Sophia screamed.

Dorm had taken a thick brown liquid from the container he held and smeared it on Sophia’s stomach.

What was this? The other Dules looked toward Sophia.

Only Doris kept measuring, with a sigh.

"Wh-what are you doing!!"

Sophia twisted to escape Dorm’s hand, went teary-eyed, and shouted.

"Taking a mold. Bear with it."

Saying that, he put his hand in the container again and showed Sophia.

"Wh-what is that..."

Sophia asked, timidly, her face pale.

"Hm? ...Kah kah kah. It ain’t shit. It’s mud. Fine wood chips mixed in, though."

After a short pause, Dorm laughed loudly.

Laughed at, Sophia this time went red and sulked.

"I-I’ll do it myself!"

Then she snatched the container Dorm held and started smearing it on her own body.

"Hm. That may be better."

Dorm seemed satisfied with that. He took another container from the desk and handed it to Rosina, standing beside Sophia.

"Smear this on your body."

Rosina took it reluctantly.

She grimaced, put a hand in the container, and smeared it over her body.

It did not seem to smell, but the look of it was that.

Reluctance was natural.

Dorm handed them on to Birga, Gejia, and Lilli too.

A scene of many naked women smearing mud on their bodies unfolded, the sort that would be unbearable for someone who liked it.

Doris held her head and chanted magic.

"Th-there, done!"

Red to the tips of her long ears, Sophia called Dorm.

"Hm. Wait a moment."

Dorm ran to Sophia and stroked with an index finger to check how it was smeared.

Except the head, from the neck down to the tips of her hands and feet, she was covered in brown mud with not a gap.

She had complained and smeared it as if she hated it, but she was thorough.

I looked aside. Everyone was carefully smearing from the neck down the same way.

Backs and the like, they had the person next to them smear.

And Lilli was fussing, kya kya.

Were they rather into it?

Muriel and Sara, by the way, had soon asked my permission and put their clothes on.

"...Hm. This will do."

He nodded, satisfied with the result, and started chanting magic.

"Change that from liquid to a harder solid."

"Coagulate"

But when Dorm finished chanting, the effect appeared, and the mud smeared on Sophia’s body turned pure white.

"Wh-what did you do!? H-hey! I can’t move!"

Noticing the change, Sophia raised a voice of blame.

Reacting to that voice, the other Dules who had been smearing mud on their bodies stopped their hands.

"It’s fine. It’s for taking a mold."

Dorm touched the mud that had hardened and nodded, then chanted a spell again.

"Crush that shape into a small thing."

"Pulverize"

He chanted a magic different from before, and the hard mud covering Sophia’s body crumbled away.

Soon it all peeled off, and Sophia was naked as before.

"That’s enough."

Dorm said that to Sophia, then gathered the fragments with a broom and put them in a hemp sack.

From Rosina on, the same. He hardened the mud with magic, crushed it to bits, and packed it in a sack.

Those who finished got my permission in order and put on their clothes.

When all were done, Dorm carried thirteen sacks to a corner of the room.

The Dules toward the end had not been wearing clothes to begin with, so as they were... ah!

"Ah, Dorm. Tiria... from that girl on, they are To-Dules and Te-Dules, so armor..."

"I know! No, I didn’t know there were Te-Dules too, but To-Dules I know. I make To-Dule armor too. Leave it to me."

After saying that to me, he checked with each what kind of armor they wanted.

"I truly am sorry."

Measuring done, Doris, who had come near me at some point, wore a wry smile on a pale face, maybe from using too much magic, and apologized to me.

It was probably about Dorm’s attitude.

"Ah, no, I don’t mind."

He would make armor that protected them.

Attitude was not something to mind.

"Then I will call Darius."

Doris left the door open and went out of the room.

Dorm glared at the sacks piled in a corner of the room, a difficult face on, as if thinking.

Before long, Doris returned to the room with Darius.

"Thank you for waiting. We will make the rest here, so as for the finery..."

"It will be done in about a month. I would like to adjust it once, so I think we will visit later."

"As for the armor..."

"Right. This side will take about a month too. I want to have them put on the finished pieces and see how they move, so around then."

"That being so, I think we will visit your home once. At that time we will contact you beforehand."

Doris and Dorm explained the plan from here, and Darius summed it up.

"Understood... ah, the contact..."

"Lord Freit’s mansion will do?"

Darius said it as if he already knew.

But that would be a problem.

"I plan to buy a house soon. It might trouble Freit, so once I buy a house I’ll contact you."

"Certainly. Then, this way."

When the talk reached a pause, Darius urged us out of the room.

"Thank you."

Behind, Doris bowed her head and saw us off, but Dorm had his back to us and was doing something.

Darius left the room and went through the shop.

"Ah, wait a moment."

It looked like we would go all the way to the entrance like this, so I stopped Darius.

"Yes. What is it?"

"I’d like the Dules to look at the things in the shop a little."

I said it pointing at the Dules behind me.

A small cheer rose from the Dules.

"Ah, understood. Please, look."

Darius answered as if he had only just noticed.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Did this man mean to do business?

Or had Freit put something in his ear?

Either way, the Dules scattered and looked at whatever each liked.

I joined Azret, who seemed to have been browsing the goods.

"Was there anything that caught your eye?"

"No, I do not have a Dule..."

Azret answered, scratching his head.

"Is that so. Someone like Lord Azret should be able to have a Dule."

"...Gulp. Ah, no, someone like me is still a long way off."

Told that by Darius, Azret looked at Muriel and the others, swallowed with a sound in his throat, and denied it in a hurry.

"Ah, Lord Azret has someone in your heart. I said something pointless. Forgive me."

Darius bowed his head, but it looked deliberate.

Just a joke, probably, but it might include the intent of business.

He could hardly buy Dule clothes or accessories for a lover, so he had probably recommended buying a Dule.

Azret scratched his head and smiled wryly.

"Even so, splendid Dules. A hobbit, a dwarf, an elf, and those two, are they monsters?"

Darius asked while looking at the Dules enjoying their shopping.

Two monsters?

Ah. A dark elf was a monster.

Come to think of it, even seeing Gejia, a monster, it did not become a stir like in Torrestia.

"Yes, that’s right... Gejia is a monster, but you aren’t surprised."

"Lord Freit told us."

...How far had Freit told them?

"And there are several other monsters in this city. The city people will not be that surprised. But a person who has made a monster a Dule is a first, so that side will be the surprise."

Was that how it was?

No, were there this many monsters in this city?

"With that many monsters, is this city all right?"

"Oh. Those are not words I would expect from Lord Hiroyuki, who has two monsters as Dules. Well, there is a dark elf among this city’s councilors. A favored customer of ours."

A dark elf, a ruler of this city!?

...Was it really all right?

No, even if they were used to monsters inside the city, would the countries around not treat them as enemies?

It had been like that in the royal capital of the Torrestia Kingdom.

"Master."

I was groaning when Muriel called to me.

"Hm? What is it?"

"I would like you to buy these..."

What Muriel held out timidly were two hair clasps set with amber gems, a hair ornament with a green gem, and a chain necklace set with a purple gem.

Muriel being this greedy was rare.

They looked a little expensive, but I would splurge.

"Yeah, that’s fine. Anyone else?"

I looked around at the gathered Dules, and they wore puzzled faces.

"Ah, no. These are for Birga and Lilli. And this is for Gejia."

Muriel corrected herself in a hurry.

Birga and Lilli had newly become Dules, so this was a celebration of that.

Gejia... well, a celebration of the chain and the tattoo coming off.

"Got it. But the rest of you are fine?"

"Yes."

Muriel answered, and the others nodded.

About one wore a dissatisfied face, but when Sophia glared, she looked away.

"Then I’ll buy these."

I handed the four ornaments from Muriel to Darius.

"Yes. Let me see... three of them, thirty-five copper coins."

Three?

Ah. The hair clasps were one set of two.

"Yes, then with this."

I took three one-bu silver coins and five copper coins from the pouch and handed them over.

"Yes, thank you. Then, will you put them on?"

"What do you want to do? ...??"

I turned to ask the Dules, Birga, Lilli, and Gejia, but everyone except Sophia, Gejia, Yanica, Tiria, and Yuki had their eyes wide in surprise.

Even Azret seemed surprised, mouth open.

"U-um, is it really all right??"

Lilli’s voice cracked.

"Hm? Yeah, of course. I bought them. Then I’ll put it on."

I stepped in front of Lilli and took one of the three ornaments I had bought.

The green gem would suit Lilli’s blue hair.

I set it in Lilli’s hair.

"It suits you."

"Ah, thank you. I’m happy."

Lilli looked up at me with a full smile.

I stroked her head gently so the hair would not come loose, and headed for Birga.

From behind, I set the amber-gem hair clasps in her hair, parted in two.

Amber suited Birga’s brown hair well too.

"Th-thank you."

Birga went red and lowered her face.

I stroked Birga’s head gently too.

Last was Gejia.

I moved to put the purple-gem necklace on from Gejia’s head.

"No, my lord. I mean to put this here."

Gejia said it pointing at the horns growing from her temples.

I see.

I put the necklace on so it wound around the two horns.

"Thank you, my lord."

The purple gem decorated her brow, and it fit Gejia, who had a noble air about her.

All three looked in the hand mirrors the clerk handed them, and rejoiced in three different ways.

"Now then, let’s go soon. Azret, is that all right?"

"Eh? Ah, yes. That is right. Let us go."

For some reason Azret answered in a fluster.

His gaze wandered. Had he been looking at something?

Well, for now, we went outside the shop.

"Thank you. We look forward to your next visit."

Darius came outside the shop too and greeted us.

Azret and we left the shop with our backs to Darius, who bowed his head.

...

"So, how was the armor?"

"They will make it for everyone except Muriel and Sara. It will be done in about a month, I am told."

"Is that so. Quite fast."

Was it?

It seemed like something that could be done right away.

Did they make it with magic?

But I had heard dwarves were poor at magic.

"Ah, the slaves’ academy will be in view soon."

Azret pointed ahead and said it.

A large building was visible.

"A slaves’ academy?"

"Yes. The slave merchants’ guild manages it, and I am told they discipline the slaves handled by the slave merchants in the guild. Sometimes someone personally has a slave disciplined again, but that takes quite a bit of money, I am told."

To my question, Azret answered politely.

But a slaves’ academy...

"A-are you!?"

While I was amazed at the content of Azret’s explanation, a voice calling someone came from somewhere.

I should have had no acquaintances in this city except Freit, so I thought he had called someone else and paid it no mind.

"It is you after all! Muriel and Sophia!"

He called the Dules’ names, so I turned.

Muriel and Sophia had been in this city, so it was not strange for them to have an acquaintance.

The Dules turned toward the voice too.

There, a man with a fat belly, arms full of luggage, wore a smiling, unpleasant grin.

"An acquaintance?"

Beside me, Azret, who had turned as well, asked in a small voice.

"Uh... who was he?"

I had seen him, but I could not remember.

"A slave merchant. The one who sold Sophia and me to Master..."

"Ah, that guy."

I remembered.

Fifteen years ago, when I first came to this city, I had bought Muriel and Sophia from this man.

The name was...

"I am Enrico, of the slave shop ’The Merciful Shepherd.’"