Master and Slaves

Suddenly, Muriel’s voice was heard in my head.

(Master, we have found Lily’s, no, Hexa’s whereabouts.)

"Wait a moment."

Hearing Muriel’s voice, I stopped, and with voice and gesture told Lilli and Ito to stop.

(Where is she?)

Next I held my head with my right hand and asked Muriel.

(...North from where Master is.)

After a while, Muriel’s answer echoed in my head.

"Lilli, north from here, she says."

"North... Yeah, got it."

(Muriel, I am counting on the guidance.)

"Yes."

We followed after Lilli.

On the way we turned right and left, and I grew doubtful we were heading north, but ask Muriel, and Cathy was saying we were certainly drawing closer to the destination.

But...

(Master, Hexa’s presence has vanished, she says.)

Run a while, and Muriel’s voice echoed in my head.

Had she switched to Lily again?

(But it is right nearby, she says.)

(Got it.)

I stopped Lilli and Ito once and peered at the surroundings.

Faintly, men’s voices could be heard.

I looked at Lilli, and she looked at me and nodded.

Lilli seemed to have heard it too.

"This way!"

Lilli, Ito, and I started running again.

"Wait!"

Running straight, about to turn a corner, I was stopped by Lilli, who had been running at the front.

"Ow!"

"Oh, sorry."

Ito, who had been following right behind, bumped into my back.

"Shh!"

Lilli set an index finger to her lips and cautioned us to be quiet.

Then she soon peeked her face a little from the corner and peered at the situation further in.

"Quite a lot of them. They seem to be having a good time..."

"Is Hexa, is Lily there?"

"Hmm, ah, she is. She is being kicked, somehow. It might be dangerous."

Lilli told me the situation.

At the end her tone was a little tense.

I peered over Lilli to check the situation too.

Look further in, and as Lilli said, more than ten men were gathered.

At the very back a naked woman was face up, pinned by a man, her mouth covered with a hand.

"Mgh, mgh, mgh..."

"Oh, a fine grip."

The man pinning her licked the girl’s brow while rocking his hips.

Another, this one too a naked girl, was bound with rope and rolling in the center.

"You, you did well!"

"Ugh!"

"That hurt quite a bit!"

"Ugeh!"

This one was being kicked by two men.

Was one of them Lily?

"Please! Stop!"

Then, from the near side, a man’s shout came.

Grabbed by the arms by two men, he knelt, head hanging.

"Ahh? It is because you did not hand her over obediently. Well, even if you handed her over, it would end like this."

One man crouched in front of the man who had been made to kneel and grabbed his head to turn it up.

"Iris!"

The man who had been made to kneel raised a pained voice.

Hmm. Better to help.

"Lilli and Ito, wait here."

I tapped Lilli’s and Ito’s heads lightly, then came out from the corner.

"Hey!"

When I raised a loud voice, the men turned this way all at once.

All of them well-built, swords at their waists.

Mercenaries... ?

"What?"

One of the men moved to walk this way, but another man raised a hand and stopped him.

The man who stopped him was more muscular and taller than the other men, hair black, but one lock of his bangs white.

From the air, he seemed to be their head.

"Hey. This is not a place a young master comes. Leave those women there and go home quick."

The man who seemed the head jerked his chin and wore a vulgar smile.

The other men raised their voices and laughed too.

Apparently they had found out about Lilli and Ito.

"I want you to return that girl."

I ignored that laugh and told the men in a loud voice.

"Which? This side is still in the middle of the fun. This one... if you were the owner, we will have you settle the account."

Laughter rose again.

Now then, what to do.

I had a sword, for form, so I could deal with it.

The numbers were many, but it would work out somehow.

Only, there were hostages.

"Lord Hiroyuki, I will help too."

Lilli showed herself from the corner.

They had found out we were hiding, so she had come out.

Ito came out next.

This one had the air of having no choice because Lilli had come out.

"One is a Dule brat. The other is a sexy beastkin. Both look like fun."

The man who seemed the head licked his lips.

The men raised cheers.

But even to help, Lilli had a weapon, but Ito was empty-handed.

And she was still recovering.

The wounds should not be fully healed either.

So even if the other side had noticed, at least Ito would have been better hidden.

"I can manage to some degree even empty-handed."

Ito opened her legs, lowered her hips, and raised both arms in a stance.

"Do not overdo it. Just protect yourselves."

I said that and started walking, leaving the two.

No need to draw the sword yet.

"Ah? I am telling you to go home!"

One of the men ran toward me.

He swung his right arm back and swung a punch at me.

I drew half my body back, received the man’s right fist with my left hand and diverted it, used the force to pull, hooked my right foot on the man’s left foot, and tripped him.

But before he hit the ground I kicked up the man’s stomach with my knee.

"Ugeh!"

I should have held back to some degree, but the man floated up to about my face.

Then when he hit the ground he bent his body, scattered vomit from his mouth, and groaned.

I glanced at the man fallen on the ground, body twitching in spasms, and went on further.

"Y-you!!"

Again, another man came toward me.

This time he held a drawn one-hand sword in his right hand.

I felt Lilli and Ito move to act, so I raised my right hand and signaled them to stay there.

I glanced back, confirmed Lilli and Ito did not start moving, and faced forward again.

The man ran while holding high, and moved to bring it down aiming at my head.

I quickened my step, slipped in front of the man quickly before he brought the sword down, and just before that gripped the hilt of the sword together with the man’s hand and pulled it in front of me, that is, behind the man.

The man, maybe not having expected it, fell backward easily.

But he did not seem to let it go. Right after falling he swept the sword sideways aiming at my leg.

Maybe because his stance was bad, there was almost no force, and the sword speed was slow too.

I, who had stepped on the man’s sword to the ground with my right foot, kicked the man’s face with my left foot.

"Fugo!!"

This one too I held back considerably, so his neck did not break, and he probably only blew a grand nosebleed.

But maybe he had a concussion. He rolled his eyes white, foamed, and fainted.

"So, who is next?"

I looked at the men, and all of them had drawn their swords.

No, only the man who seemed the head had not drawn his sword.

"Ho. You are not bad. ...Well, fine. I do not want to reduce people much before the battle. Hey, we are going."

"Yes!"

When the man who seemed the head gave the signal, the men all sheathed their swords.

Then all of them walked this way.

"I am Ivo of the Dragon’s Fang mercenary band. Say Ivo the Dragonslayer, and you will know. Nice to meet you. Kuh kuh kuh."

The man who seemed the head, Ivo, said it to me in a low voice as he passed beside me.

Ivo the Dragonslayer?

First I had heard of him.

"Ah, right. With that skill, you will go out to the battle too? Then watch your back. Hahahaha!"

Ivo said that, turned lecherous eyes on Lilli and Ito but did nothing, and left taking the men.

The men who had been down, other men lent their shoulders and took them too.

Left behind were the girl trembling her shoulders in fear, the young man holding her shoulders and comforting her, and Lily alone, still bound hand and foot and groaning.

...

After telling Muriel that Lily’s capture was complete, I approached Lily, who had been lying down, and set a knee to the ground.

"Lily, are you all right?"

Then I cut the rope that bound Lily’s hands and feet with the bastard sword and held Lily.

"Ow..."

Lily tried to twist free, but maybe the marks of being hurt by the men hurt. She soon grimaced and entrusted her body to me, as if surrendering.

"What... do you mean... to do with me...?"

Lily asked me, who peered at her face.

"Who knows. I have not thought yet. More than that, we have to treat the wounds."

I felt over Lily’s body.

Her arms were no problem, but both legs were broken at the shin.

On her stomach many blue bruises had formed.

Her guts might be injured too.

"Lily, switch to Hexa. If it is Hexa, I can heal the wounds."

Hexa was my Dule, so if I sent mana I could heal the wounds.

But Lily was not my Dule, so without healing magic or medicine the wounds could not be healed.

"No."

But Lily shook her head.

At that time she grimaced a little.

"It hurts, does it not. Then..."

"I do not want... to make Hexa hurt."

Lily said that and twisted her face further.

I see. Apparently Lily was fond of her little sister.

But she understood nothing.

That Lily’s actions were instead making Hexa suffer.

Well, fine.

We would talk after we got back.

I took off the jacket I had been wearing and put it on Lily.

Now then, more than that...

"Lord Hiroyuki..."

Lilli, who had been near me paying attention to the surroundings, spoke to me.

I raised a hand to Lilli, I understand.

I turned, and there were a man with a swollen face, and a woman with a cloak thrown over her fully naked body.

The man’s height was lower than mine.

About 170 centimeters.

Slender for a man, and gentle man fit perfectly.

Age... his face was swollen, so I could not tell.

The woman’s height was a little lower than the man’s, about 160 centimeters maybe.

She looked sturdier than the man because the man was slender.

Not muscular at all, and she had a womanly build.

Age about twenty.

A beauty who would be fairly popular, but her eyes had gone red, and a shadow fell on her face.

"Um, thank you for saving us."