Master and Slaves

"Um, Master. Before that... there is one thing I’d like to ask of you."

"Hm? What is it?"

My enthusiasm was met with an anticlimactic request, so I ended up replying a bit strongly.

"Um, well... Could you... lend me the bag for a moment...?"

She asked timidly, trembling slightly.

"Hm? Oh, sure. Here you go."

I handed her the bag while patting her head as an apology.

Her face turned bright red and she froze stiff, but she still reached into the bag and searched for something.

"Ah, found it."

What she pulled out was a rope.

Tiria placed the bag on the ground and began wrapping the rope around her own neck.

"Tiria?"

I had a bad feeling, but I didn’t know what to say, so I simply watched.

Tiria wrapped the rope so it wouldn’t choke her, tied it securely so it wouldn’t come undone, and then gripped the end with both hands.

"Um, M-Master. I am a To-Dule, so... I must have a rope or chain attached to my neck... held by you, Master."

"...Huh?"

"Therefore... could you please... hold this?"

With an upward glance, she held out the end of the rope tied around her neck with both hands.

It was as if she was saying, "Please keep me as your pet."

What the hell is this?

"N-No, first of all, Tiria, you’re not a dog or a cat, so you don’t have to do something like this..."

"To-Dules are lower in status than dogs or cats..."

Huh? What did she just say? Lower status than dogs or cats?

"What are you talking about? Tiria, you’re a human, right? How can a human be lower in status than dogs or cats...?"

"In this continent—at least in this country—that’s how it is decided. If we don’t do this, Master will be punished."

"I don’t care if I get punished! You don’t need to do this, Tiria!"

"No! I can’t bear it if Master is punished because of me!"

"But..."

"Please. Please follow the rules. I beg you."

Tiria prostrated herself before me and pleaded.

She had done something like this before.

Sigh. I really didn’t want to do this, but...

...When in Rome, do as the Romans do... huh.

It’s a phrase I like, but actually doing it is hard.

Even though it’s a bit late for that.

"...I understand. Is there anything else?"

I took the end of the rope and asked her.

"Y-Yes. Um, To-Dules are not allowed to use their hands for themselves. Also, they cannot eat at the same height as their Master. They must eat on the floor or lower."

Another weird rule.

I didn’t quite understand the "can’t use hands for themselves" part, but eating on the floor... that really is pet treatment.

"Also, when thanking Master, I must kiss the top of your foot. If you’re in a hurry, I may kiss the back of your hand."

Hahaha, the hand is fine, but the foot... We’ve finally entered full SM territory.

"Finally, I am not allowed to speak until Master addresses me."

She explained while folding four fingers.

"And lastly... you may treat me however you wish... Please use me freely as you like."

Tiria’s face was beet red as she gave the fifth explanation.

So basically, I could treat her like a toy or do whatever I wanted.

Well, I won’t, though.

I have a girlfriend, after all.

Wait? Didn’t we already have sex?

N-No, that was unavoidable.

There was no way to escape it.

...

"Phew. Understood. Then I’ll follow the rules here."

"T-Thank you so much!"

Even though I had essentially declared that I would treat her as a pet—or even lower than one—Tiria looked genuinely happy as she bowed to me.

We walked toward the royal capital, Torrestia.

However, I hesitated to use the main road.

Had a war broken out?

Soldiers’ corpses and monster corpses were scattered everywhere.

Some were half-rotten.

Some had even turned to bones.

I decided I couldn’t let Tiria walk through such a place, so I gave up on heading straight to Torrestia and chose a detour using a lesser-known back road.

Until we reached that road, we walked through the trackless wasteland.

When I looked back, Tiria was silently walking while looking straight ahead.

She seemed to be strictly following the rule of not speaking unless spoken to.

So I decided to talk to her first.

"Tiria."

"Yes."

"Um... I was summoned to this world, right?"

"Eh? Ah, yes."

"...I wonder if I can go back to my original world?"

"Eh... Um, I don’t know."

After a short pause, Tiria answered.

I wondered what that pause meant.

"I see... Sigh."

I let out a sigh and thought about the future.

First, I should look for a way to return to my original world.

I need to find someone who knows.

I turned around to ask Tiria if she knew anyone, but she was walking with her head down.

Is she tired?

Well, never mind.

There’s no point asking now.

I’ll ask later.

...

Along the way, we found a river and took a break.

I soaked in the river and washed my body.

I had been splattered with blood, after all.

I also let Tiria soak in the river and wash herself.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t washed after we had sex.

Of course, that place too.

...This is bad.

Only now did I feel a chill.

"Tiria. Yesterday... it was a safe day, right?"

"Um, what do you mean?"

Tiria tilted her head cutely.

"Uh... I mean, a day when it’s easy to get pregnant?"

"Ah, that... Right now, I cannot get pregnant."

Oh, did I ask something I shouldn’t have?

"Ah, I see. Sorry. Forget it."

"Eh? Ah, yes."

Tiria answered calmly.

Maybe she was used to these kinds of topics.

Anyway, after washing our bodies, drinking water, and resting a bit, we continued moving.

...

The wasteland gradually turned into grassland.

We should reach the road soon.

I looked back at Tiria.

A short sword for self-defense was strapped to her right thigh.

Her hands were clasped behind her back as usual.

Tiria had explained that this was the proper way for a To-Dule to walk, so she walked slightly hunched forward.

And of course, she was naked.

Her well-shaped breasts, hanging down due to her forward posture, swayed left and right with every step.

Even with her face still dyed bright red, she kept looking straight ahead. The end of the rope around her neck was held in my hand like a dog leash.

It would be normal if I were leading a dog, donkey, or horse—but leading a girl like Tiria was obscene, immoral... and exciting.

Tiria, who had been looking forward, noticed my gaze. She looked embarrassed but still stared straight into my eyes.

Tiria couldn’t speak on her own.

She could only communicate with her eyes.

So I spoke first.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I’m fine."

...I said it myself, but what exactly is "fine"?

Is she saying she’s fine after walking for half a day and being tired?

Or that she hasn’t eaten anything for a full day?

Or that she’s not suffering in that state of dress?

I just wanted to say something, so the words that came out were extremely vague.

Yet Tiria answered immediately.

She probably didn’t know exactly what I was worried about.

But from her perspective, she was probably trying to avoid worrying me no matter what.

Then silence followed.

We were both too tired to talk.

We walked without exchanging a single word.

How long had we been walking like that?

In the middle of the grassland, a stretch of bare ground appeared as if to block our path.

It continued to the left and right.

Upon closer inspection, there were wheel ruts carved into it.

"Is this the highway?"

I turned around and asked Tiria.

"Yes. This is the highway leading from Torrestia to the Kingdom of Cardiria."

"Which way do we go?"

"Um, to the right."

I looked right and squinted.

"...Oh! There are buildings over there."

Faintly, but I could see large ochre-colored buildings amid the pale green grassland.

"Yes, that is the royal capital, Torrestia."

"Great. Now that we can see our destination, let’s pick up the pace."

"Yes!"

Tiria answered with a smile.

We stepped onto the much easier-to-walk highway and headed for the capital.

We passed several people on the way.

It was only natural on a highway, but every single one of them looked at us with some kind of emotion.

Tiria was especially stared at.

Some men looked at her with lustful, licking gazes.

Some women glared with contempt and mockery.

Whenever I glared back, they quickly averted their eyes.

Did I look like a skilled swordsman with that big sword on my back?

By the way, carrying the Demon Lord’s sword the whole time was inconvenient, so during the break by the river I had tied it with rope and slung it on my back.

Even while exposed to these strange stares in her naked state, Tiria said nothing and silently followed me.

Her face remained flushed red from the chest up, but she kept looking straight ahead.

I had no intention of wasting her efforts, so I continued walking as if nothing was wrong, matching her pace.

Eventually, we got close enough to see that the ochre walls were made of brick. Then we saw a line of people.

"Do we have to line up there?"

"Yes. It’s probably a checkpoint. They don’t usually do this, but since we’re currently at war with the Demon Lord’s army..."

I see. No one knows the Demon Lord is dead yet.

"Got it. Then let’s quietly join the line."

At the end of the line was a group of about six men and women who seemed to be travelers. They kept glancing at us while chatting.

We lined up behind them.

The constant glancing was annoying.

I tried to hide Tiria behind my back so they couldn’t see her as much.

Of course, people behind us could still see everything, but it was better than letting people in front stare.

The line moved forward slowly.

When we first arrived, the sun was still high, but now it was sinking toward the horizon.

At this rate, we wouldn’t make it inside before sunset.

I had heard that old castle towns closed their gates at sundown.

That meant anyone who couldn’t pass through the gate before sunset had to come back the next day.

What a bureaucratic pain.

...This is troublesome.

I was thinking of a good solution when the line started moving again.

As I followed, my right hand holding the rope didn’t come with me.

When I turned around, Tiria was looking at me desperately with tears in her eyes.

Behind her, a man was groping her ass.

"Gyaah!"

I flew into a rage and kicked the man flying.

"You bastard!"

I stood over the fallen man and stomped on the right hand that had touched Tiria’s ass.

"Gyaaaaaaaah!!"

Being stomped on by metal greaves was no joke.

The man writhed in agony, clutching his hand and rolling around.

Watching him, my head cooled down.

I noticed the surroundings were getting noisy.

"What is going on here?!"

A man in ornate armor approached, pushing through the onlookers with three soldiers in tow.

He looked to be in his 30s... or maybe 40s.

...Sorry, it’s hard to tell ages with white people.

But he was definitely older than me.

He was a bit taller than me.

His build... was hard to tell under the armor.

He had blond hair, blue eyes, a mustache, and sharp, hawk-like eyes.

He’d probably be considered handsome.

No one would bat an eye if you said he was a movie actor.

"What is this commotion?"

He glanced at the man on the ground and asked me.

No—he was facing me out of caution, but the question was probably directed at everyone, including the man groveling on the ground.

"H-Help me! I didn’t do anything, but this guy suddenly kicked me!"

The man clung to the armored man’s feet while still on the ground.

"Is that true?"

This time the armored man clearly asked me.

"No. He was touching this girl’s ass, so I kicked him."

I pulled Tiria close by her shoulder.

Tiria pressed herself against me but looked anxiously at the armored man.

"Hoh, a To-Dule? How unusual...!!"

The armored man’s eyes widened when he saw Tiria.

"You... Come with me."

He glared at me with killing intent and ordered two soldiers to restrain me.

Meanwhile, he whispered something to the remaining soldier, who then left the circle of onlookers.

"Wait, I’m—"

"Master, let’s leave this to these people for now."

When I tried to shake off the soldiers and approach the man, Tiria suggested that and stepped forward to shield me, facing the armored man.

"Tiria?"

"Please treat Master with due courtesy."

I tried to speak at Tiria’s dignified attitude, but she ignored me and bowed her head to the armored man, pleading.

"...Hah. ...Very well. This way. Follow the soldiers."

The armored man replied with a troubled expression.

He glanced at me, had the soldiers go ahead, and told me to follow them.

He would probably follow behind us, staying vigilant.

I thought about what to do, but this was Tiria’s home country.

I decided to follow her suggestion.

The only ones left behind were the man from earlier, who was smirking at me, and the onlookers.

However, I was surprised by Tiria’s sudden change in behavior.

She had said she wouldn’t speak on her own and had stubbornly followed that rule until now, yet here she suddenly spoke up.

And that attitude.

It was almost like a princess...Ahem.

I should stop with the unnecessary fantasies.

It would be troublesome if that were actually true.

Thinking about such things, I followed behind the soldiers.

I looked at the rope in my right hand, then followed it and turned around.

There was Tiria, looking at me with an anxious expression.

Hm? Why does she look anxious?

Is she worried about what will happen next?

Wait... then was it okay for me to accept her suggestion?

...

Well, whatever. If anything happens, I’ll protect Tiria.

Fortunately, they didn’t disarm me.

The Demon Lord’s sword on my back and the blade at my waist were reassuring.

While thinking about that, we arrived in front of the castle gate.

Ignoring the line, we passed through a gate as large as a two-story house and immediately saw a small brick building on the right.

The soldier stopped in front of it, so we stopped too.

"Alright... First, let’s introduce ourselves. I am Baldo von Otto, Vice Commander of the Torres Kingdom Royal Guard Knights."