Master and Slaves

Helene bowed slightly toward me and ran toward the main tower.

After seeing her off, we returned to our room.

"Welcome back~."

"Welcome home, Hiroyuki-sama."

Katy bowed her head in greeting.

"You didn’t fight Helene-san?"

"Hm? I did fight. Why?"

"Ah, no. You came back so early, and you didn’t seem to be sweating much either."

"Hahaha, yeah, well. More importantly, you were cleaning for us."

When I looked at Katy, she had a towel wrapped around her head and was holding a duster-like thing in her right hand.

"Yes. I’m sorry. I’ll tidy up right away."

Katy removed the towel, folded it quickly, and carried the broom and duster that were leaning against the wall into her own room.

"You don’t have to apologize. You were cleaning. More importantly, you came back that early? Even though I went to the town."

"Is that so? I thought that since Hiroyuki-sama defeated the Demon King, Helene-san would put up a good fight...."

Katy’s gaze felt a bit chilly... Why?

"Hmm... anyway, I want to drink something...."

Since I didn’t know the reason, I couldn’t follow up.

Let’s change the subject instead.

"Yes. Here’s some water."

A water pitcher and a cup were slammed down on the table.

Why are you angry?

I poured water into the cup and drank it down.

Tiria must be thirsty too, right?

When I turned around, Tiria was glaring at Katy.

What is this atmosphere?

It’s awkward.

It feels like a shura battle.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

"Yes, please wait."

Katy, still in a foul mood, opened the door.

"Hiroyuki-sama, I have brought it."

Helene appeared in the room, carrying a wooden box.

"Helene-san! As expected! You defeated the Demon King Slayer in an instant."

"""Ehh?"""

Helene, Tiria, and I all exclaimed at the same time and looked at Katy.

"Um, Hiroyuki-sama? You can’t be lying, okay?"

Helene approached me with a scary smile.

I shook my head side to side, denying it.

I don’t want any more shura battles!

"Um, did Helene-san win?"

"Katy-san? Did Hiroyuki-sama say that?"

Helene turned to ask Katy, who was closing the door.

"Eh? No, you came back so early that I thought so...."

Katy tilted her head in confusion as she answered Helene.

In other words, Katy had made a misunderstanding.

"""...Haaaah...."""

"Eh? Eh? Eh?"

All three of us let out a big sigh.

Katy, who looked completely lost, stared at us one by one while a question mark floated above her head.

"Hiroyuki-sama, I’m sorry. I thought I was being teased...."

Helene lowered her head.

Ah, I see.

So that’s why she was angry.

"Hahaha, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it."

"T-then, Hiroyuki-sama defeated Helene-san!?"

Katy asked Helene for confirmation.

Her face had turned quite pale.

"Of course. Hiroyuki-sama defeated the Demon King. She lost without even taking a single hit."

Helene placed her hand on her hip and added insult to injury.

"I-I’m sorry!! Please, please forgive me!!"

Katy dropped into a full prostration on the spot.

Her forehead scraped against the ground.

Hmm~... What should I do?

"For tonight, you and...."

I realized after saying that.

Literally, this can’t be a joke.

It’s one of the maid’s jobs... or something like that.

"..."

Katy stayed in prostration, looking up at me and waiting for the next line.

Her face showed "tragedy."

Is there anything I can do?

Can I somehow get out of this?

"...Night-long scary stories for you."

Hahaha.

I shouldn’t be able to fool her with this...!

"Hic! Hiroyuki-sama! I’ll do anything! Even serving as your night companion or anything! Please, please forgive me!"

Katy scraped her forehead on the floor again.

...Oh no.

She really said it.

But I’m glad I got out of it.

Tiria seemed not to notice either.

Actually, she was trembling together with Katy.

Only Helene seemed to understand and was smirking.

Well, she managed to be fooled, and I scared her enough. Is it fine?

"That was a joke. We’ll do it another time. More importantly, give water to Tiria and Helene."

"Yes! Right away!"

After giving an energetic reply, Katy flew into her room.

"Helene. Is that armor repair tools?"

"Yes. They’re all here."

Saying that, Helene opened the wooden box.

When she opened the lid of the wooden box, which looked plain but was being treated with care, inside were tools like hammers, pliers, and awls neatly arranged.

"Hee, they’re all nicely arranged."

"I was told by Master, ’Tools must be used carefully.’"

I picked up the armor that had been placed near the wall and sat directly on the open floor.

Then I laid the cloth that had been covering the armor over it and placed the armor on top.

"I’ll borrow this."

"Yes, please."

I asked Helene for permission and took out the pliers from the wooden box.

"Master is... is it Matthaus-san?"

Using the borrowed pliers, I started stripping the armor plates from the waist belt of the armor.

Meanwhile, Helene was peeking at me curiously, shaking her massive breasts.

"Ah, no. It’s the sword master."

"Ah, I see. Helene used to be a knight, right?"

"Yes."

Helene smiled brightly.

"I’ve been waiting."

At that moment, Katy brought in a water pitcher, cups, and a plate on a tray.

I poured water into the cups and handed them to Helene.

"Thank you. Katy-san."

"Will Hiroyuki-sama drink some too?"

"Yeah. I already drank earlier...."

When I turned toward Katy, there was a magnificent pair of breasts hanging down.

The owner was Tiria.

She must have been trying to peek at my work.

"...Tiria."

"Yes, my master."

"Go get water from Katy over there."

"Eh? That... can’t I look?"

Tiria sat in a little girl’s pose on the spot and looked at me with upturned eyes.

Since when have you started being so bold like this?

...That’s adorable.

But... though.

"No. Go over there."

I should surprise her with this.

I’ll show her after I finish.

...It’s not that great.

"...Yes."

Tiria reluctantly went toward Katy.

Then she received water in a dish from Katy.

...As always, the sight was almost enough to make my nose bleed.

Why is she drinking while turning her butt toward me.

It’s completely visible.

...

While continuing my work and listening to Katy apologizing to Tiria, I wondered.

"Helene, then, did you learn magic from Matthaus-san?"

"Yes, I did learn, but apparently I don’t have talent for magic, so I could only do a little."

Helene lowered her head shyly.

It was a bit acted, but not entirely.

"But even a little is fine, right? It would be useful."

"Can’t Hiroyuki-sama use magic?"

"Yeah."

"You can’t use it, yet you defeated the Demon King?"

"Yeah... yeah."

"Amazing! I’m surprised."

She was sparkling with eyes, but still...

"But that’s true. He’s that strong."

"Hahaha. And with that, it’s done."

I removed the metal plates from the belt without tearing it.

I cut the belt to the right length.

Next, I took a thick ring-shaped fastener from the armor, along with the buckle, and attached it to the belt.

"You’re skilled."

"Well, this much is nothing."

It’s an extension of what Yuri often told me: "Attach a keychain" or "Fix the accessories."

This was in the same line.

Since the power is greater than in the previous world, it’s like making wirework.

The pliers might not have been necessary.

Oh, right.

I peeled off a suitable thin plate from the gauntlet with a perfect fit, and carved letters into it with an awl.

Then I firmly fixed it to the belt.

"Finished."

"Hee, it turned out surprisingly nicely."

"Surprisingly~?"

"Ah, no. It’s just that it doesn’t look like it was made from armor parts at all... something like that."

"Well, it’s fine. Let’s leave it like that. ...Tiria. Come here."

I gave Helene a wry smile at her excited words and called out to Tiria.

"Yes, right away."

Tiria hurriedly came to my side and sat next to me.

"Yes, Tiria. A present."

"Present?"

Tiria tilted her head and looked at the thing in my hand.

"Ah, a gift... I guess. Though it’s a collar, it’s bad."

"Eh? ...Eeeeh!?"

Tiria was surprised when she saw the collar.

"Um, um..."

"Shall I put it on you?"

Ignoring Tiria’s confusion, I attached the collar.

"Um... um..."

"Oh, the size fits perfectly. It’s well-made, I must say."

"What does this say?"

Katy asked about the letters carved on the plate of the collar.

"This is the writing from my hometown. I wrote ’Tiria’."

I wrote it in katakana.

I figured it would be hard with the alphabet, and I wasn’t sure about the spelling anyway.

"Ah... um...."

"What does this say here?"

This time it was Helene who asked.

"I wrote ’Hiroyuki.’ Well, maybe I didn’t need to?"

"Ah... ahh... kyu."

"Tiria! Hey, are you okay!?"

Tiria’s face turned bright red, and she flopped over.

Had I tightened the collar too much?

I hurriedly removed the collar.

"I don’t think the tight collar was the cause."

"I think it’s definitely the collar’s fault."

Katy peeked at Tiria, whose eyes were spinning, and Helene took the collar from me and put it back on Tiria’s neck again.

"I’ve never seen someone with eyes spinning while looking happy like that."

"Yeah. And I’ve never heard of T.Dure fainting."

Katy and Helene were talking while looking at Tiria’s face.

What a mess.

"Is it that you don’t know, but is Tiria okay?"

"Huhuhu, yes. No need to worry."

"I see. Well, then, I’ll have her lie on the bed."

Hearing Helene’s reply, I picked up Tiria and carried her into the bedroom.

Then I laid her on the bed.

"U~n, yeah, that’s right. No collar gifts for you, huh?"

I checked Tiria’s sleeping face and muttered to myself, then left the bedroom.

"Ah, this, thank you."

I returned to my work, put the tools back in the wooden box, and handed them to Helene.

"No, it’s my pleasure since it seemed like Tiria was happy about it."

"???"

It didn’t seem like Tiria was happy at all, though.

""Haa...""

As I had a question mark floating above my head, both Katy and Helene sighed.

"For now, I’ll head back. It’s getting dark outside too."

"Ah, I’ll see you off."

"It’s fine. It’s inside the castle."

"Moreover, Helene-san is strong, right?"

"Ah~. That’s mean~?"

Helene placed her hand on her hip and puffed out her cheeks.

Then both of them immediately started laughing.

Helene and Katy have a good relationship~.

"Then, I’ll be going. Please tell Tiria I said hello. I’ll come to pick her up again tomorrow."

"Yeah, got it."

"Then, I’ll take my leave."

"Be careful."

Helene opened the door, stepped outside, bowed to us, and closed the door behind her.