Master and Slaves

"You are... after all...."

I looked into the face of the collapsed girl.

"...Milli..."

""!!""

I called the name of the girl leaning against the wall.

Cathy and Tiria, upon hearing my words, peeked at the girl’s face and were again surprised.

Yes, it was Milli, the girl from Rade Village.

She had been involved in Cathy’s incident.

And after that, she had disappeared.

But at that time, Milli must have been in her mid-teens.

Fifteen years had passed, yet the girl in front of me now looked about in her mid-twenties.

If her thin body made her look older, she would be around twenty.

Then...?

I placed my hand on Milli’s left breast and poured mana into it.

The Dule mark appeared.

"Master! Allow me!"

Muriel checked Milli’s mark, then, still holding Ilma in her left arm, suddenly snatched the sword from my right arm and beheaded Milli.

"Guah... hyu... hyuu..."

Milli screamed for an instant, then her head rolled, and the sound of air leaking from the severed neck followed.

Soon after, her body and head no longer twitched at all.

"Muriel! What are you...!"

"I’m sorry! But I was trying to prevent you from being killed. And because you are a Dule, you would recover immediately. I didn’t know what you would do. So I made sure a Dule in a suspended state wouldn’t move."

That was safer.

But, however...

"Killing a person is...."

"Uaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Just as I tried to stop Muriel, Cathy suddenly shouted from behind.

And before I knew it, she had stabbed Milli’s body repeatedly with the short dagger Laila’s Tear in her hands.

I was stunned by the suddenness, but when I came back to myself I immediately hugged Cathy in a headlock from behind.

"Cathy, stop! Cathy!"

Cathy’s body went rigid.

And then...?

"Uaaaaaaaah!! ...!!"

Cathy turned around, and just as she was about to stab me in the temple with the short dagger, she stopped.

Muriel’s hand was protecting me, and it hadn’t been stabbed either.

"M-Master...."

Light returned to her eyes, which had been vacant.

The short dagger slipped from her hand and hit the stone floor with a dry clack.

"I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry... uuu..."

I hugged Cathy.

Did what happened earlier resurface?

"It’s fine. I won’t let you do anything like that again."

I patted Cathy’s back to comfort her.

But "I won’t let you" was easier said than done.

I had made Muriel do something terrible.

And Ilma too...!

If something happened to me, my Dules would be hurt.

I had to be careful.

And...?

"Cathy, no matter what happens, you must not harm Master. No, although a Dule cannot wound her Master, she must not even try to harm him. Do you understand?"

"...Yes. I will accept the punishment."

When Cathy pulled away from me, she knelt with her head bowed and lowered it to me.

"We can’t do this here, so let’s wait until we calm down."

"No, a punishment... Cathy had trauma, and that’s why..."

"No matter what happens, we Dules are not allowed to harm Master. So I will punish you, Cathy. Also, what I said earlier about the girl is dangerous. Sympathizing with someone who tried to kill herself is dangerous."

"..."

I had been about to warn her not to be careless, and Muriel had already pointed it out.

"...I’m sorry. I will accept any punishment."

Muriel must have thought I was angry, so she lowered Ilma to the floor, knelt on one knee, held her sword up with both hands in a formal offering, and bowed her head to me.

"...No, Muriel was right."

I was still holding onto my old world’s way of thinking.

In this world, that way of thinking was probably naive.

I took the sword from Muriel.

"Muriel... no, Milli... what should we do with this girl?"

"Let her be here for now. She won’t move until her Master comes."

Muriel, after I took the sword, had knelt with both knees on the floor and was bowing her head.

"Muriel, it’s fine. More importantly, let’s get out of here quickly."

I told Muriel that, then picked up Ilma—who was looking up at me and Muriel with worry—and handed her to Muriel.

Muriel stood up and held Ilma.

"Then let’s go."

After Muriel, Cathy, and Tiria left the room, I also left.

And when I turned around, there lay the badly injured body of Milli, and separated from it was her head that had rolled.

A large puddle of blood was on the floor.

But why was Milli here?

Could it be that the Rade Village incident was connected to this place?

All the missing persons from Rade Village had been women.

Just like Ilma and the women who had died here, they had probably been turned into incubators for demonic beasts or treated terribly.

Then the women here must have been taken from some village or town, just like in the Rade Village incident.

It was disgusting.

Was it all right to leave her like this?

"Master?"

"Ah, sorry."

I snapped back at Muriel’s voice.

But seeing such a terrible corpse no longer made me feel nauseous.

I had thought the previous world’s habits were still with me, but perhaps I had become used to this world.

...Probably because I had seen the horror of Rade Village...?

I muttered to myself and self-derisively left the gloomy room.

...

In the end, there were no other surviving women.

At the end of the corridor there was a broken door, beyond which was an iron grille that had been destroyed.

Demonic beasts that had crawled out from above must have been keeping them locked inside.

But there was nothing there now.

After checking every room, we returned to the surface after retrieving the box from the warehouse.

"It’s bright...."

"Yes, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?"

"Yes. Ever since that time... I’ve been hiding."

Muriel and Ilma were laughing while talking like mother and daughter.

The content was painful, but the sight was still touching.

"Ilma, how is it?"

"Yes, I’m much better."

Ilma answered me with a smile appropriate for her age.

She had pushed herself a little, but she could answer clearly now, and her complexion had improved quite a bit, so she was recovering.

"I see...."

I stroked the head of Ilma, who was being carried on Cathy’s back, and her face flushed red as she narrowed her eyes, still looking pleased.

Ilma was supposed to be walking on her own, but because her stamina hadn’t recovered enough yet, Cathy ended up carrying her.

"Then from now on...."

"Master, may I ask if we can go pick up one more girl, Helma?"

"Helma...."

Ilma’s twin sister and Muriel’s daughter.

"Apparently, I entrusted her to a passing person...."

"Yes."

"Um, do you know where she is?"

"That’s... I don’t know. But... she went that way, so if we go there, we might find out..."

"Um, Master. I know."

Cathy spoke, cutting off Muriel’s worried words.

"Eh? Cathy, have you met Helma?"

"No, I don’t even know her face."

"Then why do you know?"

"I have a feeling, I just know. The place where Master’s Dules are."

"What do you mean?"

"...Probably an intuition or something like that."

Muriel, carrying the box on her back, answered for Cathy.

"Intuition?"

"Yes. Isn’t that Cathy’s ability as a Dule?"

"Is that... really...?"

"S-sorry."

Cathy suddenly apologized to me.

"Hm? Why are you apologizing?"

"Um, that’s... it’s not something that seems very useful to Master..."

Cathy lowered her head in shame.

"Ah, no, I think it will be useful. At least it is useful now. Yeah."

I comforted the flustered Cathy.

"Aa..."

"F-for now, let’s go pick up Helma. Cathy, leave it to you."

I patted Cathy’s shoulder to cover it up.

"Y-yes!"

Cathy immediately answered happily.

"T-then, um, Ilma-chan? Hop in the carriage."

"Yes, please."

Cathy carried Ilma toward the carriage.

At that moment I felt a gaze and turned around. Tiria was holding something with both hands and offering it to me.

Tiria’s upturned eyes were... indescribable.

"Let’s go, Tiria."

"Yes!"

I stroked Tiria’s head, then took the reins.

Tiria followed behind me toward the carriage with a happy smile.

I turned once more and looked at the burned mansion.

There slept the women who had left regrets behind.

But they had not been buried.

Ghosts were apparently harmful to people.

And only those who served the god could save them.

Then, if I ever came back here, I would bring someone who could save the ghosts here.

I didn’t know when, but I would definitely...!

And I would also definitely visit the Rade Village site... or rather, the remains of the village.

I thought that again.

But with Milli, something felt terribly wrong happening behind the scenes.

"..."

"???"

Tiria tilted her head and peered at my face.

"...Let’s go."

"Yes."

I said that to Tiria again, then walked toward the carriage where Muriel and the others were waving.

...

"By the way, Muriel. Ilma is my Dule, right?"

"Yes, that’s right."

I sat beside Muriel on the driver’s seat and asked.

"Um, first... I see. How old is Ilma?"

I turned around and asked Ilma directly this time.

Ilma was sitting with her back against the edge of the carriage.

She had wrapped my cloak around her body like a towel, thrown her legs that only reached to her knees onto the floor, and was pressing the cloak against her body with her arms that only went to her elbows.

"Um, how old... well... I don’t know."

Ilma looked down in shame.

"I think she’s about twelve."

Muriel answered for Ilma.

Twelve years old...?

"Then what is her Dule rank?"

"Ah, yes. Ilma is a Te-Dule."

"Te-Dule? ...Ah, I see, lower than a To-Dule... eh? But can’t you even become a Te-Dule?"

"Yes, that’s right. It’s not that you can’t become one, but... it’s hard to know how to become one... or rather, how to be made into one."

"Then how did Ilma become a Te-Dule? I’ve never even met her...."

"That’s because I was Master’s Dule."

"I see. So that’s why I don’t understand. Dules don’t grow, and they don’t give birth, right? But Muriel, how did you grow and give birth to a child?"

"That’s... because Master was petrified. It was a critical injury..."

"So Muriel grew?"

"Yes. Originally, Dules receive a small amount of mana and life force from Master. They fulfill the Dule contract with that. During that time, Dules do not grow. However, when the mana and life force from Master run out, the contract temporarily stops. At that time, the Dule returns to her original human form."

"Hm? So because the mana and life force I was supposed to supply to Muriel ran out, Muriel grew and gave birth?"

"Yes."

"Mmm, then is the cause either the petrification or the critical injury?"

"Both. If you are petrified, you can no longer receive mana. The mana gradually disappears during petrification. That’s why Master’s mana is low now. The time Master was petrified was long. Also, if you suffer a critical injury, you can no longer receive life force. When a living thing suffers a major injury, it uses life force to heal. When Master suffered a critical injury, all the life force we could have received, including our own, was used for treatment. But because Master was petrified, the wounds didn’t heal. As a result, while Master was petrified, I could not receive mana or life force. That’s why I became not a Dule."

"I see... hm? Then if I could give only one of the two—mana or life force—what would happen?"

"At that time, you become a Dule. Because we Dules can convert mana to life force and life force to mana in small amounts."

"I see."

That’s why Muriel grew and gave birth.

Cathy and Tiria didn’t grow... because they were petrified, right?

"So, although Dules normally cannot have children, I gave birth to Ilma and Helma even though I am a Dule. Because of that, Ilma and Helma became Master’s Te-Dules... I think."

"Mmm, but I don’t know if that’s true."

"Yes."

Well, with just the examples of Ilma and Helma, it’s not certain.

"But why did we realize Ilma and Helma are Te-Dules?"

"Because Ilma had the fourth mark. I’ll show it to you later. Helma hasn’t been confirmed to have the fourth mark, but since she’s Ilma’s twin, she probably does too."

"The fourth mark... where...."

"Master, it’s almost time...."

From behind, Cathy stuck her head out and called to me.

"Hm? Ah, where are we? Are we taking a detour?"

"Um... no, I think we’re still on the road. It seems to be around here...."

The surroundings were open grassland, and the road was climbing a hill.

There was no sign of habitation... but...?

"Ah, there’s a village over there."

The carriage came to a halt in front of a small village.