Master and Slaves

"Nn... hm? What? Eh? What is this? What is this???"

The air changed completely.

Apparently she had switched with Hexa.

"What, why, why am I dressed like this, someone help me. Master."

Hexa, maybe unable to understand the situation, started crying and shouting like Lily just now, and clung to me in tears.

"...Cathy, untie her."

"Eh? Is that all right?"

Cathy looked this way, surprised.

"Is that all right? Will she not start rampaging again?"

Muriel seemed to be showing wariness toward Hexa openly too.

Well, we had been attacked in our sleep.

At this rate, every master of Hexa would be killed.

"If Lily comes out, I will just turn the tables again."

Hexa’s body trembled.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Just now, Master was nearly killed. By a girl called Lily."

When Hexa asked timidly, Muriel answered Hexa while putting out killing intent.

"Hii, th-that cannot be..."

She flinched at Muriel’s killing intent, but maybe she remembered her own situation. She went teary-eyed and shook her head.

"Does Hexa know about Lily?"

Rosina peered at Hexa while applying pressure.

Hexa, still not untied, trembled her unmoving body.

"U-uh... I knew..."

Hexa answered, averting her gaze.

"Then, that the cause of Hexa’s masters being killed was Lily too?"

Rosina brought her face closer still and applied pressure.

"Th-that! My big sister... would not... I think... probably..."

To Rosina’s question Hexa met her gaze and tried to refute strongly, but her voice gradually grew small, and at the end she muttered at a level barely heard.

She wanted to believe Lily, but had lost confidence. That was it.

"Then, when Lily is out, does Hexa have consciousness?"

"S-sometimes I do, but when my master died I was always asleep, so I did not know. If I switch with my big sister while I am awake, I can tell what my big sister is doing..."

Hexa was trembling, feeling Muriel’s killing intent, Rosina’s pressure, and the sharp gazes of the other Dules, but she answered my ordinary question properly.

In other words, even if Lily was out, if Hexa had consciousness she could tell the surroundings.

But when she had no consciousness, in sleep or the like, whether the one out was Hexa or Lily, she could not tell the surroundings.

"Um... what will happen to me? Will I be disposed of after all?"

While I was thinking in silence, maybe she grew anxious. Hexa asked timidly, teary-eyed.

"Would it not be better to dispose of her?"

Muriel glanced at Hexa, then looked at me and gave her opinion.

"Th-that cannot be, please forgive me! I will speak strictly to my big sister! Please!"

She moved her body skillfully even in the shrimp-bend binding and set her head to the ground.

In looks, it was a proper bow.

"Well, I will not dispose of her, but as things are..."

I smiled wryly and knelt in front of Hexa.

Then I raised Hexa and started untying the rope that bound her.

"Ah, I am sorry!"

Seeing that, Cathy rushed over in a hurry too and untied the rope.

Hexa, fully free, lightly rotated her limbs, then prostrated herself in front of me at once.

"I am sorry! I will switch with my big sister now, so boil me or roast me, do as you like!"

Could she switch freely?

Then I had wanted her to switch before untying the rope.

For an instant the strength left Hexa’s body.

But the air changed, and the moment strength entered her body, Hexa, no, Lily raised her face, quickly looked around, and ran for the only window in this room.

"!"

Sudden. No one could react.

I tried to grab her hand, but she escaped by a hair.

Lilli and Ito tried to catch Lily’s arm too, but fell one step short.

Lily was that quick.

"Heh! Who would listen to the likes of you!"

Lily opened the window, set a foot on the frame, spat that parting line as she turned, and fled outside.

"Kuh! Everyone, we are chasing!"

"Wait a moment!"

Muriel called to the Dules to chase Lily, but I stopped her in a hurry.

It was the middle of the night now. If the Dules went outside at a time like this and were attacked, it would be no laughing matter.

That was the same for Lily, who had gone out naked.

We had to find her quickly.

We should split up and search, but... would it be better if I searched alone...

Farsight... it was the middle of the night, so I could not count on it.

"Cathy, can you tell where Lily went?"

I asked Cathy, who could grasp the whereabouts of the Dules.

"...I am sorry, I cannot tell..."

But Cathy, who had closed her eyes for a short while, bowed her head as if sorry.

Right. Lily was not my Dule, so she could not tell.

Then if she switched to Hexa, would she be able to tell?

"Cathy, if Lily switches to Hexa, you might be able to tell. If you can, tell Muriel. Muriel, tell me. I am counting on you."

"Yes!"

"Understood, Master. Um, if you are going to search, take someone with you."

I told the two to have Muriel inform me by Cathy’s mind-speech magic, and Muriel told me to take someone.

In this case, Lilli and Ito, who had been able to keep up with Lily’s movements, would be suited?

"Lilli, come with me."

"Yeah!"

"Ito, come too."

"Y-yes!"

I took the bastard sword always set in this room, belted it at my waist, threw a jacket over my sleepwear, called to Lilli and Ito in each of their languages, and left the room with the two.

"What is it, at a night this late?"

On the way running for the entrance, I met Freit, walking this way with Lotte and a guard man.

He had probably just returned. He was still in the clothes from when he went out.

"No, a Dule ran."

"Hm. The tiger-cat breed girl?"

Freit looked at Ito behind me and said it.

"I thought she was attached to you... If you are searching, why not rely on the adventurers’ guild? They will take on searching for people too. Well, at this hour it is already closed, so it will be tomorrow."

"Yes. If I search tonight and do not find her, I will rely on them. Then."

In a hurry, I bowed my head to Freit, then at once took Lilli and Ito and left the entrance.

Naked Lily had a high chance of being attacked.

Lily might be able to fight back, but even so, if the other side was many, she might be pinned down.

If she had switched to Hexa, all the more.

I could not wait until tomorrow, but if I still did not find her I would put in a request to the adventurers’ guild.

...

Outside was dark.

Only one moon.

And it was a new moon.

Luckily Lilli and Ito both seemed to have good night eyes.

I could see too, barely.

But damn.

I should have brought Birga.

She should be able to see well even in the dark.

Well, too late.

And Birga was not quick.

If it came to chasing at a run, she might be a burden.

Now then...

"Where should we search?"

But I did not know where Lily was headed.

"Hmm, around here is the high-class residential area of the Central District, so even at night the guards patrol. If it was me, I would not stay in a place like this forever."

Lilli crossed her arms and talked while thinking what she would do.

"Then let’s head for the North District for now."

"Yeah. But can she get over that wall?"

Lilli looked up with a wry smile.

There, the city wall at the border of the Central District and the North District here towered.

Freit being a merchant, Freit’s mansion was near the North District, where shops lined up.

Because of that we had headed for the North District following Lilli’s advice, but...

Lilli, Ito, and I looked up at the city wall towering higher than the two-story building nearby.

"Without any preparation, it is impossible."

Lilli raised both hands and sighed.

Lily had no preparation, not even clothes on.

Climbing this was impossible.

"Then, after all..."

Search inside the Central District.

Just as I was about to say that,

"Master, that!"

Ito pulled my clothes and pointed at the top of the city wall.

I looked up, and a figure was running along the top of the city wall.

Lilli looked up in the direction Ito pointed too.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"As I thought, the tiger-cat breed is quick."

Lilli, who had found the figure, smiled wryly and still nodded, impressed.

"We are chasing!"

I called to Lilli and Ito and ran to the gate in the city wall.

...

We had the guards open the gate, closed at night, by giving Freit’s name, and ran through the North District toward the Outer District.

The figure that seemed to be Lily had been running along the top of the city wall between the North District and the East District toward the Outer District, but by the time we persuaded the guards and entered the North District, we had lost sight of her.

"Is she hiding around here?"

"Hmm, I do not know. If she knew the land, I think she would, but..."

When I asked Lilli, Lilli groaned while twisting her head.

Even at this hour there was foot traffic here.

Probably because there were drinking houses and brothels.

Right now many mercenaries had come to this city, so many would use them.

"With this many people, it is hard to search."

Ito spoke while looking around.

"Yeah."

To hide a tree, in a forest, they said, and it was exactly that.

"But Lily is naked."

Even so, if she walked alone naked, she would stand out.

If someone was beside her, she might be mistaken for a To-Dule.

...She might be hiding in a back alley.

"Shall we search the back?"

"Yeah. But at night, one step off the main street and public order gets extremely bad, so be careful."

Lilli cautioned me.

In the daytime even the back alleys had shops lined up, and there was a fair amount of coming and going, so it was not that dangerous, but at night the shops closed.

It was not a place people lived, so not a single person remained.

Of course the shops were locked solidly, and seemed made to be all right even with public order like that.

Now, Ito was still in ordinary clothes, but Lilli wore clothes for an A-Dule, with her chest exposed.

And Lilli had a short dagger, but Ito had nothing that looked like a weapon.

If we were attacked, it would be trouble.

"Yeah. That is right."

I answered Lilli and went on carefully, paying attention to the surroundings.

"...She is not here."

But no matter how much we searched, we did not find her.

On the way, thugs appeared, after Lilli or Ito, or maybe judging from my clothes and demanding money, but I did not want to waste time, so we ran and fled at once.

We fled at random through back alleys like a maze, but Lilli’s knowledge of the land was splendid, and we could start the search again at once.

"Even so, you know the roads in a place like this well."

"Yeah! This is like a garden. Ah, the shopkeeper here is a fool. He often forgets to lock that window. This shop has people even at night. I nearly got caught. So be careful."

In a whisper, a voice only I could hear, Lilli talked, but the content was dangerous.

What was I supposed to be careful of.

Thinking that, I followed Lilli and searched for Lily without a clue, but...

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