Master and Slaves

"A dragon will not do. No matter how strong you are, Master, you have no chance of winning."

There was urgency in Muriel’s voice.

Well, a dragon being strong was obvious.

...Why had I thought that?

Muriel was the one saying it, so it was probably not wrong.

Anyway.

"Yeah. Let’s leave the dragon alone."

"Is that so. Even Lord Hiroyuki cannot? I thought it would be easier than the Demon King. Well, it cannot be helped."

Freit shrugged.

Come to think of it, that was right.

I had defeated the Demon King, so a dragon should be...

I would ask Muriel later.

...

The talk with Freit ended, and we were invited to dinner.

In the Freit house, master and Dule usually ate apart, but by Freit’s arrangement we ate with my Dules this time.

Compared to when we were in Torrestia it was somewhat plain, but even this was surely far grander than what an ordinary person ate.

Dishes of meat, fish, and fresh vegetables were carried in by Lotte and Laura, Freit’s Dules.

Before, when Muriel had caught a cold here, I had taught the cook of Freit’s house how to steam rice, and there was rice that had been steamed to look delicious.

"This white rice has been a great help. Steam it soft, and it becomes a meal the sick can eat easily. Grip it firmly, and it becomes a simple food one can eat easily outdoors. In fact, the siege battles we have had many times until now, we endured thanks to this."

Freit said it grandly.

Muriel beside me had gone red and lowered her face, so maybe she was holding in a laugh at Freit’s exaggerated manner.

Muriel, Rosina, and Cathy were used to it, and ate with grace.

Sheena and Birga sat in chairs a little higher than the others, but they ate with refinement, like the daughters of some noble.

Sophia, paired with her looks, looked refined as well.

Sara seemed to have grown used to this sort of thing. She was copying what she saw, but her way of eating did not fit the room.

The To-Dules, Tiria and the others, ate under the table as always, and the Te-Dules, Ilma and the others, stood by the wall and watched us eat, drool hanging.

And as for Lilli...

"Lilli, do not grab it with your hands."

"I won’t spill."

"Either eat or talk. Pick one."

Muriel was scolding her over her table manners.

A child’s looks and a child’s behavior. Was I the only one who found it soothing?

"Ah, yes. Lord Hiroyuki, why not attend a Dule gathering?"

After looking over the Dules, Freit said it as if it had just occurred to him.

"A Dule gathering?"

"Yes. Masters who have Dules bring their Dules and deepen friendship. You can obtain all sorts of information about Dules."

Hm. It sounded interesting.

"With the enemy closing in, that sort of thing..."

I barely swallowed the rest: would it not be in poor taste?

But Freit seemed to notice what I had meant to say.

"This gathering is of course suspended. Depending on the damage, I think it will stay suspended for a while, but if this city is safe, we will certainly hold it. After all, this is the slaves’ city."

Hahaha. Freit laughed boldly.

"When that time comes, please do attend."

"R-right."

At Freit’s forceful invitation, I could only nod weakly.

...

Dinner finished, and we entered the room Freit had prepared.

"Wow! Look, look! It’s so fluffy!"

"Yay, yay!"

The moment Lilli and Rine saw the bed, they ran straight for it, climbed on, and started bouncing.

"Lilli, stop that! Lady Rine, please stop as well!"

Muriel scolded the two of them.

"Master, please say something too."

Then, maybe because she wanted Rine stopped as well, she looked to me for help.

"Well, once in a while is fine."

Rine had always played alone, so making a friend around her age was a good thing.

...Not the same age, but about the same in mental age. That would do.

"So. Tomorrow’s plan. We’ll look for a house, but if we can, I also want to buy what we’re short on. Weapons and armor, especially. I expected it, but things do look tense."

We had brought some weapons and armor, but we had new Dules too, so we had to buy more.

Birga’s Dule armor, in particular, was necessary.

"About that, I have something to say."

Just then, Gejia raised a hand.

"Hm? What is it, Gejia?"

"I think it is about time I return my strength to what it was. It should be of use in the battle. And this chain is unbearably annoying. Every time it sways, I feel it. If I am going to feel it anyway, I would rather have my lord’s hands, mouth, and cock."

"!" "Oh my." "?"

Most of them reacted to Gejia’s words by going red in the face. Rosina wore a grin, and Lilli and Rine, looking at the Dules, floated question marks over their heads.

"Hey, hey. You aren’t saying things like that outside, are you?"

Surprised that even the older ones showed such an innocent reaction, and finding it cute, I still scolded Gejia.

"Since we left that Torrestia, I have been speaking as little as I can. I think it is fine."

No, no. Assert it there.

"Well, be careful. So, recovering your strength, and taking off that chain?"

"Yes. Properly, once one becomes a Dule, the body at that time is maintained. I too am still as I was then, when my strength would not recover and I was weak, but if I use my mother and my elder sister, my strength can be replenished. When I became a Dule, my mother and elder sister were already my Dules. Use that ability, and my strength recovers. Do that, and removing this chain, and erasing the tattoo, will be easy."

Gejia explained it.

The method was, first, replenish life force from the elder sister, remove the chain, and erase the tattoo.

If left like that, the life force that had been spreading through her body along the chain would be cut off, and she would weaken and die, so next she would replenish life force from her mother.

The reason Yuki could not have her chain removed was that she had no Te-Dule or Pe-Dule who could replenish life force, and that her life force was not as great as Gejia’s.

"Until now the rooms were small, but here I can draw a magic circle."

This room was certainly large, beyond compare with the inn rooms we had stayed in so far.

At one end was a bed big enough for five to sleep with room to spare, and around it were about five single beds.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

On the door side, desks and chairs were set, and if those were pushed to the end, there looked to be space enough for everyone to sleep sprawled together at ease.

Even so...

"Why didn’t you do it in Torrestia?"

The house in Torrestia was large, and there should have been rooms bigger than this.

"Because my lord was gone. It was no time for that."

I see. I was the cause.

"So I would like to try it at once. What do you think?"

"Yeah. If that’s how it is, sooner is better."

Feeling a little guilty, I gave permission.

"Hm. Then, forgive me, but help me."