Master and Slaves

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

And so, to make space, the Dules pushed the chairs and desks to the end at Gejia’s direction.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"The beds are fine. If possible, I would like my lord to help as well."

"Yeah, that’s fine. What am I doing?"

I meant to help with what I could help with...

"A few things. First, when I recover my strength, I want you to hurt my mother and my elder sister."

Gejia said something I had not expected.

"Hurt them?"

"Yes. When my lord recovers strength, or heals wounds, you hurt the Te-Dules there, do you not? It is the same."

True. Helma replenished my life force by feeling pain.

Recovering strength and healing wounds needed life force, and of course pain was felt if one was hurt.

"Specifically, whip them."

Gejia glanced at Muriel.

When Muriel noticed, she took out a whip from beside her.

Hey, hey. Did she always carry a whip? I nearly cut in with that, but barely swallowed it.

"Then, when we remove the chain and the tattoo, I want you to pull the chain. With all your strength."

"Will that be all right?"

The chain attached to Gejia’s body was not an ordinary chain, same as Yuki’s.

Life force already circulated through the chain, and it had become part of her body.

No. An arm or a leg could be lost and one could still live, but without this chain she would die.

That was why Yuki wanted the chain off and could not have it off.

Well, taking off a chain like that was the goal.

But on top of that, the chain was connected to the piercings set in her nipples and her clitoris.

The chains that entered her asshole and her urethra were fastened inside her guts with piercings.

At her wrists and ankles, they grew from the wounds made there.

Apparently they were connected directly to the bone.

Pull something like that with all one’s strength, and it would be a miserable sight.

"Mm. If it is my lord, I do not mind. Do it halfway, and the pain only increases. Even if a nipple or my clitoris tears off, even if my guts come out, do it in one go, without holding back."

True. The worst case was giving only the pain, and the chain not coming off.

"Got it. After that, I’ll heal you right away."

"That is welcome. I had meant to ask Rosina, so as not to trouble my lord’s hands."

Gejia laughed, pleased.

"Then, let us prepare. Sophia, forgive me, but lend me your mana. Draw the magic circle as I say. My mana is little."

"Understood. You work people hard."

Sophia complained, but drew a magic circle that filled the room, just as Gejia directed.

"...All right. That completes it."

"Phew. Finally done."

At Gejia’s declaration that it was finished, Sophia, who had been standing and crouching, crouching and standing the whole time, stretched her body wide.

Not that much time had passed, but it was far more complex and far larger than the magic circles I usually used.

"Even so, it is bigger and more complex than I thought. I have never seen it. What magic is it?"

"A magic circle that seals the soul. If the chain and the tattoo are removed, some of my soul will leave through there as well."

Gejia answered Sophia’s question with something ominous.

If even a small amount of the soul was lost, one might lose consciousness and never return, or lose the self.

If the amount was great, one could die, I was told.

A Dule contract passed the soul like that, so the weight of the matter was clear.

"After that, I overlaid a magic circle that softens impact. The pain may make me thrash."

Something that did not let impact from inside out. A reverse barrier, you might call it.

A nipple or her clitoris might tear off, or her guts might come out.

That pain would be no ordinary thing.

And if Gejia, a demonkin, started thrashing with all her strength because of it, this house might break.

That would be trouble.

Serious trouble.

This was Freit’s house, and we were staying by his goodwill.

Sophia, though, seemed to picture purely the disaster if this magic circle did not work, and swallowed hard.

"...It is right, isn’t it."

"Yes. It is fine. No problem. Then, my mother and elder sister..."

"Wait a moment. Do all of them know about your mother and sister?"

Gejia nodded yes to Sophia’s check, and was about to bring out her Pe-Dules. I asked her that.

When Gejia spoke of her mother and sister, all the Dules had worn puzzled faces.

Maybe they had not asked so as not to break into my talk with Gejia.

Thinking that might be it, I asked Gejia.

That form was shocking.

I had thought I would have to show the Dules, someday, what a Dule became at the end, but there were some I did not want to show.

If she had shown them while I did not know, then seeing them now would be no problem.

"No. I have not told them, so they should not know."

Gejia answered my question.

Then I had to prepare them properly.

First...

"Birga, sorry, but could you take Rine outside?"

"...Yes. Understood."

"Eh, why!? I want to see too!"

"Come, let us play outside."

For an instant her face said why, but she soon caught my intent and took the fussing Rine outside.

Seen only from behind as they left the room, Birga and Rine were almost the same in height and build, like friends of the same age.

"Now then."

"Block my voice, block my sound."

"Soundproof"

Once I confirmed Birga and Rine had left the room, I cast "Soundproof" with the whole room as its range.

"That should do. Then... right. Let’s have Gejia explain."

"Hm. If it is my lord’s order, I do not mind, but would it not be faster to show them?"

"Showing that all at once is hard on the heart. Better to explain beforehand."

I explained the reason to Gejia, who tilted her head.

She still did not seem convinced, but she listened to my proposal readily.

Was this a difference in values between one who lived in the demon realm and those who lived here?

Or was I the only one who was different?

Either way, to Muriel and the others, who held their breath at our manner as if this were no small matter, Gejia began to explain plainly.

"First, I have two Dules. Both are Pe-Dules."

"Pe-Dule? What is that?"

Rosina repeated it, tilted her head, and asked Gejia.

Rosina, a priest of the Anirofe order, who should have been knowledgeable about Dules, did not know.

The others probably did not know either.

"Hah. In the demon realm it is a well-known Dule. In rank, further below a Te-Dule. A Dule made by the master taking in half the soul."

"Half! Then they would die..."

Muriel raised a voice like a scream.

"Hm. As they are, yes. But if my soul fills what is lacking, they can live. Only, the heart breaks."

"The heart?"

This time Cathy asked.

"Yes. Normally, a master who makes a Pe-Dule has a soul thicker and greater than the one who becomes the Pe-Dule. That is because the master’s soul vessel needs surplus enough to take in half the soul of the one who becomes the Pe-Dule. If the Pe-Dule takes in the soul of such a master, the Pe-Dule’s soul loses the self to the master’s soul. Mix red liquid into white liquid, and the white cannot be maintained. That is how it is."

"...If the heart breaks, what happens?"

Having heard Gejia, Sophia hugged her own body with both arms, maybe from the fear of it.

Then she asked Gejia, timidly.

"It becomes this."

"Ah, you idiot!"

Gejia seemed to have grown tired of explaining. She abandoned the explanation, called up the space called a "rucksack" where she kept her mother and elder sister, who were Pe-Dules, and took them out.

"Hii!" "Wha!" "!!" "No way!"

Each raised her own scream, but all of them alike showed surprise, and then disgust.

Muriel pressed in on Gejia.

"Wh-what is this!?"