Master and Slaves

"My lord, may I remove this hood?"

"Ah, well, that’s fine."

Either way, it would come out.

When Gejia heard my answer, she lowered the hood she had kept on the whole time.

A head with horns was laid bare.

Lilli’s eyes went round at the sight.

"...Ah... um... a dragonkin... miss...??"

"Fufu. I am no dragonkin. I am of the demonkin... a resident of the demon realm. What you would call a monster."

Gejia explained it with a bitter smile.

"Gejia is on this world’s side."

"Before that, I am on my lord’s side."

That meant she was the enemy of anyone who opposed me, even a human.

I gave her a light glare for stirring the pot, and she smiled wryly.

"Well, that’s how it is. Just as there are people in this world who take the other side’s part, there are people in the other world who take this side’s part."

In other words, even if Rosalier was a monster, she might be on this side.

Well, I had no idea what the odds were.

Probably very low.

"...Yeah, that’s right. Then Rosa-neechan is a good monster."

I gave a bitter smile at Lilli, who said it with a grin.

The monster part was fine with her, then.

Well, now that Lilli was convinced, on to the real matter... which was hard to get into.

"Hm. Well, she has stayed quiet until now. Even if she has some purpose, she will not move right away."

"I feel like waiting until she moves will be too late."

I cut in on Gejia’s optimistic view.

"But Hiroyuki has to leave this country soon, right?"

At Sophia’s words, everyone flinched.

Maybe she could say what was hard for a Dule to say because she was an elf, not used to human society.

She herself had said that, among elves, her thinking was close to a human’s.

"Yeah, that’s right. ...But I can’t exactly tell the guards in Lubeck, or Helene."

This was a hidden village. I could not reveal where it was.

...In my position now, watching and waiting was all I could do.

"Yeah. I’ll trust Lilli, and keep my mouth shut."

I said that and stroked Lilli’s head.

Lilli narrowed her eyes, pleased.

"Then, shall we sleep soon?"

"Yes!"

The Dules answered, and each of them got into a bed.

"Excuse me."

Only Tiria climbed into my bed.

Of course, it was to do Tiria’s work.

"Ahh! Only Tiria-neechan, that’s not fair!"

And Lilli kicked up a fuss.

Then she threw her clothes off in a scatter and climbed into my bed.

Birga, newly a Dule, said nothing and lay down.

...Beside me.

Naked, of course.

Tiria, still looking lost, straddled me and sank me deep inside, the way she always did.

Hah.

I had thought there would be none of that today, but somehow I ended up sleeping under a blanket of flesh, same as always.

...

The next morning, when I woke, most of the Dules were already gone from the room.

The only ones left were the three stuck to me: Birga, Lilli, and Tiria.

Those three were already awake.

Lilli looked at my face and laughed, happy. Birga had her face turned away.

Both of them were clinging tight to my body, though.

Tiria was clinging to me the same way.

All I could see was the top of her blond head, but I could tell she was awake.

"Birga, Lilli, good morning."

"Good morning." "Good morning, Master Hiroyuki!"

Birga looked at my face and answered in a low, ill-tempered voice. Lilli answered loud and energetic, even first thing in the morning.

I forced Birga’s face toward me and kissed her on the mouth. Her eyes went round in surprise.

Me too, me too, Lilli begged.

Of course I kissed Lilli on the mouth too.

Then, as always, I woke the Tiria who was already awake.

"Tiria, good morning."

"Nn... ah, good morning, Master."

Hm. The usual fake sleep.

When I stroked her head, she smiled, pleased.

"Ahh! Me too, me too!"

I stroked the head of Lilli, who leaned in and made a fuss, as well.

And Birga’s too.

Birga’s face went red before my eyes.

Then, with a poof, smoke came off Birga’s head... or so it seemed.

...

Breakfast was served by the Dules.

The cooking, I was told, had been done by the village women, but after yesterday they had held back.

Because of that, we ate breakfast alone.

And then...

"Sorry about yesterday. I heard it from Rosa."

"No, it’s fine. And those villagers seem to have all kinds of circumstances."

It was about last night’s dinner.

I shook my head at Nadja, who was guiding us out while seeing us off to the road.

Only Nadja and three of the village men were guiding us, but when we left the village, almost the whole village had come to see us off, early as it was.

"Rosa said to apologize for her too."

Nadja said that, scratching her cheek with a finger.

"Truth is, I wanted her to apologize with her own mouth. She used to be a young lady, after all. And Rosa can’t really go outside much. I’m really sorry."

I received yet another apology from Nadja that day, and smiled wryly.

The person herself was surely the girl called Elmegart, who had thrown water on Sara at dinner yesterday.

Sure enough, she had not been among those who saw us off.

And neither had Rosalier.

"Is Rosalier sick?"

"Ah, yeah, well, something like that."

Nadja answered vaguely.

Did she know what Rosalier really was?

"Oh, I can see the road."

Just as I was about to say something, Nadja pointed ahead.

I looked. Beyond the opening in the trees, a road ran, cut with wheel ruts.

One of the men checked the road and raised a thumb.

"Then this is as far as we go. I think it’ll be fine, but don’t you ever let slip a word about us."

Despite the words, she showed a smile.

Just a caution, for form’s sake.

And that smile looked as if she trusted us completely.

Why she could trust us this far on a first meeting, I did not know.

I would have to ask Lilli later.

"Thank you very much."

Muriel bowed her head from atop the carriage.

"Yeah. Take good care of Lord Hiroyuki. There isn’t a master this fine anywhere."

"Of course."

Muriel answered with a smile, the unspoken meaning clear: even without being told.

This path was disguised with an enchanted item, so we had to leave before anyone found us.

"Well then, see you."

"Yeah. Have a good journey."

I offered a handshake, and Nadja gripped my hand in return.

When we boarded the carriage, Muriel set the horses walking.

"Nadja, see you again!"

"Yeah, see you."

From the back of the carriage, Lilli waved hard.

Nadja and the men waved hard in answer.

Once we had gone some distance, Nadja and the others entered the forest.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Their figures vanished at once.

Magic, as expected.

Now then, we were heading back along the road to the city of Lubeck...

Two more villages, and we would reach Lubeck.

But before that, there was a place I wanted to go.

"Muriel, it’ll be a bit of a detour, but there’s somewhere I want to go."