Master and Slaves

"Let’s sleep."

"Shall I turn off the light?"

When I gave the order, Cathy sheathed the short dagger (Laila’s Tear) she had cast the Illumination spell on.

The light vanished, leaving only the moonlight from the window.

I lay on my own bed and pulled up the blanket.

When I closed my eyes to sleep, someone crawled into the bed beside me, left and right.

This...?

"Cathy, Tiria...."

"Fufu, sorry, Master."

"...I-it’s fine."

Sure enough, Cathy and Tiria’s voices came in stereo.

"...Hah. Here, come here."

I sighed and spread both arms wide.

(Inside, I was actually happy, but that’s a secret.)

Cathy and Tiria were also happy and rested their heads on my arms.

Both of them clung tightly to me.

Their breasts pressed against my chest.

The places where Cathy and Tiria rested their heads were not my arms but my shoulders.

They rubbed their cheeks against my chest.

Cathy and Tiria’s heads were right below me, and their scent tickled my nose.

At that moment, a drop fell on my chest.

Cathy and Tiria were both crying.

"Master, I’m really glad...."

"Master, Master~."

They whispered in small voices, probably because no one else was listening.

But I heard them clearly.

Since I woke up, I had never hugged them like this.

I hugged Cathy and Tiria.

"Thank you."

I whispered to the two of them.

I couldn’t give them a reward yet, but I would when we got home.

I made them worry.

Of course, I would do the same for Muriel and Ilma.

Ah, and I also had to do something for Sara.

Um, what about Rina...?

...This is tough.

Will I be able to carry them...?

...

"...Master... please wake up... Master... wake up... it’s morning."

Someone was shaking my body and calling me.

I was sleepy, but...

Who was it?

When I opened my eyes, I saw familiar faces.

Tiria was shaking my body.

Cathy was speaking to me.

"Good morning, Cathy, Tiria."

"Good morning, Master!"

When I looked up, I saw four people — actually five — dressed and ready.

Ilma and Muriel holding her.

Rina and Rine.

Sara.

It seemed they had been waiting for me to wake up.

...Had they seen my sleeping face?

It was embarrassing.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning!"

The morning greetings were answered by Muriel, Rina, Rine, and Sara.

However, Ilma alone gave a sullen face and didn’t answer.

"Ilma, greet Master."

"Good morning, Mas...ter."

Because Muriel had prompted her, Ilma now answered, but she deliberately emphasized the last part.

...I see.

"Good morning, Ilma."

"Good morning, Master. Ehehe."

It seemed she wanted me to call her by name.

"Ilma, you’re still...."

"Good morning, Muriel."

"Eh? A-ah, g-good morning, Master."

Muriel was about to scold me, so I greeted her first to stop her, and Muriel answered while looking a little flustered.

On Muriel’s chest, Ilma bowed her head and smiled.

Well, first let’s get up... it feels like people are staring at me.

...Hah.

"Good morning, Sara. Good morning, Rina, Rine."

"Good morning, Master!"

Three pairs of eyes stared at me again as I greeted everyone.

After the girls answered, I stood up.

...Huh?

Something feels dizzy.

Anemia...?

Ugh, my stomach feels bad.

My legs wobbled, and I squatted on the spot.

"""""""Master!"""""""

Cathy, who was closest, supported me and made me sit on the bed.

"What happened?"

"Move, please!"

I pushed Cathy aside so I could look at her face, and Muriel sat beside me and placed her hand on my chest.

The hand glowed faintly.

"...How is it?"

"Ah, it’s much better now."

The dizziness and nausea that had been swirling earlier disappeared the moment Muriel’s glowing hand touched my chest.

"What did you do?"

"I divided my mana to you. That’s why your mood improved. It’s probably because you used some of my mana."

"I see. But I didn’t use any mana. Why does it decrease?"

"That’s... that’s... Dules receive a little of Master’s mana."

"Ah, I see. That explains it."

"But even so, Master should be able to recover it on his own... ah!"

"Muriel, what happened?"

"I’m sorry, Master. It’s my fault. Yesterday when I helped you take out the eggs from Ilma, I...."

Ah, that’s right.

Come to think of it, it does use mana.

"I’m sorry."

Muriel bowed her head.

"No, it’s fine. More importantly, is this a chronic thing?"

"Normally Master should recover on his own...."

"Is there something preventing it?"

"Probably... but I don’t know the cause or what to do."

"I see... But if the dizziness comes back, I’ll have Muriel replenish my mana again. Mmm, then let’s work with what we know. For now, we’ll follow the original plan and go look for Helma. Muriel, is that all right?"

"Y, yes... Understood. But replenishing my mana is only a temporary measure. It will scatter soon since it’s not Master’s mana. Please call me immediately if the dizziness returns."

"I understand. ...Ah! What about Tiria...."

Tiria is in the same situation as Ilma.

"I’ll take care of her. Is that fine, Tiria?"

"Eh? Um... yes."

Tiria looked at my face and Muriel’s face, then lowered her head and answered in a small voice.

"And about Master’s mana issue, I’ve thought of a solution, though it’s a bit forceful. Please leave it to me."

"I see. Leave it to you."

I couldn’t do it myself because I don’t understand mana at all, so leaving it to Muriel was better.

"I’ll do it as quickly as possible. Ilma is ready too."

"Yes, Mom."

Ilma nodded with a serious face.

"Ilma, are you going to do something?"

"Yes."

When I asked Ilma, she nodded even toward me.

"I see. Thank you."

"Yes, I’ll do my best!"

Ilma answered energetically.

"Miss Sara and the others will have their Dule ceremony after Master’s matter is settled."

"I understand."

Sara answered Muriel’s words and Rina nodded.

Rine looked at Rina and nodded the same way.

"Then let’s go to the dining hall. The innkeeper has prepared breakfast for us. Cathy, Tiria, please help Master walk."

""Yes, Muriel-sama.""

I walked out of the room supported by Cathy and Tiria, with Muriel and the others.

...

"Welcome. Oh, it’s Rina. What happened?"

The girl who had called herself Lou spoke to Rina.

"Lou-chan...."

"?? A, I remember the big brother from yesterday. Are you friends with Rina?"

Lou turned to the big brother (me) who was with them and asked.

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

I didn’t know how to answer, so I answered vaguely.

"Heh, I see. Rina, you know Hera-chan, right."

"Yeah, I heard about her. So you’re going now?"

"Then I want to go too. I want to see Hera-chan’s house."

"Lou!"

"Ah, um, what is it?"

I heard the landlady’s voice from the back of the dining hall, so Lou hurriedly ordered.

We ordered the meals casually.

...

"There it is."

Rina guided the way.

We were walking toward the lord’s mansion.

We hadn’t brought Lou along.

We didn’t want to bring her because the story would get complicated, but Lou said she couldn’t leave her inn job.

After that, we bought clothes for Sara and the others — just rags — because they said they didn’t want to wear anything else.

Cathy said she would sew them, so we bought them.

Then we headed to the lord’s mansion.

I carried Ilma (who was looking up at me with a blissful expression) on my shoulder, following Rina.

Because Ilma wanted to, I carried her.

We climbed the slope leading to the hill where the mansion stood.

When we reached the top, a grand gate stood there.

Two soldiers holding spears stood in front of the gate.

"This way."

Rina turned off the road a little before the gate.

It was a beast path.

"Are you sure it’s okay?"

We were walking a path without a road, so it was a bit difficult.

But... I’m fine.

"Are you all okay? Muriel, Cathy, Tiria, Sara?"

"Yes, thank you."

"I’m fine too."

"Um, um, I’m fine."

"I’m used to this kind of thing."

The four of them answered differently, but all of them were fine.

Rine was being held by Rina, so there was no problem.

Rather, she seemed more energetic than us.

"Hera-oneechan’s cookies... can I eat them again?"

"Yeah, Hera-chan’s cookies are really delicious."

Rina and Rine, who were walking ahead, were chatting.

"So Helma started baking cookies, huh."

Muriel muttered softly to herself.

...Is it really better to just go home like this?

—-

[A/N: I don’t know my files got corrupted and I had to rewrite this Chapter again and I’m so salty rn and that’s also why today’s updates are so much late compared to my usual schedule, please donate some power stones if you can, it’d make up something for that much extra work🤧I’ll have backups from now on. Also if you find any minor mistakes please ignore them, they won’t be there in the upcoming Chapters, I didn’t have time to proofread it properly so either it could be totally right or just a bit here and there mistakes. Anyways thanks for reading!]