Master and Slaves

"Yeah... then let’s begin."

I scanned the room, then moved to the corner of the wall where the writing seemed to start.

"Ah, please wait a moment. I’m preparing my shorthand notes."

Helene took the leather-bound notebook, ink, quill, and wooden board from her backpack.

The ink was in a metal container, and a matching metal tube held the quill.

She laid the wooden board on the floor, spread the leather paper, and started taking notes.

"Ready. Please begin, Sir Hiroyuki."

Helene knelt on the floor, leaned forward, and looked up at me.

Her huge breasts were pressed against the ground.

"Isn’t that uncomfortable?"

"Hm? ...Where are you looking? More importantly, hurry up."

Helene followed my gaze with her eyes, confirmed what I was staring at, and urged me to decode it in exasperation.

"I understand. Um..."

...

What I read here seemed like a myth.

It went on about the gods in archaic language.

"...The coming gods will lay their own heads..."

"Whoa, wait, wait! Stop~!"

When I read the wall text, Helene shouted.

"Hm? What’s wrong?"

"Um, there’s no more space to write."

"What? Already?"

"Yes. I didn’t expect the decoding to go so fast, so I didn’t bring enough."

"I see... Then shall we go back to get more?"

"That’s all."

"...I’ve only read a tenth."

"I was planning to buy more in Lübeck. Also, I was going to ask Master to wash it so we could reuse the paper."

Recycling, huh.

"For now, let’s buy whatever they sell in the village."

"Um, that’s all of it."

"...You bought it in the village?"

"Yes."

"...I see. Then let’s finish for today and go to Lübeck tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Let’s do that."

What a clumsy plan...

But the fact that the decoding went much faster than expected was true.

The original schedule said it would take a month or two.

At this rate, four days would be enough.

Then...

"Hm?"

What’s that?

"What’s wrong, Sir Hiroyuki?"

"Um, what is that hollow?"

"Eh? Which one?"

"Look, this... ah."

There was a slight indentation in part of the wall.

When I pointed at it, my finger slipped and pressed it.

Even though I only pressed lightly, the indented part made a rattling sound and sank deeper.

Then the wall with the indentation split in two and slid sideways like a hidden door.

"Ah, Helene. What is this?"

"Um, it looks like a secret door."

"You knew?"

"Wah wah."

I glanced sideways at Helene, who shook her head vigorously.

I held the glowing wooden branch with the illumination spell and checked inside.

The passage continued deep into the rock wall.

"What should we do?"

"There’s no choice. We have to go in."

That was the obvious answer when I asked Helene.

Well, I was thinking the same thing.

Exploring — adventure — fantasy.

"Alright, let’s go. Tiria, you wait here."

"I want to go too."

"It’s dangerous because no one has ever been here."

"So I’ll go. I can protect myself and I can use magic. Of course I can use healing magic too."

""Ugh.""

Even in the fight against Geizer, it was tempting.

Helene probably thought the same.

"...Don’t get lost."

"Yes."

Tiria answered with a bright smile.

Ah, I really am spoiled, huh?

"Sigh. Then let’s go."

"Ah, please take care."

Helene took the glowing branch from me with a troubled expression and led the way.

I trusted her because she was used to situations like this.

I paid attention to the rear with my blade ready.

Of course, all three of us — Helene, Tiria, and me — drew our weapons and walked forward in a tense formation.

We walked a straight path for a while, then curved right, then straight again.

At the end we reached a dead end.

"Sigh. There seems to be something ahead."

Helene touched the back wall and its surroundings and muttered.

"Ah, found it."

When Helene touched the end of the right wall, she found something.

She pressed it, and just like before, the wall sucked deeper and split sideways like a hidden door.

Red flickering light spilled from the other side, so Helene and I instinctively crouched.

When I peeked out, I saw torches with lit flames hanging on the wall.

Is someone here?

First, Helene peeked inside.

She stuck her head out and looked around, then stopped at a certain point and quickly withdrew.

"Someone is there."

"An enemy?"

Helene shook her head.

"I think it’s a captured person. They were in iron bars."

"Missing women?"

"Yeah, maybe. But there’s only one."

"I see... Are there others?"

"No one else."

"Should we save her?"

"...Yeah."

Helene and I quickly made a plan.

We each held our weapons ready.

"I’ll go first."

"No. It’s dangerous."

"But I’m the right person for this situation."

Tiria was out of the question, and Helene was in heavy metal armor, so noise would be a problem.

I was wearing clothes that made no noise and was good at stealth.

"...Understood. Please."

"Ah."

When I heard Helene’s answer, I replied shortly and cautiously entered the room.

It was a small room with a door at the back and iron bars dividing the right side.

I put a finger to my lips to silence the woman and looked around.

The small table was scattered with plates and cups, and a wine barrel lay on the floor.

It was clearly a bandit’s hideout.

There was no one else in the narrow room.

I checked the back door by ear and slowly opened it, but there was no one inside.

After confirming everything, I turned to the woman behind the iron bars.

She looked about 20 years old.

She wore a light blue tunic, and her long green hair, the same color as her eyes, spread on the floor. It gave her a fantasy-like atmosphere.

Her eyes glared tightly at us.

But what caught my interest most was her long ears.

Ears far longer than normal.

About 30 cm.

They stood upright and slanted upward.

Was she an elf?

"You, what are you doing here?"

"Hm~ I got lost."

"..."

"Why are you here?"

"I was captured."

"Why?"

"I heard a woman’s scream, peeked, and got hit from behind. You humans would do something like that."

You humans? Does that mean she’s not human?

A woman’s scream — did that mean captured women were here?

"You said there were women here?"

"Yes. A little while ago they took her away."

"Where are they going?"

"I don’t know. You probably know."

"...Why?"

"You’re one of them, aren’t you?"

I see. She thought I was their companion.

"...Probably not."

"Yeah. But I don’t trust humans."

"I see. Well, I’ll save her for now. Back up a bit."

I finished the conversation, confirmed she was backing up, and cut the iron bars with Shiranui.

It was like a scene from a certain thief anime.

I didn’t swing it that much.

I cut the top and bottom, then pulled the middle out.

"Alright, it’s good."

"..."

The elf woman came out from behind the bars.

At the same time, Helene entered with Tiria.

"What happened, Sir Hiroyuki?"

"Ah, no one’s here. I also saved the girl."

"Then that’s..."

"Elf!?"

Helene drew her sword in surprise.

"Tch, that’s why I don’t trust humans..."

The elf woman backed away to the back door.

"I don’t know why you came here, but beware of the ruins’ curse."

"What do you mean? Ah, wait! Stop!"

I ignored Helene’s question, opened the door, and ran out.

"That’s why elves are..."

"Helene, you’re saying the same thing again."

"..."

Helene looked annoyed.

"Well then, let’s return before things get complicated."

"Yeah. Let’s do that."

The people using this room as a base were definitely not good people.

So we had to leave before they returned.

We erased the traces of our entrance as much as possible, closed the door, took Tiria with us, and returned the way we came.

"Sigh. There’s nothing more to do here."

Helene pulled the sliding door shut and restored everything.

"What should we do next?"

"Sigh. The leather paper is also gone... For now, let’s go back to the village."

"Understood."

We left the room and returned to the ruins’ entrance.

"Sir Hiroyuki, please go out first and check if that person is gone."

"Hm? Ah, that giant centipede."

She really hated it.

"Yeah, fine."

I replied and stepped out of the ruins.

At that moment...

"Guaaaa!"

My head... body... everything hurt...

"Sir Hiroyuki!"

"Master-sama!"

I hugged my body with both hands and crouched, and Helene and Tiria rushed over in a panic.

"Sir Hiroyuki! What happened?!"

"My body... guh..."

It felt like needles were piercing every part of my body.

The pain made me collapse onto the ground.

"Sir Hiroyuki! Sir Hiroyuki!"

"Master-sama!"

Helene and Tiria’s voices grew quieter and quieter.

And my consciousness sank into darkness.

...

Something was touching my face.

Rain...?

Warm rain.

I opened my eyes.

The face I saw was Tiria, who had been looking down at me with red eyes.

It seemed I was resting my head on Tiria’s lap.

"Master-sama..."

"Tiria, good morning."

"...Good morning..."

When I smiled and greeted her, Tiria also smiled back.

Tiria’s tears fell on my face.

...So it wasn’t rain.

"How are you feeling?"

"Ah, I’m fine."

"I’m glad... I was really... glad..."

Tiria stroked my cheeks while crying.

I also raised both hands and stroked Tiria’s cheeks, wiping away her tears.

"Tiria, Sir Hiroyuki is..."

"Sir Hiroyuki!"

A voice came from outside.

Outside...

Right. We’re inside the ruins.

Of course it’s dark.

"Are you okay, Sir Hiroyuki?"

Helene peeked from the side.

"Yeah, I’m fine."

"What happened? You lost consciousness all of a sudden..."

What happened?

When Helene asked, I thought about it.

"When I came out of the ruins, my whole body suddenly hurt."

"...Now?"

"I’m fine. No pain anywhere. My body just feels really heavy."

When I stroked Tiria’s cheek, my arm felt heavy, as if someone was pulling it.

"...The ruins’... curse?"

"Hm? Did the elf say that?"

Helene reacted to Tiria’s muttering.

"It’s... possible."

Curse... Did I get cursed?