Chapter 56

“Here will do, I think.”

I dragged the two out about thirty minutes from the hallway town and dumped them in a suitably secluded clearing.

Thud. Thud.

Goldie’s head cracked against the uneven ground, blood trickling from his forehead. Not that I cared. He was a dead man walking anyway.

“First, we wake them up. Should I pour cold water?”

Sensible stepped forward instead.

“I’ll handle it… O Great Mother, open their eyes. Awakening.”

A soft glow seeped into their bodies. With muffled groans, the two stirred against their gags.

They blinked in confusion for a moment, but as soon as they realized the situation, they started thrashing wildly.

“Mmph! Mmmhh!”

“Ungh! Mmmph!”

I loosened Goldie’s gag first.

“You wretch! How dare a lowborn lay hands on me! Untie me at once!”

…Still didn’t get it, huh.

I shoved the gag back in, then bent his fingers one by one until the sharp cracks rang out.

“GGHHHHHHHHHHHHK!!”

Even with the gag in place, his screams spilled out, raw and desperate.

Only after he’d had enough did I yank the bloody gag free again. He panted, too shaken to speak.

“Now then. Do you understand the situation a little better?”

“H-how did you… how did you survive that trap? I-I saw the numbers, there were hundreds—hundreds of monsters—”

I shrugged.

“What can I say? I’m good. But shouldn’t you be more worried about something else right now? Like how many minutes you’ve got left to live?”

His face paled.

“If… if you kill me, my father—the Lord of Ferom, master of the One Hundred Red Dragon Knights—he will never forgive this.”

I snorted.

“Red Dragon Knights, my ass. You’re nothing but a backwater brat. If your father wants to keep playing lord in his little mud village, he’d better stay quiet. I don’t let enemies who come for my life just walk away.”

“Wh-what…!?”

“Of course, I don’t exactly want the trouble either. Letting one punk die in the dungeon is easy. But wiping out an entire baronet’s family estate? That’s work. That’s why I went through the trouble of collecting some evidence first.”

I held up the Recording Artifact, replaying the incriminating scene.

—We’ll have to kill him.

—We’ll pin it on the last Shift, blame him for it.

—That bitch Illeia, we’ll drag her down too.

—Selan can be broken. Lock her up, beat her until she learns.

—Scala, you’ll back me up, right?

Their voices echoed, the images projected clear as day.

Sensible and Timid, already aware of the artifact’s existence, still couldn’t hold back their rage and disgust when the proof appeared before their eyes.

“…Human garbage.”

“Lies! Forgery! This is all fake—Illeia, you know me—”

Crack!

Before he could finish his excuse, Sensible swung her staff and slammed it into Goldie’s chest.

“Ghhk!!”

“Save your bullshit. Do you have any idea how pathetic you sound? Talking about raping and killing your own companions? The priestess you’ve traveled with for nearly a year? I curse you. In the name of the Mother, I curse you. No—no need. You’ll be dying here today, torn apart by his hands. That’s punishment enough.”

“Illeia…!”

“What? You want me to appeal to my priestess’s compassion? Don’t make me laugh. Earth Mother Kanan said: a traitor should be cast into the mountains for beasts to eat, a murderer buried in the fields to become fertilizer, and a rapist drowned in the river to feed the fish. You qualify for all three. How could I ever forgive you? If anything, I’d rather divide you into three parts—one for the mountains, one for the fields, one for the river.”

“…!”

“Hank Aduhn… you’re filth. Go rot in hell.”

The priestess backed away after unleashing her righteous fury. I glanced at her, curious.

“Hold on. Was that part true?”

Still seething, she answered between heavy breaths.

“What do you mean?”

“That thing you said. About cutting someone into three parts for the mountains, the fields, and the river.”

“Oh. Yes. That’s scripture. Dioxys, chapter 4 verse 44 through chapter 5 verse 13.”

Timid muttered under her breath.

“Um… isn’t the Book of Dioxys not apocrypha but… like… outright pseudepigrapha?”

“Silence! In our sect it’s canon! And if it were false, why would the Mother grant me divine power through it?”

“…Right. Of course. Sure…”

…At this point, I was starting to doubt whether Sensible was even really a priest of the Earth Mother Kanan. Maybe she was worshiping some Outer God instead, just pretending it was Kanan.

Once Sensible stepped back, Timid moved forward.

She had a crooked smile on her face, twirling her shortsword as she approached Goldie. To anyone watching, she looked completely unhinged.

“Heehee. Heeheehee…”

The atmosphere turned icy—downright terrifying.

“Selan…!”

Timid didn’t answer. She just drove her blade into his leg.

Shhk.

“GYAAAHHH!!”

Blood gushed out as the steel sank a third of the way in, then ripped free. Goldie grit his teeth, panting in shock. This wasn’t anger anymore—it was betrayal.

“You bitch Selan…! A dog daring to bite its master!?”

Timid smirked and stabbed his other leg.

Shhk!

“GUAAAHHHH!!”

“You’ve never raised a dog, have you, Young Master? Even a dog bites back if its master keeps kicking it.”

“Ghh… ughh…”

Her voice steadied as she continued, her words falling like cold stones.

“It’s been twelve years since I first met you, Young Master. A long time, isn’t it?”

“……”

She spoke flatly, as though recounting someone else’s memories.

That Goldie and Sparks had been her childhood friends.

That as Goldie grew older and realized his noble status, he stopped treating her and Sparks as equals—seeing them instead as servants.

That Sparks submitted, while she resisted—and paid for it with imprisonment and “discipline” at the hands of Goldie’s guards.

“After I was released, the torment only grew worse. Every little sign of defiance was punished with a beating.”

“The worst part? There was no reason for the violence. Once, I asked Scala why. Why does he hate me so much? She told me—he doesn’t hate you. He’s just using you as a tool, practicing how to manipulate, intimidate, and break people.”

Her lips trembled as she bit down hard, then continued.

“…And so, beaten and hammered like hot iron, I became what you see now. A coward who freezes up at the sight of his master, who can’t even speak properly. A weak, timid fool. A pathetic dog who’d bark if told to bark, even die if told to die.”

“……”

“……”

“My parents knew. That’s why they dragged me to the church and made me take the Vow of Purity—to swear before the gods to keep my chastity. It was the only way to keep you from taking even that from me. That was all we could do to resist.”

“I couldn’t even kill myself. You told me, remember? If I ever tried to run, you’d kill them. My parents, my siblings—you’d slaughter them all. That’s haunted me my whole life.”

She pressed the bloodied sword close to his lips, her smile dark.

“I heard once that elephants raised in chains don’t try to escape, even if they’re tied with a string. I’m the same. Even now, I’m still afraid of you. I want to kneel, to beg, to wag my tail like some pitiful cur.”

Her back, once hunched, now straightened. A manic gleam sparked in her half-dead eyes.

“But the reason I can do this—heeheehee—is because I’ve found a new master. A master who could turn even your proud father into beast feed overnight. The Mother truly does watch over all. I’m glad I never skipped a tithe.”

…Wait. By “master,” she meant me, didn’t she?

Her crazed eyes glittered with new strength.

“And so I found courage. Enough that now I can do this.”

She stabbed him again. And again. This time she didn’t stop at one strike, but carved shallow, deliberate cuts into his limbs—painful but not fatal.

Shhk! Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!

“Ghhhhhkkk!! P-please… stop…!!”

“Heehee… stop? This is just the beginning. To pay you back for everything, I’d need a whole night and day. Heeheeheehee!”

As her frenzy grew, her sword began to hum. A warm, amber glow flowed along the blade.

Goldie’s eyes widened in horror, forgetting even his pain.

“M-mana? You’re a Mana User? You? Selan, you?”

“Yes. The very mana you were always so proud of. To debut it on you… nothing could make me happier.”

Shhk!

“Ughhh!!”

“See that? This is nothing. Absolutely nothing! And this—this trash dared to look down on me? To step on me? To sneer at me? Heeheehee… heeheeheehee!”

Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!

“Ghhhhhkkk!!”

Timid shook as though drunk on the dark intoxication of revenge. Her eyes rolled halfway back, her limbs twitching with manic ecstasy. Well… I got it. Nothing was sweeter than revenge.

‘Still, if he dies now, that’ll be a problem. The finale hasn’t even started yet.’

“Timid. I’ll let you finish later. For now, stop.”

“Huh? Y-yes, Master.”

At my word, she instantly stilled, sliding her sword back into place. The way she turned and smiled at me—bright, expectant, almost begging for praise—was honestly a little terrifying.

“…When exactly did I become your master?”

“But… you hired me, didn’t you? Took me in? You’ll feed me, keep me, tell me what to do, won’t you? Then isn’t that what a Master is?”

Gods, the dependency was heavy.

“…Forget it. Don’t use shady titles like that. Just call me Oppa, like Sensible does.”

“Yes, Mr. Sword.”

“That’s not… ugh, never mind.”

I had Sensible stop the bleeding, then crouched down in front of Sparks, who’d been thrashing violently ever since. I tore the gag from her mouth—

—and she immediately collapsed forward, sobbing into the dirt, voice trembling with desperation.

“Please! Please, forgive me! Kill me instead! Just spare Hank…!”

I gave a dry laugh.

“Well, this is quite the tragic scene. But… instead? Instead of him? Who do you think you are?”

“…Eh?”

“You don’t have the right to take someone else’s punishment. Don’t tell me you’re trying to justify yourself, saying Goldie’s the real sinner and you just didn’t stop him. You’re his accomplice. Fifty steps, a hundred steps—you’re the same. A criminal saying ‘instead of’ is laughable.”

My words cut her down sharper than any blade. Her face went pale.

“……”

I patted her cheek, light and casual. Funny—I almost looked like the villain here.

“…But killing you outright would be too easy. Your sins deserve worse. So I thought: what would truly be the most unbearable fate for you two?”

“At first, I considered locking you away, beating you whenever I felt like it. But honestly, that’d be more hassle than it’s worth. Outside the labyrinth, it’s hard to clean things up as neatly.”

“…!!”

“Then, a certain friend gave me a perfect idea. Something that screamed, this is it.”

“Wh-what…?”

I grinned at both of them.

“I’ll take from you the thing most precious to your hearts.”

“Shia.”

“Shia enters.”

Sensible and Timid nearly jumped out of their skins as the silver-haired woman appeared out of thin air.

“Wh-who…?”

“W-wow… she’s beautiful. But… who are you?”

“I’ll explain later. Something more important comes first.”

With a wave of my hand, I silenced their questions. Then I turned to Shia.

“Ready?”

“Hmph. I’m the one who suggested it. Of course I am.”

She rummaged in her cloak, pulling out a leather strap inscribed with geometric patterns—the Collar of Bondage, a set piece with her earrings from the Splitting Flame Tower. We called it what it was: a dog collar.

“Here.”

“I put it on her neck, right?”

“Obviously. It’s a collar, isn’t it?”

I fastened the strap around Sparks’s throat. Without any lock or clasp, it clicked tight against her skin as if it had been made for her.

Then Shia touched her earring, uttering its hidden command word—the one that triggered its true power.

“Submit. (uJpotaghv.)”

—The Earring of Domination.

—The Collar of Bondage.

Together, these were the perfect tools to strip these bastards of what they treasured most.

From Sparks, I would take her life and her so-called pure devotion. From Goldie, I would steal the woman he considered his most useful tool—and his lover.

Yes. This was it. From here on… I was going to NTR them.