Tap the text to show or hide reading controls.
The restraints, quiet until now, finally revealed their true nature. A dark glow spread across them as the collar constricted around Sparks’s throat.
“Ghk!”
She froze, staring blankly at Shia as if she’d forgotten her own situation—until the sudden pain hit, and she began thrashing violently.
“Khrrk!!”
Shia watched the scene with cold detachment. Seeing her like that drove home, once again, how little affection she truly had for the intelligent races of Kion.
Well… she doesn’t call herself Chaotic Neutral for nothing.
As Sparks convulsed, black tattoo-like markings spread from beneath the collar across her skin. They were clearly magical glyphs—law-runes, most likely. Intricate, elegant, and strangely decadent, almost like a lace choker carved into her flesh.
After about thirty seconds, the glow dimmed, and the binding slipped from her neck, clattering to the ground.
What remained was the pattern itself, wrapped tight around her throat like a dark, decadent ornament.
Shia murmured in surprise, almost impressed.
“I didn’t expect it to be this potent… A truly powerful artifact. It tampers with nothing but a single inner priority, yet that’s enough to force absolute subjugation. It reeks of obsession with the concept of waste-free domination. The mage who made this was likely a Ninth-Circle Archmage on the verge of transcendence. And, without question, a first-class degenerate.”
“So? That’s it?”
I asked.
“Look and see.”
Indeed, Sparks’s state was alarming.
Her eyes had gone vacant, drained of life. Her expression was slack, drooling almost—so hollow it radiated unease, even horror.
Shia seized her chin and gave a quiet command.
“Who am I?”
For a moment, her eyes shimmered faint violet. Then she smiled brightly and rose to her knees.
“You are my Master—the sole owner of all that I am.”
Shia’s lips curved in satisfaction. She continued the test.
“Cry.”
“Seethe with rage.”
“Laugh.”
And Sparks obeyed, shifting emotions like an actor flipping masks—yet it wasn’t mere performance. She truly wept in sorrow, seethed with fury, and burst into laughter, each emotion fully lived. The command seized even her heart.
“Brief me on your condition,” Shia ordered.
Still smiling, Sparks answered flatly:
“I sinned gravely against Master and Master’s companion. Along with my lover, Hank Aduhn, I was captured. Hank Aduhn now stands at the brink of death, and I resisted, only to be subjected to Master’s domination. I have been remade as Master’s property. This brings me joy, and I am prepared to carry out any command within my ability.”
…Damn. These earrings are insane.
I’d bought them expecting some utility, but Shia was right—this wasn’t ordinary gear.
She explained as if lecturing: domination magic had three grades. The lowest stripped away personality entirely, leaving only a puppet. The middle rewrote memories, emotions, and reasoning to make the subject pliant. And the highest—the one we were witnessing—left everything intact: memories, feelings, even identity, while still forcing obedience.
And Sparks knew she’d been enslaved… yet accepted it calmly, as if it was simply part of her.
After a few more tests, Shia gave her final command.
“Stop. From this moment, set this man as your second priority. Address him as Sword God. Place his words beneath mine, but above all else.”
“Yes. Done.”
“What changed?”
“I will now obey Sword God’s commands second only to Master’s. His orders will be carried out as though by Master’s will.”
“Good. That settles it. I’ll adjust finer settings later. For now…”
Shia turned to me with a sly smile.
“She’s ready. You may use her.”
I unbound Sparks and decided to probe her state.
“What do you think I’m about to order you to do?”
She fell silent, thinking. Then her lips parted with a sudden, bright realization.
“Sparks?”
“I think… you’ll use me to shatter Hank Aduhn’s mind.”
“Be more specific.”
“Hank considers me his possession, his lover, his concubine. If I flaunt the fact that I’ve abandoned him and now belong to you, Sword God, the psychological blow will be devastating.”
“Smart girl.”
At my praise, Sparks trembled, then collapsed onto her knees with a blissful look, gazing up at me with rapture.
“Th-thank you. This is the greatest honor. I swear, never in my life have I felt such joy.”
“Don’t overdo it.”
“It’s not exaggeration… it’s fact. I think the artifact’s reward system is tuned this way.”
“I see…”
She clutched her chest as if to steady her pounding heart, breathing hard.
“If I may… I recommend asking Master to reduce the reward intensity. If I keep receiving this level of bliss, I may… truly become broken.”
“That bad?”
“Yes.”
“…Fine. Later. For now, go break Goldie’s mind. Do it well, and I’ll praise you again.”
“Yes. With my life. I’ll make sure of it…!”
By now, even the slowest could see where this was going.
Sensible and Timid looked shaken by the sudden, dizzying turn of events.
Goldie, slower on the uptake, finally caught on when Sparks staggered toward him.
“Sc-Scala!!”
“Yes, Hank.”
“Are you… are you alright?”
“Alright? Of course I am.”
“But… no, never mind. Quickly, untie these ropes! If the two of us join forces, we might—”
“Sorry, Hank. I can’t.”
“…What?”
“It’s impossible. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. It’s been set that way.”
The strange answer made Goldie roar.
“You bastards! What did you do to Scala!?”
I sneered.
“Can’t you tell? Mind control, obviously.”
“You son of a bitch! Scala! Snap out of it! Scala!!”
Sparks only looked at him tenderly, brushing his cheek with her hand.
“Hank… my poor Hank. Sadly, I’m perfectly sane. I haven’t lost my memories, my reason, or my feelings. Nothing about my likes or dislikes has changed. Proof? I still love you. I’d still die for you.”
“Then why—!?”
“Because now, inside me, something far more important than you exists.”
“…!”
“My love for you is still a perfect hundred out of a hundred. But what can I do, when suddenly, a thousand-point priority appeared above it?”
“Scala…!”
She pressed a finger to his lips.
“Shh. I know. I know this value was forced into me. But even so, I can’t go back to being a mere hundred. Hank, could you sit before a grand feast and keep eating shit just because that’s what you’ve always eaten?”
“S-shit…?”
“Yes. That’s what it is. My love for you is sincere, but in the end, it’s still shit. While my two Masters… they are everything.”
“…!”
“You know what? Right now, my whole life is filled with light. Just the thought of trampling your heart and being praised by my Masters fills me with such joy I could burst. My chest pounds so hard I can hardly bear it. That’s why… I can’t save you, or spare you.”
Her words were genuine, but her tears, glittering and light, made the moment twisted. She leaned down, kissed his cheek softly, then raised her foot—aiming it at his groin.
“…I’m sorry, Hank. Truly, I am.”
Thwud!
“Guaaahhh!”
Shia, who had watched the spectacle like premium theater, smiled in satisfaction.
“Alright, we’ve done most of what we came to do. Time to wrap it up. You—do the thing you prepared.”
I scratched my cheek, grimacing.
“Do I really have to? It’s honestly embarrassing.”
“Ahem. Without this, the play lacks its period. Come now—when else are you going to use that ‘Hero-Corruption Manual’ you never once got to try?”
“Phew… fine, fine.”
With Shia perched on my shoulder like a smug bird, I beckoned Sensible, Timid, and Sparks—who was firmly in ‘please give me orders and praise me’ mode—over to me.
I sat down, using Hosik as a chair, and arranged them where Goldie could see.
First, I had Sensible lean against my left shoulder.
“E-eh…!?”
“Sorry. Ten seconds. Bear with it.”
Timid wrapped both arms around my right.
“C-can someone like me… really do this?”
“You can. Just stay put.”
Lastly, I set Sparks atop my knee.
“Thank you. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me…”
Feeling Shia’s eager gaze above my head, I turned to Goldie and delivered the line she’d coached me on—languid, arrogant, like some tan blond playboy.
“Hey. Nice harem party you had there.”
“Kh—urk…!”
Wow. So people really did cry tears of blood. Best revenge really was NTR, huh.
Everything after that went like clockwork.
- I gave Sensible and Timid a quick explanation about Shia.
“She’s just… weird. If something weird happens or she does something weird, it’s because she’s weird. Accept it and move on.”
- While his jewels were wrecked and the shock was peaking, Timid drove her shortsword into Goldie’s chest.
“Ple-pleasant to have known you… let’s not meet again…!”
Shhk!
- We stripped him of anything valuable (Timid handled it), then dumped him in a corner of the labyrinth.
“Leave him like this and either the labyrinth will swallow him or a monster will take him. It’ll sort itself out.”
Shia tilted her head. “That one’s settled. But what about her?”
“Sparks? I already took her life itself. No need to take her life too.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll make use of her.”
“I don’t care, but… how?”
“She’ll attend me. Feed me, dress me, bathe me…”
“…You freeloader. Just how far are you planning to escalate, huh?”
- We returned to the surface.
“Finally. The surface… gods, that was long. Truly awful.”
“Y-yeah…”
“Master. And Sword God. Where do we go from here?”
“Where else? The Guild. We report, and we get paid. You all remember what I told you on the way up, right?”
“““Yes!”””
“Good. Let’s go see Manager Kate first.”
Three hours later.
I sat surrounded by a handful of Guild officials—including the deputy branch head—plus a priest of the Lumina Church and a priest of the Earth Mother Kanan. I loaded a tale into the chamber, half-truths and half-lies gleaming like bullets.
For the record, I’d summoned the two priests myself. If I wanted authority on my side, they were essential props.
“First, a disclosure. I hadn’t announced it, but… I’m a Pilgrim Priest officially appointed by His Holiness, Pontiff Glafina, of the Lumina Church.”
The moment they saw the certificate, both priests’ attitudes flipped one-eighty. The Lumina priest even teared up, tracing Lumina’s holy sign like he’d just been granted an audience with the Pontiff.
“Oh, merciful Light… His Holiness…”
The Guild officials—who had been wearing faces that plainly read “Baronet Aduhn’s second son is dead? Great, trouble”—straightened up in a hurry.
“Good heavens. A distinguished guest indeed. Manager Kate, why wasn’t this in your report?”
“I—I didn’t know! I thought he was a Steel Body user!”
“That is not the point. From here on, I swear by Lady Lumina that everything I say is true. With that oath, I ask that you accept what follows without doubt, no matter how unbelievable it sounds.”
“Of course. Who would dare doubt the oath of a Pilgrim Priest personally appointed by His Holiness?”
“Mm.”
“Rest easy. If you said the sun will rise in the west tomorrow, I’d believe it.”
Yeah. Sorry. Half of what I’m about to say is nonsense.
Lady Lumina, grant me the grace to be a righteous liar today.
Reading Settings
