Master and Slaves

“Now then. I’ll go for a bit.”

I said that to Hein.

Well, I would be the one commanding the mercenaries, and I didn’t know whether it would end with just talking, but I had to do what needed to be done.

However, calling this kind of rough business “I’ll go for a bit”…

I had gotten pretty gutsy too.

“Helene, Julius, and Rosina-san, see you later.”

I gave Muriel a signal with my eyes and tried to leave the room.

“Ah, I’ll go too~.”

Rosina followed after me.

“No, it’s dangerous, so…”

“Oh my~. You’re worried about me~. I’m so happy~.”

Rosina, putting a strangely strong accent on her voice, clung to my arm.

Breasts as large as Muriel’s were pressed against my arm.

…Was this person really a member of the clergy?

“Ahem! Master has also said so, so Lady Rosina is…”

“Then let’s go~.”

Ignoring Muriel, Rosina pulled my hand and left the room.

“Lady Rosina! Nn, gee! Lord Julius, Lady Helene, Lord Hein, excuse us.”

From behind I heard Muriel greeting Julius, Helene, and Hein.

“Excuse us.”

Next a girl’s voice could be heard.

Then I heard the footsteps of Muriel and one other—probably Sheena, Rosina’s daughter and Dule—chasing after us.

…

“Is this really all right?”

“It’s fine~. If you violate a member of the clergy you’ll be punished~.”

No, “violate”… I don’t think that’s a word a member of the clergy should say.

“But~ if it’s by mutual consent it’s fine~. Right~? How~ about~ it~?”

It’s not “how about it.”

“No, more than that, is around here all right?”

I asked Rosina, who was hugging my arm.

Truthfully I had come out without knowing where the mercenary band was.

Rosina said she knew so I had come just like that, but if Rosina hadn’t been there I would have had to go back and ask Hein or someone.

Because of that I couldn’t treat her coldly.

Feeling Muriel’s gaze piercing my back, I walked through the forest.

“We’re almost there~.”

Among the rustling of branches and leaves swaying in the wind, Rosina’s drawn-out voice echoed.

However, besides that, people’s voices began to be faintly audible from the direction we were heading.

After going a while the forest opened up.

The first thing that leapt into my eyes was a watchtower built of wood.

Below it simple wooden fences were lined up, and beyond them countless tents had been pitched.

At the gate of such an encampment, two soldiers in armor welcomed us.

“Halt. State your names.”

“I am Hiroyuki Asahi. This is…”

“Rosina Broich.”

Just as I was about to speak, Rosina named herself bluntly.

“W-we are sorry, Priestess Broich!”

At that the soldiers hurriedly opened the way.

“Thank you. See you, boys. …Hiroyuki-kuun, let’s go~.”

After giving them a sidelong glance, Rosina pulled me through the gate just like that.

The soldiers… somehow, were they afraid?

I could tell that wherever we walked, the soldiers were avoiding us with pale faces.

Rosina, just what did you do?

“Nn~, it’s ahead~.”

In a corner quite far in, a place further partitioned by a fence, several tents were pitched.

I said “far in,” but looking at the encampment as a whole it might have been better to say “the edge.”

Unlike the soldiers in unified armor I had seen so far, men in mismatched, slightly dirty armor who looked every bit mercenaries were wandering around.

“Hey, Priestess Rosina. What’s up?”

One of those mercenaries called out.

“Is Harold here?”

Rosina answered the mercenary she had spoken to familiarly.

“Yeah, he is. Is that one your new lover?”

“No. He’s my Ma-ster.”

“Ahaha, so you finally became a Dule?”

“From now on.”

Hey now, don’t advance the conversation on your own.

I said that in my heart.

“What do you mean?”

“Because we traveled together a long way~. Ah, I didn’t cheat~.”

When I quietly asked Rosina, Rosina also answered in a small voice.

Though the latter half was loud.

Was it better to leave it to Rosina, who knew her way around?

For the time being I had been careful of Muriel and the others since we entered this encampment.

Well, I thought Muriel would be fine.

Just as the mercenary who had been talking with Rosina was about to go further in, apparently to call Harold, Harold walked this way from that direction with two or three mercenaries.

“Oh, Priestess Rosina. What, couldn’t forget me and came to see me?”

“Ufufu, Hiroyuki-kun is better than you. Right~.”

Rosina turned toward me and tilted her head.

Even if you say “right~.”

“Ahahaha. Younger is better, huh?”

“Bigger is better.”

“…You sure say it.”

At Rosina’s harsh line, Harold jabbed looking a bit depressed.

Wait, has she seen mine?!

“Well, whatever. So, what do you want? Brat.”

He turned his eyes from Rosina toward me.

“Ah— that’s right. First, I don’t want you to lay a hand on my Dules.”

First a light jab.

“…Ku, ahahahaha. I get it, I get it. I’ll be careful. I’ll try not to lay a hand on them as much as possible… try to be careful… maybe?”

Harold, who for an instant had worn a dumbfounded expression, laughed for a while, then answered evasively with words that treated people like fools.

If that’s how you’re going to be…

“If you lay a hand on them, I won’t guarantee your life.”

I pulled Muriel, who was behind me, close and directed a little killing intent at Harold.

The mercenaries around us also bristled with killing intent and put their hands on their respective weapons.

Harold felt that, raised his right hand, and checked them.

“You’d better not do that kind of thing here. There are a lot of quick-handed guys. Your head and torso will separate in an instant.”

Harold said that with an expression that included a laugh, yet with eyes filled with killing intent directed this way, putting his hand to his neck.

Is that so.

I sighed, lightly tapped Muriel’s stomach and sent her back behind me, and pulled my arm out of Rosina’s entwined arms.

Perhaps it looked as if I were preparing to attack; the mercenary who had been talking with Rosina earlier, who was right between Harold and me, tried to draw his sword with his right hand.

Taking that as a signal, I moved.

I closed the roughly ten-meter distance in an instant and stepped on the mercenary’s left foot with my right foot so he could not move.

I pressed the bottom of the hilt of the sword the mercenary was trying to draw with my right hand so he could not draw it, twisted my left hand, drew the sword at my left hip, and pressed it against the nape of his neck.

At the events of an instant the mercenary forgot to draw his sword and looked at me with his mouth hanging open.

That was not all.

No one was moving.

“I’ll say it once more. Do not lay a hand on my Dules.”

Well, he had only touched her, but it was better to settle this kind of thing properly.

“Ah, and in the war I’ll be the one commanding, so listen to what I say.”

I added that as if it were an afterthought.

“Kukuku. So you’re not just a brat. Hey, Nellie. Did you see that just now?”

Harold laughed again and asked the woman beside him—Nellie.

Nellie looked to be around twenty.

Her height was lower than Muriel’s, about the same as Cathy’s.

She had dull blond hair just like Harold’s gathered into one behind her.

Her eyes were also the same amber as Harold’s.

She had a sibling-like feel, but her face did not resemble his at all.

More than that, she had neat features that did not suit a mercenary.

However her slender body was wrapped in well-maintained armor with a mercenary-like individuality.

“No, I did not see it.”

Nellie answered Harold concisely.

“Ahahahaha. I see. This one is the best sword-user in this mercenary band. If she couldn’t see it, that means there’s no one in this mercenary band who can be the brat’s opponent. Including me, of course.”

Harold raised both hands as if giving up.

“I understood the first demand. I won’t lay a hand on them either, and I won’t let my subordinates lay a hand on them. However, as for the second, it depends on the situation. Just because you’re good with a sword doesn’t mean you’re good at command.”

Then he slowly walked toward me.

“How about this. That guy is a man this mercenary band needs. Could you let him go soon?”

Harold stopped just outside my reach with both hands still raised.

“Well, that’s right. That is… look forward to it.”

I sheathed the sword and said that arrogantly, then showed Harold my back.

“Unn, so cool~.”

Rosina clung to the arm of me as I returned the way I had come, as if our business were already finished.

Behind us, Muriel, who was watching our surroundings, and Sheena, who let out a light sigh, were following.

…

“Hey, Muriel. I overdid it, didn’t I.”

On the way toward my room where the other Dules would likely be waiting, I asked Muriel.

Of course, it was about what I had done to Harold and the others just now.

“What do you mean?”

Muriel asked back.

There was a bit of a thorn in it.

Because Rosina had been clinging to me the whole time until now.

Speaking of Rosina, she was no longer with us.

When we arrived at Helene’s mansion, Rosina reluctantly left my arm—or rather, was forcibly peeled off by Sheena—and went back to her own room.

The words Sheena uttered then—”We have caused you trouble.”—almost made me laugh.

“Did I threaten them too much? No, that’s not it. More like I poked them too much?”

“Yes, in that sense you went too far. When the time comes they won’t follow your command.”

“Yeah.”

“But personally… I was happy.”

Completely different from a moment ago, Muriel said that bashfully and happily.

“Nn? Why?”

“Because you said it for my sake, right?”

Muriel tilted her head and asked.

It was certainly also for Muriel’s sake, but it was also for the other Dules’ sake.

Well, there was no point deliberately denying it here.

“Well, that’s right.”

“Ufufu, I’m happy.”

She repeated it once more, this time like a mutter to herself.

Muriel like that was… yeah, cute.

“Ah— the room is almost here.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

I changed the subject to hide my embarrassment.

When we turned the corner my room came into view, but… huh? Someone is in front of the door…

“Ah, Hiroyuki-sama. Lord Julius is calling for you.”