The Witch's Disciple
I never once thought I was lucky after reincarnating into this other world and living here for nearly twenty years. If I had to name one thing, maybe it was inheriting good stamina from my parents? That was about it. To truly call myself lucky in this world, I would have needed to be born with a dragon spoon in my mouth. And yet, for the first time in twenty years, I could finally say, 'Damn, I'm lucky.'
All because I'd met an owner who was suspiciously loaded with cash.
"Here it is, Lady Bastet."
The collar fastened around my neck was handed over to the witch with cat ears. At first glance, her appearance could easily pass for a goddess. But the perky cat ears standing atop her head and the sleek tail swaying behind her hips made it painfully obvious that she was a beastman.
"Thanks."
"Regarding the collar's functions..."
"No need. You think a mage like me wouldn't know how to handle something like a slave brand?"
The wolfman who had treated me like a slave showed a hint of discomfort, but he soon bowed his head obediently and stepped back. He'd learned some common sense. That there existed a strength that transcended species, whether wolf or cat.
"Understood, Lady Bastet. Still, since you spent ten thousand gold, this will cause quite a stir. Please be careful so other beastmen don't try to snatch him away."
"Of course."
Just how much was ten thousand gold worth? The fact that my so-called owner reacted so sharply yet still received a warning meant it was an absolutely insane amount of money.
"You may leave."
"Yes. Farewell."
After the auction house employee who had sold me walked away, I was left alone with the cat witch. A collar that made resistance impossible was now fastened around my neck, and its true owner was this witch, Bastet.
"Hmm... where should I even begin? Oh! Right. We should introduce ourselves first, shouldn't we? Hello! I'm Bastet. They call me the Witch of the Black Forest."
"...Neon."
Since she asked for introductions, I gave my name first.
"Nice to meet you."
I wanted to see her reaction after that, but since this was our first conversation, I decided to stay polite. Was it because I was born in the land of Eastern courtesy? No. If things went south and she started cursing or I couldn't keep up the formal speech, there'd still be time to swear at her later.
"Hehe, Neon, Neon... That was a name used among humans, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
"Then we'll have to give you a new one. Oh, do you have some special attachment to it? Like, you'd rather die than get a new name?"
"No. Not at all."
If I was going to get screwed over by a name, I should've died the moment I reincarnated.
"Any name is fine with me. As long as it's not weird."
"Good. Then we'll think about the name slowly. Hmm."
Bastet stared at me intently and leaned her face in close. It was a bit burdensome, but there was no reason to dodge, so I met her gaze for a moment before turning my head aside—
"As expected, it's fascinating."
"......"
"Aren't you curious what I find fascinating?"
"What do you find fascinating?"
"Your eyes."
Bastet cupped my face with both hands, forcing our gazes to lock.
"They're definitely different from other humans. Oh! Aren't you curious what happened to the other humans?!"
"I am curious, but I'm more curious what you mean by my eyes being fascinating."
The humans from the same tribe? We'd lived together for twenty years, but calling them family felt like a stretch after all the suffering we'd endured. If I were to worry about them, it wouldn't be out of familial love. I was just slightly worried she might think, 'This human doesn't even care about his family? How disappointing.' It was an industrial-grade worry, basically. We'd struggled and shared hardships together, but I couldn't let those humans drag me down in the second act of my happy happy life.
"You're not worried about your tribesmen?"
"I am worried, but shouldn't I secure my own life first?"
The one thing I couldn't do was—
"For now, I'm afraid of dying too."
Death. I'd survived among those humans because I wanted to live. If I'd wanted to kill myself, I would've done it ten years ago. Or even earlier, the moment I realized the avian tribe—those endangered flying freaks—were thriving in the sky. I would've just shoved my face into the muddy water and ended it. I don't know if that counts as courage, but at least I didn't have the courage to choose death. Even rolling in dog shit, life is better. That was my mindset: live like a beast if you must, but as long as you survive, fortune will come.
"Are you planning to buy my family too?"
"Hmm, no. I only bought you. It might sound cruel, but I have no intention of saving your family."
Save. That single word immediately told me the situation of the humans who'd been sent to auction.
"I see. Then—"
"Call me Lady Bastet. I don't really like being called Master or anything like that. Other beastmen treat humans like slaves to boost their own egos, but I'm not like that."
"Then why did you buy me? Is there something special about my eyes?"
Maybe some kind of mystic eye?
"Self-respect."
"Pardon?"
"Because I feel like you're the only one who looks at me—no, at all beings—at eye level."
Bastet adjusted her posture so our eye levels were perfectly aligned.
"You don't see me as a beast. And even when you rose to a position where you could feel humiliation as a human, you never broke."
"......"
"Willpower. That's a matter of the mind before physical strength. You're clearly different from the other humans just to call you a hero born from a human tribe, aren't you?"
It was because I'd reincarnated. Humans are creatures of their environment. Without the memories of my previous life, I would've been no different from Hector or the other human survivors. But I was me. If my reincarnation memories were what got me taken in by Bastet, then that was a good thing in its own way.
"I can feel willpower in your eyes. You don't look down on beastmen as beasts, you don't scorn them, and you don't carry that sense of inferiority that humans were defeated by beasts."
"......"
"Honestly, I only joined the auction because I was bored. I thought I'd buy one human slave for some 'experiments,' but your eyes were too precious to waste on something like that."
"I see."
If my thoughts showed through my eyes, it was probably due to the self-respect I'd carried over as a reincarnator.
"Then I'm glad. Thanks to that, Lady Bastet bought me like this."
"Look at you. You're saying that, but you're still staring right at me."
Bastet's tail swayed gently from side to side. Like a cat getting ready to pounce, crouching with its butt wiggling, she smiled brightly and kept stroking my face.
"This is going to be fun. The more we talk... the more it feels like it'll go beyond just killing time."
Her fingers were incredibly soft. At first glance they didn't seem to have paw pads, but the way the insides of her fingertips felt so squishy gave the strong impression of paw pads. It was the kind of sensation that felt dangerously addictive.
"Alright! Since it's come to this, I can't just let it slide. I need to stamp you properly so no one else can mess with you. So everyone knows you're mine."
"Huh?"
Wait a second.
"Not certification, but a stamp...?"
"A stamp is certification. Seems like quite a few stories from that island have spread. You even know about the brand."
Did I make a mistake as a reincarnator? No. The brand was something I'd seen on the bodies of the old men on the island who'd escaped from beastmen hands.
"You're going to brand my body?"
In other words, a slave brand. It went beyond just implanting an ID chip in a dog's neck. It literally meant carving a mark symbolizing someone's ownership onto the body.
"Ah. Are you the type who thinks the body is inherited from your parents so you shouldn't damage it recklessly? I suppose so. The people on your island didn't seem to have any tattoos. Humans in other places cover themselves in war paint and tattoos though."
"It's not that..."
"Then?"
"...What kind of brand, and where exactly are you planning to put it?"
"Oh, is that what's bothering you?"
Bastet smiled with a strange, seductive curve to her lips and stroked my forehead with her hand.
"Here? Your eyes are shaking. Or maybe... here?"
From my forehead to my cheek, then down along my jawline to my collarbone. Her soft fingers moved like a brush drawing lines, slowly sliding downward along the ridges of my abs.
"!!"
If it went any lower, it would reach a very sensitive place. In this world ruled by beastmen, I still had zero information about that side of things, so the sudden thought of 'Is this it?' made me panic.
-Hey.
Suddenly, I remembered the friend I'd talked to right before reincarnating.
-At this point, it's totally possible.
'Totally possible my ass, you crazy bastard—'
Come to think of it.
I hadn't done it once in twenty years. As a kid it couldn't be helped, but even when I was approaching twenty, I never did it separately. When the other humans in the tribe suggested we reproduce, the first thing that came to mind was the messy relationships the previous generation had created, so instead of getting hard down there, my scalp would prickle.
And now—I had the body of a healthy twenty-year-old young man. Not some body that had only studied, but one that had been trained for war from childhood, outside of eating and sleeping.
"Uh, ahem."
"Oh my. I didn't expect this."
I couldn't even pull my waist back.
"Stay still!"
Bastet grabbed my shoulder with a fierce grip, and I couldn't even resist the unexpectedly strong force. Strength? No. This was the power of magic. She was suppressing my upper body's movements with pure magical power alone. Then what about my lower body?
"Whoa!!"
Thump. Thump.
My heart began to race wildly. I'd tried my best not to be conscious of it, but aside from the cat ears and tail—
-Honestly, I don't think just having cat ears and a tail counts as furry.
'You damn bastard!'
It was a devil. A devil's whisper trying to make me let go of my reason. If I ended up doing something like 'Grr, I can't hold back—'
"You. Become my disciple."
"......?"
Disciple?
"Yes. Become my disciple, learn magic, and then."
There was a fierce, burning desire in Bastet's eyes.
"Kill the twelve Beast Kings for me."