49. Discipline (6)
49. Discipline (6)
- 1 -
"Rise and lift your skirt, Maria."
"What...?"
"If you have done wrong, should you not receive punishment?"
Maria stood there dazed. She had understood the command to rise but couldn't comprehend the words that followed.
"Alternatively, I could substitute it by additionally exacting the punishment you deserve from Daniel."
To ensure she could decide even without understanding my words, I offered another option.
"Wh-what are you going to take? From him?"
The reaction was immediate.
They say distance makes the heart grow distant, but for Maria, the abilities Daniel had gained must have felt like a tangible achievement I kept delivering to her.
Taking that away would be destroying what she had accomplished within this dungeon.
"It could be abilities. It could be mana. It could even be lifespan."
- Lady. That punishment, let me...
"The choice is Maria's, Daniel. Your master's time... has already passed, Maria."
After a brief silence, Maria bit her lip and lifted her skirt up to her calves.
Beneath it, her moderately tanned, healthy skin was revealed.
Her legs, which she had continued to maintain through exercise recently, still radiated a healthy beauty.
Even though the strengthening of her Attributes—specifically Stamina and Durability, enhanced by mana—had diminished, her natural conditioning was not going anywhere.
"Higher."
"What... did you say?"
"I already told you, Maria."
Maria, biting her lip until it bled once more, eventually accepted the order and continued raising her skirt. Until her healthy, toned legs, tightly cinched by a garter belt, were almost completely exposed.
The calves were too mundane in this world to serve as punishment. But exposing her buttocks would be too humiliating—it would only harden her resolve.
What I wanted was for her to become unsettled and to recognize that state herself.
There was no need to deliver excessive humiliation, but at the same time, I had no intention of letting her take this punishment lightly.
"That's enough."
Only after the skirt had risen to the precarious point I wanted, just above the thighs, did I stop her and gesture with my chin toward Evangeline.
And the scene that followed was not a pleasant one for me either.
Chaak—!
"...!"
It was a provocation against the entire group—and a provocation against me as well.
Perhaps because her emotions had already been pushed to the limit, Evangeline's cane strokes were merciless.
Thanks to the restraint I had given beforehand, it was not excessive, but that was all.
Chaak—!
"Eut...!"
Chaak—!!
"Keut...!"
Chwaak—!!!
"Kkeut...!!"
Red lines carved into her long legs, which had grown comparatively whiter from spending a month in the dungeon without sunlight.
The humiliation of receiving corporal punishment, like a child, in front of everyone.
The tears streaming down her cheeks.
The sight of a human being's self-esteem crumbling.
The reason I watched over all of this was not because I enjoyed that painful sight. It was my sense of duty as the one who now had to take proper responsibility for her.
That sense of duty was not limited to merely watching, either.
"Stop."
"Uh... eut..."
As soon as Maria collapsed at the declaration of the end, I announced the next punishment as well.
"Next is the punishment for the contract violation."
"It's not... over...?"
"What just happened was solely the punishment for you violating the dungeon's discipline, Maria. The execution of the extraction you must receive as the price for the contract violation remains."
What I pulled out was Maria and Daniel's contract.
Maria simply watched blankly, and Daniel slowly closed his eyes.
"I shall extract now. From you, Maria, the method of wielding a sword. From Daniel, the method of attacking from behind."
"Wait! From Daniel...!"
And I made a final judgment mixed with mercy.
A judgment that took mitigating circumstances into account due to justified resentment.
"I shall not strip Daniel of all his abilities here. However, you must remember what you have experienced. That you endangered someone who cherishes you, and that you received punishment for it."
『Name - Daniel Smith』
『Traits - ..., Ambush』
『Traits - ..., Assault』
『Name - Maria Olas』
『Traits - ..., Advanced Specialization: Swordsmanship』
『Traits - ..., Specialization: Swordsmanship (Sealed)』
『Traits - Necromancy, ... Mana Overadaptation, Flaw Detection, Specialization: Swordsmanship』
Daniel's Ambush, combined with his Assault and my Flaw Detection, and Maria's Swordsmanship, combined with my Swordsmanship Basics, granted me a Specialization. Then, like the other traits she possessed, I sealed it entirely.
For Daniel, it was an extraction that was practically negligible, since he had abilities additionally boosted through Sacrifice Strengthening.
But Maria would come to feel that the sword she held in her hand no longer moved as she wished.
"With this, the first discipline enforcement is concluded. Everyone except Maria, dismiss."
All the Skeletons left, and those remaining were Evangeline and Lin Xue, along with the four humans belonging to my dungeon.
Eve and Shue had not left because they were not included in 'everyone,' and the others had different business.
"Master. Sister... no, she has had enough..."
- Lady. She is...
"I do not intend to give more punishment. I will not torment her, either. Sonia, Daniel. Do not worry and go do your work."
"... Yes, Master."
- It will be fine, Miss Sonia.
- ... Understood.
Though it was a lukewarm response, the three of them, including Leonis, accepted it and disappeared from the spot.
Through the eyes of the Necromancer stationed there, I could see that Sonia was waiting outside the door, but I had no intention of commenting on that.
In any case, I had prevented their relationship from completely falling apart.
"... Do you... have anything more to say?"
"..."
Maria, kneeling in a battered state, seemed to have no strength left to move.
There had been the mental anguish all this time, and the facts she had newly learned today must have been shocking as well.
I did not answer her question, merely extending my hand to receive what Shue handed over, and then I pulled her legs toward me by force.
"Wha, what are you doing...! You said you wouldn't touch me anymore!"
"Stay still."
I opened the lid of what Shue had handed me and applied the mucus-like substance inside to her legs.
Well, as you might guess, it was ordinary ointment. Just made from herbs infused with mana to enhance healing power.
"... Do you think I won't hate you just because of this?"
Around the time I had leisurely applied the medicine and began wrapping the bandages, Maria glared at me with listless eyes, still filled with simmering emotions.
The answer was already decided.
"You may hate me as much as you like."
"What?"
"Hate me all you want. That is your right, as the one whose younger sibling was taken by me."
"Ha...?"
Was it an unexpected answer for her?
It must have been. Ordinary people dislike being hated.
Even I, outwardly, appeared to be like a person.
"But you must remember."
"What...?"
"That does not give you the right to kill yourself."
She blinked, and then from the eyes that glared at me as if she could not understand, clear tears began to fall.
"It's my life, and you're saying I can't even do what I want with it?"
"You can do what you want with it. But that is not a right. No one has the right to kill a living thing. Even if it is oneself."
"..."
"All killing is not freedom but indulgence, and even if it becomes an unavoidable responsibility to protect, it can never be a right to take."
"But you..."
"I have never thought it was not my sin, Maria. It is my responsibility. ... And so."
After confirming the bandaging was thorough, I rose from my spot and spoke my final words to her as she looked up at me.
"Hate me as much as you like."
"..."
"For I shall take responsibility for you as your master."
Maria had completely collapsed.
My eyes, reflected in hers, had at some point taken on that deep violet hue.
And that was the end of that day.
- 2 -
"Sister."
As Maria walked out, supported by the Skeleton Libertas had summoned once more, a voice called out to her.
When she raised her head, she saw the person she thought she would never face again—someone she believed she wouldn't be able to see after today.
It was Sonia, her hand over her chest, still gazing at her with glistening eyes in that pale face.
"Sonia."
"... Ah, that, um... Miss Maria."
At Sonia's awkwardly changed form of address, Maria smiled bitterly.
Because she had realized that this child, who did not hesitate to approach even after being pushed away so coldly and cruelly, was far stronger than herself.
"Call me Maria. It seems I don't have the right to be called sister."
"... I'll call you sister. Just sister."
"As you like."
"..."
A moment of silence hung in the air. It was Maria who broke it, before it could form like perilously thin ice.
"I think I know why you feel drawn to that person."
"Pardon?"
"That woman. Libertas."
Maria recalled the image of a monster... no, a person, in her mind.
The image of someone who possessed a beauty that seemed not of this world, who had a face and atmosphere more fragile than anyone else in the world, yet who seemed to make cruel and ruthless decisions at every moment.
"She's not a monster."
"Ah..."
"Right. She's not a monster. No, ha. Though the caning was truly absurd."
She had properly realized it this time.
That she had already been thinking of Libertas as utterly different from the other Dungeon Lords she had met, and that today she had finally confirmed it.
That she could not even completely abandon her hatred, yet it had already cooled to the point where it could no longer serve as fuel—starting from this incident.
That today's desperate struggle had only been out of fear that her hatred was cooling in just that way.
"I'm sorry. Sonia."
Even Sonia had glimpsed what lay beyond hatred far earlier than she had.
Once she had calmed down and looked back, it had been an incredibly foolish act.
"I'm fine. So..."
"I can't be like you. I still don't really know what you're looking at."
"Ah..."
"Still. I can't be a hindrance anymore. The only way that comes to mind is to stake my life, and that kind of method doesn't put only my life on the line."
She also knew.
That killing her younger sibling was something Libertas had done, but that she was able to live an extra life was also thanks to Libertas's mercy.
An adventurer caught by a Dungeon Lord is effectively processed as dead.
Even the fact that Maria had survived unscathed until now was something the people of this world would call a miracle if they knew.
And that miracle, though it infuriated her, had also been accomplished under Libertas's hand.
"Then..."
"I still hate her. Of course."
Thinking about it, she had already lost everything as a human being, yet she had been nurturing hatred using those fragments as fuel.
Even though she had no proper right, since she had entangled the lives of friends and acquaintances, she could not let go of what she should have given up.
"I suppose so. I'm like that too."
"Right. You're far better than me. ... Anyway. Our parents will come. It's been quite a while since they lost contact with us. They'll find me within a year at the latest."
"Because the two of them are excellent adventurers."
Maria and Lemia's parents were adventurers as well. Elite adventurers seasoned enough to be deployed to the guild on the front lines of the Demon Realm.
While out of contact, they would only have grown stronger, not weaker.
Once they came searching, Maria's own fate would be decided somehow. Even without her struggling like this.
Whether she would then live a life that was mere survival, or whether she would gain yet another life, was unknown.
To see that result, she had to survive for now.
Just as adventurers eventually bury the death of comrades in their hearts, she had to bury her resentment toward Lemia as well.
- Dalkak.
"Right. Come to think of it."
And there was one more thing she had noticed.
About one entity that had helped her avoid making a decisive mistake she would regret for a lifetime.
"You. You were always beside us."
Maria's gaze turned to the Skeleton that was supporting her. A summoned creature that looked unusually familiar.
It was true that distinguishing individual Skeletons was difficult, but when the same one kept appearing beside her in the same equipment, she couldn't help but know.
Looking at that entity, Mire, Maria smiled.
"Let's do better from now on."
- ...
Facing Maria who smiled at her like that, Mire's two eye-lights blazed without any particular expression.
'... Sis... ter.'
A change was beginning within her as well.
- 3 -
The very next morning after such a commotion had arisen in the dungeon.
Sonia and Maria were summoned together to Libertas's private room, their eyes wide with confusion.
"So... you're saying we're going to a party? You are?"
"To learn etiquette...?"
"Yes. It will be sorely lacking, but there's no helping it, is there. Among the humans, you two are the only ones who can attend me."
"Until when...? You're the one going?"
"Three days."
Glancing sidelong at the two of them, Libertas nodded calmly, as if stating something obvious.
But the words that came from her mouth were still utterly absurd, so it was only natural that the two of them, exchanging glances, let out murmurs of protest.
"That's a bit..."
"Won't it be difficult?"
"It's fine."
As if soothing their bewilderment, Libertas spoke and turned her gaze to one side.
The two women followed that gaze and turned their heads as well.
Hwiik, chak!
"There is an excellent teacher, so she will teach you well."
"No, this is...!"
Chaak!
There stood Evangeline, holding the same white-bone cane in her hand, standing upright and looking down at them with a stern posture and blazing blue eye-lights.
Having perfectly instilled etiquette into Alexis—something she had failed to drill into him in a week—she had earned even deeper trust from her master and was thus filled with an equal measure of motivation.
However, the two women sensed something like resentment lurking within those eye-lights.
In reality, it was not far off either.
'It's already annoying that I can't go, and I have to watch someone else go together...!'
Because she was now in a situation where she could not participate as the first attendant or partner in her beloved master's visit to the social circle.
In the partner's case, it was fine because the reliable Shue was going together, but the problem was the lack of a maid suitable to her master's standing.
'I must make these clumsy ones perfect, at the very least.'
It was fortunate that it was a matter of business; if this were a real debutante, it would not have ended at this level of frustration.
"That is the situation, so learn well and assist me. You two."
Whether she knew of Evangeline's ominous mood or not, Libertas's eyes remained calm.
But paradoxically, the two of them thought that those eyes had never been as frightening as they were now.