Chapter 213: The Master Is Here (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 213: The Master Is Here (2)
“Mastaaah!”
Rin spotted the master she had missed so dearly.
Like a flying squirrel, she spread her arms and legs wide and launched herself at Karami.
Thwump!
Rin stuck fast to Karami’s face. Her arms, legs, and nine tails completely sealed off his face without a single gap.
“Waaaaah, Mastah! I missed you!”
Rin wailed, tears and snot pouring down her face.
She had been ostracized by her own kind for causing calamities and scorned by other beastkin for bringing misfortune.
To such a Rin, Karami was the first to awaken feelings of affection in her. He was the Heaven Defier who twisted the Gumiho's Mandate of Heaven, a four-leaf clover that brought good luck.
Without Karami, she was no fox spirit, no gumiho, nothing. Just a single, insignificant fox.
“I’m sorry, Mastah! I’ll only do what you tell me from now on. I won’t lock you up! Don’t abandon Riiin!”
“Mmph, mmph.”
“I can’t understand a word he’s saying. What do I do? Mastah came back as an idiot!”
“Of course he can’t speak if you’re stuck to him like that.”
“Is that so?”
Rin abruptly stopped crying and pulled away slightly. Karami gasped for air.
“Is this better?”
“I thought I was going to suffocate.”
“You can’t die, Mastaaah!”
Crying again, Rin clung to him like a leech.
Karami managed to pry off the stubbornly clinging Rin and set her on his arm. He wiped the area around her eyes, a mess of tears.
“Why have you gotten so small?”
“I thought Mastah didn’t like the grown-up Rin… Mastah likes children, doesn’t he?”
“That’s a dangerous thing to say where others might hear. I like Rin no matter what form she takes.”
“Really? You don’t hate Rin?”
“Of course.”
Rin sniffled.
“Have you been staying out of trouble?”
“Of course! But I wanted to go see Mastah, and she kept stopping me, nagging me, and bullying me!”
Rin tattled, pointing a finger.
Karami’s gaze lowered.
Right in front of him, Mirabelle was staring intently. She desperately wanted to be held right away, but she was politely waiting for her turn.
But Mirabelle couldn’t hide her excitement either. Her hands fidgeted restlessly, and her lips parted as if she had something to say.
“It’s good to see you too, Miss Mirabelle.”
“Welcome back, Master!” she said forcefully, as if she had been dying to say those exact words.
“Have you been well, Miss Mirabelle?”
“Yes! Just as you ordered, Master, I was stopping Rin from leaving!”
“Well done.”
“Hehehe.”
Mirabelle, overjoyed by Karami’s praise, giggled foolishly, then looked up at him with an expression that said it wasn’t enough.
Karami gave a wry smile at the sight, unimaginable for the Great Witch who controlled the Reaper.
“You can come here too, Miss Mirabelle.”
As Karami bent down, Mirabelle’s face lit up.
She used his remaining arm as a seat and snuggled into it, rubbing her cheek against Karami’s. Each time, Mirabelle’s cheeks squished back and forth like soft rice cakes.
“Is that a witch’s outfit? It suits you very well.”
“Thank you. Heheh.”
The two girls each occupied one of Karami’s arms.
Mirabelle rubbed her cheek against his, feeling his warmth, while Rin buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent.
Fervently, as if trying to make up for all the time they had been apart.
“By the way, Master. Is that elf over there a slave like us?”
Mirabelle, somewhat satisfied, looked at Alfia, who was standing a step away.
“That’s right. Her name is Alfia. Alfia, this is Rin and Mirabelle.”
“Hello. I’m Mirabelle.”
Alfia carefully studied the two of them. The fox had nine tails and pink fur, so she was probably the fox girl from Vestia.
‘I’ve heard the name Mirabelle somewhere before, too…’
Racking her brain, Alfia let out a gasp of realization. “Ah!”
“You’re that kid, aren’t you? The one who makes ‘water’ on command.”
“That’s right. You could call her my personal water purifier and comfort doll.”
“But I thought you said you sent her to her mother?”
“Her mother is at home.”
“You said you sent her to a place close to the heavens…”
“She lives on a mountaintop.”
“…”
He should have just said that from the start, instead of letting people misunderstand.
Well, she had started to think something was off at some point. After all, this was the Karami who had saved Victor’s granddaughter and taken in orphans wandering the back alleys.
As she’d suspected, he was a far cry from the Slave Reaper the world called him.
‘That aside…’
Alfia’s gaze shifted to Rin.
To be honest, Alfia disliked Rin. Even though she didn’t know her name, her appearance, or anything about her.
She believed Rin was the reason Karami had left her side.
But now that she’d actually met her, well…
‘She’s just a kid, isn’t she?’
A little fox beastkin who barely came up to her waist.
The sight of her clinging tightly to Karami and sobbing her heart out didn’t inspire jealousy, only pity.
It was enough to make her feel pathetic for being jealous of such a little kid.
Right, one should live with a kind heart. Hating someone for no reason is a bad habit.
Just as Alfia was chiding herself, Rin, who had been sniffing Karami’s scent, slowly lifted her head. Over Karami’s shoulder, Rin’s and Alfia’s eyes met.
As an adult, I should be magnanimous.
Alfia put on a gentle, adult smile.
And then.
Hmph.
Rin’s eyes curved into crescents, and the corners of her mouth flickered upward.
As if flaunting her superiority at being held by Karami, and mocking Alfia for watching.
At that single sneer, Alfia’s expression cracked and froze. Still, she didn’t jump to conclusions.
‘Nah, I must be overthinking it. She’s just a kid.’
The drugs must have messed with my head, to the point where I’m seeing a mere child as a rival.
Alfia blamed herself, but as if to prove her judgment wasn’t mistaken…
Smooch.
Rin planted a loud kiss on the nape of Karami’s neck.
“Rin? Even so, that’s…”
“Waaaah, Mastah! You don’t hate Rin, right? You like Rin, right? You won’t abandon Rin, right?”
“Well, I told you I didn’t abandon you. Anyway, you shouldn’t do that in public.”
“Understood! Perfectly.”
Rin skillfully changed the subject, as if this wasn’t the first or second time she’d done it. She looked back at Alfia, her eyes smiling.
Only then did Alfia realize she hadn’t been mistaken. A woman’s intuition is never wrong.
That wasn’t some little fox cub.
It was a vixen wearing the mask of a child.
I can’t let this mental attack shake me.
Alfia didn’t back down, responding with a smile of her own.
Both were clearly smiling, yet neither gave the impression of being happy.
“Master, what brings you here?”
“He came to see Rin, of course!”
“I came because I have a favor to ask of Miss Mirabelle.”
“What about Rin…?”
“I wanted to see you too, Rin.”
“I knew it even if you didn’t say it!”
Having multiple kids is more tiring than I thought.
Karami sighed.
At least Mirabelle was easy to deal with, which was a relief.
Drip. Drip.
But wasn’t that very same Mirabelle shedding round tears?
‘What’s with her now?’
Karami was flustered.
“Miss Mirabelle, what’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry. I’m just so happy that you need me, Master…”
He had taken in Mirabelle, who had been abandoned even by her own father. He had said that as long as she had value, he would never abandon her, even if she was a witch shunned by the world.
And then, that same Karami left her side.
It meant her value had dropped.
Not wanting to be abandoned again, Mirabelle had done her best to raise her own value.
In the body of a delicate young girl, she had traveled the continent, delving into magic until she became the Magic Tower's Elder. She had mastered tens of thousands of magic books.
Even though she had gained the ability to find Karami, she held back.
She couldn’t be the one to go to him.
She had to wait for her master to need her.
For him to acknowledge her value once more.
She had worked hard, desperately waiting for that day to come.
And now, that effort had finally borne fruit.
“What can I do for you, Master? Just give me any command!”
“Before that.”
Karami looked around.
“The city seems to be in chaos.”
“The prayer-mongers have gone crazy! They’re attacking people!”
“Is that so.”
It wasn’t particularly surprising.
The Church was connected like a spiderweb with the god at its center. What happened in the Holy Kingdom was now affecting Vestia.
Elize, who had taken the Saint’s position, must be controlling the members of the Church. If so, every place in the world where the Church existed must be in an uproar.
“First, let’s go to the Celestial Pavilion. It’s been a while, so I should pay my respects. I have a lot to say, too.”
On the way to the Celestial Pavilion together.
Since Rin and Mirabelle had already cleaned things up, there were no attacks from the corrupted believers.
Even if any had appeared, they would have been instantly killed before even entering Karami’s line of sight.
That didn’t mean it was an entirely peaceful journey, however.
Because a war of nerves broke out countless times between the slaves, with their master in the middle.
“Darling, you were living in a place like this without me?”
Rin’s eye twitched.
“…Darling?”
“Yep, my darling. You call our darling ‘Mastah,’ are you some kind of pet? If you need a master, should I raise you instead? Are you house-trained?”
“Hmph~ What to do? Rin doesn’t follow ugly people.”
“Ugly… You must be too young to have a good eye for people. We elves are on a completely different level from beastkin, who are just animals.”
Unlike elves, who were called fairies from birth, beastkin were known to be animals that had become human-like.
Beastkin believe they were chosen by a god and granted intelligence, but most other races believe they are the offspring of humans with strange sexual desires who mated with beasts.
Because of this, beastkin are looked down upon by most other races.
To elves, for whom racial supremacy was a given, beastkin were no different from mere animals.
“An animal that can talk. The world has gotten so much better, hasn’t it?”
“Mastah, she’s calling you a goblin.”
“Hey, when did I say that? Don’t slander me. You’re the one who insulted our master first. If I’m ugly, does that make our darling a goblin?”
“It’s just pitiful…”
…What is with these two.
Karami had just been standing there, but for some reason, his heart ached.