Chapter 242: The Number Above Their Heads
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 242: The Number Above Their Heads
“It’s just as you predicted, Master. The Dawn Travel Company has caused a major incident.”
Narsha stood before me, delivering her daily report.
The topic was related to her family, House Bryan.
“The accessory they presented to the queen was cursed. After putting on the necklace, the queen fell into a coma and has yet to wake.”
It was nothing short of high treason.
Fearing they would be punished alongside the Dawn Travel Company, all of their business partners had cut ties. The company had ceased to function as a merchant group, and the head of House Bryan had been thrown into the royal dungeons.
The queen’s recovery was the deciding factor, but no matter what happened, they wouldn’t get away unscathed.
The ruin of their house was certain.
They’d be lucky to escape execution.
“Innocent people shouldn’t have to die. Have the children see to it that the queen awakens. You’ll handle the Count and his wife, Narsha, and seize the business operations the Dawn Travel Company used to run.”
“The preparations are already in place.”
Other merchant groups were surely eyeing the opportunity, but Narsha had been working behind the scenes ever since we first discussed the possibility.
There would be nothing left for the others to pick up.
“Also, regarding the city construction I mentioned before, I’ve contacted Doomheim. A representative of the dwarves should be arriving here soon.”
“I’ll speak with them when they arrive.”
Narsha bowed her head.
That concluded her report for the day.
Even so, I continued to stare at Narsha. Or rather, my gaze was fixed just above her head.
“Master, what are you staring at so intently?”
“I’m looking at the number that has appeared above your head.”
“Ah, you mean this.”
Narsha waved a hand over her head.
[17]
Narsha
“I noticed it this morning. The same thing has appeared for the other slaves as well.”
These numbers had only appeared above my slaves.
The hired maids had no such numbers.
And it seemed I wasn’t the only one who could see them. The individuals themselves could see their own number if they looked up or into a mirror.
“Do you have any idea what this is about, Master? Or perhaps what this number signifies?”
“…No. I’m not sure either.”
It wasn’t that I had no idea at all.
My mind naturally drifted to things like [The number of times a person has had sex now appears above their head] or [Number of partners].
But it was neither of those.
There was no way the girls would have done anything of the sort, and more importantly, Naredi’s number was 0.
She wasn’t the Virgin Mary; she couldn’t have had Mirabelle through an immaculate conception.
In other words, it wasn’t a sex count.
Then what is it?
I had no idea.
*
I decided to seek out the other slaves to learn more about this phenomenon.
The Great Forest.
Towering, ancient trees.
Alfia was there, in a place where fractured sunlight fell gently through the leaves.
She was helping not only my elven slaves but also the other elves of the Great Forest learn to tame spirits.
“Darling? What brings you to the forest? Did you come to see me?”
“You could say that.”
I checked the number above Alfia’s head.
[100]
Alfia
Mirabelle’s was a single digit, and Narsha’s was two. Alfia, on the other hand, had a three-digit number.
It was significantly higher.
“Is it because of this number?”
“Yes. It suddenly appeared on everyone.”
“I saw it in the mirror and wondered what it was. It’s a little distracting, but since nothing else happened, I’ve been trying to ignore it.”
“Did the Queen have one as well?”
Alfia nodded.
“It was 2.”
“I see.”
I had thought Ivrelia’s would be 0.
Naredi’s was 0, and so were the numbers of the elven slaves from the merchant group.
I’d thought it was the difference between a fully liberated slave and one who wasn’t. But if Ivrelia’s number wasn’t 0, that theory was wrong.
Besides, that alone couldn’t explain the vast differences in the numbers.
“Alright, I understand for now.”
Next, I went to find Elize.
[85]
Elize
Elize had a number, too. It was higher than Mirabelle’s and Narsha’s, but slightly lower than Alfia’s.
“Are you talking about this number? It was there when I woke up this morning. I thought it was something you did, Master, but I guess not?”
“I’m looking into it myself.”
It seemed Elize had no idea either.
“By the way, Master. What did you think about what I said last night?”
“What did you say?”
A smirk played on Elize’s lips. She took a bold step forward, leaned down slightly, and looked up at me.
“About drinking my blood. If you just say the word, I can give you some fresh, warm blood right now. What do you say? Don’t you want to drink my bodily fluids?”
“I’ll pass.”
“Hmm~”
Elize let out a meaningful hum.
“Did you know? Bats perceive objects by emitting ultrasonic waves and interpreting the returning echoes.”
“And?”
“Meaning, when I look at you like this, it’s not so different from touching you with my hands.”
After saying that, Elize fell silent.
Instead, her eyes narrowed to slits as her pupils roamed, tracing every inch of my body. She did it openly, right in front of me, as if daring me to watch where she was looking.
She was just looking at me as she always did, but because of what she’d just said, it felt as if her gaze was physically touching me. I could feel goosebumps rising on my skin.
Elize’s lips curled into a mischievous smile, as if she was enjoying my reaction.
[85] > [86]
Elize
In that instant, the number floating above Elize’s head went up.
“…Elize. Your number just went up. Do you have any idea why?”
“Oh my, so it did. As for why… Aha~”
Elize let out a small cry of realization.
“You figured it out?”
“I think I have, but…”
Elize trailed off, her lips curling into a grin.
“I don’t think I can ever tell you, Master.”
*
In the end, Elize refused to tell me.
As if it were some great secret.
Based on her actions, my best guess was that it was the number of times she’d played a prank on me.
Nothing else came to mind.
After lunch, the slaves gathered.
There was Alfia, who had been in the Great Forest, and Mirabelle, who was still in the middle of her maid training.
Rin was there too, with Azyeth trailing her, trying to touch her tails. I could see all of their numbers.
[2344]
Rin
[0]
Azyeth
What is with this extreme difference?
Alfia’s 100 had seemed relatively high compared to the others, but Rin proudly held first place with 2344, a number more than twenty times greater.
In contrast, Azyeth’s was 0, no different from the other ordinary slaves. It was even lower than Ivrelia’s.
I had thought the “number of pranks” theory was the most plausible.
[2347]
Rin
Rin’s number was climbing steadily even though she wasn’t doing anything. The identity of the numbers was plunging deeper into mystery.
“I think I know what it is,” Rin said.
“What is it?”
“It’s our Master’s affection level for each of us. That’s why my number is the highest. Because he likes me the most in the whole world.”
“…!”
Shocked by Rin’s baseless affection-level theory, Azyeth [0] stared at me with trembling eyes.
Look what you did, you made the kid upset.
“It is absolutely not an affection level. I can swear that on my position as Master.”
I refuted it immediately, but Azyeth’s mood didn’t improve.
“Mirabelle, could you check your book and see what this number means?”
I didn’t like being tormented by this all day.
Mirabelle’s book had unraveled my secrets before; surely it could figure out the identity of these random numbers.
Mirabelle nodded, summoned a thick, ancient tome, and began flipping through the pages.
Then, she stopped on a page.
“What does it say?”
“…”
Had she already gotten lost in her reading?
There was no response.
I leaned over, trying to get a peek at what was written.
“Mirabelle?”
“Hngh…!”
As I approached, Mirabelle let out a choked cry and twisted away from me. She fell back onto the sofa, then tumbled onto the carpet below.
Thump.
“Keuk!”
Even as she fell, she didn’t let go of the book.
“Are you alright?”
“I-I’m fine…! I’m fine! I’m totally fine!”
“What in the world is written in there to make you act like this?”
Thwump!
The moment I showed interest, Mirabelle slammed the book shut. Her face was as red as a strawberry.
She glanced once at her own number.
Once at Narsha’s and Alfia’s.
Her eyes widened when she saw Azyeth’s number.
And when she finally looked at Rin’s number, her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head.
Everyone else tilted their heads, confused by Mirabelle’s inexplicable behavior. Only Elize, who seemed to know the meaning of the numbers, was giggling to herself.
“My, my, Mirabelle. How lewd of you.”
“E-Elize! It’s not like that…!”
“What? What is this number? Why are you acting like this?”
“Miss Mirabelle, please tell me as well.”
Overwhelmed by everyone’s questions, Mirabelle scrambled to her feet, whipping her head back and forth.
“I-I’m sorry!”
She bolted from the room, leaning so far forward it looked like she would trip at any moment.
A loud thump! echoed from the hallway, followed by the sound of her running again.
None of us knew why she was acting that way, so we could only look at each other and shrug.
“Elize, what in the world is going on?”
“It’s better if you don’t know. For the peace of us all.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Let’s just leave it at that. More importantly…”
Elize glanced back and forth between Rin and Azyeth.
“This one is a walking time bomb, and that one is amazing in a whole other way.”
Elize muttered words that none of us could understand.
*
That night, Azyeth was on duty.
As if she’d never tire of it, she brought the Snow White fairy tale book and asked me to read it to her.
Thanks to her, I had reached a point where I could recite it with my eyes closed without missing a single word.
The story ended, as always, with the prince and princess living happily ever after.
Normally, Azyeth would nod as if it were a magnificent story, but today, she couldn’t bring herself to do so.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m the only one… with no number.”
The numbers above their heads still hadn’t disappeared.
When I’d cornered Mirabelle and asked her, she’d again said she couldn’t tell me. She did, however, say they would be gone by the end of the day, so I shouldn’t worry.
But Azyeth was still upset that she was the only one without a number. Rin’s words were still bothering her.
“I already told you, the numbers have nothing to do with how much I like you all. And you’re not the only one with a 0, you know.”
“…”
It wasn’t comforting at all.
Azyeth’s expression didn’t improve.
“Hmm.”
How was I supposed to resolve this?
The surest way would be to make her number go up, but unfortunately, neither Mirabelle nor Elize would tell me what the numbers meant.
Since I didn’t know what it was, I couldn’t help her raise it.
I had to find another way.
“Is there anything else you want from me? I’ll do anything.”
“A ring…”
“Anything but that, since I can’t get it right away.”
“…”
Something she wanted from Karami.
Something she wanted from Karami…
After pondering so quietly that I almost thought she’d fallen asleep, Azyeth slowly moved her lips.
“Hold… me.”
“You want me to hold you?”
“Yes…”
Mirabelle and Rin used their small frames to get hugs from me whenever they wanted.
Azyeth had watched them with envy but had never been able to ask for one herself.
She wasn’t the type to assert herself.
In contrast, the other slaves all had strong personalities. Azyeth’s timid nature put her at a disadvantage.
“If that’s all, I can do that for you anytime.”
When I opened my arms, Azyeth slowly shuffled into them.
Our bodies pressed firmly together.
Warm.
The warmth I felt when we held hands now spread through my entire body.
It was even more pronounced because it reminded me of the time I was trapped in ice by Mirabelle’s magic.
And I thought I finally understood why Rin was always trying to get a whiff of my scent.
Azyeth tightened her arms.
Holding hands was nice, but hugging was nice, too.
I don’t know how much time passed.
It probably wasn’t very long.
While I was sleeping comfortably in Azyeth’s cool embrace, she couldn’t sleep because of my warmth.
Sweat trickled down her skin, dampening her clothes.
But if she let go now, she might wake me up, so she couldn’t do that either…
To be sleepy but unable to sleep.
What a sad fate.
Azyeth let out a small sigh and stared at my sleeping face.
For Azyeth, who always overslept and had to be woken up by me, the sight of me sleeping was quite unfamiliar.
Then, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
When the princess sleeps, the prince comes and kisses her to wake her up. But if the prince is sleeping, doesn’t that mean she can kiss him until he wakes up?
Azyeth’s eyes widened as if she had realized some great truth.
Then, while Karami was asleep…
Just as the clock struck midnight, right before the magic was set to fade.
Ping.
[1]
Azyeth.
The number above Azyeth’s head went up.