Chapter 294: The Hate Potion (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 294: The Hate Potion (3)
A warm, friendly breakfast.
There was no such thing.
Unless we were exceptionally busy, the rule was to gather for breakfast, but the hall was empty.
I sat alone at the vast dining table, while my personal maid, Mirabelle, stood waiting at a distance.
“Where is everyone?”
“Th-they said that with you here, Master, the food wouldn't go down their throats… so they’d be eating in their own rooms…”
Mirabelle’s cutting remark made perfect sense.
If the food wouldn't go down, what could you do?
I could have used an order to force them here, regardless of their affection levels or whatever, but I didn't bother.
I wanted to eat in peace, too.
Even if it was all an act, the hostility was real. It's hard to enjoy a leisurely meal in that kind of atmosphere.
Before, Miro would have been here, but she was currently back at the academy, enjoying her youthful life.
A shame, really.
After a quick solo breakfast, I decided to take a walk and find Rin, so I had Mirabelle use her magic to take me to Vestia.
I headed for the Celestial Pavilion, which was connected to the other side of the Dream Garden.
As soon as I arrived, Heukbi greeted me.
“You're finally here. I've been eagerly waiting for you.”
“You were waiting for me?”
“Lady Rin came over this morning and has been eating here. But her condition is a bit…”
“What's wrong with her?”
“I think you should see for yourself.”
Heukbi led me to the dining hall.
There, I found Rin binge-eating, having already emptied dozens of plates.
As if that wasn't enough, she was holding a leg of meat in each hand, tearing at the flesh.
“Why is she like that?”
“She said she couldn't stand it unless she was stuffing something in her mouth because of stress. Did something happen at the merchant group?”
“Well, about that.”
I explained the situation to Heukbi and Yuhwa. As soon as they heard the story, they sighed in unison, as if they had rehearsed it.
“You really live every day without a dull moment, don't you.”
“Haha, don't mention it. I work hard to live this way. Why, want me to include you, Heukbi?”
“I'll pass.”
So she wasn't taking the bait.
Well, I didn't need her to right now anyway.
For now, I approached Rin, who was ravenously devouring her food, to check on her.
“Rin, what are you doing here?”
She froze.
Rin's movements stiffened, a pig's trotter still in her hand.
“…What are you doing here?”
My title had been downgraded from ‘Master’ to ‘you.’
The glare she shot me was just as murderous.
“The path to the Dream Garden was closed, so I came here. I really wanted to see your face, Rin.”
“Looking at your face makes Rin want to puke.”
Rin dropped the pig's trotter with a clatter and stood up. She abruptly opened a window and climbed onto the sill.
“Where are you going?”
“You ruined my appetite. You don't need to know.”
“As your master, I need to know where my slave is going and why. Where are you going?”
“Tsk. I'm going to absorb some essence. Happy now?”
Rin leaped up toward the sky and vanished.
Absorbing essence, huh.
Right, it's been a while since I gave her any.
When I disciplined her before, I minimized the amount and frequency of the essence I gave her.
Her affection dropped while she was deprived of essence, so now she was trying to get some because she was running low.
Normally she would have gotten it from me, but she must not want to receive my essence.
But if I remember correctly, Rin said other kinds of essence don't satisfy her anymore.
Was that still the case?
If so, absorbing essence from elsewhere would be meaningless.
*
Boom!
Kaboom!
Deep in the eastern part of Vestia, where yokai appeared in droves.
Rin, as if venting her anger, summoned dozens of fox-fires and slaughtered the yokai. Just as the law of the jungle governs the wild, so too does it govern the world of yokai.
Rin attempted to absorb a massive amount of essence from the fallen yokai.
It was more than enough to sate her hunger.
Rin felt a sense of relief, thinking this would be enough, but the problem lay elsewhere.
“Ugh, this stuff stinks…!”
A foul stench that made her face scrunch up on its own.
There was no viler stench.
Absorbing something like this would surely cause a huge problem for her body.
In the end, unable to bear the nauseating smell, she had to discard all the essence she had just gone to the trouble of gathering.
Her hunger remained unsated. She let out a burst of irritation so intense it could shake heaven and earth.
“Why does Rin have to go through this!!!”
Her irritation boiled over into rage.
“How did it go? Did you absorb the essence well?”
Rin dropped her gaze to the presence she felt on the ground below.
It was Karami, with Mirabelle held in his arms. Mirabelle's face was twisted in a grimace, not even trying to hide her displeasure.
Rin's sharp, cold voice descended.
“What? Why did you follow me?”
“I was worried about you, so I came to see how you were doing.”
“Rin can handle it herself, so butt out.”
“You were making too much noise for me not to pay attention.”
“…”
“Do you need essence?”
It was just as Karami had thought.
Rin's body could no longer be satisfied by any essence but his.
Her affection had dropped, but that only changed her conscious preferences; her body and soul remained the same.
“If you listen to me, I can give you some essence.”
Fwoosh!
Rin, who had been in mid-air, used her magic to appear right in front of Karami and swung her sharp claws.
She struck with enough force to pierce his stomach and rip out his liver, but as expected, she couldn't even touch his skin.
“The mere sight of your face makes me furious, and you want me to take your essence? Are you out of your mind?”
“If you don't want to, you don't have to. The world is overflowing with essence. Go on, go find some.”
“…”
“Not going?”
Rin couldn't move, frozen in place like a statue. Because an incredibly pleasant scent was wafting from Karami.
A scent that calmed her mind and soul while simultaneously heating up her body.
She could tell just by the smell.
His essence would be incredibly delicious.
Of all the creatures in the world, why him…!
For her, the Gumiho, queen of yokai and a fox goddess, to be dependent on a mere, inferior human.
“…What do I have to do.”
She hated this situation, but there was no other choice. The other options were like garbage, completely inedible.
She had no choice but to take a step back.
“Sit.”
Rin sat down cross-legged.
“What are you doing?”
“What? You told me to sit.”
“Who sits like that in front of their master? There's a proper posture for a slave, for a beastkin.”
“What?”
Rin's body moved according to Karami's command. She squatted on her feet, her hands placed in front of her like forepaws, a posture much like a dog panting before its master.
“Eek…! What is this? A-aren't you going to release me?!”
“It suits you well. This is how a beastkin should sit.”
Despite Rin's fierce growling, Karami tickled her under the chin with his finger.
Rin struggled to get away, but she couldn't budge an inch.
“Let me go before I kill you!”
“Hmm, but that foul mouth of yours shows your training is incomplete. You won't get any essence acting like that. Do something cute to put me in the mood. Now, paw.”
“Ughhhhhhh!”
Her arm moved on its own.
Rin's hand came to rest on top of Karami's.
“Good. Other one.”
Her other hand moved without fail.
“Yes, just like that. From now on, do as I've taught you.”
Karami patted her on the head.
Rumble—!
Rin radiated a murderous aura.
“Just you wait until I'm free of this! I'll kill you! I'll slice open your belly and tear out your guts!”
“One moment. Mirabelle, can you record what Rin just said?”
“Wh-why…?”
“So I can watch it again later.”
“Ugh…”
A golden scene like this was too good to only see once.
This was going to be an unforgettable, embarrassing memory for her, and I planned on showing it to the others.
“Let's return to the merchant group, Mirabelle.”
“What? What about the essence?”
“Did you really think you'd get essence after threatening to murder your master? Reflect on your actions in that position.”
Karami took Mirabelle and left in a flash.
Rin's furious shouts echoed so loudly they seemed to startle the heavens.
“I'll never forgive you! Never!”
*
After having my fun, I returned to the merchant group.
Even with capable slaves, as the head of a massive merchant group and their master, I couldn't just play around 24/7.
It was time for Narsha's daily report. Narsha stood before me, reading from a document.
She must have been affected by the magic too, yet her attitude toward me was perfectly businesslike.
“Narsha.”
“Yes.”
“Narsha, do you feel nothing when you look at me?”
“That's not exactly the case.”
“Then?”
“Separating public and private matters is a basic professional courtesy. You are, after all, the one I serve.”
Should I say this was just like Narsha?
But that wasn't what I wanted.
“Then what about from a personal perspective?”
At that question, Narsha lifted her gaze from the documents and looked at me.
“The mere fact that I'm breathing the same air in the same space as you fills me with rage. I want to either kill you or kill myself.”
“You hate me that much?”
“The enemy of my house, who brought ruin to the Bryan family and the Dawn Travel Company, and even exiled my parents to the countryside. Did you think I, a noble, would feel any affection for you after you made me your slave?”
“That's a fair point.”
Narsha's answer made me realize something new.
Somehow, with their affection lowered, it feels like the girls have become normal.
The common sense I once wished my slaves had seemed to have finally been installed.
If they had been like this from the start, I would have gone home long ago.
Well, no point in thinking about that now. All I need to think about is how to enjoy this situation to the fullest.
“Since the report is finished, I will take my leave now.”
“One moment.”
“What is it?”
“I believe I've made a grave mistake. Entrusting the merchant group's affairs to a mere slave. People would laugh if they found out.”
“I believe it couldn't be helped. Since you, Master, are incompetent. An intelligent and capable noble like myself had no choice but to do it.”
I shook my head firmly.
“No. Even if you were born a noble, you are a slave now. And shouldn't a slave live like a slave?”
The current Narsha was filled with her pride as a noble.
The typical gaze of a noble, looking down on me, a slave trader, as inferior.
A desire welled up inside me to utterly shatter that haughty noble lady.
“Mirabelle.”
“Wh-what is it now?”
“Give Narsha an apron.”
Mirabelle created a pure white apron with magic and gave it to Narsha.
Narsha looked at the apron in her hands, then blinked at me.
“What is this?”
“As of now, I am revoking your authority as the acting head of the merchant group. For the time being, you will serve as a maid.”
“Hah, and here I was wondering what great thing it could be. Well, I suppose this is typical of a slave trader. But something like this won't be enough to break me—”
“For your information, you'll be living your life wearing only that.”
A noble lady in a naked apron?
No way I could hold back.