The Broken Slave Begins to Grow Again
The groans echoed through the training ground as the sun dipped low.
“Ugh… ughhh… aaaaah…!”
“It’s so hard… I can’t move my arms anymore…”
“Haa… ahhh… my legs… my legs are cramping up…!”
This was the first proper basic training they had received since losing their personalities and becoming slaves. From dawn until the sky turned dark, the three slaves carried out my every command without rest. Of course, they begged to stop midway, but I forced their bodies to keep moving with my skills.
“Master… I’m getting sleepy…”
Liris, who had once tried to seduce me, could now use not only healing abilities but also mage-like skills thanks to the power of my abilities. Even so, I ordered her to meditate just like Becky. I occasionally pampered Liris—stroking her hair, touching her, holding her—but the other slaves received no such mercy.
By now their bodies and minds were pushed to the brink, to the point where moving tomorrow would be nearly impossible. At this stage, I decided to gradually raise the three slaves’ abilities. They might not notice it today, but tomorrow they would realize that faint traces of their old power had returned.
Kate, Arona, and Becky resent you. However, they are terrified of being dragged to the front lines and are desperately holding it in.
Yes. On the surface, it looked like I had forced my slaves into endless labor all day. But this wasn’t mere sadistic torment. Their personalities had been shattered by the tentacles, and they had lost their fundamentals. This was part of my larger plan to rebuild them from the ground up.
“That’s enough for today.”
It was nine in the evening when I finally gave the order. At once, all three women collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
“It hurts right now, doesn’t it? But that pain is exactly what will bring your abilities back. I examined you with my power, and I was right. It’s all about the basics. Even after your bodies were remodeled by tentacles, the fundamentals remained. That’s why you’ll recover your strength quickly.”
“Ahh… ugh… r-really…?”
I shot a cold glare at Kate, who had spoken informally. She flinched violently and quickly bowed her head.
“I-I’m sorry… Master.”
“Good. I’ll overlook it this once. But if any of you speak to me informally again, I won’t be so lenient. That goes for Arona and Becky too. Remember it.”
“Y-yes…”
“U-understood…”
The slaves trembled in fear at my single sentence. Or perhaps they were simply shaking from exhaustion. Either way, I ordered them to rest.
“Master… I worked so hard today. Don’t I get a reward? I’m your loyal slave…”
Liris is requesting a reward.
She wishes to sleep with you.
She wants to fall asleep using your body as her resting place.
Liris. She had fallen for me far too deeply. But the deeper she fell, the more impossible it became for her to ever escape my grasp, so I didn’t exactly dislike it. She had a decent personality, useful abilities, and above all, a stunning appearance. If not for her timid nature, one might believe the heavens had given her every possible blessing. Still, she had betrayed me once. I couldn’t afford to open my heart to her so easily. In the end, she was still a slave.
Therefore, I planned to walk a delicate tightrope. I would give her rewards, but never the ones she truly craved.
“Sleep in the bed with me tonight.”
“Ah! Such a generous reward… Ahh… May I really fall asleep in Master’s arms?”
Liris clapped her hands in delight, as innocent as a little girl who had just received candy. But she was celebrating too soon.
“No. That part is not allowed. You may sleep in the same bed, but you are forbidden from clinging to me.”
“Aww…”
Disappointed by my firm refusal, Liris pouted cutely and pressed her breasts together with both arms, pushing them toward me. How lewd. For a former priestess, her behavior was closer to that of a succubus trying to bewitch a man.
“Just sleeping together in one bed? Nothing more…? I’m ready, you know…? Yes~?”
Liris desires you intensely.
She craves your attention, your love, and every kind of physical intimacy.
She wants to offer you her virginity and receive yours in return.
Liris’s thoughts had grown even more brazen. At this rate, she might go into heat like a bitch in estrus and try to pounce on me. Honestly, Liris wasn’t lacking in any way, but the hierarchy between master and slave had to remain crystal clear.
I secretly considered tweaking her personality just a little—turning her back into a pure, innocent woman.
Liris is currently experiencing mild heat.
Changing her personality while ignoring this condition may cause unforeseen side effects later.
The status window was warning me. I wasn’t foolish enough to ignore the cautions it had given me—the very system that had kept me alive until now. There was no helping it. I would have to relieve her heat first.
*
“Mmm… haa… nngh… Master’s touch feels so good…”
Late at night, the lights in the room had been extinguished. It was time for everyone to sleep. Divine and Liris lay together on one bed. There was space left, but as slaves, Kate, Arona, and Becky had no choice but to sleep on the floor.
Whether from sheer exhaustion or not, Arona and Becky fell asleep without paying any attention to the sounds coming from the bed. But Kate couldn’t sleep. Her situation felt too unfair, her body ached too much, and the humiliation was unbearable.
She pulled the blanket over her head and stared at the man and woman doing something beneath it. It wasn’t… the extremely embarrassing act one might imagine. Divine was simply caressing Liris’s body. She couldn’t tell exactly how far they had gone, but that was how it looked from where she lay.
Frustrated, Kate quietly got up. Dragging her barely responsive body, she slipped out of the room, careful not to draw the couple’s attention during their intimate moment. Once outside the inn, she walked toward the backyard, breathing in the cool night air.
It was stifling. Now that she had barely escaped with her life, the urge to run away burned inside her like a chimney on fire. But as an officially recognized slave of the empire, if Divine reported her, she would be forced into front-line labor with no escape. And since she had already attempted to flee once, her ten-year sentence might stretch even longer.
No matter how much she hated being a slave, the wisest and most beneficial choice was to endure the next ten years as Divine’s slave.
“Ugh… ughhh…!”
Every muscle in her body screamed. Her limbs begged her to stop moving. Yet Kate gripped the sword Divine had bought for her. She wanted to regain her strength as soon as possible.
From that moment, Kate began to think strategically. Since Divine was an orphan, even if he passed the academy entrance exam, he would undoubtedly be looked down upon. What if, while traveling with him, she caught the eye of a far more powerful man and escaped her life as a slave? A noble could easily make that happen.
Twitch!
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Kate recalled the noble bastard who had used her and abandoned her in the tentacle dungeon. Her teeth ground together in rage.
That’s right. Unless she gained overwhelming power, she could be used and discarded again at any time. After all, hadn’t that noble completely covered up the incident even after turning three people—including her—into slaves?
Power was everything. Power came from strength. And that strength was directly tied to one’s own abilities.
Thinking of her current pathetic state—body and mind broken, abilities lost—Kate forced herself to swing the sword again. Her body screamed in pain, but the humiliation kept her from sleeping. She swore she would grow strong enough to take revenge on both Divine and the noble who had done this to her.
How many times had she swung the blade? Dozens? Suddenly, Kate noticed her body felt lighter. The pain remained, yet a strange vitality now flowed through her limbs as she wielded the sword.
She opened her eyes wide and swung again. The two-handed sword Divine had purchased felt surprisingly light. Sensing a mysterious current flowing subtly inside her, Kate tried activating her skill.
Power Strike.
With a heavy whoosh that sliced through the cold night air, a faint red aura flickered along the blade of her greatsword. The moment she saw it, Kate nearly dropped the weapon in shock.
Before losing her personality and having her body remodeled, she had used this skill countless times. But never before had it felt this clean, this heavy, this satisfying. Entrusting herself to the flow, she swung the sword once more and activated the skill again.
A smooth current. A solid, weighty sensation.
For a brief moment, Kate forgot her humiliating circumstances and kept using the skill. Each repetition proved that her power, though faint, had truly returned. More importantly, the sensation when using the skill had completely changed.
It hurt. Sweat began pouring from her freshly washed body. She could have stopped, but she endured with pure willpower. She swung the greatsword and activated her skill again and again. Lost in that feeling, Kate continued until her body truly refused to obey her any longer. Only then did she collapse on the spot.
“Haaaaaaa…”
The night air was cold, yet the long breath she exhaled carried scorching heat. It felt as if she had expelled every tangled knot that had been lodged inside her. Her body felt incredibly light despite the terrible pain. A refreshing clarity filled her.
“Is this real…? Is it really…?”
A stunned Kate muttered to herself. Just as Divine had said, she had swung her sword all day long. She had thought it was nothing more than simple advice to rebuild her basic stamina. Yet she had miraculously manifested her power again. It was still weak, but it was there. And strangely, it felt even better than it had during her prime.
Divine. Only now did she realize that following his orders had never once led to a loss. Whenever they cleared a dungeon or fought monsters together, it always looked reckless, yet they had always succeeded in the end.
Could manifesting my power tonight also be because I followed Divine’s instructions?
She wasn’t sure. But Liris, who had obeyed Divine more faithfully than anyone, had already reached a realm where she could use offensive skills far beyond those of a normal priestess.
Maybe the correct answer is simply to empty my mind and follow Divine… Is that what this means?
She couldn’t be a hundred percent certain, but one thing was clear: she had to become stronger. If obeying Divine would make her stronger, then for now she would follow his words.
And so, Kate’s trust in Divine grew—just a little.