Chapter 74. I'm Sorry, Master.
Chapter 74. I'm Sorry, Master.
The moment a sharp, single pop rang out inside her head,
it didn't take long for her to realize it was the sound of her own breath stopping short.
'Sister, something's dangerous....'
Yes, in that instant, Heira felt a threat.
A sensation she'd felt countless times hunting vicious beasts in the mountains.
The moment she acknowledged the hand that had somehow come to rest on her throat, Heira understood she was a breath away from having her windpipe torn out.
"...Ah, sister."
But why?
Why was she threatening her?
Heira, utterly bewildered, managed to force a trembling voice through her constricted throat.
Yet as Heira watched, the strength gradually drained from Serika's hand, and then it slid down, as if sliding over her shoulder and down her back.
"Sorry, I'm a little tired, so I made a mistake."
The tension eased in a single moment.
After Serika stroked Heira's head as if nothing had happened, she silently turned away, smoothing her hair.
"It's late, so I should go to sleep. See you tomorrow, Heira."
Had her shoulders drooped lower than when she first entered the room, worn down by the late-night fatigue?
Heira, watching her retreating figure, tried to say something, but by the time she opened her mouth, Serika had already closed the door and left.
"...Yeah, see you tomorrow. Serika sister."
She just stared at the space where Serika had been, leaving behind only a belated greeting.
That was all Heira, who still knew little about her, could manage.
***
-Chirp, chirp.
The sound of crickets echoing in the dark room.
Heira, who had been listening to that sound, stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling and pulled the blanket covering her body tighter.
It was well past the hour when she'd normally be asleep, yet for some reason, sleep refused to come.
It was probably due to her own habit. She always reflected on the day's events just before bed, and today, she'd experienced so much more than usual.
'Serika sister, she was kind.'
After she descended into human society, Serika was the first person to show her enough warmth to brush her hair.
Of course, she had been flustered when Serika suddenly hugged her upon their first meeting, but wasn't that, in the end, a sign that she had formed a good impression of her?
Though it was a little scary at the end, they parted without incident, so they could probably get along well....
'Yes, Serika sister is a good person.'
Having finished her assessment of her like that, Heira recalled what happened in the bathhouse.
The other member of their party, who had looked after her when she was overcome with dizziness from the heat.
'That person, should I call her sister too?'
Serika had said it was fine to call her that, but perhaps, from her perspective, she might not like the way Heira addressed her.
So, shouldn't she hold off on calling her "sister" for now? She continued to agonize, tossing and turning in bed for several minutes.
Eventually, deciding to set aside the unresolvable dilemma, Heira buried her body deep within the blankets once more and reached a hand toward her body, which was growing hot.
'Dave is....'
The one who came to mind after the other two....
The man who had created the opportunity for her to join this party.
'Does Dave like those two as well?'
The emotions both Serika and Ymir held toward him were clearly affection.
The same was true for her. Though they had only met for the first time today, her first impression of him felt distinctly different from other humans.
If something like fate existed, it was him.
The feelings that stemmed from that were surely something you could call 'liking' him.
'Could he come to like me as much as he likes those two?'
Of course, there was a vast difference between the emotions felt by humans and elves.
Even she herself, though young, had lived five times longer than they had.
Differences in feelings born from such a long lifespan were inevitable. Heira understood that much at least.
'...Why.'
Yes, those two wouldn't act like this.
Wasn't it obviously strange, by anyone's reckoning, for her lower half to grow wet simply from thinking of him?
'Why does my body heat up whenever I think of Dave?'
The moment confusion separated her actions from her reason.
What came after was left purely to instinct.
'How strange.'
Slick, slick. The moment she slid a finger inside her damp channel.
As her body trembled from the strange sensation it produced, Heira's other hand began to move toward her own mouth.
'This is strange....'
In the end, this act of just thrusting randomly, with no regard for erogenous zones, produced an irritation that, for some reason, felt even worse than it had in the morning.
'I can't help but feel it's not enough.'
What in the world was not enough?
In the end, Heira failed to realize it herself.
Even though she had lived a hundred years and was being unknowingly defiled, still, her heart, innocent of sex, remained frozen in her girlish days....
-Clatter.
Yes, that was the moment the door to the room opened.
Heira, who had reflexively stopped her actions, began to listen intently, still hidden beneath the blanket.
'W-Who?'
Someone had entered the room.
Then came the click of the door locking. The footsteps were being muffled as much as possible, but to Heira's sensitive ears, they were clearly audible.
'Serika sister? Or maybe....'
The moment her body froze from tension, the blanket was smoothly drawn back. In that instant, the light of the lantern in the room revealed his figure to her eyes.
A very large build, and the atmosphere....
"...Da-ve?"
It was definitely the man she had been thinking about just moments before, but perhaps because the lantern was behind him, she couldn't make out his expression properly.
She prided herself on her excellent night vision, but right now she could barely manage to cool her heated body down as it was.
"Were you asleep?"
Dave asked cautiously, seemingly unaware of her state.
Only then did Heira laboriously push herself up and prepare to face him.
"...No, I couldn't sleep."
But she could not bring herself to meet his eyes.
Without knowing why, she felt she must not be caught doing what she had been doing.
"I suppose it's natural. This dungeon is an unfamiliar environment for you, Heira, so you might have been nervous. Still, it's a problem. We have a quest tomorrow, but if you're short on sleep...."
"...No, it's fine. I'm used to staying up all night."
Though she was an elf who lived for thousands of years, missing one or two nights of sleep wouldn't cause any major physical problems, would it?
Rather, it was him, not herself, that she was worried about.
He hadn't even had a proper meal while preparing food for them, and he'd been out and about until this late hour to take care of personal business.
"Dave... did you finish your business well?"
"Ah, well... I bought everything I needed. Did Heira get along well with the other two while I was gone?"
"...Yes. We got along well."
Heira answered Dave's words cautiously. Her words weren't just empty pretense or politeness.
"Both of them were kind."
Though they hadn't spent much time together yet, she had received their consideration.
To the man who had provided her that opportunity, Heira felt a simple sense of gratitude.
"That's a relief."
Because he, too, was showing kindness toward her.
Outwardly, that is.
For the moment her keen senses caught the emotion behind his words, Heira, sensing something amiss, began to slowly lift her lowered head.
"What...."
It was then that she finally came face-to-face with him after he entered the room.
Yes, only then did Heira confirm what expression Dave wore.
A complex and subtle one....
Yet from it, a sorrowful emotion he couldn't bring himself to erase was aimed directly at her.
-Snap!
Before she could understand its meaning, his fingers snapped.
And starting from that moment, memories that had been lying dormant began to resurface.
"...Ah."
Her head reeled from the shock of returning memories.
The gasp that escaped her lips signaled it was no small matter, but Dave only uttered a cold voice, as if nothing had happened.
"It's time to wake up, elf miss."
The atmosphere reversed.
The moment she recognized it, Heira steadied her breath and began to face him again.
What existed there was a sight where the fake smile, the warmth from when he first embraced her, and even the sorrowful gaze she last saw had all vanished....
A gaze that purely displayed contempt toward her.
"Your memories are back, aren't they?"
"Yes.... They've come back...."
-Smack!!
But what met her, even as Heira tried to accept that, was a merciless slap.
The moment her raised torso collapsed ruthlessly onto the bed.
"...Eh, huh?"
Unable to comprehend what had just happened, Heira lifted her blank face, clutching her own cheek.
He hit her.
Dave had hit her. Truly and ruthlessly, after restoring her memories.
"If your memories are back, you should shut your mouth, strip your clothes off first, and kneel on the bed. You clueless little insect whore."
What came from his lips was a verbal abuse even more ruthless than the previous violence.
To Heira, who remembered his kind demeanor, it felt like a dagger stabbing into her heart, but she chose not to rebuke him and instead composed herself.
Even knowing that the kindness he first showed was nothing but a pretense.
It had been her own choice to follow him, because she could not forget that warmth.
"S-Sor...."
-Smack!!
Heira collapsed onto the bed again from the merciless slap that followed.
"...Sorry?"
Though her hands, trying to support her torso, trembled pitifully, only a snicker escaped Dave's lips as he looked down at her.
"You stupid elf bitch. Seems like your memory's still hazy and you've forgotten... Did I ever give you permission to drop the honorifics?"
"...N-no."
-Smack!!
Another slap landed in the same spot.
The act continued until the answer he wanted came out.
As if he was waiting for the girl, unaccustomed to such treatment, to realize on her own how to handle this situation.
"N-No. I am sor...."
The act stopped only when a formal tone escaped her lips.
Soon after, Heira, having stripped herself naked, knelt submissively on the bedsheet and began to let out a tearful voice.
"My apologies, Mas... ter."
Her mind was dominated, her freedom restrained, and with only her ego awakened, she uttered words endlessly degrading her own existence.
A state anyone would find utterly miserable and pitiful.
But Dave did not sympathize with her.
It had been her choice, despite his refusal, to follow him in the first place.
From his perspective, since he had not wanted her to follow him, what he had to do with her, now that he had taken her in, was erase the feelings she held for him.
"Yeah, you do as you're told."
A sadistic smile began to creep across the man's lips at the cusp of that moment.
At the same time, the tools he had been carrying clattered from his arms and began to fill the floor.
A chained collar, a blindfold to seal sight, a mouth-opener with only a breathing hole left barely open, vibrating beads, and even a bizarrely shaped rod made to imitate a male organ.
"Still, anyone with a mouth can spout words...."
Dave, holding one of those tools in his hand, then reached out toward Heira's terror-stricken body and began to reveal his sadistic desires.
"But for those words to ring true, I'll have to carve into your very bones what kind of existence you are."
He declared it.
That he would thoroughly violate the heart of this naive and chaste elf who had lived for over a hundred years.