As part of an effort to expose Satyllus’ evil deeds, Welcy had once again been observing the Satyllus mansion since early morning. She rented a three-floor apartment in the neighborhood and spy on the mansion through the window. It goes without saying that she also collected all the findings from news coverage, but she still couldn’t find anything new from what she’s been doing. She had managed to get some information about some hidden rooms in the mansion from getting close to the servants and inebriating them for information, but the exact location of those rooms was still in the dark.
Supporting her elbow on the windowpane, Welcy observed the unchanging scenery languidly, until a loud noise reverberated from above her, causing her shoulders to tremble in shock.
Perhaps something fell on the rooftop of her building.
Following the impact, light knocking sounds echoed, indicating movement from whatever just landed, and Welcy could do naught but to look at the ceiling in terror.
Then, the cause of the noise descended from the rooftop. Her figure flashed briefly in front of the window and the person landed several meters below. In great panic, the girl immediately pounced on the window, opened its lock, and peeked her torso outwards to look straight down.
A girl with a small build stood there. Her hair glistened from the sun, and her shirt and short pants sport signs of wear and tear in multiple places. She recalled that figure, yet the expression the girl had betrays all the image she would identify her with.
“W-What are you doing?” asked Welcy timidly towards Flamm who just came crashing from the sky.
In response, the girl looked up to the source of the call in a scowl, but as soon as she recognized the person calling her out, her facial rout slackened.
“Welcy-san…aah, that’s right, you appeared at the right time. Mind coming with me?”
“Where?”
“I know where Satyllus’ hidden room is. We might get the information we’ve been looking for.”
“Huh!? Of course, I’m going! I’m going right now! Give me a moment!”
The girl was someone her elder brother trusts unconditionally, so there was no room in her heart to even doubt her.
Welcy flew out of her room after putting her jacket and backpack on before immediately rushing down the staircase, exiting the front door as if the apartment had exploded and stopped right in front of Flamm. The latter flashed a smile in response to her haste, but her eyes showed no sign her being entertained.
Feeling a sense of dread creeping up her spine, the girl heads for a direction opposite of the mansion under Flamm’s guidance.
“You said you know where the hidden room is, right?”
“That’s right. The entrance of that place lies somewhere else.”
“Huh…Where did you get that info…oh wait, I assume you can’t disclose that.”
That said, Welcy was still concerned. The girl had been snooping around for that exact information for ages and came up with nothing, so how could Flamm get that information in what seems to her an instant?
However, Flamm flatly answered:
“I beat that info out of the adventurers Satyllus hired just earlier.”
“…You beat the—”
“They took Milkit…my partner. Satyllus used to be her owner, so I think she just had some lingering attachment to her.”
“Oh, so that’s why…”
—that was why she had been seething with anger.
Nevertheless, knowing the reason behind that fury didn’t help her see Flamm as any less scary than she was.
“Here it is.”
Flamm stopped in front of a one-storied residential building with a bright green roof. She tried to pull the door open, but to no one’s surprise, it was tightly locked.
“Is the entrance of the hidden room inside this house?”
“That’s what they said…”
Flamm laid her ears on the door, and from inside, she could hear the echoes of two people’s footsteps.
“Isn’t that just someone living here?”
Then, just like what she’d do when visiting another normal house, she knocked on the door, prompting someone inside to come and answer. The door briskly opens, and the figure of a man in his thirties appeared. He looked smaller than the man who kidnapped Milkit, so the man was not the person Flamm was looking for.
“What’s going on, little miss?” asked the man with a gentle smile.
In turn, Flamm glared at the man, leaving Welcy perplexed as she turned to look at the two alternatingly.
“Did you see a girl being taken in here? She’s a small girl with bandages covering her face.”
“I don’t recall anyone like that. Ya lookin’ for her?”
“Yeah, her and her kidnapper.”
“Abduction, huh. And yer sayin’ that the kidnapper is ‘round here somewhere? …ah, now that ya mentioned it, I did see some shady people ‘round here.”
“Can I ask about that?”
To Flamm’s question, the man flashed a hearty grin and said, “Yeah, sure.”
Welcy, on the other hand, couldn’t shake the feeling that his smile was faked. As a reporter, she believed that people often put up faces to hide their true thoughts and characters, and she had to be able to look past these masks to fulfill her duty.
The man’s acting was flawless, but she can see that he’s warped on the fundamental level.
“It’d be bad to talk outside like this. Let’s get inside.”
“Of course.”
Flamm was about to quickly enter the house, but Welcy being unable to stop Flamm before it’s too late was left with no choice but to follow her in.
As they did, the door promptly closed, causing the girl to turn around in panic, spotting a man lying in ambush behind the door.
“DIE BITCH!”
With a yell, the man attacked her with a swing of his axe.
He was not the only one, however. There was another man hiding in the shade cast by the furniture, and the three men began to attack the two girls with their respective weapons.
With a yelp, Welcy’s reflex was to cover her head and crouch. No matter how strong Flamm is as an adventurer, she couldn’t think that she could take care of three armed men at once, so she closed her eyes tightly, believing that she was about to kick the bucket.
However, the pain she was expecting didn’t come.
She couldn’t hear the sounds within the house. Neither Flamm nor the men’s voices reached her ears. As she fearfully opened her eyes, what greets her was the one of the men’s lower half hitting the floor…with nothing else above his waist.
The girl shrieked, and when she looked up to Flamm in front of her, the person in question swung her sword lightly to rid its blade of the blood that stained it, and with a motion of returning her sword to its scabbard, the blade dissipates into particles and disappeared.
Flamm appeared to have taken care of the three attacking men all at once. Despite them having different injuries, they all end up being cleaved clean in two by the little girl.
Choking from the thick stench of blood, Welcy held her mouth with her hand, while the orange-haired girl stretched her hand out to her.
“Are you okay?”
“D-did you do that…in an instant?”
“Yeah, otherwise we’ll be killed.”
She had to kill to not be killed; a fair argument from the girl. However, no matter how sound that logic is, just about anyone would tremble before the scene that just unfolded, which led Welcy to hesitate from taking the hand that was stretched out to her.
In response of that reaction and the expression painted on Welcy’s face, even Flamm couldn’t help but to feel a bit hurt.
Flamm withdrew her hand, and while she hung her head, she continued deeper into the house.
“…I’m sorry, Flamm-chan” Welcy apologized instantly.
Without turning around to look at the girl, Flamm spoke. “I still understand the value of someone’s life…I know how important they are, how I should cherish it, and how I shouldn’t take them lightly.”
However, she doesn’t believe that she could hold all lives as equal, and instead, each persons had their own values to her.
“But take this for example. If you face a situation where someone put Reach-san or your family in the face of danger, and you had the choice to save them or some stranger who’s in the same predicament. What would you do?”
To Flamm, the two most important lives was her own and Milkit’s, and with that sense of value in mind, she wouldn’t even waste a second to choose.
“I myself will choose the most important person to me without a doubt, and I wouldn’t even hesitate to kill others to make sure of it…say, do you think this is wrong?”
The topic itself was extremely straightforward. The only difference between the two girls is that one of them lives her daily lives filled with exchanges of human lives, one that she desperately tries to break out of.
Thus, to dread that existence of the little girl who continued to fight just to live, was the same as insulting her.
“I’m…really sorry.”
“Don’t worry, I’m already over it. Come on, we should hurry and look for the entrance of that hidden room.”
Her remark was made with a cheerful voice, though it was an empty one.
It was a great shame for Welcy to allow someone younger than her to bury her pain like this. Thus, with a slap of her cheeks, she gave herself a smack on the back, saying “Get it together, me…” to shake off her fear and stand up.
Taking a deep breath fills the girl’s lungs with the stagnant air. The stench was displeasing and irritating, but the girl noticed that she recalled this smell from somewhere. She was supposed to be watering the plant after making breakfast with Flamm, but she couldn’t recall what happened to her afterwards.
She remembered that everything went dark, and when she came to, this is the situation she found herself in. Not being able to see anything, she wasn’t even sure if she’s still unconscious or if she’s awake with something blocking her vision.
“Mas…er…”
However, still being able to think clearly and having some degree of control of her body convinces her that she’s now awake. With that, she tried to grope at whatever was closing her eyes and remove it, and beyond the curtain of darkness and a slight blur was…a blue…carpet?
Judging by the sensation she could feel on the left side of her body, she was lying on the floor, on top of what she assumed to be a carpet made of wool.
Milkit lays her hands on the floor and slowly begun to rise to a sitting position, but when she looked around to figure out where she is, a gaudy woman appeared in front of her.
“Good morning, Milkit” said the woman, her grin so imposing she bared her gums for all to see.
Milkit knew this woman. She was the culprit who poisoned her without her knowledge that led to her face festering and inflamed; her former owner, Satyllus Francoise.
“A…ah…h-how…why…!?”
Fear choked the girl, preventing her from articulating properly. However, speaking the correct words was not her priority; she had to get away from this woman. “No…no way…” she mumbled repeatedly as she dragged herself away.
Looking at the poor girl’s response to her appearance, Satyllus let out an ominous giggle. “My oh my, I look away from you for just a while and you start acting like a human again. I’m soo happy! I wonder if you found yourself a good master?”
Between her now ragged breaths, Milkit yelled, “No…no…!” as she crawled to the corner of the room.
Satyllus, on the other hand, heaved a sigh of hot passion as she witnessed the girl scurry away like a terrified small animal. The woman then stood up and cornered the little girl, creating no escape routes despite the room’s vastness. Out of desperation, the cornered Milkit began clawing the wallpaper with her nails despite knowing its futility. To her, even a false hope like that was way better than the fear she experienced in the face of Satyllus.
“Oh you don’t have to be so scared…no one’s going to save you.”
“Master…masteerr…!”
“My, is your master someone so wonderful that they would go out of their way to look for such an unsightly slave like you? What a strange taste that person has, even though you can get someone a lot better if it’s for sexual relief.”
“Uuuu…mas, ter…!”
Satyllus reached out for the girl’s head, before gripping her hair tightly and brought her face closer. With madness burning in her eyes, the woman said;
“Isn’t that a shame…that you won’t meet this master of yours ANYMORE!”
“N-no…that’s not…!”
“Huuuh? Since when did you get ssoo brave to talk back to me, huh? Come on then, tell me! Why are you acting soo high and mighty?!”
“You’re not…my master…!”
“SINCE WHEN DID YOU THINK A SLAVE LIKE YOU HAS THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHO YOU WANT TO BE YOUR MASTER!?” the woman bellowed hysterically, peeling Milkit off the wall by her silvery hair. Satyllus then ripped a strand of the little girl’s hair and scoffed in a trance.
Milkit was dropped to the floor, and once again, she sets out to look for an exit in a panic.
However, the room has no doors. All four sides of the room was covered with only walls, denying her freedom no matter where she runs to.
Elegantly fluttering her dress, Satyllus heads for a nearby shelf and took a silver knife.
“Aaahh…A-AAAH…!”
The knife reflects the light from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, threatening the little slave girl as Satyllus continued her approach. Seeing the shining blade, the girl’s eyes begin to water as she once again clawed the wall to no avail.
“You see, this room is one I specially made; a hidden room behind a hidden room, lying beyond countless traps and camouflages, and the only person who knows about this room is myself. Do you want to know why? Well, it’s because everyone else who visited this room are all DEAD!”
“Master, master, master…”
The woman cackled. “I told you, nobody would come no matter how much you call for them. As a matter of fact, they can’t! This is my secret garden, my paradise on earth filled with my dreams! The only ones who are allowed in here are my toys and I only!!”
Satyllus spreads her arms, spinning as she dances.
There is yet another room where Satyllus keeps all of her other slaves. That’s where she spiked their food with poison or apply them directly before breaking them, physically and otherwise, one by one. However, she does not put them out of their misery in the end, for her ultimate pleasure lies in witnessing the destruction of beauty, and the writhing, struggling figures of her victims.
Conversely, for those whom she had deeper interests in…the “toys” whom she wants to destroy more thoroughly, she would bring them to this room. She would then torment them slowly and painfully. Hurting them…playing with them until they die. The cleaning up of the dead will then be the responsibility of the next slave she brings to the room, and all the while they did so, Satyllus would enjoy their despaired expression when they realize that they are next.
“I’ve heard rumors about you, you know? There’s no girl who had her face covered in bandages like you do, Milkit. I also heard that the injuries on your face had been healed as well! Did your master do that for you? What a wwonderful person they are…fixing my broken toy so I can just break them again! That’s why I’ve been aiming for you for a while, making sure I can get you on my hands, and this time…I will slowly, viciously play with you…! You see, you even got your feelings back! Before this, you always had no response no matter what I did to you, so it was sooo boring! Even though you have a pretty face, there’s nothing else for me to break! I even paid a good amount to buy you…I was sooo sad! Hey, do you feel sorry? Do you?”
Milkit’s response was a quick shake of her head.
“You’ve gotten cheeky. Don’t you know where you stand? Well, that’s what gets me going though! Oh, right, how about you start by showing me your face? I’ve got to start by seeing its beauty before I can fully relish in seeing it destroyed! That’s the spiciest detail about this! Come on now, hurry it up!”
Of course, Milkit is not going to let that happen, for the sight of her face only belongs to her master, Flamm. Thus, the girl curled up close to the wall as if to protect her face.
“You don’t want to show me? Aah, I see. You want to stay faithful to your master, huh? AHAHAHAHA!! Are you saying you have a forbidden love affair with your master!? What’s with those clothes anyways? Did youw maschur gave you that[1]? That’s such a preeetty waitress clothes, so you must find it so practical to use. They must have quite a fetish, don’t you think? They’re giving you that just to fulfill their fetishistic desire! Let me tell you, Milkit, the thing you have between the two of you is not love, you hear? It’s just pure, unadulterated, LUST!!”
“N-No! That’s not it…! My master is not that kind of person…!”
“AHHAHAHAHA! This is soooo funny! It’s been a while since my stomach hurts from laughing! Aaahaa!! This is comedy!! Hahah…I really…REALLY WANT TO BREAK YOUUU!!!”
With that yell, Satyllus pounced on Milkit. With the close contact, Milkit could feel the woman’s rough nasal breathing tickling her pale skin, which made her clatter her teeth in fear and disgust.
“Let’s start with a knife, shall we? Don’t worry, I’ve prepared whips, and needles. Oh and let’s not forget poisons! Let’s have some fun, shall we!?”
“…..uuu…”
“Lookie here~ This pretty little blade is coming straight at you…and when it touches you—”
“Hii!!?”
“Seee? That cold sensation is scary riiight? It’s terrifying riiight? Come and tremble! I wanted to see that face of yours since foreverrr!! What kind of face will you show me when you finally break? WE SHALL SEE IT TOGETHER!!”
With an almost inaudible sound, the blade tore through Milkit’s clothes. Though her skin was untouched, the action hurts her feelings more than it did her physically. Her precious clothes was one that her master bought for her, and combined with the memories it contains, Milkit found it more precious than her own well-being.
…and this woman is actively trying to ruin it.
“Next will be your SKIIIRRRRTTT!! Lookie look, your precious clothes are getting torn…!”
Just as she said, the frilly skirt is getting shredded by the second. On and on she goes, tearing up her skirt until her pale thighs and underwear was in plain sight.
“My oh my…such a lascivious slit! At this rate your master might forgo saving you and give in to their lust instead! Don’t worry though, because I’LL KILL YOU BEFORE THEY GET HERE!! Oh wait, wouldn’t that be necrophilia then? Mmm, how indecent. Even I can’t agree with something like that…aah, aaaaAAAHAHAHAHA!”
“Uu…aah…Masterrr…!”
Despite her cry, her voice would stop streaming out the moment the knife was presented in front of her, and that reaction alone made Satyllus cackle beyond belief.
Then, the woman grabbed the girl’s head and violently slammed it on the wall. Enjoying the groan of agony elated her, which was why she did it again.
“AGH…uu…GAUH…N-no…sto—BBH…!”
“Did you know that telling me to stop makes me want to do it even mooore? Aah, even more than that…you know that the more someone likes somebody, the more they want to torment them!?” said Satyllus, slamming Milkit’s head against the wall once more with considerably greater strength.
Of course, since Satyllus wasn’t an adventurer, that strength wasn’t enough to blow the girl’s consciousness away.
The girl falls limp on the ground, repeating her cry for help deliriously.
“Mas…ter…”
She believed that her master would definitely come to her rescue.
However, if what Satyllus said was true, Milkit knows that her wish would never come true. She knows that there are plenty of people stronger than Flamm, and there are as much barriers her master couldn’t overcome because of that.
Even then…the girl still wishes to believe. The girl had thrown away all hope for the world, but that hope alone is something she cannot let go.
“Sa..ve…me…”
“Goodness me, Milkit. Is a slave like you going to go so far to ask your master to save you?”
“U…uuuhh…”
She knows she’s asking for too much, but because her master was someone who gave her too much, she desperately tried to convince herself that she still wanted Flamm to risk her life to save her; something that a slave shouldn’t even think of asking her master to do.
Satyllus giggled once more. “You truly are interesting. Such a great catch only happens once in a while…I must truly take my time breaking you thoroughly…!”
Standing up, Satyllus stomped on Milkit’s midriff at full strength.
“HGH!”
“I MIGHT…”
“GBFH!”
“…JUST ACCIDENTALLY…”
“OGH…!”
“…KILL YOUUUUU!!”
The dull pain left her breathing ragged, and the feeling of nausea wells up. Her consciousness began to flicker, and her saliva begins flooding out of her mouth.
The one thought that passed by her during that moment was the words her master told her just yesterday.
I’m going to tell them that you’re my precious partner.
Partner.
Not a slave, but an existence that can stay next to her as an equal.
Milkit doesn’t know for sure what that relationship entails, for she had never spent a time with someone that she had that kind of closeness with.
However, if it’s a relationship of mutual give and take…wouldn’t that be something she could wish for?
“Save…me…masteerrr…!”
Of course, nothing would happen even if she says it again and again. It wasn’t a spell, so there’s no possible way her voice would have reached her master.
At best, it only showed that something had changed in Milkit’s heart, and to Satyllus who had been looking down at her, her futile cry for help was nothing but a spice for her entertainment.
“Mmhmhm, fufufu, HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU’RE STILL ASKING FOR HELP, AREN’T YOU!? AAAAAAHHH, YOU’RE A FAILURE OF A SLAAAAVE! YOU’RE STILL THINKING FONDLY OF YORU AMSTER NOW, HUUUH!? AHAHAHAHAHA!”
However, at that moment, her maniacal laugh was interrupted by a sound of explosion.
A part of the wall was blown away, kicking up a cloud of dust as it flies to the opposite wall and crumbles on impact.
“Haha…ha…”
Beyond the cloud of dust was a small humanoid figure.
“Huh…?
The breached wall left Satyllus stunned.
A screeching noise echoed around the room as the small figure appears to have been dragging a large sword across the floor as she approaches. As the dust settles, Satyllus could see the figure of the girl. That instant—
“You’re Fla—BHH!!”
Satyllus’ face was met with Flamm’s fist, sending the former flying through the air. Drawing an arc, the force behind the punch left her rotating before slamming her face on the wall. She bounced off the wall and fall lifelessly on the ground.
“MILKIIIITTT!!!”
Immediately, Flamm rushed over to her dear Milkit, circling her arms around the girl.
“I’m so sorry…It hurts, isn’t it? It was hard for you, isn’t it? I bet yo were scared…! I…I’m sorry I wasn’t careful enough…!”
Tears soon began to stream down her face, flooding down all the way to Milkit’s shoulders.
“Masteerrr!! You did nothing wrong master! It was me that…uu…ugh…aaah…I…I don’t know…but…just because…you’re here now…it’s…uuhhh…!!”
She wanted to let her know, that Flamm coming for her was more than enough, but even if she wanted to say that to her directly, but the strong grip of her master’s arm, the softness of her body and its warmth, and the sweet smell that never failed to bring her the sense of security…all of those sensation envelops her so good that she couldn’t put her thoughts to words.
“You…game…for be…master…master…!”
“Milkitt…!”
It was the same case for Flamm, whose head was in shambles at that time. The fact that Milkit was still alive squeezes her heart strongly to the point that she couldn’t say anything but her name.
“Woah, is this the letter exchanged with the church? And this is the hand-written receipt…right? The church’s stamp is here so…yeah, it’s a wrap for them.”
Welcy, who nonchalantly came into the room after Flamm, immediately begun to rummage the desk for any damning evidences, and damning evidence she found, outlining Satyllus’ exchanges with the Church behind closed doors. Even one sheet of paper in that desk was enough to send Satyllus to jail and destroy her entire business.
She was about to ask Flamm about what she should do, but she was startled by the girl’s figure, already holding her sword ready with one hand. The expression on her face wasn’t one of joyful reunion she showed earlier, and instead it had turned into the expression of pure, cold-blooded hatred.
“Ho…w…did you get through…”
“I broke through them all.”
Flamm didn’t face all of the traps laid beyond the dummy house and even those that follows head-on. Using the power of her Prana combined with the Inverse skill of hers to the full extent, she had managed to break them all.
“There should…have been…2 A-ranked adventurers…and a B-ranked adventurer as…well…!”
“I killed them all.”
Satyllus’ eyes widened in fear. She had the look of someone who could kill one, so she couldn’t have been lying.
Passing through the hidden corridor, she had to face a spearman, whom she subjugated quickly and killed with her Inverse magic.
Now, there is no one Satyllus could hide behind.
“Of course, you’re going to die as well.”
“W-Wait! If you kill me, there will be conseque—”
But then, the woman cut her own words as she came to a realization. The existence of this room is top secret; so much so that the only person who knows of its existence is Satyllus herself. Even worse, the fact that Flamm had broken through her guards and traps means that she had left plenty of breadcrumbs in her path.
The girl smiled, and even after figuring out what she was thinking, she began to laugh.
“Compared to this room, I didn’t really ransack the rooms that came before this, so if I put things back to its place, nobody would suspect a thing.”
“A…m…mo, money! I’ll give you however much you want! As…as long as you let me off!”
“Huh. Then I’ll take however much is worth the suffering you put Milkit through. How much will that be?”
“F-Five thousand…gold coins…or ten thou—KHA!?”
Without a delay, Flamm grabbed onto the woman’s collar and brought her face closer.
“You think you can buy that with money? Your life wouldn’t be enough to pay for it, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?”
“A…aah…p-please…I still, don’t want to die…!”
Flamm reached her hand towards the trembling woman’s ear. With a whisper, she muttered “Reversal”, and the woman’s ear was forcibly torn upside down and falls to the floor in pieces.
A shrill scream reverberated across the room. Falling limply, the woman held her bleeding ear, panting roughly like a dehydrated dog.
“Welcy-san, did you get what you need?”
“Yeah…well, some of them, at least” said Welcy, having collected Satyllus’ case-like personal belongings that happened to be scattered across the desk and holding them with both arms.
The servants of Satyllus’ house would get suspicious if they stayed for too long, and with this much collected, Welcy couldn’t ask for more.
“Then, can you return to the room outside with Milkit?”
“Uh…sure?”
“Are you not coming with us, master?” asked Milkit worriedly.
However, Flamm showed her a gentle smile in response.
“I just thought that I’ll be troubled if you see what I’m doing, Milkit.” That one sentence was enough to make Satyllus freeze. “I don’t want you to hate me, so…”
“…no matter what happens, I will never hate you, master!”
“Ahaha…you won’t believe how happy that makes me” said Flamm, blushing while scratching her cheek. “Well, it’s not going to be pretty, so can you go with Welcy-san for now?”
“…understood…”
Of course, Flamm understands Milkit’s sentiment of not wanting to be separated from her because of what happened.
However, what Flamm was about to do is something that would make professional torture look like a child’s play. That’s how much pain she wanted Satyllus to experience on the journey to her death, and it’s something Flamm would obviously want Milkit not to see.
Thus, while Welcy guided Milkit out of the room, Flamm sent her off with a smile.
That smile instantly disappeared the moment Milkit’s figure faded in the distance. She picked up the knife lying on the floor and looked down on Satyllus who was in turn looking up to her with a frightened expression.
How the table has turned. She had tormented Milkit in the same position just minutes ago, but now, she was in her shoes.
…no, the situation is not the same. Unlike Milkit, there was no one that could save her.
“AAH…AAAAAAAHHH!!! HYII…UGH…GAAAAAAHH!! M-MY ARMS…MY AAAAARMS!!”
Thus, all she had to cling onto was…
“NO, NOT MY FACE…STO—KHHAAAAA…GAHH, HHH, HHH, it’s still…NO—AAAAAAHHH!!?”
The pain beyond what Milkit had suffered,
“I’M…I’M GONNA DIE…NO, I DON’T WANT TO…WH—AAAAAAHHH, CHANGE…MY BO…DY…BA—NO, NO AAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
And fear,
“ST…OP…JU…UGH…JU…ST…ugg…gill…m…e…u…ugh…AAAAAAAHHH!!! G…ill…m…MEEEEE…!!!”
All delivered by Flamm’s own two hands.
Even Milkit and Welcy, who was waiting quite a distance outside the room, could still hear the echoes.
The sound of flesh churning…blood splattering…and bones grinding…The echoes of ripping and tearing was so jumbled up, they couldn’t imagine what’s being broken at all, and Satyllus’ bellowing didn’t help them at all.
“So uh…Milkit-chan, was it?”
“Yes.”
“Does Flamm-chan…always do that?”
“No, usually she’s a very kind master…since even though I look like this, she treasures me the most” Milkit remarked, blushing as she put laid her hand on her cheek.
“Sigh, she treasures you, huh…”
In short, one wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.
Soon, the sounds from within the room stopped, indicating the end of it all. Surprisingly, the Flamm who came out of the room hadn’t a single drop of blood on her person. Once again, she rushed over to Milkit and hugged her tightly. In response, Milkit narrowed her eyes, ecstatically nestling herself closer to her master and rubbing her cheeks on her body.
“I feel like I get why nii-san trusts her…but at the same time, I don’t get it” whispered Welcy, sighing as she witnessed the intimate exchange of the two.
As part of an effort to expose Satyllus’ evil deeds, Welcy had once again been observing the Satyllus mansion since early morning. She rented a three-floor apartment in the neighborhood and spy on the mansion through the window. It goes without saying that she also collected all the findings from news coverage, but she still couldn’t find anything new from what she’s been doing. She had managed to get some information about some hidden rooms in the mansion from getting close to the servants and inebriating them for information, but the exact location of those rooms was still in the dark.
Supporting her elbow on the windowpane, Welcy observed the unchanging scenery languidly, until a loud noise reverberated from above her, causing her shoulders to tremble in shock.
Perhaps something fell on the rooftop of her building.
Following the impact, light knocking sounds echoed, indicating movement from whatever just landed, and Welcy could do naught but to look at the ceiling in terror.
Then, the cause of the noise descended from the rooftop. Her figure flashed briefly in front of the window and the person landed several meters below. In great panic, the girl immediately pounced on the window, opened its lock, and peeked her torso outwards to look straight down.
A girl with a small build stood there. Her hair glistened from the sun, and her shirt and short pants sport signs of wear and tear in multiple places. She recalled that figure, yet the expression the girl had betrays all the image she would identify her with.
“W-What are you doing?” asked Welcy timidly towards Flamm who just came crashing from the sky.
In response, the girl looked up to the source of the call in a scowl, but as soon as she recognized the person calling her out, her facial rout slackened.
“Welcy-san…aah, that’s right, you appeared at the right time. Mind coming with me?”
“Where?”
“I know where Satyllus’ hidden room is. We might get the information we’ve been looking for.”
“Huh!? Of course, I’m going! I’m going right now! Give me a moment!”
The girl was someone her elder brother trusts unconditionally, so there was no room in her heart to even doubt her.
Welcy flew out of her room after putting her jacket and backpack on before immediately rushing down the staircase, exiting the front door as if the apartment had exploded and stopped right in front of Flamm. The latter flashed a smile in response to her haste, but her eyes showed no sign her being entertained.
Feeling a sense of dread creeping up her spine, the girl heads for a direction opposite of the mansion under Flamm’s guidance.
“You said you know where the hidden room is, right?”
“That’s right. The entrance of that place lies somewhere else.”
“Huh…Where did you get that info…oh wait, I assume you can’t disclose that.”
That said, Welcy was still concerned. The girl had been snooping around for that exact information for ages and came up with nothing, so how could Flamm get that information in what seems to her an instant?
However, Flamm flatly answered:
“I beat that info out of the adventurers Satyllus hired just earlier.”
“…You beat the—”
“They took Milkit…my partner. Satyllus used to be her owner, so I think she just had some lingering attachment to her.”
“Oh, so that’s why…”
—that was why she had been seething with anger.
Nevertheless, knowing the reason behind that fury didn’t help her see Flamm as any less scary than she was.
“Here it is.”
Flamm stopped in front of a one-storied residential building with a bright green roof. She tried to pull the door open, but to no one’s surprise, it was tightly locked.
“Is the entrance of the hidden room inside this house?”
“That’s what they said…”
Flamm laid her ears on the door, and from inside, she could hear the echoes of two people’s footsteps.
“Isn’t that just someone living here?”
Then, just like what she’d do when visiting another normal house, she knocked on the door, prompting someone inside to come and answer. The door briskly opens, and the figure of a man in his thirties appeared. He looked smaller than the man who kidnapped Milkit, so the man was not the person Flamm was looking for.
“What’s going on, little miss?” asked the man with a gentle smile.
In turn, Flamm glared at the man, leaving Welcy perplexed as she turned to look at the two alternatingly.
“Did you see a girl being taken in here? She’s a small girl with bandages covering her face.”
“I don’t recall anyone like that. Ya lookin’ for her?”
“Yeah, her and her kidnapper.”
“Abduction, huh. And yer sayin’ that the kidnapper is ‘round here somewhere? …ah, now that ya mentioned it, I did see some shady people ‘round here.”
“Can I ask about that?”
To Flamm’s question, the man flashed a hearty grin and said, “Yeah, sure.”
Welcy, on the other hand, couldn’t shake the feeling that his smile was faked. As a reporter, she believed that people often put up faces to hide their true thoughts and characters, and she had to be able to look past these masks to fulfill her duty.
The man’s acting was flawless, but she can see that he’s warped on the fundamental level.
“It’d be bad to talk outside like this. Let’s get inside.”
“Of course.”
Flamm was about to quickly enter the house, but Welcy being unable to stop Flamm before it’s too late was left with no choice but to follow her in.
As they did, the door promptly closed, causing the girl to turn around in panic, spotting a man lying in ambush behind the door.
“DIE BITCH!”
With a yell, the man attacked her with a swing of his axe.
He was not the only one, however. There was another man hiding in the shade cast by the furniture, and the three men began to attack the two girls with their respective weapons.
With a yelp, Welcy’s reflex was to cover her head and crouch. No matter how strong Flamm is as an adventurer, she couldn’t think that she could take care of three armed men at once, so she closed her eyes tightly, believing that she was about to kick the bucket.
However, the pain she was expecting didn’t come.
She couldn’t hear the sounds within the house. Neither Flamm nor the men’s voices reached her ears. As she fearfully opened her eyes, what greets her was the one of the men’s lower half hitting the floor…with nothing else above his waist.
The girl shrieked, and when she looked up to Flamm in front of her, the person in question swung her sword lightly to rid its blade of the blood that stained it, and with a motion of returning her sword to its scabbard, the blade dissipates into particles and disappeared.
Flamm appeared to have taken care of the three attacking men all at once. Despite them having different injuries, they all end up being cleaved clean in two by the little girl.
Choking from the thick stench of blood, Welcy held her mouth with her hand, while the orange-haired girl stretched her hand out to her.
“Are you okay?”
“D-did you do that…in an instant?”
“Yeah, otherwise we’ll be killed.”
She had to kill to not be killed; a fair argument from the girl. However, no matter how sound that logic is, just about anyone would tremble before the scene that just unfolded, which led Welcy to hesitate from taking the hand that was stretched out to her.
In response of that reaction and the expression painted on Welcy’s face, even Flamm couldn’t help but to feel a bit hurt.
Flamm withdrew her hand, and while she hung her head, she continued deeper into the house.
“…I’m sorry, Flamm-chan” Welcy apologized instantly.
Without turning around to look at the girl, Flamm spoke. “I still understand the value of someone’s life…I know how important they are, how I should cherish it, and how I shouldn’t take them lightly.”
However, she doesn’t believe that she could hold all lives as equal, and instead, each persons had their own values to her.
“But take this for example. If you face a situation where someone put Reach-san or your family in the face of danger, and you had the choice to save them or some stranger who’s in the same predicament. What would you do?”
To Flamm, the two most important lives was her own and Milkit’s, and with that sense of value in mind, she wouldn’t even waste a second to choose.
“I myself will choose the most important person to me without a doubt, and I wouldn’t even hesitate to kill others to make sure of it…say, do you think this is wrong?”
The topic itself was extremely straightforward. The only difference between the two girls is that one of them lives her daily lives filled with exchanges of human lives, one that she desperately tries to break out of.
Thus, to dread that existence of the little girl who continued to fight just to live, was the same as insulting her.
“I’m…really sorry.”
“Don’t worry, I’m already over it. Come on, we should hurry and look for the entrance of that hidden room.”
Her remark was made with a cheerful voice, though it was an empty one.
It was a great shame for Welcy to allow someone younger than her to bury her pain like this. Thus, with a slap of her cheeks, she gave herself a smack on the back, saying “Get it together, me…” to shake off her fear and stand up.
Taking a deep breath fills the girl’s lungs with the stagnant air. The stench was displeasing and irritating, but the girl noticed that she recalled this smell from somewhere. She was supposed to be watering the plant after making breakfast with Flamm, but she couldn’t recall what happened to her afterwards.
She remembered that everything went dark, and when she came to, this is the situation she found herself in. Not being able to see anything, she wasn’t even sure if she’s still unconscious or if she’s awake with something blocking her vision.
“Mas…er…”
However, still being able to think clearly and having some degree of control of her body convinces her that she’s now awake. With that, she tried to grope at whatever was closing her eyes and remove it, and beyond the curtain of darkness and a slight blur was…a blue…carpet?
Judging by the sensation she could feel on the left side of her body, she was lying on the floor, on top of what she assumed to be a carpet made of wool.
Milkit lays her hands on the floor and slowly begun to rise to a sitting position, but when she looked around to figure out where she is, a gaudy woman appeared in front of her.
“Good morning, Milkit” said the woman, her grin so imposing she bared her gums for all to see.
Milkit knew this woman. She was the culprit who poisoned her without her knowledge that led to her face festering and inflamed; her former owner, Satyllus Francoise.
“A…ah…h-how…why…!?”
Fear choked the girl, preventing her from articulating properly. However, speaking the correct words was not her priority; she had to get away from this woman. “No…no way…” she mumbled repeatedly as she dragged herself away.
Looking at the poor girl’s response to her appearance, Satyllus let out an ominous giggle. “My oh my, I look away from you for just a while and you start acting like a human again. I’m soo happy! I wonder if you found yourself a good master?”
Between her now ragged breaths, Milkit yelled, “No…no…!” as she crawled to the corner of the room.
Satyllus, on the other hand, heaved a sigh of hot passion as she witnessed the girl scurry away like a terrified small animal. The woman then stood up and cornered the little girl, creating no escape routes despite the room’s vastness. Out of desperation, the cornered Milkit began clawing the wallpaper with her nails despite knowing its futility. To her, even a false hope like that was way better than the fear she experienced in the face of Satyllus.
“Oh you don’t have to be so scared…no one’s going to save you.”
“Master…masteerr…!”
“My, is your master someone so wonderful that they would go out of their way to look for such an unsightly slave like you? What a strange taste that person has, even though you can get someone a lot better if it’s for sexual relief.”
“Uuuu…mas, ter…!”
Satyllus reached out for the girl’s head, before gripping her hair tightly and brought her face closer. With madness burning in her eyes, the woman said;
“Isn’t that a shame…that you won’t meet this master of yours ANYMORE!”
“N-no…that’s not…!”
“Huuuh? Since when did you get ssoo brave to talk back to me, huh? Come on then, tell me! Why are you acting soo high and mighty?!”
“You’re not…my master…!”
“SINCE WHEN DID YOU THINK A SLAVE LIKE YOU HAS THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHO YOU WANT TO BE YOUR MASTER!?” the woman bellowed hysterically, peeling Milkit off the wall by her silvery hair. Satyllus then ripped a strand of the little girl’s hair and scoffed in a trance.
Milkit was dropped to the floor, and once again, she sets out to look for an exit in a panic.
However, the room has no doors. All four sides of the room was covered with only walls, denying her freedom no matter where she runs to.
Elegantly fluttering her dress, Satyllus heads for a nearby shelf and took a silver knife.
“Aaahh…A-AAAH…!”
The knife reflects the light from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, threatening the little slave girl as Satyllus continued her approach. Seeing the shining blade, the girl’s eyes begin to water as she once again clawed the wall to no avail.
“You see, this room is one I specially made; a hidden room behind a hidden room, lying beyond countless traps and camouflages, and the only person who knows about this room is myself. Do you want to know why? Well, it’s because everyone else who visited this room are all DEAD!”
“Master, master, master…”
The woman cackled. “I told you, nobody would come no matter how much you call for them. As a matter of fact, they can’t! This is my secret garden, my paradise on earth filled with my dreams! The only ones who are allowed in here are my toys and I only!!”
Satyllus spreads her arms, spinning as she dances.
There is yet another room where Satyllus keeps all of her other slaves. That’s where she spiked their food with poison or apply them directly before breaking them, physically and otherwise, one by one. However, she does not put them out of their misery in the end, for her ultimate pleasure lies in witnessing the destruction of beauty, and the writhing, struggling figures of her victims.
Conversely, for those whom she had deeper interests in…the “toys” whom she wants to destroy more thoroughly, she would bring them to this room. She would then torment them slowly and painfully. Hurting them…playing with them until they die. The cleaning up of the dead will then be the responsibility of the next slave she brings to the room, and all the while they did so, Satyllus would enjoy their despaired expression when they realize that they are next.
“I’ve heard rumors about you, you know? There’s no girl who had her face covered in bandages like you do, Milkit. I also heard that the injuries on your face had been healed as well! Did your master do that for you? What a wwonderful person they are…fixing my broken toy so I can just break them again! That’s why I’ve been aiming for you for a while, making sure I can get you on my hands, and this time…I will slowly, viciously play with you…! You see, you even got your feelings back! Before this, you always had no response no matter what I did to you, so it was sooo boring! Even though you have a pretty face, there’s nothing else for me to break! I even paid a good amount to buy you…I was sooo sad! Hey, do you feel sorry? Do you?”
Milkit’s response was a quick shake of her head.
“You’ve gotten cheeky. Don’t you know where you stand? Well, that’s what gets me going though! Oh, right, how about you start by showing me your face? I’ve got to start by seeing its beauty before I can fully relish in seeing it destroyed! That’s the spiciest detail about this! Come on now, hurry it up!”
Of course, Milkit is not going to let that happen, for the sight of her face only belongs to her master, Flamm. Thus, the girl curled up close to the wall as if to protect her face.
“You don’t want to show me? Aah, I see. You want to stay faithful to your master, huh? AHAHAHAHA!! Are you saying you have a forbidden love affair with your master!? What’s with those clothes anyways? Did youw maschur gave you that[1]? That’s such a preeetty waitress clothes, so you must find it so practical to use. They must have quite a fetish, don’t you think? They’re giving you that just to fulfill their fetishistic desire! Let me tell you, Milkit, the thing you have between the two of you is not love, you hear? It’s just pure, unadulterated, LUST!!”
“N-No! That’s not it…! My master is not that kind of person…!”
“AHHAHAHAHA! This is soooo funny! It’s been a while since my stomach hurts from laughing! Aaahaa!! This is comedy!! Hahah…I really…REALLY WANT TO BREAK YOUUU!!!”
With that yell, Satyllus pounced on Milkit. With the close contact, Milkit could feel the woman’s rough nasal breathing tickling her pale skin, which made her clatter her teeth in fear and disgust.
“Let’s start with a knife, shall we? Don’t worry, I’ve prepared whips, and needles. Oh and let’s not forget poisons! Let’s have some fun, shall we!?”
“…..uuu…”
“Lookie here~ This pretty little blade is coming straight at you…and when it touches you—”
“Hii!!?”
“Seee? That cold sensation is scary riiight? It’s terrifying riiight? Come and tremble! I wanted to see that face of yours since foreverrr!! What kind of face will you show me when you finally break? WE SHALL SEE IT TOGETHER!!”
With an almost inaudible sound, the blade tore through Milkit’s clothes. Though her skin was untouched, the action hurts her feelings more than it did her physically. Her precious clothes was one that her master bought for her, and combined with the memories it contains, Milkit found it more precious than her own well-being.
…and this woman is actively trying to ruin it.
“Next will be your SKIIIRRRRTTT!! Lookie look, your precious clothes are getting torn…!”
Just as she said, the frilly skirt is getting shredded by the second. On and on she goes, tearing up her skirt until her pale thighs and underwear was in plain sight.
“My oh my…such a lascivious slit! At this rate your master might forgo saving you and give in to their lust instead! Don’t worry though, because I’LL KILL YOU BEFORE THEY GET HERE!! Oh wait, wouldn’t that be necrophilia then? Mmm, how indecent. Even I can’t agree with something like that…aah, aaaaAAAHAHAHAHA!”
“Uu…aah…Masterrr…!”
Despite her cry, her voice would stop streaming out the moment the knife was presented in front of her, and that reaction alone made Satyllus cackle beyond belief.
Then, the woman grabbed the girl’s head and violently slammed it on the wall. Enjoying the groan of agony elated her, which was why she did it again.
“AGH…uu…GAUH…N-no…sto—BBH…!”
“Did you know that telling me to stop makes me want to do it even mooore? Aah, even more than that…you know that the more someone likes somebody, the more they want to torment them!?” said Satyllus, slamming Milkit’s head against the wall once more with considerably greater strength.
Of course, since Satyllus wasn’t an adventurer, that strength wasn’t enough to blow the girl’s consciousness away.
The girl falls limp on the ground, repeating her cry for help deliriously.
“Mas…ter…”
She believed that her master would definitely come to her rescue.
However, if what Satyllus said was true, Milkit knows that her wish would never come true. She knows that there are plenty of people stronger than Flamm, and there are as much barriers her master couldn’t overcome because of that.
Even then…the girl still wishes to believe. The girl had thrown away all hope for the world, but that hope alone is something she cannot let go.
“Sa..ve…me…”
“Goodness me, Milkit. Is a slave like you going to go so far to ask your master to save you?”
“U…uuuhh…”
She knows she’s asking for too much, but because her master was someone who gave her too much, she desperately tried to convince herself that she still wanted Flamm to risk her life to save her; something that a slave shouldn’t even think of asking her master to do.
Satyllus giggled once more. “You truly are interesting. Such a great catch only happens once in a while…I must truly take my time breaking you thoroughly…!”
Standing up, Satyllus stomped on Milkit’s midriff at full strength.
“HGH!”
“I MIGHT…”
“GBFH!”
“…JUST ACCIDENTALLY…”
“OGH…!”
“…KILL YOUUUUU!!”
The dull pain left her breathing ragged, and the feeling of nausea wells up. Her consciousness began to flicker, and her saliva begins flooding out of her mouth.
The one thought that passed by her during that moment was the words her master told her just yesterday.
I’m going to tell them that you’re my precious partner.
Partner.
Not a slave, but an existence that can stay next to her as an equal.
Milkit doesn’t know for sure what that relationship entails, for she had never spent a time with someone that she had that kind of closeness with.
However, if it’s a relationship of mutual give and take…wouldn’t that be something she could wish for?
“Save…me…masteerrr…!”
Of course, nothing would happen even if she says it again and again. It wasn’t a spell, so there’s no possible way her voice would have reached her master.
At best, it only showed that something had changed in Milkit’s heart, and to Satyllus who had been looking down at her, her futile cry for help was nothing but a spice for her entertainment.
“Mmhmhm, fufufu, HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU’RE STILL ASKING FOR HELP, AREN’T YOU!? AAAAAAHHH, YOU’RE A FAILURE OF A SLAAAAVE! YOU’RE STILL THINKING FONDLY OF YORU AMSTER NOW, HUUUH!? AHAHAHAHAHA!”
However, at that moment, her maniacal laugh was interrupted by a sound of explosion.
A part of the wall was blown away, kicking up a cloud of dust as it flies to the opposite wall and crumbles on impact.
“Haha…ha…”
Beyond the cloud of dust was a small humanoid figure.
“Huh…?
The breached wall left Satyllus stunned.
A screeching noise echoed around the room as the small figure appears to have been dragging a large sword across the floor as she approaches. As the dust settles, Satyllus could see the figure of the girl. That instant—
“You’re Fla—BHH!!”
Satyllus’ face was met with Flamm’s fist, sending the former flying through the air. Drawing an arc, the force behind the punch left her rotating before slamming her face on the wall. She bounced off the wall and fall lifelessly on the ground.
“MILKIIIITTT!!!”
Immediately, Flamm rushed over to her dear Milkit, circling her arms around the girl.
“I’m so sorry…It hurts, isn’t it? It was hard for you, isn’t it? I bet yo were scared…! I…I’m sorry I wasn’t careful enough…!”
Tears soon began to stream down her face, flooding down all the way to Milkit’s shoulders.
“Masteerrr!! You did nothing wrong master! It was me that…uu…ugh…aaah…I…I don’t know…but…just because…you’re here now…it’s…uuhhh…!!”
She wanted to let her know, that Flamm coming for her was more than enough, but even if she wanted to say that to her directly, but the strong grip of her master’s arm, the softness of her body and its warmth, and the sweet smell that never failed to bring her the sense of security…all of those sensation envelops her so good that she couldn’t put her thoughts to words.
“You…game…for be…master…master…!”
“Milkitt…!”
It was the same case for Flamm, whose head was in shambles at that time. The fact that Milkit was still alive squeezes her heart strongly to the point that she couldn’t say anything but her name.
“Woah, is this the letter exchanged with the church? And this is the hand-written receipt…right? The church’s stamp is here so…yeah, it’s a wrap for them.”
Welcy, who nonchalantly came into the room after Flamm, immediately begun to rummage the desk for any damning evidences, and damning evidence she found, outlining Satyllus’ exchanges with the Church behind closed doors. Even one sheet of paper in that desk was enough to send Satyllus to jail and destroy her entire business.
She was about to ask Flamm about what she should do, but she was startled by the girl’s figure, already holding her sword ready with one hand. The expression on her face wasn’t one of joyful reunion she showed earlier, and instead it had turned into the expression of pure, cold-blooded hatred.
“Ho…w…did you get through…”
“I broke through them all.”
Flamm didn’t face all of the traps laid beyond the dummy house and even those that follows head-on. Using the power of her Prana combined with the Inverse skill of hers to the full extent, she had managed to break them all.
“There should…have been…2 A-ranked adventurers…and a B-ranked adventurer as…well…!”
“I killed them all.”
Satyllus’ eyes widened in fear. She had the look of someone who could kill one, so she couldn’t have been lying.
Passing through the hidden corridor, she had to face a spearman, whom she subjugated quickly and killed with her Inverse magic.
Now, there is no one Satyllus could hide behind.
“Of course, you’re going to die as well.”
“W-Wait! If you kill me, there will be conseque—”
But then, the woman cut her own words as she came to a realization. The existence of this room is top secret; so much so that the only person who knows of its existence is Satyllus herself. Even worse, the fact that Flamm had broken through her guards and traps means that she had left plenty of breadcrumbs in her path.
The girl smiled, and even after figuring out what she was thinking, she began to laugh.
“Compared to this room, I didn’t really ransack the rooms that came before this, so if I put things back to its place, nobody would suspect a thing.”
“A…m…mo, money! I’ll give you however much you want! As…as long as you let me off!”
“Huh. Then I’ll take however much is worth the suffering you put Milkit through. How much will that be?”
“F-Five thousand…gold coins…or ten thou—KHA!?”
Without a delay, Flamm grabbed onto the woman’s collar and brought her face closer.
“You think you can buy that with money? Your life wouldn’t be enough to pay for it, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?”
“A…aah…p-please…I still, don’t want to die…!”
Flamm reached her hand towards the trembling woman’s ear. With a whisper, she muttered “Reversal”, and the woman’s ear was forcibly torn upside down and falls to the floor in pieces.
A shrill scream reverberated across the room. Falling limply, the woman held her bleeding ear, panting roughly like a dehydrated dog.
“Welcy-san, did you get what you need?”
“Yeah…well, some of them, at least” said Welcy, having collected Satyllus’ case-like personal belongings that happened to be scattered across the desk and holding them with both arms.
The servants of Satyllus’ house would get suspicious if they stayed for too long, and with this much collected, Welcy couldn’t ask for more.
“Then, can you return to the room outside with Milkit?”
“Uh…sure?”
“Are you not coming with us, master?” asked Milkit worriedly.
However, Flamm showed her a gentle smile in response.
“I just thought that I’ll be troubled if you see what I’m doing, Milkit.” That one sentence was enough to make Satyllus freeze. “I don’t want you to hate me, so…”
“…no matter what happens, I will never hate you, master!”
“Ahaha…you won’t believe how happy that makes me” said Flamm, blushing while scratching her cheek. “Well, it’s not going to be pretty, so can you go with Welcy-san for now?”
“…understood…”
Of course, Flamm understands Milkit’s sentiment of not wanting to be separated from her because of what happened.
However, what Flamm was about to do is something that would make professional torture look like a child’s play. That’s how much pain she wanted Satyllus to experience on the journey to her death, and it’s something Flamm would obviously want Milkit not to see.
Thus, while Welcy guided Milkit out of the room, Flamm sent her off with a smile.
That smile instantly disappeared the moment Milkit’s figure faded in the distance. She picked up the knife lying on the floor and looked down on Satyllus who was in turn looking up to her with a frightened expression.
How the table has turned. She had tormented Milkit in the same position just minutes ago, but now, she was in her shoes.
…no, the situation is not the same. Unlike Milkit, there was no one that could save her.
“AAH…AAAAAAAHHH!!! HYII…UGH…GAAAAAAHH!! M-MY ARMS…MY AAAAARMS!!”
Thus, all she had to cling onto was…
“NO, NOT MY FACE…STO—KHHAAAAA…GAHH, HHH, HHH, it’s still…NO—AAAAAAHHH!!?”
The pain beyond what Milkit had suffered,
“I’M…I’M GONNA DIE…NO, I DON’T WANT TO…WH—AAAAAAHHH, CHANGE…MY BO…DY…BA—NO, NO AAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
And fear,
“ST…OP…JU…UGH…JU…ST…ugg…gill…m…e…u…ugh…AAAAAAAHHH!!! G…ill…m…MEEEEE…!!!”
All delivered by Flamm’s own two hands.
Even Milkit and Welcy, who was waiting quite a distance outside the room, could still hear the echoes.
The sound of flesh churning…blood splattering…and bones grinding…The echoes of ripping and tearing was so jumbled up, they couldn’t imagine what’s being broken at all, and Satyllus’ bellowing didn’t help them at all.
“So uh…Milkit-chan, was it?”
“Yes.”
“Does Flamm-chan…always do that?”
“No, usually she’s a very kind master…since even though I look like this, she treasures me the most” Milkit remarked, blushing as she put laid her hand on her cheek.
“Sigh, she treasures you, huh…”
In short, one wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.
Soon, the sounds from within the room stopped, indicating the end of it all. Surprisingly, the Flamm who came out of the room hadn’t a single drop of blood on her person. Once again, she rushed over to Milkit and hugged her tightly. In response, Milkit narrowed her eyes, ecstatically nestling herself closer to her master and rubbing her cheeks on her body.
“I feel like I get why nii-san trusts her…but at the same time, I don’t get it” whispered Welcy, sighing as she witnessed the intimate exchange of the two.
