Psycholor
Normally, I wouldn't do a notice like this; the story already has tags as well as Scribblehub's built in content warning flags set.
That being said, seeing as the overall tone has been pretty light hearted barring a handful of exceptions and some hints at the darker side; This is a content advisory. This chapter involves some extremely dark thematic elements including Slavery, and implied Physical/Emotional Abuse of a minor.
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
After the meeting with Duke Percius, I spent the next six days sequestered in my side building with Dominic. As he was entering his third year at the Academy, he was familiar with the material I would need to know for the exams I was set to take. As such, his father Count Francois instructed him to cram the knowledge into me. At first, he had been somewhat harsh about it, probably assuming I would meet failure. But after the second day, he was forced to admit I was coming along swimmingly all things considered. Of course, much of that was thanks to my Memorization talent I had picked up several years ago. I even managed to get the skill to level up in the process of cramming my head full of knowledge about the surrounding regions.
Margeritte would drop by at least once a day to look in on us. She seemed overly worried about me; having been made aware of the circumstances that lead to me having to study so much so quickly, she was behaving like a mother hen whose chick was in the jaws of a cat. Honestly, I just wish you would focus on your own daughter! Isn’t she going to be entering the academy next year? On the subject of Elienor, she had visited twice but had stopped coming once she learned there was nothing “interesting” going on. Personally, I greatly preferred my own little sister to this creature.
Jacqueline was spending a great deal of time away from me, still learning the locations of everything in the city. Even for someone with her skills, the slums had changed a great deal in the twelve years she had been gone from the capital, so relearning them was taking her time. Lucy seemed to be my primary attendant, though Frieda was the senior employee out of the two. While Lucy attended me during my study sessions, Frieda would busy herself with this and that, maintaining the side building I was housed in.
Finally, on the evening of the sixth day, Dominic sat up. “Well, at this point, you will either pass or you will fail. There is not much good in stressing over it anymore; I think you should take a day off from studying tomorrow that way on the first day of next week you can approach the tests with a refreshed mind.” You aren’t fooling me, Dominic. I can tell you’re just fed up with going over all this material for ten hours a day. Still, you have a point about relaxing. It would be beneficial.
“Dominic…” At some point during our studying, he had all but ordered me to call him by name when we were alone, and only use the lord title when there were non-attendants present. Even though I personally didn’t really care for being overly familiar with him, there was little I could do after he ignored my socially acceptable protests, so I had begrudgingly agreed to do so.
“Hmm? What is it Stahlia?” His own speech had become much more casual after I agreed to call him casually.
“…Do you believe your father would permit me to go into the city? If I am to relax I do not think I could do it cooped up in this building as I have been. For better or worse, I now associate this room with endless studies.” That was of course, largely a lie. I would be perfectly content to remain in this room provided I was alone. I was already confident I could pass the tests and had now moved my mind along to information gathering, a purpose which would necessitate me going out.
However, in order to go out, I would require his father’s permission, since I intended to go to the Upper and Lower cities and needed a writ of passage to leave the Noble Quarter. Sneaking out was an option, technically. But I would rather be more familiar with the city before attempting that as I had only been here a week, and most of that had been spent cooped up to study.
“Permission to go out? Right, you are probably curious about the city, Ris is so small in comparison. I will consult with my father for you.” Attempting not to show my displeasure, I thanked him for his offer and bid farewell as he left, accompanied by his own attendant. It was already getting late, so I retired to bed after a quick meal and a bath.
★★★★★★
“Dominic… why are we here?” I questioned the young man stood slightly in front of me with what I could only assume was a confused expression spread across my face.
“Well Stahlia, you told me you wanted to see some places you did not have in Ris Village. This was the first that came to mind.” He seemed utterly pleased with his choice of location for some reason.
“I mean… I did say that, but…” Dominic cut me off and beckoned me to the door held open by two well-oiled muscular men. Both were naked from the waist up, showing off a well-tanned six-pack and large pectorals. Additionally, they were collared. Sighing, as I couldn’t see a socially acceptable way out of this situation, I hesitatingly walked through the door and into the building.
This had all started last night. Dominic’s attendant had come and informed Lucy that Count Francois had given permission for my outing on the condition that Dominic and Gregory would accompany us. I had been less than thrilled with the idea, but given it was the only way I could get out into the city, I had agreed and thanked him readily enough. The next morning, Lucy dressed me in a dress with far fewer frills than I had been expecting. When questioned, she informed me that Dominic and I would be going out under the guise of being upper-class merchants as opposed to young nobles. That was something I could get behind, so I agreed without too much fuss.
When I got down to the estate’s courtyard, Dominic and Gregory had been waiting for me. I had wanted to bring Stil, but Lucy advised that bringing a monster into the city could cause problems that we could not solve without borrowing Francois’ name, which would blow our cover. I was slightly concerned with going out and not having one of my guards with me, but I knew that Jacqueline would be observing from somewhere out of sight, so I didn’t argue with Lucy over Stil.
Dominic had then asked me if I had anywhere in mind to go. Of course, he had to have known that I wouldn’t have the faintest about any places in the city. Normally I would profess a desire to visit an alchemy workshop, but I had no desire to bring Dominic to a place I was looking forward to seeing, his presence was sure to spoil the atmosphere of any location visited. In lieu of that, I simply asked him to “Take me someplace I could not visit in Ris… If possible, I would like to see a Demi-human.” That had led to my current predicament.
We were at the “Bartmoss’ Slave Emporium” a licensed slave purveyor. Of course, I was already aware that slavery was legal in this world. It was also true that Ris didn’t have a slave market, so this qualified as “something I couldn’t see in Ris.” I would also probably be able to see Demi-humans here. That left me very little wiggle room to avoid going in. Still, I hope he doesn’t try and get me to buy one… I wasn’t about to start an emancipation movement, I wasn’t stupid; I had nowhere near enough political capital to ever be successful. But that didn’t mean I wanted to be involved in the slave trade myself.
The slave trade in Drakas was a government-sanctioned and regulated business. From what I understood, it was a well-organized one as well. From the signage I could see, it seemed that the Bartmoss’ Slave Emporium dealt in three of the five types of slaves.
The first type of slave, a Debt Slave, was a person who had fallen into debt they could not pay off. To cover part of their losses, their creditor was legally allowed to sell them as a slave. The second type was a Voluntary Slave. Voluntary Slaves were those individuals who had proactively chosen to sell themselves. This would be done usually to secure money for their family when they fell on hard times. Voluntary slaves would also be released after a certain period had elapsed as stipulated in their contract. Of course, whether or not that contract was actually honored was another thing entirely, so becoming a voluntary slave was viewed as a last resort, little better than becoming a debt slave.
The third type of slave sold here was a Born Slave. Born slaves were nominally the children of other slaves who had been born into bondage. However, the label also applied to those that the Drakas Kingdom declared as legally slaves by species, namely Demi-humans.
Indeed, it was perfectly legal to grab any Demi-human you found and put them under a slave contract. Slave Contracts were what ensured total obedience from a slave; they were a form of contract magic, which itself was a sub-school found in both Black and White magic. These contracts would compel their targets to follow the orders given by the owner with varying degrees of penalty for going against the owner. Anything from an uncomfortable itch that wouldn’t go away to instant death was possible.
The other two types of slaves that were not sold here were War Slaves and Illegal Slaves. War slaves were those taken as prisoners during war, as the name implied. Illegal slaves were slaves that had been enslaved illegally, basically all kidnapped children and travelers.
A fat man with an oily head approached us, presumably he was the slave merchant. He greeted us affably, a far cry from what his appearances might suggest. “Ah, young master, how might I assist you today?” Dominic motioned to his manservant.
“The young lady and I are just looking around today; she has traveled from a small village and was curious to see a Demi-human.” Dominic turned to me, “Shall we look around Stahlia?” You bastard, this isn’t what I had in mind at all!
Pasting a fake smile on my face, I nodded, “Indeed, shall we?” and offered him my hand. A slave, presumably sent by the merchant came over to answer any questions we might have. Dominic took my hand with a magnanimous smile, and we started browsing the “wares”. The large majority of them were human debt slaves, though there was a good number of voluntary and born slaves as well.
Strangely, despite the Drakas Kingdom’s stance, only one in ten of the slaves was a Demi-human. The gender ratio was more or less fifty-fifty. Dominic was watching my reactions carefully, and when he noticed my gaze lingering on one of the rabbit-kin slaves, he turned and addressed the guide.
“My partner comes from a small village you see, I believe she is curious as to their appearances, having not had an opportunity to see one before, might I trouble you to show her the back area?” The backroom? I really don’t like the sound of that…
The slave guide nodded and motioned for us to follow him. He led us out of the general area and towards the back of the establishment. We passed out of the area where the slaves were freely milling about and into a room where they were being kept in what could only be called cages. As we went, the general quality of slaves seemed to decrease; whereas the front room had been full of healthy people, the further back we went the weaker and weaker they became, accompanied by a marked decrease in living conditions. What the hell!?
“Dominic, I don’t think-” Dominic squeezed my hand and stealthily shook his head.
In a whisper, he addressed me, “Stahlia, don’t say anything. I know how you feel, but I wanted to show you the truth.”
In the very back of the room, the guide let us through a door. The first thing that hit me was the stench, and I reflexively covered my nose in shock. It smelled like a zoo on a hot summer day. The slaves here were not in cages so much as they were in small kennels, barely able to fit their inhabitants. Looking around, virtually every single one of them was a Demi-human, humans were now the vast minority, though there was still a handful of them present. While the front room had been mostly young adults, this back area was filled with a wide variety of ages, ranging from outright infants to grey-haired elders.
“Most of those here come from illegal beast-men settlements that the knights order subjugated.” Dominic - answered my unvoiced question, “The survivors are sold off in bulk, though only a handful of them will ever be purchased, storage is cheap enough that the shops can still manage to turn a profit on the transaction.” Frankly, I wanted to return to the front room and forget I had ever seen this place.
Just as I was about to suggest we go back, one of the kennels in the far corner caught my attention. It was occupied by two Cat-kin, one a young woman and the other a little girl probably around four years old. Both of them were dressed in torn rags, and the woman was covered in blotchy bruises. What had caught my eye was the girl’s appearance. She had hair nearly the same shade as my own and eyes a very light azure. Other than the tail and pointed ears, she looked a lot like me when I was her age. By extension, she also bore a strong resemblance to my kidnapped sister, Rosial.
Seeing the state she was in brought back memories of the horrors Jacqueline had told me Rosial was being forced to undergo. “Ahh…” I let out an involuntary reaction, causing Dominic to look over at me and follow my gaze to the kennel.
“Hmm? Oh, a Cat-kin huh…? Actually, doesn’t she kind of look like your late sister…? Of course, I don’t mean to imply Rosial was a beast-kin, but setting aside the ears and tail they do look similar…” He glanced sidelong at me, but I paid him no mind, I was trying not to throw up from how much this one reminded me of my sister. Dominic seemed to read something into my expression because after a moment of hesitation he clapped his hands.
“You there, who is that one?” Looking at the indicated kennel, the slave guide answered Dominic’s query.
“The cats? They were captured alongside each other by the knight’s order about a year ago. The master’s given up on selling them at this point… ah, it looks like the older one might actually have expired, my apologies.” As he was talking to us, he had approached the kennel and given the woman a sharp prod in the side to get her to look up at us and, rather than look up, her head had lolled to the side, exposing vacant lifeless eyes.
Dominic studied me for a moment as if thinking something over. I had turned away; I didn’t want to see someone who reminded me of Rosial, especially not in this sort of condition. “You say that the owner has given up on selling the younger one? Fetch him for me, would you?” The guide hesitated but then nodded and left us alone with a bow.
“Dominic… what are you planning?” I honestly didn’t want to know, but I was worried if I didn’t speak up things would go in a direction I didn’t like.
“Do not hide it Stahlia, looking at that kitten reminds you of Lady Rosial does it not? I was considering buying it for you. Of course, she could never replace your little sister, but I had thought you might struggle with the thought of her looking so much like Rosial, and being in a condition like this...” I was mortified and about to tell him off when the shop owner returned, stealing my chance to do so.
“Ah young master, has this kitten caught your eye? Unfortunately, the older one seems to have passed away, and she herself is in poor health, so I can’t in good conscience sell her to you.” Dominic frowned at him.
“Stop beating around the bush; we both know you will sell, how much?” The slave merchant’s conciliatory smile vanished, and he nodded.
“It seems you have already made up your mind. One Drakas Small Gold.” Dominic looked at the girl, she gazed back at him with eyes dead to the world, unmoving.
Wait no! this is like my engagement all over again, I can’t let myself get led along here! …My instability right now is stemming from my feelings towards Rosial triggered by the state this girl is in, so it should be easy enough to fix... I took a deep breath and activated Cold Hearted, targeting my Empathy. Suddenly, I no longer cared about my surroundings; rather than feeling revulsion about how the people were being forced to live I simply felt sickened by the smell and wanted to leave.
“That seems a bit steep considering her condition. I will offer you five Silvers.” The merchant shook his head.
I cut in. “Dominic, I truly do not care. Can we leave? This stench is foul.” Dominic looked at me, surprised, and opened his mouth to respond. In a panic, the slave trader held up his hand.
“Very well, you drive a hard bargain. What say you to Six Silvers?” Dominic’s eyes briefly flashed, and after a moment, he nodded.
“Six Silvers then, go and get the contract magic ready.” What a pain. Why do I have to deal with this?
The merchant processed the transaction and had Dominic sign a piece of paper legitimizing the sale. The merchant undid the contract magic on the girl that marked him as her owner and motioned for Dominic to establish the contract in his place. Dominic grabbed my hand and pressed it against the magic circle drawn over the contract paper. I felt a bit of my mana get forcibly sucked out and into the collar, establishing me as the girl’s owner. “Why did you do that?!” I shot him an angry glare. Why should I have to take care of this cat?! She smells like shit!
“Why? Well, she reminds you of Rosial. I thought you might be able to provide her a shot at a future…” Glancing down at the slave he had gifted to me, Dominic smiled and addressed her. “This is Stahlia, she is your owner now. What’s your name?” The girl looked slowly from Dominic to me and then nodded with dead eyes.
“Pet’s name is Pet… Stahlia is Pet’s owner.” There was a faint glimmer in the girl’s eyes when she said her own name. What? Her name is “Pet”? Whatever. Can we go now?
“Dominic, can we leave yet? Also, at least buy her some clothes, being followed around by a near-naked beast would not look good for my social image.” Dominic gave me a confused look and agreed, ordering a set of cheap child’s clothes that were being conveniently sold by the slave merchant. All in all, Pet had cost a total of 7,100 Drak. Only slightly more expensive than my dagger had been.
Exiting the slave trader’s, I quickly disabled [Cold Hearted] and was immediately struck by a wave of nausea. I could remember everything I had thought, how I had felt when I lacked Empathy. It was sickening. I knew this would happen; I had done some experimentation over the previous two years, but I had hoped if I no longer empathized, I would be able to avoid clamming up from thoughts of my sister and be able to speak up for myself.
Instead, I had no longer given a shit and wound up owning a slave; the exact situation I had wanted to avoid. I looked back at Pet and fought the urge to vomit as I recalled how I had thought of her. I’ll at least do my best to look after you for now, and eventually, once I’ve dealt with things, I’ll do my best to free you… I’m sorry! Her name was a problem for me as well, but it was something I would have to address later. For now… “Pet…” ugh…
“Do we have any further business in town?” Dominic turned to question me. I had wanted to explore a bit more, but after the fiasco just now, I was just about done with Dominic’s shit for the day. That was when Pet’s stomach made a gurgling noise.
When I turned to face her, she recoiled and reflexively held her hands up to shield herself. Poor thing… did they beat her when she was hungry…? I reached out a hand towards her, causing her to flinch and recoil away from me before suddenly letting out a soft cry; presumably, the contract had interpreted her recoiling as defying me and started hurting her. I rested my hand gently on her head and rubbed between her cat ears, similarly to how I had used to pat Rosial.
“It seems she is hungry, I am feeling a bit so myself, why not find a place to eat something and then return to the estate?” Dominic seemed about to say something, so I cut him off before he could protest. “Dominic, it is an owner’s duty to take care of their pets is it not? Would you have me refrain from feeding Stil?” Dominic caught his retort and shook his head, though he held a dissatisfied expression. Good. You don’t get to just force a slave on me, and then prevent me from taking care of her. One thing was certain, Dominic had utterly failed to earn himself any favors from me today.
Dominic eventually spoke up, “…Let us return to the upper city then, I would prefer not to eat at a lower city establishment.” I nodded; I could agree to that at least. We made our way back to the upper city and Lucy led us to a small café overlooking a fountain plaza. Of course, Pet wouldn’t be able to sit at the table with us, and I knew better than to press that issue. Still, I insisted she was to be given a chair and fed the same food we were eating, again citing Stil as my benchmark. For her part, Pet seemed utterly overwhelmed when the food was given to her.
“Pet… Pet can eat this…?” I could only purse my lips and nod to that. She hesitatingly took a mouthful of the soup, lacking formal education she was drinking straight from the bowl, but that was honestly cute in its own way. I’ll have to teach her properly later, If anyone objects I can just tell them I’m training her just like I trained Stil. Comparing her to a monster is a bit... but it should let me get away with a fair amount that I normally couldn’t do for a slave. I scoffed at the last thought the instant I thought it. Once I was satisfied that she would continue eating without prompting I turned my attention to my own plate. Looking out over the fountain plaza while we ate, I mostly kept to myself; for better or worse, Pet really did make me think of Rosial and I was lost in my own memories.
The plaza itself was quite beautiful. The fountain was made of a white stone and carved with a relief featuring various religious iconography. From what I could tell, it seemed to depict the moment the God of Darkness and Goddess of Light bestowed fragments of their own divinity on the seven heroes. We spent roughly an hour at the café before heading back to the estate.
Getting back to the estate, I made sure to thank Dominic for getting his father to agree to my request, and then went with Lucy and Pet to my side building, taking a secondary entrance instead of going through the main building. That had been at Dominic’s suggestion; he intended to privately inform his father and mother that I had been gifted a slave. How fucking considerate of you. When I got into my room, Pet peered fearfully around from behind me. After I had rubbed her head and fed her, she seemed to have opened up a bit to me but was still skittish.
Frieda briefly raised an eyebrow when she saw Pet’s head peeking out, so I waved for Lucy to explain to her. Stil sniffed at the air and having detected an unfamiliar scent, made his way over. He stuck his beak out towards her, causing her to jump back slightly. “Stil, this is Pet. Be nice.” Stil glanced over at me, he had been a bit more expressive since his evolution, a fact that I attributed to the increased intelligence stat value. Dutifully, he sat down and rubbed his head against her stomach. “Pet, this is Stil, my trained monster. He wants you to pet his head.” Fearfully, she reached out and after a moment’s hesitation quickly ran her hand over his head.
When he didn’t bite, she stroked him again, a half-smile appearing on her face. I left Pet to play with Stil and went over to Frieda and Lucy. “Frieda, please arrange a sleeping space for her in the corner of my room; it doesn’t need to be anything fancy as long as it’s warm. Has Jacqueline returned yet today?” Frieda answered in the negative before moving off to make arrangements for Pet. Apparently, she and Lucy had decided they would treat Pet the same way they treated Stil, while I considered that to be a bit crass, I was able to accept it as a compromise over how a Demi-human slave would usually be treated. I went up to my room to change out of my travel clothes while making a mental list of things I would need Jacqueline to do the next time I saw her.
★★★★★★
Dominic
I left Stahlia’s room accompanied by my head manservant Gregory. Honestly, what is with that girl? Stahlia had been made my Fiancée a little over two years ago. When I had first found out I had accepted the information in stride, I had always known that I would have a marriage arranged for me by my father. When he told me she was a fallen noble daughter though, I had become curious. When I asked my father to arrange a chance for me to meet her incognito, to my surprise he accepted and bought me, along with the Third Prince of all people, to meet her and her family.
The girl I met was one surprise after another. After the second day, I was thoroughly convinced of why my father wanted her to join our house. Despite being a fallen noble, she had enough grace and charisma to wrap the local boys around her fingers. She not only excelled in her studies, but she was actually teaching several of the classes. Frankly, she was exceptional.
What’s more, she seemed to be able to resist my gifts; I had been born under very special circumstances. In my previous life, I was a meek nobody who died a virgin at the age of forty-five. I didn’t even get to become a wizard. Floating in a white void, I met an androgynous figure who claimed to be a god. Apparently, they were offering me a chance to live again. When I questioned why they would choose me, the figure chuckled and said I “checked all the necessary boxes”.
Of course, I didn’t believe them, but all they did was shrug and tell me that it was fine, I had died naturally so my agreement wasn’t necessary. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a baby’s cradle. I had actually reincarnated, just like that “god” said I would. What’s more, I had seemingly hit the jackpot; my new family were high nobles in the largest kingdom on the continent. I could have everything I ever wanted!
Things only got better from there. I very quickly learned I had been given an isekai cheat ability as well; at my dedication, it was revealed that I possessed an extremely rare purpose, that of “Demon Aspirant”. This purpose was one of the only ways for a human to employ the abilities of demons. In gaming terms, it was able to bypass the race restrictions placed on demonic powers. Thankfully, my father was able to use his social position to keep things quiet, although I never saw that priest again.
One of the skills that came with my class was called [Incubus Eye]. As the name implied, it mimicked the ability of an incubus and was able to charm women. While the ability was, frankly, a bit sickening it did have its uses. Using that power, I set about arranging things in my favor. Getting favors from young noblewomen was exceedingly easy for me, and I was able to manipulate various things behind the scenes to work out in my favor.
As they say, women control half of society so by endearing myself to that half, I was able to garner quite a bit of support. But it wasn’t perfect. From the outside looking in, it might seem like I had everything one could want, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Humans thrive on meaningful connections, and in my case, I was unable to form such connections due to my powers.
See, prolonged use of my [Incubus Eye] had led to me being unable to turn it off. It reminded me a bit of an anime I had been quite fond of, where the main character had been able to compel anyone to obey one command via direct eye contact. Everything had been going great, until his power evolved and he lost the ability to turn it off, leading to his plans falling apart. My own situation was similar; no matter who it was, as long as they were female, I could get away with anything.
This meant I wasn’t able to form a real relationship; my connections were built on hypnotism and lies. Hence my ecstasy when I realized that Stahlia was resisting my [Incubus Eye]. It wasn’t perfect, as she was still clearly being drawn to me; she didn’t notice her sister getting sicker and sicker while I was in the village. It didn’t take me long to decide I wanted to marry her, this was a woman I could form a real relationship with.
As if that wasn’t enough, she was actually able to keep up with me physically as well. I was at the top of my class in swordsmanship, owing to my class having extremely potent ability values. But when I wound up fighting Stahlia, she didn’t just beat me, she beat me down. The only thing I could think of was that she was using some form of enhancement magic, this owing to the fact that she had offered to appraise me. Of course, I hadn’t let her; it would spoil my chances with her if she learned of my class.
In all respects, I considered Stahlia to be the perfect woman to have at my side. I told my father that I wanted to marry her, and the third prince made arrangements so that our union would be legal. For her part, Stahlia seemed overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, but I was sure she would come around in time. I would actually have to work at it, but I should be able to manage something, after all, I was quite the catch.
It was a week or two after I had returned to my family’s estate that we got the bad news; Stahlia’s sister Rosial had died of her illness. I felt extremely bad about this; my presence had distracted Stahlia from her sister’s deteriorating condition. If I hadn’t been there, it was likely that Stahlia’s skill at alchemy might have been able to save her sister’s life. I sent her a letter to make amends, but didn’t hear from her; I would later learn that the letter had never arrived.
The next interaction we had came at Stahlia’s tenth birthday; it was customary among the nobility for betrothed to send each other an item of jewelry for this event. For Stahlia, I selected a pair of earrings with Rosial’s birthstone set in mythril. I knew Stahlia didn’t have her ears pierced, however, I imagined that she would be grateful for such an extravagant gift. Besides which, I would soon be able to see her again; as she had turned ten, she would be joining me at the academy this year.
When we did reunite, I was ecstatic; it would seem that somehow, her resistance to my charm had progressed to outright immunity. Now, our relationship would be completely organic. I had also seemingly been correct about the earrings; she had gotten her ears pierced in order to wear them. From our reunion, things only seemed to get better; as fate would have it, I was able to spend the better part of a week with her.
Stahlia had been invited to take the position of a Special Student, however, to do this, she would need to test out of two years of school, and into the third year. This was where I came in; being a third-year student myself, I was able to provide her with tutoring in the subjects she had not been able to learn in Ris Village. Once again, she surprised me with her academic excellence. Stahlia voraciously absorbed knowledge, and before I knew it our tutoring had progressed beyond its original scope and I found myself teaching her material from the third and fourth years that I was just learning.
Once I realized I had exhausted the material I had to teach her, I suggested that we should take a day off so that she could rest before the tests. Her next request, to see a demi-human gave me pause, but I wanted to answer it if I could. So, I decided to show her. I got my father’s permission to take Stahlia to see the slave market and began making plans with my manservant Greggory, and Stahlia’s maid Lucy.
The trip went absolutely horribly. I was pleased to learn that the conditions of the market made Stahlia uncomfortable. However, what we found in the back room ruined the day. The cat-kin Pet had an appearance that closely mirrored that of Stahlia’s late sister. Of course, this caused Stahlia a great deal of mental anguish. Hoping to perhaps alleviate that, I arranged to purchase the slave for her.
Stahlia played along well enough to assist in the purchase of the slave, though I initially thought that she was simply being a bit cold. It wasn’t until we got out of the shop that I realized how badly I had messed up; Stahlia, rather than viewing the slave as a surrogate of her little sister, seemingly regarded it as little better than her tamed Stawri, Stil. With great effort, I held my peace; this was simply how the people of this world viewed Demi-humans. I would have to work on Stahlia’s perceptions for a while and try to slowly bring her around.
Psycholor
About the comments of this chapter; you will find a lot of them are referring to Dominic in a very negative light. This chapter, and Dominic's character as a whole, underwent a drastic re-write. In the original version of the story, he was basically a one dimensional personification of pure evil. The new personality I gave him is much, much more mellow and sympathetic.
Psycholor
Normally, I wouldn't do a notice like this; the story already has tags as well as Scribblehub's built in content warning flags set.
That being said, seeing as the overall tone has been pretty light hearted barring a handful of exceptions and some hints at the darker side; This is a content advisory. This chapter involves some extremely dark thematic elements including Slavery, and implied Physical/Emotional Abuse of a minor.
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
After the meeting with Duke Percius, I spent the next six days sequestered in my side building with Dominic. As he was entering his third year at the Academy, he was familiar with the material I would need to know for the exams I was set to take. As such, his father Count Francois instructed him to cram the knowledge into me. At first, he had been somewhat harsh about it, probably assuming I would meet failure. But after the second day, he was forced to admit I was coming along swimmingly all things considered. Of course, much of that was thanks to my Memorization talent I had picked up several years ago. I even managed to get the skill to level up in the process of cramming my head full of knowledge about the surrounding regions.
Margeritte would drop by at least once a day to look in on us. She seemed overly worried about me; having been made aware of the circumstances that lead to me having to study so much so quickly, she was behaving like a mother hen whose chick was in the jaws of a cat. Honestly, I just wish you would focus on your own daughter! Isn’t she going to be entering the academy next year? On the subject of Elienor, she had visited twice but had stopped coming once she learned there was nothing “interesting” going on. Personally, I greatly preferred my own little sister to this creature.
Jacqueline was spending a great deal of time away from me, still learning the locations of everything in the city. Even for someone with her skills, the slums had changed a great deal in the twelve years she had been gone from the capital, so relearning them was taking her time. Lucy seemed to be my primary attendant, though Frieda was the senior employee out of the two. While Lucy attended me during my study sessions, Frieda would busy herself with this and that, maintaining the side building I was housed in.
Finally, on the evening of the sixth day, Dominic sat up. “Well, at this point, you will either pass or you will fail. There is not much good in stressing over it anymore; I think you should take a day off from studying tomorrow that way on the first day of next week you can approach the tests with a refreshed mind.” You aren’t fooling me, Dominic. I can tell you’re just fed up with going over all this material for ten hours a day. Still, you have a point about relaxing. It would be beneficial.
“Dominic…” At some point during our studying, he had all but ordered me to call him by name when we were alone, and only use the lord title when there were non-attendants present. Even though I personally didn’t really care for being overly familiar with him, there was little I could do after he ignored my socially acceptable protests, so I had begrudgingly agreed to do so.
“Hmm? What is it Stahlia?” His own speech had become much more casual after I agreed to call him casually.
“…Do you believe your father would permit me to go into the city? If I am to relax I do not think I could do it cooped up in this building as I have been. For better or worse, I now associate this room with endless studies.” That was of course, largely a lie. I would be perfectly content to remain in this room provided I was alone. I was already confident I could pass the tests and had now moved my mind along to information gathering, a purpose which would necessitate me going out.
However, in order to go out, I would require his father’s permission, since I intended to go to the Upper and Lower cities and needed a writ of passage to leave the Noble Quarter. Sneaking out was an option, technically. But I would rather be more familiar with the city before attempting that as I had only been here a week, and most of that had been spent cooped up to study.
“Permission to go out? Right, you are probably curious about the city, Ris is so small in comparison. I will consult with my father for you.” Attempting not to show my displeasure, I thanked him for his offer and bid farewell as he left, accompanied by his own attendant. It was already getting late, so I retired to bed after a quick meal and a bath.
★★★★★★
“Dominic… why are we here?” I questioned the young man stood slightly in front of me with what I could only assume was a confused expression spread across my face.
“Well Stahlia, you told me you wanted to see some places you did not have in Ris Village. This was the first that came to mind.” He seemed utterly pleased with his choice of location for some reason.
“I mean… I did say that, but…” Dominic cut me off and beckoned me to the door held open by two well-oiled muscular men. Both were naked from the waist up, showing off a well-tanned six-pack and large pectorals. Additionally, they were collared. Sighing, as I couldn’t see a socially acceptable way out of this situation, I hesitatingly walked through the door and into the building.
This had all started last night. Dominic’s attendant had come and informed Lucy that Count Francois had given permission for my outing on the condition that Dominic and Gregory would accompany us. I had been less than thrilled with the idea, but given it was the only way I could get out into the city, I had agreed and thanked him readily enough. The next morning, Lucy dressed me in a dress with far fewer frills than I had been expecting. When questioned, she informed me that Dominic and I would be going out under the guise of being upper-class merchants as opposed to young nobles. That was something I could get behind, so I agreed without too much fuss.
When I got down to the estate’s courtyard, Dominic and Gregory had been waiting for me. I had wanted to bring Stil, but Lucy advised that bringing a monster into the city could cause problems that we could not solve without borrowing Francois’ name, which would blow our cover. I was slightly concerned with going out and not having one of my guards with me, but I knew that Jacqueline would be observing from somewhere out of sight, so I didn’t argue with Lucy over Stil.
Dominic had then asked me if I had anywhere in mind to go. Of course, he had to have known that I wouldn’t have the faintest about any places in the city. Normally I would profess a desire to visit an alchemy workshop, but I had no desire to bring Dominic to a place I was looking forward to seeing, his presence was sure to spoil the atmosphere of any location visited. In lieu of that, I simply asked him to “Take me someplace I could not visit in Ris… If possible, I would like to see a Demi-human.” That had led to my current predicament.
We were at the “Bartmoss’ Slave Emporium” a licensed slave purveyor. Of course, I was already aware that slavery was legal in this world. It was also true that Ris didn’t have a slave market, so this qualified as “something I couldn’t see in Ris.” I would also probably be able to see Demi-humans here. That left me very little wiggle room to avoid going in. Still, I hope he doesn’t try and get me to buy one… I wasn’t about to start an emancipation movement, I wasn’t stupid; I had nowhere near enough political capital to ever be successful. But that didn’t mean I wanted to be involved in the slave trade myself.
The slave trade in Drakas was a government-sanctioned and regulated business. From what I understood, it was a well-organized one as well. From the signage I could see, it seemed that the Bartmoss’ Slave Emporium dealt in three of the five types of slaves.
The first type of slave, a Debt Slave, was a person who had fallen into debt they could not pay off. To cover part of their losses, their creditor was legally allowed to sell them as a slave. The second type was a Voluntary Slave. Voluntary Slaves were those individuals who had proactively chosen to sell themselves. This would be done usually to secure money for their family when they fell on hard times. Voluntary slaves would also be released after a certain period had elapsed as stipulated in their contract. Of course, whether or not that contract was actually honored was another thing entirely, so becoming a voluntary slave was viewed as a last resort, little better than becoming a debt slave.
The third type of slave sold here was a Born Slave. Born slaves were nominally the children of other slaves who had been born into bondage. However, the label also applied to those that the Drakas Kingdom declared as legally slaves by species, namely Demi-humans.
Indeed, it was perfectly legal to grab any Demi-human you found and put them under a slave contract. Slave Contracts were what ensured total obedience from a slave; they were a form of contract magic, which itself was a sub-school found in both Black and White magic. These contracts would compel their targets to follow the orders given by the owner with varying degrees of penalty for going against the owner. Anything from an uncomfortable itch that wouldn’t go away to instant death was possible.
The other two types of slaves that were not sold here were War Slaves and Illegal Slaves. War slaves were those taken as prisoners during war, as the name implied. Illegal slaves were slaves that had been enslaved illegally, basically all kidnapped children and travelers.
A fat man with an oily head approached us, presumably he was the slave merchant. He greeted us affably, a far cry from what his appearances might suggest. “Ah, young master, how might I assist you today?” Dominic motioned to his manservant.
“The young lady and I are just looking around today; she has traveled from a small village and was curious to see a Demi-human.” Dominic turned to me, “Shall we look around Stahlia?” You bastard, this isn’t what I had in mind at all!
Pasting a fake smile on my face, I nodded, “Indeed, shall we?” and offered him my hand. A slave, presumably sent by the merchant came over to answer any questions we might have. Dominic took my hand with a magnanimous smile, and we started browsing the “wares”. The large majority of them were human debt slaves, though there was a good number of voluntary and born slaves as well.
Strangely, despite the Drakas Kingdom’s stance, only one in ten of the slaves was a Demi-human. The gender ratio was more or less fifty-fifty. Dominic was watching my reactions carefully, and when he noticed my gaze lingering on one of the rabbit-kin slaves, he turned and addressed the guide.
“My partner comes from a small village you see, I believe she is curious as to their appearances, having not had an opportunity to see one before, might I trouble you to show her the back area?” The backroom? I really don’t like the sound of that…
The slave guide nodded and motioned for us to follow him. He led us out of the general area and towards the back of the establishment. We passed out of the area where the slaves were freely milling about and into a room where they were being kept in what could only be called cages. As we went, the general quality of slaves seemed to decrease; whereas the front room had been full of healthy people, the further back we went the weaker and weaker they became, accompanied by a marked decrease in living conditions. What the hell!?
“Dominic, I don’t think-” Dominic squeezed my hand and stealthily shook his head.
In a whisper, he addressed me, “Stahlia, don’t say anything. I know how you feel, but I wanted to show you the truth.”
In the very back of the room, the guide let us through a door. The first thing that hit me was the stench, and I reflexively covered my nose in shock. It smelled like a zoo on a hot summer day. The slaves here were not in cages so much as they were in small kennels, barely able to fit their inhabitants. Looking around, virtually every single one of them was a Demi-human, humans were now the vast minority, though there was still a handful of them present. While the front room had been mostly young adults, this back area was filled with a wide variety of ages, ranging from outright infants to grey-haired elders.
“Most of those here come from illegal beast-men settlements that the knights order subjugated.” Dominic - answered my unvoiced question, “The survivors are sold off in bulk, though only a handful of them will ever be purchased, storage is cheap enough that the shops can still manage to turn a profit on the transaction.” Frankly, I wanted to return to the front room and forget I had ever seen this place.
Just as I was about to suggest we go back, one of the kennels in the far corner caught my attention. It was occupied by two Cat-kin, one a young woman and the other a little girl probably around four years old. Both of them were dressed in torn rags, and the woman was covered in blotchy bruises. What had caught my eye was the girl’s appearance. She had hair nearly the same shade as my own and eyes a very light azure. Other than the tail and pointed ears, she looked a lot like me when I was her age. By extension, she also bore a strong resemblance to my kidnapped sister, Rosial.
Seeing the state she was in brought back memories of the horrors Jacqueline had told me Rosial was being forced to undergo. “Ahh…” I let out an involuntary reaction, causing Dominic to look over at me and follow my gaze to the kennel.
“Hmm? Oh, a Cat-kin huh…? Actually, doesn’t she kind of look like your late sister…? Of course, I don’t mean to imply Rosial was a beast-kin, but setting aside the ears and tail they do look similar…” He glanced sidelong at me, but I paid him no mind, I was trying not to throw up from how much this one reminded me of my sister. Dominic seemed to read something into my expression because after a moment of hesitation he clapped his hands.
“You there, who is that one?” Looking at the indicated kennel, the slave guide answered Dominic’s query.
“The cats? They were captured alongside each other by the knight’s order about a year ago. The master’s given up on selling them at this point… ah, it looks like the older one might actually have expired, my apologies.” As he was talking to us, he had approached the kennel and given the woman a sharp prod in the side to get her to look up at us and, rather than look up, her head had lolled to the side, exposing vacant lifeless eyes.
Dominic studied me for a moment as if thinking something over. I had turned away; I didn’t want to see someone who reminded me of Rosial, especially not in this sort of condition. “You say that the owner has given up on selling the younger one? Fetch him for me, would you?” The guide hesitated but then nodded and left us alone with a bow.
“Dominic… what are you planning?” I honestly didn’t want to know, but I was worried if I didn’t speak up things would go in a direction I didn’t like.
“Do not hide it Stahlia, looking at that kitten reminds you of Lady Rosial does it not? I was considering buying it for you. Of course, she could never replace your little sister, but I had thought you might struggle with the thought of her looking so much like Rosial, and being in a condition like this...” I was mortified and about to tell him off when the shop owner returned, stealing my chance to do so.
“Ah young master, has this kitten caught your eye? Unfortunately, the older one seems to have passed away, and she herself is in poor health, so I can’t in good conscience sell her to you.” Dominic frowned at him.
“Stop beating around the bush; we both know you will sell, how much?” The slave merchant’s conciliatory smile vanished, and he nodded.
“It seems you have already made up your mind. One Drakas Small Gold.” Dominic looked at the girl, she gazed back at him with eyes dead to the world, unmoving.
Wait no! this is like my engagement all over again, I can’t let myself get led along here! …My instability right now is stemming from my feelings towards Rosial triggered by the state this girl is in, so it should be easy enough to fix... I took a deep breath and activated Cold Hearted, targeting my Empathy. Suddenly, I no longer cared about my surroundings; rather than feeling revulsion about how the people were being forced to live I simply felt sickened by the smell and wanted to leave.
“That seems a bit steep considering her condition. I will offer you five Silvers.” The merchant shook his head.
I cut in. “Dominic, I truly do not care. Can we leave? This stench is foul.” Dominic looked at me, surprised, and opened his mouth to respond. In a panic, the slave trader held up his hand.
“Very well, you drive a hard bargain. What say you to Six Silvers?” Dominic’s eyes briefly flashed, and after a moment, he nodded.
“Six Silvers then, go and get the contract magic ready.” What a pain. Why do I have to deal with this?
The merchant processed the transaction and had Dominic sign a piece of paper legitimizing the sale. The merchant undid the contract magic on the girl that marked him as her owner and motioned for Dominic to establish the contract in his place. Dominic grabbed my hand and pressed it against the magic circle drawn over the contract paper. I felt a bit of my mana get forcibly sucked out and into the collar, establishing me as the girl’s owner. “Why did you do that?!” I shot him an angry glare. Why should I have to take care of this cat?! She smells like shit!
“Why? Well, she reminds you of Rosial. I thought you might be able to provide her a shot at a future…” Glancing down at the slave he had gifted to me, Dominic smiled and addressed her. “This is Stahlia, she is your owner now. What’s your name?” The girl looked slowly from Dominic to me and then nodded with dead eyes.
“Pet’s name is Pet… Stahlia is Pet’s owner.” There was a faint glimmer in the girl’s eyes when she said her own name. What? Her name is “Pet”? Whatever. Can we go now?
“Dominic, can we leave yet? Also, at least buy her some clothes, being followed around by a near-naked beast would not look good for my social image.” Dominic gave me a confused look and agreed, ordering a set of cheap child’s clothes that were being conveniently sold by the slave merchant. All in all, Pet had cost a total of 7,100 Drak. Only slightly more expensive than my dagger had been.
Exiting the slave trader’s, I quickly disabled [Cold Hearted] and was immediately struck by a wave of nausea. I could remember everything I had thought, how I had felt when I lacked Empathy. It was sickening. I knew this would happen; I had done some experimentation over the previous two years, but I had hoped if I no longer empathized, I would be able to avoid clamming up from thoughts of my sister and be able to speak up for myself.
Instead, I had no longer given a shit and wound up owning a slave; the exact situation I had wanted to avoid. I looked back at Pet and fought the urge to vomit as I recalled how I had thought of her. I’ll at least do my best to look after you for now, and eventually, once I’ve dealt with things, I’ll do my best to free you… I’m sorry! Her name was a problem for me as well, but it was something I would have to address later. For now… “Pet…” ugh…
“Do we have any further business in town?” Dominic turned to question me. I had wanted to explore a bit more, but after the fiasco just now, I was just about done with Dominic’s shit for the day. That was when Pet’s stomach made a gurgling noise.
When I turned to face her, she recoiled and reflexively held her hands up to shield herself. Poor thing… did they beat her when she was hungry…? I reached out a hand towards her, causing her to flinch and recoil away from me before suddenly letting out a soft cry; presumably, the contract had interpreted her recoiling as defying me and started hurting her. I rested my hand gently on her head and rubbed between her cat ears, similarly to how I had used to pat Rosial.
“It seems she is hungry, I am feeling a bit so myself, why not find a place to eat something and then return to the estate?” Dominic seemed about to say something, so I cut him off before he could protest. “Dominic, it is an owner’s duty to take care of their pets is it not? Would you have me refrain from feeding Stil?” Dominic caught his retort and shook his head, though he held a dissatisfied expression. Good. You don’t get to just force a slave on me, and then prevent me from taking care of her. One thing was certain, Dominic had utterly failed to earn himself any favors from me today.
Dominic eventually spoke up, “…Let us return to the upper city then, I would prefer not to eat at a lower city establishment.” I nodded; I could agree to that at least. We made our way back to the upper city and Lucy led us to a small café overlooking a fountain plaza. Of course, Pet wouldn’t be able to sit at the table with us, and I knew better than to press that issue. Still, I insisted she was to be given a chair and fed the same food we were eating, again citing Stil as my benchmark. For her part, Pet seemed utterly overwhelmed when the food was given to her.
“Pet… Pet can eat this…?” I could only purse my lips and nod to that. She hesitatingly took a mouthful of the soup, lacking formal education she was drinking straight from the bowl, but that was honestly cute in its own way. I’ll have to teach her properly later, If anyone objects I can just tell them I’m training her just like I trained Stil. Comparing her to a monster is a bit... but it should let me get away with a fair amount that I normally couldn’t do for a slave. I scoffed at the last thought the instant I thought it. Once I was satisfied that she would continue eating without prompting I turned my attention to my own plate. Looking out over the fountain plaza while we ate, I mostly kept to myself; for better or worse, Pet really did make me think of Rosial and I was lost in my own memories.
The plaza itself was quite beautiful. The fountain was made of a white stone and carved with a relief featuring various religious iconography. From what I could tell, it seemed to depict the moment the God of Darkness and Goddess of Light bestowed fragments of their own divinity on the seven heroes. We spent roughly an hour at the café before heading back to the estate.
Getting back to the estate, I made sure to thank Dominic for getting his father to agree to my request, and then went with Lucy and Pet to my side building, taking a secondary entrance instead of going through the main building. That had been at Dominic’s suggestion; he intended to privately inform his father and mother that I had been gifted a slave. How fucking considerate of you. When I got into my room, Pet peered fearfully around from behind me. After I had rubbed her head and fed her, she seemed to have opened up a bit to me but was still skittish.
Frieda briefly raised an eyebrow when she saw Pet’s head peeking out, so I waved for Lucy to explain to her. Stil sniffed at the air and having detected an unfamiliar scent, made his way over. He stuck his beak out towards her, causing her to jump back slightly. “Stil, this is Pet. Be nice.” Stil glanced over at me, he had been a bit more expressive since his evolution, a fact that I attributed to the increased intelligence stat value. Dutifully, he sat down and rubbed his head against her stomach. “Pet, this is Stil, my trained monster. He wants you to pet his head.” Fearfully, she reached out and after a moment’s hesitation quickly ran her hand over his head.
When he didn’t bite, she stroked him again, a half-smile appearing on her face. I left Pet to play with Stil and went over to Frieda and Lucy. “Frieda, please arrange a sleeping space for her in the corner of my room; it doesn’t need to be anything fancy as long as it’s warm. Has Jacqueline returned yet today?” Frieda answered in the negative before moving off to make arrangements for Pet. Apparently, she and Lucy had decided they would treat Pet the same way they treated Stil, while I considered that to be a bit crass, I was able to accept it as a compromise over how a Demi-human slave would usually be treated. I went up to my room to change out of my travel clothes while making a mental list of things I would need Jacqueline to do the next time I saw her.
★★★★★★
Dominic
I left Stahlia’s room accompanied by my head manservant Gregory. Honestly, what is with that girl? Stahlia had been made my Fiancée a little over two years ago. When I had first found out I had accepted the information in stride, I had always known that I would have a marriage arranged for me by my father. When he told me she was a fallen noble daughter though, I had become curious. When I asked my father to arrange a chance for me to meet her incognito, to my surprise he accepted and bought me, along with the Third Prince of all people, to meet her and her family.
The girl I met was one surprise after another. After the second day, I was thoroughly convinced of why my father wanted her to join our house. Despite being a fallen noble, she had enough grace and charisma to wrap the local boys around her fingers. She not only excelled in her studies, but she was actually teaching several of the classes. Frankly, she was exceptional.
What’s more, she seemed to be able to resist my gifts; I had been born under very special circumstances. In my previous life, I was a meek nobody who died a virgin at the age of forty-five. I didn’t even get to become a wizard. Floating in a white void, I met an androgynous figure who claimed to be a god. Apparently, they were offering me a chance to live again. When I questioned why they would choose me, the figure chuckled and said I “checked all the necessary boxes”.
Of course, I didn’t believe them, but all they did was shrug and tell me that it was fine, I had died naturally so my agreement wasn’t necessary. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a baby’s cradle. I had actually reincarnated, just like that “god” said I would. What’s more, I had seemingly hit the jackpot; my new family were high nobles in the largest kingdom on the continent. I could have everything I ever wanted!
Things only got better from there. I very quickly learned I had been given an isekai cheat ability as well; at my dedication, it was revealed that I possessed an extremely rare purpose, that of “Demon Aspirant”. This purpose was one of the only ways for a human to employ the abilities of demons. In gaming terms, it was able to bypass the race restrictions placed on demonic powers. Thankfully, my father was able to use his social position to keep things quiet, although I never saw that priest again.
One of the skills that came with my class was called [Incubus Eye]. As the name implied, it mimicked the ability of an incubus and was able to charm women. While the ability was, frankly, a bit sickening it did have its uses. Using that power, I set about arranging things in my favor. Getting favors from young noblewomen was exceedingly easy for me, and I was able to manipulate various things behind the scenes to work out in my favor.
As they say, women control half of society so by endearing myself to that half, I was able to garner quite a bit of support. But it wasn’t perfect. From the outside looking in, it might seem like I had everything one could want, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Humans thrive on meaningful connections, and in my case, I was unable to form such connections due to my powers.
See, prolonged use of my [Incubus Eye] had led to me being unable to turn it off. It reminded me a bit of an anime I had been quite fond of, where the main character had been able to compel anyone to obey one command via direct eye contact. Everything had been going great, until his power evolved and he lost the ability to turn it off, leading to his plans falling apart. My own situation was similar; no matter who it was, as long as they were female, I could get away with anything.
This meant I wasn’t able to form a real relationship; my connections were built on hypnotism and lies. Hence my ecstasy when I realized that Stahlia was resisting my [Incubus Eye]. It wasn’t perfect, as she was still clearly being drawn to me; she didn’t notice her sister getting sicker and sicker while I was in the village. It didn’t take me long to decide I wanted to marry her, this was a woman I could form a real relationship with.
As if that wasn’t enough, she was actually able to keep up with me physically as well. I was at the top of my class in swordsmanship, owing to my class having extremely potent ability values. But when I wound up fighting Stahlia, she didn’t just beat me, she beat me down. The only thing I could think of was that she was using some form of enhancement magic, this owing to the fact that she had offered to appraise me. Of course, I hadn’t let her; it would spoil my chances with her if she learned of my class.
In all respects, I considered Stahlia to be the perfect woman to have at my side. I told my father that I wanted to marry her, and the third prince made arrangements so that our union would be legal. For her part, Stahlia seemed overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, but I was sure she would come around in time. I would actually have to work at it, but I should be able to manage something, after all, I was quite the catch.
It was a week or two after I had returned to my family’s estate that we got the bad news; Stahlia’s sister Rosial had died of her illness. I felt extremely bad about this; my presence had distracted Stahlia from her sister’s deteriorating condition. If I hadn’t been there, it was likely that Stahlia’s skill at alchemy might have been able to save her sister’s life. I sent her a letter to make amends, but didn’t hear from her; I would later learn that the letter had never arrived.
The next interaction we had came at Stahlia’s tenth birthday; it was customary among the nobility for betrothed to send each other an item of jewelry for this event. For Stahlia, I selected a pair of earrings with Rosial’s birthstone set in mythril. I knew Stahlia didn’t have her ears pierced, however, I imagined that she would be grateful for such an extravagant gift. Besides which, I would soon be able to see her again; as she had turned ten, she would be joining me at the academy this year.
When we did reunite, I was ecstatic; it would seem that somehow, her resistance to my charm had progressed to outright immunity. Now, our relationship would be completely organic. I had also seemingly been correct about the earrings; she had gotten her ears pierced in order to wear them. From our reunion, things only seemed to get better; as fate would have it, I was able to spend the better part of a week with her.
Stahlia had been invited to take the position of a Special Student, however, to do this, she would need to test out of two years of school, and into the third year. This was where I came in; being a third-year student myself, I was able to provide her with tutoring in the subjects she had not been able to learn in Ris Village. Once again, she surprised me with her academic excellence. Stahlia voraciously absorbed knowledge, and before I knew it our tutoring had progressed beyond its original scope and I found myself teaching her material from the third and fourth years that I was just learning.
Once I realized I had exhausted the material I had to teach her, I suggested that we should take a day off so that she could rest before the tests. Her next request, to see a demi-human gave me pause, but I wanted to answer it if I could. So, I decided to show her. I got my father’s permission to take Stahlia to see the slave market and began making plans with my manservant Greggory, and Stahlia’s maid Lucy.
The trip went absolutely horribly. I was pleased to learn that the conditions of the market made Stahlia uncomfortable. However, what we found in the back room ruined the day. The cat-kin Pet had an appearance that closely mirrored that of Stahlia’s late sister. Of course, this caused Stahlia a great deal of mental anguish. Hoping to perhaps alleviate that, I arranged to purchase the slave for her.
Stahlia played along well enough to assist in the purchase of the slave, though I initially thought that she was simply being a bit cold. It wasn’t until we got out of the shop that I realized how badly I had messed up; Stahlia, rather than viewing the slave as a surrogate of her little sister, seemingly regarded it as little better than her tamed Stawri, Stil. With great effort, I held my peace; this was simply how the people of this world viewed Demi-humans. I would have to work on Stahlia’s perceptions for a while and try to slowly bring her around.
Psycholor
About the comments of this chapter; you will find a lot of them are referring to Dominic in a very negative light. This chapter, and Dominic's character as a whole, underwent a drastic re-write. In the original version of the story, he was basically a one dimensional personification of pure evil. The new personality I gave him is much, much more mellow and sympathetic.
