I take a step towards the two squeamish teens, put an index finger under their chins, and raise their heads to force them to look up at my towering forms. They flinch instinctively upon my touch, but through sheer willpower, they don’t back away. Nice. At least they have some backbone.
“Do you swear on the Goddess’ name, facing the threat of eternal damnation, that you will never act against me or my lovers and other allies as long as you are treated with the respect a servant deserves?” I ask in an authoritative tone.
I’m honestly getting a bit tired of using the Goddess as a form of ensuring the truthfulness of those I don’t trust, but what can I do? All citizens revere her at least to a degree, so my method is pretty reliable, especially when dealing with such simple people. I wouldn’t trust the word of a noble for example, no matter whose name he swore his words under.
Anna and Beatrice look at me puzzledly for a few seconds, processing my words. Once their little brains had managed to catch on, their features brightened like the morning sun and they began bobbing their heads into my hand energetically. “”We will never betray you my Lord and Ladies! We will work diligently from morning to night every single day!””
That’s a bit much work for my liking but I do appreciate their eagerness. My parents would strangle me if they knew I was having my teenage servants do backbreaking labor for 16 hours straight every day. Well, to be fair, they would also strangle me for owning slaves, for fucking my slaves, for stealing stuff, for killing people, for planning to join a criminal organization, and many, many more.
Yours truly might have not been the bestest of boys since his transmigration.
“You can’t just do this! We legally own them!” One of them shouts at me.
“Well, I don’t think so. Not anymore, at least. Sorry, looks like you’ve been robbed. Go and cry about it.”
“You…!” They growl threateningly while brandishing their scary weapons.
“Me…?” I growl back, making all four shake in their boots and take a few steps back out of sheer self-preservation.
“Let’s go, tell the boss… We need backup!”
“Right!”
As such, they’ve chickened out. The four gave up and walked to the entrance of the labyrinth, most certainly to inform their allies so that they could group up and catch me when I came out.
Well, I’m not coming out, am I? I’m going to use Warp Gate to go back to Braedon instantly.
Have fun waiting for me for days, losers.
As for them alerting the guards of this ‘robbery’, I’m not worried at all. It’s illegal to sell one’s own children, so calling it ‘legal’ is complete bullcrap on their part. It was some village-level gangster type purchase, not at all endorsed by the authorities. If they informed the guards I would be the good guy in reality, especially once the two girls give their testimonies.
“Get behind us, we are going to the boss room.” I inform them, and we resume our labyrinth dive with two extra baggage this time.
Just like it was for me during my first time, the monster easily overwhelms Lucille. I had to step in and slice the monster into two halves with my blade.
Afterwards, when we were free from the observers who were watching us in the line to the boss monster, I acted out Ayame’s curse threat plan, where I cast ‘Curse of the Traitor’ on them. It’s a complete hocus-pocus spell, but they were scared shitless, and once again ascertained me that they would never act against us.
The second floor treated our party much better, since after a few chambers Lucille gained a level and put all points into Strength, allowing her to wield her axe at least sufficiently, though even 50 Strength might not be capable of bringing out its full potential if I had to guess, so she has a long road ahead of her until she becomes its true master.
By the end she tapped out completely, and Aurora was low on her mana reserves as well, so we took over.
It was time to show the rookies how it’s done.
In the time it took for them to clear the first floor we’ve reached the sixth after defeating the Tri-Elemental Direwolf that gave us so much trouble last time. With me growing an incredible amount, Ayame’s level up, and Blossom’s presence it wasn’t even a fight but a straight up massacre.
[Rock Spike] turned out to be extremely valuable this time around, as each instance the monster dashed away with its great agility I could just summon a spike from the ground where he was about to land. The only drawbacks to this spell are its relatively long cooldown, mediocre sharpness, and high mana cost.
Who would’ve guessed that a [Fireball] is cheaper to cast than conjuring a giant stone dildo? fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
After the second floor, Lucille only participated in a few encounters, for the rest she sat out, only watching us go to work from a safe distance.
Aurora, on the other hand, could keep up better since she was completely effective from a distance. As long as we kept her safe, she was going to be at least somewhat useful. And, well, as long as she had mana. She also started gaining Enchanter XP, but due to her Normal Level not going up yet, she couldn’t unlock new spells.
I promised her my protection, so I stayed next to her, casting my spells to help Blossom and Ayame out, while using my Saber to cut down any monsters that managed to reach the two of us.
My previous thought about us needing a tanker is proving more and more true the further we climb. As the number of monsters increases on each floor, Ayame and Blossom have less and less room to fight according to their preferred styles. They have to be on the defensive for far too long to be at their most effective.
If we had a central damage sponge, the two of them could flank to dish out their amazing attacks.
I opened a portal and sent Lucille and our two new servants back to Braedon. Since Ayame assumed responsibility over them, I also sent her back momentarily to instruct her new subordinates. I can keep the portal open for as long as I want- and I have mana to do so. It stays open for thirty seconds, after which it begins siphoning mana from me in order not to disappear.
If the two farmers weren’t sure yet of the validity of my curse on them, then after seeing my swirling gate of doom they sure believe me now. It took some great convincing from Ayame to get them to step through.
In a few minutes she came back, and told me that Lucille and her family will teach them the basics of housekeeping.
After defeating the 7th floor boss, a Rapid Mutant Hyena, we decided to settle down in the first chamber of the 8th floor to recuperate. We’re sitting in a line next to each other, with our backs resting against the wall. There’s no furniture present, so we have to settle for resting on the ground.