— — — — — —
"So, the second question…"
As he spoke, Ryo pulled a pen and a sheet of paper from the gift box.
The moment Nyx realized he hadn't taken out her severed head, her breathing hitched. Her body instantly lost strength, and she collapsed against the wall, clutching her throat as she gasped for air.
Then came the question— "Are you a virgin?"
"Eh…?"
Nyx froze. For a split second, her mind went completely blank.
"Three… Two..."
Ryo had already started counting.
"Y-Yes!" Nyx blurted out in panic. Grabbing the edge of her skirt, she shouted in embarrassment, "This outfit, this outfit has a specialized ability attached to it! Only virgins can wear it. You can check if you want, really, you can!"
"Hm? Clothes like that exist?" Ryo frowned slightly before asking, "What does it do?"
"The ability…" Nyx opened her mouth, her voice turning awkward. "It… it…"
Seeing her hesitate, Ryo narrowed his eyes.
"Three…"
He made a show of reaching back into the gift box.
Nyx's pupils shrank instantly. She clutched her skirt and screamed, "It can nullify attacks from non-virgin men! It's a conceptual weakening ability!"
"…"
Ryo blanked for a second before letting out a laugh, "So there's actually something that insulting? You really know how to have fun."
Imbuing objects with concepts was considered a fairly advanced ability even in Little Garden. Ordinary people couldn't pull that off.
The fact that Nyx could do something like this with a dress meant she genuinely had talent.
Ryo narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
Nyx, Goddess of the Night. In Little Garden, that Spirit Rank was ridiculously rare. More accurately, it was practically extinct.
Within the Greek cosmology of Little Garden, Nyx held a unique status. Like the Trimurti in Hindu mythology, she possessed a supreme Spirit Rank with three separate aspects. But in the current Little Garden, the complete mythological Nyx didn't exist in Little Garden. Only competitors carrying fragments related to her Spirit Rank existed, powerful gods unable to fully bear the true name of "Nyx."
Which meant the woman standing in front of him was absurdly valuable.
No, not just her. The Spirit Ranks of the Five Primordial Gods were all considered priceless treasures in Little Garden. Their value was so high that even Three-Digit powerhouses would personally fight over them.
Walking legendary artifacts.
Realizing that, a smile slowly spread across Ryo's face.
"Now then, third question."
"There's more?" Nyx widened her eyes in disbelief.
"Hm?" Ryo raised a brow.
"P-Please ask. I'll answer honestly." Nyx immediately tensed up again, unconsciously clenching her hands.
"The third question…" Ryo scribbled notes onto the paper. "If you're a virgin, then how were the children downstairs born?"
"I extracted my divine power, mixed in certain concepts, and had the women Brother Erebus captured carry and birth them for me."
As she spoke, anxiety thickened in her voice.
By the second question, Nyx had already realized what kind of situation she was in. She was terrified Ryo might be the type of man obsessed with purity, so she didn't dare hide anything or lie.
She wanted to live. She wanted to keep living.
No matter how he might torment her, she still wanted to survive. Until every last shred of hope was gone, all she wanted was to stay alive.
"I see. Crude, but effective. Shame. I was hoping I'd stumbled across some interesting technology."
After finishing his notes, Ryo rubbed his chin and looked back up at her.
"By the way, what's your surname?"
"...I don't have a surname," Nyx answered nervously.
"Oh, right. That makes sense." Ryo nodded in sudden realization.
Nyx forced out an obedient smile.
"Then I guess this counts as the fourth question. Now for the last one…"
Ryo narrowed his eyes, smiling pleasantly as he asked, "From this day onward, are you willing to become my personal tool?"
"I… I…"
Nyx opened her mouth, but several seconds passed without a single word coming out.
Her eyes were fixed on the sheet of paper in Ryo's hand.
At that moment, the page was glowing with a ghostly blue light, like pale foxfire.
"You noticed? Well, whatever. Revealing its function is one of the conditions anyway."
Smiling faintly, Ryo lifted the paper.
"You can think of this as a slave contract. Once the target answers five questions, revealing the paper's function allows a direct slave contract to be formed. It's a rather troublesome Five-Digit Gift item."
"Come to think of it, this was basically discarded junk from Arcadia. The previous generation refused to use it because of their morals, but personally? I think it's pretty interesting."
As he spoke, the sheet twisted and warped, black smoke curling around it before he set it onto the table.
Then he smiled at Nyx.
"Well, explanation's over. Same final question. Do you want to become my slave?"
Nyx's face stiffened.
Her mouth felt filled with molten lead. She couldn't move.
Then Ryo smilingly pulled out another sheet, this time black parchment.
"This one's a forced brainwashing device. It rewrites memories and creates a life-form that can only survive by relying on a special solution."
He smiled wider. "So here's the question. Will you sign the normal contract, or erase all your memories and become my new toy instead? Three seconds. Choose."
"I-I'll do it…"
Tears and snot streamed down Nyx's face as she spoke.
"Oh? The second option? Didn't expect you to have those kinds of interests."
"N-No, the first one! The first!" Nyx hurriedly crawled over to him, clutching his clothes in terror. "I'm willing to sign the contract. I'll become your slave."
"I see…"
Ryo narrowed his eyes, then glanced at the contract paper now slowly burning atop the table. "Then the contract is complete."
The burning paper transformed into countless invisible black pens, carving a strange mark into Nyx's abdomen.
Ignoring the way she clutched her stomach and cried out in pain, Ryo stood and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Thanatos is dead, but that's fine. I kept his soul. As long as the body isn't completely destroyed, reviving him won't be difficult."
"So this trip's gains are Nyx herself, plus most of her mythological offspring… What should I do with them?"
"These people all possess special Spirit Ranks. Once they reach Little Garden, they'll definitely attract the attention of some ancient monsters. Keeping them all concentrated in Arcadia would make us way too conspicuous…"
As Ryo thought things over, an idea suddenly came to him.
"Whoa there… doing that would make us look like an evil organization…"
Still, he had come up with a solution.
Sell them. More specifically, auction them off.
Slave trading was fairly common in certain areas of Little Garden, even openly practiced.
"I don't have connections for that. Arcadia definitely wouldn't touch it…"
"But Ouroboros might…"
A strange smile slowly formed on Ryo's face.
"Cough… cough…"
After receiving the mark, Nyx coughed weakly and held her aching stomach as she slowly raised her head in despair.
She could feel the contract embedded deep within her soul.
The reality had finally sunk in.
She truly had become Ryo's slave.
Why… Why did she have to go through this?
Why her?
"Pretty good constitution. Recovering already?"
Ryo glanced at her. Even though she was an incredible beauty, he strangely wasn't in the mood to tease her right now.
This was enough stimulation for today.
Once Nyx calmed down a little, playing with her afterward would be far more entertaining.
Ryo realized he might've awakened some very unpleasant tendencies without noticing.
Maybe stress really was bad for people.
...
A short while later, Nyx forced herself to stand, eyes red and swollen, yet somehow managing a flattering smile. "Would you be interested in hearing a plan?"
"Oh?" Ryo looked at her in surprise. "What plan?"
Nyx wiped away her tears, hatred filling her voice, "The Greek pantheon's plan to attack Beelzebub's castle."
"Oh?"
At that, genuine interest appeared on Ryo's face.
.
.
.