Not long after Liliruca ducked into Orario's West Block, Takumi arrived close on her heels.
His gaze swept across the area; in seconds he found Liliruca crouched by a factory, counting out the magic stones she'd taken.
"My magic stones aren't that easy to take~"
A smile tugged at Takumi's lips, and—unbidden—the image of a hamster eating a banana popped into his head.
"Tsk~ a bit mean… but accurate."
He was just about to move when a prickle of wrongness hit him. His brows knit as he glanced around.
Adventurers were drifting toward the factory one after another, malice rolling off every one of them, naked and undisguised.
A heartbeat later, a tongue of flame licked up.
BOOM!!!!
The whole plant went up. A blast of heat hammered across the street; even hundreds of meters out, it felt like eyebrows were singing.
"Kill!"
"Grab it!"
"Let everything go to hell!"
With crazed shouts, the mob began an indiscriminate slaughter.
Liliruca, who'd been tallying stones in a corner, was thrown flat by the shockwave and when she looked up, a Dark Familia thug with a short blade was already striding over.
Blood-drunk, he raised the knife the instant he saw her.
"N-No!"
Liliruca tried to run, but the walls of fire cut off every path. Faced with a killer at arm's length, terror melted her legs and she collapsed where she sat.
As the cold flash of the blade fell, regret stabbed through her. If she hadn't stolen those stones, maybe she wouldn't have ended up here. Maybe her wretched life could finally end.
At that instant, an invisible gravity maul slammed down.
Splutch!!
The Dark Familia thug flattened on the spot—smeared across the paving stones like meat paste.
Clang.
The dropped short blade rang on the ground and snapped Liliruca out of her daze.
Gulp.
She swallowed hard and looked up in panic.
Takumi was descending from midair.
"Looks like I made it just in time, Lili~"
"C-Captain."
Relief and gratitude flooded her chest—only for the realization to hit a beat later: she'd just stolen his stones and run.
She forced out a smile uglier than crying and whispered, "Captain, I only ran… that far because the Minotaur scared me…"
Even as she spoke, she didn't believe herself.
"Do you think I buy that?"
Curled on the ground, Liliruca clutched her head and pleaded, ragged with fear, "I—I'm sorry… I was wrong…"
"Children who do wrong need punishment."
A master–servant contract circle blossomed beneath Takumi's feet; radiant sigils spilled over her.
Before Liliruca's wide, frightened eyes, pink motes sank into her body and wove into a heart-shaped collar that manifested at her throat.
[Name: Liliruca Arde]
[Class: Adventurer]
[Level: 1]
[Traits: Cinder Ella (Blue), Favored by Fortune (Green), Pallum Bloodline (White), Sly Fox (White), Dexterous (White)]
[Cinder-Hearth Girl (Blue): You can transform into any form roughly matching your physique, and even mimic that race's traits.]
Takumi's eyes lit up at [Cinder Ella]. It resembled his [Shapeshift] but with one edge Shapeshift lacked: mimic the target race's traits. On Liliruca it was modest; on him, it would be busted.
"From now on, I'm your master, Lili."
"M… Master?"
She stared, still not processing what was happening.
More Dark Familia killers rushed in. Without looking back, Takumi pulsed gravity in all directions.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
[Ding! Randomly plundered traits: Mighty (White), Hale and Hearty (White)…]
As bodies pancaked into gore, his voice sounded in Liliruca's ears.
"Yes. I'm your master now—you are my property. Everything you are belongs to me and I will protect you. My slave. My servant. My thing."
Each word fell like a hammer on her heart. Despairing words but joy and relief bloomed inside her. To be protected—what a luxury, what a dream, for someone like her.
Then the jolt: protected or not, she was a slave.
No, how could she—
The pink collar flared.
A terrible curse surged through her body and mind.
Pssht!!
"Mm—"
With a stifled moan, Liliruca dropped to her knees and wet herself on the spot. Her whole body spasmed; she couldn't summon a shred of strength.
"Wh-Why… is this… happening…" Eyes glossy, cheeks burning, she looked up at Takumi.
"A slave harboring disloyalty toward her master is not allowed. Know your place and behave. No tricks."
His voice rang in her heart. The curse loosened—temporarily. He'd refined this power over time; as master, he could suppress it at will. Normally he preferred to lift such curses with a more… hands-on method; today's chaos left no such venue.
He looked out over the district. Fire spread; black smoke boiled up; swathes of the West Block were a sea of flames. More adventurers were converging.
"Hey-ha!"
With a girlish grunt, a multi-bladed chakram whipped past Takumi and hacked a Dark Familia thug into a bloody heap. As he fell, the weapon curved back; a Pallum girl darted in from the side and caught it cleanly.
She was only a touch taller than Lili—pink hair, pink eyes, a pert, adorable face. Seeing Takumi and Liliruca, she flashed a look of concern.
...
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