[Alkelios’ point of view]

 The Black Company merchant was dead, the adventurers who acted as his guards were killed too. The three mercenaries who could have otherwise posed a threat to us were sent running with their tails between their legs. With the carriages themselves turned to nothing but a hot smoldering pile of nothing, we were left on our own.

“Well, this quest is definitely marked as failed!” I declared with a smile.

“Why are you proud of it?” asked Kalderan with a raised eyebrow.

“Erm... Because we managed to save Tamara! That’s a plus, right?” I replied.

“And you avenged Sofia.” he showed me a small smile.

“Yes, that too.” I nodded.

“What should we do now?” he asked as he looked back at the burning carriages.

“Well, how about we continue our journey? We still have three horses. I didn’t chase away all of them.” I shrugged.

“Good thing my supplies are in your inventory skill.” Kalderan nodded.

“True.” I nodded.

“What about me?” Risha asked with a timid voice.

I looked back at her and noticed how frail she was. Uncertain, worried, weak, this woman understood that she was at our mercy. She could be killed here by us and if she were to be sent off on her own, chances were she wouldn’t survive the journey back to Soldra Town. She failed her escort quest, she was the only survivor of her party of four, and she was average both in looks and strength.

It wasn’t hard to imagine what her future would hold, that was why I felt a bit guilty about it. I couldn’t use my Luck to make her future all better either. It didn’t work that way. Luck did not offer me a sure shot at everything. Even in my previous wishes against the Black Company, it was still a matter of whether it was possible or not. If, for example, they stopped all activity for one week or more on their own, then most of my wishes would have been for nothing. If they had been extra careful with what evidence they left lying around, then even being apprehended by the authorities would have been hard. If their reach could even touch the King’s will, then they could have him declare the Black Company as innocent, making all of my wishes useless.

Besides, there was also the will of the gods at play here, which, for now I didn’t really have that much of an idea of how it worked out. What I used my Luck for and how my wishes worked wasn’t by going against fate but rather by giving it an extra reason to be on my side rather than that of my enemy.

The most important reason behind why I didn’t want to use Luck wishes for Risha, however, was simply because I didn’t want to, that was why, I was going to offer her an alternative.

“You can go back to Soldra if you want, continue until the next village, or you could also join us. However, a fair bit of warning, if you choose the latter, you might end up giving up on your normal life.” I told her in a strict and stern tone of voice.

Risha blinked surprised and then looked down at the ground. Her hands were clenched into fists, and she appeared to be trembling a bit. Maybe it was because of her rage at my words. I must have sounded really heartless and uncaring of her conditions, but this wasn’t that far off from the truth either. I cared about Kalderan because he was my friend, but Risha, she was just an adventurer acquaintance at best.

I walked past her and went to check the status of the horses. They weren’t restless or acting up at all despite all the chaos that happened recently. They were trained to keep their calm around powerful adventurers and unreasonable circumstances such as monsters attacking and people dying. Considering the fact that they belonged to the Black Company, it wasn’t surprising at all.

“These are good horses.” Kalderan pointed out as he approached one of them.

“So far, we traveled by walking next to the black carriages or on the back of these horses they provided. Considering our stats, we could just run to the next village.” I said.

“But what about them?” Kalderan asked as he pointed at Tamara, who was looking around without saying anything, and Risha, who was still looking down, frustrated by her own situation.

“Yeah, the horses are mostly for them.” I said.

“Do you want me to carry Tamara?” he asked.

“What are you planning?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“She’s a cat, isn’t it obvious that I want to pet her?” he showed me a smug smile.

“I understand your feelings, my friend.” I nodded in approval.

“Then?”

“I hold priority!” I declared.

“Fluffies are to be shared!” he pointed at me.

“Kuh! I didn’t know the Russian people love the fluffies as well.” I said as I pulled back.

“What? You think we never heard of things like anime and manga or don’t own pets ourselves?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Do bears count?” I asked.

“What sort of monsters do you think the Russian people are?!” he retorted.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and we entered in a starring contest. After a long moment had passed, we both burst out into a loud laughter.

When we calmed down, I said “Sigh... I needed that.”

“Yeah, it was a bit too tense. Let’s get a move on before it gets dark, and we’re forced to stay outside.” Kalderan said with a soft smile as he mounted his horse.

“Tamara, come here.” I said.

“Nyu?” she turned her head towards us and twitched her ears.

When she understood that I called her over, she approached me and looked up at me with big eyes.

“Let’s get you on the horse.” I said as I patted her head and then helped her sit in front of Kalderan.

“What happened to priorities?” he raised an eyebrow at me.

“You are a range fighter. You won’t need to dismount, but I will need to get off every time.” I showed him a wry smile.

After Tamara was secured, I looked back at Risha. She did not move from her spot and kept looking at the ground with her fists clenched tight. I let out a sigh and then mounted my horse.

One last time... I thought and then called out to her “Risha, what are you going to do?”

The woman raised her head up and looked back at me. Her gaze shifted between me and Kalderan and when I thought she would say something, she only opened her mouth and then closed it again.

Is this your choice? I wondered and then pulled the reins of the horse.

“Don’t be an idiot like those three.” Kalderan said coldly.

“I’m not an idiot!” she shouted back at him.

“Good, so you can talk.” he looked at her with scolding eyes and then said “He asked you a question. What’s your answer?”

“I...” she closed her mouth and bit her lip. “I... I will come with you.” she declared and looked at us with all the determination she could muster.

“Good. That’s your horse.” I pointed at the last one.

She nodded and then went to pick up her backpack, which was lying next to the backpacks of her former adventurer friends. She cast one last look at them and then went to the horse. After making sure that her backpack was secured, she got up on the saddle.

“I’m ready.” she declared.

“Let’s go then.” I said.

We arrived in Orhiga Village a bit later that afternoon. With the caravan destroyed, we had no need to stop and kill every single monster we came across. A single wave of pressure from my presence was all that was needed in order to make the monsters flee from us as fast as they could.

The Orhiga Village was located right in the middle of the plains. Most of the people here made their living from farming and animal husbandry. Very few villagers dared to try their luck by hunting on the outskirts of the nearby forest.

There weren’t that many monsters around these parts either with the exception of some giant moles that kept ruining the crops and strange grasshoppers that tried to aim for the cattle. None of these were of a concern to us, but adventurers tended to take quests to hunt them down. The mole meat was similar to chicken and the grasshopper plates made excellent armor for both new and veteran adventurers.

As for how I knew all of this? Well, as soon as we entered the village, the guard posted there, rather than trying to see if we were criminals or not, he started to describe the local tourist attractions. We waited for half an hour until he finally stopped and let us pass.

There was only one inn in the entire Orhiga Village. When we got there, we were told that only one room was available as the rest had been taken by traveling merchants and adventurers. For better or worse, we took it. We only needed the room; I could always bring out an extra bed from my [Black Hole]. The meals at the inn were simple and filled our stomachs well, but they didn’t have any fish, so I couldn’t see how Tamara would react to it.

With everything that happened that day, it wasn’t easy to strike up a conversation. I could move past these events faster than they could, but Kalderan just found his missing lover stuffed up for display, and Risha saw her own party members get killed before her very eyes while they were trying to commit murder.

It wasn’t easy, but what I found rather odd was the way Tamara kept looking around. She was lacking the energy I would have thought a child like her would possess. She was not curious and obeyed whatever we asked of her to the letter. Despite her cute fluffiness, the relliar was too submissive. I didn’t like it.

The following day, we woke up at the break of dawn after a long and good night rest. The fact that the day had 32 hours instead of 24 had already become something all of us got used to. My half-dragon body didn’t find any problem with it either. I could sleep for the entirety of the night without a problem and be active for the whole day too.

Regarding this, I noticed that Kalderan had yet to properly adjust to this weird time. For him, staying awake almost 20 hours each day was difficult. Having to sleep for more than 12 wasn’t to his liking either, but he was basically getting enough rest, so he didn’t show to have any health problems as a result of that.

“Where to now?” Risha asked after we mounted our horses.

Pulling the reins and leading my mount on the road, I replied “Next stop is Leveder City. We’re going to turn in the failed quest there and then see if we can pick up something else.” I replied.

“We?” Risha asked raising an eyebrow.

“Well, you are now a member of our party, aren’t you?” I looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.

“True, but...”

“If you will see anything interesting there, let us know. By the way, you don’t need to worry about the difficulty of the quest, I’m more than capable of defeating an Awakened Breakthrough Dragon.” I told her.

“A what?” she furrowed her brow.

“Erm... What’s the human equivalent for someone who has a level over 1000?” I asked Kalderan.

“An Awakened, a Breakthrough-er, an Ascendant, mostly the first or the second.” he replied.

“Hm, I see. In the case of dragons, an Awakened is a dragon who reached maturity and quite literally Awakened their anthropomorphic characteristic and ability to shapeshift to full-beast form. If a dragon reached a Power Number of 1000 or more, they are then an Awakened Breakthrough-er or just Breakthrough-er.” I said as I rubbed my chin.

“Are you referring to the Supreme Adventurers?” Risha asked a bit confused by our conversation.

“No.” I shook my head. “Adventurer Guild rank and what we’re talking about are two different things.” I explained.

“Is that so... Well, I never heard of such individuals until now.” she showed us a wry smile.

“I heard it from some traveling merchants. They spoke other languages, but apparently there are no such individuals in the Ten Swords Kingdom.”

“Hm, that’s good to know.” I nodded.

With no Breakthrough-er to defend the Kingdom, then it could easily fall in dragon hands. I alone was more than enough to take complete control of it, but this wasn’t my goal in the end. Even if it was, I would have taken a more different approach, such as taking control from the inside out and then forming a coup with the support of the people. Draejan attempted to take over Albeyater using military force and the people rebelled. Our side was more than happy to turn his ambitions to dust.

As we moved farther and farther from Ohirga Village, I began to notice a strange change in Tamara. Her eyes kept looking forward into the horizon, but they lacked the energy of a typical child. Her pulse was slow, and she didn’t react unless we called her.

At first, I thought she was just feeling sick or something. [Identificus Processus Juridicus] didn’t work that well on sapient species, and the ‘Show Status’ command was also useless as it didn’t reveal anything other than what I already knew, so I decided to stop the horse and give her a checkup.

“Why are we stopping?” Kalderan asked.

“Tamara doesn’t look well...” I said as I dismounted.

“What do you mean?” he asked as he looked at me with a furrowed brow.

All this time, he was carrying her on his horse, so there was a chance that she had a bit of motion sickness, but her rather apathetic reply to our calls made me doubt that.

“Tamara, are you feeling alright?” I asked as I carefully helped her get off the horse.

“This slave is in perfect health, Master.” she replied in a most stoic tone of voice.

“What the...” Kalderan reacted.

“Why did you say that? Tamara, what’s wrong?” I asked her as I looked into her lifeless eyes.

She was still alive, that much I could tell, but it was as if she wasn’t in control of her own body.

“What’s wrong?” Risha asked as she pulled her horse closer to us.

“It’s Tamara, she’s acting weird.” I said.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked furrowing her brow as she too dismounted.

“Can’t you see? She’s behaving like a slave.” I said.

“But... she is a slave?” she said it as if it was obvious.

“She’s not a slave, well not mine or anyone’s here. There’s no one to give her commands either, so why keep up the act?” I looked back at Risha.

“Hm, well... you do have a point there, but I think I have seen this sort of behavior on other slaves as well.” she said as she got close and looked into Tamara’s eyes.

“You’ve seen it before?” I furrowed my brow.

“Tamara?” she called to her.

The relliar perked her ears up and looked back at Risha.

“Are you Master’s acquaintance?” she asked.

“Huh? No. Who is your master, Tamara?” Risha asked.

Tamara pointed a finger at me.

“This slave belongs to the individual over there.” she replied with the same lack of emotion as before.

“Where’s her ‘nya’ ‘nya’ sounds from before?” Kalderan asked.

“It’s like she’s been brainwashed.” I said furrowing my brow.

“Hm... It must be the collar.” Risha said as she pointed at it.

“Can’t we just take it off?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. Only someone with the proper skill can remove or make a slave collar. Those individuals are under watch by the kingdom and usually employed by a slave company, since they themselves can’t be enslaved and having someone opening up slave collars left and right is bad for business and public safety.” Risha explained.

“But she was acting normal the day before.” Kalderan pointed out.

“The collar was probably partially inactive. With the death of the master, the ownership must have changed to the killer, resulting in Alkelios being the new master.”

“That’s stupid. Why would you change the ownership to the killer?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Slaves are basically tools, items, therefore it’s not profitable for the slave to die together with the master. It’s more useful for them to be ‘reassigned’.” Kalderan explained with a frown.

“It’s also a good way to track down the killer in certain cases.” Risha added.

“And makes it possible for a slave company to safely recover its slaves from a thief.” said Kalderan.

“So, it’s the collar’s fault? Does that mean that she’ll return to normal once we remove it?” I asked as I crossed my arms at my chest and then tilted my head to the right.

“In theory, yes. Removing it, however, isn’t that easy. Not only do you have to find a company that has someone capable of releasing slaves, but you are also required to hold the proper official documents, such as those that act as proof of you legally buying her as well as the one through which your slave has been recognized as having received the governmental approval to be released.” Kalderan explained.

“Why is it so complicated?” I let out a sigh of annoyance.

“Because the slave dealers want to promote the idea that it is far more profitable to enslave someone and sell them off than it is to free them. Only nobles or very rich merchants are usually capable of freeing slaves, but without a proper reason, even they might not receive the proper authorization from the government.” Kalderan said with a sad look in his eyes as he patted Tamara on the head.

The little feline had no reaction to his gesture. Usually, she would have pushed her head up and showed a satisfied smile just like a house cat would.

“So... what you are saying is that freeing Tamara here would be difficult because those who can do it aren’t found that easily, it would be expensive because of the law, and it would be a bureaucratic mess on top of that?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Unfortunately, if you want to free her legally, you will need the proper documentation for her like the act of ownership and legal enslavement. As far as I know, you hold neither document in your possession, and I doubt the merchant had them on him, considering what sort of macabre plans he had for her.” Risha said.

“To top it off, this did look like an illegal enslavement done by none other than the Black Company.” Kalderan said.

“Hm... So, in other words... it’s impossible to go at it through the legal ways?” I asked.

“Yes.” Kalderan nodded.

“Good! Then I guess I will have to free her myself! Or just make something that does that for me. Hm, a collar removal tool? That might actually come in handy! Alright! Let’s go with that!” I declared with a smile.

“Wait! What do you mean make one yourself? How can you make such a tool? With what? Where?” Risha asked as she looked at me with a perplexed expression on her face.

Leaving the doubting Risha aside and the sighing Kalderan, I walked away from the road and into the plains. Here, I upturned the ground with my magic and then flatted it until took a smooth appearance.

The two skills I was planning to use were these:

 

[Pony Power!] [Level 5]: Grants the Hero the ability to enchant and imbue with magic any item up to Godlike Rank. Enchants require an undamaged item or a test object for a temporary one. The Hero must have a clear understanding of the desired enchant if it is to properly work (this does not apply to Godlike Rank Enchants). The imbue of an item can be done only during the process of making the item and requires the Hero to shout out the skill’s name. The strength of each Enchant depends on the amount of Magic Energy poured during the enchanting or imbue process.

[Advancement I]: Allows the creation and testing of new enchants based on the already know ones.

[Advancement II]: Allows the Hero to Enchant damaged items.

[Advancement III]: Enchants applied by the Hero may be focused on the core of the item so that outside damage does not affect them as much.

[Advancement IV]: Godlike Enchant List is now unlocked. [Godlike Enchant List]

 

[Rock Hard!] [Level 5]: Grants the Hero the ability to create any armor or weapon up to Godlike Rank. Smiting requires a Forge, an Anvil, and Smith’s Tools. Leather Crafting requires a Tanning Rack and Leather Crafting Tools. Godlike Rank items require a Divine Forge, a Divine Anvil, and Divine Tools. Cost: Depends on the Item.

[Advancement I]: 50% less chance of breaking an item while crafting it.

[Advancement II]: Can now imbue items with Magic Energy to increase their durability.

[Advancement III]: Spawn the Divine Smith’s Tools.

[Advancement IV]: Spawn the Divine Forge, the Divine Anvil, and the Divine Leather Crafting Tools.

 

Thus, without further ado, I spawned where I stood the Divine Forge, the Divine Anvil, and the Divine Smith’s Tools. As usual, seeing these things made me show a wry smile. They all looked quite extravagant, bigger and far more majestic than I would have wanted them to be and emitted an aura that would put a temple to shame.

On the bright side of things, they released such an oppressive aura that all the monsters in a couple kilometers radius would just flee away as fast as their legs could carry them.

“I’m going to be working for a bit now, so you can go ahead and prepare the camp.” I told them, but when I looked back, I saw them sweating bullets. “What?” I asked.

“A-Alkelios w-what’s t-that?” Kalderan asked as he pointed at the forge.

“A Divine Forge. How else am I going to make Godlike Ranked items?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“G-Godlike items? You mean the t-type that c-countries w-would k-kill for?” Risha asked.

“What do you think my swords are?” I scoffed.

“Y-Your s-swords a-are...” Risha fainted.

“A-Alkelios?” Kalderan looked at me with a wry smile.

“Yes?” I looked back at him.

“Buy a commonsense skill. I’m gonna... I’m going to take care of Risha and pretend like I didn’t I see you spawn something the dwarfs mentioned only in their most ancient of legends.” he showed me a wry smile as he began to set up the camp.

Furrowing my brow, I looked back at the Divine Forge and wondered Are these things really that impressive?

Judging by their reactions, it was clear that they were beyond rare, but it could have also been because they were not that well informed about the level of skill of the smiths on this continent. Soldra Town wasn’t exactly what I would call ‘a good place where you could find a weapon’. The blacksmiths there left me completely disappointed as they got all flustered just by seeing one of my mass-produced swords that weren’t worth that much in Albeyater.

Now, for the collar removal item, I needed something that could change shape and size, identify the enchant on the slave collar and then properly disable it. When I looked at the [Godlike Enchant List], I saw several spells that could work: [Absolute Dispelling], [Magic Energy Extractor], [Magic Energy Nullifier], [Spell Deconstruction], [Enchant Negation], and [Enchant Manipulator].

All of these sounded quite dangerous in their own way. Depending on who and how they used it, they could even turn the collar I wanted to make to save Tamara into a weapon to cripple and kill even a Breakthrough-er. Out of all of them, I considered [Enchant Negation] to be the best and safest to use. The [Enchant Manipulator] one could have turned every scrap armor into something undeniably powerful or a cursed item.

With my mind set on what I wanted to do, I took out a bar of Dregaryum from my [Black Hole], then I grabbed my trusty Divine Blacksmith’s Hammer, the Divine Pliers, and then started my work on it.

Each time I struck the metal, a loud thunder was heard and the ground around me shook a little. It felt like a massive god was hammering at the planet’s surface. It was rather intimidating even for me, but when I looked back at Kalderan, he appeared to be looking far off into the horizon, with a peaceful look on his face.

Yup, he was escaping reality at warp speed!

About half an hour later, I had a nice metal ring that was ready to be enchanted. One of the enchants I wanted to imbue on it was something that would help it change size depending on who and what it was placed on, thus, my most embarrassing moment began.

“[Pony Power!]” I shouted and a big lightning bolt struck the Divine Anvil on which I was holding the Dregaryum ring with the Divine Pliers.

I took a deep breath and then struck again.

“[Pony Power!]” the next chant came.

I continued like that for another fifty minutes or so until the process was over. With my pride in pieces, I looked up at the metal ring, now a perfect torus, as I lifted it up in the air with the pliers. It looked so simple that you could mistake it for some worthless crap, but the enchant on it could turn any magical weapon into a simple boring one.

“I’m done.” I declared and turned to look at the group.

Risha was still knocked out cold and Kalderan was drinking a hot cup of tea while looking out into the horizon.

“I think I see the gates of Nirvana.” he said.

“OI! Don’t you dare reach spiritual enlightenment here!” I called out to him and rushed over to snap him out of it before it was too late.

Some moments later and with the help of a water spell, I was able to return him to reality and wake up Risha.

“That was... mortifying... I almost turned into a monk!” Kalderan said while standing on all fours and looked at the ground.

He was breathing hard and soaked to the bone. Risha was shivering near the fire.

“Why did you drop a river on top of us?” she complained.

Tamara was the only one who didn’t suffer the wrath of my water spell because I pulled her out of the way.

“Again, I apologize, but look, the divine thingies are gone!” I said as I pointed at the now empty field.

All I had to do to make them vanish was to deactivate my skill. As long as I didn’t will them to be gone, the divine workshop would remain manifested here even if I ended up dead. The tools didn’t come with an instruction manual that specified this, but every time I held the hammer in my hand and struck the anvil, I got that feeling, that they were there only as long as I wished them to be, and it didn’t matter whether I was dead or alive.

“Right... So? Did you finish that tool you were talking about?” Kalderan asked as he got up and looked back at me.

Taking out a pair of towels from my [Black Hole], I handed them over to the two and then said “Yes, it was success.”

“Then let’s see it.” he said as he rubbed his soaked hair with the towel.

“Alright. This here is the Ring of Denial. It can nullify the effects of any enchants on any item its strapped onto.” I said as I showed it to him.

Right now, it looked like a silver torus with a big radius of 20 centimeters and a small radius of 5 millimeters.

“Any enchants?” Kalderan asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yes.” I nodded “It’s a Godlike Item, technically, so quite literally any enchants.” I said.

“...” they both had a blank look on their face.

“But don’t worry about it. After I remove Tamara’s collar, I will just toss it in some corner inside my [Black Hole]. No one except me will be able to use again.” I declared in a proud tone of voice.

“You made a Godlike item which you plan to use at most only once or twice in your entire life?” Kalderan looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Sigh... Alright, just take care of it.” he rubbed his temples as if he just got a terrible headache.

“Of course. Ah, before I forget. Here are some Rotiqus Potions to keep you from getting sick.” I showed him a smile as I handed him two bottles. “One for you and one for Risha.”

“Rotiqus Potion? You mean that unbelievably expensive stuff even nobles barely get their hands on?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“...”

“This thing is expensive.” he told me.

“Expensive? This thing?” I blinked surprised as I remember that the ingredients were just Dragon Grass, Adeline Root, salt, and water.

Adeline Root was found on literally every tree on the Dragon Continent, while Dragon Grass was even more common. How was this stuff expensive? At best, it is treated like some sort of energy drink by lazy dragons.

“Yes, almost 100 Gold Coins.” Kalderan said.

“100 Gold Coins for something like this? I wonder how much they would pay for something that contains a Cure All plant?” I said and shook my head Speaking of which, I wonder how the Queen is doing? Is she still drinking the Cure All tea? I thought as I let my mind wonder off towards the Albeyater Kingdom.

“The Cure All plant is mythical plant that doesn’t exist on the Human Continent. Don’t tell me you have something like that?” said Kalderan.

“How in the world do you even know about it if it’s that rare?!” I retorted.

“I read a lot and hear a lot thanks to my skill, and wherever I went, there were a lot of traders who kept bragging about one rumor or another.” he said.

“Makes sense.” I let out a sigh.

“Hey, but don’t think I’m some sort of botanist. I just heard of a few things here and there. Rotiqus Potion and the Cure All plants are some of them.” he defended himself.

“Does Adeline Root mean anything to you?” I asked him.

“No.” he shook his head.

“It’s one of the ingredients for the potion. Anyway, Tamara, come here.” I said as I urged the relliar to approach us.

“Yes, Master.” she nodded and stepped in front of me.

I lifted the Ring of Denial above her head and then lowered it down until it was at the same level as the slave collar. After letting some of my Magic Energy flow inside it, the ring shrunk in size while the small radius got bigger. It was literally rearranging itself until it touched the slave collar.

“Good, now for the [Enchant Negation].” I said and then activated it.

As soon as I did so, I heard a shattering sound that came from the slave collar, and there was no more Magic Energy flowing through it. Carefully, I then enlarged the Ring of Denial while also pulling on the slave collar until it broke with a snap. I took off the Ring of Denial and tossed away what remained of the slave collar.

Now, with this stupid item off of her, Tamara was finally allowed to move around as she pleased.

This reminds me, but if the merchant from the Black Company ordered her back then to return to him rather than demanding me to hand her over, it would have made things a bit more difficult for me to rescue her. I thought as I looked into her eyes and noticed that they started to clear up and regain their energy.

“Tamara?” I asked.

“Nya~ Master... the collar...” she said and then tears started to gather in her eyes.

Before I knew it, she was crying in my embrace, happy to have been freed of the wretched thing. I gently petted her, while waiting for her to calm down. Kalderan and Risha looked at her with a warm smile on their face.

“It’s alright, Tamara. You’re safe now.” I told her in a gentle tone of voice.

“Hic! It was scawy! It hurt! It hurt! I didn’t want to be a slave! I didn’t want to! Bad men put the collar on me! It was scawy! Hic!” she cried and hiccupped.

“There there. It’s alright.” I kept saying.

It took her a while to calm down, but once she did, we gave her something good to eat, Risha gave her a change of clothes, and I continued to gently pet her.

“Master, now that you are not my Master anymore, what should I call you?” she asked as she looked up at me.

“Alkelios. My name is Alkelios Yatagai.” I told her with a smile on my face.

“Un! I will remember it! Alkelios! Tamara will remember it, nya~!” she said and then showed me a bright smile that could lift off any black clouds looming over someone’s heart.