Chapter 20
It's been a week since I became Renoa's slave and got locked up in the mansion.
I'd spun countless scenarios about what horrible thing might happen to me, but they all turned out to be needless worry.
Ever since she ordered me to do nothing and stay quiet, Renoa hadn't spoken to me once.
‘I hadn't even seen her face.’
It was the laziest week I'd had since becoming a slave.
A bright single room with plenty of sunlight.
A clean, soft bed.
Sleep when I wanted, wake when I wanted.
Three delicious meals a day.
‘I've been doing that my whole life, haven't I?’
Apart from not having a cellphone, it was basically the same daily life I used to live in modern times. Slave in name only, it was practically the life of a layabout in a luxury villa.
Sure, it did feel a little like I was being raised like livestock. Still, compared to everything I'd been through so far, this place really was paradise on earth.
‘Though with a little boredom mixed in.’
I could probably live like this forever, but there was one crucial problem with this place.
This peace had an expiration date.
It would burn red hot along with this magnificent mansion.
I sat up and crossed my legs on the bed.
‘Let's sort things out.’
Renoa Edelheid.
The villainess of [Lady Maker].
With her cold, cruel nature, she treated people like stones. The lake in front of the mansion was probably only there for skipping people like stones.
Even if I survived by perfectly catering to her moods, that wouldn't be the end of it.
‘The Edelheid ducal family itself is rotten.’
There were many mage families in the kingdom, but among them, Edelheid stood near the top.
Everyone who inherited Edelheid's blood was an outstanding mage.
But apparently they weren't satisfied with being the empire's greatest magical house, so they turned to the forbidden art of black magic.
They failed in their attempt to swallow the empire with that power, and the name Edelheid was cut out of history entirely.
On the day their once-brilliant fame came crashing down, everyone belonging to Edelheid was executed.
From the head of the house to the slaves.
Killing even a lowly slave seems like overkill, but that's how dangerous black magic is.
For all they knew, the slave might have been used as a black-magic test subject, been cursed, or known confidential information.
Rather than risk a major disaster by letting them go, they just conveniently executed them.
They had a justification, and this wasn't a world where killing a few innocent slaves would make much difference anyway.
So, to sum it up?
‘I needed to keep Renoa happy while looking for an opening to escape.’
Haven't you seen stories like that?
Stories where someone holds an important post in an empire that's about to fall, or serves a tyrant who's going to be executed.
Stories where they try every possible stunt to get themselves kicked out before that day comes.
My situation was worse than that.
‘Those characters can at least get kicked out or run away. I can't.’
Renoa and I weren't in an employment relationship; we were in a master-slave relationship.
Mess up?
It's not a dishonorable dismissal—it's execution.
Run away?
If I get caught, that's execution too. Besides, as long as the contract of servitude exists, I can't even try to run.
‘What do I do?’
No matter how I thought about it, there was no answer.
All I could see was a future where I died at Renoa's hands, or died together with Renoa.
‘No, there is a way.’
One is for Renoa to have another whim and let me go.
The other is to stop the future in which the Edelheid ducal family is destroyed.
“The scale suddenly got insanely huge.”
For now, I'll try to make option one happen, and if that doesn't work, I'll aim for option two as a last resort. To do that, I can't stay cooped up in this room.
-Ding!
======
You have successfully completed the master's command 『Stay out of Renoa's sight for one week』.
A reward has been granted.
-Proficiency gains doubled for one week
======
“Hup.”
I hopped down from the bed.
Time to get moving again.
***
This is my current status window as Renoa's slave.
======
Name : Leon
Status :
Master : Renoa Edelheid
•Held Skills
【Blessing of Chains】
======
Again, when the master changed, the useless proficiencies got shoved into the More tab.
Status was blank. Maybe because of that, I didn't even have a slave-exclusive skill.
That meant Renoa expected nothing of me. It was neglect born of indifference, not affectionate spoiling.
For now, I needed to win her interest. Only then would things start moving in any direction.
“Oh my, Leon, you're awake?”
“Hello.”
“Want breakfast?”
“Oh, I'd appreciate that. Thanks, noona!”
“All right. Wait a little.”
I had gotten up early and headed to the kitchen. The maid sisters greeted me warmly.
Despite my lowly status as a slave, my treatment in this mansion was quite good.
That was thanks to a combination of several factors.
First, I'm young.
Just 14.
Except for Bibi, all the maids in this mansion are older than me.
Maybe because they felt maternal affection and pity after seeing me get roughed up in the arena at such a young age, they took very good care of me.
Second.
‘I hate to say it myself, but this body is pretty handsome.’
Even as a kid, I've got good looks.
The future's looking pretty promising.
A cute younger boy?
It's the classic combo that makes noona types swoon.
Isn't there such a saying? If you're handsome, life gets easier. That was exactly my situation.
What, that's not all?
My behavior was so ingratiating that they had no choice but to like me. I always used honorifics, acted a little cute, and helped out with chores.
“Here you go, Leon. Here.”
“Thank you. I'll eat well.”
“How is it? Is it tasty?”
“Oh, that's a given, isn't it? It tastes even better because you made it, Dabi noona.”
“How can you talk so sweetly~? There's still plenty, so eat up, and if that's not enough, eat more.”
“Yes!”
Ah, a life surrounded by maid sisters.
This is fantasy.
This is happiness.
As expected, being shamelessly outgoing is the way to go.
“By the way, Leon. You said you were a gladiator, right? Then you must've fought monsters too?”
“I guess so.”
“Who did you fight?”
The maids, now interested in my war stories, came closer and listened.
“I fought wolves, goblins, minotaurs, ogres... all sorts of things.”
“Were they strong?”
“Don't even ask. I barely made it out alive.”
“No way, you're lying, right? How could you take down monsters with a body this small?”
“Boys all seem to talk the same. My little brother brags exactly like you do.”
They all seemed to think it was just a kid's joke. Had they never seen a fourteen-year-old monster-slayer before?
I rolled up my sleeves right away.
“See? My arm? It's all muscle.”
“No way. Where would muscle even fit on a body this small?”
“I'm serious. It's real. Feel it once.”
The maids touched my arm with playful, skeptical looks.
“Oh my, it's really firm.”
“Really? Me too, me too.”
“Wow. Even when they're young, boys are still boys.”
Ah, these reactions are delicious.
This is why I work out.
All that hard work was worth it.
I was in the middle of having a great time laughing and chatting with the maid sisters when.
“…What are you doing right now?”
“Gasp! My lady?!”
The startled maids jumped away from me. At some point, Renoa had appeared without a sound and was standing in front of the kitchen.
With her long black hair and that signature menacing aura, she looked like a maiden ghost.
Renoa swept the kitchen with a quiet gaze. Her eyes stopped on me, and I looked straight back at her.
“I clearly told you to stay as quiet as a dead mouse.”
“Of course I did exactly as you ordered. You haven't seen me since that day, have you?”
“Then why are you here now?”
“A person has to eat to live.”
Renoa narrowed her eyes.
“You've gotten pretty slick in just a week. Had some big change of heart or something?”
“I realized why you brought me into the mansion, my lady. I understood your grand purpose.”
“And what's that?”
I put on as much gravitas as I could and said with a sly smile.
“You care about me too much. Like lovingly storing away a precious jewel. That's why you bought me at such a high price and don't have me do anything.”
“Not even close.”
“Really? Hmm, I thought that was it.”
Renoa frowned.
“Are you messing with me right now?”
“Even if my guess is wrong, it's fine. From now on, I'll work hard so you can treat me like a jewel, my lady.”
This was the conclusion I'd reached after locking myself in my room for a week and thinking hard.
‘I will stop the future where Renoa is destroyed.’
If Renoa had no intention of letting me go, then I'd at least change the future in which I die.
To do that, I needed to win her favor and stay by her side. That way, I'd be able to handle anything if it happened.
To survive, I was stepping into an even more dangerous place. This was the cornerstone directly tied to my survival.
“Do you happen to have anything for me to do? I'll serve you with everything I've got, my lady.”
***
After buying Leon from the arena, Renoa didn't give him anything to do.
Considering that most slaves in the world were worked to the bone, that was a very unusual treatment.
Of course, Renoa hadn't bought Leon because she needed extra hands.
It was to extinguish the light he carried.
To break his wings and lock him in a cage.
If she left him neglected in this mansion, she thought he'd soon forget how to fly and rot away like she had.
It was supposed to be that way.
“Wet mopping's great~ great~ wet mopping's great~ great~ cleaning's~ great~”
When she gave him work, he just cleaned while singing cheerfully.
This wasn't what Renoa wanted.
“Stop. Don't clean the mansion. Do something else. Go to the stable and take care of the horses.”
“Yes!”
Leon ran to the stable and tended the horses without a single complaint.
“Kimi no aiba ga! Zukyun dokyun~ Hashiridashi~ Hohoi!”
As always, he was singing an incomprehensible song. It was impossible to tell whether he was working or playing.
Renoa's pupils shook violently from side to side as she watched.
‘How....’
How could he be so energetic in this mansion?
Just a little while ago, that same body had been getting countless cheers in the arena, and now it was only cleaning up horse manure.
There wasn't a shred of resentment toward Renoa in his eyes, nor any despair over his own lot.
Just as before, he was ready to soar again at any time.
‘What on earth was he?’
Renoa's thought process creaked. By the standards of the world she'd lived in, he was an incomprehensible person.
Maybe because of that.
Without even realizing it, Renoa kept following him with her eyes for a long time.