| <<<<— | Table of Contents | —>>>> |
Chapter 34 – Ring of Subordination
“–What does the letter say?”
“…Let’s check first. I don’t sense any magic in the letter itself.”
“…I see. I don’t see any strange reactions from it.”
Selena uses a technique to expand the range of her eyes’ detection to check the letter for any strange devices such as poison.
Once it’s confirmed that it’s safe, they open the rolled up letter and the two read it over.
“… Hiding in the guild’s research team, investigating the southern part of the Great Sea of Trees. They seem to be on guard against the Empire’s increasing intelligence activities. The research team discovered an undiscovered ruin. There was a grave guardian, but it seems that he was defeated by the Black Witch and her two disciples who live in the Great Sea of Trees. I joined the infiltration investigation inside the ruins. There was a hidden door, but what seemed to be a key that opened it was confirmed. I also found an unidentified book. I tried to steal it, but since it was under heavy surveillance, I reported it first. It is likely that the book will be delivered to the guild or the Margrave and placed under their control, and…”
“… The whole story is written there…”
The girl doll spreads out a letter and makes a gesture as if she is reading it. Selena frowns at Clare’s sonorous voice. The tied up man, who is looked at by both of them, sits with his back against the roots of a tree, eyes closed, saying nothing.
“He doesn’t seem to be saying anything.”
“Let’s wait until Rona comes back.”
After Clare and Selena subdued the owl and the man, they waited, and soon heard several footsteps from the darkness.
The bound man showed a look of shock when he saw the people.
Rona was in the lead, and the other men were following behind her. However, the men’s eyes were vacant, and their expressions seemed to have left their souls.
Clare and Selena looked at the men with interest. As students, they were curious to know what kind of magic their master Rona had used.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. How is it going over there?”
“We’re fine here too. You and the owl are here as usual.”
“Clare-sama and I are both safe and uninjured. I don’t think anyone has even seen your cards.”
Clare and Selena explain the contents of the letter, and Rona responds with satisfaction.
“Okay, then let’s push them to the camp. You behave yourself, too. Otherwise you’ll end up like them.”
With that said to the tied up man, Rona starts walking. The men with Rona follow her mechanically, and the tied up man, not wanting to end up like his friends, starts walking with his head down. Clare and Selena follow him, taking positions where they can see the man’s movements.
Soon after, they arrive at the camp – and the young adventurer who was on guard notices them.
“Witch-sama…? Have you come back?”
“There’s a suspicious guy among the survey team. I was pretending to go home to see if he was doing anything suspicious, and then he showed his tail. To be more specific, I suspect he’s an Imperial spy.”
As Rona said this, the adventurer on guard shifted his gaze between Rona and the group, the bound man, and the blank-looking faces, and then said, “W-wait a bit! I’ll report back!” and hurriedly retreated into the camp.
After a while, a guild investigator, who must have received the report, returned with Griff and Lucia.
“–Well… in the end, not only did we solve the problem of the ruins, but we also managed to capture an Imperial spy.”
“I haven’t confirmed that they’re Imperial spies though. When I was doing magic detection, I even detected their hostility and malice towards us, so I thought it was pretty suspicious.”
“Is that so? From what I can see, they seem to be listening to what you say with magic, but can’t you get information out of them in this state?”
When the investigator asked, Rona shook her head.
“That’s impossible. It’s like putting them to sleep and letting them do what you want, but they’re not conscious right now. They can’t respond. Actually, mind-controlling magic is very meaningful for the person who casts it. It’s an evil technique that you don’t want to use often.”
The doll girl and Selena both nodded at Rona’s words.
Rona had taught them that such magic was a kind of curse. Although the dwarf and feather curses are intended to be stored in a magic bag, Rona says it’s safer to keep them for use on one’s own possessions. Casting a curse on another person can have a lasting effect, not only if the curse is returned, but also if you incur their grudge.
Even if the curse is lifted, a bad relationship remains between you and the person you cursed.
It makes it easier for the other person to approach you with a curse, and if the curse remains on them – or if they die while still harboring strong feelings of resentment towards the caster, they may become a powerful undead with the power of the curse or grudge added to them and come to take revenge directly. In other words, the stronger the curse used on others, the higher the risk.
So while it is necessary to learn how to deal with curses, they should not be used on others carelessly. Rona told them that unless they wanted to become a curse-specializing magician or something else that they wanted to accomplish, there was no need to choose that lifestyle, and both Clare and Selena agreed.
“Is it some kind of evil magic… I certainly can’t ask you to use that. Well, it’s someone else’s job to get information out of them. Forget about what I just said.”
“That’s right. I’ll hand these guys and the letter over to you. This guy can use magic. And judging from what he’s carrying, it looks like he’s a monster user. Those two over there are swordsmen or scouts.”
“I understand. Then we’ll take measures to transport them safely. What about the monsters? Star Owl’s eyes, feathers, and claws should be valuable.”
The investigator turned his attention to the owl in the birdcage. The monster owl blinked at the words, as if it could understand human language, and turned its head to look at Clare. The pleading gaze made the girl doll scratch her cheek.
“Um… well. It’s one thing if you’ve killed someone in battle or on the hunt, but it’s a bit awkward to try again after you’ve already neutralised them.”
Clare replied, and the owl nodded her head vigorously several times, as if to say, “That’s right.”
“I see. It can understand words and communicate. I’m sure it learned a lot from its interactions with monster users… but it seems like it didn’t have a very good relationship with its master.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s wearing an ankle ring, right? It’s the kind of thing that inflicts pain on you if you try to take it off or disobey its orders. Star Owls are smart, after all. Many monster users don’t want to use such smart monsters if they have built a relationship of trust with them.”
Rona pointed to the metal ring on the owl’s ankle.
“…It’s a ring of subordination. In the kingdom, it is prohibited to use it on anyone other than criminals serving sentences.”
Griff said quietly.
“…How can I put it? You must have had a hard time.”
Selena said sympathetically, and the owl lowered its head and whispered softly.
“But you’re a monster, and as long as you have a ring of subordination, we can’t let you go.”
“You can’t do anything while you’re captured, but if you free yourself, it would be troublesome if you tried to help the monster user.”
The girl doll made a thoughtful gesture at Lucia’s words.
“Well, I guess I’ll take you on here. I’ve got a few more things to teach my apprentice.”
“Okay. I’ll leave it to you then.”
Star Owl sighed in relief, knowing that he wouldn’t be handed over to the guild for the time being.
“Maybe it’s because he’s been interacting with people for so long, but his mannerisms are very human.”
Seeing Star Owl like that, the girl doll nodded with her arms crossed.
| <<<<— | Table of Contents | —>>>> |
Support Us at |
||
 |
 |
 |