Do You Think Someone Like You Can Defeat The Demon King? Chapter 15

Flum is frozen in place, her mouth hanging wide open.

Milkit nervously looks at the mysterious trespa.s.ser, then looks at her master, then back to the trespa.s.ser.

Eterna stands up, walks up to Flum, puts a hand on Flum’s face and guides her there down to her level.

“What is this?”

She’s looking right at Flum’s slave mark. She’s pretty sure Flum didn’t have it before.

“It’s strange that you’re here when you’re supposed to be back home, but this is even stranger. What is this?”

She sounds distinctly irritated as she glares at the mark. Even though Flum knows that her icy stare isn’t aimed at her, her stomach tightens. She was planning on asking Eterna what she’s doing there, but the words die on her lips.

“Who did this to you? What happened?”

“I thought you… err, everyone except you knew about this?”

“What?”

“About, y’know, Jean selling me for being so useless… about my becoming a slave.”

Eterna is silent for a long moment, then slumps her shoulders, letting out a vexed sigh.

“That pointlessly prideful, shrimpy, pathetic little cherry boy sage…!”

Rare abuse flows from her lips.

Aside from the virginity thing, Flum has a pretty good idea of who she’s talking about.

“Didn’t he tell you?”

“Of course not. If we knew we all would’ve stopped him!”

At Eterna’s words Flum feels a huge weight lift from her shoulders, as if a dark fog in her heart has finally dispersed.

She feels so at ease now.

“Gadio was disappointed to hear that you left, and Cyrill was so depressed she couldn’t even fight properly.”

“Even Gadio-san and Cyrill-chan…”

Gadio is one thing, since he looked after her a lot, but she was certain that Cyrill hated her. It doesn’t change the fact that she was and probably still is useless to them, but --- she has a place there after all.

She’s not really moved to hear that, but a tear nonetheless falls down her face so naturally that she doesn’t even realize it at first. Touching her hand to her face and feeling it, she laughs. Eterna continues.

“I should’ve doubted Jean when he said you went home. It must’ve been hard, being a slave.”

Her typically carefree expression clouds over into an apologetic one. In response, Flum grabs Milkit’s hand and pulls her into the room to her side.

“It was thanks to that I got to meet Milkit, so it’s not like it’s all bad.”

Milkit lets out a deep inwards sigh of relief.

She was certain that they were only together because neither of them had anywhere else to go. For a moment she was afraid that Flum would abandon her now that she can to return to the Hero’s party, but instead she was just made to realize all over again just what kind of person her master is.

She really won’t ever abandon me.

Milkit can feel that little seed of confidence take root in her heart.

“That girl’s face… mustaad poison?”

“You can tell even through the bandages?”

“It’s very distinct. Who would be cruel enough to use that on her?”

“Ah, that’s right! I’d like you to do me a little favor.”

“Whatever you need.”

“Alright, just lemme grab a few things! I’ll be right back!”

Flum rushes back down to the first floor where she’d left her bag, leaving Milkit alone with Eterna.

“Flum’s nice.”

Milkit jumps slightly at Eterna’s sudden voice.

“...Eh? Ah, yes, I couldn’t wish for a better master.”

“Nn. I wish I could go punch Jean right now for selling a good little girl like her into slavery, but I don’t know where he is. I can’t just charge into his room in the Castle right now, either.”

Milkit feels oddly happy at the irritation in Eterna’s voice.

Even the Hero and her companions understand how amazing Master is...

“She has the strange power to attract people to her. Jean was probably jealous of her. He’s too much of a ‘genius’ for charisma.”

“Is he the person who made Master a slave?”

“Nn. He’s weak, a virgin and a real pain in the b.u.t.t.”

“Ahaha…”

She must really hate Jean to still be insulting him like this.

“But if you stick with Flum, you can’t go wrong.”

“That’s exactly what I was planning on doing --- until she abandons me, that is.”

“Then I hope you’re ready to follow her for life.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Nn. No mistake, she’s---”

Eterna is interrupted by the sound of Flum running up the stairs. She makes no move to finish her sentence as Flum reenters the room.

“Here!”

Flum holds two bundles of herbs out to Eterna.

“The reagents for the mustaad poison antidote?”

“Master, when did you…!?”

“I picked them when I was looking for the Chiaraly. They’re not all that rare, so I looked for them in that cave while I was at it.”

The only real problem was finding an apothecary to make the antidote itself. Reach apparently managed to find someone who was willing to help him through some underground connections, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask him to do the same for her.

Fortunately, a skilled apothecary just happened to fall into her lap.

“I’ll start mixing it. Give me three hours.”

“Is that really all you need?”

“Nn. It’s me we’re talking about.”

She responds firmly, giving Flum no choice but to nod and accept her words. She’s about to leave the room so that Eterna can concentrate when she suddenly remembers an important question she has.

“By the way, Eternsan, what’re you doing here? How’s the journey going?”

“It was boring after you left, so I left too.”

“Eh… You just walked out!?”

“You left, so there’s no reason I couldn’t. Then I found this place and it turned out to be pretty nice, so I borrowed it.”

Flum responds with a somewhat strained laugh. Even Eterna should know better than to just take over a random house.

“You’re aware that’s technically trespa.s.sing, right?”

“I’m working for my rent right now.”

“So you knew, after all…”

“Nn. It’s a nice place. If you really want I can leave.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I own this place now, so you can use this room however you want.”

“I owe you one.”

“You’re welcome.”

“By the way, I have a question.”

“If you’re curious about anything, feel free to ask.”

There’s no way she’s not curious about anything. Eterna was certainly surprised to see the slave mark, but there’s one more mark that she can’t just ignore.

“That mark on your hand. Epic-tier equipment? Come to think of it, it doesn’t make sense that you got a house when you can’t even fight.”

“Ahh, that… It turns out that Reversal turns the status-down effect on cursed equipment into a status-up effect for me.”

Her eyes widen in shock for a moment, then she strokes her chin.

“I see. Didn’t see that coming.”

“Neither did I, really, but thanks that I’m strong enough to make it as an adventurer! Isn’t that amazing?”

Flum talks with enthusiasm in her voice, but Eterna isn’t so sure it’s a good thing. It may be one of the few ways for a slave to earn money, but it also means putting herself in danger every day. It’s hardly a respectable line of work.

“I can give you a hand if you need it. If you’re ever stuck just let me know.”

---If it comes to it, she can just protect Flum. She’s strong enough to do that, at least.

“Thank you. If I’m ever in trouble I’ll make sure to come straight to you.”

Their conversation finished, this time both Flum and Milkit leave the room and head downstairs.

After waiting a moment to ensure that she’s alone on the second floor, Eterna mutters to herself.

“Protect… be protected… I was protected back then. No matter what… I won’t forget.”

She stares blankly at the old wooden desk in front of her for a moment, then lets out a deep sigh and gets to work on the antidote.

◇◇◇

Flum and Milkit start unpacking all they’ll need to start living there. Thanks to Eterna all the cleaning has already been handled, but whether or not they should actually thank her or not as an illegal trespa.s.ser is another matter entirely. Between not having to clean and the fact that they don’t have a lot of luggage, they end up finishing quickly and painlessly.

They sit facing each other at the dining room table. There are a total of four chairs there, enough for the three of them and Sara if she comes to visit, but they should probably get a few more just in case they have other guests.

“I can’t believe that you own this entire house now, Master.”

Milkit looks around the room, clearly impressed, but Flum corrects her.

“You mean we own this entire house now.”

“No, I can’t possibly…”

“Yes, you can possibly. Since this is your house too, just tell me if there’s any furniture or anything you want. We’ll have to start budgeting and stuff, but I’ll do what I can.”

“...Okay.”

They’ve had this same conversation too many times already for Milkit to not know her resistance is futile. No matter what, Flum has every intention of honoring Milkit’s will. She’s been trying her best to avoid making her opinion known to her master, but if her master insists… changing bit by bit all the while, she’ll just have to accept it.

“We ended up with an unexpected housemate, but it looks like my life as an adventurer’s about to really get started…”

Even if they don’t have to worry about rent, they’ll still need enough money for food and other daily expenses. They’ll be able to get by on the money Reach gave them for the time being, but they can’t count on such convenient requests to fall into their laps all the time. That of course means having to deal with Dane and his group while earning enough to get by, but no pressure he can exert on her could beat out the comforting feeling of having a home to return to.

As Flum reaffirms her resolve, Millkit speaks out to her.

“Um… Master?”

“Yeah?”

“This might be a foolish question, but… Will my face really go back to normal?”

Her voice is filled with uncertainty.

“Of course. Normally it’d only take a day, since in your case you’ve been living with it for so long it’ll probably take a full week.”

“Only a week…”

She feels her face through her bandages. At first she was rather depressed about her condition, but she accepted that there was no helping it.

But she was wrong. There is helping it, and the thought of it terrifies her.

Milkit wants to be cured, of course, but she doesn’t want to change. If she changes, her surroundings will change with her. She might gain something new, but she might lose something in exchange.

What if she loses Flum?

What if Flum stops caring about her after she’s cured?

She can’t stop thinking about that worst-case scenario.

“By the way, why were you poisoned in the first place?”

Milkit is suddenly brought back to earth by Flum’s question, and after replaying what Flum said in her head she replies.

“I was never told specifically to take it, at the very least. I simply woke up one morning to find my face like this.”

“So it was probably mixed in with your food or something, then… Your former master really was the worst.”

Even though it had nothing to do with her, Flum gets angry. Her anger is for Milkit’s sake alone.

“Was your master back then a man or a woman?”

“She was a she.

“Ah… I thought so…”

“You thought… so?”

What does gender have to do with poisoning a slave?

Milkit c.o.c.ks her head to the side in confusion.

“If your master was a man, I can’t really see any point in ruining your face like that. I mean, I’m sure there are some twisted perverts out there who’d do something like that just for kicks, but…”

Flum looks Milkit in the eyes and smiles.

“Whether it’s because of some man’s twisted fetish or some woman’s jealousy, I think they must’ve done it to ruin your beauty.”

“No, that’s completely unthinkable.”

Milkit’s reply is instantaneous.

She’s never been told that she’s pretty before, so that can’t be the reason.

I’m just an ugly, filthy little thing...

“Oh really? Your eyes are really pretty, just like your heart. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say your face is pretty, too.”

“Please stop saying such things, Master. You’ll only get your hopes up.”

“Haha, no way that’s happening. Wait, don’t tell me that’s why you seem so down? You’re worried I’ll be disillusioned and leave you, is that it?”

“...Yes, it is.”

Milkit responds frankly.

Flum stands up, walking around to behind Milkit’s chair. She doesn’t want to relieve her anxiety, all she wants is for her to face the truth.

Milkit’s naive, too naive. She should know better by now.

“Milkit.”

Calling out her name, Flum wraps her arms around her from behind.

“Do you really think you mean so little to me?”

Hearing her master’s sweet voice in her ear, Milkit starts to feel something warm and fuzzy wrap itself around her chest.

“You should know better than that. We’ve only been together for a little while, sure, but I thought I’d made that much clear.”

The warmth spreads up Milkit’s neck, through her cheeks and finally tinting her ears.

Though Flum can’t see her cheeks through her bandages, she can clearly see the tips of Milkit’s ears turn bright red. She playfully tugs on one of her ears.

“Hya!?”

Milkit lets out a cute squeal of surprise at the sudden sweet stimulation.

“You’re all red. It looks like you get it after all.”

“I-I know that’s the kind of person you are, Master… That’s why I’m so afraid of losing you…”

“It all comes down to you, Milkit. Maybe nothing I say can change your mind, but I’ll say it anyway.”

She pulls Milkit deeper into her chest, letting her warmth seep into her.

“No matter what, I promise I’ll never, ever leave your side.”

The words seep deep into Milkit’s heart, filling every last nook and cranny. The words of every master before now only froze and scarred it, but now all that pain and torment is melting away, leaving it soft and pliant.

This is weakness.

If she didn’t have it she’d be better off, for sure.

But the depths of her heart accept it fully, unconditionally, deepening her emotions, accelerating her feelings, and leaving her only wanting more.

Recently she’s noticed that her body has been moving a lot more on its own in response to strange impulses that defy all reason.

Without even realizing it herself, Milkit has opened her hand wide and brought it to rest overtop Flum’s own hands.

This must be one of those impulses.

◇◇◇

Eterna finishes the antidote in two hours, even sooner than they expected.

Milkit starts taking it from that day forward, drinking it without complaining even once about its truly foul taste and smell.

Every day Eterna takes off her bandages to check the progress, but every time she checks she does it behind closed doors on the second floor, forbidding Flum from seeing. Flum can always hear their voices, but never clearly enough to make anything out.

“C’mon, let me see, too!” Flum had begged, but she was firmly rejected.

“Why am I the only one left out…?” she mumbles to herself as she days pa.s.s, her loneliness only growing. Whenever Eterna checks up on Milkit, Flum waits on the first floor, knees hugged to her chest as she sits on the floor beside a chair.

Whenever Milkit sees her like this, she gives her the same words of encouragement as always.

“I don’t want you to see me halfway cured, I only want you see see me when I’m fully back to normal.”

“Guess it can’t be helped, then!” Flum always returns with a full smile.

She’s surprisingly easy to handle.

It’s not like Flum’s just sitting there twiddling her thumbs for a whole week, though.

She goes out shopping with Milkit a few times to gather all the furniture and everyday goods they need, finally making the house feel more like a home.

On top of that, Flum works at completing F-Rank quests so that she might eventually increase her rank. The receptionist Ila’s att.i.tude and the sneers of Dane’s cronies are no more pleasant than before, but they haven’t made any further moves against her yet. News of their comrades’ deaths in Enchide shouldn’t have made it back to the Capital yet, but they probably expect them to be dead since they still aren’t back yet.

She simply waits for them to make their move, sharpening her fangs as she gathers all the information on them she can. Eventually they’ll clash, and Flum when they do she’ll be ready for them.

She’s so busy that before she realizes it, a full week has pa.s.sed and the time has finally come to undo Milkit’s bandages with her own two hands.

◇◇◇

Flum and Milkit sit on Flum’s bed facing each other. The air is ripe with antic.i.p.ation.

Eterna, not wanting to get between them, is waiting down on the first floor.

The knot keeping Milkit’s bandages in place has already been undone. All Flum has to do is pull them off.

Flum reaches forward, grabbing the ends of the bandages with quivering fingers.

“Y-You ready?”

“Yes…!”

Milkit clenches her fists and plants them on her thighs, leaving the rest of her body to Flum. Her entire body trembles with nervousness.

Flum takes a deep breath and starts to slowly pull the bandages away. The first thing to appear is her pale, gently flushed skin. Next, her soft pink lips are unveiled. Flum’s heart skips a beat and her hands stop.

“M-Master?” Milkit asks with uncertainty.

What am I thinking!?

Shaking her head clear of impure thoughts, she continues to unravel Milkit’s face.

Her pet.i.te nose and blushing cheeks are revealed next. Her face is on the slim side, but imprinted there on her soft cheek is a red slave mark. Flum runs her fingers across it without thinking.

“!...”

Milkit twitches, unused to feeling another’s warmth there.

“Ah, sorry!”

“It’s fine… W-We match, don’t we, Master?”

Milkit’s words strike Flum’s heart like an arrow.

She feels like if she’s not careful she could just sit there feeling Milkit’s cheeks for hours, so she forces herself to keep moving while she still can.

It goes without saying that Milkit’s eyes are beautiful, a pristine shade of green only slightly darker than emerald. Flum can see herself reflected in those eyes as they tremble with antic.i.p.ation and worry.

Finally she reveals even Milkit’s forehead, and the white bandages rustle to the bed between them.

“Haa…”

Flum lets out a gasp of astonishment.

How on earth can she think she’s ugly!?

Just looking at her causes emotions to burst from Flum’s chest.

“W-What do you think… Master?”

Milkit looks ready to curl up so small she’ll disappear.

Countless words and phrases flow through Flum’s head, but none of them are fit to describe her.

I really hate not knowing more words… no, maybe even if I knew every word of every language in the world it wouldn’t be enough to describe her beauty properly.

To be honest, there’s a fair chance that her affection for Milkit has distorted her vision somewhat, but Milkit is truly a rare beauty nonetheless.

I think I can understand why her former master was so jealous.

“Um… Master…?”

Flum’s silence only makes Milkit feel increasingly uneasy.

This is no time to be searching for words.

Even though she hasn’t found words she’s content with, it’s her duty as Milkit’s master to make her feel at ease.

She puts her right hand on Milkit’s cheek, causing a faint sigh to leave her lips.

She puts her left hand on Milkit’s other cheek, gently caressing the ridges of the slave mark there with her thumb.[1]

Flum looks deep into Milkit’s eyes and announces her conclusion.

“You’re really cute, Milkit.”

The words turn out to be a lot more embarra.s.sing for the both of them than Flum had expected.

Milkit’s face starts turning bright red. She tries to speak, but only a faint moan comes out as she tries to move her lips.

She doesn’t dislike it.

She’s elated.

Picking up on that, Flum follows up.

“You’re really, really cute,” she says with a smile that could outshine the sun.

Milkit is finally unable to handle the mounting embarra.s.sment. Before Flum realizes what’s happening, she pulls her face out of Flum’s hands, grabs the bandage off the bed and turns around.

“Eh? Milkit, why’re you…?”

“I can’t do it, I just can’t do it!!”

“Can’t do what?”

“I-I can’t just expose myself to you like this! I’d die of embarra.s.sment!!”

She quickly quickly re-wraps the bandage around her face. By the time she’s turned back her face has been sloppily covered once more, but perhaps because of the hurry she was in the bandages conceal her right eye and half her mouth.

E-Even so, compared to just showing her everything like that…!

Milkit has never felt this way before.

Her heart is beating so hard it hurts, and she can’t bring herself to look Flum in the eye.

Flum, not meaning anything bad by it, puts her hand on Milkit’s shoulder and brings her face closer for a good look.

“Aww, c’mon, you’re so cute…!”

“Are you… you’re just teasing me, aren’t you?”

“Of course not! At the very least you’re the cutest girl in the world to me.”

“...Ah, uh…… N-n.o.body’s ever told me that before…”

“Then the whole world must be blind, although I guess it’s thanks to such a blind, cruel world I met you. C’mon, let me see your face again!”

Flum undoes the bandages for a second time, once again exposing Milkit’s real face.

Feeling oddly self-conscious, Milkit’s body temperature starts to rise. She puts her hands to her cheeks to try to cool off, but all she succeeds in doing is warming her hands. She just can’t seem to cool off.

“Um… I-It looks like I really can’t show you my face after all…”

She starts wrapping up her face again.

Flum bursts out laughing.

“I really want to see more… If you’re that cute, isn’t covering your face just a waste?”

“I-It’s not a waste at all… S-So…”

Flum wants to see Milkit’s face, no matter what.

Milkit becomes too fl.u.s.tered to function whenever Flum looks at her face, so there’s no way she can go out in public like that.

There’s only one path left to them.

“W-What if I only take off my bandages when we’re alone together…?”

Milkit puts her right hand to her cheek, feeling it through her bandages.

The sight of Milkit looking at her with upturned eyes, her blushing faintly visible through the edges of her bandages, is enough to cause Flum’s temperature to skyrocket.

“I-I get the feeling that’d be pretty embarra.s.sing in and of itself…”

“Y-You really think so?”

“Well… Personally, I think it’s fine, or actually… I think I’d kinda like that…”

If she just exposed her cuteness to the world, there’s no telling what kind of weirdos would fall for her. At least if she wrapped up her face in bandages before going out Flum won’t have to worry so much.

“I-I guess that means my face belongs to you and you alone, Master… ahh, it is embarra.s.sing, isn’t it…”

Milkit mutters the words on a whim, but it’s enough to cause Flum’s vision to swim before her eyes.

What raw destructive power.

“Well, I am your personal slave, so it’s only natural!” Milkit says, as if to better come to terms with it herself.

Flum can’t hold herself back any longer. She grabs Milkit, pulling their bodies together impulsively, reason unable to hold her true feelings at bay any longer.

Milkit blinks several times in shock, but awakening to the warmth of Flum’s body she gives in and wraps her arms around Flum’s back.

Flum didn’t plan ahead this far, so she has no idea what they should do now.

“...I’ll say it again, I’ll be forever in your care.”

“As will I, Master, until the end of time.”

Having said all there is to say, they remain there in each other’s arms.

◇◇◇

As an aside, when they finally returned down to the first floor---

“You sure took your time.”

---Eterna gives them a slightly fed-up look.