Chapter 21: 19 – A Shopping Trip and the Great Cleaning

In the morning, I wake up with something cool on my chest. Well, there’s no need to guess. I fell asleep squished between the two lovely Slimes. But when I open my eyes, I do not see a girl lying on me. Instead, a huge sapphire blob of translucent jelly wobbles softly with every movement of my lungs. It covers me from neck to underbelly.

Looking around, I spot another one, green-coloured, naturally, to my side.

「I guess they morph back into this state when they enter hibernation? Oh, their copied organs are now gone too.」

As I glance over them, only the fist-sized cores calmly float inside their bodies. I give Safi a few slaps, sending ripples over the chilly membrane. Her core jumps a little and starts swimming around. The blob begins shifting and soon takes a familiar outline. Safi imitates a yawning motion and raises herself on her elbows at my sides while her jittery breasts softly press against my chest. The Valley of Dreams has been flattened and its peaks are spilling to the sides.

[Good morning, Master,] she announces with a motherly smile.

Whenever I see it, my heart gets filled with such warmth that it’s impossible to describe. Of course, I love it when Emi smiles in her cheerful way, but Safi’s smile melts down all my worries. Maybe it gets to me so much because my mother never smiled at me with such affection... I shake my head before I enter forbidden territory.

“Morning.” I raise us to a sitting position and give her a light kiss, keeping her within my embrace. Emi soon wakes up and jumps at us. We fall onto the bed again.

“Hey Safi, how is it that you can hide your organs when in that round form, but can’t in the other?” I ask curiously.

She ponders for a moment. [When I choose to mimic the Human appearance, they appear as a permanent part of it. Morphing back into my true Slime form, they disappear because they are not components of that body. I think,] she explains the best she can.

“I see. Anyway, I was just curious, that’s all.”

I move towards the shower but Emi stops me, saying that Safi is not even after what we did yesterday. Safi tries to convince us that she doesn’t mind, but Emi does not let the case go. Before the situation gets more out of control, I suggest teaching her some more about blowjobs. And for the next ten minutes, Safi experiments with various motions, following my tips, earning herself a nutritious meal at the end.

After the bath, we move to the kitchen and help Sirgia with breakfast while we wait for Cornelia to wake up. During our meal, I mention the girls’ request from last night and ask if she knows a good leatherworker or tailor. She lists a couple of places and we decide to check them out together.

While doing the dishes, I tell Sirgia that it would be a good chance to pick up some more clothes for her and ask if she doesn’t want to come with us. She shakes her head and says that the set I got her recently is enough for her and she doesn’t want me to waste more funds on her.

Cornelia overhears our conversation and rushes in through the kitchen’s entrance.

“Oh, you are going with us no matter what.” She puts her arms on her hips and sends Sirgia a cold glare. “No girl should ever have to live with only a single shirt, shorts, and Goddess forbid, A SINGLE PIECE OF PANTY!”

She grabs her by the collar and drags out of the kitchen while Sirgia stares at me with wide eyes. I just shrug and shake my head in an ‘I ain’t fighting with that woman’ fashion towards the disappearing victim. Our trio leaves for the town.

Along the way, I bring up the topic of the collars’ design. Cornelia comes up with an idea to introduce them to every employee as a part of the image, be it a servant or sex worker. At first, I’m opposed to the idea of collaring every single person, but under the barrage of reasonable facts from her, I agree in the end. 

She suggests that we choose a unified design so it can become a recognizable feature of the establishment. And if we get some recognition, it will be safer for the girls to walk around the city in those collars. Personally, I’d like everyone to have their own, unique one. We start a heated discussion about which one is better and don’t stop until Sirgia tugs my sleeve and points at her own collar.

Cornelia instantly realizes what she means and says that we should use a unified badge with a crest or logo and leave the straps to the girls’ choice. Happy with that compromise, I agree without any second thoughts.

We visit the store Cornelia recommends to us. I approach the receptionist to discuss a custom order. She leaves to bring the craftsman here from the workshop. Looking behind me, I can see Cornelia pushing Sirgia around the whole shop and trying different pieces of clothing by bringing them closer to her body. I lock eyes with the poor girl for a moment and just smile wryly at her even more than usual, blank expression. 

「I can’t save you. You are a tough girl. You are going to persevere.」

And they disappear in the changing rooms. I leave them to their own machinations, sending a quiet prayer towards Sirgia. I begin the talks with the craftsman. We spend like half an hour exchanging views and pointers and there is still no sign of the girls returning. I’d really like to have Cornelia comment on our final version. 

I’ve settled for a gem, cut into the shape of a heart and surrounded by a silver border, with two small horns on the top and a succubi-like, pointy tail at the lower side, as a core element of the dangling badge. That way, we can choose a crystal with a different colour while still keeping a unified shape. A sapphire one for Safi and an emerald one for Emi.

Finally, another fifteen minutes later, I hear two pairs of steps coming our way. I turn around and see Cornelia with tons of girly clothes hung on both of her extended arms and Sirgia following her with her gaze glued to the ground. Before they arrive at my spot, the quiet girl looks up at me and doesn’t blink even once through their whole path. She’s screaming for help. Internally. It’s hell being an introvert in that kind of situation.

When they reach me, I sigh heavily while shaking my head and crossing my arms on my chest.

“What?” Cornelia stares at me confusedly.

I raise my left brow at her and pick up a piece from the exhibition she brought. A short pink one-piece dress meant most likely for Human children. While dropping my left and raising my right brow, I use the other hand to pick up a pair of greenish kneesocks patterned in flowers.

“While I agree that she is cute, Sirgia is a woman, not a child. She doesn’t like them,” I berate her.

“But she didn’t say—”

“Sirgia.” I glance at the dwarf girl.

Following my callout, she hesitantly nods her head. I give Cornelia a ‘see?’ look and filter through the stuff she brought, moving those that are normal into Sirgia’s hands, leaving the inappropriate ones hanging on the magician’s arms.

“Go and return those.”

She smiles awkwardly and lowers her head. “I’m sorry. I got into it a bit too much.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” I nod towards Sirgia.

She then bows to the short girl, apologizes and turns back to place the clothes on their respective shelves. 

“Pick some cute panties for her,” I say to Cornelia to lighten her mood a little.

“Thank you,” Sirgia murmurs when the woman moves away enough to not eavesdrop.

“You are welcome.” I brush her hair with a smile.

After we all gather together, none of the girls has any objections towards the design we came up with when they were gone. We place orders for three already, for Safi, Emi and Sirgia. She chooses to have the gem in a similar colour to her light, cinnamon brown hair. We pick some simple black leather straps. These can be changed at any point. For now, I pick two leather collars with bronze badges for our slime girls.

When we pass through the door leading outside, Cornelia slaps her forehead and says that she forgot something. She darts off inside and tells us to wait. I’m left a little surprised. She’s quite the pedant when it comes to her lists and it’s slightly unusual for her to forget things.

「Oh well, everyone can have better or worse days, right?」

On the way back, we decide to pay Barren a visit. Having Sirgia with me while negotiating the details of our cooperation will ease up things by a lot. The big man pulls me into a hug and lifts me off the ground while laughing as a welcome gesture. He closes his shop and we move to one of the back rooms to discuss things.

I point at our dwarf companion. “This is Sirgia, our chef, I’d like you to go through the details with her.”

She looks between me and the man with uncertainty.

“Hahaha! Don’t be scared, little one! Name’s Barren! Let’s make sure your boss gets the best possible stuff, right?” he laughs so heartily that the whole room almost vibrates.

I give her an approving nod and they get lost in negotiations about various ingredients and supplies. It’s mostly Barren pushing questions at the quiet and unmoved Sirgia. From time to time, she engages in a deeper conversation about some dish or meal. Forty minutes later, they reach a consensus and we seal the deal. 

Barren brings out two stones with some sigil. I recognize the pattern as the Message rune. He hands one to Sirgia and explains that it will make coordinating deliveries easier. With these, they will be able to send telepathic messages to each other, as long as both of them have the stones with them.

After saying our goodbyes, we start heading back home. Sirgia’s talk with Barren was much more detailed than I expected. I thought that she knows a bit of cooking from watching other servants in her previous owner’s mansion, but during the discussion, she seemed like someone who has a lot of knowledge. I decide to touch on the topic.

“You do know a lot about cooking. Weren’t you a crafter before you got captured?”

We walk a few steps in silence before she speaks in a calm tone, without moving her gaze from ahead.

“I always liked cooking. Even since I was a kid. I was curious about it and was taught by my mother even earlier than I started learning our craft.”

A faint smile shows up on her face, but as usual, quickly fades. I swear to myself that one day, I will truly make her smile from the bottom of her heart. Thinking that’s all I’ll get from my question, I dive into my thoughts, but surprisingly, she continues.

“Craftsmanship is the same as cooking,” she says.

“How so?” I ask, trying to find some relation between them in my head.

“In both, you need a lot of experience and just theory won’t make you a great cook or artisan. In both, you buy, gather or prepare ingredients and then follow a tested recipe, step by step. In both, you can experiment on your own or try to mix the experiences of other people to get new results. In both, a supposed failure may actually turn into a masterpiece in someone's eyes.”

She lists a lot of facts I wouldn’t have thought of, but when Sirgia voices them out, everything sounds logical, like it always has been true. From all of this, I get the feeling that she is really in love with her craft. She won’t show any discontent, but I know she would do anything to break free and continue on her path. She’s just too scared and lost after everything that happened to her. It would be enormously stupid to limit her only to cooking. I swear to myself for a second time, now to create a perfect place for her to develop further.

Our little chat about cooking and craftsmanship ends as we reach the mansion. Safi and Emi are already waiting in the main hall. Somehow, the emerald girl holds herself back from launching herself at me, but I can see that she’s on the verge of losing it. I quickly move to them before that happens and present them with the collars.

I first put one on Safi’s neck, because as I’ve been expecting, the moment I finish with Emi’s one, she starts hugging me tightly while jumping up and down. The more composed girl just stands behind and examines the band with her hands, like it’s something very precious. I tell them that those are just placeholders, but they do not care.

Still having most of the day at hand, we begin a thorough checkup of the whole place. And by that, I mean peeking into every possible cabinet, drawer, wardrobe or hole and space. We don’t want any surprises later. Safi and Emi get the lower west wing, Cornelia picks the upper and Sirgia starts bottom east with me.

During our work, I remember that she and Cornelia aren’t yet under my Partners title influence. Even though none of them might ever consider the more inappropriate benefits from it, I would like to be able to sense their presence at least.

“Hey, Sirgia. There’s something I would like to ask.”

“What is it, Master?” She stops looking under the bed and turns to me.

“Would you mind becoming my Partner?”

Her eyes widen a little in surprise and a faint blush appears on her cheeks before she lowers her head, diving into her thoughts.

“Ah! I didn’t mean it in a sexual way! It’s just so I can know if something happens to you straight away. It’s one of my skills.” I desperately try to fix my mistake before she gets more uncomfortable.

“Ah…” she mutters… slightly disappointed? Can’t be, I must have imagined that. She looks up and nods.

Smiling awkwardly, I extend my hand to her while invoking the skill. Hopefully, this is enough. Last time I kissed the target, but I can’t do that to her just after this horrible misunderstanding. Sirgia stands up and takes my hand. A second later, I feel my mana rushing towards her through my arm and a notification pops up in front of my eyes. Looks like it worked.

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She loses her gaze in something in the air too, so I guess people with the system can see their own message. She backs off her hand and starts staring at her arms in confusion.

“Something wrong?” I ask.

She looks up at me. “I feel… weird.” She closes her eyes. “It’s like… I can feel Master in front of me. And not only that… I feel Master’s… happiness? And… worry? Worry… about me? Why is Master worried about me?” Sirgia opens her eyes and glances at me.

「So that’s how Emi could pinpoint my mood during the last time. I’m not the only one able to sense others. I guess that’s fair.」

I pat her head and brush my fingers through her hair. “I was worried you’d hate me for saying strange things.”

She looks to the ground and just shakes her head faintly, most likely denying that possibility. We move back to checking the rooms. Few hours pass and we end the bottom floor, moving onto the top wing. The other girls start their search in the upper area where the VIP room is. Not being able to hold back my curiosity, I speak to Sirgia again.

“Erm… Thanks to us being Partners now, I can check your status at any time. Would it be okay for me to have a look at it?”

She tilts her head. I kinda get her. I’m the master here and I can do whatever I want with her, considering that she is a criminal slave with the highest tier slave mark, so me asking about every little thing still has to confuse her a lot. I really hope we can get through that mentality at some point. She nods without much reaction, as usual.

“To make it fairer, catch, here’s a full view of mine. You can check the details of anything.”

I summon my window and push it her way, ‘granting’ her the right to expand any skill or title. At the same time, I navigate to the Partners menu. Since we haven’t done any lewd things, my bonus is naturally at 0/5 from her. As for Bond Type, it says Master/Slave. In the case of Slime girls, it was Familiar in the latter part. Sirgia’s one also says Hope, while Safi’s and Emi’s both are still Gratitude. I enter the Status Details section.

 »Identify Lv. 7

»Hammer Arts Lv. 6

»Crafting Arts Lv. 6

»Mana Infusion Lv. 9

 »Linguist Lv. 4

»Hammer Mastery Lv. 10

»Mana Control Lv. 10 

»Cooking Lv. 13

»Craftsmanship Proficiency

»Artifact Creation

»[...]

 »Crusher Arts Lv. 4

»Crushing Fury Lv. 1

»Physical Strengthening Lv. 5

»Tectonic Lunge Lv. 2

»Stone Fortress Lv. 3

»Stone Bullet Lv. 2

 »Physical Resistance Lv. 7

»Stone Affinity

»Unyielding Will Lv. 3

「Holy moly… Tier 3 stats are damn high. But let’s start from the top. Hmmm… What is this crossed-out symbol near her Job?」

I tickle that part in the window with my finger and a prompt appears. It says that due to the type of slavery seal, the Job cannot be changed from Slave. What an annoying restriction. But, I can understand that. It's meant for criminal slaves. They don't work your typical way, just struggle in mines or serve as meatshields. I’ll see what I can do about this later.

「Looking at Titles, they seem normal. Well, besides the Mana Artisan one.」

“What does Mana Artisan do? It says there, that it allows the user to infuse mana into crafted objects, but it’s all vague,” I ask.

“It’s an inherited ability of my bloodline. Our family can use various techniques to imbue mana into artefacts during creation, to change their properties, or at a much higher level, bestow them with strong abilities. Usually, you need someone who knows Enchanting to work alongside a blacksmith or other craftsman to achieve that,” she explains.

“Oooooooh, that’s amazing. Can you give some examples?”

She stops looking around and thinks for a moment. “I once created a shield with a few overlapping layers, connected with mana, so when the owner inserted his own energy into the circuit, they would slide to the sides and create a much bigger cover. It looked like broken shell pieces joined with a greenish mist.”

I play in my mind an image of a small, metal buckler that turns into a tower shield with just a thought.

“Wooah… That must have been hard to create.”

“Not really. It was a low tier artefact,” she states, not changing her expression by even a bit.

I go back to admiring her status, especially all the skills. Her Cooking is very high per this world’s standards. And her Class skills are quite developed too. Some of them sound powerful. There are various proficiencies hidden behind Craftsmanship Proficiency, like leatherworking, blacksmithing, metalworking and many others, with their levels around four to seven. The list of her Common Passives is astounding too. I have to scroll to see them all.

When my eyes fall on the Identify skill, my draconic hilt enters my mind. I pull it out of my storage ring and call out to Sirgia.

“Hey, I have this artefact with me, but I don’t know much about it, besides the fact that it’s a blood-bound one. Do you want to check it for me?”

Her eyes fall on the silvery handle and slightly widen, most likely in the surprise of it having no blade. She quickly trots close to me and starts glancing all over it in my hand.

“This thing gives an incredible aura, Master. Just from a simple look, I can say that it’s a work of a real master of their craft.” 

For the first time, her eyes get a bit more lively. I extend my arm with it towards her, but just before she grabs the handle, I frantically yank it back. She looks up, spooked a bit.

“Sorry. I was told that when others touched it, they exploded into a puddle of blood. I got a bit scared,” I apologize explaining my movement.

“As long as Master doesn’t order it to fight against every other person who touches it, it should be fine.”

Reassured by her words, I give her the hilt. She touches it around and takes a peek into the dragon’s maw. After a while, she closes her eyes and starts whispering something. Suddenly, a powerful wave of mana bursts out from the artefact, making everything in this room tremble. Sirgia opens her eyes wide and starts blinking really fast. She loses her balance and starts falling to the back, but I manage to quickly swoop her into my arms before she hits the floor.

She pants heavily in my embrace while her forehead is sweating profusely. A few seconds later, she regains part of her cool and looks up at me with a fearful expression and incredibly pale face.

“What happened? Are you okay?” I ask worriedly.

She catches her breath and speaks utterly shocked. “This is not a blood-bound artefact… This is a Soul Relic…”

“What?” I furrow my brows at her.

“There is an incredibly powerful... soul imbued into that crystal. My skill... has not only been blocked at its very first stage but... my protection was broken and my mind has been attacked by it. I only survived because... that force didn’t find any malicious intent towards Master.”

She tries to explain it to me while calming down her shivering body.

“This is incredible… Soul Relics are the pinnacle of all artefacts… It’s no work of a master... Only legends can achieve this level… And it’s even possible that whoever crafted this Relic, used it to store their own soul inside...”

Sirgia grabs my vest with both of her hands and pulls herself closer to my face with a worried expression.

“You must be careful! You must have been chosen by it for a reason! Please! You must be on guard, there has to be a purpose for which it has picked you—…”

She loses her consciousness mid-sentence. I stand up with her in my arms and move to my room, shortly mentioning to other girls that I’ll take care of Sirgia until she wakes up.

It was the first time she has addressed me by something other than Master. She must have been really worried for me there. I spend the rest of the evening wiping her body from all the sweat. She is still breathing a little heavily. Even during the night, I lay beside her the whole time, just to be sure that nothing else happens to her.

Saileri

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Enormous gratitude towards our S-rank Guild Member - Magiwarrior! We couldn't have such epic adventures without your support! This Guild Master is greatly honoured by your presence!

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