Although there are still many countries in the world where slavery remains, the Temple forces have long been campaigning for its abolition.
Perhaps this has been successful, as the Jireshatar Federation issued a declaration of emancipation of slaves a little over 40 years ago, the second of the five major powers to do so (the first, of course, was the Temple-influenced Kingdom of Dilletta), and Ciel-Terra, which is heavily influenced by the Federation’s politics, followed suit.
…If that’s the case, Mialanze wonders, what is she now?
“If you’ve forgotten, I’ll tell you! You’re livestock!!”
Yes.
She knows that without being told by the housekeeper, Mrs. Brenke.
She is kept by the Marquis Zurbach family, court nobles of Ciel-Terra… as “livestock”.
There is no law in Ciel-Terra that defines the treatment of sub-humans.
Taking advantage of this, she is treated even worse, as if she were livestock, because if slaves are forbidden. There are so few demi-humans in the country that no one knows how many there are. They won’t make a special law to help them. And Mialanze knew from past experience that even the Temple was of no help in this country.
Mialanze is a half-breed of a Cat Sith and a human. If she were human, she would look about 17 or 18 years old.
However, she looks quite human, and her sub-human features are her claws, which are harder and sharper than those of an ordinary person, her amber eyes, whose pupils fluctuate greatly depending on the light, and the large triangular ears on top of her head.
If left alone, her entire body would be covered with lustrous black body hair, the same as her hair, but it was shaved regularly.
Mialanze, who lived with her parents in the forest to the south, had her parents killed by “poachers” and was sold to Ciel-Terra.
Her master, Marquis Zurbach, is very fond of Mialanze.
However, his fondness is strangely twisted, and he has a bad habit of taking pleasure in seeing Mialanze in constant agony.
Mialanze was treated as the lowest-ranking servant in the house, and it was the rule that she could be asked to do anything as long as it would not kill her. Early in the morning, she would clean the fireplace, prepare meals, clean, do laundry, carry luggage, clean the stables…
She is forced to do a physically impossible amount of work, and when she is late, she is yelled at for being a slowpoke. At the end of the day, the Marquis is very pleased to see Mialanze, who is battered and exhausted, and sometimes he even uses her as a plaything.
Mialanze wears a plain maid’s uniform, and a black, slimy-looking leather collar with a bell attached to it.
It is a magic item called the “Collar of Subservience” that forces her to obey, regardless of her own will. Mialanze is forbidden to escape by this collar, and is further prevented from refusing various orders.
It may be a sign of favoritism that she wears such an expensive magic item, but it is a 100% unnecessary show of love for Mialanze. Incidentally, the bell has nothing to do with the function of the item, but was added later at the suggestion of the Marquis so that those around her would know where Mialanze was.
Today’s work is a little different than usual. She is preparing to escape from the royal capital with the invasion of the “Rose Princess of Hellrage”.
More than ten carriages, including those purchased from street carriages, lined up in front of the mansion, and the servants were carrying luggage to be loaded into them.
But even in this situation, what Mialanze does is not much different.
Carrying a pile of luggage three or four times as large as the others, Mialanze walks shakily.
–God, if you are there…
“Ah!”
Mialanze tripped over “something” and fell, dropping the load she had been carrying.
When she looked up, she saw a maid smirking sarcastically. She couldn’t see in front of her because of the load, but she felt as if her foot had been tripped. But Mialanze is not allowed to talk back.
“You piece of shit! Slowpoke! You soiled my precious master’s luggage!”
“Oh!”
Immediately, Mrs. Brenke rushed over and slapped Mialanze’s buttocks hard with a broom that was nearby.
A sinister laugh rises from the surroundings.
…This is a show.
–Why did you create this world in such an ugly and painful form?
Her parents were killed, and she was forced to live such a terrible life without time to grieve.
The “Rose Princess of Hellrage”…
If she kills her master, the Marquis, will this life be over?
“Darya!”
The final blow, at the end of the accumulated damage.
The greatsword, swung with such force that it shattered the earth, smashed the Skeleton Champion.
A split helmet, a crushed suit of armor, a shattered body, a blown-off thunder magic sword…
It was the end of the evil undead monster that had destroyed many villages. There is no sign of him standing up again.
“…Whew!”
The young man who swung the great sword, Zeft, wipes the sweat from his brow.
He is still 22 years old and lacks some presence, but he is the strongest adventurer in Ciel-Terra. He was the sixth-ranked elite adventurer who led the nation’s strongest party, “Sub-Zero Crystal Spear”.
“Good work. You are indeed the leader of the “Sub-Zero Crystal Spear!”
The first person to rush up to Zeft and congratulate him was a girl in light armor. …At least, she looked like one.
Her eyes were sunset-colored and her skin was porcelain white. Her long, honey-colored hair is tied up in a single bundle for the quest.
The armor made of the leather of a minor dragon, a worm, is a design often called “corset mail” for female adventurers. It is a typical thief’s outfit that fits the body, but the wrap skirt makes it stand out. The absolute territory is dazzling (the garment is enchanted with cold protection for this exposure).
Translator’s Note
The Absolute Territory refers to the exposed skin between the skirt and thigh-high socks. Strange but true.
Tracy the Thief. She is now cooperating with “Sub-Zero Crystal Spear”, but she does not belong to any particular party, and she travels from party to party depending on the quest, she is a 6th rank elite adventurer.
Tracy, who is a cute, girly-looking girl who always puts on a friendly face…is a man in his mid-thirties. The meaning of his youthful appearance is whispered among adventurers as “the top of the seven wonders of Ciel-Terra”.
“If Zeft hadn’t been there, we probably wouldn’t have won.”
“No, it was all thanks to Tracy’s help.”
Seeing Zeft, who seemed to be pleased with Tracy’s praise, the female members of the party (a priestess and a grappler) gave him a cold stare.
“What’s wrong with the leader? He’s stretching his nose.”
“And Tracy is a man, isn’t he?”
It is not that they are jealous, but rather that they do not understand why Zeft, who is supposed to be heterosexual, is so smitten with Tracy.
But the wizard and the tank, who are men like Zeft, shake their heads.
“You don’t understand…he’s an exception for everyone. He’s like a character in a story.”
“That kind of thing is a man’s dream, a dream.”
“Oh…what’s that? Why are you talking like we don’t understand…”
The men nod, leaving the women’s questions behind.
Tracy gets into many parties, but he basically doesn’t cause any trouble in human relationships, he is always having fun and is a mood maker. He is very observant, good at being friendly, and cute in appearance. Yet, he understands the distance of a frank relationship between men, so it is only natural that he would become an idol among adventurers.
“…Hmm? Hey, hey, someone’s coming.”
“Is it an enemy reinforcement?”
“I don’t think so, but…”
Tracy’s ears picked up the sound of something. After a while, it became audible to the others as well.
Over the snow-covered hill, a guild official on a Wendigo came at full speed.
“T-The ‘Sub-Zero Crystal Spear’ team! Please return to the royal capital immediately!
The named monster, ‘Rose Princess of Hellrage,’ has led a force of approximately 4,000 undead monsters in a sudden attack on the royal capital!”
“What!?”
“4,000!?”
“You’re kidding!?”
Everyone except Tracy stiffened at the unbelievable news.
“Damn it…! We’re going back at full speed!”
Zeft is already about to run to the base camp where the horses and luggage are.
But Tracy stops him.
“Huh? Are you going? Even if you go at full speed now, you won’t make it in time, will you?”
“Maybe… But! If even one more person can be saved by our return, it won’t be in vain! Let’s go, everyone!”
““Yes!”” ““Yes!””
His comrades answer in unison. Looking at the group that had started to move in a hurry, Tracy muttered.
“As expected, the ‘Rose Princess of Hellrage’ has made her move. I thought she would do it today, so I stayed away from the royal capital… Oh, dear. Is this country where I was born and raised going to end?”
A strange named designation. Iris’s mysterious activity. The missing “Dragon’s Throat”. The vanished Night Python. The duke who was a central figure in the Crown Prince’s faction. The Skeleton Champion’s travel route…
Information of various kinds flows into Tracy, who has a network of connections with adventurers throughout the country, as needed. By flexibly combining this information, Tracy had assembled a theory that was close to the truth.
Of course, she had no idea that Renée had eaten someone’s soul to become stronger, and she had not expected that she would bring an undead army of 4,000.
She had told the adventurers she knew that they might want to leave the royal capital for a few days, but how many of them were able to escape?
“Renée-sama… I’d like to meet her, because I heard she’s a beautiful girl, but I don’t think I’d be able to come back alive if I did. I’m not going to think about anything weird. I’ll just sneak away at the right time.”
Far, far away from Ciel-Terra.
Dark clouds swirl and the earth is dark even in the daytime.
It is a place that, from the human point of view, is a “blank space that is not the territory of any country”… in theory, but in short, it is a territory of demons that humans do not enter.
It is commonly called the Demon Territory.
However, the Demon Lord’s army has been losing for the past few decades, and the size of the area called the Demon Territory is already about half the size of the Kingdom of Noacurio. On the other hand, it is firmly protected because the high-ranking demons are crowded in a narrow area, but there is no plan at all to go on the offensive and recover the territory.
In such a demon territory, there stands a lonely stone tower.
A high imp, a wrinkled, ugly, boy-like demon with bat wings, flew into a window near the top floor of the building, which was decorated with numerous artifacts.
“Are you there?”
“Hello, hello, you’re a good messenger. You can come in.”
When the high imp, who had landed on the windowsill, spoke in human language, a woman’s voice answered from inside the room.
The room into which the high imp had intruded was littered with tools, machine parts, and catalysts, as if a dozen artifact engineers lived there. Unidentified metallic objects were scattered here and there, piled up in the corners of the room. At first glance, it looked like a junk yard, but in fact, the artifacts carelessly placed here are magic items that could buy a city. It is a treasure trove that would make anyone who saw it faint. Rare materials for potion preparation were lined up on the shelves in the back.
The owner of the room was sitting in front of a large desk with glass laboratory equipment. She had suspiciously bewitching amethyst eyes and suspiciously bewitching dark purple hair. She wears the traditional witch style of a black, wide-brimmed mountain hat and a black dress. Except for the degree of exposure.
She is tall and has a shapely figure. She is dressed in clothes that are almost indistinguishable from underwear, and she shows off her white, lustrous skin like a young maiden.
She looks just like a succubus, but she was a legitimate human being. …If you can still call a being that has lived for hundreds of years, ignoring its original lifespan, a human.
“Did you get the one you were looking for?”
She, who had been writing on a parchment, pushing the lab equipment to the corner of the desk, asked without looking up at all.
“Not yet. It is proving difficult to procure. …More importantly, the workshop is urging me to complete the formula for the golem-mounted cannon within a day or two.”
“You’re urging me… Yes, yes, I understand. You want it by the day after tomorrow, right?”
“I told you so.”
As soon as the high imp flew away after saying only that, she, who was supposed to be busy writing, immediately threw down her quill pen and jumped on the sofa.
She was only pretending to be busy.
“Mhmmm, I’m done with the penniless Demon Lord’s army, which can’t even provide me with a single beautiful boy for sexual processing and experiments.”
When she quickly beckoned with her finger, a bottle of wine and a glass came flying to her from somewhere in the room. After taking a sip of the blood-colored wine, which had been poured to the brim as the bottle tilted itself in mid-air, she snapped her fingers.
An image appeared on the huge crystal ball the size of a human being placed in front of the sofa. The image, viewed from the sky as if from a bird’s eye view, showed a castle and town surrounded by strong walls… And the undead army arrayed outside it.
“Well, well, it’s a spectacular war. It’s a big moment where the army of the evil god may strike a blow against the human race for the first time in a long time. I’m going to watch it closely.
…Rose Princess. Are you worthy of having this great witch, Evelice-sama, at your command?”