The Male Slave of House Sianella - Chapter 52

Chapter 52: The Male Knight of the Iron Cage (1)

"You mean... Lady Sione will go to the capital for the princess's coming of age ceremony?"

"Yes. All preparations will be finished within a week."

"...I see."

Learning we only had a week left to rest comfortably at the mansion drained my energy.

Though I'd been able to rest a bit after injuring my arm, it hadn't even been a few days.

Now I was hearing about another long-distance trip.

Seriously, Sione or whatever - maybe I should just run away from here.

"I'll tell Sione at an appropriate time later, so wait quietly until then."

"I understand."

Ainel spoke unilaterally about what needed to be done at the capital for the princess's coming of age ceremony.

Everything Ainel ordered me to do in the capital was troublesome and cumbersome.

"...Will I be allowed to enter the coming of age ceremony?"

"You're not just an ordinary servant, but Sianella's attendant. Don't worry about that."

Everything she wanted me to do at the ceremony was incredibly burdensome and nerve-wracking.

I doubted whether that Sione, who had boldly told her fiancé she wanted to break off the engagement, could even have normal conversations.

She wanted me to help Sione talk with other noble children.

And not just any nobles, but children of Count and Marquis houses.

Given how unnecessarily sharp Sione's reactions were to anyone besides me and Siabel, I worried she might make mistakes.

I feared her mistakes might blow back on me too. It was terrifying.

When our conversation ended, Ainel dismissed me without hesitation.

Just as I quickly bowed and turned the doorknob to leave.

Ainel's relaxed voice came from behind.

"Take good care of Sione."

"Leave it to me."

"I'll have you take a mana oath later. I'll call you when I find a mage."

"...Understood."

I nodded at Ainel's words.

A mana oath.

Even on Earth, mages were usually mediators when making important contracts with mana oaths.

Even if the oath would force certain behaviors.

Since I had no intention of betraying Sione or Sianella anyway.

If I was only swearing oaths about things I never planned to break in the first place, there would be no problem, so I just vaguely agreed to Ainel's words and left.

Only after walking far enough from Ainel's office could I finally sigh with relief.

"Hah..."

I was completely drained.

Being suddenly grabbed by Ainel and dragged to her office for interrogation.

Having a sharp blade at my neck.

Of course I was tired.

The one fortunate thing was.

At least there was a small reward as consolation.

I checked the completed quest.

[Quest completed.]

[Your physical abilities have slightly increased.]

"Not bad."

As stated in the quest, my physical abilities had increased.

Though it wasn't much, so I couldn't really feel it.

Just feeling a bit more refreshed and energetic than usual.

Not a big difference, but better than nothing.

As I tried to shake off my fatigue with that thought.

A status window remained in my vision.

[Ainel Sianella has begun to find you interesting.]

[Mana recovery ability increased.]

"Huh? Mana recovery?"

Not something else, but mana recovery ability increased?

I rubbed my eyes and checked the status window again.

Was this a dream or reality?

As if to prove I wasn't seeing things, the status window still showed my mana recovery ability had increased.

"Wow."

An exclamation escaped my lips involuntarily.

Increased mana recovery ability.

This was literally cause for celebration.

The meaning of increased mana recovery ability was simple.

It literally meant increasing the speed at which depleted mana refilled.

And when entering mana exhaustion, it guaranteed faster recovery and fewer aftereffects than before.

This was an invaluable ability for me, who entered mana exhaustion whenever I used much magic.

"Struck gold."

My tired mind cleared at this unexpected gain.

At this rate, I should try to stay in Ainel's good graces.

Thinking this while heading back to Sione's room.

One of Ainel's phrases suddenly came to mind.

"Seventh slave of the iron cage..."

Her words reminded me of when I first met Ainel in the iron cage.

I fell into memories of the past.

***

"Whew... let me think. Let me think."

I sat down on the cold floor.

Then I closed my eyes and slowly began retracing what had happened to me.

'Right, I was definitely in the middle of clearing an S-rank dungeon.'

The dungeon type was Wave.

I had been shooting arrows and cutting down approaching enemies in a dungeon where monsters and demons poured out at regular intervals.

I had been continuing the battle while getting sick of the sheer number of monsters, on a different level from the A-rank dungeons I usually went to.

'I could have cleared it.'

Though it was very difficult, I thought I could clear it.

To clear this S-rank dungeon with a 50-person limit.

We had formed a raid team with three S-rank Hunters and 47 elite A-rank Hunters.

With Hunters ranked within the top 500 - truly top-class among 700 million Hunters.

Even for an S-rank dungeon, we should have been able to clear it somehow.

And indeed, as I thought.

The raid team had fought well and cleared through the fourth of five total waves.

'Though demons were troublesome, we could kill them somehow.'

But doing well didn't mean there weren't crises.

The boss-level demons that appeared in the waves had unleashed various abilities and attacks at us.

But thanks to the S-rank Hunters taking the initiative, we had somehow managed to eliminate the demons.

'We were right at the end... the fifth was the problem.'

But the fifth wave was different.

The already numerous monsters doubled in number.

They were stronger and more cunning than normal specimens.

That wasn't all.

'That demon bastard that appeared at the end.'

The demon of the fifth wave.

That bastard was off the charts.

As soon as it appeared, the whole world filled with thick demonic energy.

The already difficult monsters all became infected with demonic energy and went even more berserk.

Countless Hunters lost their lives.

Then the demon hunted down our most reliable S-rank Hunters.

After losing all three S-rank Hunters in an instant, the raid team rapidly crumbled.

When everyone had died helplessly and I alone remained at the end.

Since I was going to die anyway, I charged into certain death like a madman and shot my last arrow at that demon bastard.

Then I clearly remember being torn apart by the swarming monsters.

"Talk about having nine lives."

Opening my eyes again to check my situation.

Instead of dying, I was trapped in an iron cage wearing rags.

Clank. Clank.

With shackles on my feet too.

Looking again, this body wasn't my original body.

With just a tiny bit of mana and this withered body, it couldn't be mine.

"Just what is going on."

The situation made little sense.

As I wracked my brains wondering if I was having a dying hallucination or had come to the afterlife.

A status window appeared.

[You have ascended to the fate of a world destined for destruction.]

[The world's will to survive begins leading you to a new destiny.]

Entering a world destined for destruction?

The world's will to survive?

At least tell me something I can understand.

As I tried to grasp the situation while ignoring the status window speaking nonsense.

Finally the status window said what I wanted to hear.

[Would you like to receive information for smooth adaptation?]

I agreed to the status window's question.

Then this body's owner's memories and rough information about this world's nature began seeping in.

Regarding the memories of this inexplicable body's owner, recent events and major life turning points came through relatively clearly.

While older memories were hazier.

And only very basic information about this land where I was breathing and standing seeped in.

I frowned as I processed and accepted the memories.

Though the feeling of memories being forcibly overlaid wasn't pleasant, I had no choice.

I needed this information to get even a slight grasp of things.

And as a result of receiving that information.

"...Shit."

I cursed.

Accepting this body's owner's memories made me roughly understand how this place worked.

And learn that this was the past form of that S-rank dungeon I had been trying to clear.

As I denied reality in this barely comprehensible situation.

"Number 7, Ray. Lunch."

A fat woman approached and put food through the iron bars.

Watery soup and hard bread.

This was the daily meal of Ray, the original owner of this body imprisoned in the slave merchant's seventh iron cage.

As I just stared, wondering how anyone could eat such poorly made food.

Growl.

This stomach was crying out for food.

Now that I roughly understood my situation.

With nothing else to do just sitting here, I picked up the bread placed before me.

"Hah..."

Following Ray's memories, I skillfully dipped the bread in soup and took a bite.

Chewing the disgustingly hard bread, I thought.

My life seemed far too twisted.

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