Chapter 5: I Hate It, But What Choice Do I Have?

Chapter 5:
I Hate It, But What Choice Do I Have?

 

WELCY HAD SET UP in a three-story apartment across the street from Satils’ manor early that morning in the hopes of getting the information she needed to blow the story wide open.

“If I could just figure out where she’s hidden her den, I could start putting together a plan to get inside…”

After Welcy ran into one of Satils’ valets “by chance” and got him thoroughly drunk, he let slip that there was a hidden room located within the manor. However, he didn’t know exactly where it was. She also couldn’t find any definite proof of a connection between Satils and the church.

Welcy rested her elbows on the windowsill and casually gazed out at the scene before her.

BAM!

She jolted back at the sudden noise that came from up above.

It was followed by a series of loud thuds. It almost sounded like someone was moving across the roof. They then jumped off the roof, falling right in front of her window, and landed several meters below on the hard pavement.

Welcy lunged forward in excitement, her entire upper body hanging out the window as she looked down.

She could hardly believe her eyes—she knew this girl.

“Flum?! What are you doing??”

Flum’s clothes were soaked with blood. She looked back up at Welcy, her gaze intense, though her lips turned upward in a gentle smile when she recognized the figure standing in the window. Her eyes, however, retained the same burning intensity as before.

“Oh, Welcy. This is great timing, actually. I’m about to break into Satils’ hidden chamber. Do you want to come along?”

“Wait, really?! Hold on, I’m coming down!”

How Flum had gotten her information, Welcy couldn’t say, but she wasn’t about to turn down a scoop like this. She raced down the stairs and dove into the street, following Flum as she headed in the opposite direction from the manor.

“We’re talking about the same chamber, right? In the manor?”

“Yes. Apparently, the entrance is elsewhere.”

“Huh. So how’d you find out? Or are you going to keep your source secret?”

“I heard about it from an adventurer Satils hired shortly before I killed him.” Flum made no effort to conceal any part of the story.

“Killed?”

“They kidnapped my partner.”

“Oh, wow, I guess that explains it.” That seemed like a good enough explanation to Welcy for Flum’s strange behavior.

“Here it is.”

Flum stopped in front of a single-story house with a green roof. She grabbed the knob and twisted, only to find it was locked.

“Wait, really? The secret entrance is just in some normal house? I guess that makes it a pretty good escape tunnel in an emergency, too.”

Flum pressed her ear against the door as Welcy droned on. She could hear something just inside. She decided to simply knock on the door, like she would at any normal house, and moments later, a man in his thirties opened the door and peered outside. He smiled down at her warmly.

“What can I do for you, little lady?”

Flum made no attempt to conceal her murderous glare. “I’m looking for a young girl with a bandaged face and the man who kidnapped her.”

“Kidnapping? Oh my, crime like that is rare here in the East District. Do you mean to say such a criminal is lurking here in our neighborhood? You know, now that you mention it, I recall seeing some strange figures hanging around here lately.”

“Could you tell me more about them?”

There was something suspicious about the way the man smiled, though he readily agreed. “I’d hate to keep you standing here in the door all day. Why don’t you come on inside?”

“Thank you.”

Flum quickly stepped inside.

“Wait, no!” Welcy tried to stop Flum from going in, but it was no use. She hurried after the younger woman. The moment they were through the threshold, the door slammed shut behind them.

Welcy glanced back instinctively.

“Die!”

She was stunned to find a second man wielding an axe rushing straight toward her. Yet another man stepped into the small space as well. The three armed men lunged in almost simultaneously.

“Eyaaaaaaak!!” Welcy let out a shriek of terror and dropped to the ground, throwing her hands up over her head. Much to her surprise, the outcry stopped abruptly.

She slowly opened her eyes as she heard a wet thud. Turning to look in the direction of the noise, she saw the top half of the man lying on the floor. She scanned the room for the other men, finding that they had also been cut in two.

Flum gave her Souleater a shake to knock the blood free before the sword disappeared in a flash of light.

The room was now completely silent but for the groans of the first man, who had been cut at the waist. He was still alive but just barely. Welcy could see his organs spilling out of the gaping wound and blood pooling underneath him. She quickly threw a hand over her mouth at the stench.

“You okay?”

Welcy let out a shriek in surprise at how calm Flum sounded. “D-did you just k-kill them?”

Flum offered a hand to Welcy. “Yeah. If I didn’t, they would’ve done the same to us.”

She had a point. Even so, Welcy hesitated, dwelling on how simply Flum could make the decision to kill. Flum, reading the terror on her face, withdrew her hand and turned away.

“No, I mean…it’s not like that!”

“I understand how precious life is. But not everyone feels that way.”

After all the fighting Flum had done, she encountered more than her fair share of people like that.

“There are a lot of people out there who are more than willing to take another’s life if it profits them. These men certainly wouldn’t have listened to reason.” Milkit’s life and her own were the two most important things to Flum. As long as she held to those clear and simple values, she could act without hesitation before her opponents had a chance. “Is it really so wrong to kill such people before they can kill me?”

Welcy understood that Flum lived in a world that regularly forced her to choose between life and death—and that she was fighting to get out of that world. “I’m really sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. You were right to feel that way, Welcy. Anyway, let’s go find that room.”

Flum sounded cheerful, but it was clearly forced. Welcy gently slapped herself on the cheek in admonishment for having put Flum on the spot like that.

 

***

 

The air was damp and musty, though it also brought up a long-forgotten, uncomfortable memory in the recesses of Milkit’s mind.

“Hnnng…”

She was lying atop something soft.

“I was making breakfast with Master. Then I went outside to water the flowers, and…”

She put her hand down on the ground to steady herself and pressed the other to her head as she slowly sat up. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember anything after watering the flowers.

“Everything just went black all of a sudden. How did I get here?”

She slowly turned her head and took in the room. There was a desk on the right side covered with papers. Next to it was a glass cabinet filled with sinister-looking medicines and metal instruments. The room was made of a dull, grey stone that seemed to sap all warmth out of the air.

She slowly turned to take in the left side of the room.

“Good morning, Milkit.” A woman in gaudy makeup appeared before her. She was grinning so broadly that her gums were showing.

Milkit was temporarily taken aback at how close the figure was, though she recognized the face instantly. Satils Francois, her previous master.

“B-but…why? How??” She was so terrified she could barely speak. Milkit shook her head violently, mumbling to herself as she scooted backward. “No…it can’t be…no…”

Satils laughed at the sight.

“My, my, we’ve been apart for just a short time, and now here you are, back to acting like you were human! How splendid! I take it you found a nice master?”

“Hah…hah…no! Nooo!” Milkit began crawling on all fours into the corner.

This brought another delighted laugh from Satils before she stood up and closed in on the retreating Milkit. Milkit clawed at the wall with her bare hands in a desperate attempt to find a way out.

“You don’t need to be so scared, you know. Besides, it’s not like anyone is going to come and save you.”

“Master! Masteeeeer!!”

“Is your master so kind that they would go out of their way to rescue a disgusting little slave like yourself? I must say there are much better slaves out there to use for your own satisfaction, if that’s the case.”

“M-m-massssster…! Waaaugh!”

Satils reached out for the back of Milkit’s head and grabbed a fistful of hair before pulling the girl’s face close to her own. She had a crazed look in her eyes.

“Unfortunately for you, you will never see your master again!”

“That’s not true! That’s… It’s not…!”

“Oh, and when did you get bold enough to talk back to me? Now listen here, you’d best not get too full of yourself.”

“You’re…you’re not my master!”

Satils was practically hysterical now. “Slaves like you don’t have the right to choose their master!!”

With her hand locked firmly in Milkit’s silver hair, she slammed the younger girl’s face into the ground. She plucked one of Milkit’s hairs from her head and gave it a lick, a look of pure rapture on her face.

Milkit began to crawl toward another corner of the room, though no matter where she looked, she couldn’t identify anything that looked like a door. She was surrounded by four blank walls, and any direction she ran would ultimately lead to another dead end.

Knowing her prey had no means of escape, Satils walked over toward a bookshelf, her extravagant gown sashaying as she went. She pulled a dagger off the shelf, the blade glinting under the light cascading off the chandelier overhead.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

Satils slowly approached the terrified girl. “This room was made to meet my unique specifications. A hidden room deep within a hidden room, you could say. I’m the only one who knows this place exists. How can I be so sure, you may ask? I killed everyone who worked on it!”

“Masteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!!”

Satils chuckled. “You can scream as much as you like. No one will come and save you, or rather, no one can. This place is my escape, my private paradise! The only ones who may set foot in here are myself and my playthings! Now dance! Move like a butterfly with its wings plucked off! Dance I say, like a child in agony from a thousand cuts!”

She spread her arms and spun in a slow circle.

This room was a particular favorite of hers, tailor-made for the toys she meant to torture most exquisitely. She could spend hours, days even, starting at the fingertips and slowly cutting down their entire bodies, salving the wounds to inflict even more pain. By removing their eyelids, she robbed her playthings of even the brief reprieve of sleep. Once they died, she’d dispose of the body, clean the room, and move on to the next. As she cleaned up her previous victim, she would fantasize about how the next scenario would play out.

“You know, I kept hearing these strange rumors about a girl with a bandaged face, and I couldn’t help but think you were the only one that fit that description. What’s more, rumor had it you were cured of the poison that afflicted you! Did your master do that for you? How kind of them to fix your face so I could enjoy breaking it all over again. And it looks like you’ve even rediscovered your emotions! The last time we were together, you wouldn’t react to anything, no matter what I did. Not really a desirable trait in a toy. I mean, I spent so much money on you, and I was so disappointed when I didn’t get to hear your ear-piercing screams. I’m sure you feel bad about that, don’t you?”

Milkit shook her head over and over.

“What an attitude! I guess someone will just have to put you back in your rightful place. I certainly don’t mind the job. First off, the bandages have to go. I want to see what your delicate face looks like before I break it, so I can really savor the contrast! Now, hurry up and take them off!”

Milkit absolutely wouldn’t let that happen. Only Flum was allowed to see her face. She curled up into herself against the wall and tried to cover her face.

“Oh, you don’t want to show me? Still trying to be true to your master, is that it? Kyahaha! Now that I think about it, I must say your outfit’s rather garish. Are those from your master as well? Such fancy clothing is hardly practical, you know. It must be fulfilling some sort of fetish for your master! You know the relationship the two of you share you isn’t love, don’t you? It’s nothing but a sexual perversion!”

“You’re wrong! Master isn’t like that!!”

“Kyahahaha!! What an amusing turn of events! Who knew I’d be so wonderfully entertained today? I really, truly, want to…rip you to shreds!!”

Satils lunged toward Milkit.

Her heavy breathing felt like pinpricks on Milkit’s pale skin, causing her teeth to chatter.

“This knife is an appetizer. Or perhaps a pre-dinner drink to whet your appetite. I have whips, pins, and poisons just waiting for their turn. Aren’t you excited? Say the words, just try them out. What, cat got your tongue? Say it. C’mon, say it. I told you to say it!!”

“Hnnnn…”

“Oh, look, the little knife is getting ever so closer to your body. It’s coming now.”

Milkit gasped.

“The cold sensation of metal on flesh is quite terrifying, isn’t it? Go ahead, be afraid! Show me your face, I’ve been waiting to see it for so long!! I’m going to destroy it for good this time! Can you think of a greater ecstasy?!”

Milkit tensed up as the knife began to slice away her clothing. Though her flesh was spared, the sight of seeing her collar cut apart brought her even more pain than a cut would have. Her master bought her these clothes, and she treasured them—and the memories she’d made in them—more than her own body.

The woman above her would sully those memories.

“Next up, the skiiirt!! Watch as I cut your precious clothes away! You’re trembling now, aren’t you? Your body and mind are reacting as one as sadness consumes you. Aaaah, I love it!”

As promised, Satils cut through the frill-lined skirt, exposing Milkit’s thighs and underwear.

“Oh, my, what a vulgar sight! If your master does show up to save you, I’m sure it’ll only be to join the fun! Not that it matters—I’ll have killed you long before that happens. I wonder if your corpse will still get them hot and bothered?”

Satils let out another cackle.

“Waaugh… M-master!!”

A knife thrust in front of Milkit’s face cut her cries short. Satils raised and lowered the knife as she laughed, enjoying Milkit’s response. But it was only a matter of time until she grew tired of it, took hold of Milkit’s head with her left hand, and slammed her face against the wall.

“Hyauungh!”

Satils seemed to enjoy the sound. She continued to bash Milkit’s head against the wall.

“Haugh…auauh…st-st-stooop!”

Blood poured down Milkit’s forehead and from her nose before pooling at her collarbone.

“You know, the more you tell me to stop, the more I want to do it, right? You know what they say when you’re in school—you always want to tease the person you like the most! Love is pain. You’d better learn to endure it so I can enjoy myself!!”

Satils began to slam her head even harder against the wall. Even giving it her all, however, she didn’t quite have the strength to hit Milkit hard enough to knock her out. Finally, she let Milkit collapse to the floor, where the young girl groaned absently to herself.

“M-master…”

She fully believed Flum would come. She had to. But if what Satils said was true, her wish would go unfulfilled. Milkit knew there were many people in the world stronger than Flum, and countless challenges out there that even her master couldn’t overcome. But even then, she chose to have faith.

“H…help…”

“What’s that? Forgot your place as a slave, did you? Are you asking your master to pick up the slack?”

Milkit groaned. She knew Flum would come and save her, but also that Flum would have to make sacrifices of her own in the process. As a slave, she knew she should never ask her master to risk herself in such a way, and yet, she couldn’t help it.

“You’re quite entertaining, Milkit! It’s almost like you were born for me to kill you!” Satils stood up and delivered a fierce kick to the prostrate girl’s stomach.

“Hngh!”

“I could almost…”

“Aungh!”

“…kill you now…”

“Uyaugh!”

“…before I’ve finished having my fun!”

“Nuuhaaaagh uunnngh…”

In addition to the dull pain throbbing in her head, she felt a sense of nausea wash over her. She could lose consciousness at any moment. A thin line of saliva trailed out of the corner of her mouth.

“This wonderful girl here is an important partner of mine…” Flum’s words from just a day ago echoed in her mind, re-anchoring her to reality.

She wasn’t a slave. She stood side by side with Flum, as equals. Even Milkit didn’t quite understand what that said about the nature of their relationship, because she’d never been this close to another human before.

“Keep hoping for salvation! You forget who you are, slave. Beg to be saved all you want. All you’ll do is make me enjoy this even more!”

Milkit whimpered. Even so, she knew she and Flum had chosen to support each other. Wasn’t it only natural that they should seek each other’s help?

Wasn’t it only natural for her to have hopes and dreams?

“P-please save me, Master…!”

This wasn’t like casting a spell or reciting a prayer. The mere act of saying these words would do little to change her situation, but something was changing within Milkit regardless. A change which brought great joy to Satils.

The older woman broke out in laughter. “You really think someone’s going to help you? What a worthless slave. I’m certain your master’s done with you by now! Gahaha—”

A loud crash cut her laughter short. The whole room shook, and a moment later, a cloud of dust and debris filled the room as a hole opened in the wall.

“Haha…ha…”

A small figure stepped through the newly created entrance.

“…ha?”

Satils stared blankly at the hole in the wall. When the dust cleared, the identity of the shadowy figure became apparent.

“You’re that Flu…bwaugh!”

Flum’s punch caught Satils square in the face, sending her flying back into the opposite wall.

“Waaaaaaah!” Milkit sobbed openly, so happy she couldn’t begin to form words. “You…you came! I…I thought…hic…I thought I’d never see you again, Master!!”

“Milkit!! I’m so sorry I let you get so hurt… If only I’d paid more attention to you, this never would’ve happened!”

Milkit clung tightly to Flum. The mere warmth of her body eased Milkit’s worries and took away all of the pain in an instant.

“No, please don’t say that! You came to save me, Master! You’ve nothing to apologize for.” She pressed her tear-drenched face hard into Flum’s shoulder, quickly soaking her shirt.

Flum’s eyes also began to well up with tears. Not from sadness, but out of relief to see Milkit safe and sound.

Welcy walked casually into the room and stopped to inspect the desk. “Hmm, correspondence with the church, orders—ooohh, receipts. Is that an intact church seal on some of these? Yep, there’s no denying this one.”

The notes documenting Satils’ under-the-table dealings with the church would prove to be incredibly useful to her research.

“Hey, Flum, what should…”

Welcy turned back to inquire about what they should do with the documents and froze. She’d figured that they would head back out once they found Milkit, but the look on Flum’s face told another story. It had taken on the same cold, brutal look Welcy had seen before.

She was holding the Souleater in one hand and staring daggers at the quivering Satils.

“Why? H-how did…but you…” Satils blabbered. There was no way they should have been able to find their way here through her labyrinth, even with Flum and Welcy putting their heads together.

Except…

“I made a straight line through,” Flum said.

No need to find a door if she just destroyed everything in her path with her prana and reversal magic.

“But what about…those two A-Rank…and B-Rank adventurers??”

“They’re dead.”

Satils’ eyes went wide. There was no one left to protect her.

“And you’ll be joining them.”

“N-now wait just a moment. You won’t get away with that, you know…”

Satils’ face fell as her own words came back to haunt her: no one knew where this room was but for her. Even with the walls torn down and a clear path to the room, the entrance was still well hidden. She’d done so well keeping this room secret that, shy of Flum letting it slip, her body would never be found.

“M-money, do you want money? I’ll pay whatever you ask. Anything you want, it’s yours as long as you let me live!”

“Hm, all right then. I guess I’ll just let you pay for the injuries you caused Milkit. How much will that be?”

“About…five thousand gold pieces or so. Or maybe ten…ngauh!!”

Flum grabbed Satils by the collar and pulled her in until their faces were practically touching.

“You think money can make us even? Get it through your thick skull: your life isn’t worth what you did to her.”

Satils trembled. “I… No… Please, I don’t want to die…”

Flum pressed her palm against Satils’ ear and cast Reversion, causing her flesh to rupture before dropping her to the floor. Satils’ piercing scream echoed in the small room. She threw her hand up over the side of her head as blood gushed out, panting in fear.

“Did you get what you need, Welcy?”

“I, uh…yeah, pretty much.”

“Good. Can you take Milkit out with you?”

Milkit looked worried. “You’re not coming with us, Master?”

Flum offered up a gentle smile. “I don’t want you to see what’s about to happen here. You might hate me.”

“I would never hate you, Master! No matter what happens!”

Flum laughed and shyly placed a finger to her own cheek. “I’m really happy to hear that.”

She paused for a moment.

“Anyway, this is going to be pretty gruesome, so I really think it’s better that you don’t see it. So can you do me a favor and go with Welcy?”

“I…I understand.” After what she just endured, Milkit didn’t want to be away from Flum’s side for even a second. But if Flum was about to kill this cruel and abusive woman, it was probably best that she not see it.

Flum maintained her smile until Welcy and Milkit were out of sight. Then her expression changed immediately, as if a switch had been flipped,

She picked the discarded knife from the floor and looked down at the cowering woman. Flum absently wondered what this woman, who mere moments ago had cackled at Milkit’s suffering, calling slaves as her playthings, thought of the switch in their positions.

“Are you ready? I guess it doesn’t matter, because I’m going to do it anyway.”

“W-wait a minute! You don’t need to… My money, it’s yours!! Just don’t…!”

“I don’t care about money. You know, I don’t even really want to do this. But I just can’t let you live after what you’ve done.”

Not for her past sins, nor for the new ones. Flum was filled with rage over how this old hag could do such awful things to someone as weak and helpless as Milkit.

This woman would suffer the greatest punishment Flum could conceive.

“Please…someone…heeeeeeelp! Gyaaaaugh!! My aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarm! My…face, it… gyaugh?! Hyyaaaaah…haaah…ngayaaaauh! My nose, it…nnngaaaaaaaah!!”

Satils would suffer a greater pain and fear than what she subjected Milkit to.

“No, please… I don’t wanna die…eaaauuuugh!! Stop…no…please…gaaaaaaugh!”

Flum would offer her no quarter.

“I…aaaaugh…nnngggggfff……hyauuugh…no…faaaaaugh…ki…ill…m-meeeeeee…!”

Muscles contorted and twisted in on themselves, blood spattered everywhere, and bones snapped as Satils crumpled in on herself with a final, bestial scream. Her cries were so loud that Milkit and Welcy could hear them from where they waited outside the room.

“You’re…Milkit, was it? Is Flum always like that?” Welcy asked shakily.

“No, she’s an amazingly caring master. She’s only acting like this because she cares so much for me. More than anyone else ever has.” Milkit blushed as she spoke.

“I see. You must be something really special to her then.”

Soon after, the sounds in the room finally ceased. Her execution complete, Flum came running out of the room and into Milkit’s arms. The smaller girl smiled and pressed her cheek against her master.

Welcy let out a sigh as she watched the two girls hold each other in a tight embrace.

“I think I’m starting to understand what my brother meant when he said you were trustworthy… Maybe…”