"Take us with you!"
"...Eeh?"
Aron was taken aback by the sudden voices. He turned around and saw the slave women bowing the same way Kasumi did moments ago.
"S-Sorry, what did you just say? Can you repeat, please?" Aron actually heard them really well, but he didn't believe his ears.
The women hesitated quite a bit and looked at each other. "We want you to take us with you. We cannot survive by ourselves, yet."
Aron sighed heavily as he rubbed his eyes. All of this was giving him a headache. He looked at Pethra as if he were asking for help or something.
"Don't look at me; you saved them, and it's your decision." She abandoned him instantly and threw the matter on his shoulders.
'Not to mention, I don't like competition.'
"Master, it's hard for the women to survive in this world without a strong foundation," Kasumi spoke as she stood next to Aron, "and intentionally, you become that 'strong foundation' for them, not to mention your words made an impact on them, well, all of us." Everyone agreed with what she said, including Pethra.
"..."
Aron turned to Kasumi. "I'm not your Master, so stop calling me that."
Kasumi looked at Aron with an innocent, cute face. "Eeeeh! But you just said, 'I'll be your master, a moment ago," she mimicked Aron's voice, and for some reason, she looked like him.
Aron twitched his eyebrow, and his smile threatened to break. 'When did I say that? I clearly said…. Nevermind'
Women hear only what they need and ignore the rest.
"Kasumi, you're an assassin, yes?" Aron asked.
"...Yes, I was trained to be one. However, most of my techniques require the power of Shadows."
Aron smiled wickedly. "Looks like we found your first test, little fox."
"...Eeh?"
Then he pointed to the women. "Train them. I want them to be able, at least, to put up a decent fight against one of Vincent's bodyguards. You have one month. Can you do it?"
Kasumi was about to open her mouth and say it's impossible to turn these women into assassins in one month, but she stopped. This was her only chance to get a 'Master' to serve, and she wasn't sure that she would get another chance in the future.
"You can count on me," she said, but deep down, she was thinking, How?
Aron smiled in satisfaction, seeing her reaction. 'Honestly, I thought she'll refuse or at least complain... Good, at least she'll try.'
Then he gazed at the women. "Ladies, you heard her. You will train for one month. I guarantee that during your time of training, no harm will come to you, and at the end of the month, I'll test your skills personally. If you make progress, you pass, and I will continue to protect you. But for those who won't… Well, I have no need for weakness. Do you agree?"
The women looked at each other and nodded as they glanced at Aron with eyes full of determination.
"We accept," they spoke at the same time.
'Just great, more competition,' Pethra sighed inwardly.
Aron smiled. "Nice eyes."
Then...
*Whistle*
Soon after that...
Kaaaaah!.
A raven came flying out of nowhere and landed directly on Aron's shoulder.
"What took you so long? I started to get nervous," Raum asked in concern. He had been watching outside the building for any unexpected visitors.
'T-Tengu?' Kasumi thought when she heard Raum speaking.
"Sorry, Raum. As you can see, I was busy."
Raum looked around and saw Pethra, a fox woman, and many naked women all glancing at Aron with respect and admiration.
"Sigh... more friends?" He spoke with a tired voice.
Aron ignored his comment. "Kasumi, find some clothes for the girls and prepare to move at any second. Are there any more slaves here?"
"Yes, there are. They are beneath us in the cells," she answered.
"Free them and explain what happened. If they want to come with us, let them. And be swift. We wasted so much time... Pethra, come with me. We have a safe to unlock."
Soon, Kasumi started ordering the women, while Aron, Raum, and Pethra headed to the second floor, into what looked like Vincent's office.
Everything was normal—a big luxurious desk, chairs, and bookshelves on each side of the office—but no safe?
Aron frowned for a moment, but then the system came to the rescue.
[Master, raise Vincent's amulet]
Aron did as the system told him, and immediately a green light burst out of the amulet, revealing a big red safe hidden behind one of the bookshelves.
"Aahh! Illusion, interesting."
Unlocking it, Aron found books, journals, papers of different shapes, and two leather bags filled with coins and jewelry.
The books contained information about the different races that inhabited the world, and some contained random information about geology, noble houses of different kingdoms, and myths and legends.
The journals, on the other hand, contained every "deal" that Vincent had made in the last ten years or so. Oh my god, there were a lot of them.
The man was on fire, literally making deals left and right. Most of his "clients" were nobles, and the "product" was slaves, specifically female slaves. Apparently, this was a thing in the noble class—buying slaves to satisfy their hidden desires. Sick people!
Aron found the reason why Vincent was a big player in this field. I mean, he was the number one "provider."
It was all because of Vincent's skill, as Vincent himself wrote about it. "Compulsion," a skill that allows the user to tap into the victim's mind and break their will, After that, the user would create a magic seal that would force the victim to obey the user's every command.
In a way, "compulsion" was similar to a slave collar, but the difference was that normal slaves still had some "free will"—they could feel emotions like love, hate, fear, etc.
However, those who were under the influence of "compulsion" feel nothing. Their emotions were sealed, and they were in the hands of their master. If the master wanted them to be happy, they would be happy. If he wanted them to be sad, they would be sad. And that's the most terrifying thing about this skill—even your emotions are in the hands of someone else.
And Vincent was abusing his skill to create the "perfect product"—a slave that would do, act, and feel the way you wanted them to be. This caught the eye of the nobles, since they liked to show their "superiority" to people beneath them.
Aron quickly went through the journals until he stopped at a certain new deal. Two years ago, Vincent began working with a group called "The Rats." They asked Vincent to supply them with slaves, specifically slaves under the age of 12. And since Vincent was a careful man, he searched everything about The Rats, including their locations.
"Hmm?... Underground! Smart," Aron thought as he looked at a map of the town drawn by Vincent, marking the rats' location in the town.
A series of Underground tunnels go all the way to the Great Frost, and the town entrance is nearby.
"We found what we came for, Little Witch. Take everything inside the safe. We have to go now," Aron ordered as he closed the journal. Pethra nodded and quickly started putting everything inside Aron's leather bag. Finishing up, they were about to leave the office when Aron suddenly shouted,
"Wait!"
Raum and Pethra immediately froze, hearing his shout, and became more alert.
"What's wrong?" Raum asked.
Sniff. Sniff
Aron sniffed the air "I smell something..*Sniff*.."
"What do you smell?"
Aron walked to the wall on the other side of the red safe "...*Sniff*.., I smell something."
"....Precious"
Next, without warning, he grabbed the Greataxe and swiftly swung it at the wall.
Crack. Crack.
The wall shattered, revealing a secret room. Looking inside, they were stunned by a gorgeous golden light.
Gold!
"So, dragons do smell gold, huh!" Pethra commented with a smile.
Aron, Raum and Pethra glanced in shock at the amount of gold and silver coins, piles of jewelry,
"...Shiny!" Aron and Raum spoke at the same time, their eyes literally sparkling from the amount of wealth.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Raum said with an excited tone.
"Of course"
"We steal it all."
"No, no, stop. Not 'steal.' We are going to 'seize' this wealth, and that's the official term," Aron instantly corrected him.
"I like that term better," Raum agreed.
".....HAHAHAHAHA!" They started laughing like maniacs.
"..."
"We can't take it all." Pethra instantly killed their fun.
"NOOO!" Raum screamed.
"Hmm? Yes, you and I can't take all of this, and Raum... Well, he's out of the question,"
"MY gold!" Raum refused to let go of this wealth.
Aron thought for a moment, and an idea came to his mind. Then he turned to Pethra. "Call Kasumi here and tell her to bring everyone with her immediately."
Moments later, Kasumi entered the office. She was wearing a loose dark-blue dress that didn't do a good job of hiding her attractive figure. In fact, it enhanced it.
"Master, you called?"
Aron was stunned when he saw her. For a moment, he was mesmerized by her beauty.
"Beautiful!" he spoke his mind out loud.
"!!!" Kasumi instantly blushed and didn't know how to react to his words. She hid her face behind her hair and mumbled in a barely audible voice, "T-Thank you."
When the women entered after her, Aron, for the first time, saw that each and every single one of them was an attractive woman in her own way. After all, they were handpicked by Vincent for their beauty..
"Ahem! ... Aron? The gold," Pethra's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He could sense that she was angry for some reason.
"Oh!... Cough... Kasumi, did you manage to free the rest?"
Kasumi nodded. "Yes, Master. We freed them, and they all agreed to follow you. In total, we have 20 women."
Aron smiled. "Good, more hands."
"..H-hands?" Kasumi was confused.
Aron pointed to the hidden room, and when Kasumi saw what was inside, she displayed a big smile that showed her sharp teeth since she was still in her Yokai form.
"Ahh! I see, we are going to 'seize' this wealth." Excitement in her tone was visible to everyone.
Aron smiled even more when he heard the term 'seize,' and he couldn't help but stroke her hair.
"I like the way you think, my little fox. Take everything inside and leave nothing valuable."
"..Mm," Kasumi nodded slightly. Her face was red because of Aron's gentle stroke. She noticed that Aron didn't care about personal space, as always, not that she complained.
'...Grrr, this is good. I think I'll get addicted to his touch,... Grrr… Focus, Kasumi, the gold.'
"Tsk," Pethra clicked her tongue.
Kasumi shook her head and went to the women, and began explaining what to do. Soon, they started gathering all the wealth. Aron and Pethra also helped. It didn't take long to empty the room. After that, they walked out of the building.
…
On top of a small hill, a man with pale skin and black hair was standing, looking at a specific building. A raven was sitting on his shoulder.
"Let's start the show," he spoke with excitement.
Next to him was a young girl with blond hair and light-blue eyes. She was holding a staff, and as soon as the man spoke, she began channeling her magic.
On his other side was a beautiful woman with long black hair and violet eyes. She was wearing a dark-blue dress that added to her attractiveness. She had a calm expression on her face as she watched the man.
Behind her were 20 women from every race in different clothes. Each woman was holding a big leather bag filled with gold, silver, and jewelry, and each of these women didn't lose in the beauty department.
Finishing her magic, Pethra slammed her staff on the ground, and for a moment, there was nothing.
Quake. Quake.
The ground started shaking beneath the building, and everyone watched as the building began to sink into the soil. When half of the building was beneath the ground.
BOOOM.
A loud explosion was heard underground. Immediately after that, a huge crack appeared on the surface, and the building completely collapsed.
'This magic is exhausting, but I have to do it.'
Pethra then slammed her staff again, and the crack began expanding, devouring the building. Soon, nothing remained of Vincent's building on the face of the earth as the ground was brought back by Pethra, and the only thing remaining was flat land.
She was about to fall to the ground from exhaustion; however, Aron was there to hold her. He raised her like a princess and smiled gently at her.
"Well done, my little witch."
Pethra blushed and smiled back at him, feeling a sense of accomplishment despite the exhaustion.
'Kyaaa! I'm living like a princess now. Step nine, here I come,... Hold it, take a deep breath, don't rush, don't rush,... Kyaa! But I can't.' She was freaking out internally.
Pethra then hid her face in Aron's chest and glanced at Kasumi. Feeling her gaze, Kasumi glanced back at Pethra, only to see that the blonde girl was giving her a look that meant: 'He's mine.'
"..." A vine popped in Kasumi's head, and she gazed back at Pethra: 'We'll see about that.'