"Oh, yeah. Mirabelle, how about Mirabelle?"
The moment he gave her a new name, the girl's dead-eyed head lifted and her pupils dilated.
That was Mirabelle's original name.
It was the only name in the world for her, the name her parents had spent many sleepless nights trying to come up with.
But once enslaved, Mirabelle would never be called by her first name again. The slave traders didn't care about her name, they just labeled her number 17, because they thought she was valuable.
Mirabelle never revealed her name either. I decided to abandon the name. Her mother, who gave her her name, had died, and her father had abandoned her.
To Mirabelle, her name was a curse.
But the curse she thought she had cast off has returned. Through a stranger. The Reaper, who called himself a gentleman, wore a smirk.
"Do you... know me?"
"What do you mean?"
"You just said... that's my name."
The original name and the first man's name are the same. Is this really a coincidence?
This is Mirabelle, who is convinced that this man must know her, so he must have spent a thousand gold to buy her. Where did he see her? A villager?
"Yes, your name is right, because I just built it."
But the man smiles a deceptive smile and waves it off. I can't be manipulated here. Mirabelle squeezed her voice.
"That's not what it sounds like. My name was Mirabelle before you were born."
"That's odd. Didn't you say earlier that you didn't have a name?"
"Well, it's...."
Mirabelle couldn't answer. The lie she had spat out without thinking came back like a boomerang and caught her by the ankle.
She felt caught in a trap.
Deeply embarrassed.
Her head spinning, Mirabelle couldn't think of the right question, so she repeated what she had said.
"Do you... know me?"
"Of course not. Do you know me, Miss Mirabelle?"
Mirabelle shook her head doggedly.
"I've never seen Miss Mirabelle before either."
In real life.
She wasn't lying, because she always looked over the monitor. I just omitted a few things.
Naturally, Mirabelle was not easily convinced. She stared at Karami warily, afraid to make eye contact.
Just as she looked like she was about to say something else, Karami interrupted her.
"There's no particular reason why I named her Mirabelle, I just thought it would suit her best."
"It seemed... like it would work?"
"Mirabelle comes from the word miracle, a miracle, a mystery beyond the grasp of human thought, and Miss Mirabelle had an air of mystery about her. I've seen wizards, clerics, and even elves in my time as a slave trader, but I've never felt anything like this."
Mirabelle gave me another look of disbelief. Once, when I asked her why, she said it came from the word miracle.
Of course, the details were different. Her mom said that she didn't give her the name because of any mystery, but because it was a miracle that she was born so beautiful and healthy.
Mirabelle seemed to accept this explanation, but she didn't let it go easily. She still didn't like the name.
"Well, I still don't like Mirabelle."
"You said earlier that it doesn't matter."
"No."
Karami rubbed her chin in frustration.
"Well, if you really don't like it, I'll call you something else, I'm not in the habit of picking on people. Um, your hair has a black tinge to it, so nigger?"
"Is that ...?"
"No, now that I think about it, you're a cat, so how about Kim Chun-bae?"
Mirabelle's pupils flutter from side to side.Karami is pondering with a serious expression. She rattles off the mysterious words butterfly and twitchy, and she's not kidding, she actually thinks they're good names.
If he stays like this, he'll end up with some kind of weird name or something. There's no way Mirabelle can resist now that her soul has been captured by him.
She might as well say.
"I'll just be Mirabelle, I like it."
"I think I like it, too, Miss Mirabelle."
As if waiting for that, Karami gobbled it down without a second thought.
The long, long rant was over.
Now that the tense atmosphere was somewhat broken, it was time to move on.
Hmph.
Inde.
From somewhere, I heard a cute little grumbling sound. Mirabelle yelped and covered her stomach, catching Karami's eye, and he grinned evilly.
***.
Gasp.
Mirabelle inhaled the food in front of her without chewing, wondering what the point of all this caution was.
"This is not a person. It's a cat.
It's the same way a cat that clenches its jaws when you make eye contact with it will gobble up a can of tuna when you bring it to it. But if you bring your hand to it, it claws at you.
Well, there's nothing to understand. I'm sure he hasn't eaten well since he was enslaved. So I ordered for Mirabelle a few of the innkeeper's specialties.
I don't recall ordering any of the backstory of 'that bastard's growing a fleshpot and eating it,' but I thought it was a loving gesture and accepted it with gratitude.
My lifespan increased by three years.
Mirabelle didn't say a word, just sucked up the food like a vacuum cleaner.
She scraped down to the bottom of the soup and set the bowl down with a cheerful clatter.
And downed a glass of water.
He looked happier than anyone in the world. I'm speechless.
"Is it that good?"
"Yes.... It's the most delicious... uh, thing I've ever eaten."
"Haha, is that so? I paid a lot of money for it, and it's not good.I'll have to tell the master that our slave has a terrible taste. He won't eat it even if I pay him."
"Now, wait a minute, I didn't say that!"
Mirabelle grabbed my arm as I started to get up. I looked at her, not really sure what to make of it.
Mirabelle stares at the ground, her mouth pursed, but she manages to get the words out.
"Ma, it was delicious, the best I've had in a while, so don't, please don't."
"The owner will be very happy to hear that. I'll tell him later."
It was just one meal, but the atmosphere was definitely more relaxed than before.
After all, there's no better way to attract someone than to buy them a meal. With a full stomach, I can see that he's opened up a bit.
"Now that we're full, I think we should change our clothes."
"Clothes?"
"Yes."
I scanned Mirabelle's color up and down.
For a high-class slave sold at a slave carnival, she was fairly clean for a slave. But the roughly cut fabric could hardly be called clothing, and she looked in need of new clothes.
"Why?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know about the world, but they don't usually feed slaves this kind of food, and they don't change their clothes because they're dirty."
"That's not necessarily true, I'm sure the lady who tried to buy Miss Mirabelle at the auction house earlier would have done the same for me."
"But you're... no, you're a slave reaper, and no reaper would be nice to you for no reason."
"You're right. As a merchant, there are no favors without a price, and you know that, and I commend you for being so vigilant."
I didn't argue, but simply affirmed. For Mirabelle's care was clearly an act for my own good.
And what was to come.
I smirked, the corners of my mouth twitching upward.
"Miss Mirabelle, you are to fulfill my private desires."
***.
"Hmph."
Mirabelle let out a cute little cry.
I smiled wryly at her outfit.
The clothes I handed Mirabelle. It was a maid's outfit, a thigh-to-a-ankle revealing maid's outfit, and a white garter belt!
Mirabelle tugs at the hem of the skirt, but it's too short.
"I chose it short on purpose.
I've had this outfit ready for Mirabelle for a while, and I had a rough idea of her size from her in-game information. I didn't realize it would look so good on her.
Mirabelle looks like a girl from an erotic doujinshi. The epitome of timidity, Mirabelle glares at me with disdain.
"Why, why did you dress me like this? What are you going to do to me...?"
"I just dressed you."
"What...?"
"Because it's my taste."
No other reason.
You're not going to make her do your housework, and you're not going to turn her into a sex slave. Can you stand the idea of putting a pretty girl in a maid's outfit in the first place?
Not the usual 2D illustrations, but live action?
And she's a shy, beautiful girl?
'Pretty girl witch maid. Ouch. I can't stand it.'
That was the reason.
"Well, now that we're done, let's go."
Narsha liberated.
Mirabelle rescued.
No more business in Kalia.
"Go? Where?"
The next destination was known from the start. The one place I knew I had to go once I rescued Mirabelle.
"Libria, the city of magic and mystery."
The project to make Mirabelle the Great Witch begins.