Chapter 728: Colorful Colors 3
After parting ways with Leyla, who had gone to wash away her sins at a secret hot spring, I returned to town. Thinking that the next step would be the collar-giving ceremony, I decided to take a breather and head for Keel’s steamed bun shop. After buying some buns to take home, I considered spending tea time with someone or visiting Aunt Lindsey’s drink stand for a cocktail spring water……but Aunt Lindsey would probably jump on the yellow collar rumor, so maybe I should stay away. Oh, and that reminds me, Keel’s mother is probably minding the bun shop…….
“Hey, you”
“?”
I’m startled by the voice. When I look up, I see a dark elf woman. But I don’t recognize her. She’s not one of Dianne´s sisters, and she’s not Cosmos either. ……Wait.
“……Lady?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“……No, you look so different”
There’s no one else who could be here. If she’s not a Celesta merchant I don’t know, then she must be Lady. But Lady who presumably underwent the final beauty treatment by Hilda and the miraculous spring doesn’t look anything like the figure with legs sprouting from a black barrel. Now that I think about it, the story that she’s the same age as Nord doesn’t seem so strange. She’s transformed into a beautiful woman who looks like a human in her early twenties, still retaining the aura of a young girl.
“……It’s like a scam”
“That’s a harsh way to put it. But I agree”
I’m used to women transforming into forms completely different from humans, like dragons and Breakcore. I’ve also seen Nancy and the cat beasts, who had scars that were a bit unsettling, return as healthy, beautiful women. Even compared to those, this change is incredibly impactful. It felt like I was seeing something impossible. It’s hard to describe……it’s like discovering that the rock golems or mad wolves were actually cute girls! But the feeling of dissonance is far more intense than that. It’s more like finding out that the old man you know from the neighborhood has turned into a beautiful young woman! Well, let’s set aside my complicated feelings for now.
“I’m not unhappy that I look better, but this is such a drastic change……I think I’ll just live with the illusion of my old self for a while. If the infamous leader of the Sitar clan is just this little girl, we’ll be looked down on more than ever”
“I did have some awareness of how vicious I looked……”
“Vicious……you call that intimidating? You insolent brat!”
Her way of speaking is really like Lady Swallow, though. Her throat, which was rough from smoking, seems to have been completely healed by the miraculous spring, and her voice is so clear it’s hard to believe it’s the same person. Her makeup, which used to be overly applied, has been corrected by Hilda and the other dark elves, now highlighting her natural beauty with a fresh, natural look. Her hairstyle has also changed from a spiral updo to a simple long style. Honestly, if someone said she was Dianne’s younger sister, I’d believe it. Though she should be older than Dianne, I suppose.
“With that look, you’ll probably get flooded with marriage proposals.”
“I’m not interested in marriage at this point…”
As Lady’s words, whether she was blushing or serious, hung in the air, Hilda and Christie suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her shoulders from behind, still smiling.
“Swallow-chan?”
“It’s not like we’re just starting now, at three hundred years old”
“I, It hurts! What are you doing?! It hurts!”
“Stop acting so old. Come on☆”
“Marriage isn’t a bad thing. No, but with that figure, you must have had trouble with your nightlife. That’s why you’re not interested, right?”
“I don’t deserve to be called out on that by a white elf!”
“No, no. Since it’s a charity event hosted by Smithson-san, it’s only natural for us female slaves to keep an eye out”
“Yeah, yeah☆”
Hilda and Christie are the ones who make a big deal out of it, so that’s why everyone treats them that way. Even Hilda looks like she’s in her mid-20s, not older than me.
“When you’re restricted for so long, your way of thinking gets twisted. I think she really needs some enlightenment☆”
Lady is dragged away. I think she’ll be okay. I don’t think they’ll do anything too crazy.
“Be gentle with her……”
I say that and see her off.
I bought about 20 buns and returned home. Beatrice, Neia and Galatia were there, and I wondered what they were doing. Neia was teaching Beatrice and Galatia the letters of the Northwest language. ……Wait, Beatrice is one thing, but Galatia too?
“Isn’t Lapal in the Northwest language region?”
“Sh, Shut up”
“……Maybe you can’t read very well, can you?”
“I can read! ……Well, sort of. I’m just bad at writing”
“Ah……”
Come to think of it, she is the daughter of a rough pirate. She probably doesn’t have much education. Well, that said, Polka isn’t exactly well-educated either. Studying at the church is optional, and some people don’t go at all. My mother, who hated studying, taught me reading, writing, and arithmetic herself to make sure I could do them properly, but I’ve heard that in smaller rural villages, no one can read, so tax collection is a real hassle. But should I really ask Neia to teach me? After all, it’s not her native language. Speaking of which, Laurier, who teaches at the church, isn’t a native speaker of Northwest either, but she teaches in that language.
“But we should at least be able to read Smithson’s name without any trouble, right?”
Neia said with a smile. ……Oh. Right. My name. So everyone is starting to realize that they’re getting a collar……and the three of them here are all recipients. If they can’t read the letters engraved on their collars even though they’ve been given them, some of the female slaves might get angry, thinking they don’t appreciate it. I see, I see……so, it’s pressure. Yeah, I’ve already made them, but I can’t give them out now, and Selenium and Savory are handling the schedule and venue arrangements, so I can’t put too much pressure on them.
“…….How about a snack to take a break from studying?”
I offer them a cloth-wrapped package full of steamed buns.
“Waa”
“Yay!”
“Let’s eat!”
And so, the malnourished children devour about 20 steamed buns in an instant. The steamed buns are pretty big, but these young kids with a sweet tooth have an insatiable appetite.
After relaxing for a while, I head over to Savory’s place. It’s almost time for the tavern to open. Since I asked Selenium to arrange the collar ceremony, Savory should know about it too. I’ll check with her just to be sure. If they’re not getting along and the message didn’t get through, I’ll have to step in. ……Maybe invite them both to bed. As I arrived at the tavern with these slightly despicable thoughts, Savory rushed over to me.
“Master, you’re just in time”
“Hmm?”
“We’ve narrowed it down to three locations”
“……Yes, what?”
“You’re going to hold the collar ceremony, right?”
……My worries were unfounded. It seems that even before I said anything, they had already reached the final stages of selecting the venue. That’s reassuring. But I want them to get me involved and make it more exciting.
“Your house or the cat beast house wouldn’t work, right?”
“…Yeah”
There are 30 people. Unfortunately, there’s no room big enough for 30 people.
“So one has to be outdoors. Somewhere in the grasslands south of the city before the snow comes”
“We’re doing it outdoors!?”
Everyone’s going to be naked, right? Isn’t that a bit too much from the start? ……No, wait, most of the girls this time have already experienced outdoor nudity. Besides, everyone here except the three of us is a dragon, so they don’t really feel threatened by being seen by others. No, I can’t just accept that.
“No way. I don’t want things to escalate into endless perversion. This is supposed to be a ceremony with boundaries”
“Right. We agreed with Selenium that it should be phrased that way. The rest is the barrier prison village and the deepest part of the Holy Beast Labyrinth”
“Whether to include Breakcore or not, right?”
“Yes”
If we include her, it should be the Holy Beast Labyrinth. However, the grassland above the Holy Beast Labyrinth, while capable of sustaining Breakcore without any special measures, is utterly unsuitable for 30 women to gather naked in broad daylight. Elves with magical aptitude are prone to breaking illusions, and among them are Irina and Christie. Holding it there as is would be too reckless. The deepest part of the Holy Beast Labyrinth takes some effort to reach, but it’s secluded and unlikely to be interrupted. We can come up with any excuse for everyone to enter together. Like wanting to teach the new female slaves about the battle against Breakcore. Since it’s no longer a point of magical energy release, Breakcore itself would need to endure a little patience to get there……but it’s not that far or that long, so it should be manageable with a light burden, according to Irina’s assessment.
“The issue is that it’s a bit far, isn’t it? We have plenty of dragons to transport them, but……but letting the silver dragons pass through the depths of the forest might not sit well with Silver Clan´s Raymond and Red Clan´s Marc”
“Raymond……Marc……”
“They’re the successors to Gast and Diel. Make sure you remember them”
“I, I didn’t forget. Yeah, yeah”
Sorry, I forgot. Actually, did I ever talk to this new clan leader, Raymond?
“Marc is Irina’s childhood friend, right? Maybe Irina can handle him”
“Well, maybe……but Christie-sama was worried that they might get too enthusiastic and cause trouble”
“Ah……”
That’s true. Even on a little date, or rather a sightseeing tour, they were like that. Trying to pass through with a large group of women and me as the only man……it’s not a misunderstanding……or maybe it is, but it’s a suspicious ceremony. Anyway, they might notice and complain. I want to avoid any friction. Silver’s new clan leader, Raymond……I need to find a compromise, either with the Holy Beast Labyrinth plan or the Barrier Prison plan. We’re trying to get six non blue dragons through, so they might have something to say too. But the silver clan is a subordinate clan of the blue dragons, so we could ask Brol to put in a good word……but no, that’s not right. Relying on a dragon to intimidate them isn’t a good idea. I guess I should go talk to them first.
“There are more problems than I thought……”
“There are nearly 40 of them……”
……Umm?
“Umm?”
“Eh? There are that many, right?”
Savory looked puzzled.
“This time, it’s the two heroes, the lion beast girl Gala-chan, Emma-san, Leda-san, Leyla-san, Corti-san and Shario-san
She casually included Shario.
“And Gloria-san will definitely want to see them, and Nord, Cosmos, Mira, Cima and Lukino will wear collars too, right? And Selenium also said that it’s about time we gave collars to Azel and Rizel, otherwise they’ll look pitiful, and then there’s that person who shrank from super mega size, the dark elf”
Why is Lady even included? No, everyone else is different too.
“There’s a lot of information that’s wrong!”
“Eh, really?”
“It wasn’t decided that everyone after Shario would be female slaves!”
“But everyone’s already been invited, right?”
“You’ll get scolded for that”
“I guess so”
You can’t just mix them all together. That’s not allowed. It’s a ritual to distinguish between family and outsiders. ……Wait, maybe Selenium isn’t trying to distinguish them—she just wants to drag everyone in……!?