Chapter 46 Loyalty
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The bed felt far too big. Yuuri stared at the wide space in shock, and unease grew when he noticed there was no soft, warm woman in his arms. Since opening the Familial Workshop, he could not recall a morning where he woke without lovers resting on both sides. His body longed for that comfort.
Even though he had slept well, he felt heavy, as if his body were made of lead. Ashley had once spoken about magic drain, and this must be it. His head was clear enough, and there was no fever or dizzy spell. He trained to stay strong, and the divine blessing now made his body even tougher. A cold river would not give him a cold so easily. The only thing that came to mind was how he had pushed his magic past its limit for the servant change.
That thought made him stop.
”So, what happened to her?” he said.
Because the goddess had forced his body like a puppet, he had lost control halfway through and could not remember the end. Was the scout freed from stone? Had she lost any limbs? Did the servant change even work?
He sat up at once. Only then did he notice he was still wearing his protective suit. His chest had been opened for treatment, so Ashley had likely carried him to bed. He gave a small thanks in his heart, took off the suit, and slipped into his room clothes. He almost brought the suit to the washroom, but if he stepped outside, he would surely hear a report about the scout. He set the suit on the bed again.
”I can clean it before I sleep,” he said.
He went down the small step and walked to the door of the bedroom. He placed a hand on the heavy door and took one deep breath.
Please, let the servant change be a success.
He did want to keep a skilled and lovely woman close, but that was not the heart of it. He prayed that her sad heart had been freed from that dark place where she waited for death. He had taken hold of her fate, and he was ready to stay with her for life.
”…All right,” he whispered.
The result was already set, and he could not stand here frozen. When he opened the door, he heard cheerful voices from the dining room. The tone was more lively than the talks Marina and Ashley usually shared. His chest lifted with hope.
As he stepped past the lobby, the voices stopped at once. Of course they would. A servant was made to notice the approach of the master. Even from behind, they would sense him.
At a table near the kitchen door, two girls sat side by side with their backs to him. The golden hair was Marina’s. The long, black hair beside her was the same he had seen in Shelm-sama’s dark space. Their matching ponytails tied at the back were rather cute.
Marina’s hair leaned toward the still black one, as if to soothe her frozen posture. A small nod from the black-haired girl made Marina jump up with a wide move and run to hug him.
”Good morning, Yuuri!” Marina said, rubbing her cheek on him. “You fell out all of a sudden, so we were worried. Is your body okay?”
”Yeah. It’s only a bit of magic loss. I’m fine. But… I’m how long was I out?” Yuuri asked.
He should have checked the time in the lobby, but the happy voices had pulled his focus. Marina pressed even closer like a spoiled cat as she answered with a bright smile.
”Hmm, about two hours? You began to send magic into Suzuri right away, and you passed out at once. We tried to lift you, but your hands wouldn’t leave Suzuri’s stomach. Since Shelm-sama told us to do it that way, we thought it was normal. We were scared, but we waited. After about one hour, Suzuri’s servant change went well, and then we all came back to the workshop.”
Suzuri. Yuuri remembered the name she had given in the dark space. He looked past Marina at the small shaking of black hair behind the seat divider. She must be nervous. He chose not to call her and waited for her to show her face on her own.
At last, the black ponytail rose a little as she took a deep breath. As she let it out, her body vanished from sight. As fast as ever. But Yuuri knew where she would appear this time.
He turned to the side of the seats, and there she was in the same room clothes as Marina. Her head was lowered, her face hidden behind her hair. With a smooth, graceful move, she knelt and bowed deeply with three fingers on the floor.
”Nice to meet you for the first time, Yuuri-sama…! My name is Suzuri. I am a new servant in your humble service! You saved me from that dark place. I will work with all my strength to repay you. Please use this body in any way you see fit!”
Her voice was clear and formal. It almost pushed him back. If he panicked or made light of this, he would stain her resolve. Yuuri had not grown up as a noble, but he had learned enough manners while guiding adventurers of many ranks. A return should match the effort given.
He loosened his hold on Marina, who stepped aside at once. He knelt in front of Suzuri.
”Suzuri, please lift your face,” he said, keeping his voice calm.
She slowly raised her head, though she did not lift her hands. Her lips were tight as she showed her face.
She was beautiful.
In the dark, he had not been able to look well, but even as a stone figure, she had left a strong impression. Under the warm light, she seemed even more so. Her long lashes, the dark eyes like polished night, and the soft red at her eye corners matched his memory. Only now, her eyes held respect instead of fear or anger, and it made her look much younger and even cute.
They met each other’s gaze for a moment, then Yuuri lowered his eyes a little.
”First, forgive me for saving you in this way. You can feel it too, but your soul is now tied to My skill. You cannot leave me, and our lives will stay linked. Even so, I want to finish this path without losing a single servant.”
Suzuri did not stop him or show any sign of rejecting his humble tone. Her still and steady posture showed deep loyalty. She clearly had a sharp mind.
Yuuri respected her strong will and continued with his plan.
”I never intended to take anyone as a servant for life,” Yuuri began. “But in the maze, someone tried to kill me. By now, after talking with them, you must know… yes. To protect Marina, the princess, and her side, as well as us, I decided we must clear the royal maze fully.”
Even holding Suzuri’s core, the Familial Workshop couldn’t bind her heart. He needed her to agree after knowing the truth. Yuuri glanced at Marina, who seemed to have already told Suzuri about her identity. The mention of clearing the maze didn’t shock Suzuri either. Marina simply offered a small smile and remained silent.
”I made the plan, but even with blessings, I’m not much help in a fight,” Yuuri admitted. “So… through a certain link, I learned you were sealed on Floor Fifty-Eight. It forced me to make a hard choice. Suzuri, I know it’s unfair to ask this now, but let me be clear. The core of my skill, the Familial Workshop, is that I can grant any skill to a servant I hold. If you don’t want to fight, you can stay in the workshop until we finish the maze. But… if you’re willing to help us, will you join us to reach the dungeon core?”
He knew this was asking too much after the fact. He was no better than Shelm for such a deed, and he accepted that. Still, he couldn’t leave this unclear. Even if she blamed him, he had to face it. If he couldn’t say, “I did this because it was necessary,” then he wasn’t truly taking responsibility for taking her old life away.
He kept his eyes on Suzuri’s black ones. They were deep like a night sky, and he almost lost his sense of distance. Just before he swayed, her wide eyes softened.
”It is too late for such words, Yuuri-sama,” she said.
Her voice was calm. Though she had been forced to give her body to a man she met for the first time, she did not show even a hint of hate. Even if this saved her from long pain, how could she accept giving herself so easily? He feared she was only acting brave.
But a quick look at her face showed she was blushing as she lowered her eyes with shy warmth. It seemed almost as if she had been waiting to be wanted, and the idea puzzled him.
As he wondered how he had earned such favor, she glanced up through her lashes and spoke in a small, sulky tone that made his breath catch.
”After such… such fierce taking to make me yield, and now you push me away…?”
”W–wait, what? What do you mean?” Marina cut in, shocked.
Yuuri could not explain. His memory blurred from the moment he caught Suzuri’s body while fighting inside the monster form. He had no idea what he might have done after that.
Suzuri must have seen his confusion, because her blush slowly turned to anger. She had guessed that the soul contract that meant so much to her was lost to him.
”Hmph! Of course it means little to you if you already had such fine servants as your elder ladies. I am but a flower by the road you picked in passing!”
She turned away. Yuuri tried to calm her, but she would not listen. Marina clung to him and demanded answers, which only made him look even less loyal to Suzuri.
To settle Marina first, he told the story step by step—how Shelm’s trick forced him into a monster form to face Suzuri’s soul. While he talked, Suzuri suddenly threw herself against his arm, eyes shining with tears.
”No more, please! Even if Marina-dono is here, those are… those are my precious memories! Yuuri-sama! A servant can receive skills from you, yes!? Please give me many! If you do that, I will forgive this forgetting! And then… then I wish to go with you to clear the maze!”
”Ugh… I do want to know what happened,” Marina said, “but digging into such memories is rude. Yuuri, talk with Suzuri properly later! She’s my proud little sister now, so if you treat her badly, even I will get angry!”
Yuuri somehow found himself the one being cornered. Two lovely girls pressed him so hard that he nodded at once. He did not know if the lost memories were because of Shelm’s spell or a bug in the magic, but that did not excuse hurting their hearts.
”F–fine. Suzuri, I’ll talk with you later. I wanted to ask about the skills anyway. And… does this mean you agree to the maze plan?”
Suzuri nodded, eyes still wet. Relief warmed Yuuri, though he tried to stay calm. That dark space must have shown their souls meeting in human and monster form for the servant change. If she accepted in the end, then perhaps he had given her such strong pleasure she would never forget. No wonder she scolded him for forgetting.
”I’m sorry,” he said. “It seems that was a special case for the servant change. You were stone, so the magic had to work like that to get your yes…”
”It is too late to blame anything now,” she said. “But remember this, I’m accepted everything when I took your hand! If you now treat me like something fragile, that is most wrong. Just like your elder ladies, you must love me without distance, or giving my heart and body was for nothing…!”
Her strong will left Yuuri with nothing but a weak nod. He showed a poor face as a master, yet they had taken a step closer, and that was something.
”I’m sorry I’m a weak master. I’ll make sure you think better of me soon.”
He could only hold both Suzuri and Marina close. They stayed quiet and let him. For a time, the three of them held each other.
Then a voice came from above, sharp and scolding.
”What are you all doing, sitting on the floor like that!?”
All three jumped. They turned to see Ashley with her arms full of dishes. What should have been a simple welcome had turned into a mess, and she had caught them like misbehaving children.
”Princess, Suzuri-san, Yuuri must eat first. Speak after that, all right?” Ashley said.
Her firm gaze allowed no protest. The three could only nod. Whatever they wanted to say, they could not stay on the floor after being told off like that. They rushed to stand, and Ashley followed with a quick Purify. The clean, fresh air made Suzuri’s eyes go wide.
”Ashley-dono, was that Purify just now!?”
”Yes. It was the first skill Yuuri gave me,” Ashley said as if it were nothing.
Suzuri stared at her in shock, then looked at Yuuri with awe.
”You… you truly gave a skill so rare as Purify with ease!”
Her tears from before were gone, replaced by sparkling eyes. Ashley had won her trust in an instant as she quietly set the dishes. Yuuri felt humbled by his first servant doing what he could not.
”I will also work hard to be worthy of Yuuri-sama’s favor!” Suzuri declared with bright energy.
Her stomach growled loudly at that, breaking the tension. Yuuri moved to sit, but Suzuri pulled him into the seat she had used earlier. With her eager questions about the full power of the Familial Workshop, no one tried to stop her—not today.
Notes:
• Ashley – Count’s daughter, royal attendant, has a crush on Yuuri.
• Marina – First Princess of Restea—needs labyrinth escort.
• Shelm – Wicked Goddess, reincarnated Yuuri, manipulative, wants him to use his power.
• Suzuri – A scout who braved the labyrinth and lured a petrifying monster to protect her friends, she endured long isolation while frozen in stone and relied on inner magic to preserve her sense of self.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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