Chapter 164: To Be Enslaved
It’s completely spring now.
The snow has melted into water, moistening the dry winter ground.
And from that damp earth, spring’s new shoots are now sprouting, I see.
Though the world may be different, the seasons turn, and life continues in a chain.
The workings of life are the same everywhere, I suppose.
So…
Lately, I’ve been completely focused on Rosalinde, and I haven’t been able to pay much attention to Tris… or so I’ve been thinking.
Tris has been working hard these days.
In addition to her usual work, she’s been teaching Rosalinde about managing the domain.
On top of that, she’s been receiving insolent stares from the household staff and servants.
Of course, even though Tris is a Mazoku, she’s my attendant and wife, so I won’t allow any interference.
I’ve given the servants a very stern warning about that.
But even so, the eyes of prejudice aren’t something that can be easily changed.
Mazoku…
The race that birthed the Demon Lord, the worst of slaughterers.
The Demon Lord killed as many as a hundred thousand people.
…That’s the story, but most of the detailed accounts haven’t been passed down.
It’s from so long ago that parchment would have decayed… in other words, so long ago that records don’t remain. It’s a story from roughly five hundred to a thousand years ago.
It’s only been passed down through oral tradition.
The figure of a hundred thousand is rather dubious; there’s a theory that it was actually much more. Or, perhaps “a hundred thousand” is used to mean “an uncountable number”… like the Japanese “yaoyorozu” (eight million, meaning myriad)? That’s another theory.
No, no, in an ancient world like a thousand years ago, killing even a hundred thousand people would be enough to upset the continent’s population balance! That’s another theory I’ve heard.
In any case, the Demon Lord was an existence that committed massacres on the level of “the sea was dyed red with the blood of the slain” or “corpses piled up to form mountains.”
Ever since then, the Mazoku have been thoroughly discriminated against by other races.
Even the Discriminated Classes like Halflings, Beastmen, and Barbarians discriminate against the Mazoku.
…Well, in a world where people indiscriminately exclude and discriminate against anyone outside their own race, let alone their own “village,” that might not be relevant.
Anyway, the Mazoku were a discriminated people.
So… which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Do they become villains because they’re discriminated against, or are they discriminated against because they’re villains?
Most Mazoku become robbers, thieves, or assassins.
It can’t be helped that the servants look at them with discriminatory eyes.
After all, Knights have had their colleagues killed by Mazoku thieves.
For the servants too, stories of their home villages being attacked by Mazoku robbers are common.
It’s no wonder they’re hated.
And then, the problem is, Mazoku are strong, you know.
Racially, they are strong.
How should I put it… affinity with Magical Power? They’re a race that’s skilled at handling Magical Power.
They can use Magic Skills from birth, without being taught by anyone. That’s a common thing for their race.
So, even if they’re amateurs in martial arts, just by rampaging with a nearby wood-chopping axe, they’re too much for ordinary people to handle. That’s the kind of race they are.
Tris too, before I bought her, was thoroughly abused and disciplined so she wouldn’t even dream of rebelling… It’s hard to say, but ordinary humans can’t control Mazoku unless they do something like that…
If you look at Tris now, you can see she can use all sorts of Magic Skills without being taught, and she can completely control the magic I’ve taught her.
Excluding combat ability, in terms of the variety of ‘True Words’ she can use, doesn’t she surpass old Gaspard, a veteran professional Mage?
On top of that, her Magical Power output is incredible.
The amount of Magical Power dwelling in Tris’s body is about half to seventy percent of mine.
Seventy percent of mine.
Seventy percent of my Magical Power, which is easily dozens of times that of an Elf, who are generally considered to have superior Magical Power.
Well, yeah…
She’s a monster, isn’t she…
If a race with this monstrous Magical Power learned magic and organized, they could indeed become a Demon Lord, I feel.
In that sense, thoroughly discriminating against them and stripping them of their power might be, though it’s bad to say, a rational judgment.
So, with that in mind…
“Tris.”
“Yes!”
“You’ve been working very hard lately! You’re doing great!”
“Thank you very much!”
“Dealing with Rosalinde must be tough too. And with the servants coming and going in the mansion, it must be stressful, right? Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No! Just being able to serve Lord Andrews is more honor than I deserve…! Not only that, but you desire me as a woman too, and I… I am happy.”
Hmm.
She has a slave mentality, doesn’t she.
“Haven’t you ever thought about wanting freedom?”
“…Freedom?”
“That’s right. You’ve gained a lot of power, haven’t you? Isn’t there somewhere you want to go, or something you want to do…”
“No. There isn’t.”
“Really? Don’t humans want freedom? I thought I taught you words like ‘human rights’…”
“Freedom… Is freedom really such a good thing? You have to choose for yourself. And it’s painful, and agonizing.”
“That’s about your past, right? Tris, you’re already a full-fledged doctor, Mage, and merchant.”
“Um… Am I… no longer needed…?”
Uwah!
She makes a face like that?!
She’s always smiling, so it’s surprising, but this, this… a face like she’s about to die?
“T-Tris! I would never abandon you~! That’s not it, as a living being, with free will~…”
“Then, I don’t mind not being a living being. If being free means being a living being, being human… I don’t want to become something like that…”
Eeh…?
“Lord Andrews… For me, Tristia, being your servant is my greatest, my utmost happiness…! Please, please… don’t take my Collar from me…!”
Ah…
…She was broken as a “person” a long, long time ago, huh.