The staff have been waiting for this, with mixed anticipation and fear, and are standing in line inside the entrance which is excessively nice, but my eyes are drawn to all the women. They have their hands in front of them, their heads slightly bent and eyes looking at our feet. Exactly the same pose on everyone, so it can not be a coincidence. Everyone curtsey and greets me, very synchronized. So many young women. Girls. Half must be under 16. They seems to be equal between Northern countries and scattered parts of southern Europe. The one who instantly attracts attention is one of the 'older', who has really dark skin. My thought goes on a tangent that black slaves must be unusual, and I hear Iselin and the others refer to her as 'a blue woman'. I would say dark brown, but some languages have a limited vocabulary for colors, or there may have been translation errors via several different languages that just live on. Right, I guess I found the black slave in Borgarsandr. Not important, but my brain likes to go astray so I don't have to stay here in reality. Damn, she is my slave and has been for a month.

I've talked to my sambos and there are no really good choices for me to make. I cannot support everyone for the rest of my life even if the sum is small, and I really don't want to sell them or put them to work on the island, so I will free them, which still doesn't make their situation much better if I just throw them out now before winter. I really don't want to sell a person, because it feels like the easy and cowardly way where I earn silver on them, and decisions and problems are someone else's burden.

We will try to educate them, teach them to read, write, count, etc, so they can get simpler, but more educated jobs. Try to give them some status and usefulness for their reading and writing skills, and honestly I might then give some of them jobs. I will need literate people. Their lives so far say nothing about their intelligence or personality, but I fear hidden wounds in soul and personality they have received from their lives under Radgeirrson. There are no psychologists to talk to here.

What I am worried about is that if you do something long enough, from a young enough age, it becomes your life. That is the norm. What are they going to do now? It is tragic, but indoctrination and habit can make people do things and accept a certain worldview, that we with another worldview can not understand. Growing up we have all become indoctrinated in some worldview, belief, doctrine and values. I'm not special, my values are just of course what I think is more 'right', because I have grown up and been indoctrinated that this is the case. Sure its easier to change someones views and belief if the new one is beneficial, like with freedom and rights, but it might still be hard.

At present, we will just leave them alone, and I tell them that they can all stay at least over the winter while we make decisions about the future. Behind their trained front, there are relieved faces on several of them - they won't be thrown out on the street before winter, or sold. I go on to clearly say that the sexual exploitation Radgeirrson has done is over. There will be no more of that. There will be no guests they need to entertain or go to bed with, and should anyone even try to force themselves on them, they are allowed to defend themselfs, and should let me know. Some seem relieved and some seem mostly lost and unsure.

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We are shown around the house by two of the older maids, and like I ask, they show me everywhere. The hall, the great hall, the kitchen, scrub and other things on the ground floor. The great hall is a large part of the total building because it is a large hall that is two floors high with a balcony and stairs up and in towards the rest of the building. Definitely a great hall to impress guests, with all surfaces covered in carvings or something impressive but not completely matching the rest. There are a ridiculous amount of gold on the pillars to the balcony and some ornaments on the walls. And I thought the entrance hall was lavish.

I look at the Damascus steel sword with dagger prominently displayed on the wall behind Radgeirrson's throne, which is a ridiculously impressive creation. Again with details plated with gold, and it is not gold leaf. Just thin normal gold. That is a lot of gold. I think I will have throne destroyed. Just strip it from gold and burn the rest. We'll bring back some things from here, so I'd ask them to pack the sword and dagger in a chest, but I don't care about tapestries, the decorations or the porcelain, even if it's fine. I don't think I want to be reminded of the previous owner every time I see it. His chainmail armor of course has some form of gold or brass coating on certain rings which, in addition to the goldish collar and edges, also have his logo on the chest. Its fine craftsmanship and stupid to just melt the whole thing, so I have to ask an armor smith to replace the rings that make the logo.

We return to the entrance hall to be led up to the second floor when a woman falls on all fours in front of me and tries to kiss my feet. I automatically jump back.

"Lord! I beg for a quick death! Please, do not throw me in the hole!"

What the fuck?! I jump back again when she again tries to crawl forward and kiss my feet, and Bodil stops the woman and tries to pull her up on her feet, but she falls back down with her hands clasped in a praying gesture and doesn't dare look at me.

"What is your name?"

"Åsa, my Lord!"

"Åsa, what are you asking for a quick death for?"

Totally despairing she mournfully sobs: "I was the one who poured spice into my Lords stop and served it. I was the one who drugged my Lord!"

Ah. She was there at the trial in the Royal Castle. Sure, I might have saved her from being tortured to death, but I didn't think she would be my slave. So she seems to have expected that I saved her, just to punishing her personally. If she was ordered to do it, it is not entirely her fault, and it would be good to get an affirmative answer.

"Åsa, you need to be completely honest with me and answer my questions. Did Radgeirrson give the order to drug my drink?"

"Yes my Lord." She really shakes with fear and cries.

"Did you know how strong the dose was?"

"Yes my Lord." Her voice is really desperate and hurts to hear.

"Did you try to stop it or not obey Radgeirrson's orders?"

"No, my lord. I did not want to be punished."

She is terrified and despairing, like knowing that every word is condemning her to eternal torment. The thing is, she is a slave, and I suspect she would have been beaten or worse if she had said something against Radgeirrson. What should I do? I want time to think, and I want to talk to my sambos, but not now in front of everyone here - who I see is still standing in the entrance hall waiting. In the same position and places. Radgeirrson was probably a rather strict man, who knew how he wanted it and punished those who did not behave.

"Åsa, sit down on the chair over there, and I'll talk with you after I get a tour of the mansion."

She quickly looks up to see which chair I am pointing at, and then crawls there on all fours and sits down carefully on the edge after she has straightened her dress. She seem to just want to cease to exist. Although she is sitting straight backed and almost posing.

With a gesture towards the two maids who showed us around, we continue up to the second floor, see the guest rooms, a meeting room and so on. Generally lavish with tapestries, rugs, carvings and gold ornaments. Iselin is ridiculously impressed, and she isn't alone, but this place is more lavish than what I've seen from the King's Castle. It is much more than I have seen in either Jarl Steinnes, Jarl Skiringe or Jarl Naeswulfs great halls and fortresses. Among all the splendor, there is a shelf with a few dozen books, and several are so mundane that they stand out. I ask them to pack the books along with other things.

I am shown Radgeirrson's part on the second floor, his anteroom and large bedroom. Its like he have tried to make everything as lavish as possible, and Jane agrees that it is tastelessly exaggerated. There is hardly a single piece of normal furniture, and it feels like the style of the bed is imported as it is a four-poster bed with draperies and plenty of carvings on the corner posts and headboard. The maids confirm that Radgeirrson loved that bed and it is only three years old. Kari points out that it has started to become fashionable among the richest to have such beds to shut out the cold in the winter. Most places arn't as insulated with all the heating my mansion have, and most rooms here lack any kind of fireplace, although the great hall had a large fireplace along one long side, with a smoke hood further up, and both his anteroom and the bedroom have a smaller fireplace with a similar smoke hood solution. They seem to be side to side against each other.

I pull out a couple of the drawers, and start open the chests. The chest is full of wooden pieces, leather buckles and manacles etc. Real iron and leather shackles, with chains, and a pair that have dried blood on them. Oh. Shit. That is a variant of dildos, and some of them are pure sadism! With dried blood stains.

What. The. Hell.

I open the rest of the chests, drawers and closet. Most clothes and other things, as well as pouches with silver and gold in one of the chests. Drawers next to the bed has condoms, some kind of leather whip and leash, and two small bottles with powder in it. The drawer in his desk has a couple of half-carved pieces of wood and a couple of knives etc, and there is a thin, flexible wooden rod hanging next to it. As if to beat someone.

I order them to destroy everything like this, even that found elsewhere in the mansion, and let a blacksmith melt down the iron until the next time we come back here. The two maids look at each other and one asks if it applies to their personal pieces as well.

What?

She turns around and after loosening discreet buttons, she pulls the skirt apart at the back, a slit up to the buttocks. Slits on skirts and buttons seem to have been around for a while, but have been hidden in some circles and some designs. She of course has a wooden dildo in her butt that she takes out, and reflexively clean with her mouth, before presenting it to me with a rehearsed gesture, while the other explains that several of the older staff women have to wear them when they welcomed Radgeirrsons, and every other morning when he was not here, so they were penetrated by Radgeirrson and were reminded of their master. The dildo literally has Radgeirrsons mark burned into the wooden. They apparently have standing rules for cleanliness when they go to the toilet, and always cleaned Radgeirrson with his mouth afterwards. The younger ones doesn't wear them because Radgeirrson appreciated that they are 'natural' and 'pain makes them learn to be submissive', and some older ones like herself, Elin and Shakini have been rewarded with no longer having them. Unfortunately, it does not end there. Of course his hobby was to carve new dildos for them.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I order them to destroy those too - unless someone wants to keep it - considering indoctrination and habit gives strange behavior. It wouldn't surprise me if at least one maid 'liked' her master, and I am almost afraid to ask what other standing rules they have. They both begin to quote at the same time as Bible commandments, and I was right. I who thought Jarl Steinnes was bad, but he liked most to humiliate someone - not to torment and for sex. Bodil looks nauseous, and I feel a little nauseous myself. I no longer have to doubt Åsa, or talk to my sambos. No wonder she was afraid of being punished, and I havn't even seen the basement yet to know it will be worse.

Kari is very controlled when she says that I should have let the King castrate that Radgeirrson piece by piece, and make him slowly eat up his manhood - and I agree. I ask why she hasn't already quit using the dildo in her butt? Radgeirrson stopped being their owner weeks ago. The answer, of course, is that I might be the same, and they wanted to be ready to serve their new master; proud to show how well behaved and trained they are, just like the rules say they always should be.

With a few leading questions, we quickly understand that everyone has a regular simpler dress that is the most discreet piece of clothing they have, for special guests and when Radgeirrsons family was here. Then most of the maids, and all the youngest, were in the basement vaults and silent. The slit dresses are new, and something Radgeirrson looked forward to trying out in this design; his own variant of my creation, and was delivered after he was sentenced. They partly wore the dresses for my benefit, and they like the new design because they have often had smaller and more exposing clothes. All the maids have one of those dresses with extra deep necklines that have no buttocks, and they can be cold. Someone who broke the rules or wasn't obedient enough, sometimes walked on all fours dressed in fur, including a leash and a wooden dildo with a tail, and was just an animal that ate what Radgeirrson throwed on the floor and slept directly on the floor, until she learned.

The regular guests appreciate their clothes and how behaved and trained they are, and guests were often here to buy some of the younger ones who have arrived - 'trained or wild' - or to 'breaking in' before buying.

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We gather all in the entrance hall, which they have not left, and I inform them that the standing rules no longer apply. All dildos for butts and similar things can be destroyed, and animal costume with accessories will be burned. They look at me and the maid next to me, who shows that she has removed her own and nods. The maid was right, the youngest don't have them but several do. Damn. It is one thing when Ciara or Alith wear it because they sometimes want and like it, but force them to remind themselves of their Lord, and that his hobby was to be sadistically creative? How many havn't had problems because of it? I tell them to throw it in a bucket and ask a couple to gather the rest that is in the mansion, and make a fireplace in the courtyards, and we will burn it this afternoon. Two cautious maids quickly return with one bucket each, and one disappears upstairs and one down into the basement. The rest I tell to relax, and sit down if they want too. They seem even more lost.

I ask if my sambos really want to follow down to the basement, because I assume it will be bad considering what the rules included down there. Iselin and Jane do not want to, and Bodil is happy to stay up here with them.

Much of the basement are storage rooms, with plenty of food and especially luxury goods like mead and wine barrels, but we ignore it and move on. I want to see the other rooms first, like into the hall with bunk beds and mattresses with hay on the floor, because as the maids said, there are two special rooms here. And after I've seen them I don't think I will care for the rest.

The prayer room. Radgeirrson certainly found it very amusing. I would say it is a prison cell and rape room with shackles for arms, legs, neck and well-worn wooden roll with chewing marks for the mouth, and dark spots of dried blood. One set by the wall and another on its bed. Many old blood spots on the sacking that is its mattress. Without a doubt there have been a lot of muffled or silent praying in here.

The so-called 'training room' is larger with three small and one large prison cell, and a bed and stocks outside, again with shackles on the bed and the wall and a shelf with prominently displayed 'toys' and other things that are being thrown in a bucket. There is already a full bucket next to it. Two of the cells have a crouched naked young girl with big scared eyes glued to us when we enter, but they quickly look away huddle up. They can not even stand up, or lie down straight, because the prison cells are too small, and they also have a neck manacle with a chain that is attached to the floor by the far wall with a long chain. I realise that the chain is that long so they can be taken out and 'trained' and be chained at all times, and they are guaranteed to not reach this door. One begins to silently cry, probably terrified of what is to come. Fucking hell! Shit, thats Literally.

The maid who accompanies informs me that the girls arrived a few days ago, just a couple of days after Tingsman Jensi was here, and they are washed, untouched and wild - everything is ready for training and it has been freshly cleaned in here. I won't ask who locked them in, or fed them and cleaned here with them locked up. Because I am their owner and they would tell me, or tried to do whatever I ordered them to. Most of them are probably so indoctrinated that they no longer question, or fear reprisals for questioning their Lord. All resistance have since long been beaten, tortured and raped out of them. This 'training room' and the 'prayer room' is no joke, but their harsh reality they have all probably been in several times, and for a long time. If anyone were still defiant, it would surprised me. Will they ever be able to have a normal life? I who thought Jarl Steinnes was bad.

I order the maid to unlock and get something for the girls to wear, and she returns with a key and a pair of simple dresses and opens their doors, but they hardly dare go out, and I do not go near them. She puts on the dresses and I understand why it is an unusual model - because the dress can be put on while they continue to be chained around the neck. They step into the dress, and it is tied together in front of their breasts. The dress also slides apart at the bottom so it is easier to continue 'training them'. I order her to remove the manacle as well, and give them a better normal dress. I noticed the maids small fear reaction that she is afraid because she misunderstood my order and might be punished for it, but she shortly return with tools and two normal dresses.

More leading questions paints a picture. Radgeirrson seems to have applied the classic reward-punishment principle during 'training'. Those who 'learned' have been rewarded with small things over time and given better lives. Simpler dress. Straw mattress to sleep on. More and better food. Larger prison cell, bed, better dress, etc. 'Disobedience' drastically takes away rewards, and means pain, torture or the 'hole', which turns out to be under a locked iron plate that lifts up. It is literally a hole, and something like 90cm square and more than two meters deep. The hole is part of the mansions and basement sewer and drainage system, which flows into the hole from channels a bit below the top edge of the hole, and the hole has a channel at the bottom for further drainage out the back of the hill.

Damn. I understand why Åsa was terrified of ending up in the hole.

I can only imagine the effect on other prisoners to hear the sound of the prisoner in the hole when it rains etc, and the last step in training has been to take care of this 'training room' and help 'training' others. Still with neck manacle and chain, but could sleep in the large prison cell without the cell door being locked. Better food with a proper dress, and had to keep the room and everything prepared. Feed the other prisoners, and help with punishment, and clean, scrub the floor and empty the garbage into the hole. Including the prisoners feces pots, if the prisoners havn't been forced to do their needs via a smaller hatch directly down the hole and on the prisoner below. Radgeirrson has become more and more thorough and sadistic over time, and 'improved' the training methodology and the room over time, especially the last four years. That utter sadistic asshole.

And he's had guests here who 'trained' girls in this room, so he is not alone.

I ask Kari and Ciara to talk to the girls and maids, and make everyone understand that they will not be caged anymore, and I take Caecilia with me to return up. Caecilia is shaking with anger, tears flow and she is holy pissed off at Radgeirrson because he has defiled sex like this. She knew he liked young women and understood that he was a little special, strict and unpleasant - but not like this. Iselin hugs and tries to calm Caecilia, and Caecilia's explanations frighten both Iselin and Jane. I go in to Åsa where she is sitting on the chair, and crouches in front of her, while I take her hands in mine. Something she definitely did not expect.

"Åsa. Considering what you have been exposed to, and how Radgeirrson has treated you, you have no guilt in what happened to me. You have nothing to apologize for. I am not like Radgeirrson, and the prayer room and the training room will to be destroyed. You can return to the others."

I take her hand and gently lead her back to the others, and she seem to shed tears of relief as she thanks me and tries to kiss my hands.

After a few minutes, Kari, Ciara and the maids return with the two girls. I give everyone new directives. No one is locked in the basement, either in the prayer room or in the training room. The contents of those rooms will be destroyed. If new slaves are delivered here, take care of them. Until they get orders from me, Iselin, Kari och Ciara, I want everyone to take care of each other. Make sure they eat properly, are better dressed and are clean. Take care of the household, the mansion and the animals, but otherwise just take care of each other. If any of Radgeirrson's old friends who used the training room come here, ask who they are and their purpose, and then deny them entry and say that I am the new owner. I want to know who they are, because they are now on my personal shit list, and they will not be allowed to enter my islands. Of course, a couple of the maids know the faces and names of the regular guests, and know that some of them, for example, bought a young slave girl to give to their young son to enjoy. How will a young man look at and treat others, when at the age of 13 he got his own personal sex slave from his father? Or mother...

Kari says we should let the King know. He has visited this mansion, and she doubts he knows. I ask the maids if King Asbjörn Aeriksson has been here? Yes, a couple of times a year at feasts; he is one of the special guests and it was regular feasts, not 'Freja feasts' - which means he might not know. Caecilia is infuriated and boiling with anger tells them to not call any of what Radgeirrson has arranged a Freja feast! Never ever again! All the maids pull back, and when they see me hugging Caecilia against myself and getting my affirmative nod, they all start nodding.

Reminder to myself: Never speak ill of Freya or do anything that Caecilia thinks defiles sex.

It may not be a big or any crime since they're slaves, but some type of crime that has been committed here. So the maid who guided us around with the wooden buttplug, is sent to deliver a message about what we found to the King, and Bodil suggest she accompanies. Bodil seems to need air and get out of here. We all want to do that. Had the building not been meter thick stone, I might have felt burned it down. The outer wall is probably two meters thick. Caecilia would have liked to see the two basement rooms melt into lava, and she hugs me and Iselin as she shakes and cries.

I order the two farmhands to start tearing things down in the two rooms and clear the rooms. They have a small smithy in the courtyard and can melt together and destroy the iron manacles etc, and destroy the unused slave necklaces and other things they of course have here as well. They will take out Radgeirrson's bed and the guest beds together with his throne after we have removed the gold, and pile it up here in the courtyard with the other things and we will burn them tonight. The maid who led us around and has worked as the mansions manager, Frida, will try to sell all the furniture from Radgeirrsons rooms and guest rooms, and use some of the silver that is here to replace with new that is ordered or bought, and also sell Radgeirrsons clothes. Its a pretty empty gesture, but I do not want to know that I sleep in a bed where such things happened, and I do not want to know that there are such things in the basement.

I realise that I need to take pictures before everything is destroyed, so that Jane can sketch it in the future. It is awful what happened here, but it should not be hidden and forgotten.