Van turned to Mika and Rika, feeling a surge of control as he looked at their submitted expressions. Their eyes that yearn for his command.
'Now then... These two... I...'
Van swallowed hard, as that sense of control began to overwhelm him.
'...I have control over them... I can ensure... every day is like earlier. No one will know, I can hide the slave mark. I could have a woman cook for me every day... while being embraced by the other... No complaints... No pain... No arguing...'
Van clenched his fist tightly.
'No betrayal... EVER AGAIN...!!' He thought, the emptiness in his eyes igniting with a frenzied flame as he envisioned a perpetual bliss with Mika and Rika, while flashes of Amoria's confession and the sight of Alicia in another's embrace haunted his mind.
'Yes.. YES...! I WILL KEEP THEM...!!! THEY WILL BE MINE....!! ONLY MINE...!!! NO ONE ELSE'S...!! NO ONE CAN STEAL THEM FROM ME.... EVER AGAIN...!!!' His thoughts raced frantically, his breath heavy with burgeoning lust and possessiveness...
Yet...
Like a beacon in the darkness, the memory of Alicia and Varlog's smile pierced through the shadows of his mind, dispelling the sinister thoughts swirling within.
Just then, nausea and disgust welled up inside his stomach as he recalled what he almost did to the enslaved Mika and Rika just now. Van rushed aside and vomited, as if purging the dark desire from his being.
His expression returned to one of hollow emptiness as he wiped away the last traces of bile.
Clumsily rising to his feet, Van walked around the room, his steps echoing softly against the blood-stained cobblestones. He found two clean large cloths scattered about and picked them up, bringing them to Mika and Rika, who were still topless.
He draped the cloths over each of them, one after the other.
"Now then... Mika, Rika," he muttered shakily, looking into their eyes.
"...I order you to tell me the incantation that would grant each of you the ownership of your own slave marks," He instructed, his voice raspy, exhausted.
'Rather than freeing them just like that... I'll... I'll make sure that they can't be controlled ever again...'
'...Even by me, if I ever lose my mind... Like... Earlier.'
Without delay, Rika began to answer
"Yes..."
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"-Master. To grant Mika ownership of Mika's own separate mark, chant..."
"-Sifuruah, Malovus, Mika Dyke Re Mika Dyke. This makes Mika..."
"-Her own master."
"For Rika, it is..."
"-Sifuruah, Malovus, Rika Dyke Re Rika Dyke."
"With these incantations, each of us will..."
"-Regain our free will and still..."
"-Retain the slave mark."
They concluded.
'...Just to make sure...'
"Does this have any benefit for you?" Van asked, his tone flat.
Without hesitation, Mika replied.
"Yes, it will..."
"-Ensure that neither of us..."
"-Will be susceptible to..."
"-Rebranding, effectively making us..."
"-Immune to any further attempts at branding us..."
"-Again."
Van internalized this information. 'So, it does act like a permanent Passive that shields them from further slave branding while also granting them freedom. Good...'
"Alright..." Van inhaled deeply.
"Sifuruah, Malovus, Mika Dyke Re Mika Dyke," he chanted with clarity.
"Sifuruah, Malovus, Rika Dyke Re Rika Dyke," he repeated for Rika.
Gradually, he watched as a spark returned to their eyes. They crumbled to the ground, their knees buckling under the weight of newfound freedom, speechless as they looked up at Van.
Van observed their reactions, interpreting their silence as fear. He immediately looked away in shame.
'Of course, they're scared... I was about to use them as slaves again... And after using the demonic tongue... They probably can only think of how to escape me,' Van thought, mistaking their overwhelming emotions for terror as he looked at his bloodstained hand.
However, tears of relief began streaming down their faces as they choked on words of gratitude that they couldn't quite articulate, freed from a decade-long captivity.
"V-..."
"-a.."
"-n..." They stammered, their voices cracking and weak as they sat, breathless.
'...I better leave. It seems like they're about to pass out from the stress... Well, it's not as if I actually want to stay here with them anymore... Good to actually know the feeling is mutual this time around,' Van mused, his face marked by defeat and emptiness as he climbed the stairs out of the cellar.
Mika and Rika both reached out towards Van, their hands trembling with a genuine desire to embrace him, but their strength failed them, and their voices faltered. As they tried to shout, pleading with him not to leave, they collapsed to the floor in unison. Despite their desperate attempts, their pleas went unheard as Van continued up the stairs and out of the cellar door.
Van found himself in a secluded, run-down cabin in the middle of open fields just nearby the inner capital city.
"Just in case, I'll watch from a distance. I want to ensure they make it out safely without any interference," Van said coolly as he hurried to a remote spot and sat down, waiting to see if the duo would leave the cellar.
Two hours later, the door briefly opened, and the two of them emerged together. Their expressions were unreadable from afar. After a moment, they vanished from sight.
'Looks like they used their skill to disappear... Alright,' Van thought, sighing in relief.
'I haven't thought about it when I met them... But they looked really young, just as they did back then... I wonder how?' He pondered.
'Best not to dwell on it... At least they made it out,' he thought as he started to walk away.
'...I was seriously about to use them as my slaves... even though they were captives for 10 years, subjected to that pig's every whim... I'm...'
'...The worst.' He concluded, feeling nausea build up once again. He then bent over, vomiting at the thought.
'I suppose you were right in condemning me... With those skills. Goddess...' He thought as he wiped his mouth once more.
'I deserved every bad thing I went through,'
As the sun began to rise above him, casting long shadows across the fields and illuminating the path ahead, Van's solitary figure stood stark against the dawn light. Clad only in canvas pants, he remained topless under the warming rays of the early sun.