“I’ve done it! I’m linked with him! He wants to speak to me in private! It’s the best day of my life! I’ve done it! I will do all I can for him! He will probably tell me how much he loves me! I can’t wait to see what kind of gift he has for me! I’ve done it! I’m one of his Citizens! I hope I can be of use to him! I want to help him however I can! KYAAAAH!!! I am his! I don’t need anything more in life! But I want to be even closer to him! Is that even possible? Ah! I don’t care! I’ve done it.”
Arrh, she’s insufferable. Laura has no control over the strength of her thoughts and she projects them on me at full volume. Her mind is basically looping the same three thoughts in an erratic manner again and again.
The first is how happy she is to finally be one of my Citizens. I must admit I seriously underestimated her affection for me. It is not just simple thankfulness or anything like that, which could at least be easily explained by the fact that I saved her life from Bertrand and played a key role in the event that led to her freedom. Instead, it looks more like she’s obsessed with me, worshipping me even more than the Marms do. In religious terms, she’s a fanatic. The second kind of sentiment in her mind is strongly intertwined with the first one. It is her will to help me. Clearly, she wants to do all she can to be of use to me. If I play this right, she will be even more useful than I expected.
The third type of thought is more about what I can do for her. She saw all I did for Franziska and is wondering what I will do for her. I can understand that. I did promise that I was going to reward the Citizens, after all. But from what I can sort out from her bubbling thoughts, it is not the expectation of an adult wondering what he or she can obtain. No, it is more akin to a little child opening its presents on its birthday. Well, in that case, I can easily prepare some nice gifts while speaking with her.
“Laura, please. Calm your mind. When you’re thinking this loud, I can hear your thoughts.” I directly say in her mind hoping that she will be capable of lowering the volume of her thoughts if she tries.
“Whaa! Sorry!” She answers me. “Whaaaa! How am I supposed to do that? I’m bothering him! I don’t want to bother him! Is gonna be mad at me!” I’m not really surprised by the fact that her thoughts move in such a direction.
“You’re bothering me yes. But I won’t be mad, it is not your fault. You do not know how to control your thoughts yet, but I will help you with that. First I want you to put your mind in a meditation state.” First things first, I need her to stop screaming her thoughts into my mind, I can’t do anything with such a disruptive distraction.
“Yes! I do that!” “Meditation state… He’s not mad at me. He’s teaching me. That’s so cool! Ah! Focus Laura, focus. Meditation state… meditation state…”
“Good, just keep doing that.” Her thoughts are already a bit easier to handle, I can still hear everything she thinks, but at least she’s not screaming them anymore. “Now I want you to clear your mind, you need to take control of it. Do not let your thoughts wander uncontrolled.”
“Yes!” “Meditation… I’m doing good he said. I’m glad. Calm breaths… meditating state… focus my mind… control my thoughts… I can do it. For him, I can do it…”
I keep on guiding her in the way of controlling her thoughts. This is the first time I have to do it, Franziska already knew how to do it. In contrast, the animals, as well as the baby Marms, don’t have complicated enough thoughts to bother me.
By the time Laura reaches the bathhouse she’s almost capable of suppressing her thoughts. There are still sometimes when she lets some out loud enough for me to hear clearly and if I focus even just a little, I can perfectly read her mind. And see how much she values me. Honestly, there are some moments where the strength of her devotion is a bit frightening.
When she enters the bathhouse she heads directly for the Citizens’ part and stands in front of the door. I open it for her but she doesn’t walk inside.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her.
“I have never taken a hot bath alone.” She says in a low voice.
“You are not alone, I am here with you. You have nothing to fear.” I try to calm her as I sense fear growing inside of her mind.
“Yes, you're right. I’m fine. Just bad memories from my previous life.” “My life before here. They can’t hurt me any longer, not here.”
“I don’t know what happened to you before. But you are here now, with me. And, as long as you’re staying with me, you have nothing to fear. I will protect you. If you want to talk and release the burden of your memories, I will listen, but I will not force you to talk.” I would rather not hear her story, but on the other hand, she may give me pieces of information on how to manipulate her more effectively.
So I use the same tactic that Lucia used to make Stella talk and promise to protect her and to never leave her alone. Obviously, I can’t hug her, but I can send soothing waves of mana into her body. Thanks to that, not only her tense muscles relax, her mind does so, too. I can tell it’s working just as well as a warm hug while patting her back would. Maybe I could directly make her sense and/or feel other things with my mana, I’ve never tested this before.
“I… Thanks. I can go in and take a bath.” She says while crossing through the doorway. “Yes, he’s here to protect me and they are not here. I have nothing to fear. I can do this.” It seems like her fear is disturbing her ability to keep a hold of her thoughts as she’s projecting them into my mind once again. At least, she’s not screaming this time.
While she’s taking a hot bath and relaxing, I listen to her story and prepare some presents for her at the same time.
It seems like she was the only daughter of a lesser noble and that, after the death of her parents, she ended up living with her uncle’s family. He stole her noble title and she was forced to work as a slave for his family. That’s where she got her fear of hot baths, as she was only allowed cold ones, while she had to sexually serve the men in their own hot baths. She ended up pregnant three times before her aunt found out what was happening and sold her into slavery to get rid of her. During her twenty years of family slavery, the only thing that allowed her mind to rest was a book. A book that she had read thousands of times during those cruel years.
I ask her to tell me more about the book and she starts to recite it from the beginning to the end. She knows it by heart. I understand her a bit better now. She sees me as the prince charming that rescued the main character of her book. She thinks she’s in love with me and that this love could be reciprocated by me. Well, it means that I can manipulate her more easily than anticipated, as long as I play my role of prince charming. And that tells me what my first gift for her should be. I start on preparing it for her, while I continue telling her about my plans for her.
“Wow, that was a great story. I’m happy that she was able to live happily ever after with her prince charming.” I lie. “But unfortunately, real life is not like that. We cannot simply close the book. The story keeps going on and more dangers will just keep coming.”
“Yes, I know that. And I want to help. But what can I do?” She asks. She’s more relaxed now and has more control over her emotions. And is even more ready to help me now, that she was able to share her burdens with me.
“I have several things I need your help with. First I need you to be my voice and to talk in my stead to the people here. You will be the link between me and the non-Citizen. In time, when there will be much more Citizens, I will stop talking to each of them individually and at that time you will also serve as an intermediary between them and me. I may also have to send you out of my Domain as an emissary to meet foreign representatives.”
“Whaa? Are you sure I can do all that? I'm not trained to do it.” She says becoming distressed in front of the future duties I planned for her.
“Of course you can. Maybe not now, but in time you will be able to. For the moment I just need you to serve as my representative for everyone in the cave. You’ll have time to learn before I’ll need you to handle more important functions.” I reassure her and once again emphasize the need I have for her.
“Phew. You had me worried for a moment there.”
“You don’t need to worry. I would never ask you for more than you can do, even if it may seem so. If I ask you to do something, it’s because I trust you to do it, even if you don’t think you can do it yourself.” I lie.
“Th… thanks.” She answers, buying my lie and blushing a little.
“Also, I want you to be able to defend yourself.”
“Whaa?” Her manner of speech is much more childish, when she’s alone with me than when she was talking with Clara. I assume it is because of her robbed childhood that she sometimes acts like a mature adult, but acts more like a child with me.
“Don’t worry, I will never send you to the frontline. But I know that we are going to have to fight to survive. At the barest minimum, we will have to fight the pirates when they’ll come back and I’m afraid my animals won’t be able to deal with them alone. I have prepared many tricks to fight them and still have some more ideas I want to implement, but I don’t know if even that will be enough against them. Therefore I want the people in my Domain to be able to defend themselves if I can’t protect them.”
“I understand.”
“Also, when the time comes for you to go on diplomatic missions, I want you to be able to defend yourself. I will, of course, provide you with an escort, but better be safe than sorry.”
“You really think I can become a diplomat?”
“Easily, and probably more. Seeing how you handled Clara’s questioning after the affair with Bertrand, I’m convinced you will make a great one.”
“Thanks…” She says while blushing even more.
“Plus, physical exercise will help you a lot in Evolving.”
“You think I can Evolve?!” She exclaims straightening her sitting position.
“Seeing the speed at which you were able to become a Citizen I think you can easily become a Second. I picture you becoming at least a Third, maybe even a Fourth with my help. And remember that being a Citizen means you will always be a bit more powerful than someone at the same Stage as you. But first, we will have to find what kind of weapon suits you best. What do you think about daggers?”
She doesn’t answer this time, she’s too occupied gaping, her mind blank from what I am telling her.
“Laura? Dear? Are you alright?”
“Yes! Yes, I am. I just never thought of being able to become a Second, so being told so casually that I have a chance to become a Fourth was a bit…” She doesn’t finish her sentence as she’s starting to space out again.
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“Shocking? Mind-blowing?”
“Yes. That. Mind-blowing. That’s the right word.”
“Then, will you give your best to achieve that and follow my instructions?”
“Yes! I will do everything you ask me to do.” She says with a big nod of her head making the water splash a bit around her. “Being a Fourth. It means I could live for centuries by his side. Yes!”
“I can hear you, when you think this loudly.” I say, teasing her a little.
“Whaaaaaaaa!” She screams and dives to hide her head, which is flushing red due to her mortification, beneath the water. “He heard it! It’s so embarrassing! I want to die! Whaaaa! No! He can still hear me! Meditative state! Meditative state!” She’s kind of cute when reacting like that. If I can’t manage to turn her into what I need, I, at least, will have a little toy to play with.
“Don’t worry too much about that. It also pleases me to think we could be together for centuries. I don’t intend to let death do us part as long as I can hold you alive and in health by my side.”
Her face is turning even redder than before, reaching a shade of red nearing the ones of some of my darker crabs. Her blush is so fierce it almost seems to warm the water around her head.
“Whaaaaaaa!” I can hear scream internally.
“You should get your head out of the water, before you run out of air.”
Still, she waits six minutes, before she breaks through the surface and gasps for air.
“Haaa.” She loudly inhales, filling her lungs with much needed fresh air.
“I have to admit that I’m impressed. You can hold your breath for a pretty long time.”
“I… had practice.” She says, her face returning to a normal color fast. I can hear the pain in her voice, the practice she had is obviously related to her time at her uncle’s family.
“Sorry.” I lie. “Now, if you would get out of the bath, I prepared some gifts for you.”
“Gifts?” She asks excitedly, returning to her previous mental state.
“Yes. Go back to your changing room, they are waiting for you there.”
“Kyaaaa!” I can hear in her mind as she rushes out of the bath like a little kid. Not taking the time to dry herself nor looking where she puts her feet, she slips on the wet floor and ends up laying on the ground. Providing me with tasty mana from her hurt knee.
“Careful there. My presents are not going to disappear.”
“Sorry. It’s just that it was so long since someone nice gave me a gift, I got carried away.” She explains with a blushed face as she slowly gets back on her feet. She then heads at a slower pace for the towels near the bath, completely disregarding the pain of her bleeding knee.
“You hurt yourself. Let me heal you.” I say sending healing mana into her leg.
“Thanks. I’m used to the pain, but it is still better without it.” Once again I can feel a bit of pain in her voice as she’s reminded of her past.
“I can not let my pretty Voice get injured.” I say, emphasizing her new position.
“Thanks.” She blushes. I’m making her blush easily, I guess it means I’m doing well at making her fall even more for me. “You said ‘voice’ like it was special.” She notices while using one of the towels to dry herself.
“Yes, that is your title. You are my Voice, capital V. You are the one that speaks for me. Consider this the highest title one can gain in my care. It makes you more important than every other being in my Domain.”
“But, what about Miss Franziska? She’s the First Citizen, isn’t she? Doesn’t that mean she’s more important?”
“First Citizen is a title, which people came up with on their own. For me, it simply means she was the first to become a Citizen. And I wouldn’t think about her for the position I’m appointing you to.”
“Really? Why?”
“You’ve seen her talk to people, you’re smart enough to reach the conclusion.”
“Right.”
“And she would probably have refused either way. Anyway, you are far better suited for the job than she will ever be. Or than everyone else in my Domain, inside or outside of the cave.”
“Thanks.” She said, blushing again and reaching for the handle to the changing room. “Wait. You said ‘outside of the cave’. Have you people on the outside?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that, but yes. They are the natives of this island, who think of me as some kind of incarnation of their gods that came back just in time to save them from the pirates.”
“And you let them believe that? You lie to them?” She asks not entirely believing my words.
“I’m lying to them for now. They are not as civilised as you, so if I would tell them the truth, they would not believe me and might even react with violence. And maybe I would have to hurt them to protect you and myself. Of course, I do not want to hurt them, since they are as innocent and unknowing as children in need of education. In time I will tell them the truth, but I need to be subtle about it and to teach them.” I partially lie.
“Oh. In that case, I get it. You’re protecting them from themselves. It is easy for them to see you as a god with your powers.” It is so easy to lie to her, she wants to believe me so much that she’s even filling the gaps in my lies on her own. “I do care about others. But he comes first, and me second.” I hear when peeking in her mind, maybe I don’t have to lie so much to her.
“Now, open the door and see your gifts!” I say to change the subject.
“Yes! The gifts!” And it works so easily.
She opens the door and enters the changing room in the same motion. Once inside she stops and looks in awe at the black outfit resting on a mannequin. She slowly steps closer to it and reaches for it with shaking hands. She grabs one of the sleeves and lets it go just one second after.
“It is not a gown, but it is so beautiful… and so soft… and it’s for me… I can’t believe it…” Her mind works in slow motion as she’s taking in the fact that I’ve made clothes especially for her. “Is this really for me? Is it alright for someone like me to own something like this? I’m not worthy of it.” She says stepping back from the dress, overwhelmed by the luxurious outfit in front of her.
“What are you talking about? You are no mere slave owned by her traitorous family, not anymore. You are not something as simple as a mere little princess wearing some impractical dress. You are someone important. Important to me. Important to the people here. You will be even more important as time passes. You will be important for the whole known world. Royalty will bow in front of you. You are my Voice! The most important person in my eyes! I forbid you to ever again think that you are unworthy of anything I gift you. I can not let you wander around in some rags anymore, you deserve the best I can offer. For now what I can give you is limited, but in time it will be even more beautiful than those clothes.” I lie with all of my conviction. Or maybe not. If she’s to survive the pirates’ attack and to really become my representative, she has to look the part.
“Whaaaaa…” “Whaaaa…” Did I break her mind?
I give her a bit of time before talking to her anew. “Laura? ...Laura?! Laura!” I have to raise my mental voice for her to react.
“Yes! Yes. Sorry, I spaced out there.” She says, her face completely red with embarrassment.
“All right, then put it on. I have some adjustments to do. There are undergarments on the bench right there.”
She starts by putting on the panties, a plain and simple piece of cloth designed to protect her intimate parts from friction. Just after that, she slips inside the brassière, once again a plain band of black cloth designed to nullify friction as she doesn’t have big enough breasts to justify something to hold it in place. There is also a pair of black, small socks. She’s clearly afraid of damaging the thin fabric used in all of the clothes and dresses up really carefully. Over it she puts on the soft black lace shirt which covers her upper arms with short sleeves and falling fully over her stomach, reaching her mid-tights and covering her flat bosom. The next pieces of clothing are a jacket sturdier than the shirt, which also covers her arms till the wrists and a hood that she can pull over her head to hide her face. There is also a pair of tight trousers that she slips in easily. The jacket, as well as the pants, have some pockets woven into them, which she fills with the few possessions she has with her. The finishing touches are the knee-high boots, the fingerless gloves and a belt with a pair of knives, as well as a pouch of coins.
The clothes are made of linen, as I can’t work with leather yet, and are colored black by small particles of coal woven tightly into the fibres. The result is a soft, completely black fabric allowing the girl to hide even more easily in the shadows than before. There are also some thin threads of blackened iron woven in the fabric as to provide some protection.
When she is done clothing herself, I take a good look at her. She’s rather cute in her completely black outfit. It even perfectly matches her hair color. Not that I personally care for physical beauty, but as my representative she has to have some physical presence and cuteness is one of the ways to do. With better food and exercise she should hopefully put on some more weight in the right places, making her more conventionally beautiful.
While this outfit is completely black, I also made her some spare ones in different colors. Those colors, I created from flower petals grinded into dust and encrusted in the linen. I have installed the other ones directly in a large trunk inside her house.
“It’s a perfect fit. How?”
“I’m a Dungeon. A being of magic and many wonders. I can take measurements for a dress.” I jokingly answer her.
“Of course.”
“And you’re stunningly beautiful in it. Now move a bit so that I can adjust it to better fit your movements”.
“Thanks.” She blushes a lot and starts to turn and walk around. She puts on the hood to hide her blush, as if I couldn’t see beneath it.
While taking it in, I make some small adjustments to ease Laura’s movements and now it is an even better fit than it already was.
“You’re really magnificent.” I tell her, exaggerating somewhat.
“Th… thanks.” she says, pulling harder on her hood to hide her red face and brown eyes behind the cloth and her dark hair.
“Now, look inside of the purse.”
She reaches into it and finds some copper and silver coins of different sizes.
“The daggers, I can understand. But why the money? I don’t need it. There is plenty of food growing on the trees, the bathhouse is free to use and I have my own house.”
“Indeed, you don’t need it for yourself. It’s for the others. It will appeal to their greed and motivate more of them to become Citizens. But more importantly, it will allow you to buy goods and services and inject money in the town’s market. Not that there is a market to talk about yet.”
“You’re providing us with enough food and fresh water to live. As well as some facilities to accommodate us. But you made it abundantly clear that the Citizens get more. Like yesterday, with the fields and the mills. I know that most people are doing it for the benefits. Not that I have decided to become a Citizen for that, I did it for you...” If her face wasn’t already red from my earlier compliments she would start blushing now at her own statement. “But I also guess that some people have already started working the fields in hope of trading their products for something else. And money serves as a universal barter object, so it makes sense, especially since you are also providing the adventurers in the Maze with some. And Franziska will want remuneration for her work, so people will have to pay her with something.”
“You understand it pretty well. I’m glad to have chosen you.” I make her blush once again. “Any ideas on what to offer as an incentive to become Citizens?”
“I’m thinking that the next addition could be some cattle or a bakery, people would love to be able to diversify their meals. Not a lot of us are willing to eat the meat from the monsters in the Maze. The first could also provide us with some more leather, while the second would allow us to bake some food other than fruits, roasted rats and the occasional rabbit from the maze.”
“For the bakery, I will provide it to a new Citizen who wants to be a baker. Like Franziska’s smithy. Or like many other facilities, you can announce to people that the first Citizen that claims a workshop for any particular activity can have it, the others will have to work for their workshops or find another activity. As for the cattle, I’m impeded by the lack of any on this island. I could provide you with some chickens and maybe non-Maze rabbits instead, but even those only in rather small numbers as I will have to breed them. You’ll have to wait a bit more if you want something more than that. I can’t make them appear out of nowhere.”
“I believe you. I think making some of those rabbits and chickens appear in the town or field area would please most people, that way they would be more willing to join your Citizenship.”
“I’ll think about that. Now go and show everyone how beautiful you are.”