“Master Rockin looked to be very upset,” said Sylfrin, pressing her right hand close to her chest, her white bat ears shifting inwards and tilting towards one another.
“I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault,” Lilfira sank her face into her hands and started crying.
“Ah, no, no. I’m sure Master Rockin is not upset with you, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya tried to comfort her.
“But… he looked to be very angry before leaving and he booked another room to spend the night by himself,” Lilfira said through tears.
“I think… Master Rockin is simply tired,” Ranalaiya told her with a smile.
“Yes. If Master Rockin was angry with us, he wouldn’t have given me and Ranalaiya goodnight kisses either,” Sylfrin joined in, remembering that one detail. “How about we go to sleep ourselves? I am sure Master Rockin will be all cheerful and in a good mood tomorrow morning.”
“That’s a wonderful idea. Oh, have you ever slept in a hammock before, Lilfira?” Ranalaiya asked with a big smile on her face, her tail jumping up before making a swirl, revealing Ranalaiya’s excitement.
“Ham… ock?” Lilfira asked, looking both surprised and confused, but it helped change the mood, making Lilfira stop crying too. “Is that… what you call this… hanging bed?”
“Yes. It’s a lot of fun to sleep in it. You’ll definitely love it, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya added, clapping her hands before quickly jumping on the hammock, instantly making it swing to the sides once she was in it.
“Wow, you can swing in it too?” Lilfira gasped.
“It is very comfortable to sleep in. Here, I’ll help you climb inside it,” Sylfrin offered, extending her hand.
“Thank you. Ah… Huh… Oh, wow! This is…” Lilfira grabbed onto the side strings, afraid she’d fall out of the hammock when she laid inside of it which made the hammock swing again. “Wow, this feels… so unusual, but also… amazing.”
“For sure. You’ll get the best sleep of your life,” Ranalaiya said, smiling happily.
“Careful… Oops…” Sylfrin climbed inside the hammock as well, making it swing once again.
“Wow, this is… fun,” Lilfira was enjoying the new experience.
“It’s even more fun to sleep together with Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya said, her cheeky grin showing more than a happy smile.
“Ah, ok,” Lilfira smiled in return, the scales under her eyes dressing a charming red before they passed the redness down her cheeks too.
“You have such beautiful, red hair, Lilfira,” Sylfrin told her.
“Oh, thank you, Sylfrin,” Lilfira smiled again. “But your white hair looks very beautiful too and Ranalaiya’s hair is so ravishingly black. It looks like it is sparkling from within.”
“Humm…” Ranalaiya let out a laugh all of a sudden.
“Huh? Sorry, was it something I said?” Lilfira apologized, feeling confused.
“No, no. That just reminded me of the time when Sylfrin and I started complaining about each of us wanting to have the other one’s hair color,” Ranalaiya remembered, the memory of it making her laugh again.
“Yes, that was really funny,” Sylfrin agreed, letting out a giggle too.
“But in the end, Master Rockin said he appreciated having me being me and Sylfrin being Sylfrin,” Ranalaiya added, the memory of it making her smile happily.
“Oh, wow,” Lilfira gasped in surprise. “I guess… Miss Savirei was right about your Master.”
“What do you mean, Lilfira?” Sylfrin was curious to know.
“Well… she said that Rockin is treating his slaves very well, but I was hesitant to believe it,” Lilfira confessed.
“Master Rockin is very kind. Actually, he had never called me or Sylfrin a ‘slave’ even once. He always calls us by our names,” Ranalaiya told her.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have called you slaves,” Lilfira panicked, covering her mouth with both hands.
“It’s ok. You don’t have to worry about it, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya reassured her.
“Yes. We don’t mind. When we go out, and especially when we visit the Guild, we’d hear other men talk among themselves about Master Rockin having two beautiful slaves by his side, among some other more… vulgar things. Other than people in Master Rockin’s clan, and a few rare instances with other people, everyone else calls us slaves,” Sylfrin said, not looking sad or upset about it.
“Sylfrin, Master Rockin forbade us say it is his clan,” Ranalaiya reminded her.
“Ah, yes. Our clan, sorry,” Sylfrin said, becoming self-conscious that she’s about to get scolded, but fortunately, her Master wasn’t there.
“Can I ask you something else regarding Rockin?” Lilfira spoke again.
“Of course. And it’s our clan, Lilfira. You’re in our clan as well,” Ranalaiya reminded her that fact too.
“Oh… Yes, sorry,” Lilfira said, Ranalaiya’s remark helping her cheer up. “About my question, and I apologize if it sounds rude, but… with Rockin treating you with such kindness, why didn’t he release you from the Slave Contracts to make you become free women?”
“Because we didn’t want him to,” Sylfrin answered in very calm tone of her voice.
“Huh? What?” Lilfira exclaimed, Ranalaiya’s answer clearly surprising her. “But… why?”
“Because we don’t want to be separated from Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya added.
“You don’t want to be separated? But…” Lilfira became even more confused.
“Master Rockin offered to release us from the Slave Contract some time ago, and instead of becoming happy about hearing him offer that, I became scared,” Ranalaiya confessed, leaning forward, bending her knees and hugging her legs with both hands before placing her chin on the top of her knees.
“Scared?” Lilfira couldn’t understand her reasoning.
“I am certain Master Rockin wished me well and… becoming freed from the Slave Contract would make me become recognized by the Guild and all other people too, but at the same time, I’d be in more danger than if I was a slave,” Ranalaiya tried to explain her reasoning.
“What do you mean, Ranalaiya?” Lilfira still couldn’t get it.
“It’s not that I have never dreamed of becoming free, and I am ashamed to admit that I wished something would happen to my Master at the very beginning, so I could become free woman again. But the longer I stayed together with Master Rocking, the more I became convinced he truly cared for me. There were several instances when other men wanted to kidnap me, yet Master Rockin protected me without a second thought. He risked his own life for me, not something any other Slave Master would’ve done for their slaves. In the end, it made me realize that if Master Rockin was to set me free or if something were to happen to him and I’d be released from the Slave Contract, someone would definitely come after me and I’d be enslaved again in no time. Worse yet, I am convinced that no new Master would be as kind and as caring as Master Rockin, and they might force me to do things I would never want to do otherwise and that’s why I’d rather stay a slave to Master Rockin. Besides, with the way Master Rockin treats me, I’ll do anything for him anyway,” Ranalaiya finished her explanation on a cheerful note.
“Wow, I have never thought about it in that way,” Lilfira gasped in amazement.
“It’s the same with me too. I was enslaved at a young age, although being a child at the time I didn’t know I had become a slave until only later. Being a half-beast Frost Bat woman I had little hope of becoming someone who could fight since only pure blood Frost Bat beastfolk could grow to become strong spellcasters. Instead, I was groomed and raised to become someone’s sex slave, and sad as it may sound, I have accepted my fate and would’ve been happy to submit to any Master who would’ve bought me that night at the auction. However, Master Rockin refused to have sex with me on the very first night after he had bought me and Ranalaiya surprised me even more by telling me that Master Rockin wasn’t that kind of a person at all.”
“What shocked me even more was that Master Rockin took me to the dungeon and had me level up, so I could become stronger. I have gained my first skill only after reaching level four, yet even with my Frostbolt spell I could barely fight at all which made me feel useless and depressed, but Master Rockin believed in me despite my low self-esteem. I am so grateful to him for having faith in me,” Sylfrin made a pause and a few tears squeezed themselves out of her smiling eyes. She continued. “It all changed however when I reached level five. I have received a Mage class which then evolved into a Frost Battle Sorceress class and I have gained a lot of powerful skills. With Master Rockin’s guidance and Ranalaiya’s support I’ve grown to become a very strong sorceress. I sometimes get scared to even think what could’ve happened to me if someone else would’ve bought me that night. And that’s why I’d rather stay a slave to Master Rockin than be set free and risk being kidnapped by someone at some point.”
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“Wow…” Lilfira gasped once again, feeling totally in awe in regards to what Sylfrin had told her just now. “Your Master sounds like such an amazing person and yet I…” Lilfira said, lowering her head and starting to cry again.
“Huh? Wait, what?” Ranalaiya couldn’t understand why Lilfira would start crying all of a sudden.
“What’s wrong, Lilfira?” Sylfrin was confused why Lilfira was crying as well.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ve treated your Master with such disrespect,” Lilfira spoke while wiping away her tears that didn’t want to stop running.
“But… you haven’t done anything bad to Master Rockin, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya said.
“But I have. I wanted to use him for my own benefit,” Lilfira admitted.
“What do you mean, Lilfira?” Sylfrin asked.
“You see… my mother and I are on the run, and we thought coming to some small, unknown town would help us hide and live peacefully, but my father still managed to find me,” Lilfira said, her answer making Ranalaiya and Sylfrin even more confused.
“Your father?” Ranalaiya enquired.
“Yes. The… the dragonkin who showed up at Savirei’s diner… the Chief of the Raging Flames Tribe is my father,” Lilfira said.
“Whaaat?!” Both Ranalaiya and Sylfrin exclaimed.
“I’m sorry for not telling you earlier. You see… we are on the run. We always were, but I found out about it only recently. I always thought my mother loved travelling and that’s why we were moving from place to place all the time. We would live a year or two in one place and then move. I thought it was because my mother didn’t like to stay in one place for too long and she’d always make it sound like we’d have this big, new adventure, and she’d always tell me I need to see more of the world. As a child, I was always thrilled by the idea and fully embraced it. It was fun at first, but the older I became the more suspicious I started to become. I was about ten years of age when my mother decided to tell me who I was and why we needed to move away once again,” Lilfira made a pause to take another deep breath in before continuing.
“My mother revealed who my father actually was and how I came to be born. My mother used to work at a brothel and that’s where she had met my dad. She was young and beautiful, and knew how to charm a man, ending up seducing Sanokard, a young dragonkin who was the son of a Raging Flames Tribe’s Chief at the time. There were no serious relationships between the two, really. My mother simply used Sanokard to make more money because as the Chief’s son, he was very well off and didn’t spare to shower her with coins. Unfortunately, everything changed when my mother realized she had become pregnant. The world flipped upside down for her and she had to start a new life,” Lilfira was telling the story with sincere honesty.
“However, the inside laws within the Raging Flames Tribe forbade for their kin to have children with any other race other than the red dragonkins and that’s why my mother had to flee. She told me she had made a vow to raise me and have me live no matter what. Long story short, we were moving from one location to the other and life seemed to be fine while I was a small child despite us relocating so often, but when I reached the age of twelve or thirteen, my scaly ears and tail started to grow longer, a sign of my body starting to go into puberty, and I wasn’t able to hide them under my hair or under my clothes anymore. In addition, my skin started to change too, scales starting to grow on certain parts of my body, including on my face as well. That’s when people started realizing I was half-human and half-dragonkin girl, and that’s when our life had turned for the worse,” Lilfira let out a very depressing sigh.
“What… happened?” Ranalaiya asked in a quiet voice.
“When the word got out there was a teenage half-dragonkin girl out there, many people became interested in catching me and making me their slave,” Lilfira said, looking at her tiptoes.
“Oh…” Ranalaiya let out a sad sigh, lowering her head, her cat ears dropping down too.
“So… have you ever been caught and forced to become a slave, Lilfira?” Sylfrin asked a legitimate question.
“Unfortunately, no,” Lilfira said, making it sound it was a bad thing.
“Huh? Unfortunately? What do you mean, Lilfira?” Ranalaiya was confused about Lilfira’s answer.
“I’ve probably would’ve been caught and made into a slave if… if my father was just any other dragonkin. You see, since half-dragonkin humans are so rare to be born, Slave Traders are usually careful to simply enslave them. Not many people want to make dragonkins their enemy, especially Slave Traders. Before they made any move to catch me, they investigated to learn who my father was or if he was still alive at all. If they had learned that my father was dead, I most certainly would’ve become a slave a long time ago, but once people learned my father was the Raging Flames Tribe Chief’s son, nobody dared touching me. That didn’t mean I was safe in the least. Quite the opposite. Becoming someone’s slave would’ve assured some protection for me since I would’ve become someone’s else property, but since I was free, my life became in danger simply because I was half-human and half-dragonkin girl.” Lilfira let out a deep and sad sigh, brushing away her never stopping to run tears.
“But… why is your life in danger? I don’t understand it,” Sylfrin couldn’t get it.
“That’s because it is too much of a dishonor and shame for my father to have a half-dragonkin child,” Lilfira said.
“Wait, you don’t mean… he’d kill his own daughter, do you?” Ranalaiya couldn’t believe it.
“Not outright, no. The dragonkin race is a very proud race and they have their code of honor. They wouldn’t kill someone just for the sake of killing, like some assassin or a thug who wants to rob a person, but that doesn’t mean they would leave me be. They have their customs, Rites of Strength as they are called where young dragonkins would be tested to prove their worth, so they could be acknowledged as adults. The Rites of Strength involve many various and dangerous tests. Some of the tests involve duels among the participants, and even though the participants are not supposed to intentionally kill each other, sometimes they end up with the death of one of the duelists. I have dragonkin’s blood, but since I am only a half-dragonkin, I wouldn’t stand a chance against a pure-blooded dragonkin, ending up dying for sure,” Lilfira finished her story, providing a possible scenario of what might happen to her.
“But that’s horrible. They can’t do that,” Ranalaiya stated, becoming angry about it.
“I’m afraid they can. Besides, nobody would blame the person who might kill me since deaths are acceptable among the participants during the Rites of Strength. It also means that nobody from the outside would be able to interfere either,” Lilfira added to her explanation.
“No way…” Ranalaiya gasped, covering her mouth with both hands and looking distressed.
“If I may ask, how do you know so much about the dragonkins and their customs, Lilfira?” Sylfrin was curious to know.
“It is thanks to my mother mainly. She found someone to teach me how to read and write at an early age when my dragonkin features weren’t exactly noticeable. My mother wanted for me to be knowledgeable and learn about the world. She wanted me to become smart, so I could survive on my own when the time came. When I became older and had to stay hidden at the place we’d stay at the time, my mother would bring me books to read about various things, so I wouldn’t be bored while she was gone working, she would say. Many of those books were about different races in the world, dragonkins included. I never knew where she’d find all those books, but that didn’t matter. I became a voracious reader and learned a whole lot. She knew the danger of me being a half-dragonkin and half-human, so she wanted to prepare me for what’s to come.” Lilfira stopped talking for a moment, as if remembering something. Ranalaiya and Sylfrin didn’t say a word, letting Lilfira gather her thoughts so she could continue telling her story.
“Unfortunately, reading and learning could help me only so much, so I wanted to become an adventurer, join a party and go monster hunting. I thought I could gain experience, level up and become strong enough to defend myself and protect my mother. My mother was against it, but I went and registered at the Guild anyway, believing it would work out somehow. Sadly, no party wanted to take me in and I had no gear or weapons, nor money to buy any equipment for that matter. Going into the dungeon unarmed and alone would’ve been a suicide, so I kept asking hoping someone would take me in. But then the worst happened. Since I have registered as an adventurer and my name was put on the Guild’s list of adventurers, my father had learned my whereabouts and we had to run away once again. That’s how we’ve ended up in Hirvant. Now that I think about it, it was naïve of me to think we’d lose our pursuers or that they would leave us be. The harsh reality is, I wouldn’t be able to escape my father no matter where I would go. I suppose accepting my fate is the most viable option after all,” Lilfira finished her story on a very sad note.
“No, you can’t do that, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya protested, sounding upset about it too.
“Ranalaiya is right. You shouldn’t give up like that, Lilfira,” Sylfrin seconded her. “Besides, you’re a part of our clan now and Master Rockin is strong enough to protect you. Not only him, Ranalaiya and I won’t let your father harm you.”
“That’s… very kind of you to say that,” Lilfira said, tears gathering in her eyes again. “Unfortunately, your Master must be upset with me for trying to trick him and I wouldn’t want to put you two in danger for my sake either simply because you were so kind to me.”
“No, he’s not. Master Rockin wouldn’t be upset with you, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya jumped in to tell her that.
“Well… even if he’s not, he didn’t want to accept me as a woman. That means he doesn’t like me,” Lilfira argued.
“I don’t think Master Rockin took your words seriously and I doubt you were serious about it yourself, Lilfira,” Sylfrin was blunt regarding the matter.
“But I was serious. I would’ve offered myself to him as a woman,” Lilfira stated with a serious conviction in her voice.
“Really?” Ranalaiya exclaimed in surprise.
“Of course. Remember I said that my mother worked at a brothel before becoming pregnant. Well, not all the jobs she took after I was born were just regular jobs either. She didn’t hide the truth from me, telling me what kind of work she was doing when I became old enough to understand it. She also taught me about men and how to treat them in order to get favors. In all honesty, her knowledge and experience in that kind of work was what helped us survive for so many years. However, my mother forbade me to ever get into that kind of line of work and vowed to disown me if I were to start doing favors to men for money. Losing my mother and ending up all alone in the world frightened me to death, so I never did that kind of work. I now understand why she insisted so much on not letting me do that and I am so grateful I listened to her. Unfortunately, my mother is becoming old and her health is deteriorating too. That’s why I would give myself to someone as strong as your Master just so I could provide and protect my mother for the remaining years of her life,” Lilfira finished her explanation with another sad sigh.
“Hold on a moment. From what you have told us just now, I understand that you’ve never been with a man before, have you, Lilfira?” Sylfrin asked, being very much calm.
“Huh? Sylfrin,” Ranalaiya exclaimed, being surprised to hear that’s what Sylfrin took out from all that Lilfira had told them.
“What?” Sylfrin tilted her head to the side. The topic about sex had never been something Sylfrin would be uncomfortable talking about.
“Ah, well… no, but… I thought… Rockin would know what to do since… Savirei said he has experience with women. And Rockin has you two as well and, so…” Lilfira tried to explain herself, but it wasn’t as easy for her to talk about sex to others as she probably thought it would.
“Ok, but even if you are serious about it, Master Rockin would’ve refused to have sex with you just because you offered yourself to him. He’s just not that kind of person,” Sylfrin told her.
“Yes… I think I understand,” Lilfira said with a smile, but her facial expression was a sad one.
“But that doesn’t mean Master Rockin would simply abandon you,” Ranalaiya added, making Lilfira perk up.
“Are you… certain about that?” Lilfira asked, a slight hope accompanying her words
“Of course. I am confident if you honestly apologized and explained to him everything tomorrow, just like you explained it to us, he’d understand,” Sylfrin said.
“Sylfrin and I will support you too,” Ranalaiya chipped in.
“Thank you. Thank you so much, Ranalaiya and Sylfrin,” Lilfira cheered up, a bright smile finally dressing her face.
“Don’t mention it. Now let’s get some sleep, shall we? We better not oversleep tomorrow or else we might really make Master Rockin upset. Good night Sylfrin and Lilfira,” Ranalaiya suggested before making herself more comfortable inside the hammock.
“Yes. It shouldn’t be that late yet, so we should be fine. Good night,” Sylfrin added, adjusting her lying position too.
“Ok, good night, Ranalaiya and Sylfrin,” Lilfira wished them, letting a sigh of relief before closing her eyes.
Little did the three of them know that about to come up sun wished them a very good night too.