They were in the Labyrinth to earn some money and items by defeating monsters. When they ascended to Level C, they encountered a girl in desperate help. Lakshman expertly defeated the Two-Headed Beast Dogs one after another quickly.

The girl slowly recovered as Ondine and Tetra talked to her quietly. A while later, she recovered and thanked them for their effort. It was then she was revealed to be half-Serprad Demon Clan and half-human when Lakshman noticed her horns and red eyes.

Being thankful to them, they introduced each other. First Tetra introduced herself followed by Ondine and finished with Lakshman. He said something rude and the two girls quickly nabbed him. Find it funny, the girl smiled and introduced herself to them.

“My name’s Emilia Serabell. I am happy to meet you all, everyone.”

“Ah? Yeah... About that...” Lakshman said slowly and he looked around as the dead bodies of her comrades disappeared.

“It seems we couldn’t save your friends,” Ondine said unhappily.

Emilia shook her head and said “Please. Do not concern yourself about their deaths. In the first place, we are not friends.”

“Eh? They’re not your friends? Then what are they?” Ondine asked and she looked surprised.

“We were simply working together to serve our master.”

“Serve your master? Wait! You don’t mean...?” Ondine said slowly as if she was fearing something.

The girl nodded and pulled her shirt down. Lakshman quickly averted his eyes as he felt embarrassed to look at her.

“No way...!” Tetra said in a shocked voice.

“I don’t believe this!” Ondine said and she also sounded shocked.

Lakshman became curious because of their shocked voices. Wondering what it was they were looking at he took a sneak peak. His eyes widened when he saw some sort of seal on the girl’s chest.

Curious as to what that is, he asked “What is that?”

Tetra looked at him and said “It’s a Slave Seal, master.”

“Slave Seal? So it’s like the Contract Seal on my right hand?” Lakshman asked as he indicated his hand.

Tetra shook her head and Ondine explained. It was a seal that binds the person to the owner of the seal. This meant the person is the personal property of the owner and they can do anything with them. If the person did not comply with their master’s orders, the seal will activate and they will intense pain.

Hearing this, Lakshman’s eyes widened and said “That’s... terrible! I don’t think even Ondine gets hurt whenever she tries to ignore my orders!”

Ondine looked at him in exasperation and said “Master... Being a Slave Spirit allows me to ignore certain orders that I just can’t do. On the other hand, you did force me to comply several times against my will.”

“That’s right, master,” Tetra said and nodded at Ondine. Then she said “With a Slave Seal, you must comply with the order even if kills you. Otherwise, the seal will activate and hurt you so badly you seriously want to die!”

Lakshman suddenly looked aghast. He knew a Spirit Slave causes the Spirits’ body to act according to meet, regardless of their feelings. A Slave Seal however harms the user relentless if they disobey. He felt angry and upset at such vile treatment towards someone.

“Why? Why do you have such a thing on you?” He asked quietly.

Emilia looked sad and she told them how she got it. Her parents lead a simple, but decent life. That was until they met a tragic end at the hands of the monsters. They had a lot of debt and being unable to pay them caused Emilia to be sold off to slavery. That was when her owner bought her and placed that seal on her.

“T-That’s terrible!” Ondine said and she was literally crying.

Tetra nodded and she also had tears in her eyes.

Emilia looked at both of them and quickly said “No, no! Please! That was a year ago and things are not that bad. I just have to do simple things my master orders and that’s it.”

“Which is to come into the Labyrinth in your master’s place?! How stupid!” Ondine said in a disgusted voice.

“Why are you even here without your master?” Lakshman asked curiously.

“To earn points and rank for him,” Emilia said simply.

“Eh?” He said and he looked surprised by her words.

Ondine looked at him and said “Master! Aren’t you forgetting that when the two of us fought, you got points?”

“Oh... Oh yeah! That’s right! So he’s sending you into battle so you do his work for him? Unbelievable!” Lakshman said in a disbelieving voice.

Emilia nodded and said “That’s what our master does which is why we came today. We hand intended to go to Level C and that’s why came in large numbers, but...” She faltered and looked around to where the dead were moments ago.

“Hold up, hold up! Are you telling me those that died were also slaves?!”

When she nodded, he looked stunned. Then she slowly muttered “Who is your master? He must be really rich!”

“He is the son of the nobles and they are wealthy. Which is why there are many slaves that he can send.”

“And? What will he do since so many of them died today? Will he mourn them or maybe pray?”

Emilia shook her head sadly and said “The most likely thing he will do would be to go to the Slave Market and buy more slaves.”

“Disgusting...!” Lakshman said quietly and he sounded angry.

Ondine moved over and patted him gingerly on the shoulder to calm him. Meanwhile, Tetra looked at Emilia with a puzzled expression and said “You master seems to have a slave fetish or something.”

At those words, Emilia just nodded. She was looking around to where her partners died. Then she brought her hands together and prayed for them.

“So what now? What will you do?” Ondine asked a minute later.

“I will return to inform master of the outcome. He will most likely won’t be happy with the result,” Emilia said and suddenly shuddered slightly.

She picked up her blood stained sword and sheathed it. Then she cast one glance around mournful before leaving. Lakshman, Ondine and Tetra also decided to leave the Labyrinth for now.

“Exit!” All of them said at almost the same time.

In an instant, all of them got wrapped in a blinding flash of light. The next thing, they were standing outside.

Lakshman look back and saw the stone wall. It was made him curious how the Labyrinth worked. It seemed to have a consciousness of its own. He chuckled to himself at the silly thought as he followed the girls.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“What’s wrong, master?” Ondine asked curiously.

“Ah? I... I was just wondering what rank Emilia is,” Lakshman said as he did not want to discuss about his thoughts on the Labyrinth.

“Me? I’m Water Sword Advanced ranked,” Emilia told them.

“Eh?!” Lakshman and Ondine said in unison.

“Advanced ranked in the Water Sword? Then why did you attempt to go to Level C? You should know that level is tougher than Level D, right?” Ondine asked quickly.

“Yes, but it was master’s orders and we had to comply,” Emilia told them in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Ridiculous!” Ondine muttered angrily.

So Lakshman and Ondine followed Emilia. Tetra became tired of walking and decided to be carried by transforming into her sword form. Ondine was very upset at her, but Lakshman calmed her down by patting her on the head.

Seeing the comedy drama between Lakshman and Ondine caused Emilia to laugh. Lakshman was amazed at how cute she appeared when she laughed. Then he suddenly felt a tug on his ear as Ondine looked at him severely.

After a while of walking and turning, they reached a large building. It was a magnificently built with structures and decorations that looked very costly. There were maids and butlers around the place. All of this gave the place a grandeur feel about it.

“This is where my master lives,” Emilia told them and she went ahead.

They followed her while looking around. Never in their lives have they seen such magnificence. Lakshman had been to a castle and admired it greatly. This building was also amazing in its own way.

When they got inside, they were stunned. Even the interior was magnificent looking with clean floors and expensive ornaments. That was the kind of grandeur like Lakshman always dreamt about in dreams, but never actually thought someone would live in it.

Just then, Emilia came to a stop and nervously said “M-Master... I’ve returned.”

“Hmm?”

Lakshman and Ondine came to a stop behind her. Over her, Lakshman saw who her master was and immediately wanted to laugh. In his words, Lakshman would define the man to be short and pudgy with brilliant set of clothes to wear.

“Pig...” He heard Ondine mutter under her breath and he wanted to laugh.

Feeling he will get into trouble, he decided to contain himself. The man had difficulty getting up and it stomach swayed slightly. Again, Lakshman forced himself to keep act normal.

“Emilia? You’re back alone? Where’s the rest? And who’re those people behind you?” The man asked her questions after questions as he looked at Lakshman and Ondine.

“E-Everyone died, master, but these people saved me!” Emilia said with a smile as she indicated them.

“Oh? They died? How unfortunate? You said they saved you? Thanks. Now you can go,” the man said loftily.

“Huh?” Lakshman said reflexively as if he did not understand.

“What? Were you expecting some sort of reward for saving my slave? Sorry, but I don’t do that,” the man said with an arrogant expression on his face.

“N-No... We weren’t expecting anything in return...” Lakshman said slowly.

Lakshman was stunned. His reaction from just now was because he could not believe the man’s attitude. Many of his slaves just died and the man was acting casually. It was as if he did not think much about his salves other than tools for his job.

“Now then... How many points did you manage to earn?” The man asked curiously.

With difficulty, he pulled out his Adventurer Card and looked at it. He looked stunned for a moment. Then he beckoned her towards him with a hand gesture.

When she got close, he looked angrily at her and shouted “Hundred points?! That’s it?!”

“W-W-Well... We went to Level C, but then we encountered the Two-Headed Beast Dogs and then...”

“I don’t want excuses!” The man shouted and, in a swift action, slapped her across the face.

With the force of impact, Emilia fell face first to the floor. She moaned a little from the pain as the man continued to shout.

“I told you to get five-hundred points! You have failed me again! This calls for punishment!” He shouted at her.

“N-No! Please, master! No! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” Emilia said quickly and she grovelled at his feet.

“Slave Seal, Punish!” The man said with an angry expression on his face.

In an instant, a bright red marks began appearing through Emilia’s clothes. The next moment, Emilia began screaming in pain as she writhed on the ground. She screamed and screamed as tears sprung into her eyes.

Lakshman was horrified to watch Emilia screaming and writhing on the ground. He moved forward and placed a firm hand on the man and said “Hey! Stop this!”

The man turned and gave him a disgusted look as she shouted “Get your filthy hands off me, low life!”

He pushed him back and released his arm. Lakshman stumbled back and fell to the floor.

“You...!” Ondine said angrily and moved forward.

Just then, Lakshman quickly reached forward and caught her arm. She looked at him and he shook his head at her. Unable to do anything, she helped him get to his feet.

“A plebeian touched me! A plebeian toughed me because of you! More punishment!” The man shouted and Emilia’s screamed intensified.

Lakshman was looking at the man angrily and shouted “Stop this!”

“Hah?! You have no business here! She’s my slave and I will treat her however I want! To get lost!” The man said with an arrogant expression on his face.

Lakshman wanted to do something, but then caught Emilia. She was writing on the ground, but she had placed her hands together and looked pleadingly at him. Wordlessly, she was begging him to leave.

His eyes widened in shock at her plea. He wanted to teach this arrogant noble some discipline, but she was telling him to leave.

Just then, he heard Tetra’s voice in his mind say “Master, let’s leave. Staying will only make it worse for Emilia. Please... Let’s go.”

Realising the truth in her words, he conceded. He turned around and began to leave quickly.

“M-Master?” Ondine asked in surprise and quickly ran after him.

Together, they quickly left the building and soon they were far away. They were back in the bustling noise of the crowd, Lakshman did not hear any of it. In his mind, he could still hear the screams of Emilia as he writhed on the floor.