- Bughhh.

I quickly held onto my mouth, closing it shut and forced myself to swallow my own vomit... The bitter disgusting taste lingered in my mouth as my eyes also started to slowly focus back, letting me see my surroundings...

- Young master, you really don't hold magic well do you ?

Hestia asked while giving me a hand to stand up... Which i took of course...

- Where are we ?

Christina asked curiously and so were the other girls while looking at the dark room.

It looked like a chemistry room with the glass bottles and different kinds of equipment inside which was still unknown to me but i trusted Steward enough to know that these things would be handy to Stella who was the one mainly using this room...

Christina who was looking around, very curious, suddenly gasped as she looked at the strange equipment a strange glint in her eyes.

- Wow ! That's an incus modifier ! And that's a high grade stylus for inscribing ! You even have a rank 9 arcane table and more too ! These kinds of equipment are out of the world... You can't own them without the council's approval... Some are even shut off from the public...

Christina suddenly looked at me, very confused and curious, but by her attitude i could guess that the equipment was very valuable : that's why she got so excited ! But for me, the equipment was just something that came along with the house; maybe this kind of equipment was promised to me with the agreement Steward and i had but i wasn't sure as i said.

- I don't know what these things are, sorry. They are actually things my little sister uses.

The girls who were standing here suddenly popped their heads toward me, a bit wide eyed by my statement for some reason... Only Hestia who was standing by my side was alright as she just snickered with a knowing smile on her face. The little girl who was next to me suddenly grabbed onto my waist with a slight frown...

I stroked her head for a second to calm her down while i made a wry smile and turned toward the others with a clear look as i said :

- By the way : welcome everyone... This is my home, i hope you'll like it !

Seeing me say it like this with a gentle smile on my face, the other girls also felt a bit more at ease as they looked at each other and straightened themselves... The request... Was partially a success. It was unknown to me what would happen next, if i would die or not but i knew one thing about my current situation :

- Seems like i am in need of opening a shop !

I muttered quietly as i saw everyone around me group up with each other, muttering and whispering to one another with a small worried or anxious look on their faces... It was understandable : they didn't know what they were stepping into and neither did I clearly but I had an idea which could relatively benefit all of us at once.

With that rounded up and out of the way, I told everyone to follow me to the second floor; Christina seemed really entranced by the equipment, almost drooling but she caught herself and nodded to my words sorting everyone and following me downstairs.

- Hestia, how far can your healing powers go ?

I asked Hestia while we were walking down the stairs. She never left my side, making me almost feel like she was always there for some reason maybe i just got used to it ?

Reacting to my question, Hestia glanced at the little girl that was in my embrace and a bit sleepy. She didn't hear what i said because my words were too quiet for a normal human to hear but for Hestia it was a piece of cake of course. She smiled with delight as she said in a sweet tone.

-I can heal away the external and internal wounds with my divine flame, i can also cure diseases and make the scars disappear... I am not sure about the eye though... It is most likely that i can't bring it back since it was destroyed already.

Her quiet words made a small sting appear in my heart but at the same time it gave me a lot to be thankful for, listening to Hestia who had such dreading healing powers... Even thought she couldn't recreate a lost limb, she was still very capable, making me glad that i had evoked her accidentally.

With the conversation over, we all descended to the second floor which was met with a evenly pleasant sound as everyone looked around, a bit curious... The house wasn't as large as the other buildings I had seen which were basically mansions but it was still a large 3 story house with numerous rooms; the space here was also more comfortable to me as I disliked large hallways....

- Everyone can you please go to the end of the corridor ? The first door to the left its the kitchen and you can eat something if you want, anything is fine i don't mind. I will join you after I set this little one somewhere comfortable... And by the way, does anyone have any injuries or diseases ? If so please say it now so Hestia can heal it very quickly.

The question in hand was met with shaking heads and small no's from everyone, Christina also invoked a vision spell and looked at everyone just to be sure about it which made me grin for a second about her security measures. In the end she reported that it was indeed clean and that no one was hurt which also made me sigh out of relief. I then told them to move on ,which they did, in a very formal and ordered manner.

Even thought everyone was tense while walking inside of this home of mine which wasn't really comparable to the mansion's they were in previously,they still acted in utmost carefulness and respect even thought they were secretly glad to be here some of them even making small grins on their faces trying to hide it too.

Hestia and i also started to move on as i lead the way towards a different room where i was going to place the girl at...my room to be precise.

-So what are you going to do next ? excluding the child in your hands i am doubting that you would need 12 maids to take care of your house i even noticed that the building has a mass cleaning enchantment which cleans the dust,air and dirt inside making maids in general useless...

Hestia said as we arrived at my room which was big but not too much as it had everything you need to live and more things which weren't really important as i placed the sleepy white haired girl onto a chair while answering her question.

-I have something in mind but that will mostly depend on the girls it may even be that some of them would want to meet their family again,but seeing that they still had limits to their now partial "Freedom" one of them being to stay in a set amount of distance to me which would be obviously hard to do and on top of that...

I thought for a second as i remembered the state they were in the eyes they showed to me when we met the first time...

-It is most likely that they have people who they can't return to or don't want to return reasons to rather stay then leave or things that they can't stand...you know what i mean

Hestia grunted in agreement as she now focused on the little girl with white hair that was unsteadily sitting on the chair...a white flame ignited in her eyes as she began her work on her,i left them at that point as to not distract hestia from her work walking towards the kitchen where the other girls were smelling a very nice smell which had strong pleasant aroma to it as i walking into the kitchen revealing some of the girls sitting at the table while the others were preparing to make some food on the grill which looked very appetizing.

(Grrr)

A loud sound could be heard making everyone stop what they were doing and look at me who was slightly standing next to the door...i felt my face flush up for a moment as i realized that the sound was actually...

-Master dawn...i am preparing some eggs and bacon do you want to sit and eat with us ?

One of the girls behind the kitchen asked holding a pan while grilling some eggs on it...my grumbling stomach had everyone grinning at me for some reason as i kindly accepted her offer with a nod sitting down on the end of the table surrounded by the girls who were a bit distracted by me and also small whispers that got around the table not sure how the girls should now act in front of me,so i was the first to react to melt the ice and turned towards angela who was sitting next to me,she was a bit too nervous while fidgeting with her hands but when she saw me smile at her for some reason she couldn't help but stare at me as i asked her.

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-So what is your hobby ?

Angela was surprised and grew red quickly as started stuttering trying to answer my question.

-i...i like to read actually...thats the only i do...

I smiled and said.

-Me too what kind of books do you read ?

-really ? oh...ehm most literature or romance...

The other girls pricked their ears as they listened to my and angela's exchange which started a bit slow but progressed faster as angela started to ease up a bit more letting her words come off easier and speak more freely,our conversation even caught the attention from the rest of the girls slowly pulling them into the talk lastly ending up with everyone introducing themselves now more properly speaking about themselves and what they did before they got here letting me know that we had people with different kinds of professions some even with magical knowledge like alchemy and circle engineering while others were undecided as for what they become just yet being too young to have properly decide.

The oldest in this group was a woman who was 21 who was also the cook for this lunch and the one who had asked me to join the table her name was elisabeth morgan and the reason she ended up in this place was because she got caught in the middle of her work when she was in the central....it turns out that elisabeth was actually a assassin before she was a slave coincidentally her second profession is that of a cook explaining her well versed experience with the kitchen but also showing her skills with the blade which looked fairly threatening in her hands.

Her beauty and skill had caught the attention of the slavers when she was caught which was when she was 18 years old ending up in slavery for 3 years until i came along.

Her story was very interesting as i figured out that elisabeth didn't have any parents and that she mostly grew up in the central learning her cooking from a old man who was also a great cook as he was an assassin who taught her his trait,after all for you to survive in that place you would need so exceptional skill and the man which the man seemingly taught her strictly.Elisabeth talked fondly about the old man even thought he seemed very strict he seemed to have cared a whole lot about her as she did for him...

There can be some good memories in that place huh...Thinking like this,a bit surprised i also listened to the story that the others talked about themselves,most of the girls were enslaved for about 3 to 5 years max and angela seemed to be the only person who was enslaved the longest which was 7 years while sarah the raven haired little girl only recently got enslaved as she was sold by her parents which she once told me when we met in the corridor.

Angela was the daughter of 2 slaves logically becoming a slave herself and wearing the iron collar when she was 8 years old which was the requirement to wear it sealing the deal and being raised as a live stock,she never saw her parents or knew them a lot just heard some rumors about them and nothing else over all angela was raised to be taught all kinds of different things to raise her assets and then be sold some day for her worth which sounded really messed up and i could see that everyone agreed with that fact even thought no one said it aloud.

Angela was a cheerful girl raised strictly but not beaten or physically abused she was handled mentally and taught that being a slave was the best thing in the world which she believed first but quickly grew out of as she realized the depth of her situation someday yearning for freedom,but without a chance as she was guarded heavily and not allowed to leave the premise at any circumstance to protect her from any danger.Angela was very poor when it came to the knowledge of the opposite sex she also never communicated with them a lot and because of that she started to get interested between the relationship of these people getting her interest from the romance genre which was a bit comical but cruel and pitiful at the sametime...

In a sense of meaning angela was somewhat the young lady from the mansion thinking about the treatment she got since she was young she even had undergone combat training which wasn't a lot but elisabeth commented that angela was truly skilled in hand to hand fighting and sword play making angela in question blush from the compliment as she denied it humbly.

Regarding the rest of the girls they also told good stories which were drowned in tragedy and other happenings we had already came to the point in where we talked freely about ourselves without feeling ashamed about it because pretty much the girls all knew each other pretty well but they didn't know me,but trusted me enough to know such things about themselves for some reason i didn't object and listened to every one of their stories which were sometimes brief while other times long coming from different places such as houses with prestige or simply from the streets but what they shared all was the same tragic end as they get caught by the slavers to begin their new life as a slave finally ending up here this same ending for everyone was probably something that kept them together.

Even christina talked about herself again but this time she revealed that the person who had send here to the central was actually a person she had loved before and wanted her dead because of a power struggle in her family which sounded very ironic and i could tell she was hurt for being reminded by that so i quickly dropped the issue and asked if the food was finished yet which the reply came with a smiling yes as elisabeth started serving her bacon and eggs with a few pieces of toast...the meal was set for everyone and the smell was godly as the bacon mixed with the eggs creating a pleasant smell.

-...

As i was about to bite into the food i noticed that everyone wasn't eating at all just staring at me for some reason which was really odd making me ask what the problem was.Christina was quick and answered my question with a troubled smile on her face.

-Ahh...you see master dawn slaves usually don't eat with the master on the same table we sit on the ground and eat from a bowl without utensils...We also only eat after the master finished eating so we don't gross him or her out...

I raised my eyebrows at christina's explanation for a bit looking at everyone else i understood why they weren't eating so i just raised my hands for everyone and said.

-I don't have to seriously tell you to eat everytime i sit down do i ?

My question in turn was met with a few embarrassed looks and scratching heads even christina made an awkward laugh but then the sound of eating could be heard as angela who was sitting by my side used her fork to eat the bacon swallowing it with a slight grin.

Everyone seeing this also started to stop being shy or respectful as they slowly ate their food on the dish...growing out of habits will be tough for them will it ?

Sarah who was on my other side also started to eat nonchalant and quiet about the current situation more concentrated about the food that was in front of her then the others as she put a whole grilled egg inside of her small mouth making funny noises as she slightly burned herself also dirtying her mouth making me wipe it off with a tissue,my movement was slightly instinctive because i had stella who i always did it on doing this with sarah might have made her slightly uncomfortable but surprisingly she didn't resist and stayed still when i finished cleaning her.She continued eating after wards but still kept a few glances over me sometimes pulling my arm for me to clean her up...

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