Soul Eater of the Rebellion 24 An Approaching Ending
A week has pa.s.sed since I helped the blue winged beast.
You should know the outcome already just by that line alone, but I managed to save the blue scaled wyvern"s life.
The wyvern screeched like "Guaaaeee!!" as it ate the really sour fruit of the Jiraya oak tree, but soon after that, the manticores" poison started to clear up.
It made me think again that the Jiraya oak tree really is awesome.
Well, as for that wyvern, it was now showing signs of making its nest above this cliff and living there.
I thought it had become attached to me after it saw me taking care of its injuries– but the situation seems to be different.
No one would have a hard time taming demonic beasts in the first place if treating their injuries is all it takes for one to become attached to someone.
Rather than being emotionally attached to me, it gave off a feeling that it was following me instead. Like an underling who"s following their boss–No, maybe something like a knight that"s following its king?
Anyway, it was displaying complete obedience to me. It seems to understand the human tongue to an extent and doesn"t go against my orders.
When I tried to order it to fly with me placed on its back– it suddenly jumped off the cliff and started to glide. I thought I was going to die.
Moreover, the wyvern was having a hard time flying since it was not used to having weight on its back. It swayed here and there before eventually having to make an emergency landing as we fell into the trees.
It"s only natural if I thought about it. A wyvern that has never carried a person on its back before could not possibly know how to fly well with a pa.s.senger"s burden. I apologized to the wyvern for my shallow and wishful thinking.
The wyvern seemed to be ashamed of its failure and started to look at me with eyes that seem to be asking me "Are you going to ride me?", "Let"s go for a ride?" as it flapped its wings whenever it saw me.
It looked like it wanted to redeem its honor. Its seriousness is like a knight"s as well.
I think we"ll challenge it again later after I make a saddle for riding.
I might be able gather some information on dragon knights when I head back to Ishka. Things such as how they make their reins and saddles.
Well, the dragon knights are Canaria Kingdom"s strongest fighting forces, so gathering information related to them might not be that easy since they"ll definitely be military secrets.
And so, the wyvern riding plan will be postponed for now. However, my other plans were going pretty well.
Of course, I was referring to Miroslava.
Ever since I brought Miroslava here, morning, noon, evening, and night time, I have been having her as a meal four times a day. Naturally, she resisted violently at first, but she started to give me her lips the last few days without acting so.
Needless to say, she wasn"t kissing me willingly. Her expression was filled with disgust and humiliation. After it was over, she would rinse her mouth with water from the barrel over and over. Sometimes she would even gag.
Well, at the very least, she wasn"t fighting back on the surface.
We did not talk to each other in particular. She was free to move in the cave without being tied up.
Speaking of which, inside this cave, other than my personal s.p.a.ce, there was a tent set up for her so that she could sleep, change, bathe, and do her business without being seen by me.
If Miroslava wanted to, she could go through her days here without seeing my face other than when it"s meal time for me.
The reason why I did all this for her was because I did not want her to break so easily.
For someone like her who can be called a properly brought up lady, she probably wouldn"t even last ten days under my daily torment inside this cave where she could barely wash her face. I made those preparations for her after considering various things.
Naturally, without her being in my sight all the time means that she could think of surprise attacks or escaping.
In fact, I was busy with fending off all of that in the first five days– but well, I put a stop to them all.
When she so openly retaliated like that, I took back the four times a day limit and continued to eat her soul until she fainted or even after she fainted. Speaking of which, at those times I even reached out to places other than her lips.
By doing so, I taught her without the use of words. All I needed her to do was to give me her lips.
The reason why I did not say that to her in words was to let her think about it on her own. Rather than having her reluctantly obey what I tell her, it made her do it out of her own accord.
The taste of her soul also changed as the element of 「obedience」was added to her defiance and disgust.
There was one more thing that I discovered upon the result of the experiments from this past half-month.
When I was eating Miroslava"s soul, she seemed to be feeling pleasure, or something close to it.
Perhaps it was caused by a defensive reaction from the body and mind when one"s soul is getting eaten. If I recall correctly, the prost.i.tute from the brothel also had a reaction like that.
It looks to be similar to what happens when a vampire sucks a woman"s blood; the woman would feel something like s.e.xual pleasure from it.
Anyway, as a result of those meals, my level went up to seven from six. It"s the combined result of killing those eight manticores and that, but since I have Miroslava as a stable supply now, I would have leveled up soon even if I didn"t run into the manticores.
I understood from the experiments as well, that if I ate a large amount of their soul from a person at once, it would take them a very long time for the person to recover, which would be rather inefficient.
The first five days, the next five days, and the next five after that, The amount of soul I sucked was increased in the later days. It was proportional to Miroslava"s degree of obedience.
Right now Miroslava is the only one who is supplying me with souls, but if the number of suppliers increases in the future, my soul intake would be more stable and the burden on each female would for sure lessen.
The next target I would aim for would be Iria or Lunamaria, but which one should I choose?
I looked at Miroslava who was in front of me as I thought about that question.
The red haired magic caster was sitting in front of me with an evidently reluctant expression on her face.
She looked like she wanted to say something but she didn"t want to do anything unnecessary. It"s just like she came to the decision to "not anger a stray dog and get bitten", so she had no choice but to suppress her emotions and act indifferent towards me.
But since I"ve been constantly hara.s.sing her, I had definitely stirred up her hate towards me. Moreover, I did not have nearly enough information on Iria or Lunamaria to go after them, so I"ll say something to her.
「Speaking of which, you still haven"t got to know a man yet? I thought that you would have done it with Lars long ago already」
「Wha—?! T-that stuff has nothing to do with you, right?!」
「If it has nothing to do with me, then it wouldn"t be a problem if I s.n.a.t.c.hed it here, right? I didn"t put my hands on you before since you were crying, but unless you have any other reason in particular, you wouldn"t mind giving it to me, would you?」
「Please stop it!!」
After a piercing scream, Miroslava stared at me with an upset look on her face.
She understood from this past month of captivity that I would really do it if she did not answer me.
「…I"m not going to be someone"s concubine or a side lover. Even if the other person is Lars」
「So in other words, you"ll only give your body to the person after getting married and becoming a proper wife?」
By the way, to briefly describe the marriage system of the Canaria Kingdom–
Slaves can"t become someone"s wife.
Normal citizens are only allowed to have one wife.
The lower cla.s.s n.o.bles (Knights to Barons) are allowed to take a second wife.
Higher cla.s.s n.o.bles (Landowners such as Earls and above) could have three wives.
The king of the country could have four.
That"s more or less how it goes. This is the common standard to each nation of the continent including the Ad-Astera Empire.
Generally, the female of the officially recognized marriage is called the wife. In case of there being more than one woman, they would be referred to by their order of being wedded as the first wife, second wife, and so on.
The females who are not included in that frame are either concubines or side lovers.
Miroslava was saying that even if the other side was Lars, she would not give her body to him unless she held the position of being a wife.
「Are you just going to back out if Lars chooses Iria?」
「Hmph! I"ll get Lars recommended to become a knight in the near future. If necessary, I will do something with the influence of the Salzar company」
「I see」
Even if she became a second wife she would still be considered a proper wife. Miroslava"s pride would still be satisfied like so.
Perhaps she was imagining that scene in her mind, a smile rose to her face.
…Hm. As I thought, it"s better that I refrain myself from doing that to her when I see that face.
It"s not like I was particularly interested in her virginity so it does not matter to me.
But still, did this girl really believe that she was going to keep her virginity until she got back to Lars?
If that"s the case, then what a naive person she is.
I have to say that in the end, I"m going to take everything from her as I devour her soul after it"s filled with despair. At the time I struck back at her after she showcased her abilities with a confident look on her face, she should have known that she wasn"t going to get off with nothing happening to her.
She"s the one who is selfishly dreaming, I have no obligation to fulfill her wishes.
"If you listen to what I say I"ll return you to Ishka"– Not once have I said those words to her.
TLN: A pet wyvern :3