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After the girls washed up Daphne and cleaned the room, she was put into a comfortable bed. Since she didn’t truly sleep the previous night, this was her chance to get some rest. Naturally, she was passed out. Even still, her body occasionally spasmed, still in the after-effects of what was done to her body.
I had complicated feelings about this. I wouldn’t call it guilt. She did try to hurt me and my business. However, perhaps this was too far.
Of course, that didn’t excuse the most responsible culprit after me. Someone had to take responsibility, and it certainly wasn’t going to be me.
“Diana… did you take the remote and turn it up to max?” I asked the question to an answer I already knew.
While the two other women put her to bed and also chained her as she might be a flight risk, Diana was sitting in a chair under my scrutiny.
“Tsk… she’s still alive…” Diana’s voice was so light that if I didn’t have Demon hearing I definitely would have missed it.
“Diana!” I admonished sharply.
“M-m-master!” Her upper lip trembled and she fell into large crocodile tears. “I’m sooo swowwry!”
“That crap works on your mother, but I know you feel nothing.”
“Tsk…” Her crying stopped as fast as it began and she crossed her arms. “How did you know?”
“That you have no soul?”
“What’s a soul anyway? Can you eat it!” She demanded.
In truth, she did have a soul. However, after seeing countless horrors, she had grown numb and uncaring about anything. In short, she was a sociopath. She could not empathize and could lie with a straight face. She had managed to fool her mother, but it was clear to me that she didn’t regret her actions in the slightest.
She had taken the remote and turned it up to take care of Daphne. Thankfully, she didn’t really understand what it did. Perhaps she assumed it was some kind of torture device or something. Or… more terrifying, she knew exactly what it did and hoped she’d dehydrate or break mentally.
Well, until she woke up, it was unclear whether her brain was still on the level.
“Why did you do it?” I asked.
“Because…” She met my eyes with an unblinking stare. “I want to protect Master.”
“MmHmm…”
“It’s the truth! Master has been good for Mother and me. I see my happiness and future lies with Master. S-so… if Master needs things done, I will do them! If mom or the princess can’t stomach it, I’ll be Master’s monster! If you need to do some of the unsightly things, things that would weigh on the other girl’s hearts, use me! I am Master’s!”
“I know…” I let out a sigh. “I was planning for you to get a little older first, but perhaps I need to use a heavier hand with you.”
“Hmm? What does Master mean?”
I had planned to use this method on Daphne as a last resort. I was still at Minion level 3. That meant I could pick up three minions. At the moment, I only had two. That left one more slot. It was fine, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t reach level 4 until I had picked up a third minion.
As for my storefront, it didn’t seem to level, but the lists did gradually change over time, some things dropping in price while others increasing.
I kneeled in front of Diana. “It means, Diana, I been raising you for this use for some time. That’s why I’ve been trying to get you to learn all of that stuff. When I’m gone, you will be responsible for running the shop. As more women join our ranks and we grow bigger, I need a proper Madame to groom the women. They’ll listen to a fellow woman far more than they’ll listen to me. That is the purpose I want for you.”
“I see… Master, I’ll definitely do as you ask!”
“In that case, Diana, will you be my minion? Will you serve me and always obey my command?”
“I will!” She had her lips out pursed with her eyes shut tightly.
I needed to have some kind of leash on Diana. As my minion, she’d grow more subservient. At worst, I could select skills that induced loyalty or something. I reached out and kissed her forehead. She made a face at first but still ended up blushing and lowering her eyes.
Diana is now your minion. You have 3/3 minions.
1/3
Name: Elizabeth
Race: Human
Minion Level: 5
Perk: Iron Stomach, Telekinesis, Mood Setter, Truth Seer
2 / 3
Name: Alleya
Race: Human
Minion Level: 3
Perk: Improved Moral, Demon’s Strength
3/3
Name: Diana
Race: Half-demon
Minion Level: 1
Perk: None
At first, I only passed a glance over the new numbers, but then my eyes fell on Diana and I couldn’t help but make a noise of shock. Half-demon? That was… I mean, it was exactly what God was hoping for. Demons and women could breed to create new life. However, this would mean that Elizabeth wasn’t being truthful to me.
Just as I came to that thought, the two women returned from the room where they put Daphne now. Elizabeth had a gentle smile on her face as always, while Alleya had her arm crossed with a displeased look.
“Master… please refrain from making such messes in the future! Either that or hire a cleaning staff!” Alleya complained.
“She’s sleeping peacefully, Master. I think she might be more amendable when she wakes up.”
“That’s to be seen,” I said, half to myself, more focused on the new information I just learned. “Elizabeth, you got pregnant during the war, right?”
Diana was ten, so that meant that the human demon war was right at its height when she had her baby. I had never asked her about the man, but I had assumed it was a human man.”
“Y-yes… Master…” She looked away awkwardly. “That was a long time ago. I don’t like to think about those days.”
“What can you tell me about Diana’s father? Your husband?” I demanded while ignoring her discomfort.
“I don’t have any remaining feelings for him, Master! My heart belongs to Master and Master alone!”
“Who was he?” I demanded.
“Eh?” She blinked. “He was a merchant? I was married off to him when I turned sixteen.”
“So, if he was a merchant, how did he die in the war?”
“Ah! Shortly after we were married, the war started turning desperate. He was conscripted only a few weeks after we were married. He was an army private.”
“Then, how was she born? Were you pregnant with Diana?”
She looked confused, but she answered. “Huh? I mean, about a year after we married, he suddenly came home one night. We slept together, and then he was gone the next day. I assumed Husband’s troop was passing through and just missed his wife. Of course, I ended up pregnant. Now that I think about it, it was only a month later that I received a report he had fallen in battle. I always thought it was just fate that we got to meet one last time and he left a child before he left this world. Why? What is this about, Master?”
I relaxed my face and then patted her and Diana’s heads gently. “Nothing… I was just thinking too hard.”
In ancient Greece, there were legends that Zeus would come down to the world of mortals, take the form of men who were away at war, and have their wives. Many of these copulations ended up creating children. These Demi-gods were the likes of Hercules and Minos.
“Mmm…” Alleya made an unhappy noise over not being included in the head pats.
I reached out and patted her as well, and she smiled happily, but my mind was elsewhere.
It was undeniable. Diana was a half-demon female. This alone should have been impossible. The only living female demon was the demon queen who was the mother of all demons and now dead. Was her half-human side allowed for females to be born? I supposed it made sense. If females couldn’t be born between the human female, male demon coupling, then all life was doomed anyway.
Thus, I could only come to one conclusion. At some point during the war, her husband was killed in battle. A demon, perhaps the same one who killed him, took his form, snuck into the city, and then slept with Elizabeth, and she was none the wiser. That meant that there was at least one demon out there who was making babies ten years ago. He might still be out there. If I found any children under ten, I could probably verify the truth of that. This also meant another thing. Diana’s father might very well still be alive!