Approaching the city, we reach the gate, long lines of people and carriages filing inside. We enter with our caravan and the guards mark up some paperwork before letting us all on through. Once through the city gates, I gape at how much bigger everything is.

When they say that Karshis is just a town and Rialetra is a city-state, they aren't kidding. The buildings are all four, five stories tall at least. I feel like I've stepped out of a medieval fantasy world, into, uhh, what is it, renaissance era or something? Everything's just so much more built up and there are so many people crowded into the roads.

And the people. I only ever spotted a few non-altraskans in Karshis, but here, I'm seeing them everywhere. Tiny sprite people, demons, these dark, humanoid forms that I think are called shades... They're not as abundant as altraska, but I actually walk right past a number of them!

Besides that there are... humans...

Human slaves. A lot of human slaves.

It feels like for every three people of the moon-races, I spot a human with the telltale slave collar around their neck. There are... even a few elves... Their pointed ears and downcast faces make it hard to breathe.

I cling close to Master Liina and follow along with our caravan.

Eventually, we reach our destination, some big warehouse near the outskirts of the city, where an uncomfortable number of slave workers start unloading the goods while they hand out our payment.

Master Liina takes the ten gold and slides it into her pack with a smile. “Very nice. Time to check out the city.” Then she turns and leads on. I guess she knows this city already, because she confidently turns down the streets, leading us further and further in. Houses and shops grow larger and smaller as we pass through various districts, until arriving at a huge building.

This must be the arena. Finding a large gate, we head inside. Searching across a couple notice boards, we eventually find a flier for the next upcoming magic competition. It looks like they hold them every handful of days.

Must be easy when days are seventy two hours long...

“So... two days from now,” Master Liina reads off. She considers it briefly, before nodding. “Yeah, we can stick around that long. Come on, let's get you signed up.”

“W-what?!” I jolt. Signed up? I just wanted to watch!

Grinning, she pats my head. “I'm sure you'll do great. You've got ridiculously flexible magic, so I'm sure you can handle anything they throw at you.”

“B-b-but-” I cut myself off and glance away before I finish denying her. “Yes, Master.”

“Good girl,” she praises me, and leads on to a table where there are some employees.

“You signing up?” the wolf-altra asks as we approach.

“Yeah, for the next magic competition. I want to sign my slave up.” She nudges me forward a little to the tall black-furred wolf can look down at me. He cocks his head a little. I'm wearing my leather adventuring armor, so I don't look anything like a mage at a glance.

Shrugging it off, he says, “Alright. Signing up your slave costs thirty five silver. She passes him the money and signs some paperwork. Once done, he explains, “The next competition will be in two days, starting at first light. Be here on time, we don't take late entrants. You will need to grant temporary command to the competition coordinator for the event.”

“Alright,” Master Liina responds easily. But I'm stuck on that last part.

“Well, have a nice day.” The man waves and we head off. She needs to give me to someone else? Ok, no, no need to panic. Keane already did that with Master Liina herself before. It's just temporary and shouldn't be a problem. Besides, she'll be here to watch anyway, right?

Right. She'll be right there and it's just a competition so it'll be fine.

“Yumi?”

“H-huh?” I blink rapidly when Master Liina calls my name all of a sudden.

“Tell me what you're thinking.”

“Oh, umm, it actually wasn't bad this time. I was just worried about you, umm, granting control to someone else, but it'll be fine. It'll be fine, right?”

“Yes, perfectly fine,” she assures me. “I'll be in the stands the whole time.”

“A-alright. Thank you.”

“Good. Now let's get some food, I'm tired of eating nothing but travel rations.”

“Yes, Master.”

After some food and shopping to top off our supplies, we get to the inn, not too far from the gate out of town. “One room please.”

“Certainly, but your slave will need to stay outside with the others,” the woman at the counter informs her.

Master Liina purses her lips uncertainly. “Yumi, do you think you'll be fine staying outside?”

I gulp. The thought of staying alone, somewhere dark, with nothing but strangers is terrifying. But at the same time, they would be other humans, wouldn't they? Maybe the first humans I could talk to since coming here... “Yes, Master.”

She still looks a bit worried, especially since she knows how easily I get panic attacks, especially around other slaves... Ok, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all... If I start to panic and she's not there, what am I going to do? It'll just be other slaves, and they won't help me, will they? What if their masters are there and they get angry at me?

While I'm starting to panic just thinking about that, she accepts and gets her room key and we leave the inn. “Yumi.” Is all she needs to say when she notices, once we're outside.

I tremble a little. “I-I'm sorry, Master. I just... I started to worry about how I get panic attacks around other slaves and it started making me, uhh, have a panic attack... I think...” I go beat red. I'm panicking about panicking...

Even Master Liina facepalms. “Oh for the love of...”

“I'm sorry...” I apologize again.

“It's fine, it's fine,” she sighs. “Come on, let's get cleaned up. Then we have some shopping to do.”

We head over to the bathhouse, where Master Liina brushes my hair, even though it barely touches my shoulders, short enough that I would have no trouble doing it myself. I don't understand why and it draws looks from the other customers and makes me uncomfortable...

After our bath, she makes me give her a massage again. I find that a lot of her muscles are pretty tight from the journey and she really enjoys having me rub them all out in the warm, misty air around the public bath.

I don't have the presence of mind to get worked up or anything, because the other customers spend the entire time watching with jealousy in their eyes. It must be considered a serious luxury to have a slave give you a massage... Their eyes make me even more twitchy and uncomfortable though.

By the time we make it out of the bathhouse to do our shopping, I'm clean and comfortable in my nice street clothes. And anxious about everything.

Then Master Liina notices and forces me to explain all of it to her, flushed red with embarrassment and shame the whole time.

Then we go shopping again. We head into a few different shops, where Master Liina picks up various swords and shields, takes some test swings, compares them to her own, but inevitably sets them back without buying any.

Does she want a new sword? Then why isn't she buying any of them? She did mention looking for new equipment here.

After the third store, I work up the courage to ask about it. “Umm, Master, are you looking for a new sword?”

“Mm, you could say that.” She leans her head back into her hands. “I've been using this one for a while now and my Status has increased a good bit, so I should probably get a stronger weapon, but I'm so used to its weight that nothing else feels quite right...”

“Ahh...” I don't really get it, I've obviously never used weapons before, much less crazy fantasy weapons...

She chuckles a little, even she knows that, I've basically told her my entire life story by this point, so of course she does... “Well, no worries. I'm sure I'll find something eventually.”

We go through a few more shops, before eventually arriving at one that's a little different. Are these... magical accessories? I look all around, but don't touch anything. Partly because I have no idea how magical accessories work and I don't want to break them or anything, and partly because a number of stores we've been through have signs saying slaves aren't allowed to touch the merchandise. I don't see any signs here, but...

“Looking for anything, Miss?” a store clerk asks as she approaches.

“It's hard to say... What sort of accessories would you suggest for a low level mage?”

“Well, over here we have a few things that might be of interest.” She leads Master Liina over to one counter while I trail behind. “These bangles are enchanted to help with long cast times, these ones help maintain focus while casting, and these increase mana capacity...” As she talks about each item, I find myself frowning.

It's important to know what an item does, and how well it does it. Just looking at these, some are small enough that you can't even see any of the magic runes on them unless you shove your face up next to them.

It makes me wonder, what do you do if you don't know the effects of some item? Is there any form of item appraisal in this world? Maybe it's a specific class skill? Or maybe you can get the info with Scan?

I never thought of that before. Now I want to try it on one of the items here to see if it works, but- Oh hell no I'm not trying that! Isn't Scanning rude or something? And what if, if, if it broke or something?! I'm sure we'd get kicked out of the shop!

Then Master Liina would be so mad at me! She might even decide to sell me because there's a slave market here and... and...

I stagger, starting to choke. I've seen the despair on the faces of slaves around town.

No. I can't do it.

I can't take something like that.

Cages and chains and torture and pain and-

“Yumi.” Master Liina's voice makes me realize that I'm standing in the middle of the shop, panting and gagging. “What's wrong?” The store clerk looks confused, glancing between us.

I rub anxiously at my collar. “I-I-I'm I'm sorry. I just, I was- I thought I'd make you mad and you would sell me and and- and the slave market and...” I'm starting to hyperventilate as I speak.

Her eyebrows draw together in confusion. “Why would you make me mad? Did you do anything bad?”

“N-n-no, Master!” I whip my head back and forth. “Just- I- I was just wondering about trying to Scan things and if that would work but I was worried it might break them and make you mad and you'd sell me and and the cages and nnnnggghhhh...” I whine, holding my head in my hands.

“Yumi,” she sighs tiredly. “Stop worrying, I'm not going to sell you. I've told you a number of times now. If you keep bringing it up, it means you don't believe me. Be a good girl and trust your master,” she instructs me sternly. It makes me straighten up, throat going dry.

“Y-yes, Master.”

“Good, sorry for the interruption,” she speaks to the store clerk again. “You were saying?”

Turning her attention back to the products, she listens and looks for a little while, but doesn't buy anything.

“Thank you. It's getting a little late, so I'm going to turn in. I'll be back tomorrow to look some more.” She smiles pleasantly as she excuses her self from the shop and I follow behind, back toward the inn.

“So, Yumi.”

“Y-yes, Master?” I jolt a little when she suddenly addresses me. I'm getting worried about her ordering me not to get worried... What do I do? When I get worried, she'll get mad if I don't tell her I'm worried, but she'll also get mad when I do tell her I'm worried?

I mean, I just need to not worry about her selling me.

But, but what if she does?

What if I stop worrying about it, and then she sells me anyway?

If she sells me, it will be awful! Everyone else is racist and hates me and would abuse me! I still don't know if Master Liina is going to abuse me! I mean, she hasn't yet, but, but what if she gets so tired of me worrying all the time that she starts hurting me?!

Or maybe she'll sell me!

Argh!

“Yumi.” I flinch violently when she calls my name.

“I-I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Master, I'm sorry!” I blubber, crouching down on the ground. “Sorry... sorry...”

Kneeling in front of me, she says, “Yumi, you have to tell me what's wrong.”

So I tell her. All of it, from the worry about worrying, to how I fell right back into worrying about her selling me even though she told me not to and how it means I don't trust her enough, and how I still don't know if she's going to abuse me, which also means I don't trust her.

I even tell her that I'm worried that how I'm worrying about her being mad at me for worrying will make her mad at me.

It's a god damn endless downward spiral, and I have no way out...

“Oh, Yumi...” she groans, then calls for my Status. After a moment, she says, “Your fear and anxiety just keep going up... It even lists Anxiety Disorder now...” Of course it does, I'm losing my fucking mind...

“Yumi.” She stares into my eyes. “Tell me what I can do to convince you that I won't harm you. That I won't abuse or sell you. What do I need to do to make you trust me?”

I bite my lip. I already know the answer, but no. No, it's impossible. There's no way I can demand that. Definitely not. Isn't there anything else? Any way I could possibly trust her except that?

Nothing. There's nothing because that's the broken linchpin, jamming up everything else. There's no other way, but it's fucking impossible.

I lower my head. “I'm sorry. I just... I can't...”

“There's really no way? Nothing I can possibly do? Then why don't you trust me?” I stare down, gaze burning a hole in the ground. “Come on, Yumi. Talk to me. If there is any method, tell me.”

I curl up, until my slave crest enforces her order. Through the pain, I whisper, “Free me.”

She frowns. “Yumi, you know I can't do that.”

“I know.”

We sit there for a minute. There's no way to fix this. Despite her actions up to this point all pointing to her claims being true, it's simply impossible for me to trust the person who enslaved me. But she can't release me either, because that was the whole point of enslaving me in the first place.

She can't have it both ways.

So I'm just going to lose my mind.

And then she'll throw me away. Just like I thought she would.

“Yumi, come with me.”

“Yes, Master,” I answer lifelessly, and follow after her.

We walk and walk, and then a familiar sound reaches my ears. The hustle and bustle of people in armor, weapons clanking in their sheathes as they all push past each other.

I look up and realize we're in the Rialetra adventurer's guild. Why here?

We go up to the counter. The receptionist greets her and asks what she needs today.

Master Liina places a gold coin on the counter and says, “One slave crest, please.” That confuses the man behind the counter.

“I'm sorry, for who?”

“Her.” She points a thumb over her shoulder at me. Why me?

“Isn't she already your slave?”

“Don't worry, it'll make sense in a minute.”

“Alright...” He takes the money and sweeps it into the till. “Right this way, Miss.”

He leads us into a room in the back, just like where I got my adventurer crest. Standing there, the orange cat-altra receptionist mostly just looks confused.

Master Liina stands in front of me, staring down with an intensity that makes me start fidgeting.

What is she doing?

“Yumi.”

“Y-yes, Master?” I yelp.

She takes a long, slow breath.

“If you had to ask what I care about more: having a slave, or having my slave's trust, I will choose trust.” I... I think I know where she's going with this...

With a trembling breath, she says, “Release Slave. Confirm.” She removes the collar from my neck.

And the whole world opens up around me.

I can breathe.

I'm not about to be crushed by everyone with power over me because I no longer suit their smallest whims.

I'm... free.

“There you go,” she says. “You're free. You told me the only way you would trust me is if I freed you. I care about your trust more than I care about keeping you. So right now, you can turn around and walk out that door. You have the freedom to do that.”

My breath catches. I can go? I can leave and be free and live my own life? Without any chains? No cages? No one hanging over me?

No one to protect me?

No, no, I can protect myself!

...But I'm so weak...

I turn toward the exit. Out that door, there are thousands upon thousand of altraska. Each and every one of them wouldn't hesitate to enslave me, would they?

I don't have my otherworlder status to protect me from them.

I don't have the guild.

I don't have a master.

It's just me, all alone.

Oh my god freedom is terrifying...

I'm starting to panic.

I'm going to walk out that door, and have a collar thrown around my neck immediately, by some racist asshole who will beat me and cage me and my fleeting freedom will be gone, replaced with endless pain.

I'll get sold and resold and raped and tortured and used up and spit out by a race of people who hate me and want to see me suffer.

What the fuck.

What am I supposed to do now?

Shit!

A large, clawed hand lands on my shoulder and I jolt. Spinning around, it's Master Liina.

Not Master Liina. Just Liina now.

She isn't my master anymore.

“Yumi. You're smart. I'm sure you understand already. Going out there is a bad idea. You will be enslaved again in an hour, by someone terrible, and live in all of the awful conditions you are always worrying about. It will be just as bad as you imagined, if not worse.”

I swallow hard. I... what do I do? I'm going to have to endure all of that?

I can't do it.

I'm scared...

Then she asks. “Please, become my slave again.”

Her... slave...?

Again?

“Trust me. Become my slave again, willingly.”

“B-but, I don't want to be a slave...”

She brushes a hand down my hair. “I know you don't, but the world isn't fair. You have a choice. Go out there, free to be enslaved by any of them, or stay here with me. I've already shown that I care about you enough to give you that choice.”

“No... no!” I shake my head. “This is wrong! I could go to a human city! No one there would try to enslave me!” I shout when I remember. She's trying to make me think I only have two options! But there are more!

“Yes, you could go to a human town,” Liina reluctantly admits. “Getting there would be hard. You would probably be enslaved or die trying, but you have the freedom to try.”

“W-what do you mean? You could have just taken me there, then released me!” I shoot back angrily. She released me here, in the middle of an altraskan town just so it wouldn't be realistic for me to get away!

She shakes her head. “You can't ask me to do that. Going to a human town will make you an enemy of my people. I will not intentionally make you my enemy. You are free to go to a human town, but you can't ask me for help doing it.”

I bite my lip. Do I take the long shot for freedom? At risk of death or enslavement into unimaginable abuse and horror?

Or do I stay here, where it's safe?

With a master I can trust, because she's gone this far to prove to me that she really does have my best interests at heart and doesn't want to use me?

A moonshot into the terrifying dark with every bump along the way being horrible agony or death, or a comfortable, safe place?

I hate how attractive it is.

I hate how much I want to stay.

Because I still don't want to be a slave.

But... but this time, I actually have a choice. A real choice.

Not between a horrible life with passive aggressive fucks for parents and homelessness, prostitution, and death.

Not between one form of slavery or another.

This is a choice between a legitimate, long shot chance at a life of terrifying freedom. Or a definite life of happiness, comfort, and... slavery...

Again, it's a battle between my desperate will for freedom and agency, and my life of obedience.

But this time, my will is just so weak... That desire, it's just... there. It doesn't push me. Doesn't drive me. Not like my fear and hope for safety and comfort...

The battle isn't even a battle. It's a completely one-sided.

How could I give up a nice, comfortable life for something like that?

I swallow hard and turn back to... to Master Liina. “I'll do it. I'll trust you. I'll... be your slave. Just... please, protect me... Master...”

A smile spreads over her face. She pets my head and says, “That's a good girl.”

The praise is... really nice...

She leads me over to the chair and sits me down. Then, she straps me down with the wrist and ankle cuffs. It makes me worried and uncomfortable, but I've decided to trust her, so I stay still and don't fight it.

The guild employee, who's just stood there, watching all of this, then hands her one of those dark gray crystals, the ones used to make slave crests.

She approaches, holding it out. With a gentle smile, she uses a free hand to slip my shirt down over my shoulders and expose my chest, then brings the crystal up.

“Activate Slave Crest.” With that same jingling shatter, it breaks apart, turning into lines of light and beginning to sink into my skin.

Ah, shit it burns! I jolt in the chair, finally understanding what the cuffs are for. I was nearly unconscious the first time she did this, so I don't remember much, but this really hurts!

“Shh, come on Yumi, just relax,” Master Liina coos, stroking my hair.

Right, I have to relax. The more I fight it, the harder it is for the magic to take hold. So I start taking deep, forced breaths, letting the slave crest worm its way through my adventurer crest, choking it out and shrinking the world around me down into a comfortable, safe box.

I let out a slow, shaking breath as the pain fades.

I open my eyes to Master Liina's face and I'm a slave again.

But this time, I chose it. Really chose it. Chose to stay with a master I can trust to protect me.

After Master Liina mumbles through the slave punishment commands again, she undoes the cuffs and pulls me up from the chair. “Slave Status,” she says and her smile grows.

Looking down at me, pets me gently. “Congratulations, you've made it to Slave Rating SS.”