…Keith? Does she have me confused with someone else? It’s weird, looking at her now, I can definitely feel some sort of familiarity with her but…this could be a trap. I mean, what are the chances of meeting somebody in the middle of the desert who knows me? This is too good to be true. I better play my cards right.

“I’m sorry, you must be confusing me someone else. My name is Alphonse and I’m with the Iron.. I mean I’m affiliated with Pantheon. Sorry.”

She stared at me for a while, “But that can’t be. You’re Keith, aren’t you!” she says with tears in her eyes.

I calmly ask, “I’m afraid you’re wrong and even though I’m not this ‘Keith’, how can you even tell?” as I cringed at the thought of crushing her hopes.

Slightly taken aback, she mumbles. “…but you smell like him and you the color of your mana is the same..”

Failing to her hear, I asked her to repeat what she said.

“It’s nothing! I just said that you looked like someone I used to know.” She flashes me a smile.

Now that I think about it, this girl is actually pretty cute. She feels like a younger sister that I would like to protect but her well-developed body is..well..it’s something else.

“Ehh? What are you looking at, Alphonse?” She says as she covers her chest to no success. I mean how can you even cover those things?!

“What? No, I was just surprised that you would wear that kind of armor even though it is covered by your cloak.” I stammer in response.

This incredibly beautiful woman is wearing some sort of form-fitting material that resembles a tank top and short shorts. Seeing her like this reminds me of an athletic student during P.E. or something.

“Oh? You mean this?” She flashes me her chest err tank top. “It’s for ease of movement. I can’t exactly move well in armor and I’m not all that comfortable covered in metal or leather.”

That makes sense. Hell, I’m not even going to complain. Her body is great, probably almost as great as Yuriko’s and a little bit more developed than Chi’s but her personality is horrible.

“Well, I’m headed to the south. Will you be okay on your own uh.. you?”

“I am headed there too. I have a few things to discuss with their mayor and it’s Lin, not ‘you’. Jeez. Even your forgetfulness is so like him.” She retorts.

“I see. Well, I’m off. You take care. There’s that dragon too.” I said, as I started walking away.

“What kind of gentleman would leave a lady like this? Is this some kind of neglect play? I’m not into that you know!”

I sigh in exasperation. “You’ve already decided to follow me haven’t you? I have no reason to stop you and as you said, what kind of man would I be if I were to leave you.” I smiled at her. “Well, let’s go then. Try not to be a burden, okay?”

“Geez. You can try to be charming all you want but I’m already engaged, okay?” She playfully nudges my shoulder.

“Wow, another woman engaged to be married. Just my luck.”

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just that the women around me keep on making jokes about marriage and it’s starting to unnerve me.”

“What? Really? You must be popular then!”

“Far from it.”

Making small talk as we made our way through the desert, I got to know Lin. She’s apparently an important person from Yamato, a kingdom populated by the Beast Race on a goodwill mission from the Queen Regnant of Valiante. I learned about her engagement to this Keith and how it happened was actually a pretty funny story.

“See, back when I was a new student at the military academy in Anthedon, I got lost and entered the boy’s shower room by accident. It was empty at the time and it was late at night so I was all sweaty from training and my clothes were sticking to my body like crazy!”

Imagining that scene got me a little excited. Holding back a nosebleed, I urged her to continue her story.

“Well Keith was out training too with his annoying girlfriend/instructor Belle. Well I say girlfriend but Keith was totally oblivious to our feelings so it’s a one-sided relationship. Anyway, anyway, Keith walked in on me as I was stark naked! Well, he was naked too and I mean wow, right?”

“So you guys saw each other naked. Okay, that made things a little awkward didn’t it?”

“Well not so much awkward, more like, I felt like it was a funny twist of fate, you know?”

“No, I don’t know. Some pervert walks in on you and you feel like its destiny? There’s something wrong here.”

She laughs at my all-too realistic analysis. “No, you see, back in my home town, boys were never allowed near me. I was under heavy guard at all times and in my land, a woman should only show her bare body to the man she is to marry. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“Well you should be going to the police to report him.”

“No, dummy! By Yamato tradition, he had an unbreakable obligation to marry me.”

What the hell is up with women and marrying! Poor guy. “Wait. Doesn’t he have a one-sided girlfriend? This guy sounds like a dumbass.”

“It doesn’t matter if he has a girlfriend or a wife. Even if I am wife number 3 or 4 or 5, as long as he marries me then the Royal Family of Yamato will stay their hand.”

Stay their hand? What?! “Wait. So if he doesn’t marry you…”

“Then war will come to both of our homelands!” She then flashes me another one of her imouto smiles. She’s dangerously cute. I say dangerous in its most literal sense.

Scary. Too scary.

“I can’t believe you almost thought that I was that guy! I can’t handle that kind of responsibility. The women I live with are joking around with marriage all the time and now even their boss is joining in. More marriage jokes will be the death of me.”

At this, she gets quiet and the mood gets a little awkward. After a few silent moments, she turns to me.

“…so…you live with at least two women?”

“Yes, I do. We’re sort of like work friends.”

She smiles wryly. “Women never joke about marriage, at least not with the man they love, Ke – I mean Alphonse.”

Well, getting to know Lin was a good experience for me. I now know to stay away from her naked body no matter what.

After speaking for what seemed like hours, it looks like we finally reached out destination.

Lin jogs up ahead and turns to me with the biggest imouto smile yet. “Well, welcome to Braille. Home of bandits, whores and miscreants!” She gives me a thumbs up.

That’s quite the descriptor.

“I have to go on ahead, Alphonse. I’ll see you after work. Please tell me more about your polygamous life of sin. I would like to prepare for my proposal with my sisters Belle and Alicia. See you!” She smiles and runs off before I could even offer my well-practiced tsukkomi.

Left in the dust and surrounded by at least a dozen and an even bigger crowd, one can only notice how lively this city of sin is. There are stalls selling different goods everywhere, from normal food stuff to the more exotic and slightly erotic. It seems as though one can buy anything here as long as they had the money or property for it.

Yes, even people can be considered as goods here.

Up ahead at what I assume to be is the center of the village, a sort of show is going on. Naked people are chained up and are put on display for people to bid on them. Some of them are bent over for “inspection” while some of the women and men are being raped for a quick profit. Others are beaten just for the heck of it.

Disgusting.

Leading this horrible show is a stout man in his early forties. He has a turban on his head and a white cloak covering his unfit body. He has a childish face accentuated with age but he doesn’t look all that smart but I guess that’s part of his ‘appeal’.

The man continuously shouts things like ‘for sale!’, ‘come check them out for yourself!’ ‘Elves are sold at half-price!

He’s definitely connected to that kidnapping syndicate Isara asked me to take care of but really, how can I? I’m not as strong as I was before and I have no allies nor any means to reach out to Yuriko and the others. I’m all alone here.

Grabbing my pouch from my pocket, I open it to count 30 gold pieces, a dozen silver pieces and quite a few bronze pieces. I don’t know how much is worth but I pray to the Gods that this is enough to get me by. I decided to start my investigation.

I approached the slave market and steeled my nerves.

“Say you there, young man!”

“Yes?”

“How about a slave? You interested in fucking one? To have a servant? Or both? Bahaha.”

“Well, I need an educated one that can cast magic. You have one of those? Race doesn’t matter.”

Weirdly enough, my question wiped the smile off his face.

“Sure I have one of those but she has quite the attitude problem. Won’t listen to anyone and attacks anyone that tries to buy her. Surely you would prefer something else? How about this sexy one? You can fuck her at night, in the daytime, basically fuck her anytime!”

“No. Let me see the troublesome one.”

The stout man gestures to one of his servants to watch over the store as the stout man brings me to a building quite close to the square.

“So why do you need one that can cast magic, adventurer?”

Ah, this seems like routine. Well, let’s play along.

“I happened upon a dragon as I was journeying through the desert. If I have a slave that can cast magic then that slave can help me out. If not, I can use the slave as a shield.”

“You are pretty direct, no? My name be Valefor. Slave and Sex extraordinaire.”

“I am Alphonse. Just Alphonse.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Alphonse. We’ve reached our destination. Please be wary of her.”

We entered the building and he led me to the basement where there are countless slaves in cages. Some of them seemed malnourish but most of them had a feeling of dread and hopelessness to them, some don’t even have light in their eyes anymore. This is depressing.

Valefor led me to the deepest and darkest part of the basement and to my surprise, I find a large enough cage with amenities with a bed and everything! Inside was an elegant and gorgeous woman, sipping tea. She notices our presence and she eyes Valefor with contempt. She then turns her eyes to me.

“So, is this one looking to buy me too, Valefor?” she says as she drinks from her cup. “You know that I am very particular with…people.”

Her serene yet intelligent eyes meet mine and I return her look with earnest curiosity.

I take out my pouch. “I’ll take her, Valefor, if she’ll have me.”

Valefor remains quiet as he watches the elegant woman in the cage. He then lifts his hand up and gestures the number 4.

“So 4 gold pieces?” I inquire.

“That’s too much! Are you planning to buy a house? No, I meant 4 silver pieces!”

So despite his being an asshole in general, at least he’s honest about it. But what the hell? How much money did Isara actually give me!?

I take out the money and I handed it to him. He then gestures to his guards to exit the basement and he follows them. Just as he was going up the stairs, he turns to me.

“Convince her and she’s yours. If not, try not to die and simply refund your purchase. Good luck.”

After making sure that the slavers were out of earshot, I turned to her and extended my right hand through the gap in the cage.

“Greetings. My name is Alphonse. Let me free you and lend me your aid to free the others. After that, go in peace and I shall never bother you again.”

After I said my piece, the woman simply looked dumbfounded as she looked into my face and at my hands.

After a few moments of silence, the woman laughs a hearty laugh, completely overcoming the dread and despair around us. It was a beautiful laugh. Crazy, sure, but beautiful.

“Alphonse is it? Well I’ll be. This is the first time anyone has ever decided to treat me as an equal, regardless of my status as a slave for sale. My intuition tells me that you are kindhearted. Do you truly desire to free my brethren?”

I stared back into her deep, crimson eyes and I gulped, ready to make another commitment.

“Yes. Tell me your name.”

Suddenly, a terrible and ominous feeling reaches into me, burrowing itself into the deepest parts of my soul and the surrounding cages all burst open simultaneously.

The elegant woman rises from her seat and walks through the bars. No, to be precise, as her body touched the metal bars, the material started to dissipate into nothing. What kind of magic is this?!

“Very well. For now, my name is Artemis and you are my Master.” She takes my hand in hers.

With her body completely engulfed by a dark aura that is eternally trying to consume the red lightning surrounding her, I felt fear..and admiration.

Author's Notes

Hey everyone! How'd you like the little-bit-longer chapter? It's my birthday surprise for everyone! Anyway, it seems as though Keith's troublesome life continues again but will it be for the better or for the worse? We'll see, won't we? Anyway we are now entering the climax of volume one so expect me to make good on my promises of death, murder, death and killing people off! Or not. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading!