When I woke up the next morning my night gown was not on me. And my master was nowhere to be seen. The only one next to me was the Nyaya who was still was sleeping. From downstairs a smell of fried eggs and ham lingered in my nose. Maybe there is coffee in this world? If so I would like a cup if possible.

After stretching my sore body, I went to take a well needed bath. Ever since I came to this world I had never taken a shower or bath at all. I feel so filthy! Finding a bath tub which I fit in was easy. With my approximate height of one and a half meters I could easily fit in most things. I boiled a bucket of water and poured it into the tub, then I balanced the scorching heat with two buckets of lukewarm water. The end result was a shallow but adequate bath. I spent the better part of the half hour bathing, and I cleaned myself thoroughly. Especially my super long hair which is amazingly not damaged from my rough treatment.

I guess since Izumi is Japanese originally is because we even got this bathing stuff. They are renown for their cleanliness after all. No matter though, it is breakfast time now!

Would be counter productive to be sad all the time now. Despite my series of misfortunate events I should keep myself strong, and if I can influence my master I will essentially be free anyway.

”Goodmorning Lotus! Oh, I see you have bathed. You truly are a pale beauty.”

The cow of an elf Seris, greeted me as she made breakfast for me. I wonder if sleeping with master and cooking food is the only thing he got her for. Guess I should not assume so much, this is a world full of magic after all. Heck, I am apparently a holy aligned lich with sharp claws.

”Mmgh, you are awake!”

Izumi greeted me while stuffing his mouth full of ham. Guess what he did before sleeping worked up an healthy appetite...

”Did you wake up Nyaya?”

He then asked me. Nyaya? Is that the name of the cat girl?

”Nya-ya?”

I asked him while looking like a questionmark. I just had got to the table to eat breakfast.

”She is the girl with cat ears, did you forget? She was still sleeping when we got out of bed.”

He answered me and ogled at the golden pearl below my ribcage. Sure seems interested in whatever that thing is.

”No, I didn’t.”

I quickly answered him and took a bite out a toasted bread.

”Oh well, I will send Ninos up there to shake her up. Besides, you know what that pearly thing is for under your ribcage? Could not help to notice it when I look at your body.”

He is straight up admitting that he is ogling at me!

”N- No idea. It feels part of me though. Not anything like a piercing.”

I stammered and my face got red from embarassment, my boyfriend would never do anything like this. Poking into peoples private things is quite rude.

”Mhmm, must be because of you being a Lich. That thing is probably your Phylactery. Despite your heart not beating, it beats instead of it. Your crescent eyes signifies that you are aligned with the Holy element.”

He sure seems knowledgable about liches. It annoyed me very hard. What else does he know?

”How do you know so much about liches? How did you even find me!?”

I ate a big slice of ham after I frustratingly asked him about his very specific information.

”Hey, cool down!”

He got a more serious expression now. I felt oddly calmed down now. Must be that damn slave collar doing it.

”I will explain it to you, I owe you that much since you are an otherworlder like me.”

He took a deep sigh and continued.

”When I arrived to this world, the god which sent me allowed me to have an ability in order to thrive. I chose [Appraisal] which let me both appraise physical things and even the future. Appraising the future is not 100% perfect though, so when I appraised for my next party member it pointed me to you. So I bought you, and now you are part of my happy family. You should be thankful of me.”

Izumi sure looked darn pleased with himself after this explanation. He seems to think he is gods gift to this world. If not the protagonist of his own story. Speaking of which, god said we would be granted powers in order to survive the transfer to this world. So I wonder what mine is...

”Speaking of powers, according to appraisal you got a very useful one.”

Now I got curious after he told me that.

”I never got to know my power. I was sent in a hurry along with many others.”

He now sat with both his hands clasped together and pit his head atop them.

”I will show you. [Appraisal: Project]”

Suddenly two bright screens appeared. One in front of me and one in front of Izumi.

[Appraisal: Lotus]

Name: Lotus

Description: Lotus is a slave which is owned by Izumi. She comes from another world and was blessed by god. In her previous life she died of an accident in a subway station.

Appearance: Her skin is white as snow. Her hair is white, shiny and reach down to her feet. Her eyes are golden with crescent shaped irises. Her breasts are as big as A cups. Her body is lean but got pronounced hips. Her phylactery located under her ribcage got a golden color. Her height is about one and a half meters. Her overall beauty is super natural.

Race: Lesser Lich (Holy) LV.1

Class: Slave LV.1

Titles: Slave of Izumi

Blessings and skills:

Photographic Memory (Reading): Allows the user to perfectly remember written words and pictures from books, scrolls and papers.

Blessed Undead: The user is not affected by anti-undead spells and project a aura of courage instead of fear.

Possible Evolutions:

Lich (Holy): The normal form of Lesser Lich. Normally a evil deed is required in order to become a proper lich, but holy liches can evolve as soon as they have gathered enough magical energy. Notable features of liches is that by using magical power they can instantly kill a target by just touching them. Holy liches reverse the process and instead heal or revive their target.

This shit reads like straight out of a fucking video game. Are you shitting me, god? Also it is pretty damn verbose of me being enslaved to Izumi, fucking piece of shit screen. I lost it at this point and became angry.

”Hey, calm down now.”

And with that said by Izumi I yet again felt calmed.

”I know you are upset, but trust me. I will treat you like a princess, my other girls are proof of that.”

He looked pretty pleased with himself. How much ego does this jerk have? And by princess he means putting me in sexy clothes and then have his way with me? Izumi truly have skewed his way of looking at people.

”But first things first, I will require you to change your class to Cleric. Slave class is no good because we are going on adventure today.”

Say what, Izumi?

”Come again?”

”An adventure! Exploration, fighting monsters and gathering fat loot! That is life!”

He eccentrically performed a fist pump as he explained his love for adventuring. Me on the other hand who got a small stature was no happy in the slightest. But oh well, this damn slave collar prevents me from disobeying my master. Not like I got any choice.

After breakfast I was ordered to memorize every book he bought. It was everything from magical spells, maps to random trivia in the area we were gonna explore in. I wonder what the hell we need to know the trivia for!? Amazingly I remember everything I read and saw in the books, his appraisal power did not lie after all. When I think of it I mentally have a library in my hand from which I practically can browse the books in. Very convenient power after all. Also one of the books was how to do a class change to Cleric. It was trivial to do because the requirements were easy. He took me to the local shrine where I picked a patron god.

In this kingdom which Izumi lives in there are a dozen gods, of where there are a few over gods which command over the lesser gods. The god I chose as my patron is Mistral, the Keeper of Knowledge. Why? Because she is relevant to my powers and I always has been one for reading books.

There I recited a prayer and with a holy light shining on me I became a level 1 Cleric. Only other requirement would be to silently pray to my patron god once a day, unless extreme circumstances happened which made it impossible to even silently pray.

As a level 1 Cleric I got a dozen useful cantrips for every day use and the ability to cure light wounds. Also I got proficent in using the holy weapon of my patron; The quarterstaff. Many perks of serving a god I guess.

”Alright, now that you are a cleric. Let’s go get the girls and prepare for adventure!”

From the sound of Izumi it looks like he enjoying adventuring a lot. My master is a quite the dork when it comes to adventuring. Seems like it was fate for me to become a servant of the gods, how ironic. Because I hate the god which put me in this situation.

When we got back from our business, everyone started gearing up. And because I am an utter newbie at adventuring the girls helped me getting ready. But because of my small frame and low strength I only had to carry my own gear. In the end I put on my clothes he bought from the shop yesterday. Then I equipped a belt containing differently colored potions and it also had a pouch for herbs. Also for my magic quarterstaff I put it in a holster on the back. And like everyone else I equipped a dagger on my hip. A backup weapon is always useful I guess. Do not know the full power of my claws yet. For practical reasons I braided my hair so it would not get in the way. Good thing that my hair do not seem to take damage from anything.

The other girls looked completely different now than from when I met them before. Nyaya the catgirl looked like complete Rogue now. The breast beast of an elf looked like a Sorcerer and the muscular tall girl with horns looked like a Barbarian. And to top it off me, who look like death itself is a scantily clad girl. Finally, Izumi the hero himself. Looked like a proper Fighter now.

”Alright, let’s be off then! Towards the ancient ruins of the Karantian civilization!”

Izumi cried out in happiness, his girls beside me cheered. Guess I’m quite the party pooper. And before we left the house he slapped my butt and laughed. I made a shocked expression and gave him a evil glare.

[Class: Cleric (Mistral) LV.1]

Description: By upholding faith to their patron god they will get relevant powers from them. As long as they do not breach the rules of their god they can do whatever they please. Most gods are indifferent to the affairs of mortals. Even extremely evil people can benefit from good aligned gods.

Skills:

Cantrips: Every day life spells mostly. Contain a few low damaging spells as well.

Light Cure: One use seals up wounds like gashes and sprained limbs easily. Require multiplie uses in order to heal more serious wounds.

Lesser Antidote: Potent enough to remove poison from common snakes and insects.

Lesser Smite: A ranged spell which is akin to hitting someone hard with a club. Does bonus damage to undead.

Instill Courage: Removes fear and bolster their mental defenses against fear.

Appraise (Mistral): This allows the caster to appraise themselves. According to the godess Mistral it is important to self reflect.

After spending most of the day traveling by carriage, we arrived to a village which is about three days by foot away from the ancient Karantian ruins. The tallest ruin could even be seen from the village which made the location ominous.

During the trip we passed the time by telling stories and doing more intimate things like cuddling. I was the body pillow whether I wanted it or not. First it was Izumi who hugged me, but then I got passed around the other girls. I was and looked annoyed the entire time but they all thought it was cute. Idiots!

Once we arrived Izumi immediatly rented a room at the local inn, obviously he picked a room with a double bed. Womanizers like him would never pass the chance to make love to their women. If he tries anything funny with me I will refuse as hard as I can! After we got a room booked we finally got to have something to eat other than stale bread and meat jerky.

”Oi, Lotus. You look a bit down.”

Izumi asked and looked genuinely worried of me.

”...It’s nothing.”

I ate my soup and avoided eye contact with him. Was not in mood for whatever was going to happen tonight.

”Do not lie to me, something heavy is on your mind. I can tell it.”

He then grabbed my shoulder and asked gently. I wonder if it is his old world morals kicking in just for me. I got a bit startled and put my spoon down and looked at him with a long sigh.

”Being a slave is not okay for me... I never asked for this...”

My eyes started to water. It is a feeling I have repressed for several days ever since I became a slave. Just like that my own future was snatched away and I am forced to follow somebody elses future.

”...ever since the day I died and got reborn my life has been nothing but misery!”

I started to sniffle then, the other girls looked very worried about me. They are probably sympathising with what I am going through.

”...And worst of all, I got no free will or say over my own body...”

At that point I started full out crying without any end in sight. All bottled up emotions was released in one go. Izumi looked genuinely saddened about my state. And here I thought he was just a man playing hero and living his life the way he want it.

”There... There...”

He put his cloak on me and comforted me. The girls also got close to comfort me, and we ended up doing a big group hug. The other guests in the inn looked at us as if we as a traveling circus troupe.

”Lotus is sad, bwaaa...” Seris also started crying with me. She must be a delicate person.

”Master is a good person, Lotus.” - Nyaya

”Do not think of master badly, Lotus.” - Nino

After a few minutes of me crying and finally stopping, I felt a lot better. The girls patted my head as I got back to my senses, I think they helped me get over my fate faster. Meanwhile had Izumi went to the bar counter to order an ale, and he sat slumped over it. I wonder if I made him sad too... As soon as I felt good enough to talk, I went over to him. I sat beside him.

”I am sorry if I made you feel bad, master.”

I felt a little bad over making him get such a reaction.

”N- No, it’s okay. During all these years I have lived in this world, I sometimes forget about my old life. You are a big reminder of it. Have my morals been so skewed over these years..? Maybe.

I came here when I was a 15 year old teen, and now I am closing in on 30 years. In my old life I was a loser whom achieved nothing. But here I became a hero forging my own destiny. Achieving a harem of beautiful women which I dearly love. And lastly to never have any wants anymore, only bliss.”

He then looked at me who still had wet tears on my cheeks, he then dried them with his hand and stroked my cheek. I felt strangely better from that simple gesture.

”I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. It is okay. It is the same for all my girls, and they love me for it. Unlike other slave owners I treat my girls with utmost respect.”

Is he talking truth? Or is he just doing this to comfort me? Up to proof tonight then. He then drank the rest of his ale in one swoop and carried me over to the girls. Why is he pampering me so much now? Is it guilt? It is all weird...

”Yay, Lotus is feeling a lot better now!”

Nyaya and the Seris cried out in joy towards me. Then we went to our room and started to ready us for bedtime. I washed my face and changed into my night gown before I went into the big bed. Izumi and the girls already laid in their preferred positions. Only space left was his chest... I got no choice, so I laid down on his chest like a kitten and soon fell asleep.

That night I slept soundly, it was as if a great weight had been lifted from my heart. And true to his word, he did not make any unwanted moves toward me. Quite the change since he first got me. Maybe living with this idiot hero won’t be so bad...

The morning after it was only me and Nyaya in the bed as usual. It seems like everyone else got up early. I noticed one different thing though... Izumi had put his shirt over me as a blanket so I would not get cold.

With a great yawn I also woke up Nyaya who is a heavy sleeper. It took a while but eventually I got that sleepy head up. I washed my body to the best of my ability using lifestyle magic from my vast Cantrip selection. Was quite fun to cast spells for the first time. Then I dragged out Nyaya with me to get breakfast with the others.

”Good morning!”

We greeted eachother as we descended the stairs. On the table there already had been served breakfast foods like egg, bread and soup. No coffee in sight though.

”Izumi... Do you know if coffee is a thing?”

I greedily asked him, because I had a craving for it now.

”I heard it exists down south in the warmer climates like on Earth. But getting it up here is very expensive.”

Damn it. If I will have to become a goddess, I will do it for the sake of coffee. That black liquid was my favorite thing in my previous life. After my boyfriend of course.

”How about I buy some for you, after we are done exploring the ruins? Think of it as a reward!”

My ears twitched and I looked at him with a happy look on my face.

”Keep that face, it suits you~”

And he instantly flirted with me. I blushed a little though. Why do I get feelings for this idiot? I should hate him for enslaving me, yet I can’t fully come to hate him now. Is it because he is nice? These feelings are so stupid and complicated.

It seems everyone is more at ease now since yesterday. Conversing with them is now a lot less stiff and it feels more natural to be in their company. These have been three very eventful days for me. Yesterday I did not know them at all, and now it feels as if I had been with them for years. Is it the power of Izumi being a hero, or am I too trusting?

After breakfast we geared up again and went to the general store in the village to stock up on things like rope and lamp oil. Typical adventurer gear. For me, he bought a lot more books which I could memorize during the travel to the ruins. Not like I will have much to do anyway. It did not take many minutes, and soon we was off into the direction of the ruins.