It was honestly rather bizarre just how… alike most elves looked. Sure it seemed reasonable that they would have fewer genetic variations then shorter lived, elves could live for thousands of years and often went centuries before reproducing. Still, considering the many millennia that elven history stretched across, I would have expected some sort of differences. If humans on different sides of the world had entirely different facial features and differently colored skin, it would make sense for elves to look at least somewhat different.

And yet, looking between my two future cows, it was almost difficult to tell which was which. The two elves were bound side by side with matching restraints, eyes covered with identically enchanted blindfolds and gagged with nearly indistinguishable gags that I’d barely had to customize for eerily identical mouths. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought they were sisters, not strangers born on opposite sides of the world.

On closer inspection, there were a few minor differences. Some were hidden by their restraints, though both had blue eyes Verdan’s had a slight green tinge around the edges while Mistletoe’s were a deeper, nearly crystalline shade. Others were slightly more obvious, Mistletoe was the curvier of the two, her breasts and thighs slightly plumper than Verdan’s more toned figure. Other than that though? They could have been simulacrums or clones and I wouldn’t have known the difference.

I smiled faintly as I slowly walked around the pair, inspecting my work and enjoying the view. Elves looked much better like this, I decided. Without the haughty airs and constant expressions of superiority, it was possible to appreciate the aesthetic appeal in peace. It was just a shame it was Verdan and not a certain other arrogant bitch in the second year’s place. Perhaps someday, I would have a chance to take that monster off the streets, but she would not be nearly as easy a target as this one had been.

My eyes drifted lower and I knelt down to inspect the contraptions carefully positioned over the two elves’ breasts. While I’d been getting Verdan settled, I’d taken the opportunity to attach the milking apparatuses as well. The potion I needed wasn’t quite ready yet, I’d only acquired the last of the needed materials earlier in the week and it would take another two days to brew, but there was no reason not to have everything ready when the time came.

The enchanted mechanism was rather simple. A small glass cup was carefully positioned and secured over each nipple, fully encompassing the areola and secured in place with the same sort of flesh glue I’d used on Rea. Each cup was connected to a tube via a small valve, leading back to a large storage tank I’d crafted that would keep the precious milk from spoiling. Around the base of each cup and positioned in bands around the length of the tube were circles of runes designed to generate a moderately powerful suction for half an hour at a time in three hour increments. I was somewhat skeptical about the timing, I wasn’t an expert but I remembered that the Herder’s only milked their flock twice a day, but it was what Professor Igor had specified in his notes so I would go off of that.

After confirming that the glue had set properly on each cup, I stood up and gestured for Rea to come over. The girl rushed over immediately and I gave her some brief instructions for how to take care of my new captive (avoid messing with the feeding and milking tubes, check if Verdan starts dripping at some point, dust her back every other day just like with Mistletoe, and a few other minor things).

With that taken care of, I turned to study my other captives. I’d taken a much more serious approach to keeping the two of them secure than I had with Rea. Both were still asleep, kept unconscious via a powerful sleeping spell that I renewed every half hour. I’d taken the opportunity to truss them up properly, taking even stricter measures than I had with Miranda back in the day.

I’d also gone ahead and prepared them for long term imprisonment before waking them up. Both were silenced with thick, rubbery gags that I’d fit specifically for them, mouths stretched painfully wide and throats forced open for the feeding tube passing through a small space between their teeth. I’d also added two more tubes down their nostrils, narrow lengths of a flexible yet rigid glass-like substance that would ensure their airways would stay open despite the large gag putting pressure on their airways. Finally, I’d also inserted the same sort of waste disposal items as I’d used on Rea, though these had several additional enchantments that I’d added to help break the two in.

I’d taken some inspiration from manual torture methods used in my home nation before the rise of effective pain spells and truth detection magics. The kings of old, particularly the short lived Bloodsilver dynasty, had been fond of several methods involving the application of caustic alchemical solutions to the victim's genitalia and other sensitive locations. This had been a rather destructive method at the time, but in the modern day alchemists had access to recipes such as the elixir of cold fire, a potion known to elect a sensation much like that of being burned alive, but without any of the hard to heal consequences such an action would normally bring.

It would be interesting to see how effective such a method would be here. If nothing else, it would be much cleaner than the sort of torture I’d employed agaisnt my poor little Miranda. Flaying someone was all well and good, but the blood got everywhere and it was impossible to avoid making a mess.

At the moment, the two were bound, kneeling in side-by-side cages, each just barely large enough to fit them with no room to move around. Their arms were pulled together behind their backs, a series of leather bands forcing their elbows together and ensuring their fingers were unable to so much as twitch. Their legs were similarly bound, then I’d run a wide band between their knees and around behind their backs, forcing them into an uncomfortable crouch with knees digging into the bottoms of their breasts.

It was somewhat overkill, and I fully expected I would end up removing most or all of it over the next two weeks as I slowly ground away at their wills. As long as the collars stayed on, I was fully confident in my abilities to keep them suppressed, even if they somehow escaped the rest of their restraints. As Miranda had told me, I’d noticed that Briella had some minor physical enhancements caused by potions, but it was nothing particularly impressive. She was no elf, not yet at least.

I swallowed heavily as I remembered the frantic fight I’d engaged in just a few hours before. Verdan had been fast, horrifyingly, blindingly fast. If I hadn’t had a dozen contingencies and traps prepared for her ahead of time, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. Each stab and slash of those enchanted knives had drained massive portions of mana from my shield. If not for the multitude of enchanted items attacking her while I hunkered down behind my shield, I would have been dead a dozen times over.

Still, I was mostly satisfied with how the ambush had gone. There had been a few unexpected elements, particularly the presence of Briella’s first year cousin walking with the group. Thankfully, he’d fallen asleep immediately when hit by Miranda’s siren-empowered sleep spell. Since he had just been in the way of a pre prepared ambush and we had taken pains to avoid dealing him any permanent injuries, we hopefully hadn’t broken any academy rules. Still, it had been a stressful few minutes and I’d had to abandon several of my more destructive contingency plans so as not to risk hurting him.

It was very unfortunate that we’d had to leave a living witness of what had happened. He wouldn’t have seen much, but just knowing that the three students had been ambushed by someone who had left him alive was already far more than I was comfortable with anyone knowing. Hopefully a thoroughly soul-bound Briella would be able to convince him that everything was fine. I would have her claim to have escaped from some other student or something similar.

Honestly, I had nearly called the entire thing off when I’d seen him walking with the group. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to signal Miranda to call the attack off in time, since he had only joined the group a few short minutes before we attacked. It would greatly decrease the long-term value of my new slaves, since people would have much more reason to suspect that something had happened to them, but hopefully things would work out anyway. After all, people at Avalon got ambushed and disappeared all the time, right? Sure they didn’t reappear very often, but it wasn’t unheard of.

I sighed. I hated when things didn’t go as planned. Ever since… Well, it didn’t matter. Suffice it to say I didn’t like things progressing in ways I wasn’t prepared for. I had hoped to keep the trio’s disappearance a secret, torturing them into compliance over the two weeks they were in ‘secluded research’ and then let them back into the world with, hopefully, no one the wiser. Now that was going to be impossible. At least one person knew that someone had disappeared them and I had no doubts that the first year would spread the information around as much as he could.

The knowledge that someone had killed or kidnapped three second years but only stunned the first year with them obviously pointed to the perpetrator being a third year. That still left several hundred possible students, but I would have to be very careful about associating with them in public once I let them go.

I sighed again, slumping down onto my bed. Rea crawled up beside me, inclining her head so that her long hair hung down just beside my leg. I smiled faintly and patted her on the head, electing a pleased hum out of the purple-skinned girl. I missed having a pet. My family had once had a dog, a massive, shaggy creature that had dwarfed my own slight frame at the time. Ever since I’d been on my own, I hadn’t really had the opportunity to take care of an animal. There was never enough money, time, or space to go around. Rea? Well, she wasn’t exactly a pet, but I knew she loved me with the unconditional love a dog had for its family. It wasn’t a natural affection, but that didn’t matter. It felt… nice. Warm.

“Now, I want everyone to be very careful here. I know you are all capable mages, but it is still always dangerous to cast new spells, even ones of a lower circle than you are capable of.” The instructor's words were met with nods and a chorus of understanding. Though everyone in the class was capable of second circle magic, their reportuars were highly limited and the backlash from a miscast first-circle spell could still put them into the medical ward for days if they weren’t careful.

“Very well then. I hope that everyone has prepared adequately for today’s lesson. From our discussion, it seems you all understand the theoretical aspects of the spell quite well, but casting it is an entirely different kettle of fish. I will be calling you up here one at a time to attempt the spell. I am here to watch over your attempts, but that is no excuse to not be careful.” He paused, slowly scanning the two rows of seats and meeting each student’s eyes one at a time. “Well, no time to waste. Miss Warbringer, I think we will start with you.”

Daphne slipped out of her seat, hurriedly hiding the book she’d been reading in her lap in the small compartment under her desk. It was somewhat annoying, she was just getting to the good part, but at least she could get this out of the way quickly. Piet Spellsteward typically let his students leave once they’d demonstrated they could cast the spell he was teaching.

She briskly walked up to the front of the classroom, her long skirt fluttering around her legs, and stepped into the specially warded area they used for spell practice. The marked off circle had an impressive set of protective spells built into it, including powerful enchantments that helped reduce the effect of spell backlash. Students were technically forbidden from experimenting with magic outside of such warded and demarcated areas, not that she cared about such things.

The teacher set his papers down on his desk and stepped over to stand just outside the circle’s boundary. “Now, feel free to go as slowly as you need. Shape the mana the way I have taught you, carefully now…”

Without waiting for whatever else the old mage was going to say, Daphne raised her hand palm up in front of her chest and pushed her magic into the necessary configuration. A section of the Direction spell form, along with several tiny slivers of other forms, shaped themselves in the air before rapidly collapsing into a small arrow pointing towards the board. The silvery illusion hovered a few inches above her palm for several seconds before Daphne pulled her hand away, dispelling the magic.

Turning back to look at her teacher, Daphne found him looking back at her disapprovingly. “A reckless attempt, but a successful one. In the future, I expect you to be more careful with such things. You may be inside the protective ward, but magic is no joke young lady. It can and will kill you if you are not careful. Still,” he inclined his head slightly, “that was a very well cast spell. The illusion component felt very stable and the arrow was pointed directly at true-north. Full marks, miss Warbringer. In the future however, I expect you to follow my instructions and not attempt any spellasting before I say you are ready.”

“Thank you sir. I’ll keep that in mind.” Turning away from him, she rolled her eyes as she gathered her things and left the classroom. Behind her, she could hear the teacher slowly coaching one of the useless chits she shared a class with through the elementary spellwork. It wasn’t like it was a hard spell or anything!

She grit her teeth in annoyance as she began the long trek down to the grounds. Who did that ass think he was, telling her what to do. ‘Don’t attempt any spellasting before he said she was ready’ her ass. How was she ever going to progress if she followed the school's painfully slow curriculum. Five years she’d been here now, and they were only just starting to discuss maybe learning about third circle spells. It was infuriating!

Well, hopefully a long walk through the park would help stem the frustration. She didn’t have any more classes today and the weather mages said this would be one of the last warm days of the fall. Descending down the stairs, she nearly ran into a pair of girls laughing together as they looked out one of the wide windows towards the courtyard. She knew the pair of course, they had become something of a sensation when they’d begun publicly courting just a few weeks earlier. That sort of thing was just not done, it was… unnatural, but Adonia’s father was a big deal in the nation’s military so no one had raised a fuss.

She felt a twinge of pain at how happy the duo looked. No matter their odd preferences, it was clear they really did love each other. She envied it, the freedom to be with the person they loved, to share each other’s warmth and brighten each other’s days. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards for her, not anymore.

She’d had something like they did once. Then her stupid older sister had gone and gotten herself killed chasing glory, and suddenly it was her job to pick up the slack. Her sister’s betrothed had suddenly become her betrothed, and she’d had to break it off with the boy she’d thought she would grow old with. Everything had changed since her sister died. Father suddenly paid her much more attention. She had a dozen new tutors and a million new duties to attend to.

Once, maybe she would have enjoyed it. She’d always been jealous of the attention her parents gave to her older sister. Now? She sometimes wished she could go back to the old days. Just… living her life with no duties, no fears of upholding the family Name.

She pushed past the smiling pair, ignoring the blonde’s grunt of pain and the nasty look the other skank shot her. It was their own fault for being in the way, if they didn’t want to get walked through they shouldn’t have blocked off the entire stairwell.

She’d never asked for this, for any of this. Some days, it just felt like one big cosmic joke. Life could be cruel that way. She continued past the pair, wiping away the lone tear that had begun to drip down her nose. Oh Adara, why did you have to go?