SLV Chapter 4: Milya's Catalog Entry
SLV Chapter 4: Milya's Catalog Entry
April 12
"Thank you, Milya."
Lin En hopped down from the wooden table and dusted off the sand clinging to his hands, in high spirits.
He glanced over at Milya, who was standing beside the table, and gave her a mild smile as he spoke.
Hearing the words "thank you" directed at her, Milya couldn't believe her own ears.
She stole a quick upward glance at Lin En, then immediately dropped her gaze back to the floor.
"This is what Milya should do... Master."
For a brief moment Milya felt strangely adrift, as though she were still the freewoman she had once been but she was a slave now. How could a slave possibly receive gratitude from her master?
Could it be that she had actually done something wrong, and her master was only saying this to lull her before the punishment began?
The thought surfaced, and a flutter of panic rose in Milya's chest but before she could sink into fear, that large hand found the top of her head once more.
In the sudden chill of the night, the warmth of that hand gave Milya a sense of safety she had not felt in a very long time.
She couldn't help leaning into the touch.
Seeing Milya's flustered expression, Lin En stroked her head and said nothing more.
Milya belonged to this world of slavery. It was only natural that she couldn't accept his ways from the civilized world overnight. No one could develop an entirely new sense of self just from spending a brief stretch of time together, or from exchanging a few words.
To be safe, Lin En moved the large clay urn back in front of the door.
He also grabbed the wooden staff and set it within reach but none of the tension from before remained. Lin En even felt a quiet sense of ease.
That was entirely thanks to the sounds drifting to his ears at intervals, the hum of the sand spirit arrow tower charging, followed by the crack of shattering bone.
"Time to take another proper look at the Slaveowner's Manual."
He opened the manual again and, with a thought, went straight to the final page.
The yellowed pages flew by, and the text of the last page rose into his mind.
[20-Point Settlement: Source Stones ×10, Title Draw ×1]
[Next Settlement Threshold: 50 Points]
"If the 20-point reward is already this good, what will the 50-point reward be?"
The Thrifty Slaveowner title he had just obtained left Lin En feeling quite pleased.
He couldn't help wondering what the 50-point reward might be, and the thought left him itching with curiosity but reaching fifty points in a short time was extremely unlikely.
Buying large numbers of slaves to accumulate enough score would certainly drain his source stones dry.
Unless he managed to find another bargain, someone at least a little stronger than Milya but that was obviously wishful thinking.
He forced the restlessness down and turned the pages back to the beginning.
Milya's catalog entry.
[Slave: Milya]
[Entry No.: 1]
[Age: Adult]
[Binding Progress: 109%]
[Negative Traits: Agonizing Scar (−77), Psychological Trauma from Loss of Mother (−36), Severe Dependency on Security (−7)]
[Positive Traits: Fast Learner (+30), Chaste (+10), Attentive (+3)]
[Special Trait: ? (+100)]
[Overall Score: 23 (+2) = 25 Points]
Hm?
Lin En noticed something odd right away.
The binding progress had broken past one hundred percent?
His eyes moved to the score.
Milya's rating had risen to 25!
And those extra 2 points had come from the 9% that exceeded the cap.
Was it because he hadn't relied entirely on the slave rune's coerced loyalty, but had chosen to treat Milya with kindness instead, that the binding progress had surpassed its upper limit?
And on top of that, it had given a bonus to the original score!
He read through the entry carefully once more.
By the time Lin En had finished taking it all in, a realization settled in his mind.
Buying Milya hadn't merely been a bargain find.
It had been a stroke of extraordinary luck hitting him twice over!
Though Milya's current score was only 23, those negative traits could be removed and the positive traits, with the right guidance, could obviously be increased as well!
If all the negative traits were cleared entirely, Milya's base score would reach a staggering 143.
Factor in the binding bonus and whatever positive traits could still be added, and the ceiling was beyond measure!
The only thing that puzzled him was the special trait listed as "?".
It had added a full hundred points out of nowhere.
As if sensing Lin En's confusion, a line of text appeared in the blank margin to the left of the entry and offered an explanation.
Trait: ?
Description: No one knows what this is, not even Milya herself. But it exists nonetheless, like the pair of eyes beneath the sea of sand...
A chill ran down Lin En's spine.
The description was cryptic enough, but it also felt faintly unsettling.
He turned his attention back to the entry and let the excitement settle.
As for the negative traits, he had no idea how to treat the scar and Milya's mother, if she was still alive, would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
The only trait that seemed solvable for now was Severe Dependency on Security but that alone was nowhere near enough. To reach fifty points, he would also need to add new positive traits.
Which meant he had to teach Milya something new.
But what?
…
Lin En blew out the half-burned candle. In the night of this savage age, lying in bed was the wisest choice.
At the very least it kept him from burning more energy, and kept the thirst from getting worse.
The cold of the night kept his mind sharp enough. He lay there without pause, turning over the question of what to teach Milya.
Whatever it was, it had to be something that could push her score to 50 quickly enough to unlock the next settlement reward.
If he could get that next reward before the blood moon, the spoils he received might see a tremendous leap.
Mathematics?
Physics?
Or perhaps... biology?
None of those felt right for Milya.
Even with the Fast Learner trait confirming she was far from dull, possibly quite clever, none of this could be done in a single leap.
Especially not in an age where even the Pythagorean theorem had yet to appear.
He exhaled a puff of cold breath and pulled the coarse linen blanket tighter around himself.
The thought made him miss his old down duvet, how warm and soft it had been.
Outside, the sand spirit arrow tower kept humming its charge-and-fire rhythm, but Lin En also caught a different sound beneath it, a faint chattering, like teeth knocking together.
A brief spike of alarm rose in his chest, but once he traced the sound to its source, it faded.
It was Milya, shivering in the cold, her teeth clicking together.
He had been so focused that he had completely forgotten about her.
"Milya, come over here. We'll sleep together."
Lin En waved her over from where she was curled up in the corner.
Milya opened her eyes. In the moonlight filtering in from outside, a faint brightness appeared in her gaze.
"Really... Master...?"
"Of course. And from now on, you can always sleep with me under the warm blanket."
"Otherwise you'll definitely freeze to death."
Worried that Milya might be too timid to come, Lin En kept his tone as gentle as he could.
In truth, Milya had no intention of refusing.
Not only because she was truly freezing, so cold that through the haze she could almost see her mother's gentle face but also because after Lin En said those words, disobeying would mean violating not just Slave Rule Two, but Slave Rule Three as well.
Without conflicting with the first or second rule, a slave, as property of the slaveowner, must protect herself.
Desert nights could drop to twenty degrees below zero outside. Even with the wooden walls as a buffer, the inside of the shack would still fall well below freezing.
Recalling his oversight, Lin En added another reminder.
"From now on, even if I forget to tell you, you still have to come to the bed, to where it's warm. Understood?"
"I understand... Master."
In the darkness, Lin En couldn't make out her expression, only feel that small frame slowly drawing closer then, with obvious hesitation, she climbed onto the bed.
To keep Milya from getting cold, Lin En pulled her directly into his arms.
The night deepened. Lin En's breathing steadied, and he sank into sleep but Milya in his arms lay wide awake, her eyes fixed on the brilliant stars visible through the narrow ventilation gap.
"Master really is a kind master..."
A memory of her time in the slave column crept back unbidden, and a flicker of dread stirred in her chest.
Milya quietly pressed herself a little deeper into Lin En's arms.
Only once she was certain she hadn't woken him did she let out a quiet breath of relief.
"If Mother is at the Triumph Festival slave auction..."
"I wonder if Master would be kind enough to buy her."
A small glimmer of hope shone in Milya's eyes.
Feeling the warmth of Lin En's arms, savoring the rare sense of safety this moment held, she slowly let her eyes close and at that same moment, the pages of the Slaveowner's Manual began to turn once more in Lin En's dreaming mind...
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