Apparently, the durable monsters were resistant to cold and dank environments, and they had no real biological needs other than satisfying their libido, and maybe occasionally breathing. Knocking them out and storing them like abandoned sex dolls wasn't actually harmful to them.
I chose the chair for my seat. Chloe knelt on the floor between my knees. Maddie and Lysander sat on one couch. The slaves were all too nervous to sit on the other couch, electing to kneel on the floor instead.
I clapped my hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay, hi everyone. As you no doubt figured out, you're all sort of my property now… You have six masters, though only four of them are here today."
I pointed out and introduced myself, Chloe, Lysander, and Maddie.
"I'll be honest, I have no idea what to do with you…" I admitted. "We'll figure this out as we go, but expect a bit of an awkward adjustment period."
"Are you keeping us?" asked a cat girl with black hair.
"That's the plan so far, unless it turns out that I'm not able to properly take care of you all," I looked over at Lysander.
"If we fail to please you, will you dispose of us?" asked a wary dark elf in a maid uniform.
"Umm… If I can't take care of you, I might try to sell you to someone who can? I'm not sure. Like I said, this is all a bit sudden. I don't even know most of your names." I stammered feeling awkward.
"We won't kill any of you," Maddie added.
There were a few sighs of relief. Oh… was that what they were worried about?
"Yeah. No killing, no torture. No sexual duties unless you're genuinely willing to serve us that way," I said.
I got a whole bunch of uncomfortable stares. None of the slaves believed me.
"Will you kill us if we do not consent?" asked a nervous high elf girl.
"No, that's sort of… not consenting then. If you don't want to serve us sexually, then we'll give you a different job. Cleaning, labour, cooking, I dunno. Depends on what your skills are." I said.
There was an awkward silence, as the slaves looked around nervously, "I'm only good for eating ass," came a quiet little voice, barely audible, from somewhere in the crowd.
"Okay… we can work with that I guess…" I said, giving a knowing glance at Lysander. Lysander nodded sagely.
"Perhaps we should conduct interviews?" Lysander suggested.
"Yeah, good idea," I agreed. "Also… Lothelea?"
"Yes Mistress?" the dark elf maid piped up.
"Can you help me manage the group? You have experience tending to them, and you've known some of them for a while. I'd like your input."
"Yes Mistress," Lothelea bowed her head to the floor respectfully. "In that case, can we find a barrel?"
I looked at her curiously, "A barrel?"
"An empty one… to place the Barrel Girl inside," she replied.
I just gave her a confused stare. Lothelea looked over her shoulder and craned her neck, searching for someone. "Pardon me Mistress," she said, getting up and walking over to another slave girl.
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This one was a dark elf, unnaturally skinny with tangled and matted white hair that would probably stretch down to her ankles if she was standing. She looked completely feral, like she'd never had a haircut or brushed her hair even once. She was barely visible in the crowd, lying on her side, curled up into a ball, hugging her knees. Her tear-filled eyes were shut firmly, and she was shivering in constant terror.
"This, my most generous Mistress, is Barrel Girl." Lothelea explained.
"Okay…?" I said, a little confused. "Can you maybe explain a little more?"
"She was an experiment performed by a teenage Lord Anthony. He bought a six year old dark elven girl, and stuffed her inside barrel, just to see how she would react to constant sensory deprivation and a confined space. He instructed the maids to feed her once a day, and purify the crap away once per day. Other than that, no interaction at all."
Lothelea stared into my eyes, with ice cold fury, "He then forgot about her for the next thirty years."
"Oh shit…" I groaned.
"My predecessor fed her, and used a runic purify array inscribed on her barrel to clean her. I continued the tradition. Sometimes I tried to talk to her, but I don't think she understands words. Lord Anthony did not give me permission to feed her or take care of her, but he also didn't tell me not to do that. I suspect he wasn't aware of her existence at all. She was kept in the back of the cellar, next to where we stored the wine."
"So now that she's free of that bastard's influence, you want to put her back in a barrel?" I said, making my annoyance clear with my tone.
Lothelea's eyes went wide in terror. She immediately dropped back to her knees and placed her forehead to the floor. "Please! This lowly slave would never dare tell her mistress what to do, though since Mistress has asked her opinion, this slave has shared it. Please forgive the impertinence."
I sighed, and softened my voice, "No, I didn't mean it that way… I meant like… I'd rather not torture her further. The poor girl has clearly been through enough."
"Then giving her a barrel would be a mercy, Mistress," Lothelea said quietly.
"Hey Tyler, imagine you lived your entire life inside a barrel, and that became your entire world. What do you think it would feel like to suddenly be outside that barrel, exposed to the big scary world for the first time? She's like a turtle without a shell," Maddie commented.
I sighed again, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Does the church have any extra barrels lying around?" I asked Lysander. "How much does a barrel cost? Do we need to go find a… what are they called?"
"A cooper," Lysander said helpfully. "I'd suggest buying a new one. A used one might smell unpleasant."
"Okay then… we'll add a barrel to the shopping list. For now, we can toss a blanket on her, I guess. It might help."
Lothelea smiled with relief.
"I need a volunteer," I said raising my hand.
A few slaves looked at each other nervously. Ginny, the ginger haired tabby catgirl raised her paw, giving me a tentatively hopeful gaze.
"Thanks, Ginny. Go upstairs, first door to the left of the upper landing. There's a room with eight small beds, take a blanket from one of those beds and bring it down please."
Ginny smiled with relief that I wasn't ordering her torture, and nodded. "Yes Mistress."
She scampered out of the room and up the stairs. Less than a minute later she came back with a heavy woolen blanket. Lothelea took it from her, and draped it over the shivering barrel girl.
"Okay, anything else I should know right away?" I asked, looking at Lothelea again. She looked around the room thoughtfully.