Chapter 4: A Proposal of Servitude 【Chapter 2】
Late into the night.
In a room at an inn on the edge of the forest, Claudia, dressed in a loose nightdress, asked Noah, who was sitting on the opposite bed.
“Do you know Adelheid, the witch from five hundred years ago?”
“…The legendary mage, right?”
After using the inn’s bath to wash off the mud and blood, Noah now looked neat in clothes that once belonged to the innkeeper’s child.
His black hair, once wet, was nearly dry, with soft, light curls forming at the ends.
Looking at him like this, Noah’s appearance was indeed refined.
If properly dressed, he could easily convince anyone that he was of noble or royal blood.
However, his obsidian eyes still glared at Claudia like a beast, and a dagger remained in his hand.
“They call her the ‘witch who changed the world’ or the ‘origin of modern magic.’ That’s something everyone knows.”
“Fufu. I see, thank you.”
“…More importantly.”
Pointing the tip of his dagger toward Claudia, Noah glared at her from under his brows.
“Who exactly are you?”
“Me?”
Asked that, Claudia tilted her head slightly.
Then, she exaggeratedly pretended to cry, expressing mock sorrow.
“How cruel, Noah. To forget your benefactor.”
“The one I met in the forest was a tiny kid, around five years old.”
Looking somewhat exasperated, Noah remained on guard.
“—Not an adult like you.”
“Hmm…”
Claudia leaned slightly forward from the bed and looked at herself in the full-length mirror by the wall.
Reflected there was a beautiful girl of about sixteen years old.
Long, slender limbs and a mature appearance.
Her chest was softly full, her waist slenderly curved.
Only her sweet milk-tea-colored hair remained the same as in her child form.
“I actually wanted to make myself look closer to twenty.”
“Make?”
“I rested a little and recovered some magic, so I temporarily took on an adult form. You saw the transformation yourself earlier, didn’t you?”
“…”
That had happened just before they arrived at the village where this inn was located.
“If we both stayed children, the inn wouldn’t have let us stay, right? I never expected you to carry me all the way out of the forest.”
“That’s because you fell asleep without explaining this ‘home’ of yours. You leave out too many details.”
“But I’m explaining it now, aren’t I?”
She shifted slightly, the bed creaking as she sat at its edge.
From the opposite bed, Noah lowered his blade just a little as he spoke.
“You’re not about to say you’re Adelheid herself, are you?”
“Strictly speaking, her reincarnation. In this life, I am Princess Claudia Natalia Brightkreuz of this country. Six years old.”
“…”
His face clearly showed he had no intention of believing her so easily.
But when Claudia smiled sweetly, he put away his dagger with a sulky expression.
“Oh my. You look like you don’t want to believe me, yet you’re already done?”
“Not wanting to believe and being unable to believe are two different things. I don’t want to believe it, but…”
At that moment, a small popping sound came from around Claudia’s chest.
A soft puff of smoke appeared, and when it cleared, she had returned to her six-year-old body.
Sitting neatly on the bed, her feet no longer reaching the floor, Claudia looked small again.
Seeing this, Noah clicked his tongue in irritation.
“…Using magic in such a ridiculous way… I can’t accept it without a damn good reason.”
“You really do understand magic, don’t you?”
Claudia observed Noah with interest.
Inside his body flowed highly pure magic.
Most striking of all was the color of his eyes, which reflected the nature of his magic—so pitch black that even Claudia had never seen anything like it.
“…You’re the reincarnation of the witch Adelheid…”
Noah muttered quietly.
Perhaps acknowledging that Claudia’s mind was older, he continued to address her as “you” in a more formal tone, even after she returned to her child form.
“Then your mind is that of an adult, like before?”
“Fufu, that’s right. You can think of me as an older sister if you like.”
“No thanks.”
After refusing with a thoroughly displeased expression, Noah asked another question.
“…Is there a new slave contract between you and me?”
“It’s a little different. It’s a stronger magic—a servitude contract.”
“Servitude…”
He murmured the word as if tasting its meaning.
“I can feel it… A huge, powerful magic flowing into me—stronger than anything I’ve ever felt… right here.”
Noah pressed a hand against his left chest beneath his white shirt.
“This is your magic, isn’t it?”
“Yes. A servant can use my magic.”
“…”
“You might not like it, but bear with it. Sleep until morning, and once I recover, I’ll undo it.”
At that, Noah spoke with a steady gaze.
“This is fine as it is.”
It was unexpected, and Claudia blinked in surprise.
“Why?”
“Being able to use your magic works in my favor.”
Hearing that, Claudia narrowed her eyes slightly.
It was obvious that Noah had his own circumstances.
A child not even ten years old had been bound by such an archaic slave contract and had tried to die just to escape it.
(It would be nice if those circumstances turned out to be interesting…)
“If a price is required, I’ll pay it.”
Sensing her appraisal, Noah said that.
“Can you? You… no, you—can you really pay a price to me?”
“To you, I must have some kind of value. That’s why you spared me back then.”
“…Fufu!”
Finding it amusing, Claudia let out a soft laugh.
She hopped off the bed and walked up to Noah, looking up at him from below.
“In this life, I only do what I want. If you become my servant, you’ll have to go along with that. Are you really sure?”
“…I’ll obey.”
“You ran away from being a slave. Under me, you might suffer even more. Even so?”
“I’ll obey.”
Looking down at Claudia with those pitch-black eyes, Noah spoke.
“You’re the one who told me to choose how I live, aren’t you?”
(—That doesn’t look like the eyes of a child choosing his own way of life at all, though—)
Claudia smiled like a wicked witch.
“Very well.”
After all, in this life, Claudia had decided to do only what she wanted.
“Then tomorrow, let’s return to my tower.”
“…And what are we going to do there?”
“Let’s see.”
Recalling the face of the uncle who had pushed her from the tower, Claudia answered Noah.
“A thorough cleaning, perhaps.”