“M-m-m-my everything!? What do you mean?”

 

“It means exactly as it sounds like. Give yourself up entirely to me, and I’ll make sure to take care of you, far better than even your mother did~”

 

Seeing the confused and somewhat incredulous look on her face, the smile on my face softened as I reached out my hand and began to stroke her head gently. As I was doing this I began to talk to her once again, saying:

 

“Let me explain it so that you understand. If you give yourself up to me and decide to join me, then you and me will always be together. Unlike your mother that would sometimes leave you behind, or your father who abandoned you both, I will always take you along with me, so that you’ll never find yourself feeling lonely ever again.”

 

“R-really?”

 

“Yes my little half-elf. After all, we have no one else to depend on, you and me. I don’t have anyone in this entire world that I can call my companion. And in your case, it’s just the same. Your mother was murdered by her fellow elves, and your father left behind both you and your mother. You have no one to rely on, like me.”

 

Seeing the connection that had formed between us continue to strengthen, I continued to lay my case to her as I said:

 

“That’s right, it’s just you and me here. Really, you should count yourself lucky that the first person you found was me. Think about, if another one of the elves had come after you, you most likely would have suffered the same fate as your mother, or even worse! As for the humans… well, we can’t really know what they’ll do, but I promise you they wouldn’t plan anything pleasant for a lonely little half-elf. There’s a lot of cruelty in this world, so you should really be grateful that you found someone who won’t make you suffer.”

 

Seeing her nod her head ever so slightly as she agreed subconsciously, the smile on my face deepened as I continued to gently stroke her head, saying:

 

“That’s right, you don’t have to worry about suffering anymore. So long as you’re with me, no one will ever be able to hurt you or force you to go through something painful. You won’t ever have to see something unpleasant. Instead, as long as you’re with me, you’ll even be able to find the happiness that rightfully belonged to you all along. No, together, we’ll be able to find the happiness that rightfully belongs to the two of us!”

 

With the connection between us tangibilizing even further, I continued riding on my momentum, saying:

 

“Together, the two of us can go and explore the world and all its wonders, enjoy ourselves without worrying about anything, experience all the pleasures that this world has to offer. As long as you’re with me, even if you have to serve me, you’ll be more free than you ever were before! Anything that you or I desire, we can attain. Anything you or I want to know, we’ll know. If you want, we could even go look for your dad so that you could find out any answers that you have. Doesn’t all of this sound pleasing to you?”

 

With her eyes beginning to swirl with a mysterious glow, the half-elf who looked as if she was entering a trance answered:

 

“Y-yes, yes It does!“

 

“Then, all you have to do is give yourself up to me. After all, with all the things I’m offering you, all I really ask is that you keep me company. What do you say, will you serve me?”

 

“But… what would I have to do to serve you?”

 

“Hmmm, nothing much really. As I said, so long as you keep me company and follow my rules, you’ll find that you won’t actually have to do anything displeasing. After all, I did promise you that I’d make you happy~”

 

“I-is that so?”

 

“Aha, so what do you say, will you leave this forest with me? Will you join me on my journey so that you’ll never be alone again? Will you stay with me so that we both can attain the happiness that belongs to us? Will you serve me?”

 

Taking a moment to ponder the offer before her, the little half-elf nodded her head firmly as she replied in a clear bell-like voice that hadn’t come out of her mouth at all since I’ve met her as she stated:

 

“Yes! I’ll serve you! So please allow me to accompany you forever!”

 

As soon as the little half-elf finished saying this, the connection between us fully materialized as a notification went off in my head. This time, instead of ignoring it, I looked into my head in order to see what it was trying to inform me off as it read: 

 

{(Ailya Rondestar) Wishes to Become Your Subordinate: [Accept/Decline]}

 

Mentally clicking on the “Accept”, I felt the connection that had been forming between us disappear as it was replaced by a stronger one that felt as if our two souls had been linked together.

 

At the same time that this was happening, the half-elf who apparently was named Ailya, was going through a great transformation of her soul. With my ability allowing me to be able to see what was occurring inside of her, I was able to see the unstable mana inside of her stabilize as her soul began rapidly expanding in its stead.

 

Seeing such a unique sight occurring in front of me, my eyes were completely glued to Ailya as her soul began to encompass the immediate surroundings, dying everything in a resplendent rainbow-colored glow as a mass of energy was released. Then, almost as soon as it had expanded, her soul shrank back into her body. However, her soul was now shining far more brightly than before and, even more importantly, I could feel it ‘resonating’ with my own soul.

 

As this incredible event had come to an end, I turned back to Ailya as I asked her:

 

“D-did you just see that?”

 

Ailya however, simply tilted her head to the side as she adopted a confused look on her face as she replied in a rather sweet voice:

 

“See what?”

 

“Nevermind…”

 

Thinking that it was something that only I could see as a result of my ability, I dropped the matter with her and instead decided that I seriously needed to observe the rest of the notifications inside me. However, as soon as I thought of this, a new notification appeared in my mind, telling me:

 

{Choose Among (Ailya Rondestar)’s Abilities/Skills to Take for Yourself(Limit: 1)

Abilities/Skills to Choose From: [Illuminate I] [Flash I] [Doppelganger X]} 

 

{Grant Abilities/Skills to (Ailya Rondestar) From Your Own(Limit: 1):

Abilities/Skills to Choose From: [Soul Devourer III] [Lord Subordination I]}

 

Seeing this incredible notification, and the fact that there was an unknown ability among the ones that I could offer, I decided to look into my head to see what I had foolishly ignored previously and was left dumbfounded as I read the two important notifications that I had been ignoring… 

 

{You’ve Reached Level 3!}

 

{You’ve Unlocked (Soul Ability)[Lord Subordination I]!}