As Erno closed the door behind us, I took a look at the room.
The walls and floor were completely black, dimly lit by a magic crystal on the ceiling. On the walls were wooden racks with various ominous-looking tools hung on them. A small square wooden table with a rune-covered box and a large rectangular rune-covered wooden table that can fit a person attached with four rune-covered leather straps were also present.
There were also two wooden chairs in the room, and on one of them sat the mistress in her velvet Stola, looking as stunning as ever and looking straight at me with her dazzling sky-blue eyes.
As I looked at the room, a chill ran down my spine.
"What kind of room is this?! Why am I brought here?!"
My fear was not unfounded, as although I have taken an oath about not hurting her, she didn't. I am still her slave, and that is a fact. I still didn't consume the potion, so whatever she does to me now won't harm her in the slightest.
As I was conflicted, Erno walked forward and bowed to the mistress, "Young mistress, I have brought Mog to you as you asked."
"Good work, Erno. My little Mog, come here." - The mistress ordered with a soft tone without diverting her gaze from me.
"Y-Yes, mistress." - Although I was scared of the room, an order is an order, so I could only walk to her.
"Hm? My little Mog, why are you shaking?" - The mistress asked in a concerned and confused tone as she noticed my trembling and pale form.
I couldn't take it anymore, so I asked, "M-Mistress, forgive me for my rudeness, but what is this room? Why was I brought here?"
A look of realization dawned on her face as she started chuckling.
"Hehehe* What? Are you scared because I brought you to this scary room?" - She asked with playfulness in her voice.
"... Yes." - I admitted, although I became less tense.
"Ah, sorry about that, my little Mog. This room is called the little black room. It is, in plain words, a torture chamber." - She said with narrowed eyes.1Yep, it's on the second floor, right next to where the masters of the house sleep.
As her words fell, the fear returned to my eyes as my body shook anew.
"Young mistress, please stop teasing the poor child." - Erno said with concern in his voice.
"Ah, ah, my apologies. Little Mog looked so cute being scared like that, so I couldn't help but tease him." - The mistress said with an uncontrollable smirk on her face.
Despite her glamorous appearance, I found the mistress irritating for the first time since my arrival in this mansion.
"It seems like the mistress has a dark sense of humor." - I concluded as my fear subsided considerably.
The mistress then said, "My little Mog, I brought you here for two reasons. One, because this is the most sealed-off room in the entire mansion apart from my alchemy room. In here, no matter what happens, outsiders won't know. You see, in this mansion, there are eyes and ears of my competitors in the family. Except for the high-ranking servants, my future eight guards, don't trust anyone, even my father's guards. An example of a spy I know about is Borug. He is working for my gay cousin, Acastus, that hypocritical manwhore."
"Hah?! Borug is a spy?! How do you know that?" - I asked, only noticing that I was being rude to the mistress after I said it.
Despite that, my shock was valid. Borug did not seem like a spy at all. He seemed more like an ass-kisser to me.
However, luckily, the mistress ignored my rudeness and replied, as if speaking about the weather, "Oh, that? I poured truth serum and daze potion cocktail while I was fucking his brains out. It loosened his lips considerably. I even learned that Acastus likes getting fucked in the ass by pretty men of all races, and Borug fucked him too once when he came to visit the mansion for a single, fucking, day. And people say I'm the slut. Bunch of hypocrites." - She said in disgust.2Yep, Borug is bisexual.
I was shocked speechless by this.
"People in high society sure are loose..." - I thought to myself as I looked at the mistress.
"So, what is the second reason?" - I asked.
"That." - The mistress pointed at the table with straps on it.
"Er... What exactly is that?" - I hesitated but still asked.
"Oh, just a torture table." - She said plainly.
"And you want me to... get strapped to it?" - I asked with apparent unwillingness in my voice.
Getting strapped to a torture table is never a good sign.
"Yes." - She replied as if it was the most natural thing.
"But why?! What reason could you possibly have to tie me up to a torture table?!" - I asked as I pointed at the torture table.
"Well, it is to prevent you from hurting yourself and allow easier treatment."
"Hah? I don't get it? Can you explain, please?" - I asked in confusion and a sense of foreboding that I did not like.
"Oh, well, let's see... After consuming the potion, there is a very tiny chance that it has some unpredictable side effects."
"... What side effects?" - I asked with my sense of foreboding growing stronger.
"Eh... Well, you can turn comatose, have an epileptic seizure, go berserk, go into estrus, organ failure, clinical death, mutate into a flesh-eating monster, etc..." - She listed.3Originally put getting possessed by a dark god. I removed that.
"... Can we renounce the oath, please? I don't want to die or turn into a flesh-eating monster, thank you." - I asked politely, already feeling regret for agreeing to that oath.
"Request denied. Also, don't worry. The chances of such things happening are slim, less than a thousandth of a chance. I am just taking precautions. Besides, I have the tools to deal with any side effects that come, including you dying or turning into a monster." - She smiled and tried to reassure me, which somewhat helped, if only a bit.
She then made a triumphant pose.
"Besides, the potion was approved by my god, Ximjun, himself. As proof, I received his lesser blessing!" - She said with a smug voice.
"Lord Ximjun blessed you?! Congratulations, mistress!"
I remember that Menvi Kiadunrac, the demigod soothsayer and high-priestess of Emphine, said that it is a rare and exceptional occurrence.
"Is that why you look even more beautiful now?" - I asked with some intended flattery.
"Aw, that's kinda sweet of you, Mog. Yes, that is a side effect of the blessing. Ones that get it can become better in an overall way, with an emphasis on the god's domain. Physical ability, mana, skills, and even talent, all of these can be improved. In any case, I have benefited greatly, and it is all thanks to you!" - She gave a caring smile and approached and gave me a big, tight hug, burying my head in her bountiful chest.
Normally, I would find such a gesture as comfortable. However --
"So soft... Can't breathe... Too tight... It hurts... Help...!"
She held the hug for over half a minute now, and her hug was getting tighter and tighter. She was surprisingly powerful, so I couldn't tilt my head to breathe. Also, her arms were hurting my skull from her sheer strength, and my nose was being crushed against her ribcage. At this rate, I'm either going to be smothered to death or get my nose broken or both.4She has D-rank strength, equal to at least 7 times stronger than the average adult female. To crush the skull, you need to exert a minimum strength of around 520 pounds of force. The average healthy woman can only exert up to around 48-50 pounds in a tight hug, so she can exert around 350-400 pounds of force at maximum, a bit more than the mountain from GOT. She isn't exerting her entire strength, so around 200-250 pounds of force. That said...
I tried patting her back to signal her to let me go, but it appears that my intentions were misinterpreted.
"Aw, I love you too, Mog!" - She said lovingly as her arms tightened even more.
My nose was pressed tightly against her ribcage until --
Crack*
A muffled crack sounded from my nose.5She CAN break his nose. Very scientific.
"Mmmm!!!" - I cried a muffled scream of pain and flailed my hands in desperation.
"Mistress, I think you are killing him..." - Erno hesitantly said godsent words from behind. Thank you.
"Oh, my apologies, Mog! I was so excited that I forgot to control my strength. Oh my! Your nose is bleeding! Are you okay?!" - She hurriedly let me go. I could feel a warm trickle going down my nose.
She then bent down and checked my nose.
"Sorry, Mog. I accidentally cracked your nose, but luckily, it isn't broken. Here, I will help heal it for you." - She said as she fished out a small box from her pouch.
She then opened it and I saw a tar-like substance inside. She then dipped her finger inside and wiped it on my nose. It had a cool sensation.
"This is intermediate-grade bone mending cream. It can help heal cracked and broken bones. Because of your weak strength, I believe it will take you only five minutes to heal with this cream."
"Thank you, mistress." - I thanked in a nasal voice.
Just like she said, the pain in my nose was gradually fading by the moment.
She then took out a napkin and wiped the blood under my nose that managed to drip to my lips and floor.
I have gained newfound respect, as well as fear, of the mistress.
As we waited for my nose to heal, I asked in my nasal voice while pointing at the box, "Is that where the potion is, mistress?"
"Ah, yes. Let me show it to you." - The mistress stood up went to the box covered in runes.
After making some gestures with her hands, the runes on the box shined before it opened, revealing the contents.
The inside of the box was full of glass flasks filled with various materials, creatures, plants, rocks, liquids, etc.
The mistress fished one of the flasks, containing ichor-like dark-sanguine-colored liquid.
The liquid looked like blood mixed with coal dust. Looking closely, I could spot dim flashes of colorful light inside the bottle, as well as dark streaks. It looked both mystical, yet ominous.
"Mistress, is that the potion?" - I asked, with my nasal voice subsiding.
"Yes, it is. This is the downgraded version of the fabled Paragon Potion - The Lesser Paragon Potion!" - She held it carefully as she showed it to me.
As I gazed at the sanguine ichor filling the potion, I had a certain inexplicable feeling. That by drinking this potion, I will gain potential far beyond my current reach, but, at the same time, I will pay a heavy price.
As I looked upon it, I hesitated. I have always trusted my instincts and my father also encouraged me to do so.
"Mistress, are you sure this potion is safe? I feel like something isn't right about it..." - I said with my normal voice while gazing at the potion.
"Nonsense! Are you doubting Ximjun, THE God of Alchemy? I am certain that this potion will work!" - Consentia said confidently.
I hesitated some more while gazing at the potion.
My nose had healed by this point, and all that was left was a small itch where the crack.
After I hesitated for a while, the mistress spoke again.
"If you don't want it, I won't force you. I can give it to someone else, and our oath will cease. You can instead continue and work for me as my high-class servant until you have redeemed yourself. I promise that you won't lead a bad life. It is your choice." - She suggested.
After listening to her, I weighed my options and considered things that a child my age should never be forced to consider.
"If I drink this potion, I might gain an unimaginable potential, enabling me to achieve a meteoric rise, but I will be taking an unknown risk. On the other hand, I have the option of comfortably staying as the mistress's servant, living a life of relative luxury for another 40-50 years before finally being freed at the age of 50-60. By that point, it is estimated I will be a B-rank warrior, and I could do whatever I please with my life, becoming an adventurer, even starting a family. If luck would have it and I awaken my unique skill, I might even reach demigodhood before my lifespan ends."
"However, that is all on the premise that nothing happens to the mistress and I don't suffer an untimely death. I might just get assassinated during the family feuds as a way to get at the mistress or die protecting her while we travel on the roads. I might even suffer from a magical plague and die. Anything is possible."
"Now, I need to decide between two choices - To leave my life to fate or struggle against it. What would my father do?" - I asked myself.
I thought back to the time where I kneeled in front of his deathbed, the time he drew his last breaths.
It was a cold winter night. My father and I huddled together under old woolen sheets to keep warm near the fireplace in the middle of our rundown house. The windows and door have done a poor job at keeping the cold out, however.
I could still vividly remember his grizzled and old face covered in scars and wrinkles, telling untold stories of fights and experiences he had in his life.
With his warm brown eyes filled with white cataracts due to the harshness of time, he looked at me and said with a croaky and wooden voice, the voice of a dying man.
The stench of death was emitted from his mouth, assaulting my senses, but I didn't care as I listened to him.
"Mog. I am going to die soon. Before I go, I need to tell you that I have one regret in this life." - He said, his voice shaky and full of emotions.
"A regret?" - I asked back while holding his calloused and wrinkly hand, tears in the corners of my eyes, knowing full well that my father is on his last ropes.
"Yes, a regret. I once had an opportunity before me. If I had chosen to take it, I could have changed my fate and that of those around me, perhaps leading us to a better future. However, in my cowardice, I rejected this chance. They are now gone, and I lived the bleak life of a thief, thug, and vagabond. I won't ask you to promise me anything, for that would be selfish of me. But, if you are faced with a choice, between grasping your fate, or letting it go through its original course, please choose the option that you think will regret the least. Now, let me rest. I... I need some sleep. Cough* Cough*. Shiel... Shiel... Snore*... Haaah...Snore*...Shiel...Snore*"
After that, he slept while muttering a name I never heard of before. I stayed up all night as I felt his breath leaving him. I continued embracing him even as I felt his originally warm and strong body turn cold, bereft of life.
I sighed and then started to think about my choice.
"What option would I least regret? Not taking a chance of a lifetime with some danger involved? Or on not possibly living a peaceful life for a time, not knowing when my demise will come? I guess there is not much to think about, is there?"
"Alright, I will drink the potion."
I felt that the style in this chapter was different, also Mog seemed unusualy slow on the uptake as well. If you want to play the Mog is scared angle, It needs a bit of a hint at something sinister about the mistress in a previous chapter. So far we have only had Mog's fairly happy exuberance over his new circumstances, none of the downpoints had anything to do with his master. Mog's reaction is a bit wierd, I expect nervous and excited or expectant, not nervous and confused.
Imagine being a kid who was happy, and all of the sudden he was brought to a strange and horrible-looking room. Yeah, I think I would be scared.
@bignt fair enough, I had been thinking of Mog being as excited as I was about the potion and completly trusting of his mistress. I was allways a huge ball of energy as a kid and in Mogs shoes I would probably not been intimidated at all, rather curious and excited, and starting to mess around with th most dangerous of the tourture devices anytime someone got distraacted.
I think most readers will read it as you intended.
So you are going to remove the parts after the @ or those parts have already been edited? Sure there was some repetition in that section of the previous story but it didn't feel unnecessary. It was the last moment in which the mc could back out of the agreement and change his life.
Plus it also helps to show the mc's age at this time. So many stories will have children mcs who do not act there age. They are either geniuses who could do everything by the time they were 10 or edge lords. The fear and second guessing of the mc matches his age very well when introduced to the torture chamber and what might be a side effect of the potion.
I have already removed all the parts after the @ and rewrote them into this.
And thx for the input :)
Edit: Thanks for pointing this out. I checked my author's note and discovered that I wrote a wrong typo there. whoops.
Edit2: I removed that authors note and the @ so that people wont get confused anymore.
@bignt Haha alright I was wondering what was happening. By the chapter thing you had the other day I was expecting a lot of unnecessary repetition but when I read this it felt smooth. What I mean by smooth is more along the lines of the flow of the events. Nothing felt forced in or out of place. It felt like a natural series of events.
Am curious if though if the mc felt slave magic when the mistress hugged him and then gave him a health potion after breaking his nose. Mentioned earlier but that is something the mc should work towards removing.
Just a side question but what happens if a criminal slave's willpower becomes stronger than the master before there time period? That was one of the ways to break it and I am assuming if all goes well with the potion and with his already high will it shouldn't be that big of a thing to break it. Sure the girl is a good mage but she probably can't increase her combat level without push back from the family.
The only other thing I could add with thoughts like that would be the trusting her 8 future guards. Those are the outcasts /throw aways given by other families. Wouldn't say they were loyal to her.
Side note: I wonder if the mindset on gays is the same as ancient Rome. Ancient Rome was fine with gay guys on two conditions. One is that they couldn't be the bottom(Julius Caesar got a lot of crap cause this because of some rumors). The second is that they couldn't do oral but I think this one involves men with either gender partners. Romans put great importance on the mouth and speaking skills, so pleasing another with the mouth was seen as a big taboo. Idk just something she could use against her gay cousin.
@KidBuu699
Mate, your questions are as dense as ever. Please make a list, it's making me dizzy.
Let's start with the crime slave thing. Crime slaves are divided into two main categories of severity.
The first level of crime slaves is the petty crimes slaves, such as thieves and muggers and the like. These kinds of slaves usually get auctioned to the public. Such slaves usually have a right to live, and can't be forced to fight in the arena and the such, but they cant be redeemed by the master as debt slaves and normal slaves can. (As buying a debt slave is essentially buying his debt, and hence him. And normal slaves are property, so you can naturally throw away your property.)
Next are the heavy crime and war crime slaves. These kinds of slaves usually end up in tough manual labor(such as mining), arena matches, experimental subjects, or cannon fodder. Almost all of them die within a few months to a few years, with only a few managing to either escape through some means. In other words, this is a prolonged death sentence.
Now, the slave contract is only a means to an end of carrying out punishment for a criminal slave. For the petty crime slaves, being a slave in and of itself is a humiliating endeavor, as you need to listen to all the orders of the master, and your body is free for their use, whether you like it or not.
It does not matter if you break the contract, as you are still a registered criminal. When such a case happens, there are two choices for you.
1) take an oath to continue serving your master as a slave for the allotted time in front of the temple of the gods and front of three officials. (What most petty crime slaves would pick.)
2) You run away and will be chased down to death by the authorities. (What war-crime slaves would pick, as the former is still a death sentence.)
In the case that a regular slave actually managed to break the contract through his own sheer willpower, he will usually be just set free after an oath to the gods that he won't harm his master. In the case of debt slaves, they still need to work off their debt to their creditor(Their master) or they will have trouble with the authorities.
Now, on to your second question. The eight guards are taking oaths, so no trust issues are needed.
As for the third question, I will segment it into two parts.
Roman approach on gay men - The dominant man from a higher status could penetrate a man from a lower status, but could not be penetrated. giving oral requires you to be penetrated, so it was taboo.
My novel - Yes, there will be the same approach on this subject in this novel. This is why Acastus is even more of a slut than Consentia. He actually let himself be penetrated by a slave! That basically means that he is a bottom!