The sound of what seemed like a modern war echoed in one of the corridors of the Dungeon. The shots of guns, the vibration of explosions, and the roar of angry soldiers could be heard loudly in their ears, making the weak in the middle nervous.

People screamed in fear at the presence of the fearsome enemies that besieged them while they endured the increasing need to flee in terror when the giant snakes rushed towards them.

They were only able to resist it because they were all firmly protected by the brave heavy infantry, who blocked the enemy attack with their large shields while the light infantry counterattacked using magical weapons never seen before.

However, the shots from their weapons were too ineffective against those monsters if not at point-blank range, and the mere attempt to fight these creatures hand to hand was suicide and an act that would endanger their formation and the civilians they protected, so they were in a situation where they could only attack effectively with their limited number of grenades that they threw like pebbles.

The best they could do was try to block them and slowly wound them to eventually eliminate them one by one, thinning their numbers as much as they could and keeping them in the hallways, away from the civilians.

However; Things that seemed like they couldn't get any uglier seemed to threaten to get worse when one of the giant snakes began to mutate in some way.

The light faintly surrounded his body after he finished eating the corpse of a Grans soldier, and with a savage jerk of his flesh, several large masses of what looked like tumors emerged from him, weakly pulsating in a disturbing and grotesque manner.

Sensing that the creature might pose a threat, a soldier attempted to harm the mutant monster with his last grenade, however, it was quickly blocked by the tail of another snake, which directed it back in its direction.

With a timely shot, the grenade exploded in the air before reaching the ranks of the soldiers, unleashing a flame that descended on a small number of giant snakes.

The furious screams of the magical beasts could be heard from the pain caused by the heat of the flames, but the soldiers became tense when they noticed that they could not temporarily see the snake that was possibly evolving into something more dangerous. 

But none of them had time to worry about that, as more giant snakes angrily emerged from the flames and struck more viciously at the shields of the heavy infantry. 

Their serpentine hisses sent a chill down the spines of the frightened citizens of Monte Cartus who witnessed how the soldiers endured the attacks of the powerful creatures with clenched teeth as they retreated further and further back with them.

But, in the next moment, many looked in horror as a humanoid creature with demonic arms and a red aura entered the smoke, using its claws to move deftly along the walls of the corridors and climbing to the ceiling with great speed.

The serpentine creature with a more human-like head looked upside down from the ceiling at the frightened prey below who were looking at it with fear on their faces, and smiled wickedly at them.

“Disgusting beast!”

"¡Dieeeee!"

Some soldiers shot at it with ferocious looks in their eyes, but that only served to anger the beast who received no damage as it roared horribly as it broke free and fell towards them.

And no one could do anything to prevent it.

The beast then fell into the midst of the soldiers who reacted late and began to slaughter as many as it could with great speed and skill while the civilians, unable to control themselves any longer, began to forcefully press forward to escape; not caring who was in their midst.

No one had the time to notice that the magical beast only targeted soldiers carrying magical weapons. 

Everyone was simply too busy trying to survive, and in the midst of the chaos after returning to the cave, a poor married couple unfortunately fell to the ground without being able to avoid it; finally being one of the many victims to be trampled mercilessly by the multitude of people who only wanted to live to see another day.

Blood was pouring from both of their bodies, and tragically, they will never get up again….

♦♦♦

"How is the boy?"

"It's ok don't worry. Although my potion does not specifically cure diseases, as you see, his condition has visibly improved compared to before we found him. His heart rate, temperature and breathing are normalized, so it is only a matter of time before he heals on his own.”

“That sounds good…” Priscilla sighed in relief.

“By the way, are we really going to use this old man as a slave…? And how will we do it? I mean, how are they going to convince him that something isn't wrong? Armán until recently was burning with anger, you know? “Arisella asked with a 'Explain to me how you think this will work' look as she pointed to the sleeping Terario.

Lucelle shrugged, “We don't need to make a theater worthy of a star actor…simply, if you feel uncomfortable with Arman's atmosphere, we can say that we saw too much death on the walk or something and as such you don't have much desire to interact with anyone without real need…”

“Is that so? ¿Will you really believe that we found Armán after he failed to protect the civilians under his care or something? That I now solemnly swear with anger and resentment to protect my neighbor and take revenge for the evil that devastated his land while he walks with a cold and deadly aura? “Arisella jokingly said the script of a cheap movie that occurred to him at the time.

“That's a good script!” Lucelle gave him a purge upwards with a smile.

“….”

Arisella narrowed her eyes at him and Lucelle looked away as she said, “….Do you have a better idea?”

The prophetess shook her head while making a difficult expression, “I have nothing for now, but I don't think acting depressed will work either…”

In truth, Arisella did not believe that an intelligent man like that John Miller could be easily fooled by something like that. After all, he was supposed to be a researcher who designed next-generation magical technologies by reverse engineering Human Era technology.

Even if you didn't do it alone, you would still need a lot of intelligence to be able to use ancient technology with principles so different from what they were familiar with and thus be able to successfully make new magical technology.

From what she heard from Armán, Arisella wouldn't be surprised if this man had even created microchips that use Aether to transmit information even more precisely than light computers or something.

Wouldn't someone so smart notice that something is wrong with Armán's eyes? When Arisella expressed that concern, not only Lucelle but also Priscilla and the nearby Maximilian made an uneasy expression.

Even now, when no one was obviously looking at him, Armán was shooting murderous glances at the old dwarf. You would have to be a complete idiot if you didn't notice the hatred that emanated from those terrible yellow eyes that seemed to attack your soul with their flames, and no one here didn't notice it.

Although, Arisella couldn't help but notice that Armán was also secretly looking at Lucelle from time to time, and the Orkus turned away when he seemed about to catch him, but the person in question didn't actually seem to notice at all since the beginning while nursing (?) the sick child in her hands.

I couldn't tell if Lucelle was so dense or pretending not to notice, and if it was the former…How did Merian successfully chase her?

….Was it with sadism?

Anyway, leaving those irrelevant questions aside, Arisella feared that the moment John Miller noticed something was wrong, he would use his Magic against them. Depending on whether his profession is Mage and his rank, the Terario Mage's spellcasting speed could be so fast that they would not react in time to counterattack, and many would die as a result since they were surrounded by their element.

The most vulnerable to that threat being the small children, Tasha and the young human.

While they still had no way of knowing why that man had that boy on his side or why he kept him safe in his little hideout with him, Arisella didn't believe that a man cornered with such crimes would risk ruining his chances of fleeing a possible life in prison just for one child. (The evidence on Armán's space bracelet)

We have to have a way to control it…

When she thought about that while talking about the dangers of the evil dwarf, something like a shock shook Arisella's mind as a memory emerged in her head, and she suddenly went and headed to a corner of the cave while apologizing to Lucelle and Priscilla. .

Specifically, she went to the rock that Armán claims John Mille created with his Earth Magic. The others looked at her curiously as she took out various elements from her space bracelet with a light show and placed them on the rock that served as her temporary table.

She put on the rock was some type of milky white metal, a ball of Tetran thread, an Ether Core and some gems.

People glanced casually at the materials, especially the slightly transparent ball of thread, and some tilted their heads in confusion. Those included Lucelle and Amelia, by the way.

What do you plan to do with all that?

Priscilla then approached Arisella with curiosity and timidly asked her “Umm…Lady Bluen, what are you doing?”

“Oh, just call me Arisella, okay, Priscilla?” Arisella said with a pleasant smile to the pretty 'fairy' next to her. She did not want to miss the opportunity to build a good relationship with a person who could be at the top of the Clergy in the future.

Not for anything else, but because it would be better for her and the people of Taylan if a powerful figure of the Clergy protected them in case the Duke does not want to do so.

The gods will be with me…I hope…

“Oh…yes, Arisella…What are you going to do with all that?”

“I will create a slave collar.”

“…¿E-eh?”

“We need to keep that criminal under control, right? After all we will use him as a slave-that is, combat support, and it would be bad if he is saved from control. And for that, a slave collar capable of keeping him under control will be ideal" Arisella said with a serious expression.

Not wanting to make a comment about why they still insist on saying Battle Support,” Priscilla just forced a smile and asked, “And how… does such a thing work?”

“With Mental Magic”

Priscilla opened and closed her mouth in astonishment to hear her say that in a casual tone.

Are you going to use such difficult Magic to enslave that man? Besides being honestly creepy, how is such a thing even possible?

Mind Magic, as dangerous as it might sound, was nothing more than an unpopular magic, considered useless due to its high Aether requirements and the fact that you have to overcome an object's magic resistance for it to work, and that was just one of its many difficulties.

It took a good command of magic to be able to affect a person's mind, and the worst thing was that its “control” was not as terrifying as one might think. A mage using mind magic could not alter personality and memories, for example.

Furthermore, most users of this Magic were magical beasts, not humans, and can usually only cause mild confusion or feelings of dizziness to their prey along with weak illusions and easily broken hypnotism.

It was useless Magic, no matter how you look at it.

“Can you create an artifact with mind magic? Doesn't that type of Magic have a very high aether cost, in addition to being quite complicated to use due to magic resistance?

“My artifact won't have any problems with Aether, I just need to use some White Iron, Narun Gems, and Tetran Silk to–”

“Tetran Silk!?” Priscilla shouted in surprise, scaring Arisella and the others.

"…What's the matter?"

“Tetran silk….it's Tetran silk…This little thing is Tetran silk…. Lady Bluen is incredible… So luxurious” The Arcantus woman began to ramble as she looked at Arisella with pure admiration in her eyes.

Priscilla wasn't exactly part of high society, but she did hear about the famous magical silk that has become a status symbol among High Rank Nobles and a magical material coveted by many Wizards. A transparent silk that is almost imperceptible if it is just a thin thread, the description she remembered matched perfectly with the thing Arisella had in her hands, so it must be the real thing.

That Arisella had the magic silk that was said to be valuable enough to buy a large palace with just half a Kilo…..It was simply shocking!

And even more incredible, she wanted to use it to try to make an artifact that sounded pretty unlikely to work with casual behavior! She was practically the image of a noble woman who spent her wealth on sudden whims, throwing away gold at will!

The rich are really different….. The little woman wailed as her antennae moved. She already expected Arisella to be very rich considering that even her maid had a very expensive space bracelet, but her wealth was beyond her imagination.

Of course, if Priscilla knew that the Tetran silk that many nobles, wizards, and rich merchants held in high esteem was abundant in Arisella's small hometown, the poor future Saint (?) would faint from fright. She might get up soon after and shout “The Town of Treasures!” with a crazy expression.

Faced with a Priscilla who somehow admired the power of her wealth, Arisella only gave her a strange look as she did not understand her behavior and words.

Because I'm amazing? What does Tetran Silk have to do with my genius? What do you mean by luxurious? And didn't I tell you to call me by my name?

She, who still had a long way to go to learn the value of the Tetran Silk away from her people, wondered for a moment what was going through Priscilla's head before brushing it off for the moment.

He considered it more important to craft the slave collar he had in mind, so he ignored the Arcantus who was looking at him with glowing eyes and proceeded to work.

In the novel [The Revenge of a Professional]; Around the time Jayden was 21, humans would have long since found a way to bypass the physical body's natural magical resistance to allow healing of wounds through Concept Magic, and even manipulation of the body and mind. mind became possible.

All of this was thanks to the discovery of the unique properties of special gems that, when infused with a certain level of Aether, cause the body of a living being within 5 centimeters of them to become unable to control the Aether in the flesh to defend against the intrusion of foreign Aether. In addition to the additional effect of hindering the perception of ether.

It was in that period that the first [Slavery Collars] appeared; artifacts that would begin a new era for the slave business, which effectively managed to become legal throughout the Terran Empire.

Using the power of these magical gems and mental magic, they were able to force a person to obey orders regardless of their magical resistance.

The only limitation would be the will of the slave... for which unpleasant but effective methods had already been developed to break it. Even full-fledged Mages could hardly defend themselves, as they would not be able to use Aether at will without Professional Skills.

Naturally, what Arisella took out were those magical gems with yet undiscovered properties, which she was going to use right now in her little project. They had a beautiful color like lapis lazuli, and there seemed to be small stars inside them, which made them very beautiful.

They were one of the materials he ordered Leonora to bring days before leaving the Bluen Mansion. And these things, which allowed one to ignore the magical resistance of a living being, were a basic requirement to create a magical artifact of that type.

The rest were just white iron that had the property of preventing the Aether from escaping into the environment, in addition to protecting the magical circuits from damage, and finally a Core that will act as hardware for the runic formula.

It was fortunate that Arisella had a few Aether Cores with the Concept of 'Mind' stored away in her mansion's storage just in case she needed them, which made things easier for her. She only had to perform Magical Crafting of hers to build the runic formula of the mind manipulation incantation into the artifact and that was it.

Oh…I mustn't forget to put an enchantment that makes the necklace fit perfectly on her neck so that it's hard to notice!

After all, this will only be used in case he shows us his teeth, so it's better if he doesn't find out that he has an unknown artifact on him that controls him... Anyway it won't be that difficult, I just have to add it to the formula and that's it.

It will be easy to make him follow orders without him easily realizing that he is being ordered in the first place if we combine acting with Mind Magic....But I also have to make sure that he doesn't obey anyone's orders, so I will have to put myself, Armán and Lucelle as the “Masters” for sure…

Arisella made it sound very simple and all, but such a thing was more complex than what was said. However, she knew how to do it because she designed everything about these artifacts in detail in the novel. Even more, she designed the entire magic system of this world herself, so it wasn't that complicated for her.

In that sense, she would have been better off being a magician…

Anyway, Arisella proceeded to quickly create the artifact.

Using her Concept to construct a transmutation spell instantly at the cost of much of her Aether, she manipulated the shape of the White Iron to create a mass of liquid metal, and made the Tetran silk ball and the gems within it as if I was making soup or something.

Under his will, the mass of liquid metal quickly began to take the shape of a necklace. Priscilla's gasps of surprise at the strange sight of her did not break her concentration one bit.

The necklace; Of a beautiful design worthy of an expensive item of jewelry, it had lines that formed runes on its surface, with several of the gems on each of its sides, and in it was a large hole where Arisella would place the small aether core in his hand, which had a cloudy and gray color.

This thing can only allow mind manipulation indirectly through altering brain waves using Aether, but that in itself is terrifying…

In truth, it was doubtful whether that was scientifically accurate, but Arisella in her past life described the principles of Mental Magic that way. Although it didn't really matter if it didn't work that way anyway.

As he finally placed the gray core into the opening, the runes on the necklace glowed faintly before diminishing in intensity and remaining a faint, imperceptible tone. Checking the mechanism that allowed the necklace to be opened and closed, the Prophetess and Master of Magical Crafts nodded in satisfaction as she turned and walked in the direction of the sleeping researcher while Priscilla followed for some reason.

“Lady Bluen, what is that thing for?” Armán approached her and asked while looking at the necklace in confusion. Lucelle also approached, making Armán's body suddenly tense.

“It is a preventive measure against this man. In case you realize something is wrong once he wakes up, we can be sure that he will be obedient as long as he has one of these thanks to mind magic.”

"Eh? And how does that work?” Lucelle asked curiously. She didn't understand how Arisella seemed so confident that Mind Magic would work.

“Oh, I discovered by chance these special gems that Narun called, which even allow a magical artifact to disable magic resistance and aether perception upon contact. Thanks to that, just putting this thing on him will make him have no magical defense whatsoever and Mental Magic will be able to efficiently do the job for us…Oh, and by the way, he can only obey the orders of the three, so don't worry” Arisella said. with a bright smile.

“…..“

Three people looked in amazement at the girl who claimed to have discovered a material that would allow many powers to control people's minds as if it were nothing. If what he says is true, isn't this quite dangerous...?

Wait, we have magic contract scrolls… We could just have everyone sign to keep this a secret and problem solved…. Lucelle suddenly thought of this and relaxed while Armán and Priscilla's minds were still nervous.

Without caring much about their expressions, Arisella went and put the collar on old Terario, who didn't wake up even when she raised his head.

With a clip, the necklace came together and magically glowed, shrinking a little and fitting perfectly around her neck. 

Now he is a slave!

With that, John Miller's fate as Arisella, Lucelle and Armán's slave was officially sealed until the day he is put behind bars.

Although, once again, no one felt sorry for him.