Chapter Ten #4
It was impossible to walk back there without more slaves begging for me to buy them, too. Each one was desperate to be owned by a man.
Maybe I’d visit again in the future, but Lupa was all I wanted for now.
I couldn’t afford any other slaves in the first place.
In the back, I took the key the attendant gave me and used it to unlock and open Lupa’s cage.
Lupa crawled out of it before standing up in front of me. Seeing her face so much closer—she really was beautiful. Even though she had a nice face and body, though, there were two large, soft things on her that I couldn’t take my eyes off.
Those fluffy ears.
But before I could enjoy her ears, I reached for her neck to unlock and remove the metal collar around her neck.
“I think girls look great with collars,” I said. “But I think dog collars look better around their necks than these metal collars.”
Lupa, who had been pretty monotone and expressionless up until this point, actually went a little red in her cheeks. “You… want to get me a collar?”
It was time to test my theory.
Canids were supposedly disliked for being disobedient and too clingy.
How much of that was because the men of this world had horrible taste and never treated a dog or wolf girl the way they were born to be treated?
I was starting to get a good grasp on this world—on the world that Seth designed to set someone like me up for success with our shared interests.
That was why I said, “Isn’t it only natural for a master to get his pet a collar?”
Lupa was quick to wrap her arms around me as she buried her face against my chest, her tail rapidly wagging behind her as she silently hugged me.
“Hey, you’re going to break your tail if you wag it that fast,” I said.
“Don’t care,” Lupa replied. “Happy.”
Some of the other slaves who were watching the entire time went—well, rabid.
The kinds of girls who chose to be slaves, especially to get owned by a man, were pretty crazy.
They scratched at their cages like wild animals, banged against them, tried knocking them over—all because they saw Lupa hug me.
Lupa pulled her face away from my chest and, in that moment, I felt a presence like with the hyena in the dungeon.
Killing intent. And it was powerful enough to force every other girl there into submission.
Lupa then looked up at me and said, “I’ll protect you. Master.”
Even though she had that terrifying aura just a few seconds ago, it was impossible for me to see her as anything but a cute, loyal dog when I looked into her eyes. A loyal dog eager to please me.
That meant there was one more thing to test.
Something that all dogs loved.
“Good girl, Lupa,” I said.
Lupa buried her face against my chest again as her tail wagged at seriously insane speeds behind her.
“Sev,” Rosie said, sounding unamused.
“Y-yeah?” I replied.
“Aren’t you way too smooth and unrealistic?”
“I—I’m just doing what comes naturally.”
“So, you’re a natural god tier flirt, huh.”
“Maybe…?”
Rosie sighed before giving Lupa a poke, causing Lupa to turn and look at her. “I’m Rosie, the tank. I’m looking forward to getting to explore dungeons with you.”
Lupa’s eyes drifted toward Rosie’s chest. “Mm.”
“… hey, look people in the eyes when they talk to you.”
Lupa looked into Rosie’s eyes. Then she looked back down at Rosie’s chest.
I couldn’t blame her.
“Master,” Lupa said, “your first wife is big.”
Rosie looked like she didn’t know whether to be upset at getting called big or to be happy by being called the first wife.
“Should I eat more? Do you want me to get bigger? I want to make Master happy.”
“You’re perfect the way you are,” I answered. “Whether you eat more or less, you’ll be perfect.”
“Mm.” Lupa turned to look at Rosie, this time maintaining eye contact. “Let’s eat lots for Master.”
Rosie narrowed her eyes at Lupa. “I don’t know if you’re using that as an excuse to eat… or if you’re actually serious.”
“Both.”
“At least you’re honest.”
“Alright,” I said. “Lets go get some new gear. We’ll probably need to get Lupa some clothes, too. Can you help with that, Rosie?”
“I’ve got some clothes at home she can wear until we take her clothes shopping properly.”
I looked Rosie over and then looked at Lupa.
“… hey,” Rosie said. “They might be baggy, but they’ll still fit her, and they’re better than these scraps she’s wearing.”
“Good point,” I said. “I bet she’d look good in baggy clothes, too. Though, I also want to see you wear some baggy clothes sometime.”
“Why would you want to see a girl in baggy clothes?”
“I mean, it’s cute, isn’t it? Girls look great in loose, baggy clothes… ah. That’s another one of those things that sounds like common sense to me, but… it would be like a girl from my world saying that she likes guys who don’t wear fitting clothes.”
“You have weird tastes.”
Lupa tightened her grip on me to get my attention and said, “I’ll wear whatever Master wants.”
I was too lucky. “First, gear for dungeons. Let’s go before that AoE stun of yours wears off.”
Lupa nodded and switched from hugging me to clinging to my arm, holding it tight against her chest with both of her arms wrapped around it.
Rosie took that as a challenge and ended up clinging to my other arm. “I—I can do that, too,” she said. Then I heard her mumble under her breath, “I can’t let the new girl get ahead of me…”
I seriously was too lucky.
I realized something while we were on our way to Tabitha’s.
Arguably, I was a hypocrite.
I refused to let anyone tell me what I could or couldn’t do. I would never let anyone take my freedom away. Just thinking about someone trying to restrict me in any way pissed me off.
But there I was, walking through the city streets with a girl I just purchased as a slave clinging to my arm.
Yeah, she was a criminal, and she consented to it in the first place, but still. I realized I was supportive of her having her freedom restricted in service of me, but I would never tolerate being in that position myself.
Maybe I was overthinking it. After all, I also refused to ever be bedridden again.
I’d rather kill myself than ever be stuck in a bed again.
But if something happened to Rosie and she was stuck in a bed, I’d be happy to take care of her, and I wouldn’t want her to give up.
I’d let her if she really wanted to, but…
Well, there was a simple solution to this.
“Lupa,” I said.
“Mm. Master?” Lupa replied.
“If you’re ever unhappy with me, you can run away.
And don’t force yourself to do anything that you don’t want to do, even if it’s an order from me.
Alright?” I had no intention of actually treating her like a slave.
The only reason I was interested in a slave at all was because I knew—or well, I thought I would see a familiar face in there.
I never planned on actually treating her like a slave. “You can consider yourself a free—”
Lupa got in front of me with her ears flattened and a sad look in her eyes. “Does… Master not want me?”
“No, no, I do. I just don’t want to restrict you. You’re—”
Lupa clung to my chest while still looking up into my eyes. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Not at all. I’m just trying to tell you—”
“Don’t… throw me away.” Lupa tucked her face against my chest. “Please. I’ll be good. Don’t—”
“Relax,” Rosie said. “This guy is a weirdo with weird standards who says weird things, so it’s easy to misunderstand him, but he’s definitely not going to leave you.”
Lupa turned her head away from my chest to look at Rosie. “Really?”
“Mhm. He’s just trying to make you feel better and to let you know he cares about you. He gets attached really quickly like that.”
Well, I couldn’t deny that.
“Master cares about me?” Lupa asked, looking up at me again.
“I do,” I answered. “Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, but you did keep interrupting me there. Try to let me explain myself next time instead of jump to conclusions, alright?”
“Mm… okay. Sorry.”
“It’s alright. I just want to be a good master to you, alright? You’re a slave in name only. Well, and legally, but I think someone who likes to rob banks doesn’t care about that.”
“What about… a pet? Am I only… Master’s pet in name?”
“Oh, no, I was way more serious about that.”
Lupa’s tail started wagging again as she once again pressed her face against my chest. “Master’s pet.”
Rosie sighed and said, “She’s going to develop bad habits if you spoil her this much.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” I said. “It just means I have to spoil you into getting some, too.”
“You—you’ve already given me some…”
“Not enough.”
“How spoiled do you plan on making me?!”
“Extremely spoiled. I’m going to make it so you can’t even recognize yourself anymore.”
“That’s terrifying!”
“You better look forward to it.”
After the delay caused by flirting, we finished making our way to Tabitha’s shop, sold our latest haul, and bought some simple gear. Rosie was already set, but Lupa and I both got a set of armor, and Lupa also picked out a pair of daggers to use.
The armor set that Lupa and I got was the same since it was cheap, available, and better than nothing. A simple set of leather armor that was protective but still allowed for some nice flexibility. Though, it looked totally different on each of us when we equipped it.
When I equipped it, it made me look kind of like a mix between an archer and a rogue.
It also totally covered me up, not leaving any skin below my neck visible, and the helmet was…
pretty dorky looking. Fortunately, I was able to toggle the visibility of the helmet, so I still got its protection even without it being visible.
Even the setting as a real world allowed for that.