episode_0019

“Ugh..”

As I came to my senses, a faint groan escaped my throat.

I felt like my head was foggy, perhaps because of the aftereffects of fainting.

As I slowly lifted my heavy eyelids, my surroundings began to come into view.

I could hear the sound of water hitting the ground, and the cries of free birds.

“…the sea?”

What came into view was a vast beach and a field of pure white sand adjoining it.

It was a very different environment from my last memory.

‘It was definitely in the forest..?’

As I gradually regained consciousness, I slowly tried to recall my memories from before I lost consciousness.

As I struggled to break free from Athena’s bonds, her hands came up over my head. I lost consciousness shortly thereafter.

Looking back on the circumstances, I could tell that she had been the one who had done it.

But what. Actually, I didn’t think I could beat her from the start.

‘Even the protagonist in the latter half of the novel is no match for me, so what can I do?’

To deal with her, you’ll probably have to bring in the Demon King.

I tried to move my body to clear my mind of meaningless thoughts and understand the situation.

“Huh?”

My body doesn’t move at all.

I looked around to check my appearance.

My arms were stretched out to the side, my knees were on the sand, and a golden mana surrounded me as if it was binding me.

“Hey..!”

No matter how much strength I exerted, the golden mana did not move at all.

As I finally gave up trying to get out, a voice was heard from one direction.

“What happened?”

I followed the voice and found her.

Her appearance as she stood tall resembled the sun shining brightly in the sky.

“Athena…”

She came towards me and placed her hand on my forehead.

“Is there anything that hurts? I took a look, but still.”

Who made me like this?

I was starting to get annoyed by her shameless words.

“Is that what you’re talking about?”

When I looked at her sharply, she stroked my head as if she thought I was cute.

I tried to shake my head as much as I could to get her hand off, but her mana holding me prevented me from putting up any resistance.

“Phehe.. This is going to be hard to pull off. It’s a spell that was made with a lot of care. It’s a lot stronger than you think?”

“Where is this place?”

It was a beautiful beach, like something out of a movie, but maybe it just didn’t fit the current situation. It felt so out of place to me.

“The place I was at before felt too stuffy. So I changed the scenery to a more open place. Do you like it?”

I liked it and wanted to ask why on earth he was doing this to me.

But I don’t think she’ll give me a proper answer. I decided to just get to the point.

“..What do you plan to do with me?”

“Are you curious why I tied you up?”

I silently agreed with Athena’s words. She nodded and asked me again.

“Hera. Do you know what a master-slave contract is?”

“Subject…contract?”

“Yes. It is a contract that proves that the servant will follow the master forever and gives the master the slave’s leash. ”

I don’t know. Such magic is never explained in the novels.

There have been a few characters that appear as slaves, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a master-servant contract.

Athena, who understood the meaning of my silence, continued speaking.

“I don’t know. Anyway, there’s one condition to fulfilling this contract?”

She spoke, caressing my cheek as if she were handling a precious treasure.

“A contract can be concluded normally only with mutual consent.”

“Then you can’t do it with me. I have no intention of becoming your slave.”

I smiled bitterly at her.

Athena seemed to have anticipated my answer to some extent, as she lightly ignored my words.

“Then what do you think would happen if a contract was executed without mutual consent?”

What if I start a contract without consent?

‘Wouldn’t it just be invalidated?’

But her tone seemed to say that wasn’t the case.

“..What happens?”

She made a gesture with her hand that made something pop, with a dark, sunken expression.

“My heart is bursting and I’m dying.”

“What?”

I got chills when she said such cruel things so casually.

My heart is exploding and I’m dying. Are you trying to scare me?

“Each person’s body has mana naturally accumulated over the years.”

She came to me, who was unable to move, and gently stroked my stomach while continuing to talk to herself.

“When making a master-servant contract, the master processes his own mana appropriately and puts it into the servant’s body. Then, the servant accepts the mana that entered his body as part of himself.”

“If the master and his mana become one, the master can control the servant at any time using his magic power. But what if the servant rejects the mana that has entered his body?”

He asked me, but there was no way I could answer.

She laughed and said, clapping her hands together.

“Just like cells fight germs that enter the body. Your mana and the external mana start to clash with each other. If your mana is higher than the external mana, there is no problem. But if it is the other way around…”

“What if it’s the opposite?”

“The external mana will eventually burst your heart.”

“Ugh..”

It was scary. My heart was going to burst. I never wanted to experience something like that.

For me, who suffered from even a simple cold, this was something beyond my imagination.

“Are you trying to kill me..?”

When I spoke to her in a slightly timid voice, she blushed slightly and smiled brightly.

“Oh my gosh. You’re so cute, Hera!”

She said, stroking my hair as if tousling it.

“Don’t worry. I’m not like other people. I can make sure you never die. But…”

The smile began to fade from her face.

The friendly look was gone, and a somewhat oppressive look was cast over his face.

“It’s going to hurt so bad I could die.”

“Wait…huh?!”

Athena opened my mouth in an instant and put her hand in.

Then he stuck his finger down my throat.

“Ugh?!…Ugh..Ouch..”

A nausea started to rise in my throat, but I suppressed it and felt something moving through my body.

As soon as her hand was removed from my mouth, a transparent line formed between her hand and my mouth, like a spider web.

“Kellogg..! Hah..! Ugh..”

I panted wildly, trying to regain my lost breath.

After taking a deep breath, my chest slowly began to calm down.

As soon as I came to my senses again, I shouted at Athena.

“What the heck is this!!!!”

When I glared at her as if I was going to kill her, she answered with an even more serious expression on her face.

“I’m so sorry, Hera. I didn’t want you to go through this. I want you that much.”

“You really!! What the heck are you- Huh?!!”

thud

Suddenly, I felt like my heart was falling to the ground.

Something unknown was happening to my body.

‘What…what is it…’

My body gradually became hotter and my chest area started to throbbed.

Soon, the small pain spread out –

“Ugh?!”

An unknown pain that spread throughout my body without me knowing.

It felt like my insides were burning more and more, as if a small fire was spreading widely.

I gritted my teeth and waited for the pain to go away.

As time passed, the pain began to grow in magnitude.

The pain grew and grew, until it felt like my organs were melting in hot lava.

“AAAHHHH!!!!”

As I screamed in agony, Athena grabbed my face with both hands and brought her face in front of mine.

“Hera. This pain will disappear the moment you accept me.”

Athena said something, but I couldn’t hear anything because of the pain that felt like my whole body was going to burst.

“Aaah!!!!!!!”

My heart is pounding and thumping like crazy.

It was a situation where it wouldn’t have been strange if it exploded at any time.

But the pain continued, as if something unknown was wrapping around my heart to keep it from exploding.

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“Ah…”

I don’t even know how much time has passed.

The throat became so sore that it could no longer scream.

Reason had long since disappeared from sight.

‘I…want…to…die…”

As the unbearable pain continued.

My head was screaming at me to just kill me.

Why do I have to go through this pain?

What did I do wrong?

I was just an ordinary person who liked novels?

no.

Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate.

I want to die.

I don’t want to die. Please save me.

Someone..help me please..

My mind is blown.

My thoughts began to become increasingly limited, and I began to yearn only for relief from this terrible suffering.

A single light visible through my blurred vision.

I saw golden eyes shining warmly like the sun.

Athena.

If it’s her.

I really hate it, but if it’s her.

Couldn’t she be the one to get me out of this misery?

slave.

He told me to become his slave.

He’s the one who put me in this hell, but he’s the only person I can rely on now.

I hate her so much I could die, but I feel like if she leaves me now, I’ll never be able to escape this pain.

“I hate it…I hate it…”

Original?

What does the original mean?

The contents of the novel are of no help to me now.

As long as I can get out of here, whatever happens, I don’t care.

Even if I become her slave.

I looked at her as best I could and squeezed out the voice that wouldn’t come out.

“I will…be…slave…please…help…my…feet…”

like that.

“Master…Master…”

Just let out the words.

The pain disappeared in an instant, as if it were a lie.

The pain that was running wild trying to kill me.

In an instant, it transformed into a warm shelter that enveloped me in comfort.

“Ah..?”

As the pain disappeared, the magic that had bound me also disappeared.

As soon as my body fell forward-

“You worked really hard, Hera. This will never happen again.”

She holds me in her arms.

As if he had worked hard, he started to gently pat my back.

In her warm comfort, I.

“Huh…huh…sob…”

I felt relieved to be free from the pain and the anger that had built up until just now. I started to cry in her arms.

The harder I cried, the more tightly Athena hugged me.

Why is that?

I hate it so much that I want to shake it off right now.

Why does her embrace feel so comfortable?