Master, I need to talk to you.


　It was the night before we returned to Ishqa that the beast girl, Seal, cut in with a terribly thoughtful expression on her face.

　Huh, what's the point of talking - I was about to blurt out something like that, but then I looked at the other person's face and stopped myself.

　Looking at their expressions, it's clear that they are serious. If that's the case, we should also respond seriously. Besides, I had an idea of the content of the 'story' that Seal was talking about.


''By 'story' you mean what you saw on the night of the attack, right?''


　In response to my question, Seal nods his head in response to my question.　

　I'm sure you're right," he said.

　The night of the attack is, of course, the night that Jijinbo attacked.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on. I'm not sure if I've ever been in a position to go out and fight.


　I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but I'm sure it's a good idea.

　And Seal, who was also taking care of me, witnessed the scene.

　Because of the situation, I ate Lunamaria's soul quite forcefully and in large quantities.

　As a result, Lunamaria collapsed and I left her in Seal's care and headed for Jirinbo's side.



　It's natural for Seal to be suspicious of me in this situation. At any rate, Lunamaria had obviously collapsed because of her kiss with me.

　It's a good idea to have a good time with your friends. I had just been woken up by a hint of a heart attacker.

　I'm sure the current Seal wouldn't be convinced if I said to him, "I always kiss Lunamaria when I wake up from sleep.

　If I used my position as master and slave to order the seal to "forget it", the seal would retract his doubts, but from now on, I'm going to increase the number of people other than Lunamaria who are soul-eaters. The likelihood that Seal, who lives in the same house, will see a similar scene is only increasing.

　It's also troublesome to come up with an excuse or order them to forget about it every time they do.



　This time, my origins, the information about my origins, my uncanny ability, and my mind attire were leaked to the Dragnaught family.

　Then there's no point in hiding them from Seal.

　In the first place, Seal and Lunamaria both know my secret that even the duke doesn't know - the person I hold becomes powerful. There's no point in hiding it even more.

　In a way, this time was a good opportunity to reveal the secret.

　The problem is that Seal is afraid of the vampiric ability to eat souls and tries to run away from me - yes, if that happens, then we can free him from slavery and let him return home as originally planned.

　After keeping quiet, of course. And if they don't abide by that, then Seal will simply be deemed an 'enemy' as well.



　While thinking about that, I explained to Seal that it was a good idea.

　Seal nodded with a serious expression on his face and listened to the explanation.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal of information on this.


I'm sure that's what happened. Thank you for telling me.

That's it?

What do you mean "that's it"?

'No, if I do say so myself, it's dangerous to be someone who eats other people's souls, isn't it?　I thought you'd be more like this, scared or frightened.

........squeal?

Wow, I've never heard a questioning scream or anything like that before.


　I look at Seal, who sits down with his head in a deliberate way, and I raise my eyebrows in a figure eight, troubled by the reaction.

　No, well, the fact that Seal can joke around after hearing everything is not a bad result for me.

　Then Seal chuckles and stands up.


'I tried my best to scare you.

'No, I didn't mean to tell you to be scared or anything... but you know what, it's very impressive to see a girl who was tickled and frozen from ear to tail end the first time I met her, to be able to tell a joke.

'I didn't know what kind of person bought me at that time. After that, he would stroke my ears and tail so much that I didn't have time to sleep for days...


　Seal complains that this is why it took so long for the tension to dissipate.

　He looks at me with a vindictive look on his face and I quickly look away.

　Seeing me, Seal smiles happily again.

　And as soon as that laugh disappeared, unexpected words were released from the mouth of the beast girl.


''--Um, wow, I'm going to eat it too, right?

Hmm?


　When I nodded my head to see what he was talking about, he nodded his head at the same angle.


'Isn't that why you're working me out, because you intend to raise the bar and eat?


　I clapped my hands with a pop at that.

　I'm not going to be able to get my hands on any of these things.

　I'm not going to be able to get the best out of it.



　To be frank, it's a misunderstanding. It's only recently that I've learned that my genie has an effect on others. The reason I had Seal in my arms was simply out of lust.

　However, from the perspective of Seal, who knows everything, my series of actions were probably just 'for that purpose'.

　Since I understood that point, I decided to deny it again, but--


Oh, um, I'm always good!


　The beast girl clenched both fists and gingerly crowded in on me.

　I winced.


''What do you mean, you're okay?''

'You can do the same thing with Luna!　I'm ready for it!


　Point-blank range. Serious eyes. Upward glance.

　Ocelot's (bobcat) ears are standing on end, perhaps because of nerves or determination.

　I backed up a little bit, waving my hands from side to side in a hurry.


''No, no, no, it's okay, don't worry about it. I'm not going to force myself to eat Seal's soul.

Not by force, no. I am offering it because I want to be of service to my master.

Nuh-uh.


　Seal's sincere words choked me up in reply.　

　Truth be told, I had a desire (in the soulful sense) to eat Seal. I'm also convinced that it's definitely delicious.

　Not once or twice have I been tempted in that direction, such as when we were spending the night together, or when I was looking closely at a seal that was sleeping soundly after things were over.

　But I've decided that the only people who eat my soul - whether I kill them or hold them - are those who have hostile or harmful intentions towards me.

　You can't eat a seal that doesn't conflict with that.



　--It's true that there is a voice in my heart that whispers, "It's what he says, so I don't mind.



　The source of that voice is the fight with Jijinbo.

　When I cut down that old man, I naturally ate his soul as well. As a result, my level was raised to 9.

　Originally I was level 8 when I came to the capital. From there, I gave Lunamaria a soul and dropped to '7', then I gave Claudia a soul and my level dropped to '5' at once.

　A huge rise from there. Jirinbo alone had raised four levels in one fell swoop, and it was the first time since the Lord of the Flies' nest that he had risen so rapidly.

　At the same time, I had broken the barrier of level 9, which I had never been able to surpass, and the illusion of the 'talent limit' that had been bothering me when I was level 1 had disappeared.

　Let's say I'm happy and satisfied.



　However, there was a problem that I realized once again after this event.

　That's the difficulty in raising my level of performance.

　As I've mentioned many times before, I reached level 8 when I defeated the Gryphon. Since then, I've defeated Banshees, Scylla, War Wolves, and Basilisks, and I've eaten Lunamaria's soul continuously, but my level hasn't gone up.

　This time, he broke that barrier by eating Jijinbo, who was level '73', but naturally, the wall of level '10' was expected to be even thicker than that of '9'.

　If they continued to do things the way they had been doing them, they would never be strong enough.



　There is no guarantee that the opponents that will be dispatched from Onijimbo's place in the future will be able to handle me. I don't have the luxury of taking it easy.

　It's not an easy opponent for Jirinbo to deal with.

　Cijinbo, who was a "magician" in both his mind and body, was a pretty good match for me. If Cijinbo had a different trait, I would have had a much harder time with him.

　In that sense, it was an urgent matter to improve his level.



　From the above, Seal's offer was a crossroads for me.　

　The reason I put a condition on my soul-eating partner is so that he won't become a monster that will fall into the hands of power and forcefully attack others. To be more specific, it's to avoid repeating the mistake I made in the brothel a few days ago.

　If the person being eaten is aware of the situation and says "I can eat you", then there is no need to comply with the initial conditions.

　I pondered for a while, then confirmed it to Seal.


''There's no guarantee that the effects of having your soul eaten won't come out later on, you know?


　A soul eaten by me will recover with time - that's what I've determined, but there's no chance that Miroslav or Lunamaria will suddenly die a sudden death, go insane, or even become a cripple one day.

　The repeated soul-eating could cause a change in their personality and character. There was the case of Miroslav, who disliked me like a snake, but became uncannyly obedient.

　This is a matter common to Lunamaria as well, though to a different degree.



　I told Seal about that too, but no change occurred in the way the beast girl looked at me.

　I'm very glad to see that Seal's decision has come to this point.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of your time in the event that you're in a position to do so.



　As a slave, Seal holds the right to live and die by me. Naturally, that should have a strong influence on this action.

　That means that the words that it's okay to eat a soul were never Seal's free will. There was probably a lot of pressure to do this because it was the same slave, Lunamaria, who was doing it.

　It would indeed be a bad idea to take advantage of those feelings. It's certainly not "forced", but it's just as tacky.

　Nevertheless, it's true that the soul of a seal is attractive.

　So I decided to go through the procedure.



''Alright, if that's the case, then let's free the seal from slavery.

'What?　But that's not....


　I put the words over the seal who says something to me in confusion.


'If I still don't change my mind, I'll feel free to take it then.


　For now, we'll shelve this story until we return to Ishqa - and when I said that, Seal looked a bit miffed, which was unusual.

　Maybe he felt as if his resolve had been tarnished.

　Well, he had put off what he had offered with his resolve, and it was no wonder he was in a bad mood.

　I'm sorry about that, but it hurts my poor conscience to eat the seal now, so please don't let it hurt my poor conscience.


　However, I didn't expect Seal to say something like this. Sooner or later, the sparrow won't say something similar - while thinking about that, I had to struggle to follow up with the seal in a good mood.

　I realize that even a normally calm child, or perhaps because she is normally calm, once she bends her navel, it's hard to do so.

　Fortunately, Seal's grumpiness didn't last long, and by the time we left the capital the next day, he was completely back to his usual self, so I was secretly breathing a sigh of relief.



　By the way, Claudia didn't accompany me on this return trip.

　I'm sure she wanted to go with me, but as you might expect, it's still early days since the attack, and moreover, she's not long after being freed from a year-long curse, so Lord Draugnoth didn't take kindly to the idea of an immediate move.

　Claudia is supposed to wait until she is somewhat settled before she comes to Ishka.



　And so we left the royal capital, which was littered with the scars of the earlier attack, and headed for Ishqa.

　To tell the truth, I expected some contact or interference from the crown prince, who is obsessed with Klaus Solus, and the marquis of Corkia, who is attached to the empire, but it seems that they have no time for that after the incident with Jirinbo, and the return journey was peaceful.

　When I saw the familiar walls of the city after only a few days, I breathed a sigh of relief, which was a sign of my caution.

　I'm glad to have come back without incident - I thought so, but the relief was a bit premature.

　The reason for this is because there was a familiar young man sitting in front of my house with an extremely pissed off face.



　As soon as I saw that young man's face, I reflexively raised my eyebrows and muttered his name.


".........Lars?