“So, that is where she went.” The answer I had gone to such effort to acquire, even going so far as to conquer a dungeon to obtain, was that simple. “Miki is in Dioshin.”
“Ah, will Master be leaving?” The witch-woman asked, suddenly grabbing my arm and pressing her chest against it.
“M-Master?” My eyes widened.
“Eh? Who are you calling Master? I’m still the master of this dungeon!” The boy cried out.
“Isn’t the master of my master also my master?” She asked coyly while stroking my chest. “I thought we’d have time to get acquainted with Master.”
“You pervert bastard! Start touching my witch! You can’t have her.” Matty started trying to get between the witch and my arm, pushing her off.
“I’m not trying,” I responded helplessly.
“That only makes it worse!”
The witch’s change of behavior from defensively protecting her charge to laughing mischievously while clinging to me was too fast. I had indeed decided to stop attacking the dungeon, and I had conquered the dungeon, whatever that meant, but wasn’t her loyalty far too cheap? At least I hadn’t named her yet. If I didn’t name her, I didn’t have to take her home. That’s how it worked! I deliberately didn’t think about how happy Selena was to get her name.
While I tried to get the witch off me and Matty through a tantrum, Celeste seemed to be uncharacteristically focused on the party. There wasn’t much being discussed. Miki quickly abandoned her quest down the dungeon. Seeing as the dungeon was barely undead as it was, and only looked like one to try to trick people into staying away, Miki wasn’t that motivated to continue and was easily swayed. I was a bit worried about how we could talk our way into Dioshin, but at least I knew where she was.
“Ahhhh!” Miki was walking to the exit when she suddenly froze, collapsed to the ground, and let out a scream.
The witch, Matty, and I all stopped fighting to look in that direction. The incorporeal animalkin were also quite shocked.
“He-he’s… dead…” She whispered, her eyes staring at nothing.
I lowered my head as I watched this. This must have been the moment our bond was severed. Even death wouldn’t sever bonds with a soul. In the case of a death, as the soul slowly dissolved away, the bonds would also break apart. Based on how the slavers set up the bond, this meant that over a month the slave would either become increasingly ill until they died, compelled to find their new master, or in the case of my bonds, freed.
This kind of sudden destruction of the bond was something only a place like the Illusory Soul Realm could do, but to Miki and the others, they couldn’t be blamed for thinking it meant a more likely event, the destruction of my soul.
“He’s not though…” Celeste whispered tearfully.
She had returned to her normal size and was watching the developing memory with great interest.
“Are you okay?” One of the animalkin men asked, offering her a hand.
“Y-yes…” She stood up shakily, but I could see her suppressing the pain as she took a deep breath.
This was the first time I had seen the event of the bond being cut by their point of view. I could see Miki holding back her tears as she tried to keep from falling apart.
“You don’t need to worry.” The animalkin tried to reassure her. “You’ll be with family soon.”
In a way, this was probably for the best. After having such an emotional blow, going and saving her family would be good for her. With luck, she was still with them. Using her ability to save her family from their illness, I could see them coming to accept her just like Chalm. At least she wasn’t alone. That’s what I was thinking as I watched the memory fade away as they entered the safe room to teleport out of the dungeon.
Then, Celeste spoke up. “Everything those men told her, was a lie!”