For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

I gently grabbed Carla’s trembling hand and smiled as softly as possible.

“Let’s just stick to what you learned back then for just three months.”

I was confident that if we showed them how she was when I first bought her, no one would suspect a thing.

Carla finally nodded, seeming to understand.

“In that case, it will definitely work as you said, Master. Everyone will think you’re a terrible master.”

“Right? While we’re at it, let’s buy a few meal-replacement pills, too.”

“……”

Carla stared at me in silence. But judging from her moist eyes, slightly parted lips, and drooping shoulders, I had an idea of what she wanted to say.

I lifted Carla’s hand and lightly kissed her slender fingers.

I chuckled at Carla’s bewildered expression.

“Carla, are you dumb?”

“Uh, no? Carla’s not dumb?”

“But it seems like it… Think about it. Why do you think I’m going through all this trouble?”

“… To not look bad in front of Glenchiel?”

“You’re wrong. Ah, also, you can call her Elisha when she’s not around. I’m already doing that, aren’t I?”

There was no need to be cautious when she couldn’t hear us, anyway.

“To be honest, the name Glenchiel is a bit difficult to pronounce. We’ll just have to be careful about it at the Academy.”

“Oh, okay… Then, if it’s not because of Elisha, is there another reason?”

“Of course there is.”

I pointed at Carla, who was fidgeting nervously.

“All this is to make sure you’re not tormented, right? Do you think I’d really just feed you pills instead of food? It’s all a bluff. Thanks to the mana core, you won’t gain weight anyway, so eat secretly in the dormitory later.”

“……!”

Carla stiffened as if struck by lightning, barely managing to exhale.

I chuckled at her expression and took a sip of the water I had prepared earlier.

Thud.

After setting the cup back on the table, Carla, who had finally relaxed from her stiffness, hesitantly asked with a twitching smile.

“Is that really true? Is that the actual reason?”

“Yep. If anyone is going to torment you, it’s going to be me. I don’t intend to let anyone else do it.”

She was entirely mine.

Where else would I, a foreigner in this world, be able to get such a sweet experience?

I had no intention of compromising on this matter.

“Hehe… Hehehehehe…”

What was so good about those possessive words that Carla laughed with an uneasy expression? However, her laughter soon turned to concern.

“Master, I was really pleased with what you said earlier. So much so that I want to record it with a crystal orb and listen to it every night before sleep, even wanting to bury it with me when I die…”

How much did she like it?

As I unconsciously made a mental note of Carla’s newly discovered preferences, she spoke with a worried tone,

“But wouldn’t that jeopardize your reputation, Master?”

“Well, yes, that could happen.”

Even Professor Meikin, who oversaw the entrance exam, had not shown a favorable attitude towards Carla.

But there were probably still upperclassmen or professors who liked Carla.

Even if that weren’t the case, treating Carla like a ‘slave’ in public would be demeaning, to say the least.

Yes. It would be akin to exposing one’s own vulgarity.

Everyone might imagine it, but if you went out and shouted, ‘I masturbate three times a day!’ you’d be considered insane.

People might speculate how I was using Carla now that I’d bought her as a slave, but it was a completely different matter if I openly showed it.

Of course, my reputation would inevitably suffer.

“But that’s all there is to it.”

In this world, slavery was legal, and they were treated not as humans but as objects or livestock.

No one could really hold it against me, no matter how I treated Carla.

“Of course, some people might frown or talk behind our backs. If someone still likes you, Carla, they might politely ask me to go easy on you.”

But no one would dare force me to act differently just because they were uncomfortable. The standing of the Academy in this world wasn’t something a mere noble could touch.

Those with the power to do so were rare, and even they wouldn’t take the risk for such an unprofitable matter.

If there were someone like that, they wouldn’t have even tried to help Carla when she became a slave because she was the daughter of a sociopath.

“Was there anyone like that?”

“…No, there wasn’t.”

Carla shook her head with a somber expression.

It was obvious. Sociopathy was considered an absolute evil in this world, and the Academy taught how to deal with such sociopaths and monsters.

No one would’ve tried to do something for Carla.

“It will be the same this time. If they didn’t stand up for you before, why would they now? Elisha, being unique, is the one who did something just to make you miserable.”

“But Master, you are a commoner. There could be people who will take you lightly and start a dispute, right?”

“Perhaps, but consider this, Carla. If I torment you, most would assume it’s under Elisha’s orders.”

“True. Initially, people might not know, but eventually, they would understand that you’re doing it to demonstrate something to someone.”

“Do you think kids sensitive to status would pick a fight with me while ignoring Elisha’s mood?”

“Ah.”

“Most importantly, what really matters is that by the time I graduate from the Academy, public opinion will mean absolutely nothing to me.”

Reputation only mattered when considering one’s future after graduating from the Academy… By then, the world would be on the brink of either salvation or destruction.

People who graduated from the Academy would also fail to cope properly and die. What help could the current students possibly offer?

What I should focus on was not the reputation among an unspecified majority but only a few potential recruits who would stay with me until the end.

And each of them was burdened with a complicated situation.

In games, these were called individual stories, and like sub-quests, you needed to solve them to increase their favorability.

Take Elisha, for example. She also had a story where her Magic Tower was destroyed, causing her to fall from grace in an instant, and then there was a narrative of helping her rise again.

So, even if my reputation were bad, it wouldn’t be a big problem. At most, it would make my ears a little itchy.

Well, I couldn’t say that part out loud, but…

“Anyway, you understand now, right?”

“Yes, Master. After graduation, you will undoubtedly become a great magician whom no one can belittle! You had it all figured out!”

Carla, who regarded me as a magical genius like her ancestors, understood it in her own way.

While gently stroking Carla’s beaming face with the back of my hand, a question suddenly popped into my mind.

“Carla, speaking of which, there’s something I’m curious about.”

“Yes, Master. What is it?”

“Why does Elisha hate you so much? Did you beat her up when you were young or something?”

In H&A, they showed Elisha’s personality and values but did not disclose her past.

Maybe…?

Carla shook her head vigorously, her platinum blonde hair fluttering in the air.

“What?! No! Not at all! We used to be good friends! Until Elisha started avoiding me one day.”

What followed was fairly typical.

Carla and Elisha often met since they were descendants of a magic family and a successor of a Magic Tower, respectively. They were close, like siblings, in their younger years, but they grew apart as they grew.

The reason lay in their backgrounds.

The Lindelheit family was unmatched in elemental magic, and the Sylvan Magic Tower was considered the pinnacle of elf magic but was still criticized for not surpassing ancient spirit magic.

“The Sylvan Magic Tower always felt inferior to the Lindelheit family, and this sentiment was passed down to Elisha.”

“It’s not that the Sylvan Magic Tower actively discriminated against Elisha. It’s just that Elisha couldn’t help but be conscious of me.”

“That’s normal.”

“Right. In my opinion, Elisha and I were born with similar levels of talent. But our similar levels weren’t enough for her to surpass me.”

It wasn’t a lie, considering Carla’s words. In the latter part of the game, Elisha, who was in her mid-20s, demonstrated prowess enough to join the ranks of Archmages.

“There’s also the matter of our age difference. If Elisha and I have similar talents and make similar efforts, it’s natural that I, who was born four years earlier, would be more skilled, isn’t it?”

Indeed, it was a logical conclusion. But Elisha couldn’t accept this as natural.

“Day by day, her feelings of inferiority grew. Her rival fell before she had the chance to show her true potential, so her emotions were left adrift.”

“Of course, I never asked her directly. These are all my assumptions, but perhaps that’s why she became so warped.”

Now that I’ve thought about Elisha’s story more, I see that she had a strong obsession with being the best.

Not just in magic, but in equipment, furniture, food, connections, everything. She wanted to be the best in every aspect and despaired greatly when reality didn’t match up with that.

Well, in the end, she released her obsession, awakened new traits, and became the greatest mage whose name would be left in history.

As I was sorting out these past memories–

Knock, knock, knock.

The food we had ordered arrived.

“The timing is good. Let’s think about the rest later and eat now.”

“Yes! Is it really okay to order more, Master?”

“Yep. You need to eat a lot to get through the night. We haven’t seen each other in a while, so let’s not end it with just one meal.”

“…Ah.”

Maybe it was because we’d been focused on magic while traveling by carriage these past few days. There was a lot of build-up.

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