Side Story: Eris 4

Only a few days later, I found myself sneaking back into that hidden torture room under slightly different circumstances. This time, Anelace Milize was home, and based on the sounds I was able to overhear, the torture room was in active use. As soon as I saw Anelace step out of her private room I immediately rushed in. I wasn’t sure how long she’d be gone, so I needed to be fast.

Why was I sneaking back in? A good question. I was against doing more work than necessary, but Sanson insisted I needed to. After I initially reported what I’d found back to him, I’d assumed the case was closed. Unfortunately, Sanson had different thoughts on the matter. I should also mention that while I told him about what I found, I didn’t bring up that I’d found Rem as well. I figured she was best left forgotten.

While I was investigating the house, Sanson had been looking into what happened to the girls. The natural assumption was that they were all tortured to death, but things didn’t turn out that way.

Sanson managed to locate a few of the victims.

They were perfectly fine. They were living in different sections of the city, under better conditions than they were before. When asked about what happened, most refused to talk. But the ones that did all told the same story. The Saint of Valieris took them to her mansion, but then she immediately sent them away with her bodyguard. They were given a new place to live and told to never return to their old life. Family could be notified, but they weren’t to make a scene.

All things considered, it was a rather odd situation to be placed in; although considering it was coming from a noble, none of the girls put too much thought into it. They just moved on, accepting that things could have been a lot worse. Some of them also expressed happiness at their new lives. They seemed to think that a saint was lifting them out of poverty.

And that wasn’t exactly untrue. Their current living conditions were certainly better than they were before Anelace Milize ‘abducted’ them.

Now Sanson didn’t locate all of the girls, but based on those that he did find, my story of a well used torture room seemed rather unlikely.

That’s why I needed to catch her in the act.

I once again descended down the staircase she didn’t bother hiding and looked around the brightly lit room. Everything looked the same as I’d remembered it, with one exception. The rack designed to slowly pull its victims apart was currently in use.

I was filled with a mixture of emotions. On one hand, I was happy to see her being tortured, but on the other, seeing her now meant things were going to move forward in an annoying direction. I couldn’t help thinking that this whole trip was going to end without us making a single coin.

“Oh, Eris! What a coincidence, seeing you here. Did you need something? I’m a little tied up at the moment, but if you need a hand, just ask. I’m a proper mercenary now, so I’ll gladly assist you. I even figured out how to read. Well, kind of.”

Even while in the middle of being tortured, Rem had the same dumb look on her face. That combined with the fact that she was still wearing an extravagant ball gown made the whole thing seem rather uncanny.

“It looks like you’re the one in need of assistance.”

I didn’t plan on offering any, but I could at least make the observation.

“Me? No, don’t worry about it. I’m beyond glad that you’re concerned about me, but don’t worry. Ane and I have this all under control.”

“That so?”

“Yes indeed.”

“Then would you explain just what exactly is going on?”

“Oh? Taking an interest in me at this stage of the game are you? Well, I hate to say this, but you’re too late. I’m already spoken for. Now, I don’t have anything against a harem situation, but I don’t think Ane would go for it. You’ll have to convince her first. With that in mind, let me just say this now, I’m not into the maid aesthetic.”

I rotated the crank on the side of the device, stretching her body out another few centimeters.

“Haha, you really know the way to a girl’s heart, but you won’t win me over that easily.”

“Start explaining yourself before I lose what little patience I still have.”

“Sure. It’s the idea of forced service that I don’t like. I want you to fawn over me because you want to. If you’re wearing a maid costume it feels like you’re just begrudgingly doing a job. Honestly, I don’t understand why so many people have maid fantasies; the whole thing just seems like a weird power dynamic to me.”

One day I would find a way to kill her.

“Shut up and tell me what happened already. Why are you here? How is any of this even possible?”

“Wait, am I supposed to shut up or tell you what happened?”

“At this point, I’d honestly be happy with either. I’m here to complete a job, but if it means dealing with you any longer I think I’d be happy to fail it.”

“Oh? We’re on a job? Why didn’t you say so sooner. I’ll tell you everything. Ane won’t be back for a while, so we’ll have more than enough time to talk things through. Although don’t be disappointed if nothing interesting happens. Compared to my last trip, this one ended up being rather normal.”