Unruly Summon Chapter 37: Reunion (Patreon)

"A carriage just pulled up outside," said Mary, watching from a window. "Is this who you were expecting?"

"Is it full of priests?" I asked from the dining table, where I'd long since finished breakfast and was simply waiting around, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

The discomfort stemmed from my outfit. I was dressed in my black armour, and it was stiffer than what I'd been wearing during training. It didn't restrict my range of motion, but it did provide a slight resistance, throwing off my movements. Even trying to perform the simple act of grasping my glass of water, I'd missed, knocking the glass over and spilling its contents over the table. With a bit of use, I'd doubtless get used to it, but for now, I'd been left rather clumsy.

Still, I'd rather wear it than the 'outdoor clothes' Mary had come back with yesterday. With laxer monetary constraints, she'd gone a little wild, coming back with an outfit that started with breeches and a waistcoat, and only got worse from there. There was a frock coat. There was a top hat and cane. There was even a cravat, which I suspected Mary had added simply because there was no way in heck I'd be able to tie it myself, forcing me to rely on her to dress me.

Apparently, it was the sort of outfit a lower ranked noble would wear if they felt like going out for a ride on their horse. Thankfully, there hadn't been enough time yesterday or this morning to model it for her, but I rather suspected it was going to feature at some point in my future. I was torn between wanting Mary to recover her free will and terror of what she would do once she did. Combined with her own makeup purchase, I was a little concerned at her broad definition of 'necessities'.

Still, at least my outfits were better than Minoru's. I'd thought the simple white dress she'd been wearing yesterday had been a little short for her, but the miniskirt she was wearing today was so skimpy that it would be more accurately described as a belt. It was accompanied by a tank-top that left her midriff completely exposed. Given that she'd expected her mission to involve seduction, she'd apparently packed nothing but provocative outfits. Not that she seemed to particularly care about the indecency; her bigger concern was the temperate weather, so she'd borrowed a cloak from Wendy to throw over the top, giving her a rather mismatched look.

"It is indeed them," confirmed Christine, who had gone to look out of the window while I was busy having a fashion crisis. "Tony is getting out. Let's depart."

She opened the door, which let in a surprising amount of noise. There seemed to be some amount of shouting coming from the carriage. Tony, halfway between carriage and door, had turned around to see what was going on.

"Is something wrong?" asked Christine, as the pair of us stepped out of the house.

"I don't..." started Tony, but before he could finish, the carriage door burst open. Daniel jumped out, evading a grasping hand from behind, and charged straight at me.

There was a blur, and then he was on the floor, Christine pinning him down.

"Mary!" shouted Glenda, jumping from the carriage in turn. With Christine occupied, I grabbed her as she approached, but she almost seemed not to even notice. "Mary!" she called again, as she struggled against my grip; it obviously hadn't been me either of them were aiming for, but our front door behind me.

Daniel, struggling against Christine on the floor, looked up, flashing me a look of pure hatred. "And you call yourself a hero," he spat.

"What?" I asked, utterly confused.

"Mum? Dad?" asked Mary, leaving the house and sounding just as confused as I was. Or more accurately, as I had been. Those two words were enough to solve my confusion and explain everything about the pair's reaction. They must have spotted her through the window. "Why are you here?"

"Mary!" exclaimed Glenda, taking advantage of my shock to escape my grip, charging at my maid and wrapping her in a tight embrace. "Mary! It's really you! Why are you here?!"

"That's what I just asked," replied Mary, sounding rather nonplussed. Shouldn't a reunion with her parents involve more excitement? For that matter, she had never mentioned her family, except when directly asked. "I'm here because I work here."

"It really is her..." said Daniel from the floor, where he was still pinned. With Mary in his sight, he'd stopped struggling. "Wait! Your collar!" he suddenly gasped, spotting that Mary's neck was bare.

"Master isn't a fan of slavery," said Mary, which, while true, wasn't one of the most internally consistent sentences I'd ever heard.

"She's free, but she hasn't fully recovered from the psychological side effects," I explained.

"You freed her?" asked Glenda, turning to me with tears in her eyes. "So, everything we've done since then... We've been saving so desperately to buy her back... With the bonus we'd been promised if we learnt Miraculum, we might even have managed it one day... But now... I don't know if I should laugh or cry... It was all pointless..."

That certainly explained why the pair had been so desperate to learn the spell.

"Then why are you still here!" exclaimed Daniel, still on the floor. "Why haven't you come home?"

"But Master is here..." she said, tilting her head in confusion.

"Mary, you don't have to stay with me," I reminded her. "That's what freedom means. You have a family. Don't you want to be with them?"

Given her condition, I felt that asking questions like 'why didn't you contact them' would be rather cruel, but having them here in front of her, wouldn't she rather go home?

"No... I'm..." she stammered. "You're my master... I must..."

"What's wrong with her?" asked Daniel. "It's that damn brainwashing, isn't it?! How can they do something so evil?"

"Evil?" asked Minoru, who had joined Wendy in leaving the house to see what the fuss was about.

"No, it's... uh... how do I explain?" I said, unsure what to do.

"If you want to poke that scab, now, with her parents here, would be the perfect time," said Wendy. "Why don't we all give the four of you a few minutes of privacy?"

"I... think that would be for the best, yes," said Tony, backing away.

"Can someone please explain what's going on?" grumbled Minoru, but Wendy pushed her towards the carriage. Christine released Daniel and left to join them.

"Why don't you come in?" I asked, inviting the pair back into our house.

Despite Wendy's assertion, I wasn't convinced that poking the scab was the best option. Mary had specifically asked me not to, so this was, in a way, her choice. But then, so was selling herself in the first place. I wanted to respect her wishes, but I had no idea how to best do that! I also wanted to help her, and Daniel and Glenda were healers, on top of being her parents. Surely they were best placed to help?

Daniel was right about the evil. The best I could do was to tell them and let them decide.

I opened my mouth to speak.

"You're going to tell them, aren't you?" said Mary, sounding terrified but resigned.

I closed my mouth again, then rethought my next words. "Do you want me to? They can help, and I won't be here forever."

"I... I miss the simplicity," she admitted. "It's so much easier to just pretend nothing has changed. I... know I can't keep taking advantage of you forever, but... I'm scared. The moment you say it out loud... I have to admit it really happened..."

"What happened?" begged Daniel. "Please, can't you tell us what's wrong?"

Sometimes, I wondered if this world was worth saving. Yes, these two were concerned now, but they were the ones who had let Mary sell herself in the first place. Had there been any choice? What else could they have done?

"I don't know the details myself, but as far as we could gather, before she was assigned to work for me, she was made to do things that the brainwashing made her happy to do, but that the original 'her' found so abhorrent that she can't admit to herself they happened. She's sort of convinced herself she's still a brainwashed slave, because if she's still brainwashed, she's still happy and content and doesn't need to think for herself. But she does think for herself, and then she gets confused whenever anyone points out the resulting contradictions."

"That's... messed up," said Glenda.

"What can we do?" asked Daniel.

Mary said nothing, staring at her own feet and shaking.

"I have no idea. You're the healers. All I've been able to do is offer friendship and try to treat her normally."

"Just because we're good at white magic doesn't mean we have any idea how to deal with this..." said Daniel.

"Bah! Of course we do," said Glenda, stepping in and wrapping the shaking Mary in a tight hug. "It's okay. We still love you, whether you're free or not, whether you want to live with us or not, even if you don't remember us at all. Please, keep doing whatever makes you happy. That's the most any parent can wish for."

"... Yeah, it's obvious when you put it like that," agreed Daniel. "We're here for you. Whenever you want us, we'll be there. If you don't, we'll pray for you. You don't have to 'get better'. We love you just the way you are. But if anyone takes advantage of you, even if they're a hero, I'm still going to smack them."

I snorted with laughter at the unnecessary addition to the end.

Mary didn't. She burst into tears, and then cried and cried and cried.

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The C ranked slayer James—leader of the rather unimaginatively named party 'James's Posse'—sidestepped the dive of a thrullian bomber—a monstrous, featherless bird that would fly high in the air and dive at its victims—then made a powerful swing with his heavy two-hander as it passed. The blow cleaved the monster in two, but the cut was messy, splashing guts out all over the floor.

"Gross," said Lindy, the party's scout. "I hope you're not expecting me to harvest that mess."

"You really should put more effort into maintaining your equipment," complained Emma, the party's mage. "Your sword's getting a little blunt there."

"It's not my fault that the very first monster we ran into today was an armoured boar!" complained James. "It really did a number on my sword's edge. I'll sharpen it when we're done, and if that's not good enough, lend me some money for some mithril."

"Yeah... A mithril sword that size... Not gonna happen," laughed Susan, the party's healer.

"Hmm..." said Lindy.

"What? You gonna complain too?"

"No, I was just thinking today's encounters have been weird. Not enough of them, for a start. Is there a monster vacation day that someone forgot to tell me about?"

"That's not a thing."

"I know. It's just... odd. And I don't like odd."

"True. The middle of the corrupted lands is not a place where we hope for unexpected events."

"Says the person who insisted on taking that quest," snidely remarked Emma.

"Look, I apologised! I didn't know it was going to turn out like that."

"Quiet," demanded Lindy. "No-one move."

She stooped to the ground, holding an ear against the exposed rock. The rest of the party knew enough not to distract her, watching with concern as she remained perfectly still for thirty seconds.

"... Miasmic flood," she muttered, jumping back to her feet and looking around wildly.

"What?" asked James, despite having heard her perfectly well.

"It's a stampede! Can't tell exactly where from, but it's heading towards us!"

James paled. "Run," he ordered, and the party obeyed.

There was no talk of heroics. No suggestion anyone would stay and hold them off while the others escaped. There was no point. What could one slayer do against a flood?

No, there was no room for heroism in their decisions. Only cold logic. "Lindy. You're the fastest. Run ahead and warn Odimere. We need to stop the the flood before it leaves the corrupted lands."

Lindy accelerated. Alas, there was a marked difference between what was needed and what was possible, and every one of the four knew it. The kingdom's army was defeated, the remains still in the north, yet to return from the war. The slayers of the capital would be out on missions, but even were they all gathered, it was doubtful they'd have the forces to turn back the flood. A large flood had historically required a hero summoning to resolve.

No, however fast she ran, there was no hope of turning it back. Nevertheless, they were the words James chose simply because he couldn't bring himself to say what he really thought. With the corrupted lands having grown so close to the capital already, there was no way it wouldn't be overrun. Lindy was running ahead because evacuation was the only chance the residents of Odimere had.