Shadow Ruler Chapter 2 Part 2 (Patreon)

I thought I heard the beautiful big sister's voice, but then the big sister's voice quickly became scary.

Then I heard the other big brother and the other big sister's voices, sounding very panicked.

After that, there were a lot of dog noises here and there, and various sounds of things breaking off, falling down, and being crushed.

"Whew!!! That felt good!"

"Right? You cleared the forest in no time at all... Damn... You've got such a short temper...

" Indeed... Someday I'll... I can only see a future where I'm going to be killed by this thing, not by a demon."

"That's... I can't deny it, but I promise I won't tell... We're buddies."

"Anne-chan, shall we have a private talk later?"

"No! I'm sorry! I'll take one meal duty for you, please forgive me!!"

"Well, fine."

"Fuuuh..."

I think I was in a terrible situation.

I think Bird-san called it "chaos"... I don't know what it means, but I didn't think it would be that bad...

"Master, are you all right? Are you hurt?"

Bird-san came over in a panic.

I was sitting on the floor with my head down, but he and Cat-san, who were also worried about me, so I patted them down and told them that I was fine because I escaped from the dog's attack.

"Sorry... I was so caught up in defeating the enemy that I was forced to distance myself from Master... I realized it was too late... I'm really sorry."

"Nyah..."

I continued patting them with the feeling that they had done their best, and it wasn't their fault.

I want to give them a hug, but I'm not strong enough for that, so I'll give them a hug later, okay?

"Are you guys okay?"

A grown man.

He has bright red hair and looks very big and strong, but he has a kind face.

(Nod)

"I see... I'm glad we made it in time..."

"It was a coincidence this time, you know? I just happened to sense it."

big sister, with blue hair down to her shoulders, told me that she had found out about the fight between Bird-san and Cat-san by accident and then rushed over to help me.

She was cheerful.

"Are you sure you're okay? Were you so scared you couldn't speak?"

Said the big brother, with his brown hair tousled.

"Of course, she's so young, after all. Even a low-level adventurer would be in trouble if surrounded by that many dogs, right? It's usually a medium level for just one party to deal with them."

"We're just barely managing..."

The one who worried about me the most was the big sister, with her cream-colored hair that reached to the middle of her back.

"By the way... I know it's a little late for this, but did Crow-san over there, spoke?"

"Yes, I can talk."

"He really did talk! It wasn't just my imagination!"

"And... Thank you so much for your help. You saved me from killing Master."

"Nyah."

"Master, you mean you guys are her contracted beasts?"

"What's a contracted beast?"

"Eh?  A contracted beast is a demon beast that has made a contract with a master to obey the master."

"Oh, so how do you make a contract with a contracted beast? We're only there for the Master, we don't have any kind of contract with her."

"Nyah nyah."

Cat-san nodded in agreement.

"What? Voluntary?"

"Well, yes. I mean, does this little girl look like she can make a contract or something? She's a little girl."

"Oh, uh... Yeah. Okay, let me introduce myself, okay? I'm Lily, and from that side, Dan, Zell, and Anne."

Lily is the one with blue hair who beat the surrounding dogs with water.

Big brother with red hair is Mr. Dan

The big brother with brown hair is Zell.

The big sister with cream-colored hair is Anne.

"So, who are you guys?"

(?)

"Hmm?"

(???)

"Nn~?"

What do they want me to say?

I was tilting my head, and Lily-san tilted her head with me.

I was staring at her for a while, tilting my head.

"Oh my god! She's so cute!"

She suddenly hugged me tightly.

In addition, my face was buried in her boobs, which seemed to be reasonably large, and it was hard to breathe.

I heard that men like this, but enjoying it while risking their lives? What an amazing thing for a man to do.

"Hey! Don't hold her so tight! Master is too weak! You'll break her bones! She will die!"

Bird-san snapped in a panic.

"Sorry, sorry... but you sure are thin... I mean, isn't she too thin?"

"That's what I'm saying..."

"So, what are your names?"

(Shakes sideways)

"Eh?"

"None?"

They all say, "Eh?"

"Me and the cat with the long tail on that side don't have names, and Master doesn't have a name either."

"What? That's weird, isn't it?

"It's not weird. After all, her own parent didn't name her."

A scary aura (I heard it's called "murderous atmosphere") leaked out from Bird-san.

"... I won't tell anyone... Can you tell me what's going on with you guys? This girl is too thin and the amount of injuries... These are abuse marks, right? And these clothes... It's not like she's from the slums or anything, right? You guys are way too organized for that."

"Yeah, we'll swear not to tell anyone else, too."

"Of course we will."

"Hai"

"What about Master?"

Bird-san asked, and I patted him on the head, leaving it to him.

"Alright."

Then Bird-san spoke.

I didn't know the name of the town or my father's name at all, but they went into great detail about my day-to-day life so far, from being the daughter of a lord, to my great escape.

Cat-San also had a lot of supplementary information on her tail.

"Hmmm, that... That's ridiculous..."

"Ah, that's not normal."

"You had a difficult delivery, and you weren't very strong, were you? Your mother..."

"Ah."

"How can that be the fault of the child that was born! And you can't put a false accusation on this child, and still have it be for your own personal gain!

"I think it's going to be okay for now, you know?"

"Does Bird-san have any idea about what's going on?"

"The tough guy who helped us escape from that town told us that he had collected a lot of evidence of their embezzlement and other things, and after he let us escape, he was determined to expose them to the world and have them die socially."

" We don't even know the name of the town. We don't even know the names of the family. And the random transfer magic that they used to move us around... And we have no evidence... The fact that we can't do anything about it is also true... I'll leave it to that person."

"Master's mother said. Words gain power when they hold strong feelings."

"Wow, what a nice mother you have."

"I heard that word is called the spirit of speech, though."

"Is it some kind of special magic?"

"She was a mysterious person in many ways. While she was alive, she was kind to me and the cat, she fed us, and she read to us often."

"... If it were possible, I would have liked to have met her and talked to her."

"Not at all... If that person had lived, Master would have lived a happy life. Alright! I'm done talking about this! Master, let's rest now, shall we? I think we've reached our limit, don't you?"

Bird-san, you know exactly how I feel.

Actually, I am too tired and sleepy.

"But Bird-san, how can you understand this girl's situation...? Even though she doesn't speak and has no expression on her face."

"The reason she is expressionless is that she has never known any happiness, so she has not been able to develop emotions and has pushed them inside. And it's not that she doesn't talk, she can't talk."

".... What do you mean?"

"That damn lord!!! He crushed Master's throat just because she cried too much at night. !!!"

"What?

"Isn't that too much?"

"That's why he's not Master's father! He's a scumbag! I'd kill him myself if I could! That's why Cat and I decided to protect Master together."

"I see... I think I understand how close the three of you are and how much you care about each other."

"So you guys are like her parents."

"Well, yeah. He only brought a glass of water and a small piece of bread that was too hard for her to eat, which was almost the same as fasting, so we brought her nuts, wild vegetables, and medicinal herbs to feed Master. We were sneaking in while trying not to be seen by that guy, into the room where Master was locked up."

"... Even if I wasn't in your shoes, I'd feel the same way as Bird-san..."

"So, where were you headed?"

"We saw what looked like a town over there, so we were heading that way, taking frequent breaks..."

"Oh, yeah, that's the closest town to here. We were on our way to that town, too."