“Eh? Who are you?” I asked, looking at the woman who was pointing at me.

She was very pretty, with curly blond hair, a modest bosom, and a long, pretty dress. Her face was filled with anger and her cheeks were bright red.

“Wh-who am I?” She took a step back. “How dare you act like you don’t even remember me!”

“I seriously have no clue who you are!”

She suddenly blushed, lowering her head as if she was suddenly depressed and touching her fingers together. “You don’t even remember… after violating me in such a matter. It meant nothing to you!”

Why was everyone in the audience suddenly looking at me darkly? I was expecting my girls to take it wrong too, but when I looked at them, they were nodding thoughtfully! Lydia raised her hand and waved to the strange woman.

“Hey, Eliana! I didn’t know you were a noble!”

“Eliana?” I tapped my fingers on my lips and then snapped them. “That’s right! Bathhouse girl!”

“Oh, now you remember!” She said indignantly.

“Well, to be fair, you were wearing… less… before…”

Her cheeks blushed again and she unconsciously covered her chest. “You ghoul! How dare you! Now that we’re here, you must sell me your slaves immediately!

“Huh? Are you still on about that?” I shook my head. “Didn’t you change your mind?”

“Th-that… that was just a lapse in my commitment!” She shook her head, a fearful look for a moment. “However, I won’t let light petting demotivate me any longer!”

“Light petting?”

“Geh… nevermind that! I have the money in my spatial ring. I even have several one-use slave removal spells. Let us do this immediately.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t!” I bowed.

She let out a noise of surprise. “Wh-what? How dare you change your mind all of a sudden!”

“You’re one to talk!”

“Rather… why are you reneging on the deal? You were willing to sell the slaves before?”

“It’s not that I don’t wish for them to be free…” I sighed. “It’s just… we’re in the middle of a competition right now. I still need them fighting alongside me.”

“Hmph! Are you saying they wouldn’t fight beside you if they weren’t your slaves?”

“Something like that.”

I didn’t really want to explain to her that I was a Slave Master and that being my Slave included several status bonuses I didn’t want them to lose. While it was true, I was always worried they’d leave when they didn’t have to fight for me anymore, I was more concerned about them being hurt. After the competition, once I was a lord, I’d be more willing to work on seeing if we could break this curse. At this exact moment, it was a bad time.

“It’s even more reason I must have your slaves immediately!” She declared.

“What? That doesn’t even make sense?” I sighed.

“Since people are making claims on slaves.” A sneering voice caused us both to turn. “That slave of his is truly mine!”

The person who spoke was none other than Lord Tibult, and the person he was pointing at was none other than Lydia. She grabbed my shirt immediately. I could feel her hand shaking in fear. A frown began to form on my face. This might get ugly.