The Primal Hunter

Meira waited in the entrance hall after she had changed her clothes out of the ragged robe and cleaned herself up. She had even set her hair and tried to look as representable as possible for her new master to arrive. Not a single part of her doubted the first impression would be important, so she wanted to look and perform her best.

She knew it would be a good while before he arrived, so she had gone through the mansion. There were seven buildings adjoining to it, including a large lab, two greenhouses, three more residential buildings, and a large warehouse of some sort to be customized by the new owner.

The main mansion was massive with dozens of rooms, three stories not counting the underground, and everything looked incredibly well made. It was like the buildings of the Brimstone Conglomerate and only hammered home that her new master was a person of influence.

Meira had gone through everything in preparation for him to arrive. She had located the meditation chamber, the formation control room, the relaxation rooms, and even the bed-chamber. Considering D-grades no longer needed to sleep, the use of that room was obvious, especially with a bed that large, made to accommodate several people at once.

Once everything had been gone through, she had returned and was now waiting in the entrance hall. It took only an hour more before something happened. At the entrance to the courtyard appeared a single figure wearing black clothes and a mask. She looked through the one-way glass out and the door leading into the mansion as she subtly tried to study him as he also stood still and appeared to observe his new surroundings.

Soon enough, he began walking towards the mansion. Meira had already gone over hundreds of scenarios in her head of how this first meeting would go and felt as prepared as she could when he went through the door and laid eyes on her.

“Welcome, Master.”

She said the words with as much servility as she could, making sure to keep her head low to make it absolutely clear she knew her position.

“Thanks? May I know who you are?”

His answer was unexpected, especially his tone as she felt genuine confusion. His voice also seemed very relaxed and not as intimidating as she had feared. She dared raise her head as she met the admittedly frightening yellow eyes, but she tried to keep her cool as she answered.

What followed was even more confusing as Meira introduced herself, and her new master kept asking probing questions. At first, she began to believe it was a test for her to prove she truly recognized her position, but that became doubtful as he kept sounding so genuinely perplexed.

This wasn’t good. Meira’s new master had clearly not expected her to be there. Meira tried to calm herself down and make it clear she would be useful, but he kept seeming dissatisfied at her presence. If he decided to throw her out…

“Villy, what the fuck is this?” he suddenly said, as an aura of bloodlust poured out, making Meira shiver. Who was this Villy? What was-

Then suddenly, she felt something else. Like the entire world stood still, and an utterly oppressive aura appeared. Every fiber of her being cried out as she shivered, her mind unable to comprehend what exactly was happening. Yet she still knew… instinctively she knew, after spending so long within the Order, seeing the statues, and being bathed in their aura:

It was the Malefic One.

Her mind was jumbled as she couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Meira’s psyche was in disarray as the aura weighed down on her, and she felt herself slip in and out of consciousness, but she was mercilessly forcefully awakened again and again. She felt like death was upon her, tears streaming down her face as she wasn’t even able to open her mouth to beg for merc-

“Relax that fucking presence, man, look at her!”

Meira barely registered the voice of her new master, but it shocked her nearly as much as the appearance of the Primordial. How could he… how did he-

“Fine, fine. Geez.”

were spoken, the presence crushing her subsided as suddenly it was like the god had never been there. She almost wondered if he had

me… why the fuck do I suddenly own a

you could die at any point, the aura she was currently feeling made her think she would be killed at any moment by something just as scary as any diety. It seemed the same on the surface but was vastly different. Her mind was barely able to comprehend that the bloodlust was partly directed at

you are doing!” the Malefic One

what was happening, but

about that,” her new master said as she suddenly felt herself be helped up. Meira looked up and saw the scaled figure

she felt herself sit

the-“ the Malefic

as he turned to the god. “Now explain to me why the hell this

tried to understand what was going on. How could a mortal yell at the Malefic One? Why was the Malefic

lost for words as all she could do was try to make herself smaller and hope to fade

like she was certain death was right

looked at Jake as he explained. “I tried to tell you before, this has nothing to do with me. Do you really think I descended down and ordered what kind of slave you would get? No, my interfering would only have been for you to not get

of why the hell that is a procedure,” Jake shot

talking openly like this even with her present. Think about how no one else can observe within this residence – besides me, of course – and consider why the only assistant

breath as he calmed himself a

other mundane tasks not worth your time. A slave like this can also help you in the alchemy lab as a great test subject, take care of your garden, or just help you relieve boredom. The point is, having someone so close and working with you will inadvertently lead to them finding out some of your secrets and have access to valuable items you own. This is ignoring the fact that it would be annoying and stressful to constantly be on watch within your own home. A slave like her fixes all that as there is no

didn’t like it nevertheless, and when he looked at the elf just staring down onto the ground, trying to hold back her tears

old conversation on the topic. You know my stance, and you knew I wouldn’t like it. You could at least have given

a contract? Well, those contracts have the huge issue of being limited in scope, impossible to revise without consent from both parties, and can even be circumvented in many cases through smart wording or even just mental manipulation. Like if someone made an illusion to make them look like you perfectly, that girl on Earth could spill the beans and be none the wiser. She would still be hit by the backlash after the fact, though, once she realized she was fooled, but at that point, the damage is done. That doesn’t happen with slaves, as the limitations are far more extreme, especially the kind deployed by the Order. In

first part as he knew he had no legs to stand on when it came to arguing the efficiency of contacts and whatnot. Even the second

the wording and believed it wasn’t a coincidence it

destruction of your property, and dependent on how mad that makes you, it could lead to

don’t need a slave and would rather just do all the mundane stuff myself rather than force someone else

could do that,” Villy smiled agreeably. “But you should be nice and also just kill her right away then. That would be far kinder than release a freed slave within the Order only to be picked up by someone else with a,

where she originally came from, or just on some weak world

sailed. It isn’t like the memories can be scrubbed from her head, and I don’t trust any contract less than a soul contract that may as well be a slavery one to keep her quiet. Even such a contract would be proof in itself of her association with the Order or at least someone

on some fringe planet no one has ever heard about, and even if she knows some things, so what?

look angry or disappointed or really like this conversation was of any consequence but remained oddly neutral.

“What?” Jake asked.

her decide,”

looked at her again. Meira had kept quiet throughout after her shaking had stopped, and by now, she just looked down at the ground with empty eyes. She didn’t move even an inch and