Chapter 48: Peaceful meal
Durian led Cranberry to the dining room where a table full of exquisite food was already prepared and three maids in frilly outfits waited in silence by the wall.
He pulled out the chair for her, and when she sat down he sat right next to her.
"First to show my commitment to the conversation well be having..."
Durian smirked and straightened his back.
"System. Disable the messages for four hours."
He declared loudly.
"Yes."
He confirmed a message that must have showed up for him and turned to Cranberry.
"Let me get this out of the way. I'll send my slave with best healing powers to see your mother as soon as you'll receive my slave crest."
Durian said as if everything was already set into stone, but Cranberry only raised her brow slightly.
"I have no reason to doubt you, my future husband, but my mother ordered me to ask you many questions first..."
She bowed her head apologetically and waited for Durian's response.
"I understand, ask. I want to be over with trivialities."
He nodded benevolently and gave his permission.
"My mother wants to know how would your slave be better than all the renown healers that attempted to heal her in the past?"
Cranberry said it as if she was diligently reciting something that she learned by heart and not came up with it on the spot.
Durian leaned back in his seat and grinned, his stance oozing with confidence.
"Ha! As if any of those so-called healers could hold a candle to my slaves!"
He laughed mockingly.
"I understand."
Cranberry nodded smiling with satisfaction but then, she made a bitter expression as if she remembered something.
"...I believe you, but my mother is asking for you to give her a more detailed explanation. Is that slave simply that talented or...?"
She asked looking bashfully to the side as if embarrassed that she has to ask such a rude and silly question.
"As if!"
Durian snorted with a smile.
"He might have had a bit of inborn talent, but it started shining only because he accepted my slave crest."
He raised his index finger and leaned towards Cranberry, his sudden arm movement made all three maids flinch.
"You should already know that, but my magic has two options."
He waved his finger to illustrate.
"The first one is a forceful one. I can force a slave crest on the unwilling target and bend them to my will. It will grant them some tiny benefits like bonus experience or easier skill acquisition. But the second option..."
Durian extended his middle finger.
"Is the most amazing thing. Without the need to break through the defenses of the mind, my magic can remove the level caps of skills, and boost the efficiencies of the titles. You understand what I mean...?"
He leaned back on his chair excluding so much pride that even Cranberry had to be impressed.
At least she made it look like she was...
"Those healers your mother was talking about could have some special talents, or max out their healing skill, but so what? The max level on those could be like what? 10? 15? If they were some insane prodigy it could be even 20... but so what?"
Durian shrugged his shoulders.
"My slave's healing skill is at level 55 and he's gaining more and more proficiency in it every day. If I ordered him, he could heal a mutilated decapitated torso, and made it a whole living human again."
He boasted as if it was his own power.
"Your mother's little illness is as good as cured."
He flicked his hand dismissively, and again, the maids standing by the wall flinched, fearfully observing his arms.
"Is that so...?"
Cranberry stroked her chin deep in thoughts.
"Ahahaha! Exactly, amazing, isn't it? From all the Greeds my magic is the closest one to the avatar of greed's conquest ability!"
Durian laughed.
"Isn't yours just like the overlevel skill, but it forces the target to submit to the caster...? Haa... pathetic..."
Cranberry sighed with disappointment.
"Wh-wha...?"
Durian flinched and blinked a few times.
"Haa... nothing, dear husband, just a slip of the tongue, I have another question."
Cranberry quickly recovered and smiled meekly, looking up at him with sparkling eyes.
"Does that mean that your slaves are actually stronger than you...?"
She asked unsure, looking up at him with trembling eyes.
"As if! I have perfect control over any of them! That's my magic's strength!"
He scoffed and crossed his arms.
"But there are some who are higher level than you...?"
Cranberry asked innocently.
"There's no way that would be possible. The strongest one is barely level 60! And...!"
"But... with the level cap of the skills removed, doesn't that mean...?"
Cranberry leaned forwards and asked conspicuously without waiting for Durian to finish.
"Pffft! Ha! As if I would overlook something like that! Look!"
He became agitated and raised his shirt.
Underneath it, there was an intricate circular symbol tattooed on his muscular stomach.
"I'm my own slave! My attack skills are so high that my slaves don't even dare to think about rebelling!"
He raised his fists and the maids by the wall instinctively flinched and protected their faces with their hands.
"...haa..."
Cranberry breathed out and started massaging her forehead.
Suddenly, Durian put his hand on her knee.
"Let's skip the questions for now."
He said with a nasty smile and his eyes started shining.
/Control sub-type skill detected
Master's MDF is lower than the skill level
/Iron will activated
/Calculating...
/Master's MDF and LUC is lower than the opponent's MAT and LUC
Iron will's efficiency lowered
/Calculating...
/Iron will activated successfully
Cranberry almost had a heart attack, the quest failure and route b were hanging over her head like an executioner's axe.
"Oh...? Weird... I thought you were willing to receive my slave crest...?"
Durian raised his brow.
Cranberry was silent.
For a moment she was weighing the risks of continuing this idiotic act in an attempt to gain a charm type skill like she read in one of her books, or drop the charade altogether and fight it off with the large man and every slave in the mansion.
(If I activate dragon power, my stats will be boosted, so my MDF and LUC should be enough... I need the charm skill...!)
Cranberry clenched her fist so hard that her knuckles turned white, and she took a deep breath.
"My mother made me learn a skill that blocks mental damage, I think it is interrupting your skill..."
She lowered her head and apologized.
"I would never oppose my future husband, I'll try using my other skill that raises my attack and lowers my defense to counter that...!"
She offered and closed her eyes concentrating.
/Control sub-type skill detected
/Master's MDF is lower than the skill level
/Iron will activated
/Calculating...
/Master's MDF and LUC is lower than the opponent's MAT and LUC
Iron will's efficiency lowered
/Calculating...
/Iron will activated successfully
(...even with dragon power activated...? How strong is his MAT?! Wait...! How lucky I was that iron will even worked the first time?!)
Cranberry started sweating buckets.
"It's still the same... should I just use the forceful option...?"
Durian squinted his eyes in suspicion.
Nothing was going as the red-haired girl planned.
Zombie was taken away.
He had her bat with him so she was completely unarmed therefore most of her skills were useless.
And now it turned out that the bastard had some incredible stats to back his confidence.
The situation wasn't looking good.
And it hasn't even been twenty minutes since the arrival.
If she was going to fail the quest and become someone's toy, she might as well ignore the quest altogether and simply go for the kill.
"Haa... give me a minute..."
She breathed out preparing to activate all viable skills and...
/Proficiency level reached
Servant receives a skill
Jealous rage (level 1)
/Servant's skill upgrade
Jealous rage (level 1) + (shared)Dragon rage (level 3) ?? Dragon Madness (level 1)
/Error
/Story element unlocked before the main story reached the corresponding stage
/Error
/Calculating...
/Dragon Madness skill detected
Servant's affection level unlocked
Servant's affection maxed out
/Form adjustment initiated...
/Form adjustment complete
/All status points, skills, and affinities levels, raised
/Servant receives a revenge quest
Kill all of Durian's slaves
0/73
Reward: Servant's monster rank upgrade
"...haa...?"
Cranberry's mouth opened from utter confusion.
/Quest progress update
/ 1/73
/ 2/73
*RUMBLE*
"Kyah!"
The next moment an explosion shook the whole mansion and the maids fell over and strayed screaming.
"What the hell?! Who dares to attack my home?!"
Durian stood up, red from fury, and rushed to the window.
Cranberry didn't react.
She was too busy watching the messages that kept on popping up.
/ 3/73
/ 4/73
/ 7/73
/ 11/73
"Ha ha! Well then..."
A wide grin appeared on her face as she grabbed the chair that Durian was sitting on before.
"I guess that my cute little Zombie had the exact same thought..."
*crunch*
She broke off the chair's sturdy leg and weighed the makeshift mace in her hand.
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