Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 06 - Master of disguise - Part One {Rewrite}
Toofy was still napping peacefully when I noticed that Clarice and Nadine’s basic status information had suddenly appeared in the group status in my lower peripheral vision.
[ Clarice - HP: 14/29 - Normal ], [ Nadine - HP: 8/18 - Bloodied ]
I was pretty surprised. I wouldn't have blad either of them for opting out as Jacque had done.
Becoming soone's Slave was a big deal. Even if I promised not to use the Command ability and used the advanced status options to disable it, they had no guarantees that I wouldn’t re-enable it again later. There is a difference between trusting soone and placing your entire future in their hands.
The plan was beginning to feel like a very very bad idea. I wasn’t sure I was ready for such a significant degree of responsibility. I began to try and think of any other ways we could accomplish the sa effect while also hoping that the others might be doing the sa.
Feeling a little less stressed, I relaxed and tried to think of what else I could do to keep myself productive. Restitching the tears in Toofy’s clothes was one possibility, but she was still wearing them. My thick fingers were not dextrous enough to avoid accidentally hurting her, and I didn’t want to wake Toofy up, so I decided against it.
I glanced at the adventurer's pack filled with copper and silver coins. I reluctantly decided that counting the coins was better than doing nothing. Emptying Jacque’s pack onto the bedroll, I began counting off the copper coins in groups of ten, dropping them into Jacques pack and marking each group off with a line in the dirt floor. It was pretty slow going, but I figured I had plenty of ti.
The pack of coins was less valuable than I had expected but was still rather substantial. There were three thousand two hundred and fifty-seven copper coins and fifty-two silver coins. It wasn’t quite as much as that Byron guy had attempted to bribe his entourage with, but it was still a large amount of money.
Converted to its highest denomination, Toofy would have about eighty-four silver coins. It made smile to think of so poor bank clerk counting out the copper coins as I had just done, even if the copper coins in this world had significantly more buying power compared to coins from my own country.
I was surprised to hear the voice again and couldn’t help but look around the bunker before rembering that it had to have been Jacque. I tried clearing my mind as much as possible and thinking the words .
I flinched guiltily,
I beca worried that Jacque had brought along Clarice and Nadine. Neither had seed to be in fighting condition when we last t.
Glancing at the group status panes, I had to assu it was Clarice. Nadine’s Bloodied Condition would make the trip pretty much impossible since the Vrabbits would just swarm her.
I glanced guiltily down at Toofy. If I had been more proactive in that fight, she probably would not have been hurt.
A few monts later I felt a brief draft and heard two people hopping down into the tunnel.
“How did they even find this place?!” Clarice exclaid incredulously.
There was a knocking against my shield, currently wedged into the mouth of the tunnel.
Carefully cradling Toofy to my chest, I moved over to my shield and dislodged it from the tunnel.
Clarice and Jacque were waiting for as I expected.
Walking back over to the bedroll, I sat back down again, carefully replacing Toofy in my lap.
“Quite a lot of blood up there,” Jacque observed, repeating her earlier observation, most likely for Clarice’s benefit.
I nodded, “We had left the bunker for a couple of minutes and five Orcs were snooping around when we ca back.”
Jacque nodded and was about to say sothing when Clarice interjected, “Five Orcs?! Really?!” She sounded very impressed.
I shrugged, “Toofy did most of the fighting,” I admitted freely. Protecting Toofy and being proud of killing intelligent sentient beings were two very different things in my opinion.
“How many did you bring down before they ran away?” Clarice asked insistently.
“We killed all of them,” I replied awkwardly, “There was a rank four Orc with them, I don’t think they even considered running away. They certainly didn’t attempt it anyway.”
Now that had caught Jacque’s interest.
“Bloody hell! Just how strong are you Tim?” Clarice demanded, obviously impressed, “I an, I know Nadine said Og-uh you were high tier, but still!”
I shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”
“Around tier ten,” Jacque interjected, “The tenth floor is when you start encountering giant-kin. At least according to what I have heard anyway.”
Clarice’s eyes widened in surprise, “No way...” She breathed, “What the hell was Tim doing on the first floor then?”
Jacque shrugged, “Nadine’s theory is the most likely,” she lied, “It happens more often than you think.”
Clarice just shook her head, “This is insane...this whole ti we had a tier ten monster in the party...”
“Maybe you appreciate just how special he is now?” Jacque asked pointedly, “And why the manager’s actions were so incredibly dangerous.”
Clarice paled and nodded. “Ah, how is Toofy doing by the way?” She asked a little nervously.
“A little banged up, but seems to be alright now,” I replied, glancing briefly at Toofy before returning my attention to Clarice.
“We, uh, brought so more bandages and food,” Clarice explained awkwardly, shrugging off her pack and offering it to .
I gratefully accepted it and set it down by the others, “Thanks.”
“We talked a lot about the slavery thing,” Clarice blurted suddenly, “Nadine and I, Y’know?...” Her cheeks flushed in embarrassnt, “I, erm, that is, we, know what the whole slavery thing ans and why we need it for the disguise...” Clarice’s cheeks grew redder as she beca more flustered, “I, uh, Nadine said, but, uh, I volunteered...”
Jacque smirked.
“So yeah...” Clarice mumbled, adamantly avoiding eye contact.
I couldn’t help but stare for a minute while trying to make sense of what she said, “Just so I don’t misunderstand. You want to beco my Slave?” I asked Clarice.
Clarice gulped, “It’s not that big a deal!” She insisted, still avoiding looking at , “It-it’s just for a disguise right?! You aren't going to make do stuff using commands right?! So it’s no big deal! Stop Making a thing out of it!” Clarice’s voice had begun to crack and her ears were brighter than tomatoes.
Please don’t tell this is her secret fetish...I an, co on, first Toofy, now this?!
Jacque nodded slightly and smirked.
Damnit...
“I-I’m ready,” Clarice breathed heavily.
“Enslave!” I felt a faint chill pass through my body and felt a mild sense of absence in its wake. As best I could tell, it was how it felt to spend mana.
Clarice stiffened for a mont, “Ah-accept!”
[Bond Successful: Applying Enslaved Status and Effects]
[Clarice - Human ] [HP: 14/29] [MP: -/- ]
[Tim’s Slave*] [Class: Swordsman 1. 2 Strength, 5 HP. ] [Exp: 1252/2000 ]
[ Strength: 13* (15*) ]
[ Agility: 10 ]
[ Toughness: 12 ]
[ Intelligence: 10 ]
[ Willpower: 10 ]
[ Presence: 7 ]
[(Class Ability: Blade Proficiency {Rank 0}): Improves damage with bladed weapons. {Strength} increases the amount of bonus damage.]
[Group Synergy: {Vicious: 1 }, {Underfoot: 0 }, {Thick Hide: - }, {Brute Strength: - }, {Irongut: - }.]
[(Enslaved Status Effects: {Hide/Expand})]
Wait a minute...Why does Clarice have my Racial Abilities in her synergy list? I thought only monsters share Racial Ability synergy?
*Gurgle!*
Clarice stiffened in embarrassnt, “Could have sworn I ate before we left...” She muttered quietly.
I decided to disable the command Ability first and indulge my curiosity later, “Status, disable Class Ability, Command, target Clarice.”
[Class Ability: {Command} - {Clarice (Inactive)}]
I had tried doing this for Toofy already, but it didn’t work until I removed her collar and enslaved her through my own Ability first. I had to assu that the collar had its own prompts for triggering the sa result, but I had no idea what they were. I also had the impression that Advanced classes were a fair bit more accommodating than the basic ones. Or at least, that is what it seed like to .
“Make sure you read through the enslavent effects so you understand them,” Jacque encouraged Clarice, “
Hang on...That reminds of sothing. How have I been understanding Clarice this whole ti? Without the slave bond to a native human, I shouldn’t have been able to understand Clarice at all, let alone her being able to understanding .
Jacque subtly shook her head at and pointed to herself with her thumb. .
That made a sort of sense, but it still left with other questions.
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