Готовый перевод История Королевы Эльфов / The story of the Elf Queen: Интерлюдия четвёртая. Новое убежище Архиврага Героя Королевы Эльфов

Interlude four. The New Hideout of the Archenemy of the Hero of the Elf Queen

* * *

The consciousness awakened abruptly and quite suddenly, without any transition or intermediate state, although the time should have passed for two full days. For Master, it all looked and felt as if he was standing at the restored portal arch, trying to stabilise the weaves of spatial magic, simultaneously watching the actions of the puppets and the approach of what came from the depths of the Earth's bowels. And, of course, preparing to leave the body of the puppet- deception. It had to be done at the very last moment, so that his pursuers would believe he was really dead, or escape through a portal, which would suit him just as well. He had almost made it in time. Only a fraction of an instant short of leaving the body of the trick puppet without any repercussions. But the monster that emerged from the bottomless depths was faster than he had hoped, and when its darkness and fire consumed the body of the puppet, Master's consciousness was still there. Standing on the threshold, you might say.

But it was enough. In spite of all the precautions and safety measures taken, Master fully felt the terrible pain of his dying body literally turning to ashes as it burned in the fire. Opening the eyes of his real body, Master lay absolutely motionless for several interminably long seconds, staring up at the ceiling with widened eyes. If he could, he would have screamed and convulsed, trying to extinguish the flames. If his heart had been capable of it, it would have been beating like a drum, and his eyes and fingers would have been throwing lightning and flames, or even pure energy. But the body, which had been carefully transferred into a state of deepest lethargic sleep, almost anabiosis, could not return to its normal state at once. The subtle body was also almost completely ‘extinguished’, because of which even the simplest magic could not be created at once. It took several endlessly long minutes to come back to life.

In the time it took for his ability to move and control his physical and subtle bodies to return to normal, he was almost completely calm and convinced that everything was all right. He had not died a gruesome death. His flesh had not been burnt to the bone. His limbs had not turned to weightless ash, swept up in the swirling darkness. Even his delicate body was not affected in any way. It was just a sensation, an eerily accurate one, but a sensation nonetheless. Which, while unpleasant, was a small thing. When his arms and legs began to obey him more or less normally again, Master sat on the camp bed and grabbed the enchanted water bottle he had prepared beforehand, which had been filled with light-stimulating alchemy. He took a few eager sips and exhaled heavily, shaking his head.

Such a singularly unpleasant experience. To control the body of a trick puppet while it was being turned to nothing by an unknown creature of the abyssal depths! And this despite the fact that he had spent a lot of effort to make his connection with it as safe as possible! The defence he had created was supposed to filter out all negative effects. And yet for a moment he actually believed that he was dying a painful death in the embrace of suffocating darkness and scalding flames. A most disgusting experience that would be better never to repeat. Shaking his head and taking a few more greedy sips, Master sighed heavily. But he had no other choice. It had to be as authentic as possible, so that his pursuers would believe he had died. Or died trying to escape through an unstable portal.

For this purpose, he worked very hard on one of his gifted puppets, performing an entire operation on it and transfusing it with two portions of his blood. In essence, he had turned one of the gifted adepts into an almost complete blank slate for a full consciousness and soul transfer. This made remote control very easy, and made it possible to reliably pass off the deceptive puppet as himself when viewed from the outside. Especially considering the protective and camouflaging amulets surrounded the expedition's camp in tight rings. Even the appearance of the deception puppet he had changed to resemble his real one. It made him feel in the alien body almost as if he were his own, while his real body had been here for two days during the decisive battle, as safe as Master hoped it would be.

He took a few more greedy sips and looked around the large storage room in the basement of the main mansion of one of the Dark Elf Houses of Deyartan. This building was relatively far away from the crack that led to the abyss, and compared to the other structures, it was practically intact. Because of this, his dark elf puppets had chosen this place as a safe haven. Next to Master, two dozen puppets were lying in neat rows on the floor on similar beds, also in a state of sleep so deep that they could easily be mistaken for dead people. Their hearts were almost non-beating, their breathing had almost ceased, and even their thin bodies, if viewed with magical vision, were almost completely gone and barely recognizable. To ensure that this state of “almost death” did not lose its “almost”, each of Master's puppets, as well as himself, was surrounded by several protective and healing weaves. The warehouse itself was carefully sealed inside and out, and was covered with several layers of masking and protective weaves. As a result, it was as inconspicuous and hard to detect as possible under the circumstances.

To prevent the sleeping puppets and the Master himself from suffocating, because they were to spend several days here, the air was purified and renewed by several high-quality amulets, combined into a single complex, where every element was duplicated. And his precious rostral mirror, which reflected all possible “ gazes ” from this place, completed the whole system of protection and camouflage. He rose to his feet and waddled cautiously toward it, checking the integrity of the weaves and the amulets as he went. Even the simplest manipulations were difficult for him, as if his subtle body had become stiff. His physical body, which was gradually coming back to life, was also reluctant to obey him, and he almost fell on the way, tripping over the feet of the dark elf who had been captured at the beginning of the expedition.

The dark-skinned beauty lay motionless on her back, like a perfect statue. She did not react to Master's touch. In order to wake her and the other puppets, it was necessary to dispel the weaves that protected them, or wait for them to dissipate. That would take a considerable amount of time. Only the weaves protecting Master's body had to awaken him at the right time, which they did. The others were to be awakened by him when he deemed it necessary depending on the situation. Apart from the dark elf he had tripped over, Master had kept Nidira and her two most intelligent subordinates from the underground firstborn. The rest of the dark elves, as well as the vast majority of the puppets, had to be sacrificed for the success of the rescue. Needless to say, his invaluable Bazita and Saya remained with him. Also, Master, out of stubbornness and principle, kept Violetta and her children. To abandon them after dragging them through half of the Underworld would have been simply foolish. He also kept Little Nodri. She was the best candidate for becoming a full-fledged doll out of all the expedition members Violetta had hired. Albeit frankly average, by his personal standards. He also left a dozen and a half puppets from among the non-combatants who participated in the expedition. And not the most valuable and useful ones. All the puppets lying here were, in fact, camp servants, doing necessary, but most of the manual work. If he had the opportunity, he would have left the best fighters and the gifted. But the risk was too great.

He wasn't quite sure the disguise would completely hide him from the Terror of Diyartan. What if the creature had some very specific skills for finding prey? Like the ability to sense living sentient beings directly through any obstacle? Master had only heard of such things, and that was just anecdotal, but after acquiring the Power of the Greatest, he wouldn't be surprised. In such a case, the weaker the prey near him, the more chances the monster would not pay attention to it. And, just as importantly, it was critical to Master that the puppets left for slaughter should, at all costs, survive the onslaught of their pursuers until the Terror of Diyarten emerged from the bottomless depths, sensing the arrival of new prey. So he had to use everyone he could to the defense, leaving only the most useless puppets. Just to have someone to take care of the household chores when this nightmare of a chase was over.

Yeah... The mere memory of the past few days made Master shiver. He had never been so exhausted in his entire life. In general, he was not accustomed to working in the mode of terrible rush, lack of time, and monstrous tension. No, of course, he had to give his best at times, and work under time constraints, but it was in his very comfortable and well-equipped laboratory, for which he would still ask the damned ostroukhikhs separately! And here there were no familiar conditions, no normal resources, no familiar level of comfort! Instead, there was a threat to life, a huge number of problems and tasks, multiplied by a catastrophic lack of time and intelligent assistants. Yes, Saya and Bazita were excellent, both of them working their butts off. But in terms of magic, neither of them could do anything to help him. If only one of his gifted puppets had survived.....

But alas and alack, the dead could not be brought back. It was necessary not to grieve over the losses, but to save one's life. The Master rolled up his sleeves and did just that. In a very limited time, he had to organize a serious defense of the ruins, where the main camp of puppets was. And for this it was necessary to prepare fortifications, to place attack and defense amulets, stationary battle wands, to power them, to prepare the main and reserve positions, to distribute the defenders between them, to think over the escape routes, and so on and so on and so on. It was good that among Violetta's mercenaries there were intelligent warriors, who helped him a lot in this, competently distributing the forces. But still, it was necessary to check and control everything. And it was also necessary to unite all the puppets into one control and management network, so they were guaranteed to withstand the onslaught of the enemy and did not waver. This, with his current strength and knowledge, was well within his power. But it required time. And there was no time! He had to drink stimulant alchemy, work to the limit, and still he was afraid of not having enough time.

At the same time, he had to prepare a safe place for himself and those he had decided to leave with him in Diyarten itself. Which first had to be found. Then it had to be set up. And then hide it. In order to hide it as securely as possible, it had to be sealed from the outside. Just like the tunnel that was tunneled into the city by the duster. That is, it had to be done while controlling the body of a prepared puppet-delusion. The creation of which was also a separate headache! Master cursed everything in the world, first of all the damned elves, spent the funds given by the Greatest to buy what was not at hand, mercilessly drove the puppets as if they were driven horses. And still it seemed to him that he was not keeping up. And, of course, the most important thing, the thing around which his whole plan was built. Everything had to be calculated in such a way that the Terror of Diyarten would come to the surface at exactly the right moment.

The latter was the most dangerous and weakest part of the whole plan. There were too many unknown factors in it. To begin with, there was no understanding of what dwells in the bowels of the Earth. There was no certainty that it would wake up when it felt the ‘twitching of its web’. In fact, the whole idea of using the Terror of Diyartan was a blatant gamble. It was much safer to leave the puppets to fight back in the ruins, and slip out of the shrinking ring of pursuit himself, with the most valuable of them, by punching another way out of the sealed city. That would give him time and a chance to break away, and a good one. But somehow Master was sure it would work out. You could call it anything you wanted: intuition, premonition, foresight - it didn't matter! The main thing was that he was sure the risk would pay off! And Master had not failed!

Thanks to the knowledge granted by the Greatest, he was able to carefully ‘pick up’ some of the threads that led to the abyss, and very carefully move them to a new place in the camp of the puppets. And as soon as he ‘tugged’ on them, he felt a barely perceptible tension in return. It was faint, a non-specialist of the Silk Thread School wouldn't even realise it, but it was obvious to Master. Whatever was hiding in the bottomless depths, it clearly felt the ‘touch’ to its threads. And now it was listening to what was happening in what it thought was a dead city. This reassured Master, and as the pursuers approached the hall neighbouring Diyarten, he continued to pull the strings carefully, sending more and more signals into the abyss. In doing so, he deliberately tried to make it look like ‘accidental’ touches of prey. There was no rhythm or purposefulness, so as not to arouse suspicion in the inhabitant of the Earth's bowels.

He didn't even pull them himself. It was just that his puppets, moving around the key places of the camp where he had placed the threads, unwittingly touched them, sending signals to the creature lurking in the depths. And by the moment the pursuers had encircled all the exits from the fatal underground hall and were preparing a plan of assault, Master had already clearly seen that the threads were ‘stretched’ and being listened to carefully. And the rest was a matter of technique.

All we had to do was put on a little show in front of our pursuers, a theatrical performance. Practically, ha-ha, a puppet show, ha-ha! Those on his trail couldn't help but notice his attempt to create a portal using the old portal archway Saya had discovered. And as soon as they did, they immediately rushed into the fray, afraid their cornered prey would escape. The funny thing was that if they had been more decisive, instead of being so cautious, they might have foiled his plan. He simply wouldn't have had time to prepare everything the way he needed to if his pursuers had reached him even a couple of days earlier. But reputation did the trick. When the dear lovers of eternal sunshine rushed to the attack in the first ranks, he was already pulling the strings of the web with both hands, literally shouting into the abyss: ‘GET! MORE! MONEY!’ And at the same time he was making sure the desperately fighting puppets would hold on just a little longer, just a little longer....

The moment he felt the earth's depths shudder, he realized he had succeeded! Although he must admit that he had underestimated the creature that had emerged from them... creature? A monstrosity? It didn't matter, the main thing was that its power was truly terrifying. Now he could see how it had managed to destroy an entire city, and then destroy those who had come to reap the spoils. As far as the Master was able to assess it through the eyes of a puppet, the Terror of Diyarten was comparable in strength to a fully experienced archmagister. Although there was no such thing as an inexperienced archmagister. How right he had been to prepare the deceptive puppet so thoroughly, ensuring he could escape from it and transfer his mind back into his body. He spared no expense in purchasing rare and painfully biting materials and a couple of amulets from the Greatest, instead of additional protection and weapons for the puppet. And, as he now realized, without these additional measures, he had a good chance of being seriously injured, if not killed, along with the trick puppet. Ideally, he shouldn't have transferred his consciousness into her body at all, taking direct control of it. Instead, he should have used a control thread, or a controlling amulet, preferably directly implanted in the puppet's brain, or at least in its skull.

The control would not be so reliable, but there would be no need to be directly in the puppet's body, and in case of danger, it would be enough to simply cut off the connection with it, leaving it to its fate. If done in time, there would be no danger at all. But any such remote connection leaves an inevitable trace. And any trace can be traced if you know how. In that respect, a full-fledged consciousness transfer was much more reliable.

And there was no way he could let his pursuers know that there was a trick puppet sitting in the ruins! They had to be sure the real Master was in the ruins! And that he was about to escape from them through the portal! So they had to use the more risky method of full-body consciousness transfer. A much riskier method. It had the same problem as the shapeshifters. Taking the form of a beast was much easier than taking the form of a sentient creature back. In his case, transferring his consciousness into a puppet body was easier than being able to bring it back. Especially without possible negative consequences, of which there was a very solid list. Master justifiably considered himself an excellent expert in the field of Mind Magic, and was confident that he could do it, providing himself a reliable and unnoticeable escape route from the head of the dying puppet.

And, as it turned out, this confidence had almost cost him his life! Removing from his head the small amulet he had bought from the Greatest, attached to his temple, Master saw that his heart, a special, magically active gemstone of azure color, was blackened and cracked. The setting was rusted and melted, though silver was not known to rust. The second amulet, exactly the same, was on the head of the puppet-puppet. They were intended to increase the guarantee of safe direct transfer of consciousness, acting as both a beacon and a filter against possible negative effects that the mind leaving the body of the puppet could bring with it. And judging by the condition of the amulet, there were enough effects.

He'd been hit by Terror of Diyarten's attack just a little bit, just on the very edge, when he'd almost left the body of the puppet, and he'd felt the full force of the sensation of death in its embrace. It turns out that if he had been a moment longer, he might not have returned to his body, unable to escape from the suffocating embrace of darkness that instantly covered all the ruins.... And it was still good that his consciousness moved into the already reliably sleeping body, and also instantly fell asleep, staying in such a state for two days, during which, according to Master's estimates, the monster was guaranteed to return to its lair. These two days of sleep had slightly weakened the sensations that the dying body of the deceitful puppet had experienced at the last moment. Still, when he woke up, he felt a terrible pain, as if he were really dying.

Shivering once more, Master, who had finally reached his mirror, sat down on a small stool in front of it. He tuned into the desired control weave and began to gaze carefully into the reflections saved by the mirror. Let's see what we have here, shall we? So... Uh-huh. So that's how it is... As the mirror reflected the events that had happened in the neighboring hall, Master's mood got better and better, and the smile on his face got wider and wider. When he saw the last reflection, in which the underground hall began to collapse into the abyss, followed by the First Herald of the Sun and the Terror of Diyarten, he couldn't help but jump to his feet and let out a triumphant and jubilant cry!

Such a stroke of luck! This was something he hadn't even dared to count on! He had hoped the Terror of Diyarten would kill all the puppets and, at the very least, most of the pursuers. Ideally, all of them, and return to his lair fed and satisfied. And while the bosses of his pursuers will be tearing their hair out, blaming each other for the failure, looking for the guilty and doing things obligatory in case of such a fiasco, he will be able to leave the dead city unnoticed. And when things settle down and someone decides to check what's going on, he'll be long gone, leaving no trace behind. And now he doesn't have to go anywhere! He can stay right here in Diyartan! An entire city, secure and isolated, now at his disposal! It's just what he needs! Time, resources, a chance to regain his strength, to set up some kind of laboratory, to turn Naidira and Nodri into more or less acceptable dolls!

Master's jubilation was interrupted by a message from the Greatest. He froze and read the invisible to outsiders lines of the Tablet of the Soul, which appeared right in his consciousness:

Attention!

A feat has been accomplished!

To defeat even one strong enemy, you need a lot: knowledge, the ability to use it, and, of course, luck. To defeat several strong enemies united against you, you need many times more. You did not just defeat several strong enemies at once, who came out against you as a united front. You inflicted a painful defeat on them without even engaging them in direct combat personally!

The One Who Was Born in the Eternal Darkness and Hot Flames of the Earth's Bowels at the Dawn of Time has destroyed countless numbers of the endowed and mindless living. They are all but prey to him who dares disturb his peace. You would be no exception to him, but you were able to channel his hunger and anger against your enemies by standing aside. Thereby forcing your enemies into a battle they were not prepared for, nor did they expect. A battle they would not have had a chance to win had it not been for the Right Hand of the Bearer of the Eternal Sun, Guardian of the First of His Rays.

Receive a fitting reward for this feat!

Three free stat points.

Four talent points can be spent on enhancing existing or acquiring new properties or modifiers of the Soul Tablet.

Two random elite artifacts.

Four random elite tokens.

One random elite property.

One random elite minor knowledge.

Having reread several times the message received from the Greatest, Master felt his good mood turning into a great mood! He wanted to make a holiday for himself immediately, right now and here! To awaken Bazita, Saya, and the rest of the female puppets, to try out Violetta and her little girl, or maybe even her son, having first remade him into another daughter. But as much as he wanted to release the accumulated tension, Master kept himself in control, and first disposed of the gifts he had received. It took several long hours, and when this important but very pleasant work was finished, he mentally commanded the cherished lines of his Soul Tablet:

Status.

Name: FORGOTTEN "Master"

Character level: 63

Class: Wizard

Specialization: Mind Sculptor/Body Sculptor

Characteristics: (0)

Talents: (0)

Constitution: 2

Sensitivity: 7

Power: 16

Control: 23

Source: 17

Spirit: 4

Resistance: 3

Knowledge:

CORE/ROOT: "Advanced Mastery of Mind Magic:

Methods of correcting consciousness/personality (subtle/imperceptible, ordinary, coarse); methods of creating a new personality/consciousness + a wide choice of ready-made templates; methods of combining/mixing separate fragments and/or whole parts of personality/consciousness; splitting one personality/consciousness into separate fragments, whole parts or full-fledged personalities/consciousnesses; methods of working with memories (subtle/imperceptible, ordinary, coarse); methods of degradation/destruction of personality/consciousness (subtle/imperceptible, ordinary, coarse); methods of strengthening of consciousness/personality (subtle/imperceptible, ordinary, coarse); methods of direct and remote control of consciousness/personality; methods of partial or complete transfer of own or another person's consciousness/personality to a new carrier body or material storage device; methods of transferring own mind outside own body;"

AUXILIARY:

"Mastery of Control and Management of Internal Energies

Methods of cleansing subtle bodies from extraneous energies; methods of healing damaged areas of subtle bodies; methods of direct application of internal energy (concentration/projection/dispersion/extinction);»

"Silk Thread School Mastery:

Methods of creating weaving threads (very thin/small/medium); methods of creating nets/webs (very thin/small/medium); combat techniques of using attacking threads (entangling/cutting/piercing); methods of weaving threads into the target's subtle bodies (inconspicuous/aggressive/neutral);"

"Doll School Mastery:

Methods of creating Dolls (techniques/materials/forms); specializations of Dolls (positive/destructive/protective/controlling/masking/universal);»

"School of Tattoo Mastery:

Application methods (techniques/materials/methods); pattern specialization (protective/attacking/enhancing/healing/controlling/masking/universal/specific);»

"The Mastery of the School of Branding:

Application methods (techniques/materials/methods); brand specialization (control/punishment/surveillance/liquidation);»

"Master Artifact Skills:

Methods for creating broad-based artifacts (techniques/materials/forms); methods for creating narrow-based artifacts (techniques/materials/forms); skills in working with specialized tools for creating artifacts; an expanded set of ready-made templates and concepts for creating artifacts;»

"Mastery of the School of Space:

Methods of working with portal arches of short, medium, and long distances (activation/setting/stabilization); methods of creating portals without a material base at short and medium distances (formation/setting/stabilization); methods of direct movement of objects at short distances;»

"Advanced Weaves of the School of Flesh Alteration/Biomancy):

Methods of working with individual organs, major parts or the whole body (enhancement/change/destruction); methods of transplantation and engraftment of individual organs, major parts or the whole body; methods of restoration of individual organs, major parts or the whole body;»

"Advanced Alchemy of a Wide Range:

Methods of working with a wide range of alchemical reagents (common/rare/exotic); a set of alchemical recipes of a wide range (common/rare/exotic); methods of working with alchemical tools;»

SECONDARY:

"Advanced methods of working with artifacts and amulets", "Advanced methods of working with external sources of magic", "Advanced methods of conspiracy", "Advanced weaving of a wide profile"

Oral and written speech:

Free Cities, Academy of Neirat, Northern Kingdoms, Classic Elven (Light/Dark), Undermountain Dwarven.

Minor knowledge:

"Minor Space Dissection" (Elite) - creating a stable portal that will take you far beyond the horizon in the blink of an eye is a very difficult skill. But no less difficult is the ability to instantly create a small gap in space, linking together two points of this space. The enemy's blow will return to him, hitting him in the back. Or his ally. Or going nowhere. Just like your blow will reach the enemy from the side where he least expects it. Or help will come to an ally from an unexpected side. It's up to you to decide.

Properties:

"Separation of thought streams IV" - allows you to divide your consciousness for processing and solving up to four tasks of average complexity or two complex tasks simultaneously without losing efficiency. Exceeding the task limit leads to a drop in efficiency and the risk of receiving temporary or permanent negative effects.

"Weightlessness of Magic III" - the effects of your magic are like the slightest gusts of wind or the touch of the lightest fluff. They become very difficult for outsiders to notice or feel. Particularly effective when using the weaves of the Silk Thread School.

"Stability of Magic III" - the weaves you have created have acquired excellent stability, as a result of which they can maintain their integrity for years and are practically not subject to distortion over time, in the presence of a stable energy source.

"Strengthening the Subtle Bodies IV" - your subtle bodies have acquired increased density and strength. It is very difficult for someone else's magic to influence you; success will require either a lot of effort or a carefully thought-out approach. Saturated alien energy will be quickly etched out of your subtle bodies.

"Blessing of Health and Longevity IV" - your body has practically stopped aging naturally, its physical condition is close to ideal for the existing parameters, enhanced regeneration of physical damage and resistance to diseases, increased potency, and the chance of conceiving children.

"Danger Sense IV" - You instinctively sense danger threatening you very well in advance, although you do not gain a precise understanding of its nature. The stronger and more pronounced the danger, the more clearly and earlier you sense it. Applies to Group members.

"Mind Without Borders I" (Elite) - from now on, it becomes as easy for your mind to leave your native body as it is for other people to leave their home. Significant facilitation of all techniques aimed at projecting your own mind at a distance, or leaving your body. Significant increase in the secrecy of mental projection from outside observers. Outside the physical body, your mind retains a significant part of its ability to interact with the outside world without significant limitations or penalties, but any active actions make you more noticeable.

Modifiers of the Tablet of the Soul:

"Access to the goods of the Greatest IV", "Creation of group III", "Territorial-spatial orientation III", "Spatial pocket II"

Tokens:

"Creating an advanced magic laboratory 1/1" - in the chosen place (preferably a spacious separate room), everything necessary for magical practice is instantly formed. Tools, consumables, furniture, and equipment. Everything is provided instantly and in full. A specific set is individual and is formed depending on the characteristics of the person who used the token, but the general level of equipment of the laboratory corresponds to the average standard for this world for gifted people of the master magic level.

“Milk Melons 10/10” - causes the selected woman to lactate profusely for one month. The effect is stronger the larger the breasts of the selected woman. In gifted women, the milk additionally acquires healing properties and accelerates the recovery of the drinker's reserve. Accumulation of milk in the breast beyond a certain limit causes the victim severe discomfort and is accompanied by increased sensitivity of the breast, especially the nipple area. Self-decanting of milk accumulated in the breasts is seriously hampered and causes severe discomfort. Breastfeeding, on the contrary, allows the breasts to be relieved quickly and causes intense pleasure of a sexual type.

The target on whom the Token was applied instinctively tries to find a partner she can breastfeed. The more attractive the partner is from the woman's point of view, the stronger the probability that she will choose him. In case the chosen target is cute and at the same time younger than the woman, the effect is even stronger. Neither the woman nor the people around her sees anything abnormal or unnatural happening, unless the person using the Token directly points it out to them. The person who has tasted breast milk instantly forms a strong addiction to it for the duration of the Token, requiring at least one feeding per day.

The process of feeding also causes the victim to awaken a maternal instinct towards the sucking breast, regardless of sex and age, gradually developing into sexual attraction. The effect is more pronounced the more often the victim feeds the same target. After the Token expires, the woman receives a guaranteed breast enlargement, the more pronounced the smaller the original size was, as well as an increase in a random characteristic by one point. If the victim breastfed only one partner during the Token's entire duration, he also receives one random characteristic point, and the breadwinner is guaranteed two random characteristic points.

Cannot be used on the same woman more than once. It is allowed to feed someone simultaneously with several women at once, but the total number of characteristics received by him cannot exceed the value of two units.

“Mindprint 1/1” - creates an absolutely complete and accurate cast of the selected target's mind, including all memories, knowledge, and personality matrix, which is stored and bound to the one who applied the token. The target must be in direct contact with the one applying the token for at least five standard minutes for successful triggering. At the request of the token user, the impression can be saved to a suitable material medium. When reapplied to the original target, the cast completely replaces the current state of the target's mind. All memories, compulsions, new knowledge, and other modifications that the target did not possess at the time of the impression's creation are erased.

Attention! The cast does not remove influences on the mind that have an energetic or material basis, such as: brands, alchemy, amulets, modifications of subtle bodies, etc.

When the mind cast is applied to a target other than the original target, the cast begins the process of replacing the target's original mind, if any. For the most effective result of substitution, if the selected target has its own mind, the target should not resist this process, ideally, it should be unconscious. Otherwise, various negative consequences are possible, up to a split personality or complete destruction of personality.

Attention! A mind cast does not affect the soul of the person from whom it is taken!

“Modifier of other Tokens 2/2” - allows you to give new additional properties to other Tokens or modify existing ones. Possible new properties depend on the original properties of the Token and the remaining number of charges.

SPECIAL:

Recognition of the Greatest.

To a few of the countless intelligent are given the Power of the Greatest, called the Soul Tablet. You were not one of these Chosen Ones, but you worked hard to prove otherwise. With your intelligence, talent, and perseverance, you were able to find a way to find the knowledge that the lines of the Tablets contain through a roundabout way. As a reward for finding this path, which will be closed from now on, and for your persistence, the Greatest recognized your merits and granted you a full-fledged Tablet of the Soul.

Rewards: Tablet of the Soul, "HIDDEN".

After rereading the coveted lines several times and assessing the changes that had occurred to himself, Master smiled contentedly. Truly a worthy reward for his hard work! These “tokens” were especially interesting, because until now he had not even suspected of their existence, let alone the possibility of receiving them. The first of them was his salvation! No, it's not just a rescue, it's an obvious favor from the Greatest! The second one is also a very useful and funny reward, which he will definitely apply to his dolls, because now he has both time and opportunities. And then there's the third token... Curious, he can't say anything.... So many ideas on how it can be used.... So many options. He'll have to think it over when he has time. The fourth token was also quite curious. A quick look at it showed that it could be very variable in terms of its uses. It could enhance other tokens, increase the number of characteristics they granted, or add some number of uses. And that was only what Master could figure out from a cursory look at its description. Well, he would deal with that later.

The artifacts gifted by the Greatest were also... Quite interesting and unexpected, let's call it that. He had assumed, upon receiving their message, that he would be gifted with either a weapon for the dolls or something to enhance his magical gift, maybe some armor or other protection. But instead he received something completely different. The first artifact was a small ball of what looked like glass, perfectly polished and glowing with a faint white light. The Guarantee of Execution was analogous to the Oath Keeper's altars. Only much, much better, better and stronger, for it carried a part of the power and will of the Greatest!

When used, this artifact guaranteed that if those who used it failed to fulfill their obligations, they would be inevitably punished. The standard punishment was death, but it was possible to stipulate other options, including non-lethal ones. The main thing was that the artifact guaranteed punishment for not fulfilling the obligations undertaken, but no more, no less, it was separately specified in the description. It was necessary to formulate oaths/promises/agreements very carefully, not to tear one's hair out later because of the ambiguity of wording or one's eloquence. Because the artifact did not recognize any scrolls with hidden ink, microscopic font, or letters changing places. All obligations must be voiced in words and only in words, clearly and legibly, and only by those who undertake the obligations.

And to make everything as honest as possible, the artifact, at the moment of its application, suppressed any extraneous influences on the mind of those who used it. Any compulsions, stigmas, alchemy - all of it ceased to work at the moment of the contract, up to the divine level. It was guaranteed by the Greatest, which once again emphasized their real power, against the background of the local, too self-important celestials. However, and this was also specified separately, the artifact did not remove them and did not notify about them. That is, the one who used it could realize that he was under the influence of someone else's will, or he could not, if what he did was not too different from his own intentions. After the conclusion of the contract, all the influences were back in effect; the artifact did not remove them, but only temporarily suppressed them at the time of the agreement/contract/oath. Except for those, and this was also specified separately, that directly prevented or hindered the fulfillment of the undertaken obligations. The suppression of such compulsions was kept.

This did not mean the one who used the ++"Guarantee of Fulfillment" could not be simply deceived, intimidated, or otherwise forced to take on enslaving obligations or make an unfavorable promise. But this would have to be done using simpler methods: blackmail, bribery, or banal deception. After the artifact came into effect, invisible brands-seals appeared on the bodies of those who used it, in no way felt or detected by anyone or anything except themselves. Or rather, they were only displayed on the bodies, but in reality they were imposed on the very essence of those who took the oath. There was no way to get rid of them, deceive them, remove them, or take them off. Even changing the body would not save from them. These brands guaranteed the fulfillment of promises/oaths/agreements, applying the agreed punishments in case of non-fulfillment, up to and including death.

It was a curious artifact, as if specially created for him in case he needed to negotiate with someone serious on some important issue. The maximum possible guarantee of honesty for both parties, given his current reputation and the specifics of his profession. The artifact had exactly one limitation. Only one agreement/contract could be made with one person, and not more often than once every ten years. The second gift of the Greatest, however, was... more unsettling, there's no other way to put it.

In appearance, it was a small faceted vessel made of transparent crystal, with a crystal lid-stopper. But in essence and purpose... Master read its description for a long time and thought hard, examining it from different sides. He was already completely convinced that the Greatest Ones do nothing for no reason. So, this gift of theirs would be useful to him. Or maybe it will be useful to him. But the Greatest Ones see that it would be better for him to do everything so that he would not have to use it... Okay, all this can wait. But for now, he has much more important things to do.

He turned back to his puppets, who were sleeping peacefully, and sighed sadly as he looked at his beauties. He wanted to wake up Saya and Baяita, the two dark elves, Petty too, though she still needed to be worked on. Violetta, her daughter, and a couple of female puppets that were quite pretty can also be woken up. And afterwards, we could have a proper vacation, just like he used to. It was an incredibly tempting idea. And it would be incredibly careless and foolish in the current situation. Rising to his feet, Master began to gently wake up the remaining puppets and a couple of his favorite dolls. First, he would have to get settled in, ensure there was no danger, and only then could he rest....

* * *

First of all, as soon as all the puppets were fully awake and conscious, they began a thorough search of the mansion, in the basement of which the Master had arranged his shelter for the duration of the “performance”. Or rather, it was not even a mansion, but a full-fledged palace! The huge and tall building, together with the surrounding area, occupied almost a quarter of the space in the center between the two streets of the underground city, thus overlooking both of them. The palace was surrounded by a high stone wall and had an inner garden with a small fountain. Once perfectly manicured, it was now completely feral and densely overgrown with underground flora over the past centuries. To put it bluntly, such a palace would have honored any ruler of a Free City in the Confederacy, or would have passed for the residence of a Most Serene Caliph. Some of the Free Cities had more lavish palaces, but not many. The House that lived here was clearly one of the strongest in Diyartan.

They built their palace in the classic dark elf architectural style, combining graceful beauty and extreme practicality. The walls, decorated with numerous reliefs and moldings, were stronger than the full bastions of some fortresses. Stained-glass windows were mostly narrow, so it was more convenient to shoot back, and were located so as not to leave blind spots. In short, it looked like an exquisite abode of a rich and powerful ruler, but in reality, it was a fortress well fortified with magic. It was possible not only to keep the siege, but also to successfully fight off the enemies. In the outer walls were seen embedded powerful battle amulets of various types, and equally powerful metal shields, which served as the basis for protective barriers. They were arranged very intelligently, so that the sectors of fire overlapped each other, and the protective barriers overlapped when activated. The wizard, who understood something of how to create a magically protected dwelling, appreciated the architects of the dead city.

They built their palace in the classic dark elf architectural style, combining graceful beauty and extreme practicality. The walls, decorated with numerous reliefs and moldings, were stronger than the proper bastions of other fortresses. Stained-glass windows were mostly narrow, so it was more convenient to shoot back, and were located so as not to leave blind spots. In short, it looked like an exquisite abode of a rich and powerful ruler, but in reality, it was a fortress well fortified with magic. It was possible not only to keep a siege, but also to successfully fight off the enemies. In the outer walls were embedded powerful battle amulets of various types, and equally powerful metal shields, which served as the basis for protective barriers. They were arranged very intelligently, so that the sectors of fire overlapped each other, and the protective barriers overlapped when activated. The wizard, who understood something of how to create a magically protected dwelling, appreciated the architects of the dead city.

It had almost no active weaves left, and it looked noticeably worse than the other two parts. Apparently, it had initially received less energy from the source than the other two. And at some point, the energy channels had failed, and the weaves in the slave wing were left without power. The wing farthest from the crack was inhabited by the lower and middle ranks of the House, and it still had a functioning defense. After all, it was inhabited by dark elves, not slaves of the lesser races. For that reason, Master's puppets had chosen the basement of the slave wing as the safest place to hide.

Of course, they had looked it over briefly before setting up a refuge for Master. But it was simply physically impossible to fully search even one wing of such a palace, let alone all three, in a few days, especially considering the huge amount of other work. Master's dolls only made sure the basement of the slave wing was safe, and that no suspicious traces were visible inside or near the palace. After that, they began organizing a refuge in one of the rooms. They dragged a solid supply of food and various equipment there. With the expectation that it would be enough for further travel through the Underworld. But now, since everything had worked out so well, and Master did not need to go anywhere, the palace had to be searched properly to settle in fully.

And it had to be searched very thoroughly. Such a huge building simply had to have numerous secret rooms, hidden passages, hiding places, and traps. Not to mention the still functioning magical protection. Of course, over the past centuries, even the most reliable weaves should have lost at least a little bit of stability and strength. And some should have become completely unusable, even with a power source. But even such "untangled" weaves still represented a danger. Moreover, in some situations, even more so than those that worked. Master absolutely did not want to lose any of the puppets through stupidity. Because there was simply nowhere to get new ones!

So the loyal Saya, along with the remaining dark elves, began to systematically inspect the palace. His slanted doll had a lot of experience in such matters. Naidira understood something about the architectural and housing features of her race. After all, she was a Senior Catcher. Room by room, floor by floor, everything was scrutinized and inspected. In case of the slightest suspicion or uncertainty, the girls immediately called Master for help. A great help in the search of the palace was his gift from the Greatest, which allowed him not only to navigate accurately in space and understand his location in it, but also gave him a voluminous map of all those places where he personally visited. At his will, it appeared in front of his mental gaze, and it was possible to examine the volumetric image of the desired place from all sides. You could zoom in, zoom out, expand, and even make a mark if you wanted. Very convenient! And the main thing is that in this way you can notice, for example, that between these two walls there is a suspiciously large amount of space. And here too.

At the same time the palace was being searched, other, no less important work was going on. Master's new residence was to be carefully disguised. To be more precise, not to camouflage it, but to conceal the appearance of new inhabitants. For this purpose it was necessary to create a reliable and dense network of camouflaging and averting the gaze weaves, to put protective and isolating barriers. All this also required time and effort. At first glance, it might seem like an unnecessary overkill, considering that there was no one else in the dead city except Master and his puppets. But Master fully agreed with Naidira's reasoning, as the most experienced of the Dungeon's inhabitants. The Terror of Diyartan had fallen back into the abyss, but it was not known how his duel with the First Herald of the Sun-Face had ended. And, just as importantly, the fissure leading to the depths of the Earth's bowels, where his lair was located, remained in place. And who knows what else might emerge from it in time? Among the inhabitants of the Underworld there were many legends and stories about creatures living so deep that for them the Underworld was like the surface for the dark elves. And there was not a single even remotely good story or legend among them. Therefore, the Master took the question of his safety very seriously.

If something decided to come out of the bowels of the earth, it was better not to be the first to see it. Violetta and Little helped the Master in the difficult task of defending and camouflaging the whole palace. The latter did not like her new nickname very much at first. But it was a matter of minutes to correct it, and now Nodri saw nothing offensive or humiliating in her new nickname. Especially since the blond halfling girl really did look tiny against Basita's background, which amused the Orc, who never missed an opportunity to make fun of her height. The two gifted women were not experts in defense and disguise, but they knew a thing or two about it. Lady Edelhart, though not an active practitioner, was a strong adept in terms of magical gift, and had studied at the Neirat Academy, where they did not give a bad education. And if you had studied there, you would know a strong base of all the basic variants of weaves. Violetta was a very diligent student, and she had finished not only the basic courses, thanks to her parents' money and patronage. She had paid for the training of Little one, who was much more talented in terms of her gift, and she was not stingy with it either, wanting to get herself a competent and loyal specialist. And these labors paid off, because Little one had already practically grown up to a master of magic.

So their help was quite noticeable. Slowly but surely, in parallel with the ongoing searches, the slave wing of the palace, floor by floor, room by room, was increasingly wrapped in a united and dense network of invisible weaves, designed to hide any traces of the presence of strangers inside. Of course, they were all tied to the precious full-length mirror of Master, which was supposed to become a strong foundation and the heart of the future protection. And his no less precious "Memory Collector" would become a strong support for him. From the very first day of his stay in Diyarten, the artifact worked in passive mode, collecting and devouring any memory of its owner, further complicating the work of all sorts of seers. Who, such bastards, did not calm down! Despite all his performance, the mirror continued to reflect attempts aimed at "seeing into the future" of Master's fate. But now the nature of the Underworld and the past battle played into his hands. The darkness and flames of the Terror of Diyarten hid all traces of Master perfectly, so that the mirror did not even strain too much, diverting searching glances. And also the fact that the sun-lovers seemed to have lost their artifact-compass, which could not but please.

While the dark elves and Saya were searching the slave wing of the palace, Master and his assistants were methodically weaving protection and camouflage around and inside it. The other puppets were busy tidying up the rooms they had already checked. And they had plenty of work! Although the palace had been preserved well overall, especially compared to other buildings in Diyarten, several centuries without proper care could not help but have their detrimental effect on it. Especially on that part of it that was left without a source of power, where household weavings ceased to work. It’s a good thing that the Underworld doesn’t have a change of seasons, and it doesn’t rain, otherwise the entire slave wing would have turned into ruins.

And so almost all the simple furniture was either completely rotten or in a terrible state, ready to fall apart at the slightest touch. In some rooms, underground plants, mosses, or fungi had managed to sprout. Plaster had crumbled somewhere, a chandelier had collapsed somewhere, the floor, aka the ceiling for the room below, in several places the walls had been broken by something or someone. In some places were signs of fires. In a couple of rooms were nests of underground beasts, and in the former kitchen, there was a full-fledged den of a large and predatory creature. As Master realised with the help of the Memory Gatherer, it looked like a horrible mixture of lizard, frog, and fish, but originally it had been a harmless subterranean amphibian like a newt, a little bigger than the palm of his hand. But after being influenced by one of the local sources of magic, it mutated and grew to the size of a medium-sized crocodile. It, like other large predators, was devoured by the Terror of Diyartan during a sweep of the city.

Needless to say, it, as well as the rest of the animals that had managed to settle in the slave wing, left many traces of their stay, from bones to mountains of excrement. In order to clean all the various rubbish and bring this wing into relative order, a good army of dwarf labourers led by a clever architect. Or a hundred or two puppets, under the no less intelligent leadership of a dwarf architect. Preferably with a couple of helpers from among the bigger orcs. So that commands can be carried out more quickly and clearly. A dozen specialists in creating complexes of household weaves that ventilate the air, purify and warm water, keep food in warehouses fresh, and so on. Because the ones available here before had completely dissipated without feeding, and they had to be created from scratch. Looking at the scale of the upcoming cleaning and repair works, Master regretted more than once and more than twice that almost all the expedition participants had to be sacrificed.

Because there was nowhere to get additional labor! It was time to seriously consider buying a specialized cleaning golem through the Auction of the Greatest. Or an all-purpose multi-purpose golem. But these masterpieces of applied artifacting cost absolutely insane money, which he would rather spend on something more necessary. Although the golem model in the form of a humanoid woman with the strange name TO-BEE interested him quite a bit. In addition to its extremely attractive appearance, it had a very wide possibility of personal customization of this very appearance and a very long list of various functions. It also came with a decent-sized set of ready-made personality matrices. But this beauty costs a lot of money. There were other variants of golems that attracted Master's interest. For example, a creepy-looking wooden golem painted with bright red paint imitating a strange kind of clothing called DUBOLOM-STR-MDRN-4000. Unlike the humanoid TO-BEE, however, it was a purely combat golem designed for assault operations, and its creator strongly discouraged the use of the golem for any other purpose in the description. And especially wasn't recommended changing in any way the skillfully carved evil face of the golem, where, probably, there was a controlling weave. But this wooden warrior was also very expensive, even if it was cheaper than the humanoid beauty.

So, sighing sadly, Master decided not to waste the resources granted by the Soul Tablet, which had just begun to recover. The puppets were doing a good job of cleaning the rooms on their own. Most of the trash was taken to a special basement room, where they found a decent-sized alchemical furnace made by dwarves. The creation of the bearded runts was perfectly preserved, a little dusty but not rusty at all. The runic branding with the mark of the craftsman and the clan was perfectly preserved. This furnace had also been used to dispose of waste, mostly household waste, but judging from the images Memory Gatherer had found, there were occasional humanoid bodies among the waste. Or fragments of them.

It only took half a day to get the furnace up and running. But then, once everything was ready, disposing of the garbage was no longer a problem. The puppets simply took it to the basement and put it in the furnace. When enough of it had accumulated, Master and his assistants charged the furnace's storage crystals and refueled it with a special flammable compound that was abundant in the storage room adjacent to the furnace. The emerald liquid was safely sealed in enchanted ceramic vessels and had not lost its properties over the centuries. When it was ready, a single spark was all it took. The alchemical composition, fueled by magic, burst into an emerald flame, and all the debris began to burn vigorously in it with almost no residue. The puppets cleaned rooms with wet cleaning. If necessary, with the help of Master himself or his gifted assistants. But their help was not required too often. Only in the most serious cases, when it was necessary to clean up some nasty stuff, such as rot or mold. Otherwise, the puppets did a fine job on their own.

Thanks to a few sets of good household amulets they found in one of the warehouses. It wasn't the hardest thing in the world to clean. It was enough to charge them from time to time. The only problem at first was water, but there were a few wells in the basement of the slave wing, which Master and his assistants had managed to clear out and put into working order. It took a bit of work to create the cleansing weaves, but then they had no problems with drinking water. The only really serious problem was the scale of the work to be done. The palace had been built by intelligent slaves, and their masters were not stingy with good materials and enchantments. If it had been an ordinary building here, even in the stable climate of the Underworld, without the support of the household weaves in the slave wing, everything would have collapsed long ago.

What was reassuring was that the central part of the palace and the wing for the lower-middle ranks of the House were doing noticeably better. According to the puppets who had looked in there, it was as if everything had been the day Diyarten had died. But before going in there, Master decided to check the slave wing completely. So he wouldn't get a sudden and most likely deadly unpleasant surprise. In the Underworld, no caution is unwarranted. But in this case, everything was fine. No unpleasant surprises, lurking monsters, magical anomalies, or any other nastiness were found. There weren't even any serious traps, let alone defense problems.

Most of it had fallen into complete disrepair centuries ago, when the main power conduit leading to the source of power under the central part of the city had been damaged during the cleanup of the city. Without it, only the weaves protected several of the wing's central rooms remained in relatively working condition. There were the quarters and workplaces of the overseers who watched over the slaves. It was obvious that they had been created by a skillful sorceress, no less than a magister, or a very skillful master of magic. It was understandable, because the control weaves of the wing's defense and attack systems converged there as well. If they took this place, the enemy would have taken over the entire wing. Or at least severely compromise the ability to defend it. When Saya and the remaining dark elf puppets had found a safe way in, it took Master and his assistants only half a day to get in. And then another day of work to take control of the remaining working weaves and completely reconfigure them to his liking, taking full control of the slave wing.

After that, everyone moved from the basement to the overseer's quarters with great pleasure. It wasn't a full-fledged quarter, but rather a restroom, but it had normal beds! Beds! Yes, the linens and featherbeds had to be thrown away, and the camp beds used instead. But sleeping in a cot on the floor and sleeping in a cot on a good bed are completely different things! There was something else interesting in the warders' quarters. A weapons room, with an arsenal of good cold weapons, a dozen battle wands, and a dozen sets of armor with built-in protective and masking amulets. All magical elements were, of course, completely discharged, but they could be brought into working condition. Also, one of these rooms had several medium-sized mirrors hanging on the wall in front of a semi-circular desk. After a bit of fiddling with them, Master and his assistants managed to awaken them, and the various rooms in the slave wing were reflected before them. Nearly two dozen hidden observation crystals placed in various places were still in working order, and as soon as they were energized, they began to show what they could see again. And even what they could hear.

A very reasonable precaution, because even the best branding or other mental suggestion does not give a full guarantee of safety. In the same room with mirrors there was a rack, where in special stands stood crystals-storage units, where images imprinted by observation crystals were stored. But over the past centuries, they were completely extinguished, so it was impossible to learn anything useful from them. Out of sheer curiosity, Master carefully checked a few of them, but everywhere there were only vague shadows and incoherent fragments of images, as if in a fog. He wasn't particularly interested in what the dark elf slaves had been doing centuries ago. But to restore the hidden tracking system and use it to monitor the palace and its surroundings was not superfluous. Particularly the crack that had so terrified his dark elves. But for that, it was necessary to remove some of the tracking crystals and bring them to new places to adjust the connecting and controlling weaves.... The work was not too difficult for a specialist of his level, but rather routine and long, so it was decided to postpone it for later, when the search of the palace was over.

There was nothing of significant value to be found in the slave wing either. In fact, it consisted of barracks-type dormitories, a dining room with a kitchen, and storage rooms in the basement. The furniture, with few exceptions like that in the warders' quarters, had rotted, crumbled, or burned, and anything that could be eaten or chewed had been eaten over the centuries by cave rats. The survivors were either those that had been properly and reliably enchanted, or those that even the rats wouldn't eat, such as some ceramic or glass vessels. Master did not even bother the puppets too much to clean up the slave wing, but only did the bare minimum of tidying up and destroying harmful animals. When this part of the palace was finished and covered with protective and masking weaves, Master and his puppets switched to the second wing, where the lower and middle ranks of the House dwelt.

And there it was already noticeably more interesting. The defences there were generally better, and some of them were still powered by a magical source. And not just the defences. More importantly, it was a complex set of household weaves that prevented rot and mould from spreading, removed excess moisture from the air, and put out open fires. It was still working. As a result, many rooms, especially on the upper floors, where the upper-middle class of the House lived, were perfectly preserved. Also, despite the passage of time, this wing of the palace still showed signs of the hasty removal of everything of value that could be carried away. The basement storage rooms had been mostly cleared out. Some individual living rooms were also gutted, with trunks and the remains of clothing or household items scattered on the floor. Master tried to look through the memory of the place with his invaluable Memory Gatherer. The artefact managed to get some images, but mostly they were vague silhouettes of a few dark elves desperately chasing a dozen slave-carriers dragging everything into the hall of the ground floor. It looked as if some of the House had survived the fall of Diyartan and had returned to collect the goods that had been left unattended.

Further cautious inspection revealed that the basements and lower floors of this wing had been completely looted. But the upper floors, where the middle ranks of the House resided, were mostly untouched. Apparently, only those that had been open when Terror Diyarten appeared had been looted. The locked ones were still intact. On the topmost floor, where the top middle-ranking officials, one step away from moving to the central part of the palace, lived, a single room had been opened and emptied. Judging from the vague image that the Memory Gatherer had managed to obtain, this was where one of the Senior Catchers resided. Apparently, she had been away with her hunters at the time of the Terror of Diyarten's appearance, which had saved their lives. Afterwards, she came back and tried to take everything she could. But she didn't dare to go into the rooms of her companions, either because she was afraid of defence, or because of rival looters, or something else. In any case, most of the mid-level living quarters of the House remained as they had been when Terror of Diyarten appeared.

After a quick inspection and assessment of the situation, Master and his puppets first targeted the central rooms on the middle floors. In the heart of the wing. It was the heart of this part of the palace, where the energy from the source came from, where the control nodes of all the preserved weaves were located. Obviously, all these rooms were well protected. In order to get inside without disturbing the protective and signaling charms, it took almost two days, and even bought some magical tools and materials from the Greatest. No, of course, Master could easily overcome the remaining local defenses, force his way into the central room, and then force his way into the controlling weaves. But that would definitely raise the alarm in the central part of the palace.

And Master didn't want that, so he acted with extreme care and precision. Because in the best case, the remaining defenses of the palace would simply cut off the energy supply from the source of magic to the “captured wing”. And in the worst case, it could use attack weaves, with all the consequences, flying out and exploding. Or put the palace under siege, sealing everything in the palace. Or even destroying the contents of the most valuable rooms, on the principle that no one should get it! Which, of course, was completely unacceptable, so Master was in no hurry.

Fortunately for him, he had no one to interfere with his work. No need to hide from anyone, so he was able to calmly and thoughtfully pick up the keys to first the protective and then the controlling weaves. It wasn't exactly his profile and speciality but Master was again helped by Saya. She had a lot of experience in breaking through magical defences and entering where she wasn't wanted. By the end of the second twenty-four hours of hacking, the defences finally gave way, and the Master, without disturbing the signalling weaves, had successfully taken control of all the still-active weaves in this wing of the palace. And there were plenty of them! In addition to the still quite serviceable defence system, consisting of various barriers and magic traps, he had at his disposal a number of attacking amulets and crystals-concentrators, through which he could use his own magic and strengthen it at the same time. And of course, the surveillance system was no worse here than in the slave wing. However, just like there, all the images imprinted in the crystals-storage devices several centuries ago had fallen into complete disrepair.

But perhaps the most important thing was that it was a surviving system of household weaves! To hell with them, with the defensive and attacking weaves, he would create them anew, give him time! Household weaves, providing a comfortable existence for the inhabitants of the palace, were much more important to him now! As soon as control was seized, Master, with his assistants, began a careful revision, and was more than pleased with the results. About a third of the total number of household weaves had become unusable, half of the remaining ones required maintenance of varying degrees of seriousness, but for him and the puppets, those that remained were more than enough! It took about another half a day to completely sort them out and put them in order.

After which life immediately became noticeably easier and more pleasant, and the search process went faster and more fun. Much faster and with more fun! They managed to restore the work of the toilets and baths, set up the supply of water from the wells, its heating and purification, and also put the kitchens in order. It was now possible to cook food normally. Not to mention the fact that in this wing there was much more normally preserved furniture, even in the gutted rooms! And in some rooms even sets of bed linen were preserved in enchanted chests. Needless to say, Master, together with his puppets, moved from the guards' quarters in the slave wing to a new place with great pleasure. Normal beds, normal toilets, normal food. After long weeks of camp and semi-camp life, it was a real pleasure.

Even though the wing had not been searched completely, even though there were still locked and sealed rooms, Master decided to celebrate this small victory by allowing himself and his puppets a day of rest. A more than deserved rest, after such labours! Master began his rest with a joint visit to the baths, in the company of his favourite puppets, potential puppet candidates, and of course Lady Edelhart and her children. The spacious rooms for several dozen inhabitants were at their disposal, as was the discovery of a stock of cosmetic alchemy in one of the Beauty Chambers adjacent to the bath. Most of the compounds there had fallen into disrepair, but what was left was enough for Master and his puppets.

Nestled on the flat, heated marble bed, Master blissfully closed his eyes and placed himself entirely in Saya's gentle and skillful hands. The slanty doll had worked for three in recent weeks, and deserved a reward from her Master. Under Basita's slightly envious glances, she began diligently soaping and rubbing him with a washcloth while Master simply enjoyed himself. For the first time since fleeing his native hideout, he felt the weight of constant anxiety, fear, and anticipation of trouble fall from his shoulders. He had succeeded after all! He did it! Yes, he had not won the war, but he had won an important victory in the battle, and now he could afford some peace and rest in the company of his favorite dolls. Rolling over onto his stomach, Master allowed a contentedly smiling Saya to ride him and begin massaging his back. Being pampered by her gentle fingers, Master couldn't contain his smile. The deadly assassin could end his life right now with a single blow. And would surely do it for even a tenth of what he'd done to her in the time they'd known each other. The old Saya. Who wasn't really Saya at all, but Sai-Aya-Hai of something. But she was long gone, not even as a mold-consciousness imprinted in the crystal. And there is faithful, loving, and completely submissive Saya....

Enjoying the way her oiled palms slid along his back, Master sighed sadly. Of course, he was tempted to stretch the rest over several days, or even a week. But he was determined to have a full rest after the entire palace had been taken under control, which would be another week or even two of work. And the most difficult part was ahead. Then it will be possible to rest quietly, without hurry, with all the pleasure as before. And get acquainted, finally, with his arrogant “assistant” and her children. At least the daughter. He would have tried out Violetta by now, but still, Saya deserved her own reward, in the form of attention from him. There was no way to refuse the slanted doll after all her hard work. Though, watching Lady Edelhart diligently soaping the slightly enlarged tits of her daughter, who was the spitting image of her mother, only noticeably younger and with darker hair, the temptation was hard to resist. She was a lovely girl. Her face and figure were a sight to behold. But she was weaker than her mother in terms of magic, and she had not inherited Violetta's business acumen. But she was still innocent, which was surprising for a girl of her age and origin.

Her mother had to be thankful for that, for she kept her daughter in the tight grip, not allowing her to take even half a step aside, allowing only girlish fun with the trusted maids. But not because Violetta was such a moral guardian, but out of purely pragmatic calculation. A beautiful, magically gifted, even if not overly so, young girl from a noble family, and an innocent one, was a commodity worth a great deal. Lady Edelhart had never made any secret of her plans to marry off her daughter in the most favorable way possible, increasing her already considerable capital. And in the end, this young treasure, which caring mother right now washes the pussy, he got it. He wishes he could say it was free, but that would be deceitful. Still, Saya had worked very hard to get close to Lady Edelhart. It was a shame that her daughter was so poorly gifted magically, very disappointing. If her gift was at least on the same level as Petty One, she would have been the one he would have made a doll of in the first place. As it was, it would be a waste of time. Although he had some time now, and there were ways to strengthen her.... No, not now. Maybe later. Maybe later. Even her overly self-important mother is more promising in that regard.

To Violetta, while she was diligently washing her daughter like a little child, paying special attention to her intimate parts, her son was equally diligently soaping her tits. Noticeably enlarged, unlike her daughter's, tits. The young man had his mother's hair colour and temperament, but his father's face, as he bore little resemblance to Lady Edelhart. That did not hinder him in the least. He was the very epitome of a handsome, aristocratic young man who never needed money. At one look at him, Master wanted to do something nice to him, just as he wanted to do something nice to Baroness de Kleban's nephew, who was now a niece. It was petty, but Master could not help it. He had not felt warm feelings for such representatives of the golden aristocratic youth since his long-ago youth. Master could have rid himself of such dislike, but he was not going to change himself in any way.

The only thing that saved Lady Edelhart's son in his eyes was that his mother had very carefully raised him to be a worthy heir, not allowing him to squander his parents' money on endless lovers, expensive trinkets, and other entertainment. Like Violetta, her son had studied at the Academy of Neirat, although he had not achieved any particular success in the path of a magician. His gift was stronger than his sister's, but weaker than his mother's. The eternal trouble with marriages of convenience. The blood needed to strengthen the heir is not always combined with the appropriate origin and status. Master knows this well. Hmm... And why not, actually? Watching how the happy family, sitting on stools in a row, diligently washed each other in all places, Master mentally used the token given to him by the Greatest on Violetta.

The effect was immediate. Lady Edelhart, who had just been diligently soaping her daughter's long hair, suddenly froze, her eyes widened, her mouth opened slightly, and she sighed heavily. At the same time, her breasts, already enlarged by Master's efforts, seemed to swell even more for a moment, but then shrank again. But her light-brown nipples, already erect, seemed to have grown a little larger, and were now the size of ripe cherries. Blinking several times, Violetta looked around with dull eyes until she stopped her gaze on her son, who was scrubbing her back with a washcloth. Turning to him, she licked her lips and said in a slightly hoarse, but impertinent voice:

"Dacius, I need your help. I need to... relieve myself..."

Lady Edelhart made a meaningful gesture at her breasts. Her son blinked a few times in surprise, but then, as if nothing had happened, moved closer to Violetta, leaned forward, and sucked hard on her breast. This caused Lady Edelhart to moan loudly, which she did not even try to restrain. She threw her head back and pressed her son tighter with both hands, literally pressing his face into her tits. Master watching this scene, mentally shook his head. Truly the power of the Greatest is unparalleled! A single mental command, and the effect is like a well-crafted and complex suggestion. And most importantly, no one saw anything strange in it, as if it were meant to be. Even though he hadn't put such norms into the puppets' heads yet. Amazing. Okay, if we're going to do this, we have to do it well. To maximize the effectiveness of the token, he took a minute to impress upon Violetta that she should only breastfeed her son from now on. Still, two units of a characteristic were a significant enhancement. Maybe Lady Edelhart would still make a decent doll. We'll see. We'll see. Because right now, Master has more important things to do.

Turning to Saya, diligently massaging his back, he nodded to one of the surviving massage tables against the wall of the bathhouse. The slanted beauty understood immediately, and with a sly smile, she headed toward it, slapping her bare feet on the warm marble floor of the bathhouse. Thanks to the restored household weaves. She walked with the proud gait of a victorious woman, swaying her hips seductively and clearly flaunting herself in front of Basita. As she approached the table, she deftly jumped on it, sitting down on the edge. Leaning back a little, Saya threw her slender and flexible legs behind her head in one graceful and deft movement, crossing them behind the back of her head. With both hands, she gently opened the petals of her flower, inviting Master to use it with a mischievous smile. For a few seconds, Master approached her and admired his slanted doll as she assumed one of his favorite poses. There was an unparalleled beauty in the beauties of the Rising Empire! How lucky he had been to get his hands on Saya in his time!

With both arms around her waist, he entered her smoothly, enjoying the heat of her tight pussy, the silky smooth skin beneath which the trained muscles rolled, the scent of her womanly body unlike any other, and of course her firm breasts. After waiting a few seconds, Master began to move unhurriedly. Holding Saya with one hand, Master grabbed a lock of black hair with his other hand and began to tickle his doll's nipples with the tip of it, causing her to laugh loudly. A little away from him, in the cleaned and restored pool at the same time, Bazita was playing with Petty. The depth of the pool reached the lower edge of the orc's chest. While the blonde halfling, who could not swim, was hidden in it with her head, even standing on her tiptoes. Bazita took advantage of this, playing with her like a doll. Dipping her in and out of the water. The snorting and floundering Nodori was deeply indignant, but the halfling could not break free or do anything to the orc. At the same time as she was bathing Petty, Bazita was openly groping her buttocks and small breasts, not hesitating to comment on their size. This pissed off the halfling even more. She almost shouted that she was not Petty, but quite normal by the standards of her kin! And in some places quite large! Which was true, but against the background of Bazita's big tits it was ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that Nodori couldn't even reach her crotch with her head.

On the other side of them, Naidira and her younger companion were moaning as they made themselves comfortable on the faces of the two surviving hunters. Both of them were not shy to comment and compare their tongue skills, for which the dark elves periodically switched places. At the same time, the former Senior Catcher did not hesitate to give the young tribeswoman advice on how to ride around the young hunters, how to keep them in line and other wisdom of the squad leader. Naidira was not embarrassed by the fact that she had allowed herself to be taken by both of her subordinates more than once and more than twice in any position, even the most obscene from the point of view of the honourable Senior Catcher. However, the hunters who diligently worked their tongues between the legs of the two tribeswomen did not see anything abnormal or unusual in such ‘rewards’ for a job well done. They hadn't before. When Naidira got to Master, he, as soon as he had a spare moment, adjusted their compulsions a bit. Because it's one thing for a puppet to get fucked by another puppet. It can be fun and even useful. But his own personal puppets, that's another thing! When someone else touched his toys without permission, Master hated it even in his distant childhood. And just to give someone his toys to play with, Master didn't like it either.

And because there were no dolls left besides Saya and Bazita, Naidira was now the second of the candidates to become one. The first was Petty. So now, men other than Master could only please her with their tongues. And that with reservations. Hmm. Should we change them too? Or should we keep them as men? Or maybe a combination? Ah, later, later! Stop thinking about work and enjoy your holiday. It's a funny side effect of ‘Separation of Thought Streams IV’, when you involuntarily start thinking about different things at the same time, like planning a future harem, even while resting.... Oh, for fuck's sake!

With a mental effort, the Master banished the unnecessary thoughts from his mind, concentrating fully on the moaning Saya, who was already moaning in her voice. The slanting beauty hadn't originally been overly emotional in bed, but he'd corrected that for his pleasure. After all, fucking an immobile and cold living doll.... It's a peculiar pleasure, and not for every day, let's say, although the same ... Oh, shit!

Growling softly, Master bit his lip and focused all his thoughts only on Saya and her beautiful, trained body. It worked, and within a minute he was pouring into her, still half-lying on the massage table with her legs behind her head. Exhaling and wiping the sweat from his forehead, the Master helped Saya off the table and went to rinse himself again.

He spent the rest of the day in the occupied private chambers in her company, frankly idle and restless. The only thing he was distracted by was applying the token to Bazita and tying her to Petty. The sight of the blonde halfling babe desperately suckling on the Orc's hefty breasts while sitting on her lap was a rarely amusing and seductive sight. It had its charms. Though she still needed some work. Her breasts should be enlarged a little, her figure should be slimmer - halflings are generally prone to fullness, especially after the first birth. And reduce the amount of hair on her legs, ++because that's a bit of a favourite. He fell asleep in the warm embrace of Saya, very pleased with him, because the lord had paid full attention only to her today.

* * *

The strange place was unfamiliar to Master, and he could have sworn he'd never seen it before. The small, windowless room was mostly occupied by strange-looking artifacts filled with unfamiliar magic. A remotely familiar, but very poorly discernible power could be felt in a young and unremarkable young man who stood surrounded by several women. In whom the power was felt more than clearly, and the power was not small! Master immediately recognized the woman with substantial breasts as a Magister of Magick. The gloomy-looking girl, adorned with numerous tattoos, was a little weaker than her, and literally oozed darkness. The other girls, if they were inferior in strength, not much.

As he looked at the strange group, Master felt as if he were looking in a mirror. It was also as if he had seen them somewhere before. It was unclear when and where, but he had definitely seen them.... He didn't have time to remember, because one of the girls, a very pretty red-haired beauty, let out a triumphant cry. It felt like the same strange magic that filled the room with artifacts. A moment later, several large black rectangles lit up with a bright light, and blurred images of other people appeared. Artifact mirrors, Master guessed.

In the meantime, the images became clearer and two people could be distinguished in them. He was a sturdy man, not an old man, wearing a strange kind of dark armor, with gray hair and a mustache. It was not magic, but some strange power that somehow evoked an association with the glow of silver. On the breastplate of his armor were brightly written in white paint the incomprehensible symbols “GCPD”, and over his shoulder hung a strange-looking metal staff or rod. Next to him in a wheeled chair sat a red-haired girl, quite pretty, and she had the same power as the first red-haired girl.

When the images became clear, there was a heated discussion between the couple reflected in the mirrors and the black-skinned, beautiful shamaness from the young man's retinue. And that it was HIS retinue, Master was now completely sure. Fisherman sees fisherman, as they say. He did not understand what the man in the strange armor and the black-skinned shamaness were talking about, but he could see that the young man and the rest of his retinue were becoming more and more stunned by the conversation. But he couldn't understand why. The last straw, which made everyone in the room shriek loudly, was the sudden appearance of a tall figure of a man in an eerie-looking black armor next to the gray-haired warrior. Armour could not hide his broad shoulders and powerful, trained body, and the face mask-helmet did not hide the square chin, which literally reeked of brutality. And there was a strange power to the sudden visitor, a mighty power that glowed bright gold despite his grim appearance.

The stranger appeared suddenly and from somewhere above, landing beside the couple. A High Vampire, Master guessed, as a pair of huge bat-like wings folded behind him and turned into a cloak. Strange though, no blood felt, just darkness and... terror? Fear... It's unclear. But from the looks of it, he's definitely a supreme vampire! These two must be his living servants. And trusted ones at that, for when Master appeared, they started shouting and waving their hands at him rather violently. As far as Master could understand, the reason for their outrage was the skinny man, bound hand and foot, with a snow-white face like a street performer's and bright green hair, who was kicking under the high vampire's arm. He reeked of power, too, with a glint of gold. And madness, too, pure and untainted.

While the arriving supreme vampire was saying something to his minions, a young boy with a completely dumbfounded face turned to his red-haired sorceress and asked in the same dumbfounded voice:

"Ira, how did you manage to call Gotham City?!"

* * *

When he opened his eyes, Master lay motionless for several minutes in the arms and legs of a peacefully sniffling Saya, who wrapped her arms and legs around him tightly. He hadn't had many dreams in recent weeks. And he hadn't had a “special” dream since that memorable day at Baroness de Kleban's mansion. Frowning, Master concentrated and mentally reached for his artifact. As expected, nothing. Hmm... Focusing even harder, he tried to reconstruct at least part of the dream, which was clearly 'special'. It was possible to recreate a single picture of the image. A very tall man in dark armor with a cloak resembling bat wings stood next to a smaller and older man with gray hair and a mustache. Next to them, a red-haired girl sat in a wheelchair. Both she and the gray-haired man were smashing their faces with their palms, pointing at the big man in the dark armor of a street artist lying at their feet, bound hand and foot.

Master couldn't understand what it meant, no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he decided that he had enough time to waste, and it was time to continue searching the closed rooms. And then it would be possible to visit the central part. But first, breakfast! A normal breakfast cooked in a normal kitchen and normal, not field conditions! He was sick to death of eating hiking food in hiking conditions. The cook of the Dowager Baroness de Kleban, who made a marvelous fish chowder, Master remembered with a deafening longing, not to mention a couple of his dolls, who knew a lot about cooking. Eh, what dishes they could create, and how they could serve them.... He was tempted to spend the little money he had recovered to buy food from the Greatest, but Master willed himself to keep those thoughts away. The food was still available, so it was better to save System Currency for more useful purchases.

After a proper refreshment, Master with the puppets began further search and inspection of the wing, systematically opening one closed room after another. The personal magical protection and the locks on the closed quarters of the middle-ranking representatives of the dead House were not very difficult to deal with after taking control of the protective weaves. The former had long since been exhausted, as they were not powered directly from the source. And the latter, without the support of the former, was no problem at all. And, as the first opened chambers showed, apparently belonging to a gifted dark elf of the strong adept level, there was a lot to be gained in this wing of the palace, unlike the slave wing.

In the dwelling of the long-dead gifted dark elf woman there was quite tolerable furniture made of enchanted wood from rotting and drying, several sets of clothes, including a very expensive robe of dark spider silk, some tools and materials for magical practice, a box with jewelry and amulets of various types, a couple of battle wands and several daggers. And a set of sex toys, including an outfit of riveted white leather belts with metal rings. And some money, tucked away in a separate box. On Lady Edelhart's advice, Master decided to take everything of value into one of the empty rooms after the inspection, and there she was instructed to describe and sort everything carefully. Puppets are so convenient in this respect, one need not fear that they would pocket anything.

He continued the search, which took almost a week. And the result was more than impressive! He had to allocate two more rooms for trophy storage. By the end of the week, they had collected a lot of valuable things. A large set of various jewellery, including very expensive ones, made of gold and silver, many with precious stones. Every other piece of jewellery was either a full-fledged amulet or a blank for it. There was also a decent set of crockery, mostly silver, but also some porcelain, exotic for the Underworld. Among the cups, goblets, glasses, decanters, and plates, some were enchanted to recognise and neutralise poisons, and some hid poisons from inspection. All in the best traditions of the dark elves.

There was a whole arsenal of cold weapons, in addition to the ones found in the rooms where the wing weaves were controlled from. Swords, daggers, knives, glaives, spears, you name it. Most of it was elven work, but there were some dwarven blades as well. Two medium-sized chests were filled to the top with silver coins of various coinage. There were coins of various cities of the Underworld, the Kingdoms of the North, the Free Cities, and even the Light Elves. There were fewer gold coins, but there were some too.

There was also a decent amount of amulets for various purposes. Combat, defence, household, camouflage, tracking. Almost all of them had been discharged, but could be used again after recharging. These were personal amulets of the palace inhabitants and those belonging to the House. And, of course, armour, also with built-in amulets. There was enough for a whole company, and that's just the complete sets. There were also a lot of dark elf women's outfits that had survived in several good enchanted chests. According to Nydira, all these outfits were outdated, but were quite wearable. Though some of them could be called outfits with a great strain, as they covered almost nothing. There were also a number of magic reagents, mostly crystals, and a number of tools for magical crafting that could still be used.

And of course, there was a lot of well-preserved furniture, especially in the chambers of the top middle-ranking officials, who were already planning to move to the central part of the palace. Most of it had been left where it was, but only the applied parts, like enchanted chests and chests, had been moved. When Violetta summarised the results of her calculations, Master whistled in surprise. Even without pure money, the finds were worth a fortune! The furniture and crockery alone could furnish a good-sized house on the surface. With the money found, it was possible to buy and furnish a good mansion in some Free City. Now it is clear why, even despite the mortal risk, looters rushed to the dead city. And it wasn't even the juiciest of booty! The tastiest was waiting for him in the central part!

Master approached the penetration with all possible care and caution. Because the defence and signalling weaves were the best, and they had been preserved surprisingly well. Once again, the faithful Saya came to the rescue. Master had been working with her for almost three days to open a safe passage to the central part of the Palace and ensure no alarms were raised. The other puppets had little to do in the meantime, and could have been sent to scout the city, but Master didn't want to take any chances. No, he couldn't get new ones, so any risk was unacceptable. Especially since the past few days revealed a problem he had created for himself. Two problems, actually. Four, to be exact.

He underestimated the power of the Greatest when he used their tokens. Or Violetta and Bazita's tits were too big! Especially the latter. Orcess was now literally every three hours pulling Little One to help her ‘relieve herself’. The halfling didn't need much urging, though. She ran to Bazita for more every few hours, panting with ‘thirst’. No, it was quite amusing and pleasant to watch the blond halfling sucking diligently on the huge breasts of the Orcess almost two and a half metres tall. The first three or four times. But when the most magically gifted assistant of the Master began to drop out of work every few hours for almost half an hour, the fun was noticeably diminished.

With Violetta and Dacius, the situation was not much better. At some point it even seemed to Master that the young man was doing nothing but sucking his mother's breasts, huddled in a corner and pulling up her hiking shirt. Or laying her back on the table. Or lying with his head in her lap like a baby. Master even had to put extra inhibitions in their heads to keep the feeding from escalating into something big, and it very well could. Both Violetta and Bazita flew to the seventh heaven every time during the feeding process. Sometimes twice. It was a good thing he hadn't been tempted by the extra performance point and tasted the same Saya's milk. Spending a whole month like that... it's possible, but not when you have a lot of urgent work to do.

Well, well done, he had practically deprived himself of two gifted assistants! Though they were hardly of much help to him, they were of the wrong level and specialization. He could have used one of his dolls, which had been under Lortan's patronage for a while, and who knows, maybe in time became his priestess. Which, as the God of Deceit and Lies assures us, he does not have. Because even for Saya the defense of the central part was not easy, and a smart assistant thief would not be superfluous. Just thinking about the lost dolls makes him angry! So much energy and time lost forever! Nothing, nothing, he'll get it all back in triplicate! But first, he had to infiltrate the palace where the sharp-eared, paranoid bitches lived!

If it had been a simple matter of getting inside, his marvelous, slanted doll could have done it. But it wasn't just sneaking in, it was getting Master to the Matriarch's chambers. And he wasn't much of an expert at stealthy movements. Therefore, it was necessary to clear a safe path to the top floor. After all, it was there, in the Matriarch's chambers, that the main control center for all the palace's weaves was located. At least, Naidira and the rest of the dark elves were sure that was where it was. Simply because no normal ruler of the dark elves would allow such a lever of power over the main house of the House to be somewhere other than her direct control.

It took several more weeks of painstaking labor to pull this off. All the passages between the floors of the central part of the palace were blocked with protective and signaling weaves, so it was impossible to get from one floor to another. This was aggravated by the fact that there was no single staircase leading from the first to the last floor. Transitions between floors were located in different places, and the space of the floors was also divided into separate sectors. Very clever in terms of defense against uninvited guests. While struggling with another barrier that separated him from the passage to the next floor, Master mentally sent his best wishes to the long-deceased dark elves.

But, as you know, persistence and patience are rewarded. Especially when multiplied by significant skill and proficiency! After several weeks of hard work, during which he even gained and developed the knowledge of “Advanced Magical Hacking Techniques”, Master reached the cherished goal - the Matriarch's private chambers, which occupied the upper floor in its entirety! They were divided into two parts, a working and a living one. The first was what Master needed. But to get to the right room, where the controlling threads of all the weaves converged, he had to pass through several other rooms. It took almost another week to overcome their defenses, and Master had to admit that the late dark elf had paid the utmost attention to her safety. Each room of her chambers was entangled with a separate set of protective and signaling weaves. All together they formed a single protective network, which was supplemented by stationary artifacts that created closed fields. And of course, there was a whole complex of mechanical traps of signaling type, designed to raise the alarm in case of intrusion of uninvited guests. They were mostly pressure plates, but there were also threads of enchanted spider silk.

While working with Saya to crack the next stage of defense, Master did not stop sending his warmest wishes to the late Matriarch in particular, and to the entire society of dark elves in general. Damn paranoid intriguers! Even he didn't have this much to catch up on in his hideout! Master seriously suspected that his knowledge of magical hacking methods would have time to increase to master level before he reached his goal, when his luck finally smiled on him. It was in the late Matriarch's office, behind which was the room from which the palace's weaves were controlled. In the office, furnished with luxurious furniture made of dark wood brought from distant jungles, right on the wide desk, among several scrolls, stacks of papers, and other working stuff, the Matriarch's personal amulet-key was found. It looked like a short rod of mithril alloy, covered from hilt to tip with a complex ornament of geometric shapes. Upon seeing it, Master didn't believe his eyes at first, suspecting a trap. Neither did Saya. But it was indeed it. In fact, the key to if not the entire palace, then most of it for sure. Master even used his Memory Gatherer to realize HOW! How could such a thing just lie unattended like that?!

And he even managed to get an answer. A vague image of how, on the fateful day when the city died, the Matriarch had gone into her office, left the key on her desk, and then... nothing. Nothing that was already very familiar to him. The Terror of Diyartan didn't even leave behind a memory, the suffocating darkness and purple flames devouring anything that fell prey to them. Was it a natural trait of the monster from the depths, or had he developed it? However, it didn't matter, the main thing was that the Matriarch's key amulet was in Master's hands! Carefully, he began to work on creating a copy, a copy-image, already made for himself. This operation took almost twenty-four hours and required the purchase of additional materials from the Greatest. But his skill in artifacting had paid off! His result was an exact copy of the key amulet. The only difference being that it could be used by Master without raising an alarm. With it, most of the weavers of the palace perceived him as the long-dead Matriarch.

After that, the rest was noticeably easier. With the key, it was possible to get into the very well-protected room next to the office, where no one had access without the Matriarch's permission. Or without her key. It was there that the heart... not the heart, but the brain of the palace! All the controlling threads of the numerous weaves converged there, weaving together into controlling knots. Unlike the side wings of the palace, they were not in perfect condition, but they were in quite good condition. On the one hand, that was fine, but on the other hand, it took extra time to take control of them. Because the Matriarch's key amulet alone wasn't enough, thanks to the bloody pointy-eared paranoids!

Binding to blood, binding to the imprint of a magic gift, analog of passwords, additional keys. On the third day, Master had no trace of his initial good mood after finding the amulet-key. Damned. Dark. Paranoid! Bitches! He had to buy from the Greatest again, spending the funds that had begun to recover on the necessary materials and tools, making analogs of magical lockpicks, molds, and other things necessary to seize control. But persistence and labor did the trick! By the end of the week, the last of the defenses had fallen, and the Master had finally gained full control of all the remaining weaves in the palace, reconfiguring them for himself. From now on, for all the remaining defense, attack, and tracking systems in operation, he was the full master! It was a success! A triumph! And the greatest appreciated it, bringing him closer to ascending to the next step of elevation, and rewarding him with an increase in knowledge! The moment Master finally reconfigured all the weaves on himself, he received the “Masterful Methods of Magical Hacking”.

This delayed his triumph for twenty-four hours, during which time he learned new knowledge while lying in his bed in the next wing. It's a shame. If he had had this knowledge earlier, it would have helped him greatly in the arduous process of breaking into this palace! Well, a week or two would have been saved for sure. But that was nothing! The important thing was that he had reached the finish line! After seizing control of all the palace weaves, Master, along with his puppets, subdued the source of magic located in the basements of the central part. Originally completely wild, it was a violet-colored natural crystal protruding from the rocky floor of the underground hall, shimmering with a dim light. The local inhabitants had carefully cultivated it and adapted it to their needs. They built a separate room around it, safely isolated from sudden outbursts of magic. Where necessary, the crystal was restricted and a circle of additional crystals was created around it, which were analogs of drainage channels for overflowing rivers. The result was a very good source of magical energy, not quite suitable for humans but quite suitable for those born in the Underworld.

For a long time, it maintained the palace's weavings tied to it, but without supervision and care, it began to “go wild” again. Almost any source has surges and sags of energy. These fluctuations gradually loosened the supporting circuits and auxiliary crystals around the source. Nothing dangerous or complicated, it was eliminated by trivial maintenance, which a savvy adept could perform. But there were no adepts. And there weren't even any apprentices. There were none. And over several centuries, some of the crystals and elements of the stabilizing circuit had fallen into disrepair. Because of that, part of the source's energy did not go through the energy channels to the palace, but simply dissipated in space. If the source was loсated not in a well-protected dungeon, then some mutated beast or magically active plant would have settled near it long ago.

Because of this ‘leak’, part of the palace's weaves were deprived of power, the control and management nodes detected it, and then redistributed the remaining energy, sacrificing first of all the energy supply to the slave wing. Then the wing's supply to the lower-middle wing was reduced. All in the name of preserving the centre section to the last. Assessing the situation, Master estimated it would take several days to restore the source. And seeing no reason to postpone this most important task, he started it at once. He renewed additional storage crystals that had fallen into disrepair, restored the supporting and distributing circuits, readjusted the unbalanced flows - and now the palace's heart was beating smoothly and confidently again, pumping its magical blood through invisible veins.

After the source was finished, Master and his puppets began the most delicious part of the work to be done. Room after room, floor after floor was methodically and leisurely searched, and everything of value was taken down to the storage rooms allocated for this purpose. And, it must be admitted, the booty in the central part exceeded his wildest expectations. No, now he really understood the looters who had rushed to Diyarten after his death! Such riches were unbearably difficult to leave to their fate!

Located in the basement of the central part, not far from the source, a huge magical laboratory and artifact workshop made him literally dance with excitement! There was practically everything he needed! All sorts of tools: for magical practice, alchemy, artifacting. Most of them are in working condition! Well-equipped workstations, separate energy channels directly from the source. The dream of any gifted person! And a whole huge warehouse with consumables! At the sight of it, Master couldn't help but dance, ignoring the puppets. Almost everything one could want for magical practice was available here. Various magically active crystals, all sorts of alchemical ingredients. Most of them had been preserved in usable condition, thanks to the excellent enchantments on the storage containers, as well as a set of household weaves. This laboratory alone, along with the warehouse, could have paid for Violetta's expedition, if the latter had actually organized it!

And, to Master's delight, his Token for the creation of a magical laboratory could be applied to this existing one. The lines of the Soul Tablet stated that in this case, the quality of existing tools would increase, damaged ones would be repaired, damaged consumables would be restored, and in addition, a number of new reagents and tools would appear.

In addition to the laboratory, the basement was a dungeon with well-protected cells, an interrogation room, and a separate torture room with all the tools that had been preserved. Also in the basement was a separate room with a medium-powered portal arch. It was devoid of power and completely extinguished, but still, upon discovering it, the first thing Master did was to put a few extra seals on it. No, we don't want any uninvited guests! It could be used later, no doubt, but it would be later.

After the basements, the searches of the lower floors of the central part began, followed by the middle floors. Briefly, they could be described thus. Everything was the same as in the lower-middle wing. Only many times richer! A luxurious bathing room combined with the Chambers of Beauty, which even the female harem members of the Luminous Caliph's harem would not be shy of. Excellent Healer's Chambers with its separate storehouse of healing alchemy and reagents for it. Also mostly well-preserved. Two separate dining rooms with kitchens. Barracks for the best soldiers of the House, next to which was the main arsenal.

After searching them, Master had enough armor, weapons, battle wands, and amulets for a small army. If he didn't have to sacrifice the puppets for his little act, he could turn them into a very formidable force right now. Not a full-fledged army, but a very powerful and toothy unit capable of having a say in the politics of any Free City. The more ridiculous thing was that he didn't need all this wealth right now. There was no one to arm! Though some of the weapons had migrated into the hands of Saya and the dark elves. The best and well-enchanted blades, a few very high-quality battle wands. But the rest were left lying around in the arsenal. Nothing, give it time...

Speaking of riches! The real treasure, literally, was found in the main treasury chest of the House. In a carefully insulated and protected room, not too large in size, in the centre of the middle floor, several sealed chests filled with even columns of silver coins and one small chest with gold coins stood in rows. Separately, there was a rack of neat bars of silver and gold. There were several other small chests filled with gems, including magically active ones. There were also two chests with jewellery neatly arranged inside.

And of course, there were a couple of separate cabinets filled with scrolls and sheets of parchment. Agreements, contracts, promissory notes, and other papers are sometimes worth more than gold. The seals on some of them had long since decayed and faded, but Master immediately singled out a couple of scrolls that still had some serious magic in them. That meant only one thing: the treaties were still valid. They would have to be dealt with when they had some time. At least study them.

After that, it was time to search the living quarters of the top House and their most trusted servants. As a result, Master's arsenal was further enriched with a wide variety of weapons and armour. In addition to that, a solid wardrobe of very luxurious outfits in the best traditions of the dark elves was accumulated. That is - extremely revealing, expensive, and beautiful. Very beautiful. Although, right now more useful were sets of quality clothes for Hunters and Catchers, which also managed to get a dozen, and all of them were in excellent condition, thanks to carefully enchanted chests that had preserved their contents. Which, by the way, were of great value in themselves! In addition to the clothes, there were excellent sets of bed linen, good, if not luxurious furniture, whose enchanted wood had survived all these centuries.

And, of course, various personal belongings. Jewellery, amulets, alchemy kits, grimoires and scrolls. The Master spent two days in the chambers of the local head enchantress until he was sure that he had found really everything valuable and there were no hiding places left! Blanks for amulets and artefacts, materials for magical practices and alchemy, sets of ready-made, even if discharged amulets. All this was transferred to the storage rooms of the laboratory located in the basement and delighted the Master to the fullest.

No, he was beginning to understand those who had rushed to the lost city after the Terror of Diyarten had returned to the bowels of the earth. The amount of treasures he had already accumulated in this palace was definitely impossible to abandon! And after all, this was only one palace! Yes, it was one of the richest, if not the richest, in the city, but still! Even if the looters had taken some of the goods.... Even if some of the valuables have perished over the centuries. It's still a great wealth!

And there was still the best part! The Matriarch's chambers, which he hadn't really searched yet. Everything of value had to be there. And so it was! In the working part of the chambers was a study and a room for controlling the weaves. Master had already been there, but in addition to them, there was a room for meetings and negotiations. And there were a lot of interesting things there. A lot of documents, crystals with securely imprinted images, various amulets, and weapons. All this did not interest Master too much. But a detailed model of the city and several accurate maps of the surrounding areas - very much so! No, of course, it would be good to understand the working documents of the Matriarch, elves live a very long time, but still right now the model of the city was much more important for him. It wasn't just a model! It had a lot of notes on it: who lived where, where the secret passages and passages were. That's what he needed for future searches of the city!

And of course, the Matriarch wouldn't be a Matriarch if she didn't have a dozen traps for uninvited guests in her chambers. Not so much for the enemies who had broken through or secretly infiltrated, but for the one who could take her place. An artifact installed in a disguised niche in the wall of the office, in the form of a statuette tied to the Matriarch's blood. It was completely safe for her. For any other dark elf, a gradual degradation of thinking abilities. Imperceptible, and therefore especially dangerous. Hidden beneath the marble slabs of the floor is the ritual circle in the meeting room, directly beneath the Matriarch's seat. Again safe for the Matriarch, but increasing the lust of any other dark elfess. Also very slow and gradual. A set of small and very inconspicuous amulets embedded in the walls or pieces of furniture periodically emitted sounds inaudible even to the elven ear. But because of this, it gradually became more and more difficult to concentrate on one thought, to hold it for a long time.

Having found another trick, in the form of a long ago exhausted amulet that, having registered the absence of the Matriarch beyond a certain time, should have started to gradually spray pollen of a rare flower from the southern jungle, which made the inhaled more susceptible to charm effects, Master only shook his head. There was no strength to be angry with the late dark elf. There was only muffled irritation and fatigue. The only comforting thing was that everything in her luxurious chambers was in perfect condition, just as it had been on the fateful day. It would just have to be cleaned up, and then she could live in the comfort she deserved, with all the usual amenities.

Having finished with the working part of the premises and double-checked everything there, Master waited for twenty-four hours, then checked everything a third time, but found no new tricks. Naidira made a good point that the Matriarch was limited in their number by the fear that her arch-rival relatives might have found some of them and turned them against the Mistress. Unbeknownst to the latter, of course. Agreeing with the former Senior Catcher, Master proceeded to search the Matriarch's living quarters. There, history repeated itself almost completely. Hidden amulets, a couple of artefacts, ritual circles, or seals hidden under floorboards and behind furniture boards. It had taken two weeks of painstaking and careful labour to remove it all. But there was some decent loot in there, which was gratifying.

In the room for the Matriarch's personal magical practices, there was a good stock of very valuable alchemical reagents, several sets of various magical tools, including good amulets and a couple of battle wands, and other little things worth a lot of money. Like a feather enchanted for autonomous writing. In a separate storage room adjoining the bedroom, as well as in the general treasury of the House, there were a couple of chests with gold and silver, jewelry, and precious stones. As well as a separate cabinet with documents and crystals with imprinted images. And here all the crystals were in perfect order, carefully preserving what they had seen. And some of the treaty scrolls were still in force. He wondered if I'd have time to look through all of them. These crystals likely contain secrets of some kind. Or dirt on enemies and rivals. After all these years, it's unlikely any of this is still of value, but who knows? Elves live a long time. But one must be very careful, there is no doubt that the Matriarch has put some kind of trickery into some of the crystals along with the images.

The Matriarch's personal vault also contained some weapons and, of particular interest to Master, several rather complicated portal keys. Most of them were definitely from the portal arch in the basement. But one was noticeably different. During further searches, it was possible to determine its purpose. In one of the closets in the Matriarch's huge closet, where there were not only dark elves' clothes that did not hide anything, but also quite normal dresses of the same light elves, there was a portal-passage. Without a normal archway. It was just a ritual circle carved on the inside of the back wall of the closet and hidden behind a quality illusion. If it hadn't been for the centuries that had undermined the integrity of the weave, it might not have been noticed.

From the response of the portal's weave, it seemed to lead somewhere in the palace basement. It was strange, as it seemed that everything had been searched. Not wanting to leave a possible threat behind, Master carefully activated it, and Saya made a cautious reconnaissance. As it turned out, the portal led to a room physically located in the basement of the palace next to the room with the source. And it was well hidden and isolated, since Master and the puppets hadn't noticed it when they'd been inspecting the room with the source. This secret room was powered by a separate energy line.

The room had a wide desk with a very comfortable chair and several large mirrors hanging on the wall in front of it, through which one could see what was going on in various parts of the mansion. Including some of the private chambers of the top of the House. And the same hidden observation crystal, installed in the personal bath of the Main Enchantress, neither Master nor his puppets did not noticed during the searches. This immediately made him wary, and he checked the rooms in the Matriarch's chambers once more for hidden tricks. But nothing new was found, apparently even the paranoia of dark elves has its limits. Mentally putting the need to update and revamp the Matriarch's personal tracking system on his to-do list for the future, Master continued to search her chambers. Finally, he reached the Matriarch's bedroom.

Which deserved a special mention. A part of the spacious room was occupied by a huge fuck-bed which could accommodate ten people comfortably. Several wardrobes with luxurious dresses, not only dark elven, but also light elven and human, in addition to those in a separate dressing room. A separate wardrobe was filled with sex toys. But perhaps most important of all were the portraits hanging on the walls. The portraits hung on the walls depicted various women, including dark elves, in a variety of images and situations. The only thing they had in common was that they were blatantly obscene, if not lewd.

Here was a blonde-haired elf with emerald eyes, in full ringed armour and with a sword at her side, kneeling and with an extremely serious face sucking the cock of whoever was standing in front of her with his pants down. Judging by the hairy legs, it was clearly not a kin. But the elven woman's face was completely serious, as if she were at a review in front of the commander of the Forest Guard, and the seed and saliva dripping from her chin did not interfere with it at all.

Here is a human woman in the lewd dress of a Neirat maid having intercourse with several partners surrounding her from all sides and using all her holes, as well as her hands and long brown hair. The woman has a golden tiara on her head, or even a crown.

The dark elf, wearing an unexpectedly austere dress and her hair in a tight bun, was leaning over the table, looking at the numerous scrolls. Her face was very serious, and it was obvious that she was busy with important work. She paid no attention to the young human boy who was pulling up her dress and inserting his cock into her pussy.

After assessing the works of fine and magical art hanging on the walls, Master could not contain his admiration. Each portrait did not affect the consciousness of the painted victim, changing it in such a way that it matched the painted image. These were protective artefacts! A whole complex of them! Each of them displayed one of the most widespread patterns, under which various colleagues of Master, and even he, processed their victims. They were intended to pull on such influences, if they were directed at the late Matriarch. At the same time signal to her the fact of such influence.

Yes, the defense isn't absolute, but it's very effective. It required a lot of money and the skillful craftsmen of the Portrait School. Master decided to master it as well in time. Of course, he already owns the School of Dolls, but its principles are a bit different. Eh... It's a shame that all the portraits will have to be destroyed. Because the paranoid bitch couldn't help but put a trap in them! They were protecting her from becoming the person they depict. But everyone else who would look at them long enough, or just be in the Matriarch's bedroom, would be gradually corrupted by them. And there was nothing that could be done about it. It was built into the portraits as they were being painted. Such... the bitch!

Once again sending his warmest wishes to the deceased dark elf, Master continued to search her chambers. He found another pair of tricks and several caches with battle wands and protective amulets distributed in different rooms. But nothing comparable to the portraits was found. And finally, the great day had arrived! After much labor, many checks and rechecks, the central part of the palace was completely cleaned, inspected, and recognized as safe for life. The palace itself was securely covered with restored and renewed camouflage and protective weaves that made it look as if it were still dead and lifeless when viewed from the outside. Household facilities like restrooms, baths, and kitchens were fully operational.

As a final touch, Master applied the token issued by the Greatest to the magic laboratory. A moment, and it was transformed right before his eyes! All the equipment and tools that had fallen into disrepair over the centuries without care were restored, the ones that had been in working condition became just perfect, as if they had been created yesterday. The reagent stocks were replenished and renewed. Everything he could ever wish for was in front of him! A new workshop, a new shelter, even more comfortable than the past, the Gift of the Greatest!

It was possible to start doing what he loved right away! And for a moment, Master really wanted to get to work right away. Which means, the Little one. But he wasn't so fanatical after all. You have to rest too! So, with a willful effort, he left the laboratory, gathered all the puppets, and solemnly declared the rest of the day free. He went with his priceless puppets to the Matriarch's bedroom, where he blissfully rested and fell asleep in their arms, with only one skillful blowjob from Saya. The past weeks... no, months or even two, had worn him out. First, the escape. Then searching and overcoming the palace defenses. All without any proper rest. But now, it's all over! Now he had a new shelter, a new laboratory, which meant he could think about the future. And he had a lot of plans! But that's tomorrow. And now, he needed to rest. With these thoughts, comfortably nestled in the arms of Bazita and Saya, Master was almost asleep when....

"Bazya! Bazya! Let me in, please. I really need..."

When he opened his eyes, Master exhaled slowly and heavily, reminded himself of the two characteristic points for one of his favorite dolls, and then willed Bazita to send her to feed Little One, ordering her to sleep in the same room with the halfling. After that, he made himself comfortable in the arms of the smiling Saya, and finally fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

The spacious underground hall looked lived in, and had been for a long time. A large part of it was occupied by a spacious training ground, on which a sturdily built dark elf woman was moving with swift and blurred shadows. Despite her active disguise, Master somehow saw the dark one very clearly. She deftly overcame obstacles, avoided traps, bypassed or destroyed enemies in the form of wooden golems. It was clear that the rather difficult obstacle course was not a serious challenge for her, if not a child's play. An experienced and skillful Catcher, Master realized. Very experienced and skillful. It was odd that she was wasting time on something like this. Is she practicing? Master didn't have time to realize it, because the dream had changed, only to notice that at the end of the obstacle course she was met by her kin, a sturdily built dark elf....

The majestic building was the same size and power as the Primordial Temple of the Sun in Iyastar. It was also the main temple of some celestial, but completely unfamiliar to Master. At one glance at the majestic building, with obvious traces of recent repairs, one could feel the boundless blue of the blue sky, and the same boundless blue of the boundless ocean. Master could not understand more precisely the nature of its power, as he was distracted by what was happening at the entrance to the temple. In the square in front of him stood... stood... something... A huge sand-colored metal rectangle, which also had a huge power, but with a distinctly dark tint. For some reason, Master had an association with dwarven battle self-propelled chariots.

But it wasn't this huge thing that caught Master's attention. Next to it stood a pair of half-ogres in strange uniforms, desperately trying to restrain a frantically cursing man waving something that looked like a dwarven lead-shooter. A little away from him, with an angry but determined expression, stood another man, no longer young, but of the same strength as the man in the temple behind him. A priest, and likely the first. Between him and the man waving the lead-shooters stood several armed men in good armor, with a crest unknown to Master. It was obvious they were not happy to be here, but they could not leave and were visibly nervous.

Master looked around a little and realized the cause of the conflict. The remains of a carriage were visible beneath the front wheels of a steel behemoth as tall as a man standing. Clearly, a very expensive carriage was parked in front of the main entrance to the temple. And on the frontal armor of the steel giant was an inscription made of bright blue glowing paint. The letters were unfamiliar to Master, but he understood their meaning clearly: “I PARK like an asshole!”

And he also realized from something that it would be very difficult to wash off this paint, in which he felt the same power as in the temple and the priest....

* * *

Master woke up late, but in a great mood. Just in a great mood. He literally felt himself overflowing with fresh energy and readiness to act again! He has a new laboratory, a new shelter, and so it's time to move forward! But first, breakfast! Or rather, as it turned out, a late lunch, as he slept a lot. Master, for a moment, suspected the impact of somehow missing a trick and made another check of the bedroom but found nothing. Perhaps it was the strain of the past few days.

As he ate the food served by one of the puppets, who could cook quite well, Master wondered what to do next. There were plenty of plans, but what to do first? To occupy himself with new dolls? Or continue exploring the city? The portal in the basement had to be dealt with, or rather, with the found keys. Not to mention the almost finished food supplies, which will have to be either searched and obtained in the city, or bought from the Greatest, which is a waste.... In the midst of his musings, Lady Edelhart caught his eye, who had also come to dine in the company of her offspring. Though judging by her appearance, she had just fed her son. Sliding his eyes over Violetta's figure, who was dressed in a good silk robe of bright red, Master felt his lips stretch into a smile. It seemed time to finally have a proper conversation with Lady Edelhart. Especially since he had a very amusing thought. But he would have to test it first...

* * *

As soon as the ++Enforcement Guarantee was activated, the ruby eyes of the dark elfess strapped to the interrogation chair by her hands and feet opened wide, as did her mouth. For a few seconds, she sat motionless, realising her position. It would be more accurate to say REALISING. Everything that had happened to her since she had been captured by Master now sat beside her, watching with interest. The artefact had indeed suppressed all his compulsions and changes, all of them instantly. Simply amazing! And very interesting. And if we try to make new ones... Wow, look at that. The attempt to get into the dark elf's mind and somehow influence her ended in a complete failure. It was as if she didn't exist in the mental plane!

She was sitting right in front of Master. He could see her subtle body clearly but had no way to influence it, thanks to the artifact clutched in the elf's palm. While he was looking at her, she realised her position, licked her lips nervously and turned to Master sitting nearby. Her handsome face was grey with fear, the animal horror clearly visible. Master smiled back at her and said in a cheerful voice:

"Well, welcome, Shira. Or should I say Shiaratal?"

Swallowing, the dark elf replied in a trembling voice:

"Call me whatever you like... Master."

Smiling even wider in response, he said cheerfully:

"In that case - Shira. This option has already become familiar to me."

He got up from his chair and moved it closer to the interrogation chair, sitting close to the strapped dark one. She flinched visibly, but did her best not to show fear. Master couldn't see her thoughts because of the artefact, but he had a good idea what she was thinking. Trying feverishly to find something to buy herself with. He smiled almost paternally at the shuddering dark one, and said in an affectionate voice:

"I'm afraid you have nothing to offer me, Shira. Everything you have, I can have as is."

At those words, the dark one flinched as if stung. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but stopped abruptly. She sat motionless for a few moments, and then it was as if something broke inside her. Apparently Shira had indeed fully realised her current situation. Swallowing, she said in an unexpectedly calm voice:

"You are right, Master. I have nothing to offer you and I am completely at your mercy."

Looking him straight in the eye, she suddenly asked directly:

"Do you want me to beg you to save my self? Or did you give me back my free will for another purpose?"

Master smiled mentally. After all, he could feel the breed, that's why he liked elves, especially dark ones.

"In fact, I just wanted to experience the effects of this artifact given to me by the Greatest."

These words made the dark one shudder again, but Master immediately continued in a warm and caring voice:

"But looking at you now, a funny thought occurred to me. Call it my whim, if you like."

Leaning forward, he reached out and gently squeezed Shira's breasts, which were fully exposed. Slightly pressing a finger on a nipple, Master said:

"I could easily turn you into a completely submissive puppet to my liking. If I wanted to, I could make you a lustful and ever flowing whore. I could make you into a doll devoid of any emotion. But that's very boring, and I've done it many times before. So I suggest something a little more interesting."

Enjoying the spark of hope in the dark one's eyes, who studiously ignored Master's hand playing with her medium-sized (by the standards of dark elves) breasts, he continued:

"I am ready to give you a promise, certified by this gift of the greatest, that I will not change your mind or body in any way, leaving your Self intact, and I will not allow anyone else to do this..."

After waiting a few seconds, during which the dark one even stopped breathing:

"...if you agree to be my personal devoted and obedient slave for... say the next three hundred years?"

Dark froze. For a few seconds, she looked into Master's eyes, not believing what she heard. Licking her lips, Shira, trying her best to keep her voice firm, asked:

"May I know what the point is for you... Master? You can make me... your slave anyway..."

Smiling broadly back at her, he left her breasts alone and poked his finger cheerfully at the tip of Shira's nose like a small child:

"Exactly. I can! And it's gonna be sickeningly corny! Boring. But to see if you can suppress your natural pride and endure three hundred years as my slave, that's much more interesting! Oh, let's make it even more interesting! I promise I won't hurt you for fun, or punish you for no reason. And after three hundred years of slavery, I'll set you free with your mind and body intact. I'll even give you more than enough so you won't need anything."

Leaning back in his chair, Master spread his hands:

"You ask me, why do I need all this? Is this really an empty whim and caprice of a powerful wizard?"

Placing his hand on top of Shira's, which was clutching the ++"Guarantee of Execution" with a death grip, so that the artifact would confirm the truth of his words, he said in the same confidential voice:

"That's right. It's my purest whim and caprice. Three hundred years of service as a devoted, loyal, and obedient one in exchange for freedom and reward. However..."

Leaning close to the frozen dark one, Master said in an ingratiating voice:

"...if you betray me. If you betray me even once, in word or deed. I will make you into a completely willless puppet, destroying the very self of Shi'aratal of House Gethriss. I will not brand you or restrain your will in any way. It will be entirely up to you, and whether you can hold onto your pride. For remember, if you ever try to betray me, our pact is over. So, your word?

Licking her dry lips, Shira nodded quickly:

"I agree, sir!"

Smiling back at her, Master corrected her:

"Master. Just Master. Well, let's get started..."

After a while, when the words of the pact-oath were spoken, the artifact of the Greatest assured them. On the backs of the palms of Master's and Shira's right hands appeared seals invisible to no one but them. Releasing the dark one from her restraints, he pointed to a small stack of neatly folded clothes - an extremely revealing light-white dress for a servant-slave found in the Matriarch's chambers that fit Shira just right. And a small collar of black leather with a silver plaque engraved with the words “Property of Master”. A simple collar without a drop of magic.

As the new slave dressed, Master took in her appearance from every angle. The light white dress, which left her breasts fully exposed, contrasted vividly with Shira's dark skin. The short skirt didn't hide the former Catcher's long, well-trained legs. Master had not given her any shoes, nor had he given her any jewelry. Her light gray hair was gathered into a tight bundle at the back of her head. Satisfied with what she saw, the Master sat back in his chair, spread her legs wide, and opened a robe of black silky fabric with silver spider patterns. Shira understood without a word, kneeling down in front of him and wrapping her lips around his cock, working it diligently with her mouth.

Master grinned mentally as he placed his palm on her head. Of course, he wasn't going to rely on the prudence of a dark elfess with free will. No, he wasn't going to be the first to break the treaty, but he wasn't going to risk it either. Therefore, although Shira's will was not limited in any way, but in her head he placed a dozen compulsions and bookmarks, which will have to react if the dark one decides to betray him. It was unlikely to happen in the near future, now she would be very diligently playing the role of obedient and in every way devoted to her master slave. But then... He knows the dark elves all too well. And speaking of which...

"Not bad at all. Have you ever pleasured men with your mouth?"

Having let Master's member out of her mouth, Shira ran her tongue over it, from the base to the ещз, and answered honestly, without stopping licking it:

"My Senior Catcher caught me on the hook when I tried to frame my sister in arms and take her place. If it had been discovered, I would have been stripped of my Catcher rank. To further bind me to her, she forced me to pleasure her personal humas slave with the mouth. And not just her mouth."

Laughing, Master stroked Shira's hair and asked:

"Was he at least cute?"

"A quite handsome young man, originally from the Islands. It is unacceptable to keep an ugly slave. But like all humans at his age, he was obsessed with lust, which especially amused my Senior Catcher."

"So that's how it is..."

Without distracting Shira from her work any longer, Master allowed her to please him and soon ejaculated into the dark one's mouth. She swallowed every drop of semen, without spilling a single one, after which she quickly brought first Master and then herself into order. When everything was done, he ordered her:

"Follow me, I have another similar conversation planned..."

* * *

Violetta Edelhart, dressed in an extremely revealing outfit of black spider silk ribbons, sat on a good chair with armrests, the same black ribbons tied around her ankles and wrists. One of the outfits she had found in the Matriarch's private quarters fit her well, though it was still a bit large in the chest, even though she had grown larger. But that was the least of Violetta's worries at the moment. Clutching a small artifact in the form of a glass ball, white as chalk, which made the ribbons of black silk stand out on her skin, she whispered in a low whisper:

"Bitch."

Master, sitting opposite her with his legs crossed, demonstratively frowned:

"I ask you not to insult my personal slave. I do not pay her money for carnal pleasures."

Lady Edelhart clearly didn't appreciate the joke. Like Shira, she had just REALIZED her present situation, thanks to ++the Performance Guarantee. And like Shira, she was desperate to find a way out of it. And she didn't. But unlike the dark elf, her business acumen and tenacious mind helped her realize it almost immediately. She sighed slowly, making her practically naked tits ripple with excitement, and said, trying to speak as calmly as possible:

"Do you want to mock me, venerable Master? To watch me humiliate myself before you, begging for mercy?"

Leaning forward with interest, he asked cheerfully:

"Would you agree?"

"Will this help me?"

Master smiled and shook his head:

"No. I don’t need your begging and humiliation, my dear Violetta."

"Then why did you return my mind and will?"

"Partly for fun. You may not believe me, but it's very amusing to watch people who are completely sure that they are acting of their own free will realise their position as puppets."

Getting up from his seat, Master slowly approached the tense Violetta and moved the empty chair closer to her so he could sit almost right next to her. Smiling kindly at her, he continued:

"But I also really wanted to know what you were thinking?"

"What?"

"What were you thinking when you offered me SUCH terms, Violetta? TO ME! The elves told everyone who I was and how powerful I was. Did you really expect me to accept the gilded cage you offered me?"

With every word, Violetta grew paler, though it seemed as if she could go no farther. Her lips quivered, but she tried to pull herself together and keep her composure. Swallowing, Lady Edelhart answered in a voice that was hardly trembling:

"I've made perhaps the biggest mistake of my life. I underestimated you, Master. I knew what the elves said about you. I saw and heard their message. But... I thought they were exaggerating. That everything couldn't be... That you were so powerful."

Master rolled his eyes demonstratively, sighed loudly, and said:

"Did you really think that someone of the level of a mere Master of Mind Magic could do what I almost did? Did you even realise how great the power of the Greatest called the Soul Tablet is? Oh. You know, I thought you were a lot smarter than that."

Violetta visibly flinched at these words.

"And you know what's funniest?"

Leaning forward, Master placed his hand over Violetta's palm, which was clutching the artifact, so that it would confirm the truth of his words:

"If you offered me equal, or at least fairly mutually beneficial conditions. I would have helped you. Honestly and without any catch. And we would most likely have parted completely satisfied with each other and without any complaints."

It was true, and the artifact in Violetta's hand confirmed it, which apparently finished her off. But, no, Lady Edelhart had not given up yet. Licking her parched lips, she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking:

"Is there a chance for me to start a relationship with you from scratch? On mutually beneficial terms, as you said?"

Laughing loudly and sincerely, Master rose to his feet and walked around Violetta. Standing behind her, he placed his palms on the shuddering woman's shoulders, beginning to massage them.

"I doubt it very much. Everything you have left - your knowledge, your body, your children - all of this is already at my complete disposal. But..."

Feeling how Violetta tensed up, Master leaned over and brought his lips closer to her ear:

"I'm in a great mood today, first thing in the morning. I'll give you a chance, Lady Edelhart. One chance only. If you can offer me something of real value that I don't already own, I'll agree to give, uh. our relationship a second chance. A fresh start, as you say, for mutual benefit. You have my word. And I'm prepared to back it up with an artifact given to me by the Great Ones. But if you have nothing to offer me... You will suffer the same fate you prepared for me. And on a personal note. I will turn your son into a daughter. I promise to make her beautiful."

Violetta shuddered and moved her hand, which still held the glowing "Guarantee of Fulfilment".

"I agree to your very generous offer and am ready to conclude a deal with you. But may I ask for a little time to think before making you an offer?"

"Of course you can ask," Master smiled broadly. "I will even give you this time. A little. So, let's get started..."

Placing his hand on Violetta's palm, Master uttered the words of the oath-promise. As soon as they were spoken, a symbol-mark appeared on the back of his right palm again. The same one appeared on Lady Edelhart's palm.

"Well, I'll give you a little time to think about what you have to offer. I advise you to think carefully."

“Thank you for your generosity, Master,” Violetta whispered, biting her lips tensely.

How amusing it is to watch a doomed victim grasping every opportunity to escape. He didn't believe Violetta could think of anything. She simply had nothing to offer him at all. Because everything she has, he already has. Rising to his feet, Master strolled leisurely through the meeting room in the Matriarch's chambers where the conversation was taking place. As he walked past Shira, who was obediently standing at the entrance, he stopped, remembering that he had forgotten to ask her something. Touching her belly with his finger, Master asked:

"Have you given birth yet?"

“Not yet, Master,” the dark one immediately blurted out, frozen at attention in front of him.

"Well, that's good... Would you like to?"

"I will be happy to conceive a child with whomever you wish, Master."

Smiling, he pinched Shira's right nipple with two fingers and pulled it slightly towards himself:

"You're lying, but the answer is correct for a good slave."

Shira winced and blurted out:

"Please forgive your humble slave for her unworthy thoughts, I suppress them with all my might..."

Putting his finger to Shira's lips, Master smiled tenderly at the dark one, almost fatherly:

"I know it's not easy to let your pride get the best of you. But I love seeing you try. Keep trying, and you'll do great. Remember. Only three hundred years. What's that for a firstborn?"

"Thank you, si... Master."

Smiling cheerfully at the dark one, he gave her breasts an affectionate squeeze. Shira did her best to suppress any negative thoughts about him, knowing full well that he could see them. But the dark firstborn's nature was making itself known. And it wasn't just her unwillingness to bow down to her enslaver; she was quite successful here. Shira had regained the ability to think straight, and she had quickly assessed her situation. She was already thinking about how she could gain favor with her lord so that he would grant her his favor. That is, a piece of the Greatest's power. While keeping her free will. A true dark one...

"Honorable Master!"

Lady Edelhart's sharp voice made him stop playing with his new personal slave. He turned to Violetta, who was still tied to the chair, clutching the artifact in her hand, and looked at her with interest:

"Are you ready, honorable Violetta?"

Licking her lips, the woman suddenly nodded decisively and said in a surprisingly firm voice:

"Yes. I have thought carefully about what I can offer you, and I believe I have found something that will satisfy the terms of the agreement."

"Really?"

Approaching her, Master asked in a cheerful voice, downright intrigued. If it weren't for the artifact, he wouldn't have been able to resist reading her thoughts:

"Well then, I'm listening to you attentively. What will you offer me that is so valuable, Lady Edelhart?"

Making the most serious and businesslike face, as if she weren’t sitting tied to a chair in an outfit made of thin silk ribbons, Violetta answered:

"A warning about a danger you missed."

Raising his eyebrows, Master folded his arms across his chest:

"Continue."

"Have you ever thought that some of the events that happened to us don’t fit in?"

He thought for a few seconds, trying to understand what Violetta meant. But she didn't wait for his answer and continued, allowing herself a smile:

"I see that you don't, otherwise you would have already taken action."

"Lady Edelhart, I still have not heard anything of value from you, and I am losing patience."

Suddenly smiling triumphantly, Violetta said in the same cheerful voice as Master had used earlier:

"The Signal Web in the city and the Terror of Diyarten. Didn't it seem to you, venerable Master, that they don't fit together? Where is the ability to weave the finest invisible threads, and where is the monster that emerged from the depths, as if created from darkness and flame?"

Master's mouth dropped open, and he froze half-speaking. For an interminably long moment, he stared at Violetta. And Violetta stared at him, unblinking. A second. A third. The suffocating darkness where the purple flames roared. And fine, almost invisible threads that would do honor to any master of the Silk Web School. All-destroying savage power, brute strength. And the finest weaving of the web. Master was brought out of his tense musings by the prick of a pin in his palm. With a sharp twitch, he lowered his eyes and saw that the artifact's branding seal was flickering with a bright light. Just like the one on the back of Violetta's hand.

Dammit. Mentally, Master said many more things to himself. But out loud he said something completely different:

"My respects, Lady Edelhart. I admit, you have managed to surprise me."

Taking the binding amulet in his hand, he tried to tune in to Basita and Saya, but their amulets, judging by the response, were not with them. Are they swimming or something? Damn them. Turning to Little One sitting in the corner of the study, her short legs jiggling in boredom, Master gave her a brief glance:

"Find Bazita and Saya and bring them here."

The halfling immediately ran off to look for the Master's dolls, and he turned to Violetta again:

"Well then, Lady Edelhart, since you were able to surprise me, and we are starting our communication from scratch, I propose to discuss the details of future cooperation and conclude a new, mutually beneficial agreement."

Violetta nodded calmly in response and said in a businesslike voice, as if she were somewhere in negotiations in her native Normgrave with colleagues from the Adventurers' Guild:

"With pleasure. But may I ask you to untie me first and provide me with a less revealing outfit?"

"Of course. But just so you know, this outfit is made of real spider silk, and costs more than any of your previous dresses."

"I'll keep this in mind, but I still prefer a different style of clothing..."

Damnit, who the fuck pulled my tongue!?

"As you wish. Shira! Bring something from the Matriarch's wardrobe. Just choose an outfit that's more... decent."

Nodding, the dark elf rushed away, and Master, with one movement of his hand and a short spell, untangled the ribbons that tied Violetta to the chair. She carefully rose to her feet, stretching her arms.

"How did you guess?" asked Master.

Now that Lady Edelhart had pointed this out to him, it was obvious to him that the finest web was not compatible with the monster that had crawled out of the Depths. Violetta glanced at him and shrugged.

"I can't say for sure. I was desperately trying to think of something to offer you, going over all the events that had happened to us, looking for something, and when I remembered your plan and the things that came out of the abyss.... Well, it seemed obvious to me that they didn't... they didn't fit together."

"Dammit..."

"Excuse me, what?"

"Oh, for crying out loud... ++“ Warrant of Execution”! It suppresses all extraneous influences on the mind. There's a distraction effect or a normalization effect around this web scattered around the city, most likely, or the thing that wove it, where even noticing it, you don't perceive it as something abnormal, wrong.... I'd have to test it, but I'm almost certain it's true. And when you held the artifact, it suppressed it..."

At that moment, Shira returned with several dresses to choose from. After waiting for the dark elf to help Violetta into one of them, dark blue, Master pointed to the table and offered in a doom-laden voice:

"Well, let's discuss the terms of our further cooperation."

"Let's do it."

Master and Violetta had indeed come to a mutually beneficial agreement. Beautiful words aside, Lady Edelhart agreed to be his assistant in financial and material matters. This was cemented by mutual vows not to harm each other, not to allow others to do so, not to keep quiet about such things, to assist in every way possible, and so on and so forth. This also applied to Lady Edelhart's children, who were also guaranteed a full return of free will. Other priests or paladins of Damocar would have envied the completeness and detail of the promises they had made and certified by the ++Guarantee of Fulfillment. When that was done, and the seal marks had reappeared on the backs of Master's and Violetta's hands, Lady Edelhart asked in a polite voice:

"Well, now that we've sorted this out, I suggest we discuss what we'll do with..."

With a sharp movement of his hand, the Master cut her off, instantly tensing up. Lady Edelhart didn't even have time to notice when the battle wand appeared in his hand.

"What do you?!"

"Quiet! Where are Bazita and Saya!? They should have been here a long time ago! And Petty One?!"

Violetta froze in her tracks. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets, just like Shira's.

"What... is it..."

"Shut up! Silence!"

Instantly accelerating his mind, putting it into afterburner mode, Master blocked the Matriarch's floor with a series of point commands, simultaneously tuning in to his dolls. It couldn't be, it just couldn't be, was he too late, and the incomprehensible creature had already....

"Dammit!"

Violetta and Shira jumped up from Master's scream.

"What happened?! We were attacked..."

"No... Oh..."

* * *

After pouring a pitcher of water on herself, Basita exhaled contentedly. It was a good idea of humans to have such baths! In her native tribe, there was no such luxury, at best a stream, or a river, or a bucket of water from a well! But it's not like that at all! Oh, good! Having rinsed herself once more, the Orcess left the baths, putting on only a shirt and heading towards her quarters. She had little to do lately, no one to fight, and she was frankly bored. She'd like to go out to the dead city of the Dark Ears, there must be someone there to fight! And even if there wasn't, as Master said, it would be more interesting than sitting here all day.

As she rounded the corner of the corridor, Bazita stumbled and nearly fell. Damn it! In the middle of nowhere! When she looked around and saw nothing and no one, she scolded herself for her carelessness and clumsiness. Grumbling unhappily to herself, she moved on, ignoring the fact that she was going in the wrong direction. Nor did she notice a couple of light jabs that came out of nowhere. And another pair. And then another. You've got to be so clever! You'd have to be so stupid! You don't have to be clever, that's what Master used to say. And she's got nothing but strength. A lot of strength, a lot of strength, look at her legs, look at her arms, look at her melons! So big, no-one else has them. And so heavy.

As she nearly tripped again, Bazita realised that her breasts were very heavy indeed. Too heavy. She tried to lift it with her hands, but couldn't hold it up. And when a pair of green tits fell out of her weakened hands, they nearly pulled her down with them. Bazita tried to grab onto something, to lean against the wall, but she couldn't, feeling her knees buckle sharply. At the last moment, she managed to twist herself so that she fell on her back instead of her stomach. Otherwise her big tits would have crashed through the floor. But it turned out to be a mistake, her melons didn't really break the floor, but they crushed her! Pinned to the floor by the weight of her heavy, too heavy breasts, Basita began to gasp for breath. The incredible weight of her tits pressed down on her, squeezing not only the air from her lungs, but also all thoughts from her head.

As soon as the last thought left her head, squeezed out by the absurdly heavy tits, Bazita felt incredibly light and blissful. The Orc rose easily to her feet and obediently followed the inexplicably appeared female figure draped in black silk. The woman led her with a loop of silk rope around her green neck. Like cattle. A stupid and very lustful cattle.

After leading a trance-like and completely submissive Bazita into one of the empty rooms, Saya carefully closed the doors behind her. Inside, everything was already prepared. Fragrant candles, oils, and of course, a solid skein of fine silk rope. And not a simple one, but an enchanted one, the kind you can't tear no matter how hard you try! Bringing the completely submissive orc to the center of the room, Saya carefully removed her shirt, admiring the green-skinned savage's muscular body for a moment. Licking her lips predatorily, she threw off her work attire, leaving her completely naked as well. After circling Bazita a few times, she picked up a skein of silk rope and set to work. It wasn't only the dark firstborn who were adept at love knots. In her distant homeland, the art of tying up a woman's body properly and beautifully was also highly prized. And Saya had mastered this art quite well. Gradually entangling her companion, she said:

"You know, I remember well what you were like before. When you first met Master. Strong. Dangerous. Fierce. And completely savage."

Throwing the rope over a special ceiling beam, Saya pulled it towards herself, forcing Bazita to lift and bend one leg at the knee.

"Master has worked hard on you. He taught you to speak well. He gave your body beauty."

The slanting beauty accompanied her last words by stroking the Orc's tits, which were already entangled in the silk rope. It made them seem even bigger, bulging forward.

"But you can't fool anyone with that. You're still a savage. A brutal, fierce savage. There's no way to really teach someone like you. Wild animals are incapable of learning. But they can be trained."

After throwing the rope over the beam, Saya pulled it toward her and fastened it to the special ledge on the wall. As she approached her companion, she assessed the result of her labors. Thoroughly entangled with silk rope around her arms and legs, Basita was hanging above the floor at the level of the standing man's waist, belly down and parallel to him. No matter how hard the Orcish woman tried, even if Saya had given her back the ability to think, she would not have been able to break free of her restraints. Smiling broadly, the slanted assassin ran her palm down Basita's muscular back.

"Before, I had neither the time nor the opportunity to properly take care of you. But now, we are alone. Just you and me."

Leaning over to her comrade, Saya inhaled the scent of her hair with pleasure. The scent of a green-skinned savage. Fierce and unruly. It was intoxicating and dizzying. But it would be all the more pleasant to tame her. No, train her! Make her obedient! But first, we could have a little fun with her. Stepping around Bazita, Saya froze at her pussy. The orc's legs were bent at the knees and spread apart, giving a perfect view. Even though she had just bathed, the green-skinned woman's body odor was incredibly strong. Reaching out, Saya stroked Bazita's lower lips with her fingertips, then reached inside her. The smell of savage passion became stronger and more tangible, even overpowering the scented candles.

The smell of a wild animal. So intoxicating. So enticing! So desirable! Forgetting her training plans and the toys she'd prepared for this, Saya saddled her suspended friend with a single deft movement, as the properly placed restraints allowed her to do. As soon as she touched her hot skin with her body, especially with her pussy, a wave of all-consuming passion and desire swept over Saya. The savage's scent became simply intoxicating, driving all but one thought from her mind. The desire to possess this fierce beauty, to own her, to touch her.....

Laying on top of Basita and wrapping her arms and legs around her back, Saya began to passionately cover her shoulders and neck with kisses while sliding her palms over her body, rubbing her body against her, soaking up her scent, her sweat, her passion, her, her, her, her, her....

* * *

Damn it... That was the only thought in Master's mind as he opened the door to one of the palace's empty rooms and saw what was happening there. Entangled in a silken rope, less than half a meter above the floor, hung a helplessly toppling naked Bazita. On her back, between the silk ropes, lay a similarly naked Saya, half-consciously whispering something and occasionally licking the Orc's body. And underneath Bazita, Littleone was lying on the floor. So the Orcess's big tit protruding from behind the silk robe was resting on her mouth with its nipple. The blond halfling girl, with the same drunken expression on her face as Saya's, sucked the Orcess's breasts leisurely, masturbating at the same time.

The picture was completed by a thick mixture of the odors of female sweat and scented candles, which made even the Master sick for a moment, and the puppets escorting him drifted away at once. It was good that he hadn't thought of bringing Violetta with him, she would have laughed! Now there would be more problems with her... Mentally, for the second time that day, Master cleaned the room and went to his dolls. Harem wars, damn you, at such a bad time! And his heart nearly stopped! Well, he'd deal with that later. For now, he has other things to take care of... No, no, first we have to get these three in order.

It took almost an hour of time, and some cleansing alchemy. The latter was needed for Saya and Little One, who had inhaled Bazita's scent. The latter was already fine the moment Master discovered her, but because of the silk bindings, she couldn't do anything. And she was very angry. Had it not been for Master's direct order, she would have kicked her slanted companion right there, who had caused her to spend several hours in such a humiliating and helpless position. When the puppets had cleaned themselves up, Master and the puppets returned to the Matriarch's chambers, where Violetta was waiting for him in the conference room. Sitting down in the center chair, he coughed and announced:

"We have a problem. Lady Edelhart has pointed out to me that the web that shelters the city and with which we awakened the Terror of Diyarthen. is not a good fit. In that regard."

Master didn't have time to finish speaking, freezing mid-sentence. A message from the Greatest appeared before his eyes.

Attention!

Received "Ignored Orgasm 100/100" token. Message to recipient: "You're a disgusting sodomite!"

"Honorable..."

With a sharp gesture, Master interrupted Violetta, reading the invisible lines. A minute passed like that. And then.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha. HAHAHAHA!!!

The puppets and Lady Edelhart sitting at the table exchanged worried glances as they watched Master start laughing a half-crazed laugh for no apparent reason. It didn't last long and ended abruptly:

"Goddamn pointy-eared bitch! That fucking bitch!"

"Who are you..." Violetta began cautiously, but Master interrupted her.

"Sivilal! That damned whore... Oh-ha-ha-ha... Such a bitch..."

Turning to the uncomprehending puppets and dolls, Master explained to Saya and Bazita:

"He's alive. The boy is alive. They managed to save him."

"WHAT?!" Both dolls exclaimed in chorus, their eyes wide open.

"What?! This is impossible..."

"I thought so too! But he just sent me a message, through the lines of the Tablet. And he even deigned to send me a "present". Damned pointy-eared bitch, how much longer can you ruin everything for me!!!"

Master accompanied the last phrase with a blow of his fist on the table, feeling as if he were filled with rage. Violetta, trying to speak as calmly and delicately as possible, carefully asked:

"May I know what is going on, venerable Master?"

Turning sharply towards her, Master threw up his hands:

"Of course, of course, of course, dammit! Ugh..."

Jumping to his feet, he began to pace the office.

"You remember the message from the elves, in which they told the whole world about me and my role in the events in Iyastar?"

“Yes,” Lady Edelhart said cautiously, watching Master with apprehension.

"Well, the elves never lied. It's all true. But not ALL the truth! They presented the information in such a way that everyone decided that I was a guest from another world, gifted with the Tablet of the Soul! But that's not true!"

"What?!" Now Lady Edelhart's eyes widened.

"That's right. I was born and raised here. And the guest from another world, gifted with the Tablet of the Soul, was a brainless and worthless youth, completely unworthy of this gift! A mockery of the Greatest, no less! I met him by chance and spent long decades to master the Tablet of the Soul through him! This became the meaning of my whole life! And I achieved my goal!"

Turning sharply to Violetta, the heavily breathing Master continued:

"But it was at the very moment when the operation in Iyastar failed the elves found my hideout and began to storm it. I had to flee, I was miraculously saved! But the damned boy fell into the hands of the sharp-eared ones! I just couldn't get rid of him in time! From him, they learned the secret of my power, the Tablet! And they told the whole world about me and my power! But they forgot to mention, you pointy-eared creatures, that they now have a guest from another world with the same power! Very elvish, damn it!"

After taking several deep breaths, Master continued:

"Of course, I corrected that mistake. That's what I thought. I had a doll of that lowlife, a masterpiece of artifacting! I used it to give him the death blow. Guaranteed death! Spent the last of the puppets I had left in the Forest, but I finished him off, leaving the Elves with nothing! That's what I thought!"

Clenching his fists, Master literally growled:

"And now it turns out that this lowlife survived! He must have used some gift from the Tablet, or he couldn't have survived any other way! And now he dares to send me messages?! Of course not, of course he didn't! He may have sent it, but it was the queen who put him up to it. The elves certainly put him under their thumb as soon as they realized who was in their hands. I know those pointy-eared creatures."

Continuing to pace the office, Master continued to develop the idea, reasoning out loud:

"Sneaky, I'll give you that. They want to find out if I'm alive! Clever, clever. They want to provoke an answer and understand, but they've got nothing-- Wait! What if they already know?! He couldn't have gotten a confirmation that the message was delivered, could he?! It couldn't. Damn it, it could! But that would mean-- No, no, then they'd be here by now. They don't know where I am! Yes, the location can't be revealed. But now they know I'm alive. Oh... damn pointy-eared bitch!"

As he read the hateful lines of the insulting message once more, Master stopped abruptly, struck by a sudden realization. What if... Spending some time studying the Tablet's explanation and convinced that what he had in mind was possible, he smiled very wickedly. Why wouldn't it be? Since they would surely know that the message had reached its destination anyway... With a few mental commands, without flinching, Master spent “Modifier of other tokens 2/2” What he had planned required both charges, but the Master didn't care about that. What mattered was the opportunity they had been given to answer the damned pointy-eared creatures!

++In an instant, the “Milk Boobs 8/10” token disappeared into oblivion and went to the sender of the “Ignored Orgasm 100/100” token. And with him he took a message written in impeccable calligraphic handwriting:

"Accept my deepest admiration, honorable Sivila!

Once again, you have surprised me! I never thought that you would be able to save this miserable wretch, who does not deserve the Soul Tablet, which was given to him by the silly whim of the Greatest! But I venture to suggest that his salvation is not so much yours as the merit of the gift he has received. Something guaranteed to ward off any blow, but only one? Or something that can heal any wound, but also just one? Truly, the gifts of the Greatest are incredible! There are so many who covet them, don't I know it? After all, I was one of them.

And I suppose a lot of people would be interested to know where I actually got my power from. Or should I say, from WHO? Even more interesting, I suppose, is where he is now, don't you think, honorable Sivila?

P.S. It was a mistake for you to break our agreement and interfere with me in Iyastar.

P.P.S. Keep a closer eye on this boy, since the Greatest are giving him SUCH gifts, very soon he too may start tugging at your nipples.

Sincerely yours, Master!"

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Переведено на Нотабеноиде
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Переводчики: Camrad_RIP