by Naosu N R
I looked at the clock and then did my math on my gear again. I really need to figure out how to get the health regen +1 to keep going up again. Without it, I'm not much good.
...
"Yes!"
By 7 PM, I'd managed to get another enchant success to take effect on the health regen necklace. When I look at the item stats, its now saying on the gem; health regen +1 per 12 hours.
!!!
So if I manage another charge it will get to +1 per 6 hours? Is that how it works?
That's not real great. I need to get that up somehow. But it might be awhile still before I get enough resources to make something like this.
With this thing, I could in theory get back into the dungeon within an even shorter time than before!
"Melanie come take a look at this!" I urged.
She came over, wearing nothing while in bed, sitting up.
"Oh whoa. Is that what you did with it?" she's surprised. She came around to look while I explained the enchant I'd put on it. She's leaning up against me heavily now.
"Yeah. But its not enough health regen. I need a bit more," I said.
"Wait. I have some spare jewelry in my bag. Let's practice on it," she added.
(I can probably manage two more enchant attempts before 11:59 PM. But it will be tight. I'll need to also rest up a bit more.)
Melanie gives me two cheap knock off rings to try stuff on. And another necklace with a tiny red gem bead in it of some kind. I don't know enough about such things to do know if this will work. But its worth a try!
...
At 7:41 PM, mom and dad yelled at me for letting that new girl wear clothes while Melanie doesn't have to wear clothes. They want me to punish her more and break her spirit. They think I should have Melanie in chains also, and worry she'll try to escape. They were also yelling pretty loud.
Jeez...sickening.
But I can't just flee yet without more power and strength. And my family could crush me if they wanted.
I don't have the resources to leave them yet. I need to buy some time and play along while resisting inside my head.
On the surface my family looks like they have everything others would want. But when you hear them behind closed doors that's a bit hard.
I had to really try hard to not react.
Then I went back to my room not long after that. They are ordering me to confiscate the hot blonde's clothes.
"I get it. Don't worry. I don't want them to cause problems for you," the new sexy hot blonde captive said.
She's stripping off her clothes already. First her T shirt goes. Then her bra. Two big bulging breasts are released that have a nice perky shape.
"Can I at least keep my panties?" she asked me.
"I don't know. His parents are pretty hard core," Melanie said.
"Its OK, really. Sorry about this," I told the new girl.
"Well I've been hearing them yell about stuff while you were gone and in the dungeon. And at other times. I'm surprised that you are even sane. They are pretty freaking crazy. How are you even still alive?" the new girl said.
"Don't let them hear you say that," Melinda said hurriedly and hushed.
"Sorry," she said.
"Don't be sorry. Just...we have to lay low and play along for awhile. I'm sorry you are going through this. But for all of us to live we have to work this out and pretend we're going along with it," Melanie told her.
"Right. OK, I can play ball with that. Like a hidden resistance huh?" the blonde girl whispered.
"Don't let them know you are upset. They might react in ways I can't even comprehend, and they might do anything. Try to mask your emotions. But when you are alone with me you don't have to hide how you feel," I told the new girl.
Its a bit much to tell her this is the demon lord clan, that my family is in. They might not understand that.
Melanie looks worried. "Actually, I should act like a captive too Jay. I don't want to rock the boat. We heard your brother, trying to convince your parents to let him come in and discipline us for you. And I fear what that might mean. And they will fear me and the new girl teaming up. If they hear something wrong out of us, they might go with Diego's request, just to solve the trouble. I should also lose my clothes and be dressed like her. They might even come down on me to punish me, just for thinking it might affect Simone."
"I can't believe you told him my name," Simone said.
(So the new girl is Simone?)
Melanie stripped off her shorts, to also only have a thin small panty on, which matches the other girl now. She wasn't wearing another above the waist already.
Wow this is hot. Both are great beauties. Its hard to not stare at them both. They both have a nice toned look and nice bust, that's quite sexy.
"Just don't let your brother be alone with us please," Melanie pleaded with me.
"I don't want them to beat me. Please Jay. Your family is scary. Some of the things they say when you aren't here worry me a lot," Simone pleaded.
She seemed afraid to say more.
"I'm sorry too Simone," I briefly held her hand.
"Wait, why did you say that? What did you hear them saying?" I asked Simone.
Instinctively Melanie lowered her eyes. Simone looked at Melanie also.
"What happened while I was gone?" I asked.
Melanie showed me her ass.
Mom had whipped her while I'd been in the dungeon yesterday and left a mark. Its not bleeding but a bit bruised. She hadn't told me because she was worried it would screw me up in the dungeon this morning. And I'd come back after dark when Melanie was under the covers.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I have to get them out of this place asap!
I began to worry like hell also, while holding Melanie. I cried because they did that.
The mind control made her come closer to me. Its hard to believe it could even wear off.
Some might say its wrong but having human pets is quite interesting. And I really do want to help Simone and Melanie have a better life.
...
I went back to the library to work hard on enchanter investigation work.
It seems that from one of the books, it suggests different monster components coated onto the material right before enchanting can create different kinds of effects!
So would this be like dipping the bat into vampire blood and then enchanting it to get a life tap skill?
(And I guess vampires are probably real, but I doubt I'll see one. Nor would I have the stats to take one down.)
(But what about slime's 'blood'? If I dipped my bat in slime and succeeded the enchant, what would happen?)
I need to get back to the dungeon as fast as I can.
By 11:52 PM, I'd managed to succeed in enchanting the necklace to become a health regen +1 per 6 hours effect.
However, a problem is that the system is telling me that this necklace can't be used again today.
I also managed to raise the crowbar to an enhancement level of +3, though I'd failed a few times.
This is starting to become fun, to try to figure out how much I can do with this.
A few times, I'd caught Simone watching me to try to enhance stuff. She seems to be interested in magitek also. And maybe that's why she's been talking to me recently, though I still don't have her trust.
...
I began to feel a bit worried.
My brother Diego keeps getting a bit curious about my women, Melanie and Simone. He was hanging around my hall again.
(Now I feel more certain than before that he's using some kind of X-ray vision skill. And since he's a darkness mage, its very possible for them to have some skill like that.)
We went to sleep.
Chapter 12
Monday morning was hectic as always.
At the long rich hall filling hardwood breakfast table, Diego was whining that it wasn't fair that dad bought me a slave and not him one. (This sounds crazy since Diego was given a paid off mortgage free house, which i
s more valuable and can attract women itself. If anything, I should be jealous of him getting a nice fat house with no mortgage attached to it. It also has a pool.)
All of us in the family are here at the nice shiny steel equipped kitchen sitting down eating food except dad, who left an hour before. The maid is behind us at the sink and stove area, tending to things quietly.
Also, Melanie sits next to me, but they still don't like her roaming outside my room much. But she doesn't complain. Often she holds my hand under the table; but I'd told her to not let the others see that because they might think its weak.
Diego still hasn't shut up from his whining that he wants a sexy woman like mom and dad gave me.
They told him off, and to behave, and that he'd already gotten his gift.
"Don't be greedy Diego. You've already been given more than others," Dad told him.
"But Jay's gift is way better than mine," Diego reasoned not letting it go.
(Its not a gift, its a trap to get me to be a slave to the Company Firm, you fool, I thought.)
Ryan told him to, "shut the fuck up. We all have our gifts from mom and dad. You don't see us complaining that we didn't get a mortgage free clean title big ass house like yours. You got way more than your share. Plus, all the shit you've pulled."
"What shit? What did he do?" I asked.
It got awkward and silent suddenly.
"Well, uh, I meant a figuratively," Ryan said. "Uh, forget I said it," Ryan added hastily.
Diego looks angry enough to kill us both.
Are they hiding something?
Judging by Diego's ugly reaction, its true. But what could it be?
Diego stormed off.
Or maybe its several somethings.
After awhile Ryan said, "I think he left early. Guess I'll have to drive today."
"That's probably a good idea. He's been a real cunt lately," mom swore. "If he fucks up and gets sloppy, don't think I won't punish him. Talk to him for me, maybe you can get through to him to help him avoid the bad ending. Since you are his brother, sometimes he listens to you."
"I will mom. But please give it some time. He's difficult to deal with. You know how he gets with those mood swings," Ryan sighed.
Ryan is acting like he's afraid of mom. If he'd had different parents he probably would have ended up playing 'the good guy' route. Its sad to see it.
And, it seems that its not just me that thinks that about Diego being an ass. I pretend nothing is wrong and that I don't notice anything; that's how mom seems to like it.
"We don't have a lot of time. Those FBI bastards are still doing surveillance waiting for any chance of trouble to record. And I have had to deal with punishments to family before. Its not pretty. And always the wish I have is that if only I could have fixed it sooner before it became something where the punishment wrecks someone's stats," mom said. (I noticed she's glancing at me.)
"You mean Uncle Gary?" Ryan asked.
A heavy silence went over the room.
Uh oh.
What does that mean?
"What happened with uncle Gary?" I asked.
Both Ryan and mom didn't want to say anything for a bit. So I asked again.
"Why did you have to bring that up now?" Mom said to him, but glanced at me.
"He would have found out sooner or later," Ryan told her.
Mom finally sighed while reaching for some apples slices. "That's true. I might as well tell you. If I don't you'll hear the wrong version. Your uncle Gary tried to take my spot as one of the leaders in the family business, 'The Firm'. So I burned out his mana core a few years ago. Now he can no longer do magic. It sort of made him a bit off in the head also, and he hasn't been the same since. But if he'd just have been more reasonable and not tried to take my spot I wouldn't have hurt him. Its not my fault."
Wow.
I'd wondered why suddenly uncle Gary had changed so much a few years ago. Now it finally clicks. He used to be upbeat, but still kind of a jerk. Then one day he seemed to be almost catatonic.
None of us liked seeing him much anymore, because it was weird seeing his mind totally gone.
Actually, he was a second uncle and not a real uncle though.
"Can I go to my room? I need to get ready for tomorrow and prepare," I asked.
"Not yet. I need to talk to you specifically," mom said.
I froze.
"OK...but I didn't do anything wrong," I said.
"That's why you need some coaching. You should act out a bit. Don't do it like that little bitch Diego though. He thinks he can get away with it and doesn't realize how strong your father and I are. Some day that will cost him dearly, thinking he can always take what doesn't belong to him. And acting like that will just make me mad. But try to enjoy life. Have a little fun. You can go wild a little bit and we'll tolerate it. I worry you aren't trying to be ambitious enough," Mom said.
"I better get going to work. Have a good day, mom. And tell dad that too," Ryan told her. He's putting on his business suit jacket and moving towards the door now.
"Thank you," she said.
After that Melanie went back to my room ahead of me, but only after she was sure my jerk brother was safely gone ahead of her. I'm sure she doesn't like being alone with either of my brothers actually.
After about a minute after she'd left, Mom turned to me. "Look Jay. What you have...I'm not sure how you recruited Melanie so thoroughly. We thought she'd go home after we brought Simone home to give to you. Or get tired of this. But she stayed. Does she really like you that much?" mom asked.
"Yes. She says she does," I said, shrugging.
"Is there any problems?" Mom asked.
"No. Why would there be?" I was feeling a bit nervous.
Like I'll really tell her the truth...
"Marriage is a work in progress. Its not always easy. Make sure you maintain it, OK? She'd be good for us. And good for you too. I want your relationship to last," Mom said.
I can't let mom know one of my skills has mind control effects. I'd squeaked by because she only scanned my elements and not my skills. And from my understanding these skills are rare and there's too many others to confuse them with.
But if she were to find out what it does, the pressure to join the family business would be impossible to even survive. She'd see the potential more than I would even. She might have even have tried to force me to go after others in the same way.
"Anything else?"
"Well, I was worried. I found out Sue and her daughters aren't always nice. Sue did want her to scam you. And that's what worries me. I don't want anyone to take advantage of you. Especially, if someone were to use that to have power over the family that would really irk me," mom warned.
"I know that. She admitted it. She's changed and won't be a problem. She said she's sorry and really wants to work it out and be good now. She says she really likes me," I said.
"What?!" Mom was shocked.
"And she's OK with you having a few mistresses? And what if you enter the family business, and participate in world domination? Will she be OK with that too?" mom asked.
Ah, her real motive manifested.
I hid my reaction. I'd almost flinched when she said world domination. That scared me.
But I have to sort of hide under the radar while I get strong enough to escape where the family can't find me.
That's why, there's no way I can let Melanie go. I have to try and get her to become part of my escape plan and level up with me. And I might need others also, to help.
Getting out my family is going to be necessary if I don't want to go to hell, and become something I don't like.
"I don't know if she likes it...but she's OK with it," I shrugged.
(Heh, she can't say no anyway, I thought. I also have to mostly tell some truths to mom, because she's too smart for a bald faced lie.)
"Ryan probably told you, that you need a stable permanent dungeon team, so I won't need to go into that. If you can train Simone or t
he others to be 100% loyal there might be day when you can bring her to the dungeon to help you. But its not worth the risk. And we'd have to be absolutely sure of it, and that she won't ever betray us. We might just have you crafting full time for the family and not worrying about having to go climb the tower. Have you considered that?" mom asked.