Any Summon with an Enslavement Collar on them would be completely dominated by their Summoner.
—Am I going to be dominated!?
Takuma turned pale as he remembered this information.
If this world was using the same setting as Cross Reverie, then he would have no choice but to be under the control of one of the two girls before him.
Either the Elf with golden hair and slender legs and arms; the well-endowed beauty.
Or the expressionless girl who sported cat ears and a slim, elegant body.
He was starting to think that being dominated might not be so bad after all.
—No, no, no! That’s still a bad thing!
Having given into temptation for a moment, Takuma shook his head back and forth.
At this, the girls turned their gazes back toward him.
They seemed to have reached a compromise for now. The girl with the cat ears spoke first.
“...Can you understand what we are saying?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
His response was minimal.
As if they were not expecting this, the Elf and Pantherian opened their eyes wide.
“He can talk!?”
“...This is a surprise. I have never heard of a Summon that could understand our language, let alone speak it...”
“Way to go, me! Even though it was my first summoning, I summoned something super amazing!”
The girl with cat ears glared at the Elf.
“...I will say it again, but I am the one who summoned Diablo, not you.”
“And I’ll say it again, too! Diablo answered my summons and came for me, got that!?”
The two continued to stare daggers at each other.
They were still fighting over who was the actual Summoner.
And there was no feature in the game that had two Summoners working together to summon one powerful creature.
“...Fine. If you’re going to go that far, then let’s confirm who Diablo is enslaved to.”
The Elf looked down at the cat-eared girl as she gave her response.
“Fine by me, let’s do this! He is my Summon, after all, so of course he’ll obey me!”
Things had definitely taken a turn for the weird here.
The Pantherian girl approached Takuma.
“...By the name of Rem Galleu, I command you to raise your right hand.”
So her name is Rem Galleu. Would Rem be her first name, then?
Takuma obediently raised his right hand.
The Elf started to protest.
“Anyone would follow an order like that! If you’re going to order him to do something, make it a little more ridiculous!”
“...It pains me to see you act like a sore loser, but as you wish. Diablo, I command you to pinch the cheeks of that Elf over there.”
“Is that something you would normally order someone to do!?” the Elf said, dumbstruck.
Takuma tilted his head.
“What? I don’t really want to do that...”
Rem was shocked at his reply. Because he was able to resist her command, this meant that she was not the Summoner.
—Or something like that, I guess?
With her face positively beaming, the Elf stuck out her chest. Noticeably.
“See! See, see, see! Looks like I was the Summoner after all! So, my Summon, Diablo! I order you in the name of Shera! Give that Pantherian girl over there a good spanking!”
“...Ordering him to use violence against others makes me doubt the value of your character,” retorted Rem.
You told me to do something similar just now, remember?—Takuma thought to himself.
“I don’t want to do that either.”
“Why!?”
The Elf’s eyes were as wide as could be.
Even Takuma was tilting his head a little.
—That’s weird. There’s no kind of oppressive force that makes me feel like I’m being enslaved... Maybe it’s because I’m a player after all?
Rem was glaring at Shera.
“...It seems that something has gone wrong since you tried to take over my summoning.”
“Um, wrong!? I was the first one who thought to use this place, you know! I was the one who thought the elevated amount of magic here would be able to call a Demon Lord from another world!”
“...I should have chased you away from the beginning... And it’s still not too late to do that. I will make you leave here by force and redo the ritual. The Demon Lord is mine...”
Rem reached into a pocket on her leather belt and pulled out a transparent crystal.
Shera reached for the bow on her back and took a stance.
If things carried on this way, there was going to be a fight.
Fighting is bad!
I’ll talk to them and get them to calm down—thought Takuma. Trying to think calmly, he attempted to reach for the words he needed to explain this all away, but suddenly found himself freezing up.
—Huh? H-How am I supposed to talk to a girl again?
Takuma searched his memories.
When was the last time he had actually talked to a girl in real life?
A year ago? No, wait! There was that time with the female employee at the convenience store, so surely... Wait, did he actually talk to her!?
Reality was cruel.
Even in the game, he always played solo as the “Demon Lord,” so all he ever talked to were dudes who played as girls in-game.
—Hold on, there was something! I talked to a girl!
He did talk to a girl, and recently!
Turning to face Rem and Shera as they continued to get ready to fight, Takuma mustered what little experience he had and called out to them.
“Cease your pointless squabbling. You are in the presence of Diablo.”
The two girls instantly stopped moving and turned to face him.
—All right! That’s it!
It was the tone of voice he used as the Demon Lord when someone came to challenge him. If he just talked like that, he should be able to talk to girls with no problems.
He almost felt like striking a pose as he faced the two girls.
However, he managed to suppress the urge. Demon Lords do not usually strike poses, after all.
“I am not partial to such futile quarrels. It is incessant, like the noise of two insects fighting with each other. And so, I order you two: make peace by shaking hands...and with a smile!”
Rem narrowed her eyes.
“Who would want to make nice...with such a foolish, useless Elf like——!?”
Shera raised her eyebrows.
“What!? It’s that little Pantherian pipsqueak who’s at fault here! She owes me an apology, and I won’t forgive her until she——!?”
The girls’ expressions started to change in strange fashion.
Their eyelids started to close in awkwardly, and the corners of their mouths began to twitch upwards.
The changes did not end with just their faces.
While still holding the crystal in her left hand, Rem offered out her right hand. Shera lowered her bow, and also reached out with her right hand.
One step at a time, they slowly began walking toward each other.
“...How...How could something like this...”
Usually devoid of any kind of expression, it was only now that you could call what Rem had on her face a “smile.”
Shera was afraid.
“No... Stop...! Why...Why is my body moving on its own!?”
It looked like she was about to cry. However, the girls’ faces stayed as they were, lips curved upwards.
An exchange of handshakes.
Though their odd facial expressions clearly showed that they didn’t like it...just as Takuma had ordered, the girls shook hands, smiles and all.
Suddenly, a black light began to coil around their necks.
A low, vibrating noise could be heard, followed by a heavy *thunk*, as if something was being locked.
Two thick collars had materialized around Rem and Shera’s slender necks.
They appeared to be made out of a dull-colored metal, similar to iron.
Rem’s eyes opened wide as she touched her neck.
“This is...an Enslavement Collar!?”
Shera checked her own neck, and let out a scream.
“What!? Why!? Isn’t this supposed to go on the Summon instead!?”
“...I am certain we performed the Enslavement Ritual necessary to have the Summon wear an Enslavement Collar.”
Takuma tilted his head.
“Hm? Enslavement Ritual? On me?”
Rem nodded while making a puzzled face.
“Y-Yes... Um, well, we certainly...cast the ritual...you see...”
Takuma looked down at his body.
He was wearing the armor 《The Ebony Abyss》, and an extravagant cape called the 《Curtain of Dark Clouds》. On his head were two goat-like horns—《The Distorted Crown》.
On the middle finger of his left hand was a ring that appeared as if it had been shaped from a flame, with an ebony jewel embedded into it.
He remembered seeing this pattern before.
The Demon Lord’s Ring.
This incredibly rare item from Cross Reverie possessed the ability 《Magic Reflection》, an effect that had no equal when it came to battling with enemy Sorcerers, though it was difficult to use since it also reflected healing and support spells.
Takuma started to put two and two together.
—So, because of this ring, it looks like the enslavement magic bounced off me and onto these two instead.
It was not Takuma who had been enslaved, but rather, the two girls who were meant to be his Summoners, instead.
✦ ✦ ✦
