My name was Aishia. I was a half dwarf and a slave who used to be a minstrel.
However, until just the other day, my arms, my face, and my voice—the three things most indispensable to work as a minstrel—had all been destroyed.
It had happened in the Kingdom of Alchemy. I’d been hired to sing for a business to gain them customers, as per usual, when a rival business had suddenly invented a reason to make an example of me.
It was a situation so adverse that I could only lament my rotten luck. But having lost everything I needed to continue as a minstrel, I also fell into a deep despair. The physical pain from losing my arms was so unbearable that I lost my sense of time, and even though the store I’d advertised for had long since ceased operations, I’d apparently been languishing in that prison, unable to live or die and my fate on display for everyone to see, for three whole years.
Although I’m a half dwarf, I still have dwarven blood in me, and thanks to that resilience I couldn’t even die to put myself out of my misery. And because of my slave contract, I couldn’t even bite off my tongue to end my own life. So I was forced to wallow in endless despair. Also, the reason I was sold to Solasidore in the first place was that the rival company just got sick of having me around. I was basically given to the slave trader as a bonus to another deal, treated like I was an afterthought. But my legs were still intact, so all I remember about that time was that I got dragged and led around a whole lot. In the end, even after reaching Solasidore I was once again made an example of—though I was in a miserable state from the beginning, so it was more like I was there to make the other slaves believe they didn’t have it so bad compared to me.
Naturally, in the state I’d been in, no one had wanted to buy me. I’d just stayed down in that prison, wondering when I’d finally die, cursing my resilient dwarven body.
But then, opportunity finally came knocking, and I met master.
When master saw me for the first time, she looked totally calm. She even negotiated with the slave trader on the spot to buy me for one gold coin. And she really did come back and buy me! At that moment I remember thinking, “maybe this is the person who’ll finally kill me and put me out of my misery.”
But then a miracle happened. Yes, it had to have been a miracle. Master used her magic to restore my arms, face, and voice! I had my arms back, and what’s more, they didn’t hurt! My vision was clear! I could speak, and my breath was no longer ragged! Relieved from my suffering after so long, I couldn’t stop my tears from flowing.
No amount of healing magic had ever given me relief. Even the more advanced types of holy magic were less effective the longer the injuries persisted, and although I’d repeatedly been told only a year had passed, I learned after master bought me that it had actually been three. With that much time passing, any amount of holy magic would be ineffective—and yet master had healed me in the blink of an eye! Even with the cursed tattoos on my body, which rendered all healing magic ineffective!
She was a goddess. She must have been. No priest or servant of God could perform such a miracle, so there was no other explanation except that she was a goddess herself. With all she’d done for me, how could I not pledge to serve her the rest of my life?
She even let me choose my own name, so my name became “Aishia,” a nickname my loved ones had given me. That was because I wanted master to call me by that name as well.
“You’re going to be in my service for the rest of your life, so from here on, you’re forbidden to lie to me,” master said. “That’s an order.”
“I understand, master. I will serve you until the day I die.”
I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to give me a pet name of your own, you know... As I had that embarrassing thought, however, my stomach suddenly growled.
“Here, make do with this for now,” master said, and she handed me a golden apple. N-No way... Just look at the rich, sweet mana coming off of it! I-Is this really an apple? It looks like one, sure, but the apples I know of are all red... A-Am I really to have this for a meal? It looks so delicious...!
Huh? This is just a snack? A-And I can eat as many of these as I want, whenever I want?! For the past several years, my diet’s only consisted of leftover scraps and goblin entrails, and now you’re saying I’m allowed this luxury all of a sudden?! Oh, master... I’m so grateful!
“Then I’ll help myself!” I said, and I bit into the golden apple. The sweetness of the juice spread throughout my mouth, and at the same time, I felt my body fill up with mana. This was...the legendary ambrosia fruit, wasn’t it?! Then that settled it—my master was a goddess!
“Are you okay?! Did you get a sour bite or something?!” master asked. I must’ve worried her, since tears started spilling from my face all of a sudden from the fruit’s deliciousness. And just between us, even after having enough human food to make up for three years’ worth of malnourishment, I still had yet to taste anything as good as that fruit. (I only called it “human food” because the tastiness of that fruit clearly surpassed the realm of humans and extended into the divine.)
By the way, where is master’s home located, anyway? It seems like whenever we go out, we’re suddenly outside, and when we go home we’re back home before I know it, so it’s honestly baffling.
Anyway, after going outside for a bit, I got sleepy all of a sudden, and master sent me home. Shamefully, I ended up going to bed before she did, but when I woke up, she was sleeping right next to me. The truth is, when I saw her like that, I felt my heart skip a beat.
She had long eyelashes, her lips trembled cutely as she slept, and her skin was silky smooth—so beautiful that even though I too was a woman, my heart was beating out of my chest. I felt a sudden impulse to run my fingers through her stunning black hair—
No, I can’t, I’m a slave. I have to get a hold of myself and work hard in master’s service. Except, what can I do to help her? Right, I’ll prepare her breakfast for now. (That “preparation” only consisted of choosing from the massive pile of ambrosia fruits and handing her one, though.)
When she woke up and I offered her the fruit, she seemed more interested in human food instead. I suppose a divine being like her has the luxury of enjoying food for reasons other than pure nourishment. Wait, she wants to try my food?! Absolutely—just leave it to me! I’ll do my best to satisfy you! Er, are you sure that’s all you want from me, though? Isn’t there something more I could do to repay you for the kindness you’ve shown me? I’ll do anything you want me to. Seriously, anything.
If my master were a man, it would make things a lot easier. Then I could just offer up my body as thanks... Hmm, do gods even feel lust, though? They do make babies in some of the myths I’ve heard, so they must, right? Oh—right, there’s even a myth where two goddesses make a baby, isn’t there? That means there might be hope for me too!
Two days afterward, master remodeled her home to make room for me. Er, I think it’s a home, anyway? At first I thought it was located somewhere underground, but despite it being totally dark everywhere else, the living space was bright, and there were no walls to speak of. You couldn’t even call it a room, really. Master called this her “base,” but before her remodel, it had really only contained her bed and a place to go to the bathroom. Perhaps for a goddess like her, that was all she’d needed to be satisfied.
Anyway, she mumbled something like “this place needs some rooms,” and a log appeared out of thin air. Then it floated up in front of her and began cutting itself up. The pieces floated in the air and combined themselves to create a door. There was even a doorknob, made from stone. Huh? How is this possible? Magic? This is different from any magic I know of!
“That should do it for a room,” she said, and she stood the door upright on the ground. As I looked on, unsure what power this door held or what she even meant, she opened it and urged me inside. Beyond the door was an actual room, with white walls.
“Huh?!” Once inside, I turned around to look at the door, but it had disappeared. There wasn’t even a doorknob on the wall behind me.
“Wh-What is this?!”
“A new room,” master answered. “More or less an extension, I guess?”