Ch 310: Date A Campione.

"I'm starting to wonder if we aren't about to bite off more than we can chew." muttered Liliana.

"What's this?" chuckled Erica. "Is the proud prodigy of the Bronze-Black Cross, the alleged Witch with the strongest potential, chickening out?"

"Don't try to fool me, Erica!" snorted Liliana. "Even you are starting to get nervous! I can see it by how often you're checking and rechecking your control collar."

Erica glanced down at the metal collar in her hands. The device, created By Deus Ex Machina Industries and making a liberal use of nanotech, would instantly subdue any Spirit, even those belonging to the Legatus Legionis category.

At least in theory. Only one Legion Commander, The Black Prince of England, had been subdued in such a manner. The others successfully repelled all attempt to kill or enslave them until they recovered enough of their power to make any further tentative nothing short of suicidal.

Not even established Campiones wanted to mess with someone like Julius Ceasar, who could summon over a thousand eight-meter-tall Legions, each one able to fly and having the firepower of a tank platoon.

"There is no wrong in making sure the equipment functions properly, and I'm having the most dangerous part of the plan." shrugged Erica, looking from the rooftop at the deserted streets.

"…Still, I'd like for the spacequake to burst already. The wait is getting on my nerves."

Liliana could only agree with her childhood friend and rival. Spacequakes generally burst about 24 to 36 hours after detection, collapsing after a Spirit entered their world. Shorter spacequakes generally meant that the Spirit was of a Warrior type, while longer ones tended to be the sign of a Legatus Legionis coming.

For some reason that no one could explain, all the Warriors Spirits were young women, while the vast majority of the Legatus Legionis were reincarnations of past generals, hence generally middle-aged males.

But this one promised to be special. Even the Spacequake that Julius Ceasar caused didn't build up for more than 72 hours, and now was the beginning of the fifth day since this spacequake started forming.

The squads from the Anti-Spirit Team, a branch of the Japanese Self-Defense force, were flying around, patrolling the emptied city and hoping that they would be able to kill the Spirit while they were still confused by the foreign environment, their strength drained by the transference.

Everything would be decided within the first hour after the Spirit's emergence. The AST would try to locate them and kill them while they could, and particularly audacious Magic Knights like Erica and Liliana would attempt to enslave them instead, gaining the right to channel the Spirit's power and pretend to the title of Campione.

If they failed, if the Spirit escaped or survived long enough to recover enough power to repel the attacks of the forces present on site, only the elite teams of DEM, as well as current Campiones or Legatus Legionis, would be able to face this Spirit in battle.

And when the Spirit in question was a Legatus Legionis, as seemed increasingly likely in this case, the elites would only act if the newcomer engaged in widespread acts of destruction. More likely, the Legatus Legionis would either join an existing political faction or nation, or start his own.

"Maybe we should make our attempt on the next spacequake?" hesitated Liliana. "The stronger the Spirit, the shorter the vulnerability window will be, and we have no guarantee the collar will even work if they're too strong."

Erica knew Liliana had a point, but after all the preparations they had made, and spending days in Japan waiting for the Spacequake to end, she was unwilling to concede without…

The spacequake detector suddenly beeped, and the numerical value it displayed started falling at a high speed.

The spacequake had burst, and the Spirit was there, somewhere in the city.

"Let's go!" said Erica with determination as a red magic array appeared in front of her. From it, she took her sword, Cuore Di Leone.

Liliana was already doing the same, taking from a blue magic array Cuore Di Leone's sister sword, Il Maestro.

From there, their role in the plan differed. Liliana quickly recited her incantation for her flying spell, and she took off from the building's rooftop.

Erica couldn't fly, but she summoned from another array a half-dozen birds made of thin metal wires. On her command, the birds took to the air and spread out, searching for any sign of life in the city that wouldn't be an AST member or another would-be Campione.

Once the Spirit was located, Erica would come and face them, acting as a decoy and doing whatever it took to draw their attention, from exchanging pleasantries to challenging them in a duel. Meanwhile, Liliana, able to fly without a sound, would circle around to approach the Spirit's back, and hopefully, snap the collar close around their neck before she was noticed.

Erica and Liliana had engraved both of their magical signature into the collar devices each of them held, which would let them both use the power of the subdued Spirit. They weren't aware of any Campione having done so, as it took a lot of ambition to want to become one in the first place, and ambitious people were typically loath to share.

And after less than three minutes of searching with her familiars, sharing their vision, she spotted someone walking down a street.

…

Noah took his first steps in this new world in the middle of a city, seemingly abandoned in a hurry. The streets were clean, a sign that the abandonment was recent.

As he slowly walked, taking in his surroundings, he thought about the rules of the two games Lilith had found 'interesting'. The knowledge was simply there, in his mind. Both differed in the details, but they had a lot in common.

Both games forced the 'Slave' to roll dice on a regular basis, and each roll would add between one and three rules or restrictions the Slave would have to follow until the end of the game. The starting rules were fairly trivial, like having to drink at least 2 liters of water per day or be clean shaved below the eyes, but they escalated quickly.

And boy, did they escalate!

One of those two games was divided into four tiers, and let the Slave choose the initial degree of difficulty. Depending on their choice, each tier could last anywhere from 5 to 20 days, directly affecting the number of rules they would have to follow and their difficulty.

And the most severe rules of the last tier were rather extreme, such as signing a no-limits slave contracts, establishing a prenup agreement entirely favorable to the Owner, and marrying them.

But it was the other game that Noah found the most interesting. The duration and intensity would be decided on an initial dice roll, and could last from two weeks to four months.

The players, both the 'Owner', himself, and the 'Slaves', would have to wear a bracelet connected to an AI. Lilith had put a dozen of them in his inventory already, and had arranged for those bracelets to somehow be linked to Yui and Hikari, despite them being in another world.

Two dice would be rolled at regular intervals, determining which types of rules or restrictions would be added by using a seven-by-seven grid. There were four general themes, Restrictions, Devotion, Sexual Training and Service, and Bondage. Each of them having four to six specific activities such as Oral Training or Chores, and each of those activities having five levels of intensity.

Anal training, as an example, would go from the slave having to wear a small butt plug for 6 hours per day, to having to be stuffed with a replica of Noah's cock 24/7. This game had 110 rules and restrictions in total, and some of them were contradicting each other, because the game was never intended to apply them all to a single individual. In case of conflict, Noah would get to decide which rule applied, and which one didn't.

Of course, there were some restrictions for him, too. He wouldn't be able to demand from the slave anything that wasn't part of her rules, and some of the rules implied that he would have to do things he wouldn't normally do. Such as letting his slave appear in public while wearing cuffs and chains.

He knew, as Lilith had mentioned it as part of the knowledge she passed to him, that any third party would be under a light compulsion to not call the cops on them or use their phones to take photos or videos, and that children wouldn't be present in those situations. But both him and the slave would still have to suffer the onlookers' gazes and comments and social consequences.

But this was for later. For now, he had received a bunch of quests!

"Quest 1: Find the sick girl near your emergence point, and heal her. Reward: The girl will invite you to live in her home."

"Quest 2: Enroll in the Cassell College, create your own faction, and make it the dominant force amongst the students. Reward: Albion and Ddraig will be revived with bodies able to shift between dragon, dragonkin and human forms."

"Quest 3: Play the game called 'Mystic Moon'. In the starting area, find a way to descend into the Bottomless Pit, fight your way through most of the hidden bosses, and acquire the Lunar Scourge. Reward: Upgrade to your Golem Creation skill. You will be able to create bigger, smarter Golems. Their resilience, power and agility will be correlated to your own attributes to a greater extent, and you will be able to grant them a lesser version of your Martial Arts skill."

Noah paused for a few seconds. The first quest sounded like Lilith was just making things convenient for him. He had never heard of Cassell College, or of Mystic Moon, and supposed that they were part of the fictions Lilith had told him she used and that he didn't know. Surely, this College wasn't a normal place.

The first thing to do was clear, and Noah started using Promise to check on his surroundings, searching for a sick girl.

And almost immediately, he found several interesting things. First, there was a group of six girls wearing futuristic bodysuits, strange jetpacks strapped on their backs, and holding large rifles of some sort. They were flying slowly, searching for something on the ground. Probably whatever threat had made them evacuate the city. Their equipment reminded him of the Date A Live fiction, and Noah smiled, before shaking his head. Girls wearing high tech flying equipment weren't all that rare in Japanese medias, and he shouldn't jump to conclusions.

But the second thing he found with Promise, aside from a few bird-shaped magic drones or familiars, one of them circling high above his own position, were two girls heading toward him, just a block away, and those, he recognized. Erica Blandelli and Liliana Kranjcar, the two major female characters from the Campione fiction.

Erica, the fiery, self-assured genius with a mischievous streak, always ready to seize any opportunity to her advantage.

Liliana, the beautiful silver-headed witch, the epitome of the honorable knight, with a not-so-secret desire to end up as the lover of a dominant man, willing to take what he wanted, how he wanted.

Liliana was flying and carrying Erica, but she stopped while a few buildings still separated them from him, and Liliany put Erica on the ground. The Italian blonde summoned a lion-shaped familiar, hoped on his back, sword drawn, and circled clockwise around the buildings, while Liliana flew a few meters off the ground and circled counter-clockwise.

"Thank you so much, Lilith-sama." grinned Noah, happy to have an opportunity to meet those two girls.

Although the item Liliana was carrying, looking like some high-tech steel collar, definitely wasn't part of the Campione fiction, and Noah intended to keep a wary eye on her.

Not wanting them to know that he was watching them, Noah hadn't even turned in their direction, and he resumed his leisurely walk.

After a few tenths of second, Erica turned the corner, and her lion familiar roared as she approached him, slowing down.

Noah stopped walking, smiling slightly as he drank in her beauty, and she seemed slightly taken aback as well, her cheeks coloring faintly.

Noah wasn't surprised, as between his looks and his charisma, some of his girls were recently telling him that it was becoming obvious he was more than just human. He was very far from exuding the aura of sacredness and divinity Lilith effortlessly produced, but he still had something extra compared to normal people, and it was becoming noticeable.

"Greetings, Oh Spirit. May I know your noble name?" asked Erica in fluent Japanese.

"Greetings." smiled Noah. "My name is Noah Enfield. Why did you call me a Spirit, however?"

Using Promise, he could see Liliana appear from behind the building behind him, and fly toward him, a determined expression on her face, and steel collar open, held in front of her.

Erica, on the other hand, kept her gaze firmly on his eyes. She was too smart to glance at Liliana and possibly tip him off.

"My apologies, where are my manners?" nodded Erica. "My name is Erica Blandelli, an Italian Knight from the Copper Black Cross, an order to Knights. I called you a Spirit because…"

When Liliana was only two meters from him, about to close the steel collar on his neck, Noah suddenly turned, grabbed her arm, and threw her at Erica.

…

Noah Enfield? Erica couldn't think of any historical figure bearing that name, much less a general. She supposed it was a fake name, which was smart of him.

Still, it didn't matter which name he used. She was certain he was a Spirit, as his handsome looks and the feeling of dense, contained power she felt from his body gave him away, and she would have all the time to know who he really was after Liliana and her subdued him.

For now, all that mattered was keeping his attention on her, and she introduced herself.

And as Liliana was about to reach him, their plan went off the rails. The young man turned with the suddenness of a striking viper, and next thing Erica knew, Liliana was crashing on her, sending her off her familiar's back.

They both fell to the ground, not sustaining any injury thanks to years of tireless training, and Erica's lion roared, bounding forward toward the Spirit.

Erica hurriedly got back on her feet, just in time to see her familiar being dismantled by glowing swords of light that disappeared immediately after.

Her heart sank further as she saw the steel collar Liliana had carried in the Spirit's hands. He was examining it, his head tilted, and then the collar suddenly disappeared.

"Were you two trying to enslave me?"

Erica didn't reply. She exchanged a glance with Liliana, now standing beside her, and they nodded to each other.

Liliana placed her left hand against the blade of Il Maestro and muttered an incantation, and the rapier changed form, elongating, transforming into a naginata. She activated her flying spell once more, and carefully approached the Spirit, intending to harass him and hog his attention while Erica used her trump card.

It seemed to work, as the Spirit manifested a golden sword and parried away Lily's strikes with ease. Erica finished her own incantation, plunging her sword into the ground and pouring most of her magic power into it. The red magic array enlarged, and a lion of steel, ten meters in height and twenty meters in length, emerged from it.

"Oh brave Lion of Steel, defend me from my enemy!" called out Erica as she retrieved her sword and jumped away.

The steel lion, the culmination of years of diligent study of magic, the manifestation of her pride… went down without even landing a hit, swallowed by a black hole the Spirit created.

Erica wanted to scream in frustration, but she would have time for this later. For now, she and Liliana needed to get out of this mess alive. She was about to cast her next spell when suddenly, beams of light fell from the sky, targeting the Spirit.

The man frowned as he jumped back and looked up, seeing that a squad of the AST had joined the fight.

Liliana seized the opportunity and flew to Erica, grabbed her hand, and lifted her, intending to put a few city blocks between her and the Spirit before stopping again.

Erica didn't resist and made a vexed sound, aware that some of their friends would tease them about this incident, this failure, for years to come.

Liliana flew back to the rooftop they had used as a waiting spot for days and let Erica on her feet.

"That didn't go as planned." sighed Liliana.

"No, it didn't. How vexing." winced Erica. She wasn't used to have her attacks handled but her opponent with such ease, and it stung.

"How can this Spirit be a Warrior type when is he a male? He certainly isn't a Legatus Legionis." asked Liliana.

"What's a Legatus Legionis?" asked a third voice, and Erica and Liliana both froze in shock as they turned.

…

Noah, standing two meters from them, smiled as he saw their faces.

"You!?" exclaimed Erica. "Did you already kill that squad from the AST?"

"No. I destroyed their weapons and grounded them before I chased after you. And you still haven't introduced yourself, silver-haired girl who snuck up on me. I'm Noah Enfield."

"…I …I am Liliana Kranjcar, from the Bronze-Black Cross." stiffly replied Liliana.

"I see. It is nice to meet you, I would normally say, but you tried to enslave me, and that isn't something I intend to leave unanswered. Unless you give me a reason to spare you?"

Noah materialized a few Light swords around him as a threatening gesture, and the two girls adopted defensive postures, their faces conveying their resolve to die as warriors.

"…"

"…"

Noah sighed. The situation was becoming embarrassing. How big of a clue did he need to give them for them to get the memo?

"Damn it! That is the part where you girls are supposed to be suggesting alternative forms of punishment and compensation!"

"…Ah?" blurted out Liliana, suddenly blushing. It seemed her thoughts were headed in the right direction, at least.

"Are you suggesting… that we pay with our bodies?" asked Erica, offended.

Noah sighed again, and manifested several golden chains, ensnaring them before they could react. He ignored their protests and forced them to turn their backs on him. He quickly engraved Stop runes on their napes, sealing their powers. The girls' weapons dissipated like mist, and he removed the chains.

"You tried to enslave me. From my point of view, it is only fair that you are punished by becoming my slaves instead. An eye for an eye, to the victor goes the spoils, might make right, and all that... Or would you prefer death?"

"I would take an honorable death in battle over becoming a slave!" angrily retorted Erica.

"Don't you think your stance is a bit hypocritical, though?" sneered Noah. "You can dish it, but you can't take it?"

"This is different! You're a Spirit! Someone must reign you in, or you'll cause chaos."

Liliana didn't reply immediately, as she seemed to have fallen into a trance. Until Erica shoved an elbow on her side, and she shook herself. "O-Of course I will choose death in battle over… over…" her words trailed off and she blushed.

Erica was scandalized by Noah's ambitions where she and Lily were concerned, but she suddenly remembered about the second collar still in her pouch. Maybe, if she pretended to submit to him, she might manage to collar him still, after he lowered his guard.

And then, he would pay.

"I… I might consider becoming your slave, but only for a few years, three at most, and you won't take my purity." conceded Erica, and Liliana looked at her in astonishment.

"Five years, and I will definitely take your purity. You aren't exactly in a position to negotiate, with your powers sealed. However, I will give you a chance to reduce your sentence to one year only, assuming you win a certain game I have in mind." smiled Noah.

"What kind of game?" asked Erica, her heart sinking about the imminent loss of her purity. It would be a huge sacrifice, but if it allowed her to overturn the situation, it was better than dying.

"One that anyone can win, assuming they are determined enough. That shouldn't be a problem for two elite European knights, I assume." shrugged Noah.

He produced two simplified slave contracts, stating that Liliana and Erica would agree to become his slaves for five years, and that Noah would offer them a possibility to reduce their sentence to a year upon winning a game.

Erica carefully read the contract Noah had given her, searching for small print and loopholes. What really worried her was that the contract seemed magical in nature, and its language precluded any attempt to harm or betray Noah. She might be unable to put the collar on him, if the contract could compel her actions. Still, even in the worst-case scenario, being a slave for a year was still better than the alternative.

With a very reluctant sigh, she signed it with a drop of blood, and Liliana did the same with hers. Both contracts burst into flames and disappeared without burning their hands.

"Excellent." smiled Noah, taking from his inventory his smartphone.

"Aren't you a Spirit? How can you have a smartphone when you just entered our world?" asked Erica.

"It is true that I just entered your world, but I never claimed to be a Spirit. That is a label you put on me. If you want to be technical about it, it would be correct to call me a Demi-God, and the Champion and Representative of a Goddess."

"A Demi-God?" blinked Liliana.

"Yes." nodded Noah. "Do you think someone can be born with those looks? My Goddess improved me to some extent when I agreed to become her Champion. Anyway, I want you girls to exchange phone numbers with me. I have something to do in the city, and then I will call you and require you to come live with me."

"Do you already have a place to live in?" asked Erica.

"My Goddess made some arrangements." shrugged Noah as Liliana and Erica reluctantly took their phones and added him as a contact.

"See you soon. We'll have a long talk next time we meet, and I expect you to tell me about this world, Spirits and Legatus Legionis, and more." smiled Noah, jumping from the rooftop. Using promise, he could see Erica and Liliana approach the ledge and watch him land unscathed. He then used Shunpo a few times to return to his initial emergence location and scanned carefully his surroundings using Promise.

The city really had been evacuated, and he would have to ask the girls about it. In the original Date A live fiction, the emergence of Spirits was preceded by something called a spacequake, a huge detonation that essentially flattened several city blocks around the Spirit's entry point.

Evacuating would make sense if this happened here as well, but when he had set foot in this world, there had been no damage.

He had scanned thousands of apartments and houses when he found a large villa that still had a living person inside, a young woman. And…

"Wow…" breathed Noah. Despite the sickly pale skin tone, the overly thin arms, and the hair sticky with old sweat, this girl was a great beauty, easily able to compare with Asuna, Akeno or Rias. She had long, straight black hair reaching the small of her back and clear light blue eyes.

The girl was sitting near the window of her room, watching outside with a peaceful expression as she listened to some music.

Noah walked toward the villa as he examined it in more detail. The villa wasn't exactly clean or tidy, and it looked like the girl had been alone for some time. From the amount of dust in the rooms, it seemed that someone, presumably the girl, had given up on keeping all of the house clean, instead focusing on the kitchen and the girl's room and bathroom.

On the way, another squad from the AST found him, but word seemed to have spread as they kept their distance for a minute, then retreated.

Noah reached the villa, a white, three-stories building created with elegance and comfort in mind over avant-gardism, was in the middle of a nice patch of land, although signs of abandonment were clear with the overgrown grass and the moss starting to creep up the white walls.

Noah pressed the buzzer, making the girl on the opposite side of the villa flinch in surprise. She tried to stand, but didn't manage it.

After several more attempts, the girl sighed and remained sitting.

Noah shrugged, and jumped over the garden wall. He walked around the garden to come into the the girl's field of view.

"Hi there." smiled Noah with a friendly wave of the hand. "I sort of invited myself in. I hope you do not mind too much."

The girl looked at him with a fearful expression.

"If you are here to rob me, you are at the wrong place. I am a carrier of the isrock virus. If you want to live, please leave immediately."

"I am not here to take from you." smiled Noah as he saw the concern in the girl's eyes. Stranger or not, potential robber or not, she was honestly concerned about his wellbeing. "Rather, I am here to help you."

Creating footholds of light, Noah slowly climbed toward the window.

"I do not know what this isrock virus is, but I am immune to just about anything. And I can help you."

"…Who are you?" asked the girl in wonder, staring at his feet standing on floating bricks of translucent yellow material.

"I am Noah Enfield. It is nice to meet you, miss?"

"Ling Shuiruo." nodded the girl. "How can you not know about the isrock virus? It is the most terrifying disease that ever existed!"

"I am a newcomer to this world. Some people called me a Spirit, although they aren't quite correct about it. Now, I know that I intruded on your garden without your permission, but can you give me permission to enter?"

Shuiruo thought about his scandalously bold request for a few seconds. Her instincts were telling her this strange young man wasn't a bad person, and she was only days or weeks away from death anyway. She didn't exactly risk much.

And she somehow didn't want this man to leave. She had been alone for a long time, and the loneliness weighted heavily on her.

"A Spirit… If you are so confident you won't get infected, you can enter." nodded Shuiruo.

"Thank you." nodded Noah, contorting himself to enter through the window and land in front of her.

"Would you give me your hand, miss Shuiruo?" asked Noah, extending his right hand. "I have many special abilities, and some of them are related to healing."

"Even the world's greatest scientists have yet to find a cure for the isrock virus. But my life is nearly over anyway, so as long as it isn't going to be painful…"

"It won't be, I promise." smiled Noah.

"Shuiruo tentatively extended her right hand, gaunt due to the disease, and Noah took it gently.

"What does this isrock virus even do, actually?" asked Noah, more to nurture the conversation than because he needed it. While using Greater Healing on Shuiruo, he saw exactly what the virus did to her body. It decimated her immune system like the AIDS virus, but also deregulated the body's balance on a cellular level and forced the cells to replace themselves far faster than normal, thus draining Shuiruo's vitality.

"No carrier of the isrock virus ever lasted more than five years." sighed Shuiruo with a sad expression, unaware that Noah was already at work, Purging the virus and restoring her vitality. "My father was a doctor. He eventually became infected by one of his patients, and when he realized, it was already too late. My mother and I had become carriers as well."

"Being a doctor is a great calling." nodded Noah with sympathy. "It is tragic that their desire to help other people put them and their relatives at much higher risk."

"Yes." nodded Shuiruo. Her skin was already looking healthier, but she hadn't realized it yet.

"I assume they both passed away?"

"My father last year, and my mother six months ago… I will soon join them."

"I bet you will, but maybe not in the way you think." smiled Noah. All he had to do now was restore her muscles to how they were before, and she would be perfectly healthy.

"What do you mean by that?" frowned Shuiruo.

"I will tell you later." winked Noah. "Can you take a good look at your hands, Shuiruo?"

"Why? Is something… eh?"

Shuiruo couldn't believe her eyes. Her hands were looking much healthier already.

"I told you that you wouldn't feel any pain." grinned Noah. "Give me another twenty or thirty seconds to finish, Shuiruo, and then you can try standing from your chair."

"…It's a miracle." breathed Shuiruo in wonder. Now that she paid attention to her body, she was already feeling much better.

"Yep, your own personal miracle, delivered right to your doorstep. I dare hope for a five-stars review." winked Noah, and Shuiruo giggled.

Noah could feel warm spreading from his spine at the sight. Now that she was healthy, Shuiruo was unbearably cute, and she tickled his protective instincts.

"Alright, this is done." nodded Noah a few seconds later, getting up from his crouch. He offered his hand to help her up, and she took it, more for reassurance than because she needed it. She almost immediately walked to the bathroom and its full-length mirror, and stared.

For long seconds, she didn't move.

Then she broke into sobs. Noah put an arm around her shoulders, and she cried against his chest.

Noah didn't say anything and simply patted her head for a while, before offering her a tissue. When she recovered control of her nerves, Shuiruo stepped away, embarrassed.

"Thank you, Noah. You saved my life. If there anything I…"

Shuiruo caught sight of a strand of her hair, oily and sticky. As she touched it, and remembered that he had just patted her, her face displayed a horrified expression.

"Please wait for me downstairs, in the kitchen! I need a shower. This… this isn't me!"

"It's alright, I understand." nodded Noah, already leaving the room.

Once in the kitchen, he busied himself with cooking something. It had been a long time since he had the opportunity to prepare food the hard way, and he was starting to miss it.

When Shuiruo, now squeaky clean and groomed and dressed as if for a date, came down the stairs, Noah was almost done prepping a full course meal for two.

"I used your stuff. I hope you won't mind." smiled Noah.

"Not at all. It smells heavenly." smiled Shuiruo. Her smile grew further as she saw the food Noah had already made, plated as if in a high-end restaurant.

"Say, Noah." hesitated Shuiruo as Noah was stirring the content of a pan. "You said you are a newcomer to this world, but not a Spirit. Does that mean you have nowhere to go?"

"That is correct. I am a homeless bum right now." chuckled Noah.

"Then, how about you live here?" hopefully asked Shuiruo. "This villa is too big for just me, and I could really use some company. Besides, I want to repay you for everything you did for me."

Noah nodded and stopped the induction stove.

"Shuiruo, if you still wish to offer me hospitality after what I am going to tell you, I will gladly accept your offer."

"What is it?" asked Shuiruo.

"Shortly before I met you, I was jumped by two female magicians, young women who wanted to put a steel collar on me and enslave me."

"Campione candidates." nodded Shuiruo in understanding. "You killed them, and you are worried that I wouldn't want a murderer under my roof, is that it? I don't care. You acted in self-defense. I'm not worried about my own safety either. You gave me my life back."

"I am glad you have such an opinion of me, but I didn't kill or even injure anyone today. Not even the members of the AST who tried to kill me." snorted Noah, putting the content of the pan into the plates, then taking the plates to the table.

"No. At the risk of lowering said opinion, I must confess to being a bit of a pervert. More than just a bit, really. And I decided that since they tried to enslave me, and they were both beautiful and interesting, a fitting punishment would be for them to become my slaves, instead. I forced them to sign a five-years magic contract, although I will give them a chance to reduce their sentence to just one year if they only participate in a certain game. A game I intend for them to win, even if I won't make it easy for them."

"So you are basically telling me that you are a man." said Shuiruo with a deadpan expression. "Thank you for telling me, I wouldn't have guessed. But you are going to let them off the hook after only a year? You are being lenient."

"Am I?" grinned Noah. "There's two reasons for this. The first is that the game will be intense. All they need to win is to remain determined, but the game is themed around the BDSM lifestyle, so they will have to endure plenty of embarrassment. So, I need to present them with a reward attractive enough for them to agree to play in the first place, and to want to keep going when things get hard. And while I could force them to, that just wouldn't be fun and it would make the game meaningless."

"As for the second reason, it's pretty simple. If after a year, they haven't fallen in love with me and want to sign a permanent slave contract, there is no point in keeping them any longer, and I'll let them go."

"And why do I get the feeling that this isn't your first time doing something like this?" asked Shuiruo with squinted eyes before taking a bite of her food. "Wow, this is tasty!"

"Thank you." smiled Noah. "And yes, I have some experience doing such things. I may be homeless in this world, but my main home is a huge palace, and let us just say that I am not lacking company. But back to your kind offer. Are you still willing to offer me hospitality, knowing that it would mean those two Campione candidates moving in as well, and that playing the game I have in mind would likely involve them wearing kinky outfits at some point? I promise you that they will do their shares of the chores. I will, too."

Shuiruo nodded instantly.

"As I said before, I could use some company. As long as they clean up after themselves and are decent people."

"…You really are a great girl, Shuiruo. I am glad that my Goddess arranged for us to meet." smiled Noah.

"I am certainly glad that she did, too, for obvious reasons." grinned Shuiruo.

"Shuiruo, how is your financial situation? I can help in that regard. I can sell any amount of gold or precious gems to a pawnshop or a bank and get a lot of money with little effort, thanks to my abilities."

"My finances are, not great." admitted Shuiruo. "I have enough to last maybe another two years. I'll need to find work, but the sickness made me drop out of college, and this villa isn't cheap to maintain. Even if I find a job quickly, entry-level wages are going to be an issue…"

"Say no more." smiled Noah. "Give me at most one month to find some banks and pass their scrutiny process, and I promise you, money won't ever be an issue for you again."

"It sounds like I am going to benefit more and more, just to let you live with me. I'll start feeling like I am using you."

"It won't require too much effort from me, and consider it a bonus for tolerating my quirks, Shuiruo." shrugged Noah. "Can you give me your address? I'll send a message to those two."

Shuiruo nodded, and it only took a few moments for Noah to send a message to Erica and Liliana.

…

"Is it this house, Erica-sama?" asked Arianna as she parked her car down the street.

"That's the address he gave us." sighed Erica, not wanting to meet that guy again so fast. But the slave contract didn't give her a choice. They both left the vehicle, and Arianna got busy unloading the many suitcases from the trunk. Most of them held Erica's belongings.

"I am very curious to meet the man who managed to get the better of you, Erica-sama. I wonder if he will treat me well?"

"You may be my personal maid, but you aren't part of the contract he forced on me, Arianna. If he tries anything indecent with you, I'll do whatever it takes to protect you, even if it means sending you back to Italy." firmly said Erica.

Arianna nodded, and turned her head when she saw another car approach, a blue one. Since the evacuation order hadn't been lifted, the identity of the car's occupants was obvious. Liliana and her personal maid, Karen. They parked just behind them.

"Greetings, Arianna, Erica-sama." said Karen with a short bow.

"So you decided to follow Lily, Karen." nodded Erica. "Did she tell you about the… circumstances?"

Her words caused Liliana to blush at the reminder.

"She did, Erica-sama. But a good maid should follow her master through thick and thin. I at least can watch her embarrassing mom… Ahem, I mean offer her moral support. And I am so curious about this gentleman."

"Did you just say something?" asked Liliana, blinking. She had been watching the villa, and she thought she had misheard something.

"I was assuring Erica-sama about my loyalty to you, Liliana-sama." smiled Karen, opening the trunk of her car. And putting a camera in one of her uniform's pockets. "I will try to accompany you in your ordeal as much as possible."

"I see." sighed Liliana, thinking that the events earlier must have made her paranoid.

"Let's get this over with as quickly as we can." sighed Erica as she pressed the buzzer.

Seconds later, the door opened, and Noah appeared. He walked to them, smiling, and opened the door.

"Welcome to the Ling Residence, ladies. My home for the foreseeable future. I wasn't expecting a pair of maids to accompany you."

"It is natural for a Knight to have an attendant by their side to deal with house maintenance. This is Arianna, my maid."

"A pleasure to meet you." said Arianna with a perfect bow. "I am Arianna Hayama Arialdi, Erica-sama's personal maid. Please treat me well."

"It is nice to meet you." smiled Noah with a nod. "I am Noah Enfield."

"And I am Karen Jankulovski." said Karen with another bow. "Liliana-sama's maid. Please do not be too harsh with my Master."

"I am happy to meet you as well, Karen-san." nodded Noah. "Please come in. We're almost done tidying up the place. The interior, anyway."

"Did you seize an empty house, just like that?" frowned Erica with another look at the villa. "At least, you have good tastes, but the owners aren't going to be happy. The yard is unkept. Was it already abandoned before the evacuation order was issued?"

"I got permission to live here by the owner. She's inside. Let me deal with your luggage."

Before Erica could say anything, Noah touched each of her suitcases, and they disappeared.

"…You better not have destroyed my things, Noah." warned Erica.

"I stored them away, and will put them back once inside." shrugged Noah as he did the same stunt with the suitcases from Liliana's car.