A Degenerate's Tale

Walking down to the kitchen, Earl was greeted by the sight of his two working slaves. Aria and Lily were standing on stools behind the kitchen counter as Aria taught Lily her first recipe. It was a very cute sight to see.

Aria was wearing her usual maid dress and Lily wore her backup dress. Because of the magic size adjusting runes on the backup dress, the fit on Lily was perfect despite her smaller form.

And despite how short the cut of the dress was, it looked more innocent than sexy on Lily. Earl blamed this on her curious bi-coloured eyes. Today would be his 2nd day as her owner.

Lily was like a blank paper because of her lack of memories. It made her the perfect slave to mould to his liking.

"Now you put this one next!" Aria taught Lily enthusiastically.

They were currently making french toast.

They did not look similar at all but at this moment, they looked like sisters. Aria had dark skin, silver hair and bright yellow eyes. On the other hand, Lily had snow-white skin, scarlet hair, and bi-coloured blue red eyes. Standing side by side, they very similar maid dresses with Lily being a little shorter than Aria.

The only things they shared was Earl, their master and the shape of their ears.

It was a curious thing Earl had come to notice. Most demihuman races possessed elven-like ears with the exception of beastkins.

The elves were beautiful and lived up to the tales sang by the bards. They had the longest pointed ears. The same could be said about dark elves, except that they were discriminated against for some reason.

Demons also had elven ears on top of their characteristic horn. Their looks varied and there was a whole range. Some were stunningly beautiful like his newly acquired slave, Lily. Some were more ugly than an orc.

Dwarves were another race with pointed ears. They were short and stubby with a distorted sense of beauty. Earl could only shake his head at their unculturedness. How could hairy, bearded ladies with muscly bodies be considered the epitome of beauty within their race?

"Good morning master!"

Earl was broken out of his thoughts when Aria noticed his arrival. Her smile this morning was lovely indeed.

Aria then looked to Lily and shook her shoulders softly. "Come on, greet our master."

Lily took a moment to comprehend what was going on. She faced Earl and said, "Good morning, master."

It was like watching someone recite off a line from a paper which was rather cute to see. If Earl did not know about her circumstances, he would've thought she was slow in the head.

He would have to get her up to speed later and have Aria fully brief her situation.

"Good morning, Aria." He nodded with a smile to his dark elf first before moving on to his demon. "Good morning, Lily."

He sat down by the dining table and watched Aria and Lily work until his mother came down. After having breakfast, it was time to go to the Royal Palace.

Outside the Magic Castle, the streets were bustling. Banners and flags of Ablax were raised up. It was a joyous occasion.

Inside the carriage, Lily held onto Aria's skirt and asked, pointing at one of the flags. "What's that?"

Aria looked to Earl for permission first. After receiving a nod, she quietly explained to Lily. "The 10th birthday of the first prince is coming up! It's a big deal to the Kingdom."

Lily nodded then asked curiously again. "Why is it a big deal?"

She was like a puppy as she asked with those big, red and blue eyes of hers.

"In Ablax, humans consider their 10th birthday to be a big one. It's usually accompanied by a big celebration, which is what we're seeing right now. On the actual day, we will be there with master!"

"Oh... Okay..." Lily nodded slowly.

Earl let out a quiet chuckle watching this from the side. Lily was an amnesiac. She did not care at all because of her lack of understanding. He also did not care because of his status as the son of a Court Mage and secretly, son of an Archmage. Whatever that happened to the first prince was of no concern to him.

"Also!" Aria continued to say quietly to Lily. "In the future, save these questions you have for me in the evening. It's not our place to start asking in front of our master."

"But what if I can't remember?" Lily retorted.

"..." Aria was speechless. "Write it down so you don't forget!"

"I don't know how to write..."

"...Okay. I'll teach you later, okay?"

"Okay!" Lily nodded quickly with a serious face.

Lily will be much easier to train than Aria. Because she did not know who she was before she became a slave, her identity as a slave was easily accepted. As such, she was totally open-minded to whatever Aria was teaching her. Lily saw the teachings of Aria as something she needed for her identity.

Everyone needed an identity. It was an instinctual craving. Even more so for someone like Lily who has none at all. Even though demihumans were not "human", the way they think and react fundamentally was no different than that of humans. For an old fox like Earl, this was clear as day to see.

Exiting the carriage, Aria opened the door for him as usual. His mother did not come along because she wanted to do her research at home.

Today, it was just Earl and his slave maids at the Royal Palace.