The Dialectic of Master and Slave - Chapter 235

Volumes 1-4 + Side Stories of DMS are available uncensored on ko-fi! ※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

By now, the mage was curious—what grudge did this woman hold against priests? The way her teeth clenched even in her dazed state suggested something far from ordinary. But treatment came first. Even a notoriously eccentric man like him understood that much.

“Then to the physician—”

“No. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“Even if I go, nothing will get better anyway.”

The mage considered reprimanding the irritated woman but stopped himself. Her eyes still hadn’t regained focus. Arguing with someone not in their right mind would only leave him with a sore mouth.

He crossed his arms and watched her. He had offered to take her to a healer, but she refused. Even if she died now, it wouldn’t be his fault. The ring bothered him somewhat, but he had done all he could.

Under his cold gaze, Jaha steadied her mind. Memories flooded back—her time as a slave, her visits to the Emperor and the temple, and everything that had happened there. The so-called Pope and High Priests had laid her on an altar under the guise of “healing” and done unspeakable things.

‘These filthy memories… I’d rather they never came back.’

After suffering skull-splitting pain, the memories she recovered were nothing but this? She wanted to rinse her brain under a shower.

Why was I brought to this shitty world not once, but twice? For what? What’s the point?

Jaha clutched at her mind, sinking endlessly into negativity.

But everything had its proper time and place. Self-pity could wait until she was alone somewhere safe.

The mage before her claimed to be the Emperor’s teacher.

The Ring of Abrixa that Rikanan had given her contained Lex’s magical energy.

Lex was the Emperor’s name.

Goosebumps rose on her forearm. She wanted to tear the ring off her finger and throw it away immediately. The thought of carrying something tied to the Emperor all this time without knowing made her skin crawl. Then, abruptly, she wondered—does this even make sense?

What were the odds that the owner of a random shop she wandered into just happened to be the Emperor’s teacher? Logically speaking, how likely was that?

‘I can’t trust everything this mage says.’

Because he wasn’t in his right mind. His claim of being the Emperor’s teacher might just be a delusion. A mage of that caliber wouldn’t be running a junk shop in a place like this to begin with.

‘But his skills are real.’

With a single gesture, he used spatial teleportation magic to forcibly eject the person from the shop. Even Jaha, as much of an outsider as she was, knew that such a feat was a realm permitted only to an extreme few among countless mages. Most could struggle their entire lives and never reach it.

Even if all that talk about the world being swapped was nonsense, there might still be some truth to his claim of being the Emperor’s teacher. After all, just because someone’s mind was unstable didn’t mean everything they said was lies. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Taking a steadying breath, Jaha clenched her eyes shut, then opened them again.

“You said you were the Emperor’s teacher.”

“Yeah. Well, since he’s no longer Emperor, strictly speaking, I’m the former Emperor’s teacher.”

Former Emperor.

The taut thread of her nerves, stretched to the point of snapping, loosened at those words as if it had all been a lie.

“So… the previous Emperor’s teacher?”

“I don’t even remember the current Emperor’s face.”

She had asked just to confirm, but his indifferent reply completely deflated her. It wasn’t particularly funny or amusing, yet a laugh burst out of her anyway—hah.

He’s not the Emperor.

I’m not tangled up with that man again!

Her fingers brushed over the ring on her right hand. The magic imbued within it wasn’t his either.

There’s no connection between that man and my life.

Well, strictly speaking, the former Emperor would have been the current one’s father, so there was some distant link. But there was also that theory that everyone in the world was connected by just six degrees of separation, so this much was negligible.

‘Speaking of which, if he was the former Emperor’s teacher… then this mage must be much older than he looks?’

He appeared no older than middle-aged, but he must be a well-preserved elder.

“You look so young, I thought you were in your fifties at most. But you’re actually a venerable senior, huh?”

Truthfully, he seemed mid-fifties, but in her good mood, she even threw in unnecessary flattery. Wasn’t it just social etiquette to shave a few years off? People knew it was empty praise, but they still liked it—such was human nature.

But the mage’s face twisted in outrage.

“What the hell? What kind of boneheaded nonsense is that? I’m forty-one this year!”