The Price of Loyalty

Saranya stretched, letting out a weary groan.

She lay sprawled across the table, her body aching, surrounded by stacks of personnel rosters, letters, and promotional flyers from various guilds.

The Redwater Tavern’s situation was far from ideal.

Grimm had been sentenced to decapitation, and with the head of the Redwater Gang fallen, its higher-ups had scattered like frightened monkeys. The Church was quietly purging anyone associated with the former boss, so, logically, the remaining underlings should have obediently pledged their loyalty to her and Kaelan.

In reality, many gang members had fled. Saranya had spent an entire week trying to rally them, ultimately managing to bring back fewer than twenty men, led by a bald, burly man named Haru, who became their new sub-leader.

Saranya promised Haru double wages and unlimited food and drink if he and his brothers could maintain the business, a pledge that barely stabilized the tavern’s core operations.

It was stable, but not entirely so. The gang couldn’t recruit new members quickly, and their current numbers were far too few to command respect. This would inevitably lead to a reduction in protection money. Moreover, many merchants and establishments that had previously ‘voluntarily’ purchased their liquor would surely stop placing orders now that the Redwater Gang’s power had waned.

With business shrinking and orders decreasing, profits would dwindle, necessitating a reduction in inventory. This, in turn, would displease both suppliers and delivery personnel.

One couldn’t forget that the Redwater Tavern’s goods arrived by sea, sourced from Dragon’s Ridge Isle in the distant ocean. The guild responsible for shipping, known as the Bloodsail Alliance, operated in an era where the seas were far from peaceful. If the tavern’s demand decreased, they might reassess the route, deeming the shipping risks too high to justify stopping at Dragon’s Ridge Isle, and consequently refuse to transport goods for the tavern.

This was proving to be a formidable challenge.

Managing a gang’s enterprise certainly wasn’t just about violence and intimidation; to simply call it ‘human relations’ would be too vague. It was, rather, an extraordinarily profound art.

“How could so many have left? This isn’t normal at all…”

Saranya wailed, her upper body rolling back and forth across the tabletop.

Kaelan, perched on the table, softly chanted a spell, summoning two glasses of golden mead from behind the bar.

“There’s a new boss now. It’s quite normal for some of them not to want to follow us, isn’t it?”

Saranya lifted the pristine porcelain cup to her lips and took a sip. The sweet and sour taste of the mead from her mistress made her lips curl upwards involuntarily.

“Gangs depend on their enterprises. Most grunts only care about money and profit; they don’t care who the boss is. So, no, this isn’t normal at all. The only explanation is that someone is poaching our people…”

Kaelan nodded, acknowledging the validity of Saranya’s point.

“Well, if we have no leads, we’ll just have to hire people from outside.”

“Outsiders… randomly recruited hooligans won’t be effective. I’ve already looked at the usual thug groups; the cost-effective ones are all in high demand, and there aren’t many suitable options.”

“What about proper mercenaries?”

“That would be overkill, and they’re too expensive… I know you’re very wealthy, Mistress, but we can’t just squander it away. If we keep spending more than we earn, we’ll eventually run ourselves dry…”

Having come from poverty, Saranya instinctively favored conservative actions, hesitant to undertake any venture requiring substantial investment.

“Money is not an issue. If it’s not enough, I’ll just find another single, wealthy old man—”

Kaelan was prepared to resort to her old trick of ‘inheriting’ a widower’s fortune, a minor feat for a witch. Saranya had long been aware of Kaelan’s methods.

This time, however, was different. When Kaelan mentioned marriage, Saranya felt a violent pang in her heart.

“…No.”

“You know I’ve done this before. I’ll check if there are any wealthy merchants in the city who are both single and childless…”

“No, I’ll think of other ways. You are not to do that again.”

“Huh?”

Hearing Saranya utter the words “not to,” Kaelan’s eyebrows rose in displeasure, her voice turning frigid.

“Mind your place. I may listen to your suggestions, but it is not your place to command me. I will do as I please!”

*Snap.*

Saranya crushed the porcelain cup in her hand. Dark red beads of blood seeped from her palm, rolling along the table’s edge and onto the wooden floor. She bowed her head, her gaze vacant as she stared at the shards embedded in her injured hand.

In her mind, she pictured Kaelan, her beautiful face lifted, smiling sweetly, mingling among a group of old men. She could almost see their lecherous grins, and Kaelan… Kaelan would offer her smiles and tenderness, the very rewards Saranya worked so hard to earn through her daily obedience and painstaking efforts, freely to those unfamiliar, repulsive old geezers?

“No! Absolutely not!”

An inexplicable surge of fury rushed to Saranya’s head. Her face clouded with gloom, and her bloodied fist slammed down on the tabletop, rattling the rosters and letters.

‘All the beautiful things about Mistress… they should belong only to me…’

Kaelan froze for a moment, clearly startled by Saranya’s sudden emotional outburst.

Once ignited, a terrifying blaze of jealousy raged uncontrollably within her heart. Saranya’s mind became a chaotic mess, and as she tried to issue various prohibitions to her mistress, the words transformed into a hysterical roar:

“You don’t need to worry about money!”

“I’ll handle the gang affairs! I’ll negotiate the business!”

“You are not to meddle in the tavern’s business!”

“And you are not to come into contact with those rotten scoundrels below! You have no idea how filthy and dangerous they are!!”

“I’ll protect… I won’t let you… H-huh… H-huh…”

Saranya’s throat tightened, feeling a sudden lack of oxygen. She stared intently at Kaelan’s slightly narrowed pupils, struggling to take deep, ragged breaths.

Across from her, Kaelan’s expression remained indifferent. She said nothing, only casting a meaningful glance at Saranya, quietly observing her outburst.

Once Saranya had exhausted herself, her emotions began to calm, and she slowly recovered. It was then that she finally understood the meaning in her mistress’s gaze:

“I’ve been too lenient with you. It seems you’ve grown lovesick.”

Kaelan maintained her seated posture on the table, her back straight, and looked down at Saranya with an expression that seemed ready to devour her.

Saranya blinked her large, watery eyes, slowly rising from her chair… then dropped directly to her knees.

“Hmph. You and Mejga truly are siblings, aren’t you? Even your fits of madness are identical.”

Saranya nodded timidly, not daring to refute.

“Mistress… I was too agitated. I am wrong, but I still believe you should listen to me…”

“Wrong?”

“Mistress, please, listen to me. I won’t disappoint you…”

“Hm, I’ll consider your request. However, let’s first discuss your upbringing. I recall when you last defied me like this, I instructed you on what to do if you were to make the same mistake again, didn’t I?”

Saranya, still kneeling, choked slightly. She brought her knees together, leaned forward, and inched her way towards her mistress, moving between her legs.

Thinking of what she was about to do, Saranya’s face flushed crimson, and she swallowed hard.

She gently embraced one of her mistress’s calves, her voice sweet and hushed, then murmured softly:

“Saranya was wrong… Saranya is an obedient little s*ave… Please, Mistress, punish me…”

Kaelan sighed, sweeping away the porcelain shards with her boot. She dabbed her boot in the spilled mead on the floor, then lifted the tip for Saranya to see.

“Begin.”

Saranya’s nose twitched, inhaling the sweet, boozy scent from her mistress’s boot.

“I’m sorry, it’s all Saranya’s fault for dirtying Mistress’s boot… Haaah~”

She leaned closer, her throat bobbing, and parted her lips, beginning to gently brush Kaelan’s boot with her small tongue…

****

At a certain moment, the tavern’s door, adorned with an “CLOSED” sign, was suddenly pushed open, and a bald, burly man rushed into the front hall in a frantic hurry.

It was Haru.

“This is bad! Lady Hillburg, where is Miss Haia? There’s an urgent business matter for her, it’s very important!”

Kaelan, still on the table with one leg crossed over the other, turned her body towards the door.

“Tell me. She’s not here~”

“It’s the Bloodsail Alliance! They just docked, saying they won’t unload our cargo unless we pay three times the freight cost!”

“That’s extortion. Don’t agree to it. It seems someone prematurely leaked the news of Grimm’s downfall to them, making them think I, the new boss, am a pushover…”

Kaelan propped her chin on her hand, shifting her legs beneath the table.

Haru, observing Kaelan’s somewhat awkward posture, reached up and scratched his scalp.

“What should we do then?”

“Go back immediately. Take your brothers and keep an eye on those scoundrels. Haia and I will be right behind you.”

Upon receiving the command, Haru turned and bolted out the door.

Kaelan pondered for a moment, then lifted the purple chain in her hand and nudged Saranya beneath the table with the tip of her boot.

“Did you hear what he said?”

“Nnn… ah…”

From beneath the table came the clinking sound of a collar. Saranya, her clothes disheveled, vaguely lifted her head. Her eyes were adorned with pink hearts, her tender tongue hung out, still dripping with saliva, which had already stained Kaelan’s entire boot a deep brown.

Kaelan reached for a glass of wine and slowly poured it over Saranya’s face.

“Come on. Let’s go to the docks first. We’ll finish the rest tonight.”

“Y-yes… yes~”