When I woke up, Master was gone. I sat up and looked around frantically— had she suddenly abandoned me? She wouldn’t, would she? What could I do in this world alone, powerless, and looked down upon?

I saw a note on the table. “Went out to get some info. Be a good girl.” I wondered if she was going to one of my informants, or had some I didn’t know about, and sighed a little as I realized my tail was wagging from the "be a good girl" part. Some part of me really liked being a girl, huh? ...but was that my own mind, or…?

Well, not much point in worrying about it.

I got up and looked at my body in the full length mirror I had bought – surprisingly expensive, but I guess it was made of silver? I looked like Master… that is, Master’s old body in a negligee, smaller and softer and curvier than the one I was used to... although I had seldom seen her with such an uncertain look on her face, nor had I ever seen dried cum on her thighs. My hair was a bit messed up – which I had seen sometimes – so I searched around for the brush I bought for her, and finding it, brushed my hair until it looked all nice. I had brushed her hair before, but doing it myself with the mirror felt a bit different.

I then took a bath, flinching a little at the hot water against my pussy… I imagine it would’ve been a bit of a weird sensation even if Master hadn’t pounded it so hard last night. I didn’t know how I felt about that. I soaked for a while, letting my mind drift, and then focused on cleaning myself up, having to focus on my body again. I shouldn’t be so comfortable, stuck in a girl’s body, cute as it was.

I thought for a moment. Master went outside sometimes and things went fine, back when she was acting as my slave— I had given her blanket permission to defend herself if she needed to, but she never even got in fights. Therefore, I’d probably be fine going out too? Taking a walk in the park sounded nice.

I got out of the bath and dried myself off. My tail was harder to dry than I thought it would be, but nothing I couldn’t handle, and soon enough I had myself dressed up in the yellow sundress I had bought for Master, as well as a straw hat and sandals. I thought the dress looked cute, but she had never liked it much and it looked cute on her body... and besides, the last few days had been very sunny and warm, it was as much practical as anything else.

I searched through Master’s purse she had left behind for her key, and it was still there, and I was about to put it in my pocket, when I realize I didn’t have any. After a moment of hesitation, I took her purse, putting the key back in it, and headed out, locking the door behind me, tail wagging slightly. I wasn’t as trapped as I thought, and in fact, I could leave right now if I wanted to. I could think about that during the walk.

I had always liked walks, right? That wasn’t a dog thing? Or a Master-enchanting-me thing? I thought back about my past decisions, and remembered going on walks a lot of times— maybe it had been partially for Master’s sake, making sure she got enough exercise, but I looked forwards to them as well. Okay. That part, at least, was me. Probably.

Unless she edited my memory too, but that seems like a lot of trouble for wanting to go on walks.

I locked the door behind me as I stepped out of the room, and as I walked down past him, the tavernkeeper didn’t really pay attention to me— we had been at the tavern long enough that he recognized me on sight, I guess, and it’s not like I was footing the bill.

A few other patrons of the tavern were looking at me, though... either other people who stayed there, or people who were getting their early daydrinking on. It wasn’t the same way as they had looked at me as a Hero— their looks were all on the spectrum of “hey, a cute puppy” to “I am thinking about fucking her”, and I kept my eyes ahead of me… looking back at that would only encourage them. Blushing probably wasn’t helping, either, but I couldn’t do much about that.

I noticed one exception among the looks— one man was staring at me as if he hated me, but it wasn’t really like he was looking at me, just… past me. Or through me. I couldn’t really place him. Probably reminded me of some slave he hated, or maybe he hated slaves in general, so I just moved on after half-glancing on his direction… it didn’t seem like he was going to act on it, and hanging around would just make things worse.

I let out my breath as I stepped outside, relaxing a little… only to realize the looks weren’t that different out here, although at least the area was busy enough I got less of them. There wasn’t really any social rule at staring against a slave, unless they were with their master and it pissed their master off. Or totally ignoring them, either, as some people seemed to do as I started to walk… it was my job to get out of the way, not theirs.

I noticed a few other sorts of looks, from those with collars, other slaves like me… mostly animalfolk, but a few humans… or at least humans as far as I could tell... and a few rarer species. It wasn’t the same sorts of look, though. Something along the lines of respect? Or… they looked up to her. I’d seen the same look directed at the Hero, so… maybe they looked up to her as someone who was the Hero’s slave? She had done a lot to fight against evil and protect all people alongside me, after all.

I walked with a bit more pride in my step, although I still had to give way to most of the humans that were milling through the street as I headed towards the park. Having got there, though, I came across a man who was beating a girl, who was just taking it, slowly standing back up each time she fell over… he was tall, but the girl was actually a little taller than he was, and he was just whaling away on her. She had pointy little ears and a striped tail, so, a cat girl, or, maybe a tiger girl…? Yeah, looked like tiger, that explained the size. Of course, that meant she was wearing a collar, too.

I had self-righteously strode up closer and closer, before realizing that I didn’t actually have anything. The law wasn’t on my side, I wasn’t The Hero so I couldn’t social brute force my way through it, and I didn’t have strength, or even magic. I couldn’t defend her, I couldn’t even defend myself.

But I felt the eyes of several other slaves on me… they expected me to do something. I don’t know what, exactly, but maybe this was the reason for their respect.

What did it, though, was that the girl was trying to get up while he kicked her, now. She was whimpering softly.

I don’t know if it was empathy, the social expectation of the other slaves here, my own expectation of ‘chivalry’ from myself, getting used to jumping into combat from when I was strong, or what, but I found myself walking even closer, my mind half-turning off as my body became imbued with adrenaline.

His eyes flickered up to me, and he sneered, giving her one last kick in the stomach before turning his attention back to me. “Just teaching my property a little lesson. What, you wanna get hit?”

I walked up to him, and looked up into his eyes steadily, even though my body was trembling slightly. “Yes.”

“...what?” His callous smile dropped away into a somewhat confused look, as he stared at me, trying to figure out what my game was.

I was also desperately trying to figure this out.

Another slave-owner nearby, holding his dogboy with his face buried to his chest, spoke up to another human woman nearby: “Really, it is in poor taste to beat a slave on such a nice day, so… vigorously.“ In poor taste, right. Perfectly within his rights, of course, but maybe embarrassment would shame him. That was the sort of thinking around here.

I curtseyed towards the man with his reddened knuckles.

“If you teach her much further through that method, I believe she will fall unconscious— perhaps you could hit me instead?” I tried to keep my voice steady and calm, but I heard a subservient and scared girl.

The woman stared at me. “...wait, isn’t that the Hero’s slave?”

Now literally everyone was looking at me and him, and he glanced around uneasily. Suddenly, he threw a slap at my cheek— a strong one, and I wasn’t used to taking hits. I found myself lying on the ground, vision blurred as I tried to refocus.

“Thanks. Such a good girl, trying to be helpful.” He smirked down at me, glanced over to his slave on the ground, and gave her another kick, but a little one.

She climbed to her feet, lurching as she tried to get up quickly despite her wounds. He walked off without looking back, her trying to catch up to his side while hanging her head and slouching as she tried to look small despite clearly being larger than him.

...I had saved her life, just maybe, for a little while, but I hadn’t really changed anything… she might be beaten to death today somewhere slightly less public, and there was literally nothing I could do about it.

I stood up, and walked back home, my own head hanging a little. I hadn’t been so powerless since I was back in my world… and even there, things had never been so fucked up… well, in some places I heard about, sure, but not right up in my face.

I got home, and hid under the covers, feeling sorry for myself. Feeling angry at myself for feeling sorry for myself. Feeling exasperated at myself for feeling angry at myself for feeling sorry for myself, because it’s not like that’d change anything either.

...maybe Master could fix things. Maybe if I asked her, she could go rescue that girl.

“No.”

“...what?” I looked up at her in confusion.

“No.”

“...why not? It’s not like she did anything bad as far as I know… she was being so obedient even though he might have been killing her….”

“Even less reason to save her, then.”

“What the fuck!?” I glared up at her. She rolled her eyes and pulled me into her lap, seating me with my back to her, facing the window, and gesturing out through it at the town we could see through it.

“Look, Sasha. There are countless slaves suffering in this kingdom. If I spend time trying to rescue every single one, one at a time, do you think I’ll get anywhere?”

“...I guess not, but that doesn’t mean… you used to help people, didn’t you? When I wasn’t around?” She inhaled. Exhaled. Squeezed me a bit closer… tightly. I wasn’t sure if she was punishing me for speaking up, or trying to comfort herself and forgetting how strong she was, but I accidentally let out a little squeak as I tried to open my mouth to complain, and she giggled, releasing me and rubbing my belly.

“Yes, when that’s all I had the power to do, it was a good use of my time. Now that I have the power to end slavery, it’s a waste of my time.”

“...maybe having me around is a waste of your time.”

“True.” She paused, uncomfortably long.

...maybe I should haven’t have said that. I shifted uncomfortably, and opened my mouth, then closed it. What could I say now?

“But,” she continued, “it helps remind me of why I’m doing this. Do you want me to sell you?”

I shook my head vigorously. Better the devil I knew than the one I didn’t.

“So you want to be my slave.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You really should. Your only job is to make me happy. Of course, if you’d rather get sold….” Her voice was teasing, but I thought this was really mean, and my eyes teared up.

“...I want to be your slave, Master.” My voice was soft and sullen. We both knew I didn’t mean it, so I guess it didn’t really matter to say the words.

“Yes, that’s my good girl... so obedient...” Her voice flowed like honey in a way mine never had in that body, and she scritched behind my ears with both hands, which felt amazing. I leaned back against her big strong body and panted softly, relaxing.

“Now. I’m going to need to figure out what sort of self-defense I can give you that I can trust you with. Until then, you’re going to need to stay close to me, and stay out of trouble, okay? I know ‘be a good girl’ was kind of an indistinct command for an idiot like you, but you get that I didn’t want you to go out and get yourself slapped by some random guy in public, right? That could’ve gone much worse.” She laughed softly.

“Sorry, Master… kind of lost track of myself and just reacted.”

“Such a strong sense of justice you have sometimes… do I need to take you around on a leash all day, pet?” Her hand stroked the side of my neck, while her other hand moved up to pet my bruised cheek. I winced at the itching as it quickly healed, the swelling reducing... I could stay still when she did it now, but it was still pretty uncomfortable. But then, the pain was entirely gone. My hand raised to feel my smooth cheek…. smooth other than the scar Sasha had gained before I owned her, that is.

“...No, Master… I’ll be good.…”

“Mmm, yes… good girl….” She started playing with my breasts and I slowly relaxed again, letting out a soft sigh.

“You’re sore from yesterday, right? I guess I should let you rest up for tonight. Or maybe….”

Her hand slid down between my legs, touching me through the cloth, and I could feel my pussy itching horribly, which was not a sensation I was used to at all. I writhed and squirmed in her lap, whining, but then I was healed there, too, and I panted softly again.

“But you’ve had a rough day from your stupidity, haven’t you?” She put her fingers up against my lips. “Suck like you mean it, and I won’t fuck you hard today.”

I wrapped my lips around her fingers and sucked with everything I had as she slowly slid them in and out of my mouth, feeling her cock grow hard against my ass at my devotion to her fingers. I started to get wet too, anticipating her cock inside me… it’s a physical reaction, so it’s not like I could help it….

She pulled her fingers back out, wiping my saliva off her fingers and onto my face, and then laid back on the bed, with me on top of her, cuddling me close.

“Okay, I’ll fuck you hard another night, then… wonder if I can fuck you so hard you actually lose the ability to form words for a bit, rather than needing to use Mind Magic for it.” She yawned and closed her eyes, turning on her side and spooning me.

I furrowed my eyebrows, a bit annoyed she had gotten me all horny for nothing… but after last night, I was afraid to ask for more. Also...

“...wait, is that something you’re into, Master? You made me not talk last night, too….”

“...huh. I don’t know, maybe? Mostly, you’re just cuter when you’re obediently being fucked without complaint rather than whining all the time.” She kissed the back of my head. “I’m sure you’ll get to where my happiness is more important than your comfort, one day.” A little shiver ran through my body. I’m pretty sure that was fear, but... maybe a little arousal, too. Fuck.

This talk was making her all relaxed, but it was mostly just making me nervous. I fell silent, and so did she.

Soon she was snoring softly with her arms wrapped around me. Wait, had I been snoring the entire time, or was this a thing about her in my body specifically? ...I didn’t suppose I could really ask.

I closed my eyes, and did my best to fall asleep.