Magical Lotus - Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 4, Part 2

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Oh?"

>"They, um.... They..." She stops and sighs. "I'm sorry, I'm just not proud of this. They... Well there's no nice way to put it, they wanted to use me as a way to keep Patchouli under control."

[DracoOmega]

>"By... hypnotizing her? To be more... compliant?"

[Oldmansour]

>"By... hypnotizing her? To be more... compliant?"

>Looking pained, Reisen nods once.

[DracoOmega]

>"Did it... work? I mean, we both know she disregarded more than a few things her parents wished, but that doesn't mean it mightn't have been more flagrant."

[Oldmansour]

>"Did it... work? I mean, we both know she disregarded more than a few things her parents wished, but that doesn't mean it mightn't have been more flagrant."

>"She isn't immune to my power. But... I couldn't. I tried to keep her from experimenting with things that looked dangerous, but most of what I did was to get her to take care of herself. You know how she is, when she gets wrapped up in her work, she forgets to eat, forgets to sleep, and does a pretty good job at ignoring people that suggest either."

[DracoOmega]

>"So you never hypnotized her the way her parents asked you to? I... assume they don't realize this."

[Oldmansour]

>"So you never hypnotized her the way her parents asked you to? I... assume they don't realize this."

>"Technically, I did. I wanted to keep her safe, which is why I tried to keep her away from dangerous magics. But as for keeping her away from magics at all, that was impossible. My hypnosis isn't strong enough to change something so important to someone. I couldn't keep her away from studying magic any more than I could hypnotize you into being cruel to someone."

[DracoOmega]

>"But they expected you could, I gather."

[Oldmansour]

>"But they expected you could, I gather."

>"Yes. But they underestimated their daughter's passion. Or they overestimated my power, I'm not really sure which. If I had my old power, then I could probably have done what they wanted. Of course if I had my old power, then I wouldn't have."

[DracoOmega]

>"Looking back, I think... Patchouli knew something of this about you. Did you tell her yourself?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Looking back, I think... Patchouli knew something of this about you. Did you tell her yourself?"

>Reisen blinks. "No. No, I didn't, what did she say?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Not long after she became the Avatar of Water, she spoke of your eyes as 'magic'. I... don't think she was being poetic, either."

[Oldmansour]

>"Not long after she became the Avatar of Water, she spoke of your eyes as 'magic'. I... don't think she was being poetic, either."

>"She... knew?" the rabbit says quietly.

[DracoOmega]

>"She may have. It fits in context. She spoke of how her parents had used you as a tool to deny her her magic. Which I already knew, of course, but not that it was quite so... literal."

[Oldmansour]

>"She may have. It fits in context. She spoke of how her parents had used you as a tool to deny her her magic. Which I already knew, of course, but not that it was quite so... literal."

>"I never told her. I didn't want her to hate me for it."

[DracoOmega]

>"For what it's worth, she said she didn't blame you for it. That you hadn't had a choice in the matter."

[Oldmansour]

>"For what it's worth, she said she didn't blame you for it. That you hadn't had a choice in the matter."

>"She never said a word about it. All the time we were together, she never said a thing."

[DracoOmega]

>"Maybe she didn't want you to feel worse about it, given how little autonomy you had in the matter? And given the shame you do feel about it already."
>"What a dreadful thing for a parent to do; to try and literally brainwash their own daughter into obedience. As if I were not already sufficiently poorly-disposed towards them."

[Oldmansour]

>"Maybe she didn't want you to feel worse about it, given how little autonomy you had in the matter? And given the shame you do feel about it already."
>"What a dreadful thing for a parent to do; to try and literally brainwash their own daughter into obedience. As if I were not already sufficiently poorly-disposed towards them."

>"But I didn't... Did she know all along?" Reisen ponders, lost in her own thoughts. You're not even sure she hears your irritated thoughts on the senior Knowledges, at least not until she looks back up at you. "Are you... going to do something about it?" she asks carefully, quietly.

[DracoOmega]

>"About what specifically here?"

[Oldmansour]

>"About what specifically here?"

>"I don't know." Reisen says lamely. "About them, I guess."

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I'll see what they have to say about what happened here today, and what they might know. But I don't intend to mince words if they choose to be difficult."
>"When you said earlier that you couldn't be freed, is that because of some obligatory clause under which the Lunarian government allowed you to remain here?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Well, I'll see what they have to say about what happened here today, and what they might know. But I don't intend to mince words if they choose to be difficult."
>"When you said earlier that you couldn't be freed, is that because of some obligatory clause under which the Lunarian government allowed you to remain here?"

>"Essentially, yes. I could be executed on the moon, or a depowered slave here on earth. Those were the only two choices I was given. A life enslaved or a public death."

[DracoOmega]

>"But aren't you under our governmental jurisdiction now? Why wouldn't your owner be free to release you if they wished? Since obviously - no offense intended - you were able to be sold between masters."

[Oldmansour]

>"But aren't you under our governmental jurisdiction now? Why wouldn't your owner be free to release you if they wished? Since obviously - no offense intended - you were able to be sold between masters."

>"I.... I'm not really sure how that works. I never lived in Yamato before the Knowledges came here. I don't know how different the laws might be here."
>But you do know. In researching the laws of slavery when you took possession of Rin, you learned that while the government of Yamato does not formally endorse slavery, it does acknowledge the Oni's code when it comes to slaves. As a result, any slave who lives in Yamato is subject to the same laws as Rin is. Reisen's case may be an exception to the norm in a lot of ways, but as far as you know, so long as she lives in Yamato, and is owned by a resident of Yamato, she is held to the same code as Rin is.

>And as you think of Rin, and how helping her led you to this information, the kasha herself starts to stir in her bed.

[DracoOmega]

>And what impact would that have on her ability to be freed, assuming that she's not some bizarre exception to this code?
>Give Rin a moment to roust herself before we pounce on her

[Oldmansour]

>And what impact would that have on her ability to be freed, assuming that she's not some bizarre exception to this code?

>Any slave who serves the same owner for a period ten years automatically gains the option of being forever freed and can never again be made a slave by any other, or can be formally adopted by their owner and their family. If you understand the code correctly, Reisen would need to serve the same owner either in Yamato, or another country that has the same guidelines, to gain this choice.
>Unless there is a clause in her papers that explicitly forbids this, but if there was, you'd imagine Reisen would know about it, and thus would have mentioned.

>Give Rin a moment to roust herself before we pounce on her

>The kasha is slow to rise, and does so with a bit more groaning than you might have liked, but eventually her eyes flutter open, and she winces almost as soon as they do. "Agh, faith preserve us, my head." she mutters in Eire before you sweep her into your arms. "Mistress? Are ye alright?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm fine. Tired, but fine. Are you okay?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I'm fine. Tired, but fine. Are you okay?"

>"Bit of a headache." Rin admits. "And my shoulder aches where that beam hit me."