The Witch Tamer, Book 1

by Naosu N R

  "W-wait Jay. You better talk to your mom. Like, look at her! She clearly doesn't want to be here. What will happen if you do untie her. Did you think that through? And what if she starts screaming? You better get instructions first and think this through," Melanie said.

  Shit.

  What the hell am I supposed to do?

  "You have to be careful Jay," Melanie warned, her hand on my shoulder.

  Still...she isn't mad at me. I guess that parts good. Having the gorgeous Melanie mad at me would be difficult.

  But without years of socialization into our clan she would have freaked out probably, well except for the influence I have over her.

  I turned to the girl on the bed. "Hey there. Do you know where you are?" I asked.

  The girl shook her head nervously.

  She is very pretty. She's blonde like Melanie, or maybe a bit more so. And her breasts aren't as large, but her hair is a bit wavier and has a slightly more tan look than Mel also. Her face is gorgeous. She's a bit thinner, if that's even possible but not by much.

  And...it looks like she was brought with a leg less cotton leotard style backless and sleeveless outfit that resembles a one piece swimsuit.

  But then,...

  "Jay, I need to brief you on the girl in your room. Don't let her go, or there will be a mess," mom yelled from down the hall.

  Yeah...W.T.F.

  This totally proves it.

  My family is completely nuts. Insane. Evil.

  They are truly evil.

  This makes it really crazy...

  And who knows what they'd do if I rebelled. I have to endure while not giving in somehow, sort of like an insider spy type gig without revealing myself.

  "Um...I'm going to put my things away all right? You won't mind right?" Melanie said a bit nervously also.

  "S-sure," I said.

  Melanie is putting away her things.

  "Do you need some water?" I asked the tied up captive on the bed.

  She shook her head no.

  "Do you know how you got here?" I asked the pretty girl.

  She sort of growled.

  "Are you cold?" I asked.

  More growling.

  Damn it.

  What the hell were my parents thinking.

  Demon lord clan people are weird honestly. This is why I'm always in my room alone avoiding the others. I've felt like a prisoner in a castle growing up because I can never get them to be normal. But I have to also hide the fact that I'm normal from them.

  I ended up pacing the room while worrying.

  After a few minutes mom came in the room.

  "Mom, what the hell?! You took some girl and just thought it would be OK? My gosh! People are going to be looking for her! She's scared too! How am I supposed to even trust her? And what am I going to do with her?! And she hates me already, because of what you did. You can't be doing this!" I yelled.

  Mom listened for a bit and then folded her arms standing in the doorway of my room. "Listen you little piece of crap son. You think we wanted to do this?! We were forced too, because that slut over there," she's pointing at Melanie, who is blushing,"double teamed you with her two sisters against us and want to take over our spot ruling the family clan. That would mean your father and I lose our high ranking officer spots potentially or get put below someone if we let that slide, and Melanie's mom would take our spot! its not our fault! We couldn't let you be brought over to her side! So if anything this is your fault. We had to prevent you from going over to their side! And we hadn't gotten you a good coming of age expensive gift like your brothers yet. Why do you think we bought all your brothers really expensive toys?! Its because there's more than one faction in the clan trying to rule it! Don't you get it? We have to build our power and loyalty base and cement loyalty of our followers! And we would stop at nothing also to make sure you don't join the other faction. Believe me, getting you a pretty girl for this is really the least troubling option we could have pulled. Do you think we wanted to do that, to just be pushed out of ruling the clan? It was so they wouldn't leave us and join the other side's faction!"

  I was a bit stunned hearing it, not sure what to say. But then Melanie jumped in.

  "In this case, your mom's right. All the other demon lord factions in the clan are doing the same thing. Its a competition to gain followers with all kinds of resources and big gifts. Actually what they did was kind of cheap compared to how bad the damage could have been," Melanie said.

  "Wow. Thank you!" mom said surprised that she had backup.

  "What do you mean?" I asked Melanie, surprised that she's with mom on this.

  "Well...its not my place to say it," Melanie glanced at mom.

  "Go on you can, just this once," mom told her.

  "Well don't get me wrong. I'm not endorsing this. But my mom told me in the past, some demon lords gave powerful mages whole villages of people to win them over to the cause with villages to rule over, and land also. They pretty much owned it all. It was kind of like being given a fiefdom and manor even except in the clan system they'd own the people in the village also. So this much is nothing," Melanie said.

  "How can that be?" I asked.

  "Well when the hero tribe forced us to flee the other world, we weren't able to fully duplicate that process in this world because we had to rebuild. And by then the culture had changed a lot," mom sighed sadly.

  "Let me explain it to you simply. Its like wherever the top of the world is and where all the decisions are being made in any world, or faction, there's pressure for decision making to be done a certain way. The more citizens and people a world or faction or country controls then the more people who are trying to influence decision making a certain way. That's way the stakes go up. And when the stakes go up, so do the bribes and handouts. To maintain control of the clan, we have to be giving gifts and benefits to those supporting us; which means you, your brothers, and others; those that have real magitek powers and skills, and key job classes even," Mom said.

  "In the old days before coming to this world, grandma said giving wyverns as pets was popular too. Or nice castles or like a county of land when we lived in the other world. But when we got to this world our ancestors' mana diminished a bit. And we have to be more secretive on this world and not out in the open also," Melanie told me.

  Jeez...

  Wow...

  "And you're OK with talking about this while she's hearing this?" I said nodding at the captive girl on the bed.

  Melanie gave me an apologetic smile.

  "If she knew how well off we are she might have been tempted to do it on her own actually. This is a good life, if you join us you'll be wealthy beyond your dreams and have everything you want. Who wouldn't want that?" mom shrugged.

  I glanced over.

  The girl on the bed is a bit more quiet hearing this.

  "Mom! She didn't agree to this," I said. "What am I supposed to do with her?!"

  "You should be happy we brought her for you. Hear that girl? Happy!" mom said in loud tones. "Your parents owed tons of money to a debtor. And we just bought the rights to repossess her. The other highest bidder was too a brothel," Mom added.

  The captive very pretty girl on the bed trembled a bit I think. (Its hard to know what they think.)

  I still don't like this...

  "Wait you said you bought her? Not kidnapped her?" I said.

  I realized that I'd misunderstood a lot.

  "Yeah. We bought her. We didn't kidnap her. We thought you'd have a hard time with it if we did," mom told me.

  "Oh..." I feel embarrassed that I'd misinterpreted this.

  In other worlds it is common to buy a wife. And I had read this.

  "OK, first a few ground rules. Don't break them. If you do, we may have to make her disappear. So don't screw this up," mom said.

  "OK..." I started listening.

  Near me, Melanie has sat down in the chair for my desk, clearly also interested.

  "First, you can't let her g
o. If you do, we'll have to do a smack down on both her and her parents. People might even die then. Also, the feds have been trying to catch our family for over ten years, Jay. So you have to be super careful. You can't even let her out of the house," Mom said.

  "OK..." I was shaking my head.

  "We bought her off the black market also. We didn't kidnap her. Someone else put her up for sale anyway, so don't look at me like that. This makes it better also since you can give her a kind home. The family's debt was 99,000 USD. Her parents had planned to sell her all along to cover their debts. So actually blame them. It was even their idea. It was also emphasized by the fact that they have to pay now because both parents also had other credit card debts not including that number, high interest, and both had just lost their jobs in the underworld. They were working as some kind of Murim casino workers, but their skill just wasn't up to par. And then they had a bit of tragic bad luck all hitting them at once," Mom explained. "This girl has a nice well built super sexy adult body. Great face. It was going to go to waste at a brothel. I figured I'd just give her to you instead. And that would also solve our problem with Melanie's sisters and family trying to get their claws into you."

  "Wow," Melanie said.

  But she shut up when mom glared at her.

  The girl in question isn't looking at us, like she's afraid of mom. But she has softened a bit again, around the time she heard her own parents were the instigators in this, and that she'd almost gone to a brothel.

  "But...isn't selling people illegal?" I asked mom.

  "In the murim world all kinds of stuff happens that people wouldn't like. That's why we want to go back to our own world someday and reconquer it. To do that you need strength, power, weapons, an army, and people. Besides its more important how you treat her. If you treat her like animal or a treasure, which will it be," mom told me.

  "So if we're the demon lord clan, do you do this kind of stuff a lot?" I asked mom.

  She shook her head. "Most of our transactions on this world involve money. Its just easier that way. But we have a few... problems...because the other world had...has different rules than this one. In that world, the murim world, slavery happens to non-humans all the time. We're still trying to build We were stuck between both worlds system, and can't just throw away our strength you understand. And if we change too much we won't be the demon lord clan."

  "So why haven't you gone back there to that other world? I know you and dad are powerful. If you really wanted to you could. It sounds like you all want to," I asked.

  Mom's usually bitchy exteriors softened a bit. And it appeared her mood softened. "Well that's nice that you believe in us. We do want go back there. But your father says we're not strong enough yet. There's still a hero tribe faction there. And there's some kind of strength differences that happen between stats on that world and this one also that take time to get used to. Anyway, you need to start visiting the dungeon soon. And you can't take Melanie with you. She has to stay here," mom said.

  (So Earth is a lower rank planet or something? It sounds like she's implying people from Earth going to that world would have serious disadvantages or something.)

  (And how much can people over there still talk to people over here? She won't tell me a big secret like that I'm sure.)

  "Why not?" I asked.

  I glanced at Melanie.

  She looks very embarrassed. "I-I'm s-sort of a non-combat job. So I can't help you directly while you level up. You need to build a party and assemble other warriors and fighters," Melanie added nervously. (And now I can see why. In a demon lord clan people would give you a lot of trouble if you can't fight. And it would be worse if you had other issues.)

  "But you're an amplifier right?" I asked her.

  "That's right. She is. And she's pretty good also. But her system is a bit different than a buffer. So she doesn't go in dungeons. And the clan also doesn't let her because she's too valuable to lose. That's also why her mom and her sisters are going to be really, really pissed off that you brought her here. It could even lead to a real fight," Mom glared at me.

  "Sorry."

  An amplifier sounds really good.

  She explained it a bit further. The idea is its a super buff. But she only has that one skill not other skills. So it leaves her more vulnerable. And this isn't why she's been an active adventurer.

  "Heh, don't be. Actually its pretty bad ass, son. Melanie is a core power unit in their family. So it will give us a bit more of an upper hand. But it will make it so you can't meet with Sue alone again, as she'll be very angry about it. She might actually try to kill you to get Melanie back. But not to care for her, but just so she has more pawns and game pieces in her hand, you see," mom warned.

  "That's twisted," I said trying to get it.

  And another danger for me to avoid among many.

  "S-she's kind of right Jay. When we tried to get you before we were tricking your parents and thought we'd win you to outside if my sisters all helped me take you. I'm sorry," Melanie said.

  "What the hell? When did she get so honest?" Mom said looking at Mel.

  I shrugged.

  I'd had a few hints how weird my family was...

  But these new details are shocking and way deeper than I thought the trouble went.

  "This is really weird. Anyway, you two be careful. As I was saying. There's a fed surveillance van outside the house that's been trying to record us. They can't of course because this house has anti-spying enchants. But if you were to take little miss muffin there on the bed outside it could be a problem," mom said.

  "If there was a loophole why did you..." I started to say.

  "And lose the best potential enchanter build we'd had in a hundred years? I don't think so," mom said. She turned as if to go. "You can take the gag out of her mouth. But I don't suggest you take the blindfold off until your father comes home. And don't untie her yet. He's going to have your room equipped with a silver enchanted binding chain to prevent her here, so she can't run away. Also, don't let her ask to be let free or I'll have to put her down. And I will."

  Mom then slammed the door as she left, somewhat mad at me.

  "Wow. Your mom is really intense. I thought mine was intense. But yours. Jeez, how did you even survive childhood? If I'd known she was like that, I would have told mom years ago to let your family be the top and in charge and not to mess with her," Melanie said.

  The girl on the bed is still just listening. But she's less frightened now. (I think?)

  "Sorry. I know my parents are terrible. But there's nothing I can do about it," I patted her back.

  I undid her gag but she's probably pretty mad at us still. She won't talk, and I'm just glad she's not screaming or yelling. But after undoing the gag, i can see that it looks like mom has slapped her a few times.

  "Melanie, can you go to the kitchen and get me an ice pack for her shoulder and back?" I asked.

  "Sure!" Melanie happily jumped up to do so.

  "I'm sorry," I told the silent captive girl.

  She still won't answer but that's expected.

  ...

  Some time passed with the 3 of us in my room.

  By now its almost 3:30 PM.

  I let Melanie get used to the room. But I noticed she doesn't like to leave my side. (Seduce and charm mind control skills in effect.)

  I began practicing mana and skills.

  Status

  Name; Jay Williams

  Race; Type 349F human hybrid

  Magic job; Mind/Enchanter Mage

  Level; 5

  Health; 93/93

  Mana; 242/252

  Mana Regen; 11 (per hour)

  Health regen; 3 (per day)

  Element affinities; mind, enchantment

  Str; 31Agi; 34Con; 41

  Int; 91Wis; 81App; 97

  Skills; athletics (+1 con), jogging (+2 agi), math (+2 int), physics (+1 int), mana affinity (enabled)

  Magic skills; Seduce, Charm, Mesmerize, Enchant, Enhance<
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  Passive skills; demon lord clan heritage (bonus starting mana +50), demon lord heritage (mana +2 mana points per level)

  Unused stat points; 22 (Surplus XP detected, please allocate points!)

  "Do you know anything about stat builds?" I asked Melanie, ignoring the girl on the bed captive still. (I have to wait for her to get used to this new environment.)