Polymath Redux

Chapter 9: Join them? No, we'll be controlling them!

Smiling, though not really smiling, the doppelganger raised slightly the hem of her skirt and bowed graciously.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Morgana Daltress."

She says with a grin on her face, though since the doppelganger was still technically Mordred she had the same unflinching expression of arrogance. Even though Yda was oblivious to this fact she recognized that there was some sort of connection between Mordred and Morgana, 'perhaps siblings?' she thought.

"Ah, h... hello, my name is Yda."

In a panic Yda stood up and bowed back.

"Master..."

Irina had recognized both of them as her master, of course that would be the case since both of them really were her master. Though if she had only prioritize only one of them it would be Mordred's real body. It was unknown to Irina why her master had summoned a doppelganger, still she would not question his motives; she was, in the end, merely his sword.

"Yda, is it?"

Mordred spoke up, prompting Yda to sit back down. It wasn't a voluntary movement, simply that she felt compelled to do so in his presence, she knew he was stronger than her, in fact she was under the assumption that even Morgana, who looked like a fragile noble, was stronger than her also, which may have been true.

"Y... yes."

"Before we start I'll apologize for dragging you all the way here without your consent. Though it may not be much I'll give you this as reparations."

Mordred reached into his [inventory] to take out some sort of item, it was a leathery collar. Black in color, was it meant to be some sort of symbol? That she was going to be his pet? Though judging by the materials used it looked extremely rare and expensive so she wasn't too opposed to wearing it.

In fact recently she's seen some women wear this kind of thing too, as a kind of fashion statement? So her wearing it wouldn't attract that much strange gazes, actually she was okay with wearing it even though it was from a man with unknown intentions.

Not putting too much thought into it she wore it on her neck to see how it looks.

"Well? How do you like it?"

Mordred asked with a smile, that condescending smile really irked her but she's come to accept that it may have just been part of his personality. She sighed and moved around her neck to see if there were any discomforts. Since the fabrics used to make the collar were rather refined and well synthesized it almost felt as though the collar wasn't even there.

"It feels fine I guess..."

She answered. However all she got in return was a sigh from Mordred.

"You're... very gullible, no wonder you were assaulted."

"Eh?"

"Let me tell you something, that collar is rigged to explode once you disobey me."

The truth was that was just a lie, the collar was simply a normal collar. It wouldn't explode, he wouldn't do something that cruel, but he needed some way to make her listen to him and while he could cast temporary [mind control] that was only a short term solution thus he needed something a bit stronger.

If he treated her in just the right manner she would come to him of her own accord. This collar was just an instrument to slowly start conditioning her in much the same way an owner would condition their pet.

"Eh?! What?!"

She tried to take it off immediately but was stopped.

"Are you sure you want to take it off? Do you want to take that risk?"