"Hah, planning to grill some meat now? There's vegetables too, right? I'm health-conscious, you know."
"That's enough backtalk. Now, put the forced prostration device on him."
The employee clicked the device onto Shtolte's body with a clank.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Lord Alan said this is a magical tool essential for demonstrating sincerity in a certain country. It took considerable effort to recreate, but it seems the effort paid off."
"Ughhhh..."
It utilized powerful springs, and the wearer was not permitted any posture other than the prostration position.
The employee lifted Shtolte's curled-up body and placed him onto the iron plate.
"We'll start with five seconds."
"H-hey, s-stop it, you inhuman—! Gwaaaaah! Hot hot hot hot!"
Thank goodness for [Heat Resistance].
But since it wasn't a complete resistance, hot things still felt hot, and the pain from the burns was considerable.
The smell of searing flesh filled the surrounding air.
"Five seconds are up. Take him off for now."
"Yes."
The employee removed the burned Shtolte from the iron plate.
"Now, douse him with the elixir."
Shtolte's burns across his entire body healed in the blink of an eye.
What was the point of any of this?
"Ggh, what are you trying to do..."
"It's only the first day, after all. Next, we'll make sure you remember Lord Alan's greatness."
◇◇◇
This time, Shtolte was placed in a stark white room.
"Our great Lord Alan has said: 'If you want to go shopping, you need money. Try to cheat someone and you'll be punished on top of never getting what you want.'"
"Our noble Lord Alan has said: 'Obey those who are stronger. So please listen to what I say.'"
"Our generous Lord Alan has said: 'Why should I have to listen to the bearded one's wishes? If I accepted his challenge to a fair fight, he'd be the only one happy about it. He's the enemy, you know?'"
What even was this?
Wasn't this just a collection of embarrassing history?
The preacherman rattled off one great deed of Alan's after another.
There were far too many to list here, but countless other Alan quotes were repeated on a relentless loop.
"Stop it already! Don't make me listen to the same thing over and over!"
Even when bedtime rolled around, the preacherman kept repeating himself endlessly.
◇◇◇
The next morning.
"Damn it, I barely got any sleep!"
"Yes, well, after a delicious breakfast, let's do another heartfelt prostration. This time for six seconds."
"S-Stop it!"
With the prostration-enforcing device strapped to him, his body curled up, he endured six seconds that felt like an eternity in hell—after which the elixir was sloppily splashed on him yet again to heal him.
"We'll go again in one hour. This time it'll be 6.1 seconds. Until then, you'll listen to Lord Alan's great achievements until you truly understand them from the bottom of your heart."
"What the hell! How is any of this training! Are you even human?!"
"I haven't exactly lived the most righteous life myself, but coming from someone who's been mass-producing illegal slaves, that's a bit rich, isn't it? You're not human — you're lower than a maggot."
◇◇◇
One week later, Alan paid a visit to Kachou.
"How did it go, Manager?"
"Very well, Master Alan. Please, observe the results. Stolte — permission to speak is granted!"
Standing at rigid attention, Stolte roared at the top of his lungs.
"My name is Maggot, sir!"
...Huh?
"Please forgive this pitiful, foolish maggot who has defied our glorious Master Alan up until now, sir!"
...Isn't this completely different from what I expected?
Wasn't he supposed to say something like "You are all equally worthless"?!
"How is it? Thanks to prostration training and sermons, Stolte has graduated from being human and become a fine maggot!"
...Yeah.
I don't really need maggots under my wing, though.
I'm curious what kind of sermons he was fed, but my Super Intuition is whispering that it's better not to ask.
Well, I did hand off the entire training process to someone else, so I guess this is what I get.
"...Yeah. Thanks."
From now on, he'd leave the training to someone else entirely — that was Alan's firm resolution.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Sturte (White Slave Guild Owner)
Skills: [Fist Master][Dark Magic][Heat Resistance (Medium)][Nimbleness][Flailing][Deceptive Strike][Maggot][Devotee of Alan]
Thank you for reading!