Orange_Rain I apologize for not updating yesterday and doing it so late tonight. This week has been rather rough for me and my editor who's helping me on my other stories. Here's what I have to make up for it. Enjoy the chapters.
What’s up, people? This is your favorite stylish former hitman, Komi here, live from the exquisite baths reserved only for guests at the Night of Luxury inn, parked close to the red-light district of Alluga in the Human-Kin’s Territory. I’m here soaking up the hot waters with my body that’s just as so, letting the fatigue from all of my efforts today wash away with my humanoid crocodile familiar, Sei[ki], and two guests.
“U-Um … Mistress?”
“Yes, Lola?”
“Is it really okay for we … to have this luxury? Mistress spent so much money, yes? Not just for we, but for food and to move to this inn, too … and was it really okay to reserve this whole bath for our small party?”
This is the first of our two guests, Lola. Despite her shy demeanor with language difficulty issues, she’s actually a Minotaur from the Demon-Kin. White bull horns jotting out the sides of her short-medium brunette hair, matching ears, bull legs with hooves covered in fur from the hips down, and a matching tail to top it all off. Just as Earth’s mythology describes the entirety of these creatures, Lola is BIG, in every sense of the word, standing at 233 centimeters tall [~7 feet, 7.5 inches] and weighing 113 kilograms [~250 pounds]. For the parts of her light caramel body not covered by fur, she is ripped with muscle like a bodybuilder’s, six-pack and all, but it’s her toned ass and gigantic M cup tits that would knock any normal guy over just from looking at them.
On an unrelated note, even if her bull fur doesn’t cover her ass and genitals, she’s got a hell of a bush going on. I may have to get it trimmed later if Jin-chi even thinks about hitting that.
“Well, we had to move to another inn since the last one we were in was small, let alone was ballsy enough to not accept demon patrons,” I answer. “This was the only one in Alluga with big enough rooms that can accommodate large guests like you. As for the bath, it was no biggie. I had plenty of money to burn that I can quickly earn back, and I have good ties with the manager that runs this inn. Besides, this is a time for celebration, it doesn’t hurt to splurge once in a while for these occasions.”
“You heard the new boss lady, Lola. We might as well take what we can get now, since we will probably get worked to the bone starting tomorrow. Just start soaking and relax a little for once.”
That was from the second of our two guests, Momirugan, but she was okay being called Momo for convenience (if we were back in Japan, I’d likely call her Momi-chan). Momo was the complete opposite from Lola in physique, standing at 171 centimeters (the same as me) [~5 feet, 7 inches], thin with 70 kilograms to her weight [~154 pounds], almost frail with peach-white skin like she’s been indoors most of her life, and totally flat with A cup breasts and a petite butt. With her straight black hair cut into a bob, she could fit in with humans if it weren’t for her pointy ears and the large, lone emerald green eye taking up almost half of her face, the trademark trait of the Monoeye race from the Demon-Kin.
And just for consistency’s sake, while Momo also has a bush, it isn’t as big and covering most of her genitals like Lola’s is. They look like they had a trimming a while ago.
Lola and Momo, a Minotaur and a Monoeye, these are two girls from the Demon-Kin that I redeemed as my slaves earlier today as the latest additions to Sei’s and mine party. Getting them wasn’t easy, by the way. Apparently, the slave merchant we bought from had just got them from another in the same trade. To keep things short, there were policies in their place that didn’t allow me to redeem the girls unless I passed some kind of test that Momo representing the two gave to me, something that tests my worthiness as their owner, perhaps? Besides passing the test that proves my worthiness, I could redeem the two of them at a lower price, and Jin-chi had always told me this with good deals: “If you see or hear of it, get it at all costs, even if it means shoving others aside. Housewives are especially the kinds of people you need to look out for in a convenience store.”
The test was to get some specific herbs Momo described that grew in a jungle-like area that was waaay outside of Alluga’s borders, and I had to get several them and bring them back before the end of the day. There were no do-overs.
Thankfully, finding them was easy thanks to my Streets Smarts applied to my Insightful Mapping skill, and with using [Portal] in my favor, I completed it at record-shattering time.
“Still, to get such rare herbs so quickly … I’m still trying to believe it,” Momo says as she dunks herself in the bath. Lola follows suit right next to her. The inn’s bath declines at a certain point to let people of larger races soak their bodies deeper, it’s practically a swimming pool at this point. “There’s one thing out of all this that’s bothering me, though.”
“What is it, Momo?” I ask.
“If your previous inn didn’t accept demon patrons, then how was she able to stay with you?”
We all look over to the only other girl in the bath, Sei, who’s soaking up to her shoulders with eyes closed. Knowing her slothful nature, I’m betting she’s asleep right now.
I would explain that and some other important things to our new recruits that those from the outside shouldn’t hear, which was why I paid so much in advance to reserve the baths for our group and put up a [Soundproof] barrier surrounding us after we all stepped in.
“Ah, that’s because she isn’t a demon. She’s a familiar,” I answer.
“… Uh, Mistress?” Momo asks. “Aren’t familiars supposed to be magical beasts that resemble, I don’t know, animals? Even though some demon races have animal traits, they don’t aren’t the same as regular animals. I don’t need two eyes to see Sei isn’t anything but a tougher-looking Lizardman.”
“Hey, Sei, wake up,” I say while squirting bathwater right onto her face.
“Whaaat?” Sei whines in annoyance.
“Show them you’re my familiar by turning into your smaller form, would you?”
“… Fiiiine. So bothersome.” With that, Sei goes out in a puff of smoke, surprising our two new comrades. In her place … a reddish-orange, baby crocodile. “There, you happy now?” she asks in a higher pitched, craggy tone.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!” Lola screams in fright while jumping out of the bath in a large splash, shaking the room as she hit the floor before poorly hiding behind Momo’s head. Momo only sits there in shock with her one eye wide open, staring at Sei leisurely swimming around the bath.
“I had her change into this form to play off as my real familiar/pet whenever we walked around the last inn,” I explain. “I couldn’t let her sleep out in the streets and she’d rather not go back to the Cursed Realm, so we went with that compromise. It was easier for me, too, since I could sleep soundly while paying for our stay at a lesser price. Oh, and for the record, she was previously the Jasper Sodek Duchess of Sloth.”
“A pleasure to make your proper acquaintance,” Sei introduced before smoke-puffing back to her ‘demon form.’ “Now, please let me soak in peace. Wake me up when it’s time to go.”
So you are planning on napping here.
“A magical beast that can turn into a bipedal form at will,” Momo mutters with a hand to her chin. “I have read stories, but I thought those were fairy tales. So, something like this is possible?”
“I can tell you what made it possible later if you’re interested.”
“I’m very interested. Lola, you can get back into the bath now, you know?”
“I-Is it safe?”
“Sei’s harmless, you’ll be fine.”
Trusting Momo’s words, Lola tentatively sinks herself back in the water.
“Still, since you have a capable partner already, what need do you have for us?” Momo then asks.
“We figured it was time to have a few extra pairs of hands. It’s especially so now, from the intel I had received recently.”
“Intel?” Momo asks.
“It’s from a reliable source that I’ve been checking back since I got to Alluga. There’s something I need to get that only a handful of people in this world have and getting it won’t be easy. Momo, with your skills as a Sniper with healing magic and knowledge in medicine on the side, Lola’s potential as a Tank, and Sei’s offensive capabilities, I’m certain we can take down our hit with ease.”
“Wait, a ‘hit?’ You’re speaking like you’re an assassin,” Momo says.
“Well, technically, I was a hitman from where I came from, but they’re both the same, right?”
“Eeeeeeh?!” Lola exclaims while stiffening up in her seat. Momo still sits there cool as a cucumber.
“I see, with an occupation like that, I imagine you did your work to earn enough money to afford all of this.”
“Bu-buu~, wrong. I earned my income with my occupation as an adventurer. I’m not accepting any ‘requests’ for those kinds of jobs right now.”
“Huh. So, this ‘hit’ you want us to take part of is for your own personal gain.”
“Yep, but don’t worry. From what I gathered, he’s a real piece of shit. Have you heard of the White Rapture?”
“I might have heard their name here and there. They’re the human-only group of people who only hates those outside of their race, especially demons like us, right? I think they’re also trying to make a statement about why humans shouldn’t associate themselves with us.”
“Bing-bong~, correct.”
“And this hit we’re after is part of that group? Even though he’s from the same race as you?”
“Yep.”
“So, I’m working for a girl who doesn’t mind sneaking Sei in as a pet for a cheaper price, who is a capable adventurer with a history just soaked with blood, and will go against one of their own to achieve her goals,” Momo summarized.
“Eh, that sounds about right, but I have my principles. I didn’t really care who I was killing in the past, ‘a target is a target’ is what my superiors in the trade taught me, but I’m my own woman now. I only kill if my life was on the line or if I know they’re up to no good and it would be better if they were to disappear.” Of course, I’d take out anyone who was aiming for Jin-chi’s head, and if he were to ask me to ‘remove’ someone, I’d likely do it in a heartbeat, no questions asked. Not that he’d ever go that far from the time I’ve gotten to know him. He’d have a really good reason to even consider taking such a step, considering he was plenty satisfied letting assaulters go with broken bones, at the worst.
If he could restrain himself to leave them with that, then I’d trust his judgement and take whatever hit jobs he could give me. I just love him that much to go so far.
Lola trembles in place after listening to my reasoning while Momo looks up in thought.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how do you do your kills? Do they get messy?” Momo asks.
I’m honestly surprised she’d even ask me that. Nobody has ever asked how I did my job, but since these two will work under me, there wasn’t much reason for me to not tell them. “I try to make my kills swift and quick, but I sometimes leave a big mess if I go a little overboard. Just earlier today, actually, some persistent bastards that I served as customers for a pub I often work tried to have their way with me in an alleyway …”
I went on with what happened at the back of the pub earlier today. When I finished, Lola and Momo sat there wide-eyed as they took in my story.
“Damn. You can not only be a slimeball when you want to be, but you’re not afraid to get dirty, either … I like that. Hey, if I can make us some lethal poisons or other questionable potions, you think I could use our ‘hits’ to test them with?”
That’s not a response I was expecting, I think while I blink in confusion to Momo’s statement.
“I can make us regular health and mana potions to use in battle when we need them, of course,” Momo continues. “I wouldn’t mind us selling them if we’re really strapped for cash, so long as we get the right ingredients. It’s just that I’ve been wanting to get a little more creative with my concoctions lately and I need something to test them on.”
Lola sighs. “Momo would get like this. Some of Momo’s potions that me saw included bugs and some living plants … me thinks Momo has too much fun turning them all into paste, more so with that smile of hers.”
That’s a disturbing image, but remembering what Jin-chi was into, I have an uneasy feeling these two would get along in a strange way. “I suppose if an opportunity arises, I wouldn’t mind you experimenting here and there. We’ll likely cross with the rougher crowds, so I don’t really care what happens to them if they try to mess with us.”
“Sweet! Finally, I can perform riskier experiments! I can only use Lola as a test subject so much without getting into things too lethal.”
I look over to Lola with legit concern on my face.
“It’s part of an agreement we had when Momo took me in. But don’t worry, though! Momo is really a good person! Momo’s medicines work like magic, and me receive good resistance skills since me started living with Momo!”
So that’s how she got all of those … wow.
If you’re wondering, Lola’s resistance skills include poison, paralyze, sleep, confusion, and petrification. Now that I know Momo was the reason that Lola gained all of those resistances at surprisingly decent mastery levels, I can’t tell which of the two is more dangerous.
“A-Anyway, me can be good Tank with shield! Me may get scared, but me will protect Momo and Mistress in battle!”
“All right, then. We will get plenty of rest for tomorrow so we can find you both the gear you need and I see what you can do. We must prepare however we can for our first hit as a party.”
“What is our first hit like, other than being one of the White Rapture?” Momo asks.
“Apparently, this guy was one of the higher-ups in the cult who gave the command of sending some of its followers to Dondegarm for an all-out raid. The city’s safe, though, but I didn’t get any details to why yet. That aside, this bastard may not be the head of the whole cult, but he’s part of the handful of people in this world that I’m looking for.”
“And what is it about this ‘handful of people’ that makes them different from the rest?”
“Well, they’re Champions, and our hit is one of the bad ones.”
““What?!””
“Oh, but neither of you need to worry about attacking him head on, I’ll be doing that myself. I’m a Champion, too, after all.”
““WHAT?!””
~~
“Haa~. You know, Roll, if there’s one thing I look forward to after a long day, it’s drinking your tea. You really know how to brew them damn good,” I say before taking another sip, relaxing in a vacant chair in our reserved room that’s surrounded by a [Soundproof] field so I could speak freely.
“I’m happy to hear you like my tea that much, Mistress,” Roll answers, standing at attention and in waiting for further orders, forcing a smile despite the sweat trailing down her face.
We hear a few more slurps of tea in our room.
“Um … Mistress?”
“Yes, Roll?”
“May I ask who your new friends are?” she asks with a slight shake in her voice.
With us in our room are two more guests sitting next to each other on the bed (there was no place else to sit). One is a woman with limbs, ears, and tail of a jaguar, but the fur color is like an inverse of what one would normally see; black with spots and rings in shades of yellow and brown. Her long wild hair matches her fur both in color and patterns, her skin making up the torso is a light chocolate brown that’s covered by a fitting white tank-top and matching panty. Her posture is thug-like as she drinks tea and eyes the one sitting next to her, a petite girl with pink and white feathered wings folded behind her back. Her limbs resemble a bird’s talons, her straight short hair matches the feathers that start white before turning pink at the tips. The clothes she’s wearing over her healthy light pink skin is a white chemise and matching panty. Unlike the neighbor next to her, the bird girl’s drinking her own tea with great delight and poise.
They’re wearing the bare minimum because those were what I could provide at the last minute for cheap. I am planning on getting them better clothes and gear tomorrow.
“Right, right, introductions,” I say. I gesture my tea cup over to Roll to kick things off. “Guys, this is Roll, my other party member I told you about. Roll, these two are my new familiars. Charcoal Ocelomeh Duchess of Wrath, Ikari [TN: 怒り, literally means hatred], and Sakura Nightingale Duchess of Charity, Kandaiko [寛大幸, means generous fortune].
“EEEH?!”
“Oi, Anego, you sure we can afford to have porky in the group?” Ikari asks. “It’s bad enough I have to work with a pansy from the freakin’ Holy Realm, but I gotta babysit a weakling like her, too?”
“Now, now, Ikari, there’s no need to act hostile,” Kandaiko intervenes before turning to Roll with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance and I’m also grateful for the delicious tea, too, Roll. Would you like one of my feathers?”
“Uh … no thank you. Mistress, I can probably take a few guesses to how your new familiars turned out like this, but is this what you have been doing while you were out? Where did you even do the summoning?”
“In the dungeon.”
“WHAT?!”
“I bought some summoning kits from Obina through the Immortal’s Blessing Shop that lets me do them any place I want, even outside a church. I didn’t know how much of a big deal it would be and few adventurers would go to the dungeon at this time of night. It was the best place to do them without getting a lot of unwanted attention.”
“Whoa whoa, back up, you mean the Obina? The Goddess of Lust?” Ikari asks with widened eyes.
“And since you bought those kits from a special shop that’s only accessible by Champions, that means you are one of them?” Kandaiko follows.
“Bingo.”
“… Fuck, guess how you beat me while in this form makes sense, now … you would definitely make that damn bear beg for mercy, if you wanted to.”
“If you’re talking about the Bear King of Wrath, he’s already submitted himself to another human. He’s following him around as his familiar as we speak.”
“No, shit?! Well, where the fuck is he?!”
“Calm down, or do you want to get your third beat down for the night?”
“… I’m calm.” Just like that, Ikari changes from her thug-like posture to sitting in seiza on the bed.
“Good, and you’ll see him later, just keep your magic auras hidden like I told you to. In the meantime, I want to go over what we’ll be doing within the next week. Roll, more tea, please.”
“Yes, Mistress!”
While I hold my cup out, she takes the kettle and pours my second helping.
“There’s a young man, Jinma Kotori, who’s getting himself and his harem into a lion’s den full of bastards just itching to draw their blood, and these guys are people from the higher point of Shitty Mountain that can easily gather more annoying flies with their god-awful stench they call ‘nobility.’”
“So, you want us to crush some skulls? Now, that’s a plan I can get behind. Just say the word, and I’ll bring them dead in seconds,” Ikari says while punching into her jaguar paw.
“Close, we will only provide backup when they need it. He’s going this far as part of his first quest as an adventurer. I want to see how he fares on his own for now. I’m sure his credibility will plummet if we interfered.”
“So, it’s a trial of sorts,” Kandaiko summarizes while I take another sip.
“Right. Once they finish this quest, they will head to Korangar, which is where we will go, too.”
Roll jolts her head to me. “W-Wait, how did you know that without me …”
“Korangar, huh? Isn’t that where the strongest of demons crash?” [Ikari]
“Not to mention the Demon King.” [Kandaiko]
“And that is why we’re going up there.”
“H-Huh? You mean the Demon King? Why do you want to see her?” [Roll]
“Not ‘her.’ ‘Him.’”
“Wait, is the king a guy or a girl? I don’t get why the position of ‘Demon King’ doesn’t change for whoever stands on it around these parts.” [Ikari]
“The current Demon King is a girl, but the previous Demon King was a boy, and I think he was the current one’s father, but he passed on … wait, Mistress, are you trying to find that Demon King?” [Roll]
“I don’t mean to sound rude, but why would you be looking for someone who’s already dead?” [Kandaiko]
“I’ve been asking around for him ever since I came here, and how they all responded was strange,” I say while looking down on the floor with the teacup in the palm of my hand. “I just have this feeling that he’s responsible for his own ‘death’ and how everyone has remembered him. If there’s anyone who has any remote idea of what really happened, it would be his own daughter.”
“Are you saying that the father is not dead and the daughter’s covering for him?” [Kandaiko]
“It’s just a theory, but if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that that Demon King is still alive, and when I find out where he is …”
KSHAAN!
The tea cup breaks from my hand closing into a trembling fist, eliciting a yelp from Roll and shocking my new familiars silent. I barely restrained myself from letting my magical aura go out of control.
“I’m going to fucking kill that bastard a thousand times over.”
~~
Finally, they settled down. That guy really knows how to stretch out a night of sex. I may have to up my game in training after this.
Using the same method I did with a distracted Mametama, I cast Slothful Slumber in my mind and put the exhausted Erizora, Kalline, and Jinma into a deep sleep. I stand up from my seat, stretch while I’m still only in my tailored white stockings, and got to work. I start off by going to my bag and slipping on my arm-length, magically enchanted black leather gloves.
“[Silence].”
I cast [Silence] toward Jinma’s tanto, Nyra. [Silence] is a null spell that turns the target into a mute. They can still hear their own voice and thoughts, but no one could hear them, not even the mysterious forces that allows us to use skills and cast magic (I know this much from my experimentation). When you’re unable to use skills or magic while in a battlefield, you’d be the first one they target for the kill. Anyone capable of using this null spell would pose a threat to anyone.
I must say, I didn’t think that would work on you. Could it perhaps be from your curse that some spells can still be effective on you? I ask to Nyra through Telepathy.
Yes, Nyra, I’ve been capable of using Telepathy for a while, but I’ve listened your ‘entertaining conversations’ in Jinma’s mind through my rare Mind Read skill since I first got acquainted with you all. Unlike Telepathy, it’s very convenient for one in my position to hear everyone’s thoughts while they can’t hear my own. I got that skill as a reward from clearing a dungeon, you know.
Don’t worry, Jinma will hear you again when [Silence] wears off and I’m not planning anything cruel to you all. I need you to be quiet for now so I can do my work, though. If you’ll excuse me.
I walk to the head of the bed and pull Nyra out from under the pillows before unsheathing the blade.
Wondering why I’m not getting affected by your curse? These gloves I’m wearing have magic resistant properties, blocking effects from most Black and White Enchantment effects. Pretty cool, right? Not to brag, but I may resist your curse without the gloves, but one must be careful, and I can’t give myself to Jinma under the influence of lust just yet.
I do a quick appraisal with Nyra in my hand before approaching Jinma’s sleeping body. I squat down and pick up his hand that has a few scars. I was extra attentive to his body while giving him my special treatment earlier. I burned every detail of his physique in my mind; it was the same when I watched his sexy show with the girls I fingered my sopping wet pussy to. Even when fully clothed, I can guess where most of his scars are by now.
I shudder with unease as I recall them, and I have an excruciating pain in my chest for what I’m about to do.
“Sorry about this …” I whisper before taking Nyra’s blade and draw along one of the scar lines on his hand. I’m aware how sharp blade-type weapons made of Chaos Metal can be, but seeing how it can easily cut through Jinma’s god-like defenses makes me wonder if all of the Immortal Blessed Weapons in history were forged with this ore.
The line I drew on Jinma’s hand quickly turns red before beads of the same color form on top. I take a small glass vial out from my [Storage] and draw out more of his blood to drip down to the container. Once I have enough, I put a cork on the vial and clean up the rest of Jinma’s blood before casting Heal on the wound.
It’s just like he said. No matter how much I put into Heal, this scar will never fade away … I’m sorry, Jinma. I will pay you back dearly at a later time. I place a kiss on that scar as I made that vow.
With the vial full of Jinma’s blood sample, I cast [Portal] to open a small hole, stuck the container through, and let the one on the other side take it out of my hand. I heard her praise, “good work,” before pulling my hand back and close the [Portal].
I’ve finished my part in this mission, so I quickly [Clean] the evidence of my involvement with these events while waiting for the results. I grip the sheathed Nyra tightly in my hand, anxious for what may turn out.
My emotions have overturned my judgement many times throughout most of this day. From the moment I first met Jinma face-to-face this morning, to tonight that I shared with him and some of his girls, and a lot of other things in between. In all these years, I trained myself to repress those very emotions. It’s a wonder how I had even lived with myself up to this point.
No matter how much my heart wanted something to be true, though, I have to face the facts, the truth that lies within the reality of this cruel, chaotic world. Whatever outcome it turns out to be, I promised to myself and Jinma that I would make things right. I owe that much for putting up this imperfect front that’s been inconveniencing him.
A few minutes pass and feelings of great joy suddenly swell up in my heart, enough that I bawl grossly on the spot, just as I had, if not more than how I was this morning. My large tears drip to the floor and even on Nyra’s scabbard.
“Finally. After all of this time, I have finally …” I cry in a whisper.
Though I can’t hear Nyra in my mind, I must feel how confused she is right now from holding her. “The fuck is going on here?” I could imagine her saying that. I couldn’t help but chuckle between my cries at the thought.
“Sorry, sorry. I just didn’t think this day would turn out so well, better than what I had dreamed,” I say while wiping the tears from my eyes. I calm myself down, hold up Nyra, and imagine I’m staring her in the eyes with determination as I smile and tighten my fist. “I know this may be hard to understand, but there’s no need to worry. I will do my best to keep Jinma alive. I’m on your guys’ side.
“This is not the right time and place, but I will reveal everything to you and Jinma in due time. For now, I will need you to sleep.”
I cast Slothful Slumber once more on Nyra. [Silence] should have worn off some time ago, but the lack of rebellion told me the sleep spell had worked. With that, I hold an open palm towards the tanto and concentrated carefully on what I want.
“[Suppress]. You will forget what has happened within the last 7 minutes here. And then, [Implant]. When you wake up, you will learn that in order to get your true body back, you will need Jinma to get the Sorcerer class, learn the Black Enchantment skill, and max its mastery to use at its full potential.”
With this, even for Nyra being the expert in Psyche Magic she is, she won’t be able to release the seal I put on her memories so easily with the [Suppress] null spell. Meanwhile, after getting some idea of what to do from appraising the tanto, I use the [Implant] null spell to ingrain new knowledge in her mind. I may not know how long it’s been since someone trapped Nyra in the tanto, but I want to give her a choice to get her body back, and using the Black Enchantment skill, the same one used to curse Nyra in the first place, is the only way to do it.
It’s the least I could do after inconveniencing one of the few people who helped protect my cherished one up to this point.
Oh, but for the record, she wishes she could use my ‘boingy-boingy bosom’ as her tanto holder. These melons will be for his use only.
Once I finished my work for tonight, I put Nyra back under the pillow where I found it, put away my arm gloves, and get ready for bed. I set up a spare blanket and pillow for Kalline’s use after putting Erizora’s and Jinma’s sleeping bodies on the bed and under the covers (despite their sizes compared to mine, this feat was easy for one of my strength). All of their bodies are a mess with dried juices and semen. It would be a hell of a cleanup job for this inn’s housekeeping in the morning.
I put a sleeping Mametama on top of Jinma’s body for the finishing touch before I turn out the lights and scooch under the covers by the man of the hour, still only in my white stockings (my feet get cold easily). I giggle lightly when I realize what positions we are in.
“I hope … no, I will make sure we’ll have more opportunities to sleep like this,” I whisper as I pet Jinma’s short black hair with a dopey smile on my face. I then scooch even closer so I could pull his face towards my bare, generous cleavage, making sure he sleeps pleasant dreams from smelling the high-quality soap I used to wash my body earlier. I close my eyes, embracing the warmth shared between us. I think back to the words I whispered as I kissed each of Jinma’s scars during my treatment, after he mentioned how lucky a guy would be to have me as his mate.
“I’ll make sure that you will be so much more.”
As my memory draws to Jinma’s scars, I question what people would even leave him in such a state, what I would do to them for harming him. My thoughts and feelings grow dark and heavy, especially when I think back to Jinma’s approaching enemies.
Perseus Shallowreed Rowling and Konjiro. I’ve met and spoke with both of them on some occasions, and with the help of my Mind Read skill, it didn’t take me long to see how low they were as scum, much less than nobles. They have been on my black list for a while, but I only have so much resources to investigate them thoroughly when I’m trying to dig some dirt on one person in particular. A certain ‘duke’ who has had a lot of deplorable things about me in his mind for a while, and it is just recently as I read Konjiro’s mind earlier that I found this duke is the one pulling the strings of this whole mess … no, that’s being too generous. This is only a small piece of trash in the rancid landfill of his schemes. I just haven’t found the evidence damning enough to remove him of his position up to now.
And it will be Jinma, a complete outsider in all of this, who may play an unexpectedly big enough disturbance in his plans to have everyone under his authority aim the lives of this very unlucky man and his harem. That damn duke doesn’t realize what he’s about to do will make him more unfortunate than even Jinma.
I slowly open my eyes to be half-lidded. Though the room is dark as pitch, I’m sure anyone would see my eyes becoming black and brilliant gold right now. Even in my near-naked state in bed with Jinma against my chest, I imagine glaring down that damn duke in front of me.
To get my cherished pulled into this mess, you have finally sealed your fate, Vask. Under my authority as the Demon King, I will see to your demise … personally.
Orange_Rain If you want support my work and see exclusive content, please check out my subscribestar by clicking on the button below.
Orange_Rain I apologize for not updating yesterday and doing it so late tonight. This week has been rather rough for me and my editor who's helping me on my other stories. Here's what I have to make up for it. Enjoy the chapters.
What’s up, people? This is your favorite stylish former hitman, Komi here, live from the exquisite baths reserved only for guests at the Night of Luxury inn, parked close to the red-light district of Alluga in the Human-Kin’s Territory. I’m here soaking up the hot waters with my body that’s just as so, letting the fatigue from all of my efforts today wash away with my humanoid crocodile familiar, Sei[ki], and two guests.
“U-Um … Mistress?”
“Yes, Lola?”
“Is it really okay for we … to have this luxury? Mistress spent so much money, yes? Not just for we, but for food and to move to this inn, too … and was it really okay to reserve this whole bath for our small party?”
This is the first of our two guests, Lola. Despite her shy demeanor with language difficulty issues, she’s actually a Minotaur from the Demon-Kin. White bull horns jotting out the sides of her short-medium brunette hair, matching ears, bull legs with hooves covered in fur from the hips down, and a matching tail to top it all off. Just as Earth’s mythology describes the entirety of these creatures, Lola is BIG, in every sense of the word, standing at 233 centimeters tall [~7 feet, 7.5 inches] and weighing 113 kilograms [~250 pounds]. For the parts of her light caramel body not covered by fur, she is ripped with muscle like a bodybuilder’s, six-pack and all, but it’s her toned ass and gigantic M cup tits that would knock any normal guy over just from looking at them.
On an unrelated note, even if her bull fur doesn’t cover her ass and genitals, she’s got a hell of a bush going on. I may have to get it trimmed later if Jin-chi even thinks about hitting that.
“Well, we had to move to another inn since the last one we were in was small, let alone was ballsy enough to not accept demon patrons,” I answer. “This was the only one in Alluga with big enough rooms that can accommodate large guests like you. As for the bath, it was no biggie. I had plenty of money to burn that I can quickly earn back, and I have good ties with the manager that runs this inn. Besides, this is a time for celebration, it doesn’t hurt to splurge once in a while for these occasions.”
“You heard the new boss lady, Lola. We might as well take what we can get now, since we will probably get worked to the bone starting tomorrow. Just start soaking and relax a little for once.”
That was from the second of our two guests, Momirugan, but she was okay being called Momo for convenience (if we were back in Japan, I’d likely call her Momi-chan). Momo was the complete opposite from Lola in physique, standing at 171 centimeters (the same as me) [~5 feet, 7 inches], thin with 70 kilograms to her weight [~154 pounds], almost frail with peach-white skin like she’s been indoors most of her life, and totally flat with A cup breasts and a petite butt. With her straight black hair cut into a bob, she could fit in with humans if it weren’t for her pointy ears and the large, lone emerald green eye taking up almost half of her face, the trademark trait of the Monoeye race from the Demon-Kin.
And just for consistency’s sake, while Momo also has a bush, it isn’t as big and covering most of her genitals like Lola’s is. They look like they had a trimming a while ago.
Lola and Momo, a Minotaur and a Monoeye, these are two girls from the Demon-Kin that I redeemed as my slaves earlier today as the latest additions to Sei’s and mine party. Getting them wasn’t easy, by the way. Apparently, the slave merchant we bought from had just got them from another in the same trade. To keep things short, there were policies in their place that didn’t allow me to redeem the girls unless I passed some kind of test that Momo representing the two gave to me, something that tests my worthiness as their owner, perhaps? Besides passing the test that proves my worthiness, I could redeem the two of them at a lower price, and Jin-chi had always told me this with good deals: “If you see or hear of it, get it at all costs, even if it means shoving others aside. Housewives are especially the kinds of people you need to look out for in a convenience store.”
The test was to get some specific herbs Momo described that grew in a jungle-like area that was waaay outside of Alluga’s borders, and I had to get several them and bring them back before the end of the day. There were no do-overs.
Thankfully, finding them was easy thanks to my Streets Smarts applied to my Insightful Mapping skill, and with using [Portal] in my favor, I completed it at record-shattering time.
“Still, to get such rare herbs so quickly … I’m still trying to believe it,” Momo says as she dunks herself in the bath. Lola follows suit right next to her. The inn’s bath declines at a certain point to let people of larger races soak their bodies deeper, it’s practically a swimming pool at this point. “There’s one thing out of all this that’s bothering me, though.”
“What is it, Momo?” I ask.
“If your previous inn didn’t accept demon patrons, then how was she able to stay with you?”
We all look over to the only other girl in the bath, Sei, who’s soaking up to her shoulders with eyes closed. Knowing her slothful nature, I’m betting she’s asleep right now.
I would explain that and some other important things to our new recruits that those from the outside shouldn’t hear, which was why I paid so much in advance to reserve the baths for our group and put up a [Soundproof] barrier surrounding us after we all stepped in.
“Ah, that’s because she isn’t a demon. She’s a familiar,” I answer.
“… Uh, Mistress?” Momo asks. “Aren’t familiars supposed to be magical beasts that resemble, I don’t know, animals? Even though some demon races have animal traits, they don’t aren’t the same as regular animals. I don’t need two eyes to see Sei isn’t anything but a tougher-looking Lizardman.”
“Hey, Sei, wake up,” I say while squirting bathwater right onto her face.
“Whaaat?” Sei whines in annoyance.
“Show them you’re my familiar by turning into your smaller form, would you?”
“… Fiiiine. So bothersome.” With that, Sei goes out in a puff of smoke, surprising our two new comrades. In her place … a reddish-orange, baby crocodile. “There, you happy now?” she asks in a higher pitched, craggy tone.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!” Lola screams in fright while jumping out of the bath in a large splash, shaking the room as she hit the floor before poorly hiding behind Momo’s head. Momo only sits there in shock with her one eye wide open, staring at Sei leisurely swimming around the bath.
“I had her change into this form to play off as my real familiar/pet whenever we walked around the last inn,” I explain. “I couldn’t let her sleep out in the streets and she’d rather not go back to the Cursed Realm, so we went with that compromise. It was easier for me, too, since I could sleep soundly while paying for our stay at a lesser price. Oh, and for the record, she was previously the Jasper Sodek Duchess of Sloth.”
“A pleasure to make your proper acquaintance,” Sei introduced before smoke-puffing back to her ‘demon form.’ “Now, please let me soak in peace. Wake me up when it’s time to go.”
So you are planning on napping here.
“A magical beast that can turn into a bipedal form at will,” Momo mutters with a hand to her chin. “I have read stories, but I thought those were fairy tales. So, something like this is possible?”
“I can tell you what made it possible later if you’re interested.”
“I’m very interested. Lola, you can get back into the bath now, you know?”
“I-Is it safe?”
“Sei’s harmless, you’ll be fine.”
Trusting Momo’s words, Lola tentatively sinks herself back in the water.
“Still, since you have a capable partner already, what need do you have for us?” Momo then asks.
“We figured it was time to have a few extra pairs of hands. It’s especially so now, from the intel I had received recently.”
“Intel?” Momo asks.
“It’s from a reliable source that I’ve been checking back since I got to Alluga. There’s something I need to get that only a handful of people in this world have and getting it won’t be easy. Momo, with your skills as a Sniper with healing magic and knowledge in medicine on the side, Lola’s potential as a Tank, and Sei’s offensive capabilities, I’m certain we can take down our hit with ease.”
“Wait, a ‘hit?’ You’re speaking like you’re an assassin,” Momo says.
“Well, technically, I was a hitman from where I came from, but they’re both the same, right?”
“Eeeeeeh?!” Lola exclaims while stiffening up in her seat. Momo still sits there cool as a cucumber.
“I see, with an occupation like that, I imagine you did your work to earn enough money to afford all of this.”
“Bu-buu~, wrong. I earned my income with my occupation as an adventurer. I’m not accepting any ‘requests’ for those kinds of jobs right now.”
“Huh. So, this ‘hit’ you want us to take part of is for your own personal gain.”
“Yep, but don’t worry. From what I gathered, he’s a real piece of shit. Have you heard of the White Rapture?”
“I might have heard their name here and there. They’re the human-only group of people who only hates those outside of their race, especially demons like us, right? I think they’re also trying to make a statement about why humans shouldn’t associate themselves with us.”
“Bing-bong~, correct.”
“And this hit we’re after is part of that group? Even though he’s from the same race as you?”
“Yep.”
“So, I’m working for a girl who doesn’t mind sneaking Sei in as a pet for a cheaper price, who is a capable adventurer with a history just soaked with blood, and will go against one of their own to achieve her goals,” Momo summarized.
“Eh, that sounds about right, but I have my principles. I didn’t really care who I was killing in the past, ‘a target is a target’ is what my superiors in the trade taught me, but I’m my own woman now. I only kill if my life was on the line or if I know they’re up to no good and it would be better if they were to disappear.” Of course, I’d take out anyone who was aiming for Jin-chi’s head, and if he were to ask me to ‘remove’ someone, I’d likely do it in a heartbeat, no questions asked. Not that he’d ever go that far from the time I’ve gotten to know him. He’d have a really good reason to even consider taking such a step, considering he was plenty satisfied letting assaulters go with broken bones, at the worst.
If he could restrain himself to leave them with that, then I’d trust his judgement and take whatever hit jobs he could give me. I just love him that much to go so far.
Lola trembles in place after listening to my reasoning while Momo looks up in thought.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how do you do your kills? Do they get messy?” Momo asks.
I’m honestly surprised she’d even ask me that. Nobody has ever asked how I did my job, but since these two will work under me, there wasn’t much reason for me to not tell them. “I try to make my kills swift and quick, but I sometimes leave a big mess if I go a little overboard. Just earlier today, actually, some persistent bastards that I served as customers for a pub I often work tried to have their way with me in an alleyway …”
I went on with what happened at the back of the pub earlier today. When I finished, Lola and Momo sat there wide-eyed as they took in my story.
“Damn. You can not only be a slimeball when you want to be, but you’re not afraid to get dirty, either … I like that. Hey, if I can make us some lethal poisons or other questionable potions, you think I could use our ‘hits’ to test them with?”
That’s not a response I was expecting, I think while I blink in confusion to Momo’s statement.
“I can make us regular health and mana potions to use in battle when we need them, of course,” Momo continues. “I wouldn’t mind us selling them if we’re really strapped for cash, so long as we get the right ingredients. It’s just that I’ve been wanting to get a little more creative with my concoctions lately and I need something to test them on.”
Lola sighs. “Momo would get like this. Some of Momo’s potions that me saw included bugs and some living plants … me thinks Momo has too much fun turning them all into paste, more so with that smile of hers.”
That’s a disturbing image, but remembering what Jin-chi was into, I have an uneasy feeling these two would get along in a strange way. “I suppose if an opportunity arises, I wouldn’t mind you experimenting here and there. We’ll likely cross with the rougher crowds, so I don’t really care what happens to them if they try to mess with us.”
“Sweet! Finally, I can perform riskier experiments! I can only use Lola as a test subject so much without getting into things too lethal.”
I look over to Lola with legit concern on my face.
“It’s part of an agreement we had when Momo took me in. But don’t worry, though! Momo is really a good person! Momo’s medicines work like magic, and me receive good resistance skills since me started living with Momo!”
So that’s how she got all of those … wow.
If you’re wondering, Lola’s resistance skills include poison, paralyze, sleep, confusion, and petrification. Now that I know Momo was the reason that Lola gained all of those resistances at surprisingly decent mastery levels, I can’t tell which of the two is more dangerous.
“A-Anyway, me can be good Tank with shield! Me may get scared, but me will protect Momo and Mistress in battle!”
“All right, then. We will get plenty of rest for tomorrow so we can find you both the gear you need and I see what you can do. We must prepare however we can for our first hit as a party.”
“What is our first hit like, other than being one of the White Rapture?” Momo asks.
“Apparently, this guy was one of the higher-ups in the cult who gave the command of sending some of its followers to Dondegarm for an all-out raid. The city’s safe, though, but I didn’t get any details to why yet. That aside, this bastard may not be the head of the whole cult, but he’s part of the handful of people in this world that I’m looking for.”
“And what is it about this ‘handful of people’ that makes them different from the rest?”
“Well, they’re Champions, and our hit is one of the bad ones.”
““What?!””
“Oh, but neither of you need to worry about attacking him head on, I’ll be doing that myself. I’m a Champion, too, after all.”
““WHAT?!””
~~
“Haa~. You know, Roll, if there’s one thing I look forward to after a long day, it’s drinking your tea. You really know how to brew them damn good,” I say before taking another sip, relaxing in a vacant chair in our reserved room that’s surrounded by a [Soundproof] field so I could speak freely.
“I’m happy to hear you like my tea that much, Mistress,” Roll answers, standing at attention and in waiting for further orders, forcing a smile despite the sweat trailing down her face.
We hear a few more slurps of tea in our room.
“Um … Mistress?”
“Yes, Roll?”
“May I ask who your new friends are?” she asks with a slight shake in her voice.
With us in our room are two more guests sitting next to each other on the bed (there was no place else to sit). One is a woman with limbs, ears, and tail of a jaguar, but the fur color is like an inverse of what one would normally see; black with spots and rings in shades of yellow and brown. Her long wild hair matches her fur both in color and patterns, her skin making up the torso is a light chocolate brown that’s covered by a fitting white tank-top and matching panty. Her posture is thug-like as she drinks tea and eyes the one sitting next to her, a petite girl with pink and white feathered wings folded behind her back. Her limbs resemble a bird’s talons, her straight short hair matches the feathers that start white before turning pink at the tips. The clothes she’s wearing over her healthy light pink skin is a white chemise and matching panty. Unlike the neighbor next to her, the bird girl’s drinking her own tea with great delight and poise.
They’re wearing the bare minimum because those were what I could provide at the last minute for cheap. I am planning on getting them better clothes and gear tomorrow.
“Right, right, introductions,” I say. I gesture my tea cup over to Roll to kick things off. “Guys, this is Roll, my other party member I told you about. Roll, these two are my new familiars. Charcoal Ocelomeh Duchess of Wrath, Ikari [TN: 怒り, literally means hatred], and Sakura Nightingale Duchess of Charity, Kandaiko [寛大幸, means generous fortune].
“EEEH?!”
“Oi, Anego, you sure we can afford to have porky in the group?” Ikari asks. “It’s bad enough I have to work with a pansy from the freakin’ Holy Realm, but I gotta babysit a weakling like her, too?”
“Now, now, Ikari, there’s no need to act hostile,” Kandaiko intervenes before turning to Roll with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance and I’m also grateful for the delicious tea, too, Roll. Would you like one of my feathers?”
“Uh … no thank you. Mistress, I can probably take a few guesses to how your new familiars turned out like this, but is this what you have been doing while you were out? Where did you even do the summoning?”
“In the dungeon.”
“WHAT?!”
“I bought some summoning kits from Obina through the Immortal’s Blessing Shop that lets me do them any place I want, even outside a church. I didn’t know how much of a big deal it would be and few adventurers would go to the dungeon at this time of night. It was the best place to do them without getting a lot of unwanted attention.”
“Whoa whoa, back up, you mean the Obina? The Goddess of Lust?” Ikari asks with widened eyes.
“And since you bought those kits from a special shop that’s only accessible by Champions, that means you are one of them?” Kandaiko follows.
“Bingo.”
“… Fuck, guess how you beat me while in this form makes sense, now … you would definitely make that damn bear beg for mercy, if you wanted to.”
“If you’re talking about the Bear King of Wrath, he’s already submitted himself to another human. He’s following him around as his familiar as we speak.”
“No, shit?! Well, where the fuck is he?!”
“Calm down, or do you want to get your third beat down for the night?”
“… I’m calm.” Just like that, Ikari changes from her thug-like posture to sitting in seiza on the bed.
“Good, and you’ll see him later, just keep your magic auras hidden like I told you to. In the meantime, I want to go over what we’ll be doing within the next week. Roll, more tea, please.”
“Yes, Mistress!”
While I hold my cup out, she takes the kettle and pours my second helping.
“There’s a young man, Jinma Kotori, who’s getting himself and his harem into a lion’s den full of bastards just itching to draw their blood, and these guys are people from the higher point of Shitty Mountain that can easily gather more annoying flies with their god-awful stench they call ‘nobility.’”
“So, you want us to crush some skulls? Now, that’s a plan I can get behind. Just say the word, and I’ll bring them dead in seconds,” Ikari says while punching into her jaguar paw.
“Close, we will only provide backup when they need it. He’s going this far as part of his first quest as an adventurer. I want to see how he fares on his own for now. I’m sure his credibility will plummet if we interfered.”
“So, it’s a trial of sorts,” Kandaiko summarizes while I take another sip.
“Right. Once they finish this quest, they will head to Korangar, which is where we will go, too.”
Roll jolts her head to me. “W-Wait, how did you know that without me …”
“Korangar, huh? Isn’t that where the strongest of demons crash?” [Ikari]
“Not to mention the Demon King.” [Kandaiko]
“And that is why we’re going up there.”
“H-Huh? You mean the Demon King? Why do you want to see her?” [Roll]
“Not ‘her.’ ‘Him.’”
“Wait, is the king a guy or a girl? I don’t get why the position of ‘Demon King’ doesn’t change for whoever stands on it around these parts.” [Ikari]
“The current Demon King is a girl, but the previous Demon King was a boy, and I think he was the current one’s father, but he passed on … wait, Mistress, are you trying to find that Demon King?” [Roll]
“I don’t mean to sound rude, but why would you be looking for someone who’s already dead?” [Kandaiko]
“I’ve been asking around for him ever since I came here, and how they all responded was strange,” I say while looking down on the floor with the teacup in the palm of my hand. “I just have this feeling that he’s responsible for his own ‘death’ and how everyone has remembered him. If there’s anyone who has any remote idea of what really happened, it would be his own daughter.”
“Are you saying that the father is not dead and the daughter’s covering for him?” [Kandaiko]
“It’s just a theory, but if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that that Demon King is still alive, and when I find out where he is …”
KSHAAN!
The tea cup breaks from my hand closing into a trembling fist, eliciting a yelp from Roll and shocking my new familiars silent. I barely restrained myself from letting my magical aura go out of control.
“I’m going to fucking kill that bastard a thousand times over.”
~~
Finally, they settled down. That guy really knows how to stretch out a night of sex. I may have to up my game in training after this.
Using the same method I did with a distracted Mametama, I cast Slothful Slumber in my mind and put the exhausted Erizora, Kalline, and Jinma into a deep sleep. I stand up from my seat, stretch while I’m still only in my tailored white stockings, and got to work. I start off by going to my bag and slipping on my arm-length, magically enchanted black leather gloves.
“[Silence].”
I cast [Silence] toward Jinma’s tanto, Nyra. [Silence] is a null spell that turns the target into a mute. They can still hear their own voice and thoughts, but no one could hear them, not even the mysterious forces that allows us to use skills and cast magic (I know this much from my experimentation). When you’re unable to use skills or magic while in a battlefield, you’d be the first one they target for the kill. Anyone capable of using this null spell would pose a threat to anyone.
I must say, I didn’t think that would work on you. Could it perhaps be from your curse that some spells can still be effective on you? I ask to Nyra through Telepathy.
Yes, Nyra, I’ve been capable of using Telepathy for a while, but I’ve listened your ‘entertaining conversations’ in Jinma’s mind through my rare Mind Read skill since I first got acquainted with you all. Unlike Telepathy, it’s very convenient for one in my position to hear everyone’s thoughts while they can’t hear my own. I got that skill as a reward from clearing a dungeon, you know.
Don’t worry, Jinma will hear you again when [Silence] wears off and I’m not planning anything cruel to you all. I need you to be quiet for now so I can do my work, though. If you’ll excuse me.
I walk to the head of the bed and pull Nyra out from under the pillows before unsheathing the blade.
Wondering why I’m not getting affected by your curse? These gloves I’m wearing have magic resistant properties, blocking effects from most Black and White Enchantment effects. Pretty cool, right? Not to brag, but I may resist your curse without the gloves, but one must be careful, and I can’t give myself to Jinma under the influence of lust just yet.
I do a quick appraisal with Nyra in my hand before approaching Jinma’s sleeping body. I squat down and pick up his hand that has a few scars. I was extra attentive to his body while giving him my special treatment earlier. I burned every detail of his physique in my mind; it was the same when I watched his sexy show with the girls I fingered my sopping wet pussy to. Even when fully clothed, I can guess where most of his scars are by now.
I shudder with unease as I recall them, and I have an excruciating pain in my chest for what I’m about to do.
“Sorry about this …” I whisper before taking Nyra’s blade and draw along one of the scar lines on his hand. I’m aware how sharp blade-type weapons made of Chaos Metal can be, but seeing how it can easily cut through Jinma’s god-like defenses makes me wonder if all of the Immortal Blessed Weapons in history were forged with this ore.
The line I drew on Jinma’s hand quickly turns red before beads of the same color form on top. I take a small glass vial out from my [Storage] and draw out more of his blood to drip down to the container. Once I have enough, I put a cork on the vial and clean up the rest of Jinma’s blood before casting Heal on the wound.
It’s just like he said. No matter how much I put into Heal, this scar will never fade away … I’m sorry, Jinma. I will pay you back dearly at a later time. I place a kiss on that scar as I made that vow.
With the vial full of Jinma’s blood sample, I cast [Portal] to open a small hole, stuck the container through, and let the one on the other side take it out of my hand. I heard her praise, “good work,” before pulling my hand back and close the [Portal].
I’ve finished my part in this mission, so I quickly [Clean] the evidence of my involvement with these events while waiting for the results. I grip the sheathed Nyra tightly in my hand, anxious for what may turn out.
My emotions have overturned my judgement many times throughout most of this day. From the moment I first met Jinma face-to-face this morning, to tonight that I shared with him and some of his girls, and a lot of other things in between. In all these years, I trained myself to repress those very emotions. It’s a wonder how I had even lived with myself up to this point.
No matter how much my heart wanted something to be true, though, I have to face the facts, the truth that lies within the reality of this cruel, chaotic world. Whatever outcome it turns out to be, I promised to myself and Jinma that I would make things right. I owe that much for putting up this imperfect front that’s been inconveniencing him.
A few minutes pass and feelings of great joy suddenly swell up in my heart, enough that I bawl grossly on the spot, just as I had, if not more than how I was this morning. My large tears drip to the floor and even on Nyra’s scabbard.
“Finally. After all of this time, I have finally …” I cry in a whisper.
Though I can’t hear Nyra in my mind, I must feel how confused she is right now from holding her. “The fuck is going on here?” I could imagine her saying that. I couldn’t help but chuckle between my cries at the thought.
“Sorry, sorry. I just didn’t think this day would turn out so well, better than what I had dreamed,” I say while wiping the tears from my eyes. I calm myself down, hold up Nyra, and imagine I’m staring her in the eyes with determination as I smile and tighten my fist. “I know this may be hard to understand, but there’s no need to worry. I will do my best to keep Jinma alive. I’m on your guys’ side.
“This is not the right time and place, but I will reveal everything to you and Jinma in due time. For now, I will need you to sleep.”
I cast Slothful Slumber once more on Nyra. [Silence] should have worn off some time ago, but the lack of rebellion told me the sleep spell had worked. With that, I hold an open palm towards the tanto and concentrated carefully on what I want.
“[Suppress]. You will forget what has happened within the last 7 minutes here. And then, [Implant]. When you wake up, you will learn that in order to get your true body back, you will need Jinma to get the Sorcerer class, learn the Black Enchantment skill, and max its mastery to use at its full potential.”
With this, even for Nyra being the expert in Psyche Magic she is, she won’t be able to release the seal I put on her memories so easily with the [Suppress] null spell. Meanwhile, after getting some idea of what to do from appraising the tanto, I use the [Implant] null spell to ingrain new knowledge in her mind. I may not know how long it’s been since someone trapped Nyra in the tanto, but I want to give her a choice to get her body back, and using the Black Enchantment skill, the same one used to curse Nyra in the first place, is the only way to do it.
It’s the least I could do after inconveniencing one of the few people who helped protect my cherished one up to this point.
Oh, but for the record, she wishes she could use my ‘boingy-boingy bosom’ as her tanto holder. These melons will be for his use only.
Once I finished my work for tonight, I put Nyra back under the pillow where I found it, put away my arm gloves, and get ready for bed. I set up a spare blanket and pillow for Kalline’s use after putting Erizora’s and Jinma’s sleeping bodies on the bed and under the covers (despite their sizes compared to mine, this feat was easy for one of my strength). All of their bodies are a mess with dried juices and semen. It would be a hell of a cleanup job for this inn’s housekeeping in the morning.
I put a sleeping Mametama on top of Jinma’s body for the finishing touch before I turn out the lights and scooch under the covers by the man of the hour, still only in my white stockings (my feet get cold easily). I giggle lightly when I realize what positions we are in.
“I hope … no, I will make sure we’ll have more opportunities to sleep like this,” I whisper as I pet Jinma’s short black hair with a dopey smile on my face. I then scooch even closer so I could pull his face towards my bare, generous cleavage, making sure he sleeps pleasant dreams from smelling the high-quality soap I used to wash my body earlier. I close my eyes, embracing the warmth shared between us. I think back to the words I whispered as I kissed each of Jinma’s scars during my treatment, after he mentioned how lucky a guy would be to have me as his mate.
“I’ll make sure that you will be so much more.”
As my memory draws to Jinma’s scars, I question what people would even leave him in such a state, what I would do to them for harming him. My thoughts and feelings grow dark and heavy, especially when I think back to Jinma’s approaching enemies.
Perseus Shallowreed Rowling and Konjiro. I’ve met and spoke with both of them on some occasions, and with the help of my Mind Read skill, it didn’t take me long to see how low they were as scum, much less than nobles. They have been on my black list for a while, but I only have so much resources to investigate them thoroughly when I’m trying to dig some dirt on one person in particular. A certain ‘duke’ who has had a lot of deplorable things about me in his mind for a while, and it is just recently as I read Konjiro’s mind earlier that I found this duke is the one pulling the strings of this whole mess … no, that’s being too generous. This is only a small piece of trash in the rancid landfill of his schemes. I just haven’t found the evidence damning enough to remove him of his position up to now.
And it will be Jinma, a complete outsider in all of this, who may play an unexpectedly big enough disturbance in his plans to have everyone under his authority aim the lives of this very unlucky man and his harem. That damn duke doesn’t realize what he’s about to do will make him more unfortunate than even Jinma.
I slowly open my eyes to be half-lidded. Though the room is dark as pitch, I’m sure anyone would see my eyes becoming black and brilliant gold right now. Even in my near-naked state in bed with Jinma against my chest, I imagine glaring down that damn duke in front of me.
To get my cherished pulled into this mess, you have finally sealed your fate, Vask. Under my authority as the Demon King, I will see to your demise … personally.
Orange_Rain If you want support my work and see exclusive content, please check out my subscribestar by clicking on the button below.
