Chapter 16: Second Round - 6
Chapter 16: Second Round - 6
"What do I want? First...."
Jiha pretended to mull it over, then laid out what he'd already decided.
"First, I'll rest today. After that, I set the rotation. When I fight, what number match I go into—I decide all of it. You just take down the notes."
"......."
This was a non-negotiable starting point.
When Enril raised no objection, Jiha moved on to the next demand.
"Second, limited freedom. Make it so I can move around freely inside the city of Waris."
"That would only draw more attention...."
"I'm not saying I'll go out every day. I'm asking you to tacitly allow me to drop your name like I did today."
Enril's brow furrowed.
"If you go around throwing my name around and cause an incident...."
"Don't state the obvious. If I get tangled up in some mess and end up disposed of, you'd be the only one benefiting."
This negotiation was a secret pact to secure privileges that defied social rules. If it ever came to light, Jiha would gain nothing from it either.
He needed to squeeze every ounce of authority out of Enril while keeping the fact of the negotiation itself a secret.
"I'm just saying I'll get some air. Oh, and keep in mind I might bring another Common along with me."
"What?"
"I'll manage them myself. If some other bastard causes trouble, I'm the one with the headache."
"......."
Enril reluctantly nodded.
"Is that all?"
"And accommodations. The barracks are a bit uncomfortable, so I'll sleep here now and then. Set aside a room for me."
"What?"
Strong resistance flooded Enril's face.
He was telling her he'd be entering her personal space.
"What if someone gets the wrong idea from you coming and going as you please?"
"Then we just make sure no one sees. That maid doesn't seem like the loose-lipped type either."
"......."
"Only occasionally."
When Jiha pressed the point, Enril nodded with genuine reluctance.
She clearly hated this more than the first two conditions.
'This will also keep her from moving too freely.'
The guy she can't stand might one day suddenly show up at her house and crash there.
It was a clause aimed at psychological pressure.
'She'll be conscious of the fact that I can drop in whenever, and that'll guide her actions. And if I don't come, she'll let her guard down again. Ironically, there's a psychological trap where she'll feel grateful that I didn't show up.'
It was a good way to keep Enril suitably cowed.
"What's next?"
Enril asked, weariness creeping into her voice.
This situation, where she had to listen one-sidedly not because of strength or rank, but because of circumstance, was profoundly alien to her.
"Beyond that, we just act normal. Don't blatantly avoid me, and don't try to quit being my supervisor. And don't make excuses to send a Succubus in your place."
"......."
"This one's for your sake."
Enril's face screamed that she thought he was full of shit, but Jiha meant it.
"You want someone else to find out something happened between us?"
"......."
"Don't let it show. To avoid suspicion, you have to act like you always do."
Enril grimaced but soon saw the logic.
Enril, who'd remained his supervisor even through his streak of losses, suddenly putting distance between them? People might find that odd.
"Those are my conditions, roughly...."
He needed a chance to meet the Succubus Yura again, but that wasn't something Enril could arrange.
Well, she could, but things would get complicated.
It'd be better to approach Yura through other channels.
Enril, apparently thinking the negotiation was over, sighed in relief. Jiha tossed his next words out casually.
"Now, how about we discuss your conditions?"
"......What?"
"This is a negotiation, right?"
Jiha spread his hands, perfectly relaxed.
"Surely you didn't think I was just unilaterally threatening you? That's a serious misunderstanding."
"......."
"I came here to find a way for us to get along."
As Jiha put on his slick act, a fresh wave of fury washed over Enril's face.
From her perspective, she was being toyed with by a worm less than an insect, and now forced to negotiate on equal footing.
'I'll take a little wind out of her sails.'
Enril hating him was unavoidable.
A suddenly inverted power dynamic—it'd be strange to accept it immediately.
So he'd let her delude herself into thinking this was a negotiation, not a one-sided shakedown.
All to stop Enril from acting recklessly out of desperation.
"Go on, say it."
This negotiation was unilaterally in Jiha's favor.
There was almost nothing Enril could extract from him.
When the weak grow strong, they can plunder the former strong. But what can a rich man take from a beggar?
Enril's voice was icy.
"Drop dead."
"Everyone dies someday."
"Die sooner rather than later. As miserably as possible."
"Not sure I can grant that wish."
Jiha answered her emotional outburst with a glib remark.
Enril barely suppressed her surging anger and got to the point.
"The events of that night must never leak out. The moment I hear about it... I won't let you live."
"That goes without saying."
A shackle around the black panther's neck.
The day it came off, she'd kill him. It wouldn't be strange if she then killed herself.
"......."
Enril thought harder, her expression growing irritated.
She was only now realizing she had nothing she could demand from Jiha.
He'd called it a negotiation, but it was entirely one-sided.
After a long pause, Enril hesitated, then spoke.
"From now on... don't ever lay a hand on my body again."
"Are you sure you didn't mishear a request to lay hands on you?"
"I thought I said I'd kill you if you ran your mouth one more time."
At Enril's murderous tone, Jiha shook his head.
"Ah, I can't agree to that one."
"What?"
Enril stared at him with a face mixing shock, contempt, and a more obscure emotion.
Before, she would have shown only extreme disgust, as if looking at an insect.
Now, her gaze was the kind you'd give an animal in heat.
She was jumping to the conclusion that this animal who didn't know his place couldn't forget that night and wanted to bed her again.
Jiha spoke nonchalantly.
"You don't actually think I'm so head-over-heels for your body that I'm losing sleep and bucking my hips, do you?"
"......If that's not it, then?"
Struck precisely where it hurt, Enril looked intensely displeased.
Jiha spread his hands slightly.
"You rewarded me for the win, remember? So as my supervisor, you should offer your body."
"......What?"
His logic was that since he'd won against Baujing, Enril had to yield her body.
Just like last night.
Enril was stupefied, but she still leveled her sword at him.
"That was a one-time thing. And above all... I have no memory of offering my body to you! You used foul trickery and violated me!"
"You're making excuses, when you ended up loving it and clinging to me midway through."
"......."
Enril shot to her feet, her face livid.
"Losing an arm won't kill you. No, I'll just cut off your lower half entirely."
"Have you forgotten pledging on a Dark Elf's honor to embrace me anytime? And yet this is how you act the second time around."
"......."
Jiha also slowly rose from the sofa.
Enril, having drawn her sword, glared at him with icy eyes.
Her stance was like a venomous snake poised to strike, ready to leap at him the moment he took a single step closer.
Even if she couldn't kill Jiha, she was fully intent on severing a limb or two.
"Huu...."
But Jiha only smiled, utterly at ease.
The old Enril would have attacked first without a word.
Even now, Enril was physically stronger than Jiha.
But what happened last time—submitting to Jiha, clinging to him—bound her arms and legs.
Coupled with being cornered so thoroughly in today's talks, she was thoroughly cowed.
Her angry face and blazing eyes now were nothing but a desperate show to hide her own weakness.
'I need to pin her down firmly one more time here....'
Enril believed she'd just been ambushed last time, that things would be different in a real fight.
If he smashed through that prepared resistance and pinned her down, she'd never dare defy him again.
Better to just take her.
The moment Jiha made his decision, blood rushed to his lower half.
Enril had been at home, dressed comfortably. A black bra covering her chest, black panties, and a light see-through shirt was all she had on.
'Though she always walks around showing her ass anyway. Maybe next time I'll try it while she's in her combat gear.'
Under Jiha's lustful gaze, Enril unconsciously used her free hand to clutch the front of her shirt closed.
A reaction that starkly displayed the psychological power dynamic at play.
A woman powerful in strength inwardly afraid, while the comparatively weaker man bares his fangs, ready to devour her again.
"If you walk away quietly now, I promise not to hold your nonsense against you...."
She was forcing a strong voice, but the content itself was unlike Enril.
Continuously swayed by Jiha, she had become uncharacteristically passive, cowed by the fear that that night's events might repeat.
Pride made her loath to admit it, so she just put on an angry face.
And a psychological defense mechanism makes the body freeze up.
"You didn't watch my second-round fight, did you?"
"What?"
The instant Enril questioned him, Jiha stepped forward lightly.
At his approach, Enril reflexively thrust her sword forward.
It was an automatic reaction born of tension, aimed at preventing another degrading situation like last time.
But even with her body stiffened, she was a Unique. Her thrust was so fast it was nearly invisible.
The old Jiha would have been helpless against it.
Thwack!
If it hadn't been caught by the Shadow Hand extending from Jiha's shadow.
Enril's attack was fast and powerful, but reflexive, making it overly straightforward.
A sword only cuts or stabs.
Jiha had predicted she'd thoughtlessly stab as he advanced chest-first, and he'd set the trap.
"Wha...."
It was an unforeseen situation. As the Shadow Hand seized her sword arm, Enril looked down, unable to comprehend.
But a Unique was still a Unique. The moment her right arm was caught, she jabbed straight forward with her left fist, charged with Mana.
A reflexive action born of long combat experience.
"Like I said...."
But Jiha had already sidestepped out of the way.
Even her follow-up punch with the free hand had been accounted for in his prediction.
Having dodged Enril's successive attacks and slipped behind her, Jiha opened his mouth without hesitation.
Crunch!
"Agh!"
Blood spurted as Enril's body jerked. Jiha had sunk his fangs into the nape of her neck.
He bit into the sleek brown skin and drank her blood to his heart's content.
The blood flowing into Jiha's mouth was immediately converted into red Mana, soaking in sweetly.
"Nnngh!"
Enril thrashed desperately, but once her back was taken, it was useless. Worse, the Shadow Hand kept holding her arm, hampering her further.
"Kah, ah. Uugh."
The movements meant to pry Jiha off slowly died down.
Suck, suck.
The lurid sound of drinking blood began to echo through the lounge.
"Hngh, hhaa. Ah...."
The ripe brown-skinned woman's body trembled with light spasms.
As he drank, Jiha used one hand to roughly grab and knead Enril's breast. The captured woman panted, unable to push his hand away.
When he tormented the ample mound that was more than a handful, a pained moan escaped her.
"Uh, haang...."
"......."
Once the taste of blood filled his mouth, Jiha coldly pulled away.
As he released her and stepped back, Enril collapsed limply, gasping for breath.
She didn't even seem to have the strength to stand.
"It's less than last time...."
The amount being converted into Mana was noticeably smaller. Jiha realized why.
'Enril hasn't fully recovered since the last time I drank, so any more and she'll die.'
Isn't there a waiting period between blood donations?
Jiha, having understood, turned his gaze back to Enril.
Slumped on the floor, panting in distress, she blinked hazily.
At the edge of her vision lay the sword she had dropped.
Enril strained to reach a hand toward the sword.
Jiha, who had stepped back to watch, called out shortly.
"Enril."
Enril, who had been reaching for the sword, flinched and looked back.
Her cheeks were flushed, and though she fought to hide her excitement, her glistening eyes held a powerful lust.
Seated back on the sofa, Jiha beckoned with a finger.
"Crawl. I'll pet you nice."
Toward the broken Dark Elf, Jiha extended his hand.
As if calling a dog.