Chapter 165: Creating an Opportunity - 6
Chapter 165: Creating an Opportunity - 6
Three days slipped by.
Sitting alone on a bench along the barracks tree-lined path, Jiha tsked.
"Still nothing."
Waris was a flourishing city even by Warsland's standards.
Its resident population numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and some said that including the transient population it approached a million.
"Iroha has gone quiet. Uben hasn't said anything. Mayan hasn't reported in either."
Kamain, who had actually used it, would have known the most, but he was a corpse now.
"An aphrodisiac strong enough to incapacitate not just a Super Rare but even a Unique, huh."
As Sirel had said, it was probably conditional, and its effect would defy any price in coin.
'It's like a minor copy of my Vampiric Mana.'
Jiha leaned back and closed his eyes.
With nothing to do but wait for information to arrive, he was unusually idle.
A presence approached, soundless.
"Lord Jiha."
He opened his eyes at the demure voice to find a red-haired succubus seated beside him.
Yura.
A pleased smile spread across her face under Jiha's gaze.
"I'm so happy to see you after so long."
"Yeah, it's been a while."
Yura beamed when he answered with a grin.
"I ran into Asira outside. So... it's all right for me to see you now, isn't it?"
When he had tasked Lijin with watching over Asira, he had also arranged things to keep Yura from meeting her. Yura had apparently taken that and run with it.
"I was afraid that if Asira saw you and me together, she might catch on... so I've been avoiding you all this time."
"So that's how it was."
He'd wondered why he hadn't seen her around lately, but it turned out she'd made her own judgment call.
Yura shifted her hips slightly until their shoulders touched. Her cheeks flushed bashfully, but she still asked carefully.
"...Did you remember me?"
"Of course I wanted to see you."
At his words, Yura let out a relieved sigh. Her expression was genuinely anxious.
When Jiha raised a curious brow, Yura spoke in a cautious tone.
"...You have other people at your side, Lord Jiha. I was really worried you might have forgotten about me."
"How could I ever forget you?"
Jiha deliberately let his gaze roam over Yura's body in an obvious way. Her modest face belied an intensely carnal figure.
The provocatively lush swell of her breasts, in particular, stirred a primal urge to reach out the moment he looked—the kind of breasts that made restraint impossible.
And now that she was completely subordinate to him, she had to yield her body to him any time he desired it.
"......"
Dropping her eyes, Yura blushed deeper beneath his stare. She welcomed his lustful attention and silently begged for more of it.
His mouth watered, but Jiha forced himself to refocus.
'If I get too absorbed in this, the work suffers. I need to be careful.'
All the women Jiha had dealt with gave him a distinctive pleasure when he took them, but Yura, drawing on a succubus's instincts, could perceive exactly what a man was feeling. When she came at him aggressively, she was the hardest to withstand.
Besides, there was nothing wrong with enjoying women—but if you indulged too deeply, you lost the ability to distinguish between major and minor affairs. Right now, Jiha had a clear enemy and problems he needed to resolve.
As if sensing that he had reined himself in, Yura breathed a wistful little sigh.
"Did you succeed in winning over Asira?"
A straightforward question with no hint of jealousy. Jiha answered honestly.
"I did, but she still doesn't know about you and me. I'll handle the timing appropriately."
No matter how saintly a person might be, finding out she had been deceived from the start would provoke anger. He'd deal with it when the right moment came. Then Yura made a cautious suggestion.
"I can help you for certain."
"How?"
Yura's shift from passive and demure to proactive was more intriguing than the topic itself.
"You, me, and Asira... we could sleep together."
"......."
Had the demure Yura really just said that?
She wore a serious expression, as though she had put real thought into it.
"There are things I want to say to her at a time like that. I'm confident I can make her understand."
"Oh?"
Now that he considered it, the idea had its appeal.
Iroha's condition for recruitment had been a threesome with Leticia and Enril. Jiha knew his way around women, but even he had never experienced a threesome.
They called it a man's fantasy and all, but...
'No matter how you looked at it, one against two was a losing battle.'
For Jiha, the bedroom was primarily a place to assert dominance and break someone in. With two women at once, however, even he would be on unfamiliar ground—on a purely physical level, it was easy to get overwhelmed.
After a moment's hesitation, Yura asked delicately:
"Unless... you would rather only do it with her?"
"......."
"I can work hard, too."
Yura's voice trailed off.
Before Jiha could answer, light footsteps approached. Leticia.
"There you are. I've been looking all ov—"
Leticia, who had been walking toward Jiha, scowled the moment she spotted Yura. Open wariness. Under that sharp, piercing stare, Yura looked a little frightened.
"Hello, Lady Leticia."
"...Can't exactly say I'm happy to see you, succubus. I have something to discuss with Jiha, so move."
When Leticia snapped at her with unexpected bite, Yura gave a small bow and began to rise.
Jiha cut it short.
"Stay seated."
"What? But—"
"Tell me what this is about first."
While Yura relaxed, Leticia looked very put out, but she spoke quickly.
"...So, I hear you're investigating that filthy drug? Called Beugrara, or something?"
How had she found out he was investigating the aphrodisiac?
"I heard it from that half-elf. And I might know something."
"You do?"
"Elves are well-versed in herbs. What's more, House Yormun has cultivated medicinal herbs longer than most elf families. I know nearly every apothecary in Waris. A new, extremely potent drug doesn't just drop out of the sky, and there's no way it came from an unknown pharmacist. I already have a suspect in mind—a skilled one."
"Who?"
"...Normally, you wouldn't know him. He stays well hidden. Even people in my family aren't exactly eager to meet him."
When Jiha pressed with his eyes, Leticia answered primly.
"You'll have to come with me. He's had dealings with my family a few times. And if I'm not the one asking, he won't agree to meet you anyway."
After rattling that off, Leticia glanced down at Yura and gave a disdainful little sniff.
She was acting oddly smug about it.
"Fine. Let's go."
"Not now. It will have to be at night."
Listening to this, Yura spoke up carefully.
"Um, Lord Jiha? I'd like to come with you."
"Why are you butting in, succubus? This is information I dug up."
"Because I want to work hard for your sake, Lord Jiha."
Yura looked at Leticia and spoke clearly.
"Isn't it the same for you, Lady Leticia? Lord Jiha likes women who are useful to him."
"......."
Leticia glared at Yura with angry eyes and bit her lip. Then she turned to Jiha.
"...What are you going to do?"
"We don't know how things will play out, so she comes with us."
Yura showing initiative wasn't a bad thing in any case.
At Jiha's decision, Leticia reluctantly nodded.
"...Fine. I'll see you this evening."
Once Leticia had turned and walked away, Yura spoke composedly.
"Lady Leticia likes you too, Lord Jiha."
It seemed Yura had a sharp sense for such things.
She gazed at Jiha's profile for a moment, then looped her arm around his.
"Even so, I won't give way. I've resolved not to lose even to Asira."
"I look forward to it."
Jiha answered with a grin.
Late night.
Following Leticia's lead, Jiha and Yura slipped out of the barracks. Leticia had drawn a hooded cloak over herself to conceal her face.
"Elves always wear those at the drop of a hat. Is there some kind of bulk order?"
"It's military issue."
"......."
Those things were field jackets?
Jiha was at a loss for words as Leticia strode ahead without breaking stride. Her long legs carried her forward at impressive speed.
After winding through a maze of seedy back alleys, they arrived at a shop without a sign.
Removing her hood, Leticia tapped lightly on the door.
"Taigirl, I know you're in there."
Clack.
The door opened, and a dwarf man poked his head out. He stared blankly at Leticia, then ran his tongue greedily over his lips.
"Finally decided to spread your legs for me, have you?"
"......"
Leticia kicked the dwarf squarely. He hurtled backward with a shriek, and a crash of breaking furniture echoed from inside.
Leticia sighed and looked back at Jiha and Yura.
"You see? He's a lunatic, so brace yourself."
"A crazy bastard of the manly variety. Or a manly sort of crazy bastard."
Jiha offered his assessment and stepped into the shop.
The interior was thick with the acrid smell of herbs. Bottles of various medicinal plants lined the shelves, and potted trees and grasses occupied one corner.
"Gwhaaak!"
The dwarf, who had been thrashing among the wreckage, popped back up.
Shards of glass were embedded all over his face, leaving him a bloody mess, but utterly undaunted, he bellowed robustly:
"What'd you come looking for me for if you're not going to spread your legs? Why'd you get my hopes up?"
"Wow. He's insane."
Jiha tsked in disbelief.
Even coated in blood, the bastard's spirit was undimmed. If he was this reckless with a Unique like Leticia, how did he treat other women?
It was a miracle he was still alive in Warsland.
Sure, Jiha himself sometimes unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse, but it was almost always calculated to provoke or manipulate. This dwarf, Taigirl, simply said whatever came into his head.
"What? Insane? Bullshit, I'm not crazy—the world is! Isn't it normal to get hard seeing a beauty like her? So I'm a dwarf and she's an elf? That doesn't stop my erection!"
"......."
"No one can stop my erection!"
Taigirl thrust his conspicuously tented trousers forward with pride.
Leticia sighed and kicked him in the gut once more.
"Gwhaaaaak!!"
Sent flying into the wall, Taigirl's tongue lolled out as he sprawled limply across the floor. True to dwarf sturdiness, he didn't seem to be dead, but he was bleeding in several places—a serious injury. Jiha was somewhere between staggered and fascinated.
"What the hell is that? Dwarves are like that?"
"...He's special. Being in Waris is basically exile for him, but his skill as an apothecary is outstanding."
"How is he still alive?"
Anyone who ran their mouth like that ought to end up dead. He was the kind who wouldn't have lasted long even back on Earth, let alone in Warsland. Leticia shook her head.
"He's a... prince of the dwarves."
Jiha expressed his heartfelt condolences.
"So the dwarves are screwed, huh?"
Amen.