Chapter 244 Kill and Take -11
Chapter 244 Kill and Take -11
Heinrich's face was caught between a smile and fury.
The smile came from the joy that the Bugra had finally taken effect, and that he could somehow pin the blame on Jiha.
The fury was pure rage that another man had laid hands on a woman he had invested so much time in.
"Thanks, but your face says you want to kill me while your mouth stays polite. You've come this far—how about a little honesty?"
"I apologize for failing to protect you. Lady Barjet, I will dispose of this wretch immediately and then see to your condition."
Behind him, Barjet hugged her own body, trembling uncontrollably.
The flush on her cheeks and the surging purple Mana had vanished as if washed away.
The Bugra's effects had been triggered.
Seeing this, Heinrich swung his sword at Jiha.
Now, if he could just deal with Jiha, everything would unfold as he wished.
"What makes you think you can take your eyes off me?"
Jiha sneered, launching his Shadow Hand and sword strike simultaneously.
He targeted Heinrich's lower body with the Shadow Hand and his upper body with the blade.
A simultaneous attack from above and below. Normally enough to make anyone fumble and panic, but Heinrich calmly dodged the blade while slicing at the Shadow Hand, pulling his body clear.
He clearly had some skill.
Standing with his back to Barjet, Heinrich shouted indignantly.
"As long as I stand here, no one will lay a finger on Lady Barjet! You can rest easy!"
"Right—because you're planning to be the one to lay hands on her."
"The scum who used a vile drug has a lot to say. I've been holding back with my sword so far, but sparing trash like you would only bring more sin into this world!"
"That's what he says. What do you think, Barjet?"
Jiha asked her directly.
Barjet, struggling to suppress her heated body, shot Jiha a look of fear and reproach.
How could the man who had just been toying with her speak so calmly now?
"Don't you think that if I'd wanted to rape you, I could have torn your clothes off a moment ago? Or simply subdued you and taken you somewhere else?"
"......."
Jiha had actually subdued Barjet with a Checkmate, holding her life in his hands.
Yet he had withdrawn his Mana and handed the initiative back to her.
Unable to bear it, she had impulsively flared her own Mana, which only left her body trembling, heat surging through her, and her vision swimming.
Barjet forced her voice out.
"Y-you did something strange to me!"
"You came just from your tits? Well, anyone can see you're lewd."
"......."
Barjet's mouth opened and closed wordlessly.
Heinrich bristled, flourishing his sword.
"The price for mocking Lady Barjet will be paid with your life."
"Sure. I'll just go home then."
When Jiha lowered his sword arm, Heinrich's mask-like composure finally hardened.
"......What?"
"I said I'm going home. You two have a nice life."
"......."
It wasn't just words. When Jiha actually sheathed his sword, Heinrich was genuinely flustered.
This was a situation that called for a decisive fight, and he couldn't fathom what Jiha was thinking by acting like this.
"Oh, and as an apology, let me say this. Barjet, I happen to have the antidote for the aphrodisiac you took right here."
Jiha pulled a medicine case from his coat and opened it for her to see.
Heinrich's face wavered at the sight of a pill identical in shape to the Bugra before he quickly composed himself.
What Jiha showed him wasn't a real antidote, but a fake Bugra he'd had Taigirl make.
But its authenticity didn't matter.
After all.......
"This would make you better. Catch."
As he spoke, Jiha tossed the case to Barjet. She instinctively raised both arms to catch it.......
Crack!!
Heinrich's swinging sword cleaved the case and the pill in two.
Because all he needed was for Heinrich to fall for it.
"......."
The moment Heinrich destroyed the supposed antidote Jiha had offered, Barjet's face stiffened involuntarily.
Heinrich quickly made an excuse.
"That was also a trap. How could you possibly trust anything that bastard says?"
"W-wait a minute. Heinrich. Still, there was no reason to just destroy it without a second thought."
"......It was a trap."
"What are you, a parrot? Is everything my trap? Why? Are Barjet's perky tits my trap too? Is your tiny dick my trap as well?"
Barjet frowned and snapped.
"You—even the way you talk is so—!"
"Use your head for once. When exactly did I have the chance to slip you a drug? Did you see me do it?"
Barjet reflexively shook her head.
Heinrich blurted out without thinking.
"......You hired someone to do it."
"I hired someone to secretly drug a Unique? What kind of lunatic would agree to that?"
Of course, Jiha had plenty of loyal subordinates who would jump into the fire for him, but common sense said otherwise.
"Alright, so I hired someone who didn't even know you were a Unique to dose you with a secretly developed aphrodisiac? Then I sent that elf to attack you? I took you hostage in the chaos, then helpfully informed you that you'd been drugged? Then I even made you use your Mana to confirm it? And on top of that, I tossed you the antidote?"
"......."
Barjet's expression hardened.
Thinking it over, it was as strange as Jiha said.
"Would I have gone through all this trouble just to grope your tits a little? Ah, well, they did feel nice. I'll give you that."
"......You, you really—!"
Barjet let out a shriek even as she tried to suppress her agitation.
But Jiha actually preferred that reaction.
At least she wasn't a parrot.
Even as she seethed, much of the hostility had faded from the way Barjet looked at Jiha.
She was still angry about being crudely molested, but now that she thought about it, hadn't Jiha backed down despite being able to inflict far greater harm?
As Barjet fell into thought, Heinrich's voice grew anxious.
"......It's all a ploy to win your favor, Lady Barjet."
"If it's my ploy or my trap, does that excuse everything? What exactly am I after? Aside from her big tits, what's so great about that witch?"
"He was after your Mana......."
Got him.
Jiha laughed inwardly as he spoke.
"After her Mana? What's that supposed to mean?"
"......."
Heinrich's face froze.
The truth was, even Heinrich knew his words were flimsy and objectively didn't make sense.
In trying to pin a plausible motive on Jiha by any means necessary, he had blurted out information he truly needed to keep hidden.
"......Heinrich?"
Barjet called out, puzzled.
The idea that a witch could transfer all her Mana to another human female and make her a witch was not a widely known story...... but no secret was absolute in this world.
Through some set of circumstances, Heinrich could have learned of it.
But it was his reaction.
Seeing Heinrich's stiff, shocked expression at his own slip, Barjet grew suspicious.
She began to think the man before her might not be the man she'd always believed him to be.
Furthermore, the claim that everything was Jiha's trap didn't hold up objectively. Layering those points together led to a single conclusion.......
Barjet and Heinrich's eyes met.
"......."
Cold-faced, he looked like a complete stranger, and in that moment, Barjet was terrified.
The instant familiarity vanished from her face and was replaced by fear, Heinrich lunged at Barjet like lightning, subduing her from behind.
Drugged with Bugra, unable to muster her Mana, and taken by surprise, Barjet was held utterly helpless.
"Don't move."
"Who are you talking to?"
With her arm twisted behind her back and held fast, Barjet forced her voice out.
"Ha, Heinrich. What on earth is this......."
"Hey, you got betrayed. You're about to get raped now."
"Huh?"
Barjet's face filled with terror at Jiha's calm statement.
Deep in her heart, her intuition screamed that everything Jiha had said so far had been correct.
Which meant what he was saying now must be the truth!
As Barjet tried to look back, Heinrich tightened his grip on her twisted arm, stopping her.
"Ah, it hurts. Ngh......."
Physically weaker than an ordinary woman, Barjet groaned in pain.
But Heinrich's cold face didn't so much as twitch.
Having completely subdued Barjet, he only glared at Jiha.
Jiha, still with his sword sheathed, spoke leisurely.
"So, are you going to drop your pants and start the rape sequence now? And then I just cut your throat while you're distracted?"
"If you come any closer, the woman dies."
"Yeah, kill her."
As Jiha approached without a care, Heinrich flinched and stepped back.
"Agh!!"
Forcibly dragged backward with her arm twisted, Barjet cried out in agony but shot a reproachful glare at Jiha.
"A-aren't you going to save me!?"
"Hey, are you seriously asking me to save you?"
"......."
Barjet shut her mouth, perhaps feeling a shred of shame.
It had been a reflexive cry of pain, but wasn't it far too shameless?
Jiha had warned her all along that Heinrich wasn't what he seemed and had just bluntly warned her about the aphrodisiac.
"N-no. So you're just going to leave me to die?"
Having seemingly accepted that Heinrich had turned on her and wasn't the person she thought, Barjet spoke urgently.
Heinrich, also seemingly flustered, pressed his Knife to Barjet's throat and threatened her.
"......I'm serious."
At the astonishing scene of both the hostage-taker and the hostage threatening him together, Jiha laughed.
"I'll kill the guy, but what's the girl going to give me?"
"......Wh-what do you want?"
"You should be the one to offer that. If I like it, I'll help. If not, I won't care whether you die or not—I'll just end this."
Of course, Jiha also thought it better to keep Barjet alive and tame her if possible.
Getting his hands on a Purple Unique would weaken Purple's power by that much and strengthen Jiha's forces.
But that was only if Barjet proved useful.
If she was useless, or worse, liable to become a hindrance, was there any point in going to the trouble of recruiting her?
'Even a great stat sheet is worthless if you can't utilize it properly.'
Though Jiha's words were sly, Barjet trembled when she realized his face was calm and his eyes were utterly cold.
The Jiha before her eyes was more terrifying than Heinrich, who stood restraining her with her arm twisted behind her back.
It felt unjust to Barjet, but...... looking back now that Heinrich had shown his true colors, everything Jiha had said was right, and he had genuinely tried to help her.
His words and actions were just so violent and laced with sexual harassment that she hadn't been able to accept it properly.
Jiha had told her from the beginning not to trust Heinrich, and he had been right.
"......Ugh."
"If you don't decide soon, I'll either go home or just kill the man. Either way, your throat gets cut."
Not knowing what to do, Barjet bit her lower lip.
"I'll, I'll let you touch my chest."
"......."
Jiha laughed in disbelief.
Barjet snapped back angrily.
"What! You've been going on and on about my chest since we first met! And you just groped them however you wanted a moment ago! I'm telling you, once this is over, I'm going to sue you! You're looking at prison time!"
"Hey, you're a hostage right now. You should be a little more scared."
"......."
Even Heinrich seemed dumbfounded, the blade of the Knife against Barjet's throat wavering.
But Barjet only grew angrier.
"So what am I supposed to do! I already cried it all out earlier!"
So you've just decided to hell with it all?
He had pegged her for a passive parrot, but after being pushed past her limit by constant stress, she had finally exploded into a state of reckless abandon.
"I'm an idiot fool who ended up like this because I trusted a man. So if you help me, I'll, I'll let you touch my chest just once!"
"This time, I'm going to suck them."
"......."
Barjet stared at Jiha, her face a mask of shock.
Jiha made a show of licking his lips in a lewd gesture.
Barjet sharply turned her head away, as if she'd seen something disgusting. The sudden motion brought the Knife blade against her neck, making her flinch and cry out.
"Oh my god! Help me, quick!"
"I'm going to grope your huge tits with my hands, suck them as much as I want, and bite them hard. How about that?"
"......Fine, I said fine, so just help me already!!"
As Barjet pleaded, Jiha smirked.
Now that Heinrich was out of the picture, wasn't something unexpectedly decent revealing itself?
She was worth saving.
Heinrich, irritated by the exchange that ignored him, tightened his grip on the Knife as Jiha's gaze fell upon him.
It was a threat that Barjet's life was forfeit if things went wrong. Jiha asked leisurely.
"You've got one arm restraining the woman and the other holding a Knife to her throat...... what are you going to block with if I attack?"
"If you attack me......."
"What if I just ignore you, whether she lives or dies? Looks to me like you were after Barjet's Mana, but I'm not interested in that."
Barjet looked at Jiha as if she'd been scammed.
"We had a deal!"
"I did try to help, but if you die, I'll just suck a corpse's tits. Deal over."
"You're, you're insane! You pervert! Even if I die, I'll sue you!"
Barjet wasn't just shouting; she thrashed to break free, only stopping when Heinrich squeezed harder.
Heinrich looked back and forth between Barjet and Jiha with a troubled expression.
He clearly hadn't expected Barjet to act this way.
"Ah, you're dead."
Jiha spoke while looking at the end of the hallway, but Heinrich, thinking it was a bluff, didn't turn around.
But Quority was getting up.
Despite its throat being cut, it was somehow regenerating and moving. It seemed it had taken time to recover, perhaps because a fatal wound was hard to heal instantly.
Step.
The sound of Quority's footsteps right after it stood up made Heinrich's face waver.
The moment he flinched and tried to turn, Jiha, who had been preparing for this even before Quority took its step, rushed in.
It was time to clean up.