Chapter 247 Kill and Take -14
Chapter 247 Kill and Take -14
With the situation resolved, Jiha summoned Uben and his men into the inn.
"Move the two bodies to the barracks, then examine them thoroughly. Look for anything suspicious."
Quority had grown strong overnight, and Heinrich had his own share of oddities.
He needed to understand Ouroboros's methods.
"Understood."
"And the deception?"
"Alex probably still has no idea what happened. But hiding it until tomorrow morning would be hard. A few hours at most."
Jiha thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Then I'll spend a few days here at the inn with Barjet. Alex will fall for the illusion that I'm about to join Ouroboros. We'll buy a few more days by making him think I'm deeply infatuated with Barjet, whom I finally managed to get my hands on. It'll only be three or four days, but it's better than nothing."
"Understood. I'll reinforce the escort guards around the inn. Shall I bring over the documents from the office?"
"Just bring yesterday's reports and set up a makeshift workspace. I'll handle my business from here for a few days."
After giving Uben his orders, Jiha moved on.
Now for the next matter.
Barjet's bedroom.
It was a single-occupancy room, nothing particularly lavish about it.
The only furniture was a wardrobe, a chair for one, and a table.
Seated on the bed, Barjet sprang to her feet, startled, as Jiha entered.
She had changed into a spare black robe of a similar design.
Wearing a hesitant expression, she tried to hide her face by pulling her pointed hat down further.
"Why haven't you taken it off?"
"...Excuse me? Huh?"
Startled, Barjet gripped her staff tightly.
Not that it mattered, since the aphrodisiac prevented her from doing anything with it.
Jiha tsked.
"I said take off that hat so I can see your face. Is this how you talk to people?"
"It's a witch's tradition..."
"Should I make you a tradition where you have to walk around stark naked?"
"W-why would you say something so insane so brazenly!"
Jiha merely stared at her in silence, and Barjet, though hesitant, removed her hat.
But she didn't put it down, holding it in both hands to cover her chest, clearly on high alert, afraid Jiha might do something lewd again.
Jiha ignored this and looked over her attire.
"Why do you keep wearing something so completely unfashionable? Is that another tradition?"
When he first saw her, her clothes had been subtly revealing at the chest, with side slits—a reasonably stylish and alluring outfit...
Now she was just a black sack.
"W-what's the point of me wearing anything nice?"
"It kills the fun of taking it off."
"...St-stay away!"
Barjet hastily retreated into a corner of the room.
Regardless, Jiha sat on the bed and leisurely shook out his hands.
"Stay away. Don't touch. Don't suck. Don't put it in. Don't move. Is that the full list of complaints you've got?"
"..."
"Ah, I guess there's one more. Don't do it inside."
At his crude mockery, Barjet took a moment to process the meaning, then flushed bright red.
"I-I am a witch! What you're saying right now is nothing short of an insult to every witch alive!"
"I thought I was just calling you stupid?"
"W-witches travel the land solving all manner of problems. We hold little political power, but many people are indebted to witches. And yet you're doing this..."
"Do you handle horny dicks too?"
"..."
Barjet was speechless.
'The Bugra drug's effect is weaker than I thought. Taigirl said she weakened it out of fear when she made it. Is that why?'
Of course, Barjet still couldn't use Mana, but her level of arousal from the aphrodisiac wasn't that high.
While the flush on her cheeks suggested she was secretly excited, it wasn't to a convulsive degree.
"What you just said is an insult to all the witches of Warsland..."
"Just take off your clothes."
Jiha dismissed Barjet's plaintive protest.
"Keep your promise."
"Th-there's no need for me to undress."
"If you don't take them off, I'll rip them off."
If Jiha exerted brute force or Mana, forcing himself on Barjet would be trivial.
But if possible, Jiha wanted to make this woman useful. If he just wanted to enjoy her body, there was no need to keep her around at all.
'Ah, well, she certainly has a body that would stir any man, but...'
Hidden beneath that unfashionable black sack, she possessed an incredibly voluptuous and fleshy figure.
Barjet hesitated, then carefully laid down a condition.
"J-just so we're clear, nothing above the chest."
"Let me guess. You can't transfer Mana unless you're a virgin?"
"..."
A look of pure shock crossed Barjet's face.
Jiha stated calmly,
"You can transfer your Mana to others. That's why Heinrich and those bastards were after you."
"What are you..."
"While we're on the subject, can you transfer it to a man?"
"That's preposterous. The Mana witches inherit requires a matching soul wavelength. And if the recipient isn't suitable, even transferring a tiny amount will overwhelm and kill them."
As Jiha stared at her, Barjet protested her innocence.
"If I could just give it to anyone, do you think I'd have gone through all this trouble? No, do you think the other Uniques and Legends would have left me alone?"
Barjet had a point.
This wasn't a secret only Jiha knew; the Legends would undoubtedly be aware of it too.
The reason they left the witches alone was because Mana transfer was possible only under extremely limited and specific conditions.
'Bugra disrupts something called the Mana wavelength. Heinrich must have modified his body so he could absorb Barjet's Mana while she was under its influence.'
He'd felt it from the start: Heinrich didn't carry the scent of someone who had grown strong through steady effort.
He was better than Quority, but that guy was a balloon too.
Someone of Kamain's caliber wouldn't just fall from the sky every day, anyway.
'Just like Quority was made strong overnight, they did something similar to Heinrich. They modified his body so he could accept a witch's Mana.'
In that case, Jiha couldn't take Barjet's Mana, and he had no need for it.
He was already continuing to accumulate Mana by sucking the blood of other Uniques.
But if it could fall into enemy hands, he had to prevent that.
"If you stay a virgin, all sorts of bastards will keep coming at you to take your Mana."
"Th-that's for me to handle myself."
Jiha stared at Barjet as she mustered her courage to assert herself.
"Well, we'll see right now if that's doable. Take it off and come here."
"..."
"You going to break your promise?"
As Jiha smirked, Barjet bit down hard on her lower lip.
Hearing the story, it was clear Heinrich hadn't had a sudden change of heart; he'd approached her with this goal from the very beginning.
Now she was utterly isolated, unable to grasp who to trust or suspect.
"...F-fine, I'll keep it. So just grant me one request."
"Left and right, I'll lick them clean without skipping a spot."
"Who would ask for something like that?!"
"You think you're in a position to make requests?"
Jiha's unwavering confidence made Barjet swallow dryly.
Even if her Mana returned, could she truly handle Jiha?
She had absolutely no confidence.
Barjet, who tried to avoid hurting people, and Jiha, who lopped off heads without a second thought, were on entirely different levels.
"You... you still have to accept my deal."
"I've told you three times to strip."
Jiha spoke quietly.
"Do I sound like I'm playing around right now?"
"..."
Barjet froze as Jiha's demeanor shifted.
Jiha glared at her.
It was interesting to see Barjet, whom he'd pegged as a parrot, talking back.
Cornered and terrified as she was, her attempt to negotiate despite everything was almost admirable.
But he couldn't let her get cocky.
"I've spelled everything out from the start, and now, when it's time to wrap things up, you're flapping your gums to waste time. Go ahead and keep it up."
"..."
Barjet hesitated, then with trembling hands, took off her robe top.
Even this simple act of disrobing took a considerable amount of time.
Jiha watched her undress, humiliated yet compliant, without blinking an eye.
She had to learn who was above and who was below...
"...Hey."
Seeing her smooth abdomen and the purple underwear hugging her large breasts, Jiha buried his face in his hands.
"...I told you to wear something pretty, not to wrap yourself in a burlap sack."
Any pretense of cold composure evaporated into a sigh of lament.
"No pattern, no embroidery, a gaudy, washed-out purple color that's totally tacky, and not even a hint of exposure. Just a thoughtless covering. You call this underwear? Even kids wouldn't wear this. Ah, seriously..."
It was genuinely disappointing underwear.
Even a soldier on a hundred-day leave would lose all interest if his girlfriend was wearing something like this.
Truthfully, most men don't pay much attention to women's underwear, but Jiha was one to notice.
Taking notice and paying a compliment on her choice of underwear was a simple way to make a woman happy.
It was a high-efficiency, low-investment move. No reason to pass it up...
"Ah, seriously. The more you strip, the more you disappoint. That's a talent."
"What?! I-I'm serious!"
Barjet, who had finally worked up the nerve to undress, was now on the verge of tears after Jiha's deep sigh.
She felt something inside her break as a woman.
Jiha looked at Barjet with genuine pity.
"You put on a sack, and underneath, you've got another sack. Truly... even a granny in bloomers would dress better than you."
"Th-there was no choice! There aren't that many underwear options in my size!"
"And you call that an excuse? It's so pitiful even I feel miserable, so just stop..."
Jiha looked at Barjet and heaved a deep sigh.
He'd never imagined she'd wear something even dowdier than the bra he'd torn off earlier.
But for a witch, Barjet's appearance was exemplary.
Witches guarded their chastity for life, wandering alone.
Contact with men was forbidden; they owned no possessions and considered a life of honest poverty a virtue.
"You probably thought you'd never have to show yourself to a man, so you just wore those hideous things."
Jiha rose from the bed.
Barjet still hadn't grasped the situation.
No matter what, she thought, surely Jiha wouldn't touch her, a Unique witch.
Why on earth did she think that?
As Jiha approached, Barjet reflexively backed away. But in the cramped room, she quickly hit a wall.
"You think I'm a good guy, don't you?"
"...What?"
"You think I'm just trying to scare you right now, right? That even though my words and actions are violent, it's all to help you. You think this is all an act too."
"..."
"You're thinking, 'He wouldn't actually go through with it. At most, he'll just touch my chest and be done with it.' Isn't that right?"
At Jiha's words, the color slowly drained from Barjet's face.
Deep down, that was exactly what she had been thinking.
Since it was true that Jiha had helped her, she believed that despite his rudeness and violence, he harbored goodwill toward her.
Jiha sighed and then tore Barjet's bra off roughly.
Riiip!
"I'm telling you again: from now on, wear pretty things. So taking them off is enjoyable."
"Ah..."
Barjet quickly covered her breasts with both arms.
They were so large that she wasn't very successful, but she desperately tried to hide her bare upper body, even hunching her shoulders. Jiha spoke calmly,
"Your body is attractive, but your underwear kills the mood. If this happens again, I'll actually be angry."
"A-again...?"
Barjet looked up at Jiha in disbelief.
Jiha placed a hand on the wall, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
"Since we skipped the 'don't come closer' part, it's time for 'don't touch,' isn't it?"
"Uh..."
At the man's breath on her ear, Barjet flinched and bowed her head.
"I'll skip that too, so say 'don't suck.'"
"What are you..."
Barjet reflexively tried to cover her chest even more, but that wasn't Jiha's target.
Jiha opened his mouth.
Thunk.
Sharp canines burrowed into the woman's neck.