Chapter 299 Independence -28
Chapter 299 Independence -28
"Huff. Huff."
Shlick. Shlick. Shliiick.
Pressing down on Gashiel's armpits as he took her, Jiha's breathing quickened and his hips grew rougher.
It had started as a bit of play, but the longer he indulged in that tight, plush cylinder of her armpit, the dizzier his head became until the fire caught on its own.
He squeezed Gashiel's breasts from the sides to draw even more pleasant stimulation, and his fingers kneaded the soft flesh before teasingly flicking at her nipples.
"Ah, ha, ah...."
Gashiel, who had been lying there vacantly, let a dazed sound slip from her lips before hastily shutting her mouth.
As if she ought not be making such noises so early in the morning.
Jiha found his hand moving of its own accord to trace the elegant beauty of Gashiel's face.
She had flinched back in shame when his man's hand stroked her forehead, her cheeks, her jaw—but as his fingers brushed her lips she froze in startlement.
"Wai— ha, ah...."
Jiha had been caressing those lips, feeling the warmth of her breath against his touch, and then slipped a finger inside.
The soft tongue and the neat line of her teeth. Gashiel's body went rigid with surprise.
"Mmm, nnnh...."
He rubbed himself against the woman's armpits, kneaded her breasts, and enjoyed the sensation of his finger sliding in and out between her lips.
It was arousing how Gashiel, for all her scolding, looked so flustered yet kept still and let him do as he pleased.
"......."
She was even putting a little strength into her arm, tightening the pressure around his shaft—in her own way trying to help him.
The urge to climax surged up without warning.
"Nngh."
Having thrust in and pulled back with abandon, Jiha grabbed the angel's soft breasts tight and shuddered.
Splurt! Bliiirrrt! Psshhhhrrtt!!
"Ah, a-ah! Ah?!"
"Stay still...."
The moment Jiha came against her armpits, Gashiel gave a start and tried to flee.
Having anticipated that, Jiha tightened his grip on her breasts to hold her in place and spent himself again.
Psshhhhrrtt!!!
"......Wh, what is."
As Jiha came an obscene amount against her armpits, then again, splattering onto the bedding and the floor, Gashiel brought up her palm in alarm as if to block it.
The way one might press on a bleeding wound to staunch it.
It was sheer reflex at seeing a man climax for the first time.
"Ugh, nnh."
But Gashiel's soft hand pressing down firmly against his glans was a stimulus that doubled Jiha's pleasure.
Squiiiish.
Her fine palm pressed down on the sticky-slick swollen head of his cock and rubbed it with a tickling friction.
She had not meant to, but it became a caress urging him to give her more—and his shaft throbbed even harder in response.
Psshhhhrrtt!! Splrrt!
"Ngh, nngh."
He spent himself messily over Gashiel's fingers and palm as she tried to hold him back.
Even with her palm coated in his semen, Gashiel only looked at a loss—not the least bit disgusted.
If anything, she was scrutinizing Jiha's complexion as if worried this might be a health problem.
"Nngh."
The worried look on this haughty yet good-hearted angelic young lady's face was a strange turn-on.
Blrrrrrt!!
Thoroughly aroused, Jiha pumped out another load, lost in the feel of her armpit clamping around his shaft and the pleasure of her soft palm pressing firmly down on the head.
"Huff, huff...."
He took his time and came as much as he wanted.
As Jiha let out a heavy breath, Gashiel carefully turned her head back toward him.
"......Are you all right?"
"A little tired."
"Then lie down and rest. Or should I call a healer?"
Her hands still coated with his semen, she grew flustered.
Jiha laughed at the absurdity of it.
"Forget it. Use Purification."
"......Is it all right to...? Is this not the seed of a child?"
Gashiel was puzzling over whether she was permitted to dispose of Jiha's semen so casually.
She must have received some kind of sexual education, but she had taken it far too literally.
"I've got plenty. Use it."
Only after Jiha pressed her again did Gashiel use Purification to clean her body.
An unexpectedly entertaining woman. He felt like playing with her a bit longer, but...
"I have business this afternoon, so get ready. You need to be on the platform too for the picture to work."
"Excuse me?"
"You've been lazing around the whole time I was frozen in ice. Time to work."
Jiha rose from the bed.
Morning.
After a light breakfast, Jiha received Uben's report.
"Nothing out of the ordinary overnight, Commander."
"Any word from Enril and Leticia?"
The elves and dark elves must have already moved according to their own plans to occupy the surrounding cities.
The fastest method of communication in Waris was the messenger dove—no news had arrived yet.
"Contact will come by tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest."
"......."
When Jiha offered no response, Uben looked puzzled.
"Is something troubling you? Both of them are Uniques, so there should be no problem."
"Those two...."
Jiha started to speak, then let it drop.
For now, there was nothing to do but wait for word.
'If you measure only individual combat power, they're both strong... but they're no soldiers. And this is a military operation. Something could go sideways anywhere.'
The most soldier-like Unique under Jiha's command was Asira. She was competent as an instructor, and she performed her role as a front-line commander and general without a hitch.
That was why Jiha had placed her in charge of seizing Waris.
"Are the people gathering?"
"Yes, we deployed agitators to spread the rumors. We let it leak that there will be an official announcement this afternoon regarding the great event of last night... and even though it is still morning, the crowd has surpassed sixty thousand. At this rate, we expect close to a hundred thousand to gather in the plaza."
"What about Jutem?"
Alex's confidant, the eagle beastman, was nowhere to be seen.
"According to the household staff, he departed a few days ago. They do not know his destination."
"......."
Off to report to Ouroboros, perhaps?
At any rate, they would meet again before long.
Uben added,
"We have reinforced the security of Waris—no one has slipped out. Lowchen is likely treating his wounds somewhere inside the city. Shall we conduct a search?"
Jiha thought for a moment.
Pairan's ability to detect Shade's presence had a range limit.
They could turn the city inside out by releasing his subordinates and the security officers, but...
"That would only agitate the civilians further. Tell the security forces not to respond recklessly even if they spot him. If he tries to slip out, tell them to let him go."
"Are you sure? He is certainly dangerous."
"He's not just a threat to me."
From Ouroboros's perspective, Lowchen had opposed Alex—and Alex was dead as a result.
He had no leg to stand on if they treated him as a traitor to the organization.
'Either way, leaving him be for a while should yield a bigger harvest.'
Uben nodded.
"Understood. Any further orders?"
"Report when the crowd exceeds a hundred thousand. I will go out then. Have everyone remain at their posts and stand by."
"Yes."
"Also...."
Jiha thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Summon Narsha, Barjet, Gashiel, and Pairan."
He needed to settle things for certain before he stood before the crowd.
"Ah—summon Gashiel five minutes earlier than the others."
Gashiel appeared in the reception room in full armor.
With a sword belted at her hip, she was ready for battle at any moment.
Her expression was that of someone who had no idea what to say to the man she had spent such a night with.
Jiha got straight to business.
"As of today, I am declaring independence. Cooperate."
"You intend to stage a rebellion right now?"
Gashiel, who had known nothing of the circumstances until now, looked visibly shocked.
Jiha answered calmly.
"I was never your subordinate in the first place, so it isn't a rebellion. I'm going to walk my own path."
"That is far too much bluster for a human male of Normal Grade. What qualifications or power could you possibly possess to dare harbor such an ambition?"
"Wasn't saving you proof enough?"
Jiha presented the evidence.
"Killing Alex should have been enough to prove my ability."
"......Even if you possess strength, that does not prove you are qualified. What justice, what ideology do you hold that leads you to break free from Blue Seal and Purple Liberation and walk an independent path?"
Gashiel demanded sternly.
It grated on the ears, but it was exactly the question that everyone in the world was going to throw at Jiha now.
Jiha had power. He had brains. But people would not follow him for that alone. Well—he might be able to command a handful.
But if he tried to rule through brute force alone, he would end up nothing more than a bandit chief.
A nation consists of sovereignty, territory, and a people. Sovereignty and territory could be won by fighting as Jiha had been doing.
But the last element, the people—?
A ruler must possess a clear vision. A vision to draw people in, to make them into a nation.
"At least some rallying cry about turning this whole fucked-up world on its head...."
At Jiha's muttered monologue, Gashiel cast him a displeased look.
"Please refrain from using vulgar language. It is unpleasant."
"Do I have to watch my tongue around you?"
"Yes."
"......."
Jiha was fascinated.
Was she so lofty a celestial that she simply did not understand fear? Yet Gashiel spoke with perfect self-possession.
"Even a bond forced upon me cannot be helped. I must take responsibility."
"What responsibility?"
Jiha was still asking when the door opened without a knock and Narsha walked in.
It hadn't even been five minutes since his talk with Gashiel, but seeing her enter already suggested she had arrived early, ready to wait.
Narsha took one look at Gashiel and scowled.
"What's this, Remaker? Why are you here?"
"This is my house."
"I wasn't asking you, Purple."
Narsha was irritable, but once she knew Jiha had summoned them, she said no more. Still, she did not bother to hide the displeasure on her face.
'Her personality is a real piece of work, too.'
Jiha tsked inwardly at Narsha.
Narsha was impossibly high-handed, but that did not mean the other Uniques had pleasant personalities either.
Enril was fiercely prideful and ruthless; Leticia was savage, vicious, and an open racial supremacist.
'The pleasant ones are about Yura and Asira? Pairan is blunt and can't hold back her emotions. Barjet is a weirdo....'
The Uniques had all been tamed; they only obeyed Jiha now. But every last one of them had a temper.
Gashiel frowned at Narsha's attitude.
"You are excessively rude for a guest. Dirga."
"It's Narsha. Idiot. Even if we're from different factions, memorize the names of the Uniques at least."
"......."
Gashiel sighed, then directed her words toward Jiha.
"Is the reason you harbor such vain ambition because you put your faith in one such unruly chit as this?"
"Hey. What did you just say?"
Narsha instantly pulled out her whip.
Gashiel, acting as if she could not hear her at all, kept her gaze fixed solely on Jiha.
"Answer me. Human male of Normal Grade. If you are nursing such a foolish notion, you had best abandon it now. If it is a matter of returning this situation to its original state, I will cooperate with you to the best of my ability."
"......Wow, is she insane."
Narsha, who had been working up a rage, let her mouth fall open.
To speak so insolently to Jiha—when not only Narsha but all the other Uniques walked on eggshells around him?
Even that venomous Enril Woniak dared not speak carelessly to Jiha.
Narsha was fully expecting Jiha to smash this presumptuous celestial to pieces.
But Jiha simply rested his chin on his hand and fell quietly into thought.
"Hold on, hold on. Why are you just sitting there? This winged thing is running her mouth like that and you're just taking it?"
Narsha grew even angrier at Jiha's stillness.
Gashiel observed Narsha with bemusement.
"What are you saying right now, Dirga? Don't tell me you are afraid of that human male of Normal Grade?"
"......."
Narsha now stepped backward, away from Gashiel, with the expression of someone looking at a certified madwoman.
She had no idea when Jiha might move, and this was her way of self-preservation—making sure she was not caught in the crossfire.
A knock sounded.
Pairan and Barjet entered.
Seeing Narsha standing well back, a perplexed Gashiel, and Jiha sunk in contemplation, they were clearly trying to gauge what had happened.
Once everyone was assembled, Jiha laid out the main point.
"As of today, I am declaring independence. I will walk a separate path belonging to neither Blue Seal nor Purple Liberation. You will all stand on that platform with me."
"What?"
"Excuse me?"
"......."
Narsha, Barjet, and Pairan each wore expressions of shock. Gashiel, having already heard this, was somewhat more composed.
Enril and Leticia were already on the move, leading their respective peoples.
Yura and Asira were moving within Waris according to Jiha's will.
But the Uniques in this room had known nothing of Jiha's grand objective.
Jiha stated it plainly.
"Listen to what I say when I stand upon that platform, then make your decision. Follow me—or, if you absolutely cannot accept it, I will give you the chance to come at me. Either is fine, but I am giving you today. One day."
Narsha immediately spoke up.
"You're gonna bash their heads in, right?"
"Listen and decide. Not now."
"......."
Narsha nodded.
Barjet and Pairan was lost in thought, while Gashiel directed a reproachful gaze at him.
'Using Gashiel to manage the celestials would be convenient. But that's only if Gashiel falls in line beneath me. If she refuses, I'll have to deal with her—and taking her prisoner makes managing a Unique difficult.'
Barjet and Pairan were also following Jiha only conditionally. Whether they would follow him when he declared independence as a third power was still an unknown.
But time was up. He would drag them along. And if that did not work, he would use any means available.
Knock, knock.
Just then, a knock came, and a voice sounded from outside.
It was Uben.
"Commander, they say the crowd has already gathered."
"That was fast."
It was not even noon yet, and already a hundred thousand had assembled.
He had expected it to take another three hours. Far too quick.
It showed how deep an interest the citizens of Waris had in this affair.
Jiha rose from his seat.
"Let's go."
To show the people that a new world had opened.