Chapter 84: Dominating the Market - 11
Chapter 84: Dominating the Market - 11
Late night.
Enril's residence.
In the hallway, a cute woman bared her teeth at Jiha.
Grrrr.
Not a metaphor—a genuine, throaty threat.
On her head sat dog ears, and a fluffy tail escaped from her maid uniform. She was a Dog Beastman.
Mayan, Enril's close aide.
"How exactly did the young lady end up in a place like that?"
"Why are you asking me? Ask Enril directly."
"......"
Mayan had worked through double and triple layers of secrecy to quietly extract Enril from the pleasure district without a whisper of rumor.
Decent operational skill.
But Mayan was suspicious—had Jiha done something?
Jiha grinned.
"Why? Worried I might've done something to Enril while she was only wearing a gown?"
"If by any remote chance you laid a hand on the young lady..."
Mayan produced a dagger in a flash.
A blade as thick as a forearm slid out with unnerving naturalness. She wore a maid uniform and performed a maid's duties, but Mayan was combat-capable.
One step above Rare, a Super Rare.
To Jiha, it was laughable.
Enril had long since ceased to be a virgin, and he had tamed her ages ago... yet this maid had no idea.
'So Enril kept it hidden. Well, revealing it wouldn't have done her much good. She didn't even let a hint slip to her own maid?'
After surrendering to Jiha, caught in such a bewildering situation, most would have confided in someone close and sought counsel.
Enril had suppressed it tightly.
Refusing to show weakness.
Truly, unbelievably proud.
That was exactly why he liked her.
When Jiha smiled, Mayan's brows furrowed with displeasure.
"Do you think I can't stop you?"
"I get it, so back off."
"What..."
"If I'd wanted to bang Enril, would I have called you? I'd have stayed there all day doing it."
"......"
Mayan's face flushed scarlet.
Massive shock—she had never imagined a human existed who would speak such vulgar trash to a Unique.
Jiha cut it short.
"When Enril wakes up, ask her what I did. That'll settle it, won't it?"
"......"
"If I'd meant to harm Enril in the first place, I'd have done it long ago. Move."
"I will accompany you."
Jiha might try something untoward with Enril—Mayan spoke with unshakable loyalty, but Jiha just laughed.
"Hey, come to think of it, aren't I your benefactor? The young lady you serve passed out in a dangerous back alley, and I thought of her honor and reputation and discreetly got her back to you. Shouldn't you be bowing to me a hundred times right now, thanking me?"
"...Mm."
"I said I'm just checking on her face, so why do you keep butting in? Like I said, if I meant to do something, I wouldn't have called you."
Mayan's expression became deeply troubled.
Leaving the nearly unconscious Enril alone in a room with an unrelated man like Jiha was insane.
Yet Jiha's argument was perfectly logical.
Moreover, if private matters were being discussed between high-ranking people, it wasn't Mayan's place to dare interrupt.
"...I will wait in the hallway. Please refrain from any inappropriate thoughts."
"Not just thoughts, I'll be acting on them too. What are you going to do about it?"
"......"
Mayan gritted her teeth and glared at Jiha.
A cute puppy growling meant nothing but an easy meal to Jiha.
Enril's bedroom.
A place he had visited before.
The same room where Jiha had first conquered Enril.
"......"
After a brief glance around the room, Jiha looked down at the bed.
The silver-haired dark elf, Enril, lay sleeping soundly, oblivious to the world.
On her side, having apparently turned over in her sleep.
Jiggle.
Jiha sat on the bed and gazed down at her.
She looked exquisitely beautiful while sleeping.
"She really... is beautiful."
Even now, Enril was a peerless beauty.
Not merely pretty, but beautiful enough to intimidate an ordinary man into shrinking back.
Nor was it just her face.
Jiha peeled the blanket back.
The white see-through shirt had ridden up, revealing a sublime curve that ran from a seductive thigh all the way to a voluminous backside.
"......"
Tap, tap.
Jiha lightly patted Enril's rear as he fell into thought.
'Does the liquor Iroha provided really have such a strong sleeping effect? No, it doesn't make sense that a drug would work on a Unique... I understand that ordinary alcohol and drugs can be purged by calling up Mana. Was there some variable?'
In any case, if the drug worked even on Uniques, the entire situation changed.
In Warsland, a Unique was a type of strategic weapon—simply stationing one at a key point could suppress enemy provocations.
Fighting a pitched battle against an enemy Unique was far too cost-inefficient.
"Not immediate..."
Delayed onset.
Enril had fallen asleep only after being intimate with Jiha and then feeling fatigued.
Meaning, time had to pass after ingestion before the drug took effect.
'Even so, if Enril had sensed anything unusual, she would have instantly stirred her Mana and purged it. She was too distracted by what we were doing to notice her body's abnormality until it was too late. That's why Iroha said Enril trusted me and let her guard down...'
Lost in thought, Jiha fixed his eyes on Enril's face.
"Enril."
He reached out as he called her name.
A fine jawline, soft cheeks.
Even her straight, delicate brows.
Exquisite beauty.
"......"
Looking down at her stirred complicated feelings.
Memories of humiliating days suddenly resurfaced.
To Jiha, Enril had once been a target of fury and vengeance.
How many times had this woman scorned him?
From the very start, she'd struck him, and every chance she got, he'd suffered all manner of insults and beatings.
Now the hierarchy had completely reversed.
"......"
At the same time, Jiha felt drawn to this dark elf.
More haughty and prideful than anyone, a peerless beauty.
A gorgeous face matched with a slender yet voluptuous figure.
A woman whose face and body would make any man harden the instant he saw her—yet a thorny rose none had ever dared to reach for.
Having taken such a woman, having her pinned beneath him and gasping, brought a man's satisfaction.
And a sense of achievement at having done it.
"......"
And gradually, he'd grown attached.
When Enril grew obedient, when she initiated a kiss, it had looked cute.
Even lovable.
"......"
He had been so distracted by a woman he'd nearly wrecked his plans and gotten himself killed.
As he looked down at Enril, thinking of the past and what they'd done so fiercely in the bathroom earlier.
Before he knew it, he was hard again.
Painfully stiff inside his pants.
"Mm."
They'd already done it before coming here.
This was too much stamina to blame on youth alone.
Jiha hesitated, but his gaze shifted sideways.
"......"
Enril was sleeping, oblivious.
But would anything really be different if she were awake?
She was a woman who couldn't refuse if he climbed on top of her.
Having made up his mind, Jiha leaned in.
"...Nn."
Consciousness returned abruptly.
Enril blinked blankly before quickly collecting herself.
Even with eyes just opened, she assessed the situation in an instant.
This was her home.
Her bedroom.
And a hand was groping her thigh, pressing against her backside.
Slap.
Reflexively, Enril grabbed the hand—and then froze.
"......"
Her memory was fragmented, but she recalled being in the bathroom with Jiha.
And mindlessly entwining their bodies until she'd nodded off drowsily.
"...W-wait a moment."
"......"
Only one person could be touching her like this in her bedroom.
Jiha.
Had Jiha actually come to her house?
No, judging by the circumstances, Jiha must have moved her here himself.
And even after that, he still wasn't satisfied?
"If Mayan finds out..."
Even if they did it, he should at least be careful.
Enril lifted her upper body and turned to look, then froze solid.
The Dog Beastman, Mayan, stood there with her eyes wide as saucers.
"What would I find out, young lady?"
"...What were you doing?"
Even through her shock and alarm, Enril's composure held.
Mayan answered with crisp formality.
"While you were sleeping, your nightclothes had become disheveled, so I was straightening them."
"......"
So in her drowsiness, she'd naturally assumed the hand touching her was Jiha's, and reacted accordingly—only to find she'd been completely mistaken?
Flustered, Enril nodded.
Mayan then smoothly straightened Enril's shirt and stepped back.
Enril pressed her forehead and asked.
"What happened?"
"A human man called Jiha summoned me, and I escorted you back."
"...And?"
Was Jiha still here?
But Mayan's answer diverged from expectation.
"He left a short while ago. I wondered if perhaps he had done something improper..."
"...No."
Catching on to Mayan's concern, Enril shook her head.
Seizing the opening, she added.
"If something like this happens again, don't stop him."
"Pardon? Are you saying I should let that fellow cross the threshold of your bedroom as he pleases?"
"......"
Was that what it amounted to?
She had meant something else, but hearing Mayan neatly summarize it made things awkward.
Mayan spoke decisively.
"I apologize, young lady, but if a human male like that comes and goes freely, unsavory rumors may attach themselves to you as well. You are still chaste, and if some strange misunderstanding were to arise..."
"It's not your concern."
"Yes, understood."
Once Enril cut it short, Mayan fell silent.
It seemed almost harsh, but this was always how it was between them.
Mayan assumed the one she served, a person of high status, had private circumstances, and she kept her own conduct and thoughts in check.
Enril pressed her head and sighed.
"...Yes. Right."
"It's late, but shall I prepare a meal?"
"No, never mind. And..."
Enril suddenly asked.
"As I mentioned before, has one room been kept empty?"
"Yes. It has been cleaned and maintained so a guest may stay."
"...Fine. You may go."
"Yes, please call for me if you need anything."
Mayan bowed her head and withdrew.
A look of worry lingered in her eyes.
Enril's state was clearly abnormal in several ways. Though concerned, since Enril refused to speak, Mayan would not press further.
She knew her mistress's proud nature.
"......"
Sitting on the bed, Enril pulled her knees to her chest and sighed.
Jiha had just left without a word.
Coldly.
"......"
Cold?
It was an odd expression to use, but that was how it felt.
"What the..."
Since he'd come all the way to her house, she'd wanted to tell him to stay.
Enril was flustered by her own thought, but that was genuinely how she felt.
The fact that he'd just left after finishing his business stung with disappointment and regret.
"......"
After craving her so intensely back then.
Now that his lust was sated, it was simply over?
Her emotions tangled into a confused knot.
Once, she'd been anxious and restless, wondering if he would ever come to her house.
Now her feelings were hurt because he'd left.
"How on earth did I..."
How had it come to this?
Enril sighed as she absently touched the bedsheet, then stopped.
A strand of hair lay on the spot beside where she'd been lying.
Black hair.
Enril's was silver and Mayan's was brown—it didn't belong in this bedroom.
Jiha's color.
"......"
Jiha had entered her bedroom and sat beside her.
The touch she'd felt in her sleep.
She'd thought it was Mayan, but it hadn't been.
Jiha had watched over her for a while, then left.
"......"
Enril's expression grew complicated as she placed the strand of hair on her palm.
A mingling of emotions.
"If you came..."
He could have at least told her he was leaving.
A disappointment and regret she couldn't quite put into words.
And yet, strangely.
It was a night where something deep inside her heart felt unusually buoyant.