Chapter 87: Acquiring Weapons - 3
Chapter 87: Acquiring Weapons - 3
Jiha smiled as he spoke.
"You felt sorry for a guy who kept running his mouth even after being half beaten to death, and that's what caught your eye?"
"N-no, that's not what I—"
"Then what?"
Jiha shifted his hips sideways until he was pressed right up against Yura.
Their shoulders touched and their knees brushed.
From Jiha's angle, the deep valley of her chest was vividly exposed.
A sweet scent.
Inside the pavilion surrounded by all kinds of flowers, Yura's fragrance was especially cloying.
Yura pressed on, embarrassed.
"After that, I found myself thinking about you, and I watched from a distance a few more times. You never yielded to Lady Enril... I thought you were remarkable."
"You sure your eyesight isn't bad? Want me to get you some glasses?"
"I mean it. I... could never do something like that."
Even when Jiha had no power, he was full of venom and grit, thrashing to improve his situation.
Watching from afar, Yura had grown intrigued.
She spoke carefully.
"To be honest, I could have told Lady Enril to stop. I'm a Unique, just like her. But...."
"Ah, that wouldn't have worked. You belong to Cheonho's faction, and Enril belongs to the Queen's faction."
Blue Seal was ruled by two Legends.
Its five Uniques served under different Legends.
Like colleagues in the same company but on different teams, Yura and Enril had always been distant.
For that matter, it had always been ambiguous who held authority over this barracks, Enril or Yura.
Now it was firmly settled under Jiha's control.
Jiha considered this for a moment, then spoke.
"If you'd actually tried to stop Enril, that probably would've caused more problems."
"...You're not angry that I just stood by and watched?"
"You're asking if I resent you for not helping? We weren't exactly close back then."
In truth, Jiha hadn't even known Yura existed at the time.
Yura had no obligation whatsoever to help him.
She spoke tentatively.
"...The way you refused to give up no matter what, the way you kept fighting back—it was dazzling to me. Even Lady Enril eventually stopped lashing out so recklessly."
"...."
That's a peculiar sort of compliment.
Still, Yura had apparently grown interested precisely because of Jiha's assertiveness and aggressive posture.
In all Warsland, there simply were no men who openly defied a Unique.
'Come to think of it, Enril too....'
Enril had also looked down on Jiha as nothing but a groveling subordinate.
But the moment that hierarchy flipped, flustered as she was, she ended up following him anyway.
'Same with Leticia. The women of Warsland, the Uniques, had never encountered a man who stood up to them head-on. So Yura must have found me utterly strange, sneaking glances at me in secret.'
As Jiha sorted his thoughts, Yura spoke cautiously.
"...I wanted to help somehow, but there wasn't really anything I could do. A healer was already treating you. And if I interfered carelessly, it might have caused friction with Lady Enril."
"Don't worry about it. So then?"
"And...."
Yura hesitated.
Jiha searched his memory and spoke.
"Ah, so that's why Okram was the first time we actually met?"
"...Yes."
The match where Jiha obtained vampiric Mana and claimed his first victory in the Summoning War.
That was when they finally faced each other.
But Yura's cheeks flushed red.
"...Back then, your condition was... well. I wondered if maybe I was the cause."
"...."
He'd been erect.
It had happened because his blood had rushed while fantasizing about pinning Enril down, but still.
As Jiha listened silently, Yura's voice grew quieter and slower.
"It was the first time I'd ever actually seen a man in that state, so I was terribly embarrassed and felt awful. And also...."
"Also?"
"...."
Yura lowered her eyes and couldn't continue.
Jiha reached out and covered her hand where it rested demurely on her knee.
"...Ah."
"Also?"
When Jiha pressed again, Yura bowed her head deeply.
"...I was happy."
"Were you?"
"...Yes. I felt guilty, thinking it might be because of me, but even so, I couldn't help feeling a little happy."
Having opened up, Yura continued.
"I wondered if you felt something for me too. I wanted to see your face again, but I worried what might happen if things went wrong...."
"Because it'd be dangerous if the two of us slept together?"
"...."
Yura blushed all the way to the nape of her neck and nodded.
A normal man hit by a succubus's Drain would die.
Jiha himself had barely survived, and only thanks to his vampiric Mana.
"If I grew fond of you, I'd only become a burden, so...."
Yura had nursed feelings for Jiha, felt physically drawn to him, yet believed that getting close was something she must not do.
But in the end, they'd come together.
"...But I was happy."
Squeeze.
Yura tightened her grip on Jiha's hand as she confessed.
"Still, if the other girls found out, it would be difficult. And you already have other people at your side, so... I thought hiding it was the right thing. I thought it would be enough if I could just see you now and then, and please you...."
"You were afraid that if it got out we'd become intimate, they'd come at me from all sides to kill me?"
"...Yes, but once Asira comes to visit, I won't be able to hide it any longer."
Yura had been treating her relationship with Jiha as something limited and secret.
But she'd resigned herself to the fact that Asira's arrival would end it all.
After a moment's thought, Jiha asked.
"Was the reason you didn't tell me about the Drain beforehand because you were scared?"
"...."
Yura hesitated.
Sweet honey. Yura's body could make a man utterly fall for her, but it was poisoned.
She hadn't intended it, but she'd nearly killed Jiha with the Drain, and Yura carried that guilt.
Jiha rhythmically tightened and loosened his grip on her hand as he pressed the point again.
"You know a man who sleeps with you dies. You could've just told me in advance."
"That's...."
"But you were scared that if you did, I'd keep my distance?"
"...I'm sorry."
Yura spoke in a small voice.
"I meant to explain properly and go back to just watching you from afar, but... strangely, whenever I see you, my heart races and I can't get my words out. Even though I knew it was wrong, I just couldn't open my mouth."
"...."
Confessing that you're poisoned honey is never easy.
Especially to a man you've set your heart on.
Now that they'd overcome the Drain, an even bigger obstacle named Asira was waiting.
"So, after all that agonizing, your conclusion was to tell me to run away?"
"...."
"If I ran off and set up house with some other woman, then what? You'd spend the rest of your life in a lonely, empty bed and die in solitude?"
It wasn't complete subordination yet, but by now Yura could find no pleasure at night with anyone but Jiha.
As Yura remained silent, Jiha asked quietly.
"Can you live without seeing me?"
"...."
Flutter.
Yura trembled.
He'd sensed it before: Yura held a deep affection for Jiha, the love of a woman.
Her own circumstances had simply kept her from expressing it honestly.
When he recalled how she'd once waited with a towel after his shower, carefully drying him off, it all became perfectly clear.
Jiha spoke calmly.
"If things are complicated, explain them step by step. I'll listen, and then I'll sort it out."
"Ah, you can't. Asira would never back down...."
"Then you help me."
"...."
Yura bit her lip hard.
The woman she'd grown up with—she looked as if she couldn't even imagine defying her.
All the more so because they weren't related by blood.
'This sort of thing doesn't get resolved right away. Even if a decision is made, it can change. So then....'
He wouldn't persuade her with words.
Having made up his mind, Jiha spoke.
"Fine, I understand. Let's do it your way."
"...Excuse me?"
"However...."
Jiha tilted his head toward Yura.
Realizing he was about to kiss her, Yura flinched in surprise and turned her head away.
"...You can't, Jiha."
"Why?"
"That's...."
"A kiss doesn't complete the subordination, does it?"
The reason Yura was avoiding Jiha now was to prevent the condition for complete subordination—spending a third night together.
But a kiss didn't count toward that.
Yura blushed and hesitated.
"W-well, but still...."
"It doesn't, right?"
Jiha coaxed her, tilting his head again.
Yura was shy and hesitant, but Jiha leaned in and closed the distance.
"Ah...."
Mwah.
The moment their lips met, Yura flinched and froze.
"Haaaah...."
As their lips lingered there, lightly touching, Yura's parted slightly.
A sweet breath washed over him.
When he opened his mouth in response, Yura kissed him as if she'd been waiting for just that.
"Nn, nngh. Mmmm."
Smack. Smack. Smack.
As if a dam had burst, once it started, Yura kissed Jiha with fierce passion.
When Jiha stayed still, as if caught off guard, she slipped out her tongue and began lapping at his lips.
"Haaa, mmnn...."
Like a cat tasting sweet honey with its tongue, the succubus's tongue kept licking and licking Jiha's lips, and then—
Schluurp. Sllurp.
She captured his lips and sucked.
"Nngh, mmnn."
While Yura let out melting moans and sucked at his lips, Jiha quietly slid a hand downward.
His hand slipped inside Yura's clothing.
Grab.
The moment he squeezed her enormous breast, Yura flinched and pulled her head back.
"Ah, you can't, Jiha."
"What's wrong with touching your chest?"
"Th-that's...."
Knead, knead.
His hand lewdly groped her breast beneath her clothes.
Jiha pressed his forehead to hers, stared straight into her eyes, and spread his fingers wide, resting them lightly on her breast before gradually applying pressure and gripping.
Boing.
He released it, then kneaded again.
"Ah, ngh...."
As he deliberately, obscenely groped her breast, Yura whimpered and squirmed.
Mwah.
But when Jiha kissed her, she trembled briefly and kissed him back.
"Haa, ahn...."
As if her body had caught fire, Yura grew hot, wrapped both arms around Jiha's neck, and let out moans.
"Nn, nngh. J-just the chest. You have to stop there. No more than that...."
"Really?"
Sliiide.
Jiha used both hands to pull down her top.
With a boing, her immense breasts spilled out as if exploding free.
Jiha took the massive, obscene mounds in each hand and kneaded them firmly.
"Ahn, haaaugh."
Seeming to enjoy the way he groped her far too much, Yura trembled, caught Jiha's tongue between her lips, and sucked it with wet sounds.
Then she released it and thrust her own tongue into Jiha's mouth.
Swiiish.
Her tongue roamed inside his mouth, teasing his teeth.
While their tongues tangled thickly and stickily together, Jiha kept roughly kneading Yura's breasts with his palms.
He was the only one who could toy with those massive, heavy udders, suck them, and bite them.
"Nngh, haa."
Mwah. Schloooourp.
Yura let out a moan as they kissed long and deep, then Jiha pulled his lips away.
When Jiha abruptly retreated, Yura's face filled with regret and she tried to kiss him again.
But Jiha opened his mouth wide, making sure she saw.
"Ah...."
It was a declaration: from now on, he would suck, bite, and ravage her breasts.
Her face showed fear, yet her heart was racing.
If anything, she pushed her waist forward slightly, making it easier for him to latch on.
If words wouldn't convince her, he'd make her body agree.