Chapter 4 : Tag (2)
Chapter 4 : Tag (2)
Deltain did not make excuses.
This was because, even in his own estimation, it was a rather fatal mistake.
After all, this was a game that had never been easy even once, and he had been arrogant enough to think he'd cleared the main story, so it was something he definitely needed to reflect on.
However, there was one fortunate thing amidst all this.
Agnes had been infected because of him, and he had only just realized it, but that was the extent of it.
Every mistake made until now was a mistake that was 'still fixable' for Deltain.
"So, wait. The Devil's Temptation disappears once you kill the demon that is its source. Until then, Kaltara will be in charge of your escort."
Deltain said that while facing Agnes.
Agnes asked.
She was not smiling as she usually did.
"And you?"
"I'm going to go catch the demon. I've roughly calculated the path of my infection, and it seems it started from the day we went to the underground waterway. If you calculate the time from when you were infected to the incubation period and the eventual outbreak, that fits."
"Isn't it dangerous? You said you were tempted too."
"Strictly speaking, I'm a carrier. A carrier who doesn't show symptoms. No matter how much the seed of temptation is inside me, it can't harm me. Because I don't leave any gaps in my heart."
No, that wasn't actually true.
The fact that Deltain himself thought he had shown weakness to her temptation recently was definitely due to the influence of the temptation.
However, since it wasn't to a dramatic degree, he was just counting it as having no influence.
"And from now on, even the tiniest possibility of temptation will disappear. Now that I've recognized the temptation, I won't leave any gaps in my heart even more so."
This was true.
Deltain was not such a sloppy person as to be swayed by emotions when he already knew the cause.
"So, stay put. I'll finish everything by next week at the latest."
Deltain said that and tried to get up from his seat.
In an instant, Agnes grabbed Deltain's collar.
"Deltain. I'm anxious."
"It's the influence of the temptation."
"I know, but even knowing that, I'm anxious."
"Because you have no resistance to temptation."
Deltain sighed.
This appearance was not like Agnes at all.
'...Should I reassure her a little?'
The reason the Emotion-Amplifying Temptation was dangerous was clear.
It was because it burned even the smallest spark of emotion to the extreme, making one do things they wouldn't do rationally.
Would it explain it if I said that 'suicide' was an example of such actions?
Deltain sat back down.
"Exactly 20 minutes. I'll give you that much time. Go ahead and vent."
Agnes closed her mouth at those words and continued her thoughts.
She knew that the reason she was acting like this now was because of the Devil's Temptation.
She knew that it would be fine once Deltain defeated the demon.
However, that wasn't the problem.
"This is a temptation that amplifies emotions, right? It doesn't create emotions that aren't there."
"So what?"
"I thought that maybe I had been anxious from before."
"Everyone gets anxious."
"I'm not."
Agnes was still expressionless.
"I am not anxious about anything. Not even my own death."
Agnes was like that.
She was a woman who had never feared her own death in her entire life.
There was one reason: fear was ultimately an emotion that came from a craving for life, and that craving for life came from emotion.
Until she met Deltain, Agnes had never experienced emotions of such high intensity.
Furthermore, even the emotion that had surfaced now was not in the form of craving her own life.
Agnes was still indifferent to her own life.
That was why this anxiety was frightening.
Deltain let out a dry laugh at Agnes's words.
"That's something you naturally don't need to be anxious about. Because I will save you no matter what."
Flinch-.
Agnes's body trembled.
She was thinking of Kaltara's words again.
-The Boss is persistent. And he always wins with that persistence.
Thump.
Thump.
Her heart was beating irregularly.
"Hey, your expression is getting weird again. Are you sure you're okay?"
Deltain frowned and reached out.
His hand touched Agnes's neck.
His face drew closer.
Agnes stared at Deltain's gold eyes, which were being etched into her mind more clearly.
Then, a strange phenomenon occurred.
Thump.
Thump.
The irregularly beating heart changed.
No, the beats were slowing down.
Agnes felt her heart being squeezed tight.
She felt her breath becoming hot.
This was a reaction Agnes had never experienced in her life.
Her thoughts became hazy.
Agnes was flustered by this and tried to hold onto her sanity.
But it wasn't going as she wanted.
"...Hey. You."
Deltain's voice overlapped with the heartbeat.
And it was etched in.
"Agnes."
The moment her name came out through his mouth, Agnes's pupils trembled.
"...Ah."
"What is it?"
"I think I know."
Only then did Agnes realize.
"What I'm anxious about."
She had lived her whole life keeping a distance from emotions, so she had only just realized what she hadn't thought of before.
A smile bloomed on Agnes's lips.
It was a smile that made the viewer feel a sense of eeriness because her eyes remained expressionless.
"So that was it. It was that."
"What is it, why are you mumbling to yourself like a lunatic?"
Deltain's impression deepened significantly.
Agnes, while lying down, stretched out her arm and placed it on his cheek.
'It's emotion. Emotions were the scary thing.'
Agnes admitted it.
This was carelessness born from ignorance.
It was something that should be called a 'fatal mistake' in Deltain's words, failing to consider that emotions never flow in only one direction.
"Everything has a risk factor."
Etching her name into the opponent's heart.
This was certainly a situation where, in the process, the opponent's name might be etched into her own in return.
She might have been trying to devour Deltain's life, only to be devoured by him instead.
She might even start thinking that she wanted to live with him for even one more day.
A giggle leaked from Agnes's lips.
"Ah, I'm not anxious anymore."
She raised her upper body.
Deltain was still looking at her with concern.
He felt that Agnes was seriously vulnerable to temptation.
Of course, Agnes did not realize that.
No, she didn't mind.
'Actually, it's a relief.'
If her emotions hadn't been amplified like this, she wouldn't have known she was anxious.
Also, she wouldn't have known the reason for that anxiety.
Like Kaltara said, she might have tried to capture Deltain and ended up with a leash around her own neck instead.
It was an opportunity.
Agnes thought so.
"Deltain."
"Why."
"Sleep with me. Right now."
Deltain's breath hitched.
His eyes were widening to the point where they couldn't get any bigger.
Agnes, unbothered by his reaction, leaned her body forward.
She barely managed to get up from the bed and sat on his lap.
"I want to sleep with you. Right now. From now on, continuously."
Agnes's thin hand stroked Deltain's cheek.
And then it fell to his neck.
The light in her cherry-blossom-colored eyes was dark, yet intense.
"Then I think it will work."
Agnes thought.
If this anxiety was caused by her own heart, which might become soaked in him as time passed, and if it was because of the lingering attachment to life that might arise from that.
She just had to conquer Deltain before such feelings could develop.
She just had to proceed a bit more aggressively.
And so, she just had to finish everything before her slow heart began to move.
"Hmm? Make me yours."
Agnes's head tilted forward.
It was a movement as if to kiss him.
As that movement continued, Agnes's reasoning was drifting further and further away from her intellect.
Tap-.
Deltain blocked Agnes's mouth with his hand.
His face was slightly flushed, but his eyes held an intellectual gleam.
"She's completely lost it."
Agnes's head tilted.
She pushed her face forward, struggling as if to kiss him somehow with her pathetic strength.
Deltain said to her.
"I told you. You're in a state of being tempted by a demon."
Saying that, he pushed Agnes's head back.
It was only after that that his hand fell away.
"Calm down. You're in a state where you can't make rational judgments right now."
"I don't care. I told you. Emotion amplification doesn't create emotions that aren't there. I've wanted to sleep with you continuously."
"If you're that crazy with sexual desire, use your hand or something. Why are you f*cking with me?"
"It has to be you. It's not sexual desire, I need you. I want you to get excited while touching me."
The corners of Deltain's eyes twitched.
He tried to shake off the rising heat and said.
"...You're too emotional right now."
"That's right. I'm telling you my honest feelings right now."
Deltain narrowed his brows.
He was uncomfortable with this situation.
So, he said to her as if to provoke her.
"Then get on your knees and beg. Beg me to love you."
"No. You have to be the one to confess. But if I get on my knees, will you sleep with me?"
Agnes blurted out words without thinking.
Amplification of emotion.
It had begun to reach its extreme.
Deltain let out a breath.
Then, steadying his mind, he placed his hands on her waist.
Immediately after, he lifted her up lightly and laid her down on the bed.
Click-.
He flicked her forehead.
"Let's talk about this later. After I catch the demon."
"My answer won't change."
"I guarantee it will. Among the bastards who went crazy after being tempted, there wasn't a single one who didn't regret it later."
"What if it doesn't change? Then will you sleep with me?"
"If you get on your knees and beg, I'll think about it."
"Do you like people kneeling? Hmm, you have a strong desire for dominance. I'll remember that. I'll beg you with both hands clasped together to please sleep with me. But I won't confess."
"What kind of thoughts do you live with to come up with such a crazy idea?"
Deltain looked down at Agnes as if he were fed up.
Agnes stared blankly at Deltain and then asked.
"Are you angry with me?"
"You must not have known, but I've always been angry."
"Because I asked for your subordinate? Or because I was being unreasonable?"
"You're thinking about that now? Ah, right, you were originally this shameless of a person."
"Sorry. I'm not usually like this. The demon tempted me to do it."
"Apologize to the demon. You were a piece of sh*t from the start. Don't push your faults onto others."
"I always kept the line. I don't speak in a picking-a-fight tone unless I'm scratching your pride."
"That is the biggest rudeness of all. You damn b*tch."
Deltain felt a headache coming on.
So he snapped his fingers.
Snap-!
<1st-tier Magic: Sleep activated.>
Agnes fell asleep.
Deltain wiped his face dry.
Then he walked out of the room.
Kaltara, who had followed him, was there.
She gave a thumbs up.
"As expected of the Boss! If I were the Boss, I would have f*cked her right there!"
"Choose your words carefully. And apologize for comparing yourself to me. We cannot stand on the same level. Know your place."
"Hmm! The Boss is certainly rational! Go ahead and catch the demon! I'll take care of this place!"
"Stay quiet."
Deltain left those words and walked down the hallway.
He thought.
'F*cking demon bastard.'
Because of that temptation, he had almost fallen for Agnes.