I've Come to Hypnotize You!
A point-blank shot to the back of an empty skull was apparently more than even a Juggernaut could take.
The hulking monster that had been locked in a fierce standoff with the jet-black Here-knight lost every shred of its former menace the instant its head was blown apart. Without so much as a sound, it slowly sank to its knees.
"Dyna! Catch me!"
"So even you could endure no longer! Come, then — into my arms!"
Dyna, spouting nonsense yet again, threw her arms wide toward me as I flailed atop the collapsing Juggernaut. In the same instant the monster's massive body lost its balance entirely and toppled, flinging me from its back like a discarded rag.
Four meters? Five? The ground was a lot farther down than I'd expected. Hurled from the creature's back, I tumbled helplessly through the air, arms and legs windmilling — but fortunately, my spine was spared a messy end.
"Got you!"
Dyna had already flung aside the warhammer she'd been holding and sprinted over, catching me as lightly as a falling leaf.
"You're not as hard as I expected."
"This armor is one with my flesh. Should I will it so, it becomes a shield and a wall harder than any other — and at times, it may cradle you as softly as a down quilt."
"Wow."
The moment the words left her, sunlight spilled down as if on cue, crowning her helmet in a radiant glow. Faced with a tableau so perfectly, ridiculously fantasy, I momentarily lost the power of speech. I suddenly understood why people lost their heads over knights.
I was fully aware that this was the same woman who had just hurled me into a dungeon entrance, launched me onto a Juggernaut's back, and was the entire reason I'd been falling in the first place. And yet, faced with that storybook staging and the fragrant scent drifting off the Here-knight, my heart was pounding whether I liked it or not.
The so-called shaky-bridge effect. Knowing better didn't stop it from working.
"Heh heh. Iceman — have you fallen for me? Have you? Heh. How could you not? You have been granted the honor of being held in the arms of none other than a noble Here-knight — I, Dyna Hercules. What soul upon this earth would not fall?"
"Hmm. If you hadn't said all that, I was actually about to confess and ask you to take me."
"What! Kh—! To utter such needless words... I am still lacking. Especially in the practice of silence...!"
To be fair, the alluring voice filtering through the helmet, the way her shoulders puffed up with pride at every word I said and then shrank back just as quickly — it was all still making my heart race. I just chuckled and kept that part to myself. Consider it a little penance for how many times she'd manhandled me today.
She seemed to take my laughter the wrong way, though.
"Is it still too soon? Perhaps later, if I set aside a little time... no, never mind... being a touch damp with sweat might actually..."
"Uh, Dyna?"
Muttering something I couldn't make out, Dyna suddenly let out a fierce snort through her helmet, then looked down at me with a gaze that practically smoldered — I couldn't see it through the visor, but I could feel it. She turned her head toward the elf, who was still poking at the Juggernaut's corpse.
"The contract. May we enact it at once?"
"Huh? Oh, go ahead. But we still have to collect the dungeon rewards, so..."
"I have no intention of going that far. Today is merely preparation. I shall return shortly."
"Dyna?"
After that little exchange that only the two of them seemed to understand, she scooped me up in a princess carry and strode off in search of somewhere secluded, ignoring me even as I called her name.
The usual boisterous knight was gone. In her place was something strangely charged, a sticky tension that put me on edge in spite of myself. I swallowed hard.
"This spot will do."
"What exactly are you planning?"
"...Come again?"
Did she have to announce it so proudly?
Yesterday was still fresh in my mind, and I was too thrown to be sure I'd heard her right. Before I could even ask her to repeat herself, Dyna had already produced a coin from somewhere and was leveling that same sticky gaze at me.
"Be at ease. Even should I place you under hypnosis, I have no intention of doing you any ill. As you can plainly see, I am a noble Here-knight — I would never commit an act so contrary to chivalry! Besides, I far prefer being taken roughly to doing the taking myself! I mean only to do you good, never harm, so be at ease!"
"No, hold on — the hypnosis itself is the problem..."
"What does it matter? You shall forget this entire conversation anyway. More importantly — was I supposed to flip the coin like this?"
"Would you please listen to me?! Just for a second, I just need you to— ah..."
Ting—
No time to explain that this was a bogus hypnosis method, or to struggle. The coin perched on Dyna's thumb rang out with a clear, bright note as it sailed into the air.
I wanted nothing more than to spill the whole truth — that this was all a sham — but the elf was still nearby. The moment it came out that I wasn't actually hypnotized, she'd take it as mockery and come after me for revenge. I swallowed a sigh and let my pupils go slack, the same vacant look I wore whenever I zoned out.
"Hmm. You are under, then. You are under, yes?"
"..."
I didn't answer. I just stared blankly up at the clouds, as still as a doll.
Satisfied, Dyna let out another snort and carefully set me down on the ground, then spoke with cautious care.
"Ahem. Then — would you lower your trousers?"
"Yes..."
Why did every woman around me start with drop your pants? Just yesterday I'd been waving my dick around and doing all sorts of things, so I reached for my waistband without a shred of shame — but Dyna frantically waved me off before I could.
"No! No, that won't be necessary! I merely wished to confirm that you were properly under. Hahh..."
"..."
"Perhaps I should stop even now... no. It is precisely at times like these that one must be decisive! How could I call myself a Here-knight of the noble Female Knight Tribe if I let this moment slip away?!"
I had no idea what she was about to do, but she clearly considered it a terrible crime. She clutched her helmet as if she meant to tear her own hair out, shaking her head over and over. Then, having apparently made up her mind, she swallowed so loudly I could hear it and gripped my shoulders.
"Be at ease. I shall not force myself upon you. I swear it upon my name and my honor. I will commit no such villainy."
"?"
"I shall merely plant a simple suggestion. That is all. The rest I leave to the human instinct slumbering within your body."
"..."
And what exactly is that supposed to mean.
What "human instinct" was she talking about that even I didn't know I had? And what was that faint, lingering heat threaded through the words she'd just spoken?
She'd gone so far as to declare she wouldn't do anything like that — and here I was, picturing the naked Here-knights from every dirty comic and adult anime I'd ever seen. Maybe I was the problem.
"Remember this well. It is quite simple. When I flip this coin once more, you shall return to your original state after five seconds — but you will forget every word we have exchanged, wiped clean from your mind."
"Yes..."
"Hahh. Then listen carefully. The suggestion I shall plant is a simple one. It is this..."
You will want to play rock-paper-scissors with me. And whatever you throw, it will always be scissors.
If I ask why you threw scissors, you will invent some plausible excuse and brush it off however you like.
"...?"
I wasn't exaggerating, condensing, or twisting a thing. That was genuinely what she said.
Not some filthy suggestion to strip naked and get hard on the spot, or dance around in the nude. A suggestion so simple it was almost disappointing, exactly as she'd claimed.
Before I could even process my confusion, Dyna flipped the coin again. I counted a precise five seconds in my head, blinked my eyes open and shut a few times, then clutched my head.
"Dyna? Where is this... ugh, I'm dizzy..."
"Are you all right?"
"I have no idea what just... ugh, happened..."
"No idea, you say?"
Dyna played the innocent as she moved to steady me. But she was a Here-knight through and through — the hand on my shoulder twitched with guilt over having hypnotized me.
"H-hey, Dyna... this is sudden, but would you... play rock-paper-scissors with me? I don't know why, but I suddenly really, really want to play..."
She looked so wretchedly sorry that I reluctantly did as she'd instructed and proposed a match. I told myself I needed to know what she was after — but the fact remained that I was deceiving a Here-knight who'd been good to me. Carrying that guilt, and a flicker of curiosity, I carefully spoke the words she'd planted.
"Rock-paper-scissors... and a match, you say."
Hahh! Hahh!
Was I imagining it?
That sticky gaze she'd been leveling at me swept over my entire body once more, and a wave of searing heat began to pour from between the gaps in her helmet.