Let's try using the ability first

To put someone into a trance using a magic artifact, a few conditions must be met first.

First, have a conversation with the target for a certain amount of time.

Second, the target must not suspect, be wary of, or be hostile toward me.

Third, the target's mental state must be relatively stable.

"I-I'm busy right now... If it's something like that, please ask the other staff members..."

In short, if they're already so nervous that they're looking for an escape route before we've even had a proper conversation, I can't use the ability.

But that's fine.

I knew this would happen, so I prepared everything!

I didn't just wander around this massive library aimlessly looking for one librarian noona.

"Ah, about that, I asked the staff members I met before I came to the desk and met you, librarian noona, but they all said they didn't know."

"Then... maybe it's just not here...?"

She seemed so desperate to avoid getting involved with others that she couldn't keep her gaze still for even a second, and her fingers kept fidgeting. It looked quite pitiful.

But that's not my problem, is it?

"No, I thought so too, so I checked several times, but my friend said he definitely borrowed it from the library. But it's a bit much to say it's not here when I haven't even told you the title of the book yet..."

"Ah, r-right... A-ahaha..."

I made a slightly disappointed face and let my voice trail off.

At this, librarian noona sweated profusely and avoided my gaze.

"T-then, what is the book you're looking for...?"

Judging that she couldn't wiggle out of it anymore, librarian noona asked about the book, looking visibly desperate and resigned.

Yeah, yeah, that's it. See? Isn't it nice to be diligent from the start?

"Everything about Othello. It's a book. Do you happen to know it?"

I said it with a triumphant—well, not quite triumphant, but a grinning smile.

"Ah... if it's that... u-uh, that is..."

Librarian noona stopped talking in the middle.

Her eyes rolled around again, and it was obvious what kind of nonsense she was thinking, but I didn't say anything.

Thankfully, she soon let out a deep sigh and started stuttering an explanation about the book's location.

It's not much of a substitute, but I pretended to listen intently to her explanation, then cut her off and interrupted.

In a library that had become as wide and complex as a maze due to constant expansions, trying to understand the location of a book that wasn't even in a corner but in an ambiguous spot just by listening to a verbal description was impossible. I really didn't understand a thing.

I had intended to do this from the start, but honestly, it was so complicated that even knowing where the book was, I couldn't tell where she was talking about.

"Hmm... I don't really get it from your explanation, could you perhaps guide me there yourself?"

"Eek... that's..."

Librarian noona looked back and forth between the cart full of books in front of her, the bookshelf, and then me and the space behind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me, showing various reactions like grimacing and chewing her lips, hesitating.

"[I'm terrible with directions. Please, I beg you.]"

Thinking this was the moment, I used the magic artifact to hypnotize librarian noona.

"Ah, that... uh, ugh... yes... I'll guide you..."

Exposed to the hypnosis, librarian noona opened and closed her mouth as if trying to say something for a moment, then finally nodded helplessly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and finished up what she was doing.

Then, she walked ahead sluggishly as if telling me to follow.

I was slightly moved watching that.

I didn't make her do anything grand, but I thought, 'So this is hypnosis.'

I followed behind librarian noona, pitter-patter, and tried using hypnosis again.

"Ah! By the way, what should I call you? Calling you 'Librarian-nim' doesn't really roll off the tongue. [Tell me your name, Librarian noona.]"

"Yes? Uh... m-my, my name is Reya... I'm Reya Bennett..."

Ooh! It works, it works!

"Oh, that's a pretty name~. I'm Victor Haust. [I'll be coming by often, so let's be friends.]"

"Ugh. That's a bit..."

Ah, that didn't work.

"[Haha, I wanted to be friends, that's a shame. Ah, Reya noona, I'm younger than you, so please speak comfortably.]"

"Yes? A-ah, no... it's fine."

"Hey, don't be like that. [Speak comfortably.]"

"A-ah, no. I'm more comfortable with honorifics... I appreciate the offer, but..."

Hmm. This didn't work either.

I led the conversation with the slickness I'd honed while hitting on young ladies in high society, exploring the capabilities of the magic artifact.

Click-clack, thud-thud.

And naturally, when the conversation paused, I organized my thoughts.

First, I definitely learned that psychological resistance is less about common social norms, violence, or sexual aversion, and more about being heavily influenced by an individual's personality, disposition, and experience.

Likewise, it was obvious at a glance that this noona was timid, and with such a personality, if we talked normally, she would have tried to avoid me or act wishy-washy and frustrating, just like this.

But this time, I forced her to move by using hypnosis, and the first and second situations were where I made her nod in confusion while pushing her.

Even so, the third, fourth, and fifth hypnosis attempts didn't work because, given her timid personality, she probably thought, 'That's a bit too much to ask.'

If it's roughly like this, for a timid person like Reya noona, normal and ordinary hypnosis like 'speak comfortably' won't work at all, but for a loose woman like a prostitute, hypnosis like 'Hey, pretty lady, my hands are dry, so let me touch your moist pussy' might work amazingly well.

Well, I'd need to verify the details a bit more, but for now, I concluded that there are types that work well and types that don't, depending on the person's disposition.

I organized my thoughts and lifted my gaze, and my eyes met Reya noona's.

Whoosh!

She avoided my eyes in an instant, though.

"U-um, the book you were looking for is here..."

Reya noona took a book out of the bookshelf and handed it to me.

I was so deep in thought I didn't realize we had already arrived at our destination.

I smiled brightly and thanked her nonchalantly.

"Wow, thank you. If I knew it could be found this quickly, I should have asked Reya noona from the start instead of struggling alone~."

Reya noona flinched and showed discomfort at being called by her name.

But perhaps thinking that this uncomfortable time would finally end once I received the book, her expression began to brighten.

"T-then, I'll be going now..."

I used the ability to put her into a trance on her.

"......"

Then, Reya noona, who was about to bow and leave, stopped dead in her tracks.

[Reya Bennett falls into a trance.]

Watching the situation for a moment, I curled the corners of my mouth and nodded with satisfaction.

"It seems the conditions for using the ability aren't that strict."

I wasn't worried about talking for a certain amount of time from the start.

I figured I could just blabber on by myself next to her.

However, I was worried about the criteria being too vague, like 'the target must not harbor feelings of wariness, suspicion, or hostility toward me' or 'the target's mental state must be relatively stable.'

But as you can see, the result was that the ability worked perfectly.

Thanks to that, I felt so good that it made my previous tension—expecting it to be much harder—feel ridiculous.

I approached the blankly standing Reya noona and waved my hand in front of her eyes.

"......"

Naturally, Reya noona, who had fallen into a trance, showed no reaction.

There shouldn't be any problem moving on to the next step.

"Then let's see..."

I placed both hands on Reya noona's head and focused on the magic artifact.

Shwa-wa-wak.

Then, sparkling light particles began to slip out of Reya noona's head.

They boasted brilliant, multicolored lights, as if a night sky with multiple flowing galaxies had been shrunk down, and floated around Reya noona's head.

"Wow, pretty."

I let out an exclamation at the phenomenon I was seeing for the first time and reached out.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to grab, as if it wasn't something physically tangible.

Furthermore, it didn't seem to be the type to scatter naturally like a dust cloud, so even when I waved my hands around to fan it, there was no sign of it scattering.

The magic artifact described this as visualizing a human's subconscious and mental world, and it was quite moving because it felt like it was saying that the human mind is like an infinite universe containing the night sky.

"Sob sob, Master, it's so beautiful. How did you put such humanistic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠art into a magic artifact..."

There was no one coming and going around here anyway. I took some time to appreciate the scenery before my eyes with a reverent heart.

"And thank you for giving me the opportunity to play with this beautiful universe to my heart's content...!"

Gratitude. Overwhelming gratitude...!

Repeating that in my heart, I prepared to start implanting the suggestion in earnest.

Let's start with something light.

First, I focused my mind with both hands cupped together, thinking of the content of the suggestion I wanted.

Then, the magic artifact vibrated finely, and a faint but bewitching light formed between my hands.

I instinctively knew what the light gathered on my fingertips was and how to use it.

[Reya Bennett feels friendly toward Victor Haust.]

A light cluster with that meaning implanted in it.

I pushed this into a corner of the mental world floating around Reya.

Naturally, Reya's mental world, startled by the intrusion of a foreign substance, showed considerable repulsion and struggled to push the light cluster away with my hand.

I, too, naturally ignored that repulsion and pushed the light cluster into the mental world without hesitation.

And this, too, naturally, the tug-of-war between me and the mental world ended with my victory, decorating her mental world with a new, bewitching light cluster.

Twitch.

Perhaps because of that, Reya noona shuddered slightly.

"Whoa. I thought she woke up."

Fortunately, she only shuddered and didn't wake up.

I let out a sigh of relief and ruminated on the process of implanting the suggestion just now.

'I don't think this one is average. Even during hypnosis, if the content didn't fit the disposition, the effect wore off, so I guess suggestions are the same...'

At a glance, the suggestion I just implanted in Reya's mental world wasn't stable like the other light clusters in the mental world; it was hovering on the surface, creating a precarious feeling as if it would bounce out at any moment.

I could vaguely tell that even if that suggestion somehow held on, Reya noona wouldn't be greatly influenced by it.

But that fact wasn't particularly troublesome for me.

It's not like we're going to see each other for a day or two, and there's no law saying I can only put one suggestion per person.

Besides, I like that this level of difficulty makes the training more fun.

Anyway, now that I roughly know how the suggestions work, it's time to start the hypnotic training in earnest.

"Alright, then, how shall we train our Reya noona?"

I hummed a tune and started focusing again.

Actually, I had already decided how to train her, ever since I first saw Reya noona and fell in love at first sight.

So, unlike my words, there was no hesitation in my touch.

[Reya Bennett feels less resistance when dealing with Victor Haust.]

[Reya Bennett does not feel nervous or uncomfortable even when Victor Haust talks to her.]

[Reya Bennett does not question Victor Haust's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠words and reacts obediently.]

First, I'll do some groundwork to reduce discomfort in our future hypnotic training life.

[Reya Bennett's sexual desire increases as she gets stressed.]

[Reya Bennett becomes interested in exhibitionist play.]

[Reya Bennett keeps thinking about exhibitionist play from time to time when she is in a secluded place.]

Next, to turn our introverted Reya noona into an active person...

Stumble.

I stumbled and stepped back as if pushed by a sudden headache and dizziness.

"Ugh... this is hell. It feels worse than when I ran out of mana..."

I could guess the cause without even thinking.

The manual clearly stated that the process of creating and implanting suggestions consumes a corresponding amount of mental power.

I must have ended up like this because I mindlessly kept implanting suggestions without thinking.

I was so excited about the fact that I could edit a person to my liking that I made such a moronic mistake.

"Ugh, u-uh, um...? Gasp. Are you okay?!"

As I was holding my head, which felt like it was going to split, and groaning with a grimace, I heard Reya noona's flustered voice as she had come to her senses at some point.

"Hm? Ah, I'm fine. It's just... I just got a little dizzy..."

"I-it doesn't look like 'a little'... You're even bleeding from your nose..."

"Yes? Oh, what the hell. When did I get a nosebleed...?"

No wonder my lips felt moist; it seems I even got a nosebleed as a backlash from overusing the ability.

Reya noona didn't know what to do and was fumbling, then as if she remembered something, she took a bundle of crumpled tissues—not a handkerchief—out of her pocket and carefully handed it to me.

"At least take this..."

"Oh, such a precious thing... I will never forget this kindness for the rest of my life."

I conveyed my thanks roughly, and I split the bundle of tissues I received in half, wiped my clothes and lips, and then used the other half to cover my nose.

In the meantime, Reya noona took another bundle of tissues from her pocket and wiped the blood droplets that had fallen on the floor.

"You found the book, and you gave me tissues; I'll have to bring something to eat as a reward next time I come."

"Food is prohibited..."

"My, that's a shame. Anyway, thank you for helping me with this and that while you were busy. I'll be going now. See you next time~."

"Oh, y-yes..."

Leaving her behind, looking hesitant as if she were worried about my condition, I staggered out of the library with the Othello notation book.

Honestly, my head is so heavy I feel like I'm going to die of exhaustion.

It feels like I've been pulling all-nighters for three days and nights...

To the point where I couldn't even dare to check the results of my first hypnotic training in my life right away.

So, all the way back to the dormitory, I promised myself several times.

Let's not mindlessly spam suggestions from now on.