This is... gourmet
This is... gourmet
"Hwaaaaaaam..."
After finishing my daily routine without any major incidents, I headed toward the library with a long, drawn-out yawn.
"I really need to start exercising... I'm just too damn tired."
Hypnosis is a double-edged sword.
No, I get it. I know full well that being able to hypnotize and brainwash people by using a bit of mental energy is a trade-off worth bowing down to.
I know that, but... the problem is that I'm not some unemployed bum who can just loaf around.
This place is the Imperial Academy, the continent's premier educational institution.
The Academy's goal? To polish talented students from all over the continent and turn them into shining gems.
Because of that, graduating from this Academy is seriously difficult.
If you're an Imperial noble, getting in isn't much of a problem, but even if you get in through the noble track, if you don't meet the standards, you'll quickly rack up academic probation and repeated years until you're expelled.
I am one of the students enrolled in such an educational institution.
And not some ignorant sword-wielder, but a Magic Department student equipped with both intellect and insight.
So, if I don't want to get expelled, even a low-ranking noble like me has to work tirelessly.
I have to work hard, but... that means if I use my Magic Tool, the mental energy I need for that hard work gets sucked dry.
Today was like that, too.
Seizing an unexpected opportunity is fine and dandy.
Nora is terrifyingly pretty, and considering the future, it's good to train her in advance.
But after enjoying everything I could and thinking, "Let's try studying a bit now," my mental energy hit rock bottom, so the lecture content just wouldn't stick in my head.
'But it's not like I can just stop using the Magic Tool I have...'
Giving up on the Academy I'm attending was also a stupid choice.
Couldn't I just play the mastermind while living off the women I've hooked with my Magic Tool?
This is a matter of dignity and pride.
So, what can I do? The thirsty person digs the well, and if I want to catch two rabbits at once, I have to dig a trap in a damn good spot.
Luckily, I have the tool to do that.
'I should also work on a capable staff member soon.'
Hypnotic training is god, and I am invincible.
+++
Putting aside academic issues that aren't urgent for now, I happily threw open the library doors again today.
'Hmm, not visible again today?'
Immediately after arriving, I scanned the first-floor lobby to find Reya-noona, but as expected.
Reya-noona, who doesn't know how to stay in one place like a proper lady, seems to be scurrying all over this huge library again, pretending to organize books.
Normally, I would've been busy grumbling to myself about how long it takes to find one person in this massive library, but today, I wasn't that annoyed.
Or, to be precise, while searching for her in this vast library is still annoying, she willingly indulged in my new hobby, so I decided to generously forgive her—that would be the correct expression.
Click.
I mean, just hiding behind a bookshelf a little ways away and secretly filming her working is so enjoyable and exciting, so why wouldn't I forgive her?
'They say problems related to secret filming haven't stopped since portable cameras came out, and there's a reason for that. Does this mean they were the only ones doing this fun stuff?'
The act of turning someone else's daily life into my own secret memory without them knowing.
But what if that memory includes the erotic atmosphere and suggestive scenes that inadvertently or unintentionally flow from the other person's daily life?
And what if that is a memory and collection that belongs only to me, which no one else in the world—not even the person being filmed—knows about?
It's impossible not to get excited.
Of course, I can't take such hot photos right this second, though.
Click, click.
Reya's working figure is continuously captured on the camera's film.
Sometimes I'd peek out from the side of a bookshelf to take a shot, and sometimes I'd shoot between the books.
The way she works.
The way she sneezes from book dust.
The way she moves.
It's just a trivial act of taking pictures of those moments and keeping them on film, but a sense of fulfillment that fills something in my heart and a bubbling joy filled me up.
'Ha, this is happiness.'
After immersing myself in the hobby of secret filming for a while.
Just as I was about to move on to my next hobby, hypnotic training.
Suddenly, she started acting differently than before.
Look, look.
She looked around to see if anyone else was nearby.
I stopped the foot I was about to extend, hid my body behind the bookshelf again, and watched what she was doing.
Reya repeatedly checked her surroundings with a nervous look, pacing back and forth here and there.
Then, she squeezed her eyes shut, walked with short steps to a bookshelf, pulled out a book, and started reading it carefully.
'No, is reading a book something to be that nervous about...? You'd think it was some kind of sealed grimoire.'
I chuckled as I watched Reya press her face close to the book as if burying it inside.
Honestly, she was acting so jittery that I thought she was going to at least masturbate, if not make her debut in exhibitionism!
But when I actually looked, all she was doing was standing and reading a book...
How should I put it, I felt totally deflated.
Click.
I focused the lens and pressed the shutter, just to make do.
Then I took a short break while checking the photos I'd taken so far.
Seeing how Reya-noona was acting, it looked like she would be doing that for a while.
But, I intended to do that, but while looking back at the photo I just took, a slightly strange part caught my eye.
'But why is the librarian noona's face so red?'
Like a child peeking at their parents having sex, her ears were dyed bright red as she held her breath...
"Could it be...?"
Only then did I check the bookshelf label where the librarian noona was standing.
Literature, Romance, Adult Materials.
'So she was acting all jittery to read erotica?'
Yeah, if it's erotica, that makes sense.
How embarrassing would it be if you got caught by someone else while reading erotica?
Especially if she was someone who usually had no interest in such things, it would be even more understandable.
I don't know why this section exists in the library, but anyway, it was good news for me.
It's no exaggeration to say that I prefer slow and persistent hypnotic training because I want to see people changing like that.
Personally, seeing her blushing while reading a sensual novel like that, as the person who cast the suggestion, I felt proud, as if I had pushed our shy Reya-noona to take a step forward.
Click.
This is all a memory, so let's take one more.
I watched her behavior closely for a while.
Reya turned the pages at a very fast tempo, showing how focused she was.
At the same time, she muttered things like, "Doing that... outdoors!" or "What if I get caught...", and even made "Awa-wa" sounds, so I could tell at a glance that she was immersing herself 120% in the sensual novel.
'Listening to her talk to herself, it sounds like an erotica novel about exhibitionism, which is nice.'
As a librarian, she wouldn't be ignorant about sexual matters, but still.
A literature girl who reads sensual novels with a blushing face, feeling guilty and ashamed, not knowing what to do with the strange desires and impulses that suddenly well up, like a child who just learned about masturbation and is fumbling with it.
This is a delicacy.
Thud.
About 20 minutes after Reya pulled out the book and started reading.
As I was tapping the corners of my eyes with joy, Reya slammed the sensual novel she had been indulging in shut with a thud.
It didn't seem like she stopped halfway through, and maybe because she's a librarian, she seemed to have read the whole book at an incredibly fast speed.
She put the book back on the shelf and, in that same posture, stroked the side of the book and fell into deep thought for a moment.
Perhaps the content of the sensual novel she had just read was flashing back in her head, as she kept stroking the side of her skirt with her other hand and kept mumbling with her small lips.
"Ha......"
But soon, she shook her head from side to side, let out a deep sigh, and stepped back from the bookshelf.
Startle.
But perhaps her sigh was much louder than she thought, as she startled and trembled, quickly looking around.
Then, she suddenly realized that the place she was in was a very secluded spot, and her face turned bright red as if she had recalled various delusions.
'Kyaaaaaaa!!!'
Watching this whole scene, my heart burned with such intensity that a scream-like exclamation burst out of me.
As if she were about to do something right away.
A woman who would never do that normally, now unable to help herself, overcome by the impulse of curiosity!
And because that is a delicacy!
It made me want to corrupt that pure, blank slate of a virgin so badly that it was hard to keep my sanity.
'Kyaaaaaaa!!!'
+++
Alright, alright, there was a bit of a commotion.
Okay, relax and take a deep breath.
I barely managed to regain my composure, adjusted my expression, and revealed myself from behind the bookshelf.
'That noona is still doing that.'
During the time I was screaming silently and regaining my composure, Reya-noona was still looking around with a face full of shyness, occasionally glancing at the bookshelf. She was holding onto the hem of her skirt and fidgeting.
Judging by the way she was rolling her eyes and fidgeting with her fingers, she really seemed to want to read the next volume.
At this point, it was almost funny, making me wonder if she had been interested in exhibitionism all along.
Of course, I was the one who pushed her to become like that.
Stomp, stomp.
I walked confidently without hiding my footsteps, so the sound of my footsteps spread quietly through the silent library.
Naturally, our cute Reya-noona, who was still blushing and wavering, snapped to attention at the sound of my footsteps and turned her head toward me.
"Uh-uh-uh-uh!?!?!"
As if she had frozen up due to a golem error and buffering, Reya-noona stared at me, stiffening her body with a strange scream.
Watching Reya-noona's anxious gaze dart back and forth between me and her bookshelf, I wanted to tease her by saying something like, "I've been watching you since a while ago, what were you trying to do?", but this time I exercised patience and held it in.
Why does it feel like things requiring patience have increased since I got the hypnotic Magic Tool?
"Oh, I'm lucky. I was having trouble because I got lost, and I happened to run into Reya-noona~"
Flinch.
"If you're not busy, could you help me?"
Flinch.
"Sorry to bother you while you're working, but please help me~."
Flinch, flinch.
I acted as if I knew nothing.
At my attitude, Reya flinched and trembled, rolling her eyes.
She was probably thinking, 'Did I get caught? I didn't get caught, right?!', 'Yeah, I was just working. I was just standing here because of work!'
"Y-yes...! I'll guide you...!"
Reya, who organized her thoughts quickly by her standards and slowly by mine, took the lead with her cart as if to say, "Leave it to me."
"..."
I followed behind her, holding in the thought that I hadn't even told her the location yet.
One step, two steps, three steps.
Before she had even taken ten steps, Reya stopped and turned back to me awkwardly.
"Um... which book, are you looking for...?"
Perhaps embarrassed by her own actions, Reya dyed her neck bright red and bowed her head.
Laughing inwardly, I pretended to be calm and said I couldn't find the book I was looking for yesterday, so I asked for her guidance.
"Ah, if it's that..."
Even while trembling with embarrassment, Reya diligently guided me.
The book I asked her to find was a little distance away, so we had some small talk while moving.
It mostly took the form of me teasing Reya-noona and her trembling, but I felt like we had closed the distance more than at first.
Maybe if I keep building contact like this without using hypnosis, we could become friends normally?
Even if it's not a romantic relationship.
The conversation often went in circles or cut off, but she was a pretty unique and interesting person when we talked, so it was fun to talk to her in its own way.
[Reya Bennett is entering a trance state.]
But... honestly, I think hypnotic training is more fun than becoming friends normally...