The Mage's Cunning and Shallow... (5)
#
"Th-there's someone outside...!"
Ariel was right. The distinctive click-clack of high heels echoed through the restroom. It was faint, but still loud enough for even me to hear clearly.
They'd paid considerable attention to soundproofing this luxury restroom, which even had a sink and mirror inside every stall, but apparently it was not enough to block sound completely.
I leaned down and whispered.
"What do we do? Until she leaves..."
"Don't whisper right into my ear! I can hear you fine as it is!"
Ariel panicked when my breath hit her ear. Her legs wobbled even harder—she somehow seemed more sensitive than before. She hadn't been like this earlier, had she?
I pulled back a little, as she wanted, and spoke low.
"...Fine. So, what do we do? Wait?"
"Hoo... hoo..."
Ariel steadied her breathing. She seemed to be trying hard to shake off the stimulation to her ear.
After catching her breath for a while, Ariel thought briefly and then wore a resolute expression.
"Hoo... W-we don't have much time, so let's continue like this. I-I'll try to hold in the sounds somehow. Hoo."
"Will you be okay?"
"I-I'm fine. It is better than starting again from the beginning, is it not? We don't know when she'll leave, and rather than waiting until then, f-finishing in one go would be better. Hoo."
This girl. She made it sound logical, but she was seriously worked up. The moisture at the corners of her eyes, her slightly parted lips, her ears so red they looked feverish. Ariel didn't want to stop here either.
Fine. In that case, let’s do what she wanted.
"Keep your mouth covered. Don't bite me."
"...Mmf. S-sorry..."
With one hand Ariel braced against the wall again, and with the other she covered her mouth.
The tension in her cheeks showed that she was gritting her teeth. I could feel her hot breath even from where I stood.
I slid my cock between Ariel's folds again.
"..."
Her vaginal fluids gradually increased with her arousal. If we were even slightly careless, they would make a wet squelching sound.
The slow pleasure, almost like torture, continued. Holding back the instinct to thrust inside her, I slowly savored Ariel's slit.
-Clack.
"!"
The sound outside made both Ariel and me tense up. Ariel somehow managed not to cry out, but the surprise made her clamp her thighs tight—almost as hard as this position physically allowed.
"Ngh...!"
"Nnk...!"
With the force of her thighs pressing together, my cock got shoved upward as if to burrow into her cleft. As warm arousal fluid trickled down and her clit bumped against the ridge of my glans, I couldn't hold back anymore.
"Nngh....!"
"Mmpf?!"
With a powerful urge to ejaculate surging up, I pulled my cock straight out from between Ariel's thighs.
"Hngh!"
Ariel's knees looked ready to give out any second. Probably because of the stimulation her clit got as my glans slid free.
While I clenched my teeth and gripped my monstrosity, Ariel stood trembling with her legs spread. So much strength had left them that she'd clearly have fallen if she kept them crossed.
But that would not do. A thread of vaginal fluid stretched between her thighs and gleamed under the light, creating an extraordinarily obscene sight.
This was trouble. Seeing that made me want to pound it in! No!
I gritted my teeth and turned my gaze away. And then my eyes landed on the panties I had taken off to one side.
"Kh!"
I instantly wrapped Ariel's panties around my dick. And then....
...Mm.
Oh dear.
#
"...."
"...."
Ariel sat there without saying a word. She wasn't exactly blaming me; the afterglow simply hadn't faded yet. Her ear tips were red, and her eyes slightly dazed.
She still hadn't fully grasped the situation, apparently.
"Ariel."
"..."
"Ariel. Snap out of it!"
"Uh, mm. R-right. I need to snap out of it..."
-Smack, smack.
Ariel slapped her own cheeks with her dainty little hands, then looked up at me.
"Hoo... So. Where is it?"
"...Th-there. That."
I stammered like an idiot too. I pointed at the panties set aside nearby.
Mm. Panties sticky with semen.
"..."
"Uhm, s-sorry."
"No, it couldn't be helped. And there's no need to apologize for something that couldn't be helped. But... I'm worried about the trip back."
Right. She'd have to go commando on the way back. Going commando...
Ariel let out a small sigh, then carefully picked up the panties, finding a part that hadn't gotten wet. And then she brought it to her nose—
"Hey, hey, what're you doing! Why are you smelling that!"
"....Have you forgotten why you're here?"
She looked up at me like I was a little pathetic.
"I need to know the original smell first if I'm to tell what's changed, don't I?"
"Is that so..."
Ariel said it as though it were common knowledge too obvious to explain. Somehow, I felt like the idiot here.
...Did she really need to sniff the original smell?
While I was having those doubts, Ariel turned the panties this way and that and sniffed them thoroughly.
"Hmm. So that's what it's like."
"..."
For me, it was a sight that stirred some very complicated emotions. It felt very, very strange. A beautiful elf girl holding a clump of my semen and sniffing it!
It felt kind of dirty, but also... it turned me on.
I shook my head. I didn't have a fetish for making women smell my semen. But was she really alright with this?
"You're not bothered at all?"
"What do you mean?"
"No, I mean, doesn't it smell, like, disgusting or anything?"
"Hm... It's a little strange, but I'm not sure I find it disgusting."
"..."
Right. I remembered seeing something on the news once: men found the smell of chestnut blossoms, which resembled semen, revolting, while women found it fragrant. Something to do with hormones, they said.
Anyway, that aside, I couldn't just stand here staring at that.
"Hey, Ariel. That's enough, right? I'll use the skill now."
"Uh, mm. That's sufficient."
I activated the skill.
"How is it? It changed just now."
".....I see."
Ariel nodded. Then she abruptly thrust out her hand and shoved the panties right under my nose!
"Gah, get that away from me!"
"Shouldn't you smell it too?"
"No, I don't need—"
...It did smell good. It resembled a slightly underripe apple, or perhaps a fresh citrus fragrance.
It was disgusting.
Semen smelling like fruit—that was disgusting.
But Ariel was sniffing it again as though she liked it. Did women see it differently? Well, the modern world had things like strawberry-scented condoms.
At any rate, it was an intensely uncomfortable sight to watch.
"Ariel, quit it now. You confirmed it works. Didn't you say we're short on time?"
"R-right, you're right."
Ariel carefully wrapped the panties in tissue, packed them up, and put them into the small bag she'd brought.
"Does the scent change not have a duration or anything?"
Did the smell revert halfway through? Fortunately, there was no such restriction. That would have been disastrous. The Goddess could be prickly, but regardless of her attitude, she was quite generous.
"It doesn't. But you know there's a time limit on how long you can use it as a medium, right?"
"I know. Then let's head out."
Ariel walked out the door, her face still a little flushed.
#
They said the bank was structured roughly like this: the first floor served as the lobby and reception desk, the second floor held the waiting rooms and consultation rooms for general customers, and the third floor was reserved for VIPs. Above that was employees-only, so there was no need to know.
The business Ariel had was on the second floor.
After briefly speaking with the receptionist on the second floor, Ariel sat down, saying she'd have to wait a little longer, and started looking through a bundle of papers.
She'd made a fuss about having no time, but apparently that wasn't quite true.
With nothing to do, I looked around here and there.
How should I put it? The class divide was stark here too.
The Guild's reception hall was a spacious but old and shabby medieval-style wooden building, while a bank like this was as ornate as late 19th- or early 20th-century Europe.
They called it a waiting room for general customers, but to a commoner like me, even this much looked perfectly luxurious.
It was exactly the sort of place where fussing about decorum and making someone change clothes made sense. Everyone walking around also carried an unmistakably aristocratic air.
The interior was every bit as impressive as the building itself.
Fresh flowers decorated the space, along with half-nude marble statues and even a small fountain burbling away. In one corner, there was even an area offering light refreshments.
Bubbles rose gently through the lemon-coloured liquid in a champagne glass. It was probably alright to drink, was it not?
"!"
It was refreshing. Was it sparkling wine?
I picked up two fresh glasses and went back to Ariel.
"Hey, Ariel, try a little of this. It's pretty good."
"Hm? Wh-what?!"
Ariel, who'd had her nose buried in the papers, looked at the glass in my hand and practically jumped out of her seat.
"Wh-why are you offering me that?! Are you planning to get me to drink it and then do something?! I won't drink it! I'm not drinking it!"
"..."
...
"Uhm. I-I'm sorry."
"Yeah...."
Honestly, that stung a little. I'd acted out of pure goodwill; she didn't have to freak out that badly. It wasn't like I'd ever slipped something into her drink before.
Ariel kept a blank face, but the way she couldn't meet my eyes showed she was pretty embarrassed.
"That aside. You understand? Ten minutes."
This girl. She was blatantly changing the subject.
"...Right. You want me to activate them after ten minutes, correct?"
"Correct."
The private consultation room. She said there was no particular need for me to enter with her. Instead, I was to activate various skills from outside, such as Pleasure and Sensitivity Enhancement.
Just not to use them right away. Wait about ten minutes.
She had said a delay of about that long was necessary, accounting for the time consumed by the necessary but unproductive preamble and the time the skills needed to affect the body.
"Is it okay if I don't go in with you? Wouldn't it be better if you could see it happening directly?"
"No. That won't be necessary. You wouldn't have anything to say anyway. It'll be a rather boring time."
That was what Ariel said, but for some reason she seemed reluctant to have me come along.
I had a rough idea why. She probably didn't want me to see her asking for favours. She was desperate enough to talk about using my skills to cloud the other person's judgment.
Of course, "clouding judgment" was a very refined way of putting it. Frankly speaking, my skill was astoundingly effective at making people lose their heads. But... hm...
"...Now that I think about it, isn't that a pretty underhanded method? Negotiating after you make the other person unable to think straight..."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I'd messed up. It wasn't as if I, who'd used skills to get people who picked fights with me into traps multiple times, had any room to talk...
"Underhanded, you say..."
Ariel seemed utterly unfazed.
"Should we not use everything available to us? Besides, this isn't a crime, is it? At most, it'll make the other party slightly aroused. If you think about it, it's no different from wearing such revealing clothing."
"...That's sophistry."
"It is time. I'll see you later."
"..."
After saying that, Ariel got up from her seat like she was running away. Wait, wasn't the receptionist supposed to call her?
Well, this worked out better, actually. I had my own things to do during the empty time.
I'd been planning to buy a present today.