The Wizard's Story (5)
The Wizard's Story (5)
#
"Companion?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"...Pardon?"
What? She was accepting it outright without even asking what it was about? That actually threw me off more.
I wasn't the only one who felt that way; a momentary silence fell around us.
Wait. Silence? When I looked around, wizards were whipping their heads away like they hadn't seen a thing. So they'd been listening in on our whole conversation?!
"Is that all?"
Ariel suddenly hunched in on herself and asked quietly.
"No, don't you have more questions?"
"Such things can be discovered gradually."
She was incredibly cool about it. Had she fallen for me at a single glance? Sure, my Charm stat was a bit high, but a relationship this sudden was a little overwhelming. What was I supposed to tell the others? I was so flustered I couldn't think straight.
"Lower your head and come this way."
...This elf wasn't just saying that. Ariel lowered her head and dragged me behind a pillar, pressing her body close to me. Wh-why was she acting like this toward me?! Why was she being so scorching hot? Did she have a passionate flame smoldering inside that deadpan face of hers?!
"Ah, um, excuse me."
"Come this way and cover me. So those bastards don't spot us."
Those bastards?
Where Ariel flicked her gaze, people in black cloaks bearing a comet emblem were poking around everywhere....Yeah, that figured. So she'd been trying to hide.
"Who are they?"
"...A personal matter."
"But if you want to hide, would it not be better to conceal that conspicuous gray hat first?"
"That is none of your concern."
Still, did this elf intend to insist on her odd speech pattern? Maybe because she was old?
"Forgive the impertinence, but how old are you...?"
Ariel glared at me as if to say don't ask pointless questions. So she could make expressions like that too. I'd thought she was broken somewhere since her face was permanently blank.
Ariel gauged the situation from behind the pillar like that, and only when the black cloaks had all vanished did she finally let out a sigh.
"...I would prefer to relocate first. This is not a good place to talk."
The elf said that and then exited the Magic Tower. And in front of it—
"I have been waiting, my lovely betrothed."
....
Black-cloaked figures were camped in front of the entrance, and among them stood a blond, mustachioed pig of a man. The moment Ariel saw his face, her expression changed as though she'd bitten into something foul. The hostility and distaste were obvious. Yet he was her fiancé?
"Please, forgive m—"
"What business brings you here? I believe I said not to contact me unless necessary. Have I not repeated countless times that I am sick to death of those lacking the virtue of patience?"
"...Of course, it was not my intention to offend my betrothed. However, this body is a single sharp sword! Surely it must seek its sheath, no? Otherwise, none can say in which direction the blade will point."
...What the hell was this bullshit? Did he think that was a clever metaphor? A baseball bat... no, a spit-roast pig on a skewer suited his appearance far better than a sword.
But Ariel seemed to have something on her mind because she clenched her teeth. The mustached pig just kept smiling whether she did or not.
"...If you have no business, step aside. I have matters to attend to with this person."
"Ho-oh... And this person is?"
"A companion."
"A companion!"
...I couldn't help but feel that this elf had accepted me as a companion far too naturally. No, rather, it almost felt as if she were emphasizing it, as if she genuinely wanted to welcome me as one.
The pig looked me over, then bared a greasy, skin-crawling smile. He nodded in that state, then ignored me and continued addressing Ariel.
"Naturally, I did not seek out my betrothed without reason. I made the journey here because I discovered a new elixir. But to have to attach a reason one by one like this just to meet my beloved, ah, 'tis a tragedy!"
"..."
Rose petals fluttered in the background behind the pig. Not as a figure of speech, but literally: a servant behind him had pulled rose petals out of a basket and scattered them! This guy was a genuine madman.
"Thus, will you grant me the honor of inviting you to my estate?"
Ariel let out a deep sigh at the pig's words, then turned back to me.
"...My apologies. I shall contact you again."
"No, there is no need. I am Nabokov Sivter! A companion of my betrothed is an honored guest to me as well! It is only proper to offer a cup of tea, is it not? By all means, do not refuse!"
"..."
So this bastard's name was Sivter. If so, in the future, it seemed Ariel would end up marrying this man. That was how Ariel Ionia became Ariel Sivter.
"What say you?"
The pig smiled a greasy smile as he looked at me. He definitely had an ulterior motive for inviting me, a total stranger. Ariel was clearly radiating a hostile vibe toward this pig.
But I needed to find out a few things.
"Well, why not."
#
"Ariel... wait..."
"I believe I told you not to touch me."
The pig bastard had seated me across from him in the carriage and kept trying to flaunt affection with Ariel, but she batted him away every single time. At those moments, the desire glistening in his eyes only grew more intense... He was revolting in every way. Did I ever have that kind of look in my eyes?
After a stretch of uncomfortable time like that, we arrived at the pig's massive estate.
It was a dazzling mansion just as the novel had described, the sort you could pad out with several lines of description. But what mattered wasn't the mansion itself; it was the contents.
I balked at the sight of the maids lined up in a row. And no wonder, because these maids...
"Welcomb! Masbter!"
They were all children!
These kids were wearing shoulder-baring maid uniforms and frilly dresses that showed their thighs plain as day. On top of that, cat garters on their thighs!
The fashion sense was good, but... i-it was impossible for me. Absolutely impossible. Touch this and it was a crime, no question.
If Ariel had stood a little precariously on the possible side of the possible-impossible boundary, these maids were all squarely on the impossible side!
My jaw was hanging open, and the pig bastard, delighted for some reason, grinned from ear to ear and bragged to me. I wasn't admiring it—I was horrified, damn it!
"What do you think? The pride of my estate: maids of four feet ten inches! When one considers the coin I poured into training these children, it could easily purchase one of Valeri's great mansions!"
...Even if he said that, I couldn't understand a word he meant. And there was Ariel, staring at that pig with undisguised loathing.
"Now, my sheath, come this way. The elixir is stored separately. And my beloved's companion may go to the drawing room. There is much I wish to ask."
"..."
That pig's greasy manner of speaking was unbearable in every way.
"Guest. Thish way pleash."
"Ah, yes."
Guided by a maid with a tongue-tied lisp, I arrived at the drawing room.
I sucked in a breath.
The drawing room was packed with paintings and marble statues. The problem was,
"This son of a bitch is a genuine pedo..."
"Pardon?"
"Ah, i-it's nothing."
It was the height of depraved taste!
The sense I got was that a rich bastard was assembling his own figure collection, and it was entirely full of works that seemed to proclaim the beauty of undeveloped young bodies.
"..."
I was so floored that words failed me.
I had never supported throwing 2D under child and youth protection laws just because. But these paintings and statues even made someone like me reconsider. Of course, they didn't overtly depict acts or strip anyone completely bare... but even so, the intent was perfectly palpable.
Wait. No way?! I quickly scanned the maid's limbs. If there were signs of criminal—
"Whab are you looking ab?"
"Ahem! Ah, i-it's nothing."
I didn't see any particular signs of beatings or child abuse. Had I misjudged the pig? Feeling sheepish, I aimlessly finished looking around the drawing room.
The drawing room was cluttered enough to feel like a flea market, but there was one thing that stood out among the mess. A life-sized figure made of magic stone... a statue.
If you made Ariel about five years younger, she'd probably look a lot like this. For some reason, looking at it made me feel a little queasy.
"Does it please you?"
The pig's voice, sounding absolutely delighted.
"You have a fine eye! That is a piece I commissioned from Marlion at great expense! I had it sculpted after my betrothed's most beautiful days!"
"...I-is that so."
"How do you find my collection?"
"Er, well... I think the quality is quite good."
"You have a discerning eye! An immature body in itself signifies the supremacy of humanity!"
From that moment on, the pig bastard launched into a rhapsody in praise of pedophilia. This fucker was truly insane.
But as I listened to his long-winded speech—
"Oh fuck, what the hell."
My lower half reacted.
#
"No."
'Fuck.'
"Is something the matter?"
"Ah, no, i-it's nothing."
'Fuck.'
Why the hell?! I didn't react to the maids, and I didn't react to this pedo figure either! I reacted only after I started listening to this pig bastard's bullshit!
I couldn't make sense of the reason. Was 「Respect for All Tastes」 fucking me over again this time too? Had the goddess seriously contaminated my psyche?!
If I'd reacted to the pedo figure, I could've come to terms with it. But I was reacting to this pig's nonsense?!
"What is that fellow doing, standing like that?"
Ariel's voice came from the doorway. From her perspective, it must have looked as though I had my head planted against the wall. The moment my thing reacted, I had turned to the wall and begun groaning.
"Heh heh. It seems your companion is simply overwhelmed with emotion at my panegyric!"
This crazy son of a bitch...!
But if I turned around right now, I was sure to be branded a pedo. Because my dick, juiced on the Sex Warrior buff, would swell up like it was going to punch through my pants once it stood at attention!
I had to kill it... had to kill it... how....
...
That was it! 「Post-Nut Clarity」!
I immediately cast Self Post-Nut Clarity on myself and barely managed to quell my dick's fury.
A mild lassitude washed over me, and my head cleared slightly. Then I remembered what had happened before.
Even when I saw that old man screwing the goblin, my dick stood up regardless of my will. I'd made excuses to Yuri back then, saying it just happened, but now, after listening to the pig bastard's pedo rhapsody, it felt like an inevitability. I needed to think about this phenomenon.
"I shall return with this person. I accept the medicine with thanks."
Ariel spoke the moment I turned around after killing my dick.
"Wait! Please hold on. Have you not yet been served tea?"
"None of the tea you serve is to my taste."
"Do not be that way, and please sit. If only out of consideration for the maid's sincerity. Here."
Where the pig pointed, a maid stood holding tea with a tearful expression.
"Tch."
Ariel sat on the sofa as if she'd missed her window to slip away. Soon refreshments were set on the table, but no one touched them. Ariel merely glared at her teacup, and the pig just watched me with eyes buried in fat. Then, abruptly, he spoke.
"So. A companion, you said? An adventuring companion, I take it? Do you intend to explore a dungeon?"
"Well... yes."
"And what tier might you be?"
"...Iron Tier."
"Oh... Iron Tier..."
The pig grinned as if pleased.
"Though I may be speaking too suddenly and perhaps it will sound unpleasant,"
He opened with that preamble, but the words came out smoothly, like a prepared speech.
"Would you be willing to let me test your abilities? Please do not take offense. Surely you understand my fear of sending my lovely fiancée somewhere dangerous?"
...So he wanted to test me. He meant that I should demonstrate my skill in front of him. I'd had a feeling things were going too easily.
I stole a glance at Ariel, who had her teeth clenched tight. As I thought, this wasn't an ordinary test; it was an excuse. An excuse to eliminate me. From the way this bastard talked, this wasn't the first or second time he'd pulled this stunt.
"...Of course. I am aware that this is discourteous. If you defeat my champion, I shall present you with fifty silver coins."
"Let's do it."
Fine. If it was a hurdle I had to clear anyway, better to get it over with fast.
#
William let out a sigh. It had been about a year since he'd been hired by Sivter as a Silver Tier adventurer.
Well, the pay was decent for the work. He was hired for security and escort, but in a city with good public order, there was no chance of being attacked by anyone.
But one day, strange things started happening at the estate. First Sivter kicked out perfectly fine maids and hired children, then he dressed them in bizarre black cloaks.
At some point, he had begun bringing in people who claimed to be his fiancée's companions and ordering William to humiliate them before throwing them out, with instructions to show no mercy whether they were young or old, man or woman.
For his part, all William had to do was rough them up a reasonable amount at his employer's bidding, then kick them out.
It left a slightly bad taste in his mouth, but the pay was good. The more he humiliated them, the more pleased his employer became, piling on thicker and thicker bonuses.
At the same time, bad rumors had started to circulate. Something about group acts with children, this and that. He never saw any evidence of such things actually happening. But day by day, his employer's gaze toward the children grew increasingly stained with greed...
'I ought to quit soon.'
As a Silver Tier adventurer, he'd already stayed a good long while. If he kept doing only idle work like this, his skills were sure to rust. And if the rumors kept veering in an unsavory direction, even his sweetheart might come to think poorly of him.
'So my opponent is that black-haired man today.'
A black-haired foreigner. He had a slick look about him, but that didn't matter. It was clear that today he too would become William's prey. He'd never said it himself, but William was confident that his swordsmanship against human opponents could hold its own even against Gold Tiers.
"Please go easy on me."
"...Likewise."
Maybe he was sociable, because the black-haired man grinned and offered a handshake. He was Iron Tier, was he?
His stance was solid enough for that. Wherever he learned it, it was steady and unwavering. He'd be on the ground soon anyway.
"Then, let us begin."
With those final words, William kicked off the ground and lunged with his blade.
...
...
...
After dozens of exchanges, William retreated backwards. He sensed something strange. As he'd anticipated, the black-haired man in front of him didn't possess that remarkable a level of skill. But the black-haired man wasn't the problem. The problem was William himself.
...As if someone were clinging to his legs and dragging him down, they felt heavy. And occasionally, his sword arm slowed, as if someone were tugging on it.
Nothing like this had ever happened before.
Worse, every time he looked at that black-haired man, a slightly strange feeling came over him...
"..."
"...What?"
His opponent muttered something. The shape of his lips looked like... sorry? What for?
After one more bout of swordsmanship, the black-haired man retreated a long distance back, then shouted at the top of his lungs toward Sivter.
"Sivter! This is different from what you promised!!!!!!!! You said you'd just observe my skills!!!!!!"
What was he talking about?
"Th-this man is trying to rape me!!!!!!!!!"
"What?!"
What in the...!
The black-haired man wasn't finished. He pointed at William's crotch and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Th-that bastard got turned on looking at me! There was nothing about this in the deal!!!!!!!!"
At the tip of the black-haired man's finger,
even through his pants, it was obvious enough for anyone to see—
William's crotch was bulging, fully engorged.