Traces of Pleasure
The wet, obscene sounds of licking filled the room. “Haa... haaah... hnn...”
I ran my tongue over the tips of my fingers and across my palm, savoring every last drop of Lilina’s fluids, while my eyes drank in the sight of her sprawled helplessly across the bed. After multiple shattering orgasms, she looked utterly spent. She simply lay there, chest heaving, letting out soft, broken moans. The sight made me want to tease her even more.
I reached out and lightly rested my hand on her smooth thigh. Her body twitched violently. She braced a trembling hand against her waist and gasped out, “S-stop… I was wrong. I really can’t take any more…”
“Relax. I wasn’t planning on doing anything else anyway.”
Seeing her react so dramatically when she hadn’t actually done anything wrong made a helpless laugh bubble out of me.
“R-really? Then… we’re done?”
“Yep. Sex is over. Wait, no. This was a potency test. Either way, I’ll stop for today. Any more and I’m pretty sure I’d break your hips.”
Of course, my own sturdy body was perfectly fine, but for Lilina, who had never even properly masturbated before today, let alone climaxed, this must have been an overwhelming experience.
“Hmm… still, it feels like a waste to just leave right after we finish. Want me to give you a massage? I’m actually pretty good at it. Though I’ve only ever done it for one other person so far.”
“N-no, it’s fine. You can just go…”
I flashed her a smile that made it clear I wasn’t taking no for an answer and waved my hand. Lilina, still glistening with a thin layer of sweat, gave me a doubtful look before dragging her exhausted body over and flopping face-down on the bed.
Her dark skin was covered in blooming red marks—my lips and teeth had left flowers of passion all over her. What had started as half-joking bites and licks had grown fiercer as the heat between us rose, until I was devouring her with raw hunger.
I climbed carefully onto her back, my eyes tracing every mark. I brushed my fingertips over one particularly deep bite mark near her shoulder blade.
“Hii!”
“Mmm. Looks like I bit this spot pretty hard.”
It wasn’t broken skin, but the area was swollen and flushed from how aggressively I’d sucked and licked it.
“Anyway, massage time?”
“Y-yeah…”
Ignoring her skeptical tone, I began moving my hands slowly. Her body, which had been tense as a board, gradually started to loosen.
“Ugh…! Nngh! Haaaa…”
“Wow, aren’t you a little too sensitive?”
“…You’re the one who made me like this.”
The way she moaned almost as much as she had during sex made me smile. I leaned down and dragged my tongue slowly up the line of her spine. Her hips jerked with a sharp “Hiiik!”
“You said… you were going to stop…”
“I did. But you’re too pretty, so I changed my mind.”
The sight of fresh beads of sweat rolling down her skin was impossible to resist. I gave her an awkward little smile and placed my hands back on her lower back, pressing firmly along her spine and lats, working out the knots with steady pressure.
“Haaaa…”
“Not bad, right?”
“M-mhm.”
She seemed to like it. The tension that had lingered in her body from the start finally melted away. I’d heard that people sometimes cramped up from tensing too hard during sex.
As I continued the massage, we chatted casually—what people usually call pillow talk. That was when I realized I had never actually told her my name.
I debated whether or not to say it. But after we’d seen each other’s faces and shared our bodies like this, hiding my name felt too scummy. So I decided to tell her.
“Oh, right. My name’s Serina. I’m a commoner, so I don’t have a last name.”
“…Revealing your identity in the Black Market is implicitly forbidden.”
“I know that much. But we’re not exactly strangers anymore, are we? You told me your name, so it’s only fair I tell you mine.”
“Haa…”
Lilina frowned like she had a headache, then simply closed her eyes and lowered her head, apparently deciding to just enjoy the massage.
I worked my way down her spine, past her waist, and began kneading the muscles of her thighs near her hips. She glanced back at me cautiously.
“By any chance… are you an academy student?”
“Hm? Yeah, that’s right. My skills are honestly nothing special, so it’s been a struggle, but I’m managing.”
“Haa…”
She buried her face in the sheets again, as if something had just occurred to her, but she didn’t bother explaining.
After I finished massaging her from the nape of her neck all the way down to the tips of her toes, Lilina rolled over and lay spread-eagle on the bed. I naturally lay down beside her, and we both stared blankly up at the ceiling.
“Anyway, the potion’s effects seem more than satisfactory. Thanks for your hard work.”
“It’s not just ‘satisfactory’… Haa. Never mind. Just try it yourself later.”
“Hmm. Yeah, maybe I will when I get the chance.”
Lilina gave me a strange look, clearly thinking I was joking, but I was genuinely curious. The scented candle I’d tested on Eloise had no effect on me, so I wondered how these elixirs would work. Well, that was something I could figure out later.
I gave her cheek a light kiss, then stretched my slightly stiff back and got up from the bed.
“…You’re leaving?”
“Yeah. I finished what I came to do, and I had fun with you. Oh, but I’ll drop by often, so don’t look too disappointed.”
I brushed her disheveled hair back, then stood. I opened the window on one side of the room to let in fresh air, picked up my scattered clothes, and gave her a little wave as I dressed.
“By the way, can you make artifacts too?”
“Huh? Well… I can, in theory…”
I’d asked on the off chance since she was an alchemist, and it turned out Lilina was quite versatile. As expected of an elf who had lived for hundreds of years.
The artifacts that came to mind were the kinds of tools that frequently appeared in the adult games from my previous life—handcuffs, dildos, that sort of thing. Of course, I planned to have her add special magical functions to them. There were so many varieties that I couldn’t commission anything specific right now, so I decided to bring it up next time.
Once I was fully dressed, I gave Lilina one last deep kiss and left her room without any lingering attachment. After all, I’d be seeing her often from now on.
With a heavy thud, the sound of a door closing echoed from far away.
Even though the distance was considerable, in this shop that served as both her sanctuary and her laboratory, Lilina could sense everything that happened inside no matter where she was.
That girl who had intertwined with her body multiple times had casually smiled, revealed her name, and then massaged every inch of Lilina’s body. She had licked up their mixed fluids with satisfaction and explored her once more. Just remembering those sticky, desire-laden touches made heat rise from the top of Lilina’s head again.
‘I’ve gone crazy. Completely insane. How could I do that with a normal human…! And an academy student, no less…!’
If her older sister—who was practically feared by the students at the academy—ever found out, she would be deeply disappointed.
“No, no. I was simply doing my duty as the shop owner, verifying the quality of the product for a customer…”
It was just that the verification process had been far too personal and far too sticky.
“Haa… Actually, now that I think about it, I didn’t really do anything wrong… But the other person is human… Then again, I’m a half-elf myself, so does it even matter…? But if a half-elf and a human have a child, would it be a quarter-elf…?”
She had left her clan so long ago that she wasn’t even sure if quarter-elves existed.
“No, no. This isn’t the time to be thinking about that. Besides, we’re both women…”
Lying sprawled on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, useless thoughts flooded her mind: Serina’s touches, those long fingers caressing her most intimate places, the way Serina’s tongue and soft lips had claimed her own so fiercely, like a beast marking its territory.
“Uwaaaah…!”
Lilina hugged the pillow that had been leaning against the wall and rolled across the wide bed, trying to cool her burning head as she screamed.
“I’ve lost it… I’ve completely lost it…!”
But no matter how much she tried to deny it, one thought kept echoing in her head.
It hadn’t been bad at all. In fact, if she’d had the stamina, she would have wanted to keep going.
It wasn’t that no one had ever approached her before, but this kind of experience was naturally her first. It had been far too stimulating, far too pleasurable.
“…Come to think of it, the target for the aphrodisiac was a woman, right…”
From the way she spoke, it seemed she didn’t care much for men. Or rather, she didn’t even consider them romantic prospects at all.
Gulp. Remembering the hands and lips that had tormented every part of her body, Lilina swallowed hard.
“Haa…”
She touched the vivid red bite mark on her shoulder blade, recalling Serina’s touch, and began to gently stroke her own body. Her gaze was momentarily stolen by the faint moisture still clinging to her fingertips.
The image of Serina playfully biting her fingers overlapped with the sensation. She carefully slipped her index finger into her own mouth.
Chu.
She rolled her tongue around it the same way Serina had sucked on her finger, licking it slowly. For some reason, it felt like she could still smell Serina’s scent.
Even she knew how perverted this was, but half-dazed with arousal, Lilina unconsciously moved her other hand down toward her aching core.
Thud.
“Hm?”
The sound of the shop door opening again made her instinctively cast a spell, shifting her vision toward the counter.
“…Lilina?”
And as if sensing that gaze, the customer looked straight at her. No—her older sister, Selene, was standing there.