From Now On, This City Is Under Our Control (3)
Of course, I couldn't just curse them out right in front of the city delegation after wrapping up negotiations, so I plastered on a smile and came back.
But once I was actually back, my head was flooding with thoughts like, this ain't right.
And who could blame me?
The Red Scourge horde we'd just subjugated kept whining at me every chance they got: "Your Majesty, please lay new eggs to replace the ones we lost."
On top of that, after Geum Taeyang's pure-love proposal (or whatever that was), I could already sense things escalating to the "say your name and age for the camera, sweetie" stage down the line.
"Gyaack!"
I summed up the situation and posted it to the gallery, and yeah, the other players' reactions made it obvious.
But for me, honestly, all I could think was that Illeyna was trying to turn me into a breeding sow for business.
With those thoughts swirling, the moment we got back to our sweet home sweet home.
"Adjutant! Adjutant! You planning to turn the universe's top brain into a breeding pillow cumdump, huh?"
"Your word choice is strangely vulgar, Doctor."
I started flailing my mech arms at Illeyna, spazzing out like "is this for real?"
But at my freakout, she gave me this pitiful look like what crazy talk is this? and assured me there was no issue.
"No need to worry, Doctor."
"How can you say there's nothing to worry about in this situation? May I ask if I may inquire about that?"
Irritation bubbling up, I fired off a nested question laced with sarcasm.
Illeyna, looking like she was about to stage a rebellion, replied.
"Because the Heisenberg City mayor's friendliness toward you stemmed from the ritual circle formed by the placement of your makeup, accessories, uniform badges, and such."
"...Huh?"
"I apologize for not telling you beforehand— you would've been conscious of it and acted differently."
"Eh? Eh?"
Unbelievably, scrubbing and dressing the shut-in mess I was before meeting the delegation wasn't just a "sigh, how do I even take this out in public? Tsk tsk."
Turns out, they'd turned my body— me— into a blank white canvas.
Then, through the number and positions of clothes and accessories, plus the sequence of cosmetics (from simple toner to perfume scents and all), they formed a magic circle right on my body and outfit.
And since it was tailored precisely to affect only the mayor, the delegation and his bodyguards nearby wouldn't have noticed a thing.
For me, even knowing this world was basically sci-fi but actually fusion punk, feeling it hit like this out of nowhere left me dumbfounded.
Of course, that shock didn't last.
"If we really committed, we could boost affinity or even turn them into puppet-level slaves reacting exactly as we want."
"Whoooaaa, th-that's straight-up busted!"
"But that requires at least half a year of prep matching the complexity, and the outfit would get too elaborate— the mayor's people would've spotted and countered it."
"Uh, well... I wasn't saying do that?"
"Plus, since you haven't touched ritual stuff at all, Doctor, there's no traces of so-called 'shamanism'— magic or rituals— so the delegation didn't bother checking that angle."
"This is... something, alright."
Since it had its limits and wasn't for spamming, I got that much.
Hearing all this unintended info, I felt a seriously weird vibe.
And as if proving Illeyna right, while chatting with the gallery open, the vets chimed in on the situation.
"It's not sinking in, you gallery pests."
"Pardon?"
"N-nothing."
All I saw were reactions like that's why it's fusion punk, not pure sci-fi.
Watching the world explain genre grammar to me in the weirdest way, I felt a sensational, bizarre mix of emotions.
But once that realization hit, another question naturally bubbled up.
"...Wait a sec, Adjutant. Adjutant."
"Yes, Doctor."
"So that ritual? Magic? On me— was it strong enough to make the mayor confess? Isn't that busted on its own?"
Yeah.
I'd heard it just "boosts affinity," but the mayor's reaction went way beyond— full-on genuine love, hearts practically beaming from his eyes.
That alone felt insanely overpowered, right?
But at my reaction, Illeyna— who'd heard it firsthand— and the vets who'd cross-checked via my gallery post pondered briefly before.
"...Hate to say it, but the mayor's tastes— appearance-wise— seem to perfectly match yours, Doctor."
"Oooong..."
With opinions like mayor def just likes kids, I couldn't shake the doubt if we'd picked the right partner, sprouting wildly in my chest.