Ep.3 - Three-Way Face-off
Ep.3 - Three-Way Face-off
Fate was a truly ironic thing, sometimes binding together those who were never meant to meet.
Some might call that strange phenomenon by beautiful names—"God's guidance"—but at times, a cruder phrase like "merciless sodomy by a little dragon" described fate far more accurately.
Philmark and the disguised witch both instinctively sensed the strange currents now stirring from a nearby table.
Neva did not catch those currents, but amid the bizarre dissonance emanating from Chichi, she cautiously reached for her own sword of God... only to stop herself. The tense look in Philmark's eyes kept Neva from acting rashly.
Don't move.
Philmark's dark, deep eyes whispered to Neva.
In terms of sheer force, Neva was the strongest, but in this atmosphere of walking on thin ice, her strength would only become a liability. She had to be careful.
"...I'd best be going now. I have many other appointments, you see."
The witch slowly pushed back her chair and bid farewell to the person in front of her.
"Already?"
"Let's meet again later."
"No, we just met—"
Click, clack—
Her footsteps, which even the clamor inside the tavern could not bury, hammered into Philmark and Neva's ears.
The witch passed by the knight and thief's table as if skimming past it. Though she kept a considerable distance, Delin's scent surged even more intensely through Philmark's sensitive nose.
Neva's heart pounded. The urgency of finding Delin soon, mingled with the anxiety that she must seize that witch at once, echoed deep in her chest.
Kkiik—
The knight and thief exchanged a fleeting glance and rose from their seats at the same moment. No one around them paid any mind. Yet the witch, who had turned and was walking away, did not miss their movement.
"Huh? Wait! You have to pay!"
All three stopped in their tracks at once. Neva pulled a silver coin from her bosom and placed it on the table as if throwing it down.
"Keep the change."
"Oh, oh my!" The owner's tone shifted in an instant—a single silver coin... and the killing intent palpable in her voice.
"..."
In rhythm with the witch's breathing, her back and shoulders gently rose and fell.
...She walked out.
Unlike before, her footsteps were utterly silent, without a single click or clack.
Following the insolent woman, the thief and knight also cautiously slipped out of the tavern.
Outside, it was still dark. The pitch-black street, where not even the blue moonlight shone, was filled with nothing but gloom.
"Who might you be? I have no recollection of arranging a meeting with you."
The woman spoke without turning around. The knight and thief who had followed her stopped for a moment.
"You don't exactly have appointments with anyone else either."
The thief answered.
"Oh dear. How rude. Exceedingly so."
"So, shall I apologize?"
"There's no need for an apology, Miss Philmark."
The woman released her disguise. Blue mana wrapped around her body, and soon the witch's distinctive wide-brimmed hat and clinging attire revealed themselves.
"For someone as famous as you to seek me out like this—the honor is mine, rather."
The witch, who had turned her head slightly to gaze at the thief and knight, held the blue moonlight in her own brown eyes.
"Beside you is the Sword of the Albator Kingdom, Lady Neva. It is an honor to meet you. What an astonishing coincidence this is... to encounter two people whose names resound throughout the world at the same moment. Yet... what an unusual pairing. I had heard you were like oil and water, sworn enemies utterly mismatched?"
Despite her deceptively kind and sweet voice, the thief and knight did not relax. The thief scanned the surroundings for something to grab, and the knight slowly brought her hand to the sword at her waist.
"...You are far more polite than I'd heard, but as I have no leisure at the moment, I shall dispense with courtesy and speak directly. Take us to Raftel."
"If you both wish to enter the witch society, I won't stop you. However, that would require consultation with the others..."
"Hey. Enough."
Philmark, clutching a stone in her hand, aimed it at the witch.
"You... what the hell are you?"
Even with the moonstone handcuffs fastened, her killing intent alone could not be suppressed. Hot blood began surging through every corner of her body, starting from her head.
"Where's Delin?"
"Oh my?"
The moment that single man's name emerged, the atmosphere flowing among the three shifted in an instant.
"This bastard smells like Delin."
"...!"
Venom settled in Neva and Philmark's eyes.
"Oh dear... It seems our adorable disciple has made some rather troublesome friends."
And a profound depth settled at the corners of Chichi's own eyes.
"But... what shall we do about this?"
The witch flashed a subtle smile for a moment, then slowly turned around to fully face the knight and thief.
"That child has decided to live with me now."
-------------------------------
Meanwhile, Delin, left alone at Chichi's house, tossed and turned on the bed prepared for him. Sleep would not come easily. He could not free himself from all manner of thoughts disturbing his rest.
"Hrrk..."
In a half-asleep state, Delin writhed in agony from the memories of being violated by countless women without pause.
The endless waves of fate crashing toward him. Turned now into an irreversibly defiled body, all he could do was flounder, helplessly swept along by those waves.
Yet as if the raging waves were still not inclined to let him go, the sound of footsteps began to stir near the house.
"...?"
No. Voices could even be heard now. Judging by the sounds, it was roughly three women. Delin pulled the blanket up a little higher, buried his face in it, and even stifled his breathing. Praying desperately that nothing would happen.
Bang, bang, bang—
"Chichi! Come out!"
Contrary to his hopes, the women, who seemed quite angry, pounded on the door as if they meant to break it down, shouting for the person inside.
"Hurry up! Ugh, seriously..."
"You're going to get disciplined at this rate, so open up quickly~ We're busy too."
Unlike the witches who had used him as teaching material, these witches had a rather haughty manner of speaking. So excessively haughty it could almost be called arrogance.
"Come out, quickly! We know you're in there! Before this escalates and reaches the Elders, hurry!"
"If you don't open the door, we're just going to break it down and come in, so you'd better know that. I'm counting to five. One, two, three, four..."
Startled by that sharp declaration, Delin threw off the blanket entirely and hurriedly tried to stop the women outside the door.
"W-wait! Right now it's only me...!"
Kwaang—
The door shattered. Fragments rained down onto the floor of Chichi's house.
"What's this?"
Three women in total. After drawing a magic circle in the air with their fingers to sweep the debris outside, they walked in one by one, slowly.
"Looks like Chichi isn't here."
"That bitch is never around when it matters. Tch..."
The witches poked and prodded at Chichi's belongings quite irritably. They clearly did not get along well at all.
"So this is the guy Chichi brought home?"
Delin was apparently included under that category of [belongings], as the witches now clustered near the bed and swept their eyes over him from head to toe.
A body that wasn't bad. A rather fine face. A man who seemed terrified yet kept his lips firmly pressed together and glared at them.
"Well... he's pretty decent. Right?"
"Ha! Decent? He's just disgusting."
"That obnoxious bitch. Look at her, she turned down Bianca's confession before and now she's gone and brought home a fucking gigolo. Honestly... a brat who's still wet behind the ears."
Their reactions were quite varied, but the fact that their eyes, having latched onto a man for the first time in a long while, lingered for a considerably long time was the same for all of them. Biological instinct controlled their behavior. They etched the image of the attractive opposite sex a little more deeply into their eyes.
"...So. Where did Chichi go?"
One of the witches asked Delin. Her eyes still greedily roamed up and down his body.
"I don't know either."
Conscious of their gazes, Delin stealthily pulled the blanket back up to cover his body. The suggestive stares pouring from them were quite difficult to endure.
"What do you mean you don't know!"
Another witch slammed her foot onto Delin's bed and snapped at him. Yet even beyond her irritated voice and expression, a faint longing for Delin's body seeped through. Though she forcibly displaced it with disgust, her body and heart quite honestly desired the man.
"Tell us now. We're in a hurry, you know?"
"..I really don't know. She just said she was going to catch another man."
"Tch. Looks like one dick isn't enough to satisfy her, huh?"
"Pfft! What are you talking about? She looks like she'd come way faster than any guy. All greed and no stamina."
Under the extremely unpleasant gazes and tones of the three witches, Delin slowly retreated backwards, pulling the blanket up to his chest. One thing he had learned since coming to this other world was that he had to be mindful and hide his body so as not to provoke the women.
Yet that clumsy act appeared to the three witches as a slight provocation, even a seduction. For no matter how much he tried to hide, they only became more curious about the bare skin beneath.
"Well... whatever. We'll have to wait until she gets back."
"..Here?"
Two of the witches perched on Delin's bed. Except for one witch who seemed to dislike men, the other two sidled up to Delin, licking their lips.
"Noona! You're not seriously going to... with a man...!"
"It's fine. It'd be boring just sitting around until that bitch Chichi gets back anyway."
"That's not the point! Besides, you two are dating each other...!"
"We use dildos and strap-ons every day, but we hardly ever get the chance to use a real dick~"
"Even so, we came here because the atmosphere's gotten weird because of this man! To lecture her!"
The two lesbian witches were not particularly swayed by their junior's lecturing. They merely thought... why not slip a man between the two of us while we wait and have some fun?
Of course, Delin absolutely would not permit his body to be used as a dildo or anything like that. Since he knew he couldn't win by force, he would use the information given to him! Refuse as firmly as possible!
"W-wait...! Miss Chichi decided to take me as her disciple! She said she wouldn't make me do those things anymore!"
"What?"
The witches exchanged glances in surprise.
...But they didn't exactly stop.
"Take a man as a disciple? You've got to make some sense."
As if they'd believe such a stupid lie.