Episode 3-b. Black Mage Subjugation Battle (3)
To put it simply, after teasing Eileen just enough, I took her to that gambling den she'd been dying to visit.
Eileen, buzzing with excitement, dashed off with a do-do-do and played a few rounds. I had no real interest in gambling myself, so I figured I'd just watch.
But then.
"Eileen, that's enough gambling. We need to head to the assembly point now."
"Yes, yes, Asha-nim! Just one more hand!"
Eileen nodded at my words like she was entranced, but she was too busy reveling in the game.
"Eileen, you said one hand."
"Did I? Anyway, Asha-nim, could you spot me a little money? I'll win it back right away!"
"…."
Her words were clear enough, but she plugged her ears to mine and dove right back in.
"Eileen."
"Yes, yes! Don't worry, I'll win this one!"
"Eileen."
"Hee-hee, come on, six! Six!"
And in my mind, this was definitely not a normal reaction. Eileen knew I was a gray witch—she wouldn't dare test my patience like that.
Slap!
I channeled mana into my hand and smacked the cheek of Eileen, lost in her gambling haze, with all my strength.
"Guh…! A-Asha-nim…? Why, why did you slap my cheek…. It hurts…!"
"Snap out of it."
"Wh-what do you mean…?"
"Do you still feel like gambling?"
"It hurts so much… my cheek hurts too much to tell…."
At least she wasn't begging to gamble anymore. The mysterious spell seemed broken.
It looked like the act of gambling itself carried a magic that slowly drew you in. I'd chalked it up to Eileen's usual stubborn childishness and realized too late.
I explained to Eileen, who was sniffling up at me.
"You were enchanted, obsessed with gambling, so I broke it for you myself."
"Ugh… thank you…. But did you have to slap me…?"
"No, of course not. I just smacked you for ignoring me, so take it in stride."
"…Then at least go easy next time…."
She pouted like she was wronged. It was so absurd I casually raised my hand, and her lip vanished in a flash.
Indeed. As Ain had taught me before, a good spanking worked wonders on most things.
Anyway.
We'd wasted a bit of time, but Eileen and I stepped into the seedy streets.
Artificial darkness, red-lit brothels. The sight of scantily clad prostitutes seducing men was oppressively sordid, even in this situation.
Men not joining the subjugation force followed the lures into pleasure houses, soon filling the air with lewd moans.
A strange, musky scent hung around too.
And that sparked a grim thought poking its head out.
"…A brothel district."
No way, right, Ain? You wouldn't have done something ridiculous like fooling around with a prostitute here.
Men were supposedly weak to carnal desires, but Ain wouldn't fall for that.
So I trusted him.
"Ain."
For now, at least. I'd trust him until the urgent business was done—then I'd check.
Trust and faith came from solid proof, after all.
"A-Asha-nim…! Th-the ash…! Ash is leaking out…!!"
"…."
I took deep breaths at Eileen's frantic tug on my robe hem and headed to the assembly point.
One busy hawking prostitute brushed my robe as she approached, stirring bad imaginings again.
"Ash…! Please, Asha-nim!! There are so many people!"
"Hoo…."
Eileen flailed at the drifting ash particles with a horrified look, forcing me to calm down.
My lips pursed out just like hers, grumbling all the way to the assembly point.
And.
We finally arrived, but a little late—the subjugation force's vanguard had already begun their push.
Boom!Thud!
They ripped out an entire wall of a massive pleasure house with those sounds.
We watched the backs of the knight and mage squads from the plaza leading the charge.
They looked strong enough. Weaker than the empire's squads I'd secretly spied on as a kid, but still skilled.
Sighs rose around us.
"Sigh… no scraps for us. What the hell, the whole knight and mage squads… tsk."
"They said even just showing up gets you a bit of dera, so grab that and drown our sorrows in booze."
They spoke with utter certainty they'd get no turn.
"Too bad. Night finally coming to the city where night never falls."
"Yeah. 'Tourist city' will fade once this blessing ends."
They treated the black mages' subjugation as inevitable, lamenting the coming night.
"Heh heh, finally escaping…. Finally, finally out of this hellhole…."
A ragged vagrant's half-mad chuckle drifted to my ears.
Eileen heard too, tugging my hem and whispering.
"Asha-nim, if they solve it like this, how do we get our reward…?"
Seeing the fierce vanguard plow in and hearing the weaklings' mutters, she thought the same.
But.
"Eileen, why assume it'll be easy for them?"
"Huh? Well, with those folks, black mages are nothing…."
My thinking differed.
"A hundred years is a time no human reaches in a lifetime."
"Uh, yeah. So?"
"Black mages schemed below all that time—what makes you think their lair lacks defenses?"
"…Ah."
They say mages are all about preparation.
A mage stronghold was a fortress, etched with unknown magic circles.
Stored mana and spells poured endlessly—no one dismissed them lightly.
And.
Everyone was oddly complacent, but it applied to the black mages too.
Despite time to flee, they hid underground still.
The jig was up once their hideout was exposed, yet they stayed—that meant resolve.
Hummm—
"Huh…? A-Asha-nim?"
"Look."
If I were those black mages.
The moment those overconfident, middling-strong knights and mages wasted energy entering my domain.
Hummm—
"A-Asha-nim…!"
Kaboom!!
Ancient-etched magic would annihilate them.
And as I predicted, the huge pleasure house dissolved into dust and explosion.
Whether the vanguard truly died was unknown, but the grumblers' mutters vanished with it.
"Still thinking the same?"
"Th-those guys… we won't die too, right…?"
"I'll protect you—just stay close."
"Y-yes…! I trust only you, Asha-nim…!"
I shoved past the scared folks backpedaling and advanced.
Now, instead of certain sighs, curses filled the air around me.
Vagrants and weak adventurers yelled about how they were supposed to subjugate that.
Gloomy, pitch-black mana, hidden a century, overflowed from the breached pleasure house basement.
Honestly, jumping in risked exposing my gray nature.
But for whatever Ain wanted, I'd risk my body—scorching flames included.
"Eileen, hold my waist."
"Y-yes…?"
I wove through the hesitant crowd to the massive pit and leaped in.
"Kyaaah!! Asha-niim…!!"
"Miss the grab, you die. Hold tight."
I scraped the wall with mana to slow my fall, plunging into the deep, pitch-black depths.