116. I Heard Keeping Tentacles as Pets Is the Trend These Days? (End)
116. I Heard Keeping Tentacles as Pets Is the Trend These Days? (End)
Freedom was precious to everyone.
That was why she longed for a free life. A romantic life, roaming the whole world with a suitable human as her host and savoring freedom to its fullest. She did have an assigned role, but that was always a distant second priority.
Because she had been locked away for far too long.
Mission or not, anyone trapped inside a stuffy box for years on end could not help yearning for freedom.
'If you want to catch a dragon, you have to enter its lair!'
Pulling that proverb from a dusty corner of her mind, she carefully moved her eye around and surveyed her surroundings. Reconnaissance was essential before putting her plan into action. She inspected the room while deliberately avoiding the two red eyes staring straight at her.
A room crammed with tightly packed bookshelves.
She had been placed in the middle of a table piled high with books and notes. The arrangement was clearly meant to keep her under strict watch, since she tried to escape whenever anyone looked away. Frightened by the unrelenting gaze, the tentacle book stole a glance at the red-haired girl who had taken such a keen interest in her.
A girl on whom brainwashing didn't work at all.
Every time those red eyes looked at her with curiosity, the tentacle book shuddered, the agony of the previous day flooding back. Never in all her bookish life had she suffered such humiliation.
'I had to endure it... If I couldn't endure it, there would be no freedom!'
Endure, endure, and wait for the right moment. It was the only option available to her. If she handled it well, she might be able to create an opening through a 'Provisional Contract.'
"Millia, you need to focus on your studies, don't you?"
"But it's so hard..."
"These are the basic things you have to learn if you want to attend the academy. You were the one who said you wanted to go, weren't you, Millia? So you have to work hard. If you don't work hard at your studies, Yohan won't like it. Isn't that right?"
Karina's and Yohan's eyes met. Reading the message in her gaze, Yohan nodded and backed her up.
"If you want to make friends, you have to put in the effort."
At that remark from Yohan, who had been leaning against a corner of the room, the boredom vanished from Millia's face. At that transparent reaction, Karina smiled elegantly and looked at Millia as if she were precious.
"I'll work hard!"
'She really was simple-minded.'
The tentacle, who had repeatedly been subdued by that very simple-minded girl, thought to herself.
Once an atmosphere of studying and scribbling in notebooks settled back in, the nameless tentacled Grimoire began discreetly eyeing her chances. Being in the middle of the table made escape difficult, but if she stayed quiet, an opportunity was bound to arise eventually. She held her breath and waited for that chance.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Thirty minutes.
One hour.
"Millia, let's go to the bathroom together..."
Karina's gaze paused on Yohan for a moment, then returned to Millia. Evidently, she was too embarrassed to say it out loud in front of a man.
"Okay! Let's go together!"
At Karina's request, Millia sprang to her feet and grabbed the handles of Patrasche. At Millia's energetic movement, Yohan, who had been leaning against the door, caught on and uncrossed his arms to approach her, but Millia stopped him. As scatterbrained as she was, she still had that much sense.
"I'll be back soon!"
'Following them would've been awkward. Still, I had to escort them...'
Taking the opportunity, Yohan picked up Soggy—no, the tentacle book—which had been inching toward the edge of the table. The tentacle book let him pick her up meekly. Suspicious of her reaction, which was completely different from before, Yohan stared at her, but she merely stayed still in his grasp like a docile lamb and watched him warily.
"Huh? Yohan, are you coming too?"
"You don't have to follow us..."
"I won't follow you inside, so don't worry."
"...I'm still embarrassed."
"We did things like this often enough on the uninhabited island."
"Th-that was then, this is now..."
"Pfft."
"Fix your face, Millia."
Yohan poked Millia's puffed-out cheek with a finger. Millia looked up at him while he pressed her cheek in. He chuckled and stroked her hair. Her soft hair became tousled beneath his rough hand, but Millia merely closed her eyes and happily enjoyed his touch.
"Um, can we hurry..."
"Ah, sorry. Let's head out right away."
'I was jealous...'
Was that what it was like to be loved?
For the first time, the tentacle felt envy.
---------------------------
"Studying's over for today!"
"Good work, Millia."
"Heehee."
Millia latched onto Karina like a puppy.
Since this was routine whenever studying ended, Karina naturally held Millia in her arms and stroked the red-haired girl's head with a gentle touch. Millia, her face buried in Karina's chest, was in high spirits. Sure, the tedious studying being over was part of it, but Millia truly loved Karina's touch.
In a slightly different way from Yohan's.
"Almost time for dinner, I see."
"We should rest a bit until the maid comes."
"Then I'm gonna play with Soggy!"
"A Grimoire is not a toy, Millia."
"But she's so well-behaved! I'll only take her for walks in the library—"
"...Only play with her on the table."
"Got it!"
'Karina could easily dispel ordinary brainwashing, so it'd probably be fine.'
He watched with worried eyes as Millia slipped out of Karina's embrace and reached for the tentacle book on the table.
So far, the Grimoire had only ever been on the receiving end of Millia's attacks, so the danger seemed distinctly low. Still, no one could know what might happen next.
Yohan fully intended to split the Grimoire in half with his shovel the instant it tried to harm Millia.
As valuable as a Grimoire was, it could not compare to Millia.
"Hee hee, Soggy, paw~"
'But I wasn't a dog...'
The tentacle meekly placed a tendril on Millia's palm. At the genuinely doglike behavior, Yohan let out a bewildered laugh. Karina reacted the same way. She wasn't an expert on Grimoires, but for one to behave this docilely was all but impossible unless you were its master.
Needlessly finicky relics in book form. That was Grimoires for you.
"Soggy, paw!"
"...She's really taken a shine to Millia."
"Perhaps Soggy likes her?"
"She was constantly trying to run away before, though..."
"Sit! Up!"
Had she changed her mind? Or was she just obeying for now? Yohan glared at the book with suspicion. The tentacle book desperately ignored the stinging gaze piercing the back of her cover and dutifully followed Millia's commands.
'Just a little longer... If I waited for my chance and formed a Provisional Contract...'
Brainwashing magic hadn't worked, but if only she could somehow succeed at a Provisional Contract, that would do. Once contracted, she could buy time to escape using the Contractor's authority. But to do that, the consent of the contracting party was essential.
To watch for a chance at escape, she didn't mind pretending to be a dog.
Minor sacrifices were necessary for a grand purpose, after all!
"Hey, Soggy~? Can I open you up just once?"
"No."
"No."
"Soggy's nice, so maybe it's okay?"
The instant Millia said that while petting Soggy, Soggy opened herself as though she'd been waiting for the opportunity, revealing her pure white pages to Millia. It happened so suddenly that neither Yohan nor Karina could react. Elegant lettering appeared across the snow-white pages.
[Want to make a contract with me?]
"Contract? What's..."
Before Millia could say another word, Yohan clamped his palm over her mouth and reached out his other hand to snatch the book. But Soggy, having staked everything on this one shot, didn't back down easily. Wringing out every last drop of her mana, she fended off Yohan's grasp and tempted Millia.
[If you form a contract with me, you can use magic!]
Unlike before, the handwriting had a hastily scrawled look.
She deliberately omitted one character to lure Millia in. She'd taken note of how the girl showed particular enthusiasm in magic-related lessons. That Millia was the easiest to cajole among the group was another reason she wanted the Provisional Contract with her.
A child was easier to handle than a fully grown adult, after all.
"Really?"
"Weren't you going to learn magic from Elisa? Millia, making deals with dangerous objects is never a good thing."
"Hmm—you're right, huh?"
'If this continued, I'd really be caught and locked away forever! Think! Brain, work!'
[I'll give you dating coaching too!]
"Dating coaching?"
"...Well, I've lived long enough to see a Grimoire say something like dating coaching."
The Grimoires in the game had all been needlessly rigid and solemn. Yohan pressed a hand to his forehead at the Grimoire's self-promotion, so drastically different from the game.
[I can make any man fall for you!]
"F-For real?"
Millia glanced over at Yohan and leaned her face in toward the book. At that expression brimming with interest, Soggy cheered inwardly and immediately manifested words on the paper.
[Just say my name and the contract is complete! My name is—]
One by one, letters began appearing across the page in a clear serif typeface. Watching them form, Millia unconsciously opened her mouth to read the name aloud. To her, the promise that she could 'seduce Yohan' was more valuable than anything else.
But before her voice could form the words, someone else spoke first, cutting her off.
"I, Yohan Quartz, will enter an eternal contract with Rue."
"Yohan?!"
"Yohan?!"
[N-Nooo!]
Rue's scream was in vain as the magical process of forming the contract began. Yohan had been able to cut in because he'd watched Grimoire contract scenes countless times in the game. Rue despaired as she felt her body forcibly bound to him.
'NOOOOOOOOOO! A contract with a guy who barely had any mana?! Then there'd be no point stealing his mana!'
"For a Grimoire, there isn't much to you."
"Hey, Yohan! Why'd you steal her?! I wanted to make a contract with Soggy too!"
"You can still play with her instead."
"Really? Really-really-really? You're not lying?"
"Yeah."
"Yay!"
'I didn't see this coming.'
He'd had no intention of personally contracting the Grimoire. Doing so wasn't very efficient. But it couldn't be helped, due to a Grimoire's trait: once opened, it wouldn't close until the contract was sealed.
"...So much for selling it."
His plan to rake in a fat pile of gold was mercilessly tossed into the trash.
[I told you, I'm not merchandise!]
"Is that so."
[To think I'm contracted to a guy like this... I'm ruined!]
"Yohan, are you all right?!"
"I'm fine. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to be the harmful kind of Grimoire... Though she can barely use any magic."
Still, she did have some mana, so she should have been able to use a little magic with the right tools. Thinking about the magic Rue could use, Yohan smiled with satisfaction.
She might have been more useful than I had expected.
'I was ruined...'
Their thoughts, intersecting at opposite extremes of joy and despair, flew right past each other without ever touching.