Reincarnated as the Count's Plum Blossom Swordmaster
I looked at the three captives I had seized.
My gaze settled on the unconscious Terius. He was bulkier than the last time I had seen him. Yuria stepped close and whispered.
"Terius. These days he is notorious under the moniker of Berserker."
"Berserker?"
I examined him again. Back then he had been an ordinary mercenary—a bit young, and a fool who had dared to covet my Nepia far beyond his station.
The face still carried traces of the old shape, yet the body had turned rock-hard and heavily muscled. More than anything, the arm that had once been missing was now present.
"I sense demonic power from the arm."
Yuria spoke. I focused my senses on Terius's arm. She called it demonic power, yet I felt nothing else.
"Most likely a low-rank demon was reshaped into an arm and grafted on. Closer to a parasite than anything."
Shadow blades erupted from the earth and swept through the air.
Slash!
Black blood sprayed as Terius's arm was severed. From the stump, pitch-black tentacles writhed and twisted. The severed arm shot upward, lunging toward me, only to be skewered by Yuria's dagger and pinned to the ground. She stared down at it with cold eyes. It looked like a disgusting insect.
"Nothing special about it. I will incinerate it."
I nodded at her words. Flames rose and consumed Terius's arm.
Kieeeeeeeek!
The low-rank demon's death scream was deafening.
I turned my eyes to Kyle. His skin had turned a deep purple. Even bound, he glared at me as though he would kill me on the spot.
"Yujin…! I will never forgive you! Yuria! You are being deceived right now! Kill Yujin and take your freedom! No—free me! I will end this myself!"
Kyle declared it with grim resolve. Coming all this way only to spout that nonsense. He was far from normal.
Should I just kill him?
I weighed it.
If I restore him to his original state, he could still be quite useful.
A few points also bothered me. How had he known I was in the Heversite Mountains, and might his other subordinates already know as well? Killing Kyle here could shake the position I had carefully built.
If that position wavers, the work ahead only multiplies. No need to take the long way around when the easy path is right here.
I ignored Kyle and shifted my gaze sideways.
My eyes met those of Baron Olond Glebet.
"Well now. To meet under such circumstances, Baron Yujin Frucus. I am Baron Olond Glebet. At present I serve as Lord Kyle's retainer."
Glebet's voice was pleasant to the ear—clean and smooth, like a professional announcer's. I almost thought he could make a fortune as a singer.
"Did you control Kyle? Knowing I was here means… a demon contractor belonging to the Demon Association?"
"That is correct. I am a member of the Demon Association and a demon contractor. Since I have admitted it freely, I trust you will not resort to barbaric measures such as torture."
"My questions are not finished yet, so that remains to be seen. What is your purpose? What were you trying to do by bringing Kyle here?"
"My purpose was to kill you, Lord Yujin. Ah, please do not misunderstand. I harbor no personal feelings toward you. I merely followed the orders of Panteum."
"Panteum is targeting me?"
"You must already have some idea."
Bella Hutris and Veint Hutris came to mind. They had been obstructed by me in the Forest of Polank, so of course the Demon Association would mark me as a thorn in their side.
For the record, Veint was dead, and Bella had become my personal cock-house, living in the mansion.
"But to think an expert who toys so easily with an Aura Master would be at your side…. I had been warned to beware the silver-haired maid, yet I never imagined she would be this powerful. Lord Kyle was stronger than anyone I had ever seen, and yet…."
"You knew Bella fell to me, and still you sent only Kyle? You underestimated me… no, you underestimated Yuria far too much."
"I admit the underestimation. Yet I had little choice. Purely in terms of raw combat power, Bella and Veint were nothing special."
True enough. Veint's puppet ability was limited by numerous conditions. Bella's plague power was terrifying, but it specialized in mass slaughter; her personal combat strength was not particularly high.
I did not press further for information on the Demon Association. I already knew the rough outline from the original work, and Bella had supplied the concrete details.
What truly piqued my curiosity was Kyle's present condition.
"Yuria! You are being deceived! I—I will save you!"
Even bound, he still displayed that obsession toward Yuria. She ignored him with an expressionless face.
"Baron Glebet. How did you put him in that state? Is your demon's power a form of brainwashing?"
"So you intend to strip even my foundation bare…."
"If you prefer not to speak, fine. Let us test how long you can hold out. Do you endure pain well? Shall we start with the fingers?"
Baron Glebet immediately tucked his tail between his legs.
"I apologize! I possess no talent whatsoever for enduring pain, so I must decline. Are you curious about my ability? I will tell you without concealment!"
"This bastard…. Are you toying with me?"
"No, no! How could I possibly!"
The moment I raised my sword in threat, Glebet shook his head vigorously from side to side. The trembling pupils and cold sweat running down his face showed he truly wanted no part of torture. Well, anyone who actually wanted it would be the strange one.
"The demon I contracted is the high-rank demon Vitsol."
"…Vitsol?"
"Also known as the Desire Demon. It possesses the ability to see a target's desires and emotions with its eyes and to stimulate them."
For a high-rank demon the ability sounded rather useless—until one looked at the complete wreck Kyle had become.
"Yuria…! I will save you. Without fail…!"
The bastard would not shut up.
I gestured toward Yuria. She approached without the slightest hesitation. I took her shoulder and cheek in my hands and pressed my lips to hers.
"Mmm…."
Yuria accepted the kiss with a soft nasal sound. Our tongues tangled wetly together.
"Uwaaaaaaaargh!! Yujin!!! Get off!! Get away from Yuria!!"
Bound Kyle thrashed and screamed. I savored the kiss with Yuria a little longer before pulling away. A thin silver thread of saliva stretched between our lips and slowly broke.
"Did you really have to do that?"
Elena clicked her tongue and shook her head. I watched Kyle's reaction. He was still panting hard, eyes on the verge of rolling back.
"Baron Glebet. Seeing and stimulating desire…. So you stimulated Kyle's desire, then?"
"Yes. Lord Kyle harbored an obsession toward that silver-haired maid. Originally it was not nearly so severe… yet by stimulating the desire and pouring sweet words into his ear, he became like this."
"He seems incapable of sound judgment whenever Yuria is involved."
"Exactly as you observed. It made him quite easy to control."
I rested a hand on Yuria's shoulder. That alone sent him into another fit of screaming. At first he had still seemed somewhat human; now he was pure beast. The purple aura pouring from Kyle's body was ominous, yet it could not free him from Yuria's restraints.
"…Did you intend to approach Kyle from the very beginning?"
"That was not the case. In truth I planned to select one of the more promising lords and enter his service. Then I happened to lay eyes on Lord Kyle. Despite his outstanding skill, I saw a dense, dark desire within him. He was promising, so I invested with an eye to the future. If Lord Kyle became Count Frucus, many matters would become far more convenient. Yet Lord Yujin proved superior to him."
Baron Glebet was flattering me in order to survive. Had he been a beautiful woman, I might have been tempted. Unfortunately he was a man.
I asked with an indifferent expression.
"So approaching Kyle was not the result of any meticulous plan."
"Correct. It was closer to an impulsive act. Not an order from Panteum, but my own independent decision."
Glebet's choice could be called a success. After all, the protagonist of this world was Kyle. The baron had essentially drawn a winning lottery ticket. The only problem was that the Yuria he obsessed over had turned out far too strong.
"If you can see desire… then you can see mine as well. What is my desire?"
"……."
Baron Glebet strained both eyes and stared at me.
"Lust. An intense lust radiates from you. This is the first time I have ever witnessed desire so powerful. Even the nobles I have seen who were mad with carnal hunger never reached this level…. Have you perhaps been cursed with lust?"
He was exact.
For a moment I felt a flicker of doubt toward Absolute Mind. The skill was active, yet my desire had been exposed to another?
…No. Merely seeing desire does not influence the mind, so the skill simply did not trigger.
I asked Glebet about Yuria's desire next.
"…That maid is your devoted maid, Lord Yujin. An emotion a maid ought not to harbor… yet she is hardly an ordinary maid. In a certain sense, one could say her desire is similar to Lord Kyle's."
"And Elena?"
"…Hmm. Her desire is not visible. There are only two possibilities. Either she possesses none, or she restrains her own desire with perfect control. The former is nearly impossible for a human, so it must be the latter. My word, there is not a single ordinary person here."
The questions were finished.
I rose from my seat and drew my sword.
Baron Olond Glebet. He was a man, not a beauty—was there any real need to keep him alive? Unlike Kyle, he was unlikely to prove useful later, and killing him now would create no troublesome aftermath.
"W-wait just a moment! Please wait! To restore Lord Kyle to his original state, my power will be necessary!"
"Does he not simply return to normal if you die?"
"My ability is not brainwashing! It is merely stimulation! I will restore Lord Kyle! And I will serve you with all my heart and soul! I will tell you everything I know about Panteum! Spare me!"
Baron Glebet bowed his head deeply. He looked ready to prostrate himself completely, yet his body was bound, so only the head could lower.
"You want to live even if it means groveling like that?"
"Even if it is pathetic, I wish to live. I do not want to die after discarding everything I have done until now and everything that still lies ahead. Spare me, Lord Yujin."
"You claimed you can restore Kyle. How many days will it take?"
"A week! At minimum a full week!"
"How? He has already gone completely mad."
"By stimulating the opposing desire in appropriate measure. It requires rather delicate adjustment again…."
Baron Glebet watched my face carefully for any reaction.
I looked toward Elena. With her ability, could she not restore Kyle herself?
Sensing my gaze, Elena shook her head.
"Impossible. I do not know what his original personality was. If I touch him carelessly with illusion arts… he might become even stranger. Or shall I simply manipulate his mind and turn him into a loyal slave?"
"That does not sound bad… but there would be drawbacks, correct?"
"His genius could vanish. Speaking from experience. I once had a talent I desired and fiddled with his mind a little; the genius disappeared and he became utterly ordinary. …In the worst cases the attempt failed and left them idiots."
I abandoned the idea of asking Elena. If Kyle lost his genius, there would be no reason left to keep him alive.
"Baron Glebet. Do not try anything foolish. If you wish to learn what pain worse than death feels like, I will not stop you."
"I-I will do my utmost. You will come to understand just how useful I can be."
I decided that the moment Kyle returned to normal, I would kill Baron Glebet at once.
Leaving him behind, I turned my body toward the remains of the Dragon Lord. It was time to find the Dragon Lord's Heart.