155. Immature, or Despair (2)
155. Immature, or Despair (2)
- 1 -
Thus, one day, as Arpina's daily life at the magic academy gradually grew duller.
"I want to erase my memories. Could you help me?"
She made a great discovery that became the source of new pleasures and desires.
It came from a student at the magic academy who sought her out, as always.
"Alex. Are you alright?"
"Professor... I can't remember... truly...! Thank you!"
Those were memories the student who came for counsel that day had fervently begged to forget.
Though the memories of childhood abuse had vanished from his inner self.
[I'm sorry! I'm sorry...!!]
[It was Mom who was wrong!!]
Inside Arpina's head, they were replaying vividly.
That student's childhood, and the consequences of that childhood.
As if she herself had experienced it.
"You, won't you come here...?"
"Professor...?"
The first subject of a new experiment.
The handsome student fell for Arpina's seduction just like that.
That day was the first time she killed a person.
Yet there was none of the revulsion or nausea that mercenaries who had killed on the battlefield testified to.
"You... are more beautiful now that you're dead."
The pale, taxidermied form of the student appeared only beautiful in her eyes.
Because.
She had come to realize that after stealing a person's most important memories and abilities, killing the original owner would let her possess those abilities permanently.
"This is it! This is what I truly wanted!"
She felt her body and mind fill with a pleasure that threatened to explode.
A climax of ecstasy.
"From now on...!"
That absolute peak of the moment when she stole everything from another!
- 2 -
Just before the morning sun rose, that time before the whole world truly began to stir.
Jarax finally made his decision.
"We slip out quietly."
"Already, you mean?"
At his subordinate's puzzled voice, the lizardman chieftain Jarax nodded.
It was a very resolute and confident gesture.
"Their movements have changed recently. The strategy of intensifying their war through chaos in the rear was a success. Though they do not know our identity, any further attacks would be dangerous."
The subordinate had said 'already,' but it had already been five days since they began their raids.
More than enough time for the enemy to catch on. Now was the only time to escape.
The worst-case scenario was any one of them being captured; the second worst was their identity as the raiders being exposed.
"But it's a shame... if we got more prey, we could feed our children even more fully..."
"There is still much credit to be won..."
Despite their chieftain's resolve, some of the subordinates expressed a hint of regret.
Over four days, the human food they had gained was more than enough to feed them all fully, and what was left over had all been entrusted to the harpies and sent to their territory.
The fullness of their children was the parents' joy.
It was fate that the lizardmen felt regret.
Also, to gain credit to present to the new Great Lord meant they could receive rewards.
With those rewards, they wanted 'their race's standing.'
For the lizardmen, who had already lost one chieftain, 'stability' held great value.
But the chieftain shook his head firmly.
"Our next battlefield is already prepared..."
"Is that true?"
"Yes. We go north. Lady Yuran awaits."
This series of raids had been enough to awaken the instincts of the warriors, long dormant while they hid.
And in the north, a battlefield awaited those lizardmen who had become warriors once more.
"Ooh...!"
"Understood."
The lizardmen quietly cheered and burned with enthusiasm, careful to maintain their concealment. They soon began preparations to leave the river.
Among them, the chieftain straightened his back and looked out at the river.
The wide river, and the several bridges spanning it.
The place that had been their bloodstained stage all this time.
"... We shall return. And then, we shall become the masters of this land."
Filled with both regret and anticipation, the chieftain turned his body.
His movements were still solemn, but had lightened; his heavy steps were filled with determination.
"Let us go. To the next battlefield."
He had already drunk enough blood.
Enough to quell the grudge against humans entangled with the former chieftain, and to harbor hope for the future.
Jarax, son of Dreniks, had now freed himself from the past and obtained the mindset to devote himself completely to his current Lord and Great Lord.
- 3 -
"What? Why can't you get any information?"
The moment Arpina's sharp voice burrowed into his ears, the man standing before her broke into a cold sweat and bowed his head.
"Well... because there truly is nothing...?"
His trembling voice was utterly timid, completely at odds with his hulking frame.
But this was not merely his personality; it was an 'individuality' Arpina had deliberately implanted.
By granting such contradictory traits, she had wanted to confirm her power of domination.
"Huh? For real? There's information even the deputy head of 'Gray Eye' doesn't know?"
Though her voice was laced with mockery, Arpina was honestly bewildered.
Because this man, contrary to his appearance, was an executive of one of the continent's greatest information organizations.
"But nothing truly comes up...!"
He cried out desperately and unjustly.
"Nothing at all! I searched thoroughly through the information guild's channels too, but it truly doesn't come out... I'm sorry, Lady Arpina...!"
"Alright, alright. Got it. Come here."
"Lady Arpina..."
As she embraced the muscular man, Arpina fell into thought for a moment.
Even as she patted his solid back and firm buttocks—her type—her mind grew increasingly complicated.
'Nothing at all? But that demonkin definitely said they were there.'
It was strange.
The demonkin's existence was certain, yet even the continent's top information network couldn't locate them.
And they had failed not just once, but five times.
Even Arpina, who had long since abandoned the habit of deep thinking in daily life, was forced to reach a single conclusion.
'They're hiding. Extremely thoroughly, at that.'
A sadistic smile stretched across Arpina's lips.
She already knew the other's appearance, and through the demonkin, she knew the grade of the opposing Dungeon Lord.
Although they hadn't, oddly, informed her of their full military strength, the more she learned now, the more new facets they revealed, only causing her curiosity to grow.
'They definitely said she's a young Dungeon Lord.'
Then no matter how strong she was, she wouldn't be a match for her.
A feeble existence that would simply shatter if she pushed forward like an ogre.
That was why she was hiding her body like this. Until she grew strong.
But that ability to conceal herself could not be ignored.
After all, even she, who had temporarily seized one of the continent's premier information networks, couldn't find her.
'Such an existence...'
Arpina's breathing grew ragged.
'How electrifying would it be to have her nestled in my arms, fawning over me...!'
The fact that she knew of an existence even 'Gray Eye' couldn't identify.
And at the thought that she could get her hands on such a being, her lower belly heated up intensely.
"Come here, baby!"
But that was something for the future.
She was a being caught by the 'Contract' anyway, and the pleasure of the moment was more important.
"Yes!"
"Now forget everything that happened here! All of it! Everything! Hmph!"
"Hnng...!"
As she roughly handled the muscular man, Arpina sank into sweet fantasies.
The unidentified black-clad woman.
A future where she made the Dungeon Lord, said to be the most noble being among the demonkin, kneel at her feet—or perhaps take a step beyond that.
'I wonder what kind of dreams that fateful girl has...'
Her lips twisted grotesquely.
'Surely they'll be delicious...!'
Dreams were her power. In dreams, her self always became reality.
That was the 'truth' that would certainly happen, this time at least.
There was no way the two failures from her past would repeat themselves now.
Absolutely not.
- 4 -
A certain noble's mansion in the Kingdom of Haisen.
In the banquet hall remodeled into a conference room, a heavy silence had settled.
Seojieoseu stood before his subordinates and asked, his voice as calm as ever.
"What is the meaning of this?"
But all his subordinates only bowed their heads in silence; there was no one who answered.
It was a situation where none of them could respond confidently. Including even Seojieoseu himself.
"Not only have you failed to collect all information on the daughter of the frontier count..."
Seojieoseu continued with a sigh-laced voice.
"...you also couldn't find her whereabouts despite begging the information guild for clues... and now there are even personnel who have deserted without permission...?"
With each word that followed, the subordinates' heads bowed even deeper.
There were only two representatives standing before them like this, which was a clear anomaly.
Because there were originally three deputy heads serving under Seojieoseu Datji, the head of the Kingdom of Haisen branch of 'Gray Eye.'
For a deputy head to be absent without leave from a general assembly was a grave matter deserving discipline.
"What was Deputy Head Oyson's last report?"
In truth, the assembly itself had been convened precisely because of that matter.
The regular report from the deputy head stationed in Oyson County and the report that came up from his watcher did not match.
The deputy head of Oyson County had concealed the existence of a regularly-met 'lover.'
For professional reasons, this was a violation of one of the conditions that absolutely had to be revealed to the organization.
Compared to such an unauthorized desertion of a deputy-level operative, the failure to track Mikaela's whereabouts was actually a minor issue.
"That... it was probably the report that the 'Dream Witch' had infiltrated the interior of Haisen."
At Seojieoseu's question, the adjutant standing at attention beside him answered.
Upon hearing that answer, Seojieoseu's eyes narrowed.
Of all people, the deputy head who had been in charge of the most critical task in the current situation.
This was a detail that brought another possibility to mind.
"Turncoat?"
At Seojieoseu's one-word query, laden with doubt, the two deputy heads standing before him panicked and simultaneously stepped forward.
"That is impossible, Branch Head!"
"Our loyalty is...!"
There was a reason they hurriedly stepped up.
Because talk of a deputy-level betrayal was a signal flare summoning an inspection of every deputy in the organization.
As 'Gray Eye' was a group gathered entirely by self-interest, numerous corrupt acts were tolerated as long as loyalty to the chief was maintained.
But being caught by an inspection was an entirely different problem.
A situation where even deputy heads who didn't mind committing corrupt acts themselves had no choice but to panic.
"Calm yourselves, deputy heads. I never said it was a voluntary betrayal."
The truth was, Seojieoseu himself couldn't act confidently regarding this problem, either.
As he smiled and placated the deputy heads, they sighed internally in relief before...
"However."
Their superior's words tensed their entire beings again.
"Regardless, this is a failure that must not be known outside. Do you agree, deputy heads?"
""Yes!!""
"Then, from this moment, all aggressive actions against Oyson are authorized."
The deputy heads broke out in cold sweats and gulped.
Seojieoseu's words effectively meant they were to completely erase anything that would disgrace the branch.
"So, immediately...?"
"No..."
Before them, Seojieoseu quietly shook his head.
Having been lost in thought for a moment, he soon spoke with his usual gentle smile.
"We are not beginning now."
"What do you mean?"
He didn't much like taking to the field directly, but this was unavoidable.
The opponent was certainly a being of at least high rank.
If that was the case, someone with matching power or standing from this side had to step forward.
Both of those pointed to himself.
"I shall contact that witch first. Withdraw all personnel from near Oyson. I will go personally."
""Yes!""
"Go do your jobs now. We must move before the losses grow larger."
""Yes!!!""
Thus, all the subordinates withdrew, leaving only the adjutant, who still wore the appearance of an aged noble, in the room.
"Wine."
"Yes."
Seojieoseu ordered a drink from his adjutant.
Soon, holding the politely offered wine glass in his hand, he savored the aroma of the red liquid inside before swallowing it very slowly down his throat.
Immediately after.
"Dream Witch..."
Kwajik!
The glass 'folded' in his hand.
With delicate force control, the glass was compressed obediently without a single shard flying outward.
Though he had generated no mana during the act, not a single wound remained on his white hand.
"I'll make you regret touching us."
Seojieoseu's two eyes flashed eerily.
This was three hours before the information on their movements reached Libertas.