175. The White Serpent's Banquet (2)
175. The White Serpent's Banquet (2)
- 1 -
Crash!
"I-I'm so sorry!!"
The maid bringing food to the head table was startled when a wine glass shattered beside her and hurriedly stammered out an apology.
In this place, where nobles often blamed servants or maids even when they themselves had dropped the food, her reaction was only natural.
But now, the count beside the dropped food did not direct his anger at the maid. No, far from angry, he was eerily silent.
His gaze was directed elsewhere.
"...Hik!"
The maid, who had looked up at the noble's face thinking he might be merciful and kind, froze in terror.
The count said nothing; instead, his body rigid, he glared toward the mistress of the fortress.
With an unsightly tent pitched beneath his lower body.
"What in the...!"
When the maid, shocked by that stare and disgraceful display, covered her mouth, Echidna gestured to her and spoke gently.
"It's alright, human child. Come here."
"M-My Lady...? This is..."
"They all said they wanted to try the new drug, and soon enough, they ended up in that state."
Drugs existed in this world as well. Though they were simply called 'medicine,' their addictive nature and hallucinatory effects left no doubt that they were, in fact, narcotics.
That was why the maid could immediately believe the Lamia Queen's words.
"Ahh...!"
The maid was relieved by Echidna's words, yet simultaneously grew even more terrified. It was good that she wouldn't be held accountable for the mistake, but it was common for nobles to take drugs and commit bizarre acts at fateful gatherings.
Having worked as a maid since childhood, she had seen such nobles many times.
"Quickly."
"Y-Yes!"
Believing the mistress of the fortress would protect her, the maid hurried over to her side.
"Splendid. It seems mixed with a paralytic drug."
"While the body is stiffened, the drug will spread further. We added a drug that accelerates blood circulation."
"Excessive. So there was a reason he raised his member so disgracefully."
"M-Master...?"
The maid, who had been approaching, stiffened upon hearing the conversation flowing between us. After all, it meant we were the ones who had drugged them.
But Echidna smiled as if it were nothing of consequence.
"It's alright. Such drugs do not work on me. Go and tell the other maids that the meal here was sufficient."
"Ah... That... Yes...!"
"And..."
The maid, unable to comprehend the situation, simply looked terrified. Perhaps finding the woman, who looked barely in her twenties, adorable, Echidna grabbed the maid's arm, pulled her close, and stroked her hair.
Even I could see she was a rather cute woman.
"Tonight... no, tomorrow night, you shall come to my chambers and attend to me."
"Heok...! Yes...!"
"When you go down, one of my children will guide you."
Night attendance, even if not necessarily a sexual matter, was sufficient to convey the meaning of favor.
As if to prove it, the terrified maid's face held an irrepressible joy, smiling despite her fear.
Like many humans recently gathering around the Serpent Queen, she too seemed to revere Echidna.
"A lovely woman."
"I've heard there are nobles among humans who dislike someone just for having freckles. Such a shame, when she's so pretty."
Echidna approached me again, smiling.
Before us, the bodies of the nobles who had been glaring at us stiffly began to loosen, one by one.
"What in the world is this...!"
"Just what did you feed us...!!"
The nobles all seemed to have realized that they had consumed something, and that it contained components harmful to the body.
To them, Echidna answered with a quiet smile.
"What you have been fed is a drug containing a mana-condensing component. Unless you periodically obtain the antidote from me, your magic circuits will harden, and your bodies will follow, eventually killing you."
Compared to her quiet answer, the content was utterly heinous. It was only natural for the nobles to be horrified.
"What...!"
"How could you commit such a vile act!"
"Be quiet. Who permitted you to raise your voices?"
Thump!
When Echidna's tail struck the head table, all the nobles instantly shut their mouths. It was because the special wave of mana she generated had shaken their sensory organs.
"This pressure...!"
"They said the monsters were strong, but the lord herself is a powerhouse too..."
The wave spread precisely over the head table alone. Those among them with some discernment regarding power finally realized just how strong she was, their faces paling. Even elite-grade adventurers on the verge of ascending to high rank were rare in the inland regions.
"Master. It seems they are ready to listen."
"I see."
Immediately after, the nobles' doomed gazes turned toward me at the words of that powerful Lamia Queen. Perhaps because the word 'Master' suggested something terrifying, some of the nobles' faces turned deathly pale, as if they felt their lives draining away.
I rose from my seat and began to walk a circle behind the nobles' backs, examining their faces.
Clack.
"Barvelus Lord. I hear you've been profiting quite a bit by walking the tightrope between the Norn Empire and the Genota United Kingdom. Including... a considerable amount of pocket money unreported to your home country."
"How do you...!"
The face of the noble with the splendid mustache grew even paler. His mustache was twisted comically. He had ruined its shape by fiddling with it, unaware it was soaked in wine.
Clack.
"Giverayson Lord. I know that you illegally burn fire-field villages and sell the inhabitants into slavery. Human hunting as a hobby... how noble of you."
"Heo, heo-eok...!"
The pot-bellied noble convulsed, making a sound as if he were choking. It was amusing to see his tiny, button-like eyes open wide.
Clack.
"Panteres Lord. The experiments conducted in your territory... truly cruel things. So many of your subjects have gone missing. Were the screams of children so sweet to you?"
"How could you...!"
Panteres Lord's face drained of all color, turning blackish. His hands and feet trembled, making him look just like someone truly addicted to drugs.
Clack.
"Ranhan Lord. All three of your wives met mysterious deaths, didn't they? The first by poison... the second an 'accident.' And the third... ah, I heard she is still alive in the underground prison? I can't help but applaud your taste for young, fallen nobles."
"Hi, hi-hiik...!"
Upon hearing the last words, Ranhan Lord's face contorted. But his eyes held not only fear, but a certain twisted excitement. Perhaps the stimulant we had fed him before the poison had not yet worn off; he couldn't control his own words.
"They were just so... beautiful! Those children had to become mine!"
The words that burst from his mouth were so disgusting they nearly drew a hollow laugh. It was also ridiculous how the other nobles at the table looked at him with contempt, as if to distance themselves from his level of depravity.
"That white nape... the deeply carved collarbone... Geok!"
I raised my hand behind him. Mana responded to my gesture, strangling his throat and stopping his words.
"How many are currently in your underground prison?"
"T-Twelve...!"
He clamped his own mouth shut. But it was too late. Below his trousers, the unsightly tent was still prominently visible, and his eyes still gleamed with that twisted desire.
"Ha."
Echidna openly clicked her tongue.
Clack.
"Next. Count..."
Every time my footsteps echoed, the nobles' faces grew darker than seemed possible. Exposing their secrets one by one was like dropping poison one drop at a time.
"... Fufu."
Echidna watched me threaten the nobles one by one, as if enjoying the sight. The smile at the corner of her lips resembled a viper eyeing its prey just before the kill.
"Now, do you understand what I want from you?"
Holding the wine she had handed me, I turned to look at them.
"You have lived considering yourselves noble. But in my eyes, you are nothing but trash that got lucky. And now, that trash has fallen into my hands."
I said, finally returning to my seat and sitting down. I could see the last trace of color drain from the nobles' faces. Their eyes held fear, and despair, sensing their own end.
"Your lives and your honor are all in our hands. The antidote to the poison, and your secrets, all of it."
It would be wise to forbid any attempts to cure the poison by bringing in clerics, exorcist priests, or alchemists. After all, the 'Flowing Chain' that Echidna had refined was more profoundly perfected than before. Her unique poison, where mana toxicity, bodily poison, and curses interwove and acted on a deep level, would require at least a high-ranked cleric or greater to attempt purification. And even that, if imperfect... would return with an even worse backlash.
"Furthermore, I will assign one person to each of your sides. You will have to treat them with high importance."
"H-Have mercy...!"
"Mercy? An amusing word."
Echidna burst into laughter. Her laugh sent visible chills down the spines of the nobles.
"You have shown no mercy to so many others, so why do you think it would be returned to you here?"
"Th-then what must we do..."
"It is simple. What my Master desires is your loyalty."
Echidna gracefully raised her wine glass and continued.
"From now on, you need only become the eyes and ears of myself and my Master. The movements of the duchies, the empire, and the United Kingdom. The situations in each territory... Relaying all information to us. That is all. Of course, the better your results, the better your treatment will be."
The nobles looked at each other. Their eyes were already completely filled with surrender.
"Of course, I do not recommend betrayal. If you betray us..."
At my gesture, the fruit on the table rose into the air.
And then those things—
Squish—
were simultaneously crushed, spilling their juice.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes...!"
The nobles nodded their heads in unison. Now they were ours. It was just as Echidna had planned.
"Good. Now, enjoy the gathering. With your new lords."
Echidna said, smiling. Her smile was still elegant, but the meaning within it was clear.
The Foile River, one of humanity's most important trade routes. This region had become mine.
- 2 -
After the fateful gathering that wasn't a fateful gathering, inside the Lamia Queen's personal chambers. Echidna and I sat alone, talking.
"It was amusing that only those so full of greed answered the invitation."
"It wasn't that there were no inherently good people. But all those who understood the nuance of the 'special party' I proposed did not come."
It seemed that to the nobles, a 'special party' was often considered a term for debauchery. The common sense of those in power inevitably warps the moment they think, 'It's okay to do this.'
"Wherever you go, humans never change."
Recalling similar cases I had seen back on Earth, I smiled a bitter, twisted smile. Anywhere on the continents of Earth, no matter the time or place, they existed—those who dabbled in crime, testing their power by using people. They and the nobles of this continent were not fundamentally different. Of course, neither was I, all that different.
"Master. Are you alright?"
Echidna asked worriedly. Her white tail moved slightly, following my steps. Her expression held worry, but her inverted eyes shone with a quiet desire. An honest attitude befitting a monster. But that was only in front of me; before humans, she was a lady who consistently wore a thorough mask.
"Of course. What reason would I have not to be? I have all of you."
I raised my hand to her cheek. Her scales were cold, but the human skin part was quite warm. Perhaps because her skin was flushed red.
"Master...?"
"Now that I think of it, I haven't given you a reward in a long while. You are always working for me."
My fingers traced down along her collarbone and flank. My fingers, descending as if walking over her body, were stimulating her physique; she flinched, yet at the same time, open anticipation rose in her eyes.
"I heard you suggested the Lamias try massage."
"How did you..."
"Your children complained to me."
She unconsciously laid her body down on the bed, and I climbed over her.
"They told me you miss me. Or perhaps it's my touch you miss."
"No. I miss you, Master..."
Her tail climbed up my leg. I seized her snake tail with my mana, and caught her waist with my hand.
"Either way, your desire is clear and a sight to behold."
"Ah... Master."
For a while, only the sound of smooth scales rubbing and a woman's sighs continued within the room.