Subjugation Battle (1)

After the long kiss, we roughly washed ourselves with the water kept in Leona's room and prepared to head out, looking presentable once more.

"Y-Young Master..."

Unlike when she had been crawling across the floor earlier, Leona now seemed noticeably more energetic—likely thanks to having greedily drained my Virility stat. She cautiously grabbed the hem of my clothes.

"That's enough. You've done this much for me today, so I'll be satisfied with that. Instead... if you perfectly complete tonight's hunt all by yourself without me, I'll come back and give you a proper reward."

"R-Really? Then, at that time, my... behind..."

Leona couldn't bring herself to voice the humiliating request to be fucked like a bitch from behind. She glanced nervously at Anna, who stood beside me.

Originally, given Leona's status, she wouldn't have needed to worry about what a mere maid thought. But after the three of us had sex together, Leona had naturally begun to read Anna's mood.

I didn't wait ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for her to finish. I simply turned toward the door.

That's when I saw it—not just the bed, but the entire floor of the room was covered in the sticky traces Leona had spilled.

More than shame, Leona seemed overwhelmed by the daunting thought of how to clean it all up. She kept stealing glances at Anna, the cleaning maid, clearly hoping the woman would help her tidy the room.

Since I planned to spend the night in Anna's room instead of returning to mine, I reached out to stop Anna before she could offer.

But there was no need for me to intervene. Anna, who would normally cower timidly in the presence of the vice-commander, spoke in a dry voice and cut her off cleanly.

"I'm sorry, but that's impossible, Vice-Commander. I must attend to the Young Master from now on. Please handle the cleaning yourself."

A complete reversal of hierarchy. Even the vice-commander's authority meant nothing.

Yet Leona was so overwhelmed by Anna's firm attitude that she nodded in a daze.

The reason for Anna's massive surge in confidence was largely because she had received Skill Impregnation from me and felt fully acknowledged. But beneath that lay something even greater.

'It's because she now knows that the vice-commander, who would be hundreds of times stronger than her in pure combat power, is nothing but a pathetic, endlessly weak pussy on the bed.'

After all, Anna herself had just used her tongue and fingers to make Leona howl like a bitch in heat and cum over and over again. There was no way she wouldn't know.

It was proof of an absolute difference in rank that had nothing to do with strength or skills—just one woman completely dominating another.

Anna had instinctively recognized that hierarchy and acted on it. She now understood on a primal level that Leona was nothing more than a worthless, submissive pussy who got wet when pinned beneath someone.

Even though the sex had only just ended, seeing Leona so intimidated by Anna nearly made me burst out laughing.

"Um... Young Master... how should I clean this..."

The entire room was drenched in her juices. She couldn't ask any of the other maids to clean it. Still, that wasn't my problem.

I reminded her of the promise—that if she handled tonight's "hunt" well without me, I'd reward her later—then stepped out of Leona's room.

Once outside, I didn't head straight back to my own quarters.

Instead, I gave Anna a short glance.

"...Yes, Young Master."

Anna didn't ask twice. She could already tell exactly what I wanted just from the look in my eyes.

The corridor leading to Eric's office.

At this hour, even in the early morning, two guards would normally be patrolling at regular intervals. Eric's office was located near Isabella's empty lord's chambers, so it was only natural.

If I approached directly, I'd be caught. No matter how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠much of a worthless scoundrel I was—someone who could wander anywhere without being questioned—standing against the wall near Eric's reception room in the middle of the night would look anything but normal.

But if Anna went first, the story changed. Even the strictest guards wouldn't bother picking a fight with a timid cleaning maid.

After a brief moment of thought, I prepared a massive laundry cart.

It had four wheels at the bottom, so even petite Anna could push it.

Normally, her slender arms would have struggled with the weight, but the Virility stat I'd poured into her earlier had boosted her strength to around the average of a normal person.

Thanks to that, Anna gripped the cart's handle with ease. And buried inside the pile of laundry was me.

"...Young Master, are you able to breathe?"

"No problem. Let's go."

Anna pushed the cart down the corridor.

Two guards stood near Eric's office, but the sight of a small maid collecting laundry in the early morning was simply part of the scenery.

Then one of the more suspicious guards turned his gaze toward Anna.

"...Laundry at this hour?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. The Young Master... dirtied the bedsheets quite a lot yesterday."

It was an answer Leona could never have given so smoothly. The guard cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away. Once a small maid said something like that, no one would press further.

The cart slid deeper into the corridor.

We arrived at the small reception room attached to the office.

About five steps away from the room where Eric and Kent were meeting, Anna stopped. She pretended to be reorganizing the laundry.

Inside the cart, I shifted my posture slightly, pulling my side free.

The Mind Reading ability had many practical uses.

One of them was that I didn't need the target directly in my line of sight.

Distance didn't matter, and walls were no obstacle. As long as I knew someone was there, that was enough.

Pressing your ear to the wall to eavesdrop would raise suspicion. But lying inside a laundry cart five steps away from the wall while reading minds? No guard and no surveillance magic could ever detect it.

I used Mind Reading to grasp the situation between the two. There was no need to listen for long.

The two men inside the reception room were already on the verge of grabbing each other by the collar.

Eric's furious shouting. Kent's growling retorts.

I didn't need the details. The core point was clear.

With the subjugation battle just around the corner, Eric had stripped Kent of command over his knight order and scattered the main forces haphazardly to the outskirts.

A smile rose to my lips.

"Good. No need to see more. Let's get out of here."

Anna grabbed the cart's handle again.

She slowly pushed it all the way to the end of the corridor, then slipped out through the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back door.

The guards would only remember that a laundry cart had passed by in the early morning.

No one would ever know who had been hiding inside it.

Instead of heading to my room, I went to Anna's.

As I sank deep into the chair in front of the desk, Anna approached and stood politely beside me. Without a sound, she trimmed the lamp wick and placed a warm teacup within my reach.

Receiving her flawless, silent maid service, I opened Gareth's ledger that lay on the desk.

My eyes, which had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠calmly scanning the pages, gradually grew cold.

The abnormal volume of mana stones being smuggled in, along with the massive purchases of miscellaneous goods that would be completely unnecessary for simple human trafficking.

'This isn't just... human trafficking.'

The original story's setting spun rapidly through my mind.

'The black magic boss from the middle of the original story. The one who killed the characters I cared about and nearly drove even Kael to his death.'

The bastard who possessed the cheat-like skill of mass demonization. It was him.

The records in this ledger were decisive proof that the black mage had infiltrated the territory and was building his forces.

Judging by the scale of the trafficking, however, he hadn't yet gained the overwhelming power he possessed in the original story. In that case, my course of action was obvious.

"...Before he grows into a monster I can't handle later, I'll cut off his head now—while his neck is still soft."

I was the one who had devoured the original story over and over. The perfect counter-strategies to dismantle mass demonization and black magic barriers were etched precisely into my mind.

'Then the remaining problems are...'

How to deal with Ophelia, the slave trader who was the true mastermind behind all of this. And how to secure a large quantity of Holy Oil—the black mage's fatal weakness—right before the subjugation battle. Those were the two issues.

As I listened to the quiet sound of Anna refilling my empty teacup, I remained lost in thought deep into the night.

Then, while I was simply sitting in the chair doing nothing, system windows popped up one after another.

Leona, who had gone out alone for the night's hunt in my place, had precisely slit the throat of an evildoer. And every time she triggered the Hunt Harvest skill, I received the full reward right alongside her.

Along with the pleasure of growing stronger, I could feel the density of my muscles changing in real time. I looked at my stat window floating in the air and clenched my fist in satisfaction.

'Now I finally understand the true value of this power. It's not simply about obtaining strong skills. The real core is the skill sharing. As the women I've subjected to Corruption Training grow stronger, so do I. This is the true worth of this ability.'

Raising favorability wouldn't be easy, so I couldn't grow infinitely this way. Still, the fact that I could grow stronger through auto-hunting alone brought a very pleased smile to my face.

That night, instead of returning to my room, I lay down in bed beside Anna and fell into a pleasant sleep. The bed was narrow, so Anna had no choice but to lie almost on top of me. Naturally, our rest alternated between sex and sleep over and over again.

Starting from that night, the few days until the eve of the subjugation battle flew by in the blink of an eye.

During the day, Werner Krauss was the same as always. A useless scoundrel yawning lazily in the corner of the meeting room. A fool who showed no interest in any family decisions, even though his own sister and acting family head, Isabella, was missing.

But once the sun set and everyone was asleep, a man wearing a unicorn mask would slip deep into the shadows of the territory.

The slave trader buying up children in the slums.

The corrupt priest distributing hallucinogens behind the temple.

The mine owner treating the territory's people like slaves in the northern mines.

One per night. At most, one every two nights.

Every time the Unicorn Knight's sword slashed across their necks, the system window rose cheerfully.

It wasn't just me who was getting stronger.

Leona was growing alongside me.

Auto-hunting. Stats rising at an incredibly steep rate.

The biggest weakness I'd had since possessing this body—the pathetic base stats of a worthless scoundrel—had risen to surpass that of a regular knight in just a few days.

And so, on the day of the subjugation battle, with all preparations finally complete...

Pale sunlight streamed through the window of Anna's room, where I had spent far more time than my own over the past few days.

While I changed into my armor, Anna stood beside the bed, holding my sword with both hands in offering. She remained silent the entire time.

"...Young Master."

Just as I was about to take the sword from her and leave, she called out to stop me.

"What."

I answered her with a confident expression.

"...Please return safely."

I placed my palm on top of Anna's maid cap.

"Don't worry."

With those words, I tucked the items for dealing with the black mage into my clothes and stepped out of the room. The knights and soldiers would already be lined up in the training grounds. I had deliberately dawdled because I had no desire to listen to Eric's disgusting speech.

Anyway, today was finally the day.

The day had come at last—the day I would sweep away all the filth in this territory.