Chapter 341: Bread and Dagger (39)
Chapter 341: Bread and Dagger (39)
Senior Elsie’s visit appeared to be entirely impulsive.
The scent of alcohol clinging to her breath and her trembling hands were proof enough. If she had planned to pounce on me with intent, she would have been much more composed.
However, even while pinned beneath her, Senior Elsie was failing to make any meaningful progress.
The primary reason was her total lack of understanding regarding men’s clothing.
Just as men are often ignorant of the intricacies of women’s lingerie, women naturally have a low understanding of the clothes men typically wear.
For instance, I had struggled quite a bit during my first time with Senior Delphine.
I couldn't for the life of me figure out how the undergarment wrapping her chest was fastened or how to take it off. In the end, I had simply chosen to tear it away by force.
Of course, as a mage, that was a difficult path for Senior Elsie to take.
While it wouldn't be impossible with physical strength reinforced by mana, ripping clothes required a certain level of resolve and courage. Unless one was feigning a mistake in the heat of passion like I had, it was a tricky action to commit to.
And secondly, Senior Elsie was visibly nervous.
Actually, the reasons I just listed mostly applied to taking off trousers. Women, who don't often wear belts, tend to struggle with undoing them.
But the top was a different story.
How hard could it be to undo a few buttons?
Despite that, the reason Senior Elsie couldn't get my clothes off was entirely due to the fact that her hands were shaking like leaves.
When intoxication sets in, focusing on precision tasks becomes even more difficult. Combined with her excessive nerves, her hands were trembling so pitifully that there was no way she could undress me.
Thanks to that, I managed to regain my composure quickly.
My bewilderment hadn't vanished entirely, but I had gained enough mental leeway to assess the situation from a broader perspective.
First, my hands were tied.
They were fixed to the bedpost, but it was a very clumsy arrangement.
No matter how she bound me with strings of mana, the bed was made of wood. If I simply smashed the bed apart, she would have no way to respond.
Of course, I had no desire to resort to such extreme resistance.
To be honest, Senior Elsie’s fumbling touch was actually quite cute.
Moreover, the sensation of her soft flesh squirming over my waist felt rather good.
After reaching this rational conclusion, I attempted to persuade her.
"Senior Elsie, please stop this."
"No... it's your fault..."
But Senior Elsie was already past the point of being reasoned with.
Her unfocused eyes and her lamentations, which were tinged with a hint of sobbing, showed the typical self-justification of an assailant.
Should I just subdue her now?
Senior Elsie was drunk and not in her right mind. The fact that she thought she could restrain me with mere strings of mana was proof of that.
Furthermore, it wasn't as if she had ambushed me from a distance; a mage had walked right up to a swordsman.
Unless this was a trap, there was no way I could lose.
Of course, Senior Elsie was a skilled mage. No matter how drunk she was, her seasoned techniques wouldn't just disappear. She could probably easily overpower any mediocre swordsman.
The problem, however, was that I was anything but mediocre.
Feeling the sensation of Senior Elsie’s hips rubbing against me, I tried to persuade her once more.
It was a soft, elastic feeling.
Senior Elsie probably didn't even realize her backside was grinding against my body.
"No, Senior Elsie... just calm down for a second. Why are you doing this all of a sudden? And what do you mean, it's my fault?"
Perhaps my calm voice brought back a sliver of her reason.
Her slightly watery eyes turned toward me.
It was the look of a woman who had been emotionally wounded, and it made my heart ache a little.
In truth, the relationship between Senior Elsie and me was very complicated.
We weren't just friends or colleagues, but we weren't lovers either—it was an ambiguous middle ground.
As someone with zero experience with women, my mind always went blank at times like this.
"You... you touched her, didn't you?"
It was a blunt question.
And because of that, it was even harder to guess her meaning.
It meant Senior Elsie was trapped within her own context. After pretending to think for a moment, I asked back.
"Touched what?"
"The Saintess, obviously! That big-chested bitch!"
"Hmm," I hummed, swallowing a groan and subtly averting my gaze from Senior Elsie.
This was a bit unexpected.
Though it had ultimately fizzled out, what happened that night was a secret between the Saintess and me. No one stood to gain anything by spreading that fact.
Not me, and not the Saintess.
I would have to deal with Senior Elsie’s pestering, and the Saintess would be in an even more difficult position since she had nearly broken her vow of chastity.
Yet, surprisingly, it seemed the Saintess had readily told Senior Elsie what happened that night.
Did she trust Senior Elsie that much?
Or had she judged that she could gain more by doing so?
Either way, it was the worst for me.
I tried to clear my throat to divert her attention, but it was already too late.
Tears began to well up in Senior Elsie’s eyes.
"You didn't even touch me! You didn't even try to pounce on me when I was drunk! So why... are you... are you also enchanted by those tits?!"
"No, well..."
It was an accurate point.
Unable to bring myself to lie, I let my voice trail off. At that, Senior Elsie began to pound on my chest with her fists as if she were even more frustrated.
Not that it hurt at all.
Senior Elsie wasn't truly trying to hit me.
She just wanted to convey her resentment.
"I told you to be careful... Do you have any idea how much that Saintess bitch bragged about it?!"
"What did she brag about?"
"Because it was a bet!"
Now the background circumstances were finally starting to take shape in my head.
Back when Senior Elsie was trying to seduce me, she had left me with a warning as she walked away. Hadn't she said, 'Watch out for the Saintess'?
The reason was simple.
It was because she had made a bet with the Saintess.
Hearing the story today, I suspected they had made a wager to see who could seduce me first.
What a pointless thing to do.
What were they going to do if I ended up pouncing on both of them?
Wait, in that situation, should I be the one worrying about what to do?
Regardless, I was able to piece together the story leading up to this moment, however roughly.
Only one question remained.
"I mean, why would you make such a useless bet?"
"U-Useless?!"
Despite my logical point, Senior Elsie showed no signs of calming down.
If anything, she flared up in anger.
"Because you... you kept being alone with that Delphine bitch...!"
As she spoke, Senior Elsie’s body trembled with indignation.
A single tear rolled down her cheek. Her bitten lip perfectly conveyed her miserable feelings.
I let out a deep sigh.
What a mess all those rumors had caused.
Fundamentally, it was my fault.
Senior Elsie used her arms to prop up her breasts, trying to emphasize them. Even though doing so wouldn't make them a match for the Saintess or Senior Delphine.
There was a fundamental gap between Senior Elsie and those two.
The Saintess, in particular, was at a level where one had to discuss divine miracles. While Senior Elsie had a reasonably full chest, it was only by general standards.
One couldn't put a bird and a beast on the same playing field.
And above all, there was a limit to Senior Elsie’s self-assertion.
"Look! I have them too! I... I'm someone who got plenty of confessions when you weren't around... But even though I went out of my way to confess to you, you touch another bitch instead of me? You could just touch me!"
"Then untie my hands first."
I said it as if I couldn't believe her.
Even if I wanted to touch her, I needed my hands free to do so.
Senior Elsie, who had been huffing while sitting on my waist, suddenly had a look of realization.
Snap.
My hands were released.
Feeling my long-lost freedom, I repeatedly clenched and unclenched my fists.
Now that the stage was set, it was Senior Elsie who became nervous.
I heard her swallow hard.
The girl’s body visibly shrank back. With a bitter smile, I slowly pushed my upper body up.
This left Senior Elsie and me sitting face-to-face.
And since Senior Elsie still had her legs wrapped around my waist, we were in an incredibly close position.
Her eyes, resembling blue sapphires, cast downward.
After hesitating for a moment, she spoke to me cautiously.
"Um, I've been drinking, and I haven't finished washing up yet..."
"And yet you were going to pounce on me?"
Senior Elsie’s head dropped low.
She fidgeted, tapping her index fingers together.
She looked exactly like a puppy being scolded.
"I... I was drunk! Do you know how much I was mocked? That's why I drank so much!"
"Then I'll make sure you aren't mocked anymore."
The distance between Senior Elsie and me closed further.
A sweet gap where our breaths mingled.
Senior Elsie’s body stiffened even more. The closer I got, the more she seemed to shrink.
"...I just have to pounce on you, right?"
A single question thrown out like an ultimatum.
Senior Elsie’s face turned even redder, and she began to stammer. Regardless of her reaction, my mind was already made up.
I was a little angry.
Angry at the behavior of the women surrounding me lately.
Coming to harass me every night—no matter how I thought about it, it was outrageous.
Especially Senior Elsie, who had come to find me twice now; it wouldn't be strange to teach her a lesson.
As the final moment arrived, Senior Elsie squeezed her eyes shut and chose to flee.
"F-First, after I wash... Eeeeek!"
But before she could, my body lunged forward, pinning her down.
Between the flickering fire shadows, the two figures overlapped.