Slowly Kindling Embers at the Foot of the Sofa (3)
"Where the hell have you been wandering off to? I looked everywhere and couldn't find you."
"Hehe, what's it matter? We're not the type who need permission to come and go as we please."
"...More importantly, give me my meds."
"Oh, right, that. The effects must be wearing off by now. Man, our leader really knows how to roll around in the dirt—look at the state of you."
"Cut the crap."
Dane snapped sharply, and Noah went "la la la" as she headed into the back of the guard chief's office.
A moment later, mechanical whirring sounded, followed by the burble of boiling water.
Before long, the guard chief's office filled with the rich, fragrant aroma of coffee.
She didn't strictly need anything but water to take her pills, but a pill washed down with plain water was nothing compared to one savored alongside a steaming cup of aromatic coffee.
And Noah, who had been a barista in her previous life anyway, loved brewing coffee.
It wasn't long before Barista Noah's masterpiece was ready, served on a tray alongside the meds Dane had requested.
"Thanks. I'll dig in."
"No problem. I'll be back later."
Noah, ever so busy with something or other, dropped off the coffee and pills and made to dash out again.
Dane suddenly called her back.
"Oh, and Noah. One thing I wanted to ask."
"What?"
"What were you doing with the guard chief?"
Noah, on her way out, froze in place near the entrance and turned to face Dane.
A goofy smile still played on her lips, but her eyes gleamed with a strange, eerie emotion.
"What are you talking about?"
"You gonna play dumb? Someone saw you heading toward the deep isolation cell where you've got the guard chief locked up."
"......"
"You went to see the guard chief, didn't you, Noah?"
Dane pressed her coldly.
Well, now what? Noah muttered inwardly.
If she'd been caught sneaking in and out of the guard chief's cell, did that mean "that thing" had been exposed too?
Maybe I should just go for it, even if it's a stretch.
Should she just overpower Dane right here by force?
Dane was mostly sealed off from her powers as it was—any attempt at even basic resistance would trigger massive backlash through her body, leaving her writhing in agony.
In her current state, she wasn't a magical girl anymore; even a handful of run-of-the-mill Mech拉克 grunt officers could take her down easily enough.
And Noah, whose combat skills weren't exactly top-tier, could probably manage it.
But actually going through with it felt dicey, thanks to Dane's cunning.
Weak as she was, she always hid hidden weapons in the most unexpected places to catch you off guard, or prepared hidden escape routes that left you swinging at air.
Even now, she might look defenseless, but the moment she sent a signal, other magical girls waiting nearby would come rushing in—reaching this spot in seconds.
No, knowing Dane, she'd have something two or three steps ahead of that already prepared—some brilliant countermove you couldn't even imagine.
That thoroughness and slyness, stacking up contingencies beyond what anyone could dream of—that was Dane the magical girl, her very identity.
That's how she'd become the leader of the Liberation Front even in a state where she was little more than an empty shell of a magical girl, stripped of her power.
Proof that her intellect outshone even the strategic spells that could incinerate armies.
She was no one to underestimate.
But then again...
Maybe in this situation—
"Sigh. I get it, mission accomplished and all, you're bound to let your guard down. But take it easy on the playing around."
"...?"
"What? You weren't off tormenting the guard chief? The guy's barely sane as it is—not much fun to look at anyway."
Dane huffed softly and sprawled languidly across the sofa where Noah had been sitting.
The guard chief was currently under the heavy influence of Dane's Charm, pushed to the brink of mental collapse.
Even now, in that dim, murky cell, he was probably thrusting wildly at empty air, tormented by insatiable lust and craving he couldn't control.
It wasn't a magical girl's spell, but the ability of a succubus—a creature from some distant star in the cosmos.
The succubus species itself had grotesque, repulsive features, and their Charm ability wasn't anywhere near as potent as what Dane wielded.
But in Dane's case, Mech拉克 fiends had amplified just the aggressive aspects of that succubus power through research and experimentation—multiplying its potency several times over, sometimes dozens.
And when combined with the pure, high-grade mana unique to a magical girl, the result was brutally effective.
Many experimental magical girl subjects had undergone similar or identical modifications, but Dane alone had mastered and wielded that power to such a degree.
Probably some innate talent.
They'd deemed the finished product too dangerous—a threat created by their own hands—and slapped restrictions on her power, moving her toward disposal.
Fortunately, she'd escaped before execution, but both her magical girl abilities and the hard-won succubus powers remained sealed.
Even with those limited powers, she'd ruined plenty of men with ironclad mental defenses.
If she'd been free to use her full strength without restraint, she might have brought the entire universe to heel—not just Earth or Mech拉克.
"Toy with that broken mess however you want—vent, play, whatever. Just don't break him too badly. There's still info we need to squeeze out."
"...Like what? What info?"
"About that 'weapon' supposedly stocked here in the Facility. I know it's a contingency for when magical girls get out of control, and that operating or maintaining it takes massive mana... but I have no clue what it is, how it works, or where it's kept. Not urgent, so I've been putting it off."
It was purely for worst-case scenarios.
She didn't expect to wring out every last bit of intel 100%.
If things had gone according to her original plan—slowly seducing the guard chief at leisure to extract info leisurely—she might have gotten it all.
But to rescue Black Twilight and Blue Sapphire, she'd hastily slammed him with Charm, so she couldn't freely pull every detail.
She could fine-tune the Charm over time to make it possible, but unfortunately, they were on a clock.
And since she'd gotten all the truly vital info anyway, the rest—including the 'weapon'—was nice-to-have at best.
So she'd been leaving the guard chief to rot, figuring she'd interrogate him again if time allowed.
Preparations to head to the Liberation Front base in half a day were wrapping up, after which she'd pay him a visit.
"Don't break him. You have a habit of crossing lines."
"...Yeah. Got it."
Noah nodded obediently and finally slipped out.
Left alone, Dane let out a small sigh.
She'd gotten her answer, but judging by that look, Noah wasn't about to listen.
She'd kept her around for her utility so far, but it was about time to prepare a replacement or clip her wings.
"......"
Dane stared down at the pill Noah had left, eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
Then she carefully snapped the small oval tablet in half.
In one corner of the room sat a beast resembling a flying squirrel—something the guard chief apparently kept as a hobby, grotesque in its bad taste.
She tossed half the pill into its enclosure, and the creature darted over, snatched it up, and swallowed.
She waited, but no reaction came.
No falling asleep, no foaming at the mouth and passing out.
Noah's meds produced the 'result' she wanted, so whether human or beast, the effect would be the same.
And since this was meant to suppress the penalties plaguing Dane's body, it was only natural it had zero effect on a perfectly healthy specimen like this.
"...Overthinking it?"
A vague unease, a bad feeling—
Stuff she usually ignored had suddenly nagged at her, making her cautious.
In the end, she'd just wasted half a pill she desperately needed.
Asking Noah for another felt awkward—not just because of her daily limit, but because it'd make her suspicious and pissy.
Resigned, Dane popped the remaining half into her mouth and swallowed.
As the familiar sensation washed over her, soothing her hypersensitive flesh and quelling the constant surge of arousal, she took a deep gulp of the fragrant coffee Noah had brewed.
* * *
Kiiiiing—
A short while later.
The door to the guard chief's private office—where Dane had been—swung open again, and the brown-haired magical girl Noah stepped inside.
Noah glanced around the room and smiled with satisfaction.
On the floor at the foot of the sofa in the corner lay the black-haired magical girl Dane, passed out cold.
Nearby on the floor rolled the pretty engraved coffee cup Noah had served her from just moments ago.
Judging by the amount, she'd drunk about half. Laced with a potent mana-infused drug, that was more than enough.
There was nothing wrong with the pill Dane had requested.
It suppressed all her bodily penalties—the crippling hypersensitivity that made daily life impossible, the perpetual waves of heat—just as always.
But on top of that, one extra addition.
Noah had slipped another drug into the coffee—a powerful, odorless, tasteless one that would keep her out for the whole night.
Incidentally, she'd also added an ingredient to the 'penalty control' pill that dulled mana detection, so Dane likely never sensed a thing in the coffee right up to the end.
Noah approached slowly, hoisted Dane back onto the sofa, and bound her limbs securely.
Then she headed to the back of the guard chief's office and ran her hands along the wall.
With a firm press, a section slid open as the guard chief had described, revealing a safe.
Kiririk, kirik—
Clank! Kreeeeek!
"...This is..."
Inside the safe floated a bizarre mechanical orb, hovering in midair without any visible support.
Noah carefully extracted it.
This was the item the guard chief had instructed her to retrieve.
The key required to activate the Facility's contingency 'weapon'.