Chapter 76
Chapter 76
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Pluto's Descendant
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Before long, the basement was left with just me and this bizarrely bound nymph.
As if she realized everyone else had left and only I remained, the Pluto cultist nymph Paranoya started thrashing around, her handcuffs clanking loudly.
"Mmph! Mmph—!"
Was she asking me to remove the gag over her mouth?
She looked just like a pubescent girl on the outside, so seeing her restrained like this in such an inhumane way was pretty pitiful. But I couldn't let that fool me—this girl's true nature was that of a psycho cultist.
Curious about what this psycho brat wanted with me, I slid the gag from her mouth to the side.
"Pahaa—."
She heaved a huge breath, as if expelling all the blocked air.
"Haa. Those moronic bastards. I thought I was gonna suffocate to death. Mars's dogs don't know how to treat a nymph with care! You have to handle nymphs delicately."
Paranoya kept gasping for the breath she'd been denied for so long. Once her breathing had calmed a bit, I spoke up.
"You wanted to see me? What's the reason?"
"Why else? To get you to free me. Hurry up and undo these restraints. My back itches, and I can't scratch it! It feels like ants are crawling on me! Quick!"
She demanded it so matter-of-factly that I almost actually did it. Damn, even if I'm a hopeless guy, I'm not reckless enough to release a cultist like her.
"Why the hell would I free you?"
"What, no one's around, so how long are you gonna keep pretending? You're one of us. You're the infiltrator hiding in the city, right?"
"Nope."
Was she mistaking me for someone else? But talk of comrades and infiltrators—it was all news to me.
If someone misunderstood that this girl and her group had a connection to me, I might end up wrongly accused again, thrown in the underground prison, and slapped around. The anxiety hit me hard.
"Looks like you got the wrong guy. I've got nothing to do with you people."
"Yeah, sure, keep lying. Pluto's magic is practically radiating off you. Back in that cave when we first met, I already noticed."
She wrinkled her nose, sniffing.
"Such thick magic. Is it because I can't see? It feels like Lord Pluto himself is standing right in front of me."
Pluto's magic coming from me? What was she talking about—then I remembered the necklace around my neck was something I'd taken from one of her possible comrades.
Pluto's pupil.
Maybe she was mistaking it because of this necklace? Could I use this situation to shake up the cultists? The thought crossed my mind.
Hassan, the hero of Sodomora who wipes out the Pluto cultists in one fell swoop!
A gold-tier gold necklace!
Luna's mother Nox's approval, and marriage to Luna!
Woo!
How should I propose? Sneak candles into the room for an event—would she like that? Prepare a handwritten letter too.
With modern know-how in these events, Luna might totally melt. But she better not cry from being too touched again.
"Heh heh—."
I was riding that happy train of thought when—
"Why are you grinning like a creep? Anyway, hurry up and free me from these restraints. Those idiots failed to raid the Mars temple, so escaping's impossible now."
"No way. I can't let you go. I'd get in trouble."
"Fine, the time isn't right yet? Then at least scratch my back. It feels like ants are on it—it's so itchy!"
Scratch her back? I couldn't free her, but that much seemed doable. Yeah, being tied up like this, you couldn't scratch an itch.
Feeling an itch while your hands and feet are bound—that torment is seriously brutal.
Elfriede used to punish me sometimes by tying me to a chair and tickling me everywhere with a feather. That girl was downright diabolical. Damn, thinking about it now still pisses me off.
I hope that bald monk grabs Elfriede and gives her a proper lesson.
Anyway, I grabbed the nymph cultist Paranoya's shoulders and turned her so I could see her back. Then I saw what was stuck to it and freaked the hell out.
"Wha—what the fuck is this!"
It was a spider covered in fuzzy hair all over, with eight legs moving around. A spider the size of my palm. Shit, no wonder it itched with this thing on!
"Wh-what? What's wrong?"
"Fuck, there's a spider on you!"
"Sp-spider!? G-get it off! Get it off me!"
The moment I said "spider," Paranoya—who was fully restrained—started freaking out wildly.
Because of that, the jet-black spider on her back leaped off and landed on my shoulder. I yelped in absolute terror, like I was about to foam at the mouth.
"Shiiit!"
I finally smacked it off with my palm. The thing yelped "Yip! Yip!" twice and vanished into a tiny hole in the basement wall.
Shit, barking spiders—I still couldn't get used to them. Luna would've loved it. She likes spiders, toads, that kinda stuff.
"Spider! Spiiiider—!!"
But the nymph cultist Paranoya was still trembling violently, having no idea the spider had fallen off, on the verge of a seizure.
"A spider's on my body!!!"
Her arms were handcuffed and chained to the wall. With a blindfold over her eyes, she couldn't grasp the situation.
Serves the wicked cult bitch right.
This seemed like a chance to vent my grudge against these cultists, so I slowly moved my hand and placed it on her slender ankle.
Slide—.
The moment my fingers touched her skin, Paranoya shuddered.
"Th-there's a spider on my ankle! Get it off! Hurry!"
Spider? She thought my hand was a spider? Well, if I kept my nails out and moved slowly, with her eyes blindfolded, she might mistake it for one.
From her ankle, I slowly dragged my fingers up her slim calf, then to her thigh, mimicking a spider.
Slide, slide—.
Little by little, teasing her upward, her terrified, clueless panic was pretty satisfying.
"H-hurry and get it off! Quick! Spiders scare me...!"
Slide, slide—.
Even as Paranoya begged, my hand wandered between her thigh and calf, gently pressing her soft flesh with my nail tips.
"Eeek! Heek!"
She twitched like she was dying every time my nail touched. It was hilarious.
"H-hurry and get it off...!"
But then she started crying, looking kinda pitiful, so I pulled my hand from her thigh and pretended nothing happened.
"There, got it off. No more spider."
"R-really? Fuck, spiders are so damn scary...!"
"Yeah, it's gone now, so relax. I got it."
"Comrade...!! You're a real good guy! If I escape from here, I won't forget this favor!"
Fuck, is she an idiot? I was the one imitating the spider.
I'd been a bit scared of this terrifying cultist, but Paranoya seemed a little dim. At this point, she almost seemed pitiable.
Well, she must have some screws loose to be playing cultist in this chaotic world while getting treated like heretics.
Smart people wouldn't fall for a cult religion in the first place. Wait, coming to that conclusion? Yeah, I'm pretty smart.
"So, anything else besides wanting to be freed?"
"Yeah, one more favor. I trust you, comrade, so I can ask this. It's a really important one."
A really important favor?
Her words made me swallow hard, thinking I might rack up some major merits.
"...What is it?"
"I, uh, really gotta pee. D-do something about it.... Those Mars bastard dogs tied me up so I can't even do that. It's urgent...!"
Doooong. Totally unexpected request. Well, bound like this, eventually you'd have to go, right?
"I-I was holding it fine, but the spider made it worse.... I-I'm gonna burst—!"
Her tense, urgent tone ramped up my own tension.
If I let this nymph piss herself right here, it might scar me for life, an unforgettable trauma.
I looked around and spotted a small wooden bucket rolling on the floor—probably used as a trash can. I grabbed it, dumped out the contents, and placed it between her wide-spread legs.
"Pee here!"
"Hngh, you gotta take off my underwear first...!"
What? She was asking me to remove her underwear too?
For a split second, I suspected this cultist was faking stupidity, trying to hypnotize me with some spell and control me.
"Haaaah—!"
But she was writhing and convulsing like she was desperate for real.
"Th-this is unavoidable touching, so don't complain later!"
"Fine, just hurry!"
So I grabbed the flimsy black fabric and pulled it down to between her thighs and calves.
But in her squatting position on the floor, peeing seemed tricky, so I had to hold the bucket in place between her legs.
"H-hurry up and go."
"Hnnn...."
Then came a deep sigh, like it was coming from the depths.
Driiiiii—.
The clear, thin stream sounded like a brook flowing through the underground prison. Soon it roared like a dam breaking, whoooosh—.
"Haaaah...."
Shit, what the hell was I doing right now? Present-day wisdom kicked in. The world's bleeding and crumbling from cultist attacks, and here I am helping a nymph take a piss.
"...Haa, comrade, you saved me. Even fulfilling this weird request. I won't forget this favor even if hell comes to earth. Sorry for making you do something gross. But now, c-can you put it back on? My lower half feels cold."
"Y-yeah."
Slide, sliiide—.
As I pulled her underwear back up like nothing happened, Paranoya spoke.
"So, you'll keep pretending to be an adventurer, right, comrade?"
"Probably gotta."
"Yeah, talking too long might cause misunderstandings. Head up now. Lie to those dumb dogs that you tortured me for info."
"Info?"
"Yeah, might as well leak some fake info while we're at it. Got a spy for once—gotta use him. I'm so smart. Let's see, what fake info to spill? Right, tell them houses with marks will be the targets of the assault."
"Assault targets?"
The word "marks" sparked a bunch of thoughts. First thing that popped up was the X mark I'd seen on Luna's cabin door that morning.
"Marks—you mean the X's? Carved on the doors."
"You know it well. Actually, houses without marks are the real targets in three days. How's that? It'll spread even more chaos and fear of death, right?"
Planning terrorism. Cultists gonna cult.
"That'll cause real chaos."
"Right? Heh heh, I'm so smart. This might bump my priest rank past bronze to silver tier."
Her words logged a bunch of info in my head. First, the Pluto cultists were planning indiscriminate terror attacks inside the city.
And the targets were mainly houses without the X marks.
Side note: their organization had ranks like the adventurer guild—bronze, silver, etc.
But cult religion with mineral ranks? Sounds more like a pyramid scheme than the guild.
Oh, and nymphs don't have pubic hair—important fact stored.
"Comrade, call me again next time. Bring some hardened sugar lumps next time. I-I can't calm down without sweets. And it's so dark and lonely here...."
"Got it."
That ended my chat with this bizarre cultist. As I climbed out of the basement, Baltma—who'd been waiting—glinted sharply with his one remaining eye.
"I heard the nymph screaming. Must've used some violence? Torture?"
"Uh, well...."
Screaming—she must've thought the spider freakout was from torture.
"Was it no good?"
"No such thing as no good. But this one didn't flinch no matter how much we beat or yelled at her. What kind of torture made her scream like the basement was collapsing? I'm curious."
"Just... poked around with my hands a bit...."
"I see. Must be those horrific torture methods from the Wilderness of Samaria. With your handiwork added, even that stoic cultist couldn't hold back her screams, huh?"
Baltma seemed to have misunderstood from the screams and my vague explanation.
If I told him I'd tickled the nymph's thighs and held a bucket for her piss, what face would he make?
Shit, better keep that secret.
More importantly, I got info. In three days, Pluto cultists are launching an assault inside the city."
"Assault? Assault?"
His expression turned deadly serious at "assault."
"Tell me more."
So I briefly explained what Paranoya told me—like the thing about marked houses and unmarked ones.
"Unmarked houses get attacked, huh? Then if we mark every house, we can throw their plans into chaos. Samaritan! This is huge intel! Extracting something this vital through torture—you're a ruthless interrogator!"
Shit, ruthless interrogator? Was that a compliment? From the start, this guy's sense of praise was totally warped.
"By the way, where's Luna?"
"Oh, the pink-haired girl? She's at the training grounds with Hippolyte."
Luna at the training grounds with Hippolyte?
Nothing but bad vibes. Even my sturdy body struggled against Hippolyte. How could delicate Luna hold up against that monstrous warrior?
More than that, damn Hippolyte—taking Luna to the training grounds? Like a veteran bullying newbies? Utterly vicious!
I rushed to the training grounds. Amid the murmuring crowd, I saw Luna overlapping with Hippolyte.
"Hnnngh—!"
Luna sucked in a huge breath. She tightly hugged Hippolyte's body, arched her back, and slammed Hippolyte's face into the ground.
"Gaaak!"
Hippolyte let out a pathetic scream.
Shit, what the hell was going on?