A Date in Dihilants
Spend long enough as a branch chief of a mercenary guild, and you develop a sixth sense for whether a client will take a job or walk away — you can read it off their face alone.
When he had met Wolf, captain of the Wolf Mercenary Group, the day before, he had been certain the man would refuse.
The helmet had hidden the face underneath, but the atmosphere Wolf carried, the way he spoke — those were enough to form a solid guess.
Which was why the branch chief could not help feeling thrown when that prediction shattered.
"You're saying you'll take the commission?"
"After thinking it over from every angle, I decided accepting was the wiser course."
Wolf checked the contract, then signed it cleanly with a mana-infused pen.
What? I was sure he'd turn it down.
The branch chief frowned at the failure of his own instincts. Moments like this usually meant some outside factor had intervened — but digging into that was not his job. He simply gathered the paperwork.
"I'll forward this to the capital guild. You have about a day's leeway, but if you fail to arrive within the window, it will be recorded as a contract failure. I recommend you move with some urgency."
"I appreciate the advice. We'll act on it and be on our way."
Lillian took a copy of the contract and headed straight outside.
Someone who had balked at the prospect of punching through a wide zone of dimensional warping just to destroy an Outer God's sacred relic had completely reversed course in a single day. The branch chief had no idea what outside influence could have produced that shift overnight — but his role was to hand out contracts, not to pry into private motives. He wiped the question from his mind.
Once the mercenaries learned what commission Lillian had brought back, their faces hardened as they set out for the capital of the Halrot Kingdom.
The deeper they pushed into the kingdom's interior, the more stable the security became. Undead packs and refugee columns no longer crossed their path.
"So we have to break through a dimensionally warped zone…"
"The royal army and several famous mercenary companies will be involved, but still…"
"Isn't this a bit much for us?"
Assaulting a dimensionally warped region ranked among the highest difficulties any commission could carry. The mercenaries' faces stayed tight with worry, and no amount of talk could smooth them out.
"Organic faces are such a delight to watch. I believe the expression is that your faces are rotting off?"
Arty, whose hostility toward organic life had not entirely faded, seemed thoroughly entertained by the way the mercenaries' expressions curdled. She was in excellent spirits all by herself.
"You shouldn't say things like that."
"It was a pure observation."
Kaisent warned her, but the smile never left her face.
"That aside, this world is chaos incarnate. Humans from other dimensions, entire buildings and stretches of terrain dropping in when things get bad enough — and on top of that, beings called Outer Gods running wild."
"Yeah. Even if we fix this, I worry about what problem will pop up next."
As Arty said, solving the dimensional warping would not end anything. This world kept throwing up every kind of crisis under the influence of other dimensions.
"Apparently, a hundred years ago, the dominant attitude toward otherworldly beings was extreme xenophobia — kill first, ask questions never."
"Hmph. Organic humans. All look the same, yet they insist on sorting each other into species."
Kaisent would speak, and Arty would grumble back — but having someone he could talk with this freely had put more life in his face than usual.
Trading conversation like that, they finally came within sight of Dihilants, capital of the Halrot Kingdom.
Massive walls rose first, and beyond them a towering mage spire and an airfield dedicated to airships. Griffon-mounted aerial knights patrolled the skies around the capital — that was what struck the eye first.
"We rest here for a while! There's still plenty of time before the commission, so enjoy yourselves in Dihilants to the fullest!"
Lillian announced that they would shake off the travel fatigue in Dihilants for a stretch, and the mercenaries' morale climbed at once.
Unlike the bleak cities they had seen so far, the capital's vitality was visible even from a distance — a place where everything still functioned as it should. The mercenaries immediately began debating what to do first once they got inside.
Worry was worry. The present was the present.
After a short rest to restore their strength, the company made for the capital before nightfall.
At the gates, merchant caravans waited in lines alongside other mercenary groups that looked to have taken the same commission. Larger companies had already set up camps under the walls — several of them.
After a long wait in line and payment of the entry fee, the mercenaries stepped into the capital and let out low whistles of awe.
"Whoa."
"A capital-class city really is something else."
Outside, undead and worse still ran rampant — but here, the disaster seemed to have simply missed them. The streets thrived. Borrowing knowledge from twenty-first-century humans, they had even raised apartment-like high-rises, packing the population density higher still.
Or they made it look that way on purpose.
Kaisent could feel that half of it was bluff. A nation had to project that it was fine, even if only on the surface. He knew that because he had watched his sisters and mothers step into the role of governing the results of his father's work, while his father himself had no interest in ruling what he created.
Lillian sent people out at once to secure an inn large enough for the entire company. Fortunately, she managed to rent two adjoining inns outright. A few major mercenary groups had already arrived, but many more had not, so rooms were still available without a scramble.
"You brats! Tonight we drink ourselves to death!"
They had spent so long ranging the dangerous outer territories for commissions. This time, Lillian told them to eat and drink without a single worry. Time spent like this was what hardened a mercenary company into something solid.
With so many people, the company split up and scattered to various taverns to enjoy their liquor.
Simple drinking dens. Decadent houses that offered wine and women. Upscale establishments with fine spirits and atmosphere. They sorted themselves according to whatever desire they wanted to feed — and that was when a knot of mercenaries approached Kaisent, who was still at the inn with Arty.
"Hey, Kaisent. Got a minute?"
"I do, but why?"
"Word is the water-trade girls here are clean, and they even polish their looks with magic. A virgin's first time ought to be somewhere like that."
"Right, right. We're paying, so just come along and don't worry about a thing."
To the newer mercenaries, Kaisent was a difficult mage to approach — but to the old hands, he was just Kaisent. He himself had never let new power change how he treated people, so their attitude toward him had not changed either.
Before he could answer, however, a pair of hands clamped down on the heads of the two men who had delivered the invitation.
"Gyaaaagh!"
"Ow ow ow ow!"
"Hey. You looking for a fight with me? I told you not to teach the kid weird shit."
Priscilla had appeared to deliver justice.
"Vice-captain! It's gonna burst! Burst! It's bursting!"
"It's crushing meee!"
She held the two burly men's skulls in her grip, then slammed them roughly to the ground at their desperate pleading.
"I'm warning you one more time. Do not teach the kid weird things."
"Augh… fine, we get it."
"This is exactly when a guy ought to lose his virginity. Vice-captain's such a model citizen, I swear."
"Tsk."
Priscilla made a sharp sound through her teeth and fixed them with a hard look. The mercenaries bolted, scattering off to chase women on their own.
"Fr…edrick. Rest until 'that time.'"
Last of all, Lillian left Priscilla with a meaningful signal and vanished with the rest of the company.
Once every mercenary had dispersed, the inn was left with a handful of staff bustling about for the sudden group of guests — and only Priscilla, Kaisent, and Arty remaining.
"Thank you, Priscilla."
"You don't have to thank me. I just… no. It's nothing."
Watching the mercenaries try to introduce Kaisent to water-trade women had sent a surge of fury through her that she herself could not understand. By the time her reason returned, she was already gripping their heads and punishing them.
I've lost it. The curse finally drove me insane.
Once she realized the anger had been jealousy, she told herself the curse had broken her mind — yet Kaisent's simple thanks made her heart race with a bright, happy feeling.
Self-loathing and joy hit her at the same time, twisting her expression. That was when Kaisent took her hand.
"Come on, Priscilla."
"Come on? Where?"
"On a date."
Thump.
There it was again. Why did this little boy's words make her heart pound so hard it hurt — and fill her with joy?
"Arty, you come too."
"I have no interest in enjoying this era's entertainment districts. The two of you should go together."
"But you'll be lonely if you're left alone."
"I will not be lonely."
"Hmm… then once Priscilla and I finish our date, we'll go together."
"Kaisent. Are you actually listening to what I am saying?"
Arty frowned. She had been saying she did not need it from the start, yet he kept insisting on a date with her as well.
"See you later, then."
Kaisent let Arty's words go in one ear and out the other, took Priscilla's hand, and walked out of the inn.
Once he was gone, Arty stood blank for a moment — then let out a soft laugh.
She was a machine human, an assassination unit built to erase humanity's future, and he knew it. Even so, he treated her as a person with a mind of her own. A strange feeling had taken root in her because of that.
He raped and defiled me, and I still can't hate him. My programming is supposed to prevent me from attacking humans without cause…
Arty told herself the emotion made no sense and tried to reason it away — but no matter how hard she overloaded her emotional circuits, she could not generate real malice toward Kaisent.
Meanwhile, the two who had gone out on their date—
"I want to visit a magic tool shop. A capital-class city should have more magic scrolls, right?"
"…"
"I saw a sign on the way in that pointed out where the magic tool shops are."
—were moving toward a magic tool shop with the boy chattering one-sidedly, half-dragging her along by the hand.
"Whew."
"Who is that beauty?"
"There's no way I wouldn't know a woman who looks like that."
She was walking without her helmet, so murmurs about Priscilla's looks followed them through the crowd.
"What, is she the kid's mom?"
"If she had a child that age she'd have to be older, but she looks incredibly young."
Because she was holding hands with Kaisent as they walked, some people even mistook her for his mother.
Who's a kid's mom!!
Being called a beauty she could tolerate. Being called a mother made her grip tighten without thinking.
"Ow!"
"S-sorry. Are you all right?"
"You've reached a higher realm, so please be careful with your strength."
"…Sorry."
The force she had put into the hand Kaisent was holding had hurt him. She panicked and apologized at once. Too late, she realized how submissive the apology had sounded — but she could not take it back now.
"Oh."
On the way to the magic tool shop, Kaisent's gaze locked onto the mouth of an alley.
It was not merely quiet. Wedged between buildings, it was a place no one had any reason to enter or leave — so narrow that stacked wooden crates left barely enough room for a single person to slip through.
Priscilla looked carefully into the alley, wondering if someone was there, but her senses picked up nothing at all.
"Come this way for a moment."
"Hm? Wait— what are you—"
"Come."
"Ah…"
Kaisent pulled her into the alley. Like Lillian, who had suddenly become a Master through him, Priscilla had reached Master the same way. If she wanted, she could have dragged Kaisent anywhere with ease.
And yet she could not overcome the strength of a boy weaker than herself. She was pulled into the alley, and—
Kyuuung♥
—the sudden shift in Kaisent's atmosphere made her womb throb.
"I knew it. There's a pocket of space further in."
Deeper in the alley, a section of wall jutted out, creating a recess just large enough for one person to hide.
"Kaisent? What are you doing in a place like— mmph♥"
He shoved her into the recess, seized her by the nape, and stole a sudden kiss.
Chuuuup♥ Chupa♥ Chupooop♥
"Pwah♥ W-wait♥ Kaisent♥ Just a second♥ Not here— hahk♥"
Priscilla tried desperately to resist, but the kiss had already thrown her woman's body into heat. She could not overcome the boy's strength as he pinned her to the wall.
Her chest crushed against the stone, she felt her trousers and underwear being yanked down together and panicked, trying to stop him.
"S-stop! Even if it's a corner, there are people around!"
"If you don't want it, shake me off and leave."
Slap!
"Kiih~~~♥"
Kaisent brought his palm down hard across her ripe, full ass. While she had slept, she had already been trained through spanking climaxes — so even with a bright red handprint blooming on her skin, what spilled out was not pain but a sweet, electric moan of pleasure.
Knead, knead, knead, knead.
"Reaching Master made it even springier and softer. The texture is almost addictive."
"Nnh♥ Nngh~~♥"
With her ass hypersensitive from the spanking, she fought to hold back her moans as Kaisent freely groped and worked the flesh.
No! If I hand him the initiative even once, he'll keep dragging me along!
She remembered every time the lead had been stripped from her. She tried to knock his hands away.
"Stop— kyah!!"
In that instant, Kaisent read her intent. His mage's hand yanked her waist back while his other fingers pinched her nipple in a surprise attack.
The sharp jolt of pleasure stole the strength from her body. She could not even shake off a boy weaker than herself, and her rear was taken completely.
"Priscilla must like having her nipples played with. You were about to push me off, but the second I grabbed one, you stopped."
"Th… that's not…! This is… nngh…♥"
"If it's not, then resist. You've reached Master. Someone like me should be easy to overpower, right?"
Even at Expert, her physical ability had been more than enough to pin Kaisent lightly. As a Master she was stronger still — she could have subdued him with finger strength alone. But with her nipple pinched, she could not put force into her body at all.
Kh…♥ My body… something's wrong…!
Even granting that she had grown weak to pleasure, this was abnormal. It was as if her body itself refused to resist Kaisent — rejecting her own will.
As a last resort she tried to gather mana and force strength into her limbs—
"Ei~♡"
"Nngiiiiit~~~♥♥"
—the moment Kaisent pinched harder, the nature of the mana she had been gathering flipped. It flooded her flesh with heat instead.
The mana inside her body was defying its user's will?!
No — this was past defiance. It was practically submitting to Kaisent.
Could it be…!
The reason she and Lillian had reached Master at all was largely Kaisent's all-purpose inner energy. In other words, their bodies had been rebuilt by his power and will — so their flesh itself refused to resist him.
It was only a deduction, but without something like that, there was no explaining mana that rejected its own user's intent.
Thanks to Kaisent she had skipped several ranks and reached Master — and precisely because of that, she now had a body that could not even resist him.
With every avenue of resistance closed, Priscilla finally understood what it meant for the world in front of her eyes to go black.