Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Caught in the Act
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"Then let's go."
"Ah, y-yes, yes."
Jaice snapped out of his daze.
"Uh~ I'm drunk. *Hic!*"
Tree(1) put on an impressively convincing act of drunkenness that belied his total lack of experience with it, then turned and walked away.
Jaice retraced his steps back the way he'd come. Or at least, pretended to.
Thud, thud, thud...
Once the sound of Zion's footsteps had completely faded, Jaice slipped out from his hiding spot at the corridor corner.
He crept up to the door like a stray cat, then gently pressed his ear against it.
No unusual sounds came from inside. He checked both ends of the corridor once more, then slowly and cautiously pushed the door open.
*Creeeak...*
As the old hinges let out a shy creak, the door slowly swung open, and a sweet floral scent—identical to the one emanating from Stella's body—tickled his nose.
Jaice's body trembled with excitement and ecstasy.
'Finally... finally...!'
He'd done nothing more than open the door, yet waves of euphoria washed over him, making his loins ache.
Jaice slipped quietly inside, carefully closing the door behind him just as cautiously. Using the moonlight streaming through the window as his guide, he tiptoed toward the bed.
The dizzying floral aroma grew thicker in proportion to how clearly he could now make out the shape of the blanket on the bed, bulging up like a low hill.
*Tremble.*
His fingers, quivering faintly just like they had as a child when he'd first gripped a bedsheet, grasped the edge of the blanket.
Now, if he just lifted it, the elf's body—which had entranced him even fully clothed—would be revealed in its primordial glory.
And from this moment on, it would be his.
*Huff, huff...*
Unable to hold back any longer, heavy breaths escaped through Jaice's lips. Just as he was about to lift the blanket—
*Creeeak...*
The thunderous sound of the door opening slammed into Jaice's ears.
* * *
"That bastard was even hornier than I expected."
Standing at the dark end of the corridor with his arms crossed, staring down the hallway, Zion muttered softly.
Ever since he'd played the Pied Piper and brought the elves to the dukedom, he knew how much rarer it had become to even catch a glimpse of one.
Sure, there were a few nomadic elf bands that roamed from mountain to forest, but even they wrapped their faces during travel, making it impossible to tell human from elf.
In any case, the longing and desire for elves had grown far stronger in this era than when Zion had first arrived in this world.
Back then, only a select few with money and power "owned" elves, but seeing one wasn't that hard.
But times had changed.
Even the wealthiest nobles could no longer dream of owning an elf, let alone lay eyes on one.
So, he could understand why a guy like Jaice Galen was losing his mind over Stella and fawning all over her.
He'd instructed her to act the part precisely to bait him—even if it was just "drunken acting."
"I'm... no, very sorry."
Of course, his apology was directed at Stella, not Jaice.
He felt bad for making her pretend to seduce Jaice, and even worse for setting up the attempted rape incident that would unfold shortly.
What made him feel the guiltiest was her immediate agreement without a moment's hesitation.
Stella and Priel had accepted his proposal out of loyalty to the "Dukedom of Zion," not their race or tribe.
They'd agreed based solely on the trust built from ancient times.
"I owe it to her to handle this cleanly."
*Crack. Crack.*
Zion twisted his neck left and right, peeling himself from the wall as he watched Jaice—oblivious to being observed—sneak into Stella's room.
He took a few steps, then—
"Hm?"
Zion froze and melted into the shadows against a corridor pillar like a ghost.
Three long shadows suddenly appeared from the opposite corridor, then crept forward with footsteps oddly light for their bulk.
'Those guys...'
They were Sauden knights.
With Zion and other high-status people present, they hadn't dared act overtly, but during the banquet, they'd been stealing constant glances at Stella.
Failing to spot Zion, who was thirty meters away and pressed against a dark pillar, the Sauden knights smirked and slipped into Stella's room.
"......"
He'd unexpectedly hooked three more big fish, but somehow, it only soured his mood further.
"*Sigh.* Never doing this shit again."
Reaffirming that this was something he couldn't justify to himself or Stella, he steadied his breathing.
Once Stella sent the signal shortly, he'd deal with the four horny mutts. That should wash away this foul feeling.
And mere seconds later—
"*Kyaak! Gyaaaah!*"
"......"
Zion realized for the first time that even screams could be acted.
But the volume was genuine enough that he dashed down the corridor and flung open the door.
As planned, the room was dimly lit only by faint moonlight, shrouded in overall darkness.
"W-what? You guys!?"
"*Gyaaak! Kyaaah! Help! Somebody!*"
"You fuck! Shut her up! No, just pin her down!"
"*Gyaak! Gyaaa!*"
"Take out that bastard! Ngh!"
In that darkness, the frantic voices of four beasts harmonized with awkward screams that sounded like a kid reading from a textbook.
But with superhuman eyesight, Zion could see the bedroom mess as clearly as broad daylight.
Jaice and one knight were rolling on the floor in a brawl, while another struggled to pull them apart.
And the final knight was—
"Agh! My neck, my neck! *Gurk!*"
"*Kyaa! Ah!*"
Caught in a headlock by the expressionless Stella, who was "screaming" her lines, flailing face-down on the bed.
"*Guh! Ngh!*"
Contrary to popular misconception, archers were unequivocally "powerhouses."
Ordinary folk couldn't even draw a standard longbow easily, and the elves of Zion's dukedom used composite bows with far greater tension.
Would an elf who'd trained with such bows her whole life be weak?
"*Kehk. Grrgle...*"
The knight, thrashing with his neck trapped in the bulging bicep of a ranger elf who'd pulled bowstrings her entire life, soon went limp.
"You filthy rapist scum dare!"
With a roar that was fifty percent genuine fury rather than acting, Zion leaped into the fray against the three horny beasts still wrestling on the floor.
* * *
"What? The proxy lord and knights got beaten half to death? By who? No, before that, why the hell!?"
"By th-the Sparrow Corps instructor, they got beat to near death. The r-reason... uh, th-they got caught trying to rape the elf knight here..."
"*Gaaaaah!*"
A scream—infused with pure "sincerity" incomparable to Stella's act yesterday—echoed through the building housing the Sauden delegation.
"You fucking idiots! Are those bastards actually insane?"
"Brains in their dicks? In someone else's territory, not even a maid but trying to rape an elf knight?"
"That's not the issue right now. The Fland mayor and the Sparrow Corps instructor are furious. They're going to formally hold Sauden and the count's family accountable."
"Ah......"
The faces of the Sauden nobles who'd come with Jaice paled.
Not only caught mid-attempted rape, but the one beaten near death was none other than the proxy lord—the current count's son.
If word of this got out...
"Ughhh...!"
We're fucked. No joke, every one of them here would be utterly fucked.
"M-maybe we deny it?"
"You think that'll fly? Not some puppet kid, but three knights caught too—how the hell do we deny that?!"
"Ah."
The Sauden nobles despaired.
Even the unauthorized entry with troops could be brushed off as Jaice's forced pretext, but this left no room for excuses.
"Um."
"......?"
One man cautiously raised his hand and spoke in a low, sinister tone.
"What if there are no witnesses?"
"What...?"
"I mean, if the witnesses who could testify to the rape disappear, isn't it all fine? Plus, we have twice as many troops as them—right here in this castle."
"......!"
The startled Sauden nobles exchanged glances, then—
"Rape? Was there such a thing?"
"Nope."
"There was, but not anymore."
"Good. Alright, then—we take the castle. Round up the men!"
"Yes!"
Since the Sauden group had the annex all to themselves, the captains assembled quickly.
But even in a separate annex, there were servants working there—and they'd been reporting every move of the Sauden nobles and troops to the mayor since day one. This time, they relayed the movement even faster.
* * *
"Have they lost their minds?"
At Kembell's report, Zion muttered in disbelief.
Well, it had been a while, but he'd seen plenty of this world's ruling class act on utterly irrational, common-sense-defying impulses.
Even in Korea, with near-universal higher education and college attendance rates pushing 80%, incidents happened that made you question if humans had brains.
And in (mostly unread by Zion) webnovels dealing with alternate or fictional history—
- *Sigh, author, put some logic in this. Does the plot even make sense?*
- *Boom! But that's exactly what happened in real life. Ask Earth's historians.*
Such things were commonplace.
This world was no less—worse, if anything.
And when people faced life-or-death crises or hit rock bottom like gamblers who'd lost everything, including their horses and carriages, rationality flew out the window.
So, they'd decided to seize another territory's town hall with their brought troops. Absurd, but predictable.
Zion had anticipated it and prepared accordingly.
"Are our guys ready?"
"Yes."
"Good. Stand by near the annex and subdue them the moment they come out."
"Yes."
Priel—who was leading the Sparrow Corps in Stelman's absence—replied and strode out briskly.
* * *
"Take out that Sparrow whatever unit first the second we step out!"
"Kill if you have to! No—spare just the Fland mayor and his wife; kill anyone who resists!"
"No witnesses, no problem!"
"Keep the elf bitches alive! I wanna taste 'em!"
"*Kuhhehehehe!*"
At the Sauden nobles' orders, knights and mercenaries alike burned with (lust-fueled) battle fervor.
Thus, the Sauden men marched out of the annex, swords drawn and loins stiff.
But what awaited them was—
"*Caw! Caw!*"
The fully armed Sparrow Corps riders mounted on Gou.
"You fucking bastards dare target Lady Stella!?"
"Kill 'em all!"
The Sparrow Corps members—angrier than even against monsters—charged at them like vengeful spirits.
(To be continued)