Chapter 133. After Tasting Her, Turned Out She's a Fucking Bitch
After the news broke that Serika had been abducted.
When I investigated the scene, the first thing I picked up on was the method used by the man I presumed had been here.
A vile method: deliberately leaving fabricated traces, pinning the blame on someone else to slip out of danger.
'That would be Bardos, I'd wager.'
But I was too well versed in the ways of the underworld to fall for a trick like that. I had already noted who favors such maneuvers.
If someone were to follow these traces, they would likely turn up nothing but gutter rats in the slums.
One might wonder whether wretches content to steal pocket change could really summon the nerve to raid a great mansion and abduct someone. But the evidence was so perfectly planted that handing things over to the guards would funnel their suspicion straight in that direction.
'Bardos — you mean that Bardos?'
'...Yes. The man who ranks among the Ten Greats alongside you, Berdia.'
Out in the open, his name had faded into obscurity as his activity dwindled. But in the underworld, there was no one who did not know him.
His flawless record of completing every quest he had taken on as an adventurer had continued without a blemish after he crossed to the underworld.
A monstrously capable man who handled even the filthiest jobs to perfection.
As someone who had been counted among the 10 Strongest of the Continent, the moment he appeared on the list of suspects, I could no longer afford to take this situation lightly.
'Then Serika is with Bardos right now?'
'I'd need to investigate further to be certain. But whatever the case, with Bardos present in this city, we cannot afford to overlook it.'
The Hero was coveted by many, so something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. But Bardos maintained a policy of keeping his hands off surface-world affairs unless contracted for it.
That meant it was highly likely someone had commissioned him to move — someone who wanted the Hero, rather than Bardos acting on his own desire. Still, judging solely by the immediate scene, it was hard to be that confident.
So to be certain, I would need to root out the client, and naturally prepare for Bardos as well.
More than anything, even if Serika weren't involved, allowing a major criminal to roam freely in the city was not something the hero party could turn a blind eye to.
'I'll point you toward where Bardos was headed. The three of you handle him. I'll stay back and look deeper into the traces connected to this place, just in case.'
'...Will you be all right alone?'
'I'll manage. I've taken the drug Ymir gave me, and if my opponent is a man of the underworld, I'm not entirely without means to deal with him.'
Yes, my insistence on going alone wasn't just empty bravado. I had real reasons.
Even if Bardos's employer hailed from the surface world, anyone who hired an underworld figure to achieve a goal would try to conceal their intentions as thoroughly as possible.
If they were covering their tracks, that meant fewer things I'd have to worry about while tracking them.
"What are you, you bastard? Who...."
I followed the traces from the mansion, tracking one of the diverging paths from what I presumed to be the meeting place, until I arrived at a single location.
A mansion even more splendid and imposing in scale than the one Ymir used.
-Smack!
The moment I encountered the guards at the entrance, I exerted my power at once. Under my mental domination, the strength drained from their bodies.
Yes. There was no need for any elaborate tricks.
My power, enhanced by the drug Ymir had given me, meant I could instantly seize control of guards the moment we met — guards whose numbers were inevitably reduced to maintain secrecy.
Even if they were elite soldiers capable of mustering full strength despite their limited numbers, unless they were on Berdia's level, I hardly needed to be wary.
"You two — you're adventurers hired by the lord of this mansion, correct?"
"Yes, yes. That's right."
"...Your ranks?"
"S-rank, sir."
S-rank adventurers, huh....
Well, someone who's drawn up a plan to abduct the Hero would naturally have the means to station S-rank adventurers as guards.
But that also meant that whoever was behind this had the resources to use S-rank personnel as mere gatekeepers.
"I've got questions to ask. You, the woman — strip down and go stand over there against the wall."
"Yes, y-yes...."
I couldn't know what awaited me further inside. So it was best to gather as much intel as possible before advancing.
"Ahh, hnn, ngh-ah... nn, clo-clothes~♡"
"Hey, arch your back more."
"S-sorry, m'sorry, I'm sorry... nn, ooh, haah~♡"
I seized her tits and pounded her from behind. Instead of giving me the information I'd demanded, the mercenary let out violent moans.
Earlier, she'd been a woman who adorned her whole body in jeweled accessories. But half-naked and getting railed, there wasn't a trace of that former splendor to be found.
After all, no matter how you dress them up, the insides are all the same.
Once stripped bare, the only things halfway worth looking at were her unusual hair color — white mixed with red — and her ridiculously huge tits.
Although even those were smaller than Ymir's, so the excitement wasn't really there... No, the lack of excitement wasn't because of her tits. It was because fucking her wasn't all that pleasurable.
From how loose she felt in real time, she clearly had plenty of experience — a bit of a mismatch for how prettily she dressed herself up.
"Just how many other men have you been spreading your legs for?"
"I'm, I'm sorry.... I'm sorry...."
-Squelch, squelch!
"Nh, nnghooohk! Th-there, not the-ere! Nn, hnnghik!!!"
After I rammed into her a few rough strokes, the adventurer who'd been working as a guard came spectacularly. For all her S-rank introduction, the vulgar way she came struck me as laughable.
"Heuh, nn... ngh....♡"
I thrust into her a few more times before she collapsed against the wall, her body trembling faintly.
Grabbing her by the head, I shoved my cock into her mouth and released the building load.
"Clean it up properly, yeah?"
"Y-yes, yeeaah...♡"
Slrrrp, slrrp. The mercenary began cleaning my cock off with her own mouth.
But compared to her loose cunt, her sucking didn't seem all that practiced.
If she had so much experience, you'd think she'd have picked up at least these little tricks... Ah, what do her circumstances matter to me?
Once I decided I'd used her roughly enough, I straightened my clothes, grabbed her by the hair, and resumed the interrogation.
"All right. I've given you enough of a drilling. You should be able to answer what I ask now, right?"
"Yes, yeeaah~ I-I'll answer~ A-anything you say.... Hicc!"
The female mercenary climaxed again on the rising afterglow, her body trembling faintly.
I'd driven her sensitivity up while wearing her down, so her unconscious defense mechanisms wouldn't kick in. From here on, I could extract the information I wanted without trouble.
"The person behind all this — tell me who they are, and everything about what lies waiting inside."
She was just a mercenary hired as a gatekeeper, so she probably hadn't been briefed on their real objective.
But even so, she was an S-rank mercenary. She'd likely picked up on some of the dangers to watch out for inside this mansion.
"......Are you serious?"
"Yes, yeeaah~ I don't know much beyond that... W-we were originally just hired for money, so.... Kehak!"
After hearing every piece of information I needed, I flung her head aside and let myself sink into a moment of thought.
To digest the gravity of what this goddamn whore had just told me.
"...This one's a much bigger fish than I thought."
Yes — in some ways, this information was even more shocking than the fact that Bardos was in this city.
On the other hand, the audacity to target the Hero made sense if it was someone of this stature... but shit. Whatever the truth was, one thing was certain: leaving this alone would mean disaster.
"Ma, Masterrr...."
My deliberation on how to pull Serika out of that figure's grasp lasted only a moment.
The S-rank mercenary I'd tossed to the ground soon began to whine and whimper, looking ready to cling to my lower half.
"Th-that, do that more, pleasee...♥"
Even under total mental domination, she was pressing her own desires on me like this.
Time was short, but raising her sensitivity that high during conditioning really was a goddamn headache — it inevitably led to this kind of problem.
"Enough. Get dressed and stand guard back at your... Huh?"
My business was done, so I'd intended to dress her again and post her at the entrance as if nothing had happened. But the moment I started looking over the clothes and jewelry I was about to hand back, a vague sense of familiarity stopped me cold.
That gaudy attire, and hair streaked with red and white....
"......You. Was your name Atel?"
"Yess~ that's right~♥"
As if to prove my memory wasn't wrong, the woman beamed brightly and answered me.
S-rank adventurer, Crystal Princess Atel.
Months ago, when I was looking for a sniper to fill in for a missing party member, she'd been one of the candidates I shortlisted.
She hadn't been acceptable as a comrade, but even so, she was someone I couldn't forget even if I tried.
Because in truth, without this woman, my encounter with Heira — which I had meant to end as a one-time coincidence — would never have become a lasting bond.
"...Huh. So this is fate, is it?"
Of course, that didn't mean I held any warm sentiments just because she had been the catalyst for that meeting.
This was the arrogant bitch who'd slapped me across the face with her nose stuck high in the air. And now here she was, panting and slavering over my dick like a bitch in heat.
"Ma-Master. Co-cock. Hurry, keep thrusting it into me, pleasee...♥"
Crystal Princess Atel, on her feet and whimpering as she nosed around my crotch.
Ordinarily, a vulgar display like that would feel like a rush of superiority. But looking down at her, what I actually felt came closer to contempt.
When I thought about what this bitch had done to Heira back then....
"...Fuck. Feels like my dick is rotting."
No matter that it was for gathering intel — I'd remembered who she was too late, and I'd stuck it into vermin like this.
Disgusted by that thought, I kept the hypnosis active instead of releasing it once the guards were posted again. Then I quietly gestured to the other male adventurers standing obediently nearby.
"Hey, you two. Take this woman somewhere out of sight and do whatever you want with her."
"Whatever we want...?"
"Just follow your dicks. You understood what I meant, right?"
"...Yes. Understood."
The characteristically deadpan attitude of someone under hypnosis.
Along with that, sounds of flesh slapping against flesh soon began to echo from the spot where they'd dragged a naked Atel away.
"Nn, hnngh~ G-good~ it's goodddd~~♥ Fill me up inside, pleaseee~~♥"
The wet friction of meat slick with arousal.
The damp, clammy aura of it brushed against my skin, but I felt no need to stick around and watch. I turned my back on the scene and prepared to step inside the mansion.
The danger that lay waiting beyond here...
I focused my thoughts on how to pry Serika free from the bastard who shared a place among the Ten Greats with Berdia and Bardos.