Chapter 38. Training Ymir (2)
Chapter 38. Training Ymir (2)
"......It is... not agreeable."
At that, Ymir turned her head away, as if trying to distance herself from me.
Her flushed cheeks were born more from indignation than from sexual pleasure.
"Pleasure is... something to be kept at a distance......."
Pleasure is a bad thing.
Was that the sentiment she felt from the first climax of her life? Displeasure.
"This is not agreeable."
It was true that her cunt was delightfully wet, but if her very first climax felt this way to her, I wanted to hold off on continuing for now.
Violating a woman under hypnosis was supposed to affect her unconscious mind—the part she wasn't even aware of—making her easier to handle.
In a normal woman, the fact of being raped would be buried under the pleasure, but in this woman, wasn't the displeasure sharper than the pleasure?
"...I thought I just needed to clear a route to win her over, but to think she'd be a headache in conditioning, too."
Frankly, I wanted to tear through her virginity right this instant, but given who I was dealing with, I felt a strong need to proceed cautiously in many respects.
Yes, because to me, she was a treasure even more precious than the hero.
"...Didn't she say my ability had just been strengthened?"
Yes, according to her speculation, I could manipulate sensations, emotions, and even memories now.
If I used that well, I could drastically shorten the time needed for her conditioning.
"First, I'll have to run a few tests."
I decided to postpone continuing the conditioning until after that. With that decision, I pulled my hands from her body and prepared to leave, leaving her sitting on the bed, staring at me.......
"Ymir."
Ah, right.
Come to think of it, didn't I hear that I can now control multiple subjects at once if they are already under hypnosis?
Then it should be fine to leave her here, I thought, and quietly issued her a command.
"Even while I'm gone, keep masturbating."
Testing would take time, and I couldn't afford to waste it. Since her sexual sensitivity was underdeveloped, she needed to get accustomed to sex itself.
"Y-yes....... Understood."
At last, Ymir accepted my command, placing her hands on her own cunt and nipples.
The gestures were awkward, as she had never even masturbated once, but the sensations from the climax I had guided her to would instinctively guide her hands to the right places.
"Ah, ngh. Haaah...♥"
Yes, she was doing well.
Feeling satisfied, I turned my back on her, threw on some clothes, and went out into the street.
Even at a distance, the hypnosis placed on Ymir was still functioning perfectly.
And seeing how I still had mental leeway, it seemed possible to handle someone else as well.
"Miss, over there. Could you spare me a moment?"
Hoping that I could ultimately achieve the perfect conditioning of a woman unrivaled in this world, I began to wander the city in search of test subjects for my newly strengthened abilities.
And then......
***
"Nngh."
Ymir's consciousness slowly surfaced, a headache pounding in her skull.
Headaches were nothing new to her—she often pulled all-nighters until she collapsed—but now, when she tried to clutch her head, her hand wouldn't move.
Was she suffering from sleep paralysis? Or buried under a pile of books?
'......Mana.'
Reflexively, she tried to draw in mana.
But for some reason, she couldn't feel any physical force at all.
Wasn't that strange?
Mana was something one could draw upon anywhere, as long as one had the will.
And besides, was it even conceivable that she, a Grand Archmage, would make an error in mana control?
"What the—what's going on....... Nngh!"
Belatedly, Ymir opened her eyes and tried to sit up. But even that movement did not originate from her own will.
As if someone had forced her upright, her body rose against her volition.
And yet both hands were pinned behind her back, with no threads or handcuffs in sight.
'It's not mana. This is.......'
"You're awake."
At that moment, a low voice reached her, and Ymir's head jerked forward with a flinch.
A man sat on a chair opposite her, facing her.
As he stared at her naked, standing form, a leisurely smile was drawn across his lips.
"Goodness, I was really quite worried when you suddenly collapsed."
"...I collapsed?"
"Yes, it seems fatigue has piled up quite a bit from all the research you've been doing....... No matter how busy your research is, shouldn't you take proper care of yourself at the same time? Even a Grand Archmage's body isn't immortal."
A gentle voice, overflowing with consideration.
But it was different from usual.
Because until now, when he faced her, she had sensed a fair amount of nervousness in him.
Likely because he thought he was dealing with someone he dared not cross, not just a superior.
'...A sense of superiority, then.'
Yes, that was the emotion Ymir felt from him in this moment.
He no longer considered his counterpart higher than himself. He felt no need to be afraid now.
Rather, he was the one who could crush the other at any moment.
"......Dave."
The moment she faced that attitude, Ymir resolved to discard every assessment she had ever felt while watching him.
From a person she hadn't exactly disliked.
To a target of exclusion who had clearly approached her with hostility.
"Is this your doing?"
"My doing, what do you mean by that?"
"Don't play dumb. You, clearly......."
The memory was clearly surfacing in Ymir's mind: him smiling at her kindly as if nothing were out of the ordinary, and then the words.
'I've finally become able to dominate you.'
The energy that burst from his body the moment those words left his mouth....
It was something Ymir knew as well.
Having felt it countless times while refining the witch's blood he had given her, she could tell that the power he wielded was the power of a witch.
A power based on the demonic race's characteristic 'domination'.
"...Ah, I more or less understand the situation now."
Soon after finishing her assessment of the situation, Ymir gave a bitter smile and glared sharply at him.
Yes, there was no need to get angry in the first place.
The other party was someone who inherited a witch's blood, or a test subject using it.......
Or perhaps a new kind of spawn created by the demons to replace the witches who had stopped appearing after the witch hunts.
But whatever he was, what mattered was that he handled the power of the demonic race.
If he was entangled with the demonic race for any reason or circumstance, there was only one conclusion to draw.
"You're affiliated with the Demon King's army."
Whether it was a betrayal or not, if he had approached her with that intent from the start.......
"Did you know who that idiot who brought you into this party was, and you approached us?"
It couldn't be helped that her deductions leaned further in that direction, since the party she belonged to was fated to become the savior of humanity in the future.
"To be honest, there's a fair bit of guesswork....... But there's no point in dragging out the conversation."
With a soft smile, he slowly closed the distance between them.
Soon, standing right in front of her, he looked down at her and gave his answer.
"......Half?"
"It's true that I'm affiliated with the Demon King's army, but I should say I didn't approach you intentionally. As you know, the fight between the Demon King's army and the human side is, how should I put it....... It's deemed desirable to maintain a standoff in many ways, isn't it? In a situation like that, even infiltrating the hero party would cause more harm than good."
"Bullshit....... Nngh!!"
His left hand groped her chest just like that.
Her body trembled with revulsion, but her two hands, bound behind her, didn't even think of moving.
Did her helpless state bring him a sense of bliss? The smile on his lips deepened, and the hand fondling her chest also began to move more fiercely.
"Still, since I 'happened' to enter this party, I figured I might as well achieve whatever trivial personal goals I desire, as long as I don't stand out....... Which is why I've arranged this occasion."
"Take your hand off my chest, you filthy......!!"
Ymir tried to shout, clenching her teeth at the hand movements she found so displeasing.
At that moment, the hand rubbing her flesh seized the bud protruding from its tip.
"Hah—!"
As soon as he pulled it, Ymir's head snapped back, and a violent moan burst from her lips.
'Wha—what is...?'
A sensation she was feeling for the first time in her life.
The moment her nipple was pinched, her whole body trembled faintly, and she felt her thoughts blank out as if electricity were sparking through her head.
By a sensation so intense it took precedence over the humiliation she felt toward him.......
"My, why are you reacting like that?"
His probing question followed while she was in that state of confusion.
The fingers that had pinched her nipple were now, at some point, gripping her chin.
As if to show she had been so engrossed in that unidentified sensation that she hadn't even noticed that action.
"You weren't particularly interested in this sort of thing, were you? Judging by that moan just now, you seemed to feel it quite a bit, though."
'Feel it......?'
Feel what?
Was he saying that she had felt sexual pleasure from this man's hands?
"Th-that's enough, just answer what I asked!!"
Ymir, choked with shame, snapped at him as she cried out.
"You've seized my mind, so why are you keeping my reason intact, and what are you trying to do."
The power of the demonic race is fundamentally based on domination through pheromones.
If his power was also based on that, then restraining her body would essentially be physical restraint through pheromones.
And fundamentally, as it is based on mental domination, restraining only the body while leaving the mind fully intact is a far more difficult task.
In fact, awakening her consciousness like this was practically the same as giving her a chance to counterattack.
Yet he had devised a meticulous operation to dominate her without arousing the slightest suspicion until now. What was his reason for taking on such a risk now?
"Because I want to keep you by my side for a long time to come."
The answer to that question was truly simple.
"......What?"
"Because you are a person I deem necessary for the future. But if I just control you however I please, I won't be able to fully utilize your capabilities. So I'll have to make you submit while maintaining your ego....... That's the conclusion I've reached."
"Submit my ass....... Do you think I'd ever bow my head to a bastard like you?"
"We'll have to see about that."
The hand that had been gripping her chin slowly descended.
"Now, Ymir."
The instant his hand seized her throat, Dave brought his lips to her ear and whispered low.
"It's time for your conditioning."
He cast aside the respect and consideration he had maintained all along.
Declaring that he would destroy the dignity of the arrogant sage.