Chapter 57. Banging a Quiet Elf Maiden (1)
Chapter 57. Banging a Quiet Elf Maiden (1)
"Uh, uhh...?"
"What the...? What just...?"
A few people noticed something strange, but the power consumed them in an instant.
Soon, silence fell over the entire tavern as the force permeated it. I faced the crowd blocking my path and quietly gave an order.
"Would you mind moving aside?"
"......Uhhh."
The adventurers stood there in a daze, swaying. They weren't primed to obey commands, but since their bodies had gone slack, pushing through them wasn't difficult.
Right. When I spread my power over a whole space, even if I can't give specific commands like this, I can still halt a crowd's movements, more or less.
The more people there are, the less I can control each one individually, but being able to guarantee my own freedom is a huge advantage in an infiltration where I need to leave no trace.
"You two there."
And even after seizing control of an entire building, I still had room to use my power further. I immediately called out to the two men who were about to lay hands on my intended target, making them turn their heads toward me.
Even if they hadn't paid me the slightest attention, their minds were already numbed by the power I'd spread. The moment I exerted my will to dominate them, the strength drained from their eyes, and their shoulders began to slump.
"Yes, yess. Tell us what you wish, Master."
"We are your slaves. If there is anything you command, anything at all..."
Paralyzing people's actions over a wide area, then hypnotizing more than one target at the same time... It's quite a strain, but if I don't drag it out, I can manage.
"You two, go play in that corner over there. And don't you dare lay a finger on my woman."
Of course, since these bastards were after my prey, I was feeling a bit vindictive — it wouldn't sit right to just let them off.
As soon as I gave the order, the two of them turned to face each other with blank expressions.
"Play... how, exactly?"
"That's for you two to figure out. Whether you bite and suck each other, or ram it in hard."
"Ah, yes. Hard..."
At my words, the two men headed to a corner of the tavern and began stripping off their clothes without hesitation.
And their hands reached for each other without reserve. Their mouths, their tongues — they clashed together wildly.
"Damn it, Marcus! I love you!"
"Nngh, Magnus. Stop!"
...They're spouting lines I never told them to say, but what does it matter?
If they're having a sweet little love affair among themselves, that's fine by me. With that thought, I lost interest in them and approached the green-haired woman sitting at the table.
"......Ugh."
Whether I approached or not, the woman kept her head hanging over the table, swaying back and forth.
She'd been affected by my power too, but the drunkenness seemed to have the upper hand, so the hypnosis took effect only lightly. Of course, if her consciousness was that unsteady, there was no need to apply a deep hypnosis.
I was already under heavy strain, so it worked out. I decided to hoist her up onto my back and tossed a coin purse to the owner, who was standing at the counter drooling.
"Barkeep. Ring this up, including her tab."
"Y-Yess. Understood."
The owner nodded vacantly and took the purse.
Even if they'd have a hard time remembering I was ever here once their minds cleared, I decided it was only polite to pay him fairly.
After all, the woman on my back looked like a fine catch.
***
"A room. A soundproof one."
A man carrying a drunk woman is a reliable customer for an inn.
I left behind the innkeeper, who handed over a key without a word of scandal, and quietly laid my target down on the bed in the enclosed room.
"Ah, uhh..."
The moment her body touched the bed, her consciousness stirred. Of course, the drunkenness hadn't worn off yet, so her mind would still be hazy.
"...You... who are you?"
The woman looked at me through clouded eyes and asked.
I took a deep breath to steady my weary, strained body, then raised a finger in front of her and spoke softly.
"Someone who's going to give you a very pleasant dream, starting now."
That was the end of the answer.
-Snap!
The moment I snapped my fingers and released the power, her lolling upper body froze stiff, and the strength violently drained from her shoulders.
"......Uh, haah."
Even so, her breathing remained extremely ragged. Looking at the woman staring at me with flushed cheeks, I felt a rush of wicked pleasure.
Yes, from now on, I could control this woman as I pleased.
"What's your name?"
I asked with that leisure, and she answered quietly, still sitting on the bed.
"......Heira."
Heira.
That was her name.
"Your age?"
"I turned... 102 this year..."
"...That's a funny joke."
Drunk or not, isn't her mind wandering a bit too much? That's what I thought.
"It's not... a lie."
But Heira corrected me and stiffly raised her head as if to look at me.
She forced her head up, even though the drunkenness combined with the hypnosis should have made her slump over naturally.
"I've never... forgotten. I'm 102... this year..."
Through her bleary eyes, Heira repeated and emphasized her words.
From that, I realized she wasn't lying.
Drunk as she was, she was also under hypnosis — compelled to speak the truth. The way she kept insisting made it clear she firmly believed she was over a hundred years old.
Even though she looked even younger than Serika, who only recently came of age...
"...Another race, then."
It wasn't hard to guess.
After all, there are plenty of cases where other races disguise themselves and infiltrate human society or amuse themselves.
Some of them have lifespans far shorter than humans, while others, the long-lived ones, live for hundreds or even over a thousand years.
The demonic race is one example, and so are those called elves.
Of course, demonic beings have distinctive traits, making it hard for them to infiltrate human society, but elves are generally friendly toward humans, so the preparations needed for infiltration aren't much.
"Well, it doesn't matter if she's an elf."
I only touched her because I had something to check briefly; once this is over, she won't remember anyway.
I glanced inside her cloak and saw a necklace set with a gemstone of a subtle, mysterious color.
A magic tool.
And a fairly powerful one at that.
"That..."
As I touched it and examined it, Heira grabbed my wrist with trembling hands.
"You... shouldn't touch that..."
It wasn't a strong grip, but the fact that she stopped my action even under hypnosis was unexpected.
I couldn't help but see it as an anomaly. Even if the drunkenness weakened the compulsion, for her to act like this while under a command to stop was surprising.
Did it mean her attachment to this necklace was that strong?
"You don't have a choice."
But even so, her resistance was just words.
I shook off the hand gripping my wrist and removed her necklace, dispelling the disguise on her body.
"Ah...!"
With a gasp, changes began to take place in her body.
The air shimmered like a curtain being drawn back. When it cleared, a long, pointed ear — characteristic of an elf — appeared beside her green hair, just as I expected.
"I... can't be found out..."
With her ears exposed, Heira was at a loss. I reflexively pulled away the hand she'd clamped over her ear and whispered low into it.
"Don't worry. I'm not interested in meddling with your circumstances."
Slip.
With a gesture, I slowly removed her cloak. And beneath it, her clothes.
"The only thing I'm interested in is your body."
As I undid the buttons and slipped off her clothes, the delicate line of her shoulders and her collarbone were laid bare.
The contours themselves were perfect, like a master craftsman's handiwork.
Despite her youthful face, her chest was nicely filled out.
As expected of an elf, her body was fantastic.
It was a shame she usually kept so covered up, but that didn't apply to someone like me, who could monopolize her body.
"...Uh, huh?"
As I savored that feeling of superiority and placed a hand on her shoulder, Heira stared down at it blankly and quietly asked.
"Why... my body?"
Truly quiet.
Even under hypnosis, there should have been some unconscious resistance, but Heira showed no sign of it as she looked at me and asked again.
She didn't seem to feel the slightest wariness about the situation.
"What do you think?"
Curious about that, I asked a question to test her, and Heira tilted her head and answered slowly.
"......Eat me?"
"Haha, eat you...?"
Yes, she really didn't feel any sense of danger about this.
You'd think an elf would be on guard about things like slave hunting and such...
Well, at a hundred years old, it's not that I can't understand.
Elves mature similarly to humans, but they hardly age, so their sense of age differs greatly from humans'. They're generally treated as children until almost two hundred, from what I know.
Since elves are so insular and overprotective among themselves, it's perfectly understandable that she'd be ignorant about the ways of the world.
"...Well, 'eat' isn't exactly the wrong word."
I don't know why a girl who should be so sheltered is wandering the city alone, so utterly defenseless that she nearly let some men toy with her, but...
Anyway, we won't be meeting again after tonight. As long as I don't leave any loose ends like I did with Serika, does it even matter what I do?
"What... Mmph!"
I grabbed her jaw, forced her mouth open, and sealed my lips over hers, stifling whatever she was about to say.
The moment her tongue, which had moved to speak, tangled with mine, I licked over the frozen thing, surprised by my action, and the hesitant girl slowly closed her eyes, giving herself to the sensation.