Chapter 66. A Staggering Series of Coincidences
Chapter 66. A Staggering Series of Coincidences
Hypnosis is an efficient tool for exploiting human weakness.
But when dealing with someone whose heart is already wounded, there's no need to tighten the noose further.
If you simply pull out what their instincts scream to hide, eventually they come to feel the full weight of their own failure to endure, and seek something to lean on. That's just human nature.
"Hnngh, slurrp...."
The receptionist knelt on the floor, her knees bent, licking what was in her mouth.
It wasn't forced by hypnosis or anything of the sort. She had started licking my cock of her own volition.
Considering how prickly and disdainful she'd been during our previous encounters, watching her grow more engrossed now struck me as deeply ironic.
"......Mmh♥"
Well, once you've endured enough and finally reach the breaking point, a person's will crumbles with remarkable ease.
"Martina. Does it feel good?"
"Yesh, yesh it doesh...♥"
Martina grinned vapidly, her mouth stained white from the load she'd taken a short while ago. It was an utterly vulgar sight, yet I could feel my own mouth beginning to water.
"Then I'll make you feel even better."
"Ah, hnnng!! I-it feels good. Right, right there......♥"
My fingers slipped inside the cunt I'd already pumped full of my come time and again.
Every time I pressed against the sticky mess inside her, a slick blend of arousal fluids and semen, spasms began to ripple through her body in rapid succession.
The fact that she'd stopped resisting meant she'd already given me her heart completely, didn't it?
She's ready for me to make my move. With that thought, I kept up the fucking and posed the question to her.
"Martina, would you do me a favor?"
"A favor, you mean?"
"Yes. As you know, I'm currently part of a party, and we need one temporary addition. I was hoping to get some information on a suitable candidate...."
"Yes, yes... if it's something I can do... hnng, hnnaah♥"
Was she even listening to a word I said? Not that it was any exaggeration—I'd approached her solely to use her.
No, even if she understood, I didn't care. I had no intention of becoming her lover anyway. The best way to end this arrangement was as a simple matter of mutual benefit.
"I need information on the A-rank snipers in this city."
The moment I made that judgment and got straight to the point, Martina's body stopped cold.
"......What?"
Her eyes, which had been lost in pleasure, snapped open and locked onto me.
"A-a sniper? That's... Nhht!?"
At that instant, her inner walls clenched tight. The moment her muscles clamped down on my fingers without her even realizing it, Martina flinched and her hand shot toward her own legs.
"Ah, nnh, w-wait. Your f-fingers... it's s-sensitive... s-stop!!"
Well, this is a problem. Her true feelings revealed themselves through her body far too clearly.
But stopping midway once I'd already started was out of the question. On the contrary, I couldn't afford to ruin the mood just because something was bothering her, so I figured it'd be best to send her flying over the edge right then and there.
-Thrust! Thrust! Thrust!
"Haaah, a-ahhhn! C-cu-, cum-, cummiiiiing......!!"
Along with the rough motion of my fingers, moans that sounded almost like screams escaped Martina's lips.
Her arched back went rigid as her juices sprayed down, and trembling violently, her eyes rolled back as she sank blissfully into the afterglow of her climax.
"Ah, nnh... hnnngh."
Even in that state, Martina raised a hand to cover her eyes.
It looked as if she was trying to hide her own expression.
Acting like that even when her mind was blank... Did that mean she'd unconsciously reacted that strongly to my words?
"......Let's put that discussion on hold for now."
It wasn't difficult to guess. What I'd brought up probably involved her lover. Whether that detail would end up helping or hindering me down the line, I decided not to worry about it right now.
Right now, the priority was giving her what she wanted after she'd entrusted her body to me.
"I... I'm sorry, I...."
"It's fine, Martina."
Yes, for the sake of getting what I wanted, too.
Reminding myself of that, I pulled her body close once more, pressed her down onto the bed, and explored every inch of her.
"Don't think about anything right now."
I whispered into her ear that there was nothing wrong with what we were doing.
"Just feel. I'll help you forget it all."
Before she could even reflexively say anything in return, I pressed my lips to hers and stole her thoughts away, and before long, her confusion had subsided. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she began spreading her own sex with her hands.
"Yes, yes~♥"
A desperate, frenzied struggle to forget the lover whose memory had begun surfacing again.
By the time I finally heard the information I wanted from Martina, her clumsy cunt was soaked through and fully stained my color.
Namely, that the one her lover had cheated on her with was none other than an S-rank sniper currently staying in this city.
***
S-rank.
An individual belonging to the highest tier of adventurers.
These were people who had, for all intents and purposes, reached the absolute pinnacle of their field within the human realm. The only ones higher would be those beyond a standard frame of reference, like a Hero or a Grand Archmage, or one of The 10 Strongest of the Continent like Berdia.
Recruiting someone like that as a colleague wouldn't be easy, but still... once they knew who was in the party I belonged to, even an S-rank adventurer would be tempted. Chosen to serve as auxiliary support for the hero party? What adventurer obsessed with fame and fortune would refuse that?
'......Why are you looking for that person?'
Of course, setting that aside, from Martina's standpoint, there was absolutely no way she'd feel good about someone who'd had an affair with her lover. It was only natural that seeing the person she was depending on take an interest in that very same individual wouldn't sit well with a woman who'd already experienced the loss of a partner.
'Martina.'
But her feelings meant nothing to me.
'Did you entrust your body to me because you wanted to deepen our relationship?'
From the very beginning, I'd clearly defined our activities as being 'for the sake of comfort.' Even if her mind was in turmoil, this was just a coincidence of overlapping targets. From her position, pressing the issue any further would be objectively unreasonable.
'...No, you're right. I'm not hoping for us to become that kind of thing.'
And fortunately, Martina had recovered her composure in the aftermath. Though if she'd flown into a confused rage, even my hypnosis might not have worked—in the end, Martina succeeded in quelling her own emotions without harboring any hostility towards me.
'Thank you. I think your help did me some good.'
She gave her thanks for the composure our acts had brought her.
But even as the words left her mouth, a lingering dissatisfaction remained on her face. Was it that she couldn't calm her heart no matter how she tried to separate work from personal feelings?
No, any attachment to her lover was long gone by now. The reason she'd reacted like that was purely out of some emotion aimed directly at me.
'Still, what a shame. If only our meeting had come about more properly....'
'....'
'...No, that was just me thinking out loud. I hope whatever you're looking for works out well.'
With that, hoping I'd remember what we'd done as just a pleasant memory, Martina began gathering herself to return to her station.
The bitter sight of her retreating back stirred something like pity in me, but in the end, I hardened my heart against her and headed for the location she'd told me about. I had my own objectives to pursue; I couldn't afford to get hung up on one woman.
Though, who knows, if our paths cross again somewhere down the line, I might offer her some comfort again. I was going to be staying in this city longer than planned anyway, and there might come another time when I'd need help from a guild staff member like her.
"So, she said she practices her archery here around this time, right?"
The place I finally arrived at was a district packed with facilities for adventurers. Specifically, an archery range built for those who wield the bow, where the open field was dotted with uncollected arrows lodged in targets. Ordinarily, it should have been packed with people practicing their shots.
"This is absolute bullshit!!"
What greeted me upon my arrival, however, was the sight of visitors directing all their attention toward a commotion breaking out in one corner of the range. As a newcomer myself, I found my focus drawn immediately and headed over.
"How the hell can some nobody who just got her adventurer's badge shoot better than me!? This is a fraud! A goddamn fraud!!"
Shrieking at the top of her lungs and repeatedly kicking up clods of dirt was a woman with hair mixed red and white. She wore a tiara crafted from crystal on her head, and on her arm was a bracelet inlaid with a kaleidoscope of gems—rubies, sapphires, emeralds.
S-rank Adventurer, the Crystal Princess, Atel.
Her appearance matched the description Martina had given, but... why was she stomping the ground and throwing a tantrum?
"Excuse me, what happened here?"
Curious, I grabbed a bystander in the crowd and asked. They gave me an uncomfortable look before answering straight away.
"I only just got here myself, but from what I gather, Atel challenged that girl over there to a match and lost miserably."
"...An S-rank adventurer lost?"
It was a hard fact to believe, but the moment I saw who Atel was screaming at, I immediately understood.
"......That's?"
The one who'd faced off against the S-rank adventurer was someone I knew well.
It was a young elf who'd lived a full hundred years.