Chapter 79. A Side You Shouldn't Show Others (1)
Chapter 79. A Side You Shouldn't Show Others (1)
A hundred years.
For a human, a hundred years is a span unreachable even in a full lifetime.
Even for one who lives through such an expanse of time, most of those memories would be lost to oblivion... and everything felt in the present would be riddled with nothing but pain.
But elves are a race for whom the very concept of aging does not exist.
For them, memory is not something that fades as time passes; it is closer to something whose meaning leaches away as they pile on more years of life.
They are beings who have lived for thousands of years, so they ascribe no weight to the centuries left behind.
'...Good.'
In that case, seeking ever-greater stimulation to impose meaning upon a life that gradually empties out might, in one sense, be an inevitable fate.
Once, it was the shiver and the tension of surviving in the wild. Another time, it was war. And then, binding themselves to other races....
'Good, so, so good....'
But by now, she had come to regard all of that as merely the ways of savage ancestors.
The culture and discipline constructed under the auspices of the World Tree made them an insular people, but in exchange, it succeeded in providing a tranquil life that kept stimulation at a distance.
It meant living one's entire life within the Great Forest, but by remaining uninfluenced by the outside world, they were able to elevate themselves to the most noble of races.
'I want to feel more.'
Conversely, an elf not born and raised in the Great Forest...
An elf who, for whatever reason, was separated from the elven throng and raised 'by the hands of a species other than elves,' would be denied such blessings and would have no choice but to remain faithful to the instincts etched into her blood.
All the more so because no one ever taught her that what she felt was wrong.
'Dave....'
Yes, that is what an ignorant and naive existence is.
A being who, without someone to guide her, ultimately has no choice but to surrender to her instincts in order to adapt to her environment.
From the moment one chooses pleasure as the means to move such a being according to one's own will, it is inevitable that an obsession with the one who bestowed it will bloom.
'The warmth I felt from Dave back then... I can feel it growing clearer by the day.'
Even if the beginning was nothing more than chance, it felt sweet and warm enough to paint color onto a hollow life.
So even without memories, the lingering resonance carved into her body stirred her instincts.
And at the end of it, she felt as though she were confronting her very fate in the man who stood before her.
'So, more.'
She craved a wedge to be driven into the brand that had been etched upon her.
No matter how violent the pain, in the end, it would be nothing more than a fleeting stimulus within her life.
If, on the contrary, that very stimulus became a means for her to reminisce about the man who had held her, then she would steel herself to accept any future pain or anguish.
"...Heira."
The man who filled that hollow void had, before she knew it, ceased his sadistic actions and begun to call out to her as she knelt before him.
Unlike before, he addressed her with a tender voice.
"Do you like me?"
And with it, her master, who stroked her head with an outstretched hand. Her destined companion, the one she wished to stay beside.
That touch felt so strangely, deeply warm that it bordered on the surreal, but Heira resolved not to question it.
"...I wike you."
He was the master, and she was the slave.
That relationship was enough as it was.
"I wike you, I wike you, Master...."
If she could stay a little longer with the man who had gifted her a new meeting, and the warmth of its beginning, then she could gladly endure whatever sadistic malice he chose to deliver.
"I like you. I like you so much that I want to stay with you forever....."
Vitality surged back into her exhausted lungs at his mere touch, and as her tongue extended, a ragged breath burst free.
The heat was so intense it threatened to evaporate even the saliva pooling in her mouth. As the man's fingers, feeling it head-on, slid down as if tracing the saliva trickling from her mouth, the girl began to rub her cheek against the hand now pressed to it, as if succumbing to the sensation.
Like a dog desperate for affection.
"I wike... you so, so much...."
Going further, as if she feared being hurt.
"So, please, don't throw me away."
Yes, had she not already lost her family before ever meeting him?
For the girl who had buried that sense of loss with the passage of time, this encounter—the brand of pleasure engraved upon her life for the very first time—could not help but be regarded as something exceptionally special.
"St-stay... with me. I'll work hard. I'll do anything, anything you command, Master...."
So she wished only that he would remain by her side.
She said that this alone was all she desired, and whispered it again, desperately.
"...Please, don't leave me alone anymore."
The tears of the girl who had finally broken down began to wet the hand stroking her cheek.
As if to teach her that the end of the road for one who chooses the path of the 'heretic'— rather than the path chosen by her entire race— was a state this wretched and miserable.
Be it her innate senses, or even a lifespan dozens of times longer than a human's, all of it, a miserable end.
"...Don't worry."
Watching the girl born to such a pitiable fate, the man felt the cruelty of destiny.
Everyone has their own circumstances, and if those clash with another's, the future of the one who fails to find a point of compromise contains nothing but tragedy.
"As long as you wish it, I won't throw you away by my own hand."
Yes, and that is why the man could not simply take the girl who offered herself as his slave lightly.
The Hero and the Grand Archmage...
Those like them would eventually have to fight the Demon King's army, so he, of course, would have to stake his life as well. But this girl bore no obligation to stand against such a fate.
She had even put her life on the line in her journey with them, but there was no need for this girl to take part in such a pilgrimage.
"R-really... you mean it?"
"Yes. As long as you accept everything from now on, at the very least, I will never cast you aside by my own hand."
Therefore, for his own sake, and for this girl's as well, he had to make her give up on her own.
The fact that she had no need to sacrifice her body and her heart entirely for scum like him.
"I-I'll work hard. Whatever you desire, Master...."
"Then clean yourself up and get dressed right away."
Leaving behind that command imbued with such resolve, Dave began to gather his own clothes, scattered across the floor, one by one.
Paying no mind to Heira staring dazedly at him from behind.
"...Huh?"
Heira dumbly questioned as she watched Dave.
It was not an attitude born of defiance against his order.
On the contrary, it was a behavior born of incomprehension. To properly carry out his command, she first needed to resolve the dissonance she was feeling in this moment.
"You're not... going to erase my memories?"
Normally, after finishing his conditioning, he would erase her memories immediately, and she would rejoin the party as if nothing had happened, wouldn't she?
Each time, the lingering echoes in her body stirred her memoryless heart, but in the end, that only made her consider herself drawn to this man.
Dave had let it be because he knew that, but now that he knew the nature she possessed, the situation changed.
"Looking at you now, I don't think that's necessary anymore."
"Not... necessary...?"
"Of course. Now that you've already decided to put on a dog collar yourself, there's no need to go through the trouble of wiping your memories."
In that case, he simply had to assault her from a different angle.
Having made up his mind, Dave picked up the tools he had removed from her and prepared to put his plan into action.
"...Still, Heira,"
The task of driving this girl to the point where she would beg him to erase her memories.
"You wouldn't want others to see you in such a wretched state as this, would you?"
How much the plan designed for that would torment her.
The girl, who had merely accepted pleasure, could not even dare to imagine.
* * *
Later, around the time the sunset glow was dying out,
the Hero's Party, led by Serika, prepared to leave the village the very moment Dave and Heira returned from the market.
Because the stables had been attacked by demon beasts and they could no longer take a wagon, they needed to depart this evening to reach their next destination by tomorrow.
"Dave, didn't you buy a bit too much luggage?"
"Couldn't be helped. Even if it's just for one night, it's for four people, so having this much stashed away makes me feel more secure, doesn't it?"
"That's true, but it looks like way too much for you to carry alone...."
"You don't need to worry, Serika. I'm used to heavy lifting, and more than anything, this is the role I took on in this party."
Dave hoisted the overstuffed backpack without a hint of strain.
Watching the backpack that easily rose past the top of his head, Ymir let out an admiring breath and began tapping Dave's pack with her hand.
"Whoa, Dave. I thought you only specialized in cooking and cleaning, but you're surprisingly strong~ Maybe we should hand you a shield and put you on the vanguard at this rate."
"...Ymir. Don't try to make Dave do unreasonable things. And what are you going to do if he falls over from you patting his back like that?"
"You worry too much. If it looks like he's gonna fall, I can just catch him like this, yeah?"
"Ack! Don't tug on my ear with your telekinesis!"
The two began to bicker once more.
As Dave watched them with an ambiguous smile, his gaze suddenly shifted toward Heira, who had just barely slipped past the village exit.
"Heira, what are you doing back there?"
"...Eep."
Heira flinched and hunched her body at Dave's call. Afterward, she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, and keeping her body low, began slowly following behind the group.
Concealing her trembling steps by wrapping the cloak around her lower body.
"...Heira?"
Only then did the other two notice something off about Heira and turn back.
As Heira, tense, curled her body even further, the two approached her in confusion.
"What's wrong, Heira?"
"Are you hurt somewhere?"
Their voices were clearly full of concern for her.
Even knowing that their worry was sincere, Heira could not bring herself to answer them right away.
—A resonant pulse hummed!
Because even in this moment, the patches affixed beneath her clothes were vibrating, relentlessly stimulating her erogenous zones.