Chapter 89. Banging the Field Agent (2)
Chapter 89. Banging the Field Agent (2)
Katarina, the current Action Leader of the Anti-Human Alliance.
On paper, her rank placed her among the top of the organization's hierarchy, but in practice, I had rarely come face-to-face with her directly.
The most contact we'd had was once, when the General introduced us, and a few brief encounters in the hallways back when I was still at headquarters. That was about it.
Even then, I always wore a mask, so she could easily have never known my face. Yet the moment she heard my voice, she recognized me instantly and dropped her hostility without a second thought.
Wasn't that strange?
No matter how much I had once served under her father, we were never close enough to warrant that kind of reaction.
"...De."
As I puzzled over that, Katarina, slumped limply against the wall, began forcing her mouth open with visible effort.
"Dave, sir."
She called my name, then demanded to know what orders I wished to give her.
"What... should I do?"
This was not a reaction I had anticipated.
After all, no matter how thoroughly I dominated a mind, if the target held no favorable feelings toward me, some unconscious resistance was inevitable.
Yet she had not only failed to suppress the compulsion to speak; she'd gone so far as to express her own will this clearly.
"Ever since you disappeared, that demon wretch's outrages have grown worse by the day. But all I can do is soothe the members and hold them together...."
"...Katarina."
"Your absence — and my father's — I feel it far too keenly. Where in the world have you been...? What have you been doing?"
...I was beginning to understand.
She didn't know me especially well either, but that goddamn whore had crossed so many lines that my absence had become a palpable wound.
Still, I had held the title of the General's secretary. Until the formal demotion process was complete, even that bitch couldn't simply disregard my words.
But for someone of Katarina's stature to take the initiative and address me with honorifics—even if my disappearance had unleashed the worst excesses—that was something else entirely.
"Why... were you mingling so warmly with the Hero's party? Could it be... surely not... have you betrayed the organization? Or are you dancing to that woman's schemes?"
Moreover, the fact that I'd been discovered in such a cordial atmosphere with the Hero's party must have stirred an even deeper unease: the fear that I might have turned traitor to the cause.
By the time that gaze, laden with a torrent of emotions, turned toward me, I had roughly sized up the situation. I let out a deep sigh and shook my head.
The former General may have passed, but he had laid a solid foundation before the end.
Just how badly had that whore torn the organization apart for such words to tumble from his own daughter's lips?
"Dave, sir. Please, come back. I can't manage this alone. Leading the organization in my father's stead is, after all... beyond me."
All the murderous ferocity she had shown when she leveled her blade at me was long gone. In the face of a voice that now bordered on desperate pleading, I had no choice but to abandon any lingering thought of breaking her into submission.
Realistically, I had only ever played an auxiliary role. Returning wouldn't permit me to fill the General's seat.
-Smack!
But if the organization also regarded that whore with disfavor...
Then perhaps, at least in this moment, it was best to have this conversation with her mind fully clear.
"...Ngh!"
Still, just in case, I kept her body restrained as I restored only her consciousness. Katarina snapped back to herself, straightened her head, and began frantically checking her own body.
"Wh-what... Wh-where is my weapon?!"
...Stripped bare, and the first thing she looked for wasn't her clothes but her weapon.
I had heard she'd learned to grip a sword before she learned to read, but I never expected such utter indifference toward her own body.
Well. I supposed that also meant she wasn't the sort to be completely ignorant of how to touch herself, either.
"Katarina."
Whatever the case, her body remained restrained, so there was no risk of her suddenly threatening me.
The moment I called her name, she flinched sharply and spun toward me.
"Do you know who I am?"
"...Ah."
Katarina let out a soft exclamation the instant she saw me. The way her characteristically sharp eyes went wide told me my presence had struck her as profoundly astonishing.
Though her earlier reaction had already given me a fair idea.
"That's right. You're Dave, sir. The one who served at my father's side...."
"Yes, I was the General's aide. Though that's a thing of the past now."
Even now, being chased out by that woman was not something I could ever take kindly to.
I exhaled heavily and looked back at Katarina.
"But is there really any need for you to use honorifics with me? You hold the rank of organization leader, while I was nothing more than an auxiliary. In terms of hierarchy, you stand far above me."
"Be that as it may, you are the person my father held in such favor that he chose to keep you at his side."
Katarina shook her head firmly at my cautious question, asked out of concern that friction over rank might arise.
"More than anything, the difference between when you were present and when you were not was vast. In consideration of that influence alone, I, who desires the organization's survival, believe it is only right to show you the proper respect."
"...Suit yourself."
Others might be scandalized if they saw this, but if she was fine with it, then conversing like this in private meetings was acceptable.
"Now then, Katarina."
"Yes. Please, speak."
Katarina answered me instantly and straightened her posture.
A well-hardened body, a chest that was by no means small, and her hips too....
Her sexual experience might be far more limited than Serika's, but the balance of her body struck me as even finer.
Yet what I felt as I faced her wasn't lust. It was a sense of guilt.
The sense that I was smearing filth across the traces of my benefactor I could see in that face of hers.
"Dave, sir?"
"Ahem."
I scattered those thoughts with a dry cough at her prompting and braced myself to get back to the main subject.
"As you can see from the fact that I disarmed you after seizing your mind, I do not currently trust you fully."
"...That is understandable. The organization really did change in many ways after you vanished. If I'd been in your position and caught wind of that, I would have approached cautiously as well."
Katarina nodded, finding my words reasonable.
Her full breasts swayed with the motion, but I deliberately ignored them and continued the discussion.
"From what I've gathered, it seems that woman intends to pull some scheme targeting the Hero's party.... Is this an action you've all agreed to?"
"...As if that were possible. The current leader treats our opinions as though they mean nothing at all."
Of course. Just as I thought.
If that goddamn whore had been the type to listen to her subordinates, she wouldn't have demoted me so thoughtlessly. And if that hadn't happened, I would never have done those things to those girls.
Yes, when I thought about it, if only that bitch hadn't existed...
"May I ask one thing as well?"
...No. Now wasn't the time to dwell on what-ifs.
"What is it?"
"Why is Dave, sir, playing the role of a porter for the Hero's party?"
"......"
"Surely not... Were you betrayed by that demon and have now taken humanity's side? Even though our organization is also hostile to theirs..."
"Katarina."
Should I tell her?
"Right now... are you truly swearing heartfelt loyalty to that Demon King's Army officer who manages the coalition?"
No. I had to tell her.
Because every member of the organization had a reason worth joining me over.
"No. We are merely enduring. Waiting for the day when we can once more seize the organization's real power...."
"And in that stage of endurance, you've ended up meddling with a target that could bring about the organization's total collapse. You are aware of that much, aren't you?"
But the present circumstances were dire.
During my absence, the organization had decayed far beyond what I had imagined. Now it had reached the point where not just humanity but even the other officers regarded us as a thorn in their side.
What the hell was that goddamn whore thinking... No. The woman I had seen was nothing more than a sex-crazed, empty-headed slut.
I had no desire to see the organization itself collapse because of the thoughtless rampages of a wretched bitch like that.
"If... an opportunity to kill that woman were to present itself, what would you do?"
"You can't mean..."
"We may lack the power to oppose her. But a Hero's party, at their level, should be capable of killing a single officer."
There. Once I laid it out to this point, she would understand.
Why I, possessing nothing but a mind control ability that only works on individuals without existing hostility, had infiltrated the Hero's party and allowed them to see me in such warm camaraderie.
"...Originally, I intended to wait until they matured more. But seeing the state of the organization, it seems necessary to move that timetable up."
The moment I stated that point bluntly, color began to bloom in Katarina's eyes.
"From the very start... you had this in mind."
In the admiration that followed, I saw not even a trace of suspicion toward me.
Even though she could have dismissed it as a reckless plan, or a lie meant to buy time.
"Yes. If it's that... we could deal with the demon while also avoiding suspicion from the other officers and the human side. The other members will certainly join in on this."
Yes. The Anti-Human Alliance excelled at infiltration and covert operations.
If I could just secure their cooperation, guiding the Hero's party into killing that bitch cleanly was far from a pipe dream.
"If the plan really does go that smoothly... that is."
"...What do you mean?"
The instant her eyes rounded in surprise, her voice having been so full of elation a moment before...
I stepped closer to her and once more took a moment to examine her body.
She, who already held boundless trust in me, showed not even a flicker of unease.
In a way, it made her look utterly pure.
There she was, wearing not a single thread, showing me such a defenseless image of herself.
"Dave, sir? Why... huh?"
Her composure fractured the moment I fully closed the distance and my hand settled upon her body.
"Wait. That place... nghh!"
Katarina went rigid the instant my hand touched her.
I kneaded her sensitive breasts, focused my caresses on her nipples, and whispered into her ear.
"Did you think the reason I disarmed you was simply to eliminate the threat?"
"D-Dave, sir. Why on earth are you doing this? That place...!"
"You've entered the Outer Path, and yet you're still so naive. If your father could see you now, he'd lament."
By the time I parted the cleft of her sex and pushed inside, she had finally grasped the situation. Gasping for breath, she clutched at my body.
As if begging me not to continue any further.
"Even if things go well, it remains nothing but a verbal promise. Our time apart has been long, and if we are to cooperate going forward, we will need a token of trust."
"A token... of trust...?"
"Something precious of yours."
My finger advanced slowly between the folds.
The moment I felt the membrane of flesh at its tip, I stared directly at her and spoke without pretense.
"Something that, once lost, can never return... Can you give it to me?"
We would seal the contract with a moment that would never come again in a lifetime.
Was that not, in itself, more than sufficient to prove trust?