Dreamland
“Oh no. I’ve been found out.”
Caught in the lie that she was a maid, Penelope put on a look that was seductive, alluring, and thoroughly inviting all at once.
The moment Evan saw that expression, he felt his lower abdomen swell all over again.
Fighting the sensation that the slightest movement might make him burst, he slowly reached for the hilt of his sword.
“……Then who are you?”
“—Your maid, Master.”
As she spoke, Penelope gave her skirt a little lift. It was nothing like the elegant curtsy she had offered when they first met; the motion was so vulgar it looked as if she meant to show him her underwear on purpose.
The side of the panties she wore, the thin string and knot sitting snug against her hip—Evan forgot everything else and simply stared.
“Heehee. How adorable.”
Only after the skirt whispered back down and the panties vanished from view could Evan tear his gaze away. It was a power stronger than most magic he had ever faced.
Women are terrifying……! Realizing that truth, Evan swallowed hard and glared at Penelope.
If she tried anything next, he would cut her down at once—
“Mas-ter. Wouldn’t you rather live with me instead of that plain, ugly maid?”
“……What are you talking about.”
“I didn’t come here to harm you, you know. Quite the opposite. I came to teach you unforgettable rapture, pleasure, and happiness.”
Her smile was still bewitching. Her words were still sweet. For a moment it almost seemed reasonable to get rid of the maid who had just arrived and simply live with her instead……
But honey always has bees to guard it, and every rose has its thorns. Evan knew perfectly well that nothing Penelope said could be taken at face value.
“Anya, you said. Show me something. Quickly.”
“Y-yes!? Wh-what should I show you…… I-I’m not wearing anything flashy like that……”
“Not that. Proof I can believe you were actually sent by His Majesty the Blue King.”
Evan glanced at Anya as he spoke. Now that Penelope had been exposed as a fake, he could no longer simply trust that this one was genuine either.
Fortunately Anya was quick; she pulled out a sealed royal decree stamped with the imperial crest—something Penelope had never produced.
The instant he confirmed it, Evan drew his sword.
And yet—
Wh-where do I even cut?
He could not swing. It was not hypnosis; the ring Canelly had given him still sat firmly on his finger.
His body simply flinched and stopped of its own accord every time he tried to bring the blade down.
It did not take long for Evan to understand why.
“You can’t cut me, can you?”
Penelope began to walk toward him, one slow, deliberate step at a time. The closer she came, the more possible cutting paths opened up.
And still he could not cut.
Evan could not bring himself to strike a woman who was walking straight into his line of fire of her own free will.
When she stood right in front of him, Penelope stroked the hand that held his sword and then his cheek.
“Of course you can’t. A man cannot cut down a beautiful woman. It’s a law carved into instinct itself.”
“Hic—!”
“My, did I startle you? Forgive me, Master. Well then—if you find it hard to decide, I’ll decide for you.”
She turned Evan’s body, lifted the hand that gripped the sword, and thrust the blade straight at Anya.
If Anya had not yelped and fallen backward—if Evan had not somehow managed to stop the sword in time—Anya might have died right there.
“What a shame, Master. Once more.”
“……I’m sorry, Miss Anya. This is going to hurt a little.”
“P-please spare me……!”
Hearing Evan’s words, Anya felt her death approaching and began to tremble violently. A stream of bright yellow urine leaked down her legs beneath her skirt.
Looking rather apologetic at the sight, Evan gripped the sword and thrust it forward.
“Miss Penelope.”
“Yeees, Master.”
“You might die.”
“……?”
Completely overpowered as she was, Penelope had no idea what he could possibly mean and tilted her head.
The next instant, Evan thrust the sword as if it were nothing at all.
A space barely a centimeter wide was sliced open—and a massive explosion followed.
“Kyaaaaaaah—!?”
The blast hurled Anya several meters through the air. She gritted her teeth against the pain racing through her whole body and slowly pushed herself up.
For such a huge explosion, the impact had not been that severe—almost as if something had diverted every scrap of force that should have hit her.
“S-Swordmaster!?”
Which meant the entire shock of that enormous blast had gone toward the Swordmaster instead of her.
Realizing that, Anya whipped her head around in panic toward where he had been standing. As the smoke cleared, Evan appeared wearing a coat bristling with scales, and Penelope stood there in a maid uniform torn to shreds.
“Haa, haa—you crazy…… How could you do something like that.”
“I’m alive, so it’s fine.”
“D-do you even understand what you just did!? You tore space open! If you’d made even the slightest mistake—!”
“Mistake?”
Evan lifted his sword as if he could not believe what he was hearing.
“A Swordmaster making a mistake while swinging a sword…… That’s actually funny. You made me laugh, Miss Penelope.”
“……Ah. Right. You are the Swordmaster, after all.”
Penelope’s face crumpled as if she had just realized her own blunder, then she glanced down at her thoroughly shredded clothes.
For someone who worshipped beauty, the outfit was unbearable. Of course, it had a certain charm of its own……
She sighed and snapped her fingers. Every scrap of clothing on her body instantly turned to light.
Evan’s eyes went round at the sudden nakedness, and what had been a maid uniform transformed into something so extremely provocative it barely qualified as clothing at all.
“A s-succubus!”
Anya screamed the recognition from behind him. Only then did Evan finally grasp Penelope’s true identity.
Succubus. A race that drained a man’s vital essence. Because stronger men possessed stronger essence, they had targeted countless superhumans—yet somehow the species had never gone extinct.
Having experienced one firsthand, Evan understood why. Do I really have to kill her? Isn’t there a peaceful way to settle this? That thought was simply a man’s fate.
“Master. It was a short time, but I enjoyed it. That’s not lip service—I mean it. The essence you give off had me in a nightly masturbation trance, you know?”
“Sh-shut up.”
“Heehee. Adorable. Whenever you feel like losing that virginity of yours, come find us. We’ll be waiting for your visit any time.”
With that, Penelope flicked a small business card toward him. Evan snatched it out of the air and stared at her as if to ask what this was supposed to be.
“It’s an invitation that will let you reach our Dreamland. All of us will be waiting for you whenever you like. Farewell.”
“—Where do you think you’re going.”
“Ah, and this is a gift.”
With a flick of her wrist, Penelope tossed the string panties she had been wearing until moments ago. Evan, who had been about to stop her, found his eyes stolen by the scrap of fabric for a single instant—and in that stolen instant she vanished like smoke.
Staring at the empty air where she had disappeared in the blink of an eye, Evan wore a blank expression. Only the panties and the business card left in his hands proved she had ever been real.
“S-Swordmaster! Are you all right!?”
“Ah…… Yes.”
“We have to report this! Right now! Succubi are enemies of mankind! They’re demons!”
“I…… suppose they are?”
“A-and put that filthy thing down this instant!”
Anya snatched the panties from Evan’s hand as she spoke. He let out a short sigh, realized what he had been doing, and obediently nodded.
“……Swordmaster?”
“Yes, Miss Anya.”
“Th-then why are you keeping the business card……?”
“……No, this is—well—I thought it might be more reliable if I went myself.”
“You’re sure about that……?”
Evan deliberately ignored her gaze and turned his head away. He could still feel the lingering warmth of her hand in his own.
Not long after, the city guard arrived, drawn by the explosion.
Watching them show up only after everything was already over, Evan decided he really could not leave this matter to people like them.
There was absolutely no personal motive mixed in.
Absolutely none.
Having fled in haste to a nearby forest, Penelope collapsed onto the ground with a long, heavy sigh.
“Hwaaah—I almost died……”
Cuts and gashes covered her body—wounds left by the aftershock of the space-cutting technique Evan had used.
She had put on a brave face at the time, but her body was already a wreck. One more step and she would have collapsed; she was that close to the edge.
“At least these are still intact. Lucky me.”
She pulled out the succubi’s special potions: underwear still heavy with the traces of Evan’s first wet dream, a towel soaked through with his sweat, and the like.
Burying her face in the underwear, she began to inhale deeply—sniff, sniff—and felt the essence flood her entire body. Little by little the wounds began to close.
Only after most of the injuries had healed did she finally lift her head. Her face was radiant with pure bliss.
“—This should last me a whole month.”
Fully recovered, she buried her face in the underwear again purely for pleasure. Moments later, a voice thick with rapture rang out through the forest.