Chapter 96
After finishing class, I stopped by the Eight-Colored Clam Castle for dinner and indulged in as much of Ellyn’s cooking as I pleased.
“It’s so delicious.”
“Hehe……”
Ellyn smiled brightly.
“How’s our kitchen?”
“The ingredients are incredibly varied, and there’s plenty of space, so it’s nice being able to experiment with all sorts of things.”
“Could you handle it if we had more people than we do now?”
“Up to ten people would be fine!”
Ellyn puffed out her chest as she spoke.
As expected of a professional, a dependable aura radiated from her small body.
“Can you cook meat dishes, too?”
“……”
Ellyn flinched and began furtively avoiding my eyes.
“You can’t?”
“I can eat meat, but when it comes to handling it myself, I can’t help feeling a little repulsed……”
“If our numbers increase, it’d be better to have another chef who can cover a different area, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes. Then I could focus on my own cooking.”
“Maybe next time I should kidnap a meat-cooking expert……”
“Yes?”
“Nothing. I was just talking to myself.”
Ellyn trembled.
There were plenty of greens, but it had still been a satisfying meal.
It was enough to change even the palate of the person eating it.
But a balanced diet was a serious problem.
There were plenty of candidates at Melbrit who were skilled in miscellaneous tasks, so I decided to keep an eye out.
I attended the evening class.
The instructor wasn’t Plenoer, and the lesson had also been replaced with a boring indoor theory class.
Most importantly, Diana wasn’t there either.
I shouldn’t have come.
Diana didn’t attend evening classes.
It was a night when I had to be satisfied with such meager gains.
On the way back.
In the dim corridor, I encountered an unexpected person today.
“Hello.”
With the cold night wind at her back, Tilia Vanguard appeared before me.
“……”
I tensed when I saw the sword hanging at her waist.
This woman looked like the type who would attack me with a smile on her face and think nothing of it.
With my abilities now, I couldn’t defeat Tilia.
“Don’t be so tense.
I’m not here to hurt Dekal.”
“The executors will be watching. Is this really okay?”
“It’s fine.
It’s not as though we’re exactly suited to romance, are we?”
“……”
Tilia laughed heartily.
Right.
It felt like a sword fight could break out at any moment.
They looked remarkably alike, as befitted sisters, but their atmospheres were completely different.
Her naturally grown pink hair and freewheeling bearing suited her perfectly as she stood there, her blazer coat flying behind her, every button undone.
A female swordswoman who had been thoroughly honed, with not a single trace of immaturity no matter how closely one looked.
And beside her hovered a blood-red spirit, ominously.
Damn……
Once again, I realized that her oppressive presence was no joke.
Back then, I’d had Isti and Noah with me, but not now.
I was alone.
The one fortunate thing amid all this misfortune was that she couldn’t kill me with fire.
Thanks to the goddess’s blessing, I was immune to damage from fire.
Taking comfort in that fact, I pretended to remain calm and asked,
“What do you want?”
“Hmm, I came to give you a present.”
“A present?”
That only made her even more incomprehensible.
Apparently sincere, Tilia pulled a box from inside her coat and handed it to me.
“A present.”
It really was a gift box.
The Vanguard crest was stamped on the wrapping paper.
“What brought this on?”
“I thought it was only natural as an older sister.
I heard that Dekal had been promoted and was now taking classes with my little sister.
So I brought this…… to ask you to take good care of her.”
“The Vanguard family, giving something to a lowly commoner?”
Tilia chuckled.
“Dekal isn’t a lowly commoner.
You’re the only man who has ever defeated me in a duel…… aren’t you?”
“I wasn’t the one who fought you.”
“Even so, I remember that defeat clearly. My little sister had no choice but to expose her skin……”
“You look like you want to challenge me to another duel.”
“That’s right.”
Tilia slowly closed her eyes and drew in a breath.
“But now isn’t the time.
Dekal, rise to the Bear rank, where I am. Then let’s duel again. With our honor on the line.
Surely you won’t run away in such an undignified manner?”
“You want me to fight you directly this time? I’ll pass.”
“Hehe. You won’t be able to avoid it. So if you’re scared, be content with the Wolf rank.”
Be content?
When I had set foot in the realm of the god of this world because I wanted to taste the Hero’s pussy?
That wasn’t going to happen.
I would turn it into a pussy worthy of my taste. I smacked my lips as I imagined Tilia’s naked flesh.
“How did you hear about me? Did my little sister send her regards?”
I deliberately changed the subject awkwardly.
“Hmm? Diana doesn’t tell me things like that.
I heard it from someone else.
Dekal, you’re quite popular. The female candidates are all making a fuss over the handsome young adventurer in the Wolf rank.”
“……”
I felt awkward for no reason, since I never expected to hear something like that from Tilia.
“My little sister is difficult to handle, isn’t she?”
“Ah.”
I smiled as I thought of the pleasant events I’d experienced today.
“Her mouth is incredible.”
“She wasn’t originally the type to use such harsh language……”
Tilia sighed.
“But she sure knew how to suck when it came to it.”
“Suck? Did you get praised or something? What a strange way to put it.”
“I learned Barrier from Diana.”
“Ah. That girl is quite good with magic.”
“She was weak to praise, too.”
“That’s right. How did you know? She liked Father’s praise, so she’s continued learning magic ever since. That girl.”
I wanted to tell her what had happened today.
Concealing my filthy thoughts while talking about how good Diana’s mouth-pussy had been, I carried on the conversation smoothly.
“Ah. This isn’t the time for this……
Don’t forget to check the present, Dekal.”
“All right.”
Tilia brushed past me.
I returned to the men’s dormitory and unwrapped the gift box.
There wasn’t some kind of magic inside that would turn whoever opened it into a frog, was there……?
“What’s that?”
Ava came over and asked.
“……A present from Lady Vanguard.”
“Really? Gasp! That’s really the Vanguard crest!”
“Ava. You open it.”
“Gasp, me?”
I tossed the gift box to her.
Ava passed the box from her left hand to her right with exaggerated movements, as though she’d been handed a kettle of boiling water, before finally gripping it with both hands.
“Is it really okay for me to open this?”
“I’m too nervous. Please.”
I fended her off with a suitably fabricated excuse.
“In that case……”
Ava opened the box.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be a cursed item.
I knew Tilia wasn’t the type to do something like that, but it was still a case of my guilty conscience making me suspicious.
I had more than one thing weighing on my conscience, after all.
“They’re Kelips.”
Ava said it as she peered inside with fascination.
Inside the gift box, slightly smaller than a shoebox, were ten individually wrapped red fruits.
I snickered when I saw them.
These were the very fruits that had tied us together in a cursed relationship.
A present to ask me to take good care of her?
That woman was a shameless liar, too.
To my eyes, it looked nothing more than a woman desperate to fight me again sending me a challenge.
“They’re a precious fruit. They’re good raw, too.”
I unwrapped a Kelip and handed it to Ava.
“Want one?”
“C-can I really take it?”
“Why not? Aren’t gifts like this meant to be shared with close friends?”
“……Thank you.”
I placed the box on a small table, put a Kelip in my mouth, and ate it.
The sweet flavor I remembered from that time spread throughout my mouth.
Just as Tilia couldn’t forget, neither could I forget Diana, who had looked at me like an insect before kneeling naked and bowing her head.
It was enjoyable.
The sisters were making my life enjoyable together.
The older sister was a swordswoman with the temperament of a battle maniac. Unlike before, I had no reason to face her honestly with my skills.
Once I was promoted, another opportunity would come.
I took off my uniform and prepared for bed.
“Hmm……”
What was that?
In the dead of night, I woke up without any warning.
Completely out of the blue, there came a knock at the door.
There was no one who would come to my room at this hour.
Moving carefully so as not to wake Ava, who was sleeping soundly, I opened the door.
“Lord Dekal. I apologize for disturbing you while you were sleeping.”
A black-haired nun wearing a black blindfold…… no, my bitch and the First Executor, Veil Noah, was standing before me with her head bowed politely.
“What’s going on?”
Beside Noah stood two men whose faces were swollen as though they had been beaten black and blue. They clearly weren’t executors, but suspiciously, they were dressed in black and carried long ropes and restraints in their hands.
Naturally, those restraints were not sized for beasts, but appeared to fit human beings perfectly.
They looked exactly like people who had come to kidnap someone.
“In the middle of the night, I caught the scent of those who intended to harm you, Lord Dekal. Rather than wake you, I planned to quietly kill them and dispose of them, but……”
The men turned deathly pale and trembled as they listened to Noah.
It seemed they had been caught by Noah and put through hell without me even knowing.
“During the interrogation, I learned that the Vanguard family had a hand in this.”
“You came because you thought it was a serious matter?”
“Yes.”
As expected, Noah was excellent at her job.
But why had Vanguard targeted me?
“These men have business with me, right? Wait a moment. I’ll get dressed and come out.”
I closed the door, put on my uniform, and went outside.
The moment I appeared, the two men dropped to their knees and slammed their foreheads against the ground.
“W-We have committed a crime worthy of death.”
“W-We were only following orders.”
“What orders?”
“We were ordered to bring you to the Vanguard family estate. We truly know nothing else.”
I shot Noah a sidelong glance.
“Yes. He is telling the truth.”
With Noah’s confirmation, I thought it over.
Had Tilia’s goodwill merely been a smokescreen, with her true goal being to do something to me somehow?
No.
Tilia wasn’t that sort of person.
Sending Kellip in place of herself for the duel was very much like Tilia, but she wasn’t the kind of person who would use a scheme like this to rush the duel.
To order the abduction of a candidate for Melbrite’s hero.
There were only two people in the Vanguard family who could order something that would bring down an unbearable backlash if it were discovered.
The head of the family and…… his daughter.
“Diana ordered this, didn’t she?”
“Y-Yes, that’s right.”
“Hmm……”
Well, now.
Would it have been better if I had let myself be abducted quietly?
I knew why they had tried to take me.
Diana.
She must have arranged this to keep her promise of a secret rendezvous.
She was overflowing with the desire to have sex with me with all her strength, but in any case, I was someone Diana absolutely detested.
That was probably how she had come up with the idea of having the person she was about to sleep with brought to her by abduction.
She had no intention of caring how surprised or injured I might be.
What a selfish young lady…….
“Haa……”
I let out a long sigh.
The men bowed their heads even lower and trembled.
“We’re sorry, Lord Dekal.”
It seemed Noah had noticed.
“Did I perhaps ruin the event Lord Dekal had prepared……?”
…….
An event was an event.
It wasn’t exactly a matter that threatened my life. If there was any fault to be found, it was mine for underestimating Diana’s ability to act.
I just hadn’t expected her to order people to abduct me so she could have sex with me.
“No, Noah. You did well.
I would have felt terrible if I’d let them run wild as they pleased.”
“……”
Noah breathed a sigh of relief from the bottom of her heart.
“I’m going to the Vanguard family estate with these men. Will you come with me?”
“Yes. Gladly.”
“This is your reward for doing a good job.”
I pulled Noah into my arms.
“Mmph. Mmmph. Hwaa……”
“It’ll only be for a moment.”
Noah pressed herself completely against me and buried her face in my chest.
“Sniff. Haaah. Mmm…… Fuu…… Mmph……”
I gently stroked Noah’s head, then pulled away when her legs began to tremble.
“Ah……”
Noah’s body tilted forward as though trying to follow me.
As if barely resisting the urge, Noah swallowed her saliva and took a deep breath.
“That was dangerous, wasn’t it?”
“……Yes.”
“Diana seems to want to see me. You two, get up.”
The two men sprang to their feet.
“As ordered, guide Noah and me to the Vanguard family estate.
If you do that, I’ll let you go without anything happening to you.”
“Thank you for your mercy!”
“We will never forget this kindness.”
“Shh. Keep your voices down. Everyone’s asleep.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
With Noah and the suspicious men guiding me, I left Melbrite.
We did encounter some enforcers along the way, but the suspicious men were never questioned or otherwise troubled.
They couldn’t have been. Their companion was Sir Vale Noah, the first-class enforcer.
The Vanguard family estate was not far from Melbrite.
Among the splendid buildings in the affluent residential district, it was the one with a magnificent garden and iron railings that rose to a terrifying height.
We arrived at that beautiful building, where only the barest lights flickered.
“Then……”
I turned to the two men and snapped my fingers.
“Answer my question.
Are there any others who were given orders besides you?”
“No.”
“No.”
The two men answered in unison like parrots.
“Forget everything that happened tonight. Who gave you the orders and what those orders were.
Forget who I was, too.”
“……”
“When you wake up, return to your lodgings without thinking about anything. Understood?”
“Yes……”
After hearing their answers, I released them from the hypnosis.
Smack.
Just as I had instructed, the two men paid no attention to us standing before them when they awoke. They walked away from the estate like ghosts.
“Noah. Is there anyone else nearby?”
“No.”
“Good. Let’s go in.”
Noah and I stood before the main gate of the Vanguard estate.
A maid who had been standing there with a dimly glowing kerosene lantern approached us.
The maid showed a trace of surprise upon seeing me standing there unharmed beside an enforcer, but soon lowered her head deeply.
“Lady Diana is waiting for you.”
It seemed everything had already been arranged.
“This is Vale Noah. She’s mine.
While I’m meeting Diana, see to it that she can rest comfortably in the guest room.”
“Understood.”
She must never have imagined that I would come here on my own two feet with Noah, but the maid’s quick response was impressive.
Working in this estate must mean being capable of things beyond the abilities of ordinary people.
The inside of the estate was extremely quiet. It was as though no one lived there at all.
Another maid approached us.
It was remarkable how silently she walked.
After exchanging a few brief words, she said, “Enforcer, I’ll show you the way.”
Noah lifted her head slightly.
“Rest comfortably.”
I kissed Noah.
She straightened her back and simply raised her head, accepting it naturally.
“Mwah. Hwaa. Mmm. Kiss……”
We kissed deeply, our tongues entwining in front of the maid, then parted.
“I have business with another bitch tonight.
You can wait obediently, can’t you?”
“Yes.”
Noah gave me a faint smile.
After watching Noah being led to the guest room,
I followed the black-haired maid I had met at the main gate as she guided me to Diana’s room.