'Touch of Tuning.'
[Skill 'Touch of Tuning (Lv.2)' has been activated.]
[Replaces the target's pain with pleasure and heightens their sensory nerves.]
"Hn, hnnggg?!"
Sydney's back arched like a bow.
Clench, clenchhh.
The sphincter clamping down on my cock convulsed madly, squeezing so intensely even I had to draw a sharp breath. A pressure that couldn't compare to a vagina. I thrust my other hand under her belly.
"Hhnk?! M-Master... your hand...!"
My fingers passed through the rough stubble of her pubic hair and headed for her cunt.
"N-No! Not there... absolutely not...!"
'Touch of Tuning.'
"Kyaaaah-!"
"Your mouth says no, but your body's honest."
Using her scream as background music, I brought my lips to her ear. Now was the moment.
"So, Ellie."
"Hahng! Ah, ahn! W-What...!"
"About the Santa Barbara Islands."
I deliberately twisted her clitoris hard as I whispered of politics.
"Leasing them to the United Kingdom seems like the best option for the Empire, too. ...In many ways."
"......Ah!"
The Santa Barbara Islands.
As the topic came up again, the look in Sydney's eyes changed.
"Hahng! Haa, ah! Y-Yes... indeed... Master...!"
[Name: Sydney Wellesley]
[Status: A golden opportunity to bring Santa Barbara... to the homeland by accepting the leasing proposal.]
The last resistance vanished. Her thighs, trying to close, parted weakly and accepted my touch. At the same time, the inner walls of her anus that had been squeezing tight, as if stamping a seal on an agreed-upon contract, loosened and opened up on their own.
"Haa, ah..."
Seizing the gap with no resistance, my cock pushed through the squirming mucous membranes and slid in one breath to the deepest point, the entrance of the sigmoid colon.
Sssook—
"Haaang...♡"
A sweet moan befitting a female.
Sssook, ssssooook—
"Hahng...! D-Deep...! M-Master... inside my stomach...♡"
Every time my cock dug deep into her insides, Sydney's lower belly bulged out. With it, her inner walls clung to me stickily. A greedy tightening that made the faint resistance from just moments ago seem meaningless.
A hole of a thoroughly managed elite, on a completely different plane from the looseness of cheap whores.
"Impressive, Ellie. Truly a masterpiece."
I twisted her waist firmly and began to increase the pace in earnest.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"Ah, aahn! Hahng♡ T-Too hard...!"
"The United Kingdom bastards will be happy too, won't they? The ones they called shit-stained having to lease land from the Empire."
"Th-They will... like it...! Hahng! Surely... they'll be... grateful...!"
Even as she bit her lip in shame, she went along with my words. Even if it meant belittling her own homeland, because right now, as 'Maid Ellie', she had to cater to my mood.
"Good, Ellie. Very good..."
My climax was rising.
I held her waist tighter and put on a final spurt.
"Hn, hiiik! T-Too fast... Hng...?!"
"Take it."
I drove my cock in to the root.
Bbirrrrt—!
"Ah, aaaaahng♡♡!"
Sydney let out a shrill scream and trembled. Hot semen filled her narrow inner walls. Thanks to the [Virility] trait, the amount gushing out was tremendous.
Gulp, gulp.
The hot heat spreading deep in her rectum. And the sweet vanilla scent tickling my nose.
Sydney lay collapsed on the floor, gasping, receiving my seed.
[Name: Sydney Wellesley]
[Status: Relief at having secured Santa Barbara.]
She was more relieved at having completed her mission than the fact that she had offered her ass and was covered in semen.
'Well now.'
Seeing her at the very height of self-rationalization, I couldn't help but click my tongue.
'A patriotism that's painfully admirable. ...Or maybe there's another reason.'
Perhaps that was the reason she held on without breaking.
Pop!
With a crisp sound, I pulled out my cock, and from the gaping hole, white fluid trickled down. Dripping onto the floor, it evoked a strange sense of immorality both visually and olfactorily.
"I-I'm sorry... Master... showing such an unsightly state..."
Sydney hurriedly tidied her clothes. Pulling up my trousers, I stroked her hair.
"No, you did well, Ellie."
I picked up the documents on the table.
"I'll do as you advised. The Santa Barbara Islands will be leased to the United Kingdom."
"......!"
"It'll be a challenge, but I'll talk it through well. The old men in the council won't be able to object much if the rationale is clear."
Sydney bowed her head deeply.
"A... wise decision."
[Status: Sense of victory]
She probably thinks she's won, but well.
Who really won, I wonder.
Leaving the room filled with the vanilla scent, I wore a sardonic grin.
"Wash up. We have our next schedule."
*
Londinium, capital of the United Kingdom of Victoria.
The Queen's private office.
In Charlotte's hand, seated before a massive table, was a fountain pen instead of scissors.
"......Hmm."
She let out a hum as she looked at the world map spread on the table.
"This is... an achievement even Grandmother couldn't accomplish."
Her gaze rested on the southern continent on the map. And on the Santa Barbara Islands, sitting astride the route to the Orient.
For the past fifty years. These had been the strategic points the admirals of the United Kingdom's Admiralty had so desperately coveted. The spots where the ignorant army bastards of the Republic had squatted as if staking a claim, tightening the leash on the Oriental trade route.
The prime land that had been expected to be monopolized by the Empire as spoils of this war was now about to be obtained through a single bout of espionage.
A highly trained intelligence agent was useful indeed.
"As expected of Sydney."
The corners of Charlotte's mouth lifted on their own.
The report detailed the precise circumstances.
[The target 'Max Jaeger' is aware that the Empire's weak naval power makes it impossible to maintain the Santa Barbara Islands.]
[However, due to the blind patriotism of 'defending territory' in the home country's council, he had been agonizing and unable to casually abandon them.]
[This official provided the target with the pretext of 'entrusted management (leasing)', leading him to secure practical benefits even while risking the council's condemnation.]
"Clever."
Charlotte set the report down on the table.
Sydney had accurately targeted the target's dilemma. To him, walking a tightrope between his hero's reputation and practical benefit, she threw the pretext of leasing, creating a win-win situation for both the Empire and the United Kingdom.
"And Max Jaeger..."
But Charlotte's gaze soon shifted past the report to the figure of Max Jaeger.
"To think there's such a reasonable soldier in the Empire."
What would an ordinary, stubborn Imperial officer have done? No matter how sweetly Sydney might have whispered beside him and pulled the leash, he would have stubbornly insisted on a senseless, noble suicide, claiming 'not one inch of His Majesty's territory can be yielded'.
Until now, she had thought he was simply a man being manipulated by Sydney.
He was indeed a man worthy of being called a hero. He accurately saw through the fact that the Santa Barbara Islands were merely a nice-looking but useless boon for the Empire.
"It was Sydney who grabbed the string, but the puppet has the intelligence to follow along... He might actually be someone we can talk to."
Of course, he was still nothing more than a doll controlled by the intelligence bureau.
Just as Charlotte finished that thought, the voice of an attendant was heard.
"Your Majesty, Admiral William of the Admiralty."
Soon, the heavy doors opened, and the old admiral in full dress uniform entered.
Handing his coat to the attendant, William stood before Charlotte and bowed deeply.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty. I have just come after hearing the news from the intelligence bureau. The Santa Barbara Islands and the farms on the southern continent... Can it be true?"
The mission updates directly sent by Sydney were top secret among top secrets. William was one of those able to access them immediately.
"Of course, Admiral."
Charlotte explained with a smile.
"The man the Royal Intelligence Bureau is keeping its eye on, Max Jaeger. Considering his influence under the Emperor's favor... you can consider it practically a done deal."
But Admiral William cleared his throat. The expression was more of embarrassment than joy.
"......However. The cabinet, Your Majesty."
"...The cabinet?"
Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. The Prime Minister, upon hearing this news, rather than celebrating, immediately furrowed his brow. No matter how fine a pretext like 'leasing' we've dressed it up in, in the end, isn't the money flowing out the people's taxes? He's already talking about budget cuts, saying it amounts to paying annual rent to the Imperial bastards."
"Cuts, he says."
Charlotte gave a wry smile. Though it was expected, she couldn't hide her disappointment.
"Even at the chance to bring in a strategic point worth more than the cost of a fleet with just a stroke of a pen, it seems the parliament still places more importance on... petty number games in the ledgers."
Charlotte rose from her seat. Her shadow stretched long under the chandelier light.
"Grandmother..."
Her steps halted only before the massive portrait hung on the wall of the office.
The woman in the painting. The previous queen, Victoria.
In the canvas, she held a globus cruciger symbolizing the earth in one hand and a scepter symbolizing power in the other. Her gaze seemed to still look down upon the world beyond the canvas as if alive.
But unable to meet that gaze directly, Charlotte found herself bowing her head.
Then, what caught her eye was the fountain pen in her hand.
Her brow furrowed.
As head of the United Kingdom's parliament, the Prime Minister necessarily had to represent the people's position. She, too, naturally understood the Prime Minister's stance.
"Haah..."
Thus, all the more, she couldn't bring herself to persuade the Prime Minister on this matter.
"Admiral."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Tell the Prime Minister. As he wishes, handle it quietly and reasonably. I detest noise."
"......Understood. The Prime Minister will also be thankful for Your Majesty's wise silence."
Admiral William bowed deeply and withdrew.
"Wise silence, he says."
Thud—
Soon, the massive doors closed, and Charlotte muttered.
"Who exactly is that meant to be heard by, I wonder."