The following afternoon.
The Jaeger Combat Group’s temporary headquarters stationed in Elancia, my office.
“Slurp, haa… schlurp, slurp….”
Wet, squelching sounds echoed from beneath the desk.
Sidney was kneeling with her face buried between my thighs. Her blonde hair swayed between my legs, and her lips traveled back and forth along my shaft and root, wrapped around my cock.
With Princess Eilit’s return visit already announced, it seemed the Director of Intelligence intended to leave an unmistakable final impression on me—so I would not be swayed by the princess’s whims.
“Haa…♡”
Her tongue teased the urethral opening, while her cheeks hollowed into a vacuum.
Schlup, schlup, schlup, schlup.
Her head moved tirelessly back and forth. Her technique was incredible.
But more than anything, it was her attitude that made this special.
Kiss!
Her lips had reached the glans before I knew it. She spread her tongue wide to envelop the urethral opening, then gave it a light little suck, just as though she were kissing her lover on the lips.
Kiss, kiss…. Sluuurp…♡
She repeated it three or four times, not merely once.
“Haa… Master…♡”
When she pulled her lips away, a silver strand of saliva stretched between us. She whispered with a flushed face.
“You can do it, Master.”
She rubbed her cheek against my veined cock, speaking as though she were addressing her beloved lover.
Slurp.
An encouraging blowjob, sucking my cock with devoted care.
“Don’t let Her Highness the princess’s momentum overwhelm you… mmph…!”
Shove, gag, shuuuck.
Now Sidney lowered her head without hesitation, opening her throat all the way and taking me deep.
“Mmph! Cough, nghh…!”
A mixture of triumph and depravity surged up along my spine.
‘This is dangerous.’
Even I, armed with the [Virile] skill, found it difficult to suppress my climax in the face of service performed with such devotion.
Knock, knock.
That was when Hannah’s voice came from outside the office door.
“Lieutenant Colonel. Her Highness the princess’s official carriage has arrived. The Foreign Minister is accompanying her.”
“I’ll be out shortly.”
As I answered, I pulled Sidney’s head upward.
Pop!
“……!”
“Ah, fuck.”
It was an accident.
The timing of my pulling Sidney’s head away so I could go greet the princess had coincided perfectly with my climax, thanks to her astonishing blowjob technique.
Brrrrrrt—!
A thick, milky-white stream sprayed through the air.
As luck would have it, its trajectory led straight to the silver tray Sidney had prepared on the corner of the desk for serving the princess.
Plop. Plop, plop.
Hot clumps of semen followed neat arcs into the teacup, landing precisely atop the finest Ceylon tea, freshly brewed and still steaming.
“Huh…?”
[Special Effect ‘Aromatic Semen (Sweet Vanilla Scent)’ has been applied.]
Instead of the delicate scent of black tea, a rich and sweet vanilla fragrance wafted up from the cup.
The princess was waiting right outside the door. There was no time to brew a fresh pot.
Click.
The sound of the office door handle turning.
[Name: Sidney Wellesley]
[Condition: Flustered, Improvising]
Clang, clatter!
Perhaps she had even forgotten to keep up the act. Sidney sprang to her feet with an almost animalistic speed. She snatched up a teaspoon and began stirring the tea in a frenzy. The moment the semen cream dissolved into the tea, blending into a cloudy, creamy color—
Creeeak—
“The hero must be enjoying quite a leisurely time in the occupied territory. You even took your time opening the door.”
Princess Eilit entered the office, holding a red fan. Foreign Minister Joseph followed behind her.
I hurriedly pulled up my trouser zipper and rose from my seat.
“It is an honor to see you, Your Highness. I was reviewing documents and failed to notice your arrival.”
Sidney stood awkwardly beside me, unable even to wipe her mouth.
Eilit swept her gaze across the office, then wrinkled the tip of her nose.
“Hmm. There’s a strange smell in here. Sweet, but… oddly fishy.”
Eilit sat elegantly on the sofa with her legs crossed and lifted the teacup.
Without the slightest suspicion.
Sip.
“……Oh?”
Her red eyes sparkled.
“This has a very distinctive aroma. Much richer than what I drank yesterday… How should I put it? There’s a dense, lingering flavor that clings to the tip of the tongue.”
[Name: Eilit von Lohengart]
[Condition: Gustatory Satisfaction]
Can this actually work?
“I-I am honored that it suits your taste, Your Highness.”
I spoke in a flustered voice. At the sound of it, Eilit merely raised one eyebrow slightly before letting it pass without much thought.
“The tea is acceptable. Shall we move on to the main matter?”
Eilit’s gaze shifted toward my desk.
“The clause I mentioned yesterday. You rewrote it, I assume?”
Article 14, Section 3. The lease of the Santa Barbara Archipelago to the United Kingdom.
Foreign Minister Joseph, standing beside Eilit, cleared his throat.
“Your Highness, however, to rule Santa Barbara in its entirety, the imperial navy’s budget would—”
As befitted the foreign minister, Joseph understood the practical benefits of diplomacy with precision.
“Minister Joseph. I know. Now be quiet. I simply don’t want to see our lands lent out to those gloomy islanders.”
That was right. There was no way such practical considerations would get through to this immature princess.
She was a person driven by the sadism and desire for domination that came from standing at the pinnacle of power. The sort who could never give up the pleasure of holding someone else’s leash and making them dance, even at a loss.
I glanced at Sidney, who was holding her breath, and opened my mouth.
Personally, I honestly did not care whether the proposal passed or not… But regardless, if I wanted to move on to the next step—
‘Captivating Rhetoric.’
[Skill ‘Captivating Rhetoric (Lv. 3)’ has been activated.]
—it would be better if this worked.
“Your Highness is absolutely right.”
The cheat skill displayed its power at once. My voice naturally drew the princess’s attention.
“For the great empire to lease territory it has acquired to another nation would damage the empire’s prestige.”
The corners of Eilit’s lips curved upward.
[Name: Eilit von Lohengart]
[Emotion: Just as I thought. Even a hero eventually tucks his tail between his legs.]
Sip.
She took another drink of the Ceylon tea while listening intently to me.
[Condition: Sweet Satisfaction]
“So I have changed a few of the words in the clause.”
I placed the new document on the table.
“Not ‘lease,’ but ‘subcontract.’”
“……Subcontract?”
Eilit’s brows rose. A sign that she was interested.
But, naturally—
“Hah.”
Joseph laughed as though he found it absurd.
As an expert, he understood.
He knew that my proposal was, at its core, nothing more than wordplay.
Entrusting and subcontracting amounted to the same thing, after all.
So what?
I remained unruffled.
There was no helping it. To bring myself down to the level of an immature princess, I had to educate her at an appropriate level.
There was an old saying, “Three in the morning and four at night.” If you told monkeys they would receive three acorns in the morning and four in the evening, they would become angry, but if you changed it to four in the morning and three in the evening, they would rejoice.
Eilit was exactly at that level. I was merely shifting the practical authority to rule and the cost of administration onto the United Kingdom while changing the word ‘lease’ to ‘subcontract,’ and yet—
“Go on.”
She wanted to hear more.
There was no better bit of wordplay for satisfying her shallow desire to dominate—she disliked lending something to others, but enjoyed putting underlings to work—while securing the practical benefits.
“We will raise the empire’s flag, the golden eagle banner, over the Santa Barbara Archipelago and the southern colonies. The rights of ownership and governance will belong entirely to His Imperial Majesty and Your Highness.”
I continued my explanation.
“But, Your Highness. In that hot, humid jungle, must the noble imperial army really shed its own blood suppressing native rebellions, repairing harbors, and hunting down pirates?”
“That…”
Eilit considered it for a moment before speaking.
“There is a limit even to playing with one’s toys. I have no governing capacity to spare for such trifles.”
It had worked.
“So we ‘subcontract’ that dirty work of cleaning up to the United Kingdom’s navy.”
I drove the point home.
“The United Kingdom will bear all expenses. In return for managing and protecting imperial territory on our behalf, they will receive permission to use the trade routes there.”
[The skill ‘Captivating Rhetoric’ stimulates the target’s hidden desires (desire for domination, sadism).]
Whoosh!
Eilit opened her red fan. Through the fan, her crimson eyes seemed to shine brightly.
“Ha-ha, that sounds terribly amusing! Put a leash on those islanders and make them work as servants who merely use our own backyard?”
‘Status Analysis.’
[Name: Eilit von Lohengart]
[Condition: Thrill, Conquest, Amusement]
“A subcontract… It’s a terribly vulgar word, but I like it very much. Yes, if they dare use imperial territory, they ought to wear at least that much of a leash. They do the bleeding and spend the money, while we merely snort at them from above?”
“Precisely, Your Highness.”
“Excellent, Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger. It is a splendid plan. Let us stamp it as it stands.”
Eilit emptied her teacup once more, looking satisfied.
Slurp.
“The taste of the tea, and the contents of the document. I am in an exceptionally good mood today.”
However, Foreign Minister Joseph cautiously interjected.
“B-but Your Highness. And Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger….”
As the man responsible for practical affairs, his expression was naturally growing darker by the moment.
“Even if we dress this up in diplomatic language, this treaty essentially treats the United Kingdom as a subordinate of the empire. Do you really think those prideful bastards will meekly accept such an insulting subcontracting treaty?”
He had a point.
Wasn’t that what diplomacy was all about in the first place? Even if the substance exchanged was identical, a nation’s dignity could differ dramatically depending on the words used to package their relative superiority.
For instance, when the losers of a war are forced to pay money, writing ‘war reparations’ on the receipt becomes a national humiliation. But if one vaguely labels it a ‘postwar peacekeeping fund,’ they can at least preserve a shred of pride.
The result—the money leaving their coffers—is exactly the same, yet diplomatic warfare is about paying several million additional gold pieces just to protect that paltry scrap of pride.
If the words ‘entrusted administration’ or ‘lease’ that I had initially proposed were silk wrapping that allowed the United Kingdom to save face, then the word ‘subcontract’ I had just attached was an overt insult.
No matter how much practical benefit came first, it was rare for a treaty between nations to draw such a blatant hierarchy between superior and subordinate. If the old men of the proud United Kingdom’s parliament saw this insulting document, they might run amok and attempt to burn the books and bury the scholars.
But—
“What? Those gloomy creatures would dare do that without knowing their place?”
Eilit dismissed the concern herself.
“If they dare, we can simply refuse to give it to them. They are the ones who stand to lose out, not us.”
“Of course, of course. If that is truly Your Highness’s will… ‘Subcontract’ does sound like an excellent expression.”
Minister Joseph forced a smile.