Translator: Adam Seacord
Countless orgasms. Countless semen poured into her. He was rough, without so much as a thought for the woman on the receiving end, but still rich in experience and on-point. Layla's body flooded with ecstasy. After being developed by Elliot over the past few days, she now felt the pleasure of servicing and obeying a man more strongly than ever.
She had considered Elliot full of stamina within reason, but Lubreo stamina defied reason. He would bed Layla until he was exhausted, then slept as he pleased, before coming back to Layla when he felt like it, whether she was awake or not. Layla had no say in the matter. Lubreo, the man who occupied Layla's heart, never so much as uttered a word other than an order. Even through her numerous climaxes, that was the one thing that Layla felt lonely about.
「Layla, how was Elliot?」
He had asked her that after several rounds of consummation, when dawn was near. She gathered her breathe in attempt to answer the question, but she could feel her blushing. Naturally, Layla had never before been asked by the man who had just slept with her about her previous sexual encounter.
「Not too bad, I see… I might station you with him again. I see you've already slept with him, but I don't blame you. In fact, if you become the tether that keeps him close, that'll do.」
She needed some time to understand what he was talking about.
「I can't trust him completely, just yet. But I don't want to miss out on him. If you can break him, it's worth considering taking him in marriage to rebuild your house… You will be your own knight, and since he can't fight, you'll have him dedicated to rebuilding the house.」
Rebuilding the house. Layla's lifelong desire. Besides, even Nunna had urged her to marry Elliot. While coincidental, it seemed perfect. Moreover, everyone thought that Layla had feeling for Elliot, and they weren't wrong.
Since they were leaving before noon, Layla returned to her quarters from Lubreo's bedroom before dawn. The sword she had used to execute the maid last night had been returned to her room, spotless. Her armor, along with anything she needed for the trip, was taken care of. This sort of throughout courtesy was unprecedented for Layla. And yet, all blood seemed to have been drained from her face.
「Lubreo, my Lord… I am your night. I have no contention to your order. And I know that you always thinking about my house, but…」
She thought of the owner of the magical items shop, who had bedded her numerous times. Layla acknowledged that she was falling for this man. Her pinch of guilt for Daria, and her slight sense of superiority over House Blare's magician (who was undoubtedly in love with him) intermingled. Even though he was just the victim, being controlled by the Monster Daria, and a talented artisan of magical items, and had done nothing wrong…
「Elliot… I'm just a tether to keep you close. He saw worth in my womanhood over my knighthood… He wants you more than he wants me…」
This wasn't anything she could say to anyone. Pushing back her desperate attempt to keep them down, dark emotions curdled within Layla. Jealousy. Knight Layla was now conscious of her jealousy of Elliot. Neither able to accept nor suppress those emotions, she could only muffle her cries. The tears that she had held back ever since her first battle were now spilling over. She cried in Elliot's arms for a fleeting moment, and now again for her jealousy of the very man. A cock crowed in the distance to announce the sunrise. For a while longer, even forgetting her morning prayers, Layla continued to cry.
「Some gabbling birds in the court say ridiculous things like Olivia is building a harem.」
I was at Sara's house. After our first tryst in a while, I nearly spill my tea hearing this. Moreover, I had a clue to the cause of such rumors. Still…
「Olivia's a woman.」
「They suspect her of lesbianism. I'm not out of the question, either.」
True, one could often find Olivia with Sara, since she had many enemies in court. She also frequented Sara's home in order to see me. Sara and Olivia's lesbian love affair was the topic of gossip for a while.
「And when I make a move based on your information, that intensifies. Like this girl of a lower noble under House Roland… Not even kidding, she's head over heels for Olivia.」
What did you do, Olivy…?
Even though, I was the one who made the call. When I scoped Layla's memories, I discovered a woman whom he had ravished to gain vulnerable information of. She was the daughter of a lower noble who served under the city noble, House Roland, that often clashed with House Lambert. Unlike Olivia, if she had lived her whole life as a noble up until this point, she would definitely have had a fiancé by now. Ravishing such a girl would cause a commotion if it got out. I guessed that Gratina either manipulated her memories, or was blackmailing her to keep the secret. Considering the ranks these houses were in, the girl's house would be the only one to tank. Those wouldn't do such a thing just for the fun of it. Especially Lubreo. Then what were they after?
I had guessed that House Lambert was trying to gather secrets in order to dig into House Roland, and I told this idea to see if we could look into. The fact that I was hearing this kind of gossip now, after some time, must have meant that Olivia pulled it off.
「Are there other…?」
I asked, half out of curiosity and half out of fear. I was a little nervous about Olivia being with another man… But I honestly never even imagined Olivia with another woman. Except, since Olivia and I had so much in common, I could understand her doing something like this.
「The young priestess we saved started to frequent Olivia's place. Of course, she did go through a lot, albeit off the record, so she may have nowhere else to go.」
We were in on that fiasco with the temple, and Olivia ended up having to clean up the mess on her own. As a result, Olivia now had a little more influence on the temple, where she could sneak Astarte into the real temple from time to time.
「A priestess, a lower noble, and the magician Sara. This Harem's not too bad.」
While it's presented jokingly, Olivia has most likely accepted this rumor to some degree. She might even try to encourage it to a certain point. While it could be troublesome to earn the support of young noble girls, it was almost never a bad thing.
「So, Olivia's getting pretty popular among the young noble girls. While she isn't tall, she has been on the battle field as a paladin, so she could play the man's part well… If you're not careful, some girl might take Olivia from you?」
「…In that scenario, I think Olivy would be the taker.」
「Ooh… I think you're right. Maybe I'll let Olivy take me from you? …She might break your record for the number of prostitutes she has hanging around.」
It had been a while since we had bantered like this. I had already release my seed into Sara once, and we were continuing our idle conversation, entangled in bed. Before I knew it, the conversation topic had returned to our agenda.
「There aren't many days left until the parade. If Lambert's going to make a move, I would put money on that day.」
「Olivia wants to encourage the young Lord Roland to have House Roland and Lambert compete with their extravagance in security. So their official resources will be spent out there. We can barely handle their army in the shadow without having to deal with their official soldiers.」
「If anything, they would attempt an assassination in the shadows… Who knows how much the official arsenal would matter… I guess if they started blocking the roads, it would be annoying.」
Numerous roads and waterways webbed the city. Knights or soldiers would never make an open assault, but it was possible that knights blocking the road were actually guarding routes and hide-outs for assassin as a result.
「Undoubtedly, they also have an accurate map. As for the underground waterways, considering that they were the ones who gave the map to the Assassin's Guild in the first place, they are aware of the outline…」
「But don't have the latest intel, right? Judging by the state of Miyabi and Diana, they don't seem to pay much attention to their basement.」
Arachne, before I killed it, didn't seem like the type who paid much attention for office work, either. Although, making a move under the assumption was dangerous.
「Well, we'll just have to hope for the best. We should assume the worst, though.」
Sara climbed off the bed and headed to the kitchen. Waving her wand, she leisurely lit the fire with magic. …How lazy could she get?
「Sara, do you have a spare wand?」
「Hmm… This one, it was given to me at the academy, and I used it to sign a contract with a fire djinn. If I had stayed at the academy longer, I could have signed a contract with other djinns, or switched over to a better wand, but…」
I could already hear the kettle. She seemed to be able to manipulate the intensity of the flame as well. While I couldn't figure out how impressive that feat was, Sara's skills were definitely improving.
「I heard that a djinn contract is set in a jewel…」
「That's right. Normally, only the earth djinns prefer stones, but some jewels are preferred by other djinns as well. For example, most fire djinns, like the one I signed with, prefer rubies. All in all, something that resembles them in color or impression.」
While rubies were relatively expensive, I could easily acquire a few small ones. Actually, I remembered that there were a few pieces lying around in storage.
「I see… And, can you switch that contract over to a different ruby, or sign a contract with a different fire djinn?」
「You're up no good again, aren't you? Let's see… It would take some time, but I could pull it off. …To be honest, I just feel too compatible with the fire djinn. It's not like I can't sign with other djinns, too. By now, I might have enough magic to sign a contract with an additional fire djinn. Although, that won't be helpful.」
I pondered for a minute. Along with the distractions I instructed Olivia to cause within House Lambert, I could make another move here.
「Sara, I'll come back tomorrow, to…」
As I said so, the hidden door flew open.
「What the!? …Hey, Sara. I know it's your house, but you should at least wear underwear.」
Olivia… And a familiar girl emerged from the other side. She was blindfolded, undoubtedly to keep her from memorizing the route they took. Then, it hit me. She was the girl whom Lubreo was ravishing in Layla's memories.
「Lady Olivia, you are with the magician… !?」
As she lifted her blindfold by Olivia's order and looked around, she seemed to notice us. With a small cry, she grasped Olivia's hand. She seemed more terrified than she would be seeing total strangers.
「Oh, it's okay. He's a friend of mine… Hey Elliot, put some close. There are young ladies in your presence.」
I threw on my coat, then turned my back to put on my undergarments. Just because I knew that she had been ravished by men before, that wasn't an excuse to forego etiquette now. Sara added more water to the kettle, and prepared tea for four. And so, our tea party began, without even a cake.
「Let me introduce them. I'm sure you recognize her, but she's the magician Sara, who works for me. This man here is my old friend… Elliot the magi-doctor, who's going to take a look at you. 」
Magi-doctor? What is she…
Then, she gave me a look that told me to play along. I just smiled and nodded. Since she'd called me a doctor, I decided to at least act the part.
「A doctor… That's why you've brought me here, my lady?」
My lady… Despite my heads-up from Sara earlier, I still had to bite down on a chuckle.
「Yes. Anything that happens here, stays here. It's our best option to have you looked at. We can't have anyone see us going into a doctor's office… You can trust everyone here. Your secret is safe.」
I was beginning to understand the situation. Based on my blueprint, Olivia concocted this story.
「Um… Nice to meet you. I can't tell you my last name, but please call me Nina.」
Sara, sensing that she wasn't being addressed, quickly directed her attention elsewhere. Specifically, she went on lookout using the Eyes I had placed nearby.
「Nice to meet you, Nina. I'm Elliot. I understanding you're coming to me because you have an ailment.」
「Well…」
She blushed, and froze. I wondered if her fingertips were shaking because she was remembering being raped by Lubreo. Olivia laid her hand over Nina's, and started explaining. Perhaps she had planned this interaction out.
「Elliot, I want you to see if she's pregnant.」
…I had told Olivia what happened when I turned Lily into a monster. She probably figured that I would be able to see if there was a new lifeform growing inside of Nina. However…
「I can find out, but… Are you sure? She seems timid of men. Does she know how I'll be finding that out?」
Olivia, with a concerned look, held Nina's shoulders.
「Nina, it might be hard for you. But Elliot needs to make you feel good.」
「What…? But I…」
I figured. What's your plan, Olivy?
「It's okay, Nina. I'm going to do it with you.」
With that, Nina's cheeks were rosy. She buried her face in Olivia's bosom, and I could hear her mumbling something to the like of if my lady would join me… or the other. I thought I had given Olivia a rather icy look, but Olivia returned a cheerful smile.
There's your ulterior motive.
「Elliot. Will you please have us?」
There she was, my trusty partner. While she wasn't a monster, she was the other head of the Man-Eating Dungeon. I'm sure that part of her was honestly feeling sorry for this girl, but there was something else.
I had given Olivia information with the intent to sabotage Lubreo. It seems like she had the next step in mind. I would have to have a talk with her later.