It was a simple plan.
Split a slime in half and link their nerves together. Plant one half inside Daisy's body. Shape the other into an onahole that perfectly replicates the inside of Daisy's body. And then gift the onahole to Luke.
To Luke, it would simply be an "incredibly pleasurable object"... but for Daisy, it was something else entirely.
The vibrations, movements, and even the most minute wriggling transmitted through the slime all reached her with an entirely different meaning. They were none other than her brother's vibrations.
"—, —!?"
Daisy was thoroughly consumed by pleasure. Thanks to my hand muffling her, no moans slipped out. However, the girl's back arched like a bow as she continuously soared through the air. She flailed her entire body like a fish dragged onto dry land.
From beyond the bushes, Luke's voice came floating over.
"Sis, ngh! This is too—this is too much...!"
"What's wrong? Our Luke, making that pathetic face with your mouth hanging wide open—what are you trying to say to me? 'Too much,' you say? What exactly is too much? Hm? Tell me precisely."
"It feels... too good!"
Jeremy cackled.
"Oh really? So *this* is what feels good?"
"Yes, nng... Sis, just a little slower, ngh, I think I'm going to lose my mind!"
"Where and how does it feel good? Hm? Go on then. I'll move nice and slow, just the way Luke wants... Savor every single ridge carved in here. Fufu. Where feels good?"
"I-I don't know. I really don't know. It's just... all of it feels good..."
Jeremy was clearly getting carried away. She tormented Luke, pressing him to describe in vivid detail which part of the onahole felt like what.
Poor Luke blurted out everything—where it felt good and how. When entering the onahole's opening, it felt breathlessly good. When the ridges grazed along his shaft, it felt so good his mind nearly went blank. When reaching the deepest end, he confessed it was good enough to send shivers down his spine.
Without the slightest clue what the object was imitating, or who was writhing in the bushes at that very moment.
...
It was a purgatorial stretch of time for the girl.
Luke had been toyed with by Jeremy until he climaxed three times. He had already finished a couple of times before that, so he had reached the peak at least five times in a row.
Perhaps "wringed dry down to the last drop" was more like it. It was more than a little boy could handle. No matter how much of a prodigy destined to become the Hero he might be, Luke had completely surrendered here and had to be carried out of the forest on Jeremy's back.
Even so, this was nothing compared to what the other Hero candidates had gone through.
"Hah… hah…."
Daisy was collapsed on the ground.
The girl wore a white dress—a casock, the kind worn by children who served the divine, lending them a solemn air. That garment was now drenched in sweat. Dirt had clung to the damp folds, leaving the dress a filthy mess.
Every time Luke climaxed, Daisy had gone over the edge more than ten times. In this short span, she estimated she had cum roughly thirty times. It was as though the orgasms never stopped, just one after another without end. She could not hold on and passed out midway. She came even while unconscious.
And throughout all of it, the girl had to listen to her brother's commentary—how good each part of the onahole felt, and she had been forced to hear every word of it… .
"Your brother seems quite pleased, doesn't he?"
I smiled.
"In any case, it sounds like he's found a truly phenomenal tight little thing. You must be thrilled."
"You're… a piece of trash. A scumbag."
Daisy glared at me with tear-moistened eyes.
The sweat had not yet cooled on her skin. From her slender forearms to her ribs and all the way down to her thighs, she was slick with it. Her nerves had been pushed to the utmost extreme—her body trembling at the lightest touch of a finger to her cheek—and in that state, the sensation of being filled in real time had come crashing over her.
It was not merely because of the pleasure. She had once endured the agony of pain carved into her very heart. It was not just her body that had been conquered—her mind had as well.
Every sensation she had felt—the walls being probed and stirred and pounded, every single touch—all of it, without exception, originated from Luke. That very thought was what tormented Daisy.
In truth, no actual intercourse had taken place. Even so, Daisy could not see it that way. She had been shattered by the overwhelming torrent of pleasure she was experiencing for the very first time in her life, and the realization that this torrent came from her own brother had utterly broken her.
Right now, Daisy must have felt as though she had crawled her way up from hell.
"Your mistake was trying to deal with death too cheaply."
I spoke.
"Assassination — and you wanted to kill me in my sleep without me knowing a thing! So that's your style. Go on, tell me, why don't you."
I gritted my teeth.
The process of engraving an inscription on the heart must have been agonizing. Agonizing enough to want to kill me outright. That hatred was entirely justified.
But expressing that hatred outside the 'rules' of the game would be troublesome.
"I could have pretended to keep my promise to you while killing both you and your brother! Anytime, however I pleased! I could have killed you and kept only your brother! I believed I had entered into some sort of contract with you…!"
"That still doesn't — Luke has nothing to do with this!"
"Then if you don't want to drag in someone who has nothing to do with it, behave yourself!"
The two of us glared at each other.
"Or only involve people who you wouldn't mind me bringing in. Come to think of it — family is a relationship you're bound into regardless of your own will, isn't it. How truly unfortunate!"
"You really are…."
"What are you so worried about? Luke doesn't know anything anyway."
I smiled. Laughing whenever I pleased — that too was a form of power.
"Your brother seems like a rather kind soul. Very pure. Unlike someone I know. If he were to realize that he'd essentially slept with his own sister, well… I wonder how he'd take it."
Daisy's shoulders trembled.
I lit my pipe and spoke.
"Listen carefully. I intended to destroy your village, and I killed seven of its residents. But I honored your plea and stopped the massacre. Moreover, I gifted the villagers my domain as a new home. Up to that point, our deal was fair."
"……."
"But then you tried to kill me. In the least elegant way imaginable. I will not forget this. If you don't want the truth reaching your brother, you will behave yourself from now on. Understood? If you want to keep your life, that is."
I brought my face close to hers and blew a puff of cigarette smoke in her direction.
"When I'm awake. In front of my eyes, with the nerve to take it by force. If the time comes when I need to kill you, I'll do the same."
We exchanged no more words, yet we both knew it. Who had won the battle of nerves that began with the ambush the night before last.
At the fire village, Daisy had won a complete victory. This time, I had delivered a crushing defeat to her.
I had an intuition that the two of us would eventually sink into a mire of messy entanglement. Our calves were already submerged in the mud. But what did it matter? It was a world with nothing but swamps.
The mercenary company swept through northern Frank like an unstoppable force.
When Demon Lord Leraje raised a massive army and invaded on a grand scale, the petty lords fell into chaos. The lords had already sent reinforcements to the eighth Crescent Alliance Army, and had responded to the mobilization orders of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, leaving their forces critically depleted.
Quite a few lords had sent troops to both the Empress Dowager's and the Emperor's sides. It was a scheme to leave themselves an excuse no matter who won. Each lord thought they were preparing an escape route to survive the civil war, but the timing was terrible. Their clever stratagem had become a threat to their lives instead. There was nothing to do but offer condolences.
"Eight hundred gold! I will pay eight hundred gold. Please help our territory!"
"We will pay a thousand gold! Please, send aid to the Larowe territory..."
"Eleven hundred gold... I have no more than that. Please, Apostle of Artemis. Do not turn your back on those in dire need..."
The lords frantically sent servants and stewards to beg and plead.
The valor our mercenary company had displayed at the Bresci baronetcy — and especially our unusually gentlemanly conduct, unlike ordinary mercenaries — had spread in all directions through the back channels. The Two-Edged Axe Mercenary Company, led by Zachary, already had a formidable reputation. Now that the company's strength, once only talked about, had been clearly proven in nearby territories, the lords rushed in with eyes blazing.
Whenever a lord's retainer requested an audience, I would put on a troubled expression and make a sad face.
"I am but a humble servant who follows the will of the Goddess. The Goddess has commanded me to help all the people of the world. However, this is quite the dilemma..."
"What dilemma is there, Holy Apostle? Savage monsters are about to tear our people apart. What could possibly be more of a dilemma than this?"
I let out a sigh.
"As it happens, envoys have come not only from Garsibel Bay, but also from Larowe, Lasiarel, and Troin. They are all groaning beneath the horrifying fangs of the monsters. The people of every territory are still people, one and the same. I simply do not know whom to help first."
At this, every single one of the lords' retainers left with bitter expressions on their faces. Then, the next day, they would return to plead even more desperately, more pitifully, more earnestly than the day before. They had truly obtained intelligence that other lords were requesting rescue as well.
Naturally, the retainers were well-versed in the ways of the world.
"I hope the Goddess will be pleased with this small tribute."
"I'll pay a thousand gold upfront, and another five hundred gold upon successful completion."
"I can provide fourteen hundred gold in a single lump sum… I truly have no more than this!"
Upon hearing this, I let my expression grow even more troubled.
"I sincerely appreciate your earnest generosity. But how could the Goddess possibly assign a priority order to the salvation of her people?"
"Then what on earth are we supposed to do, Priest!"
"Such a humble servant as myself is truly unable to make such a judgment. Why don't you all share your valuable opinions?"
I gathered the retainers together in one room and quietly slipped away. Beyond the door, they began arguing — that my domain was more urgent, that your domain still enjoyed the Baron's protection — and before long, the conversation had drifted all the way back to the territorial war they'd waged ten years ago over fishing rights.
The next day.
"Sixteen hundred gold — no, seventeen hundred gold!"
"I'll pay fifteen hundred gold upfront and five hundred gold upon completion!"
"Please, Apostle… I will give you sixteen hundred gold in one payment. Truly, truly, I have no more than this!"
The mercenaries' price had skyrocketed through the stratosphere.
They proposed deals, pledging to pay a premium if their domain was rescued first. I, of course, was gracious about it. And being gracious, I gently shared the information with the other retainers as well. Just as one snowball gathers more snow, each deal attracted yet another deal.
When the mercenaries' commission had climbed to just shy of two thousand gold.
I looked down at them and offered a radiant smile. One might call it the descent of the Holy Mother — truly, a smile that only the Mother of God herself could wear.
"May the Goddess's merciful hand rest upon each and every one of you. Now, let us join hands. Let us all pray that we may endure the invasion of the most vile of Demon Lords."
In the name of evil, of malice, of wicked spirits. Amen.
============================ Author's Note ============================
This content has been revised per Joara's recommendation.