True to her nature as a succubus, Manya’s appearance was incredibly lewd. She wore black leather bondage gear that cupped her bountiful breasts from both sides. The center was held together by nothing but a round ring, leaving her cleavage shamelessly exposed. Her tightly cinched waist was bare to the air, and a skimpy scrap of underwear dug deep into her buttocks.
The reason I’m going out of my way to describe all this is that I want you to understand my state of mind.
The moment Manya lunged at Mia, I cast a binding spell.
Magic is all about visualization.
Faced with a body that oozes such sex appeal, what kind of things would a man imagine? I mean, you can’t really blame me for having a few stray thoughts about bondage play, right? Right?
“Nn… Ah…!”
A rope of light materialized from thin air and instantly bound Manya tight. The rope crossed over her chest, deliberately accentuating the size of her bosom. It then secured her hands behind her back, threaded between her legs, and looped around her neck.
The more she struggled, the tighter it cinched, rubbing against her skin as it did so.
A moist, breathless gasp escaped Manya’s lips.
If a scene like this were uploaded to the internet, it would put even the biggest YouTubers to shame.
“Oniisan, this is a bit…”
Mia shot me a skeptical, narrow-eyed look.
N-No, wait. It’s a misunderstanding.
It’s not like I have a thing for BDSM or anything. It’s just… well, I sort of got carried away.
“Please switch back to a normal binding method.”
That’s a shame—I mean, understood.
I reconfigured the spell formula. Since casting it without an incantation might result in something lewd, I focused intently on the chant.
“—《Binding Spell: Bindry》・《I bind your limbs fast in shackles.》”
A rope of light slithered forward and wrapped tightly around only Manya’s hands and feet.
“Haa…”
Manya let out a sigh that sounded almost wistful, then turned her gaze toward me.
“Y-Yoshito-kun…?”
It seemed she had realized who I was.
“How could this be…? 《Binding Spell》 is magic from the other world…”
“Strange isn’t it?”
There was no reason for me to reveal my hand, so I decided to bury her in a rapid-fire explanation and leave her thoroughly confused.
“By the way, do you know the roots of the word ‘fushigi’—mystery? It’s actually a Buddhist term, *fukashigi*, representing the number 10 to the power of 80. The world is overflowing with mysteries on that scale, so whatever magic I might be using… it’s really no big deal, is it? Right?”
“Eh? Ah… yeah?”
“More importantly, there’s something I’m curious about. Even if you raise your favorability with me, that isn’t going to help you marry my old man. I mean, he’s going out of his way to keep me at arm’s length, isn’t he?”
“B-but everyone said it was ‘actually kind of a good idea’…”
“Everyone? Who, exactly?”
When I asked that, Manya listed four names.
Yue Ishirogi.
Aria El Samaria.
Miya Azhiro.
Makina Kaminagi.
In other words, they were all of my Old Man’s lovers except Manya herself.
Which led me to one rather obvious conclusion—
“Manya-san, are you being played?”
It was hardly a sophisticated scheme, but had the other lovers banded together to try to drive her out?
“…I knew that from the very beginning.”
Manya answered in a dark voice.
Then she glared sharply at me.
“But I had no other choice!”
She let out a hysterical scream.
“If I turned down everyone’s suggestion, it would’ve put me in an even worse position! There was nothing else I could do! —Ugh… uuuuh, waaahhhhhhh…”
And finally, she buried her face in the bedding and started crying.
I’d already put up a soundproof barrier, so at least we wouldn’t be disturbing the other guests. More importantly, though… What the hell was I supposed to do about this woman’s emotional instability?
『Hey, Oniisan.』
As I sat there deep in thought, Mia sent me a telepathic message.
『Check Manya-san’s stats for a second. Her mental state is in really bad shape.』
The last time I’d checked, it had been “[Mental] 80 (-65),” if I remembered correctly. It was probably the result of all the stress from being part of a harem, but…
Had it actually gotten worse?
I decided to use [Appraisal].
| [Name] Manya Rafild [Gender] Female [Race] Succubus [Age] 33 years old [Title] Drifter [Contractor] Naoki Ishirogi [Stats] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Level: 42 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Attack Power: 46 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Defense Power: 34 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Vitality: 75 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Magic Power: 105 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Mental Strength: 80(-65)(-15) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Agility: 54 [Abilities] Unknown [Skills] Unknown [Magic] Unknown [Status Ailment] Derangement *The initial “-65” was due to her own stress, but that gruesome image from earlier seems to have been the final straw. “Hey lady, I don’t think going overboard is a good idea. Hmph!” (By Goddess Alcapa) |
It’s been a long time since I last saw Alcapa’s name. Seeing it again gave me a strangely nostalgic feeling, but… “puffing with anger”? Really?
Anyway. My grotesque images really were that powerful, huh…
If they were responsible for Manya losing chunks of her memory and suddenly attacking Mia, then, uh…
『Am I actually the one at fault here?』
『I don’t think so.』
Mia immediately shot that down.
『The root cause was her putting herself in a harem in the first place, right? That wore down her mental strength by 65 points, and then the other members took advantage of her weakened state. Honestly, I think it’d be better to isolate her from her current relationships for a while.』
『Well, yeah. I suppose so.』
The question was whether we really had any obligation to go that far for her. After all, we were the victims here…
…Hmm?
Come to think of it, we hadn’t really suffered all that much.
Approached in the park → Called the police.
Spied on in our room → Drove her to a mental breakdown with grotesque images.
In retrospect, I might have overreacted a little because I was so wary of her. But considering how she’d been set up by the other members of the harem, I am starting to feel a little sorry for Manya.
Let’s see…
Right. It’s the fault of the old man who couldn’t keep his woman on a leash. Let’s just leave it at that.
Being a guy really sucks, doesn’t it?
Now, that brings me to the next point. How should I handle this woman, Manya Rafild?
The trouble is, she’s nothing but a walking problem. Suppose I separate her from the harem, just as Mia suggested. Where, then, could I possibly hide her?
We’re still just kindergarteners, we don’t have any connections. On the other hand, sending her back to the old man would be cruel—and besides, she knows far too much. She knows that I can use magic from the other world. That Mia is the Demon Lord’s daughter in her past life.
I want to keep both of those facts under wraps as much as possible.
A cool solution that satisfies every condition… Damn, I can only think of one. Killing her.
If she died, she’d be free of her troubles, and our secrets would remain safe. A perfect solution.
Yeah, right. The aftertaste of that would be absolutely horrible. I’m living this life for the sheer fun of it, so I’d like to find a slightly less awful option.
『Mia, got any good ideas?』
『Hmm… What about sending her back to the other world? But we don’t have any way to do that.』
『…Actually, I wonder about that.』
Manya-san had said earlier that she’d “failed to find a way back to her original world.” Which, if you looked at it another way, meant she had at least tried searching for one. Maybe there was some useful information buried in what she’d found.
It’s worth asking.
“Excuse me, can I ask you something?”
“Uuuh… What is it…? Just leave me alone…”
Ignoring her as she sulked like a child, I continued.
“Could you tell me everything you investigated while trying to get back to your original world? Maybe there’s something I can do to help.”
＊ ＊ ＊
Now, for one rather shocking revelation.
“Back then, I was researching a way to travel to the other world together with Naoki-sama and the others.”
I wondered if they had been doing it so they could send Manya back home. If that was the case, maybe the old man wasn’t quite the scumbag I’d thought he was.
“But ten years ago, Naoki-sama suddenly called the whole thing off. He told me, ‘Stay by my side forever,’ and I got so carried away… I was such an idiot. I should have kept researching it on my own, at the very least.”
I take back what I said.
He told her to stay by his side, and this is how things ended up? He left Manya to fend for herself even as she was being driven into a mental and emotional breakdown, and now the fallout had reached me. What kind of man does that?
If you’re going to take responsibility for someone, then see it through to the end.
“Apparently, everyone’s researching something else together now, but somewhere along the way, I was left out… Heh. I suppose that means I’m no longer needed. I already gave up every last scrap of knowledge I had about the other world, after all.”
Manya muttered bitterly, almost mocking herself.
“Maybe it’s because I had that huge cry just now, but I feel strangely refreshed. And now I can finally see it clearly. I was just being used.”
The way she spoke reminded me somewhat of Suika after the flag between her and my Old Man had been broken.
Suika had described the old man as “the possessor of something utterly horrifying that draws members of the opposite sex into his orbit.” As his son, I supposedly had the power to cancel out that “something”…or maybe I didn’t.
Surely I am overthinking things.
“So, Yoshito-kun, do you think you can find a way to send me back to the other world?”
“.…I don’t think we can do it right away.”
At the time, I am staring intently at the laptop I’d found among Manya’s belongings. The old man and the others’ research. A method for traveling to another world.
If I combined that with the knowledge from the other side, I thought we could probably bring it up to a practical level.
“Manya-san, would you mind if I made a copy of these materials?”
“In that case, I’ll just give you the whole laptop. It’s nothing but extra baggage for me now.”
“All right. I’ll take good care of it. I promise I’ll find a formula that can get you home, so please wait for me.”
“Do you think I can trust you?”
“I’m not like the old man. …Oh, right. If you’re leaving the harem, we should probably cancel the contract formula too, shouldn’t we?”
I reached out and placed a hand on Manya’s shoulder. I let my magic seep in through my fingertips, penetrating into her body.
“Nn, ngh… suddenly, inside… ah—”
Banish worldly desires.
Just like with Suika, why does she make such a sultry sound?
Oh well. I’ll keep the contract with the Old Man as it is on the surface, but set it up so Manya can cancel it whenever she wants. I could just cancel it right now, but that might make me look suspicious.
Alright.
Mission complete.
“Nn… is it over already…?”
It’s awkward when she looks at me with such longing eyes. Plus, I can feel Mia’s gaze piercing into my back. Looks like I’m in for a lecture later.
“To think you’d change the contract so easily… Yoshito-kun, just who are you?”
“It’s a mystery. By the way, the etymology of the word ‘mystery’ is—”
“So, you’re telling me not to pry. Understood.”
I’m glad you understand.
“Also, please keep Mia’s situation a secret, too.”
“Obviously. Even though I’ve been reborn, I’d never do anything to harm the Demon Lord’s daughter.”
“If you do spill the beans, this is what will happen to your body.”
I clenched my right hand into a fist, then opened it. Boom. I made a little explosion gesture.
“.…When you say it, Yoshito-kun, it doesn’t exactly sound like a joke.”
“Want to find out?”
“I think I’ll pass. I finally have a chance to get back to the other world, and I don’t intend to throw my life away.”
Please do. If Manya died, Mia would be sad too.
“Well then, I’ll be leaving a little earlier than planned.”
“Wouldn’t it be fine to leave tomorrow morning?”
“No. I can’t afford to take my time. Someone from the harem will probably come to eliminate me.”
What kind of lawless wasteland was this harem?
Talk about a battlefield…
Oh, enough with the jokes.
“Shall I lend you a hand?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m good at running away. I’ll just lie low somewhere and wait for the spell to finish… Oh, but that would mean I’m the only one benefiting, wouldn’t it?”
“That’s fine by me. Being kind to women is my hobby, after all.”
“No. I wouldn’t feel right about that.”
Manya stated this firmly.
“When you grow up, Yoshito-kun, you can do whatever you want with this body for a whole night—no, maybe even a whole week… Eek!?”
The reason she screamed wasn’t because an assassin had arrived—not at all.
“It’s quite alright, Aunt Manya.”
It was Mia. Mia was smiling, yet an aura of overwhelming intimidation radiated from her entire being.
“My brother is offering out of the kindness of his heart, so please just accept it. Okay?”
An aura of killing intent as cold as absolute zero. The air was thick with an atmosphere that could only be described as the majestic presence of a Demon Lord.
“Y-yes.”
Manya shrank back, cowering, and gave an awkward reply… or so it seemed.
Swish. Seizing a split-second opening, she quickly traced a pattern onto my left hand.
Then, she whispered.
“I’ve bestowed my protection upon you. There are succubi in this world, too, but you should be able to repel their charms.”
＊ ＊ ＊
That very night, the woman dressed in black bondage gear left the city.
She headed north, running, running, running.
But then—
“Stop right there, Manya Rafild.”
A black-haired woman intercepted her along the way.
“Not only did you approach Yoshito-sama without permission, you even caused trouble with the police. Even Oniisama is appalled by your stupidity.”
She looked to be in her late twenties. She was somewhat tall for a woman, dressed in traditional white Japanese clothing.
I remembered seeing photographs of her back when I was living at home. She’s my Old Man’s younger sister, Ishirogi Yue.
“I have a message from Oniisama. ―『Honestly, I never thought much of the idea of having a non-virgin woman who’d already borne another man’s child around.』
I happen to agree. Any woman who has known a man other than Oniisama has no business being at his side.”
Yue brandished that utterly self-serving logic without the slightest hesitation, and then—
“Fall into the underworld, you whore. If you have anyone to blame, blame yourself for being foolish enough to fall for our smooth talk.”
It happened in an instant. Yue swung her right arm down, and the woman in bondage was torn into three pieces. Her head, upper body, and lower body. Each piece turned into red particles and dissolved into the air.
“.…How anticlimactic. I didn’t even need to use my power.”
After watching it happen, Yue left with a satisfied look on her face.
Now then. Time for the big reveal.
The person who was just killed wasn’t actually Manya. It was a high-quality fake. And, of course, I was the one who made it. I had been broadcasting everything through its eyes and ears this whole time.
In other words, Ishirogi Yue had been completely fooled.
Someday, I’d love to bring Manya right in front of her and tease her with, “So, how does it feel!?”
The real Manya is still hiding somewhere in the city, and she is supposed to leave for somewhere else tomorrow morning. I hastily crafted and given her a magic item that would help conceal her identity, so she’d probably be fine.
I used [Appraisal] on her just before we parted ways, and the negative modifier on her mental state was gone.
After we finished talking with Manya, we quietly made our way home.
It was already past midnight.
“Well then, Mia. Good night.”
I put one foot on the ladder of the bunk bed.
“Wait, Oniisan.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Today… um, thanks.”
“For researching the return formula? It’s no big deal. Besides, it sounds interesting.”
“That too, but… Oniisan, you said you’d protect me, right? And when Aunt Manya actually attacked me, you really did come to my rescue.”
Mia’s voice gradually trailed off until she was mumbling so quietly that I could barely make out what she was saying.
A long silence followed. Then, as though she had finally made up her mind—
“Oniisan, you can sleep down here tonight.”
She said it.
“Then you’ll sleep up here?”
“No. I’ll sleep down here too.”
What did she mean by that?
I suddenly found myself confused.
And then Mia—
“It’s a reward for all your hard work—your cute little sister is going to sleep right next to you. …You wouldn’t mind that, would you?”
She asked with a hint of uncertainty.
Naturally, my answer was already decided. That night, we slept side by side.
Perhaps Mia felt a sense of rivalry toward Manya.
＊ ＊ ＊
A few days later.
A certain airplane crashed somewhere in the mountains of Europe. More than two hundred passengers and crew members were all listed as dead or missing.
Among the names on that list were Naoki Ishirogi and Yue Ishirogi. However, no bodies were ever found.
Just to be clear, I wasn’t the one who did it.
Seriously. I am not.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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