Thunk
Ilias staggered backward as she impacted against something impossibly solid.
Having decided to waste no more time within this world for now, she had turned into a purer form of light to traverse the rift. As much of a labyrinthine maze as it may be, she was certain she remembered every twist and turn she'd traversed. To begin with, crashing into a wall should have made her bury deep inside rather than simply bounce off or even burn right through, depending on its thickness. And if any of the strange creatures had dared bar her way, they would have been obliterated on impact, not even ash remaining as the light seared through whatever bizarre conglomerate amounted to their body.
Shaking off the dizziness from being forcibly returned to her humanoid form, she turned an affronted look upon the existence bearing the audacity to block her progress... which quickly changed to disbelief.
"Why... HOW!?"
It was that wretched door again, wrenched shut despite her efforts to ensure it remained open. Almost reflexively, she cast another divination to deduce what had occurred, but just like when she made that attempt within the other world, it showed nothing, as if the door had always been closed. However, this time, she knew with absolute certainty that it was not the truth.
This was no coincidence. Someone or something was attempting to sabotage and stall her... deliberately. With a scowl, she went through the mental list of all the enemies she had ever made.
Approximately ten minutes later, she came to the unfortunate conclusion that it was unlikely to be anyone she was aware of. Few were able to even reach this far, and all of them were incapacitated in one way or another. And even if Alipheese had somehow managed to extend her grasp beyond her prison, that foolish brute was not the type to employ subtlety, not to mention Ilias would have easily seen the taint of darkness following in her wake.
No, it was someone else... and they would rue the day they chose to stand against the Goddess.
...Just as soon as she figured out who it was.
Either way, whatever fool had elected to obstruct her had chosen a poor obstacle. Just as she came here with her connection to Luka, she could leave using her connection to Heaven and her angels. Utterly confident, Ilias manifested one of those connections and pulled.
But nothing happened.
Her confidence slowly drained and then crumbled entirely when Ilias realized... she was on the other side of the door now. In other words, she needed to push, not pull—a task her previous trick was rather ill-equipped for.
This... was going to take a while.
----------------------------------------
I stopped short of opening the door to the smithy Papi had found a new home in, my hand resting on the handle as my gaze turned upwards. "Did you hear that?"
Alice raised an eyebrow. "...You mean the clanging of metal on metal?"
"No, I mean, there is that, but... I could have sworn I just heard a shriek of frustration."
Alice followed my line of sight, her lips turning into an evil grin. "Is that so? Do tell me more."
"...Never mind, it was probably just my imagination." I retracted my statement, deciding it was probably best not to get involved, and opened the door.
Who knows, maybe I genuinely was just hearing things due to paranoia? And if Ilias actually was preoccupied with something, that could only be good for me... at least in the short term. Until whatever she was dealing with came by to bite me in the ass, that is. It would also explain her absence.
Forcibly shoving down any treasonous thoughts that once more sought to make me fret about the future, I stepped inside, Alice following directly behind. There was nobody at the counter to greet us this time, but judging from the resonant hammer strikes resounding from deeper in the building, they were merely at work.
"Anyone there?" I called out, causing a lull in the rhythmic sound.
"That you, little Hero? Come on in, but be careful; it's hot in here."
True to his words, a wave of sweltering air assaulted me as soon as I opened the door separating forge from shop. The blacksmith wiped a trail of sweat off his forehead, the movement then transitioning into a small wave. Miniature dragon aside, I wasn't quite sure how a human could take such blistering heat all day without looking like a succubus victim from dehydration.
The dragon in question hopped off the stool she needed to reach the anvil, where a piece of metal rested, whose shape was probably a bit too curved to be intentional. Still holding a hammer in her claws, she ran up to me for a steamy hug—'steamy' being very literal in this case. A few seconds were all I endured before gently prying the uncomfortably warm girl off of me.
"Having fun?" I asked, a few pearls of sweat already building on my skin. Still, the heat wasn't beyond what I could handle. If it was, I might as well have given up on ever getting Salamander right here and now.
"Yeah, smithing stuff is great!" she vigorously nodded.
The blacksmith chuckled. "Girl's taking to the forge like a fish to water. I wasn't sure she'd have the strength for it yet, but she's already got a better swing than my lad ever did. Her fire's also a great asset, and her frost breath will be good for quenching... at least once we figure out how much of it to use and how to keep it consistent," he said, pointing at a small pile of cracked and distorted scrap metal. "Only thing I'm worried about now is her becoming better than me within the month, hah!"
"Aww, don't say that, chief; you're awesome! I'm sure it will take at least two!"
The stout man guffawed at Papi's words. "Tell you what, kiddo, if you actually manage to make even one piece that's better than one of mine within two months, I'll treat you to all-you-can-eat barbeque anytime you want for an entire year."
"Oh, you're on!" The little dragon shouted, the fire in her eyes burning even more intensely than the forge at the challenge.
The smith was either extremely confident or had yet to realize just how much of a bottomless pit a monster stomach actually was. If he lost... may his wallet rest in peace.
I cleared my throat, drawing their attention to me again. "Well, it's good to see you're having fun. We actually came by to say goodbye since we'll be moving on northward, so it's good to know you're in capable hands."
"Aww, you're leaving? But... we haven't even had a chance to thank you for helping us..."
"Don't worry about that." I ruffled her hair. "I'll borrow the Red Orb you had; that's enough for me. I'll also make sure to return it where it belongs eventually... actually, speaking of which, what were you even going to do with that thing? I thought you were going to power up and kind of just... panicked."
"Oh man, it can do that!? That would have been so cool! I was only going to throw it at your head!"
"...Pardon?"
"That thing's really hard; I didn't even crack it when I nibbled on it. I thought it might knock you out if I threw it really hard!" She explained
I stared blankly at the little girl for a moment before slowly releasing a breath close to a groan. "...Once again, sorry for overreacting back then."
"It's fine! A big, strong dragon like me wouldn't make a fuss over a little scratch like that!"
"...Right." Best not to mention her actual reaction to that 'little scratch.'
"Out of curiosity, where did you find that orb in the first place?" Alice chimed in. "It is not the sort of thing that should simply be left lying around for someone to find."
"Oh, a super fancy carriage passed by our hideout a few months ago. They dropped a bunch of stuff and ran away when they saw me cuz I'm so fearsome!"
"...Is that so?" Seeing Papi's proud nod, Alice turned to me with a raised eyebrow, making me shrug at her silent inquiry. Why would she expect me to have all the answers?
It certainly sounded strange, too. Where did those people come from, where did they go, and why pass by the Irina mountain range to begin with? Alma Elma's blockade had already been in effect for quite a while when it occurred, so they would have to hail from somewhere on the Ilias continent and still be here as well. If they were in Iliasburg, they probably would have inquired after their belongings at some point in the original story. I could not imagine anyone rich voluntarily staying at Iliasport in its current condition either.
The only reasonable explanation I could come up with was that the owners of the Midas Village gold mine were trying to prospect for new ore deposits after their mine ran dry. However, that did not explain why they would take valuables into the wilderness... unless they considered the orb something in the vein of a good luck charm.
As for unreasonable theories... Well, Amira certainly seemed suspect as the one to introduce Luka to that particular quest, along with her uncanny ability to retrieve orbs if he didn't find them. There was a good chance she had her fingers... well, toes, in there somewhere.
Granted, my previous conspiracy theory regarding her had been... rather embarrassingly wrong. But I had enough of them that one was bound to prove itself right eventually.
o
...I just hoped it wasn't any of those that involved her being an actual threat.
She was already bad enough as it was.
Alice hummed, once more diverting my thoughts from another dark path they'd started to tread. "I would normally be hesitant to let an artifact such as that fall into the hands of..." She paused, glancing at the blacksmith before turning her gaze back to me. "...just anyone. But to begin with, it is rather useless without the entire set anyway, and some are well-guarded, so it is a rather moot point. I doubt you would misuse it either."
I couldn't help but crack a slight smile at her final comment.
...Also, she'd totally been about to say 'a human,' hadn't she? Well, it was good she was starting to learn a little bit of subtlety if nothing else.
"Is that all?" Papi pouted. "But I wanna do something for you too!"
Hmm, oddly persistent of her, an aspect of dragon pride, perhaps? It wouldn't do to reject her offer outright for fear of hurting her feelings.
Scratching my cheek in thought, I eventually shrugged. "You could always make some proper armor for me once you get good enough at it." I glanced at the blacksmith. "...People don't tend to have my size ready."
My suggestion drew an enthusiastic nod and a chuckle, respectively. "Aye, that they don't. I don't carry much ready-made armor these days, anyway... well, I actually do have quite a few orders for proper functional armor right now; that entire Heavenly Knight debacle was unexpectedly good for business. But before that, I usually only sold the occasional decorative piece. Can't rightly blame folks for foregoing conventional protection with the way monsters have been acting recently either."
"Why, are they doing something unusual?" I asked, and for a second, I thought I'd seen Alice's expression turn into a grimace, but when I turned to look, she seemed the very picture of composure... odd.
The blacksmith let out a small cough. "Well, That dragon lass from before is a rather poor example, but pretty much all other monsters, least from what I've been told, seem to have stopped using physical attacks and offensive magic almost entirely in favor of... physical... attacks."
"...Ah." Right, because of Alice's order, they were... hmm?
...Hold on a second.
I was a bit too preoccupied worrying about Granberia at the time to really take note, but... didn't Alice tell me she ordered monsters to only 'attack' in self-defense? That... wasn't her decree; albeit similar, the wording was different—a small but important change.
...Or maybe not. Though fake, Alice's explanation of monsters giving up on the first hit as a loophole made sense. Well... Granberia actually did make use of the self-defense clause, though she may very well be the only monster to do so.
Yet the others usually still didn't initiate combat for some reason, so the result would have been pretty much the same either way, even if the actual loophole they were using was a different one. The only change might have been that they would have been slightly less lewd about it... as far as the combat itself went, anyway.
Which did beg the question... why even lie about it in the first place? Thinking back on several interactions we'd had, it was clear she hadn't simply made a mistake; she was actively hiding it, and I didn't understand what point there was to it.
It did provide a good opportunity to mess with her a bit, though.
"Ah, there we go." The smith pulled out a strange metal contraption from a pile he'd been rummaging in while I was lost in thought. "I might not have any armor for you, but this should be able to keep some monsters at bay."
I stared at the vaguely familiar and suggestive form, my intent to screw with Alice momentarily forgotten. "Is that... a chastity cage!?"
The man looked to the sausage prison in his hands, then back to me. "Well, I was thinking of calling it a monster guard, but I reckon that name also fits. It's still in the prototype phase but ought to work just fine. How about it lad, want one?"
"I... think I'll refrain, thank you," I declined, turning my eyes away from the device with slight revulsion. "More importantly, how long ago would you say monsters switched to using solely pleasure attacks?"
"Your loss," He grunted, then ran a hand over the singed stubble on his chin as he considered my question. "I suppose it probably started about two or three years ago."
"Three years, you say..." My voice trailed off after the unspoken implication, and I peeked over to Alice, who was currently very much not looking back at me. It was probably a good thing, too; she would have instantly noticed the knowing glint in my eyes. Her eyes flitted about the room, likely trying to find some manner of diversion, before settling on the most conspicuous item within.
"...Before you attempt to sell that junk to some other poor fool, you should be aware it is not nearly as effective as you may believe." She grabbed the object and then gestured for Papi to come closer. "A demonstration, if you would. Consider this an article of clothing you wish to remove."
"Gotcha, Boss!" The little dragon saluted with a smile and then promptly shoved one of her claws at the keyhole. It didn't even take a full five seconds until there was a click, and a phallic-shaped piece of wood slipped out from its prison.
Slack-jawed, the man stared at his undone work.
"Of course, someone more skilled would be correspondingly faster," Alice added, striking yet another blow.
"I... no, that can't possibly be true. At the very least, monsters that don't have claws or anything shouldn't be able to..."
Alice rolled her eyes and stretched an open hand toward him. "The key." The man stared at the hand for a moment before reluctantly complying with her demand. Alice quickly relocked the device and brought it near her mouth.
"Uh, Alice, I don't think that's—" Before I was even able to finish my sentence, there was another click, the lock becoming undone, the moment of contact over so quickly I hadn't even been able to see it. She had probably used her tongue, but there was no way to be sure.
My palm met my forehead as I groaned. "I officially retract any thoughts I may have ever had about you becoming more subtle."
"Why? I merely—"
I waved a hand before the face of the poor man, eliciting no reaction. "You broke another one, Alice."
Seeing the result of her actions, she winced slightly and averted her eyes. "Why are humans so fragile, even mentally?... When I imagined my first time rendering a man catatonic with my supreme skills, I thought it would be a bit more... involved."
I strangled the chuckle trying to force its way past my lips with a cough. "R-Right. No need to worry too much anyway; he'll probably be fine after a nap... or functional, at least. Still, you should probably hold back a little when showing off in the future." Getting a slow, pensive nod in response, I turned to Papi. "Can we leave taking care of him to you?"
"Sure thing!" She grabbed one of his hands with her own, careful not to accidentally cause damage with her claws. "C'mon chief, let's get you to bed!"
The man did not in any way resist her tugging, the only sign he was still conscious being some muttering beneath his breath, which I could only make out a few ominous parts of. "...Forget keyhole... meteor steel... never laid again..."
...Yeah, he was probably just a bit delirious, but I was still never going to wear anything this guy made in the future, just to be safe.
After Papi rounded the corner, her master in tow, I turned back to Alice. Seeing the frown on her face and desperate to distract myself from what I had just heard, I decided to quickly change the topic. "So... speaking of ways to keep monsters off you... would greasing armor be worth anything?"
She quirked an eyebrow. "To weaken their binding skills, you mean? I suppose it might hold some merit initially. However, once the armor is off... Does any part of 'greased-up monster' sound like a good idea to you?"
"...Depends."
Her lips curved upwards just slightly. "Pervert."
"Hey, hey, I don't want to hear that from someone who's more sex incarnate than most succubi," I retorted jokingly.
The small curve became a full grin. "Ah, but you see, it is perfectly normal for me to be such as it is within my nature. However, fancying a monster as a romantic partner, not merely based on your instincts as a man, makes you a deviant."
"Perhaps," I conceded, this time not stopping the chuckle that bubbled forth. "Come on, let's get out of here; we have one more visit to make."
I managed to make it all of two steps outside of the smithy before realizing the issue with that plan.
"Hold on... where is the carpentry guild again?"
"How would I know?" She shrugged. "I have virtually no familiarity with this place... or cities in general, for that matter."
I paused a moment to think. "Can't you like... hear the saws and hammers, smell the sawdust, or sense Gob by her mana?"
Alice shook her head. "There are too many conflicting signals in a city of this size for any of those options to be feasible without already being nearby. And before you ask, while humans generally do not possess mana of their own, those little girls are not strong enough to truly distinguish from objects holding traces of it... I would be more likely to accidentally lead us to another carpet made of sheep girl wool if I attempted to do so."
...Darn. It felt a bit mean to leave Gob out, but I couldn't afford to waste a day just looking for her. "Can't be helped then. Let me know if you notice anything on the way out."
----------------------------------------
Unfortunately, she did not, and it took me an entire hour of travel after leaving the city perimeter until I finally realized my mistake.
"Crap, we could have just asked someone!"
"...Idiot."
"Hey, you didn't think of it either!" I retorted.
She quirked an eyebrow. "You do realize I am unfamiliar with human customs, right?"
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
I was almost about to let that slide and concede the point when I remembered something. "Riiight..." I drawled. "Unless my memory is playing tricks on me, didn't you ask someone for directions to the Sutherland Inn?"
She flushed slightly at being called out. "...Very well, I shall concede to shouldering a small part of the blame."
"Can't ask for more than that, I guess." I turned back, the city still somewhat visible far in the distance due to its elevated position, but... "Yeah... not happening. Going back there at this point would cost us at least another three hours of progress. We are already behind schedule as it is."
Or were we ahead? We didn't visit Enrika, after all, so we very well might be. It was hard to tell, honestly. But better early than late. I could always find some excuse to camp out at the Treasure Cave for however long it took.
That is... if she showed up at all.
Luka had many chance encounters and convenient timings for events line up for his journey... but this wasn't one of them. Tamamo wasn't truly there for the bell; she was there because of him and Alice. My meeting with Granberia and whatever impression I may have left undoubtedly diverged from the original. There was a chance she never talked about it, and consequently, Tamamo would never make the trip.
But... no. She had to be there... right?
Alice let out a hum, shaking me out of my thoughts. I hadn't even realized I'd started walking again.
"So we have a schedule now, do we?"
I blinked. "Well... nothing concrete, I guess. Probably couldn't keep one anyway. Still, no reason to waste time, right?"
"I suppose," she acceded, then glanced toward the road. "Speaking of wastes of time... you know the deal." Her warning given, she disappeared.
Damn, already?
Being accosted by monsters may have seemed frequent in the game, but in reality, it was far more dispersed, or should be, anyway. Bumping into one after just one hour of travel was the equivalent of taking two steps out of town and running into a random encounter... which pretty much checked out, given my luck.
I kept my eyes peeled on the road, occasionally checking behind myself, just in case. I wasn't about to repeat my mistakes and allow another monster to take me from behind.
...Ah, damn, I did it again, didn't I? Well, to be fair, I wasn't going to let them do that either! Not that anything but slugs or tentacle monsters were even likely to try, and what were the odds I'd...
My thoughts trailed off as I saw the naked upper body of a girl, mounted on a massive tentacle-rimmed mouth that extended into a long spaded tail slither into view—a Leech Girl.
...Okay, still more likely to shove me into herself than the other way around, but I really had to stop jinxing myself like that.
"A traveler?" She called out when she came closer. "You don't seem to be baptized... you smell delicious." She widely opened her lower mouth, all but forcing me to have a good look at the inside of the gaping orifice. There were tentacles inside too, the pink flesh wriggling, squirming, as if in anticipation. It was a fascinating sight... in a morbid way. "I will take your entire body into this hole and suck everything out..."
I forced my eyes away from the bizarre spectacle, looking into her eyes. "...And kill me in the process, right?"
My first encounter with a monster of the sexually lethal variation—not exactly an occasion worthy of commemoration.
As if taken aback by my cold tone, the squirming ceased for a moment. "Not... necessarily. I could always stop before you die. The chance of which will rise greatly if you don't resist." She licked her upper lips. "Just relax and let me suckle on you like a piece of candy."
"...Yet ultimately still just a chance, huh."
"Just imagine the pleasure you would feel." The wriggling of her tentacles intensified, trying to beckon me inside. "A worthwhile risk, don't you think?"
I did not, in fact, think so.
The possibility of death, small as it may or may not be, strangled whatever arousal I might have otherwise felt at the lascivious display in its infancy. If anything, I was already growing tired of dealing with her.
I sighed. As much as I wanted to just get this over with, I figured I might as well make use of her since she was already here. All monsters should have heard Alice's decree, so I could use this chance to expose her actual order, let her squirm a bit, and then address whatever silly reason she had for trying to hide it to begin with, with such an insignificant difference, no less.
"Assaulting and murdering innocent travelers... doesn't that go against the orders of the Monster Lord?"
She froze for an instant at the invocation of her supreme ruler's title. "...N-Nooo? What I'm doing should be fine. Y-You must have misunderstood something there."
I raised an eyebrow at the strangely uncertain answer. "Really? Please, do repeat her order for me then."
Her face became a dismayed grimace. "It was... uh, something about... not injuring people?"
Several seconds passed as I stared at her with wide eyes, utterly flabbergasted. "You... You forgot!? You literally had one job! Hell, not even a job, just a singular restriction!"
She defensively crossed her arms in front of her, pushing up her breasts in the process as if trying to divert my attention. "I-It's been a while, okay!?"
I reintroduced my face to my palm. But really, I needn't have bothered; they were entirely too well-acquainted these days.
"...You do realize that if that actually were her decree, even if death by pleasure technically wouldn't count as an injury, sucking people's blood still would, right?"
In a curious fit of irony, the blood began to drain from the Leech Girl's face. "It... it must have been something else then," she argued, her mouth tentacles having stopped moving entirely save for the occasional nervous twitch. "I-I would never go against the Monster Lord, I swear!"
It was honestly somewhat bizarre how anxious the idea made her. I mean, Alice was in earshot, but there should be no reason for her to think she was in imminent danger of being punished for breaking orders... not that she even actually had, for better or worse.
"...Do you at least remember the 'self-defence' bit? Even if not specifically spelled out, it should be fairly obvious she doesn't want monsters just going around murdering every human they come across."
"I... suppose..." She reluctantly agreed, seeming deep in thought. "So I'll just... suck on you until just before you would be in danger of dying and then... drop you off near a settlement, I guess?"
"Drop me off?" I asked in confusion. "Not keep me?"
"I don't know how to keep a human; I wouldn't even know what to feed them. Also, while you do seem delicious, I prefer heavier men. More to suck out from, you know?" she admitted, causing me to shoot her a vaguely offended look.
...Okay, hand to heart, It wasn't that I necessarily wanted to be kept as a sex slave, especially not by a Leech Girl who had been willing to kill me just moments prior. Still, somehow, the prospect of being discarded by the side of the road like a piece of trash felt significantly more distasteful.
"Besides," she continued. "It will feel so good you will probably just come back for more once you're recovered anyway." She paused. "Wait... free and sustainable food home delivery... was that her intent all along? Such brilliance, as expected of the Monster Lord!"
I gaped at her, the seemingly ever-present desire to bash my head against a solid surface rapidly intensifying... though judging by the crack of wood in the distance, a certain someone had already preempted me on that one.
"...Fuck it, I give up," I said with a sigh. There would always be the next random encounter. And this one was beginning to give me a headache.
The Leech Girl's face lit up. "You surrender? Then let's—"
"No! For the love of..." I took a deep breath. "I really can't be bothered with this. Let me just..." I tried to step to the side, intent to leave, only for her to shuffle over, blocking my path once more.
"...You know what, okay, fine, be that way. We got you down to no killing; that's something, at least."
Presenting her with a sweet smile, I readied Angel Halo.
"I will avail you the same level of courtesy."
Declaration of combat made, I rushed her. She even had the gall to look surprised, albeit only for a moment before she opened her lower mouth wide while making an 'Aah' sound.
Did she actually think I was just feeding myself to her!?
Still, however annoying the display, it did make me consider that perhaps full frontal assault might not be a smart idea after all. I put my weight on my heels to arrest my dash, still skidding forward a few centimeters. Just in time, too, as her mouth tentacles tried to make a grab for me, only to swish through empty air.
With her tentacles crisscrossed over her lower mouth, it would take a few seconds until she could make another attempt, enough to get off an attack or two. Still, if she managed to endure those, it would leave me in a terrible position, especially if she grabbed the sword like the bee girl did.
Instead of taking that risk, I bolted to the right of her.
"Hey, what are you..." She tried and failed to keep up as I kept rounding her until I made it almost all the way directly behind her. "Uhh..." What confidence she'd regained since being threatened with the prospect of Alice quickly began crumbling again as she undoubtedly realized the position she was in.
Still, even with a sword literally at her back, she was somehow not nearly as frantic as she was at the idea of breaking Alice's order.
...Yet.
"OWW!" She cried out as a glowing slash opened across the middle portion of her tail. "This isn't fair; I can't turn around that fast!"
"That's the point," I replied flatly as I took a moment to scrutinize my handiwork. She didn't appear nearly as damaged as I would have expected, probably due to the location of the injury. If so...
I took a step closer and thrust.
The leech girl was surprisingly silent as Angel Halo pierced through her back. Her head slowly inclined downward, staring at the sword coming out of her chest. "You... Who just stabs a defenseless opponent in the back!? What would your parents think if they saw!? Ugh..." Her righteous fury began to give way as her strength bled away.
Even knowing she was probably just trying to guilt trip me, I couldn't help but consider the question. My actual parents, there was no way to be sure; nothing even remotely similar ever came up. As for the ones of Luka...
"They would... probably be quite disappointed with me."
"See? Then—"
"That I didn't do it properly the first time, that is," I cut off whatever she was about to say, silencing her. Truthfully, even I was disappointed with myself. A single decisive blow was all it should take with this sort of level disparity. Anything more just caused unnecessary suffering.
With a shake of my head, I cleared away my hesitation and the bad taste this was beginning to leave in my mouth. "Next one ought to do it," I muttered, firmly grabbing onto my blade and preparing to give it a good twist.
"H-Hold on, let's talk this out!"
...
My hands clenched further and in a swift motion... Angel Halo slid out of her. An actual injury of that size would probably be a death sentence if the thing keeping it mostly shut were to be removed. On the other hand, prolonged contact with Angel Halo was more liable to disperse her mana even faster, if anything.
"Ten words or less," I permitted her with a sigh. It was probably... no, definitely too soft of me. Still, considering this wasn't a battle to the death, I couldn't find it in myself to entirely shut down her attempt to parlay. What was the worst she could do, annoy me more? I was willing to risk that much for a potentially amenable conclusion. The amount of Exp she'd give wasn't even worth beating her up for, either.
"T-Ten words?" She shuffled a bit. "That's okay, I only need two..." She wiggled around some more, causing me to shoot her a suspicious look... which quickly changed to alarm as I felt something latch onto my ankle. "Got you."
My eyes shot downward to see her tail hooked around my leg. "...Oh cra-AAHHH!"
Her tail snapped forward, flinging me toward her as she spun around. I wasn't sure if she managed to somehow use me as a counterweight, but it was quite a bit faster than before, albeit not enough to outpace me had my feet still been on the ground... maybe she had held back deliberately.
Lower mouth opening wide, she prepared to receive me, while her upper one formed into a victorious smirk at seeing me falling in her direction.
It quickly changed to horror when she noticed I was doing so sword first.
Angel Halo rammed into her chest once more, parallel to her previous injury. Her mouth opened to speak, but before she could get even a single word out, her physical form burst into particles of destabilized mana.
And with the only thing holding me upright gone, gravity was quick to reassert its cruel clutches.
I let out a muffled grunt as my face buried into the dirt. The humiliation stung far more than whatever fall damage I might have taken, and I didn't even bother getting up for a while as the fight replayed in my mind.
My reflections took an abrupt end when a strange sensation began to originate from my left arm, and I sat up in an attempt to locate the source.
"Are you for real right now?" I asked in disbelief as I stared at the now regular-sized leech dangling from me. "...I have to admit I kind of respect the sheer audacity. You do realize I could easily just squish you at this point, right?" I asked, applying some very light pressure at the end of her tail with my fingers to highlight my point.
To be fair, I wasn't entirely sure whether that was true, at least the 'easily' part, since monsters were supposed to retain some level of durability when sealed, but she had ultimately still placed herself completely at my mercy either way.
I didn't bother ripping her off just yet, simply looking at her feed on my blood. I did feel somewhat bad for her. Not for one-sidedly beating her up and sealing her... which was totally what happened. She brought that much on herself, and I wouldn't take responsibility for it. Her circumstances, however, were quite... regrettable.
Had she been living in my previous world, her ability to selectively drain body fat would have ensured she'd have an all-you-can-eat buffet lining up for her every day, entirely willing to pay for the privilege of being eaten by her. In this world... that probably wasn't an option.
Not just that, either. If the Leech girl refined her skills some more, she might be able to become a doctor of sorts, removing all manner of harmful things from her patients' bodies like abscesses, blood clots, and even cancerous tissue, among others.
...Huh, maybe those Victorian-era doctors were onto something after all.
That option was more feasible here, too. The lack of detailed medical knowledge by the general populace might be a bit of a hurdle, but monsters should have some degree of instinctive understanding of biology, which should help.
"You know, since you are already literally leeching off of me, at least listen to what I have to say, alright?" I asked before realizing a potential problem there.
Did leeches even have ears?
"...You can still hear me, right? Suck twice if yes."
Under normal circumstances, such a request would probably be interpreted very differently by a monster, but fortunately, it seems she got the idea as I felt a light suction on my arm twice in succession.
"Okay, great. So, tell you what, you might think me beating you was just a fluke..." I glanced over to the small indent my face left in the ground. "...And you might not even be entirely wrong about that. Still, what happens once can happen again. And suffice to say..." I patted Angel Halo, wincing and quickly retracting my hand when the contact elicited an anguished moan. "That... thing is one of a kind. No more sealing; the next guy will probably just kill you... doesn't have to be that way, you know."
I pointed the way I came. "Iliasburg, that city over there, is starting to become more monster-friendly. By the time you manage to unseal yourself, you might have a shot at getting in if you give the gate guards my description and tell them I sent you... Just don't cause trouble afterward; I don't need any bad rep. You can try to help people—use your skills to fix their bodies rather than turn them into dried husks... though they might be rather hesitant at first." Before she established herself as trustworthy, likely only the truly desperate would risk entering her mouth... that and the desperately horny.
I paused a moment as another thought came to me. "Or maybe try to find employ at a butcher. They might appreciate a faster way to bleed their animals... provided you leave the meat intact." Truthfully, I had no idea if blood was actually a waste product, whether it be here or in my old world. Still, I thought it was an avenue potentially worth pursuing.
The Leech Girl continued to suck on me for a while as I tried to think of anything else, but I eventually began to feel a little light-headed. "Either way, you have a few options... and I think you had enough." I gently plucked her off me and placed her on the ground. "Bugger off, and think about what I said, alright?"
I watched her crawl away and disappear into a taller patch of grass by the road, then closed my eyes rather than try to get up, deciding to rest and Meditate for a bit lest I risk passing out from anemia while walking.
After a while, I heard some slithering that was gradually growing closer. Despite being fairly certain of who it was, I still opened my eyes and looked, just in case I was somehow unlucky enough to run into a second Leech Girl, which would have been impressive even for me. But thankfully, it was just Alice.
"So, in the end, you still ended up feeding her."
I shrugged. "Just turned out that way. At least I'll still be able to walk, unlike if she'd been in her normal form... Also, I am willing to forget about that entire encounter if you are," I offered, the embarrassment still lingering painfully in my mind.
She hummed, a small smirk playing on her lips. "I don't know. Perhaps the story of the boy tricked by a leech ought to be preserved for posterity as a cautionary tale."
I gave her a flat look in response. Gloves off, then. "Right. In that case, any idea what her thinking that killing people was fine was all about?"
Her smirk popped like a bubble as she averted her eyes. "Who knows? On second thought, perhaps letting the past remain as such would be for the best. No need to overly dwell on things."
I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at her avoidance of the topic, which quickly transitioned into a sigh as I continued looking at her and then stood up. Having this sort of conversation while I was sitting wouldn't do.
"Alice, look, I won't try to push you into revealing whatever secrets you might hold too much. Goddess knows I'd use up my entire hypocrisy quota for the month in the process... and odds are I will still need that and then some. Still, if it's something that I can figure out by just continuously asking whatever monsters I meet on the road... not all of them can have the memory of a goldfish."
"...You would be surprised." She sighed. "Unfortunately, you have a point nonetheless. It was bound to be revealed eventually, so it may as well be now." Yet despite saying that, she seemed incredibly reluctant to actually do so.
After patiently waiting for her to continue for close to a minute, she opened her mouth once more. "I may have been... not entirely truthful about the exact nature of my order. You see... The precise wording I used was... 'You may only exert force against humans in self-defense.'"
"And pleasure attacks do not count as force, do they?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
Alice slowly nodded. If she was surprised at me making the connection so quickly, she did not show it. "Unless the monsters in question habitually break pelvises, that is the conclusion most would come to... have come to."
"Why lie about it?" This time, I was genuinely curious to hear her response. While the content of her decree was a bit distorted in the translation of the game, she had originally never actually attempted to conceal that fact, revealing her order after Luka finally learned she was the Monster Lord, albeit hesitantly.
"...You might think it odd I would care about the opinion of a boy I had only just met back when the matter first came up. However..." She paused, her eyes flickering over to meet mine for just a moment. "Do you recall how I said I had hoped to see the evil of humanity so as to prove my actions were justified?"
I bobbed my head in affirmation after a moment of consideration. Yet, I failed to see where exactly she was going with this.
"Had that same boy, the one who risked himself to save a potentially dangerous monster—who was willing to accept me even after learning my identity as Monster Lord despite all the bias no doubt engraved into him by others... Had that boy grown to hate me for my own actions... I would have received the opposite, incontrovertible proof that despite my best efforts, I had ruined everything... again."
I blinked, somewhat taken aback. That... was not what I'd expected... nor what I'd intended to ask.
"Err... Alice, I... kind of meant what the issue with the order itself was," I said awkwardly. "Like... wouldn't the end result be pretty much the same even by interchanging 'use force against' and 'attack'? You even laid out the loophole they would use yourself; they'd do the same as Granberia!"
I still wasn't sure why they wouldn't attack first if they were using pleasure attacks as a loophole, but this probably wasn't the time to ask.
"True," Alice admitted. "But the actual problem is only apparent with the real order... given how oddly perceptive you often seem, I would have thought you would have noticed by now." She went silent for a moment before resuming. "Does nothing about it seem peculiar to you?"
My brows furrowed in thought. "I mean... the wording does seem oddly specific..." I paused, a seed of realization slowly beginning to sprout in my mind. "Wait... the loophole... are you saying it's... intentional?"
Alice closed her eyes, expression neutral. "Indeed."
"...Why?" I asked, more confused than anything else. What was the point of giving your subjects a loophole to exploit against your own orders?
"That... is a complicated matter."
I took a deep breath and then clapped my hands once. "...Welp, good thing we have a lot of time for you to explain then, isn't it? Let's go; we can talk while we walk."
Her eyes flashed back open in surprise. "You... would not condemn me even understanding that I knowingly gave an order that would result in people losing their lives?"
A soft, compassionate smile crossed my lips. "Alice, I know you better than to think you would do such a thing lightly. Now, come on, daylight's wasting."
My smile was mirrored by a delicate, brittle one. "...Very well."