102. Dream

102. Dream

The wooden door creaked open, and a woman emerged from the dim corridor.

“… Found her.”

Faint moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the woman’s pink hair, and her eyes, the same color, sparkled as they caught the light.

Her gaze was fixed on the bed in the dormitory, where a white-haired wolf beastman lay sound asleep.

It was Skadi.

——

A succubus’s prey is vital energy.

There are countless ways for succubi to extract vital energy from humans, but among them, succubi consider the energy derived from lust to be the best. Pure desire, after all, can elicit the purest vital energy.

“… Is it here?”

In the dead of night, when even the streets, usually bustling with students, were empty and quiet, a woman arrived in front of the dormitory.

In her hand, she held a small memo. Though difficult to see in the darkness, it was a piece of paper with the address and room number of the women’s dormitory written on it.

After glancing back and forth between the paper and the building several times, the woman confirmed she had found the correct building.

“Heh heh… I can already smell it….”

The woman cautiously poked her head out and sniffed the air. A faint, fishy, and erotic scent, the smell of intimacy, was already wafting from within. Was it that ‘certain things’ frequently happened even in the noble dormitories?

Judging by the time, it seemed to have happened a few days ago. What was certain was that it wasn’t too long ago.

“Ugh, I’m hungry just smelling it.”

The woman muttered, patting her stomach. Although her stomach didn’t rumble, it was undeniable that the vital energy within her was running low. At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if she were ridiculed as the world’s first succubus to starve to death.

“But if I just pull this off properly, my life will be set…!”

The woman clenched her fist and chuckled, picturing a hopeful future. Her ample buttocks and breasts swayed with each chuckle.

She said she was a Grand Duchess. If I can just get my hands on her…

“Who’s there?”

The moment she thought this, a beam of light from a flashlight shone from somewhere, dispelling the darkness and revealing the woman’s pink hair.

It was clearly a security guard patrolling the dormitory. The woman reacted immediately.

The fact that she had little remaining vital energy was a slight concern, but the opponent was merely a dormitory guard. She could handle it with her abilities. The woman immediately prepared her mind-control magic-

“-I’m so sorry!!!!”

… As soon as she recognized who was behind the flashlight, the woman instantly changed her demeanor and bowed her head to the ground.

The opponent was a maid.

A maid with black bobbed hair, wearing a maid uniform, and a blank expression.

But this was by no means, not at all, clearly, just an ordinary maid. She was a being like a colossal mountain peak, whose power she couldn’t even begin to gauge.

If she had used magic here, she would surely have died. She would have been sliced into a thousandth of a thousandth of a thousandth of a second and perished. If she had judged solely by appearance, she would have been careless and suffered such a terrible fate, but her instincts, honed by surviving alone for months, saved her life.

“Are you a student? Why are you wandering outside so late at night?”

“W-well…!”

Seeing the black-haired maid holding the flashlight, the woman stammered, trembling. She had to make some excuse, but the opponent’s murderous expression was freezing her lips.

“Judging by your clothes, you seem to be a commoner. What’s your name?”

“Y-Yume!!”

“Yume.”

Hearing the woman’s name, the maid continued.

“Why were you here? The commoner dormitories are elsewhere.”

“Um….”

Yume’s pink eyes spun around.

She could easily come up with an excuse to get out of the situation. She could pretend she took a wrong turn or had something to do late at night. But she couldn’t do that.

I’m really going to starve to death at this rate…!

Yume’s hunger had reached its limit. She had barely found a gap in the guard patrol to come here, and if she missed this opportunity, she didn’t know when she would be able to sneak into the dormitory again. Perhaps by the time she came to the dormitory next, she might be a skeleton instead of a succubus.

“Um…!!!”

Yume’s mind raced desperately. She had to find a reason to get inside the dormitory.

“W-well, actually!!!”

“Actually?”

“The Grand Duchess called me…? So I came…!”

Yume sensed her death. Not only was the excuse awkward, but her tone was also too suspicious. If things continued like this, her only remaining future was to have her disguise as an academy student exposed and be cut in half and die.

“… Is that so?”

“Yes? Yes!”

“Haa….”

However, contrary to Yume’s grim prediction, the maid only sighed, pressing her forehead. Yume touched her neck, checking if it was still attached, or if it had been cut off without her knowledge.

Meanwhile, the maid-Edel’s vigilance towards Yume was rapidly decreasing. Her guard, raised upon hearing the word ‘Grand Duchess,’ had instantly dropped.

Edel, judging that an innocent commoner had unfortunately run into Skadi, gestured towards Yume.

“Go ahead. I don’t know why she called you at this late hour, but…”

“Yes, yes!”

Yume hurriedly ran into the dormitory as if escaping. Fortunately, her neck and body had not separated by then.

“Ugh… What on earth was that? Is she an assassin disguised as a maid?”

Perhaps the moment just now was the most dangerous moment she had ever faced in her life. She was sure that even facing a typhoon made of blades would be less terrifying than that.

If a more terrifying moment were to arise, it would clearly mean the world was deliberately trying to bring her down, Yume thought, letting out a sigh of relief and walking steadily down the corridor.

“Heh heh… It’s not long now.”

Yume patted her hungry stomach and smiled. The period of fasting, which had lasted for over five months, was finally coming to an end.

Most succubi become targets of humans and die while indiscriminately taking vital energy. They throw their lives away like moths to a flame, blinded by the vital energy before them.

But she was different. While other succubi were busy seducing every person they met, she had devised a more ‘safe’ and ‘efficient’ method.

It was the method of gradually corrupting those at the top, those at the center of power. If she could capture the head, the rest would naturally follow.

It was a way to create a sort of backing, a protection for weak succubi who lived like mayflies.

Although she had starved for longer than expected while waiting for opportunities and pretending to be a student, and although she had consumed a lot of vital energy while enduring being caught by a Death Knight, her theory was perfect nonetheless.

Capture the Grand Duchess and use her as a center to slowly corrupt the rest. Then, she would be able to live a life of eating and living safely!

“She looks kind of stupid, so it seems like it’ll be easy to get her under my control, yeah.”

Yume muttered, recalling the inexplicable foolish aura she felt from Skadi.

Upon reaching her destination, Yume took a deep breath and stood before the door of the room indicated on the memo.

“Vital energy… I won’t be lacking, right?”

If her vital energy ran out during the brainwashing, the backlash of the magic would fall upon her. Instead of trapping the opponent in a dream and training her, she would be trapped and unable to leave.

After a few hundred years in that dream, her consciousness would likely fade into dust. She wanted to avoid such a death.

“Alright, let’s go!”

Yume gently opened the wooden door. A creaking sound was heard. Her pink eyes scanned the dim room, illuminated only by faint moonlight.

“… Found her.”

Her eyes stopped at the face of the white wolf beastman sleeping soundly on the bed. She looked like someone who wouldn’t wake up even if she slept, so it seemed like she could proceed with the task easily.

Let’s finish quickly and escape. First, I’ll just take a little vital energy, do some basic suggestion and brainwashing, and then add more brainwashing later…

“You.”

Yume froze like ice at the voice from behind.

“I’m already in a shitty mood, and now some slut pops out trying to steal my sister? Do you think I’m a joke, huh?”

Before Yume could even react, green light flashed, and trees twisted and shot out from the floor, firmly binding Yume’s arms and legs.

Although it was unintentional, the intense restraint of the trees squeezed Yume’s large breasts until they felt like they would burst. The feeling was so intense that Yume let out a groan of pain.

“Wait, wait, time! Time!!!”

“Shut up.”

As the trees tightened, they began to emit a faint green light. It was a beautiful sight, as if performing healing, but Yume, entangled in the trees, did not feel that way at all.

“Hieeeek?!?!”

The remaining vital energy, the life force that kept her alive, was being rapidly absorbed by the trees. At this rate, she would surely become a dried-up succubus mummy!

“P-please spare me!! I’ll do anything!! Oh, does anyone want to brainwash someone?!! I’m a really, really skilled succubus who can even bypass mental barriers, so just tell me what you want, and I’ll do anything-“

Yume blurted out her self-introduction in a rapid-fire manner. Although there was a slight lie about being a skilled succubus, it was her last desperate struggle and writhe for survival. Perhaps sensing her desperation, the trees binding her, belonging to the black wolf beastman, slowly loosened their grip.

“Brainwashing.”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!! I can brainwash you however you want!! I can even make them your sex slaves, or perhaps a pure love, platonic, lovey-dovey brainwash!!”

“Pure love?”

“Yes!! To be with the person they love!!! Kissing, holding hands, having sex!!!”

The face of the black wolf beastman, Freya, began to change in various ways. Images of her beloved sister and herself becoming one were playing out in her mind.

She had failed due to mental barriers, but what if a succubus’s innate skills could…?

“….”

“S-so, can you spare me…?”

“… Fine. But.”

Freya shone the tip of her staff and brought it to Yume’s forehead. A fierce green light poured in.

Yume, rubbing her throbbing forehead, gaped at Freya’s postscript.

“If you do anything remotely suspicious, your head will explode immediately, so be careful. I’ve warned you.”

Explode? My head will explode!

For some reason, she felt more danger than when she had met the maid earlier. She didn’t know if it was because her identity had been discovered or simply because the other party was a lunatic. The latter was more likely.

“Yes!! Leave it to me!!!”

However, for the sake of her life, she was willing to bow her head in subservience. Yume immediately prostrated herself and swore her obedience to Freya.

Freya warned Yume, who stood beside Skadi.

“Do it properly.”

“Yes! Don’t worry!!! And time flows differently in dreams, so it’ll be over quickly, as long as I don’t end up on the receiving end from my sister!!”

Yume provided unnecessary information as she placed her hand on Skadi’s forehead and closed her eyes.

And even after several hours, she couldn’t open her eyes.