Chapter Index





    Ch.110Deviation (5)

    “Little Lord?”

    Eshaterna approached with a bright smile. Looking at her, I thought to myself.

    I knew this woman was crazy, but I didn’t realize she was this insane.

    ‘She wasn’t this bad in the game,’ I thought, but that was a rather naive assumption.

    Grim Darker, especially the first title, was linear with limited choices and restricted expressions.

    As is typical with game portrayals, violence tends to be freely depicted, but sexual content is generally avoided.

    I suspected Eshaterna might be much—no, considerably more lascivious than what I’d seen in the game.

    This wasn’t good. I hadn’t even thought about having that kind of relationship with my sister, yet everything was already proceeding with that assumption.

    I didn’t like it. Noticing my uncomfortable expression, the elf approached.

    “This is a golden opportunity. Won’t you take it?”

    She suddenly grabbed my wrist and guided it toward her neck, making me grip it like an object. I considered breaking it, but…

    I needed to think logically.

    Eshaterna was clearly a formidable asset.

    She was also a hint of sorts.

    A hint that characters who had become companions might be immune to my mother’s control.

    Otherwise, why bother hiring someone who could simply be controlled?

    That had to be it.

    I doubted my mother’s minions would be unaware that Eshaterna was an uncontrollable, chaotic individual. If they wanted to ensure she fulfilled her role, control would be the most reliable method.

    Yet Eshaterna wasn’t being controlled. I believed it wasn’t that they chose not to control her, but that they couldn’t.

    If so, Eshaterna was someone worth recruiting.

    Powerful abilities, excellent assassination skills, and the certainty that she couldn’t be controlled.

    She’d make an ideal companion.

    But still.

    “What exactly do you want from my sister and me?”

    “I want to be loved.”

    “Is that what I think it means?”

    Eshaterna tilted her head, still smiling.

    “Is there something else?”

    “You crazy bitch.”

    “My, where did that come from?”

    This wasn’t just my decision to make.

    Of course… judging by the signs my sister had shown me so far, it might be possible with some persuasion.

    What mattered was whether I wanted to.

    I wasn’t mentally prepared, and even if I were, I didn’t think I’d want someone else involved.

    As I pondered this, Eshaterna’s lips curved into a smile.

    “I think I’m pretty. Is it that difficult?”

    “…You are, but unlike you, I’m not crazy and have something called common sense.”

    “Really? Common sense, how difficult.”

    She agreed readily. She probably acted this way because she didn’t realize how twisted she was.

    “Well, can’t we change the terms of the deal somehow?”

    “…If it’s that difficult, I’ll have to reconsider.”

    Eshaterna brushed her shoulder. Soon she smiled brightly and said:

    “Then for now, I’ll be satisfied with what the Little Lord can give me. We’ll negotiate about the Lord later.”

    That was somewhat better. But not much better.

    I suddenly thought of Isla, with whom I’d recently been intimate.

    How would Isla take this? Would she be angry if she found out?

    I felt uncomfortable about betraying someone who trusted and even liked me.

    “Now then. Shall I receive my advance payment?”

    But Eshaterna didn’t give me a chance to protest.

    She approached me and pulled down the fabric on her shoulder… actually, no, she didn’t.

    Instead, she slightly bowed her head to me.

    What was happening?

    “What am I supposed to do?”

    “Just show me affection.”

    “I mean, exactly what…?”

    “Is the Little Lord oblivious? It’s obvious.”

    It was clear that her “obvious” wasn’t the same as what I was thinking.

    As I floundered with a “what am I supposed to do?” expression, she pulled my hand with a slightly pouty face.

    “Geez. Do I have to go this far?”

    Only then did I understand what she wanted.

    She had placed my hand under her chin, and I instinctively offered my other hand when I saw her gesturing.

    The posture we took reminded me of a feeding alligator.

    No, that couldn’t be right.

    “…What is it?”

    “If you can’t eat when being spoon-fed, you’re slow.”

    “Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

    “Just show me affection.”

    The way she spoke made it seem like she was about to undress, but the reality was quite different.

    How should I put this? I was so confused that I deliberately thought of strange things.

    This clearly wasn’t appropriate behavior toward a person.

    This was more like…

    “So when you say show affection… like to a dog?”

    “It sounds a bit that way, but yes.”

    Shit, if that’s what you meant, say it properly. Are you messing with me?

    But I didn’t say that out loud.

    She was offering to cooperate and resolve the matter for a simple price; I couldn’t be rude.

    If this was all she wanted, it wasn’t difficult.

    I immediately moved my hand.

    Gently stroking her chin, I caressed her head along the grain of her hair, like petting a familiar dog.

    The sensation under my hand was unique. Though I didn’t have much experience stroking people’s heads, it was a notable feeling.

    A pleasant, refreshing scent wafted from her soft hair.

    It was a different kind of freshness from Isla’s scent.

    Like a forest, perhaps.

    A crisp smell that might remind one of peacefully walking through woods.

    I stroked her long hair while taking in that scent.

    The crazy woman seemed accustomed to this, slightly moving her head to match my hand’s movements. Watching her, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

    Did she grow up without receiving love as a child?

    That would make sense. If I didn’t have my sister, I might have become… actually, probably not.

    After all, I possess iron-like rationality and exceptional sensitivity.

    While I was thinking, Eshaterna, who had been enjoying my petting, straightened her posture.

    “Now, let’s move on.”

    “Ah.”

    “You need to give me a kiss too.”

    “What?”

    “Here.”

    Her index finger tapped her forehead.

    She pointed to her bangs that thickly covered her forehead, demanding that I kiss her there.

    “It doesn’t have to be deep.”

    “But still…”

    “I’ll be satisfied with just this, Little Lord.”

    Her bright smile was pleasant to see, but I couldn’t help hesitating.

    Could this pass as a Western-style greeting?

    Would Isla frown if she heard about this?

    My deliberation didn’t last long. Eshaterna, who had somehow moved right in front of me with mysterious grace, urged me on.

    “Come on.”

    “…Damn it.”

    I clearly had no choice. I parted her bangs with my hand and kissed her exposed forehead.

    This is a dog. A giant, bipedal dog that smells nice.

    Despite my desperate thoughts, the laughter I heard beyond my closed eyes was unmistakably feminine.

    It was agonizing.

    As I desperately tried to pull away after kissing her, arms suddenly wrapped around my neck.

    With a soft chuckle, Eshaterna pressed against me and laughed.

    “The Lord won’t even do this for me, but the Little Lord is so easy.”

    “Hey, you…!”

    “Don’t worry, I’m not betraying anyone. Rather… I’m getting greedy.”

    “That’s not what you said before.”

    “I’m crazy, remember? Can’t you just go with it?”

    Eshaterna laughed as she pulled me closer. Her pale lips filled my vision.

    “If you kiss me here too, I’ll truly be satisfied.”

    Then she gently closed her eyes and waited for a kiss, her arms still wrapped around my neck.

    Looking at the elven assassin, I struggled with my decision before finally realizing I had only one option. I closed my eyes and lowered my head.

    The sensation was moist.

    Soft, with a pleasant scent.

    I thought her lips would be cold because they were pale, but as I’d noticed when stroking her head, Eshaterna was much warmer than expected.

    I could feel the warmth of her scalp when touching her crown, and through our connected lips, I felt her spreading smile and heard her joyful laughter.

    Added to that was the thumping sound of her heart and the softness gently pressing against my lips.

    As I gently caressed her lips with mine, she squirmed and kissed back. A smacking sound was heard as we separated, only to collide again, kissing and savoring each other repeatedly.

    She was devouring me. But with superhuman willpower, I managed to pull away.

    The arms that had wrapped around my neck had long since loosened.

    “Are you… satisfied now?”

    “Of course, Little Lord.”

    The elven assassin touched her lips and smiled seductively. With a satisfied expression, she said:

    “Now that I’ve received my payment, shall we get to work?”

    *

    Elven assassin, Eshaterna.

    This woman might be evil-natured and crazy, but her performance was undeniable.

    First, the assassin profession itself was highly effective.

    Due to the real-time pause system, implementing stealth properly in Grim Darker was difficult, so the developers simply relaxed the conditions for backstabbing.

    Many real-time pause games implemented backstabbing in similar ways, so it didn’t feel awkward.

    Backstabbing in Grim Darker worked like this:

    An enemy adjacent to an ally.

    An enemy affected by status ailments.

    When the backstabbing character was hidden and undetected.

    These conditions granted additional damage proportional to the assassin’s level.

    The issue was that these three conditions stacked.

    That’s why a well-developed assassin was incredibly powerful, and even if they couldn’t match the performance of Eshaterna, the main damage dealer in Grim Darker 1, everyone still chose to play as an assassin.

    Eshaterna’s excellent performance didn’t end there.

    Her mental image implementation was also remarkable.

    Called “The Tilted House of Peace.”

    The effect was simple: it made all beings within range have the same stats as Eshaterna.

    Low strength, high dexterity, low health, high magic and inspiration, but average charm.

    It reduced enemies to a state where they would die instantly from a single assassination, while Eshaterna herself had substantial defense due to her elven monastery’s high-level martial arts.

    In other words, she was fine, but her enemies faced instant death.

    Eshaterna could even directly confront the final boss of the first game, “The Slayer of Five Grand Dukes,” who was the nightmare of assassins.

    So I wasn’t surprised when Eshaterna returned quickly.

    “I used it well.”

    She casually put down my axe, Screamer, which I had given her from the Cannibal Baron’s cloak.

    Though it was exclusive to Mourners, it was a powerful weapon even for non-Mourner characters.

    Assassins don’t rely heavily on weapons anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered if it wasn’t an axe or even if it was just an ordinary iron weapon with no special properties.

    I’m not sure how much of the game system applies to this world, but any weapon would be lethal in Eshaterna’s hands.

    As I returned Screamer to my cloak, Eshaterna dropped something in front of me with a thud.

    “I’m back.”

    “That was fast.”

    “You said you’d give me a bonus if I finished quickly, Little Lord.”

    Eshaterna tapped her lips.

    I held my breath and shook off the nightmare from the past that suddenly came to mind.

    One of my sister’s friends was like this too.

    I desperately smiled while ignoring the memory.

    “…When did I say that?”

    “What a shame.”

    Eshaterna licked her lips and smiled.

    I couldn’t smile back at the elf who was desperate for affection.

    In front of her lay six heads, their mouths still twitching.

    Clearly my mother’s minions. After staring at Eshaterna for a moment, I crushed the six heads under my Mortality-infused legs.

    I realized I definitely shouldn’t get on Eshaterna’s bad side.


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