After turning around to the source of the noise, what was brought into my
eyes was Anastasia, her eyes glowing bright red.
She was obviously using magic, and that's when I realized my failure.
I couldn't move, or rather, I didn't dare to move, not knowing what on earth
she would do to me after this.
Seeing me frozen in place, Anastasia let out a breath.
Then, bending down a little, she stretched out her legs and tapped her hands
on the fetters around her ankles.
What happened next surprised me.
The fetters, which seemed so stubbornly secured, were split in two
instantly.
From there, I finally realized that Anastasia had deceived me from the very
beginning.
"Sigh, and I thought this is gonna turn into an interesting series of events."
Anastasia stood up and walked up to me, muttering in disappointment.
"By this point, you should have already known. I'm not the one being
manipulated by him; he's the one being manipulated by me."
Then, she comes close to me and takes up the dagger I was carrying for
protection in one swift motion and throws it to the back of the room.
"Too bad, really. You might have had a chance if you had just attacked me
without hesitation at the beginning of our encounter."
Her voice whispered up close was somehow sensual, but now I only felt a
sense of danger.
The woman's red eyes were staring at me, probably with magic power in
them, but the only thing I was feeling was as if she had a gun pointed at my
neck, ready to blow my head at any time.
"It's a coincidence that you met me here, isn't it? Well, you're lucky
because I'll tell you about my plans as your souvenir for the afterlife,
though the real reason is that I'm bored, and I need someone to talk to."
Then Anastasia began to tell the truth one after another as if she were a
classic villain revealing a secret. If yo u a re a ble t o r ead th is mes sag e,
you ar e re adin g fr om an una uthori zed ag greg ate s ite. Re ad at my Wo
rdPr ess at sta bbing wit h a syr inge. ho me. blo g to su pport m e and my
tran slat ions.
"I came to this city only a year ago, but as a Demon with slightly…different
characteristics, I knew that it would be hard for me to fit in. Since I know I
couldn't hide my pointy ears forever, I immediately decided to seek the
men-of-power here to arrange a secret hiding place for me."
For that, she targeted Count Luke.
"I'd heard he was a womanizer, so I pretended to be a prostitute to get him
close. Though I can't deny it surprised me a little bit when he approached
me while I was walking down the street at night. I really thought that I had
walked into a trap because it was that easy, but as it turns out, he was the
one walking towards it. I had my ears covered with a hood, but even I
thought it was a waste because he was only looking at my chest. Just like
that, he became my puppet without even lifting a finger at me."
Anastasia was probably reminiscing what happened at those times, as the
way she giggled was almost like a cunning devil.
But certainly, it was impossible for a normal man not to be tempted by
Anastasia's glamour model-like body.
I guess she took advantage of that and "met him by the eye" when she went
alone with him.
After all, her glowing red eyes are just too conspicuous to use in the public
eye.
"After that, it was easy. Using mental manipulation magic to manipulate
that Count, I made him improve his achievements to ensure his position as
the next head of the family. After that, I will permanently put his
consciousness to sleep, and the city will be mine. I am creating a safe
environment for humans to live without them knowing anything about it.
Isn't that wonderful?"
(Sorry, Anastasia. You seem to be enjoying yourself, but I don't have time
to entertain you anymore.)
I'm not even sure when she will cast that mental manipulation spell on me
or not.
But it is no joke that all the achievements we have accumulated up to this
point are going to be taken away from us by this Demon woman. For that, I
just can't leave her here.
I was about to strike at any moment when Anastasia reached her hand
toward me.
"Now it's time to go. Try your best to become my pawn, okay?"
With those words, I decided that this was now my best chance.
"I'm not going to let you do what you want!"
While yelling loudly to make her flinch, I reach out my hand to Anastasia at
once.
The threat worked, and I succeeded in knocking her to the floor, where she
stopped moving for a moment.
And then, I rolled her body over and made her lie on her front so that I
could restrain her from behind.
"What the… how the hell are you still moving!?"
Apparently, it was because I suddenly moved that Anastasia was more
flustered than I had imagined.
I took a handkerchief out of my coat pocket and used it to cover her eyes,
just to be safe, and then tied them at the back of her head.
With this, she shouldn't be able to use those laser pointer eyes again.
"Too bad for you. You should have used your magic on me instead of just
wasting your time!"
I told her this as I mounted her on her back.
Then Anastasia replied with some unexpected words.
"I already cast the spell of full-body restraint on you long ago! Why is it
that you can still move!?"
"What do you mean?"
I couldn't believe my ears when she said that.
(Full-Body Restraint? There was no sign of that at all. My body was free
the whole time.)
Certainly, I was shocked to see those glowing red eyes on me, but I was not
immobilized.
If I wanted to, I could have pounced on her at any time.
The reason I didn't move was that I felt a sensation akin to a gun being
pointed at me. Or was it a predator leering at me?
Either way, those eyes are terrifying.
"You're lying. This is impossible…"
In contrast, Anastasia was stunned that her magic didn't work.
That is how unusual and shocking it must have been for her.
But the problem starts here.
If I don't figure out why Anastasia's magic didn't work on me, I won't be
able to return to the barracks with peace of mind. If I was only temporarily
disabled due to some combination of coincidences, I would be manipulated
the next time I met a similar enemy.
Fortunately, the part where she said she wasn't good at fisticuffs is true.
Her body is as frail and powerless as a young lady. Even I, who has no
magic power in his body, could easily hold her down.
"Hey, do you know why your magic didn't work on me?"
"I don't know. I've never seen this happen to anyone before!"
"You sure about that?"
I picked up a pen from a nearby desk and held it toward Anastasia's neck.
It is for her not to move, even by mistake. This may be small, but it can still
stab the artery at her neck. This chap ter tran slat ion is ma de pos s ible by
stab b ing with a syri nge tran slat ions. che ck on ly u p-to- dat e trans la ti
ons on my Wor dpr ess s ite.
Anastasia stiffens at the sensation.
"So, how is it? Feel a little lighter in your mouth now?"
"Please don't threaten me too much. I'm still trying to think of the reason."
"Then get those brains working quick. Otherwise, you'll end up with your
blood all over your pretty face."
After saying that, I pulled the now bound Anastasia up and thew her on the
bed.
At the same time, I retrieved the dagger that she had thrown away and
replaced the pen with it.
"Time's ticking, Anastasia."
I said, rushing the dark elf woman.
"What the hell did you do? And why didn't your magic work on me?"
"…An easier explanation would be because your magic power is greater
than mine."
"Unfortunately, that's not true. Or rather, it's the opposite; I am weaker in
magic power than normal people."
In the first place, I don't have any magic at all, but let's just say that I do, as
a precaution.
After all, everyone in this world possesses magic in their bodies.
If they find out that I have zero magic power, there will be many
inconveniences.
"Anastasia, isn't it about time you started being cooperative?"
Although I was saying this in a more threatening way, Anastasia's treatment
of me remained the same.
She was still aloof and was trying to smoke me out with her elusive way of
speaking.
"I don't know all the details yet. But if you allow me to look at you again,
then I might…."
"Who would do such a suicidal thing?"
I put the dagger to her neck again.
But at the same time, I was starting to get stressed out dealing with
Anastasia, who didn't seem to be taking this seriously.
"If you don't want to do it, then I'm gonna make you. And I just got an idea
for it."
After saying this, I began to interrogate Anastasia, this time in a little more
"physical" way than before