6
In front of the Grace city park…
Heine is lying on the grass a little distance away from our hideout, her upper body bound with rope and her eyes filled with tears.
“Wasn’t expecting to find Heine inside one of those. Hey, Alice, the stuffed animal gacha just gave us an SSR result.”
“A stuffed animal gacha ? Really? Still, we’ve proven that the dolls wandering around town have people inside. There’s no such thing as ghosts, after all.”
As we’re debating, Snow bends down in front of Heine with a wide grin on her face.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! To think one of the Demon Lord’s Elite Four would be in a place like this! What, were you that eager to become my bonus pay? I simply adore the sight of you helpless and tied up on the ground like that!”
The deeply disturbed sadist looks down at Heine and cackles.
Heine’s eyes are still welling with tears, but she purses her lips and glares up in defiance.
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha. We’ve got plenty of time. I’ll enjoy getting your reasons for sneaking into this city out of you… Mwa-ha-ha…mwa-ha-ha-ha!”
I don’t know what she’s thinking of doing, but Snow shivers with a blissful expression on her face, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Wait. I’ll handle Heine’s interrogation. Go wait over there and stay out of my way.”
I push aside the wriggling Snow and step out in front.
The moment Heine sees me, she goes pale.
“Wha—? Nonsense! You expect me to give up a chance to look down on this stubborn woman and torture her?! I bet you want to just indulge in your perversions. I’ll handle this!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ve captured a female enemy commander dressed like this! Not doing a perverted interrogation would go against the laws of nature!”
Ignoring our bickering, Alice takes out a syringe and bends down.
“Why bother with interrogating? Leave this to me. I’ll draw out the information by dosing her with a powerful truth serum. If that doesn’t work, I’ll mess directly with her brain using surgery.”
“Eeep…!” Heine squeaks out a cry at Alice’s idea.
“Hey, Alice, that’s the human vegetable course. That’d be a waste. Heh-heh, are you ready, Miss Heine? There aren’t too many reasons why someone would sneak into a city. You’re here for sabotage, aren’t you?”
“Wait, we should let her decide what she prefers! Choose, Heine of the Flames. Pain, perversion, or become a vegetable?”
Heine, now completely pale, looks up at us from her bonds.
“I-I’m just here to rescue Russell! I figured I could hide among the wandering stuffed animals… I’m not here to sabotage you…”
I grab a handful of Heine’s breast as she pleads tearfully.
“Don’t lie! I bet you guys are behind all the setbacks we’ve had during our base construction!”
“N-no, no, no, I don’t know anything about that! I sent some orcs to raid along your border to get you to focus in that direction, but I don’t know anything about your base!”
As I hear the announcements of Evil Point acquisition, I put my compassion aside and continue groping Heine to get her to spill the rest of her information.
“Ah-ha, so you must be the reason I’ve lost my beloved blades and fallen heavily into debt! How dare you! I’ll demand a ransom for your safe return to the Demon Lord’s Army!”
“Wh-what are you talking about?! I don’t know anything about your debts! Don’t blame everything on me! Six, I really am only here to get Russell back! You can stop groping me now… Hell, I’m pretty sure you’re just using interrogating me as an excuse to grope me!”
I suppose I should have expected this from one of the Demon Lord’s Elite Four.
She won’t spill her real reasons for being here so easily…
“S-stop, th-that’s not funny! Don’t try to strip me here!”
Heine desperately struggles to crawl away, but that act won’t work on me.
I’m tugging on the fabric that’s just barely covering Heine’s assets when Alice raises her hand to stop me.
“I think that’s enough, Six. It looks like she really is just here to recover Russell of the Water.”
It’s not often Alice says something like that. There’s no way she’d be swayed by pity, so I bet she’s got some reason for butting in.
“Tch. If Alice believes you, then we’ll let you go for today.”
“You’re in luck, Heine of the Flames! You better appreciate Lady Alice’s mercy!”
I’m just putting on an act, but Snow genuinely sounds like Alice’s lackey.
“Th-thanks, I appreciate it… Anyway, do you mind letting me see Russell? He’s powerful, but he’s still just a kid. Please don’t do anything too awful to him…”
“Doesn’t matter if he’s a kid or not, he’s still technically a leader in an evil organization. We’re not treating him too badly, though. See for yourself,” I tell her.
Heine breathes a small sigh of relief, then stands while tied up.
“Russell’s over there; go ahead and talk to him. He’s working, but I’m sure he can spare the time to chat.”
“All right. I really appreciate it! Russell! Russell, it’s me! Are you all right? How are you doing? You haven’t been mistreated, right?”
Encouraged by Alice, Heine looks toward the temporary hideout where the cross-dressing Chimera is busily hanging up the laundry to dry and freezes in her tracks.
Russell, happily humming a song as he hangs up the washing, twitches at the call from his former coworker.
“H-Heine…? Huh, wh-what are you doing here, Heine…?!”
“…R-Russell…? Wh-wh-what are you doing dressed like that…?”
Of course, “like that” refers to the maid outfit.
Recently, the cross-dressing Chimera has settled into his role and seems to be enjoying caring for Tiger Man and the Combat Agents.
“Russell, y-you…”
“N-no, this is… Heine, this isn’t what it looks like! They’re just forcing me to dress this way! It’s Tiger Man’s fetish!” Russell desperately pleads his case as Heine backs away, but the fact that he was humming earlier robs him of credibility.
Alice pats Heine’s shoulder as she stands there staring in shock. “As you can see, Russell’s leading a fulfilling life here. Seems he enjoys caring for the others instead of being judged solely for his fighting ability like he was in the Demon Lord’s Army. Put aside any ideas of taking him back to the Demon Lord’s Army and just let him be.”
“You’re right; I’ve never seen Russell so cheerful… Honestly, Russell, it hurts to lose you, but… You’re still a kid. It’s better for you to live each day happily instead of going to war. Enjoy your life here…”
“Hey, wait! Heine, don’t leave me here! I mean, sure, I’ll admit the work is a little fun, and I was happy when they said they needed me! But I want to go back to the Demon Lord’s Army, I swear!”
Heine looks like she’s seriously thinking it through as Russell clings to her.
“…I think sticking to a peaceful life here is a valid choice… But it’s also true that we need you,” Heine says with a little smirk. “Alice, right? You seem to be the voice of reason around here… How about we make a deal?”
“Not happening. You don’t seem to understand your position, you airheaded floozy.”
Heine freezes at Alice’s harsh response.
“All right, Six, we’re done here. This woman’s now your maid for generating Evil Points. Do whatever you’d like, including sexual harassment. Make her earn her keep.”
“Whoo-hoo!”
“Wait! I’m sorry I mentioned a deal! But I have important information for you!” Heine pleads desperately as I crack my knuckles and approach.
“Do you have mush for brains? Given the circumstances, we can force you to spill whatever information you might hold. I’ll send Six to you, so you can start talking whenever you’re ready.”
“All right! Feeling motivated now!”
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! The information is about the Undead Festival that starts tomorrow! The undead have been acting odd lately, right? There’s a reason for that!”
My gleeful hands pause at Heine’s words.
Oh yeah, Grimm was saying something similar.
Stuff about zombies staying hostile and the dolls attacking people.
But as I try to press for details…
“You’re going on about superstitious nonsense like the undead, too? We’re done. You’re not even worth being a maid. I’m going to just hog-tie you and toss you out into the wastes!”
“Whaaat?! What do you mean, ‘superstitious nonsense’?! It’s about the undead! If you hold the festival now, you’ll face some serious trouble!”
“We’re an evil organization. Causing trouble is how we put food on the table. Bringing chaos to the world is my job. Bring it on. Six, go toss her outside the city.”
Alice ignores Heine’s words and hands the rope’s end to me.
“You sure? I bet she’s still got plenty of uses.”
“That’s right. If we negotiate with the Demon Lord’s Army, we can definitely turn a profit with this woman. It’d be a waste to just leave her to the monsters!”
Despite our pleading…
“Negotiations are a pain. Just go and throw her away. We’ll show them we’re the greater evil organization. She’ll set a perfect example as mokemoke fodder,” Alice says, shoving our objections aside.
“All right, we left Heine in the wastes. She was crying and causing a scene. Are you sure we should’ve just left her like that?”
“Good work. It’s fine. She’s plenty useful this way.”
…Useful? How?
“Even one of the Demon Lord’s Elite Four won’t come away unscathed if you leave them tied up in a wasteland.”
“Don’t worry about that. I made sure the knots were in a place where she could burn them away. And I made sure they were loosely tied so she could undo them even without her flames. She’ll figure out how to free herself once she calms down a bit.”
Um.
“Then we just wait for her to return to the Demon Lord’s castle, and we’ll know the location, thanks to the tracking device I put on her. We could have just interrogated the intel out of her, but they’ll be less cautious if she returns on her own. Once we know the location, we can launch an attack on them.”
………
“Um, Alice. Right before we ditched Heine, I took away the magic stone she had hidden away. Also, I noticed the knots were loose, so I made sure to tighten them…”
“Seriously?”
………
“Oh well. She’s one of the Demon Lord’s Elite Four. She’s not that easy to kill.”
“O-of course. She’s an elite. She’ll be fine.”
“J-just like that? Really…?”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login