Chapter 212

"So, tell me, why do you think I'm here, wasting my time with you?" I said, letting amusement infect my tone as I did so, leaning against my chair even more to enjoy my comfort.

It was a subtle and efficient power move even under the conditions where I didn't have a barely dressed princess in front of me, leaning back on the giant pillow.

As I looked at her beautiful visage, I knew that defining the moment as disappointing was certainly unfair — even though the presence of her corset covered more than I would have liked even in its loose state, making me wish for a more provocative set, maybe with more lace or simply less fabric.

The cream-colored corset she wore was stylistic, but it was certainly not chosen to maximize the attraction but comfort — reasonable, as she didn't expect to interact with me at all. Luckily, she had amazing curves that showed through even that boring corset — and the fact that it was loose created a cleavage where there was supposed to be none.

She shuffled slightly, savvy enough to catch the subtle tone in my words as she looked at me, letting me enjoy her changing perception. I didn't push the erotic undertone in my voice much, and just uttered it enough to give her an option, curious whether she would be as enthusiastic to weaponize it without the disguises and magical puppets.

The answer turned out to be negative. "You want to see whether I'm a risk toward Silver Spires and your coworker," she guessed as she shuffled, carefully stepping away from the insinuation in a way she thought as subtle — only to be sabotaged by the restrictions on her abilities.

She seemed less willing to use seduction as a weapon without her tricks to give her a layer of plausible deniability.

Yet, even more amusingly, despite her ultimate preference, the decision didn't come quickly. She lingered on the question for a while — a deliberation process that might as well be an open book with her compromised fake skills — influenced by her body captivated by arousal.

Amused by her struggle, I let her answer slide without pushing back. "Such arrogance," I said with a chuckle. "To think that you can actually present a threat to our organization, even to a junior peripheral member," I said, reinforcing the impression that we were stronger than she might have thought.

A risky approach, but I needed her to assume that I was a threat, to create leverage I could use to slowly convert her to my side. My need for her was less about her role as a princess — no matter how inconvenient a battle for the throne — and more about her potential knowledge about the Eternals and the intricacies of her abilities.

Of course, even those reasons were secondary compared to the real reason I needed her. I wanted to learn where she managed to find the Darkness Spark and where to find more Divine Spark — a fact that she must know considering the research project she funded.

I hoped that it wasn't just preparation to rob the Headmistress and something more.

"Then, what?" she asked.

"I was just curious about the naughty girl that dared to break into my coworker's office and try to suborn her loyal followers through fake magical puppets and disguises," I said, enjoying the way she tensed as her tricks unraveled more and more.

With the sole exception of her fake skills, giving her the impression that it was still secret.

It was never a good idea to push someone against a wall — metaphorically, of course, as it was quite fun when done literally.

"You have seen it, now what?" she asked.

"Now, I want to understand why a little faction of the Eternals is bothering to slowly dismantle your organization slowly rather than getting rid of you directly. Do you think they believe your little handmaiden trick?" I asked.

"They must have been," she said, her voice carrying no hint of surprise, which confirmed to me that she had a reasonably accurate idea about the strength of the Eternals as she didn't even react when I mentioned it was a little faction that was bothering her. "Otherwise, they would have just swooped down and got rid of me."

I nodded as I heard the honest conclusion in her tone, abandoning that direction. Of course, just because she thought that was the case didn't actually make it so, but talking with her about that was not exactly the most efficient way of exploring that.

"Good," I said dismissively. "So, since I'm here, let me leave you with some honest advice. Your actions in Silver Spires are amusing," I said as I stood up, took a couple steps toward the door, and started to disappear, using an illusion that looked like Teleportation from outside. Yet, before delivering that, I turned to look at her one last time. "Make sure that amusement doesn't evolve into irritation."

The sudden stiffening in her posture showed that she received my message perfectly, the worry on her face implying that her initial plans weren't as harmless to Silver Spires as I might have hoped.

It seemed that a visit from the mysterious stranger was still my best trick.

I expected to disappear after completing my objectives, only for that expectation to be ruined by the princess jumping up to her feet and panicked a moment later. "W-wait," she shouted as she landed on her feet — an ill-advised move that further challenged the ability of her clothing to hide her beautiful assets as they reacted to the sudden movement.

I followed that request and dispelled the illusion — though not neglecting the pump of some mana in the room that was similar to what would remain after teleportation to make sure it looked genuine.

In acting, details were everything.

"Was that an order," I said with chilly anger as I looked at her, and she took a fearful step behind, mistaking that for a genuine one.

"N-no!" she gasped in fear, only relaxing after my expression turned neutral. "I have an offer for your organization."

"You're wildly overestimating yourself if you think you have anything that would actually work in a bargain."

"I..." she whispered before taking a deep breath. "I'm willing to give my full loyalty to your organization if you help me take the throne," she said.

I chuckled. "As I said, you're wildly overestimating yourself if you think we care about a little carcass of an Empire, let alone who is actually saddled with the pointless task of ruling it."

Interestingly, her expression made me glad that I had interfered with the skills she hoped to use, because it meant that, when I saw a lack of reaction, I could be sure it was a genuine reaction rather than an elaborate trick.

"What if I offer something better in exchange for helping me to get the throne?"

This time, I fully turned toward her. "I have a feeling that you're again overestimating the value of your trinkets, but go ahead," I said, but just as she opened her mouth, I interrupted again. "But start dancing as you speak, so at least it won't be a waste of my time."

Her sudden hesitant expression was beautiful, especially after the effective seduction attempts she delivered when she was disguised as Delia. Maybe she was relying on the disguise of a clutch to separate herself from her actions.

She wouldn't be the first girl I interacted with that did so, albeit hard to that degree.

"Are you—" she started, only to abandon that question when my expression stiffened, and she started swaying her body to an invisible song. Her body moved smoothly, showing that her training as a princess definitely included dancing — that, or she had learned to increase Delia's power of attraction.

"Good," I said as I let my gaze drag along her body, pushing a mild amusement to my face rather than arousal, which helped her to forget her shame, replacing that with impotent fury.

She didn't let her annoyance stop her dancing. On the contrary, she started swaying faster and faster, her movements getting more and more fluid as she struggled to change my expression — her state on the edge once again helping to keep her on the edge.

"I have discovered some ruins belonging to the Eternals," she explained. I said nothing even as she paused, struggling to hide my reaction. It was certainly valuable information, the kind that she could never voluntarily reveal under better circumstances. Revealing her biggest secret was a mistake.

Not that I blamed her for her mistake. Her fear, arousal, and shock worked wonders to block her decision-making, and her compromised fake skills just pushed it forward more.

The existence of ruins was not a surprise, as the ruined spear was the evidence of such a discovery, but I had been assuming that it was the extent of their discovery — and with everything going on, exploring the origin of the spear didn't get any attention.

Considering her words, it was clearly a mistake. "And I'm interested in that, why?" I asked, hiding my reaction.

"Because its defensive wards are still standing even after centuries, and other than the outer perimeter, it's untouched."

"Interesting," I said. "And is your Divine Spark also sourced from there?" I asked, only for her to freeze in shock while her fake soul space trembled as her control slipped.

"Y-yes," she managed to stammer as her dancing stopped.

"Good, you might have earned some assistance," I said before gathering my mana, using my teleportation perk to send some air into the Aether Dimension while I hid my presence with illusions, and left the room through the wards while the princess was distracted by my display.

[-1829 Mana]

I didn't force her to tell me the location of the ruins, or promise help, because first, I needed to assess the risk.

Any ward that managed to survive despite the existence of the System, constantly devouring mana, was not something that could be tackled easily. And that was before factoring in the Eternals interfering.

After all, it was very likely that the only reason a faction of Eternals interfered with her was her knowledge about those ruins.

Risks all around...

[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 630000

Strength: 46 Charisma: 63

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 7334 / 7334 Mana: 9000 / 9000 ]

SKILLS

Grandmaster Tantric [114/140]

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [100/100]

Master Craft [85/100]

Expert Speech [75/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (0/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Titania - Level 35/38]

[Cornelia - Level 22/26]

[Helga - Level 22/26]

[Marianne - Level 21/29]