It seemed the information about the ‘massage’ I had been leaking through Aira, Cellu, and Eve for the past few days was finally starting to show results. Elsi kept looking at me and mumbling as if she had something to say, only to go back to her work. I knew what Elsi wanted. But I had no intention of bringing up the massage myself until Elsi said it first.
Letters arrived from both the slave market and the Magic Tower. Despite my polite letter asking for cooperation regarding Evangeline, Lord Aberdeen replied thusly:
- Per our rules, we cannot disclose the personal information of a slave's buyer. Our staff is very firm in their stance that they ‘cannot say,’ so I ask for your understanding in this matter.
P.S. I am told that the sisters who screamed at the High Priest last time were sold to the person in question.
It seemed Evangeline had visited again in my absence. The Magic Tower was farther away than my territory, so how on earth did she manage that? Does she use Teleport or something?
Judging by Lord Aberdeen’s phrasing, the prohibition was also in effect on the slave merchants. If I were Evangeline, I wouldn't go around spreading my personal information just because I’d cast a prohibition. Therefore, there was nothing to be gained by going to the Aberdeen Territory now. I checked the letter from the Magic Tower. The Magic Tower had replied as follows.
- We request that High Priest Lusius come and investigate in person. The Magic Tower does not keep track of the personal information of individual mages.
The Magic Tower had a registration system. But just because it was a registration system didn't mean it recorded the names, characteristics, and personal details of all mages.
Name: Lusius
Magic Research Item: Fire Magic
It was recorded roughly like that, and that was it. In the game, this was why I’d had trouble locating the mage heroine, the Wandering Mage Soya. The mage species itself was so indifferent to anyone but themselves and their research that no one cared if you registered under an alias or dressed fucking bizarrely.
Still, she probably wouldn't go around wearing a mask like that, since it would be too conspicuous.
That was why, from the Magic Tower’s perspective, there was no way to investigate the mysterious being named Evangeline even if she was inside. It was because all mages were suspicious bastards. Of the thousands of mages, probably more than half were ruined shut-ins who never showed their faces from their small rooms, the portion of bastards using aliases instead of their real names would be about two-tenths, and the concept-addicts wearing fucking weird outfits would also be about two-tenths.
If you also considered the mages who became ruined after doing this and that, or those who had just registered their names and then vanished, the number of possibilities increased exponentially.
Both I and the Magic Tower knew very well what an idiotic investigation method it would be to search through these bastards one by one to see if they were Evangeline. That's why the Magic Tower had passed that troublesome investigation process on to me. No matter how much free time I had as a lord, I didn't have the time to sit around in the Magic Tower doing that.
This was a waste of time on a completely different level than briefly stopping by the Aberdeen Territory. So I decided to use another method. I hadn't expected to find any decisive evidence or Evangeline herself at the Magic Tower anyway. It would be great if I could find even the faintest clue. I decided to recruit mercenaries in the name of Peta Lusius.
"If you're recruiting mercenaries, I will go."
"In the Magic Tower, they think of the beastfolk tribe as nothing more than lab rats."
Elsi said she would go in my stead, but I refused resolutely. The mages of the Magic Tower were all eccentrics and psychopaths who did everything except for one thing in their code of ethics: [Do not experiment on humans]. Taking a beastfolk or a mermaid to a place like that was close to an act of inducing kidnapping.
There was no way those Magic Tower mage bastards would care if she was my wife or an escort guard. Those bastards were fucking psychos who had to conduct their experiments today even if their heads were getting shattered tomorrow. If Elsi's contact was lost and I went looking for her, I might discover a 3-meter tall, 600kg gym-addict Elsi or the grave of [that which was Elsi]. I didn't want to kill off a beastfolk I had gone through the trouble of making mine in such a way.
When I explained the experiments that took place in the Magic Tower, Elsi was horrified and her tail trembled. The hairs on her stiffly raised tail shot up as if from static electricity, then subsided again.
"What a terrible place! How could they think of experimenting on us. Does the cleric know why they do such things?"
"I don't know either. I've only heard that they conduct experiments."
I suspected it was because they could get more data from human body modification, but since I wasn't a mage, there was no way for me to know the reason for that burning passion for learning. I shook my head, wrote up a Mercenary Recruitment Form, and sent official documents to the surrounding territories and the Mercenary Guild.
In this world, mercenaries were very trustworthy friends. This was because they were managed very thoroughly by the Mercenary Guild. I planned to hire these mercenaries, have them investigate Evangeline, and have them report to me if they found any kind of clue. Then, I could just stop by the Magic Tower for a moment, pick up the clues, and use them to track Evangeline again.
In addition, I planned to use my authority as the Southern High Priest to send a few priests along with the mercenaries. The priests would surely prevent quarrels from breaking out between the mercenaries and mages, and help track the evil aura that Evangeline might emit. I roughly selected about ten personnel and delegated the recruitment notice to the Mercenary Guild.
In the meantime, my massage promotion seemed to be working very well on Elsi. Aira reported that Elsi was periodically asking questions about the massage or how to become stronger. I needed Elsi to truly believe that Aira had gotten stronger, so these days I was making Aira do muscle training, including push-ups, every day.
"What if I just get more muscular from this?"
"Eve and Elsi are fine, so don't worry and do one more."
"Ah, yeees..."
I was putting Aira through so much training that I wondered if she might actually get stronger soon, and I was waiting for Elsi to ask me about the massage as soon as possible. And that day came much sooner than I thought. Two days after I sent the official document to the Mercenary Guild, Elsi came to me and said it.
"Cleric. I want to see the massage."
"You want to see the massage?"
"Aira and that mermaid both said they got stronger after receiving the massage. In fact, they both seem to be getting a little stronger every day. I want to see what that massage is."
"Hmm... This is a secret massage, so it's a bit difficult to show you..."
"Then never mind."
When I hesitated, Elsi coolly gave up. This, in turn, made me hastily stop her.
"No. Elsi. It's difficult, but what I meant was, I would show it to you. Please come back."
I grabbed Elsi's shoulder and made her turn back toward the office. Elsi looked at me with a puzzled face and asked.
"To me?"
"Yes. Because Elsi, you're our very precious family."
"Family? Am I family with the cleric?"
"If we live together, we're family."
"I see."
I could see Elsi's tail wagging pleasantly. There was no particular change in her expression, but it was clear she was quite pleased by the word 'family.' Beastfolk place great importance on a sense of belonging. Elsi spoke.
"Then where and when can I see it?"
"I'll show you tonight."
"Then I'll be waiting."
After Elsi left the room, I focused on my work again. I had to set aside a budget for hiring the mercenaries and also select the priests to be dispatched to the Magic Tower. By the time I finished the budgeting, it was evening. I left the final arrangements to Aira and called for Sieri. Sieri, who had just left work at the church, came pattering over at my call and knocked on the office door.
I gestured while sitting in my office chair. Sieri ran over and carefully buried herself in my arms. I held Sieri in a back hug and slowly caressed her shoulders. Even at that gesture, Sieri felt an erotic sensation and began to breathe heavily.
"M-My Lord... Already..."
"Sieri. May I ask you a favor today?"
"A f-favor?"
I pressed firmly on Sieri's shoulders, starting to work out the knots. I may not look it, but in my past life, I was known for giving good massages. As I used Lusius's strength to press down on her tense muscles, Sieri began to melt into a puddle.
"Haeu... Heueu... W-What is the favor..."
"I'd like to have sex in front of Elsi..."
"What...?"
Sieri seemed a little taken aback by those words. It must have been a completely unexpected request. I had already told Sieri to just play along if Elsi asked whether my 'massage' made her stronger.
To suddenly be asked to have sex in front of Elsi in this situation. Sieri had accepted all sorts of my plays, but having sex in front of someone else seemed to be a bit of a burden for her. Sieri fidgeted with her legs and said.
"Still, that's a bit..."
"We've already had a threesome with Eve, haven't we? Hm?"
"That's true, but..."
Every time Sieri moved her feet, her buttocks brushed back and forth against my cock. I could feel my meat rod, buried between the soft valley, slowly growing larger. I grabbed Sieri's waist and pulled her body up a little. I could feel Sieri's pussy and my cock pressing against each other through our clothes.
"Aah... Eung..."
Sieri closed her eyes and began to let out moans. I held Sieri's waist and slowly began to rub our genitals together. As I did, I whispered to Sieri.
"Sieri. You'll do it for me, won't you?"
"Ah... ah... yeees... eung..."
"Sieri. And I have another favor to ask."
"Aheung... what is it... My Lord..."
"Lusius. You should call me Lusius. It's just the two of us."
"Lusius... Eut... wh-what... is it... eung..."
"I'm trying to trick Elsi into thinking that sex is a massage, so please play along."
"...Heeung... Will she be fooled?"
It seemed Sieri no longer felt any guilt about deceiving others. Was she just following along because I told her to? I gently caressed Sieri's hardened nipples over her clothes and sucked on her earlobe with my tongue.
"Haang!"
"She has to be fooled. If I say that the sex I have is so sacred that it has that kind of effect, she'll believe it. And there's something I really want you to shout..."
I caressed Sieri for a long time before letting her go. The big event had to take place at night. I went back to my room, hunched over to hide my towering cock.