107 A Doting Sister's Manipulations

"So with that, it is safe to declare now that everything's settled now between both parties, is that correct? With the signing of the contract, I expect to hear no more whinings or objections coming from you from now on," Myriel spoke in a lively manner as she placed all three copies of the contract inside an envelope.

"As long as you're true to your word, you won't hear anything from me or my companions anytime soon," I replied to her, feeling annoyed with the outcome of the situation.

By the way, it's not that we were left with no copies of the contract in our hands. Shortly after Aoi finally put her fingerprint on the document after several minutes of deliberation, Myriel used her power to replicate the copies we had and gave it to us, while keeping the original copies to herself.

I'm not sure that the thing she did was fair; actually, it doesn't even matter at this point. It's Myriel were taking about here—anything she say or do must be taken with great caution and suspicion by everyone around her.

Seeing my reaction, she calmly smiled as she said, "That's good. That's...good."

"..."

Well, it seems that we're finally done here. We should get out of this place before—

"Care to spare a little more time to talk, boy?" Myriel asked just as when we're about to step outside of the bar.

"You're still not done? Haven't we already agreed on the terms written in the contract? I don't think there are still things left for us to talk about."

"No, no, it's not about the contract," she calmly shook her head. "I want to talk to you about something else."

"Something...else?"

What could it be, I wonder? Seeing the apparently serious expression on her face, it seems that there's an urgent matter that needs to be addressed immediately, and she wants to discuss it with me...

...Nah. I won't fall for her tricks. Not this time.

"I'm sorry, but we have some other things to do for the day."

"But it won't take long, I can assure you that," she insisted.

"Like I said, I don't have time to..."

"I can also cook something for you, if you want to."

Hrrrghh...this is getting too frustrating...

"You really don't get it, do you?" I yapped back at her. "Be it just five minutes, or four...even for just one second, I'm not inclined into spending more time with you. You already had your way with us, is that still not enough? You know, the longer I stay here the more I feel bad for myself, because I always keep on letting myself be toyed around with the likes of you..."

There. I finally said it.

To be honest, I'm not mad at her because of her personality. Rather, I'm more mad at myself for being so easily manipulated by her. Even yesterday when I knew from the start that she had some ulterior plans the moment she asked us about the tower, I didn't explicitly said 'no' to her words, and instead just let her do her usual thing.

Maybe it's because of my immaturity, that I'm like this.

"And if you keep insisting on wanting to talk with me, I'll say this just to be clear: anything you say from now on will only fall on deaf ears. I don't care if it's a life-threatening issue or not, I won't listen to it even if you threaten me."

In addition, I won't look back at her—or this place—ever again.

Without waiting for her to reply, I looked at Aoi and Lerish, and said: "Aoi, Lerish, let's get out of here. I do not want to stay here for a little bit longer..."

"...A-Alright, big brother..."

"As you wish."

Myriel, on the other hand, remained unfazed as ever, as she poured herself a fresh glass of clear, sparkling wine. While watching us leave through the door, she took a deep breath as she spoke:

"Are you sure that anything I'll say from now on won't matter to you, boy?"

I...didn't said anything in response. Stepping outside her bar, I pretended that her words were just the wind as it breezed right above my head. I softly told the girls to also do the same, for she won't stop unless we do something.

Ignoring our efforts to ignore her, Myriel continued, saying, "So you won't listen to me no matter what, is that what it is? Very well, let's see if you can keep on covering your ears if make you compel to my...—"

Fooommm—!!!

"H-Hmm...?!"

Before she could even grab a book from her pocket in order to use her power as the [Rewriter], a ball of flame flew towards her and knocked the book from her hand. The book, made up of light materials, then quickly turned black as flames start to devour it.

Having caught off guard by the sudden attack, Myriel softly gasped, "Good heavens, that fireball..."

"Try doing that again, and that book won't be the only thing that'll burn here."

Yes, it was me who fired that fireball at her. That was just a warning shot: I will use my Arcanas to counter her rewriting power, should she resort into using it.

I know that such attack won't leave a dent in her composure, but it's all about sending a message.

"If that's what it takes to have you look at me one more time, I would gladly burn by your hand," she said as she only watched the burning book on the floor.

As I thought, this woman is way too hopeless.

"And because I managed to have you look back at me, I can confidently say that it's my win again, boy."

"A-Aghk?!"

W-Wha...What the heck?! So all of that's part of her plan?!

"So...are you going to listen to me now, boy? You have no choice but to do it, because you lost the game."

"GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Dammit, I'm so stupid! I fell right into her trap!!!

It sucks to know that with how Myriel set the scenario, it would still be a loss for me regardless of the whether I do something about her manipulative powers or not. I guess, being desperate makes way for her to think of ways too complex for me to understand.

"I'm waiting for your response, boy. Tell me."

"Alright," after a few moments of deliberation, I looked at her and said, "You want to discuss things with me alone, right? Then do it fast so that we could finally get over with it."

"...But big brother, didn't you said earlier that—"

"Hwop, you heard him, Death Goddess," Myriel grinned at her. "While we're having a one-on-one discussion with your brother, why don't you and Her Highness stay here and behave? You don't want your brother to be mad, don't you?"

"...Grrrrr..."

When she said that, Aoi's face instantly became red with anger. Realizing that she can't do anything lest I'll get mad at her, she could only grit her teeth as she spoke:

"...Don't you dare do anything stupid, you woman."

"Of course, Death Goddess," Myriel showed a sharp smile at her. "I won't do anything strange to this young man while we're alone...for now."

-----

While Aoi and Lerish are waiting outside (Lerish reacts badly with the smell of alcohol, that's why she can't stay inside the bar for a long time), Myriel guided me to a narrow underground passage located behind the bar.

"The girls are already outside the bar. Why do we still have to isolate ourselves?"

"Precautionary measures," Myriel replied promptly as she lead the way through the corridor. "You know that the Death Goddess can detect other people's presence through their heartbeats, right? By keeping as much distance as possible, we can proceed with the topic without much interference from that little brat."

"But even still, it's unnecessary to...—"

"Wait, we're here," she interrupted me.

At the end of the passage there's a door leading to a room, the purpose of which remain unspecified. With a key in hand and without elaborating further, Myriel then opened the door.

"..."

I expected that the inside is like the interrogation rooms one could find in movies and dramas, or any place that is as cold and dreary as the interior of the bar.

Instead, I was welcomed with...

"N-No way. No. Freaking. Way..."

The moment I entered the room, my eyes instantly widened with the familiar design of the interior.

"Surprised? You see, because I saw a glimpse of your past through your [Diary], I came upon an idea one day that perhaps I could renovate one of the rooms here to look more or less the same as your own room back in your world," Myriel said.

As she explained things to me, I can't help but to take a look at the details of the room up close. From the whitewashed walls covered with superhero posters of my childhood, the wooden flooring with the occasional protruding nails here and there, the display of action figures I shared with my childhood friend Rin, and the single bed that served as my sanctuary every night—everything looked exactly the same as I remembered then to be, except for the absence of electronic gadgets.

Heck, this room even got the monobloc table and chair I use when I was still studying? Neat!

"So many memories...I don't know if I should cry or not..." I muttered as I sat on the bed.

"You can cry if you feel like it. No one here can see you other than me."

Returning to my senses, I looked at her and said, "Nice try, but you can't bait me with just this."

"You're thinking way too much. I'm not baiting you or anything, I only made this room so that you won't forget your roots," Myriel calmly replied.

She's...got a point. From time to time I think about everything I left behind in my world, wondering what happened after that fateful day. The temple woman back at Arandel claimed that the time there went to a stop after we arrived here, that everything will just be like normal once we return, but I believe otherwise. At this point, it's safe to assume that we're already considered dead in our world.

"Now I understand why Aoi and Lerish can't go here with me."

"That's right. Other than the fact that I have something to tell you, I can't let those two find out about your past as an otherworlder."

Here in this world, Myriel—and the boar guy—are the only ones who know about my secret. Up until now I still can't find the courage to also tell that to Aoi and the others, that's why I'm afraid they would despise me if they were to find the truth.

Noticing the guilt in my eyes, Myriel smiled warmly at me. "Anyway, let's leave that matter for next time. You see, the reason why I brought you here is because..."

"M-Myriel?!"

As she said those words, she slowly approached me while on the bed, while reaching onto something from between her chest.

"I've been wanting to give this to you so badly, but I just can't find the right timing for it. Now that we're alone, at last..."

"N-No, wait. This isn't what we agreed on doing..."

Even though this isn't the first time she tried to approach me in a very aggressive way, being trapped alone with this woman really is different. It's like...she's trying to release the spirit of youth residing in me?! Please no, I haven't even reached 18 yet!

"Close your eyes, Ren. I'll give you something I'm sure you'll definitely like."

"—?!"

*gokkuri*

Even without her saying so, my eyes are already closed shut. With my entire self being caught again by her manipulative charm, it's too late for me to resist and move away from her.

Please... please, please, please, please...if you're planning to do that, I—

Hmm??? I'm feeling something on my left hand, like a cloth or something. What the hell is going on...

"Alright, everything's all set. You can open your eyes now."

"..."

When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see something covering my left hand.

"A glove...?"

"Indeed," she nodded.

"But why? You shouldn't have went through all this trouble just to give me this thing," I said while removing the glove from my hand.

What's worse, it's only the left glove that she have to me. Where's the other one, Myriel?

Swaying her finger slowly, she replied: "You don't understand, Ren. There's a deep reason as to why I gave you that glove."

Gently, she then grabbed my left hand and caressed the back of my hand with her fingers. The mark that could be found at the back of my hand isn't visible at the moment, but she still let her fingers play around it.

"You just found the [Magician] a few days ago, am I correct?"

"Yeah. Thanks to the [Fool], I was able to absorb it into my body and subsequently use it as my own. Right now, I have a general understanding of what it can and cannot do."

That fireball from earlier...was possible because of the [Magician]. By bypassing the mana requirement as well as the necessary incantation, the Arcana's holder can activate any known spell in the world at any time, even if the user doesn't have mana or experience.

I say, that Arcana has quickly became one of my favorites right now.

"I see. I'm...glad."

"Eh?"

What's wrong, Myriel? Could it be that you're not happy with me getting a new Arcana?

Myriel shook her head. "Of course I am very happy and proud that you were able to get your third Arcana. However, by doing so...you're putting you, and the people around you, into a greater risk."

"But...isn't that a normal thing? Now that I have three Arcanas in me, I'm sure that the other gods will now think of me more as a threat and they would start going after us more, right...?"

With greater power comes greater enemies to face. I wonder why she's worried over something that we're already aware of in the first place.

But, even so, Myriel—

"No, that's not it. This danger...has nothing to do with my fellow gods."

"H-Huh?!"

Saying those words, Myriel looked straight at me with an anxious stare. I have never seen her being like this before, that's why my whole body became tense.

"If I tell you right here and now that all the Arcanas in your body are slowly trying to kill you at this moment, would you believe me?"