Chapter 54 – Ally or Enemy?

Chapter 54 – Ally or Enemy?

When I woke up, sandwiched between two girls, I felt like being run over by a truck wasn't that bad after all. If I ever meet that idiot of a soul who shot himself in the head, I will thank him for pushing me off the road of reincarnation. This was the best thing that could have happened to me.

"Mhm...!" With a pleasant stretch, I sat up, quietly slipping out from between them, pulling the sheets back over their bodies. After a quick wash and dressing up, I left the room and was surprised that Oleg was waiting for me in the main hall.

"My Lord!"

"What happened?" I sighed, seeing the trouble on his face.

"We lost sight of the Priestess."

"What? How?"

"I... I don't know... I will punish the soldier on watch accordingly, but we are searching the city right as we speak!"

"Hmm... She may have some ability we are not privy to, huh? She did slip away from my mother, too... For now, there is no reason to panic. We will see what happens. Tell me how it transpired!" I shrugged, heading to my study while listening to Oleg recounting it.

"She was housed, as issued, in the guest wing and under constant surveillance. When it was the night guard's time to be switched up, they looked into the room, and it was... empty."

I was about to say something while opening the door to my study, but all the words were stuck in my throat, as inside, there she was. She stood before one of my bookshelves, browsing while the room was filled with the scent of vanilla and a thin cloud of golden mist.

"Mikan?" I asked, and she turned around, greeting me with a big smile.

"Ah! Good morning! Your library is marvelous. I have never seen so many magic tomes in one place! You wrote all of these? How?"

"This is my study and not a library... and yes, that is my handwriting. Can I speak with Elyzien?"

"Hm? I don't know... she doesn't answer me..." She whispered, getting red in the face, realizing she probably shouldn't be in here.

"Try using magic. That will rouse her." I advised, and when she nodded, trying to access her ancestor's mana, it rippled through the mist, resulting in an annoyed echo.

"What?"

"That is my question." I declared, raising my voice, making sure she listened, "What are you doing here? How did you disappear from your room without my guards noticing?"

"Huh?" Mikan flinched, her body shivering after hearing my tone, "I asked the guard if I could leave and look around!" She began explaining hastily, which made me raise an eyebrow and look at Oleg.

"We will do a thorough investigation." He answered, eyes as cold as a sharpened blade, incensed that one of his subordinates would fail him so severely.

"Don't need to." Elyzien grunted, taking shape in the end, looking tired. "It was me. Whenever Mikan wants to do something, her thoughts become erratic, disturbing my meditation. So, I usually let her have what she wants so I can return to peace. Manipulating a magicless person's perception is easy."

"You... you did what?" Mikan asked, horrified, looking at me in a panicked state, wanting to say something, but she couldn't find the words.

"Now that makes sense..." I murmured, crossing my arms and looking directly at Elyzien. "Are you trying to make me not trust you? You are speedrunning it, just for further reference."

"...?" I knew she wasn't getting the meaning behind that word, but she wasn't too bothered by it, "You don't need to worry about me. My ultimate goal is to get my revenge on the ruling family. I am not here to sabotage you."

"Let me rephrase it then, so you get it." I continued with a smile, "We started from a zero, as comrades, that is. Now we are on minus ten. The farther you go into the negatives, the less I will share with you, and the more I will marginalize your presence."

"After I saved you?"

"Yes." I answered without hesitation, "That is that this is this. If you think you can hold that over my head, I will have to disappoint you. I am now entertaining some new thoughts... you see, now I am beginning to doubt if Mikan's appearance on the walls when I 'died' was an accident and not something you orchestrated."

"Presomptious!" Elyzien harrumphed, getting angry, which showed on the golden mist as it began churring. "I have given you-"

"I am not a prostitute that you can buy, Elyzien Morningstar. Want my help in your revenge? Build up the trust. I am done here! Oleg, escort Miss Mikan to her room and arrange for two guards to accompany her everywhere from now on, even to the toilet. Then, place four others further away, out of reach of her magic. If Miss Mikan acts suspicious, you have my permission to kill."

...

....

.....

In the late afternoon, we met with Merlin inside the school, which was now empty of students. While he was studying the magic circle I drew, I was studying him.

"What is it?" Sasha asked, noticing my eyebrows doing the wave as I was reorganizing my thoughts.

"Merlin, how old are you now?"

"I will be 10 soon! Next summer! Why?"

"Nothing... it's just that you barely look older than when we first met. Nah, don't worry about it; I just had my thoughts go rampant for a minute." I waved my ideas away as there were always boys who were the wet dreams of certain girls. "What do you think of it?"

"It is fascinating... So, I should activate it and tell you how it feels? Or what it does, yes?"

"Yep, but please be careful of it, okay?"

"Are we sure to do it here? In the city?" Sasha asked worriedly, making Luna concerned, especially after hearing my answer.

"It isn't an offensive spell. So it shouldn't blow us up." I hummed, scratching my chin, and Merlin was just as confident.

"What?!" Luna yelled, but we ignored her.

"I have been training since Lord Leon gave me that compiled textbook! I am much better at controlling my mana!"

"Show me." I smiled, and he didn't hesitate, activating his powers.

"Waaaait! No!" Luna wanted to interject, but it was already too late. The paper lit up in a blueish light. At first, nothing happened, but it did make Merlin shudder, and I swear I saw some kind of portal open up. A moment later, multiple thin tentacles stretched out, wiggling in the air, looking for prey.

"Weird!" Merlin grunted, his fingers twitching, dropping it, but that didn't stop the spell as the tentacles latched onto the thing they were pointed at... which was poor Luna.

"Nyauh?! What is this?! Help!"

"Huh... how interesting!" I watched on with a curious gaze as the slimy, purple, and blue tentacles wrapped themselves around her body like some kind of weird BDSM cosplay.

"It isn't! This feels weird, nyauh! Get it off me, please!" She wiggled on the ground, but those things held her tight, wrapping themselves around her waist, arms, and legs, tightening around her body. "It's groping me in weird places!"

"Let me try again!" Merlin said, finally picking up the piece of paper and cutting off the spell after focusing once again. When it happened, the tentacles disappeared, and Luna managed to stand back up, grimacing as slimy mucus was glittering all over her body.

"How was it?" I asked and got two identical answers but with different connotations from the two.

"Nasty!"

"Yet you look flushed." I retorted, glancing at Luna with a smirk, who said nothing more and just pouted, letting Sasha get out a handkerchief and begin wiping her down. "Merlin?"

"Holding it is filthy." He explained, scratching his chin the same way I did, even mimicking my posture. Well... they say that copying is the biggest flattery one could get. And it did feel good. "It interfered with my mana flow, but I could adapt. After I did, it probably changed as instead of restraining my powers it, well... transformed into this."

"Hmmm... Well, I now know that amplifying it can turn it into something completely different. How weird! I have another version, which has been a bit fiddled with as I replaced a few runes with different ones. Think of it as an alternate version. Come, Luna, you should hold it while Merlin activates it!"

"Why me?!" She shrieked but still stepped forward when I 'ordered' her.

"It should be safe; you are magicless, it won't hurt you, and that way, Merlin won't drop it and lose control over it."

"Then you do it!" She retorted, yet kept holding the new paper in her hands.

"I can't." I replied with a shrug and a smile, stroking her head, "Because bondage looks best on girls."