Memory Manipulation (3)
Silia was not the only one able to fight with her eyes closed.
If one had superhuman senses—smell, hearing—and could strongly perceive a presence, it was possible to function perfectly even without sight.
Thanks to this, Louis could land a punch right on Emily's jaw even with his eyes closed.
Puuuck!!—
Emily, hit squarely by the uppercut, was sent flying up into the sky.
As pain exploded from her jaw, emily doubted her own eyes.
'Where am I?'
What was I just doing?
Why are there clouds floating around me, when I was fighting on the ground just now?
And why is the moon so clear before my eyes?
'My body won't move.'
Emily tried to deploy magic power to control her body, which was floating in the air.
No matter how she tried to use her magic power to levitate and lessen the impact when she hit the ground, it was impossible.
After being struck on the jaw, her body would not move at all, and her consciousness began to fade.
Even keeping her eyes open would not last much longer.
Unintentionally getting a good view of the sky, emily plummeted.
Due to the force of gravity, her fall was even faster than when she'd been flung up.
Obeying that ruthless law of nature, emily ended up right back where she started.
"Welcome."
Just as she was about to crash into the ground, Louis's whisper reached her.
Kwaaaang!—
And then the earth hit her.
****
The moment Emily crashed to the ground, Louis immediately restrained her.
Simply tying her arms and legs was not enough.
If she opened her eyes, she could use her memory-altering ability again, so her eyes had to be covered too.
"Hey guys, does anyone here have a blindfold?"
Victor, Simon, and Rozen were summoned into the underground interrogation room of the mansion, where she was being held.
"One of you must sleep with a blindfold at night, right?"
Louis was aware of his team's habits.
Simon readily produced a blindfold and handed it to Louis.
"But young master, what's with the sudden demonkin?"
"This is the first time a demonkin appeared in this village."
Still, Simon and Rozen saw Emily, completely bound and blinded, and were curious.
"What on earth happened?"
Having just arrived, they didn't know anything.
When Victor asked, Silia, who was beside him, gave a rough explanation.
"Well... That demonkin was pretending to be young master's lover?"
"She even linked arms with Louis—she really went overboard."
When she told them Emily had called out "husband~ husband~" to Louis, the three male special task force members all gasped in shock.
"She's got guts, I'll give her that."
"Calling young master 'husband'? Ugh... just imagining it is a nightmare."
"But she managed to survive after taking your punch."
Victor marveled at Emily's resilience in surviving Louis's punch.
The fact that she had ended up only restrained like this was basically a miracle.
"That's why we're interrogating her rather than killing her immediately. Normally, a demonkin would've died instantly from that punch."
It was, after all, Louis's fist covered in scales.
For her to survive that blow, she was probably at the level of an advanced-rank monster from the demon realm.
With a demonkin that strong, there was plenty to be gleaned from interrogation.
"Hey Simon, this blindfold won't fit her."
"Oh, it must be the difference in face size—keeps slipping down."
The blindfold they tried to put on Emily's face was much too big.
They needed a smaller one, but this was the only one available.
"But young master, is it true that looking into her eyes makes memories appear in your head?"
"It's a kind of brainwashing. I almost lost my mind thinking I was this girl's lover."
"Hoo..."
Victor was deeply interested in that remark.
From the sound of it, even young master had barely evaded her power.
That demonkin girl's ability might be quite useful, then.
"So, can I ask her to plant a memory I want?"
"Don't talk nonsense and look for something to cover her eyes."
"Tsk..."
Victor pouted and obeyed Louis's order.
As nothing suitable appeared, Rio cut in.
"Don't worry, young master. I've got something even better."
With that, Rio pulled out a dagger instead of a blindfold.
Louis, of course, frowned.
"What are you planning to do with that?"
"We stab her eyes with it. That way, her vision is completely blocked."
Ah... is that so.
Indeed, such a method would completely block her vision.
"If we use a blindfold, it'll just slip off anyway. Wouldn't it be better to just remove the function of sight itself?"
"She's right! Looking for a blindfold is just a waste of time!"
Then Pram chimed in, agreeing with Rio.
"Why don't I just turn her to powder with a spell? That way there's not even any blood—so much neater."
"Yeah, not a bad idea."
Rio's eyes sparkled with approval at Pram's chilling suggestion.
"Why not do both? Stab her, then turn her to powder—no traces left at all."
"Nice! Then she'll probably scream for her life until the last second, huh?"
"Alright. Let's do it right now!"
As the two egged each other on, emily shuddered in horror.
Once it was said out loud that they'd stab her eyes, it was clear they had no intention of letting her live.
No one could remain calm after hearing that.
"Why not just say you're going to kill her outright?"
"Yowch!"
"Urgh!"
But Louis stopped the two with a light rap to their heads.
"No stabbing or powdering or whatever. Just cover her eyes, that's all."
"Young master, you don't understand how we feel."
"What don't I understand?"
Rio suddenly wore a chilling, unfocused expression as she spoke.
"Young master, imagine you've spent your whole life raising a child more precious than all your wealth. Then someone takes that child away from you—could you bear it?"
"Of course not. But what's that got to do with this?"
"It's got everything to do with it!"
Pram's eyes grew wide with anger.
"We almost lost someone even more precious than that child. A girl none of us ever heard of almost slipped a ring onto the hand of someone we care for! How could we ever tolerate that?"
It made sense, if it felt like being NTR'd out of a lover.
"That's why she can't be left alive. Anyone who dares get close to young master, we'll hunt them to the ends of hell and crush their legs to powder!!"
"Hear, hear!"
"Hear, hear! Hear, hear!!"
With Rio and Pram acting like a protest mob, Louis's head began to ache.
Unable to bear any more of this pointless talk, he ordered the others.
"Guys, take these two out."
"Alright~"
Victor, Simon, and Rozen grabbed Rio's and Pram's arms.
As they started to haul them out, Silia intervened.
"No need to kick them out. I'll handle them."
Silia gave the two on the verge of being kicked out a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"And I've already got a blindfold ready."
Thanks to Silia, they obtained a blindfold that fit Emily's eyes perfectly.
"I really wanted to stab her, though."
When her eyes were only quietly covered, Rio voiced her disappointment.
It seemed it would take some time for her to recover her senses.
"Rio. Interrogating her comes first. If you stab her eyes now, she'll die, and you know how crazy that would be, right?"
"...."
At Silia's gentle persuasion, Rio was silent.
Even Pram, who'd been raging like fire, couldn't say a word.
"So..."
Maybe it just takes an adult to manage a group like this.
Thanks to Silia, everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly.
"Let's do it now!"
That is, until Silia's attitude suddenly changed.
"For real?"
"I've been waiting for this! Kya-hahaha!!"
With evil grins, Rio, Pram, and now Silia approached Emily.
"Hiiiiiik!!"
A chill ran down Emily's spine at their bizarre laughter.
What she'd said about an adult present was now retracted.
"Just get out, all of you."
In the end, Louis chased the crazy trio out.
"Except for these two."
At the same time, Louis grabbed the Bloodline hanging from Silia's waist.
. . .
The interrogation did not go very smoothly.
They tried all sorts of questions, but with her eyes covered, emily gave up nothing.
"Why did you come looking for me?"
"What would you do if you knew?"
There was no way a demonkin like her would just come to the village for nothing.
Emily had purposefully targeted Louis.
"Why try to brainwash me?"
"That's... to offer you to the great devil..."
"Great devil?"
Louis's eyes widened at this piece of meaningful information.
He was well acquainted with what the great devil was.
"And... investigating this village was a bonus."
"Why investigate?"
"In two years, you grew suddenly, and recently even the Emperor visited. Of course I'd be curious."
"Is that so?"
For an ordinary demonkin, she was strangely strong.
She was almost certainly a subordinate sent by that great devil.
[Come to think of it, powerful demonkin energy was detected from the corpse of that gigantic monster in the mountains.]
[It does seem quite connected.]
As the two voices sounded from Bloodline, Louis asked Emily,
"Then you must be behind the incident at the banquet hall, right?"
"What?"
"All those brainwashed nobles kept saying the same thing."
They saw a blonde woman.
... Or so they claimed.
"Come to think of it, you're blonde too, aren't you?"
"...."
Louis could sense Emily's heart racing with his superhuman hearing.
He smirked.
"Guys! Prepare the room of truth."
"...?"
The room of... what?
At Louis's call, Victor, Simon, and Rozen gathered every tool around.
From all sorts of blades to blunt instruments, a variety of torture implements were laid out in front of Emily.
"Looks like we're going to have to stab with this after all."
Louis said, picking up a knife, and Emily shivered at the sound.
"What are you going to stab...?"
"Thinking your eyeballs, maybe."
"You said earlier you wouldn't stab me!"
"That was when it was just interrogation."
But now it was no longer simple questioning.
"This village is more precious to me than any wealth. Anyone who tries to ruin it—I'll hunt them to the ends of hell and crush their legs to powder. You released all sorts of summoned beasts in our village, didn't you?"
"Wait, you bastard! In the end, you're just as bad as the rest of them!"
"Yep, that's right."
Why did you kick out those girls a moment ago, then?
It doesn't even make sense.
Emily tried to protest furiously, but it was pointless.
She had no say in this situation any longer.
"Mr. Louis! Is it true you forced Rio out?"
At that moment, the Princess Estelle burst through the door.
The girls who had been chased out had brought her with them.
"Don't you think it's rude to kick people out without their consent?"
At the Princess's nagging, Louis looked dumbfounded and turned to Rio, who had returned.
"So now you're tattling on me?"
"Yep, that's right. Princess, please talk sense into young master."
Rio spoke informally even to the imperial princess, but the princess gladly accepted her request.
"Huh?"
Then Estelle saw Emily, and her face froze.
"That person..."
"What's wrong all of a sudden?"
As everyone wondered at Estelle's shocked expression—
"Th-the great devil, why is it here..."
The Princess's Mind's Eye could see through anything.
Even a great devil disguised as an ordinary demonkin.
"Great devil?"
"...."
Under everyone's stare, emily swallowed hard.
"Come to think of it, a great devil would have a regeneration ability, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"...."
Some people had become immortal by drinking medicine containing the great devil's power.
Surely, the great devil himself would possess that power as well.
"Guys."
Realizing this, Louis let out a small laugh.
"Just get ready to stab her."
Everyone, picking up knives, followed his words.
"You insane bastards!!"
Right after, the scream of the great devil disguised as an ordinary demonkin rang out.