Chapter 339 - 339: Toward Release of Irina’s Collar

In fact she had not seen the details of her companions' treatment.

Whether she could not look or did not try to look, she herself could not sort it and had only accepted the result.

Rigel gouged that guilt without mercy.

"…! I get it! Do as you like!!"

Almost shouting she declared it and Irina turned her face away.

Her cheeks were hot with frustration.

She wanted to talk back, but the more she did the worse her own position became.

Understanding that was all the more infuriating.

Rigel laid Irina on the rear seat of the carriage and hid from the neck down with the mantle.

The bulky cloth covered from her chest to her toes, and the line of her own body vanished from Irina's field of view.

At the fact of being hidden there was a sense of pressure of having lost a place to flee rather than relief.

Incidentally the driver had been replaced by one of the men.

Miena was sleeping soundly in the corner of the rear seat from sleep magic.

Outside the carriage five men and two girls were moving on foot surrounding them.

There was some difference in height, but it was a height where if one tried to peek one could peek.

This itself was a convenient situation for Rigel.

Eyes were kept moderately distant, and no interference entered.

The person herself was single-minded about wanting the collar off and would have no choice but to obey in the end.

The board was already arranged.

"So? What will you do?"

While clenching her fingertips under the mantle Irina asked striving to pretend calm.

If she did not put on a brave front she seemed likely to be swallowed by this air.

"First I'll pour mana into your body. It's a type of collar that acts on the nervous system. I'll do it carefully while touching the sensitive parts of your body. All right?"

The content announced smoothly.

Irina's thought stopped for an instant.

The next instant the moment understanding caught up her complexion changed.

"No, of course it's not all right!?"

She reflexively twisted her body and tried to take distance.

But inside the narrow carriage there was no great place to flee.

"There's no other method, you know? This is the release method I did on the other two as well. The effect is as you saw."

Rigel's reply was calm.

He only thrust facts.

That was all the more sly.

In fact the other two had been released from the collars.

The evidence called result was heavier than any talk-back.

"…Guh."

Irina bit her lip.

To remove the collar she had no choice but to obey.

Even if she understood it was necessary treatment in reason, her feelings would not catch up.

"Well, if you hate being touched by me it can't be helped. I intended it as mere release action, but a girl of that age would have various concerns."

There was a presence of him shrugging on purpose.

In that manner of speaking there were thorns that stroked nerves the wrong way while seeming to show understanding.

A way of speaking as if she were only being overly conscious on her own.

"Wait a minute…!!"

"Someone with a collar will be treated like a swelling in town, but if there's someone more knowledgeable about release than me it might work out. I wish you good luck. May your future be fortunate."

Saying that in a theatrical tone Rigel truly showed a gesture of withdrawing his hand.

That one step coldly seized Irina's chest.

If she held her ground here the reality of living with the collar attached awaited.

Public eyes, prejudice, lack of freedom.

The instant she imagined beyond that, fear won over rejection.

"Wait…!"

"What."

A flat reply.

Despite having anticipated her holding him back he was pretending to understand nothing.

That transparent act made her angry.

Even so she could no longer pull back.

"…I-I get it! Do as you like, okay!?"

Saying it as if spat out Irina squeezed her eyes shut.

Her chest burned with frustration.

Even so if it was to be released from the weight of the collar she had no choice but to swallow it.

"Very well."

The voice returning short and looking satisfied remained unnaturally clearly in her ears.

With that single word she was made to know that the initiative had completely passed to the other party, and Irina clenched her back teeth.

—-

The carriage ran slowly.

Silence piled as if filling the gaps of the rear seat.

Irina lay on her back.

Rigel sat cross-legged and looked down at her steadily.

"Then… shall we begin."

Rigel's voice was flat.

Natural as if reading a passage from a grimoire, and no feeling was included there.

That itself was frightening.

"…Please."

Irina answered.

A voice wrung from the back of her throat.

She wanted to be released from the collar's curse.

For that she was prepared not to begrudge a certain amount of sacrifice.

The cloth spread in the carriage rubbed.

Rigel's fingertips quietly crawled up from her left side.

Waist, ribs, breastbone. Traced in order with the pads of his fingers.

"I won't hurt you, so relax."

"If you don't intend to hurt me, why are you touching so persistently."

"I'm permeating mana through the sensory organs. If I'm interfering directly with the nervous system, touching carefully is more efficient."

"Hmph…"

Irina snorted on purpose.

But that it was putting on a brave front was obvious.

She herself noticed most that the edge of her voice had swayed slightly.

The temperature transmitted to her skin eroded little by little through Rigel's fingers.

The more she tried to refuse it the sharper sensation became conversely.

Breath caught in the depths of her chest, and every time she exhaled extra sound seemed about to leak.

"I'll pour it from my palms too."

Rigel's hands covered Irina's both shoulders.

Just like that they moved as if gently kneading.

Neither pushing in nor stroking.

Handwork of loosening little by little while checking the hardness of muscle.

"…Nn."

A small breath leaked from her mouth.

She immediately closed her mouth, but it was already late.

Sound that leaked once did not return.

"Does it feel good?"

"…"

"Proof you're concentrating. A good sign."

"Don't tease me! This is a proper release procedure, right!?"

She intended to roughen her voice.

But the sentence ending trembled slightly.

As protest it was far too unreliable.

"Of course. This release method is in the end a massage. Feeling good is natural. Don't worry about it."

Rigel's voice remained bland.

As if a machine he moved his hands while confirming the flow of mana.

He applied a little pressure, released, and pressed the same place again.

"…Ah, nn…!!"

Irina's voice grew high.

But it was not panting.

A mere physiological reaction. She herself wanted to believe that most.

"You'll get bored with only shoulders. I'll loosen this too."

Rigel changed the position of his hands.

In the space where heat was trapped a soft response touched his hand.

Irina stiffened her spine.

"Wait, that place…!!"

"Muscle is balance. If the flanks are knotted mana also stagnates."

Rigel's fingers loosened her flanks.

Fingertips sank, left, then changed position a little and pushed back.

Every time the halfway defenseless place called the flanks was aimed at a shiver of ticklishness ran.