034 – Midnight Auction

—

[How to Deal with a Succubus]

1. Pick up the Succubus.

(Image)

375. Succubus gently laid down.

(Picture)

Hoo… That was a grueling battle.

[Comments]

– Wait, what?? You, uh, *did it* with the boss??

ㄴ (OP): Yup!

ㄴ ????????????????????? How’d you manage that?

ㄴ (OP): Start the boss fight completely naked and survive for five minutes.

ㄴ So you’re saying you went into the boss fight with no gear, just trying to get frisky with a succubus?

ㄴ (OP): Correct.

– LOLOLOL a crazy hardcore player going into a boss fight without protection in a game where you have to start all over if you die ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Why is this succubus so pretty??

ㄴ (OP): ? What are you talking about now? Succubi are *supposed* to be pretty, aren’t they?

ㄴ In Arcane Campus, aren’t succubi described as muscular and slightly unhinged?

ㄴ (OP): There were succubi like that?

– The commenter above probably met the Dream Queen.

ㄴ (OP): The Dream Queen who now? Is she also hot?

ㄴ She’s the Succubus Queen, a story boss you can only access by maxing out your favor with the Imperial Family and accepting the quest to take down the human trafficking ring.

ㄴ (OP): No, is the muscular lady hot or not?

ㄴ By the way, as befitting her title of Dream Queen, she’s a Succubus Queen, so she’s an exceptionally powerful individual even among succubi. Even Trueblood Vampires treat her with respect.

ㄴ (OP): Just answer the damn question.

ㄴ For reference, the Dream Queen has a completely insane skill set that makes her impossible to capture as a male character, so be sure to do it as a female.

ㄴ (OP): ㅗㅗㅗㅗ

—

Lucy, who could feel human emotions, immediately understood upon hearing Mikhail’s answer.

‘…’

The reason the man chose this monstrosity… It wasn’t that Ella Eloise was sacrificing herself so he could eat something healthy and delicious.

He sincerely wanted to eat this dish of pickled cabbage slathered in bizarre seasonings…

“…”

Her expression twisted into a frown.

Did it have to be that this man had never eaten pasta in his life?

Or that he had almost died eating pasta in the past?

Or that he was a fan of monstrosities…

Whatever it was.

‘He just keeps making me angry…’

Having filled the despair felt by the Marchioness’s daughter with such disgustingly positive emotions.

‘Revolting…’

That dim-witted Mikhail would, the next morning, right before Ella Eloise was sold off at the Deep Forest Auction.

Personally cut off her head before her very eyes, she vowed.

*

I yelled at the succubus, who was brazenly trying to offer me pasta.

“Is that kimchi and rice?!”

‘Wow, did I really want kimchi that bad?’

The magic cast on me kept trying to express my true feelings…

Even if I wanted to stay quiet, I simply couldn’t.

“Crazy b*stard…”

The succubus, seeming bored with my antics, flicked her wrist dismissively.

And at the same instant.

‘Finally.’

The ravenous hunger that had been tearing at me subsided a little, and the compulsion to blurt out my inner thoughts ceased.

“…I’ve never seen anyone like you.”

‘She makes me say all that and then blames me for it.’

“It’s better when you keep your mouth shut…”

Silence returned once more…

The succubus, having said her piece, just up and left.

‘Uh, what? Just leaving? What about the food? The food??’

Born a people who are earnest about rice, I felt rage bubbling up at the succubus for playing with my food.

‘Lucy b*stard…’

Lucy b*stard… You just wait.

I’ll tell Isabella all about this, and she’ll tear your limbs off like kimchi.

Rumble…

As if on cue, the human traffickers poured into the room the moment the succubus vanished.

However, unlike before, they weren’t loud and boisterous, maintaining a constant silence.

And so, in quietude, we greeted the dawn.

…

“Came to relieve you.”

“Good work.”

Current time, 3:00 AM.

I had confirmed their routine of rotating six guards every hour a total of three times, observing them coming and going to watch Ella and I.

‘I’m tired…’

Furthermore, I had no reason to linger any longer, so I slowly began to prepare to escape this place.

‘…How will it go?’

Ella had heard my real name was Mikhail.

Clever Ella had probably already realized it.

In the past…during the carriage ride to the mansion with her, I had inquired about Mikhail…

She must be certain that I am the kidnapper Mikhail.

‘…I’m kind of aggrieved, though.’

In truth, the kidnapper Mikhail’s infamy was entirely fabricated by the doppelganger…

It was a frustrating situation, but this misunderstanding could only be resolved by surviving.

She whipped her head around, putting every kidnapper she could see soundly to sleep.

“Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep.”

Six strikes of Sleep, and the men slumped to the ground, one after the other.

It was then, as Ella-ssi, sensing something amiss, turned her head to survey the scene.

“Ella-ssi, don’t be alarmed.”

“…Neh?”

Immediately, I pressed myself against the bars, cautiously extending both hands toward them as I spoke.

“Abduct.”

The instant the Abduct skill was activated, Ella-ssi was summoned from behind the opposite bars, appearing directly in front of me.

As expected, being pressed against the bars meant she was space-shifted to the outside, naturally exiting the prison.

“!!!”

I barely had time to register Ella-ssi’s surprised expression.

“Can you escape from there on your own power?”

“I can only extract others.”

“Wait just a moment.”

Ella-ssi promptly began searching for a way to open the cell door so I could escape.

And while Ella-ssi sought something to break the bars…

“Abduct.”

I Abducted the sleeping trafficker into the cell.

“Hooo…”

A hand brimming with Aether crashed down upon the man’s face.

Thwack!

“Gheuk!”

The kidnapper, groaning in pain, opened his eyes and tried to sit up straight.

“Sleep again.”

“You crazy –”

“Sleep.”

I promptly put the kidnapper back to sleep.

Thwack!

My fist, still full of Aether, struck the man’s face again.

“Keup!!”

This time, blood gushed from his nose as the man woke up.

“Sleep.”

But my left hand was the world’s most potent sleeping pill, and so I lulled the kidnapper back to slumber.

And so…

Thwack!

“Eup!”

“Sleep.”

Thwack!

“Eueuk!”

“Sleep.”

Thwack!

“Just a mome—!”

“Sleep.”

Thwack-

“Krragh!!”

“Sleep.”

He began to instill fear into the man’s body.

…

Thunk-

“Hah…”

After plunging the dagger into the heart of the last remaining trafficker.

He turned his head to gaze upon the blood-soaked pair, still lost in slumber.

‘Only about forty minutes left before the shift change…’

To safely escape this place, he needed to slip away with roughly thirty minutes to spare.

So he decided to wring useful information from the two, imprinting fear by lulling them to sleep, then beating them awake, lulling them to sleep, then beating them awake, repeating the cycle dozens of times.

Thunk-

“Guh?!”

He drove the dagger deep into the sleeping man’s thigh, jolting him awake.

“You’d best keep that mouth shut. If you make a sound, I’ll stick this dagger right through your little friend.”

Nod nod!!

The kidnapper, desperate to live, nodded his head like a madman.

He didn’t particularly intend to spare the man’s life, but…

“Alright, I’ll spare you, but only if you answer truthfully?”

He made the trafficker a promise – a life for honest answers – in order to secure his cooperation.

“Tell me everything you know about your organization.”

“W-well, that’s…!”

“What’s the organization’s name, how many members are there, and why are humans cooperating with monsters…”

…

Midnight Auction.

A nocturnal auction house. Simply put, the name of an organization that specializes in human trafficking.

The organization consisted of approximately 400 kidnappers.

Mostly criminals, or those desperate enough for money, join its ranks.

However…

“I-I truly didn’t know…! That Lucy-sama was, was a succubus…!”

The trafficker claimed ignorance of Lucy, one of Midnight Auction’s executives, being a succubus.

He couldn’t even fathom how many monsters were lurking within the Magic Kingdom.

‘I can identify Doppelgangers though…’

By viewing someone’s status window, he could discern whether they were a Doppelganger or not.

But…

This status window, too, was not invincible. If the opponent was a vampire or succubus, it couldn’t confirm anything – that was the problem.

‘Thirty minutes left.’

Already, about thirty minutes remained until the next shift arrived.

“I found it…”

“You’ve worked hard.”

I could see Ms. Ella, as if she’d pried open every single wooden crate within this vast warehouse, rushing toward us with bolt cutters in hand.

“I’ll get you out right away.”

While Ms. Ella cut through the iron bars of the door…

“Do you want to live?”

“Yes…!”

“I want to kill.”

*Thwack-*

With a knife plunged into the heart of the man who had diligently spilled information.

“Sleep.”

At least to make the end not too painful, I lulled him into slumber.

*Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!*

Two iron bars severed, a hole large enough for a person to squeeze through had been made.

First, I pushed the still-sleeping, blood-soaked trafficking victim woman out.

Then, I, too, slipped through the iron bars.

“Shall we go?”