Mana Seduction
Gilda changed our course a few times to try to make it more difficult for the Demon Lord reinforcements to follow us. Space is big. Unbelievably big. The fact that they found us in the middle of nowhere in the first place was odd. Anyway, I let Gilda make those decisions because she knew far more than I did about the subject.
My concern was the fact that it had been a long day. I needed some sleep, but first, I needed to settle some things with our new refugees.
My first concern was safety. Cordelia was still a question mark. I needed to figure out how to handle her if I wanted to trust her.
"Cordelia."
Her spine straightened, almost like a kid in school who had the teacher unexpectedly call on them.
"Yeah, what now?"
"We need to talk. Follow me."
Gilda just ignored me as she gave commands to the ship's systems for cleaning and repair of the aftermath of the attack. Millie, on the other hand, seemed to be put out that I was taking Cordelia away to talk privately.
"Hey, no fair! Why does she get to be with you alone?"
"Please wait here. This won't take long. I'll be back before you know it."
My smile seemed to calm her down. I looked over at Cordelia, who seemed nervous, but then followed me anyway. Once we were in the training room alone, I turned to her.
"I'm going to be using the slave crest now."
Her eyes got big, and her nervousness visibly increased, but she didn't try to leave or argue about it.
"I command you to tell me the truth. Don't leave any details out. If there is relevant information I didn't specifically ask, you are required to tell me anyway. Do you understand?"
She nodded her head slightly, but her eyes were darting around, looking for a way to escape. After dealing with her for a while, I kind of figured out that Cordelia was not a very honest person. She hid a lot of herself behind the bluster. I needed to peel that away and get down to who she really was if there was any hope of trusting her.
"Let's start at the beginning. Why did you hit Millie when you found her kissing me?"
Yeah, her reaction said she wasn't expecting that question. At first, I could see her trying to resist answering, but it was clear she was losing against the slave crest's compulsion. Eventually, she looked away and tried to answer in the least cooperative way possible, by muttering.
"I was worried for her safety. I knew you were dangerous, and I thought you might hurt her... or take her away from me."
That last bit, she spat out like it was physically painful for her to admit.
"Why would you be worried about me hurting her or taking her way? I was just kissing her."
She looked me straight in the eyes. It felt like she was accusing me with her glare.
"Your magic is too strange. You almost seduced me. How could I not be worried about what that harlot would do?"
"Wait. What? Seduced you? When did I ever do that?"
Her nostrils flared as well as her eyes. It seemed she thought I was the one lying now.
"When you put your hand on my core. You did something then that felt really good... it made me want to help you... it felt like we were meant to be together. Don't make me say weird stuff!"
I pondered it a bit as she kept glaring at me. Maybe she was talking about when I synchronized with the core and passed some of my mana into it. Was that some sort of seduction skill for dungeon cores?
"I need to understand something. I'm going to touch you and test one of my skills to see if I can understand what you are talking about. I need you to tell me what you feel."
"No! Don't... I'm not ready."
She looked more flustered than I could have expected. Her eyes kept darting away and then back to me like I was about to sexually assault her.
"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you or do anything strange. I'm just going to share some of my mana with you."
It took a few minutes to calm her down. She was obviously embarrassed because she was blushing a bit. Once she nodded that she was ready, I synchronized my mana with her wavelength and touched her hand to pass some mana into her.
Her knees buckled, and she started to fall to the floor. I quickly caught her. She was breathing heavily with her eyes glazed over. The face she was making reminded me of Millie when we kissed. Suddenly she grabbed my head and pulled me into a kiss. She was rough, almost frantic, like a starving person tasting delicious food for the first time. It wasn't a seductive kiss, but the passion was overwhelming, and I started to get into it. However, a few seconds later, she pushed me away, accusation in her eyes again.
"What did you do to me?! That's not fair!"
"I just gave you some of my mana... why are you freaking out?"
"No way! I've taken mana from hundreds of people, and I've never felt anything like that. It was like..."
She stopped in the middle of what she was saying. It looked like she was trying to resist the truth command I gave earlier but eventually, she lost the battle of wills and finished her statement.
"... it was like we're bonded. The same as I am with Millie, but more intense. I felt as if I wanted to give you everything, just to be with you. It's not fair..."
Mixed in with the accusation on her face, I could see longing too. I was shaken. I had no idea that sharing mana would affect her like that.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know it would cause you to lose your free will like that."
Suddenly she got angry at me.
"Huh! Who said anything about me losing my free will, you moron? It isn't like it is with the slave crest. I wanted it. I still want it now. Whatever it is, it feels good... Really good."
By the end, she was looking at the ground, trying to control her embarrassment. Even her ears were bright red. It was a relief that she didn't think I had tried to force myself on her.
I wanted to get to the bottom of how my mana had this effect, but I felt like right now, I'd be pushing my luck to pursue it any further. Maybe later, once things calmed down, we could try some controlled experiments.
I tried to focus on getting back on topic for now. I needed some sleep. But I felt like I could understand Cordelia's personality a bit better now. Maybe I could trust her a little bit.
"Alright, Cordie. If you feel up to it, maybe we could try to get to the bottom of why that happened later."
She didn't respond to being called Cordie. She just looked away like she was embarrassed and quietly nodded.
"For now, I just need to know I can trust you not to harm the ship or any of us. Can I trust you?"
It seems that made her mad again because she glared at me. The compulsion forced her to answer, but she tried to bury her reply under a bunch of bullshit to hide her true feelings.
"I suppose the new ruler of the galaxy can afford to graciously protect the passengers of this wimpy vessel. However, I suggest you allow me to claim this worthless ship as my dungeon territory. I will be able to monitor and protect all of the peons better that way."
I was starting to understand why Millie thought Cordelia was actually a good person... er, core. If she could do something about that ridiculous attitude, she might even be somebody I could trust with my back.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to Gilda and see what she says. Thank you for the concern over your humble servants, your majesty..."
I said that in the most deadpan way possible, but her eyes were sparkling with happiness and fresh motivation.
"That's right, peon! Be grateful for my magnanimous nature and great power!"
I let out a heavy sigh. I didn't want to abuse the slave crest, but I also didn't want to let her continue hurling insults and spouting bullshit all the time.
"Cordie..."
Her eyes were eagerly expectant. It made me almost felt sorry for what I was going to say next.
"Do you think you could try to not insult people so casually? It makes you seem nastier than you really are."
"Huh? I didn't really mean anything by it..."
"I get that now. But I'd like it if we could all get along. That's going to be harder if you antagonize everybody all the time."
She looked like she was thinking about it for a few moments. Eventually, she seemed to reach a conclusion.
"I'll try... but I expect you to make it worth my effort later."
That last bit was said with her face facing the floor again, ears pink with embarrassment. This woman... er, core... was definitely not good at being honest.
Anyway, I felt like I had resolved some of my trust issues with her. So we headed back to the others.
Millie seemed to be relieved when she saw us both in good spirits. She ran over to Cordelia and whispered something in her ear. Cordelia got red in the face again and just nodded, while Millie glanced at me and giggled. Gilda turned to me once she was done with whatever commands she was giving to the ship.
"Gilda, Cordelia wants to claim this ship as her dungeon territory. She says it will make it easier for her to protect us all. What do you think?"
The next chapter will be from Gilda's POV.
