stjorthotic Chapter 41: Miss Sword Empress Is A Pervert As Well
Chapter 41: Miss Sword Empress Is A Pervert As Well
Sword Empress’s POVUsing my lightness arts, I surged onto the deck in a blur, only to find utter pandemonium—a scene straight out of a nightmare battlefield.
"Raaaargh!!!!"
Crunch! "Arghhh!!"
"S-Save me!!"
A man with blood-red eyes, utterly devoid of reason, lunged at the passengers like a feral beast, sinking his teeth into their necks with savage hunger. No—upon closer inspection, they weren’t mere bites; jagged fangs pierced flesh, drawing forth crimson streams.
"H-He’s crazy! He’s biting people’s necks and sucking their blood!"
A quivering passenger, spotting the glint of my drawn sword, stammered out the horror in frantic detail.
"...Blood?"
"Y-Yes! It’s like those rumored vampires!"
"...A blood-sucking ghost."hread nagged—vital, overlooked...
’...!’
The storage hold. I’d abandoned him there, sequestered in haste.
My gaze swept the deck for any sign of his hooded form amid the milling survivors. Nothing.
"Hey! I’ll leave my sword here—if anything happens, shout loud! I’ll be right back!"
"Y-Yes?!"
I plummeted belowdecks to the hold, urgency clawing at my ribs. The threats were quelled, peril banished—yet instinct screamed to confirm his safety, a pull I couldn’t shake.
Bang!
"Are you alright?!"
The door flew wide, revealing him huddled in the corner’s gloom, a quivering bundle of cloak and fear.
Tremble tremble tremble.
"...Miss?"
"...What are you even—"
Hug!
He bolted upright, crashing into me with desperate force, arms locking around my waist like a vice.
"It’s you, right? Miss, it’s you? Not someone else?"
"W-Wait, if you cling like that—"
"You said you’d be right back, but I waited forever and you didn’t come... Do you know how scared I was alone...?"
Through the barrier of fabric, an unfamiliar warmth pressed insistent, stirring unwelcome awareness.
"G-Get off already!"
"If I let go, you’ll leave me alone again!"
"No! It’s over! It’s safe now!"
’So just get off!’
With effort, I pried him loose, his fingers fumbling to twine with mine in lingering plea. Prolonged contact risked a mire of embarrassment for us both.
"...It’s really safe now?"
"Y-Yes. The rampaging fiend’s subdued, so we’re heading back to land."
Perhaps the earlier drenching amplified it, but his scent enveloped me anew—heady, intimate.
That fleeting press replayed unbidden.
’Get a grip! You’re a Taoist! A Taoist shouldn’t harbor such shameless thoughts...’
"Well, my clothes are mostly dry now, so I’ll change and head up."
"Huh? Oh, got it. I’ll step out for a bit."
I sealed the door once more, inwardly lashing the errant fancies that surged like adolescent folly. My senses I reined tight, lest they betray me with echoes of his movements.
Thump thump thump thump.
’What is this, getting flustered over a man whose face and name I don’t even know!’
Seclusion had evidently eroded my composure; this flutter defied decades of discipline.
’Focus. This isn’t the time to get caught up in something like this.’
The Demon Cult loomed, this Blood Cult revival demanded probe, and my original quest for that lost boy pressed urgent—debts piled like storm clouds.
’So I need to set proper boundaries now...’
Creak.
"They’re still a bit damp, but wearable. Let’s go—people might get anxious if we’re the only ones missing up there."
He stepped forth, restored to his familiar garb.
"...Let’s go."
Trailing him topside, I rehearsed the words to redraw lines, fortify the chasm.
"And, Miss."
My resolve teetered as he turned, voice soft with earnest plea.
"I know it couldn’t be helped this time, but please don’t leave me alone if you can help it. It’s scary."
Snap.
A fragile thread in my mind frayed near to breaking.
"Hoo..."
That was perilously close. One slip, and I’d ford a torrent with no ford back.
It coursed hot already; laxity might propel me into irrevocable folly...
"But I’m always grateful to you, Miss."
"..."
...Looks like ascending to immortality is off the table.