Master’s Smile

Chapter 29: Laladi’s Affection

“Phew… She’s finally gone…”

Laladi wriggled a bit as she moved, her eyes displaying a tint of rage. She let out a single, long sigh.

Just when she’d found herself in the perfect position to stick to the Master and drift off in the best of moods, Maho had raised her voice and ruined the whole thing for her. If Laladi hadn’t noticed that the Master was trying to calmly defuse the situation, she would have likely turned her to fertilizer for her plants.

Maho should be thankful, Laladi mused, for the deep connection she shared with the Master.

“It’s not your fault, Master! It’s all because of that damn magician, she just couldn’t shut her mouth-hole!”

The Master had turned to her, clearly regretful and full of apologies which she found herself denying with great vehemence. The Master had done no wrong in her eyes, after all.

Oh no, it was all that Maho’s fault, what with her weak-willed mindset and her overall annoying attitude. But now that the Master himself was showering her with his apologies, she couldn’t hold back her giddiness and began grinding her face into the Master, as if she were marking her territory.

She did so mostly because of the suspicious air Maho had just carried in with her. She had no doubt that Maho was no match for her as far as her skills in battle went, but since the Master seemed ever so adamant on not murdering her, she couldn’t even off her in secret.

While she didn’t even remotely consider her as irritating as the other members of Yelquchira, she still had no way of knowing how things could unfold from here on out.

“Also, Lala didn’t think the Hero Party would be from another world. It explains why they came out of nowhere, though.”

Laladi squirmed a bit as she repositioned herself, hugging her knees to her chest. As pleasant as it was for her to cling, being on the receiving side was also exceptionally pleasurable.

She managed to convince the Master to embrace her from behind. Though he might have felt imposed upon, the Master, kind-hearted as he was, lightly wrapped his arms around her.

While she basked in the glow of her own ecstasy, Laladi still muttered to herself about the shocking truth she’s gleaned by eavesdropping on Maho’s rant.

Even Yelquchira’s own network of information hadn’t had the slightest clue where the Heroes had come from. Them being from another world entirely certainly cleared that up. Even with the connections Yelquchira had, they could hardly be expected to be knowledgable in the matters of another universe, or that their connections would span that far.

“What? You knew about this, Master?”

At the admission that he’d been aware, Laladi stared at the Master with wide eyes. She asked again, and the Master offered her his bright smile and gave a nod.

The surprise didn’t stop there. The Master then told her that he was equally aware of the prior generation of Heroes. He told her that those heroes had also come here from a different world.

“…But the old generation of Heroes was around the last time Demons and Humans were at each other’s throats. That has to be more than a hundred years ago, right?”

That was when Laladi recalled something, a little factoid she’d overheard in one of Anat’s grossly dull lecturing sessions. If that conversation was true then the Master was, at the very least, over a hundred years old.

While the Master continuously asserted that he was a human being, just eighty years was considered a fairly lucky life estimate for one, with something like fifty years holding true for the more unlucky portion. Could humans even go past a hundred years with that sort of span? Furthermore, could they maintain such a youthful appearance for that long?

In any case, as far as Laladi was concerned… or rather, as far as the whole Yelquchira guild was concerned, it didn’t matter whether their Master was a human or not. The Master was their Master, and that was all they wanted.

“…That face is making Lala’s heart burst! She doesn’t even care how old you are anymore, Master!”

The Master’s smile had turned to one that seemed lost in reminiscence of the old days, and Laladi, losing all semblance of self-control, tackled him and began inhaling his scent with vigour.

It wasn’t just her heart that was about to burst at this point, but also those furthest depths of her abdomen, those oh-so treasured by womankind. But there were none around but her, a woman, and the Master, a man. There was no problem to speak of, clearly.

‘Ah…! Is this it?! Is this where Lala gets to put her plans into action?!’

Laladi’s snapped open, and she called upon her secret plan, the same that she had kept hidden away for the longest time. This plan was meant to ensure that she could spend plenty of time fooling around with the Master.

This was the ‘Master Capture-and-Confinement Plan’. The ‘L-Plan’, for short. The L referred to two things here. One was the first letter of her name. The second was the act of laying her hands on him and taking him away.

The plan itself was simple. All she had to do was seize the Master and take him with her to some secluded little haven where they’d never be found. There, they’d spend the rest of their lives together in decadent bliss.

The first issue that presented itself was just how she could even capture the Master. That had been surprisingly easy to overcome. Of greater concern was the second issue, namely where she could even find a place where she’d never be found.

If the Master just up and vanished from the face of the earth, then the other guild members would undoubtedly fall into a frenzy looking for him. And if he just so happened to disappear with her, then she could expect both a Master Rescue Troupe and a Kill Laladi Coalition at her door. A deadly spat with the other members was a bit much, even for Laladi. Also, it would be eight against one. That just wouldn’t be fair.

‘Hehehn. It doesn’t matter. Lala still has a special place in mind.’

Laladi formed a triumphant grin. All she needed was some hidden spot that none of the others knew about, and there would be no need to get down and dirty.

And as it so happened, Laladi knew a place that fit the bill. All she had to do was summon an enormous flower, have its petals close with them inside and live her life with the Master.

She could even hide the flower itself deep in the earth. It was the perfect plan. No one would ever find them. Kühling or Sorglos might have a better shot at doing so, though, but Laladi assumed that she could take those two out without too much trouble and the matter would be resolved.

That was how she planned to bring about their own little world, far removed from everything. Literally. The Master, as resistant against lures and temptation as he was, would eventually cave after spending days upon days in a space alone with a youthful maiden such as herself.

If one could only forget about just how lacking in common sense Laladi was, and the many, many things that implied, they would surely find an adorable young girl inside her. Even kings would have her as a concubine, she thought, which meant that many days full of temptation should make everything end well for her.

‘Mmmmnngh…! This might be a little much… for Lala to handle.’

Just visualising her future was enough to make Laladi’s body burn. Her eyes were practically melting, and it was those very eyes, those rather perilous eyes, that didn’t move away from the Master. Her cheeks flushed and her breath went wild.

‘…Lala could do it right now, couldn’t she?’

The most dangerous of choices began forming in her mind. There were none around to get in her way, after all.

A quick search for any nearby presences made it clear that not a single member of the guild was nearby. Even Sorglos, who was always so keen to stalk the Master, was nowhere to be felt.

Was their ‘infiltration’ taking longer than planned? Upon remembering how ridiculously powerful the others tended to be, she thought that that couldn’t be it. They had to have some kind of devious plan going for them. They had to.

Entirely blind to her own shortcomings, that was the only thing she could think of her allies doing. In that case, it was high time to put the L-Plan into action.

‘Lala’s sorry, Master. You just have to bear with it for a while. L-Lala’s going to make sure you love her… She just has to make you love everything about her!’

She made sure to offer the master her silent apology, then spun her gaze to him. It was time to use her powers. She was about to summon an unprecedentedly huge flower.

“Huh…?”

That was when the Master spoke. The sky was beautiful, he said. Led by his words, she too gazed upwards. The stars shone beautifully in the heavens, looking down on the world as it was covered by a veil of night.

Laladi, who would rather be captivated by the sight of the Master, couldn’t say she saw anything particularly gripping. The Master, on the other hand, saw it differently. He looked up to the sky, his smile as bright and innocent as a child’s.

“…Ha-pheww…”

Seeing him act that way, Laladi let her powers slip away. If the L-Plan was ever to be put into effect, and the two of them would dig themselves deep into the ground, then there would be no way they could look up at the sky.

What if the Master were to become despondent because of that? Laladi felt that she might as well die if that ever came to pass.

It didn’t really matter how much she wanted to make a whole world for just the Master and herself. If he didn’t wish for it himself, then there just wasn’t any point. She’s had it all planned out; capture and confine the Master, then just keep fooling around with him. But if he couldn’t get into it, then fooling around meant nothing to her.

“Master? Do you mind if Lala gets closer?”

The Master responds to her question, asking her in turn just how she could even do that. She was already sitting there, knees against her chest, and sticking to him. He had absolutely no idea how she could even do anything that would bring her closer.

Laladi, having earned his passing and unsure acquiescence, sidled so much closer that her petite derrière was already grinding up against him, looking for the perfect position to sit.

Once she’d finally found the position most comfortable to her, she leaned into him and pressed her right cheek into his form, guild crest and all.

She’d kept it hidden from the Hero Party, but she had still wanted to wear the mark with pride. She wanted to stress that the Master was indeed, and without question, part of their guild.

Sadly, they had all unanimously decided that now wasn’t the time for such things. They’d made that agreement during the regular meeting the Master had been kept out of. For now, she just had to be patient.

It was also just about time for their ‘Present Procurement Plan’ to kick into gear. It wouldn’t be long before the whole world knew about Yelquchira, and its Master. She just had to wait for that day to come.

“Master. One of these days, Lala’s gonna give you the whole night sky as a present.”

Laladi turned a bewitching smile to the Master, and he smiled back at her. For now, she was content with just spending time alone with the Master.

She could leave the L-Plan for when the ‘present’ was ready.

Those were the thoughts that ran through Laladi’s mind as she leaned her whole weight against the Master.