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Translator: uly
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Bound in Defeat
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Yuris came back to her senses and discovered herself bound tightly to a chair, her arms and legs shackled.
"I'm... tied up...?"
The armor she had originally been wearing was already gone, leaving her in just the undergarments she wore beneath it.
It was luxurious silk underwear, high-quality enough for anyone to see.
"To leave me in such a state..."
It was humiliating.
Not only had she been captured by the enemy, but to be tied up in nothing but her underwear.
It made her feel even more degraded.
Reproducing even her underwear was impressive, but recalling that the illusion was ultimately recreated from her memories, she steadied her mind.
'Calm down. There has to be a way to escape.'
She had only panicked because her original strength hadn't returned immediately. If she regained her composure and fought, she believed she had a chance to win.
She twisted her body this way and that to loosen the bindings on her hands and legs tied to the chair, but her body wouldn't budge an inch.
"This can't be..."
If her memory was correct, before falling under the illusion magic, she had been standing proudly on her own two feet.
She knew that illusion magic generally adapted to the caster's situation.
If her limbs were free, then in the illusion, her body should be free as well.
Illusions followed the laws of reality.
That was why illusion magic was rated as having near-zero combat power.
No matter how much it deceived the caster, it followed reality.
It was surprising that she couldn't properly use the power she originally possessed, but even more shocking that her body, which should have been free, was restrained.
'That illusion mage... just how skilled was that guy?'
Yuris thought of Max, the shop owner who had cast the illusion magic on her, the illusion mage himself.
At first glance, with his dazed expression and inexplicable smell, she had underestimated him, but he was clearly no amateur.
"Right. If you're going to experience defeat, better make it thorough."
It was for the best, in a way.
She knew better than anyone what happened to those captured by the enemy in war.
Especially high-ranking knights like her—they faced even worse fates.
Inflicting horrific pain to extract secrets from secret bases was commonplace.
And besides...
'I know full well what happens to women.'
No enemy treated prisoners gently after wringing every last bit of information from them.
She steeled her resolve.
She had already prepared herself for this.
Composing her thoughts once more, she looked around.
It looked like an underground dungeon.
Walls thick with mold, a ceiling heavy with moisture dripping water steadily.
Filled with leg irons, iron chains, and what appeared to be various torture devices, Yuris was bound to a rickety chair that seemed about to collapse at any moment.
"Hup! Hngh!"
No matter how much strength she put into it, the shackles showed no sign of loosening.
No power came at all.
For her, a knight captain—no, a swordmaster—to be unable to escape a mere worn-out wooden chair was utterly humiliating.
"Being weak... it's harder to endure than I thought."
Just the fact of being bound put her in a foul mood.
Having one's freedom of movement stripped away was profoundly agonizing.
It was then.
"You're awake?"
The door creaked open, and the bandit who had captured her entered.
His subordinates from earlier were nowhere to be seen.
"You came charging in with a sword, calling yourself Yuris, so I thought you were someone important. But you got snared in a trap meant for deer and flailed around. Quite the entertaining show."
He cackled as he approached her.
"Nice quality clothes, and a fine body too. Looks like some rich girl playing at being Yuris. Tough luck. I'm not some two-bit thug."
The bandit's foul stench, from not bathing for ages, wafted over her.
"Untie me right now. If you don't, I'll free myself and sever your neck."
"Kekeke, still talking big? Still think you're the undefeated knight captain?"
Yuris had no retort to the bandit's blatant mockery.
After all, right now, she couldn't even handle the bandit before her eyes.
On top of that, her state was humiliating, clad only in underwear.
Just thinking about it filled her with rage.
To be caught by a lowly man like this?
The sense of defeat stabbed deeper into her chest than she had imagined.
The helplessness of being able to do nothing gripped her heart like a vise.
"The great Lady Yuris, captured by mere bandits and brought here in her underwear. This wouldn't happen unless you wanted it. Right?"
The bandit sneered at her.
"Whatever. Doesn't matter to me if you're the real Yuris or not."
"What?"
"Why do you think I kept you alive?"
The bandit headed toward a table laden with torture tools.
She was confident she could endure any torture.
How many wounds had she sustained on the battlefield?
She was Yuris, the knight who had continued fighting even with flesh torn open.
Torture pain? She could bear it.
And...
'It's just an illusion anyway.'
Since it was an illusion, no matter how painful the torture, the shock wouldn't fully transfer.
That was why she had wanted to experience defeat through illusion.
"If you're trying to extract information through torture, give it up. No matter what you do, I can endure—"
"What are you talking about? Why would I give you pain?"
"...What?"
"You really don't know? Why I kept you alive?"
The bandit picked up a dagger from the torture tools and approached her step by step.
"You're pretty enough to keep around, so I have to play with you accordingly, don't I?"
The powerlessness of facing an enemy approaching with a dagger, unable to do anything.
Yuris bit her lower lip, chewing on the defeat.
With the conviction that enduring this would make her stronger, she looked up at him.
'I just have to endure it.'
It was then.
Slash.
"Krgh!"
Her bra, covering her breasts, was sliced by the dagger, coming undone and exposing her breasts to the world.
"You... what do you think you're doing!"
"What do you think? In a dreary mountain lair full of nothing but men, there's only one thing to do with a captured woman."
The bandit cackled.
The closer he got, the more intense the stench became.
Sweat.
And an unidentified musky odor.
The distinct smell from the male knights' bodies after training.
"You dare... to touch whose body..."
The bandit grabbed her resisting cheek with his right hand.
"Mmph!"
"Hah, too much talk. Didn't you think this far? A powerless girl like you barging into a bandit lair—you knew you'd get overwhelmed like this."
Then his rough, filthy left hand seized her pristine breast.
"Hngh!"
The bandit's grip on her breast felt all too real.
This couldn't be an illusion with such realistic sensation.
It was definitely an illusion.
But why did the sensation of her breast being grabbed feel so real?
I can't lose.
I have to endure.
I'm not the type to crumble from just having my breast grabbed once.
Humiliating, but bearable.
"Keke, so soft. Truly beautiful breasts."
The bandit cackled, groping and defiling her body with his hand on her breast.
Her breasts, which had never allowed a man's touch, were mangled out of shape by a stranger's hand.
Breasts spilling between his fingers.
Red marks from how hard he squeezed.
And then.
"Krgh!"
The moment the bandit bit the tip of her nipple with his teeth.
Yuris shuddered involuntarily.
"Oh? Is this our knight's weak spot?"
"W-what nonsense..."
"It's fine. I'll develop it slowly for you."
The bandit began obsessively targeting her nipple.
Licking with his tongue, sucking with his lips, occasionally nipping with his teeth—each time, her body twisted.
She tried writhing to escape, but with her limbs bound, avoiding his touch was impossible.
If only one arm were free.
Then at least she wouldn't suffer this indignity.
It was humiliating.
The thick sense of defeat tormented her relentlessly.
She felt awful.
Her heart pounded fiercely, a pressure like someone squeezing it hard with their hand.
Even knowing it was an illusion, the tactile sensation blurred the line between reality and fantasy.
I want to escape.
I want to end this humiliating situation right now.
The unprecedented defeat gnawed at her far more persistently than expected.
She regretted it.
Her impulsive decision to experience defeat.
This wasn't what she wanted.
Sure, if captured by enemies, this humiliation awaited, but the undefeated knight captain Yuris wouldn't face such treatment.
As an enemy commander, even in defeat, she'd receive some prisoner待遇, maybe even be released quietly.
But now was different.
The bandit before her eyes would never believe she was Yuris.
After all, Yuris could never lose to the likes of him.
Wait, why do I have to go through this?
The mage had clearly told her.
-This will reflect the user's desires. It will show you exactly what the knight captain desires.
This is what I wanted?
No.
This isn't what I wanted.
Just the sense of defeat from being captured by the enemy.
To build immunity to it...
She sensed instinctively.
Dangerous.
This is really dangerous.
"M-mage! Cancel! I cancel! Turn off the illusion right n—"
Slap!
"Gahk!"
A burning pain flashed, her vision flickering as her head snapped to the side.
Only belatedly did she realize the bandit had slapped her.
A metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
"Hah, what the hell's your problem? Mage? Illusion? Bullshit. This is reality. You charging at bandits, getting captured by me, ending up like this—it's all real."
"N-no, it can't be..."
The mage said it was an illusion.
It was an illusion...?
This is reality?
"No. You're not real..."
"Yeah? Guess I went too easy on you, milady. Time to show you something harsher."
The bandit grinned wickedly.
Seeing that smile, Yuris felt fear for the first time.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
'Hmm, is this okay?'
Unable to hold back, I lightly slapped her cheek, but she seemed more shocked than I thought.
Well, she had never been slapped by an opponent before.
From across from Yuris, as I acted the bandit, I looked down at her dazed face staring up at me and wondered.
'Should I stop here?'
But Yuris was the invincible Iron-Blood Knight.
She wasn't the type whose mental fortitude would crumble from a mere slap by a bandit.
In the illusion, she was bound with even her underwear exposed, but in reality, it was different.
In reality, Yuris sat on a plush sofa with fist-sized stones placed on each wrist and ankle.
Stones I had placed so she could more vividly feel the sensation of being bound.
Not truly tied, but the weight gave the illusion of real restraints.
That was how illusion magic worked.
The scene it showed changed based on the real-world state.
I considered using ropes for the leg irons scene, but that might cause misunderstandings when she woke, so I settled for stones.
A pro's trick, you see.
When she first encountered and was captured by the bandit, I had lifted her and sat her in the chair.
Perhaps because of that, in the illusion, Yuris was dangling in midair, her legs caught in deer-hunting ropes.
'Her reactions are better than expected.'
Thanks to her strong mana, she was highly responsive to external influences.
Of course, that didn't mean I could leave it entirely to the magic circle.
I'd experienced it during the demo.
If left fully autonomous, errors occurred in under 20 minutes.
Plus, it was using my precious mana, so I couldn't let it run wild.
Thus, when the bandit reappeared before her, I erased the subordinates and had only the controllable bandit leader appear.
I even inserted my mind into the illusion magic to act as the bandit.
The magic circle, having calculated what she wanted, kept showing me the results, and I reflected them by performing directly before her.
Yes, exactly.
Making her appear in underwear.
Slicing her bra with the dagger.
Even groping and sucking her breasts.
All of it was what Yuris's inner desires craved.
Of course, the slap wasn't something she wanted.
I did it to stop her from trying to break out of the illusion magic.
'Sorry for the slap.'
I'll apologize after.
⚙ System Notification ⚙
[Yuris's Desire: The bandit messing her up completely.]
That was the desire the magic circle analyzed.
'Is this really okay?'