Chapter 72: Rina's Special Service (Patreon)

The door shut with a thud and a click, the lock sliding home and echoing through the quiet room. When Musachi turned around, all he could see was the dim hallway and Rina (Alexandrina Sebastiane), her head bowed so that her expression stayed hidden.

"What's wrong?"

Musachi eyed her, puzzled, and asked out of curiosity.

"Nothing. I'm just fulfilling the duty a maid owes her master."

She glided up to him, tilting her head slightly, and smiled.

"Would you like me to attend you while you bathe?"

Rina smiled at him and spoke softly.

"You're being so formal all of a sudden, I'm not used to it, Rina."

Faced with Rina's deferential bearing, Musachi scratched his head, at a loss.

He knew, of course, that Rina had always called herself a maid and spoke to him politely. But the two of them had long since moved past that.

Right now, though, it was like a friend who normally joked around with you suddenly putting on a prim voice and acting reverent. And your first reaction to that isn't excitement. It's confusion.

"Sorry. It's just that… private, one-on-one service like this is a first even for me."

Rina covered her small face with one hand, laughing in embarrassment.

Looking at her, Musachi suddenly remembered something and smiled.

"Then how about… we try something different?"

"Something different?"

Rina blinked, unsure what he had in mind.

"Remember what I said in the car? That I'd give you a massage if I ever got the chance? Isn't this the perfect time?"

"Wouldn't that be rather rude of me…"

Her cheeks flushed pink as she answered softly.

A maid letting her master wait on her…

"It's fine. There's no one else here."

Musachi said it with obvious enthusiasm, then steered Rina over and sat her down on the bed.

"Well… all right."

Rina hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

They were alone, after all. There was really no need to be so stiff.

The truth was, Rina had come up with all this after chatting with Ellen. Compared to anyone else, Musachi suited her temperament best, and she wanted to take a step further. As for how it would turn out, she didn't care much. Do your best and leave the rest to fate. Whatever the two of them ended up being, at least Rina herself wouldn't regret it.

"This harness… doesn't it wear you out, wearing it all the time?"

Looking at the restraining straps on Rina's maid uniform, Musachi's mouth twitched.

The straps were pulled taut, showing off Rina's flawless figure to perfection. But that also meant she had to put up with a certain amount of discomfort.

"You get used to it."

Rina laughed softly, then hooked a finger behind her back with a light tug, and the straps came undone.

Just like that, Musachi watched the tight straps lose their hold and spring outward.

And in that same instant, Rina was finally free as well.

Normally, bound by the straps, she looked striking, her generous curves prominent, but in truth they had been slightly held down. Now that the straps holding her shape were gone, the sudden rebound and the superb elasticity it revealed made Musachi's eyes go wide.

How to describe the sight? It was like jelly dropped on the floor, deforming and compressing under the impact and its own weight, then bouncing back in an instant. The sheer shock of it…

Not even Yixuan or Remielle could offer a sight like this.

Musachi's eyes were a ruler!

He could see plainly that Rina was at least one size larger than either of them.

And Remielle and Yixuan were already ridiculously well endowed, yet Rina outdid them both.

"Musachi…"

Seeing his glazed-over stare, Rina called his name, a little bashful.

"Ahem. It's nothing."

Musachi snapped out of it and answered awkwardly.

Rina reached up and gently kneaded her own neck and shoulders, then said with a laugh:

"Then I'm counting on you, Musachi. My shoulders really are sore. Probably from all the work lately."

Musachi glanced at the heavy weight on her chest and couldn't help scoffing inwardly.

He didn't think that was the cause. Anyone carrying two melons around all day would end up with sore shoulders…

Still, he said nothing. He just nodded, sat down behind her, and began gently kneading her shoulders.

"Mm…"

"What? Am I pressing too hard?"

Hearing her muffled moan, Musachi asked.

"No, it's just that your massage feels so good."

Rina's cheeks went pink. Making such an unseemly sound in front of someone was embarrassing, especially in front of Musachi.

She would never have done such a thing before. But for some reason, around Musachi she always found herself relaxing without meaning to.

Still, feeling his fingers working so carefully, Rina bit her lip.

"Lord Musachi, with my clothes on… the massage can't be very comfortable, can it?"

she said softly.

"It's fine either way…"

The words had barely left his mouth when Rina swept her long hair forward over her chest, exposing a swan-like slender neck and the back of her maid uniform.

"Please unzip it for me. It's a bit awkward from where I'm sitting."

Rina's voice was soft.

At that, Musachi swallowed.

"Okay."

He reached out and carefully pinched the zipper at the top of the uniform, then slowly drew it down.

After that, Rina lay down on the bed.

For a while neither of them spoke. Musachi simply pressed gently. When he finished with her neck and shoulders, he went on to knead her back, easing out the stiffness there.

And then… further down, until his thumbs reached the dimples at the small of her back.

Just as Rina was wondering what she would do if Musachi kept going, he stopped.

"All right, that's enough massage for today."

He lifted his hands away with a light laugh and said it with a grin.

If this went on, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back.

And clearly, Rina wasn't mentally prepared yet. If they continued, caught up in the moment, something might really happen between them.

Hearing his words, Rina fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

Then she slowly sat up, her back to him.

From his angle, Musachi could clearly see her small feet in white socks peeking out beneath the long skirt. Still a little nervous, Rina had them curled slightly, which made a person want to take them in hand and play with them.

When Rina had finished putting her bra back on with her back to him and pulled the dress up, she turned to look at him again.

Her meaning was obvious.

Before she even spoke, Musachi knew what she wanted. He nodded with a smile, stepped forward, and zipped her up.

"If no one's around to help, who usually does this for you?"

he asked, suddenly curious.

"The Bangboo, of course. The two little guys can help. And if all else fails, I can pull the zipper up with electromagnetic force."

Rina said with a soft laugh.

So you could've done it yourself all along, huh?

Musachi grumbled inwardly but didn't say it aloud. Both of them were quietly aware of the truth.

"Get some rest."

he said with a smile, once she was dressed.

Rina, however, showed no sign of leaving. She just smiled at him.

"What's wrong?"

Musachi looked at her, puzzled.

"Since you gave me a massage just now, it's only right that I carry out the duties of a maid in return."

…

Half an hour later.

"It's getting late. I'll take my leave."

After saying that, she hesitated for a moment, then kissed Musachi lightly on the cheek and slipped out of the room like a butterfly flitting through flowers.

"Whew…"

Only after the door had closed did Rina let out a long breath.

She glanced down the hallway and, finding no one around, hurried away.

A moment later, Sarah stepped out from around the corner of the corridor. She watched Rina go, deep in thought.

Then she walked up to Musachi's door and hesitated. In the end, though, she knocked softly.

"Who is it?"

Musachi's voice came from inside, followed by his footsteps as he came over and opened the door.

It was so late, and Rina had only just left. Surely she wasn't coming back? And she hadn't forgotten anything…

But when he opened the door, he found a different woman standing there.

She wore a women's suit and carried herself with a crisp, heroic air, like a business elite.

Hmm. She gave off the stereotypical "bad woman" vibe…

Still, something about her looked familiar…

"You're…"

Musachi frowned and looked at her, puzzled.

"May I come in for a word?"

Sarah smiled at him, her eyes brimming with excitement.

"Go ahead."

Musachi nodded and stepped aside to let her in.

Then he closed the door.

"So, who are you?"

Watching her sit down on the bed, Musachi took the chair, crossed his legs, and asked, still puzzled.

"You've forgotten me, Lord Taixu?"

Finally, Sarah dropped her disguise and looked at him with open emotion.

"You…"

Musachi studied her and fell into thought.

Then it came to him.

Ten years ago, during the Fall of the Old City, he had saved a squad, and one of the women in it had looked very much like the woman in front of him.

Hmm…

"It's you? The squad I rescued ten years ago? How did you end up mixed up with TOPS?"

Musachi frowned and asked.

"Not just TOPS, my lord. My true identity is that I belong to The Exaltists. And there are quite a few people inside TOPS now who are in contact with The Exaltists."

Sarah said respectfully.

"Oh?"

Musachi's frown deepened.

"Why did you join The Exaltists? Tell me everything you know."

"It's like this…"

Looking at him, Sarah slowly explained everything that had happened over the past ten years. At the time of the Fall of the Old City, she and her squad had belonged to a special operations team under the Anti-Hollow Department. During a mission, they had been abandoned, written off as expendable pawns.

That was when Musachi saved them. Afterward, though, Sarah did not go back to the Anti-Hollow Department with her teammates. She vanished into anonymity instead.

After all, their identities were sensitive. To this day, Sarah didn't know what mission they had been sent to carry out, or why their superiors had sent them to that location…

In ten years, all her other teammates had built new lives. Only Sarah was different. She had never stopped searching for the truth.

And she had searched, too, for Musachi, the man who had saved their lives that day.

Later, she joined The Exaltists, and by feigning devotion to the so-called Creator, she had climbed her way to her current position.

A position close to that of a Bishop.

And then, tonight, at the banquet, she had run into Musachi.

"So your next target… is Void Hunter weapons?"

Musachi raised an eyebrow.

"That's right. Before, people from Belobog Heavy Industries had their eyes on your weapon, but in the end they failed because you stepped in. Even so, they gathered enough results along the way. The Exaltists' new target is the Demon Blade in the hands of Void Hunter Hoshimi Miyabi. They want to steal the power of that blade."

"Can you get in touch with The Creator?"

Musachi frowned and asked the most crucial question.

"No. The Creator only contacts The Exaltists' Bishop, and only one way. Every plan is relayed to us by the Bishop, and we don't know who the Bishop is. The one before the last was slain by you ten years ago. The last one angered Yunkui Summit three years ago with his experiments and was put down by Yixuan. As for the current Bishop, he's very cautious. I don't know his true identity either."

Sarah shook her head slightly.

"Forget it. If you get any intel, tell me right away."

Musachi sighed.

"Understood."

Sarah nodded, then looked at him with some hesitation.

"What is it?"

"My lord, do you… require any attendance?"

As she spoke, Sarah undid a button on her blouse, revealing the outline of black lingerie beneath.

Musachi: ?

"First of all, I'm a normal man, so naturally I have desires. Second, I'm an atheist, and I can't stand religion and all that. To me, religion is just a tool rulers use to make ruling easier. Even if the Creator is that strong, in my eyes it's only a powerful life form, no fundamentally different from me or anyone else."

Musachi said seriously. He was lecherous, sure, but he still had his lines.

If he wanted, what kind of woman couldn't he get? But there was no point. People are people because they have their own minds. What Musachi wanted were people like Ellen and Remielle, with their own thoughts and their own personalities, not puppets brainwashed by religious fanaticism. That was meaningless, and it didn't suit his temperament.

"I… I understand."

Sarah nodded.

She had been ready to offer herself, and she hadn't expected Musachi to say that.

"Wait."

As Sarah turned to leave, Musachi suddenly remembered something and called out to her.

"Is there something else?"

Sarah asked, puzzled.

Just finding Musachi had already left her thrilled.

"Give me your hand."

Musachi said.

Sarah held out her pale, slender hand and placed it in his.

Holding that fair hand, Musachi felt no lecherous thoughts at all. Instead, his expression turned grave.

A moment later, a special mark was stamped onto the back of her hand.

"This mark doesn't do much, but it can shield you from certain brainwashing abilities. If anyone in The Exaltists tries something on you, their power will travel through the mark and reach me. The closer I am, the stronger the effect. You're in The Exaltists, after all. You'll need some means of protecting yourself."

Musachi mused for a moment, then explained slowly.

Since fully absorbing the fragment of The Creator's Authority, Musachi had gained a few other abilities, and this mark was something he had only recently worked out.

On the surface it seemed to be merely a projection of his own power onto another person. Whether any deeper power lay beneath it, Musachi hadn't yet figured out.

Still, he had a feeling that the bite he had taken out of The Creator back then must have hurt far more than he had imagined. The recent upheaval in Delin Hollow was probably The Creator's doing.

It wanted him badly.

And Musachi wanted it just as badly.

Or rather, he wanted its Authority.

Musachi had a hunch that The Creator wouldn't be able to restrain itself much longer. Given its temperament, sooner or later it would grow dissatisfied with these maneuvers and step into the game personally.

When that day came, if he played the information gap well, he might well be able to pull a fast one on it.

Besides, it probably wouldn't stake everything on The Exaltists.

Musachi hadn't dealt with The Exaltists much, but he knew that few of them had real ability. Most were a rabble of fools researching this and that.

Take the Sacrificial Beast technology The Exaltists had researched for over a decade. He had pulled it off with ease.

Of course, to be fair, it wasn't that The Exaltists were so useless. Musachi was simply that absurd.

Fantasy Manifestation was an outrageous Authority, so outrageous that even The Creator was salivating over it.

Musachi didn't know what relationship the Karma Core's Authority had with The Creator, but one thing was certain: the Enchainer's Authority couldn't be something The Creator could control at will. Otherwise it wouldn't covet his power.

Think about it. How outrageous was this Authority, really?

When he first became the Enchainer, Musachi hadn't yet recovered his current clarity of mind. Back then he was still The Creator's vassal. And then, on some whim, the Enchainer had a thought: where did I come from? The Authority kicked in right then and woke Musachi's consciousness.

Come to think of it, he could barely remember now how he had defeated the Ethereal consciousness that had been the Enchainer.

Anyway, the two of them had traded elbows inside his consciousness for who knows how long, until he finally took full control of the body. After that, he had climbed on the strength of the Authority, all the way up to the Fall of the Old City, when he tried to speedrun Hollow Zero and failed.

He was still a little envious of The Creator's Authority.

He had only gotten a single fragment, and look at all the abilities it had given him. What if he devoured The Creator entirely?

But Musachi knew that, with his current strength, killing The Creator wasn't realistic. Fortunately, The Creator's control over the Hollow was limited, like a bad signal, and that gave him room to maneuver.

For now, Musachi's plan was to hold still. He hadn't been idle these past days, but without the power to harm The Creator directly, every move he made had only been a probe that stirred things up.

He understood deeply that there was only one way to fix this world's problems: kill The Creator.

Still, things had finally taken a turn. Sarah's appearance was his chance. The Creator valued The Exaltists, as they were one of its means of controlling the surface. If Musachi seized this opportunity, he could find a way to hand The Creator a major blow, and maybe even seize another fragment of its Authority.

He touched his chest, and for a moment he couldn't help feeling a flicker of anticipation.

If The Creator took a fall at his hands twice, it would probably explode with rage.

Just as he had told Sarah, he had never thought of The Creator as a god. It was only a life form with tremendous power. He might well be able to kill it, and then become the god himself.

Turning over what was to come, Musachi slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Rina escorted Musachi back to the shop.

After waving goodbye to her with a smile, he sat down in his big swivel chair once more.

"What is it, Shopkeeper?"

Remielle asked, puzzled, noticing him staring at her from the side.

"Nothing. It's just that your mood seems a bit off."

Musachi rubbed his chin.

Today Remielle looked the same as ever, but a layer of gloom seemed to hang between her brows, and even her smile had turned strained.

Musachi didn't get it. Had something happened last night while he was away?

"It's nothing, you're overthinking it, Shopkeeper. Girls have bad days sometimes, you know."

Remielle brushed him off helplessly.

"That doesn't add up. It's too early for that. Didn't your period just end?"

Musachi raised an eyebrow and asked, puzzled.

"What do you spend your time paying attention to?!"

Remielle glared at him, embarrassed and annoyed.

"We live under the same roof. Some things are easy to notice, okay…"

Musachi muttered.

"It's not what you're thinking. Really, it's nothing…"

Remielle sighed helplessly.

She could hardly tell him that last night she had gone into the Hollow to investigate and found traces of what seemed to be her best friend, someone who had been dead for over a hundred years…

Even if she said it, Musachi might not believe her…

"Fine."

Seeing that she didn't want to talk, Musachi didn't press.

Just then, someone appeared at the door of Musachi's shop, gasping for breath.

"I… I finally made it…"

Phoenix stared at the bookstore entrance before her as though she had just survived all eighty-one tribulations of the Journey to the West.

Then she pushed the door open with one trembling hand and peered inside.