Chapter 149: Donna Tea? No, It's Chelsea Tea
The activities in the hot spring hotel lasted for a long time.
By the end, Chelsea, still maintaining Cornelia's appearance, lay weakly on the tatami floor of the room.
Her legs trembled involuntarily.
At first, Chelsea had put up a symbolic struggle, uttering threats and the like.
But later, she became like a dead fish, completely motionless.
Only when she couldn't hold back would she make any sound.
Feeling somewhat bored, Yotsuba Mahiro leaned down and whispered softly into the girl's ear:
"How about we make a deal? Show me your true appearance, what do you say?"
"Hmph... Don't even think about it!"
Chelsea gritted her teeth, closed her eyes tightly, and refused to look at the despicable man before her.
"Heh, it's fine if you don't want to revert. The Cornelia you're impersonating has a unique charm, after all."
Mahiro smiled indifferently. In truth, he had already learned about the girl's true appearance through the intelligence he had analyzed.
Back when the girl had disguised herself as Falcon and flown in the sky, he had already noticed. To be honest, although it was still early, Chelsea now looked no different from how she appeared in the original story.
She was very youthful and beautiful, exuding the vitality of a girl next door, or perhaps a pure-hearted junior.
However, he had developed an inexplicable interest in this Gaea Foundation.
In terms of effect, it shared similarities with the Kushima Family's "Parade"—both could disguise and impersonate others. But purely from the perspective of transformation, the Gaea Foundation was superior, as it could even transform into animals. The only question was, what were its limits?
But now.
Freed, Chelsea lay alone on the tatami, slightly opening her eyes to glance at Mahiro sitting not far away.
She lowered her head bitterly.
Even though it was her first time, the person in front of her was looking at the appearance of another woman. An indescribably complex emotion welled up in her heart.
As the head of the Imperial Assassination Unit, Mahiro was handsome, powerful, held significant authority, and possessed immense wealth. By all accounts, he seemed like an ideal marriage partner...
Unfortunately, he was the enemy...
No, not necessarily.
Chelsea suddenly recalled a conversation she had with Babara earlier, discussing how the intelligence about Mahiro had likely been intentionally leaked to the Revolutionary Army by Prime Minister Honest of the Empire.
If that were the case, didn't that mean Mahiro was at odds with that fat pig of a minister?!
Perhaps there was still a chance... What on earth are you thinking, Chelsea?!
Feeling the lingering sensations in her body, Chelsea quickly shook her head, trying to dismiss the wild thoughts. Suddenly, she found herself being lifted up again.
"Bastard, are you not done yet?! Ha—?"
Abruptly, Chelsea tightly gripped his shoulders, her fingertips turning pale from the pressure. She curled up like a cat, arching into his embrace as if she wanted to pin him down.
The sweat on her body drenched the tatami.
It was an astonishing amount of sweat.
"Hey, Miss Chelsea, are you okay?"
"Hey, Miss Chelsea, are you still conscious?"
"Hey, Miss Chelsea, you..."
After his three consecutive questions, it took a long while before Chelsea seemed to regain her breath, letting out a long sigh like someone drowning who finally breathes fresh air again.
Even her stretched-out slender legs slowly lowered back down.
"Oh, back to your senses? How are you feeling?"
The expression on the girl's face right now was truly rare to see.
That mix of resentment with a hint of melancholy and an indescribable emotion—if possible, he really wanted to record it.
He could take it back to show Lina, so she could mimic this expression during their next play session.
But then, he noticed the girl's lips seemed to be moving slightly, as if she were saying something.
"What are you saying? I can't hear you."
Mahiro lowered his head, deliberately bringing his ear closer.
Only then did he clearly hear her murmuring: "...Ba...bastard... Did you have to be so sudden... I thought... I thought I died..."
"Ha, are you confused about your position here, Miss Chelsea?"
"You..."
Chelsea was immediately speechless, raising her head to glare at him with hatred, as if trying to kill him with her eyes.
"You... knew my identity from the beginning?"
"That's right. I know everything about you, including your name and the Teigu you use, Gaea Foundation. It's just a pity you foolishly delivered yourself right to my doorstep."
"Bastard, so you've been toying with me from the start!"
"Mhm, correct. Congratulations on getting it right, but no reward... If you don't mind, I could give you some of my ancestral DNA though."
"Keep that disgusting thing to yourself!"
The girl gritted her teeth in anger, like a kitten with its fur puffed up.
However, secretly she was quite shocked that information about her had been leaked to this extent.
Who could it be?
The assassination syndicate?
No, impossible—they had no reason to sell her out.
Could it be the Revolutionary Army...?
Chelsea didn't know, and at this point, she had no interest in pursuing the matter further.
After all, whether she could make it out of this alive was still unknown.
Ahh... and I'm still so young, with so many things I haven't seen or experienced yet. What a pity...
As an assassin, she had long anticipated this day might come.
She just never expected it to arrive so soon.
But with this realization, the girl suddenly found clarity, unusually raising her head to meet his gaze directly.
"Oh? Getting proactive now. Have you come to terms with something?"
"Hmph, get me some water. I'm thirsty!" Chelsea demanded without courtesy.
Her voice was indeed somewhat hoarse, and she had perspired quite a bit—it was impressive she wasn't dehydrated given how much liquids she'd lost.
So Mahiro didn't refuse.
"Alright, what kind of water do you want?"
"Just ordinary water..."
Chelsea replied instinctively, but the moment she finished speaking, she immediately realized something was wrong.
"Bastard, are there really any non-ordinary types of water?!"
"Of course there are. For example, water mixed with the highest-spec computer components, or something like Donna Tea... Oh wait, in your case, it should be called Chelsea Tea instead... Hmm, and it would be candy-flavored."
Mahiro put on a studious expression, carefully thought it over, then nodded with great certainty.
After all, Chelsea really loved sweets—she even carried a faint, sweet candy scent about her.
It smelled quite pleasant.
As for Chelsea, although she couldn't understand any of these references, that didn't stop her from being utterly shocked.
Especially by that last one!
Her instincts told her it definitely couldn't be anything good!
But before she could voice her complaints, she heard Mahiro snap his fingers, and then a glass of water was handed to her.
Contained in a transparent glass was the most ordinary clear liquid.
Seeing this, Chelsea completely froze.
How had this glass of water appeared? What had this man just done? He hadn't even moved from his position...
"What, afraid I put computer components in it? Don't worry, unless you specifically ask for it, I wouldn't do such sneaky things. If I were going to do it, I'd do it openly."
"Ah, um..."
Still dazed, Chelsea nodded blankly, then picked up the glass and took a small sip.
"So refreshing..."
"Of course. All natural, harmless—this is genuine mountain spring water."
"How did you do that? A Teigu?"
"Trying to uncover my secrets?"
Mahiro smiled slightly, immediately snapping Chelsea back to awareness. Then she saw that smiling face casually tell her: "Well, it's fine to tell you. This isn't a Teigu, just ordinary Material Conversion, or you could call it alchemy."
Actually, this was the essence of alchemy.
Like making dreams come true or words becoming reality, it could transform anything into what you desired.
It might seem like it appeared out of thin air, but actually it was just converting the components of air into matter.
As for questions about cost and energy consumption, he wasn't too clear—he only knew he expended magical power, and the rest could be considered magic.
After all, even now he hadn't fully mastered alchemy, only reaching the level of being able to use it freely.
Or perhaps with human knowledge and comprehension abilities, it was simply impossible to glimpse its true nature.
But even explaining it like this was enough to leave Chelsea utterly stunned.
"So amazing..."
She even forgot about her current situation.
If this ability could be used for the Revolutionary Army, wouldn't that...?
"You're thinking about how to persuade me to join the Revolutionary Army, right?"
"How did you know..."
Chelsea replied instinctively, then immediately covered her mouth after speaking.
"Relax, I don't have any cheap abilities like mind reading. You just wrote your thoughts all over your face. And there's no need to act like that—you're not the first one who's tried to recruit me. The last was Najenda. So, do you have anything else to say?"
"Then you... Mmph!"
Chelsea spoke again, but before she could finish, she let out a small cry of distress.
"Bastard... Again? Are you some kind of human-shaped Teigu? Don't you ever need to rest?!"
"It's only been a little over an hour since last time. Besides, we just had some water and conversation. What? You get to enjoy all the pleasantries while I can't have my fun?"
With things having reached this point, Chelsea couldn't resist anyway—what else could she do?
All she could manage was to press her lips together, clench her teeth, and do her utmost to avoid making any embarrassing sounds amid the storm.
Just as things were getting physically intense, sudden crisp knocking came from outside.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The abrupt knocking made Chelsea even more... tense.
"Lord Yotsuba, are you there? It's us, Tsukushi and Akame. We..."
"Alright, come in."
"You—?!!!"
Chelsea, disguised as Cornelia, widened her eyes slightly in disbelief as she stared at Mahiro.
This guy actually told them to come right in—didn't that mean she would...!
However, no matter what Chelsea was thinking or planning to do at this moment, it was already too late.
The door had already been pushed open, and three girls walked in.
They were none other than Tsukushi and the Akame-Kurome sisters.
"Lord Yotsuba, have you..."
The three girls who had just entered through the door froze momentarily, their initial words trailing off as they gasped in shock:
"...Co-Cornelia?!!!"
If there was anything in their lives that had shocked them more than seeing Cornelia completely naked and clinging to Mahiro, they couldn't think of it.
While this was somewhat expected and understandable given the circumstances, still...
"Cornelia! Do you know how worried we've been? How long we've been searching for you? And you just sneak off to have fun by yourself!"
Tsukushi puffed out her cheeks and, disregarding the authority Cornelia usually commanded, stepped forward with Akame to try and pry Cornelia off him.
Unfortunately, the other party was holding on too tightly, her arms locked firmly around him and refusing to let go, creating a temporary stalemate.
As for why Kurome didn't join in—was it out of respect for Cornelia's authority?
No.
She was still too stunned to react.
"Alright, alright, she's not Cornelia."
Seeing that neither side would back down, Mahiro interrupted their tug-of-war over his body and explained:
"This one is an assassin from Oarburgh. She disguised herself as Cornelia, and I caught her. We're currently in the middle of interrogation."
"Ah..."
Tsukushi and Akame immediately released their grip.
However, watching the way the other was clinging to Mahiro, they couldn't help but show expressions of resentment and indignation.
Although it was called an interrogation, having learned physiology from Mahiro, they knew exactly what this implied.
They could do this kind of thing too, and they'd do it better...
Meanwhile, Kurome, having regained her composure, had already drawn the katana at her waist and pressed it directly against Chelsea's neck, coldly stating:
"Lord Yotsuba, may I cut her down?"
This way of asking gave him a strong sense of déjà vu, much like Hiruko Kohina's catchphrase—always asking permission before doing anything.
But the look in Kurome's eyes was serious; she genuinely wanted to cut Chelsea down.
My sister and I haven't even received Lord Yotsuba's favor yet, and this mere assassin...
"Eek!"
Chelsea, shrinking in his arms, let out a small whimper of fear.
From the cold blade, she sensed an unprecedented, intense killing intent. And for some reason, when the blade touched her shoulder, she felt an itch around her neck...
"Alright, Kurome, put the sword away. I still have use for this girl."
"Oh..."
Kurome puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, her gaze fixed intently on the girl's smooth, jade-like back.
No matter how reluctant she was, she would obediently listen to Mahiro and sheathe the Kiriichimonji.
"Wait!"
At that moment, Tsukushi suddenly exclaimed and urgently said to Mahiro, "Lord Yotsuba, if the Cornelia here is an imposter, then where is the real Cornelia? She and Taeko have been out for a long time, and there hasn't been any news from them at all!"
Though she was also quite jealous, her greater concern at the moment was Cornelia's safety.
"Cornelia hasn't returned yet after going out with Taeko, that's correct. But just so you know, Taeko is also an assassin from Oarburgh."
"What?!!!"
As he dropped this bombshell, several girls simultaneously gasped in shock!
"Lord Yotsuba, hurry up!"
In the forest, Tsukushi kept urging Mahiro, with Akame and Kurome following closely behind.
Why were they here?
Naturally, because Tsukushi couldn't rest easy about Cornelia's safety, she had asked him to come out and search, even though he had told her there was no need to worry about Cornelia's safety at all.
Better safe than sorry—she feared Cornelia might actually encounter some misfortune.
As for Chelsea, he had left her in the room, securely tied up with ropes and tossed aside.
A short while later, they heard intense fighting sounds coming from deep within the forest.
"Over there!"
The girls quickly quickened their pace.
Soon, they found Cornelia at the ruined structure in the forest, only to discover she was locked in combat with an enemy.
"Haaa!!!"
"What...!"
They saw Cornelia lift a massive boulder from the ground—a gigantic rock the size of a two-story building—and hurl it directly at Taeko.
Under the heavy shadow cast by the boulder, Taeko was nearly paralyzed with fear.
Is this something a human could do?!
However, Taeko didn't give up. Instead, she sheathed her ōdachi at her waist.
"In that case, I'll surpass my limits too!"
Taeko slowly lowered her stance, holding her breath and focusing intently, her eyes fixed firmly on the massive rock.
"Mine Watari!!!"
Clang—
Drawing her blade, a flash of steel followed!
A sharp sword aura cleanly split the boulder in half down the middle!
"Indeed, she's not as easy to deal with as I imagined."
Cornelia crouched low, breathing heavily.
Sweat trickled down her cheeks, spreading in stains on the ground.
She had tried every method—close-quarters combat, secondary acceleration—yet no matter what, Taeko refused to engage in close combat with her.
Almost every time, they would separate immediately after contact.
It seemed Taeko understood the gap in their combat skills and would never allow herself to be drawn into close-quarters combat.
"In that case..."
Cornelia clenched her fists and charged fiercely toward Taeko.
"I'll help too."
Seeing this, Tsukushi no longer remained an observer. She pulled out Prometheus and aimed at Taeko, planning to provide support from the side.
But Mahiro reached out and stopped her.
"Keep watching. Don't interfere."
Not only Tsukushi, but even Akame and Kurome, who wanted to step in and help, were held back by him.
He could see it.
Cornelia seemed to have discovered the secret of the Crushing King. What followed would be her moment of transformation and rebirth, surpassing her limits!