When Uris regained consciousness, she found herself bound to a chair, her arms and legs tightly secured.
"I'm... tied up...?"
Her armor had already been stripped away. Instead of her steel plates, she was clad only in her undergarments—luxurious silk lingerie that she wore beneath her gear.
"T-to put me in such a state..."
Shame washed over her. It wasn't just being captured by the enemy; it was being bound before them in nothing but her underwear. It was a visceral humiliation. While she was surprised the illusion had recreated even her undergarments, she quickly reminded herself that illusions were constructed from the subject's own memories.
'Stay calm. There has to be a way out.'
She told herself she had only been flustered by the sudden loss of her strength. If she could regain her composure and fight, she still had a chance. She twisted her body, trying to loosen the restraints on her wrists and ankles, but she couldn't budge an inch.
"This makes no sense..."
According to her memories, she had been standing tall just before the spell took hold. Generally, illusion magic adapts to the physical state of the target. If one's limbs are free in reality, they should be free in the illusion. Illusions, after all, follow the laws of reality—which is exactly why illusionists were often considered to have near-zero combat effectiveness. No matter how much they deceived the mind, the body remained in the real world.
It was shocking enough that she couldn't use her innate strength, but that her body was physically restrained when it should be free was baffling.
'That illusionist... just how powerful is he?'
Uris thought of Max, the shop owner. At first, she had looked down on him because of his dazed expression and that inexplicable smell, but he was clearly no amateur.
"Fine. If I am to experience defeat, it is better to be thorough."
In a way, this was ideal. She knew better than anyone what happened to high-ranking knights captured in war. To make them divulge secrets, horrific torture was a daily occurrence. And beyond that...
'I know what happens to women in these camps.'
An enemy rarely treated a prisoner kindly once they had extracted their information. She braced herself. She had prepared for this. Looking around, she saw she was in what appeared to be a dungeon. Mold-covered walls, a ceiling dripping with moisture, and a room filled with shackles, chains, and various torture implements.
"Hmph! Nngh!"
No matter how much strength she exerted, the shackles didn't budge. She felt powerless. For a Knight Commander—a Sword Master—to be unable to break free from a mere wooden chair was the height of disgrace.
"Being weak... is hard to endure."
The mere fact of being bound was sickening. The deprivation of physical freedom was an agonizing experience. It was then—
"You awake?"
The door creaked open, and the bandit who had captured her stepped inside. The subordinates who had been with him were nowhere to be seen.
"You came at us with a sword, claiming to be 'Uris.' I thought you might actually be someone important. But watching you flail around in a trap meant for deer? That was quite a show."
He chuckled, approaching her.
"Your clothes are high-quality, and you've got a fine body. I figured you're some rich brat playing dress-up. Bad luck for you. I'm not just some common thug."
A foul, unwashed stench wafted from him.
"Release me at once. If you don't, I will break these bonds myself and take your head."
"Kekek, still talking big? You still think you're the undefeated Knight Commander?"
Uris had no reply to his mockery. In her current state, she couldn't do a thing to a single bandit. Worse, she was sitting there in her underwear—a situation so frustrating it made her blood boil.
I was caught by a man like this? The sense of defeat cut deeper than she had anticipated. The helplessness—the inability to do anything—felt like an iron fist squeezing her heart.
"The great Uris, captured by a bandit and brought back in her underwear. This wouldn't be possible unless it was something you wanted, right?"
The bandit sneered, walking toward a table covered in torture tools. Uris steeled herself. She had survived countless wounds on the battlefield. She was a knight who could fight through the pain of torn flesh. She could endure torture.
And besides...
'It's just an illusion.'
In an illusion, no matter how painful the torture, the full shock wouldn't translate to her real body. That was why she had chosen this method.
"If you intend to extract information through torture, you should give up. No matter what you do, I can endure—"
"What are you talking about? Why do you think I'm going to give you pain?"
"...What?"
"Did you really not know? Why I kept you alive?"
The bandit picked up a dagger and walked toward her.
"You've got a pretty face. I kept you alive so we could play. Don't you think you should play your part?"
The sensation of being unable to move as an enemy approached with a blade was terrifyingly powerless. Uris bit her lip, savoring the bitter taste of defeat. She looked up at him, convinced this process would make her stronger.
'I just have to endure.'
Suddenly—Slice.
"Kh-!"
With a flick of the dagger, he cut through the bridge of her bra. The silk gave way, and her breasts were bared to the air.
"Y-you! What do you think you're doing?!"
"What am I doing? What else is there to do to a woman captured in a camp full of men?"
The bandit cackled. As he drew closer, his smell became more pungent. Sweat. And a musky, heavy scent—the kind of smell male knights had after training.
"D-dare you...! Do you know whose body you are touching...?"
The bandit reached out and squeezed her jaw with his right hand.
"Mmph!"
"Haah, you talk too much. Didn't you already think this far? When a girl with no skills comes into a camp full of bandits, didn't you expect to be ravished like this?"
Then, his rough, dirty left hand gripped her clean, soft breast.
"H-ah!"
The sensation was too real. How could an illusion feel this visceral? Max had said it was an illusion. So why was the feeling of his hand on her breast so vivid?
I can't lose. I have to endure. She wouldn't break just because her breast was grabbed once. It was humiliating, but she could take it.
"Kuku, so soft. Truly beautiful breasts."
The bandit chuckled, kneading her flesh and violating her form. Her breasts, which had never allowed a man's touch, were squeezed out of shape by his foreign hands. He gripped her so hard that red marks began to bloom on her skin.
And then—
"Kh-ah!"
The moment the bandit bit down on her nipple with his teeth, Uris's entire body shuddered uncontrollably.
"Ho? Is this our Knight's weak point?"
"W-what nonsense..."
"It's fine. I'll take my time developing you."
The bandit began a persistent assault on her nipples. Licking with his tongue, sucking with his lips, and occasionally biting down—every time he did, her body arched and twisted. She tried to move away, but bound hand and foot, escaping his touch was an impossible dream.
If only one arm was free. If only she could move, she wouldn't be subjected to this...
It was disgraceful. The heavy sense of defeat tormented her. Her heart was racing so fast it felt like someone was squeezing it. Even though she knew it was an illusion, the sensations were so confusing that the line between fantasy and reality began to blur.
I want to escape. I want this humiliating situation to end right now.
The defeat she had never experienced was more persistent and cruel than she had imagined. She regretted it. She regretted her arrogance in wanting to "feel" defeat. She hadn't wanted this.
Surely, being captured would lead to such disgrace, but Uris, the undefeated Knight Commander, shouldn't be treated like this. She was an enemy general; she should be treated with a modicum of respect as a prisoner of war.
But this was different. This bandit didn't believe she was Uris. To him, Uris was someone who could never lose to the likes of him.
Wait... why am I being subjected to this?
The mage had told her: "It will reflect the user's desires. It will show the Commander exactly what she desires."
I wanted this? No. I didn't want this! I just wanted the sense of defeat from being captured... to build immunity...
Her instincts screamed. Danger. This was truly dangerous.
"M-mage! Cancel! I cancel the spell! Cancel it right now and turn off the illu—"
Slap!
"Keh!"
Hot pain flared, her vision flickered, and her head snapped to the side. It took her a moment to realize the bandit had slapped her across the face. She could taste the metallic tang of blood in her mouth.
"Haah, what has this bitch been raving about? 'Mage'? 'Illusion'? Stop talking shit. This is reality. You daring to attack my camp, being captured, and being treated like this—it's all real."
"N-no... that can't be..."
The mage said it was an illusion. He said...
This is reality?
"No... you're not real..."
"Is that so? I guess I've been too gentle. I need to give our lady a taste of something a bit more potent."
The bandit smiled wickedly. Looking at that smile, for the first time in her life, Uris felt true terror.
'Hmm, is this okay?'
I had gotten a bit carried away and slapped her, but the shock seemed greater than I expected. Well, I suppose she's never been hit in the face by anyone until now.
As I acted out the part of the bandit across from Uris, I looked down at her stunned face and thought:
'Should I stop now?'
But Uris was the invincible Iron-Blooded Knight. She wasn't the kind of woman whose mental strength would crumble just from being slapped by a bandit.
In the illusion, she was stripped of her underwear and bound, but in reality, she was different. Real-life Uris was sitting on a plush sofa with stones the size of fists placed on each of her wrists and legs. I had placed them there so she could feel the weight and sensation of being bound more realistically. It wasn't actual rope, but the pressure of the stones gave her the illusion of being tied down.
That's how illusion magic works. The scene changes based on the physical state of the reality. I thought about using actual rope, but I was worried she might misunderstand when she woke up, so I settled for the stones. It's a trick from an experienced "developer."
When she first encountered the bandits and was "captured," I had picked her up and sat her on the sofa. Perhaps because of that, in the illusion, she ended up dangling from a deer trap.
'The reaction is better than I thought.'
Maybe it was because of her strong mana, but she was highly susceptible to external stimuli. Of course, I couldn't leave everything to the magic circle. I learned during the demo that if you let it run autonomously, it crashes in twenty minutes. Plus, it was using my precious mana, so I had to stay in control.
That's why when the bandit reappeared, I erased the lackeys and only manifested the "Boss" whom I could control directly. I projected my own consciousness into the illusion to play the part.
The magic circle, having calculated her inner thoughts, kept feeding me data on what she wanted, and I acted accordingly.
Yes. That's right. Making her sit there in her underwear. Slitting her bra with a knife. Even touching her and using my mouth.
All of it was what Uris's inner desires wanted. Well, except for the slap. I only did that because she was trying to force herself out of the illusion.
'Sorry about the slap.' I'll apologize when she wakes up.
[Uris's Desire: Wants the bandit to make a mess of her.]
That was the desire the magic circle analyzed.
'Is it really okay to keep going like this?'