Chapter 375 - 375 - A Mage Who Doesn't Stack Buffs? Is That Right?

Under the warm light of the desk lamp, three grimoires lay side by side on the desk.

From left to right: Arcane Intellect, blue-covered with purple patterning; Power Word: Fortitude, white-covered with gold patterning; and Blessing of Might, likewise white-covered with gold patterning.

...

[Name]: "Magic Guide: Arcane Intellect"

[Origin]: Warcraft series

[Type]: Grimoire

[Effect]: Grants the Arcane Intellect effect to all Familia and allied members within a certain radius, raising their Magic by 10% for 30 minutes.

[Description]: Mage, where's the buff?!

...

[Name]: "Magic Guide: Power Word: Fortitude"

[Origin]: Warcraft series

[Type]: Grimoire

[Effect]: Infuses all Familia and allied members within a certain radius with vitality, raising their Endurance by 10% for 30 minutes.

[Description]: Priest, Fortitude!

...

[Name]: "Magic Guide: Blessing of Might"

[Origin]: Warcraft series

[Type]: Grimoire

[Effect]: Blesses Familia and allies within a certain radius, raising their Strength by 10% for 30 minutes.

[Description]: Ready to pull. Buff check!

...

Three books, three different types of enhancement magic, all of them from the "Christmas gift" sent by "Perseus," Asfi Al Andromeda.

"Tsk." Leon clicked his tongue softly, fingertips tracing the gilded pattern on Blessing of Might without thinking about it. "She's handed over just about every attack spell there is, and now she's started giving away party buffs too... pair these with the Wild Mixture and the custom Monster Hunter Special..."

His future fights were going to look downright ridiculous.

"Forget it."

"Since they're already here..."

He put on the Gale-Force Reading Glasses, opened Arcane Intellect to the first page, deep blue magic light reflecting in his eyes, and triggered the skill Scholar's Heart. In an instant he dropped into the kind of focus where the world outside stopped existing.

"...I'll just learn them."

...

January 1st. Orario welcomed the new year.

That evening, the manor laid out another lavish banquet.

As the last important holiday for a while, everyone brought out their treasured stores without hesitation. Even Leon gritted his teeth and contributed several bottles of the precious wine Goddess Demeter had given him.

And it was precisely because of Leon's "selfless devotion" that the whole dinner went splendidly for hosts and guests alike.

The drinks Demeter had gifted were mostly home-brewed fruit wines, sweet on the tongue and gentle in strength, which made them especially popular with the ladies. So whether it was the chilled white wine or the carefully mixed cocktails, glass after glass went down amid the laughter and chatter.

Which was also the reason that, that night... Lord Leon had the time of his life.

He'd asked Rose and Kureha to quietly egg her on, wearing her down bit by bit, and with her mood being good on top of that... Jeanne, who had held out with a firm refusal all this time, whether because she'd had too much to drink or because she'd finally set aside her reserve under a certain someone's training, at last agreed to the request he'd been dreaming about: cosplay.

Without a moment's hesitation, the second Jeanne agreed, Leon produced the first outfit he'd had custom-made in secret long ago and had her change into it as an homage to the Raiden Shogun.

And say what you like, with both of them being particularly fond of the braid, once Jeanne had it on, playing with her turned out to have a flavor entirely its own.

The result of that particular decision on Jeanne's part was... she slept straight through to nearly noon the next day before she managed to drag her consciousness back out of the fog.

"Mm..."

Jeanne opened her eyes blearily and found her body impossibly heavy. Moving so much as a fingertip took every scrap of strength she had.

As her muddled head slowly cleared, she realized... exactly what absurd things she'd agreed to for that bastard after drinking too much last night.

"Wh-what did I... what did I even agree to!"

"Pervert!"

"Scumbag!"

"Using my, my mouth wasn't enough for him, he had to push it further..."

"He even, even used my feet..."

"Nghh!"

"Aaaaaaah!"

The thought of herself kneeling in front of him in that mortifying outfit, head tipped back to take what she couldn't put into words, her body losing every line of defense under his control while that bastard did as he pleased with her... her brain shorted out and stopped working entirely.

Not long after, though, an odd sensation on her cheek and the soles of her feet dragged her forcibly back to reality.

Her pale violet eyes came back into focus. Jeanne frowned faintly, aware of a dried, tacky feeling on her feet and her cheek.

She lifted the blanket and looked down.

The thin layer of white stockings sheathing her straight legs had long since been torn to ruin, and at the soles and toes a large hole had been ripped open, leaving marks across the pale contours of her feet that made her face burn.

Looking at the mess on her toes and the arches of her feet, her cheeks went scalding.

She sat on the bed with her legs folded beneath her, both hands pressed to her calves, expression blank and eyes hollow, fingers unconsciously stroking the white stockings on her shins. Then, on instinct, her tongue flicked out and licked the corner of her mouth.

She swallowed.

Her throat moved, and a taste both familiar and strange forced its way into her brain.

"I'm... I'm broken..."

She was a devout believer, and Leon had bored through the line she held, over and over again.

Last night's drunken indulgence kept replaying in her head. Jeanne wrapped both arms around her knees in their white stockings, buried her burning face between her legs, curled onto her side, and sank into gloom.

...

When Leon pushed open the door to Jeanne's room, perfectly relaxed, he found the Holy Maiden in exactly that state.

Recalling how thoroughly Jeanne had cut loose last night with the drink in her, his interest stirred all over again... but with what he had planned for later in mind, he kept it in check, crossed the room in two strides, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Leon reached out and stroked her tangled blonde hair, then bent down beside her ear, caught it lightly between his teeth, and spoke.

"Jeanne?"

"..."

"Mm... leave me alone!"

"I'm, I'm not clean anymore!"

Leon: "..."

Looking at those eyes with all the light gone out of them, Leon thought Jeanne looked like a doll someone had played with until it broke, hollow enough to seem soulless.

If the Holy Maiden loses her soul, where's the fun in that?

That won't do at all.

Thinking it through, his hand drifted toward her thigh on pure instinct, before he'd decided to move it.

He had no idea where Persephone had dug up the brand, but these white stockings really were thin. According to the tag... no more than ten grams, definitely.

Worn on Jeanne, there was no telling how much they raised his crit rate.

Paired with the speed shoes Rose had given her...

"Nn..."

"...?"

Jeanne let out a sudden whimper, which pulled Leon's attention back.

He looked down.

At some point her skin had taken on a wash of crimson, and those captivating pale violet eyes looked ready to spill over.

"D-don't touch anymore!"

"Ohhh~~~~~~?"

...

...

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