Using a Mysterious Spellbook Ended Up Creating a Slave Harem - Chapter 81

 A Phone Call from Nozomi

It all began with a single phone call on a Wednesday in late May, just after I had finished dinner and returned to my room.

+++

After finishing dinner, I was relaxing when my smartphone started ringing. I picked it up to check, and the screen displayed "Nanazawa Nozomi."

"Nozomi? That's unusual..."

Even though I might call them, my slaves rarely call me. Their main methods of communication with me are DMs or emails.

It seems she thinks that calling might disturb me, her master. Why now, then? I wondered as I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"M-Master?! It's Nozomi!"

"What's wrong? You sound panicked."

"W-Well, Rina-senpai is in danger!"

"Huh? What's this all of a sudden?"

"Nozomi was resting in the dressing room just a moment ago—"

"Yeah."

"And suddenly, Higashiyama-senpai came in—"

I tried to calm Nozomi down from her agitation. The story I managed to drag out of her was as follows.

+++

The Higashiyama-senpai Nozomi was referring to is Kae Higashiyama, a first-generation member of Sistema Solare. In the very first popularity vote, she squeaked in at ninth place, and she has even attained the nickname "Neptunus" in Sistema Solare, making her a twenty-four-year-old idol this year.

Within the group, she belongs to the Chizuru faction and is regarded as the spearhead of the anti-Rina movement. From my perspective, she is a female idol I can't find much affection for.

Nowadays, people even call her a problem child or bad debt of Sistema Solare. As a result of repeatedly causing various issues, her ranking in the annual popularity votes has steadily dropped all the way to twenty-first place last year, putting her right at the tail end of the Seventh Satellites.

It is said that management proposed graduation to her, judging it certain that she would drop even lower this year and lose her nickname entirely. Kae Higashiyama seems to have rejected that and is clinging desperately to the idol group Sistema Solare.

While Nozomi was resting, Kae had entered the dressing room and started making a phone call, and the contents apparently caused a problem. That was why Nozomi had panicked and called me right then.

"Nozomi dropped her pen and was hiding under the table."

"And she started a phone call without noticing?"

"Yes. And well, the contents were—"

From Kae Higashiyama's conversation, it sounded unmistakably like a plan to kidnap Rina. The person on the other end of the phone appeared to be the perpetrator, demanding that the kidnapping be carried out soon.

"She was saying terrible things like 'Hurry up and kidnap Rina-senpai to show her hell.'"

"I see... Is Rina nearby?"

"No, today she's acting separately from the nine members of Sistema Solare."

"Understood. I'll contact Rina myself."

"Yes. Should Nozomi do anything as well?"

"No, just make sure Nozomi doesn't let Kae Higashiyama find out you heard the call."

"Understood."

"Alright, I'm hanging up."

As soon as I finished my call with Nozomi, I hurriedly sent a DM to Rina. The message conveyed what I had heard from Nozomi and instructed her not to act alone for the time being, but to stay close to Erika and others.

After waiting for a little while, I received a reply from her indicating she understood, and I let out a sigh of relief as the tension drained away. In the meantime, I asked Erika to look up Kae Higashiyama's personal information.

+++

Late the following night, I sneaked into the apartment where Kae Higashiyama lived.

Once Erika provided me with the target's address and schedule, I figured out the time when information would most likely be obtainable. It seemed highly probable she would be spending tonight at home.

I had Iroha drive me, and I sent a little imp into the room to check. Confirming through the little imp's vision that Kae Higashiyama was asleep on her bedroom bed, I used teleportation magic to move straight into her room.

It was a 2LDK apartment, and I materialized in the living room. First, I cast dark-vision magic on myself, and then I cast sleep magic toward the adjacent room as I entered the bedroom.

"...Still, her face is pretty mediocre for an idol."

As she slept, Kae Higashiyama struck me as a girl who was significantly below Erika and just slightly above Department Manager Ichikawa—pretty much the kind of ordinary pretty girl you'd see anywhere in everyday life. She probably only got into Sistema Solare because it was the very beginning; trying to join as a member nowadays would likely be impossible.

Well, gathering information was more important than that anyway. Since she had been talking on the phone, something should still be left on her smartphone.

"...Ng...?"

When I manipulated the charging smartphone with gloved hands, I found it was locked. Ultimately, I took her hand and managed to unlock it using her fingerprint.

"Now then, who is the fool targeting Rina...?"

I carefully scrutinized the information on the smartphone to verify the identity of the person she had called. Searching for concerning details on my own phone and digging into various things finally revealed the identity of the other party.

"...Are these guys half-gangsters?"

+++

For now, Rina's kidnapping or abduction was still in the preliminary preparation stage, and execution was a ways off. The plan was to strike when Rina was off-duty, confine her with multiple half-gangster higher-ups, and subject her to gang rape.

After inflicting every imaginable humiliation, they planned to record it on video to blackmail her into handing over other popular members. It was practically certain that Erika and Nozomi were being targeted too.

"...What on earth is Kae Higashiyama thinking?"

Late Saturday night that weekend, I muttered to myself while hiding in a shady, dangerous-looking neighborhood. While staying alert to my surroundings, my gaze remained fixed entirely on a single building.

That building served as the stronghold where the aforementioned half-gangster group gathered. Having Iroha drop me off nearby by car, I intended to infiltrate a little imp and investigate.

(Little Imp. Get inside that building.)

(Understood.)

Watching the little imp slip straight through the wall, I melted into a pre-selected hiding place. Once I activated life-detection magic to confirm nobody else was around, I put in my earplugs and closed my eyes.

Synchronizing with the little imp to share its sight and hearing, a warehouse-like room wrapped in darkness filled my vision. When I had it slip through a door, a similarly dark hallway emerged, and the sound of boisterous, unintellectual shouting reached my ears.

(Go to the source of the sound.)

At my command, the little imp ignored the walls and moved straight toward the audio source. Passing through about three walls, it finally reached a brightly lit room.

Inside that reasonably spacious room were five men and two women. Separated by the entrance, a sofa surrounded a table on one side, while two beds sat on the other side.

Everyone was completely naked, and the women were being pinned down by two of the men on separate beds. The remaining three men were sitting on the sofa, drinking alcohol and laughing vulgarly.

Here, I opened my eyes to cut off the visual synchronization, switching entirely to gathering information through hearing while remaining alert to my surroundings. Drunk on alcohol and sex, the half-gangsters leaked information freely, utterly unaware they were being listened to.

"...Ah, these guys are absolute pests. It'd probably be doing the world a favor to exterminate them..."

A parade of utterly repulsive conversations spilled forth, prompting me to speak the words aloud. The two women with them didn't seem to be comrades either; they had apparently been threatened by these guys and subjected to miserable ordeals.

It felt like there were plenty of other women suffering similarly. These guys, who appeared to be high-ranking members of the half-gangster crew, deserved a retribution far worse than what you'd find in a college hookup circle.

Maybe I was no better myself, but in the end, I toyed with their hearts and left them happy. I wanted to make it clear that my methods were completely different from their cruel brand of misery.

"I'll have you serve as guinea pigs for the curse I recently learned."

As Rina's name began to mix into the conversation, listening to the sickening details made my anger flare up. Since execution of the kidnapping was still some time away, I began formulating a plan to drag Kae Higashiyama and these bastards straight to hell before then.

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