SSS Transmigration: I Can Extract And Evolve Overpowered Shadows-Chapter 26: Investigating The Pleasure House (3)

Hinata’s face shifted into one of confusion. Although he had pinpointed the location of the demons, he didn’t know what to do next.

He could simply return to Gunther, who had sent him. After all, his task had only been to investigate.

However, something gnawed at him, urging him to check the pleasure house. Perhaps it was because he saw no way Gunther could help with this problem. Or perhaps it was for a reason even he didn’t know.

Either way, he steeled his resolve, moved toward the narrow space between the pleasure house he stood on and the one beside it, then leaped down. His descent was as silent as a pebble slipping into water, the merry sounds of the crowd below swallowing it further.

Once he landed, he pulled his cloak tighter around himself, counted the money he still had from the goblin village, and stepped out of the alley.

The street was even livelier than it had seemed from above. People laughed and drank, each with a woman at their side.

Hinata ignored them all — along with the constant hisses of girls beckoning him over. He walked forward with deliberate steps, staggering slightly to sell the act.

As he maintained the rhythm, a woman stepped out from the pleasure house and moved to support him.

"Are you alright, mister?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Hinata raised his purposefully bobbing head and stared into the woman’s eyes, only to frown deeply.

Noticing his gaze, the woman tilted her head. "What happened? Did you drink a bit too much?"

Dressed in a kimono gown, with short blue hair, red eyes, and a beautiful face, the woman radiated a presence he had never encountered in anyone within this city.

What struck him, however, was the fact that the moment their eyes met, he felt an inexplicable urge to obey her commands — the very same feeling he had once felt toward Albedo.

Hinata forced out a smile, though he doubted she could see it beneath his thick cloak. "I’m okay. I did... hiccup... drink too much."

The woman smiled warmly. "Something good must have happened to you today, then?"

Hinata’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly before he smiled. ’So you want information.’

He nodded slowly, then looked up at the sky with a long sigh, as though reminiscing something wonderful.

"Today..." he began. "I saw a Paladin."

He glanced at the woman from the corner of his eye the moment her hands tensed, though she regained her composure almost immediately. "A paladin?"

She moved closer to Hinata, pressing her chest against his side. "Mister~" she purred. "Why don’t you..." She leaned even closer, blowing a wisp of air into his ear. "Come inside and tell me all about this paladin."

Hinata felt a strange sensation crawl up his body as a strand of foreign mana entered him, only for his own dark mana to swallow it whole.

His gaze darkened, though he forced his expression to brighten as he scratched the back of his neck. "Hahaha, if you insist, I guess I have to take you up on that offer."

The woman leaned into his ear once more, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Good boy."

For a moment Hinata caught himself smiling sheepishly at her words, and only after she began leading the way into the pleasure house did his mind snap back.

’What the hell was that?’

He rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling dizzy. When he blinked, he found himself already on the stairs inside the pleasure house.

On the ground level stretched a large hall, its tables crowded with drunken men and the women draped around them. In the far corner, Hinata could have sworn he saw people making out in plain sight.

’Did I blank out? No, that can’t be right.’

He tried to call out to Goku, only to blink again.

This time he stood before a door styled like those of ancient Chinese pleasure houses, matching the rest of the building.

’What’s happening to me? My head... is...’

When his eyes opened fully, he noticed his hands were on something soft and warm.

His eyes widened instantly. His hood was down, his hands rested on the strange woman’s waist, and he was kissing her.

The woman pulled back with a mischievous smile, her tongue darting out to lick her lips. "You’ve been quite the bad boy, hiding that face from me."

Hinata tried to pull away, but couldn’t. His body no longer felt like his own. The strength that could have torn through a lion moments ago had faded to less than a child’s.

’Gok....’

He couldn’t finish the mental command before blinking again.

The world went blank for just an instant, but before he even opened his eyes, the sound of clothes falling onto the wooden floor reached him.

He slowly opened his groggy eyes to find a woman undressing before him.

She was a strange woman.

Moonlight contrasted beautifully against her short blue hair, and her pale skin glistened beneath the flickering candles.

"Beauti—" Hinata nearly finished the word, catching himself at the last moment. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him. Through a strained gaze, he managed to stare even harder at her figure.

Beyond her blue hair, red eyes, and fair skin, two blue cat-like ears sat atop her head, and six large furry tails swept slowly around her.

"A fox?" he managed, voice thick.

The now-naked woman moved toward him and pushed him onto the bed. He, too, was fully naked.

"You have quite the resilience, pretty boy. Don’t tell me you’re an awakened?"

Hinata thrust his hand forward to seize her by the throat, only for it to stop just short at her neck. It was like he wasn’t the owner of his body anymore.

"What are you...?"

The woman tapped his nose lightly. "You don’t need to know that. Just know that by tomorrow, I’ll know everything about you."

Hinata tried to struggle, but his eyes burned beneath his lids, begging him to blink.

He held the urge back, clenching his fist at his side.

One attack.

He needed just one attack to shake her off.

The woman giggled, amused — almost mocking. "Dear, why waste your energy like that?" She raised one delicate hand and pressed his eyes shut.

Then...

Everything went blank.

...

Hinata felt as though he had slept for a long time — perhaps hundreds of years, perhaps a thousand. In that dream he had lived alongside someone for ages, someone he couldn’t recognize.

Throughout those years he had forgotten his goals and wanted only to live for that person. It was truly a cruel fate.

He had been powerless, yet somehow content in that powerlessness.

Pathetic.

Truly, and utterly pathetic.

But...

Maybe that was the life he wanted.

Maybe it would be better to give up now and release all his dreams, after all, he had always seen what dreams and goals had cost others.

Yeah... he was better off...

Hinata’s jaw clenched even within his subconscious.

’WHAT BULLSHIT!’

He seized the edges of that reality and clawed his way out of the darkness.

A grin curled slowly at the corner of his lips as a sliver of light broke through.

If he were to die or give up here, where would the fun in that be?

He had to grow strong, understand this world, find his classmates, and find his way back home.

Until he completed that goal, no hex was going to stop him.

Hinata’s eyes slowly opened. The sun hung high in the sky, casting its full radiance across his skin.

He was completely naked, covered only by a bedsheet soaked through with a liquid that smelled faintly sweet.

He could feel his strength returned. His fist clenched at his side, and he ground his teeth so hard the veins along his forehead stood out.

At the very moment he awoke, the blue-haired woman walked into the room with only a bedsheet wrapped around her body.

When she saw he was awake, she smiled. "Come here—"

She didn’t have time to finish. Hinata lunged forward, seizing her roughly by the throat and driving her back against the wall.

"Hehehe," she laughed, taunting him even as her voice cracked and the color drained from her face. "Why didn’t you show me this rough side yesterday?"

"Shut it," he snapped. "Who the hell are you?"

"Why does that matter? We are husband and wife now."

Hinata’s eyes flared. His dim purple irises surged to a burning brightness as mana erupted around him, shattering objects nearby and blasting a wide crater into the floor.

The woman now struggled to draw even a shallow breath under the weight of ’Mana Master’.

"I’m tired of this fucking shit," Hinata muttered, lifting his head slowly. "I’m tired of you people thinking I’m some toy."

He formed a dagger with his free hand and drove it forward, aimed straight at the woman’s throat.

’Forget answers. I’m going to kill this fucker right here!’