Chapter Fifty Two: Deception Gone!!

Chapter Fifty Two
The room was livelier than it had been since we arrived. We stayed up till midnight chatting. Burte went to sleep early. Duddul also slept after I served him his dinner.
I went to the forest again the next day and the day after. I defeated a total of nineteen Freezers, including the four I’d taken down earlier.
On the third night since I’d given Taht those items, we decided to leave the next day. That made our stay in this town a whole week.
Taht threw us a farewell party. Even though she was obviously sad about our leaving, she tried not to spoil the mood. Burte, however, insisted we stay longer throughout the whole party.
“It’s been a really long time since I’ve felt at home like this.” Meila remained in the living room with me after the siblings went to bed upstairs. In her hand was a bottle of liquor.
I refrained from drinking because I’d never done it in my world. Even when Taht said it would be okay since it was a party.
Meila’s face had reddened. She wore the clothes Taht lent her — a gray shirt and long black pants.
“Hey…” No, she was too drunk for her own good.
She sat so close on the cushion that I could feel her breath on my neck.
Don’t face me when you are that drunk…
Well, she was right. It felt like home here, but I felt more at home when Leila was with me.
“Hey…~” she kept going.
“Kiss me…~”
Bad-ump!
Did I just hear her wrong? Did she just ask me to kiss her? Probably not. Did she forget how I’d played with her in the inn?
“Hurry~~”
No. She was definitely asking me to kiss her. She pursed her lips with her eyes closed.
“Wait. Do you know the implication of what you are asking? You are going to faint if I kiss you.”
“I know… Just do it~ Taht said it feels so”
“No, no! Good is only part of it. I can’t handle it if you decide to scream. And it’s really dangerous considering the amount of energy I’m giving you. You may not have known, but I was sent flying outside the house when you punched me. We should be worrying about saving Leila, not kissing.”
That’s right. Leila should be our top priority. And now that I have this deceiving ability, I’ll force my way into the Sacred Land with deception.
“You won’t do it~? Do you hate me~? Unhu~ Unhu~” she started to cry.
“Hey, stop…!”
I couldn’t reach her. She was too drunk.
“Kiss me~!” she shouted.
If I did nothing, she was going to wake Taht and Burte.
Fine then. Don’t blame me if something happens to you. “SMOOCH.”
I agreed and moved my head toward hers. She held my shoulder and lifted her chin. My barrier became visible and enveloped us.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed a terrifying scream the instant our lips met.
“What the hell!?” She gripped my shoulder with incredible strength. It was just like when Etis had struck it.
The floor trembled even though we were inside my barrier. I pulled my lips away immediately. She screamed for a full minute before losing consciousness. She collapsed motionless on the cushion.
I couldn’t move my shoulders after that. They were probably broken.
I glanced at her and noticed a change in her clothes. They were tearing by themselves. It was getting too erotic for me to keep looking. The fabric tore slowly as though being peeled off like onion layers. The ripping reached her thighs; her soft, smooth thighs were exposed. At the same time, her upper body became revealed as well.
No…
I looked away even though I wanted to stare. I shouldn’t change things between Meila and me. We lived in the same house. If I started fantasizing about her, I wouldn’t be able to hold back.
That was when someone came down the stairs. “I heard noise so I came down to check on you guys.”
Shit! It’s Taht. She’ll get the wrong idea if she sees Meila like this.
“Hmm…? What happened to her…?” Taht asked as she laid eyes on Meila.
“No! It’s not what you think!”
Crap! How do I make her understand!? That’s right — I should just deceive her!
“That’s right! This isn’t Meila. It’s just a pillow.”
Taht tilted her head in disbelief. “A pillow? Stop playing around. Why are her clothes all torn off?”
“…!!!???”
“Answer me!”
Huh? What’s going on? This should be where she says, “Oh, so it was a pillow after all,” and believe me. Why isn’t she buying it?
I tried a few lies and they didn’t work at all.
“Don’t tell me you guys were doing something you shouldn’t…?”
“No! That’s not it! She only… asked me to kiss her…”
“Kiss…? Oh… that… then… just like what happened to me…” She believed me only when I told the truth.
Taht suggested we call it off since Meila had passed out. The way she said it made it sound like we were planning to go further.
She covered Meila with a blanket and asked me to take her upstairs to her room. I carried her there without a word. The blanket felt a bit wet.
The room wasn’t girly at all. She had books strewn everywhere and many medicinal herbs in a glass shelf.
“This room used to belong to my dad. Burte is using the one I lived in before… you can drop her on the bed.”
I did as she said and left the room.
That was terrible! She must think I’m some kind of liar now that I’d repeatedly tried to lie to her.
I returned to the cushion and sat down. I stood immediately when I felt how wet my hand had gotten.
So it wasn’t the blanket that was wet? This greasy liquid they always release when I kiss them. Is it really?
“Come help me!” Taht ran downstairs while I rubbed the liquid into my hand.
The reason she called was, “I tried changing her into different clothes so she wouldn’t sleep naked but the clothes all got torn off.”
“Torn off…? Does that mean…?”
I then told her to dress Meila in her blue clothes that she was so proud of. Things would get ugly for me if those ripped as well.
“Phew! It seems only my clothes tear. I put them on her just like you said. It almost felt as though the clothes were begging me to put them on her. Her hair turned silver as well. Isn’t that strange?”
“Oh no!” I lost strength in my legs and fell to the ground.
My worst fears had come true. Now I was completely powerless against the races.
If her clothes were back on and her hair had turned silver, then… she’d gained her magic back.
And if I could no longer deceive Taht then…
I’ve lost the deception ability!??