Chapter 85: Recruits [Part 7]
Yumi sat quietly in Richard’s office, it had been some time since she was used as bait for Richard and her life since then was not all that bad.
She still didn’t understand where the money Richhard used came from but she was sure that he had tons of it. Which is why she could rest easy after being taken in by Richard and his group.
Initially, she was quite worried and even believed that Richard was planning to use her for some nefarious things but time passed and all she experienced was the madness of having become a target for the whole of Japan.
When Cindy was revealed to be a mage, Yumi was immediately sent by Hana to a secret location. Unfortunately that location was compromised within hours and she had to go from one place to another.
This situation lasted for a couple of days until she found peace within the rural lands of Japan.
What saved her was the lack of Cellular data, her location was so remote that even simple text messaging was quite bad, much less the internet.
Through that, Yumi was able to live in relative peace but she still had to go out to buy her provisions and other daily necessities.
While magic was able to resolve some of the more basic things such as electricity and water, food, clothing, soap and other basic necessities needed to be bought outside.
Because of this, Yumi was able to find out that the detection for mystics occurred over the internet.
Richard had no answer when he was asked how it was done. Even he was shocked that such a system could be put in place.
But that had quickly become nothing more than a minor inconvenience after Richard discovered a loophole in the system.
Still, while that problem was resolved another one popped its ugly head out.
Mystical beings, urban legends and other similar existences started to split the map.
They formed factions and created zones where only they could "haunt" the living.
While the mystics and those related to them went in hiding, the mystical beings came out to spread their name. After all, their power and life is ultimately tied to the knowledge of their existence.
They were being born from belief, the thought of them "existing" is what brought them to life and the belief that people had of them was what should have kept them alive.
But modern science turned their existence from a "Legend" into a "Myth".
While both had close meanings, they were still different as a "Legend" is believed to have existed in a more "realistic form" and tales only exaggerated their acts or stories. On the other hand, "Myths" were complete fiction and were nothing more than creations of an active imagination.
For a Japanese yokai, becoming a myth was a death sentence.
Which is why some of those with mystical blood had started to create "Theories" on how certain "myths" were actually legends.
From "Snow women" being actual women with certain conditions or that the Kuchisake-onna was a real woman going around cutting people up-
The fight for existence had been something that the yokai had been desperately fighting for years now.
But the recent explosion of mystical revelations created the perfect situation for them to take center stage.
Yumi was not a mystical being whose life was fundamentally tied to the belief into her existence which should have separated her from that conflict but-
Even in the most organized societies, even among non-human beings...
The madness of greed and desire still ran rampant.
One way or another, Yumi was forced to participate in the mystical turf war, fortunately, she was already someone under Richard’s protection. Because of that, she didn’t really need to worry about being taken advantage of or needing to fight for her safety.
Still, since she was under Richard, every benefit she enjoyed did not come without a cost.
Richard may have ignored her, hopefully he had forgotten about her but Yumi knew that she would have to pay back the benefits she enjoyed someday...
That day has come and that was the reason why she was now inside Richard’s manor that was outside Japan.
She was told it was in the Philippines but as her memories were programmed to be that of a "regular Japanese High School Girl", her knowledge of the southeast asian neighbor of hers was lacking.
Fortunately she didn’t need to worry about any of that as Richard had not secretly stayed within a city.
He was basically camping out in a private plot of land with a harem of women.
It was not something normal but this was the world of mystics, a man living the harem life in a secret tropical paradise was the most normal thing within the manor.
"Sorry about this, but I also didn’t want to have you test it out but I can’t have another accident similar to that of Maiko"
Richard explained but Yumi’s mind immediately recalled the tall woman who was likely a yokai or had yokai blood.
She recalled that the woman was a fan of some internet Virtual Streamer and that she had given up on her "oshi" after a certain event that made her lose her love for the Virtual Streamer.
Yumi did not have any other impression of the woman, if anything, the only other knowledge she had of Maiko was of her strength.
Some of the people under Richard who protected Yumi had talked about Maiko’s prowess.
Richard claimed that it was just her venting her frustrations but if that was mere "venting", Yumi can’t even begin to imagine what her "true power" was like.
Fortunately, she was not a combatant and had little talent for that. Because of this, she did not need to worry about things like strength and power.
But now that she was in Richard’s office, Yumi started to get nervous.
What would Richard ask her to do?
Was this the start of her career as an internet celebrity?
Or was this the start of her career as a secretary?
Various ideas popped up in her mind.
Yumi knew of her state, she was never going to age but that was a huge plus to many men.
After all, she was technically just a few years old but she looked like a girl who was entering her adult years.
On the surface, she appeared like someone who was barely legal, a 50/50 shot at going to jail or being safe.
But the reality was far from that.
Yumi was technically less than a decade old, this made her at the "VERY ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL" side of things.
Moreover, her physical age was locked at 16, she was not a real living being but a created entity.
While she won’t die if no one believed in her existence, she was also in a rather unnatural state of being.
One wrong move and she could collapse into a puddle of blood and guts.
Richard had stabilized her condition but that did not change the fact that she was basically an immortal 16 year old.
Even IF she did live for a hundred years, she would still "technically" be underaged due to the limits placed on her existence.
Whether it was psychological or physical maturity, Yumi was stuck at 16.Though that still is, despite being illegal, something that many men find attractive.
Yumi knew little about Richard but got called to his office for a task...
All Yumi could think of, with her immature thought process was-
Is he finally going to take my virginity?
Despite everything that happened to her, Yumi’s thoughts were still fundamentally that of a 16 year old.
Immature and filled with selfish ideals, she could never think that Richard would have any other reason to call for her other than to pop her cherry.
But Yumi was wrong, VERY wrong as the fate she was thinking of might have been better than the reality that she was about to face.
Richard spent some time setting up a simple tea set between him and Yumi. He did not let Cindy or anyone else do it, he did everything himself and this only reinforced the idea in Yumi’s head that Richard was planning to take something important from her.
Based on Richard’s words, he had already tested things out with Maiko and an "accident" had happened. Something so serious that the test likely failed and he had to look for someone that was not Maiko- or at least, different from her.
Yumi saw the steaming cup of tea but her heart was already racing, she did not dare to take even a sip of the tea.
Who knew what kind of substance Richard had spiked it with.
If Yumi was going to lose it then she wants to lose it properly!
She didn’t know if Richard wanted to keep her unconscious or in an altered state to protect her or whatever but this was the price for his protection!
Yumi knew that any other mystic would have likely taken her life and already used her as a tool for whatever sick ideas they had in their minds.
After all, she was used as nothing more than bait- no, she was CREATED to be bait.
Richard gave her a chance at a new life, she was given the chance to be an actual person and so... even if it was to become his toy, Yumi was willing to submit.
But her thoughts were proven wrong very quickly as Richard did not pressure her into drinking the cup of tea and instead started to yap about what he was planning to have Yumi do.
The explanation was short and sweet, very quick but that short explanation made Yumi blush.
"What’s wrong?"
"No-nothing!"
Ashamed, Yumi could only turn her face that had gotten beet red away from Richard.
She thought that Richard was a pervert and that he was planning something very uncouth with her.
Turns out, Yumi herself was the true pervert and she could only turn away in shame.
Meanwhile, Richard only let Yumi do whatever, he was not in a rush and he would rather have a calm participant than someone who only agreed to things in the heat of the moment.
"Take your time, we’re not in much of a rush and if you don’t want to proceed with it nothing would change"
