(Part 5) Kazuma knows reality better than you (Darkness Centaur TF)

“We’re hooome~” Megumin gleefully declared as the two of them entered their collective home. Immediately the welcoming atmosphere and quiet Aqua screams in the background soothed Kazuma’s soul. 

“Good to be home. What a day…” Kazuma sighed, shooting a brief look at his companion, who personally crafted herself to be as inhuman as possible. A human and a dragon mouth, an extra dragon eye along with curves to make succubi jealous and a much more appropriate age, and Megumin really received it all.

“Evening you two.” Darkness greeted them, wearing her training outfit and looking somewhat sweaty. She must have just come from her daily exercises. “How did your free day go? Are you ready to go on another quest again tomorrow? I for one can’t wait to fight monsters again and save the townsfolk! As well as… getting maybe captured and…”

“Yeah, our day went well.” Kazuma interrupted as Megumin and him had the exact same expression of embarrassment on their faces. They were both already kinda used to Darkness’ antics, so he just continued. “I think most of the business is taken care of. How is Aqua doing?”

“Oh, Aqua. She is screaming a lot. Has been ever since I came home.” Darkness snapped back to reality again, going into a more reasonable thinking state. “I-I mean she knows that the only way to s-still her beast is to drink three glasses in one sitting. And yet she still co-complains about how hard and massive her…”

“Yeah, sounds like she is doing Aqua things again.” Megumin sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “Welp, hope she goes through the three bottles tonight, because tomorrow we will need her and her priestly demonic powers.”

Kazuma couldn’t help but chuckle. Oh this was so much better than he had hoped. Both Megumin and Darkness know about Aqua’s boner and complain that she doesn’t just drink to calm it down? Oh the wonders of his magical powers. Speaking of his power…

“Oh yeah, Darkness. I need to talk with you about something later. Do you mind me stopping by your room later?” Kazuma asked as seriously as he could, before his expression devolved into a smirk. “After you have brought away all the trash from the entire house of course~”

He couldn’t help himself. Yet Darkness' response was even better than he could have hoped. “Yes sir~ I mean… no! Kazuma, you can’t just push stuff l-like that onto m-me all the time! I am not your workhorse! D-Do your trash on your o-own!”

“No, I don’t think so~” Golden opportunity found. Golden opportunity seized. “I find work horse to be quite the adequate description of you. For one you always do all the physical labors around the house when we ask you too, and for two, your lower half is literally that of a horse. Ain't that right, Ms. centaur?”

“Ahn~” Darkness moaned, but probably not because of how her body started to twist and morph. Her ass started to move backwards and her legs became hooved, making her boots just vanish from existence. Then a second pair of legs pushed themself out from her rapidly inflating lower body, which now was more of a horsey midsection. Until she just landed on all four, having become a complete centauress who is red like a tomato in her face.

However…

“K-Kazuma. I-I know I d-do it. B-but you could ask a bit more… gentle. "Y-you know?” Darkness is getting off at getting commanded again. Megumin just giggled.

The power of that reality change is something special to behold. Darkness has just grown a full blown horse half and Megumin dragon has watched. And neither of them think that anything strange has happened at all. Truly fascinating.

Now then, while the blonde centauress was out doing some chores, Kazuma needed to come up with a good way to solve his problems…

When Kazuma came to visit Darkness later in the evening, he noticed that his little reality stunt had changed more than just Darkness’ body. Her room seemed at least slightly affected too. Her bed was replaced with a mattress on the floor and just in general everything was much more spacy inside. Made him wonder if and how Aqua’s or Megumin's rooms have changed…

“Oh hello again, Kazuma. What did you want to discuss?” Darkness asked, standing up from her mattress onto all four. The moment of battle has arrived. Kazuma knew how he would get the thing he needed, now he just needed to execute.

“Yeah, it was something super important.” He started with a smirk. And he knew exactly how to begin. “So do you have a moment, Lalatina?”

“AHH! Kazuma!” Darkness shouted, her face red again as she pointed at him. “You know I very severely dislike it when you call me that name! Could you just stop it!”

“No, I don’t think so.” Kazuma retorted. Time for the first step. “It's the name that signifies that you are a noble. Lalatina Dustiness. You can’t dislike that name because you are so proud of being a noble!”

There was a moment of silence again, with Darkness’ expression significantly shifting, going from genuinely upset, to wordlessly embarrassed. “J-Just because you are correct doesn’t mean I am not an adventurer right now. So you should address me with my proper alias, you know?”

“But aren’t nobles usually stuck up about everything, seeing themselves above everyone else and demanding to be treated with respect?” Kazuma asked, faking genuinity as best he could.

“WHAT?!? I would never!” Darkness retorted appalled. “Even if I am a proud member of the Dustiness house, I am just an adventurer like any other right now. I would never do something like demand respect or similar with my family name!”

“No, I don’t think so.” Kazuma nodded to himself, thanking Darkness internally for her kind words. “In town, you always dress as pompous as you can to flaunt. You always talk down on others and it feels like it's a necessity for you that everyone knows, just how great you and your family is.”

“Oho?” Darkness expression slowly changed, her embarrassment vanishing from her face as confidence and pride started to be written all over her. Even her clothes shifted, the casual clothes that were adjusted for her centaur half, was quickly replaced with a pompous dress whichs value was probably unimaginable. That's when Darkness started to stare down upon Kazuma.

“You sound like you have a problem with it.” Darkness declared, suddenly looking a lot more intimidating than she did before, building herself up to look down even further upon Kazuma. “Is there something you want to criticize about me, Kazuma?”

Oh boy, he should really be careful with how he does things going forward. Those girls can be scary if given the right commands. But he wasn’t done. One more thing was needed to see if his plan really worked. 

“Yeah. You always talk a big game Darkness, but if pitted against another noble, what power do you really have?” Kazuma said, steadfast. 

“Ohoho~! Your talk of power is immature at best.” Darkness declared condescendingly. “Nobles have status. We have no need for powers. So even if I have no ‘powers’ over other nobles…”

“No, I don’t think so!” Kazuma immediately shouted, interrupting her rant. “Your laugh makes people spill their darkest secrets. It's one heck of a power. Whoever hears your laugh, if you ask them a question, they are forced to answer truthfully. And you love to use that power to stay on top of all other nobles and have them frequently pay you to keep their dirty secrets to yourself.”

“Kazuma…” Darkness stared at him, looking even less pleased than she did before. “What I do and don’t do is none of your business. But everything you do seems very suspicious indeed. How about we change the topic a little…”

“Suspicous? No, I don’t th…”

“OHOHOHOHO~” Darkness’ laugh drowned out all the words Kazuma was saying. And the thoughts he was thinking. It was like his entire world was going in slow motion, being filtered by static that made even just standing a hard task.

“Much better. Your constant arrogance was getting on my nerves to be real.” Darkness stepped forward, placing her finger underneath kazuma’s chin to lift his head up. 

Kazuma just looked at her. He knew what she had just done. But he couldn’t think of anything he should do to react to it. The reverberation of her laugh drowned out all ideas and thoughts on what he should do, so he just stood there. Motionless.

“Riddle me this, my dear Kazuma. What actual reason do you have to come into my personal quarters just to insult me over and over again?” Darkness asked. Her echoing laughter grew louder and louder as her question was forced to the forefront of his head. It was as if there was literally nothing else in his entire head suddenly but her question. His mouth basically moved on reflex.

“I-I wanted to turn you into a perfect person to extort money from nobles. So that we all never have money problems again.” Kazuma answered, completely entranced.

“Ohohoho~ You have definitely searched for an interesting victim for that. And you then found out that I already was everything you would ever want, huh? How cute.” Darkness giggled, however Kazuma replied on instinct once again.

“No, I already gave you a power to extract money from nobles.” Kazuma droned, to which Darkness broke into full on laughter. 

“Ahahaha! You? Gave me a power? What a…” She laughed, before catching herself again as she furrowed her eyebrows. “Wait… no one can lie while under my power. How is he able to…”

“Hmm…” Darkness though for a good while, mumbling to herself that doing nothing, all of which basically went in the ear and out the other of Kazuma. Until finally, she stared exactly at him again. “Do you really have the ability to make me more powerful?”

“Yes. My skill has given you a skill before, it will surely work again.” Kazuma droned, when suddenly Darkness turned her head away from him, making it feel like the entire world came into fokus for him again and all at once. 

The sound was normal again, the laughter in his ears was gone and his thoughts were finally working again. He also instantly knew that he had made a massive mistake in giving Darkness that ability without making himself proof of it first. Why did she…

“You said you were going to give me an ability, right? After all, that was your whole plan, wasn’t it?” Darkness suddenly glared back down at him, similar to before she hypnotized him. And if he didn’t do anything about it, she would do it again. “Go on. I am waiting.”

Kazuma's head was racing with a million thoughts a minute, trying to somehow find a way to get out of this situation. If there is one thing that he has learned, then that his ability is way more dangerous to himself than he initially thought. He should turn her back, back to how she was before he tinkered with her at all. No abilities, no haughtiness, no nobel evility. He really should, but…

“Say, how about we work together in this endeavor?” Kazuma asked, although that question even came out of nowhere for him himself. He didn’t even know what endeavor he was talking about, but he knew one thing. If he wanted to get out of this with Darkness changed the way he wanted, he needed her to start talking once again.

“Work together? Do you know what you are implying?” Darkness asked, her demeanor condescending.

“What? Are you too good to work together with someone like me?” Kazuma retorted, trying to steer the conversation.

“I am Lalatina Dustiness, the noble steed of truth. I have no need for help or assistance, especially in matters that a commoner has little to nothing to offer.” She retorted, flicking her hair back. “Or in your words, yes, I am way too good to work together with you in anything other than adventurer work.”

“NO, I DON’T THINK SO!!!” Kazuma shouted, grasping the opening. Darkness so surprised she took a few steps back.  “You would do anything with me. You trust me completely.”

There was a brief silence between them, both just staring at each other, yet Kazuma needed to go into more detail. “You see me as a partner for everything, someone you can share everything with with no need to hold anything a secret. Even though you have a hard time perceiving it, you trust in my power completely just as much as you do your own power. R-Right?”

This entire day has been an emotional rollercoaster with various heights and lows that he didn't even think possible. And it all culminated into this. He continued to intensely stare at Darkness whose expression barely changed. Did it work?

“Geeez. Kazuma you really don't need to be so dramatic about it.” She suddenly spoke, her entire menacing aura vanishing from one moment to the next as she stretched her arms. And then plopped down on her mattress seemingly relaxing herself. 

The entire tension of the room was finally gone. Kazuma felt like he could finally breathe again. Noble ladies are scary.

“So, I think that little fight was fun and all, but I doubt it's what you wanted to tell me.” She suddenly continued, pulling out makeup from one of the drawers in her room. Seeing her so casually, so proper yet improper, made Kazuma reflect through their entire conversation again, wondering how much of it this Darkness has witnessed too. But then a question appeared in his mind.

“Right, say Darkness. You have the ability to hypnotize people, right? With you’re laugh. Does that mean you can…?” Kazuma asked, to which Darkness immediately chuckled. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kazuma.” Darkness cut him off without even turning around, as if she already knew what he was going to ask. “You know my skill ‘Mocking Truth’. While yes, it does put targets in an hypnotic like state, I can’t command anything to them. Could you imagine if I could just control anyone at anytime? Ha!”

A cold shower ran over Kazuma’s back. Darkness chucked again at his shivering. “No, the only thing my ability does is make people speak the truth to any question I ask. It really is that simple.”

“Then how do you end it…?”

“Ohohohohoho~” Kazuma immediately panicked out of his mind the moment he heard that delightfully evil laugh again, fearing the hypnotic state he would be put under if he didn’t cover his ears. Yet despite him hearing the sirens laugh… nothing happened.

“Kazuma, you should really have more faith in me.” Darkness said, looking over her shoulder with a smug expression. “As if I would put you under like that right now.”

“But…”

“Eye contact. It's ‘who hears me laugh is truthbound as long as I can see them’. If I lose them from my sight for more than a second or two, then the spell also breaks.” Darkness explained, turning back to her makeup kit as she closed it down and put it away. And then started undressing. “Also, I don’t know if the news reached you, but the marques is inviting nobles to his estate tonight. The festivities start in an hour and a half. And I just possess no motivation to actually go there. But alas…”

“You have to go?” Kazuma asked, very much enjoying the view of rapidly cloth losing centauress. That's when Kazuma grasped the true meaning of Darkness having absolutely no secrets from him. Unintended, but he was certainly not complaining.

"Indeed. What a hassle.” She sighed, standing up and walking towards her wardrobe, barely minding Kazuma. And he really needed to keep himself under control to not whistle as she walked by.

“Well then, I guess all I can do is wish you as much fun as you can get.” Kazuma declared, shrugging his shoulders before a sudden idea put a smirk on his face. “You and your big dumb horse butt~”

“Huh? My rear isn’t big and… wait.” Darkness realized just a bit too late. From her reaction he could tell that Darkness now knew about his powers, but it didn't matter.

“No, I don’t think so~ Your Big dumb horse butt is so big that it doesn't even fully fit on your mattress when you lie down.”

And then he was greeted by one of the most beautiful scenes of his life. Darkness, who was still standing by the dresser, her booty in Kazuma’s general direction, shivered as her behind rose to new heights. The cheeks expanded beyond what should be normal for a horse and just kept going, going so far as to even start to sandwich her horse tail above them… between them. What a magnificent sight~

“Kazuma…” Darkness starred back at him in a mix of amusement and looking unamused. 

“You had it coming after that hypnosis session!” Kazuma retaliated. “A little payback was in order.”

“Fair.” Darkness simply responded, throwing a light blue dress on like an absolute champ and trying to iron out the wrinkles with hands. “I think my ’big, dumb butt’ compliments me nicely anyway~”

“How do I look?” Darkness asked after a few minutes of galloping back and forth in her room, presenting herself to Kazuma gracefully. With a beautiful dress, a little bit of jewelry and a stylish hat, she had all the elegance and grace in the world.

“Looking great.” Kazuma nodded, taking in her dolled up style with eager eyes. “You do look really amazing despite your big butt when you dress like that.”

“I take that as a complement.”

“Are you planning to interrogate someone again?” Kazuma asked with a smirk as Darkness fiddled with her hat.

“Oh most definitely. I am not going to attend this old geezers snooze party without getting my hands on a few new juicy secrets.”

“Well then, good luck, partner.” Kazuma waved goodbye as Darkness was just about to leave. She, however, stopped immediately. 

“Please.” She said, slowly turning around. “I am Lalatina Dustiness, the steed of truth. I have no need for luck~ Ohohoho~”

And with that, she left into the night, leaving a smiling Kazuma standing at the doorsteps. The entire ordeal might not have gone exactly as he had planned, but all in all, he had achieved a pretty decent result.

—

We need a powerful lady in the house, right? Dont lie, I know you agree.