Chapter 43
“Ugh, what on earth happened…….”
As if a long thirst had been quenched, my hazy consciousness gradually cleared.
Somehow, my heart felt very light.
When I opened my eyes, I saw bright sunshine.
Sunshine that stung my eyes.
“Ah, Hero! You're awake!”
Then a silver-haired girl suddenly popped into view.
It was Lady Prea, the Saint.
A face floating in the clear blue sky.
Before long, I realized I was resting my head in someone's lap, feeling the softness beneath the back of my head.
“Se-on! Why were you sleeping here!”
I heard Riella's voice from beside me, too.
Had she finished the monster-hunting quest and returned?
“Ugh!”
“Hero! A-Are you all right?”
“Rest a little longer! I'll stay right here!”
No.
Resting was not what mattered right now.
I immediately sat up.
“Where's Yubel? Where is Yubel!”
If I hadn't seen wrong, Yubel had been here just moments ago, being beaten by the holy knights.
But when I opened my eyes, Yubel was nowhere to be seen.
“Yubel? Ah, Yubel woke up!?”
“Yubel? Do you mean the heinous criminal who's currently wanted? Do you know her?”
“Yubel's a criminal? What are you talking about! She's our companion!”
“That's right!”
“Y-Yes!? B-But I heard she was taken to the underground prison for threatening me and... attempted murder of the Hero……. Eeeee…….”
The Saint told me about Yubel in a barely audible voice.
She'd shrunk back after I raised my voice.
But Yubel was in the underground prison?
For trying to kill me and the Saint?
I couldn't believe it.
“……Explain it to me in detail. Please.”
“Ah, um, I'm not very good at explaining…… B-But I'll try!”
And so, I heard from the Saint herself how Yubel had become a criminal.
She'd threatened to turn the Saint into a sex slave, tried to use mind magic on a holy knight, then cast a spell at me before collapsing and being dragged off to the underground prison.
She explained all that for a full ten minutes.
“Ah! R-Right! There was someone who looked like a demon rampaging wildly! That's why I ran all the way here to find you, Hero. To prevent the Holy Nation's destruction…….”
The Saint went on to say that she could see the future, and that she'd come looking for me to stop Yubel.
Naturally, I didn't believe this far-fetched story.
There was no way Yubel would go berserk and destroy the Holy Nation.
This wasn't confirmation bias or anything.
If I thought about it logically, there was no basis for Yubel to possess such power.
Just as I was about to explain to the Saint that it was a misunderstanding,
I suddenly remembered the demon residing inside Yubel.
No way.
“Damn it! We have to get to Yubel right now!”
“Y-Yes! Follow me!”
“Huh!? Are you done talking?”
With the Saint leading the way, I ran toward the underground prison where Yubel was.
If the prophecy was true…… the demon inside Yubel might go berserk at any moment.
Then, of course, Yubel's safety would be in danger.
No matter what, I had to stop that.
I couldn't let Yubel bear a burden like that.
‘All the crimes the Saint just told me about must have been that demon's doing, too. How dare it use Yubel's body to do such things……!’
“It's here!”
The underground prison wasn't very far away.
It was near the church at the heart of the Holy Nation.
-Patter, patter!
We immediately went down the stairs leading underground.
Thanks to the Saint, we passed after only a cursory inspection.
And so, in the prison shrouded in darkness, we ran toward the solitary cell tucked away in a corner, but—
“W-What in the world……”
There was no one there.
Not even the slightest trace.
“Jailer! You said someone named Yubel was being held here!”
“I-Impossible. I saw her come in here three hours ago!”
“Don't lie to me……! Ugh! W-Wait, what is this……!”
Just as I was about to scold the jailer for failing to keep proper watch, a sharp headache hit me.
And then I sensed a strange presence.
It felt as if I were connected to someone by an invisible red thread.
And the direction that red thread led was—
“Further down from here?”
“Huh? You mean there's somewhere farther down? This is the lowest level of the underground prison. Beneath it, there's only the sewer…….”
“Then we have to go there.”
If this presence I sensed was connected to Yubel, then she was in the underground sewer right now.
‘I have to find her as quickly as possible.’
Before the demon does something terrible.
***
A secret room in the pitch-black underground sewer.
A girl was trembling violently inside.
And that girl was none other than Yubel, who had just tasted paradise.
[Heh heh heh! Wonderful, just wonderful. It's been so long since I had such a thrilling experience! Heh heh, seeing you tremble like a woman, I nearly lost control myself.]
“Eheh, haa……. Wh-what the hell happened to meee…….”
[Hmm, still, it's such a shame. We only kissed exactly 1,034 times, even though you were naturally spreading your legs, too. If we'd had just a little more time, I would've gotten inside……. ]
Mutter, mutter.
I decided not to listen any further.
“Hnn.”
I was lying facedown on the cold floor, trembling.
I was terrified of myself, because I couldn't understand what I'd done at the end.
‘I-I spread my own legs…… N-No!’
It was just a physiological response!
The same as a man getting an erection in the morning!
I absolutely did not give myself to him!
-Thump, thump!
I tried to reset my brain cells by banging my head against the floor.
Unfortunately, my mind was perfectly clear.
“Shit.”
And I still had one major worry left.
“B-But I'm not pregnant, right? Hm? That was in a mental world…….”
[Hmm, pregnant? What are you talking ab—]
“K-Kissing makes you pregnant! You think I don't know that?”
[……Huh.]
A few seconds of silence.
I kept questioning the parasite, who had suddenly shut its mouth.
After all, this used to be its body, so maybe it would know whether I was pregnant?
[Pfft, heh, heheheh. I-I see! Th-this might be a very dangerous situation! Even if it was a mental world, mating is mating, so you might have conceived a child. Pfft, I'll pray for a safe delivery, heh……]
“Th-That can't be…….”
I wrapped my belly in my trembling hands.
I thought I could feel something.
My heart pounded like crazy.
Was there really a child growing inside me?
Twitch.
“Ugh, I-I'll just die! I can't do this anymore!”
[Hmm? Ah, so the baby will be abandoned like this. You really are a coldhearted mother.]
“Y-You bitch! If you think about it, this is all your fault! Ngh……! You have the baby then, you parasite!”
[What!? Did you just call this one a parasite! You ungrateful wretch! This is the first time in my life I've ever suffered such an insult! Technically speaking, you're the parasite—!]
“Shut up, shut up!! I don't want to live anymore!”
“Hey! Who starts babbling so loudly the moment I wake up!”
“Huh?”
While I was arguing with the parasite about whether I should kill myself,
A high-pitched woman's voice came from the corner of the chilly room.
I turned my head toward it, and saw—
“A succubus?”
“Kukukuk, seems you have a sharp eye! That's right! I am the nightmare and dream of all men! The Succubus Queen, ‘Lilith’!”
Lilith introduced herself, swishing her pink hair as if showing off.
Honestly, though, that didn't catch my eye.
What a body...
My eyes roamed up and down in a daze.
So this was a succubus.
But why was she here?
“Aha! D-Don't tell me you're after my semen!”
“Huh? Where would a female like you even get semen!”
“What!? Y-You too, calling me a female? Ugh, should I just die…….”
[I must've eaten too many memories. My intelligence has regressed so much that even having a conversation—]
“Hey, what did you just say?”
It had only slipped out in passing, but
I hadn't missed it.
The parasite had definitely said it was eating memories.
[…….]
“You called me a female?”
“Not you!”
“Who else is here besides me, you crazy bitch!”
Ah, seriously.
My head was spinning.
First, I should deal with this succubus.
“Hah, fine. Why are you here? I'll ask.”
“Kukukuk, I came for your body!”
“What! So you are after my semen! You idiot!”
“No, listen to the whole thing, demon! To be precise, I'm going to abandon this old body and switch into yours! What is that Masked Cat doing, not bringing me a perfect body like yours? Tsk, no wonder I won't negotiate with him.”
Masked Cat?
That name sounded familiar.
Ah.
“Hey! Tell me more about the Masked Cat!”
“Huh? You're not reacting to me trying to steal your body, but to that?”
“Oh, stop talking and hurry up!!”
“……Sigh, you're a complete lunatic.”
Masked Cat.
That bastard I'd met in Edelia.
I still hadn't forgotten the humiliation I'd felt back then.
‘How dare he screw me over and run? Even if I die, I'll drag that bastard down with me.’
Surprisingly, the succubus readily spilled the information.
The Masked Cat had approached her while she was secretly living in the Holy Nation and asked her to hypnotize the Pope.
And the cat's goal was to throw the Holy Nation into chaos.
I didn't know what he intended to accomplish by causing chaos, though.
Anyway.
In exchange, the succubus had asked him to provide a body suited to her, but she hadn't liked any of the bodies the Masked Cat brought her.
So she'd been wandering around on her own, and when she spotted me being taken to prison, she kidnapped me on the spot.
She said my body was truly tempting.
‘Now I finally understand why I'm here. Anyway, have I heard everything? This succubus doesn't know much.’
“Kukukuk, now that I've told you everything, I'll take your body—”
“All right, your turn now, parasite. What was that about eating memories?”
“No, what are you even—”
“I'll talk to you later! Shoo, shoo! Go curl up in a corner!”
I waved casually at the succubus and turned my head.
Lilith gave me a dumbfounded look, muttered ‘lunatic,’ and obediently moved to the corner.
[Hmm, there's no point hiding it. Yes, you're right. This one has been eating away at your memories one by one.]
“Then is it you who's making my memories hazy?”
[Yes, I suppose it's because this one erased your memories. Heh heh, surprised?]
My head reeled.
A sense of emptiness washed over me, like a tower I'd painstakingly built had collapsed.
What I felt now wasn't anger or sadness, but terror and fear.
The memories that formed a person's identity were being erased by someone else.
The fact struck me with unbearable horror.
And I felt a chill run down my spine at the thought that my secret had been discovered.
[Heh heh. As you've probably realized, this one has learned a fair amount about modern knowledge, too. Of course, the really important memories were tightly sealed, so I couldn't even access them.]
So at least my real information was blocked off?
I needed to think of a way to stop this parasite, even now.
[However, that's only a matter of time. This one recently obtained a tiny fragment of a memory. But it only showed me a fleeting scene. So I have one question for you, the owner of those memories.]
“What are you trying to say…….”
[Summer vacation of third grade in elementary school.]
“!!!”
The moment the parasite said that,
I immediately reached out to use mind magic on its head—
[Why did you kill your own mother?]
Ah.
Too late.