Chapter 46
“Kagh, cough, cough! ……Ugh.”
I want to kill them all.
I pushed myself up, clearing away the rubble that had fallen from the ceiling.
Her beautiful hair and figure were in such a terrible state that I could hardly bear to look.
It was the Succubus Queen, Lilith.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuck!!! Those bastards! I’ll chase them to the ends of the earth and beat the shit out of—!”
“I’m afraid that would be rather inconvenient for me.”
“Huh?”
A voice came from above.
Lilith turned toward it irritably.
The light shining down from above made it difficult to make out who it was.
Still, the owner of that gentlemanly voice could only be that guy.
Probably that damn Masked Cat.
“Hey!! This is all your fault! How are you going to make up for putting me through this hell?! Do you want to die!?”
“Heh heh. If you’d just listened to me, you wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble. You’re the one who messed with the Hero’s party, after all.”
“The Hero’s party? Aha, so that crazy bitch was the Hero? No wonder I didn’t like her from the start. I’ll go kill them all.”
“Hmm. Strictly speaking, that’s not quite right, but it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Tap.
The Masked Cat landed in front of Lilith.
At last, his full appearance came into view.
“What, your outfit’s a little different. Where’d that ridiculous clown costume go?”
The Masked Cat was dressed in an elegant frock coat, the sort a noble might wear.
And the most striking thing was—
“What, you’re human? The way you act, I thought you were a demon.”
The Masked Cat took off his mask.
Beneath it was a middle-aged man with a rather serious-looking face, unlike his manner of speaking.
“This is the greatest courtesy I can offer you after all the trouble you’ve been through. Well then, farewell.”
“What? Guh—!?”
Clang—!
Sparks flew between the Masked Cat and Lilith.
The Masked Cat drew a longsword and swung it in an instant.
Lilith noticed and blocked it with a magical barrier.
“Hey! What the fuck are you doing?!”
“Oh, you’re more perceptive than I expected. How bothersome.”
He immediately drove his sharp blade into it again.
The barrier cracked with a shrill screech.
Seeing the cracks in the barrier she had created, Lilith realized the Masked Cat’s strength was no ordinary matter.
“Who are you, really?! Why are you doing this to me?!”
“Heh heh. Who knows? Try using that pitiful brain of yours to figure it out.”
—Shing!
The barrier split in two, cut cleanly by a sword stroke.
Even so, Lilith didn’t retreat.
She had faith in her physical traits.
“Heh! Do you even know who I am? I’m the Succubus Queen! There’s no way a mere sword like yours could kill me!”
Lilith, the Succubus Queen.
She was also known as the ‘Mistress of Dreams.’
Having mastered every kind of charm and mental magic, she had already transcended the limits of the flesh.
No matter how badly her body was wounded or how close she came to death, all she had to do was find a new body.
Even if the vessel containing her broke, Lilith herself, within it, would remain unharmed.
With that confidence, she spread her arms wide and accepted the longsword swinging toward her.
‘Next time we meet, you’ll be the first one I kill—’
—Shing.
“……Ah?”
Normally, she wouldn’t have felt any pain.
There was only one meaning to this pain.
Lilith’s own soul…… had been cut.
“How…… H-How could you……?”
Even holy power, with its ability to repel demons, couldn’t wound her soul.
A Saint’s worth of holy power might manage it, but the one who had attacked her just now wasn’t a Saint.
Then there was only one possibility that came to mind.
A human with the same nature as a Saint, but without holy power.
A human with the ability to repel demons.
“You…… Could you be the He—”
……
That was as far as her consciousness allowed her to get.
***
“Ugh, my head…….”
[You’ve finally woken up.]
“Mm…… But where am I?”
Oh, what? I’m here again.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar pictures of demons and angels.
This was probably the place where I’d first woken up in the Holy Nation.
The infirmary in the Central Church, I figured.
I slowly sat up.
There wasn’t a soul around.
[How much do you remember?]
“Remember? Oh, I went into the Hero’s mental world and…….”
At that moment.
Everything that had happened in the mental world—
The words I’d said came crashing through my mind like a wave.
Those words I’d begged the Hero to hear while kissing him.
“Mwah, smack, haa…… You know how irresponsible you are? ……It feels good, so hurry up and do more— Hah!?”
“Pah! Hehe…… Y-You can’t let any other girls join the party now, okay? You don’t need anyone else if you have me♡”
“Haa, h-hurry up! Mwah♡ Hehe, I’m so glad I joined the Hero’s party……♡ My head’s completely filled with youuu♡”
“S-So I’m going to have a baby now, right……? I’m kind of scared now— Mwah♡ Kiss, smooch♡ Pha! ……Hehe, I don’t even care anymore……♡ I love you, He—”
………
……
…
..
.
“Nooooooo!!!”
Bang! Bang!
The pure-white blanket flew violently into the air.
The blanket shrieked and thrashed about like a volcano erupting.
It would’ve looked much the same if someone had thrown a grenade into the water and set it off.
“There’s no way I’d do that!!!”
It was all an act!
There was no way I’d willingly make out with the Hero!
The mental world must’ve had some kind of hypnotic effect!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I kept kicking the blanket like I was about to smash the whole planet to pieces.
I just wanted everyone to die.
I decided to imagine the blanket was the Hero.
I put even more force into my kicks.
Die! Die!! Dieee!!!
Bang! Bang! Crack!!
“Huh, wh-what?”
I heard something snap inside the blanket.
When I looked inside, my dainty ankle was hanging limply.
Wobble, wobble.
My broken ankle swayed weakly.
It looked like it was waving goodbye, which made me feel oddly sad.
No, I really am sad. My leg……
“Ugh. Anyway, I’m not going to get pregnant, am I……? That was in a mental world……”
[Yes, don’t worry. There are no signs of that, so whatever you did in the mental world should be fine.]
“R-Really? Phew, what a relief.”
I felt reassured by how confidently it said that.
But why was this thing acting like this?
Normally, it would’ve teased me by lying and saying I was pregnant.
[There’s one thing I’d like to ask you.]
“Hm?”
[When you think of your ‘mother,’ what comes to mind?]
“Huh?”
What was the point of that question?
It wasn’t asking about my parents back in my hometown…… right?
This thing probably thought of me as just another personality of its own.
Unless it had read my memories.
“I don’t have anything like that.”
So I simply played along.
It seemed like it was trying to sound me out, but that wouldn’t work on me.
At least I wasn’t lying.
As I remembered it, after my father, who had been the head of the household, went missing,
my kind mother struggled to raise me and eventually had to leave me at an orphanage that was at least relatively well-off.
So saying I didn’t have parents…… wasn’t exactly a lie.
[Hmm, I see…… So the fact that you killed her is the trigger……]
“Hm? What did you say?”
[Pay it no mind.]
“Tch, what was that about?”
After that, silence stretched on for quite a while.
With no one coming to visit and my ankle keeping me from leaving, I was in much the same position as a princess trapped in a tower.
If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just stayed under the blanket like a good girl.
Even so, I was in such a good mood that my body was swaying to a rhythm.
After all, in the mental world, I’d sacrificed my own body to brainwash the Hero.
I’d told him he only needed me and not to let any other girls into the party.
……I’d definitely kept brainwashing him like that.
Maybe it would even take effect in the real world.
What if it worked so well that he even left Riella behind?
Hehe, that would be a problem.
How would we defeat the Demon King then?
“Hehehe…….”
[You seem to be thinking about something ridiculous again.]
“Mind your own business. Don’t ruin my mood.”
[Hehe……]
Tch. Just when I thought it had finally quieted down.
Looks like it’s gone back to parasite mode.
***
The Central Church’s prayer room.
In a small room there, a man and a woman sat facing each other, talking in hushed voices.
“Thanks for helping me, Prea.”
“P-Please ask me for help with things like this anytime! A-And could you lower your face just a little more?”
“Like this?”
“Ahh…… Y-Yes, that’s about right……”
Good. It seemed the blessing was working.
Even now, whenever I thought of Yubel, those ugly desires still reared their heads.
When I’d met Yubel in the underground sewer last time, it had been fine because Prea had already blessed me.
“I-I don’t know how you ended up like this, Lord Se-on…… B-But if you keep receiving my blessings, you’ll be all right!”
“Yeah, then I’ll be counting on you from now on. It might be a little awkward, but I think we’ll have to stay close like this from time to time.”
“I-It’s not awkward at all! Hehe, actually, I like it……”
“Really? That’s good, then.”
Prea seemed fine with it, but I still felt uneasy.
That damn whisper in my head.
It was definitely a curse cast by the demon residing in Yubel.
‘Sigh, anyway, a contest……’
Three hours earlier.
The demon had proposed a contest to see who could make Yubel surrender to love.
The fact that it had specifically used the word ‘surrender’ made it clear that the demon knew how much Yubel hated the idea of love.
That thing only ever thought about playing with people.
I couldn’t let someone like that win the contest.
‘Wait, does that mean I have to hit on Yubel?’
The condition for winning was to make Yubel fall in love with you.
Yubel was so oblivious to love that she’d never make the first move, so in the end I’d have to make a move myself.
But there was a problem with that.
I’d never had a romantic relationship in my life. I was a lifelong single.
I’d dropped out of middle and high school and gone to university through the GED…… so I’d never had time to meet girls my age.
‘Do I start by holding her hand? No, confess to her first? Or maybe stroke her hair? Hmm…… Something doesn’t feel right.’
Damn it.
My heart was on fire, but this stupid, slow brain of mine didn’t know a damn thing about romance.
Was that what the demon was counting on?
But how was it going to hit on Yubel?
From what the demon had said, it seemed like they could meet inside her mind, but they hadn’t seemed to coexist exactly.
Did that mean Yubel knew the demon was there, too?
There was so much I didn’t know.
I wanted to ask Yubel directly, but the condition the demon had set meant I couldn’t bring it up.
“Lord Se-on! B-By the way, you asked me about how to kill a demon, didn’t you……?”
“Hm? Oh, right. I was wondering if you might know.”
I wanted to know how to deal with the demon residing in Yubel.
I hadn’t revealed its identity, so I wasn’t breaking the condition.
“Um…… Demons aren’t a well-known species, but from what I’ve heard, you have to find something called a demon heart and destroy it. I believe that’s how the previous Demon King was killed.”
“A demon heart? And the Demon King was a demon?”
“Yes! That was two hundred years ago. I heard the previous Hero discovered that the Demon King was a demon, found its heart, and died along with the Demon King. And the current Demon King is also believed to be a demon.”
“What about other demons? Are there any that can invade a person’s body, for example?”
“Um, the Succubus Queen is the closest thing, but…… I’ve never heard of a demon like that.”
I see.
Well, even the nun who first told us about demons said she wasn’t certain.
Maybe the one residing in Yubel was a demon with a new ability.
“So the demon heart is the weakness of every demon? Is there a way to find it?”
“Um…… Oh! According to the records passed down to us, the previous Hero found its location with the holy sword. As for where the holy sword is now…… I heard it’s in Baelogia.”
The Dwarven Kingdom, Baelogia.
Our next destination was decided.
“Then let’s go see Yubel before we set out.”
“Ahh…… Her?”
At the mention of Yubel, Prea shuddered.
Hadn’t she said she’d seen Yubel destroy the Holy Nation in the future?
I’d stopped that future from coming to pass, but I couldn’t stop her from misunderstanding Yubel.
I couldn’t just tell her about the demon inside Yubel.
The fact that it was self-aware and could talk had become something only I knew.
“It’s okay. Yubel is actually incredibly kind. I can say she’s purer and kinder than anyone I’ve ever met. Maybe what you saw in the future was just a mistake.”
“M-Maybe…… Ah…… All right! I’ll believe you, Lord Se-on.”
“Yeah, thanks for believing me.”
And so, we arrived at the infirmary where Yubel was.
Creak. I carefully opened the door.
Inside, I saw Yubel sitting on the bed.
Her head was turned toward the window, and her hair fluttering in the breeze was so beautiful it seemed to shine.
“Yubel, you’re awake!”
“Ah, you finally came—”
Hm?
Yubel stopped mid-sentence.
Her eyes were fixed on Prea, standing behind me.
What was wrong?
“……A woman?”
“Ahaha…… H-Hello. It’s nice to meet you……”
Prea wasn’t meeting her eyes.
A strange tension filled the room.
“Hero…… what’s going on? Wasn’t I enough for you?”
“W-Whaaat!? L-Lord Se-on, w-what is she talking about?”
“N-No, Yubel, what do you mean?”
I asked, completely bewildered.
The way she put it made it sound like there was plenty of room to think Yubel and I were involved.
If I just stayed calm and listened to her, I could clear up the misunderstanding—
“What? After you rubbed your body against mine like that! After you forcibly took my first time! How can you say that! Sniff, are you going to pretend you’ve forgotten everything!?”
What.
Tears welled up in Yubel’s eyes as she shouted.
Her entire body was trembling with indignation.
She looked like a tiny, adorable animal.
“N-No……”
I was at a loss for words.
To anyone watching, I was clearly the scumbag here.
Prea froze on the spot.
She stared at me with an expression that seemed unable to find the words to describe me.
“……”
This is insane.