Volume 4, Chapter 18: The Demon Princess, Part 1

I walked across the battlefield, leaving angel feathers in my wake.

It seems that most of the humans survived, but only about half of the Daemons could be saved.

Everyone was looking at me stupidly. It seems that even the Daemons could make dumbfounded faces, their spirits having gone beyond their limits.

“…………”

Among them, Rick’s face twisted into a look of anger and happiness. …… when you have such a face, you really resemble Grandfather-sama.

“……Lucy!”

In that silence where even the sound of the breeze was audible, Noel spoke out.

When he moved to rush towards me, several of the blank-faced Daemons reacted and drew their weapons.

………suu.

At that time, something black dropped onto my shoulder directly from above.

[……………]

A silent pressure…… Rinne’s [Black Cat] mode froze the battlefield with a light release of his [Killing Intent] …… hey, what’re you doing?

If you got exposed as a [Demon], I would get suspected by association.

Gradually, the humans and Daemons began to clamor, and unrest spread among them.

[…I-is that a tiny Demon Beast-sama?] [By any chance, did that lass tame it?] [Saint-sama, amazing~!] [Wait, what? She made Demon Beast-sama her familiar…?] [Princess Yurushia, why do you have wings?!] [……eh~… that girl is such a monster…] [As ex~pect~ed, Princess-sama! (laugh)] [Yurushia-sama…… please step on my face!] [A-angel-sama…?] [I don’t think you can make a Demon Beast a familiar…] [……Did she help us…?] [That girl, she’s really scary for some reason……] [Yuru-sama’s wings (laugh)] [Such a beautiful face…… dang] [Saint-sama, scary~]

“………”

Uhhhmmm…… I feel like some terrible things were being said.

For the time being, Bree-chan and Sara-chan, definitely need to be punished later.

“……Who…… are you!?”

Is that magic? An old man that was floating in the sky yelled with a voice that could pop a vein.

[… {It’s the Daemon Mage}]

“{Well, I wonder if this was caused by him.}”

I was talking to Rinne in such a way that only we could hear each other.

This place was strange. Even though so many people had died, their souls didn’t appear.

[Someone] had collected the [Souls] on this battlefield…… My demons were horrible bastards.

But the criminal wasn’t any of the children.

“Was it you who did this?”

“………”

The old man refused to answer me even as he stared at me. I wonder just how much he was aware of it.

“The war is over. I have reached an understanding with Daemon King-san after some [Persuasion].”

“…What?”

Not only the old man, but the Daemons and the humans all raised their voices.

Even if they didn’t believe it normally, but with me, who had put my [Ridiculousness] out on full throttle, I think that it should be accepted…… Even if I didn’t intend for it.

Now then, what will this person do?

I used my wings to rise up to the same height as the old man, and I carefully directed and released my Demonic [Presence].

“…!?”

The old man’s eyes went wide, and he began to sweat profusely even as his face was full of dread. Fear… suffering… despair…… his [Soul] was just filled to the brim.

Ah…… oh my…… It looked delicious.

“……aA…aAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!”

When I smiled involuntarily, the old man went mad and cried out.

“Demon! Demon Highness! By the [Contract], open the gates of time and space!”

…huh? Did he contract with a Demon somewhere? So he was gathering the souls.

[Yurushia, be careful…… I sense the presence of a high-ranking Demon.]

“……looks like it.”

The color of the sky transformed unnaturally, and the humans and Daemons began to clamor.

“…Ah, that, you’ll die if you don’t leave.”

I felt something strange in the ground, and when I called out to them, the Daemons and humans scattered like baby spiders from that place.

…… by chance, did they think that I would kill them?

[The bottom of the earth opened…]

As Rinne’s words flowed into my ear, a [Black Whirlpool] appeared on the ground as if it had been waiting, and began to swallow those who ran away.

“[Let there be light!]”

Instantly, I spread out the holy magic [Sanctuary], and sealed the whirlpool that was still drawing things in.

But, in that momentary gap that I showed, that old man had jumped into the whirlpool.

…… He escaped.

Ah, oh no, I wonder if I had messed this up one way or another? The [Sanctuary] stopped the suction, but the black whirlpool began to spread through little by little.

Is this bad? I don’t think it’d be so terrible a thing as to swallow the world,

[If you don’t close it soon, all the living beings here will be wiped out.]

“Rinne…… can you do something?”

[I am specialized in [Breaking]. You are far better than I am at that, being a [Devil].]

“Yes, but……”

I can use the power of a Devil, but truth be told I’m not particularly skillful at fine control.

I’m daintily rough. ……If anyone else said that, though, I would hit them.

“No problem.”

“Uwaa”

Looking back at the abrupt speech, the four attendants were standing there along with Noa.

Everyone had a desperate look trying to deal with the situation, but the atmosphere wasn’t tense. Good grief, whose fault was this.

“Then, what will you all do?”

“Please leave it to us. Open… [Lost Paradise]”

“…hah?”

As the black space immediately expanded, and wrapped around the [Black whirlpool], the black space disappeared like it had been swallowed…… what is that? It’s the first time I saw it.

“It’s a failure.”

“How fast!”

If one looked closely, some of the wisps of the whirlpool were still there, and it sparked on contact with the [Sanctuary].

Noa was working fast, but I don’t know anything but the basics, so I gave up.

“Maintain the status quo…?”

“…that would be good, maintain it for several hours.”

Opening the golden magic-engraved pocket watch that I had given him, he spoke matter-of-factly.

“Is it hard to break it up from insideー?”

When Nia said so, Tina and Fannie smiled Demonic smiles. Well… there’s no choice but to do so in the end?

The size of the whirlpool is about 2 meters. When we descended onto the ground, the two boys came rushing towards us.

“Lucy…”

“Oi, this is dangerous…”

Noel and Rick tried to follow us, and the two of them were playing at something.

“……I see”

This is probably a pocket dimension made by an unknown Demon.

People who had a holy [Air] or a strong aura of [Malice] couldn’t enter it.

“Rick, Noel, [We] can’t enter this. Don’t worry. It will turn back to normal.”

“Such a thing…… only Lucy…”

“I don’t think there’s a need to worry since it’s you……”

… Hey.

“Well, in that case, I’m off”

We went into the vortex with the cheeriest voice that I could muster, as we were sent off by the people who were looking on worriedly.

…… I’m not letting such a delicious soul escape so easily.

However, I didn’t notice.

There was someone with a strong will and deep [Malice] that was staring at our backs……

＊＊＊

[Here are the souls of the people who were here… if it is not enough, I will gather as much as needed.]

That was the price he…… the price of the [Contract] between Geas and the Demon.

Geas had named himself as such so that he would never forget his status and oath.

Geas, who had obtained knowledge and secret arts from the Demons, had used magic against the adults as a baby child, and killed a person for the first time.

Then Geas had lived through summoning Lesser Demons in order to promote himself.

The number [999] had appeared in his peripheral vision after he had contracted with the Demon, but three years had passed before he even noticed it.

The amount of souls that that Demon wanted in order to break through the walls between dimensions was huge.

Still, knowing of the existence of high-quality souls, he steadily gathered them, and became able to collect them well.

“……Is the number decreasing?”

He noticed that the number that hadn’t changed thus far was decreasing like a counter.

“What’s going on? Please answer me, Lord Heraness.”

The named Demon that called itself Heraness declared.

[When that number reaches [0], your wife will cease to be your [Wife].]

“……Wh…at?”

Heraness showed images of the [Other World] inside Geas’ brain.

There, his wife, his childhood friend, was being handed a ring from an unknown man, and was laughing with an embarrassed face.

His wife was a little older than when he knew her. It seemed that since then… a few years had passed since he had disappeared.

[The number decreases by one a day. This image is a picture of the [Future]. When that number disappears, your wife will give up, and become the property of another man.]

Geas sank to his knees in disbelief.

The counter numbered [627]…… so if the words of the Demon were to be believed, in less than two years, that image would become [Reality].

“……T-, two years…?”

The amount of souls that he had collected in these three years, was only about 20% of the amount. Regardless of how efficiently he collected them, he would not be able to fulfil more than half in less than two years.

To the terrified Geas, the Demon whispered.

[Then, put in that [Number] of souls. In compensation for that number, the counter will increase.]

Increase the number on the counter with souls, and delay the time.

Since that day, Geas’ hardships began, and a century had passed.

＊

[What’s wrong, Geas. You’ve only gathered about 70% of the souls.]

The Space-Time Gate…… the so-called subspace. In its deep dark innards, the man sitting on the throne whispered.

A slender, slim body. Bright red lips on a beautiful face of pure white. Combing his fingers through his long, rust-colored hair, his golden snake-like eyes reflected Geas’ image with a tinge of amusement.

“Heraness…… I’ve reached the limit. I don’t have any more time…”

While shedding tears from his old, weathered body, Geas fell onto his knees.

[If you use half the souls now, won’t you be able to extend the deadline for another few years?]

“It’s impossible now. My body doesn’t have many years left in it……”

[Would you rather give up? Wow, the heart of a human sure is fickle. Even if she became the property of another man, and had a child and became happy, you only need to steal it. Isn’t it easy…? Fufufu]

“……Su-such a thing”

Heraness knew that Geas was already at his limit.

That was why he thought that it was time to destroy that heart and harvest that soul full of despair.

[Well, to deprive, to kill, you’ve done all these just to gather souls? You should be able to do it easily. …Fufuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha]

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