Episode 72 – Submission

*

One week ago,

The day I rescued Banata from Jennifer’s hellish laboratory.

I escaped the mansion, avoiding the soldiers’ eyes, and didn’t return to the White Glass Tower.

Of course, I knew how desperately Mena was waiting for her daughter, but I couldn’t predict how Banata, now a demon, would react.

I was worried that Banata might not recognize her mother, Mena, and might harm her.

I carried the unconscious Banata on my back and entered a shabby inn in a deserted alley.

The inn was as shitty as its run-down exterior suggested.

Even though it wasn’t yet sunset, the sounds of men and women vigorously bumping uglies echoed from all directions through the thin, non-soundproofed wooden panels.

The fat, middle-aged innkeeper didn’t seem to care at all about the embarrassing sounds that reached even the narrow lobby, where only a table full of cigarette ash stood; she just kept smoking and writing in her ledger.

The owner glanced at me, carrying a woman into the inn, took the money, tossed the key roughly on the table, and went back to focusing on the ledger.

I picked up the key, checked the room number, and found my way to the room.

Inserting the key and opening the door revealed a small room with only a bed and a small side table with a cloth for washing up.

It seemed the needs of this inn’s main clientele were limited to just that sort of thing.

I laid Banata on the bed and waited for her to wake up.

The building was so shoddily constructed that, as I leaned against the window frame to rest, I could clearly hear the whispers of people walking the streets outside.

The former Knight Commander had appeared and arrested Jennifer, they said.

Jennifer’s arrest was apparently big news, even in this city where various incidents and accidents happened and disappeared every day; it was spreading quickly.

I listened carefully to see if there was any talk about the identities of Lara or Ellie, but thankfully, their identities hadn’t been revealed yet.

Since Ellie was so deeply connected to Deborah, it would be unavoidable if she were exposed, but it would be troublesome if Lara or Lily’s identities were revealed; thankfully, that didn’t seem to have happened.

I nodded and sat on the windowsill, passing the time.

Banata opened her eyes two hours later.

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was after ‘night’ had fallen.

As the sun sank beyond the mountains, Banata slowly sat up in bed and raised her arms to clutch her head.

Wearing the Salbiar Baron’s mask that I had prepared, I carefully called out to Banata.

,Banata-yang, are you awake?

,…

Banata slowly took her hands away from her head and stroked her face with both hands.

Her fingers, covering her face, slowly spread apart, and eyes glaring at me appeared between her fingers.

,Banata-yang?

,Salbiar… Baron.

,That’s right. Do you recognize me?

Banata took her hands away from her face and opened her mouth.

,… It’s because of you.

,…?

,Because of you… my brother died.

,Ah, no.

,Daniel-oppa… because of you!

,Ha, shit.

The Demon King in my head, who had been carefully observing Jennifer’s magic formula, had spent the last two hours deciphering it and realized who had possessed Banata, then informed me.

The one currently occupying Banata’s body is probably…

[It’s Rose…]

[So it turned out that way.]

,Yeah, I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.

Banata, no, Rose, jumped up from the bed and immediately lunged at me.

I easily dodged Rose’s attack as she reached out with both hands, trying to strangle my neck, and I wrapped my hand in demonic energy to subdue her with a chain of mana.

[Ed! Be careful!]

,What?!

Pook

,Keueuk!

I felt something like a dagger stab me in the back from a blind spot.

Startled, I turned around and saw a dark thread with a small blade stuck in my lower back.

Following the thread with my eyes, I saw that it extended to between Rose’s legs.

Having returned to a human body to conceal the Holy Sword, I gritted my teeth at the intense burning pain, as if a red-hot blade were searing my muscles.

Rose didn’t move, poised as if she would pounce on me again at any moment.

But even without moving, the thread stuck in my back moved according to her will, swishing and automatically pulling itself out of my back, returning to Rose’s side and swaying.

I squinted my eyes at the agonizing pain and stared at the self-moving thread.

,…Tail?

[Yes, just by looking at that thin, long tail and the sharp blade-like shape at the end, I can tell what kind of demon it is.]

,What is it? I’ve never seen a demon like that even while fighting the Demon King.

[Well, that’s because that race isn’t suited for combat. They mainly infiltrate human countries to carry out assassinations or gather information. The most important mission for an intelligence agent is, of course, not getting caught, right?]

A demon that humans didn’t even know existed?

I was slightly nervous but quickly calmed down and organized my thoughts.

If they weren’t a particularly strong race in combat, as the Demon King said, it might not be too difficult for me to subdue them.

Of course, to fight, I would first need to stop this goddamn burning pain.

I poured out the Holy Sword’s white divine power onto my palm to return to being undead, while simultaneously healing my back with golden divine power, and asked.

,It’s a demon I’ve never seen before, what the hell did this damn Jennifer do? What is that thing?

[Among demons, that race is called a Succubus.]

My eyes widened.

Succubus.

Every man has heard stories about that race.

A being known for seducing men with a beautiful appearance, or rather, a sexy appearance, and sucking their life force.

Of course, since no one had actually seen one, it was essentially a fictional monster created by the fantasies of many men.

I had never seen a Succubus during my party days, so I naturally assumed they didn’t exist, but it seemed they actually did.

I asked the Demon King.

,That thing that seduces the opposite sex and sucks their life force? That really exists?

[They’re not the kind of beings humans imagine. They have the ability to charm human beings of the opposite sex, but they don’t exactly suck their life force through sexual acts. Sometimes, human imagination is so filthy it’s astonishing.]

,Anyway, they’re not good at fighting, right?

[Yes, you can subdue it easily enough.]

I slowly looked at Rose.

As I looked at her, baring her teeth and growling at me with a fierce expression, it suddenly struck me how ironic this situation was.

Because even if she was Rose, the appearance she presented to my eyes was still Banata.

Rose, clinging to the body of Banata, whom she hated and tormented so much.

It was another moment where I felt that life was truly capricious.

,It’s all because of you! You killed my brother!

,No, it’s because of you, Rose. Don’t you remember? Why Daniel boarded my ship.

,…Eek, Salbiar Baron…!

Rose, her face contorted with rage, glared at me as if she would kill me, and tensed her entire body as if ready to attack.

She looked like a cat about to pounce on its prey.

I glared at Rose, fully prepared to draw the Holy Sword at any moment.

I planned to stab or cut her in a surprise attack when she lunged.

In the tense room, where we stared at each other with closed mouths, only the sounds of women’s moans, piercing through the thin walls from all directions, could be heard.

At that moment, the divine power spoke to me in my head.

[Um, Ed… but wouldn’t the Holy Sword be fatal to Banata’s body?]

,… Ah.

[It’s Banata’s body… we can’t do that.]

,I hadn’t thought of that. But Banata is already a demon, and Rose’s soul is occupying her body… there’s no other way, is there?

[No, we can’t. I can still clearly feel Banata’s soul remaining in that body. So we have to try our best not to hurt her.]

,Goddamn it.

As I frowned in trouble, Rose must have judged that my concentration had wavered, and she lunged at me in an instant.

However, I twisted my upper body to deflect her, grabbing her tail instead.

,Hiyaak!

,Stay still!

I wrapped her long tail around my hand several times, holding it tightly, and then grabbed the back of her head with my remaining hand and knocked her down.

I pressed her back to the floor with my knee, firmly suppressing her head and tail to prevent her from moving.

Rose cursed and struggled, but with her back suppressed, it wouldn’t be easy for her to escape.

I fell into thought while holding her down.

I had caught Rose, but what was I supposed to do now?

She was no longer even Banata, and I couldn’t show her to Mena in her demonic form, and I had no idea how to save Banata trapped inside that body.

I looked at my right hand, which was firmly gripping the back of her head as she continued to struggle.

I was ready to draw the Holy Sword from this hand at any moment.

The moment I unleashed the Holy Sword from my palm, Banata’s demonic body would be pierced as smoothly as cutting butter with a hot knife.

After much deliberation, I had to make a decision.

[Ed, no!]

[Yes, Ed, there’s another way.]

,What way is there?

[…Uh, I don’t know either.]

[Do you two sometimes forget who I am?]

,What are you talking about?

[You happen to have your hand on her head. It’s possible now.]

,What is?

[…Haa, Ed, how much do you know about the Demon King’s powers?]

,The Demon King’s powers?

[You don’t think that black chain is the full extent of the Demon King’s power, do you?]

As soon as he finished speaking, the divine power in my hand, which was gripping the back of Rose’s head, began to disappear rapidly.

No, it wasn’t that the divine power was disappearing, but rather that a thick demonic energy was covering my hand.

Perhaps because I was still in a human body, the sensation of being covered in something sticky and viscous on my fingertips was unpleasantly irritating my nerves.

Rose must have sensed something as well, as she struggled and screamed even more violently to get my hand off her.

A heavy numbness spread thickly throughout my hand.

Rose’s increasingly violent struggles writhed incessantly, as if she would push me away at any moment.

,Hey, whatever you’re trying to do, you better hurry up.

[Ed, this… something feels ominous.]

[…Ed. Take my horn.]

,What?

I looked down at the Demon King’s horn that I had put in the pouch at my waist and said.

,You’re not going to do anything weird, are you? Like taking over my body.

[Ed, are you really going to do it?]

[You giving me your body is also one of the options, but,]

[Do you think I’d let that happen?!]

[Of course, I wouldn’t let that happen. So don’t worry and just take my horn.]

,Ha, goddamn it, I don’t even know anymore.

I let go of Rose’s tail and first pulled the Holy Sword out of my hand and threw it to the floor.

The freed tail thrashed wildly again and flew towards my neck, but I, already back in undead form, bent my head as if I had been waiting for it, and caught the tail with my chin.

Rose was horrified to see me moving perfectly fine with my neck pierced.

,Y-you monster…

,Who are you calling a monster?

I unbuttoned the leather bag at my waist and took out the Demon King’s horn.

I was momentarily startled by the feel of the horn and almost dropped it.

The horn, which had been dry and hard when I brought it from Jennifer’s lab, had reacted to the demonic energy I emitted and had become soft and smooth, pulsating like a heart.

,What the hell is this…

,Kiaaag, ah, no, andwae! Aaa!

,…Rose?

,…

Rose’s struggles suddenly turned into violent convulsions, and then she lay still, breathing slowly.

I was having trouble assessing the situation.

,What, what happened?

[Ed, it’s done now.]

,Huh?

[First, slowly take your hand off that bitch and get up.]

,…I don’t know what’s going on, but I trust you.

I slowly took my hand off the back of Rose’s head, pulled the tail out of my neck, and got up.

As I got up, Rose slowly raised her body, looked at me, and knelt down.

I was taken aback by her suddenly docile behavior.

However, judging from her expression, which was full of bewilderment and fear, this attitude didn’t seem to be of her own will.

,What the fuck is going on?

[She submitted.]

,What?

[Give her any command.]

,…Uh, lower your head?

,Keueuk,

Rose groaned painfully and twitched as if trying to resist, but her head slowly drooped down.

I still couldn’t figure out what was going on.

,Are you not going to explain what’s going on?

[You should be able to figure it out by now.]

,Yeah, yeah, I’m stupid. Tell me quickly, parasite.

[The demon recognized the Demon King.]

[Ugh, there’s so much disgusting demonic energy in Ed’s body.]

[Well, at least that Succubus bitch won’t attack you. Demonic creatures have a strict hierarchy.]

I looked down at Rose and used divine power to heal the wound in her neck where her tail had pierced.

Rose said, sounding dumbfounded.

,Ha, Salbiar Baron… I thought you were no ordinary person, but demonic energy of the Demon King, divine power. And…

Rose slowly turned her head and looked at the Holy Sword I had thrown on the floor, continuing her words.

,Even Father’s Holy Sword… What kind of monster are you?

,Ah, stop calling me a monster, can’t you see what you look like right now? You’re the one who’s a clinging evil spirit in someone else’s body.

,Do you think… I wanted to be attached to this brat’s body?

,Yeah, I know, your mother only used you like a lab rat to try and save your brother.

,…What?

,Why?

,Experiment… you said?

,Did you think Jennifer resurrected you because she liked you?

Rose seemed shocked by my words and remained frozen for a long time.

Her pupils shook erratically for several minutes, and then tears welled up in her eyes, and she let out a self-deprecating laugh.

,…Haha, shit… to the end.

,…

,To the end, I couldn’t get Mother to acknowledge me.

I slowly took off my mask, approached Rose, and stroked her green hair with the small beast ears attached.

,Raise your head.

Banata’s face, stained with tears, looked up at me.

I slowly opened my mouth to her, who couldn’t recognize me even when looking at my bare face.

,Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. Who I am, why I gained this power, and what I intend to do with it.

,…

,If you accept, I’ll give you a chance to take revenge on that goddamn mother who doesn’t look back at you. Jennifer.

Rose’s tail, which had been swaying gently, slowly fell to the floor and became still.

.