Ch.103103. Do You Like Pain?

Diggers, the former Student Council Vice President, is no longer in this world.

He disappeared without properly expressing his feelings for Alkine, only to return transformed into a demon.

Though he was dealt with on the spot after failing to kidnap Alkine using his newfound demonic powers… while the incident was resolved, questions inevitably remained.

‘Who turned Diggers into a demon?’

Diggers’ demonification was real.

If Diggers had merely been corrupted by demonic energy, his corpse would have remained after death.

But his body vanished into smoke, proving he had truly become a demon.

Rather, because of this, I could immediately recognize who had transformed him. Turning a human into a demon? There was only one being capable of such a thing from the start.

Yes. It’s that figure now revealing itself behind Poppy.

“My, that won’t do. Trying to harm my cute child again.”

Whether it’s Diggers or that Poppy, they seem far from what I’d call “cute,” but now wasn’t the time to debate a demon’s aesthetic standards.

The word “again” confirms my suspicion was correct. And that whatever happens, this creature won’t simply leave.

“Last time I underestimated you and lost pathetically. So this time, I followed along.”

The creature had taken the form of a human woman.

Unlike the grotesque Poppy, it had a body perfectly resembling a human’s, though in reality it was far from human with its dark-tinged skin and horns.

At first glance, it gave an impression similar to what’s commonly called a “succubus,” though that was just its appearance—it wasn’t actually related to succubi.

The creature began slowly approaching us, floating subtly in midair despite having no wings.

Demon Belle.

One of the Demon King’s Army’s greatest forces.

The strongest of the so-called Four Heavenly Kings.

‘Shouldn’t I normally meet the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings first?’

Of course, meeting any of them would be troublesome… but it would have been better than this one.

Because most demon-related incidents begin with an encounter with this creature.

Geez… from Diggers to this one. It’s really giving me a headache to keep running into them in the Rift.

Of course, it wasn’t strange for demons to freely move through the Rifts.

After all, Rifts originated from demonic energy, and in the game, there were demons that could only be seen within Rifts.

But meeting a character who should only appear in the story isn’t exactly pleasant.

It means the developments I know are completely thrown off track.

Even if things changed because I got involved, this is too much.

Lamenting won’t change the current situation.

The creature had already approached right in front of me and was greeting me.

“Hello? This is our first time meeting, right? I heard humans introduce themselves when they first meet.”

Glancing to the side, I saw Alkine’s body had stiffened while her expression held questions.

That made sense. Her senses would have clearly recognized the danger of this creature, yet here it was talking about introductions.

That seemingly friendly demeanor didn’t appear hostile at all.

It seemed to have no intention of attacking us. And that was likely true.

The reason was simple. This demon has quite an interest in humans.

That’s why it manages strange demon forms like this and even helped Diggers, who was originally human.

However… the problem was that this interest was simply like looking at toys.

Diggers’ death would just feel like a toy breaking to it.

It probably didn’t have any special feelings for Diggers as a being.

The reason it came looking like this was probably because Diggers died too pathetically… creating something like a sense of caution.

If Diggers had accomplished a bit more, or met a more plausible death, it probably wouldn’t have come looking, and would have just said something like “Oh! The human broke. It lasted quite a while though~” and moved on.

Whatever the case, there’s nothing good about irritating a creature that’s lost its toy.

So I tried to answer its words in the least provocative way possible.

“Nice to meet you, Belle. We would like to establish a good relationship with you.”

I started with introductions, directly using her name and explicitly stating we wanted a good relationship.

It was my best attempt at using my knowledge of in-game personalities…

“…You’re funny.”

That was the response I got. Not a negative signal, right?

I worried Alkine might say something unnecessary, but thinking about it, that wasn’t a concern.

She’s not a fool. She’s not the type to speak carelessly in this situation.

Fortunately, it seemed Belle wasn’t too hung up on Diggers’ death, as just a few exchanges were enough to shift her interest from Diggers to us.

How much interest? She even showed concern for the wounds on my body.

“You look hurt. How about I help you? I think that would be good for both of us.”

…This is troublesome in its own way.

She says it would be good for both of us, but that’s entirely by her standards.

She gets to have an interesting human under her command, and I get to heal my wounds with a demon body that has high regenerative abilities.

It might seem fine at first glance, but becoming a demon ruins everything.

It’s basically saying she wants to turn me into a demon and treat me like a toy, just like Diggers.

Diggers probably fell for similar nonsense and became a demon.

But I can’t just say no. She genuinely thinks this is good for both of us, and if I reject her clumsily, things could go wrong in unexpected ways.

So the best way out of this is…

“That’s okay. I like being in pain.”

To emphasize that healing my wounds would not be beneficial to me.

That would make her statement about it being “good for both of us” incorrect.

I deliberately used this speech pattern for a reason.

However she learned about humans, she considers this to be a respectful attitude.

“You like being in pain? Ugh, are you one of those?”

And… she hates this type of person the most.

She enjoys watching others in pain, so seeing someone enjoy what should be painful disgusts her.

So I exploited that. For her, such people are ones she’d want to avoid.

“Ugh, then forget it. You looked decent on the outside, so I wanted to have you.”

Disgust. Thanks to targeting that aspect well, it seems I’ve managed to get past this somehow.

By the way, she said I looked decent. Does this appearance appeal to demons too?

But she’s the one who calls Diggers and Poppy cute… so I’m not particularly happy about the compliment.

Anyway, just when I thought I’d escaped well… the spark unexpectedly jumped sideways.

“How about you? Want some help?”

Right to Alkine.

I wondered what help she was offering, but thinking about it, Alkine was also quite injured.

Fighting boss-level demons alone inevitably resulted in minor wounds.

In the sudden shift of questioning, I looked at Alkine in momentary confusion. She looked at her wounds and then at the demon, before carefully speaking.

“I… I like being in pain too.”

“Ugh. You too?”

I couldn’t help but admire her quick response.

As expected of the President. Your perception is incredibly sharp.

It’s amazing how she simply copied what I said and my tone to evoke disgust.

She must have understood the entire conversation without any explanation.

I won’t have to work to prove I’m not a pervert later.

Thanks to Alkine’s expert perception, we were able to navigate this crisis very naturally.

“I guess so. Humans do tend to flock with similar kinds.”

Perhaps thanks to hearing our false confession, she seems to have given up on recruitment.

Life is full of unexpected turns—I never thought wounds gained from carelessness would be so helpful.

“Well, that’s not what I came here to talk about anyway.”

She changes the subject, seemingly no longer wanting to discuss this topic.

Seeing her like this sometimes makes her seem truly human.

“Did you make this?”

She pointed at something in the air when referring to “this.”

It seemed she was talking about the Rift itself… and I could confidently answer that question.

“No, we don’t know.”

“…Don’t talk to me like that. It’s disgusting.”

Hmm. Maybe because I’ve been branded as a pain-loving pervert, now she finds it creepy when I speak respectfully.

That’s fine with me. It means I can speak casually.

“We don’t know either. We just entered after it suddenly appeared. Why do you ask?”

Alkine was startled when I suddenly switched to casual speech, but Belle doesn’t care about such things, so it’s fine.

If I act too submissive, she might mark me as boring and decide to kill me.

While her conversational ability makes her seem somewhat human, I must never forget that she is a demon.

“Never mind then. I came because I sensed an energy I really dislike, but finding only you two here, I thought I’d ask.”

Her explanation is as friendly as in the game setting.

She’s the demon who speaks human language the best… most demon-related stories are told by her alone.

Thanks to that explanatory nature remaining intact, I could understand exactly why she came here.

-“Why are you so late? I’m opening a Rift right now, so start the raid immediately!”

Just before the Rift opened. That’s definitely what Alkine had said.

If so, this Rift was clearly opened through Alkine’s favorability system.

The favorability system. I don’t know what relationship it has with demons, but it seems clear they’re at least adversarial.

…That’s somewhat reassuring. If it’s an entity hostile to demons, at least it’s not part of absolute evil.

Though it did result in meeting this dangerous creature… whether it was intentional or not is hard to determine.

“This is boring. I came just in case, but there’s no one strong here. I’m going back.”

How many beings could call Alkine weak, let alone me?

That one statement makes it impossible to gauge her level of power.

Still, she says she’s leaving. That’s fortunate.

When she first appeared, I was really worried, but somehow things seem to have worked out.

Just as I was thinking that, her neck twisted grotesquely as she turned around, and our eyes met.

“Feeling relieved?”

I had only thought “thank goodness” to myself, but she seemed to have caught that.

Before I could say anything, she continued.

“I was hoping you’d try to attack me from behind, but you don’t even have the guts for that. So that’s all you amount to.”

It seems she was hoping I would try to exploit an opening.

I don’t know why. Maybe she finds that entertaining?

Whatever the case, the result of not acting according to her expectations was quite obvious.

“I had some expectations since you harmed my cute child, but this is boring. Poppy, kill them.”

“Yes, master.”

Living up to the name of demon.

“…Ludion. I’m sorry. I let my guard down without realizing.”

Alkine apologized, thinking the situation had turned this way because of her, but that wasn’t it.

Judging by this sudden escalation, this was likely her intention from the beginning.

I had anticipated this possibility from the moment she appeared, so I wasn’t particularly shocked.

Even so, the reason I played along until now was… simply because there was a chance we could avoid fighting.

‘If I fail, we fight; if I succeed, we skip it, right?!’

In the end, I failed miserably. But it was a good attempt.

There’s no time to blame what’s already happened, so I decided to move on and take action to deal with the immediate situation.

“Senior Alkine. Can you handle this alone?”

“I’ll have to see, but I think I can manage.”

“Yes. You’ll be more than enough. But don’t try to attack and finish her off—just stall for time as much as possible.”

“Okay. Got it.”

First, I’ll leave Poppy to Alkine.

Alkine should be more than capable of facing Poppy. As long as she’s careful not to trigger phase 2, there’s nothing to worry about.

The worry is something I need right now.

“Oh? You’re not going to help? How cold.”

“I need to deal with you.”

“Huh?”

If I move too vigorously here, the wounds I’ve just managed to stop bleeding will reopen.

It’ll be incredibly painful… but that’s far better than actually dying.

“You alone against me? Are you serious?”

I answered her confident words by swinging the sword I pulled from my inventory.