Ch.114114. Succubus

“They’re here again…?”

Ember stared blankly at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

At the castle gate. A large family, looking more like refugees than travelers, was being stopped by the guards.

Grimy clothes that hadn’t been changed for a long time, cracked and bloodied lips despite the fairly mild weather, worn-out shoes.

And in the hands of the middle-aged man who appeared to be the head of the family, a scroll rolled up on a golden axis.

Having experienced this situation before, Ember knew that scroll was a “deed of rights.”

A certificate granting the right to move into a house in the main castle of Wellesley County. Erick’s name was written in gold lettering at the bottom of the document, and it even bore an official seal. The design was convincing enough to make it difficult to doubt its authenticity.

The problem was that the deed guaranteed absolutely no rights.

…And the bigger problem was that the parties involved didn’t know that fact.

“Whew! We spent every penny we had to barely afford a merchant carriage! Those bastards dropped us off at the border of the territory, so we walked all the way here for a full day…! I’m sorry, but please guide us to our house quickly. First I need to clean it, and then.”

“Hey. I think you’ve misunderstood something.”

“Misunderstood…? Ah, right. I apologize. The deed of rights is definitely here. A certificate signed by the Hero Count himself, here!”

The family head proudly presented the deed and smiled shyly.

When the guard couldn’t bring himself to continue speaking, the man started chattering away.

He sold three pigs, twelve geese, and all sorts of household goods for just 400,000 Lyra to come here, he left before the harvest next month without even seeing the wheat, the neighbor who received his property would probably live comfortably thanks to him…

He was talking about essentially giving up his life as if it were some heroic tale.

What should be done with this pitiful human?

If he had just stubbornly demanded a house, they could have coldly rejected him, but revealing the truth to someone talking with such a happy expression was a frightening task.

The guards also didn’t know what to do and just clutched their spears.

After contemplating with her eyes closed, Ember finally instructed them to reveal the truth.

“That certificate is… forged…”

“What?”

It didn’t take long for the family head’s expression, which had been anticipating happy days living with his family in the Hero’s territory, to be colored with despair. His children, who were clinging tightly to his clothes, just blinked their eyes, not understanding what was happening.

A sight too painful to watch.

Ember felt her breath catch as she looked up at the sky.

Today, she desperately wanted to see Erick’s face. At the same time, she also thought it might be better if Erick didn’t come to the territory for a while. After all, there was no need for him to witness such a tragic scene when he already carried so many burdens.

This was more like a nightmare.

***

How did the Demon Lord’s army become this cunning?

The behavior of the Demon Lord’s army recorded in history wasn’t this devious.

At most, they would assassinate key figures, recruit mages obsessed with black magic to turn them into liches, or perhaps turn high-ranking royalty or nobility into sex slaves? Surprisingly, they had never kidnapped princesses.

People of that era would have condemned the Demon Lord’s army, but looking back now, those were cute tricks. That’s how different the dimension of this succubus’s wickedness was.

‘No, I can’t just sum this up as wickedness.’

Thanks to this, the party’s atmosphere was completely ruined.

Until they encountered the deed of rights incident, the party members’ faces had been relatively bright. No matter how broken the world had become, taking down two of the Tetrad was an incredible achievement.

In the past, it wouldn’t have been strange to have a welcoming crowd of 200,000 people.

Given the current state of affairs, there wouldn’t be any grand welcoming ceremony, but the party members didn’t seem particularly disappointed.

Instead of enjoying a welcoming ceremony, everyone had collected decent spoils.

Lord Ordellon, who had come to the capital to buy rabbits but ended up joining the Hero’s party, along with other knights, had collected top-quality magic stones.

The mages had collected the bone powder of the Tetrad.

The clergy were expected to benefit from improved church image. Though they couldn’t openly celebrate this due to the previous Pope’s death.

Yes. Until a few days ago, the atmosphere in the Hero’s party had been warm.

But now everyone was riding their horses slowly with their mouths tightly shut. As if they were afraid to arrive at the capital.

Even I was blankly mulling over what the court department had just reported.

– Hero. These creatures strike quickly and disappear so fast that we don’t know where to begin tracking them. At first, we thought they were slowly moving south, but that’s not it—their movements are difficult to grasp.

It couldn’t be helped. Information travels extremely slowly in the provinces.

The succubus seemed to be targeting villages with relatively wealthy farmers, but they were still rural areas nonetheless. In the countryside, there was almost no way to access information except through occasional merchants or adventurers passing through the village.

And to be more honest, most farmers had no interest in outside information. They thought that whatever happened in the world was irrelevant to their lives.

– The number of commoners who were deceived by Iclit’s group and left their hometowns… honestly, we can’t figure it out. I’ve heard some have already arrived at Wellesley County, but they’re just a tiny fraction compared to the number currently on the road.

It was difficult to even roughly estimate how many commoners were wandering the roads with the intention of becoming residents of my territory.

For rural commoners, long-distance travel was a life-threatening challenge.

I could ride at crazy speeds by casting blessings on my horse and feeding it hay mixed with potions. It was possible to reach the border in just two days instead of the usual ten (and that’s assuming one uses a good horse and is willing to sleep outdoors).

But for commoners who had lived in one place their entire lives, it was a different story.

Traveling with women and children, and even carrying all their household goods.

If they had some money, they could hitch a ride on a merchant carriage, but if they couldn’t afford it, they would likely be moving in groups of dozens like refugees. With fewer numbers, they’d be perfect targets for bandits or monsters.

A harsh journey of walking for weeks or months, clutching the deed of rights to their chests, comforting crying children along the way. They endured because they believed that with the certificate, they would definitely receive a house.

How many would quietly return to their hometowns when that hope was shattered? At this very moment, hundreds of lives were probably being ruined.

She was truly a despicable woman. To the point where I was contemplating how to kill her.

Perhaps because my expression was so sour.

The old priest rode alongside me and cleared his throat.

“Hero. Perhaps the number of commoners who were deceived isn’t as large as we think.”

“…Do you really think so?”

“It’s true that rural commoners lack education. But just because they lack knowledge doesn’t mean they lack wisdom in life.”

I understood what the old priest was trying to say.

It wouldn’t be easy to abandon the village where one was born and raised, farmers are smarter than we think, they wouldn’t abandon all their property and leave just because some strangers showed up and said a few words.

That was roughly his argument.

“Well, that’s true. Commoners aren’t simply naive.”

“Yes. So.”

“But they can’t help but be deceived by this kind of operation. It might be their first experience receiving an offer of kindness from outsiders without any cost. They’d mistakenly think the Goddess has blessed them because they’ve lived good lives.”

“Hmph. That’s disrespecting them.”

“It’s not disrespect, it’s reality.”

“……”

It wasn’t difficult to imagine how Iclit and the other succubi deceived the ignorant commoners.

First, they would have appeared well-dressed and spoken gently. They wouldn’t have ordered them around or looked down on them for being uneducated.

This alone would have been enough to gain the commoners’ favor. Rural commoners rarely experienced being respected.

“And on top of that, they would have occasionally said things to boost their self-esteem. The Hero wants diligent subjects like you, unlike the people from the neighboring village, you’re so humble and speak so politely, and so on.”

“And that’s enough to deceive them?”

“After setting them up like that, if they wave the Hero’s name and flash the deed of rights, the commoners can’t help but be deceived. They would have accepted it thinking they were genuinely grateful.”

By this point, even the old priest Edin sighed as if he had nothing more to say.

The other party members also had serious expressions.

It didn’t seem like they truly sympathized with the gravity of the situation.

Our party had a high proportion of nobles, so it was difficult for them to understand the sentiments of commoners like I did. Not to mention Saintess Gang Hannah, who was from another world.

There was only one reason they were serious. Because of me.

More precisely, because I still hadn’t provided an “answer” on how to resolve this situation.

This was far from the behavior I had shown so far.

All sorts of crazy incidents had occurred in the Empire, but each time, I had grasped the circumstances almost in real-time and responded. Initially, I started doing this just to save my own life, but at some point, everyone began looking to me for answers.

Repeating that behavior eventually made me the Hero… anyway, I generally found breakthroughs quickly.

But this time, even I found it difficult to estimate.

How should I catch and kill succubi who quietly move from village to village?

If I formed a pursuit team, there was a high chance we wouldn’t even catch a glimpse of their tails.

On the other hand, I couldn’t leave high-quality personnel stuck in the countryside for months waiting for the succubi to visit. No, even if I did that, there was a high chance we wouldn’t catch them.

It was because of the characteristics of succubi.

‘Even now, there must be succubi disguised as humans hiding in various parts of the provinces. Their intelligence must be far superior to ours.’

Of course, they wouldn’t risk their lives fighting for Iclit, but they would gladly serve as informants. Even the weakest succubus could use communication magic.

Normally, these creatures who survived by sucking life force far from the capital posed almost no threat, but in this situation, they were becoming frightening.

I had to assume that the succubus race had infiltrated the entire Empire. Disguised as prostitutes, dancers, female inn workers, and so on, surviving…

My thoughts stopped abruptly. The party members also stopped with me.

‘That’s right. They were there.’

The horse neighed violently, wanting to gallop, but I paid no attention. I had finally grasped how to catch Iclit.