Ch.41Plan – 3

What Rosaria had asked me separately was whether I could possibly kill Alexander Reinhardt.

It was partly due to personal grudges, but she hadn’t made such a request solely for personal reasons.

She explained that the Pope was an extremely moody, hot-tempered man obsessed with maintaining his pride, so if his son died, he would take action not out of grief but to restore his wounded pride.

While it might be difficult to attack them head-on if they remained cautious and covered their tracks, once he started throwing tantrums, the Church would make all sorts of reckless moves, making them much easier to take down.

‘Though it seems like the personal grudge is the bigger factor…’

If I had to estimate the ratio, it would be about 99% personal vendetta and 1% public interest.

At first, I wasn’t particularly interested. Just revealing healing magic would be enough to make the entire Imperial upper echelon unite against the Starlight Church, so I didn’t see the need to go further.

But after seeing their connection to succubi, I changed my mind. These people had been expanding their influence within the Empire for over 200 years without raising suspicion, so they would certainly mobilize all their resources to interfere.

So I had verbally agreed to consider it, thinking that the more impulsive actions the Pope took, the easier our job would become.

‘…Can’t I just think of it as killing one bad guy?’

After seeing what that man had been doing, even my slight hesitation completely vanished.

The man had declared he would stay here for a week under the pretext of giving the Saint candidate time to say goodbye to her students, and the chairman, though visibly displeased, accepted, saying he had no grounds to refuse.

As soon as Rosaria heard the news, she said she couldn’t stand being in the same building as him and stormed out of her dormitory to set up in the club room.

And from day one, he began flaunting his power over the students. It was so bad that Rosaria said it reminded her of herself before she met me, clicking her tongue in disgust.

Actually, it was even worse. At least the original Rosaria didn’t try to seduce every man she saw. That Alexander was aggressively hitting on every woman who caught his eye.

Though he didn’t show any signs of being connected to succubi, perhaps fearing exposure, his behavior in just one Saturday was enough to earn him a notorious reputation.

“You’re going to cut off that bastard’s head?! Great! What’s the plan? How can I help?”

When Rosaria heard I was planning to kill Alexander, she got extremely excited and started bouncing around. I could understand her irritation—he would have pounced on her long ago if not for the belief that a Saint must remain pure.

I felt the same way. Not only was his character rotten to the core, but if he was also enthralled by succubi, there was no reason to keep him alive. He’d be nothing more than a pawn of the Demon King’s army.

“This is just my speculation, but if you say you’re going back to the Church, he’ll likely use succubus pheromones on you. The Demon King’s forces have infiltrated the Church—why would they leave behind a means to oppose them?”

The reason Rosaria, merely a Saint candidate, had risen to such a high position was because a Saint was the most reliable means to counter demons.

So from the Demon King’s army’s perspective, there was no reason to leave alive a human who could potentially threaten them.

They would maintain her status as a Saint candidate on the surface to avoid detection by the Empire. But internally, they would likely strip her of her position and use her for “other purposes.”

Considering how they had viewed Rosaria all this time and the way they looked at her, it was an obvious prediction.

“…Come to think of it, you’re right. Those bastards, once they don’t need me anymore, they’ll try to bring me down one way or another.”

Rosaria gritted her teeth, seemingly imagining what might happen to a Saint candidate who had outlived her usefulness. Disgust was written all over her face.

“They might use it after returning to the Church, but given his personality, he’s more likely to use it right in the carriage. He was openly groping the nuns’ backsides in front of us, wasn’t he?”

“I think so too. That’s exactly what that pervert would do.”

“So I want to catch him before he uses it. It’ll be difficult, but if we secure it, it would be the most definitive evidence, wouldn’t it?”

A human enthralled by a succubus is still just a human and can’t enchant others merely by existing—this was confirmed by Priscilla.

This meant that if he wanted to use pheromones on Rosaria, he must have them physically stored somewhere.

“Send word through the nuns that you’ll return in three days. That will make them prepare somehow.”

“Got it. But what if he doesn’t use it in the carriage? Do we have to follow him all the way to the Papal Palace?”

“Do you think he can hold back until he returns?”

“No.”

Rosaria laughed at her own answer, finding it ridiculous. Then she suddenly interlocked her fingers with mine. Her fingers firmly entwined between my knuckles.

“Why?”

“Priscilla was always doing this with you. Saying it makes her warm, or that it calms her mind.”

“That’s right.”

Rosaria lifted our interlocked hands near her eyes and gently shook them.

“I think she was right.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Mira Crate.”

After developing plans for various contingencies, including the remote possibility that he wouldn’t use the pheromones, I was heading back to the dormitory when someone blocked my path.

Judging by their attire, they were the nuns who had been with Alexander.

I looked around. The area was quite quiet, probably because it was late and we were in a secluded spot between the dormitory and the club building. No one watching? I clicked my tongue quietly.

“What’s this about? I don’t see why you would be looking for me.”

I asked while preparing to retreat if necessary. Winning a fight wouldn’t be particularly difficult, but the aftermath would be problematic. Given the Starlight Church’s influence, I would be at a disadvantage if there was only testimony without clear evidence.

These were people who had walked straight into Bellium Academy where the Shadow Dragon Meligor resided. I had to assume they had means to conceal their identities and destroy evidence.

“Lord Alexander has invited you to dinner.”

The nun at the front, with her veil pulled up to her eyes, spoke. I wondered what this sudden dinner invitation was about.

“I’ve already had dinner. Tell him I decline.”

“No. It’s not about eating food.”

“Then?”

Instead of answering with words, the nun loosened her garments to reveal herself. Pure white skin was completely exposed.

Beneath what appeared to be tightly wrapped nun’s clothing, there was nothing at all.

“…”

“I guarantee you’ll be able to enjoy a wide variety of tastes. What do you say?”

“Your master doesn’t seem to know anything about me. Tell him I’m not interested. And you should get lost.”

“Is that so.”

I was about to snap back that they should do proper research before trying to get friendly with me, but I held back. There was no need to give the impression that I knew more than I let on.

After flatly rejecting the offer, I tried to take another path, but the veiled nun moved first. I created the Shape of Eternity in my right hand and aimed it at her.

“Stop. It would be better not to approach unnecessarily.”

But despite my warning not to come closer, the nuns continued to narrow the distance. Just as I was about to use physical enhancement to leap backward, the nun at the front pulled open her veil.

“Hello there, handsome young man?”

The moment our eyes met, an indescribable sense of exhilaration spread throughout my body.

“Good. That’s done.”

The unveiled nun approached Mira Crate, humming a tune.

She wasn’t even a real nun. Somehow, a demon’s tail was swishing near her backside, having pierced through the nun’s habit.

“You seemed to notice something was suspicious, but you didn’t figure out what until the end? Kik, what a shame. Why didn’t you take one more brave step forward?”

It was Nika, a succubus who had been posing as a nun under the Queen’s orders.

“You’re really unfortunate. You’re incredibly strong, maybe not as much as that Sword Saint woman, but still.”

If Nika had been alone, she would have been woefully inadequate. The spiritual energy and power possessed by the man before her was considerably—no, astonishingly—strong.

Perhaps even comparable to that Sword Saint.

“But what can you do? The succubus who’s set her eyes on you happens to be our Queen. You’ll just have to be enchanted obediently.”

But she herself had received power directly from the Queen. So there was no problem.

“Hmm~ hmhmm~”

She couldn’t stop humming from joy. If this mission went well, she could shed both her status as a lowest-rank succubus and her reputation as a hopeless piece of trash in one fell swoop.

Nika approached right in front of Mira and examined his face from various angles. Then she let out a small sigh.

“Haah… he’s really handsome. If the Queen hadn’t ordered me not to lay a finger on him and just bring him back, I would have devoured him right here. How can someone with a face like this have no interest in lewd things?”

She wanted to at least have a little taste, but if she dared to do that to a man the Queen had claimed, she would be thrown among goblins with her uterus removed.

Having to mix bodies with males while being unable to reach climax or absorb spiritual energy—such a terrible torture had to be avoided.

“…It worked properly, right?”

Feeling uneasy about the unexpectedly powerful force, Nika poked Mira Crate’s cheek repeatedly. There was no reaction. The suggestion seemed to be working properly.

Succubus suggestion was a technique that couldn’t and shouldn’t be used carelessly, as it allowed complete mental domination once it took effect, exponentially increasing the spiritual energy consumed based on the target’s caliber.

But with the Queen’s strict orders, this man was an exception.

‘I almost ruined the mission.’

Even though she had received so much energy from the Queen that she wondered if it was too much, now it was almost all gone. If she had taken even a single bite, it would have been a disaster.

‘Wait, why is someone like him at the Academy?’

He was at a level where it wouldn’t be strange to see him on the frontlines beside the Sword Saint right now. Nika removed her finger from his cheek, puzzled.

“Let’s go quickly. Get ready. We can’t stay here long.”

No matter how well-prepared they were, Bellium Academy was essentially the Shadow Dragon’s lair. Stay too long and they would definitely be discovered.

Unless it was that half-succubus the Queen had created by pouring in so much energy that even she staggered.

“Hey, what are you doing? I said we’ll be discovered if we stay too long! Hurry up and mo— Kehek?!”

Nika couldn’t finish her sentence and made an ugly sound. A powerful hand had gripped her throat.

‘What… strength…!’

She struggled desperately to escape, but the grip on her neck showed no sign of loosening. The thought crossed Nika’s mind that she couldn’t break free even with all her strength.

“What are you? A succubus?”

‘…He spoke?’

Hearing the man’s voice right in front of her, Nika painfully squinted to look at Mira despite her increasingly constricted breathing.

Even through her oxygen-deprived, blurry vision, she could clearly see eyes full of vitality rather than the dull, glazed eyes typical of someone under suggestion.

‘How…?’

How could he break the suggestion by himself? It was a situation unprecedented in the thousands of years of succubus history.

While Nika was in confusion, the grip on her neck tightened even more. The desperate strength with which she had been trying to break free began to weaken. The sensation in her fingertips and toes was disappearing.

‘My Queen… save me…’

Before long, Nika lost consciousness.