Ch.72Transcenders (3)

# Transcenders (3)

Eirene raised her palm once more, summoning the light of holy magic to threaten La•Pa.

But La•Pa, seemingly unconcerned, brushed past her and sat down on a chair at the table.

“Come on, don’t be so angry. I didn’t come here to fight, you know?”

It was surprising that Eirene hadn’t fallen victim to the mental attack, but if she had come to attack, she wouldn’t have come alone.

La•Pa’s ability, though powerful, could be easily broken once recognized.

Eirene, who specialized in brainwashing, would certainly know this.

That’s why La•Pa could conclude that Eirene, who had come alone, wasn’t here to stop her. There was no way she could have known that Eirene had arrived here so secretly in the first place.

So what was it?

Why had Eirene come here?

The premise had been wrong.

‘She came to meet Capilla’s ascetic from the beginning.’

What a lustful girl.

La•Pa didn’t hide these thoughts as she looked at Eirene with half-closed eyes. Just from that, Eirene seemed to feel caught, blushing and averting her gaze.

“What does the Saintess intend to do, sneaking in when no one’s watching?”

“…I only came to check if Lug is safe.”

“Not to pounce on him?”

“Ha! Like a lizard, you only think about primal instincts, don’t you?”

“Oh?”

La•Pa was taken aback.

It was true that Eirene had come alone in a suspicious manner, but the direction was slightly different from what she had thought.

She had clearly believed that Saintess Eirene had come to seduce Lug.

The late hour had especially led her to that conclusion.

‘Then what did she come for?’

It was certain she had come for Lug.

Her claim about being worried was obviously an excuse. But if she didn’t intend to seduce him, what was this situation about?

Perhaps she came to assassinate him?

That couldn’t be. The undisguisable affection in Eirene’s eyes was evident.

The fact that she had averted her eyes earlier meant she felt guilty about something.

“Strange… what could it be?”

“It’s not something you need to worry about.”

La•Pa couldn’t imagine someone stealing a comrade and running away when the others were perfectly fine.

The selfishness of humans that even she, called the Heavenly Demon, couldn’t fathom.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Now that I’ve been caught, I don’t plan to cause any more trouble and will just withdraw. Unfortunately, I don’t have a taste for performing in front of others.”

“W-what are you talking about…”

“Oh my, looks like she imagined something. I was right, she is lustful.”

“…”

Eirene could only glare at La•Pa, grinding her teeth.

La•Pa felt a certain chill from Eirene’s behavior, acting coldly despite falling for the provocation.

“Whatever the case, wouldn’t it be better for you to leave today too? Ah, or perhaps you have that kind of taste…”

“I’m leaving! You should stop messing with Lug!”

“Yes, yes. I have no interest in enjoying myself with someone who’s been turned to charcoal.”

La•Pa demonstratively left the room, leaving Eirene behind.

“Tsk…”

Of course, she didn’t forget to monitor what Eirene was planning to do after leaving the room. Suppressing her presence as much as possible while looking through the door, La•Pa could finally understand Eirene’s purpose.

‘That is…’

Originally, Eirene had planned to take Lug and run away, but now that she’d been caught, she had no intention of forcing that plan.

She immediately changed the order of her plan and began her experiment.

Yes, Eirene started sprinkling holy water on Lug.

Not as some metaphor, but literally sprinkling holy water.

Smoke rises from Lug’s skin with a hissing sound.

For Lug, who had become a half-demon, this was nothing short of torture.

‘That’s her taste? How hardcore…’

La•Pa nodded at the sight of Eirene, who showed the qualities of a queen.

Indeed, those who pretend to be innocent are often the most lustful.

“…Failure for the 43rd time. The power was too strong this time. Was focusing on purification abilities the problem?”

’43rd time? Then…’

This meant she had repeated this act more than 42 times. La•Pa felt a chill and decided to carefully retreat.

Perhaps it was even more hardcore than she had thought.

Misunderstandings continued to pile up. La•Pa had no intention of clearing them up.

Only her private opinion of Eirene had risen.

‘Such worldly desires.’

La•Pa decided to abandon the idea of corrupting Eirene, as it seemed unnecessary.

What’s the point in trying to corrupt someone who’s already corrupted?

Humans are truly obscene.

“Huh?”

As La•Pa returned to her room, satisfied with witnessing Eirene’s corruption, she found a visitor.

This was another unexpected development.

While she could understand the Saintess coming to pounce on Lug in the middle of the night, she never imagined someone would come looking for her.

“You are…”

Blood-red eyes glowing in the darkness.

It was Millia Asrin, the mage of the Hero’s party.

La•Pa blinked, at a loss for words at the gaze that seemed devoid of emotion.

This was the second person. Someone who should have been asleep was awake.

Yes, there was another being who had escaped her mental attack.

‘How did this one…?’

But this case was different.

She already knew that Saintess Eirene had abilities related to instigation and brainwashing. It was because these abilities were better than she had imagined that Eirene had escaped the mental attack.

Yes, that was understandable.

It was quite plausible.

But the girl before her was different. She shouldn’t have had exceptional immunity to mental attacks.

“I’ve heard that dragons are the masters of magic. That they use magic as easily as breathing.”

“Uh…? Well, it’s a bit different, but by your standards, it’s not that different.”

La•Pa answered reflexively, taken aback by Millia’s boldness in entering her room uninvited and asking her questions.

“More importantly, how did you come here?”

“…? I saw you using strange magic earlier, so I came to ask.”

“You have good eyes…”

La•Pa nodded at Millia’s claim that she had “seen” the mana movement for brainwashing.

If she had realized something was done unrelated to brainwashing, it couldn’t be helped.

As mentioned earlier, her brainwashing, though powerful, could be easily broken if one felt something was off.

‘Wait, doesn’t that mean she knew from the beginning? Why did she stay quiet?’

Come to think of it, Eirene was the same. Though Eirene seemed to have been planning to do something secretly…

‘Is this child also thinking of something suspicious?’

La•Pa couldn’t recall anything about Millia’s social skills.

‘Well, now that I know the reason, maybe there’s no need to be so cautious?’

Do dragons use magic as easily as breathing? That statement was half correct.

What she calls dragons, that is, the dragon race, can use magic as easily as breathing. However, there are limitations to the magic they can use so effortlessly.

It’s limited to the attributes possessed by that particular dragon.

For example, the ancient dragon Agni, who was recently killed by the Demon Lord Army’s 5th Corps Commander, Five, could use all fire-attribute magic but had almost no aptitude for other types.

He couldn’t even use the common basic magic, Magic Missile.

Born with the power of fire, he could only manipulate fire. That’s all it was.

‘It doesn’t matter for me… but there’s no need to teach these children that much.’

La•Pa’s stance was simple.

The mutual destruction of the Hero’s party, the Heavenly Gods, and Demon Lord Belphegor.

No, it didn’t have to be mutual destruction.

For now, just keeping the Demon Lord Belphegor, who had obtained non-standard power, in check was enough.

It would be good if they defeated him, and even better if they mutually destroyed each other. That was the extent of her thinking.

That’s why La•Pa intended to support the Hero’s party.

It didn’t matter that she was once a Demon Lord and a true Heavenly God.

What mattered was that there were beings other than Capilla’s ascetic who could end her life right now.

Moreover, the fact that they had no hesitation about taking lives was troublesome.

“Well, I guess I can use most magic… something like that?”

La•Pa gave a moderate answer.

Millia’s eyes lit up as if she had gotten the answer she wanted, and she began her real questions.

“Do you know magic that can extract a soul from a body and settle it in a doll?”

“Uh…?”

“Do you know how to permanently implant consciousness into a homunculus?”

“Ah, no? I don’t know.”

“Then that’s fine.”

Millia nodded at La•Pa’s answer and left the room.

Her departure was as bold as her arrival.

“Extract a soul from a body…?”

Shudder!

La•Pa couldn’t shake the feeling that she had encountered Millia’s quiet madness.

She didn’t know why Millia had asked such a thing, but somehow she felt it would lead to a conclusion beyond what she imagined.

Fear of the unknown.

How long had it been since she felt such fear towards a human?

La•Pa recalled the fear she had felt when meeting Capilla’s ascetic in the past, who had overcome all sorts of oppression and shackles to finally surpass her.

Knock! Knock!

Just as La•Pa was unnecessarily brushing her shoulders, a sudden knock made her start in surprise, narrowing her eyes.

Despite being able to kill everyone in less than a minute if she wanted to, she felt considerable pressure.

“W-who is it?”

“Um… it’s me, La•Pa. I have something to consult with you about.”

“Ah, it’s my daughter. Come in.”

La•Pa relaxed at the familiar polite speech pattern.

It was her adopted daughter.

Well, a daughter she had adopted to provoke Lug, but she was still lovable.

A girl whose concentrated karma manifested as intuition in a surprising way.

It made her smile that this girl, who could predict everything, didn’t know the most important things.

“What do you want to consult about?”

“…Do you know how to make breasts bigger?”

“That’s truly a consultation I never expected.”

La•Pa couldn’t hide her shock at the question from Tina, who had realized her true identity.

She had been serious when asking about how to restore her physical body, but after shedding that tension and seriousness, the first question she asked to a transcendent being like herself was this…

‘Capilla’s ascetic… you still exceed my imagination.’

What have you done to these kids?

La•Pa felt the strange sexual desires of the Hero’s party members she had witnessed today flash through her mind.

‘The Hero’s party… will they be okay?’

And when she reached that conclusion, what came to mind was the existence of the Hero who had to lead such companions.

‘Should I perhaps help them more actively instead of just watching?’

After pondering deeply, La•Pa had to acknowledge the critical problems scattered throughout the Hero’s party.

***

Amidst the swirling conspiracies of each person.

At that time, Esmeralda was…

“Mmnya. Hehe.”

She was sound asleep, unaware of the schemes that had swept through the Hero’s party members during the night.

“Hihi, that’s right. I’m the Hero… heh… mmnya…”

Hugging her blanket tightly, she looked truly happy in her sleep.