Episode 344. Chiron

I sighed, seeing Liliana’s lips still upturned, and entered the room.

“So you were resting well. I was worried you might be crying alone.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of! A genius mage is on my side!”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks.”

“Still, that’s a relief.”

Where did you learn to call yourself a genius mage? That’s something new.

I gave a wry laugh and sat down on the bed.

As I sat down next to her, Liliana turned off the monitor playing the funny video and sat up, while Scarlett, as always, naturally stood beside me.

“But what’s going on? Scouting… huh?”

Just then, Liliana, who had been giggling, suddenly approached Scarlett.

Sniff. Sniff.

And then, sniffing with her nose, she began to smell her.

“What the? What are you doing all of a sudden?”

Like a puppy, Liliana buried her face in Scarlett’s body, opened her mouth, and slowly turned her head towards Scarlett’s face.

“Scout. You didn’t, did you….”

“… I apologize. I was careful the whole time, but I couldn’t avoid the demonic beast’s influence.”

“What do you mean, demonic beast’s influence? Didn’t we have a good relationship?”

Scarlett bowed her head to Liliana and apologized, while Liliana clenched her fist and brought it to her chest.

“Scout, you… You finally crossed the line!”

Clap clap clap-

Liliana clapped excitedly, happily, as if it were her own achievement.

It was like a mother who had worked hard to support her child getting the news that they got into Seoul National University.

Wait, is this really something to be so happy about…?

I looked at Liliana’s face and asked.

“… Are you that happy?”

“Of course. If it were up to me, I’d throw a virginity party!”

“That sounds like a good idea? I’m all for it.”

A virginity party. Just hearing about it sounds fun.

Especially Scarlett’s virginity party would be unbearable.

“Whoa, should we brainstorm ideas?!”

“Hmm, then….”

“… Please stop. My heart is about to freeze over.”

“Sorry.”

I linked arms with Scarlett and quickly apologized.

If I messed around any further, who knows what might happen.

Fortunately, Scarlett just sighed and didn’t refuse my arm link.

“So, if not about the virginity party, what were you going to say? Did you come to report to the great Liliana?!”

“… Let’s stop talking about the virginity party. I was thinking of going to find Chiron.”

“Chiron…?”

Liliana furrowed her brow, perhaps recalling unpleasant memories.

She probably doesn’t want to mention any bad memories at all.

I understand.

But we can’t keep avoiding it.

The only way we can resolve this now is in that direction.

I firmly grasped Liliana’s anxious hand.

“Liliana. I don’t care what your past is, not at all. Scarlett feels the same way.”

“Honestly, Liliana-nim, whether you’re a succubus or not, I don’t really know.”

“… I’m a pure-blooded succubus!”

“It’s just because we’re so used to you and comfortable.”

“That’s right. Even if you are the Demon King’s daughter, Liliana-nim, it doesn’t feel real.”

“Hmmph….”

“We can’t just keep getting pushed around by that centaur. Let’s go get some information from him.”

Anyway, Chiron said he’d be there.

He’s probably waiting for us to return after seeing the memory orb.

Since he ruined our mood, we need to get something out of him.

“But, are you sure that centaur named Chiron won’t run away? Shouldn’t we report that the magic dampeners don’t work?”

“… I’m not sure, but he’s probably there. And if we report it, it’ll just complicate the procedures unnecessarily.”

“True, these big guilds are all the same.”

“Yeah. Well, he did say he’s most comfortable now that he’s in the human world, so it should be fine. Based on my gut feeling, he’s probably curious about Liliana’s reaction after seeing the memory orb.”

Maybe there’s a bit of revenge involved too.

Honestly, after seeing the memory, I don’t understand why Chiron let Liliana go.

If it were me, I’d try to kill an enemy the moment I met them, but Chiron was strangely not hostile.

“Argh! I don’t know! Do whatever you want! Let’s go!”

At that moment, Liliana, who had been rubbing her temples, shouted.

She seemed to have sorted things out in her own way.

“Right. Let’s go confront that crazy centaur. We have a lot to ask him.”

“Okay. I’m going to confront him too.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Liliana wore a slightly anxious expression, but she squeezed the hand she was holding tightly.

*

It was dark outside.

‘I’m not as tired as I thought.’

Today was truly an absurd schedule.

After sex with the Alice sisters, we immediately went on a mission to capture the centaur, and talked with the captured Chiron.

We saw Chiron’s memory orb, learned about Liliana’s past, and even had sex with Scarlett.

Honestly, I was so tired I made mistakes in battle before Scarlett got injured, but with major events like Scarlett’s injury and Liliana’s past continuously happening, all my sleepiness disappeared.

My body entered an awakened state.

Still, it’s best to finish things as quickly as possible.

I might not be able to wake up tomorrow morning.

We headed to the main building of the Iris Guild without delay.

Perhaps because they captured the centaur, the atmosphere at the Iris Guild was light.

Relaxation flowed across people’s faces.

The receptionist in the lobby gave me a slightly strange look, as I revisited just a few hours later, but fortunately, she didn’t say anything.

• You were so excited last time you came.

“I know, right.”

Last time, we excitedly talked about what questions to ask, but Liliana wasn’t exactly brimming with energy either.

I rode the elevator down, thinking about the questions I wanted to ask Chiron.

Among the various questions, the three most important were:

Who exactly were the hellions of the Underworld? How did Liliana lose her memory? And lastly, what was the true identity of the so-called Demon King of the Underworld?

————————–

[ Hellion Summoning Contract ]

Are you the one who summoned the hellions of the Underworld?

Choose one of the four hellions.

1. The butcher shop owner demon obsessed with human flesh, Lucifer

2. The Underworld Academy’s golden-hued virginity bomber Incubus

3. An F-rank mercenary for 20 years. The resilience of an old warrior who’s lost every battle, Chiron

4. A 50-year-old spinster, master web-spinner Succubus

—————————

Both Liliana and Chiron were mentioned in the Hellion Summoning Contract.

This means the other two might also be children of the Demon King.

It would be good to know about them, in case they become my enemies.

Information about Liliana and the Demon King is also essential.

Especially information about the Demon King is linked to my main quest.

I don’t expect anything grand like weaknesses, of course.

Still, since Chiron is a child of the Demon King, there should be some helpful information.

“He seems to be inside.”

“Yeah. Good thing he didn’t run away.”

I checked on Chiron visible through the door and opened the cell door.

Chiron, still wearing the ineffective magic restraints, stood tall in the room.

Well, that means we can assume he has no intention of escaping.

“Surprisingly, you don’t seem too shocked. Bringing another girlfriend, I see.”

Chiron slowly turned his head and looked at us.

Surprisingly, his voice held no regret or resentment.

“What did you expect?”

“I expected her lover to learn her true nature and be disillusioned.”

“… That’s too specific.”

Poof-

At Chiron’s words, Liliana, who had transformed into a necklace, returned to her normal form.

“We’re not that easy to break! You bastard!”

“Hmm. So why have you come? If you’re still by Killer Queen’s side after seeing that memory orb, then I have nothing more to say.”

“We have questions. What happened to Liliana afterward? We have no information.”

“Do I have an obligation to tell you that?”

“Then you should tell us. You bastard! Do you know how much I suffered because of you!”

“Liliana-nim. Please calm down.”

Liliana stamped her feet in frustration.

While Scarlett tried to calm Liliana down, I stood before Chiron.

“… If you’re not going to tell us, why are you here? You must have some objective too. If there’s something you want, I’ll grant it.”

The reason Chiron is here.

Of course, as he said, he might have wanted to see Liliana’s mental state shatter, but that’s not all.

His attitude while speaking, and the fact that he doesn’t harbor resentment towards Liliana – this guy clearly has something hidden.

If it’s something I can do, I should grant it.

“Can a human interpret my intentions? I’m not sure about that myself.”

“… Stop talking nonsense. After the memory you showed us, what happened to Liliana? You must have overheard something.”

Chiron mentioned in passing that she disappeared overnight, but there must be more information.

“I don’t know. Back then, I was struggling just to survive. At first, I survived miserably, fueled only by the desire for revenge against Killer Queen. I gave up my claim to the Demon King’s succession and joined a mercenary group. My plan was to build up my strength and power to challenge for the Demon King’s throne again.”

“And then?”

“But Killer Queen rapidly expanded her influence. More accurately, she expanded her domain. She grew strong enough to contend with Lucifer, the first in line for succession. However, one day, Killer Queen’s news stopped coming. It was as if her very existence vanished… She evaporated as if she had never been there. From then on, my life’s purpose essentially disappeared.”

“… Uh.”

“That was when I first received my F-rank mercenary badge. I just intended to quietly build my strength. But….”

I watched Chiron continue his endless monologue, and glanced at Scarlett beside me.

Scarlett was looking at me too, and we nodded at each other.

If we just let him be, he’ll spill the information himself.

*

“The stronger I got, the more I realized my talent could never catch up to Killer Queen’s. Even if the Demon King’s position became vacant, coveting that position in the first place was greed for me. It was merely youthful impetuosity.”

After listening to Chiron’s life story for about an hour, I started to get sleepy too.

“… Haaah, when is this going to end?”

“Shh. If we let him continue, I think we can learn everything we’re curious about.”

I patted Liliana’s yawning buttocks lightly.

Chiron was still talking, and maybe, if you think about it, he was just lonely.

Wasn’t he here because he wanted someone to talk to?

“… This isn’t easy. Dealing with this kind of person is difficult.”

“Still, he’s giving us good information.”

“Most of it is useless information. It’s like the stories you tell about women.”

“Ouch, that hurts?”

Scarlett chuckled and linked her pinky finger with mine.

It was a bit hurtful, but she’s cute, so I’ll let it slide.

“… Then one day. A strange summoning circle appeared before my eyes. It was a low-level magic circle that I would never have fallen for normally, but I felt an inexplicable pull. I unconsciously reached out my hand, and found myself summoned to the human world.”

“Oh, really? And after that, you were brainwashed and helped with the terrorism?”

“That’s right.”

It was finally over.

I gathered the useful information from the flood of data.

Times like these are when my enhanced memory perk is really helpful.

“So, Liliana disappeared overnight. The Demon King went on a one-year hiatus to choose a successor. And are the Incubus and Lucifer also successors to the Demon King?”

“Correct. Human, how do you know so much about the Underworld?”

“….”

You told me everything.

It took quite some time, but I managed to get some useful information.

If the Demon King is on a one-year hiatus, it means we’re safe from Pandemic for a year, no matter what they do.

I erased the destruction route from the original game from my mind.

“I don’t want to be here anymore… Now that we’ve heard everything, let’s go. Help me….”

“Wait a moment. Chiron, have you ever seen someone named Maestro in Pandemic?”

“Maestro. Yes, there was a human called that. For a human, he had a cool name.”

“… Do you have any information about that human? Even something trivial is fine.”

Maestro and Pandemic are ultimately the ones who summon the Demon King in the story.

If I want to survive in this world, they are enemies I must eliminate somehow.

Right now, I don’t have enough information, so anything would be helpful.

“Is he your enemy?”

“Huh?”

Chiron answered my question immediately.

Moreover, it wasn’t an evasive answer, but a definite one.

“I asked if that human called Maestro is your enemy.”

“… Yes. He’s someone I have to kill somehow. A lot of precious things are at stake.”

“I may not know other information, but I can tell you this one thing.”

“What is it?”

Chiron seemed to recall an unpleasant memory, furrowed his brow, and looked at me.

“Give up now. Humans can never defeat him.”