episode_0085

After that, we prepared for the future while chatting about this and that with Marianne.

“The Goddess of Light, Lady Serena, has decided to acknowledge me?!”

“She said she’d recognize you if you could swear with certainty that you’d stand on humanity’s side.”

“I swear it! I swear it on my very soul!!!”

With this, Marianne became one of us—humanity.

She was now a single human under the protection of the Goddess of Light, Lady Serena.

‘Officially joining humanity will happen after we defeat the Demon King and the heavenly barrier is lifted, though.’

Before then, if her identity as a demon were exposed, she could be attacked.

But.

That was something we could handle.

By invoking the name of the Hero’s Party and explaining that she was the sole exception—a demon permitted by Lady Serena to reside in human lands—we could smooth things over.

Convincing every human that “Marianne is a good demon” would be difficult,

but persuading those right in front of us was doable.

That part wasn’t the issue.

“So, you don’t know why you committed suicide?”

“No.”

“Sigh…”

This was the problem.

‘Should I ask Cain?’

If anyone could figure out why Marianne killed herself, it’d be Cain.

But.

I had no intention of asking him now.

‘We agreed not to let Marianne meet him until the Hero’s Party was fully assembled.’

If Marianne met him, things could escalate straight to R-rated activities.

She might do it with him,

or with us.

And then?

What about the comrades we hadn’t met yet?

They’d see everything already over before it even began.

‘I doubt they’d like that.’

So, I made a request.

I asked her not to meet Cain until the Hero’s Party was complete.

Even if they crossed paths, I begged her to play dumb and stall for time.

“Alright. I’ll do that.”

Marianne agreed easily.

‘Then, next…’

I thought for a moment.

I’d grown closer to Marianne,

brought her to our side,

and secured her approval for the harem plan.

She’d sworn to stand with humanity,

and once we defeated the Demon King, Lady Serena would personally declare, “I recognize Marianne as human.” That would be the end of it.

‘I still don’t know why she kills herself when the Demon King dies, but…’

Aside from that issue, things were mostly settled.

So.

It was time to move.

“You’re leaving?”

“I came here without Cain knowing. I don’t have much time.”

I had prepared to spend a few days persuading Marianne,

and I’d even thought up excuses in case I was late.

But the best outcome was returning quickly and avoiding explanations altogether.

…Just as I was thinking that and getting up—

“Then I’ll get ready too.”

“?”

“I need to join the others, right?”

“Uh… Marianne?”

“Yes?”

“You remember you can’t meet Cain, right?”

“Yes.”

“But you’re coming with me?”

“I have a good idea for that.”

“A good idea?”

“When I escaped the Demon King’s castle, I grabbed whatever I could from the treasure vault… There’s probably something useful for this situation. Just a moment.”

Marianne traced a line in the air with her finger.

Then—

Space split open, revealing a treasure vault-like space filled to the brim with items.

“What is this?”

“A pocket-dimension treasure vault I stole from the Demon King’s castle…? With a single gesture, I can open it easily, and it holds a lot, so I’ve been using it as storage.”

“What’s inside?”

“Treasures I stole from the Demon King’s castle… I took them in a hurry, so there’s a lot I don’t recognize. Until I check, I won’t even know if they’re real treasures.”

“……”

“But since they were in the vault, at least one of them should be useful.”

Marianne smiled as she began inspecting the items one by one.

“Cain thinks you’re an incredibly kind, pure woman… I didn’t know you had this side to you.”

“This side?”

“Kind, pure people don’t usually do things like stealing.”

“Eh~ It’s not like I stole from good people~ I took stuff from the evil Demon King~ That’s practically a good deed, right?”

“Is that so?”

“Look at this. I even stole the Demon King’s sword. With this, even if I’m not quite Hero’s Party material, I could at least be a supporter, don’t you think?”

“You stole the Demon King’s sword?!”

“Looks like it’s here.”

A black demonic sword radiating a fierce crimson aura.

Just one glance confirmed it was a legendary blade among legends.

“Brings back memories. The Demon King treasured this sword… I wonder how that trash will react when he wakes up… Just imagining it sends shivers down my spine.”

Marianne flashed a slightly wicked smile.

‘Is this similar to how Cain is?’

Cain was usually a good person,

but when facing enemies, he became more demonic than anyone.

In a way, they were a perfect match.

“But… if you stole this much, won’t they go berserk trying to catch you?”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“You came here to escape the demons’ pursuit?”

“Yes. At first, that was the plan.”

Marianne briefly shared her past.

She had been alone since birth.

A half-blood succubus.

A child born between a human man and a succubus.

The other succubi treated her like trash,

and even her birth mother disowned her, saying, “This thing isn’t my daughter,” before abandoning her.

Still, she managed to grow up somehow.

Though only half-demon,

she was born stronger than miscellaneous monsters like goblins.

She scrounged for food on her own

and survived in the wild.

“W-wait!”

“Hm?”

“You’re a hybrid of human and demon?!”

“Yes.”

“A hybrid between human and demon exists?!”

By all logic, it should’ve been impossible.

Human + Elf = Half-Elf

Human + Dwarf = Half-Dwarf

Human + Beastfolk = Half-Beast

Generally, when humans and other races had children, the result was a hybrid with traits of both.

A race blending characteristics from each side.

That was the nature of half-breeds.

But.

Not all races could produce half-breeds.

Humans, elves, dwarves, and beastfolk were creations of the Goddess of Light, Lady Serena, making it possible.

Though their races differed,

their roots were the same, allowing them to bear children together.

In contrast,

monsters and demons were fundamentally different.

Not creations of Lady Serena,

but races from another world.

Entirely separate.

For them, half-breeds didn’t exist.

Human + Goblin = Goblin

Human + Orc = Orc

Human + Demon = Demon

In these cases, only pure monsters or demons were born, with no trace of human traits.

‘Lady Serena explained this phenomenon like so.’

The seeds of invaders taint even our blood, completely overwriting it with their own.

‘In Cain’s terms: genetic invasion.’

The genes of monsters and demons invade and completely suppress human genes.

As a result,

the human genes vanish entirely, and a 100% pure monster or demon is born.

…Or so I’d heard.

Thus,

a half-demon shouldn’t exist.

…Or so I’d thought.

“Isn’t this proof that I’m half-human?”

Fwoosh.

Marianne gathered holy energy in her right hand.

It was faint,

but unmistakably holy energy—something demons could never wield.

To demons, it was lethal poison,

the power of the Goddess of Light, Lady Serena.

Yet she wielded it.

“There’s more proof that I’m half-human. The differences were so clear that everywhere I went, demons called me a freak… It was really hard.”

She’d been alone in the wild,

but she’d also been alone in demon society.

No.

The wild was easier.

The collective bullying from demons was unbearably cruel.

But.

She gritted her teeth and endured, pushing herself relentlessly.

In demon society, strength was everything.

If she grew strong enough, the bullying would stop,

and she might even make friends.

…With that hope, she trained endlessly.

And she grew powerful.

A demon’s physical prowess.

A human’s latent potential.

These two abilities maximized, making her the strongest in the demon realm—a warrior who could crush all demons with a single sword.

She became strong enough to easily defeat the Demon King before he obtained the Demon King’s Stone.

But.

There was no happy ending.

The succubi planned to extract her essence, absorbing only her combat power,

then pass it to another succubus.

They only wanted to steal her strength and kill her.

The Demon King was no different.

After obtaining the Demon King’s Stone, he grew stronger than her

and said this:

“Serve as the vessel for the next Demon King.”

He saw her body as nothing more than a breeding tool and tried to forcibly impregnate her.

So, she ran.

No matter how strong she became, the demons never accepted her.

They only saw her as material to enhance their own power.

But.

Simply running felt too unfair.

The succubi who tried to drain her power.

The Demon King who tried to use her body as a breeding tool.

And.

The entire demon race, who’d tormented her since birth—she wanted revenge on them all.

So, she took up her sword.

She slaughtered countless succubi, including the Succubus Queen,

and massacred other demons.

She looted the Demon King’s treasure vault.

After casting a large-scale spell to sever the heavens,

the Demon King sealed himself and fell asleep, making it easy to plunder the vault.

Kill all the guards,

take everything inside—simple.

…Well,

if she took too long, the Four Heavenly Kings would arrive with an army, so she couldn’t take everything.

She randomly shoved whatever she could grab into her storage

and fled.

To escape the Four Heavenly Kings’ pursuit, she entered human territory.

“Back then, I never imagined I’d come to like humans.”

At first, she’d only come to escape.

She hadn’t even known she was a human-demon hybrid.

She knew she was different from other demons,

but she hadn’t realized she had human blood.

The only thing she knew:

Unlike other demons, her body was barely affected by holy energy.

That’s why she fled here.

A realm where she could move freely,

but where other demons’ combat power would drop drastically.

Here, she could win.

…That was her calculation.

“But then…”