episode_0138

The conversation with the saintess didn’t last very long.

Honestly, the reason I wanted to see the saintess was just to see the saintess’s face, which I had never seen even in the game! That’s how I felt when I came to see her. She didn’t even tell me about the witch, which was my biggest curiosity, and she talked vaguely about other things, so there was no reason to talk for long.

If I had to pick one good thing….

“The education of Miss Levia will not take long. You said her power is needed to defeat the fragments of the Demon King in the future, so she won’t be held for long for the sake of your active work.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard today. In that sense, what is Levia doing now?”

“Probably, she is being taught the basics of using divine power. If she can use even a minimum amount of divine power, she will be able to provide basic healing support or at least self-defense.”

I nodded at Bathory’s words.

If not only Lucy but also the saintess say that, then I don’t have to worry anymore.

“If there’s nothing else to do, I’ll be on my way.”

“Yes. May the blessing of the goddess be with you…. Ah, Lucy. Could you stay for a moment?”

“Yes?”

Lucy’s steps, who was about to leave with me at Bathory’s words, stopped abruptly.

Then, as if forcibly turning her shoulders that wouldn’t turn, she turned her head and looked at Bathory.

Bathory was still looking at Lucy with a saintess-like smile.

“I have something to say to you, so please stay for a moment.”

It was a word that contained no emotion to others, but it was different for Lucy, who suddenly sweated and trembled, looking at me for final salvation.

“Goodbye.”

And I abandoned Lucy and went back.

“You, you’re too much~!!!”

I heard Lucy’s scream, but I lightly ignored it.

So, the hero left, and only Lucy and Bathory remained.

“Lucy.”

“Hic….”

Lucy looked at Bathory, frightened and trembling.

For Lucy, Bathory is the most precious being, but at the same time, she is a high and unreachable existence that she cannot easily approach.

Moreover…. She spoke so casually to the hero Leon…, no, the hero of another world, Yun Tae-ho, but there were many things that she felt guilty about, so Bathory, who can read the memories of her lower blood demon through blood, would be able to see it clearly.

Above all, she tried to kill the hero as she pleased, so it wouldn’t be strange if any punishment came.

“Are you okay with that?”

“?”

But what came back was not a sound of reprimand, but a voice filled with worry.

“W-what do you mean?”

“For a succubus, an incubus mark…. doesn’t it mean that you’ve met a partner to whom you’ll dedicate everything?”

“Ahaha….”

Lucy carefully brought her hand to her stomach.

Bathory, who was quietly watching the scene, looked at Lucy with an expression that was half pride and half worry.

“Lucy…. has been discriminated against by other blood demons despite being a blood demon with half the same blood. That’s why I’m very happy that you’ve met a partner that you’ll love for the rest of your life. But…, at the same time, I’m worried. Lucy, I’m worried about what kind of person your partner is, the one you want to serve for the rest of your life, and whether he’s someone who will abuse you.”

“…He does make me work a bit hard at night.”

“Hmm? What did you say?”

“Ah, no. Nothing.”

Lucy said, waving her hand.

Bathory looked at Lucy strangely, then nodded and continued.

“When I saw him myself, he didn’t have an evil heart. If I had to say, I’d say he’s ordinary. Considering he’s a person with such great power, he didn’t show any clear ambition or anything. At least…. he’s not someone who would sacrifice Lucy for his own sake.”

“Yes, that’s right. I judged that he’s someone I can trust enough, from when he dealt with one of the fragments of the Demon King, the Heavenly Demon, to the journey to get here.”

“That’s right. If you’re telling me even that kind of story….”

That she would never let him die.

Bathory, who was very impressed by that remark, nodded.

“For a succubus, intercourse between men and women is both an act of eating and an act of love, only a paper’s width apart. When you have intercourse as an act of eating, you don’t feel any pleasure, just like eating a meal, but when you have intercourse as an act of love, you definitely feel considerable pleasure and…. I know that a child can be made. So Lucy, I’m asking you. Are you okay with it?”

“Um…. That’s….”

“This is not something I’m asking as the Queen of Blood, or as a saintess. It’s just…, I’m asking as your friend. Lucy.”

“….”

Listening to Bathory’s, the Queen’s, the Saintess’s, and her friend’s sincerity, Lucy seemed to have made up her mind and nodded.

“I’m okay with it. Because that person is…. my partner, whom I want to dedicate everything to and fill with happy and lewd dreams….”

“…Then that’s enough. I’ll drop the case of attempted murder of the hero.”

“Ugh….”

I knew you noticed….

Lucy avoided Bathory’s gaze, sweating.

“Lucy, may the blessing of the goddess be with you, who will experience many things in the future.”

“…I don’t believe in the goddess. Rather than that, Bathory-nim. Please give me your blessing.”

“…That’s right. May you walk a path without shame, as a blood subordinate.”

“Thank you. Queen.”

Lucy bowed her head, then raised her head and looked at Bathory.

“Since you were worried about me, may I offer a word of concern?”

“What is it?”

“…I have the blood of a succubus, so I can ignore some of the damage caused by divine power.”

Lucy’s main body, or what can be called her essence, is in the dream world.

Therefore, even if her physical body in the real world is damaged by using divine power, it is quickly repaired.

It’s like no matter how much you cut down the moon reflected in the lake, you can’t cut down the moon.

But Bathory is different.

Pure bloodline.

In that state, she doesn’t drink blood and uses divine power to listen to the goddess’s prophecy.

I can’t even imagine how much strain this will put on her body….

“Bathory-nim. Are you…, okay?”

“…Hehe, all the children who come here say the same thing.”

“Of course! Bathory-nim is…. already from the traitors….”

“…I’m okay. I can still handle it.”

She can handle it.

It’s not that she’s okay. It’s just that she can handle it.

Lucy’s heart felt like it was tearing apart because she wasn’t so dull that she couldn’t notice this subtle difference.

* * *

“So, where should I go now….”

I came up from the basement before Lucy and wondered what to do, so I moved my steps.

Should I go to the Grand Library and gather information about other fragments of the Demon King?

But when I went there last time, I couldn’t get any meaningful information. If I had to get information from somewhere….

Bathory Vlad, the progenitor of blood demons and a saintess.

She probably knows something, but she probably won’t tell me anything.

“Then….”

“L-Leon!….”

“…Huh?”

A woman’s voice calling my name.

I feel like this has happened once before….

When I turned my gaze in the direction the voice was coming from, I saw the figure of a white-haired nun and…. the figure of a woman with crimson hair.

One is Noren, whom I met last time, and the other is….

“Philia.”

“T-that’s right! I’m Philia!…. Y-you suddenly disappeared!…, I was so surprised!….”

“….”

Philia looks at me with trembling eyes, as if she had met a lover who she thought was dead.

On the other hand, Noren was looking around, watching my eyes, to see if anyone was there.

I could tell who Noren was looking for without looking. She must be worried about Lucy, who gave Noren a harsh warning. In addition…. If Noren is there, Philia will definitely be there, and I had guessed that Noren would definitely tell Philia that she saw me.

“Long time no see.”

“Y-yes, really…. It’s been a really long time. W-where have you been until now?….”

“I was in the East Continent. I had to deal with the fragments of the Demon King there.”

“F-fragments of the Demon King…. R-really?….”

It seems that the fact that I subjugated the fragments of the Demon King in the Central Continent has been widely known, so it must have reached Philia’s ears.

“Hahaha…. T-that’s right. Then now that we’ve met like this….”

“Yes, I’m glad to meet you like this. I want to talk more, but I have to go now.”

“…Huh?”

“My party is waiting.”

Philia looks at me with shaking eyes, as if she was greatly shocked by my words.

What are you looking at.

“P-party?”

“Of course, my party. The one I was with on my journey in the East Continent.”

“W-what does that mean?…. I-I….”

“That’s right…. You guys moved on to another hero’s party, right? I have to find a new party too.”

I hear Philia inhaling.

“N-no, it’s not anymore…. Let’s be together….”

“Philia.”

“U-ung?….”

“I know everything. Everything you guys did.”

The moment she heard my words, Philia and Noren looked at me in surprise.

Looking at them with their eyes wide open as if they had received a big shock, I said.

“It would have been okay even if Miss Tiris mixed her body with that guy Abel indiscriminately.”

For Leon, Tiris was like a trustworthy mentor.

“It would have been okay even if Noren flattered Abel and was stabbed in the back.”

For Leon, Noren was like a very kind older sister.

“I could have tolerated Mari hugging Ragna and sticking to him while cursing at me.”

For Leon, Mari was like a cute younger sister.

However, these were just others.

It was sad, but it didn’t lead to ‘despair’ in itself.

“But I thought you, at least, would stay by my side.”

“!!”

“But you left my side too.”

“N-no! It’s not like that!….”

I cut off Philia’s words, who was trying to say something urgently.

“I know. You did that to stop Abel from picking a fight with me. But you know…. Then, am I supposed to just watch the woman I liked sell her body because of me? I’d rather…. I’d rather I suffer.”

What the hero Leon despaired of was,

When Philia, whom he had had a crush on since he lived in his hometown, who had said she would travel with him and followed him,

When such Philia was in the arms of another, that was when he despaired.

“So, I’ll say it clearly, Philia.”

That’s why the hero Leon,

“The Leon you knew,”

Died.

“He’s dead.”