episode_0158

000

Women who were captured by demons and then released.

Aurelia didn’t easily believe that all of them were originally men, but after investigating the identities of a few, she had no choice but to accept that it was true.

Since there were nearly 30 of them, it was difficult to avoid people’s eyes and go to the mansion.

Moreover, the longer they had lived as women, the fainter their memories of being men became, and some even became delusional, asking why they had ruined the shop they lived in.

To protect them, Aurelia chose to take them to a monastery in the royal capital that was not affiliated with the Order of the Saint’s Protection.

Unlike the Tromeria family, which has deep ties to the Order of the Saint’s Protection, Aurelia herself has connections with a religious group that worships a being close to a god called “Holy Spirit,” and she sometimes receives their help.

Eustace also came to the monastery with them.

He woke up in a bed for the sick.

Iona, who had been waiting for him to open his eyes, explained the general situation to him and left the monastery.

She wanted to gather as much information as possible about this matter and find a way to undo the curse on the men.

Eustace was still struggling to walk due to the remnants of black magic in his body and the damage accumulated from forcing his body to move, but he grabbed Mistilteinn, which was next to him, and closed his eyes.

“… …”

The sword’s resonance was empty. It wasn’t just him who had been affected by black magic, but Mistilteinn as well.

He wasn’t able to hear the sword’s voice like Rubera, Cleon, or Aruru, but compared to before, when he could feel its will to some extent, it now felt completely empty.

Eustace was once again painfully aware that this was the result of his own weakness, and not anyone else’s fault.

At that moment, the fight with Iona came to his mind. And what Leona would have done if she were in his position. The same regrets from the past flashed through his mind.

And-

“…Cleon.”

Eustace felt a stirring in his chest and was troubled. His lengthened hair and changed body no longer felt awkward.

No, Eustace knew that he had changed to think that way.

He felt that the more he thought about Cleon, the faster the change progressed.

His spirit and soul were beginning to be drawn to his body, which had been transformed into a woman. It was definitely a bad sign that he was feeling a stronger attraction to Cleon, a man, as a woman than he felt for Leona, whom he had admired.

He was afraid. That he was changing. And that if his mind changed even more. Would his current self disappear?

If that happened. Would even the small growth he had achieved as Eustace be meaningless and negated?

“Leona. What should I do…”

Quietly. In the dark room, Eustace could only tremble in fear. But soon, he gripped the handle of the holy sword tightly and raised his head.

“…I’ll do what I can. That’s what I decided. Eustace Woodknocker.”

Although his body and mind were changing, he still had a sword to wield and a body to wield it with. In his fading mind, he recalled the story he heard from Iona while clashing swords with her.

Raise your head, grab your sword. The target to be cut down was clear.

001

The blind half-demon, Phlaoruse, was leading them through the passage of the ruins.

Surely, there must have been a few more traps after that, but perhaps they weren’t reacting to Phlaoruse, because if they followed the path she walked, the traps would no longer activate, and they would be quietly led into the depths of the ruins.

A thick tail protruded from under her wide robe. It was so long that it dragged on the ground every time she walked, and it could be seen swaying from side to side like a snake’s tail.

Amelia. As a holy warrior whose mission is to fight demons as the Saint Princess, she had to take a deep breath while placing her hand on her chest to calm her racing heart as she looked at Phlaoruse.

She could strongly feel the aura of black magic repelling holy magic, and Amelia felt that she was a powerful demon.

There was a conflict in her mind between the doubt that she could receive help from such a demon and the trust that she wanted to have in the human part of her.

Moreover, every time she looked at her, the wound on her shoulder that Cleon had sealed throbbed.

It was as if a seed hidden inside the wound was reacting to her. Perhaps she strongly felt her gaze, Phlaoruse glanced at Amelia as if looking at her, then raised one corner of her mouth in a smile and walked forward without saying anything.

Although she was wearing an eyepatch and covering her eyes, she didn’t seem to have any problems moving around. Moreover, it gave the distinct impression that she was looking at someone.

Soon, Phlaoruse arrived at the end of the passage, which was blocked by a huge wall.

Most of the ruins under the royal capital were blocked by walls like this, making it impossible to go further inside.

The ruins, which could not be penetrated either physically or magically, were abandoned and gradually disappeared from people’s memories over time.

In addition, there was a large tent, a bed, and furniture such as a desk, as if Phlaoruse lived here.

And a bonfire with a kettle hanging over it crackled, crackled. Blue flames were created as it burned an unidentified fuel.

Since the passage itself was a huge indoor space, there was no need to create a separate room inside, but.

It was a slightly better living environment than the camping Cleon used to do during his adventurer days.

She couldn’t even imagine how she was living in such a place where sunlight didn’t even enter.

Amelia looked at Phlaoruse’s belongings, then suddenly flinched and muttered.

“…Imperial-style furniture.”

The objects placed there were not commonly used in the kingdom, but were made in the style of a different culture.

Unlike the people of the kingdom, who valued curves and streamlined designs, the empire tended to value objects that were angular and used stone and metal more than wood.

Phlaoruse raised the corner of her mouth and sat on the bed when Amelia pointed it out without missing it.

“That’s right. You know it well, little girl?”

“… I just read it in a previous book. Are you, an Imperial?”

At Amelia’s words, Phlaoruse shrugged her shoulders, untied the front of the robe she was wearing, and slowly took off the large cloth she was wearing on her body.

What she was wearing inside was a form-fitting garment, and the material appeared to be a fabric imbued with some kind of magic, not ordinary cloth.

The lines of her feminine body were fully revealed, but conversely, the amount of exposure was small.

It was similar to the clothes Rubera was wearing now, but unlike Rubera’s clothes, which were all unified in black, her clothes, which were designed with blue as the base, did not look like clothing for combat.

“When I was young, I’m not a human from any country now. Because I live in this underground.”

Phlaoruse answered like that, grabbed the kettle, and poured warm water into a cup.

Gray’s eyes sparkled as he saw the opaque reddish-brown liquid flowing out of it, but the others only felt a slight sense of repulsion.

“I lived in the Imperial Palace with Ishtar. Our mothers were the wives of the Sword Emperor… No, concubines.”

At those words, everyone there widened their eyes. If so, they are-

“The Empire’s… Princess?”

When Cleon said that, Phlaoruse let out a light laugh.

“Ahaha. If you only look at the family tree, that might be the case, but unfortunately, my father isn’t the emperor.”

So, she was born before he married the emperor?

She sighed, “Hoo,” as she watched them look at her as if they had such questions, and then continued to speak.

“I’ll explain in order.”

002

The last emperor of the Empire. Even the Sword Emperor’s real name has been erased from history.

Even investigating his name is not allowed now, and no one dares to speak his name. He is truly a human being whose name must not be called.

He first came to prominence when he, a commoner from the Black Magic Clan, showed such outstanding skills at the Empire’s military academy that he overwhelmed all the other children of the Empire’s nobles.

It was surprising that an orphaned boy, born in a border area without parents, enlisted in the Imperial Army as a regular soldier, caught the eye of his superior, and entered the military academy with his support to become an officer.

He surpassed all the nobles of the Empire, who generally had stronger powers the more noble their bloodline was, and graduated at the top of the military academy, which also reached the emperor’s ears.

After that, as an officer of the Empire, he commanded the army and relentlessly solved the large and small problems that occurred within the Empire’s territory.

The rebellion of the ogres who were used as slaves, the case of children disappearing in the troll forest, and the dungeon of the Black Star that no one had ever conquered.

No one ignored him, who was becoming increasingly prominent, because he was a commoner or an orphan.

When the emperor, who was worried about a successor because he could not have children due to illness, valued his skills and tried to adopt him as his own son.

Even the nobles who opposed it had no choice but to acknowledge his power after talking to him or clashing swords with him.

Not many years after he became the crown prince, the king passed away due to illness.

They did not know that this was the beginning of a great disaster for both the kingdom and the empire.

The young man who became emperor proclaimed the cause of uniting mankind under the banner of the Empire and declared war on the kingdom.

However, the Empire had already lost the glory of its past great power and was slowly declining.

Its territory was smaller than that of the kingdom, and its military power was simply outnumbered.

To solve this, the emperor focused on creating “asymmetric power.”

He captured and controlled dragons, and attracted ethnic minorities who were oppressed in the kingdom to become allies.

He also created the “Sword Demon Squad,” a unit composed only of black magic swordsmen, and persistently murdered those who possessed the seeds of heroes.

The inferior military power gradually began to reverse.

Soldiers armed with excellent equipment made by actively reflecting ancient technology were much stronger than the Kingdom’s army, which had spent a relatively peaceful era.

The Imperial Army, which was gradually expanding its territory, advanced without stopping until the hero “Resia” appeared, and even went to the point of occupying the royal capital.

At that time, some of the Kingdom’s soldiers who fought against the Imperial Army still remember. The Imperial Army used ‘demons’ to fight against them.

The emperor accepted ethnic minorities as members of the empire and married high-ranking women from the tribes as his wives in order to promise them their status.

In addition to the woman from the Black Magic Clan, who was his legal wife, the tribal chief of the descendants of Vulcan.

And the daughter of the head of the ‘Megido Clan,’ who inherited and preserved powerful demon summoning magic. That is. Phlaoruse’s mother.

The emperor, who was most wary of the power of the holy swords possessed by the Kingdom’s heroes, came up with the idea of creating half-human, half-demon soldiers who inherited the blood of demons with powerful powers and clans with special abilities in order to respond to them before the war began.

And he chose the women he accepted as concubines as experimental wombs for that purpose.

He summoned high-ranking demons and had them violate his concubines.

Ishtar and Phlaoruse were born that way.

Their mothers, who were completely infatuated with the emperor, did not refuse the emperor’s insane orders and gladly accepted them and gave birth to them.

If they had been born from sleeping with the emperor, they would have been treated as princesses, but they were born as half-human, half-demons. The experiment was… close to a failure.

The original purpose was to adjust the magic power of the children born as half-human, half-demons and grow them up quickly.

He thought that by doing so, they could be immediately put into battle.

However, they were clearly half-human, half-demons, but their bodies were close to human, and adjusting their magic power was impossible.

In other words, it was impossible to become immediate combat power. The emperor quickly lost interest in them and decided to seek other methods.

Eventually. Until the emperor was overthrown by the Golden Hero Resia.

They were only raised in the imperial family without any expectations or interest.

They were not even allowed to leave the given room, and they lived a life that was no different from being confined until the Empire was destroyed.

And even when the Empire was destroyed, their hell did not end.

The descendants of Vulcan and the Megido Clan were all executed as objects of hatred by the Kingdom.

The Black Magic Clan ended with being exiled from the Kingdom’s territory under the protection of the Order of the Saint’s Protection, but the two clans had not been on good terms with the Kingdom before.

In particular, even leaving the corpses of the Megido Clan, who had massacred many people by using demons, was not allowed.

However, Ishtar and Phlaoruse survived.

Soldiers of unknown origin who arrived at the imperial palace before the Kingdom’s army smuggled them out while they were still young.

What they were moved to was a research lab run by someone unknown.

Phlaoruse, Ishtar, and Lilim, who lived in the same imperial palace but never met, met there for the first time.

003

“… …”

When the story reached that point, Phlaoruse sighed as she saw that all the water in the kettle had disappeared.

The other humans couldn’t make any noise.

She knew that the Sword Emperor was a damn bastard, but his actions were beyond imagination.

Considering Ishtar’s misdeeds, she couldn’t forgive her, but she couldn’t help but feel angry at the Sword Emperor.

Cleon and Rubera also felt sick to their stomachs when they thought that they had the same blood flowing through them.

“…Confined life…”

And Amelia muttered quietly after hearing her story.

When she clenched her fist and put her hand on her chest, she felt her heart beating strangely.

She couldn’t quite understand what emotion this was arising from.

“What is the research lab?”

“It’s a place that tried to study demons by using us. Well. Like all those research labs, the story ends with an accident happening in the experiment and us dramatically escaping.”

Phlaoruse answered simply to Cleon’s question.

And one more. A question that remains.

“Are Lilim the same as you?”

“…She is. Different. She is special. Yes. More than any of us. However – I can’t tell you about that. I’m really sorry, but I also have a ‘covenant’.”

She said that and showed her palm. The erosion of the curse caused by the covenant could be seen on her hand.

If he asked her about her any further and she answered, she would also lose her life. Cleon decided to give up asking for now.

“Well. After escaping from the research lab, I drifted into this back alley and formed a family called ‘Astarote’ to survive. Originally, it was a group of women who were living helplessly in this back alley. …Ishtar wanted to give those women a home. And we helped with that. …Until she brought up the story of changing that purpose and summoning Demiurge.”

“…Why are you trying to summon Demiurge?”

Lyle had the purpose of trapping Aruru in his ideal world. The Black Scripture had the purpose of summoning the adversary, the Golden Comet.

But, what about Ishtar?

“To take the throne.”

Amelia gasped at Phlaoruse’s answer. But Cleon and Rubera blinked their eyes two or three times when they heard those words and-

“…The throne. Is that the throne of the kingdom?”

“The kingdom is the only place on this continent where a king exists, after all.”

Phlaoruse closed her mouth for a moment at Cleon and Rubera’s words.

“So. Does that mean that the half-human, half-demon named Ishtar is trying to start a rebellion?”

When Gray said that, Amelia jumped up from her seat. She put her hand on her stuffy chest. She seemed to be breathing a little faster.

The keyword of rebellion was also not unrelated to her.

Her uncle also tried to start a rebellion.

“We have to stop it. Ishtar.”

As Amelia’s dark voice echoed, Cleon put his hand on her shoulder. It was meant to reassure her, but it also meant to calm her down a little.

Cleon himself sealed Amelia’s wound, but the root cause had not yet been resolved.

The more impatient or negative she became, the more the seed would begin to sprout again.

“Phlaoruse. Can you tell me a little more about it?”

“Ah, of course. But, from here on out, it’s paid. I guess I have to receive compensation.”

Phlaoruse nodded and brought up the story of “compensation.”

Rubera frowned, but soon opened her bag and tried to take out a pouch containing Kingdom gold coins.

However, Phlaoruse shook her head as she looked at Rubera.

“I live alone in a place like this, so would I need such gold coins? What I need is something else… Well, should I call it ‘possibility’?”

“…Possibility?”

Phlaoruse got up from her seat and started to undress as Rubera repeated the story as if she didn’t know what that meant.

“W-wait a minute!?”

Amelia panicked and covered her face with her hands, and Gray looked at her body while making sounds like “Uhyo~!”.

Rubera looked at her sturdy yet voluptuous body that was revealed as she took off her clothes and said something like “Kuh…”, then raised her hand and covered Cleon’s eyes.

“The possibility is, literally, a possibility. We, the Megido Clan, are demon summoners. In other words, what we receive is the possibility of a ‘soul’.”

“Are you telling us to sell our souls to a demon for information…!”

Phlaoruse scratched her cheek as Rubera said angrily and approached Cleon.

“Ah~ It’s not wrong, but it’s a little different from what you’re thinking…”

Then, she moved her arms little by little and put her hands around Cleon’s waist.

“Things that have the possibility of becoming life in the future. Would it be easier to say it that way-”

“T-that’s… In other words. Do you mean semen…?”

When Amelia answered instead of Phlaoruse, Rubera stiffened, then let out a big sigh.

“There’s no way there would be such a convenient price. Don’t you just want to do it with this man?”

“I don’t deny that I’m frustrated. But it’s true.”

Rubera and Phlaoruse’s eyes lingered for a little while.

“…Okay. However, there are conditions.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll join you too. I don’t trust Cleon alone.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Rubera began to take off the clothes she was wearing.

She had passed through quite a few traps to get here, so her body, which was covered in sweat under her tight clothes, reeked of sweat.

“Ru, Rubera!?”

Amelia panicked once again. Phlaoruse raised the corner of her mouth as she looked at Rubera.

“I don’t care… But aren’t you the one who wants to sleep with this man?”

“…I won’t deny it, but it’s also true that I don’t trust him. So. Are you going to do it on this hard floor?”

“No. Of course, I’ll use the tent’s bed. Actually, physical space doesn’t really have much meaning.”

Still covering Cleon’s eyes with her hands. Rubera grabbed his body and stood him up. Phlaoruse was holding his hand so he wouldn’t fall over.

“What about my opinion…?”

Cleon was the only one who couldn’t keep up with the two women’s story, which was progressing rapidly.