Chapter 2: The Five Demons
“Well, you’ve just gotta bed her, right?”
“What are you saying?!”
The day after her encounter with the Demon King, Cecilia was in the guest room assigned to her.
She couldn’t help but let out a most unladylike cry in response to the suggestion from one of her handmaidens.
The Femme Fatale.
Real name unknown. This breathtakingly beautiful woman had once seduced the future leaders of a now-fallen kingdom, including its strict crown prince, and led the nation to ruin.
The details of what happened next were unclear, but around the time her execution was decided, the demon invasion began. The kingdom itself was destroyed, and she, left imprisoned, was spared execution. She was later released on one condition.
That she seduce the Demon King, halt the invasion, and save humanity.
As a precaution, a black choker with a remote killing spell was fastened around her neck, but its effectiveness was questionable.
That they had to resort to deploying such a dangerous individual was proof of how cornered humanity truly was.
Dressed in an outfit that emphasized her feminine features and skin tone, exuding the sweet scent of perfume, the choker at her neck, the Femme Fatale shrugged, her entire being a picture of sensuality.
“What do you mean, ‘what am I saying’? This is just who I am. Whether it’s a man or a woman, if I’m going to charm and conquer them, seduction is the only thing that comes to mind. That’s why I was sent in as a honey trap agent, one with a different style from you, Lady Cecilia.”
A single approach wouldn’t be effective.
That’s why humanity had prepared various assets, not just Cecilia and the Femme Fatale.
That was all well and good, but it meant that consulting with the handmaidens of the second plan would overlap with the honey trap they would try if Cecilia failed.
In other words,
“Right now, it’s your turn, Lady Cecilia. You’ve got no choice but to attack in your own way. If you fail, you fail. We’ll use that information to analyze the Demon King’s preferences and take on the ‘next’ attempt.”
“I understand that, but we are both women. How am I supposed to go about seducing her…?”
“Heehee. Whether we’re both women or hundreds of years apart in age, I wouldn’t overthink it. I’d just drag her into bed, devour her, and paint her mind pink. But you’re so prim and proper, Lady Cecilia.”
The Femme Fatale, whose mind seemed to be occupied by nothing but lewdness, continued.
“For now, you’ll just have to act ‘like yourself’ and give it your all, won’t you? No matter how it turns out, as long as we can get even a little information on our target, the Demon King, it won’t be a waste.”
She still had no idea how to seduce a woman, but moping around here wouldn’t solve anything.
Cecilia Lynted, the duke’s daughter, clenched her fists and declared.
“You are right. Moping here will get me nowhere. I must act!”
**
Her resolve was admirable, but charging out with gusto was useless when she didn’t even know where the Demon King’s private chambers were.
“Kuh! I’m completely lost!”
The demon stronghold. The main castle that once stood at the center of the capital of an empire that boasted the continent’s greatest military might was now being used as what could be called the Demon King’s castle. (The reason the furnishings were so lavish, even by a duke’s daughter’s standards, was likely because they had plundered the castle and were using it as is.)
The greatest nation where humans once flourished was now a den of demons. Not a trace of its former human presence remained.
Even the largest and strongest military nation was trampled so thoroughly by the demons that not even a memory of its existence was left. The brave humans who challenged them out of anger were the first to be killed.
All that remained were those who would grovel and curry favor with the demons just to survive. However, some, including Cecilia, were not simply cowering and entrusting their fates to the demons. They intended to use honey traps and whatever else they could to control the demons from within.
She had long since cast aside her pride.
Even if she simply surrendered and begged for her life, there was no telling when the demons’ whims might change and they would kill her anyway. A political marriage? A ‘temporary’ ceasefire to go with it? Humanity had been forced to cede all the lands the demons had conquered and accept other overwhelmingly disadvantageous terms, but even that only bought a fragile, paper-thin peace.
Humanity’s rules meant nothing to the demons.
That much was clear from the past, when they had attacked without so much as a declaration of war.
Even with a ceasefire in place, it was highly likely they would start another war on a whim.
She couldn’t rest the fate of her loved ones on such a flimsy foundation.
She would seize absolute peace, even if it meant killing her own dignity.
For that, Cecilia was willing to risk her life.
“Tch. A mere human has no business crawling around our territory.”
She was standing there, just around the corner of the hallway.
Wings of armament made of swords and spears. The maid-uniformed woman pointed a massive chunk of iron at her.
Lapience.
Her power was enough to easily annihilate an army or two.
Naturally, she was not an opponent Cecilia, who knew only a bit of magic as a noble’s pastime, could handle.
“You should know your place and disappear. Now, if you don’t want to be crushed, you’ll turn tail and run away pathetically.”
Yesterday, Cecilia had survived because the Demon King had intervened. So what about now, when the Demon King wasn’t here? With nothing to protect her, all that awaited was certain death.
But at that moment, Cecilia had the composure to speak calmly, without a hint of bravado.
“And why is that?”
“Huh?”
“You despise me, and demons generally have no hesitation in killing humans. In that case, you could simply kill me without the threats. So why are you trying to intimidate me into leaving instead of killing me as you did yesterday?”
“Tch.”
“The Demon King-sama is not here. However, if you were to kill me here, it would inevitably leave traces that you were the one who did it… No, even before that, the Demon King-sama has the power to overturn death. No matter what you do, she can easily reverse it and uncover the truth.”
“You… bitch.”
“Therefore, you wanted to intimidate me into leaving this castle of my own accord. How shortsighted of you. If you hadn’t acted on your emotions yesterday and revealed the Demon King-sama’s nature and her ability to resurrect the dead to me, your threats might have had some effect.”
“Don’t get so cocky, you human!”
FWOOSH! The countless weapons that formed her wings swelled and surged towards Cecilia, surrounding her. Yet, she remained as elegant as a duke’s daughter, her expression unchanged, not moving a muscle.
The weapons, each capable of felling a veteran general with a single swing, stopped just short of piercing Cecilia. That was proof that her prediction had been correct.
“Tch, the Demon King-sama is merely being whimsical. Yesterday, she protected a maggot-like whore such as yourself out of novelty, but that’s just a fleeting amusement until she tires of you. The moment she casts you aside, I will crush you with my own hands.”
“By all means, if you can.”
The swarm of weapons trembled slightly, as if reflecting Lapience’s fury. It was a movement that seemed capable of ignoring all prior assumptions and running Cecilia through.
But still, with a particularly loud click of her tongue, the wings of armament withdrew.
—Provoking a demon was probably not the wisest course of action.
However, she had neither the time nor the luxury to win over Lapience. More importantly, the person known as Cecilia Lynted, the duke’s daughter, did not know how to live her life by timidly gauging others’ moods.
If a fight was offered, she would accept it.
And then she would elegantly and overwhelmingly crush her opponent.
One cannot survive the treacherous world of high society, where demons and monsters roam, by being merely prim and proper. (Of course, a lady’s refinement dictates that she does not show it openly, but rather attacks fiercely while hiding behind a smile.)
This was the role Cecilia was meant to play.
Therefore, she had to see it through. There was no telling if someone might report that Cecilia was a coward who ran from fights when the Demon King wasn’t around, which could ruin her ‘mission’.
‘The strong-willed woman.’
To see if that was the Demon King’s preference, to see how useful a card it was in her seduction, it was better to be this extreme to gather more information.
That was why she stuck to her ‘persona’, even with the accompanying danger. All to ultimately neutralize the threat of the demons for all of humanity.
As long as someone, somewhere, someday managed to seduce the Demon King, her death would not be in vain.
She gracefully clasped her hands together as she would in high society, produced a smiling expression, and made her proposal with a perfect smile.
“That’s right. I wish to see the Demon King-sama. Would you please guide me to her?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me—”
“If you are too mean, I might just let slip about your little attempt at blackmail just now. After what happened yesterday, the Demon King-sama might get angry, you know?”
“Tch!”
“With her power of resurrection, you can’t easily silence me, can you? How does it feel, not being able to use violence and do as you please with a human, as you’ve always done?”
“I’ll kill you.”
“I am eternally grateful for your honest and kind cooperation.”
With a click of her tongue, Lapience began to walk, smashing the wall with the iron chunk in her hand out of frustration. Following behind her, Cecilia didn’t even have the luxury of wiping the sweat from her brow.
She had been forced to rely on the Demon King’s authority to solidify her ‘strong-willed woman’ card.
For now, she was safe, but if the Demon King grew tired of her on a whim, Cecilia would have nothing left to protect her.
The moment that happened, Lapience would kill her without a second thought. And of course, there would be no reason for the Demon King to resurrect the murdered Cecilia.
She didn’t have much time.
Since death could be thrust upon her at any moment, she had to seduce the Demon King before that happened.
Alright, it starts now.
I will seduce the Demon King with this honey trap.
**
A woman with black hair and black eyes. If that were all, one might call her a beauty, but her other features revealed her true nature.
Countless black tentacles erupted from her back, forming a dress-like shape, while scales covering her arms glistened like black gloves—while exuding an overall feminine aura, her essence was that of a monster.
The pinnacle of the demons, the Demon King.
The absolute powerhouse who had killed the most humans.
Such a monster was on the other side of this door.
Standing alone before it, Cecilia felt a tremor run through her.
Incidentally, Lapience was no longer here. She had left with a parting shot: “Tch! Just get tired of her already, Demon King-sama!”
“Huu, haa.”
The Demon King had taken countless lives. If she felt like it, she could kill Cecilia in an instant. After all, she was someone who could kill her own comrade, Lapience, without hesitation, simply because she could bring her back.
Still, if she didn’t take on this challenge, the death of all humanity awaited.
Cecilia had come this far to prevent that worst-case future.
“Alright.”
So, step forward.
To avoid a future of death.
“Demon King-sama, it is Cecilia. May I come in?”
There was no reply.
She called out several more times, but each was met with silence.
Could it be that she’s already losing interest?
She had accepted her on a whim, so it wouldn’t be strange if she grew bored on a whim.
But that would be a problem.
The future of humanity depended on her ability to seduce the Demon King.
“Demon King-sama, I am coming in!”
A little rudeness couldn’t be helped.
Cecilia forced the door open and stepped into the Demon King’s private chambers.
A black-haired, black-eyed beauty was lying on the floor, completely wrapped up.
It was the Demon King, tangled in the countless tentacles sprouting from her own back.
“Demon King-sama?”
“Ugh.”
She tried to cover her face with her hands, but she was so tightly bound by the tentacles that she couldn’t. She twisted her body to look away, and then the Demon King muttered.
“This is embarrassing, so please don’t stare.”
…Her expression was blank and her voice was flat, but it was strangely filled with shame.
**
The demon woman, who held a position akin to a close aide, was shaking with laughter.
Nephy.
From the forehead of the woman with tanned skin, dressed in layers of dancer’s cloth, grew a twisted red horn. Her eyes were a bizarre swirl of black and white. Her appearance alone made it clear that she was fatally different from a human.
Among the demons, a race that by nature enjoys violence, she was an oddity who preferred scheming. Due to this nature, Nephy handled not only the role of the demons’ strategist but basically all intellectual matters.
Though, given the overwhelming power difference between demons and humans in the war so far, there hadn’t been much need for strategy.
“Now then, I wonder how much this human will entertain me?”
A political marriage. Whether it was exactly what it seemed or had some hidden agenda, it was ultimately a human endeavor. No matter how much they struggled, it would never lead to a situation where the demons were cornered.
In a war with a foregone conclusion, if you didn’t add a little bit of fun like this, it would be unbearably boring.
**
She was tied up tight.
So tightly, in fact, that one had to wonder how she had managed to get so tangled up.
Cecilia laid a hand on the tentacles wrapped around the Demon King, but even considering her own slender, noble lady’s arms, they were tied in what seemed like an impossibly tight knot. There was nothing she could do.
“How did this happen?”
“I’m not used to it yet.”
“?”
The reply felt slightly off, but she had no time to pursue it.
CRASH!! A shadow burst through the wall and into the room. A woman in tattered leather armor and a black cloak, with fiery red hair and burning red eyes—Kiana.
Based on eyewitness reports and war records, she was the second strongest monster among the demons.
“Keeheehee☆ What’s this, what’s this, Demon King?! Inviting me so blatantly… you must want me to kill you, right?!”
Her burning red eyes were not looking at Cecilia.
From beginning to end, the red monster had eyes only for the Demon King.
But that didn’t mean Cecilia was safe.
Something happened. Something aimed at the Demon King, but it also caught Cecilia, who was right beside her trying to untangle the tentacles, in its blast.
Cecilia Lynted, the duke’s daughter, couldn’t even perceive what it was. Her Mystic Eyes were not fast enough to catch the flow of magic. Only after it was all over was she confronted with the result.
“Ugh, ah…?”
Her vision spun.
Cecilia couldn’t even register that it was because her entire torso had been obliterated, and her remaining head was falling to the ground.
One thing was certain.
She was going to die. That was all she understood.
**
“…Hah!?”
She woke up.
She was alive.
That simple fact felt incredibly strange.
Slowly, she clenched and unclenched her hands, touched her body, and confirmed that nothing was missing. Only then did Cecilia Lynted, the duke’s daughter, realize that she was still alive.
“I’m sorry, Cecilia.”
That was…
The voice of the Demon King, who was lying on the floor, completely entangled in her own tentacles.
She didn’t even glance at the reddish-black lump nearby.
A lump that resembled a clay ball carelessly crushed by a child. From the barely intact red eye, it was probably the corpse of the red-haired woman who had just burst in.
Her own kind, her comrade. And yet, after destroying her to such an extent, the Demon King spoke without a care in the world.
“Are you okay? I think I was able to restore you before you died completely, but if you feel any pain or discomfort, let me know.”
“…!!!”
It was so casual.
As casual as apologizing for bumping into someone’s shoulder.
To the Demon King, death was just that.
It was something that could be undone, so it was fine if someone died. It was something she could treat so carelessly.
That’s why she could kill so easily. There was no guilt involved.
I accidentally got you caught up in it. I almost killed you, Cecilia, and I killed Kiana. But I’ll fix it eventually, so there’s no need to worry. Was it because death was so trivial to her that she had been able to kill so many people so easily?
“I… I am fine. Thank you for healing me, Demon King-sama.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was Kiana’s fault for not looking where she was going. Honestly, I’ll have to leave her dead for a while to teach her a lesson.”
The monster said, glancing at the unrecognizable corpse.
Even while presenting the disgraceful sight of being tangled up in a part of her own body, one must not be deceived. The Demon King was the Demon King. Her true nature was one of overwhelming brutality, capable of easily killing the second strongest demon even while barely able to move.
There was no way to win against such a monster in a direct confrontation. That’s why she had to attack from within.
A honey trap.
If she couldn’t seduce the Demon King, there was no future for humanity.
**
The Sister, unlike the other demons, lived not in the Demon King’s castle but in a nearby building.
A church.
She knelt before the statue of the Goddess, its symbol, and offered her daily prayers.
“All is as the Goddess wills.”
It was a natural act for a cleric.
But was it really?
If so, the ‘thing’ that floated on her lips was twisted into a shape too hideous for a member of the clergy.
Really enjoying the culture shock of this. Excited to see more!