The Living Demon Trap
Cain knew exactly what was more terrifying than a high demon. Of course! He’d expected this all along! Why else would the heroine of a romance fantasy be the protagonist?
There had to be something! That was why she was a walking magnet for every incident and accident imaginable.
He lifted Estelle higher in his grip. The one beloved by all the good in the world. The one hated by all the evil in the world. That was the classic romance fantasy heroine. Plausibility? Logic?
Who cared about that crap! It was the same principle as the heroine having to be beautiful no matter what. Anyone who still had questions should just keep reading the damn novel.
“Cain? Why did you suddenly stop fighting… Estelle? Estelle!? Cain! What the hell are you doing!!”
Prince Prinz was furious after Cain grabbed Estelle by the scruff of her neck. He looked like a knight who’d just had his rescued princess stolen by a golden sun. He threatened that if Cain didn’t put her down immediately, he wouldn’t let it slide.
Cain couldn’t hold back and left a few choice comments.
The knight gets to do the fighting, but someone else gets to play the hero? The bear does all the work, but some random bastard takes the money?
“W-what did you say!? You bastard!! Caaaaain!!—”
Prinz drew his sword and gave chase, but what was Cain supposed to do about it? He simply spun around while still holding Estelle.
“Ahahaha!!”
Kiara, who had been sitting nearby, finally burst out laughing. What a truly insane man. Kidnapping a person just to catch a demon. There was no predicting where this guy would jump next. And that was exactly why she loved it. That was exactly why he was so damn appealing!
“Hey! Look over here, you demon!”
He shook Estelle like bait in front of a massive fish.
“What? You’re seriously going to leave without this woman!?”
“KRRRRAAAAAAGH!!”
The demon that had just been cowering and tucking its tail to survive—the very same one that had thrown away even a high demon’s pride to flee—flipped its eyes the moment it saw Estelle and charged straight at her. Its speed was so absurd that it closed the distance in an instant.
“Kyaaaah!!”
Estelle screamed as the demon’s hand drew near.
“You won’t die.”
With that, the fact that the heroine was a living demon trap had been proven. Did he look crazy enough to use her once and throw her away? No, he was going to milk this for all it was worth.
Cain shook Estelle with perfect distance control. He ignored Prinz shouting behind him. He swung her just close enough for the demon’s claws to nearly graze her, then pulled her back at the last second.
“Let me go! Let me gooooo!!—”
“I told you, you won’t die. Don’t you trust me?”
Of course she couldn’t trust him! How could anyone trust him!? He was treating a person like bait on a fishing rod!!
Even as Estelle screamed, Cain didn’t budge. She really wasn’t going to die. He had no idea why she wouldn’t just believe him.
“KRRRRREEEE! Give her to me! Give me that human!”
Once again, the demon missed Estelle right in front of its face. The more it happened, the more the high demon lost its mind.
Its combat power was strong, but a demon’s true strength lay elsewhere. Deception and traps. It excelled at lies and temptation. On the flip side, it also possessed considerable resistance to such things. Fooling a demon was extremely difficult.
“Give her to me! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”
“I’m telling you to take her.”
“Take her my ass!!”
He swung her teasingly, then yanked her back. The demon’s body lurched forward, desperately trying to grab Estelle. At that moment, Cain’s leg drew a perfect circle and slammed downward.
It was nothing more than a simple kick, yet it carried the force of a guillotine blade.
THUD!!—
The knights had only managed to leave a few scratches. But both of the high demon’s arms were sliced clean off.
“I’LL KILL YOUUUU!!—”
“Hold on. You’re ignoring your injuries and pain just to charge at me?”
Cain knew very well how much of a crybaby demons could be. He also knew they loved their lives and ran away easily. A high demon was no different. Yet this one was willing to endure everything. It kept charging, dead set on capturing Estelle until the very end.
“This performance is incredible!”
Estelle! Living demon trap! He gave her his highest praise! He was going to use her thoroughly from now on. She should look forward to it, Miss Protagonist.
With a bright smile, Cain twisted his body slightly, shielding his precious Estelle so she wouldn’t get hurt. His right hand blade swept down from the top of the demon’s head.
SHRRRIIIIIK!!—
A red line was drawn. The demon froze in place.
“Grrrk…”
A sound like air leaking out was heard for a moment—then,
THUD!!—
The demon split cleanly in two and collapsed on both sides.
“Cain!!—”
Prinz, who had finally caught up, snatched Estelle away. He quickly covered her eyes in case she might see the gruesome sight.
“You insane bastard! Estelle is a noble of Kasen! How dare you treat a foreign noble like this! I will definitely file an official complaint with the Empire about this matter!!”
As expected of a romance fantasy male lead, his average intelligence was low. Even after watching Cain slice a high demon in half, he showed not the slightest hint of fear and continued to rage.
Normally, Cain would have turned his jaw like he had with Wilhelm. But this time, he simply grinned. If Wilhelm had seen it, he would have screamed about discrimination. Why did he get beaten half to death while this guy got off scot-free? He might have even cried out that it was unfair.
‘It feels good today. Let’s let it slide.’
The sensation of slicing the demon in half was still vivid. Cain licked the demon’s blood off his hand with a long swipe of his tongue. Satisfying. Yes. This was it. This feeling.
It had been nearly half a year since he last encountered a high demon. It was fantastic. It was exhilarating. The cutting sensation was pure art. Lower demons felt like slicing through empty air—no fun at all, which was why he’d deliberately used his fists. But a high demon was different. There was real satisfaction in cutting it.
“Estelle! Estelle! Snap out of it! Y-you— Cain!!—”
“Calm down, Your Highness! She just fainted, why are you acting like this?!”
“Release her, young lady! Today I will settle things with that beastly—”
This wouldn’t do. Cain turned around.
WHAM!—
“Ugh!”
“?”
But Kiara had acted a little faster. Cain, the royal knights—everyone was surprised.
“It seemed the prince was too excited. As the Empire’s young lady, I simply calmed him down. Anyway, isn’t it better that I did it instead of a commoner like you, Cain? What do you think, knights over there?”
Several thoughts ran through the royal knights’ heads.
First. Cain had toyed with a high demon.
Second. The prince they served had charged at that very Cain.
Third. The Empire’s young lady had knocked the prince unconscious to calm him.
“…The Empire’s young lady has stopped the prince in our stead.”
“We acknowledge it. The knight order is indebted to the Empire’s young lady.”
They were knights with superhuman survival instincts.
“As expected, the knights are different.”
Kiara then turned to look at Cain. The corner of her mouth slowly lifted. It was a clear Did I do well? She gestured for him to give his verdict.
Without hesitation, Cain raised his thumb.
“…”
Wilhelm, who had been reviewing documents, frowned. He raised a hand to rub his chin.
Crack—
“I really hit him gently.”
Cain, sitting beside him, claimed innocence.
“…”
Wilhelm’s lips twitched before he gave up. There were many things he wanted to say, but he decided not to. He had no desire to have his jawbone shattered.
“While I was asleep, you caused every kind of trouble imaginable, didn’t you?”
“I handled it because you gave me the high demon information.”
“Not that.”
Wilhelm covered his face with both hands in despair. On the table lay two official letters of complaint. One from the Marcello Ducal House. The other from the Kasen Kingdom.
“The imperial magic circle was temporarily disabled and you went to the ducal house. Fine. I can understand that. But why? Why on earth did you take the young lady with you?”
“It was the condition the young lady proposed. If I wanted to use the magic circle, I had to take her along.”
“You didn’t refuse?”
“If I refused, I couldn’t use the magic circle.”
“So you took the young lady alone all the way to the border? Even right in front of a high demon?”
“Yes.”
Aside from the imperial family, the highest authority among nobles belonged to the Empire’s ducal houses—specifically the Marcello family. It was fortunate that Kiara was only loosely associated with the ducal house. Otherwise, Duke Marcello would have come chasing after them.
“Alright. If you refused the young lady’s proposal, you couldn’t use the magic circle. Fine. Let’s say I accept it up to this point.”
The next document made his vision blur.
“What the hell is this?”
Wilhelm thought he knew Cain fairly well. He was a mad dog, but one that knew when to be mad. Even so, this incident left Wilhelm stunned.
“You used a noble from the Kasen Kingdom as bait to provoke and lure a high demon?”
“It’s written exactly as it happened. I received help from Lady Estelle of Kasen Kingdom.”
Grabbing her by the nape and dangling her in front of a demon—was that what he called help? Never mind. Wilhelm decided to stop thinking.
The man sitting next to him was someone common sense simply didn’t apply to. If it did, he wouldn’t even consider punching a prince in the jaw.
“Because of this, Prince Prinz has officially raised an issue. How dare an imperial subject toy with the life of a Kasen Kingdom noble?”
“It was an emergency situation.”
“…”
In an emergency, someone should have been in danger of dying. He had clearly said the demon was trying to run away. Ah. So the demon trying to flee was the emergency.
“This incident has seriously angered the Kasen Kingdom.”
“Oho.”
“It’s not ‘oho.’ They don’t seem willing to let this one slide.”
“I thought Your Highness the Second Prince would take care of it.”
“This crossed the line I can handle! It’s a diplomatic catastrophe!”
Though he had shouted in frustration, he quickly checked Cain’s reaction. Fortunately, Cain’s fist hadn’t risen.
“It’s not just Kasen Kingdom. Arhen and Marquis Evan also heard the news and are furious. My people barely stopped them from rushing here immediately.”
“You should have just let them come.”
“If I let them, would you have stayed quiet?”
“No, right?”
“Exactly.”
Wilhelm sighed and told him not to worry. He would cover for him somehow, so Cain should relax. In return, he asked Cain to please behave himself for the time being.
“Does that mean I shouldn’t catch demons either?”
“If I told you not to catch them, would you stop?”
“I’d beat up whoever tried to stop me first, then go kill the demon, right?”
“Exactly.”
He didn’t even expect that much. Just limit it to human problems.
“…So. You completely eliminated the high demon, right?”
“I really hope it revives. A demon that can come back even after being bisected? That’s incredibly interesting.”
If the demon had any sense, it would never revive. It would be much more comfortable to die than fight a monster like that.
“It’s unexpected. There were no reports for half a year, then suddenly it appears.”
“That’s how the world works. Unexpected things happen all the time.”
Though in reality, it was because of the protagonists.
Just as Cain was about to answer playfully—
“Still, for two of them to appear at around the same time.”
“…Two?”
He thought he had misheard. But he hadn’t. Earlier he had said one. Why did it suddenly become two? He was supposed to catch two but only caught one?!
“You didn’t say that at first, you son of a bitch!”
“Hey, Cain!”
“Two of them showed up and I only caught one? What the fuck! Does that make any sense?!”
“The other one was reported much later! And the report already said it had been caught!”
“Oh, is that so?”
The man who had just been hurling curses right in front of the Second Prince suddenly returned to being a perfectly well-behaved Cain as if nothing had happened. Wilhelm could only let out a helpless laugh.
Hahaha.
“Hoo… You know about the southern situation, right?”
“The southern kingdoms were completely destroyed by demons. That’s why they felt the crisis and formed an alliance, isn’t it?”
“There are resistance forces and restoration factions, but they were no match for the demons. However, recently the demons have been suffering defeats, so it seems they’ve finally caught a breath.”
The southern people claimed it was thanks to their own struggle. But the real reason was probably the man sitting beside him.
“A high demon appeared there. Even as half of the southern resistance forces were torn apart, they somehow managed to kill it.”
“Just having numbers shouldn’t be enough, right? Wasn’t it a middle demon?”
At Cain’s question, Wilhelm shook his head. It was definitely a high demon. The Holy Kingdom had confirmed it. Furthermore, the Holy Kingdom had added one more piece of information.
“The one who defeated the high demon was a knight who could use holy power even though he wasn’t a priest.”
Could it be?
“The Holy Kingdom has decided to call that man a hero.”