Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Demon King's Army ■■■ Hero Sage (1)
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When I was a kid, I once dirtied a pristine porcelain vase.
I remember it being pretty expensive.
An item that could fetch tens of millions at auction.
My parents chewed me out harshly just for staining that somewhat pricey piece they'd bought as a hobby or for collection.
With a stern warning never to touch it.
That's when I thought.
What's the point of not dirtying or touching something everyone else treasures?
Is its value really just sitting there decorating a shelf?
I couldn't stand it.
The echo of that precious thing shattering, the spray of shards.
As a kid, I figured some things only truly came together when they broke.
-Don't ever break it.
-You'll be in big trouble!
I couldn't hold back the urge.
I flung open the closet door and dropped the vase.
Crash!
The new masterpiece born from the shattered porcelain.
The vase, trapped inside that closet, gained new life through me.
My parents raged about losing tens of millions, but I saw it differently.
I knew the breaking was the moment it finally became complete.
The thrill of a world-recognized value crumbling wasn't the kind of feeling you forget easily.
That's when it started.
Watching clean things break and shatter became a joy.
Especially when it was something everyone cherished and praised—seeing it collapse, smash apart, and stain under my hand.
It felt like conquering a towering mountain.
I gazed at Sage's reflection in the crystal orb.
Trembling in the corner of her cell.
Who'd ever peg that fragile girl as the hero?
The fools would think she's utterly broken.
But I know better.
The true value buried deep inside her.
My cock stiffened, precum beading at the tip.
I wanted to fuck the finished hero right now.
Fuck her until she was completely mine.
'Not yet, though.'
Rush in too soon, and she'd shatter prematurely.
Wait for the perfect moment.
Until she hurled her own body into the abyss.
"Shall I spend the night with Vivian?"
Not a bad idea.
"Aaaah... Vivian, when are you coming... Sage is cold..."
Sage huddled with her knees hugged to her chest, shivering violently in place.
Compared to her previous cell, there was no draft, and the temperature was warm.
But she trembled like someone stranded on a glacial peak.
A reflexive habit born from her time locked up.
Even though it wasn't cold at all, her mind and body registered chill.
It was proof of how broken she'd become in this dungeon.
"Vivian... Vivian... Can't forget. Sage won't forget."
She scratched Vivian's name into the wall.
Scritch!
The stone let out an eerie groan.
The wall was already crammed full, just like her old cell, with countless markings she'd carved.
Back in the previous room, most had been info about herself.
Who she was, where she came from, the life she'd lived.
Her mission as the hero, the path forward, even her thirst for revenge against the Demon King—all etched clearly.
But now...
-Vivian. Vivian. Vivian. Vivian. Sage. Sage. Sage. Vivian. Vivian. Hero. Sage. Vivian mama. Sage. Lonely. When coming? Said coming. Sage. Vivian. Bergio. Sage. Vivian. Vivian. Demon King. Sage. Vivian...
Mostly Vivian and Sage.
The two names filled every inch.
Sage's own name, and Vivian—the greatest pillar holding her up.
And scraps of worthless trivia besides.
"Vivian, sorry. Sage too weak, let you down?"
Sob.
Keep crying and snot started dripping.
Can't cry.
Crying might disappoint Vivian even more.
Vivian hadn't come last night.
No warm embrace, no soft milk to drink.
Gurgle!
Stomach growling.
Throat parched.
"Urgh!"
No. Hold it together.
Have to endure no matter what.
I'm the hero.
I can tough it out.
Like always.
"Lord Demon King's summons. Kek!"
But her resolve splintered to pieces on the fourth day.
Sage's routine was simple.
She'd wake from nightmares of Vivian abandoning her forever, only for a goblin to drag her to the Demon King like this.
Two hours serving the Demon King.
He wouldn't penetrate her, just force her to service him, and she'd obey every command until his semen defiled her multiple times.
Each time that hated Demon King cock soiled her body, revulsion boiled in her chest.
It felt like chipping away piece by piece.
The sense of self called "Sage" lingering in her heart and mind faded bit by bit.
That's why she hated that time most.
The powerlessness of knowing but being unable to act.
Back in her cell, she'd reread the names—Vivian's and her own—over and over to reaffirm her existence.
Relief that she hadn't forgotten what mattered most.
Despair at the memories she hadn't inscribed in time, slipping away.
That was her long day.
Four days like that.
"Don't wanna go..."
She could feel it.
Every time serving the Demon King's cock, she crumbled a little more.
Every load on her face and chest dirtied her holy power further.
She'd lost a huge chunk already.
"If you don't come, Vivian dies. Kek!"
"Vivian, Vivian... You guys always lie to Sage! Say you're bringing her but never do! Not falling for it anymore!"
"You mean that? Kek?"
"Yeah! Vivian's dead! You killed her!"
So she lashed out.
Vowing not to buy their lies anymore.
"Knew you'd pull this. Kek."
"What?"
"Lord Demon King said show you this if you resist. Kek!"
The goblin pulled out a white baby bottle.
Palm-sized, filled with creamy white milk.
"...Huh?"
Sage sensed it.
That was Vivian's milk.
"Th-this is..."
"Give thanks to Lord Demon King's grace. Even with her still too weak to move right, he prepared this for you in case."
"Sh-she's not dead?"
"Alive. Kek! Now come along."
Sage's face lit up.
She popped the bottle in her mouth.
Gulp!
Wanted to ration it, but her body—starved four days—had no patience left.
Suck, suck.
She drained the little bottle in seconds.
"Got it? Then follow. Kek!"
"Mm-hmm! Okay. Coming! Sage can do this!"
Sage approached, clutching the empty bottle in one hand.
Her eyes burned with determination as she hummed a little tune.
Hm-hm-hmm~.
Is Vivian being alive really that great?
Her face, deathly pale just yesterday, now glowed with life.
Drunk on the fact Vivian lived, she wasn't even considering her own plight.
That lofty, beautiful hero reduced to a simple child.
It reminded me of smashing that vase the first time.
The tens-of-millions relic no one in the house dared touch.
I recalled the harmony of it shattering, resonating in my chest.
'What sound will the hero make when she crumbles?'
Just picturing her transformed state made my cock rock-hard.
"Sage."
I crooked a finger.
She remembered crystal-clear what I'd done to her so far, and shot me a glare full of wariness.
"Again?"
"You know without me saying, right?"
"Uuuu..."
"Today, you can see her."
"Really...?"
"Yeah. Like I said before, I don't lie."
"That's today? If Sage endures today, can see Vivian?"
I nodded to the blunt Sage.
"Yes. No falsehoods. I swear it on the Demon King's honor."
"Okay... Sage'll work hard then. Hate you, but I'll endure."
So innocent.
Pure and bright as a child.
Is that what let her become the hero?
"Uuup!!"
Today, too, I painted her spotless hero face and body with my color.
Today, too, she carried my scent.
"Uuugh, hate it..."
Sage wiped the semen staining her hair with her hand and pouted.
She looked desperate to rinse it off with water right then.
"So annoying..."
Her eyes sharpened, flicking between my cum and me. If she'd had her holy sword, she'd have cut me down for sure.
The hero's innate revulsion toward the Demon King.
Everything else had regressed to childishness, but that hatred lingered.
"Good work."
"Don't touch Sage with those filthy hands."
I reached to stroke her head, but Sage slapped my hand away.
Her glare brimmed with resentment.
"Sage, do you hate me that much?"
"Of course! Sage hates the Demon King! You... you killed my precious person!"
"I did?"
"Yeah! Demon King killed him!"
Even as she said it, doubt crept in, her words faltering.
Her mind held no memory of it now.
She was just forcing together lost puzzle pieces through the instinctive rejection buried in her subconscious.
'It's all complete now.'
Shattered into artful fragments, ready to reassemble into something new.
Fill in the gaps of her memories...
And she'd be reborn—a soldier loyal to the Demon King's army, wielding demonic and holy power at once.
"That's odd."
"What?"
"I've never killed anyone precious to you."
"What're you saying?"
"Bergio was sent here by the kingdom. They knew he'd die in this dungeon, yet sent him anyway. So who killed Bergio? The kingdom that threw him to the wolves? Or me, for daring to invade my domain and draw steel?"
Sophistry, of course.
He lost his head to my hand in the end. Undeniable fact.
But with her memories wiped, she couldn't counter.
Couldn't recall it, so couldn't deny it.
"S-Sage doesn't get fancy words."
Just dodging the question.
"Isn't the one who sent him to certain death the real culprit? Bergio wasn't killed by me, but by the kingdom's leaders. Not the Demon King—the king."
"Lies! Lies! Demon King's bad! Dirty! A dirty Demon King couldn't be telling the truth!"
Her antipathy ran deeper than I'd figured.
Like she'd never trust a word from me, baring her teeth in fury.
"If I were the villain, why would I have spared Vivian?"
"Filthy Demon King! Liar! Lying right now too! Vivian didn't come today either!"
Sage squeezed her eyes shut and flailed.
Lies.
Demon King's words are lies.
Was I wrong all along?
No.
I know.
No memories, but I know that wicked Demon King hurt my precious people...
"Sage, you can't say things like that. Calling Lord Demon King 'dirty'?"
Eh?
At the familiar voice, Sage whipped around to look behind her.
It was Vivian, clad in the black priestess robes of those corrupted by the Demon King.
But something was off from before.
She looked taller.
Vivian, who'd been just shy of 170cm, now seemed a touch taller than even me— she'd shot up dramatically.
Her wavy brown locks had changed color too.
"White...?"
Her hair, bleached pure white, gleamed with luster.
From afar, it looked like silver, swaying and fluttering.
"How do I look? Thanks to Lord Demon King's care, it's the same shade as yours now. Does it suit me?"
And what truly seized Sage's gaze...
The spider.
Her pelvis fused to a spider's abdomen.
Like someone had crudely stitched a human torso to a spider's lower half—utterly alien.
Yet alluring all the same.
Those spider legs and bulk were the secret behind her boosted height.
Undeniably grotesque.
Any normal person would've screamed in horror and fled.
But not Sage.
Even transformed into this, the sweet milky scent wafting from her body and the cozy comfort in her voice screamed Vivian.
She knew, having tasted her essence up close.
Vivian was Vivian.
"Long time no see, Sage. Been tough, hasn't it?"
"Vivian... You weren't dead?"
"No, I survived thanks to Lord Demon King's grace."
Sage threw herself into Vivian's arms.
Warm.
Soft.
She felt it clearly.
Vivian's touch.
"Sage thought you died, Vivian."
"I'm alive. Right here in front of you."
"Hweeeeng. Vivian..."
"No crying. Cut it out. You're the hero, Sage. Heroes can't be such crybabies."
Right.
I'm the hero.
Heroes don't cry, like Vivian says.
"Uung... I'll hold it in. 'Cause I'm the hero."
"That's my girl. Such a good job. Our Sage is amazing."
"Yeah. Sage good. Did her best."
"But, Sage."
"Hm?"
"You haven't forgotten something?"
"What's that?"
Vivian's brows arched.
A furrow creased her forehead.
The ever-smiling Vivian was angry for the first time.
What?
What'd I do wrong?
Vivian, why're you mad?
"You need to apologize to Lord Demon King. How dare you call him 'dirty'."
"Ah... But Sage is the hero. Heroes have to kill the Demon King."
"Who said that?"
"Eh?"
"Who said heroes have to kill the Demon King?"
"Uh..."
No memory.
Like someone deliberately wiped it—a blank spot.
"Don't remember."
"Gonna believe someone you can't even remember? Or me, Sage?"
Facing that unfamiliar resolute smile, Sage knew the answer.
"Believe Vivian."
Only then did she smile.
She stroked Sage's head.
Sage smiled too.
"Now, shall we apologize to Lord Demon King?"
Vivian smiled as she spoke.
Her fingers—hard and pointed like spider legs—brushed Sage's cheek.
But no pain.
The instant they touched Sage, they softened into human fingers.
Sage stood before the Demon King.
Disgust still clawed at her viciously.
Voices in her head screamed not to.
But they were hollow echoes.
Her body and mind were bound deeper to Vivian.
Vivian's words were truth.
She'd never lie to her.
The others were idiots.
Demon King too.
This wasn't for liking the Demon King.
All for Vivian.
To be loved by Vivian.
I'm...
'A good hero.'
Sage dropped to her knees and bowed her head to the ground.
"S-sorry, Lord Demon King. You're not dirty. Sage was wrong."
New color painted over the broken porcelain.