The Succubus's Daughter
Juin Marcus.
The last alchemist of the continent.
I was the rightful heir of the Marcus family, a count who ran one of the Empire's foremost territories. My magic was a little weak, but in a one-on-one fight I lost to no one.
I had only needed the Holy Sword to deal with a Demon King who came back to life no matter how many times you killed him.
Throughout the entire journey across the Demon Continent, the Hero William had done nothing.
And that bastard had walked in carrying the Demon King's head and claimed the emperor's throne.
I thought for a moment.
Should I kill William and wipe out the imperial family?
Dozens of ministers were watching me. Their eyes did not doubt the Demon King's death in the slightest.
Did I have to kill them all?
Turn the palace into a sea of blood?
There was only one thing I wanted.
Kill the Demon King to suppress the power of the Magic Towers, receive ownership of those towers from the imperial family, then redirect their power away from Magi into something else entirely.
The mage Liris fixed me with a sharp glare.
"The Magic Towers now belong to our Magic Academy. If you try to indulge your greed, you'll have to fight every mage in the Empire."
Which meant I would have to kill every mage in the Empire.
The Saintess Helena could not take her eyes off me either. She was reading my anger, no doubt.
"The order of priests has been dissolved. The saintesses will carry out the gods' work in their place. We've decided to raise a Holy Tower beside every Magic Tower, and the Holy Academy will manage those towers. There's nothing you can do."
Magi from the Magic Towers. Holy Power from the Holy Towers. In other words, they meant to build a pair of giant straws and suck every scrap of power out of the continent.
And even with things flowing this way, not a single person was catching on?
Helena brushed her hair back and looked at me.
"Imperial citizenship can only be obtained through the Saintess Order. Existing citizenship must also go through re-approval. You, Count Juin Marcus, are no exception. You should prepare yourself not only for the revocation of your countship, but for the repossession of your territory and the stripping of your citizenship as well."
Did she even understand what she was saying?
I asked her.
"What exactly is this approval from the Saintess Order?"
"A process of verifying holiness."
"How do you verify that?"
"By proving the purity of body and mind to the saintesses and priests."
"And if you don't?"
"You purify your filthy flesh and renew your heart. Through that, you newly earn the qualifications of a citizen."
"……."
Don't tell me.
"You're saying I have to sleep with the saintesses and priests?"
"The fact that you're putting it so roundabout is already proof you aren't pure. Count Juin Marcus, you have fallen. Just as I feared. Your vital energy clouded while you crossed the Demon Continent. Why can't you simply say sex?"
"Helena."
"That's why I asked you, before we entered the Demon King's Castle. I had even made up my mind to give you my first time. You rejected such a kind offer and ran away, and now you've become a fallen apostate. Why not confess your sins and seek salvation even now? I would be willing to help you."
"The Adult Ceremony you're talking about is a sex party?"
"Are you truly asking because you don't know? How else is one supposed to experience the holy will of the gods besides sex?"
Dream (Illusion) did not simply arrive on its own. It inflated the target's desires and used the cracks to sow hallucinations.
I remembered the virgin party in front of the Demon King's Castle.
That had been the key. They had used it to seize control of those women's minds.
Every minister was gathered in the assembly hall. Whatever was decided here would ride the imperial proclamation out across the entire Empire.
A Succubus's Dream only worked on one person at a time. It did not operate like this. The only being who could make Dream spread like a disease was the Succubus Queen.
I quietly surveyed the hall. The contagion that had started with William, Liris, and Helena had already sunk into everyone's hearts.
The whole world was about to go completely to hell.
And I still could not simply kill them all with my own hands.
There was only one person—someone whose eyes looked different.
"What do you think?"
It was Bella, the barbarian princess who did not believe in the Empire's holiness. The Tasar Kingdom had no religion. They were a people who trusted only the strength of the flesh.
"Go on. You look like you've got something to say."
If even she had fallen into this Dream, there was no helping it. The hallucination spread without choosing its targets. Reluctantly, I would have no choice but to kill everyone and seal the palace shut.
I only wanted to go home, and now I had to become a demon? A terrible feeling rolled through me and made my skin crawl.
Bella's lips moved.
Everyone seems crazy.
I was thinking of running, but then you showed up.
At least that was a relief. Bella was free of the Dream.
Humans untouched by holiness were free from this sorcery. In that case, there was a way.
The problem was time. What I wanted was the Magic Towers anyway, so I only needed to secure those, get out, and buy myself some breathing room. Whether those people went mad or not was none of my concern.
If there was one piece of good news, it was this: for the time being, the demon race's attacks would stop. And what did that mean?
Obviously, the safety of the Magic Towers.
For a while, neither the Demon King nor the Succubus Queen would be able to lay a hand on them. That was probably why they were pulling this stunt.
Taking their daughter had been the right choice after all. As long as Satin was with me, those bastards could not set foot on this land.
Just secure the Magic Towers. That would be enough.
I set down Satin, whom I had been holding.
"Would it be all right if I showed them who you are?"
Satin looked up at me with startled eyes.
"Really?"
"It's fine. Unleash your Magi."
She hesitated, then let out a breath. Haa. Then she slowly raised her head.
It was Magi. Dense Magi poured from Satin's body—the Magi of a high-ranking demon. Dark crimson smoke clung to her like viscous fluid. It was a concentration of a different dimension from the monsters of the Demon Continent, Magi the likes of which I had never seen from any demon.
The ministers' eyes went round as they pressed themselves against the walls. Even the mage Liris stared at Satin with her mouth open. The Saintess Helena was the same, clutching the holy relic at her throat and stumbling backward.
She must have realized it instinctively—that this was Magi Holy Power could not suppress.
She was definitely the Demon King's daughter. The pressure crushed the hall far heavier than I had expected. The assembly hall, swallowed by Magi. Even the sound of someone swallowing could not be heard.
William, seated on the throne, drew the Holy Sword.
"Not an ordinary demon, I see. High-ranking? No—Magi of this caliber is clearly royal. I heard you'd taken a bedroom slave and thought I could rest easy."
He looked at me.
"So the alchemist shows his true colors. Have you sided with the Demon King? You disguised a royal as a demon slave and brought her into the Empire?"
Magi and ability were different things. To kill someone with it, you needed the physical capability to match. There was no way Holy Knight William did not know that.
"Do not interfere. My Holy Sword will slay that demon. I'll cut off her head at once and display it alongside the Demon King's."
"Who's the demon?"
"Juin Marcus! How long must I tolerate your ignorance! How long must I turn a blind eye to your treason! Even seeing this, you deny that demon's existence?!"
How long had he been sitting on the throne for his speech to change like this. He was trying pretty hard to play emperor.
I shouted toward everyone.
"A princess of the long-lived races stands before you. You short-lived ones could show a little respect, couldn't you?"
"……What?"
"You're all standing on two feet to greet a Dragon princess? Do you all want to die?"
"……Dragon?"
"A noble lady of the Blue Dragons has visited the human continent. She wanted to tour the imperial palace, so I brought her along—and look at the sorry state of you all. She must have thought it rather admirable that you'd killed the Demon King. If you want to live, kneel already. If Her Highness gets angry, even I can't stop her."
"How can a Dragon have Magi?"
"If it's your first time seeing one, you might not know. I'll give you that. Put some strength into your eyes and look again. Is that Magi?"
"……It is Magi, though?"
I smiled and looked at Satin.
"It seems Her Highness may need to help us out."
She would understand without an explanation. She was a quick-witted kid.
"Mmm. All right."
Satin waved her hand toward the hall. Her dark crimson Magi began to shine in rainbow colors—from top to bottom, from end to end. Then it unfolded into a full rainbow that filled the assembly hall.
William dropped the Holy Sword and sank to the floor.
Creatures that lived forever. Humans called those gods.
His trembling voice spread through the hall.
"A real Dragon princess, you say? What is her name!"
Her name? He had to go and ask something difficult.
I glanced at Satin. She studied my face and opened her mouth.
"My name is Satin—"
"Satin Crystal Dragonia. The youngest daughter of the Blue Dragon family."
I slowly backed up her words. Quick on the uptake, as befitting a child with mixed Succubus and demon blood.
Satin nodded and turned to William.
"That's right. I am Satin Crystal Dragonia. You humans are rude. I showed you a Dragon's spiritual energy, and you're still so stiff?"