A Succubus from the Past
Why is it so cold? Am I outside?
He'd been drinking all day and passed out on the side of the road. Maru struggled to push himself upright, rubbing his eyes. It was still pitch dark. Somewhere nearby, stray cats yowled at each other, and he realized he was sitting in the mouth of a narrow back alley.
"Ugh… my head. Should've stopped drinking earlier."
As he slowly rose to his feet, his mind snapped awake. My wallet! He frantically patted down his pockets. Sure enough, it was still there. He'd been hugging his backpack as he slept, so that too was safe at his side.
"Phew… that would've been a disaster."
He got up, plucked a bit of straw from his hair, and dusted himself off. "Time to get out of this city. But where do I even go now?"
He was just taking his first steps, brooding over his future, when three men who looked like thugs at a glance abruptly came toward him.
"First time I've seen that face."
"Too shabby to be an adventurer, but not quite a traveling merchant either. So he's a drifter just rolled into town?"
"He doesn't even look like us. Definitely a foreigner."
"I'm from far away. I was just leaving."
Maru put on the friendliest smile he could manage, trying to avoid a confrontation, and moved to walk past them. But one of the men suddenly grabbed him by the collar.
"Where do you think you're going, you little bastard?"
Misfortune had found him when he least expected it.
The men dragged Maru deep into the alley. One of them was already shouldering his backpack. "Hand over every coin you've got."
"I don't have any money. Give me back my bag."
"The hell you say."
"Ghk—!"
They hurled Maru to the ground and beat him senseless. Every time a fist or boot came flying in only to halt mid-strike, Maru clutched his wallet with everything he had and refused, absolutely refused, to let go. So they stomped on him all over again.
"Whoa, this bastard's got a grip. Let go, you fucker!"
"We told you to hand it over. Do you really want us to dig it out of you?"
"Boss, why don't we just slice this guy's wrist open?"
A flash of silver gleamed in the darkness. One of the men drew a dagger and approached. "Let go, or I'll carve you up with this."
"It's my life savings, cough…! Please… this, this is all I have… I need to get home…"
"Just stab him."
Two of the men pinned Maru down while the third stood facing him head-on, gripping the dagger in a reverse hold. "Ha, damn it. I only just got out of jail the other day and I didn't want to use a knife unless I had to, but this is your fault, you little shit."
Out of nowhere, a wet thud sounded behind the man's back.
"Ugh!"
He flinched, his whole body going rigid. Then came the sound of the blade being withdrawn, and he crumpled to the ground where he stood.
Someone was standing there in the darkness. Though he couldn't see clearly, the figure had a distinctly feminine build. The two remaining men stared blankly, eyes wide with shock.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Damn it!"
They charged at once, snarling. But the stranger moved with astonishing flexibility and speed, subduing them both in the blink of an eye.
And so, in a shadowy corner of the alley, three corpses came into being.
"Hah… hah…"
Maru scrambled to his feet, throwing on his backpack. He still had his wallet clutched tight in his hand. The mysterious stranger, blood-stained dagger in hand, walked slowly toward him—and pulled down her hood. A cascade of purple hair swayed, releasing a sweet fragrance into the night air.
"Are you all right?"
She smiled. It was too dark to make out her face clearly. Maru returned the eye contact only half-heartedly, mumbled his thanks, and hurried past her.
The deer is torn apart by wild dogs, and wild dogs are torn apart by lions. He distrusted her. Could this kindness really be kindness, or was she simply after his money next? The predator had only changed. Maru wanted nothing more to do with bad luck in any form.
Limping, he hurried out of the alley and walked a long way. By the time he reached the southern gate, the guards blocked his path. "No one passes until dawn."
Left with no choice, Maru trudged to a shadowed corner nearby and resolved to wait until daybreak. But even if he got out of the city, he had no idea where to go. He simply wanted, more than anything, to put distance between himself and the city where his former comrades still remained.
"Just like before, aren't you? No, wait… You have changed. However did you end up all alone?"
The woman from the alley approached him with a smile. Maru, huddled in the corner, looked up at her with puzzled eyes. The bonfire burning by the roadside lit her face more clearly now. Long, luxuriant purple hair. A beautiful woman who looked to be in her late thirties. Her face was familiar.
He narrowed his brow slightly, digging through old memories. "A succubus… Luciela…?"
"Yes. So you do remember me."
"You've grown your hair out."
At the same time, a memory from about two years ago surfaced—a monastery kidnapping case. The culprits had been succubi, and Luciela, whom Maru had uncovered while digging into the incident, had proven fairly cooperative with him. As a result, Kiera the Hero had stormed the succubi's lair and slaughtered every last one of them. Luciela alone had survived, thanks to Maru's intervention. To be precise, he'd smuggled her out from under the nose of that rigid excuse for a Hero who refused to forgive any demon, ever.
In any case, the reason Luciela had helped him back then wasn't purely goodwill—she'd simply been eliminating a threat. Nothing more.
"Is it safe for you to be in a human city? It's dangerous, isn't it?"
"You look far more dangerous than I do, My Lord. There's a succubus standing right in front of you, after all."
A dry chuckle escaped Maru's lips. Luciela came around beside him and sat down close enough that their bodies nearly touched. It was a somewhat uncomfortable gesture.
"That gloomy face of yours… You've parted ways with the Hero, haven't you?"
"We didn't part ways. I'm on a solo mission."
"I know very well that you have no talent for physical labor, My Lord. Would a man like that really be wandering these dangerous streets alone at night, backpack and bedroll on his shoulders?"
At her words, Maru found himself letting out a sigh before he could stop it. "Thanks for earlier, by the way. I don't know how I didn't recognize you—I just thanked you and walked off."
"You were very tense."
Luciela reached out and gently stroked his cheek. "Abandoned by the Hero… how pitiful you are…"
"I told you, that's not it."
"Don't lie to me. I know everything."
She gazed at him with sympathetic eyes for a long moment, then leaned her face in close. With their breaths nearly mingling at that uncomfortably intimate distance, she murmured against his lips, "Tonight, My Lord, you need to be comforted. Otherwise, you'll never bear the sorrow of being betrayed."
Luciela flipped open the top of her robe, baring her ample cleavage as if to flaunt it outright. Maru's gaze instinctively dipped downward, wandered there for an embarrassingly long while, then snapped back up to meet her eyes.
"What are you doing? Get away."
"Don't be afraid. To you, My Lord, I promise I'm no wicked monster."
"I'll count to three. If you're not away from me, I'm shoving you off."
"You needn't worry about me draining your vital energy, you know."
With a faint smile, Luciela drew back. Maru breathed a sigh of relief, then scowled. "Is preying on people when they're down a specialty of your kind? You weren't like this before. What's with the sudden change?"
"Goodwill, My Lord. You looked so pitiable."
"You weren't trying to enchant me with charm magic and puppet me around?"
"I'm trying to protect you. I feared grief might drive you to do something terrible."
"Unbelievable."
Demons didn't think like humans. There was no letting his guard down, not even for a moment. Maru sighed again and closed his eyes. "The sun's coming up soon, so let me get a little sleep. If you're done with your business, go. It was nice seeing you."
"Just now, I felt something in your eyes. A hunger to become stronger—stronger than anyone."
"If this is another one of your schemes, drop it."
"Do you dream of growing stronger and stronger, so you can take revenge on the comrades who threw you away?"
Luciela's voice was softer than he'd ever heard it—like a young noblewoman murmuring sweet nothings.
"I could help you with that. I could gift you tremendous power. I would never deceive you. I simply want to fulfill the desire of the man who once saved my life."
"…"
Maru deliberated for a long moment, then shook his head. "Don't say crazy things."
"Great power is terribly sweet, you know."
For the first time, a trace of the demoness peeked through Luciela's perfect human disguise. As she ran her tongue across her lips, her eyes glowed a deep red.
"Don't torment yourself. I only want to help."
"You're asking me to betray humanity. Do I look insane to you?"
"But humanity has already betrayed you, hasn't it, My Lord?"
"It was a handful of people out of thousands. A handful you could count on one hand."
"Will you be able to take a new lover after tonight? Will you ever trust comrades again?"
"That's…"
"See? Humanity itself has become repulsive to you. We demonkind, who live without a shred of hypocrisy, might be warmer than humans ever were. We act on our nature, honestly and openly, until the day we die. Purity itself, My Lord."
Maru worried at his lips, wrestling with the thought, then finally spoke. "…How exactly would you give me this power?"
"The truth is, the Demon King's army has a unit made up entirely of humans betrayed by Heroes, just like you. Each of them carries a tragic story—and a heart full of burning resentment. In that place, they obtain the power they desire and carry out their sweet, satisfying revenge."
"You want me to join the Demon King's army?"
"Yes."
"And it's not you giving me the power?"
"I'm a powerless succubus, My Lord."
"Oh, for crying out loud."
Maru picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it far into the dark. Then he laughed, hollow and spent. "Forget it. Then I don't need it."
"You don't wish to join the Demon King's army?"
"Obviously not. My mother's still alive."
Suddenly, a rooster crowed in the distance. Dawn was breaking without either of them noticing. "Goodness, it's already this hour." Luciela pulled her hood back up and rose to her feet, an expression of regret on her face. "I must hurry away before the sun burns me. I didn't expect to stay out this long, and I forgot to cast a protection spell on myself today."
"Right, go on then. If fate allows, I'll see you again."
She looked down at Maru as he offered his half-hearted farewell and smiled warmly. "Forgive my rudeness."
Her hand shot out quick as a striking snake and caressed his right ear. A sharp nail pricked the back of it. "Ow!"
Blood welled up, stinging. "What the hell was that?"
She stepped far away from him and licked the drop of blood from her fingernail. "Don't misunderstand. I've merely marked you, so I can find you easily from now on."
"Who the hell asked you to do that? Are you insane?"
"Then by all means, run back to the Hero you traveled with and ask her to remove it."
Luciela flung off her robe. A fierce wind whipped up, and from within the robe a flock of dozens of crows burst forth, spiraling upward like a whirlwind before scattering across the sky. In the blink of an eye, Luciela had transformed into a succubus clad in scandalously revealing leather. Two thick, curved horns resembling a goat's rose from her forehead; enormous black wings spread from her back; and a long, slender tail unfurled behind her hips.
"If you can't manage it, do feel free to leave it be."
She flashed a grin, beat her wings, and took to the air. She made a brief detour to give the guards at the gate a good scare, then vanished into the far distance with a creepy, cackling echo trailing behind her.
The blood trickling from Maru's ear dried almost immediately. He rubbed the bloodstain between his fingers and gave a bitter smile. "Look at me now. Somewhere along the way, I've sunk so low I'm getting humiliated by a succubus…"
He slumped there feeling sorry for himself for a moment, then brushed off his trousers, stood, and shouldered his backpack. The sun had risen, and the city gate was already swinging open.