Interlude (2): The Succubus and the Pig Pope
I had a lot of thoughts about how to make use of the Pig Pope, but Nora seemed like the perfect solution. I looked at her with a wicked grin.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll give you the Pope. Just don’t kill him.”
“Really?”
She looked absolutely delighted.
“Yeah. And I’ll arrange a separate place for you to stay.”
“Yes!”
A short while later, disgusting sounds of lust-drenched moaning leaked from the room where the Pope lay sprawled in sleep. I was curious exactly how she absorbed his vitality, but I decided to restrain myself. It would probably involve some filthy naked bodies.
“My lady. If you’re curious, I can have the guild members demonstrate it for you,” Claire said, seeing straight through me.
How? Well, I was genuinely curious, but when you considered it was an assassination guild, there was no telling what kind of bizarre scene they might stage. They might actually bring in a succubus and an innocent man to reenact the vitality extraction, for example. Nora could be recycled, at least.
“No, I’m good.”
“What a shame. The mistress did say it would be good for you to receive proper sex education. Succubi may be of lowly birth, but they excel at that sort of instruction.”
Even so, people didn’t usually opt for live demonstrations. A little more time passed like that.
When Nora finished draining the sleeping Pope’s vitality, her face was practically glowing.
“Thank you! It’s been so long since I’ve had a proper feast!”
“I see.”
Seeing her thank me so sincerely for recovering her energy, anyone would think I was some kind of succubus supervisor.
“Um… If possible, could I stay here?”
“Here?”
She really was talking nonsense.
“If I can feed on that Pope from time to time, I’ll have a stable supply of vitality!”
“Hmm. It’s not a bad idea?”
He was a nuisance to deal with anyway, so it might actually work. Besides, if I used it well, I could tie the Pope to the succubus and blackmail him with it. Yeah, that wasn’t bad at all. If the Holy Kingdom refused to recognize the church anyway, it was impossible for the Empire’s Goddess Church to become the true one. Having a succubus around shouldn’t matter.
“I’ll listen to everything you say! If I absorb vitality from anyone other than the Pope, please kill me!”
“You’re confident?”
“Yes! Thanks to that damned bitch Lily, I’ve learned to control my absorption!”
If she behaved, I could overlook a few things.
“Roll over and bark like a dog.”
At my command she flattened herself on the floor, then—
“Woof!”
She really flipped over like a frog and barked. Good. I liked it.
“Alright.”
I’d let that much slide. I decided to dye Nora’s hair an appropriate color and install her as a nun in the church. I hired her with the condition that if she absorbed vitality without permission, she would be executed on the spot. After all, this bitch could never leave the Empire. She probably couldn’t even if she wanted to.
After settling Nora’s verdict, the Pope appeared shortly afterward, his face glistening. He looked exactly like a greased-up pig.
“Ahem. Ahem, ahem. Saintess Olivia.”
“May you be at peace, Your Holiness.”
“Um… by any chance, did you hear anything?”
I’d heard the sound of a pig being slaughtered loud and clear. Still, I used to be a man, so I knew how these things worked. In situations like this, you had to be tactful and pretend ignorance.
“I only just arrived, so I’m not sure.”
“Ah, I see. As a student, were you staying at the Aetherina dormitory?”
It had been quite a while since I’d come to the church, but I decided to let it slide. The fact that this Pope had done all sorts of things with a succubus… ugh, how embarrassing.
“By the way, why did you call me separately so early in the morning? Did you have something to discuss?”
“Ahem. Yes. You’ve done well this time. It must have been difficult since she was your blood relative.”
Ah, I still had to go through the formal procedures regarding Lily.
“Well, isn’t the position of Saintess more important than family ties?”
Anyway, the Ashtar family wouldn’t collapse over something like this. It wasn’t just Ashtar that had suffered. Most of the central nobles had fallen. Ashtar’s territory was enormously vast, and the number of people governed by the Ashtar clan was equally huge. It was a family that even the few nobles untouched by Lily’s demonic charm couldn’t treat lightly. New faces would simply fill the gaps left by the fallen central nobles.
Come to think of it, since I had acted arbitrarily, I should probably prepare myself to get slapped by Duke Ashtar.
“Indeed, that’s right. You’ve performed a truly excellent service as a Saintess. If not for you, that wicked woman might have ruined the Empire, no?”
The Pig Pope said this while patting my shoulder. Yeah. He wasn’t wrong. Without me, the imperial capital would have fallen into corruption because of Lily, and the local warlords would have tried to declare independence. The Empire would have entered its own Warring States period. Too extreme? Then would those local warlord families have followed the corrupt council of a capital controlled by a single woman?
Still, the problem of Lily remained. The formal interrogation and torture procedures had likely already been completed, so she would be handed over to the Ashtar family.
“Yes, that’s true. But what will happen to Lily?”
“Since she contracted with a monster, the military will handle this matter.”
The scale had grown quite large, huh?
“The military? Will it go all the way to a military tribunal?”
“It will likely come to that.”
“Isn’t it usually a monastery?”
No matter how grave the crime, sending someone to a monastery was usually the end of it. As I’d said before, there were cases where they were killed, but it depended on the situation. For Ashtar they might force suicide, but if it went to military tribunal, wouldn’t they be determined to see it through to execution?
“That is the standard, even for Ashtar. But this time, since so many nobles are involved, it can’t be helped. Go out on the streets. The commoners are furious enough that it could turn into a riot, so it’s been handed over to military tribunal.”
“Hmm. That’s unfortunate.”
This would throw a wrench in my plan to keep her alive and torment her slowly.
“Still, she is your blood relative, after all.”
Not really. I was planning to keep her alive and step on her for years. What a shame. The variable would be Ashtar’s reaction. Since a monster was involved, to save even a little face, having her executed in a military tribunal wouldn’t be ideal. Would the head of the Ashtar family just sit by? If she had to die, it should be by the family’s hand.
“That’s not it.”
“Well, since Rockton—the next head—has come, there will be some discussion.”
“Rockton?”
Rockton was Olivia’s older brother. In other words, he was my brother now. I didn’t know what kind of person he was, but even if he had been charmed before, it would have been undone by now. In any case, things wouldn’t go well for Lily. This really was a shame.
“Ah, and soon I will be going to the Holy Kingdom.”
To the Holy Kingdom?
“Yes? What do you mean?”
At my question he smiled brightly, an expression that really didn’t suit him.
“I need to speak with the Pope about you and pressure him to recognize the Empire’s Goddess Church, don’t I?”
Oh ho. Even after being squeezed dry by a succubus, he seemed genuinely sincere about this. If I was sending him anyway, maybe I should help him stay there longer. To reform the church, it would be good if the Pope was absent for a while. Claire seemed to share my thoughts; she smiled faintly.
“Ah, I’ll make sure to provide every convenience for your journey. Right, Claire?”
“Yes. If it’s the head of the family, he will also dispatch Ashtar knights.”
“Oh ho. As expected of Ashtar. Then I’ll prepare to leave.”
The Pope’s smiling face made it look as if the Empire’s Goddess Church had already been recognized. But that was a different matter entirely. I watched his excited figure leaving the church and smiled slyly. That big oaf had no idea.
“He’s gone.”
“Indeed.”
“It’ll probably be a wasted effort, though.”
I shrugged.
“What do you mean by wasted effort?”
“What kind of place do you think the Holy Kingdom is? They’ll probably claim it was fabricated because of the fall of the corrupt nobles.”
I knew that Pope well. That man would never recognize the Empire’s Goddess Church. The Pope would end up wasting time in the Holy Kingdom before coming back. He went there boasting loudly, only for things to fall apart. He’d vent all his anger at the Holy Pope. So now was the perfect opportunity.
“I think we’ll need to bring in a few people from the assassination guild as nuns.”
Originally, a single drop of water falling into a lake creates concentric circles. What if we planted skilled operatives from the assassination guild as nuns or priests? In any case, the Empire’s Goddess Church currently had no officially recognized imperial clerics assigned. The Pope had brought in more priests than recognized clerics in order to expand the church’s power.
“What do you mean?”
“We need to fix the nuns first. From my experience, nuns should know how to handle weapons. If it’s going to be an unrecognized Goddess Church anyway, wouldn’t it be fine to make it a bit more radical?”
Wouldn’t it be fun to turn all the nuns into inquisitors?
“I understand. I’ll bring in some highly skilled girls as nuns.”
“Good.”
By the time the Pope returned, the church would be full of club-wielding inquisitors. Women who would smear the bones and flesh of monsters like orcs and goblins in the Goddess’s name.
“Ah, and one more thing.”
“Is there something else?”
“The next head of the family said he would like to meet with you as well, so he contacted me to ask if you could make some time.”
“Well, since he’s here for the military tribunal, he wouldn’t just pass me by.”
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to meet this older brother and negotiate about the church while I was at it.
Rockton Lapa Ashtar, the next head of the Ashtar family that governed the vast lands east of the imperial capital, met with the military officers in charge of the trial in the capital. Half of them were from Ashtar territory—all vassals of the Ashtar family and elite officers with high levels of education.
“Can you remove Lily from the military tribunal?”
“This puts us in a difficult position, young master of Ashtar.”
The officers wanted to accommodate Ashtar’s circumstances if possible. But this time, it was a bit difficult.
“Why? I said to send her to a monastery.”
For a noble lady, being sent to a monastery was a humiliating matter. It wasn’t even entering as a nun in the Empire’s church, so the treatment was poor. Moreover, since it would obviously become known in the monastery, it was obvious she would be ostracized there. Unless it was a very special case, returning to the family would be difficult. In effect, the connection to the family would be severed, and she would have to live shut away in a monastery at a young age, turning her back on the world.
“Since you’ve been staying in the territory, you may not be well aware of the capital’s situation, but the matter has grown much larger than expected.”
Indeed, after graduating from Aetherina he had only received successor training in the territory, so he wasn’t familiar with the capital’s affairs.
“What do you mean?”
“The commoners outside are on the verge of rioting—they’ve even mobilized adventurers.”
Come to think of it, even while coming to see the officers, there had been groups of people on the streets. There were signs that a riot could break out at any moment. The fact that the nobles had been charmed by a succubus was that shocking.
“No way.”
“Yes. It’s because of Lily Lapa Ashtar.”
As expected, they should never have taken her into the family. Although they had no choice because of bloodline, there had been more than a few suspicious aspects.
“Then what will happen in the military tribunal?”
“It will be hard to avoid the death penalty. Even if it was foolish behavior, the repercussions have struck the entire Empire.”
“Hmm.”
That was normal. No matter if it was Ashtar, they couldn’t protect Lily at the risk of the family being pointed at and shamed. It was the same in noble society, and above all, Lily had brought shame to Ashtar.
“Even if we cover for her like this, it won’t be good for the Ashtar family either.”
“Still, no matter how much of a crime deserving death she committed, how can we let Ashtar’s bloodline be killed in a military tribunal?”
Moreover, it wasn’t even wartime now. The military had announced that the Demon King was dead. The wartime system had been lifted, and there were only localized battles with the Four Heavenly Kings.
“Then do you have any good ideas?”
“Send her to the monastery.”
In the end, the discussion returned to the beginning.
“No, the monastery brings us back to the start. Although we are military legal officers, it’s impossible for us to extract the criminal.”
“We will not forget Ashtar’s grace, but that woman really won’t do. It is by no means a good choice for Ashtar either.”
Who didn’t know that? It was not right for the Ashtar family’s young lady to be executed in a military tribunal. That was the family’s tradition. Then there was another negotiation option.
This method was something I was going to use when she threw a tantrum about not wanting to go to the monastery.
Anyway, given Lily’s personality, she probably wouldn’t say she wanted to go to the monastery. In that case, cleanly disposing of her wouldn’t be bad.
“The head of the family has given a separate order.”
“What is it?”
“He only said to send her to the monastery. It means whatever happens inside doesn’t matter. Deal with Lily in Ashtar’s way.”
That was the best option for now.
“Then…”
“Anyway, Lily won’t survive. If the rumor that she died spreads, won’t the commoners’ dissatisfaction subside a little?”
Just as nobles knew about commoners, commoners also knew well about nobles. And if it was Ashtar, the story changed. If they removed her from the military tribunal, there would be complaints at first, but if an article appeared in the Empire newspaper later saying Lily was dead, it would change.
“Hmm.”
“Even if she’s a wicked woman who almost ruined the Empire, she’s just an Aetherina student. It’s unprecedented in the Empire’s history for a student to go to a military tribunal.”
“That’s true.”
That method made sense. Once they learned Lily was dead, the angry public sentiment could calm down.
“That does make sense.”
“Even from Father’s perspective, this has crossed the line we can cover for. At least, we’re trying to handle it directly from the family.”
The officers also found the words reasonable.
“Indeed, at this time, putting only the demon race on trial but including a great noble’s daughter doesn’t look good.”
“That’s what I mean. If you handle this well, I will generously support the military. If anything happens, I’ll use my influence to place you in important positions in the territory.”
Having recruited the officers participating as military legal officers in the trial, Rockton finally received Lily from the military tribunal.
“Then will you be returning to the territory?”
“I have to see my troublesome younger sister, don’t I?”
His younger sister, the Saintess Olivia. He had only heard news after she went to Aetherina. He had to see the younger sister whose face he hadn’t seen at least once this time.