Revenge (3)
Maybe I could squeeze some information about the Four Heavenly Kings out of this whore. Even if it was outdated, having anything at all would let me prepare for the next move.
“Was his hair black with streaks of white? Even that idiot brain of yours should remember something like that.”
Distinctive appearances always stick in your memory. It had to be black hair mixed with white.
“No. That. He was completely bald. A bald, muscular bastard! I thought he was a customer and was about to service him, but he said he was selling a scroll! There was a purple pattern on his forehead!”
A purple pattern on the forehead? Then he was one of Jerato’s underlings. Jerato was a subordinate of the Betrayer Clanice—a moron who failed at Mana Fusion and ended up turning into a demon himself. His specialty was using black magic to curse humans, transforming them into monsters or corrupting them.
So I was too late. Jerato’s minion wouldn’t have sold that scroll to just this one whore. Five years had definitely passed. By now this whole area should have been thoroughly corrupted. Yet it was cleaner than I expected. Well, the Ashtar knights had been watching this woman. If anything had gone wrong, it would have been reported immediately.
Five years ago was a few months before I—as Noah—joined the hero party. It wasn’t really my business, but as Olivia I was an imperial citizen. I couldn’t just sit back and watch something that would harm the empire.
“Has anything unusual happened in Moran since then?”
“Dozens of people went insane all at once or suddenly turned into monsters. One of the Seven Stars happened to be passing through Moran at the time, so he stepped in and cleaned it up. That bald guy died too!”
If one of the Seven Stars had handled it, the situation must have been contained. That coward Jerato probably hadn’t come back a second time. Maybe it had just been a probe. Simple black magic would have been one thing, but the Demon King’s curse was a completely different problem.
The Betrayer Clanice. Had that woman tried to mess with the empire by moving Jerato?
“Well, it was before I joined the hero party anyway.”
It didn’t matter much anymore. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that the scroll had carried the Demon King’s curse. When Jerato fought me, he hadn’t used a scroll with the Demon King’s curse—just ordinary black magic ones. Since I had destroyed his mana circuits, he probably couldn’t move on his own anymore. He shouldn’t have been able to create minions either.
“At that time, was he trying to turn me into a monster with that scroll?”
“Y-yes.”
Now that I thought about it, Clanice had said something like that before.
“The hero’s just the signboard. You were the real thing all along. You’d make the perfect vessel for the Demon King.”
“Let’s start by taking one hit first.”
Ever since that fight she had gone on about me being the Demon King’s vessel or whatever. So the Betrayer Clanice had been using Jerato to search for a suitable vessel? Had she considered the possibility that the Demon King might lose?
Right now I lacked too much information. I had no way of tracking down Clanice wherever she was hiding and demanding answers. I didn’t even know if I could beat her alone in my current state.
This wasn’t a problem I could solve immediately. It wasn’t like I had run into Clanice anyway. So the next topic was Lily.
“Fine. We’ll move on from that.”
I hadn’t gained much useful information. Just that Jerato had tried to dip his toes into the empire using a minion, only to get crushed by one of the Seven Stars. And that Jerato had been searching for a human to serve as the Demon King’s vessel on Clanice’s orders. That was it.
“So we’re just letting it go?”
“Letting it go my ass.”
“Stop this! If you stop, I’ll pretend I don’t know anything!”
Her bruised face begging me was quite the pleasant sight. But the way she still acted like she was above me was disgustingly repulsive. Living in a dump like this, she really must not know anything.
“You live in this backwater village, so of course you don’t know anything.”
“What?”
“Lily’s engagement was broken off.”
“What are you talking about? Don’t lie!”
If I had come all the way here, beaten her half to death, and started interrogating her, she should have realized something was up. Today would be the end for both her and Lily anyway.
Honestly, I was angrier about being forced to use my strength on someone with zero information than I was about avenging the dead Olivia.
“They found out Lily contracted with a succubus. Did you really think someone like that could become empress of an empire?”
This woman must have known too. That was why she had told her to seduce the crown prince with that power. Her intentions had been good, in a way. Instead of seducing Aslan herself, she had made me look like the villain so Aslan would lose interest in me.
Only then did unease finally flicker across the woman’s face. She dragged her broken limbs toward me, clinging desperately.
“Wh-what do you mean… Then Lily… where is Lily?”
She really did have strong maternal love for her daughter.
“Duke Ashtar threw her into the river.”
“Th-that’s impossible! My daughter!”
She should have been prepared for consequences when she pulled that filthy stunt to worm her way into the Ashtar family.
“Pine caterpillars should stick to eating pine needles. Why did you have to meddle and turn everything into this mess?”
Something amusing occurred to me.
“Th-then… Lily is really still alive?”
“I did save her.”
“Qu-quickly! Give Lily back! I won’t approach you ever again!”
“Oh really?”
She spoke so smoothly. Even if she acted all polite now, it didn’t change the fact that the previous Olivia had died. She wouldn’t be coming back. Even I couldn’t resurrect the dead.
So all of you have to die too.
“Yes. So—”
“I’m sorry, but your child Lily no longer exists.”
I couldn’t treat that thing as human anymore.
“What does that mean? So she really is dead? You killed her!”
She charged at me like she wanted to kill me, so I drove my fist into her lower abdomen again.
Thud!
“Ughhhk!”
Was this too harsh for a woman? Whatever. She was going to die anyway.
The whore let out a dying groan and collapsed on the spot.
“I get that you think of your child as precious even though you’re a whore. But know your place. Killed her? To be exact, she brought it on herself. Here.”
I pulled Lily out of the subspace where I had stored her and tossed her onto the floor like an object. Pink hair, horns, wings—a full succubus. If I hadn’t caught her, this bitch would have caused a huge incident and fled.
“Cough, cough… who is this?”
Coughing and struggling to move, she slowly examined the monster that had fallen in front of her, then looked up at me.
“Your damn daughter. You should still recognize her face, right?”
“No… this can’t be. My daughter…”
It must be hard to believe. She had raised her so preciously, after all. She must have tried everything to make sure her daughter wouldn’t turn out like her.
Of course, she had only been driven by emotion. She never realized her own filthy personality had been passed down to Lily intact. If she had known, she would have had the sense to stop her from contracting with a succubus.
“You should have either stopped Lily from contracting with the succubus or made her refrain from using her powers. She awakened as a succubus because of her survival instinct, you know?”
I kicked the unconscious Lily in the head. She barely regained consciousness and staggered to her feet.
“M-mom?”
“Li-Lily?”
“Now she even has a tail and wings. If she gets caught, she’ll definitely be killed.”
If she left this building and reached the village, the adventurers would probably cut her head off on sight.
“What? Why would you kill my daughter?”
“Then should I let a monster live in the middle of the village? Especially a succubus who tries to seduce imperial soldiers and destroy their combat effectiveness.”
Even if she wasn’t caught immediately, she would end up on wanted posters.
Lily’s mother finally looked at me. Did she think I would help her?
“You… you can save her, can’t you? Please…”
“Sorry, but didn’t you try to turn me into a monster? Don’t you remember?”
How could she be so shameless?
“I-I’ll apologize. I’ll bang my head on the ground as many times as you want. Kill me if you want! Just please, at least spare my child…”
“Don’t you think it’s a little too late for that?”
“I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
It was pathetic watching her slam her face into the ground while apologizing. I couldn’t even remember my own mother, but I wondered if this was what maternal love looked like.
“M-mom? Why is Mom doing this to this sister…”
“You beg too! If you want to get out of here alive, you have no choice!”
The whore’s face was desperate.
“Why should I? I’m the young lady of the Ashtar family. Why would I help a monster and her mother?”
“I’m begging you!”
“What do I gain by helping you two?”
Nothing. Knowing that, the whore simply shut her mouth and rolled her eyes.
“We share the same father’s blood. Can’t you at least do that much?”
“As expected, Lily, I love that you’re a bitch to the very end.”
Perfect. I liked that she gave me zero hesitation. She was practically screaming at me to take revenge.
And right now, there was something I was very curious about.
“And you. Are you really Lily’s mother? Do you truly love her?”
“Mom is my mom! She loves me!”
Yes, of course. She loved her so terribly, yet because she had nothing in her head, she had let her play with a succubus. This whore must have despaired the moment she saw her daughter become a succubus.
“Poor Lily. Don’t you find it strange? Why did your mother just stand by and watch while you committed sins using a succubus?”
“Sister! Stop saying weird things and save us already!”
Unlike those who were monsters from the start, humans who turned into monsters or demons had unstable identities and emotions.
“Think about it, Lily. The moment you contracted with a succubus, you had no excuse even if you were caught. Yet your mother knew and deliberately let it happen. Why do you think that is?”
“I only wanted my daughter to succeed!”
The stupid woman screamed. Yes, yes. With that brain of yours, that was probably the limit of what you could come up with. Of course.
But ultimately, because of that ignorant head, Lily had ended up like this. Lily still seemed to trust her mother, but since she had only just become a monster, even the slightest tremor would be fatal to her.
“Are you saying Mom used me?”
I grabbed the fallen Lily by the hair, lifting her up as I kindly continued the explanation.
“If she truly cared for her daughter, she should have scolded you for contracting with a succubus. She should have taught you the right path and sent you to Ashtar. Why did she let you make the contract? The result is you becoming like this.”
It was true that the woman had been sincere about wanting the best for her daughter. It was also true that because of that sincerity she had ruined her daughter’s life. And Lily was the greatest villainess in the world. She didn’t realize it herself, but she would never admit her own faults. She always blamed others for her misfortune.
Until now she had only resented me, saying everything was my fault. But if this girl had even the slightest wrinkle in her brain, she would know that when she contracted with the succubus, her mother hadn’t stopped her.
“Lily! Don’t listen to her!”
“Mom would never use me.”
She denied it, but the way her eyes were shaking was hilarious.
“It’s obvious. She used you to fix her own miserable life. Ashtar has my mother in it, so it was hard to touch. But if you became empress, some scraps would fall to her too. And if it was later discovered that you had become a succubus and you were executed, your mother would take all the money she earned and flee overseas.”
“No, that can’t be…”
She shook her head, but her expression grew more and more anxious. Yes. You’ve always had thin ears. My words would shake you too.
Lily’s mother—I didn’t know her name and had no desire to learn it—had become truly pitiful. I whispered into Lily’s ear.
“If your mother hadn’t left you alone from the beginning, you would still be an Atlina student right now. Even without me interfering, you were destined to be discovered eventually. It wasn’t me who ruined your life. It was your mother.”
“That’s…”
“Close your ears, Lily!”
Lily’s mother desperately tried to cover her daughter’s ears, but gravity magic held her back.
“You have to admit what needs to be admitted. I didn’t even know you when you contracted with the succubus. The one who caused you to become a succubus wasn’t me—it was your mother.”
“Ah… aaaaah…”
Lily finally clutched her head and began to cry. Before I knew it her horns and wings had grown even larger, and her tail had lengthened. She was becoming more monster than human.
“Think carefully. If you hadn’t contracted with the succubus—or if your mother had at least stopped you—you would have remained a duke’s daughter instead of turning into this.”
“Uuuu…”
“Lily! Don’t listen!”
Why wouldn’t she listen? She had to. Only then would it be fun.
Honestly, if not for that incident, she could have continued living comfortably in Ashtar.
“If we go even further, the one who made you born from a whore’s bloodline is your mother—because she herself is a whore. The fact that your bloodline has been pointed at and scorned is ultimately because of your mother too.”
Born as the daughter of a whore. That was why she had lived under fingers pointed at her until she entered the Ashtar family.
“So… this is all Mom’s fault?”
“Yes.”
At my words, Lily glared at her mother. Crazy bitch.