Chapter 172: Favor Breeds Disaster
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 172: Favor Breeds Disaster
Penelope froze the moment she saw her face.
The Aspect of Fire and Power.
When she had seen the dragon from a distance, her form had been a whirlwind of violence and overwhelming pressure. Even when she approached wearing a mask, that impression had remained unshakable.
But the moment Penelope saw her true face, she realized she had judged her entirely wrong.
Her down-turned eyes were filled with purity and innocence. Her lips held the freshness of a young maiden. Her aura was calm, radiating a serenity that put those around her at ease.
Perhaps that was why Penelope’s frozen gaze began to wander naturally, taking in the dragon’s womanly figure.
To use a metaphor, she was like the first snow covering the earth. Penelope felt a sudden, surging desire to trample that pristine snow with her own muddy feet.
That was close.
She almost swallowed hard without thinking.
“I-Is it not good, after all?”
“Huh? Oh! No! Not at all!”
Penelope withdrew her shameless gaze and immediately began to shower her with flattery.
“You are so beautiful that I simply lost myself for a moment, haha!”
“Beautiful?”
“Oh, absolutely!”
Penelope’s eyes sparkled as she spoke with fervor.
“When I realized you were a dragon, I trembled in fear. But seeing your Dragon’s Countenance, you are so beautiful that my trembling stopped! I finally understand how a moth feels when it dives into a furnace!”
“I don’t look… dazed or anything?”
“Dazed? Perish the thought! That pure, fresh maidenly aura you exude is exactly what drives men wild!”
“O-Oh. I see.”
Though the phrasing and vocabulary were somewhat vulgar, Valdrova interpreted them in a purely positive light.
“I see. There’s someone who doesn’t really like it when I make this face…”
“W-What! What wicked, snake-hearted woman said that? If anyone dares to utter such blasphemy to the one and only immortal Red Dragon, Lady Valdrova, I, Penelope, will gladly swing the iron hammer of justice!”
“It was Ruri…”
“Ruri! That absolute bitch… Wait, isn’t Ruri your attendant, Lady Valdrova?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“…”
Penelope’s gesture of swinging a hammer became infinitely subdued.
Seeing this, Valdrova confirmed that Penelope knew Ruri.
“Do you know Ruri?”
“Ah, yes… I have some unpleasant memories of her.”
“Really?”
“When I’m wandering around the castle as I please, she occasionally comes by to warn me.”
“What kind of warning?”
“She says things like, ‘Don’t wander around like you own the place, you demon,’ or ‘Is this your living room?’”
“I see.”
“I mean, isn’t it a bit ridiculous? Just because I walked around a few places in this massive castle, she threatens to fold my spine and whatnot.”
“That does sound a bit harsh.”
“And then later, she literally folds my spine!”
“…She does?”
“Three times, even!”
“O-Oh? Ah, well, that was a bit much…”
“You think so too, right, Archduchess? Sigh, even from my perspective, it’s just…”
Penelope began to chatter away without pause. Even though Valdrova knew Penelope was likely the one in the wrong, she listened quietly.
At the same time, Valdrova felt a strange sensation.
What is this…?
In this moment, she felt incredibly comfortable.
To her, conversation had always been difficult. The men she met while acting as an Armored Knight, Ruri, who had stayed by her side the longest, and even Ferda, who made her heart flutter so much—they were all difficult people to talk to.
But the chattering Penelope was different. No matter what she said, she was unreserved and fluent. Above all, she was so trivial that it made Valdrova feel lighthearted in turn.
Only then did Valdrova realize what she wanted to do when she called out to this girl.
“Um…”
“Yes!”
“Do you want to be friends?”
“…Huh?”
Penelope blinked like an idiot. What did those lips just say?
Be friends?
What kind of sweet trap was this? Was this some kind of test where, if she accepted, the dragon would kill her while saying, “Did you really fall for that?”
As Penelope stood there with a dazed expression, Valdrova asked cautiously.
“Do you… not want to be friends?”
It couldn’t be a test. Look at that expression. She looked as shy as a bride on her wedding night. If Penelope took this as a joke, it would be an insult to her.
“F-Friends… S-Sure, why not?”
She answered tentatively, still feeling skeptical. Valdrova’s eyes widened.
“R-Really?”
“You’re the one who asked, Your Highness…”
Penelope wondered if she had just stepped on a landmine.
“Ah, yes! Right. I did ask! Yes!!”
Then, a bright, beaming smile erupted on Valdrova’s anxious face. She clenched her fists and shrugged her shoulders as if she had accomplished something great.
“Then we’re friends starting today?!”
“Y-Yes…”
Penelope couldn’t understand Valdrova’s reaction. Was asking to be friends something to be this overjoyed about? And with a lowly, third-rate demon, no less?
Friends with a dragon… No one in their right mind would accept that offer… Wait, hold on…
Penelope shifted her perspective.
Isn’t this actually freaking awesome?
A friend of a dragon. What demon could claim to be friends with a dragon, the true masters of the Serdes Continent? She was doing something even the seven Great Demons couldn’t achieve. She, who was treated as a third-rate demon back home, was becoming friends with a dragon in a dragon’s castle.
Maybe…!
Penelope’s eyes sparkled.
I might actually be able to drag my mother down and become a Great Demon myself!
They say dreaming beyond one’s station invites disaster. She did not realize that the sparkle in her eyes was the light of a calamitous star heralding ruin.
* * *
“And that’s how it happened…”
“…”
“As a favor between friends, she said she wanted to help Lord Ferda stand tall. She said she couldn’t do it herself, but since people would be watching, she wanted me to make it look that way…”
The reason Ferda could have been mistaken was easily explained. The clothes were what Valdrova had worn, and the thread was made by grinding her scales, which contained her aura. It was enough to mask Penelope’s demonic energy, making it easy to mistake her for a dragon.
“…”
Countless thoughts swirled in Ferda’s mind. His brain, now a jumbled mess, was essentially a blank slate. Just as he was unable to say anything—
“…I see.”
Ferda suddenly realized something.
“Was it also you… who taught her those vulgar words?”
“Wh-What?? What words?”
“The expression ‘horny.’ Did you teach her that?”
“Huh? Me, say something like that…?”
— “Generally, the best thing a man can hear is that he makes a woman horny.”
— “I see. But what does ‘horny’ mean?”
— “You don’t even know that? It’s obviously the highest compliment a man can give a woman!”
“…I guess I did?”
She scratched her head awkwardly. Upon hearing that answer, tears began to flow from Ferda’s eyes. Since they fell from his eyes, they were undoubtedly tears, but their color was red, not transparent.
Ferda was weeping tears of blood.
It felt as if the knights of calamity were rampaging through Ferda’s mind. He felt joy that Valdrova had found a friend she could open her heart to. But in equal measure to that joy, he felt rage and lamentation that the friend had to be this piece of trash.
The Shadow Circle fluctuated violently. Ferda’s lips moved.
“I’ll…”
“You’ll?”
“I’ll kill you, child of Sitri, Penelope!”
“Gack!”
Ferda couldn’t contain himself and grabbed Penelope by the throat. Penelope couldn’t resist.
“Lord Ferda, stop.”
Ruri spoke up at his irrational behavior.
“If you’re going to kill her, wait your turn! I’m going to be the one to kill her first!”
Her small hands also reached out to strangle Penelope. Ruri was also weeping tears of blood. From the moment Penelope was introduced as a friend, Ruri had bitten her lip so hard that blood was streaming down.
Penelope felt it instinctively. If I don’t resist here, I’m really going to die!
She somehow broke free from their grip and shouted loudly.
“Time out! Stop!! Regent, will you listen to me for a second?!”
“If you offer your neck now, I’ll make it quick.”
“No! Don’t do that, just listen! It’s not a bad thing for me to be her friend, is it?”
“That statement will only make your death more painful.”
Things were going from bad to worse. But Penelope pushed on.
“Lady Valdrova considers me her friend right now, you know?”
“I’m going to kill you.”
Ferda’s murderous intent only grew thicker.
“Lady Valdrova, you see… she’s always worrying about how to look good to you, Lord Ferda.”
Ferda’s hand hesitated for a moment. Penelope seized on that hesitation.
“In that regard, I can provide a few rare opportunities for you to see each other’s true feelings—opportunities that you, Lord Ferda, would very much appreciate!”
“…For example?”
“For, for example…”
She whispered into Ferda’s ear.
“Having that beautiful red-haired lady wear a daring outfit that reveals her stunning figure?”
“…”
“Or maybe something see-through, made of thin, gossamer fabric that gives glimpses of her body?”
“…”
“If you keep me as a friend, you’ll be able to see Lady Valdrova’s feminine sensuality without any filter, won’t you?”
Ferda stood silent after hearing those words. Before he could even fully spread the wings of his imagination—
“What are you standing there thinking about?”
Ruri, annoyed by the silence, glared at Ferda with sharp eyes. Ferda snapped out of it and answered.
“I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
“For someone who wasn’t thinking, you seemed to be picturing a very impure image of Lady Valdrova in that head of yours.”
“…I did no such thing.”
If she had asked even a second later, he might have admitted it. Ferda was a little surprised himself. To think this hopeless, third-rate demon could achieve a temptation that even the Great Demon Sitri couldn’t. It must be because of Sitri’s Life Vessel. It was a terrifying power.
“The moment I see her wearing the kind of things that demon is talking about, I’ll not only kill that demon, but I’ll gouge out your eyes as well, Lord Ferda.”
“If she chooses to wear it herself, you have no right to stop—”
“What did you just say?”
Ferda shut his mouth. Her two index fingers were menacingly poised, waiting for his eyes. Thus, for the duration of the carriage ride, Ruri’s sharp gaze remained fixed on Ferda, and Penelope escaped death.
* * *
The Imperial Capital remained noisy even after Ferda’s departure. There were two Demon Followers within the Empire, and weren’t those two the very people holding the highest positions in the land?
They were the perfect prey for agitators seeking a seat in the Empire, and the nobles could no longer simply sit comfortably on their sofas. The Empire’s Security Bureau was spending days so busy they barely had time to breathe.
“I heard you visited the Debelung mansion.”
“Yeah.”
“How was it?”
The Debelung mansion was famous for being spacious, contrary to his rank. It was an object of envy, as it showcased the family’s tradition and honor. But that was a story from only yesterday. The symbol of wealth and power had become a cursed mansion stained with foul desires.
“As expected of a place where a demon lived, it stank from the entrance. His taste in paintings was all shit, too.”
“Are they really going to burn the whole mansion down?”
“What else can they do? Grand Duke Golt made a decision for the sake of the country. They’re going to burn the mansion and build more buildings.”
“They say there’s no one left to trust…”
“The Grand Duke must be deeply grieved.”
Waldemar Golt, the hero of the people. He was a noble of such high reputation that even jokingly insulting his name in a tavern would result in a fistfight. People pitied Waldemar and cursed Debelung, the demon’s lackey.
“I heard there’s a girl who was rescued from that demon’s clutches?”
“She’s currently recuperating in the relief room. She was so drugged up that five priests had to work together just to barely undo her full-body paralysis.”
“Really?”
“According to the logs, she survived being imprisoned for three whole years.”
“Is that something to be surprised about?”
“It is. Among the victims was a man who used to be in the Imperial Palace Knights. Even that knight couldn’t last more than three months before dying, but that woman survived for three years.”
When selecting the Imperial Palace Knights, every aspect is scrutinized, and there is no compromise when it comes to mental strength. Even if one is top-tier in swordsmanship, a weak mind is considered a serious disqualification.
“Did Debelung go easy on her because she’s a woman?”
“Not at all. They say she survived everything that others couldn’t even endure for a month.”
“To survive three years like that…”
“It’s like they were making an assassin for some secret organization. Isn’t there something like that, where you only get picked if you endure torture like this?”
“What kind of nonsense is that…”
The Captain’s voice trailed off. Suddenly, because of those words, he felt something he had tucked away in the back of his mind brush against his fingertips.
“Is there a portrait of that woman?”
“Actually, a sketch artist drew one to help identify her.”
The guard handed the Captain a freshly drawn poster. The Captain’s already grim expression began to lose all color.
“Wait a minute…”
The Captain hurriedly rummaged through a filing cabinet. He wasn’t looking through the missing persons posters, but the wanted criminal posters. His rapidly moving fingers pulled out a piece of paper tucked deep inside.
“…Damn it.”
His face turned pale.
“What’s wrong?”
“That damn pig kept such a monster alive all this time!”
The guards were flustered by his sudden anger.
“Take the first-class magic restraints and run to the relief center immediately! We have to restrain that woman!”
“What exactly is she—”
“Shut up and move now!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Seeing the Captain act so unlike his usual self, they grabbed the restraints and ran after him. They ran without pausing to catch their breath, but only the woman’s traces remained in the recovery room.
“Sound the first-class alarm immediately!”
“A first-class alarm, sir?”
“Tell them to mobilize all guards and the army to blockade the Empire!”
“Captain, we need at least a reason to sound that alarm.”
The frantic Captain finally regained his reason and spoke.
“Sierra…”
“Sierra?”
Sierra. Upon hearing those three syllables, they realized the gravity of the situation.
“Tell them the Wolf of Sierra has escaped.”