Chapter 175
Chapter 175
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: Sun and Moon - 1
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“Long time no see, Helga. Four whole days—have you been well?”
I waved at Helga, who was approaching me hesitantly. From behind her came the sound of stifled chuckles. The squad members were watching us with playful gazes.
Helga bowed her head, her face brimming with shame and embarrassment. There was no trace left of her former dazed expression.
“……Yes, I've been well. I'm truly sorry for acting so out of line.”
“No need for apologies. I get it completely. That's why I waited until you were feeling better, right?”
The snickers from the regular squad members carried all the way over here. Most of them were saying things along the lines of how she should boldly come at me like before.
Helga couldn't even muster a proper retort and simply trembled.
‘Did I say too much?’
Watching her like this made me feel a little sorry for her. Sure, it meant they were all close enough to tease each other like that, but with Helga's face turning beet red like it might burst any second, she just looked even more pitiful.
On top of that, I'd learned that all those actions had stemmed from her fondness for me.
‘I never imagined it would apply here too.’
Demons amplify a person's primal emotions.
Even when I'd used that book to kill Aurora's father, he hadn't lunged at the book right away—instead, it was only after I'd lied to stir up his desires that his eyes truly rolled back.
According to Stella, Behemoth's Charm ability worked the same way.
The reason charmed Helga had clung to me so desperately was that she'd already held positive feelings toward me on a normal basis. Not romantic feelings, of course, but in the sense of me being a good boss.
It was easiest to just view it as any and all positive emotions getting twisted into sexual desire. That was the nature of demons.
Of course, it wasn't impossible to incite desire from nothing, but explanations had added that unless the demon was dead set on targeting someone that way, cases like Helga's—lunging right away—were practically nonexistent.
That went double for an incompletely revived state like Behemoth's.
The people of this city who had stared right through me as I passed by were a prime example. They'd gazed piercingly, but none had made any direct moves.
‘I guess the charm from the game is the same only in name.’
That was the conclusion I'd reached after hearing Stella's explanation. Its fundamental nature was completely different from the status effect in the game.
The game's Behemoth had used charm for the purpose of making humans worship it to gain power, which was why almost everyone affected ended up judged as heretics.
No matter the cause or process, the end result was worshiping a demon. That was why even the quickest players had ended up with massive casualties.
But the charm this Behemoth had wielded was honestly less "charm" and more like going into heat. Just what kind of mod had been at play here was unclear.
‘Iris probably too……’
Iris's case was similar. After hearing Stella's explanation, it naturally clicked why Iris's symptoms had been far more severe than Helga's.
Because Iris harbored far greater fondness for me than Helga did. We hadn't spent much time together, but effectively speaking, I'd saved the Silver Dawn Knights.
I'd killed the former lord to give them breathing room, and in the end, I'd even helped them return to the imperial palace and reclaim their original positions. It would've been weirder if she hadn't developed positive feelings for me.
With those positive feelings entirely transmuted into sexual desire, it only made sense that she'd come at me far more aggressively than Helga.
‘I hope she doesn't act all awkward next time we meet. Lize is gonna grill her like, "Did you two suck and bite each other while I was gone?"’
Once Iris had recovered, the moment she heard that her behavior stemmed from her fondness for me, she'd completed her orders and bolted off with a flushed face, declaring she was heading back.
Thanks to that, she hadn't heard the part about how that fondness encompassed all positive emotions—not just romantic love.
‘Well, she'll figure it out just fine.’
Iris wasn't some kid who would assume fondness could only mean romantic love.
“Honored guest, have you finished preparing?”
Stella approached me with a grin. I turned to Helga.
“She says yes. What do you think, Helga?”
“Perfect.”
Helga answered swiftly, finally escaping the teasing. The squad members wiped the grins from their faces and took their positions.
“Yes. We're all set too.”
Behind the beaming Stella stood the battle nuns, maces and shields in hand, arrayed as if they were a single body. Their shields gleamed under the sunlight.
Selene's place was right beside Stella, and behind her filed the battle nuns clutching rapiers in one hand, clad in translucent tights and leather underbust jackets.
Were they mimicking their superior's personality and looks? They formed a perfect contrast with one another.
“And you, Heresy Inquisitor?”
Stella flashed a grin as she shook Behemoth's head, held in her right hand. This was a highly unusual situation, so they planned to record it in the archives before purification.
The demon's head had its eye area tightly wrapped in a white veil. That was because it had come to light that Iris had fallen to the charm after making eye contact with Behemoth.
Those with holy power faced no issue, but this was just in case.
And this too was set to be recorded in the archives. After all, this was surely the first time someone without holy power had met the eyes of a dead demon.
It only made sense, given that this was also the first time a demon subjugation had left a corpse behind.
“Good. Everyone, get ready. You're heading back to the castle first.”
“You're not coming with us, Captain?”
“I've got some business in the Holy Kingdom for a bit. Nix will have the report for the lord, so take it with you. Helga, you head to the lord's mansion and deliver it.”
“Understood.”
We finished preparations to leave the city after a mere four days. In the game, the Heresy Inquisitor had stayed quite a while, but there was no need for that now.
Unlike the game's story, where Behemoth's full revival wreaked havoc on the city, here it had revived incompletely and been subjugated immediately upon awakening, keeping the damage quite light.
Light enough to cover it up by calling it a mere demon worshipper uprising.
For the record, all the men had been locked away in the building's basement. It wasn't hard to imagine what the women had done with the men shut away down there.
They pinned the reason for the women's collective depravity on the demon worshippers' wicked powers.
A most convenient catch-all excuse.
“I'll be right back, Heresy Inquisitor.”
“Of course. I'll wait as long as it takes. Safe travels.”
I saw Stella and Selene off before heading to what was less a cabin and more a cabin disguised as something else—where Nix resided.
Nix, who had been snoring away in bed, shot upright the moment she heard footsteps approaching. The recoil sent her breasts jiggling precariously, as if they might spill out of her white shirt.
Nix rubbed her eyes a few times, looked up at me, and grinned sinisterly.
“Heh, hehehe…… Hello?”
“So it's honorifics today?”
“Yes, hehe. You came by yesterday, after all.”
Freshly awoken, Nix giggled as she clung to me. With Nix dangling off my body, I stepped out of the cabin. A few squad members' eyes went wide at the sight.
“We're heading back to the castle now. You ready?”
“Oh, already? Hehe. Got it.”
With a snap of her dainty fingers, black flames rained down, incinerating the cabin. It seemed there was nothing inside worth taking.
Though it had looked like there was quite a bit.
What was truly amazing was how the black flames burned only the cabin. Even if live wood doesn't catch easily, the piles of fallen leaves around it remained utterly unscathed.
“Hehe, see you later.”
Having neatly torched the cabin, Nix waved at me as she prepared to teleport. Soon, a magic circle glowed black, and Helga along with the regular squad members vanished entirely.
Once even the traces of the magic circle were gone, I returned to where Stella and Selene waited. The battle nuns' gazes turned intensely burdensome the moment they saw me return alone.
“It's an honor to serve you once more, honored guest.”
Stella approached me with a beaming smile. Beside her came Selene, holding a holy catalyst suffused with the soft glow of a full moon.
“The Popes will be delighted.”
“……Lize, do you have a moment?”
Back at the imperial palace, Iris had submitted her report to Kaikilia before seeking out Lize first thing. Lize, who had finished her duties and was resting in her room, growled the instant she saw Iris.
“Had fun dating my boyfriend while I was away? Must've been sweet as honey, huh?”
Claudia had her hand on Erika's shoulder, chuckling at the sight. She knew full well this wasn't genuine anger. It was just lighthearted griping.
Erika, polishing her armor, merely frowned at Claudia kneading her shoulder but showed no sign of intervening with Lize.
“……It's about Delta, Lize. I'd appreciate it if you'd hear me out.”
Lize froze, her expression shifting. Claudia and Erika hardened their faces and adjusted their stances.
Iris with a rigidly tense face, talking about Delta. It was a combination that couldn't help but stir ominous thoughts, willing or not.
Lize's voice rose slightly.
“……What? Did something happen to Delta?”
“It's just……”
As Iris hemmed and hawed, Lize finally lost her patience and strode right up to her. She grabbed Iris by the shoulders and yanked her close.
“I'm asking what happened to Delta. Why can't you answer?”
Here were two facts that Delta hadn't fully impressed upon Iris amid his oversights.
“I……”
The first was that, preoccupied with why a corpse could still cast charm and why its effects varied by person, he hadn't explained the charm itself to her.
“Th-that Delta……”
The second was that Iris had taken her own actions and Stella's explanation—particularly the word "fondness"—and jumped to her own wild conclusion about her condition.
“……I think I like him.”
—Crash!
The helmet she'd just finished polishing tumbled with a clatter over the rest of her armor pieces.