First Love of a Hikikomori (3)
Nero gradually backed away before vanishing somewhere. “Huh….”
Freya looked just as surprised as I was by the sight. She was practically the cause of all this, yet her reaction suggested she hadn’t expected things to turn out this way. I’d assumed, in my perverted dog-masochist way, that this was exactly what she’d intended. It was unexpected.
“I was going to tease her a bit more…”
But Freya muttered with a disappointed expression. So it wasn’t shock mixed with guilt after all. This woman was just as unpredictable.
When I narrowed my eyes and glared at her, Freya turned her head away.
“I admit I wanted to tease her because it felt honest, but I didn’t think she’d run away like that. Her mentality is so fragile. Hehe.”
Seeing that gloating look on her face made me seriously suspect she’d planned this all along.
“…Why are you staring at me like that? It’s making me… haa… excited.”
I gave her a look of pure contempt, and that was the response I got. Deciding I couldn’t deal with her anymore, I left her with one final remark.
“You’d better apologize to Lady Nero later. How could you do that to someone? You’re trash.”
“But Sieg, you’re the one who ignored my warning. I told you so clearly not to approach the imperial family… Still, getting looked at with such contempt might actually be nice? Instead of an apology, I’ll thank Her Highness Princess Nero. Hehe. Ahh… that glaring look is so sexy.”
The moment those words left her mouth, I turned and headed after Nero. Every time Freya let out a moan, eyes from all around us poured in, and I couldn’t stand it. Besides, I needed to catch up to Nero quickly.
Nero’s unique magic, Clairvoyance. Daeho considered that ability the key to resolving this incident. Since it was an eye that could pierce through truth, it could easily distinguish demons. It was a precious ability that could support Daeho’s claims. Not only that, it was genuinely useful for fighting the Demon King’s army, so I couldn’t let it slip away here.
The fortunate part was that I could tell where Nero had run off to. That was why every place she passed drew so many stares.
And everywhere Nero passed, vicious gossip about her followed in waves. Every noble who saw her continued the rumor mill. Thanks to that, I could immediately track her location, but on the other hand, it was truly heartbreaking.
“Lady Nero!”
After chasing her hard, I finally found her slumped on the floor. She was in a corridor leading to the back of the banquet hall. Looking around, the area was deserted. What I saw before me was Nero and a single maid. But the strange thing was Nero’s terrified expression. She was trembling violently, as if she’d seen a ghost.
‘No way…?’
Had she seen something with her ability?
I approached her calmly for now.
“Lady Nero, have you finished your business? Shall we head back soon?”
I took her hand and pulled her into my arms. When I touched her shoulder lightly, it was rigid with tension. She really was scared.
‘Let’s get out of here first.’
Even if the maid facing us was a demon, I didn’t think Nero would lose. Her magic was the strongest on the continent. Even the Magic Tower, which gathered all forms of magic, proudly called her a genius. Still, seeing Nero’s face drained completely white, calming her down had to come first. Given her timid, cowardly personality, even if she held tremendous power, I had a feeling she couldn’t control it properly—like a child holding a loaded gun.
‘That’s how it was in the original story too.’
Back then, watching her overcome it had been entertaining, but right now I didn’t have the luxury of enjoying that.
“Lady Nero, you don’t look well. Are you feeling sick?”
The moment I tried to turn away, the maid in front of us spoke up. Her eyes were full of concern, the perfect image of a loyal servant. Seeing her like this made me wonder if I’d overreacted.
“Yeah… I’m fine.”
Nero said, gently grabbing my collar. Then she pulled. With her other hand, she pointed in the direction we’d been heading, clearly signaling that we should move.
“That’s a relief. Although I serve Lord Morgan, I belong to the imperial family. Lady Nero’s well-being is also my responsibility. Please enjoy the banquet.”
The maid bowed politely, then walked off in the opposite direction.
Click. Click. Click.
With the sound of her heels, the maid disappeared from view.
“Huu…”
Nero let out a sigh of relief. If I hadn’t been holding her, she probably would have collapsed again. The tension seemed to have drained out of her.
“But… did you see something?”
Yet at that moment, another voice rang out. It was the maid we’d just been talking to. Hadn’t she left? I’d even heard her footsteps.
“Lady Nero, you saw something from me, didn’t you? Right? It seems like it? You’re sweating buckets… and trembling like that. Isn’t that strange? Hmm?”
At some point she’d come back and was speaking to us again.
“Hahaha. Could it be that what you saw was this?”
The calm voice suddenly changed. It grew hoarse and layered with multiple voices speaking at once. From behind the maid, a black shadow spread out, and inside that shadow, dozens of red eyes were staring at us.
‘Why is a demon here?’
Nero denied the situation. The Arcadia Empire had given massive support to the One God Church, so the imperial palace was protected by a massive barrier. Multiple high priests maintained it. This situation made no sense. That was why, even while sitting alone in fear, she couldn’t believe what she’d seen was real.
Her body trembled violently. As expected, going outside was dangerous. This was what happened when she pushed herself unnecessarily. She blamed herself.
“Lady Nero. It’s okay.”
Sieg whispered softly. He slowly patted her back.
“Eh?”
Strangely, the trembling stopped. And then his next words came.
“I’m not sure if you know this, but shall I tell you a secret?”
“A secret?”
“The truth is, I can use healing magic. And it’s incredibly powerful.”
“?!”
Nero was shocked. A man using magic? No, before that—healing magic? She’d never heard of such a thing in her life.
“I’m telling you this specially, Lady Nero, but anyway, no matter what happens, I’ll definitely heal you, so don’t worry.”
After saying that, Sieg stepped in front of Nero. It looked like he was trying to protect her.
The demons drooled as they stared at Sieg. All sorts of sexual harassment flew around. Seeing that, Nero had no choice but to stand up. He was a precious person who had reached out to her with salvation, but Sieg was a man. He was a fragile being that she had to protect. As a woman, she couldn’t just sit there and keep relying on him any longer.
“Stop.”
Nero shouted, gathering her courage.
What came back was mockery-laced criticism and twisted lust directed at Sieg.
Dozens of tentacles burst from the demons’ bodies. Each one glistened with a slick liquid, a disgusting sight. At this rate, Sieg would clearly be captured. Nero could no longer sit idly by.
“Protective Magic, Aegis Veil—!”
At Nero’s chant, a blue barrier enveloped them both.
‘It worked…’
She had used magic countless times, but this was her first real battle. There had been a slight hesitation before chanting. What if she made a mistake?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The tentacles that struck the barrier tried to smash it with brute force, but the barrier only grew stronger. White liquid oozed from the tentacles in an attempt to corrode it. But it was useless.
“Clairvoyance—.”
Nero activated her unique magic. She decided to go on the offensive as well as defend. When she pierced through the black shadow with her unique magic, the demons hidden within it became visible one by one. What had looked like a shadow was actually spatial magic. It was connected to some other space through the shadow as a medium.
‘Should I break it?’
She could see the mana composing the spell. If she destroyed that, it looked like it would collapse easily.
‘I can’t just let them go like this…!’
What kind of obscene things had they said about Sieg? Moans when you thrust into him? So fucking hot? Milk him dry? She absolutely could not tolerate it.
‘I-I haven’t even imagined those things yet…!’
Nero was an adult, after all. She knew exactly what the demons’ words meant. This was a secret, but sometimes when she read books, she came across obscene ones too. Thanks to that, she had some knowledge, but hearing them spew such things so shamelessly made even Nero feel embarrassed.
‘Because it makes you imagine it…’
She had held back, thinking it was a line that must never be crossed. Thanks to them, all sorts of images of Sieg replayed in her head. And the woman on top of him was none other than herself.
‘This is so filthy…’
Even she thought it was perverse. But she couldn’t stop. Knowing she shouldn’t do it somehow made it even more thrilling. Because of that, every time she looked at Sieg, those vivid scenes flashed through her mind.
“Die…!”
Nero’s choice, unable to deny this side of herself, was to take out her anger on the ones who had caused it. She analyzed the magic, grasped its mana formula, adjusted it, and brought it under her control. Then, through that magic, toward the ones connected to the space—
“Penetration Magic, Piercing Arrow—!”
She pierced straight through their temples.
Thud—
Along with killing them, the servant Luna collapsed. She fell limply, like a corpse.
“A-are you okay?”
Nero asked, looking at Sieg.
“Thank you, Your Highness. That was amazing.”
“Th-this much is simple…”
It wasn’t simple at all. The two spells she had just used were advanced magic that required creating and maintaining multiple mana formulas simultaneously. Even using just one would earn applause from the Magic Tower. Nero had used both at the same time.
In truth, she wanted to show off that point, but—
“I-I just got lucky.”
She was too shy to explain how impressive it was, so she held back.
“Still, it was cool.”
At Sieg’s simple, straightforward compliment, Nero looked up at his face. Their eyes met.
‘Milking, moaning, breeding stallion.’
Then, like magic, an image of Sieg appeared in her mind.
‘What do I do…’
For a while, that image kept replaying inside Nero’s head.
“Chwi-ik! What the hell happened?!”
In the imperial capital’s Demon King’s Army hideout, Chierre, who had been waiting, urgently asked her adjutant.
“I-I don’t know what’s going on either…”
But the answer that came back didn’t solve her question.
“What happened? Chwi-ik.”
The subordinates who had infiltrated the imperial palace through spatial magic had suddenly collapsed. When they hurriedly checked their condition, the subordinates were already dead. In that brief moment, dozens of subordinates had died. It was an ominous sign.
“W-we need to contact Lucifer. Bring the communication orb! Chwi-ik.”
“Understood.”
Chierre decided to report this to Lucifer first. These headache-inducing problems usually got solved if she told Lucifer.
It was at that moment.
“Down with the Demon King—!”
A loud commotion rang out.
“It’s an attack.”
“Chwi-ik? How did they find this place…?”
Before an answer could come to Chierre’s question, the situation instantly turned into a battlefield. The attackers were pressing without giving any breathing room.
“Down with the Demon King—!! Exterminate the demons!”
Enemies that slaughtered without emotion, like emotionless golems. Chierre decided to step forward herself.
Boom—!
The moment she stood up, a surprise attack came. She blocked it with her weapon. It was heavy, with a familiar weight.
“Who are you! Chwi-ik!”
Chierre quickly identified her opponent. What she saw was a woman with black hair and yellow eyes. The sword in her hand was covered in blue sword qi, the symbol of a Sword Master.
“Y-you are! Chwi-ik!”
The opponent she had clashed with once before.
“This time, I won’t hold back. Demon…”
It was the Sword Master, Emilia.