The Saintess's Deception
The words spoken by the woman who identified herself as the Saintess were nothing short of shocking.
The Baron had collapsed due to illness. He had been cursed after lending his strength to protect the Saintess from the schemes of wicked angels.
"At first, the angels claimed they would lend us their power. They insisted they had descended to cleanse the division and wickedness rampant in the human realm! But it was a lie! Before long, the angels revealed their true colors!"
A plea of injustice. An explosion of rage.
"They were nothing more than demons wearing the skin of angels! Once they had established a foothold, they suddenly raided the Grand Cathedral of the Goddess Church and slaughtered countless nuns!"
When the Saintess standing on the podium shouted, it felt as if lightning had struck. Those angels who had seemed so holy were actually demons? That suspicion began to spread like wildfire through the minds of the public.
"Thus, I led the royal guard and initiated a retreat! Of course, the angel bastards pursued me... and as a result, every single member of the guard was killed!"
Tears streamed down the Saintess's eyes.
"The angels' goal is to kill me. They intend to frame me as a witch, seize control of the Goddess Church, and then nurture their power to fulfill their ambition of dominating the human world! They are not angels—they are demons!"
The people were horrified by the ensuing roar.
"Ohhh...!"
"Th-that can't be!"
"Demons in angel's clothing!"
The beautiful Saintess standing up there was pouring out her rage and sorrow. Her appeal was tugging at their hearts. Yet, doubt remained. Was what the Saintess said truly the truth?
"Of course, it is hard to believe right now. That those angels are actually demons. But the nuns who died in the Goddess Church thought the same. So, I shall show you the proof!"
Proof!
At the word "proof," the people gathered in the square trembled. Were the angels truly demons?
"The angels here will prove it! Come forth! Angels!"
At the same time.
—Twinkle!
Beautiful angels with brilliantly shining rings above their heads and pure white wings emerged from the carriage and ascended the podium.
"They're real angels...!"
"The ones we saw before!"
"No way!"
One of the angels who climbed onto the podium revealed her name. She was an angel called Liliel. All eyes were fixed on Liliel.
Liliel opened her mouth.
"Everything the Saintess says is true!"
—Gasp!
—Hup!
—Uh...!
The territory residents collectively held their breath.
"The Great Heaven. The name of the group of angels currently occupying the Goddess Church is the Great Heaven. The Great Heaven is... a very radical and violent bunch that invaded the human realm to rule over humanity!"
A shocking truth.
"Dominate humanity!"
"Angels are ruling over humans...?"
Angels had descended to rule over humans. In truth, for most people, it didn't matter much. They were already living under the rule of lords or kings.
"The Great Heaven treats humans like livestock! They think of us as slaves who will serve them forever! If the Great Heaven reigns, humans will starve even more than they do now! Literally, everyone will be reduced to slaves...!"
Everyone gathered in the square covered their mouths as they heard the shocking story.
—Gasp!
It was such a shocking fact that they couldn't properly process it. Saintess aside, an angel was saying it directly. The probability of it being a lie was extremely low.
"We were originally angels dispatched to hunt the Saintess of the Goddess Church! If the Saintess exists, the Goddess Church could be revived and fight back against the angels! That is why the Great Heaven tried to frame the Saintess as a witch and kill her!"
—Kyaaaaaaaah!
Someone let out a scream. It was a truly horrific thing. What was the Goddess Church, after all? It was a faith so universal that most people believed in the Goddess.
"But we five angels here! We know that is wrong! That is why we have come forward today! To reveal the truth! And that is why we have joined forces with the Saintess!"
Liliel finished speaking.
The Saintess stepped forward again.
"Right now... the Baron is severely injured while trying to help me. I say this to everyone present here. Everyone! Be wary of the angels! Liliel here realized the wickedness of the angels and defected, but the other angels only see humans as slaves! Everyone, please lend your strength to this Saintess!"
—Waaaaaaaah!
—Ohhhhhh!
—Kyaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The heat was boiling over.
The speech by the charismatic Saintess and the angel had that much persuasive power.
Demons in angel's clothing were pretending to be angels, trying to dominate the human world and turn humans into slaves. Most of the humans gathered in the square now remembered that fact.
Rumors were already rife that angels and nobles were waging war in the central regions. Such facts added credibility to the Saintess's words.
—Vwooom!
And just then.
"Gasp! It's baby angels!"
"Baby angels...? B-babies?"
"They don't look like babies to me?"
Small, cute angels flew up and shouted.
"Everyone! Lend us your strength!"
"Angels shouldn't rule over humans!"
"They're the bad guys!"
Small angels wearing white clothes and golden ornaments. It was only natural that people would feel like helping when those angels were appealing for help with pure voices.
They just didn't know how to help.
"Hahahaha! Well done! Truly well done! The Saintess, Liliel, and Serineu—everyone did well! Wow! How could it be this perfect!"
The Saintess's speech had concluded perfectly!
Most of the people who had gathered in the square were expressing their anger toward the angels and showing sympathy for the Goddess Church. The fact that nuns had been slaughtered en masse was deeply shocking, and the fact that the angels had come to turn humans into slaves had sparked terror.
Terror and rage.
Those two intense emotions had been stimulated. The Saintess had drawn out those emotions while exuding her charisma.
"Hehehe, do you know now what a Saintess is? If you can't even give a speech like this, you can't be a Saintess of the Goddess Church."
"Of course! It was truly cool! Wow!"
If a Saintess who exudes such a beautiful and overwhelming aura brings a real angel and makes an appeal, and you don't fall for it, then you're a modern human.
"Then, as a reward..."
"Yes! Come to my bedroom tonight!"
At those words, the Saintess smiled brightly.
I need to give them a reward.
"No! Wait! Didn't I play a part too!"
"What! I worked hard too, but you're only praising the Saintess!"
Liliel and Serineu were clamoring as well.
"I want to sleep with you too!"
"M-me too...!"
What is this.
"Alright, alright. Of course, I should give you a reward worthy of that. Don't worry."
"Yahoo!"
Anyway.
With this, the Saintess's faction had secured the justification for occupying the Baron's castle. Therefore, from now on, we would be able to work naturally with the humans in this barony.
"And furthermore."
The fact that the Saintess, who calls for the overthrow of the angels, has settled in this barony will spread far and wide.
People who hear that news will naturally flock here. In other words, talented people will come pouring in.
Not only the nuns of the Goddess Church from various regions, but also the noble daughters the Saintess mentioned before. I just need to pick and choose to my heart's content and place them under my command.
"'He who dominates women dominates the world,' huh."
There is potential.
"Hey! Don't just sit there grinning, hurry up and make a manual!"
As I was painting such a rosy future, Reika, whose dark circles had descended to her chin, shouted at me. That pretty nun had become exhausted from overwork, and the area under her eyes had turned pitch black.
I can't slack off when my subordinate is working that hard.
"Ah, yes... I should."
But since it will take a few months for the talented people to arrive.
I'll have to do everything until then, right?
Uwaaaaaaaah!
Handing over duties and creating manuals. Dealing with document formats. Since I worked like a dog, everything was somewhat on track. I thought I was going to suffocate to death, seriously. I'm not a Demon King; I'm a low-level civil servant.
Anyway.
I found all the assets the Baron had stockpiled, and with that, I focused on extending existing contracts and maintaining the castle normally.
For reference, the nun Liza took on the role of supply officer. From signing food purchase contracts at the guild to quality inspection, she would be in charge of it all.
And I've already selected cooks from among the goblin recruits and taught them how to prepare food.
"Demon King. The convent has requested an audience."
Ruby took charge of external activities. Until new talent arrives, Ruby will play the role of communicating with the humans outside.
But what?
"An audience from the convent?"
"Yes. It's a person named Mother Superior Angelica. She says she really wants to speak with the Saintess."
"Angelica, huh."
She was definitely the Mother Superior of the convent where Reika, Irene, and Liza had been. I was planning to call her soon and defile her, but she requested an audience first?
"Isn't that a good opportunity? Bring her inside and then defile her."
"I should. To think talent is already rolling in."
I'll just meet her, talk a bit, then put her to sleep and drag her to the training room.
"W-wait! You Demon King!"
At that moment, Irene shouted.
"Yes?"
"You shameless person, really! Are you really planning to stretch your filthy and lewd hands even to Mother Superior Angelica and the other nuns!"
Isn't it about time you got used to it?
"While coaxing innocent women who know nothing, you'll be having squelch-squelch rape sex all night long, turning them into pussy-slaves and forcing them to submit as your subordinates...!"
"Irene... don't you know everything by now?"
"I can't give up Mother Superior! The sight of her being raped...!"
"Then I will double your workload, Irene."
"Whaaaaat?! What is that?!"
"The nuns need to join our Demon King's castle so we can distribute the administrative work, don't they? If fewer people come in, the burden increases by that much."
It is a truly natural thing.
"That's too much! Such a threat!"
"It can't be helped. Still, Irene. You've enjoyed it since you came under me."
"Only my pussy enjoyed it! Everything else!"
"Everything else what?"
"Huh?"
Irene made a momentarily doubtful expression.
"Ah. Now that I think about it, everything other than sex was also good."
"Then please condone it. Anyway, even if it was forced at first, you'll enjoy it all after a little while."
"Ugh...!"
Eventually, Irene surrendered.
"Fine. Ruby. I will permit the nuns' visit. Tell them to come all together tomorrow morning."
"Yes. I will."
If all these nuns join, won't our administrators' workload drop significantly?