The Truth Game
"In a forest without a tiger, the fox is king"?
To Elisa's ears, that saying was utterly wrong. If the tiger disappeared, its place would naturally fall to other apex predators—bears, wolves, and the like.
And Elisa, who had spent half her life in the forest, considered herself one of those wolves or bears.
A worthless little bitch like her, daring to touch what belongs to an elf?
There's a human proverb: what is human belongs to humans; what is elven belongs to elves.
The two races differ in what they possess and what they desire. So don't go scratching up trouble—live by yielding to each other.
And yet this mage was brazenly coveting something that belonged to an elf, one of the so-called Sages of the Forest. How despicable could she be?
It wasn't like this in the old days…
In Elisa's parents' generation—mere hundreds of years ago—humans had admired elves.
Their beauty, their centuries of accumulated wisdom—no human could hope to imitate either. They'd been praised as distant kin of the gods, hadn't they?
But after the demonkin invaded, that custom had all but vanished.
Damn Demon Kings.
The monsters had attacked not only humans but the elves living in the forests as well, felling the trees they lived in to claim the land as their own territory.
With their own survival hanging by a thread, the elves had finally been forced to ally with the "lesser races" they'd so looked down on. It completely transformed the mysterious image of a people who had lived hidden among the trees.
To humans, it felt like a pretty, clever girlfriend who, the moment she became a wife, turned into someone else entirely.
All that elegant dignity vanished without a trace, leaving only arrogant pointed-ears scrambling for their own advantage.
Irritating…. Humans who can't even live a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of my lifespan…
The jealous elf ground her teeth. Camilla, who hadn't missed the sound, turned to look at her and let out a snicker—deliberately, for all to see.
"Valli, want to play a fun game?"
"No."
"…Oh, come on. I'm bored."
"I'm not bored."
After inevitably earning himself a knuckle-rap from Camilla, Valli agreed to join her supposedly fun game.
"Ever heard of the Mana Oath Game? It's famous among mages…. Apparently even regular people play it a lot these days?"
"Uh…. I think I know what that is."
Given the nature of their abilities, mages found it extremely easy to deceive people. After all, disguising something worthless as expensive gold was a simple matter.
That was why mages swore upon their mana. Break the promise, and your blood reversed course and stopped your heart.
"I'm not a mage, though. I can't do a mana oath."
Even if he could, it would have been meaningless. Vallitics was a Demon King through whom demonic energy flowed, not mana.
"We're just pretending. Just pretending! We're not actually casting it."
"This already sounds boring…."
"Hmm."
Not wanting a second knuckle-rap, Valli shut his mouth. That woman's fist was stronger than expected. It really hurt like hell….
"Great! So you agree, right? Let's start."
What was she planning? Elisa watched her companion's antics in a daze for a moment.
"The game's simple. Raise one hand and say, 'From this moment, I swear to the Goddess that I shall speak only the truth….' That's it. Go on."
"From this moment, I swear to the Goddess that I shall speak only the truth…?"
The Goddess—wasn't that the madwoman who despised Vallitics and his entire kind? Would swearing to her even do anything?
"Perfect! From now on, while the game is running, we'll take turns asking questions one at a time. When you get a question, you have to answer with the truth."
"Couldn't someone just lie, though?"
"That part we leave to people's consciences."
Conscience? Of all the words least suited to a Demon King.
And from Vallitics's perspective, this woman wasn't particularly conscientious either. Wasn't she the wicked wench who'd jumped him with one excuse after another? A woman raised with a wall between herself and morality.
"I'll go first, then. Valli, is there anything you're hiding from us?"
There was. He was one of the seventy-two evils, and he'd infiltrated them to take their heads.
Of course, lacking both the guts and the reason to say that, Valli smiled faintly and answered.
"No. There couldn't be anything like that."
"Really? Hmm…. I feel like there is, though. Don't you think so, Elisa?"
"Who knows. Valli can't lie. Look at his face—he's a total airhead. How could a face like that deceive anyone?"
Elisa muttered bluntly. She thoroughly disliked this situation. And the fact that she couldn't use force for fear of waking Sloan only made it worse.
"Is it my turn, then? Camilla. Do you have any experience with men?"
"None."
She answered the moment the words left his mouth, and Valli was slightly surprised.
And this is the bitch who groped a guy's ass after barely meeting him? She's completely insane.
The words didn't sound like a lie…. Realizing the woman sitting before him was a mental case beyond all common sense, Valli shrank further into himself.
"My turn again? Valli, are you a virgin?"
"No."
"Hmmmmm…. So you really did have sex with Elisa."
Could you even call that sex? Suddenly, rage surged up in Valli. The humiliating treatment he'd endured over the past few weeks came flooding back.
"Camilla, why do you travel with Sloan?"
"Sloan fought the Tower Master and took me with her. Mmm. The moment she saw me, she declared she'd make me her companion. Don't know why. She brought Lylie and Elisa the same way."
The Hero chose her companions on impulse. That set her apart from previous Heroes. Unlike those who carefully selected people who met their standards to challenge the Demon Kings, Sloan had built her party purely out of interest.
And astonishingly, every companion she'd chosen that way was an outstanding genius.
"My turn again! This time, let's try a more special question…. Do you want to be Sloan's lover?"
"No. Not at all."
The answer came almost instantly. Honestly, that gorilla wasn't even human. The mere idea of becoming her lover was terrifying enough that he didn't want to imagine it….
"Camilla, what are you planning to do with me?"
"I don't know what you mean. Want to rephrase the question?"
"Didn't you start this game so you could pull some weird stunt on me? What are you going to do going forward?"
"Ah—! That? Yeah. I'm going to pull some weird stunts on you."
Should I kill her.
Elisa genuinely wanted to kill Camilla for daring to lay hands on what was hers. If Sloan hadn't been there, she really would have drawn her bow.
"Then my question!"
Camilla grinned with that vacant, heh expression. For a moment, that stupid look lowered Valli's guard.
"Are you dating Elisa?"
"…."
"You have to answer, right? You've been doing fine so far. Hmm?"
He was fucked. Literally no way out.
If he said "yes" here, Elisa would take it as legal license to put her hands on him. She'd have no problem with even filthier acts.
And if he said "no"? Thorough retribution would follow. Starting with Elisa's fists and ending with Camilla's sexual assault.
The former was still better—but Valli didn't want to be molested by either of them.
"Valliii? Why can't you answer? Don't tell me that means Elisa lied to all of us?"
"He's just embarrassed. If I answer for him—yes. That's right."
"Elisa, I didn't ask you. If you want to play the game, wait for next time."
These goddamn bitches! What the hell was this? Valli fretted, glancing back and forth between them.
"Answer. You're not dating Elisa, right? Of course not. If you really were, you would've said so already. Just like before."
"I…."
In that moment, Vallitics realized his mistake.
If he'd just said yes, maybe only Elisa would torment him. But this—this was neither yes nor no, just a vague non-answer, wasn't it?
"Hic."
"See, Valli really can't lie. You're right. You're right, Elisa. When Valli lies, it shows right on his face, doesn't it? So cute."
Camilla said it with complete confidence, smiling. Really brightly…. So brightly that vacant face of hers lit up.
"So what? It doesn't change the fact that Valli and I are going to get married. And you know perfectly well you have no business inserting yourself into that."
"Do I?"
"You're going to take him by force? As if Sloan would just let that slide. Hmm? Go ahead and kill me, then get your neck ripped off by that gorilla's hands."
Camilla's smile faded as she stared at her. What emotion was in those purple eyes? Hatred?
Valli knew that didn't matter.
"Elisa. Thanks to Sloan, I've gotten incredibly strong. Do you understand what I'm saying? Strong enough that stuffing useless junk into my subspace doesn't burden me at all."
"Wait, you…."
"It won't hurt. Probably? You're an elf, so you should be able to get out in about thirty minutes. See you later!"
Ziiing! Suddenly, space split open and sucked Elisa in. Even for an elf with excellent reflexes, it was far too fast for her to react.
"Well then, Valli."
What shall we play from now on.
Camilla didn't finish the rest. The new game was going to be rather rough.