#085 Brainwashing
#085 Brainwashing
At that moment.
In the darkness, a demon in a black suit appeared inside a cave teeming with Narag Venomous Insect eggs.
The demon was dressed in a tuxedo like a groom at a wedding, and on the ring finger of his left hand he wore two rings.
A bridegroom on the verge of marriage.
That was the only way to see him, but he was not yet a married man.
The demon Zepar.
The leader of Acedia and the one who had summoned the Demon King Belphegor back to the surface.
The man who ceaselessly coveted Belphegor's chastity had now arrived at a small cave in the County of Odron.
"There certainly are a lot."
SPLURT.
The Narag Beetle larvae, tearing through their eggs and crawling out one by one, began searching for food the moment they emerged.
Cannibalizing their own kind only happened when there was no other food around.
Naturally, with food right in front of them now, there was no reason for them to devour one another.
SKREEEAAH.
The larvae rushed at Zepar all at once, and Zepar lightly swung his staff to subdue them.
WHOOOOOSH.
A dark violet sigil was engraved upon the larvae's foreheads.
The sigil, shaped like a dragon's wings, made the larvae writhe for a moment as though suffering a headache, but as the sigil's light soon faded, their behavior grew docile.
"Brainwashing them one by one is a bother. Tch, this sort of thing is perfect to leave to that goblin-like creature."
An existence whose name he had even forgotten.
To the goblin, Zepar was an irreplaceable existence, but from the perspective of Acedia and Zepar, a mere goblin was a consumable that could be replaced at any time.
It was the same now.
The swarm of Narag Venomous Insects that the goblin had barely managed to dominate over several days became Zepar's loyal subordinates the instant he gestured once.
Kirik, kirik.
However, perhaps because they were still larvae, they could hardly move properly.
To become adults they would need to pass through a pupal stage, but Zepar could not scatter the entrails of livestock like the goblin to provide food for the larvae's emergence.
He was too busy, and it was too much trouble.
"This is awkward. At this rate, won't the Magitech Golem I went to the trouble of handing over become garbage?"
Zepar lamented as he swung his staff.
"And I cannot simply turn this countless swarm of insects into garbage. In that case, let us use them not as garbage, but as suicide soldiers."
Zepar cackled and raised his staff high.
"Come on. 'Beelzebub.'"
The violet mist flowing from his staff formed a sigil, and Zepar smiled faintly as he looked at it.
"Now, Beelzebub. With your power, evolve those insects once more."
SCREEECH.
The sigil began to thrash like mad.
It was still only a sigil, but the mist-like sigil began to shake violently and struggle.
CLANG!
Rather, something like a sharp chain-sickle flowing from the sigil threatened Zepar.
Zepar extended his staff and lightly blocked the chain-sickle.
"Now, now. Insolent beyond measure. A mere fake Demon King dares to ignore my command, Zepar's?"
Zepar growled toward the sigil that seemed to resist, and continued.
"Obey my command. [Baal-Zebub]."
"!!"
The sigil's trembling stopped.
As if the one who had resisted so violently had been struck by paralysis, the sigil made no movement at all.
"Yes. That's it. It is already unpleasant that you are lumped together with that person as one of the Seven Demon Kings, and yet you dare resist me, your summoner. Heh heh, an impossible thing."
As Zepar swung his staff horizontally, the mist flowing from the sigil began to seep toward the Narag Venomous Insects inside the cave.
"Transform. Into the servants of Baal-Zebub."
SKREEECH!!
"Diptera. I strip from you the process of emergence. You shall immediately become servants of Baal-Zebub, and enjoy the glory of becoming Diptera."
SKREEECH!!
The venomous insects began to change form one by one.
The original small insects, and the insects that had lost their wings and gained steel-like skin, all began to take on a similar shape.
A human shape.
But their appearance was like fly-monsters newly born from the Narag Venomous Insects as their base.
Yes.
They wore armor like steel, and looked like knights, but their appearance and the wings on their backs were like those of flies.
Beelzebub's elite soldiers of the Legion of Gluttony.
[Diptera].
The strength of each soldier created through the sigil was comparable to a knight.
Among the Diptera rising one by one, Zepar searched for an insect that still maintained the form of a Narag Venomous Insect.
"Oh ho. There's a queen bee here. No, since it's a Narag Venomous Insect, should I call it a queen venomous insect? Heh heh."
Zepar approached the largest insect and extended his staff.
"Become female, Beelzebub."
The sigil that seeped into the queen venomous insect's forehead began to glow violet, and soon the queen venomous insect's eyes also began to glow violet.
SKREE, SKREEE...!!
"Where do you think you're resisting, Baal-Zebub. I know your True Name, so how can you resist one who knows your True Name?"
SKREEECH...!!
Baal-Zebub—Beelzebub—clutched his head and writhed in agony.
"My command is absolute. As long as the True Name Contract is established, you are nothing but my slave. If a slave does not obey its master's command, only pain remains."
SKREEEAAH!!
"You will obediently lead the Narag Venomous Insects and attack the Heroes again. At the very least, if you do not kill the Water Hero and seize that Holy Sword, that 'Demon God,' you will spend your whole life as a queen venomous insect, being mated by males until you die."
SKREE, SKREEEE...!!
The more violently the sigil flashed, the rougher Beelzebub's resistance became.
Zepar merely laughed as he watched Beelzebub.
"This is an order. Become female. Become the queen of the legion."
In any case.
No Demonfolk could resist a True Name Contract.
Zepar himself knew that better than anyone, so even against a monster that had been ranked as Demon King-class in the Demon Realm, he was confident.
"The targets are the Water Hero Liliez Caesar Cross. And the Crimson Mage Bel, who dares to use the same name as the Demon King."
FLAP.
"And all the humans of this land who betrayed the Great Demon King."
As Zepar swept his cloak and swung his staff wide, the newly transformed Narag Venomous Insects spread their wings toward the ceiling.
Wings as thin as paper, yet like steel.
"Go, Beelzebub. Go and defeat the Hero, and recover the Water Holy Sword, the Water Demon God Celsius."
BZZZZ.
"Only by recovering all of the Demon God Summoning Devices, the Holy Swords, which the Great Demon King Belphegor had gathered and which were stolen by humans, can we create a true era of the Demonfolk."
Zepar had seen it.
The power of a Demon God.
Although the Demon God he had seen wasn't Celsius, the sheer power displayed by a Demon God would have been impossible for anyone to overcome.
"The one who subdues a Demon God is the true Demon King. The strongest Demonfolk in history, who even profanes the Demon Gods, Belphegor. Ah, where are you? My Demon King. If you would grant me power, if you would hand over the Demon Gods to me..."
Zepar reached toward the sky with an ecstatic face.
"I shall shatter those wicked worlds."
Between Zepar's fingers hung the red moon and the blue moon.
"For you."
****
"A fly, all of a sudden."
FWOOSH.
I burned the loudly buzzing fly with fire, then came up from the basement and summoned a woman.
"Hello, Black Lotus?"
"......."
Risk factor A.
I had decided to invite Black Lotus, a woman notorious for her intense obsession, for a private audience.
"I know about you. Droniel Odron. Lucius's childhood friend and the daughter of Count Odron."
"!!"
"Calm down. I'm on your side."
"What do you..."
Droniel tried to draw her sword first, but I calmed her and pointed below.
"You like Lucius, don't you?"
"......."
"If you don't answer, I can't help you."
"It's not that I like him. I love him."
Droniel ground her teeth and answered me emphatically.
"He's my first love. Since before Lucius fell for you and followed you, I've liked him and loved him for ten years."
"Pfft, Lucius fell for me? You're seriously mistaken. Lucius hasn't fallen for me. He respects me as his mentor."
"...What?"
"I'm just the person who made him a Hero. I only teach him a great many things as a Hero. And..."
Deploying the finishing move.
"I'm a person over 500 years old, so would a fresh young Lucius like an old fossil like me? As a rule, the younger a woman is, even by a single year, the better. In a few years I'll rot and crumble away, while you, by comparison, have a long road ahead of you and are fresh and young. Who has more appeal?"
"...What are you..."
"I'm going to die soon."
"!!"
It was true.
Whether I recovered my body or not, after I tore off Zepar's head, I would say goodbye to this body forever.
"I only need to bring down Acedia, and I'm barely maintaining this body until Acedia falls. Before everything inside rots and crumbles away."
It was still fresh, but I hadn't lied.
"You know Lucius well. Since you're from the same village, there must be things you share with Lucius. But if your obsession makes Lucius feel burdened, I can't put you in Lucius's party."
"That's..."
"Lucius isn't a man you can monopolize."
Just like me.
"You have to compromise. Lucius is a Hero, and from now on, truly many women will fill the space around Lucius. So where is the position you should aim for? It's..."
I took hold of Droniel's hand.
"The main wife."
"......!!"
"An existence superior to all other women. No matter what woman Lucius brings in, the one who is always with Lucius. When everyone in the world thinks of Lucius's partner, you will be the first one they think of."
"...Huu."
Droniel removed her mask.
She had become far more refined and beautiful than when I had last seen her, but her face seemed full of anxiety.
"...Does Lucius hate me?"
"Because you try to restrain Lucius. Lucius is a man like the wind. The wind cannot be held captive carelessly. But."
I patted Droniel's shoulder and whispered quietly so that it could not be heard from below.
"...No matter how much like the wind he is, once a child is on the way, a man develops something called a sense of responsibility."
"!!"
"I'll help you. Make a contract with me and become a member of the Hero Party. Just ignore other women hovering around Lucius. In any case..."
Rustle.
I extended my index finger toward Droniel's lower abdomen.
"After we defeat the Demon King, I'll make Lucius obsessed with you for the rest of his life."