Chapter 4: The Guild Leader of the City-State -3
The City-State Alliance is a wealthy nation.
Naturally, the rulers of that alliance could live quite luxurious and comfortable lives.
The chairs they sat on were top-of-the-line, and even the teacups were of a high grade adorned with gold decorations... but...
But Valeria, the guild leader herself, gripped her teacup with trembling hands, as if this seat was anything but comfortable.
She was the only woman who could sit at the center of a place where the flags of the City-State Alliance and the Martial Guild flew.
Her skin, naturally tanned and accentuated by muscle, revealed the beauty of a woman's physique without hiding much.
Even through that skin, her trembling could be felt.
But now, her face wore an odd expression.
Trying to suppress her trembling, she forced the corners of her mouth up, but the result looked strange.
The guild members watching her trembled with fear, but for a different reason.
"What should we do? She seems really pissed off.""Her temper was already bad, but what if it gets even worse?"
"I can hear everything!"
As if she couldn't take it anymore, she kicked her desk and stood up.
And the outburst of the woman known as a delinquent began.
"And they said this tea would calm me down!"
"It's not calming me down at all!"
She'd drunk a whole barrel of that tea, yet it hadn't calmed her down one bit.
"You scammed me, didn't you? You damn merchant bastard!?"
The target of her rage was a guild member.
But that guild member hadn't scammed her, nor was he a merchant.
"Please calm down. Who's coming to arrest you?"
"And if they do?"
"Then you'll have to handle it yourself, Guild Leader."
"What...?"
At those words, Valeria looked at the guild members like an abandoned dog.
She felt a deep sense of betrayal.
"No, you're the strongest in the guild, aren't you? Who's stronger than you?"
The delinquent-like woman looked pitifully, and the guild members were at a loss.
The person who always responded to jokes with insults was clearly very tense.
"Ah, right."
Smack!
She slapped her own cheeks with both hands.
She hit so hard that red handprints appeared on both cheeks.
"I'm the Guild Leader.""I can't lose to that stupid Orc."
Let's have some confidence.
"Guild Leader?"
"What?"
"The diplomats from the Demon Realm would like to meet you, Guild Leader."
And that resolve crumbled in an instant.
"...Now?"
"Yes."
People's minds really do change so easily.
"No, so where are we going from here?"
"Gornakh has to decide. Who else would you leave it to?"
Most of those who came from the Demon Realm were still recovering, but the leaders were busy.
It's a pretty ideal organization, but...
"Why does this have to happen when I'm the leader?"
"The Guild Leader is entering."
"Oh, finally we get to see her!"
I'm the one in a bind, but I can't understand what the Succubus finds so amusing.
Maybe I need to consider that the Succubus is a race specialized not in seducing others, but in making them eat shit—
Creak.
"She's coming in."
A cloak?
A woman emerged wearing a cloak that covered her entire body, even though it wasn't a particularly cold winter.
"Ah, it's Valeria."
But her distinctive short hair and copper-toned skin were still rare.
"Is she angry?"
She wore a twisted expression that was hard to read.
The woman known as the Guild Leader had entered, but the conversation didn't progress.
No, from the moment she entered, everyone just stared at her without saying a word.
"I guess I have to take the lead here."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Gornakh, the leader of this delegation."
"I-I am Valeria, the Guild Leader. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Gornakh."
Although ranks weren't established yet, ultimately a diplomat was lower than a nation's leader.
They were in a different position from the past.
The strange atmosphere was very awkward for both Gornakh and Valeria.
-I'm sure you're really happy to see each other, since you've met before?
At the Succubus's words, everyone put a hand to their head.
She was a headache mage who gave everyone a headache with a single word.
"No, you're saying that out loud?""Is she crazy?"
Both sides had the same reaction.
Everyone was just thinking it, but she said it out loud...
"Thinking about it, you should call him Master, not Lord Gornakh—"
Thud.
It was the sound from the desk.
More precisely, it was the sound of the desk and the Succubus's head colliding.
Gornakh couldn't take the Succubus's nonsense anymore, so he grabbed her head and slammed it into the desk.
He tried to control his strength, but the Succubus, who had kissed the desk with her forehead, passed out on the spot.
"Wow, that was brutal..."
Long sofas were arranged facing each other, with opposing camps staring at one another.
Behind those sofas, many demons and humans looked at each other with awkward expressions.
It was a secret, but everyone knew that Valeria had once been part of the 'Flower Garden' created by the Orc named Gornakh.
No one here was unaware, but it was still a secret.
The Succubus had brought up that extremely sensitive topic right during the initial greetings.
I wish I could knock out the words I said like I did with that Succubus.
"Ahem..."
The current mayor of the city cleared his throat to break the uncomfortable silence.
Only then did the others seem to come to their senses and try to say something.
They opened their mouths, but seemed unsure what to say, just gaping.
"At this rate, we won't get anything done."
Gornakh chose a method.
"Let's have the parties involved talk a bit first—"
"Let's not do this. How about just you and the Guild Leader talk alone—"
No!
The Guild Leader crushed the proposal with a voice so loud it was like someone on the verge of a seizure.
Whoa.
Absolutely not!
This is awkward.
I didn't know she'd dislike it that much... I knew she might, but not that she'd outright refuse.
"No, you're the Guild Leader!"
Gornakh cleared his throat, begging her to think rationally.
"He's trying to take me away?"
The Succubus definitely said it.
To call him Master.
"No...! I'm the Guild Leader here!"
And the Orc who slammed the Succubus's head into the desk for carelessly leaking the plan.
To Valeria, the act of trying to clean up the situation looked even more suspicious.
"He... he's definitely here to take me away!"
Valeria trembled invisibly, feeling fear and anxiety rather than reason.
She hadn't faced him yet, but her body, trained for a long time, already knew its place.
And then came the proposal—
"Let's not do this. How about we talk alone—"
No!
The moment they were alone, she would disappear from this city.
By the time they found her, she'd already reappear in the Demon Realm, half-naked and wearing a collar.
Absolutely not!
This can't end like this.
"How did I overcome it!""How did I overcome it after being freed!"
The fact that she was in that Orc's Flower Garden and her trained body.
She had barely overcome it after liberation through painstaking effort.
She had gone through periods of repeating grueling training to forget the Orc's body that sometimes came to mind.
With the physical skills honed that way, Valeria had defeated the previous Guild Leader and taken the position.
Of course, no matter how hard she tried, the past of being thoroughly ravaged didn't disappear.
In fact, living a life of denying pleasure now, those moments were both a great pleasure and a brand for her.
"Ah, I don't think today will work. Let's do it next time."
Trying to calm her startled heart as much as possible, she postponed the matter.
"Well, let's do that."
Gornakh judged that expecting a productive conversation in this mess was difficult.
"Then I'll take my leave. I need to treat this unconscious Succubus."
He slung the Succubus over one shoulder like luggage.
Seeing that, Valeria recalled the past.
"Ah, that... ♡""He used to carry me off like that every time I tried to escape."
She shook her head.
She drove away the crazy thoughts in her head.
"What are you doing? Let's pack up and go quickly."
-Ah, yes.
As expected, that Orc wasn't just an ordinary grunt.
After the war, his achievements were recognized, making him worthy to be the delegation's representative.
She lost because the opponent was strong.
She didn't lose to just some stupid Orc.
"Then, we've prepared rooms for our superiors, so please rest there for a while."
"Yes, thank you."
And now she could hear their true intentions.
With the Orc and the demons gone.
Valeria hadn't just been trembling without preparation.
"You've prepared everything, right?""Of course."
Alright, let's hear those demons' true intentions.
She wasn't that defeated woman from the past.
Now, she was the leader driving the City-State Alliance.
She wasn't a sow panting for pleasure.
She wasn't a defeated female who couldn't forget that Orc.
...Probably.