Kidnapping the Saintess (3)
Silvia's expression hardened as she reached out toward Is Extrang, who had lost his mind.
"Marquis Extrang. Interfering with someone's mind requires a great deal of concentration on my part."
"Does that mean you'd like me to step aside?"
"Yes. This is for the sake of your... um... son from House Extrang, so I ask for your understanding."
"Tch. You're not saying this out of resentment because I just lied to His Holiness the Pope about finding the Saintess this morning, are you?"
"No. I don't make deals when it comes to patients."
"...Very well. I'll trust the Saintess."
After Marquis Extrang, who had been eyeing Silvia suspiciously, finally left the room completely.
*Look around*
"Demon King! Come on out!"
Silvia, glancing around, trotted over to me with quick steps. The fact that she hadn't called me by my alias, Luster, suggested something serious was up. Well, not that I thought it was serious for that reason—it was just that her face was so grim.
"Demon King. You know magic, right?"
"Magic?"
"I read in books that demons are good at magic. So you must be amazing at it too, right, Demon King?"
"Uh... yeah, that's true."
Magic uses the mana abundant in the air. One type of it, dark mana, is called demonic mana. Demons use that dark mana to strengthen their sturdy bodies even further or cast powerful spells. That's the story for ordinary demons, though.
I'm the Demon King, so I'm no ordinary demon. Lai taught me how to handle mana, but I can't really cast proper spells.
"Treating mental issues is safer with mind-type magic than divine power. Can't you help me out a little?"
"No, I want to help, but..."
I do want to help. Not for Is Extrang's sake, of course, but because if we can't treat him, Silvia will be in a tough spot. That's the reason.
"I figured... Even if we've gotten a little closer, I'm still the Saintess and you're the Demon King. We'll have to fight each other someday..."
"No, that's not it!"
"Our Demon King is so strong, he doesn't bother with petty magic like that. Right, Demon King?"
"Wh-who are you?"
Our heads whipped toward the voice coming from the corner window of the audience chamber. Silvia jumped at the unfamiliar voice, while I was thrilled that exactly the person I needed had shown up. Different reasons, but she was a specialist in mind magic all the same.
"Alicia!"
"Oh my. When the Demon King welcomes me like this, my lower belly starts tingling, hng♡!"
"Tingling?"
"Silvia. Just ignore about half of what she says."
Alicia pouted as she sidled up to me and stared openly at Silvia.
"Alicia. Surprised?"
She must've been shocked that the Saintess was just a little kid. I hadn't expected the Saintess to be this young either, so I'd been surprised too. Though I was even more shocked because it was Silvia.
"Hng♡. Even little kids... The Demon King really is a sinful man."
"Me? Suddenly? What sin did I commit?"
"Oh, you know. Though it seems even the person involved hasn't realized it. Anyway, little Saintess? I overheard from outside—you need mind magic, right?"
"Yeth! Could you pothibly help?"
"I'm a demon, you know. You okay with that? Can you trust me?"
"Race doesn't matter. I trutht you becauthe you're friendth with the Demon King. No one clothe to him could be bad."
She didn't show outright hostility just because I was a demon. What an open-minded kid. Maybe that's the qualification needed to be the vessel for the Saintess.
"But I have a condition."
"A condition? What ith it?"
"Alicia. Don't make that your condition."
"Aw, Demon King. I'm not trying to get something for nothing. I'm just thinking of helping you out."
She wanted to convince Silvia and have her leave the temple of her own will to join us, not force her with conditions.
"Little Saintess. Will you listen seriously to what our Demon King has to say? That's my condition."
I'd worried she might demand we follow her or something, but no. Though had Alicia been hanging around Lai so much lately that she'd caught her idiocy?
"Huh? That's your condition?"
"Yeah. You said you trust the Demon King, but you're still the Saintess and he's the Demon King, right? What he has to say is pretty heavy. You might get suspicious."
"Doubt ith for thothe you don't trutht. I trutht the Demon King, tho no doubt. And..."
Silvia tilted her head and said to Alicia,
"I wath going to litheth theriouthly from the thtart, even without a condition."
"Uh, eh? Then why'd the conversation drag on like this? I came looking for you because I thought you were having trouble, Demon King?"
"Alicia."
"Yes?"
"We haven't even started talking yet. Stop hanging around Lai. You're starting to act like an idiot."
I gave the dazed-looking Alicia a rough summary of the situation.
-Except for the part where I said follow me or die.
It had been a slip in the heat of the moment, but it was clearly a major reason Silvia had refused me. Trust or no trust, who wouldn't rebel against a threat like that?
"So humans barged in right as you were about to get serious?"
"Yeah. And they won't leave until that guy's treated. Meaning, to talk with Silvia, we have to treat him first."
"I didn't know and thought you were in trouble, Demon King... I came for nothing. Ugh, embarrassing."
"No, it's good you came, Alicia. No one on the continent handles mind magic better than you. You're exactly who I need right now. Right?"
"D-Demon King♡ When you say it like that, I, Alicia, will do anything—ahn♡ hng♡"
I quietly covered Silvia's ears. Protecting an innocent child's purity is an adult's duty. And I didn't want it either.
"Ith that lady mating with the Demon King?"
"Wh-what?"
"I heard Swap Guy thay that to the Peria thithterth before. 'I'll give you what you want, tho leth do ○○.' I didn't know what ○○ meant, tho I looked in a book and it thaid mating... Mmph!"
"Silvia. That's not it. Kids shouldn't say things like that. Promise not to until you're grown up. Okay?"
Silvia, her mouth covered by my hand, nodded vigorously.
Fine for Silvia, but what the hell was up with that Pope? He didn't just beat young Silvia—he was doing stuff like that with nuns too. Rotten to the core.
"Alicia. Hurry and fix that guy's mind. You know it's from extreme terror. Can you do it?"
"Leave it to me. Toying with the minds of filthy humans like him is our specialty, right?"
Alicia slowly approached Is Extrang, who was drooling vacantly. Even in his broken state, his cheeks were flushed—without even using her charm, intervening in his mind would be easy for her.
"Silvia. Let's pick up where we left off."
While Alicia handled Is Extrang, I explained to Silvia what I'd heard from Lai. Mentioning the goddess Lai Teresa might make things easier, but it could also make her think I was trying to mislead her, so I deliberately left Lai out.
"A forgotten god? If I die... the world ends? Every time I use divine power, I'm dying?"
"I know it sounds ridiculous. But it's reliable info, so trust me on it."
"Ith it really reliable?"
"Well..."
The claim that the Saintess's death would end the world came from Lai. Since it was from the goddess Lai Teresa herself, it was trustworthy—but I couldn't say it definitively. What if Lai was mistaken? What if it was just a goddess's unfounded worry? That's what made me hesitate.
Silvia closed her eyes as if pondering my hesitation, then opened them and spoke in a trembling voice.
"Demon King. I... I can't leave this place."
"It's not like you have any attachment to the temple. Why?"
The Pope saw Silvia purely as a money-maker, and if he did, the rest of the temple likely didn't respect her either. And the nobles? The Marquis might not represent them all, but if the Pope—the Emperor himself—stepped in personally, he was a core power in the Emperor's faction. We could infer from how he'd toyed with Silvia by lying that even he treated the Saintess lightly. In such a situation, I doubted Silvia had any lingering feelings for the temple, let alone the Empire.
"There are people who believe in me and care for me. As long as they don't abandon me, I can't abandon them."
Her trembling voice carried the weight of her inner conflict.
"Since you risked coming to the temple to tell me, it's probably close to the truth."
"Yeah. No, not close—it's the truth..."
"More than something close to the truth, I want to choose the people who trust me completely."
Silvia let out a deep breath and continued.
"Above all, if I disappear from here, Luster will be the prime suspect."
"You're the only one who knows I'm the Demon King. No one will suspect me."
"I said Luster, not Demon King."
Silvia gave a faint smile, one carrying regret, sadness, and resignation beyond her years.
"The Saintess who refused all audiences met just one person. The Saintess who never skipped an audience for two years straight... showed this irregular behavior. The Empire will suspect Luster first."
"Even if it's unusual, suspicion is just suspicion."
"Gaia is an empire. If they trace Luster's movements, they'll realize Luster is the Demon King. Then suspicion turns to certainty."
As Silvia said, the Empire was the Empire for a reason. Even if the Pope was utterly corrupt, it was still called the Holy Empire. They'd sniff out demonic energy like bloodhounds.
"If word spreads that the Demon King took the Saintess, the continent might plunge back into war with the demons. For the powerless, that would be worse than apocalypse. I think so, at least."
Silvia bowed her head to me.
"Thank you for the offer, but I'll stay at the temple and find a way somehow."