# 046 Heavenly Demon God's Oracle
# 046 Heavenly Demon God's Oracle
"Allow me to introduce myself first. I am Heavenly Demon Saintess Leticia. I turned twenty this year."
"Twenty?"
Sharia's voice rose for a moment.
Come to think of it, I didn't think I'd ever been told how old Sharia was...
"Ria, what's wrong?"
"Ah, no. I see...I was just...hm...."
I knew roughly through mana.
She was probably twenty-one.
One year older than Leticia, and she seemed flustered that a woman younger than herself was a Saintess.
"Pleased to meet you. I am—"
"I am aware that the name Oned Bourbon Jirfangfar III is not your real name. I've familiarized myself with most of the high-ranking demon bloodlines in the Land of Darkness."
As I thought.
I'd given an alias, so I figured someone would see through it.
From the start, anyone who heard my name would assume I was either a vampire hiding his name or someone disguised as a vampire.
"You're remarkably composed, considering you've caught on that I'm fake."
"It's not as though you came here with ill intent, and people like you are common in the Land of Darkness. And since your reason for entering was clear, there were no particular grounds to deem you a destabilizing element to be eliminated from the tournament."
"Reason for entering?"
"...Isn't it to give Miss Ria live-combat training?"
"Correct."
Leticia had precisely discerned Sharia's reason for entering.
"Ria's actual combat experience is sorely lacking. That's why she entered this tournament—to gain real experience."
"I thought as much. And her tournament attire was meant to draw the enemy's eyes, wasn't it?"
"That was my hobby."
For an instant, Leticia's expression twisted.
It seemed the topic of anything sexual didn't sit well with her.
"That was a joke. As you said, the aim was to draw the enemy's eyes. Ria's body draws their gazes by its mere existence, after all."
"......"
Leticia swept her eyes over Sharia's body.
Hidden by the robe, Sharia's presence was still far more than what showed on the surface.
I held her in my arms every single day, so I knew Sharia's figure better than anyone.
Of course, Leticia had an excellent figure as well.
Her breasts were nicely ample—if you cupped them, they'd fill your hand—but while Sharia's asset was her chest, Leticia's was her hips, to the point you could call them outstanding.
How had I seen them, you ask?
Earlier, while confronting those enemies.
When comparing the Replication Mage with the real one, the fake's ass hadn't been appealing—slightly sagging, it had a distinctly artificial look.
'That's why they were planning to use her as bait for the Rape Dragon.'
If she really was a virgin,
she was unmistakably the Rape Dragon's target.
If Sharia weren't here, I'd have felt like leaving Sharia to self-study swordsmanship in my lair, then flying here immediately to abduct Leticia.
'But I'm too old to pull that kind of crap anymore.'
Not because I was afraid of the Heavenly Demon Saintess.
I've simply grown tired of abducting virgin princesses or carrying off beauties to my lair.
'It's nothing but a headache.'
They whine, they cry and scream, some do nothing but try to escape, they won't eat—and then when you actually try to starve them to death, only then do they start chewing on bread while glaring at you.
In the past, I used to just pound away mindlessly, but ever since I took a high elf as my wife, the idea of abducting or carrying someone off no longer appealed to me.
So the rumor that the Rape Dragon was currently drooling over virgins and trying to abduct them was a baseless fabrication.
"Heavenly Demon Saintess."
"Please, call me Leticia."
"...May I use your name?"
"A name carries more sincerity."
It almost sounded like a dig implying my side lacked sincerity, but I couldn't have cared less.
I wasn't going to reveal my real name anyway, and even if I did, it wouldn't have much effect.
"Very well, Miss Leticia. What was that commotion earlier about?"
"They were trying to use me—the Heavenly Demon Saintess—as a sacrifice to offer to the Rape Dragon, because I'm a virgin."
A simpler, cleaner reason than I'd expected.
Before the name Rape Dragon, a title like Heavenly Demon Saintess held no weight. The only thing the Rape Dragon needed was a pure virgin.
"...The argument arose that if the Rape Dragon appeared, one of the Saintesses ought to step forward naturally—and I, being the only...virgin among the Saintesses, was the one who ended up doing so."
"A Saintess as a sacrifice?"
"Yes. In practice, the Demon Saintesses in the Land of Darkness are the equivalent of the individuals in charge, representing each religious order."
"I'd heard that, in the Church of the Heavenly Demon God, the Demon Saintesses are practically the queens of their respective nations...."
"Ria."
I lightly motioned to Sharia with a warning glance.
She'd blurted that out in her fluster without realizing it, but saying something like that was as good as advertising that she was an outsider from beyond the Land of Darkness.
"...What exactly is the nature of your relationship? Servant? Master and servant? Forgive my rudeness, but is it as the rumors circulating say?"
"That Ria's a slave and I'm her master? That's not wrong."
Because a disciple was a master's slave.
"Ria is my slave and disciple, whom I brought from the eastern continent. She's ignorant of many things, so please understand."
"I see. Returning to the subject—most demons and believers, for that matter, want someone to become a sacrificial lamb for the Rape Dragon. Naturally, they feel it should be one of the Demon Saintesses."
"In other words, enjoy the privileges of a Demon Saintess, so bear the responsibility."
"Exactly."
From long ago, sacrifices to the Rape Dragon had tended to be something like the daughter of some esteemed figure or a kingdom's princess—and right now, in the Church of the Heavenly Demon God, the Demon Saintesses fit that mold perfectly.
"I get the picture. The other Demon Saintesses are pressuring you to become the sacrificial lamb, and you're refusing."
"I'm not refusing."
Oh-ho?
"If it proves necessary as Heavenly Demon Saintess...I should step forward. It will require mental preparation, and for now I'd have to be as cautious as possible so I don't easily get violated, but...."
"Then why did those people pull a stunt like that?"
"They're trying to use me and shove me at the Rape Dragon immediately, without giving me time to mentally prepare."
"Hm...."
She certainly was a temptation.
If they had tied Leticia to some high mountaintop and the Land of Darkness announced, Come take this woman, I'd have undoubtedly carried her off to my lair without a second thought.
"You intend to step forward as the sacrifice once you're mentally prepared?"
"...I don't know. However."
Leticia fixed me with a clear, decisive gaze.
"The Heavenly Demon God said: when the moment comes that you are threatened, trust and follow the one who helps you, and your fears will be resolved."
"...That, is it perhaps—?"
"Yes. I am not telling you this lightly. The trustworthy being spoken of by the Heavenly Demon God is surely you."
Leticia straightened her posture properly and bowed her head to me.
"Oned Bourbon Jirfangfar III. I do not know your true name, but may I make one request?"
"If it's something I can do."
"Um...this may be an extremely rude question, but."
The corners of Leticia's eyes trembled faintly.
"...By any chance, are you stronger than the Rape Dragon?"
"Stronger than the Rape Dragon, you ask... To be precise, are you asking whether I—the entity 'Oned Bourbon Jirfangfar III' who uses a strange alias—am stronger than the Rape Dragon 'Rapepral Secma Narviskai'?"
"...Yes."
"Why?"
I genuinely didn't understand.
"What exactly have I shown that makes you choose me?"
"The Heavenly Demon God told me to entrust my body to you."
"...The Heavenly Demon God did?"
"Yes. The Heavenly Demon God said so."
Leticia pointed at me and continued.
"When the one with hair as dark as jet-black saves you, entrust everything to him, and all your troubles will be resolved. As the Heavenly Demon Saintess, I wish to follow the Heavenly Demon God's will."
"......"
It seemed to me
that the Heavenly Demon God had noticed my visit to the Land of Darkness and issued an oracle telling me, more or less, to take the hint and leave.
A way of saying: I'll hand over Leticia, so please, just don't cause any trouble and disappear.
He couldn't show up in person and say it without losing face, so he'd spoken through Leticia as a proxy.
"Therefore, if...."
As though she were about to say something truly important, Leticia lowered her voice and murmured.
"When this Festival of the Sword Demon God concludes, if you intend to depart from this place, please take me with you."
"And your position as Heavenly Demon Saintess?"
"The position will be vacant, so someone else will come to occupy it. My becoming a sacrifice to the Rape Dragon is something the Demon Saintesses decided. The Heavenly Demon God has entrusted me to you, so I have no choice but to entrust my body to you."
"What will you do if I happen to be the Rape Dragon?"
Not only Leticia, but even Sharia flinched, startled.
Sharia seemed not to have expected me to reveal my identity, and Leticia appeared terrified now that she'd heard the very being she feared might be standing right in front of her.
"Hm? Tell me. This is the Heavenly Demon God's oracle, but are you saying you'll recklessly entrust yourself to me regardless of who I am?"
"...I am certain that you are not the Rape Dragon, at the very least."
"Why?"
"Well...."
Leticia pointed at herself, her voice utterly matter-of-fact.
"Because if you were the Rape Dragon, you would have violated me the instant you saw me."
"......"
"Unmatched in villainy—violating anyone and everyone without fear of the world, an evil dragon who even defiled the Heavenly Demon God and violated a priest inside the Heavenly Demon God's temple in ages past. Isn't he rumored to have placed the Twin Moon Goddesses on either side of himself and taken both goddesses' virginities?"
Something.
Sharia's gaze was starting to grow noticeably sharper.
"The tale of him running to the Vampire Queen the moment he saw her, prying her legs apart, and forcibly ramming his cock into her is still legend in the Land of Darkness. The utterly heinous so-called 'first-sight rape,' which made the Vampire Queen shed virgin blood, is...."
"Enough."
My stomach hurt.
Just what the hell had my past self been going around doing....
"That still leaves me in an awkward position. What makes you so sure I won't covet your flesh? Weren't you trying to entrust your body to me in order to avoid the Rape Dragon?"
"...I...."
Leticia's face flushed slightly as she looked directly at me.
"As long as it's not...forced violation...."
"So, anything but rape is fine?"
"...Not that everything is fine, but—how shall I put it? Naturally, I'd have various conditions to weigh, but...."
Leticia looked me up and down, then took a deep breath and declared,
"As long as it's not rape, it's fine."
"......"
No matter how I thought about it, the Heavenly Demon God really was telling me, "Don't cause trouble, just take her and go quietly."
"If you were really the Rape Dragon, back when you saved me, you would have said: 'I didn't come to save you; I was clearing out the nuisances so I could violate you.' Therefore, you are not the Rape Dragon."
"......"
My very existence had been denied.
To prove that I was myself, I would have to commit rape.
"As long as it's not something forced...."
"All right. If the Rape Dragon appears, I'll surely kill him for you."
For Leticia's sake.
"No matter who comes in this world, I'll protect you so that no one dares violate you."