Meanwhile, the situation in Yubar was similar to that of Orobas.
“What? Contact from the temple? Why?”
Duke Yubar asked, pressing the dark circles under his eyes due to recent fatigue.
The chair he had been sitting on for a long time, studying demon summoning techniques, made a sharp sound that grated on his master’s nerves.
Knowing his master’s weak nature while trying to summon demons, the confidant quickly opened his mouth.
No, he was about to open his mouth.
“Did we get caught? We haven’t even gotten the sacrifice yet? Do you think the temple has some kind of mind-reading technique? Huh?”
If this continued, he would be scolded for managing his subordinates. The confidant hurried to report.
“That’s not it. They say the waiting time has been brought forward.”
Duke Yubar frowned.
“They didn’t notice our movements, did they?”
“It’s not at the point where you can be suspected yet. Didn’t you decide to get the sacrifice for summoning the demon last?”
Before that, there was no reason to be suspicious. Duke Yubar nodded at those words.
His confidant had been longing for the demon since he was very young.
That’s why he became the confidant of the current Duke Yubar, who was the weak youngest son at the time, leaving behind the other solid sons of the previous Duke Yubar, and he was the one who brought him to this position.
He was a loyal servant who followed all the dirty tricks he had planned along the way without hesitation.
“That’s right... But why did you bring up the grand prayer early?”
“I don’t know. It seems that the other two Dukes, including my master, want to confirm quickly that they are not demons.”
Duke Yubar clicked his tongue at those words.
“The Saintess chose Vine, so I don’t know why they’re stirring things up for us. Are they still tripping over something that happened a while ago? Huh?”
Yubar had fought the temple that governed Yubar a while ago.
“I think there is that too. In fact, this kind of contact.”
“What is this, again?”
Duke Yubar, who had casually opened the letter, narrowed his eyes.
[Prove that you are not a demon as soon as possible. I will wait.]
“What else do you want me to prove?”
The temple guys were clearly crazy. How could they send such letters every other day?
“I gave you the silk you asked for last time, and now you are doing this?”
“Yes.”
The confidant said with a troubled face. Duke Yubar clicked his tongue.
“No, if you are not a demon, then you are not. What do you want me to prove? Huh? We haven’t even called them in yet!”
Duke Yubar, who had many thoughts of committing a crime against the temple but was still innocent, was only feeling aggrieved.
If this continued, the temple would surely manipulate Yubar as it pleased.
“That won’t do.”
Duke Yubar had a big dream.
Unlike Gods who can’t even see their noses and mouths, demons do exist in this world.
And they have abilities that far surpass humans!
Right now, they are hiding because they have no chance to properly come out to the human world.
Duke Yubar planned to bring them into the sunlight with his own power.
He planned to destroy the temple that was intoxicated with power, ignore even the dukedom, and stand tall as the first family under the devil’s command.
If he could threaten the royal family in the process, no, if he could establish a devil’s country, it would be even better.
However, if the temple was set up like this, the plan to summon the devil would be ruined.
So first.
“We have to hurry up the plan.”
He had to perform the devil summoning ritual as soon as possible. He got up.
“Prepare the main prayer. You have to pretend to be polite.”
That is until this world falls into the devil’s hands.
He smiled.
It was an eerie smile at first glance.
***
“Then.”
Naberus left after a short greeting.
I told him about the river basin south of Yubar where the demon God was.
They said that if a human touched it with their bare hands, their hands would burn, but the devils would be different.
The devils didn’t know, but I was sure of it.
In the previous life, the demons said they had touched the magic wine with their bare hands.
Furthermore, it was said that the magic wine reacted to those who had desires. There was no way that the demon Naberus and the other demons would not have found it or brought it.
However, the opinions of the demons who could not have known about my previous life were divided.
“Surely Naberus is not wrong?”
“Surely not. He is such a powerful demon.”
“Well... if there was something in the human world that could harm him.”
“And it’s a drink.”
“There’s no guarantee that it’s a real drink, right?”
The demons whispered and tried to guess the Saintess’s thoughts.
Even if the Saintess said she would open the gates of hell, they didn’t believe that she would do anything beneficial to the demons.
However, the demons began to get confused by the Saintess’s subsequent actions.
...Could it really be true? Does she really want to live here?
That would be understandable because she seemed too interested in the demons.
“If you don’t need sleep, does that mean you don’t need rest?”
“Your body may be fine, but... I’m worried about how you’re going to rest mentally.”
The demons who had initially insisted that it was a conspiracy to find out about the enemy were starting to get confused.
What did it matter if the enemy was sleeping or not?
As if that weren’t enough, the Saintess began to memorize their names one by one.
“...Helbas!”
The first to be hit by it was Helbas, who was putting his foot on the window sill to transform.
Since he would be transformed anyway, jumping out of the window from the fifth floor didn’t matter to him, but I must have been terrified.
“Did you have any difficulties?”
“...It’s not that, it’s because my power is a new transformation.”
Helbas answered tremblingly. I nodded.
“I knew that. But I heard that using powers requires concentration.”
“I’m used to it, so it’s okay.”
Helbas was flustered by the unfamiliar feeling.
When he wasn’t used to his transformation ability, there were times when he had to step on the floor and concentrate.
Of course, the demons were busy laughing at him when he accidentally hit his head on the floor back then, and no one was worried.
So this was the first time Helbas had been worried about something like this.
“Then that’s good. Oh, this.”
In addition, the Saintess somehow knew what he liked, so she brought him some sparkling jewels.
“You don’t need to wear a veil anymore after a week. I brought the remaining jewels because I thought Helbas would like them.”
“...!”
Helbas almost let out a new sound, thinking that he had transformed into a bird. Of course, there was no sound coming out of his human vocal cords.
Of course, it was a shout of joy.
“How did you know that I like this...”
“I thought you were looking at the veil carefully at that time.”
She must have been a Saintess with a keen eye, no, a mistress.
Pfft!
Helbas, who had transformed into a bird in an instant, flew up with the jewel pouch she had given him.
Beep!
Then, as a gesture of gratitude, he circled around her once and flew up powerfully.
Helbas wasn’t the only one.
The other servants noticed that I had quickly learned the names of many of my servants.
“Your Highness?”
“Chloe? Can you come here for a moment?”
It was a shock to the servants who were used to being called by terms like “hey” in Naberus or “over there” in Decarabia.
“You remember my name too.”
The demons also circled around, secretly waiting for their mistress to call their names.
The gentle feeling of being respected tickled them. That wasn’t all.
“She’s just a nice human being.”
“She must be a visionary. What kind of human is this, blasphemous?”
“Ah.”
Those who had been suspicious of this new hostess, once they encountered her, quickly developed feelings for her and returned.
As if they were possessed.
It would be normal for them to be offended by Saintess' very existence but from that visionary...
After several days of agonizing, they all came to a similar conclusion.
“...It smells delicious.”
From the visionary.
It was an expression from demons who had never thought that magic could come from a human.
Of course, if Belled had heard it, he would have frowned without realizing it.
Fortunately, Belled was currently in the land of humans. The temple had saved them, absurdly.
***
After Naberus left, I began to learn about the affairs of the Vine in earnest.
“You did all this by yourself?”
“This is just a drop in the bucket. You have more work to do as the Demon Prince.”
Decarabia spoke to her in a gentle voice as she explained Belled's work to me.
She seemed blunt, but I now knew. She was originally a person with a ticking tone. It didn’t seem to be because of ill feelings.
“Is it fortunate that the devil doesn’t need sleep...?”
Or is it unfortunate that he can’t rest? I looked at his desk with a troubled face.
He had said that he had taken care of urgent matters and left for the Great Hall, but there was already a pile of work piling up.
“Belled...”
I looked at the place where he had been until recently and was lost in thought.
“Tell me what you want.”
He had told me to say that every night, but when I was with him, nothing came to mind.
Because it had been rushing into me until my mind went blank. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t want anything if only I had this pure white stimulation.
I wish we could stay together like this.
This amazingly thrilling pleasure seemed to fill the world.
But now, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
“Wish.”
I whispered.
I was anxious, knowing that his absence was only temporary and that my position would be more secure once Naberus returned after getting the magic drink.
What if I were to leave this place?
Originally, I had thought that if this was not a place to stay, I would have to run away somewhere to avoid the eyes of the temple and the demons.
But now, a different thought suddenly came to me.
It would be nice if I could stay here.
No, I wanted to stay here.
As time passed, that became a strong desire that took root inside me.
At first, I had thought, 'I wish I could do that,' but it gradually changed to 'I should do that,' and then to 'How should I do that?'
It was a strong emotional change that I had not felt in the temple where I had been forced to shake off my desires.
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