Chapter 879: Meeting the Six Kings' Executives - Ten Demons II ③

After visiting Phenix-san and taking a day off the next day, I'm finally going to visit Tiamat-san, the last of the Ten Demons.

As she was one of the two most problematic among the Ten Demons, along with Phenix-san, I was very anxious about meeting her.

With Pandora-san's guidance, we arrived at a deep forest in a corner of the Demon Realm. It wasn't a bright and beautiful forest like Lillywood-san's forest in Rigforeshia, but a dim and somewhat frightening forest.

The topography of the forest made it difficult to get much sunlight, and the leaves on the trees were mostly dark in color, making it look like a forest at night, even though it was supposed to be daytime right now.

[How should I say this…… This forest has quite the unique atmosphere, doesn't it?]

[This forest is called the Dark Forest because it's a place where many dangerous monsters live. This place was quite vast, but almost no Demons live here.]

[I- I see……]

[Well, no matter how unintelligent those beasts may be, no one would be foolish enough to disrespectfully interrupt Miyama-sama's advance, so there should be no problem.]

Rather than them interrupting my advance, I think it's probably more like they're frightened by the magic power of Pandora-san, the strongest Count-rank. In fact, for a place where so many monsters live, this forest was very quiet.

As we continued walking through the dim forest like that…… I faintly heard what sounded like a song. It didn't seem to have any lyrics, a song just made up with 「la～」, but it was quite beautiful and well sung.

Even though the singer still isn't visible, her voice seems to resonate over a wide area…… It seems like the voice of the person singing seemed to have a ridiculous volume.

[……This voice, could it be?]

[Yes, it's Tiamat. This song comes from the Lamia race, and Tiamat often sings it in remembrance of her deceased kindred.]

[Deceased……]

[The Lamia race was annihilated years ago, leaving Tiamat alone.]

[I see…… I guess she's a kindred spirit for you huh?]

She dedicates a song passed down through her race to her own people, who are already annihilated aside from her…… she seems to be kinder than I thought.

[No, she's just a psycho.]

[Eh?]

[The extinction of the Lamia race was brought about by "Tiamat herself back when she was young".]

[……Errr, was this that? Like, she can't control her own power……]

[No, it was just for her own desire. Well, it seems that she regrets the fact that she was too young to know better, and that she let her instincts lead to her race's extinction. After she learned common sense under the guidance of Shalltear-sama, she was able to control herself, so she got better to some extent…… but there's no need to feel sorry for her, as she's just trying to satisfy her own obsession.]

……I still haven't met her yet, but I already feel like she has quite the character…… She annihilated her own race back when she was a child? From what I've heard, it sounds like the cruelty of an inconsiderate, innocent child was the cause……

Feeling a little uneasy, we continued on our way and arrived in an area with no trees. There was a large open space with a large number of grave markers…… and in the center of the open space, I saw a huge being.

Black hair with a slight blue tint that was long and curly, two huge horns reminiscent of buffalo horns, a humanoid upper body and a snake-like lower body…… and on her upper body, only one tube top dress that only covers her chest.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw her was that she was huge. She looked about approximately six meters, but her total length, including her snake-like lower body, was probably even longer.

If it's just the size, I've seen bigger people than her like Megiddo-san and Magnawell-san, but when she's this big with such a human-like appearance, even if it's just the upper half of her body, she had quite the distinctive presence.

As we stepped into open space, the being that seems to be Tiamat-san stopped singing and slowly turned towards us. Eyes with no highlights and long, snake-like pupils look at us.

[……Welcome, it's a good day today, isn't it? No matter how they take place, new encounters are always delightful events. However, as sorrow doesn't disappear from the world, I guess it could be said that new encounters may also be the beginning of a new sorrow.]

The moment I heard her say that, with a sound like something slithering on the ground, Tiamat-san instantly appeared right in front of us.

Thereupon, as her gaze was turned towards me, a long and thin tongue split up in two on the end…… snake-like tongue traced her lips, and she broadly smiled.

[Nice to meet you, our master recognized by Shalltear-sama, Miyama Kaito-sama…… I hold the lowest seat among the Phantasmal King's executive subordinates, the Ten Demons. My codename is Tiamat, and my real name is "Medea Leviatash". I'm pleased to make your acquaintance.]

[I'm Miyama Kaito. I'm also in your care. Errr, with what name should I call you……]

Although I felt like she somehow had an ominous atmosphere, I returned her greeting.

[You can call me by my real name, Medea. I have a feeling I'm going to get along very well with you. Yes, I feel like this was the most amazing thing that ever happened in my entire life……]

[……Tiamat. If you're trying to get Miyama involved in "your obsession", I also have ideas of my own.]

[……I'm sorry for the way I phrased that. Considering my usual behavior, I guess it couldn't be helped that you misunderstood. However, don't worry, I'm not a fool who can't control herself that well. Rather, if I tried to do such a thing, I think Shalltear-sama would get rid of me before I could do it.]

I wonder why? The tone of her voice is polite, but there is an inexplicable eeriness to her. With how she's been described as a problem child, I was rather concerned about that obsession that Pandora-san mentioned…… but as expected, how should I say this…… It seemed like she had traits that weren't just mere peculiarities.

<Afterword>

【Tiamat】

A Special Individual Lamia, and the last living member of the Lamia race. If Phenix is called an extreme pervert, she's an "insane pervert".

She may seem like someone who's really sensitive about things, grieving over trivial things, but in reality, she is a pervert who feels pleasure over mental pain, and is quite abnormal even among the Ten Demons.

She is especially fond of "the sorrow of losing someone close to her", and thus, exterminated her own kind out of instinct. She is a serial killer, but after Alice caught her, and disciplined and educated her, she has learned the minimum level of common sense and self-control, so she doesn't attack others indiscriminately now.

However, that doesn't mean that her obsession has disappeared…… In particular, the first thing she does when disposing of someone is to recognize them as "a family member or her lover", and then torture them to death while simulating the sorrow of having to dispose of someone close to her with her own hands, which made her known as "Lamenting Despair".

After the target has been dealt with, she cries out and destroys the surrounding area with ultrasonic waves, so she tends to cause a lot of damage, which pushes her down to the lowest seat of the Ten Demons.

However, although she behaves abnormally due to her warped obsession, she is mild-mannered when things aren't related to her obsession, and if any Demons wandered into the Dark Forest, she would protect them and bring them back to their homes before they're attacked by monsters.

She likes children and donates most of her salary to orphanages around the world, but she does so anonymously and doesn't visit orphanages herself (because when she gets close to them, her obsession would come out and she feels like killing them)

As a side note, at the deepest interior of the Dark Forest is the cave where Rasal lives, and Rasal and Tiamat knows each other (※ Rasal doesn't remember Tiamat's name though, because she's not interested)