CH 474

“–To be honest, there’s not much I can tell you about the Lord Founder.”

“Hoh.”

“Wai, stop!? Put that dangerous thing away!? …… It’s true that demons are more powerful than humans, as you say. But it’s not always easy to manifest in the world.”

“What about the fact that you’re out here now?”

When Basleigh-sensei regretfully puts away her golden mallet and Retzel asks with a straight face, Lilith looks at me and opens her mouth.

“Lars, right? I was able to take on this form because I fulfilled the condition to become established in this world, which is to have my true demon name discovered by someone ‘other than the Founder’, that’s it.”

“What is your relationship to the Founder Apollos?”

“–“

“What?”

“You couldn’t hear me, right? I can’t talk anything about him at all. These are the terms of the contract.”

Reiss gave her a quizzical look, but neither I nor Basleigh-sensei could hear it, and when I looked at Retzel, he just shrugged and shook his head. She also said something that caught my attention, so I asked her about it.

“What do you mean by ‘contract’?”

“Just what it is literally. Any more than that — is impossible.”

“Well, there’s not much result as I had hoped. I would have liked to have known who you were.”

“…… No, there’s still a way. Lilith, can you answer my question with a simple movement of your neck?”

“……?”

Lilith tilted her head, but I quickly moved on to my question.

“Can Regal find out what the deal is?”

She shakes her head horizontally.

“Is the Founder a human?”

She shakes her head vertically.

“Are you really a demon?”

She shakes her head vertically.

“Are there any demons besides the Ten Chief Priests?”

She shakes her head vertically.

“Lars-kun, how?”

Instead of answering Basleigh-sensei’s question, I ask her one last question.

“Founder Apollos is a reincarnator, is he not?”

She shakes her head vertically.

“……!?”

Lilith is surprised by her own behavior.

“It seems that the only restriction is ‘word’.”

“What do you mean?”

I turned my back on Lilith and decided to talk to Basleigh-sensei and the others.

“This guy said that her relationship with the Founder was a ‘contract’. If that’s the case, then there’s a possibility that the Ten Chief Priests …… the demons didn’t come to this world by choice.”

“That’s true. But Lilith felt that she had made a “contract” that she should not tell about the Founder, right? So why is it that we can affirm this?”

“Retzel, someone as twisted as you probably understand, right? There are many kinds of contracts, right? For example, in my case, it was the wholesale price of the costume, and that I would not sell it elsewhere. This was a hunch and a gamble, but I think it’s because she didn’t sign the contract in detail.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Hmm ……?”

Reese chuckles and mutters, and Retzel nods. 

With Basleigh-sensei and Irumi, who still doesn’t understand, is trying to figure it out, Lilith claps and walks toward me, opening her mouth.

“Heh, you’re excellent, Lars.”

“If I know you’re a demon, I can do this much. You probably have a contract that says you can’t tell us who he is, but that doesn’t mean you can’t answer questions, right? In order to keep her from realizing this, she “answered” Reiss’ questions, but could not speak. But you can do that because nodding is not ‘talking’.”

This is the path that all modern societies on Earth must take to ensure that so-called contracts are read properly. He was from another world, and since demons are so concerned with contracts, I thought he might have left a loophole.

“Yes, that’s right. We signed a contract with the Founder that was partly worded in a way that made it hard to tell.”

“Why did you do something like that?”

“Well, the Founder is going to die someday, isn’t he? He’s just a human being, after all. It was necessary for me to think about what would happen afterwards, so that I could live freely in this world one day. Well, Asmodeus, for example, seems to be trying to tame humans and absorb their fears.”

Some of the demons are not happy that they were called here. But since there is a contract and not much to do, they are tweaking it to make it easier for themselves later on.

“Haah …… So we need to defeat Apollos more and more …… if we defeat him, can the demons disappear from this world?”

“Yes, for the time being, I guess. Isshishi …… I need to find out where God is, so please don’t kill him right away, okay?”

“God, huh.”

When Retzel murmured with interest, Lilith opened her mouth in a cumbersome manner.

“Ahh, I don’t know that one seriously, so I’m going to have to pass on that.”

“Well, it seems that Apollos did something before you came over here, so that can’t be helped …… Regal says.”

“Speak for yourself. So, Lilith, will you not do anything until we’ve defeated Apollos? We also Sephiro …… the Tree of Sephiroth over here. I think that’s better than dying, don’t you?”

“Fufu, okay. In any case, Lars, since I drank your blood, we have a stronger connection than Apollos contract, you know? I’m willing to help you if you’re willing to come with me.”

“Stronger connection ……?”

I felt a chill run down my spine, and when I asked Lilith, she gave me a charming smile.

“Yes, you’ve heard of blood contracts, right? It’s like that. It’s a direct intake …… and I was dying too, so I couldn’t resist. You can do whatever you want with me. What do you think?”

“Makina will kill me, so I’ll pass. So you can’t disobey me, and you’ll cooperate?”

“That’s boring. Yeah, I can’t get into this body anymore anyway, and if I go back to the Founder, he’s going to give me another boring job, so I’d rather stay with you guys.”

“…… Okay. Then I’ll be your watcher.”

“That would be good. I’ll stay with you, so that won’t be a problem.”

When Basleigh-sensei gave me a thumbs-up and a wink, Himmel-san, who had been silent for a long time, opened his mouth.

“Is that what you’re after, Basleigh-chan? Well, if the demon Regal is possessing you after hearing what you just said, it’s more important than the minister’s job, so I’ll advise His Majesty. Are you sure you want those three to take over?”

“I’m glad you understood so quickly, Himmel-niichan …… My goal is to destroy the descent Gospel’s Descent. I’m not so interested in the minister’s position.”

And so, Basleigh-sensei took off her robe, the symbol of the minister, and threw it to Himmel-san, and when he was sure that he had received it, he put on his back the person who had been Aiatsubus, and said.

“In the meantime, after taking Rosa to the infirmary, we will go to the house. What about you guys, Retzel-san?”

“Hmm, I think we’ll follow Lars-kun. Since you’re not staying at the Dragon’s Nest, you’re going somewhere after this, right?”

“Yes, to the Orpha Country with Urka.”

“I guess I would accompany you there.”

“You’re kidding ……”

So, with the addition of Lilith, one of the ten chief priests, we left the prison to depart.

“I’ll have to do something about Lilith’s outfit.”

“What? What’s wrong with it, you get to see this nice body, you know”

“You look just like a little pervert wearing nothing but a bra and pants.”

“Y-You little ……!”

When I went outside, Reiss lunged at Lilith, and Lilith snorted and got angry. In the midst of all this, I said something that I remembered.

“Oh, yeah, I heard Dad and Mom went to Basleigh-sensei’s place, but I wonder what it was about?”

“Well, they came. They said they were worried about Lars-kun, so Regal told them about the time before you were born in this world.”

“What!? Did you tell them!?”

“Yes.”

The blood drained from my body as I looked at Basleigh-sensei who said it so smoothly.

“…… I can’t go home anymore ……”

I fell to my knees.

Ahh, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to write an afterword ……!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

Finally, next week I’ll be starting a new story on the peep website!

“It’s up to you to decide …… whether or not it will become a series ……!”

Stop it!?