Chapter 120 : Chapter 120
Chapter 120: Queen of the Night (4)
“That…”
Lily, who had been contemplating my words for a moment, finally opened her mouth slowly.
“That could… be possible.”
It seemed she hadn't accepted it immediately, but she must have found the story persuasive nonetheless.
“The Succubus Queen… is my…”
Of course, the more she thought about the Succubus Queen she had ‘heard’ about.
“……I, don’t really know.”
She shook her head, as if she couldn't imagine it at all.
“The one who gave birth to me, is one of the representatives of… those devils…”
Especially the fact that she, who had been raised as a cleric, was born from a being whom she had been taught time and again never to get close to, among all the devils.
That irony.
“If, that story is really true… how on earth am I supposed to accept it……”
“Do you have to accept it?”
“…Pardon?”
At my words, Lily, who had turned to me, asked back with wide eyes.
“What, does that mean…”
“Whoever gave birth to you, no matter how great a devil's blood you've inherited, you're just you, aren't you?”
Of course, I know that this answer cannot be the solution to the worries Lily has harbored without realizing for a long time.
“At least to me, and to us, Lily, you're just Lily.”
But, at least for now.
It could at least lighten the heavy burden that had been suddenly placed on Lily to some extent.
“An indispensable and precious companion.”
So nothing changes, I said with a gentle smile, as if to reassure her.
“…….”
Lily, who had been watching me with a slightly dazed expression for a while.
“You’re right.”
Finally, answered with a gentle smile of her own.
It was the first smile she had shown since leaving the temple, no, for the first time today.
Right.
Even if I can't give Lily the answer she wants right now, I can at least guide her to where that answer is.
As I've said before, I'm the Champion of the ‘Malevolent Star’, a ‘Star’, aren't I?
Isn't that what ‘stars’ are for?
To be a guide for those who have lost their way.
So my job was to shine like a star by Lily's side, so she could always rely on me.
“And, you’re a nun who pretends not to, but secretly craves my blood.”
“…!”
At my playful joke, Lily, whose face turned beet red, couldn't seem to deny it and quickly turned her head away, slowly bowing it.
Just as I thought she was embarrassed, she soon lightly nudged my arm next to her.
As if it were her own way of protesting.
“…You're mischievous.”
“You just realized?”
I chuckled and deliberately acted more sly.
“So? You're not going to drink today?”
“……I will.”
Whether it was thanks to my sly joke or not, Lily seemed to be in a much better mood than before, but her face still showed a lingering anxiety that she hadn't completely shaken off.
But fortunately, there was one more thing I could do right now.
Therefore, I turned the lute on my back and held it in front of me.
“──Ahem.”
And cleared my throat once.
Then, I glanced back at Lily, who was staring blankly at me, and.
──Twang.
Gently plucked the strings of the lute.
When you're feeling down, there's nothing like a bard's song, right?
Originally, the role of a bard in a party is actually something like this.
In charge of the companions' mental care, you could say.
Because it's essentially a profession for boosting morale.
“Our protector Goddess of the Hearth”
“Waah──”
As soon as I sang the first line, as expected, Lily reacted immediately.
“May your warm embers–”
It couldn't be helped.
This song was a hymn of the Church of Sistina.
It was one of the songs she had requested during our first camp with Lily, but I hadn't known it then and couldn't sing it for her.
Back then, I had promised the disappointed Lily that I would definitely learn it by next time, and now was the perfect time to keep that promise.
Indeed, the song was a great success.
The anxiety that had been hanging over Lily had completely disappeared.
Instead, her face lit up, her eyes sparkled, and before long, she clasped her hands as if in prayer and began to sing along with my song.
“Protect our homes.”
“Protect our homes.”
With the brightest smile I had ever seen on Lily's face.
***
“You're very busy today too, huh?”
Upon returning to our lodgings, the one who greeted(?) me and Lily first was Ibi.
“Does it itch if you go a day without seducing someone, Bard?”
Ibi, who was sitting on a backward chair with her arms resting on the backrest, chewing on beef jerky, immediately clicked her tongue, tch, as soon as she saw me, and as if she had been bored and I was a good target, she began to chew me out as well.
“So yesterday it was earrings, and today, what, did you get matching rings or something?”
“Why? You want one too?”
“Yeah. I do.”
“Huh?”
“Your head.”
“Ouch.”
Ibi, who spat out the end of the beef jerky she had torn off with her teeth, ptooey, threw it and accurately hit me between the eyebrows.
Perhaps the effect of 「Precision Throw」 that she had learned as her level increased had activated.
But since it happened to get caught in my clothes instead of falling to the floor, I just picked it up to clean it and popped it into my mouth.
“──!? Wh-What are you eating that for?!”
At that, with a clatter, Ibi, who had knocked over her chair and shot up, rushed over as if she were stepping on 「Shadow Step」, grabbed both my cheeks with one hand, and shook me violently.
“Spit it out, you crazy bastard!”
“I-I already ate it…”
“Wh-Why on earth would you eat something someone else was eating?!”
“You threw it… don't you know the rule of no take-backs once a card is played?”
“P-Pervert bastard…!”
“So why on earth…?”
Meanwhile, Rine, who was sitting quietly in front of the fireplace, gave a bow as soon as she saw me being harassed by Ibi.
Only these two were visible right now.
“Anyway, where's Miki? Did he go to the mansion again today?”
“…Yeah.”
“What about Toric? Did Toric go out too?”
“He said he had some business with that Kaper guy or something. Isn't it likely he went to reminisce about the old days?”
Ibi, who shoved the remaining beef jerky into her mouth at once as if not to have it taken away(?) this time, then began to glare at me and Lily with narrowed eyes.
“…….”
It was a very suspicious look.
Especially, while looking at Lily who had been smiling contentedly since a while ago.
If you just looked at it up to this point, you could just think, oh, she's in a good mood today, but… as long as her face was shining with a glossy sheen, honestly, even I had to admit she looked suspicious.
There was no way the quick-witted Ibi would miss that.
“…Did you guys suck and lick again?”
“Could you please choose your words more carefully…”
I was bitten on the neck and had my blood sucked, but it's still a bit different, you know.
“They did it, they did it! Wow! Couldn't hold it in again! Amazing, really!”
Before I could even make an excuse, Lily flinched first, making it unnecessary.
“N-No, we didn't…!?”
Still showing her absolute lack of talent for lying today.
“…Didn't your god teach you not to lie?”
“Ugh…!”
As Ibi had noticed, I had given her blood in a back alley for a moment before returning to the lodgings.
“Th-That is… actually, just a tiny, tiny bit…”
And to be honest, I was sucked much more than usual.
To the point where I felt a little dizzy from what seemed to be anemia, and it was a bit hard to retort to Ibi's taunts as quickly as usual.
I thought she would wait until night since her mood had already improved thanks to the ‘chorus’, but after we left the park, she kept sending signals by touching or twirling her side-hair, almost to the point of nagging, even though she didn't say anything.
In the end, I had to find a secluded back alley where no one would see us and give her my blood.
The problem was… even though I had chosen a secluded place like that, perhaps because it was such a crowded city, in the end, we were seen by a passerby.
In a secluded alley, the sight of a cleric, clearly wearing a nun's habit, pushing a half-undressed beauty against a wall and biting their neck was… certainly, a sight that would make one freeze on the spot.
Seeing that passerby, who was horrified with an expression that said they couldn't understand what on earth they were seeing, even I was momentarily flustered.
But I quickly came to my senses, glared at the passerby, and whispered a 「Word Command」 with just my lips.
─ Get lost.
In fact, since I hadn't voiced it, I don't know if the 「Word Command」 actually worked, but anyway, the passerby quickly fled as if running for their life.
Lily, who had been focused on drinking my blood the whole time, fortunately, did not notice that we had been seen.
To be precise, I made it so that she wouldn't notice.
If she had lifted her head as she was about to pull away after drinking a moderate amount as usual, Lily would have definitely noticed.
─ …You can drink more.
─ …!!
So, to prevent that, I gently wrapped my hand around the back of Lily's head as if to press her down.
As a result, as I said earlier, I was sucked to the point of feeling slightly anemic, but.
That was much better than Lily finding out, so I have no regrets.
If she had found out that we had been seen like that by someone else… her mood, which had just gotten better, would have immediately plummeted again.
Anyway, well… that's what happened.
“No… wasn't it just the day before yesterday? I'm sure you gave her blood before we raided the mansion. Is it already not enough?”
Ibi let out a hollow laugh, as if she couldn't believe it.
“Every two days?”
“…….”
This time too, without even giving me a chance to make an excuse, Lily, who had flinched, averted her gaze and began to fidget with her fingers.
“…? What's with that reaction?”
There was no way Ibi would miss that.
Soon, the shocked Ibi's mouth fell open, as if she couldn't believe it.
“Don't tell me… yesterday too…?”
Lily's head, which was avoiding Ibi's gaze, gradually lowered.
“Three days in a row…?”
Conversely, her two hands, which had gradually risen, finally pulled her veil down even further as if to cover her face more.
“……Are you for real?”
Seeing this, Ibi, instead of pressing further, took a step back and showed a somewhat frightened look.
She wrapped her arms around herself, covering her own neck.
“M-My blood is definitely super gross. For real. I drink all the time and sleep late. I eat a lot of unhealthy stuff too.”
“I-I won't drink it…!”
Then, this time, she turned to me, and unlike before when she was glaring at me as if to kill me, she began to look at me with eyes that were genuinely worried.
“You too, you… if you really feel like you're going to die, just say something beforehand…? You just came back from the dead, so if you die again because of this, wouldn't it be a bit… embarrassing?”
“I-I'm not going to kill him…!?”
“No, didn't you say that even a little bit fills you up because of the Demon King's blood or whatever? But is it still not enough? Are you actually the Succubus Queen or what?”
“──?!”
The fact that she had just casually thrown out and guessed something I was planning to tell the companions when they all gathered in the evening, though it was clearly a joke, should I say her [Intuition] is good, or should I say her luck(?) is good….
“…What's with that reaction again?”
“Th-That is, maybe it's really, possible, you know…”
“What is?”
“The Succubus Queen….”
“Did you drink blood and get drunk?”