Surviving with Killer Face and Sharper Tongue

Chapter 187: Queen's Invitation (2)

One thing I could say for sure about Lilith, who had revealed herself in front of me now, was that she resembled Lily very much.

Before, didn't the priest of the Arhat Temple unintentionally think Lily was Lilith and get surprised?

It couldn't be helped.

If she weren't wearing extremely voluptuous attire that Lily would definitely never wear, which was at the extreme opposite of the ascetic religious habit Lily usually wore (if it was correct to say she was wearing this), and if she weren't openly revealing her horns and tail as if boasting, they resembled each other enough to make one wonder if they were the same person.

Actually, that's saying someone who knows Lily well would feel a difference in those aspects; if someone didn't know Lily well, it wouldn't be strange at all if they just thought the same person simply changed clothes.

In fact, strictly speaking, Lilith looked a bit younger.

Perhaps if I had met Lily a few years earlier, she would have had that impression.

This was due to the setting that succubi do not age (or more precisely, appear that way) from the moment their desires as lust demons begin to manifest in earnest.

So unlike Lily, whose desires manifested after becoming an adult, Lilith, a pure-blooded succubus, remains in the appearance of when they manifested a bit earlier.

But that difference too was something I could recognize because I knew Lily well, and also because I knew about Lilith and the setting to some extent.

As expected, if a stranger saw them, they were the same person no matter where you looked.

Actually, except for the slight incongruity that her face looked just a bit younger, there wasn't a big difference between the two.

“I wonder how she endured until now.”

Perhaps that's why Lilith muttered as if she couldn't understand at all.

“That child resembles me and is extremely charming.”

Glancing down as if scanning herself who had returned to her true form, not Lily.

“You often had direct physical contact with that child, yet you haven't laid a hand on her at all until now? How on earth is that possible?”

Watching her say such words close to narcissism with Lily's face, a chuckle leaked out unintentionally, but it was confidence that was certainly hard to deny.

Because there was plenty of basis.

“Seeing that I can meet you through a dream like this, it's not like you don't have desires themselves.”

Saying this, Lilith suddenly let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.

“No, it's not at the level of not having any. Honestly, even I was surprised. I thought you were some kind of monk, but you were hiding truly immense desires inside, weren't you. I didn't even need to force them out and squeeze in. It was like a playground prepared for me.”

“That is...”

...Not mine.

It's ‘Beginning’s.

It's just that he doesn't have the opportunity (more precisely, the body) to reveal it, but actually, he's a guy who is extremely lecherous.

He's a fellow who always talks about sleeping with someone or whatever before or after a fight.

I don't know why.

Are his hormones overflowing?

Maybe his desires in that direction are also overflowing since he tried to make even a god submit beyond the level of liking to fight all the time.

Anyway, so what Lilith found must definitely be such desires of ‘Beginning’. ......Uh, probably?

Of course, since there were many parts that were... a bit tricky to explain(?) like this to Lilith in many ways, I couldn't say anything in the end.

“What is the secret? How on earth could you not lay a hand on that child at all while hiding such immense desires until now? Even though that child is half, she is unmistakably a succubus. She is an existence that naturally arouses your desires.”

However, I could answer this question sufficiently.

“If you look at her as the same person, it's not that difficult a task.”

When I shrugged my shoulders and answered as if it were obvious, Lilith looked at such me quietly for a while.

“...Hmm.”

Until she opened her mouth again, as if nostalgic.

“Your words are a very awkward concept for us succubi.”

As if it were a phrase she hadn't heard in a very long time.

“People think of succubi merely as convenient tools that can relieve any desire.”

Lilith continued with a wry smile.

“They regard us like prostitutes who don't take money, who would easily give themselves up if cajoled just a little.”

Although it was a very blunt expression that made me frown automatically, it was also a reality that was hard to deny.

“Even for me, called the Queen of the Night, there are overflowing people regardless of race who think they could try it once if they manage it well.”

Above all, when the King of all succubi is saying so herself directly, how could I dare deny those words?

“Even you, despite being in a position where you could use and handle that child with no knowledge as you pleased, did not do so.”

Lilith asked back somewhat persistently.

“Even though you had the incredibly convenient justification of suppressing that child's impulses, and so you could relieve your overflowing desires on that child without receiving any criticism, you didn't. Why on earth?”

“As I told you, it's because she's the same person.”

But no matter what other people think, no matter how the reality is, that didn't matter.

“Just as she is a person, I am also a person. So I couldn't do that.”

It was a simple reason.

Just, because I shouldn't, I didn't.

Whatever others think or whatever.

Whatever the public perception is.

“That is the end. Is any more reason necessary?”

“.......”

Hearing my answer, Lilith fell silent briefly again.

“...It's not necessary.”

This time, showing a satisfied smile, not just simply reminiscing.

Why does she keep asking me these questions?

Naturally, because Lily was her child.

So this was a kind of... meeting the parents.

Of course, it doesn't mean she's treating me as a partner Lily will spend her whole life with or anything like that.

I mean it in the sense of... a place where a parent finds out what kind of person the one staying with their child is.

No other suitable metaphor comes to mind.

Usually, between friends, you don't really arrange a separate meeting like this to find out that person's character, do you?

So there isn't really a word to express such a meeting.

Anyway, it means she arranged a place by separately ‘inviting’ me, the leader, to find out if she can entrust her child, Lily, to our party, although not as a spouse.

If I had shown an unsatisfactory appearance here, she intended to kill me by draining all my vitality── even my life force right away.

She is the Succubus Queen and a Corps Commander of the Demon King's Army.

Since she had already called me into the ‘dream’, she had enough ability to do that.

Just that if I weren't an ‘existence outside the standard’, or more precisely if I didn't harbor such an existence, it means she would have done so.

“...Before, there was a person who said similar things to you.”

But the fact that she started bringing up such words in the end meant that I received a passing grade in that test in my own way.

“There were many partners to whom I simply gave my body for a night, but to that person, I could give even my heart.”

It meant she was giving me a chance instead of killing me here to prevent me from approaching Lily anymore.

“I could give my everything. So I shared true love with that person and bore fruit.”

That is that child.

Lilith said.

A while ago, didn't she say I was the ‘second’ to have seen through the fact that this was a dream she invited me to?

Yes.

‘That person’ she is talking about now was that ‘first’.

The partner Lilith truly loved.

Lily's father.

“But... in the end, it didn't work out well.”

Recalling that person, Lilith showed a very bitter expression.

“I abandoned that child. Whatever reason there was, it is a fact with no room for excuses. I am not even qualified to be called a mother.”

However, no matter how true that is, it doesn't mean she doesn't want to protect that child.

“It absolutely does not mean I don't love that child.”

Lilith said so.

That even if she is not qualified to be called a mother, the fact that she is a mother remains unchanged.

“I know well that it is a contradiction, and that it is meddling by me who has no qualification.”

But that's it.

That it can't be helped.

In fact, although Lily herself doesn't know at all yet, Lilith has ‘protected’ her all this time.

This too was an undeniable fact.

But informing her of this fact was not my role.

Didn't she say I received a chance earlier?

“──Bring that child, to me.”

That meant arranging a formal meeting, not simply in a dream place like this.

“I invite all of you to my castle.”

The chance to meet in reality.

“I will tell you in advance, I dislike ‘humans’.”

Lilith said firmly.

“But if it's a ‘person’ like you, I don't dislike them.”

“I am glad you view me favorably.”

“Not everyone here is like that. Especially, everyone will soon know that you defeated Etian.”

That would be so.

Not just that one of the Demon King's Army Corps Commanders died while ‘active’ beyond the wall, but he was defeated by those who crossed the wall.

This news will spread to the entire Demon King's Army before long.

“They will chase you.”

Would they leave us alone?

As I said before, we are ultimately six.

Our six cannot deal with an ‘army’.

Therefore, we needed a place to hide our bodies safely.

“Before that, first, come to my castle.”

And that place was the very place to hide our bodies.

“Then, I will protect you.”

Lilith's castle.

Our next destination.

“Understood.”

So, there was absolutely no reason to refuse this ‘invitation’.

“Then let us meet again there.”

Unless I was waiting for it, rather.

Like that, since I accepted Lilith's ‘proposal’, there was no longer any reason to remain in this dream.

Actually, even in the game, if you answered the proposal in any way like this, the next sequence was to wake up from the dream as it was.

However, for some reason, I didn't wake up now.

I was still in the dream world.

“...By any chance.”

With Lilith who still wasn't letting me go from here.

“Do you have more business with me?”

When I asked cautiously at that, Lilith giggled.

“Maybe I do.”

It was a... somewhat different appearance from the ‘solemn’ appearance until just now.

“By the way, you possess very dangerous vitality.”

“That is...”

Likewise, it's not mine but ‘Beginning’s.…

This is not probably but definitely.

“I tasted just a very tiny bit, but honestly it was dangerous. It was to the point where I wanted to just drop everything and squeeze it out as it is.”

But then I wouldn't be able to avoid the pursuit of the entire Demon King's Army and come to her castle on time, so she barely held back, Lilith smirked once more.

“...Should I say, thank you?”

“Of course, if you want── the story would be different though.”

Lick, licking her own lips as if smacking them.

“I could show you, a longer dream.”

Or, as if seducing on purpose.

“It doesn't matter whatever you do here. After all, it's just all a one-night dream.”

“...Yes?”

“So that immense desire you've hidden so well all along, you could unleash it all without hesitation.”

Striding one step closer, right in front of me.

“I, can accept it all.”