“That’s a bit cold, don’t you think? Given your servant Kaito Sena’s contract with the Kaiser, I should think it quite prudent to keep me alive to give him advice, as his predecessor. And you understand that, don’t you? You really shouldn’t be so hard on yourself—oh, careful there!”
Assailed by numerous stakes, Vlad bent his body at a strange angle.
Unsurprisingly, his expression soured. Seeing that, Elisabeth scoffed.
“Ha. You’d best brace yourself. The moment your task is through, I shall kill you once more. I shan’t spare you a shred of sympathy.”
“Quite right. I’ll brace myself, then. Alas, this body of mine is somewhat short on methods I can use to flee.”
Vlad shrugged, the apparent sorrow in his words wholly at odds with his general demeanor. However, seemingly reluctant to get stabbed again, he lightly snapped his fingers and vanished. All that remained of him were a few azure flower petals.
After stomping on them, Elisabeth clicked her tongue.
“Tch, what a revolting man.”
“I mean, that’s just how it is. Vlad will be Vlad, after all.”
“And you. Speaking as if this is someone else’s problem!”
Elisabeth grabbed onto the knot of Kaito’s hair, then yanked. Screaming, Kaito frantically tried to resist.
“Owwww! Cut it out, Elisabeth; you’re gonna pull it out! The pain is one thing, but I don’t wanna go bald!”
“Just shut up and go bald! Bald, I say! All this came about because you had to go and act on your own! Forming a contract with the Kaiser… Surely you are this world’s greatest imbecile!”
“No, seriously, you’re gonna pull it out! Stop, stop, stop!”
“Worry not! Even if I pull it out, it shall grow back!”
“Wait, is there even a spell that can regrow hair? Owwwwwww!”
“Aye, there is! You can’t set the color, however!”
“Wait a minute; I don’t want blond highlights!”
“Better that than torture, I’d wager! I shall say it again. The acts you have committed are folly, crimes worthy of an inquisition. Rough treatment is the least you should prepare yourself for! Hmph…that said, perhaps it is best to leave it at that. After all, now is hardly the time for me to be tormenting you.”
Perhaps her mood had finally lifted, because she released him. With teary eyes, Kaito inspected the state of his hair. As he did, Elisabeth turned her crimson gaze toward the mass of flesh invading the capital. Kaito followed her lead.
“…Man, that’s messed up.”
“Mm, that it is.”
Even then, the three fused demons were still carving deep scars in the town and its people.
In a complete reversal from her demeanor a moment ago, Elisabeth spoke in a strained voice.
“Demons draw their power from the pain of others. Let us make haste, Kaito. The longer we leave that annoying thing be, the more pain it shall accumulate and the more power it shall gain. Bothersome as it is, we need to join forces with the paladins.”
“Yeah, I’m with you. No time to waste.”
Kaito gave a brief nod. However, he bit down on his lip, as though hesitating over something.
After a beat, he spoke in a hoarse voice and reaffirmed their situation.
“This’ll be…our final demon subjugation.”
The mass of flesh sitting before them was the last three of the fourteen demons.
Thinking ahead to what awaited them afterward, Kaito clenched his fists.
After executing all the demons, the Torture Princess, too, would be going to the stake.
Elisabeth Le Fanu had finally begun making her way up the steps to the gallows.
The main road branched off in a complex pattern, but most of its paths led to the main square, named for an apostle who was said to have faithfully served the Saint to the end. At the moment, the square was being used as a temporary shelter.
From behind Elisabeth, Kaito looked out over the plaza.
The place was likely loved by the people, and on holidays, it would probably have been no surprise to see the place bustling with food carts and street performers. At present, though, no vestiges remained of its usual, tranquil self.
The square was surrounded by an elegant iron fence modeled after vines, with paladins lined up within. In addition to the gate being firmly shut, they were serving as a thick human wall. Their silver armor sparkled, emblazoned with white-lily coats of arms, as they worked to maintain the magical barrier covering the square.
Looking over their stiff faces, Kaito spoke in a tense voice.
“…Hey, are we really going to be able to just stroll on in?”
“Mm, I see your point. We are the Torture Princess and the Kaiser’s contractor, after all. While I have my doubts as to how well we’ll be received, I see no better options.”
With that, Elisabeth shrugged. Their minds made up, the two of them headed for the plaza.
The gate rattled open before them. Several corps members rushed out from within. Facing the mass of flesh, the resolute paladins ran down the main road where no small number of underlings lay in wait for them.
The square was likely being used as a base from which the corps engaging in rescue operations for the residents who’d been unable to escape would enter the danger zone. Even so, Kaito thought back to the scene that had just unfolded before them.
If we hadn’t been there, even more people would have been swallowed up… Given the situation, it’s hard to say if their rescue operations will even make it in time.
It was clear that the paladins needed help. Newly motivated, Kaito turned back toward the square. As he did, Elisabeth called out to one of the paladins guarding the entrance.
“I’m Elisabeth Le Fanu. The Church requested my aid, and here I am.”
“And I’m her servant, Kaito Sena. Nice to meet you.” Shaking off his tension, Kaito introduced himself.
However, the only response they received was a cold stare.
Several seconds passed. One of the paladins dashed back toward the rear of the square, possibly having received a message. The rest, though, remained as silent and unmoving as bronze statues, the tips of their swords pressed against the cobbled street.
“Um, we, uh, we came to help.”
Kaito spoke once more. Still, no answer. There were several people inside, but all they displayed was open malice. Kaito couldn’t think of a good reason for them to be receiving the cold shoulder.
Kaito frowned, then quietly whispered to Elisabeth.
“You know, I wasn’t exactly expecting the red-carpet treatment, but still, this is brutal.”
“Don’t be unreasonable. This, too, is within expectations.”
“Wait, seriously? Damn, I never took you for the understanding type.”
“This is my just deserts. At the Plain of Skewers, I faced five hundred members of the Knight Corps and slew them, annihilated them, and exterminated them. While these paladins here are from higher in the organization, no doubt many of them had acquaintances among the victims. Their rigorous training and discipline are likely the sole reason I’m not at sword’s point at the moment.”
Elisabeth replied at the same volume. Kaito nodded with newfound understanding.
Given the facts, the paladins’ reactions were only natural.
“That makes sense, then.”
“Mm, that it does.”
No tyrant was in a position to complain when those they oppressed wound up expressing malice toward them.
Normally, people who get crushed like worms don’t get the chance to come back, after all.
Elisabeth Le Fanu had once stood atop a mountain of corpses.
And those corpses were the allies of these paladins.
Suddenly, a clear voice rang out and obstructed Kaito’s train of thought.
“So you’re the Torture Princess. First, I wish to express my gratitude. You did well to respond to our summons.”
The gate opened, and
a woman, accompanied on each side by a paladin, strode out from within.
She herself was likely a paladin as well. Her body was as lithe as a rapier, and she wore the same silver armor as the others. However, atop her shoulders was a magnificent, deep-blue mantle of fine make embroidered with silver. Her silver hair dashed against it and further improved the flashy impression she gave off.
That and her pair of mismatched blue and purple eyes caused her to boast otherworldly beauty. However, the light within her eyes was cold.
She looked a good deal younger than her fellow paladins, and the fact that she was a woman was unusual as well. Despite all that, Kaito was surprised by something else entirely.
Damn, that’s impressive. For an ordinary human, she’s got crazy stores of mana.
Ever since his contract with the Kaiser, Kaito’s ability to gauge the flow of mana had been refined. While the woman’s stores of mana couldn’t compare to the Torture Princess’s or to Kaito’s, given that he’d made a contract with a demon, it was well above what an average person could hope to possess.
In stark contrast to Elisabeth’s sinister, thorny mana, this woman’s seemed as deep and as placid as the sea. Kaito could tell, not from knowledge, but from intuition, that she would be well-suited toward healing, protective, and summoning magic.
It looks like she’s doing pretty well for herself among the Holy Knights, but I bet she could’ve become a pretty strong mage, too… Wait, huh? Did I just call her an ordinary human?
It was almost as though he thought of himself as some kind of monster. But he could hardly blame himself. For someone who had been reincarnated from another world, not to mention one whose left arm was that of a beast, continuing to perceive oneself as an ordinary human was no easy task.
Even so, I seem to be getting worse about it.
In spite of himself, Kaito looked off into the distance and grinned self-derisively. However, the woman interpreted his smile a different way.
Narrowing her cold eyes, she spoke.
“How rude. What, is there something on my face?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just laughing at myself. Don’t worry about it.”
“…At yourself? At a time like this?”
“Mm, well, my servant is a man of many peculiarities. Paying him heed is little more than a waste of time. You’d do best to simply ignore him… And as I said, I am Elisabeth Le Fanu, the Torture Princess.”
“Allow me to welcome you once more. Thank you for coming all this way.”
“Enough with the empty formalities. I received word of Godot Deus’s death. Are you in charge here?”
“I am not. Rather than explaining the situation, it would be quicker to simply take you to meet the man who is. Follow me. I expect you’ll be quite surprised.”
With that enigmatic declaration, she turned on her heel, her magnificent mantle whirling behind her. Her two attendants went after her.
After exchanging a glance, Kaito and Elisabeth obediently followed behind.
A row of simple tents was lined up on top of the stone ground.
As he passed by them, Kaito peered within one.
Within, a healer was desperately pinning a convulsing man to his bed while using medicinal herbs to alleviate the man’s pain. Kaito could make out a number of other healers applying magic and medicine left and right to care for the wounded. Given that they each boasted considerable reserves of magic, their original place of employment was probably the royal palace.
A long queue extended past the tents. It looked like those who were deemed too young or too ill to flee on their own were being teleported out of the city. Regardless of the fact that the line was guarded on both sides by Royal Knights, everyone on it was so nervous they would have broken down at the drop of a hat.
Elsewhere, the paladins were calling out and gathering the uninjured and those with only minor illnesses. However, between the people who were screaming in derangement and those who were glued to the ground with dead eyes, there was no shortage of people ignoring their orders.
Every single person who’d escaped bore a heavy, desperate burden.
“…This place is on edge, all right.”
“And for good reason. It would be rather aberrant for a man who could relax after only so barely fleeing danger.”
Hearing Kaito’s whisper, Elisabeth nodded.
Eventually, the two of them made it to the middle of the square. Seeing something strange there, Kaito narrowed his eyes.
“…What’s up with that?”
“That’s a statue of the Saint. Hardly an oddity.”
“No, but, like, what’s it doing here?”
A bronze statue of an upside-down saint shedding tears of blood stood before them. In front of her was another statue, a kneeling apostle wrapped from the head down in tattered rags. Surprisingly, the apostle was a demi-human. Legs with scales engraved in them and sharp claws peeked out from the bottom edge of the rags.
He looked as though he was both rejoicing and lamenting at the Saint’s suffering.
The scene called to mind torture, making it a strange choice to decorate a beloved plaza.
“It’s a little grim for a plaza decoration, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps, but according to the Church’s legends, humanity’s current society is built on the foundation of the Suffering Saint’s sacrifice. In short, the scene signifies the sins man forced the Saint to bear. People must live proper lives, constantly recalling their sins as they sing prayers of gratitude. The statue is situated in an everyday place to remind them of that. It serves as something akin to a warning.”
“…I see.”
Her explanation was blunt, nearly to the point of heresy, but it inspired a vague sort of understanding in Kaito. He shifted his gaze from the bronze statue and the tent beside it. It was placed just off the statue and was a good deal narrower and longer than the ones holding the injured.
The female paladin stopped directly in front of it. Raising her left arm, she gestured for the two of them to enter.
“This way.”
Feeling the hostile gazes of the Royal Knights standing guard bearing down on them, Kaito and Elisabeth went inside. As they did, they were assailed by bright lights, forcing Kaito to squint.
“…Wh—?”
“Not bad. Impressive even, being able to assemble so many.”
Elisabeth’s voice was full of admiration. Kaito looked and discovered that an entire wall was covered in active magical communication devices. Civil officials were frantically setting them into motion, trading messages with partners that were removed from there by great distances.
Tense, angry voices filled through the air, and the female paladin called out to the two of them again.
“Please keep walking. Our destination lies farther in.”
Prompted on by her words, Kaito and Elisabeth continued on.
The air was hot and muddy, but the farther in they went, the cooler it got. Upon reaching the inner depths of the tent, they could hear new voices going back and forth, voices possessing a different kind of gravity than the ones from before. There was a desk placed directly on the stone ground, and a map of the capital was spread atop it. Paladins were pointing at it and exchanging arguments with stern expressions.
“For La Mules’s bombardment, we should…”
“We’ve received authorization for tomorrow afternoon…”
“Considering the angle and the effective range, the hill in the graveyard is…”
“The people we’ll need to secure it are…”
Whatever they were discussing, it was going completely over Kaito’s head. A man was floating in front of them. Upon seeing the man’s strangely blurry back, Kaito began doubting his own eyes.
Wait, why is that guy’s back blurry?
The man was dressed in a simple yet high-quality vestment. He was probably affiliated with the Church.
Wondering who it was, Kaito frowned. Beside him, Elisabeth muttered in a s
trained voice.
“…Godot Deus?”
“Godot Deus?!”
Kaito reflexively let out a hysterical cry. That shouldn’t have been possible.
Didn’t Godot Deus die?
Godot Deus was supposed to have lost his life in the initial attack, when the three demons had explosively begun their expansion. However, upon being called a dead man’s name, the man turned to face them.
“Elisabeth, I see. You did well to make it here.”
Aside from through communication devices, this was the first time Kaito had ever seen Godot Deus. In contrast to his expectations, Godot Deus’s appearance was nothing more than that of a thin, wrinkled old man—the kind you could find just about anywhere. But given the fact that his supposed death hadn’t stopped him from appearing before them, he was clearly no ordinary man.
Kaito narrowed his eyes and looked over Godot Deus again. Upon closer inspection, he was partially transparent. A silver bowl sat at his feet, a jewel resting in a sparkling pool of water.
As Kaito stared at it, the stone in his pocket squirmed. At the same time, Kaito realized something.
I see. Godot Deus really did die.
The Godot Deus floating in front of him was nothing more than a reproduction of his soul, the same as Vlad was. Supplied with mana from the holy water the Church had prepared, he was commanding the troops from beyond the grave.
The stone squirmed again. It seemed that Vlad wanted to talk to the man, perhaps due to them both being reproductions. But if Kaito did as Vlad wanted and materialized him, there was a solid chance the paladins would strike him down on the spot.
As Kaito ignored the stone, to his surprise, Godot Deus spoke up.
“Do you have Vlad in there?”
“Wait, you could tell?”
Completely exposed, Kaito responded in surprise.
At the sudden mention of the Kaiser’s former contractor’s name, tension filled the room. Elisabeth stared off into space. Godot Deus calmly shook his head.
“Your left arm is that of the Kaiser’s and proof that one lacking knowledge of summoning was encouraged by a third party to form a contract. When you told me not to have any regrets, you were warning me that this was the choice you had made. Servant of Elisabeth’s…what a fool you are, forming a contract with a demon.”
Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 3 Page 3