I’d Rather Be Healed by a Pure-Hearted, Beautiful Demon Lord Than by a Yandere Saintess! ~Even if I Run Away, the Yandere Saintess Keeps Coming After Me. If I Get Caught, It Seems Like I’ll Be Forced Into an Engagement!?~ - Chapter 20 & 21

The Siege, The Provisional Strategist’s Divine Command

“”””Uoooooh!! Under the light of the gods, shatter the demon castle!””””

The Holy Knights’ battle cry shook the earth as the silver wave surged toward the walls of the Demon King’s castle.

Leading the charge were sturdy soldiers bearing a massive battering ram and a mobile siege tower known as an assault ladder. The archer unit loosed countless arrows from the rear, pinning down the defenders atop the walls.

“All troops, commence interception! Don’t let a single arrow through!”

Borgannon’s rallying cry rang out from the walls.

The orc archers unleashed a volley in unison, while the lizardman slingers hurled enormous rocks.

But the Holy Knights were seasoned veterans. They raised massive shields to deploy the “Holy Barrier Wall,” deflecting arrows and stones as they steadily closed the distance.

“Damn it, tough!”

“Necros! Are the wall’s magic arrays ready yet!”

Lady Lucilphia shouted, and the countless magic arrays inscribed into the walls ignited in unison.

“They’re good to go anytime!”

“Fire!”

At the command, hundreds of shadow bolts erupted from the walls. They pierced the Holy Knights’ barrier and blasted several soldiers away.

But the enemy’s momentum did not falter. Outnumbered, the Holy Knights pressed on wave after wave, heedless of minor losses.

From the balcony of the main tower, where Yukina Arclight overlooked the battle, his heart pounded as if it might burst.

This was war.

People died. Not in games or stories. Real lives hung in the balance.

“Yukina!”

Lady Lucilphia’s voice snapped Yukina Arclight back to reality.

“The enemy’s main force is that central battering ram! If they breach the gate with it, they’ll come pouring in!”

“…!”

There it was: a massive log capped with iron plating, borne by over a dozen soldiers, barreling toward the gate.

What to do? How could he stop it?

Arrows and magic would likely prove ineffective against that thick armor.

Just as terror and pressure threatened to blank Yukina Arclight’s mind, words from his village grandpa resurfaced—uttered while preparing for winter.

“Listen up, Yukina. Never underestimate the winter chill. The scariest part is when the ground freezes. One slip on the ice, and if you hit wrong, you’re dead.”

“—Freeze it…?”

Yes.

Yukina Arclight shouted to Lilith standing beside him.

“Lilith! Can you use ice magic!?”

“Yes, a little. Why?”

“Freeze the ground in front of the gate! As wide an area as possible!”

“Oh, just freeze it? Understood.”

Lilith looked puzzled but promptly cast a wide-area cooling spell toward the ground before the gate.

With a hiss, the surface froze over, turning slick as a skating rink.

Into that charged the battering ram unit at full speed.

“—Whoa!?”

“Wh-Wh-What!”

“My feet are slipping!”

The soldiers, burdened with the heavy ram, tried to advance under inertia.

But their footing had lost all traction. One by one, they lost balance and toppled spectacularly. The uncontrolled ram crashed to the ground, dragging the soldiers along as it veered wildly off course.

“”””…Eh?””””

Silence blanketed the walls for an instant.

And in the next.

“”””Buhahaha!””””

The Demon King’s army erupted in belly laughs. The sheer absurdity shattered the tension.

“Th-That’s incredible…! Lord Yukina, another strategy to shatter the enemy’s will…!”

Lilith gazed at Yukina Arclight with eyes full of admiration.

Yukina Arclight could not call it mere coincidence, so he nodded vaguely with “Well, yeah…”

But his “divine command” was not over yet.

“The enemy’s siege towers are reaching the walls!”

There they were: two massive ladders bearing down on the left and right flanks. Soldiers atop them poised to board.

“Borgannon!”

Yukina Arclight shouted.

“Can you target those towers’ wheels!?”

“The wheels!? It’d be easier to aim for the soldiers on top…”

“Just the wheels! One is enough—destroy it!”

“Mmm… Got it!”

Borgannon loaded a massive rock into a nearby trebuchet, took aim, and launched. The boulder struck one of the siege tower’s enormous wooden wheels dead-on, shattering it to splinters.

Deprived of one wheel, the tower tilted sharply.

Then, like dominoes, it toppled onto the adjacent one with a thunderous crash, sending both sprawling sideways.

Once more, silence gripped the walls, followed by gales of laughter.

The enemy’s trump card siege engines had fallen silent without a proper fight, two at once.

Lady Lucilphia turned to Yukina Arclight with eyes full of disbelief.

“…Yukina. Who exactly are you…? It’s as if the god of war favors you…”

(No, it’s not! It’s just grandpa’s wisdom, the laws of physics, and plain luck!)

Yukina Arclight’s inner cry went unheard.

Atop the walls, soldiers began chanting his name: “Hail the Strategist!” “Long live Lord Yukina!”

And so the Holy Knights’ first assault wave crumbled effortlessly under a chain of coincidences dubbed Yukina Arclight’s divine command—though unintended.

But the battle had only just begun.

**

The Saint’s Impatience, The Second Act of the Psychological War

“…What in the world is that?”

In the Holy Knights’ main camp.

Saint Erixia sat gracefully on a chair beneath the canopy, elegantly observing the battle, but her brow twitched.

Her perfectly calculated siege plan had begun to crumble in an incomprehensible manner right from the start.

The battering ram unit, her trump card, had started a skating contest in front of the gate and become utterly useless.

The two siege towers, deployed with full confidence, had self-destructed in a manner straight out of a comedy skit.

Casualties were minimal. But precisely because of that, the soldiers’ morale had plummeted for an entirely different reason. The faces of her stalwart knights had lost all trace of “pride” or “sense of duty,” replaced by expressions that said, “I don’t quite get it, but this is incredibly embarrassing.”

“…Not magic…? Just ice? Just a thrown stone…?”

Erixia could not comprehend the tactics the Demon King’s army employed.

No advanced sorcery or demonic curses appeared in them. What existed was nothing but relentlessly mundane, petty, and terrifyingly effective “harassment.”

“Could it be… this too is Yukina’s…?”

Erixia’s mind conjured the face of her beloved: pure-hearted, a bit timid, yet strong at his core.

Had he devised these prank-like yet precisely targeted strategies that exploited their weaknesses…?

(No, impossible. Surely that Demon King forced him…!)

Erixia leaped to the conclusion that suited her.

But she could not hide her impatience. What she had desired was a beautiful tableau where the saint’s overwhelming power crushed the Demon King’s army and she dramatically rescued her beloved.

Not this muddy, ridiculous unfolding.

“…All troops, fall back once!”

For her prideful self, it was a humiliating order.

As the Holy Knights withdrew temporarily, cheers of victory erupted from atop the walls with a resounding “Waaah!” That grated even further on her nerves.

“Gu…!”

Erixia ground her back teeth.

That was when it happened.

Two figures appeared atop the walls of the Demon King’s castle.

One was the detestable little Demon King girl. And the other was—her beloved, her Yukina.

“—Can you hear me, Saint Erixia!”

Yukina’s voice reached her, amplified by magic.

The instant she heard it, Erixia’s heart clenched sweetly.

Ah, her beloved’s voice.

“Can’t we just stop this already! What you really want isn’t war—it’s just a lovers’ quarrel, isn’t it!”

“A… lovers’ quarrel…!?”

Erixia shot up from her chair without thinking.

How could her Yukina say such a thing.

This was a holy war to save him.

“That’s right, you stalker woman!”

Now the little Demon King’s voice rang out.

“Don’t make our soldiers suffer for your twisted expressions of affection! Go home and suck on your mama’s tits instead!”

“Wh-What did you say…!?”

A vein bulged on Erixia’s forehead at the Demon King’s utterly vulgar insult.

But at that moment, she saw Yukina whispering something to the Demon King as if to soothe her. The Demon King nodded and turned back toward them with a defiant grin.

“…Hmph. Yukina says he’ll give you one last chance. Very well, then, listen up.”

Lucilphia crossed her arms with a theatrical flourish.

“—The one way to end this battle. A duel between you and us.”

Erixia drew a sharp breath.

A duel? Between the Demon King and herself.

It was the very development she desired most—a fated confrontation between saint and Demon King, the stuff of heroic epics.

“But not just any duel. If we win, you swear to lead your army away and never appear before us again. …But if you win.”

Lucilphia glanced sidelong at Yukina beside her.

“—We’ll give Yukina to you.”

“!”

Erixia’s heart leaped.

Give her Yukina?

For Erixia, it was the ultimate reward, irreplaceable by anything else.

(…A trap…?)

Doubt flickered through her mind for an instant.

But for the prideful Erixia, the proposal was far too enticing.

Besides, she could not possibly lose to that little girl.

Yukina shouted something from atop the walls.

“I didn’t say that! Hey, Lady Lucilphia!?”

His flustered voice failed to reach Erixia’s ears in a way that suited her.

(Ah, Yukina. How clever you are.)

Erixia’s thoughts leaped once more into her own distorted world.

(You believed I would win and deliberately had the Demon King make this proposal to avoid needless sacrifices! You prepared for me the most beautiful stage to rescue you…!)

Having interpreted everything as groundwork for her victory, Erixia trembled with joy.

She declared loudly toward the walls of the Demon King’s castle.

“—Very well. In the name of Saint Erixia, I accept your challenge!”

And so, unbeknownst to Yukina, the battlefield shifted in an instant from an all-out clash of armies to a direct confrontation between saint and Demon King—the final phase.