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 3

The Grand Misunderstanding of the Bungling Cadres

Thanks to Demon King Lucilphia’s warm nursing, my stamina had fully recovered in just a few days.

That meant the next thing I needed to consider was my future prospects. I could not keep freeloading as a guest forever.

“All right, I’ll ask the Demon King if there’s any work I can do.”

With that resolve, I left my room, and just then, I ran into Lucilphia in the hallway. She seemed fidgety for some reason, and the moment she saw my face, her expression lit up.

“Y-You’re up, human! Perfect timing—I was just thinking of introducing you to my executives!”

“Executives, you say?”

“Yes. I cannot keep hiding your identity forever. Now, follow me!”

Without giving me a chance to argue, she grabbed my arm and led me to the throne room.

Three figures were already gathered there, each one the epitome of “Demon King’s army executives”—a boiling pot of eccentric personalities.

First, standing to the right of the throne was a massive Minotaur who must have been at least three meters tall. He was clad in armor of rippling muscles and snorted roughly through his nose. He screamed pure brute force.

…I absolutely must not anger that type.

To the left stood a seductive succubus woman who swayed her glossy black hair and wore a bewitching smile.

The dress that accentuated her ample bosom was too much for the eyes. She alone eyed me with a sticky, appraising gaze.

…The type who would drain my life in a way that had nothing to do with physical force.

And a little behind the two was a skeleton draped in ragged robes—a lich, probably. Eerie purple light flickered in its hollow eye sockets as it muttered something under its breath.

…The type I least wanted to get involved with.

As I shrank under their varied auras of intimidation, Lucilphia cleared her throat once and opened her mouth in a haughty manner.

“Everyone, allow me to introduce Yukina Arclight. He will be staying in this castle starting today.”

Before the introduction could even finish, the Minotaur giant bellowed in a voice that shook the floor.

“Demon King! Why bring such a frail and scrawny human into the castle!? Surely he is not a spy from some hero’s lackey!”

“Borgannon, calm yourself. He is no such person.”

Borgannon the Minotaur snorted discontentedly, his nostrils flaring. Then the succubus woman let out a sly chuckle.

“Oh my, Demon King. Is this the one you mentioned as your ‘favorite’? I had imagined a man with far more backbone.”

“Lilith! Do not phrase it so strangely! He is not a favorite or…!”

“Hmm… intriguing. As a specimen of human biology, he is top quality. Especially the way those facial muscles twitch in fear… I would love to dissect him and study it in detail, heh heh heh…”

…Hey, the last one. You just casually said something outrageous.

The probing gaze from the succubus named Lilith and the research-subject stare from the lich called Necros were both unbearably uncomfortable.

Under their blatant hostility and curiosity, I completely shrank back.

Then, as if to shield me, Lucilphia stepped forward boldly.

“Quiet down! Th-This one is my guest! I will not let you do as you please with him! If anything happens to Yukina, I will not forgive you!”

Ah, Demon King…!

For her small frame to stand up to these sturdy executives and protect me like that—her plucky figure warmed my heart… but the executives’ reactions veered off in a direction entirely different from my impression.

Borgannon’s eyes widened in sudden realization.

“Wh-What…! For the Demon King to shield such a human…!”

Lilith hid her mouth behind her fan and narrowed her eyes.

“Oh, Demon King, getting so heated like that. This is the real deal, isn’t it…”

Necros clacked his jawbone.

“An existence the Demon King herself would protect… Could it be some special blessing…? What an excellent research subject…”

Huh, what’s with this atmosphere?

Were they not massively misunderstanding something?

Their gazes had shifted from “hostility” and “curiosity” to “the look you give a man who has seduced the Demon King.”

“Then it changes everything!”

Borgannon thrust a finger at me sharply.

“If the Demon King insists that much, then I, Borgannon of the iron arm, shall test his strength personally! I challenge you to a duel—fair and square!”

“Wait, wait, wait! Why does it come to that!?”

I told you, I’m just a villager!

There’s no way I could win a duel against a Minotaur!

“Oh, a muscle-bound man is so barbaric. For this sort of thing, it should be more… languid, don’t you think?”

Lilith flashed a sultry smile and winked at me.

“I shall spend the night with him, slowly and thoroughly… to see if he is a man worthy of the Demon King. ♡”

“That test is definitely not rated for all ages, is it!?”

I could only see a future where everything got sucked dry and I withered away!

“A duel or a night test is fine. But first, you will be the subject of my new potion. If you can endure this, then perhaps… heh heh heh…”

“You, stay quiet!”

Muscle, seduction, human experimentation.

The Demon King’s army welcome was way too hard!

As I desperately racked my brain for how to handle their outrageous demands, Lucilphia, unable to stand the situation any longer, finally snapped.

“You lot, enough is enough!”

The Demon King’s majesty filled the throne room.

Even the executives froze under the prickling pressure that stung the skin.

“This one escaped from that detestable Saintess Erixia all by himself!”

At Lucilphia’s words, the three gasped.

She pressed on relentlessly.

“He shook off the Saintess’s relentless pursuit, crossed all of human territory, and made it here to the Demon King’s castle! He is no ordinary human! We shall protect him and use him as the ‘anti-Saintess trump card’ for the coming battle!”

…Um, Demon King?

I just fled desperately, that’s all. And what’s this about a trump card?

But contrary to my inner scream, the executives seemed to take her words even more literally than face value.

“Wh-What! To break through that obsessive Saintess’s encirclement all alone…!?”

“Even we would have trouble with her… I almost let his appearance deceive me. What a terrifying strategist he is.”

“Hmm… So, not physical strength, but a type skilled in tactics and special abilities… I see, even more intriguing…”

Borgannon’s hostility turned to awe, Lilith’s gaze shifted from appraisal to admiration, and Necros’s eyes… gleamed with an even more dangerous curiosity.

No, no, that’s not it. I’m just a villager who got lucky with coincidences to make it this far…!

But of course, no one heard my inner voice, and the executives knelt before me in unison.

“‘Yukina, forgive our earlier rudeness!'”

What an incredible buildup.

The misunderstanding was accelerating grandly in a utterly absurd direction.

When I looked to Lucilphia for help, she puffed out her chest with a smug “How’s that!” expression.

Ah, this was hopeless. This pure-hearted Demon King was apparently a genius at complicating things.

“Why did it turn out like this!?”

My anguished inner cry reached no one.

And so, my position in the Demon King’s army became “The Mysterious Strategist Who Outwitted the Saintess (Provisional)”—an extremely troublesome one.