Vol 3 Chapter 52 – My Name, and Her Name

Anyway, that was the gist of how things had gone down.

I had no choice but to try and brush it under the rug.

If this was something that could be settled just by lopping this man’s head off, I would have done it ages ago. Chris, you idiot!

Regardless, I had to make the human standing before me return everything first.

“Well, I can’t place the blame entirely on you. Now that things have come to this, it can’t be helped. For now, return what you took from Maou-sama. If you do, I will let you off the hook.”

“Eeeh.”

“Don’t give me that ‘eeeh.’ You already know this isn’t a laughing matter, don’t you? A single piece of the tableware you stole from Maou-sama is worth enough to build a house.”

“Oh my. Then, is this potato that expensive too? I don’t really understand the prices here. The dining hall is free, after all.”

Saying that, the man before me pulled a single potato out from his pocket.

“Of course not! I don’t have the time to entertain your jokes—”

“But I exchanged it with Puria-san at around that market value.”

“Excuse me?”

“‘Ah, then this much is about right. I’m even giving you a discount here,’ she said. And, ‘It hurts on my end too, but if I lower the price any more, I’ll go bankrupt,’ she said. So I accidentally ended up taking quite a lot from the Maou to earn some food money.”

“Go call Puria here for a second.”

“Pardon?”

“I have something I want to ask her. Just go call her right now.”

“Okaaay.”

I will omit the details.

The only fact is that my discussion with Nine resumed while completely ignoring Puria, who was twitching on all fours, completely naked, with her ass pointed in our direction.

“Now then, you will take the items from Puria’s room and return them to Maou-sama’s. I will consider this matter settled with that.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped. Understood. It pained my heart to swindle Maou-sama, anyway.”

You’ve got some nerve, you little tanuki.

“By the way, are you just going to leave Puria-san like that?”

“Yes.”

I silenced the albatross, who was groaning ‘Mmph, mmph’ through her gag, with a single glare.

It seemed my intention—if you don’t want your asshole widened any further, keep your mouth shut—was successfully conveyed, as her trembling only intensified.

“If possible, I’d like to take her home just like this.”

“Honesty is a virtue. However, a gentleman’s etiquette dictates that he hide his desires in front of a woman.”

“No, no, well, she certainly does have a very appealing rear end. But I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought she looked a bit pitiful.”

“No. We still have punishment… excuse me, talking to do.”

“Please don’t bully her any more. I’m technically a victim of her fraud too, right? And I’m saying it’s fine.”

“Shut up. I am not asking for your opinion. Get out of here right now.”

“Is that so. Then I cannot return Maou-sama’s belongings.”

“Excuse me?”

“Maou-sama wagered her pride in our matches. Since you are trying to annul that, I cannot accept it unless I receive something of equivalent value, you see.”

“May I take that as a statement made with full awareness of your own position?”

“Of course. These are the words of Nine, a slave, livestock, a weak, weak human.”

“In that case, as Aroma Sugesta, Prime Minister of Diabolo, I hereby charge you with lèse-majesté.”

Saying that, Aroma-san shouted into the empty air.

“Alice! Come out here! Restrain this man!”

Reacting to those words, Alice-san—who must have been using illusions, though I couldn’t really tell since they don’t work on me—took a step forward from the corner of the room.

“Alice. Put shackles on this insolent fool.”

At Aroma-san’s command, a terrifying response followed.

“Yes, Nine-sama. I will put shackles on Aroma.”

“Eh?”

Clack. In a fluid, seamless motion, Alice-san pinned Aroma-san’s arms behind her back, restraining her.

I didn’t really like doing things this way, but I didn’t hate it either. It was convenient, and that was the gist of it.

Except for those who had already formed a contract with Tia-sama, opportunities to be completely alone with Aroma-san were rare. So I had partaken in all that ridiculous gambling nonsense to set this up.

For now, I took off Puria-san’s gag as well, since staring at her in that embarrassing state for too long was starting to turn me on too. Right now, I wanted to get off on the pleasure of bringing this woman—Aroma Sugesta—to her knees.

“Thanks for that, Nine. Good job, right? Hey, praise me, praise me?”

As I untied the hands and feet of Puria-san, who had played a part in this ridiculous farce, I stroked my hands up her ass to my heart’s content.

“Ahn.”

Every time my fingertips brushed near the places a woman shouldn’t so easily let others touch, Puria-san would breathe heavily and rub her temple affectionately against me. When I touched her secret cleft, the way her tail feathers quivered was so endearing, so incredibly endearing. She was so adorable I wanted to eat her up.

It took an immense amount of mental fortitude to tear my gaze away from Puria-san, who was looking at me with wet eyes—the eyes of a woman completely captivating a man—but it couldn’t be helped.

If we stayed like this for too long, Tia-sama would get tired, too.

Ah, but what a waste. If I did this to the usual Puria-san, she might actually kill me. I wanted to stroke that ass a little more. My manhood ached, but now wasn’t the time for that. I’d eat Puria-san some other time.

For now, I would just have to endure it with this.

Putting my finger—which was now damp with whatever secretions Puria-san had produced—into my mouth, I returned my gaze to Aroma-san.

“Now then, Aroma-san. It’s not your turn yet. It’s not your turn. It’s not your turn. Take a number, wait your turn. Eating you comes later.”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?! Alice, enough with the jokes! Quickly, take him! Never mind, kill him, kill him right now!”

“No, Nine-sama. We must not kill Aroma yet.”

“Alice?! What are you doing?!”

The conversation wasn’t connecting.

Alice Crux, the one most loyal to me, my very own hands and feet. Her eyes… No, this was wrong! This girl, Alice, never had reptilian eyes like that!

“Aroma Sugesta. Aroma, Aroma-san is a little lamb. Yeah, those curly horns definitely make her a little lamb.”

“Ain’t that the truth, a little lamb.”

“Yes, Nine-sama. She is a little lamb.”

Seeing her subordinates clinging to the feet of the human before her, parroting his words, Aroma’s hair stood on end. Aside from herself, not a single person in this room was in their right mind. The sensation of the ground shifting beneath her feet was overwhelming. Aroma Sugesta, one of the highest-ranking executives of Diabolo, was being stripped of her freedom within her own home, inside her own castle, and being looked down upon by a human. There was no way this could be reality.

“It’s been bothering me for a while now. The way you look at me like you’re looking at a piece of trash.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

“Yes, Nine-sama. You are a piece of trash.”

“Ding, ding, ding! You hit the nail on the head, Aroma-san. I am indeed a piece of trash. Your judgment is spot on. Spot on. Spot on, right?”

“Is that so.”

“Yes, Nine-sama is a piece of trash.”

“Aroma-san, always looking down on people. If you can do something like that, you must be incredibly magnificent, aren’t you? Would you mind if I took a little peek inside that magnificent exterior of yours? Just kidding, ehehe.”

“Of course I mind! Let go of me! What are you saying, you lowly scum! Alice! Puria! Do you have any idea what you’re doing?!”

“What a filthy mouth. I like it. It turns me on. Come on, let out more, show me more of what’s inside?”

“Shut up! Do you really think a mere human like you will be forgiven for doing something like this?!”

“I won’t be forgiven?”

“Of course not! You just wait! I won’t let you die an easy death!”

“Ehehe, I’m looking forward to that. She says she won’t forgive me. Hey, Tia-sama. The little lamb says she won’t forgive me.”

Saying that, the human before her flashed a flippant smile into the empty air.

“Gyahahahahaahaaaaaaahahhaha! Haha! Hahahaa!”

How should it be described?

It was like setting fire to a volatile mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. Like the scream of someone being tortured with a red-hot iron rod. Like pressing a needle against a balloon inflated so tightly it couldn’t take another breath of air.

Or perhaps, like the wailing of an infant.

No, that was wrong. It was a sound whose tone couldn’t even be grasped anymore, madness itself beyond intellectual comprehension, released by the human before her in the form of laughter.

“Please forgive meeee! If you don’t forgive me, Nine is gonna cry! Hihihihi. If you don’t forgive me, what are you gonna do? Hey, what are you gonna do, Aroma-chan! What are you gonna do to me?! Hihihahaha!”

It’s no use. He’s far too dangerous.

It’s unclear exactly what makes him dangerous, but he just is. I have to kill him quickly, and preferably hand Alice and Puria over to Eva so they don’t get killed. They’re probably brainwashed. Perhaps El-chan has fallen victim to this thing as well. I have to have Eva investigate.

Aroma gathered mana in her right hand to slice the human’s neck open with wind magic. Or rather, she should have.

“W-Why?!”

“‘Why can’t I use magic?’ Because obviously! You can’t use that kind of stuff in here. This place belongs to Tia-sama now. It’s Tia-sama’s territory, inside Tia-sama’s stomach. If you want to use magic, go ahead, see what happens!”

“W-Wh…”

“We don’t need something as barbaric as magic in this world. Come on, little lamb. Don’t be scared, tell me all about yourself, okay? Show me… show me what’s inside you, yeah?”

“S-Stop it, Nine.”

Suddenly, the man before her stopped moving completely.

“Nine?”

“Y-You are Nine, aren’t you?”

“Who’s Nine again? What’s that? There’s no way a weird name like that exists.”

What? What is this guy saying?

“I am Nine. Nine? Why am I Nine?”

It doesn’t make sense. It’s disgusting. My legs are trembling violently, and the air looks distorted. This office, which should have been deeply familiar to her, had altered at some point.

Skin was blue, and the air was yellow. Apples fell from the ground into the sky. Hearts digested blood. And the man standing before her ruled over this entire space.

This was a world she did not know.

“Ah, I remember.”

Saying that, the pair of eyes that peered intently into hers were like pitch-black glass beads, filled to the brim with the darkness of the night.

“My name is gone (nai-n), you see.”

“Look, little lamb. The one standing before you is a ‘someone’ who is ‘no one’.”

I am, I am.

“So, the things you’ve been carrying all this time. The painful things. The agonizing things.”

I am.

“The secrets you’ve kept hidden. Even if you speak of them, no one will blame you, okay?”

I am.

“That sense of guilt that’s been clinging to your life forever, why don’t we just spit it all out right here?”

I am.

I am Almira, Vala, Detra.

“Little lamb. Just what exactly is your sin?”