Translator: Manga0205
「This is, the Snake Princess……?」
The words that I spoke out rebounded off of the walls of the underground waterway, and surprisingly resounded loudly. The one crying before me was unmistakably the Lamia that we were fighting against just a little while ago. However, when I got closer and looked at her, there were some things that I formally understood.
First, those features of hers. Her body was big, but that was just the snake portion. For the Human portion that was at the tip, although she had physical strength, putting it loosely, she had a small build similar to Shiro. And then, although her face had injuries on it, the dirt and ornaments were taken off by the Gelatinous Cube, and what showed was a surprisingly young face with no make up.
「No way……The Snake Princess, she was this young……?」
Diana quietly whispered. How DIana, who should have been her henchman, didn't know about this is strange.
「Diana, you were technically a leader, right? Have you never seen her real face despite that?」
「It's embarrassing but……Arachne was the main one taking command, and I haven't really exchanged words with the Snake Princess up close……I see, it was because she always had thick makeup on……!」
One thought, came to mind. By some chance, it couldn't be that sort of thing, could it?
「I see. Say, the Arachne, did she ever say things about the Snake Princess? Like that she was terrifying, or that she was strong……」
Maybe because she was perplexed by how I suddenly changed my tone, Diana replied while pondering a bit.
「Yes, certainly, the Spider Princess……Arachne said that she herself was the Snake Princess's subordinate……」
Sara and Shiro got the impression of 「So they're thinking about things again」, and stayed on guard of Lamia's movements. Being a few seconds late, it seemed that only Astarte reached the same thought that I did.
「Ara, Eliott-sama. Could that be……?」
「Yeah, Astarte. I think that it's just as you thought. It's a method similar to what we're using. Hiding information, posing to be strong, making it so that no one could touch…… ……Arachne, was protecting the Snake Princess.」
「Kagome……Save me……It hurts, it really hurts……」
Most likely, her consciousness is probably hazy. Lamia continued seeking help from Arachne who was no longer in this world.
In all probability, Lamia probably hasn't had any contact with the Lanvelt House. If our prediction was correct, then the political decision in regards to that should have all been done by Arachne alone. Getting background information is almost impossible. And then, I am a foe that killed Arachne who sheltered her, as well as an enemy that directly battled against her. ……Taking her life just like this was probably be extremely correct. Despite that, I was unable to make that decision.
After seeing Lamia's face, saying that I felt sympathy for that young, unpainted face, there was no mistake that there was some of that. However, it wasn't just that……I was caught with a strange feeling of deja vu, as if I had known this Lamia from long ago. Today was my first time meeting the Snake Princess. Moreover, even meeting with demons with intelligence other than us, excluding Arachne, this was the first. An acquaintance, there was no way she could be one.
Despite that, it felt as if I knew this snake girl's face from somewhere.
「Miyabi……?」
That word suddenly leaked out from my mouth. Hearing that name, the Lamia, who hadn't even noticed us up until now, looked this way with a jolt.
「Uu……You……Why, do you know mine name?」
Vigilance and fear, were included in her voice. While in a state where she would probably start crying at any moment, she did her best to act tough. Thinking that she was cute just a little bit, even the desire of wanting to make her cry even more sprouted. Putting that aside, the Lamia didn't know about me. I was able to confirm it with this. ……Nevertheless, why did I know about this girl? It was when I peered into the Snake Princess's eyes which were filled with fear and panic, and just a bit of anger. Several scenes made a flashback in my mind.
……A crying and shouting little Lamia girl. Men smiling with perverted faces. The coat of arms of the Temple and the God of Light. A branding iron burning bright red. The smell of burning flesh, and chanting that praised god's glory. The smell of sexually excited females. The smell of semen, the smell of blood…… A great number of scenes hectically shifted one after another. The pleasure of killing Humans, the joy of overcoming fear. The humiliation of being captured by Humans. An emotion of hatred, and remorse towards someone. The face of a man, as he leaned on me…… That was, my face.
「Eliott-sama!?」
「Goshujin-sama!」
Together with the sound of water, I was self-aware that my consciousness had flown away for an instant. Shiro jumped at me when she noticed that I had crumbled down from the knees, and had fallen into the waterway.
「What happeneddd!? Suddenly collapsing, Shiro, is extremely worrieddd……」
「……Ahh, thank you. What I saw, just now……」
The drifting away scenes that I saw when I killed Arachne once again came to my mind. Those were, the memories of Arachne who I killed, and completely absorbed……?
Supported by Shiro and Diana, I approached the Snake Princess. The Snake Princess glared at me with a show of courage that took her all to make, but I could tell that there was a fear that couldn't be hidden within her eyes.
「Y, you bastard……Do not approach me! If you approach me, I shall bite your windpipe to a thousand pieces with my fangs.」
She did her best to bare her fangs. On the sides of her mouth, there were faint slit shaped patterns. Most likely, because she was a snake demon, she was able to disconnect the frame of her mouth, and was probably able to open it up to the point of being able to swallow a person whole but……at this moment, she probably didn't have the strength to go that far.
「You don't need to be afraid. I know. That you are young, and that the Arachne……though I didn't know that her name was Kagome until just a little while ago……that she was protecting you.」
The Snake Princess gulped at those words. She probably couldn't understand why the things that she didn't want known, the things she couldn't let be known, were known by me. The 「fear towards an unknown opponent」that she used in order to hide her own existence up until now, was something she now felt herself.
「Wh……why……do you know, that……?」
She was too inexperienced. Unlike Arachne, it seemed that she was no longer able to keep up her appearance. Arachne probably hid this child and tried to protect her because of this.
「……Arachne and I, although we didn't detest each other, various things happened and we ended up opposing each other. There was no telling which one of us would win until the very end. Nevertheless, I was the one who eventually won……And Arachne, I ate her. That girl who tried to protect you, she is no longer here.」
My voice, it was probably indifferent. Why Diana possessed Arachne's power.
Why I knew that her name was Miyabi. In her emotions, she probably wanted to deny everything no matter what. At a loss for words, the Snake Princess's eyes looked around the area as if she had lost where she was going, but there was no one that would come to her aid. She has already lost her dignity as a chief of the Assassin's Guild, and all that was left was a young demon that was afraid of Humans That's right, if what I saw was correct……
「……Ugh, ueh, ehh……UWAaaaaAaaahn……Ka……Kago……Aaah……AAAAAAAAH……」
Several seconds later. Finally, she had no choice but to understand that Arachne was no longer around. The pain in her arm, the humiliation, the fear, it looked as if she had forgotten all of it. Right now, for the sake of that Arachne, that was no longer here. The Snake Princess raised her voice and wept. ……Yosh, with this, the outer wall of her heart has probably broken.
「……This is kind of, a strange feeling. Even though the chief was killed, and then swallowed whole by the Snake Princess. The resentment……it's, well, it's not like there was much of it to begin with but, the maliciousness was taken out.」
Diana muttered that as if she were at a bit of a loss.
「Although she was an enemy, even that Officer of Arms, she had something to protect too, didn't she…… The Assassin's Guild too, they were all Humans other than these guys. With how things look now, they didn't have anyone they could trust. And that's why they ruled with fear and violence……」
Sounding like she was a bit bored, Sara answered her. Maybe because Shiro empathized with the Snake Princess, she cried a bit in sympathy.
「Goshujin-samaaa……That girl, she's so pitiful……Shiro understands that she was an enemy but……Shiro, kinda feels……」
She probably couldn't find the right words. Maybe because it's a special characteristic of dog demons, Shiro is very sensitive towards feelings of fellowship.
「Ruling others with fear and power, that is the norm even without being a demon. Laws and authority, power without form, they always consist of violence done in the background. ……By mixing emotions in there, the situation will go chaotic, but there isn't anything that will make the world any better.」
Astarte made use of unusually severe words. Moreover, her tone was severe, but as a way of thinking, she was having an outlook similar to that of Olivia's. Although we had spent a fairly long time together up until now, Astarte basically had the mindset of a powerful and influential person more often than not. And then, she also knew about the severity of power struggles. At first, I thought it was because my father who had turned Astarte into a demon was nobility of the Demon World, but recently, I've come to think that isn't necessarily the case. Table manners, the way of using words, the small accents of words. Could it be, that Astarte lived as a noble when she was a Human?
「Astarte, although I fundamentally approve of your opinion, I think it would lonely if it was nothing but that. ……Well, I often get told that when I'm too lenient though」
「……No, Eliott-sama, that part of you is surely what draws these girls to you. However, at most, that is something that you individually possess, and that is not the case for all powerful and influential people in the world. Besides, someone's beloved person will occasionally be someone else's resented enemy, and operating government based on emotion will disrupt society. That's right, even if Arachne was an important existence to this Lamia, to us, she was an opponent we risked our lives to fight against.」
「……Say, Astarte. Although I've made it so that I wouldn't ask about your past, you were born as a noble when you were Human, weren't you?」
Hearing those words, Diana changed her expression with a jolt. Shiro and Sara waited for the continuation of my words.
「……That is a story of long ago. I have done an impertinent behaviour that would interfere with the master.」
Astarte seemed to have no intention of saying any more than that. I turned my back towards Astarte, and once again turned to face the Snake Princess. At that moment, so that none of the others would hear me, I gave an order only to Diana by moving my lips.
「Miyabi. There is something like would like to talk to you about.」
「……Ue……?」
The glossy and black long hair that many inhabitants of the eastern region of this continent are said to have stuck onto Miyabi's face. Grabbing her small chin with my fingertips, I made it so that Miyabi's face was looking at me.
「Were you born in the east? The place you were born, was it in demon society?」
While I was asking that, I searched for a "sign" that was probably somewhere on Miyabi's body.
「……I am……」
Hesitating to answer, she suddenly bit her lip. Without minding that, I thrust a thorn at her heart. I knew that this was probably something that would hurt her. Nevertheless, with this, just maybe……
「I, defeated Kagome……the Arachne, and ate her. And from that, I saw a bit of something that seemed like Arachne's memories. It seemed, that she had regrets about you.」
Once again, Miyabi was at a loss for words.
「At that time, I learned of your name. And then, I even saw more than that in fragments.」
A part of this, was a lie. Arachne worrying about Miyabi was nothing more than my conjecture, and I could tell that she held some sort of feeling of remorse, but there was no way I could read as far as the target of those feelings. Although I think that it is probably correct, these are words rewritten to be convenient for either my sake, or for her sake. It was poison of words meant to melt the Snake Princess's heart, and break her hostile feelings.
「It turned into a struggle for our lives, but it wasn't like we detested each other. ……Of course, it wasn't like she didn't resent me when she was killed by me though. When I was consuming her existence, I saw her memories. ……You were either abducted when you were a child, or you were a demon born in Human society, weren't you?」
「!?」
The one that had the biggest reaction to my words was none other than Astarte.
「Eh? What do you mean by that?」
Sara honestly threw her question out. Shiro couldn't grasp the situation. Diana intently watched Astarte's expression.
「This is just my conjecture but, this girl, she was already captured by Humans from the moment she was born. The demon that was captured by Humans as a slave, was probably her mother.」
Was.
Small traces of a branding iron that were etched into Miyabi's abdomen, still distinctly remained. I was able to easily find it because she was seized in midair, but if she coiled up her snake body, I probably wouldn't have been able to find it.
The branding iron was made in the shape of the holy mark of the God of Light, and a magical crest was added around it. I didn't know about it in detail, but most likely……
「Sara, look right here. Miyabi, do you remember when this brand was applied?」
Miyabi did not say anything, and slightly shook her head.
「……Ara, this is the crest of the God of Light……? Moreover, this pattern is……Servitude Magic!?」
As expected, when it comes to the amount of knowledge in regards to magic, she's much more reliable than me.
「Aah, as I thought. I thought it was a possibility, but I wasn't all that confident. ……Miyabi.」
「Hii!?」
I raised up her face that was looking down a bit forcibly. Miyabi deeply expressed a look of fear on her weeping face. With the armor that went by the name of the secret that protected her no longer existent, what was left was a frightened, former slave demon.
「I don't know if it happened from when you were born, or if it happened midway. However, you spent time as a slave of Humans, didn't you? And then, together with Arachne……with Kagome, you escaped. Am I correct with this?」
Before Miyabi could give an answer, Sara, who was looking at the brand, raised a loud voice.
「Eliott, this format isn't something from this country. Although there's no mistake that his is the mark of the God of Light, the trait in its shape is……This is, a format of the major power to the east, Rodania.」
「Hey hey, Saraa. In short, what does that meannn?」
Unable to understand the meaning of the words that flew above her head, Shiro expressed her question to Sara.
「That is, in other words……Hey, Eliott. This child……」
「Yeah, that's right.」
While looking at Miyabi who once again had tears rising to her eyes, I answered her.
「This girl, she is a fugitive slave from Rodania.」