The Incubus King of Holy Sword Academy (WN): Chapter II - 2

 

Chapter 2: Memories of Graveyard

"Piercarlo D'Alessio? The vice-president of the Holy Sword Academy's student council?"

"Yeah. And he's also the chairman of the royal capital's newspaper business."

 Christo continued.

"He asked me to help him steal the holy sword from the mountain of the holy tree. The infiltrator was Piercarlo, dressed as a white knight―― yes, the white knight you, Gwendolyn, and Setanta fought with during the extracurricular activities was Piercarlo. Piercarlo infiltrated the mountain of the sacred tree with a group of elven terrorists, his own men, and me."

"That's what you said when you were in the demon's form. After that, the white knight didn't pay you a reward and had a falling out."

"That is a lie. He paid me more than enough. I shook hands with him and we parted at the three-way intersection. My relationship with him continues to this day.”

"Even though you're on good terms with him, you're giving me information about him?"

"Yes, because he will eventually become my enemy."

"――――?"

"The newspapers said that the sword was safe, but that was a lie. The truth is that Piercarlo succeeded in taking it out. It is now in the crater of an active volcano in the Night Empire. ――Piercarlo originally planned to bring out the [Holy Sword that Kills Spirits]. He intended to eliminate the holy sword as a threat to the elves, dwarves, and other spirit species that have been incorporated into human society as slaves, with the intention of causing them to rise up in armed rebellion."

 Patricia put her hand on her chin.

"I see. If they're going to start an armed uprising, the [Holy Sword that Kills Spirits] that releases elven bodily fluids just by holding it is a hindrance. So they tried to steal the holy sword first as a stepping stone for a rebellion."

"Yes. The original of the holy sword is gone, so the elves will not be afraid of the holy sword or the wielder of the pseudo-holy sword. As with vampires, the human side will be without the Holy Sword, which is their weak point."

"Stealing the holy sword that kills the elves with the largest population is a rational decision. ――And yet they stole the [Holy Sword that Kills Devils]? Christo, you can't be serious."

"No way. I cast a spell on the elf collaborators to replace the holy sword they brought out with them. In order to eliminate the holy sword that would be a hindrance to me."

"If that is true, Piercarlo will kill you in the near future."

"That's why I said I would be his enemy in the near future."

"What about Mel?"

 Patricia's eyes were filled with reproach.

"When Piercarlo tries to kill you, won't Mel be harmed as well? Did you switch the holy sword without thinking about that?"

"It hurts when you point it out... But Piercarlo, who knows who I am, was originally going to kill me. I was going to live as a human being in a human society. It would be the same for Piercarlo. How can you be sure that someone who knows your true identity will not go around spreading the word about it to those around them? Sooner or later, he and I would have to kill each other."

"You are both demons, aren't you? And you're going to kill each other?

"We are both demons, that's all. Even if you're human, if you don't like someone, they'll kill each other, right? There is nothing strange about that."

"――――"

"When we try to kill each other, I was going to ask Melvina to hide in Setanta or your parents' house. I was not going to leave my fragile princess in the danger zone. And I was going to stay by her side and guard her until I had an all-out confrontation with Piercarlo."

"You are going to fulfill your responsibilities at the very least."

"Of course. She is my woman. She is my Melvina. ――I won't let anyone take her away from me."

 Christo said, the corners of his mouth twisted.

 For a moment, the image of Melvina, dressed as a bride, kneeling on Christo's manhood and pledging her eternal love flashed through his mind.

 With just that delusion, he feels the excitement that makes his blood boil.

 It is an exquisite moment when her gentle, strong-willed eyes are stained with lust.

 She is Christo's Goddess.

 Christo's black shadow, illuminated by the empty lights of the city, is distorted and transformed into that of an inhuman demon. Huge wings, limbs blazing with golden fire, a magnificent chariot. It is an angelic deformity too beautiful to be a demon. Its intimidating presence even surpasses the intimidation of a hundred dragon clans.

 Christo's mass changed for a moment, and the cobblestone pavement he stepped on cracked wide open.

"――――!?"

"What's wrong?"

"No... I'm just a little dizzy, perhaps because I'm tired."

"Really? Back to the topic of Piercarlo, I'll take action before he turns against me. I'm going to destroy him while he thinks I'm a good business partner."

"So you and I have the same destination. What if he was involved in Shifu's murder?"

"There is no proof that he had anything to do with it. But he was the white knight who ordered me to kill Setanta. And as soon as Setanta became a holy tree, Finn started working before the newspapers got around to it ――under the circumstances, it's natural to assume that he used the newspaper business association's contacts to pass information about Setanta to Finn. At the very least, there is reason enough to interrogate him. If you interrogate him, your own life is in danger if you don't kill him."

“…………”

"If you don't believe me, you can take it upon yourself to find out if he is the white knight. But I will not help you if that puts you in a tight spot, or if you end up charging in a fit at Piercarlo."

"...You and I are collaborators, right?"

"A fool is not a collaborator. If I am a fool, you would mercilessly cut me off, right?"

"No"

"Ha?"

"No"

 Patricia once again denied it in a strong tone.

 She raised her eyebrows tightly, made a fist, and gently nudged Christo's chest.

"You're someone Mel needs. Besides, you're in a very close relationship with her. I have my own feelings about you, but you're a valuable companion now. I will not abandon you. If you are in trouble, I will rescue you."

"I-Is that so..."

“Yes. I will do whatever it takes to keep you alive."

 Saying that, Patricia looked into Christo's eyes from below.

"Is that all?"

“That's all I have to tell you. Now I have some extra advice for you.

"Yes"

"Finn Lou might be trying to kill you."

"Finn?"

"He killed your child. In fact, in the last few days, he's been going around purging all the pro-Setanta groups and anyone else who had a close relationship with you."

"I heard from Father.... I heard that Kelbre was also killed."

"Ah, the knight who admired you? I heard he was beheaded by Finn himself during a joust."

"You thought that if he was going around carefully killing anyone who might threaten him, he would naturally send assassins to kill me as well. Is that what you mean?

"Yes, but this is the king's lap. Moreover, your parents are here now. But to send assassins to kill you is the act of a beast who does not fear authority and does not know the hearts of men. I don't think he would do such a thing."

 Patricia shook her head.

"Finn is not normal. There is a good chance that he will try. But we have knights and armed maids who have fought a hundred battles. No matter what he does, we will capture him and drag him before the king. Thank you for your advice. I will be careful."

“Please do that. ――Well, then, I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

 He turns his back on her and tries to leave in the darkness.

"Christo"

 But before he can do so, he was stopped.

 When he turned around, Patricia's mischievous face was right in front of him.

 Christo's shirt was wide open, and Patricia sniffed somewhat excitedly and pressed her lips against his breast.

 The arm that was quickly wrapped around his back became stronger and he couldn't escape.

 In that state, his chest was sucked all the time.

"Ah, hey! You idiot! Melvina will suspect me if you do that!"

"Nhh... It's Christo's fault for not buttoning your shirt. You're showing off your naughty sex appeal, and you're lacking awareness that you're Mel's fiancé."

"Like I said! Not good... it's the worst."

"No, you can't use healing magic."

 She grabs him by the collar and whispers in his ear.

 Patricia continues with a hint of sadism in her reticent eyes.

"Slow down your regeneration too, okay? Every time you ejaculate on Mel tonight, you'll think of me."

"...What you're doing is making Melvina sad."

"I won't allow you to make Mel sad. Do it so that it won't be found out. If you do it right, I will serve you well the next time I fuck you."

"Is that how you play?"

"Yes"

 Patricia chuckled and quickly buttoned Christo's shirt.

"Farewell for a while. Let's meet in the former Soderholm territory next time."

"……Yeah"

“I won’t masturbate either. I might show you a lot, a lot of naughty me."

"――――"

"Take care of Mel."

 Saying that, Patricia left Christo behind and quickly returned to the mansion.

 All that was left behind was the figure of Christo, who had been left half-dead.

 × × ×

 Melvina met her mentor when she was still in the early days of her life.

 She was poisoned by her mother and almost died when she was pushed into the "Meteor Valley'' at the edge of the Hero's territory, but her brother Setanta, who helped her at that time, introduced her to a teacher.

"You stay here for a while"

 Carrying Melvina on his back, Setanta came to the front of the small pit dwelling and disappeared, leaving Melvina at the door. The poison her mother had given her had already metabolized, and her broken hands and feet from the fall had already healed naturally.

 Stranded in front of a suspicious house on a dark night, Melvina got up on her own and knocked on the door of the house to ask for help.

 That was the beginning of her relationship with a strange old woman who did not seem human at all.

 Welcome to the Shadow Castle――.

 Melvina's teacher always used this phrase to guide her to the dark basement during her lectures. As a young girl, Melvina hated the long, dark staircase that led to the basement.

 She couldn't see anything, it was cold, damp, and smelled of thick humus.

 The leather of the beast she wore stank as she walked behind her mentor, and an eerie sound that reminded Melvina of the voice of a dead spirit reached her ears incessantly.

 The mentor had saved her life, even more than Setanta, but Melvina was very uncomfortable with her.

"Come in"

 Down the stairs was a small wooden door, and when the door opened, a wide, dark underground space stretched endlessly to the side. There Melvina learned the art of living as a herbalist.

"That's the deer's heart. Can you feel it? It's slowly weakening, isn't it?"

 The master, who had forced Melvina to rip open the deer's belly, whispered in her ear.

 A voice that is cold and does not make her feel even a fragment of affection.

"That is death. That's what it means to kill a living thing."

 Melvina will never forget the feeling of death that she was taught along with the art of living.

 In order to survive in the harsh environment of the hero territory, one must have strength.

 Without power, they are simply taken away, violated, and their dignity trampled upon.

 She also believed that power is something that grows by feeding on the deaths of others.

"I don't want to kill living things anymore"

"――――"

"Sensei?"

"I've always wondered why you call yourself [boku]. You're a woman, aren't you?"

“Mother told me to say so. I'm a man. I'm the heir to the...... hero family.

"You're a woman. You idiot."

 The old woman smiled.

"Even if the world is turned upside down, you can't become a man."

"But I can't become a hero unless I'm a man."

"A hero is a state of mind. ――Come on. I'll teach you how to use a sword today. Or do you prefer a spear?"

"What about the deer?"

"After exercising, they become our flesh and blood and live forever in us. We use their bones and skins to repair our homes. They watch over us all the time."

 The old woman was large, and despite her age, she moved with the agility of a beast.

 There seemed to be no end to her training, and once she started, she seemed to move around for three days.

 However, when Melvina came out of the basement, the position of the sun had changed only a little from before she entered the basement.

 Perhaps the sun had circled the mountain and returned to its original position ――that's what she thought.

“You have returned from the land of the dead. The time that had stopped is starting to move again. Tomorrow, I will put you to the test again."

 × × ×

"――――"

 Melvina's consciousness returned from her meditative state.

 Melvina woke up in a dark basement.

 For a moment, she was prepared to think that she was in a basement that smelled of graveyard, but upon closer inspection, she realized that it was the basement of the "Muma's Cradle," where Melvina and Christo are renting a room.

 The floor of the basement is lined with square block rocks, iron rods, and iron weights to be attached to the limbs for muscle training.

 The original agreement was not to rent the basement, but she later rented this room as well on the condition that she would clean up the basement.

 Christo eats a lot, but Melvina eats even more, so they were thinking of using it for food storage, but the basement was too big, so they converted it into a space for Melvina's training. She had no problem using the facilities at the Holy Sword Academy, but since the last time she witnessed a second-year male student touching the training weights with a hand that was scratching his crotch, Melvina has been using this basement exclusively.

(...It's the worst. I remembered a bad memory from the past again.)

 With a sigh, Melvina began to put away the training equipment.

 She was sure it was because she went back to the hero territory to say goodbye to her master.

 She is deeply grateful to the old woman, but her gratitude is clouded by the days of almost abusive training.

 She hates fighting.

 She hates killing living things.

 However, her master regularly tells her to slash a person or a monster.

 If she doesn't, she says, her sword will become dull and useless.

 She understands what she is saying, but she can't help but feel an aversion to taking a life.

 Reason puts a stop to it.

 She must not enjoy killing.

 Melvina has the blood of one of the best killers in the kingdom of Yggdrasil flowing through her veins. It is the instinct of a beast. When it comes to fighting, adrenaline rushes through her body, a tremendous pleasure that is different from the one she feels when Christo makes love to her. Melvina fears and hates the savage parts of her own body.

(I'm hungry ......Christo-san has gone to see sister-in-law Patricia, and while I'm at it......)

 Melvina finished putting away the forging equipment and walked toward the dismantling work desk in the corner of the basement.

 On the desk was a large plate, and on the plate were piles of bones of many birds and animals.

 They are bones with hard sinews attached to them.

 There were also leftovers of meat on the bone, with only the meat part removed.

 Melvina reached for a bone that had just been fried and sprinkled with salt.

 Crunch*, Munch*, Crunch*――――.

 She began to eat it slowly.

 Melvina's strong teeth easily chewed, gnawed, and crushed the bones of the bird and beast.

 When she swallows the bones, Melvina's internal organs jump with a thump as if her body is pleased, and soon after, she feels the bony flesh of her limbs strengthen with a clinking sound.

 Although she could maintain her muscles without eating bones with only plant foods, Melvina still felt stronger with the beast's flesh and bone in her belly.

 Since she began to stay in her master's basement, Melvina's growth rate has been noticeably slower than that of other girls her age, and this occasional consumption of bones has further encouraged her body's growth.

 Ordinary people rarely have their bones strengthened by eating bones, but Melvina, Setanta, Finn, and the rest of the hero family are an exception to this rule.

 When Setanta, too, had been severely injured in battle, he would eat a basketful of bones in the dining room.

“Ngh……………. Haa.”

 Melvina picked up the last remaining bone on the plate and looked down at it with melancholy eyes.

 She'll never show Christo this kind of picture.

 He would think Melvina was a monster or something and would be horrified if he ever saw a woman gobbling bones alone in a basement.

 The Melvina that Christo liked would probably be the Melvina of a weak, pretty, and frail noblewoman.

(But if I don't eat and become strong, I will end up being Christo's doll.)

 Melvina is unable to produce a successor who can use the holy arts that Christo seems to need. Her body isn't as smooth as Patricia's, and it's not comfortable to hold.

 Eventually, Christo will have a more capable mother who will monopolize his bedtime activities. There will be plenty of women in the country who will want to be with the "Hero of the North".

 When that happens, what will Melvina's value be?

 Would she be able to walk beside him?

 The answer was obvious.

 So, she had to be strong enough to be needed by Christo.

(And if I train myself, I can live on my own even when Christo-san abandons me. ......I can't think like that! I feel good! I feel happy! Hello, I'm the awe-inspiring Melvina!)

“Fufufu, what is awe-inspiring Melvina, ahahaha?”

 Melvina gave a small laugh in the dark and stood up, throwing the last bone into her mouth.

 As she did so, her golden hair, tied in a single strand behind her head, softly brushed her cheek.

 Melvina frowned at the smell of her own sweat.

"It smells like a beast..."

 One of the adverse effects that come out of eating the bones of beasts is the problem of body odor.

 For Melvina, who always wanted to be a beautiful girl with a good smell, it was the part she was most concerned about.

(That's right! Come to think of it, I brought back some alchemy products from my parents' house. I've been told by Christo to come to bed tonight, so I'm going to do my best to take care of it!)

 Several soaps, oils, detergents, and perfumes come to Melvina's mind.

 Finally ――a very special depilatory drug came to mind.

 In fact, after returning to her parents' house and finding a secret weapon, Melvina had secretly carried out a full-body hair removal plan. While her parents' house is in a state of turmoil and there are deaths in jousting, Melvina was eagerly removing her pubic hair to get rid of the bad luck.

(I asked Princess Yufimia and all the maids about it, and they told me that men would prefer a smooth woman like a baby to a hairy woman. From a hygienic point of view, smooth is the only way to go, and from now on, I should use depilatories on a regular basis while improving them).

 First, tonight, she will show off her beautifully renewed self and have Christo praise her.

 Where did the gloomy feeling she had when she came back from meditation go? Melvina had a flower garden in her head and began to prepare the bathtub impatiently.