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Frecia’s friendly fire. Blocking the magical bullet was difficult with the whip I was holding, and dodging it was out of the question due to Lilith hanging onto my pant leg, rendering me immobile. Ultimately, in this flustered situation, unable to do anything, I got hit right on the backside.

Surely, it had to be a friendly fire incident.

“Boss…! Eek!”

Noticing that she had shot me by mistake, Frecia quickly called out to Lilith, hoping she wouldn’t attack her again, but in the meantime, Gomtaengi rushed in and lifted me up. He was probably trying to protect me in a hurry. But why was Gomtaengi lifting me up and making me lie down? Bad memories of being caught by Gomtaengi a few days ago began to resurface.

“Uh, Gomtaengi…? I’m fine, so put me down… Hey, what’s going on! Why are my pants down?! Hey! Stop! That’s not what I meant by ‘put me down’!”

Kicking and struggling to escape, I found it was as futile as last time. Meanwhile, the rest of the group had already drawn close.

“Don’t look! Don’t look! Gomtaengi, pull up my pants before you get scolded later!”

As I was flustered, suddenly having to show my underwear in front of the group, Frecia began to approach me slowly.

“B-boss… No, right?”

I tried to smile at Frecia and get out of this situation, but she silently gazed down at me, then slowly raised her hand.

Smack!

“Eek!”

*

In the now-wall-less room, Lilith and I were kneeling before the group.

No matter how much I had caused worry, I thought hitting my bare behind in front of others was a bit too much. Let alone being made to kneel like this.

However, the expressions of the group were quite serious, so I could only squirm around, shyly expressing how sore my knees were.

Beside me, Lilith also looked quite funny kneeling beside me. Instead of sneaking away while the attention was on me, she just stood there blankly, watching me get hit and kneeling.

Then, as if she remembered something, she pointed at herself, then pointed at me, and finally pointed at Frecia standing in front of me. After pondering for a moment, she clapped her hands lightly, then dutifully came to kneel next to me.

What on earth is she doing?

“So, you’re one of the Four Heavenly Kings?”

Almost suffocating under the gaze of the three people silently staring at me, Frecia finally broke the silence and asked Lilith.

“Yes! For now, anyway, Great Master!”

“Great Master” – does this title refer to Frecia? No, if we’re counting that way, I’m taller than Frecia, so shouldn’t I be the Great Master?

“Honestly, I really don’t want to do something as bothersome as being one of the Four Heavenly Kings, but those stalkers are the ones who started calling me one. If you tell me to quit, I’ll quit right away! Not that there’s anything to quit since it was never my intention in the first place.”

“…Is this really one of the Four Heavenly Kings?”

Lindy furrowed her brows, murmuring as she observed Lilith, who answered with a bright smile devoid of any malice. Honestly, I still couldn’t believe someone as ditzy as her could be one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

“Well… that’s how it is. It’s also what I know.”

In my previous life, Selian had defeated one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and that was Lilith. Back then, I had no time to even talk and went straight into battle, so I never imagined she would turn out to be this kind of character.

“Ha… I really could never have imagined this development. Elysia, how far do you need to go to be satisfied?”

“Of course, my goal is the Demon King. Why are you suddenly asking after everything we already know?”

“…Why doesn’t it sound weird coming from you? Is it my ears that are strange?”

Leaving aside the position of a Hero, I have no intention of giving up until I achieve the goal of defeating the Demon King. Even if I die before that.

“Hey! Then is she joining us now?”

Feeling out of place, Luna spun around me and Lilith, observing her before finally asking me. Looking at Luna, she didn’t seem to be joking; she appeared serious.

“Hey! Do you think that makes sense…!”

But before I could answer, Lindy cut in and scolded Luna. It’s ludicrous to bring along a demon, let alone one of the Four Heavenly Kings and a Succubus Queen. This wasn’t just any party; this was a Hero’s party!

“Ah, are you taking her with you?”

Why is she taking this so seriously?

“Do you think that makes sense?”

“I’ll listen to you and Great Master. You can hit me with the whip just like before! So please, don’t throw me away.”

“Elysia?”

Even just asking to spare her life should have been enough, yet here she was throwing around phrases like “great master” and “whip” that left me awkwardly speechless. Just look at how Frecia and Lindy were staring down at me with icy glares, all because of misunderstanding from Lilith’s words.

“Well… it’s because she’s a naturally charming Succubus Queen, but she’s a good girl, you know? She’s still young and hasn’t really caused anyone any harm.”

Anyway, since we had agreed to spare her for the time being, I tried to persuade them instead of letting Lilith create more misunderstandings.

“Ugh, I really have no idea anymore. You do your thing, Frecia. I’ll defer to your opinion.”

At least Lindy seemed to relent to my persuasion, letting out a big sigh and stepping back. It was practically the same as giving her consent. Now all that remained was to convince Frecia.

However, looking at Frecia, who had been silently staring at me, it didn’t seem that persuading her would be easy.

“Hehe… Great Master. I’m confident in that area! If you want, I can serve you anytime!”

“Stop misunderstanding and saying such things!”

“First, can you scatter those under you?”

Fortunately, Frecia didn’t seem particularly bothered by Lilith’s words and instead voiced her main purpose for being here. Truly, it was typical of Frecia to calmly think about her original intention instead of getting swept up in the current chaotic situation.

“Well… they’ve probably all scattered on their own by now, I guess?”

In response to Lilith’s words, Frecia nodded slightly instead of individually responding, urging her to continue.

“Here! Do you see it?”

At Frecia’s prompting, Lilith quickly raised her hand, pointing to one of her horns protruding above her head. Normally they would both be sharp, but one of them had been slightly sheared off during my fight with her and my holy sword.

“Due to the broken horn, I lost control over them momentarily, so my allure must have worn off. Maybe if we meet again, but for now, they probably came to their senses and scattered.”

As I casually picked up the broken tip of the horn lying on the ground, Lilith showed indifference to it. After all, being the owner of the horn, she was probably more concerned about creating a bribe later by offering it to Frecia as research material.

If this horn belonged to a high-ranking Succubus Queen, magic users from all over the world would be eager to seize it. Frecia, being a natural magician, would certainly be pleased as well.

I swear it’s not like I’m preparing for the chance of getting hit on the backside again!

“However, if you take me with you, it’ll be easier to get past my stalkers later on! Right now, I’m not controlling them, but meeting face to face is totally different.”

The willingness to spare her life had been my original thought, yet if what Lilith said was true, the situation changed.

As far as I was concerned, I wouldn’t mind if Lilith didn’t harm humans, but I’d prefer her to kill more demons. Nonetheless, I couldn’t keep going on in this stagnant situation without properly defeating both the Demon King and the Four Heavenly Kings. If, as Lilith said, she joined us, we could act more flexibly, and perhaps find a different approach toward the other Heavenly Kings and the Demon King.

“Instead, there’s a condition.”

“Yes, please go ahead!”

“You must follow my orders without question. Even if Elysia says something strange, my words come first. If you keep that in mind, I’ll take you along with me.”

“Of course! I’ll work hard, Great Master!”

Upon hearing Frecia’s acceptance of what was effectively a permission, Lilith sprang up to hug Frecia. It was a bold act that contrasted sharply with her earlier attempts to curry favor by calling her great master, but Frecia merely pushed Lilith away gently, without objection.

So Lilith’s matter was settled, and maybe it was time to head back?

As I tried to slowly rise from my place, a heavy hand pressed down on my shoulder.

“Elysia, you stay seated for now.”

“Uh?”

What? Frecia was now looking down at me with an even colder gaze than when she had been looking at Lilith earlier. Even Lindy, who had taken a step back, had stepped forward again.

“Elysia, it’s not over yet.”

I had to sit through an entire hour of Frecia and Lindy’s scolding about taking care of myself and stopping the weird behaviors, etc. I knew full well how careless I had been, so I quietly listened to their scolding while reflecting on my actions.

Throughout it all, I couldn’t help but find, quite annoying, Lilith smiling behind Frecia now that she was free.

Anyway, even though things got a little tangled up along the way, we managed to safely conclude our first defeat of one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

 

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