“Su… Succubus Queen?!?!”
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes in shock.
“Hehe… that’s right. I am the great goddess of lust, the queen of nightmares! Legion Commander Sephir.”
“Not anymore, though.”
“Ugh.”
As Athena glared at her, Sephir immediately lowered her tail. In her timid appearance, there was no trace of the legion commander’s dignity.
‘By the way, a Succubus Queen…’
I had roughly heard about last night’s events through Athena.
She had tried to kidnap me and force me to become her servant while I was incapacitated from drinking. But before that could happen, she got caught by Athena. In the moment when her head was about to fly off from Athena’s strike, I begged Athena for my life.
And that’s how her life was spared up until now.
‘That does sound familiar…’
Faint memories began to resurface. I vaguely remember seeing Athena swinging her sword at someone in my hazy mind. I decided to intervene to stop Athena from killing, hoping she would show mercy.
“Hera, if your mind has changed, I can kill you at any time. After all, you’re a demon race, right?”
“Eep?!! He… Hera..! P-Please let me live!!”
Sephir knelt, looking up at me with both hands pleading. I felt a sense of discomfort at her pitiful state.
The fourth legion commander, Succubus Queen Sephir. In the original story, she was the weakest among the four commanders, yet still quite a bothersome opponent.
Possessing the ‘power of seduction’ that enthralls the minds of others, she had turned Robin’s companions against him. Our righteous protagonist Robin could never bring himself to hurt those who were once his friends, and he struggled for quite some time.
In the end, with the Saintess’s help, he managed to heal his companions from Sephir’s enchantment, but the Succubus Queen remained a tricky adversary. The monsters she commanded ravaged countless villages, and her superior camouflage allowed her to destabilize various factions within the empire.
A troublesome foe attacking from both inside and out. That was Sephir.
Yet now…
Guh… sniff… I don’t want to die……. Hera… I’ll do my best, okay?
With tears and snot flowing, she was begging me to accept her as my servant.
When I looked at Athena with a questioning expression, she shrugged and said,
“I thought it might be useful to attach her to you as a servant. Just do as you like, Hera.”
“What happens if I refuse…?”
At my question, Athena grinned cruelly at Sephir.
“Unnecessary items should be disposed of, right?”
“N-No!! Hera, please…!”
It seemed my decision was tied to Sephir’s life.
So, a servant, huh?
That had been mentioned a few times in the novel.
A relationship formed through contracts. You could bind various beings like spirit beasts, mythical creatures, and beasts to be your servants, who would protect their master when danger arose. In return, the master had to provide a certain reward. Usually, they were given mana or something tangible.
But…
The Succubus Queen becoming my servant…?
Is this really okay?
Noticing my anxious gaze, Athena patted my head and reassured me.
“It’s fine. There’s absolutely no harm to the master in the servant contract. Normally, you’d have to pay a reward regularly, but…”
Athena glanced at Sephir with a somewhat chilling smile.
“You won’t need to do that, will you?”
Sephir immediately answered without hesitation.
“Yup! I only need the master’s attention!! I don’t need anything else!!”
“That’s not allowed.”
“Uh…?”
The mood suddenly turned icy at Athena’s words.
“Who do you think you are, demanding Hera’s attention?”
“Eeek… I… I actually don’t need anything!! I prefer no rewards!! Yup! Absolutely!! … sniff”
Sephir struggled to speak while her eyes brimmed with tears, eliciting a sympathetic sentiment in me.
I pondered for a moment before responding.
“…Alright. I’ll make the contract.”
A bright light illuminated Sephir’s face upon hearing my words.
“R-Really?!!”
“Really, Hera?”
“Yeah.”
Though I felt uneasy about binding a demon as my servant, Athena assured me there would be no issues, so it wouldn’t matter.
Moreover, she was one of the highest-ranking powers, right after the Demon King. Having her on our side could be incredibly advantageous.
And for some reason, I wished she wouldn’t die. Had I grown attached to her somehow?
It seemed we were only just meeting for the first time, so I couldn’t comprehend where this attachment was coming from.
‘Right… it’s my first time seeing her today, so why…’
Today for the first time…
For the first time…..
…….
Hmm… Should I do it? I see…
Slurp – Chomp – Smooch
Hmph… Ha…
Haah… Seductive…
….
Time passed, and the fog that had clouded my mind gradually lifted. The memories that had vanished began to resurface slowly.
It was the act I had done to comfort Athena yesterday.
But the more I remembered, the more it seemed like the recipient wasn’t Athena.
It was definitely… Athena, right?
Without a doubt…
Yet the memory did not recall radiant blonde hair but continued to conjure up the dazzling cherry blossom-colored hair.
Just like Sephir’s pink hair.
‘W-Wait, could it be that…’
The person I had sucked fingers and licked ears wasn’t Athena but…
“S-Se-Sephir..”
“Yup?”
She looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Did… did you… lick my ear yesterday?”
“Ah…”
At my words, her cheeks reddened in embarrassment.
It seemed it was indeed true.
Boom-
A sound burst in my head.
In that instant, my mind went completely blank, and my face turned as red as a ripe tomato.
‘M-M-Must be out of my mind, Hera!’
No matter how tipsy I was, this was too much.
How could I not distinguish between the person in front of me?
Are you even human?
No wonder Sephir felt oddly familiar.
To suck on a finger and lick the ear of someone I just met…
How perverted must I have seemed?
‘Just die… just die…’
I was overwhelmed with self-loathing. But thankfully or unfortunately, I could shake it off quickly.
“…… Ear what?”
A voice colder than hell echoed from behind me.
Hic.
Sephir and I both let out hiccups at the same time.
Turning my head, I saw Athena staring at me with a calm glare, like the eye of a storm.
“What were you two doing?”
My body was drenched in cold sweat at her words.
I didn’t know why Athena was acting this way, but I had a feeling that if I answered wrong, irreversible consequences would follow.
Sephir and I exchanged glances and communicated through our eyes like we were on the same wavelength.
“Uh… No?! We… we were just talking about how cool Hera’s ears are! That’s all, right, Hera??”
“Uh… um… yes! They were really neat because they stick out… Nothing else happened at all!”
Sephir and I matched our responses perfectly, as if we were childhood buddies.
Despite being a demon race, there was a sense of camaraderie forming in that moment.
“….. Really?”
“Yup!! Of course!! What were you thinking?”
“I… I’m hungry! Should we eat breakfast?!”
Noticing something suspicious in the sudden change of topic, Athena looked at me skeptically.
After observing me for a while, she let out a sigh and dropped her suspicion.
“… Okay. We have things to discuss anyway.”
I gulped nervously as I managed to evade disaster.
As Sephir and I exchanged relieved glances, Athena continued.
“Before that, you two need to make your contract.”
…
Servant contract.
A contract that binds a life to the master, allowing them to command as a servant.
At first glance, it seems similar to a slave contract, but it’s quite different.
First, the master cannot impose any restrictions on the servant.
However, if the master dies, the servant dies along with them, so they must protect their master regardless.
By taking a servant, the master gains access to a fraction of the servant’s powers.
If I were to bind Sephir, I could use her powers, albeit slightly.
That’s about it. It wasn’t a grand contract.
Also, from what Athena told me, the process of making the servant contract was surprisingly simple.
Sephir would drink my blood, and then she would recite a pledge of loyalty to me.
When I heard “drink my blood,” I thought it would be like a vampire sucking blood with fangs, but it turned out she only needed a single drop.
Athena, who didn’t want to see Sephir’s tongue touching my skin, took a spoonful of my blood and fed it to her.
“I, Sephir… pledge to serve Hera for a lifetime… And when she dies… I shall join her in the earth to sleep forever… sniff”
Sephir looked forlorn, as if she were being sold off to some labor camp.
In truth, now she was in a completely collar-bound state…it made sense for her to feel that way.
I hadn’t asked for this, but a sense of guilt crept in.
Once she finished her oath, a magical circle dimly illuminated between us, perhaps signaling that our pact was complete.
‘It’s okay, Sephir…’
Although she became my servant, I had no intention of using her recklessly. I didn’t actually want to give her any orders at all.
Though the title “servant” may imply otherwise, there likely wouldn’t be much difference in reality. Of course, I’d ensure she wouldn’t do anything bad.
Seeing Sephir crying sadly, Athena grinned brightly and said,
“What do you want for breakfast?”
…But can demon races eat?
…
“Seems you do eat.”
“Num-num?”
Sephir answered me, her mouth full of food.
“No, take your time eating…”
We were at the inn’s dining room, having a simple meal.
While eating, Athena shared some startling news she wanted to discuss with me.
She mentioned that she was able to gather various information about the Demon King and his plans from Sephir.
However, what surprised me even more was why Sephir had come to this place.
She had come in search of clues about a dragon hatchling, bringing various monsters and servants along.
“Thinking of taming a dragon, huh? As expected, demon races are fools.”
“Wh-What?!”
I must have hit a sore spot, as after swallowing her food, Sephir hastily retorted.
“What do you mean fools! What do you think of this Succubus Queen’s allure?!”
Athena looked at Sephir with a disappointed expression.
“And what exactly do you think you are in attempting to tame a dragon?”
“W-What?!”
“Droans have no parents. They don’t need them. They are born, not just born from flesh.”
Athena pointed her knife at Sephir and continued speaking.
“They are made of infinite mana and are perfect beings from birth. That’s a dragon. Even if it’s a hatchling, its essence does not change. Your alluring seduction will likely get buried beneath the dragon’s mana and disappear like the wind.”
“Ugh…!”
“They are arrogant but absolute. There is no race that surpasses them in this world. Do you really think taming them is plausible?”
“….”
“That’s why they’re called fools. Even I can’t tame a dragon. They are not beings who fall under anyone.”
After saying this, Athena set down her knife to slice her meat and continued her meal.
Sephir wore a conflicted expression, but having no valid rebuttal, she sulked and began eating in silence, following Athena.
Athena’s words claiming that dragons could never be tamed resonated with me; I recalled it was written that way in the novel as well.
Surely she was correct.
‘Still, I’d like to see a dragon, though.’
But not long after that…
I was able to fulfill that wish of mine.
Along with an unimaginable occurrence, nonetheless.
…
The claim that dragons cannot be tamed…
It seems Athena was wrong about that.
…
“………What the hell is this?”
Athena stared at me with a bewildered look on her face.
“Looks like it might really love Hera, huh?”
Sephir seemed just as shocked, staring at me with wide eyes.
More specifically, at my shoulder.
“Kyu!!”
Perched on my shoulder was a creature about the size of a small dog.
It resembled a lizard, but unlike regular lizards, it was covered in thick green scales and had two pairs of wings that were definitely not standard.
Yes. It was a dragon hatchling.
I could only look blankly ahead, having this creature resting on my shoulder.
“…Uh?”
What on earth was going on?
“Kyu!!”
…Wasn’t it said that dragons were obnoxious?
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