Author: SS Samurai | Original Source: Syosetu |
Translator: rm31439 | English Source: Re:Library |
Somewhere in Hell Forest.
In the headquarters of the demons… there was a residence.
Now, there were three demons and a single little girl in that place.
“That’s right,” Mephistophales told them, “I ask you to guard her, you know~! Mr. Asmodens and Mx.1 Astarohd.”
“Uh… Where…?” the little girl stammered.
Mephistophales had brough her along. This little girl was princess Karua.
Now, the kidnapped princess seemed to wake up.
“Hey, boss Mephistophales… Is it fine if I ‘have some fun’ with her?” one of the demons asked with a vulgar expression.
“Yes, the sacrifice doesn’t specifically need to be a ‘virgin~’! Just don’t kill her, alright? By all means, feel free to do whatever you want, Mr. Asmodens!”
“Muah-ha-ha-ha! I slept for so long, since I had to hold myself back for 300 years, too… So I don’t particularly mind she’s a bit young… A human girl again after 300 years, let’s have some fun.”
“Eek!?”
Thus, Asmodens was vulgarly licking his lips in anticipation. He mainly possessed the powers of lust and envy.
He had a bizarre appearance, too; the upper half of his body was that of a normal human, with a human head in the middle. But then, he had a bull’s head on his right shoulder, an ewe’s head on his left and his lower half was even more grotesque, with the legs of a rooster and the tail of a snake.2
He was a monster in human form.
“If not so, Mr. Asmodens. As expected of the embodiment of Lust, right~?”
“Hey, hey, you’re saying that wrong. Call it greedy, ‘greedy for sexual knowledge’.”
“Both feel like the same thing… Well, alright. Please, Mx. Astarohd, I ask you to make sure Princess Karua does not die prematurely, right~?”
“(Yeah, I get it, but… that’s such a bother.)” Astarohd replied in a muffled voice.
They mainly possessed the power of sloth3 and usually covered their mount with cloth. The reason for that was the deadly poison in their breath. There was currently also a deadly venomous pet-snake coiled around their left arm.
Furthermore, they had a split personality. The first (the usual one) was male. Only on days when the moon was clearly visible, did their gender switch to female. When the personality changed, the body did, too.
Currently, they seemed to be female.
“That’s it, I still have some errands to run~! Sincerely, will you please look after the princess~? Well, also watch out if humans come here – though they normally shouldn’t – just in case. Bye then.”
Saying that, Mephistophales turned into smoke and left for who knows where.
“Yahoo~! Then, right now, I’ll have some fun with this girl, yeah? What about you… say, are you female today?”
“(It will be a pain either way. I’ll move. While I play with Snakey, you can do whatever you want.)”
“For devil’s sake, then don’t join me. Oh, well. First, let’s get you in the mood…”
“No, stop… Please, don’t come any closer!”
“You may say no, but you actually mean yes, don’t you?
The eyes of Asmodens’ bull head shone red, while they glared at Karua. This was his ability.
Usually, a change would occur in the lower body of his victim, causing them to feel strangely hot, but, for some reason, nothing happened this time.
Something like a thin membrane surrounded princess Karua. It somehow kept Asmodens’ ability from getting through.
“Son of a bi̲tch! The little sh̲it pulled up a defensive barrier,” Asmodens yelled. “Will it hold up to my punch? Let’s see.”
The barrier was undaunted by his full powered strike.
“Fu̲ck! You know, that’s no ordinary defensive barrier!? Hey, Astarohd. Help me break that!”
“(No way, I’m tired, impossible.)”
“You damn…”
“(Or rather, she’s a royal princess, so her holding something like that isn’t unusual. Give it up. Wait until Mr. Mephistophales comes back.)”
“Tch… What kind of beast can endure having tasty looking food dangled in front of its eyes? I’ll smash this wall. Watch me, you lazy, poisonous demon!”
“(Lazy, poisonous demon…?)”
Princess Karua had an idea, where the barrier protecting her was coming from. Most likely, it was generated by the ornament, Alim had given her…
Once again, she had the actual feeling, that Alim protected her from the dirty man.
At this time, wouldn’t everyone be asleep? Or, did they notice her disappearance and start to move?
That jester had called her a “sacrifice”. In other words, someone who would be killed at some point. Dying tremendously terrified her.
Would she, once again, be nothing but a bother to her friends? To begin with, would they even come here to save her?
All things considered, she had no idea how long this wall would hold. Because Alim created it, it should hold long, but… what if it was broken? What would become of her chastity?
Thus, her thoughts went in circles, causing her such dread.
“Heh! It’s great, isn’t it, that face warped by fear! I love the face of a woman right before she’s being used as a plaything! But… you know, this barrier is still in the way, isn’t it?”
How long would this situation continue?
Princess Karua, seeing no way to escape by herself, fought the terror while she frantically tried to think.
TL notes:
It’s nice (or not so nice for Karua), that we’re getting some more information about the demons. Looks like Faust was in good company with these guys, at least judging from how Asmodens acts.
Footnotes:
- I used the gender-neutral honorific here, since, as we learn later, Astarohd can be both male and female.
- This is pretty much how Asmodeus is depicted in Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal.
See also https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Asmodeus.jpg - There were two variations in the original (they possessed the powers of sloth and laziness). I’m not sure if the author tries to use the common theme of the 7 deadly sins here, but it seemed redundant, so I changed it to sloth only.