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Lust Demons can be broken down into three categories: the carnal branch, the beguiling branch and the combat branch. In practical terms, the beguiling branch and the combat branch can basically be combined into one branch.

Certain Lust Demons are blessed with exceptional talent, displaying traits of both the beguiling and the combat branch. These Lust Demons are particularly frightening. Their combat traits give them unthinkable close combat prowess while their beguiling traits allows them to entrance their opponents. Whatever they can’t solve with strength, their charms can most likely handle, and vice versa. There is rarely anything these Devils can’t handle, making them a truly unique existence amongst Devils.

From My Kingdom for a Lust Demon

I stared at the disappearing silhouettes of the Warhorses. The battle had ended, but my heart refused to calm down. There wasn’t any danger to speak of in that encounter; even if Warwraith tried anything funny, my golems could easily smack him away. No. What really made my heart pound was that I had just declared war on the Warhorses.

The horn of a Nightmare Steed was something I had to have. Yet the status of a Nightmare Steed within its race was anything but ordinary; every such Warhorse bore the rank of a Grand Elder. Furthermore, the horn of a Nightmare Steed had greater significance to a Nightmare Steed than a Devil and his horns. Should a Devil lose his horns, he would at most suffer restrictions on his abilities. Should a Nightmare Steed ever lose his horn… he would ultimately die…

Naturally, a horn from a dead Nightmare Steed was fine too, I wasn’t picky. However, with their supreme position within Warhorse society, I wouldn’t be surprised if such horns were treated as sacred objects. As a symbol of their strongest warriors, there was no way they would simply hand one over just because I asked. Without a doubt, they would fight to the death to protect such an object.

The best case scenario would be if I managed to subjugate their race while obtaining the required horn. After all, I wasn’t trying to conquer Sable Radiance just for the sake of becoming an overlord; I had deeper goals.

In a fight between my golems and those Warhorses, the Warhorses clearly had the advantage in speed and agility. Should they choose to avoid a head on confrontation, instead choosing to employ guerilla tactics, I would have a headache inducing battle ahead. With that in mind, it was best for me to take things one step at a time. If need be, I could place the matter of the horn on the backburner first.

For now, what had to be sorted out was this batch of Devils that I had just rescued.

“Mama, that Devil over there seems to want to talk to you.”

As I was mulling over the upcoming battle, my precious baby took the initiative to interrogate the Devils. While she had always been an active one, it was fortunate that she knew to share my burden from time to time.

“Most esteemed one of the Fallen Angel bloodlines… we are the servants of Mistress Jeerah. Right this very moment, Mistress Jeerah is being threatened by those Warhorses. We seek your aid in rescuing our mistress…O one of esteemed bloodlines, hear the pleas of your subjects…grant us aid…”

The Flame Demon Child immediately knelt upon being brought over by Mo Na. It was a female Flame Demon Child who came before me; I had almost gotten used to the habit of viewing them through their souls now. Yet, I couldn’t but feel that something was off about her. If I had to place a finger on it…

I swept my eyes across the gathered Devils. Over three hundred low level Devils, mostly males and barely any females -less than ten percent even.

That wasn’t normal at all. While it was normal for there to be more male Devils than females, the disparity shouldn’t be this big. Strictly speaking, there was no gender differential in terms of combat strength amongst low level Devils. In other words, gender had nothing to do with combat strength.

Putting aside that gender disparity for now, I had another question that needed answering. “Who is Jeerah?”

“Mistress Jeerah is our master.” The Flame Demon Child kept her head down while she continued to plead. “We just came over from the Prison of the Dead, landing at the teleportation point not too far from here. We barely got our bearings when we were set upon by the Warhorses. They wanted to capture us for food but Mistress Jeerah strongly objected to that. However, our enemies were too strong. Thus, I led the greater portion of our forces away as a diversion while Mistress Jeerah retreated to safety…”

If the Warhorses were just out hunting for food, it would make sense for them to chase after the side that had more Devils. However, based on what I knew of their speed and strength, they most likely would have split off a smaller force to chase after the other group.

In other words, Jeerah wasn’t safe right now.

That was precisely why this Flame Demon Child was pleading for my aid. Still… a Devil aiding another Devil… sure, the entire Devil race was the creation of Lucifer. And as the head of the Seven Original Sins, the Original Sin of Pride could be counted as the head of all the other races, but… why should I help them for nothing?

“Mama, that Jeerah Devil actually has a name!” Just as I was mulling over that issue, my daughter’s surprised exclamation reminded me of something important.

‘A name…she does have a name.’

A Devil normally wouldn’t come up with a name for itself. Just like how human names were all given by the elders of that household, there was also no way for a newborn to name itself. That was a reason why the majority of my subordinates had no names, barring those with a position.

‘A named Devil, regardless of whether it gave itself the name or someone else gave it that name, is still a fascinating occurrence. I guess I’ll take a look at least. Who knows, I might just bump into Warwraith again… the look on his face then…’

I smiled and ruffled Mo Na’s hair. “Lead on.”

Hearing that I had agreed to her request, she immediately jumped to her feet, not forgetting to thank me before that. Following which, she sprinted off. “Over here…before we split off, Mistress Jeerah retreated in this direction…”

“I never said that you would be leading us.”

“But…didn’t your esteemed self just promise to help?”

“Sinmosa.”

Faced with her accusatory glare, I merely rolled my eyes before turning towards Sinmosa. She grinned back at me. With a kick of her muscled limbs, she sped past the Flame Demon Child who was still in daze after being called out by me.

Since Jeerah was a named Devil, and even knew how to split up to run, she must have possessed an above average level of intelligence. In that case, she most likely would have changed direction while escaping. Could a normal Devil ever compete with a Hellhound’s nose? Obviously not. That was why leading the way should be left to the likes of Sinmosa and Sasani.

“Keep close!”

I grabbed Cinderel and Mo Na as I flew up to one of the Winged Abyssal Golems, commanding it to follow Sinmosa in the process.

Sinmosa had already gotten the scent she needed from the Flame Demon Child to track down our Devil. As she took off with her husband, the couple seemed to turn into a bolt of black lightning as they sped off into the distance. Behind this pair of siblings *** husband and wife, there was an army of golems and low level Devils. Yet strange as it might have seemed, none of these Devils fell behind. Even if it meant running to the point of exhaustion, everyone made sure to keep up with the golems.

“Mama, they aren’t running away at all.”

“Mhm, strange indeed.”

Normally, Devils could all be classified as selfish. Yet without me ever trying to stop them from running away, every single one of them actually stayed behind, instead choosing to go look for this Mistress Jeerah of theirs. Were they all morons? Or perhaps they were just cowed by my golems’ might. Or perhaps there was another reason…

When did Devils become so loyal? Lest one forgot, there was a couple of devious potatoes who betrayed me not too long ago, namely One-eye and Nine-finger.

“Mama, Mo Na thinks that this Jeerah is a Lust Demon.”

“A Lust Demon huh…” If we were dealing with a Lust Demon, it would be possible for her to entrance these Devils. Furthermore, the name Jeerah was decidedly feminine sounding, basically confirming that she was a female Devil.

After dashing for about three minutes, Sinmosa found traces of blood and signs of a recent battle.

The couple paused for a second to have a sniff, coming to a conclusion soon after.

“The corpses should have been brought away the Warhorses, the scent is quite muddled but it’s still discernible… a small portion of the Warhorses have split off from the hunting party -probably to clean up. There’s also traces of Warhorse blood. There should be casualties amongst them.”

“Ignore the others for now, I want that Devil known as Jeerah.”

“That Devil should have gone that way…”

Upon confirming my target, Sinmosa continued leading us.

From that moment on, we would sporadically come upon traces of battle. Without even needing to guess, I could tell that this was the handiwork of a desperate Jeerah who had to leave behind some of her subordinates to fight with the Warhorses. Furthermore, according to the hoofprints and scent left behind, our dear friend was ahead as well…

I had a feeling from the start that Warwraith would chase after Jeerah… oh how I would love to see the look on his face right now when we catch up.

We pressed onwards, soon stumbling upon a group of Warhorses fighting with some Devils.

Most eye-catching amongst them was a particularly beautiful Lust Demon. She wore a tight, black leather suit. Her hair was neatly combed to the back of her head, past a set of C-shaped horns that curved back as well. Her skin was red, and her complexion radiant. Her pointed ears were dainty, cute even. Behind her, a pair of outwardly black but internally red Devil wings flapped.

I had to admit, she was beautiful. Not only that, based on what I could see of her, she should be a Lust Demon of the beguiling branch.

‘A beguiling path Lust Demon… this is my first time seeing one. Strictly speaking, Ferti’nier isn’t of the beguiling branch-she belongs to both the combat and beguiling branch instead. My Mo Na belongs to the combat branch while I’m… while I am loath to admit it, I’m probably both of the combat and beguiling branch.’

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.