Chapter 66 - The Great One (10)

I held <The Lesser Key of Solomon>, from which chains of light had burst forth, gripping it like a leash.

I gazed down at Paimon, shackled at the neck and limbs with fetters of light, crawling on all fours.

Clink....

The chain around the neck was pulled taut, and the crown atop that gleaming golden hair tilted to one side.

"Ugh... haa...."

The heat of the glowing shackles made that beautiful face scrunch up, beads of sweat forming on the skin.

As if seething with indignation, those pink lips were bitten down upon tightly.

...It wasn't that kind of situation, but judging by appearances alone.

It absolutely looked like I was tormenting some delicate, pretty girl.

Of course, in reality, this was neither a pretty girl nor even a human.

It was one of the great demons, a King of Hell.

Still, if he was going to take the form of a beautiful woman, why not just be female? I had no idea why he was male.

Of Solomon's 72 demons, the only one who was genuinely, purely female was said to be the 56th, Gremory.

So Paimon being a pretty crossdressing man was actually lore-accurate.

...Well, at least he didn't look like some hairy old man, right?

Anyway.

I gripped the grimoire and yanked the chain of light, pulling on the leash of the resisting Paimon.

"Ah... ugh...!?"

"Playing king at the very bottom must have been quite enjoyable for you."

Paimon tried to resist, but the chains fastened to his wrists and ankles were pulled tight.

Clink... clink....

Trembling, he was dragged forward on his palms and knees.

"Whose glory do you think I carry?"

"Ah... ugh... haa...."

"Should I be the one kissing your feet, or should you be the one kissing mine?"

Clink...!

"Aagh!"

The demonic host filling the party hall could not utter a single word.

They shut their mouths in fear and remained silent.

Paimon, dragged before the magic circle where I stood, opened his trembling lips and spoke.

"Y-Your Majesty... the Great One... I was wrong."

Letting sweat-soaked golden hair hang down, he lowered his head and pleaded in that sweet voice.

"...So please, loosen the shackles just a little."

I yanked the chain connected to Paimon's neck.

Shwaaak-,

"How unfortunate for you."

I forced his upper body upright and made him raise his head.

"I don't even listen to my own mom and dad."

".........?!"

Contrary to that sweet voice, resistance still lingered in Paimon's eyes. I met them squarely and gave him a gentle smile.

Gripping the leash and looking coldly down at him.

"You may only receive what I choose to give."

I said in a low voice.

"Don't you dare make a request of me first."

Paimon, his throat constricted by the shackle, flushed and stared up at me.

".........."

I closed the grimoire and released the shackles.

"Ah...!?"

The moment the chains of light vanished, Paimon lost his balance and fell on his backside.

I spoke to Paimon.

"Now take what you've harvested here and go back."

Paimon sat slumped, rubbing the neck and wrists where the shackles had been, then.

"...Understood."

With deliberately exaggerated movements, he demurely folded his hands, bowed, and as he raised his upper body, spoke.

"Then someday, when Your Majesty comes out of that cowardly circle."

Wearing a beautiful smile, he narrowed his eyes and looked up at me.

"I shall look forward to the day you caress my body in person."

To Paimon's sarcasm, I replied lightly.

"That's never happening, demon."

Whiiiiing-.

A whirling vortex erupted from the summoning circle.

The corpses scattered throughout the party hall and all across the building turned to smoke.

Down to the last drop of blood.

They transformed into smoke along with Paimon and his demonic host, and were sucked into the summoning circle.

They took the blood and flesh, leaving behind only the living, Soo-ah and me.

A moment later.

An eerie silence, with nothing remaining, filled the building.

A party hall so clean it was impossible to believe corpses had been strewn about just moments ago.

As if to prove that what had happened here was no lie.

Two magic circles remained.

I staggered out of the magic circle.

Mental exhaustion crashed over me.

The spell I'd placed on my forehead wound came undone, and the cut reopened, blood trickling down.

'Damn... I've never been this tired after using magic....'

Summoning an entire demon legion had been a bit much after all.

...Well, that aside.

Putting a leash on a demon and making him crawl like a dog had been rather fun.

Maybe it was similar to driving a tank in that bizarre dating sim world?

Next time, I'd like to try it with a real female demon (Hell's top beauty, big-breasted, virgin).

Of course, that was obviously a messed-up joke.

This time I'd only summoned them because the situation left no choice.

I intended to avoid sharing a table with demons as much as possible.

I moved on unsteady legs.

I went to the table where Soo-ah was hiding, knelt on one knee, and lifted the tablecloth.

There was Soo-ah, draped in a coat, trembling.

"M-Mister?"

"It's over. Come out."

Soo-ah crawled out from under the table,

and her eyes went wide when she spotted the blood running down from my forehead along my face.

"Mister... blood!"

Soo-ah's dark eyes wavered. She clenched her trembling hands and sank to the ground.

"I'm s..."

She hung her head as if she couldn't bear to look, and murmured.

"...I'm sorry. You got dragged into this because of me... and got hurt... I'm sorry."

Soo-ah's shoulders trembled pitifully.

And at that sight, I...

"...What?"

I was annoyed. My face twisted into a frown.

It wasn't like she'd gone somewhere she was told not to go because it was dangerous.

It wasn't like she'd done something she was told not to do.

In this situation, what part of it was Soo-ah's fault?

"Haa...."

A sigh escaped me. I'd thought she was a budding wizard.

She was just a brat with a dishonest, rotten personality.

If you're a wizard, when you get tangled up in something,

"How the hell is this my fault?"

...that kind of mindset should come standard.

I knelt on one knee and looked at Soo-ah, sitting there with her shoulders shaking.

I didn't know what had happened between Soo-ah and her father.

It wasn't my concern.

It was just...

"...I'm sorry."

"That's not it."

"What?"

"I didn't get hurt because of you."

...I simply thought right now that it wasn't Soo-ah's fault.

I couldn't stand looking at her with her head bowed like that.

I reached out, grabbed Soo-ah by the front of her hair, and forced her head up.

"Eep!?"

"I'm the one who saved you."

I let out the words I hadn't been able to finish when I'd been hit by a car that time.

"Try living a little more positively, you damned brat."

"...!?"

At the words she heard, at the sight of me looking straight at her,

Soo-ah's eyes went wide. Only I was reflected in her pupils.

I let go of Soo-ah's hair and stood up.

"There should be a notebook inside the coat."

Since I'd caused this big of a scene so openly.

It might have been right to kill Soo-ah to silence her, at least a little.

But I didn't want to.

It wasn't a matter of morality. It was a matter of profit.

I'd nearly died and gone through all that trouble.

And I'd get nothing out of it? Wouldn't that be infuriating?

There had to be something gained.

I looked down at Soo-ah, who was looking up at me.

"It's a notebook where I've organized magical knowledge. Memorize it."

Even if she'd only amount to a half-baked assistant.

"Starting today, you're my holy water maker. Make holy water every Wednesday and bring it to me. Got it?"

Soo-ah blinked for a moment, then slightly turned her head and said.

"I... don't mind. That's fine. But I think the word choice might get you misunderstood as a creep, Mister."

"That's... true, actually."

I dragged my palm down my face.

"I regret it the moment I said it, sorry. Holy water manufacturing machine? No, let's just go with assistant, plain and simple."

Damn... my vision was getting blurrier than before.

I swayed for a moment, and Soo-ah scrambled to her feet and propped me up.

"Mister! Are you okay?"

"...Honestly, I'm struggling."

I gestured toward the magic circles with my eyes.

"Splash water on those magic circles to ruin them, and let's get out of here fast."

"Got it! I'll do it, so just sit down for a moment."

Soo-ah quickly poured water from the pitchers over the magic circles to erase them.

She then supported the staggering Yo-han and made it out of the building.

She called a taxi, put him in it, and they left.

***

The upscale hotel they had visited once before, after the zombie campground incident.

Soo-ah first told her father's secretary about being attacked by Chairman Kim's men, and that two bodyguards had been killed.

However, she felt Yo-han wouldn't want to reveal what had happened inside the building.

...So she made up a story that Yo-han had helped her before she was dragged away, and she'd escaped unharmed.

And because Yo-han had been injured in the process, she asked them to call the family's personal physician.

The middle-aged female doctor finished treating Yo-han, who lay asleep on the hotel bed, by applying gauze to his forehead.

Soo-ah cautiously asked about his condition.

"Um... is he okay?"

"Yes, he's fine. Don't worry too much."

The doctor nodded.

"Aside from the external wound on his forehead, there are no other injuries. He's just asleep from exhaustion."

Soo-ah let out a breath of relief.

After the doctor left, Soo-ah quietly gazed at Yo-han sleeping in the room.

"Ah...."

Then she remembered the notebook Yo-han had mentioned.

She took the notebook out of the coat and checked its contents.

'Is that... in here?'

It was!

The healing spell Yo-han had once used on her injured leg in the past.

He'd said it could temporarily suppress a wound or enhance healing effects.

...She didn't know if it would work or not, but.

Soo-ah gently placed her hand on Yo-han's forehead.

"Bone to bone, blood to blood, bone by bone, blood by blood, joint to joint."

She recited the spell, hoping for healing.

"I command in the name of the Lord. Be mended."

Soo-ah's hand trembled, and the notebook clutched in her grip quivered faintly.