"Disgusting creature. I told you to strip."
The deliberation was brief. Lapis slowly unbuttoned her blouse. Her skirt slid down along her calves and dropped to the floor.
"....."
The mana lamp cast a thin beam of light upon her. In the darkness, the girl's delicate outline glowed faintly.
Ivar rose to his feet. He circled her, prodding her body here and there with the cane gripped in his right hand. The tip of the cane pressed firmly into her chest, the nape of her neck, her hips. It was as though he were appraising merchandise.
"A virgin?"
"Yes."
"For a lowly half-succubus, you've preserved your chastity remarkably well."
"I have sufficient skill to protect myself. And also..."
"And also?"
"I had no intention of squandering the commercial value of virginity anywhere and everywhere."
Ivar let out a soft chuckle.
"A merchant's way of thinking. Then do you consider offering your virginity to me right now to be a valuable endeavor?"
"Yes."
"Quick judgment too."
He smiled with satisfaction.
Lapis knew from the start that Ivar had no real desire for her. As someone who carried the blood of a succubus, she could detect the lust of others. She had recognized this as another test and acted accordingly.
Ivar leaned on his cane and paced around Lapis.
"I am one of only five True Ancestors remaining in the Demon Realm. Born of a noble bloodline stretching back thousands upon tens of thousands of years. The reason our race places such importance on bloodline is not merely for the sake of petty prestige. It is proof that the line has endured across vast stretches of time. Succeeding for a single generation is easy. Countless beings achieve success even now. What about two generations? The preceding generation has already succeeded, so it would not be so difficult. But three generations? Four? Fifty, a hundred, two hundred—what of those?"
Ivar's voice dropped lower.
"It is nearly impossible. You must always act as though you are the first generation, never growing complacent with what your family has already achieved, and continuously forging yourself without end. Pain and endurance must flow unbroken for tens of thousands of years, without a single pause. That is the greatness a family possesses. It is not something to be measured against the success of a mere single generation."
Once, all vampires had been purebloods. As time passed, only five pureblood vampires remained. The demonkin addressed them with reverence as True Ancestors—those of the true bloodline.
"The Demon Lord is nothing more than a fleeting, transient glory who cannot even leave behind descendants. The true pride of us demonkin is not built upon such things. Only those who look to both past and future can become truly great demonkin. Lazuli. Use the Demon Lord. Never become a moth drawn to the Demon Lord's light, only to be sacrificed."
"I shall keep that in mind."
"Yes... The Demon Lord is nothing but an illusion."
Ivar lost himself in thought, gazing into the void for a moment. Then he shook his head and sat back down, turning away from Lapis.
"I am promoting you from a Fourth-Class Administrative Demon to a Second-Class Administrative Demon."
"...!"
It was an extraordinary leap. It had taken Lapis a full hundred years to climb from a trainee to a Fifth-Class Administrative Demon. Even drawing results from Demon Lord Dantalion, she had estimated it would take at least fifty more years to reach Fourth-Class. Yet with the Black Death incident she had been promoted to Fourth, and now she was being made a Second-Class Administrative Demon. Even the Kunkuska Trading Company, at the height of its prosperity, had no more than about two hundred Second-Class Administrative Demons. She was being elevated to the elite of the elite.
'Finally—.'
Lapis was quietly engulfed in a tremor.
'Finally, I've seized my chance.'
Memories of every hardship she had endured flashed through her mind in an instant. Because she was a half-succubus, she could not even find a place among succubus society. It was the succubi who had been more proactive in abandoning and ostracizing her. In the Demon Realm, where the law was survival of the fittest, being unable to rely even on one's own kind was practically synonymous with death.
She had rummaged through trash heaps. Disguised as a prostitute, she had killed vagrants in back alleys. She had begged. She had pleaded. To survive, she had learned swordsmanship and studied magic. The moment she acquired enough skill to protect herself, she threw herself into the Kunkuska Trading Company. For a hundred years, she had shouldered every sort of menial task. And still she had not received a single worthwhile opportunity.
Two hundred years.
From some point onward, she had lost her expressions, lost the modulation of her voice, and spent her days marked by defeat after defeat—until at last an opportunity descended upon her.
It was an opportunity, but also a test. Ivar, her superior, was now instructing her to use Demon Lord Dantalion. It meant she was to make him thoroughly an asset of the company. By any means necessary—perhaps even using her own body.
'I can do it.'
She herself felt a degree of affection toward Dantalion, and he in turn harbored affection for her. She could leverage that affection. Come to think of it, a few days ago Dantalion had been consumed by desire while gazing at Farnese. He had a sex drive but no outlet, which must have been frustrating.
Lapis quickly assessed the situation and devised a way for herself to succeed within the company without causing harm to Dantalion.
For a fleeting moment she wondered whether this was truly what Dantalion wanted, but she dismissed the thought. If she, his handler, secured a position of influence within the Kunkuska Trading Company, wouldn't that benefit Dantalion as well?
"Thank you."
"What I want is not your gratitude."
"Yes. Dantalion will become our company's eternal ally."
Ivar smiled.
"Clever. I don't dislike clever subordinates."
"I will not disappoint you."
Ivar struck the floor hard with his cane. It was a dismissal. Lapis bowed deeply at the waist toward his back. After she left the room, Ivar stared out the window for quite some time. Niflheim, the most prosperous city in the Demon Realm, lay before his eyes.
He murmured under his breath, almost unconsciously.
"That's right. Every last Demon Lord is a swindler."
The murmur created no echo, dissolving into the empty air. Beside the opulent chair in which he sat, vampire coffins were lined up in a row.
The day of my vacation arrived. I entrusted dungeon defense to Laura and tore the Teleport Scroll Lapis had given me.
FWAAAASH!
My vision was flooded with a deep green light. I squeezed my eyes shut. My ears buzzed for a moment. When I opened them, I confirmed that I had arrived at a new location.
A broad avenue stretched out before me. It was a paved road covered neatly in white stone. Turning my head left and right, I saw that I was not alone—other beings were teleporting in one after another. Though perhaps "beings" was more accurate than "people." Minotaurs, merfolk, all manner of monsters appeared wrapped in green light, each carrying a backpack.
"Hey! What are you standing there for? Get out of the way already!"
A female goblin shrieked sharply. I realized she was addressing me. She wore a brassard on her left arm and appeared to be a guide at this large-scale teleportation hub.
"You're blocking the people behind you! They can't move!"
"Oh."
I stepped aside. Immediately, green light bloomed behind me. A squat dwarf materialized carrying a load four times his own height. He glanced at me, sniffed, and passed by. I could vividly feel him cursing me to high heaven inside his head.
"And now what are you standing there blankly for? You trying to cause a traffic jam!?"
I hurriedly vacated the spot. Even at this very moment, green light was detonating without pause. Along the broad avenue, roughly twenty pads jutted out from the ground in a row. They were teleportation devices. Monsters emerged from them and passed through a checkpoint. At the checkpoint, goblins collected passage fees. It was like watching a highway tollbooth come to life.
"Ugh. This is why country folk are hopeless."
The female goblin strutted over.
"You, is this your first time in Niflheim?"
"Huh? Ah. Y-yes."
"Before you go into the city proper, read this first."
The goblin thrust something resembling a pamphlet at me. On the front, in absurdly exaggerated font, were the words: "Everything About Niflheim! Become a Niflheim Expert in Just 10 Pages!"
"You could fall backward and still get your nose cut here. A country bumpkin like you who doesn't know a thing wanders into the city, and I guarantee you'll be stripped to the bone in three seconds flat!"
Uh, uh.
Being called a country bumpkin by a goblin left my head spinning. Waving that long nose around while peppering speech with the honorific 'yo' was really not a good look. Surely you don't think that manner of speaking is cute, do you? Even if it happens to be considered irresistibly charming among goblins, from my highly subjective yet thoroughly objective perspective, I feel compelled to inform you that it is the kind of tone that provokes one's survival instincts in the worst possible way.
"This booklet tells you which inns are safe and which alleys aren't. Memorize this and carry it around, and at the very least you won't lose a limb without knowing what hit you. Normally it costs two gold, but since you seem to be new to our city, I'll give you a discount. There, one gold flat. Hand it over quick."
"Huh? Oh. Uh, thanks."
"Don't mention it. Consider it an educational training fee."
An educational training fee? I was about to tilt my head in puzzlement when the goblin scurried off to the far end.
"Yes! Earned one gold! Being a teleport guide wouldn't be worth it if you couldn't fleece a mark!"
The goblin threw both arms wide in triumph. Its back vanished into the distance in an instant. All I could do was stare after it dumbly. My already dazed mind felt as though it had completely fled. I could not process what had just happened.
"Tsk tsk. You've been swindled, young man."
An elderly Silver Wolf passed by and spoke to me.
"Sw-swindled?"
"The oldest trick in the book. A gullible traveler is told he'll be given city information, then fleeced with some cheap little guidebook sold at an outrageous markup."
It felt as though a five-ton boulder had dropped on my head.
"But she was an official guide of the city! How can a guide swindle a traveler!"
"From the look of you, you're clearly not a Niflheim resident. If you're not even a fellow citizen of the city, what does it matter if she scams you a little? Niflheim's laws only apply to Niflheim citizens anyway. Tch!"
So in other words, the Demon Realm had no national law—only city law.
I recalled what the goblin had said earlier.
"You could fall backward and still get your nose cut here. A country bumpkin like you who doesn't know a thing wanders into the city, and I guarantee you'll be stripped to the bone in three seconds flat!"
That was exactly right. The only difference was that it was thirty seconds, not three. I realized why the goblin had called it an "educational training fee." She had personally swindled me to show me what kind of city this was. And as far as guidance went, it was extraordinarily thorough guidance. Damn it! May you slip and fall on a rainy day!
"Seeing a greenhorn like you makes me nervous just looking. How about this—travel with me around the city for a while? I'll at least keep you from getting your back broken."
"Ah, thank you..."
Wait a moment.
This one was suspicious too. After getting taken in by the guide, there was no guarantee I wouldn't fall for a scam from some Silver Wolf I had never met. I waved my hands.
"I couldn't possibly impose on a stranger."
"Oh my, would you look at this impudent fellow. Since when does a youngster go around suspecting his elders?"
The Silver Wolf's face twisted into a scowl.
"It really reminds me of my grandson. That boy came to Niflheim last year and got every last coin he had swindled away. Not that I'm talking about you, but these city folk are all thieves, every last one of us outsiders have to look out for each other or we'll all get—"
"Oh my. Well, if it isn't Wilhelm!"
Another Silver Wolf called out from behind.
"How was the trade caravan to the neighboring city? Niflheim without you around has been dreadfully dull. Your sweethearts were waiting with bated breath too, I hear. As they say, home is best, eh?"
A lizardman clapped Wilhelm the Silver Wolf on the arm with familiar warmth.
"Tonight we meet at the usual tavern, you hear? Latecomers get the death penalty!"
The lizardman laughed heartily and departed. Once he was gone, I stared at the Silver Wolf called Wilhelm with ice-cold eyes.
"....."
"....."
"What do you mean, 'outsider' and all that?"
A single bead of cold sweat formed on the Silver Wolf's forehead.