Paimon stood before me.
I looked down. I was wearing shoes. That alone told me this was a dream. What was going on? My mind quickly found the answer.
— Succubus Queen.
Paimon's race. She belonged to the type who were born as Demonkin and awakened as Demon Lords. Succubi could manipulate human dreams at will. That ability had persisted even after Paimon became a Demon Lord. In the game, the Hero had conversed with Paimon in dreams on several occasions.
The important thing, however, was something else entirely.
'This bastard had sneaked into the assassin group.'
Succubus abilities weren't omnipotent. She couldn't reach the dreams of someone tens of kilometers away. She had to be nearby.
What did that mean... Paimon had secretly infiltrated the assassin group. She'd been among those grey-robed figures. And pretending to be an ordinary assassin, she had been watching me. She must have heard every word of my conversation with the azure woman.
Damn it. I'd slipped up.
'Between assassins with virtually zero emotional output, she'd hidden herself.'
A Demon Lord couldn't read another Demon Lord's emotions. If the assassins had been ordinary monsters — say, Orcs — I would have spotted Paimon immediately. One individual among them would have had no discernible emotions, unlike all the rest. That alone would have struck me as suspicious.
The assassins' emotions had been bone-dry. It was like hiding a leaf among a bush. Impressive work, Paimon... I offered a courteous smile and dipped my head in a polite nod.
"It's been a while, Your Grace Paimon."
"As expected — you're not flustered at all."
Paimon swept her crimson hair aside and smiled demurely.
"Forgive my rudeness. I simply wanted to see that surprised look on your face at least once."
"I'm plenty surprised. It's just that I've already been shocked several dozen times today alone. I don't have the energy to make a fuss anymore."
She lifted the hem of her dress and curtsied gracefully.
"It has been too long, Dantalion."
"Yes. I never imagined we would reunite in this manner."
Paimon nodded. A table materialized between us. A white tablecloth was spread across it, and a porcelain tea set was placed on top. I walked over and pulled out her chair. "Thank you," Paimon said as she sat down.
"Dreams are truly remarkable."
I said, settling into the seat across from her.
"Is anything possible? Summoning a dragon, for instance."
"I can only recreate what this girl has seen and experienced."
Paimon picked up the porcelain teapot and poured tea into the cups. It was green tea. As the liquid slowly filled the cup, the surrounding scenery shifted dramatically. A dragon with golden scales appeared right beside the table and, like a drowsy puppy, planted its chin on the ground and fell asleep.
"Incredible!"
I exclaimed. I wasn't genuinely astonished, though. I had been carefully weighing why Paimon had invaded this dream. I had been making conversation with her precisely to buy myself time to think.
— The light-blue woman had been probing the depths of my heart.
— Nine times out of ten, Paimon had instructed her to do so.
— And I had walked straight into it.
If I were truly a republican, I would have welcomed the woman's words. But I hadn't. From Paimon's perspective, it was perfectly reasonable to suspect whether I was genuinely a republican or merely exploiting ideology for my own gain.
"Now I understand why Succubi are called children of the night. One of my subordinates is a Succubus, but she has never displayed any talent like this."
"That girl probably wasn't born with a strong Succubus bloodline. It's not an absolute rule, but it seems only pure-blooded Succubi can walk through dreams."
Yet she had still reached out to me. She could have been disappointed that I wasn't a kindred spirit and simply left, but instead she had deliberately entered this dream to speak with me.
It wasn't merely to confirm whether I was on her side or not… What was her true purpose? I needed to find out.
"Not being pure-blooded might actually be a blessing."
"Oh? How so?"
"You could build a family."
What did she mean by that? As I tilted my head in confusion, Paimon covered her mouth and laughed.
"As you can see, Succubi create a great many things within dreams. Men are drawn to that allure. The most beautiful woman in the world. The most beautiful scenery in the world. The most delicious food in the world. Every man who pairs off with a Succubus falls prey to it."
The scenery shifted. The dragon vanished, and dozens of beautiful women filled the surroundings. It was a harem. Clad in nothing but fluttering garments, the women revealed their luscious skin.
"In the end, the man turns his back on reality. The choice between a flawless dream and a wretched reality is self-evident… He ignores his wife, ignores his children. Inside the dream, there is a wife more beautiful than his real one, children more perfect than his real ones. That is why the vast majority of Succubi do not share love with anyone."
Because they would be betrayed regardless.
Paimon set the teacup down toward me. I politely raised the cup to my lips. The green tea was excellent—pleasantly bitter, warmly soothing, and it scoured every trace of grime from my tongue.
"I pondered it long ago. If the most beautiful woman can exist, and the most delicious food can exist, then perhaps—is it not also possible to dream of the most perfect society?"
"A perfect society. Is that truly possible?"
"Of course not."
Paimon smiled.
"It would be impossible, I suppose. It was impossible back then, and it remains impossible now. But I am a Succubus—a race that sows nighttime dreams into the hearts of people. I believed that granting myself a single dream was not too much to ask. Dantalion—I, too, needed a dream of my own to keep living, just like everyone else."
"…I understand."
I didn't understand a thing.
"At first—yes, that was two thousand years ago—I believed that a world ruled by a Demon Lord was the closest thing to perfection."
The scenery changed once more. This time, we stood in the midst of an army. Orcs, Ogres, and trolls passed ceaselessly around the table. A host of tens of thousands. They stood in formation, banners held high.
At the very front stood three figures: the young girl, a woman, and a man well past his prime.
—Army! Demonkin! You have achieved a great feat!
The white-haired girl among them cried out. She wore silver helm and armor. Sunlight blazed upon her brilliantly. Paimon pointed at her and spoke.
"That's Barbatos. Not all that different from how she looks now."
"Back then, she was wearing armor."
"After all, Barbatos back then wasn't a dark witch—she was a warrior."
So were the woman and man standing on either side of the girl Paimon and Marbas? The three of them—who now led the Plains Faction, the Mountain Faction, and the Neutral Faction—had once commanded an army together two thousand years ago?
Barbatos swept her crimson cape and cried out.
─ But there is still work to be done! We are the demons of conquest. But we must not become fools who cannot make use of our victories. Soldiers! Great descendants of Satan! Take up your arms once more. Comfortable rest only makes us weary.
─ We must not let our glorious days slip away. The weak humans, the cowardly Demonkin—they say this: "We have fought enough. Now we must rest." But we—those who, transcending race and rank, have been united by nothing but true camaraderie—we raise our voices as one.
─ More battles! More blood!
─ If not eternal glory, then eternal death!
The monsters roared their battle cries.
They blew war horns without restraint. Drums thundered. Feet stomped. The earth trembled, and far away beyond the plains, the humans felt those vibrations and were seized with terror. The Crescent Alliance Army's First Legion. A legion that had never once been defeated in battle. The immortals' Barbatos, the victorious Paimon, and the noble Marbas—three Demon Lords leading an elite legion. The humans, even the knights, felt their hearts seize and their knees tremble.
─ I promise you. We promise you. The Demon Lords who stand with you will never hide behind you. We are not cowards. We are warriors, and so we live and die alongside you, who are warriors as well.
─ We stand at the front line!
─ When you have been felled by the knights' auras and raise your heads in despair, we will be standing there. When you have your knees driven into the earth, wracked with utter helplessness, we will be standing right there—just one step ahead of you.
─ Warriors! We are at the front line!
Barbatos raised her right hand high. Black mana surged and writhed, summoning a great battle scythe into her palm. The mana spiraled skyward with a howling roar. At that same moment, the woman and the man—Paimon and Marbas—also raised their hands. In Paimon's grip, a white staff. In Marbas's grip, a longsword.
─ Show the humans! Show them who is the true death of this land!
Tens of thousands of monsters thrust their arms skyward. Spears and blades stabbed toward the heavens. Sunlight blazed off the steel, and countless streams of light merged into a tidal wave. Goblins screamed in the Goblin tongue, Orcs in the Orc language, Trolls in their own. It didn't matter. They didn't need to understand each other's words.
Their lord, the great Demon Lords, understood and knew everything.
─ Descendants of Satan—entire army, advance!
Barbatos turned her back. The crimson cape billowed like a banner. As though she had nothing left to say, she broke into a run. Just like any common soldier, weapon in hand, charging forward. Behind her, tens of thousands of monsters surged forth like a tidal wave.
The humans leveled their longspears and formed ranks. But something was off. An undeniable fear drifted ominously between formation after formation. The outcome had already been decided…….
"It was a magnificent battle. We won a flawless victory."
Paimon raised the teacup to her lips. The tea flowed silently into the crevices between her lips. She set the empty cup gently down on the table.
"With a legion of one hundred and twenty thousand, we annihilated roughly two hundred and fifty thousand human soldiers. A single battle brought the fall of two kingdoms in the Human Realm. Barbatos, Marbas, and I were certain. We were invincible. That we would never lose, and that we would truly build a beautiful nation upon this land."
But the Second Crescent Alliance Army had failed.
It went down in history as the most devastating Crescent Alliance Army campaign ever recorded.
"Until our own kin betrayed us."
"……."
"We conquered the two kingdoms and pushed deep into the continent. This was right after the humans' allied forces had been crushed. The plan was to sweep across the continent like lightning before the humans could reorganize their coalition. That was the outline of our strategy. Perhaps our judgment was not terribly wrong……"
But the Demon Lords guarding the rear lines had betrayed them.
They were mostly lesser Demon Lords. Lesser Demon Lords commanded fewer troops. Rather than taking the vanguard, it made more sense for them to focus on logistics. The greater Demon Lords would stand at the front while the lesser ones held up the rear. A thoroughly rational arrangement. And yet, the lesser Demon Lords had betrayed them…….
The scenery shifted.
The army that had once brimmed with majesty was nowhere to be found. A force that could no longer move properly, its supply lines cut.
A host of one hundred thousand had become more of a burden than an asset. Food supplies ran out almost immediately. The humans had holed up inside their iron fortresses and held firm. Even when the fortresses were broken through, what lay beyond was an endless scorched-earth campaign. The First Legion, which had already advanced deep into the continent, had no choice but to execute the worst retreat in history.
Knights swarmed from every direction, gnawing at them like guerrillas. If they fought back, the retreat would only be delayed further. Barbatos swallowed blood and tears. Her lips had already blistered from mana deficiency. When she bit down hard with her teeth, blood seeped out.
─ Retreat……ignore everything, and retreat.
Watching her allies being torn apart by knights, Barbatos turned her back. Paimon and Marbas did the same. There was nothing they could do other than save as many of their forces as possible.
"Dantalion. Out of the one hundred and twenty thousand, how many do you think survived?"
"……."
"I remember it clearly even now. Two thousand years have passed, and yet still……twenty-six thousand and eighty-four. Out of the grand army of one hundred and twenty thousand, only twenty-six thousand and eighty-four warriors survived to set foot on their homeland."
In the vision, Barbatos was weeping.
He knelt upon the ground, draped in a tattered cloak riddled with holes, and wept aloud. Beside him, Paimon bowed her head in silence and gently placed a hand on Barbatos's back.
"Truly… why did this have to happen? What did we do wrong……."
The Succubus Queen sat at her table, gazing at herself from two thousand years ago. And at the girl who had once been her dear friend.