For a long while, Barbatos hung her head in silence.
I waited patiently. I had already said everything I needed to say, and the persuasion was done. Pushing further would only be counterproductive. All I had to do was wait for Barbatos to sort through her emotions. Slowly, she parted her lips.
"You don't have anyone else in your heart, do you?"
"If I did, I would have taken Paimon up on her offer long ago. I withstood the temptation of the Succubus Queen. I don't think there could be any clearer proof than that."
In truth, I had avoided it because I was afraid of the aftermath. But what did it matter.
"...I really am the most important to you, right?"
"As you know, I'm not particularly loyal to the Plains Faction, Barbatos. I respect Chief Zepar and I'm fond of Brother Beleth, but I have no intention of throwing myself into the Plains Faction's ideology."
I stroked Barbatos's bangs as I spoke.
"In other words, regardless of factional interests, I am your friend. I am not the leader of the Plains Faction. I am not a high-ranking Demon Lord. I simply regard you, Barbatos yourself, as my dear companion."
"If you ever..."
Barbatos shot me a sharp glare.
"If you ever fall for Paimon, you're dead."
"I keep telling you—you're the most important to me, Your Majesty."
I smiled and kissed Barbatos. It was not a kiss on the lips. I gently pressed my lips to the back of Barbatos's foot as she sat on her throne. If I had gone for her lips right from the start, she likely would have rejected me given her current state of mind.
So I kept myself as low as possible. Tenderly, as if a servant were caressing their master, I ran my hands over the young woman's body. Along her shins, her knees, her thighs... past Barbatos's bare stomach and chest, I kissed her neck. And then, as carefully as a knock at the door, I pressed my lips to hers.
"Mmm... nn."
The gates opened with little resistance.
Between the two of us, rough and intense lovemaking was the norm. I don't mean that the acts themselves were violent. It was more than just physical intimacy—we were obsessed with what most people would consider "going too far," things like whipping and torture, or immersing ourselves in the roles of master and slave.
Perhaps that was why. Occasionally, when I approached her the way a normal lover would treat their partner, Barbatos actually enjoyed it more. A person can't survive on nothing but stimulating cola forever.
"……You're a real son of a bitch."
When the kiss ended, Barbatos gazed up at me with watery pupils. The sharp edges had disappeared from her voice. I smiled gently.
"Don't you want to get fucked by a son of a bitch and pant like a bitch?"
"……"
That was the line Barbatos had used when she first seduced me. There was no way the woman herself wouldn't recognize it. She let her mouth fall half open, dumbfounded.
Just as she was about to unleash some complaint, I stepped forward and sealed her lips. Barbatos's words lost their shape, reduced to crude moans that spilled out.
"Hhm, haa……mmh."
"Barbatos."
I pulled my lips away and spoke.
"You made fun of me a while back, saying I'd turned into a pervert, right? That's true. I've been realizing lately what a perverted bastard I really am. Man, it was truly an amazing discovery."
"……You were always a perverted bastard."
"Oh? So you became my sex partner even knowing I'm a pervert."
Barbatos didn't let a single word pass without trying to hurl an insult at me. It was almost admirable. It backfired on her, though, oh immortal Demon Lord.
"You know, Barbatos, you've got more of a masochist streak than you'd think."
"Hah?"
"You usually act all bossy like a master, but when the roles reverse you get all excited."
With a glance, I brought up a hologram window and immediately purchased a monster. A torture slime. The transparent slime I'd used on Daisy. Barbatos's brow furrowed. She was glaring at me with wary eyes.
"What……are you going to do with that?"
"You know as well as I do — this slime has the property of sharing sensations."
I pressed my face close to Barbatos and whispered.
"I'm going to shove this thing inside you."
"……."
"Split it in half, and I'll keep the other half with me. I'll always carry it in my pocket. And I'll walk around with you, fiddling with the pocket whenever I'm bored, fiddling, fiddling with it. How about it? Great idea, right?"
The corners of Barbatos's mouth twitched. Her expression was becoming strange.
"Great idea, you say……you madman, how dare you……me, the Eighth-Ranked Demon Lord……."
"You've been through so much with the Habsburgs, haven't you? Now that you've run away to my place, let's go visit Niflheim. We'll go to the casino, splurge money at the finest brothel, huh? I have a lot of money these days. It'll be quite enjoyable."
I tore the slime and poured it into Barbatos's interior. It wriggled in like a caterpillar, entering naturally. I whispered to her with a smile.
"And I'll touch it in front of the Demonkin. The slime in the pocket. Intensely, powerfully, to the point you absolutely can't bear it……in front of countless Demonkin, the Eighth-Ranked Demon Lord will cum."
"You're cr……azy……?"
Barbatos's expression was horribly distorted—.
"You thought I'd listen to something like that……?"
She was laughing, unable to contain her ecstasy.
She tried to maintain her composure, but she couldn't keep her senses with the pleasure pouring forward, the tip of her mouth trembling pitifully. The arrogant and confident tyrant from usual was nowhere to be found. Only its remnants remained, barely holding Barbatos together.
I glared at her coldly.
That was the signal that the roles between us were reversed.
"Even if your mouth is crooked, you should speak straight. You're not listening to me, you lowly sow. I am giving an order. If you're a flesh slave, speak like a flesh slave. Hm?"
"……, ……."
Barbatos's expression crumbled.
For the next six hours, Barbatos was not permitted to use human language. Let it be known that she could only squeal like a pig.
This is the price for using me as a slave in front of Daisy. I have a very honest personality where I always return any favor received.
"A gathering?"
I only found out later that Barbatos hadn't come to the castle purely as an escape. She had actual business. Namely, that a gathering was being held among the Demon Lords.
The original purpose was to deliver that news, Barbatos said.
"Hah… Since the Crescent Alliance Army war has mostly wrapped up, it's time for rewards and promotions."
She drew a long drag from the tobacco in her pipe. She looked exhausted. That was only natural, given she'd spent hours scampering around every nook and cranny of the cave.
I'd trailed along with her, fidgeting in my pockets until they practically had holes worn through them. While the goblin workers watched, Barbatos fought with everything she had to keep from finishing.
She finished anyway. Fifty-six times.
Each time, I'd ordered her to tell me which number it was, so I knew. By the end, Barbatos had nearly passed out. She collapsed on the cave floor, her vacant eyes staring at nothing as she muttered, "Fifty-six… fifty-six times… fifty-six times…"
For the record, she also hit some bizarre level threshold.
"Training Level (Lv.2) has increased!"
Wondering what that was about, I checked right away.
It turned out that making Daisy my slave had unlocked a new feature for me too. "The higher your Training Level, the more effectively you can train your slave," the info window kindly explained. I'd have to try it out on Daisy whenever I had free time.
"Rewards and promotions… Bael isn't exactly our lord or anything. Why do we have to attend something like that?"
"Well, you've got a point. But it's called rewards and promotions — what actually matters is something else entirely."
Barbatos continued.
"I asked Uncle Bael to mediate."
Here's what she said: Right now within Habsburg, a three-way war among the Demon Lords — in other words, a power struggle between Barbatos, Agares, and Gamigin — was growing more intense by the day.
Under normal circumstances, the Neutral Faction's Demon Lord Marbas would mediate the disputes. But this fight had grown beyond what Marbas could handle.
Agares was the second-highest-ranked Demon Lord, and Gamigin was the fourth. There was absolutely no guarantee that they'd meekly obey Marbas, who ranked fifth. That was why Barbatos had requested mediation from Bael, who held an absolute standing in the Demon Lord hierarchy.
"But Uncle Bael never actually proposes solutions. Never."
Demon Lord Bael was, at his core, a laissez-faire sort of leader.
When problems arose, he'd set up the mediation table, sure. But actually resolving the issue? That was something the parties involved had to work out themselves—that was his whole philosophy. Barbatos had come to me because she wanted to gain even a slight advantage in the negotiations before they even started.
"You're the type who'd float right back up chattering even if you were drowning. So do me a favor."
"…Hey, hey. Are you out of your mind? You want me to pick a fight with Agares and Gamigin?"
I was genuinely appalled.
"What if they end up holding a grudge against me?"
"I heard Gamigin's taken a liking to you? Seduce her with your pretty-boy charm, why don't you."
"Oh, sure. Let me just go play hero."
I'd only met Gamigin briefly during the Crescent Alliance Army's war. Even so, I'd gotten a clear read on her. Gamigin was the kind of person who wouldn't hesitate to resort to assassination or any other dirty method if it meant eliminating a rival. Expecting her to take our side in a dispute involving vested interests just because she had some personal fondness for me was absurd.
And as for Agares—needless to say, I had zero rapport with him whatsoever.
"Hmm. There's absolutely no benefit for me in stepping up as a mediator."
"…Is there really no way I can convince you?"
Barbatos glanced at me sidelong.
The master-servant game had ended just a moment ago. And yet here she was, still adopting a remarkably humble posture. The fact that she was asking like this meant she fully understood there was nothing in it for me if I acted as mediator.
And still, she asked.
She could have offered me something. Said she'd do something in return. Barbatos was more than capable of making such a pitch, but she hadn't offered a single incentive.
In other words… for once, Barbatos had set aside any notion of profit or loss and was asking me purely out of friendship.
"…"
I sank deep into thought.
Barbatos had never once asked me like this before. Our relationship had always been quite dry. Neither she nor I had any stomach for soft, sentimental words like "friendship" or "affection."
We share a bed whenever we want. We treat each other like friends. But we never once use romance or friendship as leverage. You could call it a pretty dry relationship.
After much deliberation, I came to a conclusion.
'Truly.'
This was a transaction as well.
Barbatos had allowed me to sleep with Paimon and the others. That didn't mean the knot of emotion in her heart had dissolved. 'I've given you this much leeway, so you owe me this much in return.' That was the signal she was sending.
The reason she hadn't explained it with words was simple—the moment it was said out loud, romance and friendship would become far too explicit a presence in our relationship. Once those things crept in, things would turn suffocatingly clingy in an instant……
"Heh heh."
A laugh escaped me. Her attitude struck me as oddly adorable. What a cheeky little brat.
"Barbatos. Did you bring my fingers?"
"Hm? Yeah."
Barbatos nodded and pulled a white cloth from inside her garments. My two fingers would be wrapped inside that cloth. They were the ones I'd deliberately cut off to rescue Lapis. She must have brought them back intending to reattach them to my body.
I spoke.
"Have those made into a necklace and wear it yourself."
Barbatos blinked.
"What?"
"You promised. Even if you sleep with Paimon, I'm still the most important one to you. I can't exactly call it proof, but it's a rather vivid token, isn't it? When you see Paimon next time, show her the finger necklace. Tell her I gave it to you."
Even if you slept with Dantalion, he never gifted you a piece of his own body. I'm the one with a far deeper bond with him……
Was there a gesture more effective than this? I intended to offer two of my fingers to give Barbatos that reassurance.
"……Yeah. I get it."
Barbatos hesitated for a moment, then murmured in a voice as small as a mosquito. She clutched the white cloth tightly. There was no need to ask what exactly she understood—I knew without her having to explain.
Barbatos leaned against me without a word. I smiled and gently stroked her hair.
We were both hopelessly childish.