Chapter 70 - The Net Closes In (4)

The nobles of Hell. Solomon's seventy-two demons.

They were so famous that no discussion of demonology could leave them out, and their summoning methods were known. But summoning the true body of one of Solomon's seventy-two demons was no easy feat. It required creating a gateway through which a high-ranking demon, an immense mass of mystical power, could pass.

An ordinary magician could not manage it. It was virtually impossible.

That was why those seeking a demon's power through a pact usually summoned a fragment of its spirit, or used an enchanted mirror or similar tool to communicate with its reflected image.

A full-length mirror with a gold-trimmed frame. It had cost a fortune at auction.

A handsome man in expensive clothes prostrated himself before it, pleading with the king.

"Beautiful and great king, please bestow just a little, just a little of your grace upon me."

He was not even meeting the demon in person, yet the overwhelming power he sensed made him bow his head and swallow greedily.

"I will become your servant. I will offer sacrifices. Grant me the power to attain wealth and fame."

In the room connected through the mirror, a demon who looked like a beautiful young blonde girl wearing a golden crown sat behind a silk veil.

Paimon, ninth among Solomon's seventy-two demons and King of the West of Hell, sat with his legs crossed, resting his chin on the back of his hand with a bored expression.

"Hah..."

His golden eyes looked down at the man.

Normally, he would have amused himself with these humans, enjoying their flattery in moderation...

Paimon's eyes grew half-lidded as he recalled the sensation of being summoned in his true body with all that splendor, accompanied by his legions. And then...

"Hah..."

Not knowing the reason for Paimon's sigh, the man flattened himself still farther against the floor.

"I-I'm sorry, O Great One."

Paimon watched him, then snapped his fingers.

"... I'm really not in the mood today."

"Pardon?"

The mirror the man had prepared cracked, and the connection broke.

Paimon's palace in western Hell.

Having shattered the enchanted artifact mirror, Paimon drew aside the veil that had concealed the king's appearance and walked barefoot out of the dressing room in thin pink lingerie sleepwear.

'I even threw in a complimentary service... I never imagined he wouldn't contact me first.'

A demon maid with a cute tail, who had been standing by nearby, delivered another piece of news Paimon had been waiting for.

"Your Majesty, they say the painting you commissioned is finished! Where should we hang it?"

"Hmm~ Is that so?"

Paimon's tone was indifferent, but the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly.

Yohan had no idea.

Paimon, King of the West of Hell, was a demon he had been forced to summon to wipe out Chairman Kim's entire faction gathered in the building at once...

But he had no idea what a crazy femboy devil he had summoned.

Paimon's bedroom was filled with all kinds of artwork... and portraits of Lucifer and Solomon.

And now, there—

Sitting on his lavish, curtained royal bed, Paimon touched an index finger to his lips.

"Hmm... A little to the left. No, back to the right now."

He directed the maids as they adjusted the position of a large framed painting directly in his line of sight from the bed.

"Good, there. Now up, so I have to look up a little."

The large painting was hung directly in front of Paimon's bed. It depicted Yohan smiling as he forced the collared, grimacing Paimon to lift his head.

Granted, that abominable grimoire of Solomon's, <The Lesser Key of Solomon>—<Lemegeton>—had been involved...

Paimon gazed up at the painting of his disgrace, leashed by a human and toyed with in front of his subordinates.

"..."

He narrowed his eyes and gently bit his lip, then snapped his fingers.

CLINK.

A leather restraint attached to a chain fastened around Paimon's neck.

Glaring at the painting of Yohan putting him on a leash, he wound the chain around his hand and pulled it himself, tightening it around his throat.

CLINK.

"Agh... Hah..."

He exhaled a hot breath.

"Ngh... I-I'm a king of Hell... And a mere human..."

CLINK.

Soon his gaze grew unfocused, his golden eyes curving as he pulled harder on the chain.

"Hah... Your Majesty... Your Majesty... Ahh..."

CLINK... CLINK...

Paimon's mouth fell open, and a thick-tongued voice escaped him.

"Ack... Hahh..."

With the tip of his tongue sticking out, he looked up at Yohan's portrait.

"Ngh... I fucking love domineering handsome men..."

Objectively, Yohan was not exceptionally handsome... but he had a compelling air about him.

Enough to drive a demon mad.

"Hah... I'm so fucking horny... My womb is quivering...!"

The demon maid cleaning the frame with a feather duster blinked.

"Your Majesty, you don't have a womb, do you?"

CLINK...

Paimon released the chain and looked at the maid, his expression cooling.

"Hah... It's a metaphor. A metaphor. Besides, I'm a demon. I can change my sex whenever I like."

Just look at Astaroth, switching back and forth between male and female.

With an incredulous expression, he swept his beautiful blonde hair behind his neck.

"Or what? Are you saying that I, Hell's ultimate, supreme, royal, super-cute beautiful-girl demon, should say something vulgar like 'My prostate's going pitter-patter~'?"

The demon maid blinked again.

"I don't think there's much difference."

"..."

Paimon's golden eyes glittered as he fixed his gaze on the demon maid's tail.

WHOOSH.

A tiny flame caught on the tip of her cute tail.

"Aah!? My tail—!"

The demon maid hurried out of the room.

"Hah..."

His excitement extinguished, Paimon collapsed onto the bed.

"...!"

Then something occurred to him, and he rolled over.

A pen and parchment flew into his hands.

He thought of Yohan. He was the master of <Lemegeton>, and with that kind of ability, other demons would probably flock to him too.

"Hmm~ I'll spread the word that I met him first~."

Resting his chin on his hand, he moved his pen and wrote the Paimon Gazette.

Paimon Gazette – A newspaper published in western Hell whenever Paimon feels like it. Usually used to promote concerts or plays in which he himself is the star.

* * *

A secret temple in the region where the ancient Babylonian city of Uruk had once stood.

FLAP-FLAP.

A white dove fluttered in, carrying an unfurled parchment.

[Paimon Gazette]

An alluring beauty with a voluptuous figure, beautiful red hair, and gentle features.

Gremory, fifty-sixth among Solomon's seventy-two demons, smiled with her eyes when she saw the name "Yohan" written on the parchment.

"Hehe~."

She had seen him inside a game, a false world, so she had not known exactly where he was.

... Now, thanks to this, she knew his location.

"Then I suppose I should go see him in the form we both know."

Gremory's appearance changed. More precisely, she became younger.

She still had full breasts and a beautiful face, but now she looked like a younger girl: Gremory, the student council president who had met Yohan in the false world of [Harem Academy].

She changed her clothes into the academy uniform as well. The difference was that her hair was not brown, but the beautiful red of her original form.

Her red eyes sparkled as she smiled happily.

She left the temple to meet Yohan, to teach him love.

She knew <The Lesser Key of Solomon> was dangerous... but she still wanted to see him.

* * *

The British Council of Magicians.

The magicians belonging to the Council were currently in an uproar.

"Have you finished analyzing that immense surge of magical power in Korea?"

"W-well, we still don't know its exact cause!"

A Council executive's eyes wavered wildly.

'There were rumors that Edward died in Korea too. Could <The Lesser Key of Solomon> really be there?'

Just then, the phone rang. The employee who answered it cried out in shock.

"W-we have a crisis! Th-they say Gremory has left the temple in Uruk!"

"What?"

The executive's expression froze completely.

Gremory, one of Solomon's seventy-two demons. A great demon summoned in her actual body, no less.

Long ago, some insane magician had killed hundreds of people and offered them as sacrifices to summon Gremory's true body. But Gremory had killed the very magician who summoned her for being cruel.

Afterward, rather than returning to Hell, Gremory had built a secret temple in Uruk and remained there.

There was nothing they could do against a great demon in her true body, and she had seemed to have no intention of leaving the temple, so they had limited their response to keeping it under surveillance.

... And now she had suddenly left and was on the move?

Could this have something to do with the anomalous phenomenon in Korea?

The Council executive pressed his temples.

"Issue an official notice first. Tell all magicians active in Europe not to go to Korea."

Reading a newly arrived report, an employee spoke in a trembling voice.

"Well... I think it's already too late. Several magicians have already left for Korea, and apparently an heir of the Paracelsian School is among them."

"The Paracelsian School!?"

The Paracelsian School. It studied and wielded the four elements, and was the most powerful of Europe's magical schools.

An heir of that school—someone who could vie to become its next head—had gone to Korea?

The executive sank into his chair and dragged a palm down his face.

"... What on earth is going on?"

* * *

Namgung Su leaned back in his chair, listening to his secretary's report.

"So, Sua has returned."

"Yes. There was an attempted abduction, but fortunately, she is reportedly unharmed."

Namgung Su quietly exhaled.

"... That's a relief."

Then he narrowed his eyes in disgust.

... A relief. What a ridiculous thing to say.

What right did he have to worry about Sua?

He turned his head slightly to look at a photograph of his dead wife.

Find the master of <Mysteries of the Worm>, return to the past through the secret art of time regression, save his wife, and build a happy family again with little Sua.

It was a truly, truly happy dream.

But what if little Sua, raised that way, grew up with a completely different personality from the Sua of today? What if she felt like an entirely different person?

Wouldn't he be killing his present daughter to go back in time and save his wife?

Namgung Su gripped the armrests tightly.

No! He was turning back time, not killing her!

... But he could not bring himself to think any further.

That was why he did not look at Sua, his daughter.

He looked away because he feared that the Sua who grew up again after he returned to the past would feel like someone entirely different from the Sua of today.

He simply turned his head, averted his eyes, and stared at his wife's photograph.

He stopped thinking. He focused solely on the goal in which he had buried himself.

Watching his mood carefully, the secretary spoke.

"Chairman, there is... something I need to report. The mercenaries on Mage Net have begun to move."

"What do you mean?"

"The bounty on the master of <Mysteries of the Worm> has gone up."

* * *

In a European bar, one of Mage Net's mercenaries spoke loudly.

"From three billion to ten billion!? That's one hell of a big shot."

"Ten billion won? ... How much is that in dollars?"

A muscular, black-haired man with Northern European features. A magician, and a hunter who killed magicians for profit.

Hard held a runestone engraved with a fire rune to his cigar and lit it.

"Whew... Maybe it's time to go collect it. Ten billion won."

He spoke as he exhaled smoke.

The intent of whoever had raised the bounty made it obvious that they wanted to use the mercenaries as hunting dogs...

But so what? That was mercenary work for you.

... And depending on how things went, he could betray the client and sell <Mysteries of the Worm> to someone else for an even higher price.

* * *

The Order of the Holy Maidens in Finland.

Elsie, the Order's saint and a beautiful silver-haired girl, listened to a band in dinosaur costumes on her computer, her eyes sparkling and her arms swinging merrily.

Guitars and electronic keyboards rang out in a power-metal song.

Hevisaurus – A five-member Finnish band that wears dinosaur costumes. Hugely popular with little children.

"Whew... Hevisaurus's songs really are the best."

After listening to the whole song, Elsie turned her sparkling eyes to the grimoire <The Book of the Angel Raziel>.

"Lord Raziel, I saw this on a Korean alternate-history forum. Hevisaurus was formed to commemorate the five dinosaur traitors who left Hwanguk and sided with the Finnish Empire... No!"

With determined eyes, Elsie corrected herself.

"The dinosaur heroes who turned their backs on darkness and chose the light! I love them even more now!"

Of course, none of that was true.

In any case, <The Book of the Angel Raziel> leaned back against the chair and spoke in a serious voice.

["Elsie, come sit here for a moment."]

["For an instant, I sensed an ominous presence in Korea. It must have something to do with Yohan, the master of <Mysteries of the Worm>."]

"Oh, if that's what it is, don't worry!"

At those words, Elsie proudly produced her passport.

"My passport is finally ready! Now I can go to Korea!"

["..."]

Raziel thought for a moment. ... A passport. Should he praise her?

Yes! He would praise her!