Chapter 172 - Goodwill Breeds Disaster

The moment Penelope saw her face, she froze solid.

Aspect of Fire and Power.

When she had seen the dragon from afar, her form had been filled with a sense of violence and forceful presence.

Even when she approached wearing a mask, that impression had been strong.

But the instant Penelope saw her face, she had no choice but to admit that her judgment had been wrong.

Her downturned eyes were armed with purity and innocence.

Her lips held the fresh charm of a maiden.

Her presence was calm as well, and it put people at ease.

Perhaps because of that, Penelope's frozen eyes naturally began to move, and she started to see Valdrova's figure, brimming with feminine beauty.

If she had to compare it to something, Valdrova was like the first snow blanketing the earth.

Penelope felt a desire surge up within her to step onto that first snow with her muddy feet.

That had been close.

She had almost swallowed without thinking.

"D-Do I really look that bad?"

"Huh? Ah! No! Not at all!"

Penelope withdrew her lecherous gaze and began fawning again.

"You are so very beautiful that this lowly one lost herself staring, ha ha!"

"Beautiful?"

"Oh, yes, indeed!"

Penelope's eyes gleamed as she launched into an impassioned speech.

"When I realized you were a dragon, I trembled in fear, but the moment I beheld your noble face, you were so beautiful that the trembling stopped! I finally understood how a moth feels when it throws itself into a flame!"

"There is nothing... stupid-looking about me?"

"Stupid-looking? A pure, fresh maidenly air like that is exactly what drives men crazy!"

"U-Um. I see."

Her speech and vocabulary were rather vulgar, but Valdrova interpreted it only in a positive sense.

"I see. There is a child who does not really like it when I make this expression..."

"W-What! What snake-hearted bitch said that? If anyone dares hurl such slander at the one and only immortal Red Dragon, Lady Valdrova, then I, Penelope, will gladly bring down the hammer of justice!"

"It was Luri..."

"Luri, was it! That damned bitch of all bitches... Wait, if it is Luri, is she not Lady Valdrova's attendant?"

"Yes, she is."

"..."

Penelope's gesture of swinging the hammer grew infinitely meek.

Seeing that, Valdrova confirmed that Penelope knew Luri.

"You know Luri?"

"Ah, yes... I had a slightly unpleasant memory with her."

"Really?"

"While I was wandering around the castle as I pleased, she would come by now and then to warn me."

"What sort of warning?"

"Things like, do not wander around so recklessly when you are only a demon. Is this your own bedroom? That sort of thing."

"I see."

"No, but isn't that a little ridiculous? In a place this huge, just because I wandered through a few spots, she starts saying she'll fold my spine and all that."

"That does sound a bit harsh."

"And then later, she really did fold my spine, exactly as she said!"

"... Really?"

"Three times, too!"

"U-Um? Ah, yes, that was too much..."

"You think so too, Grand Duchess, don't you? Whew, even in my opinion, honestly..."

Penelope began chattering without pause.

Even though Valdrova knew Penelope had been the one at fault, she quietly listened to her story.

Meanwhile, Valdrova felt a strange sensation.

'What is this...?'

This moment, right now, felt so comfortable.

For her, conversation was difficult.

The men she had met while acting as an armor knight,

Luri, who had stayed by her side the longest,

and even Ferda, who made her heart flutter so much.

They were all too difficult for her to speak with.

But Penelope, chattering away here, was different.

No matter what she said, there was no reserve and no hesitation, and above all, she was so insignificant that it made Valdrova feel cheerful too.

Only then did Valdrova realize it.

What it was she had wanted to stop this child for.

"Um..."

"Yes!"

"Do you want to be friends with me?"

"... Huh?"

Penelope blinked like an idiot.

What had that mouth just said?

She wanted to be friends?

What sweet trap was this?

Was this some kind of test where, if Penelope accepted the offer, Valdrova would say, "Fooled you," and kill her?

As Penelope stood there with a dazed expression, Valdrova asked carefully.

"You... do not want to be friends?"

It could not be a test.

Look at that expression.

She was as shy as a maiden on her wedding night.

If Penelope took this as mockery, it would be rude to her.

"F-Friends... S-Sure?"

She forced out an answer while still feeling uneasy.

Valdrova, who had made the offer, opened her eyes wide.

"R-Really?"

"You were the one who asked, Your Highness...?"

Penelope wondered if she had stepped on a mine.

"Ah, yes! I did. I did ask! Yes!!"

Then, on Valdrova's face, which had been full of anxiety, a pure white, radiant smile burst forth.

As if she had done it, she clenched both hands tightly and bounced her shoulders.

"Then we are friends starting today?!"

"Y-Yes..."

Penelope could not understand Valdrova's reaction.

Was a simple offer of friendship really something to rejoice over that much?

With a lowly third-rate demon, no less.

'Friends with a dragon... No one sane would accept that offer... Huh, wait a minute...'

Here, Penelope tried changing her perspective.

'Isn't this way more insane than I thought?'

A dragon's friend.

What demon would ever become friends with a dragon, one of the old masters of the Serdes Continent?

She had accomplished something even the seven Great Demons had not.

She, who had been treated as a third-rate demon back home, would become friends with a dragon in a dragon's castle.

'Maybe...!'

Penelope's eyes sparkled.

'Maybe I really can drag Mother down and become a Great Demon!'

They say disaster befalls those who dream beyond their station.

She herself did not know that sparkle was the light of a baleful star announcing calamity.

"And that is how it happened..."

"..."

"As a request from a friend, she said she wanted to help Lord Ferda hold his head high. She could not do it herself, but there would be the eyes of others around, so she asked me to show it that way..."

There was an explanation for why Ferda could have been mistaken.

The clothes were also clothes Valdrova had worn, and they were made with thread spun from ground scales imbued with her energy.

It was enough to cover the demonic energy Penelope possessed, and it was easy to think she was a dragon.

"..."

Countless thoughts swirled through Ferda's mind.

His thoughts had become such a muddled mess that they were practically a blank slate.

Just then, as he remained unable to say anything,

"... I see."

Ferda suddenly realized.

"Were you... also the one who taught her that vulgar phrase?"

"Y-Yes?? Wh-What phrase?"

"The expression 'you make me horny.' Were you the one who taught her that?"

"Huh? I said something like that..."

["As a rule, the best thing to hear from a man is, 'You make me horny.'"]

["I see. But what does 'you make me horny' mean?"]

["You do not even know that? Obviously, it is the greatest compliment a man can give a woman!"]

"... I did, didn't I?"

She scratched her head in embarrassment.

After hearing that answer, tears flowed from Ferda's eyes.

Since they flowed from his eyes, they should undoubtedly have been tears, but their color was not clear.

They were red.

Ferda was shedding tears of blood.

Ferda's mind felt as if the knights of calamity were rampaging through it.

He felt joy that Valdrova had found a friend she could open her heart to and talk with.

But just as strong as that joy was the fury and lamentation that said friend had to be this piece of shit of all people.

The Shadow Circle churned violently.

Ferda's lips moved.

"I..."

"I?"

"I will kill you, Sitri's spawn, Penelope!"

"Ghkkk!"

Unable to endure it, Ferda seized Penelope by the throat.

Penelope could not resist him.

"Lord Ferda, stop."

At that irrational act, Luri spoke.

"If you are going to kill her, wait your turn! If she dies, I will kill her first!"

Her small hands also moved to strangle Penelope's neck.

Luri was shedding tears of blood as well.

Ever since Penelope had introduced herself as Valdrova's friend, Luri had bitten her lip so hard that blood had streamed down.

Penelope instinctively sensed it.

If she did not resist here, she really would die!

Somehow escaping from those two pairs of hands, she shouted loudly.

"Time out! Stop!! Regent, please hear me out!"

"If you offer up your neck now, I will send you off painlessly."

"No! Don't do that, just listen! There is nothing bad about having me as her friend, is there?"

"Because of that statement, you will die in even greater agony."

It was going from bad to worse.

But Penelope pushed on.

"Right now, Lady Valdrova thinks of me as her friend, you know?"

"I will kill you."

Ferda's murderous intent only grew thicker and thicker.

"You see, Lady Valdrova is always thinking about how she can look better to you, Lord Ferda."

Ferda's hand twitched for a moment.

Penelope rode that wavering momentum.

"In that regard, I can provide you with one of the very few opportunities to confirm what the two of you truly feel, in a way that you, Lord Ferda, would also very much enjoy!"

"... For example?"

"F-For example..."

She leaned close to Ferda's ear and answered in a whisper.

"Perhaps a daring outfit that plainly reveals the dynamite figure of that lovely red-haired woman?"

"..."

"Or something see-through, made of fabric like a thin curtain, so her figure shows little by little?"

"..."

"If you keep me as her friend, you will be able to see that feminine sensuality of Lady Valdrova without any filter."

Hearing that, Ferda was unable to say anything.

Before his imagination could fully spread its wings,

"What the hell are you sitting there considering?"

Luri, displeased by his silence, glared daggers at Ferda.

Ferda jolted awake and answered.

"I was not considering anything."

"For saying that, it seems you were picturing an extremely impure image of Lady Valdrova in that head of yours."

"... I was not."

If she had asked even a little later, he would have answered that he had.

Ferda himself was a little startled.

To think that hopeless third-rate demon could carry out a temptation even the Great Demon Sitri had failed at.

It had to be because of Sitri's Life Vessel.

Its power was terrifying.

"The moment I see Lady Valdrova wearing that garbage this demon is talking about, I will kill that demon, of course, but I will also gouge out your eyes, Lord Ferda."

"If she says she wants to wear it herself, you do not have the right to stop—"

"What did you just say?"

Ferda shut his mouth.

Her two index fingers were waiting ominously for Ferda's eyes.

And so, the entire time the carriage moved, Luri's dagger glare remained fixed on Ferda, and Penelope escaped death.

Even after Ferda left, the imperial capital remained noisy.

There were two Demon Followers inside the Empire, and those two happened to be people occupying the highest positions in the Empire, were they not?

For agitators looking to secure a place for themselves in the Empire, they were the perfect fodder, and the nobles could no longer simply sit comfortably with their backsides planted on sofas.

The Empire's security bureau was spending days so busy they had no time to open their eyes or blow their noses.

"I heard you went to Debelung's mansion."

"I did."

"How was it?"

Debelung's mansion was famous for being spacious, contrary to what his position might suggest.

Because it was a place that showed the family's tradition and honor, it could be called an object of envy.

But that, too, had only been true until yesterday.

A symbol of wealth and power had become a cursed mansion stained with ugly desire.

"Fitting for a place where a Demon bastard lived, even the smell was foul. His taste in paintings was universally shit, too."

"They really say they are going to burn that whole mansion down?"

"What can they do? Grand Duke Gold made a decision to save the nation. They say they will burn the mansion and build more buildings there."

"They say there is no one you can trust..."

"The Grand Duke must be terribly heartbroken."

Waldemar Gold was the hero of the people.

He was a noble with such a lofty reputation that even jokingly insulting his name in a tavern would get a fist thrown at you.

They sympathized with Waldemar and cursed Debelung, the Demon pawn.

"I heard there was a girl rescued from that devil's spawn?"

"She is recuperating in the aid ward right now. They say she was soaked in drugs, and five priests had to work on her just to barely release the paralysis in her whole body."

"Really?"

"According to the journal, she was imprisoned for a full three years and is still alive."

"Is that something to be surprised about?"

"It is something to be surprised about. Among the victims, there was even a man who had been from the imperial knight order. They say even that knight died before three months passed, but that woman survived for three years."

When selecting members of the imperial knight order, every aspect is examined thoroughly, and among them, mental fortitude allows no compromise.

Even if one is first-rate in swordsmanship, weak mental fortitude is considered a serious disqualification.

"Did Debelung hold back because she was a woman?"

"That does not seem to be the case. They say she survived even after receiving everything the others could not endure for more than a month."

"So she survived three years like that..."

"It sounds like they were making assassins for some secret organization. You know, one of those things where you can only be chosen if you go through torture like this and endure it?"

"What kind of nonsense are you..."

The captain trailed off.

Because of those words, he suddenly felt something he had left in the depths of memory brush against his fingertips.

"Is there a portrait drawn of that woman, by any chance?"

"There is. A sketch artist drew one to identify her."

A guard handed the captain the poster that had just been drawn.

The captain's unusual expression gradually lost all color.

"Wait..."

The captain urgently rummaged through the document drawer.

The place he searched was not the missing persons posters, but the wanted criminal posters.

His fingers moved quickly, then pulled out a sheet of paper lying deep inside.

"... Damn it."

His complexion turned pale.

"What is wrong, sir?"

"That damned pig bastard kept a big shot like this alive all this time!"

The guards were flustered by his considerable anger.

"Grab class-one mana restraints and run to the aid ward immediately! We have to restrain that woman!"

"What in the world is she—"

"Shut up and move now!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Taking the restraints with them at their captain's uncharacteristic behavior, they ran after him.

They ran without once catching their ragged breath, but only traces of the woman remained in the recovery room.

"Sound a class-one alarm immediately!"

"A class-one alarm, sir?"

"Tell them to mobilize every guard and the army and seal off the Empire!"

"Captain, to sound that alarm, we at least need to know the reason."

Only then did the impatient captain regain his reason and speak.

"Sierra..."

"Sierra?"

Sierra.

At those three syllables, they grasped the gravity of the situation.

"Tell them the Wolf of Sierra has escaped."