"So goooood~"
Lilith touched her cheek with a satisfied look on her face as she chewed the meat.
"Thank you, your highness. I made extra effort to make the sauce you like."
"Such a good boy~"
Lilith hugged Tessa with her cheeks filled with food. The latter blushed and fidgeted.
'Did she just say boy?'
Maybe my head experienced too much trauma that I was even hearing things.
'Yeah.'
Lilith was at least dressed now so we could have a proper conversation while eating.
"I sent out my bats to locate if there are other human camps nearby…" Tessa spoke as we dined. "I have found two others and will send out clones to deal with them."
"Clones?"
"Tessa can use blood manipulation magic to summon a vessel similar to himself. All he needs to do is share his blood with that vessel for it to gain a fraction of his strength."
"Let me demonstrate." Red mana started circulating around Tessa's body.
The red mana started to manifest into a figure the same height as her.
"This is my blood clone. I have shared 50% of my power through my blood. It's inefficient to use sometimes since there's no telling if another demon lord will send their servants to the castle. I'd need my full power to fend them and use Blood Rage."
A naked figure similar to Tessa stood next to her.
I felt my pants tighten. My gaze went down as the two spoke to each other. Her chest was as flat as a cutting board but her skin was supple and looked soft. It was the body of a 14 year old girl who hasn't developed yet.
"Maybe I should make Lord Luther an outfit fitting for the demon lord's servant."
"Ooh! That's perfect!"
"…?"
I felt like my mind blanked when I saw what was between the legs of the clone.
"U-Um… Tessa.."
"Yes, lord Luther?"
I pointed to the clone.
"Why do I see a male genital dangling down the clone's thighs?"
My voice trembled.
It couldn't be what I'm thinking of… right?
"Oh? That's because…" She pointed at herself. "I'm a boy."
"…"
The erection I had died down almost immediately.
"You didn't know?"
She–He tilted his head.
"H-How could I even tell?"
His face was that of a cute girl who was at the peak of purity and innocence. A girl with a laugh so cute that it makes a person's heart melt. I couldn't think of how many times I wanted to tear his maid uniform off of his body. And all this time he was a dude?
I whistled and averted my eyes from his questioning gaze.
'I shouldn't feel guilty… yeah…'
I didn't know she was a he anyway.
Tessa smiled silently. She held out her hand towards the clone before it disappeared into red mana again.
I cleared my throat a few times.
"Anyway, I never heard what my duties will be from now on."
I kept my gaze on the food to not meet Tessa's eyes. The shock was far too great.
"First. You are responsible for spreading the infamy of her highness."
I took out a notebook and wrote down that line.
"Infamy…? What do I have to do?"
Tessa spoke in an emotionless tone.
"Let's say… attack human villages? All you must do is attack humans on behalf of her highness' name."
Silence dawned upon us. Even Lilith had a serious expression on her face as she gazed at me.
'I must attack human villages…?'
"Does that include all humans and not just those who are bad?"
"Of course. We are the enemies of humans. We need their hate to grow stronger in the demon world."
I looked at the piece of meat on my plate while I contemplated.
It's ironic how I became the servant of a demon lord despite them being the enemies of our race.
"Lord Luther, will you fulfil your duties as the subordinate of her highness? Or will you go back to the human kingdom only to be hunted down by the heroes again?"
My hand froze as I was about to take another bite.
'That's right… I'm an enemy of the humans as well… A Regressor.'
I smiled weakly and nodded.
"…I'll do it."
Maybe there might be an alternative to joining the demons. I could run away but…
'There are heroes all over this world. Who knows when I could encounter the Wandering Hero as well.'
The Wandering Hero is someone who chose to become a nomad to fight evil wherever they go. I heard that that person is even in the top one hundred of the strongest heroes.
I'd undoubtedly die.
"Good. You are also required to follow me whenever I go to the demon world if I have business there."
Lilith spoke after confirming my words.
The demon world… A world overrun by danger that it makes even the most dangerous of SS rank zones seem like picnic areas. The place is so uninhabitable that if a human were to set foot in that place, they'd instantly die from the harsh atmosphere.
Even the air can set your lungs on fire whenever you breathe. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you don't die from the harsh climate or atmosphere, then you're bound to die from the monsters that roam that world.
Monsters ranked A class and higher can be found everywhere on that world. Anything below A rank can enter our world through the demon portals. The others are forced back by the world's will which the goddess controls. Without the World holding the strong demons back, then the entire continent would've been overrun by demonic monsters.
"Won't I die if I follow you there, though?"
Lilith shook her head.
"You are part dragon so you should be able to survive the atmosphere's pressure. Dragons and demons alike are creatures originally born from mana which help us negate the effects of the atmosphere."
'Speaking of my race… I wonder if I would be able to turn into a dragon itself one day?'
Lilith continued speaking as I had more useless thoughts.
"You mentioned something about going to the Imperial academy, right?"
My fork which was stabbing through the meat stopped.
"…Yeah…"
When I looked up at Lilith, I saw a dark smile on her face.
"…W-What?"
She threw something over towards me.
I looked down to see some things wrapped in a bag.
"What's this?"
"It's perfect…" Lilith mumbled to herself. "You know all demon lords have servants, right?"
I nodded with an ominous feeling in my heart.
"Well, there are many of such servants in your kingdom as well. They are all over the continent actually."
"…!?"
"You humans are so gullible. You must suspect your enemies to be among you as well."
Tessa laughed softly.
"Open it." Lilith pointed at the bag.
I did as she said and opened the bag.
"That uniform belonged to a former student who turned out to be a servant of my rival, Paimon."
What appeared inside the bag was a familiar uniform I always saw noble children wear who attended the academy.
The official uniform of the Imperial Academy.
"I will get a favour from my sister and ask her to enrol you in the academy as well."
"…"
"There's a catch, however…" Lilith pointed at me. "You must get rid of the servants of my rivals while being a student at the academy. Agree to this then I'll let you join. I cannot let Tessa do this. Only you."
"I cannot enter the academy since the children of the heroes might be able to check my status as a vampire. Even entering at night is impossible since the premises is heavily guarded by Armoured Robots."
"I will agree to make you join the academy on this one condition. You always wanted to learn the ways of the Sword King, correct?"
"I…"
My mind was in a dilemma.
"…I'll do it…"
But my dream was still to attend the academy. To get stronger and learn the ways of the hero who faced the strongest demon lord to a draw, the Sword King.
"Excellent!" Lilith patted her chest in relief. "I was scared you'd reject this."
"This is the only way, right?"
Lilith nodded.
"My sister and I are trying to climb up the demon lord hierarchy so we decided to work together to take out our rivals."
"Who's your sister?"
"She's rank 23 and her name is Ashura. She'll also send a demon spy along with you to the academy. This is great! We can finally get rid of the obstacles in my way towards the first rank!"
"First rank?"
Tessa looked like he was about to laugh.
"Anyway, I put the artifacts that'll hide your level and modify your strength inside the chest pocket of the uniform."
"?"
I took out what she mentioned. Two rings appeared out of the pocket.
"Put it on however you want. They will disappear from sight when you wear them but will always be there. These artifacts are valuable so make sure not to break them. One ring is for hiding your power and level and the other is a dimensional storage ring."
I put the uniform inside the dimensional storage ring.
Both rings were an ominous black colour.
Lilith then yawned with her mouth wide open.
"Please close your mouth, your highness. That is improper for a lady."
"Blah, blah. I'm tired after stuffing my belly so much."
Lilith ignored Tessa and stood up from her seat.
Tessa came towards me when I was also about to get up.
He whispered in my ear.
"We only have one bed so behave yourself, lord Luther."
"Y-Yeah."
I instinctively clutched my pants.
"Please have a good night's sleep."
Tessa left the dining room in silence.
"Where is he going?"
"Ah, that? He always goes outside at night for some reason. I can't figure out why and he won't even tell me. Anyway, we should get to bed soon. Your first mission is tomorrow so I don't want you cranky and tired!"
Lilith pulled me upstairs after we left the dining room.
'Tomorrow I'll need to kill for the first time in my life…'
I clenched my fists tightly.
'There's no going back anyway. The human inside me died when I was left to die in the undead zone.'
-
Luther's status now.
Race Human
Level 4
Class Swordsman
HP 300
ATK 120
AG 500
MP 0
ATKP 59