Volume 4, Chapter 4-2 – Thank You, Lavinia!

“Here.”

Franleya took out a blank sheet of parchment from her clothes and handed it to Stella.

“Write your name on this. Then walk up there, throw the parchment into the Chalice of Sin, and you’re done.”

“What happens if you write the wrong name?” Stella instinctively asked.

“Then of course you won’t pass.” Franleya tilted her head. “The Chalice of Sin is an ancient magical artifact made by the Faust family, after all. There’s no way it wouldn’t recognize a false name.”

“Stella, don’t tell me you don’t know your own name?”

Stella didn’t speak.

Franleya didn’t press her either. She glanced toward somewhere not far away, then waved at Stella.

“My mother is calling me. I’ll go up first. See you later.”

With that, the little Nightmare lifted the hem of her skirt and lightly walked toward the stone platform at the center of the venue.

Stella remained where she was, watching as Franleya stepped onto the stone platform, casually scribbled a few strokes on the parchment, then tossed it into the Chalice of Sin.

The ghostly blue flames suddenly surged upward, transforming into a line of writing suspended in midair.

【Franleya Belphegor】

Stella stood at the edge of the crowd, staring at that line of text.

Franleya turned around and winked at her, then stepped down from the stone platform and soon disappeared into the crowd.

Stella frowned slightly.

If she really had to use her true name, then this was going to be troublesome.

If she simply threw in a fake name, there was a high chance the ghostly blue flames would immediately judge it invalid, or even spit it right back out. It might even punish her somehow while it was at it.

And obviously, both Stella Valentine and Stella Darkfallen were fake names.

If they were talking about her true name, then she would have to write down the name that truly belonged to her.

Stella von Einzbern.

But the problem was that “von” was a surname marker unique to human nobility, used to indicate a person’s place of origin or the territory owned by their family.

Demons didn’t use that kind of naming format at all. One glance and anyone would know it was human.

Making the Chalice of Sin burn out an obviously human aristocratic surname right under the noses of a whole group of Electors, how was that any different from sticking a label on her forehead that said, “I’m a human Saintess, everyone come chop me up”?

No.

She absolutely couldn’t write her true name.

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But if she didn’t write her true name, what could she write?

Stella thought so hard her head was practically smoking.

Why had the old abbot at the monastery given her a name with “von” in it in the first place?!

She was clearly an orphan with no father or mother, no territory to inherit, and no family lineage to trace. So why was she called “von Einzbern”?

It couldn’t be that she really did have some territory waiting for her to inherit somewhere in the Human Realm, could it?

Stella amused herself with the thought.

Impossible.

She was an orphan raised in a monastery. Where would she get territory from?

“Stella.”

A languid female voice came from behind her.

Stella turned and saw Vivian walking over with a wineglass in hand.

Stella could clearly see what looked like an unwiped lipstick mark on her cheap mom’s face.

She had probably just come back from fooling around with someone.

Sigh… Vivian.

“How are you getting along with Franleya?” Vivian asked. “You two looked like you were having a pretty good time chatting.”

“Having a good time?” The corner of Stella’s mouth twitched. “…I guess it was fine.”

“Gain anything from it?”

“Gain anything…” Stella tilted her head. “I almost gained a daughter?”

Vivian froze in place.

A few seconds later, her eyes lit up.

In just that tiny amount of time, relying purely on her personal charm, Stella had already nearly managed to win over the Belphegor Young Miss?

“As expected of my biological daughter,” Vivian said in satisfaction, patting Stella on the shoulder. “You really did perfectly inherit the Valentine family’s social butterfly talent.”

Stella blinked.

They had only chatted for a little while. Surely that didn’t count as some kind of social butterfly talent?

“Alright.” Vivian waved a hand. “It’s about time. Samael, Asmodeus, Mammon, and Belphegor have already submitted their true names. Now only Valentine, Faust, and Bathory are left.”

She placed her hands on Stella’s shoulders and pushed her toward the stone platform.

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“Go on.”

“W-Wait…”

Before Stella could even react, Vivian had already pushed her in front of the Chalice of Sin. Ghostly blue flames danced before Stella’s eyes, while every gaze around them focused on her at once.

“Submit your name, and that’ll be everything for tonight,” Vivian urged.

Stella clenched the parchment in her hand, her palm beginning to sweat.

What should she write?

Stella von Einzbern?

No. The moment that “von” appeared, she was finished.

Stella Valentine?

But she wasn’t really a Valentine. What if the Chalice of Sin refused to recognize it?

Stella Darkfallen?

That wouldn’t work either.

That damned surname had obviously just been a fake name the Inquisitor randomly made up. There was even less chance it could count as a true name.

Three names, and not a single one she could use.

Stella’s brain spun at terrifying speed, like freshly oiled gears turning who knew how many times every second. Wisdom practically filled the air around her, so thick she could grab handfuls of it just by reaching out.

‘Wait.’

She remembered the Marauder’s Map.

That thing was also a magical artifact capable of displaying true names.

Back in Firefly Dark Alley, the name shown for her on the Marauder’s Map had kept changing between Stella von Einzbern, Stella Darkfallen, and Stella Valentine. All three names had taken turns appearing, with none willing to yield to the others.

And what happened in the end?

It gave up.

It just displayed 【Stella】.

Since even a magical map capable of displaying true names had chosen to refer to her as 【Stella】.

Then if she simply wrote that single word, there was a good chance nothing would go wrong.

At the very least, that meant that on some level, Stella itself was the most fundamental identifier of who she was.

It was certainly more reliable than her other three identities.

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‘Time to gamble.’

‘Let the Chalice of Sin figure it out itself!’

Stella scrawled “Stella” across the parchment in an extremely sloppy hand, then tossed it straight into the Chalice of Sin in one go.

The ghostly blue flames abruptly surged upward. In an instant, their color changed from ghostly blue to dark red, then from dark red to deep purple.

The Chalice of Sin had witnessed countless Abyss Supremacy Tournaments, seen countless true names, and processed countless bloodlines, but never once had anything made it feel so…

Confused.

There was no doubt that Stella’s true name was 【Stella von Einzbern】.

A human aristocratic surname marker, a human naming format, and a pure human bloodline.

The flames of the Chalice of Sin paused.

But the problem was that it had existed for thousands of years, and never once had it encountered a demon submitting a human true name.

Almost subconsciously, it sensed the girl before it again.

Succubus bat wings, curved horns at her temples, a long slender tail… how did any part of her look human?

The magical circuits of the Chalice of Sin were starting to have a bit of a problem.

The name was indeed real.

But the problem was, the bloodline was real too.

Put the two together, and why did something suddenly feel wrong?

The Chalice of Sin considered it for a moment.

Perhaps the Valentine bloodline was simply more dominant?

After all, no matter how it looked at Stella now, she was clearly a succubus.

But then why did she carry the scent of a Samael dragon demon?

And… the purity wasn’t low either.

But why would a Valentine heir possess the Samael bloodline?

Forget it. Valentine wouldn’t work, and Samael was even worse.

Try another one.

【Stella Darkfallen】

The Chalice of Sin searched for the origin of this surname.

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Clean as a blank sheet of paper.

Good enough.

Whatever.

Vivian stood to the side, narrowing her eyes slightly.

The Chalice of Sin had remained silent for quite some time, and the people around them had also begun whispering among themselves.

“What’s going on…”

“Where’s Valentine’s name? Why hasn’t it appeared yet?”

“Could something have gone wrong?”

Stella’s heart was so tense it felt like a taut violin string, trembling nonstop.

Was she finished?

Had she bet wrong?

Was she really about to have her identity investigated in front of the entire venue?

The next instant, the flames of the Chalice of Sin suddenly shot upward, burning more fiercely than they had for anyone before her. The flames twisted and stretched through the air, finally freezing into a clear line of characters.

【Stella Darkfallen】

‘It passed?’

‘But the name displayed was… Stella Darkfallen?’

Stella blinked, making sure she hadn’t seen it wrong.

It was “Darkfallen”, not “Valentine”, and not “von Einzbern”.

It was Darkfallen.

But wasn’t “Stella Darkfallen” just a damned fake name that the scheming Inquisitor had casually made up on the spot?!

Translator Note

It’s kind of funny that each item is like having their own thoughts when doing the job xD