Volume 1, Chapter 36 – Time to Scout the Place

Clatter.

Clatter.

The sound of metal dragging across the carpet was especially harsh in the otherwise silent common room.

Stella tightly gripped the cold metal chain. She kept her eyes forward, doing her best to make her steps appear calm and unhurried, but the gazes surrounding her practically stabbed into her like arrows.

Dust stained the elaborate hem of Lainia’s black-and-white maid dress, while her short black hair clung messily to her cheeks. Every time the chain let out a crisp clink, flames of humiliation and fury flared within her amber eyes.

She could only bite down on her lower lip.

This was hell.

That silver-haired succubus had deliberately brought her outside to parade her around, all to destroy her sense of shame and make her break down in full view of everyone.

Lainia stared at Stella’s silver hair fluttering in the breeze.

Dream on.

No matter what humiliation she suffered, she would never submit.

“Look… That’s a human, right?”

“Oh my god, Stella really brought her out on a leash…”

“Why bring her outside? Tsk, tsk. Don’t tell me she didn’t have enough fun in the dorm and wants to find somewhere outdoors for something more exciting?”

“I’m so jealous… I want her to lead me around like that too… Ah, no, I mean I want to lead a human around like that too.”

The surrounding succubi covered their mouths as waves of whispers surged toward them.

This was hell.

If she could, Stella truly wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it. But if she wanted to send away Lainia, who was supposedly her slave but was actually her compatriot, she could only grit her teeth and keep acting.

‘Everything is for the glory of the Lord.’

That was the only way Stella could console herself.

However, the journey was destined to be anything but peaceful.

The moment she turned a corner, she spotted Vice Principal Mara leaning beside a window. As soon as Mara saw Stella leading Lainia along, the eyes behind her glasses lit up alarmingly.

“You’ve already started?”

Mara did not stop them. She merely swept an appreciative gaze over Lainia’s humiliated face, as though admiring a work of art, before finally nodding toward Stella.

“Taking your pet out for a walk on such a lovely evening is certainly a fine pastime. Enjoy yourself, my little genius.”

“…I will, Vice Principal.”

Stella stiffly nodded and quickened her pace.

Before she had gone much farther, she ran into Professor Novina, who had just finished class.

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The stern Spellcraft professor’s gaze lingered on the chain for a moment before she finally revealed a meaningful look of approval.

Stella could only force herself to smile and nod.

“…”

Next came Professor Katerina.

She seemed to have come after hearing the news.

“Maintain this tension, Stella. It’s when she’s struggling in despair that she tastes the most delicious.”

Katerina licked the corner of her lips in satisfaction.

Stella felt her stomach starting to hurt.

‘Are all the faculty members in this school villains?’

Stella stiffly inclined her head and involuntarily quickened her steps again.

The misunderstanding was getting deeper and deeper.

At last, after passing through the most crowded teaching district, the gate leading outside the academy appeared ahead.

As long as she crossed that plaza…

“——Stop.”

A crimson figure blocked her path.

Her scarlet curls blazed as flamboyantly as flames. Cheryl Valentine folded her arms and arrogantly raised her chin. Her blood-red eyes rested on Lainia for only an instant before shifting away with extreme contempt.

“Parading around with some lowly pet. Is this really your taste, Stella?”

Stella stopped walking, her grip on the chain tightening.

“None of your business. Move.”

“Hmph.”

Cheryl snorted coldly and stepped closer.

“Don’t forget what actually matters. It’s fine to play around with this kind of entertainment, but don’t waste your energy on trash.”

Cheryl extended one finger until the tip was practically poking Stella in the nose.

“Tomorrow. The training arena.”

“I’ll crush you together with all those little tricks of yours.”

Stella froze.

‘Tomorrow?’

“Wait…”

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Stella subconsciously spoke.

“Wasn’t the duel supposed to be on the weekend?”

She clearly remembered that they had agreed on the weekend, and today was only just past Wednesday.

Cheryl looked at her as though she were an idiot.

“What are you pretending to be stupid for? Is this your first day learning how the Demon Realm calendar works?”

Cheryl explained impatiently.

“The seven days of the Human Realm follow the order of creation, while the Demon Realm counts backward according to the order of destruction. Today is the sixth day of the Destruction Calendar, which corresponds to Saturday in the Human Realm.”

“Tomorrow is the final day, the Day of Rest, which is also the day of our duel.”

“…”

Stella’s brain crashed.

‘There’s a setting like that?!’

The information the Inquisitor had given her had not mentioned this at all. She had originally thought she still had several days to prepare, or find an opportunity to run away, or even figure out a way to contact Itheria for help.

But instead… it was tomorrow?

‘What am I supposed to do?’

Even with the effects of the succubus elixir and Vice Principal Mara’s brutal regimen, she had never actually practiced how to fight…

“What? Scared?” Cheryl asked disdainfully.

“…Ridiculous.”

Stella’s aster-purple eyes instantly turned icy. She abruptly yanked the chain, making Lainia stumble into the back of her heel.

“See you tomorrow, Valentine.”

Stella walked around Cheryl and hurried away without looking back.

Despite her humiliation and helplessness, Lainia had been silently observing everything that happened along the way.

It was obvious that whether it was what had happened in class, her interactions with the professors, or the attitudes of the other succubi toward her, this silver-haired succubus holding her chain was definitely far more than an ordinary student.

‘She is truly…’

‘Evil to the core…!’

The sky gradually darkened. Dragging her heavy steps, Stella finally arrived at the outskirts of the Blasphemous Forbidden Forest.

Few people ever came here. Dead trees stretched their claw-like branches toward the sky, while the occasional roar of some unknown demonic beast echoed from far away.

A perfect place to kill someone and dump the body…

No, a perfect place to release someone back into the wild.

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No wonder Remedios had specifically arranged to meet her here.

Stella stopped and turned around.

She looked at Lainia, a trace of complicated emotion appearing within her aster-purple eyes.

‘Is that… pity?’

Lainia froze for a moment, then sneered inwardly.

‘Impossible.’

This had to be yet another one of the demon’s methods of tormenting her.

“Turn around,” Stella ordered softly.

Lainia obeyed and turned her back toward Stella.

She closed her eyes, waiting for a whipping or perhaps some even more terrifying dark magic to descend upon her.

Click.

The pressure around her neck vanished.

The sound of metal hitting the ground rang especially clearly through the silent forest.

Lainia abruptly opened her eyes and touched her neck in disbelief.

The collar… had been unlocked?

She turned around and saw Stella standing beneath the moonlight with the loosened chain in her hand. The silver-haired girl tilted her head slightly, her expression serene and sacred.

“Get lost.”

Stella pointed toward the small path along the outskirts of the Blasphemous Forbidden Forest that led outside the academy.

If she kept following that path and was lucky, Lainia should be able to leave the Demon Realm before dawn.

Lainia stared at her blankly.

‘Is this some new form of torture…?’

‘Whatever.’

Lainia gritted her teeth, a trace of resolve flashing through her amber eyes.

Even if it was a trap, she had to take the chance.

Without looking back, Lainia charged straight into the dark forest.

‘Huh?’

Stella blinked.

She had clearly pointed toward the path outside the academy, so why had the girl charged directly into the Blasphemous Forbidden Forest?

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‘Miss Lainia, you’re going the wrong way!’

‘East, go east!’

Stella was just about to shout.

“—Oh my.”

A gentle voice suddenly sounded from behind a tree.

“!?”

Stella stiffly raised her head.

Remedios was sitting on a tree branch, her long platinum-blonde hair hanging down as she held that thick diary in her hands, her blue eyes filled with curiosity.

“Remedios, it’s only seven-thirty.”

Stella’s voice nearly choked.

“I know.”

Remedios closed the diary and lightly jumped down, landing without a sound.

“But I have a habit of scouting places ahead of time whenever I’m doing something. It makes sneaking around and stealing things much easier.”

She stepped closer to Stella, glanced at the discarded chain by Stella’s feet, then looked in the direction where the nun had disappeared.

The direction leading deeper into the Blasphemous Forbidden Forest.

“Hmm… How interesting,” Remedios said softly.

“Alright, my dear accomplice.”

She tilted her head and smiled.

“Would you mind telling me what you were just doing?”

This…

Really did not seem explainable anymore.

Translator Note

AHAHAHAHA XD

Things always went well, but also not xD