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Chapter 34: A Surprise Visitor For This Succubus Shop!
Part 1
"Oh! This is a rather nice place, isn't it?"
Cecily said, as we entered the hotel room.
"So… This is the otherworlder?"
Sena said, whispering to me as we observed Cecily.
"Yeah. I think the boundary is getting weaker. We might get even more otherworlders coming here in the future."
"...That's scary to think about."
If they were all weirdos like Dust and Cecily, we'd have a big crisis on our hands.
"So, is this gonna be a swapping kind of situation?"
Cecily said, as she looked at me, Mitsurugi and Sena.
"...Hah? What do you mean?"
"I mean, you brought that girl here to join us in an orgy, right?"
"What is she saying?"
Sena said, not understanding the language Cecily was saying, because she wasn't an app user.
"...She's saying that she's happy to cooperate with the authorities."
"Oh. That would be much appreciated."
Mitsurugi gave me the stink eye once I started lying, but he couldn't bring himself to correct me, for Sena's sake.
"We'll keep an eye on her for now. I will also appreciate it if Kazuma-san helps us with her."
"What about Mitsurugi?"
"What about me?"
He didn't seem amused that I was volunteering him.
"She seems to like you better. Plus, you're more charismatic than me. You'd make a better ambassador to the otherworlders."
"You're just saying that so you don't have to do extra work, Satou."
Well, obviously.
"By the way, Cecily, what do you know about the Demon King's activities in the other world?"
Since we were already paying for her living expenses, I felt like she could at least make herself useful with some information.
"The hated Demon King! He's done many cruel, despicable things to us ever since he took over!"
My eyes softened when I heard that.
"I see… If you're comfortable, can you tell me what he did?"
"The Axis cult is no longer allowed to harass the Eris cult! One of our Arch-Priests has also been arrested for sexual assault! It's horrible! So what if he really did assault that one girl?! She was basically asking for it by wearing that slutty outfit!"
"What's so horrible about that?! I feel like I should thank the Demon King for his services!"
Was the Demon King really the bad guy here? It seems like Aqua's followers were full of degenerates.
"...Anything else? Tell me about the political situation going on there."
"Hah? Why would I care about politics?"
This girl is useless!
"Um, Cecily-san? Do you mind answering Satou's questions? He is paying for your room. Not to mention all that wine you ordered from room service earlier."
Despite arguing about being given the role to handle her, Mitsurugi still did his job of trying to negotiate with her.
"Well~! Since the handsome Mitsurugi-kun asked me, very well~! Basically, the Demon King is now residing in the castle of Belzerg. He kicked out the surviving princess of royal family and is now living there."
"And what happened to that princess?"
"Well, the princess is leading a resistance group against the Demon King, but it's kind of hard, since a lot of the people have actually started to support the Demon King."
Sena blinked at that revelation, when I translated it.
"How can that be? Why would the people side with the Demon King?"
"He overturned the power structure, so that the former nobles have been overthrown. There were a lot of corrupt nobles in Belzerg, so a fair bit of the common folk actually welcomed the Demon King with open arms. They're heathens, I tell you! Heathens!"
In the back of my mind, I was thinking, again, that I couldn't really see the Demon King as the bad guy in this scenario.
Still, he was currently on his way to try and rule over us, so I couldn't exactly approve of all his actions.
"And this princess… Is there anything you can tell us about her?"
I asked, to which Cecily smirked, licking her lips.
"In terms of lolis, I'd say she's S tier."
What was that supposed to mean?"
"What about the Demon King himself?"
Mitsurugi said, bringing up a good question.
"All demons must die! That's what the goddess Aqua has decreed! So as the king of such filthy existences, the Demon King must be the first to face Aqua-sama's divine wrath!"
"Give us something more useful! You want the Demon King to die, right?! Then give us information on him that will help us defeat him!"
Mitsurugi pulled me back when I was starting to lose my patience.
"Don't mind him and keep going, Cecily-san!"
Sena nodded approvingly.
"Doing the good cop, bad cop routine, I see. Well done."
I wasn't doing it on purpose. This girl was just making me lose my patience.
"Hah… The Demon King… Well, it's kind of odd. The Demon King hasn't really done much in the past, but a couple years ago, he just suddenly became active."
"Oh? Did something happen?"
"Not sure? There has always been a war between humanity and the demons, but there are rare moments when both sides have a peace conference. The Axis cult did all they could to sabotage such a peace talk, rest assured! After all, we don't want to give the demons any semblance of peace!"
Was Aqua's order really the true bad guys in all of this? I am starting to see it now.
Even Mitsurugi, who was the number one Aqua fan, was giving Cecily a forced smile, as he was restraining himself from judging her.
"And how did the peace talks go?"
He said, while still forcing himself to smile.
"The Demon King and his generals met with the royal family and the nobles of Belzerg. To our horror, the talks were actually going well. They were even exchanging gifts with one another…"
"That's good, isn't it?"
"No, like I said, it's the worst possible outcome!"
Mitsurugi held me back before I could start yelling at her again, he said,
"So, if the peace talks were truly going well, why did the war happen?"
"Fufu… that was when we made our move! All of the Axis-cult faithful stormed the peace party and assaulted the demons! That sure taught them not to mess with humanity!"
"You freaking idiot!"
"Owww! What are you doing?!"
Mitsurugi didn't even hold me back as I leapt towards Cecily and started grinding my knuckles on her head.
Part 2
"Aqua! What the hell is wrong with your followers?!"
When Mitsurugi and I returned home, we confronted Aqua, whose followers were to blame for all of this.
"Yes… I do have to admit that they have crossed the line…"
Even Mitsurugi had no choice but to criticize Aqua.
Aqua was lazing around on the sofa, wine bottle in hand.
"Hah? What are you two on about?"
I snatched the wine bottle away from her.
"One of your followers ended up in this world! She confessed to everything, how your stupid order ruined the peace talks between humanity and demonkind!"
"Ohhh, yeah, that was great, wasn't it? A defining moment for all of mankind!"
"It's all your fault! You and your braindead followers!"
"How dare you say that about me and my adorable followers?! Besides, where is this follower you mentioned?"
"She is currently on house arrest after she admitted to her crimes!"
"Hahhh?! And what crimes are those?!"
"Isn't it obvious?! If it wasn't for her and those religious nuts, then we wouldn't have had the demon king army trying to subjugate all of humanity! It was your followers' fault that the Demon King started to hate humanity so much!"
Aqua stood up, face flushed with anger.
"Where's the proof?! There could have been lots of things that made the Demon King step up the war efforts! It's not fair to blame everything on my precious followers!"
"She said that the Demon King didn't act so aggressively until after the peace talks that your order sabotaged! What else could it be?!"
Aqua glanced away, unable to meet my eyes.
"...Kazuma, there's so much you don't understand about that world, so it's not fair that you're judging an entire group of people just because of something you heard!"
"But that testimony came from someone in that same group."
"...One person doesn't represent an entire group of people!"
She sure was good at talking her way out of things.
"Fine… It's not like we can do anything at this point. More importantly, it seems that there are more portals and tears in reality opening between our world and theirs."
I said, after managing to calm down.
"Isn't that a good thing? That means that more of my cute followers can make their way here!"
Mitsurugi and I both shuddered in fear at the same time.
"That… Doesn't sound good."
Mitsurugi said, thinking of the worst case scenario.
"Is there a way we can close those portals?"
I said, also wanting to avoid such a scenario from happening.
"Not really? I mean, if we could just prevent otherworlders from coming in, we would have just done that from the start, instead of making the dungeon system."
I couldn't really argue with that.
"Hm… Well, it's also a possibility that reinforcements from that world could come here. That might help us."
Mitsurugi said, bringing up a good point.
Cecily did mention that there was a resistance group led by the princess of Belzerg.
Still, that felt more like a small positive compared to everything else that could go wrong.
…
…
I tapped Sena's arm as she got me in a choke hold.
This has become a daily routine for us.
I also wanted to relieve some stress after I confronted Aqua about her follower's stupid actions.
"I give! I give!"
She immediately released me, letting me fall on the mat.
She was training me in submission skills next. I was already bad at stand-up combat, but I was even worse when it came to wrestling.
"Good work, Kazuma-san."
"Even though you were kicking my ass the whole time?"
"Y-You should properly treasure the learning experience!"
I couldn't really complain, since I also told Darkness the same thing when she struggled with her own training.
I drank some water while leaning against the wall. Sena also hydrated herself.
"Kazuma-san, pssst! Look here, look here!"
I glanced at my phone, hearing Appuri-chan calling out to me.
"You have learned a new skill, [Unarmed Combat]!"
[Unarmed Combat] Skill Rank: 1, Passive Skill
You are proficient in unarmed combat! You gain 10% melee attack accuracy when using unarmed combat techniques.
Now that I had the adventurer class back, I was learning all sorts of varied skills again that weren't exclusive to one class.
"Hoshaaa!"
I yelled, as I executed a high kick that I couldn't before.
"Ohhh! What happened, Kazuma-san?! You suddenly improved!"
"Heh… Maybe I'm a genius?"
"So it seems!"
"Not gonna tell her that you learned a skill, huh?"
It was a good thing Sena couldn't hear Appuri-chan.
"Perhaps now, I have a chance against Sena?"
"Let's go for another spar, then!"
I proceeded to get my ass kicked.
I suppose I couldn't beat a trained fighter with years of experience with a rank 1 skill I just learned.
"Well, I think we've earned ourselves a break, haven't we?"
Sena said, after she proceeded to kick my ass.
"Do you want something to eat? Like, a late night snack?"
I said, after I wiped my face with a towel.
"Hmm… I might have to take you up on that. We had quite a workout, after all."
We went to the kitchen and I used whatever was leftover in the fridge to make some fried rice.
With my [Cooking] skill, it turned out quite nice.
"Hm? I smell something good, senpai. Got room for one more?"
"Something smells good here…"
"Is everyone hanging out?"
The smell of the fried rice lured in Rin, Megumin and Yunyun.
I ended up having to cook enough for everyone.
Part 3
After I satisfied my appetite, I took a bath and prepared to go to sleep.
My eyes were getting heavy, when I heard my window opening.
My body moving instinctively, I lunged for the intruder, using my newly learned submission skills to grab the target and pin them to the bed.
As I grabbed the intruder's wrist back and pushed their face down on the bed, I noticed the intruder had silver hair and a feminine figure.
"Not this again! Assistant-kun, it's me, it's me!"
It ended up being Chris.
"...I actually got scared this time."
I said, releasing her.
"So you admit all those other times were unnecessary, huh?"
"...How wily of you. You managed to make me admit that."
"You admitted it yourself. And it was pretty obvious without you having to admit anything."
She rubbed her hand where I gripped it. I said,
"What are you sneaking around for? We already invited you to come live here."
"...Well, I didn't want the others to know about this. I didn't want to make them panic."
She sounded serious, so I motioned for her to keep going.
"I think there are app-users who have betrayed us and switched sides."
"Eh?"
I didn't expect to hear that at all.
After all, the app-users were pretty incompetent, but they still fought in the battle against the Demon King army. None of them seemed like the type who would turn tail.
Besides…
"I don't get it. Three of the Demon King generals are dead. We have the advantage so far. What's the point of them siding with the demons? And how did Big Boss even learn about this?"
"...I don't understand their reasoning, but as for how I know, I was tracking one of them, seeing if I could retrieve an artifact from the app-user."
She was still trying to obey Eris-sama's orders, huh? What a diligent girl. She went on,
"While I was tracking them, I saw them all gathering in a cemetery at night. I overheard a figure in a cloak giving them orders to sabotage the other app-users! The cloaked figure was also asking for information about you!"
"And how do you know this cloaked figure is part of the demon king army?"
"Because they had a dark energy about them, as well as the smell of demons…"
I didn't know how she was able to sense such things.
I mean, Aqua said she could sniff out demons and undead with her nose, but that was because she was a goddess.
"I see. Then, I guess we'll need to find out what these guys are doing."
"Precisely."
"Alright, I'm gonna kill myself, then."
"Of course… Wait, what?! What do you mean?!"
Her whole demeanor changed as soon as she processed my words.
"If I die, then I can go to Eris-sama's realm and use her spiritual remote to view this world and find out what those guys are up to. They could be our final clue to figuring out where the rest of the Demon King generals are."
"...I-I doubt Eris-sama will approve of that plan! Rather, why do you think she'll let you use this remote so easily?!"
"Well, she let me use the remote last time. You know what, I think she has a bit of a crush on me."
She blushed, eyes going wide open.
"Hah?! What makes you say that?!"
"Well, she made so many exceptions for me and kept giving me this flirty little wink. I doubt Eris-sama is slutty enough to just give me a wink like that, so she must be into me, huh?"
"T-That… Eris-sama gives Darkness and I those winks, too! I think she's just a friendly person!"
"Or she swings both ways."
"You…!"
Perhaps because I was insulting her boss, Chris got mad at me and grabbed my collar.
"...Listen, I don't know what exceptions Eris-sama gave you last time, but I doubt it's something she can keep doing for you. After all, my mission would be over by now if she gave me access to that spirit remote to find all the artifacts, right?"
"Well, I guess that's true. I can put off the whole dying thing, then."
She sighed in relief.
"But what are we supposed to do about these guys?"
"...Well, I know it's not as easy as viewing things from heaven, but we could patiently stake out the cemetery they gathered in last time."
I gave her a blank stare.
"If it was that simple, then you would have just kept surveilling them. I take it they don't really have a proper schedule, and you don't even know if or when they'll appear in the cemetery again, right?"
She averted her gaze.
Your 'Intuition' increased by 1!
So, I was right.
"Hmm… Well, I suppose we can make use of the resources available to us."
"And that is…?"
I took out my phone and pointed at the camera.
"We'll have the government bug the place, of course."
Part 4
"...This kind of feels wrong."
Chris said, when we watched Sena leading the government agents to set up hidden cameras and audio equipment around the cemetery.
"It's all to save the world."
"This is still a public cemetery! People have the right to mourn the dead without being spied on!"
"People also have the right to live their lives without having demons invading them. This is an important step to prevent that."
"...I hate how you're so convincing!"
"By the way, Big Boss, since you were following one of the app-users, you must know where they are now, right?"
She slowly nodded her head.
"Yes, I'm not sure how to track the others, but if it's just this one app-user, I know where they are."
"Then, I guess we can go ahead and spy on him, too."
"Ah, I was going to ask assistant-kun to help me with that later, but…"
She was fidgeting nervously.
"But what?"
"Well, I thought you'd ask for something ridiculous in exchange."
Ah, she was talking about last time.
"Hoh… So that's been stuck in your mind all this time, huh, big boss?"
"How could it not be?! After you made me do something like that?!"
"That's pretty mild in terms of play, you know? Rather, I'm surprised that someone who walks around with such a revealing outfit would make a big deal out of something a bit lewd…"
I said, pointedly staring at her exposed stomach and thighs.
She blushed and covered them up.
"What I'm wearing is irrelevant! Anyway, are you helping me or not?!"
I nodded, deciding to give her a freebie this time.
"Sure. I'm in a good mood after teasing Big Boss, anyway."
"You sure are a piece of work, Assistant-kun…"
Since Sena and her crew had the situation handled, I followed Chris to where this app-user lived.
It turned out that they lived in a rather wealthy part of Tokyo, although it wasn't to the point of luxurious extravagance, like our mansion.
I looked at the two-story house of a well-to-do family.
Chris and I were hiding behind some bushes, using [Lurk] to erase our presence.
"So… What do you know about this app-user?"
"His name is Inoue Eiji. His artifact is a longbow that has the power to freeze its targets."
"This should be easy, right? We just gotta steal his phone and you can use your rank 5 [Steal] to take his artifact."
"...If it was that easy, I would have just done this myself, but he used an item from the dungeon that set up a personal ward around himself. Skills like [Steal] won't work on him directly. We're gonna have to steal his phone the old fashioned way. He also has the 'Ranger' class, so he will notice if we try to sneak in."
"I guess we're just gonna have to fool him into letting us come into his house."
"...But what about the heist?"
Chris said, obviously looking forward to the heist.
"The moment we try to sneak inside, he's bound to notice, right?"
"That's true…"
"And so, I have an idea."
When Chris saw the scheming look on my face, she retreated from me.
"...I have a feeling I'll hate this idea."
She said, not trusting me at all.
…
…
Chris knocked on the door, a big, awkward smile on her face.
A minute later, the app-user, Inoue, answered the door.
"...? What is it? I'm not expecting any guests."
He was around my age, maybe a year or two older. He was a normal-looking guy who was wearing joggers and a white t-shirt.
Still smiling awkwardly, Chris said,
"You're Inoue-sama, right? I'm such a big fan of yours!"
I smiled at him, batting my eyes, then said,
"I'm such a big fan, too! You were so cool during the battle against Sylvia and Hans!"
According to Chris, he fought in the battle as well. He probably didn't do much, though, since I didn't remember him at all.
Still, he grinned, believing us once we started to stroke his ego.
"Well, I just did the best I could…"
I nodded and said,
"We'd like to pick your brain, so we know how to handle future battles. But we realize that it's pretty late, so…"
"No, no, it's fine. I'm always glad to talk to my fans…"
Why was he talking like he had other fans?
As for why he was so eager to invite us in…
I was using the [Disguise] skill and dressed myself up as a girl.
Even if he had high intuition, my cunning score was also insanely high.
It was high enough to fool Vanir, after all.
Adding to that, I was also using [Versatile Entertainer] to change my voice. I used Lia's voice as a reference, considering how she was an idol who had lots of fans.
He let us in because he thought that two groupies came to look for him.
It was a ridiculous setting, but I knew from experience that most of the app-users were delusional like that. This guy wasn't any different.
The whole time when we were climbing up the stairs to head to his room, Chris was giving me a look of disbelief.
Her eyes seemed to say, 'You really stoop to all kinds of lows, huh?'.
When it comes to having shame, there is no room for that when it comes to combat.
It doesn't matter what you do to win, as long as you end up winning.
"Well, ladies, here is my room…"
"Oh, wow~! What a splendid room!"
I said, giving him an empty compliment as I saw the tissue box and lotion right beside his PC. Did he think we wouldn't know what that was for? There was also something that looked suspiciously like an ero-magazine sticking out from under his bed. He walked over and tried to subtly kick it in with his foot.
"So, how did you girls know where I lived?"
He said, obviously having some questions since we showed up out of nowhere. He didn't seem worried, though. I guess he was that confident in his skills.
"Ah, well, we were so curious about you after the battle, so we asked around!"
"Aw, that's so cute! What are your names, by the way?"
"I'm Kazuko! This is my friend, Kurisu!"
Chris gave him a forced, twitching smile.
"H-Hey…"
I elbowed her, telling her to be more enthusiastic. She tried to widen her smile, but she couldn't make herself do it.
…Even though she was the real girl, was she really going to make me do everything?
I internally sighed and bent down a little, giving Inoue the deadly upturned gaze look.
That immediately got his attention. As a guy, I knew how effective that look was.
"So, like, we don't really know how to get past the Giant Toad area on the first floor… Can you give us advice and stuff?"
"Sure! I'd love to explain!"
He soon got carried away explaining stuff to me, but I noticed that his advice was really off.
"So, Giant Toads are really weak to physical damage, so I suggest that you overpower it with your cheat weapon."
Ah, I get it.
Since this guy had an OP artifact, he didn't need to think about the strengths and weaknesses of monsters.
Without an artifact, Giant Toads were incredibly resistant to ordinary weapons. Their weakness was magic, or distracting them while they were in the middle of eating something else, which usually ended up being my comrades.
This guy probably just one-shot the toads and moved on to the next floor.
"Wow, you're so wise~!"
Still, I made sure to give him a compliment.
I also glanced at Chris, telling her to contribute.
"Um… Yeah, you're so cool…"
How bad was this girl at flirting?
We repeated this for a while, with me doing my best to compensate for Chris's lackluster acting. Not like Inoue noticed. He was too engrossed in all the fake compliments we were giving him.
Eventually, I said…
"So, like, can we exchange LINE IDs? I totally wanna talk to you more later~!"
I said, giving him a little wink.
"Sure thing, Kazuko-chan! Ah, my phone should be here…"
This was way too easy.
He handed me his phone, and I put in the fake account I already set up beforehand. I handed the phone to Chris, as well.
While she was using [Steal, I made sure to distract Inoue.
"Wow, you're so buff~!"
"Heh… I know, right? Wanna feel my biceps?"
Thankfully, Chris gave me the signal before I had to do that.
"Oh, maybe another time! It's getting late, so Kurisu and I gotta go now!"
"Ehh… I don't mind you girls staying longer, though!"
How more obvious could this guy be?
"Maybe some other time~! You have our contact info, after all~!"
They were both dummy accounts, though.
Trying to hide his obvious disappointment, Inoue led us outside. Chris and I waved goodbye until we were out of sight.
"Did you get it?"
I said, taking my wig off and enjoying the cool air against my real hair.
"Yeah… But Assistant-kun, you were way too good at that…"
She said, giving me a blank stare.
"Hah? Well, it's not like you were doing your job, so I had to do everything."
"H-How could I just start flirting with someone I don't like?!"
This girl's purity and innocence always managed to surprise me.
Your bond with Chris has deepened!
Chris (Silver-haired Thief), Bond Rank: 5
At Rank 5, Chris views you as a total pervert! She also seems to misunderstand you now and thinks that you have a crossdressing fetish. Regardless, you continue to show your reliable side to her. She will look forward to more heists in the future!
Bond Reward: You learn the skill [Espionage]!
[Espionage] Skill Rank: 1, Passive Skill
You are proficient in espionage! You can read lips and eavesdrop on conversations, the success of which is determined by your Intuition (73).
Part 5
It was getting late, but I still had something I wanted to take care of, while I was already out at night.
If it was at this time, surely that guy would be in that place.
Sure enough, I found Dust in the Succubus Shop.
"...Can I get some service here or what?!"
Only to find him complaining as he sat on a table, waiting for a succubus to attend to him.
However, they all seemed to be busy, fussing over something as they gathered in a circle.
I just assumed it was Vanir again, so I ignored it and went to Dust.
"Ohh! Kazuma! I thought you were avoiding me because you didn't wanna pay me!"
What did he think of me? I wasn't a debt dodger like him.
"Here, your bonus for performing relatively well in the battle."
"...Relatively… Why can't you just say that I performed well?"
He had the nerve to say that after getting absorbed by Sylvia so easily?
I gave him a bonus of 100,000 Yen.
"Ohhhh?! This is enough to pay off my debt for the month with the yakuza!"
What did he mean for the month? How much money did this bum owe?
Actually, I didn't want to know that.
"Geez, Kazuma, you sure are a pal!"
He wrapped his arm around me.
"If you want more cash, then continue our original deal of getting more info about the Demon King army for me."
Early on in our friendship, if you can call it that, I tasked Dust to find information about Beldia and to prevent other app-users from getting harmed by him.
I wasn't sure if Dust actually did that, but he certainly didn't give me any info.
This time, I offered him the same terms, although I didn't have high hopes.
"Ah, well I did notice something kind of weird… But it had more to do with the app-users than the Demon King army."
That caught my attention.
"What happened?"
"Well, I was talking to some of the regulars at the Succubus Shop. I was asking them which succubus worker was the hottest, and right when they were about to respond, they just suddenly got this cloudy look in their eyes and started walking away from me mid-conversation. When I asked them where they were going, they said that they were 'Going to Serena-sama'."
"Did they mention where this 'Serena-sama' was?"
"I dunno. I didn't ask them."
This guy was useless.
Well, I couldn't really say that, since he provided a name.
I wasn't really sure if the cemetery incident was the same as this, but this was something to keep in mind.
I made sure to memorize that name, since it might come up again in the future.
While I was thinking, he held out his hand. I sighed and gave him a bonus 10,000 Yen for the information.
Your bond with Dust has deepened!
Dust (Blond Delinquent), Bond Rank: 5
At Rank 5, Dust views you as a man who honors his word and pays him what he's owed. He will look for more information about the Demon King army for you, as long as you continue to pay him well. Be careful about being seen with him in public, as he owes the yakuza a fair bit of debt, and is known as a perverted pest around the city.
Bond Reward: [Spear] rank-up
[Spear] Skill Rank: 3, Passive Skill
You are proficient in using spears. You gain 30% weapon accuracy with attacks using spears and 2 to damage using spears.
"Ahhh… When are these succubi gonna finish fawning over that loli?"
"Eh, loli?"
"Oh, that got you interested?"
Why did people keep assuming I was a lolicon?
"...I thought it was that masked guy Vanir again."
"Nah. A princess from my original world slipped through a portal, apparently. They took her in and can't leave her alone now. Geez, why didn't I get this kind of treatment, when I ended up in this world?"
Did I even need to answer that?
As for that princess, I had a feeling this was that same princess that Cecily talked about.
When I went over to the pack of succubi, I saw Rorisa and the Receptionist Succubus fawning over a young blonde girl eating a plate of pancakes.
"Kyaa~! She's so cute when she's nibbling on her food!"
"I don't have maternal instincts since I can't reproduce, but what is this desire to protect her?!"
"Quick, feed her some candy, too!"
This girl was getting quite the royal treatment, even in this world.
"Ahem… You're the Princess of Belzerg, right?"
Hearing her title being called, the young girl turned her blue eyes to me, while she was chewing on her pancakes. After she finished chewing, she wiped her mouth with a napkin, then she gestured for Rorisa to come over to her side. She whispered in Rorisa's ear.
Rorisa blushed and said,
"Ehh?! Um, Kazuma-san isn't like that… He can be trusted…"
What was this loli princess saying about me?
I used my newly learned [Espionage] skill to listen in on them.
"Are you sure? He seems like the kind of man that Claire and Rain warned me about…"
"Um… He's a regular customer of this establishment, so I can attest to his character!"
"...Isn't this place a brothel? And he's a regular customer?"
"It's not exactly a brothel… We just give lewd dreams to our customers!"
Rorisa wasn't exactly helping my case here.
I coughed into my hand and bowed to the princess.
"...Pardon the late introduction, your highness. I am Captain Satou Kazuma. I represent this nation of Japan. It is a pleasure to meet you."
She straightened her posture once I stated my title. Then, she finally spoke directly to me.
"...I am Princess Iris Stylish-Sword Belzerg. As you can see, I have found myself in this world. Thankfully, these girls were kind enough to shelter me and feed me."
I could tell that she was trying to come off as mature as possible, but her childish voice kind of diminished any sense of authority she was trying to project.
"Well, first of all, can you tell me how you ended up here, Princess Iris?"
She nodded, then said,
"...I was leading the resistance forces in a skirmish, but just as I was about to attack a demon, a portal appeared in front of me. Then, I appeared in this world, in front of this establishment. The succubi here were kind enough to explain everything to me and take care of me."
It was a good thing she ended up in such a friendly place.
"I see. I have a lot of questions for you, but it would be better if you tell your story to my comrades as well. Please come with me."
She stared at me for a while, before whispering in Rorisa's ear again.
"Um, like I said, he's not the type to go after young girls like you, Princess Iris…"
"B-But he seems like the type. I'm scared!"
…What happened to her confident mannerisms?
Part 6
Princess Iris thanked the succubi once more for helping her out.
"You can come by anytime you want, princess~!"
They also had her promise to come back.
After the succubi resumed their business, to the relief of the patrons, I had Princess Iris follow me to the mansion.
On the way there…
"...?! What are those horseless carriages?!"
She was surprised to see a car for the first time.
When I explained to her what cars were, she said,
"I see… What a fascinating world… Ooh, what's that!"
She got starry eyed as she passed by a market and she saw a taiyaki stand.
"It's like a pastry with a sweet filling inside. Do you want some?"
"A-Am I allowed? Claire wouldn't let me have street food back in my world…"
As expected of a princess, she had quite the strict upbringing.
I smiled and took out my wallet.
"Let onii-chan here get it for you."
When I think about it, wasn't this my chance?
I asked my parents before to divorce, so I could have a non-blood related sister.
As a result, they beat me up for it.
But now, it should be different after I maxxed out my bond with them.
"...! So good!"
Iris had nothing but praises for the red-bean filling taiyaki I got for her.
"If you want anything, make sure to tell your onii-chan here…"
She blushed, hiding half of her face with the taiyaki.
"T-Then… I'll rely on you, o-onii-chan…"
"..."
"Um… onii-chan… Are you OK?"
She said that so perfectly that I almost died on the spot from the cuteness.
"Yosh! How about we have you try crepe next?"
"Um… I thought I was supposed to meet the others…"
I ended up getting carried away and bought her a bunch of things.
…
…
Everyone gathered in the dining room after I brought my new little sister, Iris, home.
Mitsurugi looked at her, then said,
"...Was Cecily-san right about you, Satou?"
What is this guy on about?
"I already told you. She's the princess that Cecily was talking about."
"...We can still return her to her family. It's not too late."
Thankfully, Iris spoke up before I was permanently regarded as a lolicon.
"I am indeed Princess Iris Stylish-Sword Belzerg. I am the last remaining member of the Belzerg family and current leader of the resistance…"
"...I have to admit, that's a pretty cool backstory. Your name is pretty cool, too."
Megumin nodded her head, her chuunibyou tastes ignited when she heard Iris's name and circumstances.
Darkness gave Iris a sympathetic look and said,
"You've had quite a rough time so far. Please do not worry, you are in good hands now."
Iris looked at her, namely, Darkness's hair and eyes.
"Those features… Are you part of the nobility?"
Darkness blinked and tilted her head.
"Um… Not really? I'm just a normal girl from England…"
Maybe nobles and royalty in Iris's world normally had blonde hair and blue eyes.
"You say you're normal, but I know you're a rich girl…"
I said, to which Darkness averted her eyes.
"Kazuma, you say that, but you're probably richer than my family now."
She had a point there.
Rin smiled at Iris and said,
"So, do you have any interesting stories from the other world?!"
As expected, Rin was eager to hear about stories.
Sena sighed and said,
"Before that, I'm sure that Princess Iris here has some vital information about the Demon King army, considering how she was leading the resistance all this time."
Iris nodded to Sena.
"Of course. I can give you all the information you need."
"First of all, what is their current state now?"
"...Right now, they have lost all of their generals except for two. That is why we decided to make a move on them. I ended up stepping into a portal, though."
It was unfortunate that Iris ended up in our world just when the resistance felt like they had an advantage.
"Hmm… I suppose it's a blessing in disguise, then, that the Demon King army spread their forces too thin trying to invade our world."
Darkness said, when she heard that there were only two generals left.
"Indeed… After reclaiming Belzerg, we were hoping to take down the Demon King, which will surely destroy the delicate balance of power among the other Demon Kings all over the world."
"Wait, there are multiple Demon Kings?!"
I said, wanting to believe that I misheard that.
Unfortunately, she just nodded.
"Yes, there is a Demon King that rules over each continent. They were emboldened to take action after the Demon King in our continent managed to take over Belzerg, since Belzerg has one of the most powerful armies in the world."
I suppose that after seeing one of mankind's strongest armies fall, the other Demon King armies decided to settle their differences and make their move to rule humanity.
But she was saying that the Demon King of Belzerg is so influential that the other Demon Kings would lose their tenuous alliance and disband.
"Can you tell us about the last two generals in the other world?"
I asked, wanting to know as much as I could about the enemy.
"One of them is an angel who maintains the barrier around the Demon King's castle. The other one is an unknown mage that the Demon King recruited, who was the one responsible for creating portals into this world."
I suppose that once we defeat that general who made the portals, our worries of interdimensional invasion will disappear.
"And what about the Demon King himself?"
She gave an apologetic look.
"Unfortunately, we do not know much about the Demon King's powers…"
Of course it'd be like that.
"Forget about all that boring stuff! What about my followers! How are my dear followers of the Axis cult!"
Aqua said, unable to help herself.
Once she mentioned the Axis cult, Iris's eyes honed in on her.
"Axis cult…? You mean those crazy people who ruined the peace talks?!"
As expected, she had a terrible view of the Axis cult.
"How dare you call them crazy?! They're…!"
I covered Aqua's mouth before she could make things worse.
"A-Ah, Iris will be staying with us here, so make sure she feels welcome. Isn't this good news, Yunyun? You have a chance to make a new friend!"
I changed the subject before things could get tense.
Yunyun shyly smiled and said,
"Y-Yes! Um, Princess Iris, please try these cookies I just baked!"
Iris looked at the cookies and said,
"...I appreciate the effort, but I already had lots of sweets."
"O-Oh…"
I unintentionally sabotaged Yunyun by treating Iris to a bunch of sweets earlier.
You have established a bond with Iris, the Sword Princess!
Iris (Sword Princess), Bond Rank: 1
At Rank 1, Iris trusts you to an extent. She is willing to call you onii-chan, mostly because she misses her elder brother, who died in the battle against the Demon King army. Continuing to spoil her with treats will deepen your bond with her. Be careful, as you might grow an unsavory reputation if others see you spending too much time with her.