The Devil You Know (Inside an Adult Game As A Former Hero - Chainsaw Man SI Chapter 3)
"That was a beautiful sermon, Lord Murphy. I was truly moved by your holy words." Lorraine said, hands clasped over her chest, in awe, joy, as well a feeling of superiority that she was the one who found me, and had the idea for me to talk to the believers. The feeling of smug ego over the common masses, that it was her, that gave them the chance to see an Angel preach, while also a feeling of annoyance and disgust at their presence there.
Sheesh, nobles here have issues.
"I thank you for your kind words, Lorraine, but it really wasn't anything special." No, seriously. I said the most generic 'Praise the good goddess' diatribe I could think off, while my powers actually provided me with passages from the religion book of these people. Neat.
"No, Lord Murphy, it was truly great. Even those uneducated, ignorant or vagabonds could not help but be moved and captivated by your words. Your charisma could only be due to how righteous and heavenly it is." Lorraine said with intense sincerity.
I swear if she keep stroking my ego this hard, I'll have her down on her knees to see if she can stroke something else this well.
Yet looking at her emotions now, I saw underneath all the highs, joys and feelings of superiority, there was something else. Feelings of sadness, anguish and discontent. These emotions were connected to longing. Longing for her brother's attention, affection, love.
And that emotional mess was where I felt myself in the zone.
"And yet despite your praise, there seems to be something else on your mind. Something troubling within your heart." I said kindly, leaning into the role she now expected me to have.
Lorraine lost her face for a moment, before smiling again.
"No, no, Lord Murphy. I listened fervently to your sermon. I didn't have anything else on my mind-" Lorraine began to make excuses, till I raised a hand.
I made a show of looking around. We were away from the church now, in a secluded area in a park within the city. Well, less park, and more left this place of trees and grass here, and didn't bother to chop through it. It gave the feeling of a park.
There wasn't anyone around, but I rose my hand up and weaved an illusion to make it glow-My hand glowed briefly, giving a feeling of calm and safety.
That wasn't me doing an illusion. Weird but okay.
"There," I said as my hand stopped glowing. "If there is something you wish to get off your chest, you may do so with no worries. No one but us is here, and no one will hear whatever worries you but me."
Lorraine looked up in surprised, a little bit of worry at being alone with a man, even if it's an Angel, and quite a bit of lust-Woah! That...is a surprising amount of rape fantasies. Sheesh, fucking calm down, girl.
"W-We're all alone. No one, no one can hear me-us, I mean." Lorraine said looking around, a flush now on her cheeks.
"Yes." Okay, at this point I needed to use my emotion manipulation powers. I had to push her lust and actually rise up the feeling of wanting to be honest, and talk about what's secretly bothering her. "Please," I tried to use my illusion powers to make some stones into chairs for her to sit on. People tend to be more open when comfortable-Oookay?! I actually magic'd those rocks into chairs, what the fuck? "Have a seat, child. Tell me, what ails your beautiful heart so?"
We sat down on the surprisingly comfortable chairs. I felt like I could have the leather produce spikes from underneath it, so good to know option to do shit like that was still there. I'm still the Betrayal Devil after all. Didn't change to some Emotional Therapy Devil without noticing or some weird shit.
Lorraine sat down with a small bashful smile that was admittedly cute. Then she thought on the actual topic we're about to discuss and frowned again.
"Um, Lord Murphy...what do you think of...nobles?" Lorraine tentatively said.
Ah. Seeing her emotions, her words and my knowledge of Lorian trying to NTR Cloud by stealing Eri, I connected the dots easily enough.
"They are human?" I said in an ignorant like manner, so she would continue talking.
"Well, um, yes." Lorraine said slowly, probably starting to realize that an Angel would have a much more different view of society than a person living in it. For the average person in this world, class distinctions are important. Life and death even. Why would that matter to a higher being? They're all humans after all. "But they aren't normal humans, they are those who hold the blood of the Goddess's Chosen, right?" She said, falling back on her history lessons.
"Hmm, I suppose some noble lines, or even royal blood line did come from the Goddess's Champions. True." I said, acting like I was thinking on the topic, holding my chin, nodding and all.
"Yes! That's right!" Lorraine brightened up, at having her point validated. Not thinking of the possibility that some Heroes were commoners when chosen, before they later beat the Demon King then fucked a princess, or prince. "So, nobles, especially royals by default hold an important status they must be responsible with."
It's adorable really. She's trying really, really hard to slowly get me to agree to the idea that nobles shouldn't interact with commoners in a casual or familiar way. All so she could go to her brother and tell him, with the authority of an Angel, to dump Eri. ...I take it back, it's actually kind of hilarious.
"Ah, it must be terrible to be born of such high blood." Okay, time to play to her wants.
"Wha, what?" Lorraine said, crestfallen.
"To carry such weigh and responsibility from birth, to be a noble is to hold the lives of those under you on your shoulders. To be a royal? The lives of all your countrymen. Having to be a royal must mean you have a lot of standards and expectations you must hold yourself to, I imagine." I said.
"Y...Yes! Yes, that's right, Lord Murphy. There's a lot of responsibility. Some that those of lower blood don't really feel." Lorraine began to say with excitement, seeing me sorta agree and tacitly approve of her perspective.
Huh. Interest. I can influence the perspective of how people take my words. Like how two people can read the same paragraph on a page and come to two different interpretations and understandings, I can influence how people take my words, so they approve of what they think I'm 'implying'.
"'Lower' blood?" I said in a playful chastising tone. The class prejudice was going to be a little annoying after a while, if she's that obvious about it. Better snub that here.
After all, I don't know if I'll fuck some tavern wench together with Lorraine in the future. Oh yeah, I've decided I'm definitely going to NTR Lorian of his sister and maybe other girls sometime in the future. She's so adorable, it makes it too tempting.
"Ah, I mean those of...normal blood?" Lorraine hastily said, not wanting to offend me.
"Of course. All humans are of equal blood before the Goddess." I said, and Lorraine did a good job hiding her frown, only making it a little pout and only for a moment. "However upon the earth, they are different. You are born with different responsibilities and weight to your actions." I said, getting things back on track. "So...who do you feel is shirking their responsibilities?"
Lorraine flinched, yet inside felt happy that things were going in the direction she wanted.
"I...I don't wish to speak ill of hi-them." Lorraine said coyly, playing at being the hesitant reluctant maiden.
"Hmm?" I made noise, before a small smile came to me.
"Eeek!" I held Lorraine from her waist, she felt light as a feather to me, and plopped her on my lap.
"Now Lorraine, be honest with me. I promise to help you how I can. But I can't do that if you won't tell me." I spoke in a more calm, and veeeery low hypnotic voice.
"I, um..." Lorraine at first wanted to object, out of typical noble outrage at being manhandled. Except her mind very quickly pointed out, it was an Angel that 'manhandled' her. It was an Angel who put her on his lap. It was an Angel that was slowly caressing her back like a dutiful father. An Angel whose lap and presence was warm and soft.
I unfolded my white wings from my back setting one of said wings over Lorraine's lap, to add to the fluffy feeling. She smiled, while patting the soft feathery limb. A smile that was a mix of bashfulness, childish joy and...she was biting her lower lip, while trying not to squeal.
Oookay, I'm bringing out a surprisingly hidden daddy complex I didn't know was there.
"Lorraine." I said in a kind but firm tone, because at this point we have taken too long in this suppose to be easy topic, and I fear we're heading in the direction of straight up fucking her, while she calls me 'daddy', and I don't have all day long.
She looked up to me, and saw my patient look. Realizing she's been quiet for too long, she quickly began to talk.
"I apologize for my unseemly conduct, Lord Murphy." Lorraine said, trying to compose herself, which wasn't working because she was still playing with my wing.
"It's not a problem." I chuckled.
"No, it is." She said looking down. "I...wasn't acting as a princess should. Letting my jealousy influence me on how my brother, the Goddess's Chosen Hero should act. But I couldn't help but feel as a prince, his conduct was...unbecoming in my eyes."
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"I understand that he's the Goddess's Champion. That he's above normal men and how they are expected to act. But..." Lorraine trailed off.
"Hmm..." I made a sound of thinking about thing. "What is he doing exactly?" I asked for clarification, even though I know.
"He's...courting a woman lower than his station. A half-breed." Lorraine said, unable to hide her disgust this time, before quickly remembering who she's talking to and fixing her tone. "I-It's a woman in another Hero's party." She added. Honestly she should have led with that alone, and that would have been an effective argument.
If this situation of me being an Angel was real.
"Oh!" I said, looking surprised. "Courting another Hero's companion? Can you tell me whom?"
"Um, Cloud, the Hero of Prona." She said, start to worry if she got her brother in trouble.
"Hmm..." I made noises to make it sound like I'm thinking, but really this was working out great.
"I can not say that I understand all the intricacies of human social interactions, especially when you add your class differences into the mix." I lied. "But I can say that, I understand that Hero Lorian unlike Hero Cloud and Hero Gis, has a dual role of both being a Hero and a Prince." I said, Lorraine started to smile in joy, at seeing me start to agree with her. In fact...was she panting? She wasn't grinding against my crotch, thankfully, but I could definitely feel some excitement from her.
Fucking repressed nobles.
"Y-Yes! That's right."
"I can not dictate what a Champion of the Goddess is to do or how they should conduct themselves. As that would be tantamount to questioning the Goddess." I continued, making her frown. I swear, is she a princess or a dog? Her mood changes way too easily. "However, as stated, he's both a Hero and a Prince. I don't hold authority over him as a Hero unless the Goddess decreed so." I said, before giving an encouraging smile to the downed princess. "However, as a prince...isn't there someone who hold authority over him?"
Lorraine didn't understand at first, before her eyes lit up in realization.
"In that case, why not take up your grievances up with them? Surely a father knows best, right?" I said with a kind smile.