Chapter 48

“Kevin! Why are you here?”

“…Elma, don’t tell me you summoned him too?”

“No, I did no such thing.”

As Lucas asked with a deadpan stare, Elma shook her head. Then, with utter nonchalance, she added:

“He has been following us ever since we left the mansion. He seemed to be on the verge of collapsing from shortness of breath every half-mile, so I was privately quite worried. I am glad he arrived safely.”

Lucas looked up at the heavens.

“I asked! At least! Limit the absurdities! To one per day! I told you!”

He grumbled in desperation, but Elma merely tilted her head.

As for Kevin, who had bravely charged into the scene:

“I only caught the tail end of your conversation, but Sister, don’t you think you should snap out of it? Telling a mere maid to stay by your side forever… I don’t know what kind of ‘maintenance’ she did, but you’ve been completely spineless in just one day…!?”

Having only seen his sister from behind until now, he finally caught a full view of her and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“Wh-Who on earth are youuuuuuuu!?”

“Oh, stop it, Kevin. It’s your sister, the Brand New Deborah.”

Apparently, she was so “brand new” that identity verification was proving difficult. Kevin forgot how to speak; eyes wide, his gaze darted from the head to the toes of his beautifully transformed sister over and over again.

“Wh… Ho… …Th… Haaaaaaaah!?”

“Even if you ask, ‘Why are you so beautiful, but even so it’s unbelievable,’ I can only answer that it is the power of Lady Elma,” Deborah replied, blushing and fidgeting while displaying her signature “super-interpretation” ability.

Then, she clasped her hands together and looked up at Elma.

“Please overlook the narrow-mindedness of my crude and dull younger brother, born from being shut away in the mansion due to his frailty. I would be honored if you could ignore our social status and dote on him as your normal little brother-figure.”

While pretending to shield her brother, she was slyly playing the role of the “magnanimous sister.”

However, Elma was predictably unmoved by Deborah’s coquettish behavior and gave a flat nod. “Understood.”

In the next instant, she grabbed Kevin by the collar with blinding speed and began to threaten him in a low, terrifying voice.

“Oi, don’t you get cheeky with me, ya hear!? The only answer you’re allowed is ‘Yes’! If you spout anything else, I’ll shove my hand up your backside and rattle your molars, ya get me, HUH!?”

“Hee-eeeeeeeeek!?”

At this sudden act of violence, Kevin let out a shriek, his feet dangling in the air as he flailed about. Lucas and Irene were both horrified and rushed to restrain Elma.

“Hey! What are you doing!?”

“Wait, you’re going to put what in his where!?”

Actually, one of the two sounded a bit too excited. Elma, however, just knitted her brows in confusion at being stopped.

“Well, Lady Deborah told me to ‘dote on him ordinarily’…”

She had accidentally executed a standard “welcome” from inside the prison.

At Walzer Prison, new arrivals were regularly “tutored” by their seniors in this manner, thoroughly broken in to ensure they never showed the slightest disrespect to the Seven who reigned at the top.

“Perhaps a ‘Type 03 Doting’ with physical dialogue would have been more appropriate…?”

“Don’t. Absolutely do not.”

Lucas groaned, clutching his head, but Kevin—who had been abruptly released and fallen onto his backside—was in no state to listen.

“Hi… h-hic…!”

As the heir to the Lordship and a perennially sickly boy, he had been sheltered with extreme care; this was the first time he had ever experienced such “wild” physical contact.

Kevin was utterly terrified, looking up at Elma through teary eyes.

“Wh… what are you…?”

Still, perhaps driven by the belief that he must not be intimidated by a commoner—and a woman at that—he gathered his remaining strength and glared back through his tears. He reached into his coat, pulling out item after item and hurling them at Elma.

“Y-you… what are you?! You’re some kind of demonic entity, aren’t you?! Begone! Get out of here! Leave Frenzel! You think you can dominate my sister and me to threaten the territory? I won’t let you…!”

A silver crucifix, iron beads, garlic, holy water, an onion.

He unleashed a barrage of “exorcism” items he’d managed to brainstorm. Among them were genuine vials of holy water used by knights to slay magical beasts, mixed in with common folk superstitions.

Elma nimbly dodged the projectiles, though she made sure to catch the garlic and onions that looked useful for cooking.

“Please stop this violent behavior. What do you mean by ‘domination’?”

“Don’t play dumb! My sister’s transformation is abnormal! You… you’re a survivor of the Demon Race or something, aren’t you?! You’ve used some strange sorcery to—to threaten me into submission, all to make it look like the Frenzel family has been taken over by demons… You’re planning to spread rumors and throw the people into a panic!”

Kevin’s claims were mostly delusional rants, yet he had accidentally stumbled upon a truth that no one present actually knew.

However, to everyone else’s ears, his words sounded like nothing more than an groundless accusation. Lucas and the others looked on with grim expressions.

Finally out of “ammunition,” Kevin frantically searched his pockets and found a small knife he carried for self-defense. In a blind panic, he gripped it and threw it at Elma with his eyes squeezed shut.

“Disappear! You monster!”

But the knife, which should have flown with decent force, didn’t even graze Elma before hitting the ground. Lucas had reached out and swatted the blade away in an instant.

“…Is there a man alive who would point a blade at a lady? You fool.”

His voice was unusually low, carrying a dangerous edge. No matter how much of an unpredictable, non-human entity Elma seemed to be, his spirit of chivalry would not allow an innocent woman to be harmed.

“How long do you plan to sit there shaking? Stand up. Look with your own eyes at the person you tried to attack and realize the gravity of your actions. And see for yourself how baseless your delusions are.”

“Y-Your Highness! How can you say that? Are you the one using this woman?! Or have even you been deceived?! This woman is by no means ‘normal.’ She’s been doing things that are impossible for anyone but a creature of darkness!”

As Kevin barked and yapped, Lucas shifted his gaze slightly.

“…Well, I mean, she certainly displays behavior, values, and dialogue that are aggressively outside the human category. To be honest, I struggle daily with whether she should be classified as the same species as us, but regardless—hurting a woman is wrong. It has to be wrong.”

“…Your Highness, your statement has hurt my heart far more than anything else today.”

Elma’s quiet protest was ignored; unfortunately, no one picked up on it.

Only Deborah, the faithful disciple, knit her brows and tried to admonish her brother.

“Kevin, how could you be so foolish—”

“That’s my line, Sister! Can’t you see you’ve been bewitched by this monster? Do you have any idea what the people are saying about us?!”

He immediately cut her off, snapping back like a cornered pup.

Elma suddenly looked up as if noticing something. She signaled Deborah to stay back and stepped toward Kevin.

“Um, if I may be so bold, Master Kevin—”

“Shut up, monster! Don’t call my name so familiarly! Listen, I’m not like my sister who was easily fooled. As the next Lord, I will protect my family and my people from your demonic clutches!”

“No, well, your resolve is very admirable, but if you continue to scream in that high-pitched voice that hasn’t finished breaking yet, the ringing in my ears is quite significant.”

“Are you mocking me?! Hah! If it grates on a monster’s ears, then all the better!”

“No, well—”

But Kevin was far too worked up to listen. He scrambled to his feet, stubbornly searching for more anti-demon items until he finally pulled his mother’s silver ring from his coat and thrust it at Elma.

“I’ll make you regret looking down on me for being slow to grow! Take this and begone, you demon!”

“No, well, I don’t actually have a particular reaction to silver. It’s more that—”

Elma stared intently behind Kevin, then tilted her head slightly.

“It seems your high-pitched voice is calling the Demon Moths.”

“…What?”

A moment of silence fell.

Then, as if piercing through the quiet—

SHHHHHHHHAAAAA…

The sky began to darken.

No, it wasn’t clouds—a massive swarm of insects had begun to blanket the sky!