Chapter 60

“…!?”

The moment the voice reached their ears, everyone present forgot the gravity of the situation and gasped.

It was that beautiful of a voice.

—Ah… Ah…

There were no lyrics.

There wasn’t even a distinct melody.

She was simply raising her voice by semitones, as if performing a vocal exercise. Yet, the people felt their consciousness being whisked away in a trance, like sailors bewitched by a siren’s song.

It wasn’t just the humans being affected.

The moment Elma’s voice reached a specific pitch, the swarm of Demon Moths—which had been inching closer—surged and flickered in a wave of visible agitation.

—Ah… Ah… Ah…

The voice continued to climb higher and higher.

Strangely, it lacked any ear-piercing shrillness. Far from becoming raspy, her voice began to take on a watery transparency and a strength akin to a roaring flame.

—Ah…!

Suddenly.

To the ears of the people following the scale, the voice vanished.

The audience, left behind in silence, looked around in confusion.

“…? Did Elma stop singing?”

“No…”

Irene muttered with a puzzled expression, but Jonas answered while remaining in a daze.

“That girl’s voice… it has exceeded the range of human hearing.”

“It’s what!?”

Irene’s shout happened to represent the inner thoughts of everyone present.

—…, …, …

The voice Elma wove no longer reached anyone’s ears.

However, based solely on the fact that the Demon Moths were staring at Elma as if transfixed, the people understood that she was still “singing.”

Or rather.

“…Miss Elma… is she having a conversation…?”

There was only one person who could faintly catch the sound waves Elma was emitting.

It was Kevin.

His development was delayed—which, inversely, meant he still possessed the delicate eardrums unique to children. Among the adults who had long since finished growing, he alone could perceive the vibrations of Elma’s voice.

As if in a fever dream, he stared blankly at Elma and the swarm of Demon Moths she was confronting.

The more he strained his ears, the more he felt he could read a light of willpower from that hideous swarm—something he had never felt before.

‘I… I can feel it… These Demon Moths have a will, and a language… They are talking through this high-pitched sound that pierces through my ears…’

That sudden realization struck him with enough impact to change his entire world.

To the current Kevin, the swarm was no longer a mere mass of wriggling insects; it began to look like a collection of disciplined soldiers led by an intelligent commander.

If that were the case, then yes—the large individual dancing at the front of the swarm with particularly magnificent cilia was likely the King of the Demon Moths. No—judging by the way it was protecting the eggs, it was the Queen.

The Queen appeared profoundly scholarly and talented, yet fiercely independent and aloof.

Her extended antennae did not waver in the wind, standing tall and proud, radiating a spirit of self-reliance.

Yet this majestic Queen had, on this day, encountered a being that would derail her destiny.

That being was the human youth(*) standing before her, arms spread wide, casting a bewitching gaze her way.

‘…!?’

Kevin slapped his cheeks, startled by his own imagination.

Why did he just think of Elma as a “youth”?

But the image involuntarily formed in his mind by the “singing voice” was certainly playing out like a scene from a melodrama.

The characters appearing there were a beautiful Queen who looked like a personified butterfly, and a profligate youth with striking “peach blossom eyes” that could drive the opposite sex mad.

The youth, wearing a captivating smile, whispered seductively to the Demon Moth Queen.

He spoke of the emptiness of her life—leading the swarm, protecting the eggs, and constantly sacrificing herself for the sake of the clan.

He spoke of the joy of being desired simply as a single moth—as a woman.¹

A surging exchange of emotions.

‘W-why am I only thinking of such perverted plotlines!?’

Kevin felt as if his hidden fetishes were being pointed out and shook his head, forgetting the situation entirely.

But even during that interval, the sweet opera woven by Elma and the Demon Moth Queen continued.

As the beautiful youth sang a song of passionate love with heartfelt sincerity, the sheltered and stern Queen quietly lowered the armor around her heart, her wings trembling with bashfulness.

The Queen’s compound eyes saw her life flash before her like a revolving lantern.

The day she was born, endowed with the fate of being the swarm’s apex.

The silkworm days, when everything was soft and warm.

The eventual molting, the betrayal of a trusted friend, the brutal struggle for succession, and the throne of glory she finally seized.

But along with those, her heart had somehow become frozen and closed off.

Her responsibility and pride as the Queen who had led the Demon Moths.

The noble duty of protecting and passing on life to the next generation.

Ah, but—but now, she wanted to cast even that aside and sear herself in these flames of passion.

The Demon Moth Queen made the cilia on her thorax tremble, and timidly—then gradually with more strength—she began to play her soul’s cry…

—Love… it is a soaring flame… La la la…—

‘The Demon Moths started singing too!?’

Kevin’s shoulders gave a violent jolt, and he stared at the swarm with his eyes wide.

The swarm hovered in the sky, led by the large moth, remaining absolutely still.

Eventually, Elma, facing them, nodded as if accepting their intent and spread her arms even wider.

—Love… it is a momentary light that takes and gives everything… Lu lu lu…

‘Miss Elma immediately fired back with an answer song!?’

Kevin instinctively started banging his head against a nearby wooden wall.

He simply couldn’t believe the sight before his eyes.

The others, unable to hear the ultrasonic waves and left completely behind, began to stir as they sensed an atmosphere that could only be described as “bizarre” drifting through the swarm.

To them, it looked as though only silence lay between Elma and the moths.

But in reality, a grand negotiation was taking place between the two parties—one so intense it felt as if a full orchestra were roaring.

The swarm was now echoing a chorus at high volume, playing a fierce refrain of the soul.

—Love…! Ah, a terrifying rage that burns and seizes everything…!

—Love…! Oh, a poignant prayer that reclaims and offers fragments of the soul…!

Elma raised one arm and extended her fingertips toward the moths.

Even though one side was an insect, Kevin felt as though he could clearly see a beautiful man and woman reaching out to each other, their gazes entwined.

—PAAAAAN…!

A high-pitched sound, like a powerful strike of a cymbal, pierced his ears.

To Kevin’s ears, it strangely sounded like a scream of “LOVE…!”

Simultaneously, with a great rushing sound, the swarm took to the sky all at once.

“Wh… what’s happening!?”

In front of the people who had forgotten to even protect themselves and were staring in shock, the Demon Moth swarm scattered in every direction.

A massive amount of moths, completely having lost their coordination.

The blue sky and sun, finally freed from the shadow, made an appearance, but the people’s faces remained twisted in terror.

Strangely, however, the Demon Moths simply drifted around Elma as if reluctant to leave, tracing paths like they were lightheaded or drunk.

In their movements, one could feel no aggression toward the people or the fields—nor, for that matter, any interest in the eggs.

The group knit their brows in bewilderment.

“The Demon Moths… are they more interested in a human than their own eggs…?”

“Yes. Starting with the leader of the swarm, I took the liberty of seducing them to awaken to something more important than eggs—namely, love.”

“What does that even mean!?”

The people shrieked, but a few of them noticed a certain transformation occurring in the moths dancing through the air and let out confused murmurs.

“Somehow… the wings of the Demon Moths are changing from that toxic green to a translucent jade…”

“Yes, well, love makes a woman beautiful. The larvae born from Demon Moths in this state will undoubtedly produce the highest quality silk thread.”

“I said, what does that even mean!?”

She explained flatly, but it made no sense to them.

However, as a reality before their eyes, the Demon Moths were spreading glamorous wings that made one want to call them butterflies rather than moths, continuing their elegant flight.

With the fluffy cilia on their thoraxes and their round compound eyes, they actually felt… adorable.

Furthermore, the thread from the cocoons of these insects was said to be supremely beautiful.

What was this?

Weren’t they just beautiful, beneficial, and incredibly cool “useful insects”?

The people honestly felt moved by that beauty, and then felt confused by their own reaction.

“As expected of Lady Elma… your power of charm transcends both gender and species…!”

Only Deborah was there with hearts in her eyes, though.

At any rate, the greatest threat—the invasion of the Demon Moths—had been easily brushed aside by Elma.

The people gradually began to understand this, and at the same time, their cheeks began to flush with excitement.

“I… I can’t believe it… to suppress such a massive swarm of Demon Moths all by herself, and even transform them…!”

“That singing voice… could it be that, like the Saints of old, she calmed the hearts of the demons with a healing song…!?”

“No, rather than suppression, I just distracted them. And it’s not a healing song, it’s just ultrasonic waves.”

Elma corrected them while pulling her chin back slightly, but the excited people wouldn’t listen.

Rather, influenced by the beauty she had suddenly revealed, they began to deify her.

“It’s a miracle…! An incredible miracle has occurred! You must be a descendant of the Saint who once protected Frenzel from evil!”

“Not only did she stop the Demon Moths, but to change them into such beautiful, butterfly-like forms like messengers from heaven… it’s impossible…! Oh, thank heavens…! Thank heavens…!”

“No, as I said—”

Elma pulled her chin back further.

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows began to knit together in a slightly displeased manner.

And for good reason; to her, evaluations like “incredible” or “impossible” were words that utterly “dissed” her hard work.

Uh oh, this is bad, Irene thought as she listened nearby.

“It’s not like I performed brainstem surgery on each one or crushed them into dust in an instant. I simply lured them using ultrasonic waves. Surely you aren’t saying you can’t do something as basic as that?”

Elma spoke somewhat sulkily, then looked up at Jonas as if clinging to a comrade.

“Lord Jonas, surely even you would consider this to be… ‘normal,’ wouldn’t you?”

“…”

Seeing Jonas turn into white ash in an instant, Lucas and Irene silently looked toward the heavens.

Jonas, who had disregarded the resentment of his people and spent over ten years to finally reach the secret technique of ultrasonic waves—only to fail at realizing it.

Elma, who generated ultrasonic waves with her own body and, rather than just driving them away, used complex psychological manipulation to force submission and transformation—all while calling it “normal.” Her statement had quietly and boldly hollowed out his heart.