IBHB 33 - A ray of light
TL: Eevee
Ed: Hungry Panda
Going back in time a bit. Back when the demon king was still sealed and the continent still peaceful, in a small village of the kingdom, there lived a girl named "Amuge."(1) Now, she had a secret she couldn"t share with anyone else, and that was-
"Aahh~! If I could see pretty boys doing the dirty just once!"
……In the language of the doujin world, she was a so-called "fujoshi." To boot, one that paired up men in real life, a true blood fujoshi. Furthermore, Amuge was one that even the fujoshis shunned within their own ranks, a "Biellist." As to what a Biellist was, one could explain it as fujoshis who worshipped the demon king "Biella" that nearly made the continent into a paradise of only pretty boys in an age long long ago.
To the Biellists, the demon king castle was nothing less than a holy land, and because of that the Biellists would get together and go on a group tour to the demon king castle every now and then.
And that group tour was the "cause."
"You know, I was always curious. Just what are the contents of the grimoire that the demon king sealed away?"
Amuge"s one sentence. The question that began from there grew and grew until the Biellists came to the fearful conclusion that they must find out what was written in that grimoire. Naturally, since it"s the demon king, there must be all sorts of lewdy filthy BL written in there that they couldn"t even imagine. Believe it or not, that was what they were thinking.
Since she was the one who first brought it up, Amuge was pushed to take the lead. The other Biellists drew away the attention of the guards. Meanwhile, Amuge snuck in, stole the grimoire that the statue of the demon king had been holding, and desperately suppressing her shivers, opened the grimoire. When she did, a dark aura spread out from the book as she began to be sucked into the statue-
"…So you"re telling me that the demon king, after the seal was undone, in return for you freeing her, she sealed you instead?"
"That"s right!! That f***ing b.i.t.c.h! You have no idea how much I regret the time I spent worshiping that b.i.t.c.h!"
Having her freedom back as a result of the seal being broken again, the tourist stomped all over the grimoire in irritation. For the record, the seal broke itself once Clarice had picked up and opened the grimoire. Is this kind of seal really okay? She thought that burying it deep, deep underground would be a far better option…
"Oh that reminds me! I"m really! Reaaaaaallly~ thankful for you rescuing me! "Do I have to live centuries as a stone statue," I was just about to stop thinking, but thanks to you I"m saved!(2)
The tourist bowed deeply to show her thanks. Then looking at Clarice, she asked.
"I"m sorry, but could I ask your name? I want to repay this favour! I don"t normally draw NL(3) but if it"s for my benefactor, I"ll gladly draw it!"
"….I don"t need doujins. My name is Clarice."
"Really. A beautiful name to match your beauty- Eh? Clarice?"
That name seems familiar… The tourist tilted her head and thought. All of a sudden a certain prince which enjoyed "major" popularity in "her industry" came to mind. That person"s name was also-
"Prince Clarice?"
Up till then, the tourist had thought that she had simply looked similar. The eye-catching beauty, a gentle aura that perfectly matched what she"d heard, even though she looked quite similar, but ultimately she was a woman. Then Clarice said.
"Yes. I am that Prince Clarice."
Although I"m a princess now, she swallowed back those last few words.
Of course those words alone were enough to have the tourist"s eyes bulge out in surprise.
"Eeeeeehhhh?!?!!? N, no way! Weren"t you a man?!!"
"I had circ.u.mstances that led to me becoming a woman. Although I don"t have any identification to prove my ident.i.ty right now, but it"s the truth. Please believe me."
"I, I believe you, I do. There"s no way I wouldn"t believe my benefactor… Haha. Haha."
Her own belief aside, the tourist"s eyes were drawn to Clarice"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Squish squish jiggle jiggle. You"re telling me that those b.r.e.a.s.t.s used to be a man"s? Then shouldn"t she (as a woman) just die? Then she remembered the difference in status between them, and immediately knelt, lowering her head.
"Ah! I, I"m sorry for not recognizing you earlier, Your Highness. Forgive me."
"Not at all. Please, get up. I"m alright."
Clarice desperately waved her hands as she helped her up. Oh my. Even her personality is so gentle! The tourist instantly became captured by Clarice. She broke her seal, and even forgave her so benevolently, how would she not fall for her instantly.
"But why is Your Highness here all by yourself? No one came here after the demon king vanished… Is the kingdom planning to rebuild here?"
"That is……"
Haaa. She really didn"t want to say it. Clarice finally opened her mouth.
"The demon king has returned."
"……Eh?"
The tourist asked back with a dumb face. A long silence stretched between them. It held, and held some more, before the tourist finally understood what Clarice said, and asked again.
"……Eh?"
With an even dumber face.
***
"Oh my goodness. It couldn"t be…"
Clarice told the tourist everything that happened after the demon king was freed. Having gotten the gist of what had happened, the tourist, naturally, couldn"t hide her shock.
"S, so you"re saying that the demon king is here right now, and the hero"s a captive with her?"
Mommy! Help! The tourist was frantic, seemingly about to bolt at any moment. You couldn"t blame her. The hero that would defeat the demon king was captured, the hero"s comrades were blinded by temptation and now stood with the demon king. There was no one to stop the demon king from running rampant.
"We need to get away before the demon king comes back! Your Highness is coming with me, right?"
The tourist asked, preparing to gap it. She was going to hide away in some deserted mountainside far far away. If she was caught and sealed again then her eyes wouldn"t close even in death. …Although dying would be impossible then.
"I…"
Clarice looked back towards the pathway she had come from. If she went back through that hallway, Hero-nim was there. If she fled now and sent for help, they might have a chance. But-
"It"s too late by then."
The simplest and yet most important problem snagged at Clarice"s feet. The more time that pa.s.sed, the more that Hero-nim"s personage was in danger. Namely s.e.xually. Although she had no time to think at the time, now, she hesitated as to whether going back for help was the right choice.
She didn"t even want to think about it, but if she went for help now, what could greet her on her return was the hero turned into the demon king"s horse or a goblin seedbed. Having been in a position identical to Hero-nim"s right now, Clarice knew. That the demon king was a crazy b.i.t.c.h who would more than follow through with whatever she said.
At that crossroads moment, another thought pa.s.sed through Clarice"s mind. If it was Hero-nim, what would he do in her situation? The answer was simple. Because the one who had rescued her from "the same situation" was none other than Hero-nim himself.
As past memories flicked through her head, a small but fierce resolve burned like a flame. It doesn"t matter if she"s was alone. She needed to rescue Hero-nim. But that resolve was no more than a candle in a storm. By yourself? What could she, a flower grown in a garden, who"s never hunted a goblin before in her life, possibly do?
It was correct logic and the answer. Even if she went, she"d be lucky if she weren"t captured instantly.
But.
Is it really okay to run away like this?
" - And every time, didn"t darling rescue you like a prince on his white horse? Clee. Isn"t the captured princess role enough with that one time with the demon king? Just because your body is female, has your entire mind turned into a woman"s? A pretty, helpless princess that can do nothing without her prince on his white horse."
She could hear a snide mocking voice from somewhere. The dying flame blazed back to life. The growing flames of emotion burned away reason and consumed Clarice.
"I, will face the demon king."
An answer that overturned common sense, imagination and prediction. The tourist was horrified.
"A, are you serious?"
Clarice nodded her head. s.h.i.t son. The tourist thought "is the princess actually a really strong person." But she saw Clarice"s tightly clenched fists were actually shivering, and she realised. Even if the princess wasn"t powerful, to rescue her precious person, she would stand against the demon king.
An overwhelming surge of emotion overtook the tourist. She felt ashamed of herself for even thinking about running away earlier. Is this the cla.s.s of the one called the kingdom"s treasure. Ama-zing!
"Then I will follow behind you."
"Eh?"
"I"m serious! I said it earlier, didn"t I? Your Highness freed me from my seal, and that I really want to repay this favour! I"m just an ordinary person but I"ll light myself up and light the way forward for Your Highness!"
The tourist"s eyes were burning with a fierce resolve. Seeing it, Clarice thought. Orkar, this person, just how the h.e.l.l does the hero party have less camaraderie than people I just met.
"But I can"t let you, an unrelated person be swept up in this."
"Unrelated? I"m the cause of all this."
The tourist picked up the sc.r.a.ps that used to be the grimoire.
"Even if I hadn"t opened the grimoire then the seal wouldn"t have been undone in the first place."
That was it. The cause of everything, it was all her. But she selfishly thought to run away. She had to take responsibility. She had to make amends for her past transgressions. And the "cross of redemption" was in her hands right now.
"Your Highness. Do you know what was written in the grimoire?"
"No. I don"t…."
There"s no way she would know. And since it was a "forbidden text" she didn"t want to know either.
"You know, this could very well hold the key to resealing the demon king."
Tap tap. The tourist rapped on the grimoire and flashed an odd smile.
Seal. The moment that all her mana was drawn into the grimoire as she was sealed, for a brief moment, she could read the contents. You could even say that her consciousness was linked to the grimoire. What was written in there was no other than the life of the demon king Biella.
As the previous demon king"s daughter, Biella fell in love with a human man. But fearing Biella, a demon, he avoided her and married another woman, and Biella was so shocked by the news that more than a few screws went loose in her head.
If she couldn"t have him, no other woman could. If she couldn"t have it, she would break it. Biella had the man kidnapped and violated by demons under her command. And amidst that, various emotions sprang from her. Excitement, arousal, satisfaction. Somewhere down the line, she had become emotionally invested into the demons violating the man.
Even after he died, Biella couldn"t forget those emotions. A single star-crossed love left Biella unable to love normally again. Who would love a pervert like her? No one would want that kind of girl. She could hide it and fool others, but she would always be anguished for the moment her secret was revealed.
In that case.
She wouldn"t hide it at all.
Having given up on the idea of being loved, the conclusion that Biella came to was. If you can"t avoid it, enjoy it! After that incident, the moment that Biella took the throne after her father, she immediately ordered to have men kidnapped and her followers jam it in them and ram it in them and hump away at them in accordance with her rose-coloured desires. Only then did she finally feel satisfaction as if her emptiness in her heart was filled.
She would use this opportunity to make all the useless women extinct and create a paradise (for her only) of boys to make her happy. Biella decided.
Naturally, people revolted against this ridiculous plan, and the demons and the humans came together to create a grimoire to seal her away.
***
"…………..Uh, I, um, don"t know what to say to that."
Having heard Biella"s backstory, Clarice didn"t know what she had to say to that. Were words even necessary?
"So the demon king"s perverted backstory aside, what does that have to do with the seal?"
"The demon king"s past wasn"t the only thing I learned when my consciousness linked with the grimoire."
Clarice"s eyes widened on hearing the confident tourist"s next words.
"You don"t mean…"
"Yes. I know how to reseal her as well."
"Th, that is amazing?!"
A ray of light came down as if to say ta daa~.
"But." The tourist said with a sober face.
"That"s. Even if I can reseal her, I need a plan to hold her till then."
Certainly. The demon king, even if it wasn"t the demon king, the trio that had become her loyal minions would definitely interfere in every way possible. Ha! It annoyed her again as she thought of it. Even if they hadn"t gone and betrayed her she could have done something.
The situation being what it was, there was only one thing they could do.
"I will try to stall for time."
"Eh? Seriously?"
She was serious. Go big or go home. Clarice thought of the demon king. Immature, petty, simple, single cell intelligence, easily agitated, and self-centered. She didn"t know whether this would work. But, considering her actions and personality thus far, she might find a way to crack her.
"I have a plan."
Love.
The cause of the demon king"s turn, no other choice but to use that keyword as effectively as she could.
Author"s Note
I said this was the end lol lol I lied!
…I"m sorry.. Hic.. I kept writing and it got really long and…;;;
Next chapter is the real end!
Oh and in the previous chapters I added the part of Senyun giving Clarice her cloak of invisibility. Since I wrote and uploaded it immediately after running out of stockpiled chapters I forgot T-T
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Translator"s Note
Not, not the end. Just the end of the demon king arc. Now, the end of the demon king arc (next chapter) is chapter 34, which leaves one more chapter. What could it be I wonder…
(1) Literally "any random person," rough equivalent to "Villager A", not her actual name
(2) For those of you who had THAT question float through your head… Yes, yes it is.(4)
(3) Presumably "Normal Love" or straight hetero. First time I"m seeing this acronym though.
(4) For those of you who didn"t get it, the question was "is that a motherf***ing JoJo reference?" and the answer is: "yes."