Chapter 46: Smooth Criminal (4)

──Thump!

The moment Lily’s 「Charm」 was cast, I felt my heart pound once, then it felt as if it was being squeezed.

But, that too was only for a moment.

“……?”

When she saw no particular change in me, Lily soon tilted her head.

“Ms. Lily?”

At that, when I tilted my head to mimic hers as smoothly as possible, Lily said in a voice that was clearly flustered.

“U-Um, could you… please look me in the eyes…?”

“Sure.”

As she requested, I slightly bent my waist, approached her, and began to stare into Lily's eyes.

Lily, who perhaps hadn't expected me to go this far, flinched and pulled back, but.

『──B-Become mine!』

She eventually cast 「Charm」 again.

And yet, still nothing happened.

“……Huh, what?”

Lily muttered again in a voice that couldn't hide her bewilderment.

“Th-This isn’t supposed to happen…?”

“What isn’t supposed to happen?”

“Ah…!”

She was so flustered that she only realized she was saying everything out loud after I spoke.

Then she began to look at me with eyes of disbelief.

By now, she should have been dizzy and dazed under the effect of 「Charm」, but I was perfectly fine.

In fact, it was only natural.

--

Resistance Success!

--

Of course, the 「Charm」 skill is, naturally, a Charisma check.

Whether you're the one casting it or receiving it.

And my Charisma, well, what more is there to say?

“By any chance, is it because the 「Charm」 isn't working?”

“──!?”

When I asked, feigning innocence, Lily was greatly surprised and took a step back.

At that, just as I had done at the church today, I took another bold step towards her.

However, unlike then, I didn't stop to keep my distance this time.

Instead, I went right up to her and gently grabbed Lily's wrist.

“With this, I have kept my promise, Sister.”

“…P-Promise?”

“The culprit.”

And I slowly lifted it and said.

“I have just caught them.”

At the same time, as if on cue, my companions who had been hiding in the corner revealed themselves.

“The witnesses who saw you try to cast 「Charm」 on me are all here.”

Seeing Lily caught red-handed like this, Miki reacted with disbelief.

“To think the sister was really the culprit….”

“This is why I don't trust people who say they believe in God. They act all nice on the outside, but they're always like this behind the scenes.”

On the other hand, Ibi said, ‘what did I tell you,’ but in fact, I had already seen her almost jump out in surprise when Lily actually showed up.

“W-What are you talking about…”

Just then, Lily shook off my hand that was holding her wrist and protested.

“Me, the culprit…”

“Then was your attempt to cast 「Charm」 on me purely to seduce me?”

“…!”

Lily, who was hit right on the mark by my point, couldn't continue and lowered her head.

“──No.”

At that, I gave a grin and carefully reached out, slowly lifting Lily's veil.

At that moment.

“Th-That’s…!?”

Ibi and Miki gasped in surprise.

As the horns── which had been hidden under the veil all this time── were revealed.

“What──”

Commonly known as a symbol of devils.

“Demon race… you say?”

A half-demon.

To be more precise.

“You were trying to 「Charm」 me for ‘draining’.”

A half-succubus.

“Am I wrong?”

The reason all the victims were found as if they had been drained of their life force── in other words, their ‘essence’── and had suffered as if they were having nightmares.

Draining essence through dreams.

This was the succubus's way of feeding.

For this, Lily had first tried to cast 「Charm」 on me to make me obey her and not remember her.

Not knowing that it was practically impossible for me to be charmed.

“Draining… wait, so you’re saying this nun is a succubus?”

“Half, to be precise.”

As you can see from her appearance, which is much closer to a human than a devil, except for the fully exposed horns and the tail that was still hidden under her habit.

“A succubus? A nun?”

“It's not a common combination.”

Though there might be some who would argue that it's a perfect match.

“M-Me…”

Just then, Lily, whose identity had been completely revealed, finally said in a voice that was barely audible, as if she had given up.

“What are you going to do with me……?”

“Hmm? No, I’m not going to do anything?”

“……Pardon?”

“I’m not going to do anything to you as you are now.”

You won't remember it anyway.

I added.

Earlier today, there was not a hint of falsehood in Lily's words when she asked me to catch the culprit.

Because it wasn't a lie.

Lily had genuinely wished for the culprit to be caught.

Because she had no idea that she was the culprit herself.

So there was no point in talking to the current Lily.

The person I wanted to talk to was the usual Lily, not the one currently dominated by instinct.

And to meet her, Lily had to first ‘wake up from her sleep’.

“Let’s have you sleep a little more for now.”

And for that, she had to fall asleep first.

Lily, who didn't seem to understand my words, sent me a questioning gaze, but instead of answering, I grabbed my lute and lightly plucked a string.

Pororong──

「Song of Sleep」.

It was a new skill I learned when I reached level 5.

As its name suggests, it's a very destructive crowd control skill that puts listeners into a ‘sleep’ state.

A necessary ability for modern people, shall we say.

Because it's a very fatal status effect that prevents any action or reaction until you wake up, its success rate is also low, but──

『──Sleep well, my baby』

I know how to make someone fall asleep the moment they hear it.

『In the front and back yards.』

Sure enough, as soon as my song began, Lily staggered and immediately fell asleep.

And on top of that.

“You… what did you…?”

Ibi and Miki also fell to the ground in unison and were out like a light.

“…?”

Only Rine, who was immune to ‘sleep’, was left standing, looking down at the three of them in turn.

“Don't worry. They're just asleep.”

One of the drawbacks of 「Song of Sleep」 was that it didn't just put enemies to sleep.

Because it also put allies who were within the song's range to ‘sleep’, it was a somewhat ambiguous skill to use in a real battle.

It was a destructive CC, but it didn't just destroy the enemy.

The ‘sleep’ status effect was so powerful that this penalty was added to balance it.

And another drawback was that if the song stopped, the ‘sleep’ state also ended.

In other words, to maintain the sleeping state, I had to keep playing the song.

…In a case like this, at least until Lily's ‘instinct’ was completely asleep.

Considering the activity time of succubus mode Lily, she would probably have to be asleep for at least an hour.

That's why I looked at Rine, the only conscious audience member, and gave a pleased smile.

If even Rine had fallen asleep, I would have surely become depressed due to the 「Attention Seeker」 trait.

A one-hour medley while depressed…… just imagining it is horrifying.

I'm not some person who gets dumped, locks themselves in a karaoke room, and wails while singing breakup songs endlessly.

So.

“I dedicate this next song to you, Rine.”

“? It is an honor.”

Rine, who tilted her head as if she didn't understand my declaration, still expressed her gratitude.

『Only you.』

Then I began to sing again.

For Rine, who was literally a being that made me happy.

* * *

『Just the two of us』

With the last encore, the one-hour concert for just one person, Rine, which had started by chance, ended with Rine's seal-like applause.

As the 「Song of Sleep」 ended, the three people who had been asleep also began to wake up and slowly open their eyes.

“Umm……”

“Sleep well?”

“……Huh?”

After being confused with half-opened eyes for a moment.

“──W-What the f*ck!?”

Ibi, who soon flinched and jumped up like a startled cat.

At that, I chuckled and silently pointed at my mouth, and Ibi, who belatedly understood the meaning, hastily wiped the drool that was all over her mouth.

“Did I fall asleep…?”

“Yup. Ah, it was because of my song, so don't worry. You just had a good night's sleep.”

“Ah, I feel much lighter than usual…!”

“Isn’t that just because you're not wearing your armor?”

And the fact that the two of them had woken up meant.

“Uh, huh…?!

That Lily, who had fallen asleep first, had also woken up.

Lily, who was looking around and trying to grasp the situation, soon found us, especially me, and after meeting my eyes, she flinched and immediately hugged herself with her arms.

“W-Where is this…? Why am I here…?!”

As expected, she didn't remember anything that had happened before she fell asleep.

If she had, she wouldn't have touched her head and then.

“Ah…!”

Belatedly noticed that her veil was off and hastily tried to cover the horns on both sides of her head.

“D-Don’t tell me, while I was sleeping…?”

“No.”

I shook my head and answered promptly.

“You came here yourself, Ms. Lily. Clearly of your own will, with your own two feet.”

Of course, to be precise, it was me who had awakened her succubus ‘desire’ to come to this warehouse to drain me.

“Well, it's a bit ambiguous to say it was of your own will, but anyway, it was you, Ms. Lily, who physically came here.”

There are witnesses too.

I added, pointing at my companions, and Miki, who had the most honest image among us, cautiously nodded his head.

“What do you mean… I would never…”

“It was you.”

“…Pardon?”

“You were the culprit, Ms. Lily.”

“……?!”

At my accusation, surprise spread across Lily's face for a moment.

“W-What on earth──”

“You are a succubus.”

“──!”

When I revealed another truth, her mouth, which had fallen open in shock, couldn't be closed for a while.

“S-Succu…”

Indeed, it wouldn't be an easy truth to accept as a cleric.

Moreover, wasn't Sistina, the goddess she served, a god who taught to stay away from lust for the sake of the family?

A succubus was practically the incarnation of that lust.

“I-I am definitely a half-human, half-demon…! But, to suddenly be called a succubus…”

Perhaps that's why, when she finally shook her head and desperately tried to deny it, it sounded more like an explanation to herself than to us.

But if that was the case.

“Actually, you already had a hunch, didn't you?”

“…!”

Lily couldn't answer my question, but the expression she showed now was already answer enough.

“W-What is your basis for saying that…!”

“Unfortunately, there are quite a few.”

Didn't I say it before?

That I already knew the culprit, but I needed ‘evidence’ because I couldn't recklessly accuse them.

“Do you remember what my companion first said?”

I glanced at Ibi and said.

Lily didn't answer this time either, but just by looking at her reddened face, I could tell she remembered clearly.

How could she forget?

“From our first meeting, she called you ‘sexy’ out of the blue.”

“──Ah.”

The one who had said it, Ibi, seemed to have just remembered it now.

“My companion is certainly a rude person, but she's not one to make things up.”

In fact, those words didn't come out just from looking at Lily's appearance.

Rather, it was a moment when Ibi's excellent [Intuition] was at work.

It was a hint.

A hidden check, shall we say.

Sometimes, this happens.

The players are not aware that a die was rolled and a check was made.

“Succubi are said to exude a unique ‘allure’ to make their target have a lustful dream.”

A kind of pheromone.

But Lily, who didn't know she was a succubus, had no way of knowing how to control that allure.

Therefore, Ibi, through her excellent [Intuition], had noticed the faint allure that was unconsciously leaking out, but she didn't know it was a succubus's unique allure and had no way to properly express it, so it seemed like she was talking nonsense out of the blue.

“So from there, I kept in mind the possibility that she might be a succubus, and I deliberately seduced Ms. Lily to observe her reaction.”

“Wait, you figured it out just from that? Because I said that?”

Her [Intuition] is really something.

Well, yeah.

To be honest, that's not where I figured it out.

“I just thought it was a possibility. If she was really a succubus, my guess was right, and if not, well… I would just be a person who tried to seduce a cleric, right?”

That's why I deliberately shrugged my shoulders and played it cool.

“Honestly, everyone has thought about seducing a cleric at least once in their life, right?”

“This bastard is a total piece of trash.”

“I’m kidding. Of course, that wasn’t all.”

“It sounded completely serious.”

I let Ibi's words from the side go in one ear and out the other and looked at Lily again.

“You said it, Ms. Lily, didn't you? ‘He was the one who decided to take me in, despite the opposition of others’.”

“…!”

I had changed the subject right away at that time, but in fact, it was a crucial slip of the tongue.

Lily genuinely respects the bishop.

As she said herself, he is like a father and a teacher to her.

That's why, to emphasize that he was her benefactor, I knew that Lily would accidentally spill this information.

“Despite the opposition.”

So I led her on.

“Why on earth?”

And it worked perfectly.

“There can be various reasons why a baby is abandoned in front of a church. But, I don't think there are that many reasons for a church to refuse that baby.”

I mean, it's a baby, right?

No matter what, it's not easy for anyone with a human heart, not just clerics, to pretend not to see a baby abandoned in front of them.

So what's the most plausible reason?

“The baby had a ‘feature’ that was clearly recognizable even as a baby.”

It was precisely because they were ‘human’.

“For example, things like horns and tails.”

The demon race is the enemy of humans.

It has been that way for a long time.

Because they had seen the beings they worshipped as gods as mere obstacles, and had tried to make them submit through force.

“Indeed, half-demons are not very welcomed by humans.”

Most of them.

At my words, Lily, as if unable to deny it, quietly lowered her head.

“──Well, not to me, though.”

I held out a hand to Lily.

“And I'm sure these friends think the same way.”

In short.

“Let’s go together.”

You, become my companion.