I Favor the Villainess Chapter 141

"W-Well then, I'd like to say this once again. It's been a while, Rei-san, Claire-sama."

As Lily-sama spoke, she bowed her head deeply.

We were currently inside the dormitory assigned to Bauer's student exchange group.
After we finished reporting the encounter with the demon to the Empire, we returned to our dormitory to exchange further information with each other.
I thought the Empire would be more panicked about the situation, but it seemed that being attacked by demons was such a commonplace that they were unfazed by it.
When we went to report it, the response we got somehow felt rather clerical, but I couldn't exactly tell whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I think we can leave the greetings here for now. First of all, what brings you to the Empire, Lily?"

Claire-sama asked her on behalf of everyone.
Right now, Claire-sama, Yuu-sama, Misha and I were acting as Bauer's main representatives for the group.

"Y-Yes. Well, Lily has returned to the Holy Cathedral, and this time, I am acting as one of the Pope's heralds during her Imperial visit."
"Ahh, I see."

To begin with, the whole monster extermination work was organized in preparation for the Pope's Imperial visit.
There was no way a world-renowned religious figure would be allowed to suddenly come for a visit by herself, so it made sense that there were people who would scout ahead and handle various negotiations and procedures for her in her place.
Lily-sama was one of those people.

"On that note, did you return to being a Cardinal then, Lily?"
"Ah, no. I'm just a regular nun within the Church now. Although the Pope has already pardoned me, in the end, I just couldn't accept it that easily."

Lily-sama smiled wryly.
It seemed that she was still unable to forgive herself for the crimes that she committed.
Really, that was a very Lily-samlike thing to do.

"L-Let's go back to what we were talking to before. Lily came here as a countermeasure against higher level monsters and demons. As you may already know, the Empire is located near the demons' territory, so it is far more likely to encounter them here than back in Bauer."

That was something I was already aware of, however, I never expected the demons to be as strong as they were.
Although we were exhausted during our fight, not even five people could take him down.
If it weren't for Lily-sama's timely appearance, all of us would've been done for.
I shuddered as I remembered the sight of those claws that were just about to strike Claire-sama.

"Are all demons that strong?"

I asked the question that was on my mind.

"N-No, Arist is a special case even among the demons. He is a member of the Three Great Archdukes, which consists of three exceptionally powerful demons. You were just unlucky, Rei-san."

When I heard that, I was a little relieved.
If all demons were that strong, I'm sure there was not much more that we could do.
In the end, he was just an exception and a special case.

"S-Speaking of the Three Great Archdukes…… most demons usually rarely come out from their territory. During strifes and battles, monsters are often sent out in their place."
"If that's the case, then why did such a strong demon decide to show himself this time around……"

Yuu-sama muttered to herself while deep in thought.

"T-That probably has something to do with the Pope's Imperial visit. The Church and demons have been in conflict for as long as history can even remember, after all."

Lily-sama bowed her head as she offered an apology for causing an inconvenience to us.

Was that really the case?
If anything, it felt like that demon was personally targeting Claire-sama.
Based on how Arist worded it, he made it sound as if he found Claire-sama while he was in the middle of some other work and decided to attack her.

While I pondered the idea, Lily-sama continued.

"T-The Church does not acknowledge the existence of demons in its doctrine. They are the very epitome of destruction. They won't bother talking it out and they offer no room for negotiations. That's all because they yearn for the destruction of this world."

I felt a little discomforted by the fact that even the Church, which advocated for fairness and benevolence, labeled the demons as unreasonably hostile enemies without question.
To begin with, why did the demons want to destroy the world so badly anyway?
Claire-sama had a skeptical look on her face, as if she was wondering the same thing as me.

"World annihilation? Do you mean to say that they seek the destruction of our society and all of human civilization?"
"No, Claire-sama. The world annihilation that the demons seek is exactly how it sounds. They want the entire world to be wiped, including themselves."

Misha was the one who answered Claire-sama's question.
Since she was someone who also belonged to the Church, she seemed to have some knowledge of the demons.

"Even including themselves? If they do that, wouldn't that mean they'll also die?"
"Y-Yes. The demons hold different values than us, so it is incomprehensible to us human beings. That's why there is no room for negotiation or trying to understand each other."

Certainly, it was impossible to try and talk things out or negotiate with beings that wished for the destruction of the entire world.

"W-Well, since the Empire is so close to the demons' territory, you may encounter some demons from time to time. Unless you choose to approach that territory yourself, I doubt you'll run into any tough enemies; however, everyone, please take proper precaution."
"Even if you tell us to be careful, how are we supposed to take precaution against something like that?"

Claire-sama murmured.
Certainly, if an entity that boasted that much strength decided to come and attack you, there was really nothing else you could do but to fight for your life.

"As for the know-how on how to repel the demons, the Church has some knowledge about it. One of those repellents is this."

Lily-sama pulled out a dagger and showed it to us.

"T-This is a dagger that is enchanted with water attribute magic, and serves as a blessed weapon. Weapons that have received blessings are able to injure the demons quite easily. In the fight that we were involved in earlier, Frieda's weapon was also enchanted, although the blessing seemed to be rather weak."

Frieda did say that her sword was quite sharp.
I wonder if she was trying to say that her weapon was blessed.
For Arist to have been able to split the weapon into two, you could really tell that he was not just an ordinary being.

"As a part of my duties for scouting ahead, I was given the task to deliver these blessed weapons to all of you on behalf of the Holy Cathedral. Since everybody here is a magic user, I will give you all magic wands."

After saying that, Lily-sama had another church official bring the luggage over.
Each item was individually wrapped with cloth.
Lily-sama pulled one out and unwrapped it to show it to us.

"T-The magical stones in these wands are blessed. The blessing itself is done with water attribute magic, but that does not affect the attribute of magic that you are using, so please rest assured."

"This is purely to counter the demons," Lily-sama added.

"Lily-sama, would you be able to tell me more about the magic behind these blessings?"
"T-That's a bit…… Casting blessings is one of the Church's hidden techniques, so……. It's something that is kept as more of a secret than the Tears of the Moon. The only people that know how to create these blessings are the predecessors and successors of the Pope."

Additionally, it seemed that the blessed magical stones were considered a valuable source of income to the Church.
I thought that if I could cast the blessings myself, it would prove to be incredibly useful in various ways, but as expected, it wasn't something that I could learn that easily.

"T-These magical tools are valuable items, so I apologize, but each person may only receive one each. Please take good care of them."

We each received a magic wand from Lily-sama.
Upon closer inspection, the blessed magical stone that was located at the tip of the wand was colorless and transparent instead of displaying the colors that represented the four attributes.
Pure water magic was usually blue in color, so you could tell that the magic that was used was rather unique.

"L-Like monsters, the demons' weak spot is their magical gem core. We don't really know the reason for this, but the location of that core is roughly around the same area as where a human's heart is. Please keep this in mind."

After that, Lily-sama ended her crash course on the demons.

"Lily-sama, thank you for teaching us all of that."
"N-No, don't mention it."

Although I was aware of their existence thanks to the prior knowledge I had about RevoLily, I knew basically nothing about the demons, so the debriefing we had was incredibly useful.
Plus, we were being loaned these blessed magical weapons as well.

"If there's any way that we can thank you……"
"T-This is…… just Lily doing her job, so……. Ah, but――"
"What is it? You can ask for anything."
"I-In that case, are you free after this? We haven't had tea together in a long time――"
"I'd be happy to. I'm sure we've got a lot to catch up on."

If she was fine with just that, we could talk for as long as she wanted.
But after I replied,

"Lily, would you mind if I joined you two for tea as well?"

My wife came over and reproached me with a scary look on her face.

"O-Of course. And when Claire-sama isn't looking, if things go well with Rei-san, we can become closer and…… abababa……."

Lily-sama, your true thoughts are leaking from your lips.

"Geez. Seems like I have to be on my guard and make sure I don't leave any gaps open."
"…… Tch, I screwed up."
"…… Lily-sama?"
"Lily?"
"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

It had been a while since I'd last heard Lily-sama's crude speech habits.

"M-My other personality was dispelled by Manarisama, but it seems that lately, my old habits have come out again……"
"…… Well, I think it's fine……"
"In a way, I feel like you wouldn't be Lily-sama without that."
"Y-You guys……"

We invited the teary eyed Lily-sama into our room, and we chatted until well into the evening.
After having dinner along with Mei and Alea, Lily-sama was ready to head home.

"W-Well then, I hope we'll be able to have another secret rendezvous together, Rei-san."
"Hurry up and go home."

It should be noted that Claire-sama and Lily-sama had a brief skirmish as the latter parted.

Chapter end