Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 5 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 7===

In this heavy atmosphere, a pair of succubus sisters were looking at each other.

Naruse Maria and the older sister Lucia.

Maria had come to Lucia’s office to report about the events of her being coerced <ref>persuade (an unwilling person) to do something by using force or threats</ref> by Zolgear and the events related to that before and after it.

Although Maria had successfully rescued Mio from the high-class demon Zolgear’s palm, her mother Sheera was instead taken hostage and had to provide her assistance through threats. Maria had originally desperately complied with Lucia’s orders to ignore Zolgear’s threats and put Mio’s protection as a higher priority; but she instead sunk deeper due to a misstep and obeyed Zolgear -- fooling Mio and the rest and pulling them into even more danger. That was roughly the report Maria gave, reporting each and every crime she had made.

And right now -- the heavy atmosphere of the room was created from waiting for Lucia to say something after Maria had finished her report. In the atmosphere that made people hold their breaths in anticipation, Maria made no movements at all, and in the end--

“--Is that really all?”

Lucia spitted out in an extremely cold voice. After that--

“Maria… I am very well aware of your love for mother, and I’m not blaming you for that. I am able to somehow understand your feelings when you found out the news of okaa-sama being taken hostage and how you felt when you made your moves after that.”

“……I understand that.”

Maria quietly nodded.

“It’s been hard on you, Maria… You must’ve been through a lot of pain, and your heart must be in a mess now. You are a very kind child, and I believe that betraying Mio-sama and Basara’s trust in you to help the scum holding okaa-sama hostage must have brought unbelievable pain.”

And Lucia followed up with some kind words -- using not a warm tone, but one that could instantly freeze boiling water.

Thus, Naruse Maria then wordlessly raised her sight.

“<nowiki>------</nowiki>”

And looked into Lucia’s eyes -- who sat on a chair opposite her behind the office table.

Her older sister’s eyes were as Maria expected, cold enough to send chills through her, and as for her expression -- it held even more oppressive pressure than Basara, causing Maria to gulp.

“However -- even then, what you should have been doing back then was to carry out your mission of protecting Mio-sama, not worrying over the safety of okaa-sama, much less defecting to help Zolgear. It’s just -- I had thought that you were not that foolish, so why were you?”

Lucia then asked again:

“If you were the kind of person that would make this kind of mistake, I would’ve already opposed you becoming Mio-sama’s guardian in the nomination stage, as Ramsas would. However, why did you do something so foolish where you even betrayed those close to you?”

“……”

To Lucia’s question, Maria already had an answer within her heart, but was unable to voice it out. Because she didn’t want to believe that was the truth -- much less say that it was. However--

”Tell me, Maria -- just how did Zolgear even manage to delude you?”

Yet Lucia pressed her again. Her shrewd older sister before her is not someone who you can make it past by stalling with silence or with lies.

…Additionally.

If Maria remained silent, then it wouldn’t end with just Maria’s punishment. Either Sheera or Lucia may be viewed as the reason for Maria’s crimes. And for not stopping Maria, they might be investigated -- something that must not happen no matter what.

The two of them are family that Maria is proud of. The reason Maria committed those crimes, is because her power is insufficient -- there was definitely no responsibility on Lucia or Sheera. Thus--

“……He told me, about something.”

Maria decided to give up resisting and reveal the truth, and spitted it out:

“The reason Mama lost power and turned like that -- was because she gave birth to me.”

“<nowiki>------</nowiki>”

Lucia then stuttered with a shaking voice, slightly widening her eyes.

''…I see, it really is the case…''

Lucia now understood. Maria has a very soft heart, but her sense of responsibility is very strong. So even if the circumstances caused conflict within her heart, and that was why Lucia had deeply believed Maria would never go as low as helping Zolgear.

''…I see.''

In the space out of Maria’s sight under the table, Lucia clenched her fist.

Trying to suppress the boiling rage without making any movements.

--What Zolgear told Maria, is indeed the truth.

Lucia and Maria’s mother Sheera was the first amongst the succubus race to become a high-class demon, someone who was a well-known figure in the Demon Realm. In the past, Sheera possessed a lot of power, and rumours say that she was a close ally to the strongest Demon Lord Wilbert.

However -- that Sheera one day, for one reason, lost over half of her power.

That, was giving birth to Maria. Everything was fine when Sheera gave birth to Lucia, yet she lost over half her power when she gave birth to Maria -- even becoming unable to even maintain her own original outer appearance, and assumed an appearance even younger than the Maria right now.

However -- everyone else including Lucia were always very careful, not letting Maria find out about it.

The moment she finds out her own birth caused her cute Mother to lose her power and beauty, a heavy blow will undoubtedly be dealt to that child’s heart. As Sheera was someone very special to her, the aftereffects will definitely be very severe.

So as to not let Maria feel any guilt or trauma about her own existence, Sheera and Lucia teamed up with the people around them, protecting Maria from ‘’that’’ together -- by hiding its existence.

It would be impossible to hide the fact that Sheera lost her power, but it might be possible to cut all connections of that to Maria. Thus, everyone lied to Maria that Sheera had lost her powers before having Maria, and spent all efforts on supporting this cover-up. Amongst the people in the Moderates Faction that Sheera was close with, there were quite a number who knew the truth due to being present during childbirth and other reasons, and they felt regret and sympathy over the blow from losing that overwhelming power. Both Lucia and Sheera had went around asking people to not leak out the truth, to the point where Wilbert had even agreed to persuade people to protect the secret. With the cooperation of so many people, they managed to hide the cruel truth from Maria and let her grow up uneventfully.

''…But he dared to…!''

Lucia is already furious to the point where she was already gritting her teeth. Though she didn’t know where and how Zolgear of the Current Demon Lord Fation got that info where only a small fraction of the people in the Moderates Faction knew -- for him to be still harming people even after his death, he is lowest and dirtiest scum. What Lucia wanted the most was to personally end his life, but from the looks of his psionic response suddenly disappearing when tracking him, he’s probably already dead.

“……”

While the frustrated Lucia tried to suppress her rage--

“……I’m sorry, Lucia-oneesama…”

Maria seemed to take Lucia’s silence as anger directed at her, and lowered her head and said:

“The mama onee-sama respected the most, was snatched away by me…”

“That--“

Hearing Maria say monotonously, Lucia wanted to try to stop Maria's train of thought. Perhaps, Maria thought Lucia’s strict attitude was the result of her causing Sheera to lose her power. Or maybe she thought that that was her responsibility, and thus went down the wrong path of wanting to save Sheera alone. But--

''…That’s not it.''

The reason Lucia had been strict with Maria was that as the aide of the current leader of the Moderates Faction Ramsas, her responsibilities are now completely different from her previous post. Having to order her subordinates around and make judgements from time to time, she of course had to be partial and show no favouritism; even when her own little sister became her own subordinate, she must still stick to her principals.

And also, the responsibility of Sheera losing her powers didn’t fall squarely on Maria’s shoulders. Sheera had decided to have children despite knowing that there was that risk, and Lucia even supported her mother’s decision; and Maria had not disappointed them, being born healthily.

Thus, Lucia very much wanted to say「You’re wrong」「It’s not like that」. You -- the succubus named Maria, had been born with blessings from many people.

However -- Lucia was unable to say it out loud.

Right now, she is not Maria’s older sister, but still Ramsas’s aide. She still had to hand down the punishment to her subordinate who had done wrong, and carry it out as soon as possible. Hence--

“…I now fully understand your reasons for your betrayal.”

Lucia stood up, putting aside her feelings as a family member -- as an older sister, and then frankly said with the expression and tone that of Ramsas’s aide:

“But even then -- your mission is to protect Mio-sama, and putting aside any personal reasons, being swayed by personal emotions and putting your protection target into danger is definitely not allowed.”

Lucia began walking slowly towards Maria, and continued:

“As for your err, Ramsas-sama has given me full authority -- are you ready?”

“…Yes.”

Maria nodded slightly and replied.

Thus -- Lucia materialised her weapon in her right hand, a whip specially made from the leather of the magical creature Behemoth. Standing before Maria while looking at her own little sister with cold eyes, Lucia slowly raised her right hand holding the whip--

“--Could you be more lenient?”

A voice suddenly came from beside them to stop Lucia.

“ ! --Basara!”

Maria’s shocked voice sounded out, naming the one who was leaning against the wall to the right of them.

“……How did you come in here?”

In contrast to the shocked Maria, Lucia only frowned and asked.

“Just now… Sheera suddenly appeared in the room you brought us to.”

Basara began explaining:

“When I asked her how did she suddenly appear on my thighs, I found out that it was just one of her usual pranks -- through one of the magical space connecting tunnels made everywhere in case of an emergency. Thus I guessed that there should be one in your office too, and asked her to let me use it. As Maria seemed to be taking very long, I became worried.”

Basara looked at Lucia eyes, his eyes filled with coldness that seemed different from Lucia’s.

''…I see, so this is…''

According to past reports, Lucia somewhat understood Basara’s personality to a certain extent.

This former Hero teen, while having a very warm and kind side, has a very cold side to him as well. Even when he was critically injured by Lars, he was still able to see his true side, and joined hands in the shadows.

Later, he had joined up with Lars to trick Zolgear and successfully managed to rescue the kidnapped Mio and Sheera -- even managing to defeat Zolgear. The first time Lucia met him was about a month ago when she had visited to invite them, and bringing them over to the Demon Realm will be her second time meeting him. As Lucia had only seen images of Basara, she has had some doubts about his other side, but now she can see that it was real.

''……Speaking of which… Really, Mother?''

Having closed the door properly, Lucia was temporarily unable to figure out how Basara entered the room, but he had actually unexpectedly used Sheera’s space tunnels. While Lucia knew of its existence, she never realised her own office wasn’t an exception, making her feel -- she is far less than mother<ref>far from the standards her mother is at</ref>. After taking a mental sigh, Lucia straightened her heart, looked at Basara and said:

“--However, that person will not accept your request so easily, right?”

“The reason Maria assisted Zolgear, is because she was only thinking of saving her mother Sheera. Thus, if Maria had to take any other responsibility because of Zolgear, I hoped that she would lend a hand… That was what I had said to her.”

Basara’s thought process was justifiable and reasonable, but it's just way too difficult to believe that Sheera would accept Basara’s request just because of that. If anyone else other than the creator of those secret passages were to find out of its locations and methods to utilise it, its usability and practicality would be lowered. As the secrets surrounding them would very likely be revealed once used by any unauthorised persons, it has to be used when all alternatives have been exhausted for it to be most effective. Sheera might not have fully understood that logic…

''If anything -- Sheera seems to have rated the youth Basara very highly’.'' Lucia thought quietly, and then continued:

“…I understand. It’s no wonder that person would show such affections for her daughter… But, let me ask you -- why do you want to shield Maria? No matter how young I am, I am still Ramsas-sama’s aide, and even if you have been exiled, you are still a Hero -- you do realise that by trespassing my office, you are in no position to be defending yourself if you were to be disposed of?”

Lucia’s warning caused Maria to turn pale.

“ ! --H-Hold on! Basara is--“

“Shut up, Maria -- I am currently speaking with Basara here.”

Cutting off Maria’s retort, Lucia then turned to face Basara.

“…I am well aware of that, as well as the consequences too.”

Hearing Basara’s reply--

“…Then why did you still do it? Are you not afraid of death?”

With those words, Lucia hinted that it wouldn’t be weird even if the cost of his actions was death.

“Of course I am afraid of death… However, there are some things that one can never give in to despite one’s fear of death. Indeed, the family of the succubus Maria are you and Sheera, and she is part of the Moderates Faction, shouldering the big responsibility of protecting the daughter of the late previous Demon Lord. But still--“

Basara said firmly:

“Right now, I will repeat what I had already said to the female demon you had sent to bring back Maria… This girl known as Naruse Maria, is my family; here, she is my precious sister, and I will not allow anyone to harm her -- even if you are her blood-related sister, you are no exception.”

“ <nowiki>----</nowiki>! “

That answer caused Maria to tremble, and then--

“Not only me, even Yuki who was in real danger and got implicated has already forgiven her. This incident had left no grudges in any of us, Maria has already repented thoroughly -- then again, wasn’t it you guys who had sent just Maria alone to protect Mio?”

Taking a new breath, Basara then said to Lucia harshly:

“Before you punish her for neglecting her duties, you guys should be reviewing what responsibilities you have in this -- isn’t that right, Lucia?”

Within Toujou Basara’s heart, there were three things that he had to settle and confirm while in the Demon Realm no matter what.

Firstly, to solve the problems left behind by Wilbert’s power within Mio.

Secondly, to confirm the status and condition of Zest who had been handed over to the Moderates Faction.

''…And thirdly…''

To stop 「Maria」 from receiving punishment for assisting Zolgear.

Mio’s problems with the politics and circumstances of the Demon Realm goes a long way, so it naturally can’t be immediately solved. But now that he had confirmed that Zest was being treated well, next came Maria.

And for that--

…He had to make the other party agree to give it up.

Lucia is Ramsas’s aide, so as long as she agrees to give up on Maria’s punishment, the people of the Moderates Faction would not chase after Maria to take responsibility. To Basara’s declaration to protect Maria to the end--

“……So that’s how it is. Toujou Basara, I understand what you are getting at.”

Lucia showed that she understood it.

“『Not allowing anyone to harm family』 Those words do really sound nice. However, do you really mean that you will unconditionally forgive, disregard, and connive the mistakes your family makes?”

“…As long as I know of her wrongdoings, I will immediately correct it, and sometimes even warn or scold her. However--“

Basara continued:

“The two things being mentioned are completely different. The reason Maria obeyed Zolgear, was purely completely to save Sheera--“

“--Even then, she should’ve told either you or me the situation, and sought for assistance; yet this child put her personal feelings first and acted on her own, causing Mio-sama to fall into Zolgear’s hands. Although things have ended well luckily with no serious consequences, it was just only the results that were not grave. Maria’s thought to help Mother might deserve sympathy, but what she did was completely not right -- is that not it?”

“That…!”

Lucia was right, and Basara stuttered, unable to retort.

“Additionally, Basara -- you may not have noticed, but you yourselves have done something wrong.” <ref>referring not only to Basara here</ref>

“…We?”

“That’s right.” Lucia nodded and said:

“After the incident with Zolgear -- you had used 『It was all to save her mother』, such nice words as an excuse to not administer punishment, never scolding or punishing her even once at all, probably to try to put her heart at ease. After that, you all had chosen to continue living with her like nothing has ever happened.”

“…And what is wrong with that?”

“Do you still not get it? You -- ignored Maria’s guilt of betraying you and wanted her to continue staying in that house like nothing ever happened; because you never blamed her -- she doesn’t want to blame herself; yet you never thought -- of the possibility that Maria’s guilt has never completely disappeared, and some shreds of it still remains in her heart.”

“ ! <nowiki>----</nowiki>?”

Basara then looked at Maria, shocked. And--

“………”

Maria silently lowered her eyes. That reaction and expression, revealed the truth to Basara.

Lucia then said to the speechless Basara:

“…Although she is very happy that she can still continue living together with you, by staying beside you all every day, she is constantly reminded that she had betrayed her precious family; and whenever you said such warm yet cruel words like 『It’s alright』 and smile, you deepen her pain. With that kind of pain, Maria had treated it as her punishment for betraying you all; yet this child continued to smile, making you all satisfied -- you all have never thought about what she was hiding under her smile.”

Lucia then said with words filled with scorn:

“There is no grudges at all between you all? How laughable. Whenever Mio-sama and Yuki’s curse of the Master-Servant Contract activates, you’ll help them eradicate the guilt that had activated it in the first place, helping them to be lifted from the curse; I believe those kinds of situations have already happened many times -- but, where is your care for Maria? Blindly giving kindness and goodwill, is sometimes more cruel than baring your fangs. You guys hope to protect Maria -- with the actions you have made, do you really think it is really helping this child? What you have told me doesn’t satisfy me at all, was it to only make yourselves happy?”

“No, we--!”

Basara wanted to retort, yet was unable to continue. Maria’s actions just now, had already shown who was right.

“--Since you claim that it’s not it, I’ll give you a chance to prove yourselves.

Lucia said:

“If Maria -- Naruse Maria is really your family, and you really want to stop me from using punishment to save her heart, then there is nothing to be said -- you have to punish Maria yourself, eradicate her pain, and prove that you’re not all bark and no bite.”

“I have to punish Maria…”

These provocative words caused Basara to look at Maria at a loss. Maria remained quiet, but--

“Maria…”

Toujou Basara saw Maria walk slowly towards him.

“……………”

Maria kept quiet, only silently looked upwards at Basara.

Her eyes and expression, caused Basara to make a decision. Thus, Basara put both his hands on Maria’s shoulders, and turned to Lucia, quietly yet heavily saying:

“I promise -- if that will really save Maria, and make you acknowledge me as Maria’s family.