Black Iron Magician

「If only coming to the academy, I still had time. But there’s a request from the guild… I mean, I have a premonition.」

「……? What do you mean?」

I tell Nell and Chinatsu about what happened in the Adventurer Guild, about the matter that I didn’t accept as a request, but as a secret arrangement.

「Duke Ortho, huh. There are few bad rumors about him, but he is famous as a doting parent. If I’m not wrong, his daughter’s name is Therese Batten.」

「Do you know her?」

「She’s famous in both good and bad ways. I’ve met her once, and she’s quite an interesting girl, you know? If you are going to help her, well, I think I agree.」

「I’m surprised you are getting into this. I thought she was a haughty noble daughter since she calls herself a prodigy.」

「She’s interesting in both good and bad ways. Well, I’m sure you will understand if you meet her.」

「…?」

I don’t really get it, but let’s leave the details about this Therese for later. It’ll be troublesome if we bump into each other in the Gibeon Ruins, so we will probably observe from afar while hiding.

「If we are going to Adelheit Magic Academy, should we take Canon along? He was, more or less, a top student at last year’s graduation festival, so I think he will be useful.」

「Canon, huh? Hmm… Just so you know, I won’t prepare a carriage or the likes. We will be going on foot and this serves for Haru’s training as well. We are going to keep running for quite a distance, but can Canon handle it?」

「…… Looking at today’s training, it’ll be pretty tough. Let’s not take him.」

「Then, it will be just the six of us. I’m thinking of leaving tomorrow morning. Dress lightly and meet us at the east gate of the city.」

If we have a bag with a storage function, there will be no restrictions. We can keep running without worrying about the luggage.

「Okay. …… Six people? Isn’t it five including that goblin?」

「Shishō, Nell-san, I, Chinatsu-chan, and lastly Gobuo-kun――Shishō, you are so silly~. There are only five of us~」

「Hm? Ahh, I haven’t said it yet, huh. This time I’ll be taking along the monster I’m employing.」

「「Monster?」」

「Gobu?」

Hearing it, Haru and Chinatsu turned their faces at Gobuo.

「… Deris, don’t tell me, are you going to take that girl along?」

「That’s right. This will work best for the principal.」

Nell blatantly makes a disgusted face. She’s a good person if you talk to her, though.

「Umm, that girl…?」

「Is it a zombie like my Gobuo-kun?」

「Well, there’s this dark magic that summons a specific monster and makes a contract with it. It’s like a variant of summoning magic. I learned this magic from a scroll we found when we were adventurers. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen this scroll in the market.」

「It would be horrible if it circulating widely…! And Deris, if you are going to summon her, you have to come next to me! Hurry!」

「You are worrywart. It’ll be fine.」

「Just-do-it!」

Nell grabs my arm and forces me to sit on the sofa next to her. She is very cautious.

「I-Is it a dangerous monster that Nell-san is cautious that much!?」

「Um, can we come closer too?」

「Yes, you should! At worst, you might get eaten!」

She won’t eat you and I won’t let her if she does. I want to say it, but Nell won’t listen to me. Just let me do the summoning already…

「Are you ready?」

「Bring it on!」

「*Excited*」

「I wonder if it’s okay…」

「Go-Gobu…」

Sitting on the sofa, Nell pulls out her sword while holding my arm. Behind the sofa, Haru shows up half of her face in curiosity, Chinatsu hides timidly, and Gobuo looks somewhat nervous. Look, Nell. You are making them scared… Whatever, let’s just summon her quickly.

「Well then, I’ll summon her. ―――― Summon, Lilyvia.」

When I chanted, a pure white magic circle, as if drawn by chalk, emerged on the floor of the leader’s room. Darkness begins to be released from the faintly glowing magic circle, blocking the sunlight that was illuminating the room, and turning the entire room into a world of the night even though it’s daytime. The bats that appeared out of nowhere are hanging from the ceiling as if waiting for their master to appear.

「T-This is!? I have a hunch it’s a Boss!」

「It’s dangerous, hide your face properly!」

「Y-Yes! Haruna, bend down more!」

Actually, such an effect is not needed. She’s making a flashy display as always.

「………」

Eventually, a figure became visible in the darkness. The light from the magic circle became even stronger, and the figure became more clearly visible. Although she is called a monster, her appearance is mostly human with sheep-like curly horns, bat wings, and a devilish tail. Her lustrous silver hair hangs just below her shoulders and her body is quite voluptuous, though not as much as Nell. When she opened her closed eyes, her purple eyes turned to me as if she was smiling.

「Lily, do you recognize me?」

「… Yes, I am. I sure am. I was waiting for you since the last summoning, 46 days and 13 hours and 4 minutes ago―― You finally called me, Goshujin-sama!」

The one who appeared from the darkness with a big smile was a devil in a maid outfit.

「It came, The Great Evil…!」

「Maid-san?」

「Haruna, keep your head down!」

As for Haru, it was probably different from what she had imagined. Contrary to Nell and Chinatsu, who are the most vigilant, she looks puzzled.

「… Goshujin-sama, it seems that the number of women who are serving you has increased, but is it just my imagination? Even though Lily has been working hard for Goshujin-sama… Lily is sad!」

「No, they are not.」

Lily broke down in tears with a theatrical gesture. At least, Nell is the only one in that kind of relationship with me. I’ll have to explain it before she says anything weird.

「Her name is Lilyvia. She’s a succubus, a monster that I summoned by mistake in the past.」

「H-Hey, what do you mean by mistake!?」

「It means as it is. You were trying to attack Deris in his sleep each time you got the chance, weren’t you!?」

「Fufu, it’s only natural for a servant to serve the master.」

「Thanks to you, I was branded as lecher by the guild and adventurers for a while…」

「What’s wrong with that? You like slovenly life, don’t you?」

「Deris, on second thought, let’s kill her. Let’s erase her from the world.」

While Nell and Lilyvia are scattering sparks, it seems that Haru and the others, who are hiding behind the sofa, are wondering what to do.

「It’s okay to come out. Either way, she will be accompanying us on this trip.」

「Y-Yes…」

「Excuse me, why are you wearing maid clothes?」

「That cute girl with the ponytail over there, thank you for asking!」

Lilyvia begins to speak, leaving Nell over there. Succubus is those who corrupt people and take their energy. Also, it’s said that it’s their reason for living above all else. Lillyvia thought about it. She wondered what kind of person in this world would be best suited for this. After a long period of agony, continuous trial and error, and failure after failure, she finally arrived at the answer. The symbol of depravity, the ultimate existence that corrupts people the most!

「And it seems to be a maid.」

「Yes! Squeezes her master moderately, manages his health, and corrupts him in his personal life as well. That’s The Depravity of Depravity! A maid!」

「That said, her housework is catastrophic as I am. She’s a maid only in appearance. Haru, don’t let her do work even if she asked, okay? Just do your work and accomplish it with all your might.」

「Ye~s.」

「Eh? This girl is a maid? Is she my junior? Lily is so happy! You can call me Lily-senpai!」

Lily hugs Haru and even rubs her cheek on Haru’s cheek. Chinatsu gets flustered and Haru looks somewhat pleased.

「… Deris, are you really going to take that girl along?」

「I’m a little worried …」

She’s not a bad person, so it’s probably going to be okay. It’s going to be okay, right? I hope it’s going to be okay…