The church, traditionally an open-door pillar of community gathering, was nearly silent after the beloved priest passed away—despite most of the villagers coming to the graveyard to pay their respects and express their emotions. The doors were locked tight, and the inner sanctuary, once full of blessings, had been heavy with sorrow for days.
“Ah... Father... how could you leave us like this...”
“How are we ever going to repay the kindness you showed our village...”
A steady stream of people came and went.
The villagers mourned the priest’s passing, placing white flowers on his coffin. Despite the village’s small size, meaning there weren't exactly droves of people arriving, nearly all who lived in the village took the time to come and pay their teary-eyed respects.
Elysia, besides greeting those who came, stood silently in her black nun’s habit.
She didn’t shed a single tear, flooded with desiderium for the priest who had not only shepherded her faith, but also shown her how to live a happy and loving life.
One villager cautiously asked, “Elysia... are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. He’s gone to God’s embrace, after all... I shouldn’t mourn, I should bless his journey.”
Even as she spoke, she was violently trembling. Her eyes were wide with shaking pupils, though she didn’t realize it herself.
“It’s okay,” one of them comforted her. “You can cry. Our God is so cruel, though. To take him and leave this poor young child behind...”
“Sob... Sob...”
“It’s okay... You can cry...” A woman with a robust figure quietly held Elysia in her arms, comforting her. “When you want to cry, you cry. The concept is the same even for a cleric. He was your precious father, after all.”
In the end, she couldn’t hold back her tears. She let her emotions pour out. “Sob... Aaaah!”
It was a sudden outburst, but none of the visitors were surprised.
“Waaa! Dad... Dad! Why did you go so soon, Dad...”
The woman patted her back, holding her close with a bittersweet expression.
However, neither of them knew that the extreme emotion had stimulated her racial instincts, causing her to suppress the pheromones she’d been unconsciously emitting.
She didn’t notice that at the same time, the expressions of a few young men who had come to pay their respects had changed.
A few more days passed.
The cleric was quietly interred in the cemetery on the outskirts of the village.
Elysia, who had somehow managed to hold back her tears, finally broke down as she watched the coffin sink into the ground. She rushed forward, trying to prevent the coffin from being buried.
Everyone understood what she was going through. They were no stranger to such struggles, as many young men from the village had become casualties in the past war against the demon race, returning home in caskets.
Naturally, a few strong young men had been ready for her reaction and grabbed her arms. Yet Elysia screamed at the top of her lungs, broke free from their grip, and rushed forward. Surprised by her unexpected strength, the men collapsed under the force and stared blankly at her.
“You guys are so clumsy,” one of the onlookers rebuked. “You should’ve held her tighter! What a waste of your strong bodies.”
“No, well...”
Some of the men looked flustered by her surprising strength. Others stared with widened eyes when they noticed something sticking out from beneath her skirt.
Elysia clung to the coffin and sobbed.
The robust woman who had comforted Elysia asked the sturdy looking man who was on the ground with a stunned face, “Hmm? Bode, what’s wrong?”
It seemed like he couldn’t stop thinking of what he had just seen.
“I... I need a moment to clear my head.” He got up and left the area.
Once far enough away, he quietly mumbled to himself, “That... that was definitely a succubus tail.”
To even his own surprise, Bode had been one of the few men who survived the war with the demons. He had seen the succubi flying overhead during the air raids in the middle of the fighting, and so was at least somewhat familiar with them.
“Demon race bitch...” Venomous hatred filled his eyes. “A demon dares to deceive me... and our humble village?”
He wished desperately that he had just seen wrong. So, he had to confirm.
The first night after the priest’s body was buried, Bode sought out Elysia with a grim countenance.
She happened to be quietly praying in the church's prayer room, overwhelmed with grief.
“Bode? Is something wrong?”
She was beautiful. Her explosive figure was more alluring than any maiden in the village.
He didn’t know why he hadn’t ever thought of that possibility until now.
With a deep sense of unease, he approached her to quietly say, “I brought you a snack, because I figured you’d be having a hard time after the priest passed away.”
She looked up at him with eyes that were still damp with tears. “Oh, that’s so thoughtful...”
When she reached to take the box he offered, she flinched. Physical contact with a grown man was a massive burden for her. She had reached a point where she could hold a conversation, after years of effort, but her fear of men wasn’t completely gone.
‘I need to be brave. I can’t keep being like this, now that Father is gone.’
She bravely took the box he offered.
That was when it happened.
He abruptly called out, “Cleric Elysia.”
“Yes?”
“Are you... a succubus?”
She froze at his words for a few seconds before finally responding, “W-what are you...?”
He looked at her with a chilling gaze. “I wanted to believe I was wrong.”
“W-what are you talking about? I’m not a succubus or anything...”
“No, this is no longer just a suspicion.”
He violently knocked the box away. As it fell, a pulsating mana stone dropped from the box. At the same time, her eyes widened in shock.
In the past war against the demon race, human mages had created mana stones that could identify succubi in order to guard against their assaults.
While the war had ended before they could be deployed and used in live combat, Bode, as a veteran of that war, had used his connections to keep one of the mana stones as a memento amulet.
He stared at Elysia with an utterly cold expression. “Do you know what this is, Elysia?”
“T-this is...”
“It’s a mana stone that reacts to the power of a succubus. And it... reacted as soon as it touched you.”
It hadn't reacted before the few days prior. The long period of secrecy was thanks to the old priest secretly protecting her.
Alas, with him gon, she no longer had any protection.
Sling!!!
Bode drew his sword with a face etched with hatred.
Swoosh!!
He made a wild swing of his sword, shouting, “You’re a benefactor to our village! You’re the priest’s daughter, yes, but... I can’t help but have this thought...” His fury made him unable to think straight. “That you tricked the priest and snuck in here to take advantage of us all.”
“N-no! That’s not it! Bode! I can explai—Kyaaak!”
He managed to slice a cut into her arm. Yet, to his surprise, the wound on her arm healed rapidly.
“Are you still going to make excuses?!”
She was stunned. “T-this is...”
“Cleric Elysia.”
There was no response she could give.
“I’ll never forgive the demon race. My little sister was ripped apart by a succubus right in front of me.”
“T-that...”
“But the world decided to make peace with the demon race.” He strode closer. “Then to whom am I supposed to cry out about my sister’s death?”
The grief that he had suppressed for years had finally exploded, and he began crying. “You might truly be a good being. But... I can’t live in the same world, let alone in the same village, as a demon.”
As he closed in, brandishing his sword, Elysia slowly crawled backward, her eyes filled with fear.
“P-please don’t do this, Bode. I don’t mean to hurt anyone or make anyone uncomfortable...”
“Do you know how my sister died?”
Of course she didn't.
“It was a young demon. When I pointed my sword at him, he burst into tears and begged me to spare him. My soft-hearted sister persuaded me into making the foolish mistake of letting him live.”
That moment created a tragic future where the young demon repaid the kindness by stabbing her in the back.
“As my sister lay dying, he stabbed her repeatedly, saying...”
- I don’t hate you! But you must die!
“That’s when I came to the sober realization.” A frantic fury flashed in his eyes. “I swore I’d never forgive a demon if I saw one. I’d tear them all to shreds... every single one, young or old!”
Elysia was beside herself with panic. “Please don’t! The war was painful for everyone! A-and I don’t intend to hurt you, Bode...”
“You’re a demon, though.”
Her eyes widened at his words.
“How can I trust a demon?” He brought his sword down, and a resounding clash echoed.
Elysia quietly looked up at him, then quietly closed her eyes. “You’re right... I failed to understand your pain.”
She knelt before him, her hands clasped as if in prayer. “Take my head. If that can heal your pain, even a little... I’ll offer my life.”
At her words, Bode trembled, raising his sword high. Yet, he ultimately couldn’t strike Elysia.
“Why... why aren’t you fighting back?”
She remained silent.
He shouted vehemently with a voice of deep resentment, “Why don't you look for my weakness?! Why don't you scream that you didn't kill her?! Why aren't you screaming that you shouldn’t die?! Can you not at least shout and beg for mercy?!”
Still, when he saw her sorrowful smile, he violently threw his sword away.
Clank!!
He coldly declared, “I didn’t see anything tonight.”
“Bode?”
“I’ll hate demons for the rest of my life. That’ll never change.”
She couldn't find anything to say.
“But I can’t harm a cleric. Especially not the daughter of the priest who worked for our village his whole life.”
It was a fake excuse, conjured as a rationalization to justify his own emotions. He ultimately couldn’t bring himself to strike Elysia.
“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry... I’m sorry for hurting you...” Elysia watched blankly as he left his sword behind and walked away.
Then she quietly curled up and cried. There was one person who had secretly overheard the conversation between the two of them.
That figure watched the situation before quietly leaving the area, relaying the whole truth to the nearby lord. She was none other than Bode’s birth mother, the robust woman who had been the first to approach Elysia to comfort her and grieve with her when the priest died.
“My lord... there’s a demon... in our village.”
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