A gate had opened in [Eldorado].
Beyond that gate, which connected to the [Underworld Gate] guarded by [Jonne], lay her territory, where yellow-aligned demons lived.
A wasteland of a domain, scarred everywhere by the aftermath of [Nuclear Magic] and littered with traces of countless explosions.
"Oh, you came sooner than I expected this time?"
A woman with short yellow hair sat at ease atop the ruins of a shattered building.
Bathed in moon-yellow magic that streamed upward into the dreamlike night sky of hell, she lowered her gaze to me, and a provocative smile slowly spread across her lips.
"Looks like you didn't bring Ria with you. Don't tell me you two broke up?"
The [Primordial Demons], [Jonne].
At first, she had been a disaster for [Eldorado], but over the last hundred years she had quieted down, and like Ria, had gradually become more mild-tempered. By now, she was close to a friend who always came to see me whenever I visited [Eldorado].
"...If I brought Ria, I figured you'd end up fighting again like last time, so I came alone today."
Of course, becoming a little gentler didn't mean she had stopped fighting with Ria.
At this point, the two of them sniping at each other every time they met was practically a given, and I considered it a blessing if things didn't end in a duel.
The only comfort was that when she met me alone, she acted almost innocently.
"Heh~ So you came alone because you were being considerate of me?"
"Well... something like that."
Still asking self-centered questions, [Jonne] hopped down from the rubble and stretched one arm toward me, gesturing for me to take her hand.
"Haha! Nice. It's not often we get a chance to be alone, so let's go."
She flashed her teeth in a bright grin as she said it. With a wry smile, I told her all right and took her hand.
A moment later, with that one slender, fragile-looking arm, [Jonne] pulled my whole body toward her and slowly rose into the air as she spread her enormous demon wings.
Toward the yellow-lit castle where she lived.
**
Every time I came here, I felt the same thing: the inside of [Jonne]'s castle had a very different atmosphere from Ria's.
If Ria's castle looked clean and splendid overall compared to the castles of the other [Primordial Demons], then [Jonne]'s castle looked simpler due to its lack of decorations. But the ceilings and walls of the building were engraved with [Curse] traps, giving it a distinct character of its own.
Together with [Viole], it was probably the most demon-like castle of them all, and it was more interesting to look at than I had expected.
"...Come to think of it, are you still carrying on the [game(war)] with Lady Viole these days? I heard from demons of our line who recently came up to the middle world that yellow and purple demons are still clashing pretty often."
"Ah, that? Yeah. I'm still fighting with [Viole]. Not to the point of a full [game(war)] like when Ria was around, though."
[Jonne] took a sip of tea prepared by a yellow-aligned [Greater Demon] who looked like a maid, then continued speaking.
After handing me a teacup as well, the [Greater Demon] silently bowed her head and quietly left the room.
"Ria already got a body and went up to the middle world, and that [Noir] brat doesn't care much about having a body, so now it's basically just a one-on-one match between [Viole] and me, right?"
"Yes. That's why I thought the fighting between you would only get fiercer. The precarious three-way balance is over now."
"Yeah, that's what I thought at first too. If I crushed her, every last nuisance would be gone. But after Ria disappeared, [Viole] started holding back even more."
[Jonne] shrugged and took another drink of tea.
She wore the expression of someone who had more or less grasped what [Viole] was scheming.
'Objectively speaking, Viole is a little weaker than Jonne, so avoiding a head-on clash is the right move... but Viole wouldn't avoid her for that reason alone...'
Seeing that look on her face, I retraced what [Viole] might be thinking, and it didn't take me long to realize the answer.
'...Tch. Right, she still had those "seeds" scattered through the middle world...'
It was no secret to either Ria or [Jonne] that [Viole] had been searching among the bloodlines of weaker nations for someone suitable to become her vessel.
Naturally, I knew that too, and during my century-long journey, I had occasionally stumbled across those seeds while traveling through countless countries.
And every time I did, Chronoa and I had often taken down [Viole]'s subordinates attached to those body candidates and worked behind the scenes so [Viole] herself wouldn't notice.
'Chronoa and I blocked her that many times, and she still hasn't given up...'
As expected, when it came to sheer persistence, she was every bit the equal of the other [Primordial Demons]. Thinking that, I let out a short sigh.
'...It can't be helped. I'd rather avoid making a [Contract] with her directly if possible, so later I'll have to—'
Just as I was thinking that [Viole] had become a nuisance again—
tap
At some point, [Jonne]'s hand had come close enough to touch my cheek.
Caught off guard by how cold her hand was, I froze for a moment, and [Jonne] suddenly burst into laughter.
"Pfft, what are you so worried about? When you've got me right in front of you."
With blue eyes a shade deeper than sky-blue, she slowly gazed straight into mine.
Her usual childish air had shifted into something mature, and as if telling me not to worry, she lightly tapped my cheek with her finger.
"Right now, this is time for you and me to talk alone, so forget all your worries. Or... do you want me to help you with that myself?"
As she leaned in close and said that, wearing a face I still couldn't get used to no matter how many times I saw it, [Jonne] looked breathtakingly beautiful.
Beautiful enough that I could understand at a glance exactly why she was a demon.
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