A week passed and things eventually started to settle down. The attack was not an event of the past, but it was now as well addressed as it could be. The Akita nobility had gotten primarily captured and the institutions started to provide relief.
It eventually surfaced that the terrorists were ordinary men who were brainwashed and trained for half a decade.
5 years ago Dad was out on international scouting when a flood hit Akita. Hearing the news and being unable to travel all the way back to Japan, he froze a chunk of the ocean that led to Akita just long enough to ensure safety to most of the inhabitants.
Of course, he couldn't monitor everything from all the way across the ocean and wasn't quick enough to save all the lives. The ones who weren't able to make it out alive, pinned it on the royalty, saying that the disaster could have been avoided had the alliance adopted a deity. A statement that stood against the foundation of the newly formed alliance.
Quickly, that seed turned into distrust for Human-Demon equality altogether.
This was all public knowledge.
What wasn't was the fact that the people of Akita quickly fell to a dark cult that trained terrorists. Probably led by a bigger organisation from another country. That explained the masterminds.
There were still a lot of speculations and missing pieces. Like the involvement of nobility. But those speculations will only result in something after the alliance gets its hand on that one mastermind.
Ultimately, some trust from the monarchy was lost. But the regime was still a monarchy. Push comes to shove Sadou Jii could just despotically quash any rebellion. With Yuuno and my parents in the arsenal, no citizen in the alliance would be able to stand up.
But then again, things would never get this bad.
Through the power of media, the world accepted that the terrorist attack was way out of the blue. They sympathised with the army, as I- the son of the generals was a victim too. Not to mention, the small percentage of the casualties despite the huge attack.
Ultimately the blame got shifted outwards and rightfully so. And then with the falling dust, the attention fell on me.
Word of mouth was scary.
The secret didn't even last a month. If it were up to me I would have the world remain oblivious to the transgression of the attack. But my lens' recording was confiscated by the military. Not because they didn't trust me but because it could lead to figuring out who the mastermind was.
Of course that still remained, and the only thing that surfaced was my brutality.
Luckily I turned off my lens while throwing the toolbox on the guy's face. If that made it to public eyes I was sure to be deemed of as an absolute lunatic and a potential psychopath.
At the end of the day and much to my pleasure only some of my murders made it through.
Today was the day I got confronted about it. Today I received my summon.
It was my first time in the throne room. And the entire gang was supposed to be there. Well, everyone but Luha. Her family was keeping her under close watch for the time being. And the older people. They didn't have any reason to be here.
Well, maybe JiiJii did but I doubt that he could be bothered. He was probably still sulking about his tomato field.
I pushed the door open and the smell of royalty wafted through the air.
"Phew." I sighed.
"Attending, Perpetrator 01: Asama Mao." A robotic voice rang out as beams of light scanned me.
The throne room wasn't much like mine.
This throne room was made out of white marble, red carpets and ash gold embellishments. My throne room was all black.
My throne room had a single throne for me while everyone else just stood or bowed.
But this throne room had a throne for the king, with two seat behind him which I presumed was for Mom and Dad. There were other seats all around where probably the ministers sat, and a table in the middle. The throne level itself wasn't all that much higher than the minister's level.
If that happened in my room, I would have chopped some legs off so I didn't have to look up to any of them while giving the rulings. Those towering demon kings looking down on the demon lord was unacceptable.
Anyways, it was rather clear that no one took this trial seriously though.
Jii-san was seated upright while Jou-san was sitting on the hand rest.
My family was sitting on the table. The royal siblings were scattered around minister's chair. One of the siblings even had her wifey along with her.
Suddenly to draw attention Jii-san hit the other handlebar gently.
It was time for the trial.
"It has been brought to my attention that things got dicey during Mao's res-"
"Dear, just speak casually, no one cares about procedures here." Jou-san gave me a reaffirming smile. I nodded back.
"Ahem… In that case, Mao did you kill some terrorists?" Wait, isn't that too blunt?!
"In self-defense, yes." I claimed.
"Self-defense my ass… This dude literally used a terrorist as a meat shield to avoid fall damage." Rune spoke up.
"YOU BI- SNITCH!"
Why would he betray me like that?!
But then the reason became apparently clear as Yuuno started to giggle next to me.
Speaking of which, when did she get next to me?
If there was anyone who had reign over Rune it was her.
[You did this!] I aggressively struck my shoulder against her's and leaned on her.
[Of course I did. If they acknowledge you, you'd get a free pass into the military.] The smile on her face was sooo wide. Woohoo.
[You monster! How could you! Even after all that I've been through.] That trauma. That despair.
Yuuno was never the hero, she was a heartless wench.
[You'll get over it. You've been through worse.] See?
[Oh as if that's a good argument. Would you be fine seeing me turn your comrades into cripples like I did in my previous life?] Again… I was in the right. Those three were the ones who came to murder me.
[You wouldn-]
"So did you only kill enough to get out of captivity." Jii-san asked so I turned my attention outwards again.
"Yes."
"What about the two you squashed while jumping down?" Rune pushed me towards a confession.
"Why- Those terrorists needed to die to increase my chances at survival!"
"Needed is a strong word. Just sayin'~" Rune whistled a little.
That siscon.
Wait a sec. Why were these royals treating cultist scum like those like normal defendants? Well, they were Akita's inhabitants. But still!
"So you did kill them somewhat out of anger?" Jii-san tried to extrapolate words out of me.
"I mean, I did. They kind of had it coming with trying to murder us and all."
The throne room went silent for a bit.
"I do believe your actions were brilliant. Excellent even. You saved all of the innocent people and saved the lives of the future generation of the country. I'm sure your ancestors would pride you for it, and I will award you. But to have used this much violence at such a tender age…"
"It was never excessive violence. I underestimated my power at some places, but there was no malice. And as far as that's considered, Yuuno is only a year older than me and she killed more people during the operation." I defended.
"That's true. Yuuno is not that far apart in age, but Mao-kun you said something kind of concerning. What was it? 'Brave cunt, I hope you find your retribution.' Is that what you said?" Jou-san tried to explain nicely.
"Wait, you heard that?! I turned my mic of- I mean I didn't say that at all."
"Just admit to being violent." Jii-san finally gave up.
Damn it! I didn't have a lot of counterarguments left.
"I blame video games." I raised my hand in a final attempt to save face. "Rune introduced me to VRFPS." If he threw me under the bus he should have been prepared to be thrown under too.
If I didn't make myself seem like a normal human being with no outstanding strengths, my job as an honorary member of the military was going to get cemented. So I had to pull the stops out.
"You litt-" Rune tried to protest.
"Point is, we need countermeasures against this violence so that it doesn't take the next step." Jii-san cut him off.
.
.
.
"Eh? Countermeasures against violence?" I looked at him confused. "So you're not going to enlist me for the military?"
"Huh? Why would I do that? You're a kid."
"Oh… Then it's fine." If they think this is just a mental health issue there's no point in resisting. "Yeah, I killed them because I really wanted them dead. They tried to turn such a healthy environment into a battlefield and killed good men." Moreover they disrupted my mundane peaceful life and ruined my great gacha moment.
"I see. I think that is reasonable and respectable." Jii-san got up. "First of all, let me award you."
He turned to his side and pulled a black box out. It had WR plastered up front.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Yep."
He opened it and inside there was one item. An item that shone so brightly that it almost turned me blind(imagination). An item that every man dreamt of but could never hope to own.
"A grand Risa photobook?! The last one she made before her retirement. 1 of 2. Number 1 is owned by her as keepsake and the other was handed away to her first fan. H-How did you even get this?!" I ran over to the throne and carefully picked it up. But Jii-san tried to pull the box away.
This man wanted to keep it for himself, didn't he?
And then it caught my eye-
"First edition?!" I shouted and turned around to face the real deal Risa who was sitting next to Hime-nee. She waved.
"You gave your photobook to me?"
"I mean it's fine, I don't look at it much anyway. Also, why are you so excited about that when I'm right he-"
"Shhh… You aren't the idol, you're just my older sister-in-law."
"I'm strangely offended by that." Risa whispered.
I went back and placed it neatly in the box before closing it and trying to take it away. But the King really meant business. Unfortunately for him, he was sitting next to his wife, who pinched his tricep. Ultimately he let go.
"AHEM!" Jii-san cleared his throat. "With th-the reward out of the way let's get your punishment over with too." I could hear the saltiness in his voice.
"For the next two weeks, you will...uhhh... yeah." A smirk crept up on the king's face. "You will have to go through therapy."
"WhaT?!"
A rather happening chapter again.
A new member joined the Sadou family a couple of years ago. A capable daughter to the second-largest nobility in the capital. A demoness who took up the name Sadou Lin- or in simpler terms, Alez-nii's wife.
You might be curious as to why I brought her up out of nowhere, but it would become abundantly clear in a moment's notice. After all, she was the one who put me in such a precarious situation.
I was sitting on a rocking chair with a table in front of me. A table containing beverages only an adult could consume. The windows were closed and to the other side stood a figure of an alluring woman.
A succubus.
Now let me assure you. There was no adultery here. Sadou Lin was not so loose as to leave her husband hanging. And I didn't have the physical attributes to measure up to Alez-nii's charm even if she were that type of woman… Which she wasn't.
And precisely because she was tough on her morals, I was here suffering.
Sadou Lin, the future queen of the Demon Alliance, was a learned woman. A woman who had studied the brains and psyche of all races alike. Her knowledge was only accentuated by the physical prowess of her race- the succubi.
The succubi had a way of charming people. They had a way of bringing out sides of you that you didn't even know you had. Pair that up with the occupation that requires you to sift through a person's personality, and you have a match made in heaven.
Screw being sluts, this was what succubi and incubi were made for- being therapists.
Well, not quite.
Her ability was not perfect. It had one and only one drawback which was that they had to be attracted to the person. Not physically, just emotionally.
Maybe out of curiosity. Of course, for someone as dedicated as Sadou Lin it was impossible to be attracted to a minor like me. So she was trusting that the booze would kick in and make even the insignificant me feel significant.
It was kind of hurtful.
In the end, none of that worked, so I was just sitting on a couch with Alez-nii's mask on.
Why did we even end up in such a precarious situation in the first place? Simply put, because of my punishment from the trial.
But that didn't mean that she had to go all the way to use her succubus powers right? In the first place, she never used them for her therapy sessions. She was more than capable of understanding a person with just her professional experience.
Well, the reason she had to use her powers in my case was that I was an impossible nut to crack.
I never realised just how sarcastic and reserved of a personality I had. Yesterday Lin-nee kept on asking stuff to me and I never once gave a straight answer. It wasn't like I was trying to hide anything.
It was easier to explain this by saying that my body naturally and instinctively reacted to therapy questions as a threat to my mental wellbeing, and responded by making inappropriate remarks and personal attacks. Yesterday, even her simplest questions like
'How are you feeling today?' were answered with
'About as well as you look, mommy sorry mommy sorry mommy.' Which in turn was answered with.
'For fuck's sake Mao!'
In the end, she got pissed, her pride as a therapist got hurt and she decided to pull all stops and started to use her succubus traits on me.
Of course, we had Hime-nee as a supervisor in case Lin-nee lost control and ended up becoming the one who gets punished instead of the one who punishes.
"So let me ask you once again, Mao-kun. What brings you here today?"
Lin-nee bent over the table and put her glass of whisky down. I don't think I need to tell you but a succubus looked alluring. And she had the proportions for it. Mommy.
Too bad for her… Even in her devil mode, I felt nothing. Was it because I was exposed to Yuuno for too long? Yuuno's devil charms can practically beat everyone out there. And she was always trying to allure me. Yep. Totally.
"I'm here to Fiddi." I answered.
"Huh? Fiddi?"
"Fiddieznutsinyoface-"
The sound of glass cracking and the next second there was a shard right under my chin.
"What are you here to do today?" Lin-nee aske-HELL NO! This wasn't asking, this was threatening! She had a blade to my neck.
I looked over to Hime-nee. She was here to stop stuff like this from happening. Why was she just sitting there?!
"You had it coming." Hime-nee shrugged her shoulders. My eyes turned to Lin-nee again.
Ah. Scary!
I definitely pushed her too far.
My body recognised the more imminent threat and my mouth opened up again. This time, way more agreeably.
"I am here to consult about my violent tendencies." I gulped.
"That's better." Lin-nee plopped back into her own rocking chair. The sigh of relief she let out probably drained her of any air in her lungs. She pumped her fist after getting a single appropriate response from me. "Have you had any bouts of losing control because of your anger in the past?"
"I mean… If games count, then yes otherwise n-" Wait, I did have some now that I think about it. Like that time I went berserk because Clintarou died. Or in my previous life, when I started the war because of that one event. Every time I went berserk was a time I could have lost everything. I was just lucky that I didn't.
This was an issue I had to confront. Instead of manning this out, I should take advantage of the professional in front of me. My body stopped treating her as a threat and recognised her as a resource.
"Mao-kun?"
"Oh, uh… Yes. I did lose control when Clintarou died." She, being a part of the family, knew who Clintarou was.
"What did you do when you lost control?" The air smelled sweeter now that I had given in. Succubi pheromones?
"I went straight for the kill. Of course, I couldn't kill them in the heat of the moment so I got beaten up first."
"Did you know the strengths or identities of the assailants?"
"No… Not at that moment at least."
"Wait, so you dived in blind?"
"I did."
A brief moment of silence followed. She looked so focused like a real therapist. And then a lightbulb moment hit her face.
"That's fascinating! There are only two possibilities when it comes to that situation. Either you were brain dead and lost all cognitive ability. Or maybe it was because you believed that you were so far above them, that you didn't even have to bother about your own safety."
Well, my absolute confidence and conceit might have to do with my previous life, but I can't exactly tell her that.
"People- even when enraged, judge their opponents. It's just how survival works. But the fact that you didn't bugs me. Mao-kun, what's your favourite thing to do?"
Eh? Like a hobby?
"I like making fun of people." When their faces twist in anger and they can't do anything about it… oof. Or that might just be Yuuno. It has gotten increasingly harder to crack her walls now.
"We already established that you're an asshole. Something else. Like playing instruments." Was that a personal remark?
"Oh, in that case, I really like cooking. Sure I'm not the best at it, but it's almost meditative for me. To distress."
"Is there any specific kind of food you like?"
"Spicy. Like really spicy. Stuff that even I have a hard time handling, just so I can feel something."
"Tingle?" A tingle is too weak. It doesn't give my favourite kind of oomph.
"No… I do it for the pain." I was numb to pain because of my previous life. But I quickly realised that pain was what made anyone feel alive. If you didn't feel pain it felt like you were living a dream.
Of course, I wouldn't open my pores to experience the same pain I did in my previous life. That was one of the reasons I wanted to reincarnate in the first place. But I wanted to experience a little amount of pain here and there.
Physical pain didn't work on me, but the pain you get from the physiological effects of spice was a little different. Slightly more present.
"Speaking of pain, I heard that when you were fighting you were totalled. Did you not feel any pain in that situation?"
I mean, I didn't. Like I said, I was numb to physical pain. But explaining that would leave too many loopholes. Lin-nee was a smart woman. I needed another excuse. Also, how much did that Rune piece of shit snitch on me? Only he knew about all of this.
I'll pay him back for this.
"I did. But I think adrenaline took over." I answered after a little thinking.
"Hmm… I'm not sure if that's how adrenaline works, but whatever." She nodded while writing something down, her face unconvinced. "OH WAIT! Everything makes sense. Say, Mao-kun… Do you think pain can bring pleasure?"
Hime-nee almost spat out her glass of wine. Of course, she was drinking too. As a vampire who could heal and age infinitely, alcohol worked as well as water did.
Anyways! Back to the question at hand.
Do I think pain can bring pleasure?
'Crap. I don't like where this is going.'
"I mean… It really depends on the person. Of course, I totally don't mean me, but pain isn't as pleasurable as it is a means for me to feel alive."
I wasn't lying. I mean I tried to. But the sweetness of her succubus pheromones finally started to take effect.
"Say, Mao-kun, if you had the option to never feel any pain in your entire life or to feel a little pain, like a soft pinch for the rest of your life… What would you pick?"
"I would pick a little pain." I suffered from that and I already drew my conclusions. The conclusion that the pheromone extracted from me.
"Say, Mao-kun, do you want your partner to be stronger or weaker than you?"
Stronger? Definitely. That would mean I could slack off my entire life.
"Much stronger."
Lin-nee closed her notebook and threw it on the table.
"You were called here to address your violent outbreaks, but we ended up finding out your sexual deviance."
'Uh oh.'
I knew exactly what was coming. And no matter how much I wanted to, I had nothing to deny it with. Any refusal would end up with me being in an even more messed up situation.
DAMN IT! This was checkmate.
"Mao-kun, you're a masochist aren't you?"
{a/n: The entire family eventually found out about Mao's deviance.}
Rn, I'm planning to win WPC, so I've been speedwriting 'Don't mess with the Daemon of Death'.
I'm writing that to level up the action scenes before I get into the MaoTensei balls to the walls action.