If someone were to tell her that her life had quite a lot of ups and downs, and overall was a difficult life to live, Seras Evatrice would agree without hesitation.

The Beastkin clan—where she grew up in—was a clan consisting of people who had to make a living by doing battles through secret attacks in the dark. From the fleeting moments and fierce training, everything could be considered extreme experience and every clan member had to accumulate such experiences so that they could survive in life-and-death situations including herself.

However, even if she were to count all those experiences she had…

She could say that none of them could compare to this ‘difficult situation’ that she was currently experiencing.

“...Ngg… S-Senior…”

Even though she had gone through an extreme training where she had to stay dormant, not moving a finger while not eating anything for a few days, it didn’t help her with the situation at all.

She couldn’t even calm her shaking pupils and stop her stammers.

“A-Are we in the kind of relationship w-where we’re allowed to do something like this…?”

The absurdity of the situation warranted her to say such things involuntarily.

Because, she could never even imagine that she’d be doing ‘something like this’ with the Senior who suddenly knocked on her door this late at night.

“Is there something wrong about this?”

However, he brushed off her concerns with that casual reply, not even batting an eyelid.

“Am I not allowed to do this with my hard-working Junior?”

After she heard his answer while feeling the ‘pressure’ entering her body, Seras let out another long moan.

She felt as if an electric current was running through her whole body. If she were to relax her body a little more, she was sure that she’d end up drooling due to the pleasure she felt.

“B-But…”

Seras quickly tried to cut him off. It seemed like she was barely able to hold everything together.

“...W-Where did you learn how to do massages?”

Currently, she was lying on her belly on the bed. She couldn’t see what Dowd was doing, but she could clearly feel his hands pressing on her arms and legs, sending waves of pleasure to her body.

At first, when he said he’d diagnose the twisted muscles on her body while hugging her, she was so startled because she thought he’d kiss her, but it turned out that wasn’t the case at all.

“Well, I’ve done all kinds of jobs in the past.”

An abandoned child that was born in a prostitution district that wasn’t acknowledged by the government had to learn all the skills they could learn just to live to see another day.

Dowd wasn’t an exception to that rule. The ‘thing’ that he was doing to her now was part of the skills he gained back when he was struggling to survive.

And it was clear that his skill was proved to be effective. Seras was feeling pleasure from this, even though what he was doing was essentially violating all the senses throughout her body.

“...”

As she was basking in that pleasure…

Dowd began to study her condition as she kept letting out loud moans while trembling.

The more intimate and stimulating his massage was, the more the Purple Aura—which, at first, he had to put in a lot of effort to see it—wrapped around her body.

From the way it moved, it seemed like Seras wasn’t the only one who was affected by this. It seemed like the Purple Devil was also acting the same way as Seras; As if she was drunk in the pleasure.

Then, he narrowed his eyes to give the window before his eyes a glare.

< System Message >

[ The Aura of the ‘Purple Devil’ is detected! ]

[ Fallen’s Seal reacts! ]

[ Target’s mood is getting better rapidly! ]

…As expected…

Back when he found out that Yuria had awakened to…strange things…after he put the White Devil on a leash and handled her roughly, he formed a hypothesis..

I was right, the Devils and the Vessels share their senses.

It wasn’t really the correct way to put it, since the sensation that the Devils received wouldn’t be shared to their Vessels, but the opposite held true.

Though, it wasn’t always like this. Rather, it seemed that this was a characteristic that was ‘added’ after the Fallen’s Seal was enhanced.

“...”

Still, Dowd couldn’t help but find this strange.

Because even though this ability was clearly given by the Gray Devil, somehow it could affect all the Devils as well.

He could say that it was even too much at times.

Since it felt as if their existence was ‘defined’ by him, by the man called Dowd.

The Purple Devil’s Demonic Aura that spread and filled the room proved this conjecture. Though it seemed like she loved it to death to be touched by him, this kind of effect was just too much.

And the way Seras gradually loosened up because of his hands’ movements probably accelerated the progression of such an effect.

…Anyway…

This should be enough.

After telling himself that, Dowd called out to Seras in a quiet voice.

“Seras.”

“Yeeesshh…?”

The voice she replied in clearly suggested that she couldn’t think straight at the moment, as if she was completely melting because of the pleasure, and this was exactly the state he wanted her in.

“About that girl, Victoria… She’s your younger sister, right?”

Originally, that question would have got her to put her guard up immediately.

However, now she just obediently replied to him. In addition to his massage, it seemed like the Demonic Aura that emerged because of him managed to cloud her mind even more.

“Yeesshhh… We parted wayyss a long time agooo…”

It was as if she just replied out of reflex.

She was clearly in a daze. Anyone could see that her current state wasn’t normal as she was just saying whatever came to her mind first, as if she was being hypnotized.

And this current condition of hers…

Could also be seen clearly by ‘a certain person’ who was watching this scene.

“...I reeeeaaally, reeeaaaaaally think that I’m fortunate to see her agaaaaiiiin…”

And the moment she said those words in that kind of state…

Dowd could sense that someone who was hiding near the building had their body turned stiff.

As if they didn’t expect to hear those words.

Then again, those words sounded so out of place coming from Seras’ mouth, especially considering that she was talking about the same sister that wished to kill her so badly.

To this, Dowd just smirked inwardly before continuing.

“She said she wants to kill you, though.”

What he was trying to do was to start a ‘fall-out’.

In a sense, these sisters’ relationship was twisted in a complicated way, just like a knot.

The first thing he needed to do to loosen it up was to let out all the truth they were hiding inside.

Of course, he wasn’t expecting them to be persuaded immediately. He would already be satisfied if this could become a small ‘trigger’ that could leave an impact on a certain someone’s hatred, which had already turned as hard as a brick at this point.

“I believe that she has her reasons. Victoria isn’t the type of girl who’d do that for no reason… She was such a gooood giiiirl…”

Now, he could sense that the body of the certain someone outside the building just stiffened up even more.

He could even swear that he was able to hear the sound of that person grinding their teeth.

“Whatever the reason is, she still said that she wants to kill you. Don’t you think that’s a little too far? Aren’t you two families?”

“...I don’t think it’s too far...”

She said so in a dazed voice, with eyes that had lost their focus.

“Because I’d die for her if she wants me to.”

However, her tone was firm, and her answer came out almost immediately without any hesitation at all.

As if this wasn’t a big deal…

And as if it was only natural for her to sacrifice her life for her sister…

“All I want is to get along well with her—”

At that moment…

Someone infiltrated the room as if ‘permeating’ it through the tightly closed window.

And that person was Victoria, who appeared like a shadow rising from the dark.

“Are you doing all this so I could hear everything?”

Her growl sounded like that of a beast’s.

Then again, considering that she was a Beastkin, that description was quite accurate.

●

Damn, that murderous look in her eyes was no joke. She probably thought that she had walked right into my trap, huh?

< System Message >

[ The Aura of the ‘Purple Devil’ is detected! ]

[ Fallen’s Seal reacts! ]

[ Target’s mood is getting worse rapidly! ]

The same message as before appeared on the window.

Well, almost the same message, because this time the target was Victoria instead of Seras, and unlike Seras’, her mood was getting worse instead of getting better.

“Well...”

Whatever.

To that, I just calmly told her…

“What do you mean? I was just trying to make this punk speak honestly.”

“...I don’t know why you’re doing this, but stop with the stupid jokes. Our match is still valid.”

Victoria said while growling again.

At some point, two daggers appeared magically in her hands as she spun them once before grasping them tightly.

“I’ll kill her right here, right now. After hearing her spouting all that nonsense, I don’t want to hear her voice anymore.”

Now, that wasn’t assassin-like of her.

She knew of Seras’ capabilities, yet she still tried for a head-to-head match instead of a surprise attack from the dark, even though she could easily lose against her in this situation.

Anyway, her decision aside, she looked really angry right now. Well, rather than angry, it was more like ‘agitated’.

Which meant I had accomplished my goal for doing all this to Seras.

This punk was now aware that Seras held ‘affection’ for her to some extent. There was no way that this wouldn’t end up affecting her decision later.

And most of all…

“It won’t be so easy, you know?”

Even if she were to pounce on Seras right here, there was no way she’d be able to kill her for real.

After all…

“I mean, just like you, your older sister is the best assassin—”

Suddenly…

Before I could finish my own words, I clenched my mouth shut.

Anxiety filled my being. I could tell that something had gone wrong somewhere.

And it was… From Seras… To be exact, her current condition…

…Oh no…

This punk…

Is still out of her mind…

She was still acting as if she was drunk or hypnotized. It seemed like she had lost her mind ‘way too much’ than I expected….

[...How good was your massage that she ended up becoming like this?]

...

[Well, it seems like there would be no woman who can beat you in bed later. You could just kill them with a fore—]

Do you think that kind of shit is important right now?!

Anyway, this was obvious, but it would be stupid of me to expect Seras to dish out her full combat power in this state.

I hurriedly looked at Victoria—who had taken out her daggers—and Seras alternately.

This…

If something goes wrong, a big incident might occur—!

Seras and Victoria.

I had already been notified in advance that both of them would play an important role in the upcoming Main Quest. It would be the worst case scenario for me if they were to fight here and ended up seriously hurting or even killing each other.

That meant the possibility of a mishap happening during the Quest would rise up and so would the possibility of me dying.

Which meant, the best scenario for me would be for the two of them to go through this situation without getting hurt. Actually, screw that, that was the only option for me to take!

But how could I suppress a Grand Assassin, who was coming at us with a weapon, with bare hands? Even with Desperation active, I could still end up dying.

Forget about fighting them. Can I even suppress both of them without receiving any scar—

“...”

—Huh? Yeah, I can.

Yes, there was a way…

Caliban.

[What.]

It’s better for me to become a trash human rather than for Seras to die, right?

[...]

Hearing my words, Caliban went silent for a moment.

It seemed he had sensed something ominous from what I said.

[Let’s put aside the fact that you’ve been a trash human all along. I’m going to ask you this. What are you trying to do here?]

…Well, I need to suppress them both, right?

[Yeah, but how? Both of them are Grand Assassins. Not only that, they have the Devil’s Fragments inside their bodies. I don’t think you can—]

I can.

Before continuing, I closed my eyes tightly.

There’s a way…

[What?]

You know, they’re the Purple Devil’s Vessels…

Fortunately…

Both of them possessed the Purple Devil’s Fragments—the closest Devil to a ‘pet’.

Which meant, I had a way to make them obey me.

[What are you even—]

I just have to train them. Both of them.

[...]

Caliban stayed silent for a while before finally saying his next word.

[...So.]

It seemed like he was unable to believe what he just heard.

[You’re saying that you’re going to…uh…do that…? Right now? With those two sisters? At the same time?]

…Yeah, pretty much…

[...]

...

He took a deep breath.

[...You fucking trash heap of a human being...]

...

I had nothing to say to that.