Chapter 365: Virgo’s Terms and Conditions
The woman in front of me is Virgo.
I’d had a hunch from names like Aries, Virgo, and Sagittarius, but the Holy Swords carried the exact same names as the twelve signs of the zodiac from Earth.
’What the heck? Why is something from Earth here?’
I’d been curious about why this other world had names reeking so strongly of Earth, but I honestly hadn’t paid it much mind. To begin with, the Demon King’s name was Solomon, and plenty of other things partly resembled Earth’s.
But the moment this woman calling herself "Virgo" appeared, I couldn’t help but pay attention to it. Why, of all things, was her name Virgo?
’No, more importantly, there’s one crucial thing.’
Whatever background Virgo had, I needed to confirm two things.
"You, are you a sword spirit?"
"That’s somewhat close, but not quite, Father."
I decided to think of her as something like an AI dwelling in the sword.
"Then tell me. I can’t take on someone whose identity I don’t even know as my daughter’s partner."
"B, but that’s something I’m only supposed to tell the owner of the Holy Sword...."
Virgo’s silver eyes wavered wildly. It seemed there was some secret she only revealed in grand fashion to the Holy Sword’s owner, but that kind of confidentiality clause doesn’t work on me.
"Hiding the contract terms from the guardian when you’re making a contract with a minor! Why, you, this is a fraudulent contract!"
"Huh?! N, no it isn’t! I would never do such a thing! And besides, a minor... a minor virgin... slurp."
"Then tell me! When the girl’s own father, of all people, wants to see the terms of the contract, why are you giving me so much lip! Who knows! Maybe you say you have to protect her chastity, but in reality, once the contract is signed, she can only use her power by sleeping with a man, or maybe her lifespan keeps stretching out!"
"That absolutely never happens!"
Virgo got worked up and jabbed her finger at me instead.
"A, are you even really Miss Meri’s father?!"
"Can’t you tell by looking at my face!"
"You don’t look anything alike!"
"That’s because she takes after her mother! Damn it, the way you keep turning the questions back on me, you’re definitely a demon sword! You’re definitely a devil’s sword impersonating the Holy Sword Virgo to corrupt my daughter into lewd depravity!"
"...I told you I’m noooot!!"
Virgo rose from her seat and tried to grab me by the collar. But I instinctively flung my body backward away from the divine power coating her hands.
"See! Oh dear, Meri! She really is a demon sword! This sword spirit wench is trying to kill your dad!"
"T, this is unavoidable, I had no choice, I mean,"
"Knock it off, Dad."
Meri appeared behind me, poking me in the side. Virgo’s eyes lit up like she’d found an ally.
"Meri!"
"Why are you threatening my dad? Are you a demon sword?"
"N, no. It’s just that he keeps suspecting me...."
"If you keep bothering my dad, I’ll lock you away on an island where only men live for the rest of your life."
"Eep."
Virgo’s lips trembled as she dropped to her knees again. No matter how much of a Holy Sword Virgo was, the moment she fixated on Meri, we held all the cards and Virgo was the one over a barrel.
"Ahem. Holy Sword Virgo. As Meri’s father and the master of this legion, I’ll pose questions to you. If you speak first without hiding anything, I’ll grant you my trust as well."
"B, but only to a Holy Sword user...."
"I, too, possess a holy sword."
"??"
"To be precise, not a Holy Sword but a carnal sword. Behold, my Excalibur."
I put Meri behind me and threw open my robe to either side. A long, thick shadow then fell across Virgo’s face.
"Eh?"
Virgo was flustered. I could feel Meri sighing behind me, but I had to prove that I, too, was a Holy Sword user.
"It possesses the ability to spread love to all. I, too, am the owner of a holy sword, so I’m more than qualified to hear your story."
"D, don’t be ridiculous! How is that a holy sword! That’s a co.... hkk."
"Shall you test it? Touch it yourself and you’ll know."
"Dad!"
I made a gamble. In truth, calling it a gamble was a stretch, since it was practically like I was holding a full house, but there was still a sliver of a chance, so I did get a little tense.
"I’m a demon. Divine power is fatal to me when it touches my body. But my holy sword is different. Because it’s a holy sword. In other words, if nothing happens when you touch it, that proves mine is a holy sword too!"
"T, that’s such a stretch...?!"
"You refuse to touch a holy sword? Why, you wench, you really are a demon sword after all!"
"Eep?!"
I thrust my hips up and down. When I shook my holy sword up and down to threaten her, Virgo tilted her head back and landed flat on her butt.
"Meri! Just as I thought, this wench is a demon sword! She dodged my holy sword!"
"Of course she’d dodge it."
"Meri, shouldn’t you be taking your dad’s side here?"
"I already know exactly what you’re up to, so come on."
Meri made a circle with her fingers and jabbed her thumb in and out through it. Caught, as expected.
"No, well.... this girl just keeps refusing to talk. Having the guardian present to review the contract for a minor’s deal is important."
"Whew, fine. Hold on a sec."
Meri walked past me and crouched down in front of Virgo.
"You can tell me, right? So say it again. What happens if I make a contract."
"Um, but behind you...."
"Don’t worry about him."
"...hkk."
From behind Meri, I kept my holy sword firmly erect to threaten Virgo. Unless Meri had eyes in the back of her head, she couldn’t see, so it wasn’t a big problem.
"But he’s listening behind you...."
"If you don’t like it, then don’t make the contract. Dad, I think this really is a demon sword. We’d better sprinkle some holy water on it after all."
"I, I’ll talk! Holy water is that, right! No!"
"Tch, sharp one."
Having already gotten myself warmed up and ready, I clicked my tongue in disappointment.
"S, so when you make a contract with me, you see...."
Virgo focused her gaze on Meri as much as possible and laid out the terms of her contract in detail. I sorted through it in my head, mulling over whether there might be any flaws.
Original terms.
[1. The owner of the Holy Sword Virgo must be a pure virgin.]
[2. The owner of the Holy Sword Virgo must protect her chastity until death.]
[3. If a person who fails to uphold the terms touches the Holy Sword, Virgo will absorb that person’s vital essence.]
The terms Virgo offered Meri.
[2-1. However, Meri need only remain a virgin during the period she is the Holy Sword’s owner.]
[2-2. However, if Meri ceases to be the Holy Sword’s owner, Meri must find a pure virgin as the next owner and hand the Holy Sword over to them.]
"Dad, what do you think?
"Aside from the poison pill clauses, it’s not bad."
"R, right?!"
Virgo answered without quite being able to look at me. So she didn’t catch the look in my eyes as I gazed at her.
"I’ll be adding some clauses."
"Huh?!"
"It’s nothing. They’re perfectly reasonable terms you can accept too."
I added a few more items to the contract.
[1-1. If the owner of the Holy Sword Virgo wishes to offer her chastity to another out of pure love, the Holy Sword Virgo will celebrate the owner’s love and terminate the contract.]
"You’re a sword born to protect your owner’s chastity. What does protecting chastity mean? It’s to prevent her from being raped by some other ruffian before she marries the one she loves, right?"
"W, well, that’s true, but...."
"And yet, can the Holy Sword’s owner really avoid falling in love? Someday, when the one she loves appears, she’ll want to share love in bed together and bear children too. But to remain the Holy Sword’s owner, she has to keep her chastity. What kind of contradiction is this? Are you a demon sword that makes your owner live in lonely solitude her whole life, masturbating with a sword?"
"...."
Virgo fell silent. The way she bit her lower lip and rolled her eyes side to side, it was like I’d hit the nail right on the head.
"...Why have you suddenly stopped talking?"
"N, no comment."
"What. So there really was someone like that among your previous owners, huh? Heh heh."
"...."
Virgo closed her eyes. Of course it might not have been exactly as I described, but surely there had been someone who, even as a hunched eighty-year-old grandmother, died a virgin because of the Holy Sword until the very end.
"Bad customs exist to be broken. While we’re at it, let’s change the contract terms a bit too. Yes, let’s add a second clause there."
[2-2. However, if Meri ceases to be the Holy Sword’s owner, Meri must find a pure virgin as the next owner and hand the Holy Sword over to them.]
In this case, the first in line for the next owner shall be the daughter Meri gives birth to.
"W, wait a moment! That means handing it down through the generations!"
"That’s what Aries does, though?"
"That’s because that bastard is a pervert... hup."
"Heh heh, care to tell me more about that?"
"I can’t say a word about it even if it kills me. Even if... I end up unable to contract with Meri."
Virgo clamped a hand over her mouth. There seemed to be some secret history between the Holy Swords that I didn’t know about, but it looked like Virgo was forbidden from speaking about other Holy Swords’ contracts.
"Holy Sword Virgo. Will you stand by and watch the child your partner bears out of love get violated by other criminals? Your partner will be protected by the loving husband she marries. But what about her daughter? What if someone tries to kidnap your daughter by offering her a piece of candy? Wouldn’t a guard to protect her at that moment be absolutely essential?"
"T, that’s certainly a fair point, but...."
"Then let’s add this too. There...."
If 1 and 2 were poison pill clauses concerning Meri, then 3 was a poison pill clause for our entire legion.
"Does this condition apply even after a Holy Sword owner is established?"
"Yes. As a precaution in case there are those who would lust after me...."
"No good. Do you know how many girls in our legion aren’t virgins."
"And whose fault is that, Dad?"
"...ahem."
If you calculated the ratio of those who lost their virginity because of me, it wouldn’t even reach ten percent. But if you calculated the virgin ratio across the entire legion, it wouldn’t even reach one percent.
"Let’s just change this condition entirely."
If anyone happened to touch the Holy Sword Virgo, ninety-nine percent of them would have their vital essence sucked out by the Holy Sword Virgo and die. I’ll pass on that kind of ridiculous death.
[3. If anyone other than the members of the Legion of Wrath fails to uphold the terms and touches the Holy Sword, Virgo will absorb that person’s vital essence.]
"This way, I can relax."
"W, the Legion of Wrath? What’s this?"
"Ah, it’s a new organization within the Demon King’s Army. I command Wrath, one of the seven legions of the Demon King’s Army."
Virgo frowned with a disgusted look on her face.
"Got a problem? If you don’t like it, then don’t make the contract."
"B, but I don’t want to be touched by a non-virgin’s hand...."
"Don’t worry. I’ll make sure no one other than Meri can lay a hand on you. I’ll impose a penalty on the guys in our legion if they touch you."
"What kind of penalty?"
"They’ll have to wear a chastity belt for three days."
"That’s the ultimate penalty for the moms."
To avoid getting a chastity belt slapped on, they’d probably steer clear of the holy sword like it was the plague. My demon subordinates would have their bodies collapse the moment they touched the holy sword anyway, so that was that, but humans and elves might end up touching the holy sword, so precautions were necessary.
"How about it? I think this much isn’t all that bad."
"...I have a condition."
"I added some myself, so I can grant you a condition or two. Go on, let’s hear it."
Virgo slowly raised her head. She exchanged some kind of look with Meri, and then Meri stepped aside and retreated behind me.
"Master of the legion, I will test for myself whether your holy sword is a real holy sword."
Virgo poured divine power into her hand and reached out toward my holy sword. Even before she made contact, my lower half started to flush with a stinging heat, but Virgo’s awkward touch made me laugh in spite of myself.
"Hey, you think that little bit is enough of a test? And don’t you know a contract isn’t finished until you stamp the seal good and hard?"
"Huh?"
"Press your lip seal right here."
I activated my tattoo and grabbed Virgo’s head. My palm was burning hot as if on fire, but I held on somehow through the tattoo’s power and pulled Virgo’s face forward.
Squuu---sh.
"Heh, this is what a seal is."
I pressed my glans firmly against Virgo’s lips like a stamp. I lifted my palm and gently rolled my hips.
"Hahaha, how about it? Does my holy sword so much as flinch?"
"...."
Virgo froze in shock. My palm may have been cooked red, but the holy sword didn’t budge even against Virgo’s divine power.
"H, how?"
The startled Virgo muttered with my holy sword right in front of her. She even grasped the blade of my holy sword with both of her divine-power-filled hands.
"Hngahh."
Even though she was a sword spirit, her touch was no different from a human’s, and a thrilling jolt rang through my lower half. Part of me wanted to grab her head right then and ram it into her mouth, but unfortunately, the only place tempered against divine power was my holy sword.
’I need at least this much to thrust into Luna’s insides.’
I think it’s called iron palm training. I’d thrust into Luna’s divine-power-filled insides countless times, tempering my holy sword so that divine power posed no problem.
"Heh heh, how about it? Now it’s proven, right?"
"Dad, is that going to be enough?"
Suddenly, Meri thrust her hand out beside me. The hand reaching from behind my lower abdomen grabbed Virgo’s head in exactly the direction I’d wanted to grab it.
"You’ve got to at least go this far."
"Mmph?!"
Meri forced Virgo’s mouth open and yanked it hard toward me.
