Chapter 117: Lost Traditions

- Arachne Hidden Village, Riyuegu Xiamen Holy Manor - Rose's POV -

[D-Demon? So, you're really...?] - Urz

[T-That's a lie, right? Right?!?] - Argent

Shit. This entire time I'd been talking like I'd already told my new friends all about my origins like I'd planned to. Completely absorbed in learning everything from the sentient water puddle I'd forgotten to clue in my two newest members as to my identity. The look of betrayal on Argent's face only made worse by the fear present on the shy Kappa.

[W-Wait guys! It's not like that! Rose didn't mean to hi~] - Karen

[But she is the next Demon Lord, correct?] - Argent

[I mean technically but~] - Karen

[So that attack, the one that killed hundreds of people, it was your fault?!?] - Argent

[W-Wait Argent that's not fair! It was the Church that~] - Malaise

The look she gave me sent a sharp pain through my brain; it was like I was the reason for all the pain and suffering of the past few weeks. And, while I knew rationally to blame the aggressor, I couldn't help agreeing with her slightly when Argent blamed me for the massive deaths recently with tears in her eyes.

[They came to kill her, the Demon Lord! And I'll do my duty as a noblewoman.] - Argent

[What do you~ Argent, what are you doing?] - Malaise

Ever the logical one Malaise immediately tried to diffuse the situation by pointing out that I hadn't actually done anything to warrant that kind of attack, her plea fell on deaf ears though as the young noblewoman turned to me and calmly took out a thin rapier that I'd never actually seen her use and pointed it at my neck.

It was the calm way she said that as she tried to blink away her tears that tore at me. Here was a friend, someone I quite liked, and, while it hadn't been that long since we'd become close, I'd grown to value her companionship highly. Which is why I did something I would never have dared to attempt not even a few weeks ago.

[W-What's the meaning of this?] - Argent

[It's exactly what it looks like. If you truly believe that I'm an evil that must be vanquished, then here's your chance. I won't resis~] - Rose

[Young Miss no! If you dare to harm a hair on her, I'll g~] - Annabelle

[Annabelle! You will not harm her in any way! I know I don't generally give you orders but if this is my last one then you won't stop Argent.] - Rose

I moved forward rather than backing away. The tip of Argent's sword, trembling in her hands as it pricked my neck slightly, drew a small bead of blood that I could feel on its path down my chest. Briefly panicking instinctually at the pain from the cut I pushed that feeling down forcibly as I decided to trust in my gut instinct.

My words, however, gave no clue to what I thought would happen and the widened eyes of everyone else in the room punctuated how thin the knife's edge my move seemed to tetter on. The threatening movements from my loyal maid clearly drawing attention as she moved to protect her mistress before freezing in place at my words.

[...] - Argent

[So, go ahead, you have the enemy of the world at your mercy, right? It's your duty as a noble to eliminate it.] - Rose

[I-I...!] - Argent

[I won't fight back, go ahead.] - Rose

[I... B-But I...] - Argent

[...!] The Rest of the Group

[I-I-I-I I can't! Uwaaaaaaah!] - Argent

Even Argent herself hadn't expected to get this far obviously as her own eyes widened in panic when I called off my attack maid. It was almost like she'd resolved herself to get eliminated here rather than actually try and hurt me. This fact was even more obvious when I moved forward once again, her sword retreating the same distance as she took a step back. This method was dangerous yes but even in the small amount of time I'd known Argent she'd proven herself trustworthy and while I could attempt to explain myself immediately, I doubted that clearer heads would prevail with a weapon against my throat.

This only proved to make her even more panicked as her eyes roamed around to each of our companions faces. Most of them, minus Annabelle's glare, were only looking on in barely concealed concern. Only Karen seemed willing to ignore my words though as her eyes narrowed at the trembling noble.

And then it ended.

With the clang of metal on stone Argent threw down her sword and collapsed on the spot, her wailing tears immediately intensifying as I wrapped my arms around her. The rest of the group, frozen from the unexpected situation, immediately crowded forward as soon as I was safe. I briefly noted the dropped sword being kicked away by Karen as she took up a space behind me protectively, the look on her face severe.

- Arachne Hidden Village, Riyuegu Xiamen Holy Manor - Rose's POV -

It took nearly half an hour to finally calm down all parties enough for any kind of recognizable conversations, over which it truly hit me just exactly what I'd done and how close to a second death I'd once more come. I needed to stop doing these kinds of things if I was ever going to get away from the cliffside my life had become recently. Regardless the currently prostrating noble was my current problem as, after she'd finished crying, she'd refused to lift her head from the stone floor.

[I deeply apologize!] - Argent

[Hah?!?] - Karen

[Do you truly think we would just forgive you after you pointed a sword at our friend?!?] - Veronica

[Can you explain why you did that? I understand that the Demon Lord is supposed to be an evil entity, but this is Rose we're talking about, you must have a deeper reason for doing so.] - Malaise

Once more showing her inquisitive mind our resident fox immediately sussed out that there had to have been a deeper meaning behind Argent's actions. I mean sure she went on and on about noble this and noble that, but she was, more or less, a normal girl.

[I-I...] - Argent

[Go ahead, I'd like to hear it too after putting my own neck on the line like that. Haha.] - Rose

Letting out a dry laugh as I rubbed my neck I internally grimaced when Argent nearly started crying again, the guilt in her eyes plainly visible. Dammit girl if you're going to feel that bad afterwards don't do it in the first place. Especially since I'm not some badass that can face death like that head on regularly. Hell, if I wasn't sure she'd back off I would've been knocking my knees together in fear, not that I really had knees. Probably, we hadn't yet gone over Lamia anatomy in any of my schooling so for all I knew we did actually have them in some form.

[I'm sorry!] - Argent

[Enough of that, I haven't forgiven you for threatening my Rose's life, but I might at least give you a pass if you have some profound reason for nearly skewering my future girlfriend before I can do it myself.] - Karen

[S-Skewering?!? B-B-But you're a... and she's a...] - Argent

[Uwawawawawa!] - Urz

My attempt at a joke unfortunately only served to further abuse the nerve racked girl however as she once more lowered her head to me, so much so that even my slimey ex-girlfriend decided to step in and intervene with her spiraling guilt. Even more unfortunately her intervention seemed to derail the conversation more as I realized first-hand that neither of the two newbies had fully realized the depths of Karen's perverseness.

Mouth agape as she looked back and forth between the two of us I could tell she was trying to wrap her head around what exactly would be doing the "skewering" in said scenario and Urz's pointed stare at my lower body through the gaps in her fingers as she covered her eyes told me everything I needed to know about her internal dialogue. It was getting more and more chaotic.

[I hate to be the voice of reason here but...] - Veronica

[R-Right. U-Umm, so it all starts with my family.] - Argent

And so, the least expected voice of reason chimed in the reign everyone in, her calm in the midst of so much eroticism only possible because of her own great wealth of perverse thoughts.

- Arachne Hidden Village, Riyuegu Xiamen Holy Manor - Rose's POV -

Settling down to listen to what was presumably a long tale I noticed that Love was spacing out in the corner while the rest of the group was paying attention. Even Undine seemed to be listening, a surprising realization considering that she was a God but taking her aspect into account maybe it made sense? Regardless, after a rough start we all watched Argent explain why she had "tried" to kill me. Not that it was a serious attempt but whatever.

[During my great grandfather's time my family, the Lustra noble house, was a member of the Church of Light.] - Argent 1 I couldn't find if I had decided on her family name previously, so I went with this one because her first name actually means silver/silver-white and having a family name based off that made sense in my head. Let me know if I've just missed her family name in a previous chapter.

[Wait you're with the Church of Light?!? Don't they hate Demi's?] - Karen

[Let her finish Kare Kare, I'm sure she's getting to that. Go ahead.] - Rose

Shocked would be an understatement. Somehow this girl that had fallen in love with an Ogre had ties with the Church of Light. Tempering my thoughts until I heard the entire story, I decided to call off the attack dog called Karen as she immediately assumed the worst and moved to get between the two of us. Her concern evident on her face as she was likely viewing the guilty looking noble as some sort of spy, or worse.

[T-Thank you. My Great Grandfather didn't agree with the actions of the Church at the time, thought they were using the Holy Scripture's to push their racist rhetoric and because of that he got into many arguments with the Pope at the time.] - Argent

[Wait he was able to get away with that? Wouldn't they just lock him up?] - Malaise

[It seems that in the past our family was quite influential within the Church, apparently because of producing dozens of S-Rank Paladins throughout its history. Of which Great Grandfather was the most powerful in our family history. Even if the Pope wanted to lock him up he wouldn't have been able to without bringing an actual army against our family.] - Argent

So, a military/soldiering family with a history of providing powerful warriors to the Church huh. I bet the Pope of the time wasn't happy that he was so against his tactics then. And Holy Scripture's? I'd always assumed that the Church were always the bad guys, so I hadn't even bothered to find out their actual belief system. Although thinking about it now I should've been more skeptical of Church=Bad Guy since my old world's history showed a similar tendency to interpret their own book however they wanted to justify horrible things. Although considering that Gods were real, at least in this world, it seemed a risky proposition to bastardize their words like that. Seemed a good way to get smited. Smote? Well, whatever.

Regardless Malaise seemed to have the same opinion as myself as she wore a contemplative face, I'd ask her about that later.

[So not only in the Church but quite high up then?] - Malaise

[I guess. Grandfather was only 3 when Great Grandfather decided enough was enough. It was the decision of the Pope at the time to falsify a Demon Lord that ended up being the final straw. He wouldn't stand for using such a falsehood to push for war and told the Pope that he was going to depose him. Unfortunately, he had been seen through and there was an actual army waiting for him. He barely escaped with his life.] - Argent

Ahh... It's starting to come together now. I'm guessing her family still follows the doctrines of the religion behind the Church of Light, whatever they are, and she felt compelled to be killed by my companions or myself rather than betraying those beliefs? I guess I should be flattered that I was important enough for her to do that?

[So, the reason you attacked the Young Miss was because of your family? Are those your final words?] - Annabelle

[Wait wait wait! Do you really think she was actually planning to hurt me, if she was then it would have been better to wait and attack when I dropped my guard. Why do you think she attacked now when we were all together?] - Rose

Immediately picking up on the increasing aggression coming from my maid I tried talking her down while waving my hands about. It seemed that she hadn't accepted Argent's explanation as an acceptable reason afterall.

[You didn't really want to hurt Rose, did you?] - Malaise

[<sniff sniff> Noooooooooo! Waaaaah!] - Argent

[Heh, sexy.] - Veronica

[What do you say to letting this one slide Annabelle? Guys?] - Rose

Ew snot. Holding the crying noblewoman as she rubbed her face between my, admittedly still flat, chest, I mentally sent a thumbs up to our witty foxgirl nerd. Her words combined with my own had calmed the down the murderous rage in Annabelle's eyes though she continued to view the girl I was holding with suspicion as I tried to move us past the last hour or so. Luckily the wretched figure of Argent was hard to stay angry at so it would probably work out.