It Seems the Demon King Has Returned to a World Where Gender Roles Are Reversed - Chapter 27

Chapter 27 :

“Ahh… Gyaah…”

The intrusion of another’s hand into her mouth.

Karen struggled to resist, twisting her face and trying to move her jaw.

But her body, drained by the weakening spell, refused to obey.

Even attempting to bite the hand, her teeth, devoid of strength, could only weakly graze the fingers.

As a result, Ragna easily pulled her limp tongue out of her mouth.

Panting heavily with her tongue hanging out, Karen resembled a dog gasping for air.

Sneering at her pathetic state, Ragna held her tongue in place with one hand while bringing the other to her tongue.

Muttering quietly, he began scraping her tongue with his fingernail.

*Twitch!*

Karen’s body trembled from the pain in such a sensitive area. Unfazed by her reaction, Ragna continued his work.

“Ahh… Ah!”

Each time Ragna’s nail passed over her tongue, thin cuts opened, and droplets of blood began to ooze out.

Karen writhed in agony, trying to resist the pain.

But utterly exhausted and unable to close her jaw, she lacked the strength to pull her tongue back into her mouth.

As Ragna’s work continued, a strange polygonal pattern began to form along the path of his fingers.

Finally, was the task complete?

Ragna withdrew his hand from Karen’s tongue.

Freed from the pain at last, Karen coughed, tears streaming down her face.

“Karen Steiner.”

“…?”

Hearing her name, Karen rolled her eyes to look at Ragna.

Looking down at her, Ragna asked,

“What will it be? Will you accept?”

“…”

*Accept?* What did that even mean? Accept what?

“I’ll ask again. Will you accept, or not?”

What was he talking about?

Her throat rasped as she tried to ask. Then, Ragna elaborated.

“If you accept, the ‘torture’ for today ends here. I won’t torment you any further.”

“…!”

“What will it be? Will you accept?”

As he spoke, Ragna lightly touched the sword hilt still lodged between her buttocks.

At that, Karen, pale with fear, nodded frantically without realizing it.

Seeing her desperate nodding, Ragna gave a mocking smile.

“…Good. Then it’s settled. The ritual of the oath (geas) is complete.”

(Oath (geas)?)

It was a word she had heard somewhere before.

Karen racked her brain, trying to recall where.

But at that moment,

“Gah! Gyaaah!”

Pain shot through her tongue.

As if a searing iron had been thrust into her mouth, Karen thrashed and screamed.

Looking at her, Ragna said,

“Oops, that was close. I can’t harm you ‘today’…”

Muttering, he pulled the sword from between her buttocks.

Her body convulsed again from the sudden pain.

And Ragna’s actions didn’t stop there.

He began muttering something toward Karen, still under his spell.

The black, rope-like bindings of the spell began to unravel and disappear, and the purple smoke that had invaded her body hissed as it dissipated.

But even as the two spells restraining her vanished, Karen writhed in pain.

“Ahh…!”

Drooling, Karen curled up, coughing uncontrollably.

Gradually, strength began to return to her body.

*Clang.* Ragna kicked the sword lying near her feet toward her.

Karen’s eyes fell on the sword’s hilt, stained with filth and fluids.

And then,

“…!”

Her eyes rolled back in rage. Grinding her teeth, she gripped the hilt. Staggering to her feet, she let out a guttural scream and charged at Ragna.

But,

“…Ugh!”

A sudden pain in her mouth made her collapse, writhing.

*Clang.* The sword slipped from her hand again, clattering on the ground.

Watching her, Ragna sneered.

“Hmm, looks like it worked perfectly.”

“Gah, ugh… What did you do…?”

“It’s a geas. Ever heard of it?”

“…!”

At the word geas, Karen remembered.

She recalled where she had heard the term oath (geas) that Ragna had mentioned.

“No way, that geas? Impossible! That magic disappeared long ago…”

“Oh? So you know of it. Unfortunately, it is that geas. The compulsory contract spell that drove countless heroes to ruin in legends.”

*Geas.*

A magic appearing in countless legends and myths of this world.

Often called an oath (geas), it was also a term encompassing spells with similar properties.

“The geas, a spell that led countless heroes to ruin in myths.

But its essence is simple. In a word, it’s the absolute enforcement of an oath.

And if the oath is broken, the violator faces commensurate pain.”

“…Impossible! Why a geas?! But for a geas to take effect, mutual consent is required! I never agreed, so why?!”

For such a powerful spell to take hold, mutual agreement was necessary. The recipient had to accept it.

But Karen had no memory of accepting Ragna’s geas.

However,

“No, you did accept the geas.”

“What nonsense! When did I ever accept a geas…?”

A memory flashed in her mind.

It was the conversation from moments ago.

“…No way…”

“That’s right. You nodded yourself. To my question, ‘Will you accept?’”

“…”

Karen’s face turned ashen.

She hurriedly picked up the sword at her feet.

“Hmm, planning to test it again?”

“Ugh!”

At Ragna’s leisurely demeanor, Karen grimaced.

…She knew it was futile. The geas he had placed on her likely prevented her from harming him.

The moment she tried to strike him, her tongue would probably be ripped out first.

All her efforts would be in vain.

“No, that can’t be.”

Forcing herself to hold together her crumbling resolve, Karen glared at Ragna.

She tightened her grip on the sword.

“Hmm… Still planning to resist? I told you it’s impossible.”

“…Yes, I know.”

It was infuriating, but she had no power to kill the fiend before her.

But she couldn’t let herself be dragged along by his schemes either.

Staggering, she took a step forward. At her desperate state, Ragna flinched, frowning.

“No matter how painful, no matter how sad, justice must be upheld. And sacrificing oneself for the people is a knight’s duty. If that means staining my hands with blood, it’s an unavoidable fate.”

No matter how tragic the sacrifice, that was the nature of justice.

Rather than caressing those within reach with a gentle hand, it meant cladding oneself in iron and choosing to cut down one side as a guardian of the righteous scale.

That was a knight’s duty.

“If that’s the case, then falling in defeat at this moment is also fate. It’s simply unavoidable.”

She made no excuses.

She had tried to kill the boy before her in the name of her homeland.

She had no doubts about that. And she still believed it was for her country.

But she had lost.

And she had fallen in disgrace, humiliated.

However,

“Even so, I, Karen Steiner, will never become your puppet!”

With that shout, she tightened her grip on the sword.

But the blade’s tip was not aimed at Ragna it was aimed at her own throat.

“…!”

“Remember this, you vile monster! Heaven will judge you! And when that time comes, recall this! That I, Karen Steiner, took my own life, hating you!”

With a cry, she swung the sword toward her neck. A sharp scream echoed.

__________

“…Hmm, as expected.”

“Ugh… Gah!”

Ragna, who had been watching Karen’s attempt at suicide with a tense expression, let out a light sigh of relief.

Karen stared at her hands in disbelief.

She couldn’t fathom it.

Why had she dropped the sword?

And why, despite attempting to take her own life, was she now wracked with such excruciating pain?

The geas was supposed to prevent her from harming him.

Taking her own life shouldn’t have triggered it.

So why had the geas activated the moment she tried to kill herself?

Writhing in pain and unable to comprehend, Karen’s ears caught Ragna’s voice.

“Not a bad attempt. The geas indeed only states that you ‘cannot harm me.’ So, choosing suicide to thwart my plans and put me in a bind before becoming my puppet… not a bad judgment.”

“Ugh… Gah!”

“But, unfortunately, that plan seems to have failed. Well, I suppose that’s only natural?”

“Ugh… W-Why?”

Karen looked up at Ragna, her expression one of incomprehension.

With a smug grin, he replied,

“Hmm, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to explain, since it’s come to this.”

“…”

“You’re mistaken about something the scope of the geas’s influence. This geas spell, you see, is a rather old magic, so it’s quite complex. The need for a magic circle, the massive amount of mana to activate it, and the ritual and contract process… it’s a ridiculously troublesome spell.

But because of that, the geas has a rather unique trait. Any guesses what it is?”

“…?”

“You don’t know? Well, no helping it then. I’ll explain kindly. The trait of the geas spell is, in a word, that its scope is excessively broad. For example, if a geas says ‘don’t eat dogs,’ it doesn’t care what kind of dog or how it’s prepared. Unlike modern magic, which targets specific objects or effects, this spell activates indiscriminately, without distinction.

And the judgment of that activation is entirely up to the spell itself. Quite a troublesome magic, don’t you think? But,”

Ragna paused, pointing to himself.

Then, pointing at Karen, he continued,

“That’s why you can’t kill yourself.”

“…?”

“Because you know. You know that ‘Karen Steiner’ choosing suicide is meant to put ‘Ragna’ in a difficult position.”

“…Ah.”

“Hmm, finally getting it? That’s the deal. That’s what the geas spell is. The geas on you states you ‘cannot harm Ragna.’ That means you can’t take any action that would disadvantage me, even revealing my abilities or what happened here any action you think would harm me.

Truly, don’t you think it’s a spell that reeks of the obsessive tenacity of the ancients?”

Ragna’s mocking tone was like that of an executioner delivering a sentence, a single phrase that crushed her will.

And with that, she broke.

“Ah…”

Karen collapsed with a thud.

Ragna sneered at the sight.

Quite a satisfying outcome.

Using the geas had been worth it.

Other spells could have sufficed to make her his pawn.

But Ragna had deliberately chosen the geas.

The reason was simple.

He couldn’t forgive Karen for trying to kill him.

And being forced to recall painful memories from his past was an added bonus.

Thus, he chose a method that would cause her maximum suffering while easily turning her into his puppet.

That was the geas spell.

That said,

The real challenge began now.

How to make her his pawn?

Using a mind-control spell at this point would be distasteful.

The obvious method was to persuade her with words to follow him.

The question was how to make her comply.

Well, there was no need to worry too much.

With the geas in place, Karen had no options left.

Given enough time and persuasion, she would eventually yield.

With that thought, Ragna slowly approached her.

He couldn’t stay here forever, so he needed to find a suitable place to move to.

But at that moment,

A rustling sound came from the distance.

“…A pursuer?”

Frowning slightly, Ragna checked the source of the noise. Holding one of Karen’s discarded daggers, he moved through the bushes toward the approaching figure.

Soon, he could see the source with his own eyes.

And he nearly let out a scream in shock.

The figure searching the dark forest path, looking around, was none other than—

Seria.

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Geas

A geas (or geis, plural geasa) is a unique concept of taboo in Irish mythology and folklore.

A geas can be considered a type of curse, though paradoxically, it can also be a blessing. Those under a geas who break its taboo may face dishonor or even death. On the other hand, learning someone else’s geas can grant power over them.

Reference: Wikipedia.

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Translated by Reversalnovel.web.id