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Chapter 37. The Seed of the Sacred Tree
Beastmen were forbidden to enter the precincts of the Sacred Tree. Royalty was the only exception. They were allowed to approach it without asking permission. So Silviana had come to the Sacred Tree with Carrot, whose skin was completely hidden. On the way she met some guards, but none of them said anything to her.
At that moment, Silviana saw Carrot praying to the Sacred Tree. It was the first time she had ever seen a succubus praying. Succubi had the image of being uninhibited and lascivious. Actually, it wasn’t bad. Most succubi, when they saw a man, would approach him with their whole face flushed, their crotches wet, and sleep with him. To other races, they were nothing more than s̲l̲u̲t̲s̲, irrational and lascivious.
However, this did not seem to be the case when it came to faith. Carrot knelt before the Sacred Tree to which she had been led, undressed, and kissed its great trunk. This was not the way the Beastmen prayed. Had one of the Beastmen priests who presided over their faith discovered this, they might have accused her of being a pagan. However, her appearance was so innocent and reverent that she could not have imagined it from the image she had of the succubus race.
The Sacred Tree was once closed to the public. Only royalty could approach it without permission. The reason was nothing special, just to prevent unauthorized people from damaging or cutting it down. As for Carrot, she seemed to have no ill intentions. Silviana could see that her respect for the Sacred Tree and her prayer were sincere. It seemed to her that she had really turned to her to pray to the Sacred Tree. She said it had been a long time since she had prayed, so it would take some time, but she sincerely wanted to get it over with and wait for Bash.
With that, Carrot stood up.
“Are you done?”
“Yes, that’s enough. Thank you.”
But when Carrot turned around, there was something in her hand that Silviana didn’t recognize. A translucent red ball. Something Carrot hadn’t had before.
“What is that?”
“It has nothing to do with you.” The expression on Carrot’s face when she said that was something like making fun of Silviana.
“What’s wrong with that face?”
“My face?”
“It’s very unpleasant.”
“I’m sorry? It’s the way I usually look.”
“I don’t care how you look, but since I granted your wish, you must grant mine.”
“Hehehe. Yes, of course. Look, it seems like he’s coming soon.”
Carrot chuckled charmingly and looked towards the entrance of the Sacred Tree’s enclosure. There was a big shadow there. A shadow so large that it could not be that of a human or a beastman. But it was smaller than an ogre.
It was an orc.
But Silviana noticed something. Something was wrong. The Orc seemed to be a bit taller than Bash. The orc hero was a size bigger than beastmen, and any of the beastmen wouldn’t hesitate to call him a giant. But this Orc was even taller than Bash.
And there was something strange about it. The color. The orc had a bluish tint, more so than Bash’s. The hero’s skin should be green, like most orcs.
No, it wasn’t Bash. It was another Orc.
“Carrot…?” Silviana looked back. But Carrot just smiled charmingly.
“What’s wrong?”
Silviana’s heart filled with anxiety. Something was wrong, her spine told her.
“…!” Silviana tried to run as fast as she could. But it was too late. When she came to, she crashed face first into the floor.
“Well, well…”
Carrot tripped her, and by the time she realized it, she had twisted her hands behind her back and put her knees on her hips.
“What the… Let go of me!”
“I’m just on top of you. I see you can’t get me off on your own. You’re not athletic enough, are you?”
“Somebody! Guards! Guards!”
“No one is coming. All the guards I’ve met now are under my ‘charm’.”
At his obviously mocking tone, Silviana put all her strength into her body, but her elbow joints were completely locked. She finally grunting and shook her legs.
“But I gave you what you wanted!”
“That’s right, and thanks to you, I was able to get close to the Sacred Tree. I was also able to get my dear servant inside. And the seed of the Sacred Tree, you see…” Carrot played with the red orb as if it were a trick and grinned an enchanting smile.
“Have you betrayed me?”
“Yes. You’re a fool who thinks you’re smarter than you are.”
At being called a fool, Silviana’s face turned red and then gradually blue. In fact, she thought she was in control. She thought she had chosen the best way to fool Bash.
“But you must not blame yourself. For I am Carrot ‘of the Hissing Voice’. My ‘charm’ can make even women bend.”
“…!”
“Not as much as I can use it on men, but enough to amplify their desires, to make them lose their minds, to create an opening in their hearts. If they feel charmed by me and trapped by the bait in front of them, it’s not just because they’re stupid. So don’t beat yourself up too much.”
Charm magic that worked on women, too. There should be no such thing. But if it weren’t for that, she was sure that under normal circumstances, she would have been able to make a more sober decision. The most important thing was that she should have at least prepared herself for such a situation. She knew that she had a tendency not to think about the future, but from the beginning she felt that this woman was a “bad person”.
“What are you going to do to me?!”
“I’m not going to do anything to you. I just want you to die…”
“Damn it…!”
Silviana began to struggle more. But she couldn’t free herself. Before she knew it, the blue orc stood before her. Empty eyes, drooling from his mouth.