The Demon Lord’s Successor - 95

“Who the fuck is this?” Epsilon asks when she walks up behind you, looking at the extremely thin, barely clothed bunnykin. It’s hard to tell he’s even alive, save for the rare, hoarse breaths coming from his mouth.

“Huh? Don’t you recognize him?” you ask. Though, to be fair, you yourself had trouble realizing who it was. Before he was lording over everyone in fancy clothes and jewelry. Now, fallen to this state, a ghastly figure. “It’s Xi.”

“… Wait… You’re—” Epsilon looks closer in disbelief. Then she proceeds to laugh her ass off.

“Oh, haa, I’m sorry,” Epsilon apologizes in the most insincere way imaginable as she wipes a tear of joy from her eye. “I couldn’t tell with all the shit covering your face. Heh.”

Xi moves his eyes in Epsilon’s direction but doesn’t respond.

“Oi, isn’t that guy like, about to die?” Rosetta asks, walking up behind you.

You sigh, then say, “Do we have something to tie him up with?”

“Yes,” Gorrazsh answers.

“Do it,” you command the orc. “If he tries anything—break his arms.”

The fallen bandit leader doesn’t resist. After he’s tied up you summon a [Hellfruit] to feed the bandit, hopefully restoring him just enough so that he’s able to talk. You throw the red fruit to Gorrazsh and say, “Feed it to him.”

Gorrazsh does as he’s told. He brings it up to the bunnykin’s mouth, pressing it against his thin lips.

“You should do it like the birds—chew it up and feed him mouth to mouth,” Epsilon says and laughs. Rosette snickers.

Gorrazsh glares at her. Thankfully (though disappointingly for some), it doesn’t come to that. Xi weakly takes a bite from the soft, juicy frout. After chewing, he takes another. Soon, the fruit is gone.

When Xi opens his mouth again he looks at Epsilon and says, “You useless traitorous whore. Though, I suppose what could I possibly expect from you, when you even failed at breeding? Were all of you infertile or did you just spend all your free time fisting each other? Where is the main slut anyway?”

During your very short interactions with Xi and his crew, you learned what kind of a person he was. While this language is abhorrent, it’s not something unexpected. What surprises you is the lack of any reaction from Epsilon. Alpha remains an absent-minded doll. But with each word Xi said, you expected Epsilon to last out and attack Xi for these insults. You look at her. The bunny girl seems amused by Xi’s ultimately pointless and empty insults.

“Where is Ariadne?” you ask.

“Who?” Xi asks.

“The girl you took with you when you teleported from your hideout,” you explain.

“Oh, the sow? Probably milked for all she’s worth.”

“You piece of—“ you raise your arm to strike Xi but hold back.

“Heh,” Xi smiles weakly. Though he is bound, he doesn’t even try to struggle out of the ropes.

You take a deep breath and say, “I will not ask you again. Where is she?”

“No idea,” Xi answers. “Last I saw her, the Doom Brothers had her imprisoned.”

“Where?”

“In the dungeons of the main fortress.”

“What the hell happened here?” Elza asks.

“Oh, another traitorous whore,” Xi notes.

“Answer the question,” you demand strongly.

Xi shrugs. “No Idea. I got my payment and stuck around to recruit more men after what you pulled at my hideout. A few days later those things appeared. In a matter of hours, the city was overrun.”

“What about these Doom Brothers?”

“I never saw them again. Whatever this is, it spread fast. Suddenly no teleportation spells were working I got badly wounded trying to reach the fortress. I ended up in here, trying to get out of this damned place. I don’t even feel my legs anymore.”

“Are there other survivors?” Rosette asks.

“Who knows,” Xi says and tilts his head back against the wall to rest.

You walk back from Xi and motion the others to come with you

Elza is the first to speak up asks quietly, “Now what?”

“We kill him,” Epsilon says loudly with a smile. Like she wanted Xi to hear that.

You look back at the former bandit leader. Strangely Xi doesn’t even protest or react in any way. Like he’s resigned himself. There’s no way he didn’t hear that.

“She’s probably right,” Elza says. “He’s too dangerous to be left alive.”

“And keeping a restrained and wounded weakling will slow us down even more,” Rosette analyzes.

“Wait, are we still proceeding forward?” Gorrazsh asks astonished. “We should go back while we still have a chance!”

YuujiEveryleaf

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1. What to do with Xi.

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