— — — — — —
Thanks to Lynn's reminder, Kotoko Iwanaga finally recalled that little detail she'd completely forgotten — and her expression instantly froze. Even the pain on her forehead seemed to vanish for a moment.
But Lynn took her small request, got himself a Hell, even picked up a few capable (and surprisingly adorable) subordinates…And now she still had to pay him?
She was the one spending money, but Lynn was the one reaping all the benefits.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Kotoko forced a composed expression.
"...Lord Lynn, what exactly do you want?"
She hadn't forgotten the price list hanging in the Supernatural Research Club.
This Devil before her was absolutely the type to charge depending on the mood!
Lynn rubbed his chin, his eyes falling on the glowing Devil Piece in his hand.
"Naturally, I want you to become part of my Familia."
Knew it!
Kotoko felt her heart sink into darkness.
This guy's serious!?
But Lynn went on casually. "You saw how Hell looks for yourself. That three-eyed spider might not be all that strong, but in Hell's environment? It's a real pain to deal with."
Kotoko pursed her lips.
He wasn't wrong.
That entire Hell Girl system was pretty much the work of that spider. If she wanted to take down the Hell Website, dealing with that spider was unavoidable.
"Sigh."
Kotoko let out a quiet sigh and fell into silence, clearly struggling inside.
"Of course…"
Lynn suddenly changed the subject, grinning.
"I'm still a Devil, sure, but us modern Devils do pride ourselves on keeping promises."
"So this time… I'll let it slide. But next time..."
A magic circle lit up beneath Lynn's feet, his voice echoing in Kotoko's ears.
"...Don't go throwing something like this onto my plate again."
As his words faded, so did his figure — vanishing right before Kotoko's eyes.
Staring dumbfounded at the empty space where Lynn disappeared, Kotoko muttered blankly,"...He just… left?"
She honestly thought she was about to lose her virginity right there...
But...
With Lynn gone, she could finally let out a small sigh of relief.
Still... the way he left so cleanly and decisively... it left her feeling strangely empty.
"No, no, no!"
Kotoko quickly shook her head and forced a self-deprecating smile.
"What, am I really thinking about becoming someone's mistress now?"
That Supernatural Club of his... in Shuchiin Academy, they were practically famous for their harem-like reputation!
But then again...
For a Devil King, building a harem did seem perfectly reasonable.
"Ah well... I'll deal with that when the time comes."
Kotoko quickly convinced herself.
If fate really did have her becoming Lynn's little mistress... then there was no avoiding it anyway.
Future problems could stay in the future.
But still...
Looking around at the pitch-black streets, Kotoko's eyelid twitched.
"...He really just left a beautiful young maiden like me here alone!?"
Walking down dark alleys all by herself — yeah, that was kinda scary!
"Princess! Princess!!"
Suddenly, a chorus of quacky, duck-like voices rang out.
Hearing those familiar sounds, Kotoko finally let out a small breath of relief, though her expression darkened when she saw the small group of little yokai floating over.
"Oh, now you guys dare to come out just because the Devil's gone?"
Looking at these utterly useless little yokai, Kotoko's eyes were filled with disdain.
"Princess..."
A little red-skinned yokai shivered. "That Devil guy was way too scary!"
"Mhm! Mhm!"
The other yokai all nodded like crazy, faces still pale with lingering fear.
"We don't wanna end up as Devil food!"
The dark street echoed with their wailing cries.
"Alright, alright, enough."
Kotoko waved her hand dismissively.
"Let's go. We're heading back to base."
Leaning on her cane, she hobbled forward.
Even if Lynn didn't demand her body as payment, she still owed him a reward.
Kotoko knew that very well.
Just because he didn't mention it didn't mean she could just pretend it wasn't necessary.
Especially since she'd just made a deal with a Devil King — she needed to tread very, very carefully.
Pissing off Lynn was definitely a death wish.
Especially after seeing his power firsthand in Hell, Kotoko knew that now more than ever.
"Guess I'll go dig around and see if those old geezers back home have any valuable treasures left..."
Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, Kotoko started plotting who she could squeeze some treasure out of.
Suddenly, she spoke up. "Hey... what do you guys think..."
"If I became a Devil myself?"
The yokai around her instantly froze in shock.
"Princess!? Are you abandoning us!?"
The little yokai immediately burst into frightened sobbing, their wails making Kotoko's head ache.
Still, even though it started as just a random thought, Kotoko realized she might've figured out the perfect reward for Lynn.
Since he liked collecting subordinates so much...Why not just give him one?
Yup!
That's it!
Now she just needed to figure out...
What exactly was that "Blessing" thing Lynn mentioned?
Kotoko was definitely curious.
Back then, Lynn only said it was a power his reincarnated Familia members got — but he didn't go into detail. He also used the word ''familia' instead for 'peerage' for it.
The strange symbols carved onto Kikuri and the others — she couldn't understand any of them.
Even when Lynn copied them down, Kotoko didn't dare look too deeply into it.
Somehow, she just knew that digging too much into that would bring serious trouble...
That was probably Lynn's biggest secret.
Kotoko fell silent, lost deep in thought.
— — —
The next day
Ryougetsu Senhime finally left her cozy little spot and returned to her beloved Era.
This time, she wasn't coming back alone— she was taking a group of Inu-Yokai with her, heading straight for Hell.
Later on, she planned to bring the entire Inu-Yokai tribe into Hell as well.
Sure, that might mean the Inu-Yokai would completely vanish from the world for the next 500 years...
But so what?
Once they entered Hell, they'd officially be part of the system— government jobs and all!
Most Yokai wouldn't even get this kind of chance!
Even if Lynn-sama's Hell was still in its early stages, Senhime had absolute faith in his grand ambitions.
The Inu-Yokai... would rise again, starting from Hell!
---
At the same time.
Muroto Sumire sent a message to Lynn.
"Lynn-sama, during our research on Yokai, we discovered a new use for their flesh and blood."
"Oh?"
That immediately caught Lynn's interest.
Sumire explained further: "We found that after processing Yokai blood a certain way, if it infects ordinary animals, their flesh becomes incredibly delicious... and eating it can actually boost a Familia member's stats."
"We've decided to call it Demonic Beast Meat."
Lynn rubbed his chin. "Well damn... they actually managed to come up with something interesting."
Extraordinary ingredients, huh?
Normally, because of the negative properties of Yokai blood, their flesh was basically unusable.
In fact, any animal contaminated by Yokai blood would usually die from miasma poisoning or similar side effects.
But these girls... actually figured out a way to make it edible?
"Not bad at all."
For Lynn's Familia, Demonic Beast Meat would be a huge upgrade.
Lynn was already starting to notice it — aside from grinding monsters for EXP, there were other methods his Familia could use to get stronger.
World invasions were one thing.
Just yesterday, little Ai was proof of that.
Simply because she gained the title of Hell Administrator and received Hell's blessing, she instantly leveled up once.
And now? Eating extraordinary ingredients could boost stats too?
But Sumire's next message clarified things: "Right now, the Demonic Beast Meat produced through Familia methods can only boost low-rank devils. We believe it's related to the quality of the meat."
Lynn nodded in understanding.
After all, it was just ordinary animals contaminated by low-level Yokai blood.
The fact that it could even boost low-rank devils was already impressive.
After asking a few more details about their research, Lynn's eyes gleamed with interest.
"Maybe... I should consider invading worlds that have high-end ingredients?"
Sure, Demonic Beast Meat could only boost low-rank devils for now... but there were plenty of worlds out there with top-quality ingredients.
Lynn fell deep into thought.
— — —
In the Familia group chat
[Hell Girl: "Lynn-sama, the Devil Link network is officially online."]
"Oh?"
Lynn snapped out of his thoughts, his eyes lighting up in surprise.
That fast?
Clicking on the link Enma Ai sent him, a website similar to Hell Link popped up.
Ai had already set Lynn as the site's highest-level administrator.
Just like Lynn requested, the website could automatically search for people guided by Devil Pieces.
Unlike Hell Link, it wasn't limited to midnight appearances either.
But...
Whether people would actually use Devil Link to request deals from devils— that was still unknown.
Only through making deals with devils could Lynn slowly bring them all into his Familia.
But hey...
One step at a time.
Lynn rubbed his chin, staring at the Devil Link motto on the site: [Do you need the help of a devil?]
— — —
Meanwhile.
At Shuchiin Academy — Tōtsuki Culinary Branch.
Inside a private clubroom
Nakiri Erina frowned at the sudden pop-up website on her phone.
"A prank?"
She casually set her phone down and tasted the freshly delivered dish in front of her.
Scooping up a spoonful of soup, Erina took a sip — only to immediately spit it out with a disgusted look on her face.
She knew right away — it wasn't the food's fault.
"The curse of the God's Tongue…"
Erina's expression darkened with frustration.
Lately, no matter what she ate, nothing could satisfy her cursed palate.
If this continued...
Who knew what would happen to her.
Resting her cheek on one hand, Erina sighed helplessly.
But then... her gaze naturally drifted back to that strange website on her phone.
"Help from a devil... huh."
Suddenly... she felt a tiny bit curious.
Without thinking much about it, she picked up her phone and started typing.
["Can you make a dish that can satisfy me?"]
Click— sent!
For a brief moment, Erina felt a flicker of hope... before shaking her head with a self-deprecating laugh.
"As if devils actually exist..."
"I must really be losing my mind from this cursed tongue... resorting to stupid stuff like this."
But the very next second...
Ding!
A reply popped up on Devil Link.
Erina froze.
["Cooking, huh... that's not really my strong suit..."]
Seeing that, Erina clicked her tongue.
"Tch… as expected, just some prank…"
But then—Another message arrived.
["But... maybe you'll be interested in this?"]
Erina: "...?"
What's that supposed to mean?
While she was still confused—A black magic circle suddenly appeared on her phone screen!
"W-What the hell?!"
Plop.
A piece of meat dropped out of thin air and landed right on her table.
"AHHHH!!" Erina screamed, flinging her phone away like it was cursed.
Panic written all over her face, Erina bolted away from the table and crouched in the corner of the room, hugging her knees and shaking.
"M-Mr. Devil, sir! I thought it was just a prank! I wasn't trying to bother you or anything!!"
She sounded like she was about to cry at any moment.
Creak—
The door to the club room slowly opened from the outside.
"EEEEEEEK?!"
Hearing the sound, Erina shrank even further into the corner like a terrified kitten.
Is… is the devil really here to take me away?!
But—Standing at the door was none other than Hisako Arato, her loyal aide, staring blankly at Erina's pitiful state.
After a moment of awkward silence, Hisako hesitantly spoke.
"Um... Ojou-sama... are you, uh... rehearsing for some kind of performance?"
Erina: "..."
Hearing that familiar voice, Erina peeked out cautiously, finally noticing that there was nobody else in the room.
Realizing this, she let out a huge sigh of relief and patted her chest to calm herself.
"Haaah... geez..."
"For a second there, I really thought a devil had come for me…"
She muttered under her breath — but of course, Hisako heard every single word loud and clear.
Hisako forced an awkward yet polite smile, wisely pretending like she hadn't heard anything.
'Is... is Ojou-sama going through a Chūnibyō phase?'
Now feeling much calmer, Erina finally noticed Hisako standing there — and immediately froze.
Crap.
Crapcrapcrap.
She saw everything?!
So embarrassing!!
Erina wanted to dig a hole and hide forever.
Hisako, seeing her Ojou-sama struggling, quickly straightened her expression and said seriously, "Ojou-sama, I didn't see anything just now."
Erina glared at her, full of grievance.
What am I, a three-year-old?
Who'd believe a lie like that?
Still... it was Hisako. It's fine, right? Probably...
Trying to comfort herself, Erina's gaze wandered back to the table — where that mysterious piece of meat still sat.
Her whole body stiffened again.
No doubt about it.
That was absolutely a supernatural event.
A devil...
Just thinking that word sent a shiver down her spine.
Crap again.
Did... did I just get marked by a devil?!
What do I do? What now??
Ding!
Her phone vibrated again with a new message.
Erina froze in place.
Hisako, noticing the phone lying on the floor, tilted her head in confusion.
Isn't that Ojou-sama's phone?
But since Erina wasn't moving at all, Hisako naturally picked it up.
Her eyes couldn't help but glance over the screen.
[Devil Link]
["Making a deal with a devil comes with a price, you know~"]
Devil…?
So that's why Ojou-sama was acting like this?
Hisako looked puzzled but didn't think too much of it. She handed the phone back to Erina with a gentle smile.
"Ojou-sama, your phone."
Erina: "..."
"...Thanks, Hisako."
Erina awkwardly took the phone, eyes quickly scanning the message.
Price?!
Her heart skipped a beat.
Wait, wait, wait — what could she possibly offer as payment?
Then suddenly — her eyes lit up.
"Hisako! Quick! Get the kitchen ready! I'm cooking!!"
---
Meanwhile, over in the Supernatural Research Clubroom...
Lynn glanced at the screen displaying the client info.
Client: Nakiri Erina.
His eyes glinted with amusement.
The moment he saw her request, he immediately guessed it had something to do with her "God Tongue"
Perfect timing.
He'd just gotten his hands on some freshly obtained monster meat from his Familia's latest research.
When it came to quality, monster meat was on a whole different level compared to ordinary ingredients.
Not to mention — it was a genuine supernatural ingredient.
So, naturally, he had someone from his Familia deliver a piece to her.
Now Lynn was curious.
After tasting a dish made with monster meat — an ingredient overflowing with supernatural properties — would the God Tongue still find ordinary food even remotely satisfying?
And more importantly...
Once Nakiri Erina got a taste of this — could she ever walk away from the Devil Link again?
.
.
.