Frieren's eyes had lost their usual indifferent look due to the shock caused by the actions of her own body.
A rarely seen expression on the face of the "dandere" elf, but one that pleased Sanguinius.
"Judging by your expression, you've surely noticed that your body no longer belongs to you, right?"
No answer, just silence and a shocked face slowly becoming extremely cold... or murderous?
However, this wasn't important in the grand scheme of things from Sanguinius's perspective... at least for now.
He had already decided to use Frieren to build his influence in this world, or more precisely, within human civilization.
He had thought about Himmel, but his mortal life expectancy was a huge obstacle to his plans that extended over centuries, even millennia.
There was also the problem of whether or not his talent would emerge in captivity.
After all, swordsmen depend heavily on enlightenment, unlike mages.
Thus, Himmel's mental state was too important.
This led Sanguinius to choose Frieren, despite the difficulties related to taking control of her through Aura.
As for the option of controlling the entire hero group using Aura, it was impossible for her.
The reason was simple: the immense amount of magical energy in Frieren's body, which surpassed Aura's own.
The only reason Aura had been able to control Frieren at present was her exhaustion due to her confrontation with Sanguinius.
Thus, Aura had admitted having trouble managing her along with her undead troops at the same time.
Certainly, Sanguinius had considered the option of abandoning Aura's weapon, but that would undoubtedly alert the Demon Lord.
It would just be too weird that she no longer had her weapon, and moreover, she couldn't remain hidden as in the original story.
'Especially since there's no guarantee they could defeat the Demon Lord while under the subjugation of another demon.'
The risk really wasn't worth it.
"Don't worry, Aura and I have no malicious intentions toward humanity... unless necessary."
"What?!"
Aura was surprised by Sanguinius's remarks, but he ignored the demoness beside her.
Sanguinius is already aware of the instincts of the demon race, but he is confident in his ability to satisfy their murderous impulses.
After all, he himself already suffers from battle desires due to the curse of the god Khorne.
"You wanted to know why a user of 'the goddess's magic' hangs around with a demon, right?"
Frieren didn't answer, but her eyes couldn't hide the curiosity beneath her murderous gaze.
"She has a hundred-year vassalage contract with me, so we're... partners for this period."
"You really trust a demon? You're naive."
"Oh no no, I'm not stupid enough for that~"
Sanguinius showed two magical contracts he had created using Nordic runic magic from the DxD universe.
"She signed two magical contracts with me."
The first was the vassalage agreement, the one he had already shown in the group chat and mentioned to Frieren.
And the second was a new agreement, promising that Sanguinius would give Aura a real demon kingdom and make her their new demon lord.
Of course, Aura had sworn to serve under Sanguinius once her part of the deal was fulfilled.
'Too bad my level in runic magic is still low, otherwise I wouldn't have needed full consent for a contract...'
Sanguinius's magical contracts are inspired by those used by devils in the DxD universe but based on Nordic runic magic.
Normal, these contracts were used by devils to scam mortals and take their souls.
Thus, the contracts can exercise all their authority only if both parties fully agree and are aware of the implications.
Obviously, it's not impossible to deceive, since they were originally created by devils under Lucifer's own reign.
'I can use a pseudo-proxy to accept a contract in my place and take the consequences, like with Aura's... damn, I'm a genius.'
Frieren seemed fascinated by the contracts for a second before resuming her indifferent air.
"I see, but you already have my body, right? Why waste your time with this discussion."
Despite her calm and emotionless words, the cold eyes and veins in her voice escaped nobody in the clearing, except for the unconscious people.
"In 80 years... I plan to officially create a demon kingdom in the north of the continent, and I want you to be the spokesperson for demons among humans."
Sanguinius was no longer an angel...
If he had still had his former glory, he wouldn't have needed to use Frieren as a spokesperson or guarantee.
He would have simply used his great amount of "Holy Power" to pass himself off as an envoy of the goddess.
As for disguising himself as a human and infiltrating the church, he didn't find it effective, and it would take too much time to climb the ranks.
'I don't lack time as a fallen angel, but Mittelt is waiting for me...'
He didn't want to keep his first subordinate waiting for decades when he could just sit back and wait to reap the results.
"You still haven't answered my question," insisted Frieren.
"I'm getting there. You're rather impatient for an elf," he said with a slight smile, but he didn't waste any more time.
"Aura is just a guarantee for your cooperation, but I sincerely want you on my side in a century."
Sanguinius pulled out a scroll containing another contract and slipped it into Frieren's pocket before beginning to walk away with Aura.
"Oh... I almost forgot. I left Heiter a little gift to apologize for the hole next to his heart, and you can also mention our cooperation, without talking about Aura's control, of course."
Aura simply indicated her scale by sketching a twisted smile toward Frieren, without adding anything to Sanguinius's remarks.
Throughout the exchange, Frieren had been informed of the future projects of the two individuals, but she hadn't really had a say.
Her cooperation would be voluntary or not, but her opinion wasn't really necessary in truth.
....
"... Why?"
"Huh?!"
As I was heading toward the nearest village with Aura's army and Aura herself, this question was suddenly asked by the demoness.
"I'm talking about your confidence in Himmel and his companions. You really think they can defeat the Demon Lord?"
"Indeed."
Sanguinius answered without hesitation to Aura's question.
Although he couldn't speak of his past life, he intended to exploit his knowledge to his advantage.
"Ridiculous. I signed this contract because I thought you could eliminate the Demon Lord yourself, but..."
Aura didn't have time to finish her words before feeling Sanguinius's murderous intent focus on her.
"Sorry, I forgot my place."
She had forgotten that she was his vassal and had literally just openly criticized her lord.
"It's good to have an opinion to assert to your lord, but don't forget to be careful not to cross the line."
She simply nodded in response to Sanguinius's harsh words.
"Also, don't worry about your former master. Continue to exchange messages with him as usual."
"He will soon fall into the hands of Himmel and his group, trust me."
Aura didn't respond, but her eyes had a strange gleam as she observed those of Sanguinius.
'Anyway, I have nothing to lose in this agreement, and he didn't deceive me in the first contract.'
She had not only escaped Himmel and his group, but she had also obtained a new toy under her control... at least temporarily.
Aura could feel that she controlled Frieren temporarily, and only because Sanguinius didn't yet have an effective means of control.
"So, are you going back to your world soon?"
Sanguinius nodded, but the young man's next words caught the demoness off guard.
"Yes, but first I'm going to try to get the mage Serie to join our camp."
"What?!?!"