It was the same on Earth, but kissing someone’s feet is an indescribably humiliating gesture of submission.
As is kneeling.
As is bowing one’s head.
The very act of pressing one’s lips to the feet—one of the dirtiest parts of the human body, which walks upright and wears shoes—could be called one of the most humiliating acts there was.
Perhaps it was an extension of that meaning.
Since kissing someone’s feet carried the implication of master and slave, it had become the ultimate fetish for some people.
Feet were not an erogenous zone.
But the moment someone licked and sucked on them, they became an erogenous zone that satisfied a sense of psychological domination.
What about in this world?
What should one call making someone kiss the top of one’s foot? Whether human or demon, it was practically a symbol of “the conqueror.”
An act of humiliating a human—worse than making a king kneel and bow his head—by forcing them to crawl over on all fours and kiss one’s feet like an animal.
The Vampire Princess thrusting her foot toward me meant only one thing.
—Can you cast aside the dignity you possess as a human, swear your loyalty to the Demon Army’s commander, and live for the demons?
That was what she was saying through her actions.
It was no different from the threats I had made to Eris and Dahlia.
Just as I had told Eris to spread her legs if she didn’t want to lose to me.
Just as I had told Dahlia to become a vampire and smash in the traitors’ heads if she didn’t want to lose to me.
You did a fine job as an instructor, but if you wish to continue clinging to life as one, prove your sincere submission to me through your actions.
That was what she was telling me to do right now—
‘Of course. Naturally, I should.’
My opponent was one of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings, the commander of the Vampire Legion.
She was an existence that ordinary adventurers would not even dare look up at, and I had heard that even those called Swordmasters could not easily stand against a commander of her rank.
With such a person before me, how could I possibly dare resist?
And above all—
‘When a beautiful woman who makes me want to pound her thrusts out her clean, bare foot and tells me to lick it, there’s no reason to hesitate.’
The Vampire Princess’s foot was as clean as if she had just washed it.
There was no visible trace of the kind of grime that would make me think, Ah, maybe this is too much. On the contrary, it looked soft and tender, without a single callus.
Therefore.
“Master. I shall demonstrate my loyalty.”
I immediately thrust my face toward the Vampire Princess’s foot—
Swish.
But the Vampire Princess discreetly pulled it away.
“......Master?”
“......Seriously?”
The Vampire Princess’s expression stiffened.
She seemed unable to say anything, merely blinking as if she had never expected me to actually do this.
“Do you truly intend to kiss my foot?”
“Yes. Do you think I would stop at a kiss?”
Lick.
“I shall lick it like a dog.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say that I would suck on it like a dog.
I was afraid she might recoil and pull her foot away if I put it that way.
“Uh, um.”
The Vampire Princess fell into thought.
There was a faint wavering in her eyes, as if she were trying to determine how sincere I actually was.
‘Was that a little too much?’
Judging by the way she had openly thrust out her foot, it didn’t seem that she was embarrassed or anything like that.
In fact, although her legs were crossed now and thus difficult to see, and although she wasn’t deliberately drawing my gaze, it seemed that the magical triangle between her crossed legs was just barely visible.
If I narrowed my eyes while licking her toes, I might be able to sneak a glance.
‘A man who doesn’t suck on this isn’t a man.’
A beautiful woman so alluring I wanted to pound her right then and there.
A spotless foot that looked as if it had just been washed.
A soft sole without a single callus.
Healthy toenails with no pedicure applied.
And above all, the Vampire Princess herself, flustered and hesitating the moment I said I would lick her feet!
“Would I be permitted the honor of licking Master’s foot?”
“.......”
I could feel Dahlia’s gaze from behind me.
I could also feel the gaze of the succubus secretary standing behind the Vampire Princess.
Those gazes contained all sorts of complicated emotions, but I looked only up at the Vampire Princess and assumed my position.
I knelt on one knee and supported the Vampire Princess’s foot with both hands.
Just as the knights in the capital from the stories might remove a lady’s broken shoe.
Just as the male lead in a romance drama might remove the heroine’s broken-heeled shoe and put his own sneakers on her.
“Will you grant me permission?”
“......Hmm.”
When I looked up at the Vampire Princess with an innocent gaze, she gave a sardonic smile, as if she had reached a conclusion.
“Very well. Go ahead and try.”
She smiled leisurely, as though she would kill me if I merely made a halfhearted attempt, but contrary to her confident expression, the Vampire Princess’s hands rested demurely atop her thighs.
As if she had placed them there because she didn’t know where else to put them.
As if she wanted to see whether I was someone who merely spouted words carelessly.
‘Should I test her?’
I swallowed hard.
I leaned my head forward and watched the Vampire Princess’s reaction.
As though waiting for a human who was all talk to say, That’s enough, I moved toward her foot extremely slowly.
“Hah.”
The Vampire Princess let out a hollow laugh.
The moment I acted as though I was hesitating, she gave that hollow laugh, which meant—
‘My guess was right.’
To a human, pressing one’s lips to someone’s foot was an act far more humiliating than I had imagined.
Smack.
“!!”
I kissed the sole of the Vampire Princess’s foot.
I gently supported her heel and ankle with both hands and remained still for a long while, my lips pressed against her skin.
Sss.
The Vampire Princess tried to pull her foot away.
But I tightened my grip on it and held it fast, then continued kissing the center of her sole with my eyes closed.
It was quiet.
The only sound was the swallowing of saliva, while breaths continued to come from before and behind me.
Smack.
I lowered my head, deliberately producing a deep kissing sound as though drawing her foot firmly against my lips.
“Th—”
That’s enough.
That should be enough.
Before she could say those words, I continued kissing her.
“!!”
Smack, kiss, smack.
Because I was holding her foot, I could feel it twitching and her ankle attempting to twist each time I kissed it.
“.......”
When I cautiously lifted my gaze, my eyes met the Vampire Princess’s.
Her face had not reddened in the slightest, but she was unmistakably staring intently at me.
So—
Lick.
I lightly ran my tongue over the sole of her foot.
I looked up at the Vampire Princess through half-lidded eyes, moved my body closer once more, and buried my face against her foot.
Lick.
My tongue, which had risen from the sole, began making its way toward her toes.
The startled Vampire Princess slightly curled her toes, but I did not miss the opening.
‘Now.’
Crunch.
I lightly took the Vampire Princess’s big toe into my mouth.
When I gently raised my teeth to hold it in place, the Vampire Princess’s brows furrowed slightly.
She must have been thinking, How dare he bite my foot?
But—
Kiss, kissss.
I earnestly licked her toe, thinking of it as a peach.
It was small enough to be adorable rather than resemble a big toe, and perhaps because she did not walk around often, it was soft and supple, without a single callus or hardened spot. There was no resistance at all as I sucked on it.
Lick.
I pulled my head back.
At the same time, I offered her a first experience with my tongue—perhaps the most sensitive one she had ever felt, something she had never experienced in her life.
“!!”
I could tell from the way her ankle twitched.
The Vampire Princess was flustered.
As if she had never imagined that the space between her toes would be stimulated by someone’s tongue.
Lick, lick.
I put strength into my tongue and poked between her toes.
I prodded the space between her big toe and second toe, then raised my tongue and dragged it behind her toenail.
Smack.
At the same time, I did not forget to kiss the tip of her toe.
Toes were not as sensitive as the soles, but the very act of kissing them and caressing them with my tongue—
“.....Ngh.”
—gave the other person a mental orgasm, filling them with a sense of conquest and pleasure.
Sss.
I drew the Vampire Princess’s foot toward me and stretched out the top of it.
Then, after pressing my forehead against her ankle, I lightly kissed the front of her instep.
Smack, kiss.
I kissed it as though caressing her.
From the moment I began licking her foot, my loyalty had also been a caress directed at the Vampire Princess.
Lick, lick.
I kissed her while drawing my lips against her skin, ran my tongue upward, and was just about to wet her entire instep with my saliva as I moved higher—
“Enough.”
The Vampire Princess shouted firmly.
With my tongue still pressed against the middle of her instep, I stopped moving.
“...Withdraw.”
“.......Yes, Master.”
Smack.
I finished with one final kiss and withdrew.
The saliva I had deliberately left thick and wet stretched out in a long strand.
A transparent arc extended between the tip of the Vampire Princess’s big toe and my lips.
Slurp.
The moment that arc began to droop downward, I swept it up with my tongue before it could break and licked my lips.
“......Instructor Azazel.”
The Vampire Princess’s voice—
“I understand your loyalty well.”
—was slightly trembling, unlike at the beginning.
“You are my instructor.”
* * *
Approximately thirty minutes later.
“.......”
Only the Vampire Princess remained in the instructor’s room.
Instructor Azazel had instructed the succubus secretary and sent her to the instructor’s quarters, while the fallen priestess who had been in the instructor’s room was led by her subordinates to the “demon’s private chamber.”
“.......”
The Vampire Princess sat motionless for a long while on a chair created through magic, her legs crossed.
Then, quietly, she lifted the leg she had crossed by herself.
Her foot.
The top of her foot was covered in deep red kiss marks.
“.......”
It was a sensation she had felt for the first time in her life.
“......Hah.”
The Vampire Princess finally let out the deep sigh she had been holding back and tilted her head backward.
“A human who accomplished the feat of awakening an ancient existence... and finding the clue to it, acting like this...”
Resting her chin on one hand, the Vampire Princess turned her gaze away.
“......Well, it wasn’t bad.”
She muttered the words, her face flushing.
“...But.”
At the same time, she frowned.
“Did he kiss other women’s feet like that as well?”
He had been far too good at it.
“...I should find out.”
The Vampire Princess rose to her feet—
“.......”
But the moment she tried to put her shoes back on, her body stiffened.
“.......”
Flap.
The Vampire Princess spread her wings, then flew out of the instructor’s room, beating them as she went.
Leaving one shoe behind.