Chapter 6: Twisting Fate

A week after she had set out in search of the demon's traces, Alice was—thankfully—able to return safe and sound, together with her two vice-knights.

But Alice herself showed no sign of improvement. The smile she had always worn for me, the warmth with which she greeted my every glance, was nowhere to be found. What I saw instead was an expression in which fury, hatred, and self-blame all lived at once—in her face, and in her every movement.

"Commander. I believe you will need to issue a subjugation order within days."

When Shuris, the vice-knight who had made the journey with her, offered those quiet words, Alice gave a stiff nod of assent.

"I suppose I must. You two, go inside and rest. There is more I need to look into."

"In that state, what more do you intend to do? You must go inside and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rest as well, Commander!"

"Gii. You saw that scene in the forest with your own eyes, and still you can bring yourself to speak to me of rest? A territory does not turn on its lord alone. It is the territory's people who set the waterwheels turning."

"This very day we returned from looking upon the corpses of maidens of this very territory—violated, again and again, before they died. Not one of them, but many. The demon remains uncaught, and the victims will only go on multiplying. And even so, you tell me to rest?"

"I spoke out of turn only because you seemed so visibly unwell, Commander. I beg your forgiveness."

"Without the people of the territory, we would have no reason to exist. Those left with no one to protect lose their worth entirely. Never forget that—Gii, Shuris."

"We will keep it in mind, Commander."

"You have been wandering the forest all night; you must be exhausted. Go in."

"As you command, Commander."

"Good. Where is Edgar?"

At her summons the head butler came hurrying, and Alice bent his ear with her orders.

"Edgar. Summon all the vassals. Every moment counts now—I need the evidence and the investigative results they have been gathering all this time."

"Yes, my lady. I shall see to it at once."

Having delivered her commands to Edgar with that hardened face, Alice seemed to notice me watching from nearby; her expression shifted, and she called to me gently.

"Hyun-ah. I'm sorry, but I think our sparring will have to pause starting next week. The situation in the territory has grown very serious. Spend the time reviewing what you've learned. Once everything is over, I'll test you again—and if the results are good, I'll see that you're rewarded. So work hard, all right?"

Alice's face looked utterly drained.

There was no doubt in my mind that Asmodeus's atrocities had worn her down to this. She knew perfectly well that whipping herself onward would not make the impossible possible—and still Alice drove herself harder and harder.

It's not as if I could stop her, even if I tried...

"Lady Alice, you look exhausted. Please rest, even a little."

"I'm sleeping as much as I always do. You don't need to worry."

That was a lie.

Dark circles had settled beneath her eyes, and her golden hair had gone visibly dry and brittle—yet there she was, feeding me an obvious lie straight to my face.

And even so, I could only let her go.

Because I had nothing special—nothing that could stand in her way.

I made up my mind.

I would hunt down Asmodeus in Alice's place.

And with that, I would repay what I owed her—for the fate she had spared me from: nearly carried off by bandits, sold from place to place for ransom, and condemned to live out my days as some manor's maidservant.

Keep this up, and she'll work herself to death long before the madness ever gets its turn with her.

It was the lesson my late mother had left me.

"When someone shows you kindness, repaying it twice over is still not enough—all the more so when it touches what is precious to you. So the moment a kindness comes your way, return it without delay."

And for that, I had to train Bihyeongcham all the harder.

It was the only thing within my power to do.

I headed straight for the training grounds, took up my short sword—my main weapon—and began practicing Bihyeongcham.

Though I had learned it only days before, the technique moved through my hands as naturally as if I had wielded it all my life.

Bihyeongcham had taken so much out of me that my left leg could barely carry my weight anymore—but somewhere along the way I had grown attached to Alice, and I could not bear the thought of watching her be overwhelmed. So I clenched my jaw and kept swinging.

Only after a full two weeks had passed since I first learned Bihyeongcham did I finally register that something had arrived in the Status Window clouding my vision.

"Hoo... Just three clean ones. Let's make them count."

Three swings to go.

Shwing— slash!

"One."

Two to go.

Shwing— slash!

"Two...!"

One more!

Vwoom— CRAAACK!

"The last one...!"

"Haah... haah...!"

Gulping down ragged breaths, I began checking my current state in the Status Window.

The moment the mission cleared, windows crowded before my eyes as if to offer their congratulations.

"Ah. I can't see a thing."

Slowly, I read down the lines of text.

"Huh? Why is this popping up here?"

Yongrin—Dragon Scale. True to its name, the skill momentarily manifested the scales of a dragon to turn aside a lethal blow; in the game, its performance had earned it a place among the very top tier of defensive skills.

"Eh? What's going on with this one?"

"I've never seen this one before either...?"

The instant the skill landed in my hands, I opened the skill window and pulled up Cheongnyongdeungcheon's detailed description. It was a new evolution skill tree, born of my trait's influence rather than the original evolution path, so it came with a full write-up.

And what greeted me when the window opened was a technique I had never once seen in all my hours of playing the game.

Insane... what IS this...?

It was a technique I had never laid eyes on in my life, and it carried staggering power—yet even Bihyeongcham by itself already pushed my stamina to the breaking point.

Even burdened by my lack of stamina and the short time I had held a sword, this skill made an impact powerful enough to devour those drawbacks whole.

In the space of a single moment I had fulfilled every condition to become a true pillar of Alice's strength—and the sheer versatility of the mighty skill made my hand go slack, dropping the sword before I even noticed.

Once I collected myself and returned to the mansion, the voices spilling from the meeting room were loud and grave.

Wondering if it had something to do with the main quest, I began to eavesdrop.

"Now then, everyone—report the scale of the damage to the territory, and the findings of your investigations."

At Alice's words, Cloud Deus, vassal of House Cumul, gave his answer.

"Thirty corpses of women—and by our findings, the perpetrator appears beyond doubt to be the Demon of Lust, Rank 32: Asmodeus."

Concurring with Cloud Deus came the voice of another vassal, Rosie Benedit. She too reported to Alice the damage she had witnessed and the results of her investigation.

"We likewise recovered fifty-five women's corpses, every body stained with an unidentified fluid—so this as well appears to be unquestionably the work of the Demon of Lust, Asmodeus."

"And the other vassals?"

The remaining vassals brought forward findings much like Cloud's and Rosie's: in most cases the victims were women, and the corpses bore traces of an unidentified fluid. Then, from among them, Blooming Crow—retainer of House Blooming, which had suffered the worst of the losses—produced a lead.

"Lady Alice. Three maidens vanished overnight from the Blooming territory. According to the testimony of the one who returned alive, she heard 'the demon's whisper' in a great cavern near Elaon Forest. We sent soldiers to confirm—and the two maidens still unaccounted for were found dead, their bodies stained with that same unidentified fluid."

"Elaon Forest—are you certain?"

At Alice's question, Crow answered.

"Certain. It has been confirmed that Asmodeus is present in Elaon Forest, the forest of colossal trees."

Just then, a thick, low voice rang out in protest.

"Absolutely not! Even if Crow speaks the truth, the possibility remains that this is a demon's trap!"

It was the shout of Cloud—first vassal of House Cumul, the man who had once stood at Alice's father's side like a true friend.

Privately, I shared his opinion: they ought to watch the situation a while longer before moving in.

Asmodeus, ranked thirty-second, was a demon of the upper-middle tier. His raw force might be modest, but when it came to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠laying traps and deceiving his prey, he was among the most specialized fiends there were.

But with the dead multiplying geometrically across every territory, the matter pressed all the more urgently from where Alice stood.

In the end, Alice ordered the army into the forest—trap or no trap—and the vassals, no longer able ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to watch their people ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sacrificed in such staggering numbers, raised their hands for the subjugation.

Hearing those words, I felt it at last: the thing I had been waiting for had arrived.

Before long the council broke up, and at the sound of footsteps heading for the meeting-room door, I hastily hid myself.

Chewing over everything I had heard, I resolved to follow this war no matter what.

After all—Alice loses that battle.

It wasn't as though she lacked experience, and she hadn't delayed the investigation either... so why had she lost?

Turning the question over and over, the answer I finally arrived at was—

Could it be...? They're opening a Gate already?

The Gate—the exclusive possession of the demons, their patented magic.

Hiding the demons' true numbers behind the Gate—and, timing it to the investigation, deliberately concealing part of their force?

A trap so devious it made me wonder—had Asmodeus really been this clever?

He had even used the Sword of the Azure Sky—a blade he himself could never wield—to drive Alice into that murderous madness in the game.

"No wonder Alice ended up the way she did..."

Alice had always been one of those NPCs who could never, ever be saved.

Whenever the game began, the Cumul territory was already half in ruins.

No matter when the player started the game, Alice was already dead—beyond saving.

But right now, we were still before the subjugation.

There was still a chance to stop it.

If any chance remained to save her—

—and if that last remaining chance could bend fate itself?

Before my very eyes, I had just witnessed Bihyeongcham—against everything my knowledge of the game said—evolve into a wholly new evolution: Cheongnyongdeungcheon.

"The conclusion is... it's possible."

If there was even the slightest possibility of saving her, I would do whatever it took.

Because then it would be a happy ending—one where she lived, and so did I.

"First, let's start with a plan to bring Alice around."

I spent the whole night working out that plan, and before I knew it, dawn had come.