The Eve
I'd expected the cultists would find me out eventually.
What kind of human being would go around using a name like Pecia von Chiffonside?
Sure, some of the more devoted followers knew the names of the Royalty, but nobody was crazy enough to actually use one.
Still, something about this felt off…
The Endoros faction had approached me of their own accord. From the Abyss's point of view, that was pretty damn insolent.
Royalty always stood above their subordinates. A retainer was never supposed to hold information their sovereign didn't know — and if they'd realized I was out, the proper thing would have been to come pay their respects first.
Even if I wasn't the particular Royal they served.
"There's no way a high priest would pull something like this. Do you think it was just a few Endoros members going rogue?"
"Are you asking me?"
"Yes."
Kang Jiye's face twisted into a scowl.
"How the hell would I know, you little idiot."
"You're the Deputy Director of the Hunter Administration."
"Yeah. And?"
"You're basically hunter police who catch ability criminals."
"And?"
"So you should be good at schemes and politics. You deal with weirdos all the time."
Kang Jiye pressed her fingers to her forehead like her head was throbbing, let out a short sigh, and straightened up.
"…Anyway, to sum up — you're the Demon God's seventh daughter, and there are six more above you. Collectively known as the Seven Kings of Siphonside."
"That's right."
"Is the summoning order fixed? If each faction is offering sacrifices, couldn't they just summon the strongest one first?"
She looked worried about a sudden invasion.
"In theory, sure. But it's probably not happening."
"Why not?"
"The stronger they are, the more Mental Power it takes to open a gate."
Even now, the weakest of the Royalty — me — had only just managed to slip out. Summoning the ones above me would take decades, maybe centuries more.
But they didn't need to wait that long.
If a Royal already summoned died, a massive surge of Mental Power would charge up, enough to call the next one.
That was why Kim Seojun couldn't just kill me casually.
"I've heard that part before. Good grief. Never thought I'd pick up a Royal and raise her instead of some ordinary monster."
Arms crossed, Kang Jiye stared straight through me.
I rejected her wording on the spot.
"You didn't raise me. I grew up just fine on my own."
Kang Jiye let out a hollow laugh.
"Are your siblings like this too?"
"Like what?"
"Picking fights over every little thing, latching onto word choice, turning everything into a debate over right and wrong."
I shook my head.
"They wouldn't even get two sentences out before tearing someone apart. Especially a human."
"Right, that sounds normal. So what's wrong with you?"
"Even if you ask me why… I was just born this way?"
I'd been exceptional from birth.
I sorted right from wrong with precision in every matter, and never lost my grip on logic or fairness no matter the situation.
Even if the world called me a nuisance and dismissed me as some pedantic scholar, I always held the center and made society better for it.
People usually called useful beings like that the pillars of society, didn't they?
Kang Jiye burst out laughing. Pffft!
"What?"
"Ahahaha!! Kid, you're not a monster. You're a comedian."
"That's insulting."
I was completely serious about being a pillar of the world.
The true messiah of this age, weathering every storm to purify a fallen society — that was me.
Kang Jiye started laughing so hard she made no sound at all, stomping her feet. If she thought I was wrong, she could have argued. Apparently she planned to just laugh it off instead.
I bristled a little, then settled myself.
See? She's this happy because I'm here.
So what if there was a hint of mockery in it? The fact remained that I'd brought her happiness.
Behold — I was the happiness evangelist of the human world.
Kang Jiye wiped her tears and said,
"No, but why is a monster worrying about human society in the first place?"
"…"
For the first time, I actually felt hurt.
"I'm a person, though…?"
"Huh?"
"I worried about human society because I think of myself as human… I guess Auntie didn't see it that way."
The laughter drained from Kang Jiye's face at once.
She blinked in flustered confusion, her lips twitching.
"No, that's not…"
"I'm going to my room to sleep."
"Hey— why is this suddenly going that way? That's not what I meant."
Kang Jiye quickly pulled me in by the arm and hugged me, but my mood showed no sign of improving.
How dare she laugh at my logic?
In the end, it took the cheese short ribs she cooked for me that evening before my heart felt even a little healed.
Status check.
Whether I liked it or not, taking down the cult meant a lot more fighting ahead.
I need to wipe them out without a sound — no rats, no birds, nothing left to talk.
From now on, the cult would actively ramp up kidnappings and terror attacks. Mixing monster and human lives in the right proportions was how Mental Power generated smoothly.
Kim Seojun was still too dense to realize it, but the root cause of this whole mess was me.
I'd gotten out earlier than expected, which made him dig into my background — and that was what got the research lab blown up.
In the original history, the cult would have cleaned up that lab on their own, and the Director's car never would have been wrecked.
On top of that, every faction would gradually figure out that I'd emerged. From here on, they'd rush to summon the next one.
Two Royals active at the same time would create serious synergy, after all.
Not that I had any intention of cooperating with them.
"Eldrisa."
"Yes, Lady Pecia."
"Come here."
I crooked a finger, and Eldrisa flew over on her broom.
I kneaded her arms and legs for a moment, then folded my arms.
"You."
I asked the girl who was swallowing hard with a tense expression,
"…Want your power back?"
"Pardon?"
"I'll give it back. As long as you diligently do everything I tell you from now on."
Eldrisa's eyes went wide, light returning to them.
"Why all of a sudden…?"
She was suspicious, sure — but her eyes were already half-spun. I grinned and asked,
"Don't want it? Then forget it."
"I-I do want it! What is it? Just tell me."
As expected. Like she could refuse.
I nodded in satisfaction and made a rather abrupt proposal.
"Starting today, your job is to watch cartoons with Yena."
"Cartoons…?"
"Anything's fine. The important part is watching each story from beginning to end and writing a review. Try to empathize with the full range of human emotions that come from success and failure."
Eldrisa looked faintly reluctant.
"I can write as many reviews as you want, but… what exactly are human emotions?"
Eldrisa was a witch.
Witches, by nature, were wicked beings who boiled people in cauldrons and tortured them for fun. She wouldn't be much different.
Telling her to empathize with humans was about as useful as telling her to empathize with a passing ant.
I pointed at her with a serious face.
"You'll know you've succeeded when you stop asking questions like that. Watch them properly."
"May I… ask the reason? I don't believe I've ever made Yena uncomfortable."
I gave her my honest intent.
"I know. It's just that I expect a lot more unexpected situations going forward."
"Unexpected situations…"
"The moment they realize I've betrayed them."
In practical terms, that meant standing against the Seven Kings of Siphonside. Eldrisa lowered her gaze, her golden eyes blinking.
"…"
She asked under her breath,
"Are you asking me for protection?"
"You say with your mouth that you'll protect Yena, but you're not sincere about it."
"…"
Of course she wasn't.
Her nature was cunning to the core. She could play humble and shed tears on demand whenever it suited her, but those were crocodile tears.
The only reason she didn't actively hate humans was that she'd inherited a bit of my temperament. She was still a selfish, wicked witch through and through.
Eldrisa looked at me with cold eyes.
"I don't believe something as trivial as cartoons will change me."
…Well, of course not.
But I knew their weakness extremely well.
"If you can't change, then find a reason to protect her."
"…?"
"Your kind is a race that pursues knowledge. So try finding something in Yena worth trading your life for."
This was fundamentally why these creatures ate people and tormented them.
Like the biological experiments of World War II — they ran tests to learn efficient killing methods, or to map the internal structure of living things.
In other words, a witch without inquiry was a corpse.
"What, can't do it?"
Eldrisa's cheeks trembled for an instant.
Provoking a witch's spirit of inquiry was a direct strike at her pride down to the roots.
Normally it was something you shouldn't do lightly — but right now it didn't matter. I had the upper hand.
Eldrisa wore a cold sneer.
"…I suppose dissecting Yena is off the table? It would be so much better if I could see how she's put together."
"Try it if you want to get dissected yourself."
"I wouldn't mind, as long as you restore me to normal afterward?"
"That's the problem. I'd be doing it myself, so I might make a mistake. You okay with that?"
"…"
There was no way someone who mostly tinkered with dolls could properly handle a humanoid monster.
I was basically saying I'd kill her, just phrased sideways. Eldrisa let out a long sigh and elegantly swept back her silver goddess-like hair.
"What's the deadline?"
"No deadline. As a down payment, Four of a Kind. You're at Flush right now, so that's a two-rank jump. Once you succeed, I'll apply Back Straight Flush."
"Not bad. But I have one more question."
"Go ahead."
"Once things get serious, high-ranking nobles will start showing up. Even if I recover all my power, I won't be enough on my own. How do you plan to handle that?"
She was politely saying she didn't want to die a dog's death.
"…"
Don't worry. I have zero intention of leaving it all to you.
Party Bear Crafting (2)
Toy Soldier crafting method unlock is imminent!
I looked at the skill window and answered.
"…I'll start making them now. Our own nobles."
So that nobody would get hurt because of me.
I was going to prepare properly.
I was a happiness evangelist, after all!
"Excuse me? Overtime?"
Meanwhile, at the Central Hunter Administration, an unexpected thunderbolt had struck.
"Haha, this whole affair left us with a mountain of work to process. Everyone's thrilled, right?"
The Director was beaming, recalling Pecia's words.
The grief of losing his car — he would overcome it through the employees who trusted and followed him.