A Mother’s Relentless Lesson
In Meiel’s lecture hall. I sat in my chair, gazing at Mu who knelt before me with both hands raised in submission.
“Mu, what did I say?”
“You told me to come to Mother’s lecture hall.”
“Yet… you disobeyed my command and approached Kana first. Do you know what’s wrong with that?”
“…Yes.”
I had explicitly ordered her to remain quietly in the lecture hall, yet she had taken matters into her own hands and contacted Kana. Then she had even given her some half-baked advice after hearing a few scattered remarks from me.
Although I had crafted Mu from the brain and mercury of my loyal tool to grant her autonomy, her behavior was still a grave violation for a Homunculus. I scolded her, and she listened obediently.
As punishment for disobeying the order, Mu was to kneel with her hands raised for thirty minutes.
Mu maintained perfect stillness, though her body trembled faintly now and then as if numb from the cold floor. Watching her, I took a deep breath.
“Haa…”
Honestly, even after hearing her story, I couldn’t simply scold Mu without hesitation. From her perspective, she had acted on her own initiative, yet she had successfully restored Kana’s shattered self-esteem and perfectly resolved the issue. In the end, she had done what I should have done herself.
The result would have been identical if I had given proper orders and let Mu execute them. So the only reason I was scolding her now was that she had acted without permission.
And judging by the remorse in her eyes, Mu had learned her lesson. It was time to switch from the whip to the carrot.
“Mu, stand up and come here.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Mu trembled slightly at my words as she slowly walked toward me. It seemed she feared I would punish her even more severely.
Since this was my first scolding, the shock lingered longer than expected. To soothe the girl trembling pitifully small, I placed a gentle hand on her head.
“It was wrong of you to act on your own, but you did well, Mu. Even without being told, you handled everything perfectly.”
“Mother…!”
Overcome with emotion, tears welled in Mu’s eyes at my touch. Seeing how much she cherished approval, I realized I would have to give plenty of praise if I wanted to use her more efficiently in the future.
For now, as master and tool, parent and child, I would treat her kindly.
Mu rubbed her head against my hand like a cat purring. Since she was currently Meiel, her signature messy hair was strangely comforting.
After the punishment, I stroked her head for about ten minutes. When I finally withdrew my hand, Mu had returned to her usual energetic expression.
“Then shall we start planning the proper future, Mu?”
“Yes, Mother!”
With combat class over and no other schedule, it was time to think seriously about the future and plan our moves. And for that, we began a quiet meeting in the professor’s hall, the only two souls left in it.
* * *
After the Demon King’s signal quest, as I mentioned before, came the quest of the falling Sky Island. And between that and the start of the Human-Demon War, there were eighteen Demon-related quests in total.
Every single one was deeply tied to the future Human-Demon War. I had to prepare plans with utmost care, but right now the priority was the Sky Island quest. The later quests could only be properly resolved after the Sky Island operation succeeded.
The first wrong button would unravel everything that followed, after all.
To solve these Demon quests, I had created Mu, so I began explaining every detail of the Sky Island quest to her, one point at a time.
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It took me at least fifteen minutes to explain. Mu, with her Homunculus-level intelligence, understood in a single pass. Nodding, she summarized my words for me.
“In short, Mother means that some Demon executives plan to steal the Sky Island and drag it right above Phara Kingdom’s airspace before crashing it down.”
“Exactly. If I had my way, I’d just slice the island in half and be done with it. But these Demon executives must be captured at all costs.”
“…”
Mu’s summary left me silent for a moment. Truth be told, the quest was simple.
When I played the game, levels were low, gear was weak, and autonomy was limited. But with the power of this kingdom, I could easily cut the island with a sword or destroy it with magic and clear the quest instantly.
I had chosen not to do that because I wanted the best chance to capture the executives. I wanted to make the future easier for them when they knew nothing about us yet.
If I could capture all the executives appearing in this quest, stopping the Human-Demon War would become dozens of times easier.
But since Mu knew nothing of the Demon King’s army, she tilted her head curiously.
“Are the Demon executives really that important?”
“Yes. Extremely important. I have to use everything I have to catch them.”
As you’d expect from anyone who had heard their names, the executives held very high positions in the Demon realm. Five in total.
In order: Idea the sorceress, Isolde the mage, Morgan the warrior, Pensia the winter princess, and Ar the disaster—three women and two men.
Roughly speaking, they were the Demon King’s right-hand men, immediately below her in rank. The vast majority of Demons answered to them, and their forces of billions moved at their command.
Of course they were absolute subordinates to the Demon King, but to the Demons themselves, the executives were indispensable figures.
And the Sky Island quest was the one where Demon executives appeared the most often. Four of them at once, in the very first quest. Since it was so early, they knew almost nothing about me.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance. The first and last chance I might ever get.
“But of course the executives are strong.”
“If Mother says so…”
“How strong? Honestly, I don’t know exactly, but strong enough that Aria could fight them head-on for five minutes?”
“…”
“That strong?”
Each executive had their own level, but the lowest was Isolde at level 95. Then 96, 97, 98, and 99. Since they were raid bosses that could only be caught in the late game, they were terrifyingly strong. An ordinary level-90 player would struggle for ten minutes against five of them.
Of course I was a level-100 whale user, so I could solo them in five minutes. In short, slightly annoying mobs, but for Mu who already knew Aria’s strength, they felt extremely powerful.
Mu’s voice grew faint. It was true that the executives were stronger than normal foes, and each one taking five minutes meant we might not even be able to capture one before the others escaped.
With Mu at my level, we could easily handle two. But my wish was to capture all four executives gathered on the Sky Island if possible.
Therefore, I needed to set traps in advance using Arin and Kana, who were currently watching the executives.
“How do we…”
“Simple.”
There was no need to explain. Using Arin and Kana to capture the executives was ridiculously easy.
If they only observed from our side, we could turn the tables and split the executives apart. If Mu and I could perfectly separate them so completely that neither knew the other existed, in theory we could capture all four. To do that, we first had to make the executives believe I was a being they must fear above all else.
If they thought I was the most dangerous creature they would ever face, their prideful personalities would lead them to move as a single unit.
“Each of us handles one.”
If I could make the other four—excluding Yeonha, who worked as a professor—fear me, each would be assigned one executive. While Mu and I used disposable clones to capture two, the other two would be taken by me and Mu. Then we would reunite with the clones and finish the last two. Perfect.
“So we must first reveal Mother’s power to Arin and Kana.”
“I know it sounds childish, but that’s exactly what we have to do.”
No further explanation was needed. It really was simple. In my current situation, this was the only plan I could execute.
But it was an effective plan nonetheless. Based on information about the executives, it looked sloppy yet would work perfectly.
Mu, who believed anything I said without question, would obey without a single objection. As proof, she nodded without hesitation.
Yet there was one question Mu still had.
Watching my expression cautiously, she raised a hand.
“Mother… what will you do with the captured Demon executives?”
“Huh?”
My brief silence answered the question. What would I do with the captured executives?
“I’ll interrogate them. If necessary, I’ll brainwash them and make them fight the Demons.”
Why throw away perfectly good enemies when you can use them until they’re spent?