Ten Thousand Lies

The next day. Tuesday, lunchtime.

He'd finally been granted a rest, but there was no time to take it. X roused Lola from her nap and brought her to a study room in the library. He had something to verify, and tutoring the chronically unstudious Lola made for convenient cover.

That something went like this.

"I am not, in fact, a commoner. I am a noble."

"W-what?! Is that for real?!"

"I am, in fact, preventing the destruction of the world."

"That's a lie! You think I'd fall for something like that?"

Lola reeled, then reeled again. The things coming out of X's mouth sounded somehow true one moment and utterly preposterous the next. Her thoughts tangled into a hopeless knot, and her eyes spun in her head.

"Ugggh... I-is it real? Are you joking?"

"The truth is out there..."

"You're messing with me again!!"

Watching Lola's spectacularly animated reaction, X nodded to himself.

So that's how you use it.

What he was doing was a field test of his new talents.

Not bad. This is pretty good.

Ten Thousand Lies — the talent he'd used on Circe yesterday. It was the ability to make a target believe a lie. Because the activation cost scaled with the size of the falsehood, it couldn't be used for anything too wildly implausible.

Take the following, for instance.

"My lady, I am in fact the Hero. I've been concealing my power."

"...You?"

Lola shot him a sidelong look and sighed.

"Everyone knows Leon was chosen as the Hero. Who would ever believe a lie like that?"

"You didn't fall for it... As expected, my lady is most perceptive."

"Do you have a death wish?!"

In this way, the talent was bound by Probability. The more grounds the target had to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be certain that something couldn't possibly be true, the more absurdly high the activation cost climbed. That was why the lie he'd just attempted had demanded a hundred thousand points.

Conversely, the more the target found themselves wondering whether it might actually be true, the lower the cost dropped. A proper buildup, in other words, dramatically improved the odds of success.

"My lady, I was in fact royalty from a continent far beyond the eastern seas — a land where the sun first rises. In my heart is enshrined the star of freedom that races across the vast plains of Manchuria."

"I-I'm not falling for it this time!"

"Think about it. If I weren't royalty, how could I have enrolled in this academy? No matter how gifted a commoner might be, could they really have accomplished everything I've done so far?"

"W-wait? Really...?"

"So if I should ever return to my homeland, I shall introduce you to the radiant glory of the Kim Dynasty. You are, after all, a comrade who has crossed hardship at my side."

"I-is that true?!"

"Just kidding."

"Hey!!!"

Used after thoroughly confusing the target, the activation cost dropped to almost nothing. The effect was even stronger on someone as innocent and trusting as Lola. That was why the lie he'd just told had cost a mere hundred points.

There's a lot of ways to work with Ten Thousand Lies. But...

While Lola, fuming, yanked at his hair, X examined the other talent.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use this...

The talent was baffling. An effect that made people disbelieve you even when you told the truth? Compared to Ten Thousand Lies, it looked about as useful as a paperweight. If he had to guess at a reason for it to exist, it was a penalty of some kind.

You have to use A Single Truth to restore Ten Thousand Lies to ten thousand points. And A Single Truth drops back to zero.

This talent's point costs worked the same way as Ten Thousand Lies. When you spoke the truth, the cost was low if the target found it impossible to believe, and high if they already believed it with conviction. The catch was that the only way to earn activation points was to keep using Ten Thousand Lies.

I just spent a hundred points on Ten Thousand Lies, so...

A Single Truth now sat at a hundred points — exactly equal to what Ten Thousand Lies had consumed. With a structure like that, accumulating points was brutally difficult.

Why is this even S-rank? The effect is weird and the restrictions are brutal.

No matter how he looked at it, the thing resembled a penalty more than a power. And yet there was a reason X was wracking his brains over the analysis.

Skills that look like this are usually cheat-tier.

His instincts as a ten-year veteran editor were screaming that this talent, of all things, was a cheat. Of course, that hunch hadn't produced any useful conclusions.

Hah... Still, it's a relief they have this property, at least.

On the surface, the two talents did nothing more than manipulate belief. But their true power was this:

Ignores truth-detection.

They nullified lie-detection methods like the Book of Eibon. That was the real capability of these talents.

This world has more lie detectors than you'd think.

There were lie-detecting instruments in this world. Circe's Book of Eibon, which he'd seen just the other day, for one. The Holy Kingdom's inquisitors, for another, along with any number of magical tools and artifacts. Fooling even one of them would be more than worth it. Most people placed blind faith in the results of a lie detector, which meant the effectiveness of a lie was effectively doubled.

That's enough on these two.

He wrapped up the analysis. He had a decent sense of how to use them going forward. To reset the points, he tried A Single Truth with a suitably casual remark.

"You know I care about you, don't you?"

"I don't believe you, you liar! I'm never falling for it again!"

Huh.

He was left dumbfounded by the unexpected result. Lola, for her part, finally stopped yanking his hair, sat down across from him, and went on grumbling. He could see her sneaking glances at him while she studied. He understood what that meant immediately.

She's so dishonest with herself...

The meaning of what had just happened was obvious. Lola believed the sincere thing he'd said without a shred of doubt. She could grumble all she wanted about not believing him. Deep down, it was a different story entirely.

Ten thousand points' worth of trust, huh...

He could only marvel at when, exactly, he'd built up ten thousand points' worth of trust with this spitfire. If he ever wanted to use A Single Truth on her, he'd apparently need to say something she wouldn't already believe.

"I'm not actually in a secret society, you know."

"...And what kind of test is that supposed to be?"

The fact that it had only cost a hundred points meant that, at this stage, she couldn't bring herself to believe he wasn't in a secret society. Which also meant the earlier lies had taken root thoroughly.

If she ever finds out, she'll yank me bald.

Praying that day would never come, he patched things over as best he could.

"It was a test of faith. Since you didn't believe me, you passed."

"You are unbelievable!!"

He barely managed to stop Lola from coming after his hair again, and was about to analyze the remaining changes when a voice reached his ear.

"Hm? Did you say something, my lady?"

"I didn't say anything."

The guileless look on Lola's face told him it wasn't a lie.

Is there someone in the next room?

X focused on the sounds carrying through the study room. Nothing. Not a whisper.

Did I just imagine it...?

Brushing it off so easily wasn't the wisest call, but there was no way to investigate a hallucination. With no other option, he decided to let it go for now.

Never noticing that the Soul Trap Ring on his left index finger had flashed, just for an instant.

Helping Lola with her studies ate up the hours, and before he knew it, evening had arrived. He ate dinner with a Lola who was making a tremendous fuss about being hungry, and that day's studying came to an end.

Back in his room, he turned to the matters that still needed checking. The first priority was obvious.

"I need to find out what Elysia's been up to."

He accessed the Setting Editor at once to check her Author Points.

He couldn't.

"...Hah. So she noticed."

He'd expected this day would come eventually, but it had arrived far sooner than he'd thought. This made it much harder to monitor changes in Author Points and prepare accordingly.

I couldn't even check last time I got hit with a penalty.

He tried every approach he could think of to uncover the Author Points. None of them worked. Everything came back blocked. One of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠most powerful weapons in his arsenal had just been neutralized. It made his guts twist, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"No choice... I'll just have to check the other things first."

He turned back to the remaining talents he hadn't fully examined.

"So these appeared when my race changed to demon..."

The fact that he had become a demon settled over him all over again.

"If Demonification is my true form... then I really have become a demon, haven't I..."

While he was at it, he checked whether the Setting Editor would let him become human again.

"And why is that..."

He'd expected as much, but seeing it in writing still drew a groan out of him. The status window responded to the complaint.

That was unexpected. If the message meant what he thought it did, his transformation into a demon was not a normal state of affairs.

So even the System isn't omnipotent?

No amount of thinking produced an answer, so he set it aside for now. Treating it as a kind of bug put his mind at ease.

"So when does this 'temporary measure' of yours get lifted?"

"Ugh. Add another name to the list of people I want to flick in the forehead."

Next, he needed to understand what actually changed during Demonification. Enhanced base stats and demonic techniques — he needed a precise picture of what that meant. Checking it was the right call, and yet...

"Would it be okay? I wouldn't go weird just from turning into a demon, right?"

He couldn't help finding the whole thing unsettling. He'd experienced firsthand what demons were. The thought of becoming one of them left him with a complicated, uneasy feeling.

"So is it okay to do it or not?"

"That 'temporary measure' again..."

Seri refused to answer any further questions about the temporary measure. When he asked what would change after Demonification, she gave him the same Unable to respond. In ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the end, the only way to find out was to check it himself.

"I can't do it here, so I'd have to go outside, but..."

The academy was currently in a state of emergency. All teachers and students were forbidden from leaving the grounds. If he got caught sneaking out, he'd face immediate expulsion — and risk being named a suspect in the recent attack.

"But if I use Demonification here, I'll become the actual culprit..."

For that reason, confirming Demonification was postponed as well.

Last on the list were the new items in the Item Shop and the Talent Shop.

With this much, I could buy out every new item no matter what got added.

"Huh...?"

X's eyes went wide as he looked over the newly added products.

"W-wait? Why is this here...?"

It was the kind of item that, if you thought about it, could theoretically exist — but the kind you'd never actually expect to see listed.

A cheat key had been added.

Around the time X finished dinner and returned to his room, a girl arrived at the academy's front gate.

"We've finally arrived, Goddess!"

She was a beautiful girl with pink hair.

"Huh? Can you hear me, Goddess? Goddess Elysia~! No answer... You did say you wouldn't be able to respond for a while... What should I do now?"

Still lost in thought, the girl turned toward the academy.

"For now, shall I go look for this 'X' I'm supposed to kill?"

Elia smiled, bright and innocent as a child.