Chapter 344: Evil God Subjugation — End (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 344: Evil God Subjugation — End (3)
A battle for the position of legal wife, you say.
Kaya’s face was a mask of doubt, Luce glared with eyes that screamed, “What nonsense is it this time?” and Alice merely maintained a generous, knowing smile. All three were staring at Dorothy.
Meanwhile, White was trembling, her head bowed like a small fish caught in a pack of sharks.
“Why am I even here…?” she whimpered in a voice so faint it was practically inaudible.
“What are you talking about?” Luce asked, her tone cynical.
“I’m sure you’ve all realized and accepted it by now—the President has feelings for all of us. So, if we all end up with him, what kind of problem do you think will arise?” Dorothy asked, posing the question like a quiz show host at a major event.
Luce frowned, answering irritably, “It doesn’t matter. Isaac is mine.”
“Dear, don’t you get it?” Alice interjected.
“What?”
“Considering Isaac’s status, it’s only natural for him to have multiple wives. That selfish, possessive mindset of yours seems more suited for a concubine.”
“…”
When Alice chimed in with that barb, Luce’s glare intensified.
At that moment, Kaya coldly voiced her opinion. “Legal wife or concubine… Isaac wouldn’t rank us like that, would he? If we marry Isaac, we would all be his wives, obviously.”
Though the Seed of Yggdrasil was gone and she could no longer manifest [Yggdrasil], Kaya had reached new heights after using the power once. She now possessed the strength of character to stand her ground, even against someone like Dorothy.
Dorothy clicked her tongue, wagging her index finger back and forth with a playful smirk.
“You don’t get it. Of course, Isaac would take us all as wives. But the question is: which ‘wife number’ will you be?”
“…!”
Kaya’s eyes widened in realization.
“Even if we all marry him at once, a hierarchy will inevitably form. In other words… the ‘first wife’ will implicitly hold the status of the legal spouse, while the others will essentially be concubines,” Alice explained kindly. Dorothy nodded in fervent approval.
Kaya couldn’t find an argument. Even Luce, despite herself, found the logic undeniable.
Among them, who would truly be Isaac’s first?
It was a profound question, no different from asking who would become the primary mistress of the household.
“We can’t exactly ask the President, who likes all of us, ‘Which one of us do you like best?’ So! Let’s decide the rankings among ourselves.”
“Indeed… this is a serious issue.”
Kaya broke into a cold sweat, taking the suggestion with deadly seriousness.
“But, um…”
When White nervously raised a trembling hand, every eye in the room snapped toward her.
“Why… why did you bring me along…?”
“Huh? You’re involved with the President—I mean, Isaac—too, right? The whole mentor and student thing?”
“That’s true, but…”
“Do you dislike Isaac?”
“No! Absolutely not! Never!”
Startled, White shook her head so violently it left afterimages.
“Alright. So, you do like him, right?”
“…”
White’s face turned as red as a beetroot. She lowered her head again, giving a faint, microscopic nod.
“Oh wow, how refreshing…”
“White is still so young, unlike the rest of us.”
“Watch it. That comment makes us sound like fossils.”
“Get real. We’re about to be second-year graduates. We are fossils.”
“No way, I’m still in the flower of my youth! Stop using such old-person expressions!”
“Heh, that’s cute.”
As Dorothy got worked up, Alice let out a soft chuckle.
“So? How do we compete?”
When Luce showed interest, Dorothy let out an excited, “Oooh~!”
“My friend, are you finally up for it?”
“Isaac is mine. I’ll make you all admit it.”
“Nihihi! I like that confidence!”
Luce was a soon-to-be graduate. After opening her heart to Isaac and experiencing life at the academy, her social anxiety had significantly improved. She could now hold a normal conversation with ease.
Like the others, Luce harbored a deep desire to have Isaac all to herself. However, the women gathered here were formidable rivals she couldn’t easily push aside. Therefore, the best course of action was to crush them in today’s competition and establish herself as Isaac’s undisputed first woman.
Luce made up her mind.
“Then, the event is this!”
Bang!
Using starlight magic, Dorothy summoned a large barrel of alcohol, five glasses, and various snacks from another room, slamming them onto the table.
Except for the ever-smiling Alice, everyone looked shocked.
Dorothy tapped the massive barrel and declared, “A drinking contest. Let’s settle this with booze!”
“S-Senior Dorothy, I object! Deciding the legal wife through a drinking contest? This is too much…”
“Is there any other event as healthy, fair, and persuasive as this? What, should we play rock-paper-scissors? That’s disgustingly boring.”
“Well, not that, but…”
Kaya felt a surge of dread looking at the mountain-sized barrel.
“I agree. For once, I’m on the same page as Dorothy,” Alice said.
“Can you not say we’re on the same page? It makes me feel gross.”
“You little rascal.”
Alice laughed nonchalantly. At that moment, Luce grabbed a glass and slammed it onto the table, commanding everyone’s attention.
“Pour.”
It was a short, sharp order.
“You’re proactive! I like it!”
Dorothy laughed as she filled each glass to the brim. White stared at the sheer volume of alcohol in front of her and trembled.
“Let’s begin! Cheers, everyone!” Dorothy shouted, thrusting her glass forward.
The heat of competition ignited in the room.
“C-cheers…?”
White tried to offer a genuine toast, but the other women, as if by unspoken agreement, skipped the pleasantries and immediately began gulping down their drinks.
“Huhhh…?”
Realizing she was falling behind, White hastily started drinking.
Four loud bangs echoed in unison.
Kaya, Luce, Dorothy, and Alice all slammed their empty glasses onto the table at the exact same time. White, grimacing, joined them a second later.
“Alright, next!”
As they continued to drink with grim determination, the large barrel was soon half-empty.
Kaya’s face was flushed, and she began to sway side to side like a bobblehead. Luce silently maintained her composure, while White, looking utterly exhausted, sipped her drink with her head hanging low.
On the other hand, Dorothy and Alice were only slightly flushed and appeared perfectly relaxed. They were both notorious heavy drinkers.
“What’s the matter, everyone? Tired already?” Dorothy teased, pouring another round.
“Of course not!”
Kaya thrust her glass forward with both hands. Dorothy smiled contentedly, chirping, “Drink, drink!” as she filled it to the top.
Kaya gulped it down without hesitation, slammed the glass down, and fought back a burp. Suddenly, she hiccuped and scanned the other four women with dazed, glassy eyes.
“But, you know… aren’t you all being way too… arrogant?”
“Huh?”
At the unexpected outburst, everyone focused on Kaya.
Swaying dangerously, Kaya continued, “Isn’t it true? In this academy, the first woman to be involved with Isaac was me. I was the first to join Isaac’s plan, and I was the first to figure out his true identity…! So, logically, I should be the first wife! It’s only logical!”
It was an appeal based on the "first connection" trope. However, Kaya’s argument lacked persuasive power.
“What does that have to do with being the legal wife?” Alice asked.
“Huuuh?”
“It’s not like you spent your first night with Isaac. What’s the big deal about being the first one he met?”
Alice calmly retorted while taking another sip. At those provocative words, Kaya’s face turned even redder—like a ripe apple—but she fired back vigorously.
“Coming from a terrorist who attacked the academy! And I! I-I’ve spent a night with Isaac, you know?!”
“What?”
At Kaya’s sudden claim, everyone except White reacted with shock.
“Once, we camped together. After defeating the demons, just the two of us… enjoying the sound of the trickling stream and the warmth of the campfire… we shared a tent!”
The "shared tent" card. Kaya had revealed her trump card.
“The first night together…!” Dorothy gasped, looking astonished.
Kaya was the first to be involved with Isaac, and now it was revealed she was the first to spend a night with him.
“Even when I was pretending to be asleep… he secretly told me I was pretty…! That means I was the first to win Isaac’s heart!”
“Your delusions are bordering on psychotic,” Luce muttered.
“It’s true! Luce Eltania, do you want me to hit you?”
When Luce brushed it off, Kaya narrowed her eyes and firmly reiterated her claim.
However…
“You literally just slept in the same space, right?” Alice asked.
“T-that’s…”
“Even if my baby really said you were pretty, I doubt anything actually happened.”
“…”
“You’re reading too much into it, Dear.”
Just as Alice pointed out, they had simply slept. That was it.
“And my baby finds everyone pretty. You can’t judge his feelings just because he gave you a compliment.”
“…What are you trying to say?”
“The important thing is who loves him the most.” Alice smiled her characteristic, gentle smile. “For example, even if I had to tend to my baby’s… um, most private bodily needs, my love for him wouldn’t waver for a second. It’s already happened before, anyway.”
“What disgusting thing are you talking about…? And what do you mean it already happened?”
“Gross.”
Dorothy and Luce both frowned in disgust.
“It means I can accept him exactly as he is, every part of him. That is the depth of my love…”
Bang!
“Isaac doesn’t have such things as bodily secretions!!” Kaya suddenly exploded, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Everyone was shocked, even Luce.
“What? Excrement from the sacred Isaac? Your words are outrageous!”
“No, I didn’t mean it literally…”
“That’s blasphemy!! Isaac is practically a god!”
“But, Baby is still a human…”
“Isaac has transcended the human realm! Even if he did have secretions, it would be holy water! Not some filthy, trivial waste!”
Kaya wasn’t just in love with Isaac; she was his most fervent devotee. Because she was drunk, her true feelings were pouring out like a broken faucet.
“Uh, I see… Calm down, Dear. I’m sorry.”
Faced with Kaya preaching with the fervor of a cult leader, Alice admitted she had spoken rashly and backed down.
“Nyahaha!! Right! The President is a God! That’s blasphemy!” Dorothy laughed loudly, pointing at Alice and supporting Kaya’s claim—though she was clearly joking.
“Haa, how ridiculous…” Luce took a sip of her drink, sighing in a tone that suggested she found the whole thing pathetic.
“Hiccup…”
“Huh?”
The noisy atmosphere was suddenly silenced by White’s hiccup. White set her glass down and lifted her head. Her half-open, glazed eyes stared into the void.
“What’s with those eyes? Why are you being so creepy?”
“Hiccup… Senior Isaac issss…” White’s voice trailed off. “His Majesty Carlosss… wants to bind me to Isaac! This is a national matter…! This isn’t something for us to debate like this!”
In the now-silent room, White squeezed her eyes shut and shouted, her voice echoing off the walls.
“She’s bringing politics into this…”
“This girl is using her royal authority…!”
Alice and Dorothy were momentarily flustered.
“Pffft!”
“…?”
Suddenly, someone burst into laughter.
Silence fell again. The atmosphere shifted instantly because the person laughing was the last one anyone expected.
It was Luce. She lowered her head, hiding her face behind her rose-gold hair, trying to stifle her giggles.
“My friend, you’re laughing…? Wait, you actually know how to laugh?” Dorothy found the sight fascinating.
Fueled by liquid courage, White stared at Luce. She decided to push her luck.
“Senior Isaac and I are bound by the nation’s will…”
“Fuhaha!!” Luce couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.
“Even His Majesty Carlos decided we should marry…”
“Stop! It’s too funny…! My stomach hurts…!”
Luce laughing while clutching her stomach was enough to startle everyone in the room. Soon, Kaya, Dorothy, and Alice joined in, laughing because White’s serious, drunken voice was simply hilarious.
As the night deepened, they spent the hours happily clinking glasses. They reminisced about their past adventures and openly shared what they wanted to do with their lives moving forward.
*
“Baby, come on in.”
“Huh…?”
When I arrived at the location Dorothy had mentioned—Iris Hall—Alice opened the door to greet me. The room was incredibly noisy, and a wave of anxiety washed over me.
When I finally stepped inside, a scene of utter carnage unfolded.
“Huwaaah…! I’m trash… I’m an incompetent piece of garbage…!”
“Worship Isaac…!”
“Isaac, if only… if only you would look at me… it would be enough… Lock me in the basement… if he just craved my love, I’d be so happy…”
“Nyahaha! What a mess!”
W-what is all this…?
The smell of alcohol was overwhelming. I had no idea what they had been talking about, but White was sobbing in self-deprecation, Kaya was worshiping me like a deity, Luce had her head buried on the table muttering to herself, and Dorothy was clutching her stomach, laughing uncontrollably.
It was pure madness. I looked at the large barrel on the table. It was bone-dry.
How much did they even drink…?
“Explain, Alice.”
“We had a drinking party,” Alice answered with a smile.
“And you’re fine?”
“No.”
Suddenly, Alice hugged me tightly. The heavy scent of alcohol wafted off her as well.
“Darling, I have no strength… I’m so hot… help me take this off…”
“Stop pretending to be weak.”
“I’m serious. Opening the door was the last of my strength.”
It sounded like a lie, but Alice really was leaning on me heavily, like someone who was completely wasted.
So she only looked fine on the surface.
“You’re here, Sir Isaaaaac…” Kaya, who had been singing my praises, crawled across the floor and grabbed my leg.
“President, you’re here? Come on in.” Dorothy tilted her head and smiled widely. She wasn’t in her right mind either.
“…”
Eventually, a small smile tugged at my lips. It seemed like they had all grown closer.
I took off my coat, hung it on the rack, and asked Dorothy, “Dorothy, is there any alcohol left?”
“Nihihi, there’s plenty! You want to join us, President?”
“Yes. I’ll drink too.”
“Great!”
That night, I drank heavily and shared many stories with them. Most of those "stories" lacked context or meaning—the kind of things you don’t remember the next morning, but find hilarious in the moment.
I drank until the world spun and I could barely keep my balance. After covering the five of them with blankets as they slept in a tangled heap, I turned off the lights and lay down in the remaining empty space.
“Mmnh…”
Dorothy muttered in her sleep and hugged me.
Come to think of it, back when she was living on borrowed time, she had thrown away her teddy bear to sever her attachments. After we took down the Floating Island, she had brought it back out.
Well, being Dorothy’s teddy bear wasn’t such a bad gig.
Dawn was breaking outside the window. This was the first time I’d stayed up playing like this since I transmigrated. I had no worries at all. It felt as though the iron shackles that had bound me were finally cast off, replaced by a sense of freedom and deep intoxication that flowed through my entire body.
Smiling, I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
In my dreams, I met the Dorothy from the first timeline and the Witch of the Candy House. I told Dorothy I loved her, and I thanked the Witch.
Then, I saw my mother—the one who had passed away while I was preparing for my exams. She told me she was proud of me, her smile more loving than anything else in the world.
They walked toward a distant horizon glowing with light. I watched their retreating figures for a long, long time.