Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Mana Confirmation
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The broadcast wrapped up smoothly without a hitch.
Today's earnings: a whopping 90,000 won.
At this rate, doesn't Madness even need to head out for part-time work?
Of course, I know full well this isn't steady income.
What's more, I'd expected fewer viewers today than yesterday, but a single comment sparked community buzz, causing a temporary surge.
I wonder if the next stream will pull in even half of that.
Still, now that we've got some attention, it shouldn't plummet to absurd lows.
After all, I'm confident in my looks.
These looks are the pinnacle of perfection.
I trust this body's appearance.
But if you're asking whether it's reliable enough to guarantee everything going forward, then no, not quite.
Right now, if Madness lost her job, that'd spell trouble all its own.
"By the way, Madness, you look truly exhausted today."
I stretched lazily and gazed up at the weary Madness.
I'd seen her seething with rage plenty of times, but this bone-deep fatigue was a first since we'd crash-landed in this world.
It couldn't just be some obnoxious customer—if that were the case, she'd be drained every single day.
"...Since it was during the broadcast, I humbly accept the sin of daring to lie to Your Abyss Majesty."
"It's fine. But as expected, it's not merely friction with a customer."
"Yes."
"Then, can you explain what happened?"
"Yes, please."
Madness began her tale.
She confessed that this exhaustion stemmed from some anomaly right after clocking out.
"...I sensed mana."
"...The mana in this world is so faint we shouldn't even register it."
"Yes, but it was no illusion. And it wasn't this world's mana. It was mana deeply familiar and longed for by us."
"What do you mean by that?"
We'd fallen this low precisely because this world lacked mana.
And now mana had appeared?
But it wasn't this world's mana? And it was familiar?
"Madness, are you saying...?"
"Yes, our true selves were originally masses of mana, and they crumbled because they couldn't adapt to this world."
"As our true forms collapsed, they scattered mana across this world, and you've only now sensed it?"
"Mana is a core building block of any world—it wouldn't just dissipate naturally. So I sensed the mana released as we faded still lingers here."
It was a logical explanation, yet it had its illogical holes too.
"Then why was it only detected now, half a year later? From the start, Madness, there's no way I wouldn't have sensed mana that you did."
I even pride myself on having at least ten times her sensitivity to mana.
So how had she sensed it while I hadn't?
This defied logic, yet Madness had no reason to lie to me, leaving me bewildered.
"I've pondered that too, but it seems it's not our innate mana sensitivity at play—it's the body's own responsiveness."
"What...?"
"Your Abyss Majesty, you are the supreme existence of the Demon Realm, yet this flesh is merely that of an ordinary girl."
"......"
"If the humans here each have varying mana sensitivities, it fully explains why you didn't detect it, while I did."
My mana sensitivity was too low to notice for half a year?
And she'd spotted it first?
Noticing my stunned look, Madness pressed on.
"I sensed the mana, poured every nerve into tracking its origin, and discovered this."
Madness handed me a stone.
It looked like a plain, ugly rock, but the moment I took it, I knew.
"...This one has mana imbued within."
I hadn't even sensed the mana inside before holding it in my hand.
But grasping it, the mana flowed into me as naturally as breathing, delivering pure ecstasy.
Eyes closed, my body shivered faintly.
"This isn't my mana, but it's undoubtedly from the Demon Realm."
"The Demon Realm poured so much into this invasion that it wasn't just our true selves that perished here upon invading this world."
I sank into thought.
The pondering didn't last long.
Now it all made sense.
"The mana mingled into the air and naturally settled into things like this."
And mana settled this way was several times more concentrated than what drifted freely, which was why Madness had detected it.
"A minuscule amount, barely a speck, but if we gather enough of these..."
If I could recover even half my former power...
"...I could tear open a dimension and return to the Demon Realm."
No need to reclaim everything from the past.
Precisely half would do it.
I had been that mighty once.
"However..."
Madness and I fell silent in unison.
Plenty of problems loomed, all too real.
"After half a year, we barely found one stone with this dust-mote of mana."
I knew it wasn't commonplace—we'd just gotten lucky this time.
If it were abundant, we wouldn't have gone half a year without spotting one before.
No telling how much luck it'd take to gather enough for half my power.
Nor how much time, making it impossible to just hunt mana-infused items blindly.
Hope glimmered, but it didn't change my immediate priorities.
I still had to survive here—perhaps for a long while—so money remained essential.
Funds to live day-to-day.
If this body failed, my spirit would vanish in an instant.
Mana spreading through this world didn't mean I'd be fine as a disembodied soul.
"By the way, Madness."
"Yes."
"You've done well."
It praised both her work and the hopeful news she'd brought.
Grasping my intent perfectly, Madness offered a faint smile, and I stroked her head—heel raised, arm fully extended.
"Thank you."
"Feel free to rejoice more; upon our return to the Demon Realm, I promise a fitting reward."
"I swear to serve Your Abyss Majesty until the end."
Hm.
"But during the stream earlier, was it really necessary to grovel like that?"
No matter how I turned it over, that level of subservience baffled me.
It even made me feel obsequious by proxy.
"...Your Abyss Majesty, have I been remiss? Allow me to teach you this world's 'common sense.'"
"C-common sense?"
Madness approached with a maniacal gleam in her eyes fitting her name; intimidated, I staggered back, but the wall stopped me after a few steps.
This semi-basement left nowhere to flee.
"M-Madness, that expression is a tad frightening...?"
"Your Abyss Majesty, society is far scarier still."
She sat me on the floor and spent nearly three hours drilling this world's brutal "common sense" into me.
"I'm sorry for being alive... Sorry for being a rice worm... I won't ask for money again... Sorry... Sorry... Sorry..."
"Yes, that's the proper posture for the socially vulnerable. Your Abyss Majesty."
"...Thoroughly humiliating."
"How many in society escape humiliation?"
Regaining my wits, I rose and faced Madness.
Her bright, eager eyes met mine without flinching; I managed an awkward expression.
"Madness, have you endured this every day...?"
"If not, they won't give me work."
"......"
What on earth had she endured out in society?
We had to conserve mana at all costs, but with what we'd just gained, incinerating one human to ash was feasible.
Someday, I ought to track down whoever reduced the Demon Realm's 2nd Legion Commander to this.
She bowed her head and swallowed her pride only for lack of power.
With strength, the story would unfold entirely differently.
This grudge would fester in my chest until it burst forth one day.
Vowing that future reckoning, I gazed pityingly at Madness.
She tilted her head like a puppy catching its master's eye, drawing a sigh from me.
"Your Abyss Majesty, one bit of advice: whatever else, never forget 'I'm sorry.'"
Madness tacked on bluntly.
"...Madness, my misguided choice ruined you like this..."
Regretting the past would only make me pathetic.
Still, waves of remorse crashed in—if only I hadn't forced the invasion.
Seeing her now nearly brought tears surging forth.