The Big Picture
Several dozen minutes before Frey arrived at the burning café.
"Hmm hmm."
Ruby entered the bathroom, cleared her throat for a moment, and then began speaking in a cold voice.
"What is it?"
— I'm sorry, Demon King. Just a little more time...
"Could it be you still haven't subdued that girl?"
Ruby asked incredulously, and the secret party's leader replied in a trembling voice.
— S-Sorry. I don't know where he came from, but he's using strange scrolls, making it hard to subdue...
"Haa."
Wearing a pathetic expression, Ruby severed the connection on the orb, then began stroking it while muttering.
"Rather than trusting such a useless fool, it'd be a hundred times better if I handled it myself."
In Ruby's mind, the current situation was extremely advantageous to her.
At first, she'd been worried that Serena might have figured out her identity.
But after talking with Serena, it turned out she simply thought Ruby was a slave who'd escaped from the slave market.
Of course, some suspicious remarks and actions in the middle were concerning.
But Ruby, having seen all sorts of impressions and impressions from various people, knew well that it was just the excessive paranoia geniuses often displayed.
Moreover, Serena had clearly started showing obvious agitation from the moment she mentioned 'Frey.'
Ruby could vouch for that, having watched her right in front of her eyes.
— Zzzt...
"Good."
Thus, Ruby decided to set a trap.
To force Serena in her current state to attack her, thereby nullifying the no-attack restriction placed on her.
— Ah, Big Sis! Hello!
After fiddling with the orb for a while with such thoughts, Ruby pulled her hand away, and a sleazy voice began emanating from it.
"Hmm... the voice sounds a bit awkward."
Frowning at the voice, Ruby started tinkering with the orb again.
— Hey, Big Sis. Hello?
Her mouth was moving exactly in sync with the pronunciation of the words coming from the orb.
"Good."
After a short time, Ruby tapped the bathroom wall with her finger, satisfied.
— Shoooo...
The soundproofing magic circle she'd set up in advance began slowly dissipating.
'She's probably trying to eavesdrop secretly by now, right?'
Smiling triumphantly at the magic circle, Ruby began playing her final card to end the psychological battle with Serena.
— Leader Big Sis! You there?
"What's wrong? I told you not to contact me outside."
— B-But...
When speaking herself, she wore a cold and arrogant expression, but when the voice came from the orb, she put on a fawning one.
Ruby was putting her all into playing both roles single-handedly.
"I'm busy deliberately leaking info to the nobles on the street right now. Unless it's really urgent, later..."
— R-Riot! A riot broke out!
"What?"
— The hostage we caught is causing a riot!
"That scrawny weakling, causing a riot?"
While saying that and briefly pressing her ear to the bathroom door, Ruby soon flashed a triumphant smile and opened her mouth again.
— Turns out the staff she had was a magic tool! She's toying with us with weird functions and trying to escape—we barely caught her!
"Hmm..."
— Even tied up tight, she's thrashing around—it's a real headache! What should we do?
At that point, Ruby paused the orb briefly, went to the sink, turned on the faucet, and...
"What to do... Have no choice but to kill her?"
Feeling the quite agitated emotions coming from outside the door.
"If she escapes on her own, our location will definitely be exposed."
She began making a sinister expression.
"We were just gonna take the ransom and leave the country... Ugh..."
— Big Sis, have you decided?
"Y-Yeah. I've decided."
Finally, as she began clenching and unclenching her right hand, Ruby said.
"She was only useful for escape, but now she's a hindrance to us. And she's the one who tried to buy us all up and violate us."
Staring quietly at the bathroom door, she muttered inwardly.
"So..."
'Come on, Serena.'
With an expression more delighted than ever.
"To uphold justice, even if I have to just kill..."
And the next moment.
Boom!!
The firmly locked bathroom door exploded off with a roar.
"...!"
Serena, who appeared in the doorway, took a deep breath and began running a simulation in her head.
— Whoosh!!
In less than a second, Serena found the optimal path and outcome, her eyes fierce as she thrust her fan toward Ruby.
"...!!!"
But soon, she froze in shock, halting the fan.
"Too late."
But Ruby merely looked at Serena with a ridiculous expression.
"You've already harbored killing intent toward me and attacked."
As she said, the tip of Serena's fan had grazed Ruby's cheek, leaving a faint red mark.
"From that moment, the game was essentially over."
Ruby's words were true.
The instant Serena's fan brushed her cheek, she'd already lost consciousness to the now-unrestricted Ruby.
"Now, all that's left is the cleanup."
With an expression of pure amusement, she reached out toward her.
"For such a precious gem to roll right into my lap whole... It'd be too foolish to just kill you."
And shortly after, purple light filled the bathroom.
......
"Ugh..."
Serena, who'd been unconscious for a while, quietly opened her eyes.
"Are you well?"
"...!"
In her vision appeared Ruby, legs crossed in a chair, revealing her true form fully.
"Y-You...?"
"Shh."
Ruby, holding a wine glass, exuding demonic energy, and spreading her wings wide, pressed a finger to her lips, making Serena swallow hard.
"Since you've seen my true form anyway, you've probably realized my identity. So..."
"W-Where's that girl...?"
Ruby, continuing in a soft voice, tilted her head at Serena's sudden unrelated remark.
"W-Wait, give me a moment. There's someone I need to save. If I can just contact her through that girl..."
'This just got easier.'
Hearing Serena's panicked voice, Ruby smiled gently and replied.
"That girl was merely bait to lure you in. She was just a good kid following the script I gave her to protect the orphanage children and deceive you."
The Demon King in her true form exuded a far more mature aura than her human girl guise, to the point where a normal person would struggle to stay sane.
Serena, standing right before her, seemed unable to distinguish due to her panic.
"W-What did you do to me?"
After a long silence, Serena cautiously asked.
"I took your soul."
"...What?"
"While you were asleep, I forced a soul contract."
Serena's eyes began shaking violently at those words.
"I originally planned to use Absolute Obedience Magic, but... it was already in place? So you'd prepared for that?"
"Ah..."
"That's why I had to bother with a soul contract. I wanted to just kill you several times midway, but I couldn't let a talent like you slip away, so I endured."
Though her voice was utterly bored, the content made Ruby's words all the more chilling, tightening around Serena bit by bit.
"Now, you have no choice but to obey my commands. A soul contract is complex but binds the other party absolutely."
"W-What does that..."
"Bow your head."
Serena, trying to deny her situation, bowed her head to the floor the moment the Demon King commanded.
"Yes, now that's more like it."
"...Ugh."
"Say 'Thank you.'"
"Thank... you..."
Though struggling, she obeyed the next command too. Ruby, arms crossed and staring at her, whispered lowly.
"What do you value most?"
"...Frey Raon Starlight."
"Would you stake your life for him?"
"Yes."
As Serena answered blankly, Ruby smirked mischievously and asked again.
"Then, could you kill him for me?"
"...Yes."
Serena replied with a pained expression, and Ruby smiled in satisfaction.
"Looks like it worked properly. If you'd answered immediately, I'd have deemed it acting and killed you."
Replying thus to the trembling Serena, Ruby sighed and muttered.
"Too bad I couldn't use Absolute Obedience Magic. That would have let me bypass penalties too. A mere soul contract won't cut it."
"U-Um..."
Serena posed a question to her.
"What... do you want...?"
"...What I want?"
Ruby flapped her wings briefly, then lifted the corner of her mouth.
"Become a spy."
"Pardon?"
"Become a spy and hand over the hero's information to me."
With that, Serena's expression began to sour.
"Indirect killing is blocked by restrictions too... No helping it."
"...Grk."
"Well, do your best. I must be off."
Gazing at the grinding Serena with scornful eyes, Ruby frowned as she sensed star mana from afar and rose.
— S-Sorry! Demon King! I couldn't make it in time, truly...
"Withdraw."
— Y-Yes? But...
"If you don't want your limbs torn off, withdraw now."
— U-Understood!
After ordering the secret leader, Ruby tried to open a portal by slicing the air with her finger and vanish, but...
"Oh right, come to think of it. This café has so many fond memories for you and Frey, doesn't it?"
"U-Ugh."
"And the chef, head cook, waitstaff—all assassins. Probably all your loyal subordinates."
She said with a cold smile.
"And nearly all of them have lower goodness stats than you."
"W-Wait..."
"In 30 seconds, this place will explode completely."
To the paling Serena, Ruby added in a low voice.
"Abandoning lingering attachments is a rite of passage for those who've offered their souls to me."
......
The café, now cleanly burned to ruins, filled with memories of Frey and Serena.
"............."
Frey, having quickly teamed up with Irina to extinguish the fire, stared blankly at the ruins.
"Irina, what happened here?"
"I don't know. I was fighting the secret leader and chasing him, and... this place appeared."
"S-Serena?"
"Serena's here?"
Frey, biting his lip at Irina's words, suddenly widened his eyes.
"...I feel it."
"What?"
"A familiar... very familiar energy."
With that, he began walking into the ruins like a man possessed.
"W-Wait! Frey, hold on!"
Irina tried to stop him, but as people approached from afar, she urgently tore an access prohibition magic scroll and followed.
"Th-This is..."
Where Frey stopped, staring blankly.
"...The gift I gave Serena."
It was the orb compressing star mana that Frey had given her when visiting her home.
"Why is this here?"
"F-Frey..."
In the center of the ruins wrapped in Irina's access prohibition scroll, Frey knelt, silently gazing at the orb.
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As the sudden quest popped up right in front of him like the finishing blow, he bowed his head deeply and fell silent.
"F-Frey..."
Irina grabbed his shoulder, ignoring her injuries from the fight with the secret leader to comfort him, but.
"There you are."
"Huh?"
At that moment, Frey smirked faintly and...
Crash, thump!
began digging through the rubble with his hands.
"Found it."
After digging through the debris for a while, Frey discovered an underground bunker with a magic circle and sighed in relief.
— Creak...
After sitting there blankly for a long time, Frey cautiously opened the door.
"...Hello?"
Serena peeked out.
"Serena, thank goodness...!"
"Shh, the staff are below."
As Frey beamed brightly trying to shout to her, Serena placed a finger on her lips to hush him.
"...By the way, our staff have poor eyesight."
"Ah."
Right after hearing that, Frey tried to kiss her, but.
"...So, what happened here? Serena?"
"Yeah, this isn't the time."
Irina urgently asked, wearing a grave expression too.
"Did you sense the orb I gave you and come here? It has such powerful protection magic it can't be opened from inside—I was tense, but it was needless worry after all."
"...Huh?"
But suddenly, Serena started saying something out of left field.
"Well, since it's made of your star mana, it's no wonder you found it quickly."
"Serena, right now..."
"You still have the orb I gave you, right?"
"...Yeah."
Cutting off Frey and asking, Serena smiled satisfied.
"Good boy. That's important—keep it safe."
"Got it, but what the hell happened..."
"It went according to plan."
"What?"
Seeing Frey's bewildered expression at the third out-of-nowhere remark today.
"As you can tell from those two orbs..."
Serena said.
"I'm yours alone. Not the gods', not my parents', not the empire's... solely Frey's."
".....?"
With a triumphant smile.
'Of course, my soul too.'
Inwardly muttering a fact still hard to tell him.
'I already offered my soul to you with a blood oath when we were young, so no one can take it.'
"Serena?"
'Not even the Demon King who's been collecting souls since past loops.'
The moon and stars shone above their heads.
"Frey, could you give me one command? As I said before, mind control alone is getting tough these days."
"What're you talking about?"
'I've been suppressing guesses as much as possible... but she suddenly revealed herself.'
Brighter than ever.
"I'm trying to paint the big picture."