NOVEL NEXT Chapter 93: Cowardice and Selfishness
"What do you think Laplace is carrying, Eve?" I ask Eve curiously, finally picking up on some strange things about this delivery.
"Are you curious, Evelyn-chan? Or did you notice something?" Syl'Vyr asks, sounding intrigued, as Eve begins to quickly build a campfire since it's night and, according to Laplace, we'll be staying here for two hours.
"Syl'Vyr, I did notice something strange! Laplace is making a delivery in our father's name, and it's for use on the battlefield... but... strangely, there are very few of us, as if the delivery is supposed to be a secret," I say, recounting my observations as I feel the cold night wind.
"Perhaps he's carrying a dangerous weapon," Eve says, but I just laugh.
"Hahahaha, that can't be. After all, my father could take it personally, or just send a specific team instead of sending Laplace." My father has his shadows, loyal servants who are always with him and do everything he asks.
Most people don't even know these servants exist; they're a complete mystery. They are very powerful people who carry out all sorts of missions, and it was one of them who delivered the golden apple I had asked my father for as a gift.
And if it really were a weapon or something important, I think my father would have these servants deliver it since they are super-secret.
"Well, whatever it is, it's certainly interesting!" I say as I sit down on a tree stump. We continue our conversation for a while until Laplace emerges from the carriage.
"Did you know that talking about people behind their backs is very rude?" he says, having overheard our conversation.
"Well... then how about you join us, Laplace?" I say while poking the fire Eve made with a stick.
"..."
"We have a schedule to keep. We have only an hour and thirty minutes left before we start traveling again," he says, sitting down on a rock and looking at the campfire.
"You seem tense. Anyway, what's in the cargo? I'm very interested," I ask him.
"...Just supplies, nothing more..." he says as I still try to make conversation.
"I see you don't want to talk about that... so I'll change the subject. Laplace, you've seen angels before, right? What are they like? I've never seen one," I ask, and he makes a disgusted face.
"Tsk, they're just stupid vermin! They think too highly of themselves for no reason, just because their race has a few advantages others don't. They're so ridiculous, and those pieces of shit still dare to try and invade us all the time."
"They take advantage of the fact that we can't leave this continent to attack them either, but that won't remain the case for much longer." When he says that, I remember the game.
If it took too long for Esther to exterminate all living beings on the planet, a war would break out. The game ends more or less there, so I don't know much about the future war, but I know about the past part.
The war in the game that happened at the end was huge, involving more than just angels and demons. Demons have a natural disadvantage in a conventional war against angels, and that is the disadvantage of not being able to leave our continent in large numbers.
The ocean near our continent is infested with dangerous sea monsters. To cross this ocean safely, you need gigantic, heavily reinforced ships full of offensive and defensive magic.
However, it turns out we don't have the resources for the mass production of that kind of ship, which forces us to remain here, stagnant on our continent, while the angels attack.
But in the game, the Demon King found a solution, and since he found a solution to this problem, he simply began his offensive, abandoning the defensive stance that had lasted for so long.
Though it's obvious that his offensive would cause 'problems'—even if many demons die, many angels die too—so the current war is stable. Demons and angels neither advance nor lose territory. However, with the Demon King deciding to invade their continent, the tide changes.
"But no matter how annoying the angels are, they will never win. Not while our father is here," Laplace says with such great conviction that it surprises me.
"Our father... how strong is he? Have you seen him fight?" I don't know much about Lysaion because in the game, he was always away from the castle or was busy and couldn't see Grace.
"...Terrifyingly strong. Strong enough to defeat all the candidates for the throne at the same time as if it were a game," he says with a shudder. Our father is truly visually frightening.
Although I know he's not that bad... he's a complicated father, but he's still a good king who does everything for his people.
'But... Esther and I are stronger at our maximum power...' Esther alone, as someone from the Seventh Layer, has the potential to surpass our father, and if I can evolve my puppets to their maximum, I will also surpass our father's power, matching Esther's power even if that power comes from my puppets.
Of course, for now, my power is still absurdly weak, but in the future, I intend to make all my puppets powerful.
"Well, brother, our father seems to trust you, and that's good," I try to compliment him, but he just ignores it as he pulls something out from the storage ring he uses that truly shocks me.
"I-Is that... a fairy?" I say, seeing a girl who looks to be at most 40 centimeters tall. She's inside a cage he took out from the storage ring.
The weirdest part is that she's alive!! I didn't even know you could store living things inside a storage ring! Mine can't do that!
"Yes, I bought her... from around," he says, dodging the question of the location, but it seems like it was from the black market.
"H-Hey!! You p-pervert!! What are you going to do with that poor little fairy!" I stand in front of him, putting my hands on my hips and looking at him with disgust. The fairy inside the cage is sitting with a dead look in her eyes, as if she no longer wants to live.
She looks at me, but her gaze is so empty and sad. Soon, the fairy just looks down at the floor of the cage, ignoring me.
"What am I going to do? Well, if you're calling me a pervert, you must know. After all, I was going to use the adventurers I bought... I mean, I paid for them to come on this mission, but since you and these two came instead, I need something else to pass the time," he says as I see the fairy tremble.
"T-That's absurd! She's not even the right size for that, you disgusting creep!" I say angrily. How can he do something so grotesque with a fairy! She's literally 40 centimeters tall! Obviously an adult fairy, but still a fairy who is very small compared to her size.
"...Does that matter? I bought her, so I'll do what I want. If you think it's so bad, then why don't you trade places with her? I'd accept doing that with you to pass the time," he says with an unpleasant insinuation.
"..."
"Hahahaha, that's funny. You're trying to talk about morality, but when I propose a way for the fairy not to suffer, you don't want to because you would suffer in her place... hypocrite," he says with a serious look while opening the cage, grabbing the fairy, and pulling her out.
"...Son of a bitch," I say angrily, stomping away. I don't want to see this, so I just walk away.
'Dammit, how can I defend him when he does these disgusting, fucked-up things?' I think angrily. I know full well the reason he's like this, but it's still disgusting in every way possible.
"Evelyn-sama..." Eve quickly catches up to me as I stop and look at her.
"...What is it, Eve? I'm not okay..." I say, pouting. And the worst part is that Laplace is right; I am a hypocrite. I wouldn't have the courage to take the fairy's place so he wouldn't do anything.
Just the thought of Laplace touching me makes my body shudder with pure disgust. I would never let that dirty guy lay a hand on me.
"It's nothing, Evelyn-sama... I'll just stay with you," she says as I sit on the ground, leaning against a tree and looking at the night sky.
"Eve... am I... a bad person for not trying to help that fairy?... I don't have the strength to challenge Laplace... I don't have the courage to trade places with the fairy so she can escape... and... I can't even argue well against Laplace... all of this makes me feel... like a failure," I say, angry because I've always been bad at talking to people.
And that never changed. I talk well with Eve and Syl'Vyr, but that's because they're my puppets. I can even interact well with other people, but they're not 'good' interactions; they're interactions where I think a lot before speaking so I don't mess everything up.
"You are not a failure, Evelyn-sama, and you are not to blame for the actions of others. Laplace is the one doing that, and he would do it with or without you talking to him. You do not need to offer your body for the sake of strangers," she says, trying to cheer me up.
"..."
"Eve, I'm selfish, aren't I? I want to have everything, but I don't want to put myself at risk... I want to be queen, but I don't even have the courage to deal with the biggest problem in that." I don't know what to do about Esther. I don't have the courage to kill her to stop her from destroying the world, and I don't know what I'll do with her.
"Haa... I hate this... I hate being so limited and cowardly..." I hug my knees, looking at her out of the corner of my eye while wondering what the original Evelyn would do in my situation.
"...If you want... I can offer my..."
"NO!" I yell at her, even angrier that she would even consider the idea of using her own body.
"Don't even think about it! You are my puppet, and the most special one of all! I would never let that dirty guy touch you!" As I say this, my eyes widen as I finally realize how I'm referring to Laplace.
'Dirty... since... when do I think he's dirty?' I don't know. At some point, my definition of him changed from a broken brother to a dirty guy, but I don't know exactly when.
"..."
"Eve, I just want silence... sit beside me, and let's watch the stars..." I say, determined not to know what Laplace is doing with that poor fairy.