episode_0164

“Now then, let’s celebrate the success of our operation!”

“Woo~ Woo~”

I scolded El for her half-hearted clapping.

“Put a little more effort into it. Come on. It wasn’t easy fooling Elia, you know.”

“Don’t care. Want food.”

I nodded. The plan to deceive Elia, which El and I had devised together, had ended in success. Though there were a few unexpected twists along the way, Elia moved exactly as I had anticipated, and El also played her part perfectly.

The invasion plan of an entity nearly on par with the Demon King—such a terrifying event. Elia and I agreed to reveal this truth only to the student council members. If word about the Demon King spread recklessly, people would panic and fall into chaos before they could even prepare a proper resistance.

It was a wise decision for everyone’s sake, and it was also what I wanted.

And thanks to Elia’s insistence on investigating the contract I had made, and my excuse of poor physical condition, we successfully secured two weeks of separate time.

During that period, I was so busy that even having two bodies wouldn’t have been enough. Now, with just one day left of those two weeks, I had no choice but to throw a party to appease El, whose dissatisfaction had reached its peak. Though calling it a “party” was a stretch—just a table full of food with only two attendees—but so what?

My allowance alone wasn’t enough to satisfy El’s bottomless appetite.

It was almost miraculous how all that food disappeared into El’s small body. Upon closer observation, I realized most of it was instantly broken down into mana the moment she swallowed it, which made me give up trying to analyze the phenomenon.

“By the way, El. There’s something I want to ask you.”

“Hmm?”

I directed my question at El, who was already munching on skewers held in both hands.

“Even though I gave you the script, where did you learn the way you spoke in most of those situations?”

The tone El had used was completely different from her usual self—more akin to the way someone of higher status would speak. While I had advised her to adopt such a tone, her linguistic ability was still unnaturally impressive.

“I read Eric’s memories. The person who looked like me in there talked like that.”

“You just… copied it? Wait, you read my memories?”

“Yeah. Was I not supposed to?”

“……”

El and I are currently bound not just by mana but by life and memories as well. That’s why El had access to all my secrets—not just memories of past loops, but also the fact that I don’t originally belong to this world.

“El. Don’t you have any thoughts about me?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, don’t you think I’m scary or hypocritical? You read my memories, right? You know I’m not from this world, and that I know more about it than anyone else.”

“Nope. Eric is a good person.”

“A good person?”

“Yeah. You bought me food. You worried about that Elia person. In your memories, you kept getting hurt. So, good person.”

I wasn’t sure if such words held any real meaning for El, but I decided to take them at face value for now.

“Thanks for that. But from now on, no more reading my memories without permission. If you get caught doing something like that—”

“If I get caught…?”

“You’ll be living on plain bread and water. And if you complain, it’ll be just water. Your body can survive on water alone, right? I don’t want to go that far, but—”

“I won’t read them! Ever!”

In an instant, El straightened her posture and spoke with exaggerated clarity.

“Good.”

Of course, this was just a verbal promise for now, and there was no telling how El would actually behave. But this was the best I could do here. If El ever decided to dig through my memories, it wouldn’t even be a challenge for her. The only consolation was that I’d at least know if she tried to delve into my deepest memories.

“Alright, let’s talk about what we do from here.”

“Nom… mmm… yum.”

“Stop eating for a second. I’ll order as much as you want once we’re done talking.”

“Ehh… fine. But what’s there to talk about?”

“Now that we’ve revealed your existence to Elia, you’ll probably have to make your presence known to everyone alongside me. Even though you hold my life in your hands, you’ll need to appear as though you have no intention of trampling over humanity—at least for now.”

“Can’t I just… stay like this?”

I shook my head.

“Fine. I’ll try.”

“Of course, just because I’m taking you to the academy doesn’t mean you’ll be glued to me the whole time. Revealing your existence is strictly limited to Elia and those other four. If you’ve seen my memories, you already know.”

“The people who tried to kill me. I remember.”

El muttered under her breath before stuffing another piece of meat into her mouth.

“Are they… bad people?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“But in Eric’s memories, they were mean to you. They cursed at you, ignored you even when you tried hard.”

“Why are you so unusually protective of me?”

“You buy me lots of food. Good person.”

I let out a bitter smile as I watched El raise another skewer without a care.

“Don’t worry, they’ll buy you just as much food as I do. And the memories you saw aren’t yours, so there’s no need to dwell on them. Back then, we just couldn’t communicate well. Things are different now. They’ll listen to me, and they’ll accept you too.”

“But that person… looked just like me. Like me. I don’t want Eric to die. But I also don’t want to become like that.”

“Just because you look alike doesn’t mean you’re destined to become like them, right? The you I saw lived in the demon realm your whole life. Remember when you took me there once? That place where you lived—do you want to go back?”

“No. Here is safe, warm, and has lots of food. If Eric introduces me, they’ll be good people. But… I’m scared.”

Of course, it was only natural to hesitate when asked to introduce yourself to the people who killed someone who looked exactly like you. She might even see that person as her future self. It was a plausible enough assumption—one I’d made myself.

I knelt on one knee to meet El’s eyes.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be safe. As unimpressive as I may seem, I’m actually pretty important to those guys. They won’t act recklessly if they know harming you means harming me too. And of course, I’ll do everything in my power to protect you. As long as you behave, that is.”

If Elia so much as hinted at the nature of my relationship with El, the other three wouldn’t dare act out of line. Especially Chris.

“So all you have to do is play along with my act one more time. After that, you won’t even need to force yourself to act. Just eat what you want, rest when you want.”

El gave a small nod. I took that to mean she’d leave the rest to me. I had no intention of making her plan the script herself, so I decided to wrap up the conversation.

“One last question—you really don’t know anything about that entity, right? The one in my memories who looked like you.”

“Yeah. Don’t know anything. But… it was sad.”

“Sad? What do you mean?”

“Don’t know. Just sad. That’s all. Don’t wanna talk about it anymore.”

With that, El turned away from me and refocused on stacking the mountain of skewers in front of her.

“……”

Seeing no sign that she’d answer any further questions, I began drafting a backstory convincing enough to deceive the entire academy.

———-

“So this is the academy. Hmm, I never imagined humans could receive such systematic training. Plenty of warriors, it seems. At this level, they might even rival the Demon King’s army.”

“Eric… who is this child?”

“My master.”

“Excuse me?”

The day after my conversation with El, I decided to introduce her to everyone. Though the academy was prepared to accept whatever reckless stunt I pulled next, the fewer people who knew about El, the better. So after all classes ended, I gathered the student council members.

I had planned to summon El, who was waiting outside the academy just as I had once “banished” her, and introduce her properly. But it seemed I’d already messed up from the very first step.

“Master? Oppa, what on earth—”

“It means exactly what it sounds like. How should I explain this…?”

I shot Elia a look, silently pleading for help.

“……”

Elia stared back at me with utter disdain. Hey, this is the most accurate explanation!

I had no choice but to clear my throat and prepare a proper explanation. But before I could, El spoke up—and I immediately regretted not covering her mouth in advance.

“How insolent.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said insolent. To ask about me not to me, but to another. You must be looking down on this form—small, frail, weak by your standards.”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant—”

“Silence.”

With that, El suddenly inflated her body. Standing in the student council room was the majestic figure of the Demon King—just like when Elia had first met her.

“Now, do you feel like talking to me?”