episode_0058

When I returned to the witch’s room, I found Cheshire collapsed on the floor.

“Ahaha..! It’s crazy… . Is this real?”

Cheshire let out a quiet voice and looked at me with a face that was lifted with difficulty.

I lifted Cheshire up and made him sit upright.

“Kuhhh… . Zeke… . Since when did you know this?”

Cheshire looked like he was going to lose his mind at any moment.

Maybe he’s already gone.

“What?”

“The wonderland I prepared… . You knew about it at least a month ago, right?”

“No. I had no idea until you gave me an invitation.”

“Kuhuh… . lie. You already knew. Everything was in Zeke’s palm. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense. Yes, that is correct. Ugh… . I was completely fooled by Zeke.”

Cheshire draws his own conclusions.

I can roughly guess what you were thinking.

Cheshire didn’t take his eyes off the fake prince.

Except once, when the prince jumped into the wall.

Therefore, that is the only time to replace the fake with the real thing.

In fact, it is true that I switched my alter ego with Rion at that time.

But the problem is the armor.

The clone’s armor is quite similar to the real armor.

I made it based on my memory and Bir’s sketch, so it wasn’t perfect, but it was made so similar that it was hard to notice the difference in that short period of time.

Therefore, from Cheshire’s point of view, this means that he changed his armor in the moment between Rion jumping and Ryuka flying up.

Of course, that is impossible.

In the first place, if it were real armor, I wouldn’t be able to wear it.

A similar replica would have been prepared.

This is the most plausible hypothesis Cheshire can come up with.

And in order to do that, the conclusion is that I should have known about the wonderland that Cheshire secretly prepared from the beginning.

‘It’s a satisfactory conclusion for Cheshire.’

Whatever it is, I can just say that I knew it in advance and prepared for it.

A convenient solution that allows you to get the pleasure of being completely fooled instead of having headaches.

“Well, think about it yourself.”

To Cheshire, I must be the perfect human being.

So there is no need to correct the illusion.

“There is something else that is more important than that.”

“Is there something else left..?”

Cheshire looked at me as if any more pleasure was unnecessary.

It seemed as if a wise blow had come with a vulgar word.

But now that I’ve started the story, I have to finish it.

“The story is not over yet.”

“It’s not over yet..?”

“Aren’t you curious about the disappeared princess?”

“That’s right, it was like that. princess… Alice has disappeared. Is it possible to create fake humans now?”

Fake human, that’s right.

Because it was Veronica’s alter ego.

When the clone takes fatal damage, it literally disappears.

I use this disappearing feature to great advantage.

A person died before your eyes, but the body disappeared?

Even the most sane Cheshire can’t help but be confused.

People are easiest to deal with when they are confused.

In fact, among hypnosis techniques, there is a technique called ‘pattern interrupt’ that confuses the other person by creating an unexpected situation.

“The princess never existed from the beginning. It was just an illusion.”

“Fantasy?”

“Yes, fantasy. In the first place, everything here is an illusion.”

“Is it because it’s a wonderland?”

“I know it well.”

It may sound like a childish pun, but it has its own meaning.

“Princess and Wonderland. All of these were illusions created by a witch.”

In the original Cheshire Tale, the witch is a MacGuffin.

It was used to start and develop the story, but the story ends without it appearing properly.

A device that exists only for planning and development.

That was the witch in the Cheshire story.

“I thought the witch completely fooled everyone. In reality, the people, the king, and the prince were all deceived.”

But it is different in the story I adapted.

The witch appeared.

From beginning to end.

Without missing a single occasion.

It’s just that I haven’t realized that I am a witch yet.

“But after wearing the armor filled with the power of the sun, the illusion that hung over the prince was lifted. The witch’s magic did not work on the power of the sun.”

It also provides clever foreshadowing recovery.

“Wait a minute, so that means the prince knew it was an illusion from the beginning. Then why did you go to save the princess?”

Cheshire asked the obvious question.

“The witch was curious about that too. Even though he knew it was all an illusion, he wanted to know why the prince played with him.”

The witch probably thought of herself as omnipotent.

Because when you use magic, everything happens as you wish.

But having everything go your way is very boring.

Who would find a story with obvious content interesting?

Therefore, the prince, who was immune to magic, became a very interesting and valuable being to the witch.

I lifted Cheshire’s chin with my finger and made eye contact.

“The problem here. What did the witch do to find out the prince’s true intentions?”

Cheshire’s eyes, which were meeting mine, trembled slightly.

Then, he smiled and answered.

“Have you prepared the next prank~?”

Accordingly, I also smiled slightly.

“Yes. I decided to create a fantasy land once again.”

“Kuhuhuh~. I see The story isn’t over yet~?”

Cheshire got up from his seat.

The wise expression was nowhere to be found, and the eyes were full of life.

Crack-tap-.

Cheshire shook his butt with a grinning expression,

He immediately ran up to me and fell into my arms.

“Today was the best day of my life. But this won’t be the end. Zeke will show you even more amazing things in the future. Kuhuhu~.”

Ugh.

Again, the hurdles were raised.

“Umm~? Zeke doesn’t seem very happy.”

“No. I’m so fucking happy. Because I can finally get out of this fucking place. It feels like I’m flying.”

“Kuhuhuh~. okay? If that’s the case, I’ll have to quickly prepare for the next wonderland.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

It’s my fault for expecting a normal conversation with this crazy bitch.

“Kuhuhuh~. Even though I hate him so much, I still really like Zeke, who always plays with me.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Ugh~. Don’t be so heartless.”

Cheshire stood on tiptoe and whispered in my ear.

“My king.ja. Is this it?”

Ugh, fucking creepy.

“I still don’t know what the prince’s true intentions are, but I’ll find out someday, right~? Is that so~?”

“Now that’s done, turn it off quickly.”

“Cuthless~.”

The arms that hugged me gained strength.

“Ahh..!”

“Kuhuhuh~. it hurts? I can’t believe I fought against monsters like that and only ended up in this much pain. Something strange~?”

“This fucking bitch.”

He pinched Cheshire’s cheek.

When I stretched it on both sides, it stretched like glutinous rice cake.

“Uhhhh… .”

Cheshire lets out an idiotic laugh.

It doesn’t hurt at all.

Fucking superhuman bastards.

“Then I will go quickly to prepare for the next wonderland~.”

Cheshire had already moved a few steps away from me.

“Kuhuhuh~. Don’t cry because you miss me~. I’ll visit you sometimes.”

“Damn. Don’t even come near me.”

“Kuhuhuh~. Hello.”

Cheshire smiled unpleasantly, kissed his hand, and disappeared.

Ugh, chew.

[Cheshire’s strategy progress has increased. (40 -> 60%) Obtain 2000 strategy points]

‘Fuck the point.’

The feeling of being screwed was immediately cured by financial treatment.

Long live capitalism.

*

*

After wrapping up with Cheshire, I returned to the joining point… .

“Um, Zeke is… What can I say… It feels a little cuter… .”

“No! Zeke looks a little sharper and cooler.”

Before I knew it, the number of my alter egos had grown to five.

When I see that everyone’s face shape is slightly different, it seems like they wanted to recreate me perfectly.

‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.’

When I see my face attached to a woman’s body, I feel bad because it feels like I’ve been forced into a female form.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Hiik..!”

Veronica was scared and hid behind Ryuka, as if a bad child had been caught by her parents.

“This is so… .”

“Ji, I’m trying to recreate Zeke’s vision perfectly… .”

I sighed when I saw them both hesitating.

“Ugh… Bir? Where is Birr?”

“Did you call me?”

Oh, there were six clones, not five.

Even the one thing Bir has with him right now.

“What are you doing again?”

“Master was practicing in preparation for when he one day becomes a woman.”

Bir had my clone sitting down and was attending to various things.

The bunshin bastard thinks it’s good and is enjoying it.

“Why do you do that… No, it can happen.”

Even if I tackle it, my mouth only hurts.

‘Oh, this might be okay.’

Suddenly a good idea occurred to me.

If I give each heroine one of my alter egos, there’s no need for me to bother hanging out with them, right?

Zeke’s 100,000 yang parallel theory.

I’ll have to think about it seriously.

“vir. Where is Leon?”

“Lion is over there.”

I looked in the direction Bir was pointing.

Leon was sitting alone in a distant place like Assa.

Even that stupid hikikomori, Ryuka, is shaking the damn thing with Veronica, so why is Rion doing it alone?

I approached Leon, who was alone in his loneliness.

“Are we finished, Director?”

“Okay.”

As the distance got closer, Leon spoke first.

But when I try to take a step closer,

“It would be better not to approach.”

Leon issued a warning out of nowhere.

“Why?”

“……”

As if there was some reason why it was difficult to speak, Leon kept his mouth shut, then spoke with difficulty, his face slightly blushing.

“Smell… Because… .”

“Phew… .”

“Don’t laugh.”

When a completely unexpected reason came out of Leon’s mouth, I burst out laughing.

“Do you even care about that?”

“It’s natural, isn’t it?”

Leon blushed even more at my laughter.

She acted cool and chic all the time, giving off the vibe of a turn-of-the-century female warrior who had gone through all kinds of hardships, and had this girlish sensibility.

Well, since you’ve been wearing stuffy armor all day, and you’ve probably been covered in blood and internal organs while fighting monsters, it’s only natural that you smell.

“Then being so far away alone… .”

“…Yes.”

“There’s a surprisingly cute side to it.”

“Everyone, shut up.”

I took a step closer to Leon.

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“……”

Since he didn’t say anything else, I quickly approached him and sat down next to him.

When I looked closely, I saw that Leon’s clothes were wet.

And looking at the sparkling salt here and there, it looked like I had already washed my body in sea water once.

“What, it doesn’t smell?”

“……”

Leon glanced at me.

The expression on his face seemed to ask if it was true.

I stuck my nose in Leon and sniffed him.

There was a slightly fishy smell of the sea, but it wasn’t that bothersome.

But when I saw Leon looking shy, my mischievous side started to kick in.

“Oh, it stinks.”

“Ugh..!?”

“Gur lime.”

I laughed out loud while looking at Leon in confusion,

phut-!

I suddenly felt pain in my back, and my body floated.

‘Holly… .’

It flew away and fell into the sea.