Ch.118Victory Conditions (1)

Victory Condition (1)

“Hmmm~ Yawn…”

Tina. No, the woman once called Tanha stretched luxuriously as she sat up in bed.

As if waking up like any normal day, Tanha belatedly noticed something was wrong.

“Mother, my chest has disappeared! No, my body seems smaller too…?”

Tanha first felt around her chest area, then slowly lowered her gaze to check what state she was in.

That’s when she remembered.

That she had already died.

“What have you done to me? …No, before that, what have you done to this girl?!”

Though she was the daughter of the evil god La•Pa, she was also someone who had been captivated and influenced by Lug’s actions.

That’s why she couldn’t help but feel chills when she realized what had happened to her.

In the past, she had died in bed, unable to overcome injuries sustained in battle with the Demon Lord Beelzebub.

Her death was troublesome in many ways for La•Pa, who had been turning a blind eye to the Demon Lords’ existence, as she had been inspired by the ascetic and fought for the weak.

Since La•Pa could see into the cycle of reincarnation, it was merely “troublesome” for her.

She could always recognize Tanha’s reincarnation.

“No way…”

Knowing this power, Tanha stared at La•Pa with shocked eyes.

“Did you massacre countless people… perform human sacrifices… offer an innocent girl as a sacrifice… to forcibly resurrect me? To toy with me because I made the foolish choice not to follow you?!”

La•Pa met her daughter’s monstrous gaze with a cold stare of her own.

“Even I wouldn’t do such things to my family. What exactly do you think I am?”

If that had been her intention, she would have taken action when Tanha first refused to follow her will.

She had preserved Tanha’s heart to prevent it from being misused by others, and knowing that her soul resided in that heart, she had kept it safe all this time.

“…I suppose that’s possible.”

And La•Pa had never intended to revive Tanha’s original personality. It was simply that this was the only way to treat the current Tina in a somewhat humane manner.

Though she was an evil god, she was still kind to her family.

Discrimination was also a fragment of evil, after all.

“And I gave this child your heart because I wanted to save her, not because I wanted to use her as your replacement.”

La•Pa felt wronged.

She had kept her daughter’s heart because it was the best thing to do.

And wasn’t it natural to cherish her daughter’s keepsake?

“The child your soul now inhabits should have been your reincarnation.”

“What?”

“Your soul in that heart should have been destroyed somehow and flowed into the cycle of reincarnation, but since I was keeping the heart, things got a bit complicated.”

Tina should have been Tanha’s reincarnation.

But since Tanha’s soul was in the heart La•Pa had preserved, a completely different person was reincarnated into the body that should have been Tanha’s.

The problem was that Tanha’s soul remained intact with La•Pa, and as a result, the karma Tanha had accumulated was passed on to Tina, who had no connection to her.

This led to the birth of a girl who developed the nonsensical ability called innate “intuition.”

Unlike Second, who was born as the strongest werewolf from the beginning, this was an absurd power that had settled in an ordinary girl.

She had tried to manage this situation.

However, she had no intention of letting her daughter’s soul inhabit the body of a girl with no connection to her.

While she didn’t care what happened to the girl, she knew her daughter would dislike it.

So instead, though it’s not quite right to call it a substitute, she had planned to adopt the girl as her own daughter.

Even La•Pa hadn’t anticipated that this would lead to the current situation, and now she had no choice but to awaken a soul that could bear the weight of that karma in order to save the girl.

That was why La•Pa decided to resurrect Tanha. A distorted result born from maternal love for her daughter.

“That’s…”

Tanha felt a strange shock at the sight of La•Pa explaining her circumstances in detail.

“Mother has finally understood human emotions!”

“…Are you insane?”

A conclusion she couldn’t have imagined.

But Tanha clasped her hands together tightly and even shed tears, saying her parent had finally grown up.

“My mother, who always caused trouble, has finally! *sob*…!”

“Would you let go of my hands?”

It was uncomfortable.

And it wasn’t as if she had acted solely out of such willing feelings.

She was always an evil god who seized people’s weaknesses and wielded evil.

She was currently in a cooperative relationship with the heavenly gods, but that couldn’t last forever.

So she needed someone who could serve as a leash in case everything worked out smoothly in the future—that is, when the heavenly gods regained their original power.

That’s why she decided to resurrect Tanha as a way to treat Tina.

If she just wanted to bring someone back to life, she could have created something inhuman like Lug by pouring in the seven emotions and six desires.

Yet she specifically chose to settle Tanha’s personality in Tina for one reason.

“The person you like has returned to earth, hasn’t he?”

“What…? Is that true, Mother? Is he…?”

La•Pa knows. That in the end, her daughters could never completely abandon their true nature. Even if they were influenced by Lug, accumulated virtue, and lived righteously, their nature didn’t simply disappear.

Tanha was still true to her desires, befitting her name Tanha (craving).

Among the three sisters, she was the one who pretended not to be the most disappointed when Lug ascended.

And that influence was strong enough to affect Tina, who carried her heart, so it was obvious that Tanha still had lingering feelings for Lug.

“Then I’ll give you an order, for both your sake and mine.”

La•Pa had initially planned to use Tina to seduce Lug.

Tina seemed to like Lug, and she was even planning to actively encourage it.

She had even asked her to be nice to future party members, with Lug’s joining in mind.

And after that, she had even forced Lug into the hero’s party through preliminary work.

But what was the result?

‘I underestimated that crazy bastard’s ability to attract women.’

She had planned to use Tina to hook Lug, but other women were trying to hook him instead.

Tina tried to compete among them, but she wasn’t as aggressive as Eirene and Millia.

Unlike Tina, who expressed her affection in a fresh and immature way, the two women didn’t hesitate to use gloomy and sticky seduction.

Honestly, she thought they were crazy.

And unfortunately, both women were in superior positions to Tina in terms of appearance and background.

The saintess who cleverly maneuvered situations to her advantage.

Millia, who directly and honestly expressed her feelings.

And Tina, stuck between them, expressing her feelings in a neither-here-nor-there manner.

She had started to become more proactive after the dragon’s heart settled in her body, but…

‘There’s quite a difference in the weapons they possess.’

To be precise, the difference in chest size was quite significant.

If Lug had remained as he was before, it might not matter, but now that he had become honest about his sexual desires, it was honestly disadvantageous.

In that sense, Tanha trapped in Tina’s log-like body would be in a similar situation…

“I hope you won’t let concubines climb up and disrupt discipline? It would break this mother’s heart if my daughter were to lose to latecomers.”

“That goes without saying. But, Mother, there’s one problem.”

“Problem?”

“I cannot bring myself to trample on this girl’s feelings by prioritizing my own emotions.”

“That child wants this too.”

“Haha, do you think I’d believe you just like that?”

“…”

La•Pa felt wronged.

She never imagined she would receive such an evaluation from the daughter she had cherished.

And just listening to what she was saying now, it was highly likely she wouldn’t believe even half of what La•Pa had just explained in detail.

“…Well, that child should have regained consciousness by now, so it would be good to have a proper conversation.”

La•Pa gave up on persuading Tanha. But in the end, Tanha would surely reach the conclusion she desired.

“Ah, hello. Me? Um… I don’t really know either… I should introduce myself first. I’m Tanha.”

A scene that might look like the ramblings of a madwoman at first glance. But it was the sight of Tanha conversing with Tina.

And as La•Pa had said, Tanha realized that Tina wanted this too, and she nodded.

In a situation where they were already sharing one body, why not share a husband as well?

“Oh, is that so? Then leave it to me. We might lose to those people individually, but there are two of us. If we add up two people’s worth, won’t we win?”

Tina offered her physical body to Tanha.

Tanha offered Tina her know-how on how to captivate Lug from the past.

A joint front was formed between the two.

“…Even combined we can’t? How… Oh, I understand.”

Tanha touched her—or rather Tina’s—flat chest, then slowly nodded.

The absolute truth that adding 0 to 0 cannot progress to 1.

She had realized that.

“It doesn’t matter. I know him best when it comes to him.”

Nevertheless, Tanha was confident.

Wasn’t she the one who had even married Lug once before?

She had already gone all the way with Lug.

Yes, she knew Lug better than anyone else.

“I’m glad you seem to have reached an amicable agreement, but please keep the fact that you’re Tanha a secret. That way, it will be easier for me to use… I mean, it won’t cause unnecessary harm to that child.”

She would have to approach Lug from the position of “Tina.”

If it were discovered that Tanha’s soul had been transplanted into Tina’s body, honestly, it probably wouldn’t end well.

‘Is this the most secretive dagger I can prepare?’

La•Pa smiled sinisterly.

A battlefield where Demon Lords, heavenly gods, and evil gods all gathered.

The moment her most secretive victory condition was completed.

***

“Husband! It’s me! Tanha!”

“…What?”

But unfortunately, things in this world never go as planned.