Ch.36One Step Ahead in Preparation – 3

“Mira Crate.”

“……”

Even as the Demon Lord uttered my name, I kept my mouth shut. The enormous gap in power had come as a tremendous shock.

I’d heard how strong they were, but I never imagined it would be to this extent. To think they caught my Scale Drop attack—which I had unleashed with killing intent—with just one hand.

Judging by the flash of red I glimpsed on their palm, they hadn’t escaped completely unscathed, but it healed immediately, making it hard to say they were injured at all.

“Do you now realize the gap between you and me?”

The Demon Lord pulled on Eternity. My body lurched forward. Up close, I could see that the Demon Lord was quite tall.

Not as tall as the Chairman, who was a full head taller than me. But even accounting for the 7-8cm high heels they wore, they were still at eye level with me.

“Yet, that is not the face of one who is afraid. I like that ambition of yours.”

After tossing Eternity aside, the Demon Lord grabbed my hand instead. Their fingers intertwined with mine, just as Priscilla would do. It was as if they were massaging my hand.

“Ah… indeed… my prediction was correct…”

The Demon Lord muttered strange words while keeping our fingers interlocked. As I stood there confused, their other hand reached toward my face.

It was hard to believe these slender, delicate fingers could exert such monstrous strength. They began to slowly caress my face. Starting from the cheek, moving to the cheekbone, jaw, ear, and back to the cheek again.

It was an incredibly gentle and delicate touch, like a museum visitor anxiously making sure not to leave fingerprints on an expensive artifact. The Demon Lord continued caressing me like this for quite some time.

‘…Should I attack?’

My mind was racing. For whatever reason, the Demon Lord seemed to have no interest whatsoever in killing me.

‘Why?’

The woman before me was clearly evil. She was the type who would casually flay captured soldiers alive and give them as rewards to her demon subordinates to eat.

But look at her now. She was nothing like the image of the Demon Lord I had imagined. I couldn’t tell if this was an act or genuine, and if either, why she was treating me this way.

After touching me for a long while, the Demon Lord finally spoke.

“Mira Crate. I have a proposal for you.”

“A proposal? What kind of proposal?”

“Become mine.”

“…What?”

I asked again, thinking I must have misheard, but the Demon Lord’s expression was resolute.

“Betray humanity and side with the demons. If you do, I, Demon Lord Eliciere, pledge on my honor and name to give you the finest treatment.”

What was this about? I was so shocked that my mind seemed to freeze. I had never heard of the Demon Lord trying to persuade a human.

In fact, I knew her as a cold-blooded tyrant who betrayed and discarded even those who voluntarily betrayed humanity and surrendered to her.

“Do you desire human women? I will capture every woman on the battlefield as prisoners, and you may choose and use them as you please. Or do you prefer demonesses? I will make all female demons in the demon realm, including the queen of the succubi and her clan, bow their heads at your feet and act like worn-out women desperate for a drop of your affection. If you just say you will stay by my side, you can enjoy all the pleasures of the world.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why would I trust you?”

“You need not trust me, nor put your faith in me. What matters is simply your existence by my side. What say you? Will you accept my proposal?”

Her interlocked fingers tightened. Her pink pupils flashed with an eerie light.

A strange sense of déjà vu flashed through my mind. Those eyes. I had seen them somewhere before. After pondering briefly, I realized what it was.

They matched exactly the look Priscilla gave when craving my warmth.

“Are you curious why I make such a proposal?”

“After being subjected to this, how could I not be curious?”

“Then I shall gladly answer. In this world filled with falsehoods, only we two can witness the truth. Because only Demon Lord Eliciere and the human Mira Crate are truly genuine beings.”

It was utterly incomprehensible.

Whether it was because she was the Demon Lord putting on airs, or just her personality, there wasn’t a single straightforward expression—just roundabout metaphors and indirect allusions.

‘In a world filled with falsehoods, only we two can witness the truth?’

What does that even mean?

“I don’t understand any of this. Could you speak plainly?”

“No. Even if I told you, you would not understand.”

“Nonsense. Whether I understand or not is for me to decide. Not you. So stop with the pointless rhetoric and just answer.”

Despite my obvious mockery, the Demon Lord didn’t get angry. Instead, she looked at me with an expression that seemed almost ecstatic.

“So this is what it feels like to converse with a human. A dialogue with a being capable of independent thought, unpredictable in its responses—how sweet it is. I fear I may never want to return to that false world again.”

“……”

Is she truly insane? It seemed she had no intention of answering my question at all.

“Since you don’t seem willing to speak plainly, I’ll be direct. No. I’d rather die fighting than side with you.”

“……”

“Satisfied? Now what will you do? Kill me? Or maybe torture me until I change my mind—ugh?!”

Before I could finish speaking, the Demon Lord squeezed my interlocked hand. The force was so strong I thought my entire hand would be crushed. With savage eyes, she enunciated each word clearly.

“Kill you, you say? Me? You? What an unfunny joke. Why would I do such a distasteful thing? What would you have me do after killing you? Return to those days of being alone among puppets, playing along with their puppet show? Unthinkable, absolutely unthinkable. I will never do that.”

“So if you want to convince me, at least explain clearly—”

“Listen, Mira Crate.”

The Demon Lord pulled me even closer. Her pink eyes burned with an indecipherable emotion.

“I am fully willing to respect your opinions. If you wish to become stronger, do so. If you wish to raise a hero, do so. If you wish to defeat my armies and save humanity, do that as well. Watching you grow would be an enjoyment I could not get enough of.”

“……”

“But remember this. In this world, I am the only one who can understand you. Likewise, you are the only one who can understand me. We are—”

—WHAM!

Before she could finish, my fist connected with the Demon Lord’s cheek.

Her head turned halfway, and as her grip momentarily loosened, I quickly retreated. I held Eternity in my right hand, pointing the blade at the Demon Lord.

“……”

The Demon Lord, apparently never expecting to be hit, was touching her slightly swollen cheek with a dazed expression. But the swelling disappeared in less than three seconds.

“I’ve been listening to your incomprehensible babble, and I’m not exactly known for my patience.”

“Pain… this is…”

“If you’re going to keep talking like that, I’d rather just… Huh?”

I stopped mid-sentence. Despite the intense emotion burning in her eyes just moments ago, the Demon Lord had turned away. While I stood there dumbfounded, she vanished into the red energy.

“…What was that all about?”

Her appearance, what she was trying to say, and why she left—it was all a mystery. She was an enigma from start to finish.

Something had clearly changed, but I couldn’t grasp what it was.

‘Surely she’s not a transmigrator too… is she?’

I hesitated before denying the thought. It was a half-joking idea, but it fit the puzzle pieces frighteningly well. Her words, her seemingly deranged behavior—all of it.

‘…Let’s just consider it a possibility for now.’

Since I couldn’t fully confirm or deny it, I decided to keep it as a possibility. I shook my complicated thoughts away and approached Priscilla and Rosaria.

“Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not. Without the hero around, I could barely breathe.”

Rosaria, wiping away cold sweat and catching her breath, suddenly exclaimed, “Oh! That’s right. Mira, do you know her? What kind of relationship did you have with the Demon Lord for her to say those things to you?”

“I don’t know either. If I did, I wouldn’t have reacted that way.”

I planned to keep my suspicion about the Demon Lord being a transmigrator to myself for now. I lacked evidence beyond my gut feeling.

If I had realized it a bit earlier, I could have asked her directly, which was unfortunate.

“Hmm. It really seems like there’s something… huh?”

Rosaria’s voice trailed off. Her face looked as if she’d seen something disturbing. Following her gaze, I turned my head. Priscilla was there.

I was about to ask if she was okay but swallowed my words. She clearly wasn’t.

Priscilla was sitting on the ground, hugging herself, grinding her teeth like someone who had lost her mind, and continuously muttering something.

“No. I’ll lose her. I’ll lose her completely. Distance. If we’re distant, I can’t touch her. Can’t hold her. Then what will I do? What will I do without Mira? Cold. It’s cold. I don’t want to be left alone. I don’t. Absolutely not. I don’t want to lose her. But is there a way? There isn’t. I can’t defeat the Demon Lord. I couldn’t just now. So what should I do? Should I lose her? Is that what has to happen? Should I be left alone? No. No. No. No. No…”

The sound of teeth grinding together was audible. Rosaria shuddered and gestured for me to do something quickly.

I was already planning to. I approached her, knelt on one knee to meet her eyes, and placed my hand on her shoulder to straighten her posture. Our eyes met. Her pupils were half-unfocused.

“Priscilla.”

“No. No. No…”

“Priscilla.”

“……”

When I called her name firmly and gripped her shoulder tightly, some life returned to her hazy eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“…Really?”

“Of course. You trust me, don’t you? Or was that not true?”

At those words, Priscilla shook her head vigorously.

“No. I trust you. I trust you. Yes. You won’t go anywhere… you’ll stay by my side…”

With a tearful face, she opened her arms. I embraced her firmly. I could feel her hands crossing tightly behind my back. Rosaria was clicking her tongue beside us.

“Is she really okay? She doesn’t seem right in the head.”

“I don’t know. I can’t even lie and say she’s fine. She admitted herself that she struggles to stay sane without me.”

Rosaria looked at the trembling Priscilla in my arms with a complicated expression, then carefully spoke.

“You know, I think about this often. I’m really fortunate that I met you so early. I’ve only gone through four regressions, but honestly, I think I would have lost my mind much sooner than Priscilla.”

“Because of what the original Rosaria did?”

“Of course. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be locked up in the basement of the Papal Office, tearing apart nuns with my own hands, breaking bones, ripping out organs, and torturing them to the brink of death. I’d be listening to their screams, watching their blood flow, smearing it on my body, watching flesh burst, and laughing maniacally.”

Rosaria smiled bitterly.

“I know this isn’t the right time to say this, but since it came to mind, I have to say it. Thank you, Mira. Without you… I can’t even imagine what would have happened to me.”

“If you’re grateful, show it by doing better in the future. Keep extorting tribute money from the Pope.”

I joked while comforting Priscilla. Rosaria, understanding my intention, smiled slightly.

As she was about to sit down, the hem of her sweater rode up to her tailbone, revealing her white underwear, causing her to startle and quickly adjust her clothes.

“Ahem, ahem. So what are we going to do now? Just go back like this?”

“What else? We need to accomplish what we came here for.”

I nodded toward the inner part of the cave. There were still humans who hadn’t been destroyed. Humans who had been chosen as sacrifices and were too late to be returned to normal.

So, we had to do what needed to be done.

“……”

Eliciere was locked in her room, replaying what had happened in the cave. She had touched her left cheek—which had long since healed without a trace of swelling—countless times.

But touching it wasn’t enough. That tingling, chilling sensation that spread throughout her body the moment she was struck—she missed that sensation.

It had been so long. The feeling of her head going blank, the sweet ache of the struck area.

As the strongest among demons, nothing had ever touched her, and throughout her repeated regressions, the only attack she had allowed was the holy sword that pierced her heart at the very end, delivering excruciating pain.

Continuously replaying that brief moment, Eliciere raised her fist.

—WHAM!

And struck her own face.

She hit herself so hard that her fist ached, causing her cheek to instantly swell before rapidly healing. It hurt, but it wasn’t painful. This wasn’t the feeling she sought.

—WHAM!

She struck her cheek again. It still wasn’t right. She struck again. And again. Eliciere repeatedly punched her own cheek.

“…It’s not enough.”

But that tingling, sweet sensation didn’t return. Eliciere raised her fist again.

She wanted to explain better. She wanted to speak properly. Excessive rhetoric? She knew that herself.

But the remnants of Demon Lord Eliciere, which had clung to her throughout the past regressions, stubbornly refused to let go, even now that she had fully regained control of her body.

The remnants of Demon Lord Eliciere, who had reached the pinnacle of all demons but was endlessly lonely because of it.

—WHAM!

A notebook fell from the inside pocket of her coat. The notebook, which she could finally complete and write what she wanted in, was filled with tally marks.

A total of 89.

The number of regressions that the transmigrator Kang Ye-na remembered.