Teasing?

Teasing?

At that single word, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

It was amusing in many ways, as her tone seemed like an obvious attempt at seduction to anyone watching.

‘Given Rumi’s personality, even if she declares she’s going to do something outright…’

It usually ends in failure.

Although I was flustered, I calmly continued speaking, thinking that there was a high chance this would end without incident.

“So, what are you trying to do?”

At that question, Rumi hesitated and looked around nervously.

Then, she spoke to me while fidgeting.

“W-well, you see…”

“……”

I couldn’t help but laugh at those words.

I thought there couldn’t be a more Rumi-like answer than that.

Looking at Rumi, I let out a light sigh, then slowly reached out to pinch her cheek while saying.

“So, you’re not planning to do anything?”

Feeling frustrated by her behavior, just like I had been with Espin.

Unconsciously, I ended up provoking her, and Rumi seemed to gain some courage as she shook her head quickly and shouted at me.

“Ah, no! I’m planning to do more!”

I wonder what more she’s planning to do.

At this point, I felt playful and curious, so I continued to provoke her.

“Alright then, what are you planning to do?”

A provocation I would never do to other people.

I continued speaking, wondering why I was saying such things even to myself.

“Every time you try to do something like this, don’t you end up doing nothing in the end?”

“Th-that’s true, but… th-this time it’s different!”

“Oh really? Then what are you planning to do?”

Provoking her is becoming strangely fun.

… No, to be precise, it’s becoming fun to tease Rumi.

Anyway, as I watched Rumi getting flustered, I crossed my arms, and she started unbuttoning her shirt while talking to me.

“Well, you see… I may not be as big as senior Espin, but I have a decent chest… Um, and…”

Rumi, who was listing things that sounded more like a self-introduction than seduction.

After blurting out various things, she looked at me with a proud expression as if she had accomplished something.

Looking at Rumi like that, I let out a light sigh and sneered.

“What are you feeling so proud about? Even kids could do that much.”

“…… Uh, um.”

At my words, Rumi’s expression suddenly hardened.

Soon after, she began to mumble something with a dazed expression.

“So, so… um.”

I noticed that after practicing strange things with Luna before, she was now having a mental breakdown, unable to do anything when it came to the real thing.

Looking at Rumi like that, I felt it would be too pitiful to tease her any further.

Inevitably, I decided to approach her directly this time.

‘Somehow, I’ve become more lenient towards Rumi.’

I’m not sure if it’s because of our connection from the first round, or because I learned that she was born to be sacrificed in my place.

Thinking that I couldn’t treat her coldly, I slowly reached out my hand towards Rumi.

“……!”

As the back of my hand touched Rumi’s cheek, she looked up at me, startled.

I found it quite amusing that she was trembling so much when I approached her, even though she was the one who tried to seduce me first. I continued speaking calmly.

“Is this what you want?”

To be honest, I thought she would shake her head and say that wasn’t it, but…

Contrary to my expectations, Rumi nodded slightly, showing a positive response to me.

“… So that’s it.”

Honestly, I was quite taken aback by her reaction, as I didn’t expect her to respond like that.

Trying to suppress my emotions, I slowly continued speaking.

“Then I’ll do as you wish.”

To be honest, until now, I had always been in the position of being seduced, so I had never thought about how to seduce someone else.

Nevertheless, thinking that I could probably do better than Rumi.

I randomly started patting Rumi’s head.

“Ugh.”

As I strongly pat her head, Rumi seems dizzy from the shaking and makes strange noises while fidgeting.

I find it quite amusing and continue to shake her head.

Unable to endure it any longer, Rumi grabs my wrist and starts whining.

“Th-this isn’t what I wanted!”

“Oh? I thought this was what you wanted.”

“N-no, it’s not that I dislike it. But Deren and I are a man and a woman. So instead of just playing around, something more like…”

“Something more like what?”

“Well, you know… that…”

Rumi struggles to speak easily, dragging out her words.

Finally, as if she couldn’t take it anymore, she squeezed out the words.

“S-sexy things…”

It’s somewhat funny that she’s being shy now, when before she was talking about pregnancy and such.

Although it’s a bit hard to understand, Rumi has always been inconsistent, so I continue speaking, thinking it’s just how she is.

“I see… So does that mean you’d be okay if I pounced on you right here?”

“Y-yes.”

When I first encountered Rumi, it was a scene where Deren was forcibly pouncing on her.

Now that the situation has reversed, it feels somewhat strange.

I look at Rumi and ponder for a moment, then slowly approach her, gently kiss her forehead, and continue speaking.

“Let’s continue this conversation after we defeat the Demon King.”

“Uh… huh?”

Rumi, not expecting me to come close and give her a kiss, blushed bright red and covered her forehead.

Then she looked up at me with a dazed expression.

As I looked at Rumi like that and shrugged nonchalantly, she spoke to me with an expression on the verge of fainting.

“Y-you’re not Deren! Give Deren back!”

What is this girl suddenly saying?

Thinking that if I continue talking with Rumi, I might catch her stupidity, I waved my hand and told her to ‘get lost’.

Rumi started walking down the hallway, muttering stupid things like ‘It’s definitely a fake… or is this a dream?’

‘I really can’t understand her.’

While I was decorating the research wing again, thinking how she would manage without me taking care of her.

From far away, I start to hear Rumi’s screams.

“Kyaaaa!”

It seems she’s finally realized that what happened earlier was real.

I thought those screams were quite amusing and laughed.

Then, slowly calming my expression, I called out to Luna, who was watching this with great interest from my arms.

“Luna, set up protective magic throughout the entire research wing.”

[Okay, got it! But wouldn’t it be better if you made it, Master?]

“Of course, I plan to set up my own separately.”

[Then why are you asking me to set it up?]

“Because originally, two layers of barriers are safer.”

It might be better to make it so that Luna can continue this in case something happens to me.

After asking Luna to take care of the barrier, I slowly turned my gaze.

‘It seems like there’s really not much left now.’

I’m not sure what remains after the Archbishop.

Since the probability of reaching the Demon King’s main body with just one or two more people was extremely high.

I felt the need to make preparations for whatever might come and stretched.

‘Well then, shall we start the research again?’

The Heaven God Cult will have to invest quite a bit of time to recover from the damage I’ve caused anyway.

I decided to conduct research during that time and strengthened my resolve.

* * *

The research was completed faster than expected.

I’m not sure if I should call it fortunate, but the basic structure of the magic called ‘Solitude’ depends less on the magic itself.

Rather, the abilities of the living beings used as materials… that is, the results, play a bigger role, so there wasn’t much for me to modify.

‘In other words, it just means we need to gather the Archbishops together and wait for a Solitude to be born.’

As soon as I came to this conclusion.

I trapped all the Archbishops, Bishops, and various followers I had kept in the mace in a small space, making them kill each other.

Then I applied magic to assist in mixing their negative emotions.

‘I have no idea what kind of result will appear.’

One thing for certain was that there was a high probability that the most grotesque thing I’ve ever encountered would be born.

I was already thinking it would be interesting as I watched this, then.

I folded my arms while looking at the next magic, ‘the Necromancer magic that the Archbishop had used.’

‘This magic has been completed for now.’

The problem was that when using this magic to create living beings, they took the form of ‘larvae.’

‘Their appearance is such that anyone would consider them monsters, so if I were to walk around with them, ordinary citizens or the central government would be wary… Wait a moment.’

I couldn’t help but smile when I realized that the phrase ‘anyone would consider them monsters’ could actually be an advantage.

‘In other words… if I use these creatures to cause terror, no one will suspect it was me, right?’

No matter how mischievous I might be, I had never crossed the line because I still carried the name of the Lercier Family.

But if I used these creatures, it would be possible to cross that line and pass the blame onto the Heaven God Cult.

I couldn’t help but laugh, thinking I had obtained something quite interesting.

‘Now that this magic is complete.’

I slowly left the laboratory, thinking about causing some terror.