Trolling 7

“Aaaah! Alice!!”

Jess shouted Alice’s name with an intonation of emotion and joy.

“You kept your promise, you kept your promise!”

“Huh, me?”

Perdain’s head spun rapidly at Jess’s words and face, which seemed genuinely grateful.

He was excellent.

He was smart.

His strength was a little weak, but he was to be granted the Arbentaine Family’s vision anyway. As a successor, he received the best education, and he spared no effort for the family’s cause, which he had cherished since childhood.

He used all sorts of tricks to involve several mega corps in his cause, making it impossible for them to back out, and he even had the charisma to win over many nobles and wealthy people in the Ruincrest layer to his side.

He was the combination of what people commonly call genius and effort, so Perdain could not deny that he was an outstanding human being, except for his personality.

Anyway, as such a man quickly turned his head, he began to see what he had not seen before.

Alice—a girl who suddenly appeared at Ruincrest Academy and killed his own son.

So he didn’t think the Central Administration would use such an obvious and blatant trick.

Of course, he continued his investigation and surveillance without letting go of his suspicion, but Alice was truly satisfied with Arbentaine’s treatment and enjoyed her life as the family’s successor.

She even helped the cause quite a bit, and although he regarded Alice as a lowly returnee, Perdain genuinely trusted her abilities and value as a successor.

But…

But… now?

Everything I suspected and dismissed was true?

“Everything, everything was true!!!!”

“Huh? What?”

Alice looked down at Perdain with an innocent face.

“Alice! Alice!!! Don’t tell me you, you were a stooge of the Central Administration!”

Perdain burst out in a roar, his whole body twisted and beaten into a miserable state.

But Alice didn’t react to it and let out a deep sigh.

“Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t?”

“What…!”

“Actually, I didn’t want this to happen either… sigh….”

Alice scratched her head and let out a deep sigh.

My eight-year vacation…

I really thought I could live a carefree life as a noble lady….

How on earth did this happen?

Was it from when I half-neglected Marlang while enjoying my noble lady life?

No, actually, it’s Marlang’s fault… which is true, but since the core of the rebellion must be eliminated anyway, it can’t be said that Marlang did anything wrong.

Alice shrugged and approached Perdain.

“Since it’s come to this, I’ll formally introduce myself.”

Alice brushed her hair back, deciding to let things take their course.

So many unexpected things had happened so quickly in just one day, but now that her eight-year ultra-luxurious long-term vacation was over, shouldn’t she finish it in style?

“Alice, Second-Class Overseer directly under Rilstia Frostia, Central Administrator.”

Lightning struck and crashed behind her, and Perdain’s mind was filled with all sorts of possible paths and hellscapes at the sight of Alice, who looked like a mastermind.

How much had she been toying with me and deceiving me?

I had been so thorough in monitoring the entire layer and cleaning up the Central Administration’s stooges…!

“Curse… you…”

If it hadn’t been for you.

If it hadn’t been for you.

Was all that acting?

Even my suspicions were intentional?

Perdain shed tears of blood in anger and resentment.

Everything could have been prevented, no, it could have been blocked…!

Everything was ruined by such shallow tricks and shallow acting!?

“Have… have I ever seen such a devilish woman! The cause should have happened! A cunning devil like you must die and disappear! Ark! Ark! Ark born for humanity! Why did this world bring me into being, and bring into being the Central Administration, the administrator, the 10,000 First-Class Overseers, and that damn woman Alice!!”

“Hmm, there are too many people born?”

Alice smiled bitterly at Perdain, who was lamenting like someone from Gangdong.

The truth was that Alice didn’t expect things to turn out this way either, but whatever happens, it looks good to smile first.

On the contrary, Perdain felt the mastermind aura of ‘just as planned…’ from Alice’s smile and felt like he was going crazy with anger and resentment.

How can I relieve this resentment and bitterness, even more than being assaulted by the Marlang Legion…!

“Oh, right. I have to keep my promise to Jess.”

“Yes? Alice has already given me everything…”

“No. I said I’d take everything from Perdain, right?”

Perdain was now within 10 meters.

Besides, he was completely incapacitated and in a weakened state.

This meant that Alice was in the perfect state to use the power of Gluttony.

【Gluttony】

“…!”

Perdain turned pale as he felt energy and mana draining from his body in an instant.

“No, no! No! You can’t take this away too!”

“Oh, how unfortunate.”

“You damn bitch! Just kill me! I will never allow you to insult our family, the vision of the Arbentaine…!”

Even if he was usually fine, Perdain, who was already weakened, couldn’t even resist the power of Gluttony with his anti-magic power. The power of Gluttony began to scour every corner of Perdain’s body, searching for what to take away.

And what it found was the family’s vision, which only resided in the body of the head of the family.

The Arbentaine Family’s vision.

A collection of immense supernatural powers accumulated over generations by stealing the talents of spouses and sacrifices.

Even Perdain, whose own martial power was weak, had the power to make him a strong man comparable to a First-Class Overseer, and even Alice couldn’t guarantee victory if she fought Perdain head-on.

“Keuh, keuh…! No… no way…!”

Perdain, who had been shouting at first, gradually changed his voice to a pleading tone.

“Please, please… you can kill me, but not this. Alice, please…!”

The rebellion had already failed. The mansion had been occupied by Marlang and Jess, so there was nothing more he could do, but it was truly unfortunate that he was desperately trying to protect the family’s vision… not that she felt sorry for him. Honestly, it was nice to see the proud nobleman begging so desperately.

But Perdain’s pleas were of no interest to Alice, and in the end, the power of Gluttony took away all of the Arbentaine Family’s vision.

“Ah, ah…! Aaaah…!”

Leaving the wailing Perdain behind, Alice held the vision in her hand.

It felt like touching a translucent slime, perhaps because it was a collection of immense mana.

Of course, if physical pressure were accidentally applied, it would wipe out the area like a nuclear bomb….

‘Hmm, I can’t digest this either.’

It wasn’t impossible to digest if she made up her mind, but she would have to seclude herself somewhere and do something similar to closed-door training in a state where no one could disturb her to absorb it all.

However, strength was not so important to Alice.

She was already growing at a cheat level compared to others as part of the fusion process, and even now, Alice had grown stronger by absorbing the mana of the soldiers in the battlefield.

There was no need to take something that she couldn’t digest.

“Here.”

“Huh!?”

So Alice gave the Arbentaine’s vision to Jess.

Jess, who had suddenly been handed a nuclear bomb, had a dumbfounded look on her face.

“I said I’d take everything away. It’s yours. Jess.”

“…!”

Jess’s face contorted with surprise and shock.

She had expected to be able to take revenge on Perdain and Arbentaine and take over their family.

She certainly expected it.

But she never expected this.

The talent that she had been taken from Perdain… no, not only that, but the essence of magic and supernatural powers that the Arbentaines had accumulated over the generations would be hers?

“Ah. Ah… Aaaah!!”

A cry of joy, different from Perdain’s, flowed from Jess’s mouth.

The humiliation, resentment, anger, and frustration of the past.

It must have felt like everything was being compensated at once.

But Jess wasn’t stupid.

It was Alice who had made all of this possible, and without Alice, she would have been in a miserable situation where she had to rely on her good-for-nothing son, who was trying to eat even his own mother.

Jess not only bowed her head, but also knelt down and slammed her head on the floor with a thud.

“From… now on… I will give you everything…”

“Oh, um. Okay…”

She’s being too dramatic.

Alice shrugged as she looked at Jess with a slightly awkward expression.

Because she wasn’t happy at all.

Sob, bye-bye.

My beautiful eight-year ultra-luxurious noble lady vacation….

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The administrator is the highest authority in the Ark.

However, as I said before, the power is not there for them to wield at will, take bribes, or anything like that.

‘Here, here is the peace and order of the Ark. Please cherish and protect it?’

The administrator’s power exists for that purpose.

But this power sometimes has formidable power, and sometimes even the same administrator screams that there are so many things they can’t do.

The administrator’s power is omnipotent and extensive when it comes to the Ark society and districts, but on the other hand, it has many weaknesses when it comes to human affairs.

It’s a super-dense megapolis underground world where even the population isn’t estimated, and there are many worlds where even the basic touch of power and society doesn’t reach, so there are many worlds that even the administrator doesn’t know about.

Even the lower layer that Alice pioneered and where the red ideology newly bloomed was a place where the administrator’s hand hardly reached. The same was true for the Ruincrest layer, where the meritorious family implemented layer blocking.

Of course, the layer isn’t actually blocked.

If Central personnel or Overseers are caught coming to the layer, it will all come to Perdain’s eyes and ears, so it’s not wrong to say that the administrator’s eyes and ears don’t function at all, limited to the Ruincrest layer.

But there is only one person who is free from all these restrictions and limitations.

“Puhahahahat! Alice! My blue choker! Did you think you could dare to play around while wearing the Overseer badge?”

Rilstia Frostia.

Her appearance may be that of a young girl in her early teens, but her true form is the founding contributor of the Ark, and the most senior administrator who prevents calamities and maintains order in unseen places.

And Rilstia’s ability is to transform her mind and soul into an electronic network nervous system and dive into all places where electronic media exists, mediated by electronic devices, CCTV, computers, holograms, cameras, and AI.

Thanks to this, there was no place in the Ark where Rilstia’s gaze could be avoided as long as there was a medium. This also applied to the Ruincrest layer that Alice had infiltrated.

And the medium was, of course, the ‘blue armband’ that Rilstia had gifted.

Oriana, Alice, and Fira Dunhill, who had recently suddenly claimed to be under her, were Rilstia’s direct Overseers.

The Overseers’ eyes were Rilstia’s eyes, and wherever they were, Rilstia could freely collect all information, rumors, and sounds.

For reference, Rilstia’s vision sharing didn’t work well with the blue armband that she had gifted to Alice.

It was speculated that Alice had the ability to manipulate and hack machines at will, so she probably hacked the blue armband that Rilstia had gifted her without even realizing it, or unintentionally broke it the moment she came into contact with Alice. However, to prepare for this, Rilstia willingly sent Fira Dunhill to Ruincrest.

It was obvious, but Rilstia also gave Fira a blue armband. Thanks to this, Rilstia realized that while she was working her ass off, Alice was enjoying a super long-term vacation life of at least 8 years.

“Ahem! It’s outrageous! While I’m processing 37,591 documents in a single day, our Alice is enjoying her youthful days and noble lady life at the Academy. It’s truly outrageous!”

Rilstia, who had witnessed the situation in Ruincrest through Fira’s eyes, didn’t stand still.

First, financial pressure.

She initiated a tax investigation into the mega corps connected to Perdain and Arbentaine, making them wary.

Of course, astronomical funds and rare resources were required for the rebellion… especially the combat homunculus cultivation facility, so Perdain was quickly pressured, reducing his financial liquidity and putting him under strange psychological pressure.

And Rilstia personally created a grim atmosphere in the layer.

In particular, it was easiest to instill a sense of crisis in the Coffee Tree side, which was still opposed to Perdain, that ‘Perdain might kill us all.’

Even the most cowardly person will only bite if there is no way to escape.

Rilstia had collected so much information about Ruincrest through Alice and Fira that it wasn’t difficult for her to disrupt the layer’s interior and the noble families.

Originally, the moment a dispute arose between Perdain and Coffee Tree, other noble families and mega corps should have rushed in to join the fray.

The reason they didn’t?

Rilstia had already paralyzed the layer’s interior through financial pressure, power pressure, and anxiety creation.

Alice and Fira, who were dispatched there, may not have known it, but the interior of the Ruincrest layer was very busy due to Rilstia’s disruption.

In fact, it was the norm to minimize the interference between the administrator’s and the Overseer’s work.

Some corrupt Overseers would turn a blind eye to illegal activities in exchange for money from mega corps, local leaders, and wealthy people in the layer, or receive sponsorships in an unjust way, and the administrator would pretend not to know about it. As long as it didn’t undermine the peace and order of the Ark, the administrator would usually let it slide even if the Overseer committed corruption.

But why did Rilstia ruin Alice’s 8-year super long-term mission?

“No, how dare a blue choker try to play around while I’m working? It’s very, very outrageous!!”

Because it’s outrageous.