This Isn’t the First Time, Is It?

Haa, complicated.

‘Demon King, the world’s destruction, salvation. It all came so suddenly, it doesn’t feel real at all.’

However, Alice, with her simple thought process, decided to think about it in a very simple and easy way.

Is there any reason for Oriana and Theresa to lie to me?

No.

If it were a super fun birthday prank, there might be a possibility, but unfortunately, in the Ark, there are no trivial and leisurely cultures or customs like birthdays or pranks.

Besides, I don’t even know what my birthday is.

‘Hoo, let’s not think too complicatedly.’

Yeah, there are already so many things to deal with and so much to do.

There are so many things I want to hear, whether it’s the truth or whatever, and the stories of Theresa and Oriana intertwined with what I did in the past.

But that’s that, and I have to live in the present for now.

I’m still curious about what Oriana went through in the past that made her betray me.

They supposedly cooperated, and they’ve known each other for quite some time…

Well, was it because she was pressured by gaslighting, public opinion, or political maneuvering by those damn humans?

If there’s a possibility, it’s that she fell for someone’s trick.

But even so, Oriana isn’t trying to kill me even now, is she?

Rather, she regrets her past, and there’s a mix of genuine feelings, exhaustion, obsession, and so on, right?

And Alice was the simple type who believed that exhaustion and complicated pasts could be resolved through long conversations.

There are many things in life that can’t be resolved through conversation, but wouldn’t it be possible to resolve them with even longer conversations?

Funnily enough, there were quite a few people around Alice who found new paths with this kind of simple thinking.

“Alice, that part is the document to be passed on to the Industrial Complex. I’ll take care of it.”

“Ah, okay.”

The relationship between Oriana and Alice returned to what it was before.

Of course, this was because Alice wanted it that way.

Senior Overseer and junior Overseer.

Oriana herself constantly looked apologetic and sorry, but every time, Alice had to reassure Oriana, like soothing a child, saying, “Uh-uh, tsk!”

“The Industrial Complex cooperation document has arrived… Shall we approve the layer energy flow management as is?”

“Those slowpokes already?”

“I’m also Rilstia, you know. If I send the administrator’s seal, it’ll be approved right away in most cases.”

“Wow, it’s good to have a powerful friend like this.”

“…”

Oriana opened her mouth as if to say something, but soon closed it tightly, as if it wasn’t the right time to say it.

The atmosphere wasn’t bad, but Oriana still had the question, ‘Is it right for me to be like this? To be with Alice as if nothing happened… Is it okay?’ constantly rising in her mind.

“The Enchantment of the Fallen mediation process is now over.”

“That… red ideology that Alice spread? It was quite effective. Since there are many mental parasites and a wide-area mental formula is cast on the layer itself, the strategy of inducing people to focus on something other than fanaticism was very efficient. The competence from your Demon King days hasn’t gone anywhere.”

“…Oh, um.”

In fact, I didn’t think at all, I just randomly put things together and matched them…

Moreover, everything from the ideological leadership base to the intermediate process and incitement was done and planned not by Alice, but by Sabrina, who came on a business trip from the lower layer.

“By the way, what should we do with the Goddess of Scythe and Hammer? Since she’s the same mental parasite, it would be easiest to dispose of her as originally planned.”

“Forget it. Instead of releasing thousands of false gods, we can manage one tightly and use her to control the layer residents. She’s also cooperating with us.”

“What if she betrays us? Mental parasites and false gods will think about betraying the Ark first when faith gathers, right? The reason why the Enchantment of the Fallen layer went so disastrously was because the central administration was deliberately doing that to prevent mental parasites from integrating.”

In fact, the former Goddess of Blood, the current Red Goddess of Scythe and Hammer, is absorbing tremendous faith.

Not only the Enchantment of the Fallen layer, but also the hundreds of millions of faith in the lower layer and the red ideology that is slowly spreading like a tumor among the upper class of the Ruincrest layer were her food.

“If necessary, I’ll absorb her.”

“…Is that possible?”

“Everything that is judged as energy is possible.”

“Amazing…”

Alice flaunted her tentacles and swayed them.

Even though Alice had returned to a body closer to organic matter, the tentacles still had a strangely mechanical feel, like in her android days.

Not a complete machine, but a feeling of half-biological, half-metal.

In fact, it wasn’t even metal, but a smoother, chitinous feel like an insect.

【Human, it’s not too late now, wouldn’t it be right to kick that damn woman out? I can also perform all the tasks that woman does. So her existence is no longer needed here…】

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, later.”

Of course, apart from that, Theresa, who was in Alice’s body, had soaring anger and stress levels. Even though Alice had regained the Demon King’s body, she still felt a slight discomfort in her body, which was suffering from a high fever.

No, it’s definitely an organic body, so why is my body getting so hot like in my android days?

In my android days, if I moved my body or used even a little strength, my body would immediately overheat due to internal calculation overload, but at that time, it didn’t matter if my body got hot or not, I could just turn off the nerve sensors and it was no problem.

But when I regained my original Demon King body through fusion with hell, my body is very uncomfortable when it gets hot.

Wow, I’m even sweating now?

I might even get my period.

【Don’t worry. Your body is a perfect body, so even if you sweat, it will be pure 100 percent water with no waste products.】

“Theresa. Theresa. What nonsense are you suddenly talking about?”

【I was just mentioning it in case you were worried about the smell.】

“You’ve become very emotional lately?”

【That can’t be. I am always rational and cold-blooded.】

Alice recalled Theresa, who had vented her anger at Oriana.

Hmm, rational and cold-blooded?

She probably ate that for breakfast with lubricant…

Honestly, Alice isn’t stupid, so she knows now.

That Theresa isn’t some AI-like auxiliary personality or artificial system…

No, it’s not that I realized it now, but I’ve been feeling it implicitly for a while.

“Guest! guest! What do I do now?”

“Ah, Sira.”

For reference, Sira, who was originally a living sacrifice in the Enchantment of the Fallen, is now unemployed.

Since the Enchantment of the Fallen layer has been communized, there is no need to perform purification rituals through pilgrimage, and now that people don’t fall into fanaticism, the gruesome things that Sira doesn’t like don’t happen.

Of course, in case there are still fanatics or false gods left in the layer, Sira was staying close to Alice for safety.

Sometimes Alice has to leave her side, but in that case, there’s Marlang and the executioners who are now much younger girls than Marlang, so it’ll be okay.

Of course, it seems that the executioners who have become young girls haven’t adapted to their bodies yet, but honestly, Alice didn’t think it was her business.

Well, they tried to kill me, so changing their bodies into young girls isn’t exactly a punishment, it’s a reward, right?

Rather, they should be grateful to me!

I am confident and righteous!

Of course, the suffering and screams of the uncles who became girls haven’t stopped even after a week, so this gives me quite a bit of pleasure.

Do you know how funny it is to see a former 53-year-old executioner sobbing every night because he can’t adapt to his changed body, hormones, and emotions?

Ah, is this what I used to look like?

‘No, I’m a real man!’

【More like a real idiot.】

‘You like me so much, but you really have a potty mouth.’

【I learned it all from you.】

What did I do to Theresa, and what did Theresa learn from me that made her like this?

Alice suddenly felt very wronged, but decided not to argue.

She thought it was a positive thing that Theresa was acting so human.

Anyway, Sira’s original role was to devour all the pain, murder, and suffering caused by false gods and human fanaticism in the Enchantment of the Fallen layer, gestate them in her womb, and offer them to hell.

I still don’t know how she can gestate pain or fanaticism that has no physical substance in her womb, but even so, Alice, who had regained the Demon King’s body, could unconsciously feel the complex and enormous formula and mana flow gathering in Sira’s body.

So, Alice crushed it appropriately and absorbed the arbitrarily twisted and gathered mana and energy… and wow.

Sira’s belly, which was almost like a pregnant woman’s, became flat in just one day.

“Um, Alice, guest, am I really not going on pilgrimages anymore?”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to do anything painful or difficult like pilgrimages anymore.”

“But I was born to do pilgrimages…”

“Then is there anything else you want to do besides that?”

“I want to eat delicious food! Not sawdust soup!”

Indeed, the food situation was the worst in the Enchantment of the Fallen layer.

The cities and downtown areas were better, but if you went to the countryside or ruins, you could only eat food mixed with sawdust or very, very thin soup.

It wasn’t as bad as the lower layer used to be, but the food situation here was quite bad, and Alice was trying to improve this by investing her own assets, but it was something that would take some time.

“Okay, okay. Oriana, can we take her to the Ruincrest layer? The food was really good there…”

【I do not recommend it. The Ruincrest layer is still in turmoil because the aftermath of the rebellion has not been resolved.】

“Um… we can just use some cognitive impairment magic and eat and come back, right?”

“Yeah, if Alice wants to do that, she can.”

【No, are you going to send Alice to a place where the aftermath of the rebellion hasn’t even been resolved? How long has it been since the central administration sent executioners there…!】

“It’s okay. I’m also administrator Rilstia. I’ve already resolved all the issues above.”

It’s like Theresa is a strict mother, and Oriana has become a father who will grant me almost anything I want.

Of course, that’s just how it feels.

The strange atmosphere hasn’t disappeared, so it’s still a bit uncomfortable.

★

★

★

Alice had a lot to do in the Enchantment of the Fallen layer.

She caused ideological communization and killed countless false gods, so she couldn’t just ignore the tens of millions of residents left in the layer, so it was right for Alice to volunteer to do the work herself.

In fact, even though she could have left this place a long time ago when the executioner targeted her, Alice started to get involved in everything, including improving the lives of the layer residents, saying that she should at least take responsibility for what she caused.

Just like in her Demon King days.

She’s getting involved in things she doesn’t have to do, and she’s trying to do everything she can for Sira, the executioners, and the residents of the layer.

Seeing this, Theresa could only sigh.

How much of a pushover do you have to be to still be the same even after living your third life?

Of course, Theresa can’t just leave Alice like this.

She did a lot of work during the day, but the problems of human life and the Ark’s layer administration were still piled up like mountains.

【Stop making so much work, Alice.】

So, today, Theresa took over the body and got up while Alice was asleep.

There’s no reason to sleep after regaining her powerful body, but Alice still has human minds and habits, so she still sleeps regularly.

When Alice falls asleep, Theresa wakes up in the meantime.

Theresa moves Alice’s body and rewrites the unfinished paperwork, resident life improvement plans, mental parasite processing lists, and notations.

The reason why administrative problems don’t arise even though Alice does so much work is because of this.

Theresa wakes up every night and solves everything.

However, the reason why Theresa woke up today was not just for paperwork.

【You, let’s talk for a moment.】

At Theresa’s words, who was quietly working on documents in the office, Oriana appeared from the darkness.

“I thought you wouldn’t even want to talk to me…”

【That’s not wrong. I still want to kill you right now. But before that, there’s something I want to ask.】

Theresa continued, looking over the documents that Alice had to process.

【I remember the day Alice first met you in the Ark junkyard.】

At that time, Oriana treated Alice as if she had never seen her before.

No, not just as if she had never seen her before. She had a truly expectant look in her eyes.

In fact, Oriana completely pretended not to know Alice, saying, ‘You’re an amazing returnee! A wonderful junior has joined us!’

【At first, I just thought it was a trivial act for you to deliberately hide your identity from Alice. Or I thought you might not really remember Alice due to the influence of frequently changing personalities, minds, or bodies. But seeing you, I understand. You have never forgotten Alice even once.】

“…What are you trying to say?”

【I’ll ask briefly.】

Theresa stopped looking over the documents and glared at Oriana with sharp eyes.

【You. This isn’t the first time, is it?】

“…”

【Creating Alice. This isn’t the first time, is it?】

At those words, Oriana avoided Theresa’s gaze.

Soon, a gloomy look with some shadows exchanged glances with Theresa.