Chapter 102
One day, a painting that clearly stirred curiosity appeared in the forest near the Fairy Kingdom.
Its bizarre-looking style was presumed to originate from the Eastern Continent, and the fairies snatched up the painting the moment they saw it.
A thing from the Eastern Continent!
They couldn't even investigate that place because they hadn't been able to make a secret passage there.
From the fairies' perspective, it was no different from a sudden stroke of luck.
“Maybe we can infer all sorts of things about the Eastern Continent through this painting!”
“But why do they paint pictures like this? The Eastern Continent's style is really unique.”
“The harmony of black and white is incredible! It's unbelievable!”
The fairies who had discovered the painting first placed it in the middle of the village and watched it.
It did not take long for the painting to arrive at the kingdom's audience chamber.
“It definitely... does seem like this painting has some ominous energy, but for now... shall we keep watching it instead of burning it?”
“Yes, sir!”
With Luminix absent,
the fairy temporarily serving as king wanted to observe the painting, even though they knew it gave off an ominous energy.
That had happened three months ago.
“...That is the extent of our memories concerning this painting.”
“Memories, my ass.”
Luminix looked at the fairy temporarily serving as king and laughed incredulously.
They looked like they wanted to punch the fairy right away, but seemed to be watching my reaction.
“Luminix, you don't need to worry about my reaction. Feel free to do as you wish.”
“Then, if you insist.”
Smack! Smack! Smack!
While the mystery of violence was being created in the audience chamber,
I examined the painting believed to have come from the Eastern Continent.
‘They said it was from the Eastern Continent, so I wondered what it would be... but this is Korean-style.’
Generally, when settings related to the Eastern Continent appear in Western fantasy, they tend to be presented as a mixture of various Eastern cultures.
But the painting before me was unmistakably Korean in style.
The mere fact that it contained a tiger and a magpie said it all.
‘Is this another mod?’
Seen this way, the Eastern Continent itself felt deeply unnatural.
Of course, since this was a romance fantasy that emphasized relationships, it was possible for various male protagonists to appear.
But the Eastern Continent's character seemed excessively strong.
It did not feel as though it had blended into the world. It was more like something from outside had suddenly joined it.
Even the half-human, half-yokai that had appeared in the Empire was like that.
‘Is the painting really just emitting a curse, with nothing else involved?’
Seeing the painting give off such obviously disgusting energy,
I could guess how Mirne had intended to resolve this situation.
‘She would erase only the curse from the painting, then use the opportunity to talk about the Eastern Continent and do all sorts of things, wouldn't she?’
Snap.
I snapped my fingers, and the painting burst into flames in an instant.
The fact that it was bait Mirne had planted beforehand left no room for debate.
It had to be incinerated.
“Ah.”
I let out a regretful sigh as I watched the painting burn.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
But the renewed mystery of violence quickly erased it.
“Curiosity can definitely be poisonous. Even more so in a situation like this.”
I said that and shifted my gaze to Luminix,
and the moment Luminix felt my gaze, he understood and opened his mouth.
“Now that I have returned, the Fairy Kingdom will come under the Empire.”
“Y-yes?! Does that mean we must strictly obey the Empire's commands?”
The resentment of having to come under someone else's authority after living freely for so long.
In a way, it was only natural, and convincing them would inevitably take time.
But contrary to my expectations,
“If we come under the Empire, we can spread the fairies' eyes throughout the continent even more boldly. If that is the Empire's will, who could stop us?”
“Gasp! Then does that mean we can legally scatter the fairies' eyes everywhere?!”
“That is right. Moreover, the Empire has recently stationed Imperial knights in various nations through something called Imperial garrisons. Can you imagine what that means?”
“I can! I absolutely can!”
The fairies lit up the moment they heard that they could spread secret passages throughout the Empire, quickly accepting the situation.
No, was seeing the entire continent more openly through that really more important than coming under another country?
‘What kind of race are they, anyway?’
Their curiosity really had no end.
Then again, that was why they merely gazed at the painting in fascination even while it was spreading curses.
“Then does that mean all the curses remaining in the Fairy Kingdom have disappeared? Since we burned the painting, too.”
“Yes. I am checking the entire kingdom now, and I can see the curse gradually disappearing.”
“With one painting... with one painting that could be burned this easily, she pulled all this crap.”
A painting that could be burned so easily.
That was only from my perspective; to the fairies, it must have been a painting they absolutely could not burn.
‘She really did intend to give them the disease and then the medicine.’
But what on earth is Mirne's reason for trying to obtain a noble title?
Is it because she can defeat the Demon King only if she has a noble title?
‘That can't be it.’
She seemed far too passive for that.
Even without deliberately coming here with the beastman male protagonist, Mirne must have had any number of ways to enter the Fairy Kingdom.
Considering that, her current actions were extremely strange.
She did need a noble title, but she did not seem particularly proactive about obtaining one.
Yet if I asked whether she was working hard on anything else, that was ambiguous too.
‘There must be some separate preparation for the Empire becoming a demon realm.’
I did not think a noble title was part of that preparation.
So, if I were to make one truly worst-case assumption,
‘No way.’
Just as I was about to dismiss it, thinking, How could a person possibly do that?
- Achievement... What is that supposed to mean? Is she grinding achievements?
Shhk!
The Crown Prince's memory surged around me in a storm of rage.
Along with the sound of something being cut, I saw blood splatter across the Crown Prince's face.
Who was he cutting? I had only just wondered that when—
- Mirne, are you saying someone else's home is nothing but an achievement to you?
The Crown Prince mentioned the name of the person he was cutting as he swung his sword without mercy,
and each time, blood splashed across his body.
- How greedy are you? No, from the start... how can you do something like this with the desire to become the protagonist everyone wants?
With those words,
- Those eyes that think they have been wronged... I want to cut out those eyes, but what a pity. The Empire is going to fall first.
- If I do not lose the memories of this round, I will do the same to you.
- I will kill every one of those damn men clinging to you, and your damn... Ah, this is as far as I go.
The Crown Prince gave a lonely smile, and the memory ended there.
When the hypothesis I had feared became an undeniable truth, a hollow laugh escaped me.
“Huh.”
The reason Mirne had not been proactive about obtaining a noble title.
Of course, it was also true that the pact prevented me from properly interfering with the other races.
But to Mirne, a noble title was merely an achievement.
‘No... no, that's not it.’
The problem was that one of the reasons she wanted a noble title was to earn an achievement.
After all, if someone had possessed the character named Mirne, they should naturally have developed relationships by feeling emotions toward the people around them.
It meant that Mirne saw every character around her as an NPC from beginning to end.
‘Still, there had been a regression in which the Crown Prince managed to inflict meaningful damage on Mirne.’
So he had not been completely helpless against her.
Thinking that, I felt he was truly remarkable.
‘But if the Empire were destroyed, would the Crown Prince naturally regress as well?’
I knew that to some extent, but hearing it again like this made it feel new.
He regressed when he died, and he even regressed when the Empire fell.
But in my case, the moment the Empire fell, I would immediately be processed as dead.
That meant this round was both the first and last one for me.
“Well, even if I am missing one of the most important memories right now, if I regress in this state, things would end faster anyway.”
That meant I, too, had some kind of restriction placed on me.
Then who had placed that restriction on me?
‘The Crown Prince? Or the Emperor, who still has not revealed himself?’
Putting those questions aside,
“Luminix, for the time being, you may focus more on the Fairy Kingdom's domestic affairs than on your duties as an Executioner.”
“No. How could I? The reason I can oversee the Fairy Kingdom at all is entirely thanks to Your Highness....”
“No, but for the time being, it is right for you to focus on domestic affairs. If you leave the kingdom without properly training a successor, the same problem will arise again.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
After ordering Luminix to focus on the Fairy Kingdom for the time being,
I naturally brought up the materials needed to make the third sword.
“If there is anything you need, we will provide it immediately.”
“There is indeed. I need a treasure of the Fairy Kingdom.”
My purpose in coming to the Fairy Kingdom had been to procure materials for making the third sword from the beginning,
and since Luminix was both the Fairy King and an Executioner who had pledged loyalty to me, he had no hesitation about handing over a treasure.
And so, the first material needed to make the third sword was...
“I will offer Fairite, found only in the Fairy Kingdom and passed down through the royal family alone for generations, to the Empire as tribute.”
I secured Fairite, an ore imbued with mystery.
++++++
When I returned to the Empire after securing the ore,
I was naturally alone.
‘I need to secure a beastman capable of countering Creed.’
Now that I could spread the fairies' eyes throughout the continent, securing personnel would clearly not take long.
Moreover, once the Empire's Eye joined them, if I could operate the fairies' eyes and the Empire's Eye perfectly,
I would obtain such extensive intelligence that calling it the Eye of the Continent would actually be an understatement.
‘It felt as though things were being resolved one by one, slowly but surely.’
What mattered was that I was moving forward.
The Empire would continue to develop, and even now,
[ The king of the Fairy Kingdom has returned. ]
[ You have been awarded 5 Empire Tree points as a reward. ]
Points that could immediately strengthen the Empire were awarded right away.
‘I had maxed out Basic Magitech Engineering, so was it time to move on to the Basics?’
Just as I was about to immediately put points there, thinking that,
[ A new tech tree will be unlocked. ]
[ This tech tree requires you to choose one of two options. ]
[ You cannot have both. ]
A new tech tree appeared.
[ A new tech tree, Other-Race Exclusion, has appeared. It makes the Empire a nation solely for humans. ]
[ A new tech tree, Other-Race Integration, has appeared. It makes the Empire a nation where everyone can live together. ]
There was no need to think about the choice. Naturally, I chose Other-Race Integration,
and all five points went straight into that choice.
Before I could even think, So it gives with one hand and takes away with the other...
[ You have mastered Other-Race Integration. ]
[ The other races living in the Kingdom of Maselin hear rumors that the Empire is a good place to live. ]
[ The Imperial citizens have no aversion to accepting other races. ]
[ However, the Empire is strict. Other races will have to follow Imperial law. ]
I could not help laughing at the news that the other races in the Kingdom of Maselin were coming over.
‘I will take everything from you, one thing at a time.’
Achievements or anything else.
I will make sure you cannot do anything.
And in the end, I will finish you.
Muttering that, I checked the information on Beastman Vark that I had obtained through the advantage.
Since Beastman Creed was a lion beastman, the beastman who could naturally stand against him would be...
[ Beastman Vark: Tiger Beastman ]
A tiger.
But then an unexpected variable arose.
[ Villainess, she is a tiger. ]
“What?”
It was the response of the Villainess Ring.