“You’ve worked hard.”
The dungeon turned into a swirl of light and vanished. It felt like waking up from a long dream.
If it weren’t for Cecilia standing there with a bow, I would’ve thought it was some kind of illusion magic.
The clone that realized it was a demon and took its own life. Judging by the high level of detail, it wasn’t hard to guess that the clone was no different from the real thing.
Meaning, if something similar happened to Cecilia, she wouldn’t hesitate to take her own life too.
At the moment she realizes she’s no longer on the side of humans.
And all the rookie knights here realize that if it were their turn, they’d have to make the same choice.
“You are now proud Windsor Knights. Rookie basic training ends here.”
That’s the basic mindset one must have as a Windsor Knight.
“Ah.”
Beatrice hastily wiped her eyes. Tears had welled up without her noticing.
The last expression of young Cecilia calmly slitting her throat kept flashing in her mind.
Her final emotion was clearly sadness.
Clearly, she hadn’t wanted to d*e.
“Cecilia-sama.”
On the way back, Beatrice spoke to Cecilia who harbored the lewd intention of ‘going to the capital, taking leave, and definitely licking Betty.’
“Yes.”
“…Kitten Cecilia, no – the clone of Cecilia-sama inside the dungeon had a message for you.”
‘As expected, I was the ‘object of fear’ after all.’
It was exactly as Cecilia had anticipated from the start. The unexpected part was that the victorious Cecilia was the Kitten side.
And that there was a message.
‘Maybe she recommended tonight’s menu?’
When she stared blankly, Beatrice said wistfully,
“Don’t lose your初心.”
“…!”
Cecilia’s previously indifferent eyes widened significantly.
Seeing this reaction, Beatrice was convinced.
‘That rumor was true.’
There were several famous rumors about Cecilia.
Among them, the most well-known was ‘that incident’ which had become legendary within the Royal Capital.
Six years old.
A fallen noble girl in tattered clothes walked while holding a demon’s head in her arms.
The place the girl was heading was the Windsor Knight Order, and upon reaching there, it was said she cried profusely and said:
-Please accept me. If I can just k*ll demons, I don’t need a salary.
The unprecedented genius, Sword Heroine Cecilia’s initiation process.
An ordinary girl who lost her parents to demons, immediately after realizing her Blessing, sought revenge and went to the Windsor Knight Order.
The sole grudge of the girl who lost everything: to exterminate every single demon in existence.
But that…
‘It’s too sad, Cecilia-sama.’
“…Betty.”
Looking at the ground, Cecilia asked softly,
“Which side won?”
“The younger version of Cecilia-sama.”
Cecilia seemed deep in thought.
Beatrice wanted to comfort Cecilia.
But she couldn’t.
She couldn’t fathom the sorrow of losing her parents at six and having to go to the Windsor Knight Order, fearing that any comfort would feel hypocritical.
‘What to do.’
As tears welled up in Beatrice’s eyes from sympathy –
Cecilia…
‘cr*p, I’m doomed.’
Cold sweat made the back of her head damp.
Her head, no, the world was spinning.
‘I’m such an idiot.’
Cecilia’s初心 – it wasn’t simply about raising newbies.
Becoming a perfectionist beauty Sword Heroine NPC and being praised by newbies!
‘Getting so caught up in nurturing that I forgot the most basic thing!’
Of course, the growth of newbies is also an indispensable condition.
The ultimate goal is to defeat the Demon God.
However, what meaning would it have if好感度 was lacking and it got snatched away by another golden sun – especially Edward?
But so far, all she’d done was—
-Spare me!
-Isn’t that our potion?!
-Please, please don’t break that!
The result.
…The newbies didn’t choose her.
Past Cecilia, who saw through this, gave current Cecilia a sharp rebuke.
-What have you been doing till now? This is totally pathetic.
Sniff sniff.
Cecilia rubbed her eyes like a cat washing its face.
Tears came out from frustration.
“Ah…”
Beatrice felt like her heart was being torn apart.
Surely, thoughts of her parents were making her cry.
“B, Betty. Just a moment.”
“…Yes.”
“Leave me alone for a bit.”
‘Even now, trying not to show weakness…’
Beatrice bit her lip.
She looked around. Fortunately, no one noticed. She grabbed Cecilia’s slender wrist and went into the forest.
When they reached a secluded spot, she immediately hugged Cecilia tightly.
“Why do you push yourself so much?”
“…”
“You came back so injured, you could’ve waited quietly. Even if we’re lacking, it’s better than being alone.”
Beatrice’s eyes were teary.
She wasn’t stupid. The harsh training was motivated by the kind wish to minimize casualties among rookies in actual combat.
Moreover, the one most injured in this攻略 was Cecilia – though it was a scheme to get vacation time.
Surely, worried about the rookie knights getting hurt, she recklessly hunted and killed demons.
“That’s my role.”
Hearing the faint voice, tears fell heavily from Beatrice’s eyes.
“…Cecilia-sama. Do you know?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re two years younger than me.”
“Yeah.”
“So whenever you want to lean on someone, lean on me. Though my abilities might be weak…”
‘…I’ll get stronger.’
Beatrice vowed.
She would definitely get stronger and become someone Cecilia could comfortably rely on.
“I’ll do anything I can for you.”
“Really?”
Beatrice nodded while wiping her tears.
Cecilia smiled faintly and said,
“Thank you.”
This was truly the perfect heroine movement—
Internally, Cecilia smirked victoriously and said to someone,
“You haven’t experienced this, right? You’re the pathetic one.”
The sound of好感度 rising could be heard.
The heavenly and earthly, unique beautiful Sword Heroine Cecilia entered the Royal Capital with great dignity.
‘Hmph.’
Cecilia’s self-esteem, which had crawled to the floor momentarily, was recharged by Beatrice and soared sky-high.
‘I’m looking forward to tomorrow.’
Finally, she made plans with Beatrice. Tomorrow, they’d shop and eat delicious food.
Then her好感度 would rise further, and hearing the warm story of the Sword Heroine, the rookie knights’好感度 would automatically rise too!
Operation Trojan Beatrice!
To prepare for that, she’d finish everything today and whine to Kairon to get vacation approval.
“Oh, Cecilia-sama has returned.”
“Why does she look so happy?”
“She has every reason to. Zero casualties, and she succeeded where even the Sword Emperor failed.”
“Wow, this time she might really become the Sword Empress. Maybe she’ll be called Silver Cecilia.”
‘That, that shouldn’t happen.’
Though Cecilia was briefly terrified, she moved forward confidently.
The situation was different from before. This time it was a攻略, and she was the leader.
Meaning, she could reduce her achievements to a tiny size through document forgery!
…Not that it was solely for that reason, but she first visited Deputy Commander Edward.
“Mission complete.”
“Hmm, you’re quite injured. Even for you, defeating yourself must’ve been tough?”
Edward smiled and closed the document. As expected, the deputy commander knew about this dungeon.
‘First discoverer, Edward Windsor.’
He probably knew about the dungeon mechanics too. The puzzling part was why he hadn’t cleared it.
With Edward’s skills, clearing the dungeon and killing ‘Jealousy’ would’ve been possible.
“…”
But even Edward didn’t seem to notice the ‘Halloween Costume Set.’
“You must have many questions.”
Edward stood up, hands behind his back, and approached Cecilia.
Staring down at Cecilia, he erased the smile from his lips.
“I don’t particularly recommend it.”
“…”
Cecilia firmly closed her mouth and looked diagonally.
A smile returned to Edward’s lips.
“Now you’re finally behaving. Keep your mouth shut like that. Then, I’ll help you hide your strength.”
Edward was extremely satisfied. And so was Cecilia.
“Let’s wrap that up. Did you find out?”
Edward, back in his seat, asked seriously.
Cecilia nodded.
“Yes.”
She’d heard from Jealousy about what happened with the demons this time.
Edward’s guess was half correct.
There was a power struggle. But the Demon King didn’t d*e.
“This time, the gathering of demons is because of Walpurgis.”
“Walpurgis?”
Edward frowned. It was his first time hearing the term.
“When major events occur, demons gather at the Demon King’s castle for a grand meeting called Walpurgis. The decisions made there usually determine the future direction of the demons… or so I heard.”
“…Demons hold meetings too, that’s somewhat surprising news. But did they retreat the front lines just because of that?”
“No, the deputy commander’s guess was correct.”
Cecilia spoke matter-of-factly.
“An unprecedented power struggle. Because of that, each faction is concentrating their forces to gain advantage.”
“Ho, as expected. So? I feel like I haven’t heard the most important part yet.”
Edward asked carefully.
“The reason?”
Cecilia stated flatly.
“The Demon King has died.”
A blatant lie.
There were two reasons.
One was to gradually discern whether Edward was on the side of humans or demons.
If he was on the demons’ side, deviating from the set scenario would prompt some movement.
The other was…
‘I prefer the setting where the Demon King dies.’
A trivial desire.
If problems arose, she could just turn the lie into reality.
