Chapter 348: A Proposal Among Puppets
"...Eve, look! Look!! I did it!!" I say to Eve, excited about the things she’s been teaching me, and super happy with what I managed to learn!! Magic is something so incredible. When Evelyn said I would be a weapon and my function would be to fight...
I expected to be thrown straight into battle, but my life has been pretty peaceful so far! It’s been nothing but training, and learning magic is interesting.
"You did well, Shizuka. Your manipulation of Hikishin is truly exceptional... as high as Evelyn-sama’s," Eve says with a smile as she strokes my head.
"Thank you! You’re an amazing teacher! That’s why I learned so fast." Eve is like an older sister I never had. The thing is, she treats me so well that I love being around her, and she apparently likes my enthusiasm and obedience, so she likes me too.
"Now that you’ve learned to manipulate Hikishin, you should be able to use magic, but... hmm... your abilities are somewhat complex, not to mention your curses... it’s something that’s complicated to train."
"After all, two of your abilities will give you random powers, so there’s not much to master. Only your [Contamination] skill can actually be trained... Are you ready to kill someone?" She asks me, and I get a little tense.
"I-I think so..." Killing someone—killing angels—is something that makes me uncomfortable. Even killing the people who made me suffer wasn’t exactly comfortable. Killing someone who never did anything to me sounds even worse, but I need to fulfill my agreement with Evelyn. She helped me so much, and it’s for my future.
"We have some prisoners you can test it on. There aren’t many, since Evelyn-sama has been turning almost all the angels we find into puppets, but they’re angels who were already going to be turned into puppets anyway, so even if you kill them, it won’t be a problem." She says it while taking my hand and pulling me along with her.
"Eve, you... you forget..." I murmur, wanting to say a few things, but it’s not the time or the situation.
"..." Eve ignores this, taking me with her to the makeshift prison Evelyn built with her powers. Honestly, seeing Evelyn’s powers at work is kind of terrifying.
Turning living beings into puppets, creating matter out of thin air, and always seeming to know everything that’s going on!! Truly the Devil!! Yet, as terrifying as she is, she always seems tense about something.
"You seem to have doubts about Evelyn-sama. What is it?" Eve asks me while leading me underground, where a complex structure has been built.
"...Did she really have a baby?" I ask, somewhat disheartened. Evelyn made me treat her image as the target of all my desire, and now seeing that target of desire apparently having had a baby makes me feel strange and way too dirty.
"Yes, Evelyn-sama had a baby. Although it’s not a topic many know about, I ask that you avoid talking about it so no one finds out yet..." Eve says to me, lighting a crystal that illuminates the entire place.
"It’s because of those weird curses of yours, isn’t it?" she questions.
"...Uhh... I-I know it’s kind of wrong and weird, but hey, I can’t help it... E-Eve, can I... can I use your image?" That was kind of the point of this, but doing it without Eve’s permission feels really wrong. Besides, although identical to Evelyn, she doesn’t have wings, horns, or a tail.
"Of course. If Evelyn-sama chose this method to keep you under control, I don’t think it matters—" I jump onto Eve’s leg, hugging her.
"Thank you, Eve!!! Thank you so much!!" Eve is so cool.
"...Don’t thank me so much. If this were two years ago, I would have beaten you senseless."
"R-Really?"
"...I had a more complicated personality. Over the last two years, I’ve learned a lot about relationships with people... the first ally Evelyn-sama and I had was... someone I threatened... and the second was one I beat up."
"...Maybe if I had had a slightly better attitude, Syl’Vyr wouldn’t have betrayed Evelyn-sama..." Eve talks about things I don’t understand.
"Someone betrayed Evelyn?"
"...Yes, a... friend. I never expected to call her a friend after what she did, but now that I’ve spent two years without truly seeing Evelyn-sama, I understood what Syl’Vyr felt..."
"Evelyn-sama isn’t being cruel, but a life of servitude only works as long as there’s a reason. Evelyn-sama is very independent; she often doesn’t really need us."
"She has so many ideas... and she’s already quite strong, so it ends up that we puppets are left pretty alone with nothing to do... that’s not a reason for Syl’Vyr to have betrayed Evelyn-sama, but she had no support. If I had acted as her friend instead of focusing madly on training..." Eve speaks, admitting she was wrong.
I don’t really know what happened since I’m new here, and I can’t really understand her since I’ve never really had friendships or any kind of support network. But I do understand that being alone is really sad and empty.
"So you’re taking good care of me so I won’t betray Evelyn when I’m no longer useful?"
"No, I’m taking good care of you because I learned valuable life lessons. There’s more than just training, and supporting my companions is important. One day, I will no longer be useful to Evelyn-sama, and on that day I’ll have to figure something out for my life."
"Why do you say that? Evelyn... wouldn’t discard us, right?" I get extremely tense. I’ve seen Evelyn use an ability that sacrifices puppets to do other things.
"No, no, she wouldn’t do that to the two of us... the problem is Evelyn-sama’s damn wife... that woman undeniably would do anything for Evelyn-sama... but unfortunately, even if she hurts Evelyn-sama, I know that Evelyn-sama will never stop defending that woman."
"I learned that the hard way. Esther’s life is worth more than anything to Evelyn-sama, and Esther is far too strong by any standard, so I know that unfortunately, Esther is the most capable of protecting Evelyn-sama directly... which means... that I am no longer able to fulfill the function I was born to fulfill."
"And that’s why I say I understand Syl’Vyr, who betrayed Evelyn-sama. Realizing that our functions and existences no longer have value, while we receive no emotional support from Evelyn, is hard, even if she doesn’t do it on purpose." Eve says some really sad things.
And this I can understand. Feeling useless, having no one to rely on, and having no form of support whatsoever is terrible.
"So... when the war ends, we’ll be useless?" I question her, not having thought about that when I accepted becoming Evelyn’s puppet.
"In a way, yes. Obviously, Evelyn will never really send us away or get rid of us, but we won’t have a function or a reason to exist... You said that Evelyn-sama promised you wealth, influence, and a better life."
"That’s true; you’re going to be, like, someone really important to the demons, but... it means that Evelyn-sama herself implicitly warned you that after the war, you’ll no longer be useful to her..." I look at Eve, thinking about this.
"E-Eve... s-since we won’t have much left to do and there won’t be much left of us to be useful to Evelyn... y-you could always become mine, right?" When I ask this, Eve looks at me confused, furrowing her eyebrows.
"What’s this story, Shizuka?" Her serious tone gives me chills.
"N-Not like that!! L-Like a couple, you know? Y-You’re really beautiful... and I’m a virgin... and... I-I’ve never had a relationship with anyone... and... w-we’re going to be alone... s-so wouldn’t it be good to have company?" I stumble all over my weird requests.
"So you want to be with me because I’m pretty?" Her tone is cold.
"W-Well, that’s how couples start, right? L-Like, y-you’re very attractive... s-so we could let romance develop in the future, right? I-It doesn’t even have to be serious!! J-Just dating, and if it doesn’t work out, we can break up and just stay friends."
"...Girl, I barely know you. It’s only been two months since you showed up."
"I-I know... I-I just... just thought that... m-maybe it would be good, right? Y-You yourself said you’ll have nothing to do later... and that you’ll be alone... th-think about the life we could have after this!! W-Wouldn’t it be great?"
"You get a girlfriend who can train with you, talk to you, and live with you, and I get company, plus more strength and influence. It’s kind of like both our wishes come true, right?"
"...A relationship out of pure convenience, then? You don’t care about love?"
"...No... honestly, I can’t bring myself to care about love after the shitty life I had before coming here... I-I won’t say I don’t believe in love, but my life before here only gave me pain and showed me that for love, I’d have to fight for it in a way... s-so I prefer a relationship out of pure convenience."
"B-But if you don’t want to, that’s fine. I-I’ll... I-I’ll just stay as I am. I’ll train to help Evelyn and feel satisfied with the things I’m going to gain." Eve has a certain look of disgust toward me; she then grabs my hand.
"Interesting proposal, though the timing is shitty as hell for you to bring it up... but let’s do it this way. I need a strong, loyal, and determined weapon to help Evelyn-sama."
"If you show satisfactory results using your powers on the angel we’re about to meet, not only will I accept dating you, I’ll even let you sleep with me." When she says that, I blush red with embarrassment.
"R-Really? Then—"
"But if your results are unsatisfactory, I’ll do something very bad to you. After all, I gave you a great incentive, and I expect results for it. Now be useful to Evelyn-sama and show me just how useful your powers are." She has a very cruel smile on her face.
"O-Okay... I-I’ll do my best!"