Chapter 1: The Calculation
Afternoon.
A chestnut mare ambled along the dirt road heading west, with trees becoming denser on either side.
Ji Ma sat sideways on the horse’s back, wearing a red dress, cradling a skinny orange cat in her arms, stroking its back while the cat contentedly squinted its eyes.
Ji Ma stared blankly at the air in front of her, pondering her situation.
She had a rough goal:
The next step was to find George and join the mission to retrieve the “Demon King Kima’s” extraordinary material, striving to get back her own extraordinary material.
Therefore, after “racing” against George in the dream palace yesterday, she proposed to seek him out. The reason was simple: being pursued, she sought George’s protection. George agreed but said that if there was any task, they would have to part ways.
Haha, just a soulless scoundrel… and so forceful, truly a perverted fiend.
Thinking of this, Ji Ma felt a slight ache in her legs. She gently shook her head to refocus on the matter at hand.
George adhered strictly to the church’s regulations; even if they went to bed together, he would not allow her to join the mission to retrieve “Demon King Kima’s” extraordinary material casually.
I need to check the church’s relevant regulations.
Ji Ma thought, pulling up the church’s regulations in her personal system, which she had copied through her thoughts. After searching for over ten minutes using the search function, she finally found the pertinent clauses.
“In principle, task commanders can autonomously decide whether to accept assistance from non-church extraordinary beings… In non-emergency situations, the assistants must pass the commander’s truthfulness review. The basic requirements for the review are as follows:”
“1. What is your main purpose for participating in the task? What is your secondary purpose?”
“2. What benefits do you expect to gain from this task?”
“3. Will you assist the enemy? Yes or no.”
…
“The task commander must add a few concise questions based on the above points according to the situation. In principle, extraordinary beings from evil factions are not accepted, but in emergencies, it may be allowed. However, it must be conducted in a straightforward and unambiguous questioning format when inquiring of voluntarily participating evil extraordinary beings.”
Oh no, this is bad.
Ji Ma couldn’t help but rub the cat’s head.
To join George’s team, she would have to pass the “truthfulness interrogation.” However, even the first question would be a challenge; if George interrogated her halfway, he would likely draw out the Holy Sword and stab her again—this time not with the delightful Holy Sword.
What to do? What to do?
Use the power of lies to trick George?
Ji Ma shook her head.
Not to mention that the power to lie and make it true was nearly exhausted for the sake of using Iz’s ashes. George had many questions; handling them one by one with the “lie to truth” ability would cost too much.
Conversely, the church’s faction detection system required far less effort; after all, she only needed to change her faction.
“How annoying.” Ji Ma sighed, “If I had known this would happen, I should have resolutely kicked George away last night, letting him burn itself in vain. I should have suggested to him that as long as he approves me, we should immediately go to the nearby grove and have some fun.”
“However, thinking about it, George isn’t that kind of person; he would most likely refuse sternly and, upon waking, could not help but seek out that proud long-legged elf, saying, ‘I want to sleep with you.’ Who knows, that elf might even agree.”
The more Ji Ma thought, the more frustrated she became. She placed the sleepy orange cat on her lap and rubbed its head vigorously, saying, “That son of fate’s goddess could really sleep with the long-legged elf.”
“Meow meow meow meow.”
The Lianxi cat was awakened, squinting its drowsy eyes and flipping over to show Ji Ma its soft belly.
“Little Li, you can understand me, right?”
The Lianxi cat nodded.
“But I can’t understand your cat language. By the way, do cats have language?”
The Lianxi cat’s ears drooped: “Meow~.”
“I seem to remember there was a formula that enables people to understand animal speech.” As Ji Ma spoke, she suddenly froze as if struck by lightning, her eyes bright, and she slapped her thigh—poor Lianxi cat was hit and yelped, jumping onto the horse’s head.
When George asks questions, I just need the cat to squat nearby, secretly asking me questions, and I will answer the cat’s questions instead of George’s.
So theoretically, George would feel that everything I said was the truth.
I’m so clever!
Ji Ma smiled broadly at the Lianxi cat perched on the horse’s head, saying, “Little Li, come over for a moment; I want to tell you something.”
The Lianxi cat immediately jumped into Ji Ma’s arms.
“In the next few days, you’ll transform into a human. We’ll start question-training, and you must judge whether a question is beneficial to me—”
Ji Ma began to say but suddenly stopped.
The Lianxi cat looked at its owner curiously.
Ji Ma realized that in order for the Lianxi cat to judge whether a question was advantageous to her, she would need to disclose her intentions to the cat.
After that, wouldn’t it be enough to just eliminate the cat to silence it? Coincidentally, if George knew the Lianxi cat could turn back into a human, his brain would surely deduce there was something amiss.
Ji Ma thought, her hand, which was stroking the cat’s back, paused at its neck. She gazed into the cat’s eyes, and the cat stared back, blinking.
Forget it, there’s no need. The cat is loyal enough, but it’s best to avoid any mishaps. I must eliminate all possibilities of George discovering my secret as the Demon King.
Ji Ma thought, her face returning to a smile as she scratched the cat’s chin.
With that resolved for now, she began to consider other issues. Her inciting a riot in Marlin City was contrary to the church’s advocacy for order and goodness. She wondered how the church would view her? And how would George handle it?
Ji Ma believed the church wouldn’t go so far as to issue a demon-slaying order against her. Her actions hadn’t reached such a severity to warrant the church’s “transnational law enforcement.” However, they certainly wouldn’t treat it as if nothing had happened and let her go.
Moreover, her black demon disguise had nearly lost its value. Let George and the others slowly guess who the Dark Demon King was; it wasn’t worth the risk of being discovered to pretend to be the Dark Demon King.
How then could she explain to George and the others that she could divine the whereabouts of the extraordinary material?
Ji Ma began rethinking while jotting down what issues she might face in the text of her personal system.
After finishing, she sighed with relief, stretched lazily, and checked the time—it had been over half an hour.
To reach George’s Kasong Duchy, it was conservatively estimated to take nearly a month. During this rare bit of leisure time, she needed to diligently improve her potion-making skills to refine and separate the extraordinary material from the green dragon, producing potions to advance to the next level.
Finally, having a moment to relax, she needed to enjoy it well.
A gust of wind rustled through the trees lining the road, peaceful and tranquil, sunlight filtering through the green leaves, sliced into patches that fell on the thick bed of fallen leaves, stirring in Ji Ma a desire to sleep in.
The scenery was quite nice. After setting the cat down, Ji Ma gazed blankly at the forest.
At that moment, a gust of wind brought a smell of blood and the stench of fur.
The chestnut mare grew restless, stomping its hooves.
“How disappointing.” Ji Ma pulled out a gold coin and flicked it into the air. “Is there an ambush ahead?”
The coin fell, showing the reverse—no.
“Are there enemies?”
Still the reverse—no.
“Just like the results from the morning’s divination.”
Ji Ma urged the horse forward, and after the dirt road turned a corner, the sight of carnage below the slope came into view.
Three large, four-wheeled caravans lay askew, dilapidated; headless corpses were sprawled against the windows, the bodies stained with blood, and corpses littered everywhere. Dozens of wooden spears were implanted in the ground, some topped with severed heads still wearing helmets.
The Lianxi cat instinctively arched its back in alarm.
“It’s evident they aren’t greenskins.” Ji Ma remained calm, guiding the horse past the wooden spears. “Greenskins would take away all the usable metal.”
The caravans were mostly intact. Ji Ma rode past one, glancing inside through the open window.
A human family lay dead inside—four members of a family; the woman cradled two children, her wounds almost severing her body. The man had no head, likely impaled on the wooden spear behind.
“The caravan hasn’t been burned, indicating the assailants didn’t want to prematurely attract the imperial patrols cruising along the main road,” Ji Ma continued on, “Most likely the work of beastmen. Ordinary bandits wouldn’t kill people and leave heads as a warning. By the way, Little Li, remember my analysis just now.”
The Lianxi cat nodded, seemingly understanding.
The mare trotted away from the scene of slaughter behind them.
“We’ve only traveled half a day and encountered such a situation; the wilderness is truly dangerous,” Ji Ma remarked. “Traveling in pairs is still very important. As a noble behind-the-scenes mastermind, I can’t just take matters into my own hands to deal with greenskins, beastmen, or bandits.”
The Lianxi cat nodded, “Meow meow.”
Although the wilderness was perilous, it felt exceptionally dangerous. Could it be a precursor to apocalypse?
Ji Ma recalled the demonic tradition of frequently attacking the human realm. Everyone traveled together, formed battle gangs, killing and burning in human territories, randomly seizing some goods to realize the value of demonic existence.
Every so often, which could be a century or a millennium, the demon race would invade the human realm on a grand scale, leaving a trail of severed heads stacked like mountains and reducing cities to ruins, a phenomenon referred to as “apocalypse.” Although they could never quite achieve total destruction due to various issues, which made the name “apocalypse” sound rather ironic.
Despite that, it still sounded mighty.
If it were truly a precursor to apocalypse, Ji Ma mused, then after the dark ones got rid of her, they might engage in infighting, possibly creating a great demon lord.
Thinking this, Ji Ma couldn’t help but feel a sense of crisis.
Once a great demon lord emerged in the demon realm, they would undoubtedly go all out to trace the whereabouts of the last fragment of the Demon King’s crown. Though no one expected that the former mistress of the palace, Demon King Kima, would stoop to become a succubus and submit to a hero, as long as the great demon lord poured substantial resources into the investigation, she would eventually be embroiled in it.
Who would have thought that, from the standpoint of fundamental interests, I would be on the same side as the hero who tried to kill me?
Ji Ma chuckled to herself, raised the reins, slapping the horse’s rear, urging it forward at full gallop.
—
Tomorrow, a day of rest to organize the outline.
