At the end of that shattered dreamscape, there was indeed an old-looking teapot that did not fit the atmosphere of the entire dreamscape, and it was “gazing.”
It coldly observed everything.
For example, Treya’s self-destructive words, the shattered dream fragments, the dream slowly darkening…
Like bubbles rising in boiling tea, the entire “beautiful dream” was shattered upon contact with the water’s surface.
The eyes covering the teapot, like some kind of monitor, then looked at the next “scene.”
But the next scene was clearly no longer a “dreamscape,” but “reality” within a certain dungeon.
In this scene, it simply looked like an Undead Swordsman falling under the attack of the opposing mage.
Several swords behind him were scattered carelessly on the ground, some already broken in battle.
On the ground were sword hilts, half remaining, looking particularly pitiful.
Then, the Adventuring Team that defeated him didn’t even take his Loot.
They moved forward madly for the speed of clearing the dungeon.
Bang.
The ball symbolizing the dreamscape extinguished.
The lid of the Demon’s Spirit Vessel slowly lifted, emitting smoke of various colors.
Then, as the smoke rose to the top, it turned purple and dissipated.
There was no “sound,” but the contents of the Spirit Vessel were “communicating.”
Communicating about the current situation, which was crucial to the survival of this Demon City.
“Their speed is fast, they’ve already broken through to there.” – From 2.
“If the ‘fusion’ hadn’t failed before, the Demon City wouldn’t have lost control of the latter 100 floors.” – From 7.
“No need to think about whose problem this was, everyone was present at the time.” – From 3.
“The problem now is how to ‘assimilate’ her.” – From 8.
“Otherwise, will the Demon City face ‘death’?” – From 10.
“But, it doesn’t matter. Hasn’t her ‘dream’ already ended?” – From 9.
“It’s over, that’s right, it’s over!” – From 2.
“The straw she once desperately clung to to preserve herself has reached its end.” – From 6.
“As long as she wavers in what she has done, then it will be our time.” – From 3.
“Our time, our time, our time.” – From 34567.
“Who will be left to invite her into the trap?” – From 128910.
“We all can, we all can, every one of us can.” – From 12345678910.
Rather than a clash of different consciousnesses, it was more like different “cells” of the same individual transmitting information through different synapses.
“Prepare a dream for her, prepare a dream for her.” – From 12345678910.
“A dream where she believes she can complete her final mission, a dream into which she will fall step by step, a dream from which she will never escape once she enters.” – From 12345678910.
“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.” – From 12345678910.
There would be no truly conflicting arguments among them, only a final result.
How to make “Zero Demon City” live longer and go further…
Digging “deeper.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is a special day for Treya.
Because…
On this day, she met an “assassin” for the first time.
“Your Majesty! Are you alright? I am extremely sorry, this… this is our dereliction of duty—”
She looked at the kneeling guards before her, her gaze gradually moving down from them, finally fixing on the corpse of a young man only two meters away from her.
The chest, where the heart was, was accurately pierced by a rapier, and the heart, along with some blood vessels, was mostly pulled out with the rapier.
This largely intact heart was no longer beating, but from the wound where the sword pierced it, bright red blood spurted out, scattering on the ground.
…Who is he?
Treya watched the blood flow to her feet, and through the reflection of the blood, she saw the tip of her black sword.
On the sword tip, blood of the same color dripped, merging with the blood in front of her silver boots.
Then, she looked up slightly and saw the young man’s dagger lying nearby, and…
Under his fallen hood, his eyes, though dead, were still staring at her intently.
His eyes seemed to carry some deep emotion, after all, it was the look left by the assassin in his final moment.
An assassin bold enough to attempt assassination must have had a reason for his actions in his eyes.
However, Treya had never been able to understand emotions.
She only felt that his gaze was somewhat fierce, and nothing else.
…She remembered, five seconds ago, an assassin who had used a self-acceleration spell in the grass, drawing his rapier and attempting to assassinate her, who was admiring flowers in the garden within a minute’s reach.
However, when he used his acceleration spell, Treya had already noticed him.
Moreover, his self-acceleration spell level was too low. For Treya, who was known for her agility and speed, it was only like the enemy moving at 1.5 times speed instead of slow motion.
Most monsters in the dungeon were much faster than him.
Treya even drew her sword “slowly,” because although she always had her sword with her, the dress she wore for the meeting today did not allow her to perform actions that required flexible posture.
She pointed directly at his chest, his heart, just as she would an enemy in the dungeon.
This was a conditioned reflex, not even a strategy.
Will had taught her that most monsters’ weakness was their heart, especially humanoid monsters, so when encountering a monster, without thinking too much, just stab at the heart.
Moreover, throughout this entire process, she did not even use her demon-derived intuition, nor did she use the increased agility and strength from being a demon.
Her intuition as the “human” side of Treya was enough to deal with such a small assassin.
But…
The moment her sword was drawn, she heard the first words the young man seemed to have shouted as he emerged.
It was also the only thing he could say while he was still alive and not yet a corpse.
—”Give back my… father!”
Thus, she stood there in a daze for a moment, and only now recovered, wiping the tip of her black sword.
Why did she zone out at that sentence?
Upon hearing it, she felt “nauseous.” Her body reacted with disgust, unwilling to hear those words, before her brain could.
“Your Majesty… are you truly alright? It was our dereliction of duty, we are willing to be punished!”
“No problem. Compared to those ferocious monsters, he was far inferior.”
Treya’s tone was not even angry, giving a fair evaluation of the assassin’s ability.
She finished speaking and looked down.
Her silver boots were splattered with blood. Tracing upwards along the boots, she found that her white gauze dress, which she only wore for important meetings, was also stained with blood.
The spattered blood looked like a flower drawn on her clothes.
Only, the blood of this flower, under the influence of gravity, slid down towards the hem of her skirt, appearing particularly gruesome.
Treya looked at it, touched her right cheek with her hand, and indeed, as she had expected, her face was also stained with blood.
“The subsequent meeting will be postponed by two hours. Headmaid, find me another set of clothes, I need to bathe immediately. The rest, you are responsible for investigating who this person is. I want a result after I finish bathing.”
She licked the blood from her finger. It tasted腥气, no different from the blood of other humans.
“Yes!”
…
…………
Two hours later, sitting at the dressing table, the faint scent of incense from the bathroom emanated from her nose. She looked at herself in the mirror, tidying her silver hair.
It involved the blood of the dead, which made her feel nauseous, so she didn’t have her timid maids do it.
However, such long silver hair was indeed troublesome to manage. She reached out, tilted her head, and looked at herself in the mirror, letting the wooden comb slide from the top of her head, through the gaps in her hair, and slowly down to the roots.
Who…
Who was that person?
The kings of Entak throughout history had experienced numerous assassination attempts, so encountering an assassin in the Royal Palace was something Treya had always expected.
But, given the special nature of the entire Entak Royal Family and their binding with Zero Demon City…
It was impossible for anyone to succeed in an assassination here. The useless guards of the royal family combined were not as competent as one of the demons in Zero Demon City.
But…
Treya thought that this assassination attempt had come earlier than she had anticipated. After all, since she took office, she had pursued a policy of appeasement towards the interests of most groups.
She had not yet truly touched the core of their interests and made enemies.
But…
“Your Majesty, we have found out.”
Through the door of the washroom, the “useless” guards of the Royal Family had, within two hours, found the result for her.
“Speak directly, no need to hold back. News of my assassination attempt will surely get out. The reception hall where bills were being passed was upstairs, everyone saw it.”
“It… it was the Fourth Prince’s… youngest child.”
“…Wasn’t he already exiled from the country? Along with his entire family.”
“We investigated. Emperor Edward’s punishment for the Fourth Prince at the time was exile. Upon your ascension, you expressed a desire to treat minors kindly and allow them to be bailed out.”
“…What about his father?”
“We investigated. The place of exile was the far north, but… he did not survive this past winter.”
“…”
Treya remained silent, looking at herself in the mirror, her purple eyes glowing.
She had indeed given the order to bail them out.
Because seeing those children reminded her of herself, who had been deceived for countless years and separated from her mother when she was young.
Having experienced a childhood of deceit and failure in the corrupt power struggles of the Entak Royal Family, she had softened a little, not wanting to see innocent people implicated anymore.
Moreover, on the surface, she was indeed “innocent.” Although she had facilitated his exile from behind the scenes, her third brother had almost committed treason, and should have reflected on himself well.
But…
As a beneficiary, the beneficiary sitting here…
She was no longer “innocent.”
And the child who had wielded a knife against her was also no longer an “innocent person.”
She continued to look up, at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was mostly smoothed out; due to her excellent Half-elf appearance, even styling it was unnecessary; she looked sufficient with her hair down to attend important meetings.
But…
The eyes in the mirror seemed to be scrutinizing her.
“Then Your Majesty, what should we do? There are still many children who have been brought back…”
Her purple eyes were smiling, wanting her to light a fire.
Her deep blue eyes were crying, because she had become “one of them.”
“No need to worry about them for now. Keep it confidential from them.”
She sighed, closed her eyes, turned around, and stopped looking at her reflection.
She did not tie her hair up, but kept it down in its current disheveled state, then opened the door and walked out of the room.
—Give back my father.
But that sentence, as if interrogating her, repeatedly echoed in her ears.
