Wherever the endless demon army passed by, the ground would be scorched, and the air would be filled with the smell of sulfur. Ruins and wreckage would become the main theme of the world.
If there was one type of racial discrimination that was considered correct and natural in the mortal plane, then it would probably be prejudice against demons and devils.
As the incarnations of Chaos, demons would indeed never do anything good. They would find joy in the destruction of other lives. Death and screams would be their marching song. Souls would be their food and supplies. In fact, even the undead, existences that brought death, were created by ancient demons.
Not to mention, every Holy War had always treated them as the antagonists. Calling them the source of all evil would be a bit unfair, but it would be appropriate to call them the ultimate antagonists.
And right in front of me was an endless demon army. The camp they occupied was filled with the smell of distortion. The earth was angry yet helpless, and the dimensional laws of the mortal plane were being rewritten.
"Look, this is my army. Amazing, isn't it?"
I couldn't help but get angry at this silly girl who was so proud of herself. She was obviously just pretending to be stupid.
The only thing worth celebrating was that her body didn't seem distorted due to Chaos' corrosion. In that case, either she was perfectly capable of hiding her own mutations and distortions, or she had completely mastered Chaos and hadn't mutated her physical body or soul at all.
Considering the other end of the bloodline chain, the latter was more likely. But even so, I was still quite angry.
"Damn it, you really dared to do it. You know what the end result is for anyone who interacts with demons and devils. I even know a dozen who've had their physical bodies and souls devoured by demons. That's more than enough for me to write a 'Complete Guide to Being Deceived,' and you still dared to …"
Renée didn't reply. She simply maintained her smile as she looked at me. She was acting like a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water. At this moment, I realized that not only did she know the consequences, she also intended to bear the consequences.
"Forget it, I don't care anymore. Do whatever you want."
In the end, I could only angrily toss out this sentence, just like a parent who had been angered by a naughty child. This sounded quite serious, but it was actually a type of helplessness that I couldn't say anything about.
"There's not much time left. I don't want to stand behind and watch anymore …"
Her last sentence caused my heart to tremble. It seemed that I had only arranged the path that I thought was the best for my juniors, but I had never cared about their own feelings.
The orthodox path was indeed the best, but it also meant that it would be difficult and slow to progress. It was likely that it would be impossible for them to become the top-level combat strength that would affect the overall situation before the Holy War ended.
In the end, they might end up just like me back then. Despite being the leader of a country's prince and bearing the trust of the citizens, in the face of an irresistible enemy, I could only watch helplessly as the knights and citizens were sacrificed, unable to do anything about it.
In Reyne's perspective, that was the most likely fate to occur. In order to control her own fate, she made a choice to absolutely pursue power. In fact, judging from her calm smile, she had already mentally prepared herself to accept the consequences, including the mental preparation to have a falling out with me because of this.
"As a princess, as well as the heir to the Donglan royalty, I can't hand over the fate of my country to someone else. Even if my country's destruction is already fated, I will at the very least give everything I have to change this damned fate."
Beneath this seemingly silly smile was the same persistence as her ancestors. Perhaps, from the very start, I had underestimated this lass.
"You'd better reflect on your actions!"
Alright then. I didn't know what else to say. I tossed down this seemingly valiant but actually meaningless threat as I turned around and left. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I was fleeing.
After I calmed down, I hesitated for a moment before finally speaking in a low voice.
"Eliza, you know more about demons than I do …"
However, my usual instantaneous response didn't come. It seemed that the Dimensional Barrier had also caused my silver ring to lose its ability to contact me. I had also lost the chance to learn more about demons.
"… It would seem that I need to have a good discussion with Cavendish."
Perhaps, some things couldn't be avoided anymore.
[Congratulations to Host for increasing your reputation level yet again. You are now Respected (Infamous). Please keep up the good work!]
A sudden system notification interrupted my thoughts. Although this doubtlessly meant that I was now one step closer to my Myth-ranked Quest, I glanced at my system again. That huge debt of [67%, — 33423] was something I couldn't bear to look at directly.
"I owe even more now."
Respect for the infamy in parentheses after that? Actually, it was quite easy to understand. Normally, my system would increase my reputation level by Neutral, Cold Talk, Friendly, Respected, Venerated, and Worshipped. But ever since I had used some underhanded methods in order to quickly increase my reputation level, although my reputation level had increased much faster, there was an additional (Infamous) after Friendly, and an additional (Infamous) after Respected, which made me feel rather helpless.
Underhanded methods? It was like this …
"Look, it's that Roland, the bastard who toyed with the angel Amelia's feelings! I heard that he was a super scumbag back in the day! "
"Stop pointing. Be careful not to get pregnant. I heard that he's a great pervert who can make a woman pregnant just by looking at her."
"… He's already several hundred years old, and he's still dressed so young. His intentions are unfathomable. I heard that he recently tricked more than ten young girls. "
"I heard that back in the day, he dated two idol-level beautiful teachers at the same time. He even had a foot in the other two girls' boats. Later, he was exposed, and someone wanted to kill him. He didn't even have time to collect his graduation certificate and directly escaped."
As I walked, I heard all sorts of rumors that would make me go crazy. Yet, I couldn't do anything about it. This was just like hell.
The reason? These rumors were all my own doing. From a certain standpoint, this was the result that I wanted.
"I can't continue like this. My reputation level has been stuck at 212/20000 for a long time now. It seems that I won't be able to increase my reputation in the near future."
In the midst of a major battle, my ace card had to be mortgaged due to a lack of money. I was probably the only one who had such a trump card. If I couldn't redeem it at a critical moment and even lost the battle because of this, that would be far too embarrassing.
Yet, my system's abnormal reputation quest just so happened to require me to at least reach Venerated in order to proceed to the next step. Even if I did all sorts of good deeds, I was still stuck at just above Friendly. I was far from reaching the next step of Respect, not to mention the unimaginably high Venerated.
This wasn't the first time that the reputation system had appeared. Previously, the Roland Sacred Sword had a special effect that would greatly increase the user's reputation with the People of the Mist. I had previously done some research on that abnormal reputation system and discovered that the system wasn't omnipotent. This so-called reputation, in the end, still depended on how many people knew about you and how deep of an impression you had. As for how many people counted for one point, that was impossible to calculate.
If the Roland Sacred Sword's reputation bonus became a reality, it would be nothing more than every person of the People of the Mist having high expectations of the sword wielder. They would proactively spread the sword wielder's identity and learn about his deeds. This would naturally increase the user's reputation.
"As long as you know the rules, it's possible to cheat …"
And so, after thinking about it for a long time, I finally came up with a devious method when I recalled how celebrities in my previous life were always hyped up and gossiped about others.
"… Good deeds don't leave the house, while evil deeds travel thousands of miles. Reputation needs to be known. As for good deeds and excellent people, it's fine to say something like 'other people's children' since it won't reach another street. But if there's any bad deeds or gossiped about others, even if they don't actively spread it, it'll still travel thousands of miles in a single night. "
"Intelligent lifeforms are naturally highly sensitive to negative gossip, and they're even more sensitive to gossiping about famous people. Isn't it because of my face? I didn't want it for the past three hundred years! "
Alright then, that was the truth. All I had to do was toss out two slightly dirty jokes, and then arrange for a student to ask me about it in a public place. I only smiled and shook my head without forcefully denying it. And so, the negative gossip was successfully created.
Originally, the jokes only mentioned my past unsuccessful relationship with Amelia. But looking at the rumors, it was obvious that once the gossip started spreading, it would go out of control.
"Making a woman pregnant with just a look? Are you even mages? That's so unmagical! "
"No, no, just think about it. He's Archmage Kaid's senior, so he's definitely an amazing archmage. It's said that he successfully fused a fragment of his own soul into his magical will. All he needs to do is stare at you, and you'll be able to cast a mental spell that attacks your will. And, that terrifyingly strong soul fragment will directly use your physical body to form a baby. That's the principle behind 'getting pregnant with a look.' "
"If that's the case, doesn't that mean even men … Ahhh! I just met him yesterday, and I even smiled at him, and he glanced at me. Don't tell me I'm also … "
"Junior, I suggest that you go to the infirmary and get yourself checked out. There's already several hundred numbers in the infirmary. Your senior here has a number for the first hundred that I'll sell to you for cheap."
To be honest, it was far too inconceivable for the rumors to develop to such an extent.
"Get pregnant with a look? Mental magic?! Get pregnant with a man?! You actually believe such unmagical rumors? Do you even have the right to call yourselves mages? Also, I'll remember you, the one who's trying to get rich in the chaos! Brat, don't let me find a chance. If I really do, heh heh, just wait for me to make things difficult for you! "
The most frustrating part was that I was the one who created this situation, and I couldn't even defend myself. In order to spread this rumor even more, I even had to add fuel to the fire, such as flirting with a few beauties … Cough, I definitely didn't do this out of selfishness, definitely not!
I did indeed ask for it, but I was the only one who was unlucky, so how could I …
"Look, it's that young girl abductor, the white-robed pervert Kaid. It's said that he's already committed countless crimes, and he's only suppressing them with his authority."
"How could that be possible? Teacher Kaid is so well-respected. It's just a rumor."
"No, no, he's good friends with that pervert king. It's said that they often exchange criminal experiences together. Last time, a student even asked that Roland, and that guy actually didn't deny it!"
And so, Kaid's century-old reputation was destroyed in a single day. He was already a bit indiscreet to begin with, and now that these clues matched up, old Kaid's reputation instantly became incredibly strange.
It's not nice to scam your bro? This was returning the favor! Did you really think that I didn't know who was the one who added fuel to the fire!? You even used mental magic to distort the truth!
Alright then, let's not talk about old Kaid, who was currently doing his best to redeem his reputation, only to be met with screams, screams, and slaps from women. Although destroying his own reputation was indeed a devious move, and he suffered great losses, the benefits were also quite obvious.
"I reached Respected in just two days. My reputation has risen to such a terrifying level. I'm afraid that all the factions in this dimension now know about me."
It was obviously a good thing that I had a Myth-ranked Quest, but I still had tears in my eyes. The reason? Last night, I only ate a bowl of noodles at a noodle shop, and even a seventy-year-old old lady was so scared that she abandoned the shop and ran away. I only nodded at a young student on the side of the road, and that student actually screamed in agony and then pretended to be dead on the ground.
Did I dare to believe it? That guy was even a muscular middle-aged man. I was quite embarrassed.
"Thanks to them, my reputation is becoming stranger and stranger. It doesn't matter anymore. What's a reputation? Can it be eaten? It doesn't matter if I have a good reputation or a bad reputation. What's the difference? "
Alright then, if it really didn't matter at all, then what were the tears in my eyes …
Although the negative news increased my reputation at an astonishing rate, there was a bottleneck. Due to the limited number of people in Karo City, it seemed that my reputation would stop increasing after I reached Respected (infamous), which was quite vexing for me.
"It would seem that I still need a big piece of news. Right, Amelia and the others are coming here in two days. Perhaps … that's it. I hope that I don't get beaten to death by Eliza when I get back …"
…
As a veteran teacher of the Cloud Tower, this wasn't Amelia's first time coming to Karo City. In fact, she had even been stationed here for three years and made countless hidden arrangements. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to successfully prepare her "garden" so easily this time.
In order to swindle research funds, as well as in order to prevent her own private research from being exposed, Amelia put on a good front. Her reputation had always been good. Apart from the ancient artifacts of her generation who knew her true identity, most mages treated her as a trustworthy senior. Due to her gentle personality, ladylike appearance (fake), and even the legendary royal bloodline (real), she treated everyone equally (treating them like experimental subjects), which made her even more popular.
In order to maintain her good image, she hid all her random things outside before entering Karo City. She even changed her clothes, took a bath, and even spent quite a bit of time in front of a mirror. Only when she was able to conceal her insanity and the perfect "Angel Amelia" reappeared did she raise her parasol and casually enter the city.
But the moment she entered the city, she noticed that something was off. Everyone was looking at her with strange expressions. In the past, there was respect, adoration, love, and even infatuation. But now, there was pity and pity in their eyes, as if she had suffered some kind of tragedy.
"Work hard! Persevere! Everyone will love and respect you as always! "
"Let bygones be bygones! We, the Angel Support Club, will forever support you! "
The indistinct cheering sound behind him was even more puzzling.
But soon, she understood.
After turning a corner, I arrived at Karo's most prosperous cross street, which was also the only way to reach the center of the city. The crowds of the past were nowhere to be seen. The streets here were now filled with extravagant flowers, and there were even flags and balloons on both sides of the street. And in the middle of the garden, there was a familiar figure wearing a white formal attire, half-kneeling there.
"My dear Amelia, please forgive me for hurting you in the past. My dear Amelia, let's get back together!"
Amelia was stunned for a moment before she squeezed out these words through gritted teeth.
"Bastard Roland!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
