F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 197: Successfully Completed
"Here are the bandages, Evelyn-chan!" Syl’Vyr appears, handing me a case of medical supplies. Two weeks of war have already passed. The fighting paused six times during this period, and it was harder than expected because more angels kept coming through the [Bridge].
We lost the tactical advantage of the underground, and Laplace locked herself in her hut and wouldn’t come out. When I went to see her, she was just scared it might be Lucien, so in short, she became useless and didn’t help at all after what Lucien did to her.
But at least I should say my relationship with Lucien has improved? Surprisingly, he’s actually a decent guy most of the time when he’s not angry, and the fact that I’ve been handling the wounded so well has made him more receptive to conversation.
I even managed to raise his favorability to 23, showing that the fact I didn’t get in the way and actually helped a lot has left him satisfied. Of course, he didn’t see me crying alone some nights.
Everything is so stressful. There are so many deaths, so many wounded with horrible injuries to see, and the exhaustion and fear are constant, making me really break down in secret sometimes.
But maybe it’s better this way? After crying a little, I always feel calmer and can go back pretending nothing has changed, which helps me continue my service.
And thankfully, I’ve been getting good news! Lucien reported that in just 10 more minutes, he’ll manage to take control of the Bridge, and with that, our joint mission will end, and we can go back.
Besides, because of the loss of over 50,000 soldiers who will lose their lives, and the many angels killed, I managed to make a huge number of standard puppets!!
I have a massive quantity of Standard Model Puppets—exactly 12,947 of them, all with strength equivalent to 1 average soldier. In other words, I assembled a small army during this war.
Most of the body remains were consumed to create so many puppets in such a short time, while another part I used to make relics... all relics with standard debuff spells that really helped the common soldiers in battle.
I helped so much in this battle that many soldiers now respect me even though they’ve never seen me fight! I even managed to strengthen the powers of Eve, Syl’Vyr, and Faye, making all of them Rank S puppets now!!
So as wrong as it may seem to think this, this war helped me a lot, making me much stronger. The death of all these soldiers finally gave me enough power to face truly strong people!!
In fact, if I devise a very good strategy, I could even defeat Augustus in a real fight!! Using the troops I have and mainly with Eve’s help, who became very strong! Because I focused more on strengthening her, as she’s the main attack puppet I have.
"Syl’Vyr, could you get that box over there for me? Also, send Faye to the newest wounded who are arriving," I give orders while Syl’Vyr brings the box to me. From inside, I take out some medicines.
"..." I watch Syl’Vyr going after Faye. She doesn’t seem happy, even though she’s pretending everything’s fine. Normally, when truly excited, Syl’Vyr’s tail wags, but now, despite her still having that cheerful, casual tone when talking to me, her tail barely moves anymore. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
While handing medicines to some soldiers, someone taps my shoulder. I look back and am surprised.
"Leyhey..." The Demon King’s messenger. I hadn’t seen him, but I knew he was around.
"Yes, it’s me. Lucien sent me to inform you that the battle is over. He managed to dominate the [Bridge] and temporarily block the passage with a relic. So, I’m heading to the castle. You two should prepare to be summoned soon," he states categorically.
"I see... so here..."
"Someone will be sent to handle all the logistics. Your three’s mission was only to successfully secure the bridge, temporarily block the passage, and lead the troops. Now your role is to return to the castle and make a report."
"..." He starts to leave after the announcement. I sigh, but I’m also satisfied to be able to leave already, because the time I spent here was horrible.
’Eve and Syl’Vyr, prepare our things to leave...’ I also give a command to the standard puppets, ordering them to go to Esther’s mansion as soon as everything here is finished. After giving the command, I head to Laplace’s hut.
"..." I open the door and enter without even announcing myself, and I see Laplace lying on the bed, staring at nothing.
"Hey, Laplace..." When she notices me, she quickly gets up, all bristled, looking intently at the entrance as if Lucien might walk in with me out of nowhere.
"W-What do you want here!" she says, all arrogant for someone who’s so cowardly scared.
’Did I look that pathetic when I was scared?... No... I’m far too magnificently beautiful to look so ugly...’
"The war is over, so we’ll soon be sent to the castle. You need to make your report to our father, or you might have problems." And the worst part is, she might end up causing problems for me, since if the reports from the three of us have too many discrepancies, our father will question it.
"T-Tsk... I know, and GYAAAHHHH!!" She screams, extremely terrified out of nowhere, and I see that Lucien has appeared behind me, covered in blood from head to toe. He has some wounds, but nothing too serious.
"Father’s messenger informed me we must leave as soon as possible and that a carriage will arrive in an hour..." he says, looking at me. I just nod.
"I was warning Laplace that she needs to do the reports... or our father might punish all of us for her mistakes... besides, she hardly helped in the war and failed in the only thing she had to do, causing us to lose soldiers who didn’t need to die," I accuse, placing 100% of the blame on her.
If it were Esther or Marie in Laplace’s place, both would have easily noticed the enemy and prevented so many soldiers’ deaths, which wouldn’t have forced me to ask Arial for help to get Lucien out of his domain.
"Ah yes, this incompetent one did nothing useful..." Lucien strokes my hair, which is uncomfortable because it smears the strands with fresh blood, but I don’t say anything.
"You did well, better than I expected. Be proud of that," he says with a smile.
"Now you may go. I have an extra lesson to teach Laplace." His tone is full of malice. I just leave Laplace’s tent without wanting to know what the two will do. This... honestly, I don’t care. I just want to take a bath and get out of here soon.
’I smell so bad...’ The smell of blood on me is so unpleasantly strong... I’ll need an extremely long bath to clean myself of all this.
...
...
...
"Lady Esther, His Majesty requests your presence at the castle." A woman I know to be one of the Demon King’s messengers appears in my torture chamber while I’m eviscerating the belly of a still-living angel.
"Oh, really? But the front line..."
"Replacements are already being sent to take your place, so don’t worry. From now on, nothing here is your responsibility," she says, looking at the nearly dead angel chained to the wall. However, her gaze goes to the gag.
Making it clear that the torture is only for the purpose of hurting the angel, not extracting any real information from him.
"Forgive my audacity, but isn’t it completely inefficient to spend your time torturing an angel merely for the pleasure of seeing him suffer?" she questions politely.
"Normally, yes." Normally, I wouldn’t torture an angel just for the sake of torturing, since I don’t like doing things I consider useless or a waste of time. But it happens that since I got involved with Evelyn, my thirst for blood and flesh began to emerge and grow.
Violently torturing this angel helps me deal with the desire to eat meat. The adrenaline from the screams, the strong smell of blood, and the visceral sight of mortal wounds somehow calm the hunger.
"You may go then, little messenger. I will prepare and go to the castle in two hours. I need to finish what I started first, and I also need to be... adequately clean."
"...Perfectly understood, Lady Esther. Then, if you’ll allow me, I shall take my leave..."
"Wait... Is Evelyn going to the castle?"
"...Yes, Lady Esther. Her mission was concluded a few hours ago, and she is already on her way to the castle, guided along with Lady Laplace and Lord Lucien."
’Hmmm...’ I’ve been observing Evelyn’s actions quite a bit in recent days. It was fun. She’s changed a lot compared to the beginning, although... I felt a bit sad when I saw her crying in secret. I wanted to go hug her and comfort her.
But at the same time I felt sad, I also felt angry at her. Her going to war is all her fault. I was protecting her, and she, with her ingratitude, didn’t care about my protection. So her suffering is just a consequence of her own actions.
"Very well. You may leave now." I let the messenger go as I turn back to the angel, but unfortunately, my conversation with the messenger distracted me, and the angel died.
"Tsk..." I take a handkerchief and start wiping the blood from my hands. Since the angel died, I’m not in the mood to go find another one.
’I’ll ask Elizabeth to prepare me a cup of blood while I take a bath...’
