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SPONSORED CHAPTER

I am the almighty child of Lolthe, that is an inescapable fact. And as an almighty child of Lolthe, I will not stand for being harassed by a bunch of lowly bandits. The only reason why Reyage and Zurnalin hadn’t massacred the lot of them yet was because they were waiting for my command to finish the job. Plus, they also had an understanding of my personality: while I might have been angry right now, I couldn’t bear to slaughter them all in the end.

All in all, it didn’t take long for them to finish off a bunch of bandits that were as well-equipped as refugees – roughly two minutes. Out of the hundred or so bandits, less than ten were completely unharmed. The rest were a mangled mess on the floor.

Reyage and Zurnalin had especially left the bandit leader alive. His transgressions were the worst of the entire lot and one could only imagine what kind of sordid fate awaited him once all this was said and done.

However, his fate was of no concern to me. All I wanted to do now was find a nice picnic spot while waiting for Regine to return with news of Nicole.

But because of the sheer amount of freshly dead in the vicinity, the environment was a horrific mess. Out of concern for our resident timid girl, I decided to have Mo Ning bring us to somewhere more palatable. While Jill was no stranger to violence herself, the sight of nearly a hundred corpses didn’t sit well with her either so she left with us.

“Bring the living over, I have questions for them.”

Just like that, the remaining eight bandits were herded towards me. Yet before I could even interrogate them, Regine returned from her reconnaissance mission.

She stepped over the mountain of corpses without even batting an eye and said calmly, “Master, we’ve found the target.”

A couple of days ago, we managed to procure a portrait of Nicole and Neneth, her companion Demon Hunter. The Nicole depicted within was older. More beautiful, and also more mature. However, she had a frosty demeanour that not only pushed everyone away from her, it also made my heart ache. I had known her since her childhood days: she was a bright, gentle girl, yet here she was, an ice queen. Never would I have imagined that the act of me leaving home would cause such an impact on her… but it was too late for regrets now…

As for the girl, Neneth, she seemed familiar… Haven’t I seen her before in my previous trip to the human realms? Yeah… she’s that girl I tried to tail back in Azure City. I remember being found by the Demon Hunters not long after… seems like she has become a proper Demon Hunter as well… maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that I was discovered all those years ago?

Doesn’t matter now, as long as I can meet Nicole, it’s all fine. As for that Neneth… I need to be careful of her.

“That fast? Where is she?”

“I never expected her to arrive so soon either. I had expected to wait for another day or two.”

“Based on her current speed, she should reach us in half an hour.”

That’s great, I can finally meet Nicole… hold on… I don’t even look the same anymore. If I were to say that I’m Mo Ke, there’s no way she would believe me. And there’s the matter of those corpses as well. While they may have deserved to die, I definitely don’t want Nicole to see me as a bloodthirsty boy. Perhaps I should pretend to bump into her then… maybe create a coincidence?

How to go about that… hmm….

As I pondered that question, my eyes started to drift towards the thoroughly frightened survivors of the bandit troupe… Don’t I have a ready stock of actors over here already?

My following plan was a simple one. I would first pretend to be a noble scion that had been separated from his guards and was being chased by bandits. These survivors would chase me from the back while I ran towards Nicole. Being the kind-hearted angel that I knew she was, Nicole would definitely step in to save a person in need.

Then I would take this opportunity to infiltrate her little band. As for Zurnalin and the rest… they would be the guards who finally caught up to me after a terrible battle with the bandit troupe…

That way, the mountain of corpses could be easily explained away while also creating a chance to join Nicole.

Naisu. I’m such a genius! Truly a plan for the ages! At the very least, I can’t see anything wrong with this plan. Assuming those bandits don’t sell me out at the crucial moment. I guess I have to take some extreme actions on that front. Don’t blame me, blame yourselves for being so unfortunate…

I reached into my dimensional ring and pulled out a black bottle the size of a cup. I opened it and poured out eight pearly white balls the size of my thumbnail.

“Reyage, feed these to them. One person, one ball.”

Reyage received the pills and swiftly force-fed the ball down their throat.

“Cough… cough… what did you feed us?” Having just been forced to swallow an unknown object, the bandit leader desperately tried to puke it out by shoving his fingers down his throat. However, that ball was now safely down in his stomach, no amount of gagging was going to get it up now.

“You really want to know?” I flashed him a sinister smile. “While I honestly think that knowing the truth would just make you wet your pants, being the kind soul that I am, I will tell you anyway.”

I poured out another white ball from the bottle and channelled a little of mana into it. As the mana slowly infused itself into the ball, it miraculously sprouted out eight legs…

In actuality, that black bottle was used to hold the eggs of a parasitic spider. These parasites would latch onto living hosts then feed on them from the inside. They would then lay more eggs within their hosts which would hatch and repeat the entire cycle until the host was nothing but bones. The black bottle was a necessary tool to store these eggs as the dimensional ring did not have a breathable atmosphere; the bottle itself would store them in a dormant state.

“See this, this lovely little creature is inside you all right now. If any of you dare defy me, I will have them munch on all of you from the inside. Little by little. Until there’s nothing left!”

“You… you devil!” The bandit leader yelled as he pointed a shaking finger at me. His voice had cracked from trying to hold back his tears, while his other underlings had broken down completely, some even falling unconscious from the terror.

“I’m a devil? Hah. Well, I won’t deny that.” I coldy sneered at the human scum lying before me. “What about you lot then? If I was an ordinary helpless girl, what would happen to me?”

“I… I…”

It was true that my actions were self-serving and inhumane, but that was how the world was, wasn’t it? The only difference between me and him was how quickly the tables had turned on his perfect plan to add me to his harem. Just because he was now the victim, I had turned into a devil in his eyes, regardless of what he had tried to do to me before.

Yet if one was going to kill, one should also be prepared to be killed!

“That’s enough idle chatter for now. My time is limited. You will follow me now, and when necessary, you will follow my instructions completely, or else…

“So you’ll let us go if we do as you say?”

“I don’t know about letting you go, but as long as the job is done well, I will give you a chance at living.”

“I… what do you want us to do?” He quickly asked, anxious to grasp onto this ray of hope before I changed my mind.

“Very simple.” I smiled even wider at that point. “I need you to pursue me…”

“…”

“It’s alright if you do not understand why now, in time you will. Regine will lead us to the spot, I will explain on the way.”

“But… some of our companions are still unconscious from the shock.”

“Unconscious from the shock? I guess I won’t need them then. Kill them.”

The moment I said that, the bandits who were supposed to be unconscious immediately sprang to their feet and threw themselves at my feet begging, “Don’t… I’m not unconscious… don’t kill me… I don’t want to die yet…”

Hmph, I just knew those potatoes were lying.

Through my telescope, I was able to spot the distant figures of Nicole and Neneth riding atop their white horses as they approached Lyon.

Nicole really has grown up, hasn’t she… I still remember when she was still a flat-chested little girl; her development isn’t half bad. She’s prettier now, but her face seems as heartbreakingly cold as Regine…

As for Neneth… why is she even munching on bread while riding a horse? Doesn’t she know that she might bite her tongue like that?

“Everyone’s ready, I assume. Later, I will run out and call for help while you guys chase after me from behind. Remember to put some effort into the acting, otherwise I will feed your hearts to the spiders.” I coldly instructed the eight nervous bandits around me as we hid out in a nearby forest. “Remember, it won’t just be one of you who dies, it will be all of you. Got it?”

“Understood…” The bandits answered shakingly as they threw me one last look. Yet the moment they realised that they met eyes with me, they instinctively recoiled back and turned away.

Seems like I have become the literal devil to them. No matter, I’m a Devil to begin with. As long as they do well for me, I’m not opposed to giving them a chance to turn over a new leaf.

“If the plan turns out well, I will remove the spiders within every one of you. Who knows, you guys might even make some change in the process.” Having said that, I fetched out a gold coin from my dimensional ring and threw it at the feet of the bandits. As the golden coin spun through the air, their eyes immediately darted to it.

The typical carrot and stick. Now that the bandits were not only motivated by fear, but also by gold, they were a lot more receptive to my instructions. The eight of them nodded their heads in unison confidently while saying, “We will do our best, milady. You are most generous to us…”

With that last bit settled, I turned around to Regine who had been silently waiting at my side. “Regine, I need you to watch them from behind. If anyone tries anything funny, kill them.”

“Understood, master.”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.