F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!! Chapter 222: Progress of the World

About two months have passed. I trained a lot with Esther, and I even learned perfectly how to see the Hikishin on purpose without needing help, and with that, my magic use increased trendously.

I created many Standard Model Marionettes, ending up with 30,000 of them, which is already a good number of troops I can use. Besides, sothing good happened recently.

Marie and Grace got married. I think that’s good because it shows that the "oto protagonist" and her "romantic target" got a "good" ending, and it’s great to see at least soone get out of this damn chaotic hellhole that is the demons.

Marie seed really happy, and I went to the wedding. Even though she’s a huge Tsundere, her joy was obvious. She even ca to talk to with a smile—a true rarity.

Since we’re both married now, I think it makes her feel we’re closer for having sothing in common, and Grace’s relationship with her is much less rigid.

Unlike , where I have zero power and all the power belongs to Esther as the matriarch, Grace, being the Heroine, has practically the sa power as Marie in the marriage, which prevents the sa inequality that exists between and Esther.

Of course, not everything is roses. Marie has already returned to the war, and since Grace got married, human aid beca a guarantee, which maximized ship production and accelerated the war.

And the [Bridge] between the demon continent and the angel continent started being reactivated. In other words, a large-scale war is about to happen soon. At most, four months until everything turns into a chaotic war hell.

Which is weird, since these events should have occurred far in the future, like in three years. But , Esther, and Grace all had our destinies sped up, so to speak.

Since Grace consolidating a romance would take much longer than just one year of attempts, maybe it’s because this is no longer a ga; reality works faster and more chaotically.

Anyway, since war matters increased, Esther was sent to the front about three days ago, so I’m "alone" in the mansion.

But being alone gives a strange feeling. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with a dragon’s instinct seeking affection, but rather a feeling that sothing terrible is going to happen.

"Evelyn-sama, you seem tense?" Eve says as I’m sipping a cup of chocolate, caral, and honey under the golden apple tree.

"I... just feel strange... Like sothing really bad is going to happen..." Esther had been acting strange. Ever since I received that dangerous stone, Esther has been investigating. She seed to have discovered so things but ran out of ti after being sent to the battlefield.

"Don’t worry, Evelyn-sama! I’ll protect you from everything! Besides, even though that woman isn’t here, her servants are still around, and as much as it pains to admit it, they are quite powerful," Eve says confidently.

"I think... you’re right... but I don’t know... things seem tense... Ever since Esther left, I feel like I’ve lost what was holding back sothing bad from happening..."

"..." Eve falls silent. There’s not much to say when it’s just a feeling.

"Maybe I should invite Grace to talk with ?" I murmur, thinking of having the Heroine as a lucky shield. With her nearby, I’d feel safer. Marie went to war, but the Heroine still can’t actively participate in the war due to diplomatic issues, so Grace is living in the castle.

"But Evelyn-sama, I have a question. What did you talk about with the Demon King two days ago?" Eve asks curiously. Two days ago, I was summoned alone to the castle.

"Ah, actually nothing. Because strangely, the Demon King didn’t say much. He just stared at for a while as if he was thinking about sothing, then gave so papers about the war and told to go back ho." It was kinda weird.

"Anyway, let’s move on to sothing more interesting! Eve, you’ve gotten really strong! You’ve been training hard, and I see the results!" I praise, seeing how strong she is now. Eve has beco a Rank SS marionette.

’I think she can even fight Esther and make Esther use her blessing... but... no chance of winning...’ Esther has a monstrous growth curve. In months of training, she’s already reached an absurd level of power even without using the blessing.

"Thank you for the complint, Evelyn-sama. I’ve been training non-stop since you got married!" she says proudly, and she really deserves to show off, since I barely fortified her with materials. In other words, it’s power she earned through her own effort.

Unfortunately, my growth curve is low. I got stronger, but nowhere near Eve and Esther in terms of how much power I gained. What changed is that my material refinent beca much greater, and the cost of using my powers beca much lower.

"Hmmmm..." I place my tail on my lap. It moves a lot with my emotions, so I sotis put it on my lap to keep it from moving too much.

"Eve, how about I strengthen you? I’ve been getting a lot of materials from Esther recently, and there’s plenty to spare!" I say with a smile.

"That sounds great, Evelyn-sama! Are you just going to try to fortify my body? Or are we going to try to give a new ability?" She asks a good question, because it depends on the material.

"Let’s see!" I take her by the hand and start pulling her to co with . I’m excited to try to increase Eve’s strength. I’ve seen her training, and she’s amazing, but I want to make her even more incredible, since Eve was created to defend .

And she’s kind of my biggest trump card of all. Besides, her ability to use plasma is an imnse rarity. Her plasma strikes are super powerful, and depending on how strong she gets, it’ll be incredible to see her moves perford.

"Evelyn-sama, what are you thinking about? You look excited," Eve says as we reach my workshop. I close the door and head to a box, having a great idea.

"Eve, I have a great idea. Strengthening you physically is great and all, but I think an ability is better. However, I don’t have much control over what ability you’ll gain."

"But I can guide you... Look." I pick up a claw. They are the fangs of a [Chitinous Assassin], a type of monster that’s part mantis, part bear, which has a natural ability that cos with all of its race.

And that ability is [Critical Strike]. But it’s not a re power increase, no! It’s an ability that forces a skill’s critical strike, changing the entire composition of the magic.

An example of this already appeared in the ga. Critical strikes in this world aren’t rely damage increases; they are an ability forced to a level it shouldn’t be. In the ga, one of Grace’s enemies used the ability [Purgatory], which turns everything around them into flas.

But when he landed the critical, all the flas around turned black and directly consud Grace’s HP bar, ignoring defense, armor, and buff spells. Critical strikes rarely happened, and when they did, everyone found it annoying to have the bad luck for it.

The [Chitinous Assassin] monster is the only one with an ability to force criticals, but it only delivers physical strikes, aning the ability is wasted on it. But with Eve, it’s going to be absurd.

"Co here, Eve..." When Eve approaches, I start using the item, refining it along with Eve’s body. I watch anxiously, hoping it doesn’t fail. The chances of her gaining the ability are about 5 to 10%.

"What happened, Eve? Did you get sothing new?" I ask as Eve opens her eyes after the strengthening. If it failed, I won’t be able to try again, because there’s a ti limit for attempting to overlap a try that reduces the percentage of her gaining sothing. So using more materials will only strengthen her without giving anything.

"Ohhh!! I got sothing! I’ll show you." She sends the system, and I see what she gained.

[Explosive Critical Mass] An overload ability that makes each strike have a 50% chance of being critical, be it magic, physical strikes, or even weapon skills, at the cost of consuming 3 tis more energy per strike. It is a passive that cannot be deactivated.

[Ability of the Fifth Layer, Rank A]

"Incredible!! A fifth-layer ability!! And it ca as Rank A!!" I say, impressed. The chances were low but not impossible, so I’m excited it worked on the first try, since I only have three more of this material.

"Eve, we have to test it!... There! On that test dummy! I’ve been using it to test weapons. Punch it! But use plasma on your hand!" I say excitedly, despite the weakness that now absolutely all of Eve’s strikes cost more energy because it’s a passive that’s always active.

"Okay! I..."

Knock, knock, knock

Soone knocks on the door. I click my tongue and go to the door. I can’t believe they interrupted right at the best mont.

"Who is it..." I open the door, but what I see leaves stunned. A man who, by his black clothing with a gold and red dallion on his chest, is directly part of the royal guard.

"May I... know who you are? And how did you get into the mansion?" I ask cautiously. No one would dare pretend to be from the royal guard; it’s a cri punishable by execution.

"Evelyn Ashcroft?" he questions.

"Y-Yes, I am..."

Click

"You’re under arrest." He handcuffs while I look at him confused.

"I... Is this... so kind of joke?"

"You have the right to remain silent. You will be taken to the castle for a more... thorough investigation. I hope you do not resist. You should already know the procedure." As he speaks, Eve seems ready to attack him, but I stop her with a look.

"I-I think I do... Why am I being arrested? Y-You know I’m Esther’s wife, right?..."

"Your cri will be inford during the investigation. Please, could you accompany in silence?"

"I-I..."

"That girl must co too, as a character witness." He says, looking at Eve. I gulp, confused and troubled, but take a deep breath.

"O-Of course we can go... But Eve will be along in a mont..."

"Eve, have soone send a letter to Esther telling her what happened here..." Esther will co as fast as possible once she sees this absurdity.

"..." The strange man starts walking while I follow him, looking at the handcuffs. It seems my bad feeling and restlessness were true.

’The royal handcuffs... I never thought I’d see them...’ They are a powerful containnt artifact. Their restraining power is so high that in the ga, not even Grace could break free after being cuffed with one of these by Lucien in one of the routes.