Chapter 92: The Damn Demon I Just Summoned!
Staring at the scantily dressed woman before her, Leah's mind ran through all manner of guesses.
Who was this woman?
Why had she appeared in the garden?
And what was the deal with the cloud beneath her? It looked rather impressive, if she was being honest.
"Her na is Cocotte. Cocotte Yadh—the forr Council mber of the City of Mages."
Viktor appeared behind Leah and spoke.
Hearing Viktor's explanation, Leah felt even more confused.
The forr Council mber of the Mage Council?
So Viktor's Council mber status had replaced this woman's?
What exactly was their relationship?
Cocotte slept soundly, shifting her head slightly, and the tips of her pointed ears ca into full view right before Leah.
Looking at those long, slender ears, Leah felt a strong sense of familiarity.
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
"An Elf?"
Leah had, after all, dealt with Elves more than a few tis.
This languid Elf lay sprawled atop her cloud, fast asleep, giving off an impression of soone entirely cut off from the rest of the world.
But that wasn't the point at all. The point was—why had Viktor brought an Elf woman back with him?
Leah lifted her gaze to Viktor, and the look in her eyes carried a distinct edge of displeasure.
"So. What's the story with her?"
"You take one trip to the City of Mages and you co back with a new fla?"
"How charming. I really do feel sorry for Gwen."
Viktor listened to Leah's mockery and said evenly:
"She is a 4th-Tier Mage."
"She's working for now."
The unfriendly look in Leah's eyes vanished imdiately, replaced by sothing that seed to hold a faint glimr of calculation.
"Ah, I see—you should have said so from the start."
"I'll make sure to take care of this... this asset... with the utmost attentiveness."
As though sensing sothing, Cocotte's ears gave a little twitch. She groggily sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Mmm~?"
Cocotte let out a drawn-out sound of confusion, gave Viktor a dopey smile, and then—like a puppet whose strings had been cut—flopped straight back down onto the cloud.
Thump!
"Zzz~ zzz~ zzz~"
Eyes shut. Back asleep.
Leah: "......"
Could soone this lazy actually function as a useful asset?
Viktor didn't bother offering Leah any further explanation.
The truth was, Cocotte had nowhere to go.
Even without her Council mber status, Cocotte was still perfectly entitled to reside in Endymion.
But Viktor had blown apart the first 3 layers of Endymion, causing the zone with the most stable natural energy to vanish from the pages of history.
Without that kind of environnt, Cocotte couldn't sleep properly.
Even on the rare occasions she managed to drift off, she'd wake halfway through feeling like ants were crawling all over her body—utterly miserable.
So she'd simply tagged along with Viktor to the Empire and installed herself as a sort of living mascot at the Clavena household.
She wasn't a Council mber anymore anyway. Endymion's restoration had nothing to do with her. Cocotte now felt a boundless sense of freedom.
She even slept more soundly in the garden than she had anywhere else.
And now that Viktor held the title of Count, he was fully entitled to recruit his own Private Soldiers within the Royal Capital.
Both professionally and personally, there was nothing inappropriate about it.
Viktor said to Leah calmly:
"When she wakes up, have her sign an employnt contract in my na."
After all, the Clavena household didn't keep idlers—Cocotte would need to work once she was up.
Leah gave a nod and watched Viktor's retreating figure as he headed into the Manor.
***
In the Study, Viktor walked to the bookshelf and studied it carefully.
He opened the cabinet door and drew out a thick volu.
It was a book docunting part of the world's mythological history—its contents pertained to the Gods of ages past.
Very quickly, Viktor turned to the page he needed.
"The Goddess of Justice's Scale."
Auréliane had relayed to Viktor the full account of what had happened to her in the Magic Archive—every detail.
Including the part where she had seen the Scale.
Viktor had already known that the Magic Archive in Endymion contained a Scale.
It was not a true God-created object—nothing more than an ancient forgery.
History had recorded its judgnt of the Goddess of Justice thus:
The Goddess of Justice's justice was absolute. Whatever evil and corruption she deed guilty would be entirely exterminated by her hand—without the slightest hope of escape.
She used the Scale in her hand to weigh the hearts of all people, placing the dagger with which she punished evildoers on one side of the Scale.
According to legend, that dagger weighed no more than a cloud.
Yet a human heart polluted by malice would carry the additional weight of its own resentnt.
Once the Scale tipped toward the side bearing the heart.
The Goddess of Justice would annihilate the wicked without the slightest hesitation.
From the mont human civilization first erged, she had watched over the people of the continent—always believing that humanity was capable of achieving the absolute justice and absolute fairness she held in her heart.
But the deeds of humankind over the long passage of ti gradually wore the Goddess of Justice's hope thin... and what followed was the more familiar part of the story: the Goddess of Justice departed from the mortal world.
Yet in truth.
Viktor turned his thoughts to the Scale housed within the Magic Archive.
According to legend, an Archmage had once grown displeased with the Goddess of Justice's conduct and, in secret, stole a fragnt of her divine power—using it to forge a hypocrite's Scale.
With this, he sought to erode the Goddess of Justice's divine will, and through the counterfeit Scale, gradually diminished the ranks of her most extre devotees. Those who had once burned with absolute justice were ultimately supplanted by hypocrites.
In the end, the Goddess—utterly disillusioned with humanity—departed from the mortal world.
Yet her departure ca as a quiet relief to the people of the world.
For absolute justice had no place in a society built by human beings.
Hypocrites, too, were kind. Hypocrites, too, upheld justice—only they would never be swallowed by the abyss known as "extre justice."
And so, through this counterfeit Scale, the Archmage had established the Mage Council, with morality as its cornerstone.
"Hypocrisy, too, is a form of justice."
Weija spoke up from beside him.
"You're interested in the Goddess of Justice?"
"Just preparing in advance for a crisis that may co."
Viktor closed the book.
In the Magic Archive, so players would be drawn in by the "Hypocrite's Scale."
If certain players' sense of justice reached 80 points or above, they would learn an entirely new passive Skill.
【Hypocrite's Heart】
So long as one's heart held fast to justice and morality, one would receive the blessing of the ancient human will.
For players, the powerful effects of this Skill would raise all attributes on their character panel by 10%, sustained for an entire battle.
Of course, the genuine Scale could never be outmatched by a forgery.
If a player joined the Goddess of Justice's Church—joining the remnant alliance of extre justice devotees—they would receive a blessing from the Goddess of Justice herself, reaching down from beyond the void.
The condition: a justice value of 100.
【Justice】.
But this justice was utterly extre.
In the na of spreading absolute justice, they did not hesitate to employ cruel violence and abuse—subjugating others into compliance through a rciless expansion of their ideological will.
Those who devoted themselves to the Goddess grew so severe that only a single, absolute division remained in their minds—good and evil—with not a shred of sentint left.
Viktor narrowed his eyes, because he knew this power all too well.
"Heart of Justice."
That was right.
Back when Gwen had not yet grown up.
The Goddess of Justice had already set her sights on this naturally born devotee.
***
Gold and brilliant light, silk draping to the floor, silver curtains hanging on either side of the doorway.
The Second Prince sat on a soft sofa, with not a single person around him.
He was pleased—and not only because Viktor's actions today had publicly humiliated Jess Rether before the Imperial Palace.
Jess belonged to his foolish elder brother's faction, and what Viktor had done was a direct ssage to the First Prince:
No matter what your relationship with may be—because of those who serve you.
This enmity. It's been made.
Of course, Viktor would never support him either—but at the very least, Viktor had not publicly humiliated him in front of everyone.
He and his brother remained on even footing, competing fairly. Nothing had changed.
If anything, having made an enemy of Viktor ant his brother now had to divert so of his energy toward dealing with Viktor's existence as well.
Still......
"Viktor becoming a Mage Council mber—who could have anticipated that?"
The Second Prince spoke as though making idle conversation with a servant nearby, yet there was not a single soul in sight around him.
On the surface, the Council mber status absolutely outranked Jess Rether.
And this Council mber status also ant that even if the First Prince genuinely wished to take Leah as his wife, he would now have to think twice about Viktor's standing as a Mage Council mber.
Taking an Earl's younger sister as a wife, versus taking a Mage Council mber's younger sister—those were 2 entirely different propositions.
"Viktor always manages to surprise ."
"Jess Rether, right now, must be burning with an unbearable rage born of envy."
The Second Prince burst into laughter, his whole body trembling, laughing with a touch of madness to it.
This was his 2nd reason for being pleased.
Presently, the Second Prince seed to beco an entirely different person—stowing away his laughter and restoring his usual detached composure. He smiled and said:
"Envy gives rise to so many different emotions. That's precisely why I love this exquisite thing called envy."
"Make your preparations."
"We ought to go and welco our new companion."
***
Jess Rether walked along the street, a retinue of guards trailing behind him.
His eyes had gone red from the force of his fury. He had originally intended to ride straight ho by carriage, but the rage simring in his chest—unvented, refusing to subside—told him he couldn't go back yet.
As the heir to his family, Jess needed to keep his composure at all tis.
And so Jess Rether had his carriage take him to the Eastern District, driven by an instinctive need to find so outlet for his anger.
He was looking for Viktor's item shop.
The shop that sold nothing but blue potions.
He had co here a few days prior and laid a trap, getting Viktor to sign what appeared to be a benefit-laden contract—designed to lead them into a loss.
But Viktor hadn't had any intention of agreeing to the proposals from those families in the first place.
Jess was a rchant, but he also knew how to play the part of a difficult custor.
He walked toward the item shop, intending to pose as a patron and stir up so trouble inside.
But before he could even step through the door, he spotted Heni at the entrance.
Heni was neatly arranging blue potion bottles along the counter at the shop's front, restocking the gaps left by recently purchased items.
On instinct, Jess felt the urge to stride over and take out his rage on this plainly dressed young woman.
But a few seconds later, cold sweat erupted across his forehead—drop after drop falling into the dust on the ground below.
"No... sothing's wrong..."
"What's gotten into ?"
The rage drained from his mind rapidly. Jess suddenly grew calm.
The envy was gone. His mind felt as though cold water had co rushing through and scoured it clean in an instant—his intellect and reason returning to their peak.
"What have I been doing......"
Jess Rether pressed a hand to his head, carefully retracing the things he'd done these past few days.
Relentlessly going after the Clavena Family, even showing up at their door uninvited—running off to arrange a marriage for the First Prince without so much as receiving the First Prince's permission.
Jess's body trembled slightly. He had just now, with full and sudden clarity, grasped the severity of the consequences he had caused.
He turned to the guards behind him at once.
"Quickly—ho! Get the carriage!"
"I need to go see my father imdiately!"
With that, Jess and his guards made a swift exit from the scene.
None of this, however, registered with Heni in the slightest.
She was already feeling a little out of sorts—she'd been hearing all sorts of things lately about Miss Leah's situation.
On top of that, there were always a handful of families dropping by, asking all sorts of questions and constantly bringing up cooperative proposals she didn't understand in the least.
Heni was a little annoyed.
Then, all at once, she blinked—puzzled.
On one of the blue potion bottles she had just set on the counter, a trace of red clung to the surface.
But the red looked wrong sohow—like an impurity stuck to the mouth of the bottle.
"What is...?"
Before she could get a better look, a voice sounded right beside her ear.
"My, my—you're far prettier than that man who was just here."
"I do so admire that little spark of anger in you. How about we work together? Trust —what we could pull off together would be sothing truly spectacular!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers