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Cynthia seemed to have no idea that the more defensive she was, the more she stimulated Emilia's desire to tease her. Luckily for the raven-haired girl, however, her partner decided to be merciful this time, and aside from pulling the indignant girl into her lap after settling down on her cushion mountain, she actually didn't do anything too outrageous.
In fact, the usually willful 'villainess' even listened to her partner's 'scolding' like a meek little girl, and had it not been for a slightly lazy hum that gave away the fact that she was dozing off at the end, Cynthia might have even felt guilty for going 'too far'.
"Are you even listening?!"
Emilia giggled as she held the raven-haired girl tighter to prevent her from escaping in anger. "Sorry, sorry, ahh… I couldn't help it, after all."
Cynthia huffed, clearly not pleased. "You really did come here just to play around, didn't you?"
Feeling her partner's 'annoyance', the crimson-haired girl smiled wryly and buried her face in her partner's neck as she groaned. "Really, I didn't disturb you without reason, you know? Won't you help me?"
Although her 'dishonest' behavior didn't earn her villainess any points in terms of credibility, Cynthia still couldn't help but believe in her for some inexplicable reason. "Alright, then… what is it?"
Suddenly guessing why Emilia might be seeking her advice, however, Cynthia's expression changed. "If you want me to help you figure out how to punish those idiots who didn't obey you, forget it. I know you won't like my solution. For a villainess, it should be a crime to be so soft-hearted! And—"
Having heard Cynthia's 'one thousand reasons why mortals are useless and one thousand and one reasons why you should never care about them' rant multiple times already, Emilia hurriedly interrupted her in a panic. "W-Wait, Cynthia! It's not that, I promise!"
The raven-haired girl paused, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "… What is it, then? I dare you to let me turn around and look you in those blue eyes of yours, I bet they're shifting around—!"
Emilia held her tighter in her lap as she coughed in embarrassment. "T-They're definitely not. A-Anyway, uhm, I was just wondering… is there really no other way to deal with the hero and the world will than to keep going like this? It's gonna sound terrible, but I… I'm not very… optimistic."
No one could predict the outcome of a war, and this was the first time Emilia was actually going to take part in a 'real' one. Despite her usually confident self in front of everyone else, to say that she was filled with anxiety would be an understatement.
Even if she 'won' a war in which she lost the people she cared about… not to mention being worth it… was it really even a victory?
Perhaps sensing her turbulent emotions, Cynthia frowned. "What do you mean? Don't tell me… Emilia, are you seriously worried about not being able to complete the last mission? That's so… not like you."
"That… is not what I was worried about, actually." Emilia bit her lower lip nervously, but in the end, didn't dare to directly express her worry for her people. "I-I was just thinking… the last two times, it was when the world acknowledged that it had been 'defeated' that it really lost all that energy, right?"
Her partner nodded, prompting the crimson-haired girl to continue with more confidence. "Then… no matter how stupid it is, wouldn't it be possible for it to realize that so long as it continues to pretend it's winning no matter what, it won't actually 'lose'? Even if I were to really do everything we've planned, and even more… will it even work?"
'So that's what she was worried about? Honestly, this girl… sometimes I'm not sure if she's too dumb or too smart.' Cynthia chuckled. "It's an interesting thought, but if it was really like that, I wouldn't have any confidence to take you into any of the stronger worlds. After all, the world will there will definitely be much smarter, and figuring out such a simple thing won't take it long at all. Wouldn't we be doomed, then?"
Sensing her confusion, the raven-haired girl sighed. "Well… it's probably too early for you to really understand such things, but I'll tell you anyway. In fact, let me simplify it for you with an example."
Emilia's momentary distraction allowed the raven-haired girl to jump right out of her lap, and while the crimson-haired girl was still stunned, Cynthia waved her hands to materialize some 'props' clearly meant for demonstration purposes, making her partner reluctant to move.
The raven-haired girl grinned. "Think of all the major events that are bound to happen in a world as 'knots' in a giant ball of yarn made of multiple threads. And each time one of these knots is untangled, the energy that was being used to tie it up can be consumed by the one who solved it."
"Now… think of the heroes as the chosen string with a lot of knots. Naturally, many of them will be untangled with a little 'assistance' from the world will, and it will grow stronger as time goes on. Of course, by the very nature of this energy, the one who harvests it also stores it in the same form. Do you understand…?"
Emilia narrowed her eyes in thought. "So what you're saying is… since the world will would grown based on certain major events… it also has no way to prevent injury from certain other major events… did I get that right?"
The raven-haired girl nodded in appreciation. "You're not far from it, actually. Consider your mission to be a 'winner of life', for example. Watching the person the hero always hated the most being so successful is an event that can seriously injure the world will, and while it can delude the hero for a while… it cannot last forever."
A vicious glint flashed in her eyes. "It's desperate now and doesn't even care if it's destroying the hero's psyche with its heavy manipulation, but so long as you keep doing things as you are… trust me, its resistance will soon be futile. And once it's helpless… heh."
Emilia stared at her partner's strange expression for a while before nodding. "That's good. Although I don't mind spending a little more time on it, the feeling of slowly using up our energy without any 'income' is really not that great."
Cynthia almost rolled her eyes as she snorted. 'Stop wasting it on extending the life of all those idiots, then!'
Of course, the raven-haired girl didn't dare to voice her thoughts out loud this time. After all, knowing her villainess, an argument on that particular topic would be about as effective as trying to motivate a sloth to exercise.
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This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺