Pawns.
Sitting on the chair in my room with a cup of tea in my hand and the cat at my feet, I thought of what was to come next.
Things were simple. I wanted to grow stronger. To grow stronger, I would need to get rid of Luka and his entourage, but as long as I was still not strong enough to do it openly, I would have to do it secretly.
In all honesty, this all worked in my favor, I always wanted to fight someone strong like a protagonist anyway. But before that, there was a need to nurture scapegoats.
I wanted to speed things up. Leaving them for the end would only be stupid, one after another, I needed to get them all down, and for that, I needed pawns.
"Should we scout some talents from the academy?"
"Hm? What for?" Titania asked.
"Early recruitment? Can't we use some people to push the blame on?"
Titania hummed and so did Dantalian. I didn't think the stupid demon would be normal after I had lashed out at her, but it seems she took my warning to heart and put on her best behavior after all.
"But where will we even find such people?" Titania muttered. "Someone with malice and someone strong…"
"The malice part is unimportant, stupid insect."
"What was that, demon bitch?"
"We can impart hate on them, isn't that correct, Eugene?"
I nodded at Dantalian's words.
"I'd also like a secret base."
"Aren't you too gung-ho about this?"
"Think of it, Titania, how satisfying would it feel to say 'kuku, you managed to beat my four heavenly demons, but I am stronger than all of them combined!'"
"Damned demon lord! Kill me, kuh!"
"Mwahaha, accept your fate!"
"What are you guys even up to?"
The demon wasn't very understanding, huh?
I sipped down the tea at once and stood up. This seemed like a fun thing to go with in the background. I already had a lot on my plate with trying to figure out the language, finding the other books, and killing those fools, some fun wouldn't hurt.
"We're going scouting already?" Titania asked.
"Bet we are."
I could attend the classes today after the encounter with Luka. He has probably calmed down and won't be avoiding me until I make do with another of his cronies.
"Demon, do you think there's a way to figure out people's strengths?"
"Strengths… Can't the insect do it with that system thing and what not?"
"It's just a means of communication, it's not really a system you know?"
"So you're useless."
"I'll kill you stupid cat."
I sighed.
"Useless runts."
The two stopped in their tracks and turned to face me. Then, they looked at each other again and had a short stare-off before saying.
"We can do it if we work together."
I raised my brow. Look at this, they get along just well with a little provocation.
"What can you do?"
"Demons have authorities, you see. It's a level higher than normal magic spells or your Ki arts."
"Go on."
"To put it simply, we can pull something off as naturally as breathing. It takes exertion from our very essence, but we are able to manipulate things on a level no one else can. Balam's authority let him manipulate causality to a small level. If you punched him, he could make it so you didn't. If you slapped him, he could make it so you didn't. If you tied him up, stripped him naked and sold his pictures to the town as blackmail, he could make it so you didn't."
Oddly specific.
"Similar to that, my authority lets me access the state of all beings, perception, similitude, it is all under me. That mask you have has a chip of my horns in it."
"Hm…"
"So if I analyze the state of people around, and feed it to the insect, she can manipulate it in the same way other fairies manipulate things to display your stats."
"There's no way for you to interpret, and there's no way for Titania to retrieve the information. You guys actually make a good tag team?"
The two frowned deeply at my words. It seemed they really weren't fond of each other.
Shrugging, I decided to leave them be for now and moved over to the mirror.
"Use it on me."
"Now?" Dantalian asked.
"Yes, now."
I didn't feel a thing as Dantalian closed her eyes, the next thing I knew, Titania was emitting some kind of strange light.
And then, in front of my eyes, a translucent blue window only I could see popped up.
[Name: Eugene Hall???
Title: ?????? ????? ???? ?????
Disposition: ????
Thoughts: These guys are absolutely fucking useless, how can I find someone good by knowing what kind of tea they like?
Likes: Strength. Lethe. ???.
Dislikes: The entire world.
Potential: ???]
"What the fuck is this?" I asked.
I was originally shocked at seeing the thoughts that perfectly encapsulated my mind. But seeing the likes and dislikes pissed me off to no end.
"It's buggy."
"Uh…"
"It is. Shut up and stop using it, now."
The translucent window disappeared from my sight and eventually I took in a deep breath. It was definitely buggy, who could be more in touch with my thoughts and emotions other than myself? I even had proof in the form of all the question marks.
"I thought you could pull something good?"
"Sorry, I am just a demon lord of love, deception and rhetoric, this is more useful to me." Dantalian tried to smack her head in her cat form, but that only looked more annoying.
"Should we give up?"
"No…" I muttered. "I can still use this."
Potential, huh?
That should tell me more than enough.
"Before that, one more test."
I quickly changed into my academy uniform with the blazer and the tie, picked up my bag, and strutted down the stairs to the floor below where my loyal knight was crashing.
I knocked on Keith's doors and forced him to open it up.
"Ah… young master?"
"Sup."
"Are you finally going back to classes? Would you mind picking me breakfast when you come back?"
"Who is supposed to be whose aide here?"
The window popped open in front of my eyes once again and Keith's information was revealed.
[Name: Keith —
Title: Prodigy, Hero Party Destroyer, Fabled Adventurer, Youngest Sword Master
Disposition: Chaotic Neutral
Thoughts: Hungry hungry hungryyyyyyyyyyy… chickennnn
Likes: Brothels, Young Master fam! Apollon. Swords. All of Hall's progeny.
Dislikes: Tiresome things.
Potential: Godly]
Woah.
This guy was a hack!
Should I just convert Keith over to my direction?
"What is the matter young master? You listening? What are you lost with?"
"Nothing important. Fix yourself up, I am going. Ask the Dark Moon bastards around these parts to find me a dark cave or something."
"Oh? Are you planning to create a villain's lair?"
"I am."
"Heh?"
With that, I walked away.
Interesting.
Godly potential sounded very amusing indeed.
If this was the case then I could indeed find some people. Keith served as a great comparison as well since few could claim to be as strong as him even if they had five entire lifetimes.
"This is good," I said as I moved away from the Island and toward the bridges.
I noticed Albert's aide in between, who was a butler his father had sent along. Apparently he was a cherished being in all of Pinot and even the generals hailed his name, so his father was fighting to have an entire battalion sent to him. How amusing.
"Keep using it on whoever catches your eye." I muttered to my two partners. "It would be interesting to see what kind of people are around."
What was a better time to find this stuff except a morning time when all students moved to the school?
It was a perfect set up!
On my way to the class, many windows opened in front of my eyes.
[Name: Ordi Nary
Title: Superbly Mediocre
Disposition: Mediocre
Thoughts: You can't stop me terrorists, I will save everyone in this academy!
Likes: Superhero stories, stories, actions.
Dislikes: Cool guys
Potential: Ordinary]
Talk about ordinary!
How amusing was this? I looked to my side and glared at another student that had a mohawk and was wearing biking gloves. Eh? This was the same school right? Why were his sleeves ripped? Is this what true delinquency is?
[Name: Seeck Mohawk!
Title: Delinquent A
Disposition: Lawful Good
Thoughts: My, those girls are so cute!
Likes: Mohawks, Bikes???
Dislikes: Mohawk haters, people who are rude to others
Potential: Pretty neat]
GAP MOE!?
"Next, I don't even want to look at this guy."
[Name: Lancer Mancer!
Title: None
Disposition: Lawful Good
Thoughts: Lances man,
Likes: Lances, men
Dislikes: Women
Potential: Manly]
[Name: Ms. Girl!
Title: Girl!?
Disposition: Chaotic Evil
Thoughts: Suck it, there actually ARE women on this forum!
Likes: Procrastination, memes?
Dislikes: Mods
Potential: Sucks]
[Name: Jimmy Ferris!
Title: Agares' Worshipper.
Disposition: Lawful Evil]
Oh?
Now, now, what was this?
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