༺ Nursing (1) ༻
As soon as my voice trickled away, a system window popped up in front of me.
System Message
[ A moment of danger has been detected.]
[ Determined the situation as life-threatening. ]
[ Skill: Desperation raised to EX-Grade. ]
And the moment she took in my words, she didn’t move a single inch.
As if she had forgotten how to breathe, the atmosphere around her was so eerie that it was almost scary.
“…Master? Doesn’t need me…? Huh…?”
The look in her face made it as if her entire world had crumbled.
Colors gradually drained from her eyes.
System Message
[ Corruption Value of target ‘Seras’ skyrockets! ]
[ She will soon definitively enter a Berserk state! ]
“Master, isn’t my… Master…?”
“…”
Seriously, I just told her to stay away, but her mental state had shattered to this extent. So annoying.
Still…
“You heard me. Don’t come within five meters of me.”
I wouldn’t back down.
If I didn’t draw this line between us, she would actually stick to me all day long and cause all kinds of trouble.
“Instead…”
Of course, I couldn’t just push her away and do nothing, or else her Corruption Value would explode instantly.
And so, I added more to my words.
“Don’t stray beyond ten meters either.”
“…”
The expression of Seras, or more precisely, the Purple Devil, was filled with confusion.
System Message
[ Corruption Value of the target drops sharply! ]
Since it was clear that my command didn’t have the intention to ‘push her away,’ her expression was brightened slightly. Not only that, her Corruption Value dropped as well.
But, I wasn’t done yet.
“And don’t even think about meeting me every day.”
System Message
[ Corruption Value of target ‘Seras’ skyrockets! ]
“Instead, I’ll play with you one day a week. I promise.”
System Message
[ Corruption Value of the target drops sharply! ]
“But, when we meet that day…”
Every time I continued to speak, her Corruption Value repeatedly soared and dropped.
It soared every time I tried to push her away and dropped whenever I declared I would keep her close.
[…What are you even trying to make her do then? You tell her to not come near you, but you don’t want her to stay away either…]
‘I’m just trying to adjust the distance between us.’
As I said before I came here…
When dealing with the Purple Devil, my survival depended on us managing our distance.
Actually, I was the only one who decided on the distance between us, but it should be fine as long as I laid out all these terms clearly to her.
“Instead, if you follow my commands well…”
Besides, I didn’t want her to mindlessly follow my order.
What I wanted was to ‘tame’ her so that she could fulfill my needs.
So, I had to treat her like a dangerous pet that was able to end my life in an instant if a single thing went wrong.
This kind of approach was impossible to do with other Devils, but it should work with this one specifically.
“I’ll give you a reward.”
“…A reward?”
“I’ll gradually allow you to come closer to me. I’ll let you sleep a little less, and I’ll gradually increase our playtime as well.”
As I said this, I stroked her head, who was still on top of me.
The confused expression she had after hearing the series of words I spoke, melted into a beaming smile when I patted her head.
It was as if just receiving some attention from me was the greatest happiness in the world for her.
‘…I guess it’s true that Devils are inextricably linked to Vessels.’
That was the theory I had established before.
The relationship between the Blue Devil and Riru already half-convinced me that…
Devils were more influenced by ‘Vessels’ than I thought.
That was why…
“And most importantly. If you listen to me well…”
The words I was conveying to her now were…
A message to both the Purple Devil and ‘Seras’.
“I’ll never abandon you.”
“…”
Her face, which had been beaming with a smile, suddenly turned stiff.
The smile gradually disappeared, and she soon blinked her eyes while gazing down at me.
Silence fell for a while, as if time had stopped.
The words I just threw out…
Was something that touched upon the very reason why she was striving to find a person to be ‘obedient’ to.
Additionally, it also touched upon Seras’ past.
“…Is that a promise, Master?”
After a long silence, she opened her mouth with hesitation.
It was hard to believe that this was the same person who kept reacting frantically to my words just now.
“Yeah.”
“Will you stay with me and the Vessel, always?”
“Yeah.”
“Even to the very end, no matter what happens?”
“No matter what happens.”
I literally declared that I’d make the Six Devils happy.
If I couldn’t handle her, someone who was similar to a large dog that was prone to cause troubles, how could I even begin to dream of achieving that?
“…”
Well, the scale of the troubles I was talking about was rather enormous, but you know…
At any rate, I was a man of my word. I meant it when I said I’d cover for those Devils, that included the one in front of me.
“If so…”
When I firmly returned an answer filled with such thoughts…
Seras, or more precisely, the Purple Devil controlling her, nodded.
“I’ll obediently listen to you.”
With those words, she extended her pinky finger towards me while smiling brightly.
“Pinky promise. Okay?”
“…”
It was an unusually docile request for a Devil.
However, when seeing her childlike demeanor, it wasn’t too difficult to understand why she did this.
Essentially, a Devil’s Fragment symbolized the ‘deficiency’ that was suppressed and rejected by the Vessel.
To put it simply, this ‘lively child’ symbolized something that Seras could never have.
“…”
As I thought that and made a pinky promise with her, she smiled brilliantly once again.
“Then, Master.”
With those words…
“See you next time.”
Seras’ body flopped onto me like a marionette that had its strings cut.
It was clear that the Devil controlling her body had retreated back into the depth of her Image World.
“…Haaah…”
I let out a deep sigh.
One piece of good news.
Today, once again, Dowd Campbell had lived to see another day.
Anyway…
I could say that it was a rather successful endeavor since I didn’t get split in half again.
[…Will you be okay, though?]
“Huh?”
[You know, the promises you made earlier… Will you be okay?]
“…Ah, that.”
To summarize all the promises I made with the Purple Devil into one sentence…
I would be stalked by the continent’s top assassin, who would maintain a certain distance from me for most of the day.
Well, obviously there were other things, but that was the biggest one of them all, at least for me at the moment.
“…”
‘Alright.’
‘So that’s how it’ll be, huh?’
“It’s manageable.”
[How?!]
“I mean, even if the Devil doesn’t do it, the Vessels would anyway.”
[…]
Seeing that he shut his mouth, it seemed like he agreed with my words.
[…Somehow, even though there’s a separate Devil of Obsession, the real chaos is happening here.]
“With that one, she’s just a little more obsessive than normal, she won’t do anything completely unreasonable.”
That said, the White Devil wasn’t any less dangerous either.
After all, the moment all the Fragments gathered and I showed my bare face, an uncontrollable major incident would occur.
Still, compared to that, the Purple Devil managed to torment me to this extent despite only possessing a single Fragment.
And as I walked down the corridor with such thoughts…
“…”
My head spun.
I staggered and barely managed to regain my balance by grabbing the wall.
Cold sweat dripped in abundance. My vision blurred slightly.
[…Hey, you good?]
“…Yes, well.”
In fact, I was also startled by this situation. I checked my condition on the status window, but there was nothing wrong with the Fallen’s Seal, nor was there any malfunction in any part of my body.
But then, what was this?
What was the reason behind these sudden symptoms…?
[…Have you been resting lately?]
“…”
Ah.
Right.
Because I had to run around everywhere to handle various tasks, I could barely sleep.
Including the time I spent in the Forge of Struggle, I hardly had a moment’s rest for a long time.
‘I have to study, manage the Devils, awaken Faenol’s emotions, and prepare for the events derived when the Empress visits the academy…’
Just listing it out already overwhelmed me.
It was a problem that unavoidably occurred because there weren’t just one or two events to prepare for.
They all had to be dealt with simultaneously and to achieve the best results, I couldn’t neglect a single thing.
Not to mention that I always had to consider the variable known as the Prophet…
[Thinking like that won’t solve anything, you punk.]
Caliban clicked his tongue as he threw such words at me.
[You have to deal with what you can, one by one. Trying to handle it like you’re doing now will just make things worse. And you’ll just wear yourself out.]
“…That’s strange. You’re actually giving me constructive advice?”
[Your state is more awful than usual these days. Especially after you fell off that precipitous tightrope you’ve been walking on. Following that one mistake, you seem to be more cautious than ever too.]
“…”
He was right…
It was already proven that I couldn’t always perfectly handle everything, especially after I got bisected in two.
The problem was…
“…If I make a mistake, other people might die.”
The main scenario continued to derail like an uncontrollable runaway engine; Something I had already experienced several times.
And it was clear that I was the cause of all this.
That was why…
If I made a mistake, I wouldn’t be the only one who’d suffer. Those absurd events that occurred because of me would also sweep other people into it.
And even among those, the most important thing was…
“…Eleanor is the most important.”
I let out a sigh as I said that.
The Prophet had been targeting her the most, this was the undeniable truth.
As such, I had various plans prepared for that, but…
“…I do want to see her at least once.”
The problem was that she wasn’t even thinking of meeting me right now.
I tried to talk to her through various means. Just a single exchange of words would be fine for me. But, she always firmly rejected me, so I hadn’t been able to see her face.
Since we parted ways in the Forge of Struggle, I had not encountered her even a single time.
“There’s something I have to tell her directly, but I’ve been so tired lately…”
I muttered weakly before pushing myself off the wall.
The severe dizziness and vertigo that hit me had disappeared, that was why I did this, but…
As soon as I made such an action, I realized.
Ah.
It wasn’t that I had recovered, rather, my strength just returned for a second before my body collapsed.
I guess this was similar to how your life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die, huh?
[Huh? Hey, Hey! You punk?!]
I heard Caliban’s voice, but I could not control my body.
My head fell straight to the ground.
“…Dowd? Dowd! Dowd, look at me!”
Right then…
A familiar voice faintly reached my ears.
At the same time, beyond my blurry vision, I could see a rather familiar hair color.
“…”
Huh?
Eleanor?
The timing of her appearance was a bit too coincidental. It was as if she popped out as soon as I collapsed.
Did she happen to overhear our conversation?
Wait, wouldn’t I have looked like a madman since she couldn’t hear Caliban?
No, more importantly, I didn’t say anything that I shouldn’t say, right?
Such fleeting thoughts crossed my foggy mind.
System Message
[ The Guilt of target ‘Eleanor’ intensi-]
Before I could even finish reading the message that abruptly appeared…
My vision went dark.
༺ Nursing (1) ༻
As soon as my voice trickled away, a system window popped up in front of me.
System Message
[ A moment of danger has been detected.]
[ Determined the situation as life-threatening. ]
[ Skill: Desperation raised to EX-Grade. ]
And the moment she took in my words, she didn’t move a single inch.
As if she had forgotten how to breathe, the atmosphere around her was so eerie that it was almost scary.
“…Master? Doesn’t need me…? Huh…?”
The look in her face made it as if her entire world had crumbled.
Colors gradually drained from her eyes.
System Message
[ Corruption Value of target ‘Seras’ skyrockets! ]
[ She will soon definitively enter a Berserk state! ]
“Master, isn’t my… Master…?”
“…”
Seriously, I just told her to stay away, but her mental state had shattered to this extent. So annoying.
Still…
“You heard me. Don’t come within five meters of me.”
I wouldn’t back down.
If I didn’t draw this line between us, she would actually stick to me all day long and cause all kinds of trouble.
“Instead…”
Of course, I couldn’t just push her away and do nothing, or else her Corruption Value would explode instantly.
And so, I added more to my words.
“Don’t stray beyond ten meters either.”
“…”
The expression of Seras, or more precisely, the Purple Devil, was filled with confusion.
System Message
[ Corruption Value of the target drops sharply! ]
Since it was clear that my command didn’t have the intention to ‘push her away,’ her expression was brightened slightly. Not only that, her Corruption Value dropped as well.
But, I wasn’t done yet.
“And don’t even think about meeting me every day.”
System Message
[ Corruption Value of target ‘Seras’ skyrockets! ]
“Instead, I’ll play with you one day a week. I promise.”
System Message
[ Corruption Value of the target drops sharply! ]
“But, when we meet that day…”
Every time I continued to speak, her Corruption Value repeatedly soared and dropped.
It soared every time I tried to push her away and dropped whenever I declared I would keep her close.
[…What are you even trying to make her do then? You tell her to not come near you, but you don’t want her to stay away either…]
‘I’m just trying to adjust the distance between us.’
As I said before I came here…
When dealing with the Purple Devil, my survival depended on us managing our distance.
Actually, I was the only one who decided on the distance between us, but it should be fine as long as I laid out all these terms clearly to her.
“Instead, if you follow my commands well…”
Besides, I didn’t want her to mindlessly follow my order.
What I wanted was to ‘tame’ her so that she could fulfill my needs.
So, I had to treat her like a dangerous pet that was able to end my life in an instant if a single thing went wrong.
This kind of approach was impossible to do with other Devils, but it should work with this one specifically.
“I’ll give you a reward.”
“…A reward?”
“I’ll gradually allow you to come closer to me. I’ll let you sleep a little less, and I’ll gradually increase our playtime as well.”
As I said this, I stroked her head, who was still on top of me.
The confused expression she had after hearing the series of words I spoke, melted into a beaming smile when I patted her head.
It was as if just receiving some attention from me was the greatest happiness in the world for her.
‘…I guess it’s true that Devils are inextricably linked to Vessels.’
That was the theory I had established before.
The relationship between the Blue Devil and Riru already half-convinced me that…
Devils were more influenced by ‘Vessels’ than I thought.
That was why…
“And most importantly. If you listen to me well…”
The words I was conveying to her now were…
A message to both the Purple Devil and ‘Seras’.
“I’ll never abandon you.”
“…”
Her face, which had been beaming with a smile, suddenly turned stiff.
The smile gradually disappeared, and she soon blinked her eyes while gazing down at me.
Silence fell for a while, as if time had stopped.
The words I just threw out…
Was something that touched upon the very reason why she was striving to find a person to be ‘obedient’ to.
Additionally, it also touched upon Seras’ past.
“…Is that a promise, Master?”
After a long silence, she opened her mouth with hesitation.
It was hard to believe that this was the same person who kept reacting frantically to my words just now.
“Yeah.”
“Will you stay with me and the Vessel, always?”
“Yeah.”
“Even to the very end, no matter what happens?”
“No matter what happens.”
I literally declared that I’d make the Six Devils happy.
If I couldn’t handle her, someone who was similar to a large dog that was prone to cause troubles, how could I even begin to dream of achieving that?
“…”
Well, the scale of the troubles I was talking about was rather enormous, but you know…
At any rate, I was a man of my word. I meant it when I said I’d cover for those Devils, that included the one in front of me.
“If so…”
When I firmly returned an answer filled with such thoughts…
Seras, or more precisely, the Purple Devil controlling her, nodded.
“I’ll obediently listen to you.”
With those words, she extended her pinky finger towards me while smiling brightly.
“Pinky promise. Okay?”
“…”
It was an unusually docile request for a Devil.
However, when seeing her childlike demeanor, it wasn’t too difficult to understand why she did this.
Essentially, a Devil’s Fragment symbolized the ‘deficiency’ that was suppressed and rejected by the Vessel.
To put it simply, this ‘lively child’ symbolized something that Seras could never have.
“…”
As I thought that and made a pinky promise with her, she smiled brilliantly once again.
“Then, Master.”
With those words…
“See you next time.”
Seras’ body flopped onto me like a marionette that had its strings cut.
It was clear that the Devil controlling her body had retreated back into the depth of her Image World.
“…Haaah…”
I let out a deep sigh.
One piece of good news.
Today, once again, Dowd Campbell had lived to see another day.
Anyway…
I could say that it was a rather successful endeavor since I didn’t get split in half again.
[…Will you be okay, though?]
“Huh?”
[You know, the promises you made earlier… Will you be okay?]
“…Ah, that.”
To summarize all the promises I made with the Purple Devil into one sentence…
I would be stalked by the continent’s top assassin, who would maintain a certain distance from me for most of the day.
Well, obviously there were other things, but that was the biggest one of them all, at least for me at the moment.
“…”
‘Alright.’
‘So that’s how it’ll be, huh?’
“It’s manageable.”
[How?!]
“I mean, even if the Devil doesn’t do it, the Vessels would anyway.”
[…]
Seeing that he shut his mouth, it seemed like he agreed with my words.
[…Somehow, even though there’s a separate Devil of Obsession, the real chaos is happening here.]
“With that one, she’s just a little more obsessive than normal, she won’t do anything completely unreasonable.”
That said, the White Devil wasn’t any less dangerous either.
After all, the moment all the Fragments gathered and I showed my bare face, an uncontrollable major incident would occur.
Still, compared to that, the Purple Devil managed to torment me to this extent despite only possessing a single Fragment.
And as I walked down the corridor with such thoughts…
“…”
My head spun.
I staggered and barely managed to regain my balance by grabbing the wall.
Cold sweat dripped in abundance. My vision blurred slightly.
[…Hey, you good?]
“…Yes, well.”
In fact, I was also startled by this situation. I checked my condition on the status window, but there was nothing wrong with the Fallen’s Seal, nor was there any malfunction in any part of my body.
But then, what was this?
What was the reason behind these sudden symptoms…?
[…Have you been resting lately?]
“…”
Ah.
Right.
Because I had to run around everywhere to handle various tasks, I could barely sleep.
Including the time I spent in the Forge of Struggle, I hardly had a moment’s rest for a long time.
‘I have to study, manage the Devils, awaken Faenol’s emotions, and prepare for the events derived when the Empress visits the academy…’
Just listing it out already overwhelmed me.
It was a problem that unavoidably occurred because there weren’t just one or two events to prepare for.
They all had to be dealt with simultaneously and to achieve the best results, I couldn’t neglect a single thing.
Not to mention that I always had to consider the variable known as the Prophet…
[Thinking like that won’t solve anything, you punk.]
Caliban clicked his tongue as he threw such words at me.
[You have to deal with what you can, one by one. Trying to handle it like you’re doing now will just make things worse. And you’ll just wear yourself out.]
“…That’s strange. You’re actually giving me constructive advice?”
[Your state is more awful than usual these days. Especially after you fell off that precipitous tightrope you’ve been walking on. Following that one mistake, you seem to be more cautious than ever too.]
“…”
He was right…
It was already proven that I couldn’t always perfectly handle everything, especially after I got bisected in two.
The problem was…
“…If I make a mistake, other people might die.”
The main scenario continued to derail like an uncontrollable runaway engine; Something I had already experienced several times.
And it was clear that I was the cause of all this.
That was why…
If I made a mistake, I wouldn’t be the only one who’d suffer. Those absurd events that occurred because of me would also sweep other people into it.
And even among those, the most important thing was…
“…Eleanor is the most important.”
I let out a sigh as I said that.
The Prophet had been targeting her the most, this was the undeniable truth.
As such, I had various plans prepared for that, but…
“…I do want to see her at least once.”
The problem was that she wasn’t even thinking of meeting me right now.
I tried to talk to her through various means. Just a single exchange of words would be fine for me. But, she always firmly rejected me, so I hadn’t been able to see her face.
Since we parted ways in the Forge of Struggle, I had not encountered her even a single time.
“There’s something I have to tell her directly, but I’ve been so tired lately…”
I muttered weakly before pushing myself off the wall.
The severe dizziness and vertigo that hit me had disappeared, that was why I did this, but…
As soon as I made such an action, I realized.
Ah.
It wasn’t that I had recovered, rather, my strength just returned for a second before my body collapsed.
I guess this was similar to how your life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die, huh?
[Huh? Hey, Hey! You punk?!]
I heard Caliban’s voice, but I could not control my body.
My head fell straight to the ground.
“…Dowd? Dowd! Dowd, look at me!”
Right then…
A familiar voice faintly reached my ears.
At the same time, beyond my blurry vision, I could see a rather familiar hair color.
“…”
Huh?
Eleanor?
The timing of her appearance was a bit too coincidental. It was as if she popped out as soon as I collapsed.
Did she happen to overhear our conversation?
Wait, wouldn’t I have looked like a madman since she couldn’t hear Caliban?
No, more importantly, I didn’t say anything that I shouldn’t say, right?
Such fleeting thoughts crossed my foggy mind.
System Message
[ The Guilt of target ‘Eleanor’ intensi-]
Before I could even finish reading the message that abruptly appeared…
My vision went dark.
