To the south-east of the Central Island where the Tree was, there were three continents around the size of Australia.

Two large countries and five small ones occupied the landmasses. Despite their Saplings being discovered quite a bit earlier than the City of Pleasure’s, they weren’t all that developed. They had nice, comfortable climates, but that was it. They had no special industries. The only thing they had going for them were the isolated ecosystems, which attracted adventurers coming to hunt subspecies monsters.

According to the newest guidebook I bought last time, the large country Quasix always had 400,000 people inside it at any given time, but their actual citizen population was only 150,000. The rest were composed of adventurers of wilder leanings, plus the merchants buying monster materials from them. Tourists were recommended to be careful.

…they were being way too loose with their information. Had the people of this world gotten complacent from the long-lasting peace?

 

“Well then, let’s go.”

*boing*

“Ook!”

Blobsy jumped on my shoulder, while Panda clung to my calf. Panda’s spot was normally my arm when I wasn’t wearing the cloak, or my hips or legs when I was. The locations themselves weren’t a problem, but Panda eating bananas and littering the peels while clinging to me was.

Stop that. You’re setting a bad example for Blobsy.

 

My destination this time was the southern continent of the group of continents I mentioned, the one with two countries on it. Xontdix and Quarrevingts, a large and small country, respectively.

I did think attacking two large countries in a row was dangerous, to be honest. All the same, I still chose this region, mainly because they had more adventurers than citizens. Which meant public order there wouldn’t be very good.

Xontdix’s ruler was also called the Mercenary King. Over a hundred years ago, a mercenary had exterminated the lizardmen there and taken the Sapling, and the country had gone into the hands of their descendants thereafter. Even until now, the country still had a meathead for a king. It was an awesome country.

It had quite a lot of powerful soldiers and adventurers, apparently. Of course, I got much stronger myself too, so unless something unexpected happened, I was confident there wouldn’t be a problem.

The lack of public order stemmed from the fact that a large part of the population was composed of thugs and ruffians, and these people tended to solve problems by themselves. It hinted at the fragility of their police force.

The country had a lot of adventurers, true, and I did pick a bit of a fight with the players back then. Still, it was just a small group of players. I thought it was about time the mess was forgotten.

 

As always, I bounced off the barrier. My landing spot was a dense forest with absolutely zero signs of human civilization.

Before, I would’ve had problems orienting myself. Now, I could vaguely sense the direction of the World Tree at all time. I wondered if it was because I had gained more power, or because I leveled up.

All the same, if I didn’t know where I was, that sense of direction wouldn’t really mean anything. I didn’t know if I should go west or east. West would be the right choice if I had landed in the middle of the continent, but if I landed on the edge, I would have no idea where I’d end up.

“…where do you think I should go?”

*boing*

“Ook.”

The two pointed to the east. No, Panda, I don’t need a banana. I had thought I should go west, but well, they pointed east, so let’s go there.

I put my two Kins into [Inventory], dispersed into mist, and got moving.

 

One whole day of high-speed flying later, I saw a farming village and patrolling watcher drones nearby. I turned human and followed along the road, hiding in what cover I could find and ignoring the farming village. After a while, a decently large town showed up in my view.

I had no idea what country this was. And as this small continent only had two countries, asking for the name would make me look too shady.

I found a railway track on the way and used it to sneak inside the town. At the station, I finally learned where I was.

 

“Welcome to Quarrevingts!”

 

What the hell, this was the exact opposite of where I wanted to go!

*boing*

“Ook.”

Blobsy and Panda, already outside of my inventory, just tilted their heads. Then they started eating bananas.

Oh, fine then… focus, focus. No one was to blame. If I had to, I supposed I could only blame my luck.

This wasn’t what I had planned, but now that I was here, I might as well try to get some information. I headed toward the adventurer’s guild.

 

…wasn’t the atmosphere of the town a bit weird? Maybe it was just how it was. I’d never been here before, after all. Looked very busy, with all the adventurers running around and making travel preparations. The air felt charged with tension.

…no, something really was off here.

I immediately changed my plan, instead heading for a clothier for adventurers some way away from the guild.

I took the chance to get a few more spare coats and hooded cloaks. The shopkeeper at the counter was a woman in her late twenties. I attempted a casual chat with her.

“Did something happen? The town looks weird.”

“Oh, you didn’t know? Were you on a long hunting trip? If you have any spare materials, you can sell it to me.”

She seemed to be quite a chatterbox. I didn’t have anything good, so I shared with her some of the drugs I got from the City of Pleasure. After a few more meaningless back-and-forth, her lips were loosened.

“A few days ago, the guild in the neighboring country Xontdix just called for a gathering of adventurers. I didn’t know what for. Apparently they were only required to stay there for ten days. Even if nothing happened, as long as they were Rank 3 or above, they’d get paid one small gold coin.”

“Hmmm… I wonder why.”

“Oh yes, that reminds me. I’ve been seeing new adventurers coming to this town recently. Those people were saying something about a bunny trapping… quest? I think it was ‘quest’. The old-timers here just laughed and made fun of them, saying there was no such thing, but when I asked the new adventurers directly, they played dumb in a hurry. I asked a few others too, and the same thing happened. How curious.”

“Bunny…”

 

Gotta be me, right…? I didn’t know how large-scale it was going to be, but considering the adventurers were gathered by the guild itself and that the players were most likely aware of the details, there was a high chance the corporation had a direct hand in this.

A trap, perhaps. If I’d gone to Xontdix instead, I might have been caught wholly flat-footed.

I gave Panda and Blobsy a few headpats.

Hey, did you two guide me here because you knew that country was dangerous? …no, not that, I don’t want bananas, that’s not what my headpats meant.

I gave my thanks to the shopkeeper woman. Just as I was about to leave, she spoke out, looking like she had just suddenly remembered something else.

 

“Oh yes, I heard that the emperor of Touze would be there in Xontdix incognito. Really, with how famous he was, he shouldn’t have bothered trying to sneak about. You’re quite cute, you know? If you catches his eyes, maybe he’ll even let you be one of his mistresses.”

 

So Tiz was coming? Interesting. Very interesting.

If the corporation also had a hand in this, that meant either he was cooperating with them, or that the two were trying to use one another. I might not know how serious he was, but if he wanted to make me his slave that much, then I had an answer of my own.

“…Blobsy, Panda. You two are with me all the way, right?”

*boing!*

“Ook!”

They responded with solemnity. Seemed like they’d realized the subtle change within me.

 

I waited until dark, then made my move.

The Sapling in Quarrevingts’ capital was inside the governor’s castle, a stone fortress as large as a baseball stadium. It was protected by a surrounding moat and a simple barrier. I didn’t try to go through the barrier, instead infiltrating through the sewers that connected to the moat.

A metal grate with a grid spacing of around 30 centimeters blocked my way. There was no barrier here, so I simply turned mist to go through.

I wouldn’t kill anyone this time. Any demihumans slaves I saw would be ignored.

Not only was the security unusually loose, it even looked like there were less guards around. Perhaps the people were all going to Xontdix.

I moved, keeping myself hidden and away from the eyes of the patrolling guards and watcher drones. After a few hours, I reached the Sapling.

I could only use this sort of plan only once, really. They’d be very careful to not let the same thing happen again afterward. I had thought about keeping this to be my trump card until I had no other choice, but it’d probably be fine. By then I’d have already gotten a lot stronger anyway.

 

There might not be any workers around to harvest the Sapling’s mana, but there was a watcher drone staying on guard 24/7.

I came as close as I could without being discovered, then slowly reached out to the Sapling with a bit of faint mist. Once the mist touched, I was intensely aware of the horrible condition it was in.

I really want to save you right now, but… sorry. Just a bit longer. I swear you’ll be reborn, soon.

I cut off a bit of my mist, telling it to burrow into the Sapling’s roots. My maximum magic went down a thousand. Still, this was necessary.

 

Every time my level of Lesser Archdemon increased, I could feel myself changing bit by bit.

Not negatively, no. It felt more like the true self that I’d been burying deep inside me ever since my childhood, so that I could survive, was now being let out. Step by step, it was inching closer to freedom.

Step by step, I was changing.

I was changing into a [Demon] by my own will.

---

Author’s Note: If her personality looks like it’s getting more and more relaxed now, that’s because she no longer felt trapped. Or maybe because she’s turned into a demon.

Her Kins can’t fight. In exchange, they have pretty good luck to cover for their hapless master.

Map update.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

I had another Kin now. Panda, the monkey.

The phrase ‘Demon’s Kin’ made them sound like they were some Big Bad Evil Monsters that fought on my behalf, but really, both Blobsy and Panda were just there to be cute.

Still, it wasn’t like they were all useless otherwise. Blobsy really helped with the laundry, cleaning, and disposal of evidence. I was sure Panda had some kind of helpful ability too.

“Hey, Panda, what can you do?”

“Oook!”

He presented to me a tiny banana as his reply.

Bananas…? I guess bananas were important too. The two of them were munching on the fruit again.

 

…well, whatever. Even if they had a hundred times their current combat power, I wouldn’t take them out to fight anyway.

I had destroyed and revived four out of the ninety-nine Saplings of this world. To me, it was just the first steps. To the parasitic human race, it was an unprecedented disaster.

The corporation’s mana gathering must have stalled. They were likely to get even more careful now, to keep their players – their sources of money and free labor – from getting suspicious.

I had no idea what they could be up to anyway. In the end, the only thing I could do was to keep my guard up as I continued on my quest.

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Lesser Archdemon Lv. 5]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 22,300/25,400] 
[Total Combat Power: 24,800/27,900] 
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]

My magic had passed twenty-five thousand, and my combat power was nearing thirty. Compared to the wild rabbit that I used to be when I just started out, I might as well be a dragon now.

Having to get stronger all the time was really such a pain, but I didn’t have any other choice. If I took too long, the secret beta testers would catch up in power.

 

“Ook.”

*boing*

Sure, sure, Panda. Actually, where are you getting those bananas from?

 

***

 

The World Tree and its Saplings were the cornerstones that held up Yggdrasia. The mana taken from them was an indispensable part of life to the human race, and also the backbone of human prosperity.

Mana had allowed for the creation of high-quality weapons, the monster-repelling barrier, and the large-bore, long-range magical cannon that could slaughter a young dragon – a monster with over ten-thousand combat power – with ease (even if it required a direct pipeline to a Sapling, consumed a huge amount of mana, and needed several people to operate).

Weapons weren’t the only thing mana had helped create. From the intense heat of magical flame came refined iron and other metals, which served as crucial materials for the manufacture of high-quality industrial goods. Spells were used to reinforce structures. The people had even discovered the secret of constructing high-rise buildings not too long ago.

More directly relevant to the common person’s life was the protection the Saplings granted against the climate. Mankind no longer needed to fight against nature itself just to live.

Produce grew quickly in lands abundant with mana, and even quicker when subjected to further mana injection. Hunger was non-existent.

Magical stoves had removed the need for wood and coal, and water was effectively limitless with the help of magitools.

With the technology and industrial equipment granted by God, humans had developed high-speed transportation in the form of express trains and airships. The reach of humankind was slowly growing to cover the whole world.

 

Yet now, four of those Saplings had been destroyed in succession.

Despite losing the blessing of mana, the people still clung to their land. They struggled in desperation to get back on their feet. But with the cessation of the railway – and accordingly, the circulation of luxury goods – the wealthy and the merchants were the first to leave. The country was devastated. Some people had resorted to looting just to survive, which gave birth to a deluge of refugees.

There had been whispers, rumors that this was a plot by a demon to destroy the world. All the same, with how the rest of the world was still having the leeway to accept the refugees, the people living far away from the incident were yet to be alarmed. They only tightened their security, at most. They weren’t seeing this as the crisis it was.

If anything, countries all over the world were even trying to capture the rabbit beastman girl they called the Fluffy Bunny (a nickname that had spread from the adventurers since who knew when) who was purported to be behind it all. To that end, they seeked the help of the adventurers and the Temple to set a trap for her.

 

Touze Empire, a large country in the Central Continent, was no exception.

 

“Damn that Shedy, what the hell is she thinking?!”

Within his office, the young emperor Tischlar von Touze muttered in exasperation. His eyes were scanning over pages after pages of newspapers from all over the world, all delivered after just a single day’s delay thanks to the airships.

His country had made quite a bit of a fuss when they heard he issued a bounty of five thousand large gold coins for a single beastman. He shut them up by paying from his personal pocket.

With how much the bounty was worth, he had expected information about her to be pouring into the Empire. Yet despite there being not a single trace of Shedy using the airships, she was still popping up all over the world out of nowhere, practically making a mockery of the Empire’s intelligence network.

His aged butler, the man who had watched him grown up since he was a baby, was preparing his tea. He chastised Tiz with a small sigh.

“Boy, your face doesn’t match your words.”

“Heh. That so?”

Even with his exasperation, Tiz was faintly smiling. He looked like he’d found something fun.

As long as the prosperity of his Empire and citizens wasn’t being threatened, Tiz couldn’t care less for whatever disaster was befalling the other countries. He didn’t see the hand behind this atrocity to be the world’s enemy. To him, Shedy was his possession. His toy.

 

Salia de Lence, leader of Tiz’s personal bodyguards and an Imperial Knight, ground her teeth in frustration as she looked upon his smile.

The vile beastman girl had stolen the attention of her beloved lord. He might be thinking to take the girl as his pet, but Salia swore that once the opportunity showed itself, she would kill the girl with her own hands.

 

“However, there is no guarantee that rabbit beastman girl is truly ‘Shedy’. According to eyewitness reports, she had looked halfway through her teenage years, around 14-15 years old. We should be prepared for the possibility the two are different people. With that said, I don’t think there could be any other white-colored young rabbit beastman girl.”

“Yeah. So how’s our preparations for the trap?”

“It seems she might be avoiding the Central Continent. At the very least, she would not be easily lured to this Empire where she knew you were, boy.”

“I told you, stop it with the ‘boy’ already, gramps.”

Tiz leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms and lightly frowning at the implication. He stared at the old butler.

“So what’s your plan, gramps?”

“It is not exactly a plan, per se… The one to have reached the conclusion that she was avoiding the Central Continent was a scholar of the Temple, and he had requested an audience with you. I have scheduled it for this afternoon.”

 

The scholar who showed up was a man around Tiz’s age. He called himself Mason.

The young maids staying back near the walls started tittering and squeeing as soon as they caught sight of him. He was tall, with short, neat dark-brown hair, fine features, and an aura of calmness. At the same time, his eyes glinted with the ferocity of a shark. If there were players here to see him, they might have thought he was an elite businessman coming from one of the top corporations of Earth, instead of just a simple Temple scholar.

 

“I am honored to have been granted an audience, Your Majesty.”

“Can it with the greetings. Talk.”

Mason nodded for a fraction “Then I shall begin…”

He was a researcher in the field of human psychology and statistics. He claimed to have calculated the likelihood of where the rabbit beastman girl may attack next by looking at the locations and order in which she appeared, her movement path, time between attacks, and other data points.

 

“We have discovered three countries that were likely to become the target. On top of the list is a certain small country. We humbly request the full cooperation of Touze Empire to set a trap for the rabbit there.”

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

“Ook!”

 

I saw a small baby monkey around thirty-centimeters tall. He had whitish fluffy fur except for his hands, feet, tip of tail, and face, where the color switched to pitch-black. Sort of like a panda.

I think Earth had monkeys with similar colors too. This one, however, was looking a lot more like a stuffed animal than an actual living one, with his beady blue eyes and soft downy fur.

The ball of fluff was sitting on a table, looking at me. What was he doing here? Was he merchandise to be sold? I thought he was a monster… wait a minute… he’s not a monster player, right?

“…” I gave him a mild glare.

“Ook!”

The baby monkey shook his head, as if to say “no way!”

What was up with him? I wondered. Then he slapped his hand a few times on… oh. There was a thin chain anchoring his leg to the table.

“…you want me to cut it?”

“Oook!”

He seemed awfully used to humans. Had he been a pet before? But then again, he was trying to escape…

[Baby Monkey] [Race: Black-White Monkey]
[Magic Points: 15/15] [Hit Points: 15/15]
[Total Combat Power: 15]

So he really was just a normal monkey monster…

“Oook!”

Seeing me still cautious, he pulled out a mini-banana.

“What? You’ll give it to me if I cut the chain?”

“Ook!”

“Wait, no, another banana wouldn’t… Blobsy?!”

The little slime bounced on the table. The monkey handed over his bananas, and Blobsy happily took them.

Did he just bribe her?!

“Okay, fine… Hey, do you know where they keep the really bad drugs?” I asked without much expectations.

“Ook!” He confidently pounded his chest, seemingly to say “leave it to me!”

 

“Ook!”

I cut his leg manacles with my fingers. He began guiding me through the storehouse with his newfound freedom.

“Ook!”

“No, I don’t need coffee.”

“Ook!”

“Not the strongbox, either… but maybe might as well…”

Did he really understand where I wanted to go, here…?

I couldn’t keep calling him ‘him’ all the time… let’s see… he kind of looked like a panda with his colors, so let’s call him Panda.

Panda (provisional name) led me everywhere, from the leisure room to the offices. Then we came to a caged aquarium.

“Is something here?”

“Ook!”

So here was where the mafia kept some other kind of monster as pets like they did this little guy, then? As I peered into the water, I heard a voice from inside.

“…Is someone there?”

There was a small girl with dark blue hair inside the water. She had a fish’s tail from her waist down.

“…a mermaid?”

“Who are you, miss?”

 

Turned out they weren’t keeping a monster. They were keeping an aquatic demihuman. I showed my rabbit ears to calm her down, and we started talking. According to her, the population of merfolk demihumans had sharply decreased due to human hunters. Now, the only home the merfolks had were the region around the island to the west of Wartos.

Even that island had a small country named Lontrois. Their main industry was fishing (normal fish), and capture and export of merfolks. This girl had, unfortunately, been caught in a net, then sold to Wartos.

 

She had stayed here for a while. If the mafia hadn’t been careful when talking around her, she might even know where they kept the drugs. And when I asked her, it turned out she really did.

“…can you go home from a river?”

“Yeah! I’m really good at swimming!”

“Ook!”

“Did he wanted me to save the girl too…?” I muttered.

Well, coincidence or not, the important thing was that I knew where the dangerous drugs were now. I asked the mermaid girl to see if she knew anything about Panda. She said he was a type of monster called a Monochrome Monkey. Very smart. Could do quite a lot of things, including acting as lookouts.

I wrapped a spare cloak around the mermaid girl, carried her from the warehouse district, and released her into a large river that directly connected to the sea.

“Thank you, miss rabbit! Come play with me some time!”

“Sure.”

She waved, then dove under the water surface, disappearing from my sight.

Yeah… I’ll come see you soon. I needed to destroy that country’s Sapling too, anyway.

“Ook!”

*bounce*

“Yeah, that was a nice thing I did, wasn’t it?”

Now let’s do something bad.

 

***

 

Wartos, the City of Pleasure. Of fine wine, fine food, and fine women. The laws allowed for any and all forms of drugs. The city prided itself on being able to supply any kind of pleasure imaginable.

While it was also the income source of the mafia and a hotbed for criminal activities, with nobles all over the world being its customers, no other kingdom would lay a hand on them.

 

On that day’s evening, the capital was quite a bit foggier than usual.

With the country being how it was, nearly all of its inns had equipment to serve drug-using guests. The devices dumped the indoor smoke and steam outside. It was the cause for the constant thin layer of fog.

So even if the fog was a little bit thicker than normal, and even if it neatly covered the center of the capital, no one took notice. Not the citizens, not the visitors, and not the mafia.

But then, people started noticing a faint sweet smell. One after another, people not used to its powerful intoxicating effect fell victim to nausea and paralysis. Those somewhat more experienced were the unfortunate ones; some were rendered insensate, while some lost all control over their impulses. Riots broke out here and there.

The cause of it all came from a certain warehouse belonging to the Zell Family, one of the top five mafia factions in Wartos. Over four thousand large gold coins’ worth of drugs were burned, without any semblance of restraint, to begin the city’s silent downfall.

 

Many were witnesses to the sight of a single girl of white, rabbit ears fluttering, on her jaunt toward the king’s palace. None could even twitch a finger, let alone stopping her.

In front of the palace, the girl snapped a finger, and the gates opened for her. She passed without opposition.

A few hours later, magical equipment all across the country began ceasing operation due to the destruction of the Sapling. By the time the fog cleared, the suspected culprit could no longer be found.

 

The next day, with the news of the fall of the City of Pleasure, many eyes turned to Wartos to search for the white rabbit girl reported to have appeared there. And then, as if to make mockeries out of them all, she showed up in the neighboring island country of Lontrois. With another Sapling destroyed, she once again vanished like smoke.

 

***

 

After dealing with the Sapling of Lontrois, the country selling merfolks, I jumped on the newly constructed network line to go back to the World Tree.

“I’m back.”

I said, not exactly expecting to hear a reply. Yet as if in response, the branches of the World Tree lightly swayed, allowing a bit of the sun’s warmth to reach me.

Another two Saplings destroyed and revived. In the process, I discovered an interesting application of <Causality Alteration>: If the person who had closed a door or gate was nearby, I could make them ‘failed’ to have closed it.

Really, it was just a little trick with limited usefulness. If the one to have closed the door weren’t nearby, or if they had died, it wouldn’t have worked.

Lontrois was incomparably smaller than Wartos. The governor’s mansion was no bigger than the size of an elementary school. I just needed to show up at night, unlocked the doors and disabled the traps with that trick, and that was it. I was at the Sapling. If they had stricter security, I wouldn’t have been able to do it that way.

Anyway, I got more powerful again.

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Lesser Archdemon Lv. 5]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 22300/25400] 6700↑
[Total Combat Power: 24800/27900] 7400↑
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]

You think so too, right, Blobsy?

*boing!*

“Oook!”

 

“…wha?”

Why was Panda here?!

[Panda] [Race: Monochrome Monkey] [Kin of Shedy, the Demon]
[Magic Points: 20/20] [Hit Points: 20/20]
[Total Combat Power: 20]

…aww hell, not again.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

I saw some strange monster avatars.

They were avatars, right…? I saw them when I was at the coast near Soixansept Kingdom. The country itself was situated on a landmass southwest from the Central Continent that seemed to be unsure whether it wanted to be a continent or an archipelago.

 

Looking at the guidebook, the countries here seemed to have quite the South American-ish atmosphere to them. The large country Soixansept Kingdom reminded me of the tropical paradises back on Earth. It was also one of the most famous tourist destinations on this world. The surrounding countries weren’t much different with their resorts and developed tourism.

But my original plan wasn’t to go to Soixansept. I had wanted to ride the World Tree network to the neighboring country, Sanhuit. Just as always, I bounced off its barrier, but in a way that put me on a trajectory toward a reef near Soixansept.

…No, I’m not sulking.

Blobsy cleaned off the seawater and seaweed on my cloak in a jiffy.

Considering my landing spot, I had thought to might as well take the chance to look around the nearby country. Some time later, on a beach some way away from a port town, I saw a few adventurers fighting against several monsters.

 

The adventurers were a party of three. Their combat power were all below 100. They all had similar, familiar-looking equipment, and their movements were somewhat awkward. Maybe they were players.

Their opponents were three monsters.

A black donkey, an evil-looking goat, and a rooster with a snake for a tail. They were standing on each other like the town musicians of Bremen.

…monsters? Were they really just normal monsters?

All three only had around 60 to 70 combat power. Yet as a totem pole, they were practically wiping the floor with the players.

Yeah, they were totally players using monster avatars here.

I was honestly surprised the game developers actually went through with it. Still, their movements looked rigid, all three sharing the same kind of inflexibility. Were they controlling the avatars in semi-automatic mode, then?

The scene just looked like a group of ex-beta players bullying the newbies, really… Well, whatever. Not like they were harming anyone. I got ready to leave them to their business.

Suddenly, an unexpected breeze blew past. I instantly held down my hood, but it took me a single beat later to do the same with my skirt.

“Eep!”

The skirt was just reflex, really. When materialized, layers of cloth filled the inside to the brim. Just a bit of wind wasn’t enough to reveal anything.

I looked around. Dozens of meters away, the player and the monster parties were no longer fighting each other. All of them had already dropped to the ground, their gazes fixed on my direction.

 

“…”

“…” “…” “…”

In a blink of an eye, that particular part of the beach and the blue ocean behind it froze over.

…I had more important things to worry about than such frivolities anyway. I was quite sure I didn’t show my ears, but that attack just now might have just brought suspicions my way.

I needed to leave right away. Unfortunately, the World Tree network was unavailable to me until I destroyed and revived another Sapling, and so I could only rely on my own power. I departed before the watcher drones could flock to the scene.

 

I stayed human and sprinted straight north from Soixansept, hugging the western coastline and ignoring Santseis, a small country I encountered on my path. Once I reached the rugged, uneven forest to the north, I turned full mist and flew through, exiting to the sea.

Twenty thousand combat power was no joke. I wasn’t as fast as an airship, obviously, but I could keep pace with an express train. This continent was really more like two smaller ones connected by a bit of land, so by cutting through the sea, I could save a ton of travel time.

It still took three days without rest. I came to the upper half of the continent not just to escape, but also because there were two large countries there.

Wartos, the City of Pleasure.

Sautonn, the City of Gambling.

As you could see from their titles, the two countries weren’t exactly wholesome. Similarly, the word ‘City’ reflected the fact that these two nations’ government and population were concentrated in their capital cities. The countries themselves weren’t actually all that big.

Still, they were among the richest countries in the world. And in both countries, the mafia held more power than the royalty. It was the reason why the guidebook recommended the unexperienced tourists to never stray from the main streets.

Wartos had shops where you could buy and use some seriously nasty drugs. And Sautonn, well, just imagine a Las Vegas without human rights.

 

I chose this region because I thought most normal players wouldn’t come here. And because I was thinking that since the place was full of bad people, people who didn’t like being watched or observed — one of the more decent preconceptions I had — then that probably meant they were more magically vigilant. Which meant less watcher drones. Maybe. Hopefully.

In other words, it was just another one of my harebrained plans.

Well, those weren’t exactly the only reasons, though…

 

Three days later, I arrived at the coast near Wartos. I turned human, wore my cloak, and headed toward the City of Pleasure. First off, I’d need to find a way to get in.

To be honest, I was nervous trying to attack a large country. Still, considering the current situation, I had a chance of success.

 

Some time later, a large city showed up in my view. From afar, I saw buildings meshing together like a messy jigsaw puzzle. And I was quite sure the dangerously-colored cloud of smog covering the whole city wasn’t just my imagination.

There was a line of merchant carriages in front of the main gate, coming either to buy or to sell more drugs. Border control was taking quite a long time for each one. I wondered if they were being careful of foreign mafia and spies?

But despite their vigilance, the security itself wasn’t all that tough.

People in other continents were still not taking what I was doing seriously. They thought it wasn’t their problem yet. They were only worrying about spies, not about existential threats to their nations.

And with how the mafia held more power than the king, their soldiers and knights were powerless. Their military wasn’t even enough to protect the whole country.

 

I wouldn’t dare try this in other countries, but with how thick the fog and how thin their security were, it might just be possible for me to turn into mist and pass right through the front gate, the only hole in the barrier.

I approached the gate, using the nearby bushes as cover. Then I dispersed myself into thin mist and quietly drifted through the gate. With my mastery of the human form, I might be able to pass through the barrier that way, but let’s leave the experimentation for when it’s safer.

The moment I flew through the gates, incredulity showed on the gatekeepers’ faces for a moment. Then they took a long drag of their bizarre-smelling pipes and puffed out smoke, looking on cloud nine. My worries were unfounded, it seemed.

 

I walked up to a street stall selling what looked to be some kind of taco. I bought a portion and asked the owner my question. “Can you tell me where the king’s palace is?”

The middle-aged man replied even as he continued cooking the tortillas. He sounded bored.

“What, you aiming to join the harem too? Forget about it, girl. Sure you’ll be rich, but you’ll get your brain melted from all the drugs there.”

Then he flicked his head to show me the direction.

It was somewhere in the center of the city… no surprises there, I supposed, considering the city was built around the Sapling.

 

Well then, how should I go about this? Honestly, with how the city was, I could probably just turn mist to slip right inside the palace. Still, this was a large country. I had no idea what sort of traps they had set around the Sapling.

And even if things went smoothly, I still wanted the human race to notice what I did. At the very least, I wanted to make sure they remembered it this time.

Likely, the mafia also had their own combatants to supplement the lack of soldiers and knights of this country. A head-on fight was risky until I knew how much they had.

Still, my chances were good.

As the first step of my plan, I walked around town, pretend-eating my food while acting the part of a starry-eyed country bumpkin. The bait didn’t take long to get a bite.

 

“Hey there, little lady. I have some good stuff here. Want some?” A ‘town pharmacist’ called out to me.

“…how much?”

The suspicious-looking leaves and ointments basically ranged from about 1 to 5 small silvers.

“Mister, do you have anything better?” I said, flashing him a large gold coin and further tipping him a silver. He beamed.

“Whoa hoh, little lady, aren’t you quite the connoisseur? Sure we do, but it’s back at the office. I don’t have it on me right now. And if you can handle the price, we can help out with getting you a place to stay and demihuman slaves to play with, too.”

“Can you show me your place?”

It’d be troublesome if he decided he wanted to sell me off, like what happened to me before, so I tipped him another silver and played the part of a generous customer. He suddenly changed his tone of voice.

“Well then, my lady, please come thisaway!”

 

I wondered if they had some sort of fixation with the idea that people in their trade weren’t supposed to have offices on the main streets; after passing through an absolute labyrinth of alleyways, we entered the warehouse district. I was guided to an old three-story mansion.

“Yo Boss, we’ve got an amazing customer here!”

The man shouted out as we entered the building. Deeper inside, a man who looked about forty stopped working on his documents and stood up. He walked toward us with a grin on his face.

The boss looked from my face, still covered in my hood, to the heels visible from under the hem of my cloak and quietly nodded. He led me into a meeting room.

“All right, lady. What would you like?”

“Something long-lasting and with little after-effect. How much of it can you supply?”

“How much do you want?”

“Let’s see… enough to fill five full horse carriages, for the time being.” I casually said.

The boss blinked. “…we do have something. The kind that the Central Continent banned for being too intense. Not enough to fill five carriages, but our storehouse in the back should have enough for four. Lady, do you have the money? A single carriage of it is going to run you a hundred large golds.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it…”

“W-Wha…”

 

I got what I needed to hear, so I froze the whole floor. I shattered the iced-over door and headed toward the back storehouses.

I began my search, freezing whomever I encountered on the way. Then I found out there were multiple storehouses.

“…I really should have asked them to guide me there first before doing that…”

Apparently this base belonged to one of the larger mafia families. I thought I was just dealing with medium-sized group.

Oh well, what’s done is done. I wondered if maybe I should go look for survivors or wait until someone else returned. As I kept on searching for the storehouse, suddenly, I heard something from my side.

 

“Ook!”

 

…hello, mister… monkey?

---

Author’s Note: Map update. The stage of this chapter is set in the lower-left region of the map.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Lesser Archdemon Lv. 2]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 14200/15600] 3600↑
[Total Combat Power: 15700/17100] 3900↑
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]

I got to level two of Lesser Archdemon.

I only gained about 5 magic from killing a single normal person. Even if a soldier was worth 10, I still didn’t kill all that many people this time around. About 3000 of my magic gain was coming from out of nowhere.

“…was it you?” I spoke to the reborn Sapling. I thought I felt a faint wisp of mana reaching me, as though a response.

 

The souls of the 99 secret alpha testers, those who had died from the corporation’s betrayal, were resting in the World Tree. They would then be granted new lives as the reborn Saplings.

Who this Sapling used to be, I didn’t know. All the same, they had turned a fragment of their newly-gained lifeforce into a white magic stone to give to me.

Thanks. I’ll protect you, I swear it.

I and Blobsy continued building the small mulch hill.

*boing*

We finished our work. Blobsy jiggled on my shoulder, as though proud of a job well done.

 

I should confirm the location, at least. I climbed on top of a nearby mountain. There, I saw the town, so far away it shrank to the size of a button. I’d already known a new Sapling couldn’t be too far away from the old one, but this was probably 200 kilometers at least.

There was even a deep gorge in between. I was quite sure the new Sapling could grow to maturity without being discovered.

…I wondered how that country was doing. Well, the place was sure to be crowding with watcher drones anyway, and it wasn’t like I had all that much time to waste.

“Alright. Come on Blobsy, let’s go back.”

*boing*

As things were, it’d be risky to continue with the Southern Continent. We returned to the reborn Sapling and rode on the network, going back to the World Tree.

 

***

“The Dark Lady Fluffy Bunny decided to get started on her campaign of terror right away, I see.”

“I saw that sudden announcement. So what’s going to happen? Apparently the Sapling’s gone and you can’t use the Temple there anymore. Does it mean people from that country won’t be able to revive anymore?”

“Looks like it. New players can no longer choose the country, while existing players there would see their bases as ‘out of bounds’ and get teleported to the closest country.”

“I saw this in another game too, the thing where a human territory gets taken by the big bad and then you can’t use the town services anymore. Though in that game you could retake the town by killing enough monsters without dying.”

“Still no information on that front, huh. I haven’t seen any event quest to revive the destroyed Sapling either. Does that mean the monster players can live there now?”

“Hey peeps, so I bought the monster avatar DLC. And then on today’s morning, there’s a weird new quest. It says the objective is to ‘defeat the current Dark Lady and become the new Dark Lord/Lady’.”

“What? Monsters aren’t the Dark Lady’s allies? What’s with that?”

“According to what they said, that Fluffy Bunny isn’t a normal Dark Lord, she’s a world-destroying Demon. If the world is destroyed, it means the monsters will die off too, so the main goal of monster players is to grow stronger and become the new Dark Lord.”

“...that’s kinda different from what I imagined. I thought it’d be super cool to fight against humans under the Bunny’s banner, which was why I’d been thinking about buying the DLC, but now…”

“It kind of feels like the game direction is going all over the place, don’t you think? Like the game developers are flip-flopping.”

“That reminds me, what’s going to happen to that country now that the Temple’s unavailable? Is it going to turn into a hostile area full of monsters?”

“I can tell you about that, I picked Rantetrois as the spawn point back when I first signed up. Basically, the town got fucked up.”

“The Fluffy Bunny came there, right? Did you see her?”

“And it wasn’t just any normal destruction, either. There was a riot in front of a huge building, probably the king’s palace. I could barely see my feet due to the fog. I thought the Bunny was fighting, but turned out it was all humans killing each other. Now the whole street’s fucked up by mosaics. Couldn’t see shit.”

“Oh, so by ‘fucked up’ you actually meant the town turned into a pixelated mess…”

“So what’s going on in the Rantetrois region now?”

“I tested a few things out since I was nearby. Logging in and out still works at least, but if you die, you’ll randomly revive somewhere in your spawn country. But more importantly, monsters there are way too tough! Like the caterpillars. They must have gotten a 50% increase in stats.”

“The whole country’s an absolute mess now. I’m playing a monster avatar, and I can just go into villages just fine. They don’t have barriers anymore. The slaves ran off, the farmers are panicking and running from the black caterpillars eating their cabbages. I honestly wasn’t sure how I should be reacting.”

“I guess that country’s pretty much dead now.”

***

 

Near the northern edge of the Southern Continent lay the Principality of Rantetrois. With its Sapling destroyed, anything that used mana in the country were turning themselves off one after another.

With its high demand for mana, the first to go was the railway.

The locomotives did have magic stones as batteries, but they were only used to start the engine and as reserve mana in cases accidents occurred mid-way through a trip. In normal running, the rails supplied magic to the trains.

When the rails were no longer active, the trains stopped. Before starting up the train with the reserve mana battery, the conductors decided to call to ask about the situation. It was only then that they learned about the destruction of the Sapling.

 

The next to go were the lighting, plumbing, and other such essential utilities. The only bit of lamp oil and kindlings available were at the shops selling traveling goods. The people couldn’t even cook due to the lack of water. Unable to understand the situation, they fell into panic. Chaos reigned.

Next to fail were the magic equipment managing the slave collars, and almost at the same time, the barriers protecting towns and villages from monsters. Demihumans began their escape.

In farming villages with nothing but a simple fence, Fiend Wolves commenced their attacks, looking for livestock to feed on. The humans were still fending them off, but their own food supply was beginning to look dire. People were going into forests to get firewood despite lacking proper preparations, which often resulted in them being attacked by monsters. The situation was spiraling into unmitigated disaster.

The people in power took no time in escaping the country on express carriages, together with what valuables they could carry. Bit by bit, society unraveled. The Principality of Rantetrois was slowly turning into a wasteland.

 

***

 

The events that had transpired in the Southern Continent — the loss of a Sapling, and Rantetrois’ ensuing descent into chaos — were being taken under serious considerations by the Central Continent, by nature a continent sensitive to information of all kinds. In contrast, the other continents did not attach as much importance to the matter. Perhaps they weren’t even aware of it.

52 years ago, the 92nd Sapling was discovered, and a new country was born. Torbandeux, a relatively young island country.

However, no one was interested in it, due to the simple fact that the island had nothing but forests. Despite being the 92nd, it was only 18 years ago that development truly started, when one of the nobles of the 97th country, the large country Torbasept, decided to stake their claim.

Despite being called a ‘country’ due to possessing a Sapling, Torbandeux had only just recently become a small village. It had just the bare minimum of soldiers and about two thousand settlers.

 

Convenience and comfort were still far away, but the people were lively, full of spirit. There was no lack of smiles on their faces. Night after night, in taverns they declared their dream of turning their village into a true nation. And working toward that dream were hundreds of beastmen slaving away without rest.

 

The Sapling still had nothing more than a simple fence surrounding it. Stakes were driven into it to gather mana. Standing on top of a fortress constructed a few years ago, the young governor of the country was watching the tree, all the while taking sips of alcohol.

And then, in front of him, the impossible happened. All of a sudden, the Sapling turned white.

“Wha…”

And shattered into dust.

Where the Sapling used to be, there now stood a girl, white rabbit ears drooping from her head. He stared at her, dumbfounded. She noticed him and gave him a gentle bow. Then she disappeared in a blink of an eye.

 

With the Sapling’s blessing now gone, Torbandeux returned to its true climate of a northern island. An abrupt blizzard ravaged the village. The citizens could do nothing but ran for their own lives, leaving their demihumans slaves behind.

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Lesser Archdemon Lv. 3]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 15200/18700] 3100↑
[Total Combat Power: 17000/20500] 3400↑
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]

---

Author’s Notes: Demihumans were used to toiling away without the convenience of mana, so as long as they had tools, they could survive even if the mana was gone. Climate’s worse now, but it was still more peace of mind than they ever had under the humans’ rule.

A few years later and the beastmen might actually get fluffy fur again!

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

What was a Demon?

I used to think it was just one of those things no one could prove the existence of, much like God. Just one of the type of monsters I had to choose as a tester of weaponized avatars.

But now, I had been reborn in this world as a Demon.

Miraculously, I still kept my former appearance, if only more grown up. Yet in the end, it didn’t change the fact that I was no longer human.

 

Still, was I a real demon?

The sort of demons I knew were the type to worm into the hearts of humans, to corrupt them and take their souls. And with my recent experience, I’d come to hold a vague suspicion: could it be that demons were corrupting humans because they gained more experience from souls of evil people?

[Absorption] was how I drained the lives of my enemies. Something that I was now doing without a second thought.

Perhaps human thoughts and desires had come together in a stroke of random chance, and the World Tree had taken it, given it direction, turning it into what I now was. An Artificial Demon.

I was indistinguishable from a real demon, yet at the same time our natures could not be any more irreconcilable.

I was still me, only now playing the role of a demon named Shedy.

 

Which was why I could become a Demon for another’s sake.

 

***

 

The Principality of Rantetrois was a quaint little pastoral country. Their population was meager, and their main – and only – industry was the cherry plantation on the mountainside used for making wine.

Thanks to the infinite mana coming from the Saplings, no humans ever went hungry. They had no need to steal or pillage from others. It was the reason why Rantetrois could keep their idyllic peace.

The Central Continent might still see conflict of interests from time to time between men and women with unending, unsatisfiable greed for fame, luxury, and more, but here in the Southern Continent, the closest thing to a conflict was the little spat between the two large countries. There was no serious discord. And as Rantetrois itself had no resources particularly worth disputing over, people in the country were satisfied as long as they had demihuman slaves to bring them a bit of profit. They might envy the other rich countries somewhat, but they were happy with the tranquil, effortless lives they had.

 

Such peaceful countries still maintained armies and knight orders, not to defend themselves from other humans, but mainly to fend off monsters.

Forests and similar places within the mana-rich regions around the Saplings tended to accumulate mana. From these so-called ‘manaswamps’, weak monsters would be born without end.

Towns and villages could make use of the abundant mana from the Saplings to erect barriers around themselves, but the streets between them enjoyed no such protection. Soldiers and knights patrolled daily to deal with any monsters near the roads.

One of their other missions, no less important, was to search for and destroy the manaswamps.

These manaswamps, formed from mana leaking from the Saplings, were sources of nourishment for the forest in which they were created. Once they were destroyed, the mana would then re-accumulate back at the Sapling. In other words, the mana usable by humans would increase.

With that said, the job of knights and soldiers was still a simple, easy one. Just stand around, go patrol, call out if they saw a girl walking around. If dangerous monsters appeared, just get the demihuman slaves to deal with them.

 

Laurent, born as the fifth son of a family full of that sort of knights, only had the job of the town gate guard left for him.

Just the minimum earning was enough to live comfortably, so he wasn’t particularly worried. Still, if he lost his noble standing – even if that nobility was nothing but an empty title – he’d quickly find out how much ‘minimum wage’ could actually vary. Marrying a good woman or buying a good-looking demihuman slave girl would then get difficult.

But then, he saw a strange girl walking from outside the city.

She was wearing an unassuming cloak, the hood hiding her face. But Laurent could still see her fair, pristine-white skin and the high-heels she was wearing, the kind frequently seen in higher society. Probably a noble girl of some other land on an incognito trip, he thought.

He did think it strange that she had no attendants. Still, the moment he saw her fair features and her hardened eyes of scarlet peeking out from under the hood, he was taken over by a single thought: I wanna make her mine.

 

Laurent was confident in his looks and his conversational skills, yet it had been half a day and she was still giving him the cold shoulder. When she started talking ridiculous stuff out of nowhere, he got nervous. Just as he was thinking to just forcefully pull her somewhere, she suddenly shot an ice spell toward the front gates of the governor’s mansion.

“Aaaeeyyaaa! W-What happened?!” He screamed.

The resulting wave of frigid wind knocked him to the ground. The whole gate, together with the gatekeepers, froze over in an instant. They were crumbling and shattering from the contraction caused by extreme temperature change. As the world turned into a nightmare in front of him, Laurent heard the spellcasting girl spoke.

 

“Hurry up, people. Get out of my way if you don’t want to die.”

 

Her legs and back came into view. A dress, red as blood, covered the white girl.

But neither Laurent nor the onlookers were taking much notice of her strange attire. They were far more occupied with the long, snow-white ears drooping from her head and the small, adorable bushy tail.

“…a beastman?”

For a single moment, indignation overtook Laurent, even pushing aside any thoughts of her magic. Just a common animal dared to deceive me? To deceive humans? At the same time, he also realized that if she was a demihuman, then nothing was stopping him from taking her as his possession by force.

But then, what were those long ears?

They looked just like a rabbit’s. A vague memory niggled at his mind… and then he heard the words one of the onlookers let slip.

 

“The rabbit… Five thousand large gold coins!”

 

With the voice came the recollection for everyone at the scene. They remembered how a few weeks earlier, they had seen the bounty dispatched by Touze Empire all the way from the Central Continent.

The white rabbit beastman girl who used mist magic. Whoever caught her would be rewarded five thousand large gold coins.

Large golds. A currency unit the common man would never see even for the whole of his life. Enthralled by greed, the onlookers surged toward her with nothing but fists and knives.

“The bunny!” “Rabbit beastman!” “Five thousand large golds!”

Voices chained from one to another like a game of telephone. The news spread out in an instant. More than just men were joining the crowd of people flooding toward the governor’s mansion; even their wives were joining in with kitchen knives in hands, while the elderlies were grabbing whatever rocks they could find nearby.

 

*

 

“Golds! My large golds!”

A plump woman screamed and charged at me. I jumped off her, at the same time sending her flying with my stomp. I weaved through the sea of people.

I knew showing my ears would cause a ruckus. I just didn’t think even the women and the senior citizens were joining in.

I hopped on their heads, jumping around the crowd but never leaving. After a while, soldiers from inside the governor’s mansion finally showed up.

 

“What in the world was going on here?!”

Surrounded by the group of soldiers was an important-looking person. The crowd of citizens, nearing a hundred, immediately stopped whatever they were doing at the sound of his voice. A shopkeeper-ish looking person from the crowd hastily ran toward him and started talking. Then, the important-looking middle-aged man smirked and pointed at me.

“I see, so you’re the rabbit beastman girl that boy from Touze posted a bounty for! Just stay right there! I won’t let him have you, you’ll be staying with me for life!”

“…”

I supposed ‘that boy’ was Tiz, then. Was this guy this country’s governor? Never thought he’d be showing up right away.

The crowd of people, daunted by his orders, slowly lowered their weapons.

But then I noticed another few hundreds townspeople on the other side of the crowd running toward us. I smiled at the crowd, my ears lightly swaying.

“My, my. Are you sure you don’t want those large gold coins?”

 

“…” “O-Of course we do!” “Yeah, that’s right! Money’s more important than that stupid governor!”

A few of them regained their courage, their voices slowly getting louder. The governor, hearing their words, widened his eyes.

“Fools, have you forgotten about your own lord?! I was the one to have fed you, to have given you places to live, and you good-for-nothings don’t even have the decency to pay the taxes!”

“The fuck you saying?!” “Shut the fuck up, dumbshit governor!” “Oh, sure, we haven’t forgotten at all how you kept raising the mana price all the time!” “And all that money just goes to your pockets, right?!”

 

The governor here really wasn’t very popular at all, was he. With the new influx of people, the crowd only got bolder and bolder. They rained down complaints upon the governor.

The governor’s face was turning into an unhealthy red. He pulled out and swung his sword.

“Enough! Cut down whoever stands in my way!”

 

The moment his soldiers charged at the citizens, I threw out a large, thick cloud of mist.

“Wha-?! Where the hell did this mist come from?!”

“I can’t see shit! Where’s the rabbit?!”

“Wasn’t she just here-”

“I-I… aaaAAAAAAGGHHH!!”

After I attacked a few of them, the citizens and soldiers began wildly swinging their weapons in terror. More and more of them were hurting each other.

The cold mist could kill all of them at once, but that wasn’t what I was using this time. This particular mist was simply a harmless wide-range smokescreen that would stay for a long time even without my supervision.

I slipped through the chaos and headed toward the mansion. Suddenly, someone blocked my path.

“Found you, damn rabbit!”

The governor came out to face me all by himself. How thoughtless of him… I supposed it was no wonder. No matter how much he touted himself a nation’s king, in the end, he was nothing more than the lord of a relatively big town.

I stopped. His mouth twisted into a nasty smirk, perhaps thinking I was surrendering. He approached.

“Yes… that’s right… I got you no-aaakgh!”

Inside the mist, the governor abruptly fell on his face.

For a moment, I wondered what happened. Then I saw Laurent standing behind the governor, his sword slick with blood. He looked at me with a eerie smile on his face.

“You’re supposed to be mine… isn’t that right?”

 

“…”

I had no idea what he was talking about. Well, I supposed it was about time, anyway. I had already destroyed the watcher drones I found, but if I dragged this on any further, the corporation might just throw some more monster avatars my way.

Laurent walked closer to me, his smile unchanging. I gently raised my palm and blasted off a wave of icy wind. It swallowed him, then continued on toward where I thought the mass of people were.

 

*

 

I left the smokescreen there, outside the mansion. The messy riot was still going on.

Inside the mansion, I only saw servants at most. After freezing just a few who ran up to attack me, there was no longer anyone else standing on my way.

The mansion was quite spacious, about a baseball field’s size. Still, there was no need for me to find a guide. I knew right away where the Sapling was.

It was inside the mansion’s courtyard. There were no locks. Anyone could have come here if they wanted to.

 

“…”

It was a tree over a dozen meters tall. But its bark was stripped off, its trunk was stabbed by stakes of metal, and its leaves were all plucked clean. There were workers standing nearby to harvest any newly grown leaves. They turned into ice statues in an instant.

It hurts, right? I know. People used to do this sort of things to me all the time, too.

It’s okay. I’m here. You’ll be free from the pain soon.

I touched the Sapling’s roots, slowly freezing it. The branches, long-since withered, fell to the ground and turned into dust. Then the Sapling itself followed suit, scattering into the wind.

 

Immediately, I felt something in the air changing.

Lights and air conditioners inside the mansion shut off one after another. Confusion spread out from the building. Well, they would soon find out that the real chaos was only just beginning.

The Sapling network connection was the last to go. Before it did, I hitched a ride to go to the birthplace of the new Sapling. The destination was deep inside a forest, forbidding trees barring the way of any intruders. Hidden among the greenery was a small, thirty-centimeters tall seedling.

This was quite far away from human territories, so I didn’t think it’s be discovered. Still, just in case, I and Blobsy gathered some mulch to hide the newborn Sapling. As we did, a small, white-colored magic stone appeared from within the Sapling and flew toward me. It disappeared inside me.

Eh…? What was this?

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Lesser Archdemon Lv. 2]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 14200/15600] 3600↑
[Total Combat Power: 15700/17100] 3900↑
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]

…I just leveled up.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Back to the recent past.

 

Far below the Central Continent was the Southern Continent. Two large countries and five small countries lay claim to the continent, and neighboring them were two island countries.

The island countries only had populations of about 50,000 people. Barely enough for a single decently-sized town. All the same, apparently in this world, any population group congregating around a World Tree Sapling could be legally considered a ‘country’, and so that was what they were.

I had had some time thinking about where to attack first. According to the guidebook, the Central Continent was the original birthplace of the human race. Civilization there were quite advanced, plus those countries had a lot of people too. Which meant their military were possibly the most difficult opponents I could face.

The guidebook also included the order in which the Saplings were discovered. Countries until 50 had the ancient history to back them up. They really seemed like proper nations.

The Touze Empire, where Tiz was, was number 12. It was even in the Central Continent to boot. Military, population, history, it had it all. This one was going to be a pain in my neck.

And so I decided on the Southern Continent. Reason number one, it wasn’t the Central Continent. Two, the countries there were only about halfway through the numbering.

 

Getting there was going to be so troublesome. Continent-crossing without using an airship would waste tons of my time.

If I was a normal human, I’d have to take an airship or a ship ride from Ayune to Cinqres, then transit through Neuft and Quarondeux to enter the Southern Continent. But I didn’t have the time for a world tour.

The world wouldn’t die off in just a decade or two, obviously. But if I took too long to move between the Saplings, it would take dozens of decades to destroy them all. I was worried that Earth would have begun large-scale mana harvesting by then.

Thankfully, my ‘partner in crime’, the World Tree, had solved half of the problem for me.

The World Tree and its Saplings were networked together, transporting mana and souls between them. So I thought, maybe I could hitch a ride on the network, considering I was a spiritual lifeform? It was a simple idea, but it worked… partially, at least.

If I turned into mist, I could travel through the network. But once I reached the barrier of the human country surrounding the Sapling, I’d bounce off it, perhaps due to me being a Demon. And I couldn’t turn back to human during the ride anyway…

 

“…where was I?”

After hitting the barrier, my landing spot was a forest somewhere between the mountains.

*bounce*

Oh, Blobsy was looking as lively as ever. My [Subspace Inventory] skill, the evolution of [Packer], couldn’t store living beings. Or to be more precise, I could force them in if I wanted to, but their biological activities would cease within storage and they’d die. Blobsy was only fine by virtue of being my Kin.

Still, she seemed bored after her time in storage. She bounced to her usual spot on my shoulder.

 

First off, I’d need to know where I was. I took out and wore my cloak from [Inventory], then ran up the mountain. Within a few minutes, I crossed the distance a normal human would need half a day to make.

On the way, there were a few times I detected hostilities from what I assumed to be wild monsters. I just focused and threw [Fear] at them and none would dare get any closer. All hail high combat power.

As I reached the mountaintop, I searched for a tall tree. I climbed to its top, standing on tiptoes.

To my left was the sea. Far off to my right, I could see a town.

With how close it was to the ocean, maybe it was one of the small countries on this continent? I was closer to my target than I thought. I jumped off the tree, transforming into mist and flew.

 

I just needed to flash my adventurer card to the guards and they let me in without any problems. Border control was as lazy as always. Well, I supposed a traveler entering the country on foot wasn’t exactly a common occurrence around here.

“Hey, you over there!”

“…”

For some reason, one of the gate guards called at me. The young man nearing his twenties said something to the other guard and ran toward me.

“Where did you come from?”

“Outside.”

“No, that’s… well, yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”

He leaned closer and spoke in a whisper.

“Looking at your shoes, you’re a noble girl from somewhere, right? Did your carriage break down and you had to walk here?”

“…ah.”

Whoops. I forgot about my scarlet stiletto heels (which were actually as deadly as their namesake, I might add). They were still peeking out from under my cloak. You’d never see normal adventurers or travelers wearing these.

Was the guard planning on threatening me? As he saw me slightly raising my guard, he hastily jumped back.

“Wait, no, I’m not going to do anything to you! I mean, you were going to a noble’s mansion, right? Maybe the guardhouse? It’s dangerous if you were alone on the way.”

Hmm… apparently he was just worried about me. Of course that’s all it was. I never thought all humans were trash in the first place, but maybe I did have a bit of a bias.

“…I want to go to the governor’s mansion.”

“The Governor?! No, I mean, it’s fine, but it’s quite far, you know?”

“Really?”

“I can guide you there, if you don’t mind? I can show you the town on the way too.”

“…”

 

He might have been friendly, but it looked like he had ulterior motives, too. Well, it was convenient for me anyway, so I nodded. He waved to the other guard. They smirked and gave him a thumbs-up.

He told me about the city express stagecoach, which we found and got on. His name was Laurent, nineteen years old. The fifth son of a destitute knightly house. The family was still of nobility, more or less, even if in name only.

“Well, we’ll drop back to being commoners if we don’t contribute anything worthy, though.”

“I see…”

Laurent told me a lot of things, all the while sitting unusually close to me.

We were in the Principality of Rantetrois, a small country situated to the north of the Southern Continent. Despite being called a ‘country’, it was composed of only the capital, where we were, and a large cherry plantation for wine-making. The population was only around 100,000 people.

I had known it was different from the Central Continent. Still, I never realized how wide the gap was until I noticed there wasn’t a single classy-looking establishment in the whole city, like those I saw in Trestan Kingdom’s capital.

“This place used to be called ‘the front door to the Central Continent’ in the old days, but once airships were invented, the only people coming here were merchants after our wines.”

“…but you have a Sapling, so you’re living just fine, right?”

“Yeah, thanks to it, we don’t even need to worry about wasting magic. I once heard a geezer working on the fields complaining that the vegetables were growing so fast due to the mana, he were having trouble eating them all before it rots.”

“Hmm…”

So they were wasting magic.

 

It looked like the World Tree Sapling was truly at the governor’s mansion, then, considering how heavily guarded the place seemed to be. Most countries were probably the same in placing their Saplings inside the palace.

A few hours later, we reached the district in which the governor lived. We got off the express carriage and started walking there. My steps carried me through the streets… and away from Laurent every time he started up another one of his constant attempts to hold my hand.

Now that I was aware of the truth, the town in my eyes no longer looked the same.

Here and there, air conditioners ran with doors opened. Glowing sign boards lit up the street even during midday. Piles of produce overcrowded groceries, grown in excess due to the mana.

And no humans were working the fields. Only the demihuman slaves they had captured.

The mana here was like oil of Earth, I suppose. It could even work as electricity without needing to go through power plants.

If the mana went away, what would happen to this country?

The ensuing chaos wasn’t difficult to imagine. Once again, the impossibility of any attempts at persuasion made itself apparent to me.

I stopped on a clothing store along to way to buy new cloaks and boots for disguising purposes, plus the latest guidebook. We were standing in front of the governor’s mansion a while later.

It really was a mansion, not a castle. Three stories, looked quite spacious.

 

“Hey, hey, tell me your name already. I came with you all this way, why not have a bit of a drink with your hard-working guide?”

Laurent must have gotten impatient with how I’ve been shrugging off his approach. He kept trying to touch me, to drag me to the bar.

“Hey, Laurent.”

“Mmm?”

“So, just hypothetically… what if mana is no longer free?”

“Whaa? Why would that happen? We can get as much mana from the Saplings as we wanted, right?”

“And what if this world gets worse in the future because we keep doing it?”

I stared into his eyes. He just snorted.

“Heh, you’re joking, right? No way that would happen. And even if it does, it’ll be way after I die of old age anyway.”

“I see…”

 

Was this the general opinion of the human race here? So much like Earth of old, back when people there were still aloof to the environment.

Yet in the end, all the countries still continued to leech mana. Once they knew of the comfort it brought, no one had the courage to stop.

No one wanted to be the first to speak out and be branded a villain.

To change things, Evil was necessary. An overwhelming Evil to become the target for humankind’s displeasure and resentment.

 

“Well then, thanks, Laurent. I can find my way from here.”

“Hahh? What’re you saying?”

 

At first, I had thought to just sneak in and destroy the Sapling in secret. But then, the resentment of humanity would just be vented upon the weak.

Just as they’d always done to the demihumans. Just as the adults had done to me when I was younger…

A few dozens meters away, the governor’s mansion guards looked at us with dubious gazes. At Laurent walking around in his gate guard uniform, and at me hiding my face under my hood.

For better or for worse, I had quite the reputation now. I intended to use it.

 

I slowly walked toward the gate. Laurent put a hand on my shoulder.

“Come on, enough al-eeek!” He yelped at the whiff of ice-cold air.

I stretched out a hand and blasted arctic mist at the gate.

 

“Aaaeeyyaaa! W-What happened?!”

The gate froze in a blink of an eye. The edge of the frigid cloud hit Laurent. He screamed, tumbling on the ground.

Eddies of wind whirled from the temperature difference, blowing off my hood. The moment the onlookers noticed my snow-white ears, their eyes widened.

I took off my cloak, showing off my rabbit ears, tail, and the scarlet bunny girl outfit. I turned my mouth into a goading smirk.

 

“Hurry up, people. Get out of my way if you don’t want to die.”

---

Author Note: Shedy had resolved herself to play the part of Evil. Still, that doesn’t mean she should be picking head-on fights like this!

This chapter takes place in the 43rd country, the Principality of Rantetrois.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Three months had passed since the beginning of the beta test of the VRMMORPG World of Yggdrasia. Despite original plans calling for a six-months test, the official game release had just recently been announced.

The official reason for the early release, as the public knew it, was because of “great beta player response” and “to scratch the itch of everyone who weren’t chosen as beta testers”. Meanwhile, those more aware of the situation suspected interference from the game’s financial backer – the government.

To some extent, both were true: it was true that there was great customer demand for the full release, and it was also true that the government was hurrying the development. Yet there was an even deeper reason, a secret only known to the upper echelons of the project.

 

Within the terminal care medical facility of the 7th research center of a certain pharmaceutical and defense conglomerate, an accident resulting in the death of nearly all staff members had happened.

Casualties numbered over seven hundred. While some sort of bladed weapon had claimed the lives of some, including all the security officers, the vast majority of victims had died from hypothermia. Their bodies were found inside an environmental chamber, a room equipped with perfect temperature and humidity control capability.

The cold wave must have been extremely rapid, as there were hardly any lucky survivors who managed to escape through the windows. The less fortunate had turned into ice sculptures littering the path to the outside. Clinging to the glass in despair were frozen statues of those who hadn’t been quick enough to open their own windows before the frost welded them shut.

 

Hypothermic deaths in a closed room. Such a mysterious, almost supernatural incident was certainly worthy of attention, yet the upper echelons remained far more interested in the culprit of the matter.

 

A white girl in a red dress with rabbit ears.

She was uncannily similar to the rabbit beastman girl who had been witnessed single-handedly destroying multiple experimental weaponized monster avatars within World of Yggdrasia.

According to the testimonies of the survivors and what the cameras had captured before the cold shattered their lens, the girl had looked nearly identical to No. 13, a subject of the first monster avatar test who had been transported to the collection facility following her mental collapse and coma. However, the culprit of the incident had looked older than No. 13, and so the link remained unproven.

The government and the corporation’s leaders had certainly noticed the high combat power she displayed even when limited in a humanoid form, but they were far more interested in the possible existence of the ability to cross between worlds that she might have possessed. They began thinking about using the players as local eyes to help them capture The Girl.

 

The number of potential players, people who were expected to be buying the official release, was at least three millions. By setting her up to be the final villain of the game, the Dark Lady, the players’ enthusiasm could easily be directed toward the rabbit hunt.

 

To that end, player battles weren’t the only videos shown at the announcement for the official release of World of Yggdrasia. The game developers had also included a few combat scenes with monster avatars. Even footage of The Girl in a red dress massacring the facility staff members — an incident that had been quietly processed behind closed doors — were edited and presented as if it was simply a high-quality CG video. The scenes of carnage poured more fuel onto the players’ interest in her.

 

There were several changes from the beta version to the official version.

First was the halved-magic death penalty. In order to let the players have more fun with the game and have less reservations about dying, the penalty was reduced to thirty percent.

Second, implementation of the feature to change one’s appearance and equipment that wouldn’t drop upon death. Both could be bought in the in-game store.

Third, addressing the issue of transportation that a subgroup of players had reported, mainly by adding more train lines and dispensing discount tickets. The developers had also reiterated that as the in-game countries were generally around the same size as real-world countries, players were recommended to have fun within the area they spawned in first before looking beyond.

Fourth, an addition to Terms and Conditions. When a lawbreaking player was arrested in a city, they would now immediately receive an official notice of character deletion. If their activities were deemed overly offensive and had affected other players as well, then even their account might be deleted.

And finally, the implementation of a feature long-awaited by many players: monster avatars.

 

Just as always, the VR chat boards of World of Yggdrasia were aflame with talks of the official release.

 

“The standard game will be priced at $69. The limited First Edition release, which included a ⅙ Fluffy Bunny figurine, will retail for $198.”

“Fucking expensive! Still buying though.”

“Oh… so whoever making those fan figurines must have gotten a C&D, then…”

“Actually, I heard they got an exclusive contract instead, and that they’ll be working on the rumored ‘grown-up version’ too.”

“I suppose now that the Fluffy Bunny has become the Dark Lady, the devs are putting a stop to sales of fan merchandise, then...”

“So... I guess figure A’s gonna be the twelve-year old casual-wear version? Then B must be the fourteen-year old Dark Lady dress version?

“Never would have thought the game’s final boss was hiding inside a player-held event. What the hell were the devs smoking? Gimme some.”

“A bunny suit? But isn’t it a dress?”

“It looks kinda like a bunny suit if you ignore the skirt.”

“Shit, I can’t decide which to buy. The first kid version’s so cute, while the teenage one’s even a little bit sexy too.”

“Why not both? Better be quick though, otherwise the resellers are going to buy it all up.”

 

“So monster avatars are finally here… what’s it like? Would I need a separate account?”

“You’ll need to buy the new $19.80 DLC, which is also a lot more difficult. Tons of restrictions, too. You can create a monster character in parallel to your main human one. Apparently if you get discovered by humans, it’s pretty much a 100% chance they’ll be hostile.”

“Holy shit, that’s rough. Can you fight human players?”

“Considering what sort of game this is, I’m pretty sure you can even fight human NPCs if you wanted to. There’s probably gonna be a hunting force out for your head sooner or later, though.”

“Wait a minute… does it mean I can join the Fluffy Bunny’s side?”

“The devs might be expecting that too. You’ll have to actually find out where she is first, though.”

“Alright, I’m pumped! I’m gonna be the Bunny’s pet!”

 

***

 

“Little bunny… where are yooooouuuu…”

 

Among the staff of the 7th research center, Brian had been famous for absolutely never staying at work beyond his hours, no matter how busy his subordinates were. Yet now, he was spending every moment of free time inside VR. Bloodshot eyes stared from the viewpoint of a watcher drone.

Around one month earlier, he suddenly lost his right leg despite being completely healthy just moments before. It had since been replaced with a prosthetic leg incorporating Avatar technology.

With the new leg, his daily life saw no inconvenience. However, phantom pain still plagued him even until now, and his hatred toward The Girl who had robbed him of his leg had rendered his mind dangerously unstable.

 

The general-use monster avatars were still far from being suitable for practical usage. All the same, it was Brian’s suggestion to release them for the public.

He chased after The Girl like a man infatuated. He was the one to have given the order to edit and release footage of her as bait for the normal players.

He had convinced the higher-ups to unveil the monster avatars by saying it was to “work out the kinks in usage time for the militarized monster avatars” and to “increase versatility in their action patterns”. The normal monster avatars, even with their growth, could only reach 60% the capability of the militarized models at most. On the other hand, The Girl might let down her guard around harmless monsters. She had been taking care to avoid being seen by humans or the watcher drones. There was a good chance she would allow a friendly-looking monster avatar to get close.

And as long as her location was pinpointed, Brian could use that monster avatar as the anchor to send more militarized avatars. Removing the mana safety regulation to turn them into suicide bombers at point-blank range could also be a good choice, if she seemed negligent enough.

 

“Come out, come out, wherever you aaaaaare, little bunny…”

In his madness, he would not hesitate to deceive his superiors just for a chance of vengeance. Even Audrey dared not go near him.

 

***

 

Pre-orders reached 2,300,000. Including release day, total sales reached 3,430,000 copies. Around sixty percent of the buyers, after their character creation and subsequent game login, were immediately met with a sudden event announcement.

 

“Southern continent, Principality of Rantetrois. The Sapling has been destroyed by the Dark Lady. Subsequently, the Temple at the Principality of Rantetrois has lost its function. Players of the affected country are recommended to move to the closest country as soon as possible.”

---

Author’s Note: Suzumi-sama has blessed me with a wonderful drawing.

Super cute. It’s ten-years old Shedy at around the beginning of Arc 2.

According to Suzumi-sama, Shedy was growing up so fast they couldn’t finish the drawing in time *sweatdrops*.

Thank you very much.

 

Light exposition. Spawning point.

The militarized monster avatars need an anchor point to spawn from. In most cases, the anchors are fixed on the watcher drones that were deployed from a Temple.

On magicless Earth, however, avatars need specialized equipment to be created.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

My foggy vision slowly cleared up. I was standing at the World Tree, a giant so enormous it took up all of my field of view.

Good, I came back without any problems. Honestly, staying any longer on Earth would have been really dangerous for me.

*bounce!*

“I’m back, Blobsy.”

She rubbed herself on my feet. She’d been waiting for me on this side.

I scooped her up and put her on my shoulder. Exhausted from overuse of magic, I dragged myself toward the Tree’s roots and spread my arms.

“Here they are.”

The souls of the fifty-six secret alpha testers, children who had met their demise on Earth, flew off from my chest. One after another, they were absorbed into the Tree, as if following an invisible guiding hand.

Go ahead and rest, okay? You’ve earned it.

Through the Saplings, the souls of the other forty-three secret alpha testers who had lost their life in this world were already resting within the World Tree.

Except for me, all the ninety-nine children were together now.

No. 01, No. 08, No. 17… there was no way you could hear me now. Still, I wanted to say thanks. For saving my life.

 

The [Contract] I made with the World Tree had allowed me to reincarnate into a demon. I had been granted a new life on this world.

It was all thanks to the powers I inherited from my comrades. If I lacked even one, I wouldn’t have been standing here.

The contract had also granted me more power and maturity for my body. I now had the height and appearance of a fourteen-year old.

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Lesser Archdemon Lv. 1]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 730/12000] 6780↑
[Total Combat Power: 1930/13200] 7460↑
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]

I gave up.

Sure, I might have already accepted the fact that I would be spending my whole life with rabbit ears and tail, but that [Race] was still going way too far, wasn’t it?!

And I might have had thoughts about just embracing the inevitable and getting an actual bunny suit, but that was no permission for [Materialization] to do such a stupidly good job. Now I had a weird outfit. I never even wanted it.

The design, except for the skirt, was probably influenced by the images I’d seen of those sorts of bunny girls.

…at least my chest and hips were covered up. Thank goodness I still had enough subconscious shame to stop the outfit from looking too outrageous.

My skirt was made out of layered sheets of fabric, which made it quite puffy. However, once I took out my cloak from [Packer] and wore it, the skirt magically flattened. How convenient.

Right, so [Packer] evolved too.

It turned into [Subspace Inventory] now, which allowed me to use it in human form, too. Turned out the items I’d been storing until now wasn’t actually staying inside my body like I used to think. They were staying in distorted space.

 

I was now a [Lesser Archdemon]. Apparently there was a big-shot called an Archdemon, and my class was based on it.

The World Tree must have given me the information. These weren’t knowledge I would have known otherwise.

However, my class didn’t have Low or High-Rank like before, but a level display instead. Did it mean there were multiple more steps before I could become an actual Archdemon?

Most probably, I wouldn’t be changing like in the Rank-Ups I’d done until now. I would only be gaining more power. I had no basis for my belief, but somehow I knew it to be true.

I had over ten thousand magic power now. Still, it wasn’t enough power for me to complete my [Contract] by my lonesome.

 

This was where my ‘Unique Skills’ came into play.

This was just a guess, but… perhaps my race had changed due to the evolution of my own unique skill, [Reroll].

It had become [Causality Alteration].

I was born with the power to unconsciously cause ‘bad luck’ to happen to other people. They would trip on flat ground. Their scratches would become serious wounds.

My newly-evolved [Causality Alteration] interfered with my target’s karma in order to change an event to ‘the most unlucky outcome’.

But even evolved, my skill was still governed by a chance of success. If the wound in their past was easy to avoid, or if my target was powerful, my chance of success and amount of magic consumed would vary greatly.

Those guards were formerly mercenaries. They were, quite literally, all lucky survivors, so the chance of granting misfortune to their past wounds were over 75% for all of them.

Although the magic consumption really surprised me. To worsen a single wound of a mundane human with no magic and only around 150 combat power, an opponent which might as well be an ant to me, actually took a whole 100 of my magic.

My own stockpile of magic was dropping like a rock just by maintaining myself on magicless Earth. Combined with my attempts to hurt the Deputy Director from a distance, which only had a 12% success chance and which I only succeeded after multiple failures, my remaining magic had dropped to under a thousand.

The minimum combat power I could have was ten percent of my maximum magic power, so I was practically invincible when facing mundane humans. Still, seeing my magic going so low got me a bit worried.

…I mean, I couldn’t help myself. I really wanted to get at least a hit in on those guys.

 

Unlike before, the mist was no longer the real me. My base form had switched over to being the ‘bunny girl’, while I gained [Mist Form] as a racial skill.

It didn’t really change my combat style. Still, if my body was destroyed, I wouldn’t be able to reform myself into mist again like I used to. I’d need to be more careful.

Especially when I would have to take on the whole world in order to fulfill my contract with the World Tree.

 

Everyone, from the people of this world to the corporation, all believed in the same thing. That the World Tree and its Saplings sustained the world with infinite mana.

 

But that was wrong.

Mana on this world was created from the souls of living beings.

As creatures died, their souls were then gathered by the Saplings and then sent to the World Tree.

The World Tree was the maintenance system created by the world of Yggdrasia. Among the gathered souls, souls that had gathered a large amount of experience would be allowed to retain some of it and reincarnate as a higher form of life. Souls not as accomplished would have their experience absorbed by the World Tree, and then reborn as a normal living being.

And finally, souls with only a miniscule amount of experience were completely recycled into pure mana, becoming materials to create new souls.

 

The mana filling this world all came from converted experience of living beings.

The mana kept inside the World Tree and the Saplings were for creating new life.

But the human race of this world was squandering it for their own luxury. The Tree wasn’t able to keep up with the conversion. It even had to begin dipping into the mana storage set aside for creating life.

With less and less new life being born, this world was slowly heading toward destruction.

And now, even another world came to steal the mana. Mana used on Earth would not return. Yggdrasia was, quite literally, having its lifeblood drained.

 

The contract I made with the World Tree was one of Destruction and Rebirth.

The human race had built countries around the Saplings, stealing mana like blood-sucking parasites.

My goal was to destroy the ninety-nine Saplings all around the world. And then, with new, strong souls, the World Tree Saplings would be reborn.

Souls possessing power and purity… I would help my comrades, the ninety-nine secret alpha testers, gain their second lives as the World Tree’s new Saplings.

Their souls had known as much. They still decided to go with me.

 

Once humans lost the Saplings, their civilization would crumble. While individual human thoughts might vary, the countries would surely come to prevent me from completing my quest.

War was inevitable. War between me… and all ninety-nine human countries.

And as Earth was planning to lean on this world to solve their energy problems, they would certainly interfere.

 

I would destroy this world’s civilization, and I would shut down the meddlings of Earth. I would make enemies out of two planets.

I looked up at the World Tree, at the new home of my comrades. Here, I swore an oath to myself.

I shall become the demon of death. The shatterer of worlds.

---

Link.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

I was an unwanted child.

My earliest memory was of a fight between my so-called “parents”.

They looked at me with scornful eyes. They vented any and all irritation upon me. They were always yelling. The man called me an eyesore every time he saw me, told me to shut up every time I cried.

How many times he’d kicked me, I didn’t recall. Nor could I remember the number of beatings the woman had given me, even as she screamed “You should never have been born!”

Bruises littered my skin. Every morning, I got a single loaf of hard bread to last the whole day.

Once every few days, I would have a chance to wash myself with the leftover bath water. They threw me out to the veranda at night, and I would curl up and sleep in any empty spot I could find among the mountains of trash outside the house.

Before I noticed, the man was no longer around the house. The woman, mind sick and heart twisted, called me a “demon” as her final words to me. The last I saw of her was her misshapen grin as her hands tightened around my throat.

 

When I came to, I was in a white hospital room. I was fed decent, warm food for the first time.

I vomited it all.

I didn’t speak, laugh, or even cry much. No one would love such a kid. The adults of the orphanage always hit me first before talking. They would take my food away, lock me inside a storeroom until morning, and they called it “discipline”.

What did I ever do?

 

Upon turning eight years old in the orphanage, I finally gave up on being a child.

 

***

 

“Audrey, what’s going on over there? No. 13 had a response, right? Come on, explain quick!”

 

The audio-visual VR device could not share any data that was yet to be digitized. Brian, in the 7th research center, could not see what was going on in the collection facility. Audrey and the staff members heard his voice.

But none could speak. The unnatural sight they saw and the chilly presence they felt had rooted them to the spot.

 

No. 13 was lying there, outside of the suspended animation capsule and connected to a myriad of machines. Her body turned white, as if the color was being sucked out of her, and finally crumbled into a pile of salt.

As if in response, the other fifty-six secret alpha tester bodies inside their capsules followed suit and collapsed into salt.

The voice of a girl faintly rang deep inside the ears of everyone there.

 

“…I’m back…”

 

A white, shining ball of light gently rose up from No. 13’s pile of salt. The salt flew up and weaved around the ball, forming a vague human shape.

Sounds of fracturing glass rang out throughout the room. From the other fifty-six capsules, the salt slipped through the newly-formed cracks and danced around the human silhouette. They gathered, putting details to the shape.

 

Smooth white skin, like porcelain.

Curly snow-white hair hanging to the shoulders, and poking out from the locks were two long, similarly white ears.

Her eyes slowly opened, revealing two pools of blood-red pupils.

She floated in the air, graceful limbs bare to all. Then smears of bloody liquid began to form, staining the pure whiteness. The liquid transformed into a scarlet dress with a black collar and a puffy, layered miniskirt. Black stockings with a hint of red, scarlet high-heels, and red gloves wrapping around sharp claws completed the ensemble.

 

Such an eerie bunny girl.

As the girl leisurely spread her arms, fifty-six balls of light gathered toward her. She tenderly hugged them to her chest.

 

“Can you hear me? What the hell is going on?!”

 

Brian’s voice unknowingly cut through the fantastic spectacle, bringing the room’s occupants back to their own minds.

Hearing the voice, the white girl finally turned her eyes to the humans. Her red eyes narrowed into a cool glare.

 

An electrode rod clattered on the floor.

“…ah?”

Their thoughts could not catch up to reality for an instant. Between one blink of the eye to the next, the white girl’s kick had already taken off the orphanage supervisor’s left arm. The limb was pulverized into dust.

 

“…aa…aaaaAAAAHHH!?”

The stump froze. Despite the lack of any pain or bleeding, the woman still screamed from the terror of seeing her own arm blowing off. As she held the wound with her right hands, the frost spread to her fingers. They shattered, prompting another howl.

“AAAaaAAAArRGGHH!!!”

There was no pain. As the terrified woman writhed on the floor, screaming all the while, the white girl picked up the electrode rod on the floor. She calmly approached, holding down the woman, and slowly pushed the rod deep into her ear.

“Aakh…gah…”

The supervisor woman twitched, once, twice, then finally lay still. The staff members could only watch in silent horror.

 

“…aaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

A woman was the first among the spectators to react. Her terror, no longer under control, made itself apparent with a throat-splitting scream.

With her voice, the other staff members finally came back to themselves. They rang the alarm.

 

“Gah…”

A few of them attempted to escape through the exit, yet in another blink of an eye, the girl was there. Her gloved claws tore their heads clean off.

The other staff members were running about in their terrified panic. A blast of mist from the girl turned them into frozen statues in an instant. The sculptures fell down and shattered.

The room temperature dropped sharply, turning the survivors’ breaths into white fog. Their clothes were soaked with cold sweat.

 

“Freeze!”

The guards showed up, shouting a token warning. The moment they noticed the massacre, they immediately opened fire on the white girl.

The promptness with which they assessed the situation and made the decision to shoot a girl who looked barely a teenager hinted at their experience. Most likely, they were ex-mercenaries hired through the contacts the corporation had in the defense industry.

Three guards stood in front. Running up directly behind them were another five. The bullets grazed the girl. She narrowed her eyes, then pointed her palm at them and made a motion to crush something in her hand. The eight guards suddenly collapsed, blood spurting out from everywhere on their bodies.

What did she do…?

Their wounds shared nothing common, both in location and in severity. Over half of them still drew breath. A man among them, both legs broken, still attempted to aim his gun even as he whimpered from the pain. But his efforts were futile; the meandering mist turned him and the rest of the surviving guards into ice sculptures.

 

“I give permission to deploy the magic weapons!”

 

Brian finally realized something was wrong and connected to a monitoring camera inside the collection facility. He gave his order.

The monster avatars were still in the experimental phase. However, development of guns with carved runes to allow them the ability to use mana was already near completion. The so-called “magitech weapon of the modern world” was almost ready for use in real combat.

To create mana-sensitive material, they would need to store an amount of silver in close contact with mana for nearly two years. Thus, the resources available to manufacture the weapons were still limited, and the guns themselves could not fire in full-auto due to the large amount of mana required for each activation. On the other hand, the runed guns had the range and power of a typical rifle despite shooting 9mm-sized bullets. Furthermore, the projectiles weren’t affected by the atmosphere or gravity. The very first firearm in the world with a straight bullet path.

 

Several minutes later, another group of guards arrived. They were holding strange-looking assault rifles.

The guns themselves were slender. Attached to the underside were small containers the size of a pen case: mana batteries. If they could deploy the mana-operated avatars here, they would already have done so. Unfortunately, operating time was still too limited, perhaps due to modern Earth’s atmosphere, or perhaps because Earth itself had no mana. The other choice of avatars was the old model that used no mana, and this type could only exhibit 70% the physical capability of a normal adult. In the end, the corporation was forced to use real humans for this fight.

 

Though the power of magic-using weapons might vary, it didn’t change the fact that they were effective against spiritual life forms.

Currently, the facility possessed twenty such ‘magic guns’, including the reserve. Twelve guards and six staff members with shooting experience were aiming eighteen of the guns at the girl.

 

“Fire!!!”

Chairs and tables were torn into shreds by the salvo. The moment everyone thought the girl would share their fate…

…she turned into mist. The bullets passed through her without leaving a single trace.

In their shock, the guards even forgot the existence of the guns in their hands for a moment. A white mist blew at them, and from within, the girl leaped out. Once the mist cleared, all that remained were eighteen frozen statues.

 

“…what the hell is that?!!”

 

Brian’s voice leaked out from the VR device. The white girl looked at the camera that was connected to his vision, her rabbit ears swaying as if to say, “You already forgot?” She pointed her palm to the camera and squeezed.

 

“…aaAAAAaaaAAGAAaaaAA! My leg! My leeeeeg!”

 

Brian, who was still supposed to be staying back at the 7th research center, screamed.

He had forgotten. About the fact that in his childhood, he had nearly lost a leg in a traffic accident. Fortunately, the driver had stopped in time, and his wound hadn’t been as severe as it could be.

But back in the present, unfortunately, the driver turned out to not have stopped in time at all. One of Brian’s legs detached from his body.

A disconnection cut short his echoing scream.

 

In the room cold enough that water could freeze, Audrey sat on the floor. Her face had turned blue, her lips purple, and she couldn’t even muster the courage to stand up.

“…No. 13…” Audrey whispered, her voice shivering.

There were barely anyone left alive. Hearing her whisper, the girl quietly turned around.

Clack… clack… She approached on heels that looked more like they were made to gouge out flesh rather than to carry a girl’s weight. The razor-sharp footsteps stopped in front of Audrey. The girl stared at her face.

 

“You recognize me?”

“Are you… No. 13? Why do you look like that? What did you do to the Deputy Director…?”

Hearing Audrey replied with only more questions, No. 13… the white girl named Shedy looked exasperated. She quietly pulled her head back.

“Nothing special, really. Besides… well, you’ll do.”

“Ah!”

Shedy picked Audrey up with one hand around the woman’s neck.

“I have to go back soon. I’m still not strong enough to stay here for long. But remember this…”

Audrey gulped. Their faces were barely ten centimeters apart. She thought she saw dark flames faintly smoldering deep inside the girl’s eyes.

“I’ll come back, and I’ll be a lot stronger then. The demon will come back to kill you all.”

 

Shedy dropped the woman on the ground. The girl casually turned away and disappeared, melting into the thick mist.

That day, the corporation learned of the existence of the demon that would be their enemy.

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Author’s Note: The description of her outfit might not be easy to understand, so I made this rough sketch.

If you’re not very good at imagining how she looked and if you’re interested, feel free to take a look.

TN: Bigger sized image.

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