Chapter 25: Unforgettable Humiliation
"..." I reach the room where Augustus is having lunch, Eve is with me as I anxiously watch the door, I need to go in, but this is the first time someone will see Eve.
No one has seen her while I was coming here, so I’m a little nervous, but with a calm sigh, I open the door and enter the room. Augustus immediately looks at me, but his gaze soon turns to surprise.
While the maids who would have looked at me with disdain are now confused, not knowing exactly where to look, after all, from their perspective, there are two of me now.
"Eve, please stay over there," I say to Eve, pointing to a spot near the maids. Eve behaves like a servant, and there are proper rules and etiquette, so I can’t just invite her to sit at the table with me.
After all, this table, this room, and this lunch belong to Augustus, who is a noble demon. Placing a servant at the table would be like mocking him, as if I was saying he is similar to a servant.
Which would obviously ruin the positive favorability I have and end up with him not liking me and my attitude at all.
"Okay, Evelyn-sama," Eve says with a smile as she goes to the maids, and I quickly approach Augustus, who is still staring at Eve.
"That... girl, is she your servant?" Augustus asks without even looking at me, focused on Eve, trying to figure out what she is, as he is paranoid, he must not be too comfortable with this.
"Yes, she is my [Sword] Eve," I say to him, sitting close and picking up a plate to serve myself. The food has a wonderful aroma as always, I can hardly wait until I have a room like this all to myself.
"I see, a servant to defend you then... wait..." He seems to notice something, it’s obvious he would notice, he’s good with magic. He now shifts his gaze to me and then back to Eve, quickly returning to me.
It’s kind of cute considering his appearance, but I pretend to be normal as I serve myself a piece of fried chicken along with a salad and white rice.
"..." Augustus briefly stares at me, but soon turns his focus to his meal.
"Evelyn, that girl... is a magic I’ve never seen... she’s not a homunculus, and I’m not even sure if I can say that’s a normal living being... she has her own vitality," he says as I decide to be partially honest.
"It’s not 100% magic." It’s a fact that no one can do the same as I did, because this is not just a magic that anyone can learn, this is a Blessing, and blessing abilities are not something that just anyone can use.
"Oh... this is your blessing... if you could make a servant like that, why didn’t you do it before?" He asks with a certain childlike curiosity.
"I... had my reasons, but now there’s no need for me to hold back," I say, cutting the chicken breast, the delicious juices running down the perfectly golden skin.
"... But you’re still weak," He states the obvious, I don’t have any extra strength, but not even Augustus noticed that my body is no longer like before, and that puts a smile on my face.
Noticing that I’m a living puppet is ridiculously difficult, ironically, even for the Demon King to notice that I’m a living puppet is an extremely arduous task, so if I don’t show it, no one notices.
"Does that matter? Anyway, Eve is my power and my strength, I just fight a little differently than the others," I say elegantly as I taste the chicken, it’s so soft and flavorful.
"... What you do is not my problem, so I won’t question it too much," He says as I think about how to invite him to a duel without making it seem like I really want to fight him.
"Hey, little brother, as you can see, this is the first time I’ve shown my power, how about a friendly duel between representatives? My Eve against one of your servants, just for camaraderie between two siblings," I say with a smile.
I decided to try to be more direct and just speak this way, he doesn’t like lies, and his paranoia would make any of my stalling seem suspicious, imagine if the theory that I’m going to try to kill him during the competition popped up in his little head.
"..."
"Are you sure about that, Evelyn?" He questions me with a serious look, if he weren’t so cute, I’d be terrified.
"Yes, I am, my beautiful servant will surely win," I say confidently as he ponders the options, he seems to be thinking deeply about it, as if he had something hidden.
’A little less paranoia would have been good... please universe, don’t let the favorability drop!!’ I can only wish that his mind will reach a simple and non-dangerous conclusion.
"Evelyn, isn’t it arrogance to think you can win just because you now have that girl by your side?" He says, gesturing with his head towards Eve, who just observes our exchange.
Eve completely ignores any looks from the servants and just waits patiently, she’s so diligent!
"Arrogance or not, I need to grow, don’t you agree? After all, I’m competing for the throne," I say to him, who looks at me coldly.
"I see..."
[Augustus’s Favorability -3 (Total = +5/100)]
’Ouch... that’s a blow...’ I lost 3 points of favorability at once, leaving me with only 5, that’s a stab to my efforts, but I guess I should have expected that.
"So it will be like this, Evelyn, I’ll choose the prizes and you’ll choose the form of the competition, does that sound fair?" He says as I nod in agreement, that seems fair enough.
"... So what will the form of the fight be?" He questions as I decide to speak what’s already planned in the scheme.
"I want a friendly duel between representatives, my Eve against any servant you choose. I want the fight to be in the colosseum where anyone can watch, of course with the colosseum’s own weapons available for use," I say confidently.
"Alright, I accept these terms... and since I get to decide the reward... if you win, I’ll give you 1,000 gold coins... but if you lose, I want you to make a pact with me," He says, and I shiver all over.
’T-This was not expected...’ I didn’t think he would try to enslave a candidate for the throne, making a pact with him means giving up my freedom, my rights, and being forced to obey anything he asks.
"..." I look at Eve, my confidence immediately shaken by this. I was expecting a smaller request, 1,000 gold coins is a lot of money for me, who doesn’t have a single coin.
But 1,000 coins or my freedom is obviously unfair, my prize is much inferior to what he gets, and the worst part is that only I know my worth, he’s underestimating me.
As if to say that I’m only worth 1,000 gold coins, this irritates me, how can he judge me as being worth so little?
I clench my fist tightly, not looking him in the eyes. I guess I expected too much kindness from a demon, maybe I was foolish to think we were having something special.
I thought that with 8 favorability at least he would see me in a slightly positive way, but wanting to enslave me because of a measly duel is too much pettiness.
"..." I look at Eve and then at him, everything depends on my trust, do I trust that Eve can win? Is it worth taking this risk? Would fleeing here be pure cowardice and shatter my already fragmented image?
After all, I called him to this duel, fleeing after hearing his conditions would be a stain that would further worsen my already damaged reputation, and would leave the image that I’m unreliable.
"I... accept," I say with a look of anger.
"Great, then after lunch we can go to the colosseum," He says as if this duel were nothing, but I decided to trust in Eve, I believe she can win.
’Eve can rub her opponent’s face in the ground, forget holding back... go all out against these bastards!!’ I give a mental command to Eve, it doesn’t matter anymore if she doesn’t hold back, I can’t give the image of weakness now.
"..." I return to eating in silence, a cold and unpleasant silence, I think I don’t want to eat here anymore, I’d rather try to befriend Marie, she’s arrogant no doubt, but at least she wouldn’t treat me this way.
’1,000 gold coins...’ I grip the fork so hard it bends, comparing me to a measly thousand coins was humiliating, average-value slaves can be sold for more than 40,000 gold coins.
It’s as if he’s saying that I’m worth less than the lowest quality slaves, it’s an insult to the original Evelyn and to me, an insult I can’t let pass.
’You’ll regret underestimating me so much, Augustus...’ It’s obvious that as a demon he would be this way, he’s so quiet and has this cute appearance, so I let myself be carried away.
But he needs a lesson, defeating him in this duel will not only show that they can no longer underestimate me, it will also show that even though I’m considered weak, I can stain the victory record of those stronger with cunning.
’You’ll soon see!! One day, Eve will be strong enough to even put your lives at risk.’ One day I will make Eve so strong that she can fight against Esther and still be on equal footing in hand-to-hand combat.
I even tried to be polite and remembered etiquette by not inviting Eve to the table, now I’ll never let anyone drag me down to the bottom of the pit like Augustus is doing.