Chapter 7: Plans to Increase My Authority
"Seems good..." I murmur as I place a bowl of snacks on my bed. I grabbed as much food as I could to store in my room, knowing that some of it will probably spoil since it won’t be properly preserved.
But at least having a lot ensures that I won’t feel hungry in the next few days, which is good for me and leaves me satisfied, even with Evelyn’s poor care, she managed to maintain her incredible beauty, so obviously I must also strive to maintain that.
"Okay, now that I have various foods, I should first go collect materials!" Materials are everything, without them I will remain weak even if I evolve, and I know a method to obtain materials and even force the maids to respect me.
’...The only answer is violence...’ Unfortunately, we are all demons, I practically look like a normal human apart from the ears, but I am still a demon.
And naturally, everyone here is also demons, unlike humans, we are culturally violent, they base everything on strength, which makes Evelyn a unique demon.
Since Evelyn’s power has never made her strong, Evelyn will forever remain "weak", her differential is the strategy of using the puppets, Evelyn must be the brain and the puppets her body.
But of course, there are different types of violence, the most common obviously is physical violence that is based on using your strength against others, but Evelyn is weak, so she needs to use another form of violence.
And that is psychological violence, using words to instill fear, words can have as much power as a sharp weapon, as long as you know how to use them, of course I’m terrible at manipulating others.
Before reincarnating, I could barely speak a sentence to someone without stuttering, but as I merged with the original Evelyn, her personality practically covered mine, and that gives me the courage to converse.
Additionally, Evelyn was always a brilliant character, I can’t say she was a good manipulator, but she was an intelligent girl, probably in the top 7 most intelligent characters in the entire game.
In other words, I’m much smarter than most demons, if I know how to use words well enough, I can instill fear, in short, I will live my whole life based on bluffing well, or live that way until I have powerful puppets.
"Bluffing...I need a way to make the maids fear me..." They are weak, most employees are the lowest-level demons and are therefore common servants.
However, even these common servants can tear apart a bear’s body as if they were toys, and ironically, Evelyn has the strength of a doll, which means that a punch from me would do nothing.
So I need to be able to make the maids fear me without them deciding to beat me up. Fortunately, as Evelyn matured, the physical bullying changed to strategic isolation.
And thanks to that, the maids don’t know that I’m still a cowardly weakling who would be knocked out with a common punch.
"That’s it! I have a plan! Of course, the magnificent me could quickly come up with a plan!" I quickly run to the closet to get something, but I trip on the rug, falling face-first to the floor.
"Ow, m-my nose" I get up in pain and look at the mirror, one of the few that remain in the room.
"T-Tsk, unbelievable!! I’m bleeding just because I fell?" If you throw a common demon against a wall, the wall would crack, now I fall and my nose starts bleeding.
’D-Damned universe!! The rug isn’t even out of place’ I get up, grabbing a handkerchief to clean it, at least my nose didn’t break.
"Okay, running is practically out of the question now" As I clean the blood, I go to the closet, taking the thread, as I merged with the original Evelyn, I know how to use the powers, which is convenient.
My plan is simple, I will use the threads to pretend to have a power that I don’t, the maids may not know, but I know how imperceptible Evelyn’s power can be if she tries to hide it.
’If I use magic, I can make these threads so thin that even a demon with most of their stats in B wouldn’t be able to see them’ In the alternate route, one of Evelyn’s puppets could amplify the strength of the threads.
Evelyn was capable of shredding Rank B monsters by just moving a finger, so sharp the threads became, of course, this is still not fast enough to use in combat, it’s just a pretty effect that only works against weak monsters.
The biggest highlight will always be the strength of the puppets, and if Evelyn wants to kill someone with the threads, she needs to spread the threads beforehand in the place, so her doing that with a Rank B monster was with preparation.
’This makes me remember, what appearance and powers will I give the puppet?’ The appearance of the puppet is something of my choice, but the power is somewhat random, and I can only decide if the puppet is a mage, swordsman, etc.
"I think... a swordsman puppet?" A mage is very good, but it happens that I need someone capable of defending me from hand-to-hand blows that are absurdly fast.
So the first puppet should be a warrior focused on speed and strength to protect me, besides, Evelyn was so ridiculed that I’ve already decided, this first puppet will have my exact appearance.
"That’s right, I’m too magnificent not to share this beauty with my puppets!" In the future, obviously, I will have puppets of diverse appearances, but my first one must be a symbol of honor to the original Evelyn.
"Okay, enough stalling! We have a destiny to lasso and pull by the neck like a raging bull!" I say, grabbing a spool of thread for use.
"Hehehehe, get ready maids! Because I, the future magnificent queen of demons, will show how terrifying I am!!" I say with a huge smile on my face.
So I start preparing the threads, positioning them strategically, I try to make the threads as thin, strong, and sharp as possible while positioning some things in the room to help create a gloomy atmosphere.
"4 hours until dinner time, some maid will probably come to tell me about dinner because of the banquet" Since the banquet happened today, my authority is probably slightly harder to ignore than in the past.
In other words, someone will come here to call me, even if they don’t like it, they’ll want to avoid problems.
"Muhahahaha I’m a genius, as an avid player of the game, I will deceive these ignorant bitches who bullied a kind gentle child!!" I speak with a villainous laugh.
’My voice is beautiful, but I need to practice this laugh, it needs to be scary! Something that will put fear in the hearts of these demons!’ Obviously I won’t do this now, but when I have time, it will be the first thing I do.
Ignoring what I have to learn about my laugh, I adjust the position of some things I can discard while filling the room with extremely thin threads in strategic points.
With magic, the threads connect to the tips of my fingers, and with simple movements, the threads move in a chain, forming desired reactions.
I practice a bit to put it into perfect practice, spending almost two hours just testing, everything has to be perfect, I need to terrify the maid’s heart.
If she only feels a little fear in less than a week, she won’t care about me anymore, I need to fill her heart with so much fear and terror that she will swear loyalty to me to avoid dying.
It’s kind of evil, but it’s the only way for me to survive in this dangerous demonic world.
Having an ally is all I need right now, maids have a lot of access to materials, so they are essential for me to obtain materials, but if they don’t care about me, they won’t give me what I need.
So I need at least one who will obey my orders without hesitation, no matter how ridiculous they may seem.
’I remember that the maids have a personal "choice system" developed among themselves as an unwritten rule...’ Maids with less than 4 years of service are usually neutral.
The neutral maids are the ones who do simpler or unwanted jobs, like coming to call me, while more veteran or daring maids choose someone to serve.
For example, a select number of maids follow Esther as if Esther were their mistress, these maids take care of her needs, tidy her room, and so on.
And this is repeated for each of my siblings, but as a weak one, I don’t have any maid who does this for me, and that’s what I’m trying to change, the maid who comes will probably be a neutral one.
And that’s where I’ll deceive her with a false power I don’t really have to gain her loyalty, and as soon as she starts obeying me, I’ll have the first "loyal" follower who will obey me.
Their loyalty is obviously somewhat questionable, since if another sibling tries to steal her from me, he would succeed, but that’s life, there’s not much I can do beyond making the most of this maid I manage to get.
"Get ready, little maid! Soon I will be your mistress!...that sounds a bit wrong haha" Esther really treats her maids like dogs, giving orders that weren’t necessary just to pass the time.
So it’s not 100% wrong to say we’re the "masters" of the maids, we’re demons and our culture is different, but to me, an ex-human, that just seems so wrong.
"Ghhh Esther is like a [Bad Girl] version but a classic manipulative one who hides the evil in a lens of nobility!! My favorite villain from the games! Why are you so evil!" I speak a little too loudly.
Normally I would love to watch Esther, who has that special air as a cold villain who deceives everyone, but now she’s just someone who will cause terrible problems for me in the future.
’I should stop getting distracted and get ready... Original Evelyn, please give me strength so that like a crocodile, I can catch that maid like a duckling in the lake’ I make a comparison between something cute and something scary, exactly the image I want to create.