Chapter 17: [Golden Apple]
"It’s today!!" I murmur excitedly as I throw myself onto my bed, it’s morning and it’s exactly today that my present is going to be delivered...at least I think it’s today, I can’t confirm it with that much certainty, but it’s probably going to be.
"Finally, I’ll be able to evolve my skill," I say enthusiastically to myself. Clarissa is currently out of my room, collecting materials for me.
"Miss Evelyn," I hear a neutral voice out of nowhere.
"H-Hyaaa?" I jump off the bed, making a strange karate pose on the bed because of the fright, but the sheet slips as I fall off the bed to the floor, landing face-first.
"O-Ow..." I get up angrily, seeing who the lunatic was that invaded my room, and I see a "shadow," a completely black being that I know well is a servant of the Demon King, in other words, a direct servant of my father.
What also explains his good manners in calling me "Miss Evelyn" instead of just "Evelyn" like the maids, after all, unlike common servants, a direct servant of the Demon King must maintain a standard regardless of who he’s talking to.
"G-Good morning," I say nervously, patting my dress to remove any possible dirt that may have appeared on it due to the fall, while I look at this being. I don’t care that he saw this silliness; he won’t tell anyone.
"...I’ve come to deliver your present on behalf of His Majesty the Demon King," he says as a small wooden chest emerges from the darkness, being handed to him. He takes it and extends the small chest to me.
"..." He doesn’t say anything while I take the small chest. Soon he disappears without saying anything more, as expected, I guess. What matters is not this suspicious being, but the item he brings; in the game, these beings rarely appear.
So I know they are genuine and not a suspicious someone giving me something equally suspicious. In the game, they usually delivered things from the Demon King or messages.
"...Could it be..." I open the small chest. Inside, there is a golden-colored apple and a red sphere that looks like a spiral straight to the center, like a reddish mist.
The items are carefully positioned on a cushion. The apple is such a beautiful and shiny gold that it literally reflects me; it seems almost impossible to bite, as if it were real gold, although it is not really gold.
"Oh, what a magnificent fruit!! I’d love to have a tree of this fruit," I’ve never seen such a beautiful and perfect fruit in my life, although I’ve never really had a healthy diet, so it makes sense.
’And the core...I can’t tell the quality, but the Demon King wouldn’t give me one that’s below the request, so I know this one is suitable,’ I need to prepare everything, to begin with, it’s not so pleasant to evolve Evelyn’s skill.
"D-Damn, it’s a horrible method...but it’s fine...I-I can handle the pain...I think..." A puppet doesn’t have a heart, that’s obvious, and that fits my evolution.
My heart is replaced by a kind of core, breaking or destroying this core won’t do anything to me, but this core serves for my skill to share vitality with my puppets when I create them.
The point is that my heart literally explodes...and not just that, all my organs are also replaced. It happens that a puppet doesn’t need real organs, so everything is replaced by an exact replica that has the same function.
This is what ensures that fatal attacks are not really fatal to me. The problem is that it will take a while before I lose consciousness, so I need to endure the pain of my heart literally exploding inside my chest, since it’s the first part to be replaced.
"Okay, it shouldn’t be that bad...I just need to sit on the floor, accumulate magic, and then eat a piece of the apple and swallow the core whole." The core is a bit large, but it’s necessary to put the whole thing in my mouth and swallow it.
So it’s almost like swallowing a ball that almost fits in the closed palm. The monster’s core is smaller than an apple, but larger than a ping-pong ball, so I’ll have to be quick.
I should first bite the apple and then swallow the core and wait. If I fail, I’ll die, but if I succeed, my skill will evolve and become stolen!!! Of course, that alone doesn’t guarantee anything, I’ll have to use the skill intelligently.
"But I have to do this alone and without anyone bothering me." I can’t let anyone see me in this vulnerable situation, so I have to wait for Clarissa to come back so I can tell her to stay out for a day and then lock the door.
"What a beautiful fruit! This apple is unbelievable!!" I look at this insanely beautiful apple, there’s no way not to praise this fruit. It’s strangely a fruit that perfectly suits me.
’I hope the taste is as good as its appearance,’ I really wish I had a tree of this apple, even if it wasn’t to eat the fruit, just for the style.
Imagine me reading a book under a golden apple tree, the vision would be magnificent, it’s like the goddess of beauty surrounded by natural beauty or I don’t know what else it could be compared to.
I just know it would be really cool, and I’d give an even more graceful and beautiful impression of myself to others.
’I can’t wait to do this soon, the anticipation is killing me!!’ I know it will be painful, and that’s precisely why I want to finish it quickly before I chicken out. This is necessary for my future.
’Now that I’ve stopped to think about it...besides becoming non-human, I’ll also stop having a living body...’ A living puppet is not quite a living being, I think. Even though Evelyn will be a puppet identical to what she was before, with all the same bodily functions.
Sweating, bleeding, producing saliva, or anything else, I’ll be able to do normally. But unlike other beings, my body can literally be dismantled by an enemy, and I won’t die.
After all, it will be harder to kill me as long as I have puppets and vitality, besides the fact that my body, although made of flesh, no longer needs any of the organs, and they are there more for bodily aesthetics without any real usefulness.
The biggest difference is that if I want, my body will have folds like a puppet in the joints. Of course, I prefer to hide this, it’s a bit creepy that each joint in my body is like a puppet’s, so I prefer to keep that hidden.
"Oh, in a way, I’ll achieve immortality?" I murmur to myself, thinking about the possibility. In a way, I’m immortal as long as I have other living puppets.
"I’ll be like the Enlightened One!! Or the Honored One?...the Invincible One...Nah, that’s an exaggeration, since I won’t be invincible." The excitement hits me again. To avoid thinking about what I’m becoming, what does it matter if I’ll be a puppet? In this dangerous world, it’s a necessity.
"Hmm, I’m sure I’ll be even more badass than I am now, and I’ll also maintain my beauty intact for eternity, so I only see advantages." I say to myself, trying to keep a pose of someone incredible. Since I know the future, I have this very good advantage.
Knock Knock Knock
"Miss Evelyn?" Clarissa knocks on the bedroom door as I close the chest with the two items, but I still hold it with extreme care. These two items are my future, and as long as I resist the evolution, the future will be promising.
"Clarissa, you can come in," I say to her as she opens the door and enters. I see her carrying some basic materials that were the things she went to get so that I can build more puppets.
"...Clarissa, I’m going to give you the day off today. You can leave the materials you brought with you right there, and you can go away. Just come to my room tomorrow and bring me more materials, preferably meat from...demons..." I say, swallowing hard.
"...Understood, Miss Evelyn," she says with a shiver. I don’t know where she’ll get demon meat, but I need that to create a powerful puppet to be my ally.
Unfortunately, this material is an obligation. To begin with, this puppet will be a bit strong, but it won’t really have that much strength. Puppets can evolve over time.
Although I won’t get stronger, my puppets can get stronger through experience or additions with different types of materials, and this puppet will be the first step in creating the most powerful puppets.
One of the first things I should do is create a strong puppet to defend me. There are several family events in the future where I’ll need to be strong to stand out to a certain degree.
The point is that if I don’t have at least a little bit of prominence, I won’t gain the advantages I need, for example, "allowance," money given to each of my siblings for their achievements in certain events.
But I have exactly 0 at the moment, and with 0, I can’t get stronger by buying materials, which are necessary. After all, without materials, it means no puppets, and without puppets, for me, it means "game over."
"Oh, Clarissa, before you go...good job," I praise her. She seems surprised.
"I don’t deserve your praise, Miss Evelyn. Now I will take my leave. Have a great day," she says, placing the materials she brought in the place I indicated, and leaves the room, but I see a small smile of relief.
I go to the door as soon as she leaves to lock it. I’ll start as soon as possible. The longer I wait, the greater the chance of someone stealing the Golden Apple and the Monster Core. I can’t lose these things.