Chapter 43: Too Much Excitement
"I present to you...ta-dah!! The mega, outrageous plan with the title of..."
"[The Magnificent, Supremely Incomparable, and Undeniably Indispensable Plan for Intellectual and Creative Domination, Designed by Myself, Evelyn Ashcroft, the Only Brilliant Mind Talented, Cunning, and Sublime Enough to Conceive an Unlimited Army of Puppets of All Races, Shapes, and Peculiarities, Each One Meticulously Created to Serve My Whims, Stage My Glory, and Demonstrate, Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt, That No Human or Monstrous Being Could Ever Reach My Strategic and Artistic Perfection!!]"
"...Let’s just call it the Puppet Project, Evelyn-sama," Eve says, making a face as if she’s seen something absurdly stupid while looking at the enormous title written on the paper.
"B-But...!!!"
"Evelyn-sama, you don’t need a title like that for a paper with a puppet project. I know you’re excited about the idea of creating a new puppet, but to start, you don’t even have the proper materials, you haven’t chosen a class or type, and we can’t have anyone else in this room," She says, pointing out a bunch of logical points.
"P-Please don’t attack my fantasies with logic!!" I say, holding the paper tightly. She pulls the paper from my hand and tears off the part with the title.
"N-NO!!! Y-You tyrant!!" I quickly grab the torn paper.
"Evelyn-sama, you spent 3 hours just making the title, while the puppet drawing is literally a stick figure," She says, dealing a blow to my self-esteem.
’That blow to my self-esteem, well...’
"...Evelyn-sama, a single blow wouldn’t be enough to hurt your self-esteem," She says, as if reading my mind.
"T-Tsk, it doesn’t matter, it’s not that bad and..." She shows me the paper, interrupting me.
"1...2...3...4...5...your drawing is 5 lines with a circle, it’s literally a stick figure. I know drawing depends on a base, and the sticks are the initial skeleton, but spending 3 seconds on that and 3 hours on a title is unfeasible," She speaks with seriousness.
"I-It wasn’t...that much..." Okay, maybe I put a little too much effort into the title, when I created Eve I already had the whole base ready because she’s a replica of me, so it was kind of easier.
However, for other puppets, I can’t just do it in a careless way. They are living beings, even if they are puppets, they have to be perfect.
"Evelyn-sama, please be reasonable. I know you can draw perfectly because I’ve seen those scribbles on your face that were incredibly beautiful and well-drawn," She says, flicking my head.
"Creating an ally is no joke. You must create an ally with the possibilities in mind," She speaks while I decide to give up.
"You’re right, I didn’t think it through properly. I just got excited with your idea of creating allies from each race, but I don’t even have the money to strengthen you, and I also need a bigger room," My room can barely fit me and Eve.
"In the end, it’s a lack of money...for resources," I say as Eve nods.
"Exactly, above all else, it’s a lack of resources for you, Evelyn-sama, so we’ll leave this puppet project for the future," She speaks while I grab the paper and tear it.
"Yes, well, I guess it’s good to have someone to stop me from making mistakes. Now...how to get money," I think, hearing someone knocking on the door.
"Evelyn-sama, it’s me, Clarissa," The voice speaks while I nod to Eve to open the door. Soon Eve goes to open the door, and I see Clarissa carrying a large bag full of things.
"I see you did a great job. Thank you, Clarissa," I praise, going to Clarissa and seeing the bag full of items. It wasn’t the best choice for her to bring the things, but I understand her.
"Let’s see the buried treasures. Clarissa, drop it on the floor," I say, and Clarissa obeys, dropping it on the floor. I hear the sound of junk, a metallic sound along with many other things.
"Hmmm," I open the bag and start throwing things out of it, looking for something good. The shop I sent Clarissa to is known for selling very random things, mostly trash, but there’s a 1/100 chance that there are good things.
That store is like a "gacha", although only valuable things are at the beginning, as the game progresses, those things no longer have value. However, it should be enough to strengthen Eve.
"T-This is!" Clarissa points to a red stone that I threw out without paying attention. I pick up the stone.
"Oh, what luck! A fragment of a Class C monster," I say with a smile. I stop looking at the bag, taking the fragment. A fragment like this shouldn’t be worth much since it’s not the complete core, but it has its uses for me.
"Eve, take it. You can use it," I say, handing it to Eve, who takes it and swallows it. A quick way to extract the power of the fragment, as she is a puppet, the magic won’t just disperse.
I look at Clarissa, who looks at Eve with strangeness. Normally, no one would just put a monster core fragment in their mouth.
"Don’t mind that, Clarissa. For the good work, you can take the rest of the day off. That should be about 3 hours of time off?" I usually release Clarissa at night for her to go home.
"Oh, really? You’re going to let me off?" She asks, surprised. I doubt other throne candidates would free their servants.
"Of course. You did a good job, and I don’t have anything else for you. Keeping you here would just be boring, right?" I say, somewhat confused by her surprise.
"As in, leaving?"
"If you keep asking, I’ll take back the offer," I say, irritated by the stalling. She quickly thanks me and leaves the room, while Eve giggles.
"Any problem, Eve?"
"No, of course not. So, what are you going to do with these metals?" As I turn the bag over, letting everything spill onto the floor, spreading a bit of dust and dirt.
"I’m not sure. You know this isn’t useful for strengthening you...besides, it seems there’s only tin, iron, copper, and some low-value minerals here...it seems the investment in gold coins wasn’t worth much," It’s like a "gacha" indeed.
After all, I spent the gold coins, and almost nothing came. But that core fragment was good, so it might be a victory considering my natural bad luck in this life.
"So, can I stay?" Eve asks, crouching near the ores.
"Do you want to? Well, you can stay. Whatever you don’t want, I’ll try to resell the rest to some junkyard to at least recover a few coins," I say, while Eve gives me a big smile.
"I can use some of them to fortify the bastard sword I have. It will be useful if we want to hunt monsters," She speaks, giving a good idea.
"Oh, hunt monsters, huh...we could do that, maybe in the next competition," I say, leaving Eve with a confused look, which is kind of funny.
"Hahaha, don’t look at me like that." It’s just that she doesn’t know that I know certain things about the future.
"It turns out that among the throne candidates, there are random competitions, usually a ’request’ for everyone to see who gets the best results." It’s like a surprise test, but worse.
"This ranges from theoretical knowledge about magic, the continent, history, etc., to, of course, combat, duels, and the best, hunting monsters," I say with a smile, which makes Eve curious.
"Why did you talk about hunting monsters with excitement?"
"It’s because, no matter how barbaric it is, there are rules!! When a monster hunting competition starts, some rules help, like the fact that...actually, it’s a secret," I say, putting my finger in front of my mouth with a smile.
"Hmm, mysterious women don’t seem to be any more beautiful, but you definitely are, though I don’t think it’s good to hide things," She speaks, but I deny.
"I’m not being reckless. You can understand later, but if it happens, know that I’ll count 100% on your power," I have advantages by knowing certain things, so it’s something I can have some advantage if it’s similar to the game.
’I wonder how useful the game content will be...’ After reading that book, I can’t trust the game content 100% anymore. I know there are things that haven’t changed, like personality and probable backstory.
So, unfortunately, Esther will still try to be a genocidal and "clean up in general" by killing everyone. However, other things have changed a lot and can make my knowledge useless.
For example, hidden items, nothing prevents other people from finding them because it’s no longer a game, so the items won’t be static there. This also means that family events can change.
And the fact that I have the power of puppets practically from the beginning will change a lot of things. Eve only got this power after about two years in the game, which was the time it took for the right chain of events.
So telling Eve about facts that may be wrong can only hinder and even cause her death. My puppets are not immortal and can be permanently and irretrievably destroyed.
And even though I’ve spent a minimal time with Eve, I still like her and don’t want anything to happen to her.
"Anyway, I hope you can improve your sword to the max, Eve," I say with a smile.
"Thank you for the motivation. Having a beautiful master rooting for my improvement really encourages me," She speaks, taking a lot of the iron ores. She sees me staring at her before speaking.
"I’m thinking of making weights. I know my body structure won’t change, so even if I train, I won’t gain muscles. But I can become faster and stronger," She speaks as I approve.
"Yes, then do as you wish. And as soon as you’re done choosing, let’s go get food. I’m starving!" As soon as I say that, Eve approves, turning her attention back to the ores, while I throw myself on the bed.