IPERIML 6

Chapter 6

I extended one empty hand straight out.

“Get a grip.”

In a flash, I used the Red Thread to grab Hoken by the collar, dragging him right up to my face.

Because it happened in the blink of an eye, Hoken just stared at my hand gripping his collar with a dazed, flabbergasted expression, repeatedly looking up at me. Before long, his breathing turned rough and ragged.

“O-Outside… gasp, a-a demon named Tasha…”

Even while barely stumbling through his words, the look in his eyes as he stared at me was strangely unhinged.

Was he finally showing his true colors?

It made sense, considering Hoken was the guy who constantly screamed about taking revenge for Morckald and fought to the bitter end every single time I played Infinite Regression War.

For that exact Hoken to be doing this right now…

“Hoken.”

I pulled off a preemptive strike without missing a beat.

Using the Red Thread, I bound his entire body instantly and slammed him straight into the floor.

THUD!

A dull impact echoed through the room. Without stopping there, I lightly pressed my boot against Hoken’s back.

It was the finishing touch to assert my dominance.

“Don’t even think about pulling anything funny.”

After going this far, I expected him to either get the message or finally show his true motives.

However, Hoken’s reaction was completely off the mark.

“…Hngh?!“

His body twitched as if he were terrified, but something was off.

From the bright red mushroom planted on Hoken’s head, pink heart-shaped smoke was puffing out. It didn’t stop there. He awkwardly craned his neck backward in a bizarre posture, staring up at me.

“S-Se-Celesia…”

Glistening eyes, a flushed face, and a strange tremble in his voice. On top of that, his status window was completely abnormal.

[Hoken -> Affection: 34%] Note: Feels intense pleasure when suppressed through fear. Even now, he’s anticipating, ‘I wonder if she’ll step on me a little more?’

I was thoroughly disgusted.

“Ugh.”

Is this guy… a total pervert?!

Unable to control the exploding wave of revulsion, I instinctively struck Hoken down once more.

“AAAAAARGH!”

BOOM!

A heavy crash shook the room.

“Hnnngh…”

Even though I wanted to block it out, the sound was way too clear. In the end, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Ah.

Morckald was so obsessed with sewing that he viewed all his retainers as mere experimental materials, so of course he wouldn’t have a single sane subordinate under him.

This is super annoying in a completely different way.

“Gasp…“

Where on earth did things go wrong? Since I didn’t have much interaction with Hoken in the game, this side of him never came up.

The tutorial was focused on learning the controls while showcasing Hakar’s tragic plight. Meanwhile, Chapter 1 was a segment where you were sold off as Morckald’s test subject and spent most of your time locked in a sewing room.

“Ahn?!”

Even so, to think he was this much of a pervert…

“That’s enough, put your arms down.”

I mean, I literally just ordered him to raise his hands and face the wall, yet he’s making those kinds of moans and sobbing like that?!

“Explain.”

“Pardon?”

“Explain exactly why you were calling out for me so frantically this early in the morning.”

Hoken shuffled over on his knees. I sat askew in a chair with my legs crossed, glaring down at him with utter displeasure.

Taking that cold glare as if it were a reward, Hoken’s eyes gleamed even more intensely. Words immediately began pouring out of his mouth without a pause.

“While I was sleeping, Morph brought me some news, you see! Apparently, in the lower servant quarters, some demon is shouting that she’s going to slit Lady Celesia’s throat today!”

“Morph?”

“Ah! Morph is a slime demon who served Lord Morckald alongside me!”

I only asked for the reason, yet Hoken was blabbering away with way too much information.

“You know, the green slime demon who was with me at the coronation! Since Morph can perform endless self-division, Morph usually handled Lord Morckald’s personal errands.”

The endless chatter was making me dizzy.

“Anyway, the second I heard that from Morph, I knew this was my chance! To be honest, there’s been a lot of talk about Lady Celesia’s lack of combat power. If you really used some cheap trick to eliminate Lord Morckald, I was planning on pulling you down from the throne immediately!”

“And then I was going to crown another powerful Demon King…”

“Hold on.”

I barely managed to cut him off at the part that raised a red flag.

“Another Demon King?”

“Yes?”

“Why bother setting up another Demon King?”

I could understand aiming for my neck since I seemed weak. But wanting to crown someone else as Demon King instead of taking the position for himself made no sense.

Naturally, suspicion crept in. Was all of this just a scheme to lower my guard and stab me in the back?

However…

“Hehe… Well, I only truly feel my value as a living being when I’m being crushed under overwhelming power…”

Hoken blushed, a look of strange anticipation washing over his face.

Seeing that expression completely wiped away my suspicion, but it also made me lose all confidence in continuing to look at him. I forced my gaze away.

“Whatever. Just lead the way.”

I hurriedly escaped the sewing room.

Before I could get very far, however, I ran straight into Tasha, who was heading up the tower leading a crowd of onlookers. The moment Tasha spotted me, her short tusks jutting out from her mouth quivered.

She shouted at the top of her lungs:

“HEY!”

It was a triumphant voice, coming from someone who hadn’t considered the possibility of defeat for even a single second.

I immediately sized up the situation.

Tasha, who had always viewed me as an easy target, must have ground her teeth the moment she heard the news of my ascension. It was obvious she got easily egged on by the demons around her.

“I know you! A weakling like you killed Lord Morckald? I don’t know what trick you pulled…”

“……”

“Do you really think you can pull the wool over my eyes? So you better hand that throne over to me nice and easy!”

And then there were the onlookers. Peeking their heads out and laughing as if waiting for a fun show—they were the real culprits behind this.

A simpleton like Tasha was just the bait. If I played into their hands like they wanted, this kind of nonsense would keep repeating endlessly in the future.

“Prepare your—HUH?!”

I revealed my true strength without hiding a thing.

The crimson threads extended in all directions centered around me, attaching to the joints of the demons like leeches. What followed was a full-blown play enacted by living demons… with its genre set to a death game.

“What the?!”

“Why are you suddenly swinging at me—AAGH!”

“Wait! Why are you guys fighting each other?!”

“ARGH! It’s not like I want to attack you!”

Screams and chaos intertwined.

They tried to sever my Red Thread, but it was completely useless. Unable to overcome the thread’s durability, their weapon edges chipped and their claws snapped.

A few of them tried to charge directly at me, but…

“Hoken.”

At my call, Hoken stepped into the fray as if he had been waiting for that exact cue.

Even without my orders, Hoken pointed his blade at anyone charging toward me with malicious intent, taking care of them himself.

“Clean this up.”

The moment I turned my back, screams echoed behind me like a chaotic orchestra.

Ever since transmigrating into this dark fantasy game, had my mindset completely adapted to that of a demon? Or was I just happy that things were wrapped up much faster and simpler than planned?

Either way, my footsteps heading back toward the bedroom couldn’t have felt lighter.

Things had finally settled down into a lull.

Thanks to the combined efforts of Hoken and the slime demon ‘Morph’, stability was gradually returning to the castle day by day.

“I heard some demon outside the castle walls was running their mouth about Lady Celesia, so I took the liberty of neatly disposing of them!”

“Good job.”

Maybe that was why I developed enough generosity to turn a blind eye to his useless chatter and odd behavior.

“Please don’t worry about a thing from here on out! I will carry out my duties faithfully as Lady Celesia’s doormat!”

Hoken dashed back out, brimming with confidence.

Now, all that remained in the quiet office was me, leaning back on the sofa staring mindlessly out the window, and Morph, groaning in the corner with his head buried in the floor.

After securing Hoken, obtaining Morph was ridiculously easy.

“Morph, what about your clone?”

Morph was identical to his game counterpart. In Infinite Regression War, Hoken never bowed his head to the human Hakar, but Morph was different. Morph was the type of character who meekly surrendered once Hoken died.

His combat power wasn’t great, but he could be used very conveniently in other ways.

“Just as calculated, Clone No. 354 has successfully infiltrated the Red Flame Zone completely unharmed~”

“Can it infiltrate the castle grounds?”

“Mmm~ I don’t see an opening yet~ But I’ll keep trying~”

That was exactly what was happening now. I was mobilizing Morph’s clones, focusing all my efforts on finding Hakar, whose location was currently unknown.

“If you spot a silver-haired human or hear any news, make sure to tell me immediately.”

Fortunately, even though Hakar was no longer just a game character and had gained a self-aware consciousness, his starting point in every regression remained the same:

The Lava Desert, the Red Flame Zone.

The real problem was that I had no way of knowing what kind of situation Hakar was currently trapped in. Depending on the choices he made at the starting point, he could end up as a trophy in the Red Flame Demon King’s collection, locked away forever in the Avici Hell, or sold off like a slave at an auction house.

‘Sitting around waiting like this is driving me crazy with anxiety. I’d rather just go out and search for him myself.’

Of course, doing that would only draw the unwanted attention of the Red Flame Demon King.

Right now, what mattered wasn’t impatience, but accurately assessing Hakar’s situation and planning the next move.

I forced down my restlessness. While waiting for Morph to bring back news, I leaned against the sofa and stared blankly at the desolate thorn trees outside the window.

For thirty minutes, then an hour…

As the silence stretched on, Morph, who had been curled up in the corner of the office for a whole week, suddenly popped his head up and called out to me for the first time.

“Umm… Excuse me, Lady Celesia…”

A look of pure trouble was plastered across his face.

“So, um… One of my clones guarding the front gate says they’re bringing a messenger over right now~”

“A messenger?”

At those unexpected words, my slouched spine instantly straightened up. Morph quickly sat up straight as well.

“The thing is, um… They say it’s a messenger from the Red Flame Zone~”