This really wasn’t like him.
Eugene himself was more aware of this fact than anyone else. It was true that he had been curious about the Giabella-Faces, but to the extent that he would willingly enter Noir Giabella’s room on his own two feet?
In the end, saying that he might be able to see something else from the inside was just an excuse. What he was actually looking at currently was the view of Giabella City from high above, as well as the reflection of the room that was dimly visible in the glass. Including….
The reflection of Noir Giabella.
Eugene had already realized the intent behind the gaze that she was directing at him. It was because he understood that Noir had noticed something was wrong for Eugene to feel so disgruntled and upset.
The divinity that had leaked into his thoughts and the intuition that this had sparked had made it so that, for a single moment, Eugene’s eyes had seen and understood far too much.
It had allowed him to assess Noir Giabella’s true strength. It had given him a deep insight into her very existence. Until that point, there hadn’t been any problems. It wasn’t like Eugene had seen anything too unusual.
However, Eugene also naturally came to a particular revelation.
It had to do with the moment of Agaroth’s death.
Who was it that had had the most impact on Agaroth in that moment? Who was it that Agaroth had ordered to flee for her life at the very end?
Even at that moment, when the War God himself had decided to face his own death and drove his own divine army into annihilation, Agaroth had hoped that a specific woman would escape and manage to survive even just a little bit longer. He had not wanted her to witness the sight of the god dying.
That woman was the Saint of the God of War.
The Twilight Witch.
And from Noir Giabella, Eugene had sensed the presence of the Twilight Witch. Although not even a trickle of Agaroth’s divine power remained in the current Noir, Eugene’s divine inspiration had allowed him to intuitively grasp the nature of Noir’s soul.
So Eugene was now faced with a mix of emotions.
Eugene could think of himself as Hamel, but he did not identify himself as Agaroth. This was because he had never lived as Agaroth.
In the end, Agaroth’s memories and emotions, all of the baggage that came with that, felt like they belonged to someone else. Even after becoming aware that he was Agaroth’s reincarnation, Eugene still wanted to distinguish himself from that god.
“...,” Eugene grimaced in silence.
The Queen of the Night Demons, Noir Giabella, among all of the demonfolk, she was the one who was seen as the closest to becoming a Demon King, no, a Greater Demon King. Her reputation wasn’t just developed over the era of war. Even before that, she had already possessed a notorious reputation as the Queen of the Night Demons. Her having such a title could only mean one thing. It meant that Noir had already been recognized as being at the pinnacle of all demonfolk even before the war.
Of course, examining such ancient history was a challenging prospect, but there was no need to go so far into the past just to get a rough idea of who Noir was. During the era of war, the number of soldiers defeated by Noir alone could have filled several legions. By both Eugene and Hamel’s standards, Noir was an enemy that had to be killed no matter what.
But such a certainty was now being contaminated with Agaroth’s feelings. This posed a terrible and disgusting problem for Eugene.
No matter what type of relationship Agaroth may have developed with the Twilight Witch after accepting her as his Saint, everything to do with that bond should belong solely to Agaroth, not Eugene. So why was that bond and those emotions, which didn’t even belong to him, shaking Eugene’s will?
Eugene turned his head to glare at Noir.
“You’re really doing this out of curiosity?” Noir asked him quizzically.
Noir wasn’t in a position to empathize with Eugene’s current emotions. Her strange feeling of affection from earlier at the sight of Eugene’s bare left ring finger had come and gone in an instant, and just like Eugene with Agaroth, it hadn’t left much of an impression on who Noir was.
Eugene had first inherited Agarorth’s Divine Sword. As a result, the reawakened divinity was slowly growing stronger, and Eugene himself had purposefully sought to view more of Agaroth’s memories.
Just like the memories that the city buried in the abyss beneath the deep sea had awakened in Eugene, Agaroth’s lingering feelings for the Twilight Witch, which had stayed with him until the very end, were also emotionally affecting Eugene.
However, Noir had no such connections that would allow her to recall her past life’s memories or emotions like Eugene had. She had experienced some fragments of nostalgia after sensing Eugene’s divinity, but that was all, and she hadn’t felt anything more than that.
But this was only natural. Right now, she was no longer the Saint of the God of War, nor was she the Twilight Witch.
She was Noir Giabella, Queen of the Night Demons, Duke of the Helmuth Empire, Master of Dreamia and Giabella City, and Owner of the Giabella Park.
With a playful smile, Noir leaned closer toward Eugene.
Her every action oozed seduction. The gown she had thrown in a hurry slipped down slightly, blatantly exposing more of Noir’s pale skin.
Noir lowered her voice and said, “Hamel, I’ve always made sure that you know how much affection I bear for you — so much so that my lips are just aching from saying the words over and over again — but even so, we are still enemies, aren’t we? Even if it’s you, I can’t just reveal all of the secrets of my amazing Giabella-Face.”
Noir knew that this sort of approach wasn’t one that Eugene enjoyed.
While things might not be all that different for the current era, in the past, mercenaries and prostitutes were the two professions that were especially seen as inseparable. This was particularly the case during the era of the war when most mercenary companies had been accompanied by a group of prostitutes.
Yet even so, Hamel, who had first made a name for himself as a mercenary, didn’t have any tolerance for this type of temptation.
Noir was hoping for Eugene’s face to blush or for him to turn away, with his expression twisted into a frown. Because either way, Noir would be amused to see Hamel being bothered by her advances.
However, this time, Eugene’s face didn’t flush, nor did his expression twist into a frown.
“That’s right,” Eugene readily agreed, nodding without agitation, to the point where it was Noir who found herself feeling embarrassed instead. “We are enemies,” he asserted.
Eugene’s sense of reason had defined Noir as his enemy. He had always thought that he would definitely have to kill Noir someday.
However… from the depths of his heart, a desire for a slightly different relationship with her was beginning to sprout.
Eugene was able to clearly distinguish the source of this feeling. It didn’t belong to either Hamel or Eugene.
Like Noir had just whispered, Eugene and Noir saw each other as enemies. Her words managed to cool Eugene’s agitated heart.
Noir wasn’t disappointed by Eugene’s tack of an obvious reaction.
“Hamel, have you come here to kill me?” Noir asked with a smile on her face.
Noir wasn’t disappointed by Eugene’s response, instead, she was thrilled by the spine-chillingly cold killing intent that came rolling off of him.
“If that is the case, then I… I will be sure to give you an enthusiastic response, but I’m afraid you will just end up disappointed in the end,” Noir warned.
Setting aside her own excitement, Noir’s eyes were flashing as various thoughts ran through her mind.
Sienna Merdein wasn’t here with Eugene. It was true that there might be no one in this world who could actually replace someone like her, but Eugene hadn’t even thought of bringing another helper with him in her place.
Should she really consider a hatchling as something ferocious when it wasn’t even fully grown? Should she smother it with all her might before it could grow into a mighty dragon? But in the end, even if it was tuned up by its master, a familiar was still ultimately just a familiar.
And as for Kristina Rogeris, the Saint of this Era?
Certainly, Noir knew that she could no longer afford to look down on Kristina. When they had first met in the snowfield, it had not seemed like Kristina had anything that particularly marked her out as the Saint, but….
Perhaps it was because Kristina was influenced by the presence of the Hero, or it might have been thanks to her experience from taking part in the subjugation of a Demon King, but Noir could now sense a special kind of strength coming from Kristina that made it impossible to doubt that she was indeed the Saint.
“And if we’re not here to kill you?” Eugene asked. “What are you going to do then?”
Noir smiled, “We might be enemies, but that’s not all we are to each other, no? I happen to think that our relationship is a very special one. But honestly speaking, as long as the two of us try to end each other’s life someday… then it doesn’t matter what kind of relationship we have prior to that.”
‘A very special one,’ she said. Eugene clicked his tongue as he once again turned his head away from her.
“Right now, it would be impossible for me to kill you,” Eugene reluctantly admitted out loud.
“Hehe,” Noir giggled, feeling a mischievous sense of sadism at seeing his quiet acknowledgment.
To think that there would ever be a situation where Hamel would end up walking into the palm of her hand all on his own accord. If he had just accepted her previous offers to have fun, she could have given him all the fun he would ever want, but… Noir set such thoughts aside. Three hundred years ago, Hamel wouldn’t have had any reason to accept any of her offers, but now they weren’t in the middle of a war. Besides that, Noir had more important things to think about because this wasn’t just any ordinary city; this was Noir’s city.
“Welcome to Giabella Park!” Noir declared proudly.
This was the most luxurious city in all of Helmuth. A city where you could enjoy whatever pleasures or entertainment you desired, so long as you could pay the price that is.
The staff of Giabella Park would welcome all of the guests who came to them with a smile. Even if that guest was the Hero who someday intended to destroy this city. No, instead, that was even more reason why Noir, as the master of the city, should be the one to welcome Eugene with her brightest smile.
“What would you like to try first? The attraction that draws in the most people to this city is the casino, but I don’t really think you would enjoy visiting the casino all that much, Hamel…,” Noir trailed off just as she was chattering away, her gaze drifting to the side.
She had spotted Mer and Raimira, who were holding on tightly to Kristina’s hands while hiding behind the Saint. Noticing the youthful excitement in the eyes of the two girls, Noir gave them a wide grin.
“Young—” Noir began to speak, only to pause soon after.
Was it really appropriate to refer to these two as young children? Noir pondered that question for a moment before deciding that it would work as the two in front of her were children based on their outer appearance. She continued speaking..
“We also have many attractions for younger children. The motto of our Giabella Park is that we are a theme park that can be enjoyed by people of all ages,” Noir declared proudly.
Raimira and Mer swallowed involuntarily at the words ‘attractions for younger children.’ Noir spun around and strode over towards Kristina.
She didn’t just simply walk over though. As she approached, Noir’s loose-fitting gown began to cling to her body and then transformed into a completely different outfit. Noir’s clothing had become a colorful and fancy ball gown, like those worn by the princesses in Grimm’s fairy tales[1].
Click, click, click, click.
That was the sound that Noir’s new heels made with each step she took. As if showing it off, Noir blatantly pushed out her chest and glared down at Kristina when she reached them.
“...,” Kristina, as well as Anise inside of her, couldn’t help but glare back at Noir, who was still puffing out her chest, with a fierce look in their eyes.
If they truly wanted to compete with Noir’s blatant challenge, they didn’t think that they would lose, but what Noir was doing seemed so ridiculous that the choice didn’t appeal to the two Saints, not to mention Noir’s actions were so vulgar it just left them feeling irritated.
However…. apart from all of that, they couldn’t help but also feel intimidated. Noir’s purple eyes gave Kristina a frightening sensation. It was as if they wanted to devour the Saint’s entire existence.
“What is it?” Anise demanded, stepping to the forefront of their shared consciousness.
For some reason, Hamel was showing a strange reaction to this Queen of Sluts, but now wasn’t the time to ask the reason for that.
‘It couldn’t be…,’ Anise hastily tried to deny the first possibility that came to mind.
“I can’t think of anything in particular that you might want to see. But perhaps even someone like you might have a few secret desires?” Noir asked, her eyes shining with light.
Noir casually tried to reach beyond the surface of Kristina’s consciousness to skim her subconscious lightly, but she found that the Saint’s mental barriers were stronger than she had expected. Though just based on appearances, it seemed like there were some shady desires filling the depths of Kristina’s heart. Noir was certain that the day would come when she would expose the Saint’s secret desires.
“The Light is constantly illuminating both my body and spirit, so how could there be anything like secret desires hiding within me? If you don’t have any reason to keep looking at us, please step back or at least turn your head away. Noir Giabella, every time you open your mouth, the stench of dirty rags is so strong that I find it hard to breathe,” Anise said with a sneer.
Her rant had come out of seemingly nowhere.
Noir eyes widened into circles as she stared into Kristina’s face and gasped, “Oh my… there’s no way.”
Anise was also just as shocked, regretting the flood of words right after she had finished unleashing them.
‘Is it because she’s a clone of Anise?’ Noir wondered.
Noir had recognized the similarity between Anise and Kristina’s facial features right from the start, but she never would have imagined that their resemblance would go all the way to the sharpness of their tongue. No, perhaps Anise had also been reincarnated from the afterlife into Kristina Rogeris….
Noir sorted out her expression as she came up with various assumptions.
“Your words are so vulgar that they’re incomprehensible… I don’t even want to say anything in response,” Noir said in a huff before crouching down.
Noir did this in order to put herself on the same eye level as Mer and Raimira, who were still hiding behind the Saint.
At this move, Anise took a step back. In fact, what she actually wanted to do was to plant her knee in the center of Noir’s face as soon as she bent over, but Anise barely managed to hold back the urge to do so.
“Please do not get close to my children,” Anise and Kristina both said together in the same cold voice.
Noir raised a brow, “...Your children? Even though they’re not actually your children?”
“I said, don’t come any closer,” the Saints merely repeated their warning, ignoring Noir’s words.
Raimira was so moved by these words that tears began to well up in her eyes.
Although Raimira had always wanted to call Kristina her mother, she had never been able to bring herself to call Kristina that or ask for permission to do so. But to think that she would actually hear such affectionate words spoken directly by her adored Saint!
Even Mer, who was holding on to the Saint’s right hand, felt a similar surge of emotions to Raimira’s. Of course, she did have Sienna Merdein as a creator, but where in the world would you find a law that said someone could only have one mother? In some situations, it was normal to have two mothers. A mother who personally gave birth to you and another mother who breastfed you. As Mer had these thoughts, she tightened her grip on the Saint’s hand.
“I’m not going to do anything nasty to these two. I also happen to really like children,” Noir said as she raised her hand.
Whoosh!
From out a distorted area of space, a basket that wouldn’t appear out-of-place at a picnic suddenly appeared.
“Also, with these, I’m pretty sure these two will definitely take a liking to me, right?” Noir said confidently.
Noir reached in and pulled her hand out of the basket, and when her tightly clenched fist opened, two sparkling coins were lying in the palm of her hand.
“This is a coin which surpasses Giabella Park’s famous Special Coin, the Special Special Coin,” Noir revealed.
At the words, ‘Special Special,’ the two girls’ eyes widened in both shock and desire.
“Let me just say, this is a type of coin of which only two exist in the entire world,” Noir described seductively. “Though, of course, that’s only natural! After all, I personally made these coins specially for the two of you just now. Nothing is impossible with these Special Special Coins! Whoever has these coins is on the same level as a god here in Giabella Park!”
Anise frowned, “What kind of crazy—”
Noir interrupted her, “I’m just being generous. In any case, it’s not like you came here to try and kill me. Isn’t that right, Kristina Rogeris? If you really care about these children, you can’t just arbitrarily suppress their own desires and not let them do what they want.”
At these words, Anise furrowed her brow. Listening to the conversation from inside their shared consciousness, Kristina also couldn’t help but flinch.
For these two, who had been artificially molded into Saints, their childhood memories consisted solely of constant coercion and constraints. Never once had they been allowed to do what they wanted.
Noir, having clearly guessed what the past of these two Saints must have been like, let out a wicked smile.
“If you really want to make them go through the same thing that you experienced and hated, hehe, I suppose I can understand that,” Noir said with a giggle. “After all, most humans feel that it is unfair if they are the only ones to have experienced misfortune, so they end up creating a chain of tragedy by inflicting it on someone else.”
Anise growled, “You dare—!”
Right as Anise was about to spit out another torrent of verbal abuse, Eugene, who had been looking out the window, spoke up, “Let them take the coins. After all, it’s true that this city is well-run and a good place to have fun.”
“...Sir Eugene,” Anise said hesitantly.
“They should take the chance to have some fun before the city gets destroyed,” said Eugene.
After hesitating for a few more seconds, Anise let out a sigh.
She couldn’t help but sympathize with Eugene’s argument ever so slightly. Compared to any other city on the continent, there was no other city that specialized in providing entertainment like this one. When Eugene eventually came to kill Noir, this place — Giabella City — would definitely be turned into ruins.
“You can take those coins,” Anise conceded, letting go of the girls’ hands. “However, don’t say thank you to her.”
Mer and Raimira did as Anise had instructed.
Mer pridefully stuck her chin up as she snatched the coin from Noir’s hand with a disdainful sneer, “G-give it here!”
Although her chin may have been turned up, Mer couldn’t help that her eyes were sparkling and her voice was shaking.
Since Mer had already provided her with an example, Raimira also quickly mustered up her courage.
This was Duke Noir Giabella, the person whom she had admired ever since she was imprisoned inside the Dragon-Demon Castle…. To Raimiria, Noir might be an amazing female demonfolk whom she still aspired to like, but her admiration for Noir couldn’t exceed her admiration for the Saint.
“This lady will accept your tribute!” Raimira said as she quickly reached out and plucked the coin from Noir’s hand.
However, even after being treated with such disrespect, Noir’s smile didn’t disappear. As she raised her head once more, she twirled around while lightly holding on to the hem of her skirt.
“Although I feel like I would be happy if we could just fly around in the sky like this forever…,” Noir sighed as she looked at Eugene’s back, who was still glaring out the window. “But if I did so… I feel like I would have to give up a few of my other desires. Or perhaps, how about it? Why don’t you all get off first so Hamel and I can stay here alone?”
“Let’s head over there,” Eugene spoke up.
He pointed his finger at one of the buildings visible below. Just like Noir’s costume, it was a castle decorated with a colorful and elaborate exterior that made it look like something straight out of one of Grimm’s fairy tales.
According to the information he had read in the guidebooks on their way here, Giabella Park was divided into several sections based on different concepts. Although it was true that entertainment such as clubs, casinos, and other types of gambling venues could be found at the very center of Giabella Park, there was no shortage of other areas meant for families of tourists with young children.
“That’s Giabella Castle!” Raimira cried out as she rushed up to stand at Eugene’s side.
Belatedly realizing something, Raimira quickly turned her head to stare at Noir.
“That’s right!” Noir said proudly. “Currently, I am dressed as the beautiful Princess Giabella, who has been trapped in the highest tower of Giabella Castle!”
Each of the buildings in Fantasy Square, an area of the Park meant for children, had its own back story written in the guidebooks, but that hadn’t been of any interest to Eugene. However, Mer and Raimira, who had always wanted to go to Giabella Park someday, were well-versed in all of Fantasy Square’s backstories.
Far down below the floating Giabella-Face that they were in was the Giabella Castle which was the most luxurious hotel that could be found in Fantasy Square. At the same time, it was the center of all the attractions and backstories located within Fantasy Square.
Princess Giabella was said to have been imprisoned in the tallest tower of Giabella Castle, waiting for the Hero who would one day come to rescue her….
As such a cliche fairy tale ran through Mer and Raimira’s heads, the Giabella-Face was drawn closer to the castle Eugene had pointed out.
“I’ll give you the room on the top floor,” Noir offered. “It’s a secret room that not even one of the continent’s kings would be able to request.”
A secret room. Just how thrilling did those words sound? Mer and Raimira seemed like they were about to faint from excitement.
While examining their expressions, Noir expertly drew out the reactions that she desired, “Do you know what the room on the top floor means?”
Noir’s fingers snapped together, making a clicking sound. At this gesture, the surface of the large lake located in the garden of Giabella Castle began to tremble. The tourists who had been enjoying the lake’s various rides screamed in surprise, but instead of abating, the phenomenon occurring in the lake actually grew into a large whirlpool.
“It’s the Evil Dragon!”
“Kaikaria!”
Mer and Raimira shouted as a huge, black dragon’s head emerged from the whirlpool. It was obvious who the dragon was meant to be from its black scales alone, but Raimira didn’t seem to have recognized it.
Gaaaaah!
Flying out of the lake, Kaikaria breathed out flames as it climbed up to the tower.
“In this castle, there exist all kinds of dangers that threaten the kind-hearted princess…,” Noir narrated.
Boom! Boom! Booom!
The skies above the castle suddenly turned dark. Along with the sound of crackling lightning, a huge shadow was cast over the castle. The giant shadow was of a wizard wearing a large hat and holding a staff.
“It’s the Wicked Witch!”
“She-Whose-Name-Must-Not-Be-Spoken!”
The gender could be inferred through the shadow’s long, fluttering hair.
She-Whose-Name-Must-Not-Be-Spoken, huh…. Indeed, it would have been risky for Noir to caricature Sienna, who was admired by all of the wizards on the continent, in the same way she had Raizakia.
“The highest tower of Giabella Castle is where the princess, who is hiding from the courtship of the dragon and the jealousy of the witch, hides,” Noir revealed.
At some point, Noir had moved to stand behind Mer and Raimira.
She laid a hand on the two girls’ shoulders while whispering into their ears, “The fact that you two will be staying in that room means that you are the princesses trapped in the castle.”
Mer and Raimira both let out a scream of excitement at the same time.
1. The original Korean text actually uses the word Grimm, so we can just guess that maybe Eugene’s world also has fairytales written by individuals named Grimm. ☜