According to the laws of the genre, standard people who end up in fantasy worlds must be summoned from the real world by a gathering of ritualistic sorcerers, and they must be greeted by the golden-haired princess of the kingdom, the very one that is in trouble.
In real life, everything is not as we would like, but so far it is within the norm. Why is that? It's simple, the kingdom is in trouble, there is no threat from the Demon King yet, but he will appear soon, and no one called me. It just so happened that an army of dangerous heteromorphs ended up in a wonderful world, where their leader met a beautiful princess in trouble.
I met a truly attractive girl. A light smile, like a spring breeze. A calm gait and a complete absence of visible damage on her feminine body. This means that her detention in the cell was quite comfortable. Or she was quickly put in order so that she would not be ashamed to show to the guests. If the rumors about her genius intellect are true, then she is already aware of the events that took place. This is very possible. The same guards who were in the negotiation room followed her. And I am not talking about those who only ten minutes ago finished silently grumbling about mass paralysis. Those guys themselves deserved the fate of wiping the trampled floor with clean armor. At least they learned some politeness.
"I greet the noble Lord of Dawn, who restored justice," the princess greeted me as she approached, carefully lifting the hem of her light blue dress.
What can I say about her? The first impression is the most important, and the lady presented it beyond all praise. A young girl with stunning golden hair, creating the impression of a fragile beauty, which any self-respecting knight is obliged to protect. Perhaps this is how she avoided beatings "during and after" her imprisonment, another option is that the marquis and minor nobles had "special plans" for her. And they could have been despite the fear. What are her bright dark blue eyes worth, beautiful as sapphires in the sun. As for her face... It's hard to say, she seems to be an incredible beauty, but I've had enough of them lately. In short, her appearance is at the proper level, at which she will not stand out much among my servants. The same as all the others. Only creating the impression of a kind girl.
Only creating... The smile remained static from the moment it appeared. Curious... No, you need to be sure before jumping to hasty conclusions. There will always be time to come to them, and it is extremely undesirable to make annoying mistakes in such cases. Especially after the time spent arriving in the capital and resolving a significant part of the mess.
— The main thing is justice; it must prevail. For a long time, since the beginning of my adventures, I was told about good and bad things, and also told the difference between weak and strong people. Thus, the weak work for the benefit of the strong, but the latter, in turn, must protect them from adversity and threats from the outside, — the enthusiastic speech about justice was able to touch the hearts, but only my companions, since the nobles had not yet recovered from the shock of the marquis's revelations. Kurumi could barely hold back her laughter, and Ivilai raised her hands to her chest and clasped them in a lock, as if praying in a temple. The kindly smiling adventurers continued to listen to me, and it was clear from their eyes that my voiced motives were familiar and understandable to them. The same as their own. — Having learned about the misfortune in the palace, as well as the danger threatening the weak farmers, I had to intervene in the conflict that had arisen. I hope this won't bother you," I didn't even pretend to apologize, as always.
I guess for me, apologizing is as difficult as showing a sincere smile.
If I lose control, I might be able to, but I might regret it right away. As if apologies, pleas, and requests are taboo in my religion. Non-existent, but who knows, maybe I'll have to face true believers in countries, and then systematically change their religious vector somewhere else. Not necessarily to my own, but clearly under my control.
Religious wars are a tumor on the history of planet Earth.
But they are great at increasing the wealth and influence of all the organizers.
- Your words are the best I've ever heard, - still a static smile. The princess doesn't look like a psychopath, but... Usually people who don't look like psychopaths are psychopaths. They carefully hide their essence from other people, because they can be crazy, but not idiots who crave universal censure. Such loving criminals of society.
"Princess, you don't have to worry," Lakyus, who had been frowning at some of the nobles who had previously tarnished her reputation, joined the conversation. "Lord of Dawn, a reliable... person, even if he is still not very familiar with the laws and rules of the p... country," the girl hesitated, but quickly corrected herself.
"If my friend says so, then I'm ready to believe it," the blue-eyed beauty looked at the crystal ball in my hand, but she did it indifferently.
A minute, and her look resembles a person who clearly does not value her safety very much. And to smile in such a situation, well, let's say the princess is quite confident in her innocence. But there is such a big "but". Gazef was found alone in the matter, and Demiurge clearly sharpened him for a good result, and not for useless things with bloody drawings.
It's a bit complicated… It makes your brain boil or, as they say, "tremble".
And why isn't one of my additional classes, "Mad Scientist," leveled up to level 10? It unlocks some very useful skills that let you look directly at the essence of things based on the game description. But the debuffs there aren't sweet either, and I need common sense.
Message: "Kurumi, the time has come to..."
Message: "Kill them all?" - a short pause, during which I managed to turn my heavy gaze, hidden under the helmet, to her. - "Just kidding, I get it."
Time stood still in the negotiation room.
Manipulation of time and space is considered a formidable mystical art. For example, an ordinary knight can grow into a Sword God, but if he does not protect himself from temporis, all his skills and accumulated experience will go into the mouth of a volcano.
The time blocked in this area largely depends on Kurumi's ability to properly monitor mana consumption. If you use recovery potions and limit yourself to a little intervention, you can get stuck for a long time in the world hanging in the darkness. Darkness, that's a strong word. The world simply loses most of its colors, becomes, how can I put it correctly, nondescript or sandy. The space around me can be called sandy.
All the aristocrats hung in space in the poses they had before the spell was activated. Fortunately, Kurumi had done a good job and hadn't screamed, "Zafkiel." People would have given the girl strange looks after the time had been reversed, and I would have been ashamed.
- Well, well, I already wanted to kill everyone present. Why are we bothering with them? - Walking disgustedly among the aristocrats, the elegant Kurumi looked at the frozen figures of the two girls with a crooked smile. Lakyus almost put her palm on the princess's shoulder, as if in a calming gesture. And she good-naturedly lowered her chin, expressing gratitude to her "friend" in advance.
"My deputy and I have different views on how to conduct business," he answered vaguely, but nothing can be done. "We have to make some adjustments," I took an item to block the effect of time stop from my inventory. One of the most common items, since every player had one, so time stop was a balanced spell in the game.
"Different views? But then it's worth contacting him?" Kurumi suggested.
"I was overcome with a slight excitement," I admitted honestly. "Our plans are so similar, and so different…" for a moment my gaze caught on one of the ladies, who had an indecently envious look cast at the princess. "But you'll like it when the time comes, you'll see a grand performance."
"Are you planning to use the most powerful technology?" the girl's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"And borrowed money too, the scale is too demanding," he shared dreamily, which fueled Kurumi's interest.
If I calculated everything correctly, then I'll need super-tier magic, a powerful divine-rank magic amplifier, Rubedo's strong skill, and an hourglass. Next, I need to take care of the barriers, including my and Rubedo's skills and seven scrolls. I need barriers, and lots of them. I don't see the point in teleporting, I want to watch the result from the front lines. Oh, right, I still need to talk about Nazarick's agents, I don't want to lose them. They might still come in handy.
- Oh, I'm so excited, - her snow-white hands started patting me. - And when does it start? - How impatient.
- You see, - I gently took the princess's hand, lifting her wrist up. Time distortions began to occur in space, they always happen if you interfere with the course of things in frozen time. Probably, the expenditure of the ward's mana has increased several times now. - It's like a birthday present, you have to wait for it.
- And what will you give me? - the sly fox.
- You have it... - I thought, but my memory stores the approximate date of creation of each of the most important NPCs. - In seven months, so we'll have to be patient. It might even coincide with the beginning of the war of the four kingdoms, - I shrug.
- Will wait.
Having put the ring on the princess's thin finger, I brought her out of the time stop. Now there were three beings in the room who could influence the course of events. Then, as I had expected, my bet was on "red", and the dealer pointed to this color as the winning one. Renner quickly looked around with a static smile. She was surprised, but the smile...
"I am glad to welcome you to the world beyond time," he greeted his guest kindly. "Based on the information I have gathered, you are mentally unstable and a good actor. I am sure we have much to talk about - it is rare to find someone with whom you have so much in common.
"I don't understand…" she feigned mild fear and took a step back. Carefully taken so as not to touch the dress or trip.
- Your smile gave you away. You see, I am not capable of smiling for real. I have extremely weak control over my facial muscles. That is why I can say with certainty when a smiling person is wearing a mask - I spent so much time in front of the mirror, so I have a reference point. - The second point is related to the fact that you smeared the blood of your ancestors on the walls, which is very strange for a golden princess - and I come closer, clearly seeing that the girl's face has begun to return to a perverted norm. - And lastly, I try to trust my intuition. It simply screams about the kinship of our souls. If we still have a soul, of course.
How to describe the smile of a monster in the body of a fragile girl? Perhaps it is worth imagining a predatory sludge, a creature of the same race as Solution Epsilon. Sludge can maintain the image of a charming girl, causing excitement in any man. However, her true essence is completely different, as soon as such a heteromorph loses control over himself, as the appearance begins to distort, taking a little from a person and a predatory sludge at once.
Certainly, the result will be incredibly ugly in its essence, as ugly as the princess's wicked smile, whose face was distorted to a disgusting level. The eyes lost the color of life, and I saw how she showed her true face. You won't find this even in horror films on an otherworldly creature that was worked on by professional makeup artists.
"Since you know, you must understand," an icy voice, reeking of madness.
"This world, like my life, is not interesting to me," sounds like the beginning of a session with a psychotherapist.
Okay, I'll play this role too.
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