When Hayashi Maki came out again with Al—now completely dominated and back to his goofy self—Priscilla frowned.
"His arm is back… but what about his face?"
Al still had his helmet on.
Hayashi Maki shrugged casually. "His ugly mug is something he was born with. You can think of it as a kind of 'world blessing,' so there's no fixing it."
That, of course, was a lie.
He simply didn't want Al's face restored.
Anyone bold enough to lay a hand on him, with unknown motives and a body clearly tied to the world's rules… if Hayashi Maki didn't still need Al as a bridge to get closer to Priscilla, he would've reduced him to ashes on the spot.
And even now, after this, it would be easy enough to quietly erase him in a few days' time.
Al's identity was a mystery; likely connected to the dragon. His face resembling Natsuki Subaru's strongly suggested he was one of the clones of the sage, Flugel.
But once Hayashi Maki used Absolute Dominion, Al's head self-destructed—leaving him with no memories at all.
It was as if whoever created him deliberately built in a failsafe so no one could seize him and probe his memories.
Hayashi Maki didn't care about those memories.
He didn't care about the "truth" behind Flugel sealing the Witch centuries ago, either.
The moment he came to this world, its axis of rotation had already shifted to center on him.
Any traces that didn't belong would be completely overwritten by his magic.
So what he needed to do now was simple: fatten up the Axis Church, contract all the Royal Selection candidates one by one, and build an unseen empire ruling this other world from the shadows.
And along the way, the Witch Cultists—who'd stolen shards of the world's authority—would inevitably crawl out of their holes.
When they did, Hayashi Maki would just sweep them all up and reclaim those powers, then rebuild the world's memory corridor from the ground up.
Priscilla watched Al scratching his head, but didn't suspect anything.
Finding her cute, Hayashi Maki invited her for afternoon tea.
To sweeten the bait, he made sure to bring Beatrice along.
Priscilla simply couldn't resist cute things.
And Beatrice, this top-tier loli great spirit, was absolutely unique—pure, pretty, and almost unfairly adorable.
As a shameless face-con, Priscilla haughtily accepted his invitation.
…
He spent a very pleasant afternoon with Priscilla, then—acting the gentleman—escorted her back to her mansion gate.
And then promptly did something very ungentlemanly.
He suddenly slipped an arm around her slender waist and pulled her into his arms.
While Priscilla was still stunned, he stole her red lips again.
What infuriated her most was that after kissing her, he even had the nerve to say, all smug, "Thanks for the treat."
Priscilla immediately drew her blazing sword and attacked him in a fury.
But Hayashi Maki blocked every slash with casual ease.
You need strength to get away with being a scoundrel.
If you don't have the power to suppress the other side, groping and stealing kisses only ends with you dying horribly.
Hayashi Maki clearly had the necessary strength.
In the end, he walked away without a scratch.
Priscilla could only stomp back to her mansion, cheeks puffed with indignation.
How could such a shameless, lowly man exist?
Nobles at least pretended to care about dignity—this man had zero sense of shame!
He'd kissed her again.
Utterly outrageous.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got—her chest literally ached with rage.
And yet, she still couldn't do anything about him.
Fuming, Priscilla suddenly burst into laughter.
"Interesting… To dare treat me like that, Hayashi Maki, you're the only one."
As a woman who intended to become king, she had never once put any man in her eyes.
But Hayashi Maki… was a special case.
…
The rapid growth of the Axis Church provoked a wide range of reactions among the nobles of Lugnica.
The sages in the Sage Council raised formal questions.
Those protests vanished quickly.
Because the Axis Church had already taken root in the hearts of the commoners—recognized as a kind, trustworthy order.
What kind of church provides free healing on a daily basis?
And hands out food for free, too?
On top of that, the church also ran other businesses, offering paid work.
Joining came with benefits.
The slums were gradually turned into Axis Church bases. In just a few days, the shanties and ruinous alleys were gone—no more classic 'slum' feel at all.
All this also helped shift public opinion about Emilia.
The Sage Council had spent years preaching about the evil and madness of the Witch of Envy. Witch Cultists rampaged through every nation, destroying everything in their path. With Emilia looking so similar—silver-haired and half-elf—discrimination against her had always been strong.
But what do commoners really understand?
Unlike the face-obsessed, exploitative politicians and most corrupt nobles, ordinary people have very simple needs.
Whoever feeds them, keeps them healthy, and gives them stable jobs—that's who they support.
So Hayashi Maki made sure Emilia joined the high priest team, personally providing free treatment to the poor.
The "silver-haired half-devil" people muttered about…
Became the "silver-haired saintess."
Priscilla had the title of "Sun Princess."
With the right PR and real results that benefit the people, even "black" can be spun into "white."
Watching the Axis Church's explosive growth and the shift in Emilia's reputation, Roswaal's gaze turned increasingly complicated.
Hayashi Maki's arrival had altered many things—and at staggering speed.
For the first time, Roswaal seriously considered whether Hayashi Maki truly could achieve his dream.
Thinking this over, Roswaal suddenly announced that he'd be taking his leave.
He would go back to his own domain ahead of them, saying he was "worried about the territory."
Hayashi Maki suspected the man would head straight to Sanctuary and never come back.
Which meant Hayashi Maki would soon have to start conquering Sanctuary himself, in order to get closer to Roswaal's goal of reviving Echidna.
Even though he'd already guessed this, Hayashi Maki had no intention of stopping him.
Because this was something Emilia had to face.
As she was now—with her memories sealed—she wasn't complete.
Only when she regained her memories could she take out the key and open the sealed door.
The Witch Cult's top brass, the most mysterious witch—Pandora—had only one goal: whatever was behind that seal.
The original story never said what was sealed.
Only that Emilia was the key.
Hayashi Maki suspected that whatever lay behind that sealed gate was either the Witch of Envy's prison…
Or the entrance to the world's core.
Because this world's authorities had been split and stolen by all sorts of people, its "memory corridor" abused by the Witch Cult until it was full of cracks and on the brink of collapse.
So Hayashi Maki leaned toward the second possibility.
That so-called "seal" contained the world's core—the very thing Pandora desired.
Possessing the core would make her a god.
And in her hands, the power of the Witch of Vainglory—deceiving the world itself—would become the authority to change everything and create anything: a true god's power.