Mikaela rode the horse at full gallop. Unable to make loud noises, she could only urge it on by squeezing the horse’s flanks with the heels of her shoes.
In her arms slept a young child who still smelled of milk. The fingertips gripping the reins began to turn purple, and her vision was blurring. Her back was already damp with cold sweat. From ahead came the cries of magical beasts, and from behind, the shouts of knights.
Mikaela roughly bit her lower lip. The magical lights pursuing her from behind seemed like torches held by messengers of hell.
The Black Forest.
That was the name of this place. Though it was called by various names like ‘Forest of Death’ and ‘Cursed Forest’ due to its gloomy atmosphere filled with jet-black leaves and branches, to Mikaela, who had begun hunting here from the moment she started walking, it was like her front yard.
Mikaela’s parents had abandoned their newborn baby in the hunter’s village in the Black Forest. In this forest full of high-level monsters, the baby hadn’t cried and had stayed quietly still as if hiding itself, and when day broke, Mikaela was taken in by the chief of the hunter’s village. From the moment she started crawling, Mikaela had roamed the Black Forest, and when she began to walk, she set traps in the Black Forest.
Mikaela leaped down from the horse and urged it to run far away. Thanks to the sound of hoofbeats, she could deceive them for a little while. To shake them off, this place was the best option.
Yes. The Black Forest was like Mikaela’s front yard. That’s why Mikaela already knew the truth of this forest as well.
‘The forest where a demon was sealed’
The innermost part of the forest, a place that even the hunter’s village didn’t seek out, where knights and mages didn’t come. There stood a massive tree so large that even five or six adults with arms outstretched couldn’t encircle it.
A small gap between the trees that large people or those wearing armor couldn’t pass through. Squeezing through it while holding the child,
“Ah.”
Mikaela let out a small sigh.
Inside the tree was a space about the size of a small cabin, and on the floor was a round, complex magic circle with sacred stones embedded here and there.
Scattered atop it were large jewels that people blinded by greed must have offered, now rolling over tree roots, having lost their color and turned black.
Of course, even gathering all the gold and treasures in the world couldn’t awaken ‘him’.
A very long time ago. That is, before the purification of this land by Stella, the eternal founding deity and hero of the Stellarunpie Empire, this place had been a land full of blood and slaughter, ruled by terrible monsters called magical beasts from the demon realm and the demons who controlled them.
However, the hero Stella, daughter of god, punished them with the power of magic, killed the magical beasts, and drove the demons back to the demon realm.
But even the great magic swordsman Stella couldn’t drive out all the demons. Those born with great strength, those who had killed too many humans and absorbed their power—these she absolutely could not drive out with her power alone, and only with the help of Luna, her sibling who was a priest, could she barely seal them inside sacred ancient trees.
And one of the sacred trees that sealed such demons was right here, in the Black Forest.
Mikaela raised her head to look at the man kneeling in the center of the magic circle with his head bowed, bound in restraints. Shackles embedded with mana stones were fastened to the man’s neck and limbs.
Mikaela carefully took the child from her arms and set her down in front of the man. The child, put into a deep sleep by magic, curled up her body while making small sleeping sounds.
What ‘he’ wanted was only one thing.
This was truly the limit now. Blood clots surged up in her mouth. Hot liquid flowed from her nose and ears, and one eye began to lose its sight. Mikaela fumbled with her hand that wouldn’t move properly and pulled out an object she had placed further inside than the child.
The moonlight seeping slightly through the gap in the tree illuminated the blade of the dagger coldly. In the blade was reflected a brave hunter with dark brown hair and green eyes, and Mikaela raised the dagger high.
When the moonlight was covered by clouds and then emerged again, Mikaela was curled up beside the child, and the dark purple-tinged blood from the poison seeped between gold, jewels, and pearls, beginning to destroy the magic circle.
“My child… please… raise her well.”
In the darkness, the man slowly opened his eyes. The upright eye shape when closed now sharply lifted. Red irises. Cold red eyes indicating he was a demon glinted in the darkness.
Yet those eyes, which should clearly be objects of fear, somehow seemed more innocent and kind than anyone else’s to Mikaela, and he let out a sigh of relief.
<The price is your life. State your name, contractor.>
“Mikaela. This baby’s name is Estella.”
<Good. I am the being closest to destruction and death. Demon…>
[Please enter your name]
[ ]
“Wait. The demon route…”
I muttered after watching the tutorial that had appeared before my eyes like a 4D video, with no way to skip it.
“Why is it so bleak…?”
I tore at my hair. The identity of the people chasing Mikaela wasn’t revealed, but I cautiously guessed they might be the ‘Princess Faction’.
The ‘Princess Faction’ was the faction on the side of ‘Elisia Jen Runpie’, the Emperor’s younger sister.
The current Emperor was a bastard son born not to a noble-born empress but to a commoner-born concubine, and in fact didn’t have the right to succeed to the throne.
However, the previous Emperor—that is, current Emperor Kalian’s mother—only had two children. The only child born to her legitimate husband, the previous Empress ‘Elizer Baston’, was Princess ‘Elisia Jen Runpie’, and when the previous Emperor died of natural causes, Elisia was just a baby who had barely passed her first birthday.
Inevitably, the 15-year-old Prince ‘Kalian du Runpie’, who bore the middle name ‘du’ instead of ‘Jen’ which was given to children born to the Empress, became Emperor.
Naturally, there were those who opposed his accession, asserting Kalian’s legitimacy, but Kalian purged them all and ascended to a throne soaked in blood. Though not openly displayed, it was also a warning to the Princess Faction members who were displeased with his accession.
Perhaps because he had ascended to the throne with such difficulty and wanted to pass down ‘Jen’ to his own child, the Emperor, despite opposition from countless nobles including Count Baston’s family, elevated the commoner Mikaela to Empress and gave his daughter born to Mikaela the name ‘Estella Jen Runpie’.
I lowered my head to look at the child sleeping peacefully.
“My goodness…”
I unconsciously muttered and covered my mouth. As if she had popped out of a game. No, rather I had entered into the game.
Anyway, her platinum blonde hair that shone like the sun and snow-white cheeks were doll-like. Her peach-colored pink cheeks also looked soft and squishy, and her long eyelashes were like some baby angel appearing in a masterpiece painting.
But from Count Baston’s family’s perspective, even such a cute child was nothing but a thorn in their side. If only Estella didn’t exist, they could pressure the Emperor to appoint Princess Elisia as Crown Prince and seize the Emperor’s power again, so it was only natural.
This was the basic setting, and the game began when they actually attempted rebellion, Mikaela died, and Estella fled outside the imperial capital.
The process of meeting Estella varied depending on my profession—it was typical for the game to start with Mikaela entrusting Estella to a scholar researching in a remote place, a traveling spirit summoner, a retired knight, a mage living alone, a wandering hunter, etc. If you chose the mercenary profession, the game started when you helped the fleeing Mikaela and saved Estella.
I let out a sigh. Not only was this a route I was experiencing for the first time, but moreover, Mikaela hadn’t simply entrusted the child to me normally—she had attempted a contract with me at the cost of her own life. Even the current situation was hard to understand, so would I even be able to clear this game…?
[Please enter your name]
[ ]
I raised my heavy head to look at the window before my eyes. The thought that lifting my hand to type my three-character name could be such a difficult task made me let out a bitter laugh.
[Kim Isu]
[You are the demon ‘Kim Isu’, an existence that feeds on people’s hatred and fear. Please check your class characteristics so you can proceed with the game without inconvenience]
When I pressed the “Check Class Characteristics” button below the window, a window appeared in front of me.
[Demon]
– An existence that feeds on people’s hatred and fear
– Possesses physical conditions far superior to humans.
– Can command magical beasts.
– Check after completing quest.
– Check after completing quest.
When I closed the window and checked the status window that appeared next to it, I could properly confirm that a demon’s physical condition was superior, just as the class characteristic description stated.
There were a total of 7 stats displayed in the status window.
2 physical stats: stamina and swordsmanship; 3 ability stats: mana utilization, intelligence, and nature affinity; and 2 mental stats: dignity and mental strength.
The maximum was 100, and considering that an average human’s stats were around 20, most of my stats exceeded that by several times.
[Beginning main story progression]
When I closed my eyes from the sudden gust of wind that came with the explanation and opened them, I saw a fallen woman with brown hair. The dagger stuck in her chest was shining coldly, and the flowing blood was soaking the floor. Her pale face and stiff body looked rigid. With the contract with the demon, the breath of life had long since been extinguished.
“Urgh…”
I covered my mouth and turned my head. The long black hair swayed annoyingly. The restraints that had been wrapped around my wrists and ankles came loose and scraped the floor along with the connected chains. The clinking, bitingly cold sound brought me to my senses.
I followed the faint moonlight visible before my eyes, grabbed the child close, and dashed forward. I endured the nausea that seemed ready to come out until I barely passed through the narrow gap in the ancient tree and completely emerged outside where a bitterly cold wind was blowing.
“Damn it.”
Even while watching the tutorial, it had just felt like watching a 4D movie. I had been observing Mikaela’s death from a completely detached space.
But now it was different.
The forearm that had been scraped while coming out of the ancient tree stung. Cold wind struck my face, and the fishy smell of blood filled the inside of the ancient tree so that I couldn’t even breathe properly. Above all, the warm body temperature of the child in my arms told me:
This isn’t an unpleasant dream, and it’s not a game where you sit still tapping on a computer keyboard. You’re in a ‘reality’ where people really die.
I closed both eyes.
I understood what I had to do now. I turned around and picked up a fireball, one of the magic scrolls provided to all players at the start of the game.
[Item. Magic Scroll – Low-Grade Fireball]
– When the user tears the scroll and thinks of a desired target, a fist-sized fireball is launched at that target.
I stood facing the ancient tree while holding the magic scroll. I felt the slightly rough texture of paper at my fingertips. When I tore the scroll with both hands, the magic scroll turned to gray ash and scattered into the air.
“Fireball.”
Among the completely black trees, fire caught on the sacred ancient tree that had been withered to pure white. The fire quickly burned the base of the tree and climbed up wrapping around it, finally beginning to burn even the branches.
I pressed on the item window visible in the right corner of my vision along with the status window and clicked “Equip” under “Ordinary Leather Hood”, one of the basic items provided to players.
I held Estella in one arm and brought up the map. Going straight south would lead to Marquis Filipa’s territory. After hesitating for a moment, I kicked off the ground hard.
“Ah…”
Feeling my body was too light, I ended up lightly jumping onto a large branch of the tree right next to me and swayed while catching my balance. It was my first time experiencing something like this, but I had no time to pay attention to such things.
Worried that I might have made the child uncomfortable by staggering, I lifted the hood slightly to check on Estella.
I awkwardly moved my arms this way and that, fumbling. It was my first time in life holding a five-year-old child. The young child was smaller, warmer, and lighter than I thought.
Whether Estella knew about this situation or not, she didn’t cry and stayed quietly in my arms. Golden long eyelashes cast shadows over her snow-white face. Dreaming of something, Estella frowned, mumbled with her lips, then leaned her face against my shoulder.
The smell of milk wafted. It was the scent of peace that didn’t match the Black Forest where cold night air and the cries of beasts could be heard from far away.
“Alright. Since it’s come to this, I’ll make you Emperor.”
I muttered while carefully readjusting Estella in my arms.
