I did it! I earned 200 points!
Racing back toward the house where Theo was waiting, I couldn’t contain my joy and broke into a little hop. Quest cleared, zero casualties. Only the statue had been destroyed — everyone else was unharmed. By any measure, this was more than a success. It was a triumph.
On top of that, I’d gotten to see Damian in person — one of my favorite characters. Seeing him in the flesh, he was far smaller, rounder, and more adorable than any game illustration had suggested. Less the dignified prince I’d seen on screen and more the kind of small child that made you want to protect him. I’d been so worried he might get hurt that I’d even told him to be careful. And I’d been so taken by how cute he was that I’d called him “little one” without thinking… I hoped that wasn’t too impolite toward His Highness.
The problem had come after that. When Damian asked why I’d saved him, I’d been momentarily at a loss. Unable to think of a single thing to say, I’d turned the question right back around on him.
“What do you think?”
Damian had mulled it over for a moment and arrived at the optimal answer entirely on his own.
“You’re keeping me alive until I’m fully grown, and then when the time comes, you plan to offer my soul to the Demon King. A mature member of the imperial family would fetch a high price…!”
Wait, hold on. That makes me sound like a genuine monster. I was speechless again. But thinking about it more — it was actually a pretty convincing cover story. I steeled myself and declared “correct” with conviction, as though I’d meant every word.
Damian had looked at me the way you’d look at someone utterly beyond redemption. A gaze laced with fear. Being on the receiving end of that expression from a character I adored made something in my chest ache.
But what could I do. I had to commit to the villain role. All I could do was smirk the way a suspicious, slit-eyed character would.
I’m sorry, Your Highness. But this is what it took to save Theo….
I arrived at the house, breathing hard. Shane lived in a small log cabin set apart from everything else — low foot traffic, easy to overlook. Not a bad place at all for a demon Legion Commander doubling as a spy.
I dropped the Disguise skill and rushed straight inside to check on Theo.
He was alive. Alive, breathing in shallow, ragged little pulls. Clinging to the blanket with his small body, fighting to stay in the world with everything he had. The sight of it made my heart plummet.
I opened the shop and purchased the potion. Carefully, I tipped it into Theo’s lips as he hovered at the edge of consciousness. The effect was swift. His labored breathing evened out. The trembling that had wracked his body gradually stilled.
All the tension I’d been holding released at once. I sank into a chair and breathed out a long, slow sigh of relief.
Thank goodness…
And truly — thank goodness.
With the most pressing fire put out, the practical concerns came flooding in immediately.
Now what?
This role had always been meant for Lihen. Finding Theo, taking him in, raising him, and returning him to his place as the empire’s hero — all of it. But Lihen was… dead. Killed by me. Technically, it was Shane before the possession who had done it, but the outcome was the same either way. In this world, right now, there was no one else who could take Lihen’s place.
To put it plainly: I had to set Theo as my “companion,” invest the points I earned through quests, and raise his stats.
Thinking it through, this wasn’t actually such a bad deal. Yes, it was sad that the statue had been destroyed — but in exchange, I had saved Theo, the empire’s greatest hope and hero. Using infamy points to strengthen him was, from the perspective of the human faction as a whole, far more advantageous than anything else I could do.
Alright. First things first — register Theo as my companion.
No sooner had I thought it than a new system window appeared.
Notice: Only 1 companion may be registered.
Register “Theo” as your companion?
Yes No
I pressed “Yes” without hesitation.
“Theo” has been registered as your companion.
Good. Now let’s take a look at our hero’s current status.
Theo’s information window opened immediately.
Theo (Age 27)
Status Effects: Regression Curse, Amnesia, Ability Loss
Current Physical/Mental Age: 12
500p + 1 or more quests cleared → Age 15
1,000p + 2 or more quests cleared → Age 18
1,500p + 3 quests → Age 20
2,000p + 4 quests → Age 22
3,000p + 5 quests → Age 24
4,000p + 6 quests → Age 27
Running the numbers quickly in my head — bringing Theo back to twenty-seven would require a total of 12,000 infamy points. On top of that, I’d need to clear at least 21 quests in total. That was no small number. And I couldn’t pour every last point into Theo alone — if I wanted to keep handling increasingly difficult quests effectively, I’d need to invest in myself as well.
Raise my own stats. Upgrade my skills. Buy items. All of it had to run in parallel.
Just how much evil am I going to have to do….
The sheer amount of infamy I’d need to accumulate as a Demon Legion Commander, just to raise one imperial hero — it already felt like staring into an abyss.
Cough. Cough. A small sound cut through my thoughts. It was definitely Theo. I rushed over to the bed. Theo had opened his eyes and was looking up at me. His small lips moved weakly.
“Who… are you?”
“I — I’m….”
The name Shane rose all the way to the tip of my tongue. I swallowed it back down. There was no giving the name of a Demon Legion Commander. Something else slipped out before my brain could catch up.
“My name is Lihen.”
For a reflexive response, it was actually a solid choice. It was also the name I’d heard called most often when playing the game, so it felt natural on the tongue.
If I kept Lihen as my alias, I wouldn’t freeze up with a delayed reaction when someone called it. It would also prevent any unnecessary suspicion from cropping up just because I’d accidentally ignored my own name. And sharing a name with a well-known saint might even help me make a good first impression.
“I found you collapsed in the snow and brought you here. I’m so relieved you woke up. I was really worried.”
I continued in a gentle voice.
“What’s your name? How old are you?”
“My name is Theo, and I’m twelve. But—”
Theo opened his eyes wide and looked down at the clothes on his body. He was wearing the adult Theo’s large military uniform. It had seemed easier to explain things that way, so I’d only dried it before putting it back on him.
“What are these clothes?”
“I’m not sure either. You were already wearing them when I found you.”
Theo tilted his head and reached into the inner pocket of the uniform. His hand closed around something — a pocket watch. He read the flow of stars engraved on its surface, then went completely still.
“January 25th, Imperial Year 677.”
Golden eyes went wide and round.
“Year 677? Not 662? Then… I should be twenty-seven years old.”
The confusion showed plainly on his face. Theo struggled to breathe, clearly at a loss. I hurried to the kitchen and came back with a warm glass of milk.
“Here, drink this first. It’s alright.”
I wrapped his hands around the cup, then carefully broached the subject.
“I think you may have been cursed.”
“Does that mean I have to spend the rest of my life looking like a child?”
Theo’s voice wavered. I gently patted his back.
“No. If you eat well and sleep well, you’ll return to the way you were.”
I’ll work hard to collect the points and restore you myself — that part I kept only to myself.
“Is there anything you remember about your family?”
Of course I already knew the answer. But I still had to ask.
“No. I’m an orphan. My parents were killed by demons when I was nine.”
“Ah….”
A short, quiet sound escaped me. Reading it as a line of throwaway dialogue in a game was one thing — hearing it spoken aloud was another weight entirely. The fact that demon blood ran in my veins felt, in that particular moment, unusually heavy.
I made my offer carefully.
“If you’re alright with it — would you like to live with me? Until the curse is lifted, I’d like to look after you. I don’t have any family either. I feel like saving you the way I did must mean something.”
It was the truth. Back in my original world, I had no family. This was also, separate from the disorientation of the possession itself, why I felt no particular urgency about returning — no desperate need pulling me back.
Some friends might look for me, perhaps. I’d never lacked for people around me. But there wasn’t a single person I had truly given my heart to.
“I suppose Lihen was lonely too….”
Theo sipped the milk, thought it over carefully, and then gave a firm, decisive little nod.
“Yes. Let’s live together. Thank you so much. I look forward to getting to know you!”
“I look forward to it too.”
I placed my hand on that small head. Soft golden hair slipped between my fingers.
You precious little thing. Alright — for now, I’m your temporary guardian. I’m going to raise you properly.
Just then, the communication orb hidden in my pocket gave a faint, low hum. It was Kairos.
“Get some rest now. Sweet dreams.”
I tucked the blanket all the way up to Theo’s chin, then slipped quietly into the next room. I latched the door firmly, just to be safe, and took out the orb. A tap of my fingertip set its pearl-like surface shimmering, and an image formed in the air.
It was Kairos — 1st Legion Commander and Shane’s half-brother.
“You really made quite the spectacle, didn’t you?”
He smirked, the corner of his mouth twisting.
“You’ve got a surprising talent for stirring people up. The prince in particular looked genuinely terrified.”
Damian… was that scared. I’d tried to be reasonably pleasant about it, but I suppose it didn’t help much. Sorry. I offered an apology in my heart that would never reach him.
Kairos shifted topics abruptly.
“You understand why it matters to shake the humans — to plant fear in them, don’t you?”
I produced my answer smoothly, as though it had been prepared in advance.
“Of course. In order for the Demon King to awaken, a sufficient number of souls must be offered as tribute. If humans are pushed to the physical brink of death, or their mental fortitude is weakened to an extreme degree, it becomes possible to extract their souls and present them as offerings. That is why it matters to embed everyday fear into humans — to erode their spirit.”
Every word that came out of my mouth was a verbatim recitation of the tutorial explanation I’d seen countless times. Kairos gave a satisfied nod.
I actually had a certain appreciation for this “soul offering” system of the world. When the awakened Demon King was re-sealed, all the souls that had been offered as tribute would return to the empty shells of their bodies. In other words — even if someone had lost someone precious to them, winning in the final chapter could reverse it. The physical vessels just needed to be kept intact in the meantime.
Even if, as a Demon Legion Commander, the unavoidable day came when I had no choice but to offer up innocent souls… as long as I raised Theo properly and defeated the Demon King, everything would be restored.
Not offering souls at all was obviously the ideal — but there might be circumstances where it couldn’t be helped.
When I’d played through the evil route, soul offerings had yielded infamy points ranging from a minimum of 10p to a maximum of 500p, depending on the value of the soul. If that system applied in this world too, it would serve as a useful emergency measure when points were desperately needed. Not that I had even the slightest intention of offering up innocent citizens’ souls indiscriminately, of course.
“Then I’ll give you your next assignment.”
“Of course. Just say the word, hyung.”
I smiled pleasantly and waited for Kairos’s order.
“Burn down the Temple of Repinal.”
A familiar quest window appeared before me.
<Main Quest>
Set Fire to the Temple of Repinal
Time limit: Within 72 hours
Success: Infamy points +700p
Failure: Kairos’s irritation
I just destroyed the statue today, and now he wants me to burn down the whole temple? What on earth did he do to make an enemy of the goddess?
Of course I couldn’t say any of that out loud. I was still smiling pleasantly. My facial muscles may have twitched — just slightly.
700 points…
The calculator in my head started running at full speed.
500 points go toward Theo — get him to age fifteen first. The remaining 200 I’ll put toward myself. With my current stats, my limitations are too obvious.
The issue was the method. I’d need to get all the priests out before burning the temple down. No casualties. It looked like I’d have to pull something similar to last time. The same approach: induce enough fear that they’d flee on their own.
In that case, how should I…
The answer came to me faster than expected. I almost wondered — could I actually have a talent for playing the villain? The thought was absurd enough to make me laugh.
