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[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
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Chapter - 2: Inheriting the Family
“This macho man is an illusion created by your magic, Young Master?”
“Yeah. More precisely, it’s linked to your mind.”
“Then your preference for macho men must be…”
“Shut up if you don’t want to see Gigachad doing the Zero Two dance.”
“I was talking about my preferences.”
-“Oh! Looks like Kappy’s fallen for the muscles of this Fucking Lion like Gigachad! Now we begin your Hard Training!”
I tossed her a gold coin as she silently filled her head with swear words.
Kanaria caught the coin in her mouth and quietly resumed listening.
“The goal is to make this illusion so convincing that you start to believe it’s your inner self.”
“…Then wouldn’t it be more effective if it looked like me? This form seems kind of… unrelated.”
It was a reasonable point.
Gigachad was supposed to be a projection of one’s inner self—an embodiment of the ego.
With its exaggerated hyper-masculinity, the illusion seemed way too different from the person it represented.
But that very disconnect was what made it convincing.
“Kana.”
“Yes?”
“If a short and overweight person started preaching the importance of self-care and exercise, how do you think people would react?”
“Hmm…”
After a brief pause, she seemed to understand.
“I get it. The point isn’t just deception, it’s the message. The appearance emphasizes the message.”
“You’re a sharp one.”
“Thank you.”
Gigachad is the idealized inner self.
A manifestation of the Superego.
The Superego is rational, disciplined, action-oriented, and masculine.
Gigachad must be powerful enough to overwhelm the current self.
That’s the only way it can drive transformation.
“He’s like a teacher. A drill instructor meant to force growth through internal confrontation.”
“Understood.”
“Gigachad will understand what you long for, what you avoid, and what you admire. It'll use all that to push you toward becoming stronger.”
“Just imagining that is exhausting.”
“Change always comes with exhaustion.”
“As do gold coins.”
Kanaria smiled slyly, fiddling with the coin I had thrown her.
“Just leave it to me. I will work hard for your magical research.”
It was a greedy smile.
But it felt trustworthy.
.
.
.
Kanaria was the perfect lab rat.
She was worldly enough to be practical, bold enough to handle the absurd, and smart enough to grasp the core of any issue right away.
“Every time I wake up, I get startled seeing Gigachad in the corner of my vision.”
“I’ll adjust it so he doesn’t appear during sleep.”
“He tends to speak too positively. I think it’d be more effective with a bit of tough love.”
“Fair point. A proper teacher should know how to deliver a harsh truth.”
“The muscles twitch too much. It’s… unsettling.”
“Endure it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Even as she fully cooperated with my bizarre experiment, she never once asked about the purpose or application of the magic.
As long as she got paid in gold, she probably wouldn’t bat an eye if I summoned a demon.
“He repeats the same phrases too often. It might help if he used more vivid analogies or referenced some classic literature.”
“Kana.”
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you curious why I’m developing this magic?”
“I am.”
“Then why haven’t you asked?”
“Didn’t you say at the beginning, ‘If I say jump, you jump’?”
“Right.”
I guess I did say that.
Her blind loyalty to her master was another check in her favor.
It might be time to finally explain the true purpose of this magic.
“I developed this spell to prevent the end of the world.”
“I see.”
“This world is going to be destroyed within a few years.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“I also know that you’re an assassin disguised as a maid sent here to kill Duke Nosferatu.”
The moment the words left my mouth.
I felt a sharp pain prickling at my neck.
Kanaria’s dagger was already pressed against my throat.
A single drop of blood slid down the blade.
The loyal maid being a secret assassin? Total cliché.
“How did you know?”
"I know the future."
Kanaria's expression twisted.
She thought I was mocking her but I was only telling the truth.
"You can’t stab me. The moment you kill me, your chance at revenge against Duke Nosferatu disappears."
"……."
Kanaria wouldn’t stab me.
I’d been steadily feeding her the emotion of ‘hesitation’ via telepathy.
Just buying myself a few extra seconds.
"But if you promise to help me..."
I jumped in with an offer before her hesitation could fade.
An offer so sweet it couldn’t be refused.
"I’ll help you kill Duke Nosferatu."
"How exactly?"
"You already know."
In that moment, hundreds of Gigachads appeared.
A hallucination so vivid, she could almost feel the heat radiating off their flexing, writhing muscles even if she knew it was fake.
It was the same hyper-realistic illusion magic she’d been experiencing for the past several weeks.
"Isn’t this enough to drive someone completely insane?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Let’s deal with the Duke first."
.
.
.
The House of Nosferatu was the Empire’s most notorious family of assassins.
There were too many people with a grudge against the Duke to count.
Even those without personal grudges kept their guard up around him.
That included the Duke’s Vassals.
Around him were nothing but jackals, waiting for the smallest slip-up so they could sink their teeth into his back.
So I created an opening.
The moment Duke Nosferatu lost his grip on reality, I seized the chance to lead the vassals.
"Now I am inheriting the family, Father."
Thanks to my perk that allowed me to read minds, I filtered out the few loyal vassals from the backstabbers.
"Congratulations on inheriting the title of Duke."
"I’m just lending them the name. The vassals are the ones who’ll be running the territory."
"I never imagined that bastard would break so easily. What did you do to him?"
"I showed him dozens of Gigachads hallucinations every night."
"Wow. I suddenly feel sorry for the guy."
"Yeah?"
"Just kidding. That was incredibly satisfying."
Even though he was my biological father, I didn’t feel a shred of sympathy.
Duke Nosferatu was a corrupt noble with more blood on his hands than one could count.
Even in ‘Endless’, several characters had lost their families, and their lives were destroyed thanks to him.
Kanaria’s family was also wiped out because of Duke Nosferatu’s tyranny.
“I do regret that bastard died too soon. I wish he had met an even more horrific end.”
“More horrific than being raped by macho men, having your family taken by your possessed son and betrayed by the vassals you trusted before dying?”
“Now that I think about it, that’s probably enough.”
I chuckled and tossed a gold coin to Kanaria.
She caught it in her mouth.
Since her family was wiped out and her parents had died, she’d lived a life of poverty, which made her obsessed with money.
Having once been nobility, the contrast must have been especially hard for her to bear.
After pocketing the coin, she asked politely.
“But… Why did you decide to help me kill Duke?”
“I promised to tell you everything once you helped me kill my father.”
Alright. Where should I start?
I didn’t need to explain that this world was a game because she wouldn’t understand.
“I know the future.”
“…….”
“And this world will be destroyed within a few decades.”
“Destroyed…?”
Instead of answering, I smiled and activated my ‘High-Performance Telepathy.’
At maximum strength.
The surroundings dissolved like bubbles popping, each one carrying a mournful voice, cursing the world.
-“I want to live... I don’t want to die...”
-“Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
-“Today was a lucky day.”
- "If you don't hesitate to kill bad people… fix what's wrong and help people… a better world will surely come."
These were the dozens of endings that had crushed me countless times.
Endings where all beings turned to corpses under the witch’s curse, and a celestial god descended and shattered the world into pieces.
Various moments of destruction that were sometimes vain, sometimes absurd.
The unavoidable future of annihilation was displayed before Kanaria’s eyes through telepathy.
I used all that bad future as the background.
I smiled and whispered, like a mastermind who had sweated blood to bring about this destruction.
My voice was soft but crystal-clear through the power of telepathy.
The bubbles that had shown the future of ruin joined in a chorus.
“The moment the triggers of destruction die, the world will be destroyed.”
The witch destroyed the world.
One bubble popped in emptiness.
“If the triggers of destruction are not killed, the world will be destroyed.”
The hero destroyed the world.
Another bubble melted away, vanishing without a trace.
“Because of mercy, because of no mercy.”
The saint who prayed for salvation.
“Because of turning a blind eye to injustice, because of not turning a blind eye to injustice.”
A girl hated by everyone.
“The world will be destroyed.”
She destroyed the world.
One by one, the bubbles dissolved into the surrounding scenery and vanished.
“There’s only one way to stop the destruction.”
The whisper softened into a gentle and delicate voice.
The content of that voice was just as trivial as its softness.
“To stop the triggers of destruction… using the power of the Gigachad.”
The future of the world hangs on a ridiculous macho man.
It’s absurd but this world is destined to be destroyed for absurd reasons anyway.
It’s okay if the way to stop the destruction sounds a little foolish.
“To save the world, we need the Gigachad. I want you to be the helper who stops the destruction.”
“But… I don’t know how I can help. Can I make a difference in something so big?”
“Ah.”
You absolutely will.
You’ll be a huge help.
“Only a woman understands a woman’s heart.”
“Huh?”
“Many of the triggers of destruction are girls.”
Yeah. That’s unfortunate.
In my past life, I was a lifelong solo!
“What does that….”
“One gold coin.”
“I’m an expert on women’s hearts. The other maids come to my room every night for relationship advice."
So transparent. So obvious.
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[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
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