There’s Still a Long Way to Go

But neither Vivian nor Carol made the first move.

In the end, it was Carol who first relaxed her stance.

“Forget it. It’s not worth the loss to fight you here.”

Carol shook her head.

“After all, what I hope for more is that you can give birth to this child safely.

Otherwise, I’d be short one subject for observation.”

With that, she raised her hand and tossed an item toward Vivian.

Vivian caught it instinctively.

Taking a look, she found it was a badge—engraved on it was a leaf of black and gold, its pattern exceptionally intricate and exquisite upon closer inspection.

“This is my Grand Necromancer’s emblem. If you ever need me for anything, feel free to contact me.”

With that, Carol seemed about to leave.

“Wait.”

“Hm? What is it, a change of heart? It’s not too late.”

Vivian suddenly called out to stop Carol, who seemed a little surprised by this, a smile returning to her face.

“No. I just want to ask, Lucia… is she really dead? How did she die?”

Clutching the emblem in her hand, she inspected it and found that apart from a long-distance communication magic formula, there was nothing else.

Only then did she put it away safely and look up at the other woman to ask.

“I didn’t expect you to care so much about Lucia. I thought you would only hate her—after all, she’s the one who made you the only Demon Lord to be captured alive.”

The Grand Necromancer tilted her head, filled with a girlish curiosity.

“…”

Vivian simply kept a cold face and said nothing.

After all, she didn’t really have that much hatred for Lucia.

Being spared was good enough.

“Lucia wanted to replicate the beheading tactic she used on you before, to go and behead the 【Demon Lord of Falsehood】.

As it turned out, the other Demon Lords weren’t stupid.

At the call of the Demon Emperor, they set an ambush for Lucia.”

Carol paused, looking at Vivian with great interest, and continued.

“A total of four Demon Lords—【Falsehood】, 【Abyss】, 【Spite】, and 【Soulbinder】—joined in the siege against Lucia.

Except for the Grand Sage in her party and the Gilded Hero providing cover on the periphery, all other personnel were killed in action.”

“…Is that so?”

Vivian was silent for a moment.

Of course, she, Vivian, the Demon Lord of Evernight, wasn’t the only Demon Lord.

Generally speaking, as long as one’s strength met the standard, there could be many Demon Lords.

The strongest and most mysterious was the Demon Emperor.

Above that were the gods, beings beyond the reach of mortals.

But regardless, her peers had taken out Lucia, and she would have to return to that circle of demons.

Wandering around outside with a child didn’t seem very safe.

“Rest assured, I will keep your matter a secret.”

Carol chuckled lightly, and at the same time, her body began to rapidly disintegrate, turning into withered branches and rotten leaves, visibly wilting and withering into flying ash.

“I don’t want this child to die an early death either—don’t disappoint me, Demon Lord of Evernight.”

“We will meet again sooner or later. After all, we… have a long way to go.”

With that, in the final second before she vanished, Carol gave Vivian a charming smile.

‘…Who is she trying to seduce? So hard to guess.’

Vivian looked at Carol’s final disappearing visage, and her mind couldn’t help but replay the last words she had said.

She felt a little disoriented.

But it had to be said, there were some advantages to becoming a woman after transmigrating.

At the very least, her resistance to other women had increased considerably.

As the ancients said, lust is a knife hanging over one’s head.

If she were a man, she definitely wouldn’t have been able to withstand it.

This Carol was obviously a bad woman at a glance, one you absolutely couldn’t get too close to.

As for Lucia… well, it seemed she wouldn’t have lost out whether she was a man or a woman.

‘But… Lucia, did you really die just like that?’

Vivian lowered her head, her mind involuntarily recalling the silver-haired girl.

She was so powerful and confident.

When she was defeated and kneeling on the ground, Vivian had looked up at the original chosen one and thought—was there anything she couldn’t solve?

Was there anything she couldn’t defeat?

In the end, was she felled by a mere siege of four Demon Lords… or was it more than just four Demon Lords?

Were there more hidden details?

And by now, Vivian had a rough idea of the time she was in.

It was roughly at the very beginning of the game’s world view.

How ironic. The game had just begun, and the game’s intended protagonist, the chosen one, the strongest Hero who was supposed to lead countless players forward to open dungeons, had just died so inexplicably.

‘Thinking about it, something feels off.’

Vivian stroked her chin.

The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

If Lucia didn’t know it was a trap, how could she have notified the Gilded Hero, Anis, to come back and save her, Vivian, before the battle even began?

And who made her do that?

The Lucia in the game was supposed to attack the demon territory step by step, subjugating the Demon Lords one by one.

Otherwise, Vivian wouldn’t have been so panicked when Lucia stormed her gates.

Who made her carry out such a radical beheading operation?

It was too strange.

If she had the chance, she must have a good talk with Anis, and that sole surviving Grand Sage… very suspicious.

After Carol had been gone for a while, Vivian ended her thoughts and waved at the empty air beside her.

“Alright, Luna, you can stop hiding.”

“Huh!”

With Vivian’s words, the little succubus appeared beside her with a pop.

“L-Lady Demon Lord, what was with that elf just now?”

Luna looked at the spot where Carol had just been with lingering fear and asked with some curiosity.

“That was Carol, the Grand Necromancer from the Elven Empire. All I can say is, it’s a good thing we didn’t fight her.”

After a sigh of relief, Vivian gave a simple reply.

“Th-the Grand Necromancer!?”

Luna was shocked.

“Isn’t she the most mysterious priest of the Elven Empire?

Eternal death, the complete opposite of the flow of life… How could she be here?”

“Good question. I’d like to know too.”

Faced with Luna’s exclamation, Vivian shook her head with a wry smile.

“Let’s keep moving. We’ll be reaching the core battlefield area soon. Remember to go invisible in advance if you encounter anyone.”

“Yes, Lady Demon Lord.”

Vivian took a deep breath and continued forward.

‘I hope everything goes smoothly.’

The upcoming area would be filled with all sorts of powerful individuals, regular armies, and adventurer parties.

It would be great if they could smoothly pass through this battle zone and enter the territory controlled by the Demon Clan.

And before long, Vivian ran into another group of people.