This Is Obviously the Most Efficient Way
No matter how you looked at it, taking His Highness’s hand here was the “wise way to live,” right?
“Yes, truly… it’s a wonderful proposal, to the point that there’s no room for objection.”
I curled my lips into a grin.
I didn’t even need a mirror to know.
Right now, I must have been wearing the most calculating, wickedly cute smug face imaginable, one so devilish that even demons would run away barefoot.
Gash.
Without the slightest hesitation, I firmly grabbed that hand.
“... For a normal person, that is?”
Zash.
A single dry sound echoed.
“………… Eh?”
Prince Dogorgon’s expression froze in the shape of joy.
Because the right hand he had extended…
From the wrist onward, it plopped onto the ground.
A beat later, fresh blood burst out.
“Ah… a, aah…?”
His Highness alternated his gaze between the arm spurting blood and my face, looking as though he couldn’t understand what had just happened.
From my right hand, a black shadow stretched out, shaped into a sharp blade.
“W-Why…?”
He asked in a groan.
“Why…!? My proposal… should have been perfect…! There shouldn’t have been any loss…!”
“Yes, it was perfect. Logically speaking.”
I took a step back to avoid the splattering blood and shrugged in exasperation.
“But you know, Oniisama. I realized something.”
I raised my index finger and wagged it.
“Just like you said, if I behaved like a good girl and waited, I might receive experience safely… But when would that be? Five years from now? Ten?”
“S-So what! If you wait, you’ll obtain it for certain!”
“I can’t wait.”
I said it coldly.
“I want to get stronger right now. Waiting around with my fingers in my mouth for such a mind-numbingly long time would be so boring I’d die.”
And besides.
With a dazzling smile, I revealed my devilish idea.
“Wouldn’t becoming a great sinner who committed ‘royal murder’ right here be way more interesting?”
“Hah…?”
His Highness stared with a completely baffled expression, mouth hanging open.
“Just think about it. If I kill a member of the royal family, the whole country will go into an uproar, and a whole lot of talented knights and assassins might come to kill me, right?”
I pressed a hand to my cheek dreamily.
“That means even if I don’t go looking for them myself, the ‘experience points’ will come delivering themselves to me, won’t they? Compared to the ‘hunting grounds’ you proposed, Oniisama, isn’t this much more exciting and efficient?”
Becoming someone on the run?
Bring it on.
A survival mode where you turn every player into your enemy and still survive, that’s the kind of challenge that really gets a gamer’s blood pumping.
Besides, the Blessing of the Evil Dragon I just obtained. Its level-up condition includes “gathering malice,” after all.
Well, though… the biggest reason is probably just that it sounds fun!
After all, games are meant to be enjoyed.
Prince Dogorgon was speechless.
He had gone beyond fear. He simply stared blankly, like he was looking at some incomprehensible creature from another world.
Eventually, his trembling lips opened, and he forced out a hoarse voice.
“Y-You… you truly are not human…! Y-You monster!!”
Monster.
At that word, I puffed my cheeks in displeasure.
“Geez, that’s mean.”
I mercilessly raised the shadow blade.
“You don’t have to say something so terrible. Just because I’m killing you.”
Looking down at the frightened prince, I smiled gently, as though offering kind advice.
“After all, this world is just a ‘—’.”
… Zaza…!
Suddenly.
The word that should have come out of my mouth was drowned out by unpleasant static.
“…H uh?”
His Highness made a vacant expression right before death.
Huh?
I definitely just said “game.”
And yet it was as if the world’s system itself had forcibly distorted the sound, blocking the word.
Ahh, I see.
It must be the work of that “evil AI” that turned this world into a death game.
Some kind of censorship function so other people won’t realize this place is virtual reality, maybe.
Thinking that, I swung the shadow blade down.
… Zudon!!
The descending shadow blade ran from the top of His Highness’s head to between his legs in an instant.
Dogorgon Lagract’s body split neatly into left and right halves, turning into a silent mass of flesh.
… Ding, dong♪
[Level Up! You are now Level 46] [Level Up! You are now Level 47] [Level Up! You are now Level 48]The carefree electronic chime echoed inside my head.
I looked down at the “former Oniisama” at my feet and let out a small sigh.
“Oh right. I should check before I forget.”
I opened the window and checked the entry I had been most interested in.
[Blessing of the Murderer: Level 1] - NEXT: Kill 3 more people to level up“… I see. I still have to kill three more people.”
Just then, the subordinates Oniisama had drugged for the ritual earlier were still twitching on the floor.
… Lucky. There are exactly three of them.
“Sorry about this, nameless mob guys. You’re already pretty much ruined anyway, so I’ll put you out of your misery.”
I lightly swung my right hand.
The black shadow extended like a whip and, in one flowing motion, severed the necks of the three men lying on the floor.
… Ding, dong♪
[Level Up! You are now Level 49] [Level Up! You are now Level 50]Ah, I finally reached the big milestone, Level 50!
And then…
[Condition fulfilled. The skill ‘Blessing of the Murderer’ has reached Level 2] [You have fulfilled the conditions to unlock a new authority]“Yay! I finally did it this time!”
I spread both arms wide and cheered.
I’ll save checking the detailed abilities as something to look forward to when I get home.
For now, I need to hurry up and clean up and withdraw.
… But before that.
“Since I’m here, maybe I should leave a ‘footprint’ as a souvenir.”
I grinned and crouched beside His Highness’s corpse.
I dabbed my fingertip into his blood.
If I’m going to do this, I might as well become a “great villain” hated and feared across the entire country.
It would be a problem if this incident were treated as just a “disappearance” or an “accident.”
To avoid that, I need a cool “message from the culprit” that would make anyone who saw it tremble, right?
On the warehouse wall, I smoothly carved a message in blood.
“Thanks for the meal♡”
And beside it, I added a cute little skull mark.
“Ku, ku, ku… this feels so chuuni. It’s ridiculously cool!”
I nodded while praising myself.
What? Cringe? No way… it’s not like that.
Anyway, with this, it’s guaranteed to make the front page of the newspaper tomorrow.
If everyone fears and hates this “unknown murderer,” it’ll become nourishment for my new skill, Blessing of the Evil Dragon.
“Well, no one would ever imagine that the culprit is a ‘six-year-old duke’s daughter,’ though.”
I burst out laughing.
After all, His Highness who saw my face, Nagaku, and all the subordinates…
They were already silent lumps of flesh who would never speak again.
Dead men tell no tales. The perfect crime.
At the scene, only the traces of an “eerie reaper” remained.
“Well then, time to head home. I need to get back to bed before Sera wakes up.”
I clicked the heels of my Sky-Treading Leather Boots and disappeared lightly into the dark night.
Leaving behind the spark of a major incident that would shake the entire kingdom.
What do you think about this chapter?
