Clearing The World That's Inside A Novel

Chapter 40: Have some manners.

Fucking hell.

I remembered the 'buy this get this along with for free' schemes.

Soul was what I was harvesting and absorbing in the literal sense of words, so why would my soul show stats of what my body is capable of?

However, it seems there is a correlation between the soul and the body.

Have I said I am an atheist? Well, the thing is I also don't believe in souls but ...eh, I guess they do exist.

Maybe, that's why I didn't take the words told to me seriously.

So then, right now is my soul in pain? Or my body?

The answer to it was simple, my soul. Why do I know? I already took the healing potion and consumed it and I don't feel any good even right now.

I looked at the smiling vampy in front of me.

Wait? How does she know about the soul?

"How did you know?"

"From your words, it seems like my theory does have its credentials, you see when you have been alive for a very, very long time, before the current demon lord became the demon lord, before the previous demon lord became the demon lord who now is currently just a maid, you just start trying to look for things, anything that makes you interested in them. "

Oh, that makes sen-

Wait what?

"Liza was a demon lord?"

What the fuck!?

You are telling me the person I had been treating as a maid all this time used to be a demon lord!

Oh lord, what a demotion!

From the life of luxury to the life of a maid...

What a graph of life you have, Liza...

"..You mean, Elizabeth Archipelago? Yes, she used to be a demon lord until the current demon lord came and trashed her like a ragdoll. The first truly terrifying demon lord came into existence. During the rule of Elizabeth Archipelago, things weren't this bad but the current Demon lord simply ordered, "Do what you want." and since then they all have been acting like pure savages."

Well, I am sure she doesn't have any idea of how to rule things. As long as she is not having trouble living she doesn't care for anything else.

She isn't a king material.

But, shouldn't Liza have been dead?

As if sensing my question, vampy began "Usually when the Demon lord gets challenged by someone else they fight to the death, but that is actually not necessary. As long as one party falls unconscious for more than 10 seconds or if one of them surrenders but of course, they have lived like a demon lord, their pride wouldn't let them surrender, and since the demon lord is revered as a god when they win they are once again revered with even more faith. The challenger of a demon lord isn't just challenging a Demon lord but their 'God' and to have the will to challenge one own god requires more than just simple strength. So if they lost they won't have any place for themself, usually, resulting in them to fight to their death."

Ah, yes, atheists sure used to have a hard time during the medieval period, didn't they?

This explains why Liza doesn't revere the demon lord. She is wonderful as a maid but not someone who reveres her.

Maybe, that's why she chose her as the only maid. She didn't want to deal with religious fanatics.

Anyways, what this meant is either Liza was unconscious for more than 10 seconds or she surrendered. Which one is it though?

"What do you know? She made Elizabeth Archipelago surrender. She didn't let her be unconscious. She didn't let her kill herself. She made her shatter her pride, made her surrender. That fight was pretty one-sided. Well, she is the first SSS+ ranker, the only person who has gone above the SS+ rank mark in this world"

Wow, the fact that she deliberately made her surrender tells how scary she must have had been.

On a side note.

"There's now another person who is SSS- ranker. So yeah, update your info logs"

She looked at me baffled, I looked at her, and at last, she is showing a surprised expression.

One should always share information in a world like this without expecting anything in return.

"And may I ask who is it?" Vampy asked her eyes gleaming.

Vampires are curious creatures, any kind of new knowledge, new invention, new weapon, or any sort of information would always spice them up.

They would kill for something new and exciting. They are just slaves to it.

Slaves to their never-ending curiosity.

But you know, curious cats get killed.

"I am probably going to be hunted down the road by Marcus. It would be good if I had someone who is high ranker and has lived long enough to hone their skills to the max act as my bodyguard of sorts"

I said, looking at my system screen which of course the vampy doesn't know anything about.

What's the system telling me?

[Marcus's sending some assassins to kill the demon lord, they are also tasked with capturing you in case they fail to kill the demon lord! He is saying that you would be useful in your own way. Having you as a hostage to deal with the demon lord in case you have truly become an important person to her is advantageous and he also plans on using you! They would be here in the next 30 minutes! (???)?]

Now I am sure, at that time, Liza was lured into the fight with a purpose.

Sheesh, smart people are scary.

But in any case, I have a previous demon lord with me, so I should be fine is what I want to say but if they can't capture me then they will kill me.

If Liza really used to be a demon lord then she most probably knows how to fight not how to protect.

And that leaves me with a teensy bit of openings.

Now a bit of help wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?

"I will be your bodyguard! I am a high ranker and a person who has lived for a long time, can you tell me the name!?" Vampy jumped towards me, grasping my hands with hers as she bent down a little, looking me in the eyes with her sparkling ones.

"The pleasure's all mine but I will tell you the name later. You still haven't answered my question though" I said as I started walking towards the castle where Liza was currently, the vampy followed me.

Letting out a groan she began to her lesson "Where were we again? Oh yeah! So, now that we know the status screen stats have something to do with soul. Let's move on to the next part, as I said, if you pour water into a cup of glass at a certain speed you will break it, right? That's how it works. You shouldn't level up too much in one go. That's not recommended. If you want to level up, then do it by a sub-rank, and then once you level up to the next. If you don't, then well, most probably nothing's going to save you from dying"

For fuck's sake, what the hell is that supposed to mean? So, I can't level up at my desired pace?

Damn, they really did make the system with their brains.

Every species has some sort of problem holding them back. For instance, other species have long life spans but a potential cap on them, humans don't have a potential cap on them but their life span isn't long enough to actually go beyond a certain level.

Though it's obvious why these restrictions are in place, they created this whole thing to have fun and entertainment not for someone to defy them, to have the power to crush them.

In a way, it was a well-thought-out system.

Not too weak to not be able to enjoy watching our struggles and not too strong to ever become a cause of concern for them.

It's kinda like, how no one wants AI to have their own will, they fear it, so they build programs in a way that wouldn't bring the results not desired.

....' World's Genre'

I remembered the words told by the blue-haired girl. According to how she had worded it, it clearly indicated that the world's genre is above her.

Well, that makes sense.

I think about it, later.

The pain that coursed through my entire being was by no means bearable and since it has nothing to do with my body, I can't stop the pain by messing with my brain or by simply consuming a potion, I have already tried them and those methods have failed.

Damn... doesn't feel nice, but you can't skip work. Gotta do what I gotta do.

Vampy simply followed me, dancing through the whole way, playing with the mist in the forest.

Once reaching the castle, I entered the room with Vampy to see Liza.

"Why?"

I asked, disappointed.

Liza's body froze in front of me, her fingers on her lips, which seemed to have been licking the blood.

"L-look I can explain," Liza said gulping down ..the food in her mouth.

Explain to your heart's content. I am waiting to hear.

"I have been busy, running things around and working really hard, spending sleepless nights performing activities, and then you just went away telling me to stay here. I have been starving and it's natural to eat food when you starve!"

"Liza, no sane person would eat raw food, you cook it first. Then arrange it from the pot to the plate it goes and you get to eat it after you wash your hands. You look absurd, like a toddler ruining the cake trying to eat it"

Like, have some manners.

And I am interested in knowing exactly what kind of nightly activities you are performing.

"That's what you have a problem with?" vampy asked, cocking her head, confusion visible on her face.

What else should I have a problem with?

Shaking my head, I looked towards Liza.

"Go back home. Your shifts over. Enjoy your holiday"

Yeah, go back before those guys come.

It's better that way. Initially, I was going to have her do the fight for me but now I don't really feel like it.

I wanna try something.

"Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do. I can't just take a day off. Oh well, I will go back then."

Standing up and getting away from Oliver's mutilated corpse, she looked at me.

"Wait, it sounds like you aren't coming. Why? And who is this with you anyway? "

You are so late to notice things.

"Meh, don't bother with small stuff." I said waving my hand as I continued "Just tell me this, do you know where the demon lord's home used to be?"

"..."

Liza's looked at me as if scrutinizing me. I just stood still with my handsome face, looking back at her.

Heaving a deep sigh, she spoke

"γη του k?d?r"

"Gotcha"

Good, I learned their language from demon lord, or else I might have been left wondering if she is on some cracks.

"Well, I will go then"

Before she could leave, I grabbed her and whispered the important thing in her ears so that Vampy couldn't hear me.

"Demon Lord has gone to sleep"

Since Liza had been staying in this same place for too long, Marcus probably suspects that the Demon lord is taking her sleep here.

Oh well, he had already wasted a day.

The war won't be one-sided.

"What?"

That was all Liza said before storming off with a logic-defying speed

Those assassins could be here any minute now.

Crack Crack!

And they are here, vampy took a fighting position, but I just grabbed her hand.

Let's see if I can teleport along with someone else with my necklace.