Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 161

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Pretending to Be Human: Episode 161
Asmo-rina then began airing her grievances in a voice tinged with anger.
“If I use magic, I cough up blood? People curse me as damned? So why do I have to live as a human? I could possess another race instead!”
“That’s….”
“I thought I’d be living happily alongside humans! In the Demon Realm, I at least earned respect, but here I’m nothing but ignored!”
Had there been a human present, she would have torn them apart on the spot. I spoke to calm her down.
“That’s all in the past. Things are fine now. You’ve seen the people here. They’re all good companions.”
“Companions? To a human, that’s…. Ugh, never mind.”
She seemed about to raise her voice in protest at being called companions with humans, but she held herself back.
“Fine, fine. You call the Black Rabbit family anyway. So, why are you so insistent on being human?”
“I am both Asmodina and Deina. I won’t deny that my previous life was Asmodina, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to abandon Deina’s life.”
“You’ve really become fully human.”
Asmo-rina exhaled a long sigh as if utterly exasperated.
“The commander who once conquered the Demon Realm now values humans more. Your loyal subordinates would faint if they heard this…. I understand not returning for the sake of the Demon Realm’s peace, but you could still live as another race.”
“I do feel sorry toward my subordinates…. Wait, the Demon Realm’s peace?”
Words I never expected to hear from Asmo-rina’s mouth had slipped out.
At my bewilderment, Asmo-rina let out a scoff and spoke.
“I already heard it from Gregory. That you’re not returning for the sake of the Demon Realm’s peace?”
‘How did Gregory find out about that….’
I never knew he, who had always been honest with me, possessed knowledge of the Demon Realm’s secrets.
I was wondering if he had perhaps witnessed my final moments in the Demon Realm when Asmo-rina continued with a triumphant tone.
“Well, that Gregory fellow told me not to visit Mother unless I was truly resolved…. But why would I listen to him?”
‘The way she’s speaking, it seems she doesn’t know the full story.’
Had she known everything, she wouldn’t have spoken this way. I asked, feigning ignorance.
“What did Gregory say?”
“That Mother left for the sake of the Demon Realm. And that’s how peace came to be.”
If he knew that I left of my own volition, there was a high probability he had deduced my ultimate fate.
‘I need to find out later how he learned that secret.’
I’d been worried about his recent silence anyway, and I wondered if it was connected to this matter.
“So, why is Mother’s existence connected to the Demon Realm’s peace? Does Mother know the reason?”
At this point, I couldn’t afford to lie. I answered while concealing the most crucial truth.
“That’s right. I also heard from the Lake Deity that the war in the Demon Realm was caused by an imbalance between demonic and divine power.”
“An imbalance? One side became too strong and caused the war?”
“Exactly. That’s why I tried to suppress my magical power, which was the source of that imbalance.”
“Ah, so that’s why you fled to the Human Realm!”
‘Coming to the Human Realm wasn’t my choice, though.’
I didn’t bother correcting her misunderstanding. If crossing over to the Human Realm had solved the problem, I would have done so long ago.
“But Rina, how did you end up in the Human Realm? Were you summoned?”
“Yeah. That place across the sea, what was it called….”
“Jins Kingdom?”
“That’s right, I was summoned there.”
“Who summoned you?”
“Well…”
Asmo-rina hesitated for a moment, then spoke as if it didn’t matter much.
“The human Royal Family. They created a summoning magic circle by sacrificing thousands upon thousands of people.”
‘So this is that terrible dark magic Chloe mentioned.’
Only then could I understand the full tragedy of what had befallen Jins Kingdom.
Chloe had told me that the Royal Family, consumed by madness, sacrificed their own people and attempted to realize some unknown dark magic.
At the time, I had insisted that no dark magic required such an enormous amount of time and mana…
‘But summoning magic is different.’
Strictly speaking, summoning magic wasn’t even dark magic. It was magic that could call forth not just demons, but deities as well.
Using more mana didn’t necessarily bring a stronger entity, but it certainly increased the probability.
“I wanted to see the face of whatever idiot summoned me, but instead I was greeted by a disgusting corpse-filled cesspool. So I killed every mage involved in the summoning and escaped.”
It was typical of Asmo-rina. Besides, it seemed the mages who performed the summoning didn’t even know how to bind a demon with chains.
“So that’s when you joined the Rebel Army?”
“What, you already knew?”
“The Rebel Army’s victory is famous for being thanks to some mysterious mage.”
She pouted her lips, as if disappointed that there was no need to explain further.
“I didn’t like those royals anyway. But then the Rebel Army’s commander, some Duke, said he’d give me information about this world if I helped. Since I needed to find information about my mother anyway, I cooperated.”
I had wondered why Asmo-rina, who would never listen to humans, had joined the Rebel Army, but now the circumstances made sense.
After that, Asmo-rina cooperated with the Rebel Army, drove out the Royal Family of Jins Kingdom, and gradually learned common sense about the human world in the process.
“…Wait, I understand why you joined the Rebel Army, but why did you think I’d be in the Human Realm? You didn’t even know I had come here back then.”
“Oh, that’s because of Baban Si.”
“Baban Si?”
Finally getting to explain this, Asmo-rina wore a bitter smile.
“Remember when I called that Guard Knight a traitor Baban Si? It’s because the Baban Si in this world is the one who summoned me.”
“What are you talking about? Explain in detail.”
“Baban Si was the culprit behind that incident. The Royal Family of Jins Kingdom was hypnotized by Baban Si and attempted to summon a demon.”
“…What?”
I was momentarily speechless at this unexpected revelation.
Baban Si, my trusted subordinate, was the cause of an entire nation’s destruction?
“I don’t know the exact method either, but I’m certain Baban Si infiltrated that palace. I felt their unique mana. That creature brainwashed the Royal Family over several generations and led them to summon a demon.”
“For what purpose? What were they trying to do by summoning a demon?”
“I don’t know what they were trying to do. Anyway, they failed.”
“But you were summoned. So that’s not failure…”
“No, it was a failure. I wasn’t who they were trying to summon.”
Asmo-rina raised her fingers, emphasizing this was the most important information.
“What they wanted was my mother—you.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. It was written in the research notes they left behind. They were trying to summon Asmodina, the strongest demon in the Demon Realm. But after repeated failures, I was summoned instead in the end.”
“So… the tragedy of Jins Kingdom happened ultimately because someone tried to summon me?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
Asmo-rina shrugged as if it were of no consequence.
Of course, I wasn’t sensitive enough to feel guilt over events unrelated to me. It was simply absurd.
‘They summoned me just to do what? Conquer the world? But that could be done without me.’
With enough magical power to summon Asmo-rina, conquering the Human Realm would have been simple without needing to summon me at all.
Of course, the world’s balance wouldn’t allow such a thing… but there was no reason to insist on me specifically.
Moreover, despite harboring such grand ambitions to summon me, they were careless enough not even to bind the summoned Demon—the plan lacked coherence.
“That Baban Si disappeared the moment I was confirmed to be summoned. The Duke of the Kingdom said he seemed to have crossed over to the Empire, and since I thought he might have information about my mother, I followed him here.”
“…So that’s why you attacked Ruslara. You thought she was the traitor Baban Si.”
“Exactly. Plus, it seemed other Baban Sis were hiding somewhere in the Empire, so I was planning to find and interrogate them while I was at it.”
As it turned out, Ruslara wasn’t a traitor, so her deduction was wrong, but fortunately we obtained an unexpected clue because of it.
‘Back when Ruslara was struggling in the Arena, I thought the one trying to use her was Baban Si. If my suspicion is correct, then that Baban Si and the one from Jins Kingdom are…’
The same person.
A chill ran down my spine.
The thought occurred to me that perhaps the traitor Baban Si was somewhere near me.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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