Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 33

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Struggling to Pretend to Be Human Today Episode 033

 

“B-black magic! Real black magic!”

 

Just then, Liribel, who had been watching me draw the hexagram, stomped her feet and shouted.

 

“I’m finally seeing real demon summoning! My goodness, I never thought such a day would come in my life!”

 

‘Come to think of it, Liribel really loved black magic.’

 

She was such an eccentric child that I had forgotten about it.

 

Ivan, seeing Liribel like this for the first time, approached me looking anxious.

 

“Why is she acting like that? Is something wrong with her head?”

 

‘It’s strange hearing an assassin whose job is killing people call someone else strange.’

 

That aside, it was more surprising that Ivan showed no particular reaction to the magic circle.

 

“You don’t seem very scared of this kind of magic.”

 

“I have some knowledge about magic too. It’s the first time I’ve seen this method, but well, you’re the Princess.”

 

“What do you mean ‘you’re the Princess’?”

 

“You’re someone who wouldn’t seem strange even if you said you were raising a dragon one day. That earthquake at the arena was also caused by you, wasn’t it?”

 

‘I never told him that, but he figured it out.’

 

Only Liribel and Ruslara knew the truth about the magic I wielded. But Ivan seemed to have noticed with his characteristic intuition.

 

I didn’t bother to deny it.

 

“A dragon… I’ve never raised one.”

 

“As expected, even for the Princess, a dragon is… Wait, you said you’ve never ‘raised’ one?”

 

I meant I’d never raised one, but I’d caught many.

 

Leaving the flustered Ivan behind, I completed the magic circle.

 

‘I don’t want to use my magic power, so let’s use the catalyst Grid brought. It’s really rare, but he managed to get it well.’

 

Meeting Grid at this time could be considered heavenly fortune.

 

When I poured the catalyst onto the roughly made magic circle, a faint light began to flow out.

 

“Come out.”

 

No incantation was needed. After all, just by me standing here, a connection to the Demon Realm was already established.

 

As the light from the magic circle began to writhe, Liribel let out sounds close to screams, and Ivan tilted his head as if something seemed strange.

 

“But listen. Is it possible to enter the Main Palace by summoning some demon like this? They don’t have any status.”

 

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll change their appearance.”

 

“Disguise magic? Like what Ruslara did?”

 

“Not that ability.”

 

Changing the body without using illusions was an ability only permitted to Baobhan sith. The ability I wanted to use was simpler and more demon-like than that.

 

“Ah, sorry for asking this now. Ivan, do you happen to have any ‘extremely bad nobles’ on your assassination list?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I mean someone who deserves to die, someone who could die right now. I need that kind of person’s body.”

 

Perhaps noticing something from the word ‘body’, Ivan grinned.

 

“There are. Tons of them.”

 

That was fortunate.

 

I nodded and looked back at the magic circle. The summoning seemed to have finished, as black smoke was rising from the center of the hexagram.

 

“Wooow!”

 

Behind Liribel’s scream, I swallowed nervously.

 

‘Now, is it a hit or a miss?’

 

A proper opponent had to emerge here. Otherwise, I’d have to use this troublesome method again.

 

[You are…]

 

And finally, a familiar voice came from within the black smoke.

 

“Good!”

 

Fortunately, it was a great success.

 

I smiled and spoke to him in the smoke.

 

“Long time no see, Gregory.”

 

The target of my first summoning was none other than Gregory, the 1st Legion Commander of the Demon Army.

 

* * *

 

“This person, you mean?”

 

In the basement of some manor. I illuminated the dark room with candlelight and looked at Ivan.

 

Ivan, who had been rotating his arms as if his shoulders were stiff, pointed to the man collapsed on the floor and nodded.

 

“Yeah, this is Britz Jabok. Known to the world as a virtuous young man, but actually a vicious noble among the worst.”

 

“Mmph- mmph!”

 

The dark brown-haired man with his limbs bound and mouth gagged widened his eyes and shouted something.

 

But this manor was a secret room that Britz Jabok himself had created. Such sounds wouldn’t escape to the surface.

 

It was late at night, and I had come to this manor with Ivan immediately after the demon summoning ended. With my body moderately enhanced with magic power, following Ivan over the palace walls was nothing.

 

The reason I came to this manor was to meet this Britz Jabok.

 

“He has tons of undiscovered crimes. Should I read them all? Murder, arson, blackmail…”

 

“That’s enough, you don’t need to tell me. I can tell just by looking at the state of this house.”

 

The criteria I asked Ivan to find were four things.

 

A heinous criminal unknown to the public, a noble, a man, and someone living in the capital. Ivan said these weren’t difficult conditions and immediately introduced Britz.

 

I examined the vengeful spirits floating around the manor. I could roughly see the ugly past tied to this place.

 

‘I guess there are no temples nearby, so it hasn’t been purified. The level of vengeful spirits is like a mass grave.’

 

Not just the souls, but even the blood stains throughout this underground chamber were enough to show Britz’s wickedness.

 

I was glad I didn’t bring Liribel, who had insisted on wanting to see.

 

“It’s amazing that someone this evil remained unknown.”

 

“He thoroughly only killed poor people with no connections. That’s why he never received assassination requests or background investigations. A pleasure killer who’s cunning despite being scum.”

 

Listening to Ivan’s grumbling, I tilted my head.

 

“But why did you investigate this guy? You said there were no requests.”

 

“I wanted to kill him as top priority if a request ever came in. I didn’t like that such scum was living so brazenly.”

 

‘So he won’t act unless a request comes in?’

 

He had pride in an unexpected area.

 

Looking at those murderous eyes, it seemed like there were other reasons besides that, but thinking it wasn’t the right time, I returned to the topic.

 

“I explained on the way here, right? The reason I’m looking for someone like this is to possess him with the demon I summoned.”

 

Demon summoning methods are usually divided into two types.

 

The first is the ordinary summoning that people commonly know about.

 

A method where the demon’s avatar is summoned, possessing about 10-20% of their power compared to the Demon Realm. It’s a simple and burden-free contract.

 

The second is summoning not an avatar, but only the demon’s soul.

 

This is a method used by necromancers, the originators of black magic, in the distant past. They would call demons in soul form to seek wisdom or possess objects to use as tools.

 

‘The second method is hard to find nowadays. The process is troublesome, and it’s a headache when you get betrayed.’

 

But I used the second method. Even going so far as to gather rare materials through the black market merchant Grid.

 

The purpose was, as I said before, to possess a human with the summoned demon.

 

In other words, to steal a modern human’s body and make them my subordinate.

 

Reincarnation, brainwashing, and now possession – I had no excuse even if I were accused of being a demon.

 

Ivan nodded and said.

 

“Yeah, I roughly understand. You want to make him your banquet partner, right? And it’s better if it’s someone who deserves to die.”

 

It was a despicable story, but I didn’t want to involve good, ordinary people in such matters. If someone was going to have an accident, wouldn’t it be better if it was someone who deserved to die? And if they had good status on top of that, it would kill two birds with one stone.

 

“I quite like that shallow justice of yours, Princess.”

 

Perhaps noticing my inner thoughts, Ivan grinned. Finding it unpleasant, I told him to stop and hit his shoulder, then approached Britz. I untied the rope that was gagging his mouth.

 

“Now then, you heard everything, didn’t you?”

 

“Wh-what is the meaning of this, Princess! This is all false accusations…!”

 

“Don’t lie at this point, will you? You killed someone yesterday too, didn’t you? I can still smell the blood.”

 

“Guk…!”

 

Perhaps judging that he could no longer deceive, Britz began to rage.

 

“So what if I did! They deserved to die, illegal immigrants in the Empire, nameless criminals! Does it make sense to be punished for such trivial matters!”

 

“That’s right. You’d probably be released even if you went to court for various reasons.”

 

Unfortunately, there was no evidence to definitively judge him as evil. If he decided that the people he killed were criminals, no one would object.

 

We lived in such a world.

 

“So, rather, I delivered a fitting punishment…!”

 

“How ridiculous. Whether you’re acquitted in court or not, you never had the right to kill them. You should speak properly.”

 

“That’s the same for you! You’re trying to kill me without a trial!”

 

Now that he was even using informal speech with me, I let out a small laugh.

 

“You’re right. That’s why I never say I’m a good person.”

 

“What, what…!”

 

“Think of it as being unlucky enough to get hit by a carriage, you vicious criminal.”

 

Well, now that I’d heard his last words to ease my guilt, it was time to get to work.

 

I placed my finger on Britz’s forehead and called to Gregory, the soul in mist form who had followed us from the Separate Palace.

 

“Gregory, you know what you need to do, right?”

 

[I receive your command.]

 

Gregory’s soul flowed out from behind me and enveloped Britz’s head.

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