Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 33

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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 033

“B-black magic! Real black magic!”

At that moment, Liribel, who had been watching me draw the hexagram, began bouncing on her feet and crying out.

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

‘Now that I think about it, Liribel did have an obsession with black magic.’

I had forgotten because she was such an eccentric child.

Ivan, seeing Liribel’s behavior for the first time, approached me with an anxious expression.

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

‘It’s strange to hear someone whose profession is killing people call someone else strange.’

Regardless, what surprised me more was that Ivan showed little reaction to the magical circle.

“You don’t seem particularly frightened by this kind of magic.”

“I have some knowledge of magic myself. It’s a method I’ve never seen before, but then again, you’re the Princess.”

“What do you mean, ‘the Princess’?”

“The Princess is someone for whom it wouldn’t be strange if you said one day that she was raising a dragon. That earthquake at the Arena—the Princess caused that too, didn’t she?”

‘I never mentioned that, yet he’s already figured it out.’

Only Liribel and Ruslara knew the truth about the magic I wielded. But Ivan seemed to have discerned it through his characteristic perceptiveness.

I didn’t bother denying it.

“A dragon… I’ve never raised one.”

“As expected, even the Princess wouldn’t raise a dragon? …Wait, you said you’ve ‘never raised’ one?”

The implication was clear: I had never raised one, but I had certainly captured many.

I left Ivan to his bewilderment and completed the magic circle.

‘I’d rather not expend my mana, so I’ll use the catalyst Grid brought. It’s genuinely rare—impressive that he managed to procure it.’

Meeting Grid at this particular moment could only be described as divine providence.

As I poured the catalyst into the hastily constructed magic circle, a faint luminescence began to emanate from it.

“Emerge.”

No incantation was necessary. After all, my mere presence here established a connection with the Demon Realm.

As the light from the magic circle began to flicker, Liribel let out a sound that was nearly a shriek, while Ivan tilted his head as if sensing something amiss.

“But here’s the thing. Is it really possible to summon some demon-like creature and enter the Main Palace? You don’t even have an identity.”

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

“Disguise magic? Like what Ruslara did?”

“Something different.”

Transforming the physical body without using Illusion was an ability granted only to the Baobhan sith. The ability I intended to use was simpler than that—something far more befitting a demon.

“Sorry for asking so suddenly, but Ivan—do you happen to have any ‘thoroughly despicable nobles’ on your assassination list?”

“Huh?”

“Someone deserving of death, someone who could die right now without consequence. I need their body.”

Ivan caught the implication in my word choice and grinned wickedly.

“Oh, I’ve got plenty.”

That was fortunate indeed.

I nodded and turned my attention back to the magic circle. The summoning had completed—black smoke now rose from the center of the hexagram.

“Whoa!”

Leaving Liribel’s screams behind, I swallowed hard.

‘Now then—success or failure?’

A proper opponent had to emerge from this. Otherwise, I’d be forced to resort to this tedious method again.

[You are….]

And then, at last, a familiar voice echoed from within the black smoke.

“Excellent!”

Fortunately, it was a complete success.

I smiled at him through the haze and spoke.

“It’s been a while, Gregory.”

My first summoned subject was none other than Gregory, the First Legion Commander of the Demon Army.

* * *

“This man, you say?”

In the basement of a manor. I illuminated the dark room with candlelight, regarding Ivan.

Ivan, who had been rotating his shoulders as if they were sore, nodded while pointing at the man sprawled on the ground.

“Yeah, this is Britz Jabok. A nobleman rumored in society as an upstanding young man—but truly the worst of the wicked.”

“Mmph—mmmph!”

The dark-haired man, his limbs bound and mouth gagged, widened his eyes and cried out something incoherent.

But this manor was a secret chamber that Britz Jabok himself had constructed. Sounds of that magnitude would never escape to the surface.

It was the dead of night. The moment my summoning of the Demon ended, Ivan and I had come to this manor. With my magical power reinforcing my body adequately, scaling the Imperial Palace’s walls alongside Ivan was effortless.

The reason we had come to this manor was to meet this man—Britz Jabok.

“I have countless undetected crimes. Want me to list them all? Murder, arson, extortion…”

“That’s enough. You don’t need to say anything. I can tell just by looking at this place.”

I had given Ivan four criteria for finding someone.

An atrocious criminal unknown to the public, a nobleman, a man, and someone living in the Capital. Ivan said these weren’t particularly demanding conditions and immediately introduced me to Britz Jabok.

I examined the restless spirits drifting through the manor. The ugly past entangled with this place became roughly visible to me.

‘It seems purification never occurred because there’s no Temple nearby. These spirits are on the level of a mass grave.’

Beyond the spirits alone, even just the blood buried throughout this underground secret chamber revealed Britz Jabok’s brutality.

I had made the right choice not bringing Liribel, who had been throwing a tantrum wanting to see this.

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

“He only killed the destitute with no connections. That’s why he never received assassination requests or even background investigations. A serial killer with such cunning—quite the specimen.”

As I listened to Ivan’s grumbling, I tilted my head.

“But why did you investigate him? You said there was no request.”

“Whenever a request comes in, I wanted to kill him first. I couldn’t stand that such a creature was allowed to live.”

‘So he won’t act unless there’s a request.’

He had pride in unexpected places.

Looking at those murderous eyes, it seemed there was another reason, but I decided it wasn’t the right time and redirected the conversation.

“I explained on the way here, didn’t I? The reason I’m looking for someone like you is to possess the Demon I summoned into you.”

Demon summoning typically divides into two methods.

The first is the ordinary summoning that people commonly know.

A Demon’s avatar is summoned, possessing only ten to twenty percent of the power compared to the Demon Realm. It’s a simple and burden-free contract.

The second method involves summoning only the soul of a Demon, not a fragment of its being.

This is the technique used by necromancers in the distant past—the originators of dark magic. They would summon Demons in spiritual form, seeking their wisdom or possessing objects to use them as tools.

‘The second method is rarely found anymore. The process is cumbersome, and if betrayal occurs, it becomes troublesome.’

But I employed the second method. I even gathered rare materials through Grid, the black merchant.

My purpose, as I mentioned before, was to possess a summoned Demon into a human body.

In other words, I would steal the body of a modern human and make them my subordinate.

Reincarnation, brainwashing, and now possession—even if branded a demon, I had no excuse to offer.

Ivan nodded and spoke.

“Right, I get it roughly. You want to make them your partner for the banquet, yeah? And you prefer someone who deserves to die anyway.”

It was a callous matter, but I had no desire to involve good, ordinary people in such affairs. If an accident were to occur, wouldn’t it be better if someone deserving of death were designated? And if they possessed a good status as well, all the better.

“I quite like your shallow sense of justice, Princess.”

Sensing my true intentions, Ivan chuckled softly. I found it unpleasant and told him to stop, striking his shoulder before approaching Britz Jabok. Then I untied the cord that had been binding his mouth.

“Well then, you’ve heard everything, haven’t you?”

“W-what is the meaning of this, Princess! This is all a false accusation——!”

“Don’t lie now. You killed someone yesterday, didn’t you? I can still smell the blood on you.”

“Ugh——!”

Realizing he could no longer deceive, Britz Jabok began to snarl.

“What does it matter! They deserved to die—nameless criminals illegally residing in the Empire! Does it make sense to be punished for such a trivial matter!”

“True. You would likely be released from court for one reason or another.”

Unfortunately, I had no evidence to definitively brand him as a villain. If he declared the dead to be criminals, no one would object.

We lived in such a world.

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

“How amusing. Whether you were acquitted in court or not, you never had the right to kill them. Speak truthfully.”

“That applies to you as well! You’re trying to kill me without any trial!”

I let out a soft chuckle at him, now resorting to casual speech.

“You’re right. That’s why I never claim to be a good person.”

“What, what…!”

“Consider yourself unlucky to have been struck by a carriage, you vicious young criminal.”

Now that I’ve relieved his final guilt by hearing his last words, it was time to begin.

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

“Gregory, you know what needs to be done, yes?”

[I accept your command.]

Gregory’s spirit flowed from behind me, enveloping Britz’s head.

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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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