“What… do you mean?”
“What do you mean ‘what do I mean’? Are you really that hard? Obviously I’m referring to the old man and his group who are after you!”
“Wait, are you saying they want to kill me?!”
“No, not yet. But when they found out what you did to our little hero over there, THEN they’ll want to kill you.”
Hearing Charlotte's explanation, I was beginning to feel a good amount of trepidation and dread about the future once more. At the same time, I could see that Ailya was becoming slightly depressed. Probably thinking that it was her fault that the situation had become as it had.
Since Charlotte didn’t seem intent on keeping us apart any longer, I made my way over to Ailya as Charlotte allowed the barrier standing between us to disappear. Hugging the little elf, I reassured her that nothing was her fault as I turned to Charlotte and asked:
“But wait, can’t the two of us just change our appearance to fool him? He wasn’t able to notice Alice then.”
“What do you think is the reason that gave you two away?”
“What do you mean?”
“You changed your form and kept the SAME fucking name you idiot!”
“Eh? But…”
“But nothing. The reason they’ll find you out if they already haven’t is because you had to open your stupid mouth to a certain restaurant owner. Thanks to that, that certain restaurant owner let them know what your names and that you two had plans to visit the guild and needed to find a place to stay at. So what do you think will happen once they go looking for an Alex and Alice that are supposed to be a pair of sisters?”
“Uhh, they won’t find a pair of sisters?”
“Correct! They will find That Alex and Alice have in fact been making their way around town! But, unlike what they expected, Alex is no longer the short girl from before and Alice is now an elf! Yeah, doesn’t take a genius to piece the puzzle together from there.”
Thinking about what Charlotte said, it sounded to me like a whole lot of bullshit ended up giving me away. I mean seriously, just because I talked a little with the nice man at the restaurant and asked him for help, I had apparently laid the foundation led the foundation to my demise right then and there. Yeah that’s fucking bullshit! And here I thought that I had avoided any of this stupid shit by getting rid of any evidence that I killed those three boys, but apparently I also need to be on the lookout for every single person that I see. Can’t be telling them too much now, like my fucking name.
Thinking about when Ailya and I changed our forms as I was trying to remember what the hell I was thinking then, I remembered that it was Charlotte who suggested to us that we do so. Remembering this incongruity, I called out to her saying:
“Wait… you’re the one who told us to change our form but didn’t tell us to change our names.”
“Did you say something?”
“No…”
“Anyway, if they haven’t already, they’ll discover you’re identities by tomorrow. And then you’re done for.”
“Is the situation really that bad?”
“Oh yeah you’re fucked.”
“...”
At my silence, Charlotte simply shrugged her arms. However, remembering that she had offered to help us, I deeply hoped that she had a way out as I asked:
“But wait, can’t you do something about it? You said that you’d be willing to help us.”
“Maybe I can~ Maybe not~”
“Oh come on!”
“Fine fine. Yes, the situation is pretty bleak at the moment. Even if I wanted to get rid of them to cut the problem at the root, the truth is I’m not confident that I’ll be able to do so. Which means, the only option we have is to make sure that they don’t find out about what you did to Ailya.”
“What do you mean?”
“The thing is, your [Lord Subordination] is a rather unique thing. Unlike regular [Subordination], there are no visible signs that I could see that would tell me that you have subordinated Ailya. So, as long as we’re careful, no one needs to know that you have her under your control.”
“I see.”
“Also, one of the things we have going for us is that they seem to think that you’re either meant to be one of the companions of the heroes, or the other hero itself.”
“I see… Wait? How do you know all of this?”
“Oh, I trailed them earlier today.”
“And they didn’t notice? The second I used [Veritas] to look at the old man, he immediately turned to face me as if he had sensed what I was doing.”
“That’s thanks to one of my abilities, so don’t worry about it too much. Just know that I could be anywhere and you wouldn’t even know.”
“Can’t you just kill them by using that ability of yours?”
“Unless I know how many of them there are, and take them all out at the same time, it’d be foolish for me to do so. I might be able to take out a few of them without getting discovered, but if so much as one of them is able to discover me then I’m done for. After all, while I can almost perfectly hide myself, it’s not impossible to get clues of my presence. Once they know I’m nearby, there’s quite a few ways to put a marker on me. And even if I manage to take them out without any of them figuring out what happened, it’s always possible that other members of the group will have a way to gather some sort of evidence, since devices that can alert others when a member is in trouble exist. So unless I’m completely certain that taking them out will have no repercussions, don’t count on me to deal with them for you.”
“I see… sounds complicated…”
“It is. That’s why this situation is quite shitty. However, that’s all the reason as to why that misconception of theirs is so important for us. Because we can use their assumption as a ticket out of this mess you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“Really?”
“Yes. For some reason, you seem to exhibit some of the same characteristics that the two heroes do. Those being, that you have gained a sudden powerful ability, and that you are given a new skill and ability every time you level up. So long as we don’t meet anyone who can read a person’s fate, we shouldn’t have too much difficulty pulling this off if these two things about you are leaked.”
“Wouldn’t they notice immediately the distortion surrounding me?”
“The thing is, I’ve never heard of someone who can actually SEE fate. In fact, there are only a handful of people who can accurately read a person’s fate, and that’s all done through direct contact, or by employing the aid of a special magic formation. That’s why, so long as we can avoid them, I should be able to fool the kingdom into thinking that the two of you are the destined heroes. Once the kingdom confirms it, even they should fully believe our lie.”
“But, wouldn’t they see through my fate when they try to read it?”
“…You bloody idiot. Hey, exactly how powerful is Ailya’s transformation ability?”
“AH!”
Remembering Ailya’s tier 10 [Doppelganger], I finally understood what Charlotte’s was implying.
“She should be able to perfectly mimic anyone. Down to their soul and mana signatures. She’ll even have their same skills and abilities, so long as she a higher level than them that is.”
Hearing my explanation, Charlotte let out a chuckle as she answered:
“Fucking hell, she’s got quite the fearsome ability. Then leave confirming that the two of you are the children of destiny to me. If I use Ailya’s ability, I could definitely fool the elders back in the palace into thinking that you are also one of the heroes.”
“Wait, why don’t we try to trick the old man’s group with your idea.”
Taking a deep breath through her nose, Charlotte looked at me with an expression of disappointment, and for some reason acceptance about something as she said:
“You’re not very bright, are you?”
“...”
Although I could feel Ailya getting annoyed at Charlotte’s demeaning remark towards me, I sent her a message to keep quiet so as not to aggravate her and make the situation worse.
“It’s alright, you have me here to think for you. Listen, the group that’s chasing you isn’t as simple a group as you think.”
Then, putting on a solemn expression that let me know that the next words were important, Charlotte looked deep into my eyes as she pointed at Ailya and said:
“The group following you, is the legendary Order of the Grey Heron. And that girl’s mother and father are part of it. Or well, her mother was anyway. The point is, that order was built from the remnants of the old heroes party. No one knows how many members there are exactly, or even who the members are, but there is one person who everyone knows is part of that group. And that’s that girls father.”
Then taking a small pause in order to emphasize her next words, Charlotte continued saying:
“Ailya’s father, Alfred Rondestar, is the strongest man in the world, and the only person confirmed to be over level 500. So if you’re thinking about fooling them, don’t. I don’t know how many people they have in their group, and what their abilities are, but it’s not too far fetched to assume that they’ll have a way to see through our little lie if they so much as get their hands on Ailya or you.”
Hearing Charlotte’s words, both Ailya and I were left stunned at this revelation. After all, what were the chances that the sweet girl who I had subordinated was the daughter of an even greater monster than the mage before me? And thinking back to when Ailya asked me if I knew of her father, I now understood that telling Ailya to look for her father with the powerful fate she had, might not have been such bad advice from the person who left her behind on that day…
She slowly becoming a stupid and useless character that can't do anything on her own
I think a lot of it has to do with both a lack of experience and knowledge about everything. Because if you think about it Alex never really put that much time into planing and thinking about all the scenarios because most importantly she has no idea of the limits of this world that defies all the common sense that she is used to. At least that's why I understand her making some of these major mistakes.
@thancit She's 17 and her entire life experience is basically school and life in a developed world. I never really liked the idea that some kid can f*ck off to another world and immediately succeed. So it'll be a while until she actually grows up in a functioning adult.
@cyanwaw The problem isn't that she is inexperienced, but that she seemed much more experienced and prepared in the first 30ish chapters.
The only blunders she made were explained as a conflict with her abilities. (The evil forces behind Veritas). And, in fact, she was smart enough to
a) Judge the situation inside the forest (about the barriers) and decide to run away quickly
b) Disguise the half-elf (which kind of saved them, when meeting the old man)
c) Kill the adventurer boys to hide her tracks
d) Recognize, that her judgement was clouded and invest into skills to actively combat this issue
e) Avoid the local village to avoid suspicions about her killing the adventurers
And a few more minor decisions she made were quite well thought out.
However, after she entered this town, it really seemed, like her IQ got halved.
Also, up to this point she was moderately lucky (ex. the old man not stopping them, the elves not pursuing/catching them, not meeting the cultists etc etc), but once again, the second she entered the town, everything went to sh*t. She met all the wrong people, she could have met. Charlotte, the restaurant owner and now - the Ex Heroes.
It's as if you had "Everything Goes To Hell Arc" written on your timeline, but didn't plan for it in advance, so you had to invoke "fate" and dumb down the MC, so that she could fit into the plot.
Alex: "it sounded to me like a whole lot of bullsh*t ended up giving me away."
That's exactly, how I feel about this too, Alex. Really, though? She was smart enough to avoid the village after killing the adventurer boys, but *not* smart enough to change her name?
Like seriously? After being told, that the mana signature gave away their disguise, she thought to herself:
"Aha! A mana signature will give away our disguise, but surely nobody will ever notice a pair of girls appearing inside the town without passing the gates. And surely, there is no way, using our names will implicate us in any way. By the way, before meeting the lvl400 super-dangerous and mentally unstable Witch, you know, what we should do? That's right, let's go and register in the guild, using our fake identities, that were *just* revealed to not be good enough to fool anyone. And you know, what, since we have a little bit of free time, I, as a Demon Lord - the entity of darkness and evil - should visit a church."
Sigh. You know, you might think, that I am criticising the story way too much (if I don't like it, why am I reading it etc etc). But I really honestly feel, that both the quality of writing and the plot literally took a nosedive after Alex entered the town's gates. I really liked the premise and the chapters leading up to that point. I am not sure, what went wrong.
P.S. I don't remember, was it explicitly mentioned, that she is 17?
She slowly becoming a stupid and useless character that can't do anything on her own
That's what she wants everyone to think so that she can get underestimated. Some Mc play the fool at the early stages while they are weak others just like to lay low, eventually both get arowed in the knee by the plot and they loose that element of surprise and get f*cked anyway XD
@RuRo It's completely possible to disappear inside a city, it's unlikely that anyone would keep track of everyone who enters, since most people didn't even know they just did, especially without any written document that said they entered. And going to the church shouldn't be a problem because she is a human wanting to be an evil demon lord, not an actual evil entity. Her fake identity had fooled everyone up to that point, including other powerful people. Charlotte told them to change their appearance so she did, and also changed Ailyas mana signature to something to different than hers to not arouse suspicion, since that's the only part of their disguise that ended up compromising them, otherwise the disguise would have been perfect. Alex is smart enough to think the obvious, but she's not a super genius able to see into the future and magically know what works and doesn't in the world. Since the only thing that screwed her over was mana signatures and not changing her name since she was distracted with Charlotte at that point.
And you can criticize the story all you want that's the point of comments.
@Ruiso Except we can see her internal dialogue and how much she’s completely floundering.
@Lazyminx
Except we can see her internal dialogue and how much she’s completely floundering.
Or can we?!?
@cyanwaw
it's unlikely that anyone would keep track of everyone who enters, since most people didn't even know they just did, especially without any written document that said they entered.
Yeah, but Alex doesn't know that she isn't being recorded. Maybe, there is a barrier in the city that keeps track of Mana signatures or something. Or maybe, the guards actually somehow record or photograph people going in and out.
And going to the church shouldn't be a problem because she is a human wanting to be an evil demon lord, not an actual evil entity.
Yeah, but Alex doesn't know that. You know, normal people don't get summoned, normal people don't have evil lvl 10 soul skills whispering to them, normal people don't have the Lord Subordination skill. The point is, it is 100% conceivable, that she would have been instantly evaporated the moment she stepped into the church.
Her fake identity had fooled everyone up to that point, including other powerful people. Charlotte told them to change their appearance so she did, and also changed Ailyas mana signature to something to different than hers to not arouse suspicion, since that's the only part of their disguise that ended up compromising them, otherwise the disguise would have been perfect.
Yeah, but Alex doesn't know that. Maybe Charlotte isn't even all that powerful. Maybe the guild staff is full of level 1000+ characters, who wouldn't get fooled by their "perfect" disguise.
Also, I am not *just* suggesting, that they should have changed their names, when changing the disguise. If your disguise is broken, the correct response is to either run away or go into hiding, not to just fix the disguise and continue what you were doing. The fact, that your disguise were seen through shows, that you weren't as well prepared, as you though.
And yes, I do realise, that they were restricted by Charlotte, but this doesn't mean, you should just give up and get caught. Negotiate, if that fails - Fight, if that fails - Run. At least, they could have not talk so much to the inn keeper and just silently sat in their room and wait for Charlotte, instead of flashing their new disguises at the guild and the church.
Alex is smart enough to think the obvious, but she's not a super genius able to see into the future and magically know what works and doesn't in the world.
The point is, that I (and a few other people in the comments) think, that Alex *was* smarter in the starting chapters. We were sold the idea of a weak (for now), but very capable girl, walking the path to become the Demon Lord. She was familiar with the concept of a "Death Game" (dark souls, kek) and seemed to understand, that a single wrong step can end up with death. Yet in this arc, she started to make make lots of mistakes, which her past self wouldn't have made.
@RuRo She has an ability that lets her know she is a human 100% like [Veritas] and she's used it on herself, not like she needs to guess what she is.
And the old man who was meant to be powerful looked at them saw nothing wrong.
She made her way back using [Veritas], she could tell if there was something surrounding the city like there was the elven forest.
Also she's level 12, she's not going to run away in a world where she knows nothing and has nowhere to go. Walk to the wrong area and you can be dead. Also it's not like Alex can runaway because she can't change her mana signature and can't be sure she wouldn't just be tracked down because of it anyway. It's not like she has an easy way out. And their disguise is based on a tier soul 10 skill that can allow Ailya to change her mana and soul signature. Why would she think anyone would be able to see through it? She already fooled basically everyone and her only downfall was not have Ailya have a unique human mana signature.
As for her disguise, they didn't even ask her name at the gate and only told it to one restaurant owner, not like she was leaving behind a paper trail that needed to be avoided. One person knew their names, that's it. She's not going to be Light Yagami out here trying to outmaneuver every little possibility that could get them caught. You're basically asking her to act in a super paranoid way and avoid everything even when she doesn't know how the world works fully.
@cyanwaw
She has an ability that lets her know she is a human 100% like [Veritas] and she's used it on herself, not like she needs to guess what she is.
Oh, yeah, Veritas. Such a great skill (except when it isn't). It's not like it can fail or anything (ex. reading her own fate, not showing her things, if she doesn't look for them). And it's not like it has agency and is possibly planning something evil. Also, there are 101 possible reasons, why it is dangerous to visit the church you don't know anything about, even if you are a human. Maybe, the church will smite everyone with "evil intent", or maybe they are just a bunch of crazy fanatics, that will burn you on the stake, because you looked funny (see medieval Christian practices).
Also, out of every possible profession "Priest" is the most likely candidate to find something wrong with their souls (whether it's "seeing through the disguise" or "feeling the evil in your soul" or attempting to "purify you" or whatever).
She made her way back using [Veritas], she could tell if there was something surrounding the city like there was the elven forest.
Did she? I thought she was not using it, to avoid it's influence. Also, I am not saying that it *had* to be a detection barrier, it could have been something else, that she missed. (See the previous paragraph about why Veritas is not an excuse)
And the old man who was meant to be powerful looked at them saw nothing wrong.
She doesn't know the average power level of this world. The old man could have been "a low-to-mid rank adventurer". You know, like in some Xianxia, where the power creep is so strong, that the "mega-ultra-elder gods" turn out to be the weakest servants later on.
Why would she think anyone would be able to see through it?
The question is "Why would she think *nobody* would be able to see through it?" If you don't know anything, the correct response is to proceed with MAX caution, not to assume that everything will be fine.
Walk to the wrong area and you can be dead.
Yes! Exactly! That's why you don't just waltz into town, stride into the guild, rush to the church and plan to storm the local library. She wasn't in a hurry, she could totally afford to take things slowly, avoid big human settlements, slowly gather information.
She's not going to be Light Yagami out here trying to outmaneuver every little possibility that could get them caught.
The problem, is that she made too many mistakes. It's understandable, if she is a little sloppy, but at this point she is just being completely careless.
You're basically asking her to act in a super paranoid way and avoid everything even when she doesn't know how the world works fully.
This seems to be our main contention point. Yes. That's *exactly* what I am asking. In fact it seems completely bizarre and crazy to me that she is *not* being super cautious and paranoid, when she doesn't know anything about the world. You make it sound like being paranoid is somehow more dangerous, because she doesn't know, how the world works, which is completely backwards IMO. In fact, she *used* to be more paranoid in the first few chapters (ex. killing the adventurers).
@RuRo I think the point of the initial comment was that she is an average person. And no matter what stories keep trying to tell us about "average" people getting isekai'd, if you simply drop into a new world and try to "live a new life with no regrets" (as they all seem to love saying), you will get burnt. Even when she tried her best to be cautious, it still seemed like she kept that unconcious notion that as long as she did her best, everything would turn out well in the end because this world was like the stories. It wasn't that she didn't make a lot of mistakes, but that all of her mistakes were things you would expect of an average person, because at the end of the day she is just an average person with great aspirations. In my eyes, her only real f*ckups were the mana signature and not changing their names. The rest were merely what you would expect of someone in her position.
She might have seemed a lot smarter than the average person in the beginning, but I feel like that had more to do with the situation lining up with her thoughts about her new life and what a demon lord would do than it had to do with her actually being clever. Her behavior has for the most part lined up with what you would expect an average person who has read a lot of light novels to do.
@cyanwaw I don't know. But using your name with different looks is pretty stupid. Like how many Alex+Alice girls can be in town that arrived in past week or two
@Thorium well i was originaly refering to how to story in the beging seemed to have focused on making a strong and independent female demon lord, but now that seems far away because she is now becoming the hero and keeps inviting trouble that dosent even let her grow at a steady past, forcing her to relay on everyone else but her self, which isnt much of a demon lord.
Ps: my inbox is crying
@bullsx2 Lol
I actually meant @cyanwaw 's first comment, though that wasn't exactly clear. Also, yeah. An average person who needs others to help her deal with the complicated minefield that is fate kinda goes against the principle of an anarchistic demon lord who does whatever she pleases. I suppose it would be better to just treat the whole demon lord idea as a far-off dream at this point. She will get there eventually, but she isn't even remotely close yet.
@Nicolas As far as everyone but a restaurant owner are concerned. 1 pair. She only told one person their names. The other three who know them are dead.
No she becoming a Apprentice.
@RuRo That’s what I thought as well. Some consistency would be nice.