F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 211: On the Way to a Date

"... What do you think, Esther? I’m beautiful, aren’t I?" I say, giving a slight curtsy as I gently lift the hem of my skirt. It’s a dark purple skirt with details of branching roots in black, while I wear a top of light purple, with branch details in a very dark red, almost black.

As if the roots were gently climbing up the dress and becoming lighter. I think it looks lovely. I’m also wearing black flats, and there are some little white bows on the dress for contrast.

"Yes, you are very beautiful, Evelyn. Now, let’s go to our date..." She takes my hand and kisses it softly.

’She smells strange...’

"Esther, were you playing with fire? I smell something burnt..."

"...It’s nothing serious. I was just settling something before coming to take you to the date. Does my smell bother you?"

"A little, but nothing too bad. You always have strange smells... and... I also smell like blood, so I can’t really talk..." Being a demon, I can sense smells more actively than humans, and I still carry the scent of blood from the battlefields.

"Then let’s go..." She takes my hand, starting to lead me to the carriage. I look at the window where Eve gives a slight wave of her hand. She looks very worried about me, and I’m happy about that, but I also feel terrible about what I feel for my puppets.

"Esther, where exactly did you leave all those standard puppets I made? They amount to a small army..." There were over ten thousand standard-model puppets.

"I left them in one of my territories. There isn’t enough space for all that here in the mansion. I heard you used enemy corpses for those. A very good idea... What did you think about creating a monster puppet?" she says, referring to the wolf I created before.

"I found it... interesting..." I never thought much in the past about the forms of the puppets. I only thought about creating humanoid puppets that could be my friends, but in the war, I was more focused on creating weapons of war. And with that, I know the obvious: a weapon doesn’t need feelings, emotions, or thoughts. So monster puppets are better for war-type combat.

"That’s good. You’ve improved a lot," she says as the carriage starts to move. I wonder what this date will be like. Has Esther gotten better at arranging dates?

"But Evelyn, I have a question, and you didn’t mention anything about it in your report... How did you break Lucien’s [Domain]? It was a domain that wasn’t physically present. You shouldn’t have even been able to touch it, much less break it, especially Lucien’s domain, which is extremely resistant," Esther asks curiously.

"Is this really the conversation we’re going to have on a date?" I question with a strange smile.

"We’re not on the date yet, we’re going to the date. And until we get there, it’s better to talk, don’t you think?" she says something smart.

"It’s a relic... here." I lie to her as naturally as telling the truth, and I show the ring on my finger, the ring that is a relic, but which in reality is Arial living in my body.

"This relic? Curious... Where did you get it?" She stares at the ring, calmly analyzing it.

"In a dungeon..." It’s not a lie, since I found Arial in a dungeon.

"Urgh... I forgot to tell you, Evelyn. I might have to go back to the battlefield..." Esther makes a frustrated face while letting go of my hand.

"Why?" I ask curiously. Normally, Esther chooses whether or not to go to war, as her contributions have been enormous.

"Our father made agreements with the humans, and the ships started being built and tested... but an unpleasant problem has arisen... a nymph..." When she mentions a nymph, I shudder, wondering if Esther said that just because of the nymph I’m carrying.

I stare at Esther’s gaze, but it doesn’t seem like she’s talking about Arial, so it must be another nymph. That makes me breathe calmly.

"A nymph? Aren’t they rare? And how could a nymph hinder our father to the point he needs you?" Nymphs are powerful, but not enough to stop a Demon King.

"Yes, normally a mere nymph wouldn’t be a hindrance... but it turns out it’s not just any nymph... Evelyn, as you must know, the ocean is the worst place in the world; it’s infested with monsters. There are more monsters in the ocean than on our continent, and look, the edges and uncivilized areas on our continent are full of monsters..."

"The problem, then, is that the nymph is an ocean nymph..."

"!!!" I’m alarmed by this news. It’s literally one of the strongest types of nymphs that can exist in the world, an absurdly dangerous type.

"W-What type?" I ask, hoping it’s just a Nereid. She is also a type of ocean nymph, but is slightly inferior to an Oceanid. Now, if it’s an Oceanid nymph, that’s the worst of the worst scenarios.

"An Oceanid. And she seems quite awake and willing to cause trouble. She’s sinking ships, crushing them, destroying them, kidnapping people, and making many demons and humans drown as soon as they move away from the continents’ coasts."

"And it seems she won’t be going back to sleep any time soon. Normally, the Demon King would personally try to kill her, but..." Esther doesn’t even need to finish; I know the answer.

The Demon King can’t kill an Oceanid. Not because he lacks the power for it—he certainly has that power—but because an Oceanid is literally connected to every ocean in the world that isn’t separated by a land division.

And since this world doesn’t have interlinked continents preventing one ocean from reaching another, all the world’s oceans are connected. Meaning this Oceanid nymph can flee so fast the Demon King would never catch her and can appear anywhere in the world.

’Arial is a grain of dust compared to an Oceanid... and if this Oceanid is old...’ The only solution is to wait for her to get bored and go to sleep. If Arial is already absurdly strong, an Oceanid is a living catastrophe.

"You’re going... to the sea?" Esther doesn’t stand a chance of winning, and I immediately become worried.

"No, the Oceanid isn’t exactly causing problems for demons or humans. She seems more curious about the boats themselves. She’s probably never seen a boat, so her curiosity should pass, and she’ll abandon the attacks."

"The reason I might have to go to war is linked to the loss of soldiers we suffered because of the Oceanid. So, fortunately, I won’t be going to the sea. I’ll be going to the front lines for one or two months, if it happens that I go." She says something that calms me down.

’An Oceanid...’ I shudder just thinking about it. The [Seduction] power of an Oceanid is so absurdly high that she can even affect the Demon King if he’s not careful. In other words, it’s like an Arial amplified to the maximum.

"You’re jealous, aren’t you?" Esther asks, and for a moment I think about what to say, until I realize the first thing I worried about was Esther dying, and the second was her being seduced.

"...A little..." I try to deal with it, but if it’s not my narcissism exploding or me running face-first into a door out of bad luck, it’s a dragon’s jealousy emerging.

"How cute. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t accept going even if it were an order from our father. I know my limits. Facing an Oceanid is like trying to face a tsunami with a bucket of water." Esther’s comparison is strange, but it makes sense, I guess.

"Now, let’s leave these boring matters aside, shall we? Neither of us wants to know about the war. I just wanted to tell you that I might be sent to the battlefield. It’s not even a confirmation yet."

"Ah, that’s right..." Esther didn’t say she would go; she said she might go, which is different.

’Would Esther get angry if she knew a nymph almost kind of stole my virginity?’ Fortunately, Arial stopped and didn’t do anything, but it almost happened.

"Esther, I... never mind..." I was about to ask for something, but afraid to say it, I simply retreat.

"We’ll arrive at the date location in 5 minutes, Evelyn." She says, staring at my face, carefully analyzing something about me. Her gaze slowly descends to my chest and continues downward. I don’t know if she’s assessing me or assessing my clothes only now.

"..." I also start to stare at her, looking at her clothes. It’s an elegant dress of wine-red color, with black bands carefully arranged in a soft diamond pattern on the lower part that rises like leaves. The skirt and top seem to be a matching set.

’Our clothes... are suspiciously of the same style...’ She’s the one who bought all the clothes in my wardrobe. It seems she’s trying to change my style of dressing.

"You... don’t like how I dress?" I ask doubtfully.

"..." She stares at me, realizing I’ve noticed how our clothes have patterns that now make sense. If our dresses are placed with mine below and hers on top, they form a tree with red leaves and black roots and branches.

"I do like it, but I believe a more mature style suits you as much as your previous one. You used to dress in a very... childish way. You never had much access to clothes, so you ended up developing a clothing style that looks like that of a child."

"And Evelyn, I didn’t marry a child. I don’t want to see you dressing like one, unless you want me to start spoiling you as if you were an 8-year-old little girl instead of the adult over 18 that you are."

"..." I smile at her. I really like how she doesn’t even try to hide it.

"Why does the pattern only work if your dress is above mine?" I ask curiously.

"..." She opens both palms of her hands to show me. From both hands, she only raises her index and middle fingers. She opens the two fingers wide like scissors and interlaces the four fingers, making me turn red with embarrassment.

"Y-You pervert... I-I can’t believe you made the dresses have that kind of design just for t-that!!"

"Just unconsciously making it clear to anyone who sees that you are mine. You asked for this, for me to make you exclusively mine, and I’m doing it." She gives a victorious smile after dropping that bomb of indirect secrets, while I look out the window embarrassed, wondering what other dresses she’s hidden these secret indecencies in.