Chapter: 331
After erasing the underground mine with her own hands, Beatrice stood in the same spot for several days.
Now that Evangeline and the underground mine were gone, Beatrice found herself completely lost about what to do next.
With no motivation or purpose left, all that remained was a dreadful sense of emptiness.
While standing still, the emotions that flowed around her slowly coalesced into a massive shape.
One day, when she opened her eyes blankly, Beatrice saw a gigantic monster quietly looking down at her.
However, strangely enough, she felt no fear at all.
Instead, she felt oddly familiar with the massive creature and quietly asked it.
“…What should I do now?”
The monster replied.
It didn’t know either.
But it could take her anywhere she wanted.
At those words, Beatrice turned to glance behind her.
An empty space that seemed erased by an eraser.
It was certain; there was no longer any reason for Beatrice to stay in this place.
So, she climbed onto the monster and began a life of wandering aimlessly.
Yet no matter where she went or what she saw, nothing sparked her interest.
Everywhere she went seemed fundamentally the same as the underground mine she had once inhabited.
People without power resigned themselves to the absurdity that oppressed them as if it was only natural.
The ones who opposed that absurdity were very few, and none overcame it.
Everywhere was just a boring world.
One day, while Beatrice was wandering with such thoughts in her mind,
“…Wait, stop.”
In the middle of a forest, she discovered a girl sitting blankly.
If she were an ordinary person, Beatrice would have ignored her, but the strange energy emanating from the girl indicated that she was not ordinary.
A faint but similar aura to what Beatrice had scattered around not long ago was sensed in the girl.
Feeling just a slight interest, Beatrice approached and asked the girl.
“You, I feel a similar energy to mine. Who are you?”
Hearing the question, the girl gazed at Beatrice blankly without responding.
Rather than ignoring her, it was as if she didn’t even know who she was; Beatrice tilted her head and asked the girl once more.
“…It seems like you’re alive. You do understand what I’m saying, right?”
The girl nodded, as if she did understand.
Her mere reaction to the given question made her appear as if she had just been born into this world.
Staring at the girl, Beatrice instinctively realized that she was a being similar to herself.
She seemed to have an unclear birth, just like Beatrice, who had suddenly appeared in the underground mine.
However, the difference was that while Beatrice had awoken in a crowded underground mine, this girl had awakened in a place without any people.
Beatrice wondered if her self-awareness as a human was perhaps influenced by the first beings she encountered being human, and murmured.
“Hmmm, maybe I felt like this at first too. By the way, it looks empty; there might be some fun in observing it.”
With a peculiar smile, Beatrice said to the girl.
“Hey, I’ll give you a gift since you’re nothing. Now, repeat after me. Evangeline.”
“…Evangeline?”
“That’s right. It means ‘a being that brings good news to alleviate my boredom,’ so from now on, that’s your name.”
Just as Evangeline had given her a name, Beatrice bestowed the name Evangeline upon the girl.
Beatrice couldn’t explain why she acted that way herself.
Was it because the girl’s blank appearance reminded her of a blank sheet of paper?
Or was it due to memories, lingering attachments, or expectations of something?
She didn’t know.
With emotions she couldn’t even express accurately, Beatrice decided to watch the girl who had become Evangeline.
*
Thus, for several years, Beatrice lingered around Evangeline, observing her life closely.
She watched as Evangeline met elves and became a part of their village, living a happy life.
However, seeing Evangeline happily laughing and chatting didn’t stir any emotions in Beatrice at all.
This was an incredibly disappointing situation for her.
Was it that she did not want to see Evangeline in such a state?
While Beatrice pondered what she truly wanted, a small incident occurred.
The massive monster born from Beatrice’s aura, known to the world as a demonic beast, accidentally crushed a few elves who wandered into the forest while yawning.
These were the young elves Evangeline called friends.
Naturally, Evangeline was extremely saddened by this incident.
And seeing Evangeline in such sorrow, Beatrice muttered with a nonchalant attitude.
“Having already killed a few, should I observe their reactions after killing all the elves around Evangeline?”
At Beatrice’s thoughtless muttering, the demonic beast promptly set out to massacre the elves in the village.
And as Beatrice rode atop the monstrous creature heading to the village, she witnessed a scene.
“Don’t touch the people! Go back right now!”
Evangeline, not afraid, shouted, blocking the path of the demonic beast.
Beatrice watched her for a moment before murmuring to the monster.
“…Forget it. Let’s just leave her be. I doubt there would be anything interesting to see even if we kill her.”
At least, it didn’t seem like what she wanted to see was Evangeline in sorrow.
Thinking this way, Beatrice decided to pull back from the demonic beast.
But then, an unexpected sight unfolded before her eyes.
“Evangeline, commanded the monster…”
“A-a witch… it’s the witch!!!!”
The elves were now accusing innocent Evangeline, dragging her in and calling her a witch.
Naturally, Evangeline felt wronged.
Yet, blinded by their vengeance for the children they lost, the elves ultimately tied innocent Evangeline to a burning platform and set her ablaze.
Seeing that, Beatrice burst into laughter.
Even knowing that the real villain was the demonic beast that killed the children, they sought another target to blame for revenge, realizing they couldn’t do anything against the monster.
They looked no different from the slaves in the underground mine who couldn’t even speak up to Davis while beating innocent Evangeline to death.
It was identical to the sights she had seen while wandering around.
It felt so mundane and dull that it made her chuckle helplessly.
Well, the only difference was that Evangeline, having been burned, was not as weak as they thought.
To declare her grievance, Evangeline burned all the elves who had torched her to death.
Watching that scene, Beatrice laughed emptily.
“Oh dear, poor Evangeline. You’ve been treated harshly. But it’s all my fault. Those bad people don’t even know.”
In the end, this was just a natural result of the weak being swept away by the strong.
What she wanted to see wasn’t this.
“Hehe, that’s quite a big fire. It might be fun to play with fire. You want to burn me, don’t you? Then let’s play hide and seek. To that huge tree over there. Got it?”
Then let’s play the game she had done with Evangeline back then.
Playing with fire, hide-and-seek.
In this tedious world, that was about all she could do.
But sadly, even that futile game ended with Evangeline dying at the hands of the elves.
Thus, Beatrice wandered aimlessly once again.
During this time, she encountered a race known as dwarves.
A peculiar race that voluntarily lived buried underground in an underground city.
For some reason, she found it fairly disagreeable.
And fueled by some of her anger over Evangeline’s death,
Beatrice attacked the dwarves.
“Oh…”
Due to their self-detonation, she became buried underground along with the underground city.
Of course, she could have escaped whenever she wanted,
But there was no point in going outside; with Evangeline gone, Beatrice remained buried underground for hundreds of years.
“Should I let you out? I can let you out if you contract to grant me three favors. How about it?”
Until one strange witch came to retrieve her.
Although she ended up receiving intervention she truly despised as payment, Beatrice did not regret coming up from underground at that time.
Because thanks to coming up, she met a being that piqued her interest just a little.
And now, that being is approaching this place.
Beatrice looked up at the sky and murmured.
“…You’ve come, Eva.”
Just a little, make me happy.
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