The Butterfly Approaches

——The Golden Casino, Meeting Room.

The Demon Lord’s advisors were hard at work, Tahara alone wearing a troubled expression, groaning and scratching his head at times. While Kondo was just playing video games under the table, neither Tahara nor Yu expected any productivity from him anyway.

“Is something wrong?” Yu asked.

“It’s smooth sailing... But depending on which areas the boss sets up, we’re going to be short on skilled and unskilled labor.”

The eastern wastelands of Holylight had a small population to begin with, and simply leveling the uninhabited desert land would require a great number of hands on deck. The man-hours required were compounded by Tahara’s high expectations for quality and the lack of heavy machinery in this world.

“Even I can’t clone people or turn them into skilled technicians overnight.”

“I know.” Yu could eliminate any ailment and heal any injury, but she was not given the ability to create human beings from scratch nor the power to resurrect the dead, of course. “If we want to increase the population, I need to bear the Secretary’s offspring—”

“Yep, good luck with that. Really mean it,” Tahara dismissed Yu, having expected the comment. He gazed up at the ceiling. Not even a supergenius like him could just fix a population problem.

However, while the Demon Lord was in a drunken slumber, Ren had sent a Communication.

Hello, Tahara.

Is that Ren?! Man, I’ve been waiting for you to come for ages!

I propose we exchange information on our current situations.

I second that!

They relayed what they had each experienced in this world so far in a few words, with each of them filling in the gaps.

In the Infinity Game, the advisors were given almost free reign when it came to anything regarding the arena. On other matters, however, they were in constant power struggles with the higher-ups of the Empire and its various factions.

This was why Ren and Tahara relished the freedom and excitement of strategizing and constructing a political arc for the Demon Lord. While their Communication was mostly a two-way update, they seemed to be enjoying the process nonetheless.

There are nearly two thousand residents starving in the slums here, Ren explained, not to go rogue, but to keep small matters off of the Demon Lord’s plate, especially after he so sagely (or so she thought) illuminated her on the futility of saving only a handful of people in the short term.

Bossman did mention pulling in labor from the outside! Send them all over, like, yesterday! Tell them we got food that’s finger-lickin’ good or something!

I don’t think I can say that.

Come on!

Unlike Ren, Tahara had no delusion that the Demon Lord was doing any of this out of kindness, and believed it was merely a tactic to solve their labor shortage.

Once Ren began retelling the Demon Lord’s clash against the Jack of All Trades, Tahara’s shoulders began to quiver until he burst out laughing just as the Communication concluded.

“Bah ha ha ha! Our boss is stone cold!”

“What was so funny that it made you look even more like an idiot?”

“Just how cutthroat the chief is. As soon as he touched down, he pitted two bears against each other.”

Tahara relayed the story, which drew some uncharacteristic laughs from Yu, as the story seemed to appeal to her. She found pure delight in the idea of having lowly guinea pigs fight each other without their group lifting a finger.

“Pitting the filth against each other with a bronze coin...” Yu finally broke, covering her mouth to hold in her own laughter, her shoulders now quivering.

Kondo was shaking for another reason entirely, but decided not to go anywhere near what was going on and returned his eyes to his video game.

“All of that at zero cost too,” Tahara added. “I can’t believe it. If we don’t get a move on, he’s going to finish clearing up the North.”

“I agree. While the Secretary’s taking over Euritheis, I’ll make sure they’ll come together against Dona.”

“You bet. Let’s take anyone we can and get this over with.”

Both Tahara and Yu held a terrifying skill called Propaganda. In the game, the skill was a sort of defense mechanism that concealed various information about the user, but it had a much more varied use in this world, as it could also be used to bolster rumors and create a social climate to the user’s advantage. With two users of such a sinister skill, they could do incredible damage to the world, certainly enough to plunge a nation into chaos.

“We’ve been holding back on Propaganda, but we can’t pull punches now.”

“I concur.”

“Oh, and the other Butterfly’s on her way.”

“We’re getting to the finishing touches.”

They were speaking of the Madam’s sister, the queen of the art world. Once they had her on their side, this Game was as good as over.

Harts and the military nobles were already readying their forces with the Madam’s reinforcements, and while the Demon Lord and Ren were playing out their rom-com up north, the other advisors were tirelessly at work.

Tahara and Yu would flood Holylight with the following rumors:

“Harts is preparing to take down Dona.”

“The military and central nobles have joined forces, gathering soldiers for the battle.”

“Big money from Suneo is backing the effort.”

“Dona sent an assassin against the Holy Maiden Luna.”

As the Madam leaked these rumors to the noble guests of the village, Tahara shared them with the laborers and Yu with her patients. As nobles were creatures extremely keen on self-preservation, they would be sent into a massive tizzy. Holylight’s pre—Demon Lord power structure would have dictated that anyone side with Dona without a second thought, but Suneo’s financial backing would complicate the decision. In a large-scale civil war like this, neutrality was not an option; choose the wrong side, and one’s entire clan would fall from grace.

“Bada bing, bada boom. We got ourselves a traitor to the nation.”

The process was as easy to them as cooking a one-pot recipe, while the effects of their scheming would prove catastrophic. As soon as Tahara and Yu set their eyes on Dona, his days were numbered.

“Now how will I play with this Dona... Maybe I’ll feed him bite by bite to my Starving Fireflies, starting from his toes.”

“And what are those, exactly...? Some kind of bug?”

“They glow beautifully when they’re fed human meat. They even show different colors depending on the day of the week.”

“Forgot about your wacky menagerie... Not that I ever want a tour,” Tahara chuckled awkwardly and averted his gaze, but not out of pity for Dona. Tahara had a philosophy that all of his nemeses should be killed, and holding back against them in any way could be to his own detriment.

“The Secretary’s with Ren, right...?” Yu asked.

“Hm? Yeah.”

“That goody-two-shoes is playing teacher’s pet, no doubt.”

“Not so sure about that...”

Tahara remembered that the Secretary only ever saw Ren as one of his pieces, without any emotions towards her one way or the other. He only ever sought out talent, not the individual. Tahara also knew that the same policy applied to him. While he had sensed a sort of amusement on Kunai’s part towards Akane or Kondo’s ridiculousness, it seemed more like a curious observation than any form of affection. Tahara assumed that the Demon Lord’s attitude towards Luna followed the same principle.

“In any case, I think the chief’s got a better chance as he is now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yeah, he’s still scary...but he’s gotten more relaxed, like he can sit back.”

“I’m sure it helps to have the weight of the Empire off of his shoulders.”

The Sleepless Castle was once home to the best of the best from all corners of the Empire, but they still comprised a minuscule force in comparison to the rest of the tumultuous nation. It was guarded by Hakuto Kunai and his eight advisors, supported by five thousand automatons and a decent fleet of battleships to intimidate the players, but that was no comparison to the entirety of the Empire that spanned over 60% of the world.

Now that the rest of the Empire was no longer breathing down their necks, the advisors were overcome with a sense of freedom.

“If it wasn’t for our gracious boss, we’d have all been hung at some point.”

Yu agreed with Tahara. The advisors were only able to maintain their status because of Kunai’s unrelenting scheming that eliminated any political opponents.

“It was fun to watch him kick all of our adversaries off of their pedestals, even making them walk off themselves. Do you remember that Sando who kept coming after our seats? After his fall, he was made to join the fray among the players. The way he blubbered...!”

“Yeah, I remember! He was crying, all snot-nosed. Took about twenty shots from the players to blow him to smithereens!”

Yu chuckled again. “A fitting end for that filth.”

Kondo, meanwhile, in an effort to avoid engaging in any part of the conversation, concentrated on his game of trying to help an old man escape from a garden. The sound of his video game was muted, possibly because he was reprimanded for it by another advisor.

“Hey, Yu... How much do you remember of the old days?”

“Huh? Aren’t you too young to have dementia?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

Tahara remembered massacring the unending stream of players, made up of everyone from criminals, capital citizens, and even volunteers. Otherwise, he had a few powerful memories of the happy days he spent with his sister in the distant past. His other memories, however, were blurry at times, as if they were encased in a white fog, where he couldn’t even remember the timeline for some of them.

He expressed this to Yu, and she had experienced a similar phenomenon.

“What do you think? Some kind of side effect of coming to this world?”

“Considering that we really are in another world entirely...I can’t deny the possibility.”

“What about you, Kondo?”

“Huh...? I-I only remember playing video games...”

“I should have known better than to ask you.”

The advisors talked of this and that as they finished up their work, but they would not find out for some time that even the don of Euritheis had fallen from grace.

——A travel road to eastern Holylight.

My silly sister. How long is she going to chase that impossible dream of hers...?

A giant, high-end carriage rolled down the road surrounded by a copious number of guards, obviously protecting a person of great status. The flag waving above the carriage depicted a stark yellow butterfly that signified the presence of Buttersauce Butterfly, a noble among nobles. Considering the added influence of her sister, the crest carried significant weight in Holylight.

You think I’m a charity case? You’ll see... Buttersauce chuckled menacingly, her hefty figure shaking. She held a paper in her hand: an invitation for a one-night stay at Rabbi’s Hot Springs Resort. Her sister had sent her this invitation a long time ago, which Buttersauce had been ignoring. After she and her sister had had practically no contact for years, Buttersauce wanted to spit on this charity her sister had suddenly decided to spring on her.

However, as the reputation of the Hot Springs Resort grew with time, Buttersauce had a change of heart. Traveling was an essential part of noble society, especially for the leader of a faction like Buttersauce.

My foolish sister who never learned to grow up... I wonder what ridiculous mess she’s causing to throw a pity party for herself.

The sisters had parted ways for one reason: their pursuit of beauty. Because of an ancestral curse, both sisters were plagued with inexplicable weight gain since their formative years, which only compounded with age. Their weight had become the butt of many jokes in glamorous high society, leading Buttersauce to seclude herself from others, locking herself in. Meanwhile, Butterscotch bounced back, continuing to attend high society events despite the mockery and ridicule, pouring in an almost pathetic amount of energy into losing weight.

Stupid sister... Your efforts ultimately amounted to nothing. Buttersauce scoffed, almost wanting to degrade her sister for fruitlessly causing commotions at noble events.

She, on the other hand, had found the world of fine art and delved deep into its expression of beauty. If she couldn’t become beautiful herself, she was going to surround herself with beauty. Moreover, Buttersauce began creating her own art.

Butterscotch had insulted Buttersauce’s decision as cowardice, and Buttersauce retorted that her sister was wasting her life chasing an impossible dream.

Years passed since their falling out, and even when they happened to attend the same functions, they never so much as met each other’s eyes.

At least I’ve been feeling a little lighter lately... Buttersauce’s size usually put a lot of wear on her bones and joints, giving her pains all over her body. Combined with the pressure on her shoulders and back from sitting and painting for hours at a time, her lifestyle was causing a lot of damage to her large body.

“We’re almost at the village of Rabbi, madam,” the coachman called.

Through the carriage window, Buttersauce saw the dried earth of the eastern wasteland. It was almost inconceivable that her sister, with her affinity for glitz and glamor, chose to seclude herself out here for rehabilitation.

And she even shook hands with those savage military nobles... Pity flickered in Buttersauce’s eyes. She saw this as her sister’s one last tantrum, involving the entire nation. As if she could hear her sister cry for help, Buttersauce twisted her face into a frown. Stupid, stupid sister... When will you snap out of this delusion of yours?

Already exhausted, she looked out the carriage window and let out an “Oh!” as she spotted what appeared to be a forest. She immediately called for the coachman to halt. While she could barely see through the sandstorm, the silhouette of a forest was unmistakably there.

“How is there a forest here...? Wait... It’s somehow different from any forest I know.”

Buttersauce hurriedly climbed out of the carriage and began rapidly drawing in the sketchbook she always carried with her. She thought she had seen a glimpse of something divine in those woods. Some sort of pure magic she had never seen before. It was like Buttersauce, with her keen eye for beauty, was beholding a grand waterfall that emanated a kind of magnificence that reached one’s soul.

“Don’t tell me... My sister built these woods just because there was nothing around here?” Buttersauce scoffed, imagining the astronomical cost to achieve such a thing. Of course, she was a huge spender in her own right when it came to art.

When Buttersauce was finishing up her quick sketch, she heard a memorable voice in her ear.

“That is the Healing Forest. It piqued your interest, I take it...”

Buttersauce wondered how long the man wearing a City States outfit had been quietly standing. Her guards began to react to Tahara in his tuxedo, but Buttersauce stopped them with the raise of her hand.

“It’s enchanting... I can hardly believe my sister was responsible for it.”

“She isn’t, I’m afraid. The forest was built by our leader, Hakuto Kunai. Inside the village, there is a stunning, historical fountain.”

“A fountain... Is that your attempt at humor?” Buttersauce gave a dry laugh.

Trees could be planted by force, even out in the desert, albeit at a ridiculous cost, but a fountain of water couldn’t exist anywhere in eastern Holylight.

“The wishes of our leader become reality...”

The man’s eyes flashed blue for a moment, and Buttersauce’s heart tolled loudly. She saw that he was a stunner when she first noticed him, but that look awakened a feminine beast within her that had long lain dormant.

“Our leader is unfortunately out at the moment, but he has instructed us to provide you with the warmest welcome our village has to offer... Welcome to the world of our leader, madam...”

Buttersauce took Tahara’s hand and felt warmth fire through her body: perhaps a pang of romance.

Where that hand would lead her awaited a world created by the Demon Lord, a world that no one else could have conceived of. The other Butterfly now approached the precipice of that world.

While misunderstandings only accelerated around the Demon Lord’s antics, another battle was about to commence in the village of Rabbi. With the ambitious nobles gathering their battalions to the west, turmoil in Holylight was approaching a boiling point.

Great chaos and destruction would finally pave the road to a miracle.