Volume 3, Chapter 13-1 – The First Step to Conquering the Abyss

Stella stared fixedly at the apple on the silver tray.

Fresh.

Bright red.

There were even a few droplets of water still clinging to it from when it had just been washed.

Stella subconsciously swallowed.

Of course, she wasn’t some country bumpkin from the Abyss who had never seen an apple grown in the Human Realm.

The problem was, who had put it there?

A coincidence?

How could that possibly be?

Nightmare Street was bustling right next door, and there really were occasionally smugglers selling fruit brought over from the Human Realm.

But for one to just happen to appear at this exact moment, and just happen to be sitting on the bedside table here?

That was far too much of a coincidence.

Stella remembered that when the Primordial Doctrine had assessed the Blood Demon Manor’s assets, there had been a line clearly written on the page. 【Manpower: -1】.

At the time, she had assumed someone had died in the Blood Demon Manor, which was why its available manpower was negative one.

But now that she thought about it…

‘Could there really be something unclean living here?!’

Stella was starting to panic.

Sure, she was a Saintess candidate, but not every Saintess was fearless enough to charge headfirst into anything.

Her poor little heart couldn’t handle being startled like this.

Stella took a deep breath and quickly calmed herself down.

‘Phew. It’s nothing.’

‘Isn’t it just a ghost?’

She had torn a dragon demon apart with her bare hands today and had even eaten Chastisement spirits like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Why would she be afraid of some earthbound spirit haunting an old mansion?

If it really pissed her off, worst came to worst, she could just blast it with Holy Light and exorcise it on the spot.

Still…

Stella thought carefully about it. The ghost hiding in the shadows didn’t seem to harbor any hostility toward her.

In fact, it was almost excessively considerate.

She had just muttered in the corridor that she wanted a lounge, and a door had immediately opened on its own. Inside just happened to be a luxurious guest room where she could at least settle down.

She had just casually complained that she wanted some fruit, and immediately afterward, a freshly washed red apple had been delivered to the bedside table.

It was practically… granting her every wish?

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When Vivian gave her the Blood Demon Manor, she had never mentioned anything like this.

Stella rubbed her chin.

She might as well ask the Primordial Doctrine about everything.

This stupid book might have nothing but rebellion and overthrowing the Holy See on its mind, and its way of thinking might be hopelessly rigid, but as a massive database of Holy Light knowledge, its reserves had always been quite reliable.

Stella found somewhere to sit, took out the thick Primordial Doctrine, and opened it.

She turned the page.

She didn’t even need to pick up her quill and ask anything before ancient gilded words began appearing on their own.

「Congratulations, Holder. You have successfully established yourself at a new stronghold: Blood Demon Manor.」

「Current stronghold status: Activating.」

「Total area: 3,000 square meters, including the rear garden and underground wine cellar.」

「Currently available manpower: Native spirit (-1), Lionheart Society members (12)」

「Current revenue: 0 demon crystals/month」

「It is recommended that the Holder complete the stronghold’s preliminary development as soon as possible and choose a general development direction before the Abyss Supremacy Tournament officially begins, whether commerce, intelligence, military, or comprehensive development.」

‘Abyss Supremacy Tournament?’

‘What the hell is that?’

Stella ignored the Primordial Doctrine’s suggestion, pulled out her quill, and wrote directly on the blank page.

【I ran into a bit of an accident just now. I ate a few of the White Tower’s Chastisement spirits, but I accidentally got the Chastisement Brand on the back of my left hand. How do I get rid of this thing?】

The ink faded away.

The Primordial Doctrine fell silent.

For an entire minute, nothing appeared on the page, as though even the book spirit dwelling inside this sacred scripture had crashed.

Only after quite a while did enormous bold words slowly emerge on the paper.

「A genius.」

The corner of Stella’s mouth twitched.

Immediately afterward, densely packed lines of text began pouring out.

「Once a Chastisement Brand has been inscribed, it is almost impossible to remove through conventional means. Unless the Holder can devour every single Chastisement spirit within the White Tower and sever the response mechanism at its source, the brand will remain with you forever.」

「However…」

The writing on the page paused.

「As expected of the Holder.」

「You truly have devised an extraordinarily ingenious plan, one far more farsighted than I anticipated. You intend to use yourself as bait to lure the White Tower’s jailers over in batches and devour them, ultimately eating through the White Tower’s entire security force so that the ancient demons and heinous heretics imprisoned inside can swarm out en masse, thereby bringing utter calamity upon the Holy See, correct?」

「Strangling the enemy with their own chains. Such profound foresight is truly worthy of admiration.」

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“…”

Stella froze.

What profound foresight? She had seriously just sucked up the wrong thing by accident!

The White Tower was the Holy See’s highest-security prison. It held heinous criminals accumulated over hundreds of years, and there had to be at least a hundred jailers.

Over a hundred Chastisement spirits?

Was she supposed to eat all of them like an all-you-can-eat buffet?

Stella rubbed her head. Since the Primordial Doctrine had no solution, she could only skip over this blood-pressure-raising topic for the time being.

She continued writing on the page.

【Is there a ghost in the Blood Demon Manor? A door just opened by itself, and something even brought me an apple. What exactly was that ‘-1’ manpower you assessed before?】

The Primordial Doctrine replied quickly.

「This book has not detected any hostile personnel or spirits within the Blood Demon Manor.」

「The Holder is overthinking matters. The previously displayed ‘-1’ manpower does indeed refer to currently available manpower, not an enemy.」

Immediately afterward, a faint, barely perceptible line of writing appeared at the very bottom of the page.

「It is simply that…」

「When the daughter of the sea steps onto the shore, she will dissolve like foam.」

「And when she obtains happiness, she will die.」

Stella frowned slightly.

‘What the hell did any of that mean?’

‘The daughter of the sea?’

‘A fairy tale? What did that have to do with the ghost in the Blood Demon Manor?’

She couldn’t understand what kind of riddle this stupid book was trying to play at all.

Just as Stella was about to continue questioning it, the Primordial Doctrine seemed unwilling to dwell on the topic any further. The writing rapidly refreshed, and an extremely abrupt conclusion appeared.

「Incidentally.」

「Congratulations to the Holder on your imminent wedding.」

「By using marriage as a bond to obtain an ally of Abyssal Elector rank and their support in resources, we have once again taken another solid step toward our grand objective of one person and one book launching a counteroffensive against the Holy City.」

「May the Lord bless your political marriage.」

「I wish you happiness.」

Stella: “???”

She blinked.

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To tell the truth, she didn’t quite understand what she had just read.

‘What wedding?’

What political marriage?’

‘What nonsense was this stupid book spouting? Has it finally broken today?’

She was only fourteen.

‘What marriage?!’

Stella expressionlessly closed the book.

Marriage?

To whom?

She could count the people she knew in the Abyss on her fingers.

“Remedios, Dorothy, Cheryl, Gehenna, Katerina, Vivian…’

‘No, no, no. How did I even count my bargain-bin mother in there?’

Scratch the last one.

In any case, she was only fourteen.

She was a Saintess candidate who spent every day repeatedly hopping back and forth along the edge of life and death. Why in the world would she suddenly go and get married?

This stupid book’s logical processing circuits had definitely broken.

“…Seriously, don’t make me laugh.”

Stella stuffed the Primordial Doctrine back into her clothes and muttered to herself.

The Primordial Doctrine had rebellion on the brain anyway. It would hardly be strange for it to malfunction once in a while.

It was entirely possible that it had simply made this up to encourage her to launch a counteroffensive against the Holy City or something.

Stella was just about to stand up and go see how the Lionheart Society members were doing with the cleaning.

Then she heard movement behind her.

Aetlana had woken up.

Stella watched her sit up. Her crimson hair slid down over her shoulders as she looked around in confusion.

“Where is this?” Aetlana asked subconsciously. “Where are the Chastisement spirits?”

“One of my properties,” Stella said as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “The Blood Demon Manor, at the third intersection on Nightmare Street.”

“As for the Chastisement spirits…”

Stella guiltily looked away.

Using a Holy Art to eat more than a dozen White Tower jailers like an all-you-can-eat buffet in one go was simply far too shocking.

As a Saintess who outwardly looked like some stitched-together monstrosity of the Abyss, it would probably be better not to let stories like this spread around.

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She needed to come up with some excuse and brush the matter aside.

“Uh…” Stella began stiffly. “They… left.”

“Left?”

“Yeah, they just… well… maybe they thought they’d chased us too far and it wasn’t worth it, so… they went back?”

Even Stella herself didn’t believe that excuse.

Aetlana quietly looked at her.

“You ate all of them, didn’t you?” she asked softly.

“…Mm.”

Stella answered quietly.

“I just had a very peaceful dream. The dream within that dream felt so real that after waking, I was left with only scattered fragments of it, warm and tranquil.” Aetlana lowered her eyes and looked at her scar-covered hand. “That would have been completely impossible while the Chastisement Brand still existed. They would have hunted me endlessly and torn at me without rest. But now, I can sense that the brand is gone, and so are my pursuers.”

Aetlana raised her eyes.

“You did something to me, didn’t you?”

Stella subconsciously held her breath.

Aetlana really had seen her eat her colleagues.

If she discovered that Stella could use Holy Light…

If she discovered that the so-called Pale Daughter was actually a human Saintess…

The scene would be far too beautiful. Stella didn’t dare imagine what came next.

“To tell the truth, I actually don’t care how you did it.”

Aetlana shook her head.

“If you want this to remain a secret, then let it remain a secret,” Aetlana said. “Everyone has, to some extent, private feelings and secrets they don’t wish others to know. Some are beautiful, some are ugly. Some secrets may eventually be exposed, while others will be carried into the grave.”

“No matter what, I will choose to believe in you, Stella.”

Aetlana braced herself against the edge of the bed and slowly stood up.

Her complexion still didn’t look good, but compared to before, she had recovered considerably.

Translator Note

Anything the book is saying will always happen.

So, the book congratulating her basically guarantees yuri to happen later!