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Nya nya…

Myohail, who had just woken up from a nap, stretched his back.

The sunlight pouring through the window was warm.

The place where he was sprawled out like a liquid was a villa on the grounds of the Ruelberta Mansion. It was where Wendy’s family lived.

‘Has it already been half a year…?’

Time had flown by since he became a guest of the Ruelberta Family.

It had been so long since he had been out in the mundane world…

The mundane world was originally a place filled with annoying and pointless things.

Mages, who were supposed to explore truth amidst rules and constraints, would growl and fight each other. They even started wars. The pathetic behavior made him sick to his stomach.

Moreover, the people in the mundane world wouldn’t leave him alone.

His immense power, as the first Sage and a living legend, rivaled natural disasters. If they could harness his power, it would be like gaining an army of thousands.

The reason Myohail, under the alias Myoil, was sitting as the university library director and chancellor was because he reluctantly took on the role out of gratitude to this country.

Of course, he had long since abandoned most of his duties.

He left the library to the cat librarians and handed the chancellorship over to Mondri.

The mundane world was full of nothing but annoyances.

But the reason he, who had rejected and even loathed the mundane world, ended up here was clearly due to atonement.

For Grace, whom he couldn’t even see before she died, and for the child he lost.

After hundreds of years, he had found his own bloodline and took Wendy as his disciple.

‘Hehe… What a cute kid…’

Myohail stroked his long beard.

Wendy was a child so precious he could hold her in his eye without it hurting.

She was the descendant of Grace, the first woman he loved and the first Hero.

To him, she felt more like a beloved granddaughter than a disciple.

Not just her, but after Wendy’s parents and siblings came under the Count’s protection, Myohail found happiness living with his distant descendants.

“Ah! Kitty! There you are!”

Suddenly poking her head through the window where Myohail was lying was Wendy’s younger sister, Ruri, the youngest of the Wingfield Family.

“Meow~”

“Hehe.”

Myohail shamelessly meowed and snuggled into Ruri’s arms.

Aside from the Count and Wendy, no one in the mansion knew his true identity. That’s why he had to act like a cat.

One might ask if an old man like him felt any self-loathing for acting like this, but Myohail’s mental state was already rock solid.

Moreover, having lived as a cat for so long after abandoning his human body, he was practically one with cats. He had long since reached the state of unity with all things.

Ruri, holding Myohail, was skipping somewhere. The destination seemed different from what he expected.

‘Hmm? Wasn’t she going to feed me?’

Unable to ask where they were going, Myohail let out a cat’s meow.

“Meow?”

“Huh? Where are we going?”

“Meow!”

As expected of his descendant Ruri. She was a genius among geniuses, able to understand his meows like magic.

Ruri rubbed her nose against Myohail’s head and said,

“Hehe… You’ll find out soon.”

“Meow?”

“Ah! Sis! I brought her!”

Oh, so Wendy was looking for me. Hehe…

“Ah… Ruri…”

Sitting demurely on the sofa was Wendy.

She greeted Ruri with an awkward smile and…

‘Hmm?!’

In an instant, Myohail felt his fur stand on end.

He had locked eyes with the man standing next to Wendy.

“Count! Hehe…”

“Good job bringing her.”

Gently patting Ruri’s head was the black-haired nobleman, Tristan.

He was looking at Myohail with a prideful, almost sinister expression.

Something’s fishy here.

Myohail’s instincts were screaming at him.

His intuition, which had never been wrong, told him something annoying was about to happen.

And before he could think, his body moved.

“Ah? Kitty?!”

Slipping out of Ruri’s arms, Myohail made a run for it.

“Master…! No, no. Hey, kitty?!”

Ignoring his disciple’s frantic calls, Myohail disappeared.

It all happened in an instant.

His miraculous defense mechanism, which had gotten him out of countless crises, was spot on this time too.

Left bewildered, Wendy looked at Tristan and asked,

“Wh-what do we do…?”

“What do you mean, what do we do?”

Tristan commanded Wendy,

“Capture him alive.”

*

Two hours later, Myohail was tightly held in Wendy’s arms and dragged to the office.

Myohail, with his sharp instincts, had bolted before anyone could say a word. His escape skills were as fast as lightning.

Catching a regular cat was hard enough, but a Sage disguised as a cat? That said it all.

Wendy had grown much stronger in both stamina and magic through rigorous training. But even so, she was no match for a Sage.

Wendy ran around the mansion trying to catch Myohail.

Eventually, exhausted, she broke down in tears.

*Sniff*… Master…

*Ugh?!*

Why do you keep running away… *Sob*… You’re so mean…

D-don’t cry.

Wendy’s tearful skill left even the Sage helpless.

No magic could match the power of Wendy’s tears.

In the end, Myohail was caught while trying to comfort her.

After hearing the explanation, Myohail initially showed strong reluctance.

After all, Myohail was a neutral character who wouldn’t intervene even in wars or natural disasters. In the original story, when the Demon Lord appeared, or even when players caused chaos in the online game, he stayed holed up in the library, living in seclusion.

Myohail was the first head of the Cremont Family and the first mage to earn the title of Sage.

His past, which seemed as long as his years, was shrouded in mystery.

No one knew why he had turned his back on the world and lived in seclusion.

Well, how could I possibly understand the deep intentions of an elder like a Sage…

But one thing was certain: Myohail cherished Wendy deeply.

Whether it was because he had grown fond of his young disciple or because she was the descendant of a legendary Hero, he felt a special connection to her.

Anyway, I planned to lure him out using Wendy as bait.

At first, Myohail coldly refused. He had no reason to join the northern expedition and even scolded Wendy for wanting to go.

So I thought I might fail, but in the end, Myohail surrendered to Wendy’s tearful persuasion, just like I did.

“Ah, fine! Fine! I’ll go to the north or wherever with you, okay?!”

“M-Master!!”

“You’re suffocating me, kid. Remember, I’m only going this time for our cute disciple. Count, I won’t be participating in the war.”

“Understood.”

That’s what I wanted too.

I was worried that Myohail might sweep the north clean out of annoyance.

If he did that, my plans for the north could go up in smoke. It’s best if Myohail protects Wendy while intervening just enough.

“Ahem… I’m only going as Wendy’s protector, so don’t expect anything else from me. Count, your body is your own responsibility, got it?!”

“Thank you! *Sob*… Thank you so much! Master…!”

“Ow ow ow! My beard! Don’t pull my beard! It hurts! It really hurts, kid!”

“Eek?! I-I’m sorry! *Sob*…”

“Ah, it doesn’t hurt! Hehe… Where would an old man like me feel pain…? So stop crying.”

Look at him enduring it for his beloved disciple…

I watched Wendy and Myohail and thought to myself.

Everything is going smoothly.

The Imperial Army is fully assembled, and we’ve gathered strong allies for the northern expedition.

It’s too early to say for sure, but with Myohail joining, the chances of the northern expedition failing have become even slimmer.

But there’s still one important thing left.

My real goal isn’t just to reclaim the north.

*

That midnight.

I secretly gathered a few people in the office.

“Everyone’s here.”

“Yes.”

In the dimly lit office, Helga, Rian, and even the Annihilation Maid stood in orderly formation around me, totaling six people.

I leaned back in my chair and looked at them.

All six were seasoned fighters, the core combatants of our family.

But since I had never called them at such a late hour before, they were all tense.

The first to speak was Helga, my loyal bodyguard knight.

“Count… What did you want to tell us?”

“Do you know why we’re heading north?”

“Huh?”

They looked at me as if I had asked something obvious.

Helga, as the representative, smiled and said,

“Hehe… Of course. To kill all the monstrous beasts and demons… Ah.”

Suddenly realizing Rian was beside her, Helga shut her mouth. But Rian didn’t seem to care at all.

“Count. Rian. Are we going north to eat the monsters?”

Rian asked innocently.

It seemed she had come after drinking a drop of blood to calm her nerves.

Well, to her, a half-human, half-vampire, humans and demons were all the same.

After a moment of thought, Helga confidently answered like a student who had figured out the correct answer.

“Hmm… We’re going north with the Count to drive out the wicked monsters and demons. And to place the north in the Count’s hands—that’s the true purpose of this expedition! Am I right?”

“Wrong.”

“Ugh… Wrong again… What a shock…”

Actually, I had been thinking about it.

My ultimate goal is to save this world from the players.

To do that, I need to unite this world as one.

“I won’t be driving out the demons in the north.”

The maids exchanged glances, though they didn’t make a sound.

“Uh… Then should we just kill them all cleanly?”

“Can’t Rian just eat them all?”

“Neither. I won’t kill them if possible.”

“Not killing them means…?”

Muiry, the senior Annihilation Maid, voiced the question.

After all this, they must be curious.

About what I was going to tell them next.

“I don’t want unnecessary slaughter. Slaughter is inefficient and low-class.”

As seen with Rian, it’s better to keep them under control than to kill them.

The same goes for the demons in the north.

“So I thought. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for our future if we ruled over them instead?”

“Rule…?”

“Yes. I’m a greedy man. Helga, you said you’d place the north in my hands, but land alone is useless.”

“Then…”

I stood up from my chair and spoke in a low voice to those standing in the darkness.

The method to unite this world as one and the true purpose of this northern expedition.

“I will become the Demon Lord.”

 

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