The woman–Or rather, the creature Denaiel had brought back was a very peculiar entity. The advisors, the servants, and even the knights felt that she was unsettling, uncanny, and downright sinister. Interactions were few and short, but everyone who had to even tell her something through the door to her quarters felt like something might happen to them if they lingered on for too long…

  It had already been two weeks since her arrival, and the deliveries to her quarters had already been sent. They consisted of absurd amounts of steel, meat, as well as haunted or cursed items, amongst other things that she would sometimes ask for… The steel she asked for didn’t even need to be something precise or to be a particular state, whether in its raw form, in ingots, or already made into items. She took everything without complaint.

  As for the meat… It was the same. They could even deliver her entire carcasses, piles of bones, or large containers filled with blood, and she would be pleased. She was not picky in the least, but no one really understood what she was gaining from all of this.

  There was no way all that meat was solely to sustain herself–Especially when she didn’t have any stomach! The handmaidens who had first dressed her up had not kept the experience to themselves, so everyone knew that Maeve was a steel skeleton with fleshy growths.

  No one really understood, but whatever she was given would end up disappearing without a trace. So she was definitely doing something with all of this stuff…

  At the end of the third week, she made a new demand–It was right after the first batch of ‘bearers’ had been deployed to the target countries, so she was definitely making use of that good news to get something. Namely, she wanted to observe knights from establishments, the sort who had a certain technique or skill. It wasn’t clear what the point of this demand was, but it didn’t cost anything, so it was accepted.

  …The strangest part was that she would observe them for as long as they would be here, even if it lasted for hours or even an entire day. It certainly was odd for a monster to have a passion for knights.

  She also asked for books, which was another easy demand to fulfil. Though she asked for all sorts of books, some of which were rather technical, overly technical, even.

  In any case, the partnership was going very well so far. After a month, the results were starting to show. The operation was still in its nascent stage, but already, the nightmares were having an impact. After all, people suffering from incessant nightmares, only to end up being seemingly killed by said nightmares, was a topic worth talking about.

  People spoke, and the rumours spread, both in Rootriska and Heldinot–For a time, at least…

  Rootriska ended up catching on that something was wrong and ended up activating a defence protocol, manifesting the most egregiously large barrier seen in a very long time. The entire country was literally covered in a mana blue dome.

  Technically, hosts of nightmares could still be snuck in via the teleportation array, but using it would be telling Rootriska of its existence. The barrier they had deployed wasn’t a simple wall. It could allow people from the outside through, but it seemed like they had figured out how to differentiate between people bearing ‘Remember Me?’ and those who did not…

  ___

  Naturally, I knew very well how and why they were able to figure this out. It was thanks to the Bombidour family. Heltna had shown herself capable of removing and destroying ‘Remember Me?’ in the past, so if her father was involved in the defences of the country–Which he definitely was–Then it was to be expected that they would be able to identify the problem and react accordingly.

  However, I already had an idea of how to circumvent the issue–In the first place, ‘Remember Me?’ was not needed for nightmares to take over someone’s dreams. It was a side effect of being exposed to fear caused by me. As such, as long as people were afraid of me and my actions, they could still become hosts without needing to be exposed to my favourite curse’s aura of gloom.

  Thus, as long as my dear allies did their work to maintain tension and maintain the fear of Nightmares taking over people’s dreams… Then the nightmares should still continue to manifest…

  They could use the teleportation array as well. If they only made use of it for small-scale operations to merely keep the fear alive, then it shouldn’t be noticed–Unless Rootriska had decided to install detectors for space fluctuations, that is.

  In any case, Beelmart hadn’t been silly when sending bearers of my curse into Rootriska. I had told them quite plainly that ‘Remember Me?’ could be survived indefinitely without ever getting to the point of death, as long as the person carrying it had a ‘strong will’ and was ‘competent enough’.

  I hadn’t told the exact truth, but my words weren’t inaccurate. As nice and handy as the nightmares may be, anyone with good nerves and the skills to win the trials consistently would be able to live their life. The thing was that most people did not have either, or only had one of those qualities.

  Having nerves of steel allowed one to avoid panicking, and would prevent them from exhausting themselves trying not to sleep, but without skills, they would fail anyway and end up having to face me directly… The same was true in reverse, if you could win the trials, but didn’t have the mental to push through and endure night after night of fear and torment–Then your skills would erode, and you would fall to the trials.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  If you had both, but not in enough quantity, you would eventually fall as well.

  As such, Beelmart had recruited real professionals to take on the job alongside many prisoners who were on death row. I had thought it weird that an authoritative kingdom like Beelmart would keep people sentenced to death for more than a single day, but turns out that ‘death row’ in Beelmart really meant that you were being kept barely alive to serve as either an experiment, or that you were going to be used as an expendable pawn after being marked with a slave crest–It was a pretty good use for those you weren’t intending on keeping around anyway.

  In my opinion, at least…

  Those professionals they sent were assassins trained directly by the crown. They had been turned into what were essentially drones who only knew how to follow orders from the very moment they had been born. The cord wasn’t even cut, and their training had already begun. They were the most zealous believers of Beelmart’s radiance and righteousness, but they were so obedient that they basically lacked profound thinking capabilities when it came to anything outside of their functions.

  Which was why this training method was only used for secret forces. All of the officials were more typical people with the ability to actually think for themselves. They were kept loyal through good old propaganda and incentives.

  He may be an old man whose body was probably filled with dust, but the king of this country definitely knew what he was doing.

  …All that to say, despite the defences used by Rootriska, the problem would persist, even if lessened.

  Heldinot, though? Those poor guys did not have the same defensive means as their neighbour. Their nation was being flooded, and my nightmares were flourishing. I had already had to engage in several final trials so far, with nearly all of them involving groups of people.

  So far, I have been able to achieve total victory every time. However, the more trials I went through, the higher the chances became that I would run into competent warriors, and perhaps even people stronger than me… The trials would probably grant me some sort of power or boost to equalise things, but it still meant that the odds of me failing were steadily rising.

  That was a concern for the future, however. There wasn’t anything I could do ahead of time about this… So instead, I focused more on my payment. I was paid for my services daily. The content of what was given to me varied from day to day, but I would always be getting an ample amount of flesh and steel to consume.

  I was really stocking up on those to an absurd degree. If I were to attempt to transform into my ‘Molten Steel Form’, the percentage cited as my limit would probably be only a mere one per cent, or perhaps even less at this point… Especially since sometimes, they would deliver some high-quality steel as well.

  The only problem was the low quantity of curses and spirits I was receiving. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much of those ready at hand, so they were constantly seeking them out, resulting in days without even a single one for me to gnaw on.

  Speaking of gnawing, I had been cooking inside of my mindscape as well. I had tried a few things, but only two curses were really worth mentioning.

  Roasted Pork - Minor Curse Of Feral Rage - Causes the target's mind to regress to a feral state for a certain duration of time, depending on their willpower. A good hit on the head will make them recover

  Spaghetti And Meat Balls - Minor Hide-Behind Curse - This curse conceals the presence of one other curse for twenty-four hours

  The former would pair up well with the ‘Inferior Curse Of Berserk’, and probably the ‘Inferior Ailment Curse Of Hunger’ as well.

  The latter, though, was very interesting. It wasn’t really a proper curse per se. It was more of an add-on for other curses, helping keep them hidden from prying eyes. I would already be using it in tandem with ‘Remember Me?’ if not for its very short duration. I needed to find out how I could upgrade the dish to enhance the associated curse.

  If I could get a way to indefinitely improve the difficulty of discovering my curses, I would truly be able to terrorise freely…

  Something else I had been working on was the ‘Evolving Warrior’ ability of my knightly form. I felt that I was missing out on a lot of power boosts by not engaging with the special skills and arts of other knights. Thankfully, since I was a very good ally, my wish had been granted quite easily, and I got to watch a lot of people practice their skills and spar with one another.

  Since I stayed inside a room where I was all by myself, I was able to take on my knightly form without revealing that I possessed such an ability. So far, I have had no luck developing new skills, but I could feel something prickling at the back of my mind–It was working, I knew it was.

  Also, the attic was so big that I had plenty of space to practise in. This was important as inside my mind palace, I was in my human form, which did not translate perfectly to my knightly form since my human stature and silhouette differed–Not to mention that there was a stark difference in weight between my beautifully muscular body and my frame of pure steel.

  The best part of all of this, though… It was definitely all the free time I had gotten, even with my activities and training, there were still many hours left for me to spend some quality time with my little sisters, be it inside or outside the mindscape.

  Aah… Can life even get better than this? It is a shame that this will definitely not last forever. After all, they don’t realise how deep in shit they are by provoking Rootriska and one of its allies. I don’t know much about the crown of today, but I know my brother very well. He will end up inventing something to find out who is responsible for the ill plaguing both Rootriska and Heldinot.

  As nice as he may be, I know well that he is capable of dishing out punishment against people–He is capable of sending a murder robot after me, his own sister! So, a kingdom of slavers doing everything in its power to stay a relevant part of the continent? I doubt the high-ranking individuals of Beelmart understand that a hornet nest is soon to fall directly onto their heads.

  …I’ll enjoy my time here, and I’ll enjoy the show when everything burns to the ground.