Although I had only been able to glance at it for a moment, the contents of Charlotte’s stat sheet were ludicrous enough that they were perfectly encased in my mind.

Level

406

Soul Tier

10

Strength

39

Agility

158

Reactions

205

Dexterity

167

Endurance

63

Physical Resistance

48

Magic Resistance

235

Speed

119

Mana Control

EX

Mana Capacity

3,122

Physical Skills

[Critical Strike II] [Persuasion III] [Fencing IV] [Acrobatics IV] [Intimidation IV] [Strike V] [Mental Barrier V] [Close Quarter Combat VI] [Recovery VI] [Indomitable Will VII] [Staff Wielding VIII] [Parry IX] [Silent Step X] [Flash Step X]

Magic Skills

N/A

Soul Skills

[Recollections IV] [Sage Archive VIII] [Chameleon IX]

Abilities

[Reading III] [Tracing VI] [Recuperation VI] [Clairvoyance VII] [Sense X] [Mana Congregation X] [Mana Enhancement(All) X] [Mana Eyes X] [Stealth X]

Soul Abilities

[Eyes of Truth I] [Absolute Mana Control X]

It wasn’t just her ridiculous level, the countless number of skills and abilities, or her tier 10 soul as well as corresponding soul ability that ultimately broke my spirit when saw her stat sheet. No, it was the fact that her mana manipulation read EX, and that her magic skills showed as N/A despite her being a powerful mage and me having used [Veritas], that told me that the situation was beyond anything I could understand and that I stood no chance against this endgame boss…

Since I had prematurely released my use of [Veritas] after having stupidly activated, I was not sure whether it was the witches [Persuasion] or [Intimidation] skill that had caused the familiar feeling I had been feeling. Although I expected it to be the former one based on the name. But really, with how monstrous she was, I doubted she truly needed to employ the aid of such skills if she really wanted to get something out of someone.

I couldn’t understand why it seemed that my luck was so shitty. After all, how does a simple level 12 end up coming across all these powerful characters time and time and again. But I was beginning to feel that having picked up Ailya that day, may have been a far more significant event than I had previously thought. And it was due to that that I had faced all these struggles.

Yeah it was due to my stupid mistake in not having Ailya adopt a different mana signature than me that caught Charlotte’s attention. And actually, since I knew from the beginning that Ailya was being chased by some at least one troublesome individual, I should have been more cautious in masking our trail. Yeah, I fucked up big time.

I didn’t know what reason Charlotte had to know Ailya, or what she wanted from her, but It appeared to me that the witch did not take too kindly to me possibly subordinating Ailya. Which means that one way or another, I would be paying for my actions that someone else had forced to take right here and now. After all, despite our current predicament being the results of my lack of foresight, the actual reason I had even subordinated Ailya was due to to that accursed something.

Although my mind appeared to be racing at about 1,000 words per second, my body was still glued to its spot, unable to move a single hair as a result of the crushing pressure that Charlotte was emanating.

Ailya however, was able to recover and quickly began to quickly make her way to where the two of us were. Undoubtedly in order to get Charlotte off me and serve as a shield to defend me. Before I could even tell her to move away and not to do anything stupid however, the witch pointed her finger at Ailya as she said:

“You stay over there like an obedient little girl for a moment, my dear hero.”

With those words, a blue light came out from her finger and coiled around Ailya’s arms as she was thrown and held to one of the walls.

Having been thrown forcibly against a wall, Ailya released a groan before screaming out for me as she futilely struggled to free herself. Seeing her rowdy behaviour, the witch used the same magic as before to produce a ‘mask’ that covered Ailya’s mouth and made her unable to cry out any longer.

Once again seeing her clear use of magic, I couldn’t help but think that the discrepancy between what I was seeing and her empty magic stat proved that there was some clear bullshit at work here.

As soon as she had finished pinning Ailya to the wall and silencing her, Charlotte turned back to face me as she said:

“So, do you want to answer my question yourself, or should I do it for you?”

Gulping loudly at her threat, as a thick lump of saliva that I had been unconsciously accruing in my mouth finally made its way down, I felt myself shiver in fright as I instinctively put my arms up as tried to desperately save myself as I said:

“W-wait! Yeah her name is Ailya, but I’m not a demon!”

And that’s the truth! Even if I said I wanted to be a Demon Lord, it’s not like I’m actually a demon you know! And wait? Does this mean there are actual demons in this world?

“You expect me to believe that? The girl over there was able to change her race and mana signature, so why wouldn’t you be capable of it too? And even more than that actually.”

Then bringing up her finger to my forehead, she continued:

“So tell me the truth little demon, just who’s orders are you following exactly? And did you actually manage to bring a child of destiny under your control? Or are you just tricking her into following you?”

After asking this question, I felt the pressure that she was putting increase once more as she was clearly clearly eager to pry the answers to her questions from me.

Continuing to stare at me as she removed her glasses to reveal her glowing eyes, I felt too terrified to move and make a proper response as the witch continued to glare at me until she finally seemed to reach a breaking point and yelled exasperatedly:

“AHHH JUST TELL ME ALREADY! Haaa… you know, if you tell me the truth, I might not do anything to you. So just tell me, what did you do to the girl over there? Did you subordinate her? Or are you just a puppet being controlled by someone? Is that why my ability doesn’t seem to work?”

Hearing her statement, something began to nag my mind that the situation might not be exactly as I currently believed it to be. And that there were some clear misunderstandings going on. Not only that, if I remember correctly, I could have sworn that Charlotte called Ailya a hero…

Deciding to try and clarify somethings, I managed to open my mouth to ask:

“W-wait a m-minute! Why did you call Ailya a hero?”

“Huh? Don’t act stupid with me! Obviously because she’s… wait.”

Switching her gaze back and forth between Ailya and me, Charlotte continued to repeat her action for a good minute as she tried to find something that only she knew about. After tiring of this action, as she still retained an unsatisfied look on her face, Charlotte formed a transparent wall between Ailya and me as she slowly turned to my direction and said:

“You have one opportunity to explain yourself. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes!”

“Alright then. Before that…”

Then staring at me intently as she used her skills on me, Charlotte asked:

“Are you really not a demon?”

“No! I swear I’m not! I’m just a normal girl!”

“Yeah, there’s no way you’re a normal girl with them demon eyes of yours… well, whatever. Go on, tell me the REAL story about your meeting with Ailya, and how you ended up in whatever situation it is you are currently in with her. as well as what you REALLY are…”