Phew-wee! I’m tired. In the end, everyone escaped. Even after all the help the ruler gave me, I still lost those liquid-nightmare people. Did I mention I’m tired? I can’t even lift a single finger, and my muscles feel like they’re on fire. It’s not a bad feeling actually. As long as I don’t move, the pain is completely tolerable. How long am I going to be like this? Hopefully not for the rest of my life. No wonder why Ilya always reads warning labels on things. If she ever eats a strange drug, she’ll know how to handle the aftereffects. Well, luckily for me, the ruler’s right here. The question is will she take care of me or not after I performed so poorly.

“You did a great job!” the ruler said and plopped her cushion down beside me. She pointed a finger, and something grabbed ahold of me, lifting my torso up. My body shifted, and I was placed back down with my head resting on the ruler’s lap. A cold piece of something, glass? Porcelain? Jade? Mm, either way, the ruler’s giving me something to drink. It tastes a bit like … pain? There’s not really a flavor; it just hurts my tongue. Mm, it’s hurting the inside of my body too now that I swallowed.

Ah. My divine sense is working properly again. I think it must’ve shut off or something after I ate that pill—my brain was roasting on and off after all. Wow. What happened to this place? Everything was gray before, but now it’s … burnt? Mm, I think burnt is the best description for what this place looks like. That’s really weird. I thought those people fought with water, and water usually doesn’t burn.

“You missed two of them, but that wasn’t a bad first-time usage of a Forlorn Angel Pill,” the ruler said. So, the pill she fed me there was called the Forlorn Angel Pill. Is it important? People usually name important things. If the pills weren’t important, then the ruler would’ve said something like “good job” and left it at that. Ah, there was a part a missed. I missed two of what?

“Over there,” the ruler said and gestured towards the side with a flick of her tail. It made it look like a baby kicked her belly from the inside. The space to the side distorted, and two figures came into view: the serious-looking woman and that person who luckily got away before I could Soul Scour him. “They hid in a barrier, and you didn’t sense them at all.”

Mm, well, what do you know? I thought everyone escaped, but there were still two people left! It’s a shame the serious-looking woman seems really strong. I would totally fight her and capture her to Soul Scour, but it’s a shame my body isn’t functioning properly at the moment. Everything still hurts; the pain from that liquid traveled down from my stomach down to my … intestines? I think the intestines are connected to the stomach. At least, when I cut animals apart, they usually are. Sometimes stomachs are connected to more stomachs. Do squirrels have more than one stomach? Maybe I do. People have told me I ate a lot at times. Hmm. Anyway! I’m in no shape to capture people right now.

“Come here,” the ruler said and wagged her finger at the two stiff people. I’m not sure why they looked so stiff. It wasn’t like we were going to hurt them or anything. Look at what we did to those water sect people. All we did was force them to use their escape spells and chase them away.

The serious-looking woman and her fellow sect member walked over. They could’ve teleported, but the distance wasn’t that far. Maybe they were afraid of making any sudden movements. Did the ruler do something while I was distracted? That would explain why they’re so terrified. When they were a few feet away, the two came to a stop and cupped their hands at the ruler while slightly bowing their heads. The ruler was still sitting with my head resting on her lap. She raised one hand, and the two people crumpled as if their legs broke. They fell onto their elbows and knees, and their foreheads touched the soot-smeared ground.

“Both of you clearly saw what happened just now, right?” the ruler asked. Her fingers touched my forehead and slipped up—down? Slipped into my hair. She must’ve been channeling some sort of energy into me because the pain was being washed away by a warm sensation. Why couldn’t she start with this instead of the thing she made me drink? Mm, well, whatever—as long as the pain goes away.

“I didn’t see anything,” the man I robbed earlier said. He sat up and took in a deep breath before clenching his hands into fists. Then, he punched himself in the eyes with both hands! He didn’t even scream when blood spurted out of them as if he were crushing grapes and not his own eyeballs. “This poor junior was afflicted with blindness at a young age. Did something happen earlier?”

The ruler blinked and wiped away a drop of blood that had landed on my face. “Just like your master, you’re cruel and timid,” she said and grinned. “Did he tell you about the time he cooked his companions and fed them to a beast to survive?”

“…Yes.”

“Well, just like your master, you’re pretty stupid,” the ruler said. “I wasn’t going to do anything to either of you. After all, how are people going to recognize the greatness of squirrels if everyone who’ve witnessed their power is dead? I’ll let the two of you go, and in return, you tell everyone what happened here today.”

Mm? Tell everyone what happened here today? Isn’t that a bit embarrassing for me? I didn’t even manage to defeat a single person despite the ruler helping me with a special pill and a new hammer! Well, I suppose being embarrassed is better than being beaten; after all, I can just capture and reeducate anyone who laughs at me. There’s no way I can get back at the ruler if she chooses to beat me.