Chapter 27: Sweet Victory!!!
"..." I observe the colosseum, see Augustus looking disinterestedly at the fighters while I stare fixatedly, analyzing the fight. I have faith that Eve will win, so I just watch.
As soon as the fight starts, I see Eve advancing in a devastating attack. It was so fast that I didn’t even see the movement, but without stopping or giving time, she keeps advancing, continuing the fight.
’Wow, she’s much stronger than expected!!’ I observe excitedly, it seems incredible, she has an obvious advantage while Augustus now pays real attention.
I think he never thought Eve was so strong, but I knew she had more power than she shows, after all, part of the power of my puppets can’t be noticed with just a basic look.
I see Eve delivering an absurd sequence of thrusts and making moves I never imagined seeing, Eve is not a puppet that the original Evelyn created in the game.
I don’t plan to create the same puppets as Evelyn from the game, I’m creating my own with what I know I need, so all my puppets that I will create are my originals like Eve.
That’s why I didn’t know how skilled she is, I can only hold the small safety wall of the colosseum, watching excitedly as she manages to press the butler.
The whole fight is very fast and I can barely keep up, soon Eve gives a sword blow throwing him back while she spins back forward and after a kick she recovers the sword that comes to her.
The fight is frantic and I see the servants reacting, fear in the eyes of some, discomfort in others, while some evaluate coldly, I know that some of these servants belong to different siblings.
’That one...’ Some servants are obviously from Esther, which is unusual, I didn’t imagine I had already caught Esther’s attention, this could be bad for me, I hope she doesn’t try anything against me yet.
’Oh!!’ I see Eve manage to get a blow from above, opening the enemy’s guard, but soon she gives a powerful kick to the enemy’s balls, I watch him have a shocked look soon collapsing on the ground in pain.
"I...won" I murmur as my smile grows, an immediate relief hits me as I see the opponent plummet to the ground crying, the pain was so great that his consciousness seems to have been partially cut off.
"..." I see Eve looking at me and I give her a smile and a nod, she did very well and deserves praise, thanks to this completely one-sided fight, things will improve for me.
Of course, those servants who didn’t see it will be skeptical and say it’s a rumor, but those who saw it will know that I’m no longer someone to be underestimated, I see Eve leaving the arena while I skip excitedly through the stands going to Augustus.
He has a not-so-good look, he didn’t expect to lose to me, the family’s failure. I approach him with a huge smile, feeling his magic, it’s violent.
"You lost, little brother" I say with some mockery as I observe him. He gets up and comes up to me, standing in front of me.
"...Yes, I lost" He says, knowing that the true loss is not the 1,000 gold coins he has to pay, but his reputation, being defeated by the weakest of the family in a duel, even if it’s indirect.
A servant represents his master, so he has to choose servants carefully, so my servant having defeated his servant is like a direct stain on his perfect position.
Being defeated by someone stronger is nowhere near as humiliating as losing to the weakest of all.
"Little brother, now pay me my thousand gold coins" I say, extending my hand. He looks in his pockets and then at me, noticing that the servants of other siblings are whispering things about him.
"I don’t have anything with me now, I’ll send a servant to take it to your room...Evelyn" He speaks coldly to me, his hand closing into a fist. It’s obvious that he never even considered the chance of losing, so he didn’t bring my money.
"Of course, I’ll be waiting, little brother. And what will be for dinner today?" I ask mockingly, I don’t even want to go eat with him, not after he tried to diminish me.
For now, I need some time away from him or I’ll say stupid things and ruin any chance of friendship, I’ll probably try to invade Marie’s meals, who is more acceptable.
"..." His expression closes even more. I decide not to mock him anymore so as not to lose favorability, I extend my hand for a simple handshake.
"It was a good competition," I say with a smile, although it wasn’t a competition, it was a one-sided humiliation, and I think that butler might have become infertile after that kick.
It seems terrible, but I don’t know and don’t care, who told him to underestimate my swordsman puppet.
"It was..." He says only that while ignoring my handshake and starts to leave, ignoring me. Fortunately, I didn’t lose any favorability because it was an agreement and he is someone who, due to his curse, always fulfills agreements.
So being upset for having lost would be ridiculous when we both accepted the risks. The servants get up from the stands and start to leave, while I see Eve appearing and coming to me quickly.
’How cute!!!’ Her appearance and her contented eyes remind me of a cute puppy running to its owner with pure joy, I keep watching until she reaches me.
"Evelyn-sama, did I do well?" She asks while I look at the arena, the fallen butler being lifted by the Judge and taken by her for treatment.
"You did very well, you taught them not to underestimate us, and you also showed me that you are very strong!!" With a good sword, she would be even more powerful.
’1,000 gold coins...’ It’s not much, but for me who has nothing, it’s enough to do many things, and I already have some good plans for me and Eve.
"Eve, I’m going to buy clothes for both of us! Unfortunately, I can’t give you a sword yet, quality ones are expensive, so for now I’ll buy clothes for both of us, materials to fortify you or create another puppet."
"And maybe also buy some cheap relic that’s useful, which means going to the city!!!" I say with a smile to Eve, seeing that she has the sword since she won, now it’s ours.
Also, I can’t just keep creating living puppets without thinking, I need to create only when necessary since fortifying several is difficult, so I’ll create puppets based on need and when I have good materials for them to be very powerful from the start.
"You don’t need to worry about me, Evelyn-sama, you can spend everything on yourself, I’ll be fine without anything," she speaks with devotion.
"No! Without you, these coins would be impossible," I know that spending on dresses may seem ridiculous when I have to get materials, fix the room, get a custom sword for Eve, and maybe get relics.
However, I need to maintain the image, and old and simple dresses are not good, I should give you better things to show to the nobles and show a certain degree of stability, so buying clothes is important.
"I’ll buy a nice dress for you...although yours will have to be simpler so as not to ruin your mobility," she needs to always be able to defend me.
"Of course! Your safety is a priority, I’d rather be naked if it meant not interfering with my duty to defend you, a simple dress that doesn’t hinder hands and legs is perfect," she says as I approve.
"But for now, let’s go to my room, I’ve already had lunch and now I want to receive my coins!!" I say as I start to walk to get out of the colosseum. It should take at least 3 days for the rumors to reach all the servants in the castle.
Most should be too skeptical, but fearful of trying anything, so from here on, my life will only be success!! I’ll become more and more powerful and incredible, and one day I’ll be queen.
...
...
...
"Here’s what I saw, Miss Esther," a servant says, handing me a report. I take a brief look.
’Another change...what is this thing?’ I look at the report, a strange copy of Evelyn is now her personal servant and even won a duel against one of Augustus’s butlers with overwhelming advantage.
Normally this would be nothing special considering they are just servants, but the difference in strength and the vitality of this thing indicate interesting things.
"This would be Evelyn’s blessing then...it’s a good blessing." A servant like this, depending on how many she can create, opens the way for a very good advantage.
’As I imagined, even someone weak like her could surprise...but her direct strength is still weak.’ Maybe I should monitor her constantly, just like I do with all the others, now she is no longer the failure she was before.
’Yes...this hamster is currently shoving more food in its mouth than it can swallow, let’s see if it doesn’t choke on its own greed.’ A victory is nothing.
One step doesn’t immediately bring you to the end, so for now this hamster is still not a threat, and it’s interesting to see Augustus lose for underestimating what he thought was weak.
’Should I change her from a hamster to something a little bigger?...No, not yet.’ From a rat to a hamster was her first change, but I don’t think she represents more of a threat than a hamster yet.
"You can leave, I’ll finish reading the report, send one of my spies to start following Evelyn if she leaves the castle." There are spies that follow each of the others when they leave.
Some are sometimes killed for being discovered, but Evelyn is weak, it will take her a while to discover that she is being followed outside the castle, and it’s not good to use the spy inside the castle, only outside.