LIVE EVIL (I)

“Hahahahahahahahahaha!”

A maniacal laughter fills the air.

I raise my hands up in triumph and ecstasy.

I’ve done it. I’ve really done it now. I’ve crossed the line so far that there’s no going back.

And yet, what is this exhilaration I’m feeling? It feels as if I’m finally truly alive for the first time. I feel like nothing can stop me now. I feel like I can do anything!

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Ariesa’s cold, disdainful voice suddenly brings me back down to earth.

I turn back towards her and find her still standing there with her hands behind her back, just as I had commanded her to.

Her entire body shakes with visible anger, and it’s obvious that she wants nothing more than to run up and deck me in the face right now.

But she can’t.

No matter how much she tries, she can’t move from where she stand. She can not disobey my command to stay there and stay still.

After all, she is now my slave.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I got carried away. I’m just celebrating that my plan went off without a hitch. I was able to escape from my jail cell and acquire a powerful ally all at once. All thanks to you.”

The plan truly went perfectly.

When Ariesa came to check in on me, I used my Slave Master ability that the Demon King gave me to turn her into my slave. From there, I commanded her to use her authority to set me free and also call off all of her arrangements to put me into special custody. After that, I made her come up with some excuse to take the day off, so she could accompany me and bring me back to her home.

Which brings us back here, standing in the living room of Ariesa’s house where I can finally let loose and celebrate my first success in this world.

Just last night, it seemed like I was fated to be stuck and trapped in a cell until the day I died, but it turned out to be so easy to escape once I actually used my ability. It truly is a cheat-like power.

“I can’t believe it…”

“Oh? Did you say something, Ariesa? What was it?”

I ask her calmly as she glares daggers at me and mutters curses beneath her breath.

“You… I can’t believe you’d do this! Do you know what you’re doing, Mamoru? Escaping your cell is one thing, but you actually used that Crest of yours to turn someone into a slave. Didn’t you say yesterday that you would never do that!?”

Her voice is filled with an incredulous rage. From the way she speaks, though, it doesn’t seem like she’s angry that she herself was personally turned into a slave, but more at the fact that I used my power on someone at all.

“Yeah, I did use it… I used it in order to save my own life. Using it on you was simply the best way for me to avoid certain death.”

The reason I chose to turn Ariesa into my slave, first and foremost, was primarily practical. First of all, as the commander of the knights, she had the authority to let me go and keep the other knights off my back, so I could finally be truly free.

But on top of that, most importantly, she is the only person right now who knows who I am and knows my whole story. Once other people learn that I’m a Demon Lord, my execution will be imminent. Thus, I needed to find a way to keep Ariesa’s mouth shut as soon as possible. The simplest and most effective way to do that was to bring her under my complete control.

Thus, I made her my very first slave.

“Oh, but it’s not like it was purely practical either. Though our history has been both short and rocky, I’ve grown rather fond of you, Ariesa. You’re cool and strong and noble. And you’re really pretty too. So from now on, I’d like to keep you by my side at all times.”

“As a slave, though.”

“Yes. As my slave. My first slave.”

I say it with fondness as if I were talking about my first love instead.

“Disgusting. Don’t talk about me like that.”

She spits out with a disdainful venom.

“And what exactly do you plan to do with me now?”

“Well, whatever I want, I guess. You’re my slave now, after all. You’re pretty strong too, so I’m sure I’ll be relying on you a lot as one of my greatest weapons.”

“Tch. One of? Are you going to make other people your slaves too?”

“Most likely, I will. I don’t have any specific targets in mind, but this power is truly too convenient. I’m sure I’ll find many opportunities to use it. Having someone to command is useful, after all. And it’d be lonely without company.”

“That has to be one of the worse reasons to own slaves that I’ve ever heard.”

“Hmm, well, I don’t think there are any good reasons to own slaves.”

“Then why are you doing it!?”

“Because I don’t care about being good anymore.”

“What…?”

Aruiesa gasps in shock at that statement.

She looks as if it was the last thing she ever expected me to say.

“I can’t believe it… I still can’t believe it. How could you say that? How could you do this!? I thought we came to an understanding yesterday. I thought you really were a good person. I… I trusted you. I wanted to help you. But was all of that just a lie!?”

Her disbelief quickly turns into incredulous anger as she shouts desperately at me.

In exchange, I have no strong words of my own to give her. I don’t know how to respond to her feelings of rage and betrayal. The only thing I can do is to clearly tell her the truth.

“… no. It wasn’t a lie. I was a good person. But not anymore.”

“Huh?”

“The me you met yesterday is gone. I killed him. And now, I’m finally free from his curse. I don’t care about right or wrong anymore. I only care about fulfilling my own selfish desires. From now on, I do whatever I want, and I take whatever I desire. That’s who I am now.”

“You… are you serious?”

“I am. This is the path that I chose.”

“But… why?”

“Because… I want to be happy too.”

I search deep within and pull out the answer that I agonized over last night.

“I’m tired of always trying to do the right thing. I realized that I would never be happy that way. Good things don’t happen to you just because you’re a good person. You won’t be rewarded just because you did the right thing. If you truly want something, you have to grab it with your own hands. You have to take it for yourself at all costs!”

I chose to live. I chose to fight for my own happiness, even if it meant making the entire world my enemy.

“This is the start of my new life. My own fantasy journey where I fulfill my own wishes. I won’t ask for anyone else to reward me anymore. I’ll pursue my own goals. Whether it’s right or wrong, I’ll create my own destiny. That will be my new life!”

“Mamoru…”

After hearing all that, Ariesa stares at me with a face full of complex emotions.

Her voice is tinged with a sense of sympathy and understanding.

But it quickly vanishes as indignant judgement takes its place.

“No. Such a life is simply too wrong. You’re the worst!”

“Yeah, I know.”

But that is who I am now.

If doing the right thing means sacrificing myself, then I choose to be evil.