Chapter 40.1

Chapter 40: Theft (3)

In a grassy forest where the wind blew gently…

Deep into the mountain range, hidden by tall trees, there was an empty lot filled with light green grass and fluttering yellow petals.

It was a field of flowers that humanity had not yet explored.

If the inhabitants of the ecliptic were to discover such a place, a new mountaineering course would be pioneered and soon it would become a famous tourist location, and would, as a result, lose its solitary brilliance.

In the centre of the clearing where the soft blue moonlight illuminated the darkness brought on by the night sky, some people were huddled there.

No, could one really call them humans?

The sight of more than 10 people walking around with the exact same faces and bodies would raise much doubt.

They had light blue hair, white skin, and a body that boasted fearsome curves.

Thanks to their attractive looks, the situation appeared somewhat divine rather than scary.

What was their true identity?

Were they decuplets?

The assumption that so many women could have all been born at the same time in the same pregnancy was unrealistic.

So, were they just sisters from the same family?

Was that why they looked so similar?

If someone were hiding in this place watching the scene for about an hour though, they would be astonished at the fact that there were at least 50 women who entered the flower field from somewhere and then headed off somewhere else.

And at the centre of all this, unlike most, 'No. 1', one of the 8 people who did not leave the empty lot, let out a deep sigh.

"Haaaaa."

"Nanannannanana!!!"

Unlike herself who appeared tired and exhausted, 'No. 47' in front of her chanted in a joyful voice with her eyes shining brightly.

"Take it out."

"Yep!!!!"

*Shrrr*

Immediately afterwards, a sky-blue hole opened up in the air at the gesture of the woman, and sparkling gold coins poured out of the spatial rift.

The pile of gold reached about the height of her mid-thigh.

It was an amount of wealth that anyone would swallow back their drool over.

However, in No. 1's eyes, there was only the feeling of wanting to scold her about why she had brought back so much, let alone lust for money.

"There was an especially shiny person in the ever-shiny square! I brought everything that sparkled around me!!"

"Tsk, one would have been enough..."

It was her own irritatingly studious personality, which she had been created with, which made it so that she would check every single one of these many things that were brought back.

'Damned main body.'

Cursing in her heart at the woman who had fallen asleep on the grass, No. 1 scanned the pile of gold coins with 'observe'.

The result was, as expected, they were unrelated to the [Heaven] Attribute.

"No. Go back again."

"Ahh!! Oh yeah~~"

No. 47 smiled broadly and cheered before she turned around and flew off to somewhere else in the ecliptic.

No. 1 didn't even know just how many times she had sighed all this while.

'When the hell is this shit going to end?'

Due to the original 'duty' given to her within the 'contract', the Celestial Dragon could not leave the Temple of the Moon God.

However, there was only one exception to this rule stipulated in the contract.

It was related to when the Heavenly One appeared on Earth.

For the first time in her life, Iris had stepped off of the blue moon and pursued the familiar scent of [Heaven].

She flew ceaselessly, following her instincts, and the city she had arrived at was bigger than any other village she had passed on her journey to find the scent.

But here, a problem arose.

It was certain that the Emperor existed somewhere here, but her senses weren't sharp enough to detect his exact location.

What's more, it was so crowded with humans here that it became difficult to search for him from a distance.

She could not even enjoy some free time while ignoring the fact that the Son of Heaven was around and still not identified.

Meeting with him was an obligation stipulated in the contract.

In the end, Iris had no choice but to look through all the humans one by one.

But it was not like she would do this by herself.

That would be too time-consuming and inefficient.

So, the method she chose was to use her 'alter egos'.

By infusing her magic into one of the scales that covered her skin, Iris could create an alter ego that looked like herself.

'Why me······?'

And here, No. 1, who did not have dark circles around her eyes but was a workaholic at heart, had been assigned the task of overseeing all the other alter egos...

No, she had been 'honoured' with the task.

But she could understand why this was done.

The main body had shared 90% of her mana to create over 100 clones.

In addition, she had slept less than usual due to the sudden appearance of the Emperor, and she had to fly for several days to reach the world of the Emperor.

So, it was understandable for her to sleep in the cool moonlight in the middle of the clearing over there.

This was not at all unfair.

'But why the hell are those four other clones lying down next to her?'

"To think you accuse us of just lying down?!! We're carrying out the all-important mission of protecting you!!"

"Fuck you."

All of them were iris's scales, but not all of them were perfectly equal in shape and thickness.

Some of these scales were rounder, and some were thinner.

These differences also carried over to their alter egos.

Some girls were active, and some of the girls were unmotivated.

Some bitches were busy exploring the human world, while others were busy collecting treasures while searching for him.

Some of the girls realised that they were not completely free, and so committed suicide by draining their own mana.

'Damn it. Why was I born with this kind of personality...?'

She was the most sincere, well-planned, and responsible of all the alter egos.

According to the main body, this was because she was the closest thing resembling the reverse scale, and had an almost perfect shape.

But being born sincere and passionate was not always a good thing.

Actually, the main body insisted that No. 1 was actually a little crooked of mind, but this was not true, so it was not a trait that was too important to note.

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