A Farce of A Story

(Noah's Pov)

"By 'Demon Lord' I believe you are asking about your world, right?"

"That is correct. I want to know what did he do to change things on 'this' level of scale." I asked.

I noticed lots of discrepancies in the story.

You see, a story can have plotholes but the real world doesn't. A story can have plot armor but the real world doesn't, the plot armor in stories can be filled with unexpected, unknown variables in the real world, after all the world doesn't comprise of just a few characters.

That's why, if the story that I read is a real, living world then the plot holes of that story need to be filled, somehow, in some way, anyway. 

There has to be a reason for that plot hole.

So then, how come when species entered the world 300 years ago, the demons were able to stay hidden for more than 50, or 60 years??

I stayed with Enyo, and Liza, they needed to eat by the 4th day at all costs.

For fuck's sake, 60 years ain't a joke.

They either should have died and gone extinct or they shouldn't have gone unnoticed for so long

I have an idea about what's going on and I wanted to confirm it now.

"Is there anything you don't notice" 

It was only natural I had noticed, no I am sure some others have noticed it too, I am kinda starting to get the plot holes of the novel and the happenings.

Besides, many things could be explained by the word 'normalized'.

For the residents of this world, all things are normal so they don't question it, on the other hand, though I am not a resident of this world, it was obvious that to me things would be easier to notice.

Rubbing her temples, Eliza began to speak.

"It's ..a farce of a story. One that has been going on for far too long. It's a story of a man who loved someone dearly, very very dearly. He proposed to her and she accepted, they both lived happily for a long time but then she died of an illness, a bit sad but a normal story you can find anywhere." Her voice in the end trailed off as she took a pause and continued.

This is some villain origin story, I am telling y'all

Also, we are being dramatic today, aren't we?

"Or it should have been a normal story only if he accepted her death and moved on. No, maybe even if he couldn't accept her death it would have been a normal story if he wouldn't have found 'it' or only if he wouldn't be strong like he was."

Called it!

"The 'it' here means the hidden dungeon, right?"

I asked and she nodded.

Exhaling I asked "How many hidden dungeons have been attempted"

In this world, everyone knows 17 have been attempted or should I say that's all they know about.

What was the demon lord really after in the novel?

For starters, is he even a demon lord?

Just how many lies did he build up?

"20"

"..Their level?"

"17 Easy, 2 Moderate and 1 Hard"

...Damn it.

So that's how it is.

"Blue-haired in our last talk said no one has ever challenged moderate or hard one" I questioned.

"You didn't ask a question related to that, we were giving the 'added' information"

"A reward to help form a new perception" I asked and she nodded.

Crap.

A manipulation, type of brainwashing if you wanna call it.

Kinda like going to buy milk from a shop only for the shopkeeper to give you the milk with added comments of his own about how there's another company product that sells it for cheap and has become pretty popular among locales recently, it doesn't matter if it's true or not.

It changes the person's perception.

He did the same, he asked them to do it for him.

But it also means

"If I don't ask a direct question you could lie to me, is that it?"

"That is correct, more accurate words would be, we can't lie when asked a direct question and we have to answer it" 

Her eyes met mine, and we both looked at each other without speaking for some time.

I was the first one to break contact.

Heaving out a sigh, I murmured

"A farce of a story..."

"Already told you."

"Let me get this straight, he used the rewards from both the Moderate Hidden Dungeon to create false information? And used 1 from Hard Hidden Dungeon for who knows what?"

"Wrong. He used the reward from the Hard Hidden Dungeon to create false information and 2 Moderate ones for something else."

"And you are telling me this information? Is it really the truth?"

"I get it, it's hard to believe me after what you just heard from me but lying for whom? Some insect like him? No. It's simply because you asked me about the story and the lies, you see even though he cleared a Hard Level Hidden Dungeon, it wouldn't change anything about the fact what he asked for is far too big of a thing. Thus, it was established if someone notices his wretched and twisted lies, upon asking they shall be granted the absolute truth. That is all."

I sat down on the ground, took a sigh, and tried to wrap my head around it.

Took about a minute but I managed to gather my thoughts.

"Look me in the eyes, no bullshit, tell me the whole story though I think I have a pretty good guess about the whole thing at this point."

I asked her.

With my eyes locked with hers.

It was time to be serious. No bullshit.

Lie if you can now. 

"...She taught you well," She said.

In my world, I was sure none could lie to me, more accurately I could simply discern lies from the truth.

But this world wasn't like my own, with the help of components of 'World's Power' it was pretty simple to stop those little expressions that could help to find whether the person was lying or not.

Though it doesn't mean, you can't find the lies.

Enyo taught me that.

To discern lies in this world of fantasy.

"That man has seen the world change with his very eyes. From a world where injuries like broken bones, and deep cuts would take a long time to heal. Back then, having it healed in an instant would be considered an absurd idea, a mere fantasy to the world that turned into exactly that. Thus, he held out hope for something, something that could help him bring her back, back to life." She said while the noise of the fight that had been happening till now started to subside but I didn't look there.

I focused on her eyes and her voice by willing all the components of 'World's Power' that I could use into my very own eyes and ears.

"And so, he went around on a journey from one place to another, in search of a way to bring her dead wife back and he found 'it', the hidden dungeon. When he cleared his first hidden dungeon which was Moderate Level he asked for a way to bring her wife back but... bringing someone back to life, information like that isn't cheap, thus he was asked to clear another hidden dungeon of Moderate difficulty and combine both the achievements for the information and he went on a search for another hidden dungeon of Moderate Level"

And he found it.

Makes sense.

...She started to hesitate.

"What's the deal?"

"It's just that for the story to continue and for you to learn about the truth hidden you will need to know about it, know about how to bring a person back to life and.."

"And it's information that he found after clearing 2 moderate hidden dungeons while all I have done is an easy mode hidden dungeon and this information isn't even my rewards but a simple qna not only that but the fact that I have noticed the lies suggest that I should be told the story. You don't know how to deal with the situation, is that it?"

"..That is correct."

1300 years of job training are all but wasted.

I sighed and looked towards the blue hair, she seemed to be talking with pinky, and pinky looked pretty beaten up while she seemed completely fine, not even her clothes were damaged.

This is absurd.

"Let me continue your story then" I began and she arched her eyebrow in confusion " After clearing the second moderate hidden dungeon he got the information he needed and then he went to look for a hard-level hidden dungeon, to change the information, change the settings, even across the worlds"

"That is correct but you need to learn the whole truth for that was the drawback of his grand request, a request that changed millions of lives, and changed the truth across the world, of course, that isn't the only drawback, the moment someone learns about his truth in whole he shall have a potential cap placed on him"

Ah..

Right. 

It's a story of a man, not a demon.

Now I knew.

"He was a human," I muttered 

Humans don't have a potential cap, no wonder that fucker went beyond just mere SSS+ rank, he wasn't some exception in other species, fucker's a human.

Oh lord, if other species learn about it, they ain't gonna be happy with humans.

Shit, I could cause war if play my cards right.

...What? You always gotta be prepared to the turn world upside down to save your ass. Basics of survival.

"He 'is' a human" She corrected me.

How is that mofo alive though?

It's soo fucking confusing. Sheesh, people really do become deranged because of love.

Couldn't be me.

"Hellooooo! You guys seem to be hitting with each other! It's great to see it!" Blue-haired came out of nowhere dragging the pinky along with her.

For all your superiority complex, you seem pretty bruised up pinky.

"Nah"

I replied

"I hate this human, Lea!"

...and so did Eliza.

So, the blue one's name is Lea.

Gotcha.

"Oh, I have a little bit of stuff left to do, it will only take a few minutes and I will be back till then, do continue your talk, also, Eliza, it's okay to tell him about the whole information. What Noah lacks shall be compensated by him, that is what the terms were. See you in a few minutes" She winked at me and disappeared along with Pinky.

She listened to our conversation while beating the pinky blue, damn.

I wanna go back home.

I like the idea of a fantasy world and all that but I ain't interested in living among fucking monsters.

"Welp, seems like you can continue the story," I said, heaving a deep sigh and looking toward Eliza.

"So, it seems."

"You fucking dullard. 1300 years under training for what? All that intelligence and it's all wasted" I shook my head.

"Don't talk down to me! Shut up! Annoying you annoying human! You need to learn your place. You even talked with that demon lord from that world like she is your equal? Just how thick-skinned can you get? Know how weak you are and learn your place!"

"Then try to shut me up, if you can"

"Don't think I don't know you are trying to provoke me! Hmph!"

"...You are not a dullard"

"That I am not!"

....Sad but that's life.

Someday though, for sure I will find what happens when 'World's Will' judges.

"For real, the story"

"Hmm" She disgruntled but soon began to speak "To bring back someone to life, their soul plays a crucial part in the process. Once someone dies, their soul automatically starts traveling to an 'unknown place', no one knows where it is, and you can't follow the soul either. We have termed the place as the World's End. So, they travel far far away to some distant place, out of everyone's reach. That's why, reviving someone as soon as possible is one thing but when a lot of time has passed, it's not as easy as it seems and .." her voice trailed off

"And it's been years since her wife died, in other words, it's not easy."

"Correct." She nodded and continued "You have to a pay certain price to bring back a soul and you also have to prepare a body the soul could inherit"

It seems like I was right in my assumption, that even if the body is destroyed as long as the soul exists you won't die.

A spare body though, made sense, body deteriorates over time after all. Either you gotta preserve it or ...use another.

"A soul needs an appropriate vessel, so you do have to find an appropriate body. Anyways, the main problem is the price that one has to pay for bringing a dead back to life"

"And the price is?"

"Soul of others in return, hundreds of, thousands of, millions of souls, depending on the time the person has been dead for. He needs 2 billion souls."

This world's current population isn't anywhere near 2 bill-

Wait, he has killed millions before.

So, that's why he stopped attacking back then and entered the peace treaty!

...Fucking lunatic.

And if he needs to kill everyone then of course he needs to be strong af!

That's why he is trying to surpass the SSS+ rank of his.

Welp, he is currently strong enough to actually destroy the world just like Enyo but I guess, he doesn't want a problem in the future that's why he keeps chasing after strength.

Lol.

"Now he is gonna have a potential cap since I am learning about the truth, right?" I asked to confirm.

"That he is, SSS+ rank would be his limit"

I worked so hard and got so faarr, but in the end, it doesn't even matter~

Getting fucked by some nobody when you are 'this' close to achieving what you set out to do.

I mean, he waited for what? 200+ years? Just six more years and he would have surpassed his SSS+ rank which is now his potential cap.

I feel bad.

But it's funny. I screwed over the demon lord already.

Our Mc is supposed to surpass SSS+ rank, along with 'someone else'.

I did them all such a huge favor, they should be all thankful to me.

What? You say, since it's a potential cap, he would of course realize what happened.

He will become serious and do everything to kill any who might have the chance to surpass him unlike before when he wasn't serious about killing MC because he didn't see him as that much of a threat because he himself was strong.

Welp, we don't talk about all that.

I have always been bad at following scripts. That's all I can say.

"The trade doesn't seem fair, 2 billion for a single soul? What's the cache?"

Nah, I ain't believe that 2 billion is what he really needs.

"As I said, he 'needs' 2 billion souls.. but that's not for simply bringing his wife back but to keep himself alive too, he takes other's soul energy to sustain his own"

Ah, so that's how he kept himself alive for so long despite being a human.

"Soul energy? Is that the term he replaced with Demonic energy?"

I asked.

"That he did. You don't have to be a mana, aura, or anything other 'component' specific user, the higher the intelligence the more of them you can use but it has nothing to do with intelligence. In normal circumstances, it's mana or aura that people are capable of understanding with their level of intelligence but in rare ones, they end up understanding another component despite their low intelligence. He just happens to be that one rare individual"

Finally, I understand this shit.

Good lord, up above the heavens, this is unreasonably complicated.

Love ..is fucking dangerous.

"So... how does it all relate to demons? Where did they come from? How did he become a demon lord? A completely different species? Why do they all follow him?"

"It's simple. Don't you get it? Soul energy is a power to deal with souls. He transfigured other people's souls into obeying him and made the request for his reward to make a different species of demons in hidden dungeons so that he wouldn't be found out and also, to show it in the system as such and since he realized how special he is for using soul energy he changed the term for everyone with 'Demonic Energy' to keep them away from it."

Well, damn.

It really is a farce of a story.