Scarlet

After we get back to the base again, I find everyone extremely excited to see me and full of praise. Or at least, almost everyone. There are still a few people who I hear talking about me behind my back, but even they aren’t considering doing anything against me or anything like that. Just insulting me for being a demon.

And for the first time since becoming a Guardian, I actually answer the people’s questions as everyone asks them. Strictly so that I can stay on their good side instead of pissing them off or something.

Then I can go back to ignoring people tomorrow.

Tar snorts and comments, “A single day of being polite. How gracious of you.”

I know, right? Very gracious.

He snorts again.

After everyone finishes talking and lets me finally leave to go do my own thing nearly two hours later, I find myself in my room flopping onto my bed with a sigh and a groan mixed into one.

“Lots of emotion in that one,” Tar comments but without the sarcasm from before.

Yeah… it was a lot to handle today.

Even if I knew Gramps wasn’t going to do anything that would harm me, and that he would likely help, that bet was the only thing I could see completely finishing the shift in public opinion towards me. Even if it didn’t shift everyone’s opinions, it did what it needed to. It shifted the majority, and that’s all that was necessary.

But if we didn’t manage to get that agreement established, then I don’t think the majority of the humans would’ve been so happy with me. Even if most of the hate was moved to Amelia instead of me. I’m still part demon, and I’m still the granddaughter of the Demon King – the man who has been massacring the human race for centuries now.

Since it isn’t the favor of the majority though, even those who still think of me as a threat and are insulting me – like those I hear doing just that right now, saying things like ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’ and other such bullshit – won’t say anything or make any complaints directly or publicly. Not when it would simply hurt their own image.

And the only Guardians who are strong enough that their image doesn’t matter to them are also strong enough that they’ve reached the point most Guardians begin to stop caring about the ‘human race’ as a whole anyways. That they just care about their own leveling instead.

Meanwhile the illogically insane Guardians never make it to Class IV, so I won’t have to worry about those crazies. Not that there are many of them in the world in the first place.

Being a Guardian is very stressful and dangerous, and often breeds some rather… questionable individuals by the time they’re powerful. But the ones who actually make it to power are all intelligent and sane enough to understand things that would get them killed from things that won’t. And attacking me would just mean their death. Meanwhile attacking me verbally would kill their own image.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some people try to attack me online anonymously though, but I feel like the government will handle that. Or Amelia will just erase the traces of it before I ever even so much as hear of it.

“I’m glad everything’s turned out alright,” Tar says as I roll over onto my back and he lies down onto my chest. Then I deactivate my armor, leaving me in a simple T-shirt and pants. “Do you know what you’re planning on doing here on out?”

Hmm, just gonna try to reach Class V as fast as I can. Which, unfortunately for those demons who were just cheering me on not too long ago, means massacring more of them when the war continues on the main battlefield.

“Brutal,” Tar says rather plainly, but he doesn’t seem to really care considering his tone.

Yeah, well their conflicting ties aside, I’m still with the humans and they’re with the demons. We’re at war. They’ll just have to suck it up and continue being killed by their own Princess.

Tar snorts, likely at the way I put that.

Now, I would also like to get more SP so I can focus on getting Gradual Corruption Nullification to as high a level as I can get it. Preferably at least level 30 by the time I reach Class V. So that it’ll have the highest possible chance of being upgraded.

“About that…” Tar suddenly says, making me raise my head, bringing my chin to my collarbone to look at him. “The prophecy has information directly related to upgrading your skill. And I think now would be a good enough time for you to hear them now that you aren’t preoccupied with anything urgent.”

I stare at him for several seconds, seemingly making him nervous before I tell him, “Well, go on.”

“First, you can treat upgrading the skill in the same way as you would any other Title-Bearing Mythic skill, because that’s what the upgraded version will be, and it’ll tell you when you meet a certain number of the requirements for upgrading the skill that you’ve met them,” Tar says, making my eyebrows rise briefly in surprise. “For those requirements though, one of them will easily be fulfilled as long as you just keep using the skill on a regular enough basis. And by that, I mean you get someone to poison you and you heal yourself over and over again.”

“Tar,” I slowly state out loud with a frown. “That isn’t something I’d call ‘easily fulfilled,’ much less something I would accomplish from using it on a regular basis.”

“I mean, you would be using it on a regular basis if you were being poisoned all the time,” Tar comments, making me open my mouth to say something, only to close it again. Then he continues speaking after seeing my silence, “Anyways, you’ll have to remove a curse placed on you by a Class V being, cure a poison given to you by a Class V being, and cure a disease given to you by a Class V being, each while still being at Class IV. And that’s the main requirement for upgrading the skill.”

I stare at him for several seconds before grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and throwing him across the room. Then I take off my shoes and climb under the covers to go to sleep.

Since I’m just too mentally exhausted right now to hunt.