Serving the labyrinth with diligence Chapter 16: meme.

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  — Some want power to protect themselves, others want power to protect what they love; some live for power because they truly love themselves, and others live to gain power to protect their love for external beings. And that doesn't make you a hypocrite; perhaps, just noble in the second part. In the end, everyone wants power.

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  Hifumi Raite Cecilia

  “Do you agree to be my temporary slave for 25 years, and obey my every command, no matter what it may be?”

  Each of my words made Riley's heart tremble, and I could feel it in myself through my right eye.

  This filled me with satisfaction.

  "... Yes yes."

  “Great! Oh, and if you try to break the contract, your little head will explode! If you try to betray me or tell me about the contract, your head will explode! In short: if I told you to stop breathing right now, and you did, your head would explode! Of course, I’m not that bad of a person. Besides, you don’t have to worry about that; follow the contract properly and you’ll win your freedom back.”

  Generally, I make contracts of pseudo absolute slavery (obeying almost everything) and that last for the person's entire life, however, with Riley, I only managed partial slavery and for a certain period of time; as much as the contract was an attempt to ensure that Riley would be my servant for about 15 years, there is no guarantee that Riley won't become powerful enough to break the contract himself in about 16 years. Because I've seen his memories, I know he has the potential for it. However, the suit that allowed the plan to be possible is still valid; no one but me can detect such magic.

  For example, with individuals like Riley, I cannot create orders that require the target to fight against their will for more than a month, or orders that directly harm the target very quickly, such as ordering them to commit suicide here and now. I cannot do this because Riley's soul is too strong and possesses overwhelming potential.

  The limit of my enslavement power depends on the potential of one's soul. Of course, every soul has great potential, but Riley is simply a monster.

  To summarize more clearly, Riley is a monster who has the ability to obtain powers from others through absorption (although it is not every ability he can absorb), in addition, he was able to skillfully manipulate mana and nectar the first time he used it. Living beings like Riley only appear in this world every 10,000 years, and such a being is in front of me right now.

  There is no way to control it — at least, not for long — so I intend to use this monster to destroy the main family that rules the city through espionage and create chaos among the most powerful families.

  And how will I do this? It's simple; there are three families that monopolize different areas of Reinhardt's land (or Sophie's Fertile Lands, or just ask; all three names will do): The Lol, Wind and Gates, and historical messages (I also think it's absurd that their name is like that, but who am I to question the family leaders, right? There's probably a poetic message behind it, like: 'our name will go down in history' or something like that. Well, this is my faction, but even I don't understand the name).

  If Riley manages to infiltrate, I will make him rise through the ranks, gain achievements, and become known, and then attempt to assassinate the leader of the Wings and Gates family. Winds and Gates will go to war with Lol, and even if the Lol family wins the war because they are more powerful, they will suffer so much damage that they will not be able to resist when my faction attacks them.

  I will watch from the outside as they destroy each other, and then I will take the opportunity to eliminate them and dominate everything.

  Obviously, after I dominate this entire city, I will eliminate the monster that was once my slave, but has now become strong enough to break a certain contract.

  Well, I feel a little guilty, but so what? What I would gain exceeds what I feel. Besides, after breaking the contract, Riley would become too dangerous. Even with the contract, I can already foresee him being able to block my ability to read minds in a mere 10 years; in 16 years, he will be completely free.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Riley has a human mind, but a humanized monster is still a monster!

  Anyway, 5 years is all I need to make my dream of dominating this entire city come true, which despite being the largest city in the country, is still just another city. My plan extends beyond that; once I dominate all of this, I will try to dominate the other cities, and obviously, most of this country.

  Just imagining the power this will bring me makes me have orgasms.

  “Pay attention: the plan is as follows; there was a family composed of a woman, a man, a girl as the oldest daughter and a boy as the youngest son. This family, a long time ago, was discovered as spies for a rival politician, and I was forced to kill them; however, people still suspect that I did not kill the youngest son; which is a mistake, because I massacred them all; however, creative as I am, I thought of a way to take advantage of this doubt of the citizens, and of my enemies, by transforming you into this boy and changing your appearance with magic. Oh, and their last name is also Yuki! Ironic, isn't it? It's as if you were from another dimension... although this is actually a parallel dimension to your world.”

  The capybara broke out in a cold sweat.

  “I see where you’re going with this, but tell me: how am I supposed to pretend to be a boy when I look like a monster?”

  I felt a little irritated by that question. Was his heart so restless that it made it difficult for him to think?

  “Very simple: do you think that reading minds is the only power of my right eye? I will give you the ability to transform into a human form, and that will have few traces of you having once been a capybara. With this new ability, you will grant life to this once-dead brat, and infiltrate the political faction of the

  Lol Stick. You will tell him that you seek revenge against me, and that is why you intend to join him. Since no one outside my territory knows about the magical abilities of my introduction eye, you will be safe! However, you will have to carry out a small attack on me tonight. Sure, it will destroy part of the mansion, but what matters is that it looks like a failed attempt at revenge. And do you know the best part of this plan? The best part is that this same family has anthropomorphic cat features! Even if I can't make you have a fully human body, the differences between you and a cat will be subtle because of the efficiency of my ability!”

  “This will enter the Gates family, which controls the Southern area.”

  Hearing this, Riley hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to ask a question. He remained silent for a few seconds, until he finally opened his mouth.

  “Even if I do all this, why would they accept me on the other side?”

  “It’s simple: tell them you have inside information about my abilities, since you worked at my mansion for a while. The information is: Aria has the Eye of Introduction, which allows her to read the minds of anyone who isn’t weaker or just slightly stronger. It also allows her to place information into other people’s minds, like so. By the way, I recommend you don’t tell them about my enslavement ability, or they might… well, kill you.” I paused, and then continued. “Got it?”

  “Yes; information about you is scarce, and I would be like an oasis in a desert to them. However, what if they ask why you didn’t read my mind?”

  “Just say that I found it amusing to watch you try to kill me. Tell me that because you were too weak to harm me, as a sort of “payment for the debt for your parents’ sins”, you became my sex toy, and also tell me that I enjoyed humiliating you every day.”

  “You… You… Think they would believe that?”

  I thought it was really cute when Riley looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

  “Oh, I almost forgot that you don’t know what my reputation is like! Anyway, I’ll sum it up for you: I’m known as a pervert who has slept with 5 men at once!”

  If Riley was already dumbfounded before, now he was simply left speechless.

  “Anyway, returning to the main topic, inevitably, there came a day when you could no longer bear the humiliation, and you retaliated.”

  I looked directly into Riley's eyes.

  “Do you know how they’re going to interpret this?”

  “Someone who can be easily controlled, and who will accept anything that can help them achieve their goal of revenge. However, they may not trust me because they think I am driven purely by hatred, and that I can easily betray them if I find an alternative to revenge.

  “It seems you didn’t understand; I’ll explain it again; you, or more specifically, the character you’re going to play, was once a nobody who was humiliated every day, now, you finally found a house that finally respected you and could call home. Now, you finally got a family that will support you. In other words…

  “The character I will play will be set up to look like a perfect tool.”

  Riley completed what I said, and I smiled in satisfaction.

  “Great! Now, I’ll give you some additional information.”