A graceful angel, flawless to the point of perfection.

A wretched demon, corrupted and chaotic.

A carriage which seemed to distort the very space around it with a dense fog.

From far away, all one could see was a haze.

But even the wild monsters- even those who did not have the intelligence to think- understood well the power of the being who traversed the land.

Do not step in her path.

Hide away until she passes through.

Do not get involved with that thing- with that mutated combination of good and evil.

This was an instinct, instilled deep into the hearts of all wild beings within a mile radius of the being.

Do not run, else she may take note of you.

Hide.

Stay still.

Do not move so much as a single muscle.

Else, you will be slaughtered in an instant.

Until the moment she is gone, your life is in danger. Do not allow yourself to relax for even so much as a millisecond.

----

"Hey.... you're there, aren't you? Where did you go? Can you tell me about those conditions you were talking about earlier?"

Claire tried to reach out, speaking to Clarice, but to no avail.

Her left hand- from the moment she was split into two- had not once ceased to take on a demonic form.

However, right now, it was nothing more.

Just that left hand.

Claire felt an odd sense of loneliness.

To someone watching from afar, it would appear as if she were merely talking to herself.

'No, wait.... isn't that how it always looks like? Uwah.... I bet it looks real creepy whenever someone sees me and Clarice having a chat with each other. It probably looks like I'm trying to do some sort of weird roleplaying with myself or something....geh.... I must look like one of those weird middle school kids who think they have some sort of dark force within them....'

Claire found herself cringing at how it must look to others when she spoke with Clarice.

'But.... is she asleep? I guess even my evil side gets tired sometimes. Maybe she's tired because I haven't been having many evil thoughts recently? Are those like.... her food or something? She needs evil thoughts in order to sustain herself? And perhaps I need selfless thoughts in order to sustain myself?'

Claire continued to wonder just what she was, and how things worked.

At first, Claire traveled through a large clearing of plains surrounding the city, but she forgot that these plains were actually man made. The slime village used to be a small town in the middle of a forest, and so even though now it was completely surrounded by plains as far as one could see, once you traveled away from the city you would eventually reach a forest no matter which direction you went.

As such, her carriage now rode through a forest.

Thankfully, the trees were spaced enough to the point where the carriage didn't have any problems making it through.

'But isn't it strange that I haven't encountered any wild monsters so far? I know that they exist. Those ones.... as far as I know, they're not like the slime people or the goblins or any of the other villages I've visited. They're like animals. They might attack me too.... though....'

Claire looked at her hands.

'What will happen if I am attacked? Before I was split, if I was attacked, everything was reset to a previous position and it would result in a stalemate but.....'

Claire remembered the words of Clarice just before.

"Oh, by the way, have you actually figured out the truth behind your skills, and what it means to be the Determined?"

Clarice had said something about her own skills- her ability to set conditions.

But what about Claire?

Did she hold the same ability?

Did she even hold any ability at all?

Did she hold a different ability?

Were her previous abilities still the same, or had they changed since the split?

'I'm kinda scared to find out....', Claire thought.

'But it doesn't seem like any wild monsters have attacked me yet. I can feel that they're there.... they're all around me, as a matter of fact.... but.... none of them are attacking.'

Why?

Why were none of the monsters attacking?

Were they really nothing more than beasts?

'I suppose even animals won't attack something if they don't know whether they can win or not.'

Claire continued to ride through the forest, making her way South.

She glanced over to the flag which the carriage bore, smiling.

'I guess we finally have a crest to mark us.'

Claire remembered back to when the antiheroes had first arrived in the slime village.

They had bursted in, forcing Iotar to shout out upon their arrival.

"The antiheroes have arrived!!"

To own a flag like this was something of the same effect.

One day, this flag would become known from city to city, from nation to nation.

Whenever someone arrived in a city bearing this flag, it would send a message into the hearts of everyone who witnessed it.

"Those who are under the flag of the Dictatorship have arrived."

----

Claire continued to travel through the forest for a while before exiting the clearing into a hilly area.

The hills were not very steep, but the terrain wasn't completely flat. It was a bumpy ride but it wasn't as if the carriage were flying out of control.

Claire took a map out of the bag on her side.

It was an electronic map that updated more like a GPS. It would consistently upload data into the database that Trevor contained, however the areas which were undiscovered were instead replaced with maps and other information based on other information which had been obtained indirectly such as human maps.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

The ratmen village which Claire was heading to had not yet been discovered by the antiheroes, so Claire was really just heading in it's general direction in the hopes of finding it. Even so, she knew the general area that it was located and an entire city would be hard to miss.

'I wonder what type of city it will be? And what type of people will live there?'

Claire was hopeful that they would be a warm and welcoming people.

'But how am I supposed to just walk up and convince them to submit to us? Is force the only way? No! I won't resort to force. I will be diplomatic about this! I will convince them that it is best for them!'

Claire resolved herself, reminding her of the true goal of heading to this village.

At the end of the day, she was a representative of the Dictatorship.

A Dictatorship which was trying to annex every people of the world, uniting them under a single flag.

She was not heading here to make friends.

She was not heading here to have fun.

She was heading here for work.

Her job as a leader forced her to take this seriously.

But Claire decided that she would not resort to violence or warfare.

Instead, she would meet with the people.

She would show them what the Dictatorship had to offer, and hopefully they would accept.

After all, she had a lot to offer.

Protection from stronger monsters, high end technology, cooperation with other humanoid tribes, and much more.

'But.... will they really listen?'

Claire was reminded of Kota who refused her advice so bluntly, and declared her to be nothing more than a demon.

As the carriage trodded across the rolling hills, Claire was filled with worries, but looking forward, she nodded with determination.

'I'll cross that bridge when I get there! I'm going to do everything I can to help these people to live better lives. I'm sure that coming under our rule will be an improvement for them, so I'll work towards that!'

Claire continued traveling throughout the hills for a while more before the skies seemed to darken.

'Hm? There seem to be a lot of brown clouds around this area. Is it going to rain? Agh! That wouldn't be good!! The poor horses.... and I'm in the middle of this hilly area too.... I can just jump in the carriage, but the horses don't have anywhere to hide from the rain!'

Claire continued riding, hoping that it wouldn't rain.

'I need to get to somewhere with an overhang to park the horses in case it rains....'

However, as Claire continued traveling, no rain came.

The skies became darker and darker to the point where the sun was completely blocked out, making it appear almost as if it was night, but it did not rain.

'That's odd.... it still hasn't rained yet.... but there are all these clouds.... surely it's going to rain soon?'

As Claire mounted one final hill, she then saw in the horizon a sight which would forever be welded into her eyes.

It was an industrial city.

Factories covered the landscape, smoke billowing from them.

High rise tenants seemed to be plotted down endlessly.

From the hill Claire stood on, she could see that there was a clear downtown with tall buildings, and some areas around it with shorter buildings.

'Ah!! That's where all the clouds are coming from!! It's not rain clouds, it's pollution!'

Claire had never been particularly concerned about the environment, but seeing this made her understand just what all those outspoken environmentalists back on earth were truly scared of.

Well, 'earth'. Most of Claire's experiences on 'earth' were simulated, so she didn't know if that was how it actually was on earth, but at least according to her memories that was the way things were.

'I guess that's something else that I never thought of.... the antiheroes and myself.... we're all from earth, but half of my life wasn't actually on the real earth... so it could have all been completely different from reality, right? The life I lived during my second 10 years of life could have been completely different than how things really were!! I will have to try and ask about the real earth later to see if my memories are actually consistent with things....'

Claire nodded to herself before whipping the horses lightly, encouraging them to move onward.

The city itself was densely planned. Even the areas on the outer fringes of the city began closely packed, to the point where the roads were as thin as alleyways, and the buildings rose high enough to the point where one would not be able to see anything but the city once you entered it.

'It's strange.... most cities have suburbs around it, but even the areas on the outskirts are much more dense than a suburb would be.', Claire thought as she rode down the hill. 'Ah! Where will I leave my cart? I can probably fit it through the alleyways, but it would be a tight squeeze, so I would prefer to leave the horses at a stable somewhere.... should I worry about it getting stolen though? After all this is a city.... mmmm.... I guess I'll figure that out when I get to it!'

Claire rode down the hill and made her way into the city.

It seemed relatively desolated. There weren't any people or humanoids walking casually around the streets, that was for sure.

'That's odd.... I wonder why nobody seems to be here... is this place abandoned? This enormous city?'

Claire rode her cart through the alleyways, with barely any room on the sides, searching for a stable or a place to park it.

However, as she rode, a pair of humanoids jumped out in front of her.

"A rare creature!! Put your hands up! You're coming with us! I'm sure if we take you in, we can use you as a bargaining chip of some sort! Don't resist, or I'll have to kill you!"

----

"You idiot! It's because you keep pulling stuff like this that your grandfather is so worried about you! Stop acting without thinking!!"

In front of Claire stood two humanoids.

The first one who had jumped out in front of the carriage, who was now standing proudly with one hand on his hip and his other pointing at Claire, was an adolescent male.

His body was mostly human, but he had some features which resembled a rat. His body was covered in grey fur, and his hands were ratlike claws. He had a ratlike nose, though it didn't protrude like a snout, and ratlike ears and whiskers.

Scolding this adolescent boy was a girl who looked to be about his age, though this one was a mouse. With similar features, she looked mostly human as well. Her skin was covered with a white fur, and while her nose and ears were similar to that of a mouse, her hands were not clawed, but rather humanoid.

The two wore outfits that looked straight out of a steampunk world, with the girl wearing suspenders and an overcoat, and the male wearing what seemed to be a finely tailored suit- industrial style.

Smack!

The young girl smacked the boy to the back of his head, and he began holding it in pain as he shot her a berating glare.

"What was that for?!"

"You're always going off on your own like this and getting into trouble!! What if you run into a pack of ferrets!?", the girl lectured.

"Then I'll just beat them up of course!"

"You idiot! You're going to end up dead some day if you don't stop being so reckless!"

"But look!! This is clearly some strange creature!!! My vision was kinda foggy of her until she came up close, and that's weird in of itself! Then, when she passed by the window, I saw it! An angel!! Are you telling me I should have just let her keep going, so she could be captured by the ferrets instead!?"

"Well.... either way! You need to think some more about the consequences of your actions!!"

The mouse girl grabbed the head of the rat boy and forced him to bow before Claire, holding it down.

"I'm sorry for the trouble that this idiot has caused you!!! He doesn't mean any harm!!"

"What are you doing!? Speak for yourself!! I need to capture this creature so that we can use it as a negotiation tool!!!"

This statement was met with an elbow to the gut by the mouse girl, and the two continued bowing to Claire.

"Please forgive him. He is truly a fool who doesn't know his place."

Claire, meanwhile, could not help but burst out in laughter.

"Hahaha!!! You kids are adorable!! This is what I wanted to see when I was exploring all those cities before! Ah.... youth..... it must have been great to be young.... but I guess I'm only 10, right? And 20 in my head... so I'm still young too! Haha...."

"Oi!! Why are you laughing like that!? I'm going to take you in- ugh!"

Another elbow met the gut of the young boy, along with a demonic glare by the mouse girl.

"Do I need to inform your grandfather of your rude actions towards this angelic person?"

"I.... ugh...."

The boy held his stomach as he spit out his words.

"I was doing this for the clan.... we need her!!!"

"And so you're going to resort to kidnapping an innocent bystander? Absolutely not!! Not on my watch you aren't!!"

"Ugh.... alright.... fine....."

The rat boy seemed to bow his head of his own accord to Claire.

"Forgive me for trying to kidnap you and use you as leverage."

"Pfft!!!"

Claire could not help but laugh even more at this.

"She's laughing!! What's with her!?", the boy shouted.

"You're the one being rude.", the girl responded. "She has every right to laugh at you. You don't even know how strong she is, and yet you're trying to kidnap her!? Are you a total moron!?"

"Urg...."

"Hahaha...."

Claire wiped a tear from her face after she finished laughing.

To her, it was refreshing to finally see people act friendly with one another.

This was perhaps the most regular thing that had happened to her since entering this world.

"I'm sorry, I really am. I just couldn't help laughing.... I mean, you understand right? It's like if a kid came up to you with a plastic knife or a toy gun and said 'Put your hands up! You're under arrest!', or something like that."

"Plastic knife?"

"Toy gun?"

"What's a gun?"

"What is plastic?"

The two seemed very confused by Claire's language.

"Ah.... I guess even in this industrial city, you don't have plastic? And no guns either? Strange.... well, I suppose this is a completely different world, and one filled with humanoids after all... anyways!! Alright! I'll go with you! Kidnap me please! But let me ask you something in exchange! Do you have a place where I can store this carriage and a stable for these horses?"

The two looked up, completely baffled at Claire's response.

"What!?"

"Kidnap you?!"

"Isn't that what you were trying to do? Well, I actually am here to get to know the people of this town. I have my own goals, you see. So, if kidnapping me will lead me to someone of power or allow me to get to know more people in this town, then why not?"

"I think this angel is crazy. We shouldn't mess with her.", the rat boy whispered.

"For once it looks like you're using your head. Let's split."

The two nodded to one another before dashing off into an alleyway, weaving back and forth. Their movements were truly those of a rat and a mouse, swerving in and out and around the crates.

"Ah.... it looks like they're leaving. Should I follow them? They're the only people I've met in this village so far, and they seemed like nice people.... did I say something weird? I don't think I did....ah well. Hiyah!"

Claire whipped the horses, and they sprinted forward into the alleyway.

She could feel her a demonic influence spreading across her arm as a grin came across her face.

"It's time to play a little cat and mouse."