Chapter 52: A world of madness

-Silvea-

I got myself in trouble again, I thought that I might be able to sneak into the castle and help some of the hostages escape.

I found a group of people who had been tied up with magic, so I freed them and offered to escort them out of the castle, hoping that the queen of darkness would not find us.

"Ah! I found you!"

Why do I always end up running into her? Is she doing this on purpose?

"She's here! What do we do now!?"

"Is... is she going to kill us?"

Everyone seems to be fearing for their lives, but will she really kill us?

There's something that has been bugging me for some time. She's already had the chance to kill me several times now, and yet she let me get away every single time. Could it be that she is not as brutal as I thought? The princess seemed to be convinced that she was not really evil... maybe there's a chance that I could reason with her.

To tell the truth, up until now I've always been too afraid to have a talk with her. But, for some strange reason, she seems a lot less scary this time, and she's already trapped us anyway so there's nothing to lose...

"Please! Could you at least let these people leave? They are just innocent civilians, they won't get in your way."

"Eh? What makes you think that you can tell me what to do?"

"No, I'm just asking you to show some compassion..."

"Compassion? I gave them the chance to be of use to me as hostages and they ran away as soon as they got the chance. Why should I show 'compassion' to these worms? I should kill at least a couple to teach them a lesson."

"What!? But the princess said..."

"Hahaha! Yes, it was really easy to bring that princess to my side, she was emotionally weak after having to escape from her own mother."

So she was really just deceiving her?

"But... you let me live every time we've met until now..."

"You're simply too weak to be a threat me, and watching you cower in fear each time was just too much fun."

It can't be...

"Die!"

There was a soldier among the group of people I had with me, and it looks like he's decided to take the chance to stab her with a sword while she was distracted.

'Wind slash'

"UAGH!!!"

She just cut off his arm! The soldier falls to the ground while screaming in pain as she approaches him. Why did she use wind magic instead of darkness? She must not be taking this seriously at all...

"I see, so you decided to volunteer yourself to be the first one to die."

No! I cannot just stand here and do nothing, even if I know that it's useless I need to try to stop her.

"Ah!"

"What!?"

She's bleeding... I swung my sword at her and it actually cut her... how is this possible?

"This can't be... how did you do this?"

"I don't know..."

"Could you be... I should retreat for now."

'Smokescreen'

When the smoke screen dissipates, the queen of darkness is no longer here. What in the world was that!?

"Did you see that!?"

"She injured her! She made her run away!"

Wait, what are these people saying?

"No, there's no way I could fight her."

"There was some shining mark on her forehead!"

"She's like a hero from a legend!"

What shiny mark? What are they talking about?

"No! No! Can't you see that this doesn't make any sense?"

First of all, there's no way that I could ever be a match for the queen of darkness, she also didn't use any dark magic at all and the way she was acting was completely different from how she usually is.

But nobody is listening to me, they keep praising me and saying that I'm just trying to be humble, the way they are acting feels crazy.

This is just wrong...

-Cureva-

After getting out of sight I go back to the appearance I've been using most of the time recently. When I impersonate an already existing person it is only a matter of time until people realize that something is wrong, so in order to use a fake identity for a long time the best method is to create one from scratch.

To make the scene more believable I let Silvea injure me for real, I should use one of my special potions to quickly get rid of the wound or the bleeding might give me away. Well, the people who watched how she drove away the queen of darkness will now start to believe that she's some kind of chosen hero, I even made a meaningless mark appear on her forehead to make it look like she was using some hidden power, that happens a lot in heroic stories after all.

Well, for now, I need to get back to her with my usual identity, to make it look like I was really worried for her I'll use some smoke to make myself cry a little and I'll run to hug her.

"Silvea! I heard that you encountered the queen of darkness again! Are you alright!? Did she do anything to you!?"

"Ah! No, I'm fine! I'm sorry for making you worry Paula."

"I should not have left you alone, I'm sorry."

"I'm the one who ran off on her own. But Paula! You need to help me! Everybody is saying that I'm the one who made the queen of darkness run away!"

Of course they are, a kind and brave heroine receiving an unexpected power and defeating the evil villain is exactly the type of story that people want to believe, and since the real queen of darkness just escaped at the same time there's nothing to contradict it.

This is something I've been observing for a long time. When I was a child I always found it weird how other people seem to view the world in a completely different way.

They enjoy food that they say is 'delicious', but to me, it all has the same bland taste. They talk about the beauty of nature, but to me, everything looks dull. They try to avoid being injured, saying that it's terrible to get hurt, but pain has never been something I particularly disliked. And, of course, they all want nonsense like love, friendship, or happiness, when it's obvious that all of those things are just made up.

But I finally understood everything when I met a certain man. People said that he was 'insane', he believed that the goddess of light had told him to kill monsters that had disguised themselves as humans, he thought that he was a chosen hero, and so he murdered many innocent people and was sentenced to death. Those delusions of his were apparently 'madness', however, nobody seemed to realize that he was not the only one like that.

Everybody I meet seems to have similar delusions, believing in nonsense like 'justice' or 'love', thinking that they can obtain happiness if they accomplish their dreams, constantly trying to give purpose and value to all the meaningless things in this meaningless world. Everybody is like that, this entire world is a world of madness, and I'm the only one sane, the only one who can see things as they truly are.

The scene of the brave hero defeating the evil queen of darkness fits perfectly into the delusions people have, and so, they will believe it even if nothing about it makes any sense. If that is not madness, I don't know what to call it.

"So you don't think that you could have hurt her?"

"Of course not! You know that she's way too strong for me to have a chance against her. She must have pretended to lose for some reason... Paula, you need to help me clear this misunderstanding."

Silvea is such a good girl, there's a lot of arrogant idiots who might have believed that they really were able to win against the queen of darkness. And most of those who would have been able to tell that something was wrong would have just stayed quiet and enjoy the praise and rewards. But Silvea is not like that, she would never accept praise for something she didn't do.

These past two years I have been acting perfectly as her friend, she now trusts me completely and depends on me to explain anything that she does not understand. I've also gotten to know her well, so I know how to make her stay quiet.

"Silvea, the entire city is in a panic right now, thinking that you are able to fight against the queen of darkness might help to make them feel safe."

"But I'm not..."

"Just wait until things are calmed down and then we'll explain everything. That is the best way to help all the innocent people who are feeling afraid."

"I see... if you say so."

'Helping innocent people' is the biggest delusion Silvea has. But by the time we try to clear the misunderstanding, it will be too late, the rumors will have already spread too far to be stopped. Don't worry Silvea, this is the first step for you to become the world-renowned hero you have always wanted to be.

Being sane can be rather freeing, knowing that everything in this world is pointless means that I don't have to fear anything or feel guilty about anything. But most people are not strong enough to accept reality, and so, they willingly remain snared in their madness. As the only sane person in the world, I cannot help but feel a bit lonely.

However, I know a method to make people see the truth. Madness makes people think that life is a game with happiness as the reward for winning, as long as they think that they can win, they will never be able to escape from their delusions. Only when they lose everything, when they fall into absolute despair, can they see the world the same way I do.

Right now, there are three people who I'm looking forward to seeing lose all hope.

First is my oldest sister, the witch of darkness. She believes that she's smarter and more powerful than anyone and that she's destined to rule the world. And she's deluded enough to think that the world will be a better place under her rule. I cannot wait to see how she will react when she's defeated and all of her delusions of grandeur are completely shattered.

Second is Silvea. I will make her become a great hero, just as she wants, everyone will praise and support her. But she will not realize that her heroic deeds will only cause innocent people to suffer. I wonder what expression her cute face will make when she finally learns the truth.

And last but not least is Luna, the 'queen of darkness'. She believes that she'll be able to make people see her true self and that she'll be loved. But the madness of the world has already decided that she's the villain, it doesn't matter how much she tries to be nice to everybody, she will only receive fear and hatred in return. I wonder if she will end up despising this world as much as I do...

Of course, I'm not just going to let everyone else remain insane, I want everyone to see the world as I do, and that prophecy might help me with that. All of my sisters are only focused on the part about the queen of darkness's rise to power, they have not realized that the most interesting part is at the end...

I need to make sure that everyone loses the game and falls into despair. That is my duty as the only sane person in this world.

forli

Maybe I should have given a few more hints about Paula being Cureva, there was really no chance for anyone to guess it. But I wanted to show that she's really good at acting.