Rick watched a butterfly that fluttered around her long hair before landing on her shoulder. She said, “Make me kill this butterfly.”

“Are you mad?” Henrick exclaimed.

“Or else I’ll kill you,” Rick threatened him.

“You can’t move without my mana threads,” Henrick said with a shrug.

“I can cut your mana threads and move if I go mad,” Rick said with a straight face.

Henrick’s face crumpled as he moved his hand that was connected to the mana threads and maneuvered Rick to catch the butterfly. He said while furrowing his brows, “How the hell am I supposed to raise that thing…”

Shaneth and Iris had been surprised to hear what had transpired overnight while they were asleep.

“Should I just stuff that thing into the summoning box?” Henrick whispered.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s still considered to be one of the best dolls on the continent, after all. It’ll end up helping us if all goes well,” Shaneth said. She suggested, “Why don’t you start by changing Rick’s temperament?”

“If it is raising a child, I want to give it a try,” Iris said confidently. She walked toward the young girl and said, “Rick, let go of that butterfly.”

“Why should I?” Rick asked.

“Life is precious, no matter how small it is,” Iris said.

“I remember seeing it in a book before. This butterfly is edible,” Rick said.

“…Really?” Iris asked, staring at the butterfly.

Shaneth quickly grabbed Iris by the shoulders and dragged her away. She then came back and said, “Let me give it a try.” She approached Rick and asked, “Rick, why don’t you put yourself in the butterfly’s place? Do you see how painful it would be if a giant pulled on your wings?”

“I like pain too,” Rick said with a smirk.

“…” Shaneth was speechless.

The two women stared at Rick, and Henrick shook his head before saying, “I give up. Little kids don’t suit me well.”

“Well, it does seem like that. You don’t get along with kids, right, ahjussi?” Shaneth replied.

“Hey, you punk! Even though that doll looks young, it’s more than a hundred years old! Why do you think I call it my grandmother?” Henrick grumbled.

The three focused their gazes toward one person, and Kang Yoon-Soo, who was drinking alcohol from a bottle, firmly said, “No.”

“If someone asked me who the most unsuitable person to look after a kid would be… I would pick that guy, and then me,” Henrick said.

However, Shaneth shook her head and suggested, “How about the summons instead of Kang Yoon-Soo? I think Sally would get along very well with Rick.”

Kang Yoon-Soo extended his right hand and muttered, “Summon Sally.”

A fire blazed in mid-air and Sally appeared from it. The small girl looked around for a bit, and her face brightened when she saw Rick. She said excitedly, “Hi!”

“Hi,” Rick replied dryly.

“Who are you? My name is Sally!” Sally exclaimed with the same excitement.

“I’m Rick,” Rick replied with the same lack of enthusiasm.

“Nice to meet you! Let’s play!” Sally offered, smiling brightly. She was very excited to have found a girl her age to play with.

“So it’s a spirit,” Rick said with a smile as she put the butterfly in her pocket. The two little girls sat down facing each other.

“Hmm… I want to play with dolls, but I don’t have any dolls!” Sally said.

“I do,” Rick said. She took out two dolls from underneath her dress; they looked too beautiful to be used by children as toys.

“Wow! Amazing!” Sally smiled brightly at the sight of the two dolls Rick had pulled out, and the two little girls looked at each other and smiled brightly.

Henrick’s hand hung in mid-air to allow Rick to move freely as she wished. Rick would be able to move as she liked if Henrick maintained a loose grip on his mana threads. Henrick remarked, “They seem to be getting along quite well.”

“Right? Kids should play with kids their age. They usually get along very quickly,” Shaneth said.

However… The peace did not last long.

Sally’s eyes opened wide, and her voice trembled as she exclaimed, “Rick broke Sally’s doll!”

“I wanted to break its neck and kill it. Tsk,” Rick remarked.

“W-Why would you kill the doll…?” Sally asked, her voice trembling.

“Isn’t that how you play with dolls? Kekeke!” Rick replied.

“Waaaaah! Papa!” Sally cried, running over to Kang Yoon-Soo and clinging to him.

Shaneth let out a sigh as she said, “…I don’t think Sally is cut out for this.”

Kang Yoon-Soo returned Sally to the summon dimension, then sent out the next summon. He muttered with his right hand extended, “ Summon Acle.”

“Phew! Finally, we’re out of the desert!” Acle said, looking pleased and rejuvenated.

“Acle,” Kang Yoon-Soo called out.

“What is it?” Acle responded.

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at Rick. Acle grimaced as he glared at the young girl and grumbled, “Ah… You’re trying to make me babysit again… Heuk!” 

Acle suddenly grabbed his chest. His chest, which had been as cold as ice ever since he was born, started to beat wildly. He was completely mesmerized by the young girl who looked innocent, and yet very refined.

“Y-You… What’s your name?” Acle stuttered, struggling to get the words out.

“Rick,” the young girl replied.

“Do you need a crown, by any chance…? This is an extremely valuable crown…!” Acle took off the crown he treasured very much, but Rick just shook her head.

It was at the moment that Acle was about to pass the Frozen Crown to Rick that Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly snatched the crown away.

“Y-You bastard!” Acle screamed in surprise.

“Go back,” Kang Yoon-Soo commanded. Acle was not even given the chance to argue as he was sent back to the summon dimension by force. The reason why Kang Yoon-Soo had summoned Acle in the first place was to retrieve the Frozen Crown from him.

Kang Yoon-Soo called out the next summon, extending his right hand again and muttering, “Summon White.”

“Grwaaaaah!” White roared as it appeared out of thin air. The werewolf seemed to have grown a lot stronger than the first time Kang Yoon-Soo had picked it up from the Yultika Ruin.

Kang Yoon-Soo commanded it, “Convince Rick.”

“…Rimakuro. Rakedun,” White growled, which meant, “I don’t want to, but I have no choice but to follow your command, master.”

White slowly approached Rick and growled, “Rakurmor.”

“…”

“Kimorjyana?”

“…”

“Hakimok. Hakimok.”

“…”

“Rachumirm? Hakimokril.”

“…”

“…Urnokra!”

White cried out, and Kang Yoon-Soo sent it back to the summon dimension.

Henrick laughed awkwardly and asked, “…Why the hell did you summon a werewolf?”

“Right, werewolves are scary,” Iris added as she appeared from behind a tree where she had been hiding while shivering. Werewolves were always scary for a doppelganger like her.

Kang Yoon-Soo called the last summon he had, extending his right hand for the last time and muttering, “Summon Mini-Lich.”

A short skeleton holding tightly onto Nakron’s Codex appeared and said, “Teacher, there are many strange writings in this codex. I think there are some secrets hidden behind the strange characters, but I can’t seem to understand them at all.”

“Those are about Nakron’s private life; you don’t have to understand them,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Thank you,” Mini-Lich responded gratefully.

Kang Yoon-Soo then pointed at Rick and said, “Go convince Rick.”

Mini-Lich walked toward Rick and said, “I smell the scent of death on you.”

“Ah, a skeleton. You make me want to kill you,” Rick said.

“You can’t kill me,” Mini-Lich replied.

“How come?” Rick asked.

“I’ll never die unless my life vessel is destroyed,” Mini-Lich replied.

“Then I just have to break that,” Rick said with a shrug.

“…” Mini-Lich was speechless, as it had only ended up revealing its weakness. It was soon sent back to the summon dimension as well. In the end, all of the summons had failed to convince Rick to change her mind.

Henrick withdrew his mana threads and said, “Well, I never expected a lunatic to turn normal all of a sudden anyway.”

He stored Rick in his summoning box, and the little girl disappeared into the box. He grumbled, “I’ve lived alone my whole life, and now I have to take care of a kid. This is driving me crazy…”

“I told you, didn't I? You can be indifferent to how women think all you want, but it’ll come back to bite you later on when a woman comes into your life,” Shaneth said with a snicker.

“Who knew this was how a woman would come into my life?” Henrick grumbled once more.

Kang Yoon-Soo recalled a previous life when Henrick had nurtured Rick alone, and Rick’s class back then had ended up being ‘Alcoholic’.

‘…it’s a relief we have other people in our party this time,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

That was one of the reasons why he had even called out all of his summons—including the werewolf. Rick had the potential to grow into an extremely strong combat doll who would assist her owner, but the opposite was also possible, and she could become a completely useless doll.

All of them were necessary to kill the Demon Lord.

‘I have to hurry up,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. He was pressed for time now that he knew this was going to be his final life and that the Demon Lord would be appearing much faster than he previously had.

“Let’s go,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Their destination, Vulpehin, was only a short distance away. They packed up their things and left the forest.

“We would not have to walk if Whitey were still alive…” Iris said while sniffling.

“That thing with that horse again. Aren’t you tired of it?” Henrick remarked, openly mocking Iris.

“Henrick is really heartless,” Iris said with tears in her eyes. She clenched her fist tightly, as if she were about to punch him at any moment.

Henrick suddenly took something out of his pocket and gave it to Iris before she could throw a punch. It was a small figurine of a white horse that could be held in one hand.

“Henrick?” Iris exclaimed, looking at him with surprise.

“I’ll give you that, so stop crying about it,” Henrick said.

The figurine was pure white and looked quite nice, and anyone could see that the sculptor had made it with all sincerity.

Shaneth smiled at the sight, remarking, “Are you finally trying to understand how a woman thinks?”

“Hey, you punk! I just happened to find a piece of Linden wood lying around,” Henrick shot back.

Linden wood was known to be soft and white inside, and it was the perfect fit for sculpting a white horse.

“I don’t usually give out these kinds of things because I find it childish, but I had one left over today. Well, you could use it as firewood if you’re cold later at night,” Henrick said.

“Thank you, Henrick,” Iris said as she stroked the figurine of the white horse. She repeated, “Thank you… Really…” Tears started welling up in her eyes.

The White Shadow that was inside her suddenly transmitted a thought. ‘Get over it…’

***

“Something is off…” Sheryl said.

The 1st Grade investigators with her were all surprised by her sudden remark. They knew from firsthand experience that Sheryl saying such a thing meant something was up.

“What do you mean?” one of them asked.

“That man,” Sheryl replied.

Sheryl was quite famous among the investigators. She had caused an uproar among the senior investigators in the department when she was promoted three grades at once at a young age, but what had surprised everyone was the fact that she did not seem bothered by the uproar. Additionally, Sheryl was famous for her outstanding instincts and gut feelings that were proven correct most of the time.

“Are you talking about the Zero Grade investigator we met yesterday?” the other investigator asked, referring to the man who had shown the Dragon Claw Amulet.

The other 1st Grade investigators nodded in unison and said, “We were bothered by it as well.”

“It would be impossible for a commoner to know about the Zero Grade investigators, as well as the stories about Sir Rapentahil’s temperament. Also, the Dragon Claw Amulet he showed looked so real that I almost suspected it to be the real thing from a dragon,” another investigator said. He continued, “But it sounded like he was trying to convince us that he was a Zero Grade investigator. It was as if he were trying to say ‘I am a Zero Grade investigator. Believe me.’”

It was not proper for an investigator to accuse someone without any evidence based only on their instinct, but these 1st Grade investigators possessed instincts that were almost at the level of the supernatural. Their minds that spent countless hours and days reading case report after case report were compelling them to suspect the man.

“I will go to the headquarters myself,” Sheryl said.

The other investigators were surprised. They were in the process of burning corpse dolls that had been infected by the Sudden Death Syndrome disease, with handkerchiefs wrapped around their mouths and noses. They had found the ruin littered with corpse dolls that had purple spots all over their bodies, just like the infected creatures they had seen previously.

“Do you really have to go now? You can stop by on our way back to base,” one of the investigators said.

“No, I have to go now,” Sheryl said firmly. She looked at the other investigators that were hard at work and continued, “I am not trying to skip out of work.”

The other investigators were surprised; it was as if she had read their minds. They had actually been grumbling inwardly because they felt they were not at the level of doing such menial work.

“Can you finish up here by yourselves?” Sheryl asked.

“Of course, ma’am,” one investigator responded on behalf of the group.

Sheryl immediately mounted her horse and left the forest. The investigators who were left behind all let out sighs and spoke among themselves.

“Why is she acting like that?”

“She isn’t someone to change plans so suddenly like that.”

“Who knows? Maybe her majesty the queen has finally met a guy she thinks is suitable for her?”

They all laughed.

Sheryl was known for her beauty and figure, but she was equally known for her cold personality. It was to the point that all of the senior investigators who had had their eyes on her all turned back after experiencing firsthand why she was nicknamed ‘her majesty the queen’.

‘This is bugging me… Something is off,’ Sheryl thought while riding her horse, as her blonde hair flew behind her neck. The image of the man she had met was still freshly engraved in her memories.

‘His eyes... They did not belong to someone his age,’ she thought as she recalled the man's expressionless face and dead eyes. He might have put on a perfect act, but it was not enough to fool Sheryl’s sharp instinct.

‘His was not the aura of someone so young…’

Sheryl had seen eyes similar to the man before. Those eyes were similar to the ones she had seen in a convict who had been on death row for decades. That was why she was so convinced that he was not an investigator.

‘I could be wrong… But…’

It was only her suspicion, without any evidence to back it up. However, Sheryl was someone who would get to the bottom of things one way or another, and it was that nature of hers that had allowed her to quickly be promoted to the rank of 1st Grade investigator.

‘I just have to check if his name is on the Zero Grade investigator list,’ Sheryl thought.

The list of Zero Grade investigators was classified as a top secret document, but 1st Grade investigators like Sheryl had access to those files. She just had to check the list. It was as simple as that.

‘I just have to check the list, and I’ll leave it if his name is there.’

But what if he was not a real Zero Grade investigator?

‘I will arrest him on grounds of impersonating an investigator and send him to receive judgment.’

Impersonating an investigator, and a Zero Grade investigator of all things, was a crime punishable as a capital offense; it was considered to be on the same level as the crime of impersonating a noble. The perpetrator could be sentenced to life in prison, or even sentenced to death by hanging, depending on the judge presiding over the case.

‘That is… If my instinct turns out to be right…’

Sheryl spurred her horse onward as she rode out of the forest.