Chapter 84: Chaotically Planned

"...We have to speed this up!! It’s not going to work like this." Nio speaks in a loud tone, pacing back and forth, her tail messing up a sheet and her wings opening and fluttering restlessly, her ears even turning slightly red.

"...You damn pig!! My God, how can she be so stupid!!" Nio curses at Stelaria while slapping her face as she sleeps deeply after Nio used magic on her.

’[Nio, you lost your temper. Taking it out on her while she’s sleeping won’t change anything. Besides, don’t call Stelaria stupid. Her decision was pretty clever — it’s not really her fault she got in your way.]’

"You saw her idea!! She favored the empire!!! And screwed over the Kingdom of Ortyr!! Which consequently changed the dynamic of the information Yomo and Moros gathered."

"Which changed my entire planning!! I know plans change all the time, but Stelaria screwing up half of an extremely tight current plan is total bullshit." Nio has been pacing around stressed ever since she woke up from the nightmare she had with Typhon.

Since Typhon is on the continent and Nio doesn’t know how many continents this world has, she’s worried that Typhon might be very close. Stelaria’s choice completely changed Nio’s plans.

’[You’re really worried...]’

"And you talk too much. I’m sure it’s because of how much you talk that we ended up becoming more united, and now the two of us get pulled into the nightmare with Typhon!! Dammit... even my plan to destroy Typhon’s concentration and focus is ruined now that Typhon accepted our weird marriage." Nio rubs her temples while spinning her body around, her tail accidentally breaking a chair.

"Everything is going from bad to worse. Who would’ve thought that being the way I am would cause me so many problems... everything fell apart in a few days!! Fate is conspiring against me, it has to be."

’[Just so you know, fate doesn’t work like that, okay? Fate doesn’t conspire against people.]’

"And how the hell am I supposed to know how this shit works? All I know is that it’s a complete—"

’[You should heal Stelaria’s face soon, before she wakes up and notices the slap mark on her face, or before someone sees that you slapped her. You know that would affect how others see you, right?]’

"Why?" Nio asks, not because she doesn’t understand, but asking why she should care. However, Nioh doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm in the question.

’[Obviously because it goes against the initial image you created.]’

"Yeah, I know that, it’s just... just... wait..." Nio slaps Stelaria’s face again. The dry sound echoes through the room as Stelaria’s cheek turns red, leaving both of her cheeks marked with the imprints of Nio’s hands.

’[Okay... you slapped her again. I don’t know how that addresses my criticism. Actually, it makes it worse because now there are two marks instead of one.]’ Nioh doesn’t even notice that she’s started talking much more with Nio ever since their first real conversation happened.

"I just had an idea. Forget the slap, I’ll heal her later. She’ll still be asleep for a few hours!!"

"An idea?"

"That’s right... an idea. A great idea... You know our global unification plan? Where we’ll make this world ours?"

"I just realized something extremely useful regarding that plan!! A new idea, counterintuitive, and one not even Typhon could predict we’d do!!! I don’t need to defeat Typhon yet — I just need to make her flee to buy us time."

’[...Go on.]’ Nioh decides to listen so she can criticize Nio’s idea, which she already imagines will be some nonsense, because the truth is Nio doesn’t make plans that are 100% solid all the time. Instead, she makes a bunch of bad plans and discards or modifies them until she has a good idea.

"What’s easier? Building up entire political influence and shaping diplomatic relations between various small kingdoms and three mega countries? Or simply creating a situation so hellish that everyone needs a savior? And they’d unintentionally hand over way too much influence to that savior."

’[...Say more.]’ Nioh gives her full focus and attention to Nio, becoming a bit more interested in what she’s saying this time.

"When you mentioned the slap, I realized something very specific — the fact that a first impression is lasting and can be tarnished by certain actions, but there are other actions that completely reshape an image too!!"

"Now think with me: what if I cause a problem and then solve it? I still have Raid spawn items, and I bet they should still work. I have the overloaded one that generates a portal with a timer!"

"What if I start multiple raids in this world, and then, when all the countries are under attack, I show up as the savior? Obviously the Raids are low-level, so the National Ranks could probably kill the monsters easily, but not without enormous casualties among normal people! They’ll need someone who can resolve it fast and with great healing powers!!!"

’[...Interesting. Continue.]’

"That would be phase one!! Then I’d use all the Raid points — which in this world must just be dispersed magic — to create an advantageous area for me to fight Typhon."

"Where I’ll wound her mortally, but let her escape once I’ve inflicted wounds that will take her months to years to recover from!! Because I have serious doubts about being able to kill her right now. I still lack experience."

’[...Look... I was going to call this plan idiotic, because it requires you to reveal the location of your palace and the fact that it’s yours... but would you believe I actually agree? It actually seems pretty well put together for something done on impulse.]’

’[Of course, it disregards the fear of other countries and the resource expenditure of your palace, but it solves our biggest problem temporarily. It buys us time, and afterward you can just annihilate whoever is our enemy...]’

’[Abandoning the advantage of concealment in exchange for the advantage of faster activity and combat preparation... but you do understand this will result in a massacre of millions of people by the Raid monsters, right?]’

"My life is worth more to me. It might not be worth anything, but to me, I am the most valuable thing in existence, and that’s what matters — my own worth. I love myself a lot."

’[Of course. You love yourself so much you married me.]’

"...Ugh... it’s not my fault we look exactly the same!! Besides, you should be praising me. My plan is consistent—"

’[Consistent doesn’t mean good, much less perfect. It’s functional. It removes one big problem and creates several small ones.]’

"If the big problem is Typhon, I prefer thousands of small ones." She speaks confidently while healing Stelaria’s face and decides to think calmly about whether it’s more worth trying to fix the current plans or start this new one.