Chapter 327: Awakening as a Monster

"Come out, Shadow Demon."

Aiwass suddenly said, "You should be able to come out openly too."

The shadows beneath her feet swayed slightly, then coalesced around her.

However, the Shadow Demon did not condense into Bayard's appearance. Instead, it first condensed into a black figure, then painted it with color, and turned into the appearance of the assassin lady Chloe.

The only thing that made her seem less than human was the ominous smoke that swirled around her like black tentacles. Where shadows should have been, they came alive, transforming into smoke that swirled around her.

This makes her look less three-dimensional due to the lack of shadows, and looks a bit inexplicably out of place.

Unlike Bayard's mature, cold, and sharp features, Chloe possessed the beautiful, bright features of a young girl. Her short, caramel-colored hair and endearing smile evoked a warm and sweet feeling. She wore a light, flowing white dress, a stark contrast to Bayard's heavy black gown.

"Chloe" even had light makeup on her face, and her lips had a moist and transparent luster.

Only her slightly cloudy green pupils resembled a wolf—black smoke flowed in her pupils, making her eyes look like green glass with black smoke steaming from the back.

Looking at Shadow Demon's expression, Bayard immediately came over to take a look with interest: "Wow, so sweet? Is this your type?"

"This is an assassin who once tried to kill the master."

The Shadow Demon simply smiled and spoke in a soft and sweet voice, "She tried to steal my shadow, so I stole her look and voice."

"gab."

Bayard scoffed.

She crossed her fingers and rested them on her chin. "That's just what we like. Don't make excuses. Our favorite face is probably one as soft and charming as Mom's... but we look more like Dad, both in face and height. When we were little, people even often called us 'Young Master.'"

"I still remember it. When I grew to be as tall as my father, I cried out of frustration that night. I even thought about asking my mother if there was a potion to shorten me... but I thought it would be too embarrassing, so I didn't tell anyone.

"In order to look shorter and not be mistaken for a man, I started growing my hair long. I also stopped wearing pants and started wearing skirts..."

Finally, Bayard sighed. "It's great! It's so easy to transform into someone else. But you're really attracted to her because of her green eyes, right?"

Chloe said nothing, but smiled softly, but that smile held a gentleness that said, "If you say that again, I'll beat you to death."

At this moment, three bowls of broth were served, each filled with chunks of beef—one chunk of meat was so high it even reached the surface of the water.

"Are you bringing friends here to play, Miss Bayard?"

The man, whose hair was already somewhat graying, laughed heartily. "I added pepper to the soup, so the taste might have changed a bit. I wonder if you like it. The first batch of imperial pepper produced by botanists in recent years has already been put on the market, and the price is much lower than before..."

"Indeed, the Chamber of Commerce has recently begun planning to export pepper to Avalon."

Bayard smiled and said, "Speaking of which, is there anything else you want?"

"If I have to say anything, it's probably that business is booming and we're already too busy to handle it."

The boss smiled, half showing off, half complaining: "The main reason is that we can't recruit workers. Now the streets are full of extraordinary people...

"I heard from the demonologists that the goblins in the south have successfully tamed a group of trolls. They can follow orders and do simple labor, and they're very obedient as long as they're fed. They're tough, strong, and hardworking. Why don't you see if the Chamber of Commerce can import some trolls? If there are trolls who can help with the manual labor, I can fire all those paid but clumsy laborers."

"Okay, I'll go back and study it."

Bayard just laughed.

After the boss left, Aiwass sighed, "Your chamber of commerce has quite a wide range of business and is thriving."

“No matter how widespread it is, it will eventually disappear into the dust of history.”

Bayard smiled and took a sip of his wine. "Nothing in this world is permanent. To truly pursue eternity is like pursuing stagnation."

Upon hearing this, Aiwass and Shadow Demon were stunned and looked at each other.

"It's not a test. I've indeed discovered... I'm not the real Bayard after all. I'm just a soul simulated by the Pillar God."

Bayard chuckled lightly, but in a very relaxed manner: "I was just a little skeptical at first. So I wanted to go out for a walk to see if there were too few people on the street... When I saw so many people, I even doubted it for a moment.

"But after thinking about it, perhaps this is a ritual of the Twin Mirror. Only "He" would want to witness an 'unexpected' drama, to see the reflection of history. And only the Twin Mirror could directly construct a reflection of history, even allowing me to easily realize that this was all a dream.

"If I wanted, the Pillar Gods could keep me from ever realizing this. After all, even weak Moon Children like us can easily seal the consciousness of others, preventing the blood slaves from having any harmful thoughts towards us.

"And now we are nothing more than false, simulated souls. The Pillar Gods can easily lock our minds... Even if I were to directly tell me the identity of the Ascended and the reality of the dream world, the Pillar Gods would make us turn a blind eye and deny it. Of course, generally speaking, the Pillar Gods choose to use this as a test of adaptability, to test the Ascended's ability to integrate into society. But judging by your reactions, I don't think this is a full moon ceremony."

Miss Bayard sighed, her mind clear and her words fluent: "We are nothing but false things after all. This is not a real soul, and this is not real history. At most, we are just our own 'character prototypes'.

"——Fake things can never become real."

"...Ms. Bayard, you're quite free and easy."

Aiwass looked at her with interest, then looked back at the Eye Shadow Demon.

"How should I put it..."

Bayard smiled helplessly: “This is what the Son of the Moon does.

"We are all fake, otherwise why are we so easily corrupted? Now we are just a copy of a copy."

The Moon Children possess memories of their past lives, easily replacing the identities and social relationships of the living. But they are ultimately just pretenders, monsters who have stolen memories, emotions, identities, talents, and social relationships.

Every Moon Child has a time when they firmly believe that their former self has been reborn and transformed into a Moon Child. However, their talents have been slightly changed by the resurrection, and their personalities and behaviors have been changed by the curse of the Moon Child.

But they will also gradually notice some loopholes in their daily lives and gradually realize that... their past and present are two different existences after all.

By then, the Moon Children will clearly realize that they are monsters. After all, they are another race different from humans.

At that time, they will become corrupt and cruel - those emotions and desires suppressed by human morality will burst out in an instant, and their power will quickly grow stronger due to the unblocking of desires. This process is called the "coming of age" of the Moon Child.

They will understand one thing clearly: they are not human at all, but monsters who stole other people's identities from the very beginning.

So the monster has the consciousness of being a monster.

Looking at Aiwass eating meat and drinking soup in big mouthfuls, Bayard's eyes were a little sad.

"There's just one thing...I can't let it go."

She once said that she wanted to recognize me as her master.

The girl's adorable smile, the taste of blood lingering between her lips and teeth, the dangerous yet heart-beating temptation.

“It would be great if all this were true.”

Bayard murmured softly.

She is so captivating, she must also have the nature to be in love.

If he could suck all her blood, he could take care of her for eighty days, waiting for her to be awakened again, and become his eternal companion and lover.

If she became the Son of the Moon, she would definitely become as powerful as herself... or even more powerful.

No matter what dangers the Chamber of Commerce faces, no matter what crises the Empire faces... they can escape here. The world is vast, and there's always a place for them. They are all powerful and can survive anywhere. Even without human blood, the fairies of the Path of Love and the demons of the Path of Transcendence can provide sustenance for survival.

...But is she still the same as she is now?

I have obtained a partner of eternal life, but have I killed the other one with my own hands?

But if I don't do anything, won't I just have to watch her being ravaged by time and gradually die of old age?

If she really encountered such a mind-blowing little succubus, she might really fall into pain and be at a loss.

"—Luckily, none of this is true."

Bayard held his chin with one hand and spoke softly.

(End of this chapter)