On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

‘Superficial, fake, presumptuous, narcissistic—such is the quality of an average Priest. They only respect their fellows and look down on anyone that is not a part of the Temple’s hierarchy—even their God’s believers.’

As Layland was accompanying Winerva eating at the café in front of the Temple, he was sneakily observing how the Priests who were coming in and out of it behaved.

He learned one thing from his observation: it was easy to impersonate a Priest as long as one had the outfit. He, fortunately, had kept the uniform of the Priest whom he had a tough battle with, so doing it would be a piece a cake.

Of course, he also needed to know how to act after entering the Temple. Thankfully, he had learnt as much as he could, and the only thing left for him was mapping the entire Temple.

Normally, he could do it easily by entering the Temple, which was a public place, and pretended to pray there.

Unfortunately, he would go there as a Priest by the end of the day, so he would only attract suspicion if he came there wearing a civilian’s clothes, and visited it again in a Priest outfit a couple of hours later.

Puchi.

Sensing a finger poking his cheek, Layland turned to look at the person sitting in front of him—Winerva. She was pouting as he hadn’t been paying any attention to her for the past 25 minutes they had been there.

“Are those married women more attractive than me?” She asked.

“I was not even looking at them…” He gazed at her weirdly. “Why do you even think… that is the case?”

Upon turning his head to the direction Winerva was pointing to, Layland finally realized why she arrived at the conclusion. He had been too focused on observing the Temple, he didn’t realize there were women sitting outside the cafe.

He knew how to ignore the unnecessary, so he didn’t consider him mildly glancing at the Temple made him look like he was sending furtive glances at the women.

In result, all of the women who he had managed to captivate were now looking at him with a blush on their cheeks. They were waiting for him to greet them, even though most of them were already married.

‘Oh, shit. I was lucky none of these ladies accuses me of sexual harassment.’

Of course, Layland, who wasn’t a braggart of his appearance, didn’t think he had managed to captivate the women. He thought he had made them uncomfortable, so he bowed his head politely with a small smile on his face.

That action of him turned the women crazy. Their face brightly lit up in red, and Layland was forced to turn his head away as he thought they became even angrier.

“Kuhum! I think it is for us time to go, wife.”

“Really? After flirting with other women, and that’s your solution to salvage the situation?” Winerva asked dryly.

“Oh, cut it!” Layland waved his hand nonchalantly. “You are not even my real wife. Besides, I was just captivated by the bustling road—I wasn’t flirting with them.”

“I AM your wife for TODAY,” Winerva emphasized.

Uncaring to her response, Layland stood up and dragged her with him. She had finished her meal—he had finished his observation, so there was really no need for them to be there anymore.

Walking out of the café with every female’s eyes on him, he thought, ‘Now, I just need to map the escape route. In case things turn south, I will be able to escape this Dukedom safely.’

By saying ‘things turn south,’ he was referring to the situation where his murder of Niles was found out. He wouldn’t be able to put the Array inside the Temple at that situation, since the Dukedom would definitely be overwhelmed with a huge ruckus.

Because of that, he needed to map an escape route, so he could get out of the Dukedom with his life.

“Where are we going now?” Winerva asked. She had been silent for three minutes, and she couldn’t hold her curiosity anymore.

“The slum area,” Layland simply responded.

“I think I know why you can’t get a wife.”

“Relax. I am not asking you to have a date there.”

Looking at Layland sceptically, Winerva said, “Really? After spending around an hour with you, you make an impression of a man who will definitely do that.”

“I won’t do that to my woman, so rejoice, for you are temporarily my wife.”

“I don’t know whether I should feel happy or sad…” Winerva sighed.

Layland shrugged lightly, and the conversation between him and Winerva ceased, or rather, he stopped responding her verbally ever since. He still listened to her, however, so she didn’t feel ignored.

When they arrived at the slum area, Winerva scrunched up her nose and stopped speaking. The slum area was an unorganized area of the Dukedom that was filled with worn down buildings and sewers blocked with sewage.

It was very smelly there, and it was clear that sanitation was the last thing you could ever get there. Despite so, there were many people living there; of course, none of them were in a healthy condition.

“This is just sad… To think that a Dukedom still has a place like this… Unimaginable. Not even the County I live in has this place,” Winerva muttered. “Oh my… There are even kids.”

While Winerva was saddened by the fact that her fellow humans were living in such an unhealthy place, Layland was trying hard to suppress his gleeful grin.

He was weirdly pleased by the fact that there were still humans suffering in a well managed territory.

‘Scentillion City doesn’t have a slum area, so it is better than the Dukedom,’ he thought. ‘Well… Have I become a chauvinist? That’s quite ironic for someone who has agreed to become a Demon King for his own interest.’

Letting go of Winerva’s hand, he walked towards the tallest worn down building with a faint chuckle. Winerva was about to follow after him, but he motioned her to stay—she complied.

Standing in front of the building, he looked around at the curious people briefly. “He who dares to touch me shall be given a reward!” He exclaimed. “You got two minutes. The very first person who touches me will win the reward.”

Murmurs of scepticism and fear quickly filled the entire slum area. Layland could even hear people talking in the building behind him.

Winerva looked at him in confusion as she couldn’t think of a reason why he said that. He merely winked at her and she immediately shook her head helplessly.

“While you are discussing, half a minute has passed,” Layland warned. “There are two choices: be bold or regret for being a coward later.”

The murmurs suddenly stopped as all of the people looked at each other. They came out of their shed one by one, but there was still none of them that dared to approach Layland.

He smirked at the cowardice of the people, but he was also impressed by their cautiousness. He wasn’t exuding his Mana pressure nor was he armed; however, they still deemed him dangerous by how lax he was.

Not many people would think twice before attacking an unarmed and obnoxious person after all, so by that fact, they were brighter than most people.

“You will really give me the reward, will you?”

“Of course, I will… If you can touch me, that is.”

Layland’s mood turned slightly solemn when he saw a little girl who was as young as 10 years old came forward. She was holding the hand of a 6 year old boy, who he assumed was her younger brother.

The girl’s eyes lit up in determination at his convincing promise. She let go of her brother’s hand, and ran at him as fast as she could.

He was astonished by the girl’s bravery, but couldn’t help smiling ironically. She jumped at him as soon as she was just a few inches away from him, and he opened his arm to catch her.

Thud!

“H-Huh? S-Sir? What is this?” Enveloped in Layland’s hug, the girl was confused.

Uncaring to that, Layland caressed her hair. “Congratulations, you have won the prize,” he said softly. “What will you use the money for?”

“For my brother, of course. He needs nutrition to grow, and the money will be able to get it for him.”

“You are a good sister, aren’t you?”𝓞𝑣𝔩xt.𝗇𝓔t

As Layland let go of his hug and looked at the girl, he smiled emptily. The girl, unaware of his thoughts, was flustered by his kindness and fidgeted her scruffy feet.

Layland ruffled the girl’s unkempt hair, while simultaneously and discreetly casting a Spell on her. Taking out a pouch of gold afterwards, he gave it to her after whispering something to her ear.

Standing up, he declared, “When this girl loses her possession of the gold or her life, I will know. You can try to blackmail and kill her, and all of you will die the second it happens!”

To emphasize his point, Layland blasted his Mana at the people. All of them gasped in shock. Some in fear, and some in admiration. Uncaring to the impression he had made however, he left the slum area, leaving the girl staring at his back longingly.

“Awh. You are such a sweet soul,” Winerva remarked as she hugged his hand. “You do smell a little bit though. Are you going to wash it now?”

“No, I will let this smell stick on me for a little bit longer so I don’t forget what I have done.”

Winerva was a little bit confused, however she didn’t ask Layland to explain. In fact, even if she asked, he would not want to explain.

He had done two things to the innocent girl. First, he had cast a Curse that would make her explode when she was in the vicinity of Niles; and second; he had cast a Sealing Spell that would latch onto Niles after she exploded.

It was hard for him to say he didn’t feel guilty about that.