"...You're Kaoru, right?"
"Eh? ...Yeah, well, that's true, but..." (Kaoru)
As I was walking around town shopping, I was suddenly approached by a very beautiful girl.
If I remember correctly, Aral was 6 and Mine was 9, right? This girl was about the same age as Mine, but those two were a little smaller than average, probably because they grew up as homeless kids and in an orphanage, so this rich-looking girl, with well-groomed hair and skin, and simple but elegant clothes, was probably a little younger than Mine in age...
If this had been some flashy guy looking to pick up girls, or a businessman with an ulterior motive, or an ugly old man, I would have ignored them, but since she seemed to have something to ask me for, I decided to listen to what she had to say properly...
"You, take care of me!"
"What, that's so brazen, here it is~!!" (Kaoru)
"...so, Leia-chan..." (Kaoru)
"Call me Leia-sama. Stand still and say 'with dignity' first." (Leia)
"Whose Emperor is this?" (Kaoru)
"I was just kidding..." (Leia)
I can't laugh! After what I just heard...
Yes, this girl just made a terrifying coming out!
The content was as follows.
"Well, I'll be sure to check that our new goddess, Celestine, is doing her job properly." (Leia)
Yes, this was it...
Apparently, she was one of Celes' kind, or perhaps her boss, supervisor, or inspector...
Well, I could understand that for these people, appearance had nothing to do with their actual age.
...No good.
This is not good...
I can't cause any trouble for Celes, and if, just in case, they think, "What on earth were you thinking, giving such cheat abilities to native creatures!?" and strip me and Reiko of our abilities...
...No good.
That's not good!!
"...And since this is a secret inspection, of course you must keep my information a secret from Celestine. If you're afraid of the penalty for speaking out, that is." (Leia)
Nod nod
There was nothing I could do but nod!
"If I use my powers here, Celestine will sense them, so I can't use my powers. So, if I'm in trouble, you do something about it!" (Leia)
Nod nod
Well, that was a plausible reason.
"For now, I need a place to live, some good food, and, um... some money? Please give me lots of it. I'm very interested in food, so please don't disappoint me in your first experience!" (Leia)
"No, that's not a convincing reason!" (Kaoru)
This girl was a sneaky version of Celes!
Yes, in other words, a sly, devious Celes!!
"...So, you don't plan on living together?" (Kaoru)
"Of course! If I do that, I'll do whatever you want... and Celestine will find out when she checks on me!" (Leia)
...Now, the truth is revealed!
That's definitely what I really think!!
"...So, you booked a room at the best inn in town, paid for 10 days' lodging fees, fed her the food you had prepared in your item box, and gave her 30 gold coins?" (Reiko)
"Yeah……" (Kaoru)
After hearing my report, Reiko thought for a while...
"That's a lie." (Reiko)
"I know, right~?!" (Kaoru)
Exactly. Celes' job, or rather, her role, was to prevent the fusion of dimensional worlds. There was almost no consideration for the life or death of the native creatures.
Celes herself easily administered "divine punishment" to people because they were getting in the way of her work or because she was annoyed. Even Celes, who was thought to have a gentle, innocent, and kind personality.
...That meant that, except in rare cases, they didn't care much about the lower inhabitants of the area. They probably didn't care about them as much as humans do about ants, unless it was something that benefits them in some way.
So, even if there was an "inspection", it would be about how Celes investigates "distortion" and how to deal with the "distortion" that occurs... At the very least, it wouldn't involve contact with the native creatures, eating delicious food, or asking for money, ever!
...That means...
"She's just here to hang out without telling Celes!!" (Kaoru + Reiko)
Those beings were intellectually mature to a degree that humans could not even imagine and therefore had almost no concept of malice or hatred.
It seemed that clones whose intelligence and abilities had been lowered to that of Celes did have slight feelings like that, but they were nothing serious. The reason why Celes easily distributed divine punishment was not because such feelings were strong, but simply because she cared nothing for human life.
Humans also kill insects without any real ill intent, just because they're a little annoyed...
I had been a pet entrusted to the care of someone I liked. And the people around me had been like stray cats from the neighborhood, brought along as playmates by the pet kitten, probably.
So that girl—that clone of a higher life form that took on the form of that girl—probably didn't have much in the way of malice. It just happened to come here on a whim...
Third person's perspective
"...That's what inferior lifeforms are probably thinking..." (Leia)
In the room at the most luxurious inn in town, Leia was sipping tea and munching on sweets she got from Kaoru.
"Certainly, the main body has no connection to such emotions, but for us 'clone bodies with our abilities weakened to the extreme' who need to communicate with lower lifeforms, we have a small amount of such emotions, due to the need to understand the thoughts of lower lifeforms. Plots, schemes, traps, and all other thoughts and feelings... And, my main body created a clone of roughly the same rank as Celestine to monitor the 'distortion' in my area of responsibility, and this clone is me, who branched off for the sake of a conspiracy. I will follow the wishes of my direct branch and carry out all my schemes!" (Leia)
Leia was grinning, holding a cup of tea in her left hand and a half-eaten snack in her right.
"I will gather more detailed information about the life of that child (Kaoru) before Celestine does and report it to the Administrator of the Earth (that person) to gain his favor! And I will make him like me more than Celestine and his direct descendant! What an outrageous act, not only to disregard Celestine, but even to disregard its direct branch! Oh, I even feel frightened at myself, what malice, what a scheme! I am the incarnation of evil!! Keh. Hehe. Kehehehehehe..." (Leia)
A spiritually mature, god-like transcendent race (Overlords).
This extremely degraded clone commits an act of evil with all its might.
In the end, that was all it amounted to...