Katarina stared wide-eyed at the dagger, like it might come alive and attack her. "You mean to seize the capital." Quietly, she mouthed 'Cut off the head' to herself. "You..."

  She took in a sharp intake of breath. "You mean to kill Duke Helmund."

  "He needs to go," Simon remarked, as if commenting on the weather. "There is no other path to salvation for Valtia. None that I can envision, anyway."

  Especially after receiving Voice-In-The-Sky's approval.

  He'd reached this conclusion even before learning exactly how the Mana Harvesters operated. There was simply too much damning evidence painting Helmund as the chief perpetrator of Valtia's decline. Testimony from Kirkelas, the slavers, Lucia, and Katarina all described the man as a vicious parasite oppressing his people and bleeding the land.

  Simon would've gone after him with or without an apocalypse looming over the horizon.

  However, some nagging doubts had made the transmigrator hesitant to fully commit to his plan. While he felt confident that Helmund needed to be lanced like the boil he was, some details hadn't quite added up – and still weren't.

  It mostly came down to timing and location. Voice-In-The-Sky initially warned that Valtia would meet its end within the year. That implied a rapid, dramatic upheaval, similar to a mass extinction event. Something on the level of a meteor falling from the sky.

  Yet the slavers theorized that Valtia's end-of-days scenario would occur decades from now. And based on what Simon had seen, he felt inclined to agree. The environment's mana deprivation was severe, but not to the point where people would start dropping like flies in a couple months.

  Furthermore, Duke Helmund's sphere of influence was localized primarily to the Severed Isles. He couldn't have installed Mana Harvesters in the other three Valtian nations. How, then, was he responsible for snuffing out all life throughout the world?

  Simon still didn't know...but for the moment, he didn't have to. Because when he explained his plan to Voice-In-The-Sky, the god responded in the most jubilant tone of voice it was allowed.

  'You're on the right track,' it had blatantly implied. 'Slay Helmund. That's what you were brought here for.'

  Thus, Valtia's future had been decided. The Duke of the Severed Isles was a marked man. He would die; his reign of terror overthrown, his stranglehold shattered, and his banners cast down into the abyss. A righteous purging would take place, excising his tyranny like pulling weeds from a garden, roots and all.

  The fine details could be ironed out later.

  "You may think this drastic," Simon continued, "yet I prefer the term expedient. Time isn't on our side. The longer Helmund rules the Severed Isles, the more people suffer and die."

  Originally, he'd wanted to gradually build up his power base, sinking his teeth into the realm of medieval politics – but that was the lingering mindset of an Earth expat. He was in Valtia, now. Getting rich enough to bribe corrupt politicians wasn't the endgame anymore.

  Subjugating them would be so much easier.

  Katarina leaned onto a nearby desk, the color draining from her face. "You don't understand," she said, voice quavering. "Helmund can't be...he is akin to a god. The Fell Beast we fought here is a paltry existence by comparison. You wouldn't be the first who's tried and failed to unseat him."

  "Others are trying?"

  "Rebels in opposition to Duke Helmund. They call themselves The Hurricane." She winced. "Their successes have been few and far between. Like flies that he swats when they start buzzing too loudly. If you join them, your fate would be the same."

  "Good to know. Maybe we'll collaborate later." Simon put on a savage grin. "Let's make something clear, though. They'd be the ones to come crawling to me. I wouldn't be planning to assassinate a demigod without the strength to realize my ambitions."

  He shapeshifted his right arm, holding its wicked claws up to the light. "Another demonic ability I possess lets me quickly grow stronger. Very, very quickly. I'm over twice as powerful now than before we fought the Fell Beast – and this is merely the barest sliver of my potential."

  Katarina regarded him with a penetrating gaze. "You earnestly believe you can grow powerful enough to vanquish Duke Helmund?"

  Given infinite time? It was assured.

  In less than a year? It was questionable.

  But he didn't have a choice, so the answer was–

  "Absolutely." Simon gestured at the map again. "The Severed Isles are full of places that need me. Places with monsters that need slaying – whether they be human or Beast. I'll travel to areas of interest, right wrongs as I see them, and keep getting stronger. Won't be an easy journey, but at the end of the road sits Duke Helmund's head on a pike."

  He paused. "I could stay here in Springwater, lording over several thousand peasants as an uncontested ruler...but that would be grossly inefficient. Maybe saving this village seemed like a great victory to you, but to me?"

  The transmigrator met her gaze. "To me, it was just one step forward."

  Katarina said nothing, coming to grips with what she'd just heard. She peered into his eyes, searching for even a hint of duplicity, doubt, or hesitation – and found only unyielding resolve burning within.

  "You aren't doing this to take control of the Severed Isles." A wan, tired smile made its way onto her face. "For any other Demon, I would assume that seizing power was the goal...but it's just a means to an end, isn't it? You don't care about ruling."

  "Eh, I will if I have to." Simon grimaced at the thought. "Ideally, there should be competent people I can slot into the requisite positions. Could be tricky getting them to support a Demon, but I'd say Springwater was a good proof of concept, and I'm willing to be flexible as long as they adhere to my proposed reforms."

  "Reforms?"

  He raised an eyebrow. "I'm hardly going to topple the leader of a nation and not make changes. The Severed Isles need fixing. Don't feel like playing the long game of modifying societal norms over a period of decades, so I'll just brute force it instead. The higher-ups might resist, but pretty much all of my ideas will be wildly popular with the common folk, so the nobles will have to play along or risk a full-on revolution."

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  Katarina stood up straighter, a measure of energy returning to her as she re-established her mental foothold in the world. "Then you feel confident deciding peoples' fates for them?"

  "Who else can I trust if not myself? Besides, I've studied enough about governance to help run one country."

  "As a start."

  Simon blinked. "What do you mean?"

  "Too late for you to feign ignorance," she scoffed. "Your map has strings of thread connecting to settlements in the nations across the sea. After you're finished conquering the Severed Isles, you intend to set your sights on the rest of the world."

  "...It depends." Simon morphed his arm back to human form, then laced both hands together. "Need to learn more about those nations first. Are their people happy? Do they have stable, equitable forms of government? Would my intervention make things better or worse? I'll have to carefully judge their situation, then go from there."

  "And if they fail to meet your lofty standards? What then?"

  "You already know."

  A shiver ran down Katarina's spine. "Simon...when are you going to stop?"

  He shrugged. "When somebody stops me."

  Another silence suffused the air, longer and more filled with tension than the last.

  Eventually, Katarina sighed. "Why are you telling me all this?"

  "Two reasons. The first is that you asked for an explanation, and here it is. The second is that I wanted you to understand what you'd be getting into."

  He jerked his thumb at the map. "If you join me, that's what you'll be setting in motion."

  "So you do want my assistance." She shook her head in disbelief. "Again – why? What could I possibly have to offer you?"

  Simon tapped his forehead. "Amnesia, remember? I need someone who can explain Valtia to me. A guide, of sorts. You aren't half-bad with a crossbow either."

  And you came back for me.

  Trust was hard-won and easily broken. Simon knew that well. Heroic Valor had made a valid point when it said that he struggled to forge sincere connections with people.

  He could have asked anyone in Springwater to be his guide. Offered them power and riches in return. There were likely dozens of potential candidates who would've gladly accepted, their self-interest ensuring their reliability.

  But only one person had risked her life to save his. She could have fled – should have fled – and yet she still came back.

  How many others would have done the same?

  Katarina drummed her fingers on her thigh. "It just so happens that this mission of yours will put you at odds with the nobility." She spoke slowly, as if solving a puzzle. "So in exchange for helping you...I assume you'll procure the remedy to my father's illness?"

  "I'll do that even if you don't."

  At her surprised stare, Simon chuckled. "I also won't demand that you follow me until your dying day. You can turn back after we retrieve Gerold's medicine – or whenever you want, really. This isn't blackmail, Katarina."

  He spread his arms out. "This is me laying all my cards on the table."

  Simon would have to step on a lot of toes to accomplish his goals. Came with the territory of inciting revolution. By the time he was finished, millions would despise him, including those he was trying to save.

  It would be a thoroughly isolating experience. He couldn't fall into that trap. Isolation breeds resentment, and resentment fosters hatred. Katarina could act as his canary in the coal mine, keeping him grounded and on-task if he ever got too frustrated with people.

  And after lying to virtually everyone he'd met since entering Valtia...it'd be nice to at least try forming a genuine bond with someone.

  Katarina sank into deep thought. She looked at Simon, and then at the map, seeming to weigh her odds.

  How much faith could she put in him? Would aiding his cause improve her father's chances of being cured? What other secrets was he hiding?

  If she joined him, what would the future hold?

  "Answer me but one question," Katarina finally said, after some time.

  "Figured you'd have more than just one."

  "I do, but I require time to process everything you've told me." She glanced over at him. "What drives you, Simon? Why go to such lengths?"

  'Do you really need to go that far?' Grace had once asked, in a soup kitchen he would never see again.

  Simon fidgeted slightly, injecting forced levity into his tone. "Would you believe it's all for the sake of helping people?"

  "Yes, actually. That much has been shown to me."

  Katarina turned to face him. "But Simon, you're not the only person who wants to help others. I'd say a fair number of people do. Most are simply too caught up in their own lives to spare the time or effort.

  It takes a unique brand of lunacy to throw everything away and go marching on a mission – one that, in all likelihood, shall end with your death."

  Her unblinking eyes pierced through him like drills. "I just need to know why," she said, brazenly echoing his words from before.

  Clever girl, Simon mused.

  The full answer to that question would take far too long...and frankly speaking, he wasn't in the mood to relive the dirty details. He wasn't sure he ever would be.

  Yet there was still one thing he could tell her. One unassailable truth that cut to the core of his motivation.

  "If I don't do it, who will?"

  He was left on pins and needles as she considered his response. Time went by at a snail's pace, seeming to go slower with every second.

  Then she nodded, that small motion like a heavy burden lifting from his chest.

  "For my father," Katarina began. "For myself. And..."

  She extended her hand. "For you as well."

  Grinning, Simon grabbed her hand and shook it.

  Katarina recoiled as if she'd touched a hot poker. Her eyes widened yet again as she stared at her palm–

  And at the demonic sigil now glowing on her skin. A symbol of the Boon that had been Granted.

  She glanced back up at Simon, seeking more explanations. What she found was twinkling eyes and a deepening grin.

  "Welcome to the fold, Kat."