What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?.

Meanwhile, in the capital city of the Kingdom of Esther, which he was secretly controlling, the two demon girls, one big and one small, were now acting recklessly and completely unconcerned about being exposed.

The reason why is that, over the past eighty years, everyone in the royal city has been instilled with loyalty from childhood through Ash's scientific education, systematic training, information management, and other methods.

And to be on the safe side, they were made to willingly submit to the magic, so that even if they saw it, it would not be a problem.

Upon arriving at the audience hall, Ash saw a pink-haired girl with two horns sitting arrogantly on the throne.

She was still holding the scales in her hand, casting a subjugation spell on the man below who was pinned to the ground by the knights and unable to move.

Although she hasn't grown taller or changed in appearance over the years, she is still a stunningly beautiful mature woman with a very impressive bust.

She's a bit short, but that's tolerable. It's her personality, though...

"Ara~ Isn't this my brother? He's here again today? You must have a lot of work to do~?" As Aura finished controlling the throne, she noticed Ash's presence and a bright smile appeared on her face.

He already had a large group of loyal people, but he still had to handle the most crucial parts. Now, facing the teasing, he just smiled with a suppressed headache as he stepped onto the stairs: "...Have you never thought about sharing the workload or anything?"

"No, this isn't your responsibility. To be honest..." Seeing his suppressed headache, Aura simply spread her arms wide.

"Even if everyone in the entire royal city is educated to be loyal to you and willingly accept obedience magic, you still need my obedience magic to put your mind at ease. In other words... no matter how you look at it, I'm already the greatest contributor, right?"

"...Even so, you still... Sigh, never mind."

He originally wanted to urge her to work harder, but he gave up after thinking about Awula's personality.

However, the disdainful look and the decisive attitude of giving up hurt Aura's pride. He dismissed his men, frowned, and rushed down quickly.

She stopped right in front of him, stood on tiptoe, and glared at him: "—A long, long time ago, I felt that your attitude towards me was rather rude?"

"so?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"

“That’s right, but that’s not the point.” He ignored Aura’s increasingly dangerous gaze, reached out and grabbed her horn, then simply pushed her away.

"It's been so many years, don't you have a little self-awareness? After all, even if you're a demon, you should have made some progress by now."

"You bastard, how dare you look down on me like that...!"

"That's not true."

"....real?"

"Because I just think you're stupid, but you're actually quite useful, so it's not like I look down on you."

"—Die!"

Without a second thought, he gave his answer, and a chilling atmosphere immediately filled the air. In an instant, Aura raised his hand and unleashed a killing spell.

A dark purple beam of light surged forth, but Ash's pale blue diamond-shaped shield easily blocked it. He looked at the decorations around him that had been blown away by the shockwave, gathered gravity lightning in his right hand, and then suddenly swung it around.

The beam of light from the murderous magic instantly dissipated, turning into a flash of light and disappearing without a trace.

This scene infuriated Aura, who had initially given up hope that the move would have no effect on Ash, only to find it had proven to be so ineffective that she stomped her feet in anger.

"What?! You said you were kind enough to teach me this magic, but you already have a better one?"

"It's just ordinary gravity magic."

"No! That's definitely not ordinary, is it? A normal enemy wouldn't be defeated so easily!"

"You actually noticed that? You've improved, Aura." Ash walked up to Aura with a sense of satisfaction, patted her head, and smiled without any attempt to hide his feelings.

"Isn't this normal? If we didn't take precautions against you, who knows what might happen?"

"...What happened to the brother-sister relationship we were promised?"

"You yourself said 'okay,' so isn't it bad to hold back a little?"

"I never imagined... you could be such a heartless person!"

"You have no right to say such things to me."

He casually pushed aside the approaching Aura and headed towards what was originally the king's study, but which had now become his own.

Aura, who had been furious, quickly regained her composure the moment he turned around. She wiped the spot on her horn where he had scratched her with a handkerchief, muttering to herself in annoyance:

"As expected, using the brother-sister relationship as an excuse isn't very effective. Even criticism doesn't work?"

"Nonsense, how long do you think I've known you? Using these tactics against me now... what are you thinking??"

Ash glanced at Aura sideways, feeling a pang of distress. He couldn't understand why this child, who was clearly good-looking and had a good figure, had such a strange personality. Even a normal demon should be better than this.

Was it really his fault? Did he lead his children astray when they were young? —Even now, he still harbors deep regret.

He had just sat down at his desk and opened the important documents in the kingdom awaiting review.

Aura then sat down on the desk, swinging her legs freely, and began to complain in a very willful manner:

"Ash, I'm so bored~ Stop doing all this."

"...Why are you telling me?"

"Find me something to do."

"Give me a massage when you're bored."

"No, that's even more boring."

"Then let's train our magic."

"Today's event is over."

"...Continue."

"No, I'm so bored! Talk to me now!"

This pink-haired demon girl was just as willful as Ash remembered. She slapped his documents and leaned against the desk, staring at him intently as she acted capriciously.

This caused him to sigh deeply for what seemed like the umpteenth time, as he faced this strange girl.

"I'm not trying to be mean, Awula, but you just..."

"You're talking about me!" Before he could finish speaking, Aura interrupted him impatiently, which made the willful and arrogant guy feel quite troubled, but he nodded without hesitation: "...Okay, I'm talking about you."

Chapter 82 Aura: You're a born villain! (3K)

Although Ash initially wanted to be a little polite with Aura... his silly little sister, the girl was just too troublesome, so he simply gave up on the pleasantries.

And looking at this guy who was dressed like a SM queen, wearing a crop top, super long black stockings and gloves, and who was good-looking but had a rather unfortunate and willful personality, he couldn't help but suspect:

Why is she still so willful like a child, even though she's such a grown-up? This is most evident when she's next to him.

Of course, before he could figure it out, just as Aura was about to hit him again in her frankness, he raised his hand, signaling her to stop, and continued:

"Although I'm talking about you, I'm genuinely thinking about you. And can't you just be like a normal demon and find a corner to study magic on your own when you have nothing to do?"

Few normal demons would find it boring; they could spend decades or even centuries alone in strange places researching their own magic, but...

For Aura, that was undoubtedly impossible; she denied it without even thinking:

"No, I'm special. After all... Obedience Magic is already quite perfect, and you even added physical means to destroy the frontal lobe. Now you can completely control a person without beheading them! Hmm~ I have to thank you properly for this, Ash~ You're a born villain!"

When the topic turned to the physical means of assisting obedience magic, Aura seemed unexpectedly happy, even rolling over to sit sideways on his lap, looking up at him excitedly, and occasionally poking his cheek with her fingertips.

A lively and beautiful girl is in his arms, but the object of his affection is the willful and eccentric girl he watched grow up and raised with his own hands. Should he be happy about this or what? Ash tries to think about this question, and while ignoring her interference, he feels a little depressed because of this praise.

Especially that strange way of praising him made him almost feel like a villain... although he could hardly deny that.

In reality, the people who underwent the surgery were specially selected, and it was not used on a large scale.

Surgery that damages the frontal lobe sounds like a high-risk brain surgery even in the 21st century.

In fact, Portuguese neurologists had already completed it in 1935. The whole process can be described as quite simple and brutal, and there would be no external injury left after recovery.

Take the awl and then the hammer. After disinfecting, insert the awl into the cranial suture between the eye sockets to destroy the frontal lobe. In fact, there is no need to remove it.

This process does not require sophisticated surgical skills or specialized equipment, can be performed anywhere, and is basically completed in ten minutes. It can be said that a low cost can achieve excellent results.

This type of prefrontal lobotomy can make a subject extremely docile and obedient, even effective on extremely volatile gorillas. It was also frequently used in the past on mental patients, turning manic individuals into well-behaved children. However, it was banned in the new century.

The price is... if you make a mistake or cause too much damage, you'll become a walking corpse. Freeman, the godfather of ice pick therapy, once had an alarming 10% mortality rate, along with a high risk of hemiplegia, intellectual decline, and other serious consequences.

However, through Ash's knowledge of the 0st century, a more rigorous attitude, and better practitioners and healers—the kingdom's bishops who were forced to collude with them—healed through magic, ensuring a zero mortality rate. The surgery would essentially only cause people to lose most of their personal will, but their thoughts and intelligence would still remain.

Ash simply dislikes indiscriminate killing, so he only performs this surgery on enemies... such as on the opposing empire, and on nobles of kingdoms whose behavior he finds repulsive.

After all, many medieval nobles were scoundrels who committed adultery, plunder, and wanton acts... He couldn't control them in other places, but he considered the entire kingdom as his own, so of course he couldn't let these people run wild.

He already controlled the kingdom, and legally he was the law, so of course there was no problem—at least in this era, controlling the kingdom meant he was the law itself. It was normal and casual for a king to order people to be killed at will in this era; it was just that he personally preferred order and management.

Therefore, in an era where morality among the elite was generally low, his moral standards were unexpectedly highlighted, and thus he had many suitable candidates.

Furthermore, if the attitude of cooperation is good, even if it is a noble who needs to be manipulated, he will not damage the frontal lobe, but will obey the magic to ensure the basics are met—after all, under the control of the obedience magic, it is normally difficult to break free from control.

...........................

...........................

The surgery, which is supposed to be a mind-numbing and brain-damaging procedure, will not actually damage the eyes or affect bodily functions, making it very suitable for obeying magic.

This made Aura extremely impressed with the surgery he proposed; if it weren't for Ash's restrictions, she probably would have wanted to try it for the entire kingdom.

And now... watching Aura happily swinging her legs on his lap as if she were looking for a new toy, Ash simply reached out and pressed his hand on her head, shaking his head and sighing softly:

"I've always wanted to be a good person, so please stop portraying me as a bad person. How about you just go have some fun by yourself?"

"This is so boring, what's so fun about this?"

"...You, as a demon, actually find life boring? Is that really a good thing?"

"What's the problem?"

"Alright, how about... we go check out the battlefield later? It seems there are quite a few pre-selected targets, and it's about time to reap the rewards."

Ash had a feeling that if he didn't find something for her to do, this willful girl would keep bothering him, so he could only casually come up with a time-consuming solution that he had always used before.

Hearing this, Aura couldn't help but grin and sneer: "You clearly said 'harvest' at the beginning, but now you're talking about 'harvest'? What's the difference if you put it nicely?"

"To put it nicely, at least I'll feel like I've become a good person."

"You... this is just hypocrisy, isn't it? Just like those nobles, to be honest—it's disgusting." Aura's face showed undisguised disgust.

"...Say whatever you want." Although being looked down upon by Aura was extremely annoying, he couldn't be bothered to say anything more to this rude guy.

Of course, in reality, it wasn't the Kingdom of Esther that started the war, but rather the surrounding countries that were fighting each other for various reasons.