Guide to tamming vilanesses

"Are you sure you don’t want the others coming with us?" Lilel asked as she and Shin carefully made their way down the hillside.

"No. We shouldn’t enter the palace. It’s dangerous, and there’s no need for all of us to take the risk. Carolina has probably already gone inside, so we don’t need to bother."

"And how do you plan on getting the king’s crown?" Lilel asked, settling comfortably on Shin’s shoulder.

The man leaped onto the cap of a giant mushroom, using its soft surface to cushion his descent as they continued toward the palace gardens below.

"Well," he said with a grin, "I was hoping you could pull off the same trick you did with Lara. Convince the Amazonians that I’m their god and all that."

The last time, Lilel had successfully manipulated the artificial divine system created by Lara. Shin suspected the Amazonians’ divine trial worked on a similar principle.

In the game, anyone who wished to be recognized as the Amazonians’ god had to conquer the palace dungeon and claim the ancient crown hidden at its deepest level.

But if Lilel could interfere with whatever magical system governed that trial, there was a good chance they could bypass it entirely.

"And what if I can’t?" she asked, floating around his head.

"Then we’re dead," Shin replied with a playful shrug. Of course, he already had an emergency escape plan if everything went wrong.

"But isn’t this our chance to actually get the crown ourselves?"

"No chance." Shin shook his head. "Carolina will definitely get it before we do."

It sounded ridiculous. Carolina was so weak that even the weakest monsters inside the dungeon should have been more than enough to kill her.

And yet...

Shin had absolute faith that, somehow, she would still stumble into the throne room, accidentally complete every trial, and walk away with the crown.

That was simply how her absurd ability worked.

"Worst-case scenario," Shin continued, "we’ll retreat, find Carolina after she’s expelled from the dungeon, and politely relieve her of the crown."

"Politely?"

"Well... as politely as circumstances allow."

Lilel giggled.

"Besides," Shin continued, "it’s actually better to leave her wandering around in there. With her ability, she’ll probably end up finding half the dungeon’s treasures by pure accident."

Lilel finally nodded. "I suppose that does make sense."

"And if everything goes smoothly," Shin said with a satisfied smile, "within a month, we’ll have the entire Amazonian tribe working with us."

A few minutes later, they finally reached the bottom of the valley. After pushing through a curtain of dense vegetation, the breathtaking palace revealed itself.

An enormous castle of pure crystal stood proudly at the valley’s heart. Morning sunlight poured over the transparent walls, scattering into thousands of shimmering rainbows that danced across the surrounding gardens.

It looked less like something built by human hands and more like a magnificent dream given physical form.

For a brief moment, even Shin couldn’t help but admire the spectacle. But he didn’t waste long admiring the view.

The man adjusted a cloth wrapped around his face to avoid breathing too much of the pollen and took cautious steps toward the nearest blossom.

"Remember," Shin said quietly, never taking his eyes off the enormous blossom before him. "These flowers aren’t aggressive by themselves. They only release their pollen when they detect vibrations or sudden movements."

"So... move slowly?"

"As slowly as possible."

He crouched beside the flower’s massive stem and carefully removed a collection of tools from his dimensional ring. He didn’t have anything super specialized for the job, but he could make do with what he had.

He carefully drove a knife into the thick green stem. The movement was so slow that it barely disturbed the surface of the plant. A faint bluish liquid immediately began climbing through the attached glass tube.

Once he had gathered enough, he carefully removed the knife before sealing the tiny puncture in the stem with a sticky resin.

If the flower realized it had been damaged, it could react badly. Continuing, he used the same painstakingly slow method to collect just a bit of the bluish liquid from each flower.

By removing only a little, the plant wouldn’t realize something was wrong and react.

Finally, he had collected enough. Directly collecting the pollen was too dangerous, but using the flower’s fluids, he could make a repellent that would keep monsters away. The flower’s smell by itself was enough to scare away monsters.

"Hey! Don’t you think it would be a good idea to extract its nucleus?" Seeing Shin had finished his job, Lilel commented, pointing to a different species of flower.

The flower in question possessed a massive central bulb almost the size of a carriage, hidden beneath layers upon layers of luminous petals.

"I know it would be useful, but how do you plan on getting it?"

"The plant is massive; I can definitely squeeze my way into the pulp and go deep enough to take the nucleus."

"Okay, and what are you going to do about the poison?"

"Die," Lilel shrugged. "I just need to get out before I die, but you should step away for safety."

"If you are fine with that plan," Shin said, already stepping away with slow and careful movements.

He knew Lilel could revive, but her detachment from her own life and the way she never hesitated, no matter the pain, were always shocking.

Lilel cracked her tiny knuckles with determination before flying toward the enormous blossom. Without hesitation, she disappeared between the glowing petals.

Almost immediately, violent purple fumes began pouring from the center of the flower. A few seconds later came a muffled scream.

"AAAAAAAAAH!!"

Lilel contorted in agony, trying to ignore the overwhelming pain.

Nearly a minute passed before the petals suddenly burst open.

A tiny figure staggered out of the poisonous bloom, completely drenched from head to toe in thick violet venom. Every inch of Lilel glowed with an unhealthy purple hue, smoke rising from her body as if she had just crawled out of a volcano.

Despite looking absolutely miserable, she wore a victorious grin.

Between her tiny hands, she proudly held a brilliant crystalline nucleus no larger than a walnut, its interior pulsing with soft rainbow light.

With the last of her strength, Lilel raised one hand and flashed a triumphant V-sign.

"Mission..." She coughed out another puff of purple smoke. "...accomplished..."

A heartbeat later, she tipped backward and fell onto the grass with a tiny thump, still clutching the precious nucleus tightly against her chest.