Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer-Novel

Remember when it was stated that Ashton was changing?

Well, him being a little bit vengeful was one of those said changes...

He's never been someone who does things like this. Not even in his previous life nor for the vast majority of his second life. This is a pretty recent thing and even Ashton himself wasn't aware that his behavior was changing in this way.

But, him being like this shouldn't be a bad thing. 'Shouldn't' is the key word here.

As long as he keeps it under control, he'd be fine. As long as he's targetting the right people, or in this case demons, then he will be fine.

This change was probably influenced by his isolation from society. It has almost been a year since he was rudely wrested away from civilization and hadn't a proper social interaction.

That does things to an individual's mentality, you know.

Recently, all he's aware of is the constant cycle of vexation and carnage.

He'll meet an obstacle in his path, he trains to get stronger and clear said obstacle so that he can continue moving, rinse and repeat.

Unbeknownst to even himself, Ashton had long since changed. He's no longer the sheltered kid who just wanted to live his days in peace, no matter if it's false or not. He had grown up to become a battle-hardened warrior due to his constant exposure to demons, he had shed his youthful naivety and became a fierce combatant that could survive the harsh environment around him.

He's still him at the end of the day, it's just that he was forced to grow up since that's the only way he'll survive this place.

'First, I'll scatter your neatly arranged stacks of documents. I know you've spent hours just organizing everything but ha! Too bad, there they go, scattered all across the room. Good luck re-arranging them!'

'This drink of yours? It looks yucky already but I'll still spit on it. Don't worry, I'll even stir it for you just so that you won't notice it. See? Aren't I nice?'

'Is this where you take a bath? Ha! Are those shampoo bottles? You filthy demon stole this idea from us too!? How rude. See how I switch the contents of this bottle. Hmm, how about a fabric conditioner instead? I could change it to something much worse but I'll wait since I'm nice.'

Ashton went to town with his pranks.

Ever since he discovered that the Demon Prince couldn't sense him anymore and that he could move the library's position even while he was inside, a ton of horrible ideas naturally flowed into his brain.

He didn't plan the demise of the Demon Prince yet, he's too weak to even confront him right now so that'll just be useless. He'd take anything he could to piss him off though, that's the only way he can keep his heart clear from the pressure he's facing.

***

For the next following days, Demon Prince Lu felt like he was being punished by the Demon God.

It all started small, a few things or furniture being out of place, his drink becoming a little too much of something; sweet, bitter, colorful, hot, cold...

Then, as time passed by, it escalated. One time he saw the documents, which he had spent so much time organizing, scattered all across the room. Some were crumpled to a ball and thrown into his empty cup which nearly caused him to faint in anger.

Then he discovered that his shampoo was not a shampoo. It wasn't bubbly nor foamy, instead, it was a viscous colored liquid that smells a little too good. When he discovered that he began suffering from hair fall, that's when he realized that he had been duped. He didn't know what this thing was but it wasn't shampoo.

Sometimes, he hears a loud honking sound in the middle of his sleep which will cause him to wake up so abruptly that he thinks their being attacked. It had to be known that the Demon Prince loves his beauty sleep since he doesn't fall asleep that easily. If his sleep is interrupted, it'll be difficult for him to return to it so he might as well stay awake.

Though he'd be grumpy for the rest of the day if that happens...

It only got worse after that. As days passed, he never even once saw his documents being neatly arranged, his office was a bonafide mess, and he no longer trust the shampoo bottles since their contents changed without his knowledge constantly.

On some days, he'd wake up startled. On lucky days, he'll get some shut-eye but he'll wake up with either crumb of food on his bed or dead insects.

How many subordinates has he slain at this point for incompetents? Demon Prince Lu has lost count already. He knows he's being unreasonable, how could he expect them to find the scourge that's causing all of this when he himself couldn't locate them in the first place?

But that's the only thing left that keeps him sane. It's fine for him to kill these useless slaves, in fact, they should thank him since they died under his majestic hands, that's not something that happens on a regular basis at least.

But...as Demon Prince Lu lamented his unluckiness, his vision greatly dimmed, causing him to focus on himself rather than the big picture.

He failed to notice that all of his sufferings were just mere distractions. A part of an elaborate scheme that leads to a much bigger problem.

Thanks to the wanton slaughter of his 'incompetent' subordinates, the demons around him became too scared to open their mouths lest they want to be killed too.

Because of that, weren't able to report many signs that some things were amiss within the city...

For example, the Ghoul Nursery had been rather weird these past few days. The infant Ghouls were constantly wailing, seemingly in pain and writhing in agony. Their situation stumped their caretakers, unable to discover the reason why they are all acting like this.

In addition to that, the ritual summoning had seen some sharp decrease in its success rate. Before 9/10 times, they'd be successful in creating a Ghoul but recently, it dropped to 6/10 and it doesn't show any signs of stopping.

They've checked everywhere but failed to see the cause of this sharp decrease in the success rate. Due to the Demon Prince being angry at all times, all they could do is to curse their bad luck and hope that this unlucky streak passed by quickly. After all, their resources are taking some serious damage here.

Sadly, they'd never know that this isn't just because of lady luck scowling at them. It's because Ashton, being the vengeful and spiteful little shit that he is, finally decided to put his plans in motion.

He didn't really need to do much, all he did was to poison their food and water.

Hell, was that even considered poisoning? He purified them a little bit and infused the ashes of Soul Cleansing Incense into their food and water which eventually lead to this outcome. How can that be counted as poisoning?

Well, that's not his fault. If they want to blame someone, then blame their creators he'd say. After all, it wasn't Ashton who made them unable to tolerate 'clean' things.

Despite him throwing a wrench on the Demonic Cty's operations, Ashton doesn't have any big plans right now. Well, he does but he's not taking action personally to implement them yet, it's still too early and, once again, he's too weak to make any big difference right now so he postponed it.

That being said, meddling in their affairs is something that he'd be doing constantly from now on. That is on top of his training as well.

He'd give them a break now and then, just long enough to let them breathe. He didn't want them going anywhere so this is necessary. This goes the same for torturing the Demon Prince.

The past few days had been rather satisfying to Ashton. It already quelled the grievances in his heart. He felt light and airy already and had a good laugh because of his pranks succeeding.

His being free from all that gloom and pressure was reflected in his training. He's now progressing at a respectable pace since he's no longer carrying all that unwanted burdens.

​ Him constantly bothering the Demon Prince is all for the sake of entertainment at this point and to keep him on his toes. He didn't want that fucker to relax at all.

Ashton wants the Demon Prince to remain vigilant, doubtful, and constantly alert. He wants him to erode his sanity little by little. He wants him tired, exhausted, always in a foul mood, always heavy-handed and scowling.

He'll give him rest from time to time sure but not long enough to make him relaxed. He wants that guy always on alert, constantly looking out for the one who's causing all of this.

This is a necessary step because when he finally gives the Demon Prince was he needed the most when he's unable to endure it anymore...that'd be the sign of his downfall.

But for now, Ashton could only wait until everything was ready...