"Ehhh... uhhh... *cough cough* Demon King? No? No Demon King?"

"... Even if you ask me that..."

"Ehhh... ... Your reaction doesn't seem that big to me..."

The little girl turned her back around us and squatted down abruptly, fluttering her dress when she did so. Her already short nightdress revealed her unprotected lower half, revealing her beige-colored skin. It was at this time that White had also spotted strange rune-like marks imprinted on her right shoulder and under her right eye, glowing blue faintly.

White was startled when he saw the exposed thighs of the little girl. He covered his eyes immediately.

"Kaka-! You're so pure, White... Look closer~"

"You-! Do you have any morals at all?! That's a little girl! Stop looking too, what are you doing?!"

"Sigh...You know, you've gotten laid before already right...? What is that loser talk I'm hearing right now. Really... you're still a disappointment, you beta."

White's face turned bright red when he heard that, quickly recalling many things. But then it quickly changed for the worse when he remembered the time he spent with the elves.

"...Lay off me... I'm telling you, don't look."

"Look at what? Prosthetics? You're into that sort of stuff now White?"

"H-huh? Pros...Fake legs...?"

Slightly distrusting of him, White slowly reopened his eyes and took a closer look.

He finally noticed that the little girl did indeed have prosthetic-looking legs; Underneath the black nightdress was a pair of beige-colored automaton-like legs akin to an android. There were a few visible strands of wire in between each joint, and mechanical-looking rings that fastened them together.

Although he had cleared up this embarassing misunderstanding, White still felt that it was wrong to keep staring so he kept his eyes away, prompting the other White to cackle heartily as a response... much to White's chagrin.

The little girl took no notice of this and had been muttering something unintelligible the entire time instead.

"Mistake... ... ....dead... ...Looks like... .... mmm... ... ..."

This lack of attention continued for close to a minute, before White lost his composure from standing still for so long uneventfully. Frustrated that the conversation was not going smoothly without any interaction, he declared out with a very annoyed attitude.

"...I say, who the hell are you, you littl-"

At this instant, the little girl turned around immediately like a predator reacting to his words, quickly interrupting with a very strong warning.

"-On account of my good mood right now, I'm going to give you a chance, to not ruin it.

If... If you're going to refer to me as something you just wanted to say, don't say... I didn't warn you... If 'it' leaks out of your mouth again, I'm going to reincarnate you into a bug and crush you for a few hundred cycles before I get bored of it."

Her voice was amplified in this white space, which startled even the collected personality of White.

"...Do we have a clear understanding, demon king candidate?"

White nodded his head obediently; a single drip of sweat went down his forehead. The abnormal amount of pressure akin to a tremendous amount of fear exerted against him shut him up immediately as if his Eyes of Fear had been used against him.

"... ..."

White did not take it as well, as the unassuming pressure struck him even harder. His black pants began to turn a little wet.

The girl grimaced when she saw this and released the pressure with a wave of her right hand.

Her hands were seemingly made of flesh like a human being instead.

Then she let out a yawn lazily, not bothering to cover up her gaping mouth at all while doing so. A few seconds passed by uneventfully again in silence, as she began to do another round of stretching with the two guys as the blank-faced spectators.

"Aahhh... that's the spot... I feel a little more refreshed to continue talking. ...Right, right... introductions was it? I'm Ruler, a goddess. Nice to meet youuu~"

The girl who referred to herself as Ruler, introduced herself unenthusiastically with a draggy tone at the end of her sentence. It seemed that she had not gotten the slightest bit energetic at all.

"A... goddess...?"

White recognized that word, as he tried to recall where he had heard that before. But strangely enough, he could not dig up that part of his memory.

All he knew, was that this place was the Soul Forest, and something surreal like a goddess actually existed.

Hmmm... I can't remember... I've heard... something like this before...

The other White kept silent without turning back to reply to that doubt. He knew that it wasn't time to reveal everything just yet. He had said all those things before as a provocation, because he knew White would definitely not be able to take the other parts and reasons for his mental stress. In addition, since he did not like to come out in the open, there was the uncertainty that he would not be able to handle staying in control of the body for a long period of time. He was even more unsure about the possibility that his existence as a measure to protect White's fragile emotions, might disappear along with him as a result if White broke down and became insane. White was consequently kept in the dark in the meantime until the other White judges that he becomes mentally mature enough to take those dark emotions in bit by bit. White had finally become able to stay awake in his subconscious after all, and he felt that establishing this connection was the first step to co-existing together. "...? Why the silence? Strange, I thought you humans would react even more than that..." "I-I'm sorry..." "Tch... Don't apologize, you idiot." Although much to his annoyance, he felt that White was changing too slowly. "...Well, I'm in a good mood, so I don't really mind eccentric people like you once in a while. Though... if you'd met me right out of a nap while I'm cranky and all, you might not even have lived passed that rude remark you made earlier... Let's just say that it would have been a different story instead." "... ...Heeehhh, and how can you prove you're a goddess then? You've rambled on and on about the presumptions of being able to reincarnate us without basis. The Soul Forest seems like a place that even... people... things who don't belong here can enter as I recalled it, ...so I cannot trust you." The other White tried to rephrase his words in a roundabout way so as not to trigger a mental landmine. Fortunately, it seemed that Ruler understood his words. "...Ah... those... I'm surprised you know about it. Fair enough...So just for that reason, you demand proof... from a goddess like me...?" Ruler squinted her eyes with a tint of displeasure held within them. She was clearly unhappy with his defiant attitude, and had not expected so many demands and questions from a human. "H-hey... quit it... She's not going to like i-" "I'm doing you a favor, so shut up for a moment please." "..." White felt like the other him knew what he was doing, so he kept quiet as he was ordered to, albeit reluctantly and filled with dissent. White was afraid that he might speak out of hand too against someone as scary as Ruler given her earlier temperament, and decided that it was for the best that the other him became his spokesperson and took the pressure alone instead. The other White then continued in response to Ruler's questioning gaze. "...So...? Are you a goddess or not?" "... ...You're pushing your luck a little too hard, human... ...But well, it's not like I can't show you either. You're going to have to see it sooner or later... Alright fine. I'll show you proof then." "Go ahead, I'm watching." "S-stop talking like that-! Is that necessary?!" (whispers)

Fortunately, Ruler did not act on those defiant words, probably due to her 'good mood'; Although she was still frowning at the attitude of White. She extended her hands outwards on both sides, and called out in a slightly more robotic voice. "World Function, call Status Window." A small blue screen appeared in front of Ruler, surprising White who had not seen this before. The translucent window was obscured by a blur so the other White who was trying hard to peek, could not glean any information out of her status. "S-something appeared!" However interested, the other White was still undeterred. He had used Psyche Swap and seen these Status Windows before, including the times he used Status Check on his previous opponents. Even though the chant was different and the information was hidden, it was definitely still a normal Status Window. Although it might be doing a peculiar phenomenon like screens displaying supernatural abilities and stats a disservice, he had still seen them before after all. There was nothing special about it, that was what he concluded in his mind quickly. "Really... that doesn't prove anything. That's just a status w-" Ruler was still fidding around with the contents of her Status Window when he had just begun to reply to the disappointing reveal. When he was halfway through, a circular symbol appeared suddenly in the middle of the screen of blurred text. "Console open. Status, World." That was when Ruler called out in a robotic variation of her own voice, as if truly being taken over by the system the other White has heard before when he had levelled up and gained titles in Soma's body. The symbols under her eye and on her right shoulder began to give off a strong cyan glow. Following those words like the start of a command, countless more bigger windows popped up rapidly and appeared around her as the centre. Their screens were filled with numbers and text, but it was still incredibly hard to read them with the overlapping amounts of windows appearing. But White had still managed to spot a few words with the quick processing of his sharp eyes, although he ultimately stopped trying as it was beginning to overwhelm and hurt his eyes again. "Plant types... Create... Weapon value... Spawns... NPCs... Seeds. .. Blocks... Khhh...!!! What... What is... all these...?!" "... These are... Game terminologies..." It took a full minute before the last window stopped appearing. Finally loosening from her stiff posture, Ruler let out a sigh and turned around to face the two. "Phew... what a drag... What are you waiting for now? Come closer and take a look at it. You want evidence, proof right? It's all here. Everything I can control with my administrative rights. In Parvula only, that is." When she had confirmed that she had successfully caught their attention, Ruler plopped right back down to the ground in the center of the large number of information-filled screens. "Really, I'm not doing that again... My hands are stiff now... *yawn* I'll keep it open until you're done, so let me know whenever okay~ I'll try not to fall asleep in the meantimeee..." The girl lied down and stretched out her limbs like a starfish, and slowly closed her eyes in that unguarded bodily position. Realizing that the answer for confirmation about the seemingly flippant girl's identity lies within the content of those screens, the two White's came closer to inspect them.