Chapter 44: The Fox, the Chicken, and the Idiot
"Hmm, go for it Eve," I say, stuffing a piece of bread into my mouth. I’m sitting in a chair watching Eve train, and I gotta say, it’s really cool.
’Oh my god, she looks so beautiful,’ I bite down hard on the bread, the sweat making Eve’s beauty stand out even more. Her tight-fitting clothes and her confident expression as she goes through the motions make her look incredible.
I just end up eating the bread quickly to avoid drooling over Eve’s appearance. Seeing her confident face during the training session really reminds me of those super cool visual novel scenes.
She even helped me grab some food from the kitchen. No one dared to say anything when we walked in and I started grabbing stuff for myself. I got the ingredients to make a sandwich and now I’m eating it.
"She’s really pretty, huh," someone says to me.
"Yeah, she is...and...!!!" I look to the side and see Grace, which is totally unexpected, though inevitable since she’s living in the castle now.
"G-Grace!" I say as she gives me a smile.
"Now I know where your beauty comes from. So, you must be the sixth throne candidate who didn’t show up, huh? Your name is Evelyn?" She says with a smile, sitting down in a chair next to me.
"You got it...I’m Evelyn, and as you can see, I’m busy eating..."
"All by yourself?" She interrupts me.
"How about we eat together? After all, a meal is always more enjoyable with company," She gives me a charming smile, which to me looks more like a cheap heroine smile from a game, thinking she can conquer everyone.
"No, I’d rather eat alone..." I’m not in the mood to be hit on by Grace, and worse yet, I don’t know how good this current Grace is compared to the game, since this world is much darker, so maybe Grace is also a darker heroine.
"Really? But..."
"Grace, do you want a real conversation? I can tell you a story," I ask with a smile, deciding to show Grace that I’m not a fool, I may have been deluded by the fascination for this world.
But I have the intelligence of the original Evelyn, and she was brilliant, despite her talent being completely suppressed.
"Sure, Evelyn, go ahead, tell your story," She says, not imagining what I’m about to say.
"There’s a fox, it’s hungry, you know what it does?" I ask with a smile, pausing from eating my sandwich.
"Well, it looks for, hunts, and kills a chicken," Grace responds as if it’s obvious.
"Ah, but there are other ways for the fox to hunt a chicken, psychology," I say, leaving her confused.
"Why just eat one chicken? When the fox can eat them all," I say, making her even more confused by it all.
"To influence the masses, you must first go to the less intelligent ones, so the fox looks for the one with the biggest idiot face," I start telling how the fox can hunt the chickens.
"After finding the fool to be deceived, when the fox is going to tell a lie, it can’t tell a small lie, it must tell a big lie," Grace’s eyes widen.
"The fox must destroy the trust the chickens have in their leaders, and with the big lie, this is easily done using the fool, by using flattery the fox convinces the fool it found earlier that he has the qualities of a leader."
"And so he can bring the food to his table, making the deceived fool guide all the chickens to the fox’s house," When I finish, Grace has a terrible look on her face, because she understands that I’m not talking about chickens and foxes.
"I...I’ll go now, I’m sorry for bothering you..." She gets up from the chair and leaves, not before giving me a different look, a more serious one of someone who understands that I’m not just a pretty face.
"Evelyn-sama, is everything alright?" Eve comes up to me asking, while seeing Grace leaving uncomfortably.
"Nothing, I just taught Grace how a fox can hunt chickens with psychology," I say, leaving Eve confused, but she just nods and goes back to training, walking away.
’As expected, Grace is smart.’ What I gave was a tutorial on how someone can manipulate the masses, in short, how to manipulate public opinion.
"In the end, an idiot who thinks he has leadership qualities will just guide everyone to ruin." People don’t choose to follow logic, they prefer to follow those who seem confident, bold, and genuine.
So even if you deliver logic, numbers, and data, that’s not enough for people to believe, but if an idiot speaks with conviction, then the population starts to follow him, not because he’s right, but because he seems like the best choice.
"A fox that uses psychology to hunt chickens..." I hate to admit it, but that’s what the original Evelyn is, all that happened was that the original Evelyn never had the opportunity to use what she knew.
The environment was too hostile and unfavorable for her, especially because demons value initial power more, if you’re weaker, demons will treat you as inferior.
But as the original Evelyn gained power and influence on the route, she became a living puppet, and the huge damage she could cause was monstrous.
’It just happens that the logic of the fox and the chicken works better for humans...’ Demons prefer strength, while humans are more susceptible to influence in this regard, through trust and words.
And that’s why Grace was shaken, because as a human and a heroine who came for peace, she understands that what I said is a form of population control through influence.
’Of course, Grace will never know that this is more knowledge from Evelyn.’ Seriously, before I was a normal person, I would never have known how to do this, and even if I knew how, I wouldn’t have had the confidence or voice to do such a thing.
’Unfortunately....I’ll also be like that, won’t I?’ I’ll also have to influence the people in the future, the difference is that I’ll do it for the greater good, I won’t become a corrupt, greedy one, when I’m on the throne, many things will change, and I’ll make sure it’s for the better.
"Eve, please go over there? The sunlight is kind and flatters you," I say with a smile, taking my sandwich and going back to eating it while watching the beautiful Eve train.
...
...
...
"Chicken and fox...it seems the lovely maiden I met is an intelligent little monster..." I murmur, going back to my room. I can’t believe the sixth throne candidate has such a disturbing mindset.
’How can an 18-year-old girl understand how to manipulate the masses in this way?’ It wasn’t just a generic explanation, many nobles understand how to manipulate the masses since adolescence.
However, the way Evelyn explained it was different, more precise and effective, not referring to a noble manipulating the commoners, but rather someone without power manipulating people so that they no longer believe in those in power while guiding them where they want.
"This strategy she mentioned...it’s enough to make a people who adore their king attempt a coup..." It’s terrifying to see that she has this manipulative mindset.
In a human nation, such manipulation would be extremely dangerous. Among the demons, I know it’s less effective, since from my studies, they prefer to listen to those who have strength.
But in nations like the beastmen, humans, and maybe even angels, this would be threatening.
"Maybe...I should be more careful with this Evelyn." She’s the weakest of all the candidates, but as a heroine, I understand that it’s not always about power, sometimes the most dangerous one is the one who knows how to wait and plan.
’Will I ever have to kill her?’ I think seriously about it. Since I came to this continent, I’ve always been ready to kill anyone who would cause chaos in the future, because as a heroine, I have to bring peace.
And Evelyn, just by this metaphor of the fox and the chicken, has already entered the top of potentially dangerous people, the fox is a cunning and strategic animal, perfect for the manipulator.
The chicken is a herd animal that can easily be led, which speaks of the ignorant people who join a cause without even knowing if it’s really the right thing.
And finally, the "Fool", the manipulated and used person to control the masses, the puppet leader who controls the people through the fox’s lies.
’My hands are trembling...’ I really felt genuine fear when she told this story with a smile, as I’m a heroine, I understand politics, so seeing someone talk so casually about mass manipulation, and even a throne candidate, is deeply disturbing.
"This is exactly the kind of person who would see the people suffer and laugh at them for being so easily deceived...but is this or is this not the character of Evelyn?" I ask myself without wanting to judge.
I’m a heroine and I must be fair, her being good at manipulating and knowing about it doesn’t immediately mean she’s bad, or that she’ll use such ability, I can’t judge so hastily.
It’s just strange that she talked about it casually, as if it didn’t matter, or maybe that was the goal, to make it seem like nothing to trick me and not think too much about her manipulations.
"Damn, I’m falling into a manipulation dilemma...if I think it’s paranoia, I might be being manipulated to think it’s nothing, but if I distrust her, I might be misjudging an innocent person." I go into my room and throw myself on the bed.
"You really put me in a difficult situation..." I’ll keep an eye on her for now until I can be sure.