Chapter 28 – The Evil Dragon Gets Interviewed by Her Son 【Part 1】

Now, a black-haired rookie adventurer appeared before her son, Ryuuji.

Needless to say, her true identity was Karma.

Last night, after crafting glasses enchanted with 【Cognition Obstruction】, Karma went to the guild and registered as an adventurer.

We’ll skip the details since she didn’t do anything major and it really wasn’t a big deal. The biggest problem lay right here.

Would her son actually let this 【Promising Rookie】 join his party? That was her only and greatest concern.

But putting that aside for now.

Ten minutes had passed since she called out to Ryuuji and the others. They were sitting at a table in the corner of the Adventurer’s Guild hall.

Right now, Karma was about to be interviewed by her son’s group. An interview meant a test to see if she, Karma, was truly worthy of joining Ryuuji’s party. It was, so to speak, the final battlefield.

I absolutely cannot afford to lose! I am going to join my son’s party! Karma hyped herself up internally.

“Umm… for starters, could I ask for your name?”

Karma nodded and spoke. Of course, she didn’t use her real name and gave a fake one instead.

“I am 【Kaasan Mooskosky】.”

While lamenting the sinful act of lying to her own son, Karma flashed a triumphant smile in her mind. Kaasan Mooskosky was a flawless pseudonym. There was absolutely nothing in this name that would connect her to Karma Abyss.

The only commonality was the syllable 【Ka】, and to deduce she was Karma from just that was unlikely. No matter how brilliant her son was, even with his universe-best genius intellect, noticing the connection would be impossible.

That’s how perfect my fake name is! Karma thought.

Now then, as for Ryuuji on the other hand…

“…………Eh? Um, eh? Ummm, eh, what was that?” he asked back.

Karma confidently repeated the fake name she had just given.

“I’m Kaasan Mooskosky. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Ryu-kun… Ryuuji-san, Sheila-san.”

Karma bowed her head while chuckling fufufu to herself.

If I do say so myself, it’s a perfect fake name. A flawless naming sense. Man, I’m captivated by my own genius!

“Umm… Kaasan-san. Would it be alright if I stepped away for a moment?”

“Hah, eh? Ah, yes. That’s fine, but…”

Her son stood up from his seat.

W-What? What was going on?

“Um, Ryuuji-kun. Where are you going?” Sheila asked, looking up at him from the adjacent seat.

“Umm, I’m going to run home real quick and check if Mom is there.”

Her son said this while directing a look of pure suspicion right at Karma.

“That’s fine, but… um, Ryuuji-kun. Why are you going to do that?”

“Just a quick check. I’m thinking… this person might actually be Mom.”

Karma panicked internally.

Why did my son realize that Kaasan equals Mother Karma?! Did I do something suspicious? she wondered.

However, her son’s intellect surpassing the realm of gods was entirely within her expectations. She had known beforehand that his outstanding deductive skills would lead him to suspect that Kaasan was actually Karma.

Silence filled the air as Ryuuji temporarily left the table, leaving only Sheila and Karma behind.

A short while later, her son returned from their house.

“Umm… Kaasan-san.”

Before taking his seat, Ryuuji bowed deeply.

“I’m so sorry!!”

Polite language plus an apology meant there was only one conclusion to draw from this.

“No, no, please don’t worry about it,” Karma replied with a smile.

“Ryuuji-kun, what does this mean?” Sheila asked.

“Mom was just at home like normal,” Ryuuji answered.

That’s right. Ryuuji figuring out her identity, going home, and checking for his mother’s absence was completely within her expectations. That was exactly why Karma had taken countermeasures from the very beginning.

The method was simple. She made another pair of cognition-obstructing glasses and had the watcher elf wear them before instructing her to stay home. When worn, these glasses could freely shift the perception of others.

Because of the glasses, Ryuuji’s perception had been shifted from Chekiita to Karma. With this, the equation of Kaasan equaling Karma was completely shattered since Kaasan hadn’t moved a single step from this spot while Mother Karma was at home.

Ryuuji had fundamentally accepted that Kaasan and Karma were two entirely different people.

“I’m truly sorry, Kaasan-san.”

I’m so sorryyyyyy! Karma apologized profusely in her heart to her apologetic son as she spoke.

“Please don’t worry about it. As they say, everyone has a doppelganger somewhere. Oh, and feel free to drop the honorifics and just call Mother ‘Kaasan’.”

“Yes. Understood, Kaasan. …Hm? Um, Kaasan. Wasn’t your first-person pronoun a bit weird just now?”

“Eh, really? Must be your imagination, no?”

“I-Is that so… Right. Yeah. Because Mom and Kaasan are two different people.”

When written out, they were literally the exact same thing, but when spoken aloud, the intonation was slightly different, making them sound surprisingly like two different words.

“Umm… Kaasan. Well then… um, would it be alright if I asked you a few questions?”

“Yes, I don’t mind. Bring it on! Mother will answer anything!”

“Eh?”

“Ah, my mistake, I will answer absolutely anything!”

It was the beginning of a highly turbulent interview.