Chapter 14: My Subordinates Are So Capable It's Driving Me Crazy (2)
Chapter 14: My Subordinates Are So Capable It's Driving Me Crazy (2)
Ah, I remembered.
The Legion Commander who was assigned to the demon beast hunt alongside the 6th Legion Commander Bellitan. His name was probably 'Myers.'
I'd heard he was recuperating from an injury... but was it really okay for him to be moving around like this?
More importantly, why had he come looking for me?
'Ah, don't tell me....'
Was he angry that I'd stolen his work?
The thought wasn't baseless.
Paperwork and the like might be loathed, but combat-related assignments were quite popular among the Legion Commanders.
The moment I judged that this was a distinct possibility, I answered swiftly.
"No."
"Pardon? You're... refusing?"
"Yes."
As the saying went, safety first.
I nodded with a resolute expression, and Ed, who had been staring at me with brief confusion, soon moved toward the door as if to convey my refusal.
He cracked the door open slightly, and then—
"Commander Myers, my apologies, but...?"
He paused.
"Why are you here...."
"Lord Demon...."
"......."
"......."
What now, who else had shown up?
The room was spacious, and they were whispering quietly, supposedly out of consideration for me, so I couldn't hear a thing.
If there was a silver lining, it was that the conversation ended faster than expected.
"......Understood."
With that short reply, Ed closed the door again, cutting off sound and sight, and turned back to me.
On his face, an expression of displeasure that he seemed to have tried—and failed—to hide was faintly visible.
"Lord Demon."
"Yes."
"The gardener Hien has come to see...."
"The 12th Legion Commander hasn't left yet, right?"
"Pardon? Yes."
"I'll meet with the 12th Legion Commander."
Ed, who had looked flustered by my immediate answer, soon nodded with a smile spreading across his face. For some reason, he looked downright gratified, but my head was already too tangled to pay it any mind.
Was today some kind of special occasion? Why did people keep showing up?
'...Well, I suppose it is a special occasion. The day I go off to die.'
I didn't know why Hien had come, but it probably wouldn't be for anything good. It never was.
Ah, that wasn't to say Hien's intentions were malicious. He always treated me with pure intentions.
It was just... being with that guy made me feel like my lifespan had been drastically shortened, even when we returned without any problems whatsoever.
So surely, the 12th Legion Commander was far better than that crazy gardener.
Besides, he was supposedly injured, so even if he tried to harm me, I could at least dodge.
I might not be confident in anything else, but dodging was my one specialty.
While I was lost in thought, Myers, who had at some point entered the room and stood before me, bowed with a somewhat rigid expression on his face.
"It's been a long time, Lord Demon."
A rigid expression, no less. Faced with that face that looked like it heralded the end of days, my own expression stiffened in turn.
'This... is bad, isn't it?'
The 12th Legion Commander Myers. His primary weapon was the spear. His defining characteristic was being excessively taciturn.
Of course, he always said exactly what needed to be said when necessary, but normally he kept his mouth shut to the point one might wonder if he was incapable of speech. Rumors circulated among the attendants that his tongue had been cut out in some past incident.
Of course, I had heard that precious voice of his a few times during meetings....
'Isn't right now one of those times he should be speaking? Why isn't he saying anything?'
Surely he hadn't come all this way just to exchange greetings. If he'd said hello, he should get to the point now.
The silence stretched on. I felt like I was suffocating in the stifling atmosphere, so I decided to speak first, but then I hit an unexpected snag.
'What am I supposed to say?'
And what kind of expression was I supposed to wear?
Smile? No, if I smiled, he might take it as mocking and throw a punch. A blank expression, then? He might ask what kind of look that was after he'd gone to the trouble of greeting me.
"......."
"......."
As time passed, Myers' expression grew even stiffer.
Feeling a threat to my life, I sent a pleading glance toward my uselessly competent adjutant, but whether he genuinely lacked tact or was pretending to, Ed instead took a step backward.
He really was a competent but utterly useless adjutant.
I almost wished I'd start bleeding, but the blood that normally flowed freely like an open faucet showed no sign of emerging this time, as if the tap had been firmly shut.
In the awkward atmosphere, I quietly regretted it to myself.
'If it was going to be like this, maybe Hien would've been better after all....'
As if I'd forgotten all my past experiences—no, as I reflected on myself, now actively romanticizing even those past horrors—I was freshly realizing just how fickle the human heart could be. Then I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.
"Ed?"
"Ahem, ahem, Commander Myers. Since you've come, perhaps you should speak...."
I was grateful he'd said what I wanted to say for me, but what if this made things worse?
I cautiously raised my head and met Myers' eyes. When our gazes met, his pupils trembled faintly.
He definitely seemed angry. Should I apologize...?
But I hadn't really done anything wrong, had I? Honestly, if anyone had the right to be angry here, it was me.
After all, whose fault was it that I'd been assigned a dangerous mission?
Of course, I wasn't bold enough to voice those thoughts aloud, so I was choosing my words carefully—when Myers suddenly bowed deeply from the waist. The motion was crisp and sharply precise.
"I apologize for troubling you."
"...Pardon?"
"I felt I absolutely had to say that."
I stared blankly at the crown of his head.
Then, due to the angle, I saw his shoulder clearly visible through his clothes. The white bandages that started at his shoulder and wrapped down across his upper body plainly revealed that he had suffered no small injury.
Uh... well, that posture probably wasn't great for his wound.
"Straighten up."
"Yes!"
I'd only told him to straighten up because I was worried about his injury, but he snapped upright like a rapier being forced back into shape.
I could practically hear the phantom *crack* of his spine.
My brief worry that his wound might open further was confirmed when Myers slightly furrowed his brow, as though the injury had indeed been aggravated.
I resolutely pretended not to see his pained brow or the white bandages gradually staining red once more as I turned my head away.
'Anyway, so he's not angry, right?'
Rather, he was apologizing to me, so whatever this was about, it didn't seem like I'd get hit. Which meant there was no need to be this tense.
Now that I'd put one worry to rest, it was time to hear an explanation.
I gestured for him to sit at the table and chairs placed in the center of the room, and I took a seat across from him.
"You can't just apologize out of nowhere with no explanation like that."
"What should I... uh... you could just accept the apology."
"...I wasn't asking what method to use...."
"I'm sorry."
"No, I mean... first, straighten up...."
"Yes."
*Crack.*
I stared at him blankly for a moment, then quietly shifted my gaze to Ed, who was standing off to one side.
I can't handle this guy. Can't you take over somehow?
'...How am I supposed to react when even you look appalled?'
His normally neat face was painted with shock. I was probably the same. Who would've guessed that the famously taciturn 12th Legion Commander had this kind of personality?
'I think it's a good thing you just keep your mouth shut.'
That concept suits you perfectly. Just stick with it.
If you go around opening your mouth carelessly, you're going to cause a catastrophe someday.
I quickly composed my expression and recalled the purpose of the conversation before I'd been swept up in his behavior.
"I was asking why you apologized."
"Ah...."
I'd set the stage for him, so now all he had to do was explain.
But this bastard, why was he shaking his leg so much?
His leg was bouncing so violently that the whole table was shuddering. If there had been a teacup on it, the tea would've overflowed and spilled everywhere by now.
Just as I ran out of patience and was about to say something, before I could even part my lips, the guy sprang up from his seat.
"I, I need my adjutant, just a moment...!"
"......?"
*Whoosh.*
A strong gust of wind blew.
By the time I came to my senses, Myers was already gone.
I looked around in case he'd hidden somewhere, but Ed approached quietly and said,
"He left."
"......Huh?!"
"It seems he's gone to fetch his adjutant, but we don't know when he'll return, so perhaps you should head downstairs first?"
I nodded and headed toward the door.
I was curious about why he'd apologized, but it wasn't a matter of life or death, and I could do without hearing the explanation anyway.
And above all, I didn't want to wait. It was too uncomfortable to face him again.
Without thinking, I placed my hand on the handle. The door swung open, and—
"......."
*Slam.*
—it closed.
"L-Lord Demon! Before you leave, I have a plant to give you...!"
"Demon?! I came all this way to see you off, aren't you being too rude to the Demon King?"
"I-I am the adjutant of the 12th Legion Commander Myers! Regarding Commander Myers' discourtesy...."
The knocking sound showed no sign of stopping.
Fortunately, it hadn't escalated to pounding on the door, but it was still so noisy that I covered my ears.
Ah, another voice added itself to the sounds from outside.
"This is Myers...."
"Louder! Louder! If you upset Lord Demon, I swear I'm quitting as your adjutant?"
"This is Myers!"
This was a dream. It had to be a dream.
The world had gone utterly mad.
In the end, the door opened. With the Demon King standing right outside, there was no way I could keep holding out forever anyway.
And what did it mean that the door had opened?
Exactly. I was now surrounded by these terrifying demons.
The first to step forward was the man who called himself Myers' adjutant.
Pushing past the others who were jostling for position, he took hold of Myers' hand and pulled him forward, then offered a greeting as smooth and graceful as flowing water. He opened his mouth and spoke in a voice just as orderly as his demeanor.
"Greetings, Lord Demon. I am Dahareu, adjutant to the 12th Legion Commander Myers. You must have been greatly displeased by our sudden visit, so I am truly grateful for your generosity. And I must apologize for this rudeness. I am terribly sorry."
Bowing deeply, Dahareu prodded Myers' side firmly with his finger.
Then Myers, who had been fidgeting restlessly beside him, bowed his head low.
"I'm sorry."
"Ah, yes...."
What was this.
"There is a reason I have so brazenly intruded upon you like this. It is nothing other than this: I heard that you took on the assignment due to my superior Commander Myers' injury."
"Well, yes."
I was just about to leave for it, actually.
I quietly swept my gaze over the people surrounding me.
Starting with Hien, holding seeds of some unknown plant, to the Demon King, who looked sulky as if offended that even he hadn't been granted entry, to the 12th Legion Commander Myers and his adjutant Dahareu before me.
"Having an unexpected task thrust upon you—wouldn't that have been both disagreeable and troublesome? To apologize for this, I chased Commander Myers out... no, Commander Myers paid you a visit, but...."
Dahareu shot Myers a sidelong glare.
"...He committed... a tremendous discourtesy...."
Oh, his words were coming out all chopped up.
The low, ground-out voice, as if he was speaking through clenched teeth, was fairly chilling. I stayed quietly silent, and with every clipped word, Myers flinched and bowed his head.
Today, it seemed I was seeing a lot of the 12th Legion Commander's new sides, even though I hadn't been curious about them in the slightest.
My expression had only just turned ambiguous, but it seemed like at this rate I was genuinely going to witness the 12th Legion Commander getting chewed out by his adjutant right in front of me, so I hastily shook my head.
Watching that chaos unfold in front of me would be troublesome, and besides, I thought it best to protect the honor of the insignif—the taciturn 12th Legion Commander.
"If you're referring to the discourtesy... I assume you mean his off-topic remarks, but that was truly nothing...."
"Excuse me?!"
Ah, I'd guessed wrong, it seemed.
I felt pointlessly guilty and was gauging Myers' reaction, when Dahareu's head snapped up and he spoke, aghast.
"Good heavens, so not only did he run away without warning, but he also spouted more complete nonsense?! Just what on earth did he say?"
......Again?