Chapter 89: A Vacation That's No Vacation (5)
Chapter 89: A Vacation That's No Vacation (5)
As the entire city sank into silence, the first to regain his senses was Gaisitel.
After being momentarily dazed, he seemed to realize his rudeness and hastily slapped his own cheek before turning around and shouting at his legion members who were walking alongside the palanquin, clearing a path.
"What are you all doing! Get out of here at once! It seems the surrounding demons are bothering him — clear them out quickly!"
The legion members' expressions subtly shifted in an instant.
'...We don't know much about the 0th Legion Commander, but honestly, it seems like Lord Gaisitel would be more bothersome than them.'
He was hanging around spouting flattery that didn't even get through; he probably already had a headache, and if they added chatter on top of that...
Of course, they didn't voice that thought.
Like superior, like subordinate — the legion members, not feeling the need to be marked by their commander for relaying uncertain information, simply answered quickly and approached the surrounding demons as if herding sheep.
The demons who had already heard Gaisitel's words retreated tactfully with annoyed expressions, casting silent insults with their eyes as they did so.
'Should I be satisfied with having seen the rumored 0th Legion Commander in person?'
Most of them thought this and withdrew willingly, but
'From the looks of it, he might be staying a few days. Maybe I should loiter near where he's staying... then I might at least catch a glimpse of his face...'
A few had such thoughts as they watched the splendid palanquin start moving again from a distance.
Dvelania, feeling those gazes, chuckled.
"Hel must be having a rough time."
***
Get lost.
These words were by no means my intention. This was force majeure.
Truly, it was something that rose from deep within me without my knowing.
The palanquin moved. On the left, Ben kept pestering with questions — was his head still aching, was there anywhere else bothering him besides his head —
and on the right, Gaisitel was spouting mind-numbing flattery: was the palanquin comfortable, was there any part he didn't like, how a halo seemed to shine behind Lord Demon as he sat on the palanquin... How could I not go mad?
'Please, just get lost, you bastards... I'm fine, I said I'm fine...'
So, unintentionally, an inner groan slipped out. Get lost.
I never expected it to escalate to this scale.
"What are you all doing! Get out of here at once! It seems the surrounding demons are bothering him — clear them out quickly!"
No. There's no need to go that far.
Are you trying to turn all the demons in the city into my enemies? Just get lost yourself, only you!
I felt prickling stares. When I stealthily rolled my eyes, I saw the demons' twisted expressions.
I felt dizzy. They were retreating while silently cursing the absurd order of the 10th Legion Commander with their eyes.
First at the 10th Legion members who were driving them away, then at Gaisitel, and finally, after circling, their gazes settled on none other than — me.
'...So much for staying comfortably in this city.'
Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha.
To anyone, this situation looked like I had given the order. They must have been annoyed with me, naturally. If I continued staying in this city, I had no idea when or where someone might try to stab me in the back.
So I holed up in my lodging — a splendid mansion that Gaisitel had commandeered from the city manager.
...What, why.
Ah, and the palanquin — thinking about it again, it truly was the worst.
To what extent, you could tell just by looking at me now.
'...Fuck.'
Lying blankly in my room, at the sudden memory I quietly pulled the blanket up over my head.
Then, using the blanket as a medium, I flailed with all my might, trying to escape the embarrassment.
Thud, thud thud!!
"Ugh, fuck!"
I sprained my ankle.
Spraining my ankle while kicking the blanket — this is something I could never tell anyone.
Groaning, I grabbed my ankle and writhed silently, when Bang! the door flew open. I quickly straightened my posture and turned my head, and couldn't help but flinch at the sight of the figure who had entered.
There stood his personal physician, Ben, radiating a tremendous aura.
His eyes blazing, Ben scanned the room once before striding toward me and launching into rapid-fire speech.
"Lord Demon, what is the matter! Is your head hurting again? Or was it a surprise attack? No, you wouldn't groan over a mere surprise attack... Then...!"
"It's nothing!"
Afraid he might make another strange misunderstanding, I quickly cut him off. Yet, still not convinced, Ben narrowed his eyes and stared at me.
...As I faced him, yesterday's events came back to me. Right, the palanquin. I rode the palanquin...
Embarrassed, I hung my head, but then he made a fuss again — 'You really are in pain, aren't you?', 'How much does it hurt?', 'Is it an aftereffect?' — so I had to raise my head and fix my gaze straight ahead.
While I was agonizing over how to get him to realize I was fine, Dvelania poked her head out from the corridor beyond the open door.
"Ben, I've been watching, and it seems you view Lord Demon as far too fragile?"
"...I am his personal physician, so isn't that only natural?"
"Still, there's a limit — he's 'the' Lord Demon, after all."
"...."
"Well, I don't really care either way. Anyway, Lord Demo~n."
Lightly shrugging her shoulders, she turned to me.
Her voice, more syrupy than usual, felt ominous. I suppressed my flinch and barely managed to answer. As if she had been waiting, a gentle voice came back.
"There are some curious little rats sneaking around outside. Does that by any chance put you in a bad moo~d? Like, you might find them bothersome and not feel like going out to buy clothes..."
"That's...."
Even without that reason....
"Did you say you don't want to go out to buy clothes?!"
Where the hell did you pop out from?
Gaisitel suddenly appeared from the ceiling, spreading and folding his bat-like wings behind him as if to say 'look at me,' and clapped his hands twice toward the outside.
Swish.
Swiiish.
"...."
"Oh my?"
"You must be finding it bothersome, I'm sure! So I called in the designers in advance! ...Honestly, that's the only reason to come to this city with the 2nd Legion Commander anyway..."
I could hear everything.
Dvelania's clothes shopping was famous even here.
I watched the designers, their faces pale and twitching lips struggling to smile, and then looked around the room. It had clearly been empty except for a bed, wardrobe, and table, yet in an instant it was full of clothes.
If the first city was the 'City of Pleasure,' I'd heard the second was the 'City of Shopping' or 'City of Trade.' Indeed, just looking at the clothes, the variety was diverse. I could see clothing from the human world's northern styles to southern styles evenly.
'...But strangely, there seem to be more southern-style ones.'
Come to think of it, southern-style goods had particularly caught my eye in this city.
The clothes Dvelania had handed over when I first arrived in the Demon Realm, the damn palanquin, and now the clothes hanging here.
'Well, did they discover some passage connecting to the southern region?'
Nah, no way. The Demon King wouldn't tell me unless it was something I needed to act on, so I'll leave that aside. Even if that were the case, the Empire would already know and have taken measures, so there's no way I wouldn't hear about it.
'It's probably just a coincidence.'
***
The Empire, no, the Emperor was rampaging like mad. It was said that after entrusting internal affairs to the Crown Prince, he personally took to the battlefield and swung his sword.
Because of this situation, the king of a small southern kingdom who had been on high alert clutched his forehead and lamented upon hearing the latest news.
Cruelly, it seemed the heavens were intending to test their kingdom.
"A boundary line to the Demon Realm has been discovered?"
Here, in our kingdom?
"Of all times, at a time like this...."
In normal times, they would have informed the Empire and discussed countermeasures together.
Because implicitly, the Empire handled all matters related to the Demon Realm, and the other kingdoms, not wanting to waste their nerves or military strength, had accepted this without much resistance.
But they couldn't do that now. With the Empire rampaging without reason, if they conquered the kingdom they were currently dealing with, the next target might very well be their own kingdom.
They couldn't rashly hand over such important information to a country that might become an enemy.
Sighing repeatedly as he rifled through the documents, the king's eyebrows twitched as if he had discovered something.
"No particular incidents, it says?"
Demons were crossing over, wearing clumsy robes and snooping around, yet there were no particular incidents.
"Yes, they've mainly been seen loitering around markets or places with small festivals, and aside from occasionally stealing clothes or goods, they haven't caused any major trouble."
"So there have been no serious crimes like murder so far?"
"Yes."
"Huu, I see. For now, I suppose we should be grateful for at least that."
For now, they would have to increase their own surveillance and vigilance, and put off informing the Empire. The current Empire couldn't be trusted.
Thinking that they couldn't add more anxiety to their subjects already uneasy due to war, so this must be kept top secret, the king continued scanning the documents, and upon reading the report on the demons' attire, he clutched the back of his neck.
Every single demon, without exception, had some feature that was different from humans. Horns or tails, for instance, or in the Demon King's case, his 'eyes'.
So if they wanted to come to the human world, they had to conceal those well, but these clumsy demons...!
'If you have a tail, you should cover your tail, so why cover your face!'
For heaven's sake, if they had tails, they should focus on hiding the tail — why were they so obsessed with the robe's hood? And why did a horned one keep pulling the front of the hood down when talking to people? Didn't that make the horn shape stand out?!
It was fortunate that it was a festival, so they were just taken as props; otherwise, it would have been widely known that demons were roaming here.
'Do these bastards even intend to hide?'
At the thought that there was one more thing to worry about, he already felt exhaustion piling up.
***
"First,...."
I looked around at the clothes filling the room.
...Mm, it's still overwhelming.
"Let's clear these out first."
"Yes? Ah, do none of these clothes suit your taste?"
Gaisitel's eyes, which had widened as if surprised, quickly turned fierce toward the designers.
As if rehearsed, the designers' faces went white. They were already pale, but now they went even whiter, to the point of looking like they were coated in flour.
Lest he torment the innocent designers, I hurriedly waved my hand.
"No, it's not that. It's just that...."
"It's just what?"
"...."
Even at Gaisitel's follow-up question, I trailed off and then simply shut my mouth tight.
How could I say here that I just had no interest in clothes? A demon was right next to me, listening with wide-eyed attention.
I glanced at Dvelania, and miraculously, our eyes met. As if reading something from my gaze, she nodded and spoke.
"It's kind of you, but it seems Lord Demon wants to go around the shops himself and look at clothes. Since we're in the city, there's the fun of wandering around and browsing, you know."
"Ah... I was foolish. I apologize, Lord Demon."
"Ah, yes... well...."
...I don't want to go out. After all that commotion, you're saying let's go out...?
As I hesitated, unable to readily say let's go, Dvelania's eyes narrowed.
With arms crossed, she kept looking between the window and me, then nodded as if she understood something, and soon flung open the room's window, swung one leg over the sill, and grinned.
"Then I'll go deal with those little rats outside first~."
"What? No, wait!"
Little rats — she meant the demons loitering nearby, right?
Afraid of creating more pointless grudges, I urgently stopped Dvelania and swallowed a sigh. Apparently, she thought my hesitation was because of the demons outside.
Damn it. Fine, I'll go out. I said I'll go out.
"There's no need for that. Let's just go out."
I dismissed the designers with a gesture and took the robe from Ben's hands, putting it on. As if I looked like a child, Ben, without leaving me alone, naturally reached out to adjust the hood and firmly tie the robe's fastenings. It was a remarkably skillful and natural touch.
'...Why does this guy's touch feel like Ed's?'
Ed was an idle adjutant, so he'd step up to do this sort of thing — that I could understand, but why him?
Was it that they ran into each other often and unintentionally started resembling each other?
As I stood there blankly, thinking something that would make Ed or Ben, if either heard, immediately start a deadly quarrel, a shocking statement stabbed into my ears.
"Ah, you're going out. Then I'll prepare the palanquin...."
"Crazy, get lo— ... No, it's not necessary... Mm, it's fine."
The rejection etched into my spine burst out immediately. I stumbled a bit while trying to soften the curse that almost came out, but judging by Gaisitel's reaction, it seemed alright.
Since his expression wasn't angry but deathly pale, that was a sign.
"D-Did you just curse...?"
Ha ha, of course. As if it'd be fine.