Chapter 14 — Are You Eating Well? (5)

Roan struggled to appear as composed as possible.

"...It seems the Head Maid grew tense because of me. It would be best for her to rest for a moment. Head Butler, is there a quiet space somewhere we could sit? I shall rest briefly as well while I look after the Head Maid's condition."

Unlike Shwikviena, who had been attending the Demon King for the past two days, the Head Butler and Head Maid knew only the Demon King of ordinary times. They trembled at this unexpected turn of events, striving not to let their fear show.

"Th-then, humble though it is, I shall guide you to my office, Your Majesty."

The Head Butler's office was not far away, and Roan, Shwikviena, and the Head Butler made their way there together with the staggering Head Maid.

'...I'm sincerely sorry.'

Roan offered an apology he could not bring himself to voice aloud as he studied the Head Maid's complexion. Right after she had collapsed, he had been so alarmed that he'd reduced the intensity of Mihon.

The Head Maid, cheeks flushed red, had no idea why she had become that way and was quaking, terrified that her head might fly off at any moment.

Only Shwikviena, who frequently faced the Demon King and knew his abilities well, had a vague guess at the cause of this incident.

The Head Butler's office was a tidy room attached right next to his bedchamber—a space of no small size, furnished only with a single desk, several chairs, and one table.

"Are you feeling somewhat better?"

"...I apologize, Your Majesty! For causing you concern...."

"You did not. In the first place, someone like myself only brings discomfort merely by being here."

"Wh-what are you saying... The entire castle belongs to Your Majesty—please do not say such things, Your Majesty."

The Head Maid and Head Butler waved their hands in turn. Neither of them could even meet Roan's eyes. Roan figured this was as good an opening as any and raised a question he had been curious about since the day before.

"I understand that a king's existence may be daunting for you both, but if I am too overwhelming, surely it would be difficult for everyone in this castle simply to go about their work. Is it not challenging to find new servants?"

The Head Butler and Head Maid quickly bowed their heads but could not hide their wide, startled eyes. Shwikviena, too, glanced once at the Demon King's face with a visibly surprised expression before hurriedly averting her gaze.

The very person who had caused this was now asking for their reasons in such a solicitous tone. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It was a situation none of them had ever imagined.

"Do they receive enough pay to justify it? Even so...."

Roan almost let slip that it surely wouldn't be worth their lives, and barely swallowed the rest of his words. How insolent would that have sounded to them? It was the Demon King himself (well, not him) who had killed servants.

And everyone present knew exactly what words would have followed the space Roan had left empty. An oppressive silence filled the room.

'That damn Demon King....'

As Roan gnashed his teeth inwardly, ruminating once more on the Demon King's rampages, the Corrections Officer opened her mouth. She thought that any further silence might appear to be an insult to their sovereign.

"Your Majesty. To serve as a castle servant is to attend Your Majesty in the closest proximity and render devoted service. As it is a position of honor, all wish to work in the castle willingly, Your Majesty."

"So it is not difficult to find people?"

"It is so, Your Majesty."

"Yet for all that, I have seen no one at my side."

The Head Butler and the Head Maid stiffened rigidly and practically sprang from their chairs. The Demon King had openly pointed out the servants' disrespect right before their eyes. The thought that they, as those responsible for the servants, could hardly escape unscathed flashed through their minds.

Their faces turned as pale as if they had received a death sentence. The atmosphere grew even more frigid than before, and as the Head Butler and Head Maid fell silent, a flustered Shwikviena struggled to salvage the situation.

"Yo-Your Majesty. How could we dare approach someone as omniscient and omnipotent as Your Majesty without due cause? I was fortunate enough to gain the opportunity to work near Your Majesty, but ordinary servants spend most of their lives outside the castle, and it is their dearest wish merely to glimpse the hem of Your Majesty's robe once in their lifetime.

Even if such people were to attend Your Majesty at your side, they would find it difficult to muster the nerve to show their faces casually."

As the Corrections Officer, a noble, strove to shield them, a strange light passed over the faces of the Head Butler and Head Maid. Nobles were powerful demons, and they almost never showed consideration for the weak.

But Shwikviena had foreseen that if she lost this reasonably competent Head Butler and Head Maid both at once, the subsequent handover of duties would turn into a hell party.

So Shwikviena was desperate. And the Demon King was watching her silently with a composed face.

"I have heard that in the human kingdoms, they worship that god whose name is profane even to utter. Yet in this nation, it is not any god who is revered as divine, but Your Majesty. Your Majesty is an absolute being who can destroy anything in this world—no, even the gods themselves. Therefore, we work at Your Majesty's side with joyful hearts. We beseech you to believe in the loyalty of all of us, Your Majesty."

Though the Corrections Officer's defense was deeply moving, Roan's thoughts were concentrated elsewhere. Of course, the Demon King's outer shell was skillfully displaying the expression of an 'indifferent Demon King' so that no one would notice.

Roan focused Mihon on the Head Maid once more. I won't fail this time—my apologies.

He concentrated a far smaller amount of power than before onto a single point.

And then, the Head Maid, who had been sitting in silence, suddenly opened her mouth, her face still faintly flushed.

"The Corrections Officer speaks truly, Your Majesty. We have all grown up from childhood hearing of Your Majesty's martial prowess. To us, Your Majesty is akin to a religion. Though we all feel terror at Your Majesty's overwhelming strength, we cannot deny that we are drawn to that very strength."

Why are you saying something so strange when it was going so well?! Shwikviena glared at the Head Maid, and the Head Butler's face drained of color even further, becoming like a blank sheet of paper.

"Is that all there is to it? Speak honestly—I shall forgive you."

"Honestly... To speak honestly, I found it difficult to find work in the capital Basel that pays as well as being a servant in the royal castle."

"Head Ma—!"

Shwikviena almost shouted something before realizing that she was before the Demon King, and she clamped both hands over her own mouth in horror. But the Head Maid, as if entranced, did not even glance at Shwikviena's movements.

The banshee Head Maid's two eyes were gazing hazily into the Demon King's eyes.

"We servants are accepted as inferior members of society. It is because our work is something that even those without power can perform. Guarding the castle may be a different matter, but tasks such as cleaning, laundry, garden maintenance, cooking—work that involves organizing and managing things—can be done even by those who are relatively weak of body. For that reason, we struggled to find properly paying work outside the castle."

The Head Butler, who had initially been unable to hide his shock at the Head Maid's frank remarks, gradually shifted to an expression of sympathy.

Shwikviena wore a look of surprise at this unexpected information. She too was a high-ranking noble. The circumstances of commoners were therefore something she could not have known. The Demon King, with a satisfied expression, rested his chin leisurely on the table and listened attentively to the Head Maid's story.

"Living in Basel means there is much work, so one does not starve, but life remains precarious because every day brings the uncertainty of when food prices might rise. At the very least, however, if one becomes a servant within the castle, one will not go hungry and can send wages to family outside the castle. That is why I, too, applied to become a servant. Your Majesty. I expect that most of the others are like me."

"Th-that is the case for me as well, Your Majesty."

Thoroughly cowed, the Head Butler added his voice to the Head Maid's words. The Demon King listened to all they had to say with his sculpted face propped upon the back of his hand, then gave a slight nod.

"I have heard you well. I am pleased by your candid words."

"It is nothing, Your Majesty."

"But I no longer wish to see you hiding from me."

Roan spoke in a serious voice. At some point, he had placed both hands on the table and clasped them together. To the Corrections Officer, the pose looked almost resolute.

"You are among those closest to me. There is no one who knows the state of affairs inside this castle as well as you do, and when the need arises, you must become my hands and feet and my eyes.

For such people to fail in their duties because they tremble in fear of me would be no different from binding my own body with my own hands."

The sight of the Demon King speaking rightly was far too unfamiliar to them.

"There was an occasion recently that made me realize this. From now on, there will be no instances of me flying into a rage without cause, nor of me meting out punishment without cause."

At the king's unguarded words, they merely looked upon their lord, breath held.

"If I must judge you, it shall be according to fair standards. I am the law of this nation, true, but if that law operates according to my mere mood, then no one will wish to follow it. I intend not to become that kind of king going forward."

Suddenly, the Corrections Officer wished she could show this very scene to everyone in the Small Council. Her eyes grew red at the rims.

It had been over ten years since she began working in the royal castle. The image of a king she had dreamed of when she first entered the palace was a sovereign of overwhelming power and integrative force, who could embrace all of demonkind.

Here at a simple table sat the Demon King, revealing his philosophy of rulership to the Head Butler and Head Maid in a form closer to that dream than any she had seen.

"Corrections Officer, provide support so that the servants lack nothing—in goods, in meals, and in all other necessities."

"I shall carry out your command without deviation, Your Majesty."

Shwikviena answered in a calm voice, her emotion composed.

"Ensure that the Head Butler and the Head Maid convey what I have said to the rest of the servants."

"Yes, yes. Your Majesty."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

The two bowed their heads deeply as they answered the king's words. The king's words, his demeanor—all of it was astonishing. What could be glimpsed within them was sincerity. The Head Butler and Head Maid could tell that it had by no means been easy words for one who was a king to offer.

It was only long after the king had departed that the two realized they had been breathing more easily before him than usual.

*

"You have come, Your Majesty."

A demon with the lower body of a spider and the upper body of a human woman bowed respectfully. The four spider legs supporting her lower body bent with elegance. Chancellor Aranya, a demon of the Arachne species, greeted her sovereign in the Small Council chamber for the first time in a long while.

And standing behind her was Liron, the Treasurer, a lich with little more than a skeleton remaining. On either side were Knight Commander Minoreus, whom he had seen before, and Corrections Officer Shwikviena.

These four demons were the nobles who substantively administered Evirgio, the so-called Demon Kingdom.

"Hm. All of you, be seated."

'His oppressive pressure has diminished.'

The three retainers, save for Shwikviena who had already attended the Demon King, scrutinized his presence with sharp eyes.

The Demon King's presence, which normally made breathing difficult and required the expenditure of considerable mental fortitude to resist, had grown faint.

Roan looked around the Small Council chamber with an air of indifference. Though they called it the 'Small Council' because it was where the council members gathered, the chamber was by no means small in size.

Delicate-patterned ornaments in dark tones enveloped the entire room. Yet the chamber was not dark, thanks to a large window overlooking the streets of Basel and the castle walls.

The Demon King's crest, which could be found everywhere in the Demon King's castle, was carved above the window frame, and at the center of the crest, a bead emitting a strange light was embedded, reflecting the afternoon sun that streamed in through the window.

'So the talk that he has changed somewhat was true after all. No—it has only been a day or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two. Who knows when this whim might end.'

From a large chair designed for a spider to sit upon, one reserved for the Chancellor, Aranya spoke with a smile.

"I cannot tell you how my heart fluttered at the word that Your Majesty had summoned us."

'That fluttering might be a precursor to cardiac disease.... It might be worry rather than anticipation.'

Roan gazed at Aranya with sympathy. Having grasped the Demon King's temperament, he could guess that the hardships of those serving beneath him must have been far from trivial.

"There were a few things I wished to ask."

"I see. Please do ask anything you wish, Your Majesty."

Aranya inclined her head softly once more. Roan went straight to the point and asked about what had been bothering him most.

"Why do demons eat humans? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Have you ever given it thought?"

"...Are you asking... why we eat humans, Your Majesty?"

Caught completely off guard by the question, Aranya stammered back. It was less a counter-question and more a simple repetition of the question—anyone else in this room would have struggled to offer a better response.

Liron tried to furrow his eyebrows, but his face no longer possessed eyebrows. To anyone watching, his expression remained unchanged as he groped through his thoughts.

Looking back, it had been a matter of course from the time he was born. Humans were weak, and their numbers were high compared to animals, which were not so numerous. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Their flesh was less than an animal's, but more tender than that of a fellow demon, and their strength was far feebler, making them easy to catch.

Was there any reason not to eat them?