Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Convenience Store in the Red-Light District
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A day had passed since Madness taught me what passes for common sense here.
A single drop of mana, no more, had formed in my body, and that one drop alone would make many things possible.
Of course, only if I could actually use it.
I opened my eyes to find it already late morning. Madness had gone to work, leaving me to contemplate the single drop of mana flowing through my veins.
"Mana flowing through my body like this will surely be a great help in many ways."
Still, I knew it wasn't abundant enough to burn away on some reckless act.
"I'll have to use it sparingly."
Just yesterday, I had ranted about finding whoever left Madness in such a pitiful state and burning them to ash.
But mana was far too precious in this world for such emotional outbursts. Those were nothing more than meaningless words driven by sentiment.
"Even so, it makes me angry."
A true sovereign must master their emotions, yet with only Madness by my side right now...
I could feel rage boiling within me at the thought of someone having broken her so thoroughly.
What kind of verbal abuse and mistreatment had she endured for that to become her idea of 'common sense'?
No matter how lacking I was in this world's norms, even I could tell that the 'common sense' Madness taught me was badly skewed.
And yet Madness believed in those absurd notions so completely that she didn't even notice.
This was partly my fault as well, for failing to notice my subordinate's abnormalities.
I had always planned to visit her workplace someday to assess the situation, but now I realized that day had to be today.
I changed into my outing clothes and left the basement room.
The moment I stepped beyond my domain, my body shrank back instinctively, but I had to check.
I had to see what kind of work Madness did and what sort of treatment she received.
The sunlight was far from bright. Clouds hung thick in the sky.
A cool breeze was blowing.
The first thing visible upon leaving the basement room was the residential neighborhood.
A rundown street, with a food waste bin lying toppled for no reason—who knew whose it was?
No one could say how long it had been abandoned there, but it had long since become part of the landscape.
Someone could clean it up, of course, but no one wanted to touch that filth, so it stayed.
I approached the food waste bin.
I had no intention of touching it with my hands either, so I righted it with my foot, closed the lid, and shoved it into a corner.
There. That already looked much better.
"Sometimes it looks full of food waste, so it seems like someone is still using it."
Why leave it like that? An utter mystery.
I started walking.
Leaving the dilapidated residential area behind, I entered the shopping district.
Well past rush hour but still early for lunch, the streets were quiet.
"Come to think of it, I bought chicken here before..."
I hadn't eaten a single piece of that luxury item myself, so I had no idea what it tasted like, but if steady income came in from streaming...
Then maybe someday I could try it too.
For now, though, every penny had to go toward improving my streaming setup.
Ever since arriving in this world, it felt like all I did was scrimp and save.
Save money, save food, save water, save electricity—and now with mana added to the list, save mana too.
Compared to the residential area, the shopping district was better maintained, so aside from the scattered cigarette butts, it was fairly clean.
"...Madness's workplace should be straight ahead to the right from here."
This was the first time I was heading to where Madness worked.
Before, I'd been too busy job-hunting myself, and once that failed, I'd holed up in the basement.
I kept walking, muttering to myself.
"Considering the treatment she gets—or the wages they won't pay—it's definitely not a normal place."
Yesterday, as Madness drilled 'common sense' into me...
I'd sensed just how broken she was, far more than I'd imagined.
"Huh...? You?"
Head bowed as I walked the street, a man's voice startled me from right ahead. I jerked my head up.
And there stood the owner of the chicken shop from before.
"...Twas thee?"
I glanced around.
Too late for work hours, too early for lunch.
So what was this man doing here?
As I tilted my head, the chicken shop owner—who had probably spoken on a mere whim—said nothing more, so I spoke first.
"The chicken from before was delicious."
I hadn't eaten it myself, but Madness had devoured it with such relish that it must have been good.
Even if it hadn't made that satisfying crunch.
"Your speech is still so unusual..."
Was my way of speaking that strange?
I thought I was being properly formal.
Feeling awkward, I scratched my cheek. The chicken shop owner bent down to my eye level and asked in a surprisingly gentle voice.
"Where are you headed?"
"To Sister's workplace."
"...Sister?"
"But why dost thou ask such a thing?"
"Oh, no real reason... Just curious. Sorry if it bothered you."
"Your apologies are so cheap..."
Watching the chicken shop owner, I wondered if Madness's 'common sense'—though exaggerated—wasn't entirely wrong after all.
Apologizing over something like this?
To show it was fine, I approached and rose on tiptoe to pat his shoulder. He looked more startled than I did.
"Haha... Feels kinda weird."
The chicken shop owner gave an awkward smile as he looked at me. I just shrugged.
"So, why didst thou call to me?"
"No, it was nothing."
"...Then I shall be off."
For some reason, the chicken shop owner seemed to be hiding something, but he looked troubled, so I didn't press.
Though he probably thought I wouldn't hear, his muttered words reached my ears clearly.
"That way... it's nothing but the red-light district. Nah, couldn't be..."
"Red-light district."
I pondered. A term for places where bodies are sold.
But it didn't faze me. Lustful demons had long dulled my senses to such things, and besides, Madness wasn't selling her body.
Madness worked at a convenience store.
Still, it wasn't likely the chicken shop owner was lying.
So her workplace must be a convenience store in the red-light district.
I still wouldn't claim to know humans well,
but I understood what a red-light district was, so her complaints about 'problem customers' suddenly made sense.
I quickened my short steps.
And arrived.
The red-light district the chicken shop owner mentioned.
True to its nature, the morning hours were utterly deserted.
They probably opened in the evening.
I looked around. Most of the first-floor buildings were glass-fronted, displaying whatever lurked inside, though curtains shrouded the views.
A Demon Realm sovereign wasn't so naive as to not know what those were.
I brushed it off casually and searched for the convenience store where Madness worked. I found it soon enough.
"There it is. But..."
I scanned the surroundings.
The place had seemed empty, yet for some reason, gazes bored into me. I frowned.
Nothing visible. That meant they were hiding.
The only places to hide and stare on this street were inside the buildings—so yeah, this felt unpleasant.
If that's why the chicken shop owner had worried when he saw my direction, it made sense.
Gloomy, dank, and downright repulsive.
Gazes carry power by nature, but feeling them this sharply must be thanks to the mana.
Even a single drop had honed my senses beyond those of ordinary folk.
Becoming more sensitive to stares wasn't strange at all.
I ignored the eyes as best I could and headed for the convenience store, pushing open the door to step inside.
Madness, in her store vest, spotted me. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Your Abyss Majesty, how did you—"
"I came to watch thee at work."
If she thought I'd accept that twisted 'common sense' without question, she was treating me like a fool.
At my response, Madness's eyes darted around as she forced out words.
"...Shouldn't you be streaming?"
"I'll return home by five in the afternoon, so I merely wish to observe thee for a short while."
"The security around here isn't great."
"All the more reason to see how thee fares at work."
When a sovereign graces a place in person to observe their subordinate's labors, why evade so?
This was definitely suspicious.
"I must learn what befalls thee here and how thou dost work."
I stared straight at Madness, breathing heavily.
"This is no mere request, Madness. Thou knowest that well."