Do Any of You Have Someone You're Dating?
In the Demon King's office, located in the deepest part of the Demon Kingdom, the ruler could be seen diligently focused on her duties as usual. As the sovereign of an entire nation, her schedule was packed to the brim. Recently, the addition of peace negotiations with the elves had caused a temporary explosion in her workload.
Yet at this very moment, while watching the Demon King work so hard, one person was preoccupied with concerns that had nothing whatsoever to do with affairs of state.
Is it true that Her Majesty the Demon King and the hero… are really dating?
Elisa, performing her escort duties for the Demon King as part of the royal guard, found that the greatest preoccupation in her mind right now was not her charge’s safety, but whether the Demon King and the hero were truly in a relationship.
There was no concrete evidence. The seed of suspicion had been planted only by the Demon King’s sudden intrusion alongside the hero during the Octavia incident, and nothing definitive had appeared since. The hero’s assigned duty was, after all, to guard the Demon King—just like Elisa herself, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the royal guard. Even if the two were often together, it should not have seemed strange… but the overall circumstances Elisa had observed were not nearly that simple.
If my memory is accurate, Her Majesty was definitely off-duty that day… and both she and the hero were dressed in civilian clothes. That would mean Her Majesty deliberately took the hero somewhere alone…
Of course, even on her days of rest the Demon King was the realm’s most vital personage, so assigning her a guard was only natural. Yet by that logic, Nadan should have been the one accompanying her according to the established rotation. Escort schedules did not change unless the Demon King herself intervened, which made the whole affair deeply suspicious. Though the matter might seem trivial, the mere possibility carried such importance—and danger—that Elisa could not help but ponder it with deadly seriousness.
There is nothing I can be certain of… but if it really is true… if Her Majesty the Demon King truly shares that kind of relationship with the hero…
The moment her thoughts reached that point, Elisa’s expression crumpled in bitter despair. She was prepared to fight anyone for the sake of her love—even her oldest friends, even her own mother. She had proven as much during the previous Narsil selection tournament, when she had clashed with her mother with every ounce of her strength. On that point she held absolute confidence. Yet if the opponent was the Demon King, the story changed completely. The Demon King was the one to whom she had sworn absolute loyalty, the existence whose power and station could reduce even Elisa to insignificance. To become the romantic rival of someone it was taboo to even place on the same level was utterly impossible.
It… it can’t be, right? It won’t be… There’s simply no way Her Majesty would become entangled in that sort of relationship with a human hero. Besides, the two of them don’t really suit each other… or do they?
A thought rose unbidden in her mind. When she pictured what it would look like if the hero and the Demon King were truly a couple, Elisa found herself thinking—quite unexpectedly—that the two suited each other rather well. One was the strongest of the demon race; the other was the strongest champion of the allied races. If the two beings who stood at the pinnacle of the world became lovers and had children, those offspring would undoubtedly be the mightiest monsters in history.
If it truly came to that, it would bring enormous benefits to the nation’s strength, but… ah, no—what am I even thinking? We don’t even know if they’re dating, and here I am imagining them in such a relationship… Besides, it’s a clear fact that the person the hero confessed to was not Her Majesty the Demon King.
At the time of the hero’s confession, the Demon King had been present in the banquet hall. That fact alone allowed Elisa to set aside her swirling confusion and the suspicions that kept blooming unbidden.
Good grief… what on earth am I thinking? There’s simply no way Her Majesty would do something like that… She has turned down countless marriage proposals simply because she felt no interest…
Elisa reached a conclusion that even she found foolish and tried her best to banish the anxious feeling. Meanwhile, right beside her—while Elisa wrestled with those uneasy emotions—the Demon King herself continued to focus on her duties. Though her expression remained serious and her hand moved diligently across the documents, her mind was occupied by a single thought.
I want to finish work quickly and kiss the hero…
“You’ve done well. You may withdraw.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. You worked hard today as well.”
With the day’s duties complete, Elisa set off on her way home. She had an appointment with her friends today and needed to hurry, so she quickly left the Demon King’s Castle and headed for the meeting place.
A short while later she arrived at a rather luxurious tavern inside the castle grounds. She opened the door to the VIP room and stepped inside. The moment she did, two familiar figures came into view.
“Sorry I’m a little late.”
“It’s fine. We only just arrived ourselves, it is.”
“Come on in, Elisa.”
Waiting for her inside were Nadan, her fellow member of the royal guard, and her colleague Shamyuel. Elisa smiled and took her seat. Right on cue, alcohol and food were laid out before them. Since none of the three needed to worry about money, they began filling their stomachs with expensive liquor and delicacies.
“Whew… Seriously, there’s been far too much going on lately. I thought the war was finally over, but then came the Narsil tournament and now the elves’ business. Nothing’s been easy.”
“I agree. I was so busy running around on site that I could hardly think straight, it is.”
Shamyuel spoke with her usual (●△●) expression. Though it occasionally shifted to (●W●) when she ate, her fundamentally consistent and incomparably beautiful facial shape remained unchanged.
“Well, Shamyuel is a legion commander. But even though Elisa and I are both in the royal guard, it feels like she’s been as busy as a legion commander lately.”
“I feel the same… I’ve had terrible luck in all sorts of ways recently.”
The difference in duty between the royal guard—who only needed to escort—and a legion commander—who had to lead armies—was vast. Yet somehow Elisa kept getting dragged into various minor incidents and forced to use her abilities in ways she never wanted. To push those less-than-pleasant working conditions from her mind, even for a little while, she raised her glass.
“Anyway… let’s stop talking about work and just drink. It’s been a while since we met as friends, so I don’t want to spend the evening on gloomy topics.”
“That’s true.”
“I agree. Three women talking about depressing subjects is the last thing I want, it is.”
Clink!
The three clinked their glasses to shift the mood and drained them in one go. After emptying her cup, Elisa felt a pleasant buzz and carefully spoke up.
“Speaking of which… since we agreed not to talk about gloomy things, do either of you have anything like that?”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know. The so-called romance talk.”
“Pff! Cough, cough!”
Nadan reflexively spat out the alcohol she had just sipped. Fortunately she aimed well at the last second and nothing sprayed anywhere, but she began coughing hard, her embarrassment plain to see.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“N-no, it just… went down the wrong pipe. I couldn’t help it.”
“Don’t eat so fast. No one’s going to steal your food.”
“Th-thank you…”
Nadan’s face flushed as she listened to Elisa’s gentle advice. Yet that earlier question had dragged the critical fact she had been trying to ignore back to the forefront of her mind. She asked cautiously.
“B-by the way, why the sudden talk of romance? Do you… have someone you like? Or… do you have someone you’re dating?”
“Ah… no, it hasn’t gotten to the point of actually dating, but…”
“So that means you do have someone you like? Who is it? First of all… is it a man or a woman?”
“What kind of question is that…? No, there’s no one like that. I’ve been too busy with work to have any leisure to make time for someone.”
“I-is that so? Whew… that’s a relief. Honestly I’ve been worried because there have been so many women around you lately…”
“Well… I can’t exactly say the feeling isn’t there, but…”
Come to think of it, in less than a year she had become entangled with Amelda, then Octavia, and now even Cleopatra, whom she had taken as her second slave. She couldn’t deny that she kept getting unnecessarily involved with women. Of course, all of them were connections made through official duties, so Elisa herself did not place much weight on the matter.
“What about you, Shamyuel? Is there any man you’re interested in?”
Elisa shifted the topic slightly by turning the question to Shamyuel. The other woman’s face briefly became (●_●) before she answered in a quiet, flat voice.
“Rather than saying I like him… I am already dating someone, it is.”
“Ohh…”
“Well, Shamyuel is beautiful, after all… So who are you dating?”
With that, Elisa once again drained the freshly refilled glass in front of her.
“The hero.”
“PPPPFFFFFTTTTT!!!!!!”