Chapter 561: Intermission: Pandemonium ~~ Gratuitous Love ~~

The Count-level, High-ranking Demon which was called the “Doomsday-Invoking Plague”, Pandemonium…… was an existence with common sense, which could even be said to be rare among the Count-level, High-ranking Demons, where many people have distinctive personalities because of their great power.

Using her disease abilities that can easily pierce through the True Blessings of High-ranking Gods, she has brought many lives to their deaths. For this reason, she is often called by her second name that gives others the impression that she’s a frightening villain.

However, it’s not like Pandemonium takes pleasure in killing others. She wouldn’t take the lives of others unless it is necessary. If she is asked for help, she will help as long as it doesn’t interfere with her duties. If someone is suffering, she will give them what they need as much as she can.

As such, for a Count-level Demon with great strength, she had a very gentle personality.

However, there was one thing that she lacked greatly. She…… had never felt happiness before.

Pandemonium never had “any goal of wanting to do something”, nor did she have “any dream of becoming something”.

She is affiliated with the Phantasmal King Corps, and is one of its leaders…… only because she was scouted by Shalltear, and for no other reason than that.

She doesn’t have any strong sense of loyalty to Shalltear. She obediently follows orders, because for her who had no dreams or goals, following someone else’s orders was an easy way to live……

However…… Pandemonium has never lamented her lack of dreams and goals since birth. She has never felt the need for happiness.

She had asked herself some questions like “I wonder what kind of emotion happiness is?”, but she had concluded too easily that there was nothing wrong with not knowing it.

The being named Pandemonium is so empty…… that helping someone and reaching out one’s hand to someone is something she sees as normal, thinking that “doing such a thing is common sense”……

Yes, if one had to describe her, Pandemonium is a being whose way of thought is the extremity of common sense…… and because she’s a “puppet that operates based on the standard called common sense”…… She had never felt inconvenienced by it, and just went about her day without a care in the world.

A turning point in her life came in the year of the 100th Festival of Heroes. It was on the 30th Day of the Heaven Month that Lilia, the head of the Albert Duchy, whom she serves…… and infiltrated, performed the Hero Summoning.

The first time she saw “that being” was when Lilia called for a large number of servants to gather.

And at that moment, for the first time in her life, she was greatly shaken. If she were to be honest, the words Lilia had spoken at that moment had not reached her ears at all.

At that moment, Pandemonium’s heart and eyes were glued to Miyama Kaito.

———-There is a being this beautiful in this world huh……

In a way, it was just a complete coincidence. It’s not that Kaito had a particularly dazzling beauty. It was just his face, his gestures, the atmosphere around him, and his magic power…… were all too much in line with the preferences of the being named Pandemonium.

Yes, there is no special reason for it. It’s just that when Pandemonium saw the being named Miyama Kaito on that day…… for the first time in her life, she had experienced something called “love at first sight”.

And that’s really the only reason why she was so eager to become Kaito’s exclusive maid…… However, the fact that she had fallen in love and continued to love Miyama Kaito…… brought about an astonishing change in Pandemonium’s heart.

With the birth of love, brought another emotion within her mind…… strong “resentment”.

She wondered what the servants in this mansion were thinking…… She wondered why her beloved person had to feel confined within the premises of the mansion……

Kaito was here because he got caught up. Even though he should be pitied instead, for him to be treated as if he was a tumor, she thought that there’s no reason why he should suffer from this.

Her actions from then on were extremely swift. She had a lot of experience in infiltration missions and was highly regarded by the servants in the mansion…… making it easy for her to “guide everyone’s thoughts”.

However, she is only helping him. She doesn’t directly convey Kaito’s greatness. That is because it will be good for Kaito only if he wins their favor by himself.

What she did was to erase the prejudice of the servants against Kaito one by one through conversation, and to make them clearly see Kaito by what kind of person he is.

For those who still had prejudice, she adjusted their work assignments and working hours so that they wouldn’t encounter Kaito. Meanwhile, she continued to put in good words for Kaito.

Thanks to her efforts, by the time a month had passed, there were few people in the mansion who thought badly of him, and the mansion turned into a comfortable environment for him.

As if in proportion to this, the chances she had seeing Kaito’s smile also increased…… and she…… Pandemonium understood the feeling of “happiness”.

There are many forms of love. Hers started with love at first sight, and the love she had for Kaito…… The essence of her heart which even Pandemonium herself did not know, came to surface.

The love that Pandemonium has…… were “devotion that asks nothing in return”.

Even though it was love at first sight, she loves Kaito with all her heart. However, she “doesn’t care if her love isn’t rewarded”.

She is more than happy to see Kaito’s smile, and her happiness is to see Kaito happy……

Therefore, Pandemonium doesn’t tell Kaito what he should do. He will let Kaito choose for himself and become happy for it. She believed that it is the most important, not pointing out to Kaito what path she thinks he should take……

Her role is to help Kaito when he is lost or troubled…… Affirm him, support him, push him forward when necessary, and help Kaito to make his own decision.

And if Kaito decides the way to go, she will pave the way so that it will be easy for him to work…… That was the first goal and dream she got.

Walking through the corridors of the mansion, Pandemonium…… Illness looked out the window towards the garden of the mansion. There, she found Kaito, happily playing with his pets.

Seeing this, Illness smiled a truly happy smile. Seeing her beloved person is smiling, she was in the midst of warm happiness…… thinking that she couldn’t be any happier than this……

[……Kuhihi.]

Just as there are many forms of love, there are also forms of happiness. At least, for her, the current moment…… she was feeling irreplaceable happiness.

Holding onto her gratuitous love, she will continue to be Kaito’s ally. Because a happy future for Kaito is the place she should aim for……

If Kaito…… wanted her for him to achieve happiness, then she will happily give herself to him. However, even if that weren’t the case, it doesn’t matter for her.

All she wanted is a happy future for Kaito…… She doesn’t care if her love isn’t rewarded. If Kaito wishes for it, she will stand by Kaito’s side…… If he wishes for it, she will stand behind Kaito…… Devoting herself forever to him.

No, perhaps…… there’s no point in even thinking about whether her love is rewarded or not.

Pandemonium…… Illness…… will still love Kaito with all of her heart. However, she wouldn’t ask for her love to be rewarded.

This is because…… “as long as Kaito is happy, she felt that her love is already being rewarded”…..

Serious-senpai : [……Isn’t she dangerous? She’s got a bit too much heroine power…… so much so that it’s a wonder why she hadn’t come out of the novel before…… Things like pure love that asks nothing in return…… Stop, please stop with sweet things like that…… Kaito doesn’t even have a single line here, but this is so sweet that it hurts……]

T/N: 2/180

Here’s an image of Illness, in case anyone’s wondering.

And here’s an image of her giggling.