Chapter 409: Reunion at Florence

Even though my job changed to Demon Lord, I didn’t grow horns on my head, wings didn’t sprout from my back and I wouldn’t have a second phase when I die.

Strictly speaking, the title was a little Chuunibyou and was kind of embarrassing.

Then – – I looked at the sceptre.

I decided to ask Rarael, who was in charge of directing the Dark-Elves cleaning up after the coronation.

“Hey, Rarael. What is this sceptre made of? It’s extremely light.”

“That is the sceptre passed down by our Dark-Elf race for generations. I do not know the details but every generation’s leader was responsible for safe keeping it.”

“Are you sure I can use it? Rarael is still the leader.”

“It doesn’t matter. A sceptre should be held by a king. If Ichinojo-sama, a person who has become a Demon Lord, doesn’t hold it, who else can claim to hold it.”

It was a little embarrassing when she put it that way.

But even Rarael didn’t know about it huh?

I tried checking with Metal Appraisal but it didn’t appraise for some reason.

“Master, is there a chance that is not metal?”

“Eh? Not metal?”

No matter how I looked at it, it was shining with brilliance like platinum.

“Yes. I feel a faint presence of life force. Maybe it is a plant?”

I gave it a try and used Plant Appraisal.

【True Wood of the Golden Tree】

It appeared!

So this was made from the Golden Tree?

Going by the description, this sceptre was made from the core of the Golden Tree where the power was the most concentrated.

Now that I recall, Rarael mentioned that the Golden Tree was not there since the beginning of life. It was reborn many times.

I couldn’t tell if this was from the previous generation or the generation before that but it should be a sceptre made from an old Golden Tree.

“Rarael, I wish to bring this sceptre to battle next time.”

I might be able to reach a higher level with this sceptre. Even higher than my strongest spell – – Big Bang.

“Of course, Ichinojo-sama may use it as you wish.”

Rarael replied with her acceptance immediately.

“Onii, it’s about time we head to Florence, but what’s your plan? How many of us should go?”

“Just Haru, Carol, Miri and me is enough. Carol, sorry but could I leave the information gathering to you? I would like information on the Arundel Kingdom and especially the capital where Malina is located.”

“Yes, leave everything to Carol! Even if you didn’t ask, Carol would have collected the latest news for Ichino-sama.”

Carol claimed and placed her hand on her small chest.

“Right, then Haurva can follow this child for now.”

“No. I will stay beside Master.”

“No. Onii and Haurva are in the same party. Acting together will mean that the experience points will decreat. Do you plan to impede Onii?”

Hearing that, Haru could only withdraw her intention.

I thought that it would be fine if we just dissolve the party but Haru was recognized as my kin so even if she wasn’t in my party, acting together would have the same effect as being in the same party.

“All right, let’s return to Florence.”

To return to Florence with Home Return, I had to choose a woman whose home was in Florence.

On the list were Norn and Margaret?

Norn was in My World the other day but she mentioned that she had something to investigate so she returned to Florence and at the same time, I asked her to look out for Malina’s return. She was probably not at home at this timing so we would be wilfully entering her room but I had received her permission ahead of time.

“So I’ll go on ahead and open the door to My World so wait a moment. Home Return, Norn.”

I said and cast the spell.

I forgot about it but Home Return was a Lifestyle Magic.

And the Lifestyle Magic in me was more appropriate to be called Sexual Life Magic? At the very least, I felt that the spells could mostly be used for such things and at first I thought that this spell would make me a ‘gentleman’ who would escort a woman home only to make a pass at her but it wasn’t actually like that.

“ ……… ”

“ ……… ”

I see. So this spell was perfect for night crawling.

I escaped into my thoughts as I thought of the use of Home Return.

Norn-san was wiping her naked body and our gazes locked.

Her brown skin that was slightly light than the Dark-Elves was glistening with water.

“ …… Um, could you please turn around?”

“Ye-yes.”

She might have mistaken that I was staring at her because I had stiffened involuntarily.

I thought that she would scream but Norn-san was a lot more calm than I imagined.

“Sorry. Truly.”

“No, you used Home Return, right? I roughly know about it and it seems like it was an accident. Furthermore, Onii-san … Ichinojo-san has already seen me before …”

That wasn’t something that could be easily get accustomed to.

Even Shizuka-chan that appears in Doraemon would scold him whenever Nobita peeked at her bathing. Or rather, he peeked every time so she was truly angry. She didn’t get used to it.

I wondered if Norn-san was voicing out her acceptance but was actually angry inside?

“Um, to apologize, let me treat you to something next time – -”

“Really!? I would love it!”

Norn-san replied with spirit.

Eh? Did she want to eat out that badly?

I recalled that Margaret-san’s cooking was pretty delicious.

“Ah, sorry. I am dressed so you can turn around now. Oh right, I received a communication from Malina-san.”

“Eh? Really!?”

“Malina-san was investigating the Church with Kanon-san but Kanon-san suddenly disappeared a few days ago. Malina was frantically looking for Kanon-san and she wanted me to contact her if Kanon came to Florence.”

“Kanon has disappeared?”

I was worried about Malina but Kanon was the one who disappeared? Just what was happening?

“Is Kanon all right?”

“Sorry but I don’t know. It seemed that Malina-san’s slave collar had already been removed.”

“I see … well I believe she is fine.”

Flute mentioned.

The Devil race was adept in hiding.

I’m sure she was doing well even if she was involved in some incident.

“Also, Onii-san. I have good news. But I’ll kept it a secret from Onii-san until I receive confirmation.”

Norn said and showed a smile.

Carol and Haru would begin gathering information while Miri, Norn-san and I headed to a ranch on the outskirts of Florence.

That ranch was currently in the midst of expanding.

Nevertheless, the ranch was recently flooded with applicants intending to immigrate over and all of whom found employment there.

Since it was not profitable to hire a large number of people on the currently small range, they were rearing fur-producing animals like sheep and starting a new Florence industry so everyone was busy.

However, it wasn’t long before they stopped working.

“Flute-chan! Isn’t that Flute-chan!”

A middle-aged man who was driving a stake down stopped and rushed to Flute.

It wasn’t just the middle-aged man. Many others stopped their work and gathered around Flute.

“Mauro-ojisan. And Latte-obasan!”

Flute approached the people in tears.

“I heard about Flute-chan from Norn-san. I heard that you died but are you okay?”

“Yes. That person helped me. I’m truly glad that Ojisan and others are all right.”

Flute held their hands and was delighted to tears to be able to meet again.

They had suddenly migrated to this village the other day.

Furthermore, it was Jofre and Elize that brought them here.

When they found out that Jofre and Elize had warrants out for their arrest, they pleaded to Norn-san to not capture them if they returned to Florence.

Those two appeared with a ton of people.

Norn-san heard that Jofre and Elize escaped with the Devil race so she quickly caught on.

“In that case, you should have told me earlier.”

“Sorry. I would feel apologetic if it turned out to be a short-lived happiness so I didn’t say anything. But I’m really glad.”

Norn-san seemed to be glad like it personally happened to her as she was shedding tears.

In actually fact, I shouldn’t release Flute who knew about My World but as long as I sold a favour to her like this, she won’t easily reveal my secrets.

Furthermore, there was an important reason for coming here.

“So you were the one who saved Flute-chan.”

“We wish to thank you. Just tell us, we’ll do anything as long as it is in our ability to do so.”

The Devil race members said to me.

I was waiting for those words.

Normally I would decline but not this time.

“Then, I’ll keep it short. Please take care of this donkey. Her name is Centaur, she is female. It will be dangerous if she goes on a rampage so please diligently feed her a lot.”

I said and brought Centaur over.

It was a hard time dragging her along.

She decimated the fields, cleared out our food storage and even ate all the seaweed in the ocean.

This donkey’s appetite seemed to be even stronger compared to when Metias-sama was sealed within her.

“Ah, Metias-sama’s holy beast?”

“Of course, we will welcome the Holy Beast-sama.”

I knew that the Devil race worshipped Metias-sama. They would have known about Centaur too as they had been with Jofre and Elize for some time.

But, how did they know that Centaur was a Holy Beast?

“Yes, this person taught us.”

“Nice to meet you, I raised Centaur in the past, I’m called Miremia.”