Book 6: Chapter 9

Several days after the sightseeing conference.

Vermudol was in his new remodeled office, and was surrounded by piles of documents.

Going through them one after another, when he reached a place where he could rest, he raised his head.

「……Fuu.」

The Demon King Castle repairs were progressing, and as if induced by that, repairs here and there were being performed even in the town of Arkverm.

It wasn’t because the town’s prosperity was good, but Ichika’s opinion that they were trying to match the new Demon King Castle.

According to her, it was their feelings of wanting to become even a bit closer to Demon King-sama that gave an effect on the town and buildings that they themselves lived in.

Vermudol felt that it was a bit off, but being told that, it didn’t feel bad to him.

However, when the large number of construction plans that went with those town changes started coming up to him one after another, as the one in the position to process them, he ended up having some mixed feelings about it.

「……Nn? Come to think of it……This sure is rare.」

After grandly stretching his body, Vermudol looked all around the room.

Normally, Ichika would appear bringing tea with timing that matched with Vermudol taking a break like this.

Although he was impressed and went “as expected of Ichika”, it somehow became an everyday scene……but today, that Ichika didn’t appear.

「Well, even she’s busy. Rather, her timing up until now was too good……」

While muttering that sort of thing, Vermudol took a document into his hand.

The South’s Sightseeing Manifest──In the end, it was the Central region that had to put their draft together.

For Vermudol, since it would be troubling if he were to leave it to Raktor and he put together something like a drinking tour that was limited to heavy drinkers, it was fine that the Central region be the ones to take responsibility for it, but he was racking his brains over the crucial plan drafting.

It wasn’t like he was calling Ichika and Nino weird, but he wanted opinions from senses and viewpoints that were a bit more normal.

Just to say it one more time just in case, by no means did he think that Ichika and Nino were weird.

After carefully looking around for some reason, Vermudol reseated himself deeply into his chair.

However, in that case, it was probably good to seek opinions from others.

The opinions of the men were rejected. Putting aside the married Altejio, Vermudol could only think that the others had manly viewpoints just like he did.

But even for Altejio, there was the possibility that he had an opinion that had his wife Margaret as the criteria.

In that case, what about Fainell and Gordy?

First, if he were to talk about Gordy, since she had no interest in amusement and luxury items, she was probably unsuitable for comments on accessories and such.

Well then, what about Fainell?

After thinking about it for a while, Vermudol muttered “nope……”.

It wasn’t to Gordy’s level, but he didn’t think that Fainell was strong with that sort of thing either.

「……Fumu. What should I do?」

For example, it would be good if he had someone who possessed normal senses like the poster girl of the Steel Fish Store that he was at when he was in mankind’s territory──Carol, but the current Vermudol didn’t have that sort of acquaintance.

In that case, would it be alright to take Rokuna along with him?

Among those in the female camp that Vermudol knew, he felt that she was the one that was relatively close to normal senses.

If it was Rokuna, even if it was for things in mankind’s territory, she probably knows things to a certain extent.

「……Nn?」

As he thought that far, Vermudol called to mind a single person.

Come to think of it, there was one.

A person that had been in mankind’s territory until just recently, seemed to be well-informed on the culture and fashions over there, and moreover might possess senses that are close to normal.

That’s right, it was Ykslaas.

If it was her, she might be able to draft up a sightseeing plan that could grasp mankind’s hearts.

Depending on the situation, it would probably be alright to leave all of the decision making for the South’s sightseeing plan to Ykslaas.

It would reduce Vermudol’s work as well, so it was nothing but good things.

Now that that’s been decided, he needed to meet with her right away.

If it was at this time, she would either be somewhere in the Demon King Castle acting as the site foreman, or taking a break.

Doing a bit of thinking, Vermudol started walking to the place that was allotted as Ykslaas’s room.

「……Still, it sure has changed.」

The previous Demon King Castle was to the very end Gramfia’s Demon King Castle that they used as their base.

There was furniture that was of the extravagant type, but a lot of it was simple and sturdy.

However, right now, rather than a Demon King Castle, it felt more like a royal castle.

A somehow refined atmosphere hung in the air.

The entire castle was finished with a bright tone, and it seemed that the furniture and decorations were made even more beautiful.

For example, in the places that had suspicious stone statues placed down in the previous Demon King Castle, currently, full-bodied armors made of holy silver decorated them.

They didn’t have the flashiness of the armor that Shironos and Brutus’s group wore, but possessed holy silver and freely capitalized on elegance.

Armor holding a single longsword caught Vermudol’s eye.

Somehow, it seemed to emit an air of intimidation that only masterpieces possess.

「……This doesn’t actually have some sort of secret mechanism to it, right?」

He unconsciously ended up peeking inside of the armor, but it wasn’t like there was something in there.

Even after poking it as a test, there really was no response, and seemed to simply be armor.

「Um……Vermudol-sama, is something the matter?」

A Magic Operated Armor that was passing nearby called out to Vermudol who seemed to be somehow bothered by the decoration.

「No……I was just thinking that this was some good armor. Since we didn’t have a habit of decorating with things like this……I unconsciously held some interest in it and started messing around with it.」

Vermudol hurriedly said that and smoothed over the situation.

「I see. From what I have heard, it seems to have been made to match your physique, Demon King-sama. If you are interested, it can be prepared for you right away……」

「Ahh, sure. But, wait, I will do that another time.」

「Understood. Well then……」

Seeing the Magic Operated Armor off as it left, Vermudol then turned back towards the armor.

「……So this was made for me to wear, huh……」

He couldn’t really say that it had the atmosphere of being armor for Vermudol, the Demon King, to wear, but it certainly did have a design that seemed like it would be accepted by mankind.

For there to be someone to have the sense to create something like this that was brought up among the Mazoku, Vermudol felt that it was truly promising.

In this situation where he would have no choice but to rely on Margaret if he sought quality in blacksmithing that was greater than the standard, this might more or less be an improvement.

「Fumu.」

As a test, Vermudol tried taking the sword that the armor held into his own hands.

The sword, which seemed to be made of holy silver, was much lighter than what Vermudol imagined.

It seemed that the blue gem that was fitted into the handle contained magical power, and resonating with Vermudol’s magical power, it started to faintly glow.

This was a phenomenon seen in swords for Magic Sword use that had the prerequisite of pouring magical power into it but……

「……This couldn’t be the real thing, right?」

「Um, is something the matter?」

As Vermudol was staring at the sword blade, a single young man called out to him.

He had blue hair and similarly blue eyes.

The young man, who vaguely had some youth remaining in him, was, if he recalled correctly, the survivor of the East’s Lulugal Forest occupied fort that Fainell brought along──Did he have the name Lumon?

His new assignment location was still under review, but he seemed to be an excellent commissioned officer of the Eastern Army.

With a concealment rate at Ichika’s level against Vermudol’s Status Confirmation Magic, it was easy to imagine that he is quite the powerful person.

Even his personality was extraordinarily gentle and sociable, and he seemed to be popular with the female members even in his previous post.

「So it’s you, Lumon. No, the thing is this sword……I can’t help but feel that it’s the real thing.」

「Ah, you mean that. If I’m not mistaken, Ykslaas-san said that it was real.」

「So it really is the real thing……Why was it placed in a place like this?」

Normally, weapons would be securely managed in the armory.

Moreover, this was a weapon and armor that were at a level where it would be a waste to leave them as mere decorations.

If it were Vermudol, he would put such dangerous things in the armory and keep them under lock and key.

「Erーm, what did she say again……Oh right, the things in the Demon King Castle should all be real. Things that could be called treasures outside should purposely be used as decorations to show off your status……That is what I had heard.」

「Status……huh.」

「Certainly, it’s not like I don’t understand her.」

With Lumon’s words, Vermudol urged him to continue with his gaze.

「In short, it means that the Demon King Castle from now on won’t be a castle to meet with the enemy, but a tool for the sake of diplomacy.」

「A tool for the sake of diplomacy……huh.」

「Yes. If this is going to be a castle that we were going to negotiate and interact with mankind in from now on, it is important to display the level of maturity of our culture and our national power. We have an abundance of both weapons and armor that even masterpieces like this are used as decoration……Making a display of it like that will by no means be a waste.」

With Lumon’s words, Vermudol nodded with an “I see”.

To make a display of their power and win without fighting is also a negotiation technique.

In the case where she was going for that sort of point of view, Ykslaas’s way of doing things was certainly correct.

「Well, that is just my own way of interpreting it though……」

「No, it has become a good reference. You have my thanks.」

After Vermudol said that, he returned the sword to the armor’s hands.

「Still, you seem to be quite excellent. I knew that you seemed to have competence, but your thinking is also quite good. I can understand why Fainell went out of her way to bring you here.」

「No, that’s. I had merely asked for the unreasonable and had her bring me here.」

「Don’t be so modest. If you want, you can transfer into the Central Army. I’ll talk to Gordy for you.」

「Ahaha……That honor is more than I deserve. At that time, by all means, I will be in your care.」

「Yeah. Well then, I have some business to take care of.」

After Vermudol nodded, he once again started walking towards Ykslaas’s room.

Lumon saw his back off……and once he confirmed that Vermudol had completely left, he leaked out a mutter.

「……I see, no wonder he’s adored. This is a huge difference.」

There was no one around to hear that mutter.

While pasting a kindhearted-looking smile on his face, Lumon turned around and went somewhere.