Chapter 157

157 – The Morning of the Demon King Army’s Chief of Staff

The way I spend my mornings has changed a lot as of late.

At least, ever since I’ve been on active duty in the Demon King Castle.

Milla has helped me so much that it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that I am indebted to her, and she helps me in the mornings as well.

Unsurprisingly, waking up in bed next to a gorgeous woman, who is only pretending to be asleep because I can tell that she put on make-up and did herself up before lying next to me, is bad for my poor heart, so I started getting up a little earlier.

Before I do anything else, I go over the maintenance of the various Black Magics that I cast on myself. Adjusting the effectiveness of some of them.

For example, the spell that shoves a blank space in between your thoughts is very troublesome when I’m awake, so I concentrate it when I’m sleeping, something like that.

As a part of my training, I am always casting Black Magic on myself.

Magic doesn’t simply improve the more you use it, but the part where the organ that produced Magical Energy is used is trained up. It grows very steadily, but it definitely is getting stronger.

Using up my Magical Energy while sleeping is mainly for the purpose of strengthening my Magical Energy organ.

Next, I check on the horn. The horn that was handed to me by my master.

Majin horns store Magical Energy, compresses it, and purifies it.

Speaking of its efficacy, it is tremendous enough to even interfere with the laws of physics.

Ever since the Fenix battle, I have been giving a larger portion of my Magical Energy to be stored in the horn.

「Alright, not bad.」

Check complete. Condition is good.

I get off the bed and gently open the bedroom door.

When Milla sees me waking up, she looked a little disappointed but then smiled.

「Good morning, Lem.」

I also smile naturally.

「Good morning.」　

「Why not sleep a little longer?」

「…Ahaha. I thought I’d go for a run.」

「Hmm… is it Amduscias again?」

Milla puffed up a cheek, pouting.

It is precisely because her mature womanly allure falters occasionally, showing childish gestures, that makes her loveliness stand out.

「Hey, hold on, Foras is there too, OK?」

What started all this was my desire to get along with my three subordinates, that is, my new allies.

What I mean by that is that I want to build a strong, trusting relationship between us, rather than becoming good friends or having them stick to me all the time.

For Adventurers, the Hero is essentially the leader. They can’t form a party without a Hero, they are like the protagonists in a Clear.

But this doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want.

Adventurers are people too, there are bound to be those who dislike the person giving the orders.

A party disbanding due to bad relations is unfortunately not uncommon.

The Minotaur Foras, Amduscias who has unicorn blood in her, and the Lamia Botis.

I am now the boss of these three.

If the boss gives an order, the other three have to follow it to the letter.

In terms of a party, it feels like when it is just newly formed.

Like in the mock battle with the Ellie party, lead by the Undefeated Hero Ellie, you can put on a coordinated performance by fighting exactly according to properly defined roles.

However, if you were to say that that was enough, I would say otherwise.

Of course, I don’t want to overstep if they don’t want me to.

「Well, whatever. It is important to mingle with your pig-…subordinates. Keeping their morale high and preparing an environment that allows them to demonstrate their best performance can be said to be the duty of those in charge.」

Said Milla, very convincingly.

The Demon King Castle is the best because of the Vampires who work together well and are in high morale and the Werewolves who all call each other brother and stand side by side.

「All I’m doing is going on a run together with them, though.」

I actually heard from Foras, I essentially call my subordinates by their Dungeon Name, that he was doing some morning runs so that he could memorize the topography of the neighborhood.

In that case, I offered to join him, and I got his approval.

At that point, Amduscias came in and happily said that she wanted to join in, so of course, we said yes.

Since things were proceeding this way, I thought to ask Botis to join us as well, but she said「M-my apologies… I’m not exactly a morning person. However, if it’s an order, sir, then I’ll-」「No, it’s not an order, don’t worry about.」I said in response, so she isn’t joining us.

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「You’re naive, Lem. You never know what life will throw at you, you know?」

「I-I see. I’ll try to be careful.」

「Yes. Have a pleasant run. I shall make breakfast and wait for you.」

I’ve finished getting ready for the run and was sent off with a warm smile.

…I feel like I’m being followed by a Vampire’s Demi-Beast, but maybe that’s just my imagination.

When I went out, Foras was there waiting for me.

Seeing me, he bowed his head slightly.

My subordinates know about my true identity.

As for being Human itself, those at the Demon King Castle have known about it since I was employed, and I thought that my subordinates should have a good grasp of their boss’s abilities, just as it was important to correctly grasp the their abilities.

Having the wrong idea that I have the stamina of a Majin despite only having the stamina of an average Human is beneficial for the enemy, but not so much for my allies.

「Morning.」

Foras nodded.

He’s not very good at conversation. He feels like a completely different person when he puts on a mask, so it works out somehow.

「Well, shall we go?」

He was staring at a fixed point. Which was at the bat Demi-Beast that was following me.

I told him not to worry about it, so he didn’t point it out.

By the way, it seems that he stays in the Dragonkin dormitory.

Normals and Majins use the same sized things, but there are many races that are different.

Foras the Minotaur is larger than me on average.

His arm is as big as a log.

There were several candidates and it seems that the Dragonkin dorms were judged as suitable for him.

「Good mo~rning~」

When we reached the female Majin dormitories, Amduscias was already outside.

As a Beast Master, I guess she gets up early to let out the Alraune in the courtyard.

While she was thinking about what to do while the Alraune were sunbathing, she heard about our run.

Ever since then, we have been running together.

The taciturn Foras and the talkative Amduscias have surprisingly good chemistry together.

She doesn’t talk in a way that seeks a reply, so the atmosphere feels somewhat calm even if she’s the only one talking.

While making the occasional interjection to show that I’m paying attention, I change our running route today to show them around the town while jogging lightly.

「I must say, Chief of Staff’s magic is really useful~. Even running with us, no one seems to mind at all.」

There aren’t that many people out in this time of day, but the scene of a Human, Minotaur, and a beauty with a horn growing out of her forehead jogging together is surely an uncommon sight.

But there isn’t a single person who has noticed us.

「Ahaha.」

「…It’s not convenie-」

「It’s fine, Foras. I think it’s convenient, too.」

I can tell that it was a compliment from Amduscias’s tone.

「…Yes.」

I think Foras said that thinking about the hardships of mastering it.

He was self-taught and came up with the same training regimen as I did. Except he wasn’t blessed with a master like I was, and continued to work hard in solitude.

We’re from a different race from one another and were both raised differently, yet we are linked by Black Magic.　

「Did I…say something wrong? If so, I’m sorry. I’ve been told that I’m not very good at going with the flow~」

「No, it’s fine, really. Foras wasn’t angry either. Right?」

Foras nodded.

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We ran around the town like that.

I popped around Blitz’s place to say hello and went back to the dorm.

I ate Milla’s breakfast and went to pick up Cashew where I ate my second breakfast.

I head to work along with my secretary.

This is how my mornings have been recently.