Chapter 14 – Episode 14 ― Are You Eating? (5)
Episode 14 ― Are you eating? (5)
Roan tried to look as calm as possible.
“… The maid must have been nervous because of me. She’d better take a break. Butler, do you have a quiet place to sit? Looking at the state of the maid, I will also take a break.”
Unlike Shikviena, who accompanied the demon king yesterday and today, the head butler and maid only know the usual demon king. They trembled at the unexpected and tried hard not to show their fear.
“Well, then, it’s shabby, but I’ll show you to my office, Your Majesty.”
There was the butler’s office not far away, and Roan, Shikviena, and the butler headed there with the head maid staggering.
‘… I’m truly sorry.’
While making an apology that she couldn’t bring out of her mouth, Roan examined the complexion of her maid. Immediately after she collapsed, she freaked out and reduced the intensity of her ‘weakness’.
The lady-in-waiting didn’t know why she was like that, her cheeks were stained red, and she was trembling, not knowing when her neck would fly off.
Only Shykwiena, who often encountered the Demon King and was well aware of his abilities, could only vaguely guess the cause of this situation.
The butler’s office was a neat room right next to the bedroom, and it was not a small room with a desk, a few chairs, and a table.
“Are you okay?”
“… Sorry. Your majesty! I’m sorry…”
“No. Originally, people like me would only cause inconvenience if they were here.”
“Um, what are you saying… All the last names belong to your Majesty, please don’t say that, Your Majesty.”
The head maid and the butler alternately waved their hands. The two couldn’t even meet Roan’s eyes. Roan thought it was going well, so he said something he had been curious about since yesterday.
“The existence of a king may be difficult for you, but if I am too burdensome, it will be difficult for everyone to move in this castle. Isn’t it difficult to find new servants?”
The butler and maid quickly lowered their heads, but they couldn’t hide their wide eyes. Shik Viena also looked at the demon king’s face with a startled expression, and then she turned her head away.
The cause provider asks the reason in such a kind tone. It was a situation they had never imagined.
“Do you get paid that much? Even so…”
… Roan, who almost casually said that it wouldn’t be worth his life, managed to swallow his back. How shameless will they seem to hear. The one who killed the servant was the Demon King himself (but not).
And everyone knew what Roan had left out. An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
‘Mawang Noh Ohm…’
As Roan gnashed his teeth while thinking over the demon king’s behavior once again, the correctional officer opened his mouth. It was thought that further silence might be seen as blaspheming the monarch.
“Your majesty. The servants of the castle are the ones who can serve and serve His Majesty closest. If it is an honorable position, everyone is willing to work in the castle.”
“Are you saying that saving people isn’t difficult?”
“It is so, Your Majesty.”
“I couldn’t see anyone next to me for anything like that.”
The head butler and the maid jumped up from their chairs with their bodies stiff. The Demon King openly pointed out the servants’ disrespect in front of their eyes. The thought that there was no way that they, who were in charge of the servants, would be safe passed through their minds.
Their faces became pale, as if they had been sentenced to death. The atmosphere became even colder than before, and when the head butler and the lady-in-waiting kept their mouths shut, Shykvienna panicked and tried to rectify the situation.
“Lungs, Your Majesty. How could we carelessly approach an omniscient and omnipotent person like Your Majesty? I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work close to His Majesty, but ordinary servants live most of their lives outside the castle and wish to see His Majesty’s clothes at least once.
Even if such people serve His Majesty by his side, it would be difficult for them to dare to show their faces recklessly.”
As the aristocratic corrections officer tried to cover them, the faces of the head butler and the lady-in-waiting were embarrassing. Aristocrats are powerful demons and rarely show consideration for the weak.
However, Schikwiena had a hunch that if the head butler and the maid were to lose all at once, the subsequent takeover would be a hell party.
So Shikviena was desperate. And her demon lord was staring at her with her calm face.
She said, “I have heard that in the kingdom of men that unholy god is worshiped. However, what is worshiped as a god in this country is not any other gods, but His Majesty. Your Majesty is an absolute person who can destroy anything else in this world, no, even gods. That is why we are happy to work by your Majesty’s side. Please trust the loyalty of all of us, Your Majesty.”
There was a tearful defense of the corrections officer, but Roan’s thoughts were focused elsewhere. Of course, the devil’s shell was skillfully showing the expression of a ‘indifferent devil’ so that no one could notice.
Roan once again focused his ‘Miheun’ on the maid. I won’t fail this time, sorry.
Concentrate a much smaller amount of power than the previous skill into one point.
Then, the lady-in-waiting, who had been sitting silently, suddenly opened her mouth with a still flushed face.
“The corrections officer is right, Your Majesty. We have grown up listening to His Majesty’s dance since we were young. For us, His Majesty is like a religion. Even though we are all terrified by His Majesty’s overwhelming power, we cannot deny that we are drawn to it.”
Why do you go out and say weird things?! Shek Viena opened her eyes to the lady-in-waiting, and the head of the house became even more discolored like a sheet of paper.
“Is that all? Forgive me if I speak honestly.”
“Honestly… To be honest, it is difficult for me to find a job where I can get a high salary like a servant in the royal castle here in Basel, the capital.”
“Shh… !”
Shik Viena tried to shout something of hers without realizing it, but she realized that she was in front of the demon king and, in awe, covered her mouth with her two hands. But the lady-in-waiting seemed to be bewitched by something in her, and she didn’t even pay attention to Shik Viena’s movements.
The Banshee Maid’s eyes were staring at the demon king’s eyes in a daze.
“Our servants are considered inferior in society. Because even the powerless can do it. It may not be the job of a guard guarding a castle, but organizing and managing things such as cleaning, washing, arranging the garden, and cooking can be done even if your body is relatively weak. So it was difficult for us to find well-paid work outside the castle.”
The face of the head of the house, who was initially astonished by the lady-in-waiting’s candid remark, gradually changed to a sympathetic expression.
Shikwiena has a surprised face at the unexpected fact. She is also a high-ranking aristocrat. Because of her, the circumstances of the common people she could not know. The demon king listened to the maid’s story with her chin resting on the table with a satisfied face.
“In Basel, you can work a lot and not starve, but since you don’t know when food prices will rise every day, your life is still unstable. However, at least if you become a servant in the castle, you will not starve, and you will be able to send your salary to your family outside the castle. So I also applied as an employee. Your majesty. Probably most of them besides me.”
“Me too, so am I. Your majesty.”
At the lady-in-waiting’s words, the owner of the house added her words with a feeling of intimidation. The demon king listened to their words with his sculpted face resting on the back of his hand, then nodded slightly.
“I heard you. It’s nice to be honest.”
“No, Your Majesty.”
“But I don’t want to see you hiding from me anymore.”
Roan said in a serious voice. Suddenly, he had both hands on the table. It looked as if it were determined, the corrections officer thought.
“You are one of the closest people to me. There will be no one who knows the situation in the castle better than you, and you must be my limbs and eyes when needed.
For those people to tremble in fear because of me and not be able to do their duty, it would be tantamount to tying my body to myself.”
They were so unfamiliar with the demon king saying the right thing.
“There was an opportunity that made me realize that recently. From now on, I will never be angry or punished for no reason.”
At the king’s candid story, they held their breath and looked only at their lord.
“If I have to judge you, it will be by fair standards. I am the law of this country, but if it were based on mood, no one would want to follow the law. I don’t want to be that kind of king in the future.”
Suddenly, the corrections officer wanted to show this scene to everyone at the meeting. Her eyes reddened.
It’s been over 10 years since she worked in her royal castle. She is the image of the king she dreamed of when she first entered the palace. A monarch with the power to unify all demons with great power.
In the closest look to that dream, the demon king is sitting at a simple table and is revealing his monarchy to his house president and maidservant.
“Correction officers should support employees so that there is no shortage of supplies, meals, and other necessities.”
“I will follow your orders without any deviation. Your majesty.”
Shykvienna replied in a calm voice filled with emotion.
“So that the head butler and lady-in-waiting convey what I said to the rest of the servants.”
“Yes yes. Your majesty.”
“I understand, Your Majesty.”
The two bowed their heads deeply and responded to the king’s words. The king’s words and attitude were astonishing. What was peeked out in it was sincerity. The butler and the lady-in-waiting could see that it was by no means an easy word for a king to hand over.
It wasn’t long after the king left that the two realized that breathing was easier in front of the king than usual.
*
“Your Majesty, are you here?”
The lower half of the body was a spider, and the upper half was a human woman. The demon bowed respectfully. The four spider legs supporting the body below bent gracefully. The Chancellor of the Arachne tribe, Aranya, greeted her master in a small conference room after a long time.
And behind her is the theory of financial management, a lich with only a skeleton remaining. And on both sides are the Knight Commander Minoreus and the Correctional Officer Shkviena, whom we saw last time.
These four demons were the nobles who actually operated Evirgio, which was called the Demon Kingdom.
“Hmm. Everyone sit down.”
‘The feeling of intimidation has decreased.’
The three servants, excluding Schwiena, who had already accompanied the Demon King, looked at the Demon King’s presence with sharp eyes.
The demon lord’s presence, which is usually difficult to breathe and requires considerable mental strength to resist, has faded.
Roan indifferently looked around the small meeting room. He says that he calls it a ‘small conference’ because he is a member who gathers in a small conference room, but it is a conference room of a size that is difficult to call small.
Delicate patterned decorations based on dark tones cover the entire room. However, there is a large window overlooking the city of Basel and the city walls, so the interior is not dark.
The devil’s pattern, which is everywhere in the devil’s castle, is carved on the window frame, and a bead that emits a strange light is planted in the middle of the pattern, reflecting the afternoon sun coming through the window.
‘Is it true that you have changed a little? No, it’s still yesterday and today. You never know when the whims will end.’
Araña smiled and spoke her words on the large chair exclusively for the chancellor, which was made for spiders to sit on.
“You don’t know how excited we were to hear that His Majesty had called us.”
‘That pounding could be a precursor to heart disease… Maybe it’s because I’m worried rather than looking forward to it.’
Roan looked at Aranya with her pitiful eyes. Since he had grasped the character of the demon king, it was possible to guess that the grievances of the subjects under him were not the only ones.
“There were a few things I wanted to ask you.”
“That’s right. Please feel free to ask, Your Majesty.”
Aranya bowed her head gently once again. Roan directly asked what he was most concerned about.
“Why do demons eat humans? Have you ever thought about it?”
“… Human… Why are you eating, do you mean, Your Majesty?”
Aranya stuttered back at the unexpected question. It was simply a repetition of a question rather than a counterquestion, and it would have been difficult for anyone present to give a better answer than that.
Lilon tried to furrow his eyebrows, but his face was no longer there. He rummaged through his thoughts with an expression that did not change in the eyes of others.
Looking back, it was natural from the time I was born. Humans were weak, and compared to animals that do not have many objects, there are many of them. Its flesh is less than that of animals, but it is softer than that of the same demon tribe, and its strength is much weaker, so it is easy to catch.
Any reason not to eat it?
