Vol 1 Chapter 12 – Hostile Mood

That day, a disturbing atmosphere hung over the Prime Minister’s office.

Powerful demons had gathered together, and from the voices leaking out, it was obvious that the conversation had become complicated. Selphi, who had gone in to serve tea, came out with tears in her eyes.

From this, the other demons came to a single conclusion and refused to go anywhere near the room. Namely: “Let sleeping whatever-they-ares lie.”

Aroma Sugesta let out a sigh, something she had been doing with increasing frequency lately.

“In other words, you will not hand over that sample?” Eva asked, her irritation showing—a rarity for her.

“Yeah. That thing is mine. I have no intention of giving it up,” Chris replied, as indifferent as always.

“Onee-sama, didn’t you give that boy to me as my toy?” El-chan whined, showing a sudden attachment to him out of whimsy or whatever else.

“Hey, Aroma, this isn’t what we agreed on. I have no intention of abandoning a job I’ve decided to do halfway through,” Garon complicated things further, even though it was a job she had taken on reluctantly in the first place.

Ah, damn it all, what a pain. Even though I told them I’m busy.

“Nnnnnngh, geez! Everyone, please, enough is enough!”

Why do I have to shoulder all this trouble over a mere human? It’s all that livestock’s fault!

Aroma cursed her own misfortune and that “whatever-it-is.”

To understand why things had ended up like this, it is necessary to rewind time a little bit.

In the morning, while Aroma was looking over her work schedule for the day, Eva suddenly burst into her office and opened with this:

“I want a sample. That is fine, yes?”

Eva Karma. She was brilliant, but because of that, she had a tendency to conclude conversations entirely inside her own head. You could also call it a lack of words.

However, having known her for a reasonably long time, Aroma knew that if she was asking for a “sample,” she meant a human.

“Yes, go right ahead. However, please submit a project plan and a budget proposal detailing what you intend to use it for. Please don’t just dump everything on me again. That caused our work to stagnate last time.”

“Here, I have already created such things. Hurry up and look them over so you can issue the permission. Here, here.”

“Listen here, you. That is not how an organization works. You need to properly explain this to the researchers in your department, get their approval.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just hurry up. I know you are busy, but I am busy as well.”

That ticked me off.

I am well aware of her contributions to Diabolo, and by extension, all of Agusta, but my position isn’t so lightweight that I should be treated with such arrogant disregard.

“If you’re insisting this much, I assume the contents promise a proportionate amount of merit?”

“Of course. Leave it to me.”

That wasn’t an answer. But I know how competent she is, and I fully intended to grant her permission unless it was something truly outrageous.

Thinking ‘let’s see what we have here,’ I looked it over with a light heart. It mentioned the transmission rate of mana within the human body, the development of more effective offensive magic against humans, and serving as the foundation for those things.

To be investigating such fundamental topics now. Could it mean she’s actually planning to advance some highly innovative research?

Well, there’s hardly anyone in all of Agusta as well-versed in magic as she is, so if she says so, she’s probably not wrong. But that doesn’t mean I can just hand out permission without a second thought.

However, there was one thing that caught my attention.

“The sample to be used is specifically restricted, but.”

“Ah, it seems its name is Nine. I want you to let me use that one.”

“I personally don’t mind. However, I cannot make that judgment on my own, so I will need to confirm with Her Majesty.”

“What are you talking about? Bothering Christela with every little trivial matter like this is.”

“That human is Her Majesty’s favorite, you know. Besides, if the summary is exactly as you’ve outlined in your proposal, it shouldn’t make a difference what sample you use.”

“You are so loud, what does it matter? It looks like I can extract some interesting data from it. To begin with, if you ask me, this paperwork itself is a massive waste of time.”

That irritated me.

It might be the nature of a technician, but hearing someone speak with absolutely zero understanding of the struggles of an administrator is genuinely infuriating.

Besides, even if that human disappearing is convenient for me, Garon losing her temper and killing him is completely different from formally offering him up as research material.

Mainly regarding Chris’s impression of the matter. That’s exactly why I went out of my way to have Alice look for flaws in him.

“Regardless, I cannot authorize this on my own.”

“Then summon Christela.”

That pissed me off.

When she says something like that with a look on her face that practically screams, ‘What a useless subordinate,’ I am more than ready to adopt a stance of total resistance.

More importantly, no matter how much of a Diabolo veteran she might be, if she intends to disrespect even Chris, then I have no intention of holding back either.

“Her Majesty is busy. Bringing up a matter like this out of nowhere and demanding to be prioritized—such an argument will not pass, and I will not let it pass.”

“What was that?”

Eva glared at me, but bring it on.

If you’re going to disregard the rules here, no matter how much seniority you have, I’ll!

Just then, the door opened with a loud bang, and both Eva and I turned to look.

“Heeey, is Eva here right now? I went to the library, and they told me she came straight here first thing in the morning. Oh, there you are.”

Garon appeared right at an explosive, hair-trigger moment.

No matter how many times I tell her not to open doors so roughly, she never fixes the habit, but well, I’ll forgive her for today.

I don’t want to go out of my way to start a fight either, so if she’s going to change the atmosphere, I’ll consider it a net zero.

But the fact that it’s Garon who came might be slightly inconvenient.

“What is it, Garon? We are in the middle of something right now. Come back later.”

“Don’t be like that, it’ll be over in a second. It’s about the books I’m lending Nine.”

“Ah, come to think of it, you were the one taking care of that thing, weren’t you? In that case, rest easy.”

“Huh?”

“I will be taking that thing as my research sample. You no longer need to play pretend at being a teacher.”

As much as I deeply want that human gone, I can’t just overlook her advancing the conversation completely on her own.

If Garon just goes along with it, things will only get more complicated, so just as I opened my mouth to complain—

“Don’t speak nonsense. Are you trying to make all my hard work up until now a complete waste? I was entrusted with that guy by Aroma. If you need a human sample, go fish one out of the pantry in the feasting room.”

Surprisingly, a dissenting opinion came from Garon.

I thought she’d be thrilled to be freed from the hassle.

“Explaining this from scratch to a muscle-brained boar like you would be a waste of my time. Regardless, I need that thing for my research. Just accept it.”

“What was that, punk?! Are you picking a fight with me?! Who the hell do you think you are, Eva!”

This is no good.

Eva’s hostility merely shifted toward Garon. Ultimately, nothing has changed!

I already understand perfectly well that Eva has no intention of backing down, but I never expected Garon to be this attached to a human either.

Personally, I wanted Eva to cool her head, preach the importance of paperwork to her, soothe and cajole Chris, and somehow steer things in the direction of handing that human over to Eva.

At this rate, Garon is going to hold a grudge against me too.

Because this girl has such an impulsive, straightforward personality, persuading her is already hard enough!

I messed up.

That human, he even managed to seduce Garon!

Besides, if we’re tracing this back to the source, it’s Igor’s fault for selling us such merchandise!

In the end, even knowing I was just taking my anger out on someone, I was mentally hurling curses at our purveyor slave merchant when a final bomb dropped in.

Two of them, in fact.

“Hey Aroma, it’s about time I had that mountain monkey. Oh? Quite the rare gathering we have here.”

“Aromaaa, I want to see that boy. Oh my, there’s a lot of people here.”

It was the entrance of the Demon Lord Sisters.

I don’t care what happens anymore.

But of course, not being able to say that is the painful part of holding a position of authority. I have to do the work I’m paid for.

Honestly, I just want to throw it all away, though.

Ah, maybe I should make Alice be my body double. At the very least, I’ll have her buy me some stomach medicine later.

“You have arrived at the perfect time. Aroma, ultimately, if I have Christela’s permission, it is fine, yes?”

“Yes. I shall leave it to Her Majesty’s judgment.”

“Good. Your Majesty Christela, I have an earnest matter to discuss.”

“Being called ‘Your Majesty’ by you makes me feel a little ticklish, but what is it?”

“You are keeping a human named Nine, are you not? I have a small request regarding that.”

“Ah, what about that mountain monkey? Did he commit some insolence?”

“I want to make him a research sample. May I have him?”

“No.”

“No way.”

To my surprise, it was an immediate reply. And a synchronized rejection from both sisters, at that.

Since these two had been taught magic by Eva since they were young, placing them in a master-apprentice relationship, even Chris—who was now the Demon Lord—would basically obey whatever Eva said. And yet.

“May I ask the reason?”

Perhaps having not anticipated this response, Eva asked back with a slightly bewildered expression.

“Because I intend to keep him close at hand and train him personally.”

“No way, Onee-sama. That boy is my playmate, you know?”

The sisters folded their arms in unison and answered while standing tall and imposing.

It seemed their resolve was quite firm.

Things have truly become a pain.

And so, after a back-and-forth of “hand him over” and “I won’t hand him over,” we loop back to the situation at the very beginning.