Vol 1 Chapter 9 – Nine’s Work

—Nine’s mornings start early.

“Well, it’s a job I started because I wanted to, after all.”

After being rudely awakened from enjoying a second sleep while mumbling such nonsense, the day begins for him, who has never been a morning person.
His bed is still the hard stone floor of the Dungeon.

After purifying himself at the water spot outside.

He starts his work by checking the ingredients, complaining in the First Kitchen’s food storehouse that, “Lately, I just can’t seem to get any good materials, you know?”

“Don’t do unnecessary shit when you can’t even handle the basics!”

Getting kicked by his senior, a werecat, his actual work officially begins with cleaning the kitchen once again.

“What makes me the happiest is, of course, the feedback from the people eating. It makes me feel like my work is being recognized.”
“Look, we’ve even got some suggestion box letters here.”

‘I thought it was a goblin, but it was a human. What the hell is this about?’

‘The ingredient is checking the ingredients.’

‘Since it’s in the food storehouse, can I eat that guy?’

‘Looks tasty.’

“…There are people who look at me with hungry eyes every single day, you know. I’d say running away from them is the hardest part of the job.”

Saying that, he laughs.
He had already torn up the suggestion letters behind his back.

Next up is the Second Kitchen. The one cooking meals that rival even what human nobles eat is a beautiful woman dressed as a man, the vampire Selphi-san.
It seems they take turns doing the cooking here as well.
The plates, beautifully decorated with expert technique, were so well-made they could be compared to jewels.

With clumsy hands, Nine arranges them according to where they need to be served.

“Man, this looks incredibly delicious. I’m terrible at cooking, so…”
“………”
“Eh? I look more delicious? Oh, no, no, I… I guess that’s a compliment?”
“………”
“Hm? Just one bite? You mean I can eat this?”
“………!”
“You want a bite of me instead?! No, no, no, wait, wait, hold on, wait a sec!”

The final kitchen is a bit of a hurdle.

The items handled here aren’t served very frequently, but because they are highly prized luxury goods that are quite difficult to obtain, he says it’s a place where one must take utmost care.

“The screams of the ingredients, you know… they really are tough to hear. It feels like my own pain.”
“But, it’s a job I wished for myself. I have no regrets.”
“Look, this kid here is only fifteen or so, right? We need to fatten them up a little more first.”

According to him, with his trained eyes, he can tell the quality of the ingredients just by looking at them.

Right now, he says his biggest problem is a lack of people to consult with.

Working hard every day all alone in a foreign land, with no one of his own kind around, is apparently quite draining.

“Wilson listens to my stories in silence, at least.”

Having no other choice, he says he comforts his heart by talking to the ingredients in front of him.

Though he claims that mostly, he only hears voices begging to be let out, or cursing him as a traitor.

“It’s not like I have the authority to let them go on my own, you know. I’m hardening my heart like a demon to take care of them.”

He mentions that over the past few years, cheap livestock from Seneca has been increasing.

“Religion sure is scary, isn’t it? Pagans end up getting sold into human trafficking like this.”

He says they hurl words of a curse at Nine in the name of the pagan god they believe in.

“At times like that, I remember the contents of those suggestion letters.”
“It wouldn’t be strange if I ended up like this at any moment, but my time hasn’t come just yet.”
“I have to show compassion to them, who are being eaten in my place. If I forget the sanctity of life, I wouldn’t be able to keep doing this job.”

Lately, it’s said that even His Majesty the Demon Lord has taken notice of his work ethic.

Bundling the raw garbage together and wiping the filth splattered on his cheek,

“It’s something to be thankful for. To have my work evaluated like this.”

His profile as he said such things without a hint of pretense looked, indeed, quite delicious.

Tomorrow, and the day after that too, the day when he—who can’t wake up on his own—is placed on the dining table might not be so far away.

Yes, the mornings of Diabolo’s slave, Nine, start early.

————— FIN —————

“…What is this?”
“Heh? You were the one who told me you wanted to know how he works, Aroma-sama, weren’t you?”

I did tell Puria to investigate the state of that human, but still.

I tore the report in front of me to shreds.

“Aah, what’re you doin’?!”
“What am I doing? That’s my line. Aah, to think that filthy human is actually continuing to work without a care in the world.”
“Ah, I knew it. You were waitin’ for him to throw in the towel, weren’tcha?”
“Of course I was. Anyone with normal nerves would have gone mad a long time ago. If he had tried to run away, it would have given me an excuse to dispose of him, but just how thick-skinned is he?”
“Nah, it’s useless against that guy. He ain’t just missin’ two or three screws, he’s missin’ the whole set.”
“…Good grief. And we still don’t even know what he did to the younger sister.”
“Right, ’bout that. I heard there weren’t any magical traces found. Why don’tcha just ask him directly?”
“…Because it perfectly matched the younger sister’s testimony. With that girl’s magic resistance, brainwashing wouldn’t work anyway… Sigh, enough. You’re dismissed.”
“Yessir~”

Hearing the door to the office click shut as Puria left the room, I let out a sigh.

…Ever since that guy arrived, the gears just haven’t been meshing right.

It’s been a week since it was officially announced under Christela’s name that a single human would be joining this organization.

Chris, for her part, has been lost in thought about something far more often lately.

If it was a sign of her awakening to her responsibilities as a leader, I’d be overjoyed, but it doesn’t really feel like that’s the case.

El-chan has calmed down recently.

That should undoubtedly be a good thing, but the fact that it started only after she met that human is inexplicably irritating.

There’s no doubt he’s plotting something, but both Chris and El-chan insist that I can’t kill him.

…I have no choice. As the one entrusted with his education, I can’t just leave him be any longer.

While I’m at it, instead of relying on the undependable Puria, I’ll have that girl keep an eye on him.

Since there won’t be any messy blood-and-guts situations for a while, she’s probably bored out of her mind anyway.

If she catches him doing something definitive, some evidence that he intends to harm us, even Chris won’t be able to stop me from killing that human.

…And so, that is why.

“Hah?! Me?! Watch that guy?!”
“Yes, and I won’t take no for an answer. Since you never do any paperwork, you’re going to work off that debt.”
“You gotta be kiddin’ me! Why the hell do I gotta do somethin’ so damn annoying?!”
“You’re going to be free for a while anyway, aren’t you? We have no plans for war this winter.”
“No way, no way, absolutely not! Make some other bored bastard do it!”
“You are the most bored. If I have you run drills, you end up injuring the soldiers. If I have you do paperwork, you hand in something that looks like earthworms crawled all over it. To be completely blunt, anywhere outside the battlefield, you are a waste of rations.”
“Guh…!”
“This is an order from the Prime Minister. Drill some common sense into that human. And if he shows even the slightest suspicious movement during that time, report it to me.”
“You’re the one in charge of his education! Don’t just dump him on me!”
“I am busy. While I was entrusted with his education, deciding who acts as his instructor is left to my discretion. …Besides, this is a good opportunity for you to study. As the sole daughter of the glorious Vermillion family, use this chance to acquire at least a little bit of the refinement suitable for your station.”
“Ueeeeh… So tyrannical! Abuse of power! Abuse of power!”
“Silence. If you have any more complaints, I will contact your family home. There are quite a few marriage proposals piled up for you, aren’t there?”
“Dammit, go die! Stupid!”

Watching Garon dash out of the room after yelling that, I sighed once again.

“Now then… I’m a bit uneasy leaving it to just that girl… Alice! Come here!”

When I called out into the empty space, a werefox (fox-kin) girl materialized, floating out from the wall.

“…Yes, I am here.”
“You are to investigate that human as well. Without Garon finding out, of course.”
“Understood, Aroma-sama. Please leave it to me, Alice.”
“…We cannot allow a human to remain here any longer. You understand that, don’t you?”
“Naturally. If you would only give the permission, I could immediately…”
“I’d like nothing more than to do just that, however. The most baffling part of this whole affair is Chris’s attitude. She seems to be strangely fixated on that human… Therefore, if you learn anything at all about him, it doesn’t matter what it is. Report it to me. Is that clear?”
“Yes.”

Leaving behind a short reply, Alice Crux disappeared.

The reason I’m using Alice is because, as a fox beast-kin, she is highly skilled in arts of illusion and bewitchment. I figured that girl could gather information without him ever catching on.

…And knowing Garon, she might just snap and kill him for me.

Alice, who harbors a particularly strong hatred for humans, will surely investigate him with the eyes of a hawk.

Either outcome is fine.
If that human dies, all the better, and if he shows his tail, I can dispose of him.

Aah, what a pain.
I really wish they wouldn’t bother me with every little thing like this, honestly.

Aroma Sagesta is a busy woman.

Because she has to make Christela Villa Detra the king of the world.