[Screech!]
While being dangled midair, caught by the hands of a monster, Muller thought.
Why did I get involved with her before?”
As far as I can remember, it was because I tried to protect that homunculus named Frey.
Why did I do that…?
[Screech!]
If I had known she was this strong, I would’ve hidden away much earlier.
[Screech! Screech!]
Why did I even bother…?
Muller, being sharp, instinctively knew that he had a 100% chance of losing if he tried to fight this monster here.
This was because the monster holding Muller was emitting a stronger energy than any other monster he had seen in the demon realm.
If I fight, I’ll die. Muller repeated this thought as he continued to dangle helplessly in the air.
“What is this? Boring.”
Shekina, who had been watching Muller with her arms crossed, snorted with disinterest.
“Your name is Muller, right?”
“Y-Yes, but…?”
Muller, still dangling, stared at Shekina with sparkling eyes. He felt that if he answered correctly, she might put him down.
Shekina looked intently at Muller and asked.
“The elders seem to be keeping me in check, but I don’t think it’s only because of me. Am I right?”*
*Suspicion that there is more to the elders’ actions than just their personal involvement.
In fact, that was true.
If they simply want to watch the homunculus they’ve marked grow, they can either invest in that homunculus or suppressed a similar one.
Thus, Shekina thought that Frey’s past bold behavior and Muller’s silent approval were part of that process.
However…
‘It went a little too far to just brush off.’
Starting from the attempt on her life when she was heading to the capital, up until today’s events.
Everything from start to finish seemed suspicious.
‘There’s definitely something going on.’
Shekina lifted her chin with a knowing expression.
“I’ll find out everything, even if you don’t talk now. But if that happens, I’ll throw you onto that snowy mountain. And every time you try to come down, monsters will come after you.”
“…What?”
Muller’s eyes darted around quickly. He quickly calculated the fact that this was the human realm where he couldn’t use his full strength, and that the monster in front of him was incredibly strong. If things went as she said, he could end up stuck on that snowy mountain indefinitely, constantly harassed by monsters.
“I’ll talk!”
Yes, better to stay alive.
I hate the cold.
***
“Shekina came? With the Demon King?”
Lyat, who had been holed up in the laboratory, shouted with wide eyes.
Martin hastily nodded in response.
“Just now. They’ve just arrived.”
“If something like that happened, you should have sent a crow! You idiot!”
Lyat threw off his glasses and hurriedly left the lab. The sound of his hurried footsteps and the loud thuds of Martin walking behind him echoed through the narrow hallway.
Lyat quickly reached the door and grabbed the handle as if he were about to break it off. The moment he did, a vast sky came into view.
Huh…?
Why can I see the sky…?
This shouldn’t be visible…?
For a moment, Lyat thought he had teleported. But then he realized that it was just a simple misunderstanding and that what he was seeing was really the building’s outer wall missing and the ceiling blown open.
“What… what is this…?”
Just a few hours ago, when Martin entered the lab, everything was intact. In fact, the space was perfectly fine when Martin came to find him, wasn’t it?
So why has it suddenly ended up like this?
Did the Demon King get angry?
Lyat’s eyes trembled as he scanned his surroundings.
Then it happened.
“I can feel it.”
Martin, who had been silent until then, spoke.
“What, what do you feel?”
“The flow of dark energy.”
Martin’s already harsh face contorted further as he surveyed the area. He wasn’t angry because he could feel the dark energy, but because he was worried that Shekina might have been caught up in the flow.
Lyat shared the same thoughts as Martin, so he began to stomp his feet in frustration.
“First, let’s find Shekina…”
“Over there!”
“What? Where?”
“Look! Over there!”
Martin grabbed Lyat by the back of the neck and forcibly turned his gaze in the right direction as he shouted.
“Is that…?!”
Lyat’s jaw dropped.
It wasn’t because of the giant monster that seemed too obvious to have missed.
It was because of who was sitting on the monster’s shoulder…
“Shekina?”
Shekina, and…
“…Muller?”
Next to Shekina, dangling upside down, was Muller, the Fifth Elder.
“Arthurrrr!”
Lyat shouted toward Arthur, who was presumably still in the capital.
“What on earth did you teach Shekinaaa?!”
***
“Shekina.”
“Yes?”
Lyat, struggling to hold back his furious breathing, looked down at Shekina, who was kneeling with her hands raised.
It had been a while since he last saw Shekina, and she looked utterly adorable. Of course, the moment Lyat saw her slightly thinner cheeks, he decided that he would smack Arthur when he returned. But even those thin cheeks couldn’t diminish Shekina’s cuteness in the slightest.
Her sparkling eyes, the mischievous curve of her lips. Her hands seemed to have gotten a bit chubbier, and her legs a bit longer, as if she had grown in the meantime.
Lyat wanted to take in Shekina’s appearance and dote on her after two weeks apart, but Shekina had caused a massive incident right after arriving.
So Lyat had to hold himself back. His heavy breathing wasn’t from anger but from the frustration of not being able to shower Shekina with affection.
“So…”
Ahem!
After clearing his throat, Lyat widened his eyes on purpose.
“You’ve caused this much trouble as soon as you arrived?”
“Hehehe.”
“You’ve collapsed a building, summoned a monster, and threatened an elder?”
“Hehehehe.”
Shekina had nothing to say and just laughed awkwardly. Well, everything was true, after all.
“The baby isn’t hurt, so that’s all that matters.”
“Is it, really?”
It was strange to believe that one could attack an elder and still walk away unscathed. No matter how much we protect Shekina… the elders are far too cunning for that.
Should I just kill him to erase the evidence? Lyat glanced at Muller, who was sitting behind Shekina, massaging his ankle, and muttered to himself.
‘…If I kill him now, it’ll be too obvious.’
I’ll do it later.
Lyat let out another deep breath and then spoke.
“Shekina, no matter how angry you were, this is not acceptable. That person is an elder.”
Shekina kept her lips sealed and lowered her head.
She expected to be scolded, but she didn’t think Lyat would go this far. It seemed like Lyat was really angry…
“No matter how weak and pathetic that guy looks, no matter how it seems like hitting him wouldn’t be a big deal, no matter how much it baffles you how such a weakling became an elder!”
… Or maybe not.
Is he saying what he really feels?
“…Still, since he is an elder, you must show him proper respect. Understood?”
Shekina lifted her head and blinked her big eyes several times.
Then she let out a soft chuckle and nodded.
“My mistake.”
“Are you apologizing to us?”
“Nope.”
Shekina turned around and bowed deeply towards Muller.
“I apologize.”
But she didn’t lower her eyes. Shekina’s gaze remained locked on Muller. Don’t say anything stupid, or else you’re dead.
“H-ha… haha…”
Muller wiped the cold sweat off the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly.
“N-no, it’s fine. There’s no need for an apology. We were just playing around. Haha.”
He swallowed hard.
– The elders will try to kill you, no matter what.
– The reason is simple. They don’t want to lose their influence. For now, things are calm because the Demon King himself has intervened…
But that’s only a temporary fix. Soon, they’ll come after you.
Muller, who had earlier confessed everything to Shekina, didn’t want the world to know that he had been attacked and overpowered by her. No, it must not be revealed. If it were, the elders would relentlessly pursue him.
“Right? We were just playing together, right? Isn’t that so?”
Recognizing Muller’s thoughts, Shekina smiled brightly and played along.
“Yes, that’s right. We were just having a little fun.”
Shekina then turned to Lyat and Martin, who were both watching in confusion, and flashed them a bright smile.
“So, you don’t have to worry about anything!”
That’s right.
You have nothing to worry about.
– The elders want to stay in the human realm.
– They’ll do anything to remain attached here.
Right now, those guys pulling their dirty tricks are the ones who should be worried.
