With the same familiar, grand gesture as always, I opened the doors in front of me. The private dining hall behind them was barely ever used, but there was hardly a better location for an occasion like this.

There were, of course, a fair number of familiar faces in the room—my Demon Generals, naturally, and Rhud was together with Raoul, the two of them discussing their troubles in dealing with the Goblinoids.

Various other high-ranking monsters who had gone on the expedition were also present. In addition, a rather large amount of Ghost Maids was hard at work bringing various dishes to the banquet table and bringing around drinks to anyone who asked. Notably, the food seemed untouched.

As always, I had opened the doors without the least bit of subtlety, and thus drew the attention of near everyone in the room. A significant portion of them nigh reflexively shot into a salute, a curtsy, a bow or similar—of course, a notable exception were the Ghost Maids who happened to be carrying items.

As was apparently the natural course of events, my Demon Generals made their way to my side, soon pursued by Rhud and Raoul. I noted that Raoul’s curious gaze seemed nigh locked-on to Lady Entropy, though he did not forget to give me another respectful bow as he approached.

“Yo. We were waitin’ for ya, master,” Lilith said, a merry grin on her face.

“It would please me grandly if thou couldst enjoy this small party in thy hon’r, M’lord,” Charlotte followed up, narrowing her eyes with a pleasant smile.

“Master! There’s so much food!” Davna’s high spirits were well-reflected in her burning-red eyes, gleaming with childlike excitement.

“To produce such an amount of high-quality food at such short notice… The chefs you employ are certainly skilled, Master.” Tempest nodded to herself as she looked over the hall.

“Master! Navillus can eat~?” Navillus’s words confirmed what I had been thinking—everyone had been waiting for me, even Lilith, who had not hesitated to shovel food into her mouth despite Charlotte’s warnings even in the Goblinoid village.

“Your subordinates seem rather hungry, Milord. I almost pity them.” Raoul bowed once more—it seemed to be some strange hobby of his, or something.

“Your servant suggests that My Lord allows the banquet to begin,” Rhud continued despite its lack of a need to eat. Several of the demons in the room looked at it, gratitude in their eyes.

Evyna approached my Demon Generals, and was not particularly met with resistance from anyone. Relieved, she heaved a sigh.

“Then,” I announced with a loud voice, “let the feast begin.”

Given the relatively large amount of guests, and their demonic nature, it would not have been reasonable to have a standard meal and preserve any kind of high-class atmosphere. Thus, Charlotte appeared to have decided on a buffet-style.

A wise decision on her part, especially considering several of the highest-class guests commonly had trouble holding back around food.

As I observed Navillus and Lilith bother the poor maids, a wry smirk on my face, I was approached by a Ghost Maid who had appeared through a wall.

She curtsied, and I nodded in acknowledgment. “Master Astaroth, Lady Alpine has expressed a desire to meet with you.”

“Is she in a state where she would damage either of our reputations?” I asked, just to be sure.

Since the answer was no, I had the girl fetch me my newly attained pet.

Alpine approached me and made its sloppy salute—it seemed to be a specialty, of sorts. I waved my hand dismissively, and it dropped its paw.

Around its neck was a black collar. Although a little big, the spiked collar struck a strong contrast with its white fur, and gave the Kobold an intimidating appearance while maintaining its cute charm.

Presumably, Crowley had helped Rhud design this. His sense of fashion, as usual, lined up nicely with mine.

I guessed at Alpine’s intentions before speaking. “Now that you possess that, you, too, are a part of my army. I shall be expecting competence from you, soldier.”

“Yes!” it answered, a doggy grin on its face.

I offhandedly tossed it a piece of meat, which it devoured with great glee. It seemed to have been quite hungry—perhaps I would have to increase the portion size of its rations, compared to the rest of my army.

“Milord,” Raoul said as he approached me once more. He had briefly left to grab some food, but he seemed intent on staying by my side whenever possible. “I had meant to ask this earlier, but might I inquire as to the identity of your accompanying maiden?” He focused once more on Lady Entropy, who observed him without expression.

A certain realisation struck me—the group of demons who had accompanied me on the expedition had been absent when Lady Entropy’s identity was revealed, given they had still been recuperating from the bodily stress of two transfer spells in quick succession. This could make an interesting plaything.

A grin took control of my expression. “Well,” I said, “before I answer that, I will have you tell me what you think of her.” I placed my hand on her head as I spoke.

His reaction was a little more intense than I had anticipated—he observed her from various angles as he nodded to himself, to the point where I got a little fed up with him. “Truly,” he said eventually, “she is like a work of art. Her pale skin, her comparatively short stature and her glimmering white hair… I would scarcely believe you if you told me she were mortal.”

He attempted to grab her hand, likely in order to kiss its back in a symbol of deference. Her immediate response was to place herself behind me and use me as a shield of sorts.

“Do not defile her with the likes of your hand,” I said, narrowing my eyes as I looked at Raoul.

“Ah… O-Of course not, Milord. My apologies.” He quickly retreated a few steps.

“As long as you understand.” I shook my head and once more placed a hand on Lady Entropy’s head. “Incidentally, does the name ‘Entropy’ ring a bell?”

Raoul’s pale face somehow got whiter, and his mouth stiffened. “Could you mean, Milord…”

“Yes. This girl is indeed the Goddess of Darkness you all revere, Lady Entropy herself.”

I heard the sound of several wine glasses falling onto the ground and shattering to pieces, accompanied by stifled giggling from Lilith and Charlotte.

After several seconds of silent staring, Raoul dropped to his knees into a position of prayer, mumbling incoherent orisons and apologies. Many others followed suit.

I could not help but smile.

“It’s fine,” Lady Entropy said, “I don’t really, mind.” Several demons heaved sighs of relief. “Besides,” she continued in a whisper I could barely hear, “it’s not like I’m, particularly deserving of worship, right now…”

“I would like it if you did not say such things,” I said, matching her volumes. “If nothing else, you are far better a goddess than Lady Luciel.”

Her ears conveyed a complex network of emotions, and I could not pick them all out.

“And even if not, I believe it is plenty to simply be this cute.”

“This is why you are…” she said, looking away. Yet despite her words, she shuffled closer to me.

‘It would be nice if these days could continue, even if just for a while’—for a few moments, I ended up wishing such.

“Ah, M’lord?”

“Yes, Charlotte?”

“About that new territ’rial acq’sition…”

“Is something the matter?”

“There are some papers I would like thee to sign… Can such be arrang’d?”

I dropped my gaze to the stack of paper in her hands, several centimetres thick.

“Ah, this is just the first segm’nt. Sev’ral more r’quire thine attention.”

Just end me now.

***

The Grand Lich in her castle of ice threw curse words and chunks of ice through the throne room, prompting a worried look from her subordinate. He attempted to call out to her, but his voice, much to his frustration, got stuck in his throat.

“He never gave you back your voice?” Although briefly, the flames in the Ice Queen’s eye sockets lit up in amusement.

Her amusement was interrupted by the sound of a warped, distorted chime, loud enough to echo through the room, which repeated several times. The sound was accompanied by a fickle presence which washed over the two of them like sea foam.

As though by instinct, the two of them recognised this presence. The woman flared up a slight irritation in Philia’s heart, since she was not in a state to deal with a being who could not be opposed, but Philia did not voice her thoughts.

“... Lady Undine,” she said, not daring to use her usual, mocking tone.

“A-ha~, what’s with that, so cold~” Undine responded, her voice almost sing-songy. Although the voice had no discernible source, it rang clear through the room, causing Richard to shudder involuntarily. “You seem frustrated. Want to let it out~?”

The next moment, in front of the pair stood a woman, skin clear like ice and hair flowing and blue like water, with a peculiar symbol on her forehead.

This was a clear violation of the way gods worked, but neither of the two had any time to think about that. By instinct, Richard fell to his knees.

“If I’m not wrong, you’re planning something, right~?” Undine asked, giggling.

“You are not wrong, Lady Undine,” Philia said, shaking her head. The once proud flames in her skull seemed like feeble candlelight.

“And that something is a rebellion, right? How bold~”

“You are… once again not incorrect, Lady Undine,” Philia said, prompting a surprised expression on Richard’s face. “But… My liege seems quite favoured by Lady Entropy. I am not sure how she would react…”

“Doesn’t she just stick to him because he’s strong~? Then you just need to prove you’re stronger~” Undine said, a cruel smile on her face.

Although Philia did not recognise this smile, she decided that was only natural—after all, it was not like she saw Undine often, if at all. “I would love to-”

“Ah, you don’t think you can beat him? Then, I’ll give you this!”

Undine granted Philia a blessing which was more like a curse and, like flowing water, disappeared—

“If I have this, I could win…”

The Ice Queen’s chattering laughter resounded throughout her palace.

***

“Big sis!”

The childlike figure, brown eyes, brown hair and a peculiar symbol on her cheek, of course belonged to Gnome. Her words lacked the respect most people would have for the addressed.

“What is it, Gnome?” The tanned woman, dressed in a somewhat sensual garb and with a red mark on her cheek, took Gnome’s hand in her own.

“Lord Astaroth and Lady Entropy are amazing!” Gnome said, eyes sparkling like a child’s.

“Is that so? What did they do?” The woman pushed her red hair behind her pointed ear and canted her head slightly to the side. Despite her mature charm, her eyes sparkled almost as much as Gnome’s.

“They’ve taken two of the faker’s Aspects! And there was something else, about Lord Astaroth having a fragment of divinity, but I didn’t really get all that… And they’ll tell me if they get more Aspects!”

“Isn’t that nice?” the woman asked as she gently stroked Gnome on the head. “Maybe I should go visit them soon…”

Her thoughts were interrupted as she sensed her blessed race get up to something interesting. Still stroking Gnome’s hair, she opened a screen-like image to watch.

***

A certain individual let out a great big yawn as they awakened from a very long nap. Their eyes, dark green and framed by a peculiar symbol, sleepily peered out at nothing in particular, and their light green hair was a grandiose mess. Their sleepy features, though rather pretty, lacked a decisive masculine or feminine factor—in other words, they were androgynous.

They stretched their back and rubbed their eyes, all before even sitting up. Again, they yawned, not even bothering to cover their mouth with their hand, and sluggishly sat up.

“Nn,” they let out, “I guess I’ll…” Once more, they yawned. “Go visit, that person.” They rubbed their eyes once more. “See how-” they paused for a moment- “they’re doing.”

Although they were about to leave, they stopped when they felt their beloved race doing something.

“Mh?”

With some manner of enigmatic smile on their mouth and half-lidded, drowsy eyes, they opened a screen-like image to have a look.

***

In a dark room filled with devices made from Black Silver, a purple-haired boy slumped over a desk and heaved a sigh. In spite of his… ‘interesting’ outfit, he did not look to be over fifteen years old.

From the horn jutting out of his forehead, one could easily deduce he was not human.

Also in the room was a well-dressed, masked man. “I know how you feel, but please keep your spirits up,” he said, “you’ll infect me, too. I’m bored, too, but it’s not as if there is anyone to blame…”

“But I’m booooored!” Frustrated, the boy threw his whip to the ground as he raised out of his chair. “Besides, that’s easy for you to say.”

“Whatever might you mean?” The masked man’s mask shifted, the mouth warping into a circle, to reflect his feelings.

“C’mon, you know what I mean, Smile. I can’t sleep if I don’t get to play with people.”

“Ah, yes. Your racial trait. So that’s why you’ve been restless ever since Lord Astaroth took control of the castle.” The mouth on the mask warped into a lopsided smirk.

“Smile, you knew that already, you bully. It’s been ten years, and you’re not stupid.” The boy pouted and looked away, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Yes, yes,” Smile said, patting the boy on the head.

“Don’t treat me like a kid just ‘cause I’m a bit shorter than you!” He pulled his head away, and his pout worsened.

In Smile’s eyes, this action only made him cuter, and more childlike.

“Alright, alright,” Smile said, “then, should I request some work?”

“You can do that?!”

“Anyone can request work. The only question is if there is work to be done.”

“Still, it’s worth a try!”

“Yes, I suppose it is.”

His mouth shifted into an even smile.