In the end, although Rhud fulfilled its promise and finished the sheaths within 24 hours, Crowley appeared to be holding the children captive in his room, leaving the swords temporarily without an owner.

Consoling the swords would be much effort for little reward, so I did not bother.

By some manner of coincidence, the events ‘Alpine’s claw technique reached an acceptable level’ and ‘Crowley finished his work’ occurred at roughly the same time. As such, a maid approached me right at the end of Alpine’s training session that day.

“You have done well, Alpine,” I said, placing a hand on its head as I turned my attention to the Ghost Maid and nodded.

“Sir Crowley would like to see you,” she said after a bow.

“Is that so.” I gestured towards Alpine. “Have the kitchen make her a feast. They may use extra meat—she has earned it.”

Alpine’s twinkling black eyes, full-faced doggy smile and wagging tail might have been cute, were it not for the fact that it had its tongue slackly out of its mouth and was drooling on my shoes.

“Move it.”

It hurriedly pursued the Ghost Maid, who was already leaving.

Another took it upon herself to clean my shoes, after which I headed once more for Crowley’s room.

“You wanted to see me?” I asked, opening the door and scanning his office. “I presume you are done, then.”

The moment I entered the room, he rose from his chair. Amarant sat atop his desk, the same location as last time.

The children were nowhere to be seen, although Nexu’s bag lay unceremoniously in a corner, which raised a few questions.

“Ah, Lord Astaroth, you’ve arrived,” Crowley said, bowing with his hand in front of his chest.

He did not seem to have considered the consequences of that action for very long, because his forehead made contact with his desk in what looked like a rather painful collision.

“So it seems,” I said.

“As you surmised, I’ve finished the uniforms,” he said, walking over to the one wall covered by a large curtain. I assumed there was a changing room behind it.

Crowley raised his hand, a somewhat excited smile on his face, and his tail whipped back and forth.

Almost like a dog, if a dog could shred steel with its tail.

Before he could open the curtain to the changing room, I decided to ask the question the bag had called to mind.

“Crowley.”

“Hm? Yes, Lord Astaroth?” he asked. Had he been a girl, the tilt of his head as he stopped his hand might have been cute.

“Did you keep the children here for the entire tailoring process?”

“Yes…?”

“And for what parts did you need the children?”

“Ah… I suppose that would be measuring their sizes and fitting the clothing.”

For a few seconds, a dry silence made the room its domain.

“The next time it rains, snows or otherwise precipitates, you are to mop the training grounds,” I said.

New, refreshing silence.

“Ha ha ha.”

His laughter was awkward, dry and hollow, and not a fibre of my being believed he actually found my statement funny.

“Funny as it is,” I said, “I was not joking.”

Amarant released a sound similar to a snicker. “You are guilty as well,” I said, and it quieted down.

After several seconds of silence, I once more spoke up. “Well?” I asked, “Are you going to show me or not?”

“Ah, of course. Let me show you.”

His courteous, ill-fitting bow made a stark contrast with his earlier forced laughter. With a single, smooth motion, he swept aside the curtain—indeed, behind it lay a changing room, complete with a golden-framed silver mirror and a pair of children.

The uniforms they were wearing were, to put it simply, like a strange cross between school uniforms and, say, the uniforms of the SS. Black as a base colour with the occasional crimson accent, with high leather-like boots and black half-palm gloves that did not appear to serve much purpose.

In addition, atop their heads rested slightly oversized peaked caps, with Lady Entropy’s religious symbol on the front, just like on the brassards. Nexu’s ears stood up straight through his cap, so there were likely holes in it.

All in all, the military appearance combined with the religious crests gave the pair the impression of some manner of militarised religious organisation.

In addition, they were adorable.

From a quick inspection of their cheeks, it was easy to see all my staring was making them quite embarrassed, not that I cared.

“Lord Astaroth, what do you think?” Crowley asked, an expression on his face that screamed “Praise me, praise me!”

“I will ask this just in case,” I said, “but why does Asami’s outfit expose this much skin…?”

Especially around her stomach.

“Lady Asami herself requested for me to emphasise ease of movement.”

And that’s the best you came up with?

“... I see. Good work, Amarant, Crowley.” With a single step, I was right in front of the children.

Their upturned eyes were rather cute, so I stuck my hands under their caps and ruffled their hair by way of praise.

Despite the verbal protests they leaked under their breaths, they did not seem to actually dislike it.

I removed my hands and, still blushing, the pair of them fixed their caps. “Then,” I said, a smirk on my face, “we shall go get your swords.”

They followed close behind me as I left the room.

“My Lord,” Rhud said as we once more entered the forge. “As My Lord requested, your servant has held on to the blades and their sheaths.”

“Excellent work, Rhud.” Its blank eyes sparkled with some form of excitement at my praise, and it moved to pass me the swords it was clutching to its chest.

I pushed the children forward. Rhud took the hint and extended the swords to the children, instead.

Asami practically snatched her swords from it hands. Blackest Heart’s scabbard was white whereas Silverlight’s was black, which lead to rather an intriguing contrast. I had, earlier, asked Rhud about the patterns engraved on the sheaths, to which Rhud had replied that they were decorative. Just as the swords, the sheaths looked rather sinister, and their authoritarian air was a good fit with Asami’s new clothing.

After a moment’s hesitation, Nexu, too, took his sword and looked over the new sheath. Relatively simple, it seemed to be made of a single piece of Black Silver, and there was a deep trench in the flat side with no apparent purpose. Unlike Asami’s sheaths, which were intended for her hips, this sheath was intended for Nexu’s back, likely in consideration of the sword’s size.

The children tied on their sheaths and took a few seconds to find their balance. Had they not been trained, finding their balance would presumably have taken far longer, given the swords’ relative weight.

“They suit you well,” I said, looking over the children once again. “Good work, Rhud. Well, that said, I have not seen you two in action yet…”

Asami’s ears twitched in apparent expectation, and I even spotted Nexu’s right ear turn towards me.

“But before that,” I said, turning around in a manner so as to make my cape flutter as much as possible, “you should eat something. I said this before, but I cannot call what is in that bag ‘food’.”

My line was punctuated with the rumbling of two hungry stomachs and a pair of beet-red faces.

After the children finished their meal—I had never expected a mere two children to be able to eat so much—I once more took them to the training grounds.

Alpine was continuing its training, although its partner appeared to have changed from a training dummy to a mouse-like demon. Although I remained outside of its field of view, the moment I got near, its nose twitched and it turned its head in my direction.

Not a second later, it took a hit right to the face as the mouse-like demon was unable to halt its momentum.

It proceeded to apologise profusely to Alpine in what, to me, sounded like nothing but a series of high-pitched squeaks—the only reason I could even tell what it was doing was its body language.

“Alpine,” I said, drawing its attention to me.

It barked with a salute, its tail standing straight up.

“I see you have made a friend. How nice, to think that you managed to find someone of your level.” A smirk appeared to have decided to call my face home.

Alpine let out a happy bark, followed by an excited “Yes!”, so I concluded my insult had flown right over its head. Judging from its reaction, the same applied to the mouse.

“Regardless, Alpine, I am not here for no reason. There is a pair of… soldiers I would like you to challenge.”

It tilted its head. “Who?” it asked, apparently not bothering to look around.

“These two,” I said, pointing at the children half a step behind me.

They stepped forward.

“Ah, the demon king’s guard dog,” Nexu mumbled.

Despite the slight tinge of rudeness in his words, his tail curled in curiosity.

Alpine’s tail mimicked his.

I was a little amused, so I decided to watch for a while.

It seemed Nexu noticed, as well, since he curled his tail the other way.

Again, Alpine’s tail mimicked it.

He moved his to his left, and its went to its right: he moved his to his right, and its went to its left; Like this, he ended up playing with Alpine as though it were a mirror for several minutes.

Eventually, as heartwarming as the scene was, I decided to speak up.

“Are you quite finished?” I asked, an eye closed and my arms folded behind my back.

The two of them shot into a salute faster than I had ever seen them, prompting a burst of giggles from Asami. I waved my hand.

“In any case, Nexu, Asami, I would like you to… No, I will have you spar with Alpine.”

The three of them cocked their heads, looking at me with curiosity in their eyes. The same emotion seemed to dwell in many of the demons around.

“I am aware that your technique has improved,” I said towards Alpine, “but I want to see how you fare in actual combat. As for you two…”

I turned to the children, who had taken an ‘at attention’-like stance, side-by-side. From the corner of my eye, I saw Alpine mimic them.

“I have not seen you fight once. Although I know you have the Classes and skills, and I have the head instructor’s guarantee, I do not know your limits. If I do not know your limits, I cannot trust you.”

“Got it, mister demon king!” Asami said, throwing her hands up into the air.

“Got it,” Nexu said, nodding. “I’ll try to live up to your expectations.”

“Alright, master!” Alpine barked, making a gesture remarkably similar to Asami’s.

I started thinking about a reward for the victor as I shooed the trio to the centre of the training grounds.