With a use of Rock Shaping via Gnome’s ring, it was easy to create an impromptu stand for the familiar, black-bound book I produced from my [Storage]. To add, it did not require my hands, so I could keep my praying position.

Without any visible input from me—that is, using the skill [No-Attribute Magic]—I opened the book to a certain page.

As though praying to my beloved goddess, I chanted.

“By the powers vested within me,

I beseech thee to manifest,

Darkness darker than the night and blacker than all.

I beg thee to heed my request,

And let thy voice be heard though thou be far,

So I may prove my faith in thy pitch-black machinations.”

The moment the final word left my mouth, a magic circle appeared on the ground, shining a sinister black light. From what I could tell, it was composed entirely of mana that had not been there a moment earlier—that is, the mana had been transported there without actually crossing the distance. As it would have been with matter, this was fundamentally impossible, but I decided not to question it.

Although the complex geometric patterns and cryptic characters were not, by any means, comprehensible, I understood the circle’s function the moment it activated and a note appeared inside.

I unclasped my hands and used [No-Attribute Magic] to bring the note to my face.

It contained only a question mark.

“Are you listening, Lady Entropy?” I asked, a smirk taking over my expression.

Another note. “yes”.

I held back a chuckle. “In that case, Lady Entropy, I would greatly appreciate it if you could send something over to prove I am here in your name.”

Note. “why?”

“The chief of the drakonids and the Elven Council President seem… unwilling to take my word for granted. I shall give them a little credit for that.” I shrugged and gestured to them, quite sure the lovely girl was watching, too, not just listening.

Note. “five minutes”.

I could no longer hold it in, and let a chuckle escape my mouth.

“What’d she say?” Salamander asked, a hint of nervousness in her gaze.

“Mh… Proof?” Sylph followed up, her eyes half-lidded as usual.

“She has requested a moment of your patience,” I said, holding the last note up for the two of them to read.

Both goddesses stared at the note for several seconds, and Salamander narrowed her eyes. I presumed Sylph did not simply because her eyes could not get any more closed without impeding her vision.

“You can read this?” Salamander asked after a few more moments of silence, glancing at me a few times, but otherwise keeping her gaze firmly on the note. Her face showed traces of confusion and disbelief, and just a trace of familiarity—perhaps she recognised the handwriting?

“Lady Entropy’s handwriting is,” Sylph said, interrupting herself with a yawn. “Barely legible? I’m-” She tilted her head in what might have seemed like contemplative silence to anyone who did not know her. “Impressed you can read it?” She made a difficult expression and looked away from the note. Legible or not, it seemed she was done reading.

“Try talking a little faster next time,” Salamander said, likewise turning her eyes from the note. “By the time you finished that sentence, I’d have sworn I was gonna fall into your habit of falling asleep while others are talking. Washboard.”

Sylph narrowed her eyes in a rather more malicious way than her usual half-asleep scowl, and after a second or two, opened her mouth to talk. “ ‘S wrong with-” For the second time in perhaps a minute, a yawn interrupted her sentence. “Sleeping? At least,” another pause, several seconds of staring, “I don’t suggest a, uh-” Hesitation, as though searching for the right words. “Drinking bout while possessing-” She gestured to the drakonid shrine maiden. “-a minor? Cowtits.”

“For crying out loud—you know I meant after I—!”

Clap.

The sound of my hands coming together, enhanced by a simple strength-increasing skill, successfully attracted the quarrelling goddesses’ attention.

“Then what about this one?” I asked after I was sure I had their full focus, holding up the first note—the question mark.

“Hm… Some kind of-” A second of silence, leading into the second half of Sylph’s sentence. “Occult symbol, maybe?” She tilted her head the other way from before, causing her hair to cover one of her eyes.

“Sorry, Lord Astaroth, I have no clue,” Salamander said, a defeated expression on her face, and she slumped a little. Exaggerating for dramatic effect was not something I would have expected from a goddess, but she was certainly doing it.

I shook my head with a helpless shrug.

“For your information, the first one said ‘five minutes’, and the second one was a question mark,” I said, gesturing to the notes in turn.

Several gazes that did not belong to either goddess also drifted to the notes—that is, Tempest and both children also attempted to read them. Attributing it to natural curiosity, I decided to ignore them.

Instead, I focused my attention on the Elven Council President and the chief of the drakonids in an attempt to gauge their reactions to being told to wait by a strange demon with a crown.

Contrary to my expectations, they were frozen in place, staring at me. In an attempt to get them to return to reality, I clapped my hands once more.

“Ah!”

“Oh my~!”

It worked.

“If you are going to space out, do it on your own time. Unlike yours, mine is valuable,” I said, shaking my head.

“My apologies. I was simply amazed you could end their fight so quickly~,” the Elven Council President said, their sing-songy voice sticking around in my ears as though it were honey.

“Sorry ‘bout that, I was just—wait, the hell’s that supposed to mean?!” As one could expect, the drakonid chief’s angry, snappy shout quickly cleared out my ears.

“What do you think it means?” I asked, raising one corner of my mouth.

“Why you—!”

He flared his wings in what was probably an attempt to intimidate me.

I unfurled mine and spread them to either side, then wrapped them around the children sitting on either side of me, almost protectively.

Even like that, mine were a fair bit larger than his. “If you want to fight me,” I said, narrowing my eyes, “I would prefer you prove yourself to be on Davna’s level first.”

She peeked over the back of my wing from behind the couch and waved, an excited grin on her face.

The chief gulped, “Dragon…” and made as if to pull at the collar of a shirt he was not wearing.

My fun was interrupted by the glow of the magic circle, so I put my wings away. A trio of items, this time.

A note, same as the last few, an official-looking document, and some manner of accessory.

The document seemed to be in Lady Entropy’s handwriting, but though it was clearly a hasty draft, the handwriting was still leagues better than that on the notes. Some kind of permit, that granted me permission to do ‘whatever I felt necessary to maintain peace, in the name of Goddess of Darkness, Lady Entropy’, complete with official seal.

The accessory appeared to be the same as the one she wore in her hair—that is, an inverted cross, her holy symbol. Unlike hers, however, it was a brooch. I pinned it to my cape.

The note, in her regular handwriting. “enough?”

I presented the document to Sylph and Salamander.

“W-well, if she says so, I guess I have no choice but to accept it,” Salamander said, though the blush on her face all but revealed she appreciated the help.

Sylph, on the other hand, pouted and looked away. “Even though,” she said, “I could’ve handled it? Mph. Fine?”

I nodded. “Then, that will be all, Lady Entropy,” I said, and the magic circle disappeared.

The drakonid chief muttered something about the goddesses’ hierarchy, but I did not care to listen, so listen I did not.

“Then,” I said, assuming a manner-of-fact tone, “I will be extending you my hands in assistance, so I expect a non-zero return rate.”

“... Mph?” Sylph asked, canting her head to the side. Kind of cute.

“Lord Astaroth, what’s that mean?” Salamander followed up, looking into my eyes with genuine confusion on her face.

This, in turn, fueled a few doubts in me. I sighed.

“I am talking about rewards, rewards. Do you think I work for free?”

As long as the asking party was her, I certainly would be willing to work for free, but I saw no reason to mention that.

“Ah,” the goddesses said simultaneously.

“So? What can you offer?”

An interested smile played across my face, and I leaned forward, folding my hands together under my chin and resting my elbows on my knees.

Much to my surprise, I was forced to maintain that posture for several seconds as the goddesses racked their brains to come up with something.

“Hm,” Sylph voiced out eventually, “I’ll be-” She interrupted herself with a yawn. “Grateful?”

“Since I can’t come up with anything better, I’ll promise you my monsters won’t attack you or your country,” Salamander said, her expression revealing she was entirely aware how worthless that promise was.

For a few seconds, I sat in silence, then grinned—and stood up.

“I am leaving,” I said, and by the time I finished my sentence, I was already at the door.

My first step outside the door was impeded by two hands and a claw, which I swiftly pushed off of me. I did, however, stop in my tracks and turn around.

“Come on, don’t be like that, Lord Astaroth,” Salamander said, forcing a smile that was so fake I almost burst into laughter.

“Come, come, let us negotiate a little more~,” the Elven Council President said, tilting their head and looking straight into my eyes.

“You’re the only one who can keep these two in line, so please,” the drakonids’ chief said, genuine desperation in his eyes.

Sylph simply looked on, as disinterested and sleepy as ever.

I leaned my back against the doorframe and directed my gaze to my fingers. “Hmph,” I said, “Fine, then. In exchange for the worthless, vapid concept called ‘gratitude’ and the farce you call a reward that is a non-aggression pact from creatures that are obligated to follow all my orders anyway…”

I paused for several seconds for emphasis, then raised my gaze and contorted my mouth into a sneer.

“I could perhaps drive the drakonids to extinction or burn down the whole forest.”

Everyone in the room who did not already have a face pale as snow swiftly gained one.

Salamander placed a hand on my shoulder. “Anything but that,” she said.

“Don’t,” Sylph said, moving towards me with heretofore-unseen speed and putting a hand on my other shoulder.

“Then pay up.”

My Demon Generals regained the colour in their faces, apparently having seen through my rather transparent plan. If anything, I was a little surprised it had taken them this long.

“Even if you say that, I don’t…” Salamander said, awkwardly scratching her cheek.

“Name… A price?” Sylph said, staring at me from far too close in what seemed to be… no, in what was definitely a plea to leave her forest intact.

I gently nudged Sylph away and pointed to the symbol on my cheek. “I did not expect you to have this much trouble figuring it out… Frankly, I am worried about the world, but…”

“A Fragment?” Sylph asked after a few seconds of silence, canting her head to the side.

“Ah, of course!” Salamander said, her eyes lighting up. “Ah, that reminds me. I found an Aspect you two are looking for, so I can give that to you, too, while we’re at it.”

“... ‘Found’?”

“Ah, well, you know,” the drakonids’ chief spoke up, “a Saint attacked us, so we—”

“I can imagine from there,” I said, raising my hand. Given the Saints’ planned locations I had learned from the Barrier Hero, that would likely have been the Saint of Divine Reinforcement, Sarandiel.

If anything, I was rather glad I would not have to meet her.

“Rather than that,” I said, “I cannot help but wonder why she attacked you…”

Although the Hero’s torture certainly had revealed the Saints’ planned movements, he had not known the reason for the plans, leaving me with a gap in my knowledge.

“I’m not sure, honestly,” Salamander said, shaking her head.

“... Right.”

I turned my attention to the two mortal leaders.

“Of course, I will be expecting separate rewards from the two of you.”

“S… Separate?” the chief of the drakonids asked, looking a little scared.

“What, it is nothing much. I want you to teach Nexu how to use his spiritsight properly—” I gestured to him for emphasis— “I want both of your shrine maidens to teach Asami a few techniques—” Once more I gestured, this time to her— “And I want you drakonids to teach Alpine some more claw techniques.” I gestured to it, as well.

Then I turned, and spread my mana around the two of them so densely it was likely visible. “There is no problem, right?”

“Spiritsight, is it~?” the Elven Council President said, sing-songy as ever, though I could swear I saw a bead of cold sweat on their forehead. “A gifted one outside of us elves, how rare~ Though, I am afraid I cannot speak on Feno’s behalf.”

“T-The doggy’s claws, is it? Sure, sure,” the drakonids’ chief said, “we can do that. We can do that, sure. But I can’t speak for Ilgri. You’ll have to ask her about the shrine maiden stuff.”

Thus I learned the names of the shrine maidens.

“Very well, then,” I said, chuckling to myself. “In exchange for the agreed price, I shall solve your problems for you.”

I spread my arms wide, and my sneer contorted into a wicked grin.

“In the name of the Goddess of Darkness, Entropy, I shall show you that you have made the right choice. I shall show you the might of the future demon king, Astaroth!”