I sat upon the ‘bed’ of leaves, gazing blankly at the sunset outside.

Dinner had been…

No comment.

The less-than-comfortable nature of the bed made resting rather difficult, but I tried my best anyway.

There was no time to do anything truly productive, so resting was really the only thing I could do, and even that was not going particularly well—in short, it was far from an ideal situation.

While I was thinking about such useless things, a knock sounded from the door. After a few moments, it was not followed by a kick, so I judged it was not Davna.

“Come in,” I said, narrowing my eyes into my usual sneer.

To my surprise, it was Davna. I dropped the sneer and gestured for her to come inside.

She did, followed by Charlotte.

“Uh… You told us to come, so here we are!”

“At thy r’quest, we pr’sent ourselves. What is thy will, Your Highness?”

“Hmph. There is no particular need to stand at attention or anything. Think of this as…”

No actual examples came to mind.

“... Nevermind. In any case. Sit, sit.”

As directed, the two of them sat next to me—Davna next to me, and Charlotte next to her.

From their faces, they disliked the bed as much as I did, but it could not be helped.

“Then, Your Highness, I shall ask once more,” Charlotte said, fidgeting—it seemed she was trying hard to find a comfortable perch. “Might I inquire as t’ the reas’n for our summ’ning?”

“You may, and I will answer. Well, that said, Charlotte… It would not be inaccurate to describe you as moral support.”

“Moral s’pport…”

I cleared my throat at her inquisitive gaze, and then turned my attention to Davna.

“Davna.”

“What is it, Master?”

A moment of… hesitation, almost, before I worked up the courage to keep speaking.

“Davna, do you… Are you aware of a typical family structure?”

“Your Highness, surely thou dost not intend t’—?!”

“What, you would rather I hide it from her forever?”

“W-Well… Nay…”

I could not fault Charlotte for being flustered. Even I had my doubts about this course of action, of course.

But… If not now, then when? When she turned ten? Eighteen? Some other arbitrary number?

No. We had killed the man today, so today I would tell her.

“Where’d that come from, Master? Mmh… Anyway, I think so. You’ve got a daddy and a mommy, right? And then one or more kids. But I’m a dragon, so that doesn’t…”

I averted my gaze, placed a hand on her head. “Well, that structure is indeed the most common. But the second part of that is not correct.”

“Wh-what?”

“Dragons… Just like any species, dragons have parents. And like many, they nurture their young.”

“Wh-what does that mean, Master…?”

I reached over with my free hand to hold hers. Small, soft and chubby—indeed, truly the hand of a child. A child who deserved a normal childhood.

“Davna. Do you remember… Do you remember when you hatched?”

“Mhm. You were the first person I saw, Master. I didn’t have [Humanisation] back then, so I think I barrelled you over a bunch…”

“Indeed, I remember that, as well. I never could beat your dragon form when it came to physical strength… Actually, I think that still holds. In any case… I have told you before that I… found your egg, and incubated it using fire-attribute magic, yes?”

“Mhm. You said it was really hard.”

“It was. Dragon eggs take a surprising amount of heat to incubate, you know? Especially those of Red Dragons.”

Her free hand sought company. Both of mine were occupied, so Charlotte took it, instead, and squeezed it tight. As though to say, ‘I’m here. I’m right here.’

“Davna,” I said, deciding to stop beating around the bush, “dragon eggs… To put it simply, they do not come from nothing. Normally speaking, dragon eggs are incubated by dragons and dragons are raised by dragons.”

“By… dragons…”

“Davna. Your parents, they were… They were killed. ‘Slain’. By a man who called himself a ‘dragonslayer’. And you know what, Davna? Today, we killed that man.”

“We… We killed him?”

“The fire giant… Well, no, the drakonid who turned into the fire giant.”

“Are you… Are you sure?”

I could still not bring myself to look at her face. Instead, I imitated Charlotte and squeezed Davna’s innocent little hand. ‘I am here.’

She squeezed back. ‘Stay with me.’

“Entirely. I could never forget his face. I could never do that to you.”

“So, we… We took…”

“Yes. We took revenge, Davna. Revenge for the parents you never met.”

I could not bring myself to look, but I certainly felt a drop of liquid fall onto my glove. And thus, after a few seconds—

Davna freed her hands from our grasps and wrapped her arms around my back. Without a sound, her tears flowed onto my clothing.

I could not imagine the hug was very comfortable, given my uniform, but I could not help but wrap my arms around her back, too.

‘I am here for you.’

‘Stay with me.’

‘I will.’

And thus, with Charlotte patting her back, the little dragon kept up her silent sobs until the moment she fell asleep. Since I did not exactly want to separate her from me, I ended up letting her sleep in my bed.

In the end, the inhuman monster could not tell what emotion lay behind his daughter’s tears. Was it regret, that she could not meet her parents? Was it sorrow over their deaths? Was it happiness at the prospect of having taken revenge?

Perhaps it was a mixture of all three.

The next morning, shortly after breakfast.

I had constructed a grand stage of darkness from which I could address a large number of people.

These ‘people’, then, were—

A large crowd of elves and drakonids. It would not surprise me if it contained the entire encampment of drakonids and every last elf from the capital.

On the stage, meanwhile, stood I, my entourage and a few others.

“Dear populace of Ethalia and the united tribes,” I said, a thin sneer on my face, my hands spread like a preaching saint and my wings wrapped around my dear, dear underlings. “As I am sure you are already aware, I am Prince of Darkness, Astaroth… Now and forevermore ruler of Eskaria.”

To say the crowd was distrustful would be an understatement, although the members I recognised from the nations’ upper echelons seemed more resigned than anything else.

I clapped my hands, at which the Elven Council President and the chief of the drakonids—I had still not bothered to learn their names—stepped forward.

“It brings me great joy to announce,” I said, cordially wrapping my arms around their shoulders, “that from this point forward, we will be forming a pact called the Alliance of the Divine Throne. As a token of my… goodwill, I shall be sending both of your nations several squadrons of Living Armours to assist with your border security. There is no room for refusal.”

A thoroughly suspicious thing to say. Yet it was easy to tell at a glance that my audience was hardly even listening to the second sentence.

This was inherently a good thing, but the reason was less fantastic.

“As if we’re gonna ally with those lazy-ass elves!”

“That’s called being relaxed, you hotheaded piece of—”

“Silence,” Charlotte proclaimed, “Silence, silence! You are in the pres’nce o’ he who stands at the v’ry top o’ this world! ‘Twould be fitting o’ ye t’ prostrate yourselv’s, but at the v’ry least you should list’n!”

Her voice, rather loud for her small frame, did an excellent job at shutting up the crowd.

“Good work, Charlotte,” I said, and then turned my attention back to the crowd. “Now, I know this is hard to accept,” I said, removing my hands from the leaders’ shoulders and taking a step forward, “but I am afraid you have no choice. After all, this is something the goddesses themselves have decreed.”

Before I noticed, the two of them stood by my side.

“Everyone get along, okay?” Salamander said, a big smile on her face.

Given she was right next to me, it was not hard to tell she was faking the expression, but it was probably convincing enough from a distance.

“Mhm,” Sylph said, nodding with her usual expression. “Fighting is, bad?”

As expected, the assembly of a pair of goddesses, each at ‘100’, and me, now somewhere around ‘400’, was convincing.

Yet there was still one person, in particular, who seemed particularly reluctant.

The Elven Council Vice-President, if I recalled correctly.

That said, I could not be bothered to remember her name.

“Oh my,” I said, taking another step forwards. “It appears there is yet someone who is dissatisfied. A member of the Elven Council, no less. We cannot have that.” She did not seem to realise I meant her, so I called her out. “Is that not right, miss Vice-President?”

“O-oh? You concern yourself with a single citizen’s opinion? Eskaria must be a good nation to live in,” she said, maintaining her business-like smile even despite her surprise.

“Oh, you are not a mere single citizen,” I said, nonchalantly pouring some mana into Sylph’s ring. “You are the second-most important person in the entire nation, no?”

With the spell [Wind-Attribute Magic: Air Hold], it was not very hard to lift her up and bring her to me. “Thus,” I continued, “a situation in which you are dissatisfied is… troubling, no? Come, now. Tell me your worries. I shall listen.”

She eyed the chief, who was now rather close to her, the large number of drakonids in the crowd, and most of all, Salamander, before gulping down her saliva and averting her gaze. “N… No, I do not think I should…”

“Nonsense, nonsense. There is no such thing as an inferior or a superior opinion.”

A blunt, bare-faced lie. That was not what I thought at all. Not in the slightest. I closed my eyes, a smile on my lips.

“Now spit it out.”

“Y-yes! I do believe that drakonids, as a result of their general short temper, are inferior to elves, but recently, I have also started theorising that this belief might be the result of an inferiority complex! … Wait, why’d I say all that?!”

Well, there was no way a non-combatant like her could be stronger than the equivalent of ninth rank or higher, after all.

Subtly, my smile shifted into a smirk. “I am sure Salamander and the drakonids appreciate your honesty,” I said, my voice sweet like honey, as I gently lowered her back into the crowd. “With that little problem taken care of,” I said, turning my attention back to the crowd as a whole, “the time has come for us to take our leave. Please look forward to the Living Armours. By all means, do give them a warm welcome when they appear.”

I turned on my heel, cape fluttering behind me, and walked away.

“Your Highness.”

Despite the both of us being mid-flight, Charlotte managed a picture-perfect curtsy as she approached me.

“May I p’rhaps have just a mom’nt of thy time?”

“Go ahead.”

“I would much like t’ pr’pare a prop’r cel’bration f’r thy new growth.”

“Oh… So you would like to go on ahead to make preparations, is it?”

“Yea. I know ‘tis terr’bly rude o’ me t’ go ahead of thee, but…”

“It is for my sake, no? I have no reason to stop you.”

“Thou hast my et’rnal thanks, Your Highness.”

Within the blink of an eye, she was on the ground, where she soon disappeared into a shadow.

At the castle was, perhaps predictably, a welcoming committee of maids grey and blue.

I completely ignored them, flew right past and landed in front of my beloved white-haired, black-robed goddess.

Though the maids said something to me, I was in no state to listen, and I wrapped my arms around Lady Entropy, tight as I could, pulling her towards me and wrapping my wings around her.

“As, taroth…?”

“I have learned of your suffering, of your plight. On the name I gave myself and on the title you bestowed upon me, I swear…”

I separated just a little, so I could make eye contact.

“I swear I shall take this world and present it to you. I will return you to your throne, even if I have to remake this world with my own two hands. And I will take place on a throne of my own, right beside you.”

“Ah… I see. But, ‘remaking’ the world means, breaking it first, right…? I don’t want to see that. So, I’ll wait for you. But… Don’t break it. And… Don’t break yourself, most of all.”

“Hmph. If I broke myself, I could not sit by your side, could I? Regardless—I present to you, my beloved goddess, a symbol of my oath.”

Without awaiting her reaction, I produced the second pair of earrings from my [Storage] and clipped them onto her ears.

“Yes… As I thought they would, they look good on you, Lady Entropy.”

Her gaze flitted over to my ears for a moment, and then dropped as low as it would go.

With that taken care of, I rose to my feet and returned my wings to myself, folding them up behind me, to find—

There was no one around who was not looking at us.

“What are you looking at? You have work to do, no? Scram.”

It was not as though I disliked my maids, but getting stared at was… whether it was pleasant or unpleasant depended largely on the reason.

“Ah- I’m terribly sorry, Master Astaroth,” the nearest maid said, “it’s just, you were captivating, and…”

“Enough excuses. Get lost. Go help Charlotte or something. Even she cannot prepare a whole party on her own.”

“Ah- Yes, Your Highness!”

Their initial words were probably something about keeping me away until Charlotte finished her preparations, but it seemed my orders had made them aware I already knew that.

And thus, all the maids left—

Not. I grabbed one by the scruff of her neck.

“It seems Charlotte is holding a formidably high-class party tonight. Putting my clothing aside, my Demon Generals can probably handle themselves, but a few of you should lend Asami and Nexu a hand.”

“Of course. As you wish, Your Highness. Lady Asami, Lord Nexu, please come this way…”

She led the pair away, and Alpine followed as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

I turned to my Demon Generals, this time. “Well? A military uniform like mine is one thing, if a little dull, but you cannot exactly show up wearing a labcoat or just your scales.”

“... Ah.” Tempest seemed to realise that, within this group, she was the most responsible one—a tragic state of affairs, really—so she led Davna and Navillus away.

I could not shake the feeling Lady Entropy was staring at me, so I once more directed my attention to her. “Is something the matter?”

“You got a spirit? She’s cute. What’d you name her?” She gestured to Nyx.

Nyx, in return, waved at Lady Entropy, and as if boasting, puffed out her chest. “Oberon decided to call me Nyx!”

I heard Lady Entropy mutter something to herself about ‘Oberon’, but more importantly, I could tell with certainty that Nyx was not the only thing she had been thinking about.

“There is something else, is there not?”

She turned her eyes away. “You said it yourself just now, didn’t you? A military uniform… Well, it suits you, and it makes you look handsome and cool. But at the same time, it’s a little dull. I’d like to see you wear something nicer, I think.”

It seems Nyx’s presence does not inhibit her speech as much as others do… Perhaps it is because she is a spirit?

…

…

Wait, what is with that ridiculously adorable request?!

“If you put it like that, Lady Entropy, there is no way I could refuse, is there…”

With a wry smile on my face, I summoned a maid and had her guide me to my quarters using a path that would ensure I did not see anything I was not supposed to.