TWEM Vol. 7 Chapter 8 Part 1
Chapter 8 – The Demons’ Problem
Soon after, Tendo and I were hired as attendants to the Demon King.
The next day, Fran gathered the castle servants and introduced us.
“These are Haru and Ten. The two of them infiltrated this Demon King’s castle and made their way to me. Haru has powers equal to or greater than mine. The other one is a little… inferior, but he still has considerable power. Hence, I have decided to hire these two as my attendants.”
The demons were hurling hostility at me, but I brushed them off like a wind.
We were intruders who suddenly appeared and became the Demon King’s attendants, so it was no wonder they didn’t like us.
Anyway, after that introduction, we went to Fran’s office — I was currently relaxing on the sofa while watching Fran do paperwork.
You might be wondering if this was fine, but Fran herself didn’t say anything, so there shouldn’t be any problem.
I took out some sweets, a teapot, and cups from the alternate dimension storage.
Then, Tendo, who had been staring at me intently, finally spoke up.
“Hey, don’t tell me you’re eating here…?”
“Of course not. I mean, we all need snack time, right?”
“But this is how Fran does her job…”
I looked at Fran, thinking that she didn’t say anything, and she looked at me with an envious look.
“…Hey Haru. What are you doing?”
“Hmm? As you can see, it’s tea time. Let’s—”
“Eat!”
“—Ah, okay…”
When she said “Eat!” in a greedy way, I was a little speechless.
Fran put away her papers and sat down next to me.
The snacks I was about to eat were pancakes that Asha had made for me.
Time did not flow for the items stored in the storage space, so the food and sweets could be served freshly prepared!
“Here you go. My mouth is a bit dry, so I’ll have something to drink as well.”
I handed the plate with the pancakes to Fran and placed a teacup on the table.
I took out a plate of pancakes for Tendo and one for myself and began to eat.
“Haruto, are these by any chance homemade by Asha…?”
“Yeah, I get it. Aren’t they great?”
“As expected of Asha. They’re so fluffy. And this honey is exquisite, too.”
“I prefer maple syrup though.”
“Well, that’s a matter of preference. So, Fran, as for the taste…”
As I said this, I looked at Fran and stopped talking.
Fran had taken a bite of the pancakes and her face had stiffened.
I looked at her for a while, wondering if it wasn’t to her liking, and then she spoke with an impressed look on her face.
“Wh-What, what are these amazing pancakes!? The moment they enter your mouth, the fluffy texture. And the syrup on top… these are the best pancakes…!”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Yes. I’m satisfied. But it looks like it’s freshly made…?”
“This?”
I took out something appropriate from the storage in another dimension and showed it to her.
“It’s storage magic, right? But storage magic doesn’t stop time, right?”
“Ah, this isn’t magic, it’s a unique skill. Time does not flow. This is how you can preserve freshly made food.”
“Damn, I’m jealous…!”
“You can put anything in it except for living things, and there’s no limit to how much you can store, so it’s pretty convenient.”
Fran looked dumbfounded.
“Hmm… Usually storage magic and magical items have a large capacity and time doesn’t stop. I feel like I’ve been shown something completely unreasonable.”
“Fran, Haruto is a bundle of unreasonableness.”
“Hey Tendo, I’m never going to feed you Asha’s cooking again, okay?”
“I’m sorry, please forgive me! Please spare me Asha’s cooking!”
Everyone, including me, was obsessed with Asha’s cooking.
I laughed when I saw Tendo with a desperate look on his face, desperately begging for forgiveness.
“Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter if people call me unreasonable or inhuman.”
After enjoying tea time for a while, Fran started working on her paperwork again.
～
A few moments later, there was a vigorous knock at the door.
It was a little too loud to be called a knock.
“It’s urgent, Demon King-sama!”
Perhaps it was a messenger. Judging from the voice through the door, they seemed to be in a great hurry.
The three of us looked at each other.
“Tendo and I will be watching quietly from behind.”
“Okay.”
After making sure that we moved away from our chair, Fran asked the person on the other side of the door to enter the room.
“Excuse me!”
A soldier came in, in a shabby state. He must have run all the way here, as he was breathing heavily and his face was tired.
“You need to calm down first.”
“No, no, th, that’s not the time for that…”
“Is it really that urgent? Tell me.”
“Yes! The Four Heavenly Kings, Gyuray-sama and Lauren-sama, have raised their troops and began their march on the Demon King castle!”
“What!?”
Fran spoke up at the shocking revelation.
Fran wasn’t the only one. Even Tendo and I were surprised.
I’ve never seen the two of the Four Heavenly Kings mentioned, but I heard from Fran that they were currently guarding the fort.
“Is that true?”
Fran’s pressure grew.
The soldier nodded in approval, though he was flustered.
“It’s true! The combined force is 15,000 demons and 5,000 monsters, for a total of about 20,000!”
“T-Twenty thousand?!”
I asked Fran, who looked flustered.
“What is our current military strength?”
Fran and I met each other’s eyes, and she quietly told me the number.
“There are many people in Delzas, but we only have about 4,000 soldiers. Gyuray and the others are aiming for the position of Demon King, so they probably won’t lay hands on the people… but that won’t necessarily be the case if they fight.”
“Why not just give up the position of Demon King?”
“If that happens, the demons will have to invade the human territories.”
“Tch, what a pain in the ass…”
I blurted out my true feelings without thinking. Tendo next to me glared at me, but I didn’t care.
“Anyway, I understand the situation. How long will they take?”
“Th, They’re heading from the fort, so they should arrive within four days at the earliest, and about a week at the latest.”
“I understand. I know you’re tired, but please inform everyone in the castle of the situation and tell them to fortify their defenses.”
“Understood. Well then, I’ll be off!”
The soldier quickly left.