Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. – Chapter 136 – ‘Are There Any First-Servant Benefits?’

Author: Cireng

Chapter 136 — ‘Are There Any First-Servant Benefits?’

‘Which labyrinth should I conquer next?’

I had already been excitedly wrestling with that delightful dilemma, but after hearing the Saintess’s prophecy that I would soon experience something enjoyable, my heart beat even faster.

I had narrowed it down to three candidates.

“I honestly can’t decide, so I want you two to hear them and choose for me.”

After celebrating our successful conquest of the Tower of Trials by grilling and eating our fill of meat for dinner, I sipped Abel’s special tea for dessert and spoke to the siblings.

“The first labyrinth isn’t very hard on the body, but it’ll make you suffer quite a lot mentally.”

“How much? Please express it using a scale where the minimum danger is 1 and the maximum is 10, relative to our soul rank.”

After giving it some serious thought, I answered.

“I’d say mental danger level six, physical danger level one.”

“I’m still not sure I can picture it… Let’s hear all of them first.”

“Very well.”

Taking another sip of tea, I continued.

“The second labyrinth is mentally relaxing, but it’ll thoroughly abuse your body. Mental danger level one, physical danger level seven.”

“…You really have no intention of entering any labyrinth that ‘doesn’t’ make you suffer, do you?”

“More accurately, I simply don’t like places where the rewards aren’t proportional to the hardships. I don’t want to go through meaningless suffering either.”

“I figured….”

Marlin picked up another piece of meat and looked at me strangely.

“The way you’re looking at your patron is becoming increasingly disrespectful. Couldn’t you at least put a little admiration into it?”

“Then please do something worthy of respect as an adult.”

“I understand.”

I picked up my fork and stabbed a piece of cucumber salad Abel had made for Rachel.

“See?”

“…See what?”

“I don’t like cucumbers, but I endured it and ate one anyway. Isn’t that exactly the kind of dignified act only an adult can accomplish?”

“…”

The siblings fell silent. Rachel, who had been washing the empty dishes, seized the opportunity to shout.

“That was amazing, Sir Cultist!”

“It’s nothing. I’m an adult, after all.”

I waved toward the enthusiastic maid-agent before pointing my fork at Marlin.

“Can you guess what the third labyrinth is like?”

“Well, I’m guessing it’s one where both your body and your mind suffer equally, with danger level five for each.”

“My goodness, you’re a genius. I never expected you to guess correctly on your first try.”

“…Would you stop saying ‘my goodness’? It makes everything sound like a joke.”

She grumbled, but her tail was wagging.

“What rank are these labyrinths?”

Handing homemade pudding to his sister for dessert, Abel asked.

“They’re all C-rank. More specifically, they’re among the highest-tier C-rank labyrinths. In practice, they’re harder to conquer than the Tower of Trials.”

“Hmm… Since I’m a beastman, I think I’d rather put my body through hardship than my mind.”

“Me too!”

“I see. Since we’re talking about it, shall we settle it by majority vote?”

A capable expedition leader always listened to the opinions of the party members as much as possible.

“Abel, come with me.”

“Yes.”

“What about me?”

I lightly poked Marlin’s forehead with my index finger as she happily munched on pudding.

“You’ll go with Rachel and walk around crowded places like the marketplace while getting used to the Heaven’s Ear techniques the Saintess taught you.”

Once she fully mastered it, Marlin would finally establish herself as a reliable explorer within the party.

“Rachel, please keep Marlin company.”

“Understood!”

***

Abel and I headed to Odilon’s mansion and visited the members one by one to ask for their opinions.

“The third.”

Rosalia answered with a single sentence before taking a cup of Abel’s poisonous herb tea.

The next voters, Pendrick and Astrimia, chose the first labyrinth, the mentally difficult one, completely opposite to what the siblings had chosen, though for different reasons.

“A swordsman must never neglect mental training alongside physical training. Sir Brunelda taught me that. Speaking of which, back when I lived on the Eastern Continent…”

“Our bodies suffered plenty in the Tower of Trials, so shouldn’t we rest this time?”

Meanwhile, true to being a genuine explorer, Bartimir proudly cast his precious vote for the labyrinth that challenged both body and mind.

“Obviously, the third labyrinth! A real labyrinth should be equally miserable in every way!”

That left the votes tied: 2: 2: 2

However, Lucius, the final voter, declared that he would completely follow my judgment.

Abel chuckled.

“So in the end, Patron, you’re the one making the decision.”

“So it seems.”

“Which one do you prefer?”

“Honestly… I want to visit all three.”

“You’re rather greedy.”

The dilemma deepened.

Why did I only have one body? If I could split myself into three, I could explore all three labyrinths simultaneously and endure three times as much hardship.

[Request: If you’re going to keep thinking, then think while reading books at the library as you promised.]

Come to think of it, after clearing the Tower of Trials, I had promised to perform an act of devotion for Lord Lidni at the library.

Since I couldn’t decide immediately anyway, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to contemplate things in an environment that would please the Wise One.

“My daughter, I’m heading to the library. Would you like to come with me?”

“The library? Sounds good. It’s a ‘negative place’ for me. Let’s go!”

The kind-looking demon linked his arm with mine and began walking enthusiastically.

As Abel hurried after us, he asked Bartimir,

“Why is the library a negative place?”

“Because it’s full of books. I hate books that aren’t grimoires of Mysteries; they’re boring. That’s why it’s a good place for me.”

“…Does that apply to all demons?”

“No. What matters is whether you yourself perceive it as negative. It’s the worst place imaginable for me, but it might be a positive place for someone else.”

“…”

Abel narrowed his eyes.

“Wait a minute. Sir Bartimir, don’t you collect mental and physical calamities because they’re negative elements that strengthen your body?”

“That’s right.”

“Then… does that mean you actually consider curses and diseases to be ‘bad things’?”

“…?”

Bartimir tilted his head slightly.

“Of course. Who in the world thinks curses and diseases are good things?”

“…”

Walking to Bartimir’s right, Abel quietly moved over to my left side.

Before long, we arrived in front of an old building near the central plaza of District Six.

World Tree’s Leaf: An old but elegant library that Abel and I had visited before.

“I come here often. There are quite a few good books.”

“I wish Marlin were even half as devoted to reading as you are.”

Crackle!

“So you want to burn the entire library down? To Lord Lidni, that’s no different from killing every handsome intelligent being.”

Squirm.

“So you’re saying if we killed them all and revived them as undead, both Lord Su’eje and Lord Lriria would be satisfied? But becoming undead slightly damages one’s appearance, so only the Exalted One would lose out.”

Listening carefully to the wills of the Evil Gods, I stepped inside.

Jingle.

A cheerful doorbell rang overhead.

“Welcome….”

The moment we entered, the demon sitting behind the reception counter slowly bowed.

Abel flinched and grabbed my wrist.

“…Who are you?”

“I’m the librarian….”

“I’ve used this place many times, but this is my first time seeing you.”

“I’ve skipped work quite a lot….”

The demon dragged out both her words and her movements.

As I watched the librarian, Truthy suddenly paused before displaying text.

[Kiji Kirili (Demon, 1,289 years old). Librarian of the library World Tree’s Leaf. She looked familiar… and sure enough, she’s the very same librarian we met in the Library of Sin!]

The demon librarian whom I had encountered as a wandering spirit inside the hidden Ancient Archives of the Library of Sin. Just as she had said when we parted, we truly had met again “next time.”

“…So it really was you, Librarian.”

After I explained who she was, Abel looked surprised for the second time.

Librarian Kiji slowly asked me,

“Have… we met before…?”

“You appeared as a spirit in the Library of Sin.”

“The era of the Great Holy War… Then I really was quite young….”

The lazy demon blankly stared up at the ceiling.

“I used to be so passionate back then…. Time really changes everything….”

“You don’t seem all that different from back then.”

Abel quietly muttered, but Librarian Kiji paid him no attention and merely reminisced about the old days.

“Sir Bartimir, do demons normally live this long?”

“If they live in an environment overflowing with negative concepts, they can outlive even elves.”

“That’s right….”

Returning from her memories, the demon slumped over the reception desk.

“I’m surrounded every day by the terrible concept known as ‘work’….”

A demon who survived by consuming work-related stress every single day. Until Librarian Kiji finally retired, she would almost certainly never die of old age.

“Please… enjoy yourselves and head home when you’re done….”

“Of course. We’ll stay until closing time.”

“Ahhh…!”

“Do you have any new books?”

“I’ll show you….”

Following the librarian, we walked between the bookshelves near the entrance. Countless spotless books rested on the shelves without a speck of dust.

The Fatal Tragedy of a Yawn

The Young Deer and the Rotten Giant

On Lord Talendros’s Gold Tooth

Everywhere were books with bizarre titles and genres that Lord Lidni adored.

[The Wise One has become excited! I’ll mark the books He especially wants you to read.]

Truthy displayed arrows above several books. Just as I selected a few and picked them up…

“Huh?”

Abel suddenly stared somewhere and spoke.

Following his gaze, I turned my head.

Curled up in a secluded corner of the library was a small animal. Without even bothering to stop reading, Bartimir glanced over and tilted his head slightly.

“A cat?”

“Do you keep it here?”

“No….”

Librarian Kiji slowly shook her head.

“It just wandered in all of a sudden…. And it’s not a cat. It’s a lion.”

“A lion cub in the middle of the city?”

“Maybe it escaped from the ecological park in District Five….”

“Or maybe it belonged to a noble in District One.”

While the two demons offered their theories, I simply stared blankly at the lion cub.

I couldn’t help it.

[The Nameless Demon King Freed from His Seal (Demon, ??? years old). ???? …What?]

“…Your Majesty?”

Why are you here?

— ……

The lion cub slowly turned its head toward me, walked over, looked up at me carefully, and spoke.

— You’re the blond half-elf who freed me from my seal.

The chatting demons instantly fell silent, and Abel’s tail stood straight up.

Not because it was unusual for a lion to speak. It was because the tiny lion cub radiated an overwhelmingly ominous aura. It was a completely unexpected situation, but I calmly bowed.

“Your Majesty… Didn’t you return to the Demon Realm?”

The game’s story had never revealed what became of the Nameless Demon King after his seal was broken.

Even Kato Roger’s MiTube channel, which delighted in revealing every pointless little setting imaginable, had never mentioned this.

From here onward, even I was entering unknown territory.

— A great many things happened.

The lion cub in the form of the Nameless Demon King looked somewhat dejected.

— The Demon Realm… had completely collapsed….

“…”

By the present era, that was as obvious a fact as saying,

“The Evil Gods are weak deities.”

— So I returned to the Middle Realm for now. My true appearance draws too much attention, so I’m taking this form instead. Embarrassingly enough, circumstances don’t allow me to maintain the dignity expected of a Demon King.

“What brought you to this library?”

— I wandered the streets aimlessly and eventually walked in. There was a strong scent of my own kind here.

“…The Demon King? Your own kind?”

Already utterly confused, Kiji looked even more bewildered.

— It caught me by surprise, but seeing you again means the situation isn’t quite so bleak after all.

The Demon King’s gloomy expression gradually brightened.

— If the Demon Realm has fallen, that simply means I can rebuild it however I wish!

Crack… crack…

With the sounds of muscles and bones reshaping themselves, the lion cub transformed into a naked demon.

“Half-elf. Since you freed me from my seal, I shall grant you an opportunity.”

The Demon King slowly walked over and extended his right hand.

“Join me in the noble journey to restore the Demon Realm… and take revenge upon those who betrayed and sealed me.”