I"ve come to the Oth.e.l.l Forest today for a quest. It took about five hours by carriage to get here from the imperial city of Minerva.
Even though it"s still the middle of the day, the sunlight can"t quite get through so it"s rather dreary. Sometimes monster growls can be heard, making it a creepy forest.
My rank has risen to C.
Last time at the Aquarain mansion, I learned that Hero-kun had also fallen in love with Cecilia.
I realized it would bad for me to keep on like I was, and I wanted to shorten the difference between Hero-kun and myself even if only a little bit.
So I came to the forest today to slay a rank C monster — c.o.c.katrice — who was causing trouble in the area.
"Geez, petrifying the nearby villagers impulsively at random...just what is it trying to do?"
The c.o.c.katrice is a monster with the power of petrification.
But, because it doesn"t have any other noteworthy abilities, it"s only rank C.
Still, it was a fearsome enough monster for your average villager.
After walking in the forest a while and doing a little bushwhacking, I heard a noise from the bushes ahead.
I stayed vigilant and slowly approached the bush.
“Woah!”
Suddenly, a headless knight jumped out sword swinging.
I avoided the sword with a backstep, and put some distance between us.
With my specialty magic I thought I"d trample him, but...
“....Huh?”
"...What the? Captain, is that you?"
Now that I get a good look this guy was one of my underlings at the Demon Castle: the Duke of Dullahan. The head he was holding to his right had a surprised look.
"I knew it was you, Captain! What happened to your horns and wings? Wait, before that, where have you been all this time? The Captain who never left his room was suddenly missing, the Hero vanquished the Demon Lord, we were all so worried!"
"Eh? Calm down first. Before I get to your questions, why are you here?"
When Cecilia persuaded me that day, there wasn"t a moment to spare, so I ended up leaving the Demon Castle without saying a word.
Could it be that the others survived?
"I was searching for you, Captain! Hapyneth and Sheik too, we were all really worried about you!"
Hapyneth is a harpy, and Sheik is a pixie, both of whom were also my former underlings.
"Are they also here in this forest?"
"Yeah, today we decided to search for you here. We planned to rendezvous just a little ways from here. Let"s go, Captain!"
I hadn"t seen my old underlings in so long, I really wanted to see them again.
Plus, they"d been searching for me all this time.
How could I refuse to meet with them after that?
So Duke led the way, and we arrived at the rendezvous point.
"...Alive..."
"Hooray~! It"s the Captain~!"
There was Hapyneth and Sheik, just like Duke said.
Hapyneth narrowed her eyes and looked away, while Sheik had a big smile and gave me a hug.
"...You guys were still alive?"
When the Demon Lord was vanquished by the Hero, I was worried that these guys had been done in as well.
I"m glad they were able to make it out alive.
Angry at my words, standing proud with his legs apart and a hand at his hip, Duke rebelliously replied,
"Don"t write us off so easily!"
According to them, that day when the Hero Party came, because I always commanded them to dump the party at the nearby village, they were on standby in another room.
However, no matter how long they waited, I never called for them. Becoming worried, they checked on me in my room and...
“...Captain was gone.”
Hapyneth gave an uncharacteristically lengthy response,
"And then, you know, after the Demon Lord was defeated the three of us ran with our tails between our legs from the castle."
"Ahahaha~" Sheik was laughing.
When I asked what was so funny, apparently when they were running away, Duke was crying out "Captaaaiin!"
That is rather funny, I must admit.
"But, we never doubted that Captain was still alive...that"s why we searched all this time."
Even half a month later they were still searching for me.
They sure thought highly of their boss.
"After all, Captain was a shut-in who never left his room. We couldn"t help but anxiously wonder where you were."
...What?
"...Left alone...what would you do..."
Wait what?
"Sometimes you’d flip out and start yelling the strangest things~..."
Just a d.a.m.n minute, what the heck did these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds think of me?
"At least it"s good that we finally found you.......Now Captain, I asked you before but just what happened to your horns and wings?"
"I got rid of them."
“...” “...” “...”
After that the reaction varied.
Duke was crying "what were you thinking?!", and Hapyneth was saying something like "you finally awakened".
What"s up with that?
And Sheik?
He laughed so hard he was left twitching on the ground.
"Captain! What on earth happened while we were gone?!"
Duke cried and hugged me closely, looking for an explanation.
How could I possibly explain this to them?
Should I just be honest?
"In the Hero party, there was this cute cleric girl. After I confessed to her and got shot down I"ve been living as a human."
The crying Duke, the callously faced Hapyneth, and the rolfcoptering Sheik.
The three who had previous reacted differently all simultaneously turned to stone.
I lightly slapped my three underlings who had turned to stone to bring them back to their senses.
That summary was probably too simple, so I gave them a more in-depth explanation.
"Captain, why are you chasing the skirt of a human girl? Captain"s a demon, right? Getting rid of your horns and wings— it"s too tragic."
Duke was drowning himself in tears.
Cecilia is the one who invited me out to the world beyond my room.
It"s not like I was just a skirt chaser.
“...Repulsive.”
That was uncalled for.
Hey, Hapyneth, don"t you look away from me!
"Ahahaha, ahahaha〜 It"s no use, I can"t stop laughing!"
"Can"t stop" my a.s.s! Quit it Sheik, you"re being obnoxious!
"Haaa~ Anyway, right now I"m a human Youki, living a human lifestyle. ...I"m not your captain anymore. I came here for a quest. See ya, live long enough to fall in love, guys."
It"s sad but I need to draw the line.
For both Cecilia and these guys.
"No way! Captain is our Captain."
"...That"s right."
"I think so too~"
What are these guys thinking?
"No, I mean, I"m living as a human now, I"m no longer a demon."
"So that Cleric girl, she"s a looker is she?"
"...Beautiful girl type."
"Forget about her looks, those b.r.e.a.s.t.s of hers~"
These guys didn"t listen to a word I said.
And Sheik. Why do you know about that?
"I"d like to meet her, the human girl Captain fell for."
"...Agreed."
"Me too! Me too!"
What are these guys up to?
While I stood there stunned, those three just carried on with their conversation until they decided on something.
"We have come to a decision; we want to meet the human Captain"s in love with."
“Are you r.e.t.a.r.ded?!”
What"s with this sudden turn of events?
Before they were acting all cool, now they’re all pumped for a meet-and-greet.
"In the first place, I came here for a quest. I need to kill the c.o.c.katrice that"s been terrorizing the villagers around here. I don"t have time to play around with you lot..."
"Roger that!"
"...Move out."
"And we’re off~"
I was going to stop them, but they thoroughly ignored me and headed out into the forest.
Sometime later, the threesome came back dragging along the corpse of the c.o.c.katrice. Those little s.h.i.+ts, at least give me a part to play in my own quest!
"Now we can go!"
"...Mission complete."
"Been a while since I last exercised~"
No matter what I say, they"re intent on meeting Cecilia.
"...If you"re willing to go that far, you must be prepared, right?"
One hurdle we absolutely have to clear is getting them into the imperial city.
It’s up to me to beat some understanding into them.
"Of course!"
"...Acceptable."
"No worries~"
They seem very determined.
It can"t be helped if they"re that resolved.
Guess I gotta bring them home with me.
I gave them my okay and they rejoiced. A rather intrepid smile appeared on my face.
Two days later...
With the threesome in tow, I returned to the guild to complete my c.o.c.katrice quest.
"Captain...I can barely see...do I really have to wear this?"
"If you take it off there"ll be a huge commotion. Well, I would eliminate any commotion before it got started with my magic, but you get the point."
Duke was wearing a helmet to keep his head from falling off, and the helmet was strapped to his armor.
This why he just looks like a normal armored knight.
"There are so many amazing things~"
Without his wings, Sheik looks like a normal cute young boy.
His wings are so small they"re easily hidden by clothes.
The real problem was...
I could hear the sound of gentle sobbing behind me.
Hapyneth.
She"s a harpy so there are feathers all over her arms and legs.
I pondered over how to go about her disguise, and she earned my respect with her earnestness.
The result was...
“...Who will want to marry me now?”
It wasn"t so much a full-body waxing as it was a full-body plucking.
...It might have been overkill, but it’s what she wanted.
There were no regrets.
Duke said "Captain, this is too much!", and even Sheik was all "I can"t even laugh about this...".
...Even so, she didn"t regret it.
As such, thanks to me they were able to pa.s.s as humans and accompany me back.
We went to see the lazy receptionist Clayman at his desk.
"Clayman, I"ve completed the quest to slay the c.o.c.katrice. I"ve already given the corpse to another staff member."
"M"kay, then I"ll finish processing it...Yeesh, what a pain in the a.s.s."
Clayman had finally given in. Just recently he stopped directing me to the other receptionists.
"...Hey. "Those three behind you your friends or somethin"? An armored knight, a brat, and...hey, what"s that girly crying for? You do something to her, you scoundrel?"
“Ah, no idea.”
Clayman inclined his head at me as I played dumb. But because it was too troublesome he didn"t bother to inquire any further. After he finished, I headed out with my three tagalongs to the Aquarain mansion.
"You are despicable."
Bringing along my three former underlings we came to Cecilia"s mansion. Today, we were fortunate that Cecilia was able to fit us into her schedule and meet with us, however...
“...Kindhearted.”
Hapyneth, why you... I spilled the beans with Cecilia on what I"d done. Cecilia gave Hapyneth a big hug and patted her on the head.
...I"m so jealous!
And here I was sitting Seiza again while being lectured.
"Are you daft, Youki-san? Surely there was a better way to go about her disguise. To think you would pluck all of this poor girl"s feathers, even if it"s for the sake of making a demon appear human,...reflect upon your actions!"
"It is as you say. I am indeed an idiot."
While I was apologizing, I was finally starting to regret what I had done.
Duke and Sheik were also nodding their heads in agreement.
C"mon, give me a break here guys.
Well, it really is all my fault.
I quickly kneeled and put my head to the floor in Dogeza apologizing, hoping I would be forgiven.
"I must say, this mansion is pretty big."
"...s.p.a.cious!"
"Still, the Demon Castle was bigger~"
Duke and Hapyneth made normal observations, but Sheik, that was too rude!
Looking around Cecilia"s room, everywhere they looked they saw something new and oogled everything.
Just please don"t break anything, I"m begging you...
"So you’re his...former subordinates? You"re all quite adorable."
Cecilia chuckled watching the threesome.
I wonder if I should tell her a bit more about them.
"They are now. When I first met Duke, he wasn"t like this at all. Dullahan was super taciturn. And yet, he somehow turned into this flamboyant guy."
I reminisce about our first meeting.
If I remember right, when the Demon Lord gave me my first troop, Duke was my very first underling.
Duke overheard Cecilia and me talking about him and came over to interrupt.
"When we first met, I hated the Captain. He was fairly famous among the Devil Castle"s personnel."
Duke raised up his head and talked nostalgically about the past.
But, it"s no wonder I was hated.
When Cecilia heard I was famous, she looked impressed. ...I have a feeling she misunderstood something.
"Well, I suppose not so much famous as infamous."
"Eh? Is that so? I thought for sure you would say he was famous for his great power...or am I mistaken?"
Totally wrong there. If I was famous for that, I wouldn"t have been stuck as a mini-boss.
"Captain he...never went outside. He was infamous as a complete shut-in. And there was also what you said to Zekiel-sama that became infamous too."
Hey wait, don"t repeat that!
I tried to stop Duke, but Cecilia asked him to continue.
"Our superior Zekiel-sama suddenly ordered Captain to go out and attack some humans. "Heeeh, Sorry but I can"t move from this spot. I was told to never leave this room, you see. Understand this: I will not abandon this room...until I die." is what he replied."
Another stain from my dark history was brought to light.
Cecilia desperately tried to hold back her laughter.
"Zekiel-sama was so angry he nearly blew his top, and he just left without saying anything. After that, he visited Captain numerous times to get him out. But, our irresponsible Captain"s opponent soon tired, and one day he simply stopped asking Captain to attack people."
Cecilia reached her limit and laughed her head off.
I could only manage a bitter smile.
I did a lot of dumb things back then.
...And even now I suppose.
"Well, that rumor got around, and thus the a.s.sociated hatred. But, once he became my boss, I learned my place."
Through a show of force, naturally.
On the first day my troop a.s.sembled Duke attacked me out of nowhere. I wondered what he was thinking.
I"m sure I don"t have to say the obvious result.
"But, because he turned the tables and thoroughly indoctrinated me, I became who I am today."
Around that time I was still overly excited from being reincarnated.
He was my first underling, and I ended up brainwas.h.i.+ng him pretty severely.
But, it"s not like I regretted it.
"...How did you end up meeting the other two?"
Cecilia asked after she finished laughing.
Hapyneth and Sheik, huh.
Those two I...
"Speaking of which, where are they?"
Gone.
We were so busy reminiscing we didn"t even notice.
At some point they left the room.
This is bad. Disguised though they may be, there was still the worst case scenario to worry about.
"Let"s find them quickly. They must still be in the mansion somewhere."
Cecilia, Duke, and I left the room to find the other two.
Those blockheads just running off as they please...
The Aquarain mansion is so big that searching is a huge undertaking.
Entrance, Library, Kitchen. We"re running around everywhere and still no sign of them.
While catching our breath, we think about how to locate my missing underlings.
"I got it! Let"s see if Sophia-san will help!"
The Head Maid should be very familiar with the estate, so if we can get her to cooperate...
Plus, she’s the kind of person that would appear out of nowhere, so she should be able to find them quickly.
Cecilia was in agreement, and even though Duke had no knowledge of her he also voiced his approval. So we went to Sophia-san"s private quarters.
"Just like that. That is the perfect angle for your back. Please remember that angle when you are performing a bow of greeting."
"...Understood!"
...What"s this?
Hapyneth is wearing a maid uniform, and Sophia-san is giving her lessons in bowing.
That was the situation we happened upon when we came to the servant"s quarters.
"Oh dear. M"lady, Youki-sama, and...a new honored guest? How may I be of service? Right now I"m in the process of training our new maid."
At some point, Hapyneth became a maid-in-training.
"Sophia-san, where exactly did you meet that girl?"
"She was roaming about the mansion. The new maid was scheduled to arrive today, but she appeared to have gotten lost, so I brought her back here."
Sophia inquired if there was any problem.
Yeah, there"s a huge problem.
After explaining the situation, Hapyneth was released. By the way, there was something fishy about the real new hire, so she ended up being interrogated.
...That"s not our fault, right?
"Still I must say it"s quite unfortunate. She was a very good study, and would have made an excellent maid."
Sophia-san was really disappointed.
Even Hapyneth was in rather high spirits about the compliment.
Still, there was no way she could be a maid here.
Sophia-san looked back at Hapyneth"s regret-filled face as we left the servant"s quarters.
"And finally Sheik. Where did that little rascal get off to?"
In a way, this was the scariest part.
Because he"s always br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity, you never know what he might do.
If we don"t find him soon, something terrible is likely to occur.
"...In the garden."
Way to go Hapyneth.
She saw where Sheik had gone.
Still can"t quite forgive her for going off on her own though.
Trusting Hapyneth"s info we head for the garden.
“Zzzz...zzzzz….”
"What a little cutie. I wonder if he got lost?"
Arriving at the garden, we found Sheik sleeping soundly using Celia-san"s lap as a pillow.
Thank goodness. Sheik wasn"t found out.
I was wondering what trouble he would have gotten himself in, but it seems those worries were unfounded.
"I"m so relieved."
"Thank goodness."
"...Much relief."
Knowing Sheik"s personality, we were all relieved at the same time.
"Oh...? Youki-kun"s here. Are the two behind you your friends? ...And it seems that one is a girl?"
She inquired while continuing to stroke Sheik"s head.
Wait wait, please don"t glare at me and Hapyneth.
"Yes. They are my very normal friends. And that little guy is also one of them... I hope he didn"t cause you any trouble?”
I made sure to heavily emphasize the friend part.
...and I really hope Sheik didn"t cause any problems.
"Oh, is that so? I love children, so he wasn"t a problem at all. He was running around playing in the garden, and I decided to join him. And so we just kept playing until he finally tuckered out."
I get it now, that"s how he ended up napping on her lap. Thankfully everything seems to have worked out fine. When I think about what might have happened if he"d broken anything...I involuntarily shudder.
We found them both safe and sound, and decided to leave as it was getting to be dusk.
While bidding each other farewell, Celia-san and Cecilia said my friends could come back to play anytime.
We went to a nearby hill once we left Minerva proper in order to talk.
"So? Are you happy now?"
"It was a good visit."
"...Very much."
"It was so much fun~"
I see, now we should be able to properly sever ties.
"Then I guess it’s finally time to go our separate ways. I"m gonna head back to the Inn and...No way, you guys aren"t gonna say you want to continue on like this, are you?"
Well, I guess I already knew the answer...
"I would like to."
"...Obvious conclusion."
"Celia-san"s lap pillow was so nice~ I want to lay on her lap again~"
As I feared. Sheik seems to want something a bit different, but close enough.
I always had a feeling they just might...
And thus, Duke, Hapyneth, and Sheik came to live with me in Minerva.
And as it happens, the next day Hapyneth was soon taken away by Sophia-san.
Just where did you get your information from Sophia-san...?