章 149: I invited the demon king
Upon returning home, I found Aura drinking tea. It's noon. People normally have lunch. But Aura is having tea while Hazel is playing with Jade. A rather normal scene if it was afternoon. For lunchtime, it's not normal.
We all take a seat. Aera is still updating her map.
"How was it, honey?" (Aura)
"It was fairly normal. I had to dive to the bottom of a lake but it was fun."
"Bottom of a lake? What kind of a job did you take?" (Aura)
She seems interested. So I explained everything to her and bring out The Tomb. Of course with a protective barrier around it. We may be immune to miasma but Jade isn't. I don't want her to suffer the bad effects of miasma.
Aura takes The Tomb and checks it.
"Pretty neat if I say so. A small red casket which could only be used to store jewelry, is actually a portal to Hades. This world is pretty interesting." (Aura)
"Master, what will you do with it?" (Hazel)
"Ms. Maria told me to keep it. I will hold on to it until she takes it from me. I think they just need time to understand the situation and make a move."
"Master, update complete. I have registered this country's locations in my map." (Aera)
"Thank you, Aera. How far is this Galdur from here?"
If she is done then she can even give me the details.
"The academy city, Galdur is 36 kilometers from the capital." (Aera)
"Not too far away. Might be an interesting place. Once Fay returns, I will talk to her about it. But why did Ms. Pablo suggest Galdur?"
I wonder. But for now, let's focus on my experiment.
"Honey, why are you so excited?" (Aura)
"Is it showing on my face?"
"We all can sense your emotions. You are excited about something." (Aura)
"I am actually thinking of conducting an experiment."
"An experiment? What will you do?" (Aura)
"I am thinking of gauging this world properly. I have no idea how strong people of this world actually are. I thought Fay could fill in that part. But I remembered something."
I remember the time when I poured a drop of my <Spirit> on Fay to dispel her curse. I think my <Spirit> began to change her since then.
"So Fay was cursed and you saved her by pouring a drop of your <Spirit> on her directly." (Aura)
"Yeah. She became stronger gradually but my <Spirit> became a catalyst for that. She was already stronger than she actually was by the time we left Earth. So, I will ask for a volunteer to demonstrate magic of this world."
I did ask Fay for a demonstration when we were on Earth. But that does not work anymore. She was already changing by that time.
"Who will you ask to volunteer?" (Aura)
"I have someone in my mind. She should be fairly strong by this world's standard. I will ask Delphine if she will do it."
I can't really ask anyone else because I don't know anyone here. If I ask the king, he will probably let me borrow a few mages. I caught a glimpse of the mages employed by the Royal Family. I can't say I am impressed.
The royal mages are supposed to be elites chosen from the select few. I don't know the exact process though. Well, I need to ask Delphine first.
"That's fine and all but how will you ask her?" (Aura)
She asked me the same question. I wonder. Normally, Samantha would do something. But she isn't responding to me and she hasn't shown herself yet.
"Aera, can you search for Delphine?"
I ask Aera. She closes her eyes for a moment and opens them.
"She is at her castle. It seems like she is resting." (Aera)
"Uhh…this might be a bit insensitive. Well, teleport me to her location. Oh, just teleport me to her room's door. I will enter her room after getting permission. I can't just barge in a girl's room out of nowhere."
I may lack common sense but I am no idiot. I do know the basics of civility. And I was standing outside of a room.
This corridor is long. It has red carpet and it quite gaudy. I must be at the Demon King's castle. I knock on the door.
"Who is it? I thought I told everyone to not disturb me." (Delphine)
She said from inside. She sounds really tired. Is it a bad time?
"It's me, Clive Belmont."
I heard something fall from inside. It was a heavy fall, probably. Did she push something by mistake? I hear sounds from inside and after a minute, she opened the door.
She is wearing a gown. Her hair is not set like it was before. She was in her casual clothing.
"Is this a bad time? I can come later."
"No no, I am totally free. Please, enter." (Delphine)
Her hand is shivering a bit. Her smile is a bit forced. I think I caught her at a bad time but I will just present my idea and leave as soon as possible.
She leads me to a pair of sofa with a tea table in the middle. I take a seat and she rings a bell.
A maid entered the room and was surprised to see me. She was probably trying to ask who I was?
"Tell Sasha that Mr. Clive Belmont has come to visit me. And send a word to my mother as well. Prepare some refreshments for us and I forbid everyone from coming here. Cancel my plans for the rest of the day." (Delphine)
She said with a stern tone. The maid gave a bow and left.
"You don't have to be so busy with me. I am here to present an idea to you. Once I am done, I will leave."
"I can not do that. You are a guest that I personally have to entertain. As the queen of this kingdom, it is my duty." (Delphine)
She is being wary of me. Well, I did make that sort of impression on her the first time we met. Dahlia came a little later.
"I didn't expect you to drop by so soon." (Dahlia)
"I had an idea that I wanted to present to Delphine."
After that, Sasha came in with tea and cakes. She pours me a cup of tea. It smells like tea. I am not a connoisseur of tea. I seldom drink it. But it doesn't feel bad. The sweetness could work but I can wash it down with some cake.
After having a cup of tea and some small talk, I get down to business.
"The idea that I had was for a display. I wanted to gauge this world's strength. So I thought I would get someone to show me."
"What kind of strength are you talking about?" (Delphine)
"Fighting ability, magical ability, intelligence, technology. Mainly these."
She thinks for a moment.
"But these differ from country to country and race to race." (Delphine)
"Of course I took that into account as well. It's not perfect but I wanted to talk to someone about this."
Dahlia put down her cup and looks at me.
"Where did you get this idea from?" (Dahlia)
"It came to me when I was at the bottom of the Yves lake."
She has a surprised look. Delphine looks at me with eyes wide open.
"What were you doing at the bottom of a lake?" (Dahlia)
"I took a job. It said to purify the Yves lake but the source of contamination was unknown. I had to dive to the bottom to find the source. You should know The Tomb, no?"
"Yes, we do know about that. The first Tomb was discovered right in this country after all. It is the biggest as well." (Dahlia)
I bring out The Tomb. They are genuinely surprised. Delphine shrank back in fear just a bit.
"Why isn't it exuding miasma? There seems to be a barrier around it." (Dahlia)
"Yeah, I put that barrier. I didn't want the miasma to damage anyone. An artifact like this exists in this world. It got me wondering about this world."
"You come from another world, right?" (Delphine)
"Yes. That world is not a world of magic. There was almost no mana there and humans were the only sentient beings there."
"A world of humans without mana? It's hard to imagine." (Dahlia)
"Well, that's how it was. We were technologically advanced. A little too advanced as humans destroyed themselves. The weapons they created destroyed them and the world. The remainder was killed by Jupiter. I am the only human left of that world."
Delphine shivers for a moment. Dahlia has a grim look.
"Well, I wanted to see if Jupiter would have won or not if he confronted us directly. Their sneak attack was not pretty."
"Sneak attack? The king of gods resorted to sneak attack?" (Dahlia)
"It's a long and complicated story. That will come later. So I about my idea?"
"Oh..yes, I will prepare for it. But how will you assess everything. Fighting abilities and magical abilities aside, the other two criteria?" (Delphine)
"I have some ideas about that. I will come again for a good discussion. Today was just too random."
I apologized to her for showing up randomly and left.
After Clive left, Delphine fell back on her seat. Dahlia pats her head.
"You did well." (Dahlia)
"Mother, is he really not a threat?" (Delphine)
"If he was, we wouldn't be here. He could have squashed us like ants if he wanted to. That's just how he thinks. Which is why, you stay outside of their eyesight.
Think of it like this, you walk on the ground. You squash something in every step. You don't care about those you squash, do you?" (Dahlia)
"No." (Delphine)
"That's how we are to him. He won't even notice us if he suddenly squashed us or not. He is trying his best not to destroy us. We have to cooperate with him to ensure our safety." (Dahlia)
Dahlia had understood what kind a being Clive was. She warned Delphine as well. She will try to make a spectacle out of this little display as well so no demon opposes Clive in the future.
クリエイターの想い 
Gregor_americana
Gregor_americana This chapter gave me much trouble. I had to change it 3 times and I managed to write something that is passable. I am in constant pain due to a cyst on my stomach. And that has made my mood really bad. I hope those who read to the end will have a spectacular day or night, because I am not having one.
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