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“Yes, there’s no issue, you know?” (Purple)

I headed to the Purple Demon Lord, and when I told her about making a villa at one of the former bandit lairs, she agreed.

My bodyguard Ilias is on standby outside.

She is apparently trying to trust the Purple Demon Lord. 

The Purple Demon Lord is still a threat when you look at it objectively, but maybe something transmitted to Ilias.

“You accepted pretty easily.” 

“In exchange, I will be bringing Gold with me too, okay? I can’t forgive Gold being the only one under the same roof as you, Dear.” (Purple)

“That’s something for you to negotiate with her about.” 

Right now she is staying in the room of Wolfe and Rakura on shifts, but it would be better for her to stay in the same place as the Purple Demon Lord.

It will mainly make Marito happier.

Judging from the personality of the Gold Demon Lord, she is most likely going to be coming to hang out almost every day. 

That said…

“Why are you holding my hand?” 

The Purple Demon Lord has been sitting by my side, but she for some reason is sandwiching my hand with both of her hands.

Her hands are slightly cold, but it feels as if her palms are slowly sucking the heat from my hand.

Also, she is so close…and smells good.

“This much should be fine, right? You are not losing anything.” (Purple)

“That’s true, but…this scent…is it that?” 

“Yes, the one from the book you found, you know?” (Purple)

What I found for the Purple Demon Lord was a beginner guide to a perfumer. 

It is a job where you mix a variety of scents to create a unique one, but it gives off a classy impression even as a hobby. 

However, rather than this being a scent that women would prefer, it is more like a scent that would make a man be conscious of a woman…

“It smells good.” 

“Right? Adjusting the strength of the scent is a lot harder than I thought, you know?” (Purple)

“…How’s Dyuvuleori doing?”

“You purposely diverted that one, didn’t you? But I will take that as it giving you a good enough impression to compel you to do that, okay?” (Purple)

She gives me a lot more of an optimistic impression compared to before.

Being optimistic is a good thing though, yup.

What would have happened if I had lost…? Let’s stop imagining it. 

“The external wounds of Dyuvuleori weren’t an issue, but the damage to the inside was more serious than I thought, I guess? Thinking back on it calmly, that knight is just ridiculous, isn’t she?” (Purple)

“I won’t deny it.” 

“That white demi-human… That goes for her too? There was no such individual in the past, you know? I think she doesn’t lose to Black and Yugura if it is just in mana amount alone?” (Purple)

Making even the Purple Demon Lord say this much makes me feel like the potential of Wolfe has more to it.

It is true that she is not much different from the other black wolfkins aside from her being albino. 

But her being albino most likely stems from her own strength. 

I have investigated that black wolfkins have high internal mana within the demi-humans. 

Due to this, the pigment of their bodies gets denser, making them rare black demi-humans in this world.

In the case of Wolfe, the role of the pigments is gone. 

It is to the point where, in exchange, she has created an organ that would emit the internal mana she can’t hold back.

“It would be nice if there were a place where I could investigate that though. By the way, is it okay to not return to Kuama once?” 

“Oh, why?” (Purple)

“Your previous base was Kuama, right? You came together with the merchant Tort-san. Aren’t your personal things mostly in Kuama?” 

If I remember correctly, she came here to sightsee. 

Shouldn’t a lot of her personal possessions be in Kuama then? 

“Aah, that? I have already told the devils to transport it, and they are on their way with them, so there’s no issues, you know?” (Purple)

“How convenient. I don’t want to think what the total of it will be though.” 

The Purple Demon Lord has lost all the Great Devils aside from Dyuvuleori.

But he has inherited all their special abilities and became even stronger.

Also, most of the devils are alive. She can easily ready a Unique Monster simply by equipping a Pawn Mask to a High Devil.

You could say her threat has barely been lost. 

We might have even done her a favor cleaning up the Great Devils that have obtained too much of an ego and were getting too avaricious, reducing the risks of her getting betrayed.

“The monsters newly born from the Mejis Nether are gathering to me, you know? I have no attachments to that land at all, so it is okay to do as they please with it though?” (Purple)

“No need to tell me. The Yugura Church will be doing as they please regardless.” 

This matter is pretty beneficial for Mejis. 

Until now, they have been fighting off the devils that attacked at irregular intervals, and would do purification work of the Nether in those opportunities, restoring the land of Mejis. 

This will remove the risks of attacks from devils happening, and they will be able to do purification work at a higher frequency. 

This is a chance in a lifetime to recover a whole ton of territory in one go. 

It is until the stance of the Purple Demon Lord changes, but that’s plenty enough. 

You could say this is a mouthwatering condition to maintain the 3rd Faction.

“…This is nice.” (Purple)

“What brought that all of a sudden?” 

The Purple Demon Lord showed a soft smile as she looked over here. 

Her face is saying she has something in her mind. 

“I see that you are not putting strength in your shoulders. I can now tell just how tense you were when interacting with me, and I can tell just how close you put me at now.” (Purple)

“There’s no reason as of present to be hostile towards you after all. More like, I now have a reason to be your ally.” 

“There may have been opportunities I have lost because I was defeated, but there’s certainly things I have obtained from this, it seems?” (Purple)

The Purple Demon Lord has learned to interact with others normally, accepted it, and has become more human. 

What she currently feels worth in are things that many humans have acquired normally. 

But it is great to be able to properly taste these common things and turn them into food for growth.

…But this serious stance is a bit ticklish. 

“Oh my, you got tense again?” (Purple)

“I am a man, you see. I have times when I get embarrassed.” 

“Fufu, that’s great to know.” (Purple)

It is so tough since I feel like we might end up crossing the line.

————

Counselor-sama is running here and there in order to deal with the aftermath of the matter with the Purple Demon Lord. 

The church seems to be super busy too. Maya-san said she won’t be able to prepare any work I can do for the near future. 

It is not like I am unemployed now, but it is more like a sudden vacation.

But this feels lonely in its own right.

Fortunately, King Marito gave us some cash for this time’s achievements, so I am enjoying my time walking alone. 

I was thinking about buying some booze, but booze really does taste better when someone else treats me to it.

Even if there’s a lot of things I would like others to buy for me, there’s little I would like to buy myself. 

In other words, I can’t even use up all the money and am wandering around without much of an objective in mind. 

“I should have invited Wolfe-chan or Gold-chan.” (Rakura)

That said, there will be more opportunities to hang out together once things calm down, so I should enjoy my alone time… Nevermind. Let’s invite Saira-chan.

Just when I had decided on what to do, I detected a strange mana. This is…haah.

“Telling me to follow, I guess?” (Rakura)

I honestly would like to ignore it, but it would trouble me if he were to come to our house. 

I sigh as I go to where I was called.

When I arrived at an unpopulated back alley, the person that called me showed up there.

“What’s your business, Ekdoik-san?” (Rakura)

“So you have come, Rakura Sa— Rakura.” (Ekdoik)

Looks like he is feeling apprehensive about calling me with my full name now that he knows he is also a Salf.

That’s great.

Being called by my full name felt like it was so focused on me, it was displeasing. 

“If you call me like that, the knights and clerics will notice, you know?” (Rakura)

“It is a small change like hiding a green parchment inside a forest. Only very few would be able to notice.” (Ekdoik)

It is true that it is small, but…I don’t have a measure of anyone but myself, so I can’t really say here.

“The reason why I called you was because I wanted to make clear the relationship between us from here on… I will restrain myself from trying to raise your reputation from here on.” (Ekdoik)

“Haah, I see.” (Rakura)

That’s great.

I honestly wasn’t good at dealing with him talking my ears off in a loud voice, so this is great to hear. 

“All the Great Devils that mocked Beglagud have died. There will also come change in the Mejis Nether soon. You could say recovering the honor of mine Father in the Nether is already enough. Comrade will be enough to raise your reputation in the future anyways.” (Ekdoik)

If it is someone like Counselor-sama with the ability to pace himself…I don’t have much of a complaint there. 

I feel like my evaluation is a bit too high, but the reward isn’t bad. 

Speaking of which, I would like to eat the homemade meals of Counselor-sama quickly. 

We are talking about Counselor-sama here; he most likely remembers the promise, but maybe I should pester him about it a bit. 

“And so, what will you be doing from here on, Ekdoik-san?” (Rakura)

“I have decided to live for the sake of my new objective.” (Ekdoik)

“New objective?” (Rakura)

“I was fighting for the honor of Father, but that also beelined me into wanting to protect my own worth. I lived solely for the sake of fulfilling the duty I was given by Father, so when I lost Father, I couldn’t believe in my own worth anymore. Even so, I still wanted to maintain my worth to live, I wanted to prove that there was worth in the existence of Father in my life. Raising your reputation was simply an offshoot of that.” (Ekdoik)

Basically, he was pushing me for the sake of his own self-fulfillment? 

That’s a big pain in the rear, but judging from what he has said, I apparently am also at fault, so I am not in a position where I can complain to his face.

“However, I plan on raising my own worth from here on. There’s no end to the goal. The place where I drop dead will denote my total worth. That’s the way of living I have chosen.” (Ekdoik)

“Sounds like you will lead a life where you will be leaning forward to a point where you might fall.” (Rakura)

“That’s fine. I plan on repaying Comrade, who has helped me stand in the starting point, to the utmost of my effort.” (Ekdoik)

So he is still going to stay close to Counselor-sama in the end.

I don’t know how to describe the feeling of having my blood-related brother nearby, but…his excessive attitude towards me is gone, and if this will make things easier for Counselor-sama, I should welcome this. 

“I am sure Counselor-sama would be happy about this too, you know?” (Rakura)

“And this is also a challenge towards you!” (Ekdoik)

“…Excuse me?” (Rakura)

“My next objective at present is you, Rakura. I will show Comrade that I am someone above you! If I am by his side, I am sure I will have limitless chances coming at me to increase my reputation after all!” (Ekdoik)

…What is this individual saying?

Become someone above me for Counselor-sama…? Ekdoik-san has been more useful to him in the first place.

“A competition isn’t really—” (Rakura)

“A development where brother and sister compete intensely… Not bad… This isn’t bad, Rakura!” (Ekdoik)

“You still haven’t stopped calling me in a loud voice!” (Rakura)

“Desperately try to improve yourself. If you don’t, your life will be one where Comrade will say ‘Ekdoik really is better’ the whole time! Hahahahahahahahaha!” (Ekdoik)

Ekdoik-san said that as if satisfied and left.

Did he hit his head hard when he fought the Great Devils? Or is he trying to escape the reality that he is related by blood with me…?

Anyways, it seems like his objective is to become the number one of Counselor-sama.

The number one for Counselor-sama at present would be Ilias-san, I guess? He is also really soft on Wolfe-chan, but when it comes to someone he can trust…there’s also King Marito?

I am not thinking about pushing myself to become his number one. 

It may get harder to stay by his side if he gets in a romantic relationship with one of the girls, but I feel like -with the personality of Counselor-sama- when he accepts one girl, he will end up accepting other girls as if paying back in installments.

There’s the option of riding on that opportunity when it comes.

I can’t become a woman yearned for, but I feel like I would be able to lead a relaxed retired life… Fumu.

Right, right, leaving that aside, a competition with him, huh… I feel like there will be more pains awaiting me. 

Counselor-sama doesn’t proactively form romantic relationships, so you could say it is a fair competition?

But it will be easier to get close to him as they are both men, so he might have the advantage. 

Hmm… Counselor-sama saying: ‘Ekdoik really is better’…

Uwa, that sounds like something he would say. 

Or more like, I feel like he thinks about it normally and says it. 

And just imagining it feels displeasing for some reason…

I might have to work hard. 

I feel like there’s methods to stay by the side of Counselor-sama even in a lazy lifestyle, but I would like to get preferential treatment to a certain degree. 

Aah, is this what’s called necessary effort? 

…Hmm, wonder when I began to get fussy about my place to be?

Even though I was fine as long as I could take it easy and just had to move if things got rough, I am trying to stay close to Counselor-sama… Is that just how comfortable it is?

“I am fine with just living safely though… Wait, the catchphrase of Counselor-sama rubbed on me.” (Rakura)

What I want to do right now is eat the home cooked meal of Counselor-sama though. 

Let’s buy ingredients today.

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