I sat Nicola down in the chair first. She didn't disobey, and sat down in the chair with a stone-faced smile as she was guided.

'Well I'll make you some tea. Instant, though.

Yes.

Can I have one?　Leme.

...of course.　

　At first, Mira-san had an icy look in her eyes, but when she saw Nicola-san again, she noticed the tear marks, or perhaps she put her attitude on hold.

　In the Demon King's Castle, she's feared by some of her subordinates, but I like her because she's considerate of strangers.

　I boiled water in the magic kettle provided and prepared tea for several people. There is no such thing as a tea cup, though, so I use paper cups. I put them on a tray and carry them to the table.

"Thanks....

　It was a blur, but Nicola accepted the cup and sipped it.

''It's warm...''

　Nicola-san breathes in with a sigh.

　Mira-san, who has been sitting across from her for some time, also sips her tea.

　There are only two chairs in this room, so I remain standing.

'So, why did you come to Leme's room late at night?　Your eyes are swollen and unnatural for crawling at night. If you've come to ask for help, then quickly tell me the name and whereabouts of your assailant. If it's a man and he has been violent to you, I will take special care of him.

　It was two years ago when Mila and I met.
　There were three men who had drugged her after she had been drinking heavily and tried to do something violent with her.
　They were ... not dead, but they would never attack a woman again. The bat sub-beast had sucked the life force out of her crotch and the thing had withered away.

　Perhaps reminiscent of that time, Mira-san directed a cold but caring gaze at Nicola-san in her tone of voice.

''Eh........oh, no, no. This is, well.........my brother and his.......that?　I mean, come to think of it, who are you?

　It seems that Nicola-san has finally regained enough room to touch Mira-san's presence.
　She seems to be calmer than when she opened the door and saw Mira-san in her bathrobe and didn't react to her presence.

''I'm a friend of Reme-san's. We're friends enough to spend time together in a room at the inn at this time of day.''

...that's...

　Huh? Nicola's face turns red.

''Could I have been very intrusive?

'You're wrong. As Mira said, we're friends. Co-worker, is a better way to put it.

　Mila-san looked at me with a surprised look on her face.
　She didn't know that Nicola-san had discovered her identity, so it's not surprising.



　Mila looked at me as if she wanted an explanation.

'I think we should put the situation in perspective for once. This is Nicola-san. 【Brave man】, ranked 99th. Apparently, she realized I'm Remegeton during the beginning dungeon attack.

I looked at him directly and he had the same eyes.

Yes?　What?　Are you saying that just by looking at Remegeton-sama's magical body (avatar), you connected him to Reme-san?

I'm a fan of Leme's.... I've been a fan for only two years, though. I watch a lot of videos and such...

　Mira's eyes change color.

'Fans?　........I see. Hmm. What's your favorite delivery video?

　Nicola looked puzzled, but she soon looked like she understood something.

'What?　 Generally speaking, the highlight of the episode is the flame confrontation between Fenix-san and the demons, but on a floor where pillars of fire rise up at random, while everyone else was struggling with the pillars of fire, Leme-san was able to avoid them without a hitch. Not only is he looking at his surroundings and anticipating them well, but he's also training his body without giving up just because he doesn't have the aptitude. ........Well, you can see him evading for a total of less than two seconds three times, and one of them was behind Lily-san and out of focus, and one time he was almost out of sight on the edge of the camera that showed Alba-san. The last one was also the one where they showed a series of scenes of all the party members most neatly avoiding the scene, but no one paid any attention to it.

　I'm not going to point out that the prince character is off. I don't think they can afford it.

　Still, it's nice to know that someone has watched it properly, but it's embarrassing.

　Mila meditated, nodded, and opened her eyes.

''Fine. By the way, I watched 'Intermediate, Momentary Dungeon' a number of times. The reason--''

　The next moment, their voices overlap.

'--because it's the longest one with Leme-san in it.

　And they both smiled a small smile at the same time.

　

My name is Mira. As you may already know, I work at the Demon King's Castle.

'I'm Nicola.

　They shook hands.

'We'll be fine with something easy to talk about,'

Thank you. So, the thing is, you know, it's the two of us.

　Nicola's face turns red again. She looks somewhat awkward.

'Unfortunately, very unfortunately, that's not the kind of relationship we have.

Oh, yeah...

But I hope so, and we're negotiating every day.

Oh yeah, I see.

'So please don't tempt Mr. Leme with those big breasts, okay?　I'm more than welcome to wear the guesswork...but only to the extent that it doesn't deviate from the realm of a fan. I don't want to identify my precious compatriot as an enemy either.

　Mila smiles at me.

''Yoo-woo........''

　Nicola crosses her arms to hide her breasts. That makes her breasts, which have changed in shape, look like they're raised, but I wonder if she's noticed.

''........You are a person to watch out for. We need to hear Kash-san's voice in person, not just the report.''

　I think I heard some disturbing voice.

'Oh, by the way, Reme, where is Kashu sleeping?

In the other co-worker's room........or is it Mira?

'You're already working your way up to Mr. Kash?　........They're even more troublesome than I thought they would be.

　...Mira?
　She turns her face away and mumbles to herself, which scares me a little.

''Eh, kohon.''

　I change the subject with an overly deliberate empty cough. Or rather, bring it back.

'Miss Nicola,'

Mm-hm. I'm not, temptation.

I know, yeah, I know.

Okay. Yeah, right.

　Nicola's voice sinks.

'If it looks okay now, can you tell me why you're here?'

...Yeah. You'll be glad you asked. Maybe that's why I'm here.

Would you like me to leave?　I'll wait with my ear to the door to see if anything strange happens, though.

　Doesn't that make any sense to get out of the room?

No, I'm fine.

　Nicola then spoke up about her discussions with Philip and the others.

　◇　

I see...

　Mila listened and then silenced with a difficult look on her face. She doesn't seem to have any intention of saying anything at the moment.
　That attitude is correct.

　It's bad manners to interfere with another party. It's like meddling in another's home.
　You shouldn't intervene unless something happens that you can't overlook.

　In this case, there's nothing funny about the agenda or the conclusions themselves, aside from the way Phillip said it and the way he talked about it.

　Of course, we can throw in a few kind words. He said, "That was hard on you. That they could respect you a little more.
　Just what would that mean? Nicolas did not come here to lick your wounds, either.

I don't know what's going on with me.

　She didn't say anything bad about her brother either.

　It's because of her self-awareness.
　Awareness that she was the one who took her brother's suggestion at a time when she was depressed because of her lack of popularity.

　It doesn't mean you have to follow the path you've chosen. It's okay to find another path.
　But if there's someone else who walked with you, the division will inevitably affect both sides.

　My departure from the party has changed the Fenix Party in no small measure, just as my side has joined the Demon King's Army.

　In Nicola-san's case, there will be a part of her that will be hard because no one has done anything wrong.
　There's the fact that wearing the mask has become painful and the fact that the mask is loved.
　She just had to put up with it. She was working through her troubles.

　I'm sure the trigger was my words to Philip.
　A discussion that my meddling had led to, pointing out that her sister was having trouble.

'I guess I'll just have to choose,'

What...?

'There's nothing wrong with thinking and doing things to gain popularity. But there are some people who don't suffer from sticking to it, and others, like Nicola, suffer. There's a certain way of doing things that doesn't fit, and that's inevitable.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too.

"I just have to choose whether to continue with the 'prince character who is currently growing in popularity' or shift to the 'heroic image I originally set out to create.'

That's not...

'If there's something you really want to do, you can do it. It's not a bad thing.

But then, everyone else...

'One option is to leave the party and get members together. It's one option.

"--

'You might fail, and your brothers will have a hard time rebuilding, but Nicola has the right to choose to do so. .... but I'm sure you don't want to do that.

　So even though she was saddened by her brother's words, she didn't want to talk about the breakup.
　Even if it was due to temporary emotions, she didn't want to put such a possibility into words.

'Then the alternative is to go along with your brother's scenario. You may be suffering from being fake, but the audience that is moved by it is real. The applause that happened after watching the show is a tribute to something great.

　For some people, her troubles would be a luxury.
　It's an industry where many people give up on their dreams in disappointment because they can't gain popularity after trying.
　It's probably because she knows that, though, that she's been unable to express her true feelings until now.

''Yeah ... yeah, right.

　Nicola looks down sadly.

'It's either that or (,), prove it.

What?

'What your brother is saying is not wrong, but it's not absolute. Because isn't it, if there is an absolute law of 'what's popular' and 'how to sell', then there is no such thing as an unpopular party.

　She looks up.

I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on in your life. People who don't follow trends but are still popular will always appear, and to begin with, what's the difference between the past and now?

Jourdan, today.

There's a difference in the number of people who see your 'challenge' now that you have so many fans from a time when no one was watching you.

But if that fails, the fans will leave and eventually...

　You're in trouble with your own people.
　Nicola is a companionable person. And he knows that his brother is not trying to control him out of malice. I don't want to be bothered, and I can't stop thinking about it.

　I'm torn.
　How, not.
　It's whether or not I should say this.

　My example is also quite special, but if I were to recommend it to a [brave] person, there would be no example.

''Then why don't you just try it?

　It was Mila who cut him off.

'There's going to be a tag team tournament, isn't there?　It's also a place that gets a lot of attention there. You can attend there--without hiding your identity.

What?

'Right. How about modifying your magical body (avatar) and pretending to be a demon?　They'll never find out, and you can fight any fight you want, right?　How about we see if the crowd gets excited there, for a moment?

　I've said it all.
　Nicola said--.