The day after that, I'm in my office.

　I'm in my office as usual on this day.
　The simple task of receiving reports from Mimis and other vassals and approving them.

　It's the same as usual, but right now I didn't get into it in a different way.

　The reason for this is...Sophia.
　She was staring at me in the corner of the office, the same as yesterday, but her gaze was a hundred and eighty degrees different from yesterday.

　Respect and goodwill.

　She was staring at me with a mixture of those two emotions, a mixture of respect and fondness.

　It was itchy and I couldn't get into it.

'Well, that's all for today, then.
Oh, yeah.

　Mimis said, and I responded vaguely.
　I couldn't concentrate at all, and I didn't even notice that it was over.

　Then, as if to catch up, Mimis said.

'You are very good, sir.'

I said.

'What?'
Yeah, we'll just have to be young.

　Mimis said that and walked away from the office with the same smiling - or rather, almost grinning - vassals in tow.
　The rest of the time it's just the youngsters........no wait, it's not like that.

　Or maybe it was, but it wasn't.

　And I reached out my hand, but I hesitated, wondering what I was going to say when I stopped Mimis.

'Hermes,'

　Sophia, who had been in the corner of the room the whole time, came up to me and spoke to me in a moist tone.
　She was a complete change from when I met her, smiling and in a good mood, but in many ways (,,,,,,,,) she was terrifying.

'What, what?'
Is that it for today?
Oh, yeah. I don't know.
Well, then...

　Sophia tries to cut something out.

　Next thing you know, bam!　And then there was an explosion.

　The ceiling collapsed, filling the office with smoke from the explosion.

''What is this--Hermes, are you okay?
Yeah, I'll be fine.

　Compared to the last minute exchange with Sophia, I settled down so fast that I felt like I was instantly frozen.

　I know this one.
　The one I've already become familiar with.

　I expect that one to come soon after this one.

'My nephew mmmm, ah-so-boo, that's it!
"Phew!

　A predictable dialogue and a predictable tackle.
　I was in agony over it.

　Demon King Kaori.

　My ancestor is your father - a person with a strange connection to me.

　A partner who has recently become obsessed with me and always invites me to play "very physical" games.
　That Kaori appeared with a tackle that had begun to feel familiar.

"Huh?　What's the matter with you, nephew?

　Kaori looks up at me curiously as I writhe in agony after receiving a tackle.

"What's wrong with that?
What's wrong with you?　It hurts, but it doesn't hurt.

　He wondered what the person responsible for the pain would say, but this was Kaori's default, so he couldn't blame her.

　In the same way that a human could trample an ant and not notice it, you wouldn't notice that a large monster trampled a human.
　Kaori - a demon king is such a creature.

　

　But--.

"Get away from Hermes!

　The conversation didn't end there.

　From beside me, Sophia yelled at me with an angry look in her eyes.

Yeah?　What's with this little girl?
Komu--I don't need a child to call me a wench!
I'm not a child.
That's not the point.
It's been hundreds of years since a human sentiment has ordered me around.

　Right after Kaori said that, perhaps thinking he was being dismissed with nuance (that was the level of reaction time), pomp!　And Kaori's body went up in flames.

　Sophia unleashed her magic in a fit of rage.
　It avoided me and only burned Kaori.

　It's amazing, that technique.

　No wonder you're number one in the pecking order.
　With this, it's not just Despina, it's pretty high up in the whole of Aegina, isn't it?

　However.

　That much magic power - and power as well.
　Unfortunately, the opponent was the Demon King.

　After the fire was contained, Kaori appeared completely unharmed.
　I don't know what kind of prevention was done, but even his clothes hadn't poked a single scratch, despite the fact that his entire body was in flames.

　But I was a bit grumpy.

'What the hell are you doing all of a sudden?'
"Mm, she's fine. No....

　Sophia was astonished.
　She must have been very confident in her current blow, and I was astonished that it had no effect at all.

　I decided to nail Kaori, knowing that it would, but I decided to nail her.

'Don't fight back,'
No, I won't do that, and your mother told me not to lift a finger to a weak man.
Okay.

　Mother--the former Demon King's last will and testament.
　Kaori is faithfully observing it.

　Weak in power, she won't touch someone who is hidden to her, no matter what.
　Even if they are assassinated or revolted, Kaori will not touch them at all.

　When you think about it, maybe the nail-biting just now was, well, superfluous.
　Sofia is indeed excellent, but she's not far behind the Demon King.

''More importantly, what is this little girl?''
You called me a girl again!
'Well, well, well--she's Sofia Despina. The Cano family.
Oh, it's my niece.
Niece?
'Despina is your father's slave soldier. She is your niece, because some of the women who were impregnated with your father's children are your nieces.
This guy does whatever the f*ck he wants!

　When I heard the story, I thought it might be possible, but I also thought, "No, no, no, no.
　But now that the living witness of history, the Demon King, has testified to this, it's hard to believe that one of the things that came out of his mouth was this.

''Father...?　Slave soldiers...?

　Meanwhile, Sophia wonders about Kaori's words.

'Ah, Kaori is the King of Comotolia, the Demon King.

　I explained to Sophia.
　Then she was terribly surprised.

'The Demon King!　This girl!
Yeah.
Does that mean Hermes beat him?
'What?　Oh, well--

　I glanced at Kaori.
　'I thought that might offend you,' he said.

'It is. My nephew was incredibly strong.

　She didn't mind at all, but rather flapped her chest somewhat proudly (not).

'More importantly, nephew, let's play again today.
Oh, you wanna play?

　Sophia reacts.

You're going to be good to me.
"Hey, good thing!

　Sophia reacts violently.

'It's better to be out in the middle of nowhere, if possible.
There's no one to-- ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

　Sophia reacts extremely hard to things.
　With an unvoiced frustrated voice, thumping and stomping on the ground.

'With a child like that--it's filthy!

　He walked away, greatly exasperated.

'Kaori...'
Yeah?　What's wrong with you?
I'm not so sure about that one.
What was that?
Like playing and being nice and being away from people.
What's wrong with that?　If it's not out of the way, it's me and my nephew, we get a lot of things involved.
I thought it was supposed to be that way, but the way he said it... no.

　I smiled.
　Is it impossible to say that to Kaori?

　　　　　☆

　After playing with Kaori for a reasonable amount of time and letting her leave, I searched for Sophia.
　She was in the garden, sitting in front of the pond with her knees in front of her.

　Every now and then she would pick up a rock in her hand and throw it into the pond.

　I walked up to her and called out.

'Sophia,'
....

　Sophia stared up at me with a sultry look on her face.

'There you are.'
What do you want?
You know what?
Hm, you just have to be good to the Demon King.
'Oh no, I'm tired of being with Kaori. Not in an erotic way, just in case.

　Yes, playing with Kaori is extremely tiring.
　You're dealing with a super creature called the Demon King, not a human.

　Even when it's easy, he'll say things like, "We're going to play catch, the floating island is the ball," and if he's not good, he'll have to fight Kaori in a fierce battle.

　Moreover, Kaori has a childish side to her, and she tends to get carried away until she's exhausted and on the verge of collapse.

　It's extremely tiring to play with Kaori like that.
　In that sense.

''I'd feel more at ease if I was with Sophia.

　I thought.

'Eh...'

　I looked over and saw that Sophia was blushing.

'Ya, are you at ease?　You said you were with me.
Hmm?　Well.

　I'm tired right now, so it's even more so.

"Shou, it can't be helped. I can spend a little time with you if you want.
Okay.

　I sat down beside Sophia.
　She stopped being angry, which made me feel better.
　I stayed with her for a while longer.

　I was too tired to think, and I didn't realize that I'd gone off the deep end at this moment.