Ch.127Chapter 127 – House of Count Metis (1)

Baphomet arrived at a cave.

It was a hideout she had been guided to by a succubus who had fainted and then awakened during their journey.

Upon entering, several humans wearing robes came out to greet her.

“This is the commander of the demon realm…!”

“With this, our dream will be realized…!”

Seeing their eyes gleaming with greed, Baphomet inwardly thought about getting rid of them.

However, that wasn’t possible.

Very regrettably, she couldn’t achieve her goal without their help.

“Isn’t it fascinating that there are people who worship us demons?”

The succubus beside her began to flatter her.

In truth, given the vast difference in their positions, it was natural for her to try to curry favor.

In reality, though, it was rather burdensome for the one receiving such flattery.

“…How far along are the preparations?”

“They can be done immediately.”

The succubus, who had been massaging Baphomet’s shoulders while flattering her, removed her hands and bowed respectfully as she began her report.

“Immediately, you say?”

“It’s thanks to the dragon that’s been rampaging in this kingdom recently.”

“Dragon?”

Upon hearing the name of the powerful race that had been active in the mythical era, Baphomet’s first thought was, ‘I want to fight it right away.’

Of course, she couldn’t do that since she had important matters to attend to.

“Still, I don’t understand how a dragon made things easier.”

“It’s not surprising, considering the war that confined us demons to the demon realm.”

The succubus affirmed Baphomet’s words.

“But this time, a dragon flew around everywhere, destroying and burning villages in various places.”

“So you’ve been collecting sacrifices by taking advantage of that.”

“Yes.”

From what she heard, the dragon had burned down quite a number of villages.

So, if they attacked and burned people near the dragon’s path or its expected route, the likelihood of it being attributed to these demon worshippers would decrease.

Everyone would blame the dragon.

“They brought this upon themselves.”

If that dragon had been flying around peacefully, none of their work would have progressed.

Although it was an enemy, it had been a great help this time.

“Speaking of sacrifices.”

Baphomet narrowed her eyes slightly.

“He would be very displeased if he heard about this.”

“Pardon?”

“He dislikes meaninglessly tormenting the weak.”

Their ruler had already shown signs of discomfort at the idea of gathering sacrifices.

‘He might make allowances, but he’ll still reprimand us.’

Baphomet unconsciously let out a sigh.

“Lady Baphomet?”

“It’s fine. I’ll take responsibility.”

There was no time to be picky about methods anyway.

She decided to forget about the sacrifices for now, thinking she would take responsibility and, at worst, offer her head.

“According to the theory, we need to open a gate to create the magical environment, correct?”

“Yes, so we can stably receive magic from the demon realm and perform the ritual.”

Baphomet nodded.

In truth, she didn’t fully understand what was being said.

She believed she could just leave the details to her subordinates.

What remained was opening the gate.

“Is there anything else needed?”

“Yes. However, we can progress with the work to some extent while preparing.”

One of the worshippers approached and handed her a piece of paper.

Inwardly impressed that it was of much better quality than what they used in the demon realm, Baphomet looked at the paper.

“There are many hard-to-find items here.”

“We’ve marked their approximate locations.”

“That’s somewhat fortunate.”

After saying that, Baphomet waved the paper once.

“I’ll gather the items listed here.”

“Then, what about us?”

“It’s obvious.”

After drawing everyone’s attention and pausing for a moment, Baphomet spoke.

“Prepare the ritual to summon the Demon King.”

“Yes!”

Leaving behind the cheering demon worshippers, Baphomet headed outside.

“Are you going right away?”

“Yes. You come with me.”

“I wanted to rest a bit…!”

The succubus made a sad face, but there was no helping it.

They were short-handed.

From the beginning, it was a situation where she, as a commander, had to do the legwork herself.

It wasn’t a situation where she could let others rest.

“Still, if a strong opponent appears along the way…”

Baphomet recalled the man and woman who had fought her before.

She had wanted to fight them to the end.

She briefly considered whether she might be able to satisfy her fighting instinct if a worthy opponent appeared.

“You’re not thinking of fighting, are you?”

“…No, forget it.”

She had almost fallen into the desire to fight strong opponents.

Reproaching herself for her lack of self-discipline, Baphomet headed outside.

“Let’s go.”

For the sake of the dried-up demon realm, and for the Demon King who trusted her.

She had to set aside her fighting instinct for now.

+

A few days after encountering the demons, they were able to reach the Count’s territory.

Fortunately, in the village where they had encountered the demons, some people had regained their strength after a day, so they could entrust the aftermath to them.

Of course, the recovery of these people was entirely due to Sera and Christina’s exhaustive efforts in nursing them.

After Ive purchased some of the village’s specialties and instructed them to use the proceeds to address urgent matters, they drove the carriage along the main road for several days.

Without any incidents, they were able to reach the city where the Count’s family resided.

And after moving directly to the Count’s mansion…

Everyone was waiting outside, feeling intimidated by the Count’s residence.

“Let’s gather our thoughts before going in.”

Ive had said it was just a large mansion, but upon arrival, seeing a massive building that was rare even in the capital, she felt a bit overwhelmed.

So she suggested to the group that they should prepare themselves mentally, and judging by everyone’s agreement, it seemed she wasn’t the only one feeling intimidated.

“Is that the Metis Count’s residence?”

“Yes.”

“It’s so big…”

Ive answered as she looked in the direction Sera was pointing.

Christina was muttering about its size while holding her own hands to calm herself, and Beatrice was indifferently smoking a cigarette.

“It seems even bigger than the mansions of nobles living in the capital.”

“In the capital, land is limited, and there are restrictions on building houses beyond a certain size.”

“Really?”

“It’s related to the authority of the royal family. Actually, nobles farther from the capital tend to build larger houses.”

Ive explained this and then stared at the mansion for a moment.

So this young lady was the daughter of that enormous house.

“Ive.”

“…Let’s go.”

Having seemingly organized her thoughts, Ive nodded.

“Nothing will change by staying here longer.”

Ive looked at all of us once, even though she hadn’t specifically gathered our attention. That action alone was enough to focus everyone’s gaze on her.

“First, let me clarify. We have two purposes for visiting the Count’s residence.”

“One is to find the whereabouts of the holy ground.”

“The other is to report about the demons.”

Ive used her fingers to outline the purposes of their visit to the Count’s residence.

“Besides these two, we don’t have any other business with the Count’s family. If we’re lucky, it should be over quickly.”

“If we’re lucky? Could something go wrong?”

“The worst case would be if the Count himself is away touring his territory…”

Ive added that it definitely wouldn’t be resolved in just a day or two.

“But since autumn has already passed, I don’t think that will happen.”

“Then there shouldn’t be any problems.”

Ive nodded at Sera’s words.

“I’ll handle the negotiations, so everyone just needs to follow along.”

“Um, are there things we shouldn’t do? Like, should we be concerned about our attire…?”

Christina cautiously asked Ive.

It seemed she was feeling burdened by the thought of entering that grand mansion in her patched-up nun’s habit.

Seeing Christina’s concern, Ive smiled and said:

“If formal attire or dresses were required, I would have prepared them for all of you in advance.”

As expected of a rich person.

Instead of considering leaving someone behind, her first thought was to buy clothes for everyone.

Indeed, with money, one can… wait?

“…Hold on, Ive, do you know my size?”

“Let’s not discuss such trivial matters.”

Ive immediately turned her head away.

‘Wait a minute…’

Come to think of it, she had also prepared armor for me in advance.

That meant Ive knew my measurements.

This wasn’t a trivial matter.

It was a matter of my privacy.

“Ive, how did you know my measurements…?”

“Well, let’s get going.”

Ive quickly climbed onto the driver’s seat, avoiding my gaze.

Figuring it was futile to press the issue, I followed her up to the driver’s seat.

The reason I was on the driver’s seat was due to Ive’s insistence.

“I need to show my face first.”

“You said someone who’s worked here for a long time would recognize you.”

The reason: if someone had worked there for a long time, they would recognize Ive.

Given that we were going to a noble’s house, there was a valid concern about being turned away at the door, so showing Ive’s face made sense.

“Also, even if they don’t say it outright, if either I or Beatrice were driving, they might look down on Kei.”

“That seems a bit unfair.”

The second reason was that if a woman other than me was driving, they might not view me favorably.

While I wasn’t sure about Beatrice, if Ive were driving, there was a risk that the household might be upset about treating one of their own as a mere driver, so this too was a valid reason.

“Absolutely not because I wanted to be with Kei.”

“…I understand.”

While these were valid reasons, Sera seemed quite displeased.

She entered the carriage without saying much, but I felt I might need to comfort her later.

Anyway, for these reasons, I ended up driving the carriage.

“Let’s go, Moo.”

-Moo!

I just held the reins and called out, and Moo started pulling the carriage on his own.

“He really is a smart one.”

“Isn’t he?”

Ive said with a smile.

We began moving, step by step, towards the massive mansion.

Shortly after, we arrived at the main gate, and I had to stop Moo momentarily out of surprise.

“…Ive, I have a question.”

“Yes.”

“Is the Metis family very open?”

Ive shook her head at my question.

“Even they usually keep their doors closed.”

From a distance, the entrance to the mansion wasn’t visible, but as we got closer, I saw that the entrance to the mansion was wide open.

There were what appeared to be private soldiers lined up, and in the center of the doorway stood an elderly man in a suit between two women in maid uniforms.

He was an old man with a monocle and an impressive mustache.

He looked like someone who would be named Sebastian.

“How is Sebastian there?”

“Is his name really Sebastian?”

Ive turned her head to look at me.

She seemed to be questioning what odd thought I had, so I averted my gaze, causing Ive to chuckle softly.

“Sebastian, or Sebas, has been serving the house since before my father got married.”

“Is he quite high-ranking?”

“He oversees all household affairs.”

Ive narrowed her eyes slightly.

“He’s not in a position to personally greet people unless it’s a very high-ranking guest.”

Yet now he was waiting at the door to greet someone.

“Ive, this…”

“…Let’s go see.”

After a moment’s hesitation, I started driving the carriage.

I carefully maneuvered through the armed soldiers.

Then I stopped the carriage a short distance from the man called Sebastian.

Sebastian bowed politely, and the maids behind him also lowered their heads.

“We’ve been waiting for you, Miss.”

As if he knew we were coming, he greeted us without even confirming who we were as soon as we stopped.

Seeing this, Ive narrowed her eyes slightly.

“…Did you know I was coming?”

“Yes.”

Sebastian responded politely without even raising his head.

“The master informed me to personally greet some very distinguished guests who would be arriving today.”

“Very distinguished guests?”

Now seemingly considering it not impolite, the old man straightened up.

The maids behind him also stood upright.

“Wouldn’t that be referring to you and your companions, Miss?”

The expression seemed a bit odd for that.

But there was something else that bothered me more.

“…I never sent any communication.”

“Is that so?”

Sebastian calmly responded to Ive’s quiet remark.

Then he approached our carriage.

“If you don’t mind, we’ll drive the carriage for you.”

“We’ll handle it ourselves. It’s just ahead, right?”

“I’ll guide you from here.”

Sebastian climbed up and sat next to me.

Then he nodded once towards the ground, and the two maids, understanding his gesture, bowed once before beginning to give instructions to the people.

As I started the carriage again, I heard the sound of the door closing and people withdrawing behind us.

“Did you prepare such an elaborate welcome just for my arrival, Sebas?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t prefer such fanfare.”

“I’ll be more mindful next time.”

Sebastian replied and briefly looked me over.

Since I was driving, I didn’t look at Sebastian directly.

My face wouldn’t be visible anyway because of the helmet.

“This person…”

“Is my friend.”

At Ive’s answer, Sebastian shifted his gaze away from me.

Following his guidance, I drove the carriage, and I saw what appeared to be a parking area for carriages.

“Please park the carriage over there.”

The butler directed me to what seemed to be a spot prepared for us.

I glanced at Ive, and when she gave a small nod, I carefully moved and parked the carriage.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Ive immediately got down from the driver’s seat and knocked on the carriage door, prompting our companions inside to carefully exit.

“Are these all your friends, Miss?”

“Yes.”

Ive answered promptly.

Her resolute response seemed to indicate that she wouldn’t allow any further questions.

Of course, Sebastian was just smiling.

“Then, let me guide you. This way…”

Just as he was about to lead us towards the mansion’s entrance, the door suddenly burst open, and a blonde woman in a dress emerged from inside.

A middle-aged woman with her hair tied up came out, accompanied by maids on both sides.

‘They look alike.’

She was a woman who resembled Ive greatly in appearance.

And seeing her, Ive slightly bowed her head.

“It’s been a while.”

“It has been a while.”

The woman’s face was filled with joy.

“Welcome home, our Ive.”

“…Thank you for the warm welcome, Lady Metis.”

“Please don’t address me so formally.”

Ive seemed uncomfortable and averted her gaze slightly.

Then, slowly, she addressed the other person.

“…Mother.”

Ive’s mother, the Countess Metis, began to smile brightly.