Ch.159Chapter 159

Today, I received another mission to deal with a Demon God. Lately, there have been frequent cases of Demon Gods appearing in forest-like areas, which has been giving me headaches.

I wondered if it was because there were many mountains in the surrounding area.

No matter how thoroughly we conducted search operations, it was impossible for people to search every nook and cranny of a mountain.

Magic exists, but it couldn’t overcome problems like distance or obstacles to find everything.

As a result, Demon Gods occasionally appeared even on mountains frequently visited by people. They lived day by day as if they didn’t exist, without anyone knowing how long they had been there or how they had survived, until at some point they emerged into civilian areas.

There were two types: those seeking food and those seeking entertainment. Just two categories.

Either way, they harmed people equally. Whether killing people to drain their lifespan or killing for fun, the end result was the same—people died.

It was unfortunate. I had tried to initiate dialogue several times, but frequent failures left me feeling frustrated.

Were Ourr and Ouro really the only Demon Gods capable of communication and socialization? Though I speak of them as two beings, considering they originated from the same source, they could be considered unique.

The existence of Ourr and Ouro shouldn’t be “exceptions” but rather “the first discovered beings.” If they remained exceptions, it might be difficult for them to become members of society, so I needed to be careful.

For Ourr and Ouro to live proper lives—not depending on me but eventually living independently—there were things I absolutely needed to find out.

How could I discover them? How could I declare that some Demon Gods are safe? How could I…

“Grrrr.”

“Grrrrrr!”

Putting my concerns aside, I entered the Research Lab. There, two identical cute Demon Gods were growling at each other.

I thought they were fighting, but it looked slightly different from their previous head-grabbing fights. Both had their thumbs up, pushing them toward each other.

Not understanding what they were doing, I could only blink repeatedly.

Was this some special communication method unique to Demon Gods that humans didn’t know about? But I hadn’t seen anything like this in the nearly half year that had passed.

“What are you two doing?”

“Oh! You’re back?! Ouro told me I’m the best, so I’m telling her she’s the best too!”

Ourr’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw me return. But she didn’t seem inclined to remove her thumbs-up gesture from Ouro.

She was forcefully pushing it into Ouro’s face, and Ouro, not one to stay still, was doing the same in return.

“I simply said she was the best, but Ourr…”

“Hey, I’m telling you you’re the best too.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“Are you the one who was mocking me first?”

Ourr and Ouro were fighting over something trivial again today.

If people saw this, would they still say, “This Demon God is harmful”?

But showing this and appealing to others would be nothing more than begging for exceptions to be recognized. I just wanted to create an environment where they could naturally blend in.

I didn’t want to force them into positions labeled as exceptions.

Those positions could be cut away someday depending on people’s moods. I couldn’t say such positions were completely safe. They needed safe positions.

“Come on, the Professor is back, so let’s stop that now.”

I waved my hand. They seemed to listen to me well, as they slowly lowered their arms while still glaring at each other.

They were clearly different from the Demon Gods I had to deal with for work.

Since their immortality didn’t come from coveting others’ lifespans, they didn’t kill anyone for survival. Moreover, their gentle personalities meant they didn’t go around killing people out of boredom.

Thinking about it, they really did seem unique. But since there were two of them, perhaps not entirely unique—it was a day full of thoughts in many ways.

“Professor?”

“Oh, Ouro. There are snacks over there, shall we have one each?”

“Welcome back.”

“Ah, yes. I’m back.”

Ouro greeted me a beat late.

I thought she called me because I was spacing out, and I mentioned snacks as an excuse, not realizing she was greeting me. I thought she had skipped greetings since she was bickering with Ourr earlier.

Seeing her improved manners, I thought she might do well in society later.

Yes, whether meeting friends or strangers, greetings always come first.

Ouro stood still, blinking her eyes. Then she silently turned her head toward the drawer. She took out a handful of snacks, placed them in front of me, and began counting them.

“One, one, one.”

She counted three “ones.” And there were still some left.

I had suggested having one each, but perhaps she wanted more, as she brought several and began dividing them into three portions.

“One, one, one.”

“That’s already two now?”

“One…”

Ouro had become a fool who could only count to one. Even if I had suggested having two each, she might have continued saying “two, two, two…” even after reaching five.

Well, it’s not like they would gain weight from eating a lot, so it should be fine. If we run out of money, we just won’t buy more, so it’s not a big issue.

“Three, four.”

“One, one.”

Meanwhile, Ourr started counting. She seemed to want to point out that Ouro kept saying “one, one.” But Ouro was not one to back down.

She stubbornly continued saying “one” while dividing the snacks.

A total of five snacks were given to each of us. While I was touched by how they had learned to divide things equally, I thought I should gradually teach them the method of self-restraint as well.

They had already mastered magic and such things. So I should teach them other knowledge.

“I’ll enjoy these.”

“Okay.”

When I smiled and spoke, Ouro nodded.

“There were five.”

“One.”

“Ah, you ate one, so now there are four.”

“One.”

“You’ve already eaten two…?”

I couldn’t help but laugh just watching them.

It was as if they had rehearsed a script to entertain me. The way Ouro calmly ate one after another made it seem like she would leave just one snack.

Ourr, who was watching this, seemed shocked and remained still with a dumbfounded expression.

“Professor! Ouro has already eaten two!”

“One.”

“Ourr, you eat a lot today too. But in exchange, there might not be any snacks tomorrow or the day after.”

When I jokingly said this, Ouro, who had been munching enthusiastically, froze. She even forgot to move her mouth and stared at me with wide eyes.

Beside her, Ourr quietly began gathering her own snacks as Ouro turned to stone.

“Then I should save mine…”

“If you give me one, we’ll be even.”

“No way!”

Ourr shouted at Ouro’s unreasonable demand. She even turned her body in the opposite direction to prevent Ouro from taking her snacks.

After swallowing everything in her mouth, Ouro stared quietly at the three snacks in front of her. The unhesitating hand movements from earlier had completely disappeared.

“Hmm.”

No, it seemed she had just paused to think. Her halted hand once again picked up a snack and popped it into her mouth.

“She eats well.”

“These are mine.”

Ourr was preciously hugging her snacks as if determined to protect them.

Different personalities mean they’re essentially different people. I thought they would be somewhat similar since they had the same starting point, but seeing no such similarities made them interesting to watch.

It might be odd to say this about snacks, but I found myself nodding at how Ourr thought about the future while Ouro enjoyed the present without concern for later.

I became curious about how they would behave when given the same items in the same situation.

“Then Ourr, would you like to entrust them to me? When you ask for them later, I’ll give them to you one by one.”

“…Oh, yes. That sounds good.”

Ourr carefully took out the snacks she had been hugging. She handed over all five snacks gathered in her small hands. Seeing her store all five without eating any reminded me of a squirrel.

If she entrusted these snacks and later forgot about them, leaving them abandoned, she would truly be like a squirrel.

I put the rustling plastic into the drawer.

Having seen her snacks safely stored away, Ourr seemed relieved and smiled. As long as the drawer remained visible, she probably wouldn’t forget.

“What about me?”

“Ouro, do you want to stop eating too?”

“…No. I want to eat more.”

Ouro apparently had no intention of saving any. She had already eaten three and had only two left, but she popped them into her mouth as if there was no point in saving them.

She devoured all her snacks in no time. Watching this, Ourr addressed Ouro in a shocked voice.

“Your teeth will rot that way!”

“I’m a Demon God, they won’t rot.”

“…That’s true.”

Ourr seemed to occasionally forget that she was a Demon God.

Perhaps she was gradually living more like a human.

Whatever the case, their cute behavior was pleasant to watch.