Ch.162[Chapter 162] The Chief of Staff and the Administrator

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica fell silent.

This was due to the fierce offensive from the Chief of Staff and the administrative official.

“Kuk.”

The Chief of Staff grazed Sir Dominic’s shield.

And without fail, the system recognized it as an attack, calculated the probability, and put him in a stunned state.

As the Chief of Staff’s movements stopped, Sir Dominica struck him with her shield and pulled out her musket to fire at the administrative official.

She was trying to prevent the administrative official’s interference before finishing off the Chief of Staff.

However, the administrative official’s casting was faster.

As [Decree of the Grand Duchy of Jacques] activated, the number of the administrative official’s magic arrows increased, and part of the attack was converted to penetrating damage.

Then he fired all the waiting magic arrows at Sir Dominic.

This happened just before Sir Dominica’s skill, [Shock and Awe], could reach him.

The administrative official was hit by Sir Dominica’s skill and fell into a stunned state, but he succeeded in preventing Sir Dominic’s next attack.

The blindly fired arrows swept over Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic put all his effort into holding up his shield to block the arrows.

Despite his high base defense and damage reduction effect of over 10%, the penetrating power of the magical arrows was not to be taken lightly.

While Sir Dominic was focused on defense due to the administrative official’s attack, the Chief of Staff was released from his stunned state.

The Chief of Staff’s fist flew toward Sir Dominica’s face.

Sir Dominica tried to block the punch with her shield, but while the shield momentarily blocked her view, the Chief of Staff moved behind her and threw a punch at her shoulder.

“Ugh!”

Sir Dominica dropped her musket from the impact.

She tried to draw her sword instead, but her arm wouldn’t move as she wanted.

[You’ve been struck in a vital point by unfortunate misfortune. You will be immobilized for 3 seconds.]

That’s right.

In fact, after the duel with Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, the Chief of Staff had prepared a secret weapon of his own.

Specifically, a trait or special skill that causes status ailments.

Given the nature of damage dealers, crowd control wasn’t very effective.

It was more efficient to deal damage one more time than to apply a status ailment once.

Nevertheless, the Chief of Staff had mastered a new crowd control technique just to land a hit on Sir Dominic.

Of course, it was Sir Dominica who got hit instead of Sir Dominic, but ultimately his choice proved correct.

The Chief of Staff’s fist swung at Sir Dominica once more.

However, Sir Dominic’s quick response bought time for Sir Dominica to grab her sword again.

This fierce duel was becoming even more desperate.

But why?

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were smiling.

A very happy smile they hadn’t shown in a long time.

…

While Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were fighting, what was Alice doing?

In fact, Alice was doing the most important job.

She was firing her crossbow at the administrative official, both knowingly and unknowingly.

Of course, since Alice was treated as equipment for Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, her damage was about the middle of their attack power, but that was enough to irritate the administrative official.

Pop. An arrow with a suction cup at the end stuck to the administrative official’s forehead.

“…This is!”

The administrative official angrily threw an arrow back at Alice.

Of course, attacks that hit Alice don’t cause any damage to her.

To her.

Attacks that hit Alice were shared equally between Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica.

Alice’s attacks weren’t very strong, but they were annoying enough to be distracting.

And thanks to Alice’s attacks diverting attention, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica could take a little less damage.

That’s why what Alice was doing now was quite significant.

“Phew.”

Alice loaded another arrow into her crossbow while catching her breath.

This one had a small cotton pouch at the end that wasn’t painful but was the unpleasant kind of arrow.

“Hmm?”

Alice, who was aiming at the fuming administrative official through the crossbow’s sight, seemed to notice something and lowered her aim.

Then she looked toward the alley through the Chief of Staff’s flashy movements.

“…Who does that look like?”

Alice squinted, trying to see more clearly.

Horns as tall as her height. Purple hair so long it dragged on the ground.

An appearance somehow similar to Princess Teu Le Vante.

“No way. It couldn’t be.”

Alice didn’t think that girl was Teu Le Vante.

The friend she knew was a cute, squishy girl with a 2-head proportion, not someone with such good proportions.

Could it be someone who looks similar? Or does Teu Le Vante have an older sister?

Alice pondered, forgetting they were in a battle situation, as she watched Teu Le Vante peeking her head out from the alley.

After a moment’s hesitation, Alice walked through the intense battle area toward the alley.

Alice, who admired Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, had somehow become the type who couldn’t resist immediately satisfying her curiosity.

…

“Sh-should we go out now?”

“Let’s wait a little longer.”

The Demon Lord and the Hero were still in an anxious situation.

They had long since finished the snacks they had exchanged, but the fight was too intense for them to intervene.

The two seemed to think differently now that their body proportions had changed from 2-head to normal.

That’s when it happened.

“Excuse me!”

“Eek!”

“W-who’s there?”

The Demon Lord and the Hero jumped in surprise at the loud voice right next to them.

The Demon Lord turned her head sharply to find the source of the sound.

“Ah.”

The Demon Lord recognized her immediately.

It was her friend, Alice.

“Are you perhaps Teu Le Vante’s—”

The Demon Lord flinched.

The Hero, not understanding the situation, looked back and forth between the Demon Lord and Alice.

“—older sister?”

Alice asked with a bright smile on her face.

Teu Le Vante stared blankly at that innocent silliness, then seized the opportunity to start lying.

“Well, yes. I’m Teu Le Vante’s older sister. Yes. Anyway… Um…”

But Demon Lord Teu Le Vante wasn’t good at lying, which didn’t suit her title as a Demon Lord.

It was only natural.

Hadn’t she heard countless times from the Chief of Staff that a ruler must be honest?

“I knew it!”

Alice was simply delighted that her guess was correct.

Of course, she didn’t suspect anything at all.

Although Alice’s body was over 15 years old and adult-sized, her mind was still that of a 15-year-old with the innocence of a 3-year-old.

Demon Lord Teu Le Vante was about to agree with Alice’s words, but instead sighed deeply at her innocence.

Then she confessed that what she had just said was a lie.

“Actually… it’s me. Teu Le Vante.”

“…!”

Alice looked at Teu Le Vante with a surprised expression.

Teu Le Vante squeezed her eyes shut.

She was trying to think of how to explain this impossible growth.

Hmm… should I say it’s a growth spurt? No. Even for a growth spurt, this is too extreme.

Besides, I’ll return to normal. How would I explain that?

But her efforts were in vain.

“…It’s a growth spurt!”

“Huh?”

Alice said, looking at her friend, Teu Le Vante.

“Mom told me. During growth spurts, you can grow dozens of centimeters in a day!”

“Mom said you can grow dozens of meters. It’s different for everyone,” Alice said with a bright smile.

That’s right.

Everyone must have known that her mother was a frost giant.

A frost giant so tall she seemed to reach the edge of the sky.

From a giant’s perspective, Teu Le Vante’s transformation was just natural.

After all, even Alice, at the age of 15, was as tall as an adult man.

“…Yes. That’s right. But I might go back to 2-head proportions.”

“Is that how demon growth spurts work?”

“…Yes.”

When Alice blinked her eyes and asked, Demon Lord Teu Le Vante vaguely confirmed that was the case.

“By the way…”

Alice seemed to realize something and said to Teu Le Vante.

“Isn’t that person over there your guardian?”

Alice tilted her head.

As far as she knew, the Chief of Staff was the person who served Teu Le Vante.

There was no reason for Teu Le Vante to be hiding like this.

“Well… it’s complicated…”

The Demon Lord trailed off.

But Alice glanced at the expressions of the Demon Lord and the Hero and said with a knowing look:

“You did something wrong, didn’t you?”

“!”

The Demon Lord widened her eyes as if asking how she knew.

“Well, you have exactly the same expression I have when I’ve done something wrong.”

Alice said with a bright smile.

“I ran away too when that happened, but my mom found me right away. But when I apologized to her, her anger went away.”

Teu Le Vante and the Hero looked at each other.

Come to think of it, that was true.

Until now, whenever the Chief of Staff and the administrative official got angry, they always forgave the Demon Lord and the Hero when they apologized.

It shouldn’t be much different this time.

“Thank you.”

The Demon Lord said to Alice, this large child.

“Thanks to you—”

“We found the courage to apologize.”

The Demon Lord and the Hero expressed their gratitude to Alice with bright smiles.

“…Yes!”

Alice didn’t know what the situation was, but she thought it must be good since they were smiling, so she smiled back.

The Demon Lord and the Hero took a deep breath at the entrance of the alley to gather their courage.

Then they took a step toward where the Chief of Staff and the administrative official were.

And with the most charismatic manner befitting a Demon Lord and a Hero, they shouted:

“Stop right now!”

“That’s an order!”

While striking the most impressive pose.