episode_0090

Alice entrusted herself to the warp gate while holding a cat (Marianne).

Normally, Marianne, who wasn’t registered with the warp gate, couldn’t travel together—but if she transformed into a cat, she could.

Was it because cats counted as objects?

Well, it’s not exactly wrong.

She wasn’t a real cat but a magical doll in the form of one.

So, yeah, she technically was an object.

…Just as I was thinking that, I watched Marianne transform into her human form and register her magical energy with the warp gate.

“To think I can use the warp gate now… Wow…”

“You’re that happy about it?”

“Of course! Demons can’t use warp gates!”

Humans were the ones who created warp gates,

but they operated by connecting to and maintaining the power of the gods.

So, those rejected by the gods couldn’t use them.

Because of that, not only demons,

but also heinous criminals, dark mages, and heretics couldn’t use official warp gates.

Conversely, being able to use one was proof that the gods hadn’t rejected you.

Proof that the gods hadn’t rejected her, even though she had once been a demon.

Clear evidence that the Goddess of Light, Serena, had formally accepted her as a human!

…That’s what she said, absolutely delighted.

So.

Leaving the overjoyed Marianne to herself for a moment, I focused on my own task.

Plop!

I scattered seeds onto the ground.

“Seeds? Why are you throwing them on the bare ground?”

“I’m using these to communicate.”

“With seeds?”

“Oh, Goddess of Abundance, Gaia. If Cain has already arrived, please make one sprout. If he’s on his way, two sprouts. If there’s a problem, three sprouts.”

“?”

Pop! Pop!

Two sprouts grew from the ground.

“Huh?… Whaaat?!”

“Goddess of Abundance, Gaia. Please tell me roughly how many days it’ll take for Cain to arrive.”

Pop!

A single sprout grew.

Meaning he’d arrive within a day.

“Uh… Miss Alice? What on earth…”

“Heaven may be cut off, but blessings can be used to communicate like this.”

“Communicate?… You’re talking to a goddess through sprouts?…”

“Yep.”

“If the goddess is answering things like that in detail… Are you a saint?…”

“Not really.”

“Then…?”

“She’s helping because the Goddess of Light, Serena, asked her to.”

“Serena?!”

“Yeah. Actually…”

I hesitated for a second before continuing.

Can I tell her that Serena’s possessing a dog’s body and traveling with us?

The fact that Serena had possessed a dog’s body was an ultra-top-secret matter.

A secret known only to a select few.

…That said,

if Marianne joined the hero’s party, she’d naturally find out anyway.

Still…

I hadn’t gotten explicit permission to tell Marianne.

Until Serena gave the word, it stayed classified.

Okay.

Best to leave it at that.

If I blabbed when Serene clearly didn’t want it known, I probably wouldn’t get divine retribution… but a scolding was likely.

Better keep quiet for now.

…Having thought that, I gave her a vague answer.

“You’ll get the details after joining the hero’s party.”

“Okaaay~”

“Let’s secure lodging first.”

“Yes!”

Marianne followed, buzzing with excitement.

Having only ever lived in the countryside,

this was her first time in a city, so everything was new.

Especially the buildings—they were amazing.

“Buildings?”

“Yeah! I’ve never seen such gorgeous buildings before!”

The wooden houses were stunning,

and the brick houses were beautiful.

The brick-built castle in the city center was grand enough to take her breath away.

A majestic scale utterly incomparable to anything the demons could produce.

Even the Demon King’s Castle was technically called a “castle,”

but standing before a real one, it was downright humiliating to even use the same word.

They looked that different?

“Yes!”

“What’s the Demon King’s Castle like?”

“Just an old, run-down fortress humans built that we took over, patching up the broken parts with magic.”

Demons had almost no craftmanship to speak of.

They slaughtered the humans

and stole what they’d built.

The castle was one of those things.

But.

Since they’d bombarded it with magic to seize it,

it was already over half-destroyed.

Any former grandeur had long since crumbled,

leaving only a precarious structure perpetually on the verge of collapse.

They’d tried to reinforce the most fragile parts with packed earth or stone,

but craftsmanship was utterly alien to demons.

Of course, the result was a mess.

No elegance whatsoever—

a single typhoon could puncture holes and send whole sections toppling.

That was the Demon King’s Castle.

“That’s what you call a castle?…”

“Yes.”

“I thought it’d be… grand or something?…”

“Nothing like that.”

“Then… what about buildings the demons made themselves?…”

“Honestly? Just caves.”

Structures conjured through magic.

Rudimentary caves shaped by roughly clumped dirt or stone.

Frankly, natural caves were better.

But.

The caves near the Demon King’s Castle were all occupied by high-ranking demons.

If you wanted to live close to the king, you had no choice but to build your own.

Hence, these.

“I never learned cave-making magic, so… I had to build mine by hand…”

She’d managed to put together something halfway decent.

Not as good as a human-built house,

but still better than the magical caves demons made.

Yet every time she built one, other demons would smash it and run off.

Thanks to that, she’d barely spent any nights in a proper home.

Eventually, she’d given up entirely, resigned to sleeping in the rain.

Damn bastards.

I worked so hard for that!

Where do you get off destroying it every time, huh?!

You mangy mutts!!!

I wanna sleep in peace too!!!

I don’t wanna sleep in the rain!!!

Freezing winds suck!!!

Blizzards suck!!!

I just wanna—

sleep in a warm house!!!

comfortably!!!

But no!!!

Why—

“M—Marianne?! Your horns are showing! S—stop! Cut it out! You’ll get caught!”

“Eep!…”

She hurriedly calmed down and hid her horns.

“So sorry… Just thinking about the past makes me so mad I can’t help it…”

“Uh-huh… I get it… If I’d lived among those jerks, I’d lose my temper too… But let’s chill for now. Think happy thoughts.”

“Happy thoughts…”

Thanks to a kind old couple, she’d gotten to sleep under a roof.

On a soft, fluffy bed.

No rain,

no snow.

It was bliss.

“Your standards for bliss are way too low…”

Alice briefly recalled the conditions of the ranch’s interior.

A run-down place.

Holes in the walls let in chilly drafts,

and leaks in the ceiling dripped steadily.

The bed was just a pile of straw—far from “fluffy.”

No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t a nice place to live.

But.

Marianne had been grateful even for that.

And yet now…

“Whoa…”

The moment she saw the inn, she realized that old ranch had been a hovel.

“Th…this is a human building?…”

No drafts,

no strange noises.

No dust falling from the ceiling,

no dripping water.

“Wow… To think such perfect places existed… Even the bed is fluffy…”

Not straw stuffing,

but down feathers.

An unimaginably soft bed.

“Aaah… This is heavenly…”

Sleeping on the ground had never felt like this.

Even the straw-stuffed bed hadn’t come close.

So she lay right down.

So cozy she nearly dozed off—until.

“Not eating dinner?”

“!!!!!!”

She shot upright at the mention of food.

“Of course I am!”

The countryside meals had already been divine,

but what would city dining be like?

The mere thought made her mouth water.

So she obediently followed.

“Here’s your order.”

“Wow…”

A dish so expensive it’d probably bankrupt most commoners.

Yet Alice had casually placed the order.

What even…

“Not eating?”

“Uh… Miss Alice?…”

“Yeah?”

“We… really get to eat something this expensive?…”

“Expensive? Ah… Right. For commoners, this is insane.”

“Huh?…”

“But for us? It’s actually pretty cheap, so don’t sweat it.”

“Ch…cheap?! For us?…”

“We’ve got a fair bit of coin.”

Alice explained lightly.

They’d raided a few treasuries for a hefty sum,

and handling Succubus Queen Bestia & the Pope had been lucrative too.

Hence, they were loaded.

So loaded they could dine at the city’s priciest spots without a care.

“But… If we spend recklessly…”

“We’ll be fine.”

According to Cain,

they’d only get richer with time.

The current fortune would eventually feel like pocket change.

So.

No need to hoard now.

She relayed this to Marianne.

“Even… wealthier than this?…”

“Yep.”

“What is Cain? Handsome… rich… capable… Wow… And he’s my husband?…”

“Our husband.”

“Plus, surrounded by beautiful women—the ultimate alpha?… Hnngh… So delici—I mean, impressive… And he chose me? Wow…”

“That happy?”

“Soooo happy. My dream was finding a human man who’d love me even knowing I’m a demon… But Cain’s way beyond that dream. How could I not adore him?”

“Just don’t let the others find out before we gather everyone.”

“Got it! I’ll be discreet!”

“Good. Now eat up—then let’s do some light exercise.”

“Exercise?”

“Mhm.”

“What kind?”

“How about a sparring match to help digestion?”

“??????”

“I hear you’re the strongest swordmaster among demons~ Gotta test that rep~”

“……I’m weak, though?”

“Win, and I’ll give you something nice.”

“Something nice? Like what?”

“A dish so delicious even the Goddess of Light, Serena, raved about it.”

“That exists?!”

“Oh, it does.”

“Deal. I’ll fight seriously for the first time in ages.”

Marianne wiped her drool and accepted the challenge.

[AI-generated image of Marianne (human form)].

I tried generating a rural village girl aesthetic, but I couldn’t get what I wanted after many rerolls.

So I settled for this—different outfit, but similar look. Heh.