A Happy Occasion and an Unlucky Affair

"I went and did it…"

When Serge woke up in bed, he saw Chrys's sleeping face without her glasses.

Her face still held a trace of innocence, and it was so lovely that Serge found himself gazing at it for a while. However…

He picked up the clothes that had fallen on the floor and quietly put them on so as not to make any noise.

But it turned out to be pointless.

"Serge…?"

The glasses were just a magic tool, after all. Chrys sat up, covering her chest, and looked toward Serge.

Giving up, Serge approached Chrys and kissed her on the cheek.

"Is your body alright now?"

"Yes, completely. Ah, but…"

Noticing the stain on the sheets, Chrys turned red. Serge cleaned it in a way unique to mages.

"I'll head back to my room for a bit. Let's talk in the dining hall."

"Okay, Serge…"

Still blushing all the way down to her chest, Chrys spoke.

"Last night… I was happy."

She was cute in every little way.

"Ahhh, she's so cute, dammit!"

Back in his own room, Serge writhed on the bed.

Yesterday was their first time, so he'd just done it normally. But what about next time? Would it be okay to do that? That would probably be a bit much. That's physically impossible given their body types. If he did that, she'd definitely get angry…

Every time he replayed memories of the previous night, he'd react, and he couldn't get up for a while.

In the end, Chrys, who should have taken longer to get herself together, arrived at the dining hall before him.

And for some reason, Guinevere was sitting at the same table.

She would normally be in her office by this hour, but for some reason, for some reason, she was handling documents here.

And Chrys's face was bright red.

"I trust you enjoyed yourselves last night?"

"Gofu—"

Serge took 34 points of damage.

And so the two ended up being made to help Guinevere with her work.

Having returned to Jaeburg, Ria and Carla were visiting the demon town during the day.

There were many races like goblins and orcs, but there were also dark elves, nagas with snake-like lower halves, and other such races. And surprisingly, even humans.

The demons were initially bewildered when the two flew in from the sky, but soon began moving about as if nothing had happened.

There was a town here. It felt a bit rural, but to the two of them, it felt far cleaner than human cities.

When they grabbed a random demon walking by to ask around, they found a government-like building where Asuka lived.

Of course, being a vampire, she was currently asleep, and they were told they could meet her from evening onward.

So the two decided to walk through the demon town together.

"I'm surprised."

That was both of their impression.

First, the rural parts were still under development. The government district and shopping district a bit away from the administration building had quite a number of buildings that, though still under construction, were larger than those in Manesh.

If this were a human city rather than a demon one, wouldn't Jaeburg immediately fall into decline? They even thought that.

And the various races got along well with each other.

Of course, there were differences based on body size and lower-body anatomy, but they had properly sorted out their living arrangements. Compared to this, human towns were built with unified specifications for humans alone, making them far less livable.

"It's almost evening. Shall we go?"

Carla nodded, and after eating a light meal, the two headed to the administration building.

The administration building was made of brickwork, just like the one in Manesh.

After they were shown inside, Asuka appeared before them without much delay.

Unusual for her, she looked exhausted.

"Welcome. To our temporary administration building."

"This is temporary? It's quite impressive, though."

Carla was genuinely admiring it, but for demons, this apparently still wasn't satisfactory.

The two were guided to a terrace-like area. From there, they could clearly see the town's residents hurrying about in the evening light.

"There are many nocturnal races among demons, after all. This Nul-Jaeburg is a city that never sleeps."

Near Jaeburg, that's what it meant. They were clearly being considerate.

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

Drinking blood poured into a wine glass, Asuka asked.

"I want to meet the Demon King."

"That's impossible. We don't even know where he is."

Come to think of it, she felt like she'd heard that before.

"But I feel like he'll appear soon. I have that feeling."

In reality, around this time, the Demon King had actually returned to demon territory to maintain the new-model robots he would use in the Battle of Falsas.

"The Black Cats' leader came here, you know."

"Ugh, he didn't say anything weird, did he? Those people and His Majesty are like cats and dogs."

In reality, it wasn't just at that level, but she had to put it that way.

Carla explained the situation in detail.

Asuka sighed.

In the end, they didn't learn anything new. Even when told that the human allied forces had won at Falsas, Asuka didn't seem particularly shocked. Perhaps she already knew.

Since there was a possibility the humans might become emboldened by this, when told to issue a notice for the town's residents not to go outside for a while, she readily agreed.

Though they hadn't gained any new information from coming all this way, seeing the demon town with their own eyes was a great harvest.

It only strengthened their conviction that demons and humans must not fight.

After asking Vargas in Jaeburg to look after the town, the two returned to Manesh.

There, they heard some happy news from Serge.

His marriage to Chrys.

One might think "at a time like this," but precisely because it was a time like this, there was also that argument.

In fact, since the Millennium began, the number of marriage applications at government offices had skyrocketed.

Since they didn't know when they might die, they didn't want to leave their feelings unexpressed. That's probably what many people thought.

"I see～, mmhmm, I see～"

After nodding as much as she wanted to nod, Ria broke into a grin and started questioning them.

What were the proposal words? When and where did it happen? Who said it first?—she was like an entertainment reporter.

In response, Chrys answered with blushing silence, while Serge answered with a sullen expression.

"Hey, sorry to bring this up when we're celebrating, but…"

Guinevere was also present, toying with Serge.

"Since Chrys's father is still alive, you need to get his permission too."

For nobles in this world, marriage required the family head's approval. Without it, it would be considered eloping.

"Well, actually, Otou-sama told me to seek refuge with Serge if something happened…"

The Earl was not to be underestimated.

"Then you'd need the queen's permission. That's fine, right? Your Majesty."

"No way, no way! I'm going to exercise my right of the first night!"

Ria threw a tantrum in a way that no one in this world could possibly understand.

"What on earth are you dissatisfied about?"

Carla asked in exasperation. At that, Ria stopped her exaggerated arm-waving.

"I hate people who get to be happy when I'm this busy."

"Is that something a person with three wives can say?"

"But she's cute too!"

At that, Chrys's face showed surprise.

"Listen, Chrys, if Serge ever cheats on you, come to me. If we're both women, it's not cheating."

It would be. In this case, it definitely would be cheating.

"N-no, that's… Besides, for nobles, having several concubines is perfectly normal… I think?"

"Eh?! That's okay?!"

Serge was immediately met with cold stares from everyone.

While the previously scheduled ceremony for Serge's elevation in peerage was being held, news of the allied forces' defeat at Falsas arrived.

As a result, the allied forces would disband and each country's troops would return home.

In effect, the northern part of the empire had become demon territory.

And with this, the devastated northern empire would be revived. That in itself was desirable, but the prospect of demons flourishing was still frightening to humans.

"We have to act as a bridge between demons and humans."

Carla murmured, still composed.

However, the gap between demons and humans wouldn't be so easily filled. It certainly couldn't be filled through the results of war alone.

In the winter of Continental Year 3003, follow-up forces came streaming from demon territory along with non-combatants.

The same was true near Jaeburg, where a minor conflict occurred.

The cause was hunting.

Many races among demons had meat as their staple food, requiring that much more prey. This overlapped with the human hunters' territory.

The dispute was quickly avoided when the demon side yielded, but this kind of attitude would eventually lead humans to think something they shouldn't.

Namely, that perhaps demons weren't that frightening after all.

The fact that monsters posed a greater threat than demons in this area also contributed to this thinking.

And finally, that day arrived.

A small group of kobolds was killed by human hunters.

The cause was a struggle over hunting prey, but it could be said that the arrogance of humans relying on their greater numbers brought this about.

Ria was forced to deal with this problem not as Jaeburg's autonomous territory, but to hand down judgment by her own hand.