Chapter 12 - The Tailor
Bang!
In Tia's office.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Only the sound of a desk being slammed echoed.
'As I thought, it came to this.'
Lilien, standing numbly before her, sighed inwardly.
'I don't know what will happen next.'
Upon hearing the name Beatrice from Lilien, Tia was momentarily blank-faced before being consumed by rage.
And now, she was furiously pounding her desk with her fist.
"Your Majesty, please, stop..."
Lilien, seeing blood on her fist, approached to stop her.
Glare.
Tia slammed the desk one more time, then glared at Lilien with a terrifying expression.
"Lilien."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Why is Beatrice, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, roaming freely near us? Does that make any sense?"
It was a reprimanding question.
But this wasn't Lilien's responsibility, so it seemed the target of her words was wrong.
Still, she didn't argue.
No, she couldn't.
"It does not, Your Majesty."
"Then why?"
Tia's voice was sharp.
"Is this happening?"
Lilien could offer no reply.
Tia was simply enraged.
She was also flustered by the unexpected appearance of Beatrice, whom she hadn't anticipated getting involved in such matters.
"Do you truly have no idea how Clay was made able to walk?"
Finally seeming to properly consider the situation, Tia asked Lilien.
Lilien swallowed dryly and nodded.
"No, Your Majesty."
"So, all you actually witnessed was him walking."
Tia pressed her hand to her forehead.
deep shadow fell across her face.
"...Whether he's an undead or something else, taking the hero's corpse clearly indicates some ulterior motive. Assemble a search party to find him."
"Your Majesty."
At her command, Lilien spoke with difficulty.
"Begging your pardon, but Beatrice is not an enemy I can face. How about entrusting the search party to Lady Nael..."
"Nael?"
She frowned with displeasure.
"This is my matter."
"We will absolutely secure the hero's corpse."
"!"
She was about to get angry again, but then, as if realizing something, she bit her lip for a moment.
She understood Lilien's hidden intention of suggesting Nael.
"Nael is also incredibly strong."
She suppressed her anger and sighed, saying.
"That word, 'absolutely,' you must be able to keep that promise."
"I only ask for one priest capable of handling holy power to accompany me."
"Not someone who serves the Holy State Alliance."
"Yes, I know. If it's someone who can be swayed by money, I will manage somehow."
"I will arrange for one to be found."
Then, she finally looked at Lilien's condition.
"To perform a new mission, you'll need to recover first. Go rest and receive treatment. It will take me some time to prepare things anyway."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Lilien bowed her head.
Tia gestured for her to leave, and Lilien, weary, made her way out.
'I wonder if this is right.'
She had taken on the role of Captain of the Imperial Guard to protect the Empress.
But with the Imperial Knights Commander absent, she felt only harshness in the reality that she had to handle even this kind of task.
"-Gasp, gasp!"
Just then, Lilien spotted someone running in the distance.
'A maid?'
No one would dare run like that in front of Tia's office, which had become extremely sensitive lately.
Unless something serious had happened.
"La-Lady Lilien!"
The maid spotted her first and stopped.
"S-Something terrible has happened."
"Terrible?"
"Yes, Lady Yuru froze the aide and prevented the carrier pigeon from being sent, then left somewhere."
"What?"
Lilien was hearing this for the first time.
"What do you mean? What carrier pigeon was about to be sent...?"
"I-I don't know either. But the aide, who thawed, told me to immediately inform His Majesty about this."
At those words, Lilien looked dazed for a moment, then sighed.
"Surely..."
Creak.
The sound of the office door opening came from behind her.
Lilien turned her gaze, and there stood Tia, who had just opened the door.
"What did you say?"
Horror was etched on Tia's face.
♧
Stomp, stomp.
Demon King's Castle Barungenia.
Clay slowly walked, looking around.
'I felt it from the office, but it's chillingly empty.'
Simply put, the Demon King's Castle felt somewhat desolate.
While it was partly because its purpose was for refuge, it seemed the Demon King wasn't interested in plotting much.
'The other castles were like that too.'
Contrary to rumors that the Demon King sought to control and grasp everything in the world, the Demon King's castles did not have much accumulated wealth.
The storerooms were mostly filled with weaponry. It was striking, but at the time, the Demon King truly seemed obsessed with war.
Clay looked up at the Demon King's portrait on the corridor wall.
Even in the already dim Demon King's Castle corridor, the face in the awkwardly hung portrait was obscured by shadow.
But Clay knew that face.
He remembered the expression the Demon King made when he fell, his heart pierced by the Holy Sword.
Black wings spread from his back, and horns sprouted from his head.
Most considered these the Demon King's defining features, but Clay did not.
That expression he saw then.
Even before being pierced by the sword, that expression he always wore was, Clay thought, the unique something that identified him as the Demon King.
Death.
His expression was no longer that of a living being.
-Clay.
The Demon King's voice echoed in his mind.
-Are you still alive?
Clay tore his gaze from the portrait.
And began walking down the corridor again.
He was heading to the tailor's room on the second floor of Barungenia.
Because Beatrice had pointed out that to become the Demon King, he needed to acquire the most basic things first.
She told him to go to the tailor's room and first equip himself with the Demon King's attire.
'I wonder if focusing on appearance is right, but...'
If he was to take the Demon King's position, he would have to face all those who followed the previous Demon King again, so what was visible seemed sufficiently important.
After all, if he was to stand above them, he had to create an intimidating presence somehow.
'Even if Beatrice handles the rest, I'll have to put in effort too.'
With the strongest of the Four Heavenly Kings, acting as the Pitch-Black One's proxy, by his side, he would somehow be able to overcome unexpected situations.
Still, he couldn't just rely on her.
If he had made a decision.
Stop.
Clay, walking along the second-floor corridor, suddenly stopped.
Tailor's Room.
Found it.
Clay knocked on the door next to the sign that read that, and said.
"May I enter?"
There was no answer.
Just as he wondered if he should just go in, the door to the tailor's room opened.
Creak.
The sound from the old hinges was hardly noticeable compared to the being that appeared before Clay's eyes.
"You're..."
Boing! Boing!
A blue, droplet-shaped monster.
It was none other than a slime.
"A slime?"
Clay tilted his head, surprised by the unexpected appearance.
The slime then puffed itself up, as if to proclaim that it was the owner of this tailor's room.
"I see."
Seeing a neatly tied necktie on the slime's body, Clay said.
"So you are the tailor here."
The slime subtly folded its body in a nod.
It was as he had guessed.
However, a slime tailor was something Clay had never seen before.
"Are you… doing this alone?"
Clay peered inside through the open door.
There were measuring tapes, scissors, and other tailoring tools.
Seeing no one else, Clay turned his gaze back, and the slime bounced up and down angrily.
"Right. It looks like you really are doing this alone."
Clay stepped into the tailor's room. His eyes fell upon various clothes hanging on mannequins.
"Did you make those?"
There were extravagant dresses fit for noble ladies, camouflage uniforms useful for concealment, and even clothes that looked like a merchant's.
To be able to create such a variety of outfits flawlessly truly showed a skill unbelievable for a monster.
"If you made these, that's really amazing. Honestly, it's astonishing."
"Boing!"
The slime suddenly let out a short exclamation.
Whether it could be called speech or not, Clay at least knew for certain that the slime had just expressed pride.
"Alright. Then I'll make a request."
Clay bent down and said.
"Beatrice told me to get an outfit befitting the Demon King here."
"Boing?!"
"She said if I tell you, you'll make clothes more fitting for the Demon King than anyone else."
Then, the slime, which had seemed flustered as if hearing unexpected news, suddenly puffed itself up again with a determined expression.
The slime then went further into the tailor's room.
Clay followed behind the slime.
As he stood in the center of the tailor's room, the slime brought a measuring tape.
Lacking hands, the slime used two tentacles extended from its body like arms.
Nod.
As Clay indicated he was ready to begin, the slime moved around, measuring Clay's size with the tape.
Swish!
It didn't take long.
The slime made a circle with its tentacles, as if to indicate it was finished.
"Is that all?"
"Boing…!"
"That was quick."
Clay let out a wry chuckle and asked the slime.
"Then when should I come back to pick it up?"
The slime brought a calendar and marked three days from now with a red pen.
"You can do it in that amount of time?"
"Boing…!"
The slime brought an design book and handed it to Clay.
Inside were drawings of clothes the slime had made.
Next to them, the production times were noted, all of them less than a week.
"Right. I definitely see now that your skill is incredible."
Then something caught Clay's eye.
'This is...'
A familiar-looking outfit.
He didn't even need to think deeply about whose it was.
'The Demon King.'
The previous Demon King's attire remained in the slime's design book.
Clay glanced at the slime.
The slime tilted its body slightly, as if asking what.
"Nothing. It's nothing."
Clay returned the design book to the slime.
And then he turned around.
"I'll tell Beatrice that you'll be preparing my outfit."
"Boing!"
"Then, I look forward to it. I'll be excited for when I can wear the clothes you've made."
There was nothing more to say to the slime. Clay walked out of the tailor's room and sighed.
As Clay turned his head, Beatrice was already beside him.