Chapter 8

At the office, my secretary, Torualina, took every possible opportunity to bring up my remarriage.

“My Lord, is the new household on track to succeed? Or is it about to explode?”

“What is this talk of exploding? Don’t jinx it.”

True, I can use magic that causes explosions, but that wasn’t the point.

“Stop prying into my domestic affairs and get back to the paperwork. We need to draft a formal letter to the King of the human realm—the Kingdom of Masgenia—seeking a peace treaty. Make sure to emphasize our sincerity by mentioning that we’ve already withdrawn the bosses from several areas.”

The human kingdom—Masgenia—must be struggling with the costs of war and ruined farmlands, so they should welcome peace.

I know they don’t have much financial leeway. In the first place, if they actually had money, they’d be sending a highly trained army to crush the demons.

They wouldn’t be recruiting adventurer parties on a semi-volunteer basis to stand against us.

To be honest, that sort of setup is a mess from a chain-of-command perspective; it’s not an idea a country capable of maintaining a proper army would ever come up with. Even without the demons, such a nation would be wiped out by other human countries in no time.

“The documents are currently being drafted with the utmost urgency. However, not having a Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a time like this is a real pain… Those assigned to the task are quite bewildered.”

“It can’t be helped. For a long time, the demon race lived by the slogan of exterminating humanity, so the concept of diplomacy simply didn’t exist…”

In reality, though, while you might win a war, complete extermination is going too far. You can see that from the fact that both humans and demons have survived without being wiped out. Diplomacy is a necessity.

“I intend to issue an imperial decree to establish a Ministry of Foreign Affairs eventually. But if I do it now, the workload will increase even further, and the administrative staff will panic. Someone will end up working themselves to death.”

“Well, even if they commit suicide, we can just have the Dark Priests resurrect them,” Torualina said flatly.

Yes, if it’s immediately after death, resurrection magic can handle it.

“Even so, it’s not like they can just say, ‘I died, but I’m back and ready to work hard again starting today!’ We’d have to give them at least two weeks of leave, or we’ll get criticized from all sides again. Besides, anyone who goes right back to work with a smile after being resurrected is just plain creepy. There’s a risk their brain might be rotting.”

“Since our undead-type monsters are engaged in manual and unskilled labor, I don’t believe anyone’s brain is currently rotting.”

“I know! It was a metaphor, a metaphor! Ah, I’m so busy! I have to notify the demons to stop attacking humans, too…”

“The cause of all this busyness is entirely you, My Lord, so there’s no room for sympathy. Even for a peace treaty, this is far too sudden. It’s absurd to have zero behind-the-scenes negotiations.”

Torualina spoke with cold eyes. I was indeed placing a considerable burden on her.

“Like I said, I know… That’s why I’m taking the lead and working so hard, isn’t it…?”

Waging war is difficult, but ending one is just as hard. Essentially, no matter what you do, it’s a struggle.

I kept checking the clock.

Going back in the early afternoon to help Lateia with the cooking was probably impossible, but surely I could manage to leave on time at six?

“My Lord, you’ve been looking at the clock quite often.”

Torualina is sharp when it comes to those things. She truly earns her keep as the Demon King’s secretary.

“Given the workload, I didn’t think you’d have a spare second to worry about the time. Are you really that eager to get home to your new life as a newlyweds?”

Is she half-envious because she’s single? But if I said that, she’d definitely sue me for sexual harassment. I probably wouldn’t lose my job as Demon King, but I might end up having to hold a televised apology press conference.

“Ahem… May I leave on time?”

I could have sworn I saw a glint in Torualina’s glasses.

“So, I take it this is a display of your will to inform the subordinates that they shouldn’t work overtime by leading by example and leaving on time yourself? Fine, I’ll let the subordinates head home on time as well. Don’t come crying to me if the departments descend into even deeper chaos tomorrow.”

“Dammit! Fine! Everyone, go home on time! If something goes wrong, we’ll deal with it then! If an organization can’t function without overtime, then there’s something wrong with the organization! I’ll add more staff or whatever else it takes!”

I was becoming half-desperate myself.

Prioritizing home over work—I’m a newlywed, I should be entitled to at least that much freedom!

“Thank you. In that case, I can proudly attend my idol’s concert.”

For once, Torualina actually cracked a smile.

“Torualina, so you had an ulterior motive too?”

“No, I had given up because of the mountain of work, so I hadn’t even bought a ticket. However, the idol I support isn’t particularly popular, so they usually have same-day tickets available. It makes me worry a bit about whether they’re actually doing okay, though…”

Supporting an idol with such a questionable track record sounds like a complicated affair.

“But if they get too popular and only perform at massive venues, it feels like my ‘fave’ has been stolen from me. It’s a delicate balance. It would be ideal if they could maintain just enough popularity to consistently sell out the current venue size.”

“Since it’s the entertainment industry, maintaining popularity is far more difficult than breaking through. It’s practically a divine feat if they pull it off.”

“I know that! You don’t have to tell me every single time! I just happen to be the type who falls for idols who are neither too famous nor too obscure!”

This woman is quite a handful in her own way… But since she’s being a fan within the limits of the money she earns herself, no one has the right to complain. At the very least, keep paying the idol and contribute to their income.

Perhaps because she was now able to go to the concert, Torualina’s working pace increased dramatically. Her black hair almost seemed to be fluttering from the sheer intensity.

“This is my true power.”

“You… you were hiding the strength of a mid-boss, weren’t you? I could promote you to a regional boss, you know.”

“I refuse. A regional assignment would make it harder to go to concerts. Besides, since the war with humans is ending, the status of a regional boss is going to drop anyway.”

Now that she mentioned it, she was right… I’d even have to restructure the official positions. Every time something new happens, even more work is generated. I feel like the workload is increasing forever, like a perpetual motion machine…

“Though, I do enjoy regional shows because you can usually watch them in a more relaxed atmosphere than the city shows. I have a friend who travels to regional cities during the day, watches the performance at night, and stays over in that town.”

“Well, it’s good to see you’re enjoying life.”

In the meantime, it was time to clock out.

I used spatial teleportation magic to return to Lateia’s side.

“I’m home! If there are any dishes still in progress, I’ll help!”

“Welcome back, Garto! In that case, could you help with this?”

I immediately put on an apron and stepped in as a kitchen assistant.

“Angelica hasn’t returned yet, I take it?”

Calling her by the name “Angelica” still felt a bit embarrassing.

“No. She usually gets back around seven.”

That was perfect. It would have been awkward if Angelica were already here the moment I got back.

However—

Even after the clock struck seven, Angelica did not return.

Even past eight, the front door did not open.

This is strange…