Chapter 44

At the end of June, I entered the President’s office with Mary.

This time, it was for something rather important. Not that everything up until now was trivial, but this was official business.

“Then, I shall officially hire the ‘Indescribable Ancestor of Nightmares,’ commonly known as Mary-san, as an employee. Does that sound good to you?”

“Yeah. I’ll make sure to put my heart into destroying all sorts of things. Look forward to it.”

“Since I’m the President, I’d appreciate it if you spoke politely, but… well, I know you’re a great demon, so I’ll overlook it!”

And so, Mary became the eleventh employee of Necrogrant Dark Magic Co.

“Mary, I’m really happy about this too.”

“Really? I guess Big Bro—Franz—is relieved to know I’ve finally made up my mind to live in the human world for good?”

Mary looked at me happily.

“Ah, yeah, well, there’s that, but also, now that you’ll have a salary, our finances will be much easier to manage.”

“Eh~ is that all it is?”

Mary puffed out her cheeks, but this was actually a massive issue. The expenses for a family of three are entirely different from a family of two. Plus, Mary isn’t exactly a character who understands the concept of “saving money,” so she tends to be quite extravagant. My salary is good, but seeing my silver coins dwindle constantly was getting psychologically frightening.

In truth, since I was the one who summoned her, I should have taken full responsibility, but President Kelkel was being very considerate. If it were anyone else, they probably would have said that since Mary had fulfilled her role, she should just be sent back. That’s the normal reaction, so it wouldn’t have been “evil” or anything.

“But President Kelkel, the damage Mary did to those ‘black companies’ didn’t lead directly to a profit for our company. Are you sure this is okay?”

“If you flip the word ‘Company’ (Kaisha), you get ‘Society’ (Shakai), don’t you?”(Japanese wordplay)

The smiling President looked more like a schoolgirl than a CEO at first glance. Mages and demons stay young for a long time; it’s a nice perk.

“Yes, that’s true.”

“A company only has a reason to exist if it benefits society. If there were only companies that were harmful to society, the world would collapse. Of course, you can’t run a company without making money, but one must never forget the element of working for society and for the people.”

Another deep, wonderful piece of wisdom. Having lived so long, President Kelkel’s words often sound like those of an enlightened sage.

“So, because I contributed to society, I’m a good girl too?”

“Yes! ♪”

Looking at the President’s smile, I felt my heart being purified.

“Of course, I can’t have you constantly attacking black companies as your primary job, so we’ll start with some more modest tasks.”

“Okay. Like destroying modest little towns?”

“No.”

I really wish she wouldn’t categorize “small” and “large” jobs based on the size of the town she destroys. Destroying even a tiny town is a major international incident.

“However, it would be a waste to give Mary-san jobs that are too small. I thought about having her lead a large-scale project to restore fallow farmland using mini-demons, but if people see those mini-demons, they might figure things out…”

The Black Company Extermination Project on the night of the Red Moon was a good thing, but it was also a staggering criminal event involving breaking and entering on a city-wide scale. If the culprit were identified, they’d definitely be arrested, and the companies would likely retaliate. We’d probably win, but it would lead to all sorts of trouble.

“Even if it’s just me, I could destroy a town—”

“You may not.”

Mary is a destroyer; I’m going to have to keep a tight grip on her reins… If she causes a problem that threatens the company’s existence, it’s game over.

“Well, I’ll do anything. I’ll treat it as ‘paying my dues.’ Even as ‘Pillow Sales’.”

“I told you, you can do anything, but you absolutely cannot do that!”

The President would never allow that, but in the world of Dark Magic, I’m sure there are places doing near-illegal things in the shadows, so it’s scary.

“Why? I’m actually quite interested in selling pillows. There aren’t many people in this world who know as much about pillows as I do.”

Mary looked up innocently, baffled. Dammit! I was the only one with a dirty mind! Mary is, after all, a pillow expert.

“Never mind… My heart was just impure… Procuring and selling actual pillows might not be a bad idea, actually. Though at that point, it has nothing to do with Dark Magic.”

“We could tell people that if they don’t buy the pillow, they’ll suffer from nightmares—and then actually send nightmares to them every night.”

“You cannot do that.”

The President stopped Mary’s dangerous suggestion with a smile.

“Well then, could you summon some Imps separately and have them plow some fallow land? You can at least do that, right?”

“Yeah. Forget Imps, I can pull out Manticores, Cockatrices, all sorts of things.”

“Hmm, if we do too much, the boundary between the Demon Realm and the Human World will get blurry, so could you stick to something moderate?”

Having a “Super Rookie” join the team can be quite a handful.

“It’s the end of June now, so we’ll start your employment from July. Until then, please just relax.”

“In that case, maybe I’ll go watch Franz work. Cerulia isn’t here today, anyway.”

Yeah, I figured Mary would want to tag along.

By the way, Cerulia had asked for the day off, saying she had errands to run. Well, I suppose everyone has days like that.

With this, the foundation was set for my new life with Cerulia and Mary—my new family. I thought maybe we should celebrate tonight. I suspected Cerulia might even be at home preparing a surprise party. She seems like she’d enjoy that kind of thing.

After finishing the job of having Imps plow the farmland, Mary and I headed home, feeling a bit excited.

“Mary, aren’t you sticking to me a bit too much?”

“It’s fine. We’re family, after all.”

“Well, I’ve thought of you as family from the start.”

“Hehehe. I guess I have no choice but to use Franz as a hug-pillow even more~”

While giving off a vibe that felt subtly like newlyweds, we returned home to Cerulia.

No, no, I have to keep my feelings straight; Cerulia is the one who’s supposed to be my ‘bride’ in my heart…

I had even bought some sweets that Cerulia likes. I thought she might have been lonely being by herself.

“I’m home, Cerulia.”

“Ah… Master… w-welcom… h-home… sniff… waaaaah!”

Cerulia was bawling her eyes out.

“Wait! What happened?!”

This wasn’t an ordinary situation. I immediately checked to see if the room had been ransacked.

“Actually, I received a message from my parents. They told me to return to the Demon Realm for a while…”

“Oh, a visit home? That’s fine for a little bit, isn’t it? You should go and literally stretch your wings.”

It wasn’t quite July yet, but it was basically summer.

“That’s what I thought, but when I heard the details today… apparently they intend to make me go to an arranged marriage meeting…”

“An arranged marriage?!”

“Yes… My sister told me that my father intends to marry me off to an Incubus…”

Do Succubi and Incubi even make good couples? No, that didn’t matter.

If Cerulia was crying, there was no way I was going to let this happen.

I will protect Cerulia!