The Demon Lord's Second Marriage Chapter 22

Phew, finally got this done. First WN chapter since coming back. I think I'll slowly get back into the hang of things as I adjust to work, sorry for the delay!

Chapter 22 - Checking on his Daughter's Party

The next day, Angelica had prepared a large leather bag and placed it near the front door.

"Angelica, are you going out somewhere?"

"Aah, demon lord, I'll be away on an adventure for a while. Now that we aren't fighting the demon army anymore, I have a lot of free time. We don't want to get rusty, so my party is going to a dungeon with strong monsters."

"I see, I see. That is a wonderful idea, but, just in case, you should tell me your party's composition."

Angelica stared at me suspiciously.

"Why do I have to tell you anything about my party? It's not like we're planning to raid your castle or anything… Well, even if we were going to, I wouldn't tell you anyway."

A cutting reply, as usual, but I couldn't afford to back down. I'll have to come up with a suitable reason.

"This isn't for my benefit—it's for Laetia. She was curious which friends her daughter was going out with."

"What does she mean 'friends'… We're just party members, it's not like we're kids going out on a play date……"

"You're not traveling around as mercenaries for hire, so it really is closer to friends going out to have fun. Come now, out with it. If the opportunity arises, we may send their houses a gift in return for taking care of you."

"I want to complain about some of the things you just said, but fine…"

I got the feeling that Angelica was now much more receptive to what I had to say than before.

"First is the mage, Selene. She comes from a prestigious family of mages that have served the royal family."

"She was that very polite girl. I see, so that is her lineage."

I immediately started writing down notes. People who took good notes would be more successful; that's what was written in How to Be a Good Office Worker, a book I bought recently. Since I was already the demon lord, I didn't need to be even more successful, but my secretary Toralina always whipped out her memo pad for even the most trivial details.

"Next is our priestess, Nahalin. She's always been good at healing magic since she was little, so I hear she was called the 'miracle maiden' in her hometown. She lives in a monastery now."

"The 'miracle maiden,' huh… So that's another girl…"

"Yeah, but you fought us before, don't you remember……?"

"Angelica, can you name everything you had to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from seventeen days ago? I doubt you can. It's basically like that. Unless there was quite an extraordinary event, it's hard to remember everything."

"Um… but we're the hero party… We were officially recognized by the kingdom, you know…"

Oh, c.r.a.p. I inadvertently offended Angelica just now.

"Oh, you know… As the demon lord, I've fought countless adventurer parties, so they're all mixed together in my head. It's not because your party was too weak or anything, Angelica……"

"I guess… we really were too weak, weren't we… Just like Nahalin said, we should've spent more time training and preparing…"

Ah, this was where I was supposed to make up for hurting someone by being nice to them! Instead, all she can do now is laugh with a pained smile! Well, it's already too late. I can't probe any further if I want to keep the wool pulled over her eyes.

"So who is the next member of your party?"

"A fighter who aims for vital points, capable of taking out enemies with a single attack, named Zenkay."

"Zenkay. Is that a boy?"

"Yeah, he is, but why does it matter to you?"

I scrawled 'CAUTION!!!' on his entry in my notes.

"When choosing gifts, knowing the gender can change what we choose. Of course I'd want to know. Now, finally, there's the uh, thief, I think."

Indeed, there was someone with the supremely fishy job of "thief" mixed in there.

"You barely remembered any of the others, but you remembered there was a thief… Isn't that super weird?"

"It's not weird at all. It's just a vague, partial recollection, that's what it is. It's also true that I remember absolutely nothing else about them."

"The last one is Jaunis. Because of what comes from being a thief, we don't really know much about his past, but he's in his twenties, I think. He always talks too much, and Nahalin doesn't really get along with him, but he's really good at finding traps and detecting enemies."

"'Unknown past', huh. 'Talks too much.' And, of course, this is also a boy."

"Yeah, like I said. You seem… really particular about him."

This one earned a 'CAUTION!!! x2' in his entry that I circled numerous times.

As I thought, he was the most suspicious. While it was respectable of him to register as an adventurer with the job of thief, it's possible he could have hidden his dark past from them. It's also likely that he left his hometown due to problems with women.

I need to monitor him. For the first time in a while, I'll have to use invisibility magic.

"Angelica, about when do you plan to return home today?"

"Oh, I'll probably be out for a few days. We'll be focused on clearing a large-scale dungeon down in the south. Based on our current capabilities, it should be a good challenge for us."

"So you'll be spending the night away from home. Understood. It may be inconvenient for the inn, but make sure you get a girls' room and a boys' room. It would be hard for any of you to recuperate if you're too conscious of people of the other s.e.x."

"That's already what we usually do. You really are fussy about little things, for a demon lord."

"Also, I know some female adventurers like to wear perfume, but if you're going into a enclosed s.p.a.ce like a cavern, monsters can use it to determine your location from far away. Refrain from using any, or at least be very sparing."

"None of us use any perfume."

"I see, then good."

It appears as though she has no interest in raising her s.e.x appeal. However, lots of men enjoy eating up innocent girls, so I can't say this necessarily guarantees her safety. Angelica does have Laetia's blood, after all; that already makes her quite attractive, so I should be more on guard than I would be in a normal scenario.

"Aaah, also, if you're going somewhere hot, you shouldn't wear clothes that expose you too much. When you show a lot of skin, you're more likely to get scratches and grazes."

"Gah, this is neverending! I'm trying to leave! Leave me alone already, you're p.i.s.sing me off!!!"

Angelica shouldered her bag and left the house.

Now then, I'd better make my move as well. I teleported to work. Toralina was drinking milk, or something that looked like it. Her hair was tied up, since she usually runs in the morning. She wants to stay fit, it seems. She really was self-conscious.

"Toralina, I'm taking today off."

"Eh? If I recall, you don't have any meetings today, so it's not especially problematic, but this sure came out of nowhere!"

"I'll be bringing some work with me, so no need to worry."

"Um, statistically speaking, there's a much greater risk of losing materials when they're taken home, so you really shouldn't—"

"I'm the demon lord!"

I teleported back home. Angelica should now be walking on the road to the next town. Now then, it's time to follow her.

 —  — Chapter 23