Marius returned with a Lamia, having obtained her consent by coercion.
The people of the castle were no longer surprised by a Lamia.
However, the situation was different when it came to making her a maid.
“Please send her back to where she came from.”
The Head Maid, with her hands on her hips and eyes narrowed, reprimanded Marius.
Everyone else also frowned.
“Yes, but human-demon coexistence needs to be at least this much.”
“First of all, I believe you should have said something to me.”
“Ah, yes.”
Normally, it would have been grounds for execution for treason for someone like the Head Maid to interrupt the words of a king mid-sentence.
However, no one at that moment raised the issue.
Many were silently cheering for the Head Maid in their hearts.
El, who was almost the sole exception, spoke.
“In other words, are you opposed to the appointment of a Lamia?”
“Of course.”
The Head Maid stated firmly and glared at El.
“Honestly, Your Majesty might be an exception, but you know what you’re doing, don’t you? What exactly do you intend to do?!”
The Succubus, who had been shouted at, replied nonchalantly.
“That’s why it’s human-demon coexistence.”
“It’s impossible! A Lamia, you say? Their main diet is human children!”
The majority agreed with her cry, which was close to a scream.
“Even if you say it’ll be fine with Marius and Auraniess around…”
“As a mother, my true wish is for you to stop this…”
Barra and Lovisa spoke in unison.
Even Barra, who could defeat a Lamia in a one-on-one fight, was opposed.
This was largely an emotional issue.
Like monsters such as Goblins, Orcs, and Trolls, species whose ecology involved attacking humans could not be accepted overnight.
Succubi were somewhat of an exception, but even then, they were detested by their own gender, if not by the opposite sex.
“I know that much.”
Unlike Marius, who was surprised by the strong opposition, El said with boredom.
“Then why? There must have been other ways, and there are other species too, aren’t there?”
After listening to the Head Maid’s biting words to the end, El looked at Marius.
“Did you hear that? They seem to be against human-demon coexistence.”
“Wh-!”
The Head Maid was stunned into silence by surprise but recovered instantly and retorted.
“I didn’t say that! I’m against making a Lamia a maid! I am in favor of human-demon coexistence!”
“You oppose the appointment of a Lamia, yet you are in favor of human-demon coexistence? That’s not convincing.”
El scoffed.
Seeing this, Emma groaned, “She got us.”
Most, including the excited Head Maid, were caught in El’s pace and hadn’t noticed.
“True human-demon coexistence can only be achieved by coexisting with species like Lamias, right? It’s problematic to have such people in the royal castle. We must reform their awareness.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
Emma quickly stopped the enraged Head Maid.
“It’s El’s trap, Head Maid. She’s provoking you to get you to say something.”
The Head Maid gasped, but it was already too late.
With a dark smile, El spoke to Marius.
“Hey, Master, if humans like this aren’t reformed, human-demon coexistence will never spread, will it?”
“That’s true, but couldn’t there have been other methods?”
Marius was honestly taken aback.
However, he was in a position where he couldn’t show it.
But he had to reprimand El to some extent, or he feared the consequences later.
Marius thought so, seeing the gaze of his wives.
“Oh, Master, the plan is to be as unknown as darkness and to strike suddenly like lightning; that’s the basic principle, isn’t it?”
“That’s not something you do to your allies!”
The Head Maid cried out, unable to hold back any longer.
“I completely agree.”
Marius agreed, so El bowed her head.
Not to the Head Maid, but to her master.
“Understood. I will be careful from now on.”
With that, the situation was resolved.
“W-What can I say, it’s quite something.”
Reine, the Lamia who was brought here and left unattended for a long time, looked surprised and sent a sympathetic glance to the Head Maid.
“As things are, you’ll be joining them too?”
Emma said, and Reine nodded.
“I’m prepared. I have to work to lessen the mouths to feed.”
There was the face of a girl who had resolved not to return to her birth family without establishing herself, and Emma gasped.
“Also, being able to eat all the vermin like mice and grasshoppers that harm human activities is a bit appealing. There weren’t many in my village.”
“S-So…”
As Emma was also a woman, she was a little taken aback.
However, if she could eat pests and harmful animals, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to have her around.
Thinking this, Emma tried to persuade the Head Maid.
“Why not try training her for about a month first?”
The Head Maid, told by someone she trusted, put on a bitter face.
“It’s not just a matter of personal preference.”
“I am aware of that.”
Emma looked at her intently.
Reine also looked at the Head Maid with pleading eyes.
Marius looked at the Head Maid as if she were his only hope.
“Understood.”
With a deep, profound sigh, the Head Maid agreed to Reine’s employment.
“However, if I judge it to be impossible, I will dismiss you, so be prepared for that.”
“Yes, I’ll do my best.”
Reine made fists with both hands and declared her determination.
Just then, Auraniess happened to pass by.
Upon seeing Reine, she approached and stroked the scales on her lower body.
“You have delicious-looking scales.”
“Gah…!”
Reine turned pale, foamed at the mouth, and fainted.
The Head Maid judged that she couldn’t blame her since it was Auraniess.
She then had the maids attend to her.
“What, she’s not good at jokes.”
Auraniess clicked her tongue and walked away.
“Training, Auraniess?”
Marius asked, and she nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll be able to do the three-stage fusion, so wait for me.”
No one questioned what she was talking about.
“N…nh…”
Reine woke up.
“Are you alright? That was quite an ordeal for you.”
When the Head Maid spoke gently, Reine remembered what had happened to her.
“Right, Lady Auraniess…”
She shivered as she started to speak.
“It seems to have been a joke,” Marius said.
Her face clearly relaxed with relief.
“R-Right.”
“Auraniess has that kind of personality,” Emma said.
Reine’s face took on a dreamy look.
“But, but, Lady Auraniess is really here. It’s amazing how everyone is acting normally. I truly respect her.”
At the Lamia girl’s words, everyone gave a wry smile.
She wasn’t that good.
The maids gave wry smiles.
The rejection they had felt towards the Lamia moments ago had vanished somewhere.
“For now, for a month, please do your best,” Emma said.
“Y-Yes, I’ll do my best.”
Reine shook the hand Emma extended.
Marius gently moved closer to El and spoke to her.
“El, why did you do something like this again?”
El looked at Reine and the others and smiled.
“It’s all according to plan.”
It took Marius nearly ten seconds to understand.
In other words, El had deliberately stirred things up to foster a sense of camaraderie between Reine and the castle’s inhabitants.
“Auraniess also did exactly as I asked.”
“That was your doing too…?”
Marius could only say that much.
He dared not ask how much of this scheming Succubus’s plan it was all part of.
This did not end with a happy conclusion.
Due to this incident, there was a move to request some form of punishment for El.
The Head Maid held the authority to select maids serving in the court, and even the King had to delegate the final decision to her.
A King could issue an imperial decree, but at least in pretense, the Head Maid’s authority could not be infringed upon.
El had broken that.
It was not acceptable to simply let it go with an apology.
It was not acceptable to create the evil precedent that a King’s Familiar was innocent.
Thus, Marius issued a command to El as a form of punishment.
“I order you to devise a plan for promoting human-demon coexistence, with priority given to proposals for coexistence with Goblins, Orcs, and Trolls.”
“I humbly accept the assignment.”
El received it solemnly.
Many were impressed that this punishment was appropriate.
Goblins, Orcs, and Trolls had plagued humanity since the dawn of history, much like the Demon Lord.
While Dragons and Griffins rarely attacked unless provoked, these were different.
It was not easy to devise plans for getting along with such beings, and if successful, it would benefit humanity.
“I can’t say it out loud, but she deserves it.”
This was said by one of the maids.
She was a Ranleo native and, naturally, a devotee of Barra.
Even setting that aside, she didn’t have good feelings towards El.
In fact, while El was popular with the masses, she was not liked by those working in the castle.
This was understandable, as she only obeyed Marius and tended to manipulate and mock the wives and the Head Maid.
Moreover, to most women, she was a Succubus, an enemy.
Therefore, the Filat maid also supported her colleague and laughed at El.
“I thought His Majesty wasn’t very reliable in everyday life, but I realize now that he does what needs to be done when it matters.”
The literal meaning was “Marius actually did some work.”
The next day, El piled a large stack of documents on Marius’s desk and said to the astonished onlookers.
“I finished it overnight.”
