“We are overjoyed at your safe return, Lord Astaroth, Esteemed Generals.”

I nodded towards the group of Ghost Maids that welcomed us by way of acknowledgement. From their midst emerged Evyna.

“Welcome b, back,” she said, her voice happy but her face nervous.

I could sense darkness gathering around me. “I’m glad you’re safe,” Lady Entropy told me, at a volume even I had trouble hearing.

I cleared my throat. “Naturally,” I said, “we have returned without problems and with victory.”

Taking my words as a signal, my Demon Masters spoke in turn.

“M’lord’s acting was most splendid.”

“I’ve obtained some good data…”

«I got to hunt, I got to hunt~!»

“Navillus is happy!”

“I got t’ see a great side o’ Master…”

With a sigh and a vow never to use [True Demon Form] in front of Devils if I could help it, I turned my attention back to the castle gates. As per my usual, I opened them using [No-Attribute Magic] with as dramatic a motion as I could.

“Welcome back, Lord Astaroth!”

I decided the ringing in my ears would go away if I paid it no mind, and looked over the crowd of monsters before my eyes. As before, my army was chaotic, and for many of the monsters present, I couldn’t read their facial expression, whether that was because they had no face or I simply didn’t understand the face of a beast.

Yet, from the expressions I could read, I was able to summarise the entire crowd’s mood with a single word—jubilant. I extended my arms to both sides and addressed the whole crowd. “We have returned, my army!” I said, causing another ripple of cheers.

The crowd broke off into several groups, each centred around one of my Demon Generals. No one approached me—it seemed the title of Demon Lord was rather intimidating.

The monsters’ scattering had left Evyna standing on her own, glancing around without a clear goal or reasonable course of action. “Evyna,” I said, approaching her. “Explore the castle, if you’d like. If anyone asks for me, tell them I’m praying.”

“Praying?”

“To Lady Entropy.”

“Th-the Goddess of Darkness? O… okay,” she said, her facial expression a delightful mixture of fear, amazement and astonishment.

I knocked on the delicately decorated door with the word ‘Shrine’ engraved into it, having seen it far too often for it to impress me.

“The door is open,” a certain goddess’s voice sounded near my ear, so I opened the door, held it open a while, and then stepped into the room myself, through the intangible wall of black, and shut the door behind me. Moments later, the air above the white, frilly bed cracked and shattered, and there sat Lady Entropy, her hair spread across the bed like an intricate web, her very presence cloaking the room in darkness.

As though guided by my instincts, I sat down by her side and rested my hand on her head.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” she said again, her voice still lacking in tone.

“I promised, after all, that I’d come back.” A wry smile took over my expression.

I was met with silence, though I felt her happiness and comfort.

After a short while, I cleared my throat in an attempt to broach the topic I wanted to ask about. “Lady Entropy,” I said, “there are a number of… inquiries I’d like answered. Would that be possible?”

“That depends.”

“Hmm. Then, let me start with this one. Why did the Aspect of Heavenly Protection become the Aspect of Protection when I tore it from Theliel?”

“It was corrupted by light, so my darkness fixed it,” she said, tilting her head. Despite the total lack of emotion in her voice and face, I could still tell she was thinking something along the lines of isn’t that obvious?

I blinked as I looked at her, a little befuddled. “T-then,” I said after a moment of silence, “what’s this about its ‘rightful owner’?”

She remained silent a moment, looking me in the eyes. “A secret, for now,” she said afterwards, causing me to finally release the sigh I’d been suppressing.

“Then, something else,” I said, deciding to push on with my questions. “How did you know I obtained the Aspect as quickly as you did? You had already bestowed it upon me the moment I gave it back to you. Even as a goddess, your reaction time…”

She turned her head away to avoid having to meet my gaze. The action suggested she should have been pouting or blushing—though of course, she did no such thing. “Secret,” she said, something I found particularly endearing.

I heaved another sigh as I continued talking. “Alright, then, one final question. Why did you bestow this Aspect upon me? I would presume you would prefer to be able to use its power freely, yourself…”

“I trust you. And you do more fighting than I, so you’ll make better use of it. And…” She turned back to me, looking directly at me with those deep, rainbow-patterned eyes that felt as if they would take my breath away. “I didn’t give it to you for free.”

“Oh my, how sly. As one would expect from a Goddess of Darkness.”

“Hearing that doesn’t make me happy at all.” She turned her head away again.

“My apologies,” I said, gently rubbing her head, “I got ahead of myself. So, in this ‘trade’ of sorts… What is your request, Lady Entropy?”

“In exchange for the Aspect, and the information… spoil me.”

“As you command, Lady Entropy. Then… tomorrow. I shall spend the entirety of tomorrow by your side, spoiling and praising you as much as you like—would this be acceptable?”

She nodded. “That’d make me happy.”

Thus, having decided on her reward, I stroked her head one last time and left her white, frilly room to go make preparations—things such as inform certain areas of the castle I would be unavailable the following day.

Afterwards, I headed to the dining hall for dinner—given we’d ended up skipping lunch, the portions were rather large. Apart from that, however, it was mostly identical to breakfast.

“Uh, mister Astaroth?” Evyna said, lowering her gaze, after we finished.

“What is it? You may speak.” I leaned back into my throne and crossed my legs as I looked at her.

“Uh… That is, well, you said you wanted to, uh, make me an ally, right? Like, um, a monster, or such…”

“So I did. I presume you have an answer, then. Splendid. Let’s hear it.”

“I… I’d like you to please, turn me into a monsh-”

Of course, she ruined her dramatic, life-changing decision by biting her tongue.

“Very well,” I said, “it shall be done. By my hands, I shall turn you into a demon.”

“Demon? Not a…?”

I blinked, a little confused, before connecting the dots. “What are they teaching Heroes these days? Listen up. A demon is still a monster. The term demon simply refers to monsters with a level of intelligence similar or superior to the races of mankind.” I shook my head and called forth a Ghost Maid with a clap of my hands. “Get the ritual room ready by the day after tomorrow.”

Evyna followed the maid’s back with her eyes, then turned back to me. “Does it take that long to get the ritual room, uh, ready, here? That’d only take a few, um, hours, in the Royal Capital…”

I chuckled. “If I wished it, I could have the room ready in mere minutes. Yet, I am quite confident that, if we initiate the ritual two days from now, the result will be far superior.”

As I had already expected, when I woke up the following morning, I felt Lady Entropy’s presence in the darkness in the room. Yet, rather unlike normal, she was not located at the foot or the side of my bed.

Instead, I made eye contact with her the moment I opened my eyes. That is, she was located directly above me, floating in the air.

I wiped a strand of her hair from my face. “Good morning, Lady Entropy,” I said, a wry smirk on my mouth.

“Good morning,” she responded as expected.

I stared at her from closeby for a few seconds before speaking up once again. “Believe me,” I said, “I appreciate that you are looking forward to this, Lady Entropy, but I would appreciate the time I need to change clothes and have breakfast.”

“You promised. Just have the food delivered to my room.” She turned her head a little to the side, her ears slightly twitching. “And some for me, too,” she added in a whisper.

I snickered, and used the skill [Telepathy] to contact my head chef—a Lycanthrope Chief. «Deliver my food to the shrine today, and add something sweet as an offering,» I told him. As I raised my upper body from my bed, I stroked Lady Entropy on the head. “By all means, please await me in your room.”

The muffled sound of a gloved hand knocking on wood resounded through the hallway. At least ten seconds after I retracted my hand from the door, Lady Entropy’s quiet voice beckoned me inside.

I stepped through the veil of darkness and into the white, frilly, rather girly room. Like before, Lady Entropy sat on the bed, staring at me with a face without emotion—yet, only her eyes sparkled with expectation.

I placed my hand over my chest and bowed. “My apologies for keeping you waiting, Lady Entropy.”

“Just get over here. You promised,” she said, patting the bed next to her.

A wry smile on my face, I followed her instructions. “What might you like me to do, Lady Entropy?”

She pushed an ornate silver hairbrush into my hands. “Until the food gets here,” she said, turning her back to me.

“As you wish.” I placed the brush aside for now, having decided it’d be best to start with my hands to get rid of any big tangles. I ran both my hands through her hair, and struggled to keep my eyes open through the comforting sensation that assaulted my hands—not only did her hair look smooth as silk, it seemed truly to be so, combined with an overwhelming softness. Judging from Lady Entropy’s reaction—the fact that she leaned back a little, for example—she, too, quite enjoyed this. After a while, I finally decided to use the brush she’d handed me, and ran it through her hair—it went through with no resistance whatsoever, gliding through her hair as if it wasn’t even there.

With perfect timing, the moment I finished, a knocking sounded from the door. “Lord Astaroth, I shall leave your meal and the offerings outside,” a feminine voice sounded, accompanied by the sound of a tray being placed on the ground.

“Please excuse me for a second, Lady Entropy.” I pushed the brush into her hands and stood up. The moment I took a step out the door, I locked eyes with the Ghost Maid who’d delivered the food.

She was peering into the room behind me, curiosity twinkling in her gaze.

“Even if you look inside, you will not see anything.” I shook my head. “Even I cannot see through the effects of Lady Entropy’s Aspect of Concealment from the outside, so someone like you…”

“I see… Ah, my deepest apologies for my misconduct. If I would be forgiven and allowed, I will be taking my leave…”

“That is fine, and you are forgiven. Curiosity to the appearance of one’s deity is only natural. Arrange similarly for lunch and dinner.”

I took the tray, turned around and stepped back into the room, closing the door behind me. From the moment I re-entered the room to the moment I sat down, Lady Entropy’s gaze was fixed onto the tray—specifically, on the small glass bowl of pudding.

I chuckled and took it. “Would you perhaps like some?”

“If you want me to eat it, feed me,” she said, still staring at what was undeniably a dessert. Of course, she was a goddess, so that wasn’t very relevant.

“As you wish.” I took a spoon from the tray and brought the pudding up to her mouth.

Obediently, she let me feed her. Of course, her expression was unchanging as ever, but I could still tell she rather enjoyed it.

Like such, with food, games and general affection, I spent the whole day with Lady Entropy.