Chapter 13

“My daughter has taken a great interest in you since you are known for your power, Lady Beelzebub…” Since becoming minister of agriculture, I had certainly worked very hard in my training until I was a rather formidable member of my race. No demon would disparage me for being powerless now. “Very well. I take no responsibility for any injuries, however.” When I gave the okay, a young girl with horns came over to me. “My name is Laika. I am striving to become the strongest among the red dragons—no, among all dragonkind. Please spar with me!” Her clear eyes reminded me of mine, back when I was struggling to get even stronger. I folded my arms and nodded. “Take me to a place where you can breathe fire freely. You dragons cannot use your full power unless you are in your dragon form, no?” I never thought I would be fighting on a trip. Even though we currently lived in an era of peace, violence hadn’t been completely eradicated. We moved to a vast, empty area, and Laika the dragon-girl changed into her dragon form. “Yes, you seem quite strong. And tense.” “Here I come!” “I’m ready!” We then engaged in a rather intense battle. In the end— It was my overwhelming victory. I knew this would happen. I hadn’t trained myself so little that I would lose to the likes of a dragon. After five minutes, Laika returned to her human form and lay on the ground. Her shoulders were heaving; she’d yielded. “You still have much to learn. It was like you were attacking me with a rusted weapon.” “Where did I fall short?” she asked me candidly. There was no doubt that she was trying to grow stronger. I could sense that she was not so much vexed with herself, but that she felt the need to grow. “You are too intense.” “Should I not be…?” It didn’t seem like she understood what I said. “To be hardworking is good. You are simply not giving yourself room to breathe, however. That is why you see nothing but what is right in front of you, and you leave so many openings in your stance. A taut thread is much easier to cut.” I thought back on the past, and I almost laughed remembering how much my two leviathan secretaries had built me up. Before that, I had run laps around the castle moat. I couldn’t sit still unless I was doing something. “Well, I am sure you’ll break out of your shell soon enough. Discard your rust. Well sharpened, the same weapon will be much mightier. Life is long. You may understand if you continue with as much intensity as you have now. But if you still don’t understand, then…” I looked to my two secretaries, who stood a short distance away from us. “Then perhaps it would be best to find a teacher who is nothing like me.” Laika stood and bowed politely. “Thank you very much!” “I hope we see each other again somewhere, though I can’t guarantee I’ll remember after such a short bout together.” After that good round of exercise, we headed to the hot spring inn in Mount Rokko. I was staying in a three-person room with my two secretaries. As the minister of agriculture, I got to stay in a higher-grade room with fewer people. There was still time before dinner, so we decided to take a quick soak in the private outdoor bath connected to our room. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh, the water is so niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.” “Vania, no need to draw out your words quite so much.” “It’s fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.” “Oh, I’m beginning to sweat.” Fatla’s expression was slightly relaxed. It must be the hot spring taking effect. “It is nice to relax like this every once in a while.” “This is still a training excursion, however.” “You’re a tough one, Fatla.” I ruffled Fatla’s hair. “Ugh! Don’t you tease me, too, Lady Beelzebub!” “What? It’ll dry out. Heh, I was much too frightened to try anything like that when I first became minister.” It was foolhardy for a low-level demon to prank a leviathan, but I finally felt like I had grown into my shoes as agricultural minister. I was almost worthy of the legacy of my name, too. “I am glad you are our minister of agriculture, Lady Beelzebub,” Fatla said quietly. “Things started to change in the demon world once the previous demon king ended the war with the humans. Many things had to change in order to keep up with the times. We needed new people like you, Lady Beelzebub, in order to make that happen. I think the current demon king had a keen insight when it came to that.” Being naked together—or rather, being in the hot spring together—made it easier to put some things into words. But to me, it seemed too early for such a confession. “I will not say thank you just yet. You will have to wait a little for that.” “Of course. Please pretend I was talking to myself.” “By the way…what’s my score as the minister now?” After a moment of thought, Fatla responded. “Ninety-three.” Much higher than seventy-five, which was what I had gotten last time. “That’s an unusual number.” “Minus two points for messing with my hair.” “I should have asked before I did that!” “And the other five points I’ve left open, because you might rise to even greater heights, Lady Beelzebub.” For now, I would be satisfied with a passing grade as the minister of agriculture. Or perhaps her grading scale was a little generous because of the hot spring? Everyone gathered in the great hall of the inn so we could all eat dinner together. On our tables were some of the vegetables that we sampled earlier that day, accompanied by the copious portions of meat typical of a dragon establishment. I could see quite a few appetites had been whetted, but they would have to sit tight for a little bit. I took my glass and slowly made my way to the front of the room. My job was to give the toast. The chatter naturally died down, proving I had won their trust. “Has everyone enjoyed themselves today? There’s no harm in having days like this every once in a while.” It was a little embarrassing, but I had to say it at times like this. “We’ve been working together for quite some time now—thank you all.” I bowed my head as though I was talking to close friends. “I used to spend my empty days idly, with no dreams or hopes for the future. I did not understand why I had been made minister of agriculture at first, and I even cursed Her Majesty for foisting such a troublesome job onto me. Oh, no actual curses; don’t worry.” This was where they were supposed to laugh, but no one did. Surprisingly, they were listening to me earnestly. “Of course, I knew I could not carry on as I had, so I worked hard in my own way. I have no intentions of denying my hard work. But if it were not for your support, nothing would have happened. It is all thanks to every one of you…” As I spoke, tears started pooling in my eyes, but I knew not to worry. No one was going to laugh at me for crying in front of them now. “Thank you… I really hope to have your support from here on out. I believe I can do my job without causing you as much trouble as I have in the past. That’s because I want you to think of me…as the best minister in history…” “Hooray for Lady Beelzebub!” Someone suddenly shouted, and I realized Vania had stood up with tears streaming down her face. “Hooray for Lady Beelzebub! Hooray for Lady Beelzebub! I’m not going to call you boss or minister right now! You are a noble, so you’re Lady Beelzebub! Hooray for Lady Beelzebub!” Hooray for Lady Beelzebub. That chant finally spread throughout the entire room, and it kept on going for a while. I was incredibly glad I had decided to go on this training excursion. Everyone in the Ministry of Agriculture was now connected by a tight bond! “You are all the best! Hooray for the Ministry of Agriculture!” Almost four hours later… “Will you cut it out already?!” I yelled, walking among the rooms and down the hallway. A pillow flew at high speed and slammed into the back of my head. I whirled around to find one of the directors watching me with regret. “How long will you all keep up this child’s play?! What is this pillow war?!” It was something very small that started it all. Some of the people in one room started throwing pillows at one another, mostly in jest. A few of them then decided to take their pillows and “attack” their good friends in another room. Those in the second room decided to carry out their “revenge” as a joke. Which was met with more “revenge.” Meanwhile, the “conflict” grew larger and larger— And it was now on an unprecedented scale, with the rooms allying together to form an eastern and a western army… If these were children playing, I wouldn’t mind, but more than half of the people here were high-ranking demon officials. The force of the pillows alone was terrifying enough. I even received a report that some of the rooms were already damaged. Perhaps this was how wars started. No one wanted it to happen, but before you knew it, the conflict had escalated. No, this was not the time for me to think quietly to myself. This pillow war was unfolding in the present continuous tense… “You understand what will happen if you embarrass me any further, don’t you? It is absolutely, unconditionally unforgiveable! All of you, take a bath and go to sleep!” And so as I proceeded along the hallway, shouting cease-fire instructions— I discovered Vania looking out on the situation from the landing on the stairs. “Heh-heh-heh. The enemy will never know I’m here.” “Well, I do.” “Ugh! Boss!” I was the one who wanted to grunt in frustration upon discovering my secretary participating in this. “I will cut your pay… Are you ready for that? Stop this at once and go back to the room… And please tell me I am wrong when I ask you if you were the one to break the wall there.” For some reason, she wore a bandanna (?) on her head that said VICTORY, too. Where did she buy that? “Boss, there are times when a demon must fight. This is one of those times.” I was impressed she said that with such a straight face—not a trace of mirth. “Very well. I will not force you to stop, then.” “Thank you! You are the best minister of agriculture! Hooray for Lady Beelzebub!” “—But I cannot speak for your sister.” Fatla gave Vania a good whack on the head from behind. “Gaaah! When did you get there?!” “Stop with this silly nonsense and go back to the room. If you do not listen to me, then I will tie your feet together and drop you from the stairs.” “O-okay…” Afterward, it took almost an hour for the fighting to stop, and as the minister of agriculture, I was obliged to offer my deepest, repeated apologies to the innkeeper. We did break a wall. Maybe I should resign… But it was because of the training excursion that I found a new hobby. Now, when I had a day off, I would go travel, and I was slowly starting to visit more and more places in the human lands. Perhaps now that I had occupied my current position for over a hundred years, I had the time to expand my horizons.