Chapter 18

Fatla’s eyes were full of life, too, gleaming even brighter than the freshly misted moss. She took this very seriously… Fatla was the type to rarely speak of her own hobbies, but now I knew what she liked. I saw a new side to one of my staff today. One will always make new discoveries. “But do you not think this much moss would get in the way of—?” “With all due respect, we cannot say that for sure.” The look on Fatla’s face told me that she would firmly fight me on this. “…Indeed. Our desks are not being overwhelmed, so I suppose it will be fine like this.” “Thank you.” Fatla bowed politely. She certainly was stubborn when it came to moss. I suppose everyone has a “thing”… And so the minister’s office had been reborn into a green environment. It did not take long for others around the building to start secretly calling us the moss office. Hrm, well, I suppose I don’t mind… There was enough greenery around us that it was almost off-putting, but seeing it every day did start to give me a greater sense of attachment. Now and again, Fatla would spritz the moss with her mist bottle, but it did not hinder her work. The one problem was that the only space to walk was between the shelves; reaching the corridor from my desk was rather troublesome, but it was not so bad that I could not bear with it. “Boss, I decided to raise some moss myself!” After a little while, Vania decided to put a little moss garden on her desk as well. “Aye, ’tis not a bad thing to raise another creature yourself. It will not immediately perish if you forget to feed it, so I feel it is perfectly suited for you.” “You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?” “I would not dream of it.” Even I started to consider raising some moss myself. After several days of rain, I arrived at work feeling as though the room had been rearranged. The shelves of moss were between the desk and door as they always had been; nothing in particular had changed. I doubt I would notice if all the little containers were flipped around; I did not think it was such a small change as that. “Fatla. The room feels somewhat different than usual today. Have you done anything to it?” “No, I haven’t touched anything.” Fatla was not the type to lie, and if she had added another container of moss after all this time, she had no reason to hide it. “Oh, I thought something was a little different today, too. I don’t know—I feel way more relaxed than I usually am.” It seemed Vania thought the same. “Are you certain you are not simply being influenced by my comments?” “Of course not! I thought of it myself! There is definitely something new about the room today!” she said with confidence. “Then why is it you feel something is new about it?” “I don’t know!” Why do you sound so confident? But it was true, then, that the room had changed. I could feel it in my bones. Then again, we had not changed the carpet, nor had we painted the walls. And then there was another thing to add to the list of oddities. “I am working at such a terrible pace today…” I had been working as normal, but I was much less efficient about it. “You too, Lady Beelzebub? My work is going quite slow as well.” Fatla seemed a bit troubled. “I feel far more relaxed than I am willing to be—suddenly, I come to my senses and realize I’ve been resting. I am having trouble buckling down to work.” “How strange. Hmm, wait a moment…” A terrible possibility came to mind. “Is any of the moss in this room poisonous?” “Impossible,” Fatla replied readily. “Some may be harmful to eat, but cultivating moss will never create poisonous gases. And I have heard that a good majority of the moss are too unappetizing to eat. You never hear about them being used in cooking, do you?” “Now that you mention it…” Perhaps I was overthinking it? Still, there was something wrong with this room. Broadly speaking, it felt like it was almost too bright in here. So much brighter and more colorful than the green of the moss. Due to Fatla’s and my malaise, Vania’s desk was piled high with documents. It almost resembled what our desks looked like after a vacation. “Come now, Vania, get it together.” “Boss, I’m way less effective today, too… Whenever I try to work, I lose all my motivation.” “Are you sure you are not simply being careless?!” Right at that moment, something fell onto Vania’s documents. “Vania, your papers… They’re emerald-green!” Yes, there was something fuzzy on them, a truly beautiful and brilliant green. “Hmm? I’ve never seen moss like this before~ Sis, what kind is this?” Vania showed the paper to Fatla. At that moment, a look of panic spread across Fatla’s face. A rare sight indeed. She opened her mouth, and her voice quavered. “That is not moss. That’s mold!” Oh no… I slowly turned my gaze up toward the ceiling. The whole surface was covered in emerald-green fuzz! Then I heard the sound of the rain drizzling outside. “The humidity! Not only have we saturated this room for the moss, but the rain dampened the area even more! ’Twas perfect for mold!” “…I may be mistaken, but I believe this is the laziness-and-lethargy mold. Its spores affect a creature’s mental capacity and takes away their desire to work. We should not be breathing in this air…” I pressed my hand against my mouth and stood up. “Everyone, out of this room immediately! Before you lose all motivation!” But Vania had already planted her face onto her desk and was snoring soundly. She had put her face too close to the paper when the clump of mold fell on it! I pinched Vania’s face. “Stay awake! If you fall asleep, you may never wake up again!” “Mmmm… Don’t wanna work…” “Lady Beelzebub, let us leave Vania for now and get out of here! We can save her later!” But when we made our way to the door, Fatla made such a ruckus as she walked. “I can hardly move. These shelves are in the way!” Never block the passageway to the exit—you’ll regret it in an emergency! “Who put these here?!” she cried. “You did! You clearly did!” In the end, we were forbidden from using the minister’s office until the mold was cleared away—and all the moss shelves had been removed from the revitalized room. As I gazed at the refreshingly dreary room, I murmured, “Safety over decorations…” I would make sure we did not place anything that blocked the evacuation route… “Indeed. I will settle for just one thing on my desk.” One of Fatla’s proud moss pocket-gardens sat on her desk. Perhaps that was the perfect amount of decor for a room like this.