After listening to a detailed explanation, Illness thought for a moment before speaking.
[……I understand the gist of thiiiiiings. I also have no objections to the conditiooooons, so I will be your subordinaaaaaate.]
[Heehhh, an almost instantaneous decision huh…… I personally think being able to quickly make decisions is a virtue, but this is…… Fumu, I see, I see, well, aren’t you quite the distorted one. Life seemed to have led you to an interesting distortion.]
[Yeeeees?]
[No, well, don’t worry about it. This is just my personal impression, and I don’t intend to point out how people live their lives. Having a little quirkiness can make someone more trustworthy…… No, I seriously hope people have a little bit of quirkiness. Your current demeanor is truly adorable, but just make sure you don’t get strangely influenced by that one who became my subordinate before you. No, seriously…… Even though I should have raised her normally, how did she end up like that…… Did she catch a bug somewhere?][Umm, is something the matteeeeer?]
Seeing Shalltear with a sorrowful expression on her face and a distant look in her eyes, Illness tilts her head and asks, to which Shalltear’s expression immediately returns to a smile.
[Ahh, no, it’s nothing. It’s a matter that can be discussed later…… Now then, let’s get back to our earlier conversation…… From today onwards, you will be operating as my subordinate, as my Executive…… but while you’re acting as my subordinate, you are to call yourself with a codename.]
[What’s a code naaaaaame?]
[Ahh~~ It’s an alias you use when you’re on a mission. Information is a weapon, so it’s important to keep a tight hold of your personal information. You are, let’s see…… You are to call yourself “Pandemonium”.]
[Understood, Shalltear-samaaaa. Am I now to obey all your orders from now oooooon?]
[No, nothing of that sort. You can reject my orders whenever you like.][……?]
In Illness’ perception, being a subordinate with Shalltear as the King, she believed that the King’s orders were absolute. Or rather, she had judged that such would generally be the case, but contrary to her expectations, Shalltear shook her head.
[This isn’t something that only applies to you, I would also give my other subordinates the freedom to disobey my orders. If you don’t like an order, you can refuse it. I won’t penalize you even if you decline a mission for reasons like “not feeling like it”. In contrast, what I expect from you and my other subordinates…… are accomplishments.]
[Accomplishmeeeeeents?]
[Yes, I’m not saying everyone can just do as they please. It’s a matter of granting appropriate privileges to those with abilities. Even if you were to reject 9 out of my 10 orders, as long as you can achieve remarkable results in that remaining 1 to offset it, I won’t find fault with it. If you are competent, I will allow most things, and I will also provide rewards commensurate with your abilities. However, I do not possess pointless benevolence for the incompetent…… If one wants to behave as they please, they must show me the results that make them deserve that. That’s all I’m saying.]
[I seeeee, I understaaaaand.]
[Splendid. Well then, for the time being, you’re free to do as you please until you receive further instructions from me. For the time being, we are not yet ready to recruit others and systematically organize my subordinates…… so well, once I have finished recruiting Executives, I will invite you to come and see them…… Well then, I look forward to working with you in the future, Pandemonium.]
To Shalltear’s words, who called her by her codename, Illness responded with a deep bow. Thus, Pandemonium, who was later feared as the “Doomsday-Invoking Plague”———– was added to Shalltear’s group.
Since becoming Shalltear’s subordinate, Illness…… Pandemonium has obediently followed the King. She performs her tasks regularly and doesn’t miss regular reports.
As she had no objectives or goals, she found it very easy to follow someone else’s orders.
It’s just, within the Phantasmal King’s Executives, the Ten Demons, that was filled with peculiar Demons, she was the only decent one. Yes, on the surface, that is……
[……How should I say this…… You have some really interesting distortion, don’t you?]
[What do you meeeeean? You also said something like thaaaaaat when we first met, riiiiight?]
[You’re very compassionate and devoted, but at the same time, you’re irrepressibly “arrogant”…… Those should have been contradictory, but it’s strangely coming together in a twisted yet beautiful way. It’s quite fascinating.]
[Huh?]
Hearing the words told to her by Shalltear at one point, Illness tilted her head in genuine wonder. Chuckling at seeing Illness’ reaction, Shalltear started talking like she was making small talk.
[Lacking greed, those words certainly sound nice to the ears, but when it’s reaching your level…… You could say empty would be a more apt description.]
[Empty?]
[Yes, you desire for nothing. “You want nothing from anyone”. Your way of being, your everything, all of it was completely on your own. Therefore, you act based on the standard of “what is right” that exists in you. The principle of your actions exists only in yourself. I mean, even towards me, you don’t hold any respect or any other feelings either, right? You only do what you do because you think “it’s right to obey your King’s orders”.]
[…………………….]
Yes, Pandemonium only sees herself. She judges her surroundings through her own measure. In a sense, it’s the ultimate self-centeredness of thought…… That was how distorted a person Pandemonium is.
She basically treats everyone kindly…… because she thinks treating others kindly is right.
She doesn’t hesitate to deal with her closest people as long as Shalltear orders her to do so…… because she thinks that is what it means to be a King and a subordinate.
She doesn’t have any purpose or goal…… because she doesn’t think of them as necessary.
She doesn’t understand the feeling of happiness…… because happiness is something you have to seek to acquire.
[You desire nothing from no one…… You only give to others. Through your own basis, your own sense of value, acting as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, you give to others…… That “devotion” is definitely your true nature…… but “devotion without an object of devotion” is just a distortion.]
Her true nature is devotion that asks nothing in return…… However, the target of her devotion does not exist. She has nothing. As Shalltear had said, she really was empty.
And Illness herself understood that. However, she doesn’t see the need to change……
[I seeeeee, that’s very interestiiiiiing.]
[And even now, you don’t think what I’m telling you is necessary. The act of others giving you anything in itself is something you don’t desire. It’s something you can’t comprehend.]
[…………………]
[……Let me offer you a piece of advice. What may seem right and what is truly right aren’t always the same. There’s no objectively correct answer to the concept of rightness. You might not fully understand it now but…… let’s see. If you find someone you can wholeheartedly offer your essense of devotion without any worries, you may see a change in you.]
[I suppoooooose. If that happeeeeens, I might be able to understaaaaand what it is that you’re sayiiiiing.]
Although she gave Shalltear such an answer for the time being, Pandemonium herself had concluded that such a day would never come true.
After all, she believes that there aren’t any issues in her current state, so she had neither the intention nor the desire to change…… and unless some kind of fateful intervention occurs, she believed that there was no reason for her change……
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [I wonder why, it feels strange seeing Alice looking like a proper king.]
? ? ? : [She had always been a proper king though!? It was just that some of her subordinates were bugged, Alice-chan herself has always been a decent and upright king!]
Serious-senpai : […………………]
