The second of the Ten Demons, the Phantasmal King’s Subordinates that I will be introduced to is Astaroth-san, and the only information I have about her is that they have a buggy loyalty and she can see the abilities of someone, just like a status board.
I was a little worried because I didn’t know her personality or appearance at all, but Pandora-san brought me to Astaroth-san’s base in the Demon Realm.
Immediately after we teleported, I found a slightly taller woman, having a height close to 170 cm, a little ahead of us…… I assume that she was Astaroth-san, but even so, she had a more unique appearance than I had imagined.
The first thing I noticed was that she had semi-long hair, but it was split into two colors, black on the right side and blonde on the left. In addition, the left half of her face is wearing a semi-circular mask…… but since there were no holes at all, it might be more accurate to say that her face was half-hidden behind a semi-circular plate.
The visible right half of her face had golden eyes that seemed to droop slightly…… and her gaze was moving around restlessly, looking as if she couldn’t calm down at all.[U- U- U- Ummm, w- w- welcome to my h- humble abode.]
[……Errr, nice to meet you. Astaroth-san…… Is it alright to call you that?]
[Y- Yesh! I- I- It is ash syuuu said!]
[I’m Miyama Kaito. I’m in your care.]
[I- I- I’m also in your care.]
……Unnn, I could already guess what kind of person she is. Rather than her having a terrible communication disorder, it’s more like she wasn’t very good at talking to people. Her gaze kept moving around and she was stuttering a lot.
I see, she is also quite a unique person……[……”Just quickly switch with the left already”. The conversation won’t advance with you in control.]
[Y- Y- Y- Yes!]
[……Left?]
As I tilted my head upon hearing Pandora-san’s incomprehensible words, Astaroth-san flicked the mask on her face with her finger.
Thereupon, the semicircular mask flipped 180°, revealing the left half of her face. Black sharp eyes, somewhat firm expression…… and the atmosphere around her feels kinda different from earlier.
[Miyama-sama, thank you for taking the trouble to visit me this time. Originally, it would have been appropriate for me, the one in a lower position, to have come to greet you, but I apologize for the delay in introducing myself.]
[Eh? Ah, no…… Errr……]
While I was puzzled by Astaroth-san’s smooth and fluent speech, as if she understood my question, she slightly bowed her head.
[My apologies. I should have explained about this first. Once again, my name is Astaroth…… and I’m a monster of the species known as “Gemini”.]
[Gemini?]
[Yes. “A single body inhabiting two personalities”…… A rare species that is said to have two consciousnesses within one body.]
[……Does that mean that you have a split personality?]
I was able to understand the nuances of the situation. I guess one of the personalities would be that one with the problem communicating with people and the other being this firm one I’m talking about now.
[No, it isn’t exactly split personality. This is all a sensory thing, so it’s hard to explain to people other than my own species…… The me earlier and the me right now are both Astaroth, and we both share the same thoughts. In fact, it’s not like we’re switching personalities at all.]
As Astaroth-san said this, she removed the mask that was covering the right half of her face. Thereupon…… I saw the left and right sides of her face had differing expressions split up in the center of her face. The right half of her face had droopy eyes, looking really nervous, while the left half looked calm and collected. The corners of her mouth were turning down on one side while going up on the other, and expression that would have been impossible to achieve with normal facial muscles.
[ [ Both personalities are present at the same time. ] ]
W- Whoa…… I can hear two voices. This feels really mysterious.
[ [ T- T- To put it simply, i- i- in this state, i- i- it’s hard to hear my voice…… That’s why we wear this mask to make adjustments. ] ]
The way she speaks changes mid-way huh…… H- Hearing them like this certainly may be puzzling.
[ [ The best way to describe it would be to say that two Demons fused into one body. It is also possible for us to separate our two bodies by placing it in a clone…… but it is “normal for me to have two consciousness at the same time like this”, so I am severely weakened when my two personalities are separated…… I really don’t know how to explain it…… ] ]
[……Please wait a moment. I just got a message from Shalltear-sama that I am to tell Miyama-sama.]
As Astaroth-san was wondering how to explain, Pandora-san interjected, saying that she had a message from Alice.
[This is Shalltear-sama’s words as she said it, Miyama-sama. “In simple terms, within a single robot…… there were two pilots riding it”.]
[……Ahh, I see, I think I get the gist of it now.]
In other words, two personalities are simultaneously operating the single body, Astaroth-san. Hearing my words, Astaroth seemed a little relieved and put the mask on her right half again.
[Well, since neither of my two personalities is the main one, I guess it might be a little puzzling.]
[Since neither of them is above the other, when it is necessary for me or Shalltear-sama to refer to Astaroth’s two personalities separately, we just refer to them as right and left respectively.]
……I’m pretty confused, but well, I guess I’ll just have to think that that’s the way they are.
<Afterword>
【Astaroth】
One of the rare Geminis, having two personalities in one body. Her two consciousnesses always exist and they share the same thoughts, so they aren’t two different people, but both are Astaroth.
The black-haired, golden-eyed Astaroth is in charge of the physical body and is good at fighting, while the blonde-haired, black-colored-eyed Astaroth is in charge of the brain and is good at analysis and negotiation…… To add to Alice’s presentation, it’s like the pilot and the operator riding the same mecha.
Incidentally, it is the ability of the blonde-haired, black-colored-eyed Astaroth to see someone’s abilities as if it was a status board.
Meanwhile, the black-haired, golden-eyed Astaroth has the ability to change the allocation of her own ability…… One could say that she has a self-only status reassignment power.
Normally, the blonde-haired, black-colored-eyed Astaroth, the one in charge of the brain, was the one who speaks, but at times when the black-haired, golden-eyed Astaroth needs to speak, just as how she was the one who greeted Kaito this time, since she wasn’t used to speaking, her gaze kept on moving around and she stutters often.
