"Lady Na~no~da, time to get up."
It was rare to see Nanoda oversleep, so Yuna pushed the door open and came to Nanoda's bedside.
Before her was a round, white ball of blanket.
Seemingly having heard the voice, the little ball wriggled twice, and from within came a somewhat feeble voice.
"No. I'm going to lie here all day."
"Are you alright, Lady Nanoda?! Could it be because of last night—"
She had never seen Lady Nanoda feeling unwell before. How was one even supposed to deal with a member of the Demon Race feeling unwell?
Yuna had been quite delighted to see the cake in the manor kitchen this morning, but having rushed over in such high spirits, she now grew flustered all at once. She really wanted to reach out and lift the blanket to take a look, though that seemed rather impolite.
"I'm fine. I'm just a little heartsore."
Yesterday, after dealing with the threat posed by the Shadow Warriors, Nanoda had fallen into a quandary between unifying the world and maintaining the status quo.
Setting aside how many monstrous elves like Frieren, Serie, or even the Warrior Monk Kraft were still hidden among the Humans, simply rallying together those disobedient members of the Demon Race was already a struggle.
Inside the covers, Nanoda gazed at the fragment in her hand—a broken piece of the Goddess's Monument.
Had she not been ambushed by this thing, those ten years might truly have given her a chance to gather enough power to overturn the world.
The Demon Association she had finally managed to reassemble could not afford any more mishaps.
In truth, Nanoda had always known that, while Gaderia's development owed much to good fortune, it could not have happened without the efforts of Aaron's generation. Yet over these past twenty years, many people had grown old—including Nanoda herself, whose soul had transmigrated here. Counting the twenty-odd years she had spent in this place, her soul could now be reckoned a "sexagenarian" as well.
"Yuna, do you like a calm and happy life?"
"Of course. Everyone would like that, surely."
Pacing back and forth as she pondered how to cheer Nanoda up, Yuna hurriedly replied.
"Is that so. Alright then."
A gap opened in the blanket, and Nanoda poked out from inside. "Come help me comb my hair."
At least for now, let me first enjoy this precious, beautiful present.
So Nanoda thought.
"Mn."
Yuna had no idea about Nanoda's inner conflict; she merely said, "No matter what Lady Nanoda does, I'll support it, because Lady Nanoda's happiness is Yuna's happiness too."
"Foolish disciple, it's not your place to worry about that." Nanoda stepped up onto the bed so she could loftily rap a knuckle against the other's head from above.
Three days after the Shadow Warriors incident,
a letter from Glück arrived by way of Weise. It said all was well, along with a great heap of words of gratitude and promises of future cooperation conveniences with Gaderia, and it came accompanied by a whole basket of somewhat unripe fruit.
At the same time, Aura, who had been away for a good half-year and more, returned with a fresh batch of the Demon Race.
By now, the ordinary members of the Demon Race in Gaderia had reached over three thousand.
Placed in the age of the Demon King, that would count as a medium-sized, even large army.
In that era there were not many of the Demon Race, but a single one of them could easily kill dozens, even hundreds, of ordinary Humans.
Gaderia was about to usher in a new round of expansion.
"How about it? The remnant soldiers who used to follow the other Seven Sages of Destruction, or various generals and the like—I dug every one of them out. I overturned several whole mountains across the Northern Plateau!"
Having brought back around a thousand of the Demon Race through a mix of half-coercion and half-enticement, Aura was feeling thoroughly vindicated. Under her Magic of Obedience, any who were weaker than her had to kneel before her!
Along the way she had not run into any monster like Nanoda, so Aura's confidence had once again begun to float upward a little.
As she spoke, she sliced into her steak, her slightly upturned lips parting as she elegantly closed her eyes and swallowed. A moment later, her soft, pink, supple tongue slipped out just a touch to lick the corner of her mouth, and she made an expression of savoring the aftertaste.
"Well done, Aura. You've done very well."
Her twin tails bound with green ribbons, Nanoda was not stingy with her praise.
Ever since that incident, Aura had become especially obedient, and even her expression of emotion had grown far richer.
"Compared to that Qual, who does nothing all day but fiddle with toys in his laboratory, I'm the truly useful right-hand of yours!"
A flattering, fawning smile really did not suit Aura, but one could tell she was genuinely delighted from the bottom of her heart.
"Judging by the current situation, Gaderia's population is already nearly saturated. What we urgently need now is to expand our territory. On that front, the metropolis of Weise will help us, gifting us the wasteland they've cleared out as repayment to Lady Nanoda."
Aaron, seated in the head seat, gave his views.
And Nanoda, sitting beside Aaron, could clearly see that, compared to ten years ago, Aaron had truly aged a great deal.
Apart from his bald head, which was still bald, his face was now covered with creases of every thickness, his frame no longer as upright as before. Overall he seemed to have shrunk somewhat, and there was a cane propped against the side of his chair—Aaron now used it for support whenever he walked.
By his age, he had to be in his sixties.
Still working at such an age—
In truth, Nanoda had always been somewhat concerned. First was Aaron's physical health; Gaderia could not be without someone to lead its administration. Then there was the matter of a successor, which had never been settled. And last, and most important, were Aaron's own plans.
"Another thing: the Northern Empire, which by rights should have come this week to harass us once and probe our intelligence, has suddenly gone quiet. We don't know what happened, but this is a prime opportunity for us to push our development hard!"
"That's certainly good."
Nanoda, who seemed to know the reason, nodded in affirmation. She too supported Aaron's idea of developing new regions and expanding the territory.
Aaron went on to briefly explain the overall economic state of the populace, and the development trends of several important industries to come.
Seeing that everyone had pretty much finished eating, he ended this brief dining meeting ahead of time.
Once everyone had departed, only Aaron and Nanoda remained.
After so many years together, the two had long since developed a certain unspoken understanding. A simple exchange of glances was enough for them to grasp the intent to talk privately.
"What is it?" Aaron asked first.
"How's your health been lately?"
"Well, no real problems. Just an aching back from sitting too long, and blurry vision—nothing worth worrying about."
"Have you decided on a successor?"
"Not yet, for now. But it should be soon."
Watching Aaron answer with such composure, Nanoda thought that, compared to when she had first met him, he had truly grown more and more steady.
"Aaron, don't push yourself too hard."
"You're the one who shouldn't. The Empire's recent oddness is connected to what happened a few days ago, isn't it?"
"For now, there's nothing for either of us to worry about."
"Is that so. Then it seems I'll have to put in a bit more effort."
"Don't work yourself to death. I won't ask that you outlive Heiter—but at the very least, I wish for you to outlive Himmel."
"What kind of blessing is that supposed to be?"
Watching Nanoda's back as she waved and walked off, Aaron let out a hearty laugh.
____
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