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“Master, please! All of us will definitely die like this!”
Lerazier’s shriek instantly broke down the heavy silence. Bael threw her away before wiping his face and instead, the hastily risen Agares was able to grab the staggering Julia from her fall.
Agares had boasted her high confidence and dignified attitude right from their first meeting. However, there was a glimmer of wonder in her eyes as she looked at Julia who had currently been in her arms.
“Little key, what’s your name? Estelle?”
“That, that…”
“Estelle Vestra, the Princess of those humans.”
Barbatos, who had completely fixed his disheveled appearance within that short duration of time, raised his one-eyed glasses and began answering instead. While he—who also served as a librarian—continued to explain in regard to Estelle, Bael simply turned around as if he was uninterested before burying himself into the big and deep sofa.
He furrowed his brows as he kept on getting headaches and started ruffling his dark hair wildly.
“The human returned safely from the presence of the Magic Stone.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Then, was the seal released?”
“Unfortunately, it still remains the same. But I think it will certainly be for sure this time.”
The Demon King’s gaze, who had been staring at Barbatos, proceeded to shift towards Julia. His eyes narrowed even more—just like he was calculating something.
Bael then rubbed his forehead and tilted his head slowly. His neck was bulging out as he moved.
“It looks that way. How do you even use the key?”
“That is……”
Barbatos, who had always answered confidently, paused for the first time ever.
Even in the game, what method would Estelle, a human being, become a ‘key‘ was thoroughly concealed in secret. She was told that she could actually find out by finishing the hidden ending, but Julia didn’t have such a passionate personality during her lifetime. On top of that, she just couldn’t win over the likability and thus, she had only won a few of the endings. And by the way, they were all those dead endings……
From her standpoint, it was clearly natural to be concerned about the way humans could actually become the key. She could only think of such dreadful ways like melting everything down by throwing it into a furnace along with the magic stone or killing it while having some blood sprinkled all over it. Plus, even the genre was an R-19 tragic one.
Even to have taken the most seemingly normal—human warrior—route, she just couldn’t afford to take upon the wrong option. Still, she didn’t really want to think about it all.
At that moment, Lerazier, who was fiddling with his chin, muttered abruptly.
“I think we should eat it?”
“What?”
“Eating is the best way to absorb power anyway. That’s why the Master would eat magic crystals every time an incident occurs.”
“That makes sense.”
“What are you talking about! Master, please wait for a moment!”
Even Bael nodded his head as if he had been in agreement, but Barbatos was still contemplating. He then continued to speak while prostrating himself in front of the Demon King.
“Didn’t you just see it then! This is the key that we’ve just barely found. This may be your last chance, but I still think that we need to be much more careful.”
“Are you trying to hinder my way right now?”
“It is this Barbatos’ lifelong wish for the Master to become the Demon God. But please consider it more this time. It won’t be too long before we find an actual way.”
It was the first time he had seen Barbatos, who was always reticent, expressing himself extensively. Even Lerazier had gazed upon his brother up and down—appearing curious—before he raised his hand once again and offered a different opinion then.
“If you can’t really eat it, what about having a love affair instead?”
Everyone’s eyes began to turn towards Julia at that instant. She, who had just been slipping away, was immediately seized by a shaky premonition.
“Since time immemorial, there was nothing like a love affair to actually absorb the human spirit anyway.”
“Killing the little key perhaps is a bit sloppy, but if it’s just about a love affair, then it’s absolutely fine.”
“Indeed, if that’s the case, we can try it out right now.”
Lerazier, Agares and Barbatos proceeded speaking in turn. Julia’s will, however, the one that would be deprived of her own spirit, didn’t seem to have mattered that much. And so, all of them were asking permission only from their Master.
“No.”
Of course anyone would have allowed it. Even from Bael’s point of view, there was nothing to lose anyway…… hmm?
Julia, whose hair was all messed up in fear, parted her lips blankly. It was all because she could not comprehend Bael’s answer really well. She thought maybe due to the fact that she was so frightened that her ears had gotten deafened at that moment.
But whether or not she had heard anything wrong, all  of the three demons opened both of their eyes in unison before they questioned.
“Master, but why?”
“I don’t like it.”
[▷Agares
What actually happened to the Master’s eyes? Is it a side effect from the magic outburst?]
Grand Duke Agares, the second person in the Demon Realm and practically the only demon who was capable of getting close to the Demon King, slowly embraced Julia from behind and began to appeal.
“Master, open your eyes widely and take a good look! Have you ever seen a human being so pretty and pitiful who’s just like a doll? This soft skin that seems to melt under your touch, this evidently ripe fruit-colored hair, these round, obedient eyes and this naive atmosphere. To be honest, even if it wasn’t for the Master, I would still want to peel her off and eat it whole.”
Agares gently pulled down at the chest of Julia’s dress with the tip of her fingernails and naturally curved her eyes.
In fact, it was something that Julia had never agreed to at all. Nevertheless, she did not have the courage to intervene in the conversation between the two demons of the highest status within the Demon Realm, so she could only bite her mouth instead.
[▷Bael
………………]
Julia wondered if she could perceive the thoughts of the Demon King, so she tried looking at Bael carefully. But unlike the other characters, his heart was still shrouded in a veil.
She pondered why the system would have worked differently only for Bael, but Julia didn’t actually know anything about it. In the beginning, the Demon King was already a character, which had been complained even among the users, that the difficulty of targeting was just too high. On top of that, Julia did not even dare to think of touching him.
In return, Julia was then compelled to entrust her own fate to his mere words.