.11 – It's Only the First Morning Since the Demon King Army Chief of Staff's Inauguration, But He Still Has a Lot of Work To Do
The next day.
Today was going to be my first day working at the Demon King Castle, so I got ready and headed out from the inn a bit early.
By the way, when I was still with my party a few weeks ago, I stayed at the same inn as the guys (in separate rooms, of course), but after I left my party, I changed inns.
My legs naturally guided me toward the marketplace.
Sometimes there's a certain face someone might want to go see whenever they want to pump themselves up.
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For me, ever since I got chased out of my party, that certain face was the smiling face of the hardworking Cashew.
…This isn't anything like Agares though, by the way. It's not like I get excited over it, I purely just want to get my soul healed. I want to believe it's the same thing as watching kids running around energetically and thinking 「How peaceful.」
「Oh! You're here today again too, my kindred spirit!」
As I approached the shop, the macho shopkeeper called out to me.
…That's fine and all, but when did I become his kindred spirit?
Yesterday, I suppose. I guess taking down that purse snatcher together with him sprouted some friendship between us.
I am rather fond of him though, so it made me happy.
People often automatically have prejudice towards Black Sorcerers, so it was hard for me to make friends.
Back when I was a kid, I may not have been the 「leader」 of the kids, but I was pretty much the most popular kid in the village.
But once it was revealed that I was a Black Sorcerer, everyone who was friendly and sociable with me instantly started distancing themselves from me.
They'd say stuff like 「I thought you were gonna be a Hero, but you're a Black Sorcerer? I don't want to be stuck with some guy who pretty much has no future. See ya, I probably won't talk to you ever again.」
Children are pure, which is why they can sometimes be more vicious than adults.
Boys that admire what's cool will avoid associating with anything that isn't. It's simple logic.
But Fenix was different.
Fenix, the weak, timid crybaby that had always followed me around, stuck to my side as my friend even after I became a Black Sorcerer and he became a Hero.
Not just that, he even made a party despite being the first person to make a contract with the Fire Spirit in the past 300 years.
He even went as far as to say that he'd reach the top if he partied with me.
Now that I think about it, the reason why I was able to withstand my master's hellish training was probably because of how much I wanted to maintain the respect Fenix had for me.
I don't think I've ever truly had anyone I could call a friend since him.
I did have small acquaintances that I may have chatted with here and there, though.
…Hmm.
「Good morning, Blitz.」
If he's going to be my friend, I probably should actually call him by his name.
He took on a knife-wielding criminal together with me, helped me in my time of emergency without caring that I was a Black Sorcerer, and he was kind to kids.
I should be honored to have someone like that as a friend.
「Good morning to you too, Cashew.」
Cashew actually had noticed me first before Blitz.
Her ears were twitching about, her tail swinging around, and the moment our eyes met, her face lit up and she instantly ran towards me.
「Yeah, good morning, Lem!」
I really wanted to pet those twitching ears, but I wanted to maintain the distance between us as shopkeeper and customer.
It probably wouldn't happen, but I also didn't want to get my soul crushed from hearing her say something like 「Ew, stop that, you creep!」
「Good work yesterday.」
「I should be saying that to you. You were amazing, I had no idea magic could do stuff like that.」
Seeing as how Blitz knew I was going to be backing him up beforehand, he probably had noticed how unnaturally easy it was for him to stop the criminal.
I actually wanted to talk with him about that.
「By the way, I'd prefer if you didn't tell anyone about what I did.」
「Yeah, I thought so. Besides, I'd lose all the credit I boasted about if I told anyone. Don't worry, my lips are sealed. Cashew hasn't told her family, either. Right?」
「The shopkeeper did it all on his own!」
Cashew looked up towards me in respect and spoke as if reading off a script.
They were kind and considerate people.
「Thank you.」
「What are you talking about, that's my line. Man, this is the first time I've ever sold out. Cashew even wiped out her entire stock. Well, I'm sure people will forget about all that in a day or two. I didn't expect us to profit so much. Here, take this. It's your share.」
Blitz then took out a leather bag and handed it to me. It seemed that there was money inside it.
Blitz was saying that I had a right to some of the profit since it was thanks to my actions.
「No no, I can't take this.」
「You certainly can. To be honest, I might look pretty brawny, but I'm actually near useless when it comes to a fight.」
…Well, yes, I could tell that much from what I saw yesterday.
But that's exactly why he was so amazing. He had no idea if he'd actually be able to stop the criminal or not, yet he stepped up anyway.
That was pretty reckless of him at the same time, though.
「Although, even if I couldn't fight, I supposed I could have at least tackled him or something, right?」

I see. Considering Blitz's large size, if he had rushed at him at full speed, he would have been able to crash into the purse snatch pretty well. But he would have easily been injured that way, so it's not something I'd recommend.
「A total victory, unharmed! And my goods are all sold out! It's only natural that I thank you. I guess if you want me to be in debt to you, that's fine and all, but if that's not the case, then take it.」
It'd be rude of me to decline at this point.
I took the money.
Seeing me take it, Cashew began to act a bit anxious.
As I wondered what the matter was, Cashew picked out the most shapely fruit from her stock and handed it to me.
「T-This is for you!」
…Oh, I get it now.
Blitz had prepared my share.
But Cashew was here to help out with her family. All her profit probably went straight to her family.
But she thought that it wasn't right for Blitz to thank me but not her.
She had no money, however.
Amidst her anxiousness, she figured out she could give me fruit instead.
My heart grew warm from her admirable spirit.
I leaned down to Cashew and gave her a smile.
「Thank you, I really appreciate it.」
As I took the fruit, Cashew put her hands to her chest and fiddled around in happiness.
「Oh, I know. I'll gratefully eat this, but I might as well buy some more while I'm here.」
「…! Yes, please! Thank you for your patronage!」
「Let's see… Give me everything that I can buy with this.」
I handed over the leather bag Blitz just gave me.
「Wow, Lem… You really are something.」
Blitz was surprised, but he seemed to be a bit mistaken.
It wasn't as if I was trying to help Cashew out. Well, if it did help her out, that'd be great, but I was thinking of getting something nice for my new co-workers.
Upon explaining that, the two of them congratulated with surprise.
「Seriously? That's great! Which party? I'll subscribe to you.」
Broadcasted videos of clears made by Hero parties are exclusively uploaded to the Adventurer Union-ran video sharing site for public viewing. The only exception would be the television broadcasts, which give out pay on a one-time basis in contrast to the online videos which give pay in accordance with how many views they get.
On television, the channels usually buy the footage and edit them before broadcasting, but they do live broadcasts at times as well. This would be done with cooperation with the dungeons, and it'd be broadcasted live until the party either cleared or failed.
Hero parties with lower ranks can't get by just with broadcasts, so many of them have a second job as well. The life of an adventurer isn't all sunshine and roses.
There exists a function to subscribe to your favorite parties so that you'd be notified whenever a new video associated with them gets uploaded.
Unfortunately, the Demon King Army doesn't have an account. They aren't adventurers, after all…
It's not like I doubted them, but I didn't want to risk my identity being revealed before even my first day at a dungeon. Who knows who could be listening.
「I'm still on trial, it's not official yet.」
I tried to avoid specifying anything.
「Oh, I see. Let me know if you get in, I'll buy you a drink.」
It seemed that Blitz truly saw me as a friend. I was thankful.
It looked like Cashew had finally calmed down after stuffing a paper bag with the fruits I purchased, as she let out a deep sigh.
「You have a lot of money, Lem.」
Blitz apparently had given me a lot. Since Cashew's fruits were a bit unshapely, they were sold at a relatively cheaper price. That's probably why I still had some money left over.
「But are you sure about this? You'd be bringing these, um… ugly fruit over to your new workplace. Don't you think they might get the wrong idea?」
Cashew was worried about the impression I'd give.
「It'll be fine. It's not about how they look. Your fruits taste good, and that's all that matters.」
I realized I sounded a little cheesy and got a little embarrassed.
I was about to correct myself, but Cashew looked up at me with sparkling eyes, so I decided to just leave it at that.
I wouldn't dare crush the admiration of a child.
Oh, wait… I ended up prioritizing how I'd look to her.
I suppose life doesn't always go the way you want it to.
I put away the leftover money in the leather bag and picked up the two large paper bags. It was pretty heavy since they were pretty packed with fruit.
「Shall I carry those for you?」
「No, I'm fine. I may not look like it, but I actually exercise a lot… wait, huh?」
Who just talked to me?
I ended up replying without thinking.
But the voice sounded familiar. I think I heard it yesterday.
I casually turned around.
It was the beautiful vampire, Milla