After exchanging greetings, I took a seat at the table Medea-san had prepared for us and had a cup of tea. With Medea-san's physique, she wouldn't have any use for this table and chairs, so they're clearly sized to fit Pandora-san and me, so I'm grateful that she took the trouble to prepare them for us.
However, even if that's so... I don't want to nitpick people's hobbies... but why are the table and chairs "made of bones"?
[...What's with the bad taste in these table and chairs?]
Somehow, while we're greeting the Ten Demons, I feel like Pandora-san has become a decent person. She said exactly what I wanted to say, and I really appreciated it.
[They were gifts. There is an eccentric necromancer living deep in the Dark Forest, and she apparently made these out of a whim, but it was hard to use for me... Considering the size of Miyama Kaito-san's physique though, these seats were just right, so I used it this time.]
[So they were just forcing their unused items to you huh...]
Necromancer... If I remember correctly, Sechs-san was also something like a necromancer. Well, Sechs-san lives in Kuro's mansion, so this necromancer shouldn't be him.
However, I think the atmosphere of the Dark Forest and that necromancer are a perfect match.
We're getting a little off-topic though, so I decided to thank Medea-san again for that incident back then.
[...Errrr, I'm going back to the topic, Medea-san. For helping me in the previous battle in the God Realm, thank you.]
[No problem. Fighting is a sorrowful thing, but it's also a fact that fighting will never disappear from the world... If that's the case, then it is my own wish to go to the battlefield to use my body as a shield for the sake of my friends.]
[...…..]
What she's saying sounds like she's thinking of her friends, but Pandora-san looked at her with a doubtful look on her face.
[You just want to satisfy your own desires, don't you?]
[I won't deny that. Sorrow is also a "delightful" thing after all.]
[...U- Unnn?]
Ahh, she's starting to spout outrageous things. Sorrow is a delightful thing? As I was feeling confused with what she's saying, Pandora-san lets out a sigh before explaining.
[...Tiamat is a psycho who finds pleasure in mental pain. In particular, she loves the "sorrow of killing and separating with those close to her with her own hands". When on a mission to dispose of a target, she would regard them as a close friend or a family member, before cruelly torturing them to death.]
[...…..]
Ehh, the heck is this. That's scary... A- Ahh, I see now... That's why, earlier, when Medea-san told me that "she thinks we could get along with each other", Pandora-san told her not to involve me with her obsession...
[Ahh, how extremely sorrowful. I've gotten my hands on a lot of people... and everyone has become invaluable to me. If our relationship had deepened, we could have been lifelong friends and companions. Aaahhhh... Plucking away such a future that should have happened was heartbreakingly sorrowful.]
The expression on Medea-san's face as she said this was one of ecstasy, and how should I say this... she looked really happy. I see, it seems like she really is one outrageous person, worthy of being named alongside Phenix-san.
[...Don't you dare release your ultrasonic waves, okay? If you do, I will immediately execute you.]
[I understand. Ahh, Miyama Kaito-san, I'm sorry if I frightened you. Please don't worry, even if I may look like this, I'm able to control myself….. It's just that, when I get close to someone, I have a slightly sinful obsession of wanting to kill them and wallow in grief.]
[H- Huhh...]
All in all, I can't come to any conclusion other than her being an outrageously dangerous person!? I mean, could the frightening gravestones around here be... L- Let's not think about it.
Listening to the information Pandora-san said to me, she certainly was an outrageous person that I could understand why Pandora-san called her a psycho... The conversation doesn't seem to be particularly strange for her, as her tone remained polite and calm.
We continued chatting like that for a while, and after a certain amount of time had passed, we decided that it was time to leave, so we got up from our seats. Thereupon, just as we were about to leave, Medea-san came up to talk to me.
[...Miyama Kaito-san, excuse me for a moment.]
[Eh? Whoa!?]
Slipping her hands under my armpit, Medea-san lifted me up like a doll, and I instantly felt as if I had climbed up to a building's second floor.
When I was startled by what she suddenly did, Medea-san silently looked at me, and after a while, she smiled.
[...I like you very much.]
[Eh?]
[Ah, I'm sorry, please don't get the wrong idea. I meant it in a way that has nothing to do with my obsession... It was just that I like "those who I couldn't kill".]
The expression on Medea-san's face as she smiled at me looked somewhat melancholic and lonely.
[Even if it's not through your own power... Even if, no matter how much I like you, no matter how much I want to kill you... Despite everything, I couldn't kill you... and thus, it feels inexplicably "reassuring".]
[...]
I wonder what this feeling is... Medea-san, who was just as Pandora-san said, feels like killing someone close to her and feels pleasure with tragedies... I think she's definitely a psycho.
Since she herself confirms that she feels pleasure from mental pain, I think what Pandora-san about her brutal ways of satisfying her own desires when she should be on a mission to eliminate a target is true.
But even if that's so, I feel like she "wasn't evil" at her core. After all.... I think that she herself is aware of her own abnormality.
[If another opportunity comes, please come visit me again.]
As she lowered my body, Medea-san smiled with a look of tenderness on her face.
For her, liking someone and killing someone might just be directly proportional. The more she likes a person, the more she will probably feel the desire to kill that person and separate from them.
I think this is why she lives in the Dark Forest, where few Demons live, and sings for her deceased kin.
At least, I felt that the words she said just now... the relief of not being able to kill me was unmistakably Medea-san's true intentions.
[...Alright. I'll come visit again when I have the opportunity... But at that time, I'd like it if you don't have these bone chairs...]
[Bones won't do huh... I see, I'll study about this matter that time then.]