After I finished greeting Lilia-san at the mansion, I thought about
heading to Fate-san in the God Realm right away but… There are many
people I know at Lilia-san's mansion, so I thought it would be better to
finish greeting them first.
The people I'm particularly thinking about… were Anima and the twins.
Anima, Eta, and Theta aren't Lilia-san's servants, but are people hired
by me, so their positions are slightly different from the other servants,
and I'm the one paying their salaries.
Before I returned to Earth, I gave Anima about 80% of all the money I
had, so there shouldn't be any problem. With Anima's personality, she
wouldn't waste money, and I'm sure she would pay Eta and Theta well.
So, what was it that I'm concerned with? Of course, I am quite
concerned about how the three of them are doing… but actually, before
I returned to Earth, Anima had asked me something.
"Would it be alright for me to invest the money entrusted to me at my
own discretion to some extent?" or so she said. At that time, I had easily
given her permission. It's not that I'm worried about how her
investment went, but I was just a little curious to see how Anima used
the money over the past two years.
As I was heading towards the room that Anima was using, I saw "four
people" approaching at a fast speed from the end of the corridor.
[Master!]
[Anima, I was just about to come and see you. I'm… back?]
[Yes! Welcome back, Master!]
[Welcome back. I'm glad to see Master in good health.]
[I'm glad to see Master again… desu.]
[Welcome back, Miyama-sama. It's a great pleasure to see you again.]
Cheerfully greeting upon seeing me was Anima, Eta, Theta… and
Caraway-san?
[…Arehh? Why is Caraway-san here?]
[When Master was away, I had hired her as my assistant. My apologies
for having you know of this matter after I had finished hiring her.]
[Eh? Ah, no, I don't really mind… Errr, is Caraway-san alright with that?]
Caraway-san is a Viscount-level, High-ranking Demon, someone that is
part of the upper echelons of the Demon Realm. I know that she and
Anima were good friends, but is it alright for her to be serving me? I'm
sure there should be better places to work, like being a subordinate of
one of the Six Kings…
[Yes! Rather, I volunteered to become Anima's assistant. Thanks to
Miyama-sama's generosity, my position in the Demon Realm has been
restored, but I didn't want to gather subordinates like before, and
instead, I thought of working for Miyama-sama who had saved me.]
[H- Huhh… Errr, then, once again, I will be in your care.]
[Yes!]
…Generosity? Saved her? To be honest, I don't have any idea what she
was talking about , but Caraway-san seems to be very happy about it…
oh well.
Thereupon, Anima took out her magic box and brought out a huge bag
from it.
[Master! I will now return the money that Master has entrusted to me.]
[…Doesn't it seem to have multiplied from before?]
[Yes! I thought it would be second-rate of me as your retainer to return
the money entrusted to me as it was, so at my own discretion, I had
invested them and had it grow even more!]
[…I- Is that so.]
Isn't this about triple the money I gave her though? Hmmm, it seems
that Anima has a surprising talent for managing money huh. She
certainly does look like someone who would charge upon her problems
head-on, but she's quite attentive to details, and with her being
hardworking and eager to gain new knowledge, I guess she must have
grown even more in the past two years.
It's just that, unnn… Even as she's firmly saluting towards me, she is
clearly releasing this aura that seems like she wants to be praised, so I
guess Anima is still the same as before.
Smiling at this cute girl's actions, I lightly patted her on the head.
[…You've done a great job, haven't you? Thanks… In that case, can I
continue to leave half of the money with you?]
[Y- Yes! Please leave it to me! I'll definitely live up to Master's
expectations!]
Anima is supposed to be a bear beastman, but looking at her like this
kind of makes me feel like I'm looking at a puppy vigorously wagging its
tail. But well, thinking about the fact that I'm going to be living in this
world for a really long time, it's really reassuring to have someone as
dependable and trustworthy as Anima by my side.
It's troubling how she sometimes works too hard… but while making
sure to pay attention to her in case she does such a thing, I will continue
to rely on her even in the future.
After greeting many people at Lilia-san's mansion, I had come to a
temple in the God Realm. Shiro-san had asked me to visit her last, so
this time, I'm going to visit my lover Fate-san… and to say my greetings
to the rest of my God acquaintances.
The first thing I did was to visit Fate-san's temple, and the moment I
stood in front of the big doors of Fate-san's room… I suddenly felt a chill
run down my spine. What is this feeling… and why the heck am I now
thinking back to the time when I visited the Hydra Kingdom?
With that thought in mind… I quietly moved to the side, staying away
from the front of the door. Immediately after that, the huge door blew
open and a small figure came charging out like a human bullet.
[Kai-chaaaaaaaan!!!]
[...…]
I wonder what the emotion that came to my mind was at that moment?
Perhaps, it's resignation. Despite the fact that I had avoided the door,
Fate-san still somehow turned at a right angle and came charging
towards me.
I felt like the world had run at a slow-motion as her head, with our
height difference, came towards me… and slammed right on the "pit of
my stomach".
[Gafuu!?]
[Kai-chan! You're too slow! I've been waiting for you for a long time!]
Unnn, I thought about this back in the Hydra Kingdom… but Fate-san,
what kind of grudge do you have with the pit of my stomach… This
freaking hurts.