"I, Qui, You, 나, 저, 僕, Lei, are? Sie, 너, Vy, 君, 您, Je, Yo, être? Stah, Elmah, I..."
Instead of the usual cry expected from a newborn, the being emerging from the egg began producing a series of unintelligible sounds for a short period before falling silent.
"Aren't human babies supposed to cry when they're born or something like that?" Ariane, who was pacing around this person to finally hold the child in her arms, regained her composure and replied to the question.
"First of all, is it even a human child? Either way, I couldn't tell you—I don't know any more than you do. And hand over the baby; you're holding it the wrong way."
As Ariane took the child, the person sat down on a chair.
They noted that their technique for holding the child wasn't inferior to Ariane's.
"I see. It's truly fascinating. Otherwise, how would you explain it being able to produce sounds resembling words? As a baby, its vocal cords shouldn't be this developed, right? Although it just feels like it's mixing various sounds... It's almost as if it spoke."
After finishing their reflection, this person observed Ariane and the child she held in her arms.
Was it a boy? It didn't have a discernible gender and exuded an aura unlike anything found in humans, even though it had their appearance.
The child slightly reopened its eyes—profound black eyes that seemed to draw those who gazed into them into an abyss.
"What's wrong with it?" this person asked Ariane, as this being didn't resemble a newborn at all, almost like a parody of humanity.
After gently shaking the child, Ariane replied, "What do you mean?"
Ariane snapped her fingers, and a small cloud appeared above her head. Plunging her hand into the cloud, she retrieved a cradle.
She placed the child inside the cradle. The baby remained calm, as though nothing in the world could disturb it.
The cloud above Ariane's head lingered, and a throne-like chair emerged from it, settling on the ground. Ariane sat upon it.
Now she and the person faced each other, with the cradle in the center.
"Doesn't it bother her to place her throne in her experiment room? Let's pretend I didn't see that. If I mention it now, all the tension she's trying to maintain will vanish."
While the person thought this, Ariane assumed a posture unsuited to a child. Despite her youthful appearance, she crossed her legs on the throne in a mature and composed manner, fixing the person with a sharp gaze.
"What do you plan to do with it?"
"Lady Ariane, I promised to let you play with it, but that doesn't mean I'm entrusting it to you. I think I'll just observe."
"That said, I'm quite surprised by this little one. Do you know its origin? If it's a fusion of humans and other species, then the fusion is flawless. If it's a human, we could say it's a new type of human. I'm intrigued as well."
"I don't know."
The moment "I don't know" left the person's lips, the room began trembling as if shaken by an earthquake.
Books fell from the shelves, equipment and objects tumbled down, but the strange tremor was confined to this room alone.
"You're lying!" Ariane declared, implying the tremor was her doing.
"You, the absolute ruler of Pandemonium, the one they call the Demon King—you don't know?"
The absolute ruler of Pandemonium remained calm in the face of Ariane's accusation. Ariane, often bored in her roaming castle due to her curse, enjoyed a good spectacle. Displaying herself like this to a rare visitor had become second nature, to the point she might even act arrogantly.
The ruler of Pandemonium crossed their arms.
"Lady Ariane, is this a provocation?"
Feeling playful, the ruler decided to provoke Ariane slightly, as they enjoyed her reactions.
"Hmph. What are you talking about? And even if it were, what could you do? Don't provoke me—if we were to clash in your current state, you wouldn't come out unscathed."
"True!" affirmed the ruler of Pandemonium.
Of course, what Ariane said wasn't out of malice. It was simply her personality. To her, the ruler of Pandemonium was more than a friend—she was family, more than family.
Thus, she regretted her words upon noticing the change in the ruler's expression.
"Wait, that's not what I meant! I mean, I-I..." She was already teary-eyed, on the verge of crying.
Has she lived so long that her behavior has regressed naturally? This is almost like senility in humans. I should study this further.
While lost in thought, the ruler didn't notice Ariane had moved in front of her, trying to soothe her. Of course, she didn't need it; she had instigated the situation.
"Please, okay? Please? Let's act like nothing happened, alright? You're not mad, are you? Say something!"
For someone so terrifying, she's surprisingly easy to manipulate, the ruler thought, gently patting Ariane's head to comfort her.
"Don't worry, Lady Ariane. I'm not mad—I can't be. As I said, I don't know, but I have my suspicions, and I'll share them with you later, alright?"
Hearing this, Ariane, whose teary eyes began to calm, took an imperceptible deep breath.
Then, she noticed the ruler patting her head.
Unable to refuse at that moment, after all, she had upset her friend, Ariane could only pout.
"I'm not a child!"
"I know," the ruler of Pandemonium affirmed.
"Stop treating me like one. Stop acting like humans."
Upon hearing Ariane's final words—"Stop acting like humans"—the ruler couldn't help but notice a faint smile forming on her own lips.
Acting like humans, huh? But I'm surprised by something else: despite all this commotion, the child hasn't reacted. It's not of this world, is it?"
As the ruler mused, Ariane suddenly stood up and looked at the ceiling.
Seeing her expression, the ruler followed Ariane's gaze. What was up there that only simple minds could perceive?
Before Ariane could speak, the ruler had come to a conclusion: visitors.
Ariane nodded at her friend's deduction. "And I think they're here for you," she added.
The ruler of Pandemonium was once again surprised.
"How did they find me? It's practically impossible to track Ariane's dwelling."