"Then let's start by investigating this so-called demon-hunting organization. Everyone stay alert at all times so you don't get blindsided the way Lugner was. If your life is in danger, the rule about not harming Humans can be relaxed as needed. That's all for this assembly."
The moment Nanoda finished, Aura was the first one out of her seat.
The other members of the Demon Race said their goodbyes and filed out one after another.
Since the lord's duties could not be handed off to anyone else, Lugner, wrapped head to toe in bandages, had to stay behind and keep working with hands that trembled a little.
Nanoda made a private decision: once Lugner found a successor, she would grant him a good long stretch of leave by way of apology.
Honestly, in Nanoda's own estimation, she was not a qualified leader.
After Schwenk took his leave as well, Nanoda noticed something in the farthest corner of the room. Jane was holding a novel, and she had fallen asleep face-down on the open pages.
Nanoda would admit the meeting had been a touch boring, but the alarm bell still needed ringing. Dark currents were stirring inside Gaderia again.
She made a shushing gesture at Lugner, walked over to Jane's seat, and gently lifted her into her arms.
Deep asleep, Jane noticed nothing at all. Her pretty lashes only fluttered twice.
At moments like this, Nanoda thought that this Great Demon of over a thousand years was really no different from a child.
Cradling Jane, she cast Flight Magic and followed the familiar route home to the little wooden cabin where they lived.
She flew up to Jane's bedroom, pushed open the unlocked window, and laid her down on the soft bedding. Only then did she set out for the orphanage to find Yuna.
This was an arrangement between Nanoda and Yuna.
Every rest day, Nanoda would go to the orphanage to help out, cooking a few simple dishes, using magic to clean the building, playing with the children.
The way Nanoda saw it, children were the purest creatures precisely because they knew nothing yet and hadn't hardened into anything.
If she stood beside these children as a member of the Demon Race while they grew up, acting almost like a parent, then Human children could learn to accept her.
And when those children were grown, hearing all the rumors about the Demon Race, they wouldn't hate them so much.
The orphanage in the west district of Gaderia.
It stood quite close to the Demon Special Zone. The orphans who lived here could even watch through the windows as members of the Demon Race worked the farmland in the distance.
Yuna, the director, was busy handing out lunch to the children seated in neat rows along both sides of the long table.
Übel sat mixed in among those children, looking distinctly unimpressed.
"Hey, hey, is Übel Director Yuna's daughter? The start of your names really does sound the same."
The new little girl beside her asked the question, but Übel just went on dipping bread into her soup and eating with total concentration.
Seeing that she was being ignored, the girl lowered her head, deflated, and then heard the voice beside her after all. "No. She's my magic master. My master for life."
"Wow, that's amazing! Just like Mama Yuna, can Übel use magic too?"
The boy on the other side had stars in his eyes, and the look he turned on Übel was pure longing and envy.
Just then the orphanage's front door swung slowly open. Yuna, still serving food, untied her apron at once and hurried over.
"Lord Nanoda, did the meeting go smoothly?"
"No real trouble. We probably have a target to confirm now. Security in Gaderia needs to be tightened another notch over the next while, especially here at the orphanage. Nothing can happen to the children."
Nanoda's expression had gone serious. Yuna nodded and smiled.
She knew that her master had once been a far freer member of the Demon Race than she was now.
So whenever Nanoda felt uneasy or weighed down, Yuna could always tell.
"All right, Lord Nanoda, I'll do my best to help too. Let's eat together first, then play with the kids for a while and unwind a little."
"You have a point."
Block the soldiers with a general, dam the flood with earth. Since mastering part of Paradox Magic, Nanoda had gained a certain confidence in her own strength.
If Demon Hunters truly existed, then it was anyone's guess who would be hunting whom.
Nanoda pulled her thoughts back to the present.
"It's Lord Nanoda! She really does look exactly like that statue in the plaza in front of the lord's manor!"
"Yeah, yeah! I remember the fruit and candy they put in front of it tasted so good. Though sometimes it's just flowers, and I don't like those."
"Wrong! That's disrespectful to Lord Nanoda, how could you eat the offerings? Hey, that's my bread, no grabbing!"
"Hee hee hee hee."
The children who had finished eating crowded in and clambered all over Nanoda.
…Innocent, noisy, alive.
Having eaten lunch at the orphanage and thus escaped the torment of Linie's Dark Cuisine, Nanoda's mood recovered somewhat.
After lunch came a half-hour rest, and after that it was the children's playtime.
Yuna led the children out to the open ground near the Demon Special Zone and announced the game she had picked.
"Today let's play Demon Tag."
"No good, Mama Director. Lord Nanoda is way too strong. Last time I got caught almost right away…" The little girl shrank back a bit.
"Then practice more." Übel, standing to the side, scooped a few stones off the ground with a look of disdain, stuffed them in her pocket, and picked up a broken branch as well.
"Yeah, yeah!" The boy beside her cracked his knuckles in agreement.
"The rules are: everyone gets ten minutes to hide, and you have to stay inside this area. If Lord Nanoda finds you, you're out. If even one child is still uncaught after twenty minutes, that's our victory."
"This is your chance to beat the strongest in Gaderia, the strongest of the Demon Race!"
Yuna laid it on thick to fire the children up.
The orphanage children had enormous respect for Director Yuna and Lord Nanoda, who were endlessly gentle and kind to them. They fell over each other to get started.
"Hey, hey, Yuna. Titles like 'the strongest' are a flag, you know."
"…What?"
"What I mean is… never mind. Let's just start the game, or the kids won't be able to wait any longer."
"Mm-hmm."
Yuna gathered Mana and condensed it into a magical hourglass. When the sand had run through twice, the game would be over.
"Starting now. In ten seconds everyone can go hide. Ten… nine… eight… seven…"
"Hey, Übel, can I hide with you?"
"Just don't get in my way." Übel hesitated, then nodded at the girl anyway.
"…Three… two… one… zero!"
The countdown ended, and the children scattered in a heartbeat, Übel among them, dragging the girl along by the arm.
"Lord Nanoda, will you manage to catch Übel this time?"
"Don't worry. Even if Übel hides her Mana, every member of the Demon Race in the special zone is my accomplice."
Nanoda: just as planned.jpg
Sure enough, ten minutes later every child except Übel had been rounded up and hauled back by Nanoda.
____
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