Chapter 5
For a long while, we listened to the Bleached Demon’s lecture.
Ah…
What should I have for lunch?
Just as I was starting to zone out using the office-worker survival skill I had mastered in my previous life…
“You idiots!”
Bang!
The Bleached Demon suddenly shouted and slammed his fist down.
There hadn’t been a desk there before, but the instant his fist came down, one popped into existence.
“You!”
“Y-Yes…?”
The demon suddenly grabbed someone’s wrist.
The unlucky owner of that innocent wrist was Uncle Modi.
With another pop, a backless stool appeared. The Bleached Demon sat Uncle Modi down, then casually perched on top of the desk himself.
“D-Demon Sir…?”
“Shh. Be quiet.”
“Yes?”
“Look at me.”
“…Y-Yes?”
The Bleached Demon held Uncle Modi’s face in both hands, tilted his head, and leaned in close.
Huh?
Huh…?
Question marks appeared on everyone’s faces.
N-No way…!
Just as my expectations started rising, my vision suddenly went dark.
Ribi had covered my eyes with her hand.
I quickly pried her fingers apart to see.
Then Ribi shouted,
“The demon is kissing Uncle!”
The adults immediately scrambled backward.
Uncle Modi hugged himself with both arms and tearfully cried,
“My dear wife… I’m sorry…”
“No, you idiots!”
The Bleached Demon yelled.
Something suddenly appeared in his hand.
It gleamed silver.
It looked like it was made of metal.
Everyone, including me, gasped.
It looked like the demon was about to handcuff Uncle Modi and commit some irreversible forbidden act.
But instead—
“Now, take a deep breath.”
“S-Something touched my chest…!”
“Shut up. Crying wastes your stamina.”
The Bleached Demon placed a stethoscope against Uncle Modi’s chest and back.
Then he scribbled rapidly onto a medical chart lying on the desk.
“Next!”
“…”
“…”
And just like that…
The health checkup began.
* * *
A cute cat-shaped bandage was stuck inside my elbow.
The Bleached Demon had put it there after drawing my blood.
“You did well. Such a little one, and you didn’t even cry.”
He had even given me a piece of candy.
The sweetness startled my body after so long without sugar.
It tasted like strawberry milk.
It’s delicious… but what exactly is going on?
I had summoned the long-haired demon, yet a different demon had appeared.
He scolded us for worshipping demons…
Then gave us free medical checkups.
All demons are really kind.
The whole situation was confusing, but since nothing bad had happened, I decided to simply accept it.
“Hevenia.”
Ian approached after finishing his blood test.
He also had a candy in his mouth and was pressing the inside of his elbow just like me.
“Are demons… always this nice?”
“I guess so.”
“So this is how people fall into heresy.”
“Don’t let the Bleached Demon hear you say that or he’ll lecture you again.”
“I’m not the only one thinking it.”
That was true.
Ian was actually one of the more reasonable ones.
Ribi had gone as far as saying,
“I should convert! We need to build a temple to worship the Demon Sir right away!”
The Bleached Demon overheard her and gave her a thorough scolding.
“But I understand how she feels.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
The Bleached Demon examined every one of us carefully.
The people from the exile camp—especially the middle-aged adults—finally admitted the health problems they had been enduring for years.
“My knees ache whenever it rains…”
“The wound I got scratched by healed, but it still itches sometimes…”
“I get dizzy whenever I stand up…”
My heart ached seeing how none of them had healthy bodies anymore.
After the final examination…
“You idiots…!”
The Bleached Demon glared at us again.
“How is there not a single healthy person among you?! Does that even make sense?! I know life in the exile camp wasn’t easy, but…”
Suddenly he covered his eyes with one hand and lowered his head.
His shoulders trembled.
“My poor little darlings… Why couldn’t you even eat properly…”
“…”
“…”
As if by prior agreement, everyone turned to look at Uncle Modi.
I happily became the messenger of love.
“The Bleached Demon says you’re small and adorable, Uncle.”
“My dear wife… Even if I become the demon’s concubine here, my heart belongs only to you…”
Uncle Modi squeezed his eyes shut in resignation.
“I’ve told you that’s not what I mean!”
The Bleached Demon protested with tears welling in his eyes.
“And I’m a pure bachelor!”
That only made Uncle Modi seem even more likely to become his lawful spouse.
* * *
By the time the health checkups ended, the sun was already setting.
The orange glow spread beautifully across the blue sky.
The adults went to prepare dinner.
The Bleached Demon told me he had something to discuss, so I followed him on a walk through the residential district.
Even though his legs were incredibly long, he matched his pace to mine.
He really was a kind person…
No.
A kind demon.
“The Lord told me everything,” he said.
I quickly realized that “the Lord” meant the long-haired demon I had summoned first.
“I was thinking of him when I summoned a demon. So why did you appear instead, Bleached Demon?”
“Did you just call me ‘Bleached Demon’?”
He laughed.
“You’re pretty bold.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know your real name.”
“Just keep calling me that.”
I nodded.
He continued.
“The Lord isn’t in a position where he can come out easily right now.”
Is he very busy?
“He’s running around taking care of his pregnant wife.”
He really is busy.
“What’s the payment for the health checkup? Is my blood enough? Are you taking what you drew earlier?”
“I only did that because I wanted to. Don’t worry about it. And after testing your blood, we’ll dispose of it properly as medical waste.”
“You can use it if you want.”
“That reminds me. There’s something I need to tell you.”
The Bleached Demon stopped walking and crouched in front of me.
Up close, he looked like a cruelly beautiful god of war.
His golden eyes, worn like an aged sun, glowed in the sunset.
So this is why people say demons tempt humans. They’re just too handsome.
“Little Ant.”
This demon called me Ant too.
“The power contained in your blood is far greater and more valuable than we expected.”
“H-Huh?”
“So the settlement isn’t balanced yet. You paid far too much.”
“…”
“Don’t understand what I mean?”
“No…”
“I suppose you wouldn’t. There are too many things you don’t know.”
He picked up a nearby stick and began drawing on the ground.
“Demon summoning is like hiring a private investigator. You know what that is, right?”
“Isn’t that… where they do contract killings…”
“…Just what kind of things did you grow up watching?”
I had actually grown up with domestic violence and the harsh realities of modern society, but I wisely kept my mouth shut.
He had drawn two circles on the ground.
“When someone summons a demon, they pay two kinds of costs.”
An arrow extended from the left circle to the right.
“The first is transportation.”
“Transportation?”
“A demon crosses dimensions to reach the summoner’s world. Naturally, that requires payment. The saliva you spit during the summoning is that cost.”
“But… is it okay for me to spit?”
“Of course not.”
According to him, if it had been any normal human, their salivary glands would have burst long ago.
I unconsciously poked my salivary glands with my tongue.
Then he drew another arrow toward the second circle.
“The second payment…”
He tapped the words he’d written with the stick.
“This is the important one.”
“Service fee.”
“When a demon grants a wish, the summoner pays an equivalent price. We demons then convert that payment into resources that help maintain the world.”
Ohhh.
It was just like the fantasy movies I’d seen before.
I suddenly became curious about the demons’ world.
Judging by the clothes they wore and the furniture they used, their civilization seemed at least as advanced as the one I used to live in.
“But…”
I asked cautiously,
“When I made my first wish… all I got was a nosebleed.”
The first time I wished to the long-haired demon…
I had rubbed the nosebleed that stained my clothes onto the summoning circle as payment.
Remembering the complicated expression on the long-haired demon’s face back then, I simply couldn’t believe I had paid an enormous price.
The Bleached Demon said,
“To put it simply, Little Ant… you handed us a solid gold bar and asked us to deliver a letter.”
“Wow…!”
“My nosebleed was worth that much?”
“Pretty amazing, right?”
“Yes!”
“Not amazing at all, you brat!”
“Eek!”
I let out a wronged cry like a newborn penguin chick getting smacked by an adult penguin.
“Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused us?”
“How was I supposed to know?! It was my first time summoning a demon!”
“The power inside your blood is worth more than what every demon in our entire world could earn after working nonstop for a whole year.”
“Gosh… that’s even more amazing!”
“Thanks to you, everyone’s been pulling all-nighters!”
According to the Bleached Demon, the long-haired demon had gone all out yesterday for the first time in several hundred years.
Even then, they still hadn’t managed to use even one-tenth of the power contained in my blood.
The demons were currently working overtime just to safely store it.
“So, I’d like to make you a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
“We’ll assign you a personal demon butler whose job is to grant your wishes whenever you need.”
“That sounds a bit…”
I hesitated.
“I’m really shy around strangers…”
“You’ve been chatting with someone you just met this whole time.”
Calling me ridiculous, the Bleached Demon lightly flicked my forehead.
Then he carefully explained the basics of demon summoning.
“When making a wish, be as detailed and specific as possible. If you’re too vague, the demon’s imagination fills in the blanks however it wants.”
“Oh…”
His explanation was fascinating.
Listening intently, I suddenly became curious about my own power.
“Could you tell me more about my ability? The long-haired demon called it ‘Opening and Closing,’ but I still don’t really understand it.”
“If it’s just a question, I’ll give you a simple answer.”
“If it’s a wish, I’ll fulfill it perfectly.”
“Then it’s a wish!”
I wished to know everything about my power—its true nature, its potential, and how it could be developed and used.
The Bleached Demon handed me a book.
《Everything You Need to Know About the Clavis Family》
I froze when I saw the cover.
It looked strangely familiar.
It had the style of a girls’ educational comic, with sparkling eyes taking up half the heroine’s face.
“It looks like one of those children’s educational comics.”
“For someone who knows absolutely nothing, it’s perfect.”
He wasn’t wrong.
I flipped through the pages.
Ah.
There it was.
The exact section I’d been looking for.
The heroine in the comic was a little girl with chestnut hair and green eyes, just like mine.
Her name was…
Havi.
Wow… that’s really similar to my original name.
