"Yes, yeees—certainly—His Excellency Dantalion, you saaaay—."
Barbatos fell deep into thought. Why? Why had he come to visit her at a time like this?
Various conjectures collided in her mind. But when it came to making a judgment, she always preferred simple intuition over convoluted logic. She was certain there was an interesting story behind Dantalion's visit, and so she spoke.
"Tell him to come in at once! No—bring him here yourself."
"Yeees—right awaaay—."
The pale white ghost drew out its final syllables in reply, then sank underground. Under normal circumstances, she would have sighed at the sight of her subordinate darting through the earth instead of using the perfectly good corridor she'd had built. But right now, Barbatos was nervously biting her fingers.
*Could it be. Just maybe...could he have found out what I did?*
A chill ran down Barbatos's spine. There was no way. And yet, even though she knew there was no way, the mere possibility that perhaps he had was enough to set her heart racing. Her heart pounded. A faint heat mingled with her breath. Of course, it was too soon to draw any conclusions. The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. She needed to know how to temper her hopes.
But.
*If by some miracle it's true...I'll be very, very satisfied, you brat.*
The corners of Barbatos's mouth curled upward. A scarlet tongue licked her lips.
Shortly after, Dantalion, draped in a black cloak, walked in through the front gate. Barbatos's Demon Lord's Castle had a teleportation device installed for guests, so he had arrived quickly. Dantalion saw her and waved leisurely. His manner was as though he were meeting an old friend.
"Long time no see, Barbatos."
She was momentarily speechless. Caught off guard, one might say.
She hadn't expected him to be so casual. It was true that Dantalion and Barbatos had agreed to speak informally to each other. But he was ranked 8th, and she was ranked 71st. By human social standards, the gap between them was as wide as that between an emperor and a baronet. Just because they'd agreed to use informal speech didn't mean anyone actually treated each other like real friends.
When was the last time she'd heard a greeting like this?
She smiled deeply.
"You rude little wretch—did you eat your manners with jam on barley bread? If you're going to visit a lady's house, you should at least send word beforehand."
"My, my. How rude of me. But give me a break. I was so excited at the thought of going to see a beautiful lady that I simply forgot my manners. After all, true beauty has a way of rendering all pretense and etiquette meaningless in an instant."
"Ke ke ke."
She despised flattery. But she liked jokes disguised as flattery, like this one. Jokes were like salt in a dreary existence. Even if life was unbearably dry, a sprinkle of salt made it at least bearable.
"Truly sweet words to the ear. I'll admit, that skill of yours—the one that put Paimon in her place—is impressive. But I'm on a completely different level from that harlot."
"Oh? And what do you mean by that?"
"I'm not the kind of person who'll forgive a mere verbal offense so easily. As you yourself said—show some sincerity to this body that possesses true beauty."
*I knew you'd say that.* Dantalion pulled something from inside his cloak. It was a wine bottle. Barbatos's eyes went wide. The bottle bore a label she had seen only once, long ago. Barbatos's voice trembled in a way that was unlike her.
"Th-that can't be? Surely not?"
Dantalion grinned.
"In the Demon Realm, Hellfire Inferno is famous for producing the finest wines. Among those, the wine of wines—the Valernon, vintage 505 of the Continental Calendar—produced only one bottle per year in the estate of the Count of Lava. As it happens, this year marks exactly one thousand years."
"That's impossible!"
Barbatos cried out.
"That's the top-grade wine even Uncle Bael can't get his hands on!"
"Ahem. I pulled some strings."
"You're kidding—no way! Is it the real thing!? It can't be the real thing, can it!?"
She could hold back no longer. She had already half-risen from her throne. She was the self-proclaimed greatest drinker among the Demon Lords, and the other Demon Lords all acknowledged this. To her, that wine was the Holy Grail. Barbatos threw every last shred of decorum and dignity to the far side of her memory and scrambled down from her throne.
"Give me that!"
"Of course. Here you go."
Dantalion tossed the wine bottle high into the air, as if throwing a ball. The sheer audacity of it shocked Barbatos. To toss the world's finest wine right before a connoisseur's eyes! It would have been more polite to juggle a century's greatest masterpiece in front of a painter. She screamed.
"KYAAAAAH! You maniac!"
Without thinking, she even activated her magic to snatch the wine bottle from midair. Three layers of black magic were cast simultaneously, without incantation. *<Unseen Hand>, <Euthanasia's Breath>, <Ghost's Footfall>*—all three were grand magic of the 5th Circle or higher.
Barbatos kicked off the ground and leaped more than ten meters into the air. She conjured a magical mist in midair to slow the bottle's descent. She caught the bottle with the Unseen Hand. If any mage from the Human Realm had witnessed the scene that just unfolded, they would have been stunned on multiple levels, their jaws hanging wide open. First, the fact that she had cast not two but a full three spells layered on top of each other. Second, the fact that she had activated all three layers of magic simultaneously without any incantation. And lastly, the fact that this grand spectacle of magic had been employed for nothing more than catching a wine bottle.
Needless to say, Barbatos couldn't have cared less about the perspective of Human Realm mages. Her entire attention was fixed on the Valernon vintage 505 floating in midair. The magic she had honed and refined over the course of two thousand years of life was, in this very moment, being used for the sole purpose of catching a glass bottle forty-five centimeters in diameter. Perhaps it was that concentration that paid off. The wine bottle landed neatly in Barbatos's hands. She touched down safely on the ground.
"AZAAAAAAH!"
Barbatos thrust the wine bottle high above her head with both hands. She roared like a basketball player who had just grabbed a clutch rebound. She was, without question, the ruler of the court.
"Did you see that, damn it!? This is the majestic power of the great Barbatos, ranked 8th!"
"...I'm not entirely sure, but it seems like something incredible just happened before my eyes."
"You son of a bitch, Dantalion! You don't deserve to take even a single sip of this wine!"
Barbatos whipped her head around and glared at Dantalion. Despite her appearance—she couldn't have looked older than thirteen—the intensity radiating from her was indescribable.
"How—no way! I can't believe it! A thousand-year-old wine! A masterpiece completed over generations, with the winemaker applying the world's most special magic—a magic created solely for the preservation of wine—once every fifteen days! A treasure that never reaches the market and is gifted only to the one whom the Grand Duke of Hellfire Inferno deems most noble and beautiful—tossed through the air! Tossed like it was nothing! You're worth less than the grime under a crow's claw!"
"Hmm. I can see now that you really are a hopeless drunkard."
"I'm not a drunkard—I'm a connoisseur, you idiot!"
Barbatos caressed the wine bottle with trembling hands. A pleasant coolness seeped through her palms.
*Hah.*
As a Grand Magus, she could tell. The glass bottle was no ordinary bottle either. It had undoubtedly been imbued semi-permanently with the finest temperature-preservation and impact-resistance magic. Her feelings had shifted from "Surely it can't be real" to "It might actually be real."
"You...you...if this isn't the real thing, I swear, for the crime of deceiving me, I will..."
"I'll yield the very first sip to you."
*Hic.*
Barbatos hiccupped involuntarily.
"The very first sip...is t-the most delicious, isn't it?"
"That's exactly why I'm yielding it."
Dantalion smiled warmly.
"Aren't we friends?"
"You...you're a son of a bitch, but you're a damn good son of a bitch."
"That sounds like an insult, but I'll accept it as a compliment out of courtesy."
Barbatos was moved.
But only for a moment. The thought that she was about to have the chance to taste the very first sip of the Valernon vintage 505 sent Barbatos into a flurry.
"Th-this isn't the time for that! The wine glass! Where did I put the wine glass!?"
She waved her arms in circles. From the direction of the front gate, a pile of miscellaneous junk came flying in. Items that had been sleeping in the storehouse had been drawn in by Barbatos's summoning magic. The spacious Demon Lord's chamber was crammed full of junk. After quite a while, Barbatos managed to find a crystal wine glass among the pile.
She swallowed hard.
"...Sh-shall I?"
"Yes. Please, just drink it."
Exhausted by the drunkard's antics, Dantalion spoke with a sigh. Under normal circumstances, she would have retaliated for such a rude attitude, but Barbatos had no energy to spare for that right now. In fact, the words "Shall I?" hadn't even been directed at Dantalion. She had murmured them to herself.
"O-okay. Valernon vintage 505...come now, show me the scent of your lewd inner flesh."
"The lewd one here isn't the wine—it's more like what's inside your head..."
"Shut up!"
Barbatos began chanting a spell. It was a spell to uncork a wine bottle without any tools. No matter how good a corkscrew was, bits of cork debris inevitably fell into the wine during the uncorking process. Cork debris subtly diminished the flavor of the wine. To prevent such a mishap, Barbatos had developed the so-called *<Corkscrew Spell>* one thousand one hundred and three years ago. Barbatos considered this the greatest achievement of her entire existence. It was merely a 2nd Circle spell, useful only for uncorking wine bottles, but she was absolutely convinced of it.
The same Barbatos who had just moments ago cast three layers of 5th Circle grand magic without so much as an incantation was now carefully, very slowly, pouring every ounce of her concentration into casting a mere 2nd Circle corkscrew spell. The more she murmured the incantation, the more the cork rose, little by little. A little more. And a little more. And then, with a final *pop!*, the cork shot into the air.
The fragrance of the thousand-year-old wine rushed into Barbatos's nostrils.
She was overcome with emotion. Her consciousness soared to about five hundred meters overhead. She was certain. This was the real thing. Without a doubt, it was the genuine *<Valernon, Vintage 505 of the Lava Estate, Hellfire Inferno>*. An overwhelming aroma—deep yet enchanting, rich yet complex.
Barbatos hadn't even taken a sip yet, but her head was already spinning.
"Is...is heaven real, then?"
"I'm glad the scent alone makes you so happy. Why don't you take a drink now?"
"Drink it...? This...?"
She was trembling.
"Dantalion...you have no idea what this is worth...h-how can I drink this? Treasures aren't meant to be consumed..."
"You like wine, don't you? Here's the finest wine there is. And you're not going to drink it?"
He was right.
Barbatos despaired.
"Argh! What kind of contradiction is this...! Because I love wine more than anyone, I want this Valernon! But because I love wine more than anyone...that is precisely why I cannot drink this Valernon! Paradox! Absurdity! Anguish! Is this what life is!?"
"Give it a little longer and you'll unlock the truth of the universe with a single bottle of wine. Hey, hand me the bottle. I'll pour for you."
"O-okay."
Barbatos meekly handed over the wine bottle. She felt she simply couldn't pour the wine herself. With her uncontrollably trembling right hand, she slowly extended the crystal glass. But when she saw how Dantalion was holding the wine bottle, she couldn't help but shout.
"Hey! You! What is that!?"
Dantalion, who was gripping the bottle with both hands, blinked.
"What?"
"Your grip is wrong! Your grip! Not two hands—one hand!"
"Like this?"
"No—damn it! Don't grip it with your whole palm, just touch the base lightly!"
"...Like this?"
Barbatos flew into a rage.
"Son of a bitch! I said don't use your palm! Just your thumb, index, and middle finger—"
"Just drink the damn thing already, you alcoholic bitch."
Dantalion stared at her with ice-cold eyes.
She was hopeless.