By my Master's orders, I ended up stuck helping Natsume-kun.
Honestly, Natsume-kun is just not my type.
He'd been at the very top of the school caste, so from where I stood at the very bottom, he was a being above the clouds.
On top of that, he just barrels forward issuing commands without even asking for my input—which, now that I think about it, feels oddly similar to my Master.
Maybe that's why, even though my Status puts me well above him, I somehow can't bring myself to push back.
Thanks to that, the past few days had been incredibly stressful.
What I did was this: I charmed a portion of the Empire's upper echelon and turned them into puppets.
Then, through them, I gathered troops and began preparations for a campaign.
With this, once Natsume-kun took command, we could march on the elf village right away.
But I didn't lay a hand on the mage said to be the Empire's strongest.
I only saw them from a distance, but for a human they looked absurdly powerful, and I wasn't confident my charm would work on them.
Well, I could always have the charmed upper echelon issue orders to that mage, moving them indirectly. And more importantly, Natsume-kun was a prince.
He didn't need full control of everything.
After helping him bring the Empire under his grasp, I returned to the Demon King's castle for the first time in days.
That said, there was no time to relax.
I'd sleep one night and wake up to find I had to attend a meeting with the God Word Religion.
The negotiations with the God Word Religion were apparently progressing steadily.
Melazofis had been attending in my place, and he said everything was moving along without issues.
He showed me what looked like meeting minutes, but unfortunately the whole thing was Greek to me.
Political back-and-forth, military operations, all those details—no matter how much people show me, I just don't really get it.
I did study it all at the academy, so if I buckled down and actually tried to decipher it, I could. But I don't feel like it.
Because it's a pain.
You're better off leaving this kind of detail work to someone who actually understands it.
All I need to do is carry out whatever my Master orders me to.
At least, until it's over.
"Ugh! It reeks!"
The moment I opened the door, the stench that had been building up rushed in with the air.
Strong enough to make me tipsy just from the smell—the thick odor of hard liquor.
I stepped inside and threw the windows wide open to let in fresh air.
Even so, I couldn't scrub away the residue that had settled like sediment. Grimacing, I turned my gaze toward the room's owner.
"Nnnngh..."
The owner of this room was crouching on the bed with a face the color of old dishwater.
It was, unmistakably, a young woman suffering through a vicious hangover.
"Do you even know there's a meeting with the God Word Religion today?"
I addressed the crumpled object on the bed—that is, Fermina.
Whether she could hear me or not, all I got in return was a muffled groan. No coherent words came out.
Exasperated, I looked around the room. On the desk sat a stack of documents, and on the other side, a tower of empty bottles.
You could tell at a glance she'd been working through papers while drinking—like having a cup of tea while sorting documents, except with booze.
On top of that, empty bottles lay scattered across the floor in every direction. The whole place looked like the room of some washed-up drunkard.
How on earth did this happen?
At the very least, before I left for the Empire—just a few days ago—I'd never heard of Fermina so much as touching alcohol.
What series of events could have led her to evolve into this kind of lush?
And I say "evolve," but isn't this more like devolving?
The word "alcohol" obviously brings my Master to mind, but even so, for Fermina—the type who'd iron her clothes just to walk around—to end up in this state...
What on earth happened?
"Ugh, *hic*..."
*Ding dong ding dong.* One moment, please.
"Feeling better?"
"Yes. Being tended to by your hands is the absolute height of humiliation, but thanks to your help I'm feeling considerably improved. It's extremely irritating, but thank you nonetheless."
"If you can talk like that, you must be fine."
I'd even reversed the hangover for her and cast healing magic on top of it, and this was the attitude I got back.
So annoying.
"So? What's the deal with this disaster? Did our Master force you to drink a hundred bottles or something?"
I wouldn't put it past her, honestly—and the fact that I can't say for sure is the scary part.
"No. I just couldn't keep going without drinking something myself."
Maybe she was still feeling rough, because Fermina unusually came right out with a sign of weakness.
"Can I ask you one thing?"
"What?"
Normally I wouldn't listen seriously, but seeing Fermina looking so much more vulnerable than usual, I felt like I actually owed her a proper answer.
I shouldn't have thought that.
"After the Master finishes the System—what will you do then?"
That was why, in that moment, I couldn't come up with an answer to Fermina's question.
Usually I could have deflected with some cutting remark.
But because I'd genuinely tried to think of an honest response, I found I had nothing to say.
Because there was no answer.
"I'm sorry. That was a foolish question. I need to get ready, so please tell the Demon King and the Master I just need a little more time."
Fermina had seen right through me—that my lack of an answer was itself the answer.
I was shown out of the room and left standing there, completely at a loss.
For now, I did as she'd asked and started heading back to the Master and the others.
But even though my feet were moving, I couldn't see where I was headed.
The Master, Ariel, Kyoya-kun—they were all gazing toward the end.
And they were acting to reach it.
I was the same, but there was one crucial difference.
It was whether or not they could see what lay beyond the end.
I believed the Master was acting with a vision that extended past the end.
Ariel was acting accepting that there was nothing beyond the end—that the end was simply the end.
And Kyoya-kun probably...
Of everyone in that circle, I alone had no vision for what came after.
I hadn't built one.
Once the System was over, what would become of me?
I had no picture of that whatsoever.
For now, I was fine just following the Master's orders.
But after that?
After that, I'd have to think for myself and act on my own.
The Master probably wouldn't be by my side when that time came.
What should I do—that's what I want to ask someone.
What should I be doing?
Blood: "My experience with emesis is longer than yours, you know! And my technique is flawless!" White: "..."