"Hello. My name is Ivar, and I'll be troubling you for lodging at His Highness's residence from now on."
The golden-haired vampire bowed politely.
"My role is to serve as an intermediary between His Highness Dantalion and the Niflheim parliament, representing the parliament in all matters. I take great pride in the duty I've been entrusted with and wish to serve His Highness to the best of my ability. Please, feel free to call me by my first name — Ivar."
Clap, clap, clap.
Perfunctory applause echoed through the room.
The tenth underground floor of the Demon Lord's Castle — a place reserved exclusively for high-ranking officials. For once, a decent number of people had gathered here. Prime Minister Lapis, Minister of Military Affairs Laura, Patrol Captain Jeremy, and Head Maid Daisy. Each of them regarded the newcomer with guarded eyes.
Times like these call for me to step up.
"Well then. As she just introduced herself, Ivar is our liaison to the Demon Realm."
I placed a hand on Ivar's small shoulder.
"For certain reasons, she cannot reveal her family name. She is, however, the heir to quite a prominent bloodline. Don't worry — I personally vouch for her sincerity. Let's welcome her as a member of our familia."
Clap, clap, clap!
The applause was slightly more enthusiastic this time around.
That's right. Ivar Lodbrok had moved into our Demon Lord's Castle. Even I hadn't anticipated this.
It seemed that after I had forcibly kissed her, Ivar had come to some momentous decision. Her violet eyes burned with an unidentifiable resolve.
*'My second life is entirely thanks to His Highness Dantalion. Which means — His Highness must take responsibility for me.'*
*'Deal.'*
I threw open both arms in welcome. If this wasn't a pumpkin rolling right to your doorstep, I didn't know what was.
Ivar wasn't using any particular alias. The name Ivar was common enough on its own. Surely no lunatic would see a golden-haired girl and connect her to the old fox at the Kunkuska Trading Company.
Lapis raised her right hand.
"Your Majesty. What rank does Lady Ivar hold in our Demon Lord's Army?"
"Hmm. Rank, you say."
I scratched my cheek with a finger. Establishing a clear hierarchy within any organization was always an important process.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It didn't matter how prestigious Ivar's family was back in the Demon Realm—this was Dantalion's Demon Lord's Army. Normally, the right thing to do would be to slot her in somewhere as an assistant to Daisy, the head chamberlain.
But.
'It's a bit of an awkward situation.'
The real power in our Demon Lord's Army was, without question, Lapis. However, Lapis simultaneously belonged to the Kunkuska Trading Company.
In other words, from the Demon Lord's Army's perspective, Ivar held the lowest possible rank—yet by the outside world's standards, she was Lapis's superior. The company's chairperson, no less. The chain of command was tangled beyond belief…
While I was mulling it over, Ivar stepped forward on her own.
"You referred to Prime Minister Rajuli, did you not? I would appreciate it if you could treat me as a maid of the lowest possible rank."
"Oh."
I looked at Ivar with mild surprise. She was smiling with easy confidence. Was she really okay taking a position far below even her own subordinates?
—Your Majesty, did you not say so yourself? That I am not Ivar the chairperson of Kunkuska, but simply Ivar, one woman.
Ivar had sent me a discreet voice transmission. She was quite well-versed in magic, it seemed.
—If I, a newcomer, were to suddenly disrupt the chain of command, I would only end up isolated. I don't wish for the colleagues I'll be living alongside going forward to view me with envy and jealousy. Please, allow this.
Well, if the person in question was saying so herself…
As I gave a grudging nod, Ivar went one step further.
"I don't wish to ride on my family's prestige. I simply want to serve faithfully as a vassal devoted to Your Majesty Dantalion. I will approach my work with the mindset of learning from everyone around me."
"That is the right attitude."
Lapis gave a short, satisfied nod.
"Head Maid Daisy."
"Yes, Prime Minister."
"I'll be entrusting Lady Ivar's education to you. Report to me once every three days at 1:15 PM. Since this is the first time you've taken on a teaching role as Head Maid, this will also serve as a simultaneous evaluation of both of you."
Daisy lifted the hem of her skirt with both hands in a flawlessly courteous curtsy.
"I shall carry out your orders."
And so, another person was added to our familia.
That was all I thought about it at the time.
Ivar had no complaints whatsoever about starting over from the bottom.
If anything, it was familiar. Once upon a time, Ivar Lodbrok had lost her entire family and clan, then thrown herself alone into the upper echelons of demonic society — a place they called hell itself. The skill she'd demonstrated in building a massive trading company from nothing there was anything but ordinary.
*It took only a thousand years to seize control of the Demon Realm with financial power.*
Ivar smiled darkly to herself. It was the kind of smile befitting the nickname she'd earned — the white fox laired in Niflheim.
*Lord Dantalion's power and influence are formidable, but even so, they've only grown dramatically in recent times. Remove His Majesty from the equation, and there's nothing particularly impressive.*
Ivar changed into the maid uniform exclusive to Dantalion's Demon Lord's Castle. The black-and-white maid outfit had a strangely short skirt.
*In other words, these are creatures with a tiger's head but a dog's body. Grand on the outside, hollow on the inside. Five years. I, Ivar Lodbrok, stake my name on it — in just five years, I will have this place completely under my control.*
The executives she'd met earlier were all quite underwhelming.
The one named Lurra, was it? The Military Affairs Minister's daughter had been yawning outright in the conference room. There wasn't a shred of decorum or charisma to be found in her. She might be a genius on the battlefield, but this was the arena of politics. No match for her at all.
Jeremy, the Self-Defense Corps Captain, spent the entire session casually tossing crude jokes and lewd banter Lord Dantalion's way. I suppose you could call it lightening the mood. He was the kind of person every organization had — the indispensable joker — but his attitude and manner of speaking were so frivolous that there wasn't an ounce of gravitas to him.
*And the one who's been assigned to educate me is some brat who's barely fourteen years old.*
Ivar was certain.
*This is going to be a cakewalk.*
In terms of life experience, she was absolutely no match for him. Ivar came up with roughly thirty-six ways to win Daisy over as she left the fitting room.
"Are you all changed, Miss Ivar?"
Daisy was waiting outside the fitting room. She stood with both hands neatly clasped over her stomach. The girl was as pristine as a sprig of cosmos blossoms.
"Yes, Senior."
As Ivar answered, she thought to herself. She was certainly beautiful. Now she understood why His Excellency Dantalion had taken this girl in. She was probably not just the head maid but also a concubine…
But she was just a kid. There was not a shred of a chance that Ivar would lose.
"Very well. Since today is your first day, I'll start by checking your household skills. Do you have any questions?"
"Oh. Yes, Senior. Why are all the maid uniforms so short-skirted? It's a bit unfamiliar."
Daisy raised the corners of her lips ever so slightly.
"Do you want a hypocritical but kind answer, or an honest but cruel one?"
"...Excuse me?"
Caught completely off guard by the response, Ivar reacted a beat too slow.
Daisy spoke with a smile still lingering on her lips.
"I never permitted counter-questions. Miss Ivar, responding to a question with another question is strictly forbidden. Remember that. I won't be lenient from your second mistake onward."
"...Yes. Noted."
That one stung.
The girl in front of her was clearly no ordinary fourteen-year-old. She had apparently been dead set on breaking the new hire's spirit from the very start—deliberately displaying an attitude designed to catch the other person off guard, then using that as leverage to press the advantage…
*I see. His Excellency didn't take her in as his adopted daughter for nothing.*
She had let her guard down a bit too much. Ivar honestly admitted her mistake.
However, Ivar prided herself on never repeating the same mistake twice. From now on, she would absolutely not let her concentration slip again.
"Well then, senior. I will choose an honest but cruel answer."
"May I ask why, Lady Ivar?"
"Yes. I genuinely desire to serve His Excellency Dantalion. If it concerns His Excellency, I want nothing but honest and truthful answers, whatever they may be."
Ivar spoke clearly, looking straight at the other person.
For some reason, Daisy's smile deepened further.
"Honest and truthful, the appearance of Father. I hope you can find it. The answer Lady Ivar has chosen, the reason is me. That the uniforms for maids in our Demon Lord's Castle have short skirts."
"Because of you, senior?"
"That's right."
Daisy gave a slight nod.
She then spoke.
"Transparent slimes are always inserted into my lower abdomen by Father's order. If I walk around carelessly and my skirt rises, the slimes clinging to me are grotesquely visible. To enjoy watching me panic like that, Father deliberately made the maids' uniform skirts short. Do you understand my explanation?"
……
There was a lengthy silence.
Ivar completely forgot the thirty-six strategies she had devised to toy with the other person, and with no thoughts coming to mind, she barely, just barely opened her mouth and let out a single word.
"...Yes?"
It was at that moment. *Crack*. A vicious sound echoed through the Demon Lord's Castle corridor.
Daisy had struck Ivar across the right cheek.
"You've made your second mistake remarkably quickly."
"Eh...?"
"I clearly warned you not to answer questions with questions."
Daisy continued to smile without the slightest crack in her composure.
As though she had never slapped anyone across the cheek at all.
"Of course, I respect Miss Ivar's free will. The fact that I issued a warning does not grant me the right to suppress that free will. Conversely, no matter how ironclad Miss Ivar's free will may be, it cannot prevent me from carrying out physical punishment."
"……."
"Miss Ivar. I have already explained why the skirts on our official Demon Lord's Castle maid uniforms are so short. Do you have any further questions before we begin today's tasks?"
Ivar answered reflexively.
"N-No. I don't."
"Very well. Then let's get to today's work."
Daisy lightly turned and walked down the corridor.
Watching her back, Ivar Lodbrok arrived at an intuition.
She was out of her mind.
She wasn't just some run-of-the-mill lunatic. That kid had been smiling from start to finish. When she was spouting ridiculous lies about slimes and whatnot, when she was slapping him across the cheek without a shred of hesitation—not once, not for a single instant, had she lost that smile.
Years of life experience had taught Ivar that people who always smiled generally fell into two categories: those who were genuinely kind by nature, and those who were genuinely unhinged. That kid obviously belonged to the latter.
'Damn it. Of all people, the senior assigned to supervise me had to be a psycho.'
Ivar cursed his bad luck. He might need to revise his five-year plan to six.
After strolling down the corridor for some time, Daisy stopped.
"Our first task is to thoroughly clean the basement's tenth floor. Let's put your housekeeping skills to the test, Miss Ivar."
"Yes, Senior."
Fortunately, Ivar was proficient in all manner of household chores.
Sweeping, mopping, laundry, carpet cleaning—she carried out every command her senior gave with meticulous obedience. Naturally, there was also the element of working a little harder than strictly necessary, out of fear that the crazy woman might slap her again.
Swish.
Daisy ran her finger along the corner of the hallway. Seeing that no dust clung to her fingertip, she nodded.
"Excellent. It seems I'll be able to submit a favorable report to His Excellency the Minister."
"Thank you."
Ivar swallowed a curse. It seemed that, for that crazy brat, "cleaning" meant wiping every last corner of a useless corridor until not a single speck of dust remained.
"Then let's have breakfast and move on to the second task."
"What is the second task, Senior?"
Daisy answered matter-of-factly.
"Torture."
"……."
She had nearly blurted out "Yes?" in reflex again. Ivar forced the retort back down her throat with sheer willpower. Getting slapped by that blue-haired brat was something she truly wanted to avoid.
"One of our primary duties as handmaidens is to carry out torture against adventurers who have infiltrated the Demon Lord's Castle."
"……."
"For reference, this is also part of how Father guides me into the pleasures of torture. I've already learned yet another facet of Father's true nature. Congratulations. I do hope Lady Ivar is pleased."
By this point, Ivar Lodbrok was beginning to realize something.
Perhaps she had come to a place she should never have set foot in.
============================ Author's Afterword ============================
You_can_come_in_whenever_you_please_but_you_can't_leave.avi