Demon King Lucille

Noris had insisted that I didn't need to consult Lucille. He likely feared that spreading the word of his presence would only invite more risk; the more people who knew a prince was here, the higher the chance of an assassination attempt.

I could understand his caution.

But if there truly was an enemy out there, I needed to know who—or what—I was dealing with. Without specific intel, any countermeasures I took would be nothing but vague shots in the dark. I didn't have to reveal that the Second Prince was staying with us. I could simply ask a broader question: Are there any Demons currently targeting the Kingdom?

With that plan in mind, I set out to track down Lucille immediately after our meeting concluded.

The trouble was that despite having a house within my territory, Lucille was rarely in it. She spent most of her time wandering aimlessly, making a chance encounter nearly impossible.

Fortunately, I knew a way to increase my Encounter Rate.

That way was...

"The Special Meat Skewer," I muttered. "Once she catches the scent of this..."

Snap.

The Meat Skewer I had held out as bait was snatched away in an instant. I thought I’d caught my target, Lucille, but...

"Big bro, you weren't going to eat that Meat, were you? I'll take care of it for you."

"...You've already finished it."

Unfortunately, the one I had actually lured in was Al.

"If someone holds out Meat, you eat it, right? Isn't that just common sense?"

"It really isn't. How did you even judge whether it was being held out for you or not?"

"Call it a hunch!" Al declared, brimming with unearned confidence.

He sounded so certain that, for a split second, I actually wondered if I was the one in the wrong.

"If you're that confident, let's try this again."

I held out another Meat Skewer.

Snap.

Al snatched it again.

"...Why are you the one eating it?"

"Because I've still got plenty of room left."

"That wasn't the point. If you want to eat, go find your own food."

Reluctantly, I handed Al a few Meat Skewers just to get him out of my hair. Now I can finally get this experiment started.

Or so I thought.

Snap.

The moment I held out a fresh Meat Skewer, it was gone. Assuming it was Al again, I turned around with an exasperated scowl.

"If you're that much of a glutton, I'm telling the cooks to cut the Meat from your dinner tonight!"

However, the person who had taken the Meat this time wasn't Al. It was Fee.

"I-I'm so sorry! I thought Lord Yuri was handing out Meat like he used to. P-Please forgive me!"

Fee was trembling, her eyes welling with tears.

The current situation was indeed a mirror image of our time back in the Royal Capital when I used to distribute food. It was only natural for Fee or the other children from those days to mistake this for the same thing.

"Sheesh, Fee, you’re such a pig..." Al mumbled, his own mouth stuffed to the brim with a Meat Skewer.

You are the last person who should be saying that.

Regardless, soothing Fee came first. I reached out and ruffled her hair.

"I wasn't actually angry with you, Fee. I'm sorry I startled you. I'll make sure the cooks give you an extra-large helping of Meat tonight, so please, forgive me."

"Hell yeah!" Al cheered.

Maybe I'll just secretly reduce Al's portion instead.

I gave Fee a pile of Meat Skewers to keep her occupied and tried one more time. The moment I extended the bait, a sudden chill ran down my spine. I sensed a lethal presence and threw myself to the side.

A massive white mass lunged through the air, its cavernous maw snapping shut right where I had been standing a second ago.

"O-Ouch-meee..."

"You! You were trying to swallow me whole along with the food, weren't you?!"

"Just a little... just the tip-meee."

"Forget 'a little,' you were going for the full gulp!"

I delivered a flurry of kicks to Ram. I knew they wouldn't actually hurt the creature, but the physical outlet for my frustration was necessary.

"That's mean-meee. I was just following the delicious smell-meee."

"In your case, you can change your size, can't you? Shrink down first."

"Oh. Right-meee."

Once I confirmed that Ram had miniaturized, I decided I’d had enough of the interruptions. I laid out a massive spread of Meat Skewers on a nearby table from the start. That would keep Al and Ram from interfering further.

The other local children soon gathered around the same table to join the feast.

This should make it easy to lure Lucille out.

Or so I thought—

"Munch, munch... chew, chew..."

There, right in the middle of the huddle of children, was Lucille. She had already blended in perfectly, stuffing her cheeks with Meat Skewers.