I spent my time in the Audience Chamber chipping away at administrative tasks.
There had been a period where I was swamped with work, but things had finally settled down as of late. Though I called it "work," my duties mainly consisted of granting approvals for various matters concerning the management of the domain. Even then, my administrative officers handled everything except for the most critical cases.
Consequently, there were few occasions where my personal judgment was strictly required. This was the fruit of my subordinates' labor; they were constantly refining the finer points of our administration to ensure the Demon King’s Domain ran smoothly. Thanks to them, my personal burden had been drastically lightened.
I likely could not have optimized the system to this extent on my own. I owed them my gratitude.
(Even so... who exactly is our opponent this time?)
As I worked through the mountain of documents, the question weighed on my mind. I had a general idea of which countries had dispatched the spies who died so abruptly. Luciana’s investigation had managed to uncover the broad strokes of their origins.
They had been sent from several different nations. However, they hadn't been working in coordination; they had simply happened to infiltrate the Royal Capital during the same period. Despite their lack of a common connection, every single one of them had suffered a mental breakdown simultaneously.
It was hard to believe the nations had colluded on this. I had heard nothing of any country developing such an unknown art. While it could have been a project conducted in absolute secrecy, its manifestation was far too sudden. My own spies kept a close watch on the internal affairs of every nation, and as of yet, no reports had surfaced that seemed relevant.
If multiple countries were collaborating, information would be even more likely to leak. It felt unnatural that we hadn't caught wind of anything. Therefore, I was beginning to suspect that this was not a state-sponsored matter like our previous conflicts.
That left one prominent possibility: the source of the trouble was an entity outside of any national government. I suspected this strongly. I had no concrete evidence—only an intuitive hunch—but I believed a third party, entirely unrelated to any nation, had planted a spell within the spies' eyes.
The caster likely chose their subjects at random from among the active spies in the city. That would explain the lack of uniformity in their countries of origin. As for why someone would use spies in such a way, I had a vague understanding.
They wanted to look at me through those eyes.
Their ultimate goal remained a mystery. Since meeting me face-to-face was inconvenient or perhaps dangerous, they had opted for a safer method of contact. I had fallen right into their trap.
Regardless, I wanted to find the culprit's whereabouts. If I could locate them, I could launch a preemptive strike. While it wasn't my preferred method, I always had the option of simply annihilating them with overwhelming force. My honest feelings were that I didn't want to leave such an ambiguous threat unchecked.
As I sat there lost in thought, a knock came at the door. Henry entered the room, casually raising a hand.
"Hey, Boss. I wanted to go over a few things regarding the army’s organization and gear..."
"Very well."
I moved to a large table in the center of the room. Clearing away the unrelated documents, I sat down across from Henry. We began a brief consultation. Along with the topics Henry had brought up, we also discussed our plans for future invasions. It was a significant matter, but we were merely following our established course. The conversation proceeded without any friction or disagreement.
Then, in the corner of my vision, a dark smudge appeared.
I cut off my train of thought and stared at it. The smudge was writhing eerily. At the same time, a high-pitched sound, like a ringing in my ears, began to drone.
(...What is this?)
I tilted my head. The dark smudge stretched out like a living creature, reaching toward Henry as if to coil around him. It gradually drew closer until it made contact, yet Henry continued talking, completely unaware of its presence.
"............"
I began to radiate killing intent, preparing to manifest a spell. The moment I did, the smudge vanished. It did not return, and the ringing in my ears faded into silence.
(Was it... a hallucination?)
I instinctively reached up to rub my eyes, only to remember a moment later that I no longer possessed eyeballs.
"Boss? Something wrong?"
Henry asked, watching me with a suspicious look.
"No... it’s nothing."
I shook my head, though I felt an unpleasant chill crawling down my spine. I was overwhelmed by an ineffable sense of discomfort. Standing up from my chair, I walked toward the exit.
"I seem to be a bit tired," I told Henry as I reached for the door. "My apologies, but I’m going to go rest for a while."
"Yeah, you should do that. Even an immortal needs to take a break every now and then," Henry said kindly. As I stepped through the doorway, he called out to me one last time.
"Boss."
"What is it?"
"Once you've got your head straight, talk to me. No secrets between us."
I couldn't help but look back. Henry’s expression was dead serious. His gaze was steady and unwavering.
"—Understood."
I gave a short nod and left. It seemed he had seen right through me.