She was not the type to be shaken by minor troubles. Even if she were, she knew exactly how to find her footing again. That was the wisdom gained from a long life. Having overcome various trials, Bezel’s grandmother recovered enough to finally hold a conversation with me.
"Just call me Bee-baa," she insisted.
Bee-baa it was.
"There's no need for formal language, either. Though I suppose that might be a difficult habit to break. Just know that I won't take offense even if you speak to me rudely."
Since Bee-baa was Bezel’s grandmother, she was Frau’s great-grandmother. That made her a great-grandmother to me as well. And for Fracia, who was Frau’s daughter... what was the term for a great-grandmother’s mother again? I believed it was great-great-grandmother. She was Fracia's great-great-grandmother. We were family, so I truly wanted us to get along.
By the way, although Bee-baa owned a house in Village Five and had never introduced herself as a great-grandmother, she had apparently met and spoken with Frau there before. Unfortunately, she had only ever seen Fracia from a distance. She also mentioned that she had often wondered what kind of person Frau’s husband was, but she had never been graced with an opportunity to see me.
Well, even when I visited Village Five, I usually stayed within the confines of Yoko's Mansion where the Teleportation Gate was located. I really needed to make an effort to see more of the village as a whole.
Furthermore, it seemed Bee-baa hadn't known that Frau’s husband was the Village Head of Village Five. I wasn't exactly hiding it, but I hadn't gone out of my way to announce it publicly, either. In the noble society of the Demon Kingdom, it was a detail known only to those in the inner circles. I wondered if I should be more open about it. I decided I would consult with Frau and Bezel before moving forward with any official announcements.
Anyway, once Bee-baa was well enough to talk, I consulted her on what to do about the house I had accidentally unearthed.
"Since you’ve already dug it up, there’s no point in going to the trouble of burying it again," she said. "However, it would be a problem if the surroundings were too bleak. If you could plant a few trees or something... eh? You’ve already laid down a lawn and flowerbeds? O-oh, I see... and a pond nearby? ...A pond?"
Hakuren was responsible for that last part. I had told her that horizontal attacks were dangerous and that she should aim straight down if she had to, but she apparently struck a water vein. It shouldn't have affected the house itself, though. Just to be safe, I had properly reinforced the area around the pond. The water seemed to be flowing in and out from somewhere underground, so it shouldn't stagnate. Probably.
I also told the Young Beast, who would effectively be her neighbor, to keep an eye on the house. It was a low priority, of course. Defending the Meleo Breeding Ground was his primary mission; protecting the house was only if he had the extra time. If I asked for too much, the Young Beast wouldn't be able to do his job properly.
"W-well, that's fine for the house then," Bee-baa said. "I only stay there a few times a year, anyway. If I need a hand with anything, I'll manage on my own. More importantly, is that beast actually trustworthy?"
When I asked what she meant, she clarified that she didn't think he would attack her.
"No, I can tell he's obedient just by looking at him. What I'm worried about is whether you're going to make him stay there forever."
It was his territory, after all. The Young Beast had expressed a desire to find a mate soon and carry out his duties as a family. As for his partner... he didn't have one yet, but there was a female he had his eye on. However, she belonged to another pack, and he couldn't take her as a partner unless he gained her parents' approval. Since I couldn't exactly interfere in his love life, I simply told him to do his best. Even if Hakuren or I helped him, it wouldn't mean anything if the parents didn't acknowledge him.
"I see. Then I suppose I can expect him to act as a deterrent against bandits at the very least."
I didn't think bandits would ever show up around here. The only place with people for miles was the Meleo Breeding Ground; the surrounding wilderness was almost entirely empty.
"There are no absolutes in this world," she countered. "One must always be cautious."
She had a point.
While I spoke peacefully with Bee-baa, Bezel was still fuming at her. Apparently, Bee-baa’s disappearance had caused a massive uproar at the time. Come to think of it, I still didn't know the reason why she had vanished.
"Oh, it was a trivial matter," she said.
At the time, the Demon Kingdom was at war, aggressively trying to expand its territory. Bee-baa had been one of the Four Heavenly Kings, in charge of military transport. She didn't do it personally through her own teleportation magic; she managed it through her subordinates.
"Because no matter how hard you try, it's impossible for a single person to handle the volume required for an entire army," she explained.
That made sense. Using her own magic would have been a last resort. So, had she been asked to handle that transport personally and disappeared to avoid it?
"No, no, I wouldn't have disappeared over something like that."
She claimed that if the military was lamenting a lack of supplies, she would have made as many round trips as necessary.
"I was being paid a decent salary, after all."
I see. Given that pragmatic mindset, why did she go into hiding?
"Talk came from the military brass about using my teleportation magic to assassinate enemy royalty and generals."
And she hated the idea?
"Indeed. Furthermore, if I started using teleportation for assassinations, I would have had to live in constant fear that the enemy would do the same to me."
"That's true," I agreed.
"Moreover, I would have been feared not only by my enemies but by my allies as well."
I could see how that would lead to a very lonely, dangerous existence.
"So, I refused, saying I wouldn't do it."
And that's why she disappeared?
"No, no, I wouldn't have disappeared over just that."
...
"It was just talk, after all. If the person who actually had to perform the deed said no, they couldn't exactly force the issue."
I was starting to get a bit impatient. "Um, could you please get to the part about why you actually disappeared?"
"How restless the young are. One is supposed to listen to an old person's stories and let them wash over you."
"I actually want to know the answer, so I can't just let it pass."
"Fine, fine. I was running a side business using my teleportation magic."
A side business? Like an importer?
"I was transporting the Demon King and various Ministers to their mistresses' houses."
...
"As long as I was paid, I would carry them anywhere... but that was my mistake."
A certain Minister's wife suspected Bee-baa of being the mistress herself and launched an attack.
"I wouldn't lose to the likes of her, but the resentment of such a woman is a terrifying thing. So, I went into hiding."
I see. She had been caught in the crosshairs of a Minister's scandalous affair.
"Since I was the one transporting them, I wasn't entirely innocent, so I couldn't even complain."
Bee-baa laughed, but Bezel was livid.
"You disappeared over something so trivial!?"
"It wasn't trivial!"
"You were the one who called it trivial in the first place!"
"That's just a common greeting for old people when they start a story. Let it pass."
"No, I will not let it pass! For goodness' sake, Grandmother, you could have handled an attack or two easily. There was no need to go as far as disappearing!"
"I could have handled one or two, but I couldn't handle being attacked more than ten times a day. Besides, it would have caused great trouble for everyone around me."
"...You were attacked more than ten times a day?"
"Indeed. The Minister's wife at the time was quite tenacious. Also, her sons were generals, so they had considerable military force at their disposal."
"Ah..."
"The more I resisted, the more the Demon Kingdom's military strength would have been depleted. While I was trying to figure out what to do, word leaked that I was transporting the Demon King and other Ministers as well, and the number of attackers grew even larger."
"Oof."
"Eventually, it became clear that things wouldn't settle down unless I vanished. So, I did."
"Urgh..."
"For the record, before I went into hiding, I informed the Demon King and the other Four Heavenly Kings of my plans. The chaos that followed was a performance on their part. The proof is that even after I disappeared, the lands of the Chrome family were never reduced, were they?"
"T-true... but if that was the reason, couldn't you have come back eventually?"
"I suppose so. I intended to return after several decades had passed."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Well, once I was free from my family and my duties as a Four Heavenly King, life was so incredibly liberating and fun..."
"So you just didn't want to come back? Isn't that an abandonment of duty?"
"While the previous Demon King was still alive, I occasionally showed my face and cooperated with him behind the scenes. Unpaid, mind you. I have no reason to be criticized."
"Grrr."
"To be honest, I thought you would have heard about me from my daughter-in-law... your mother. Why haven't you heard anything?"
"Since I succeeded the earldom, my mother has refused to come near the house, saying it reminds her too much of my late father. We stay in regular contact, but we rarely manage to meet in person."
"How is it that I know your mother's location, yet you, her own son, do not? I'm sure you haven't been paying enough attention to her, using how busy you are with work as an excuse. That won't do. You must be kind to your parents."
"I... I understand. Also, please tell me where my mother is later."
"I'll tell you right now. She's in Village Five."
"Village Five?"
"Do you know the Underground Shopping Street? The area with many clothing shops. She's running a tailor shop there."
"T-that can't be! Not only the part about Village Five, but a tailor shop? Mother shouldn't even know how to hold a needle!"
"Why would I lie? I was the one who transported her when she moved her shop to Village Five, so there's no mistake. When I met her recently, she was working on a dress for the current Demon King's daughter."
Bezel froze. He probably couldn't process all the information at once.
The Meleokhans, who had been listening to the conversation, realized that proper communication and coordination were indeed vital for a smooth life.
As a side note, regarding the question of how the air was managed inside a buried house, Bee-baa showed me a large crystal and a pot. The crystal was called a Wind Demon Crystal. Apparently, just leaving it out would purify the air; it was something commonly used when working in sealed rooms or caves. Since purifying the air wouldn't replenish oxygen, I wondered if it was a crystal that also handled oxygen supply. It was a mysterious ore.
While the air could be managed with just that, Wind Demon Crystals were consumables that had to be replaced every few decades. Finding that a nuisance, Bee-baa had obtained the pot about a hundred years ago. The pots were a pair of magic items; air that entered one would emerge from the other.
Just as I was thinking it sounded similar to the magic tools used to transport water in Village Five, it turned out that the creator of the pot magic item was Lu. It was a tool Lu had made before she ever met me.
Along with a sense of deep emotion, I felt just how small the world really was.