While certain parts left me feeling a little uneasy about the future, my introductions and expressions of gratitude to Gluttony-san concluded without a hitch. As an aside, during our tea, there was a moment when a high-spirited Gluttony-san asked if Natasha-san would like to join us at the table.
Natasha-san politely declined, saying, "Given my position, I cannot join you," but she looked a little pale. I suspected her palate was actually normal, unlike Gluttony-san’s.
"Miyama-sama, what are your plans for the rest of the day? Would it be alright to guide you to the next executive?"
After returning to my house, Pandora-san posed that question. Her eyes were slightly glazed over, yet she remained firmly in work mode.
To be honest, the first one, Gluttony-san, was a pretty intense person—and hadn't Pandora said at the beginning that she was one of the "relatively normal ones"? Does that mean everyone from here on is even more eccentric than her? The Phantasm King's subordinates were really something else.
"It's still just past noon, so I have plenty of time, but... the next one is Astaroth-san, right? Is that person's schedule alright?"
"There is no problem. As a member of the Phantasm King's Corps, the ideal state is to clear one’s schedule and push aside all other matters to accommodate Miyama-sama's convenience. If there is anyone who cannot manage even such an utterly obvious thing despite being an executive, I shall deem them unnecessary and dispose of them myself."
"...I-I see..."
Seriously, talk about heavy loyalty... Your King is Alice, not me. Truly.
"...E-Err, well then, would you mind guiding me to the next person?"
"Of course. However, please wait a moment. Before we depart, I will send word... telling them to take off their kigurumi."
"...H-Huh... Alright, please do."
Did she just say kigurumi? Yeah, she definitely did. And since she was telling them to take it off, did that mean this person named Astaroth-san usually wore a kigurumi?
The first thing that came to mind was those subtly annoying kigurumi Alice often wore...
As I was wondering about that, Pandora-san seemed to sense my confusion and turned toward me.
"Astaroth is an executive with a high degree of loyalty, and she treasures a cow kigurumi that was gifted to her by Shaltier-sama long ago. While that in itself is not an issue, appearing in a kigurumi that hides her face during her first meeting with Miyama-sama would be disrespectful, so I have instructed her to remove it in advance."
"...I see."
Just from hearing that, I could tell she was an intense individual. She was undoubtedly another one with bugged loyalty.
Two people with bugged loyalty in a row... and since Pandora-san's loyalty was also incredibly heavy, it felt like my shoulders were getting stiff from the metaphorical weight, despite there being no physical pressure.
While thinking about that, I happened to glance out the window at the garden while Pandora-san was off to the side contacting the executive with a magic tool. Suddenly, I felt a sense of dissonance.
Wait. The World Tree in the garden... was it always that big?
I felt like it had grown larger compared to a little while ago. Hmm, maybe it was just my imagination? I had only just transplanted it from my room to the garden, so perhaps it just looked bigger because the surrounding scenery had changed.
Looking at its growth so far, the World Tree hadn't grown particularly fast, and there was no way someone would have accelerated its growth. I couldn't think of any reason why anyone would do such a thing.
"...Miyama-sama, thank you for waiting. I shall now guide you to Astaroth."
"Ah, yes."
While I was lost in thought, Pandora-san's preparations were complete.
...Wait, what was I thinking about just now? I felt like I was questioning something, but the details had completely slipped my mind.
Well, if I could forget it that easily, it probably wasn't anything important.
"...There seem to be no problems. It will be more of a surprise if he doesn't notice until it has blended in and can manifest properly. Perhaps I should strengthen the effects of 'not feeling a sense of dissonance' and 'forgetting immediately even if one does'..."
"Shiro? What are you doing?"
Hearing the voice of Shallow Vernal, who had muttered quietly to herself in the sanctuary of the God Realm, Kuromueina tilted her head as they drank tea together.
"I was making a watchdog."
"Hmm, a watchdog... Making one?"
"The details are still a secret."
"...You're not doing anything weird, are you?"
"I do not intend to be doing anything weird, personally."
"Hmm... I feel a vague sense of unease, but Shiro hasn't done anything that strange lately, so maybe it's fine?"
"I do not recall doing anything strange previously either."
"...I knew it... I'm still kind of worried."
Despite feeling uneasy about Shallow Vernal's mysterious words, Kuromueina did not pursue the matter further. Ever since the incident in the God Realm, Shallow Vernal had not committed any major eccentricities; on the contrary, she seemed to have grown mentally and appeared much more settled.
However, this was a misconception. While it was true that Shallow Vernal had achieved dramatic mental growth, her fundamental nature had not changed, nor had her natural airheadedness faded.
She was still the same as ever when it came to carrying out sudden, impulsive ideas; the reason she had seemed well-behaved recently was simply because she hadn't thought of anything strange to do until now.
Bonus: Disgustingness Comparison (Kaito's Investigation)
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Akari Miyama's Home Cooking: Disgustingness Level 2 Kaito's mother's cooking. According to Kaito, rather than being disgusting, it's more like it's subtly unappetizing, so the disgustingness level is low. To use an analogy, it tastes like a 15 to 35 out of 100. Since he had been eating it since childhood, it served as the foundation for the range of tolerance in Kaito's palate. Apparently, her Hamburg Steak and Apple Pie are the only things that are actually delicious.
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Foods Gluttony Likes: Disgustingness Level 5 While it is certainly disgusting—to the point where one would demand a refund if served at a restaurant—to Kaito, it's merely "very disgusting." Normally, this would be top-tier, but because there are even more hellish realms above it, it settled into the middle rank.
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Kuro's Baby Castella (Failures): Disgustingness Level 1 to 9 Kaito's trauma manufacturer. However, because only the failures are highlighted, Kuro looks like a Dark Matter Manufacturing Machine; in reality, the probability of success and failure is roughly fifty-fifty, and there are many normally delicious or even exquisite baby castellas. However, when it comes to baby castella, Kuro's brakes break, and she starts talking about "infinite possibilities." Due to her high specs, she realizes combinations that would normally be impossible. For example, she can fuse ingredients to create an entirely new flavor. In the past, Kaito once ate a baby castella made using 49 different types of fused ingredients. (Kaito's impression: "I don't know. I don't even know how to describe this taste... I can't say if it's delicious or disgusting; no reaction other than 'it's nonsensical' is possible.") Regardless, the swing between "hit" and "miss" is violent.
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Five Despairs (Greatly Failed Baby Castella): Disgustingness Level 10 Items possessing extraordinary disgustingness that won the "worst five" honors among the vast number of baby castellas Kaito has eaten so far. One of these was what dealt fixed damage to Alice. They are incredibly hazardous materials, capable of knocking out Kaito even with Shiro's Blessing and dealing damage to Alice. As of right now, there are only five, but there is a high possibility that more will be added in the future.