The next day.
I was eating pre-made grasshopper cakes at the Clover general store.
This plump, juicy meat is irresistible. Delicious.
The door clanged open as Nell, Yotsuba, and Nancy-san entered the shop.
“Welcome!”
Rion-kun is attending to Nancy-san.
Nancy-san seems to have gotten really into soap lately.
She’s haggling with Rion-kun over the price.
Yotsuba toddles over to me.
I’ve already reported catching the culprit in our exchange diary.
“Thank you for last night, Neko-san.”
[Don’t worry about it.
Even if I hadn’t intervened, the police or the heroes would’ve handled it eventually.]
“The heroes? Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anything about them lately.”
“Found you, Neko-san!”
Nell spots me and Yotsuba hiding behind a pile of goods.
“What are you eating?”
I wrote, [Grilled grasshoppers] and handed them to Nell.
But Yotsuba confiscated them and stored them in [Four-dimensional Space].
“Hey! What were you trying to feed her?!”
Yotsuba scolded me. Why?
Delicious, yet grasshopper-shaped.
“Thank you very much!”
After Nancy-san finished her shopping, Nell and the others headed home.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After seeing the store sell out of its afternoon cream puffs, I was just about to head home when an unexpected visitor arrived.
The King and his entourage.
“Welcome!”
“Hmm, shopkeeper. Is the magic… ahem ahem.
Is the thick, brown, mysterious cat here?”
“Nyaa (What’s up?)”
I appeared.
The king himself needs me? This isn’t ordinary.
“I’m sorry, but it’s an urgent matter.
Would you come to the castle?”
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
I left Rion-kun in charge of the store and came to the King’s chamber in the castle.
“I’d like what comes next to remain confidential.”
I wrote [Okay] on the typewriter for the King.
The Minister of Defense will read aloud what I typed.
“Actually… the heroes ran away.”
Hmm?
What do you mean they ran away?
Did he think he’d domesticated them like pets?
“The absence of the heroes means that our military strength has been drastically reduced.
If this gets out… no, it will get out eventually.
When it does, neighboring nations, demi-human kingdoms, and beast kingdoms might target us.”
[You relied too much on those kids.
Isn’t that your own fault?] I typed.
They see the heroes not as people, but merely as military strength.
That’s probably why they’ve had enough of them.
Even I’d get angry if treated like that.
“Now then, Grand Mage. Until we can reinforce our military strength, would you consider participating in national defense?
Naturally, you would receive appropriate compensation, status, and a title.”
Shamelessness knows no bounds, does it?
When you found out I was the Demon King, you tried to defeat me, didn’t you?
Yet when things get inconvenient, you come crying to me?
Cut it out with treating people like fools, will you?
I may be a cat, but…
Driven by anger, I was about to type [I refuse].
But then I reconsidered, should I discuss this with Yotsuba and Aurene? So I typed [I need some time to think, I’ll reply later].
Then I packed up the typewriter and decided to leave the room.