Chapter 748: Intermission : Iris ~ ~ Solicitation Starts ~ ~ (1/2)

One afternoon, in a miscellaneous goods store located off the main street of Symphonia Kingdom, there was the clone of the store owner, Alice, and her best friend, Iris.

[……There's something I need to address immediately.]

[……What is it? That's quite out of the blue.]

Tilting her head at Iris, who has become Isis' subordinate and spent most of her time in her castle during the day, talking to her with a serious expression on her face, Alice brewed a pot of tea and placed it on the wooden counter.

[I'm talking about Isis-sama's subordinates. Ideally, I'd like to have her gain five more subordinates…… but I know how difficult that is.]

[……Huhh…… So?]

[But I think we have to get one more subordinate as soon as possible. Do you have any good ideas in mind?]

[Ahh, so that's why you came to visit me…… No, I mean, why the rush in getting another subordinate? It's not like you have that many duties as a subordinate at the moment, right?]

Although Isis is improving, she is still feared around the world due to her magic power of death, and she rarely does anything as one of the Six Kings.

Aside from worldwide events like the Festival of Heroes, at best, she would be there to talk with the Seditch Magic Tool Trading Company about the annual renewal of jewel mining rights or regarding the magic crystal veins…… which is more like a business exchange with Kuromueina.

At the same time though, her subordinate, Iris, doesn't have much work to do. In fact, Isis is basically doing nothing more than training or talking to Isis.

Thus, they shouldn't have any shortage of manpower but……

[Me, being the only subordinate…… ”doesn't look good”.]

[……Unnn? Errr, what did you say?]

[Like I said, it doesn't look good. Picture this in your mind, okay? I am now Isis-sama's subordinate. In other words, I'll be attending the Festival of Heroes and other such occasions together with Isis-sama.]

[That's right.]

[In that case, Isis-sama walking in front of me while I, by my lonesome, following behind her wouldn't look good! I want to at least have two of us lined up slightly behind Isis-sama while following behind her.]

[……I wonder what this is? It feels just as if someone had just told me there was some other world out there……]

When Alice heard the reason why Iris was asking for another subordinate, which Iris stated with great vigor, she let out a sigh with a look of utter dismay on her face.

[Come to think of it, Iris has always been concerned about looking good, haven't you?]

[Isn't the looks quite important? How we look also affects Isis-sama's reputation…… Furthermore, according to that information you gathered, ”a festival will be held in the God Realm soon”. If that's the case, I want to have the additional subordinate ready by then.]

[Rather than me gathering it, it's just something I heard from Kuro-san…… Haaahh…… I personally don't care……]

[I implore you, Oh, Great Phantasmal King No Face-sama.]

[STHAAAAAP! Alright, alright already…… I'll cooperate with you.]

[Umu, that's great…… I can use this.]

[Seriously, can you stop that!? I've got really bad goosebumps now that I seriously feel like throwing up……]

Seeing Alice agree with a look of heartfelt disgust on her face, Iris nodded her head in satisfaction. Alice let out another deep sigh before taking a sip of her tea.

[……So, you want me to help you, which means information, right?]

[Indeed. You once told me how free Count-level, high-ranking Demons are ”rare”…… which means it's not like there aren't free Count-ranks out there, right?]

[That's right. In the vast Demon Realm, there certainly are peerage-holding, high-ranking Demons who are lone wolves. They weren't subordinates of the Six Kings and don't have their own subordinates. However, there's a good reason why they became lone wolves…… Some simply don't like to be in a group, some are only interested in training on their own, and some have been hikikomoris for thousands of years…… Generally speaking, it would be hard to bring them under your control.]

[Well, I suppose that would be the case. If not, the other Kings' camps would have solicited them long ago.]

Iris had expected that it would be difficult to bring in the free peerage-holding, high-ranking Demons, so she didn't feel surprised.