There are only two people in this castle who would call Beni. However, it was neither Tallos nor Ren’s voice. When Beni, who had stopped sweeping, turned his face toward where the sound came from, there was an unfamiliar demon with lake-blue hair.
As the person he was seeing for the first time strode toward him, Beni stared at him with half wariness and half curiosity. Then he discovered that he was also wearing a teal apron like himself. Tallos had told him that servants wore aprons according to their respective affiliations, and teal meant belonging to Niar Palace like Beni.
Realizing he was a demon from the same affiliation, Beni smiled and nodded his head.
“Hello!”
The servant approaching, Pepe’s gaze trembled finely, but soon he blinked once as if trying to collect himself.
“What’s with the formal speech making things awkward between fellow bottom-dwellers? You’re the servant who newly entered this time, right?”
At the estate, he had to use formal speech to everyone except Trellou.
In childhood, the Countess thoroughly prevented Beni and Trellou from encountering each other at all. Nevertheless, Trellou’s curiosity wasn’t easily broken. He ultimately found out the room where Beni stayed and would secretly make his way there.
Trellou at that time was still a child who didn’t even know what beastkin were. Beni too was always starved for affection, so the two naturally grew close. However, that relationship didn’t last long. As Trellou grew, he learned about the world and ultimately chose to detest Beni.
However, the speech habits ingrained in his body from childhood didn’t easily disappear. Beni too, with a strange stubbornness, didn’t use formal speech at least in front of Trellou. Strangely, Trellou wasn’t greatly displeased by that. Rather, it seemed he somewhat enjoyed the Count and Countess becoming furious each time Beni spoke informally.
The Demon King’s Castle seemed to be different. Beni engraved it in his heart and nodded.
“Yeah, I entered not long ago.”
“Call me Pepe. And you?”
Beni, who muttered Pepe inwardly, looked up at him. Though his tall height and big eyes resembled Trellou a bit, his name was cute.
“I’m Beni!”
“Beni? Your name is just like a little kid’s?”
At Pepe who snickered mockingly, Beni answered without any sign of displeasure.
“Maybe because names are given when you’re a baby!”
At the obvious statement, Pepe stopped laughing and frowned subtly. What? Are you indirectly dissing me saying you’re an orphan who grew up without even a name as a baby?
“No, hey. My name was also given when I was a baby.”
“I see, Pepe is a cute name too. Like a baby.”
“What?”
Pepe couldn’t gauge at all whether Beni was teasing him or not right now. Pepe’s gaze wavered at Beni’s bright appearance completely different from his expectations. In his transparent two eyes and face as white and small as his hair, no malice could be found.
He didn’t know well yesterday at the dining hall having only seen him bury his face in stew, but as rumored, his face was quite pretty. If he’d just dressed him in different clothes, it was an appearance that would naturally be mistaken for a child of a noble family. Pepe was momentarily at a loss for words, looking at Beni before clearing his throat.
He almost got caught up with this bastard.
“Anyway, you’re sharing a room with that half-breed, right?”
Beni’s shoulders flinched. Half-breed was himself. Could Pepe have noticed? Beni tensed up greatly and gripped the broom he was holding tightly. He didn’t want to be driven out of the Demon King’s Castle.
Beni stared at Pepe with wary eyes.
“Wh-why do you ask?”
Pepe lifted his chin as if boasting.
“It’s terrible. Sharing a room with a monster-like guy like that. If you want, I can speak to the head servant and ask to change your room.”
Listening, it seemed the half-breed Pepe was talking about somehow didn’t seem to be referring to himself. Beni tilted his head.
“A monster-like guy? What are you talking about?”
“…What are you saying? Ren! I’m talking about that bastard!”
Calling Ren a monster…? When Beni was shocked and opened his eyes wide, Pepe rather made a face and continued speaking.
“That guy’s a chimera, disgustingly. You be careful too. If you stay with him, diseases that only monsters catch might spread to you.”
“…Why would diseases that only monsters catch spread?”
Beni really asked because he didn’t understand, but Pepe made a face as if asking if he was joking.
“Chimera, him. You don’t know what a chimera is? It’s something made by combining monster and demon bodies. It’s totally obvious just looking at him, you really don’t know anything, do you? That’s why you tried to eat with that guy like it was nothing.”
“…”
Pepe shook his head as if pitying and placed his hand on Beni’s shoulder.
“Geez, I’ve been working in this castle for quite a while, you know? There’s even a rumor that guy’s brain isn’t a demon brain but a monster brain. His personality is shitty too.”
To Beni who couldn’t say any words, Pepe realized he really didn’t know about chimeras. Now that he knew, it was obvious Beni would also be reluctant to associate with him.
It was true that Beni, who had just realized what a chimera really was, was shocked. However, Pepe’s other prediction was completely wrong.
Because his round eyes turned sharp and faced Pepe. When Beni stepped back, the hand placed on his shoulder naturally fell.
“Don’t talk about Ren… in that way.”
Though he didn’t know how the physical combination of monsters and demons was done, Ren’s situation would be truly similar to his own. At the estate, they only cursed himself so Beni accepted it helplessly, but this time was different.
〈Whether I’m a beastkin half-breed or not, what does it matter! If you don’t like it, get lost!〉
Ren’s personality wasn’t shitty. He was just being sharp because he’d seen countless people who cursed and despised him. If Beni had yielded before everyone’s hatred at the estate, Ren chose to fight back. Beni could somewhat guess how many wounds and pains Ren had received in that choice.
Moreover, while he could hide his ears and tail so people wouldn’t recognize him, Ren apparently couldn’t hide at all things like the scales on his skin revealed here and there or his snake tail.
His thought last night that the Demon King’s Castle was lenient was completely wrong. The Demon King’s Castle was no different. He’d just happened to meet good people first.
That didn’t mean he’d leave this Demon King’s Castle though. Beni resolved. As long as this castle didn’t drive him out first, he would always be on Ren’s side.
“Don’t talk to me anymore.”
Pepe completely didn’t understand Beni’s suddenly fierce momentum and was in the middle of approaching. Pepe’s complexion turned deathly pale in an instant before he soon deeply bowed his head. It was the moment Beni thought it might be because he got angry. Someone stood behind Beni.
“I-I greet His Majesty the Demon King…!”
At those words, Beni too turned around with enlarged eyes and his body jumped. Because the Demon King, Ruan, was right behind him, indifferently looking down at him.
Hic—Beni, who let out a breathless scream, hid behind Pepe’s back, contrary to having just told Pepe not to talk to him. Pepe’s blood ran cold at Beni who suddenly went behind him, and his body trembled.
‘This sneaky bastard!’
Beni was absolutely not an idiot. Seeing him use himself as a shield, he must have also twisted things earlier with an innocent face.
Beni, who not only hid behind Pepe’s back but also tightly gripped his clothes, had his head completely jumbled.
He didn’t know he’d encounter the Demon King this way. But if even Tallos didn’t remember his face, would the Demon King remember him? Beni glanced ahead and met the Demon King’s sharp eyes.
‘H-he remembers! That definitely means he remembers!’
Beni hid behind again, and Pepe opened his mouth while trembling. If they both kept their mouths shut here, they might die, so at least he as the senior had to safely get through this situation. However, even while racking his brain, curses toward Beni didn’t stop. Was this idiot bastard in his right mind, hiding behind someone in front of the Demon King?
“Y-Your Majesty. What business do you have?”
“There’s something to clean up on the fourth floor.”
At the brief answer, Pepe immediately pulled out Beni who was behind him and pushed him forward.
“M-my apologies, but I-I have other things to do, and this guy happens to have no work, so you can take him.”
Beni looked at Pepe with desperate eyes pleading not to do that, but Pepe smoothly averted his eyes and quickly disappeared with backward steps.
Pepe who left like that—Beni standing alone before the Demon King, his face turned deathly pale. Just the second day of becoming a servant of the Demon King’s Castle, and his life seemed to be ending.
