The unexpected honorific felt unfamiliar. Beni hesitated before nodding his head.
“Ah, I’m truly sorry. I am Nemut from Roath Tower.”
Nemut lightly brushed his short, half-tied grayish-blue hair tail. His two eyes behind his silver-framed glasses were also a hazy blue like his hair.
Roath Tower—a tall tower in the western part of the Demon King’s Castle. It was a place he’d been to just once even when he was a rabbit. He remembered fleeing because there were too many burly demons there.
“His Majesty the Demon King asked me to install it before you arrived, Beni-nim, but it took longer than expected. Still, it’ll be done soon, so if you wait just a bit, I’ll finish the installation and come explain it to you!”
“Y-yes…!”
As he turned toward the center of the greenhouse, he stole glances at their clothes. The loose navy-colored full-body suits didn’t have red brooches attached. It seemed they hadn’t been assigned here but had come temporarily.
Sitting on the couch, Beni felt self-conscious sitting alone and couldn’t keep his head still. Then Beni rummaged through his apron pocket. Something round like an egg touched his palm.
A few days ago, it was the communicator the Demon King had come and pressed firmly into his hand.
“Always carry it with you, Beni. If anything happens, be sure to contact me with this. Definitely. Ah, you can use it even when nothing’s wrong. Just use it however you want whenever you feel like it.”
That’s what Ruan had said when giving him the communicator. Wouldn’t it be okay to contact him to ask what they were doing in the greenhouse now? However, he generally seemed busy in the mornings. He might be interrupting for no reason. As Beni was rolling the communicator in his palm, Nemut approached.
“Beni-nim, the construction is finished, so I’ll briefly guide you on how to use it.”
“Ah…! Yes!”
Beni pulled his hand from his pocket and stood up. Following Nemut, there was a hole about a hand span wide in the corner of the greenhouse floor. There definitely hadn’t been such a hole before. Wondering what on earth this was, Beni examined it from all angles.
“It’s a waste soil disposal chute.”
“Waste soil… disposal chute?”
Instead of answering, Nemut scooped up a handful of nearby soil and dropped it near the hole. Then the hole sank down and a slope formed around it, causing the soil to slide toward the hole.
“Wow!”
Without leaving a single speck of soil behind, everything disappeared as if sucked into the hole. When Beni crouched down and rubbed around the hole with his fingertip, it was much smoother than the existing greenhouse floor.
“As you can see, if you pour rotten soil or weeds here, they’ll automatically move to the disposal bin. The disposal bin is designated in the ground outside the greenhouse, and we’ll empty it ourselves when the time comes, so you don’t need to worry about that part, Beni-nim.”
After hearing the explanation, Beni brightened.
“Can I throw things like stones here too?”
“Of course! By the way, you can make this hole size bigger by operating the button attached to this pillar here. The disposal bin size is quite large and sturdy, so you can freely throw anything here! I also thoroughly calculated everything and designed and measured it so there wouldn’t be a single thing to bother you, Beni-nim. His Majesty the Demon King made the request suddenly, so the time was rather tight…”
As Nemut’s mouth didn’t rest, another demon behind him glanced at Beni and called out quietly, “Nemut-nim.” Then Nemut, seeing Beni staring up at him, awkwardly brushed his hair.
“I apologize. I tend to talk a lot, so I got excited. Well then, I’ll explain the next device briefly.”
“Did His Majesty the Demon King request all of this?”
“Yep! His Majesty said to install all devices so that the greenhouse manager-nim could manage more comfortably. He only gave us 5 days and only permitted greenhouse entry at night, so we had to dig through the palace library and even the greenhouse blueprints, barely managed to create them, and rushed to install them starting the day before yesterday with today as the deadline, so we worked without knowing how time passed and ended up running into you, Beni-nim…!”
Ah, and Nemut closed his mouth again. Then he looked for signs whether Beni might be offended. A white-haired demon with large, round eyes, delicate features, and a small build. Just as the Demon King had said. Though it seemed a bit exaggerated.
How surprised he’d been when the Demon King suddenly came to Roath Tower. The Demon King rarely visited Roath Tower personally. Roath Tower oversaw all the machinery, technology, and facilities of the castle, and the tower’s annex housed research facilities. It was quite a large facility consisting of 6 floors and 2 basement levels.
It was on the outskirts of the castle and always made noisy sounds. It wasn’t a very presentable place for the Demon King to visit.
The Demon King who suddenly visited such a place said:
“A manager has been assigned to my greenhouse. A very small and delicate child, so install devices so that child won’t have difficulty managing the greenhouse. Greenhouse entry is only permitted at night and dawn. Avoid encountering the manager as much as possible.”
At the suddenly out-of-the-blue request, Roath Tower had to urgently create equipment fitted to Beni’s height and build as the Demon King described. It was a somewhat unreasonable and excessive demand, but if the Demon King said to do it, they had to do it. Moreover, he explained about the manager named Beni with such care and affection that Nemut, listening from behind, got goosebumps.
Because the words coming from that fierce and stern face were too adorable.
So he wondered just how beloved this manager must be, and indeed, the appearance was worthy of being beloved. Wondering if he’d be arrogant being carried on the Demon King’s back, he didn’t particularly seem to be. Of course, he couldn’t tell just from the outside.
Whatever the case, it would be better not to get on this small manager’s bad side.
Nemut looked down at Beni, who was still crouching. Before he knew it, Beni was staring blankly at the waste soil disposal chute. Somehow his cheeks were flushed.
“His Majesty said to install all devices so that the greenhouse manager-nim could manage more comfortably.”
Touching it, he suddenly said,
“His Majesty the Demon King is truly kind and gentle.”
It was a small murmur close to talking to himself, but everyone nearby could hear it. And they all frowned and glanced at each other. At least Nemut, who had directly seen Ruan the other day, only fiddled with his glasses and forced a laugh.
“Ah, ah… yes, I suppose so… haha…”
Beni suddenly lifted his head to look up at Nemut.
“Nemut-nim.”
“Y-yes?”
“Please explain all the devices you installed in detail!”
At Beni’s bright words, Nemut’s pupils greatly dilated.
“Yes! Of course, Beni-nim!”
And so, 4 hours.
“What you see up there is the masterpiece among this greenhouse’s devices! The Sunlight Dome! It’s a very precise machine that doesn’t simply cover the ceiling. The mana wavelength! Light quantity! needed by each plant is delivered appropriately to each zone—it’s imbued with advanced magic! This really gave me a headache. I, Nemut, and…”
Nemut’s explanation was still continuing. The other demons had left saying they had work, so only Nemut and Beni remained in the greenhouse. Nemut had dark circles under his eyes and looked tired, yet seemed to have better stamina than himself.
Actually, he hadn’t expected it to go on this long, so Beni was getting exhausted, but since he’d requested it, he had no choice but to listen. He felt a slight regret that it would have been good if he’d written things down, as too much information was coming in at once and it was hard to memorize it all.
More things had been newly installed in the greenhouse than expected.
Among them, a device called the Plant Observer was installed at the greenhouse entrance and center—when you pressed a button made of transparent glass, a window appeared in the air. There, you could see all kinds of information at once: the greenhouse’s humidity, temperature, soil conditions by zone, conditions of planted plants, mana concentration in the air, and so on.
And though not a device, there was also a guy called a golem that transported heavy objects. The thing that looked like small stones clumped together had no eyes or ears and couldn’t speak, but it was strong and had some intelligence, so simple interactions were possible, he said. From now on, he should entrust heavy loads to this friend…
Beni looked down at the stone lump stuck right next to his foot. Its size was only about as big as his own head. He wondered if it could properly carry loads.
“Beni-nim! Are you listening?”
It was Nemut calling him the moment he briefly spaced out.
“Ye-es…! I’m listening…”
Nemut grabbed Beni and talked at length about how he’d made them easy to use considering all of Beni’s body measurements, calling them his masterpieces with his soul in them. Beni suddenly wondered how he’d known his body measurements, but held back, thinking he’d regret it if he asked. He was just smiling and responding, but just as his legs were starting to hurt, Ruan entered.
Ruan, who thought only Beni would be in the greenhouse, glared fiercely when he saw Nemut was still remaining. Only then did Nemut come to his senses and hurriedly left the greenhouse, and Beni was able to escape from the long explanation.
Even while frightened by the Demon King’s gaze, Nemut left a word to come to the 5th floor of Roath Tower if he didn’t know something.
Beni, whose complexion had been dying gradually, came to life the moment he saw Ruan and ran to him. For having rushed over, Beni hesitated.
“…Did you notice that I was finding the greenhouse work difficult?”
He’d thought he hadn’t been caught, but when had he noticed?
