Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 5 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 3===

After the horse carriage Basara and the rest were on followed around over half of the city’s wall, they finally arrived at the back entrance of the castle.

Mio was the spiritual leader of the Moderates Faction as Wilbert’s only daughter, and Basara and the others were Heroes. If they were to simply cross the urban district and be recognised, a large commotion would likely be created. Going around the urban district after entering the city was probably a good choice. After crossing the moat on the bridge let down, the horse carriage finally came to a stop. The door was then opened from the outside, and after Lucia alighted from the carriage--

“Mio-sama, and the other guests -- welcome to Wildart City.”

Lucia formally welcomed them with a serious bow, and the other maids also bowed. The main guest is Mio, while Basara and the rest were accompanying her, thus--

“Err… I am Naruse Mio, I’ll be under your care for the next few days.”

Originally planning to remain amongst her companions, Mio then stepped forward, unsure of how she should be acting, tentatively bowing first before saying that.

“……Well then, please come this way.”

Lucia said so, and the maids behind her bowed and went past them towards the horse carriage. They were probably going to get their luggage.

After handing their luggage over to them, Basara and the rest went into the city under the lead of Lucia. Even if they had entered through the back entrance, the ceiling was still pretty high, and the decorations were still very luxurious.

Much attention was undoubtedly given to the furnishings and lighting within the walkways and corridors, as they seem to tell many stories from the past. Of course, everything was spotless.

''…As expected of the spiritual leader Wilbert’s Moderates Faction’s city.''

The Royal Capital displays the prestige of the nation. Even though the Moderates Faction quickly lost power after Wilbert’s death, the urban areas were still very vibrant from what they could see from the horse carriage; probably because from the civilians’ viewpoint, this castle that symbolises the Moderates Faction preserves the vestiges of Wilbert when he was still alive for the sake of it.

Following Lucia, they crossed through the corridors filled with a solemn <ref>formal and dignified</ref> atmosphere, and after a few turns -- they came before the door to the room at the end of a corridor.

“This is the room Mio-sama will be staying in during her visit here. The males’ room for Basara <ref>[Chinese]The honorific used here: when translated literally, it would give [Mr Basara], but I left it out since it doesn't really fit</ref> is at another place, someone else will be coming later to show you the way.”

Opening the door after saying that, what they all saw behind the door turned Basara and the others speechless for a while. Not because it was stunning -- the truth was the opposite. 

The high and wide spaces and high-class furnishings that created a luxurious feel, are all completely absent in this room; the room only contained a plain bed, sofa, table, and other basic necessities of the lowest grade. After entering the room, it seems that the lighting is also poor, making the place fairly dim. Seeing a room like that--

“…From the furnishings seen on the way here and the decorations of the other rooms, this just isn’t a guest’s room but a warehouse for piling excess furniture. I’m fine with it, but is this really the room for the only daughter of the previous demon lord?”

Kurumi asked coldly.

“Ramsas-sama wanted you to use the rooms on this side.”

Lucia indifferently answered, not minding Kurumi’s gaze at all.

''…I see, the same old trick.''

Basara had heard from Takigawa that Ramsas held no goodwill to Mio. There was ill-will between each royal family members held over seizing power, just like from a long time ago in the Human Realm -- from all indications, there was no need to anticipate the reunion between the so-called niece and uncle.

“…………”

Mio lowered her eyes, unable to hide the sorrow from showing up in her eyes. She was originally looking forward to coming to the Demon Realm, hoping to experience some warmth from her blood relatives, but yet now she is receiving the cold shoulder.

''…Since it’s become like this.''

There is no need for her to remain here for long.  After thanking the maidservants who arrived to deliver their luggage, Basara then turned to Lucia--

“I understand… Since that is the case, we’ll go along with the flow for now. Right now, can we ask for you to bring us to meet with Ramsas-sama? We all have our own lives to live, and we hope to return as soon as possible.”

And said so very seriously. Only to see her shake her head and reply:

“I’m very sorry. Ramsas-sama is currently out on business and is not in the city. He will be meeting you all tomorrow.”

“Not in the city? Wasn’t he the one who invited us here?”

Yuki asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Affirmative. If you had come when I had visited you, there would have been no problems at all with Ramsas-sama’s schedule. However, just like every one of you have your own lives to live, we also have our issues to settle. Especially now where it can be considered that we Moderates Faction are at war with the leader of the Current Demon Lord Faction Leohart.”

Lucia then continued:

“As the representative leader of the Moderates Faction, Ramsas-sama is very busy with his usual office work, and coincidentally today he had matters where he could not be absent from. We had complied with you delaying your journey by a month, so can you not wait for just a single day?”

“”………………””

Since Lucia had said it that way, Basara and the rest could find no words to refute that at all.

“…Then why didn’t you just wait until tomorrow to bring us here?”

In the end, Kurumi was only able to muster a complaint quietly.

“Thank you all for your kind understanding. Well then--“

As Lucia said that, someone knocked on the door and entered the room.

“…Please have some tea.”

That was a beautiful brown-skinned maidservant. The girl pushing a metal cart loaded with a tea set was one that Basara and the rest recognised. Thus, Basara couldn’t help but to say her name.

“Zest…!”

[Hello.] Zest nodded at Basara, and then said:

“It’s been a long time since I last saw you, Toujou Basara -- no, Basara. <ref>Same as the above note about Mr.</ref>

Seeing her, Kurumi then leaned over to Yuki’s ear and asked:

“….So she is that Zest?”     “Yes, she was previously Zolgear’s subordinate.”

Yuki answered Kurumi who had never met with Zest.

“You seem well… That is great.”

“Yes. Thanks to your care, Zest is very grateful to you.”

Towards the expression Zest showed when Basara expressed his relief, he was somewhat surprised. Because Zest faintly smiled. Seeing her smile for the first time--

''…She can already smile…''

Basara lamented. After defeating Zolgear -- the Toujou household temporarily took in Zest, until the one sent by the Moderates Faction brought her back to the Demon Realm, having agreed to find a place for her. Back then until when Zest was almost killed by Zolgear who had deemed her to be a burden, her expression was always icily inorganic. Then if she received protection as a witness, there was some uneasiness in handing over Zest who was of the Current Demon Lord Faction over to the Moderates Faction; so considering Zest’s power and the possibility that she might escape from the Demon Realm, Basara had told her that she can return any time before she had left. On their way here and until they were brought to this room, there were still worries on whether Zest received any ill-treatment -- seeing that it was all himself overthinking, it was all great. However--

“……!”

Toujou Basara's line of sight was drawn to another change in Zest, and he gulped.

--In Basara’s mind, Zest was a female with an extremely good body figure. It’s only been two months since they had defeated Zolgear and handed Zest over to the Moderates Faction, but yet Zest’s breasts had definitely gotten bigger. Not only Basara, this shock surpassed that of this sudden reunion in Mio and Yuki, causing them to stare at her in disbelief.

“………Ah.”

Seemingly having noticed their gazes on her, Zest gently twisted her body shyly red-faced.  Even then, her breasts with a shocking amount of volume sensationally shook left and right.

“S-Sorry…!”

Basara hurriedly averted his eyes, and Zest shook her head and said [It’s fine].

“It’s not surprising that you’d be surprised… Even I did not expect that my body would become like this. According to the doctors -- this change is due to the release from my previously repressed state, not due to something like an illness, so there is no need for any worry.”

“…--I see.”

Hearing Zest say that, Basara answered in a low voice.

Ever since they gained victory from Zolgear, even Zest along with Maria and Sheera had escaped from Zolgear’s control. Since this was the result, rather than saying [change], it would be more appropriate to call it returning to the rightful original appearance. Just then--

“Zest will be responsible for Basara’s<ref>same and the above note</ref> daily life while you are here, so please do not hesitate to call for her if you ever need anything. Zest -- you will be bringing Basara<ref>same, last time I’ll be doing this note in Lucia’s speech</ref> to his room later.”

“--Understood, Lucia-sama.”

Seeing Zest bowing on receiving her order, Lucia said [Good.] and continued:

“You’ve all probably become tired on your way here. There’s still some time before dinner, so please get some rest in this room. You’ll be notified when your meals are ready. I’ll be taking my leave now.”

And Lucia turned to leave after taking a bow -- but then stopped before the door and turned back to say:

“Maria -- remember to come to my room after drinking your tea, and give me a detailed report on all of your actions over there.”

“…….Alright, understood, Lucia-oneesama.”

After Maria nodded, only then did Lucia leave the room for real.

Getting some rest in this room before having dinner, actually has the same meaning as [do not leave this room]. 

[[Image:Shinmai v05 025.jpg|thumb]]

As lamenting wouldn’t change anything, Basara and the rest then tentatively chose to drink the tea Zest had prepared for them. After sitting down on the sofa around the large table in the center of the room, Zest placed tea cups before them and raised the white porcelain teapot to pour tea into Basara’s cup first. Basara then raised his cup to have a taste.

“Ah… The aroma and taste is very similar to the red tea we usually have.”

"The tea in the Demon Realm is very different, so considering that this is everyone's first time here, I tried to choose a tea that has a taste very similar to the ones in the Human Realm… Is it to everyone’s tastes?”

“Yes, it’s very good… Thank you, Zest.”

“…Is that so, that’s great.”

Zest slightly smiled happily.

“You two seem to be very chummy… I haven’t drank any tea yet but why is it that I am getting heated up?” <ref>Pun here: Jealousy</ref>

Mio said while shooting daggers with her eyes while looking at Basara and Zest talking.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t have that intention…”

Zest said with a pained expression, and poured tea into Mio’s cup.

Later -- the atmosphere in the room became tense. Mio’s adoptive parents whom she had believed to be her real parents, were killed by the high-class demon Zolgear -- and Zest was his subordinate.

Of course, Zest was only following orders from her master Zolgear, and was unrelated to the death of Mio’s adoptive parents; but emotions wasn’t something that could be delineated <ref>describe or portray (something) precisely/indicate the exact position of (a border or boundary)</ref> , and it was for that reason that Basara had left Zest to the Moderates Faction. Even if Mio had given up on killing her sworn enemy Zolgear, immediately making her live together with the subordinate of her sworn enemy was just too cruel to her. It was for those reasons that Mio had practically not said anything to Zest when she stayed in the Toujou Residence temporarily, and Basara had left Mio as she is.

However -- when Zest stepped back after pouring Mio’s tea, Mio raised her tea cup and said:

“Really… For me to be worried that you would be abused, it was all for nought.”

Those words bringing a hint of snorting, caused everyone to be surprised, especially Zest who had become frozen. However, that couldn’t be helped.

“Eh -- W-Why…?”

Realising that everyone was now looking at her, she frowned in confusion. Most likely, she hadn’t realised -- what the words she just said really meant. Those words she had just said so easily, probably unloaded much of what’s on Zest’s heart. Seeing Mio become like this, it seemed very cute in Basara’s eyes, hence he brought his hand to pat Mio’s head.

“Oi, what are you doing, Basara -- why are you suddenly acting like that?”

“Nothing, it’s for no reason. I only suddenly felt the urge to do this.”

Basara said to the puzzled Mio who made no actions to stop him.

Yuki, Maria, and kurumi smiled bitterly, and Zest quietly held back her tears. The tense atmosphere disappearing, warmth filled the space within the room.