that the gruel's flavor was more than decent. Warmth began to spread throughout his empty stomach. Then he finally realized how hungry he'd been. "Even after forming a contract with a demon, I still get hungry, huh?" After muttering to himself, Kaito tilted the bowl up and downed the rest of the gruel. Well aware of how poor his table manners were, he stubbornly scraped at the last few beads of grain with his spoon. Then he thought back to a similar scene he'd witnessed just a few days prior. A catlike figure scraping persistently at the bottom of an earthenware pot floated across his mind. Hmm... Now that I think about it, where'd she go? Standing up, he quickly looked around. However, the person he was looking for was nowhere to be seen. Given the fact that he'd have immediately been able to pick her out had she crossed his field of vision, it seemed unlikely she was picking up gruel. After pondering for a moment, Kaito set off and rejoined the end of the ration line. When he reached the front of the line, he handed his bowl back to the old witchy nun and made his request. "Um, the woman I'm with hasn't eaten yet. Would it be possible for me to get another bowlful?" Snorting out of her hook nose, the nun cast a sharp glance at Kaito's left arm. Pierced by her gray, knifelike gaze, he unconsciously straightened his posture. However, after a heavy silence, the nun shook her head slightly and refilled the bowl. Apparently, she intended to feign not having noticed anything. "...Thanks a bunch." There were two meanings behind the way he thanked her, and after he had, he walked away. With the warm, steaming bowl in hand, he surveyed the plaza. However, as he'd expected, the woman he was looking for was still nowhere to be seen. "Dammit, Elisabeth, where'd you get off to?" In search of the Torture Princess's bewitching figure, Kaito set off once more. "Ow, hey!" About half an hour later, Kaito found himself being practically kicked out of the entrance of the plaza by the paladins. Behind him, he could hear the gate loudly closing. He had been well and truly locked out. After somehow avoiding toppling over, Kaito guarded the bowl in his right hand to avoid letting any of the gruel within fall out. Brushing his bangs to the side and wiping away his sweat, he turned back to look over his shoulder. "I get that you're impatient and all, but would it kill you to be a little gentler?!" Nobody replied to his angry outburst. The only response the row of paladins offered was their silence. Livid, Kaito ground his teeth. However, at the same time, he understood why they'd driven him so roughly from the plaza. After noticing Elisabeth's absence, Kaito had walked around the square in search of her. Drawing no small share of dirty looks, Kaito looked in every last tent, eventually going so far as to check under desks. Even so, he couldn't find her. As a last resort, he asked the paladins manning the perimeter if they'd spotted her. As a result, he discovered that she'd taken off on her own and was kicked out and tasked with bringing her back. "As much as you hate us, you still want me to bring her back. If you understand how badly you need our help, you could at least try to treat us like we're on your side, don'cha think? Although...I can understand why you're so pissed off." Kaito mumbled to himself, then stole one last fleeting look at the paladins. Seeing their tense figures clad in their silver armor, he swallowed. At the moment, most of the barrier's maintenance was being carried out by the priests, releasing the paladins from their heavy, unaccustomed responsibility. However, just like during the afternoon, they were still guarding the perimeter in a state of high alert. While they were helping to supply the priests with mana, they were also serving as human shields. They were prepared for the fact that if the underlings pressed the attack, they would immediately lose their lives. However, the Torture Princess had simply forced her way through them. On top of all that, her servant had come nonchalantly strolling by with a bowl of gruel in one hand. ...Man, I was lucky I didn't just get punched. Realizing that the paladins could hardly be blamed for the way they'd treated him, Kaito heaved a sigh. Then he made his way once more down the road. With the plaza at his back and moans coming from the mass of flesh behind it, Kaito strode forth. Earlier, Elisabeth had told Kaito that many of the capital's residents were wealthy, particularly those who lived not in the mercantile or industrial zones but in the dedicated residential district. The proof of her words lay in the beautiful townscape stretching out before him. Each row of houses was ornamented with different-colored bricks, the hedges facing the main drag were beautifully maintained, and white stone staircases led up to the porches of the homes. It reminded Kaito of the touristy European suburbs he'd once caught a glimpse of on TV. However, the colorful, flower-laden townscape was currently steeping in an ominous silence. Not a single person was in sight. Fortunately, though, nor were any underlings. Back at the square, the paladins had selected the able-bodied from among those who'd sought shelter and sent their best men along with them to escort them out of the capital. They'd probably done a sweep of the underlings along their path. Thanks to that, I should be fine, even with the gruel tying up one of my hands. No longer fearful of dropping the gruel, Kaito energetically picked up the pace. Each time he neared an alley, he stopped, then peeked around its corner. However, he didn't find so much as a single stray kitten. It seemed that, for the time being, he was alone. The moment he realized that, an overwhelming silence filled his ears. "...Here should be fine. And it's not like I'll really be able to chat him up once I've found Elisabeth." Muttering to himself, Kaito temporarily paused his search. After fretting for a moment, he let out a low voice from deep in his throat, one that sounded almost like a stranger's. "Kaiser." "You called, O unworthy master of mine?" Darkness swirled in front of him. Thin strands of darkness spun together to form supple muscles and fine, velvety fur. Before long, a black dog as tall as the roofs of the nearby houses had materialized. While it was gigantic by nature, it could change its size at will. The monstrous beast glared down at Kaito, his eyes glimmering with blazing hellfire. Facing the magnificent hound that housed the Kaiser, Kaito posed a question to him without any trace of fear. "There's something I wanted to ask you." "What do you wish to know?" The Kaiser's response was the very image of servility. Kaito scowled at the snide canine. "Why didn't you pitch in when the underlings launched their surprise attack?" Back then, the Kaiser could have woven his way through the obstructing humans and hunted down the underlings with ease. Despite that, he hadn't shown his face. For a moment, silence descended upon them. However, the Kaiser quickly snorted in derision. "The answer is simple. I have no objections to destroying other demons to demonstrate my power. But why should I, the supreme Kaiser, be made to hunt mere underlings in the service of some humans? That is no task for a hound of my caliber. Are you such a fool that you would use a cannon to destroy an ant? Geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, fu-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. The Kaiser laughed in a voice that resembled a human's. Kaito narrowed his eyes, as though challenging the Kaiser. "I'm your contractor. Isn't it your job to lend me your help when I ask for it?" "Don't put on airs, boy. You are my master, my catalyst, my tool, and my flesh. I am not the one being kept. Would you rather I consume you here and now?" "...Oh, I see. So you're gonna eat your contractor up, lose your link to our world, and go running back home just as soon as you got here. You'd be the laughingstock of humanity. Nobody's ever gonna wanna summon you again. Go on, do it. That'd be funny as hell, wouldn't it?" Anyone who knelt before a demon would quickly find their head crushed. Kaito instinctively knew that trembling and abasing himself before the Kaiser would be the height of folly. That was precisely why Kaito was acting so haughty. As he spoke, a dull, heavy sound rang out. Kaito's left arm had vanished from the elbow down. "...Huh?" Blood gushed forth onto the stone pavement. The sole reason he was able to avoid dropping the bowl of gruel was that the fingers on his right hand had stiffened out of shock, in what could only be described as a miracle. In front of Kaito's bewildered eyes, the Kaiser spat something out. A lump of meat tumbled into the pool of blood with a heavy splash, and the black cloth wrapped around it came loose. Kaito stared at it, dumbfounded. The human arm, which had been largely transformed into that of a beast, seemed almost completely foreign to him. ...Wait, that's my arm, isn't it? The moment that delayed realization set in, an acute pain ran through his nerves. "â€”Rrk!" Kaito immediately choked back a scream. Before that point, he'd tasted the sharp pain of death hundreds of times over. However, even he was weak to surprise attacks. Closing his eyes, Kaito repeated two words again and again in his mind. Settle down, settle down, settle down, settle down, settle down! This is nothing. By purposely tasting it and acclimating himself to it, Kaito tamed the pain. A few seconds later, he'd completely regained his composure. The Kaiser's lip twisted slightly, as though in admiration. "Oh-ho." Stooping down, Kaito set down his bowl on the surface of the road. It was, in a sense, foolish how he immediately prioritized the gruel's safety. He snapped his fingers. His spilled blood burst into crimson flower petals. They gathered at his wound, then returned to his body. Afterward, he picked up his left arm and pressed it against the cross section. His bare flesh and bones came into contact, and they made a splatting sound as he crushed them against each other. "â€”La (return)." Darkness and azure flower petals enclosed them as a crude adhesive surface. Bone, flesh, and the fibers of his clothes all stretched out as though hundreds of tiny, ghastly hands had sprouted from them. They became intertwined, fusing together. In the end, it had all returned to its original state. Kaito immediately fixed his gaze on the Kaiser. "You good now, Kaiser? You really gotta do something about that temper of yours." "And you ought to do something about your habit of carelessly prodding your own beast... Hmm, it seems your spirit is unbroken. And I see your madman's guise is intact as well. Very well. Twisted as you are, I shall forgive your insolence. However, what do you intend to do about the contradiction you bear, O unworthy master of mine?" The Kaiser flopped heavily onto his stomach. Resting his chin on his crossed forepaws and finally taking a proper pose to hold a conversation, he posed his question to Kaito. Kaito tilted his head at the sudden inquiry. The Kaiser blew air that reeked of rust out through his nose, then gave a throaty laugh. "What, fool, had you not realized it? You are contractor to a demon, the very embodiment of power designed to destroy the world. Yet, you save others, receive their gratitude, and feel serenity. Absurdities upon absurdities. Such absurd, unsalvageable contradictions. Shame on