BONUS: SHADOWING BEELZEBUB AT WORK
That day, Beelzebub and the leviathan sisters Fatla and Vania visited the house in the highlands again.
These three were way too nonchalant about waltzing into people’s homes. They brought gifts every time, but it was still way too often. Did they think my house was a bar or something? This is a private residence, you know.
“Ohhh, the meat in this stew is so tender. It falls right off the bone. It’s so delightfully delicious!” Laika was thoroughly enjoying the dish Beelzebub brought along, and now it was even harder for me to complain…
“Right, right? I had Vania line up for half an hour in order to purchase this from one of the best side-dish shops in Vanzeld town!”
Beelzebub looked proud, but she really was ordering Vania around… Vania should be the one acting proud, not you.
Beelzebub left her seat and went to the toilet. She was in a great mood, since there was drink as well.
While she was gone, I posed a question to the two leviathans: “Hey, you two. Does Beelzebub actually do her work on the regular?”
She couldn’t be the agricultural minister, as lax as she was… This might be a fantasy world, but she was still a government official.
“Our boss is fulfilling her duties well. The reason why I lined up at the shop was because I made a big mistake, and Boss cleaned up my mess for me. This was my thanks.”
“You don’t sound very convincing, Vania… I wonder if someone a little more serious will tell me about it…”
“What! I’m shocked!”
Hey, you’re the one who just said you made a big mistake!
“I admire Lady Beelzebub. She is very busy when she’s on the clock. She would not have been able to work as the agricultural minister for so long if not.”
“If you say the same, Fatla, then it might be true, but it’s hard to imagine. I’ve never seen her working…”
“I understand completely.”
So she did see it. At the very least, that meant that Beelzebub’s apparently irresponsible behavior when she came here wasn’t just me.
“And if I might offer you a suggestion”—a small smile appeared on Fatla’s lips—“if you like, you’re more than welcome to observe Lady Beelzebub as she works.”
Oh, it was like a classroom observation. Or a work observation, rather.
“That’s an interesting idea, but wouldn’t Beelzebub hate it? She’d never give me the okay. I’d say no if I was in her position…”
“You don’t need permission. You can use all sorts of magic, can’t you, Miss Azusa? What about invisibility?”
I opened my eyes wide, and not because of the underhanded idea itself.
“Fatla, I never thought you’d suggest something like that…”
“I want to try playing tricks, too, on occasion.” Fatla chuckled like a little imp. Oh right, position-wise, this girl was a government official. She was far from an innocent girl—the opposite, in fact.
“Fine. I can’t use invisibility magic, but I’ll learn it through spell creation. Once I can use it, we can discuss more in detail. And everyone else who heard this, not a word.”
Flatorte and Laika nodded.
Just then, Beelzebub came back.
“Well then, shall we open another bottle? Mm… The room is rather quiet. Did you not talk about anything?”
“The conversation just dies off sometimes.”
Beelzebub, of course, didn’t seem to suspect anything. She was drunk anyway.
While Beelzebub went off to Falfa and Shalsha’s room, we formulated our plot.
I had learned invisibility magic without any incident, and now the show could begin.
The day before we put our plan into action, I rode on Laika to Vanzeld Castle.
I spent the night, and then the next morning, I met up with Fatla. It was perfect, since Laika went off to train with Fighsly.
“Now then, Miss Azusa, I’ll take you to the department of agriculture.”
“Okay. Just in case, I’ll go invisible now.”
I made myself disappear with my new spell.
The front entrance of the agricultural ministry building where the demons worked was enough to tell me it was luxurious. The decorations were over-the-top, too. It looked sort of gothic.
Inside, demons sat with documents and chatted with coworkers.
The whole atmosphere was electric.
“Pass that on to Kaltenta in the personnel department!” “I got orders to go on a business trip, so can someone cover for me in next week’s meeting?!” “We’re having a meeting on the growth promotion of grapes in the meeting room in an hour!”
The workers were a diverse bunch, all demons, and they were each working their hardest…
There were no computers here, but otherwise, it wasn’t much different from my own company. No, some demons were staring hard at stone tablets with data displayed on them, so even that was practically identical.
“This is the agricultural planning division. They’re a rather busy bunch.”
Fatla seemed to be aware of where I was even though I was invisible, and she explained to me.
“I see… Everyone’s working hard.”
I’d end up like a spy if I kept peeking in rooms that weren’t any of my business, so we went straight to where Beelzebub was.
When we came to the top floor, we found the door to the minister’s room.
“Lady Beelzebub is carrying out her government duties beyond this door.”
“Well, well, well. Let’s see what she’s up to.”
Fatla slowly opened the door. It would be obviously strange if my invisible self opened it, so I slipped in as she did so.
And then—
“Vania, all the documents you created have last year’s date on them… You will have to go and re-receive all the approval signatures!”
“What! Please, Boss!”
Beelzebub was pointing out one of Vania’s misses to her.
“And right out of the gate, my sister makes a blunder… How embarrassing…” Fatla pressed a hand to her head.
Her own sister wasn’t even hiding how embarrassed she was…
“Oh, Fatla, go to the meeting this afternoon. The more heads the better, since these are talks with other ministries.”
As she called out to Fatla, I quickly moved to the corner of the room.
She’d find out if I wandered around too much, so I’d keep this position.
“Hmm. I thought I heard something…” Beelzebub was sharp…
“A larger demon must be coming up the stairs.”
“Okay. Now then, I’ve reviewed all the documents marked for submission at the end of the month, so I’m moving on. The auditing office hasn’t given us any lip so far this fiscal year, so that’s easy. They’re all massive sadists, that lot.”
“Understood. I shall get through a little more work until my next meeting, then.”
And so I began my real observations.
The minister’s room was big, but the only ones working there were Beelzebub, Fatla, and Vania. The leviathan sisters apparently took on a secretarial role.
I had doubted if she was really taking her job seriously, but to be honest, I got my answer in the first three minutes.
Beelzebub’s eyes were deadly serious—she was 100 percent in business mode.
She quickly checked over her documents, and if she had a question, she would either add a tag to it or order Vania, “Ask what’s going on here budget-wise.”
Minister wasn’t just a title, then. She was working really hard. Her competence was almost tangibly oozing from her.
After thirty minutes, I ran into a big problem.
I’m so bored…
When I thought about it, what Beelzebub was doing was office work. Hours and hours of this weren’t going to make it any more interesting!
There were almost two hours until lunch… This was painful…
Beelzebub suddenly stood up.
“The air in this room feels different from normal—almost as though there are extra people…”
So she could tell, even though I was invisible…
“There’s no one else here, Boss! It’s not like an invisible person is hiding anywhere, you know.”
Hey! Vania! Don’t say what we agreed on out loud like that!
Beelzebub carefully scanned the room. I covered my mouth with my hand and held my breath!
“It feels like part of the air flow in here disappeared… As though someone’s holding their breath…”
She was really sharp! This was difficult, even though I was invisible and hidden.
“Lady Beelzebub, please stop spouting nonsense and return to your work.”
“You’re right. I have plenty of things to do.”
Fatla jumped in for me. Thank you, Fatla!
Also, now that I’d learned that Beelzebub was a real businesswoman, I wanted to go home. But she wasn’t leaving her seat, so I couldn’t say anything to Fatla.
Staff would occasionally come in to bring documents, and I could leave when that happened, but it would be rude to leave without saying anything to Fatla or Vania…
If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve brought something along to pass the time…
Without any other choice, I lay down on the carpet and stared off into space.
Most of her work was drab. Maybe I should’ve picked the evening to watch her work…
As I lay on the floor, it finally came time for lunch.
The ringing of the break bell echoed throughout the building.
“Phew! Time for a rest.”
Beelzebub stood and stretched. She also unfurled her wings. I guess they needed stretching, too.
“Today’s a day you made lunch, isn’t it, Vania?”
“Yes! I’ve created something colorful using seasonal ingredients! I call it A Colorful Lunch Using Seasonal Ingredients!”
“I didn’t ask for the name.”
Ohhh, the secretary brought in handmade lunch. That’s a nice system.
Had someone brought in lunch for me when I was a corporate slave, I probably would’ve been healthier; maybe I would have stayed alive. There was no love in convenience store lunches.
But I was facing an even greater problem than I had before.
If I couldn’t leave the room, then I wouldn’t be able to eat lunch…
This is hard… I at least want to munch on a cookie…
And at the perfect timing, my stomach grumbled loudly.
Crap! I couldn’t win against physiological phenomena!
“Who was that? How hungry are you? Your stomach is much too assertive.”
“It was not me.”
“Then by process of elimination, it had to be Vania.”
“It wasn’t me! That sound was the Wi—which was much too violent; it was not something my stomach could make.”
Vania almost said “Witch of the Highlands”! The recovery was a little forced, but she pulled it off, at least!
“It is not I, either. It sounded too much like that of an idiot’s to be mine. Mine growls much more nobly.”
Hey! That’s a weird thing to dis me for!
I wanted to protest, but I couldn’t!
“Well, whose stomach it was matters not. The growling will stop when we are full.”
Urgh… I can’t eat, though…
Vania produced a bag for carrying the lunches.
“This is mine; this is for you, Boss; and this is for Big Sis; and this is for the Wi—” Vania went pale.
“Why did you bring lunch for four people?” Fatla looked at Vania like she was an idiot. She really was a screwup!
“And what is a Wi?”
“Wi… Which I have prepared, an extra. Yes! An extra in case anyone wants to eat any more!”
“Uh… If no one eats it, then it becomes waste… Did you not think about this beforehand…?”
Beelzebub was cornering her with sound arguments!
“A-actually…I made too much! So I made a fourth one… That’s all… There is absolutely no other reason why…”
Sweat was dripping from Vania’s forehead.
Watching her, Beelzebub seemed to figure something out.
“I see, I see. I couldn’t bear to have it go to waste, so I suppose I’ll take it to another room and ask if anyone else wants it. Oh, if only there was a fourth person in this room, but of course there isn’t! Now then, I’m off to search for someone who wants this lunch! In another room!”
I canceled my invisibility magic. “Ahhh, please! Please! I’ll eat it! Don’t take it away!”
Beelzebub looked at me, annoyed. “I knew it. I knew something was odd in here.”
Afterward, I explained my situation to her. Now that she knew I was here, explaining everything was my responsibility.
“—And so, I wanted to see if you were really working,” I said as I ate my lunch. It was really good. The lunch was innocent, but Vania? Not so much.
Fatla and Vania both looked a little guilty. They couldn’t just shake this one off.
“And so? I am working splendidly, am I not?” Beelzebub crowed.
“Yeah… You were serious. So serious, watching you was mind-numbing.”
“Have you ever heard of office work that makes for an entertaining show? I am not working to amuse you!”
“You’re right… I won’t do this again… Now I know you’re an upstanding participant in society…”
“Mm-hmm. And see to it that this doesn’t happen again. I will let it slide this time, but in the future, you will submit an application beforehand. We can create a fun and informative field trip for visitors. Even better with the help of the PR department.” Beelzebub handed me an application form.
“Er, I appreciate the goodwill, but I’m not really interested in the agricultural ministry’s work, so…”
“Falfa and Shalsha may want to have the experience, so take it home. Actually, bring them with you!”
She’s so shrewd when it comes to them!
Now that she’d seen through my evil deed, I had no choice but to tap into Falfa’s and Shalsha’s thoughts on a field trip to the ministry.
A few days later, my daughters went on a field trip to the department of agriculture.
And they had a great time.
The End
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