Even in the Demon Realm, there’s a runaway child

We looked at the wriggling butt and flailing legs in silence. It would probably look like one of those fan-service scenes, the silly encounter trope between the mc and one of the ml/fl. Yes, it would be one of those short animated scenes too.

Well, too bad a woman's wriggling butt wasn't my thing.

And I certainly wasn't a main character nor a male lead. This wasn't a game world in the first place.

Beside me, Angwi was audibly sighed, as if she had encountered this scene more than enough. I watched her pull out the succubus from the avalanche with her usual impassive face, as if she was just pulling out a pet out of its hiding place.

The succubus came out with a gasp and a loud rustling sound, panting for breath and gulping for air. "Hwaah! I thought I'll be a goner this time!"

This time? How many times did this happen?

"Thank you An—ouch! Why are you hitting me? Ah—ouch!—So mean!" The Succubus curled her body and whined loudly as Angwi smacked her arms and back relentlessly. But soon she jumped out and roared. "Aargh! Stop it! Didn't I say I'm not doing it purposely!!"

The small wings on her back flapped frantically as she hovered in the air and stomped her feet into empty space. Her fist flew around in frustration and honestly, she was kind of cute.

Now that I looked at her closely, for a succubus, she wasn't...how should I say it—as sexy as I thought. Rather, she had a girlish face, and wore modest clothes—not like the revealing leather or spandex in general portrayals.

Hmm, well, my conceptions about demons had been shattered ever since I met Natha anyway.

It was then that she realized my existence, perhaps because I had been watching her. "What? The human is here?"

Again, Angwi raised her hand like she was about to spank the succubus girl and Zidoa shrieked before flying further away.

"Eeek! Stop resorting to violence!" she protested in a voice that I supposed would be considered cute, before pursing her lips. "Fine, fine, I won't call him 'human' again..."

Well, I didn't particularly mind, but whatever.

"But why are you here? Are the materials I gathered for you not enough?" she moved to land on top of a table and tilted her head.

Oh, God, I realized that I kind of missed having someone that could talk after the morning with silent Angwi that I didn't even flinch at the mention of those 'materials'.

"Am I not allowed to read other books?" I asked, looking at the pile of books on the ground.

"I'm not saying that," Zidoa shrugged. "I just never thought that a wargod like you would have interest in reading,"

"Why? You think I'd like to fight more?"

Zidoa made a pondering face, as if she actually contemplating it. "Well, yeah..." she said finally. "I actually think you'll try to escape the moment he was gone."

I didn't like to fight, though. Nor was Valmeier. He only became a battle priest because the spear chose him. But there was no point in saying that, since this body had now more used to fighting in a war than anything else.

Which was why, there was no way I would use it for some action. I wanted to live a quiet life, thank you very much.

And so did Valmeier, I think.

Hmm...rather than replying, I became curious about who this girl actually was. She referred to the Demon Lord as 'he' casually, as if she wasn't a servant. But she also didn't seem to be a family member or a lover, and Angwi acted more like her nanny than a colleague. I also remembered that while Angwi serving us yesterday, she just sat on the corner without doing anything, as if her 'job' was just to observe me.

"Are you a librarian here?" I asked while picking a few stray books that had skidded too far from the main avalanche site.

Surprisingly, she shook her head. "No, I just like hanging out here, since all the novels are stored here."

'Ah, so she's not a servant', I thought as I brought the books that I gathered to the empty bookcase. Because there was no way a servant could just 'hang out' in the library. I bent down to pick more books, but my body suddenly lifted off the ground.

I couldn't help but dropped the book in my hand with a gasp. Valmeier wasn't a small person by any means, although he wasn't big either. I was sure that this body was at least more than 175cm. And although this body had lost weight and muscle mass over the past two months, there were still traces of the battle priest that Zidoa had coined as 'wargod' before.

And yet, right now, this body was being lifted just like that by two pairs of hands like a child. The next thing I knew, I was already being seated atop a table, next to Zidoa. And I could only blink dazedly at Angwi's wriggling hand that told me to stay put.

"What are you doing?"

I could only stare dumbfoundedly at the succubus. "Huh?"

"You're the Lord's bride, you can't do things that servant should do,"

Again, all I could say was just, "Huh?"

I mean, wouldn't it be normal to feel confused? In the first place, I had no idea what servants should or should not do. I didn't think that picking up strewn books would be considered doing a 'servant work'.

"What about you?" I decided to ask then, just so I could stop spouting stupid 'huh's over and over. "You don't seem like a servant, too..."

Although she dressed in a black dress and wore a frilly apron like a maid.

She put her hand on her waist before answering. "Of course not! How could someone as cute as me be a servant!" she puffed her cheeks haughtily like a young princess of a noble house.

Which was kind of adorable, actually.

"I'm a guest, just like you...well, not like you exactly but, hmm..." she tapped her chin to ponder, but my eyes were drawn to Angwi who held up a book in her hand and covered up some part of the title so only one word was visible.

RUNAWAY

"Ah? Were you running away from your home?" I cut Zidoa's pondering.

The succubus gasped and cover her mouth. "Wh...who—I'm not running away! I just got bored at home!"

Hmm...

"Is it from the Land of Lust?"

I looked at her, who pressed her lips together like she didn't want to answer that. Well, it was an easy guess.

"Are you the Demon Lord of Lust's younger sister?"

This time, she couldn't keep her mouth shut. "H-h-how did you...?!"

"Well, you're someone who's able to be a 'guest' in a Demon Lord's Lair, so you must have a considerable status yourself. You have a bad relationship with an incubus, but rather than hatred, it felt more like an annoyance. And Natha hinted that the Demon Lord of Lust is an incubus while glancing at you," I explained my reasoning with a shrug.

There was also something about her acting like a princess and referring to Natha as if they were equal, which meant she should be a member of the Lord's household.

I was contemplating if she was the daughter instead, but I didn't think Natha would have agreed to shelter someone else's daughter. A sister, however, seemed more agreeable.

"Ooh~" she brought her face closer, eyes a bright shade of purple. She grinned then, with a sparkle in her eyes. "You're quite good, Mister Bride,"

"Don't call me that..."

"Well, it's a given since you're the Lord's chosen bride," the smirk on her face told me that she had all the intention to keep calling me 'that'. "So? Why are you in the library? Just looking around? Wanna read something? Want another material?"

Whew...I pulled my face away from her, and sighed internally. She was so quiet yesterday, but who knew she would be like this once the house owner gone? "Are you usually this noisy?"

"Yes," she shamelessly admitted while shrugging, crouching on top of the table beside me, rather than standing. "Otherwise, this place will be filled with silence, don't you think?"

Both of us looked at Angwi, who was busy putting back the books into the bookcases with her six arms. I remembered then, that one of my reason for coming here was that I thought there would be someone I could talk to.

"Right," I turned to Zidoa and nodded. "I actually came here to see you."

Her large purple eyes blinked. "Huh? Me? Why?"

"For the same reason why you're so noisy?"

She blinked some more, before breaking into laughter, slapping her knee at that. I couldn't tell now if she was supposed to be a teenager or an old woman.

"Yup, I totally understand that!" she nodded enthusiastically. "I was so bored before since I couldn't talk with anyone, and talking with golems is just...weird, you know? Even if some of them are the advanced type. So I asked Lord Natha for novels and storybooks and then I just spend time here."

She opened and stretched he arms wide, as if presenting me with the whole library. I took that time to fully observed the library that took off an entire floor. It was massive indeed, I couldn't see the wall edge of the library, hidden behind rows and rows of bookcases, and there was a circular staircase too, leading to a second floor with even more books—I supposed. The table I was seated at was at the center of it, and it seemed like the table that was used for cataloging or opening really big really heavy volumes.

I could see those thick, heavy, big books lined up the walls behind me, some were encased in a transparent box, and some were locked inside a frame. Rows and columns of bookcases filled most of the space, with neat engravings of every section's topic or genre hanging between the shelf. The section in front of me, however, seemed to be filled with more lighthearted content, like Zidoa's collections of novels.

From the sparkles in her eyes, I could tell she really liked them, those novels. That was what the book avalanche consist of. And I wasn't so sure, but the entire row of that section looked like it was filled with fiction books.

"He bought you all of that?" the man was either really rich or really kind. Or both.

"Well, he just told a bookstore agent in Eed to send novels and storybooks and I think the agent just brought a whole warehouse,"

Hmm, so he was that type; rich and couldn't be bothered to make selections so just get everything.

"That's nice of him," I commented briefly, trying to gauge how he was in others' eyes. It was something that I could only ask Zidoa, since there was no way his servant would make an honest assessment of their boss.

Despite her sparkling eyes, Zidoa didn't jump in a compliment train. "Is it? That's just normal though, for someone like him. He probably just send his secretary to deal with it."

So he had something like a secretary. "But he still granting your request, right?"

Zidoa made a pondering face, and pursed her lips slightly. "Hmm...I guess? But I'm not requesting much either. I'm not asking for a Marouwi pet or something so I won't be bored. What kind of Demon Lord is he if he can't grant me that simple request?"

Ah...I suddenly realized; this girl was a princess. Looking at how she classified asking a pet of a mythical creature just as something 'a bit much', she probably grew up in a very accommodating and indulging environment.

Suddenly, I had this thought that she was running away because she asked for something back home and was being denied, probably for the first time.

I turned my head to stare at Angwi, who heaved a sigh and just shook her head in a frustration of a babysitter.

As I looked back at the haughty looking—probably teenage—succubus, I felt like this so-called Lair was more interesting than I thought it would be.