Behemoth's Pet

「Nyaa… Your Majesty, how did you know about the matter of Demon King Belphegor?」
Vulcan asked with a slightly envious expression as she saw Shiri patting Tama to her heart’s content.
「You’re Vulcan, aren’t you? I have this inherent skill called 《Fierce God’s Clairvoyance》. It allows me to see the events that have happened in this world or fragmentary important events.」
The activation condition of that skill was for the people who had been the key persons of those events to appear within the range of her skill.
It just happened that Tama, Aria, and co. had visited this country’s capital. This had triggered the activation of 《Fierce God’s Clairvoyance》 and allowed Shiri to take a peek at the event from her sake cup.
（I see! So that’s the reason she knows about the matter regarding Demon King Belphegor.）
Tama nodded after hearing the effect of Shiri’s inherent skill.
「What’s this matter about Demon King Belphegor that you’re talking about?」
Arnold went ahead and asked this question.
Hearing that, Cedric was like 「OH… CR*P!」.
Arnold had been kept in the dark about the matter regarding Demon King Belphegor.
At this rate… a time paradox would happen!
Or so they had thought!
「Rest assured, this mistress has already seen with her skill that no time paradox will happen even if this person knows about Belphegor.」
Shiri gave her reassurance to them.
Hearing that, Aria heaved a sigh, then proceeded to tell Arnold about what had happened back then.
Although Arnold was quite taken aback upon hearing the full story, (s)he finally understood when (s)he heard that this matter was related to the daughter of the archmage.
By the way, Stella, Lily, and Faeri, who were bad when it came to difficult talks like this one, had long since started playing with their fingers.
「But, why have you summoned us?」
Now, it was Aria’s turn to ask Shiri.
She didn’t think that the queen of a country had called them simply to express her heartfelt gratitude.
「Aria, the reason I summoned you is simply to ask for your assistance in protecting this country from the danger that’s fast approaching us.」
「The fast approaching… danger?」
Aria’s curiosity piqued up upon hearing Shiri’s remark.
Just what kind of danger could threaten this country, which was enveloped by a solid, mist barrier.
「You must’ve realized upon returning to this world that the fragments of the sealing crystal that sealed this era’s Belphegor have vanished, right?」
「…! You can even see such details, huh! Indeed, even the Hero Ciel-sama has been wondering about that matter too.」
Aria was clearly surprised upon hearing Shiri’s question since it was as if the latter had been right there with them.
After returning from the other world, Ark, they had found out that the splinter crystals that they saw before departing to the other world had already disappeared. It was a mystery for them even until now.
「Those crystal fragments, according to this mistress’s 《Fierce God’s Clairvoyance》, should have been collected by the demon race.」
「Demon… race?」
For what reason did the demon race…
Aria and co. were really curious to know the reason from Shiri.
「Someone amongst the demon race has a certain inherent skill. Traces of Belphegor’s energy remain in those splinters. It seems they want to create one of the seven Great Demon Kings by combining those fragments with the inherent skill called 〝Fierce God’s Tears?, the core of this country’s defense barrier.」
「「「――!!!?」」」
Aria and co., Tama included, were at a loss for words upon hearing Shiri’s explanation.
After confirming everyone’s reaction, Shiri continued.
「It seems the demon race has already made their move. They’re going to attack this city on the day before the Summer Solstice festival, aiming to cause an uproar and then steal the core of this city’s barrier, fierce god’s tears.」
In the end, the thing that could be seen with Shiri’s 《Fierce God’s Clairvoyance》 was only fragmentary information; it wasn’t an omnipotent skill that allowed her to see everything.
「I see! So you… want to borrow our power to protect the core of this city」
「Exactly, Aria! To be honest, with you, I want to deploy the soldiers of our country to set up an ambush, but doing that will only cause a time paradox. This matter must be resolved in secret.」
Shiri replied to Aria with a serious expression as she hugged Tama on her ch*st.
「Since it’s a crisis of this country, there’s no way we can let that happen.」
「Nya~n(All the more so when the other party is the demon race)!」
Upon hearing Aria’s remark, Tama also raised an adorable warcry as if to agree with her.
Everyone, starting from Vulcan, also nodded in agreement.
「Everyone, you have my deepest gratitude.」
Shiri bowed to Aria and co. to express her gratitude toward them, who had agreed to help her.