Mela led me to a tree house much like the one I'd woken up in.
The Demon King's army did bring camping tents and whatnot, but when it came down to it, a proper building with an actual roof was just more comfortable. No two ways about it.
Some sections were rendered uninhabitable, but the elven village was absurdly vast, and plenty of dwellings were still usable.
There were no residents left either, so it would be a waste not to put them to use.
"Oh? Good morning."
Inside the tree house, the little vampire was elegantly eating breakfast.
The dishes were served on wooden plates — did they come from this house, or had someone brought them along?
It was breakfast, so the portions were modest, but the variety was impressive. Just looking at it was enough to keep you entertained.
Bread, salad, fruit, bite-sized meat steaks, and scrambled eggs.
The little vampire ate this lavish spread — far too extravagant for the morning after a battle — with a knife and fork, all prim and proper.
Are you a noble!?
Oh, right, she was genuinely born into nobility.
"Prepare two more servings."
Mela called out instructions to a subordinate who was somewhere in the back. Apparently, this place served as a mess hall reserved for officers or the like.
The person who received the order promptly ducked into the back.
That back area was probably the kitchen.
Wait, two servings — so Mela was eating together too?
It felt like it had been forever since I'd seen Mela and the little vampire sitting at the same table.
Technically, Mela was the little vampire's retainer, so sharing a meal with your master — it felt a little odd, in a way.
We'd eaten together normally during the journey from the Saliera Kingdom to the Demon race's territory, so it wasn't exactly a new thing, but still.
Besides, in terms of official rank, Mela actually outranked her.
Hm?
Wait, if that was the case, wasn't the little vampire the one who looked out of place eating here?
Mela and I both held the position of corps commander, but the little vampire held no official title, right?
How did the rest of the Demon King's army feel about that, I wondered — the ones who didn't know the full story behind it all?
Hmm, well, she was receiving officer-level treatment here without anyone batting an eye. Maybe the rank-and-file had picked up on things in their own way.
While mulling over these entirely pointless thoughts, Mela pulled out a chair for me and sat me down.
Huh!? Before I knew it, I was seated!
What escort skills!
Was this the power of a man who could pull that off?!
After I sat down, Mela took her own seat.
Now that I looked more carefully, fatigue was clearly written on her face.
After fighting the elves and then pulling an all-nighter handling post-battle logistics — no wonder she was worn out.
She probably hadn't had a proper meal either.
Otherwise, Mela wouldn't have agreed to eat together with me and the little vampire.
She'd surely have held back and eaten alone afterward.
The reason no one else was eating here was probably because they were either still working or had collapsed from exhaustion.
Having two vampires elegantly enjoying their breakfast first thing in the morning was pretty surreal, though.
"
I wasn't sure if she'd picked up on my thoughts, but the little vampire helpfully filled me in on what the others were doing.
Still, Fermirna — "I don't know."
That sounded about right for Fermirna. She was probably hard at work somewhere as always, but her presence really was as faint as ever.
Come to think of it, Fermirna was my subordinate, and wasn't it a problem that I had no idea what she was up to?
No problem at all! Totally fine!
Probably. Presumably. Almost certainly.
"Oh, also — Kusama-kun went to meet up with the other reincarnators. He's probably having breakfast with them right now."
Kusama-kun — ah, right, that guy existed.
The ninja who couldn't stop lurking around the Pontifical Prince's entourage.
Why someone like Kusama-kun had a Unique Skill like ninja was, in all likelihood, because his first name was Shinobu. Pretty on-the-nose reasoning, but hey.
That kind of thing wouldn't be out of the ordinary for this world.
But anyway — so that was that.
For Kusama-kun, it must have been a reunion with classmates he hadn't seen in ages.
Did it feel like a class reunion?
I personally wasn't the type to go out of my way to rekindle old friendships, but how did the little vampire and Oni-kun feel about that sort of thing?
"What?"
She couldn't have picked up on exactly what I was thinking, but I could hear the irritation seeping into the little vampire's voice.
Ah, right, yeah.
Come to think of it, she didn't exactly have fond memories of her past life, did she?
Well, the fact that she was sitting here eating like this said plenty.
That said, the upcoming briefing session for the reincarnators was mandatory attendance.
Oni-kun too.
I'd have Mela handle the Demon King's guard duty during that time. He'd been significantly weakened lately, after all.
I needed someone I could trust watching over him.
It was piling more work onto Mela right after an all-nighter, but this was one thing I really couldn't hand off to anyone else.
Oh, speaking of which.
Now that the reincarnators had come up — how was Yamada-kun doing?
Had he started waking up yet?
Did the little vampire know anything?
"Yamada-kun."
"Hm? ...Um, oh. I think he's still asleep. As far as I know, nobody's reported him waking up."
Over the years, the little vampire had gotten much better at reading between the lines of my short questions, but she still sometimes got tripped up.
This time she'd apparently failed to instantly grasp the meaning behind my brief query and hesitated for a moment.
Her comprehension skills still needed work.
She could stand to take a page from Oni-kun's book.
"More than that, though — Hasegawa-san, who had the brainwashing removed, might be the bigger problem. Apparently she was in pretty bad shape."
Oh.
Right. That.
Among the reincarnators Natsume-kun had brainwashed, Ojima-kun had broken free on his own, and that was fine. But the other one — Hasegawa-san — had remained brainwashed the entire time.
And now that Natsume-kun was dead, the brainwashing had been lifted and she'd returned to her senses?
Aaah.
Maybe I should have someone wipe her memories or something. Post-care of some kind.
"I heard they're keeping her sedated by force for now, so if you're curious, you can go see her later?"
I'd do that.
But first — breakfast!
The food that had been brought over was delicious.
Mmm.
For the morning after a battle, this was pure luxury.
Perks of being the boss, huh.
Not having to work through the night and still getting to enjoy meals like this — I really had landed a good position.
I promptly forgot about Mela beside me, Fermirna who was probably still working somewhere, and Oni-kun who'd been on guard duty for the Demon King without a wink of sleep.
Everyone else, just keep working hard for me, why don't you.