"Um, so why exactly was I brought along in the first place?"
Fermina asks in an incredibly uncertain voice.
Yeah.
We really didn't need to be here.
Honestly, even I haven't said a single word this whole time.
We weren't necessary, were we?
Yup, yup.
Let's us unnecessary people just commit to being air.
Fermina, noticing my lack of response, falls silent as if she's given up.
She was air during the meeting too, but even now that it's over, her presence has completely vanished.
This girl might have talent for stealth-type skills.
After Fermina was dumped by her fiancé, I picked her up and trained her from scratch. Her growth in stealth and espionage-type skills — the kind useful for intelligence work — was better than her growth in pure combat skills.
She's not quite at the level where you'd lose sight of someone standing right in front of you like some kind of maid character from another story, but she can reduce her presence to a remarkable degree.
To the point where, if you're not actively focusing, you'd straight-up forget she exists.
She probably couldn't fool the attendees of this meeting, but she was hiding behind the Demon King's overwhelming presence, so no one important took notice of her.
Heh heh heh. The girl I trained is far more capable than that ninja kid over there.
That ninja kid, Kusama, went off somewhere with Oni.
Those two were on pretty good terms, so they're probably catching up.
When it seemed like the Demon King would be returning soon, I sent the vampire kid to go fetch her — she'd been giving the Sacred Word Church folks a death glare.
If I'd left her there much longer, the Sacred Word Church people's lifespans might have actually shortened.
The moment the vampire kid left the room, the relief on their faces was visible to the naked eye.
And now, with the glaring vampire kid gone, the Sacred Word Church folks have turned their sights on me.
Fermina?
Thanks to her magnificent "I Am Air" technique, my presence is being gracefully ignored.
Hmph.
The cluster of older guys stealing glances over here.
This is... really uncomfortable.
The meeting itself was an unexpected resounding success.
After all, the Demon King handled everything and drove it all forward.
All I had to do was sit there and zone out.
Who would've thought the Demon King would actually be useful in a situation like this?
I thought she was just a freeloader — I feel like I've been deceived.
Thanks to her, I had an easy time.
But this situation right now? What even is it?
Honestly, it's so uncomfortable that I want to leave, but I can't exactly leave the Demon King and the others behind and go.
Without my teleportation, there's no way to get back to the Demon territory from here.
So I have to wait, but the waiting is pure agony.
Demon King, Oni, Vampire kid — hurry up and come back.
"Um—"
Here she comes!
See?! I knew someone had to talk to me eventually!
Otherwise, I would've left ages ago!
The one who addressed me was a relatively young-looking man among the group of older guys.
Maybe in his thirties?
He introduced himself during the initial meeting, so I've got his name and position memorized.
One of the generals who commands the military.
"That puppet — what exactly is it?"
The general points to the puppet spider standing behind me and asks.
Ah, this thing.
The Demon King summoned this puppet spider. As its name suggests — Puppet Taratect — it's a Taratect-series monster.
It has an outer shell that looks like a human-shaped figure, and the true body is a fist-sized spider housed in the chest cavity.
That spider strings threads throughout the interior of the figure and manipulates it via Thread Manipulation. That's the true nature of this monster.
The figure it pilots is basically its outer shell.
Like a hermit crab in its shell, you know?
This Puppet Spider is actually the second strongest among the Demon King's subordinates, right after the Queen Taratect.
Its average stats hover around ten thousand.
It even surpasses the Arch Taratect.
Back before my apotheosis, when I fought the Demon King, she summoned ten of these at once and absolutely beat the crap out of me.
But back then, this Puppet Spider didn't have a humanoid appearance like it does now.
When I got beaten up, they looked like the mannequins you'd find in a department store.
But I decided that wasn't pretty enough, so I applied some magical modifications to give them their current form.
The exposed ball joints were coated to look seamless at a glance.
The face was meticulously crafted down to the finest details, and they were even modified to be capable of blinking.
On top of that, I went so far as to replicate vocal cords, making conversation possible — a passion project!
One Puppet Spider in every household.
Good for housework, combat, and everything in between!
In hindsight, I may have gone a bit overboard.
The stats haven't changed, but their appearance now closely resembles a human, and thanks to smoother joint movement than before, they can even perform delicate tasks.
As a result, they can now handle things like cooking and sewing — things they couldn't do before.
Truly terrifying.
They've got more feminine charm than an actual clumsy girl.
"It is a monster known as the Puppet Taratect. My name is Aeru. By Lady
And just like that — perfect responses, even without me present!
She has the judgment to introduce herself on her own, even when I'm not around.
Wonderful.
Huh?
Wait — did we seriously not need to be here at all?
Were we just delivery service?
The Sacred Word Church folks' attention shifted to the Puppet Spider Aeru, and until the Demon King and the others returned, Fermina and I together committed to being air.
That was fine and all, but somehow... I couldn't quite put my finger on why.