As we strolled through the castle grounds, we continued to encounter executives and subordinates of the Demon Lord's army.
These were individuals I had newly met in these five hundred years.
Among them were mortal beings, and those who had lived through ages.
There was no unifying thread to their races.
In short, it was a gathering of thoroughly unique individuals.
After a series of interactions, Grom sighed in lament.
"What a noisy bunch... One can hardly take a quiet stroll."
"That's how it always is."
The quiet ones were the minority, no doubt.
Most had quirks in their speech and behavior to some degree.
When they all gathered in one place, the atmosphere naturally became even more boisterous.
It was entirely expected to feel a little exhausted after continuous conversation.
"Still, the attendance rate seems high this time. A gratifying turn of events."
Grom stated this with satisfaction.
The Demon Lord and his top executives were fundamentally busy.
In the various worlds under their purview, problems arose day and night, and they were constantly occupied with solving them.
However, a few were loath to answer the summons or were absent for their own reasons.
Each time, Grom would be incensed.
As for myself, I didn't particularly mind the absences.
Everyone had their circumstances; I had no intention of forcing their participation.
In addition, matters of high importance are conveyed via mind speech.
When one was absent, it was common for a proxy subordinate to attend, so there were no practical difficulties.
In essence, it was akin to a get-together combined with an exchange between the various Demon Lord armies.
Having considered this, I recalled what I had wanted to ask Grom.
"I forgot to ask earlier, but is everything alright in your world?"
In Grom's world, large-scale warfare had broken out between nations.
I had heard things were chaotic for a while, but I hadn't yet heard how it concluded.
When questioned, Grom straightened his back as if this was his moment.
He then answered with evident pride.
"Of course, it is all resolved! It would be shameful if the second-ranked had struggled. I made sure they fully understood my authority."
"...Just be careful not to go overboard."
Grom tends to get overly enthusiastic about everything.
Considering the potential damage to others, he needed to exercise some self-restraint.
His power was in a realm that could lightly destroy a world.
Extreme caution was required in handling him.
Something fell past the window.
Immediately after, a thunderous roar echoed.
It seemed someone had fallen from the upper floor.
I leaned out the window to look.
Debris was scattered near the flower bed.
Buried in the rubble were the twins, Kenny and Lana.
The two of them looked up with ferocious grins.
"Hahaha! Still too soft! You won't take me down like that!"
Dolda's cheerful voice came from above.
It seemed they had been training on the upper floor.
They must have gotten too carried away and broken through the floor.
The moment I heard they were sparring, I'd suspected wall damage wasn't out of the question.
So this was nothing surprising.
I held that view, but Grom did not.
He flared the flames in his eye sockets and roared, breathing fire in his fury.
"You lot... what do you think the Demon King's castle is?!"
Grom leapt out the window and went to berate Kenny and Lana.
The two of them cheerfully fled, as if this were all part of the game.
Left behind, I glanced at the debris that had fallen to the ground below.
(Making them do repairs as punishment seems fair.)
Naturally, I intended to impose shared responsibility on Dolda as well.
Logan should have been in the same room, but even he had times when he couldn't intervene.
He probably bore no responsibility.
Having settled all of this, I set off in pursuit in order to calm Grom down.