“Hmph, do you truly believe I’d stoop to such a trivial competition?”
As Staros’s words faded, Lisbeth instinctively retracted the battle aura she had already gathered in her hand. Witnessing this, Staros’s lips twitched.
She pointed at Lisbeth’s hand. “Don’t lie to me! You were clearly just thinking about settling this with an arm wrestle, weren’t you? Don’t take me for a fool!”
“Tsk, you’re truly a difficult one.”
Upon realizing her scheme had been seen through, Lisbeth pouted in annoyance. Her face etched with displeasure, she pressed on, “So, what exactly do you propose? If nothing else works, should we just fight for real?”
“No, Lisbeth, I trust you understand that time is of the essence for us. We only have a mere four hours at our disposal. To expedite matters, I must first ask you a question: what do you believe our current roles are?”
“What else could it be, other than Chris’s personal maids?”
Though Lisbeth didn’t understand why Staros would ask such a question, she honestly answered. Hearing Lisbeth’s reply, Staros smiled instantly.
“Precisely. But at a more fundamental level, we are both subordinates and servants of the Demon Lord. Therefore, Lisbeth, are you willing to demonstrate your loyalty to our Demon Lord here?”
“Hmm? Loyalty? What do you mean by that?”
As Staros finished speaking, Lisbeth stared at her, utterly perplexed, seemingly unable to grasp the sudden meaning behind her words. Staros, however, maintained her smile, extending a single finger.
“Lisbeth, I’ll be frank with you. I came here today not just for myself, but also for the Demon Lord.”
“I’m sure you’ve already noticed that the Demon Lord has always felt self-conscious about her chest. The reason is simple: her mother’s chest had already developed significantly at her age, yet the Demon Lord’s remains tragically flat, like a washboard.”
“So, for our great Demon Lord, Lisbeth, don’t you think you should make a small sacrifice?”
“Heh, that’s certainly an interesting way to put it.”
After listening to Staros’s lengthy monologue, Lisbeth scoffed. “Leaving aside the veracity of your claims, I do agree with what you just said.”
“However, I don’t understand why I must be the one to demonstrate loyalty, and not you? After all, you could easily drink the potion in your hand to verify its effects, couldn’t you?”
“Ah… I suppose that’s true…”
It seemed Staros had been utterly confident in her argument, never expecting to be exposed so quickly. Witnessing her own blunder, Staros became exasperated.
“But think about it! My chest is already as flat as can be! What if drinking a potion with adverse effects prevents my body from ever growing larger?”
“So what? Why don’t you consider that my chest might shrink significantly if I drink that potion? And even if we concede that point, what does your body’s inability to grow have to do with me?”
Listening to Lisbeth’s heartless words, Staros angrily pointed at her. “Hey! How can you be like this? Imagine if your chest only shrank a tiny bit after taking the potion? You’d be benefiting both me and the Demon Lord!”
“No, setting aside whether it would benefit you, I know for a fact that the Demon Lord will certainly not benefit from it. I can tell you quite clearly that Her chest will never protrude much more than a washboard.”
“Eh?”
****
Meanwhile—
“Let me go! Let me go right now! I’ll kill them! I absolutely must kill them!”
“A-a-a-a-ah! Demon Lord, please calm down!”
While Lisbeth and Staros were still arguing, Chris, who had been observing their every move, furiously leaped from her chair. Her murderous aura suggested she genuinely intended to eliminate Lisbeth and Staros.
Witnessing this, Olivia and Hilda each grabbed one of Chris’s arms, hastily speaking. “Demon Lord, please calm down. They surely meant no harm! And if you go out now, you’ll reveal that you’ve been spying on them! Please reconsider!”
“Silence! How could their words just now be harmless? They were shamelessly slandering my future possibilities! I don’t care about spying anymore! I only want to do one thing right now: eliminate them all!”
“Especially that damned big-breasted fox, Lisbeth! I swear I’ll cut off her chest today!”
It seemed Lisbeth and Staros’s conversation had truly enraged Chris. Though Olivia and Hilda were pulling with all their might, Chris was on the verge of breaking free from their grasp. Both Olivia and Hilda knew that if they let go now, Lisbeth and Staros would surely perish.
With that thought, Hilda and Olivia quickly took a deep breath, intending to continue placating Chris. But in the next second, as Lisbeth and Staros’s conversation played out once more, their hands, which had been gripping Chris so tightly, suddenly let go.
****
“Lisbeth, what exactly do you mean by that? There’s no way the Demon Lord’s chest will remain perpetually flat like a washboard, is there?”
“No, to be honest, it might be even more tragic than that…”
Lisbeth spoke, instinctively covering her face. “You see, Chris truly put in a lot of effort before. She tried medication, exercise, even drank milk daily, but nothing ever worked.”
“So, I can personally guarantee that this so-called growth potion will be utterly useless for her. Otherwise, her chest wouldn’t have remained so stubbornly undeveloped all this time.”
“Hey, Alex, don’t say any more. You’re about to expose your identity.”
Upon hearing Clotilde’s warning, Lisbeth instinctively covered her mouth, thinking, ‘Ah, shoot. I almost blurted it out.’
“R-really? The Demon Lord is truly that unfortunate?”
Fortunately, due to her shock, Staros didn’t seem to notice the implications of Lisbeth’s words. Furthermore, Staros nodded, not harboring any doubt regarding Lisbeth’s statement.
“But seriously, I actually do think the Demon Lord’s chest will probably never grow larger. After all, us demons develop very early, and if there’s no progress by around ten years old, then after that, well… sigh…”
As if mourning Chris, Staros sighed, then continued. “But no matter what, the Demon Lord is at least still trying. Then look at that damned glasses-wearing Olivia; her chest is as flat as the Demon Lord’s, yet she’s completely unconcerned, as if resigned to her fate.”
“If only she tried a little harder, she could surely create a potion to make chests grow larger.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, her chest is indeed quite small.”
Lisbeth spoke, slowly recalling. “Though I haven’t met her many times, her chest certainly isn’t large. However, the old hag’s chest, on the other hand, is enormous. What a shame she’s an old hag.”
“No, no, Lisbeth, Head Maid Hilda doesn’t look old at all, so why do you always call her an old hag?”
Staros voiced a question that had long puzzled her, as Hilda, by all appearances, seemed to be around twenty years old in human terms. Yet, upon hearing her, Lisbeth shook her head.
“No, no, she only *looks* young. Who knows how old she truly is. And I dare say, even if I slipped the potion into her food, it wouldn’t cause any changes. After all, she’s already an old hag; no matter how much her body decays, it won’t change much~”
“Hahahaha, you shouldn’t say such things, Lisbeth.”
Hearing Lisbeth, Staros burst into laughter, then continued. “But never mind, let’s get back to the matter of testing the potion. Even if the Demon Lord truly can’t use this potion, at least it can benefit me, can’t it?”
“I already told you! Who cares if you benefit or not! If the Demon Lord could benefit, I might actually consider it. But I’ve already made it quite clear! Her chest is already… whump!”
Just as Lisbeth was about to retort further, a fierce impact slammed into her back. Before she could even regain her bearings, a chilling voice echoed from behind her.
“You two… you two have truly tremendous gall…”
“Ah… ah… A-a-a-a-ah…”
Gazing behind them at Chris, now completely enveloped in a shroud of black aura, both Lisbeth and Staros began to tremble uncontrollably. Driven by primal survival instinct, Staros hastily waved her hands.
“D-Demon Lord, please listen to me! Things aren’t as you think—”
“Silence… Today marks the death of you two wretches!”
“A-a-a-a-ah!?”
On that day, Lisbeth and Staros learned what true hell was like.