Four incredibly ugly humans entered Maou's super clean hall. Every nook and cranny was absolutely spotless and the ugly humans could do naught but be fascinated by the maintenance of the place.
"Wow, this place is so clean! It is as if my very soul is being purified just by being here!", said the ugliest of the four, the one who stood in front of the others.
"You are welcome, disgusting heroes, to my prided abode that my super-skilled butler takes precious moments out of his precious life to maintain, just for me. I should be more thankful to him and increase his sala.."
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"I don't pay you anything anyway but let's also cut your meals down to once per day.", Maou concluded.
"Please forgive me, master!", Buer the butler kowtowed.
"Anyways, relying on these guys is useless. I'm supposed to be educating Dom in how to deal with heroes so even though the story is a little out of ordinary, I'll try to be as objective as possible in my delivery."
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Maou sat on his throne, waiting for the next challengers. Buer had told him that there was a hero party coming so he had gotten into a nice sociable grey suit. He liked the baffled looks on the heroes' faces so it had become sort of a habit to do different outfits occasionally.
As the door began to open, he took his position; one leg over the other, right elbow on the armrest of the throne and his face resting on its knuckles. Lastly, he half-closed his eyes, completing the look of disinterest. Four humans emerged from the now open doors. The one in the front had brown hair and wielded a longsword. From one glance Maou could perceive that the sword was heavily enchanted to boost its attack power.
Two of the others were female humans, one archer and one ranger while the last member of the party was male and tall; enough to tower over all the others.
A mix of humans and a smaller species of giants, perhaps?, Maou discerned.
"Maou! I am the hero, William!", The brown hair man shouted since the hall was so big, "and today, I'm gonna whoop your ass!"
Maou noticed with Farsight the glee on the face of the hero. He was clearly a summoned one and hence should have the Hero class. And though his impression leaned towards the 'Bad' 'Summoned' side, he did have one male member in his party, so maybe there was a chance.
Whoop my ass, huh?
"My ancestors had too much pride and little care of utility. Alas, it has come to this, that I cannot hear what my guests speak from the other end." Maou said without effort but his voice was audible in every corner of the massive hall.
The party of four, understanding what the Demon Lord implied, moved to the middle of the hall after a few moments of deliberation.
"Closer, if you could. Unless you want to keep shouting every sentence?", Maou said with the same disinterested expression.
"You're luring us to a trap, aren't you!", shouted the ranger.
"Sorry, could you repeat that, a little louder?", Maou said, even though he could hear her perfectly using Enhanced Hearing.
"YOU'RE LURING US TO A TRAP, AREN'T YOU!!??", The brown haired Hero William shouted the same thing, louder.
Not very bright, is he?, Maou wondered.
"Well, if I had to set a trap, I could have done it at the door. Why would I place it all the way here?", Maou sat up and casually pointed at the golden doors the party had left behind.
William walked forward with a stern expression before any of his party could retort at Maou.
"Will!", The half giant shouted at their leader but he kept on putting one step forth the other.
He finally came to a stop at a distance of 5 metres from the Maou. The throne was at an elevated platform so the two were at the same eye level.
"Is this enough for you?", Hero William pointed his longsword at the Demon Lord in front of him, "Or would you rather have this cutie jammed in your throat?"
Maou finally smiled, unable to resist his amusement at the man. He stood up, taking the chance to look down on the Hero.
"It's a pretty sword. But that's all it is; pretty.", Maou walked the handful of steps down the platform dramatically, his eyes shining a violet hue, "I can see that it has been enchanted to the brim..."
Maou walked to William who was a couple inches taller. Maou outstretched his hand to meet the tip of the sword but didn't stop walking.
“But it's brittle.”
Disintegrate.
The blade turned to dust where it met Maou's hand. He walked a little further till half the sword was gone and put his hand down, leaving the Hero to stare at the gone blade in disbelief.
"WILL!", His companions shouting his name from behind brought him out of his stupor.
"Even though I could have killed you right now, your comrades haven't moved from their place.", Maou whispered softly.
William peeled his eyes off of the shortened sword and looked back towards his party. They stood there with concerned gazes.
"It's because they trust me.", William replied after turning back to Maou, his hand gripping the half-sword turning white.
"As I'm sure they do.", Smiled back Maou.
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It may not come to a fight after all, He thought.
"Seeing as your sword is now useless, I'm sure you'd need to re-supply before coming back to fight. Why not join me for tea?"
"You are--"
"And before you accuse me of having some kind of scheme in mind, let me tell you this: I have no use poisoning your tea for two reasons- one, I'm sure you have Poison Resistance, and two, I don't need poison to kill you."
"Buer, arrange some snacks for my guests!", Maou clapped and shouted to the side, first time raising his voice. A small rectangular table appeared to their side with a nice wafting smell of cookies. Next to it stood a man in butler's clothing.
William glared at Buer the butler with hostility, then his eyes widened as if he had finally realised what had happened. He looked towards the Demon Lord with a confused look and finally stared at his sword.
"How is it possible?", He muttered but Maou heard him.
"The thing with your sword, you mean?", Maou talked as he inconspicuously led the bewildered Hero to one of the chairs. "It's a Skill called Disintegrate. I'm sure the effects are obvious from the name and from what you've seen."
Buer the butler soundlessly poured tea for two and placed it in front of the occupants of the table.
"You can use Skills!", William slammed the table but subconsciously held back enough so as not to spill any tea.
Maou smiled and took a cookie in his hand.
"There's a lot that you don't know about this world."
"What is that in your hand?"
"Oh this? It's a cookie. Try it out. It's an absolute delight.", Maou's smile broadened.
"You know, this is the first time I have seen a cookie after coming to this world."
"Hmm.. Is that so?", Maou took a bite out of the cookie in his hand.
Taking his cue, William picked it up as well and put it in his mouth.
"It's good."
"Hmm.. You should say that to my butler here.", Maou replied.
"Good job, butler." William said in a dismissing tone.
"It is Buer, guest of master. And I am glad it suits your taste.", Buer the butler bowed.
"Say, butler. Where did you get that uniform?"
"It was developed by master.", Buer the butler gave a short answer, clearly offended by William's way of speaking.
"That grey suit as well. You're not a simple Demon Lord are you…?", William looked back at Maou.
"I perceived you as a man who couldn't take hints, but even you can do it if I make it so obvious, isn't it?", Maou amusement reached its peak.
"You're doing some evil experiments by capturing heroes, aren't you!?”, William started abruptly and pointed at Maou, “You evil as fuck Demon Lord!!! Extracting the hero system from their bodies, extracting food recipes and fashion from their brains!! You evil bastard!!", He slammed the table again, with enough force to cause all items to go flying.
In his disbelief, Maou failed to even notice the tea staining his new suit.
"Master, I believe this creature is below any measures of human intelligence. I recommend immediate annihilation.", Buer the butler whispered in his master's ear. Somehow, he did not get a single speck of cookie powder or even a teeny-weeny drop of tea on his clothes.
“Buer. Leave us.”, Maou spoke with Command.
Buer the butler bowed and disappeared wordlessly the next moment, and right as he did, “Why did you offend my butler?”
“Because your butler is a demon.”, William answered calmly. He sat down again and put the half-sword on the table, “All the enchantments on this thing are not gone.”
“...”, Maou just looked at William.
“There is an enchantment on this sword that notifies me if there is a demon nearby, ringing harder the more powerful it is. I thought it broke when you used your Skill but for some reason, it rang crazy in my head when your butler appeared. I wonder why it wasn't the case for you.”, William said, leaning back into his chair.
“Well, I guess I didn’t require to do all this farce then.”, Maou smiled again, knowing William had reached the conclusion he wanted.
“Oh no. It certainly helped. I agree that I’m slightly slow in that I didn’t notice it before but I understood you were a summoned Hero when you said you could use Skills. That kind of plot twist is very common back on Earth, you know. I was a fan.”, William picked a cookie without minding that it was on directly on the table, and took a bite, “So tell me. How does a Hero end up as a Demon Lord?”
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“And pray educate me, oh mighty Demon Lord, in the ways of the world.”
“How about an equal exchange, Hero William?”, Maou recommended.
“And what is it that you want from me?”, William raised his right eyebrow. He was proud that he could control them independently.
“Did you watch N@ruto, in your world?”
“Oh, I absolutely loved it!”
“Suberb! Another hero had told me the story(I used to watch it before I came here)! Unfortunately, he(I) was summoned a few episodes after the start of Shippuden. I dearly wish to hear the rest of it!”, Maou admitted with eyes shining brighter than the stars.
“Just a sec.” William turned around, “HEY GUYS!”
“WILL! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!!?”, the half-giant screamed.
“YOU GUYS HEAD BACK. I WILL SETTLE THINGS HERE BY MYSELF.”,
Maou closed his ears. He regretted telling them they weren’t audible across half the hall.
“YOU SURE!!??”
“YEAAAHH!! JUST GO!!”
William’s party members turned around and after a few moments of discussion, left.
“See? Trust.”, William smirked.
“As I’m sure it is. Now begin! You have no idea how long I have waited for this!”, Maou urged with impatient overtaking his usual calm demeanor.
“I hope you don’t have anything important planned, Maou.”, William leaned in, “Cuz tonight is gonna be a looooooong night.”
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“Whooooaaaaa…”, Dom exclaimed at the end of the story. As much as he loved his uncle’s adventure stories, he loved more the stories of how his father made new friends with different heroes.
William had lost interest and was going against Buer the butler in a battle of wiggliness for eyebrows. Somehow, he had lost ten out of ten times.
“I swear you’re cheating somehow!”, William shouted.
“I demand Mr William not accuse others of cheating when he, in his overconfidence, does not even bother to verify his opponent's capabilities before he challenges them to a duel.”, Buer the butler remarked.
“Did you like the story, Dom?”, Maou ignored the two of them bitching at each other.
“Un!”, Dom nodded big time, but then he turned serious, “Dada?”
“Yes, son.”
“Hu ij N@luto?”, he asked.
“Ah that. He was a homo sage in your uncle’s world.”, Maou replied after a bit of thinking.
“Wat ij a Omoshej, dada?”, Dom inquired.
“Homo. Sage. Homo is a man who likes other men, romantically. And sage.. Uh.. well, it is a title given to a great person.”, Maou explained. He deliberately used a misleading word like ‘title’ since there was no easy way to explain the meaning to Dom in original context.
Dom furrowed his brows. He understood Sage was a Title the System awarded to someone who did something big but he didn’t understand Homo. Was it a Class? Or maybe it was an ‘abstract concept’ that his dada used to call things like ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’.
“Dada, ij Omo good?”, Dom worded his question to the best of his ability.
“Well.. It’s not really my place to decide. I personally have no issues with whomever someone chooses to direct their affection towards.”
Dom nodded with hesitation.
“But you know, that reminds me. Do you remember Dom, how I told you that every male Hero will always have female party members?”, Maou asked.
Dom nodded. His father would often mention that.
“Well, there is one exception to that rule. And that is when the Hero is a homo. Only once ever have I encountered a homo Hero.”
Dom’s eyes brightened hearing that, “Story, dada!”
“Haha, I will. But some other time. Uncle Will has come from very far. Why don’t you go play with him for now?”, Maou decided it was better he separated Will and Beur first before they started wrecking the place.
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Supplementary teachings:
Buer is a shapeshifter demon of an incredibly rare and powerful subspecies that is proficient in spatial magic. It is the caretaker of the Demon Lord's castle and takes the appearance of a butler under Maou's command.
Buer the butler: Master, tea?
Buer the cat: Meow!
Buer the Snorlax: zzzzZZZZZZ……
Buer the busty brunette: Hey there, handsome. *wink*
Interesting Fact 1: Once upon a time, before Buer was Buer the Butler, it used to live by eating anything it could lay its shapeless tentacles on but once it learnt how to shapeshift taste buds, it got addicted to demon food.
Interesting Fact 2: Buer has its main body elsewhere, the location of which only it and Maou knows. Its main body is tasked with surveilling many key positions around the castle by shapeshifting several eyes and ears and constantly keeping several spatial portals open.
Interesting Fact 3: When Maou kills a hero party, he lets Buer the butler teleport the bodies to its main body where it analyses different organs. Over several years, it has learnt to shapeshift a basic version of the human brain and use it for parallel processing. This is how it is able to maintain its job as stated in Interesting Fact 2.