The Demon Lord's Summoning Has Gone Wrong

6 - Pain and the Demon Lord Calculate Spending

Pain stood in front of a closed-door, staring at a sign. There was something written on it, and he squinted as he looked at the letters.

"Nope, still can't read them," he said aloud as he opened the door and walked in.

He entered the castle's extensive library and began to walk through the room. The shelves of books seemed to tower to the tall ceiling like they were skyscrapers. Pain felt that he would get lost if he tried to go deeper into the room. It looked as if the shelves went off into the distance where only shadows could be seen.

The center of the library was opened up, and several tables were scattered in the spot. At one of the tables sat the Demon Lord, who was only visible from behind a large stack of books and papers due to her horns sticking out above them.

"Oh, hey Charlotte."

The Demon Lord stopped what she was writing and peered out from behind the books. She had a pair of glasses on, and her hair was pulled back. Upon seeing Pain in the room, her face turned red, and she slid back behind the stack of books. She shuffled around for a moment before she stood up and walked over to where Pain was; her glasses and tied back hair had disappeared.

"What are you doing here? The sign said, 'Do Not Enter,'" she demanded.

"So, you wear glasses huh, I would have never guessed."

"Don't bring that up!" Her face was red for a minute. She had made sure for many years not to let her subordinates see her wear her glasses.

"Anyway, you guys never taught me to read your language,"

"Darn, I forgot that the summoning magic only lets you speak it."

"Yeah, magic seems to be only semi-convenient for things like that."

"You will start getting lessons immediately!" The Demon Lord declared. She did not want a repeat of this moment in the future.

"So, do you just like to work here in private?" said Pain, who was more interested in what she was up to that required her to keep others out.

"I have important Demon Lord matters that need to be completed by the end of every month, so I take up a day each month to work on them."

"So, paperwork? That seems like a lot to do in one day, though?" Pain said while looking at the giant stack of papers. The Demon Lord tapped her index fingers together.

"Well, it builds up over the month, but it has to be done by the end..." she said softly while looking away. Pain began to laugh. "Hey, don't laugh at me!" the Demon Lord snapped at him.

"Sorry, Sorry," Pain said as his laughter finally began to die down, "I just never expected that you would be one to procrastinate like this," he said, finally calming down.

"It's not funny... the work is just tedious... I have other important matters to take care of..."

"Hey, I was always like that back home. No worries," Pain said with a smile, "So, is there anything I can help with?" he offered.

"Help with?" She was surprised. The Demon Lord would not have expected him to offer to help.

"Yeah, I'm sure there is something I could do,"

"I don't need any help from my subordinates."

"Well, I'm supposed to be the Dark Commander; helping out like this seems like something a second in command would do."

"You only seem to remember you're the Dark Commander when you want to do something... Why do you even want to help?"

"I dunno, you let me run around this castle doing whatever I want most of the time; I might as well do something to help, right?" Pain said as he rubbed his head's back and avoided looking at the Demon Lord's face. He had been in this world as her subordinate for several months at this point and thought he should help her out a little. He figured he could at least manage something with paperwork, even if it were just sorting it into stacks or carrying it.