As for the ability to communicate with Spider Lily, Jean only discovered it one day while strolling along the Sanzu River, when a small flower happened to wave at them.
Having seen so many various demons, monsters, and ghosts from the Eastern and Western allied regions lately, Jean didn't pay too much attention and walked up to interact with the little flower.
Well, that did it; all the Spider Lily along the Sanzu River turned towards them. Only then did Jean realize that these flowers weren't ordinary plants at all, but living beings that had already gained sentience.
Jean then performed various movements, and the Spider Lily followed along, swaying in unison, giving off quite the feeling of having a hundred followers responding to a single call.
Thus, Jean would come here every day to lead the patch of little flowers in doing exercises together.
The way these flowers expressed their intelligence was quite different from ordinary creatures. After making some inquiries, Jean discovered they were actually the first person capable of communicating with the Spider Lily. Of course, it was also possible that Jean was simply the first one to take an active interest in these little flowers.
---
However, none of that was important. Jean had no particular goal other than coming here to cultivate their sentiments. Since the exercises were finished, Jean cradled Humphrey and headed back toward the Samghata Hell.
This was the base of the Third Division, which managed daily operations, and it was also the world where Hozuki originated—an Eastern-style hell.
A vast number of souls flowed through here, experiencing the Eight Hot and Eight Cold Hells according to the requirements of their worlds, washing away the filth and imprints stained upon their souls, so they could return to the mortal world in a purified state.
Put simply, it was like performing a factory reset, which was the primary business of almost every Underworld.
For souls with excessive intensity, restoring purity and erasing memories was a very difficult process. Therefore, those willing to abide by the Underworld's rules would remain to live in the Underworld, while those unwilling would be suppressed.
Of course, those who were sufficiently outstanding would be absorbed into the system, but that was only a small portion; the vast majority of the staff were still the original inhabitants of this Underworld.
And this Samghata Hell was primarily inhabited by female Oni.
Unlike the man-eating Oni that Jean had slain before, the Oni race here belonged to a human subspecies, similar to the existence of the Demon race. Furthermore, they weren't as terrifying as depicted in scrolls; many of the Oni were actually quite beautiful.
"Ara, Lord Jean, I've just made some roasted chicken. Would you like some?" Miss Oukou, the person in charge here, walked over holding a plate.
"Hey, Oukou, you can't give Lord Jean food from the Underworld!" Humphrey shouted.
"But Lord Jean comes here to eat often, doesn't he?" Oukou tilted her head in confusion.
"Wh-what..." Humphrey looked completely shocked. It was quite amusing for a cat to have such rich expressions.
"It's fine; the trace of death energy in the food no longer affects me."
Jean smoothed the cat's fur, then picked up a piece of chicken and tasted it. "Mm, it's delicious." Then, Jean casually fed a piece to Humphrey.
"Ah, seriously. Humphrey is being held by Lord Jean again. Even though she's already a Great Yokai, he still makes a living by being cute every day. That's truly enviable."
At this moment, a fox-girl working there walked over, served two cups of tea, and teased Humphrey while looking at him.
"What are you saying, meow? As a cat, why would I need to change my appearance? You guys are the strange ones. Why must you, as a fox, insist on turning into a human?"
"Eh, isn't it more convenient this way? Besides, as a cat, why do you speak human language?" Faced with Humphrey's rebuttal, the fox-girl felt a bit annoyed.
"Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow..."
"Hm? What did you say?"
"That is exactly why I speak human language, because you can't understand it when I speak cat! And cats turning into human form, foxes turning into human form, birds turning into human form, even dragons turning into human form—do these guys have any pride in their own species at all!"
As expected of the feline race that even the Prime Minister of the UK would scoop poop for, this pride was truly commendable.
"Although I'm not sure how it is in other worlds, here, the Xian (Immortals)—an evolved race of humans—originally created the most methodologies, which were used to create even more Xian. As a virtuous cycle, a vast number of spell abilities required a human form as a condition for release, so other races all aspired to become human-shaped. Races like the Oni also gained quite a few benefits because they were naturally human-shaped. Later, no matter which race rose to power, as long as the general environment wasn't destroyed, this phenomenon would likely continue."
Oukou explained. As an old acquaintance of Hozuki and having lived for over a thousand years, she was quite persuasive.
"Eh, I thought it was set up that way when the world was created." Jean was slightly surprised; after all, no matter where one went, almost everyone was a humanoid creature.
"That might also be the case, it's just that we are unable to discover it."
---
Just as Jean was chatting with the young ladies (?), Humphrey's phone suddenly rang.
This communication tool, which fit completely inside her cat ear, was said to have been specially made for her by a cat-lover in the Research Department.
"Mm, mm, I understand. She's right next to me. Yes, we'll head back now."
"Lord Jean, the visiting delegation has arrived. They are looking for you over there now."
"Visiting delegation?" Jean then remembered what Meido had mentioned. However, they had said it would be within a month, so Jean hadn't expected it to be less than a week.
After saying goodbye to Miss Oukou, Jean followed the staff teleportation array and returned to the office.
At this moment, Miss Meido was already waiting there.
"They've already arrived?" Jean asked.
"They will arrive in approximately 3-4 hours."
"Oh, oh, so there's still time." Jean breathed a sigh of relief.
"No, there is no time left. You surely aren't planning on attending wearing that, are you?"
"Eh? Is it not okay?"
"Sigh." Miss Meido sighed and said, "Although this outfit of yours was handmade by Lady Shiraori and is quite valuable, it is a combat uniform. May I ask what the meaning is of wearing a combat uniform when receiving a visiting delegation?"
"But it can also serve as formal knight attire, can't it..." Jean looked at the knight's uniform they were very accustomed to wearing.
"Please come with me immediately. Specialists will take your measurements to create a formal gown for important occasions, and the corresponding makeup will also need to be prepared."
Being led by Miss Meido into an opaque room, Jean, who was currently having their body data measured in detail by a group of maids, asked Miss Meido:
"Who exactly am I meeting in a while?"
"The other party is the co-research partner for the upcoming project. The person coming is also their number one figure: the Chancellor of the Jura Tempest Federation, Rimuru Tempest."
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