After deciding to step out onto the negotiation stage himself.
"Can you hear me?"
Chief of Staff Akamond's voice was transmitted through the necklace I wore.
"All your conversations and actions will be seen by us through that necklace."
"Yes."
The bomb necklace did not serve only as a bomb.
"We will not say a word, but all your voices will be transmitted to us as they are. Even the sights visible through the necklace."
A small camera equipped with a recording function.
Even fitted with a bomb.
"How does it feel?"
"It feels like magic is truly amazing."
"...It truly is."
Chief of Staff Akamond let out a hollow laugh.
"There are other executives here. Some are itching to watch your actions, and some haven't even come out here."
The voices of the other executives could not be heard.
"And even the Vampire Princess is watching directly."
But if I thought of the current negotiations as being shown to the entire Vampire Legion, then I had all the more reason to try harder.
"Cross that dimensional gate, and you will be right in the Barony of Gilbert."
I scanned my surroundings.
In case adventurers might jump out from the other side, succubi stood by to protect me, and even Lilith was on standby to use magic.
"Ready?"
"All possible preparations are complete."
That went for the quickie as well.
Before coming here, before donning my suit, I had a quickie with Eris.
"The rest, I will show through my actions."
"Good. ...Hm?"
Chief of Staff Akamond spoke with someone.
"Indeed... The commander of the 3rd Battalion speaks. Asking if you are going out with nothing but the name 'Azazel'."
I did not know who the commander of the 3rd Battalion was.
But the fact that he knew the name was encouraging.
"Is there a problem with my name?"
"You have nothing but your name."
"For a demon, isn't a single name enough to clearly reveal one's existence?"
"That is also true, but the opponent is human. We all have family names as well. It is just that we value the self more than our surnames, so we go by our given names."
"...I didn't know that."
To think the demon race all had their own family names.
Well, a surname is something inherited from the previous generation.
"Indeed. If I put forward a family name, it seems I could pressure even a noble baron."
"That is so. So what I mean is, your... what was it. Ahem."
Suddenly, Chief of Staff Akamond coughed.
"Your... how about using your old surname?"
"...?"
I thought, 'What is this all of a sudden,' but I was a man who could read the room.
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff. I discarded my surname the moment I knelt before the Vampire Princess. I am no longer who I was before."
The surname from my days as a modern human was still a surname, so it was not an incorrect statement.
'To think he would look out for me this much.'
Chief of Staff Akamond had tried to package me as coming from a noble house.
If it were revealed later that I was of commoner birth, there would be political damage to him as well, yet he had defended me before the other executives.
"But if a surname is truly necessary, might I humbly request one that I may claim before humans?"
"...Hrm. You ask the most important thing all of a sudden."
As if this answer was unexpected, silence followed for a while.
"That is... ah, the Vampire Princess has spoken."
"The Vampire Princess...?"
"She says you may decide your own surname."
"..."
Something incredibly enormous, political, and complex seemed to flash through my mind.
A family name.
If I took a name decided by a certain executive, it would mean being tied to that executive.
But if she told me to decide it myself, it was the same as the Vampire Princess granting me the autonomy to create my own surname.
"I understand. Thank you."
I nodded lightly and stepped forward.
* * *
[At that moment, in a certain room of the dungeon in the forest on the outskirts of the Barony of Gilbert.]
"..."
Baron Gilbert, together with over ten knights, gazed at the gray mist and surveyed the dungeon's rather spacious chamber.
There were no monsters.
They had already been cleared away by the knights.
All that was there were a single table placed in the center, and two chairs.
A makeshift wooden table and chairs that could not be said to be used by nobles.
Baron Gilbert was displeased by the very act of sitting in such chairs, but he was not one to spend a lot of money on something that would break anyway.
Consideration for the opponent?
If there were such consideration, the opponent would sit in such chairs, he supposed.
The opponent was a demon to begin with.
A demon wouldn't sit properly in such chairs anyway, and even if it did, it would probably break the chair with a thud.
Perhaps it would sit on the table like a stool.
The preparation of such a table was merely a formality for show.
If the legion over there truly wished to talk, wouldn't they at least send a demon?
He could not accurately guess which legion it was, but if it were a specific legion, he could only hope it was the Vampire Legion or the Demon Legion.
At least, negotiating with magical beasts or undead would be problematic in many ways.
"What ridiculous thoughts I'm having."
Tick-tock.
It was time.
Lost in thought, the appointed time had drawn near before he knew it.
Whirrr.
The dimensional gate flickered.
Something could be clearly seen crossing over from beyond the dungeon, and the knights pointed their swords at the dimensional gate from behind him.
Clack.
A dress shoe emerged.
Baron Gilbert could immediately tell that these were no ordinary dress shoes at a glance.
Rustle.
It was a black suit, but he could tell at a glance that the fabric was far more meticulously crafted than what he was wearing.
And the face.
Wearing a mask, but with its head held high and scanning left and right, an unidentified—
"Demon."
Baron Gilbert calmly pointed ahead.
"Do you wish to negotiate?"
"..."
The demon walked toward the chair with leisurely steps.
As if unaffected by the threat of the knights pointing their swords at it, it sat facing the baron with extreme calm.
"Who are you?"
"Before introducing myself."
What flowed from inside the mask was somewhat similar to a human voice.
"You are Baron Gilbert. Is that correct?"
An all-too-natural condescension.
It was impolite to the extreme, but Baron Gilbert quickly looked the demon up and down.
"That is correct."
An old-fashioned suit.
While it gave a classical feeling, it was clothing that likely cost a fortune to commission.
At the very least, it was no low-ranking flunky.
Just the blood-red magic stone embedded in the necklace around its neck looked like a highest-grade magic stone crafted with tremendous artistry.
"I see. As I heard, you look manly. Huhu."
But he wouldn't be fooled.
Demons were beings who only said what humans wanted to hear.
"Are the subordinates by your side trustworthy?"
"What?"
"Are they the sort who may hear what is said here?"
The masked demon gestured around.
The knights furrowed their brows in alarm, and Baron Gilbert was no different.
"Are you trying to drive a wedge between me and my knights?"
"Drive a wedge? Did it sound like that? Strange. The humans of 'before' were different."
"...Before?"
Baron Gilbert felt a chill run down his spine.
Could it be that this demon had negotiated with humans before as well?
"Well, it's in the past, so there's no need to bring it up now. So, are you willing to negotiate?"
"...Jake Gilbert. My half-brother."
Baron Gilbert asked.
"What has become of him?"
"He is alive."
"..."
"But if you wish, he can become a 'dead man'."
"..."
In that moment, Baron Gilbert recalled the letters he had carefully kept in the lord's office of his castle.
"...Knights."
"Yes, my lord."
"All of you withdraw, leaving only Sir Philip."
"Yes?!"
"We cannot!"
All the other knights raised their voices, except for the man called Philip.
"Who knows what trick that one will use...!"
"My, my. I was under the impression that knights are those who serve their lord with loyalty; are you knights not following your lord's orders?"
Baron Gilbert felt like applauding the demon's words for a moment.
Naturally, beneath the surface, those knights were worried about Jake Gilbert, with whom they had been close.
That was precisely why they must not hear the specifics of the negotiation.
Only a knight who could be allowed to hear it should remain, one who wouldn't blabber about it carelessly—
Or lie to his comrades about it.
Fortunately, Sir Philip was 'his man,' capable of both.
Clack, clack.
The knights left.
They all looked at the masked demon, tilting their heads in puzzlement, but did not sheathe their swords.
Clack.
After the last knight left the room, the masked demon placed both hands politely on the table.
"Then shall we have a more intimate conversation?"
"A moment."
Baron Gilbert raised his hand to stop the demon.
"Who are you?"
"Me?"
"Correct. I am Blake Gilbert. The head of House Gilbert, and the half-brother of Jake Gilbert, whom you hold hostage. ...Who are you?"
"If I were to speak of myself..."
In that moment.
"Dandelion."
Baron Gilbert felt that the eyes behind the mask curved like crescent moons.
"Azazel Dandelion. The 37th Patriarch of the great Dandelion clan, and one who serves the great lord of our legion."
"..."
"And simultaneously, one who has been granted full authority over the negotiations with you by my lord."
The masked demon, Azazel Dandelion, fidgeted with the red necklace around his neck with his hand and continued.
"Depending on what you desire, I am someone who can save Jake Gilbert, kill him, or lock him away forever in our legion's underground prison."
"...!"
"What do you want?"
Even while knowing that a devil's whisper must be sweet in order to bewitch a person.
"A benevolent lord who wishes to kill his half-brother but cannot kill him directly, wishes to discard him but cannot, is unable to rescue him due to unavoidable circumstances, yet desires to rescue his half-brother with all his might?"
"..."
"If you wish, I can make it so as much as you desire."
The demon.
The devil whispers sweet temptation.
"I, Azazel Dandelion."