Bribed by the Demon Lord Right Before the Ending

■ Eva □

Following Eva, the centaur, we arrived at a campsite where regular soldiers were stationed.

Unlike the noble officers of the kingdom’s army who always bring personal chefs to the battlefield, it seems that even the officers of the Demon King’s Army eat the same food as the regular soldiers.

A long line had formed for ration distribution, and it was filled with various races.

Starting from the stereotypical common demons with hard horns on their heads, advantageous for activity in such polar regions were beastmen and demihumans, imps that looked like young boys, and halflings of small stature all waiting patiently for their turn.

While the humans of the kingdom often refer to non-elves and dwarves as “demons” for convenience, when broken down into specifics, there are many different kinds.

“We’ll have to wait in line too.”

We followed Eva to the end of the long line.

Then, soldiers who recognized her greeted her warmly.

“Hello, Lady Eva.”

“The line is pretty long. Would you like to cut in front of me?”

“How about we go grab a drink sometime? I know a great place.”

Perhaps because of her caring personality, everyone treated Eva, the officer, with familiarity.

To be honest, this kind of reaction was quite unfamiliar.

Weren’t soldiers and officers supposed to be programmed to dislike each other from birth?

From the perspective of someone who has been to the military twice, it felt like the common sense I had inside me was being contradicted.

Eva, slightly embarrassed but still conversing with the soldiers, seemed to notice us standing beside her and introduced us to the nearby soldiers right away.

“This is Mr. Partarth, dispatched from the Demon King’s Castle. He’s a lich capable of using up to Penta spells.”

At this, exclamations of admiration involuntarily escaped the soldiers’ lips.

“Wow! Finally, we can uncork the lids!”

“Those damn mole brats! They’re done for!”

At this, Camilla, the only one among us who lived far from war, tilted her head and asked,

“What does ‘uncorking the lid’ mean?”

I shrugged my shoulders and explained,

“It’s a common military slang. It refers to completely collapsing an enemy trench with a single magic spell.”

Though it might seem useless to build trenches in a world where gunpowder weapons haven’t developed, they surprisingly served a purpose.

Here, mages take the place of firearms used in modern warfare.

In a world still dominated by cold weapons, there was nothing better than tunnels to avoid the rain of fireballs and magical showers from above, naturally leading to the development of trench warfare.

Normally, they would exchange spells and arrows while observing each other, and if the enemy appeared weakened enough to win, soldiers would charge forward with spears and swords. That was the typical trench warfare tactic.

Back in the romantic age of several hundred years ago, knights and mages would duel individually, and all the glory would go to the victor. How did it come to change so much?

Camilla didn’t seem to fully understand even after my detailed explanation, but since these things are best understood through direct observation, we decided to move on.

As we waited our turn for rations, idly chatting, finally it was our turn.

“Eat heartily!”

A demon soldier said this while generously serving a vegetable stew packed with ingredients onto the plate I held.

The smell unique to mass-produced food stirred memories of past PTSD.

Two boiled potatoes were added, but due to the cold weather, they were half-frozen and frankly didn’t look very appetizing.

“Let’s head to my tent.”

We moved to Eva’s tent together.

Was it custom-made for her as a centaur? The entrance of Eva’s tent was notably larger than the others.

Inside the tent, a tall table greeted us.

“Please take these chairs.”

She handed us two chairs that had been left in the corner of the tent.

It seemed she usually ate standing like a horse.

Naturally, a round table setup formed with the three of us sitting around it. Eva already looked forward to eating with anticipation.

Swinging her shiny tail, she began explaining the evening menu.

“We’re quite lucky today. In such cold places, getting fresh vegetables is quite challenging. We’ve been able to enjoy this luxury because the supplies from the rear arrived only a few days ago.”

Despite the working environment where complaints could easily arise, seeing her carry on steadfastly made me feel tears welling up uncontrollably.

People who can find happiness in such small things are truly precious.

After muttering briefly, “Let’s eat,” Eva was the first among us to scoop up the stew filled with carrots and eat it.

“Hmm~”

No sooner had she taken a bite than a natural exclamation escaped her lips.

She seemed to love carrots immensely, being a centaur.

Anyway, just as I was about to remove my mask to take a bite, Eva spoke.

“Come to think of it, wasn’t Mr. Partarth a lich? Yet you received your rations…”

“Ah.”

That’s right. That was the concept.

I belatedly remembered that undeads don’t eat.

“That… well…”

Even if I somehow managed to fumble through this, there was a high probability that the information would reach Dorothea through Eva, her adjutant.

Having judged this far, I awkwardly scratched the back of my head and said,

“I just somehow felt like I should receive it since everyone else was doing so…”

At this, Eva, happily slurping her stew, chimed in,

“Yeah, I totally get that. When others are receiving something, you somehow feel like you should too!”

“…What should I do?”

On the first day of deployment to the eastern front, I couldn’t reveal that I was actually Grand Mage Caldlasth, who had been wrestling with their supreme commander every day.

Because if Dorothea found out, it wouldn’t just be inconvenient—it would be something more serious.

After some deliberation, I handed over my untouched vegetable stew to Eva.

The two lost boiled potatoes went to Camilla.

“Farewell, my beautiful dinner.”

While shedding silent tears inside, I maintained composure and said casually,

“I can’t eat, so please have this instead, Eva.”

At this, Eva stopped mid-bite and asked in surprise,

“Is that really okay?”

“It’s better for someone to eat it rather than waste it, isn’t it?”

Given how much the soldiers loved her, she was certainly qualified to enjoy my dinner.

“Mr. Partarth…!”

Eva looked at me with an incredibly moved expression.

No, showing such a reaction over just a bowl of vegetable stew makes things difficult for me.

As I was flustered inside my mask, Eva suddenly grabbed both my hands and said,

“I won’t forget this favor! If you face any inconvenience while living here, don’t hesitate to come to me! I’ll do my best to assist you!”

“Ah, understood.”

Caught off guard by her overwhelming enthusiasm, I unintentionally let out my real voice instead of my usual tone, but the highly excited Eva didn’t seem to notice anything suspicious.

Feeling somewhat disinterested, I subtly signaled to Camilla, who was nibbling on the stew.

Sure enough, Camilla took the potatoes I gave her aside.

She planned to eat them comfortably later in our tent without anyone watching.

After successfully committing the perfect crime, I waited until Eva finished eating the vegetable stew with a satisfied smile.

“Phew~ I always felt a bit unsatisfied with the standard ration portions, but eating as much as I want feels like this!”

She tried to savor each spoonful of the stew, but eventually, the anticipation became too much.

After finishing her own bowl first, Eva picked up the vegetable stew I gave her with both hands and gulped it down like rice porridge with a sound of “Gulp gulp!” She then placed the empty bowl on the table with a satisfied sigh, “Krreugh…” sounding like an uncle.

“Thank you for the meal!”

Her hearty way of eating was enough to make even the onlooker feel full.

The next day after having dinner with Eva to strengthen camaraderie, I was startled by Dorothea’s call, which came much earlier than expected.

“What is it? What’s the matter?”

Nothing specific came to mind.

There hadn’t been any major accidents, and the previous night had passed peacefully without encountering the enemy.

Surely, it couldn’t be because the two potatoes I secretly roasted at the campfire were spotted by a passing soldier.

With all sorts of random thoughts swirling in my mind, I entered Dorothea’s tent, where she greeted me leaning against her pet dog Toto, dressed properly unlike yesterday.

When our eyes met, she smiled wickedly, characteristic of someone with a bad temper, and said,

“I apologize for going back on what I said yesterday, but there’s something urgent you need to do.”

“…What is it?”

In response to my question, Dorothea pointed to her adjutant, Eva, standing on one side of the tent, and said,

“Partarth, mount Eva.”

It was an unexpected order.

But originally, soldiers don’t have the option to refuse.

“Alright, let’s give it a try.”