Chapter 17: Azalea

"...Haaa...Nio...why aren’t you here...nghh...why did you have to leave...haa...haa...nghhh...you could have just stayed in the palace and let us handle everything" Azalea rubs herself against a life-sized doll of Nio as she spreads pheromones throughout Nio’s room in the palace.

Taking advantage of her master’s absence, she indulges herself a little in the room Nio "always" uses. She does this to feel better about herself, enjoying the sensation of the bed and Nio’s scent in the room.

"You could have stayed here. Why does it feel like you want to vanish from us?" She complains, squeezing the doll tightly. The pheromones she’s spreading are so dense you can see noticeable shifts in the air.

"Azalea-sama, the apostles from the other floors are dissatisfied with the current rules. They all want to go out. Since the palace is grounded, the fact that at least three must remain here means dissatisfaction from at least three is inevitable."

"But other existing restrictions are falling alongside these, so most of them can’t leave anyway..." A servant speaks to Azalea. Despite trying to maintain control, her legs are trembling completely.

The maid is struggling with all her might to resist the pheromone seeping into her brain and making her feel deeply strange within herself, but as a mere servant, she keeps professionalism above her comfort.

"...The dissatisfaction of those worms doesn’t matter. Would they dare disobey Nio? They wouldn’t be insane enough to entertain such an idea. Nio gave orders, and if she gave orders, everyone must obey whether they like it or not." Azalea squeezes the Nio doll with such force that its eyes bulge forward, nearly popping out.

"...They know they must serve her with their bodies and souls. What they want matters little, especially in a context as dire as this, where the palace has fallen into unknown territory. They’re lucky to even have their own floors to tend to. Nio was generous enough to let them modify their floors to their liking."

"They should be satisfied." Azalea’s tone is harsh. She doesn’t take well to the fact that everyone wants to leave. However, there are reasons why many want to go out for a while. After all, despite the palace being an incredible residence, it’s also an "uncomfortable" one in several different ways.

The problem isn’t the palace. It has a pool, a restaurant, a theater, a leisure area, a general cafeteria, a combat arena, a laboratory, a miniature private beach, and everything anyone could want. But it also comes with the company of the other apostles, and some don’t like the others.

This makes them want at least a few weeks away from those they dislike. Azalea, on the other hand, simply couldn’t care less about any of them, so for her, living inside, outside, or even under the palace is of little relevance.

"...Azalea-sama, some of them...are asking if they can at least have humans or any other race for ’entertainment’ or testing." The servant insists while Azalea rolls her eyes.

"Whatever. Tell them they can find remote, isolated villages and kidnap the humans... I bet Nio wouldn’t care." Azalea makes a bet that doesn’t hold up, because Nio wouldn’t allow it. But since Nio doesn’t know anything, everything is kept as if she had permitted it.

"Just tell them not to draw attention. If they draw attention, I’ll deal with the problem myself." Azalea threatens them while tenderly stroking the doll, spreading more pheromones into the air.

"U-Understood..." The servant practically drags herself out of the room, having endured the "contaminated" air Azalea created relatively well.

As the servant closes the door and immediately collapses onto the floor, staying there, Azalea turns all her focus back to herself.

"How strange... Nio, I don’t understand why you left the palace... You’re so lazy. More than half your time is spent sleeping, another big chunk is spent fishing, the rest is you giving orders, and one percent of your time is actual work."

"So why did you leave the palace? Did we do something wrong? Are you angry?" Azalea wonders, finding Nio’s attitude strange.

"You love this palace so much. If it fell, it makes no sense for you to have left it. Normally, you’d stay in it until it returned to the skies... Unless something made you want to leave... Are you... running away from us?" Azalea reaches a dangerous conclusion, which intensifies the pheromones in the room, creating a dense purple and pink fog.

The pheromone cloud is so thick you could literally cut it with scissors into little cubes and stack them if someone tried.

"No, hahaha. Of course not. The great Nio, running away from her pathetically weak servants? I bet you’re just frustrated with our shoddy work. Sorry for the mistake... We shouldn’t have let the palace fall." Azalea speaks in a more serious tone.

"...Yes, the castle’s battery... there was only one, wasn’t there? It was super rare. We don’t have any good substitute capable of lifting this entire island off the ground and keeping it flying..." Azalea breathes her own pheromones deeply. Even though they have no direct effect on her, she still enjoys it.

"Battery... if I get a new battery, would Nio be happy?... Hmmm... Haaa... a battery of that caliber is impossible for me to obtain. Even Nio apparently took a long time to get a single one of them." Azalea rolls on Nio’s bed, thinking about what to do.

"Battery... battery... it’s something curious. It makes me wonder where Nio got the first one. Nio was always coming and going out of nowhere with various valuable items. She also talked a lot with us, her servants... But many things were her plans to be part of the story and to kill monsters and enemies." The way Azalea remembers Nio matches things that happened in the game, but for her it wasn’t a game. It was her reality, and the Nio of that reality is the Nio of now.

"If I collect a lot of useful information, Nio would be happy, right? If she’s happy, she might reward me. If I’m rewarded, I can get what I want... Yes, it would be good to gather more information autonomously and personally."

"...But what a shame. Since Nio isn’t here, she won’t breathe in my pheromones... nghhh... what a pity. I’d like to see what would happen with this intensity right now... Dragons are so resistant. Would she resist?" She rubs herself more intensely against the doll, squeezing it with such force that its eyes pop completely out, breaking the "toy."

"I should make something to drink. Maybe a cup of tea." She rises from the bed, gathering all her belongings and storing them in her inventory, now that she’s lost interest because the room has lost Nio’s scent.