Entropy's Servant

Chapter 35 - Uniforms

Hello everyone, Astaroth here.
Uniforms have many purposes. Oftentimes, they're used to breed a sense of unity, whereas other times, they're used to mark people as belonging to the same organisation, or even to cause fear or a feeling of security.
Personally, I just rather like the way they look.

In the end, although Rhud fulfilled its promise and delivered the sheaths within 24 hours, the swords found themselves ownerless for a while as Crowley appeared to be keeping the children captive in his room.

The amount of effort it'd take to console the swords wasn't worth the marginal benefits, so I opted not to.

By what may have been some manner of cosmic coincidence, the events 'Alpine's claw techniques reached a useable level' and 'the children's outfits were finished' overlapped.

This coincidence manifested itself in the form of a Ghost Maid approaching me during Alpine's training once again.

"You've done well, Alpine", I said, loosely placing a hand on its head as I turned my attention to the Ghost Maid.

"Speak", I told her.

"Sir Crowley would like to see you", she responded after a respectful bow.

"Is that so", I said before gesturing to Alpine in the Ghost Maid's line of sight. "Tell the chef to make Alpine some food. Use an especially large amount of meat--she's earned it."

Alpine's twinkling black eyes and full-faced doggy smile might've been cute if it weren't for the fact it had its tongue slackly out of its mouth and was, as a direct result, drooling on my shoes.

"Move along, now", I told it, and it quickly pursued the Ghost Maid, who was already leaving.

A different Ghost Maid courteously decided to wipe my shoes, and once she was done, I left for Crowley's office.

"You wanted to see me?", I asked as I opened the door and scanned the room.

Crowley was sitting behind his desk, though he got up the moment I entered, and Amarant was sitting on top of it, in the same place as it had been a few days ago. It seemed that was its standard position.

I was slightly surprised by the fact that the children were nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, Lord Astaroth, you've arrived", Crowley said as he bowed with his hand over his chest.

I doubted how much he'd considered the action, given his forehead made direct contact with his desk and it looked rather painful, but I decided not to pay it any mind.

"So it seems", I said.

"I have requested your presence because I finished the uniforms", he explained as he walked over to a wall covered by a cloth hanging from a metal rail.

I assumed it was a changing room.

He had a somewhat excited smile on his face as he raised his hand, and his tail whipped back-and-forth excitedly.

As a result, he somewhat reminded me of a dog.

Before he could open the changing room, however, a thought struck me, so I decided to interrupt him.

"Crowley."

I raised a hand to stop Crowley as I spoke.

"Hm?" The tilt of his head might've been cute, had he been a girl.