The preparations for the banquet for searching a wife was going well. Suzuna also came to help after her club activities—the karate practice. She would also leave behind materials and provide information from that internet thingie. I have learnt their language with magic and so I can read their doc.u.ments.

And one day, a few days before the banquet, Suzuna came asking about something which I hadn"t thought about at all before.

"By the way, it has been bothering me for a while but, why are you dressed like a villager A even though you"re the demon lord?"

"Hmm?"

I reexamined my outfit. I don"t quite understand what she meant by the word "A" but now that she mentions it, I do kind of look like a villager.

"There"s no particular reason for it. I returned the monastery clothing when leaving, you see. And so I requested for some clothing from a village nearby. I did make some clothes from the fur of the animals I hunted when I secluded myself in the mountains but I thought that would be thought as weird when I come down to human habitations. And so, when descending the mountain, I created clothes with that villager clothing as reference. And I have been wearing similar clothing every since."

"Even though you"re the ruler of the world now?"

"Hmm, this isn"t particularly inconvenient so I didn"t bother. I was not going to conquer the world with my appearance, after all. The reason I am effectively controlling the world is solely because of my immense magic. There"s no reason to show power or dignity with clothing."

That is what I believe but… After pondering for a while, Suzuna suddenly turned to me and started speaking with an intense momentum.

"Listen, maou… there are things in this world, which are better off done even if they are not exactly necessary! And your outfit takes the topmost position out of those—people judge others based on their appearance, you know?! People will take you lightly just because your clothes look improper or cheap!!"

"People who make light of me because of that will surely regret it."

And just as I said that, Suzuna exploded.

"Noooooo!! That"s not it!! Listen here, women are—no, men too, whether they like the other person or not completely depends on the first impression!! And so, you can"t cut corners on your appearance, like your outfit or your hairstyle!! After that, the personality and compatibility matters but to first reach there, you need to go through the first checkpoint!! Do you understand?!"

"H-hmm…."

I ended up being pushed back by her vigor. No, I do understand what she"s talking about—her logic and what not. It isn"t like I am completely indifferent about those matters. At the very least, even I have the common sense of not coming down to the human habitats wearing fur since that would make me appear as a savage tribe or something.

As such, I thought it would be alright to be at a level which doesn"t seem repulsive to others but it seems like in case of getting a wife—or rather, in case of men and women love, it appears that won"t do.

Or so I was thinking but it seems like there is another reason behind Suzuna getting that excited.

"Do you understand?! Do you really?! Every time—every single time, getting turned away because of my appearance, do you understand that?! No matter now much I try to be stylish and fix my hair or care after my skin or lips, it all comes down to nothing because of this height!! I am not even considered as a target for romance!! I mean, there"s no way I can reduce my height so what do you want me to do?!"

…..Mmmm, it seems that Suzuna has ended up remembered all her painful experiences because of what I said. I feel bad about that. However, there"s only one thing I couldn"t understand.

"Suzuna, can I ask you one thing?"

"What?!"

"As you are now, you can easily reduce your height with magic, can"t you? While the magic for expanding and reducing one"s size is quite high level, it can be done and we have been seeing it as a basic magic for fairy tales and what not—I have used it a couple times as well. You have magic equal to that of mine and a high level of imagination power so I think it would be quite easy for you to shorten your height one or twofolds."

"Ah….."

It seems this is the first time she realized she could do something about her inferiority complex regarding her height. However….

"That"s no good. It"s a secret that I can use magic. I would be found out even if I reduce my height by 30 cms."

Hmm, I guess it is true, in Suzuna"s world where they no longer have magic, it would be weird if her height were to decrease.

"If so, how about you partic.i.p.ating in the banquet as well? In this world, there aren"t many people who know you to begin with and the ones who do know you also know that you can use magic so it won"t be weird. With your appearance, I am sure tons of people would come marriage or friendship."

After hearing my words, Suzuna became silent for a while but then before long, she gave a big nod and started speaking again.

"Right. It isn"t like I have to get married if I just partic.i.p.ate in the banquet. Alright, I will try it out!"

This partner searching banquet is only to get to know each other. If there"s someone I like, I will officially propose them after the banquet. I have also let them know that it is alright to reject me there. I want to respect others" wishes. Although I do think there will be rejections and proposals resulting from political views.

Either way, I am glad Suzuna is back to normal. Now then, what were we talking about again… Ah, my outfit, eh.

"Then, let"s get back to topic. We were talking about how my outfit is unlike that of a demon lord, right? Then, I will try changing it up a little."

Saying that, I tried to imagine demon lord-like clothing. I can easily change my clothes if I can just imagine its shape but… What kind of clothing is exactly demon lord like?

There were no references to demon lords" clothing in the folk tales I heard when I was young. It seems it is "a dreadful appearance" but what kind of an appearance is that? Also, wouldn"t it be inappropriate to have "a dreadful appearance" for the meetings?

If so, something demon lord like except that is…. Ohh, there was that one Suzuna showed me!!

And so, I tried changing my clothes immediately using magic but…

"Why that?!"

"You said demon lord like so I tried creating it with the picture of "Sneezing Great Demon Lord" you showed me before. There are similar clothing in this world too, you see. It is similar to the clothing the people in the desert areas wear. As such, these aren"t that weird. Although, most of the people living in those areas are believers of the prophet so the church might come complaining if I wear it…."

"Rejected! It is true, that was a great demon lord but a ridiculous one—I said so, remember?! It isn"t the kind of clothing you would wear to the banquet!!"

Mm, now that I think about it, she did say it was a "comedy" or something. Then, I will make something else. Last time when I went to her world, I looked at a few demon lords which come up in this anime thingie so I will try changing into that.

"Why the gakuran?!"

"Oho? So these are called gakuran, eh? The demon lord from that anime thingie called "Demon Lord from Today" or something wore this so…"

"That"s rejected too! That"s not a demon lord"s outfit, it"s a student"s uniform!! It is true that he was a demon lord too but he had it on because he wore it before going to the other world!!"

Hmmm, is that so? Then, other demon lord like outfits… Ohh, there was this other anime too. I guess I will try wearing that formal outfit the demon lord there was wearing.

"Wh what is that?! Like a employee in a hamburger shop… eh, don"t tell me?!"

"You also showed me this, it"s from an anime with a t.i.tle like "labor worker demon lord" or something and the demon lord there wore it when serving the customers at his workplace. It"s something he wore before dealing with customers so it"s formal, right?"

"Rejected!! That"s not formal, it"s work clothes!!"

"Mmmm, is that so? This is quite difficult."

Clothing is of no interest to me so I don"t really know what"s good or what"s bad.

"….Sorry, I guess the animes I showed you were kinda off too so let"s stop with the demon lord like outfits. Just make it like a normal royalty"s formal wear. That too of one which has a castle like this one."

Hmm, if so, then I can use the clothing of the prince of the first kingdom as a reference.

"How about this?"

"Wha—why tights and pumpkin pants?! Ah, I see, it"s similar to Middle Ages Europe so the formal wear of countries around here are like that…"

After being disappointed for a while, Suzuna looked up at me with blazing eyes.

"Alright, listen, I will choose and bring references of good clothing so just make it after looking at those!!"

Feeling her intensity, I unhesitatingly nodded.