"So, you're suggesting that all I need to do is ensure there are sufficient resources to produce metal sheets like that?" Selena clarified, gesturing to the storage containers behind her. I brought this item here some time ago while I was waiting for her.
"Yes, and you need to make sure it is flawless. There should be no issues with the sheets, as they will serve as a wall and therefore need to be sturdy." I explained.
"Yeah, yeah, that doesn't sound that complicated," Selena said, dismissively nodding.
"Until you see how fast this thing works," I said, grinning and tapping the machine's glass top.
"What? How quickly will it print one sheet?" Selena inquired, raising an eyebrow at me.
"2 minutes."
"Wha-what!! I've seen 3D printers at work. There is no way this thing will only take 2 minutes to make one 9-square-meter metal sheet." Selena responded, perplexed by my blatant lie to her.
"Normal ones will take longer, but I made this one," I said, boasting a bit.
"And what? You're some genius or something?" Selena said sarcastically.
"I learned most of all this from Doc and his wives," I said, shaking my head.
"Wives? Like multiple?" Selena responded, tilting her head towards me.
"Yeah, like Uwe has. Now that I think about it, I know multiple people with more than one wife. Huh, interesting." I muttered thoughtfully.
"Why are you calling Dad by his name?" Selena asked curiously, but her facial expression told me something else.
"It's a bit strange for me to do that because I've only been adopted for a month."
"Then call him the Demon King."
"Ah, he doesn't like that, though," I said, raising an eyebrow.
"I am sure he would like it more than being called by his name by a halfling," Selena said, making me sigh in annoyance.
"Didn't Uwe talk about not calling me that?" I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, trying to hide my annoyance.
I don't mind what people call me, but Leah and Lina said they're different, so this is more problematic than it should be. I sighed and returned to setting up the program for Selena.
"Are you going to cry to our daddy if I don't stop calling you halfling?"
"No, but if I understand our society correctly, you need to listen to me because I am stronger than you," I said, making her grumble in anger.
"You were lucky." She said this, fuming and crossing her arms.
"Whatever you say, why do you hate halflings so much? I mean, something must've happened for you to be like this." I said, gesturing at her.
"Why would I tell you?" She said this, looking away.
"Well, I am sure Leah and Lina don't know, otherwise, they would have most likely told me the reason or at least hinted to it," I said thoughtfully.
"Why would they tell you about my personal life? We only adopted you about a month ago." Selena raised an eyebrow at me as if I were crazy.
"Well, I might look like this, but I am older than you and have gone through more problems in life than you have. As I mentioned earlier, the fact that you haven't disclosed your mental state to Leah or Lina may lead you to believe they have a lower opinion of you. Same with you. Just don't talk to any of your siblings about it." After explaining the situation, she looked at me as if I was crazy once more.
"Hahaha, this is just bullshit. What do you think you can read me now, huh, because you're mistaken? There is nothing wrong with my mental state." Selena chuckled before escalating her anger and brandishing her sword at me.
"Says the girl who is holding a knife to an innocent girl," I uttered, my gaze fixed on her blade aimed directly at me.
"Ugh, so what? My problems have nothing to do with you," she said, taking her sword away again.
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. Right now, I am your boss. You pay attention to me, and I need to know how to increase your productivity so that my work and the project we're working on can progress more smoothly. You get it. Also, I am new. Although we don't know each other well, we can trust each other more than strangers because, in a sense, we are family. Me being adopted or not." I explained honestly, sighing, realizing that she had truly considered my words before responding.
"So, what does that mean?" Selena replied, narrowing her eyes at me.
"Did you know that talking about your problems makes understanding why and how to move on easier? I am a stranger, someone who has nothing to judge you on. So, talk about yourself." I said not to answer her directly.
"Tsk,"
"Come here, place these containers here, and then insert the start of the string into this little thing here. It's simple to do. Also, if the print appears to be crooked, stop it and check what is wrong. If you don't understand, call me. I will be here somewhere." I provided her with an explanation while preparing the first container and arranging everything else.
How many sheets can one container produce? Selena inquired, standing in front of the 3D printer.
"18 or 17. Also, do be careful. Each box is like 300 gold." I said I was thinking hard.
"What!? That much for only one!" Selena exclaimed, baffled, spinning towards me.
"Yeah, so don't mess it up," I said, teleporting a chair behind me before sitting down.
"What are you doing?" Seelan said, narrowing her eye at me again.
"I need to see if you will be fine or not." I simply answer, taking out my tablet.
"I will be fine."
"Then start," I said, not looking up at her.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Press the enter button," I said, not hearing her start after a while.
"Right," Selena said, nodding and pressing the enter button on the laptop connected to the 3D printer.
"So, you are going to tell me what happened to you?" I looked up from the tablet as I spoke.
"Again, why should I?" Selena spoke, concentrating on herself.
"Well, I need to know you before I can understand you."
"Then ask me to tell you about myself,"
"Ah, that's true, but please keep your concentration on the printer," I said, reminding her about her job.
'Though she doesn't really need to worry about missed prints, that won't easily happen. It stops on its own when the scanner senses it, and the demon's technologies are years ahead of ours, so it really won't be a problem.' I thought, reminding myself of how I reacted when I found out how good their tech was. That was really embarrassing on second thought. I was a little kid in a candy store. Even though I wasn't in a store, I was running around in the castle.
Facepalming, I breathed out, calming myself.
"What the hell was that?" Selena replied, looking confused at me.
"I just remembered something quite embarrassing," I said, looking away.
"Ah, right… You know what? Why don't you tell me about yourself first? Then I will tell you about myself. Maybe I will."
"That will make more sense. So, I am a half-demon that came from the human world. My parents abandoned me at a young age."
"Oh, so you really are half human and have human power? That is some luck," Selena said, whistling.
'That's possible? I didn't know half-demons could get human powers. This also explains why people don't stare at me strangely when I teleport. I thought I understood even more about the demon society.
"Well, it's actually because my powers are only of S rank that they abandoned me."
"What? Seriously?" Selena said, baffled.
"Yeah, I still don't understand why, though." I mean, I can knock out a guy with an active A-rank enforcement power in one shot. I am also excellent at duels. I don't lose those easily." I boasted about my accomplishments, causing her irritation.
"And now you are boasting," Selena said, annoyed.
"What? You wanted to know about me, so I am telling you about myself." I said it innocently.
"Right, telling someone how strong you are is telling them more about yourself."
"Fine, I guess you have a point there. After I got abandoned, I lived in a warehouse that I built to fly in the upper atmosphere."
"Ah, so you did something like we are doing right now?"
"Yes, sort of. I always had the original ground that I just built on, and when it was half destroyed the last time, I still had most of the warehouse, so this will be the first time I made it out of scratch," I explained, looking at the platform proudly.
"I see, so I've got some genius tech sister now," Selena muttered, nodding to herself.
"Uh, I guess. Is that a compliment or not?" I said, a little confused at her sudden change of character.
"It depends on what you will be doing with all your knowledge," Selena said, getting serious again.
"Demon tech is way more advanced than human tech, so I need to catch up more." I simply said that, making her nod.
"But you were more advanced than human technology, weren't you, or am I reading too much into it?" Selena asked thoughtfully. Selena said it thoughtfully.
"Huh, I was, but... never mind. Even though I was more advanced, demons were still ahead of me."
"I see, that's good to know," Selena said, nodding and smiling proudly.