Suddenly, Girabat stopped mid-sentence and let out a strange noise.
Thin, black, slippery tubes had entered both of his ears.
Frozen in astonishment, the boy and the other slaves ran their eyes along the tubes to see that they were connected to Vandalieu's tongue.
“... I suppose just the nerves and sub-brain will do for now," Vandalieu said, speaking surprisingly clearly despite the fact that his tongue had extended and
transformed into the Demon King's proboscises from halfway down.
The tubes swelled, and something began pouring into Girabat.
"Stop... it..." Girabat begged desperately, with cold sweat oozing from every pore in his trembling body, tears and saliva dripping from his face. But in the
next instant, he became expressionless and began speaking quietly and clearly. "Testing, testing, my name is Girabat, err, I'm Girabat, y'know? I suppose
that's close enough?"
As Vandalieu's proboscises were removed from his ears, Girabat wiped the small amount of red-grey liquid dripping from them with a sleeve and gently put
the little girl back down into her seat.
"Girabat-san! What's the matter?!" one of the men outside shouted.
"It's nothing! Hurry up and get back to work!" Girabat shouted back in a slightly flat-toned voice, and then he climbed back out of the carriage.