Demon Lord's Castle Reconstruction Plan (3)
The sky, blackened by the toxins and dust that blanketed the entire world, still held a faint light when dawn broke. A thin ray of sunlight slipped through the gap in the curtain blocking the tent's entrance, and the interior gradually filled with the sun's gentle glow. As the surroundings began to brighten hazily, Lusteria, buried in a fluffy bed and cozy blankets in sweet slumber, slowly opened her drowsy eyes.
Her violet eyes, still half-asleep and unfocused, started taking in the surroundings one by one, feeding light information into a mind that hadn't quite woken up yet. A candle burned down to a stub. Sunlight streaming in from outside the tent. A few strands of hair, tousled and slightly obscuring her vision. And her master, standing at the desk, busily writing documents. Her beloved master, so dignified and handsome as she devoted herself to official duties.
The moment that thought reached her, Lusteria jolted awake as if doused with cold water. Pat!
"Aaaah!!"
In an instant, she sat up and began assessing the situation. Her eyes darted around frantically to grasp her surroundings clearly, and the more her mind pieced things together, the more it felt like everything was turning white. This was an utterly despairing situation—one that should never have happened.
"You're awake, Lust. Did you sleep well?"
"Hnnngh… This can't be happening… Masterrrrr…"
Lusteria covered her face with both hands and buried her head in the blankets. It was the kind of sight that might make anyone wonder what had happened, but Neromeltia already knew the answer and simply smiled gently. Her loyal secretary was currently berating her past self and regretting her actions.
"It was such a precious day off that Artis made for us… I should have spent more wonderful time with you, Master… Hnnngh…"
"If it was yesterday, we spent time together right after you finished bathing, and we had dinner together too. I enjoyed it, you know?"
"You were just letting me stay by your side while you handled official business! You said you'd make time after dinner, but you didn't wake me…"
Neromeltia found Lusteria's childish whining in her great disappointment utterly adorable. She approached the bed quietly, sat on the edge, and began stroking her hair. As her master's fingers slipped between the strands of Lusteria's tousled locks and gently caressed them, the girl began to feel better despite her lingering disappointment.
"After dinner you said you'd just lie down for a bit because you were full, and then you fell asleep just like that, didn't you? I was looking forward to it too—after that night the three of us shared a bed when I met Beatrice, we've been so busy that we haven't had a chance to be intimate at all…"
"…Then… you should have woken me…"
"My precious subordinate, whom I cherish and love, was exhausted from her busy duties and fell asleep. Would a good master really wake her just to demand sex? I don't think so."
"…But still…"
Lusteria's voice grew wet with reluctant acceptance and lingering regret. In truth, it had been Lusteria who, after the meal, succumbed to drowsiness and crawled into her master's bed. It had also been Lusteria who, while Neromeltia briefly stepped out to receive Crawford's report, gave in to the temptation of the warm, soft blankets and pulled them over herself. The pleasant fullness in her stomach, the comfort in her legs and feet on the fluffy bed, her body relaxing in the blanket's warmth, and the beloved scent of her master lingering on the sheets and pillow—she had fallen asleep savoring all of it. If anything, she was the one who had made grand promises during dinner about spending a cozy night alone together and how lonely she'd been without her master's affection, only to fall asleep anyway. The kind master who hadn't woken her was certainly not at fault.
Lusteria fell silent, unable to continue. Neromeltia withdrew her hand from stroking the girl's hair and gently pulled the dejected little secretary into her arms.
"Let's look forward to next time. With such a pretty secretary right here, do you think I didn't want to touch you? Next time, let's enjoy ourselves until morning comes."
"…That's right! Someone like you who loves women so much must have been suffering even more. I was being so thoughtless."
Though Neromeltia found it endearing how quickly Lusteria accepted the explanation and even considered her master's feelings, one part of the girl's words bothered her. Just how did Lusteria picture her in her mind? Neromeltia pushed the uncomfortable question aside and deflected with a playful remark.
"Where did that shy, easily embarrassed Lust go? All that's left is this lewd version of you."
"…You're the one who made me like this, Master…"
Lusteria buried her face in her master's warm, soft chest. She closed her eyes, comforted by the sensation and fragrance of the voluptuous woman's body. For a while, she savored the peaceful rest, feeling the gentle warmth of her benevolent master.
"May I enter?"
"Of course. Please do."
At the sound of his liege's voice outside the tent, Crawford hurriedly straightened his attire and welcomed her. The moment he finished speaking, Neromeltia, his liege, stepped inside. Behind her followed her secretary Lusteria and her personal maid Beatrice.
"Your Majesty need not ask my permission. Please do as you wish."
"Hmm. Still, everyone has a private life. I can't just ignore that. It would be terribly rude if my dear knight happened to be whispering sweet nothings to his lady."
"That will not happen."
"Hmph. It may not now, but the future is uncertain."
Neromeltia muttered meaningfully and nodded to herself. She brought a chair from one side of the tent, placed it across from Crawford's seat, and sat down casually. At her gesture, Crawford offered a slight bow before taking his own seat. The desk between them was piled high with documents written in various handwritings. Neromeltia picked up one particularly poorly written report and waved it as she spoke.
"I don't know who this is, but tell them to practice their handwriting. With reports like this, it'll be hard to read, and your workload will double. …Ah, this one is quite good. The best by far. It looks like something written by royalty or a famous author—elegant and classical, very refined."
"The illegible one is a field report from the head of the civil engineering corps in charge of clearing the ruins. The one you praised is a goblin civil engineering corps performance evaluation report written by Goblin King Artis T. Painter."
"…I see…"
The document with its exceptionally fine handwriting and elegant prose. If it had a gold border and a large red wax seal, one might mistake it for a royal decree. Learning that Artis had written it left Neromeltia with complicated feelings. The same man who displayed such artistic talent—his paintings would have gone down in history if only their content had been wholesome—was also a master calligrapher. If only the content of his paintings had been wholesome, she would have let him pursue his beloved art to his heart's content. If only the content had been wholesome, she could have appointed him head of an art academy to nurture artists in the rebuilding Hemonigent. If only the content had been wholesome…
"The reason I have taken up your precious time by coming here is to give instructions regarding our future schedule."
"Please give your orders, Your Majesty."
"You are aware that we are severely short on timber and stone for the many construction projects ahead, correct? Starting tomorrow, I intend to leave the Demon Lord's Castle to procure them."
"Y-Your Majesty!"
Neromeltia raised a hand to stop the frantic Crawford from interrupting and continued with a triumphant expression, one finger raised and wagging. She didn't forget to add a lighthearted remark to ease his tension.
"I'm tired of paperwork. While searching for resources, I might as well scout the surrounding area. On the way, I'd also like to stop by Crimson Castle and check on how my bat friend is doing."
"Still… it's dangerous! At the very least, you should dispatch a scouting party from the Black Knights…"
"Ideally, I'd leave either Lusteria or Beatrice behind. That way, even if the dragon Kerdihak attacked, they'd be able to handle it. But both of them stubbornly refuse to leave my side, so I'll be taking them both. Does that still worry you?"
Lusteria, a pure-blooded succubus and daughter of the primordial archdemon Lilith, had mastered high-tier magic over the past thousand years despite her former weakness. Beatrice, an Ego Doll maid embodying the pinnacle of Hemonigent's advanced magical technology, had been developed with overwhelming combat capabilities prioritized over her duties as a maid. Even if only one of them accompanied Crawford, they could handle a dragon like Kerdihak. Neromeltia had deliberately mentioned taking both precisely to reassure him.
"If both of them will be accompanying Your Majesty, then I can rest easy…"
"Don't worry. Besides, what would take a scouting party three months, we—with our superior magical abilities—could accomplish in about a week. There's a clear difference in travel speed, and we can operate for longer periods, so the time required is incomparable. Moreover, while staying holed up in the base might seem safe, it's not the best approach. Securing resources quickly and rebuilding the outer walls to strengthen our defenses, even at some risk, would ultimately be the safer path."
"…Your words are most wise, Your Majesty."
Crawford bowed his head, finally accepting his liege's decision. Neromeltia knew exactly why he looked so downcast. This earnest knight was surely blaming himself, convinced that his own inadequacy was forcing his liege to endure hardship.
"Contact the magic management office in Under Barkus and have them assign several mages, along with soldiers to protect them. Form multiple patrol units of roughly one mage and four soldiers each. Once we depart tomorrow, deploy them to key locations around the Demon Lord's Castle to establish a surveillance network. If they spot an enemy, they should immediately report the danger to you via the Message spell. In a crisis, lead the citizens to Under Barkus for evacuation. If that's not possible, seek Artis's help and escape through the sewers."
"I will obey."
"It's because I have a capable subordinate like you that I can leave with peace of mind. Without you, I would have left both Lusteria and Beatrice behind and gone alone—and even then, I wouldn't have been able to venture far. I rely on you, Crawford van Eihart."
"…Your Majesty…!"
Crawford could not hide his emotion at hearing his revered liege say she depended on him. With that, Neromeltia had successfully lifted the spirits of her loyal knight. Of course, her belief that the capable, diligent, and meticulous Crawford would handle most matters well was genuine. But there was another reason she felt at ease.
Because any large-scale use of mana might be detected by Kerdihak in the Blue Moon and provoke an invasion, they had been unable to use high-tier spatial magic like Warp or Portal. Yet the massive purification magic circle spread across the Demon Lord's Castle area consumed several times the mana of such spells. Despite that, Kerdihak remained silent. Either the dragon had fallen into a long slumber, was preoccupied elsewhere, couldn't detect even such a powerful mana flow from the distant Blue Moon, or had perished in some incident over the past thousand years. What mattered was that no one had yet discovered the Demon Lord Neromeltia's resurrection or Hemonigent's reconstruction efforts. If even the God-King Odvolg had known, he would have immediately dispatched a hero via divine oracle—or sent other gods in the hero's stead—to strike before the Demon Lord's forces could properly form and gather strength.
'There's no need to mention that the chances of Kerdihak or the Humians invading are extremely low. I can leave without worry.'