The New Residents of Las Vegas
The mage didn't even last ten minutes before fainting. The orcs, acting purely on instinct, were just stabbing the mage indiscriminately, but between their raw physical power and sheer numbers, they had pickled the mage in pleasure.
"Master, what should we do?"
"Ryun, how about you? That guy was aiming for you."
"Hmm... It's infuriating, but I think I would have dodged it right before he hit me anyway. And more than anything, since you saved me, I'm fine. Hehe."
Feeling proud, I patted Ryun's head. I wanted to fiddle with her ears, but I didn't want to show Ryun's horny side in front of others.
"Your squad is to keep doing Las on that thing. You're the Las-specialized unit."
I planned to arm everyone with bows if I could find suitable ones among the loot from Jabyaba, but for now, it was important to instill shock and awe in the humans.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.
The orcs were ruthlessly venting their rage on the unconscious mage. I let the sound of the orcs' pounding continue as I shouted at the humans.
"Anyone who resists will end up like this! Regardless of age or gender!!"
At my threat, several of the men slumped, their spirits crushed. The way they were moving their hands behind their backs with horrified expressions made it painfully obvious what they were thinking.
"There's still plenty of time left in the thirty minutes, but I have no choice. I'll open the main gate now. If you want to leave, get out of this city! If you don't leave the city after we've expelled you, there will be only one fate for you."
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.
"You know what I mean without me having to say it, right? Hehehe."
A short while later, more than half of the 671 people stood up and left the city under the watchful eyes of the orcs. Then, I scanned the thirty or so humans who hadn't left yet. Most were adults, but they spanned a wide range of ages.
"Why aren't you guys leaving?"
"You didn't say we could remain as residents of the city... We no longer have the strength to leave for anywhere else."
An elderly man closed his eyes with a bitter expression. "If you're going to kill us, just do it."
"I'll ask one last time. Do you really not intend to leave?"
"That is correct. Even if I die, I will die in my own home."
At the man's words, I nodded heavily. It seemed most of the others felt the same way. Strangely, there were also a few women who appeared to be around Lily's age. Could they not hear the thwacking sounds? I grabbed one of them and asked, and she bit her lip with a venomous glare.
"...Even if I leave here, it's the same thing if I try to settle down alone anyway."
"Aha. I see. Then everyone, stand up, new residents of Las Vegas."
At my command, the thirty humans stood up hesitantly. Pointing to the houses, I declared to them:
"From now on, you stand in front of your own houses. We won't touch those houses."
"...What does that mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
I spread my arms and gestured to the entire village. "Our guys are going to take over the empty houses one by one."
One house per family. Starting with Ryun, Eila, and me entering the largest mansion, the Las army occupied one empty house each in order of birth.
"A-are you really not going to take our houses?"
"You keep making me say things twice. Hey, there are empty houses overflowing right now, okay?"
I first distributed the houses to my subordinates. Most of the houses had only one or two rooms, and the orcs adapted to the humans' living environment quickly. They all seemed awkward but much happier.
'Anything is better than Gremory's Dungeon.'
A place where humans used to live was far better than some dilapidated land or a cesspool. Although about thirty humans refused to leave the village, it was a waste to kill them. So, I took the thirty humans with me to grasp the structure of Jabyaba.
"Where is the food warehouse?"
"It's this way..."
Near the river a bit away from the government office, under a windmill with a turning waterwheel, harvested wheat and grains were piled up. There was also a meat storage facility near the slaughterhouse, though the amount inside wasn't much.
"What do you guys usually eat that you only have wheat?"
"Sometimes we bake bread... or dig up potatoes and eat them..."
"Got it. Don't say any more."
A food culture on the level of medieval serfs. We weren't exactly in a position to talk, given that we had parties with slime mucus, but physical strength was an essential element for a fun Las.
"Have you guys ever tried roasting Harpy eggs?"
"......Excuse me?"
"I'll let you eat some soon. There's no delicacy quite like roasting them until the oil is golden and putting them between bread."
After experimenting with all sorts of supplies looted from the slash-and-burn village, that had been the most delicious. Though we had eaten it all up not long after.
Securing food ingredients was finished. Grains and vegetables harvested from the fields outside the stockade were the staple, and self-sufficiency was virtually impossible if we didn't keep farming. I led the residents and moved to another location.
"What about the armory?"
"The guards know. We... we don't know."
"Is that so? That's a shame."
The guards who resisted were all slaughtered, stripped of their equipment, and thrown to the Slime Dragon as feed. The guards who gave up resistance and surrendered simply returned their equipment neatly and left the city with the others.
"Eila, take your squad members and find the guard post. And use the equipment there to outfit the squad leaders first, then the orcs who haven't been equipped yet."
"Yes. I'll take care of it immediately."
Eila, wearing leather armor quite fitting for a guard captain, bowed her head. The original guard captain had been crushed into a bloody mess by me, so Eila had taken armor from another smaller-statured soldier instead. It wasn't just Eila; the other subordinates were the same. Orcs with large builds like me were still shirtless with only protective gear, but at least they were in much better shape than before.
Having given my instructions to Eila, I asked about the last facility I needed to check.
"Then, by any chance, is there a drapery shop? I heard spinning is the city's main specialty industry."
"...Well, there is one."
The middle-aged man measured my body, scanning me up and down. To clear up the misunderstanding, I immediately pulled Ryun over.
"Clothes for her and that female knight earlier to wear on a daily basis."
"Ah... If it's clothes for the ladies, I have plenty."
"Good."
We couldn't keep washing things with slimes forever. No matter how sturdy the clothes made through evolution were, it was bound to get boring if the same outfit was used for daily life, combat, and even in bed.
"Then, among you, is there anyone who worked as a weaver or in that field? I have something I need made."
"...I was the guild leader."
"...? You were a more impressive person than I thought. Then why didn't you run away?"
"I couldn't leave behind the facility that contained my life's work. ...If you burned it down, I would have burned to death inside it with it."
I wondered if he had stayed out of craftsmanship. Thinking it worked out well, I pulled a feather out of my pocket.
"Can you make clothes with this?"
"If it's a way of weaving feathers into yarn... the material seems quite good, but this amount is nowhere near enough. To weave at least one dress, you'd need hundreds more feathers like this."
"Is that so? That's how it is."
From today, the Andrases are all dead. I gave instructions to the old man.
"From today, you will contribute to the clothing production of our legion. You are to make clothes using these feathers. The residents behind you are the same. Whatever your original livelihood was, from today, you are all engaged in the clothing industry. I will not accept any objections."
"...Is that an order?"
"Of course. From the moment you became residents of a demon city, you should have expected this much. Hehehe. It's nothing. Right. You make up to the amount I specify, and if you make more than that..."
I shook the feather in front of the old man.
"Our human subordinates will take you as their representative and sell them to other cities."
"Pardon?"
The old man was flustered. I tucked the feather into the old man's arms.
"It's a waste to just make and wear them, isn't it? If the materials are sufficient and you make a lot, you should be able to sell them at a high price. Is there perhaps no commercial value?"
"A-ah, no! You could make high-end dresses, or sell them well as ornaments. You could even put feathers in them to make cushions or blankets. But... how could orcs sell goods to the Human Alliance...?"
"Whether it's human or demon isn't important. Anything that makes money and helps our legion, we can do. The most important thing in this city is..."
I tapped my chest firmly.
"Las."
"Pardon?"
"Correction. Sex."
"...Pardon?"
The old man's expression turned pale. Indescribable terror and astonishment settled on his face.
"Whether human, orc, or elf, even if it's any race, this city will become a city where anyone can share love freely. Well... of course, that's limited to city residents, and it doesn't apply to enemies or prisoners."
I pointed to the village square. At the fountain, on a temporarily made table, the mage was being mounted by orcs. Thwack, thwack. Not only Ryun's squad members but orcs from other squads also passed by the mage once after finishing their duties. Their clothes and equipment had developed significantly from the primitive tribe level, and they were wearing the guard's uniforms and weapons as they were. The orcs, having become proper soldiers, only thoroughly touched the prisoner mage placed in the middle of the square and did not touch the humans who chose to become residents at all.
Even when I encountered orcs patrolling while inspecting Jabyaba with the residents, the orcs only faithfully carried out their mission of gathering supplies from empty houses and storing them in the warehouse, without posing any threat. Rather, the widows were casting glances at Percival and Gareth. I didn't know whose children they were, but they were masters at stealing the hearts of widows with their handsome looks.
"Ahem. Anyway, while I am generous to my allies, I am a person who has no mercy for enemies who try to kill me or take my things. The fight between the Demon King's army and the Human Alliance doesn't matter. What I'm interested in is..."
I shoved my thumb between my index and middle fingers, hugged Ryun, and fondled her breasts.
"Just eating and sleeping with a pretty woman."
"...You are a person who really doesn't seem like an orc."
"You can tell if you look, can't you?"
I tapped my lower abdomen. "Oh, right. By any chance, are there any leftover clothes that I could wear? If it's the size of nobles who are usually fat and bloated, I should be able to wear them shabbily too."
"...There is no such thing."
"Tsk."
I was genuinely disappointed. I led the residents around and checked the village facilities again. There were nearly 300 log cabins with single rooms, and about 50 two-story or brick houses centered around the government office.
"Then rest for today. Well... I don't care if you run away in the middle of the night, but if you try to set fire to something or cause damage to our legion, I'll kill you immediately. If you're going to run, report it by saying, 'I'm leaving that village!' and go. Don't annoy me for no reason."
When my words ended, the old man asked me back with a genuinely dumbfounded face.
"...Is this really the end? Like burning human corpses to eat, or group ravaging and then slaughtering us, or working us like slaves until we die. Actually, aren't you going to call a black mage to cut open our chests and take out our hearts to perform a ritual to summon a high-ranking demon?"
"I don't do that to civilians. Of course, if you commit treason, I'll do things commensurate with that. Why? Do you want to? I'm planning to call a black mage anyway, should I do that for you?"
"A-ah, no. ...Then, what is the work we have to do starting tomorrow?"
I scanned the residents following the old man with my eyes. They were all following me and the old man, observing the true meaning of my words.
"Supplies will arrive tonight. You can work with that. Oh, right. Just in case..."
I threatened them first.
"Those of you who want to do it with the orcs can invite them to your houses separately, okay? Hehehe."
"......."
The women's faces turned sour. Most seemed full of disgust at the act of doing it with monsters. However.
"......."
Some of the older-looking women swallowed hard and cast sidelong glances at the passing orcs. Except for the green skin, they were all muscular warriors.
"It seems you guys are still misunderstanding... Don't just think of us as demons. My legion is, you see."
I smiled fiercely at the residents.
"Just like barbarians who came to loot your city."
If it seemed like we could protect the city, we would become an occupying force, and if we couldn't protect the city... 'We'd just loot everything, including the people, and leave.'
It didn't necessarily have to be Las Vegas here, did it? And there definitely had to be people who could make clothes. I lifted the extra Andras feather and held it up to the sky. The Andras feather reflected in the sunlight was dyed translucent.
"Our legion's color is black from today."
Black, through which bare skin shows.
"Master, what are you trying to make with that?"
"Your panties."
"......."
Black see-through panties are a matter of great importance.