Slow Start
Kain was slightly taken aback.
He had come out to greet Nahen and Seere upon their return from the 70th Floor, only to find a massive stone statue trailing behind them.
What in the world…
After all the incomprehensible and bizarre behavior, now they were bringing back strange objects. Kain greeted them with a faintly bewildered expression.
“Your Majesty, Lord Nahen. I am glad to see you have returned safely.”
“Anything happen while we were gone?”
“No, nothing at all… however……”
It seemed the unusual events had not occurred at the Demon King’s castle, but around Nahen. Kain glanced at the enormous stone statue following behind Nahen and asked,
“Lord Nahen, is that… a gargoyle?”
“You recognize it.”
“I understand they are a race that now numbers very few. Where did you find it?”
“On the 70th Floor. Don’t you think it would make the perfect gatekeeper?”
“Hmm……”
Kain surveyed the area around the Demon King’s castle before cautiously offering his opinion to Nahen.
“It seems far too large to serve as a guardian for the immediate vicinity of the castle.”
“Then it can guard a different gate instead.”
“Pardon?”
Nahen pointed at the gargoyle’s massive frame with his thumb.
“A gargoyle this size? Most humans would take one look and flee in terror, wouldn’t they?”
“Ah……”
Nahen was suggesting they use this gargoyle to repel human adventurers invading the 72nd Floor. Even Kain had to admit it was a reasonable idea. Gargoyles were known to grow larger and stronger with age; one of this size would easily be able to drive off ordinary human adventurers.
Nahen turned to the gargoyle behind him.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes, I heard it clearly.”
“Good. Gargoyle… by the way, what’s your name?”
“I am called Argol.”
“Right, Argol. I expect you to carry out your duties well. If you fail to prove your usefulness, I will dispose of you without hesitation.”
The stone statue seemed to flinch. Kain found himself impressed that Nahen could intimidate even a fearless race like this.
“I-I will keep it in mind.”
Kain gave the gargoyle a brief, sympathetic look before turning back to Nahen.
“But was a gargoyle of this size really on the 70th Floor? Why didn’t Andromalius make use of it……”
“It was guarding something important.”
“Pardon?”
When Nahen saw that Kain didn’t understand, he pointed at Seere. Only then did Kain notice that, in addition to her teddy bear, Seere was carrying one more item.
“…What is that sword?”
“It’s a demonic blade called the Sword of Blood Tears. I gave it to Seere as a gift.”
“What? A demonic blade? Surely you don’t mean the sword Andromalius used?”
“Not exactly, but it’s true that he was keeping it. It seems he didn’t know its proper use, though.”
Nahen gently placed a hand on Seere’s head and stroked her hair once, softly.
“It’s Seere’s first sword. I plan to start her lessons with it.”
“Swordsmanship training?”
“Yeah. It’s about time we began.”
They said it was best to start swordsmanship early. The foundations built in childhood would have a huge impact later on. That said, he had no intention of pushing her hard from the beginning. He would proceed at a pace suited to Seere’s stamina.
Once inside the castle, Nahen handed the visibly tired Seere over to Rea so the child could take a nap. Then he entered the office with Kain alone.
As soon as Nahen sat down at the desk, Kain asked carefully,
“Have you finished organizing the 70th Floor?”
“Yes, it’s done now.”
“What are your plans going forward?”
“How are things looking on the 69th Floor?”
Kain was slightly startled. It seemed Nahen had already considered everything in advance. The reason Kain had asked about future plans was precisely because suspicious movements had been detected on the 69th Floor.
“It has been confirmed that Dantalion made contact with Decarabia.”
In other words, the Demon King of the 69th Floor, Dantalion, was attempting to join hands with the Demon King of the 68th Floor, Decarabia. Nahen nodded as if he had expected it.
“…So that’s how it is.”
“Shouldn’t we take measures?”
“No. I intend to avoid direct military conflict.”
Nahen’s response was unexpectedly passive. It was so different from his attitude when attacking the 70th Floor that Kain tilted his head in confusion.
“Then what do you plan to do? If we sit back and wait, a massive alliance between the 68th and 69th Floors will form. We cannot simply let that happen, can we?”
“Of course we must prevent the alliance from forming.”
Nahen paused, seemingly lost in thought. The chair creaked as he leaned back. Though he was clearly pondering something, his expression somehow looked relaxed. Kain thought,
He must have a plan.
Kain waited patiently for Nahen’s answer. After a long silence, Nahen finally spoke.
“Looks like that’s the only way.”
“Pardon?”
“We need to shake Dantalion’s forces.”
“How?”
“The Demon King called Dantalion has a personality completely opposite to Andromalius. If you look at his forces separately, it’s fair to say that Dantalion’s personal military strength is actually weaker than Andromalius’s.”
If Andromalius was a brute-force type, Dantalion was closer to a strategist. He did not act selfishly, maintained amicable relations with his own forces, and knew how to use his head.
“But Lord Nahen, Dantalion’s forces are that much more powerful for it. He is not a foolish Demon King like Andromalius. The 70th Floor was easy to destabilize because Andromalius caused his own blunders, but you know the 69th Floor is not the same, don’t you?”
He wasn’t wrong. However, even a seemingly solid force could be shaken if what bound them together was not pure loyalty.
“Fortunately, Dantalion’s forces have one very distinct characteristic.”
“Yes?”
“There are a lot of merchants.”
While ruling the 69th Floor, Dantalion had stubbornly maintained one policy: extreme leniency toward merchants. It was a trait born from his belief that commerce contributed most to the advancement of social strata.
“Thanks to developing commerce, Dantalion and the 69th Floor have accumulated enormous wealth. With plenty of war funds, they also maintain a large number of private troops.”
This was such common knowledge that even Kain was familiar with it.
“Still, I don’t understand how you intend to make use of the fact that there are many merchants.”
“Do you know what merchants value most?”
“Well… credit, of course.”
“Exactly. Then wouldn’t credit be the most important factor for Dantalion and his forces as well?”
Kain narrowed his eyes slightly. He understood Nahen’s intention, but the chance of success seemed far too low.
“They have been trading with each other for countless years. How could you destroy their trust in a single moment?”
“I have no intention of destroying it in a single moment. To begin with, I’m not clever enough to come up with some grand, miraculous scheme.”
Nahen had a firm grasp of his own limitations. Thanks to the knowledge he possessed as a player and the memories that came with his possession, he may have seemed like a visionary until now, but in reality he had only been an ordinary university student. It was only natural that he couldn’t come up with the ingenious stratagems of famous tacticians from ancient texts. He could perhaps compensate for lacking schemes with brute force, but that wouldn’t work this time.
That was why Nahen intended to move slowly.
“I mentioned before that I plan to focus on Seere’s education and strengthening our internal affairs for a while.”
“You did.”
“It will definitely take time. I’m estimating at least five years at minimum. During that period, I intend to solidify our foundation here using the 72nd Floor and the conquered territory of the 70th Floor as a base.”
To demons, who lived far longer than humans, five years was not an especially long time. While strengthening their internal affairs and educating Seere, Nahen planned to very gradually dismantle the enormous mountain Dantalion had built.
“If we ruin Dantalion’s commercial policies, his forces will weaken on their own. The most effective method is, of course, the appearance of a rival faction.”
“Which means……”
“That’s right.”
Even if it began as a mere handful of sand, in the end it would become a mighty force. Nahen laid out a plan based on the build he had used when actually playing the game.
“We will become Dantalion’s rival faction.”
“But Lord Nahen, there are many problems—funding, supply lines, and more. The 72nd Floor also has clear issues with stability……”
“We’ll conduct business on the 70th Floor. And we won’t be the ones stepping forward.”
“!”
At Nahen’s words, Kain spoke with a tone of disbelief.
“You intend to use Her Majesty Sitri again?”
“Use? We’ll be asking for cooperation.”
“No matter how favorably disposed Her Majesty Sitri has recently become toward us, would she really take on such risk?”
“She will. Because it will be an offer that is quite attractive to Sitri as well.”
What part was attractive? Kain wasn’t sure, but for now he decided to trust Nahen’s judgment. Still, one question remained.
“Then how do you plan to handle the supply of goods and the merchants who will distribute them? With a safe trading partner like the 69th Floor already available, what merit would merchants have in coming to our side?”
“Why wouldn’t there be?”
Nahen smiled faintly. The 72nd Floor possessed a special characteristic that no other stratum in the Demon Realm had.
“We just need to sell goods that don’t exist anywhere else in the Demon Realm to stimulate the merchants’ curiosity.”
“……Pardon?”
“Conveniently, human adventurers keep invading us. We should make use of that.”
It was the only stratum where humans came and went. When Kain heard that Nahen intended to do business by making use of the humans who frequently attacked, he asked,
“…Are you saying you intend to sell the items looted from adventurers?”
“Just the items? No.”
Nahen’s eyes suddenly took on a different atmosphere. Kain looked at him with a sense of foreboding.
“We’ll sell the manpower too.”
“Lord Nahen, that is in many ways……”
“You think it’s problematic?”
Nahen shook his head.
“Humans kill our soldiers and slaughter our people. You’re not going to tell me we should feel pity for them, are you?”
“…Absolutely not.”
Although Nahen had originally been an ordinary person, in Evil Queen Maker humans had always been nothing more than annoying and irritating enemies. They were especially dangerous elements to the protagonist’s faction. There were even bad endings in which Seere was killed by humans depending on how well the stratum was managed.
Now that he had become a member of the Demon Realm, Nahen judged that there was no need to show mercy to the humans here.
Even if I show mercy, nothing good will come of it.
It might make him seem cold-blooded, but this was all part of the process to ensure Seere reached a perfect ending. Since seeing the ending offered the highest chance of returning to his original world, Nahen had no reason to hesitate.
“From now on, capture adventurers alive.”
“But Lord Nahen, our forces are significantly lacking for that.”
“It won’t be as lacking as you think. We only need to leave the minimum troops necessary to defend against invasions from the 71st Floor and redirect the rest.”
“Is that acceptable?”
“Sitri is now a trustworthy ally.”
He had tested her before and knew it to be true. The fact that she had kept Seere safe until the very end was proof enough.
“Capturing them alive is more difficult than killing them. Our side may suffer greater losses in the process. How do you intend to handle that?”
“The way to reduce casualties is simple.”
Nahen answered Kain plainly.
“Think of it as hunting, not defending.”
“Hunting……”
Kain pondered for a moment, then nodded. It was a gesture that showed he understood the meaning.
“I will convey that to Captain El Raza.”
“Good. Make active use of the gargoyle we brought back this time as well.”
“Understood.”
Kain bowed his head in acknowledgment. Nahen added one more thing.
“Once the merchants’ attention is sufficiently drawn, we’ll detonate the bomb.”
“When you say bomb……”
“I can’t tell you yet. Just know that it will be an incident more than sufficient to make Dantalion’s forces, who have been trading with those merchants, lose their credibility.”
“…Understood.”
By distributing goods that did not exist in the Demon Realm and the highly attractive commodity known as humans through adventurer hunting, they would draw the merchants’ attention. Using that as a foundation, they would gather funds and grow their own faction. Then, once they had grown sufficiently fat and trust had been established between the merchants and the 72nd Floor forces, they would trigger an incident that would destroy Dantalion’s credibility.
Naturally, Dantalion’s forces would weaken, and the 69th Floor would fall into decline. Once the 69th Floor’s power waned, even the Demon King of the 68th Floor, Decarabia, would have no reason to maintain an alliance with them.
This was Nahen’s plan to conquer the 69th Floor. It would take some time, but it coincided perfectly with the period when he needed to focus on internal affairs and education. It was a situation where he could carry out the necessary tasks while advancing the plan.
“This time, let’s take it slow.”