Destroying the Sandcastle - 1
The days passed in a blur of internal affairs and meticulous preparations for the coming conquest of the 69th floor. Time waits for no one living a busy life; it races forward with relentless speed. Five cycles of blooming flowers came and went, followed by five bitter winters. Five full years had slipped by since the day radical change swept across the 72nd floor.
Despite the passage of time, a child with snow-white hair still wandered the gardens of the Demon King’s castle on the 72nd floor, locks fluttering in the breeze. She had been much smaller once, but children grow every single day. The Demon King of this place had shot up in height. Her two horns had lengthened as well.
“Your Majesty!”
“Hmm?”
It was Seere von Devata. Now twelve years old, the girl had grown not only in stature but in the elegant sweep of the two black horns crowning her head. Her once-round face had sharpened slightly, though traces of childish softness still lingered in her expression.
“Lord Nahen said he wishes to go somewhere with you.”
“Teacher?”
I wonder where he wants to take me.
“Let’s go.”
Since it was her teacher who had called, anywhere was fine with Seere. She beamed and followed the maid who had summoned her—Secily—whose fluffy fox tail swayed gently ahead.
In the garden, her precious teacher sat waiting.
“Teacher!”
“Ah, Seere.”
It was Nahen. He greeted her with a warm smile. Though she had grown considerably, she still looked like a small child to him, and indeed remained much shorter than he was. As she drew near, Nahen reached out and gently stroked her hair.
“Let’s go out for a little while today.”
“Huh? Where are we going?”
“Today is an outdoor lesson.”
At the words outdoor lesson, Seere’s face lit up with a bright smile.
“Are you taking me somewhere fun again?”
“Fun… I’m not sure it will be all that entertaining, but it is definitely a lesson you need to pay attention to.”
A lesson she needed to pay attention to. When Nahen phrased things this way, it almost always concerned the official duties she would have to handle as she matured. Seere’s eyes rolled in a little circle. Nahen immediately put on a deliberately stern face.
“You must learn it.”
Her quick-witted teacher had instantly noticed her subtle reluctance. With no escape, Seere gave a small nod.
“Yes…”
“Do you happen to know what day today is?”
“Huh? Um…”
Seere thought for a moment, then shook her head. She had taken to heart Nahen’s teaching that there was no shame in admitting what one did not know.
“Today marks the end of our exclusive sales rights for the artifacts. The original three-year contract plus the two-year extension—all of it concludes.”
“…Ah.”
“Which is why they contacted me today. They want to negotiate again.”
“What will you do?”
“What do you think we should do?”
Nahen turned the question back to her. When handling official matters with Seere, he rarely gave direct answers. Instead he posed questions, allowing her to think and struggle toward the solution herself. Thanks to this method, the girl—who had always possessed keen insight for her age—now displayed a breadth of vision and depth of thought far beyond what anyone would expect from a twelve-year-old.
More than anything, Seere did not dislike these lessons. In fact, she rather enjoyed them.
Because…
I get to talk with Teacher.
She could enjoy relaxed conversations with him. Still wearing an innocent, youthful smile, Seere answered.
“Is there really any need to respond to their request for negotiations?”
“Why do you say that?”
“The artifacts from the 70th floor have already begun to gain fame across the entire Demon Realm. We no longer need to rely on a handful of distribution channels. If we lift the monopoly, countless merchants will come forward begging to handle our goods.”
The weapons and armor produced on the 70th floor and distributed through merchants like Bennett had spread like wildfire through rumors. Their superb quality, reasonably swift production speed, and wide variety had caught the eye of every faction leader who cared even slightly about arming their troops. The other Demon Kings were no exception.
“Moreover, merchants who are unhappy about us supplying artifacts exclusively to certain firms have begun to voice their discontent. Maintaining the monopoly may not be the best choice.”
There had even been word that Dantalion, upon learning that such weapons were circulating from the 69th floor without his knowledge, had flown into a rage. Therefore, the correct path was to dissolve the monopoly and open distribution to other merchants.
“An excellent observation.”
“Hehe…”
Seere’s bashful little giggle at Nahen’s praise still belonged to a child. Yet she was steadily transforming into someone worthy of the title Demon King. Nahen, pleased by the change, offered his own thoughts.
“It is better not to maintain the monopoly, just as you said.”
“Right?”
“However, we should differentiate the volume we supply.”
Seere immediately inferred the reason.
“…To preserve the trust we’ve built with our existing merchants?”
“Exactly. The new partners will understand. They’ll know they haven’t yet earned the same level of credibility with us.”
“Then couldn’t we simply send a letter of notification…? Why go out in person?”
“There are other deals to discuss.”
“Ah…”
Besides the artifact trade, the 72nd floor oversaw one additional enterprise: the supply of human slaves. Although full-scale invasions from the Human Realm had decreased, there were still those who came seeking quick riches or attempting to rescue captives. Each time, Nahen supplied some as slaves and extracted ransoms from human nations for the rest.
The leaders of the human nations had naturally begun sealing their portals to the Demon Realm. In response, Nahen had proposed a bold countermeasure.
We open the portals ourselves.
Kain had initially stared at him as if he were spouting nonsense, but Nahen easily refuted the objection. Since the humans were blocking their side, opening new portals on this end would not drastically increase the number of intruders. The humans would never suspect the Demon Realm was deliberately creating passages, so there would be no retaliation. Finally, the Human Realm itself could not afford to act.
When Kain still looked confused by the last point, Nahen had explained.
Recently, the movements between the largest empire in the Human Realm and the Northern Alliance have grown ominous.
The information had come from interrogating captured humans. The timing had been perfect because, in the game, a major event occurred during this period.
“Thanks to the recent Northern War, the Human Realm is in chaos. As a result, security around the portals leading to the Demon Realm has weakened, and more humans are crossing over to the 72nd floor than before. You already know this, yes?”
“Yes, I do.”
The Northern War. The empire—the greatest power in the Human Realm—and the Northern Alliance had finally gone to war. The spark had been a ridiculous rumor claiming the empire was connected to the increasing number of portals to the Demon Realm. Of course, such baseless gossip alone could not have ignited conflict between two colossal powers, but it had brought long-simmering tensions to the surface and led to open war.
For players of the game, it had been an event that essentially granted a “faction strengthening chance,” allowing them to ignore the troublesome Human Realm element for a considerable time. More human captives meant more slaves to sell, and the chaos in the Human Realm meant they could safely disregard it. Naturally there had been some damage to the 72nd floor, but the gains far outweighed the losses.
Nahen was profoundly grateful that the event had manifested in reality as well.
“So it is time to expand the slave business. We must negotiate accordingly.”
Seere nodded. Nahen continued.
“And there is one more important reason.”
“There is?”
“When I first planned this enterprise, what did I say?”
Seere tilted her head. Nahen supplied the answer immediately.
“I said I possessed information that would destroy Dantalion’s credibility.”
“Ah, yes. I remember now.”
“The time has come to leak that information to the merchants.”
“Then today’s negotiation is…”
“Yes.”
Nahen smiled faintly.
“We have laid the cornerstone for the conquest of the 69th floor. It is time to begin.”
Nahen traveled to the 70th floor together with Seere. The person they needed to meet was already waiting.
“You’ve arrived.”
“You called me out of nowhere. I was surprised.”
It was Sitri. Although she still visited Nahen regularly and continued her training, the rapid development of the 70th floor had left her with far busier days than before.
“Hello, Lady Sitri.”
“Ah, hello, Lady Seere. Has it really only been two weeks? You’ve grown so much since I last saw you.”
“Have I? Thank you.”
There was another reason Sitri had not visited the 72nd floor as frequently lately: the child who was always glued to Nahen’s side—Seere von Devata.
Recently, whenever Seere looked at Sitri, her gaze sometimes turned frighteningly intense. If it had happened once or twice, Sitri could have dismissed it as imagination, but the frequency was too high to ignore. It was especially noticeable when Sitri playfully teased Nahen or acted affectionately toward him.
She’s scary, that girl…
On the surface she still smiled like any bright twelve-year-old, yet Sitri could not shake the feeling that a massive serpent lurked beneath that innocent exterior.
Nahen seemed to misread Sitri’s slightly stiffened expression and said lightly, “You should come down more often. If you had, I could have informed you in advance.”
“…Do you not know how busy I am?”
“Then when exactly are you planning to land a hit on me?”
“I can stand up now, you know!!”
As she claimed, Sitri had progressed to the point where she could at least stand within the mana field Nahen emitted. Walking was still impossible, however, so actually striking him would require considerably more time. Sitri inwardly lamented her situation and asked the real question.
“So why did you call me?”
“The exclusive rights for the artifact trade end today.”
“Ah, it was today?”
Sitri had merely lent her name to the enterprise and paid no attention to its day-to-day operations. She had simply enjoyed the profits and the artifacts delivered to her.
“We must renegotiate. Since the business is conducted under Your Majesty’s name, it is only proper that you attend.”
“I suppose so.”
“Then stop making that annoyed face and let’s be on our way.”
“You really…”
Sitri let out a long sigh and gestured ahead. “Fine. I have to play my part as the nominal head properly if I want to keep receiving my share.”
“You understand perfectly. How unusual, Your Majesty.”
“…Keep talking like that and you’ll really die one day.”
Nahen, Seere, and Sitri headed toward the appointed meeting place. It had been Nahen’s suggestion to arrange a separate location rather than use the throne room of the 70th-floor Demon King’s castle.
I would prefer Dantalion not notice that we are meeting.
Having received Nahen’s instructions, Bennett and the other merchants had prepared a discreet venue. The group was now on their way there.
“Ah, please come in.”
Bennett and the merchants were already waiting to receive them. They offered polite greetings to Sitri and Seere, then spoke to Nahen.
“Shall we move inside?”
“Let’s.”
Once seated in the meeting room prepared by Bennett, Nahen, Seere, and Sitri observed the merchants sitting opposite them. The merchants’ seats were noticeably lower.
Not bad.
Serving two Demon Kings required careful attention to hierarchy; the merchants had arranged the seating with appropriate deference.
Nahen spoke to Bennett. “There is no need to prolong this. I will be direct.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“There will be no further extension of the monopoly on any of our trades. Five years is more than enough time to have granted you substantial benefits.”
“We acknowledge that.”
Nahen had expected some resistance on the slave trade, but their unexpectedly smooth acceptance brought a satisfied smile to his lips. The discussion would proceed quickly.
“Therefore, the proposal I wish to make to you today… let us look at this first.”
Nahen produced a single sheet of paper. Bennett accepted it on behalf of the group and began to read. As his eyes moved down the page, they gradually widened. He looked up at Nahen in shock.
“Lord Nahen, this is…?”
“Spread the rumor. In exchange, I will continue supplying you with artifacts and slaves at the previous volume—or rather, even more than before.”
The recent expansion of the 70th floor’s forge had increased production capacity enough to maintain current supplies while opening trade with additional merchants. Bennett and the others naturally found the conditions attractive, yet a problem remained.
“Lord Nahen… is this information accurate?”
“It is.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Bennett.”
Bennett’s shoulders flinched. Nahen’s eyes had grown icy, radiating overwhelming pressure. The merchant unconsciously lowered his gaze.
“I believed we had accumulated sufficient trust between us. Was I mistaken?”
“N-no, not at all. I have always placed deep trust in Lord Nahen, Her Majesty Seere, and Her Majesty Sitri.”
“Then trust me and spread the information. I do not pass on falsehoods.”
Bennett fell into deep thought. Spreading the rumor Nahen provided would almost certainly turn a Demon King into an enemy. Yet severing ties with Nahen was unthinkable.
At that moment, Seere—who had been quietly observing—spoke.
“Teacher, is there any need to wait for them like this? We can simply find other trading partners.”
“!”
Bennett flinched. Nahen gave a small chuckle.
“Still, we have built trust over the years. It is better to offer the opportunity to someone we can rely on.”
Though the words sounded like support for Bennett, an experienced merchant could read the true meaning beneath them.
If I refuse this condition… they will discard me and find a new horse.
Bennett folded the paper and bowed his head.
“I will do it.”
“Good. There is one more request.”
“Yes?”
Nahen’s lips curved slightly. He made a request whose purpose was difficult to fathom.
“I would like you to obtain some of the swords sold on the 69th floor.”
“That is not difficult… but may I ask why?”
“You do not need to know that much.”
When Nahen spoke so decisively, Bennett asked no further questions and simply bowed.
“Understood. Shall I bring a generous quantity?”
“Ten blades will suffice.”
“I will obtain them quickly and deliver them.”
Since the request was simple, Bennett accepted without hesitation. Nahen smiled with satisfaction.
“I look forward to our continued good relationship.”