267
I Killed the Demon King. It was a Mistake
Chapter 267
Caesar and Agatha spent quite a long time flirting before lying down in the field to look up at the sky. White clouds shaped like ships with sails were floating gently across the deep blue sky. Just quietly holding Agatha's hand and gazing upward made his mood improve.
"How is the demon realm these days?"
"It's more peaceful than expected. Since we destroyed the bat cave, the Orcs haven't crossed into the beast people's forest, so the beast people have been gradually expanding their territory. The pumpkins we planted in the fields three months ago grew quickly, and we harvested them recently."
"Oh, pumpkins?"
"Yes. We made pumpkin porridge with them, and it was quite delicious."
"That sounds tasty. I should eat some pumpkin porridge tomorrow too."
"It probably won't be as delicious as demon realm pumpkins."
"Really? I sent mercenaries with supplies to the demon realm yesterday. On your way back, please send me one pumpkin. I'd like to try it."
"Alright."
Agatha stretched out her hand and began to shape the clouds floating in the sky. It was the Demon King's castle.
"I visited the Demon King's castle recently after a long time. I think it has been almost three years since I last went there."
"How was the Demon King's castle?"
"A complete mess. The garden is ruined, and all the old artwork has been stolen. It's become quite an eyesore."
The cloud-formed Demon King's castle opened up and slowly began to show the inside. It was like watching a movie. She climbed the stairs and entered the second-floor banquet hall where the last Demon King had died. In the center, there was Agatha and a sword halfway embedded.
"The only thing still intact was 'Mercy'."
"Were you able to pull out Mercy?"
"Yes, very easily."
Agatha created Mercy in her hand. It was a sword with a white blade that was neither too ornate nor too plain. It was a sleek and beautiful sword that didn't seem like it would belong to a Demon King, and Caesar found himself staring at it blankly.
"And as promised, I gave it to Yan. He said he was going to tame the sword, but he immediately ran off to the Orc Wasteland where the Orcs are."
Hmm... The easiest way to tame a sword is to cut something with it first.
"I don't think there will be many Orcs left, then."
"I don't know if they're dead or alive. But seeing that the Orcs haven't been crossing over to Eagle valley recently, it seems like he's doing well."
Caesar stroked his chin for a moment before speaking.
"Ah, now that I think about it, I believe Elijah mentioned something."
"What did he say?"
"He told me to visit the Orc Altar at the edge of the Orc Plains."
"Elijah did? Why?"
"I don't know. We weren't particularly close or unfriendly when he mentioned it, so it might not have been bad to check it out... But I didn't have the time to go."
"If that suspicious man told you to go, you definitely shouldn't go."
"Still, just in case, send Yan there. He might be able to get something out of it."
"Alright. I'll tell him when I see him later."
Agatha removed the Demon King's castle and created Luxhope.
"Recently, succubi, vampires, and humans have been working together to rebuild Luxhope."
"Together with humans?"
"That's right. Mitchell was the one who proposed it first. He suggested that since we've formed an alliance, creating a place where demon race and humans could live together might reduce the hostility between us."
It's not that Caesar hadn't thought of this idea. But he hadn't even proposed it because he thought demon races and humans would hate each other too much. He never expected Mitchell to suggest it first.
"I thought it wasn't a bad idea. After all, for consistent trade with humans, demon races needed to live in Luxhope."
"How is it going? Is there any progress?"
"For now, we decided to build by dividing the areas. We thought there might be strong resistance if we mixed everyone at once. So we separated areas for vampires, succubi, and humans to build their homes."
"That sounds good."
"And we also found a stable way for succubi to absorb spiritual energy."
This is extremely welcome news.
"Oh, really? How?"
"Remember when I told you about how we helped mermaids have pleasant dreams and then obtained spiritual energy? We used that method. We gave good dreams to soldiers who were mentally struggling and collected a little spiritual energy from them. The succubi are happy, and the humans seem satisfied too."
"So you've essentially set up a kind of mental hospital?"
"The only difference is that we receive spiritual energy instead of money."
"What about the vampires?"
"We haven't found a solution for vampires yet. It's quite difficult to find a way to make blood-sucking pleasant."
"I suppose it is."
The very fact that they're finding ways to coexist is very pleasing.
"Of course, there are some among the humans who can't accept our alliance."
"Well, isn't that to be expected?"
"What's a bit unusual is that they're not Mitchell's soldiers."
"What? Not Mitchell's soldiers?"
"That's right. They're the Holy Grail Knights of the Royder Order, I believe? They cursed Luxhope, calling it a corrupted city."
Caesar's eyebrows twitched at the mention of Holy Grail Knights.
"Holy Grail Knights?"
"Yes, Holy Grail Knights. I think their leader was called Roland? He's fine, but the priests and other Holy Grail Knights seem to be making a fuss."
The Holy Grail Knights are in the demon realm...... They must have come looking for Gloria and stopped by Luxhope.
"They're looking for the Saint?"
"Yes. It seems they plan to take the next ship to Homigraph."
Caesar stroked his chin. A ship carrying mercenaries had just departed yesterday, so by the time they arrive, it would be mid or late November. But by then, Gloria would already be searching for the Blood Moon in the wasteland. The wasteland and the demon realm are located at similar latitudes when looking at a map. When the ship carrying the mercenaries arrives at Luxhope, they'll face a difficult decision. Whether to take the ship to Homigraph or follow the light through the Steel Fortress to the wasteland.
'Roland's head is going to burst.'
Whatever happens, the fact that Roland is held up in the demon realm is good news. The reason we sent Gloria on a journey was to make it difficult for the Holy Grail Knights to track her, and if they do not know her exact location, the problem is solved.
"Can you let me know later which way those guys go?"
"Well, that's easy enough."
Agatha looked up at the sky and spoke.
"It seems the morning sun is about to rise."
Agatha smiled as she looked at Caesar's face.
"When will we meet again? In another month?"
"Yes. Probably so."
"When do you think you can return to the demon realm?"
Caesar stroked Agatha's face and said,
"I don't know. But it won't be long."
Agatha smiled gently.
"I hope to see you soon."
***
If there's one thing in the world that never changes, it would be Smir's laboratory. How can the laboratory smell still be so terrible? Doesn't it occur to him that he should ventilate the place? It feels like my lifespan is shortening. As Caesar stepped out of the elevator, Smir approached him, floating with an indifferent gaze.
"It's been a while."
"Isn't that too dry a greeting for someone who nearly died and came back?"
"Didn't you go knowing it was a place where you could die?"
"Fine. If I felt any humanity from you, the world would be spinning strangely."
Finn appeared next.
"Viscount Caesar, I heard you had a difficult time in the demon realm. I'm relieved to see you're healthy."
"I'm glad that at least you seem to have a human side."
"Well, how else would Caesar Pharmaceuticals run properly? If it falls into the hands of the Redfield family or someone else, would we be able to conduct research peacefully like now?"
"That sounds like you're saying I'm not an annoying investor, which is quite nice?"
"Haha, please sit here. We have new medicine."
Finn cleared away the piles of paperwork like garbage and brought a chair in front of Caesar. It feels like this guy Finn is gradually being influenced by Smir. No, they're in a teacher-student relationship, so perhaps it's better to say birds of a feather flock together? After Caesar sat in the chair and waited a while, Finn brought medicine and bandages.
"These are products we'll release at the end of this year or early next year. All the medicines here are painkillers, this is acetone, and this is an adhesive band to prevent infection after external wounds."
Caesar looked at the bandage first, ignoring the painkillers.
"You made it well, just as I said?"
This bandage was Caesar's idea. The current medical bandages were simply wrapped around and secured with metal pins. However, there was no product suitable for awkwardly small wounds, so Caesar requested a medical supply targeting those wounds.
"How did you make the adhesive in this bandage?"
The answer came from Smir.
"We produced it with alchemy magic. I didn't understand why you asked for an adhesive that could be easily attached and detached, but it's not bad."
"With alchemy magic? Wouldn't that greatly increase the unit cost?"
"It's not that expensive. The amount used is very small, and the main ingredient is glue, which is easily obtainable."
If the price is cheap, then there's no problem. Bandages are medical supplies related to public health, so they must be inexpensive.
"What about the acetone?"
"As you mentioned, acetone is effective in killing germs and doesn't put much burden on the body, so it seems suitable for sale. We're thinking of selling this as a new product too."
"Not bad?"
"I thought it would be good to quickly release everyday medicines to people during this period when potions are unavailable, making them use them frequently. These two can be released as early as next month."
"Good. Release them right away. And make the advertisements neat."
Caesar looked at the painkillers.
"What are these?"
"They are all painkillers. Some are strong and some are a bit weaker."
"What's the strong one?"
"It's a narcotic painkiller made by refining opium. I've used it on patients with severed arms or major trauma, and it's not bad."
"...So you're saying you want to sell drugs on the market? Don't you know that under the Homigraph law, cigarettes made from opium cannot be distributed?"
"So we decided to change the law a bit. To make it possible to distribute it as medicine. Councilman Harrison has agreed to proceed with it."
Yes, if the fence is narrow and tight, you can remove it and build a new one. Isn't this why we supported Harrison, to resolve difficult situations like this?
"Be careful not to let it be abused too much. When someone gets addicted to morphine, it ruins their life."
"Uh... I was planning to sell it as an everyday medication."
What are these guys talking about? Doesn't that mean they're going to sell drugs at the neighborhood corner store?
"Absolutely not. Make sure only doctors can prescribe it."
"That will significantly reduce profitability."
"It's better than turning Homigraph into a drug city. Tell them to be extremely cautious when selling narcotic products."
"I understand. Then I should discard all of these as well."
"Are all of these made from opium?"
"The base is opium, yes."
Right. In this era, would there be an FDA? What would there be? We need to create a proper institutional safety net before making these drugs. That's how we prevent crazy drugs from appearing.
"By the way, there's a trauma treatment that the demon race traditionally used, would you like to take a look at it?"
The first to respond to the mention of trauma treatment was Smir. As soon as Caesar took out the medicine, Smir snatched it with his wand to examine it.
"Hmm... It certainly seems to use local plants."
"What do you see when you look at it that way?"
"Doesn't it have a peculiar smell? It has a lot of that distinctive earthy smell of the demon realm. Do you happen to know the manufacturing method as well?"
"I brought the recipe and the ingredients used here. I tried using it, and it wasn't bad."
Smir received the pouch and recipe that Caesar handed over.
"How long do you think it will take?"
"You need to be careful when using plants rich in magic. If you make a mistake, you can experience magic poisoning."
"So it takes a considerable amount of time?"
"The analysis won't take that long. These are all plants I'm familiar with. However, whether plants that grow in the demon realm can be normally cultivated here is a different story."
"Is there a magic specialist in farming?"
"I know there's an eccentric wizard at the Gale Magic Tower who prefers plants over animals. I'll try to inquire with that fellow."
Caesar spoke to Finn who was secretly looking at the recipe.
"More importantly, how is the pharmaceutical company doing lately?"
"The malaria treatment is selling like hot cakes. It seems this is especially true because there are no potions available."
"What about the pharmaceutical factory being built in Redfield?"
"I heard they just broke ground there but then stopped. It seems things aren't running properly without Lord Mitchell."
Of course, the pharmaceutical factory business was being overseen by Mitchell. Recently, all of Mitchell's vassals have been captured by Nathaniel Redfield and are under house arrest, so things can't be running properly.
"It's been over 2 months since we've lived without potions, so we're getting a lot of investment inquiries from various places. In fact, there are also places setting up pharmaceutical companies imitating us."
"Pharmaceutical companies? Who?"
"Not in Homigraph, but it seems they're establishing new ones in Goldmile and Springfield. They seem to think that since we succeeded, they can succeed too."
"It would be a disaster if they start producing strange drugs recklessly."
"But there's nothing we can do about it. And Harold the president would know more about these things than I do."
Ah, that's right. Harold is the current owner of the pharmaceutical company.
"Well, that guy would be better at general operations than I am."
Caesar stood up from his seat.
"Then I've finished my business here, so I'll go now."
"It seems you no longer need the elixir."
Caesar smirked.
"It's just that this is no longer the time when such things are needed."
"So what are you planning to do now?"
"I'm thinking of visiting my hometown after a long time."
"...Hometown? Where?"
"I'm from Vex province, not here."
"Why are you going there?"
"My biological father passed away."
Smir made a grimace while speaking. I didn't know that guy could make such an awkward expression.
"Well, have a safe trip."
Actually, going to see his deceased father is just an excuse. He gave birth to Caesar, but isn't he not really his biological father? It's just that the crown prince keeps calling for Caesar, so he's using an appropriate excuse to save face. Caesar's real interest lies elsewhere.
'I should start collecting useful artifacts.'
After reaching the peak of physical specs, it's time to get proper equipment.