Chapter 30 — A Kind Face, But Not a Kind Attitude (3)
Chapter 30 — A Kind Face, But Not a Kind Attitude (3)
'The Demon King had certainly been acting strange from that day.'
Diobe had finished training the human servants and was on her way to the Demon King's office at his summons.
Princess Grünent had recently been publicly declared the Demon King's concubine. Ever since, whenever the demons gathered, they chattered about how on earth a human princess had managed to ensnare the Iron-Blooded Emperor.
Of course, the princess had indeed begun visiting the Demon King's bedchamber without warning. But she was not the reason the Demon King had suddenly become strange.
He had begun to change before that.
It was right after the first month of summer had begun, that day when he had spared the human slaves.
'From then on, the Demon King started doing things he'd never done before.'
Diobe's eyes sharpened.
She had no idea what wind had blown through him.
Moreover, the change had been lasting far longer than she had anticipated.
She had thought it was a simple whim.
Though the hope that it might be otherwise had begun to stealthily raise its head, Diobe mercilessly crushed that sprout once more within her heart.
The Butcher Demon King changing? Impossible.
When it came down to it, the only change was that her personal term for the Demon King had shifted from "bastard" back to "Demon King."
The Demon King was the Demon King. The enemy of humanity.
No matter how much a tiger might dote on a puppy, even if it pulled out its own fangs and claws.
The tiger could still trample the puppy to death.
'I worry the princess might have suffered some ill treatment.'
Her eyes filled with tenderness.
Diobe had been a noble and a knight of Merde.
She remembered having seen Grünent from a distance when the princess was very young.
This place was the Demon King's Castle. It was a justified suspicion.
But Diobe quickly suppressed her emotions.
"Your Majesty. Diobe has arrived."
"Enter."
Diobe walked through the door held open by a faunus secretary. Roan's desk was scattered with books and documents.
It was certainly an unfamiliar sight.
Roan rested his chin on his hand and asked lazily,
"You seem rather busy of late. Is the work manageable?"
Diobe lowered her eyes and bowed her head.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Thanks to your consideration, I and the other humans are living in comfort. Thank you."
Recently, Diobe had been helping facilitate communication between demons and humans in the training room, while also teaching those humans who wished to work as maids.
Roan had summoned Diobe for the first time in a while, both to check her affection and ensure information wasn't being leaked, and to gauge the state of affairs between demons and humans.
"Do the humans seem to be adjusting to working with us?"
"Yes. The servants teaching them the work have been treating them well."
The training had begun under the Demon King's direct orders.
The servants had started to treat the humans with caution.
Besides, these were humans who had been spared from death and put to work. It might not have been what they originally desired, but anywhere was a better end than being eaten as food or used as cum dumps.
So the prisoners strove even harder to improve relations with the demons.
Demons who had once been treated with contempt for performing lowly work, possessing skills that had gone unappreciated, had become the humans' instructors. They began to develop genuinely different feelings toward the humans who learned their trade and treated them with respect.
"And what of Shwikviena?"
Diobe was also tasked with supervising the humans and reporting on them to the Correction Officer.
"The Correction Officer has also been working to understand humans a great deal. She tries her utmost to accommodate cultural differences and entrusts me with many duties."
A faint smile touched Diobe's face as she thought of the Correction Officer.
Shwikviena seemed to have little aversion to anyone capable, be they demon or human. Though she had been curt and distant at first, she was currently quite satisfied with Diobe's leadership ability.
Thus, the Correction Officer had come to trust Diobe and had begun to rely on her, bit by bit.
Diobe, too, had noticed this change in her.
It was something difficult to imagine before the Demon King's transformation.
At that thought, Diobe's affection stat twitched.
Behind his impassive expression, Roan's heart twitched as well.
'...No way?'
But Diobe steadied her heart.
The Demon King's whim could end at any moment.
The affection score that had been squirming was ultimately left stuck at -60. Compared to the first day Roan arrived in this world, Diobe's gaze had recently become unprecedentedly gentle.
But it seemed raising her affection would require some other event.
Roan concealed his disappointment and spoke.
"Good. If there are any new developments, be they good or bad, report them not only to the Correction Officer but also to me."
Diobe bowed with an expressionless face.
"Understood. Your Majesty."
*
Though it was the height of summer in August, the Demon King's Castle in Evirgio remained cool. This was partly due to its design, which minimized the entry of sunlight, and partly due to the low-humidity climate.
Thanks to this, it was less hot than he had feared. On the other hand, it was a climate that proved unfavorable for farming. Sunlight, sufficient heat, and moisture were essential for the growth of crops.
Though skills couldn't fill in for scientific knowledge, Roan had come to understand at least that much by now.
"It is therefore all the more critical to purchase and bring in food."
There was no need for a lengthy, roundabout explanation.
The four members of the Small Council had already grasped just how seriously the emperor regarded the food problem.
Food was intimately tied to the very war that the emperor sought to halt.
And seen more broadly, it was tied to everyone the emperor wished to protect.
The four vassals listened attentively to the emperor's words.
However, they could not help but be conscious of the person seated beside him.
'Somehow... this feeling that something is wrong, yet not wrong... Still, this is the nobles' space.'
Aranya looked at the human beside the Demon King. She had heard the woman was His Majesty's concubine, but her eyes held a keener intelligence than expected.
'Hmm. So that is the famous Jewel of Merde.'
Liron stroked the vicinity of his chin with a finger bone.
Some time ago, the princess's maid had come to pay her respects, bringing a bottle of liquor as thanks.
She had then left after heaping unsolicited praise upon His Majesty, upon Liron himself, and upon her mistress, the princess.
Ever since that night, Liron's hostility toward humans had diminished considerably.
'It feels a little like my private time with His Majesty has been sullied, but... well, there was that human Diobe, I suppose.'
Shwikviena shrugged inwardly.
She was already spending a considerable amount of time working with humans.
In particular, Diobe, who had formerly been of noble birth, skillfully bridged the gap between human and demon, and between noble and servant.
In the past, Shwikviena had believed humans were filthy, despicable, weak trash, but that belief had long since faded.
'...So sex slaves really were out of the question...'
Minoreus looked glum.
"So."
The Demon King turned to the woman seated beside him: the former First Princess of Merde, now the Demon King's Concubine, Grünent.
"Together with Grünent, I intend to send out correspondence regarding the purchase of food."
Under Roan's gaze, her information appeared before him.
It was a function that had not appeared for the slave Lisa, who had not been a formal romanceable character.
[Name: Grünent Re Merde
'Demon King’s Favorite Concubine'
Alignment: Lawful Good
Height: 164 cm
Measurements: 35-25-36
Cup Size: E
Copied Skill: Politics Lv. 3]
When he applied Detection, a small description flickered beneath Grünent’s Affection window and vanished. For reference, her Affection had risen little by little ever since their first night together and had now reached +70.
Roan, whose gaze had momentarily fixed with satisfaction on the cup size, now turned his eyes to her face.
"Allow me to greet you all for the first time. I am Grünent."
Having assessed the expressions of the Small Council members, Grünent offered a truly succinct self-introduction. In response, Roan waited for the Small Council to finish their own introductions before continuing.
"Grünent plans to use the contacts and information from her time in Merde to purchase staple grains."
The Demon King's word was law. Furthermore, Roan had spent the past month and more earning the Small Council's trust. Despite this, concern was still visible on the faces of his vassals.
A single person's excellence alone could not sustain diplomacy.
Aranya, making an effort to hide her worry, asked,
"To whom do you plan to send word, Your Majesty, Lady Grünent?"
Roan answered.
"Arteala."
The lich's body flinched. Had he possessed muscles and skin, an expression of horrified shock would have been visible. He spoke in a voice tinged with agitation.
"Your Majesty. With all due respect... do you have separate intelligence or a means of contact with Arteala?"
The seasoned finance officer had deflected his burgeoning negative opinion into a question, as he now looked at the Demon King and his concubine.
But Roan's answer was unreserved.
"Yes. I have precise information. Arteala is a nation that wants to do business."
It was a firm assertion that was not easy to grasp immediately. Yet the vassals did not open their mouths further and patiently awaited the Demon King's next words.
It had been dozens of days since the Demon King had begun attending the Small Council.
Having passed that time together, they felt more keenly than anyone else that their emperor was striving to find solutions.
Thus, they trusted that the Demon King would soon explain.
"This year, the wheat harvest in Arteala is a bumper crop."
Everyone's eyes turned cold and still.
Each was combining their own information to predict the source and veracity of the Demon King's words.
But it was needless worry.
This was intelligence that could never be wrong.
Because it was an event that had occurred within the game.
"I can state with certainty. The wheat harvest is nearly complete. And they are searching frantically for someone to buy their overwhelming surplus of wheat."
"Since it's a city-state, they have no war to fight even if they stockpile it. It's not a place with an enormous population either. You are saying their wheat is in excess."
"Hmm. Those particular humans are the type who are driven mad if they can't sell something. Watching the price of wheat drop will make them want to beat their heads against the wall."
Aranya and Liron had quickly grasped the true intent behind Roan's words. The finance officer then scratched his skull out of habit and added,
"They say if there's someone who wants to sell and someone who wants to buy, a deal will somehow be struck. But those bastards live right next door to Merde. Merde will try to sweep up that wheat first."
"We are far. Merde is near, Your Majesty."
Minoreus, who had remained silent this entire time, added a single remark.
"Transport over land is impossible anyway, so we would have to use a sea route, which would require over a week. But for Merde to declare Arteala a human traitor and cross the border, three days would likely suffice. Your Majesty."
Then Shwikviena jabbed Minoreus sharply in the side. Only then did the knight commander, realizing his insensitive choice of words, bow his head slightly in embarrassment.
"My apologies, Lady Grünent."
"It is fine, Knight Commander."
The atmosphere was considerably gentler than he had feared. Roan felt relieved, having confirmed there was no friction between the Small Council and Grünent.
Things would progress much faster this way.
Grünent, having accepted Minoreus's apology, continued speaking.
"In any case, Merde cannot purchase that wheat. Nor can it invade Arteala."
"Why is that, Lady Grünent?"
"First of all, Merde's coffers are empty. Even knowing the wheat is there, they cannot buy it."
At Grünent's words, the eyes of everyone except Roan went round. Seeing that, Grünent smiled brightly.
Yes, I am indeed that human traitor you are thinking of.
Without revealing the words hidden between the lines, Grünent added,
"...As for myself, I believe what I am doing will prevent human deaths."
Everyone on the Small Council understood both what she had not said and what she had. Soon, the light of respect for the Demon King shone in their eyes once more.
She, too, had been inspired by His Majesty's great will.
Setting aside their brief admiration, Minoreus asked Grünent,
"Then, why is it that Merde cannot attack Arteala?"
And the answer came from Roan's mouth.
"Because Arteala's wheat is going to be cleaned out by us."
A smile appeared on the beautiful face of the Demon King.