Chapter 32 — A Kind Face, But Not a Kind Attitude (5)
Chapter 32 — A Kind Face, But Not a Kind Attitude (5)
After becoming an official concubine, Grünent was touring the education hall that had been remodeled from the ballroom. Noticing something, she asked Roan.
"Your Majesty, that maidservant... is she human?"
It was a question born of the fact that some attendants, like Shwikviena or doppelgängers, had appearances hard to distinguish from humans.
The person Grünent indicated was Diobe. She was standing between a human servant repairing an object and a demon servant, chatting with them.
"Hm. She is human."
"Is she the same maidservant who was at Your Majesty's side before? Has she served long?"
Shwikviena or the head maid would know the exact details. Roan glanced at the head maid standing beside him, and she answered in his stead.
"Yes. She has served for over four years."
What story had led a human to serve here for so long?
Grünent's eyes flickered with brief curiosity, but the question soon faded, pushed aside by another thought.
"Your Majesty, I have an idea."
Grünent, who had been drinking tea with Roan in the front courtyard garden after touring the education hall, spoke up abruptly.
Roan had already sensed through <Detection> that she had been concentrating on something from the moment they toured the hall. He asked in an impassive voice.
"Speak."
"Do you intend to continue housing all the humans within the castle? I heard that lodgings are being built."
"No. We are building lodgings because we cannot keep them in those wretched slave camps any longer...But in the long term,
the best course would be for them to integrate into the capital."
Grünent set down her teacup and asked again.
"I see. In that case, how do you intend to send them out?"
"I am considering several specific approaches. Humans are too frail to be cast into the world of demons as they are. And the people outside the castle still know little of the situation within."
"On that matter, if I may share my humble thought: what if Your Majesty were to lease the servants in a rental arrangement?"
"Rental?"
"Yes."
As she answered, Grünent's eyes seemed to shine brighter than they ever had since she arrived at the Demon King's castle.
Seeing her look more delighted than ever before, Roan unconsciously drew a small breath.
If I kissed her here, Grünent would definitely blush, squirm, and then I wouldn't be able to hold back either and we'd end up in the bedroom....
Let's hear her out first.
Roan suppressed his instincts.
Fortunately, his outer shell did not betray his expectations and maintained the cold face of the Demon King.
"The idea is that after humans learn various skills at the castle, they would be vouched for under Your Majesty's name and made available for the people of the capital to employ. A demon dispatched from the castle would manage the arrangement."
"Hm."
It was a highly concrete proposal.
"If we humans are simply thrown into Evirgio's society, both the humans and the people will struggle to accept it. However, if someone stands between them, that unfamiliarity seems likely to ease considerably.
Especially if that someone is a person like Your Majesty's maidservant or a steward dispatched from the castle."
At Grünent's words, something sparked in Roan's mind.
"Employment... If it is a commuter system, my subjects would also be less uneasy. The unfamiliar is, after all, frightening."
"A commuter system... Do you mean they would return to the castle every day?"
This time, Grünent's eyes widened at Roan's words.
In this world, those who came to learn a trade or clear a site naturally lodged and boarded together.
A commuter system was an unfamiliar concept here.
A privilege enjoyed only by those of upper-middle status or higher, such as castle nobles or administrators.
But in Roan's original world, most people lived a commuter lifestyle.
While it had the advantage of granting freedom, housing costs were a significant drawback.
However, the humans here already had a place to sleep.
Construction of human lodgings to replace the old slave camps on the castle's empty lots was in full swing.
Soon, the humans' sleeping quarters would become even more comfortable.
If they could commute from the castle into the city, the burden on both demons and humans would surely ease.
"No matter how much I vouch for them and no matter how physically weaker than you they are, the people would feel burdened if told to suddenly share a roof, meals, and an entire day with them.
They would find it hard to trust humans, too.
But if they see them returning to the castle every day at the end of it all, wouldn't it be relatively easier to accept?"
Grünent's face brightened.
"You are truly brilliant. How did you think of such a thing!"
"It is no great feat."
The praise made him a little sheepish, but with refinement, it seemed an idea with a great potential for practical use.
Taking the opportunity, Roan decided to call Diobe and Shwikviena and ask their opinions.
Shwikviena had grown somewhat accustomed to these situations where the Demon King suddenly proposed ideas and solicited feedback.
But Diobe wore a bewildered expression.
When told to sit at the table where the teacups were laid out, Diobe's eyes grew a little rounder.
A moment later, Shwikviena offered her assessment.
"It is truly an excellent notion, Your Majesty.
With minor adjustments, I believe there would be no issue at all in implementing it."
"If there are issues?"
When the correction officer hesitated, Roan said gently.
"It is fine. Speak."
Shwikviena spoke in a slightly deflated voice.
"As for wages, they are apprentices who can be paid less than demons, and I have witnessed their skills myself, so their work is worthy of guarantee... but,
as I feared, food is expensive."
"Ah."
Grünent let out a small, single-note sigh.
Providing meals was an employer's duty.
And in this land, food was precious.
Skilled artisans might be an exception, but these were human workers whose abilities remained unproven.
Would anyone attempt to hire them while also providing expensive meals?
Roan exhaled a small sigh.
It came back to the matter of food after all.
But at least for this year, he had something to rely on.
Seeing Grünent's and Shwikviena's discouraged faces, Roan felt an even stronger sense of mission that he must not let this idea die.
"Do not worry. Food can be provided."
"...Pardon?"
Erenier would soon send word of victory from Hazak.
Moreover, Roan possessed a hidden trump card to extract wheat from Arteala no matter what.
Something they would stake their lives on, beyond the glittering gold coins they so loved.
"You will not need to worry about that, at least until next autumn. Next. Diobe. What are your thoughts?"
Diobe, who had steadfastly declined to sit, spoke.
"...If there is a guarantee that they will not simply be eaten along the way, the current trainees would be overjoyed.
It could become a hope of continuing a life here.
Most of the trainees now believe that if they only stay alive, the war might one day end. Luckily,
they have grown very accustomed to meeting people here since encountering the demonkind within the castle, far more than before. There are many kind souls among them, too."
"...'If they will not simply be eaten...'."
At Grünent's trembling murmur, Diobe lowered her head as if in apology. Shwikviena, looking a little embarrassed, quickly lifted her teacup and closed her eyes as if savoring a sip.
But wasn't this exactly the kind of problem that power existed to solve?
"Hm. Is there a creature living within Basel who would devour my property, Correction Officer?"
Shwikviena's eyes snapped open.
"There could be no such creature. It is impossible, Your Majesty."
"What is more, these are humans I have personally and specially trained. What happens to anyone who trifles with something that is mine, Correction Officer?"
Shwikviena's expression turned icy. The mere thought seemed unforgivable to her.
"The extinction of their entire family."
With those words, Diobe seemed to consider the matter resolved. She once again bowed her head deeply.
"I understand, Your Majesty, Correction Officer."
"Work for human servants will also remain within the castle. For now, let us begin by accepting applicants among the humans and making the attempt."
Then, at Roan's next words, Diobe flinched.
"When this effort properly expands, a manager will be necessary. I intend for Diobe to work as the human manager alongside demon administrators. What does the correction officer think?"
Diobe looked back and forth between Grünent and Shwikviena with bewildered eyes.
As if reflecting her discomfiture, the affection value displayed beside her began to fluctuate by single digits.
Beep-beep, the sound rang incessantly, but Roan stared calmly at Diobe.
He would have frowned, but the Demon King's outer shell filtered it.
"I have received reports that while educating the trainees, you displayed excellent skills in mediation and management. Is that not so, Correction Officer?"
"It is true. Having been a servant, she understands us well and knows the nature of the work very well. There have also been occasions where she resolved misunderstandings between us and the humans."
At Shwikviena's unexpected praise, Diobe's face became dazed.
The correction officer faced Diobe.
A gentle smile appeared on the face of the succubus, which usually held only icy beauty.
"Diobe is a capable human. I, too, have received much help from her."
The correction officer was a demon noble. In her eyes, even most demons were likely beneath notice.
Much less a mere human.
Yet even that correction officer had begun to change over the course of nearly a month.
The positive current the emperor had created,
the unexpected experiences Shwikviena herself had undergone while interacting closely with humans,
and Diobe's own competence.
These elements combined to create a future Diobe had never imagined.
"...C-Correction Officer."
This was the meaningful proof of a life that Diobe had carved out for the first time in this castle.
She had always deferred positive possibilities, bracing only for the worst.
And so, the emotion hit her slowly, then all at once.
The four-odd years she had spent in this Demon King's castle flashed through her mind like a panorama.
Diobe, standing silent for a long moment with her lip bitten, saw the rims of her eyes redden.
Seeing that, Grünent's face, too, brightened with surprise and emotion.
She understood better than anyone how weak humans were in this place.
And so, she could keenly feel how great Diobe's achievement was.
'If only we are given a slightly better chance.'
Just as she herself had been helped by the skill.
Through <Detection> and reports, Roan could perceive the goodwill the correction officer now felt toward Diobe.
He looked at them with a smile on his face.
"I believe that your example played the greatest role in allowing the humans to grow accustomed to the castle and to us in the end.
Since it is you, you will do well."
Roan was glad.
He marveled that he, who received help from the 'Will,' was also becoming a help to someone else.
This was the result of the choice he had hesitated over for a moment when he had first arrived.
He could have used his power to pursue pleasure as he pleased.
But this was the result of taking one step at a time, finally beginning to turn back the Demon King's steps little by little, striving to live as a person not ashamed, and trying to fulfill a paltry 'sense of justice.'
That result lay before his eyes.
The correction officer's lips parted slightly as she sensed the sincerity in Roan's smile.
'Seeing a smile like that too often would likely be bad for my heart. His Majesty has truly changed.'
And at that moment, tears suddenly fell from Diobe's eyes.
Large teardrops broke over the fist that tightly clutched the hem of her maid uniform.
The positive feelings toward the Demon King that Diobe had long tried to deny surged up all at once, condensing into a single short sentence.
"...Thank you, Your Majesty."
A clamorous sound effect, audible only to Roan, echoed out.
Diobe's affection had risen by 50 points in an instant.
Her affection value had become -10.
*
"Your Majesty. The first news I must relay today is..."
Roan became puzzled watching the chancellor suddenly trail off.
"...Chancellor?"
"...Ah. My apologies. Hmm... whether to call this good or bad."
Aranya, who had been gently frowning with her pretty eyebrows, seemed to have made up her mind.
"It is ambiguous news. The number of applicants for this servant recruitment notice is tremendous."
"!"
From what Roan had recently deduced, the Demon King's outer shell had a relatively weaker filter for expressing positive emotions than for negative ones.
And so, Roan barely managed to pull down the corners of his mouth that threatened to smile widely.
At last, the reputation of the Demon King who had been slaughtering indiscriminately seemed to be improving a little!
"But... why is it ambiguous?"
Roan's voice trembled slightly from holding back his laughter. Aranya, however, seemed not to notice and spoke with a wry tone.
"Too many have applied."
"Hm?"
"It appears that those who had been doing jobs within the city that offered paltry wages and no honor have all flocked in upon seeing this notice."
"...Oh?"
"So the marketplace is currently in a state of emergency."
Aranya smiled bitterly. Incidents like this had been rare recently.
"The harvests are due to start coming to market soon, and they are worried because the workforce has suddenly drained away. Autumn is generally the period of greatest circulation of goods, so they say the preparations are not going smoothly."
"Really?!"
In the end, Roan's face lit up.
At last, he would be able to cover the humans' room and board!