Chapter 46 — Where People Gather, There Is Always… (1)
Chapter 46 — Where People Gather, There Is Always… (1)
The story began again from the day the trading company launched.
It was the day Erenier's communication burst in without warning.
— Ro-an♡♡♡
"Erenier."
It was the first time Erenier on the battlefield had spoken to him directly.
Roan tensed at the sudden contact.
"Is something the matter? Are you all right?"
— Kyaaah♡
He heard a brief, breathless scream.
— I knew it, Roan really is so kind♡
Only Roan worries about me♡
...Could that really be true?
She was surrounded by her own clan.
But he had no intention of nitpicking every detail. What mattered to Erenier was his affection.
"If there is no trouble, I am relieved."
— Hmm. Now that you mention it, the present you sent arrived safely. It's so beautiful. Thank you.
Erenier's voice sank into a low, subdued tone for a moment.
There is trouble.
That concubine is beside you.
It was not at all strange for an emperor to keep concubines, secondary consorts, and lovers in addition to his official consort.
Roan was the mightiest of demonkind.
Women who admired him were beyond counting.
For a woman destined to become queen, receiving them with pride and magnanimity was considered a virtue.
But the blazing jealousy could not be helped.
Roan was supposed to be mine alone.
The apology jewel necklace Roan had voluntarily paid as a tax was, of course, a precious collection piece.
Every time she saw the necklace hanging on Roan No. 2, a silly grin spread across her face, but separately from that, Erenier had to take several deep breaths and steady her heart before calling Roan.
To hide her jealousy.
Skills did not transmit through voices carried by the Magic Orb. So Roan found it difficult to fully grasp Erenier's mood.
"I am grateful as well, Erenier. How about we prepare for the wedding after your victory?"
— Wed...!♡♡♡♡♡
For a long moment, he heard nothing.
"Erenier?"
— ....
"Erenier?"
Do these Magic Orbs get connection problems or something?
— Hmm...♡ I, I came....♡
...She was so different from the Erenier he had seen in the game that she startled him again and again.
This was the authority of +100 Affection.
To climax just from a mention of marriage.
Was daily life even possible for her...?
— That's right, I heard that Roan said I would win.♡
Roan narrowed his eyes.
He had spoken with the Small Council only yesterday.
The Council must have only just finished briefing the working-level officials.
And yet the words had already reached her ears.
Whether it was her personal ability or the power of the Lord of the South Black Territory, the strength of Erenier's clan was impressive.
Roan set aside the obvious question of 'how did you find out' and spoke gently.
"Hmm. I stated that you would assuredly be victorious."
— Thank you, thank you! Roan♡
To Roan, predicting Erenier's victory was no great matter.
It was simply a fact he had offered based on what had happened when he played the game, in order to carry out the next task.
But Erenier expressed her thanks again and again.
— For believing in me.
Was it merely his imagination that the voice in those final words seemed to carry a trace of moisture?
For some reason, her words felt resolute and lonely.
Unwilling to throw a curt reply at her in that moment, Roan spoke as if soothing her.
"Take good care of yourself and return in good health."
— Don't worry♡ I will definitely win....
— What's that wench Erenier dawdling for!
At the shout that rang out faintly from a distance, Erenier clamped her mouth shut as if she had frozen the connection.
Since it was a very small sound, it was soon buried in the clamor of the encampment.
But Roan heard it clearly.
There would be only one person who could call Evirgio's mightiest archmage a wench.
Her father. The Lord of the South Black Territory.
The Dark Archduke.
The strongest man in Evirgio after Roan.
Were she and her father not on good terms?
— I have to go. I will win, for sure♡
"Hmm."
— Ooohng, Ro, Roan, I, I, I love you♡
Roan's eyes widened.
A confession of love said aloud!
He was so moved his answer came a little late.
"...Right, Erenier. Thank you."
The communication ended with the sound of lips kissing the crystal orb. But the archduke's voice he had heard at the very end burned itself intensely into Roan's mind.
What Roan knew about the Dark Archduke was roughly the same as what he knew about the other three great lords.
He was the mightiest after Roan, a swordsman who was combative, meticulous, and high-strung.
But then, was there anyone among those who had risen to great lord who was not?
The single remark Roan had overheard through the communication was short, but it suggested a great deal.
"No matter what, to his own daughter who would become queen...."
Even for a noble who saw family as tools of business, queen was the highest status a woman could enjoy. Moreover, Erenier was an archmage.
Was there anything more he could even demand of his daughter?
"Ah...."
Could it be that she was constantly being berated because she had not married or had no children?
That possibility was more than plausible.
It was so natural, in fact, that it was a cliché appearing countless times in makjang dramas and novels.
In the end, I, the Demon King, was the bad guy once again.
"Keup...."
Roan swallowed aggrieved tears.
And yet, in one corner of his mind, a thought surfaced.
Then, if I let her get married and get pregnant,
wouldn't things improve?
"...Hmm."
Roan's expression relaxed slightly.
The expression that had been hardened for days since the Quest Clock appeared softened a little at the pleasant fantasy.
He had already appreciated Erenier's figure once before.
A different charm from Grünent.
Breasts that looked fit to burst, exuding the atmosphere of a mature woman, and thighs that seemed about to pop.
If he filled up her depths and all over, over and over....
Hmm.
What kind of voice would she cry with?
"Your Majesty."
At his secretary's sudden voice, Roan opened his eyes as if waking from a dream.
"Hmm."
Roan's voice betrayed no hint of a waver.
"The Small Council reports that preparations are complete."
"Understood."
It was about the supplies he had overheard last time.
Aranya had mentioned it just after his conversation with the king of Arteala.
— Fundamentally, the lords are responsible for provisioning food and goods.
But even so, they had decided to send additional food to the frontlines in the name of the national trading company that launched today.
They would give the food to the lords as support, and the lords would purchase it cheaply and issue it to the soldiers.
It was more expensive than what the lords could loot, but naturally cheaper than the wheat they could buy on the open market.
Because the war was being supported by the state, they did not turn a profit on it.
Now that food was abundant, what about everything else?
The answer to the question Roan had casually tossed to Aranya as they wrapped up that conversation yesterday was a little shocking.
"If we run short, we just pillage, of course?"
Roan closed his mouth for a moment, and it took him a little time before he found the words.
"I see. But do human necessities even fit our soldiers well?"
It might be possible for smaller demon races like goblins, orcs, vampires, or kobolds, but it was impossible for ogres, gnolls, or minotaurs.
Arachnes like Aranya were not even humanoid, so they were completely outside the standard specifications.
From spoons to shoes (though Aranya, of course, did not wear shoes) to bedding, nothing was compatible with humans. And clothing, naturally, was impossible.
To Roan's question, Aranya tilted her head and answered.
"I believe it does not matter, Your Majesty. Since we take it from within our own demon army anyway."
Aha.
Every man for himself.
Genuine every-man-for-himself.
'What are you nodding along for!'
Stunned, he had nearly accepted it without realizing it.
"...Did you not say... the lords would provide?"
Roan barely managed to control the speed of his words so he would not look too shocked.
"It is true that the lords provide. It is not the regular combat soldiers who loot, you see. Within the same demon army, there are separate units for those who pillage and those who guard the supplies."
Wow. That was unnecessarily systematic.
'So that was why the war had been dragging on.'
Actually, no matter how he thought about it, the math had been strange.
What if goblins fought against humans?
Demons were slightly different from the monsters in RPGs. They had builds and intelligence close to humans, so even goblins could not be underestimated.
One could consider them 'humans' of the goblin type.
Therefore, a human who was not trained could not defeat them. And such training could not be achieved overnight.
Most of Merde's soldiers were conscripts, taken from their daily lives as farmers or carpenters.
No matter how great Merde was, maintaining a professional army beyond a few tens of thousands would have been difficult. Keeping a standing army of hundreds of thousands was hard even for modern nations like North and South Korea, which had spent decades in a state of military standoff. That was why they didn't pay their soldiers properly and worked them to the bone.
So, in the end, Merde's army was not overwhelmingly stronger than the demons of Evirgio.
[How utterly splendid.]
As Roan's hand, tense without his knowing it, gripped the sword hilt, Fiora tossed out a remark.
The slightly nervous Small Council members fixed their eyes on Roan, but they no longer thought that blade would be drawn, so they merely looked at him.
He could not answer Fiora, but her sneering voice echoed his own sentiments.
One-on-one against large demons like orcs or kobolds?
The chances of a human winning were even slimmer.
If ogres or trolls stepped forward?
It would take ten humans rushing in to bring down one. Or an elite officer of knightly rank would have to step up.
Yet ogres and trolls were common in Evirgio.
And despite this overwhelming military power, the war had been dragging on for several years.
[Pillaging units. How truly beyond imagination. And from your own allies, at that.]
Since Fiora could say whatever she wanted without risk of losing her head, she was utterly unfiltered.
She had said what Roan could not bring himself to speak.
Right. The closer he looked into demon society, the more things he found that were incomprehensible.
They said demons had less intelligence than humans, but that was limited to a few races; they did not act mindlessly like the monsters in ordinary games.
Some races even had more accumulated experience than humans. Races like vampires or banshees, who lived near-immortal lives because they were mixed with undead blood.
So, in the end, the average was similar.
It was probably more reasonable to see that appraisal as deeply linked to demon culture, which despised professions that involved using one's head and sitting down to work.
Why on earth had the demons not managed to subdue the humans?
Because they could not unite.
As the silence grew long, the chancellor carefully addressed the emperor.
"...Your Majesty?"
The treasurer and the warden exchanged glances.
They were starting to realize it by now.
That when the emperor's silences grew long, a bombardment of new ideas and work would soon rain down.
It was a glorious thing, but exhausting.
"Treasurer."
Liron, who had been sending the warden a look that asked, 'Are we screwed?', answered a beat late.
He had already been up for days preparing for the launch of the GDI Trading Company today. Being a skeleton, at least his fatigue was less. The human Baron Grabe had collapsed long ago.
"...Yes, Your Majesty."
"Our finances are sufficient, I take it?"
"Of course, Your Majesty."
Suddenly, a bright complexion returned to Liron's voice.
As treasurer, word that the royal coffers were full was an indicator attesting to his excellent performance.
No matter how brilliantly the emperor had filled the granaries with his ideas, the warehouses would not be full if the outgoing expenditures were not managed efficiently.
Liron spoke proudly.
"We saved expenses when we purchased the wheat last time. Because we got a higher price for the glass than we expected."
Liron had pushed the price of glass higher, holding his ground against Baron Grabe, who had wanted to beat it down.
In the fight between the two old money fiends, Liron had won. Because, in the end, Arteala was the more desperate one.
Good glass was more prized than wheat.
"Moreover, once the trading company begins selling wheat tomorrow, more money will come in. We are more than ample, Your Majesty."
Even after filling the royal castle's warehouse, there had not been enough room, so the capital warehouse and the port warehouse were still packed with wheat.
Dozens of ships had come carrying wheat, and all the profit from selling that wheat belonged to the state trading company.
Thinking of the revenue that would flow in from now on, the treasurer felt himself, almost involuntarily, buoyed with excitement.
He had been happy right up until the moment the emperor opened his mouth.
"Then, we can procure supplies with that."
"...Pardon?"
The treasurer asked back, a dumbfounded look on his face, and the knight commander and the warden laughed softly.
Only the chancellor gave the pair a sharp glance for behaving like children before attempting to dissuade the emperor.
"Your Majesty, the lords will supply them anyway."
"Soldiers fight the war."
But the emperor's mind could not be changed.
"Pillaging from your own allies. In war, the strength of the group matters above all else. Even if this is a world where the strongest take everything."
Roan's eyes were cold, unlike ever before.
"So this was why time passed so uselessly."
At their lord's words, carrying a chill air, the Small Council lost their voices as if doused with ice water.
"Indeed. Who is to blame? I myself was ignorant first. I do not mean to reproach you."
Roan's heartfelt words were transmitted through Appeal. The four nobles, who had been plunged into sudden worry, felt the sincerity in Roan's words and were relieved.
Aranya carefully spoke up.
"We apologize, Your Majesty. We were foolish...."
"No."
"Whatever Your Majesty commands, we shall follow."
These people, too, wanted to heed my words.
Then I just had to change things, one by one.
Just as I had done until now.
As long as I had allies, that was enough.
Roan nodded.
"Then, first of all."
[Ooh, what an exploitative boss! 'First of all' means he plans to hurl consecutive work bombs from now on! That's right, these crazy demons need to get hit with some work!]
At Fiora's sneer, Roan almost snorted with laughter.
It was all the truth, from start to finish, so he had nothing to say.
"We will speak again tomorrow on the supply lines and distribution method. The attack on Merde's granaries, beginning at Hazak, will—I say once more—surely succeed. Bear that in mind."
The four voices rang out as one.
"Yes, Your Majesty."