We had returned to Avalon.

Upon arriving, I asked the Mythological Foxes working as maids to guide Stolas and
Enlil the Bahamut to my secondary residence near the First Tree.

Afterwards, I listened to the report of the Dwarf Smith who was entrusted with the
defense of Avalon while I was gone. This Dwarf Smith was also Duke’s adjutant.

I had thought that the enemy was aiming for me to go to Stolas’s dungeon so that they
could attack Avalon, but as it turned out, that worry was unnecessary.

I also asked the intelligence corps left behind, but it would appear that nothing was
out of the ordinary.

Like that, I walked toward the shops.

It was in order to give the monsters that participated in the last fight their rewards.

Recently, Avalon had become so famous that there was a new shop almost every day.

It was to the point that each time I visited the shopping districts, there was a new
product to surprise me.

At any rate, as their reward, I had given each of the participants of this fight a sum of
money that could be called huge. If they couldn’t find anything they wanted or they
still had money left over, it was fine for them to keep whatever change was left.
Alternatively, if ever that amount was not enough, I had told them to find me so that I
could give them more.

With that, everyone split up and enjoyed their shopping.

“Oto-san, look, look! Does it look cute?”

Kuina was the first to come back and find me. She was wearing a black dress which I
guessed she had just bought.

In her adult, grown-up form, the dress suited her.

“It’s very cute. You look like a nobleman’s daughter.”

“Yay ♪ Kuina fell in love at first sight with this dress”

She truly was in a good mood. Seeing her like that, even I became happy.

“Oto-san, Kuina still has a lot of money left and still wants to buy clothes. So, come
with Kuina and choose the clothes Kuina will buy next!”

“Okay, okay, don’t pull so hard.”

Kuina pulled on my arm until we reached her favorite clothing store.

After I chose a light pink dress with frills, Kuina bought it. Soon thereafter, she left
while holding the dress as though it was some kind of treasure.

Seeing her in such a good mood, it would be impossible to believe she was sulking earlier.

After parting ways with Kuina, I resumed walking in the shopping districts. There, I
found Aura. She was purchasing dubious-looking chemicals and materials from some
kind of alchemy shop.

Many adventurers were stopping by in the city, so there was demand for such a shop.
Additionally, because of the merchants flying to and from all parts of the world, these
shops could obtain whatever ingredient they need at whatever time. As a result of such
things, before I knew it, famous alchemists and blacksmiths were migrating one after
the other to Avalon and were opening their own shops.

And since they were trying to outdo one another, Avalon was gradually becoming
famous for their craft.

For alchemists and blacksmiths, being in an environment where they could obtain
whatever material from wherever in the world right away so long as they had money
was invaluable.

And then, since these alchemists and blacksmiths needed their own workshops and
stores, there was a demand for builders as well. To take it further, the more people
visit or migrate here for the merchant’s goods or the alchemists and blacksmiths’
products or whatever, the more the demand for necessities and other such things
increase.

If left alone in such a cycle, I was sure that Avalon would develop on its own. That was
definitely great, but since I would then have freed up time, I was thinking of opening
an amusing store we could directly manage.

“Aura, if you need those for potion making, you don’t have to use your reward money.
If you find the monthly budget for that not enough, we can always increase it.”

In the beginning, Aura had to source materials for her potion development by herself,
but now, there were merchants that we could buy those materials from. Using their
network, they could obtain any material from any part of the world.

“These are for potion making, sure, but to be specific, potions that are for my hobby.
There’s no way I can use the monthly budget for my own hobby. That would be
embezzlement, wouldn’t it?”

Aura was oddly firm and unyielding on this subject.

After hearing her speak though, I had a dreadful hunch.

The potions that Aura made were significant additions to Avalon’s arsenal. From time
to time though, she would also make something absurd as part of her hobby. Examples
of such were: aphrodisiacs; perfumes that would make animals fond of the user; and
a potion for increasing the levels of female hormones up to a hundred times, making
even a man become a fine woman.

To make it worse, she wasn’t just making them. She was also selling them for some
pocket money. Occasionally, her products were the cause of some kind of trouble.

“……do it in moderation, okay?”

“Of course! Also, recently, I got this amazing and rare book. It’s titled Curaga. If read
normally, it would be about food recipes, but if a cipher was used, a lot of amazing
things can be found. Some of which were fantastic potion recipes that would make a
bloodthirsty potion maker question themselves. They’re very much worth the research!”
It’s better to not ask.

I chose to believe she wouldn’t make anything truly dangerous.

After talking some more with Aura, I left that shop.

“Ah! Patron, over here, over here. I ran out of money. I need a lot more!”

This time, it was the blue-haired otherworld songstress, R’lyeh Diva, that called out to
me.

If anyone was ever going to go over the budget, I had thought it was this fellow.

The amount of money I gave my subordinates this time as their reward was roughly
equivalent to about half the average yearly income of a citizen residing in our city. If
that amount was not enough, the thing they were going to buy must have been
something absolutely unbelievable.

“…is this what you want? Is this really it?”

“Yes, yes, absolutely yes! So, buy it for me, patron”

In perhaps an attempt to curry favor, she confirmed so while embracing my arm.

Avalon had an overabundance of silver in stock thanks to the [Mine], so the price
wasn’t a problem at all. The issue lied with what Ruru—the nickname for R’lyeh Diva—
wanted to buy itself: a skull of a monster I was not familiar with.

“What will you use this for?”

“They say that if you grind it, boil it, and then drink it, it would do wonders for your
throat. It’s a legendary medicine. And I’m a singer, aren’t I? If they say it’s good for the
throat, I have to buy it. I can feel magic power from it too, so I don’t think it’s a scam.”

Just as she said, there was magic power emanating from the skull. It wasn’t the malicious
kind either. Rather, it was magic power that was pure and clear. If it was said that the
skull was good for the body, I would agree.
“Well, make sure to use all of it and not waste any.”

“Of course, patron”

With a sigh, I handed over the payment.

I never thought a platinum coin would ever be used in a relatively small-time store.

Thankfully, I carried one around for caution’s sake.

“To thank you, patron, why don’t I sing for you an extraordinary song? If you want, I
can even sing it while we’re in bed.”

“I’ll listen to it properly, instead. How about in that bar you frequent?”

“Tsk, such a boring answer. Still, thank you. In the fight before last, I had sung too much
and it damaged my throat. I’m hoping this might mend it.”

After placing a kiss on my cheek, she put the skull on top of her head and then headed
out while skillfully spinning and dancing.

“…I was sure she just wanted something expensive, but I guess she really wanted that
thing, huh.”

Her joy wasn’t something that could be faked.

If it was to appease her throat, I had thought I could ask Aura to make some throat
lozenge.

At any rate, it seemed like my other monsters were done with their shopping. Given
that, I thought of going back home since it was now unlikely for the other monsters to
go overbudget as well.

When I thought of such, I ran into Duke.

“What did you buy, Duke?”

“Just presents for my wife. A cake from that famous pastry shop, some flowers, a bottle
of vintage wine, and quality cheese. I was hoping that tonight, my wife and I would be
able to enjoy a slow and easy evening as a married couple.”

As expected of a family man.

Duke was considerate not only to his subordinates, but very loving to his wife as well.

Even if only a little, I should try to be like him.

“Do you think I should buy a present for Rorono as well?”

Rorono was the only one among my [Monsters of the Covenant] that was not taken for
the last campaign.

The reason she was left behind was because the work of rebuilding the Avalon-Ritters
took priority. Furthermore, for the sake of Avalon’s defenses, she and her golem corps
could not be away as well.

“That’s a good idea. It might not look it as Rorono-sama would never voice out her
displeasures, but she would not lose out on Kuina-sama in terms of being spoiled and
their susceptibility to loneliness… and if she has any bottled-up stress, I’m afraid she’ll
need more care than Kuina-sama. She likes sweets, so giving her some might help.”

“Thanks for the insight. I’ll take your advice and take a look around.”

“It might be presumptuous of me, but I have a couple of recommendations. First, the
shop with the most delicious fresh cream is…”

Like that, Duke listed his most recommended shops.

He was excruciatingly detailed.

When I asked about it, he said ever since he became a dragonewt and acquired the
sense of taste, he had taken a liking to sweets and would often eat in such shops
together with his wife whenever they had spare time.

After seeing a side to Duke that I was unaware of, I unconsciously smiled. I thought I
knew my monsters, but apparently, not enough.

Anyway, I went to a shop recommended by Duke and bought the choux a la creme
listed in the shop’s signboard.

Its cream’s great taste was unlike any other. And with it having a bit of liqueur, it was
just perfect for Rorono who had the tendency to overwork herself.

As I walked home, excited to eat what I bought, I felt an impact on my back.

It was a complete surprise attack made by someone small that wore a robe and held a
small blade.

However, rather than wound me, the blade shattered.

Thanks to having three S rank monsters as my [Monsters of the Covenant] and my high
level, I was as strong as an average S rank monster.

Furthermore, the clothes I wore might seem ordinary, but in fact, it was a specialty
item made and enchanted by Rorono using a certain monster’s sturdy threads.

A mere human with such a weak knife could never hope to penetrate it.

For this reason, I was confident in roaming alone, unescorted.

At any rate, I seized the attacker’s hand.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“L-let, let go of me, you demon! Yes, I know what you are!!”

The attacker was just an elderly woman.

Her level was low and was obviously not trained to fight.

As to why she attacked me, I could not remember doing anything to earn such animosity.

But then, I noticed a peculiarly carved wooden cross around her neck. Right then, I got
the gist of things.
Another troublesome harassment…

The golems patrolling the city rushed toward us and then seized the elderly woman.

Whenever a violent event happens, these golems would automatically respond to

suppress said violence. Afterwards, they were instructed to deposit the perpetrators
to a certain place.

For this one, I had decided to leave the rest to the golems.

I didn’t need to interrogate the elderly woman as it was impossible for her to have any
significant information.

“Let go! Let go of me, I say! This is tyranny! You’ve finally shown your true colors!
You’re no benevolent lord, you’re just a demon!”

While the golems were taking her away, the woman shouted such things.

Even so, most of the citizens didn’t pay much attention to her words. There were many
adventurers in this city and from time to time, they would get out of hand, so the
golems carrying someone away wasn’t such a rare scene.

The problem, however, was that only most of the citizens didn’t pay attention. In other
words, a few did.

“This is why I hate religion”

The cross she wore was evidence that she was a believer of the religion that the [Black]
Demon Lord founded.

Believers were very useful.

Even if you didn’t send a spy to a location, so long as there were zealous believers there
and you set it up properly, you could potentially turn them into spies and even
assassins against the people they had been living with for so many years.

Based on the way the old woman spoke, believers of their faith were likely told I was
a demon to prompt them to try and kill me. She probably isn’t the only one that’s going
try. Truly troublesome.

I was sure that this too was another harassment from the [Black] Demon Lord.

There was perhaps no other Demon Lord better in exploitation and harassment than
the [Black] Demon Lord.

By spreading small and yet countless thorns, he could potentially destroy us from
within. If left alone for some time, fools could be incited to drive me out and take the
city for themselves, while at the same time, something like an uprising within could
be started.

“Should I start my own religion?”

Thinking it was a good idea, I began to think up of a plan.

If done right, I might be able to snatch away some of his income. No, it definitely will.

To that end, I should make his believers denounce him and look down on his power.

“Bothering Marcho and Stolas just wasn’t enough for you, was it? Now you trouble my
Avalon again. I’ll show you the price for those things.”

I had reached the end of my patience a long time ago.

He seemed making light of me just because I was a new Demon Lord, but soon enough,
he’ll know of the true might of the [Creation] Demon Lord.
I returned to my main residence, collected the letters, and then moved toward the
golem-drawn carriage parked near the First Tree.

The carriage was no ordinary one; Rorono had highly modified it to become a mode
of aerial travel while also something we could comfortably live in.

Though my [Creation] had returned, I was still not in my top form. I still needed the
environment that the First Tree provided.

“I’m back. Today has been very tiring–”

Upon entering the carriage, my eyes widened.

Inside the carriage was Stolas, still asleep. That was expected; I had asked the
Mythological Foxes serving as maids to move her here.

The issue was… that Aura was kissing Stolas. I also saw Stolas’s throat move.

After the long kiss, Aura pulled back her lips.

The sight of two beautiful girls kissing was mysteriously odd and exciting for me.

Aura always was fond of cute girls and Stolas unarguably was one, but I never expected
for Aura to make a move on the latter.

Taking notice of me, Aura turned to face me.

“Ahm, master, I can tell by the look on your face what you’re thinking, so let me tell you
what’s happening: I was just giving her some medicine. The potion’s highly viscous, so
the sleeping Stolas-sama can only drink it like this.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about; I had thought that was the case. Aura, thanks
for giving her some medicine.”
The only way to make the sleeping Stolas drink her curative potion was through
mouth-to-mouth feeding.

Meanwhile, Enlil the Bahamut, who was in his kitten-sized form, was beside Stolas as
he was looking worriedly at her.

“Enlil, I feel bad that you’re the only one that didn’t get a reward, so I bought you
something good. Come here for a sec.”

Other than the choux a la creme I bought for Rorono, I also bought Enlil a big hunk of
meat that had bone sticking out of it.

I was not familiar with what kind of meat it was, but it was extremely delicious.

It was a recommended item that I occasionally buy so that I could eat it while drinking
some alcohol.

He came to pick the meat with his mouth, but quickly turned away his face with a hmp.

In his kitten-sized form, he was really adorable. Even though he was being cold, I
strangely did not mind. Rather, it made me want to pet him. As I tried to do so, my
outstretched arm was brushed away by his tail.

“I think you should try to be friendlier, even if by just a tiny bit.”

Enlil disregarded me, turned his back at me, and then resumed looking worriedly at
Stolas.

It would seem it would take some time before he could feel attached to me.

In a way, he was like a cat.

“So, Aura, how is Stolas? Were you able to do a more in-depth examination on her with
the facilities here?”

“Yes. I tried different things and made a potion suitable to her condition. At this rate,
she should wake up in a week. The return of her Demon Lord powers and her magic
power, though, will be way later.”

“I’ll consider that good news. Great.”

I was relieved to know that Sleeping Beauty was guaranteed to wake up.

As a friend, I worried for her. As a rival, the thought of her dropping out this way made
me exceedingly lonely.

“Master, please take note from this, okay? If you were to name someone like Marcho-
sama, it is likely that you’ll end up like her or worse. If you do have to name someone
like Marcho-sama, please do so when everything is over and calm. Please also be
prepared to suffer at least this much. I am serious in asking this.”

Aura, who had a more-serious-than-usual look in her face, emphasized so.

It was a little sad that she didn’t have enough confidence that I would refrain from
doing such a thing.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Obviously, losing consciousness for a period of time was bad, especially considering
that many Demon Lords were jealous and angry at me.

Naming someone like Marcho would probably have to wait when I’m much stronger
than at present.

That said, I wanted to fulfill my promise to Ruru—that I’ll name her—as soon as possible.

Compared to Duke, I probably wouldn’t suffer as much when I name Ruru, but proper
timing and preparation was still needed.

“Aura, do we not have any other bed?”

“There might be one in the main residence, but for it to fit through the door, it has to
be disassemble first. It will take some time.”
“Should I make one with [Creation]?… no, I think it’s better to reserve that magic
power for our explosives.”

By Rorono’s preference, there was only one bed in this carriage.

That girl purposely installed only one bed—albeit an extra-large one—so that we
could all sleep beside each other daily. Unlike here, the arrangement in my main
residence was that only one of the girls, selected via rotation, slept beside me.

The large bed here didn’t have any problems whatsoever fitting Kuina, Rorono, Aura,
and myself. Even if we added Stolas, it would still be comfortable. The question,
however, was rather whether or not we should make her join us.

Nah, I’m sure it’s fine.

I concluded that it was a minor issue. It wasn’t like I had any intentions of attacking
her or whatever while she slept. Furthermore, I planned on placing myself between
my daughters, so that Stolas would be physically out of reach.

It was just for one night, anyway. In the very next morning, I was going to buy a bed
from a merchant in the city.

“Kuina and Rorono sure are late”

“I think Kuina-chan’s in the middle of her special training. Though she had made a new
special move, she seems to think she can still improve it. So, after returning and
notifying me, she went to the [Crimson Cavern] to train some more. As for Rorono-
chan, she has been working all this time; I’m worried, actually. Her development death
march might turn into a literal one.”

“Those two are really working hard, aren’t they? Of course, you are too.”

“Not as much as you or those two, but I won’t turn down a compliment.”

My subordinate monsters were really doing their hardest. I should too.

My eyes then wandered toward the letters I collected. The letters were addressed to
me and were mostly from the merchants in the city, but there were some from other
places.
As I stared at the letters, I continued my idle chatter with Aura.

“Oh yeah, while wandering around Avalon today, I had some interesting thoughts.
Firstly, I think we should increase the shop we directly manage.”

Presently, Avalon directly managed only three shops: Rorono’s blacksmithing shop;
the Mythological Foxes’ shop; and Duke’s inn.

To give the [Black] Demon Lord some harassment of our own and to further develop
Avalon, I believed we should add new shops.

“What kind of shop will we open?”

“…”

While talking with Aura, I unconsciously crumpled the letter I just read.

“Is something wrong, master?”

“A little. An unpleasant letter was mixed in.”

One particular letter could not be ignored or be taken as a joke. It was inside an
envelope that bore the family crest of the royal family of the Axera kingdom.

Even before I read it, I could feel nothing but a strong premonition that it would be
troublesome, at best. Upon reading it, my suspicions were proven true, and so, I
thoughtlessly crumpled the letter.

“How unpleasant of a letter was it?”

“Just a bit. Just enough to make me want to destroy a kingdom.”

“Sounds fun. But if were to do that, our stock of bullets would not be enough. Not even
nearly. We’re going to have Rorono-chan work harder, don’t we?”

“Aura, I only think this sometimes, but even though you look so calm and gentle, you’re
the most bloodthirsty out of all of us, aren’t you?”
“That’s nonsense, master. I am an elf that loves nature and peace.”

I did my best to hold myself from retorting and calling her a trigger-happy maniac.

“In case it wasn’t obvious, I was just joking about the destroying part. Anyway,
according to the letter, royalty from the Axera kingdom is going to personally visit
Avalon, the one and only city in this remote region. To establish a friendship, they say.”

There was nobody foolish enough to take those words at face value. After all, just a
couple of months ago, we were at war against the Axera kingdom. Worst of all, their
state religion was the one founded by the [Black] Demon Lord.

As of the moment, that kingdom should still be suffering from the tide-turning attack
made by the [Dragon] Demon Lord.

Although being friendly with them was good, their reason for doing so was obvious:
to get something that would help them defeat the [Dragon] Demon Lord. Namely, the
golem corps and aerial bombardment corps they saw in our previous war, and our
vast funds.

I could not think of any reason to help them bring down the [Dragon] Demon Lord,
someone I was greatly indebted to.

Moreover, the timing of it was dubious.

“No, it’s timed precisely. He really won’t let up, will he?”

It was surely another of the [Black] Demon Lord’s ploys.

If I were to turn down this request of cooperation, it would be taken as a sign of

hostility against the kingdom. Since Avalon was a commercial city, merchants who
would associate with us would be negatively affected and perhaps be forced to stay
away altogether, which would then hurt our economy and growth.

On the other hand, if we were to cooperate, we would be making an enemy of the

[Dragon] Demon Lord.
Neither choices were ideal.

“But he’s still looking down on me too much.”

I could use this move of his and set a trap for him instead.

More than anything, I could guess what he was planning to propose in our meeting
two days later: in all probability, it might be to have a lenient nonintervention
agreement.

He was convinced his side would have an overwhelming advantage if ever we were to
fight, making a nonintervention agreement look appealing to us.

He also seemed convinced that the Axera kingdom would forever remain his pawn. If
so, then let’s exploit that conceit of his.

My plan was to act, for the meantime, according to the [Black] Demon Lord’s
expectations—like going along with that nonintervention agreement—so that I could
get his guard down enough to lay some traps.

As I thought of such things, I wrote a reply to the letter.

Axera was referred to as the city Procell fought in a war. Now, it is the name of the
kingdom(which was referred to before as an empire) that city belonged to. This is just
a guess, but maybe the city Procell fought against was Eclaba all along. As an aside,
according to LN vol 4, the religion’s name is the Rigdolg faith.

To summarize:

City=Eclaba

Kingdom= Axera

[Black]’s religon= Rigdolg

I’m going to stick to these names from now on, no matter the change in the future.
I finished my reply letter for the royal family of Axera. As it was already late, I planned
on sending it the next day.

There was little chance that the royal family members would be coming right away
and without warning. I expected them to at least send an advance delegation first. If
my guess was right, they would arrive after my meeting with the [Black] Demon Lord.

The question then was how much the royal family knew.

If they knew that the god their state religion worshipped was actually a Demon Lord,
my meeting with them would be simpler. Because if so, they should feel considerably
resentful to the [Black] Demon Lord for manipulating their country however he
wanted.

But, well, let’s worry about that later.

“Kuina’s back!”

“I’m back too, master.”

Kuina and Rorono had just come home.

Kuina wasn’t wearing the dress we bought earlier, but rather her usual combat clothes.
As for Rorono, her face was covered in soot.

When I tried to wipe away the soot, Rorono’s face grew red as though she was
embarrassed.

“Welcome back, you two. Should we eat right away?”

“Yay ♪ a meal tastes better after a lot of exercise”

“…I’ve used my brain to the limits; an intake of sugar is necessary.”

Ohh, the two seem very hungry.

We Demon Lords and monsters could survive on consuming nothing but human
emotions. And as long as we were here in Avalon, we didn’t have to worry about that.
That said, we ate three meals a day as a form of recreation.

“Then, for your hard work today, I’ll make dinner. Since the beef was cheap, I thought
I’d make some wine beef stew.”

“Yay ♪ Aura-chan’s wine stews are the best!”

“I concur. Others’ can’t compare.”

Aura freely used her wind magic to use an ordinary pot as though it was a pressure
cooker. Like that, she was able to make a beef stew with tender meat in a short amount
of time.

Some would say it was a waste to use wind magic like so, but considering the taste it
produced, I would argue it was worth it.

Aura’s wine beef stew was a favorite of mine, so I looked forward to it as well.

I only seldomly thought this but the sight of Aura’s back as she stood in the kitchen
was charmingly perfect. It was something moving, actually. Although Kuina and
Rorono also looked cute whenever they helped out in the kitchen, it just wasn’t like
with Aura.

“Well then, let’s eat”

Aura said so as she placed a large container full of her wine beef stew.

Our sides were tomato & lettuce salad and mashed potatoes.
By the way, potatoes were one of Avalon’s most important crops. Before I made some
with my [Creation], they didn’t exist anywhere in the world. Over time, we had easily
grown and harvested them multiple times.

Thanks to the elves continually blessing the lands in Avalon and also managing the
weather here, potatoes—and other crops—were grown easily and harvested in
abundance here. Presently, cuisines that had potatoes were gaining popularity and
could be found in almost every restaurant in the city.

Potatoes were being sold outside of Avalon too. And according to the tales I heard,
potatoes were also being grown outside as well using the seeds sold by the farmers.

That said, since the flavor caused by the elves’ blessings made the Avalon-grown
potatoes far tastier, the popularity of our crops was not affected. Besides, if the
humans outside of Avalon had potatoes, they would prosper and increase in number.
The more there were of them for us to feed on, the better.

I was thinking of such things when we began our meal.

“As expected, Aura-chan’s stew is the best! And when the soft and flaky mashed potato
is dipped in this sauce, it gets even better!”

“…It goes well with alcohol.”

Kuina scooped up an enormous amount of mashed potato onto her plate, while
Rorono drank strong alcohol in one gulp.

Given that Rorono was a dwarf, she was rather fond of alcohol and could drink lots of
it. I don’t think I have ever seen her get drunk before.

Previously, Aura was opposed to have the children drink alcohol, but after considering
the traits of the races, she no longer objected.

As for Kuina, she disliked the taste of alcohol and didn’t drink any at all. Her sense of
taste was like that of a child’s.

“Rorono, if you drink too much alcohol, you won’t grow. You’re a growing girl, yeah?”
After looking at Aura and Kuina’s chests, Rorono looked at hers and then stowed away
the bottle of alcohol she was drinking.

It looks like she still wants to grow.

“I understand. I’ll stop drinking alcohol.”

Right after she said so, she drank wine from a new bottle she brought out.

“Wait, what happened to stopping? Isn’t that alcohol too?”

“This is just juice. This has a strength of less than 50%. Not worthy of being called an
alcohol at all.”

She said so with a serious look.

As to be expected of a dwarf. Such strength.

I then looked at Aura who was entranced as she watched Kuina and Rorono eat. Since
she was fond of cute girls, the sight of two cute girls eating her cooking must have been
absolute bliss for her.

Also, though she liked a lot of cute girls, it seemed like her favorites were Kuina and
Rorono.

And then, as though some kind of comedy sketch, the enormous amount of stew and
mashed potatoes vanished in an instant.

The stomach of a growing child sure is bottomless.

After finishing our meal and some chitchat, I took out my present for the girls: the
cream puffs I bought.

“I went to the store that, according to Duke, has the most delicious cream puffs and
bought some. Rorono, as compensation for being left behind, you get to have two.”
I handed two over to Rorono, and one each to the others.

“Woah, sweets!”

“A pastry that has a lot of cream. My favorite. Thank you, father!”

“Master, are these those that are always sold out? I can’t believe you were able to buy
some.”

“Good luck, I guess?”

Actually, by the time I got to the store, they had already sold all their cream puffs. Upon
seeing me, however, the shopkeeper who knew me tried to help me by offering to bake
a new batch.

I told him not to give me preferential treatment, but he insisted. I had mixed feelings,
but considering that it would make the girls happy, I didn’t really mind.

“Wow, the bread part’s so crunchy”

“It’s my first time to have cream as sharp tasting as this.”

“This crunchy bread and this fluffy cream… mhm~ it’s the best.”

When they tasted the cream puffs, they became entranced. Though they had eaten so
much already, eating some more was no problem apparently.

At any rate, I decided to eat one as well. And it was amazing. Time had passed and yet
it didn’t get soggy or anything. The moment I put it into my mouth, I felt its crunchiness
and tasted its sweetness.

And then, the light whipped cream spread to my mouth. It was just the right amount
of sweetness. It was a testament to the craftsman’s skill.

Recently, custard cream was gaining popularity, but personally, I much preferred the
taste of whipped cream.

“Kuina, there’s some cream on your mouth.”

“Wipe it for Kuina, Oto-san”

Kuina said so and then pushed her face forward. I did as she asked and wiped the
cream off of her face, but as soon as I did so, she licked off the cream that was still in
the finger I used.

“Sweet ♪”

Such a spoiled girl.

I then felt Rorono’s gaze on me. When I looked at her direction, I saw that her face was
red and had some cream on it. Is she mimicking Kuina?

I did as she wanted, and just like with Kuina, she also licked the cream off of the finger
I used.

Meanwhile, Aura was as ecstatic as always watching Kuina and Rorono.

Being casual and laid back like this is so relaxing. I hope we can continue being like this
every day.
“Now that our stomach’s full, master, let’s go to the hot spring right away.”

“Yay ♪ let’s all take a bath together today as well”

“Mhm. It’ll help me lessen my fatigue so that I could work at night as well.”

Taking a bath in the hot spring for my treatment had become a daily occurrence.

Because the elves have been blessing the hot spring, it gained curative effects. And
since the pool I was personally using was being blessed by Aura the Ancient Elf herself,
it had curative effects much, much higher than the others.

Naturally, we made use of it to make my lost magic power come back sooner.

After we all agreed to take a bath, the girls gathered their bathing accessories such as
their towels, their change of clothes, their specially made soaps, and their washing
buckets in which they put all their other bathing accessories.

In addition to that, Aura strangely prepared another set of clothes. After that, she then
proceeded to carry Stolas while Enlil carried a bucket with his mouth.

“…Aura, hold up. What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to take a bath with everyone”

“I know, but together with Stolas too?”

As though it was obvious, Aura looked at me with a puzzled look on her face.

“In order to make her recover sooner—even if for only a day sooner—shouldn’t we
use the hot spring’s curative effects?”

“…everyone, go on ahead, then. I’ll take a bath later.”

When I said so, Kuina puffed her cheeks. She then began pulling at my sleeve while
Rorono followed suit and pulled at the other.

“No! Everyone should take a bath together!”

“It’s lonely without you, master.”

“Hey, I understand how you two feel, but it’s unfair to Stolas. Oh, Aura, how about you
and Stolas go bathe alone after–”

“You’re horrible, master. Leaving me out even though you know how much I enjoy
bathing with everyone… but if you [Command] me to, I will. I am your monster and I
will obey even though there will be tears on my eyes.”

I certainly could issue it as a [Command], but that would make me a rather cruel
Demon Lord.

I’m not one and I don’t want to be one. Can’t be helped then. I’ll just try to not look at
Stolas as much as possible.

“Alright, let’s just all go bathe together.”

Upon hearing me, my monsters became happy and high-fived each other.

Seeing them like that, I couldn’t help but wonder if they perhaps planned it all.

These girls have become very determined.

I bitterly smiled and then began preparing for the bath.

“Yeah, taking a bath like this is great.”

“It’s paradise!”

“Mhm. Relaxing.”

“Yup, as I thought, Kuina-chan and Rorono-chan having flushed skin is quite cute.”

While we relaxed in the bath like so, I was able to confirm the girls’ growth.

It was only slight, but Rorono definitely had grown. As their father, I was happy.

“Please, rest easy, master. I’m going to be looking after Stolas-sama’s body. I won’t let
her sink in the water or be in the water for so long that blood rushes to her head.”

By the way, Aura held the still-sleeping Stolas while they were in the water. I tried not
to look as much as possible, but the Stolas that I caught a glimpse of in my peripheral
vision was beautiful. Her chest didn’t seem big, but her limbs were slender and her
skin was fair. She had the charm that strongly fascinated men.

“Oto-san, wash Kuina’s tail today too”

“Master, I’ll wash your back.”

Kuina and Rorono were in high spirits as usual.

Enlil was also with us, by the way. His facial expression seemed more relaxed than
usual. When our eyes met, he turned away his face. Still the same.

Putting that aside, I focused on the bath. My work for now was to be in best physical
condition as possible before my meeting with the [Black] Demon Lord.

After the bath, I headed to the warehouse beside Rorono’s workshop.

There, I used my [Creation] as much as my magic power allowed and made certain
things such as materials for a new invention. This new invention would be necessary
in the fight against the [Black] Demon Lord. In a sense, it was a tool more damaging
than a bomb.

After using my [Creation], I headed to Rorono’s workshop.

Rorono was there and was burning the midnight oil.

“Rorono, sorry but I have a favor to ask you.”

Rorono was already slammed with work as it was, but I needed her to do this certain
invention.
Since I was unable to fully tell which cards were in the [Black] Demon Lord’s hand, I
had no choice but improve my own no matter how miniscule the effect might be.

The fighting starts again.

After we had bath time, I headed toward Rorono’s workshop.

In order to overcome the [Black] Demon Lord’s schemes, Rorono’s talents were
absolutely necessary.

As soon as I arrived, I handed her a blueprint. It wasn’t for a weapon though.

I had tried to make it myself through [Creation], but the outcome wasn’t as great as I
wanted. Clearly, Rorono’s help was necessary to make it better.

Upon examining the blueprint that I gave her, she nodded and spoke.

“This is interesting. This thing can simultaneously transmit one’s voice and form to
everywhere in the city. If master’s going to be a god, this thing will turn your message
into a divine revelation.”

As expected of her, she was able to see what I was aiming for right away.

“Rorono, sorry for giving you more work again.”

“Mhm, it’s fine. I am father’s daughter and [Monster of the Covenant], after all. So long
as father has expectations of me, I will continually strive to live up to those expectations.”

Upon hearing her purposely refer to me as father rather than master, I was made
aware of the depth of her resolve.

And then, when I suddenly looked at the wall, I saw that the schedule of her projects
was posted in it.

Maximum Priority: Repair and further production of Avalon-Ritters

Maximum Priority: Development of Kuina’s new weapon

Maximum Priority: Further production of the assault rifles (ED models) requested by
the intelligence corps

Maximum Priority: Reproduction of the weapon of mass destruction MOAB

Maximum Priority: Development of a new bomb for use by the aerial bombardment
corps

Priority: Enhancement of the [Mechanical Warmaiden]

Priority: Development of Duke’s exclusive weapon

Priority: Development of Marcho-sama’s exclusive weapon

Priority: Solving issues and also improving the Avalon-Ritters’ Burst Drive and Anti-
magic shell

Priority: Formulation of countermeasures against the failure of the infrastructures in

Avalon brought about by a sudden increase in population. Formulation of rebuilding
plans, as well.

Priority: Further improvements to the Mithril Golems and the lower grade golems.

Priority: Improvements to the Hippogriffs’ carriage

Priority: Training of the newly added Dwarf Smiths

Just looking at the list of her priorities was dizzying.

And these were just her more urgent jobs. She still had to do her regular work on top
of these, like her duties as the head of the golem corps.

It was no exaggeration to say that she was carrying the weight of Avalon’s future on
her small shoulders.

To be honest, burdening her with more work pained me. But it’s necessary.

“Rorono, sorry I can’t reduce your workload. However, if it’ll help, I’ll listen to
whatever request you might have and try to grant it… Also, I want you to voice out
your selfishness more.”
In Kuina’s case, I didn’t have to worry since if she wanted something, she would say it.
Rorono, though, well, she was always reserved and that made me concerned from time
to time.

“Mhm. Then, hug me, father. Just your tight embrace is enough for me to be happy and
feel warm.”

“I see.”

When I embraced her from behind, she leaned her weight on me.
After a while, she broke our embrace.

“The recharging of father’s warmth, complete. I’m going to return to work. Father, look
forward to it. I’m going to make the greatest thing.”

After saying so, she began using multiple PCs at once and worked on the plan.

She was really reliable.

What if there was two of her?

Once Stolas’s consciousness has returned, I could ask her to use her [Omnipresence]
on Rorono for a short time to improve the latter’s productivity. If my request was
granted, it’ll lessen Rorono’s workload even if by only a little.

To help Rorono work, I made some coffee.

It was a drink from the southern countries that began circulating in the city.

After handing her the coffee, I thought of heading back. Anything more was going to
be just a hindrance on her work. While I was thinking so, however, the door opened.

“Rorono-chan, Kuina made some late-night sweets! You can eat them later, if you want!

Kuina shouted so and then left.

When I went to the entranceway, a basket was left behind. In it was a fruit pie.

I picked it up and headed toward Rorono.

Thinking the pie would go along well with the coffee, I cut a slice of it and served it to
Rorono together with the coffee.

“Thank you, father.”

“Does Kuina come here often?”

“Yeah. Recently she has been bringing homemade sweets. In order to not disturb my
work, she just leaves the dessert and returns. At first, the ones she made tasted awful,
but over time, it tasted better and better. Aura’s great at teaching.”

It seemed like Kuina was also worried about Rorono and was doing whatever she
could to help out.

“You eat too, master”

Rorono offered me the pie while holding the cup of coffee on one hand and staring at
a PC.

I took a mouthful. Its texture was a bit bad, but it was delicious. It was surprising that
Kuina made this. As I bit into the pie, the bittersweet fruit jam broke out and mixed
with the layer of crust.

“I’m really surprised. This is actually delicious.”

“Whenever I do mental labor for a prolonged period of time, I tend to want sugar.
Considering it’s Kuina, this is very thoughtful.”

The corners of her mouth slackened when she said so.

The fact that Kuina made this pie for her probably delighted her more than its taste.

Them being close sisters is a delightful thing.

After I cheered you can do it one last time, I left Rorono’s workshop.

I decided that just like Kuina, I should support Rorono however I could.

At last, it was the day for my meeting with the [Black] Demon Lord.

While on the surface it might look like my only escorts for today were Kuina and Ruru,
I had placed some other monsters in my [Storage] as an insurance.

Also, while the meeting for today was expected to be for discussion and not for battle,
it was just that: an expectation.
Especially since the [Black] Demon Lord was the one to pick place for the meeting.

I had sent Ruru in advance to examine the place, and though she confirmed there was
no trap, I still had to be on guard as much as possible.

Anyway, Aura was with me to send me off.

She was going to be house-watching this time.

“Take care, master.”

“I will. And look after Stolas, please.”

“Yes. Her condition might be improving, but it doesn’t mean we can be relaxed just yet,
after all.”

Just as Aura replied, Stolas’s condition was improving day by day. The day she would
awaken shouldn’t be too far away.

Right when I was about to ride the back of a Darkness Dragon Graphross and leave, I
heard hurried footsteps coming my way.

When I turned around, I saw a figure about the height of Rorono that carried a big
satchel.

It turned out to be Rorono, but whether it was due to her running all the way here or
not, her breathing was labored.

“Master, I’ve completed it, the thing you asked me, the, the Spatial Image Imprinting &
Stereophonic Audio Multiplexing Device… the [Divine Revelation]”

Rorono took out from her satchel a device that was separated into three units.

I never imagined she would be able complete it so quickly, and yet there it was.

If we used it, we would be able to send my image and my voice to every human in the
city all at once.

Very much like a divine revelation.

It was so ridiculous, I couldn’t help but laugh. After all, having the louder voice in a
discussion would have a better chance of being heard.

Especially in this world where methods to disseminate information to many people

simultaneously were either rare or nonexistent at all.

In a small, compact city, this device would not only have a greater impact to the people,
the speed and accuracy of the transfer of information it would bring was just far
greater.

Furthermore, it was plausible for the people of this world to see such a thing as a work
of god.

Rorono’s invention would undoubtedly revolutionize the world.

“Great job, Rorono”

I unconsciously hugged Rorono tight.

Though she seemed surprised at first, she did not resist and soon hugged back.

She had really lived up to my expectations, and then some.

If we used this device, I would be deified. When used with another tool though, not
only could we achieve that, we could go against that guy until his fall.

“You definitely deserve a reward once I come back. Try to think of what you want. You
should ask for a more amazing reward than the one before.”

“…Mhm. I’ll think on it.”

We were still in embrace, so I didn’t see her face, but what I did see was that even her
ears became red.

Though it was fun thinking of how I could use this device to harass that guy back, there
was no time left. I had to go immediately in order to not be late.

And so, the Darkness Dragon I rode flapped its wings. We were now on the way to a
negotiation meeting in name only. From very start, neither the [Black] Demon Lord
nor I was expecting the other to be sincere; all we thought about were ways to screw
the other without it getting physical.
I rode the Darkness Dragon’s back and flew away from Avalon.

The ones with me were Kuina and Ruru.

If it was the Kuina and Ruru combo to guard me, I was confident I was going to be safe
from most threats, both in the surface world and the other dimension.

As an insurance though, I placed some of my reliable monsters in my [Storage].

“Oto-san, we’re not supposed to fight today?”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s best to not pick a fight. But if ever the other side does so, I’ll be
relying on you.”

“We’ll do our best!”

Kuina made a fist and declared so.

I was glad for that and all, but I would rather there not be a situation for her to do her
best in the first place.

“Patron, I’ve been wondering this for a while now, but why didn’t you call Marcho-
sama and her monsters to Avalon? If they were there, Avalon would be much stronger
and secure.”

Ruru was enjoying the outside scenery and humming when she that question.

Marcho had returned to her dungeon. The monster she loaned to me had also come
back.

From the start, she was busy rebuilding her dungeon and was only slipping out to teach
me how to use [Awakening] properly.

“Maybe, but you see, they’re busy rebuilding. Moreover, if we invite them for that, I feel
that we would not be able to grow more than we have. Avalon’s affairs are Avalon’s,
and the [Beast] dungeon’s affairs are the [Beast] dungeon’s. I’d like to separate the
affairs of the two as much as possible. Though of course, when a crisis arises, we would
cooperate with each other.”

Avalon was ultimately my own brand. If I were to bring in a bunch of Marcho’s monsters,
it wouldn’t be Avalon anymore.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, what would happen if some unknown monster suddenly appears
and acts like it owns the place, right?”

“Kuina agrees it’s good too!”

I was glad the two agreed, but then again, in order to motivate and stimulate our forces,
occasionally swapping monsters between our two dungeons might be interesting.

I was thinking of such when the Darkness Dragon began decelerating.

Time for idle chitchat was over. Our destination was not far away.

The [Black] Demon Lord had chosen our meeting place to be in North Cool, a city of a
large country in the north. Apparently, he had chosen this city because it was a place
where both our influence didn’t reach.

Now, what kind of trick will he try to pull?

About thirty minutes earlier than the appointed time, we reached the designated
store. It was the kind of store that could be called a stylish bar. Attentive detail was
given even to the lighting of the place, giving it a peculiar atmosphere.

Within was a slender man that wore a jet-black robe.

“Welcome, junior. I’m so glad you came.”

The man then called out in a friendly-sounding voice. Of course, it was the [Black]
Demon Lord. For some reason though, he resembled the [Time] Demon Lord.

His narcissism, however, was obvious at first glance, as well as his disdain and
contempt of other people.

Just as obvious, though, was the stubbornness in his eyes.

In just one look, I knew he was the type of individual I disliked.

“When you threaten me like that, no matter how much I might hate it, I have no choice
but to come, don’t I?”

I usually spoke humbly when talking to a senior, but this guy who has been antagonizing
me did not deserve such treatment.

Behind him were two knights clad in black armor.

As I currently was, I was able to see those monsters’ strength. Both of them were A
rank monsters that had been trained and leveled up to the limits.

They were strong, but not absurdly strong. They were not like the girls, Duke, or Enlil
who were all way beyond the norm.

If a fight were to ensue, Kuina would most likely be able to trash the two in an instant.

That being said, my instincts were warning me that these two were nothing more than
displays and that the real guards were hiding and lurking somewhere. Carelessly
starting a fight here could be fatal.

“Sorry for threatening you. Well, it was just that I really wanted to talk to you, Procell,
at all cost even. I doubt you would have come if I didn’t do something like that. And it
seems there are some misunderstandings about me. Let me address some of those
first. I think you know, but that threat was just a joke. I had no serious intention of
attacking the [Wind] Demon Lord.”

He said so with a brazen smile on his face.

Most likely, he was acting like so in order to irritate me. I can’t let myself dance to his
tune. I have to calm down.

“That was just a joke?”

“Before that, instead of standing here talking, let’s sit. The cocktails of the master here
are superb. Especially the [Black Demon Lord] I ordered. It’s so good, it could send
you to heaven. So, with that, master, two [Black Demon Lords]”

“…Cut the crap. You’re my enemy. What’s with this overly friendly attitude!?”

I sat down but was not able to hold my irritation in any longer.

“Enemy? What a joke. Procell, I am a comrade who understands you, who walks the
same path as you. We are both smart. We are unlike other Demon Lordsfools who enjoy
killing humans and each other.”

“Don’t lump me with you”

“Haha, it hurts to be hated that much… But first, let me formally introduce myself. I
am [Black] Demon Lord Balam. Alright, to gain your trust, I’ll tell you about my ability.
Originally, as you could imagine, I wouldn’t share this to other people, but since it’s
you, I’ll make a special exemption. My ability is [Black]. Basically, I could use any power
associated with [Black]. Also, like you, I have an A rank medal. In other words, I am
one of the chosen few.”

There were many Demon Lords who regarded having A rank medals as something
extra special. It would seem he was one of them.

I had known old Demon Lords who had A rank medals— namely, [Beast], [Time], and
[Dragon]—and they all had a sense of majesty and firm resolve to them. I couldn’t feel
those things from this guy though.
“…I am [Creation] Demon Lord Procell.”

“Should I call you Procchi?”

“Quit screwing around. I’ll say it again. For hurting Marcho and trying to kill Stolas,
you are my enemy.”

When I said that, the [Black] Demon Lord laughed a little.

He then took sip of the [Black Demon Lord] that the master of the place delivered.

“You misunderstand, Procell. Look, I tried to defeat the [Beast] Demon Lord due to my
own personal belief. I didn’t do it to antagonize you. Rather, because you arbitrarily
intervened, I should be the victim here.”

“It’s only natural to help your parent.”

“Not really. In fact, I would say wanting to kill your parent is the norm for Demon Lords
and that you are just an exception.”

“Then, how about Stolas? You knew that Stolas and I were on friendly terms and
threatened me by saying you would annihilate her and her dungeon. You practically
manipulated the [Blade] Demon Lord and used him to kill her!”

I dread to think how much damage Stolas would have suffered if we weren’t there.
After all, had Duke not helped out, Enlil’s rebirth wouldn’t have happened.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I did threaten you, yes, but it was just a
means to get you to come, Procchi. I didn’t actually do anything.”

“As if! Moments before his death, the [Blade] Demon Lord told me who was backing
him. And it was you!”

After being used and manipulated, the [Blade] Demon Lord was killed by a curse
placed on him to silence him. Moments before he died though, in perhaps an effort to
redeem himself, he used his own blood to write the name of the one who masterminded
the whole ordeal. According to that, it was the [Black] Demon Lord.
“Hmm, even if you tell me that, I have no idea. Surely you can imagine that there are
other Demon Lords who want to bring me down. Unfortunately, they’re the same
Demon Lords that are very, very scared to see the two of us join arms because it’ll
make us even stronger. I mean, if we team up and the three nations I have under my
command were to receive your Avalon’s technical support, what do you think will
happen?”

I thought about it for a while, but only a scene straight out of a nightmare crossed my
mind.

Through my [Creation], I had access to [Memory of the Planet] and knew what would
happen if humans were to obtain outrageously dangerous tools.

“The answer, you see, is that we would have the strongest and greatest empire. An
empire that would quickly devour all other countries. Think about it, we would be able
unify all countries into one. And with only one nation, there would only be one state
religion. Complete world conquest! I would be the god of this empire, and you will be
its emperor. No one would be able to defy us. We would be able to gather emotions
and DP a million times over than we currently do! Amazing, don’t you think?”

The [Black] Demon Lord was visibly enjoying telling his ambitions.

“You seem to enjoy ruling humans, don’t you? You have a complex or something?”

When I said so, a crack wedged itself into his smile.

It seemed like I had poked into a subject he didn’t want poked.

“Yeah, well, rather than calling it a complex, I’d say I’m just opposing the fate imposed
on us Demon Lords. Have you ever thought about it? We Demon Lords are so much
more superior than humans, and yet we can’t live without them. The more you think
about it, the more you will realize that we are born for the sole purpose of developing
the humans. We are but mere tools made for the sake of the humans.”

“I had heard something similar from the Creator.”

Apparently, the meaning of our existence was to gradually guide humanity back to the
level of an ancient and lost civilization.

We were there to advance the planet. Hence, why the Creator referred to us Demon
Lords as [Children of the Planet].

“And what a load of bull that is. We are fantastic beings called Demon Lords and we
are not the humans’ playthings. I will not suffer it! And so, my objective is to have all
humans be corralled like the pigs they are. I won’t let them grow and develop any
further. I will keep them indolent. While I will keep them from any harm, it is only so
that I could feed on them. I will bring things back to order.”

His emotions were clearly conveyed by his voice.

The [Black] Demon Lord was obsessed about using and manipulating the humans. It
was some kind of creed of his.

“I have no interest in those kinds of things. Whether our actions benefit the humans
or not doesn’t matter to me. So long as I can live my life however I choose, it’s fine.”

So long as all parties—humans, Demon Lords, and monsters—were happy, there was
nothing else to say.

Personally, even if I was made for the benefit of the humans and that my every action
improved their lives in some way, as long as I could act purely of my own will, I
wouldn’t think I was dancing in palm of some god.

“…Tsk, you talk just like the [Dragon] Demon Lord.”

“Well, I do respect that person.”

His irritation grew. Upon calming himself a bit, he looked at me and continued to talk.

“Here I thought Procchi would understand and join me.”

“Like I said at the start: you are my enemy. Play dumb all you want, but that unfair war
on Stolas and now the royal family members coming to Avalon, I’m sure these are all
hostile acts done by you.”

It wasn’t an argument in a discussion, it was just a statement of facts.

“Then, [Creation] Demon Lord Procell, are you going to war against me? In the attack
against the [Beast] Demon Lord, most of my forces remained intact. You, on the other
hand, have used your trump card and shouldn’t have enough time or resources to
replace it. Oh yes, I’m aware that you currently don’t have your magic power.”

At that, I laughed inwardly.

So, it’s as I thought? He’s still not aware that my magic power has returned?

Though I used my [Storage] in Stolas’s dungeon, it was only in her crystal room. For
him, it should still appear my magic power was gone.

Also, it seemed like the information that Marcho became my monster still hasn’t
reached him.

“If you push, I will push back. I don’t like fighting, but I will do it if I must. Also, don’t
think that the MOAB is the only ace up my sleeve. If anything, I’ll have trouble choosing
which one to use on you.”

I said so and then looked at him threateningly.

I was just bluffing here though. If it was limited to the battlefield, I had no greater
trump card than the MOAB.

“Oh, I’m so, so scared. But Procchi, you’re underestimating me too much. If I really
wanted to, the three kingdoms under my command can bring ruin to your city easily.
In other words, I can kill you without even fighting directly.”

“That is scary too. But if I see you doing something like that, I’ll crush your base with
all my might before I get killed. I guess I can also get the three strongest Demon Lords
you hate so much to cooperate with me.”
The two of us then glared at each other. After a while, [Black] Demon Lord Balam
raised his hands as though to say he was giving up.

“I lose. My, what an unappealing junior you are, Procchi. If we do end up fighting each
other, it would seem both of us would be reduced to nothing. I don’t know about you,
but I’d like to avoid that. So, I have a proposal. Let us form a pact. Don’t worry, don’t
worry, it’s just a contract promising that we wouldn’t attack the other.”

“…That doesn’t sound bad. I would rather pass on the opportunity to crush you than
fight in the first place.”

After I said so, Balam took a piece of parchment from a bag and then wrote something
on it. Once done, he bit his finger and pressed it on the paper.

After reading through its contents, I did the same.

Interestingly, there were a lot of loopholes purposely put into this contract. Those
loopholes would justify us ignoring the contract and attack the other pretty much
whenever we wanted.

“And so, this meeting is over. It’s a shame you didn’t even taste the [Black Demon Lord],
Procchi. It’s very delicious, you know.”

“Even so, I value my health more.”

I replied so, stood up, and left.

This pact was merely a pause. I was sure that he would be doing things behind the
scenes that would help him crush me.

Earning time was the sole reason for this pact.

Which was fine by me because I wanted to buy time as well.

Like so, once our preparations were done, we would be at each other’s throats.

I guess whoever finishes their preparations first, wins.

After my meeting with the [Black] Demon Lord, I returned to Avalon. Since it ended
simply as a meeting, Kuina was a little dissatisfied.

That being said, the meeting pretty much went according to my expectations. Though
I couldn’t back out now of this conflict between the [Black] Demon Lord and myself
which would probably continue and escalate until either of us falls, I wasn’t really
inclined to do so.

I had no intention of losing either. I fully intended to protect both Avalon and my
monsters.

Together with Kuina, I headed toward the carriage that was near the First Tree.

I headed there to begin preparing for the visit of the royal family of Axera, while Kuina
headed there for a change of clothes.

When she was about to open the door, her fox ears suddenly pointed straight up.

“Oto-san, there’s somebody inside.”

Kuina’s senses were sharp. Even without opening the door, she could sense whether
there were people within. She could also tell if the people within were Rorono or Aura.

Wary of this intruder, Kuina readied her shotgun and forcefully opened the door.

“I was getting bored of waiting, master. I’ve missed you!”

While wagging her white wolf tail back and forth, a young girl that greatly resembled
Kuina jumped toward me. It was Fel.
Much like Kuina, she was a special S rank monster that was made using only A rank
medals. To be specific, the [Time] Demon Lord had used a combination of [Creation],
[Time], and [Beast] medals to make her.

“It’s been a while, Fel. I know today was the day for you to pick up the wine, but I had
a task I just had to do. I had properly asked the Mythological Foxes to help with the
wine though. You didn’t have to wait.”

It was agreed upon that I was to send some wine to the [Time] Demon Lord weekly.
Today was the start of that.

Perched on Fel’s shoulder was a crow monster that could use Transfer. In all likelihood,
it was the one tasked to transport the wine.

“Uuuuh, you’re so mean, master. I can’t come all this way to Avalon and not meet you.
So, you see, I did have to wait here.”

Behind Fel were the Mythological Foxes. They were lowering their heads repeatedly.

I see.

It seemed that although they tried to keep it as simple as a delivery could be, they were
overcome and were coerced into guiding Fel here.

Can’t be helped.

It was only for a short time, but Fel did fight for me as my subordinate.

A little service like this was most likely fine.

“At any rate, welcome, I’m glad to see you again.”

When I brushed her head, the swinging of her tail grew more intense. It was charming.
“It feels great when you brush my head like that, master.”

“I’m not your master anymore, so you don’t have to call me that.”

“Even so, master will always be my master.”

I didn’t particularly mind having her so attached to me.

As such, I decided to brush her head some more. While we were like that, Kuina
approached.

“It’s been a while, Fel-chan!”

“I missed you too, Kuina!”

Fel’s eyes sparkled in delight when she looked toward Kuina.

The two of them then high fived. As usual, the two were as close as sisters.

Looking at the two, an idea struck me.

“Oh. Kuina, if Fel was to join your special training, it would greatly help, wouldn’t it?
There aren’t many monsters that can fight on equal footing as you. I think it would be
a great experience for you both.”

Duke was pretty much the only one in Avalon that could match Kuina in a head-on
battle. However, because there were downsides and risks when Duke fought at full
power, letting them fight each other wasn’t something I could do thoughtlessly.

With Fel as the opponent though, Kuina could probably fight as much as she wanted.

“That’s a great idea! Fel-chan, if you want to, we can train together! I’ve made a new
technique recently!”

“That seems interesting. It’s been so long since I last played with you. Master, is it
alright if I take Kuina with me to father’s dungeon? If we use the [Time] arena, we can
go all out. We can even fight to the death. I don’t think my body can endure this new
technique of hers without any aid.”
I thought about it for a while.

The arena made by the [Time] Demon Lord was installed with a mechanism that
would rewind time back and make everything within revert to their initial state,
regardless of the injuries the fighters might have sustained.

Basically, the fighters could earn valuable fighting experience for no risk at all. For
Kuina, who had fought mostly inferior enemies, being able to fight a formidable enemy
like Fel to the death would surely be helpful.

It was an extremely enviable facility.

“Your proposal’s great, but wouldn’t we be imposing too much?”

“Of course, we have to ask father for permission first. But once I tell him I brought
home a friend, I’m sure he’ll say yes. Besides, if I were to fight Kuina, I too would get
stronger! This wouldn’t be just for her.”

It was certainly as she said. Being able to fight with Kuina would be just as useful for
Fel.

I’ll take her on her offer then.

“Alright, but how about you, Kuina? Would you like that?”

“Yeah ♪! Kuina always wanted to fight Fel-chan to the death to know once and for all
who’s the strongest. I’ll show her the awesomeness of a big sister!”

As to be expected of Avalon’s strongest monster, she said such frightening things with
a pure smile.

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly at that.

“Mythological Foxes, please package the Avalon wine. Kuina and Fel, I have a favor to
ask. Since Kuina will be imposing, bringing a gift for the [Time] Demon Lord is the
least we could do. So, with this money, find something he might like.”
I said so and then handed money to each.

“Woaaahhhh! If we have this much, we can buy gifts for the entire Chronos Knights!
Thanks!”

“We’ll select the best gifts!”

“If there are any left, keep it.”

“Understood!”

“Yeah ♪”

In high spirits, the two dashed out. Meanwhile, the Mythological Foxes hurriedly
carried the Avalon wine and followed the two.

It’s great to be energetic. Now then, I should do some work.

As I thought of that, an almost panting Fel came back.

“Master, I almost forgot! I have a message from father. Don’t take the [Black] Demon
Lord lightly. Worst comes to worst, use the silver watch… that’s it. Ah! Kuina, wait!”

Right after delivering the message, Fel left.

I then reached for the silver-colored watch chained around my neck and took it out. It
was a beautiful watch ornamented with beautiful craftsmanship.

It wasn’t any ordinary silver watch though.

This watch held within it the powers of the [Time] Demon Lord.

I had received it as a reward from him after Aura had volunteered and successfully
overcome his challenge.

It was one of the trump cards I have been holding back. For the [Time] Demon Lord to
tell me to use it, something must be going on. Perhaps it had something to do with the
[Black] Demon Lord’s powers.

“The high variance of the [Black] Demon Lord’s ability is troublesome though.”

Generally, a Demon Lord’s power and monsters could be guessed from their name.

On the [Black] Demon Lord’s case, however, his powers seemed too general, too
obscure. And that made his actions hard to predict.

It was inefficient, but if his actions were hard to predict, we just had to be prepared
for everything.

My [Creation], which would not fall behind in terms of versatility, allowed us to do so.

And so, while readying all sorts of countermeasures, we were solving immediate
problems. For example, having to deal with the royal family coming to Avalon.

After that, Kuina has been frequently coming over to Fel’s to train.

According to Kuina herself, she had completely mastered her new special move and
was winning more than Fel.

I was a little curious how she was overcoming Fel’s [Time] ability.

Also, a few days after Fel’s visit, we welcomed an advance delegation for the royal family.

After we gave them world-class delicacies, entertained them with Ruru’s songs,
provided them with evening entertainment, and showered them with gifts, the
delegation left with smiles on their faces.

Thanks to the public knowledge that we unilaterally crushed a city of theirs in a war,
this delegation was considerably well-behaved unlike last time. It was a sign that they
were at least putting an effort to build a good relationship with us.

Also, according to them, the royal family should arrive in a week’s time.

I wasn’t entirely sure and would need Ruru’s intelligence corps to gather evidence to
confirm, but the head of the delegation seemed to be aware of the true identity of their
god. He also seemed to know that they were being used.

Even if the royal family was like him and was unsympathetic to the [Black] Demon
Lord’s religion, the religion’s influence was just too strong for them. If ever they were
to be excommunicated by that religion, they would lose the support of their people
and their kingdom would truly be under the complete control of the church.

If that’s the way things are, I can take advantage of it. I can give them a way out.

There was also another development in Avalon recently.

Perhaps it was due to that guy’s instructions, but his believers in Avalon were active
now more than ever.

Each day and night, they had been doing their smear campaign against me.

I should do something about them soon.

Establishing my new religion as soon as possible was one solution. By having a group
of people that would worship me and defend my name, it would lessen the chances of
the [Black] Demon Lord’s religion of turning people against me.

Even though it wasn’t on purpose back then, thankfully, we had already planted many
seeds that would suggest that Avalon was a city loved by a god.

And now, all that I needed to do were pretty much to just proclaim that I was a god
and that Avalon would be the holy capital of the nation I would be founding.

…that and think of a name for my religion. I should consult everyone so that we can come
up with a good one.

Another note: The pocket watch is from the bonus chapter in the 2nd volume of the
LN.
If the [Black] Demon Lord was going to use his religion and his believers against me, I
didn’t see any reason to hold back on founding my own religion and use it against him.

On that note, the most vital ingredient in establishing and spreading a religion was
miracles.

Fortunately, we didn’t need to prepare any since Avalon itself was a miracle.

It was a known fact that Avalon was built in just a week’s time.

Furthermore, Avalon has never been hit by any natural calamity, has always given
abundant harvest, and always had clear water.

Thanks to the combination of the blessings given by Aura & the High Elves as well as
the infrastructures designed by Rorono & built by the Dwarf Smiths, Avalon was far
more comfortable to live in than any other city.

Miracles were in abundance in Avalon.

“We are being quite harassed, though.”

Even now, believers of the [Black] Demon Lord’s religion still came to Avalon to harass
us.

They claimed that I, the leader of this city, was a demon and that I was aiming to bring
unhappiness to each and every citizen of the city.

To make matters worse, for some reason unknown to me, the [Black] Demon Lord
included in his teachings that humans were the superior beings and that demi-
humans were filthy and inferior, leading to discrimination against the latter.

Based on that, they were telling others that expelling me, the demon exploiting the
citizens of Avalon, while doing the same or possibly enslaving the demi-humans would
grant the ones that participated god’s blessing and a better life.

Sadly, there were some who believed such foolish talks.

If left alone, it was possible there would be a revolt.

“If only it was as simple and straightforward as killing them.”

Getting physical would be the simplest solution to manage such a group.

However, if possible, I would like to avoid going that road. Because if I did, exaggerated
rumors that would say Avalon was suppressing free speech and that one could be
imprisoned for just criticizing me, its leader, would surely spread. And if that
happened, Avalon’s population growth would come to a halt.

Even worse, in the pretense of helping their fellow believers, nations controlled by the
[Black] Demon Lord would unite under a single banner and march toward us.

And so, I had to find another solution.

One that would give a better impression of us.

I think now’s the time.

At the moment, I was standing in a small hill overlooking Avalon.

While gazing down at the city, I did some preparations for a certain kind of event.

“Aura, have they started already?”

I spoke so, trusting that the wind would deliver the sound of my voice to the faraway
Aura.
“Yes. They’re enthusiastically handing out fliers today as well. Sometimes I feel so
annoyed, I want to shoot them.”

Today as well, the believers of the [Black] Demon Lord’s religion were spreading ill
information about me and were propagating the hate against the demi-humans.

“Hey now, they’re victims in this too. Victims tricked by the [Black] Demon Lord. Try
to proceed peacefully.”

I was more worried about those susceptible to being tricked by these believers’ words
than the believers themselves.

If we were going to start somewhere, it would be with those that haven’t been tricked
yet. We needed to make them realize that following me would be much more beneficial
to them.

“Rorono, has the [Divine Revelation] been prepped?”

“Mhm. No issues. Ready for use anytime.”

Rorono had just finished her final check-up on the Spatial Image Imprinting &
Stereophonic Audio Multiplexing Device—otherwise known as the [Divine Revelation].

It was a device whose purpose was to project images to the sky while also making
sounds like my voice reach throughout the city.

In order to consolidate my position, I was going to use it today for the first time.

It was possible that its existence had already been leaked to the [Black] Demon Lord,
but I highly doubted that their side knew its functions or what I would use it for.

I bet they couldn’t even imagine that this is portable.

“Oto-san, you look cooler than usual today”

Sparkles in her eyes, Kuina said so while looking at me.

“Today is a special event, after all.”

In the religion I was going to found, I would be its symbol. If the symbol was going to
look slovenly, it wouldn’t be much of a symbol. For that reason, I dressed myself up
more than usual.

Thanks to Ruru who was great at these kinds of things, I was confident I looked the
part.

And so, I took a deep breath.

“Rorono, if you please.”

“Mhm”

Rorono nodded and then started up the [Divine Revelation], projecting my form to the
sky.

Each citizen that looked up in the sky was in awe.

“Can everyone in Avalon hear me? Many of you might recognize my face, but let me
introduce myself nonetheless. I am Procell, the head of Avalon. I am also the great sage
that built this city.”

My voice resounded throughout the city.

Their reactions were a mix of curiosity and fear.

Without delay, the believers of the [Black] Demon Lord’s religion began yelling the
demon’s black magic! and the like.

“Recently, there have been a group of people claiming that I am not human… these
people are correct. I am not human.”

Confusion among the citizens grew by the moment after hearing my words.

Alright, I’ve piqued their interest.

“However, unlike what they are saying, I am not a demon. What I am is a god. And these
words of mine to you are my [Divine Revelation].”

I strongly declared so.

To make others believe me, it was vital that I not only looked the part, I had to sound
the part as well.

I needed to seem larger than life. I needed to seem like a voice from heaven whose
words must not be argued against.

As soon as they heard me, many among the citizens showed signs of worshipping me.

This in turn made [Black]’s believers flustered. They shouted and protested, but their
pleas held no sway.

As the moments passed, the number of citizens that believed that I was a real god grew
and grew.

Alright, here comes the critical part.

“Right after I descended to these lands, I founded Avalon. It was to be a paradise where
everyone can live happily. Have you never found it strange that after all this time, this
city has never been hit by any calamity? That crops planted here always result to a
bountiful harvest? That even though this is already a fairly large city, the water flowing
here is always clear? Or that the weather always great? The answer is simple: all of
these are works of a god.”

Everyone probably had, at some point, wondered about these things.

Until they came to Avalon, the farmers had to constantly fight against the issues such
as the weather, pests, crop diseases, barren fields, and water shortages to name a few.
Oftentimes, they’d lose. After moving to Avalon, however, such issues no longer
haunted them, allowing them to lead a much more comfortable and secure life.

Meanwhile, merchants who were active in other large cities would have definitely
notice that those cities tended to have water that was foul-smelling. Not to mention
the levels of smoke and pollution present in them. And yet, even though Avalon was
just as—if not more—prosperous as those cities, it continued to be clean and beautiful.

And here, I gave them the answers to such mysteries: I was a god and those were my
miracles.

“All that being said, these miracles didn’t come solely from me. I have been borrowing
the power of the demi-humans here in Avalon. Only by amplifying their powers with
my own was this city possible. For that reason, it saddens me that some of you are
campaigning to expel the demi-humans out.”

At this point, I made a sorrowful expression.

The [Divine Revelation] truly was useful. Convincing them using the expression on my
face was far better than just using my voice.

“Everyone, try to recall the non-human neighbors you’ve spent each day with. Were
they evil? Did they do you any harm? I would assume no. Rather, wouldn’t you say they
made your life here in Avalon richer and fuller? It is my wish that humans and demi-
humans continue to share meals together, sing together, drink the night away together,
and laugh together. I want everyone, humans and demi-humans alike, to be happy.”

Upon hearing me, excitement among the crowd grew.

Yeah, this was the right approach.

Instead of listening to the unfounded information that demi-humans were inferior or

that they were up to no good, the humans based their judgment on something very
real: the memories of the life they have been sharing with the demi-humans.

“Honestly, if it was possible, I would have continued hiding the fact that I am a god. I
didn’t want you to expect too much out of me. The extent of my power is rather limited.
I was just barely able to make the city you’ve come to love. I am not capable of
eliminating sickness altogether, or even creating infinite wealth. Rest assured,
however, I am very much capable of protecting the citizens of Avalon and their
happiness. But I digress. The reason I am telling you about my godhood today is,
apparently, the Rigdolg Faith would not allow the continued existence of the demi-
humans. They are manipulating their believers and sending them here to Avalon to
bring about its ruin.”

The Rigdolg Faith was the name of the [Black] Demon Lord’s religion.

The citizens who have now put things together began talking with others.

“To put it bluntly, without me, this city would stop being what it is and would
eventually vanish. If the demi-humans were driven away, the current way of life will
also cease to exist. These people are fully aware of such results and yet are still going
for it, at the cost of everyone’s happiness. They would not stop until their beliefs and
their god were the only ones. On the other hand, I want to protect your smiles and
your everyday life here in Avalon. So, please, do not be deceived by their malicious
words.”

Along with facial expressions, I appealed to the citizens using my voice.

For a ruler, few tools would exceed the ability to spread information to all your citizens
immediately and simultaneously.

Not only have I just obtained the citizenry’s support, I was also able to turn them
against believers of the Rigdolg Faith.

“Lastly, I’ve come to the conclusion that I should start a religion of my own in order to
unite everyone. I only have one doctrine to preach: regardless of whether you are
human or demi-human, everyone should live in peace and bliss. If you approve of this
ideology, you are welcome to join. I will supply the details at a later date. For now,
thank you for your time. Let us continue being a place of love for all.”

After those words, [Divine Revelation] was terminated.

The speech was very effective. Right away, many would-be believers were gathering.

That whole thing about everyone living in peace and bliss was proving to be quite the
charmer.

Perhaps I could entice more in by offering to lighten the tax on them. Merchants would
surely jump at that.
But at any rate, with this, I had assured that Avalon wouldn’t be destroyed from within.
Believers of the Rigdolg Faith should find it harder to move now.

Other than staving off that threat, I stood to gain at least two other things from
founding this religion.

First, if I were to hold a daily prayer meeting, I could gain tremendous amounts of
strong emotions. It might just actually be my most efficient source emotions to feed
on.

Secondly, it could serve as a valuable card during my negotiation with the royal family.

Be that as it may, this is only just the beginning. Things are bound to be a whole lot hectic
from now on.

While stifling down a smile, I made my way back.

Now that I was on equal footing with the [Black] Demon Lord, I looked forward to his
next move.

As I thought of such, a blue bird perched itself on my shoulder.

“Thank goodness. As expected of the [Dragon] Demon Lord, he’s so reasonable.”

In addition to the religion plan, I had another move that was ongoing. That other plan
was apparently going nicely, I should add.

Right now, I was fully prepared to welcome and deal with the royal family.

Note: I’ve decided to use [Divine Revelation] instead of [Divine Oracle]. Just a personal
choice.
Four days had passed since I founded my religion.

Simply declaring I founded a religion and doing nothing else was meaningless. The
[Divine Revelation] surely had a wondrous effect, but that alone wasn’t enough.

And so, for the past four days, the Dwarf Smiths had been building a church. Even
though it would formally be known as a church, I also intended to use it as an assembly
hall for large-scale events.

By the way, it hasn’t been said enough because I had Rorono, but the Dwarf Smiths
were truly fantastic.

As B rank monsters, they were already rare enough that most Demon Lords wouldn’t
be able to make them without expending original medals.

To top it off, their craftsmanship was one of the finest among all monsters. Using the
golems as heavy machinery, they could do construction work faster than a group of
humans could ever hope.

All that being said, to kickstart my new religion, I had enlisted the help of not only my
monsters but the humans as well.

“Procell-sama, I’ve finished that thing you asked. Oh boy, it was hard. I dare say no one
else but us, the Curtrude Company, would have been able to finish this task in time.
Anyway, as you requested, our workers, after working day and night, have produced
500 copies of your second draft.”

“You have my thanks, Conanna.”

I had asked the Curtrude Company for its cooperation in this endeavor.

Considering that it was the leading trading company in Avalon and that its leader,
Conanna, has answered each expectation I had for him, I was confident in asking them
for help.

“I must confess I was surprised when you said you wanted to make so many high-
quality books and then distribute them for free. But then again, it is you, Procell-sama.”

“These texts are vital, after all. Word of mouth just isn’t enough for this.”

What I requested of the Curtrude Company was the production of holy books for my
religion.

The main teaching of my religion could be summed up to humans and demi-humans

getting along, but having only that much was just too lacking. For that reason, I
commissioned the help of a poet to pad things out… err, rather, to rewrite my initial
draft to appeal more to the people.

And now, we had produced a large number of copies of that book consisting of 20 or
so pages.

The plan was to distribute these books for free to potential believers.

Seeing as paper was expensive, it was only natural to assume that books would be
even more so.

Even so, I had decided to distribute the holy books for free in order to ensure, even if
by only a little bit more, that my doctrine would be spread and that it would be spread
correctly.

A little bit of investment for such a cause was not an issue, especially considering our
gold reserves.

“Yeah, it’s a good book.”

I said so while holding a copy of the holy book.

The leather it had for cover had a slight luster to it. It also looked sturdy and its overall
craftsmanship was great.

Furthermore, they had only begun on the production of the book three days ago when
the manuscript for it had just been finished. Even if the Curtrude Company
commissioned multiple workshops, to be able to produce 500 copies in such a short
time was a tremendous accomplishment.

“The ample budget surely helped. Early tomorrow morning, all of the 500 copies
should be delivered.”

Thank goodness. They made it just in time.

It was scheduled that we were to hold the very first worshipping event tomorrow. We
might not have enough for every individual that would attend, but we might just have
enough for each family.

“If you can keep up this quality, I would like to order a thousand more copies. Don’t
worry, I won’t say something like deliver them right away and all at once. Just deliver
what you’ve finished once a week. I’ll pay in advance; the cost doesn’t matter. Also, I’ll
provide a bonus for your workers.”

Hard work needed to be compensated fairly.

That was my policy.

“Much appreciated, but I don’t really mind being paid later.”

“Wouldn’t an advance payment be more helpful?”

“Fufu. It certainly would be helpful, but I’d rather receive it after I’ve formally entered
the religion you’re going to found.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you’ve heard about it.”

I planned on offering anyone who would become a believer of my religion tax incentives.

Furthermore, I also planned on giving people who worked in agriculture priority on

the usage of our water systems. Free fertilizers and other stuff too.

I had reservations on this blatant baiting, but it was necessary.

I knew I wouldn’t gain many true believers this way, but I had a plan to turn anyone
enticed by these methods into one later.

“Alright. From tomorrow onwards, my religion is going to accept believers. Let us do

our dealings after that.”

“Yes, let’s.”

“Are you sure though? Worshipping me would pretty much mean that you and your
Curtrude Company would be severing its ties to the Rigdolg Faith.”

The Rigdolg Faith was the world’s largest religion wherein the [Black] Demon Lord
reigned as its god.

In all likelihood, its believers wouldn’t accept anyone believing in faiths other than
their own.

Upon hearing me, Conanna smiled.

“Oh, I’m sure. Even from before, I have greatly respected you, Procell-sama. Moreover,
your teachings align with what we merchants have believed. Whether they be human
or demi-human, so long as they can give us profits, they are welcome. Your teachings
suit us much better than that human supremacy ideology of the Rigdolg Faith.”

As to be expected of a first-rate merchant, he had already carefully thought it through.

As calculated as it was though, this decision was still a gamble.

On the other hand, as Avalon’s commerce grows, so too would his profits.

“I’m so glad you came to Avalon. Conanna, as thanks for your decision to stay, I hereby
approve your proposal of establishing an orphanage. I shall see to it that it is built
quickly too. I was surprised though. You’ve always struck me as a merchant who
thought of nothing else but profit, and yet here you are doing something selfless.”

Conanna surprisingly was a very considerate person.

A day after I announced I was going to found my religion, he proposed to establish an
orphanage in the church.

There were many adventurers here in Avalon. They made a living by going into the
[Time] Demon Lord’s dungeon which was very nearby. Unfortunately, risks of death
came hand in hand with their occupation.

When such things happen, it wasn’t an uncommon story for them to leave behind some
family members.

The existence of orphans had always been a concern.

In order for them to survive, they would resort to rummaging the garbage and even
pickpocketing. This in turn caused public order to deteriorate. Capturing these
orphans, on the other hand, wasn’t really a solution.

Adventurer associations did exist, but they didn’t offer much help to the matter.

And so, in order to protect public order while also luring more adventurers to Avalon,
establishing an orphanage seemed like a good move.

Should these orphans grow properly and make a family of their own, it would greatly
benefit Avalon in the long run.

“You give me too much credit. This too is just a business venture. If those children are
given proper education and grow into adults that have honest jobs, they would
become valued customers for my company. This is just me shoving the responsibility
to Avalon.”

So the person himself said, but I knew better.

I had found out was that he has been employing as much orphaned children as
possible into his company, and has been treating them fairly.

There were also other good deeds he has been doing behind the scenes. It was enough
to make me wonder if he had been orphaned and enslaved when he was a child.

I guess a person just isn’t what they seem to appear on the surface.
“I’d also like to ask you to take care of the interior design of the church. Please have it
ready by tomorrow.”

“Yes, arrangements for that has already been taken care of. Nothing but the highest
quality furnishings that would help produce an atmosphere of holiness. My Curtrude
Company has gathered the greatest craftsmen to produce this event, so please look
forward to it.”

Even though the Dwarf Smiths might be able to make even better things, they were
outmatched when it came to theming and such things.

Like this, it would serve as a valuable group activity between my monsters and the
humans.

After talking about two or three other points, Conanna and I parted.

There were other important things to prepare, after all.

I then returned to the carriage placed near the First Tree.

In the kitchen, Aura was busy making some kind of dubious medicine while humming.

Meanwhile, in a large room within the carriage, Ruru listened and then criticized the
Ocean Singers on their song over and over again. The citizens of Avalon weren’t
supposed to hear their song yet, so they practiced it here.

“No, that won’t do, you have to put more emotion into it. There’s not enough love, love
I say! You have to make them love everyone and cherish peace and harmony. Here,
listen to me and the feelings I put in.”

Ruru then gave a sample.

Just listening to her song was enough to make one kinder.

“Okay, now, from the third verse! We only have until tomorrow! Everyone, do your
best!”
With that, the Ocean Singers began singing again.

Although Ruru still had a few criticisms to make, the Ocean Singers were definitely
singing better than earlier.

While waiting for the Ocean Singers to finish singing, I approached Ruru and talked to
her.

“Ruru, is everything going well?”

“Yup. At this pace, we’ll be ready for tomorrow. I’ve made an excellent hymn for you,
patron. I and the Ocean Singers are staking our titles as otherworld singers in this
performance.”

I figured that a memorable song was far more effective than a thousand words.
Considering Ruru and the Ocean Singers could influence their audiences’ hearts, the
effects should be even more tremendous.

And so, I asked Ruru to come up with both rhythm and lyrics. The subject was to be
about demi-humans and humans being just the same; about how everyone should live
peacefully and happily together; and about how I was a great and benevolent god, so
I should be worshipped.

The song was also supposed to be easy to sing and its melody easy to remember.

The plan was to lure the people to come to a worship meeting by offering tax cuts and
advantage in agriculture, and have those people listen to the song. Even though the
baits wouldn’t make them faithful believers, I had confidence the song would.

They would then enthusiastically invite others who would then invite another set of
people to come. Like this, the amount of my believers was going to increase at a steady
pace.

This method very closely resembled brainwashing, but unlike the latter, this wasn’t
malicious in any way. We were just going to be instilling some values; we wouldn’t be
doing any harm.

At any rate, the very first worship meeting was scheduled for the next day. After that,
it was going to become a weekly event. Hopefully, each week would bring in more
believers while the current would be even more religious.

“Patron, are you sure about the sound equipment? It isn’t designed by Rorono, so I
have some concerns.”

“Though the Dwarf Smiths were the ones that designed it, Rorono did properly check
it. It should be fine. You’re going to have the world’s greatest stage.”

“I’m relieved, then. Actually, in that case, I guess we should improve our performance!”

Like that, Ruru and the Ocean Singers began their practice once again.

Having checked up on them and being assured, I then headed toward Aura.

“Is everything going well here as well?”

“Yes, I’ve actually just made a trial product. Have a look. I call this special potion [God’s
Smile]! Any human that drinks a cup of wine from a barrel that has even only a single
drop of this would be put in a state of intoxication and be unable to think fully. In such
a state, they would obediently accept all sorts of things.”

Aura then smiled wickedly.

Despite being an elf, why does such an expression suit her so much?

“I’m glad to hear the holy water’s ready.”

The tax cuts and agricultural advantages weren’t the only things we were using to lure
in potential believers. One other such thing that we were advertising was that anyone
who would come to the worship meetings would get to drink our high-quality wine—
which would be called our holy water—for free.

Of course, this wine would be mixed with [God’s Smile].

If people were to listen to Ruru’s hymn while under the influence of the holy water,
the effects would sky-rocket.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that through those two things, the citizens of
Avalon would unite as one.

I’m so excited for tomorrow.

The first ever day of worship for my religion finally came.

The registration for those who wished to be a part of it had begun at the many
registration desks we had set up in front of the church.

After writing down their name or—for those that didn’t know how to write—having
it written down for them, the now-registered believers were handed proof of their
faith in the form of a necklace and an expensive-if-sold holy book. The Mythological
Foxes then guided them to the church.

As the believers poured into the church, I felt glad I made the hall as large as possible.
If I hadn’t, it would have been full to bursting in no time.

After checking the crowd, I entered the church through the back entrance.

Now then, time to give my speech as a god.

We had designed the church to be a place for magical rituals. We had estimated it to
be able to hold a thousand people. At the moment, it was full.

Thankfully, the Mythological Foxes had skillfully judged the cutoff point in the lines
and then closed the doors.

To each of the citizens inside, high-quality wine—or juice for those that couldn’t drink
alcohol—was being distributed. Additionally, the most famous bakeries in the city had
also prepared ham sandwiches with generous amounts of high-grade ham for the
citizens.

Understandably, the citizens were overjoyed when they were offered such delicious
things for no cost. None that they knew of, at least. In truth, the cost was their ability
to think properly.
The citizens had begun giving in to their euphoric state. It seemed like the [God’s
Smile] mixed in the wine and juice was having great effect.

When certain closed curtains were opened, the intelligence corps including Ruru
appeared in the stage built within the church.

After seeing such beautiful girls on the stage, the citizens became excited.

Ruru smiled at the crowd. It wasn’t just an ordinary smile though; it was already part
of her performance.

A soothing melody then began to flow. Thanks to the audio equipment, it reached
everywhere in the hall and was very clear.

The melody was so beyond captivating, no other sound was made.

After a while, Ruru began singing the lyrics to her hymn.

As planned, the magic power laced into her song engraved the thoughts of loving
peace and equality into the citizens’ hearts. Praises for god Procell were added in as
well.
I would say about 90% of those that attended today did not share the values of the
hymn and were most likely believers of the Rigdolg Faith. The only reason they came
was to ruin this worshipping event.

However, thanks to Aura’s [God’s Smile] and Ruru’s hymn, they were converted into
true believers instead.

The hymn was then over.

Hearing the hymn while in a state of trance made everyone have a befuddled look on
their face. In other words, they were enjoying pleasure beyond measure.

When Ruru took a bow, everyone clapped. Soon after, Ruru and the Ocean Singers
exited the stage.

That worked well, better than expected even. Their emotions are flowing into me. I see.
So, this is why the [Black] Demon Lord is obsessed with his religion.

Demon Lords were creatures who fed on the emotions within their dungeon.

In the worshipping event just now, I was able to feed on huge amounts of high-quality
emotions. This was important since it proved the hassle was worth it, even if we were
to do it weekly.

Well then, it’s my turn soon.

As I thought such, I began climbing the stage.

Just by that act alone, the citizens went wild. Another benefit of Ruru’s hymn.

“Welcome, everyone. I am Procell, a god. I thank you all for approving my teachings.
From today onwards, let us all cherish peace and equality… as part of the Holy Grail
Faith.”

I had decided that my religion was going to be called the Holy Grail Faith. It was named
after the Holy Grail that granted any and all wishes.
“The Holy Grail Faith’s doctrine will center around being happy and loving one
another—regardless of race. We are all family.”

Overcome with emotions, the citizens roared while tears fell from their eyes. They
seemed to be really into it.

“I want others to be happy as well, so I have a request to all of you. We will be holding
a worship meeting once a week, and on the next one, I want each of you to bring
someone you know. Tell them there will be delicious food and great music. Just getting
them to come is enough. Once they’ve listened to our teachings, I’m sure they’ll
understand.”

Afterwards, I spoke all god-like and ended the meeting.

The citizens—now zealous believers—looked satisfied as they headed back. That

reaction was more than enough. Like this, the number of believers would increase
steadily.

Results of the worship meeting were favorable. I was able to easily gain strong and
delicious emotions while also making Avalon easier to govern more than ever.

As of the moment, we only had a church here in Avalon, but in the future, I planned on
building them in other cities as well. That way and by using the same techniques as
we did this time, the Holy Grail Faith would spread even outside of Avalon.

The stronger my religion becomes, the less of an influence other religions—such as

the Rigdolg Faith—would have in Avalon.

Later on, an official notification had arrived stating that the royal family would be
coming to Avalon three days later.

I planned on selling to them the idea of switching from being a single-religion state to
a multi-religion state. I would argue that having only a single religion in their domain
would give that religion too much sway in their politics.
Of course, words alone weren’t enough. I had prepared two baits.

One of which needed the [Dragon] Demon Lord’s cooperation, but he had already
given his approval.

I wonder what the royal family’s reaction would be like once they’ve known that I
founded my own religion and have garnered a lot of zealous believers. I’m looking
forward to seeing it. At any rate, let’s prepare for the battle that doesn’t involve armed
conflict.

Note: The Holy Grail in Holy Grail Faith has a superscript Kurisu/クリス/Chris,
suggesting it should be read like that. If Christ was used, I would have gone along with
that or Christianity. As it is, I don’t want to use Chris Faith or Christianity. Besides, I
find Holy Grail Faith cooler.
The day for the royal family’s visit finally came.

Preparations for welcoming them were fully in place.

We intended to make them enjoy Avalon from the bottom of their hearts. After all, it
would make negotiations far easier to do.

“It seems the Holy Grail Faith’s spreading at a good rate.”

Believers who worshipped and were in awe of me were diligently spreading my religion.

Of those invited to join, many were interested in coming if it meant they could enjoy
delicious wine and excellent songs in the next worship meeting. Just actually coming
to the meeting was enough to ensure they would be zealous believers. They would
then invite others and those others would invite others, ad infinitum.

All these were for the sake of protecting Avalon.

While in my room and thinking of such, I finished up on my paperwork.

What I was working on was the establishment of the city’s orphanage.

We were going to use the Curtrude Company to hire individuals with the necessary
skills to run the orphanage. It didn’t matter if those people were to be from other cities
or towns. Meanwhile, to assist those people would be diligent people from Avalon who
were good with children.

In a field where experts were rare, recruiting even from other places and offering high
pay to them was the fastest method.

The effort of building the orphanage as soon as possible was not only for the sake of
the children themselves, but also for the sake of attracting even more people to Avalon.
Another benefit of having an orphanage was the opportunity to make children of very
young age enter the Holy Grail Faith and swear loyalty to Avalon.

“Hey, hey, patron, now that I think about it, why did you tell me to make that rather
mild song? If we put our mind into it, we could seriously brainwash the humans to the
point that they will kill for you when ordered to, you know?”

Ruru, who was lying in the bed in my room, curiously asked me so.

It has been rather hot recently, so she has been coming to this carriage where there
were air-conditioning systems in place.

“We mustn’t do that… it might sound like hypocrisy at this point, but we must do our
very best to never cross that final line.”

Thanks to the combination of Aura’s [God’s Smile] and Ruru & the Ocean Singers’
hymn, the values of loving their fellow regardless of race and also revering me were
instilled into the believers’ hearts. However, it should be limited to those values alone.
Nothing more, nothing less.

We weren’t going to force them to do things, especially those that they would hate.
This was very different to treating them as though they were mere puppets.

Besides, if we were to treat them like puppets, the humans would not be able to exhibit
their ability to create new things. And if that was to happen, Avalon wouldn’t be able
to grow any further.

“Hmp, well, you sure are adamant in the strangest of things, patron.”

“That aside, don’t you have to head out soon? You guys are the centerpiece in making
the royal family entertained. Are all your preparations done?”

Rather than using Ruru and the Ocean Singers’ songs to influence the mind of the royal
family, I had asked them to sing purely for entertainment purposes this time.

“That’s a foolish question. I am an R’lyeh Diva. I don’t compromise anything in my craft.

Look forward to it, patron. It’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime song and dance performance.”

If anyone had the talent to impress royalty who had most likely grown tired of song
and dance performances, it would be Ruru.

Now, I guess I should change and get ready myself.

<<Master, the guests are here.>>

Aura’s voice was carried by the wind all the way to my room.

I had made Aura observe Avalon’s gate using her wind. The chances of the [Black]
Demon Lord taking advantage of this event to invade Avalon were high, so we were on
full alert.

Ok, time to greet them.

“Kuina, are you ready?”

“Yeah–♪ absolutely!”

Kuina, who wore a chic dress that suited her now older appearance, replied so.

As there was a chance of danger, I had asked her to stay by my side as my guard. That
being said, there was one other reason she was with me: in order to showcase that we
were a city aiming to coexist with demi-humans, it was necessary to have an individual
that could easily be perceived as such to be by my side.

“We talked about this yesterday, Kuina. I want you to change the way you talk to that
of an adult. Will you do that for me?”

I felt a little bad for asking her such, but the usual way Kuina talked could be taken as
discourtesy by high-ranking people. Demon Lords were one thing since they could
sympathize, but humans probably wouldn’t.
“Understood, dear father. I’ll try to conduct myself befitting of your standing.”

It felt weird to hear her talk like that, but it was necessary.

She was smart, so as long as she put effort into it, she could keep conducting herself
like so.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Then, I’ll keep it up until the royal family goes back. If I do a good job though, I want
to be showered with plenty of praise.”

Though her way of speaking and mannerism changed, I guess Kuina will always be
Kuina.

At that thought, I unconsciously smiled.

When we went to the city gate, a two-horse carriage with the crest of the royal family
was there. A group of knights atop horses was also there to guard the aforementioned
carriage and its occupants.

One of the knights was loudly shouting something.

“Announcing the arrival of Prince Leonard Mira Axera, the third prince of the Axera
Kingdom, as well as his attendants to the city of Avalon! His highness requests the
immediate presence of the city’s representative!”

In perhaps an effort to show off the grandness of the prince, they purposefully
announced his arrival in a gaudy manner.

Kuina in tow, I appeared before the group.

“Thank you for coming. I am this city’s—Avalon’s—leader. I am Procell. Allow us to

welcome and entertain you to the best of our abilities.”
The knight then looked at me and Kuina.

Her beautiful face certainly captured his attention, but upon noticing her demi-human
features, he frowned.

Since the Rigdolg Faith, the state religion of Axera, followed a human supremacy
ideology, that kind of reaction was just natural.

At the top of the Rigdolg Faith were the [Black] Demon Lord who reigned supreme as
their god, and the angel-type monsters who served as his retainers. They were
followed by faithful human believers as blessed beings. At the very bottom were demi-
humans who didn’t receive any blessing at all from their god, thus being relegated to
be inferior beings.

Building a religion and giving a certain group a sense of superiority was a tried and
tested approach.

Nevertheless, I rather the knight didn’t look at Kuina as such, so I decided to move the
conversation along.

“I believe everyone is tired from the long journey, so I think it best to guide you to your
lodgings first.”

When I snapped my fingers, Mythological Foxes appeared and then courteously

bowed.

I then proceeded to instruct them to guide the guests to the finest inn in Avalon.

We prepared lodgings not just for the prince, but for all of the knights as well.

There were a lot of wealthy people in Avalon, so first-rate inns were in abundance
anyway.

That being said, we had reserved the very best from those first-rate inns.

“Hmm, how very considerate.”

“I am honored by such praise. We have prepared entertainment and meals for you all
to enjoy later. We will send someone to pick you up. Until then, please rest your
bodies.”

After bowing in thanks, the party—seeming satisfied—followed the Mythological

Foxes and left.

It was worth noting that the prince did not show himself.

Well, I’m sure he’ll show up for the meal later. Save the best for last.

After being guided to their lodgings, dropping off their luggage there, and resting for
a while, we brought the prince’s party to the hall that doubled as the church and
treated them to a musical show supervised by R’lyeh Diva.

Next to that, we let them enjoy shopping as much as they wanted to, with me footing
the bill.

We also let them rinse off their sweat and fatigue away in our hot spring.

I chose to not go with them, thinking they would be able to enjoy things better
unaccompanied. Nevertheless, I knew of their actions through Aura’s wind.

It seemed like they enjoyed their tour of the city.

The goal of letting them know of Avalon’s many good points before the negotiation
proper has been successfully completed.

As for Kuina and I, we went to a restaurant we had reserved beforehand and waited
for a while there.

Today’s menu was prepared with the help of the Curtrude Company.

Using their merchant network, they had found out Prince Leonard’s favorite dishes.
On top of those they also prepared dishes whose ingredients couldn’t be acquired
easily—if at all—in the Axera Kingdom due to issues of freshness or distribution, but
were readily available here in Avalon thanks to the Hippogriffs’ air transportation
service.
…Conanna’s so good, it’s scary.
When the time for dinner drew near, Aura reported that the prince’s seemingly
pleased party was heading toward the restaurant.

After a while, the knights, the civil officials, and the prince himself showed up.

The prince had blond hair, blue eyes, and handsome features. He seemed to be in his
mid-twenties.

One look at him was enough for me to tell that he was sharp.

“No words are enough to express my gratitude for warmly welcomingly not only me,
but my subordinates as well.”

“Please don’t mention it. So long as everyone is pleased, it was well worth the effort.
Nevertheless, I fear there are certain things we can’t talk about in front of your knights.
Let us go dine in another room while your esteemed knights dine here.”

It was now time for negotiations and it required complete focus.

“Thank you for your kind consideration, Procell-dono. Would you mind terribly if a
minister and the head of my knights accompany us as my advisers?”

“Not at all. After all, I am bringing this child as well.”

I replied so and placed a hand over Kuina’s shoulder.

With both sides in agreement, we moved to a private room.

Thanks to our warm welcome of them, the prince talked to me in a friendly manner.

Our conversation was also rather energetic.

“Procell-dono, this city you call Avalon is amazing. It is overflowing with things and
people. Everything and everyone are also so lively. I have heard that this city has been
around for less than a year, and yet in that short time, it has developed so much. The
only word I have for that is incredible. As a political figure myself, I confess my interest
is piqued. Won’t you please impart to me your secrets?”

I had expected all members of the royal family to be crooked, so I was surprised to see
him have such a modest personality.

In response to that personality, I answered him earnestly.

“I have one trick. I endeavor to bring happiness to my citizens. I believe that once
they’ve become happy, they will work harder to further improve their lives. Naturally,
the city will profit from their success.”

“Ohh, so the citizens’ happiness is tied to the territory’s wealth? That’s in direct
contradiction to what father thinks. According to him, the people exist for the state.
Still, what you say makes sense.”

He was also very frank.

<<Master, it’s just as we feared. This person is afflicted with a curse. It isn’t a common
kind either; it’s the kind that hides and incubates within the afflicted. If the one who
cursed him sent a signal, that user will be able to freely control him.>>

Aura’s voice reached me via the wind.

I had asked her to examine whether the prince and his party were being controlled or
not.

In response to Aura’s confirmation, I asked the Mythological Foxes to bring out some
Avalon Wine. Avalon Wine was made using Aura’s [Water of Life] which itself had
[Purification] properties.

“Please enjoy this Avalon Wine as an aperitif. This is one of Avalon’s best products.”

“So, this is the famous Avalon Wine, huh? When I heard the rumors about it, I
immediately wanted to taste it. I mean, according to the rumors, it is the drink of the
gods.”
The prince said so while looking at the bottle of Avalon Wine with overflowing
curiosity.

The bottle brought out wasn’t made with the golden apples from the First Tree, but it
was made with apples grown by Aura nonetheless, so it should still have overwhelmingly
good flavor and special effects.

The Mythological Foxes then poured some into a glass.

Instead of the prince though, the head of the knights was the one to drink it. Apparently,
he was the prince’s food taster.

Upon intaking the liquid, the head of the knights opened his eyes wide, but was
perfectly motionless otherwise.

“What’s wrong, Bernard?! Is it poisoned!?”

“N-no, it’s not, my prince… the sublime taste of the alcohol just rendered me
speechless. Not only that, I feel that my body’s somehow lighter. As if the sluggishness
my body has accumulated for years is suddenly gone.”

This sluggishness he talked about was more likely the curse one of the [Black] Demon
Lord’s monsters had cast on him.

It seemed highly likely that a large percentage of the leadership of the Axera Kingdom
was afflicted with curses.

“Then, I’ll try it too… It’s true. It is delicious, and it has also made my body feel better.
Thank you, Procell-dono.”

“If it would please you, why not take some barrels home?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, definitely. However, instead of enjoying them alone, please share them with
everyone. With your family as well as with your subordinates.”

It might be more work for Aura and it might only be temporary, but staving off that
guy’s powers was important.
“I am very grateful. As will my father and older brothers be.”

He said so with a smile.

It’s well worth the investment.

Afterwards, dishes were served one after the other.

Each was perfect. From the ingredients used to the culinary techniques employed.

Even the prince who was used to luxurious meals was in awe.

Of course, Kuina and I were greatly pleased with it too.

Around the time the desserts were served, the prince put on a serious expression on
his face.

“Those were marvelous cuisines. It would seem the rumors saying the best things from
all over the world are gathered here are true. Not only is this city blessed with excellent
things, but with excellent personnel as well.”

Such was Avalon’s specialty.

Using air travel, merchants could procure things from all over the world.

And when good things gathered, so too would people.

Seeking better working and research environments, alchemists, sorcerers, and

blacksmiths had immigrated here. With a higher demand present, of course, merchants
increased too, repeating the cycle over and over again.

“Furthermore, you seem to be borrowing the demi-humans’ talents as well. You have
labor and a standing army for no cost in the form of the countless golems. Additionally,
you also have air units in the form of the Hippogriffs and the Darkness Dragons.
Frankly, I’m envious. However, even though I understand the usefulness of employing
the demi-humans and the monsters’ talents in enriching a territory, the Rigdolg Faith
has closed off that option for my country.”
It was as he said. Since the human supremacy ideology was prevalent in the Rigdolg
Faith, peacefully borrowing the demi-humans’ talents was just not likely to happen.

“As for Avalon, our policy here is to use whatever we can in order to grow.”

“…I see. That’s fine, but it just isn’t possible for us. Even though the Rigdolg Faith’s
teachings are malicious, it is also true that it unites the hearts of our citizens. My voice
is drowned out by their founder’s.”

The prince said so with a complicated expression on his face.

“Is it fine telling me of this?”

“I see no problem. My experiences tell me lying about this would do no good. For that
same reason, I would be frank here. I want your city of Avalon to be a part of our Axera
Kingdom.”

“And then, you’re going to borrow our funds and our fighting force? Specifically, our
golem corps and our Darkness Dragons’ aerial bombing corps? All so you can keep up
the assault on a certain dungeon?”

When I said such, the prince was in complete surprise.

I see, so he didn’t expect me to know of their goals.

“J-just how much do you know?”

“As pointed out earlier, merchants from all over the world have gathered here in
Avalon, so it should be no surprise our information is good, so long as we listen closely.
As for your request, my answer is no. I have a couple of reasons. The first is that no
matter how many golems or Darkness Dragons we lend to you, you will not win.”

Their opponent was the [Dragon] Demon Lord who employed powerful [Dragon]
monsters.

He also had a Dragon Emperor that could command at will the dragons empowered
and driven mad by [Berserk].

In terms of a frontal assault, even if Avalon was to throw its full force against him, we
would be crushed. Easily crushed, I should say.

So, even if I was to lend the Avalon-Ritters and the Darkness Dragons over to the Axera
Kingdom, it was still an effort bound to fail.

“…But I’ve heard that during our war, Avalon showed tremendous strength.”

“We do have tremendous strength, but against that enemy, it is nothing but child’s
play.”

Under no circumstance should one take the [Dragon] Demon Lord lightly. Anyone
thinking they could conquer his dungeon should check their sanity.

Upon hearing my reply, the prince looked downcast.

Let’s throw him a lifeline here.

“If I’m not mistaken, your true goal, Prince Leonard, is to stop the fighting as soon as
possible. However, even if you pour all your war potential, you don’t stand a chance at
winning. Rather, your damages and losses would just increase further. I am guessing
your national treasury is already at the limits.”

In order to apply pressure to the [Dragon] Demon Lord, the [Black] Demon Lord had
tasked the Axera Kingdom to attack. However, instead of being harassed, the [Dragon]
Demon Lord was actually profiting off of his attackers: he was gaining large amounts
of DP and feeding on excellent emotions.

As to be expected of one of the three strongest Demon Lords.

“But on the other hand–”

“On the other hand, if you pull back now, you run the risk of a retaliatory attack. You’re
afraid that if you loosen up on the offensive, the [Dragon] Demon Lord would send his
monsters to destroy the Axera Kingdom. The founder of the Rigdolg Faith had said
he’ll protect you, but you don’t truly trust those words.”

“How, how do you know so much?”

“Like I said, we have good information.”

Actually, it was less a matter of good information, and more of a logical deduction.
Most people would come to the same realizations.

The following step in that train of thought was this meeting.

Without doubt, the [Black] Demon Lord instigated the Axera Kingdom once more and
told them to acquire funds and war potential from Avalon.

In fact, in case today’s negotiations were to fail, the prince was resolved to take Avalon
by force, thinking that it would be the only way for their kingdom to survive.

Little does he know, I prepared another way for them.

“I understand you’re in a tight spot and need help in whatever form, but before you
get any foolish ideas, let me tell you upfront that taking Avalon’s strength by force will
end in vain for you. I’ll have you know, the Avalon-Ritters and the Darkness Dragons
are but a fraction of our strength.”

“If you’re that strong, then help us! We might not have the money now, but we will
eventually, without fail, compensate you for your help.”

“I still refuse. Like I said, lending you war potential wouldn’t actually help. Moreover,
I and your enemy are in good terms. In fact, he has been calling me his son. There is
no way I would be make an enemy out of that person.”

In the latest letter he sent me, the [Dragon] Demon Lord called me his son.

Stolas and I were just friends, so it was undoubtedly a misunderstanding, but it didn’t
seem like it would stop even if I tried to correct him.

“…The ruler of that dungeon called you his son? I did suspect it a little, but are you a
Demon Lord as well?”
The intelligence corps had confirmed that the [Black] Demon Lord had revealed his
true identity—being a Demon Lord and all—to the royal family of the Axera Kingdom.
And so, I saw no reason to hide mine.

“Indeed, I am a Demon Lord too. Just like the [Black] Demon Lord who is pulling your
strings, and the [Dragon] Demon Lord, your esteemed enemy. And now, I’m going to
offer you something that would actually help. As I said, the [Dragon] Demon Lord and
I are on friendly terms. I have already spoken to him about your situation. If you accept
my terms—and of course pull back your forces as soon as possible—you can be
assured he would not exact retribution.”

“Is that… true?”

“Yes. That’s not all. I can also lend you money to help in the rebuilding of your
kingdom. You can also send your injured soldiers to Avalon for a much faster recovery.
All these and more if you accept my terms.”

His reaction seemed to suggest he was interested with my offer.

The [Black] Demon Lord’s plan involved pitting Avalon, the Axera Kingdom, and the
[Dragon] Demon Lord against each other.

He used the [Dragon] Demon Lord to push the Axera Kingdom to the edge until
attacking Avalon seemed lucrative.

The desperate Axera Kingdom was then supposed to put pressure on Avalon from the
outside, while his religion threatened to tear Avalon apart from within.

If pressuring us failed, the Axera Kingdom was then to proceed to a full-blown war
against us. If even that failed, it was still fine for the [Black] Demon Lord since by then,
Avalon’s name would be tarnished. And if our reputation and popularity were to
plummet, it would mean a halt to our growth.

It was a convoluted and yet amusing scheme.

Too bad for him though, I used it against him.

By founding a religion of our own, we had consolidated our defense.

And, by proposing a truce between the Axera Kingdom and the [Dragon] Demon Lord,
I could get the Axera Kingdom to my side instead.

You were careless in dealing with me. Now, it’s my turn on the offensive.
After hearing my proposal, the complexion on Prince Leonard’s face changed.

His kingdom, the Axela Kingdom, was in a critical state at the moment. Instigated by
the [Black] Demon Lord, they marched their armies onto the [Dragon] Demon Lord’s
dungeon. However, the [Dragon] Demon turned the tides against them, causing
them—the supposed-to-be attackers—to be on the receiving end instead.

Their losses were great and it continued to grow by the day.

Aside from their diminished numbers, medical treatment fees, bereaved family
pensions, training costs for the replacement soldiers, replacement for the lost
equipment, and of course, the creation and maintenance of the supply lines for their
soldiers were all also very significant concerns.

To make it worse, even if they win, there was nothing for them to gain.

And yet, stopping the war was not truly an option for them either. For if they did, it
was not unlikely for the [Dragon] Demon Lord to burn their cities to the ground in an
act of retribution.

The Axela Kingdom knew full well the consequences of this war: whether win or lose,
they would suffer. The only reason they were in this mess was because the Rigdolg
Faith told them to.

For that reason, I decided to extend a helping hand.

“Is that true? Is that really true? Can you truly prevent the [Dragon] Demon Lord from
doing any retaliatory attacks?”

“Definitely. I can only ask that you believe me on this matter, but the [Dragon] Demon
Lord and I do not break our word.”
By guaranteeing there would be no retaliation, a peaceful conclusion to this war was
made possible.

Of course, there was no way that that was the only complication in this whole mess.

“…I am deeply thankful for your proposal, but I am concerned of what the believers of
the Rigdolg Faith might think of us letting their god’s enemy go unchecked.”

In the first place, this war was waged to take revenge against the wicked god that
attacked the holy capital of the Rigdolg Faith.

“I advise you to say to them that you have fatally injured their god’s enemy and that it
fled in fear of its life. In this instance, there is no harm in lying and making yourself
look good.”

Even if you lost in a war, there was no need to be foolishly honest about it.

“…but–”

“Or, are you saying you are fine with how things are at the moment? With how you
continue to waste money and resources on a war you can’t possibly win? How about
all the soldiers you let die and are letting die?”

“I understand what you’re saying, but…”

“No, apparently, you don’t. Because if you do, you wouldn’t be second guessing right
now. As you worry what to do, the nation you love is dying in vain each minute, no,
each second.”

For some reason, my rather irresponsible comments seemed to work on the serious
Prince Leonard.

“…I would like to agree to your proposal, but first, what were those terms you spoke
of? I’ll form my decision after hearing those.”
Ohh, he’s become more inclined.

“To begin with, don’t you think there’s something wrong with the current state of
affairs? How can a single religion have so much sway over an entire nation?”

“Of course, I have always found that to be troubling.”

“In my opinion, it is because your nation views the Rigdolg Faith as the state religion.”

That Rigdolg Faith’s strongpoints were their numbers and their dominance over such
numbers. To take them down, they had to lose one or the other.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t follow, Procell-dono.”

“I’ll go over it in sequence. First, I propose that you abolish the idea of having a state
religion; declare your government separate from religions. Next, approve of the
introduction of Avalon’s religion. That is to say, approve the introduction of the Holy
Grail Faith!”

It seemed like Prince Leonard’s quick wit allowed him to grasp easily the meaning of
what I said.

If there was another major religion in his nation, the Rigdolg’s Faith’s influence would
certainly diminish.

And if that happened, the Rigdolg Faith shouldn’t be able to freely manipulate the
Axela Kingdom.

“Procell-dono, I’d like to confirm two points. First, unless something major has
happened, most wouldn’t switch religions. While accepting the Holy Grail Faith into
the holy capital is relatively simple, would you really be able to convert our citizens
who are mostly devout believers of the Rigdolg Faith?”

“Do not worry about that. Our right and proper teachings of striving for a happy life
and of the coexistence of humans and demi-humans will prevail, allowing our religion
to spread quickly.”
In truth, the plan was to gather humans into the church we were going to build in the
holy capital of the Axela Kingdom by promising them money and other things such as
a free meal, and then using the combo of Aura’s [God’s Smile] and Ruru’s hymn. But in
this case as well, there was no need to be foolishly honest.

I thought it would be more pragmatic to hire a minister that would be regularly

present in the church. That way, our religion would still have a presence even when
Ruru and the Ocean Singers only performed once a week.

The church in the holy capital wasn’t the only one I was planning on building; I aimed
to build a church in at least three other major cities. Hopefully, a rotation system would
work so that Ruru’s group still only had to perform once a week.

“I still doubt it would go well, but if Procell-dono says it will, I guess it will… For now,
let’s move on to my second concern. Even at the best of times, the Rigdolg Faith has
been troublesome, but now that we are going to adopt a new religion, their
harassment is bound to get worse. What do you propose to do about that?”

“The only reason they’ve been able to do those things was precisely because they were
the only religion. With another religion present, they would be much more careful.”

The prince understood, but in his view, if there were advantages to accepting my
religion, there would surely also be disadvantages.

“…However, there have also been times that the RIgdolg Faith have been so helpful.”

“Maybe, but again, isn’t it because of your reliance on them and their help that they
now have so much control over you? Believe me, things would only get worse if you
chose to let the Rigdolg Faith be the only religion in your kingdom. In my opinion,
accepting the Holy Grail Faith would be the more advantageous decision for you. At
the very least, your current crisis with the [Dragon] Demon Lord would be solved. At
any rate, please follow me.”

I said so, stood up, and then walked toward a carriage. The prince and his subordinates
also stood up and followed me into the carriage.

Our destination was a certain warehouse. Avalon had many of such warehouse under
its strict control. To top it off, each one was also as big as a mansion would be.
Upon arrival, I greeted the Mithril Golems guarding the warehouse, told them to
unlock the entrance, and went in.

“What!? A mountain of treasure!? This is enough to match an entire city’s fortune!”

“This is not all that we have. We have three other warehouses that holds the same
amount of fortune, if not more, than this one. If it means you would accept our Holy
Grail Faith, I am prepared to hand over all the contents of this warehouse over to your
kingdom.”

Our golems were mining 24 hours a day non-stop in my [Mine] dungeon room. Frankly
speaking, from our point of view, minerals like gold and silver whose value was less
than mithril were failures.

However, simply throwing them away was wasteful, so we instead stored them in
warehouses.

Furthermore, we also gained money through taxing. Even though our taxes were
much, much cheaper compared to other cities, since we had a lot of people to tax, we
still wound up collecting a huge amount.

“So, what is it, Prince Leonard? I imagine this amount is enough to cover for all your
spent war expenditures and even pensions, is it not?”

Upon hearing my proposal, the prince gulped down.

As I thought, this is the effective move.

By showing rather than just telling them of the warehouse, the effect rose multiple
times.

Well then, one more push.

“Don’t worry though; this is not all we’re willing to offer you. We’re prepared to give
you a hundred golems which are one of this city’s prized possessions. The ones we’ll
lend are not for fighting though; they are specialized for transportation. To complete
the set, I’ll add in special carriages too. I believe you’ve become familiar with their
abilities, haven’t you?”

“…you’re giving us those magical, untiring carriages that outpace even our kingdom’s
fastest? If we have those, our circulation of goods will surpass those of other
countries… and did you say you’re going to give a hundred golems?!”

“In addition, like I said in the beginning, you may send your injured soldiers to Avalon
so that they may recover faster. Medical fees are nothing to scoff at, and your facilities
for treating all the wounded should be insufficient now with the ongoing war. If you
send your injured here, we just might be able to lessen the loss of excellent soldiers.”

In Avalon, rather than use horses or such animals for our carriages, we used golems.

Silver Golems were strong enough to match even a C rank monster or a first-class
adventurer. In other words, it was strong enough to protect itself and oftentimes didn’t
need an escort. Unlike a horse, it could continue to travel non-stop, without ever
needing to sleep, eat, or even drink. It was the perfect existence in terms of workforce.

It was worth killing and dying for. The Axela prince wasn’t so ignorant as to not know
its value.

That’s why, we were only going to give Silver Golems, and not Mithril Golems or
Avalon-Ritters. Otherwise, it would actually cost us.

By also offering to heal their injured, I had made the deal perfect for them, if I may say
so myself.

But then again, by having a lot of high-level humans in Avalon for an extended period
of time, I would be able to feed on lots of delicious emotions and also gain DP. It was
actually also a boon for us.

Once the soldiers have known of the many great things in Avalon, they just might
decide to move and live here. If they did, there was the chance they might be
influenced by the Holy Grail Faith and become believers themselves. If that happened,
we could send them back to the holy capital of the Axela Kingdom, this time as devout
believers of the Holy Grail Faith who would enthusiastically spread our religion.

“It is time to make a decision, Prince Leonard. You just need to accept our Holy Grail
Faith and nothing more. If you do, you will receive all the support that I promised.”
He was faltering.

Although I called it support, they were basically just cash offers. However, considering
the Axela Kingdom’s treasury was almost non-existent due to war expenditures, it was
the better option. The only other option of getting money being raiding other
countries.

“…before I say yes, what does Avalon stand to gain in all this?”

“This is a necessary step in spreading our Holy Grail Faith. Furthermore, I want to
weaken the [Black] Demon Lord’s influence no matter how much.”

I didn’t put it into words, but the reason I wanted my religion to spread outside of
Avalon was because I wanted humans to someday make a pilgrimage to Avalon. That
way, I could obtain the pure emotions of my believers from all over the world at a
regular interval.

Also, some of those believers would surely want to live in Avalon itself, causing
Avalon’s population to grow.

“…Are you in conflict with the [Black] Demon Lord?”

“Yes. It’s futile to hide it, so I confess: he is my enemy.”

His suspicion confirmed, the prince looked straight at me.

“I want you to promise one thing in regards to that. Don’t make the Axela Kingdom
your battlefield. If you can keep that, then I agree to your terms. I’ll stake my pride and
convince my father to agree.”

I see. He worries about his country in his own way.

If the [Black] Demon Lord and I were to seriously fight, it wasn’t an exaggeration that
a whole country could be destroyed.
“I promise. But if I am attacked, I will have to counterattack. In that case, I promise to
at least try to keep the damage to the minimum.”

“Fair enough. Then, I formally request financial aid, the loaning of the golems, and the
medical treatment of our injured.”

The third prince said so and then lowered his head.

Despite his social position of being a prince, he was ready to do so for the sake of his
nation. That made a good impression on me.

Afterwards, we discussed the finer details of our deal.

Little by little, my influence was making its way to the capital of the Axela Kingdom.

I need to work hard to realize my plans. Things are going to get a whole lot hectic, but
also a whole lot more exciting.

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. We had obtained many great things in exchange
for things we didn’t really care about.

My ideal city where humans and monsters could peacefully and happily coexist was
slowly but surely becoming reality.
My negotiations with Prince Leonard had ended for the day.

After our meeting, he returned to his inn together with his knights.

To those that wanted to partake, we offered the services of the city’s top-class brothels.

Surprisingly, even the prince wanted to enjoy the company of a professional. However,
due to his position, there was no way he could go to a brothel himself. As a solution,
we sent nighttime companions to him instead.

For them to further like Avalon, we prepared aphrodisiacs based on the pink slime the
late [Evil] Demon Lord used when he captured Aura. Furthermore, the professionals
dispatched this time were actually excellent succubus-type monsters that preyed on
the pleasure of men.

I had requested these monsters from Marcho to ensure quality, and thankfully, she
gladly obliged.

Due to the recent attack on her dungeon by other Demon Lords, it would seem the
number of adventurers delving into her dungeon had decreased, causing these kinds
of monsters to be somewhat starved.

We also sent succubus-type monsters to the other high-ranking humans other than
the prince. We’ve defanged them by making them feel great.

“I’m glad everything’s going well.”

As of the moment, preparations were in place.

The next objectives were to build a church of our own in the Axela Kingdom’s capital
and one other thing.

One could say that the [Divine Revelation]’s true worth would be determined in the
upcoming endeavors.

Considering we would be stepping into his territory, we shouldn’t expect the [Black]
Demon Lord to be as docile as he was at the moment. In fact, we should expect him to
make contact soon… I’ll be waiting.

“Oto-san, Kuina did her best!”

“Yeah, you sure did. You were a very fine lady today.”

“Yay! ♪”

I had returned to the carriage parked near the First Tree. While I lied on the bed, I
thought of the things to do from thereafter.

Also lying down beside me was Kuina.

She had taken off her formal dress and had already changed into a pajama. It was her
favorite penguin onesie. Needless to say, she looked unbelievably adorable.

That being said, it wasn’t exactly the one she always wore before. Since her appearance
became older, her old one didn’t fit anymore, and thus she bought a new one with a
similar design. Despite getting older, this cuteness still suits her so much.

“Oto-san, why were you so roundabout earlier?”

“Hmm, to limit as much as possible the number of human casualties, I guess. If we

fought head-on with the [Black] Demon Lord, he’ll use the humans to wage war against
us, right? If that happens, it’ll be genocide for the humans. To avoid that, troublesome
steps were needed to be done. Besides, we gained lots of things from this deal too.
More than them, in my opinion.”

Depending on how things develop, we might end up fighting against three major
nations all at the same time.
It would be bloody, but we still must win.

Frankly, if just in terms of destroying the human nations, simply sending the Darkness
Dragons to bomb and burn to the ground their major cities would do. Clearing away
cities—rather than actually fighting in the battlefield—was the easier route, if things
ever escalated that far.

I had gained much more DP than I expected, so I had purchased another [Maelstrom]
for the Graphross. The number of my Darkness Dragons now increased by two each
day.

Also, since my [Creation] had returned, I was once again able to produce materials for
our explosives. And since I leveled up a lot, my magic power rose too, meaning an
increase in production for the said materials. Due to those factors, our stock of
explosives—manufactured by the Skeletons in the factory—was high.

In other words, we were fully prepared for a war against the humans.

“We should just kill the humans!”

“No, we mustn’t. If we choose that path, it would lead us to ruin. Humans would stop
coming to Avalon, after all. If that happens, you would no longer be able to enjoy the
desserts and the cute dresses made by the humans. You like those right? As for me, I
like humans and the things they make. And because I like them, I try to make them
happy. That’s why we have Avalon.”

We mustn’t lose sight of that.

We should avoid killing humans as much as possible. Also, even though I was willing
to go as far as instill the teachings of our faith into the humans, we mustn’t cross the
line and let it become brainwashing.

I had no desire in turning them into puppets. If anything, letting them become puppets
would be harmful to us since they would then lose the ability to make amazing things.
It was vital that we hold ourselves back. For if we didn’t constantly admonish
ourselves, we would be strayed off the path in no time.

“Oh, Kuina wants to eat those delicious food and wear those cute clothes! So, I guess
Kuina will protect the humans living in Avalon! Humans are weak, so they need us to
protect them in order to not die!”

“Yeah, humans are weak and need your protection. Let’s do our best to gather more of
them. The more of them there are, the more amazing things they’ll come up with.”

“If we gather more humans, Kuina will be able to eat more delicious food?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Humans are amazing!”

Kuina the glutton said so with drool spilling from her mouth.

I smiled at the sight of that and then proceeded to wipe it off. Kuina was as cute as
ever.

Perhaps she was tired from acting differently than usual, but after talking for a while
more, she fell asleep while embracing my arm. Her cuteness was overflowing.

Humans were important, but so were my monsters. I want not only the humans, but
also my monsters to be happy.

I’ll do my best tomorrow too. I said so to myself as a reminder.

The next morning, I woke up early and readied myself.

In the afternoon, Prince Leonard and his party were going back to their nation’s
capital.

I was going to have a meeting with them one last time before they leave.

Yesterday, I had discussed with him and his top advisors the details of my plan for
them.

In response, the prince said they wanted to take some time and think on some items.

And so, I made my way to the place of our meeting.

The idea was to hold the meeting while having an early lunch.
I arrived thirty minutes earlier than the scheduled time, but the other party was
already there.

“Procell-dono, you’re early.”

“I can say the same. Did you enjoy last night?”

“Yes. So much so that if the friendship between our nation and your Avalon has been
formally established and secured, I will come back again.”

“It will be our honor to have you. Prince Leonard, you will always be welcome here in
Avalon.”

I had listened to the reports from my monsters about yesterday night.

According to the reports, the prince decided to let loose and have as much fun as
possible last night. Apparently, he had lived a very sheltered life within the castle.
Considering that, it was understandable that he made use of this chance to have a little
fun.

Well, it was a drug-enhanced sex with succubus-type monsters, after all.

The only downside was he most probably wouldn’t be satisfied with regular sex
anymore.

“Allow me to return the favor, then. Procell-dono, I’d like to invite you to our nation’s
capital.”

“That sounds wonderful. After your nation has accepted our Holy Grail Faith, it would
be my pleasure to visit your capital.”

There was no need to waste the invitation. Besides, I could use it as a means to observe.

“Please look forward to it. I will do my best to entertain you, my new friend… ,at any
rate, after giving yesterday’s talk a lot of thought, I want to ask for two more terms.
First is that I want to observe the Holy Grail Faith with my own eyes. I want to obtain
the vast amounts of wealth, a chance for a ceasefire, golems for transportation, and
many more that you’re willing to give us, but I cannot, in good conscience, let your
religion spread to my people without first verifying that its teachings are appropriate.
I hope you understand my proposition.”

After hearing his first term, I smiled a little.

He’s a good-hearted prince.

He truly cared a lot for his people. Not to mention, his proposal was extremely
convenient for me.

“Then, before you depart, would you like to join a worship meeting of ours? I’m certain
that once you’ve seen our proceedings, you will approve.”

“Yes, please.”

It was sudden but welcome since it would save us time. I was actually wondering
yesterday whether I should drag the prince to such or not.

“The other term I’d like to add is that I want to meet with the [Dragon] Demon Lord.”

“May I hear the reason why?”

“My nation has indeed suffered greatly in this war, but for [Dragon] Demon Lord-dono,
he was just fighting back in a war we one-sidedly initiated. As representative of my
nation, I have to apologize.”

I was getting more and more amazed with the prince.

I would have never imagined such train of thought would come from a member of
royalty.

For that, I have taken a liking to him.

“I’m happy to hear you say that, but shouldn’t such an apology come from the king, the
first prince, or even the second prince, and not the third prince?”

“My father and older brothers are all so bullheaded though.”

He said so with a frown. Looking at him like that, I began to grow worried.

“You don’t have to worry, Procell-dono. I guarantee you that I will persuade my father
and older brothers. Thankfully, they’ll listen to me, given my achievements up to now
and my popularity with the people. Moreover, I am in the right in this. I am just going
to make them realize that this is the only way to save the Axela Kingdom.”

…well then, what should I do?

Despite what the prince said, I couldn’t stop feeling uneasy.

I doubted he would be able to persuade them, but worse than that, it might get him
killed. It was certainly far easier for us to act with Prince Leonard alive and in his
current position. To that end, we needed someone to keep watch on him, protect him,
and—in the worst case scenario—deal with the king and the prince’s siblings.

<<Ruru, can you hear me?>>

I sent my thoughts to the water in my earring.

Through any water, I was able to communicate with Ruru who was in the other
dimension.

<<Loud and clear, patron.>>

<<I have a job for you. I want you to protect Prince Leonard as much as you can until
the church in the Axela Kingdom’s capital has been built. I assume this task would take
about two weeks. I have full confidence in you.>>

<<Wait a minute! Are you giving me a long-term work transfer with 24-hours-a-day
work hours!? Boo! I demand travel allowance, overtime pay, and night shift
differential!>>

Where the heck has she picked up those terms?

<<Yeah, ok, I’ll give you all of those. Plus, when you return, I’ll give you your name. So,
please do this. Avalon’s fate just might hang on this. Of course, you won’t do this alone.
Take two Ocean Singers with you as your backup. Also, equip yourselves with the
assault rifle Rorono has just finished making. There’s now enough for all the members
of the intelligence corps.>>

<<Oh. Rorono-chan’s as impressive as always. She sure works fast. But with the enemy
being the enemy, would that be enough?>>

<<Perhaps not, and that’s why I’m also going to deploy five of the fixed-up Avalon-
Ritters. We’re going to have them on standby on the outskirts of the capital. If the need
ever arises, use the transmitters developed by Rorono and the Avalon-Ritters would
come at once.>>

Rorono had been and still was working non-stop.

Thanks to that, she had made enough of the ED model assault rifles that Ruru wanted.

Additionally, she had finished repairing ten of the Avalon-Ritters. Five of which I
planned on deploying to the Axela Kingdom’s capital as an emergency fighting force.

Even though it would mean less fighting force for Avalon, protecting the prince was
worth it.

<<Roger that. Well, with the Ocean Singers, I think we can stall at least until when the
Avalon-Ritters come. I doubt there would be a dangerous situation that can’t be
handled by five Avalon-Ritters with Burst Drives. Also, I’m kinda worried about the
worship meetings, but I think my subordinates would do just fine. Alright! Ruru-chan’s
going away for a prolonged business trip!>>

<<Sorry for always pushing the unpleasant tasks to you. I promise you, I will use my
next [Creation] medal to make a monster that will aid you. Also, sorry for another
delay in your naming.>>

<<It’s fine. I’d be more worried if you named me now despite the situation. I’d think
you’re an idiot or something. Anyway, are you going to attend today’s impromptu
worship meeting?>>

<<Yeah, of course.>>

<<Then, I better give it my all. To make you sad over the fact you can’t listen to my
songs while I’m away.>>
Our conversation ended there.

I have always been relying on her, so I should give her a reward.

“Procell-dono, is something the matter?”

“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about something. Anyway, let’s head to the
worship meeting, shall we?”

“Yes, please.”

We stood up and then headed to the church.

In there, the procedures for a normal worship meeting was followed.

Attendants drank our holy water—which was actually Aura’s [God’s Smile]—and then
Ruru and the Ocean Singers sang their song promoting peace, cooperation, love, and
also the idea of worshipping the god Procell.

After that, I preached the Holy Grail Faith’s teachings.

Once all that was over, tears were flowing from the prince’s eyes.

“Those were amazing teachings! Love, peace, and cooperation despite of race, I want
to spread these values to my nation at all cost. Procell-dono, forgive me for ever
doubting you! I’d like to become a believer right away, so that I may spread your
ideals!”

“I’m just glad you understand. Then, to spread these ideals, to promote the growth of
the Axela Kingdom and Avalon, and most of all, to deepen the friendship between our
sides, let us join hands moving forward, shall we?”

“Yes, of course!”

It wasn’t just the prince that was in agreement, his subordinates as well have become
devoted to the Holy Grail Faith.

The moment I realized I had gained my first followers in the capital of the Axela
Kingdom, I unconsciously smiled.
 2

We talked for a bit more before they left for home.

I considered this time’s negotiations to be a huge success. Not only have I accomplished
all of my objectives, I have also established the ideal friendship with the prince.

As planned, Ruru and the others—while concealing themselves in the other dimension
—followed after the prince.

Ruru wouldn’t be able to perform in the worship meeting this weekend, so that was
kind of worrying, but her subordinates that were left behind should be able to pull it
off. She had trained them hard, after all.

For now, I should bolster our war potential.

The [Black] Demon Lord would surely stir some kind of trouble and I needed the
means to oppose that.

Unfortunately, the production of another MOAB—a trump card of mine and was our
strongest bomb—would most likely not make in time.

If I can’t count on that to improve our war potential… Oh, why don’t I take a look at
Kuina’s new special move? I want to see how strong she has gotten.

Kuina and Fel had been training in the [Time] Demon Lord’s [Time] Arena. Apparently,
Kuina had obtain a special move that allowed her to not mind Fel’s [Time] powers.

Without a doubt, I wanted to see that strength with my own eyes.

“Well, it’s Kuina. I’m sure has developed an amazing special move.”

Like that, I headed for the carriage in Aura’s orchard, excited to talk with Kuina.
A few days had passed since Prince Leonard’s party left Avalon.

Fearing the worst, I had ordered R’lyeh Diva and two Ocean Singers to hide in the other
dimension and follow the prince so that they could observe and, if need be, protect
him.

Furthermore, I had arranged to send five Avalon-Ritters via air transport to the
outskirts of the Axela capital and have those units hide there until Ruru felt the need
to summon them via a transmitter.

With these preparations in place, so long as it wasn’t anything too major, Prince
Leonard would remain alive and safe. Even if countless assassins were dispatched
after the prince, none would even notice.

According to Ruru’s reports, the prince’s preparations seemed to be going well.

As for me…

I was in my room, readying myself for my trip out with Kuina.

“Today’s the day Kuina’s gonna fight Fel-chan!”

“I’ve already told you this yesterday, but I’m going with you today.”

“Yay~ ♪! I’ll show Oto-san lots of cool things!”

Our destination today was the [Time] Demon Lord’s Arena where Kuina was doing her
special training.

Kuina was Avalon’s strongest combatant, so it was undoubtedly important that I see
for myself the new strength she had found.

To my knowledge, her training consisted of regular fights with Fel, one of the [Time]
Demon Lord’s monsters.

Considering that the [Time] Demon Lord’s Arena could turn back time and reverse all
wounds, they could go all out without fearing any risks. And since they didn’t have to
hold back—which they had to do when sparring the normal way with others because
they were just too strong—it apparently had led to tremendous growth for the two.

“Kuina’s just ahead by one win! If Kuina loses today, it’ll be a tie again, so Kuina has to
absolutely win!”

Perhaps it was a sign of her motivation, but her beautiful fox tail pointed skyward.
Finding that to be amusing, I smiled wryly.

While we were like that, a knock came from the Carriage’s door.

“Kuina, I’ve come to get you! You better be thankful.”

Speak of the devil.

It was Fel, the girl who looked exactly like Kuina except for her wolf tail and ears.

When she saw me, a great smile appeared on her face.

“Master, it’s been a while! Kuina told me you were coming today. I’m gonna show you
lots of cool things!”

She said the exact same thing Kuina said.

The two really are like sisters.

I thought so and laughed.

“Haha. I’ll look forward to it, then.”

I was of course rooting for Kuina, but there was no need to voice it out.
Fel had been coming every week to fetch the Avalon wine I had promised to the [Time]
Demon Lord and some other items made from the First Tree’s golden apples.

Today was the next scheduled day for such a delivery.

I had been occasionally exchanging letters with the [Time] Demon Lord so I knew he
himself had been enjoying and consuming the wine being sent to him. That being said,
according to him, less than half of his accumulated stocks remained after the frequent
visits made by the [Dragon] Demon Lord.

At any rate, it was time to go.

As planned, the crow monster that came together with Fel was going to transport the
three of us to the [Time] Demon Lord’s Arena.

“Kuina, Fel, wait. I’m also coming along today.”

The other person was Rorono.

“How about your work, Rorono-chan? Are they finished?”

“No, they’re not. But coming along with you today is important work as well. Here,
take this, Kuina.”

What Rorono handed to Kuina was something long that was wrapped in cloth. After
receiving the item, Kuina, undid the wrapping.

“Could this be…”

“Yes, I’ve completed it. It’s the EDS-05S Claíomh Solais, the latest shotgun model
specially made just for you, Kuina. It’s a weapon specialized for you, to the point that
only you can use it.”

And so, the thing Rorono handed was a shotgun. It had a certain shade of silver, a sign
that it was made with an alloy composed of orichalcum and mithril.

Unlike the previous ED series shotguns which were progressively getting bigger and
bigger, this one was rather slender.

“Rorono-chan, I can feel amazing power coming from this kid.”

“You’re not the only that has grown, Kuina. I’ve gotten stronger too from the many
battles I’ve had. And the stronger I get, the more I can do and make. This weapon was
made using that new-found strength… also, like I said, this weapon was made with you
and just you in mind. I focused on increasing the power, but in exchange, handling it
has become much more difficult than previous iterations. If it’s you though, I’m sure
you’ll manage.”

“Yay~ ♪! Thank you, Rorono-chan!”

Kuina said so and then embraced Rorono.

Due to the difference in their physiques though, Rorono was put off balance and they
fell down.

“Thank me later. That brings me to why I’m coming along today: I need to verify its
performance in an actual battle. Kuina, use it as you wish. Don’t hold back.”

“Understood! Leave it to Kuina!”

“Would you like some explanations about it?”

“Nope, I’m good! The moment I held it, I heard this kid’s voice! It wants to go wild!”

“Mhm. Then, as you said, I’ll leave it to you.”

The new weapon Rorono made certainly made things more exciting.

What kind of effects does it have? I have to see it with my own eyes.

Meanwhile, Fel looked envious.

I wanted to make her happy, but obviously, making and then handing out another
weapon wasn’t a real option.
Nevertheless, Kuina’s new shotgun gave her quite the advantage in their upcoming
fight.

And so, the crow monster transported us to the hidden room in the [Time] Demon
Lord’s dungeon where the interconnecting Transfer array was. From there, the crow
monster used Transfer again, this time transporting us to the Arena.

There, a gigantic stone stage was set in the center, serving as the ring for the combatants.
Audience seats were also prepared around the said ring. It was completely like the
Colosseum.

Stretched around the ring was a powerful barrier. By activating it, everything except
the memories of those within would revert back to their state when they entered the
ring. Due to that, the combatants within could fight even to the death at no risk at all.
To top it off, they were able to learn and gain valuable experience from such a fight.

“I’m as envious as ever.”

I wanted one in Avalon, but it was just impossible. The barrier was a product of the
[Time] Demon Lord’s ability. There was no way we could replicate it.

“Kuina, let’s go!”

“Okay! Oto-san, we’re going!”

Like that, the two that were like sisters headed to the ring with their tails swinging.
Kuina with her light brown fox tail and Fel with her white wolf tail.

Even though they were about to fight to the death, the two were still very friendly to
each other.

“Master, let’s go as well. To the spectators’ seats.”

“Yeah, we have to properly watch Kuina and your weapon’s performance, after all…
nevertheless, there sure are many monsters who have come to watch, aren’t there?”
The spectators’ seats were overflowing with the [Time] Demon Lord’s monsters. I
knew there were going to be other spectators but I didn’t expect it to be this many.

Among them were some tough-looking men that were cheering for Fel while waving a
flag that had her face on it.

“Fel-tan, do your best!!! Ojii-chan’s cheering for you! If you win, I’ll give you lots of
candy!!”

I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere… ah, it was the old dragon that Fel called annoying.

Or more formally, it was one of the [Chronos Knights].

Fel looked to its direction and made a displeased face. I know how it feels to be on the
receiving end of that expression.

This monster might appear to be miserable at the moment, but without a doubt, it was
hiding tremendous power within.

The other monsters in the spectators’ seats also held tremendous power that was
enough to intimidate me just by looking at them.

Just by sight alone, I could tell that the other monsters in the spectators’ seats also
held tremendous and intimidating power.

Did the whole of the [Chronos Knights] came to cheer? But then, wouldn’t it be better to
rename their group into the [Fel Fan club]?

While I was thinking of such, I felt a presence behind me.

“Are you surprised, Procell? Felsias is popular among my monsters and your Kuina has
been getting popular too as of late. The two aren’t just cute, they’re spectacular in
battle too. It’s to be of no surprise then that my monsters are so engrossed in watching
the two fight, don’t you think? At any rate, the two have been greatly helping and
supporting each other. For helping Felsias grow, you have some of my thanks.”

When I turned around to look at the source of the voice, I found that it came from
[Time] Demon Lord Dantalian.

He was dressed more casually than usual, wearing trousers and a black, stylish shirt.

“Oh. Dantalian. You came to watch too?”

Typically, I spoke respectfully toward older Demon Lords. However, according to the
[Time] Demon Lord himself, a rival to Marcho speaking to him in such way made him
feel uncomfortable and he rather I spoke to him casually.

“I won’t miss such a fun show. I heard you were coming today, so I prepared us some
special seats. Why don’t we enjoy our daughters’ fight from there?”

He asked so and smiled.

The special seats were located in the uppermost section of the audience seats.

Thanks to magic, we were able to listen to the sound coming from the ring, so the
watching experience was very immersive. Binoculars proved helpful too.

“Now then, Procell, shall we bet on who wins this fight? Let’s see. How about whoever
wins the bet gets to ask the loser any question?”

Even if I wanted to, I knew I couldn’t refuse to participate.

Well, I wanted to ask him something about the [Black] Demon Lord, anyway.

“Sounds fun. I’ll play.”

“Naturally, I’ll bet on Felsias.”

“And I on Kuina.”

It was the only choice for both me and Dantalian. We both believed in our daughters
and expected them to win against the other.

And then, I suddenly asked him something that I had been curious in for quite some
time.

“Is Fel part of the [Chronos Knights]?”

The [Chronos Knights] might seem like a pitiful group of monsters cheering for Fel,
but originally, they were the [Time] Demon Lord’s most elite corps.

As such, it just seemed natural that Fel was one of them.

“She will be soon enough. You see, to become one of the [Chronos Knights], one must
first defeat a current member and take their spot. Felsias has already tried and failed
though. Which couldn’t really be helped when she has challenged the strongest of
them. Once one has failed to win, they would have to wait half a year for another
chance. In that next try half a year later, Felsias will doubtlessly challenge the strongest
again. I fully believe that next time, she will prevail.”

He said so while looking at Fel who was focusing on her upcoming fight. His eyes as
he looked at her were filled with love, tenderness, and expectations.

I wanted to criticize him for being such a doting parent, but that would have made me
a hypocrite as I was quite one myself.

“Please notify me when Fel has become a member of the [Chronos Knights]. I’d like to
congratulate her.”

“Understood. I think Fel would like that, so I’ll do as you say. But let me make things
clear: if you use celebrating as an excuse and do something weird to her, I will fucking
kill you.”

His eyes were serious.

I had already proven myself guilty of such a thing, so there was really nothing I could
say.
“The fight’s about to begin soon. Let’s find out whether it’s my Felsias or your Kuina
that is stronger.”

Just as he said, Kuina and Fel had just finished their preparations for the fight.

Their willpower and magic power were already clashing in the ring.

The two were special S rank monsters who were both made using three original A
rank medals.

It was strongest versus strongest.

The fight I was going to see was most likely beyond human imagination.

I myself could hardly hold down my excitement for the fight.

And so, a sound rung in the [Time] Demon Lord’s ring, signaling the start of the battle
between the world’s strongest sisters.
The fight between Kuina and Fel in the [Time] Demon Lord’s Arena had begun.

The first to make a move was Kuina by firing off her new shotgun, the EDS-05 Claiomh
Solais.

Instead of having a 12 gauge like most regular shotguns, hers was 1.5 times larger. In
other words, it was a 4 gauge.

After being fired, a shotshell would burst open and scatter spherical, metallic
projectiles called shots. This rain of shots was almost impossible to avoid completely.

Quickly judging that to be the case, Fel stopped time for the space in front of her,
creating an impenetrable wall for the shots.

Although it was stopped, the power that Kuina’s new shotgun demonstrated astonished
me. It was orders of magnitude of power beyond her previous weapons.

“That power, that initial velocity… it’s at least on par with Aura’s anti-materiel rifle.”

“I’d like to say this is Claiomh Solais’s true strength, but it’s actually Kuina’s.”

Back on the ring, while maintaining distance, Kuina ran around Fel in a clockwise
direction and continuously fired her shotgun. It was perhaps in hopes that a shot or
two out of the barrage she was pouring would not be caught in the wall of time and
hit Fel.

“Rorono, can you tell me what you did to make Kuina;s shotgun this powerful?”

“Mhm. Claíomh Solais has two enchantments. The first is the usual [Explosion]. By
activating [Explosion] when a shell has exited the barrel, the shots within the shell will
accelerate further. This effectively increases the power without any additional recoil.”
“Alright, it’s the same as before. What’s the other enchantment, then?”

“Just [Hardening] which reinforces the shotgun’s barrel.”

After hearing so, I scratched my head in bewilderment.

I had no idea how that would make the power increase this much.

“I have misunderstood something. As you know, I had added twin-drive golem cores
into Kuina’s shotgun and increased the gunpowder in its shells. However, Kuina did
not need any of those. What I should have focused on instead was making sure the
shotgun doesn’t break even if Kuina was to pour all of her magic power.”

I finally began to understand.

“Claíomh Solais’s shells have no gunpowder. Instead, it uses Kuina’s [Flame] magic
power and converts it into explosive power, which then fires the shell out. However,
for it to withstand a serious Kuina, I used the best magic metal my skills allowed and
also made mechanisms that would not break due to the impact. All that said, my
orichalcum alloy still could not withstand Kuina’s power, so I added the [Hardening]
enchantment. After that, it finally became a gun that could endure Kuina’s full power.”

“Amazing.”

“The truly amazing one is Kuina. If anything, this is only an apology to her. Originally,
guns are things made to supplement the user’s power. However, the fact that they
offered a constant, unchanging addition to one’s attack power has become like
shackles to Kuina. Claíomh Solais is different. It’s able to convert all of her power into
attack power.”

It seemed like Kuina was enjoying her new gun. She was as happy as a child that
received a toy that would not break no matter how rough she played with it.

But then, Kuina’s barrage suddenly stopped. She ran out of shells.

Even though her new weapon—just like the previous ones in the EDS series—
automatically reloaded from an attached magazine, changing the emptied magazine
for a new one still costed a few moments.

Fel wasn’t so soft as to let that chance pass.

“You finally stopped!”

Still about five meters away from Kuina, Fel already took out the bladeless sword that
was hanging on her back. It was clear that it would not reach Kuina.

Or, at least, it wasn’t supposed to. However, a blade of light was suddenly and
immediately formed.

To evade, Kuina lowered her body as much as she could. Except for some of her hair,
she was unharmed.

Following that attack, Fel twisted her wrist and slashed again.

Since only the hilt of her sword had weight, handling it was very easy.

In addition, given that the weightless blade of light was currently 10 meters long by
my visual estimate, a sword’s shortness of range was rendered a non-issue for this
battle.

“As ever, Fel is amazing. Just forming the blade of light for that prototype is quite
difficult. I think even I would take a second to form it. Also, the prototype’s magic
power consumption is quite extreme. But the way that girl’s using it—forming the
blade only when necessary and even then only for a moment—tremendously
decreases the consumed magic power. As a developer, it makes me happy to see such
mastery over a creation of mine.”

The sword Fel was currently using was originally developed as the Avalon-Ritters’
exclusive weapon. However, the magic power consumption was so intense that even
with the twin-drive system, they could not maintain the blade of light to be always
formed. On the other hand, it took them quite some time to form the blade. Concluding
therefore that the way Fel was currently using the sword was an impossibility for the
Avalon-Ritters, we had decided to shelve it in a warehouse where it was left to gather
dust.
That had been so until I gave it to Fel. In no time, she completely mastered it.

Unfortunately, though, she was using that mastery to corner Kuina.

As for Kuina, while evading that flurry of slashes by using both [Precognition] and
[Ultra-rapid Reaction], she somehow finished reloading her shotgun.

Her weapon now fully loaded, she then leapt high into the air and fired from above.

In reaction, Fel once again used her [Time] ability to stop the incoming projectiles.

At that, the [Time] Demon Lord beside me applauded.

“It’s a great match, wouldn’t you agree, Procell? Both have lethal attacks and also very
effective defensive and evasive techniques.”

“Yeah, it’s a really close match. It can honestly go either way. It’s going to be more of a
war of attrition wherein they’re just waiting for the other to make a mistake. Which
shouldn’t be long, seeing as both are nearing their limits.”

Kuina’s [Precognition] required intense amounts of concentration and thus could not
be used for a long period of time.

Meanwhile, Fel’s [Time] barrier consumed great amounts of magic power. Also, even
though the blade of light remained in form for only a moment, it still consumed intense
amounts of magic power.

Given that they were both fighting seriously, I said what I said.

However, as if to say no, the [Time] Demon Lord laughed.

“…No, Fel will win. Look, she’s about to decide the match.”

The moment he said that, Fel vanished.

She then suddenly appeared in Kuina’s blind spot, the blade of light already formed.
There’s no time to evade! Did she hasten herself using [Time]!?

I had once been Fel’s master, so I was aware she was capable of such.

Her [Time] ability allowed her to stop the time of those that were up to one meter
around her. Considering that Kuina was still far away, it wouldn’t work.

However, stopping time was just one aspect of Fel’s [Time] ability. If she instead used
it to accelerate her own time, speed was not an issue.

“It all ends with this!”

Through the magic on the ring, I heard Fel shout so.

“You’ve already shown that move.”

Kuina’s voice was calm as the blade of light hit her.

Even though Kuina’s stats were absurd, Fel and the sword’s combined offensive
capabilities would still mean instant death for her if she gets caught.

However, that was not what happened when the blade hit her.

Instead, Kuina was unharmed. The only visible change was that she was now clad in
beautiful, golden flames.

Whenever Kuina intensified her flames to the limit, it would become golden. Somehow
though, the flames this time were not the usual golden flames. It had a bit of red to it.
But that didn’t mean it was just the imperfect form of the golden flames.

The red mixed in wasn’t a natural red; it was the color of her soul.

So, it was more accurate to call it her golden red flames.

Actually, I had once seen this kind of flame before.

It was the flame she used when I had named her. Back then, she was fighting a frenzied
Enlil and used [Transform] to change into her adult form.

At any rate, frustrated, Fel clicked her tongue and backed away.

“How can light even be burned!?”

Just as Fel said, her blade of light was being burned by Kuina’s Flames.

Impossible.

No matter how high the temperature, the burning of light went against all laws of physics.

“Ohh, the primordial flame which is the very concept itself of burning, huh? It’s been
centuries since I saw that. Kind of reminds me of that guy. Procell, your monster’s
amazing indeed.”

As the [Time] Demon Lord said, Kuina’s flames were the very concept itself of burning.
Thus, it burns just about everything, regardless of logic, common sense, and even the
laws of physics.
“Fel-chan, Kuina’s already seen your time acceleration, but you haven’t seen Kuina’s
special move yet. It’s unfair right? So, Kuina’s going to tell you about it.”

Kuina, still clad in her golden red flames, said so and smiled.

“These flames burn everything, but they’re too exhausting to use. I think I can
maintain it for only another minute. Also, once they separate from Kuina, they go back
to being regular flames, so wrapping them around Kuina like this is the only way to go
on the offensive with them.”

It was powerful, but had its own set of issues.

“It’s impossible for Kuina to catch a fleeing Fel in under a minute, though. So, Rorono-
chan made this. Kuina’s betting everything on this bullet that can contain these
flames.”

Kuina said so and loaded the bullet engraved with characters into Claíomh Solais.

The said bullet wasn’t a shotshell, but rather a slug shell enchanted with magical
effects. In other words, it was a trump card.

“Let’s play, Fel-chan. If you managed to defend against it, it’s your win. But if Kuina
brings you down with this, it’s Kuina’s win.”

Kuina said so as she made a ferocious smile.

She was definitely enjoying this battle.

“Fine, bring it!”

Fel replied so with a smile of her own.

Fel had not only her time barrier, but also [Precognition]. One could even say her
defenses were perfect.

And yet, Kuina still decided to proceed.

She readied Claiomh Solais, poured all of her golden red flames to the bullet, and then
fired.

The bullet was too fast for my eyes to see. I even put as much as possible magic power
into eyes, but still, nothing. Such speed was no doubt the result of using a tremendous
amount of magic power to launch the bullet.

I did see some sparks fly in front of Fel, though. Soon thereafter, I heard an explosion.

“It’s my win! No matter how strong that bullet of yours is, if I stop the time on the
space… Eh!?”

Before Fel could finish her sentence, the bullet went through the time-frozen space
and hit her. it had so much power that Fel exploded and burned beyond recognition.

It was instant death.

The match finished, the barrier around the ring activated and time turned back.

Perhaps remembering the moment of her death, Fel’s face was pale as she hugged her
body.

“It’s odd. So, so odd. I’m sure I stopped time!”

Not understanding how she lost, Fel glared at Kuina with teary eyes.

“It’s simple: the bullet burned time! Like Kuina said, those flames can burn anything
and everything. And that bullet had those flames!”

“Burning time is absurd! But, well, I recognize that it’s my loss this time. But you better
be ready because I’m going to win next time!”
“Kuina’s looking forward to it!”

Like that, the fight between Kuina and Fel concluded.

Having been shown a great fight, the audience gave the two a thunderous round of
applause. Of course, I too clapped my hands as loudly as I could.

So that’s Kuina’s new special move? It’s better than what I expected.

It was surely a fatal attack if it could burn even time. It was hard to imagine anyone
ever being able to defend against it.

Equipped with her new shotgun, Kuina was truly the strongest.

I doubted even a [Berserk] Duke would be able to pull a win.

“It seems I’ve lost our wager. Why don’t you ask me whatever it is you want to ask over
dinner? This is the least I can do to thank you for before.”

“Thank you for the dinner, then.”

“I suspect that what you want to ask me concerns the [Black] Demon Lord, correct?”

“Yes.”

The [Time] Demon Lord had previously warned me about the [Black] Demon Lord and
I wanted to know why.

As we talked, Kuina and Fel looked our way and waved their hands.

In response, I waved back.

The two showed us a really good fight.

This dinner wouldn’t be just for gathering information about the [Black] Demon Lord,
but also praising the two. Or rather, the three. For the wonderful new shotgun she
made, Rorono deserved just as much praise.
Out of the blue, we were invited by the [Time] Demon Lord to dinner. According to
him, the invitation was his thanks both for the feast he attended in Avalon and for our
contributions to Fel’s growth.

While those might be true, there was also the matter about our bet. Before the fight
between Kuina and Fel began, the [Time] Demon Lord and I bet on whom we thought
would win. The winner of our wager was going to get an answer from the loser on
whichever question the former wanted to ask.

Naturally, we bet on our own respective daughter.

And so, Kuina and Fel fought. The winner of their match was Kuina, making me the
winner of the said bet.

I was of course happy with the outcome, but a small part of me wondered what the
[Time] Demon Lord was going to ask if his side was the one to win. Considering that
he was the one that proposed that bet, there must have been something he wanted me
to answer.

“Oto-san, what did you think of Kuina’s special move? Did you like it?”

After dashing toward me, Kuina asked so while looking up at me. As suggested by her
energetically swinging fox tail, she seemed very pleased on her victory over Fel,.

By the way, we were currently in a guest room in the [Time] Demon Lord’s dungeon
so that we could wait and rest while their preparations were underway.

“Yeah, it was amazing. I didn’t imagine the move you’ve completed to be that amazing.”

Kuina had produced beautiful, golden red flames. Far from being ordinary flames, they
were the very concept of burning. In the fight against Fel, Kuina had used it to burn
both light and time, a feat no ordinary flame could do no matter how hot it was.
Kuina had obtained, without a doubt, a terrific power. In terms of offensive
capabilities, it was perhaps the strongest among all monsters.

“Kuina worked really hard!”

She then enthusiastically talked of her hardships on learning to use those golden red
flames.

Oh. She’s wants to be praised, doesn’t she?

Having grasped what intent, I placed my hand on her head and stroke it gently. Based
on her narrowed eyes, she seemed pleased.

Touching her hair and fox ears felt so good to me as well.

“Come closer, Kuina. It’s been a while since we’ve done some brushing.”

“Yay~ ♪”

There was a bed on the room so I decided to utilize it.

I sat down, tapped on my lap, and beckoned for Kuina to come closer. In response, she
jumped onto my lap with her fluffy fox tail wagging.

I grabbed hold of that tail and then used the brush made exclusively for her. That undid
tangled-up hairs while also removing dirt and debris that were mixed in. At the same
time, it stimulated the pores and improved blood circulation.

It seemed to be making Kuina feel good.

Ordinarily, I would also use high-grade oils and soap, but seeing as there were none
readily available at the moment, I decided that brushing was plenty enough.

“Oto-san, it feels, great, ahh, there, yeah, it’s the, best–”

As though she was sleepy, Kuina lazily said so.

Like always, she’s such an adorable child.

And so, I continued on brushing her tail. It was to the point where I entered a trance,
as though my whole life’s purpose was to brush Kuina’s tail.

Amidst that, I heard a clink and then a clank.

It was made by Rorono who was also in the room. She was disassembling the EDS-05
Claíomh Solais— Kuina’s shotgun. She analyzed each part thoroughly and then
inputted whatever findings she had into her laptop computer. From time to time, she
would add notes to the gun’s design.

“Rorono, how’s Claíomh Solais’s condition?”

“Fortunately, it’s mostly as predicted: it has withstood Kuina’s power. I did discover
some points for improvement though, thanks to the actual data I’ve gathered. It goes
to show that sometimes, you have to see it in action to realize some things.”

Rorono was a perfectionist.

As such, she was fully devoted to eliminating issues and developing improvements for
her creations. Any new discoveries she made in one invention, she would apply to the
rest if possible.

She was the world’s best alchemist largely due to her latent ability and racial bonuses,
true, but it was also largely due to her diligence.

“I’m relieved you didn’t find any defects. That Claíomh Solais you made truly is a
masterpiece, Rorono. I hope you continue supporting Kuina.”

It would probably upset Rorono if I put it into words, but I honestly thought that the
Claíomh Solais was already the ultimate form a shotgun could attain.

“Yup! It’s far, far easier to use that any shotgun Kuina has used! It’s the best!”

Kuina—whom I thought had dozed off—praised the gun so with her fox ears fully
erect. She seems greatly pleased with it, doesn’t she?
“However, that trump card, that [Magic Bullet], its burden on the gun was far greater
than what I anticipated. After each time you fire that shell, I’d like you to submit it for
maintenance.”

“Rorono-chan, does that mean that after firing a [Magic Bullet], the Claíomh Solais
can’t be used again until you’ve done some maintenance?”

Worry apparent on her face, Kuina asked Rorono.

The weak point of her golden red flames was its short range.

To compensate for that weak point, Rorono developed [Magic Bullets] that could be
loaded with those flames.

However, if Claíomh Solais could only endure one shot with those bullets, its
usability—while still impressive—would drastically diminish.

“No, it won’t be that bad. Doing maintenance is more of a recommendation than an

actual need. I think it’ll remain functional even after 3 shots. If by the second shot you
notice there’s a drop in performance, the chances of it breaking down by the fourth
shot are incredibly high.”

“It’s all good then! Those flames use a lot of magic power, so Kuina can probably shoot
at most two!”

Kuina’s magic power was way beyond the norm, and even that description might be
an understatement.

For her to be able to use those flames only two times, those flames must indeed
consume unbelievable amounts of magic power.

“You say that, but you have the ability to store magic power into the furs of your tail,
don’t you? If you really wanted to, you can use those flames a greater number of times.”

“Oh yeah, you did have an ability like that, Kuina.”

Each fur in Kuina’s tail was able to store magic power equal to the magic power of a
mage-type B rank monster.
Whenever she was free, she would store her magic power into her furs. That way, she
would have some stock for when the going gets rough.

Also, due to its nature of being excellent magic power batteries, Rorono would
occasionally pluck some out so that she could use them as materials for her creations,
such as the Avalon-Ritters and Aura’s anti-materiel rifle.

“Kuina does have some savings, but Kuina won’t use it! You see, when Kuina leveled
up a lot, Kuina gained a new skill! Kuina’s currently a Celestial Fox, but once Kuina’s
saved up magic power in 9999 tail furs, Kuina’s gonna become an [Aether Fox]!”

Wait, wait, wait. What was that unbelievable thing she just said? I’ve never heard about
monsters changing their race, about them evolving.

“Kuina, this is the first I’m hearing this. It’s a pretty important information, you know?”

“I haven’t told you, Oto-san?”

“Nope, haven’t heard of it.”

In haste, I used my Demon Lord Authority and looked at Kuina’s stats.

When I did, I saw a skill that wasn’t there before. It was perhaps a skill she had
obtained when I chose her to be one of my [Monsters of the Covenant].

“[Aether Fox Tribute Ritual]?”

“Yup! The condition for its activation is to use all the magic power stored in 9999 furs
of Kuina’s tail! And that’s why Kuina’s saving up!”

If she turned into an Aether Fox, her strength would increase tremendously.

According to the entry in [Planet’s Memory] that I just searched, a Wild Fox could
ascend into a Mythological Fox, a Mythological Fox into a Nine-tailed Fox, and then
into a Celestial Fox. And then, there was the case of a Celestial Fox being reborn into
an Aether Fox.

An Aether Fox was no longer just a monster; it was a being that has ascended into
godhood.

“…so, you’ll grow even stronger, huh? I’m looking forward to that.”

As to be expected of a top-tier monster born from 3 A rank medals: nothing but

greatness.

“By the way, how many tail furs have you filled with magic power so far?”

“50! There’s still a long way to go!”

“I’ll wait for it patiently, then.”

Just as Kuina said, it would take a long time before she could fulfill the requirement.

For the meantime, all I could do is wait, so I’ll do just that… then again, there might be
something else we can do hasten the process of saving for magic power.

And so, I decided to actively cooperate. After all, it would make my already powerful
trump card even stronger.

After a while, we were summoned by the [Time] Demon Lord, so we moved to the
room he was in.

There, lined up in the long the table were countless cuisines. It was just like the [Time]
Demon Lord to prepare such a feast, but if it was some strange Demon Lord, I would
have assumed they were doing a joke that some nobles loved to pull.

“Oto-san, the food looks delicious!”

“Yes, but for some reason, it feels like I’ve seen these ingredients and dishes before.”

Kuina and Rorono had different reactions.

I knew what Rorono meant, and apparently, the [Time] Demon Lord did too since he
spoke to explain.
“I guess it’s natural you’ve noticed. These ingredients were bought by my monsters
from Avalon. Avalon sure is great, isn’t it? But then again, because it has everything,
it’s very easy to unintentionally buy too much.”

Many high-class Demon Lords enjoyed human culture, so they always had currencies
that humans use at the ready. These were typically from the money and equipment
left behind by adventurers who had died within their dungeon.

“Dantalian, thank you for becoming a valued client of our city.”

“I’m just using something that’s useful. But do expect my continued patronage.”

At that, we both laughed.

Taking another look around, I saw that his monsters had already taken their seats. By
his monsters, I meant Fel and the [Chronos Knights] in humanoid form.

As soon as Fel and I locked eyes, she beckoned me to come closer and then tapped on
the vacant seat beside her as though she wanted me to sit there.

I wanted to humor her, but I also wanted to be discreet in front of the [Time] Demon
Lord, given that incident with her before.

“What’s wrong, Procell? You can sit besides Fel if you want to.”

“Is it really alright?”

“Yeah. So long as you don’t cross the line, I have no complaints. If she’s happy, I’m
happy as well. Or is it that you’re concerned about your monsters? Do you want to be
seated near your monsters too?”

After pondering for a bit, the [Time] Demon Lord spoke again.

“Fel, why don’t you move to the other side? That way, Procell can sit near Kuina and
the Elder Dwarf as well.”
“Understood, Father!”

I had noticed it before, but maybe he was actually the type to be considerate of others.

And so, Fel approached and then embraced me. Her wolf tail was wagging in delight.

“Uuuu… Fel-chan, Oto-san is Kuina’s Oto-san!”

“But he’s also Fel’s master!”

It was adorable watching the two glare at each other.

As though he felt the same, Dantalian, chuckled a bit before speaking again.

“Well then, let’s eat. Our head chef is a monster, but he’s quite skilled in cooking.”

“I can tell just by looking.”

Everything seemed delicious. From the fragrant smell, I was eagerly looking forward
to each dish’s taste.

And thus, the impromptu feast began.

The dinner, mixed in with idle chatting, was fun.

I ate such fancy cuisines only occasionally, so the dinner was refreshing too.

I typically ate Aura’s delicious home cooking and food from bars and cheap
restaurants, unless there was a special occasion or something. It wasn’t that I had no
money, it’s more that I didn’t have much time. After all, fancy dishes tended to take a
lot of time to be cooked and to be eaten.

After finishing our desserts, a special drink was brought out. It was a drink made from
cocoa which was the latest trend spreading in Avalon.

As to be expected of the [Time] Demon Lord, he truly had discerning eyes.

Cocoa was just recently imported from a country across the sea. The plan was to make
it one of Avalon’s flagship products.

I had no doubts that this drink and chocolate, which was made from cocoa, would be
hot sellers.

By having a monopoly to those products, we would be able to attract and gather

humans from all over the continent even more.

“Well then, Procell, I think it’s time to conclude our bet. So, ask whatever it is you want
to ask. On my title as the [Time] Demon Lord, I would answer without any falsehoods.”

His demeanor and facial expressions were calm and composed, and yet the atmosphere
changed suddenly, thus ending the idle chat around the table.

It was the majesty of a truly great Demon Lord, a quality which neither I nor the
[Black] Demon Lord possessed.

“I want you to tell me about the [Black] Demon Lord. You’ve once expressly warned
me to not underestimate him. I’d like to hear your exact reason as to why.”

The [Time] Demon Lord crossed his arms and pondered for a while before giving an
answer.

“Hmm, let’s see, how do I put it? You’re aware that—save for some exceptions—the
more versatile a Demon Lord’s abilities are, the weaker its effects tended to be, yes?
Conversely, the more specialized one’s abilities are, the stronger its effects tended to
be. Let’s take Marcho’s [Beast] as an example, shall we? Other than strengthening her
body’s capabilities, it held no other functions and almost no use outside of combat. On
the other hand, it’s safe to say that there’s no Demon Lord that could go toe to toe with
her in direct combat.”

Even I was aware of what he just explained.

“The [Black] Demon Lord’s abilities fall under the versatile type. However, one of his
abilities is much, much stronger than the rest. It’s actually enough for me to be wary
of him and avoid any confrontations. What it does is…”

The [Time] Demon Lord continued and explained to me what that ability was.

“I see. Hence, the silver watch?”

The [Time] Demon Lord had once given me a silver watch as a reward. It wasn’t any
ordinary silver watch though; it was actually a magic tool of the highest order for it
contained within it his own abilities.

“I hope you’re not so naíve as to think that that much will be enough. If it was, I, the
owner of the abilities held within, wouldn’t be so wary of that man. However, I do think
it will lead to a breakthrough. Now then, I look forward to your display of skill.”

The [Time] Demon Lord said so and then laughed.

Without any doubts, he had provided me with valuable information. Had I not been I
aware of this knowledge, I would have certainly been taken out without any sort of
resistance.

So, this is what it’s like to fight with old Demon Lords.

“Thank you. It’s thanks to this information that I have any chance of winning.”

“No need to thank me. I am just honoring our bet.”

After that, we returned to idle chatter.

In a round about manner, the [Time] Demon Lord asked me about Marcho. Looking at
him while he asked so made me giggle a bit.

I guess we should have another feast with everyone, Marcho included.

While thinking of such, I thanked the [Time] Demon Lord again and then departed.

Now that I knew the enemy’s hand, it was possible to make the necessary precautions
and counter-measures. Of course, the enemy could very well be doing the same.

Alright, we’re now on equal footing. The real fight begins now.
Soon after gaining valuable information from the [Time] Demon Lord, we headed back
home.

And today, considering I shouldn’t go outside, I did my work in the carriage parked
near the [First Tree]. The reason I shouldn’t go out was…

“Aura, are you sure Stolas is going to wake up today?”

“Yes. Her body has completely recovered. As far as her consciousness is concerned, it’s
stable. A little coaxing should be enough to wake her up. These are all thanks to my
earnest efforts in healing her, master! Praise me, please!”

Aura said so with a self-satisfied grin while also puffing her ample bosom.

I praised her good job, good job and then brushed her head. To that, she giggled ehehe.

She really did a good job. I should buy her that cake she loves so much later.

While thinking that, a sound came from somewhere.

“Gauuuuuuuuuu”

It was from Enlil the Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut who had come to Avalon together
with Stolas, his sleeping master.

When I looked toward his direction, I saw that he was licking his master’s cheek. It
was perhaps his way of trying to get Stolas to wake up.

Much like Duke who could change his form, Enlil was able to reduce his size to that of
a kitten’s. Ever since coming to Avalon, he had remained in this cute form and
vigilantly remained at his master’s side.

And then, suddenly, there was movement in Stolas’s eyelids.

“Where am I? What happened…?”

After more than a week, Sleeping Beauty finally awakened.

However, having woken up in an unfamiliar room, she was understandably bewildered.

“Gauuuuuu”

Enlil made an affectionate sound and then rubbed his head against Stolas’s cheek.
After noticing it was Enlil, Stolas immediately embraced him.

“Oh, Enlil, that tickles. That’s right. I… I named you Enlil, and then lost consciousness,
and then…”

At that point, she examined her surroundings and then made eye contact with me.

“…and then, you helped me, Procell. The fact that Enlil’s still here means that my
crystal is still intact and that we won the war, doesn’t it? Thank goodness. It seems I
owe you a great deal, Procell.”

“Yeah. I’d greatly appreciate it if you do someday.”

I jokingly replied so. Hopefully this way, she would feel less pressure to pay me back.

“So, Procell, can you catch me up on things? First of all, I don’t know where we are.”

“You remember up until you passed out, right? Well, you naming Enlil has caused quite
a disaster. You see, that damaged your magic circuits to the point that there was even
a chance your magic power and Demon Lord abilities might not ever return.”

Enlil was so strong, the act of naming him caused this much burden on her magic
circuits. If we didn’t have Aura, recovery might have been hopeless.

“…it’s to that degree? The risks were far greater than I thought.”

“Yeah. That’s why we brought you here in Avalon so that Aura—a healing expert—can
look after you. Moreover, can you feel that warm and gentle life energy? That’s from
the First Tree, a sacred tree that’s comparable to a world tree. That overflowing life
energy helped in speeding up your recovery.”

“I see. That means I truly owe Avalon a great deal. I thank you from the bottom of my
heart.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re friends and this is what friends do, right?”

I sincerely believed she would have done the same for me if our roles were ever
reversed.

“So, has your magic power and Demon Lord abilities returned yet?”

“Let’s see… Nope, no matter how much I try, I can’t gather any magic power or perform
any of my Demon Lord abilities. I’m now actually worried. It won’t be like this forever,
right?”

I understood what she was feeling at the moment because I had undergone a similar
situation.

I then looked Aura to give her the cue to talk.

“You don’t have to worry, Stolas-sama. Between my medical treatment of you, the
potions made from the golden apples, and the First Tree, you should recover soon. In
fact, I estimate the return of your magic power and Demon Lord abilities in 10 days.”

Hearing that, Stolas felt relieved.

In ten days, huh. Making her just rest in that time period is kind of a waste. We should
let her re-experience the joys of Avalon as much as is possible.

“In ten days? Okay. Sorry to be a burden, but please continue to look after my health.
Also, will it be fine if I came home even for just a day? I want to see for my own eyes
that everyone is safe and doing fine. I’m a bit worried about my dungeon too.”

Stolas appeared uneasy as she said so. It was perfectly understandable though. If I
were to be away from Avalon for a whole week, I would not be able to calm down.

“Can that be arranged, Aura?”

“If Stolas-sama leaves right now, I fear that it will delay her recovery drastically. But,
if she’s to leave after 4 days’s worth of rest and treatment, one day outside should be
acceptable.”

“Alright. There you have it, Stolas. You should delay your temporary return by at least
4 days.”

Surely, with Rozelitte—someone that’s like a sister to Stolas—in charge, every thing
should be fine, if not great.

“Yeah. I’ll be in your care, then… my debts are piling up, aren’t they? I have no idea
how to repay you.”

I could have said some non-committal request, but considering her personality,
anything too trivial would have been rejected. Thankfully, I came up with a good idea.

“Actually, I might have an idea. I want you to become my trump card.”

I had decided that I would be borrowing her powers in the fight against the [Black]
Demon Lord.

Our pre-fight—our fight that didn’t took place in the battlefield—would probably
continue for a while. It was hard to imagine things would escalate fast enough before
Stolas could recover.

Her powers were the perfect thing to take my opponent by surprise.

Ten days had passed since Stolas had awakened.

Today, I was enjoying air travel via the Darkness Dragons that each carried a container
full of gold and silver.
Six days ago, I had received a message from Prince Leonard confirming that their side
had accepted the terms of our deal. Right away, we sent the first half of the financial
aid I promised the prince. As for the other half, it was what we were bringing.

Aside from the delivery, the purpose of my visit was to attend a meeting. Apparently,
this time, the prince was not the only one I was going to have a meeting with; I would
be dealing with king as well.

The Axela Kingdom’s attacks on the [Dragon] Demon Lord’s dungeon had stopped.
However, soldiers were still stationed near the dungeon in fear of retaliation.

As such, it was arranged that Prince Leonard and the [Dragon] Demon Lord would
also have a dialogue the next day about the withdrawal of those soldiers, among other
things.

Accompanying me for this journey was of course Kuina.

“This is exciting, isn’t it, Kuina? To see for the first time the church built in the humans’
capital.”

“It sure is! Yay~♪!”

Through the deal, we had gained permission to build a church in their royal capital.
The Dwarf Smiths came as soon as the permission was granted, and in just three days,
they were able to finish the construction of the church.

Additionally, the church was built to have a hidden basement. I decided to move the
Avalon-Ritters that were supposed to be Ruru’s back up to the said basement because
they would be nearer and better hidden than if they were positioned in the outskirts
of the capital as originally planned. The hidden basement was also later on filled with
weapons.

According to the reports, the carpenters and clergymen were about to finish all their
preparations today. The carpenters were working on the interior design while the
clergymen were working on preparing for the worship ceremony.

By the way, the clergymen were actually conmen introduced by Conanna. Apparently,
these actors hired with gold were much more convincing than even the real thing. As
impressive as a shrewd merchant could be, he has connections to even these kinds of
things.

Of course, the conmen-turned-clergymen were properly indoctrinated into our faith.

They would never betray us. They’d go to all sorts of great lengths just to spread the
Holy Grail Faith.

“I wonder just how he’ll welcome me.”

I whispered so to myself.

There was no doubt in my mind that the [Black] Demon Lord would certainly make a
move this time.

After all, there was no way he would sit idly by as I did whatever I want.

And yet, according to Ruru who was guarding Prince Leonard, no attempts on the
prince’s life had been made other than those by human assassins. Not even in order to
prevent the prince from convincing his brothers and the king to trust me and make
peace with the [Dragon] Demon Lord. Nor were there any steps taken to prevent the
royal family from being purified by the Avalon Wine brought home by the prince.

This passiveness was truly suspicious. It definitely looked like something was up.

…For that reason, I’ve dangled a delicious, easy-to-capture bait before him: me. If ever
he was going to pounce, it was going to be today. If all went well, we could corner and
punish the [Black] Demon Lord.

“Also, Kuina, it’s Prince Leonard that has invited us, so expect lots of food.”

“Air trips with Oto-san are the best!”

This was going to be a fun and exciting air trip, in more ways than one.

After a while more, we finally reached the royal capital. It was not wise to take the
Darkness Dragons beyond the city’s walls, so we landed in a place designated
beforehand by the prince. We then loaded the cargo we were to deliver into the
carriages prepared by the kingdom. This time, instead of the dragons, the golems were
going to be the ones to help us transport the cargo.

While we were busy on the transfer, Kuina’s fox ear twitched.

“Oto-san, Kuina detects monster presence. They’re watching us from afar. They’ve
erased their presence to the point that even Kuina can barely detect them. They’re
dangerous.”

“Yeah, be vigilant. Assume that the royal capital as the enemy headquarters.”

“Understood. But, Oto-san, also assume that in the worst-case scenario, Kuina alone
wouldn’t be enough.”

The enemies who were strong enough for Kuina to say such words had entered the
stage already at such an early point.

Which was all within expectations. Now then, let’s move on to the next piece of work to
do here in the royal capital.
I had journeyed to the Royal Capital of the Axela Kingdom.

After landing, I put the Darkness Dragons into my [Storage], and then took a rather
bumpy ride in the carriage provided by the kingdom.

My companion right now was just Kuina. This being her fist time in the capital, she
was leaning her body toward the window and looking at the scenery outside.

“Oto-san, there’s a lot of horsies here!”

From the outskirts of the city until the entrance, a large number of horse-drawn
carriages were line up.

Golem-drawn carriages had already become the norm in Avalon, so it wasn’t often we
get to see so many horses in one place.

“Do you like horses?”

“I do! They’re so delicious! Unlike piggies, they can be eaten raw as sashimi!”

I see, I thought as I smiled wryly.

Dishes employing horse meat were one of the latest trends spreading around in
Avalon. And as Kuina said, eating it as sashimi was truly delicious.

“Anyway, I’ll be counting on you for whatever happens today, Kuina.”

“Yeah~ ♪! Leave it Kuina!”

I had taken precautions against the worst the case scenarios.

I had three trump cards for this occasion:

First was Stolas’s abilities.

Second, the silver watch I received as a reward from the [Time] Demon Lord.

And third, the reward I received from the Creator for winning my [War] against
[Viscosity], [Evil], and [Steel].

“…So, the time to use it has finally come, huh?”

The last trump card I listed carried great risks, so I had tried to avoid using it as much
as possible. However, if push comes to shove, I would not hesitate to use it this time.

At any rate, the carriage that we rode had entered the capital.

It feels like I’m about to enter the belly of a mysterious beast.

It was quite lively inside the capital.

If in terms of just liveliness, Avalon was the much better one. However, the capital had
a certain organized and systematic beauty to it that the ever-developing Avalon did
not have.

“Oto-san, it’s such a beautiful city!”

“Yeah. The streets are laid out in a perfect grid pattern, and buildings too are perfectly
regulated. It’s a view that you can’t see in Avalon.”

Most likely, the buildings here were being regulated to conform to quite rigid
specifications so as to not disrupt the already established beauty of the city. After all,
a royal capital must be beautiful.

While talking like that, we arrived at our destination.

By destination, I didn’t mean the royal castle already. We had to stop by a facility which
dealt with guiding guests from foreign nations first.

We stayed there for short a while before being guided to a room.

“Woah! This room’s so big! The bed’s so soft!”

Kuina immediately dove into the bed.

It was nice room. At least for now, it seemed we were properly being treated as guests
of honor.

A servant then appeared and informed us that should we need anything, all we had to
do was ring a bell and he would come running at any time of the day—or night—to
attend to that need. He also informed us that Prince Leonard would be arriving soon.

According to the schedule for today, after a short talk with Prince Leonard, we were to
meet with the king and the other princes to inspect our newly built church wherein
we would be holding a meeting. After that, Prince Leonard was supposed to give us a
warm reception.

For the day after, together with the prince, we were to go to the [Dragon] Demon Lord’s
dungeon.

I had hoped that this whole trip would be over without any single incident, but I knew
that was impossible.

<<Yoohoo, Patron. Can you hear me?>>

Ruru’s voice then came from my water-containing glass earing.

Being a R’lyeh Diva, she was able to use water as medium to communicate from the
other dimension.

“Yeah. Loud and clear.”

<<Great. Well, you see, there are some suspicious fellows watching you and your
surroundings.>>

“Just as we suspected. Kuina felt them too. How about Aura? Have you gotten in touch
with her?”

<<I have. She says she’s in position for sniping and is surveying the field with her wind.
She also says that because there might be enemies that can tap into the messages she
sends via the wind, she’s leaving all communication duties to me.>>

Oh, interesting. First Kuina said she alone might not be enough for the enemies, and now,
Aura’s this cautious.

The question now was where and when they would strike.

It was hard to imagine the attack on us would happen while we were negotiating with
the royal family. The [Black] Demon Lord treated the royal family as convenient pawns,
so he shouldn’t want to get them caught in the crossfire.

If so, the attack might happen while taking a break after the negotiation. Or perhaps…

A servant then invited us to a reception room. We followed him there and then sat at
a comfy sofa while we waited.

By the way, Kuina and I had changed into our formal attire. Furthermore, she had
switched into her “lady” mode.

“Procell-dono, welcome! I have been so looking forward to meeting you again!”

Eyes full of enthusiasm, Prince Leonard rushed into the room and said such things.

“I should be the one saying that, prince. Thanks to you convincing the proper figures,
the Holy Grail faith can now spread even in Axela.”

“But it was the natural thing to do! In fact, I have made the spreading of your
teaching—that humans and demi-humans are equal—my life’s mission. In my eyes,
the doctrine that says humans are the superior beings is just wrong. For our nation to
develop, we must employ individuals of talent, regardless of their birth. So, you see, I
did it more for my nation than to do you a favor. There’s no need for thanks.”
At that, I smiled wryly. It seemed like I had influenced him more than I thought.

<<Patron, I’ve received communications from Aura. As far as she can tell, Prince
Leonard is not being manipulated by the [Black] Demon Lord at the moment.>>

Ruru contacted me again and reported so.

When the prince first came to Avalon, he was under the effects of the [Black] Demon
Lord’s magic. We had dispelled it, but there was a chance it could have been reapplied
to him upon his return.

Anyway, as scheduled, the prince and I talked for a while. I asked how he had
persuaded the king and the other important individuals. I also asked how he got
everyone to attend the meeting that we would be having later.

We chatted for a while, uneventfully.

Once we were finished, the prince guided me outside. We rode a carriage and then
headed to the newly built church. When we arrived, I saw a remarkably wonderful
carriage that was surrounded by a group of knights.

There were only a few people who could have that much security on them.

When we exited our carriage, the other party also exited from theirs.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Procell-dono. I thank you for the enormous amount
of wealth you’ve provided us. Of course, I am also deeply grateful for your medical
treatment of our wounded soldiers and your intermediation with the [Dragon] Demon
Lord. You have been a great help.”

Although the middle-aged man that exited the luxurious carriage didn’t lower his
head, he said words of thanks.

For the leader of a country to say such words to the leader of a mere city in most
remote of regions, it was unprecedented. It goes to show how dire things were for the
Axela Kingdom.
“Oh no, I should be the one thanking you. I am very grateful for allowing us to build
our church and conduct our religious rites.”

“…Just to be clear, I only gave you permission. I and the kingdom are not bound by any
oaths to promote or protect your religion.”

In the latter case, the king probably was referring to protection from the disturbance
to be caused by the believers of the [Black] Demon Lord’s religion.

According to Ruru’s reports, we had already been receiving some kind of harassment
from them. Now that our church was finally built and our activities about to go full-
swing, their harassment would probably only grow worse.

“Yes, we are clear on that. If I may be candid, we have no need for half-hearted
believers who became believers only because the kingdom told them to. Our desire is
not to simply gain more followers, it is to gain more followers who believe and practice
my teachings.”

At my reply, the king let out an ohh.

I had no need for donations or superficial believers. What I really wanted was devotion.

“I think it’s better to see for yourselves what my teachings are all about.”

According to Ruru, preparations for the mass were all done. Soon, she would step out
from the other dimension to participate in the mass.

Aura was also in position. If anything so much as a shadow seem suspicious to her, she
was ready to shoot it down.

The former swindler turned priest also seemed ready, looking very much the part.

And so, I guided the king and the princes to our prized church.

The mass was then over.

I was surprised at how great the swindler that Conanna referred. He was able to tell
my teachings better than I ever did, embellishing it with fleshed-out narratives. His
speech patterns, his intonations, and application of emotions were all very skillful.
Impressive. One should not make light of a professional who used neither magic nor
medicine, but just the art of conversation to coax people. Nevertheless, we still
employed Ruru’s song and Aura’s [God’s Smile] to have a 100% success.

“…Wonderful, Procell-dono.”

“Father, you see now that everything I said was true, don’t you??”

“Hmm, how to say it. Frankly, I have a bit of prejudice against new religions that are
too good to be true. As the leader of my country, I still can’t provide you any aid, but
as an individual, I think I will take your teachings to heart and abide by them for the
rest of my life. Leonard says you have holy books. Won’t you give me one?”

“It will be my pleasure.”

The priest descended from the stage and handed over copies of the holy book. He
passed it to the king and Prince Leonard’s brothers.

Counting the king as a supporter—if not a believer—was huge.

At this rate, the next meeting will go well… now then, let’s use that insurance here. It feels
a bit awkward to deceive myself, but it might just decide victory or defeat.

We changed location once again, this time back to the facility earlier. Thanks in part to
the effects of the mass, the atmosphere of the meeting was rather calm.

Everything was going smoothly. We quickly settled the specifics like how many injured
soldiers that Avalon was going to take and when.

Just when we were about to end the meeting though, the atmosphere suddenly
changed.

I felt a shiver down my spine. All of my instincts were roaring wildly, telling me to
escape.
“Procell-dono”

“Procell-dono”

“Procell-dono”

The king, the princes, and the other statesmen then immediately stood up and jumped
at me. The other party being who they were, I couldn’t carelessly shake them off.

And due to my order not to harm the royal family, Kuina’s response was a little delayed.

“What has gotten into you?”

I tried to ask so, but no answer came.

Their eyes were unfocused. It was clear that they were being controlled even though I
was sure we eliminated all possibilities of it happening.

However, rather than how, the question was why they were being controlled at this
moment.

There was just no sense in restricting me like this.

For better or for worse, the answer came right away.

“Oto-san, outrageous magic power is coming from the sky. It’s a ceremonial magic
done by hundreds of people!”

Kuina said so as she concentrated all of her magic power into her hands that she had
pointed upwards.

“It can’t be. Does he intend to blow away this building even though the royal family is
in here too!?”

We had expected that there would be an attack, but not such an extreme one where
everyone in the same building—including the royal family—would be annihilated.
Nevertheless, the attack came. It was a pillar of light that had the holy attribute.

It punched through the ceiling like it was nothing.

“I won’t let you kill Oto-san!”

Kuina erected a barrier of flame. However, flames were originally not geared toward
defense. Moreover, the attack in question was a ceremonial magic that needed to be
prepared beforehand by several hundreds of individuals. There was no way her
barrier would hold.

She then used her golden red flames and clad herself in it. Even with that though, there
was no way the pillar of light would be pushed back. But then, as though fully aware
of that, Kuina looked and smiled at me with a face full of resolve. She then leapt leaping
toward me, brushed away the royal family members that were restraining me, and
pushed me down herself.

“Even if Kuina dies, Kuina will protect Oto-san. Oto-san, sorry, I don’t think Kuina can
keep our promise of being together forever.”

Right after she said so, she transformed into a giant fox that covered all of me. Using
what magic power she had remaining, she hardened her golden furs.

Shortly after that, the pillar of light made a direct hit.

The ceremonial magic finally stopped and the pillar of light gone.

The sky, it’s visible even though I’m inside a building. No, wait… I have to check something
first.

“Kuina, are you alright?”

There was no answer.

Unconscious and back to her humanoid form, she laid on top of me. Her body was
covered in wounds and her face had gone pale.

“Kuina, answer me, please, Kuina”

No matter how much I begged, there was no response. Not even so much as a twitch.
At that moment, a grave thought crossed my mind. No, no, no, I will not accept that.
Accept it or not though, particles of light were rising from Kuina’s body. Soon
thereafter, the particles and Kuina herself were gone.

“Kuinaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!”

I screamed so as loud as I could. I tried to reach for one particle of light, but all I
grasped was air.

Kuina was my first monster as well as my most beloved.

We were supposed to always be together, but now, she was gone.

“Miserable, that’s the only word to describe you right now, wouldn’t you agree, [Creation]
Demon Lord?”

The moment I heard that voice, two angel-type monsters pinned me down and bound
my arms behind my back. Soon after that, the [Black] Demon Lord himself appeared.

“You! Why, why involve even the royal family!?”

Due to the situation, I was late in realizing that the members of the royal family that
were present for the meeting had all perished.

“Haha. How should I put it? They’re nothing more than mere pawns. Easily
replaceable. But isn’t it normal to do whatever it takes to catch your opponent
unprepared?”

“Even so, don’t you feel anything for your believers? As imperfect as you are, they
worship you. Doesn’t your chest hurt at the very least when you kill your believers!?”

“You do say the strangest of things. Wait, don’t tell me you actually believe what you’re
saying. These so-called believers are nothing more than livestock. Expendable
livestock that will believe whatever convenient thing you say. So, no, my chest did not
hurt. Well, expending the livestock with role of royalty was a bit wasteful, I admit, but
you know what? Humans are unexpectedly clever; I’ll have a replacement soon
enough.”
The [Black] Demon Lord said so and then laughed heartily.

Surveying the field one more time, I finally accepted defeat. It would take considerably
less time to kill me than for Aura and Ruru to mow down the group of angel-type
monsters.

It was over. There was no use resisting.

“Kill me already, [Black] Demon Lord”

At least this way, I would die with honor, for whatever that was worth.

“Now, why would I do such a wasteful thing? You’re a fool, true, but you have an
excellent ability. With my ability, I could dye your heart [Black] and make you useful
for once.”

According to the [Time] Demon Lord, in exchange for a huge amount of magic power,
the [Black] Demon Lord could dye his target’s heart black and control them. This
worked even if the target was a Demon Lord. That meant that no matter how much a
war was progressing badly for him, he could still turn the tides in just one fell swoop.
Worse still, there was no direct defense against it.

Considering that it was a fate worse than death, I tried to break free, but the angel-
type monsters’ hold was just too strong. Furthermore, they reached for the silver
watch hanging from my chest and snatched it off.

That watch was awarded to me by the [Time] Demon Lord. If I used it to stop my own
time, the [Black] Demon Lord’s ability could be prevented and because of the high
magic power consumption of his ability, it was unlikely he could use it on me again so
soon. Alas, with the watch stolen from me, this was no longer possible.

“Now, become mine, [Creation] Demon Lord”

“Fuck off. For taking Kuina, there’s no way… there’s no way…”

I wasn’t able to continue my sentence. My heart grew darker and darker. And then, I
vanished.

Who am I? That’s right, I’m…

“Your wish is my command, [Black] Demon Lord-sama.”

I am the [Black] Demon Lord’s loyal servant.

“Fuhahahaha! I’ve obtained the ultimate power! I should be able to win against [Dragon]
and [Time]!”

The [Black] Demon Lord laughed heartily.

“First order of business. [Command] all of your monsters to swear loyalty to me. You
probably have some deployed nearby. Let’s start with them. Summon them here and
make them swear their loyalty to me.”

“As you command, [Black] Demon Lord-sama.”

Like he was ordered, Procell called Aura and Ruru.

Riding the wind, the first to arrive was Aura. With a thump, she landed by Procell’s
side.

“So, this is the rumored Ancient Elf. I see, such a beautiful monster. I’ve always wanted
a monster with such talent and beauty. Let’s see, why don’t you demonstrate that
talent of yours? Using your weapon, shoot the clock tower two kilometers away in that
direction. If anyone can do it, it’s you, right?”

The [Black] Demon Lord ordered Aura so. Procell had already commanded her to be
obedient to the [Black] Demon Lord’s commands.

And so, she readied her prized anti-materiel rifle and pointed it toward the
aforementioned clock tower.

“Then, please observe my shooting.”

Aura said so and pulled the trigger three times. However, rather than the clock tower,
her actual targets were the heads of Procell and the two angel-type monsters that
restricted his movements.

At the sight of what should have been an impossible thing—a monster attacking their
own Demon Lord—the [Black] Demon Lord was wide-eyed.

“Phew. Even though it’s a fake, it still bothers me to shoot master.”

After saying so, Aura then looked at the [Black] Demon Lord with cold eyes full of
disdain.

“What– wha– you, what are you doing!?”

“What, you ask. I’m eliminating the enemy, duh?”

At that answer, the [Black] Demon Lord was confused.

Before he could say anything else, the water beneath his feet surged and formed a cage.
Right after, R’lyeh Diva, the beautiful, blue-haired otherworld songstress, appeared.

“Aura, everything’s A-OK on my end too. The capture has been safely completed.”

Ruru said so and then gracefully smiled.

“You! How dare you! Release me this instant!”

“Eh. Even if you say that, I’m under no obligation to obey you.”

“Yup. Me too. Our master’s the only one we’ll listen to.”
The two girls responded so and then smiled.

Right then, the sound of footsteps could be heard and everyone turned to see whom it
belonged to.

“Did you have a good dream? Frankly speaking, your cowardice and arrogance has
made your moves readable. But I guess I have to thank you for that interesting speech.
You’ve awakened a lot of people to the truth.”

The one who spoke was none other than [Creation] Demon Lord Procell. By his side
were the supposed-to-have-perished royal family and Kuina the Celestial Fox.

At that moment, the [Black] Demon Lord finally realized who was doing the trapping
and the one getting trapped.
The [Black] Demon Lord, caged by Ruru’s water prison, looked at us with eyes full of
hatred.

“It seems you’ve splendidly turned the tables on me.”

The [Black] Demon Lord had blown up the entire building “I” was in. This resulted to
multiple collateral damage including the members of the royal family I was meeting
with at the moment.

The attack used was a ceremonial magic prepared way beforehand.

By gathering as many of his followers in the three churches he had in the Axela capital,
making them and his angel-type monsters pray a certain prayer, and gathering the
required magic power from the many believers, they were able to ready and fire such
a magic attack.

Even when on guard, we shouldn’t have seen it coming. And yet we had.

There were actually many things that tipped us off.

Aura—who had been to the capital before—had known of the existence of the
ceremonial magic, for one. Couple that with the unusually high number of humans
gathering in the churches of the Rigdolg Faith that day, it was almost certain.

The question then was where and when that magic would be activated. If I was in his
shoes, I would aim for when the target would least expect it. Like that, we had
expected the unexpected.

“You’re a far better actor than I thought. You fooled even a great Demon Lord such as
myself.”

“It’s not that they acted like they knew nothing, it’s that they actually didn’t know
anything.”

We knew his source of information was the humans, but we didn’t know how
information was leaking to them. Given that, we moved forward assuming we were
always being watched. For that reason and to be more convincing, the bait we used
was a version of myself and Kuina that didn’t know anything.

“You see, the one you targeted weren’t the real us. They were illusions of us.”

To be more precise, they were copies made by Stolas’s [Omnipresence].

Quite a bit earlier, these copies changed places with Kuina, me, and the royal family.
The copies themselves were left unaware of this switch, so they really thought that
they were the real ones.

By the way, since they were copies made by [Omnipresence], their capabilities were
all lowered. So, because her golden red flames became imperfect and her [All Magic
Nullification] became weaker, the copy Kuina wasn’t able to defend against the
ceremonial magic. Had it been the real her though, she would have withstood even
that attack.

“So, it seems you’ve outsmarted me. One question then: why am I still alive? If it was
me, I would have ordered that elf to blow the enemy’s head off. It’s rare for me myself
to go to the battlefield, you know? And outsmarting me like this is rarer still. You won’t
get another chance like this.”

Just as he said, a chance like this didn’t come often. The only reason he showed up
today was to ensure that I would turn. Unless he himself was nearby, he couldn’t dye
his target’s heart black and control them.

Of course, there was the option to capture me first and then turn me later, but that
carried the risk of me being rescued on the way.

“I can kill you at any time. But first, some people that want to talk to you.”

“Hmp, what a trivial reason. First of all, don’t think you’ve won already… remember,
this is my backyard.”

Right when he finished saying so, countless humans appeared in our surroundings.

Each one was most probably on par with an A rank monster. Most likely, they were
artificially made heroes.

“Oh, is that so? Well, sorry to break it to you, but this place is also my backyard.”

When I snapped my fingers, ten gigantic silhouettes rained down from the sky and
caused a thunderous sound when they landed.

When the dust settled, it became clear that the silhouettes were Avalon’s prized, tide-
turning weapon–the Avalon-Ritters.

Equipped with an improved [Burst Drive] System, they could match an S rank monster
even though it was only for a short moment.

They were a war potential that could take on not only the artificial heroes, but also the
[Black] Demon Lord’s monsters that were lurking nearby.

“Oh no, Procell’s elite golems. Whatever shall I do?”

He sarcastically said so and then laughed.

“Balam, let’s be at each other’s throats later; I have a little show prepared for you.”

Hearing me say his cue, the king of the Axela Kingdom walked closer to the [Black]
Demon Lord and spoke.

“Balam-dono, we thought we were getting along well, being helpful to each other… but
why did you deliberately get us caught in the cross-fire? If it were not for Procell-
dono’s plan, we all would have been killed.”

Right in front of the king, the [Black] Demon Lord sneered.

“It was time to discard cards, so I discarded what I should, what I didn’t need. Just
what else do you think you are other than a mere pawn? Do you dare think you, a
human, and me, a Demon Lord, are equals? King or no, a human is nothing more than
livestock to me!”

Perhaps due to desperation, the [Black] Demon Lord was speaking frankly.

Or could this be arrogance brought by having a means to escape?

“I get what you’re saying, [Black] Demon Lord. So much so, I think everyone should
know your thoughts as well. And so, let the show begin.”

The preparations were done; all that’s left was to begin.

And so, I retrieved and operated a small camera with an audio capturing mechanism.
I had made such devices before, but they served little to no purpose within a dungeon,
given that dungeon rooms and floors were each on a separate dimension and that only
devices with certain magic could function between dungeon rooms as well as floors.

In this instance though, by transmitting whatever it had captured to the proper

audience, it was doing wonders.

“Wha—what is this!? Is this your doing, Procell!?”

“But of course. I thought it would be best to reveal the true face of their exalted god”

“You bastard!”

Being displayed in the sky was the recording of the [Black] Demon Lord showing his
ugly side: comparing humans to livestock and dismissing even the royal family as mere
pawns. He had also repeatedly referred to himself as a Demon Lord.

To be more precise, we were using the [Divine Revelation]. I had sent the recorded
video to the Dwarf Smiths that were on standby in another location. They then edited
those recordings into the more streamlined version being displayed.
At any rate, this was sure to lower the faith of his believers.

His fanatics might not fall for it, but it should be enough for the regular believers.

This worked in favor of making the citizens of this city hate and hopefully abandon
him and his Rigdolg Faith. Which would then eventually lead to the spread of my Holy
Grail Faith.

“Master, I’ve been observing the city with my wind. Everyone seems to be in a daze.
Except for some believers of the Rigdolg Faith, that is. They seem to going half mad.”

As expected, the impact of the transmission was great. Having information distribution
abilities and persuasiveness unlike anything else in this world, this thing that Rorono
made was truly amazing.

In just one moment, everyone in the capital knew of the [Black] Demon Lord’s cruelty
and true nature.

Alright, time for the final blow.

“And now, his majesty would like to make a speech.”

I said so and then pointed the camera and mic to the king.

Right away, the video in the sky shifted from the [Black] Demon Lord to the king. At
that, many of the capital’s citizens were surprised.

“My beloved countrymen, I imagine you all surprised at what you are seeing in the sky.
This is the work done by the Holy Grail Faith. Through a mysterious method, I am able
to send my form and voice to all of you at once. As for why I am commissioning their
help, it’s because I have something that I would like to tell you all.”

Right after saying those words, the king took a pause. As expected of a king, he had a
way with words.

“For so long, we have followed the Rigdolg Faith as our state religion. For so long, we
have revered its god, Balam-sam—no, just Balam is more than enough. When in fact,
he sees each and every one of us as livestock and usable pawns. He will kill us all—
even nobles and royalty—if it fits his liking. I think such a being does not deserve to
be called a god, but rather a demon! And I cannot let such a demon control our lives
any further. So, from this day forth, I, as the king of the Axela Kingdom, hereby declare
our separation from the Rigdolg Faith!”

I didn’t expect the king to go so far in his speech. I thought he was just going to assert
his rule while still utilizing the Rigdolg Faith’s ability to unite his people.

Instead, he separated from them, even at the risk of making enemies out of them. But
then again, if one ever wanted to break ties with royalty, attempting to murder them
should be on the top of the list.

After the king’s speech, the [Divine Revelation] ended, and the [Black] Demon Lord,
who had remained silent all that while, spoke.

“So, the reason you didn’t kill me right away was so that you can draw such ill remarks
from me. You’ve done it now, you little shit.”

“Well, I’m not done yet, actually. Did you really think it will end after just one city?”

We had gathered enough materials.

After some refinement, we could produce an even more shocking video that would be
enough to bring his influence to the gutter. In an information war, this video was going
to be far more persuasive than any rumor I could spread. After all, his own face and
voice was going to be in it. At the very least, it was going to sow doubt into the hearts
of the humans.

“I won’t let it end like this. Procell, I am going to make you pay for your crimes.”

Those words of his served as the cue for the artificial heroes to take action, launching
their attacks all at once.

“Kuina, protect me. Aura, take the royal family and withdraw from here.”
Hearing my command, Kuina readied her shotgun.

Meanwhile, Aura took the royal family into a carriage, told the driver to go, and served
as its escort.

And then, I issued out one more command.

“Ruru, kill that scum.”

“Leave it to me, patron.”

Ruru extended a hand forward and then closed it tight into a fist.

Right when she did, the water cage holding the [Black] Demon Lord collapsed inward,
compressing itself and all within it. The water cage became the size of a sugar cube. A
bloody sugar cube.

“Sorry, patron, he escaped. His flesh has been crushed, but somehow, his soul was
pulled elsewhere.”

“I was told his abilities were very versatile, but I didn’t think he could do even this.”

Inferring from what Ruru said, it seemed like that by dying, the [Black] Demon Lord’s
ability activated and his soul was transferred into another body. In my opinion, there
was no way the [Black] Demon Lord would be in perfect condition after that. And since
it was such a risky move, the place he transferred to shouldn’t be too far.

As if to prove my guess, even though there was such a vast difference between our
forces, the angel-type monsters were swooping down from the sky to aid the artificial
heroes instead of withdrawing. The fact that they weren’t pulling back suggested they
were doing their best to grab our attention so that the [Black] Demon Lord could fully
escape.

When I was thinking of such things, I felt something from my shadow.

“You have a lot of nerve to do this, Procell. No other idiot has ever sullied my reputation
like this.”

He’s sending his voice through my shadow? Talk about versatility.

“Well, I did say before that I hated you, didn’t I? In the first place, wasn’t it you that
started this all by harassing me?”

He was the first one to escalate things by sending his believers to Avalon. Someone
like that shouldn’t issue any complaints.

“…don’t you have any respect for your seniors?”

“I do. You’re just not worth it.”

Who would respect such scum?

For a moment there, his voice stopped. Most likely, he had distanced himself far away
enough that his voice didn’t reach me through my shadow.

“No more half measures. We’ve come this far, let’s see this to the end… until either one
of us falls, Procell.”

“Fine by me.”

It was practically a declaration of war. He was going to start attacking seriously from
now on. If so, I had a proposal in mind.

“[Black] Demon Lord Balam, we could both do without the escalation of harassments.
So, why don’t we settle this like the Demon Lords that we are: through [War]. Or are
you scared? Are you only good at scheming things and not in head-on battles?”

“What a poor provocation, but I’ll play along. However, I would be the one to decide
when it will be held. And I say we do it nine days later. The winner will be the one to
destroy the other’s crystal… wait. You’re a new Demon Lord and would have your
crystal replaced if it’s broken within the year. That doesn’t sound fair, does it? So, as
an additional condition, if I win, you shall serve me for the rest of your life.”

“That seems disadvantageous to me. In that case, I’ll add a condition of my own. How
about this?”

And so, I laid a trap. The best part was I knew he would accept.

“Very well. In 9 days, we would have our [War].”

Once a [War] had begun, there was no going back. After all, we couldn’t exit the white
space our dungeons were going to be transported to.

After we both agreed to the terms, I heard a voice in my head. It belonged to the Creator.

<<Due to the [Creation] Demon Lord accepting the [Black] Demon Lord’s proposal,
the [War] between them shall be held 9 days later. Shine brightly, Children of the
Planet.>>

When I looked at my surroundings, the angel-type monsters and artificial heroes that
didn’t leave were hunted down. In the end, the only ones left standing were Kuina and
the Avalon-Ritters.

“Oto-san, Kuina contributed a lot!”

“Great job.”

I praised her so and brushed her head. While I did that, I also wondered how stronger
I could get within nine days.

The [War] being nine days away was most likely not a random choice. After all, it was
just enough to deny me of making a new [Creation] medal. It seemed like he actually
knew that detail.
“Normally speaking, it won’t be in time. Normally, that is… but if he does know things
about me, he would know that my weakness is the other dimension and exploit it.”

For things on the other dimension, I primarily relied on just Ruru. And though she was
strong, she was more geared toward intelligence gathering than battle. Moreover, she
couldn’t use her trump card anymore. Since if ever she did, her body, along with her
mind, would transform into something else—something grotesque—and never revert
back. I just couldn’t let that happen to her.

He’s surely going for that. And because of that, I could catch him off guard using the
reward from my previous [War]. At any rate, I should return to Avalon and prepare as
soon as possible. The [Black] Demon Lord is a formidable enemy. I have to do my best to
prepare in the short span of nine days in order to win.
The [Black] Demon Lord had launched a surprise attack against us. Fortunately, we
were able to defend against it. Not only that, we even turned the table against him.

Even so, I should have been protected in the first place by the rule of the Creator that
forbade old Demon Lords from attacking us new Demon Lords. And yet, not even a
penalty was issued out.

This convinced me more than ever that he had some of his monsters mixed in with the
enemy forces we fought and killed when we were rescuing Marcho. In other words, I
had attacked him without knowing and gave him an excuse for attacking back.

I mean, I expected it… but he’s really that kind of guy, huh. Well, anyway, everything’s
going well so far.

Even though he escaped, our original objective was still accomplished: to obtain a card
that would help us shake his influence over the humans.

To that end, we put on a little show. Using [Divine Revelation], we played the footage
we obtained over and over again to the royal capital which was a city full of his
believers.

“Kuina, let’s go join up with Prince Leonard and the others, alright?”

Earlier, Aura had taken the members of the royal family away and acted as their guard.

Now that the fighting was over, we had to meet up with them and continue our initial
meeting.

“Yay~ ♪! And then, this city will be Oto-san’s!”

“Haha. Not quite.”

I responded to Kuina with strained laughter.

Many of the humans that had lost trust for the Rigdolg Faith were most likely going to
enter our Holy Grail Faith. Since time immemorial, humans who had undergone a
painful experience were more likely to switch faiths rather than abandon religion
altogether. They were simply not strong enough to continue living without anything
to believe in.

Without doubt, our Holy Grail Faith was going to spread quickly and widely.

Thanks to that, our dealings with the Axela Kingdom was bound to be much smoother.

The king and the other royal family members might not notice right away, but they
were becoming more and more dependent on my help. Soon enough, they would be
like the weak-hearted humans that would rather switch religions than abandon it
altogether.

“Avalon-Ritters, gather and load the corpses into the container.”

In response to my command, the Avalon-Ritters promptly gathered the corpses.

Unlike monster corpses—which turn into particles of light and vanish after a certain
amount of time—human corpses remained well after their death. What this meant for
us was that we could bring home the corpses of the artificial heroes we slew and have
them be resurrected as undead monsters by Duke’s [Enhanced Resurrection].

By default, these artificial heroes were more or less as powerful as A rank monsters,
but through Duke’s ability, they would be reanimated to be stronger than when they
were alive. Furthermore, thanks to another of his abilities, [Ruler of Death], friendly
undead monsters were strengthened even more.

It wasn’t often one could gain A rank or higher war potential and I didn’t intend to
waste it. It’ll be a nice souvenir for Duke.

“Alright, Kuina, let’s hurry. We still have work to do, but once all that’s finished, Prince
Leonard’s going to give us a tour to the fun places here in the city. We’re going to eat a
lot of delicious food too.”
“Yay~ ♪! Sounds fun!”

Kuina replied so with her fox tail swinging back and forth. Above all else, it was
important to me that she and the others were happy.

I instructed the Avalon-Ritters to return to our church after they were finished
gathering the corpses. After doing that, Kuina and I began walking.

We had joined up with the royal family in a venue specified beforehand. The meeting
progressed swimmingly, and more importantly, it ended peacefully.

We had obtained permission to build our churches and practice our religion not only
in the royal capital, but also the other major cities of the Axela Kingdom. This was all
toward the goal of spreading the Holy Grail Faith. After all, if we had spread it enough
and we could call Avalon a holy capital, believers with strong—and delicious—
emotions would travel to Avalon. There was a chance some might even chose to live
there.

However, even if we were to adapt a rotation system, there was still a limit to the
number of cities Ruru and the Ocean Singers could travel to. Because of that, it was
necessary to choose carefully which cities to build a church in.

Another concern with additional churches was that we also had to increase the
number of priests we had. Thankfully, I could always ask Conanna to refer to me
another swindler or maybe an actor. I was now convinced that they performed even
better than a real priest.

During the meeting, we also agreed on the of the schedule for the accommodation of
the kingdom’s soldiers that were injured in their war against the [Dragon] Demon
Lord. According to the schedule, about a thousand soldiers were going to stay in
Avalon for 2-3 months.

That increase of population for that long of a period was undoubtedly very appealing
to any Demon Lord, considering the proportionate increase in DP and in the emotions
we could consume.
Another thing from the meeting was the lending of 3 Avalon-Ritters. In case those that
still believed in the Rigdolg Faith were desperate enough to revolt against the
kingdom, three Avalon-Ritters should be enough to maintain the peace.

Along with those, I also handed over the rest of the financial aid I promised before.

“And with that, all agendas have been tackled. I dare say this meeting was very
productive. Thank you, Procell-dono.”

“Oh no, it is I who should thank you. I am very grateful for the friendship formed
between the Axela Kingdom and Avalon.”

The king and I then stood up and shook each other’s hand.

Considering that my general objective was the prosperity of both humans and
monsters, I was glad to have formed a friendship like this with the Axela Kingdom. I
was a firm believer that coexisting peacefully with humans and forming a symbiotic
relationship with them netted more long-term DP and strong emotions than outright
killing them.

“One more thing, Procell-dono. I’d like to ask a rather impudent request. It’s about that
mysterious method you used to project your form and voice to the sky. Would you be
willing to let us use it too? No matter how much I try using the methods currently at
our disposal, it is just impossible for my voice to reach each and every citizen. But,
using your method, no citizen would uninformed or misinformed. It’s usefulness is
tremendous, to say the least.”

It was only natural for any statesman to see the appeal of the [Divine Revelation].
Especially so in this day and age where broadcasting an unignorable message to a
wide audience could easily be classified as an act of god.

“I don’t mind letting you make use of it. However, this secret of our Holy Grail Faith
could only be performed by a high-ranking believer of ours. If you submit a request,
we won’t mind dispatching a high-ranking believer who would relay your message to
your people. Those are my conditions. Do you accept?”

“Are you sure that’s all you’re going to ask in return, Procell-dono? There’s no need to
be modest. We are willing to give much more for that method.”

“No, this is already enough. Asking for too much is a source of discord between friends
and what I truly want is to maintain this relationship we have. Just treat this as a token
of our friendship please.”

This was actually a windfall for me. Like so, people would be further exposed to the
[Divine Revelation], which in turn would hopefully lead to a quicker growth of our
believer count. Decreasing the [Black] Demon Lord’s influence was a welcome effect
as well.

Right when the meeting was going to be adjourned, Prince Leonard spoke.

“Procell-dono, please take care of us tomorrow too.”

By tomorrow, he meant the meeting with the [Dragon] Demon Lord.

Unless the [Dragon] Demon Lord swore in front of them to not retaliate, the leaders of
the Axela Kingdom would never have peace of mind.

“Of course. I’ve already explained things to the [Dragon] Demon Lord. All that’s left is
for us to do our best tomorrow.”

There were very few—if any existed at all—causes of concern for tomorrow. In all
likelihood, it would progress and conclude peacefully.

“You’re as reliable as ever, Procell-dono! Now that our work for today is finished, let
me be a good friend and show you around the royal capital. I’ll try my best to entertain
you as much as you have entertained me in Avalon.”

It was a welcome prepared by a prince, so it was most likely going to feature the best
of things.

This rare chance to experience culture outside of Avalon was very valuable indeed.
Let’s have plenty of fun.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

“Then, let’s get ready right away.”

The prince said so and then proudly led the way.

Excited as I was, I knew I shouldn’t let my guard down since the [Black] Demon Lord
was still at large.

After a fun night in the royal capital, I joined Prince Leonard in his meeting with the
[Dragon] Demon Lord the next day.

Without any demands of his own, the [Dragon] Demon Lord promised to not retaliate
even if the kingdom pulled their forces out. He didn’t demand compensation either. If
anything, he was actually kind of sad that the soldiers were going home. Such a shame
to lose a stable source of income, he said with a laugh.

Hearing that, Prince Leonard made a stiff smile. I found that reaction to be quite
understandable. After all, they sent their forces to the [Dragon] Demon Lord’s
dungeon with the intent of destroying it, but now he was being thanked as though he
had delivered a snack.

At any rate, there was officially no more reason for their forces to be on standby near
the [Dragon] Demon Lord’s dungeon, so those forces should be withdrawn soon.

All of my scheduled work done, I decided it was time to return to Avalon.

Thankfully, nothing else of note happened during this trip… which could also be
perceived as kind of ominous.

Three days had passed since my return from my trip to the Axela Kingdom.
During these three days, we had been preparing for the [War] and bolstering our
fighting force. Without being stingy, I used as much of my saved-up DP as needed. I
was also using my [Creation] to create things that couldn’t be easily procured in this
world ‘round the clock, even using our still-not-fully-replenished-stock of golden
apple potions to increase my magic power recovery rate.

Anyway, today, I went to Marcho’s dungeon. I was currently waiting in a special

dungeon room for guests that Marcho’s subordinates guided me to.

“Oto-san, it’s been a while since we’ve been here!”

Kuina said so in a cheery voice while restlessly looking around.

“Sure has. I hope Marcho’s well.”

Right after teaching me how to use [Awakening], Marcho left Avalon to return to her
[Beast] dungeon.

We have been exchanging letters now and then, but it has been a while since we last
saw each other in person. Because of that, I was a little tensed at the moment.

“Geez, Oto-san, you seem so excited to meet with her again.”

Kuina said so while puffing her face as though to suggest she was jealous.

By the way, she was currently not in her grown-up form. According to her, her young
girl form consumed less energy and thus allowed her to save up more magic power in
the furs of her tail. Saving up 9999 furs’ worth of magic power so that she could evolve
was a herculean task, so every bit of economizing helped.

“Yes, I am excited, but this kind of excitement isn’t limited to Marcho, you know. I mean,
if ever the two of us were apart for a long time, I’ll feel just the same as I do now, if not
more.”

“Kuina too!?”
When I answered her like that, Kuina’s eyes brightened up and she jumped into an
embrace.

As always, she was a very adorable girl.

While we were like that, I heard the sound of footsteps. When I looked at its direction,
I saw an approaching woman with brown skin and white wolf ears & tail.

“Hey there, Procell. Been a while”

“Yeah. I’ve missed you, Marcho.”

I was glad she was fine. Aside from general concern, I was worried that [Rebirth] might
have some side effect on her.

“I’m glad to see you’re well and lively. Perhaps a little too lively though, getting
involved in all sort of things.”

“Well, you know.”

While smiling at my reply, Marcho extended her hand toward me. And when I took her
hand in mine, I felt magic power and something else flow into me.

“’Kay, that’s this month’s earnings. Thankfully, adventurers have returned to my

dungeon.”

“Thanks for this.”

The other thing I received was DP.

Through [Rebirth], Marcho had become my monster. Because of that, it wasn’t against
the rules anymore for her to give me DP.

We had decided that it was more convenient for her dungeon to remain independent
from Avalon and still be under her full control. That being said, the both of us also
decided that she would hand over DP—whatever was left to her after deducting any
necessary expenses—to me once a month.

“For a new Demon Lord to earn as much DP as a top-class Demon Lord, my, you really
are a cheat Demon Lord.”

“No comment.”

Just as she said, my DP income from both Avalon and her dungeon was comparable to
a top-class Demon Lord even though I was still considered a new one.

Actually, DP wasn’t the only thing I was getting from Marcho.

From time to time, we received corpses of adventurers that died in her dungeon. These
were then resurrected by Duke’s [Enhanced Resurrection]. Thanks to this, the
graveyard dungeon room in my dungeon was very populated.

Furthermore, we sent golems which were rather subpar as war potential—such as

Iron Golems, Silver Golems, and Gold Golems—to her dungeon’s [Mine] to dig without
rest for resources. I had a mine of my own, but since a mine scaled accordingly to the
Demon Lord’s level, hers offered far better resources.

Through all these things I gained from her dungeon, my fighting force and DP stock
were increasing by the day.

“With this much DP, the world is practically your oyster, right?”

“Well, actually, this much isn’t quite enough. I’ll need huge amounts of DP to win
against the [Black] Demon Lord, don’t I? Right now, the priority is to do whatever I can
to earn more DP.”

This was going to be a [War] against an old Demon Lord.

No amount of precaution would ever be enough. Even so, I needed to create the best
possible defense I could using not only the DP I saved up until now, but also using the
DP I was yet to earn.

“Hmm, then, how about using the DP I have saved up?”

“No, it’s fine. There’s no need to go that far.”

On the other hand, all the DP that I let her give me were just DP she gained after
becoming my monster, nothing from before. It might seem suboptimal or even
irrational, but it was my resolve to somehow manage without fully relying on Marcho.

“I like that determination of yours. It’s kinda childish, but I like it.”

“I sorta have to. It’s all over once I stop being determined, after all.”

“Well, I’m rooting for you, you hear?”

Having received the DP, my task here was done. That being said, it has been a while
since I last met Marcho, so I decided to idly chat with her for a while.

Just as expected, I had a blast chatting with her.

But then, there was suddenly a pause in our conversation.

<<Children of the Planet, I have an important announcement regarding the [War]

between [Creation] and [Black].>>

The interruption was caused by a voice in my mind. More specifically, the Creator’s
voice.

An important announcement? There should only be days left before our war begins. It’s
unheard of to have any changes this late in the game.

<<The [War] will no longer be held.>>

“Wha–”

I unconsciously let out a voice.

Such a thing was supposed to be impossible. Once a war has been started, no Demon
Lord should be able to stop it.

Just what could have happened?

<<Though I guess, saying ‘it will no longer be held’ is not entirely correct. So, to be
more accurate, the [War] could no longer be held. The [Black] Demon Lord has
perished today, and because of that, it is now impossible for him to be in a [War]. That
is all.>>

The [Black] Demon Lord has died? That tenacious and scheming [Black] Demon Lord?

“There’s no way that’s true! There’s definitely something else going on here!”

He was a very crafty person who always had insurances to his insurances. There was
no way he would be killed that easily.

And then, it dawned on me: this death was staged. It made perfect sense. He waged
war on me so that I would not chase after him in our previous encounter. Under the
assumption that it was impossible to pull out of a war, I thought we would clash
against each other soon enough anyway, so there was little to no reason for me to
chase him.

It was all conjecture at the moment, of course, but there was just no way he was dead.
At least, not permanently.

“This is quite a mess, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, sure is. But what I have to do doesn’t change: make Avalon stronger. In a way, I
guess I should be grateful. I earned some more time to make Avalon grow stronger. I’ll
just keep at it without slowing down.”

Time was my ally.

The growth rate of both myself and Avalon was much faster than any other Demon
Lord’s.

I’m going to make him regret stalling.

With that resolve in my heart, I returned to Avalon with Kuina.

There were countless things I should and must do to prepare and retaliate against his
unforeseeable attack.
The [Black] Demon Lord has died.

Because of that, my [War] with him was cancelled.

Needless to say, I was pretty upset upon hearing the news.

“This timing can’t be just a coincidence.”

I wasn’t optimistic enough to think that the cancellation was all a matter of luck.

He was a crafty and cautious individual. Even if he was heavily injured, it shouldn’t be
enough to kill him.

“He’s definitely alive. Either that or he has become someone else.”

Either way, there was no way he would let me be for long, especially after the shame I
put him through. After all, he was as tenacious as a snake.

“It’s no use thinking about it. I’ll just do what I gotta do.”

And what I had to do was to make Avalon and my monsters stronger in earnest. It was
plain and unexciting, but it was important regardless.

That being said, the next days were for celebration, so taking a break once in a while
wouldn’t hurt.

After a long while, I returned home. Not to the carriage near the First Tree, but rather
to my estate in the city. Although my stay in the carriage was fun, I had fully recovered
so it was no longer necessary to stay there.

At any rate, I changed my clothes and then headed out. I had no one guarding me today.
Apparently, Kuina, Rorono, and Aura each had their own things to do.

The place I was headed to was the clock tower recently built in Avalon. Many people
had been using it as a meeting place, and today, I was too.

“Hey, you’re quite early, Stolas.”

“Well, so are you.”

Today, I was going on a date with Stolas.

Her magic power and Demon Lord powers had returned to her just in time for my visit
to the Axela Kingdom, but she was still in a pretty bad shape back then. As of the
moment, however, she was well enough to go back home to her dungeon. In fact, she
was going home later in the evening.

When I suggested that we celebrate her recovery, she suggested back that we do it
with just the two of us. In other words, she wanted a date. Of course, I granted her
request.

Enlil, who was always with her, was left to house-sit today.

It might not look it, but he’s surprisingly good at reading the mood.

Or so I initially thought until I saw him, Kuina, and Rorono hiding somewhere behind
me. Perhaps it was due to her excitement, but it didn’t seem like Stolas had noticed
him. By the way, he was adorably perched on top of Kuina’s head.

It’s best to pretend I haven’t noticed.

If it had been just Kuina, I probably wouldn’t have known, but with the addition of the
two, it was almost impossible to not notice.

Well, at the very least, Enlil seems to be getting along well with the girls.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing. Shall we go? I want to enjoy touring around Avalon as a simple guest
today. I guess we can say I’m more excited than you about today’s date.”
Ever since I used [Divine Revelation], everyone in town recognized who I was. Because
of that, I was currently wearing a disguise. Well, it was just a casual clothing and a pair
of glasses though.

“I doubt it. I’ve been looking forward to this date more than you think. Fufu, so,
properly escort me, okay?”

“Yeah, leave it to me.”

Like that, I grabbed her hand and officially began our date.

I have to do my best to entertain such an important friend.

To start things off, we watched a play.

Because it was done by a famous and talented troupe, it was quite good. Originally,
troupes like this would stay for only a couple of days in one city and then move on to
another. Nowadays though, due to the high population of Avalon and thus the profits
it gave, several popular troupes had decided to stay, becoming one of the city’s main
sources of entertainment.

Furthermore, Avalon also offered them stories and sometimes even screenplay from
all over the world. This combined with their profits, made our city the best possible
environment for them.

Anyway, the play we saw this time was about a sage that was reincarnated into a slime.

While concealing his true identity, he did his best to watch over and protect his
daughters, sometimes to comical effect. The climax scene deeply moved me. I envied
the strong bond the sage had with his daughters and wished I had the same with my
girls.

Overall, it was a great play.

After watching it, Stolas and I exited.

“That was interesting, wasn’t it, Procell? Fufu, how do humans come up with stories
like this?”

“There are many of them, so meetings and farewells are a common occurrence. And
these stories are drawn from those experiences. At least, I think so.”

I respected them for these kinds of things that us Demon Lords and monsters just
couldn’t come up with.

“Hmm, I guess you of all Demon Lords would know since you’re so fascinated with
humans. Wait, what’s that line for?”

“Let’s see. It might be interesting.”

It seemed like a line for a food cart.

All kinds of food from all over the world had made its way to Avalon. Stores that
offered cheap yet delicious food were numerous too. Given all the options a consumer
has, for a store in Avalon to have such a line, it had to be extraordinary in some way or
another.

Giving in to our curiosity, Stolas and I fell in line. Thankfully, the transaction speed was
good and before we knew it, we were the next ones.

From the sweet scent I could smell, it seemed as though it was a baked sweets store.

“Tasty, tasty frog-shaped cakes, hey ♪ get your tasty, fragrant frog-shaped cakes ♪”

When we approached, the man who seemed like the shopkeeper greeted us with a
song.

His way of talking seem familiar. Nah, must be my imagination. There’s no way that
fellow would be here.

“Welcome. What would you like to order, dear customers? Ah! Aaaaaaaa!?”

When I looked closely, the shopkeeper had a surprised face.

More to the point, he had a bipedal frog’s surprised face.

Moreover, his was a face I recognized. But then again, I knew just this one humanoid
frog.

“What are you doing here in my city, [Viscosity] Demon Lord?”

“Wa-wa-wa-wait. Please don’t call me by that name. Hey, can you take care of the rest?
I’m going out for a bit.”

“Yes, sir.”

The frog man, [Viscosity] Demon Lord Ronove, said so to an employee, put some of the
frog-shaped cakes his store was selling in a paper bag, and then pushed Stolas and I
toward back of his store.

After pushing us to the back of his store, Ronove then gave me the paper bag of frog-
shaped cakes.

“Before anything else, I want you to try these, Procell.”

“How do I know there’s no poison in it?”

“I won’t dare do such a reckless thing. If I ever try to aim for you, one way or the other,
I won’t be able to live in Avalon anymore. Right now, there’s no place I can go but here.”

While still doubting him, I reached inside the paper bag. The contents were really hot
and also fragrant.

The frog-shaped caked he was selling resembled something in my [Memory of the

Planet]: a taiyaki. Only these ones were shaped to resemble a frog instead of a fish.

I took a bite and discovered that the light-brown outer layer held within lots of red
bean paste.

Finding it safe enough, I handed one to Stolas as well.

“Delicious, isn’t it, Stolas?”

“Yeah. Really. The custard cream in mine is so delicious.”

“The nuts mixed in is irresistible, yeah?”

“I sorta see now how it can have such a line.”

After eating some of the frog-shaped cakes, I looked toward Ronove.

“Alright, we ate some like you asked. Now, mind telling me why you’re in Avalon?”

“…I, well, after our [War] with you, I’ve been to many towns. I don’t have my Demon
Lord powers anymore, so I had to frighten and terrorize humans myself. I tried my
best, I really did… but I just wasn’t strong enough. I’ve lost count of how many times I
almost got myself killed… And then, I remembered you, Procell, and what you said…
that you make humans happy instead of frightening them. So, I thought I’d tried it
myself. That way, I could get emotions with less risks of being killed.”

Ronove replied so, shyly and in bits and pieces.

If one’s crystal was broken, it meant they could no longer make medals and use DP.
Which in turn meant they could no longer make monsters to assist them.

The hardships Ronove went through certainly weren’t average, to say the least.

“I tried all sorts of things, you know. But the best thing I did was cooking. Humans
enjoyed my cooking, and I was able to enjoy their emotions. So, I did my best to cook
the most delicious food I could every time. But whichever town I go, my disguise as a
human gets found out eventually and I get attacked for looking like a frog.”

It was a believable tale. After all, in most human towns, demi-humans were being
persecuted for just being demi-humans. Needless to say, a large humanoid frog would
cause an even more intense reaction.

“Back then, I even thought of killing myself, but then, I heard of city where demi-
humans aren’t being discriminated against. So, I wondered if that place would accept
even me.”

Avalon was a city where humans and demi-humans coexisted peacefully. Here,
Ronove’s outer appearance wouldn’t have mattered.

“I was surprised when I got here. Everyone accepted me even though I didn’t put on
any disguise. Business was great too. Everyone happily bought my sweets and found
it delicious. The happier they are, the better emotions I enjoyed. So, I tried harder and
harder until I came up with the frog-shaped cakes. Say, Procell, you liked the cakes,
right? Won’t you at least consider letting me stay here in your city? Please!”

Before answering, I looked at Stolas. The small smile on her face suggested she felt the
same as I did.

“Do as you like. Until you get another crystal, I don’t mind if you stay here in Avalon.
All are welcome here, so long as they don’t cause trouble. Be they human, demi-
human, or monster, they are accepted here. Demon Lords are no exception.”

It was clear to me that he didn’t have any ill will or anything like that toward me or my
city, so even though he was a Demon Lord, there was no need to chase him away.

Above all, his frog-shaped cakes were delicious.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“There’s no need for thanks. Your frog-shaped cakes are beneficial to Avalon, so I’m
just using those in my favor. Also, I don’t mind if you consume some of the happiness
that you’ve induced, but since this is my dungeon, I think it’s fair that I have some of it
too.”

The more wonderful attractions my city had, the better.

“Yes, deal, deal! Oh, thank you, really, Procell! I promise, once I get another crystal and
become a proper Demon Lord again, I’ll repay you for this kindness. I promise!”
“I’ll look forward to that, but no pressure. Well, shall we go, Stolas?”

“Yeah, okay… Ronove, your frog-shaped cake was really delicious.”

Before leaving, Stolas praised Ronove. Upon hearing it though, his frog face turned
incredibly red.

“Procell, Stolas, come again! I’m making the cakes better and better. The next time you
try it, you’ll love it even more!”

He said so as he was waving us goodbye.

The frog-shaped cakes are gonna be improved?

“Let’s come here again sometime, Stolas.”

“Yes, let’s. When we get hungry on our next date.”

Stolas looked me in the eye, replied so, and then smiled.

There was still time left, so we decided to tour Avalon some more.

And then, all of a sudden, it was already evening. Touring around it, I remarked that I
built a truly charming city.

Thankfully, Stolas seemed to have enjoyed the city as well.

That being said, it was now time to end our date.

When we exited the city’s gate, someone was already there to pick her up. Atop a high-
ranking griffon was Rozelitte, Stolas’ angel-type [Monster of the Covenant].

Also…

“We meet again, Procell”

Also, there was a middle-aged looking man: [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth.

“I didn’t expect we’d meet again so soon though.”

“I came here today to talk with you two, Stolas and Procell. It had to be both of you at
the same time or else there would be no meaning. So, forgive me for this sudden visit.”

With a face that seemed like he had chewed on something sour, the [Dragon] Demon
Lord uttered so.

“Stolas, from here on, I forbid you to go near Procell.”

“Wha-what are you saying, Astaroth-sama? Do you really expect me to follow that?”

Both Stolas and I were flustered at what he said. I would rather he matched the two of
us than separate us.

“I imagined you would say that… it’s fine to not follow what I said, Stolas, but you need
to be prepared. Right now, young Demon Lords are forming factions so that they could
crush Procell. And, once you’ve both become independent and not anymore protected
by special rules, he will be hunted down full force. He simply stands out too much. It
can’t be helped that the young Demon Lords are scared of him.”

After he said so, I understood why he forbade Stolas from coming near me. If she was
perceived as my ally, those against me would target her too.

“…I see. Then, I just got to be part of Procell’s faction, don’t I? As his close friend, I can’t
turn my eyes away from those vicious fellows.”

Stolas declared so without a hint of hesitation.

In response, the [Dragon] Demon Lord placed a hand on her shoulder and then looked
her intimidatingly straight in eyes.
“Listen to me, Stolas. When you become independent, I would no longer be around. I
would no longer be able to protect you. Even so, do you still think it wise to intertwine
your fate with his?”

“Yes. A Demon Lord who has so little pride that they would abandon a close friend for
only this much could never become the strongest. That is what I learned from you,
Astaroth-sama.”

That answer astonished him and made him laugh a thunderous laugh.

“That’s my daughter, alright! Hahaha. Very well, you do what you want to do.”

Satisfied with her answer, he then turned to me.

“Procell, I entrust Stolas to you. Take care of her after I’m gone.”

“…Yes, I won’t let harm befall her after believing in me so much.”

“That’s not really what I meant, but, oh well, that’ll do. Also, a word of advice. You
might be doing well so far, but there is a limit to fighting alone. If your enemies are
making a faction, you should too.”

“Yes, I intend to do so.”

I had thought about it before.

Once the special rules protecting new Demon Lords were gone, it would be hard for
me to continue alone.

Along with making Avalon strong, I needed to gather allies.

“That said, the faction of young Demon Lords right now are… strangely strong.”

The image of the [Black] Demon Lord then suddenly came to my mind.

It was nothing more than a theory, but it was possible that in order to not only escape
from me but also prolong his life and boost his war potential, he had dyed a promising
Demon Lord’s heart black and possessed them.

Following that theory, in order to assure my demise, he had made an anti-Procell

faction. And once the rules protecting me was gone, like the [Dragon] Demon Lord
feared, the younger Demon Lords he had trained and guided would crush me with
their numbers.

If it’s that guy, it’s definitely possible.

“Thank you for the advice. I’ll look into various things.”

“Good, you do that. As for me, I’ll do my best to bequeath Stolas as much things as
possible in the time I have left.”

After saying so, the [Dragon] Demon Lord rode on one of his subordinates and left.

The thing he said to us was a good piece of information. Once again, I was indebted to
him. I planned on repaying that debt before he was gone.

“What a mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, huh, Procell.”

“Yeah… but thank you for joining me in this mess.”

I did not give her an apology because I knew that wasn’t what she wanted. Instead, I
conveyed my feelings of gratitude as her close friend.

It was a fairly unpleasant situation to be in, but it wasn’t all bad. After all, it was hard
to imagine that they would risk punishment for breaking the rules and attack me in
half a year—the time it would take for me to no longer be a new Demon Lord. I would
have plenty of time to get stronger.

“Well, things are about to get more hectic now.”

Several days after I saw Stolas off, I spent time to think on what to do next while also
improving my war potential.

Young Demon Lords had formed a faction focused on going against me. That being the
case, I had no intention of dealing the first blow. So long as they haven’t actually done
anything, there was no need to be more cautious of them than I would with other
Demon Lords.

“But as to be expected, a faction being formed against me is worrisome.”

A young Demon Lord wasn’t the same as a new Demon Lord like me. For one, after
living a few decades, their ambitions were burning hotter than ever before—and
perhaps ever will.

Catching up to them in half a year was a tall order, but if things were to go as I feared,
I had to do it regardless. I could form my own faction, but unless it was very strong, it
would be useless. To be blunt, putting together war potential that could barely match
the strength of multiple older Demon Lords would ordinarily be impossible.

…which is why I should do something not ordinary.

“The very first goal I should do is make a new S rank monster.”

S rank monsters, including Kuina and the others, were worth at least 10 A rank
monsters which most other Demon Lords would already consider their trump cards.
Even one could potentially change the tide of battle.

And the only one that could make them almost freely was me.

Soon, the 1-month cooldown restriction would be over and I could then again make
another [Creation] medal which I could use to make another S rank monster.
Considering that I would make that monster be able to level up, it was best that I make
it as soon as I obtain the new medal. After all, without any large-scale battles that
Kuina and the others were able to gain massive amounts of experience points from, it
would take some time before the new monster caught up in levels.

“The first question is: which medals do I use?”

For me to make an S rank monster, I needed at least one other original A rank medal
other than my [Creation]. And at the moment, the only A rank medal I had was the
[Time] medal. Aside from it being my only one, it was a very powerful medal, so I saw
little reason not to use it for the new monster. The question then was what to use as
the last medal.

“Whatever medal it is, the new monster has to have the ability to fight in the other
dimension.”

I said so while remembering what Ruru did during our campaign to save Marcho.

Ruru was my only S rank monster that could fight in the other dimension. Because of
that and the overwhelming amount of enemy forces there, she was forced to use a
risky ability of hers. By doing so, she was able to hold the line, but it was at the cost of
corrupting herself.

According to her, she could still revert after a second use, but a third use would
definitely cause her to lose herself forever and be someone—or something—else. So,
for her to not have to use it another time, it was imperative that I make monsters that
could help her in the other dimension.

“But how could I obtain more medals?”

It might be fine for now, but I needed to find a reliable source of original A rank medals.
One way was to destroy another Demon Lord’s crystal. By doing so, I would gain the
ability to make that Demon Lord’s medal. It wouldn’t increase how many medals I
could make in a month—which was still limited to one per month—but it would
increase my options.

In my case, other than my [Creation], I could also make [Evil], [Viscosity], or [Steel]
medals if I wanted to. However, those 3 were just B rank medals, so I wasn’t excited in
using them.

If they were A rank medals though, that would mean that I could use them with my
[Creation] medal to make an S rank monster once every two months.

“I should aim to break the crystal of a Demon Lord who has an A rank medal. Is it time
to break the crystal in the [Crimson Cavern]?”

Marcho had already given me permission to do so.

Should I go with it, the [Flame] medal would be added to my pool of options when
making a medal. On the other hand, I would then lose such a convenient hunting
ground for leveling up my monsters.

“No, wait… Marcho still has [Demon Lord Powers], right? Is it possible that other than
still being able to manage her dungeon, she could also still make medals?”

Despite becoming a monster, Marcho still retained her Demon Lord abilities through
a skill. If she could still make medals, I could ask her to give it to me.

I need to verify this as soon as possible.

If things went as I imagined, the new monster would be made using [Time], [Beast],
and [Creation]. It would be a monster very similar to Fel the Celestial Wolf, but also be
entirely different.

[Time] had great affinity for different-dimension monsters. The [Beast] medal,
meanwhile, was very versatile and could work with almost all combinations. And, if I
changed my [Creation] medal into one that could provide excellent different-
dimension abilities, I just might be able to make an ideal different-dimension monster.
Needless to say, I was looking forward to it.

“But before anything else, there’s something that I have to do. She should be arriving
soon from the royal capital. It wouldn’t do to make her wait more than she already has.
Alright, I should finish all the remaining work.”
I said so and tackled on the remaining paperwork.

I had finished the paperwork at last.

With just enough time to spare too. Today’s the day she’s coming back to Avalon. I bet as
soon as she comes back, she’s going to go to my estate and complain about how much of
a slave driver I am. She’s going to slip the idea of a bonus for her work too.

While I was thinking of such, a bell notified me of incoming visitors.

“Master, the preparations in the assembly hall are going well!”

“A surprise party truly is quite the tasteful choice, my lord.”

The ones that entered were Aura the Ancient Elf and Duke the Black Dragon of Death
Siegwurm.

They were the ones I entrusted with the preparations for the surprise party.

“Thanks for your hard work. I just thought it’s the kind of thing she’ll like… on another
note, Duke, how are the souvenirs I gave you?”

Upon hearing my question, the middle-aged dragonewt showed a broad grin on his
face.

When I said souvenirs, I meant the corpses of the artificial heroes that attacked us in
the royal capital.

“They have been turned into my subordinates, my lord. They have further
strengthened our undead corps. There is one issue though: the graveyard dungeon
room is now too populated. It seems the number of corpses from Marcho-sama was
more than we have anticipated.”

I didn’t foresee such an issue happening. Without doubt, the number of adventurer
corpses from Marcho’s dungeon were a lot, but I didn’t think it would be this many.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll make a new dungeon floor. The original graveyard room will
now be used for the bread factory and the weapons factory only. Meanwhile the
undead corps will be moved to the two graveyard room I’ll add in the new floor. As for
the last dungeon room in the new floor, I’ll add a valley so that the Darkness Dragons
can fly around freely there… hmm, no, before that, I should add another [Mine]
instead. Half of all the golems, except those in charge of the city’s defense, will remain
in the original [Mine] while the other half will be moved to the new one.”

“That will be a great help. I’m sure everyone will be delighted with this news.”

The undead corps wasn’t the only force that had exploded in numbers.

Through the two [Maelstrom] I bought, the number of my Darkness Dragons increased
automatically by two each day. There were also the low-ranking golems made daily by
the Dwarf Smiths, and of course, the Avalon-Ritters made by Rorono.

Coupling this daily increase in war potential with the fact that my dungeon only had
two dungeon floors and also the increased risk of being attacked, increasing the
number of floors in my dungeon could be said as an inevitable task.

“Master, I have a proposal in regard to our goal of increasing our war potential.”

It was pretty unusual for Aura to say such a thing.

Naturally, I was quite interested in any method to improve our war potential besides
those that I had already tried.

“Tell me. What is this proposal?”

“Let’s use the [Evil] skill you’ve obtained and make a child! If you make a child with an
S rank monster, S rank will be the least–”

“Proposal rejected.”

I interrupted her before she could finish her sentence. In response though, she puffed
her cheeks.

Breaking another Demon Lord’s crystal not only allowed one to make that other
Demon Lord’s medal, but also use their Unique Skills. As a sort of limitation however,
one could only use up to three Unique Skills other than their own.

In my case, however, [Steel] was pretty much just an inferior version of [Creation],
[Viscosity] was frustrating to use, and [Evil] was completely out of the question.

“I thought it was a good idea though…”

“Sorry for saying it like that. It’s just contradicts with my set of values. You girls are
my important daughters, you hear?”

The [Evil] Unique Skill allowed its user to impregnate humans and monsters, with the
child becoming stronger than the mother.

It wasn’t that I never thought of using this ability, it was just that I didn’t want to use
it on them. I wasn’t inclined to assaulting adventurers either.

“What a shame. Oh, hmm, it seems Ruru-chan has come back.”

Thanks to Aura monitoring the surroundings using her wind, she was the first to know
that Ruru has come back.

Soon enough, the door to my estate opened.

“I’m back. I’m finally home after going around three cities. Patron, you’re such a slave
driver! I should be asking for a bonus now.”

Ruru has just returned from a tour to the three new cities we built a church in. Since
Prince Leonard no longer needed to be guarded, she was free to focus in the worship
meetings.

The plan was for her and the Ocean Singers to visit each of the three cities and the
royal capital once every week. They were to sing while those that would attend the
worship meetings enjoyed a special wine called [God’s Smile].
According to the reports, we were a hit in every city.

“Very well. For your hard work, your salary would be increased from next month
onward.”

“Ah, I was just kidding. But if you’re willing to give, I’m not going to complain. Thank
you, Patron.”

As money-grubbing as always.

“Also, sorry to be sudden, but I have an important task for you in the dungeon proper.
Let’s go there right away.”

“Eeeeehh. But I just got back. I’m tired. I wanna rest instead.”

“Are you sure? Even if I say you’ll regret it if you don’t follow me? I’ve prepared a
special reward and all, you know.”

“Say that sooner, Patron. Well, come on, let’s go already!”

In a complete 180, Ruru leaded the way.

At that, Aura and Duke both chuckled.

Alright, time to do what I should have done long ago.

After some time, we arrived in the graveyard dungeon room. There, most of the
monsters in Avalon were gathered.

Food and drinks were aplenty. The High Elves played instruments, the Ocean Singers
sang to that tune, and the Mythological Foxes danced, gleefully shaking their tails.

“Patron, what’s going on here?”

“It’s a celebration.”

“A celebration for what?”

“For you, of course.”

After replying so, I took her hand and led her to the prepared stage.

“Sorry for being late, everyone. But, at last, the star of our show has come!”

The monsters cheered.

Meanwhile, Ruru was pretty confused with what was going on. It would seem that
although she normally had good intuition about things, when it was about her, she was
rather slow on the uptake.

“To recognize your distinguished service and devotion to Avalon, I am going to give
you a name and make you a special monster. However, know that this name comes
with the duties and responsibilities expected from a member of Avalon’s top
executives. Are you ready for that?”

I asked her so and stretched out my hand.

I couldn’t give her a name unless she was ready for the responsibilities it entailed. As
a special monster, she had to be ready to support and protect Avalon with me.

“Oh, so it’s that. Ahaha. You’re so sly, Patron. What a surprise attack. But, thank you.
This has made me so incredibly happy.”

Now fully knowing what was going on, R’lyeh Diva smiled and then continued speaking.

“But asking me whether I’m determined enough for that is kind of a silly question,
don’t you think? I love this city and you, Patron, and I would do everything to protect
you all. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have gone so far as to use that power, right? So, I swear
that even after I receive my name, I shall continue to protect Avalon and you at
whatever cost.”

Ruru answered so with a smile before taking my outstretched hand and shaking it.
“I have confirmed your resolve. R’lyeh Diva, from here on, you shall be known as…
Ruhe.”

The moment I said her name, tremendous amounts of magic power flowed out of me
along with my Demon Lord powers, and into Ruhe.

Upon naming a monster other than their would-be [Monsters of the Covenant], a
Demon Lord had to one-sidedly bear the burden of the naming due to the lack of a
special connection present in the former.

That being said, even if it was only while my powers were flowing to Ruhe, I did feel a
connection between the two of us. She was always joking around and teasing people,
but deep down, she had the most affectionate and considerate heart out of all others.

After a while, the flowing out of my powers ended.

Unlike when I named Duke, I felt better. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I
didn’t feel as weak. Naming S rank monsters truly was taxing.

Still, in order for her not to worry or feel guilt, I tried to hide my weakened state.

Just smile, I told myself, this is the time to show your willpower.

“Ruhe… my name is Ruhe.”

“Yes. In an old and forgotten language, it had the meaning of peace.”

After much deliberation, I concluded that Ruhe was the most fitting name for her.

“Fufufuu. What, are you serious, Patron? Peace is so not me.”

“It is my wish that someday, Avalon would be truly peaceful and free of conflict. In that
dream of mine, I always picture you singing songs you genuinely love. Won’t you help
me accomplish this silly little dream of mine… Ruhe?”

When I said so, Ruhe, who had tears falling from her eyes, smiled.
“Again, what a sly way to say things. But as I thought, you’re hopeless without me,
aren’t you? Alright, I’ll support you, Patron. And, when this city is finally and truly
peaceful, I promise I’ll sing of love.”

With her accepting and appreciating her name, the ceremony was over. My monsters
clapped their hands and shouted their congratulations.

By the way, it didn’t seem like she has noticed it yet, but the black markings on her
skin—which she got when she used that power—looked a tiny bit fainter than before.

Could it be that the naming allowed her to purify herself a little bit?

“Ruhe, sorry to ask so soon but I have a request. Won’t you sing us a song? Preferably
one that matches what you are feeling right now?”

“Well, if you insist, I’ll play along with your selfish wishes.”

In contradiction to her words, Ruhe seemed happy as she began singing.

Meanwhile, my monsters and I were enthralled as we listened. By far, it was the most
beautiful and heart-warming song I have ever heard. It was a song that could make
anyone who heard it feel happy.

TL note:

1. Just as a sort of disclaimer, the Demon Lord Powers referred to when naming is
魔王力. The Demon Lord Powers all other times is 魔王権能. I think I have
translated the latter as Demon Lord Authority before. To me, they sound to
function pretty much the same so I’m going to translate both as Demon Lord
Powers until a distinction is made clear.

2. If you recall, Procell has also regained the [Bow] Demon Lord’s abilities by
killing them. I don’t see anything about that mentioned here though. I don’t
know how that fits into the whole mechanics of things either, but I’m going
forward with the assumption that it fits nicely.

3. Lastly, as far as I can tell, Ruhe is German. It’s written as ルーエ /Rue.