After I gave Ruru the name Ruhe, I lost my magic power and Demon Lord powers.

Due
to that, I decided to once again reside in the carriage near the First Tree rather than
remain in my estate. It didn’t seem like there was much need for me to be physically
present in my estate anyway.

And speaking of the carriage built by Rorono, it was very comfortable to live in. Each
day though, she would add something new to it. To be honest, I thought she was
already going overboard. What is that girl thinking? Does she intend to fight with this
thing?

“Master, you’ve already recovered. You’ve recovered much sooner this time than with
Duke-san, don’t you?”

Aura the Ancient Elf said so after giving me medical treatment.

“It goes to show how much outside of the norm Duke is. Well, Ruhe is outside of the
norm too, just not as much. Compared to when I named Duke, I felt a very tiny bit
lighter this time.”

After naming Duke, I knew full well what naming another monster would entail.

However, even with those inherent risks and also the risks of naming at this timing, I
decided to go ahead and name Ruhe to repay her for all of her service thus far.

“Just please refrain doing anything too absurd. If you fall, Avalon would too.”

“I understand. I’ll keep the absurdity to acceptable levels. Anyway, now that I’ve
recovered enough, let’s go to the next step.”

I said so and reached for the [Creation] medal I put in my pocket.

It’s finally your turn.

I had already decided on what kind of monster I was going to make next, and today
was the day I was going to make it.

“You’re going to go out this afternoon, right, master?”

“Yeah. Take care of things while I’m gone.”

“Understood.”

Aura answered so and then smiled before clearing her throat.

“Ahem, actually, master, I have something else to report. A while back, I have undergone
a powerup of my own which has allowed me to raise and sustain another golden-
apple-producing tree. In fact, the new tree is ready for harvest by tomorrow! Please
have a look at it some time.”

The increase of trees that could bear golden apples was definitely good news.

We had many potent and useful potions that couldn’t be made without the golden
apples, after all. Not only that, even when eaten raw, they were delicious, good for the
health, and provided a slight but noticeable enough strengthening effects.

“I’m looking forward to it. We could never have too much golden apples, what with it
being used for my and Stolas’s recovery as well as the wine being given weekly to the
[Time] Demon Lord. Our production of golden apples doubling surely is a great boon.
Great job, Aura.”

I had always wanted another tree that could bear golden apples. Unfortunately, for an
apple tree to be able to bear golden apples, it needed to be nourished with a specially
concentrated version of Aura’s [Water of Life] which consumed large quantities of
magic power to make. Try as she might, she could only make enough of the specially
concentrated version for one tree. Until recently, that is.

Now that we have another tree, we could make more high-grade potions. This increase
in production would most likely lead to an improvement to our war potential.
“Glad to hear you’re pleased. Kuina-chan’s excited about it too.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. Well, I want her to evolve as soon as possible too, preferably
before I graduate from being a new Demon Lord. So, to that end, do help her by making
high-grade potions that will accelerate her magic power recovery rate, alright?”

“Of course. Of late, I have been preparing for her some apple juice; she seems to like
it. I’m also studying the book titled Curaga, so I should be able to come up with a new
and more potent magic power recovery potion soon!”

After leveling up, Kuina unlocked a skill she had obtained when she became my
[Monster of the Covenant]. It was called [Aether Fox Tribute Ritual]. As its name might
suggest, it would allow her to evolve from being a Celestial Fox into an Aether Fox by
first offering up 9999 tail furs’ worth of magic power.

Kuina who was already the strongest of my monsters would certainly play an even
greater role once she evolved.

However, meeting the condition of that skill was easier said than done.

Each of the furs in her tail could store magic power and the most it could contain was
equal to the magic power of a mage-type B rank monster. Without a doubt, gathering
magic power worth 9999 mage-type B rank monsters was a tall order.

At her current pace, Kuina wouldn’t be able to save enough magic power in her tail
furs by the time I become a young Demon Lord. With the help of ample potions though,
she just might make it.

“Let’s talk again when I come back. It’s time I head off.”

I said so and then went outside. After collecting Kuina, who was to be my guard on this
trip, and the crow monster, whom I was bringing to transport us via its [Transfer]
ability, we departed for Marcho’s dungeon.

Upon arriving, we were met by one of Marcho’s monsters and were guided to a special
room.

There, we were greeted by Marcho who was wearing clothes that were fluttery and
cute. Needless to say, her current clothes were truly unusual for her.

All those frills and ribbons, is that what they call sweet Lolita fashion?

“How is it, Procell? Does it suit me?”

“I think more mature clothing suit you better.”

Even though [Rebirth] had made her appearance be younger—as though she was in
the latter half of her teens—she was still the tall and cool type of woman. She was
more beautiful than she was cute.

This kind of clothes just didn’t suit her.

“Aww, how mean. At times like these, even if it’s just flattery, you should praise the
other person. You really don’t understand a woman’s heart, do you? But then again, I
should have taught you these things as your parent. Oh, how I have failed.”

Marcho was once again teasing me.

To be frank, being treated like a child somewhat hurt.

“Anyway, why are you wearing those clothes?”

“Oh, I was just trying to please you. I know you’re a lolicon, so I thought, why not
appeal to that side of yours. So, how is it? Does it do anything for you?”

Marcho said so and then twirled around, the frills on her skirt fluttering along.

“Oh, shut up. Like I’ve told you a million times before, I am not a lolicon”

What an awfully false accusation. I have very healthy preferences. I am absolutely not a
lolicon.
“So you say, but look at your monster’s form right now.”

Marcho said so while looking at Kuina.

At the moment, Kuina looked like she was 12 or 13 years old. This was despite that
until recently, she looked like a girl in the latter half of her teens.

“Oto-san doesn’t have anything to do with this! It’s to conserve energy!”

Apparently, her younger form consumed a bit less energy. So, to expedite her evolution
no matter how little, she was staying in that form.

“You sure?”

“For crying out loud, Marcho, what do you take me for?”

To be completely honest, I did feel more at ease with Kuina’s younger form.

For one, hugging her in her younger form just feels better. Secondly, I don’t get off
balance as much whenever she jumps at me for a hug. Her adult form’s fantastic, but I
just think this form is better… crap, I got sidetracked.

“Well, anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today?”

“I have something I’d like to ask: can you still make medals with your [Demon Lord
Powers]?”

Upon hearing my question, Marcho smiled.

As I thought.

“Yup, still can. Naturally, I’ll give you all I have since you became my master. However,
for those I’ve obtained before that, I’ll ask this just in case: will you accept them?”

“No. Much like the DP you’ve saved up before you became my monster, I will not accept
those medals.”

“I thought you’d say that. And like I’ve said before, I like that determination-to-the-
point-of-stubbornness of yours. It’s kinda childish, but I like it.”

Again, she’s treating me like a child again. I have to prove to her I’m adult one of these
days.

“Then, why didn’t you tell me you can make medals last time I was here, when I was
collecting DP?”

If she had told me then, I didn’t have to come back here and do extra effort.

“The answer to that is, well, if I had told you then, you wouldn’t have come back here
again. The next time I would have seen you was going to be next month, when I have
another medal. That’s kinda lonely, so I deliberately stayed silent. I thought that if I
did, you’ll meet with me one additional time to ask me about it. Call it the wiles of a
woman’s heart.”

She explained so and then roguishly smiled.

As I thought, I am no match against her.

“Then, I promise that from now on, I will find, no, I will make the time to meet you
whenever I can. Besides that, you’re always welcome to visit me whenever you want.
I’ll always be happy to see you.”

When I said so, Marcho snickered in response and then proceeded to hug me.

Because she was taller than me though, my head became buried between her chest.

“Ooh! Such an adorable thing to say! You were actually a mother-con all along weren’t
you?”

“Stop. It hurts.”
I was at her mercy.

If I have fully recovered, I might have been able to separate us peacefully. However, at
the moment, I was left no option other than to let her do as she liked until she was
satisfied.

“You’re so cute, Procell. Oh, before I forget, here, the [Beast] medals I have. Come pick
up another one next month, alright?”

“Thank you. Now I can make a new monster.”

“Also, just an fyi, I can make [Beast] medals, sure, but the medals I’ve been able to make
because I’ve broken their Demon Lord’s crystals, well, I can’t make them anymore. It
seems like the [Demon Lord Powers] I have is limited to that of the [Beast] Demon
Lord. I can’t buy imitation medals anymore either.”

“I’ll make note of it. Then, see you next time.”

I gave my heartfelt thanks to Marcho and then left her dungeon.

With all the necessary medals at hand, I could finally create the new monster. If all
went according to plan, I would have a monster that could act in the other dimension
and also use [Transfer].

After I parted with Marcho, I returned immediately to Avalon.

At the moment, I was in the laboratory of my estate, trying to focus my mind.

In just a few moments more, I was going to make the new monster.

This time, I had no intention of using [Person].

I had used it for all my previous [Syntheses] involving the [Creation] medal because it
allowed me to make a monster that I could converse with and that was close to my
own form.
I didn’t need those qualities for this monster though. All I needed it to be was to be an
extremely useful addition to my war potential.

When they heard I was going to make a new member of our family, Rorono, Aura, and
Ruhe came along. Kuina haven’t left my side since our trip to Marcho’s dungeon.

“Kuina’s so excited for our new sister!”

“Mhm. I have to ascertain what kind of weapon will suit them.”

“Yeah, and I’ll feed them lots of delicious apples”

“Patron, remember your promise, you hear? You said the child you’re going to make
next was one who can fight alongside me in the other dimension!”

Though they said different things, each of them felt just as excited.

“I know, I know. But anyway, once it’s born, you all shower it with a warm welcome,
okay?”

I said so as I grasped tightly the three medals—[Creation], [Beast], and [Time]— in my

palm.

“[Synthesis]”

As soon as I said that word, the medals became particles of light and intertwined with
one another.

Countless possibilities then came and went in my mind.

For a while, I kept searching the possibility that I wanted, the one I wanted the new
monster to become. When I found it, I smiled and grasped that possibility.
In order to create the new monster, I held three medals in my hand and began the
[Synthesis].

Around me were Kuina, Rorono, Aura, and Ruhe who were eagerly waiting for the
birth of the new S rank monster.

The medals I held were [Beast], [Time], and [Creation]. Upon the start of the process,
the medals became particles of light which intertwined together within my closed fist.

During that, countless possibilities of what the monster might become flowed to my
mind. After some searching, I found and selected the possibility that I wanted. And
that was a hound that persistently hunted its prey across time and space.

The versatility of the [Beast] medal was truly extraordinary.

All sorts of monsters could be created with it. Unfortunately, due to the default nature
of Synthesis which was being random, that versatility also meant a lower chance for
the desired monster to be the result. But then again, that wasn’t an issue at all with
the [Creation] medal since the user could simply choose whichever outcome.

Speaking of the [Creation] medal, the one I made it transform into was the [Subspace]
medal. As its name might imply, it was a medal that specialized on the other dimension.
Needless to say, its compatibility with the [Time] medal was spectacular.

“You’re the one I choose! Now, come!”

After saying so, the intertwining of the particles of light grew more intense. Choosing
not to endure the heat caused by that anymore, I opened my closed fist.

The particles of light then, while shining brighter and brighter by the moment,
gathered in one place and formed a figure.

At that moment, I was given a choice and I chose for the new monster to be able to
level up as opposed to having a static level. Although the monster would start at level
1, being able to level up allowed it to eventually achieve a higher level than the other
choice.

The choice made, features of the monsters began to show as the intensity of the light
decreased.

Before long, I felt the overwhelming presence peculiar to S rank monsters.

It’s born. Without a doubt, it’s the monster I’m wishing for.

I subconsciously smiled as I thought so.

“Woah! It’s a doggy!”

“It seems strong. And quite fiendish.”

“It’s master, so I thought for sure it’d be a new little sister.”

“Ooh, it feels quite strong. It’s reassuring to know that I will now be fighting with this
child.”

Each of my monsters expressed their impressions of the newly born one.

The new monster was a gigantic dog. It was so big, a fully-grown human male might
seem like a child next to it. Its coat was beautiful and jet-black. It also had a thick,
zigzaggy, pointy tongue that was stretched outward.

It was Tindalos, the hound that persistently hunted its prey across time and space.

“Guruuuuuu”

Tindalos growled so. It seemed quite the energetic child.

“Nice to meet you. I am to be your master, [Creation] Demon Lord Procell. I’ll be relying
on you from now on.”
I said so and then extended my hand. In response, Tindalos extended its paw too and
shook mine. It’s quite intelligent.
“Oto-san, why didn’t you use [Person] on this child?”

“Well, for you girls to serve as leaders of Avalon, I needed you to be intelligent and be
able to communicate, hence why I used [Person] when I made you. On the other hand,
all I seek from this child is for it to be powerful in a fight.”

In addition, since neither [Time] nor [Beast] by themselves could make a monster
capable of crossing to the other dimension, that duty fell to my [Creation] medal. In
other words, there just wasn’t enough leeway for a [Person] or similar medal.

“By the way, master, this child is a girl. And is actually just a pup.”

“…but it’s already this big”

I was surprised by Rorono’s comments.

Tindalos was already much bigger than I was, yet she was saying it could still grow.

“I was surprised a doggy was born, but it seems like a good kid. I don’t know how, but
I just know that it is.”

“Leave this girl to me, patron. We will be fighting together often from now on, after all.”

Aura and Ruhe both seemed pleased with Tindalos. It would be great if they grew
attached to it.

After that, I thought I, as its Demon Lord, needed to confirm its capabilities. When I
used my Demon Lord Powers to took a look at its stats, I was in disbelief at how great
it was.

Race: Tindalos
S Rank
Name: Unnamed
Level: 1
Physical Strength: S
Endurance: B
Agility: S+
Magic: B
Luck: C
Special: A

Skills:
One who lurks in the angles
Supreme Hunter
Guardian of Time
Transfer
Human Transformation (B)

It had very offense-focused stats. The agility of S+ made it the quickest among my
monsters, beating even Kuina and Aura on that regard.

Its skills were just as amazing.

One who lurks in the angles: Allows the skill holder to enter and exit the other
dimension through acute angles (angles measuring less than 90 degrees). It is
possible to exit the other dimension instantaneously from any acute angle
within a radius of two kilometers.

In other words, so long as there were acute angles, Tindalos could appear from
whichever one, attack, and then retreat, all in a very short span of time.

Supreme Hunter: Activated by selecting a target through sight. The target’s stats
are all lowered by a rank, with magic and physical strength being lowered
(slightly) even further. Also allows the skill user to detect the whereabouts of
the target even if the target is using concealment skills of any kind or is in the
other dimension.

Even though the skill’s activation condition of simply seeing the enemy was extremely
easy to fulfill, its effects of debilitating the enemy and tracking them down—while
they were still weakened—were a big help. When used with [One who lurks in the
angles], Tindalos could hunt its prey pretty much wherever they were.

Supreme Hunter indeed.

Guardian of Time: Allows the skill holder to control their own flow of time or
that of a target selected via sight. Magic power consumption is proportional to
the multiplier used. The greatest multiplier that can be used is 3.

This skill was simple, but undeniably strong. It practically gave a significant speed
boost.

Transfer, meanwhile, was obviously useful, no questions asked.

From these skills, I could tell that Tindalos was more or less a monster that specialized
in one-on-one fights. However, as great as its skills were for one-on-one duels, they
didn’t give much of an edge when facing many enemies at once.

That wasn’t its only weakness though. Each of [Supreme Hunter], [Transfer], and
[Guardian of Time] consumed a great deal of magic power. This was despite the fact
that Tindalos’s Magic stat was only a B. In other words, if it wasn’t careful, it might run
out of gas before the fighting was over.

“Tindalos, I’ll be counting on you. Specifically, when taking down the enemy’s aces.”

The basic plan was to leave the small fries to my other monsters while Tindalos
launches a surprise attack on the enemy’s trump cards.

That’s all well and good, but something’s bothering me.

It concerned Tindalos’s last skill: Human Transformation. None of the medals used
should have given Tindalos this skill, and yet Tindalos nonetheless had it. Which
begged the question: how did it get the skill?

Surely, Marcho can shed some light on the matter. I should talk to her soon.

While thinking so, I petted Tindalos’s head.

I had petted Kuina and the others’ head so much, I was confident in my abilities, and
as it would seem, it worked on Tindalos as well.

It was a gigantic dog, but it behaving this way made it look oh so cute.
“Gururuuu ♪”

It showed me its belly, so I proceeded to brush it too. When I did so, it seemed even
more pleased. Hahaha, what an adorable fellow.

Going with the flow, I proceeded to pet it more. In reaction, it leaned on me while
shaking its tail, which unfortunately caused me to lose my balance.

Pinned and my back on the ground, I was licked in the face by a very enthusiastic
Tindalos.

“That tickles. Stop.”

I can get used to this. Contact with an animal might just be what I have been lacking. I
mean, the girls are cute and all, but they were still girls, so I have to be discreet. With a
dog though, I can just let go and be comforted by all this cuteness.

Right when I thought so, Tindalos’s body shone brightly. Moments after, her form
became that of a cute but expressionless girl with black hair and dog ears.

“Guruu ♪”

In that form, Tindalos continued the licking she was doing earlier.

While completely naked.

Of course.

If it was a dog licking me, there would be nothing wrong—nothing criminal—

whatsoever with this scene. And that was all Tindalos was: a dog in human form.
Unlike Kuina and Fel who were more demi-human in nature, there was no way
Tindalos would feel shame from such an act. For it, it was just being playful.

And then, at that moment, I felt the signs of a Transfer. Are you kidding me? Right now?!

“Yoohoo, Procell, I’m here! You said I can visit anytime, right? Well, I can’t any longer
so I came as soon as possible. I brought some presents.”

While saying so, Marcho opened the door.

Her dungeon and mine were connected by a pair of Transfer arrays and the one that
led to Avalon was hidden here in my estate. To be more specific, it was hidden in the
room adjacent to the research room where I currently was. In other words, I didn’t
have enough time to remove Tindalos away from me.

And so, Marcho saw the situation I was in: pinned to the ground and being licked in
face by a naked girl of 10 or so years of age.

A smile was still on her face, but her eyes rapidly grew cold.

“Whatcha doing there, Pedocell?”

“Pedocell? Isn’t that worse than Lolicell?!”

Pedocell?! I’d rather be called Lolicell than that!

After making Tindalos step aside—and also making her sad—I explained the
circumstances to Macho.

Although the misunderstanding has been cleared, I had a bad feeling I would still be
referred to as Pedocell for quite a while.

By the way, Kuina had been spouting things like Tiro-chan’s so sly! Kuina too! If an
animal’s fine, Kuina’ll become a fox!

Aura was teasing Kuina on while Rorono made a face that seemed to approve.

Things were getting out of hand.

Meanwhile, the cause of it all, Tindalos, was back in her hound form and was grooming
herself.

At any rate, I had made a powerful monster.

There various of ways I could think of to utilize her powers. For example, making sure
that the [Black] Demon Lord would never again be able to escape.

TL note:

1. Tindalos is derived from Lovecraftian lore.

2. Apparently, Kuina is nicknaming it as Tiro. I guess I can use Tilo, I don’t know.

3. Tindalos’s Human Transformation has a B next to it in the raws. I don’t know if

this is a typo, but I’m proceeding as though it’s intentional.
I moved from the room where I made the new monster to a nearby living room.

Together with me in the room were Marcho, Aura, and Ruhe. I had given Kuina and
Rorono a special, important task.

It has been an eventful day, to say the least.

I had just made a new monster: Tindalos, the hound that persistently hunted its prey
across space and time.

Through the use of acute angles, she could come to and from the other dimension.
Moreover, when exiting the other dimension, so long as there were acute angles within
a 20-kilometers radius, it could instantly teleport to any of those acute angles.

It was a highly versatile and powerful ability, especially considering acute angles were
everywhere. Even pebbles in the ground had them.

In other words, unless the enemy was aware of Tindalos’ ability and was countering
them by being in a perfectly circular room, a surprise attack could be launched.

To make that surprise attack even more effective, Tindalos had another ability which
allowed it to track any target it had seen once with its sight, regardless of whether the
target was using any concealment skills or was in the other dimension.

So, if I so wanted, I could have Tindalos assassinate a hostile Demon Lord it has seen
just once during a negotiation many days before.

“Such power, I can’t believe she’s a dimension-controlling monster.”

In addition to her unbelievable skills, she had absurdly high stats.

Generally, a monster that had dimension-controlling abilities also had inferior stats
compared to other monsters of the same rank. However, due to the fact that Tindalos
was made using three A rank medals, she was on par with even Rorono and Aura in
terms of stats.

This perfect combination of skills and stats made Tindalos a very worthy addition to
my war potential. I could offer no complaints in that regard. In others though…

“Oto-san! We’ve finished putting on clothes on Tiro-chan!”

“It was a real struggle. Apparently, Tiro hates putting on clothes.”

Kuina and Rorono entered the room like so, with a somewhat pouting Tindalos in tow.

For better or worse, Tindalos was a dog at heart. For that reason, the concept of shame
was foreign to her. And yet, she possessed the skill [Human Transformation] which
allowed her to transform into a young girl with dog ears.

In fact, just earlier, she pinned me down and licked me in the face while in that form
and naked. The sight of a young girl licking me was bad enough, but a naked girl doing
such things was worse still. It was borderline criminal.

And so, due to that, Marcho misunderstood the situation and christened me Pedocell.

“Garururuuuuu”

Tindalos uttered so and then rushed up to me to snuggle. It seemed like whatever

reason she had for pouting was gone the moment she saw me.

Tindalos was adorable, but it was her adorableness that was troubling me, unfortunately.

“Tiro, you don’t have to always be using [Human Transformation], you know.”

Imitating Kuina, I referred to Tindalos as Tiro.

Calling a monster by a nickname wasn’t the same as naming it. There were no risks
but also no benefits. It was just a more convenient way of referring to the said monster.

Thankfully, Tiro seemed to like her nickname.

“Garuuu ♪”

This child should have been smart enough to understand what I just said, yet she
hasn’t reverted back to her dog form.

She must have some kind of aim or something to remain like this. Oh well, whatever for
now. Before anything else, I have to talk with Marcho. If there’s anyone that knows how
Tiro can use [Human Transformation], it’s gotta be her, the master of the [Beast] medal.

Speaking of, Marcho was busy drinking her black tea in front of me when she suddenly
broke into a smile and said something.

“My, my. Aren’t you quite popular with the little kids, Pedocell?”

The misunderstanding from before should have already been cleared, and yet here she’s
still teasing me with ridiculous nickname.

“For crying out loud, didn’t I already explain that what happened earlier was beyond
my control!?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just kidding, alright? So, anyway, I’m guessing you want to know how
that kid can use [Human Transformation] despite the fact that the medals you’ve used
to make her doesn’t have anything to do with that skill, yeah? Well, the reason’s simple,
really: that kid is Tindalos.”

I know that she’s Tindalos; what I want to know is how she has [Human Transformation].
But it’s Marcho. I’m she has a good explanation.

“Would you please elaborate?”

“I’ve read about that kid in a certain book in the [Creator]’s library. According to it, a
Hound of Tindalos is pretty much what you wanted, a hound that crosses over to
subspaces and manipulates time.”

I nodded to that. It was exactly the possibility that I wanted out of the countless
possibilities offered to me, so I grabbed hold of it.

“However, that kid isn’t a Hound of Tindalos. It’s a being that transcends even that.
What I’m saying is, that girl is Tindalos itself.”

“I… I see.”

I finally understood.

Thinking on it, because I used the [Beast] medal to make her, I arbitrarily decided that
she was a Hound of Tindalos despite her status clearly stating otherwise.

“As you might know, a Hound of Tindalos is pretty much a lump of incomprehensible
nightmare and Tindalos itself is even more so. That being said, only so much of it can
manifest as a monster. In other words, its form—be it a dog or otherwise—is
irrelevant. I mean, even stories about the Hounds of Tindalos didn’t explicitly describe
it as hound, merely a congregation of foulness. As for why it takes the form of a
humanoid, it’s most likely responding to your subconscious wish. And that’s why I was
calling you Pedocell earlier. Get it now?”

“…it’s still not nice to hear.”

I acknowledged and agreed with what Marcho said. However, my desire for Tiro to
take on a humanoid form still didn’t make me lolicon. All I wanted was a companion
whom I could develop a bond with.

“Well, actually, there’s been something that’s on my mind. That girl’s [Human
Transformation] might satisfy your wishes, Pedocell, but it’s much too weak. A
monster of her rank should have something stronger, don’t you agree? Maybe it’s a
skill that evolves after some level ups. Who knows, it might become something
amazing, like a skill that allows her to assume other forms. Or maybe even give her a
special human-based weapon.”

While Marcho said so, I looked at Tiro who was just tilting her head in wonder,
oblivious in what was going on. Shortly after, she made a huge yawn, reverted back to
her large hound form, and then began to sleep.

What an awfully carefree child.

It was pretty hard to imagine her to be something so frightening when she was acting
like this.

In any case, I noticed something when she transformed. Despite returning to her
hound form, her clothes didn’t get torn. On the contrary, the clothes even transformed
to fit her hound body.

“Rorono, her clothes are amazing.”

“Mhm, if I may say so myself. These magic-power-woven clothes are made using
Kuina’s clothes as reference. They exhibit the ability to change form based on the
wearer’s current state. Due to the lack of time, however, this is more of a rush job and
thus has rather poor performance. I intend to make a proper one later this evening.
This child can’t use weapons like us, so I want to give her good protective gear at the
very least.”

“How thoughtful of you. Thank you.”

“She’s my little sister, so this much is only natural.”

While saying so, Rorono petted dog-form Tiro’s head.

Thanks to Rorono’s caring and helping nature, I no longer had to worry about a nude
young girl pushing me down.

“Rorono, Aura, thanks for everything. You may now go back to your duties. Kuina,
Ruhe, and I will take care of the rest. We’ll be taking Tiro to the [Crimson Cavern].
She’ll often be fighting alongside Ruhe and sometimes be commanded by Kuina, so I
think it’s best to familiarize them with each other now. Well, how does that sound?
Kuina? Ruhe? You okay helping Tiro to raise her levels?”

“Yeah ♪!”

“Of course, patron. I kinda have to if I ever want an easier life, right?”

Great. It seems they’re eager to help.

Like that, Rorono and Aura left the room. Meanwhile, Kuina and Ruhe retrieved their
weapons.

“Well then, I better head back too. I had fun teasing you, Procell.”

“Sorry, you came all this way and yet I wasn’t able to properly welcome you.”

“Oh, it’s fine. I just don’t want to be a bother. Take care of that kid, okay? Without a
doubt, she’s gonna be helpful to you.”

“Yeah, I know. Hopefully, she could fill in for whatever Avalon lacks right now.”
Tindalos was a monster that could help Ruhe fight in the other dimension.

She also had the strongest tracking ability which could sense anyone wherever they
might be.

Furthermore, she also could use [Transfer], thus eliminating our complete reliance to
the crow monster that was sent as a spy by the [Time] Demon Lord.

Truly, Tindalos was everything I wished for.

There was also the monster that became available for purchase—using DP—when I
made Tiro. It was only at B rank, but it was still a powerful and convenient monster.
So much so that I was already considering buying a [Maelstrom] for it later that
evening. Like this, Avalon was bound to get even stronger.

“Well, it looks that you know what to do. Give it your all, okay?”

“Yeah, I will. I’m running out of time, after all.”

I was referring to the 1-year grace period that was protecting new Demon Lords like
me. If I let it by doing nothing, that time would be gone in an instant.

At any rate, I saw Marcho off.

After that, I took a deep breath and spoke.

“Kuina, Ruhe, Tiro, let’s go. Tiro, show us what you can do, okay?”

“Guruu!”

Tiro enthusiastically replied so. Hearing that, I couldn’t help but smile a little.

And so, all of us ready, we walked toward the Transfer array that would bring us to the
[Crimson Cavern].
Together with Kuina, Ruhe, and Tindalos, I went to the Transfer arrays hidden in my
estate.

The one we were about to use was the one that would bring us to the [Crimson
Cavern], the dungeon left behind by the late [Flame] Demon Lord. It was a place I used
to level up my monsters. Due to the innumerable [Maelstroms] present in the
dungeon, it would never completely run out of monsters for us to defeat.

Speaking of which, because I had gathered just enough DP recently, I bought another
one for the Darkness Dragons, increasing the total to two.

If a monster could be bought with DP, a [Maelstrom] could be bought for it for a price
equal to 100 times the cost of the said monster. In exchange for that, the [Maelstrom]
would forever produce one of that particular monster each day for no additional cost.

That was great and all, but I had discovered that [Maelstroms] had some shortcomings.

First off, the monsters it made could only have static levels.

Secondly, not all monsters could have [Maelstroms]. In my trials, I had found out that
I couldn’t buy a [Maelstrom] for the Mythological Foxes, Dwarf Smiths, High Elves, or
the Ocean Singers. On the other hand, both the Darkness Dragons and Hippogriffs
were eligible.

Based on those results, I had conjectured that [Maelstroms] couldn’t be bought for
humanoid races. By the way, this was another of the reasons I chose not to use
[Person] when I made Tindalos.

“Oto-san, let’s go call the crow!”

Kuina merrily announced so.

The crow she was referring to was the monster I received from the [Time] Demon
Lord. It could use [Transfer], so we had been relying on it whenever we wanted to go
to the [Crimson Cavern] or some other place.

“Actually, we don’t need to anymore. After all, we can just ask Tiro to help us.”

As I had remarked before, Tiro was wonderful.

On top of being able to go to and from the other dimension and controlling time, she
could even use [Transfer].

Thanks to her, we no longer needed to rely on the crow monster whom we knew was
a spy for the [Time] Demon Lord.

He might be an ally for the moment, but he’s the kind of fellow I can’t let my guard down
to.

“Tiro, would you please use [Transfer]?”

“Garuu!”

Tiro enthusiastically answered like that.

She was currently in her black hound form. I much preferred it if she stayed in this
form, but given her capricious personality, that was unlikely. Worse yet, there was no
telling when she would transform.

At any rate, she approached the Transfer array, sat on top of it, concentrated, and then
poured some magic power. The rest of us followed suit and entered the array. A
moment later, the array shone and the floating sensation peculiar to [Transfer]
enveloped my body.

Like that, we arrived at the Transfer array placed in the [Crimson Cavern].

It was pretty much a volcano dungeon, so it was quite hot.

“Everyone, come near Kuina.”

“Gau!”

“Phew. Thanks. It was so hot, I thought I was gonna die.”

“Yeah, thanks, Kuina.”

It got cooler when I went near Kuina. This was made possible through her power over
fire which, to put it crudely, allowed her to control the amount of heat of things.

On sultry nights, Rorono and Aura would even sneak into Kuina’s room and sleep
there. In fact, due to that well-maintained temperature, I too enjoyed sleeping beside
her and hugging her like a pillow.

Even now in this volcano dungeon, her ability was proving mighty useful.

“Tiro, you’re an S rank monster, but you’re still at level 1. I prohibit you from attacking
a C rank monster or above, you hear?”

“Gau!”

What a wise kid. Obedient too. It seems like she got what I was trying to say.

“Kuina, if ever a C rank monster or stronger appears, I want you to take care of it.”

“Leave it to Kuina!”

Kuina, taking on her role as the eldest, energetically replied so.

For the most part, the strongest monsters in this dungeon were C rank monsters.

That was due to the fact that most monsters here were born from [Maelstroms], and
as stated before, [Maelstroms] could only produce monsters that were eligible for
purchase with DP. For a monster to be eligible for purchase, another monster that was
at least two ranks above it and of the same lineage must first be made through
[Synthesis].

Most Demon Lords could make only up to A rank monsters, so the most a [Maelstrom]
could offer them were C rank monsters. Meanwhile, I could reliably make S rank
monsters, so I had easy access to B rank monsters.

As to be expected, the difference between B rank monsters and C rank monsters were
huge, thus giving me an overwhelming advantage.

That reminds me, I bet Stolas has already bought a [Maelstrom] for the monster
unlocked by her Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut.

In my estimation, my Black Dragon of Death Siegwurm and her Storm Dragon Knight
Bahamut were on par with each other. If I was correct, it stood to reason that the
monster two ranks below her Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut was also on par with the
Darkness Dragon Graphross.

If she had bought a [Maelstrom] right away, then in half a year’s time, she could possibly
have nearly 200 B rank monsters at her disposal.

If I have Stolas as an ally, we’ll be quite powerful, wouldn’t we?

I would say about 90% of all Demon Lords had B rank medals, which meant the most
powerful monster they could make through [Synthesis] on their own was just a B rank
monster.

Given the regular rules of [Synthesis], they weren’t even guaranteed that. If two
medals of the same rank were used, there was only 2/3 chance the created monster
would be of those medals’ rank. The other 1/3 chance, however, could make the new
monster have one rank lower. And if they somehow obtained an A rank medal, a
[Synthesis] using that and their B rank medal would only have 1/3 chance of yielding
an A rank monster.

For those reasons, Demon Lords who had B rank medals considered B rank monsters
as their elites while D rank monsters made by [Maelstroms] composed the bulk of
their forces.

To be blunt, from Stolas and my own perspective, most individual Demon Lords could
be considered small fries already. The quality of our forces was just so great, it was
more than enough to compensate for the fact that they had years ahead of us in terms
of preparations.

In retrospect, giving Stolas that [Creation] medal was truly the correct decision.

Maybe it’s wise to also give the next member of our faction a [Creation] medal. That way,
we’ll all have [Maelstroms] that can mass produce B rank monsters. Alright, I’m going to
reserve the next medal I make for that purpose.

For whatever reason, [Viscosity] Demon Lord Ronove’s face popped into my head, and
it just might not be the worst idea ever.

As a Demon Lord, he could make aquatic monsters and also slimes.

And slimes were the embodiment of potential. Its lower-class species were pretty
much synonymous with the term small fry, but the same couldn’t be said about high-
class slime species. I had even heard of rumors saying there was an [Infinitely Evolving
Slime] somewhere out there.

If I gave him a [Creation] medal, he could make an S rank slime and an army of B rank
slimes. In my opinion, that was a reliable ally.

Of course, I knew that in terms of war potential, intellect, or whatever else, it was
probably better to look for another Demon Lord to add to our faction, but the thing
about [Viscosity] Demon Lord Ronove was that he was good people and incapable of
treachery.

The worst that could happen was that he would sit on his hand, wasting away the
[Creation] medal and all its benefits. If I could prevent that from happening, recruiting
him to our faction was a valid option.

“Oto-san, you look serious. What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. Sorry, I just got lost in thought. Now then, let’s focus on Tiro’s hunt.”

It was a bad habit of mine, to go from thought to thought.

Nevertheless, the idea of recruiting him was definitely something worth considering.
“Okay, let’s move forward! We’ll be counting on you, Kuina.”

“Gaugau!”

Kuina had often come here leading others, so she had somehow grown accustomed to
being a leader. In fact, it was fair enough to say that she was the one that trained both
Aura and Ruhe.

The person herself felt she was next to useless outside of combat, but these kinds of
things proved exactly how useful she was.

Through Kuina’s guidance, we reached a dungeon room where we could efficiently

take down many monsters.

The dungeon room in question was the inside of a cave filled with many rock
formations. These rock formations were as tall as I was and was littered all over the
place, creating blind spots.

However, thanks to the lack of lava, thus the better footing among other things, it was
quite easy to fight here.

The moment we entered the dungeon room, I felt many eyes staring at us.

“There’s lots of D rank monsters here. They’ll be great for leveling up Tiro-chan!”

Like that, Tiro took a step forward to sniff and look at the surroundings.

It seemed like the many monsters here were hiding behind the rock formations, waiting
for their chance to strike.

One foolish monster had its tail jutting out, so I used my Demon Lord powers to look
at its status.

Race: Fire Salamander

D rank
Name: Unnamed
Level: 35
Physical Strength: C
Endurance: D
Agility: C+
Magic: E
Luck: D
Special: E

Skills:
Fire resistance
Camouflage
Fire Breath

It was a small fry monster without anything worth mentioning.

However, the danger with them was their numbers. Once we got close to the rock
formations, it was likely that the Fire Salamanders hiding there would attack us all at
once.

At any rate, seemingly done with reconnaissance, Tiro looked down at the rock at her
feet. Not even a moment later, she jumped head-first into that rock and vanished.

Actually, she didn’t vanish. To be more accurate, she dove into the other dimension
using the acute angle present in the said rock.

The next thing I knew, a Fire Salamander hiding behind a rock a few meters ahead fell
into the ground and died. Its head was missing.

Aside from using the ever-present acute angles as entrances to the other dimension,
her skill used it as exit points as well. When exiting, the skill allowed her to pretty
much teleport to any acute angles within a certain range.

In other words, it was the strongest ambushing skill.

Right after surprising and decapitating her prey, Tiro dove back to the other dimension
using a nearby acute angle, repeating the process over and over.

The Fire Salamanders, who were waiting to ambush us, had no clue on what was
happening, and yet their heads were flying one after another. They weren’t even able
to perceive Tiro’s presence.

Looking at the nightmarish scene unfolding before me, I gulped down my own saliva.

Her skill was much, much more terrific than I anticipated.

Coupling the teleportation blind spot attack with her insane stats—Physical Strength
S and Agility S+—it was a genuine one-hit fatal attack.

I couldn’t picture a way to prevent such an unreasonable attack. Those that didn’t
know about it would be killed without much resistance. Those that knew about it
would forever be on guard which was impossible as sooner or later there would be a
miniscule gap in their defense and that would be all that was needed to kill them.
Meanwhile, Tiro had the option to simply stay in the other dimension and wait until
that opportunity presented itself.

After leveling up enough, she was going to become invincible. This hunt has reaffirmed
that belief.

By the way, Tiro’s sense of smell was fantastic. Even though she wasn’t able to use
[Supreme Hunter] as it required visual confirmation of the target first, she was able
to locate all of the hiding Fire Salamanders with just her excellent sense of smell.

Anyway, after finishing the last of the Fire Salamanders, Tiro returned to us via the
acute angle in the pebble on the ground.

She was carrying the head of a Fire Salamander in her mouth. When she was near
enough, she dropped it in front of me.

“Gau!”

With her tail wagging and a triumphant look on her face, Tiro barked so.

She seemed like she wanted to be praised, so I petted her head. When I did so, she
hummed sweetly.

“You’re so amazing, Tiro-chan!”

Kuina excitedly praised Tiro like that. An absurd battle like that was definitely worth
a praise.

“Kuina, if ever you and Tiro fought, how would you go about it?”

Kuina was one of my strongest monsters, if not the strongest. So, it got me thinking of
what kind of methods she would employ against Tiro.

“Hmm… First of all, Kuina will melt everything a few meters around me. That way,
there’ll be no nearby angles. I’m sure I can make it smooth and all curvy, even the
ground. If I have a few meters of that, I have nothing to worry about ‘cause then I’ll
have enough time to react with my [Ultra-rapid Reaction].”

I see. Removing all acute angles in the vicinity is definitely possible for a first-rate monster
like her.

“Plus, Rorono-chan and Aura-chan can just fly up to the sky and make that the battlefield.
There won’t be any acute angles there.”

“It seems it’s not as undefeatable as I thought, but she should still be extremely hard
to counter if the enemy didn’t know anything.”

I decided that we should keep details of Tiro’s skills a secret as much as possible.
Particularly the fact that she used acute angles to enter and exit the other dimension.

“Yup! Although, I think I can still win against her even if I knew nothing.”

“How?”

“Let’s see. The moment she bites my head, I can focus my magic power into my head
to harden it. And then, before she tears it off, I would have shot her in the gut with my
shotgun! So, yeah, I’ll probably be fine!”

Kuina was impressive as always.

Contrary to her appearance of being a cute little girl, she was actually already a veteran
soldier who has survived countless of battles before. Being one of Avalon’s strongest
wasn’t just for show.

“Anyway, good job, Tiro. Do you still have enough magic power to go on?”

“Gau!”

The person herself said she could still go on, so we hunted a little bit more.

Due to the large number of enemies defeated and also to the fact that she was still just
at level 1, she leveled up a lot all at once.

At that point, I remembered Rorono’s request and made a digital camera using
[Creation].

It was for recording the next battle.

According to Rorono, if she was able to see how Tiro fought, an idea for Tiro’s equipment
might come to her.

After seeing Tiro fight myself, I thought she would like to have a close-range weapon
with high offense capabilities.

Now, to properly record her next fight. Incidentally, why don’t I record Kuina too? So that
someday, far into the future, we’ll have something to look back on and smile at.

“Kuina, Tiro, let’s go to the next spot, okay? Let’s go level up a whole lot more today!”

“Yay~ ♪”

“Gaugau!”

Like that, we hunted in the [Crimson Cavern] until it got late.

Afterwards, we returned to Avalon. Because of all that moving and fighting, we decided
to eat.

To double as the celebration for Tiro joining our ranks, we should eat luxuriously tonight!
After leveling Tiro up, we returned to my estate.

Tiro’s strength was far beyond what I expected, making me excited about the growth
she would have.

That being said, her fights had shown few of her weak points.

Whenever Tiro was exited the other dimension and appeared in this one, she
exhibited no velocity. That was fine when she appeared on the ground, but for when
she appeared mid-air and was attacking, she first needed to accelerate herself to reach
her target. And even if she could already reach her target, without any speed, her
attack wouldn’t have as much power.

For example, if ever she chose an acute angle in Kuina’s shotgun as her exit point, she
could appear suspended in mid-air, and that was the worst because she needed to land
first which would cost her some time and perhaps even the attack. If someone like
Kuina was the enemy, a punitive counter-attack was imminent.

I intended to discuss such things with Rorono. Hopefully, she could find a way to help
Tiro accelerate even when in mid-air.

That would doubtlessly lead to Tiro becoming even stronger.

“You girls head back to the estate first. I’ll go order something to be delivered there.
We’re gonna eat luxuriously today.”

“Yay! Looking forward to it!”

“Gaugau!”

“Patron, don’t forget about the booze!”

Kuina, Tiro, and Ruhe, all seemed merry, and I was happy for it.

This was going to be Tiro’s welcoming party, so going all out on the luxury was
definitely the way to go.

That being said, even though I knew Kuina and the others’ favorites, I had no idea for
what Tiro might like.

For the meantime, let’s get her some meat. She’s a dog, so maybe some bone-in roasts.

After ordering a home delivery service at a favorite shop of ours, I headed home.

While waiting, Rorono and I studiously watched Tiro’s fights.

These footages were recorded earlier via the digital camera I produced using my
[Creation].

At the moment, it was just me and Rorono in the room. In order for Rorono to
concentrate more easily, the others were asked to stay in another room.

After a while, we had gone through all of the recorded fights.

“So, after watching, what do you think Tiro needs after watching how she fights, Rorono?”

“Hmm. I want to give her a way to accelerate even in mid-air, or maybe a weapon that’ll
demonstrate tremendous power even from up close and without any wind-up.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

As I thought, Rorono also found it troubling that whenever Tiro exited the other
dimension, she had zero velocity.

“However, the restrictions this time are pretty severe. Firstly, Tiro can’t use hands in
battle. Secondly, she uses her speed as a weapon, so as much as possible, I don’t want
to give her any heavy equipment. Furthermore, her skills by themselves use a large
portion of her magic power already, so I also need to avoid anything that will consume
more of her magic power. It’s quite troubling.”
Rorono said so and then took out her laptop computer. Seeing that she was opening
and browsing through many concept notes, I guessed she was choosing which was the
best for Tiro.

As she was currently, she didn’t need any advice from me. It might seem she was
consulting with me, but in reality, she was just voicing out her thoughts and organizing
them.

I had complete faith that she would find the best possible answer. She was the world’s
best alchemist, after all.

“Using both gunpowder and a magic power source will provide firepower without
consuming the remainder of Tiro’s own magic power. A generator that used golem
cores are no good because of the weight restriction. The battery made of Kuina’s fur
might work… It won’t be much help in prolonged battles, but at least, the magic power
and weight criteria has been solved.”

Rorono chattered so as both of her hands moved quickly to type in notes and make
diagrams on her laptop.

“The foundation will be firearms, but because it is intended to be used from zero
distance anyway, range may be safely ignored. How about shortening the gun barrel?
That might lead to not enough time for combustion. Then, using only gun powder… if
instead I change it to a mixture of that and mithril powder, it might work. But in the
first place, does it have to be a gun? No. A pile bunker? Hmm, interesting. If the metallic
stakes it shoots out can be used again, enchanting the stakes themselves might
increase the performance. Put those enchanted stakes into a revolver-type weapon
and have it be fired using mithril powder and explosion magic. Tiro doesn’t have
hands, so fastening it to her underbelly and implementing an activation method……”

Rorono was deep in her thoughts.

She did pros and cons of the ideas she had, while still entertaining other approaches.

After about 30 minutes of staring at the screen of her laptop pc, Rorono raised her
head.
“Master, I’ve finished a draft. I’ll need perhaps a week to make a prototype out of it. If
Tiro is pleased with that, I estimate another week to make an improved—hopefully
perfect—version.”

“Will this development process be new and all from scratch? If so, isn’t a week too
short to come up with a prototype? Will you be alright?”

“Mhm. Thanks to your consideration of me before, the top priority projects have been
finished already. Kuina’s new weapon was finished. The increased population counter-
measures, the infrastructure development plans, and other basic plans have also been
finished. I have entrusted the rest to the Dwarf Smiths. All the Avalon-Ritters have
been repaired too. So, it’s fine, you can leave this to me.”

Rorono had done that much work in such a short span of time.

She was reliable as always. I was truly proud to count her as one of my [Monsters of
the Covenant].

“Sorry for the hardships I have given you, Rorono.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind it. I actually enjoy them. Like with Tiro’s new equipment this
time. It seems like it’ll be an interesting project. Look forward to it, master.”

“I will.”

Her face grew red when I brushed her head, so she tried to cover it.

A moment later, she decided to lead on me.

“Father, I think I’m a little tired, after all. Let me rest like this for a little while.”

“Rest as much as you want to.”

“Thank you.”

I answered her like that and then wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

If it meant Rorono’s fatigue faded away, I didn’t mind staying like that for as long as
she wanted.

After watching the videos and then the break Rorono had, we headed to the living
room.

Upon entering the room, I noticed the large quantity of dishes lined up.

It was the home-delivered meals I ordered in the city earlier.

Kuina and Tiro, who were looking at the food, were unsurprisingly in high spirits.

“Wooaaaahhhhh, this bone-in meat is bigger than Kuina’s head! And there’s one for
each of us!”

“Gaugau!”

Kuina was looking at the roasted spare ribs of a gigantic boar called Tyrant Boar.

The size of each one was so ridiculous, it might come off as a joke, but their flavor was
the real deal. It was thoroughly cooked in a stone stove, so it was moist, juicy, and
above all, delicious.

Originally, one of such was enough to feed an entire family, but due to the girls’ rather
big appetites, I ordered one for each girl.

“There are large shrimps too. You remembered that I said I liked them, master?”

“Yeah, you were in a daze eating them before, right? It’s sauteed with chili sauce which
is a popular seasoning in the south.”

The shrimps were as big as my arm. The dish was made by peeling off the shell, slicing
it up, cooking it with chili sauce, and then putting it back into the peeled off shell.

“Thank you, master. This is my favorite.”

Rorono said so, completely happy.

“Patron, wow, I’m impressed, you picked an expensive wine. When it’s my own money,
I’m usually reluctant to buy something like this. But when I’m not the one buying,
there’s no need to hold back, is there? Today, we’ll be drinking ‘til we drop!”

“Well, you would have complained if I got cheap wine, right?”

Looking at Ruhe as she was rubbing her cheeks against a bottle of wine, I couldn’t help
but smile wryly.

I had ordered the bottles of wine especially for Ruhe who was quite the drinker.
Additionally, I also ordered a great variety of other dishes to serve as hors d’oeuvres.

“Now, why don’t we set the table?”

“Yay♪! Kuina will help out.”

“I’ll show you my good taste, patron. One’s impression of the food might completely
change depending on the way it’s presented, after all.”

Kuina and Ruhe took charge and arranged the food to make it look more delicious than
it already was.

While they were doing that, a sweet aroma began to drift in the room.

Curious, I looked for the source and found Aura. In her hand was a large apple pie.

“Ta-dah! Today’s a special celebration to welcome Tiro-chan, so I baked an apple pie

using golden apples! Also, the golden apples used were from the new tree! Enjoy!”
Ohh, we finally have another tree worthy of being called a [World Tree]. I’m looking
forward to this.

After putting the apple pie on the table, Aura also helped out on the arranging.

And then, when the table was more gorgeous and appetizing than before, we all took
a sit around the table. Only Tiro, who was still in her dog form, sat on the floor.

Like that, everyone’s attention was gathered on me.

“We are gathered here today to welcome Tiro as the newest addition to our ranks. To
that end, let us eat and drink grandly.”

I said so and they replied enthusiastically.

They’re such good girls; accepting Tiro gladly like this.

“Cheers!”

Kuina and Rorono were having juice; Aura, Ruhe, and I were having some wine; and
Tiro had top-class milk poured into her deep bowl.

Like that, we—other than Tiro, of course—raised our glasses.

““Cheers!””

We shouted so and then bumped our glasses together.

After that, one after the other, we approached Tiro, crouched in front of her, and then
bumped our glass into her bowl.

And so, the party began.

“These spare ribs are the best!”

“Garuu!!”
The meat-eaters, Kuina and Tiro, bit into their gigantic bone-in meat without delay.

“They’re so juicy and delicious. As I thought, shrimps are great.”

“Well, as for me, I’m really liking this salmon carpaccio. They’re light, so I can eat
however much I want.”

“Those are great and all, but it’s alcohol for me. Haaah, that hits the spot. I feel like I
was born to drink this. Another!”

It seemed like Rorono, Aura, and Ruhe were all enjoying the party.

The party went on.

Kuina and Rorono had exchanged their juice for alcohol. Kuina preferred juice, but was
still generally able to drink and enjoy alcohol. Rorono, meanwhile, loved alcohol, but
had chosen to drink juice so as to not make feel Kuina left out.

The legal age of alcohol consumption in this country was 12 years old. Not that it
mattered since they were monsters anyway, so there really wasn’t any reason for them
to avoid drinking.

Meanwhile, the number of bowls in front of Tiro had increased by one: one that was
full of wine.

When I looked at Ruhe, she turned away and began to whistle.

Her suspicious actions sealed the deal: she was definitely the culprit.

By the way, Tiro was now ignoring the bowl filled with milk and was instead only
drinking the wine. She even burped in satisfaction.

So, even though she’s a dog, she drinks wine, huh…

And before I knew it, the food was all gone. Evidently, “overordering” was the right call.

“Now, everyone, time for dessert! Savor these new golden apples, okay?”
The main dishes gone, Aura took initiative and sliced up the apple pie.

The pie, while being sliced, made a crunchy sound that was music to my ears. The
aroma emanating from within reached me and by that alone, I could tell it was
delicious.

Obviously, I immediately took a bite. Its crunchiness and taste were the best. Eating
this delicious pie was a privilege that perhaps only we in the world could ever have.

All of us were enthralled by the apple pie. Well, all except…

“Guruu…”

Staring at the slice of apple pie placed before her, Tiro issued out seemingly sad cry.

Are dogs not fond of apple pies? Rather, can dogs even eat apple pies?

When that worry crossed my mind…

“Guruu!”

Tiro cheerfully barked so.

She then transformed into her young girl form, grabbed the slice with her hands, and
then stuffed it into her mouth. While still chewing, her face slackened in pure glee.

Aura, smiling wryly, then placed a second helping in front of Tiro. When Tiro saw that,
she immediately grabbed it and ate it.

“Gururuu ♪”

Tiro, who was now full, gave a seemingly satisfied sound. She then turned back to her
dog form, rolled into a ball, and began to sleep.

What a carefree fellow.

When Tiro did that, Kuina, to amuse herself, crouched down and brushed Tiro’s head.
And when the other girls saw that, they proceeded to do it themselves.

Good. It seems my monsters have truly accepted Tiro as one of their own. Sleep tight,
Tiro. The party will still be here when you wake up. We’ll party tonight with all our
might, for tomorrow, we go back to working hard in order to make us stronger.

While thinking such, I inclined my wine glass.

It was the next morning after the welcoming party for Tiro.

Rorono had already began her work on Tiro’s equipment, and Aura had gone to her
orchard to take care of the apple trees.

Meanwhile, Kuina, Ruhe, and Tiro resumed raising Tiro’s level.

As for me, I was staring at my Demon Lord book in astonishment.

“I don’t have enough DP…”

I found out that my calculations were off.

Due to Avalon’s further growth as well as Marcho’s dungeon, my DP income had

skyrocketed. And thanks to that, I was able to buy two [Maelstroms] for the Darkness
Dragons.

Darkness Dragons were B rank monsters, meaning each was worth a staggering 1,200
DP, and two [Maelstroms] for them was 240,000DP. That definitely was a lot, but it
was well worth it.

I had spent almost none of my DP until recently, so between that and the tons of DP I
earned during our Marcho rescue campaign, I had thought I would have well over
130,000DP after I bought the second [Maelstrom] for the Darkness Dragons.

That remaining DP would have been enough to buy a [Maelstrom] for the monster
unlocked when I made Tiro: the Abyss Howl.

However…

“I thought I had enough, but I had to spend DP and remodel because my dungeon
proper has become too crowded.”
I added a new dungeon floor, and filled it with three dungeon room right away. One of
those rooms was an expensive [Mine] room.

Furthermore, I added an additional Dwarf Smith to finish the construction of

infrastructures in Avalon and also of the churches in other cities. I also added two High
Elves to help Aura—who had been devoting most of her time tending to the two golden
apple trees—and the other High Elves tend to the issue of environmental pollution
brought about by the increase of population in Avalon.

Given those expenditures and maintaining enough DP for [Floor Swaps]…

“Yeah, I can’t buy a [Maelstrom] now. Alright, here’s the plan. I’ll think of a way to gain
a whole lot more of DP. And then, alongside that, I ‘ll buy one, and just one, Abyss Howl
to test it out.”

Considering the nature of [Maelstroms] where it made a monster once each day, the
sooner I make one, the better. Despite the upfront cost, it was definitely better to save
up DP to buy a [Maelstrom] than to buy one Abyss Howl at a time.

Until recently, there was always an impending battle on the horizon, so I didn’t have
much luxury to save up. However, now that it seemed like the next battle wouldn’t be
until I became fully independent in half a year’s time, saving up DP and buying
[Maelstroms] were the more preferable choice than immediate war potential.

Moreover, thinking up of a way to increase my DP income was something I should do

anyways, even if I didn’t aim to buy a [Maelstrom].

As for how, there were broadly two approaches that might or might not overlap one
another. The first was simply to increase the time humans spent in Avalon. The other
one was to raise the quality of their emotions.

The quickest of my options at the moment was to hold worship meetings daily. On
certain days, worship meetings were able to increase my DP income by almost 10%.

As tempting as that was, however, that required Ruhe to be part of the ceremony here
in Avalon even though ceremonies in the major cities of the Axela kingdom also had
to be held in order to get new followers and make them eventually make a pilgrimage
toward Avalon.

In other words, it was a short-term solution at best.

“Then, I have to think up of a new attraction that will entice people. Hopefully, one that
will increase both the number of humans in the city and the quality of emotions we
can get. I guess there’s only that then…”

By lowering the taxes in Avalon, it became a lucrative place for merchants.

Even if I was to leave them alone now, I had no doubt they would think up of new and
fascinating attractions they could profit from. In their effort to better their lives, they
were turning Avalon into a more and more charming city.

And a market where extravagant items from all over the world was gathered and sold
for cheap would always be crowded.

As such, all sorts of business had opened shop here. One could taste all sorts of food
in the restaurants in our city. Thanks to the high number of audiences they get here, a
famous traveling theater company had even decided to permanently stay.

Well, almost all sorts.

There was one that Avalon still didn’t have. Due to certain reasons back then, I didn’t
allow for such a thing to be built here. Now should be fine though.

“Alright, I should go find some collaborators. My and my monsters’ efforts alone will
likely be not enough. Not without any significant difficulties, anyway. If we do this
right, my DP income might skyrocket in one go.”

Conanna was the one I had most trust in among the humans. He had been with us
since the beginning. He had even made Avalon be the headquarters of his firm.

At the moment, I was heading to that headquarters.

I was unaware that their headquarters, which was located in the outskirts of Avalon,
was such a splendid building that it could rival even my estate.
“Welcome, Procell-sama.”

“It seems business is doing great as ever, if this fine building is any indication.”

“It’s all thanks to you and this city. It was quite the gamble moving our headquarters
here, I must admit, but it was definitely the correct choice. As for this building, it costs
to maintain and has no direct use, but it makes us seem successful and that alone is
enough to make the deals made here progress easier.”

He greeted me so with a cheerful smile.

Black tea was served to me, along with tea-cake.

It goes without saying that the black tea was of the highest quality. Also, the tea-cake
served had the Arnold symbol in it, signifying it was from the bakery that even nobility
and royalty favored.

It was the grandest of welcomes.

“At any rate, what might I be able to do for you today, Procell-sama?”

“I am thinking of adding a new public facility here in Avalon and I would like it if you
participated in this endeavor.”

“Ohh. That smells of profit, doesn’t it? What do you have in mind, exactly?”

It was one of the very few things Avalon was lacking.

“I want to open a public casino. I will handle its construction and, if you are willing, I’d
like you to take care of its management as well as personnel recruitment. Of course,
I’ll have a few conditions.”

Conanna smiled so widely upon hearing me.

It was a pretty big deal for me to say I was building a casino. The insane profit to be
had, for one.

“But Procell-sama, out of all our proposals, the building of casinos was the one thing
you had always rejected. What changed?”

“Avalon was still in an unstable state back then, so I had severe reluctance about
building one. However, today, I consider this city to finally be stable and safe. I think
it’s about time.”

In Avalon, before merchants could build their shops where they could freely do
business, they needed to file an application first.

Normally, I approved these applications without much hassle. The one exception was
when the business was going to be a casino. Now, there did exist some kind of
gambling dens in the back alleys of Avalon because I turned a blind eye to individuals
and small shops doing petty gambling, but none that could be recognized as casinos.

As for why I did not approve of any planned casinos, I had certain reasons, the first
being that it was a threat to public order. Especially so back then when most of
Avalon’s population were ill-tempered and ill-mannered adventurers. If these
adventurers lost, there was a risk they would turn to crime. If rumors that said Avalon
was not a safe place were to spread, people would be wary and thus be less likely to
visit.

However, things were different now.

Public order was stable; the number of merchants and immigrant farmers had
increased; and even the number of tourists had increased.

Now that the settlers here and those that had money to spare had become the
majority, I no longer needed to hesitate on opening a casino.

“The first ever casino in Avalon, huh. Yes… without a doubt, there’s a lot of profit to be
gained here. I shall do my best in this endeavor. But I’m getting ahead of myself. What
are your conditions?”

Conanna leaned his body forward and asked so.

I was glad that he seemed to be on board.

If it was possible, I would have much preferred it if my monsters and I could do it all
by ourselves, but operating it required highly technical knowledge as well as
manpower that could handle a great variety of tasks. For those, we needed the
connection that Conanna’s company had.

“I’m glad you’ve shown interest.”

“If I refused, you would have just offered this tasty deal to another company, wouldn’t
you?”

Conanna knew me well.

As far as I could tell, he was the most skilled and trustworthy merchant I knew, so I
came to him first. However, if he was to refuse, I would have little choice but to find
somebody else.

“Alright, on to my conditions. The size of casino’s site will be about as big as the church.
The maximum number of people it can contain is intended to be as much as 500. For
the programs, performances, events, and whatnot, my only condition is that they be
things that can only be found and enjoyed here in Avalon; everything else about that
is up to your discretion. Also, I want you to recruit top-class dealers and to gather
whatever is popular. And then, I want the return-to-player rate be maintained at 90%.
I am going to be firm on this.”

Upon hearing that I wanted the return-to-player rate be at 90%, Conanna scowled.

“That’s quite unreasonable, isn’t it? If the players win back 90% of their bets, we’ll be
making just barely enough. One wrong step and we’ll be out of business right away.”

The return-to-player rate was how much of the total wagered money were given back
to the players as winnings over time. For example, lotteries in the ancient times had a
return-to-player rate of 50%, while horse and ship races had 70%. Also, gambling
dens opened in the neighboring territories and countries had about 60%.

So, when seen from the players’ perspective, any place that had 90% return-to-player
rate would be an overwhelmingly inviting place.

Obviously though, the higher the return-to-player rate, less profitable it would be for
the house.
“I understand that 90% is harsh. In exchange for it, I’m willing to give your company
all of the casino’s profits. Additionally, I will also give you 10% of what Avalon earns
each month. Not its profits, mind you, but its total sales.”

“…Then, what about Avalon? I thought for sure that we were going to split the profits,
with you getting the lion’s share. But now, not only are you giving us all of the profits,
you’re also providing funds out of your own pocket. The 10% from the casino and the
10% from you is more than enough for us, but aren’t you one-sidedly losing money?”

To be completely frank, I had no need for money. Gold and silver were practically the
scraps from our excavation for mithril and orichalcum, and if anything, I had so much
of it, it was beginning to corrode.

What I really wanted from this casino was for humans elsewhere be excited to come
to our city.

I would have even offered a 100% rate if it didn’t come with any problems. One of
those problems was that if the humans could live purely off of the casino, Avalon’s as
a city growth would stagnate, if not outright halt.

“Well, I am opening the casino not for monetary gain, after all. It’s simply a means to
attract new people to the city. These people might be coming for the casino, but they
will still spend a portion of their money somewhere else in the city. The same can be
said of the employees we will be recruiting from outside the city. Both will certainly
stimulate Avalon and its economy. So, you see, money is not really leaving Avalon’s
pocket.”

I said something believable which, for now, should hold.

“I see. So, it’s an investment. Avalon’s already the gathering place of all kinds of
delicious food and forms of entertainment, and also the world’s largest marketplace.
Now, it’s going to be place where people can gamble and reliably win. This is going to
be amazing. People from all over the world will be coming to Avalon.”

Conanna, now in an elated mood, fervently said so.

“I’ll be counting on you. Oh, but the casino won’t be the only thing inviting people to
Avalon. We’ll also have flashy shows. So, even if they’ve lost, they’ll still be satisfied
and want to come back. Heck, I want them to come here just for the shows.”

“That sounds fun. I’ll take care of those while also recruiting those dealers as soon as
possible.”

He really was ecstatic. Like that, I decided to tell him one other thing.

“There’s actually one more project I’d like to discuss with you.”

“Oh, you’re going to make me happier than I already am?”

“Avalon is sure to be more popular with these attractions, but the fact that the roads
going here is in bad condition remains. Even if they wanted to come, only a few people
ever will. I want to do something about that.”

After all, the only properly maintained routes to Avalon were those going through the
Axela Kingdom. It was rare to hear of people that came here via the paths that crossed
areas not controlled by humans.

“We have been thinking about that problem as well. When we’ve gone somewhere via
the Hippogriff and was about to return to Avalon after stocking up goods, we would
often enough get requests asking to hitch a ride. So, yes, even though they want to
come here, it just isn’t an option for many.”

Somehow, it seemed like Conanna was able to guess what I wanted to say.

“I am expecting to have an additional 100 tamed and trained Hippogriffs soon. Of

course, my subordinates will make carriages for them too. However, these carriages
will be specialized not for the transportation of goods, but of people. And, we’ll also
be building air transportation stations in various places.”

With a hundred Hippogriffs, the goal of transporting people as well as goods was more
than a possibility.

The greatest hurdle, however, was arranging the construction of the stations in each
city or town. It was another matter which me and my monsters were pretty much
helpless while merchants and their networks worked wonders.

Upon hearing what I proposed, Conanna began to tremble.

“That’s going to be good, no, fantastic! To be honest, I’m more excited about this than
even the casino. If this succeeds, the number of people coming to Avalon will increase
threefold, fivefold even! Stations connected by the sky, hahaha, why haven’t I thought
of that!? What a fool I am. Anyway, thank you, Procell-sama! I’ll get it ready in three,
no, two months. I swear it on my pride as a merchant!”

He was in higher spirits than ever before.

Though that was to be expected. After all, if these stations were built, he would be a
merchant that went down in history.

“Since this will be a project for Avalon, funds will be provided for whatever is needed.
Come by later to pick it up.”

I then passed to him a contract that offered about half of what I gave to the Axela
Kingdom as aid money before.

Building stations in cities and towns all over the world would be a massive undertaking,
at least this much money was going to be needed.

“Thanks a lot. I don’t think my savings alone would have been enough. With this much
though, I can concentrate more on the project itself. By the way, Procell-sama, how
much will you be charging for the ride on the Hippogriffs?”

“I don’t mind if it ends up being free. Like I said, my goal is for the prosperity of Avalon,
not money. That being said, we’ll still earn revenue in the form of taxes.”

Conanna then reached out his hand while smiling. In response, I reached mine out and
shook his.

“Hahaha, Procell-sama, you truly are a god. My god, to be more precise. I am so glad to
have met you.”

That was the last reason I entrusted things to Conanna: he worshipped me. He might
be a merchant and thus be a little greedy at times, but he worshipped me and would
never betray me.

Like that, the seeds have been sowed.

With the casino and Hippogriff transportation system, my DP income would surely
skyrocket.

Humans truly were convenient. They could do things that me and my monsters just
couldn’t do. Without Conanna’s cooperation, the casino and the stations would be next
to impossible to accomplish.

Now then, time to prepare for what will be in the casino. It has to be the flashiest kind of
game, plus it has to be something that only Avalon can offer. It’s time to use those guys
who are just lounging about when there’s no emergency.

Those thoughts in mind, I walked to the hidden entrance to my dungeon proper.

In order to prepare a program for the casino, I used my Demon Lord Powers to
Transfer to my dungeon proper. More specifically, the newly added floor.

I had told an undead monster to tell Duke to meet me here.

This new floor had three dungeon rooms. The first was a [Graveyard], and the second
was a [Mine]. The third one was a narrow [Stone Corridor] where a weapon of mass
destruction was deployed.

Basically, the [Graveyard] room was guarded by Duke, the Skeletons, and the undead
monsters resurrected by Duke’s [Enhanced Resurrection]. If ever any enemy somehow
escaped the first floor of the dungeon proper, they were bound to be crushed here.

Meantime, in the [Mine] room, the Silver Golems and Gold Golems made by the Dwarf
Smiths worked tirelessly day and night to dig up ores. Also, the Darkness Dragons
birthed by the [Maelstroms] resided here. In case the fighting in the previous dungeon
room got too close, I had instructed them to retreat here.

With the MOAB, which was formerly in the third room of the first floor, moved to the
last room of the 2nd floor, that dungeon room became our last defensive line. However,
as much as I considered it as a trump card, it was still a card that I had previously
played and was thus known by others. To supplement this, I planned to also deploy in
that room a more atrocious weapon.

But then again, considering that the replenishment of our stock of MOABs had just
been completed as well as the fact that Rorono had just finished the blueprints for that
new weapon, it would still be a while before the Dwarf Smiths finish making the parts.

Obviously, I could tell Rorono to help in the manufacturing process to speed it up, but
I would rather she worked with her brain to make plans for other new weapons than
for her to work with her arms.

Fortunately, unlike her, I could buy Dwarf Smiths with DP. In other words, if I so
wanted, I could mass produce weapons of mass destruction.

“As it always has been, the first floor has solid defense. And, almost unbelievably, the
second floor has even better defense than that. My dungeon proper is finally looking
like a proper dungeon.”

Thanks to these two floors, the defense of my crystal became stronger than ever.

The first room of the first floor was a straight path where the Mithril Golems and their
heavy weapons were set up.

The second room was the site of the pastry and the weapon factories operated by the
Skeletons.

As for the third room, it was an extremely cheap [Stone Corridor] as of the moment,
but I was thinking of changing it to something more useful.

There have been a serious shortage of lumber recently, so turning it into a [Forest]
room might not be such a bad idea.

While thinking of that, Duke arrived.

At his side was his adjutant who was also his wife. As ever, the two of them were really
intimate.

“My lord, how may I serve you?”

Duke, the middle-aged dragonewt, said so and then bowed his head.

Like always, each of his actions was graceful.

“In order for Avalon to develop, there’s something I want you to do. I want you to
gather about 20 of the brightest and most docile Darkness Dragons.”

“Yes, right away, my lord. I will summon Pochi and the elite unit he is leading.”
Duke saluted and then proceeded to send instructions via telepathy.

By the way, Duke referred to the leader of the Darkness Dragons as Pochi. It wasn’t an
official name, but rather a nickname. My monsters had been using these nicknames to
refer to each other. It would have been quite inconvenient otherwise, after all.

Still, for Duke to refer to a high-ranking and ferocious dragon with Pochi, it was like
he viewed them nothing more than cute and adorable dogs.

“[Ruler of Death] sure is convenient, isn’t it?”

“Yes, aside from strengthening all of my undead subordinates, it also allows me to

communicate with all of them at once via telepathy. For me whose duty is to protect
Avalon, I rely on this ability a lot.”

Aside from having the dragon attribute, the Darkness Dragons also had the undead
attribute. That meant that they were also viable targets for Duke’s [Ruler of Death]
and were thus further strengthened. This was one of the many reasons I made two
[Maelstroms] for them.

After a while, I noticed a bunch of medium sized western dragons flying in perfection
formation in the sky. Soon enough, they swooped down and landed magnificently.

They aren’t considered elites for nothing.

“My lord, I present to you the cream of the crop among the Darkness Dragons.”

“Yes, they do seem like it. So, listen, I plan to open a big casino in the city. I want one
of our main draws to be flying dragon races.”

Upon hearing me, Duke placed a hand on his chin and began to think.

“Flying dragon races, is it?”

“For humans, dragons are objects of fear and reverence. They’ll surely go wild if they
ever learned that those dragons were going to race in sky against one another.
Everyone will be talking about it and will want to visit Avalon. Quite possibly, even
non-gamblers will make a trip just to see the dragons.”

I was certain of it.

After all, there was nowhere else humans could go to see such powerful monsters race
one another and still live.

“I see. Certainly, humans will come rushing, but I do have some concerns. The speed
of the Darkness Dragons exceeds that of the speed of sound, so unless the race course
is at least 20 km, the race will be over in an instant. On the other hand, if the race
course was indeed that long, it will then be much farther than what the human eye can
see.”

I had also worried about those issues. Because of that, I had thought up of a
countermeasure.

“My plan is to have one of the fastest flying Darkness Dragon fly ahead of the group
and be in charge of capturing the race via a camera. Hopefully, that will give a sense of
immersion to the guests who shall be watching the captured footage in a large screen
indoors.”

“Ohh, that is a good plan.”

“Moreover, we should implement a mechanism that makes the casino’s ceiling open
up to reveal the sky above. If we do that and also make the casino a part of the final
leg in the race, even though it will only be for an instant, the guests will be able to see
with their own eyes the majesty of the Darkness Dragons as they fly by.”

Actual experience of seeing the Darkness Dragons race against one another, that was
the enjoyment we were going to offer with this race.

That said, there were some necessary considerations to take into account. One of such
was that the Darkness Dragons had the skill called [Fear]. It might cause even instant
death for humans just by being within a hundred-meter radius of the Darkness
Dragons.

“Hmm, yes, I support this. Lately, the Darkness Dragons have been growing bored. This
race should be a good distraction as well as exercise for them.”

“Is that so? Well, that’s not all. I also intend to reward them for their participation. As
you know, the third room of the 1st floor of the dungeon proper was originally our last
line of defense. However, with the addition of the new floor, that role has been given
to floor 2 room 3. So, I was thinking of turning that room into a [Forest]. If I do that,
pigs, wild boars, and other animals will spawn from time to time. My point is, we can
offer an all-you-can-eat for a whole day to whoever wins that race.”

Like mentioned before, a [Forest] room would help in the lumber shortage.

Additionally, according to my Demon Lord Book, much like a [Mine], a [Forest] would
spawn rarer animals, fruits, medicinal plants, and many others as the Demon Lord
became stronger. Aura could use these things to help her potion-making. Furthermore,
we could also sell materials gathered there, hopefully attracting more humans to come
to Avalon.

Given the guaranteed steady supply of boars and pigs, I could feed my monsters as
much as possible. Although monsters didn’t strictly need to eat, they enjoyed it
nonetheless. The Darkness Dragons loved meat, so that should serve as a fine reward.

As though to confirm, when the Darkness Dragons heard me say all-you-can-eat meat,
they gave a pleased roar. Now, I’m sure they’ll give their all in the races. And if they gave
their all, the audience will be fascinated even more.

“A [Forest]? Yes, that’s fine idea. The [Forest] will hinder the movement of our enemies
as well as their fighting capabilities. Furthermore, there are many among us who have
an aptitude to fighting in a forest. If push comes to shove, the High Elves and
Mythological Foxes can turn it into their hunting grounds and annihilate our enemies.
I think we’ll see their real talent shine there.”

The High Elves, Mythological Foxes, and the Abyss Howls—which were the monsters
two ranks below Tiro—would certainly thrive from the many obstacles as well as
rough footholds that a [Forest] provided.

Alright, it’s decided, I’m going to make a [Forest] room.

“But my lord, where will the casino be located? Avalon has grown quite crowded
recently, hasn’t it?”

“It’ll be built in the [Plains].”

My dungeon had a dungeon proper where my defenses were ruthless and a city part
where Avalon was located.

The city part had one dungeon floor which was filled by three rooms. The first room
was the [Plains], the second was the city of Avalon itself, and the last one was the [Mine]
room.

It was hard to cram in the casino, which was a going to be large facility, into the already
cramped Avalon, so I planned to build it in the [Plains]. The [Plain] room was 20 km
by 20 km large. That should be enough for the Darkness Dragons to fly around happily.

“I support this too, my lord. The Darkness Dragons will enjoy flying around there.”

“That’s good to hear. Alright, notify the brightest of the Darkness Dragons first, but
also let them all know that everyone may participate. Once the casino is in full swing,
I expect there to be about 8 races in a day, so we’ll have to alternate the participating
members often.”

“Understood.”

“Also, I’m thinking of holding a mock race tomorrow evening. It’ll be a demonstration
to the merchants I’m going to invite. We absolutely must not have any mistake. I’ll
leave the task of selecting the participants to you Duke. So, pick six racers and one that
will be in charge of the camera.”

To that, Duke nodded.

Knowing him, the participants would have been chosen and given instructions in no
time.

That over, I spoke to the Dwarf Smith beside him.

“Dwarf Smith, would you like to help us break free from this state of overreliance on
Rorono?”
At first, the Dwarf Smith was bewildered by what I was saying, but after a while, she
smiled as though she understood my meaning.

“Procell-sama, is it fine for me to assume that us Dwarf Smiths shall be taking over the
construction of the casino and racing grounds?”

“Yeah, that’s it. I also want you guys to assign colors to the Darkness Dragons and
decorate them with that color. If the guests can’t tell the dragons apart from one
another, they won’t be able to choose whom to cheer and bet on, right? Actually, give
them not only distinguishing features, but also their own identity. Additionally, I want
you to prepare the race course itself. I want it to be at least 100 km long. Plus, even
though it’s in the sky, I want the race course to be as clear and recognizable as
possible.”

Surprisingly, even details as the colors were important.

“Leave it to us! We’ll do our best to not let Rorono-sama’s workload increase anymore.”

“As you’ve guessed earlier, you’ll also be in charge of the construction of the casino.
We need it finished in a week’s time. The minimum requirements are detailed here.
Read it and then tell me if you can do it without any help from Rorono. It’s fine if you
can’t, but in that case, I’ll ask Rorono to supervise.”

After receiving the paper containing the requirements from me, the Dwarf Smith then
began to read it.

The most important requirements of the casino listed there were: the installation of
large screen monitors as well as the mechanism for opening the ceiling; a building big
enough to accommodate at least 500 people at once; excellent audio equipment; and
air conditioning systems.

All of that and more had to be finished in a week. Needless to say, it was a lot to ask.
However, I believed that the Dwarf Smiths being the powerful and skilled monsters
that they were, as well as with the help of their golems that would act as their limbs,
such an endeavor was possible.

Especially so considering their work on Avalon’s infrastructure development and the

churches. Sure, Rorono improved on some things, but the basic design and the
construction was thanks to the Dwarf Smiths.

In fact, Rorono had been saying to entrust more and more things to them, that the less
dependent they were on her, the more they could grow. And I agreed with her. This
casino was going to be the perfect opportunity for such growth.

“You bet! I mean, yes, we can do it. However, I’d like to request the aid of the golems
being used for mining ores as well as the Darkness Dragons. That and the use of
Avalon’s limitless funds. I believe these to be necessary.”

“Granted. I’ll be counting on you all.”

“Yes, please do!”

I’m sure they can get it done. Hmm, I should go talk to Rorono later.

Rorono was extremely helpful to others, but was rather poor on being helped herself.
That would normally be a good thing, but relying on others from time to time was
necessary. I hoped this would be good experience for her too.

“Moving on, Procell-sama, Duke-sama, I have a proposal. Since we have such a vast
plot of land and a spectacular main draw in the form of the race, I think limiting the
building to accommodate only up to 500 people is a waste. So, why don’t we construct
the casino to be able to hold a thousand or maybe even 2,000 people? We can finish it
in time either way, so why not go for more!”

I was involuntarily dumbfounded.

2,000? I can’t imagine that many will come… no, by the time the airports are built, we’re
really going to need that much space. After the mock race tomorrow, I should go discuss
it with Conanna.

“I accept your proposal. Go build me a casino that can accommodate 2,000 people.”

“Leave it to us, Procell-sama.”

She looked very motivated, so I couldn’t help but be excited for it.

Alright, I’ve made all the necessary preparations. Tomorrow, I’m going to meet with
Conanna and discuss the recruitment of personnel that will manage the casino, among
other things. There’s also that mock race tomorrow. I’m sure everyone will be stunned.
Despite the unreasonable deadline, the Dwarf Smiths were working hard to build the
casino and also to prepare for today’s exhibition event. They had only received the
request last night, and yet I had been informed that they were already finished with
the plans for the casino building.

The ornaments for the Darkness Dragons were finished too. According to Duke, test
flights with it on seemed to have been successful.

Everything about the casino was going well.

At the moment, I was heading to the [Plains] room.

I wasn’t alone though. With me were Conanna, the top members of his Curtrude
Company, as well as executives from other companies that were present in Avalon.

Last night, I made it known that I was looking for participants in the demonstration
today. Along with that notice, I also notified them that the casino’s volume limit was
now going to be 2,000 people instead of the initial 500.

It was a sudden notice and yet so many people arrived. Excitedly, I might add. Everyone
was anticipating my every movement.

After a while, we arrived at the site where the casino was going to be built. When I
turned to face them, I found them all to be surprised.

“Hooh, they’re making a building of this size…”

“This is but a glimpse of what Procell-sama is capable when he’s serious.”

“…how many thousands of gold do you think this all cost?”

The golems were already laying the foundations. There was even a sign denoting that
this site was going to be the casino.

That said, it was far from finished. For the demonstration today, since we couldn’t use
the actual facility, there was a makeshift building that was furnished with tables,
chairs, and various equipment that an actual casino might use. There was even a
simple mechanism for opening up the ceiling.

“Everyone, please take a seat. Please enjoy the alcohol and light snacks we’ve prepared.”

They all sat down, but their attention was focused onto one point. And that point was
a large screen display.

In order for lots of people—hundreds or even thousands once the casino was fully
operational—to be able to watch the race simultaneously, we were going to use
[Divine Revelation]. Not only could it project 3-dimensional holographic images into
open space, it could also project 2-dimensional images via a screen. I had thought of
using the former, but decided against it in the end because using a screen display
provided better image quality.

“Procell-sama, just what is that thing?”

Conanna asked me the question that was on everybody’s mind.

“You’ll know once you see it running.”

I patronizingly replied so.

Seeing it for themselves would have better impact anyway.

Taking that answer as my cue, I stood in front of the screen and spoke.

“Thank you for participating in today’s event to see the casino and its main draw, the
flying dragon races. Well then, let’s start watching as soon as possible!”

Right after I moved to the side, the screen became lit with a peculiar glow.
With just that, the merchants leaned their bodies forward in curiosity.

The screen then vividly displayed the images of the majestic Darkness Dragons.

To say that the merchants were in awe was an understatement.

“And so, let us proceed to the race. It won’t be an ordinary race though. After all, it’s
not often we see flying dragons race against each other. Please, take a look up. Do you
see those balloons?”

Floating in the sky were a great number of balloons that were attached together with
wires. They were of special make, were of varying colors, and were much bigger and
more durable than ordinary.

Even the wires holding them together were coated with special fluorescent paint. This
paint absorbed surrounding energy, thus allowing the wires to shine and be noticeable
at any time of day, whether it be at night or noon.

These made up the race course that the dragons were going to compete in.

“The dragons will fly between those balloons, and you will get to see this as though
you were right there through that large screen. The course will be over a hundred
kilometers long, but it won’t even take the dragons five minutes to finish it. Now,
rejoice, you shall be the audience members of the world’s first flying dragon race!…
But before that, simply watching will be rather dull, won’t it? Let’s bet on it. As of now,
each dragon’s odds of winning are the same, so let’s do it like this: the house shall
match your bets fivefold.”

Originally, minor details like popularity and whatnot could be used to estimate the
odds of winning. However, since this was going to be the very first race, there was no
data whatsoever to use.

Upon hearing my proposal, the merchants became wide-eyed, and then earnestly,
naively looked at the dragons through the screen.

“Alright, to introduce the dragons participating in the race,”

The screen then displayed a close-up image of one dragon after another.

At the bottom were the nicknames the Dwarf Smiths assigned to them. Looking at it, I
smiled wryly.

Red Rouge

Blue Sky

Green Woods

Yellow Gold

Argent Silver

Black Darkness

There were six participants in total.

Each wore ornaments related to their assigned name.

The merchants talked among themselves on which to bet on, using only dragons’
countenance, physique, and whatever else the image might tell.

After a while, the merchants lined up to a table, gave the maid Mythological Foxes their
wagers and were then given tickets corresponding their wager.

Them being who they were, the bets they placed were staggering. It was a matter of
keeping appearances. Their pride wouldn’t let them place a low bet no matter what.

“It looks like everybody has chosen their dragons. Now, please direct your attention to
the screen. Soon enough, the race will begin.”

Music was playing from the speakers beside the screen. It was a rousing tone, one that
would incite a rush of blood. This was composed by Ruhe.

It wasn’t just the music that was being played though. There was even the sound of
wind coming from the speakers. The intent was to give a better sense of immersion
via stereophonic sound.
When the countdown being displayed reached zero, a loud sound was heard. That
signified the start of the race, and with that, the dragons simultaneously—and
majestically—flapped their wings.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the dragons as they acrobatically flew through the race
course in the sky. In the lead were Red Rouge and Black Darkness. Not too far behind
though was Blue Sky.

Each of the dragons were serious and giving it their all. After all, an all-you-can-eat
buffet was waiting for them in the Forest as a reward if they came in first.

Three minutes in and the end of the race was already in sight.

The merchants kept on watching the screen with their full attention. They even forgot
to blink.

“Alright, the race is about to reach its climax. After coming out of the series of curves,
the dragons will come into a long, straightforward path. That also means that soon,
the dragons will fly over our heads. In ten seconds, look up and see them fly with your
own eyes.”

As I said those words, a mechanism activated and began to open up the ceiling, letting
the rays of sunlight in.

It was just a makeshift casino, but this gimmick or a variation of it would be used in
the real one as well.

When the merchants looked up…

“Woaaahhhhhh”

“Go, go, my Rouge!”

“Don’t lose, Darkness!”

“You can still turn this around, Woods!”

Up in the sky, the Darkness Dragons passed through.

In order to turn efficiently in the series of deep curves they had just exited from, the
dragons had to decelerate. I say decelerate but they were still quite fast. They passed
through the makeshift casino in an instant.

However, that instant was priceless to the merchants. To be able to see with their own
eyes such majestic creatures flying in the sky, it was grandest of luxuries.

The race course made the dragons fly as low as possible, but also far enough that their
skill called [Fear] wouldn’t affect the merchants. And since the dragons were now
flying in a straight, uncomplicated path, accidents were unlikely to occur, though we
had the High Elves in standby just in case.

Seeing the dragons up close, the merchants were unable to hide their excitement and
deep awe.

After all of the dragons had passed, the ceiling was closed and merchants returned
their attention to the screen.

There was only three kilometers remaining. The next part of the race course was
another series of deep curves. Red Rouge was currently in the lead but then touched
one of the balloons, rendering it out of bounds and was thus eliminated in the race.

Seeing Rouge being disqualified, the merchants that bet on it groaned.

A few moments later, the remaining dragons were entering the last straight path of
the race course. The merchants, even more excited than before, cheered for their
respective dragons.

That being said, with Red Rouge eliminated, everyone thought Black Darkness had the
first place for the taking.

However…

“My Blue Sky, It’s your time!”

One merchant, clutching his tickets tight, stood up and shouted so.

Blue Sky, who was always a step behind Black Darkness, did a mad dash and overtook
the latter.
Red Rouge and Black Darkness had been competing to be the lead right from the start,
costing them their stamina. Whereas Blue Sky chose to preserve his strength and wait
for the perfect opportunity to grab the ultimate win.

Like that, Blue Sky finished first and Black Darkness second. The runner-ups were
Yellow Gold and Green Woods. Red Rouge and Argent Silver both went out of bounds
and were thus eliminated.

The roar of the victors and the groans of the defeated echoed in the place.

While some Mythological Foxes awarded the winners five times the amount of their
bets, some served more alcohol.

“Everyone, did you enjoy that? That was the flying dragon race which shall be the main
draw of the casino. Much like you have experienced, people will be able to watch the
race through gigantic screens and then see the dragons for themselves as the dragons
pass by. We aim to feature all this and more in the upcoming casino.”

There was a round of applause after I said that.

“Magnificent! This will certainly attract people!”

“There’s nowhere else in the world we can get to see dragons racing.”

“And those speeds and those maneuverings! As expected of dragons!”

“This can be marketed even to non-gamblers. This is a show that one will never forget
seeing!”

The merchants voiced out their impressions. If even these merchants who were at
least by now used to extravagance and luxury were this excited, the success of the
casino and the races were guaranteed—not that it wasn’t already.

Afterwards, I was asked many and various questions.

When will the casino be complete? More importantly, when will it open?

Can we open our own restaurants and gift shops within the casino?
Is it ok to cooperate with other cities and make the casino part of a tour?

How often will the flying dragon races be held?

There were many other questions they excitedly asked. This much was expected
though. After all, the tiniest hint of money was enough to set merchants off hunting
for clues.

“Conanna, the casino itself will be finished after a week. Take a look at this sketch. How
long do you think you can get all the necessary personnel? I want to open soon, but I
think it depends on that.”

Everything on our end was going to be ready in a week’s time, but since there were
other factors to consider such as Conanna’s arrangements, the decision wasn’t entirely
up to me.

Other than the races, the casino was also going to have other popular features. For
things like games, we needed first-rate dealers. I had asked Conanna to take care of
those, but obviously, that would take some time.

“Procell-sama, a casino that can accommodate 2,000 people is really large-scale. I

expect there will be guests close to that number too on a regular basis, so I think we’re
going to need at the very least 20 first-rate dealers. Other than the dealers, we’re also
going to need over a hundred staff members, which should be first-rate too. An
ordinary merchant will say they need at least two months to get it all done.”

That seemed about right. Rather, a merchant that could accomplish that in two months
would already be considered first-rate.

“The way you said that, are you implying that you can do it much sooner?”

Conanna was the best of the best.

“I’ll be able to recruit them in 10 days. And after 4 days, all other preparations like
training should have been done. Like that, let’s open the casino in 2 weeks! Hahaha!
After seeing the dragons race today, my expectations have risen by three times. We’ll
be gaining lots of visitors and gold!… Also, Procell-sama, do you think you can spare
some Hippogriffs for ten days? Even ten of them will be plenty fine. I’m thinking of
using it to transport the celebrities we’re going to invite. If we can make a good
impression on them, I’m sure they’ll boast of their experience to their acquaintances.
That way, word of mouth about Avalon’s casino will spread like wildfire!”

Conanna would only say such things if he was confident of success. Doubly so for
asking something of me.

For those reasons, I figured it was worth the risk.

“I understand. I’ll lend you 10 Hippogriffs for ten days. You’ll have to wait your turn in
the list if you need more though, is that ok?”

I was planning on buying a [Maelstrom] for the Hippogriffs anyway. Being D rank
monsters, a [Maelstrom] for them was about half as much cheaper than one for a B
rank monster. Considering that and the expected demand for them, I could afford to
buy one for them with the DP I currently possessed.

“Ten will be enough to transport the celebrities. The influence of these celebrities will
come in handy when building Hippogriff stations in their cities where my own
influence might not be enough. We might not be able to take advantage of it right away,
but since we’re going to need it anyway, we might as well do it now.”

To make it in time for the opening of the casino, we were going to prioritize building
Hippogriff stations in places where there Conanna’s influence was quite significant,
thus requiring little to no preparations.

From another point of view though, the more Hippogriff stations there were, the wider
his network would become. It was really impressive.

“I’m counting on you, Conanna.”

“Please do. If I can’t invite people after all these means at my disposal, I have no right
to call myself a merchant. Also, about the merchants in Avalon’s commercial sector,
well, they have been submitting business proposals for the casino. To stimulate the
casino’s growth, please consider helping some out.”

I had entrusted the administrative tasks of the casino to Conanna. There was a slight
worry he would monopolize it and its profits, but evidently, it was needless worry.

He handed me a document detailing the proposals that would expand the features and
services the casino offered. Such proposals included restaurants and shops that would
be built within or near the casino. There were also some proposals for the
establishment of new inns that would be primarily for the casino’s guests.

Honestly, I had overlooked some of those. In hindsight, it was so obvious that the
increased traffic would result in higher demand for restaurants and inns. Perhaps
higher than what Avalon could provide. Avalon almost collapsed in itself there.

Thanks to the explanation Conanna gave to the other merchants to make their
proposals more focused on satisfying the guests rather than pinching every last coin,
Avalon’s development plan that was centered around the casino was complete.

There were so many things my monsters and I would absolutely never have thought
of. I was so glad I entrusted things to Conanna.

In two weeks, the casino was going to open.

Given that, the operation of the Hippogriff stations, and the advertisement campaign
we’ve asked Avalon’s commercial sector to do, there would be a rush of people coming
here in two weeks.

I couldn’t help but be excited with the overwhelming amount of DP and excellent
emotions I would get. Those would make me stronger and one step closer to being the
strongest Demon Lord.
About a week had passed since the construction of the casino began.

I was currently at the [Plains] dungeon room to do an inspection.

With terrific momentum, the construction was progressing well.

The scene of the Dwarf Smiths commanding the golems to build the large casino was
undoubtedly a sight to behold, but the merchants shouldn’t be discounted so easily.

Right after receiving my permission to build in the [Plains]—or more accurately, near
the casino—they had been frantically working hard to finish the new inns and
restaurants just in time for the casino’s opening. To help them make it in time, I had
lent them some Hippogriffs.

One such Hippogriff landed. Instead of materials though, the carriage carried a
multitude of laborers.

It must have felt quite uncomfortable to ride that carriage, considering it’s not made for
people. Is there even any space they can sit down in there?

The Dwarf Smiths were more focused on the completion of the casino at the moment.
So, even with their increased numbers, the production of carriages for human
transport was still not finished.

As for the existing carriages, they were made with parts that used Rorono’s
[Materialization].

[Materialization] was Rorono’s ability to produce out of nothing but magic power a
material that had exactly one spell that she herself must be able to use. And the
function in most parts of the carriages was anti-gravity which Rorono was also using
on her [Mechanical Warmaiden].
The Hippogriffs had very little magic power though. So, instead of the Hippogriffs’ own
magic power, the carriages were powered using the surrounding’s mana.

Because of that, however, the performance of the anti-gravity materials dropped

drastically. Still, it was enough to transport about a hundred people.

True, it did place a bit of burden on Rorono to make the parts, but compared to the
work that the Dwarf Smith had spared her from, it was nothing.

Anyway, tagging with me on my inspection was Conanna. His company, the Curtrude
Company was fully committed to the realization of the casino.

“Conanna, you’re not going to try a monopoly of things? Wouldn’t that earn you a
bunch of profit?”

“Hahaha, even with my company, there’s just too much work to do. We’ve got our
hands full just from the casino. If we add in the inns, the shops, the restaurants, we
won’t have enough manpower. A merchant is greedy, and that’s good, but one should
always be able to discern what they can and what they can’t handle. Otherwise, they
can never be anything more than third-rate. Aside from that, even if I did try to do a
monopoly, it will just invite the jealousy and ire of the other companies. They might
choose to sabotage even the operation of the casino. So, rather than be blinded by
greed and risk the casino—a potential golden egg laying goose—I’d rather do my best
and help it grow.”

What Conanna said was correct.

Building all the facilities that would welcome and serve the guests of the casino was a
huge endeavor. If he tried to monopolize things, it would undoubtedly cause a
commotion, at the least, which we just couldn’t afford.

Honestly, the other companies were doing great.

Because laborers from nearby cities had mostly been recruited by others already, each
company had to use their connections, recruit people from cities that were farther
away, and transport them here using the Hippogriffs.

Thanks to that, they were able to obtain a wealth of talented laborers cheaply and
swiftly.
It was unexpected, but because the many hired laborers that would build the facilities
as well as the employees that would work in those facilities were going to work far
away from home, a lot of them had already decided to immigrate to Avalon, increasing
our population count by the thousands.

The casino hasn’t even been built, much less opened, and yet my DP income had
skyrocketed already. It was a happy miscalculation indeed.

Also, with the increased population, the market naturally became livelier. It was abuzz
with expectations and hopes for the soon to open casino, resulting in stronger, more
delicious emotions.

To encourage this trend even more, I provided the companies some financial aid which
would be used for hiring workers.

“Procell-sama, you really are amazing. The casino’s intended to draw in guests, but the
construction of it itself is bringing in a lot of people already, stimulating the city’s
economy.”

“Well, you know, tourists are great, but immigrants are the ones truly necessary for
the city’s growth.”

I reflexively told him a lie. After all, I couldn’t tell him this was not intended and was
just a happy miscalculation.

At any rate, I was truly glad I decided to ask for help from the humans. I couldn’t stress
that enough. If it was just me and my monsters, the whole endeavor might have ended
up a failure, or worse, a disaster. If it was just us, we might have not hired enough staff,
causing the flying dragon races to be our only real feature and thus resulting in the
guests being immediately bored and deciding to never come back.

“Conanna, is the recruitment for the casino staff going well?”

“Yes. I’ve hired 30 famous dealers, and about 60 second-rate dealers to act as the first
group’s support. We also have about 50 staff members that can lead the 200 that will
purely be the working force.”
It was nothing short of amazing.

In just a week, he had gathered that much famous and talented dealers.

According to him, these dealers were well-versed in the popular features in the other
casinos, meaning we could implement some of them here in our own. In addition to
the theaters for viewing the flying dragon races, people were now going to enjoy all
the popular things like gambling games from the casinos all over the world right here.
Obviously, we were going to hold back on some others, especially the more notorious
ones.

In fact, the Dwarf Smiths were already modifying their plans for the casino building
so that they could incorporate the ideas from the earlier recruited dealers.

Also, with the more than 300 non-dealer employees, it was more than enough to run
the casino.

“Impressive. You really are the Merchant of Avalon.”

“I am honored for such praise. But if I am the Merchant of Avalon, then certainly you
are world’s greatest lord.”

Without any boasting, Conanna gracefully accepted the title Merchant of Avalon. It was
self-confidence, not conceit.

I then looked up in the sky to see two Darkness Dragons that each carried a container
flying by.

Soon enough, those dragons descended enough in a space near the casino, dropped
down the containers, and then flew back up.

After that, a Dwarf Smith came along and made an announcement through a megaphone.

“Everyone, the additional materials have arrived! Please fall in line!”

Upon hearing that, carriages rushed toward the container.

While waiting for that to finish, the Dwarf Smith undid the many latches of the container
and then opened it. Among the items inside were lumber, stone materials, and steel
materials.

The lumber was from the [Forest] room. Meanwhile, the blocks and steel materials
were gathered from the [Mine] room and were then processed by the Dwarf Smiths
present there for easier use.

No matter how much manpower there might be, a building still wouldn’t be built
without enough materials.

Some merchant companies did manage to purchase materials from nearby cities, but
it would take time before those were delivered. For the others, there just weren’t
enough to meet the sudden rise in demand.

And so, I decided to support them via providing Avalon’s resources.

While that one Dwarf Smith distributed most of the container’s contents, another was
accepting requests from the laborers to modify the shape of the iron to make such
things like nails.

Meanwhile, another one diligently turned cement into concrete. The laborers did not
know of concrete before, but after being shown it, it was instantly popular and was
now being actively incorporated in the construction process especially due to the time
it saved.

“Procell-sama, to provide so much resources for free, my, you truly are generous. Just
how bottomless are your pockets, I sometimes wonder.”

“Well, this is for the building of the casino, so this is a one-time only exemption.”

As to be expected, doing so much was, well, doing too much. There was a real risk of
making the humans feel like they didn’t have to earn their keep.

In this instance though, to make sure the casino and all the related facilities were built
in two weeks’ time, I had little option but to do so.

“Procell-sama, once the casino is finally open, will you be sharing to the general public
those materials? Those nails, for example, it’s astounding how they’re all of the same
size and quality. The steel materials too are of so high quality. And then, there’s the
concrete… to be honest, I think it’s a very revolutionary invention.”

Conanna said so, smiling with his whole face.

Anyone who had seen the materials here would surely recognize that they were all
high-quality items.

“How shrewd you are. I’ll think about it. I do intend to make the recipe of the concrete
public. It won’t be hard from there, but I’ll leave it up to you all how you use the recipe.”

“We are so blessed to live here in Avalon where money-bearing trees grow one after
the other. There’s never a dull moment around you, Procell-sama.”

Laughing a little, Conanna remarked so.

Just like that, the materials that were delivered by the Darkness Dragons had all been
distributed.

That wasn’t an issue though. Avalon’s resources were limitless, especially those that
were from the [Forest] and [Mine] dungeon room which only needed a set amount of
time to replenish.

In fact, the next delivery was already scheduled.

Once again, I was reminded how good of an affinity city building and dungeon making
had.

That all being said, we were supporting the merchants not only through those materials.

Ahh, speaking of.

Almost as if on cue, Mythological Foxes that were driving golem-drawn carriages came
from the direction of the city.

“Everyone, the provisions are here! Get your delicious meal and refreshing cold
drinks! Keep doing your best!”
““Woooooo!””

In the carriage, there was a great number of sandwiches made with white bread, salty
sausages, and tomatoes. The luxurious white bread was made using high-quality
wheat grown in the lands blessed by the elves. Just by sandwiching salty sausages and
tomatoes between the bread, it was already plenty delicious.

Additionally, we were also offering a cask full of cold apple juice.

It was made with just the regular apples, but even so, it was potent enough to get rid
of the laborers’ fatigue. These regular apples were the first special product Avalon had
and was still supporting Avalon even now.

The laborers lined up and received—with a lovestruck look on their faces—their

sandwich and juice from the Mythological Foxes.

I had instructed the Mythological Foxes to give out provisions three times a day. In the
morning and at noon, they were to serve sandwiches and apple juice. In the evening
though, the apple juice was to be replaced by ale.

Just by offering a delicious meal and a fatigue-remedying cold beverage, the work
efficiency had completely changed.

“The Mythological Foxes sure are popular, aren’t they?”

“Why are acting so surprised, Procell-sama? Didn’t you make them distribute these
provisions because they’re the idols of Avalon? There really is nothing better to
motivate a man than a beautiful woman. Impressive as always, Procell-sama.”

Most of the Mythological Foxes were working in Avalon-owned shops.

Because they were well-mannered, beautiful, stylish, and perhaps above all, were
close in proximity to the citizens of Avalon, each of the Mythological Foxes had
garnered many fans. One smile from them was enough to make their fans’ worries
vanish.

According to Kuina back then, the Mythological Foxes were being courted by the
humans, but they only found it troubling and was not at all interested. Kuina quoted:

“Humans are a definite no. They’re weak and don’t have any tail. It goes without
saying, the guy has to have a fluffy tail… Ah, but that doesn’t matter at all if it’s Procell-
sama. Kyaa! Kuina-sama, ow, ow!”

Still, looking at the humans and the Mythological Foxes interacting with one another,
I thought it wouldn’t be that surprising for a romantic relationship to emerge.

“Everything seems to be in order, so I’ll be heading back.”

“I’ll look around for a little bit more. This is a good opportunity to ascertain each
company’s capabilities. Procell-sama, I swear to you, we’re going to make this casino
succeed.”

“But of course.”

I had invested quite a significant amount of DP in this project already, there was no
way I was going to let it fail. Not that DP was the only parameter I was concerned with.
It was important, but Avalon’s growth was important too. So, if this casino improved
at least one of those, I would have considered it a total success.

But enough of that for now.

I had received a message from Rorono that said she had just finished her prototype
weapon for Tiro.

In perfect timing, Tiro would be back from her level grind with Kuina soon.

I absolutely want to see Tiro test out her new weapon.

After leaving the [Plains], I headed back to my estate.

There, I waited for Tiro and Kuina to come back from their level grinding. Once they
have, we were going to go to Rorono’s workshop and test out Rorono’s new and never-
before-seen weapon for Tiro. First, we needed to let Tiro try it out, check to see if it
has accomplished its design goals, and whether it was usable in real combat. After
that, we needed to determine if this was the right approach for Tiro’s weapon.

In truth, I wasn’t so confident in it.

I knew that what Rorono made was a pile bunker. It was a close proximity weapon that
would shoot out via an explosive blast a gigantic metallic stake.

It was very impractical as a weapon, in my honest opinion. Due to its weight, it would
have immense offense, that I didn’t doubt, but that wasn’t saying much considering
the offense that firearms could offer.

It was Rorono, so it was going to be diligently and properly made, but there was no
denying that this was going to be more of a novelty weapon than anything.

At that moment, I remembered something. Some time ago, I accessed the [Memory of
the Planet] and used [Creation] to produce a copy of a certain robot anime. Rorono
watched that anime, and when a pile bunker appeared in the show, I saw a glimmer in
her eyes.
“Nah, everything’ll be fine. The Avalon-Ritters’ Twin Drive Golem Cores were inspired
by an anime too, and yet it’s exactly what was needed. This time too should be alright.”

I decided to stop thinking on that for the moment and think instead of what I needed
to do next based on the results of my inspection of the casino’s construction.

First off, I wanted to build an outer wall in the [Plains] much like the one the city had.

I was also thinking of dispatching Mithril Golems and resurrected artificial heroes to
maintain public order. There was a need to prepare against attacks by bandits and
monsters, but that was doubly so for places like ours where many people with money
and resources have gathered.

It would also be a good move to build infrastructures in the [Plains]. Perhaps

something like the water and sewer system present in the city. There were wells and
the like built there already, but those were makeshift infrastructures at best and were
not at all going to be satisfactory to our would-be guests. So, as soon as the casino’s
construction was complete, I was of the thought that I should have the Dwarf Smiths
begin building infrastructures there.

“Oh, they’re finally back, huh?”

I felt strong magic power which I guessed to be from the activation of a Transfer array.

Moments later, my guess was proven correct by the sound of footsteps of two people.

“Oto-san, we’re back!”

“Guruu!”

All of a sudden, a fox-eared girl and a giant black dog jumped at me.

If it was just Kuina, I might have been able to withstood it, but with the both of them,
yeah, it was a bit too much.

And so, the two pushed me down and buried their faces in my chest.

I couldn’t help buy smile wryly; the two were so much alike.
“You two seem to be full of spirit. Now, will you two please move? I can’t stand with
your weight on me.”

“’Kay ♪”

“Guruu”

After the two finally let go of me, I used my Demon Lord powers to look at Tiro’s status.

“In just a week, you’re already level 30, huh. Things are going quite well, haven’t they.”

“Tiro-chan’s amazing! Even if she’s by herself, she won’t lose to any monsters in the
[Crimson Cavern] anymore. Plus, with her excellent nose, not one enemy can escape!”

“That’s amazing.”

“She’s a really capable kid!”

Her leveling was indeed progressing well, but the end goal was still far away.

If an S rank monster was made to have a static level, it would be born around level 71-
80. On the other hand, even though a monster that could level up had the ability to
grow as strong as a monster of a higher rank, it came at the price of having to start at
level 1.

So, the current goal was for Tiro to reach level 71 so that she could be at least as strong
as an S rank monster with a static level. Indeed, it was still far from realization.

Kuina, Rorono, Aura, Duke, and Ruhe were fortunate in a way because they had been
able to participate in large-scale battles and thus were able to earn enough experience
points to reach and exceed level 71. Such a chance didn’t seem likely to appear for Tiro
though.

Whatever the case might be, I had to think of another way to level her up. I wanted her
to be at least level 71 by the time the rule protecting us new Demon Lords was no
more. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to use her as a true trump card.

But as it stands, Tiro won’t make it in time. Should I challenge a fellow new Demon Lord
into a war? If we massacre all their monsters… No. This isn’t who I am.
“Kuina, Tiro, there are some snacks in the kitchen. After you’ve eaten and rested
enough, let’s go to where Rorono is. She has just finished making a prototype for Tiro’s
weapon.”

“Wow, Rorono-chan sure does work fast!”

“Gururu ♪”

Upon hearing my news, their eyes lit up with excitement and expectations.

Surely, what Rorono made won’t betray these expectations… I can’t help but feel anxious
though.

After they finished their snacks, we headed to Rorono’s workshop.

I knocked on the door and out came Rorono.

Her silver hair was unkempt, and there were shadows beneath her eyes. No matter
how I looked at it, it was clear that she pulled another all-nighter.

I had thought that her workload had finally lightened up to the point that she could
squeeze the development for Tiro’s equipment into her schedule, but…

“I’m sorry, Rorono. I made you overdo it again.”

Unsurprisingly, asking her to complete the development in just a week was asking for
the unreasonable. Despite that, I still let her do it after hearing her saying it was
manageable.

“No, it’s not your fault, master. The fault’s all mine. I got a bit greedy.”

“Greedy?”

“Actually, I finished Tiro’s weapon yesterday morning. But while I was working on your
request, the gravity-halving plates for the Hippogriffs’ carriages, an idea for another
equipment for Tiro struck me. But to make it to the deadline, I decided to stay up all
night.”

Upon hearing that, I connected that to be the reason why she didn’t show up for dinner
the previous evening.

“Thanks to that, I made it in time. Just barely though. I finished it just 30 minutes ago.”

“Really, to finish that in a day, that’s really amazing. Great job. But take it easy today,
ok?”

“I’ll take a break after we’ve done the tests. And, it’s my turn to have [Father’s Day]
today, so I’ll be sleeping soundly with you tonight, master.”

She seemed embarrassed, but she said such things filled with her expectations
nonetheless.

It was her turn to spend the day and night with me, and I intended to spoil her lots.

“Master, please lead Kuina and Tiro to the workshop’s garden. I’ll go get the equipment
first. Let’s do the testing there.”

Rorono then went to the interior of her workshop.

There’re two weapons. I’m absolutely excited to see both.

“Rorono-chan, waiting, waiting, waiting for Rorono-chan ♪”

“Gaugau, wau, wau ♪”

Kuina and Tiro were both singing a rather questionable song.

More noteworthy though was the astonishing level of closeness the two had. As of the
moment, Kuina was riding on Tiro’s back.

Which reminds me, where could Ruhe be? She should have been back from her tour in
the Axela Kingdom, but I haven’t seen her today. Because Tiro and her are going to be
fighting together in the other dimension, I want the both of them get along too.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve brought Tiro’s equipment.”

Rorono said so after arriving.

The first of the equipment she brought was a revolver mechanism that would fire
gigantic metal stakes. One such stake was not yet loaded and it was easily twice Tiro’s
size.

The second equipment was a set of boots made to match Tiro. The ones for the forelegs
each had these three claws the size of daggers attached to them.

“Woah, so cool. These gigantic stakes, Kuina wants some too!”

Kuina had taken a liking more on the pile bunker than the boots.

Tiro, on the other hand, made a grimace at the pile bunker, but wagged her tail and
even gleefully barked when she looked at the boots.

“You’ve got your shotgun already, Kuina. You don’t need a pile bunker like this. Anyway,
Tiro, let’s try on the boots first, ok? Can you put them on yourself?”

“Gau!”

Finding it good that she was going to try the boots rather than the pile bunker, Tiro
barked joyfully and then skillfully put the boots on while still in her dog form.

While still wagging her tail, she then turned around and did a pose, thus prompting
Kuina to comment you’re so cool, Tiro-chan!

“Mhm. I know this is sudden, but lightly put equal amounts of magic power into the
boots.”

“Gau!”
Tiro replied so and then did as she was instructed. When she did, she was suddenly
blown away. It was no exaggeration to say that she was launched to a height three
times that of Rorono’s workshop.

“Kyaun!?”

Tiro was understandably surprised by this, but quickly regained composure. She then
balanced herself and somehow did a graceful landing.

Not taking a liking to being launched without warning, she looked at Rorono
reproachfully.

“Mhm. I’m glad it’s working as intended. Tiro, this is the [Talaria]. As you saw, the boots
generate a localized force field which pushes things in the other direction. The
strength of this repelling force is proportional to the amount of magic power you pour
into it. With this equipment, you could gain tremendous speed from zero distance.
Also, assuming you are somehow stranded up in air, you only have to kick on the force
field and you will be moving toward the other direction. Do it enough and you can even
run in the sky.”

Ohh, interesting.

Sold on the idea, Tiro once again poured her magic power into the boots. This time,
she jumped a little bit lower than before. Holding back as much magic power as
possible, she took another step and then another. Considering she had S+ Agility, she
had movement speed far beyond norm even without relying on the explosive boost
that the boots provided.

After a while, Tiro landed with an elated look on her face. Great, it seems she’s pleased
with it a lot.

“Mhm, the localized force field doesn’t seem to have an issue. But as for the magic
power consumption, I see that it needs further improvement. If I optimize it with
Tiro’s wavelength and do other improvements based on this test, the magic power
consumption can be improved by 30%. It will improve reaction speed too.”
Rorono said so, mostly to herself, while quickly typing away at her laptop pc.

Meanwhile, Tiro was looking around restlessly as though searching for something.

A moment later, she approached a wall in the workshop. And in the moment after that,
the six dagger-like claws in her forelegs’ boots shone and made a sort of clinking
sound.

She then raised a foreleg and swung it down.

That cut through the wall like a hot knife through butter.

Delighted by this, she then proceeded to stand on her hindlegs and claw the rest of the
wall much like a cat would.

In no time at all, the wall was ruined beyond recognition.

Rorono’s workshop housed Avalon’s important weapons and equipment, so it was

built to be considerably sturdy to the point that it could withstand a full-power
physical or magical attack from even an A rank monster. So, for Tiro to tear it down so
easily, it was nothing short of amazing.

That being said, a vein popped in Rorono’s temple.

“Each of those six claws is made from orichalcum alloy. They also have an
enchantment of [Rending]. By pouring in magic power, any slashing attack done by it
is improved. It is specialized solely in cutting things, and as you can see, it is terrific in
it. it still depends on how you do it, but it is possible to slash even an Avalon-Ritter
with it.”

It was a simple yet convenient piece of weaponry.

“…but you didn’t have to test out its sharpness on my workshop, Tiro. For behaving
like a naughty child, you must be punished. I’ll ask Aura to not make you any desserts
for a while.”

Tiro, who was repeatedly doing clawing movements, stopped suddenly upon hearing
Rorono.

Even though she was like a dog, she loved desserts.

“Kuuuun”

Facing Rorono, Tiro issued out a pity-inducing cry.

That wasn’t all. She approached Rorono and then rubbed her body against Rorono’s
legs.

At that, Rorono sighed.

“…Fine, it’ll be just for today.”

Tiro continued her act, but it didn’t seem like Rorono was going to concede any further.

“To decrease Tiro’s consumption of her own magic power, I can add in Kuina’s tail fur
to act as a battery. Additionally, to improve fuel efficiency… Mhm, ok, Tiro, please test
the localized force field’s performance some more. Why don’t you go all out using it
this time”

“Gau!”

As instructed, she leapt once again. It might be because she had better grasp on how
to use the boots, but she was moving more fluidly than before. She was making absurd
turns in almost every step, yet she was going faster and faster to the point she was as
fast as a Darkness Dragon.

In just a short amount of time, she had gained mastery over the [Talaria]. It was as
though making the force field for each leg and then kicking it at the best timing became
second nature to her.

It was a splendid sight to behold.

But then, she fell.

It seemed like she ran out of magic power, which wasn’t surprising given that the pace
she was going was truly absurd.

However, she wasn’t exhausted to the point that she would faint. A few moments
before making contact with the ground, she generated force fields which negated a
significant amount of her falling velocity. Rather than a crash, she did a splendid
landing instead.

That being said, she still was critically low in magic power, so she felt groggy.

“Mhm, that should be enough performance tests. I’ve seen the things that need
improving.”

“That so? Tiro’s affinity with the [Talaria] is spectacular. She might become invincible
with it, especially after you’ve improved it.”

The [Talaria] had everything Tiro might need in a weapon: the ability to create
footholds anywhere; the ability to accelerate her tremendously and instantaneously,
the attack power provided by the claws, and the fact that it was light and thus didn’t
negatively impact Tiro’s agility.

“Rorono, it’s amazing to think that you’ve made this in just a day.”

“Most of the functions in this are already present in my [Mechanical Warmaiden]. I

just put them together after making a few minor adjustments, so it didn’t take much
time, especially compared to developing new technologies and techniques. Anyway,
all it needs now is a better fuel consumption and a few other little things.”

“Okay, I’ll leave it to you.”

The [Talaria] was just something extra that Rorono made overnight, and yet, in my
opinion, it eliminated the need for the pile bunker.

“Kuina, please give Tiro a potion for magic power recovery.”

“’Kay. Tiro-chan, drink this!”

Like I asked, Kuina took out a potion from her pocket and gave it to Tiro. Tiro drank it
and the complexion on her face became better.

Seeing the exhausted Tiro, I recognized one of her weak points: her lack of self-control.
If she was to exhaust herself again and no one was nearby to help her, she would be in
grave danger.

“Gaugau! Gauuuuuu!”

“Oto-san, Tiro wants to go home. She says she wants to eat. Also, she says thank you,
Rorono-chan, for the amazing weapon you’ve made for her. Tiro-chan, I’m so glad you
got a great weapon!”

“Garuu ♪”

It seems like the two have reached a mysterious level of mutual understanding. Well, it
seems like a good point to end a hard day’s work, anyway…

“Wait, you two. The [Talaria] is just the opener. The real show has yet to begin. Next
up is this… the pile bunker [Motelius]. It’s an amazing creation, if I may say so myself.
Now, hurry, try it.”

“Kyuuuuun…”

Tiro made a clearly disagreeing face.

Perhaps it was her beastly instincts, but she seemed to have the same misgivings as I
had.

Rorono loaded the giant stake into the pile bunker, but even then, it was still as long
as Tiro. She then brought it near Tiro. At that, Tiro took a step back.

I had a feeling about it, but it was still a weapon Rorono was proud of making.

Sorry, Tiro, but I’m really excited for this trial.

Rorono sidled up to Tiro and then attached the pile bunker to Tiro’s body via a hide
armor that was dedicated for the said task.

Tiro seemed to be immensely more massive than before. The metallic stake, even
though it was loaded into the pile bunker, still seemed to be about the same size as
her.

“Wow, Tiro-chan, you look so cool!”

Kuina’s eyes glimmered as she looked at Tiro. It seemed like the weapon had tugged
on her heartstrings.

“Guruu…”

On the other hand, Tiro had a complicated expression on her face.

Moreover, she was leaning into her right side, which seemed to suggest that it wasn’t
just an issue of weight, but of balance as well.

“If the [Talaria] was the opener, this is the main event. I present to you the [Motelius].
In terms of simply power, this will outperform even Kuina’s shotgun. Moreover, this
has the advantage of not consuming as much magic power. Each shot of the triple-
barreled revolver uses Kuina’s tail fur as battery to power the explosion magic which
then triggers the blasting powder within, resulting in the metal stake to be pushed out
with tremendous force.”

Its appearance was intimidating. Its massiveness screamed of incredible power.

“It’s meaningless to use a medium sized target to test its power, so let’s use this: the
damaged and core-less body of an Avalon-Ritter. It has been damaged in a previous
battle and is scheduled to be melted down and repurposed, so it is the perfect test
dummy.”

When Rorono whistled, Mithril Golems serving as the help brought the said damaged
body of an Avalon-Ritter.

“Rorono, are you seriously saying that this weapon can punch through even an Avalon-
Ritter?”

“Mhm. In theory, it should be capable of such.”

An Avalon-Ritter’s body was made of Rorono’s own mix of orichalcum alloy. Even an S
rank monster would find it hard to pierce through its body.

“Now, Tiro, try using it. As for how, it’s simple. Just channel a small amount of magic
power into it, and the stake will shoot out.”

“Tiro-chan, good luck. Kuina wants to see things go boom!”

Expectations in their eyes, Kuina and Rorono watched as Tiro walked closer to the
Avalon-Ritter. Or rather, as Tiro hobbled closer.

“Kuun…”

While issuing another pity-inducing cry, Tiro pointed the barrel toward the target.

“Ahh, Tiro-chan, when using something with gunpowder, you should cover your ears
before the thing goes boom! If you don’t, it’ll go ring ring in your head!”

Kuina gave a good advice for monsters like them who had excellent ears.

She demonstrated it by shutting her fox ears down. Tiro copied her and it was awfully
adorable.
“Gau!”

And so, Tiro readjusted her aim and then poured magic power into the [Motelius].
When she did, a clinking sound was made and the stake was readied. In the moment
after that, a roaring sound that shook the ground was made.

Like that, we saw the fired-off stake obliterate the Avalon-Ritter into many small
pieces upon contact.

All it took was one hit. At such a tremendous power, I unintentionally dropped my jaw.

“It’s far better than what I expected. I didn’t imagine it would have this much power.”

“Mhm, all are actually within calculations. It’s thanks to the two enchantments that
[Motelius] has. The first of which is [Hardening]. This is so that the whole thing can
endure the overwhelming power it outputs. The other one is [Pulverization].
Normally, the moment the stake makes contact with the target, there will be a
counteractive force that will try to repel the stake. However, [Pulverization] will
convert that force into offensive power instead, making the attack even more
powerful. Of course, the recoil that happens when firing the stake is also converted
into attack power. With these, there is next to nothing that it can’t pierce.”

Rorono was being more talkative than usual, which wasn’t so surprising given the
unimaginable weapon she made. In terms of just attack power, it was almost
unrivalled.

“Rorono-chan, that was amazing! Kuina really wants one now. The stake going boom
really fits to how Kuina wants to fight: up close and personal!”

As ever, Kuina’s preference leaned toward close-ranged battle.

“I’ll think about it.”

Rorono replied with an indifferent sounding tone, but her joy in the success of her
creation was palpable.

Thinking Tiro would be pleased as well, I looked at her direction. When I did so,
however, I found her limping in a swaying manner before finally falling down.

Her tongue was out and her eyes were rolling up. It was horrible.

“Kyaun! Kyaun! Kyan, kyan!”

Before any of us could get to her, she stood up and then trashed around. She kept
rubbing the hide armor she was wearing into the ground in a desperate effort to
remove the [Motelius].

“Tiro-chan!”

Kuina rushed over to Tiro’s side and helped remove the armor.

“Kyankyan!”

Upon merely seeing Rorono’s face, Tiro—now free of the weapon—hid behind Kuina
while crying out loud. She was gravely frightened.

“What’s wrong, Tiro-chan?”

“Kyuuun, gaugau, guruu”

Tiro complained so in a pained voice while Kuina repeatedly nodded in response.

“Uh-huh, uh-huh. Oh my, Tiro-chan, you poor thing.”

“Garuu…”

“Okay, I’ll let them know. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. Kuina will make sure
you don’t have to anything you dislike anymore either.”
After that, Kuina came over to our direction. Meanwhile, Tiro moved to a somewhat
hidden area of the workshop.

“Oto-san, Rorono-chan. Tiro-chan says she doesn’t want to use the [Motelius] anymore.
She says she’d prefer using just the [Talaria].”

That much of a reaction was natural from that dangerous incident.

Looking like she wasn’t satisfied with just that for an explanation, Rorono spoke.

“But why? It deals unbelievable damage, converts recoil and collision counterforces
into more attack power, can be used even in the air due to the lack of recoil, and more.
It should actually be an ideal weapon.”

Just as she said, the [Motelius] did expertly satisfy those criteria.

It had immense firepower, boosted further by its enchantments, and was a competent
choice even in sky where there was no foothold. Perhaps above all, it didn’t use much
of the user’s own magic power.

Tiro who could teleport instantaneously and [Motelius] that could kill in one hit did
seem to have excellent affinity.

“Well, you see… Tiro-chan says that it’s too heavy for her. Plus, the weight is unevenly
distributed, so it messes with her balance. And, even with her ears down, the sound of
the explosion it made was too loud. She almost fainted. The smell of the gunpowder
was unbearable too. What else? Ah, even though it was fired just once, the gun barrel
got too hot that it felt like a searing iron was pressed against her stomach. She says
that if she were to keep on using it, she’ll go mad.”

At a loss for words, Rorono fell to her knees.

……well, I’m at a loss for words too. Who knew Tiro could put so much detailed and well-
thought-out explanations into those guruu’s of hers?

“…I have nothing to say in my defense. This has been a complete blunder. Honestly, I
made this pile bunker because I was fascinated when I saw one in the anime that
master has produced. I have made it more for myself than for Tiro’s sake. For that, I
have no right to call myself a master blacksmith.”

I honestly couldn’t blame her. Seeing the pile bunker would surely inspire one want to
make it. Besides, even though it didn’t fit Tiro’s preferences, the fact of the matter was
that Rorono still made a high-performance weapon.

“Everyone makes mistakes, Rorono-chan! The [Talaria] more than makes up for it!”

“Mhm. Then, I’m going to improve that to best I can. I have done a bad thing to Tiro. I
won’t make her go without desserts anymore. In fact, I’m even going to buy her a
gigantic bone-in meat later.”

One of the good things about Rorono was her ability to admit her faults immediately.

The [Motelius] wasn’t a complete waste of time though.

“Ahem… Rorono, sure, Tiro didn’t like the [Motelius], but it’s far from useless. I was
thinking it will be a good weapon for the Avalon-Ritters. Perhaps even turning their
right arm into the [Motelius] itself. Wouldn’t it be amazing if they close the distance
with some kind of booster, and then deal the killing blow with the [Motelius]?”

“……that will be incredibly cool. You truly are amazing, master. I’ll begin modifying the
[Motelius] to be compatible with the Burst Drive of the Avalon-Ritters right away. If
successful, they might be able to defeat even Kuina in one shot.”

“Why does the example enemy have to be Kuina!?”

Kuina’s tail rose up in her protest.

Well, even as a joke, I could see why she wouldn’t want to be the target of such a
fiendish weapon.
“At any rate, given that we have found the best possible weapon for Tiro—that being
the [Talaria]—I would consider this weapon testing session a huge success. Now, why
don’t the three of us go shopping and then eat back at the estate. I think a reward is in
order for Tiro who had a tiring and awful day today, and for Rorono who worked hard
to make these weapons. Let’s go buy your favorite food.”

“Guruu ♪”

“Giant prawns, please.”

Before I knew it, Tiro was back with us again. Upon hearing the reward, she gave a
hearty response.

Rorono too seemed to have recovered and even suggested her own favorite.

Meanwhile, Kuina—being the only one to not receive a reward—looked a tiny bit
crestfallen. Of course, if ever we came across a food stall that sold delicious-looking
food, I intended to buy some for her.

Like that, we headed to the city to shop.

Nevertheless, that surely was unexpected. To think that the [Talaria]—a mish-mash of
already existing techniques and technologies—would be loved by Tiro while the
[Motelius]—Rorono’s highly anticipated masterpiece—would be a total flop.

No matter though. The [Motelius] would still play an integral role, just that it would
be as the Avalon-Ritters’ decisive weapon instead.

Most of all, thanks to this failure, Rorono had learned an invaluable lesson.

Once again, Avalon had grown stronger. Just imagining how much stronger we could
become in half a year’s time was enough to put a smile on my face.

TL Note: The Talaria (wikipedia link) are those winged sandals worn by Hermes in
Greek mythology. As for the Motelius ( モーテリウス ), I don’t know what it is a
reference of. If you have any idea, feel free to comment.
After our meal, Kuina, Rorono, Tiro, and I headed to the theater room downstairs to
relax and watch one of the anime movies I once made via my [Creation].

When the shoes that raised kicking power and the very durable, very stretchy
suspenders were shown in action, Rorono’s eyes lit up in excitement.

Meanwhile, Kuina had fallen asleep halfway through the movie and was using Tiro as
her pillow. It would seem she would quickly fall asleep once there weren’t much flashy
scenes going on.

After a while, the movie ended and the end credits began to roll.

Right then, I remembered what happened earlier. On how we conducted tests on

Rorono’s new weapons: the [Talaria] and the [Motelius].

Tiro was in love with the [Talaria], what with the mobility and attack power that it
provided her.

However, the same couldn’t be said about the [Motelius]. She disliked it, to put it mildly.

That being said, it was still a magnificent weapon that boasted overwhelmingly high
destructive power. Throwing it away just because it didn’t suit Tiro was a waste, to say
the least, so we decided to incorporate it into the Avalon-Ritters. Given that it was
them, they wouldn’t mind the weight and all the other issues as much as Tiro.

“Master, the movie today was very interesting, indeed.”

“Rorono, I’m saying this just in case, but I hope you’re not planning on making shoes
that ups the wearer’s kicking power or those incredibly elastic suspenders.”

At that, Rorono turned her gaze away.

So, you were planning on it!

Those were cool and all, but even if monsters did use them, it was unlikely that they
would contribute much to the monsters.

Rorono was more impulsive than not, so the warning was rather necessary.

“Leaving that aside, let’s talk about implanting the [Motelius] and the Avalon-Ritters.
I had gathered lots of real combat data for the twin drive system from our past battles.
Thanks to that, I was able to finish a new design which should resolve most of the
problematic points.”

“So, you’re telling me that the Avalon-Ritters who could be as strong as S rank monsters
albeit temporarily are going to be even stronger? If that’s not amazing, I don’t know
what is.”

I unconsciously leaned myself forward in my excitement.

For Avalon that wanted to continually get stronger, there was no better news.

“Mhm. I expect it to be far more stable and, in theory at least, be able to output 40%
more than before. However, the new design demands a stricter matching between the
two cores. I’ve tested all of the golem cores that we have at the moment, but only three
pairs in total can adapt to this new system. I suggest that we make the new type of
Avalon-Ritters first and gather data on them before worrying how to mass produce
them.”

The stricter matching aside, the Avalon-Ritters being able to output 40% more power
was truly marvelous. And that wasn’t taking [Burst Drive] into account yet. But then
again, there wouldn’t be much point if the Avalon-Ritters couldn’t endure that much
power.

“How about [Burst Drive]? Have there been improvements there?”

[Burst Drive] was the trump card of the Avalon-Ritters.

In addition to their twin drive cores, they employed a sort of capacitor for magic
power. By making this capacitor overload and discharge the stored magic power, the
Avalon-Ritter could attain powers that could rival even an S rank monster.

However, there were two downsides to this.

The first was that the whole process put too much stress into the golem cores. That
meant that the Burst Drive could only be used for a short time and that the cores
performed way lower than normal afterward.

Secondly, due to the immense magic power flowing through their bodies, their magic
circuits get busted up, rendering the Avalon-Ritters themselves nothing more than big,
unmoving scraps of metal.

So, in my opinion, even though an increase in the cores’ output was great, improvements
on the Burst Drive would be better.

“Yes, our combat data has also led to improvements on the durability of their magic
circuits. I’ve also attached a stabilizer to the core. Whenever there’s magic power that
the circuits couldn’t bear, that magic power will be directed to external parts like the
boosters, thus reducing the burden within.”

“It’s simple, but definitely a good idea.”

Magic power that was beyond the capacity of the circuits was nothing more than
poison, anyway.

After hearing my reply, Rorono fiddled with the tablet I had made using [Creation] and
then showed me some plans.

“Actually, both the improved magic circuits and stabilizer have just passed the
designing stages. Once I’ve combined them with the new type of twin drive cores, it
won’t be long before testing begins. If that goes smoothly, everything else should
follow.”

“I see. I’m looking forward to a new Avalon-Ritter that employs all those improvements.”

“As I’ve mentioned before, the new twin-drive design can only be used with three pairs
of golem cores so far. To maximize the data gathered, I’m going to make the three new
Avalon-Riiters have as much stuff as they can. Worries about mass production can
come later. At the same time, I’d like to add in variety between them. For example,
look, I’ll have one of them have the [Motelius] as their right arm. This one will
primarily be fighting in close combat. The basic plan is for it to dash in—protected by
its armored body—and then defeat the enemy in one hit. It might not be effective
against multiple enemies, but it definitely will work as a means against enemy aces.”

“I don’t doubt the firepower, but won’t it be too heavy and slow, especially if with heavy
armor?”

No matter how I looked at it, this new model would be just as crude—if not more—
than the current ones.

After all, what use was firepower if the enemy could easily just evade it.

“It will be fine. I will affix gravity-halving units to it, enabling it to hover despite its
weight. After that, it’ll dash in using its boosters. In terms of dashing in a straight path,
it should be second to none. It will be the ultimate charge.”

“…such romanticism.”

It was completely like a young child’s fanstasy. Still, it was interesting.

“By the way, its armored body is also a newly developed material. By making use of
the orichalcum’s high affinity with magic power, not only does it function as an armor,
but also as a battery. Thanks to that, even without activating [Burst Drive], the power
they can output is beyond absurd. And when it is activated, excess power will be stored
there before being dispersed externally. In other words, they can still somewhat
operate after activating Burst Drive.”

“One stone, three birds, huh.”

Upon hearing my reaction, Rorono shook her head.

“Four birds, actually. The magic power gathered in it will also fuel the [Hardening]
enchantment, making their already impregnable defense even better. This child will
have both the ultimate spear and the ultimate shield. Offense, defense, speed, they’ll
have it all.”
Not fit for prolonged battles, lack of turning ability, weak in long distance battles…
these were just some of its weaknesses. Even so, there truly was something romantic
about taking down an enemy no matter the cost.

“If the development of this armor becomes a success, it’ll revolutionize the Avalon-
Riiter. It’ll be more a leap than a step.”

“…Mhm. But the problem in building the new Avalon-Ritters is that it will require a
great deal of focus and time. I think I’ll need about three weeks to finish and make it.”

That made sense.

There was no way such a technological marvel would be made so easily. In fact, three
weeks was a very short time for such a task.

While thinking of such, Tiro had approached without me taking notice. It would seem
Kuina too didn’t notice that her pillow had snuck away.

“Gururuu”

She petitioned something while looking at both Rorono and I with what I could only
describe as puppy dog eyes.

At that, Rorono smiled wryly and patted Tiro in the head.

“I know, Tiro. I’ll give the [Talaria] maximum priority. I’ll finish it in a week.”

“Gaugau! ♪”

It would appear that when Tiro heard the new Avalon-Ritters were going to take three
weeks to make, she had feared that the development of her own toy would have to
give way.

Now relieved by what Rorono had said, Tiro lied on the ground, showed her belly, and
invited Rorono to brush it.
…I sometimes think this, but can Tiro actually be the most cunning and sly of all my
monsters?

As though fully aware of her charm, Tiro changed positions until she could be properly
and completely petted.

“Master, I’ll finish Tiro’s [Talaria] in a week. And then, I’d like to devote myself
completely into the development of the new Avalon-Ritters for three weeks.”

“Devote yourself completely? May I hear your reasoning? You’re a very integral part of
Avalon’s war potential and three weeks is a long period of time to spend on just one
project.”

Rorono could do a lot of other things in three weeks. While the new Avalon-Ritter’s
design that she had shown seemed amazing, there wasn’t any guarantee yet that it
would be. Without that guarantee, I couldn’t approve quite so simply.

“Those three weeks won’t be spent on just one child. Alongside the close-range one
that I’ve shown you, I will be developing and making two other variants: a long-range
specialist and an all-rounder. Making all the parts for them all at the same shouldn’t
increase the total project time. Perhaps the most important point of all, I need to do
this to be able to see how mass production will be feasible. Because as of the moment,
I just can’t.”

The prospect of mass producing those prototypes excited me.

Avalon’s war potential would increase by a grand margin just from this.

My worries still remained, but it was going to be well worth it.

“I understand. After finishing with Tiro’s weapon, I order you to devote yourself into
making those new models. Do not worry about us; Avalon will figure out a way to make
do without relying on you.”

“Thank you, master. I swear by my pride as the world’s best blacksmith, I will exceed
your expectations.”
I had high expectations of Rorono, and yet here she was, saying she would exceed even
that.

“I’m excited, then. Once you’re done with that, I’m thinking of giving you a reward.
Another date, perhaps? I did say before that we’ll have another one.”

“Mhm. I’ve been really, really looking forward to that. I’ll definitely work my hardest
now! Just wait for the red, white, and black knights—the three musketeers—that will
protect both Avalon and you, father! They will be amazing!”

Rorono said so with a blinding smile.

In response, I patted her head.

“Now, I think it’s about time to go to bed. Sorry to keep you up all night just to watch
a movie with me.”

“Don’t be. I love spending time together with you like this, father. In fact, I find just
sleeping to be a bit of a waste. But then again, I am starting to get sleepy.”

I then stood up and linked arms with Rorono. Like that we headed to the bedroom to
sleep while Kuina and Tiro headed to theirs.

Tomorrow was another day of hard work, but for now, we would sleep soundly.

I feel like I’m forgetting something though. Ah, the letter!

Before finally closing my eyes, I attached a letter I had written earlier to a blue bird
monster and sent it flying.

With the golem corps receiving a significant upgrade, I thought the aerial corps should
too. And so, I had written a proposal to Stolas on how to strengthen both of our aerial
corps.

Surely, Stolas will see the advantages of my plan and accept.

Note: Previously, Burst Drive was described to be the cores working in tandem with a
battery instead of a capacitor. This is extremely trivial in the grand scheme of things,
yet I felt I needed to point this out.
The days had passed quickly.

Just as she promised, Rorono had finished Tiro’s weapon in just a week. Right
afterward, she began working on the development of the new Avalon-Ritters.

She had dubbed them the Three Musketeers.

Obviously, I was beyond excited.

“Oto-san, we’re going now!”

“Gaugau♪”

Kuina waved at me while riding on Tiro’s back.

Meanwhile, Tiro walked purposefully, almost as though she was showing off the
[Talaria] equipped on her legs.

Compared to the prototype she tested last week, this one was more powerful, lighter,
and had far better fuel consumption. Furthermore, it also used Kuina’s tail fur as battery.

Tiro loved her [Talaria]. She loved it almost as much as she loved food. Almost.

“Kuina, Tiro, you girls be careful on your hunt, alright?”

“Yeah, sure thing!”

Today as well, they were going to the [Crimson Cavern] so that they could raise Tiro’s
level.

And just like that, they were off.

Some time later, I decided to leave my estate as well.

When I reached the center of the city, it felt like the number of unfamiliar faces had
increased.

The effects of building churches in the cities of the Axela Kingdom are already beginning
to show, huh.

I could tell just by the air around them which humans went to Avalon as pilgrims
visiting a holy place.

In terms of quantity, there weren’t any significant increase in DP and emotions yet, but
the overall quality definitely became better.

Day by day, their numbers tended to increase. It hasn’t even been a month and yet
things were already like this.

“They really made it in ten days.”

After a while of walking, I arrived at the [Plain]. There, I issued such words of
astonishments.

The day before, the Dwarf Smiths had finished building the casino without incident.

It was this magnificent white, two-story building.

Without holding back, the Dwarf Smiths used all techniques present in this world that
were applicable.

It was highly flame resistant and sturdy. It also had excellent acoustics and sound
insulation.

Furthermore, air conditioners and sound equipment were installed at various strategic
locations.

The first floor of the building would be where the dealers we had recruited from all
over the world could show their skills.
Meanwhile, one half of the second floor would be for the theaters where gigantic
screens would be installed so that hundreds of people could simultaneously watch the
flying dragon races.

As for the other half, it was going to be leased out to hopeful applicants. These would-
be tenants were going to charged a fair bit. For if otherwise, those that were opening
their shops around the casino instead of within might see it as unfair.

Unfortunately for some though, the application window for that had already ended
some days ago.

As for selecting which ones we were going to accept from the many that applied, I had
decided that the best way was through lottery instead of an auction.

If it was an auction, the merchants would drive the rent up in hopes of getting a spot.
And the higher the rent was, the more the prices of their goods and services had to be
and, in turn, the lower the guests’ satisfaction would be. That was not at all what I
wanted.

On the other hand, there was a real chance that the winners of the lottery might
become too complacent and thus result in a drop in the quality of their products and
services. To prevent this, I decided to impose a condition to the tenants: each month,
they were to submit to me a report of their revenues and whoever performed the
poorest would not be given an extension on their lease.

Upon seeing me, one of the Dwarf Smiths rushed in my direction.

She then guided me to the front of the building where many of the casino’s officials
awaited. Today was the casino’s unveiling and everyone was going to take a look
around.

It was the scheduled time, so I signaled to them that the tour was going to begin.

From the exterior alone, I could already say that the building was a thing of beauty,
but once I got inside, I was astonished even more. No effort was spared in making
everything as finely detailed as possible.

“Dwarf Smith, you guys really did a fine job. This has exceeded my expectations.”

“We really did our best! Even though it was close to the deadline, we were confident
that what we built was to your liking.”

I was aware of the hard work they were doing—continually using earth magic,
operating the golems which were more powerful and more accurate than heavy
machinery, and many other things—and yet I still didn’t imagine the casino would
turn out to be this amazing.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to think so.

“H-how?”

“It feels like something out of a dream”

“…this impressive building was built in just ten days?”

“Even several years of construction won’t normally be enough to build something like
this.”

“Hahaha, if those fellas from the kingdom hear about this, they’ll soil their pants!”

Some of the staff were even at a loss for words.

They had seen the building’s exterior during the construction, but it was the first time
they had entered and explored it.

After a while, a group of workers and dealers carried in a large quantity of luggage.
Within were chairs, desks, gigantic roulettes, musical instruments, paintings, vases,
and many others.

Spearheading this operation of unpacking and arrangement was Conanna.

“Everyone, we don’t have much time to place and arrange everything! We only have
three days. I don’t expect us to get any sleep until then, but in exchange for that, your
salaries for the following days will be tripled. And if we do finish on time, you will also
receive a bonus! Alright, let’s do our best to make it to the deadline!”

““Yes, sir!””
The workers enthusiastically replied so, and then began their work.

Meanwhile, the dealers gave out suggestions to make their own work easier.

All the Dwarf Smiths could do was prepare the building. It was up to Conanna and his
workers to give the casino the finishing touches. To that end, Conanna and the selected
tenants were shown the blueprints of the building during the construction and were
asked to give their opinions.

Similarly, while the casino was still under construction, Conanna had consulted
workers and dealers on what additional things and personnel they thought was
needed so that he could ready those and make the finishing of the casino’s interior
design be as soon as possible.

When Conanna noticed me walking around, he smiled and then rushed to my direction.

“Conanna, will you guys make it to the opening next week?”

“Of course. And I dare say, we will not only make it in time, we will exceed expectations.”

He truly was reliable.

If he promised it, he would certainly deliver.

After talking some more with him, we parted ways.

I then continued my inspection. Not one issue popped up, especially on the marvelous
second floor.

We had used a similar theater before in the trial run, but this one had an incredible
ambiance. The quality of the screens and sound equipment was utterly superb.

The ceiling gimmick too was perfect.

“Dwarf Smith, it seems I have underestimated you guys. I didn’t think you’d be able to
do this much without relying on Rorono. For that, sorry and thank you. I’ll hand out
special renumerations for you all later. I hope that money can help you find some
amount of happiness.”
“Thank you very much! I’ll relay it to everyone later. I’m sure they’ll be as happy about
it as I am.”

Now that I knew they were capable of this much, I thought it might be a good idea to
entrust all of the construction work in Avalon to them.

Just by doing that, Rorono’s workload would decrease significantly. And the more
Rorono could devote herself to her research, the more Avalon would grow stronger.

“Now that I think about it, where are the other Dwarf Smiths? With the casino finished,
shouldn’t you guys be free now?”

“Actually, no, we still have a lot of work to do. Before the casino opens, we’d like to
finish the water and sewer systems here as well as the outer walls. Right now, we’re
busy on the overall plans for those infrastructures. There are some of us that has to
wait until those plans are finished, so in the meantime, they are helping the humans
build the facilities that will be around the casino. They are also building prefabricated
houses in the same property as Duke-sama’s inn. Hopefully, these outbuildings will
mean less humans who have no choice to camp or squat, especially those that have
come here for work.”

“How considerate of you guys.”

Those infrastructures were absolutely vital.

Under the assumption that there would be a few thousand people here in the [Plains],
waste of all kinds was sure to pile up if left undealt with, making the casino filthy in
no time at all. After all, there was only so much cleaning could do.

Meanwhile, even though the inn managed by Duke was the place these workers could
stay for extremely cheap rates, it became full and unable to accept more guests.
Because of that, workers that were hired to build the facilities around the casino as
well as those that were hired to attend to those facilities were forced to either sleep in
tents prepared by the merchants or freeload at an acquaintance’s place. The prefabs
the Dwarf Smith mentioned should dramatically improve the housing situation faced
by those workers.
“…just don’t do too much of a good job, okay? We don’t want to compete with the
merchants. So, tell Duke to lower the rent of the prefab houses to half of normal, but
also that only the casino’s personnel may stay at those.”

“Understood! We’ll arrange for things to go like that.”

While having a cheap inn that could accommodate a large number of people was great,
there were the merchants that built their own inns to consider. Their target guests
were the tourists coming for the casino, while our inn’s were those that worked there.

There was no need for us steal each other’s guests.

Besides, the prefabs were, at best, a stop-gap measure. The end goal for these workers
was to get them to buy their own house and reside here in Avalon. Even if I had to hand
out financial assistance, that must happen. Hopefully, the house construction boom
happening at the moment would help too for that.

“You really thoughtful to what the humans need, Procell-sama.”

“Well, we do need their emotions in order to live, after all. It’s just a matter of respecting
them.”

This wasn’t the only time we were considerate of the humans.

For example, I had ordered the Dwarf Smiths to not accept any commissions other
than blacksmithing commissions from the humans. If they really wanted to, they could
easily snatch away all construction, blacksmithing, alchemy works and more in the
city. But if they did that, that would result in less business and thus less humans in
Avalon.

Managing a city wasn’t easy.

At any rate, it seemed like the casino would be operational next week as planned.

The day this dream-like facility would manifest its ability to bring prosperity to Avalon
was near.

Along with the opening, I was expecting the influx of a large number of humans with
high-quality emotions for us to lavish. I am going to get stronger again!
And then, something else I was looking forward to had arrived.

“Finally. She didn’t reply as soon as I had hoped, so I was getting a bit worried there.”

A blue bird had perched itself on my shoulder. It carried a letter from Stolas.

“So, she’s accepted… thank goodness.”

Previously, I had sent her a letter that proposed an activity that would make both of
our forces stronger.

Thankfully, she accepted it. So, I planned to go to her dungeon later.

If this thing worked, it could eliminate a weakness of the Darkness Dragons while also
giving a tremendous boost in attack power to Stolas’s side.
It was finally the day for the casino to open.

There was going to be an opening ceremony wherein I was to cut the gorgeous tape
that was hanged in front of the casino building. Honestly, I was quite excited.

Since a while ago, Hippogriffs were landing one after another. And each time one
landed, finely dressed people exited from the carriage it carried.

This was thanks to the airports for the Hippogriffs being operational. That being said,
the number of airports outside of Avalon was still too few. Of course, we aimed to
increase that number, but that would have to come later.

Similarly, golem-drawn carriages that ferried humans from other cities were coming
and going one after the other. We had opened this service to the public in accordance
to the casino’s opening.

“Not a bad showing for the first day.”

Including Conanna and his Curtrude Company, merchants had been actively advertising
about the casino, and thanks to their invited guests, its first day of operation would be
a huge success.

Soon enough, I would be delivering the opening speech.

To calm my nerves, I took a deep breath.

And when I took a look around, my face slackened.

Those girls really did it.

Through the efforts of the Dwarf Smiths and the High Elves, both the water and sewer
systems as well as the outer walls in the [Plains] were already finished.
The humans deserve credit too, for they had filled the area around the casino with
numerous food carts, inns, restaurants, and souvenir shops to name a few. They had
made the place bustling with activity.

I had no idea things would be like this in such a short amount of time.

Incredible, truly incredible. What a happy miscalculation.

A short while after, I looked at my pocket watch and saw that it was time to begin the
opening ceremony, the thing the many guests that had gathered at the admission gate
was looking forward to.

And so, I took the mic and spoke.

“Good day, everyone. I am Procell, the head of Avalon and the owner of this casino. At
long last, I can unveil to you Fafnir, the amazing casino that we from Avalon are so
proud of. Here, you can play casino games from all over the world, conducted by
famous dealers. We also offer the chance to see flying dragons race against one
another, something I’m sure you won’t find anywhere else but Avalon. For now though,
please look up to the sky! May these flying dragons bless you!”
Following my instruction, the humans looked up. When they did, five Darkness Dragons
each wearing an ornament of a unique color appeared, flying in perfect formation.

With just that, cheers of wonder arose from the humans.

However, that wasn’t all. The Darkness Dragons then put on aerial acrobatics show.
They flew high in the sky and then swooped down. Then, without slowing down one
bit, they ascended and did loops three times. To finish the looping off, the dragons did
a Cuban figure eight.

It was awe-inspiring, beautiful, and majestic. Not surprisingly, the humans gave
thunderous applause to it.

And then, the dragons broke formation. Two of them used the smoke flares they
carried under their bellies to draw red-colored lines in the sky. Like that, the two
dragons flew in a symmetrical fashion until they had drawn a red heart in the sky.

At that, the people clapped harder than even before.

As for the other three dragons, they rose higher and used smoke flares that matched
the color of the ornament they were wearing.

And then, by performing a series of complicated aerial maneuvers at high altitude,

they have drawn characters in the sky that stated:

<<Happiness and blessings to you all>>

After reading the message, the humans smiled and yelled in excitement.

For the humans who were going to gamble, this message was perhaps the best gift.

Their work done, the dragons returned.

“Did you like the blessing from the flying dragons? As you saw, our flying dragons have
excellent flying ability and are well-behaved. Go and watch them race, maybe even bet
on them. If you do, who knows, their dinner might just become extra delicious today.”
When I said so, the humans laughed.

“Well, that’s enough talk. It will be better for you to experience the greatness of the
casino yourselves. And so, I hereby declare Fafnir to be open!”

Using the scissor that a Mythological Fox handed to me, I cut the ribbon placed on the
casino’s entrance.

That Mythological Fox and I then placed a hand on each part of the double doors,
pushed forward, and beckoned the guests to come inside. They rushed inside almost
as though it was a stampede.

I guess the Darkness Dragons’ demonstration was effective.

I could tell because many powerful emotions were flowing to me already.

“Let’s go check how things are inside after a while.”

Once I have confirmed that the rush had settled down, I planned to walked inside
together with the Mythological Fox.

And so, we began walking around.

The interior design of the casino had been completely finished. It inspired both greed
and aspiration.

To set the mood, the orchestra hired by Conanna was playing wonderful and pleasant
tunes one after the other.

This being their first official day of work, I half expected them to be quite rattled, but
the dealers approved by Conanna were truly amazing. Whether it be the roulettes, the
card games, the dice games, or whatever gambling game we had, the playing guests,
each and every one of them, were in a daze.

The serving crew was top-notch too. A lot of the senior staff were doing their own job
while not forgetting to support the less experienced ones.
All this would have been impossible for me and my monsters. I was so glad I relied on
the humans again.

The bar in the first floor seemed to be doing quite well. The Mythological Fox with me
seemed entranced by it as well, actually.

“If only we can try that out right now.”

“Yes, it looks so much fun.”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t let the guests see me just playing around on our opening day.
But maybe some other time, as a guest myself and not as the owner, I could… taking a
breather once in a while was important too, after all.

After surveying and enjoying the first floor, we decided to move to the second floor.

As soon as we arrived on the second floor, we noticed an awfully long line.

Once a guest had paid for their bet on the dragon race, they would be given a ticket.
By showing this ticket to the proper staff at the theater, they would then be given
permission to enter. After the particular race had finished, they would then be asked
to temporarily asked to exit. If they had tickets to the next races, the process was then
repeated. That was our system.

By the way, in order for the guests to chose on which dragon to bet on, another screen
showing the dragons participating on each race was prepared outside of the theater.

It had been only been about 15 minutes since the sale of the tickets for the first race
went live, but it had already sold out. The line was for the seats of the succeeding races.

“Are the theaters too small? But that can’t be the case; never mind the second race,
we’re already selling the tickets for the third race.”
Limited by the screen size, the maximum number of guests that could watch a screen
at once was 500.

Furthermore, the other large screen was already displaying the odds for the first and
second races. The odds were supposed to be displayed only when the seats had all
been sold or when it was at most an hour before the race.

Given that it was far too early for the second race—the first race hasn’t even started—
it could only mean that even the seats for the second race has already been sold out.

It could be because it was the first day of operation and people were just excited of the
unknown, but if this kind of traffic continued, it might become necessary to add
another theater.

Our next stop was the space for the tenants.

The merchants that were lucky enough to be picked to be tenants had all opened their
respective stores.

As to be expected, there were many gift shops and restaurants. The restaurants made
full use of the fact that almost any ingredient from all over the world could be procured
here in Avalon and thus prepared dishes that could not be eaten in most other places.
Some were new variations of existing dishes, while some were even entirely new.

Furthermore, in anticipation of the rich people that were bound to come, there were
quite a few jewelries stores as well as stores for expensive but high-quality clothes.

“Frog-shaped cakes, frog-shaped cakes! Avalon’s specialty product! Oh, but we don’t
offer just the regular frog-shaped cakes, we’re also selling golden frog-shaped cakes
that will bring you good fortune!”

A frog was selling frog-shaped cakes. My guess for why the golden colored ones were
like that was that due to the increased amount of egg yolk rather than anything
extraordinary.

Anyway, I knew who that frog was. It was [Viscosity] Demon Lord Ronove. He was
lucky enough to win a spot in the tenant lottery.

It might not be case in terms of being a Demon Lord, but as a merchant, he had quite
the talent. The peculiarity of the frog-shaped cakes, the sweet and delicious-seeming
aroma it gives, the strategy of saying that the golden variant would bring fortune, and
the convenience that it could be eaten while walking all contributed to his shop
attracting more guests than the others.

As I passed by, our eyes met.

After saying that he was taking his break to his assistants, he walked toward me.

“Business seems great, Ronove.”

“All thanks to you! The combination of humans’ greed for good luck and their
happiness from eating my delicious frog-shaped cakes, oh, it’s so exquisite. This is the
first time I’ve tasted such emotions. I am truly grateful to you, Procell.”

“Keep up the good work. The more delicious emotions you get, the more I get too, after
all.”

“But of course! I’ll work hard until these frog-shaped cakes are famous all over the
world! Someday, I’ll have branches in every city of the country!”

He definitely seemed enthusiastic.

After bowing repeatedly and then forcing me to take some golden frog-shaped cakes,
he returned to work.

I might as well taste it. I see, the color really isn’t just because of food coloring.

Considering my rule for the tenant spot—the one about having the lowest-earning
merchant being evicted—his cheap frog-shaped cakes put him in a disadvantage. For
that reason, it made sense that he increased his prices, but in exchange improved the
quality. He even added the allure of good fortune.

My estimation of him had grown slightly better.

Before continuing on, I decided to grab some more cakes so that I could give them to
Kuina and the girls later.

Let’s see, I think the first race should start some time soon.
 2

My next stop was the theater. More specifically, the VIP room in it. It was a very
spacious glass-sided room.

In there pleasantly chatting while enjoying alcohol were Conanna and the VIP guests
he had invited. There were a fair number of VIP guests today because, again, it was the
casino’s opening day. Among them were lords of cities which didn’t have Hippogriff
airports yet, foreign royalties, and many others of similar caliber.

Perhaps recognizing me from the opening ceremony earlier, these guests greeted me
upon my arrival.

To that, I responded with a wide smile.

These people had the power to influence one way or the other the establishment of
the Hippogriff airports as well as the promotion of our city in their territory. So, to
attract more people to Avalon, I was willing to socialize with them as much as they
wanted to.

“So, you’re the famous Procell-sama of Avalon I’ve heard so much of lately.”

“To turn this once empty plot of land into a metropolis like this in just lifetime must
take amazing talent, doesn’t it?”

“Procell-sama, is it true that you’re really a sage, and that you use that power of yours
to make miracles happen?”

“Do you have any plans to settle down soon? If so, I actually have a daughter…”

While forcing myself to keep smiling, I interacted with each one of them.

What a pain, the people here are greedier than even the ones completely into the casino.

It wasn’t just my imagination. It was very evident that to them, I was already just a
being that they could use to further themselves.

Thankfully, Conanna was there to support me.

He had successfully helped me to avoid making any promises to these influential

people in such a way that they didn’t feel slighted.
This level of finesse made me reflect on how inexperienced I still was.

“Everyone, the race is about to begin soon. Why don’t we all enjoy that for now?”

Just a while after Conanna said so, the whole theater got dark and the figures of the
Darkness Dragons were seen on the gigantic screen.

The dragons exuded intensity that was leagues apart what they had shown in the
mock race before.

The high-resolution of the screen allowed us to see each and every scale on the dragons
while the stereophonic sound system allowed us bask in their presence.

Naturally, even the humans around me changed their focus to the dragons.

Before the actual race began, the Darkness Dragons were introduced in a detailed and
passionate manner. So much so that it made the understanding of each dragon’s
characteristics and strengths easy to grasp.

…wait a minute. This voice, isn’t it Ruhe’s? Good grief, does that girl love festivities so
much that she forced her way into doing that?

I wanted to complain, but it couldn’t be denied that her explanation did liven the place
up.

And then, a background music began playing. It was the kind of tune that amped you
up whether you wanted to or not.

The crowd ready, the race finally began. Five hundred pairs of eyes were fixed to the
screen, watching as the Darkness Dragons flapped their wings.

Much like the mock race, one dragon flew ahead of the rest to handle the camera and
shoot the others.

In the next moment, the competing dragons crossed the starting line. They raced
through the complicated course, performing aerial maneuvers more difficult than the
ones they pulled off during the opening ceremony.

All the while, Ruhe commentated on the race and thus made the crowd even more
excited.
I could feel their excitement flowing into me and it was delicious.

And then, just like that, the dragons were halfway through the course. After coming
out of a series of turns, they were to fly in a long and straight path.

At that timing, while Ruhe asked the audience members to look up, the ceiling opened
up and the screen turned off.

And what the audience members saw was the Darkness Dragons flying as low as
possible without triggering the effects of the dragons’ [Awe]. Anyone that saw those
dragons were speechless, some even forgot to breath.

Once all of the dragons had passed through, the ceiling was closed and everyone’s
attention returned to the screen.

After a while, the dragons reached the final straight pathway. The background music
and Ruhe’s commentary only got more intense.

Giving it all they had left, the dragons raced at the speed of sound. In the next moment,
the winner was determined. That honor went to Red Rouge.

A chorus of cheers and screams erupted.

The moment the dragons crossed the finished line, the unbelievably powerful
emotions of the 500 people watching flowed into me. It was nothing like earlier. It felt
like my chest would explode. It hurt. It physically hurt.

This is supposed to happen six times a day? Haha, this is going to drive me mad. It’s so
intense, yet it doesn’t show any sign of calming down any time soon.

Everyone in the VIP room seemed to have forgotten about everything else too, entirely
entranced by the ecstasy the dragons’ race had brought them.

Nonetheless, I had to return to working. So, I looked up to the ceiling and calmed down
even if by only a little.

“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Fafnir’s dragon race. To those that won in the first
race, congratulations. To those that didn’t, go get revenge on the next ones.”
When I said so, the VIPs finally snapped back to reality.

“I had no idea the dragon races can be this amazing.”

“I have to boast about this once I return to my country.”

“They’re more fascinating than what the legends say.”

“I lost this time, but I’m surely going to win in the next one!”

In their excitement, they forgot about me and talked about the race among themselves.

Conanna saw that chance. While pretending to engage in idle chitchat, he pushed his
demands.

Meanwhile, I saw that chance as the opportunity to take my leave. Things might have
turned ugly if I stayed.

And so, I rushed to the toilet of a private room.

“Geez, it’s like my strength is leaking out of me… My Demon Lord powers are going
haywire.”

From the moment the race ended, the excessively strong emotions had been driving
my powers out of control.

I was familiar with this sensation. I had felt this before when the Darkness Dragons
bombed the group of knights in my war against the humans.

In other words, I was on the verge of unwillingly activating [Awakening].

Needless to say, it wasn’t the time nor place to expose my true nature.

“…until I’ve settled down, I mustn’t meet with Kuina and the others. There’s no telling
what might happen.”

On top of emotions I would get from the races six times a day, there was also the strong
emotions from the casino’s first floor flowing constantly into me. And this was to
happen each and every day.

Indubitably, I had made the step forward in the right direction with opening a casino.

From then on, while still trying to calm myself, I made the rounds and inspected some
other things.

Halfway through it, I was surprised to see some of my monsters that were off-duty
playing. It would seem that even they were interested in the casino.

Especially Ruhe.

“I’m the commentator, so I know best which one’s the fastest!”

While confidently saying such things, she paid a large amount of money to bet on one
of the dragons. Everything was going so well until the dragon she betted on went out
of bounds. In an instant, she was at the verge of tears.

I sat down somewhere, looked over my shoulders to see that no one would notice, and
then summoned my [Demon Lord Book]. While taking a sip of my wine, I opened the
book.

“This much in just one day?”

When I looked at my DP, I found that I had earned several days’ worth of DP in just one
day.

Such was the effect of more than a thousand people giving off exceedingly strong
emotions.

Thanks to that, I had earned enough to buy a [Maelstrom]. And if this was to go on, I
estimated that I could even buy one Maelstrom every fortnight.

Of course, I could do various other things with DP such as directly buying monsters
from the book.

Speaking of which, I should buy an Abyss Howl. If it performs like expected, I’ll buy a
Maelstrom right away.
Ever since the casino opened, a great amount of activity could be observed in Avalon
every day. Our rate of acquiring repeat guests was high and so was our rate of
acquiring new ones that heard of us and our casino through word of mouth.

One reason for such increases is the improved accessibility to our city given by the
additional Hippogriff airports.

However, there was one problem arising from this.

“Wow, our casino’s overflowing with guests. It seems my estimate was indeed naïve.
I’m so glad now that we didn’t build the building for just 500 people.”

Fafnir was built under the assumption that it would entertain an average of a thousand
guests. Although it could host up to a maximum of 2,000 people, there were also the
dealers and the staff members to consider.

The closer we try to go to the limit, the less the guests’ satisfaction would become.

For the moment, I was considering either rearranging the current layout, replacing
some staff with more capable people, or just simply adding more space. Whichever we
go with though, it would take some time before they would be implemented.

Because of that, I decided that whenever the guest count would reach a thousand,
further admission would be halted. We would only admit additional guests when
either current guests had exited or when several staff members would take a break.

It was a delicate balancing act. Thanks to this system and Conanna’s decision-making,
we were somehow able to satisfy our guests.

That being said, this did raise other concerns.

For example, some of the guests—after all the trouble they went through to get to
Avalon—would occasionally find themselves unable to enjoy themselves in the casino.
To counteract this, the merchants and I needed to put extra effort in thinking up of
other ways the guests could pass their now plenty free time.

Which shouldn’t be hard considering Avalon was already full of fascinating things
gathered from all over the world even before the casino.

Another way to think about it was that it gave the other things in Avalon a good chance
to develop.

“It’s surprising to see how much those wanting to immigrate here has increased after
the casino has opened.”

The more recreational facilities were in Avalon, the more employees were needed to
man them. Also, there were some people too into gambling in the casino that had
chosen to settle down here. Whatever the case might be, they ultimately decided that
it would more convenient to just settle here than to travel back and forth.

Because of that, the number of those wishing to permanently reside here were greatly
more than anticipated.

“Things are going so well. It’s almost too good to be true, sometimes. There are
miscalculations here and there, but they’re mostly for the better. Well, no use thinking
about it for now. It’s better to focus my attention on testing the capabilities of an Abyss
Howl.”

Abyss Howls were the monsters unlocked when I made Tiro. I was certain they were
above norm, but what I wanted to find out was how above the norm they were.

Depending on today’s results, I could also include them in my deal for tomorrow’s
meeting with Stolas where we would help each other’s forces grow stronger.

For the testing, I went to the [Mine] room.

It was devoid of humans—they would not be allowed entry even if they found the
entrance—and it was spacious, thus making it a good place to go wild.

Even so and the fact that it had always been useful, I was thinking of removing this
dungeon room in the near future. The [Mine] room was located in the same dungeon
floor as the city, and Avalon had been becoming cramped. There was no easy way to
deal with the increased population, so I thought why not relocate the [Mine] room in
the newly added floor and in its stead place another [Plains] room.

“Oto-san, I’m so excited to see the new kid!”

“Gaugau♪”

“Fufu, the new kids would be fine. Yeah, no need to worry… ugh, I wish I had some
money for alcohol right now. Hey, hey, when the new kid gets here–”

“…Ruhe-sama, please keep your gambling to a moderate level. You’re making even our
lord feel dismayed.”

Four of my monsters were with me in the room.

The Abyss Howls could potentially form another main force of our war potential, so
Kuina, the top monster, was here. Similarly, Duke was here because he was the
commander of my monsters. Meanwhile, Tiro and Ruhe were present because they
would be the ones working together with the Abyss Howls in the other dimension.

Additionally, a few Mithril Golems were here as well. They were to be the Abyss Howl’s
test dummies. According to Rorono, so long as we don’t break the golem cores, we
could go as wild as we wanted.

The always cheery Ruhe wasn’t so cheery today.

She had gambled and lost all of her wages and bonuses in the casino, leaving her
penniless.

Being penniless wasn’t a real, life or death problem for her, considering that she was
a monster and thus didn’t need food to live. But then again, without alcohol to enjoy,
she was in a rather bitter mood.

I felt sorry for her, but I knew I mustn’t help her. For if I did, she would only get more
and more addicted to the casino.

“Once I get next month’s salary, I’m going to win it all back! With interest! It’s just a
couple of days more of waiting. I’m so excited!”

After hearing her say she say she was going to win back her losses, I knew Ruhe was
the type that shouldn’t gamble at all.

Ruhe wasn’t the only one of my monsters that would come to the casino to take a
breather.

For example, Rorono had also gone to it. Out of curiosity, she went to see the building
made by her followers, the Dwarf Smiths, despite being busy with the development of
the Avalon-Ritters. And even though she just intended to have a bit of fun, she
completely dominated on the card game that was much like blackjack using her
incredible memory and calculation skills.

One could theoretically be unbeatable in some card games like blackjack if they
memorized the cards that had been played and then calculated the odds of the other
cards showing up. But then again, memorizing and predicting which of the 312
cards—from 6 decks comprising of 52 cards each—was going to be drawn next was
no easy feat.

By the way, Fafnir gave winners chips that be turned into cash and chips that could be
turned into gift prize. The gift prizes included things that could be procured in
nowhere else but Avalon, making our casino even more popular.

“Ruhe, keep it in moderation, ok?”

“…but maybe bribing the Darkness Dragons beforehand might be the ticket…”

“Ruhe, listen, don’t do that, you hear? It’ll ruin the races for everybody, including you.”

“Ahahaha. I was just joking, patron. Just joking. I will never do such a thing, you know.”

I was absolutely serious. Meanwhile, Ruhe just looked sideways.

Well, whatever, it’s not like there’s anything she can offer the Darkness Dragons that is
worth more to them than the prize of the race.

For the Darkness Dragons, there was no prize better than being able to feast on the
wild animals of the [Forest] area as much as they wanted for a whole day.

In other words, even if I left her alone, Ruhe couldn’t find a bribe that the dragons
would accept.

“Why don’t we get started on today’s agenda? We’re going to make a new comrade,
right?”

“Yes. Thanks to a certain someone, we got a bit distracted.”

Unless we moved on, it would be dark before we even began.

Alright, let’s start.

“[I Shall Compose]”

Upon reciting the words of power, my [Demon Lord Book] materialized.

And when I thought of the Abyss Howls in my mind, the book opened to the page that
was about them.

Featured on the said page was an image of an Abyss Howl, some simple description of
them, and the cost for buying them with DP.

They looked a size smaller than Tiro, but they gave off the impression that they were
just as ferocious.

When I read the description on the page, I had confirmed that on top of having
excellent physical capabilities and sense of smell, they also possessed [Transfer] and
an other-dimension-related ability.

“Now, show yourself, Abyss Howl!”

I paid 1200DP and summoned the demonic dog.

“Gau!”
From the magic array in the air, a huge dark-blue dog appeared.

It had fangs protruding from its mouth that matched its fiendish eyes.

Its ears were relatively small which suggested it didn’t have outstanding hearing. On
the other hand, its nose was big which suggested it had the disposition of a hunter.

“Woah, it’s a tiny Tiro-chan!”

“Guruu ♪”

“While it is a tinier Tiro, isn’t it more the case that Tiro is just too huge? This one will
be generally regarded as huge itself.”

“Hahaha, it looks fierce, doesn’t it? It looks reliable, alright.”

The Abyss Howl seemed to have made a good impression on my monsters.

At any rate, being dog-like, the Abyss Howl seemed to be a monster that understood
the concept of hierarchy. It obediently sat down in front of me and waited for my
instructions.

I took that opportunity to use my Demon Lord powers and look at its stats.

Race: Abyss Howl

B rank
Name: Unnamed
Level: 57
Physical Strength: B+
Endurance: D
Agility: A
Magic: D
Luck: E
Special: B+

Skills:
Dark Roar
Transfer
One Who Lurks In The Shadows
One with the Pack
As was normal for a monster that had other-dimension type abilities, the Abyss Howl’s
stats were low overall. However, given its specialization in Physical Strength and
Agility, it would still be pretty easy to utilize.

Its skills were overall easy to utilize too.

Dark Roar: Launches a roar filled with magic power. If the target is successfully
inflicted, its body will be stiffened and weakened. Chances of success will be halved
for Monsters of A rank and above. When this skill is simultaneously used by a group
of skill-holders, there is a bonus to the success rate.

※Do note that the potency of the weakening and stupefying effects don’t receive any
bonuses, just the success rate.

Transfer: Allows the user to relocate to any location of their home dungeon. By
preparing a pair of transfer arrays—one for the port of origin and one for the
destination—then and only then can transfer outside of the dungeon be possible.

One who lurks in the shadows: Allows the user to enter and exit the other dimension
through a shadow that is larger than the user. It is possible to exit the other dimension
instantaneously, but when doing so, the shadow to be used for exit must be within a
hundred meters of the shadow used to enter.

One with the Pack: When at least ten skill-holders of the same race are present in the
same dungeon room (or within a radius of 1 Km when outside of a dungeon), this skill
will activate, thus granting those skill-holders the ability to share senses with one
another while also increasing their Physical Strength and Endurance by one rank.

There was no further need to state the usefulness of Transfer.

Meanwhile, entering and exiting the other dimension through shadows was wonderful.
Despite the requirement of the shadows having to be bigger than the Abyss Howls
themselves, the fact that shadows were almost always present made it easily
accessible.

However, their skill was different from Tiro’s in the way that theirs needed the exit
point to be within 100 meters of the entry point. The Ocean Singers’ skill too was
limited in such a way when instantaneously exiting from the other dimension. Maybe
for monsters whose rank is lower than A rank, such limitations are applied.

As for Dark Roar, if the enemy was a small fry, it was great. It could be used to disrupt
the activity in a wide area via sound. However, against A rank monsters and above, it
was a skill that could bring ruin to the user. But then again, I never had thoughts of
making the Abyss Howls battle against such monsters.

Lastly, One with the Pack. This was, in my opinion, the centerpiece. It improved their
already impressive Physical Strengthen alongside their rather questionable
Endurance. And, by sharing their senses with one another, they could not only
eliminate their blind spots, but also be able to launch perfectly coordinated attacks. If
they were to form another main force, I needed to prepare many of them anyway, so
this skill was basically just a very delicious cherry on top.

“…But as expected, they had the same weak points as Tiro did.”

The Abyss Howls had very little magic power.

For the sake of today’s experiment, I had summoned this Abyss Howl to have a static
level, meaning it was already level 57. Even then though, its Magic stat of D meant it
could use [Transfer] about only four times a day. Transfer consumed a lot of magic
power, after all.

And considering the magic power consumption of going to the other dimension, it was
probably better to limit the use of Transfer to two times a day. Such a strict limit could
be worked around though by just making more of the Abyss Howls, which once again
I was going to do anyway if they passed today’s experiment.

Well, that’s enough looking at the specs. It’s time to test it.

“Abyss Howl, it seems you have exactly the abilities I was hoping you’d have. It’s time
to show me your speed and strength. You see that Mithril Golem? That will be your
enemy. Show me you can defeat it.”
“Gau!”

The Abyss Howl barked so and then took distance.

Meanwhile, the Mithril Golem readied itself. Being a Mithril Golem, it had power
comparable to a B rank monster. With it as the opponent, we should be able to have a
better understanding on how effective as a monster the Abyss Howls could be.

A moment later, the Mithril Golem fired the Browning M2 heavy machinegun it had
hanging from its shoulder.

Its base form was so good and popular, it was used even by the American army. The
one fired by the Mithril Golem, however, was a model mass-produced by the Dwarf
Smiths to be the Mithril Golems’ standard weapon.

It spat out ten 12.7mm bullets per second, and the speeds those bullets flew travelled
were at three times the speed of sound. Basically, it was one hell of a weapon.

In reaction to the rain of bullets sent its way, the Abyss Howl ran away from the line of
fire using its Speed stat of A and headed toward the shadow of a nearby building. Using
that shadow, it entered the other dimension.

…yup, other-dimension monsters sure are great. So long as they stay there, they’re pretty
much invincible from attacks made in this dimension.

And then, as the golem was searching for the Abyss Howl, the latter jumped out from
the former’s shadow. Thanks to the current time of day, that shadow was large enough
to be used for the Abyss Howl’s skill.

In the air like that, the Abyss Howl went for a bite at the back of the Mithril Golem’s
neck, thrusting its fang into the golem’s heavy armor. The golem swung its arm, but
the Abyss Howl simply did a flip before it could be hit.

After the Abyss Howl adjusted its posture in mid-air and landing safely, I interrupted
the fight.

“Alright, Abyss Howl, Mithril Golem, you can stop now. We’ve seen enough.”
Now that I had seen not only the Abyss Howl’s stats but also its performance in actual
combat, I no doubt had a deeper understanding of it.

It was definitely a monster that could benefit a lot from the numbers that a [Maelstrom]
would provide.

That said, I also found some flaws. One was that they could use more attack power.
When the Abyss Howl thrusted its fangs into the golem’s neck, the bite was rather
shallow. Ideally, I would like them to have enough attack power to destroy even the
Mithril Golems.

Maybe when she’s done with the development for the Avalon-Ritters, I’ll go ask Rorono
for some help.

“So, what are your impressions?”

I asked so to my monsters who had been watching.

“They pass! Kuina has no objection to making them be another main force!”

“Gaugau!”

“Well. they’re not bad. If they were to cooperate with the Ocean Singers, our
dominance in the other dimension will be secured more than ever.”

“My lord, I think we can use them even outside of the other dimension. They’ll make
fantastic land units with their mobility. Moreover, having monsters that can use
Transfer will surely widen the range of strategies we can employ.”

I was of the same opinion as them.

So, the pros far outweighing the cons, I decided to buy a [Maelstrom] that would
continuously produce Abyss Howls. In fact, once I’ve earned enough DP, I intended to
buy one more [Maelstrom] so that the Abyss Howls could be used both as other
dimension combatants and land forces.

120,000 DP per [Maelstrom] was indeed a large expenditure, but even with just the
casino, I could swiftly recover it.
And so, following the Darkness Dragons which were our aerial forces, I had obtained
a main force in the form of the Abyss Howls. From here on, it was just a matter of
steadily increasing their numbers and using their powers for the future of Avalon.
Riding a Darkness Dragon, I traveled to Stolas’s dungeon.

In order to make both of our war potential stronger, I proposed an idea to Stolas, which
she thankfully accepted. This trip was to make that idea a reality.

“Oto-san, it’s so great that air trips are so common now!”

“Well, travel via the sky is the fastest, after all.”

Kuina, my guard, said so with a merry voice.

In the old days, the mere sight of a dragon would cause an uproar, but now that they
had become famous enough to become another symbol of Avalon, I could openly fly
out on top of one and no one would be surprised.

In fact, because they were much faster and stronger than the Hippogriffs, I had even
received requests that asked if they could use the dragons to transport their stuff. I
turned down such requests though, not because we didn’t have enough Darkness
Dragons, but rather because their [Fear] skill would mean instant death to the humans
who dared get close.

“Ah, Oto-san, have you heard from Rorono-chan?”

“Hmm? About what?”

“Well, apparently, while investigating the [Forest] and [Mine] rooms for materials to
be used for the new Avalon-Ritters, she had made some discoveries. What she
basically told me was that we now have a self-sustainable supply of raw materials for
our explosives.”

“That’s definitely the first I’ve heard of it. Once I find the time, I’ll look into it.”
The raw materials for the bombs the Darkness Dragons use for aerial bombing as well
as the MOAB prepared in the deepest floor of my dungeon couldn’t be found in this
world, forcing us to completely rely on my [Creation] to produce such things.

Basic gunpowder and such could be procured, but the power of those just weren’t
enough. Because of that, about 90% of my use of [Creation] was dedicated to supplying
those unprocurable rare metals and chemicals, like RDX for example.

If we could find a self-sustaining supply of those materials, that would mean I could
use my [Creation] more freely than before.

…there are a lot of things I’ve been wanting to make.

“It’s Rorono-chan, I’m sure she’ll make amazing things with those materials!”

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m looking forward to it.”

If, in the end, Rorono could only make things of inferior quality compared to the things
we were currently using in Avalon, I wouldn’t mind at all. It would still be quite
exciting.

I was so glad to hear of this good news before my meeting with Stolas.

“Kuina, hold on to something. We’re going to descend soon.”

“Yay ♪”

After I confirmed that Kuina had held on to me from behind, I pulled the dragon’s reins
and made it swoop down.

At last, we were at Stolas’s dungeon.

Upon arriving at Stolas’s dungeon, we were guided to the usual room.

And after a while of waiting, Rozelitte the angel-type monster guided us along.

Actually, there was one other monster I didn’t notice until I looked closely. It was a
miniature jade dragon. In other words, it was Enlil the Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut.
His original form was too large, making it hard for him to enter rooms and thus hard
for him to protect Stolas. But in this tiny form, he could always be near her.

Kuina raised her hand and greeted him with a yo. Enlil, meanwhile, acknowledged her
back.

Seeing these two kids communicate like that, it seemed like Kuina and Enlil had gotten
quite close.

“Sorry for making you come all the way here. I’ve just been a bit too busy lately.”

Until very recently, Stolas had lost her Demon Lord powers and stayed in Avalon to
recover.

As to be expected from that absence, the work she needed to do had piled up.

“Don’t worry about it. I was the one that proposed this matter… by the way, your new
dress suits you. And it seems you’ve changed your perfume too. It smells nice.”

“Fufu, thanks for noticing. I’m going for something a little adult-like.”

Stolas bashfully said so.

She had always been attentive to how she dressed. In fact, each time we met, she wore
something new. I was actually looking forward to what she was going to go with today.

“Well, let’s get down to business, shall we? I’m guessing you’ve already bought a
[Maelstrom] for the monster two ranks below Enlil…?”

“Naturally. There’s no way I wouldn’t want one B rank monster—which normally can
only be made through medal synthesis—each day. So much so that I actually bought it
as soon as I regained my powers as a Demon Lord.”

Having an unbelievably strong monster wasn’t the only advantage of making an S rank
monster.

Demon Lords who could make only up to A rank monsters were allowed to buy with
DP only up to C rank monsters. On the other hand, if one was somehow able to make
an S rank monster, up to the B rank monster in the same lineage could be bought with
DP. Mass production via a [Maelstrom] became possible too.

“Being able to mass-produce B rank monsters is indeed powerful, but it’s not
foolproof. Especially if your forces are leaning too much on one aspect.”

This issue was present even in Avalon.

Preparing a lot of a certain B rank monster was great, but there were other things to
consider such as attribute affinities.

In the Darkness Dragons’ case, they had the Death attribute and that made them
extremely frail against attacks that were of the holy attribute. In other words, if the
Darkness Dragons fought against enemies of the same rank that could use attack of
the holy attribute, there was a real risk of them being annihilated one-sidedly. So much
so that it would still be the case even if the Darkness Dragons outnumbered the
enemies.

And if the Darkness Dragons do get annihilated, our air defenses, which relied heavily
on them, would be in trouble.

Sure, Aura and the High Elves could somehow cover up for it, but that might make
accomplishing their own task harder for them.

So, if possible, I would like B rank flying monsters that were not weak against holy
attacks.

For that reason, I needed to cooperate with Stolas.

“I think so too. The monster two ranks below Enlil, the B rank Tempest Wyverns, are
undeniably powerful monsters, but they’re quite frail and are lacking in attack power.
So, I want monsters that have fight-deciding strength, like your Darkness Dragons.”

Stolas shared my worries.

As a main force, the Tempest Wyverns were powerful monsters. Their speed exceeded
even the Darkness Dragons’. And with their wind and lightning magic, whether long-
range or short-range, they had an answer.
However, in exchange for the swiftness of their attacks, it lacked weight and therefore
power. If and when a durable enemy appears, they would have a hard time dealing
with it.

So, I wanted flying monsters not weak to holy attacks and she wanted flying monsters
that had high attack power. Considering we had what the other wanted, there was just
one thing we needed to do.

“Stolas, do you have a place nearby where the dragons can fly around freely?”

“Yeah, it’s been prepared. Go show me the power of your Darkness Dragons, okay?”

“That’s my line. Let me confirm the ability of your Tempest Wyverns.”

“Sure thing. And, if we both are satisfied with what we see, we go with what we planned?”

“Yeah. Let’s start with five per month.”

We were planning a regular exchange of monsters.

Because each [Maelstrom] produced one particular monster per day, we could
exchange dragons without much cost. And by doing it regularly, we could hopefully
solve the issue of our troop composition being uneven.

That being said, it was just natural for us to have reservations on this deal until we had
seen the actual performance of the other’s monster.

To confirm the performance of the other’s monster and then make a contract if
everything was satisfactory, that was the reason for today’s meeting.

“…Procell, I just want to ask: will you also be willing to exchange your Abyss Howls? I
do want air units that have high attack power, but more than that, I want mobile
ground units as well as other-dimension units. The Abyss Howls will certainly
strengthen my dungeon in those two fronts.”

The truth was, I had anticipated this development and thus brought along in my
[Storage] one Abyss Howl. After all, if I was in Stolas’s shoes, I would unquestionably
ask for them.
Her Tempest Wyverns were alluring.

Monsters that were of the holy attribute usually had low defenses, making the
Tempest Wyverns’ low attack power a non-issue. Then, factoring in their speed and
other abilities, holy monsters won’t be a problem.

Perhaps most of all, having them would make taking full control of the sky much easier
than if we only had the Darkness Dragons. Their ability to manipulate the wind made
them one of the best support units.

But then again, the point of this deal was to diversify our troops. If I were to exchange
two kinds of monsters to get just one kind, I couldn’t help but feel I was on the losing
side of this deal.

“I understand. If we both find the monsters’ abilities and performance to be

satisfactory, I will give you a number of Darkness Dragons and Abyss Howls equal to
the number of Tempest Wyverns you will give me. I’m willing to do this, but know that
you will owe me a favor that I will someday surely collect.”

“Oh, thank you. I will keep that in mind. It seems I keep finding myself owing you.
Someday, I will definitely repay you properly.’

I smiled a little at that.

This is Stolas we’re talking about. When she becomes the superpower she’s definitely
going to be, I’ll be glad to be on her good side.

After that, we began walking to the place she prepared so that our monsters could
demonstrate their capabilities.

I was a little shocked to see that her dress had a huge opening at the back.

“You know, if you want, I wouldn’t mind at all if you paid me back with your body.”

With an ah, Stolas stumbled and fell.

When she turned around to face me, I saw that her face was bright red.

And then, as though startled and shaken, her mouth kept opening and closing, over
and over.

“Wha– wha– what do you think you’re saying?!”

“It’s a joke. Don’t take everything I say to heart. Anyway, let’s get a move on. I want to
see the abilities of your Tempest Wyverns as soon as possible.”

“……A-a joke?…… then please stop joking like that and be more serious.”

After saying that, Stolas stood up and then walked briskly toward our destination.

And then, I felt Kuina pinching the back of my hand, her face all swelled up.

“Oto-san’s a pervert”

“…I’m sorry. And not just to you. I’ll go apologize to Stolas later.”

Obviously, what I said to Stolas was just crazy.

Recently, due to the explosive amounts of high-quality emotions I was getting every
day, strange things had been happening.

One of which was that my dark side was unconsciously surfacing.

If this keeps up, I was liable to do something really crazy, like that time I laid my hands
on Fel… I should probably visit a brothel soon. Things might settle down once I’ve
released these pent-up urges.

After a while of walking, we arrived at a [Valley] room.

A lot of Stolas’s monsters possessed the ability to fly. For them, a place like this—
where steep cliffs were plenty, decent footholds were few, and the sky vast—was the
ideal hunting grounds.

And so, there, we released the monsters we had in our [Storage].

“Stolas, your Tempest Wyverns are amazing. So, dragons that can control the wind are
able to fly this fast, huh. And that lightning strike too. To be able attack—without the
use of explosives—the enemies on the ground while still high in the sky, it’s quite
enviable.”

“Your Darkness Dragons deserve praise too. Having such high specs, it’s cheating I say.
This is the attack power I’m looking for! But it isn’t just them. The power of your Abyss
Howls in a land battle is breathtaking! It’s almost impossible to believe that they’re
also other-dimension monsters.”

Our monsters demonstrated their abilities without holding back.

Stolas seemed to have taken a liking to my monsters.

Likewise, I was pleased with her Tempest Wyvern. It exceeded even my expectations
of it being good support units for the Darkness Dragons.

Like that, Stolas and I looked at each other and smiled.

“I want to have your Tempest Wyverns at all costs.”

“And I want your Darkness Dragons and Abyss Howls”

“Then, it seems we have a deal.”

Stolas and I then shook each other’s hand. However, perhaps thinking on the tactless
remark I made earlier, her face got red again.

Still, the deal was made.

Each month, we were to give the other ten monsters: 10 of her Tempest Wyverns for
5 each of my Abyss Howls and Darkness Dragons.

From being composed wholly of Darkness Dragons, Avalon’s aerial corps was now a
mix of the two dragons. This was a huge step forward.

“Hey, look, it looks like the dragons are trying to do something.”

“I wonder what those kids are up to”

While flying in formation, the Darkness Dragon and the Tempest Wyvern communicated
through roars. After a fair bit of that, they began.

The Tempest Wyvern flew at full flying speed and took the lead. Then, it used its wind
magic to create a path. By using that path, the Darkness Dragon was able to follow at
a speed comparable to the average speed of a Tempest Wyvern.

They can do even this? I can’t wait for the day they’ll dance in the sky of Avalon.

“Amazing. If they can do this, they should be able to do more, right? But, hey, Procell…
do you have any plans after this?”

“I do, but I can easily clear my schedule. Why?”

There was always work to be done, but thankfully, there was none that needed to be
finished today.

When I answered like that, Stolas suddenly became fidgety. A few moments after that,
it seemed she had somehow found her resolve.

“We-wel–if you want to, do you want to have dinner here? I did my best to make it. I-I
just thought it’s not fair to let you keep treating me to a feast without me ever
returning the favor. Besides, I made you come all this way, it’s the least I can do.”

With anxious, upturned eyes, she tried to guess my answer from my facial expressions.

A homecooked meal by Stolas? How can I say no after hearing that?… wait, is it possible
that this is the real reason she asked for our meeting to be here in her dungeon?

“It’ll be my honor. But I must say, I didn’t know you cooked.”

“Yeah, it’s actually just recently that I’ve finally reached the level where even you won’t
complain after eating the meal. I’m so happy right now. I poured my heart and soul
into making it, you know.”

Stolas smiled as she said so, and I thought it was extremely adorable.
In the background, I saw Rozelitte making a victorious pose while Enlil was going wild
in her arms.

…I have a feeling she’s the one behind all this.

It was just the kind of thing Stolas’s self-appointed sister would do. But as ever,
Rozelitte was such a caring monster.
And so, I stayed and enjoyed Stolas’s cooking.

In terms of just taste, a professional chef’s cooking in the restaurants of Avalon would
most likely be better, but her cooking had other pleasant things going for it.

In end, I ate a bit too much to the point my belly swelled.

I’m so glad I came here today. Not only did I get access to Tempest Wyverns, I was also
able to spend a relaxing time with Stolas. In my books, that makes it all worth it. Thanks
to this, I can face tomorrow with a smile.

After that, I decided to return to Avalon.

She had asked me to stay for a little while longer, but there was a growing risk that I’ll
say something awful like the joke from earlier, so it was best I leave before that.

Upon our departure, Stolas was somewhat disappointed while Rozelitte clicked her
tongue. In contrast, Enlil seemed to be in good spirits based on the roar he gave.

On the way back, I remembered something interesting that Stolas talked about.

Apparently, due to not having that much time left to live, [Dragon] Demon Lord
Astaroth had begun divvying up his monsters and other assets to the members of his
faction. However, his real treasure would only be for the one that would triumph over
the Dragon’s Trial he would be hosting.

“Well, whatever, it doesn’t involve me.”

For Stolas, this was most likely a very important matter, but it was not so much for me
who was nothing more than a friend to the [Dragon] Demon Lord.

Still, I was curious as to what that real treasure could be.

I guess I should ask Stolas about it after. And then, I should also go drink one more time
with the [Dragon] Demon Lord before he’s gone.

I was indebted to him, but more than that, I just wanted to talk to him about a lot of
things. I wanted us to talk and laugh as we enjoyed superb alcohol and extraordinary
meals.
This was the only thing I—the one being left behind—could do for him—the one
leaving.
When I went to exchange monsters with Stolas, we had talked about how the [Dragon]
Demon Lord was starting to distribute his monsters and assets before his remaining
time was up. So, before it was too late, I thought we should go eat and drink at least
once.

However…

“I didn’t expect to have that chance so soon.”

“…Sorry about this, Procell. Yesterday, he just came to my dungeon and said we should
go to yours. I did try to tell him to not go as that will be a bother to you, but he just
won’t listen.”

[Wind] Demon Lord Stolas, my ally and friend, said so with an apologetic look on her
face.

In contrast with her, [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth had quite a merry look on his face
instead of his usual serious countenance.

“So, this is Avalon’s casino, huh. Ooh, it’s giving me the chills.”

“Ast, curb your enthusiasm. I don’t think I need to tell you that it’s inappropriate to be
so excited.”

Chiding the middle-aged Astaroth was the fine-looking young man, [Time] Demon
Lord Dantalian.

“Dan, I’d say it’s more inappropriate to try to act cool and adult-like in a place like this.
Besides, those clothes you’re wearing, aren’t you the one most excited?”
The [Time] Demon Lord was exquisitely dressed with a very stylish suit. It nicely
complemented his beautiful and mature form.

And, to complete the line-up…

“Really, this kid. Why would you build such an amusing thing and not invite me? Can
you imagine my surprise when I came and saw this?”

“…like I said countless of times before, don’t treat me like a child.”

…was [Beast] Demon Lord Marchosias, the brown-skinned beauty with white wolf
ears and white wolf tail.

Yes, all together in front of the casino were the three strongest Demon Lords.

“Procell, well, let’s save why we have come here for later. First, why don’t we enjoy
your casino?”

“I didn’t have much choice in coming here as Ast’s chaperone, but being a wet blanket
is another matter. So, I say, we go have fun… I hear you have Carulet and Banyatta here
in your casino. Why don’t you show us those first?”

Dantalian seemed excited.

The Carulet he mentioned was a card game where the players try to build a winning
hand. Much like poker, psychological warfare was vital to success in this game.

As for Banyatta, it was a dice game where players competed not against the dealer, but
against other players. It was a very popular gambling game at the moment.

“Dan, you seem well-versed in gambling games.”

“Only as much as someone with a small interest in it.”

“…I see”

When talking with [Dragon] and [Time], I didn’t use honorifics anymore. Instead, I
called them Ast and Dan respectively.
To save Marcho back then, I didn’t ask them for their help, I offered fair trades to them.
Since then, the two had asked to not be addressed so formally.

“As for me, I want to see the flying dragon races first. I hear it’s the most popular one.”

“Ohh, you have that kind of thing here? Well, as the [Dragon] Demon Lord, I have to go
see that.”

“Marcho, Ast, the next dragon race isn’t until two hours from now. Until then, why not
play inside to your heart’s content? Dan seems to prefer that, and I think it’s better to
be together.”

Marcho and Astaroth laughed when I pointed out that Dantalian was already walking
toward the casino.

These are very important guests. I have to do my best to please them.

“Gahaha, Dan, this casino thing sure is fun”

“It’s just beginner’s luck. Don’t get carried away!”

“Fumu, despite calling yourself a first-class gambler, you’re just losing this whole time.”

“It’s not over yet. It’s only just begun.”

After enjoying card and dice games, they were now playing roulette.

Employing no strategy whatsoever except perhaps relying on blind luck, Ast had been
winning bets one after the other. So much so that piles of chips had accumulated up in
front him.

On the other hand, Dantalian was constantly losing. He observed, calculated, and
predicted, but it ended up backfiring on him. Out of the many, many chips he bought,
only one remained in front of him.

What an unlucky guy.

“Turn these to chips, please. All of it. I’m going to turn things around starting now!”
Dan took out a pouch full of gold coins from his breast pocket and handed it to a female
staff member. Considering his luck, that was a terrible way of using money.

Anyway, there were various chips in use here in the Fafnir casino, and the ones Dan
exchanged for were the highest valued ones: the platinum chips. Each platinum chip
was worth 10 gold coins. To give an idea, 10 gold coins would be what a higher-ranking
blue-collar worker would earn in a month in Avalon. It was a chip almost entirely for
VIPs.

After receiving his platinum chips, he then placed 30 in one spot.

Two and a half years’ worth of salary wagered just like that. Unsurprisingly, the dealer
and the staff members’ faces became somewhat stiff.

Nonetheless, the dealer had no choice but to spin the roulette.

“Dan, if you don’t mind my asking, how do you make money?”

I was slightly curious so I asked.

One way a Demon Lord could earn money was through gathering the belongings of
the fallen adventurers that came to their dungeon. They would then place these items
into chests and use that to lure even more adventurers, repeating the whole process.

Still, even for a dungeon as large as Dan’s, spending money like this should make a
significant effect on his finances if that was his only means.

“There are lots of ways. Once you become a veteran Demon Lord, it’s easy get rooms
like [Treasure Vault] and [Mine] rooms, and once you got one of those, money isn’t an
issue anymore.”

Dan said so as the dealer made clear no more bets could be placed.

I once read about the [Treasure Vault] room in the Demon Lord Book when I was
checking out all the possible dungeon rooms I could install in my dungeon.
I wasn’t exactly able to verify it at the moment, but what I remembered about it was
that it costed 500,000DP. Very expensive. As for its effects, it produced one treasure
per week. The quality of the produced treasure depended on the Demon Lord’s level.

For 500,000DP, I could buy 4 [Maelstroms] for B rank monsters and still have some
left-over DP. I had the opinion that it was foolish to spend that much DP just for some
treasure.

But now that I think about it, to be able to make once a week a treasure that even a top-
tier adventurer would risk their life for, a [Treasure Vault] room might actually be useful.

Just when my interest for the [Treasure Vault] had grown, the dealer began spinning
the roulette. And so, around and around the ball went.

A first-class dealer would have been able to manipulate the outcome, but due to Dan’s
absurd way of betting as well as his intimidating presence born from the belief that he
would somehow win, the dealer was too overwhelmed to be able to.

So, Dan who originally couldn’t win now had a sliver of a chance.

After a while of nail-biting suspense for everyone involved, the ball stopped.

Looking at the result, the dealer’s face went ghastly pale.

Dantalian won.

Considering where Dan put his chips, his winnings amounted to 27 times the original
amount.

I felt pity for the dealer. Because he let the casino lose an absurd amount of money, his
earnings would most likely be significantly lower for several days.

All in all, it wasn’t such a big deal for the casino, but it was still enough for Conanna to
give a stern lecture to the dealer later.

“Alright, a reversal! We’ve agreed to go drink until the dragon race begins, so this will
have to be the last match. In other words, I’m the winner, Ast.”

“…Psh, one fluke and the tables are turned. But don’t get ahead of yourself; there’s still
the dragon race itself. This time, it’ll be my reversal. With my discerning eye for
dragons, I think that one’s already my win.”

“I do have dragons too, you know. You don’t have a monopoly of them or this discerning
eye you’re talking about.”

The two were really close. If I hadn’t known beforehand, there was no way I would
have believed they weren’t talking with one another for more than a century.

While the two argued which of them was going to win, I noticed Marcho and Stolas
weren’t in sight.

Maybe I should go look for them…

“Procell”

Astaroth called out to me.

Not in his merry-old-man-excited-about-the-casino voice, but in his majestic-veteran-

Demon-Lord tone.

“As you might have already guessed, I came here today not just to play around. Procell,
I value you. And that is why I want to entrust my dragons to you and Stolas. Fumu, let’s
talk more after the flying dragon race. But Procell, what kind of Demon Lord do you
want to be? You can tell me your answer later… until then, I’m gonna go drinking with
Dan! The alcohol in Avalon really are delicious. I’m excited!”

Saying they wanted to recharge before the races begin, the two parted ways with me
and headed to the tenant area in the second floor of the casino.

What kind of Demon Lord I want to be…? I probably should give a proper answer. I’m
also curious as to what he meant with ‘entrust my dragons to you and Stolas’.

While thinking what to answer, I began my search for Marcho and Stolas.
[Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth told me that he was going to entrust his dragons to me
as well.

But why not just to Stolas and his faction? Why me too? Surely, he’s going to tell me
reason later, right?

I thought of that as I scanned the first floor of the casino to look for Marcho and Stolas.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long. I found them exchanging their chips for some gift prizes.

“Ah, Procell, you’ve finally gotten away from those old men, huh? Are you tired?”

“Marcho, you’re from the same batch as those two…”

Those old men would most likely be devastated if they heard Marcho call them that.

As for Stolas, she was so absorbed on picking gift prizes, it seemed like she didn’t even
notice me arrive.

“Found something you like?”

“Kyaa!?… don’t just out of nowhere call out to people like that. That surprised me”

“Ok, but isn’t your surprise a bit too much?”

“Th-that’s ‘cause you…”

…why is she so conscious of me? Can it be because of that tactless joke I made a few days
ago?

I had properly apologized to her afterward, but no matter what I do, once something
had been said, it couldn’t ever be unsaid.
That mustn’t happen ever again. Or at the very least, not later when the explosive
emotions brought by the dragon races come flowing into me.

For now, I cleared my throat and changed the subject.

“…ahem. Looks like you won a lot, what with you visiting this gift corner and all.”

“Yeah, I had great luck.”

If a player wins in Fafnir, on top of the chips that could be exchanged for money, players
also gain a proportional amount of special chips that could be exchanged for gift
prizes. These gift prizes couldn’t be obtained anywhere else but Avalon.

The reason we were going to so much trouble was to safeguard against those that wish
to obtain the prizes purely through the purchasing power of money. If someone could
just buy those prizes without playing, there would be no point to having prizes. So, to
get more people to play—thus giving me more emotions to feed on—I proposed this
method.

Occasionally though, there would be players willing to sell their special chips to non-
players. However, these players generally return again to the casino, so I don’t especially
mind.

Stolas carried a lot of these special chips. Judging by sight, I reckoned she had enough
to get almost any of the prizes.

“I can’t seem to choose… oh, these earrings are pretty.”

“You have exquisite taste. Those earrings are made by Rorono, you know.”

It was the kind of earring that could be clipped on without the need for ear piercing.

It had a beautiful blue gem that looked like a drop of water.

A majority of the prizes we offered consisted of the different kinds of potions made by
Aura as well as the various things made by Rorono and the Dwarf Smiths.
We generally viewed these items as subpar, if not failures, so it was alright to let the
humans have a chance of obtaining them.

“That girl made this? Then, this isn’t some ordinary earring, is it?”

“You’re right. This is a magical tool made with Rorono’s [Materialization]. That skill
allows her to make objects that hold one magic she could personally use. And as she
had demonstrated when communicating with the golems, she is capable of using some
form of telepathy. So, by wearing this, anyone can communicate with others via
telepathy.”

The ability to communicate with others in real time within a dungeon was an
extremely powerful ability to have. Just by improving the rate at which information
was transferred, an army became much more powerful.

“Is it alright to offer such a powerful thing as a prize here?”

“It’s not as powerful as I might have made it sound. It has some shortcomings. First is
that it works only in the same dungeon room or at most 300 kilometers when used
outside of a dungeon. Its greatest fault though is that an earring can only communicate
with its pair. That being the case, we have other, more convenient tools at our disposal.
For the humans though, it should be a miraculous thing, and that’s why it’s one of the
prizes.”

If the range was going to be limited to one dungeon room anyway, the communication
devices I made with [Creation] would be plenty enough. At least those things wouldn’t
be limited to one-to-one transmissions.

By the way, all of my humanoid monsters had been given these communication
devices I made so that they could coordinate with one another better.

“I’ll be taking these.”

Stolas said so as she exchanged her special chips for the pair of earrings. As soon as
she got them, she immediately broke the seal it had.
“Are you sure you’re fine with that?”

“Yeah. I fell in love with it at first sight. It’s just so beautiful. Say, Procell, do you want
to have the other one?”

While averting her gaze, she thrusted one of the earrings toward me.

“I think it’s better to give it to one of your subordinates.”

“I don’t really need a tool for communicating with my monsters. We have Rozelitte for
that.”

Oh yeah, Rozelitte did have that absurdly powerful ability.

Regardless of the physical distance or distance in terms of number of dungeon rooms,

she could communicate via telepathy with anyone belonging in the same army as her.

“Then, why choose the earrings?”

“We’re in same faction, aren’t we? If we get into trouble, it’s better to have one more
way of contacting one another, right? I mean, sure, the range is limited, but it can still
prove useful. More than that, I just want a way to be connected with you, Procell.”

Stolas informed me so in a very thin voice.

She wants to be connected with me? What an incredibly adorable thing to say.

“I understand. I’ll gratefully accept. Thank you.”

“No, no, thank you for accepting.”

She said so and then put one of the earrings on me. To return the favor, I wanted to put
the other one on her. When she raised her face to make it easier for me, I was reminded
of just how stunningly beautiful she was.

“Fufu, it’s kinda bizarre for us to be wearing the same accessory, right? But I’m glad
we are.”

“You know, if a stranger saw us, they might mistake us for lovers.”
After I said so, the two of us motionlessly stared at one another.

We both felt awkward and turned away our gazes. Finding it amusing that we both did
that, we laughed at our silliness.

But then, I heard someone clearing their throat.

“Ahem… Procell, that’s some balls you have, to be brazenly having an affair right in
front of me.”

“A-an affair? Stolas and I are not like that”

“Exactly. Marcho-sama, that isn’t the case between us!”

Stolas and I hurriedly denied the accusation.

Marcho, meanwhile, glared at us with disdain.

“I’ll take your word for it. But for the record, I’d much rather you be open to me about
it than you go sneaking behind my back. If it turns out that you like each other or even
that you two have become lovers, I’m fine with it so long as you come and inform me.
If you don’t, be ready to be punished. Nobody makes a fool out of the [Beast] Demon
Lord.”

A chill went down my spine. I didn’t even want to imagine what Marcho’s punishment
would be like.

<<The second race is about to begin. Those that have bought tickets for the second
race, please proceed to the theater in the second floor.>>

It’s time for that already? Dan and Ast would probably go to the theater by themselves.
The VIP coins I handed them should get them VIP seats.

“Well, let’s go”

“Yeah, let’s. If we don’t hurry, we might miss the main event.”

“Tsk, found a way out. Fine, but don’t forget what I said, you hear?”

Stolas and I somehow managed to escape.

…I didn’t doubt that Stolas cared for me, but even so, I firmly believed that remaining
as we were was for the best.

After a while of walking, we reached the VIP area.

Other than us, many high-profile personalities like high-ranking nobles and successful
merchants were also in the VIP area.

As of late, many people like Conanna would come here often and chat with the others
so that they could build up their personal connections. But then again, perhaps that
was to be expected from such a place.

It was a bit bold of me to bring everyone to the VIP area while the place was like that,
but it was still much preferable to the crowded general admissions area.

And because this was the VIP area, bets could be placed here at any time before the
corresponding race began.

Dan and Ast took advantage of that. They sat on a sofa, drank alcohol, and read the
latest newspaper about the flying dragon races before finally deciding on which
dragon they would bet on.

Their usual majesty was long gone. They were now just two old men.

By the way, they also seemed to have purchased some frog-shaped cakes.

As for us, we proceeded to sit down.

When I saw the old men’s alcohol, it gave me the desire to drink some too. So, I called
on a staff member and ordered us some high-quality red wine.

Dan and Ast did the same because apparently the alcohol they brought in was already
gone.

They’ve been drinking before coming here and yet they still want more?
Like that, we passed the time with some idle chat.

After a while, the race began. It would seem the race’s ability to excite the crowd
affected even the Demon Lords.

Especially Dan. Far from his usually calm and collected self, he clutched his ticket
really firmly and cheered loudly for his dragon.

At that moment, I understood why he didn’t bring along Fel, his beloved daughter. He
would never want to show her this, only the side of him that was a majestic and cool
Demon Lord.

But he’s fine showing it to Marcho?

“Kyuuuuuu! Gau, gau!”

Burning with a sense of rivalry toward the Darkness Dragons shown on the screen,
Enlil cried out from atop Stolas’s shoulder.

“Enlil, do you perhaps want to compete too?”

“Gau!”

…quit it. Please quit it. If you join, it isn’t really a race anymore. At most, it’ll be a race
for second place. The Darkness Dragons will surely be devastated.

Just a few moments after that, the race ended.

Apparently, Ast wasn’t bluffing when he said he could tell which Darkness Dragon was
the best. His bet was spot on.

“Yes!!! I turned the tables on you this time!”

“Damn it”

Astaroth, the winner, laughed loudly while Dantalian, the loser, hang his head.
“Hahaha! Procell, I had a lot of fun today. The gambling, the food, the alcohol, they were
all great. They almost make me want to spend the rest of my life here!”

“That’s great to hear. I hope you use your earnings and splurge on extravagant things
in the city tonight.”

“Of course, of course. Everything is on me tonight. Everyone, come along with me to

the city, alright? Let’s go have fun!”

Upon hearing Astaroth’s generous offer, I started thinking of the most exquisite stores
I could recommend. There had been a number of high-end stores geared toward
nobles and wealthy merchants that were opening in Avalon lately, after all.

The race over, the VIPs exited the room.

The only ones that remained were us Demon Lord. As such, we could now talk as
Demon Lords without worrying that anyone would overhear us.

“Now then, shall we get down to business? I believe there was a reason on why you
guys came here…?”

“Fumu, right. Procell, Stolas, there is something I have to tell the two of you. As you
know, I am not long for this world. For that reason, I’ve been bequeathing the things
I’ve accumulated over the years to others. However, there are some things that are too
much to handle for even the Demon Lords in my faction.”

Astaroth paused for a bit before continuing on.

“Originally, I wanted to entrust it only to you, Stolas, but by yourself, it’s just beyond
you right now. And so, I want both you and Procell to take on the dragon’s trial. By
overcoming the trial, one of you shall inherit my strongest dragons. Moreover, either
Enlil or Duke shall receive [Dragon Emperor] from Caesar, my trump card, and become
a true dragon emperor. I realize that giving you new Demon Lords such things will
incur a penalty and I am fully prepared to receive whatever that might be.”
The sound of the beating of my heart grew loud. The strongest dragon army and
becoming a true dragon emperor, those were doubtlessly great inheritance.

“So, are you two prepared to undertake the dragon’s trial?”

However, there was no way that the trial to ascertain whether we were worthy of such
an inheritance was going to be an ordinary ordeal.

I wonder what the trial is going to be like.

Bidding my loud heart to be silent, I nodded.

The 3 strongest Demon Lords had come to my casino. It wasn’t just to hang around
though. Their real purpose was…

“Hey, come on now. This is the true dragon squadron and the true [Dragon Emperor]
we’re talking about. Be more excited.”

Of course, I knew of his true dragon squadron. During the campaign to rescue Marcho,
Astaroth had used this group to attack the [Black] Demon Lord’s holy capital.

It was an elite force that was comprised of one S rank monster and 19 A rank monsters.

The absurd strength of an S rank monster didn’t need any further discussion, but the
strength of the other 19 was beyond the norm too.

First off, each of the 19 were made to be able to level up. Upon leveling up to their
fullest, their base capabilities were comparable to an S rank monster.

Each of them was also made using the [Dragon] medal, which meant they had the skill
[Berserk]. Essentially, [Berserk] had the tremendous effect of raising a monster’s stats
by one rank, but it was at the cost of the monster’s sanity, turning it into a broken being
that attacked anything it saw.

However, thanks to the S rank monster in the group, Caesar the Emperor Dragon
Typhon, this drawback was rendered null. His skill, the [Dragon Emperor] allowed
him to subdue any dragon in the same army, even if that dragon was under the effects
of [Berserk]. It also allowed him to strengthen the dragons he commanded to the
utmost.

As a whole, there might not be a fighting force that could rival their might. Even if the
Avalon-Ritters were assisted by the Darkness Dragons, they would most probably be
annihilated pretty easily.

“Ast, I’m grateful for the offer, but I don’t think I’m qualified to receive your dragons. I
mean, I’m neither your child nor part of your faction.”

Inheriting such things would surely make me powerful, but I wasn’t convinced that I
should.

“Fumu, maybe I didn’t explain it well enough. I can entrust my true dragon squadron
only to Stolas and you. No one else. After all, without [Dragon Emperor] to control the
dragons, the squadron will just go wild and make one’s army collapse from within.”

Such was the horror of [Berserk].

A monster possessing such a skill was borderline unusable. Normally, Demon Lords
would keep such a monster in their [Storage] and release it only in situations where it
could attack more foes than allies. In the middle of enemy territory, for example.

In fact, Enlil was constantly kept in Stolas’s [Storage] until [Rebirth] was used on him.

“But shouldn’t inheriting the monster that has [Dragon Emperor] along with the rest
solve the issue?”

“It should solve the issue, but that’s not going to happen. You see, Caesar, the one with
the skill, has expressed his desire to go to the afterlife with me. According to him, he’ll
use his ability to turn into a spirit and follow me after my death. At any rate, when the
time comes, the other dragons will need looking after. For that reason, I turn to the
two of you and your dragons. It’s still undeveloped right now, but both Duke and Enlil
do have the skill [Dragon Emperor].”

Duke definitely had the skill, and according to Stolas, Enlil too.

Perhaps it’s a skill that S rank dragons have?

“Ast, what exactly is [Dragon Emperor]? As far as I can tell, it’s just a strengthening
skill that works toward dragons.”
In numerous occasions, I had tried to verify what the skill [Dragon Emperor] actually
does.

The degree to which it strengthened dragons was pretty insignificant, so it didn’t

strike me to be an excellent leadership skill.

I had thought it to be a dud skill.

Moreover…

“I want to know too, Astaroth-sama. Enlil has it too, but it’s not as strong as Caesar’s.
I don’t think Enlil’s can suppress the dragons under the effects of [Berserk] as much
as Caesar’s either.”

Stolas shared the same sentiments. There has to be more to it. It can’t just be a dud.

“Well, that’s because [Dragon Emperor] is a skill that grows. When an ally dragon falls
or when the skill-holder kills another dragon, the strength of that fallen dragon’s soul
is consumed to make the skill grow stronger. Caesar has seen tens of thousands of
dragons fall, making his skill far different from a fledgling’s.”

I see. So, that’s how it is, huh.

Duke has never had a chance to kill a monster from the dragon race, nor has he been
in the unfortunate situation to see a Darkness Dragon fall. Due to those reasons, his
[Dragon Emperor] has never grown stronger.

Enlil was in the same boat.

After all, meeting a dragon in itself was quite rare.

As for Astaroth, he was operating a proper dungeon, so he was using his monsters as
bait to lure in adventurers. Throughout the many years, he doubtlessly had lost a lot
of monsters. And because he was the [Dragon] Demon Lord, many of those monsters
were likely to be dragons, making Caesar’s skill grow stronger.
If I were to make Duke’s skill grow stronger, I could make him purposefully kill some
Darkness Dragons. I didn’t want to do it that way, though. I just couldn’t.

But then, if I was really unwilling to improve Duke’s skill by ourselves, the only
alternative I could see was to steal an already fully improved [Dragon Emperor].

“Ah, I see now why you’re asking the two us… You want our dragons, Duke and Enlil,
to defeat Caesar and take his [Dragon Emperor] for themselves. And then, whoever
gets the true [Dragon Emperor] shall be the one entrusted to lead your elite dragon
force.”

If it was impossible to consume the souls of ten thousand dragons, then one should
aim to consume the soul of one that had already consumed that amount.

That sounded straightforward enough, but because none of the Demon Lords in his
faction had a monster with [Dragon Emperor], Stolas and I truly were the only
candidates.

“Correct. Like I said earlier, I originally wanted to entrust this to just Stolas. However,
I’m afraid Enlil alone is not capable of defeating Caesar. Enlil and Duke together might
be able to, though. And before you ask, yes, Caesar has to fight with all his might.
Otherwise, his [Dragon Emperor] cannot be transferred. That is where Dan comes in.
If you undertake the trial in his [Time] arena, even if your dragons get injured or
worse, get killed, they will be just fine afterward. That sums up the gist of the Dragon’s
Trial.”

I gulped down at the prospect of fighting one of three strongest Demon Lord’s trump
card. Even if there was no other benefit, I might have wanted to give it try anyway.

“Then, I’d absolutely like to give it a go. How about you, Stolas?”

“Of course, me too. I want to preserve as much of Astaroth-sama’s legacy as possible…

but that’s not the only reason I want to do it. I want him to know just how strong I am.
As his child, I am going to give my all in doing this trial.”

Looking pleased with our answers, Astaroth nodded.

“There you have it, Dan. We’re going to be inconveniencing you.”

Astaroth said so to his close friend and then chuckled.

In response to that, Dantalian smiled wryly.

“Geez… if only you’ve accepted my offer of using my [Time] on you, you’d be living
longer and you won’t be pushing this bothersome business to me. Why, Why does my
friend have to be this stubborn and shameless?”

“And yet you agreed anyway. That is so you, Dan.”

“Because I owe you a favor and this seems to be the only chance I’ll ever get to repay
that. Bothersome indeed.”

I was late in realizing this, but Dantalian was actually a good guy. Deep down.

Due to his [Time] ability, Dan was going to live much longer and won’t disappear
anytime soon.

Considering those things, I wanted to build a better relationship with him.

“Procell, you’re quite cunning, so you might have already thought that with my [Time]
powers, even if you fail the trial, you can simply try again, right? Or better yet, once
either Duke or Enlil has received the true [Dragon Emperor], they can just fight Caesar
again so that the other dragon can receive it too.”

“Yeah, I have thought that.”

It was the first thing that popped into my mind. It was the [Time] arena, so it was
certainly plausible.

“Don’t expect that to happen because the trial can’t be done again. Once a fight
between dragons that have [Dragon Emperor] has concluded, the strength of the
loser’s [Dragon Emperor] shall be absorbed by the winner. Once absorbed, it is
impossible for the loser to get it back. Not even Dan’s [Time] can restore it.”
It was an all-or-nothing fight. Once we lose, it was over, our dragons could never attain
[Dragon Emperor] this way.

The thought of that sent shivers down my spine.

It wouldn’t have been exciting otherwise anyway.

“Stolas, let me tell you this in advance: whichever dragon receives the true [Dragon
Emperor], don’t be upset.”

“I know that, Astaroth-sama. Looking for a way to get ahead will just get both our
dragon killed. By themselves as they are right now, neither Enlil nor Duke stands a
chance against Caesar. Cooperating—and cooperating fully at that—is our only
chance.”

It was exactly that.

From the tales I had heard from Marcho, Caesar was that much of a monster. Two
above average S rank monsters on our side and we only barely stood a chance.

“Ahh, how nice it is to be young. Go and dazzle us, eh?”

Astaroth said so before laughing heartily, kakaka

Like that, it was decided that we would undertake the dragon’s trial. Also, it was
revealed to us that the trial would take place one month later.

Until then, strengthening Duke should take top priority. To that end, we could enlist
the help of the Darkness Dragons and the Tempest Wyverns.

Getting Duke to learn how to fight with Enlil should be a priority as well.

I’m sure that these two can do it.

At any rate, it seemed like today’s agenda had been dealt with.

Ast and Dan gave off the feeling that they were readying to go back home.
“If this discussion is done, then let’s change venue, shall we? You’ve come all this way
to Avalon, you deserve some more fun. There are a lot of other interesting things
outside of the casino, you know. Come, let me guide you.”

However, I wouldn’t let them go home just like that.

I only had so much time left to be together with Astaroth, so I should strive to entertain
him to the utmost each time we meet. That was the least I could do as someone who
owed him a debt of gratitude.

“Fumu, yes, let’s go, let’s spend all this money I’ve won. As usual, my son-in-law is very
thoughtful. Oh, how it gives me peace of mind to entrust Stolas to such a person.”

“…enough with the son-in-law stuff please.”

“You don’t have to be so rigid. By the way, have you and Stolas done it yet?”

Not matching his calm demeanor, Astaroth made a vulgar gesture.

“Astaroth-sama!!”

Bright red, Stolas shouted so.

Seeing that, I as well as the other Demon Lords laughed.

“Astaroth, like we’ve been saying, Stolas and I are just friends. We don’t have that kind
of relationship.”

……even though I told her that ridiculous thing yesterday.

“What? How boring. Stolas, as a Demon Lord, you’re top-notch, but it seems in these
kinds of things, you’re a bit inept. You should be more aggressive. Why not try pushing
him down sometime soon? See what happens. But, bah, whatever. The two of you are
young. You have time. Perhaps taking it slow is indeed the way to go.”
Towards the end of his speech, his facial expression made me feel the weight of his
experience. The weight of his years.

And so, to the best of my ability, I guided and entertained them. After that tour around
Avalon and a dip in the hot spring, I saw them off.

I had received an unforeseen chance from Astaroth.

I should do whatever I could to succeed.

I must also do whatever I can to repay him for this favor and all that came before it.
Perhaps the best way I can accomplish that is by protecting Stolas even after he’s gone.
I should also continue to collaborate with her. And grow with her too.
~???’s Point of View~

“Is the intelligence gathering going well? The previous defeat against the anomaly that
is Procell has shown… that we have vastly underestimated his power. We will not be
making that mistake again. We shall be investigating him down to the littlest detail,
exposing all he has to us. And then, we crush him.”

The Demon Lord leading the anti-Procell alliance asked so to his subordinates.

The five Demon Lords that gathered here were all relatively young. The oldest would
only be at around a hundred years old. As such, their ambition was still at the peak.

The youngest among them was actually their leader. He was a humanoid Demon Lord
that wore an elegant obsidian-black mantle.

It might seem odd for the youngest to be at the top, but he wasn’t actually himself.

This was an open secret to the group.

A few days ago, he had fought and defeated a certain Great Demon Lord. In accordance
to the stipulation of their fight, he inherited everything that belonged to that Great
Demon Lord. In exchange for that though, his identity, his very being was snatched
away.

This was of course all part of the Great Demon Lord’s schemes. That Great Demon Lord
had the ability to make anyone his new vessel by looking at them directly.

However, this situation was also not ideal for the Great Demon Lord. At best, it was
tolerable.

Originally, he wanted [Creation] Demon Lord Procell to be his new vessel, but due to
several unforeseen failures, he did not have much choice but to use the spare.
Moreover, he had lost all functions of his Unique Skill except for one.

Still, because the spare had an A rank medal, a strong body, a useful ability, and, above
all, allowed him more time, he couldn’t really complain.

“I shall now commence with the report. It seems like our sworn enemy is improving
his war potential everyday…… at a terrifying pace.”

[Ice] Demon Lord Crocell read out loud the report.

“Of note are the number of the powerful golems that we had encountered in the war
against the [Beast] Demon Lord as well as the number of the B rank dragons that
unleashes powerful explosives from above. It seems the B rank dragons are being
produced via [Maelstroms] now. It cannot be stressed enough how dire the situation
is.”

“We already know those things. The question is, is there any way to counter them?”

The other Demon Lords remained quiet.

Procell’s golems were unfair, to say the very least.

Normally, they held power equal to an A rank monster—which was absurd enough—
but for a limited time, they could exhibit power equal to even an S rank monster. Just
to handle one full-powered golem, they would need to allocate perhaps at least 5
average A rank monsters.

“As long as those golems continue to be produced, we do not stand a chance. It is of

utmost importance that we crush their production line.”

According to their investigations, the Avalon-Ritters, the aforementioned powerful

golems, were being produced at a rate of four per month. That was very roughly equal
to 20 A rank monsters a month.

As if that wasn’t enough, Procell also produced Mithril Golems that came equipped
with powerful weapons called heavy machineguns. These Mithril Golems were
produced at the rate of 20 per month. Assuming that each A rank monster could take
care of three machinegun-wielding Mithril Golems, it would take about 7 A rank
monsters to match all of the 20 made in a single month.

Adding it all, at least 27 A rank monsters were required to deal with a month’s worth
of golems made by Procell.

Meanwhile, the [Synthesis] of two A rank medals only had a 2/3 chance that the
outcome would be an A rank monster. So, even a Demon Lord that produced an A rank
medal would have, on average, only 4 A rank monsters per year.

“Without even using a single A rank medal, he can build up 6 years’ worth of war
potential in just a month in the form of those blasted golems. And that’s not even
factoring in his genuine S rank monsters yet!”

The reason behind Procell’s suddenly large war potential was that a good number of
it didn’t need medals to be made.

And because of that, the anti-Procell faction saw the need to conspire together and nip
Procell in the bud. If given even just a few years, Procell could become an unstoppable
force.

“With all due respect, it isn’t just the golems we have to contend with; his dragons as
well. That explosive magic they fire from high in the sky is more powerful than an A
rank monster’s advanced magic.”

The [Ice] Demon Lord spoke again.

Procell’s Darkness Dragons were strong, both in terms of stats and skills. Outshining
even that though was their wide-ranged, high-powered aerial bombing. It was just
ridiculous that a B rank monster could fire off such an attack.

“They are a threat, yes, but one that we have an easy countermeasure for. We just have
to shoot them down before they drop their explosive attack. His dragons are of the
darkness and undead attribute. That means they are twice as weak against an attack
of the holy attribute. Even holy-attribute C rank monster should be able to swiftly take
them down. Fortunately, we have [Maelstroms] that produce holy-attribute cranes. On
top of our monsters being able to take down the dragons in a one on one fight, our
monsters also outnumber them. Clearly, there is no need to be wary of them.”

Monsters that had either the darkness or undead attributes had great power, but that
came at the cost of being vulnerable against monsters of the holy attribute.

Procell’s Darkness Dragons had both and were thus even more vulnerable against the
holy attribute.

So long as there were enough holy monsters, the Darkness Dragons shouldn’t be a
worry.

“To reiterate, our absolute top priority in our mission to defeat [Creation] Demon Lord
Procell is to stop the production of his golems! Now, does anyone have a good idea on
how to accomplish this?!”

The leader shouted so.

However, the other Demon Lords only kept their heads down.

None of them had a good idea.

Or so it seemed until a Demon Lord that resembled an orc—a race of big, bipedal
pigs—raised his hand.

“I have idea”

“Hoh, you have an idea, do you, [Pig] Demon Lord Agares? Speak then.”

“I investigated. Golems many. But monster making strong golems just one.”

It might not seem like it based on his appearance, but Agares was rather smart. He had
used a hero-class human adventurer as a spy rather than sending a monster. Through
that, he had found out that the Avalon-Ritters and Mithril Golems were made by just
one monster: Rorono the Elder Dwarf.

That analysis of theirs was correct, but to be more specific, Rorono would create a
golem core each day and see if it was compatible for the twin-drive system with any
of the golem cores she had made previously. If it matched with another core, the pair
would be put into an Avalon-Ritter. If it didn’t, it would be made into a Mithril Golem
until a match could be made.

On average, four Avalon-Ritters were made each month.

By the way, even though the Dwarf Smiths also made golem cores, theirs could only be
used for up to C rank equivalent Gold and Silver Golems.

“That monster make not just golems. That monster make weapons Procell’s monsters
use and explosive dropped by dragons. Procell’s war potential, almost thanks to that
monster.”

All of the other Demon Lords present were visibly shocked.

Procell’s strength came not only from his powerful monsters but also his peculiar
weapons called guns.

Until this moment, the Demon Lords in the alliance thought that he had made those
weapons through his [Creation]. Nobody ever imagined it was made by his monsters.

Upon hearing this new information and thus seeing Procell’s lifeline, the leader
laughed maniacally.

“Then, if we kill that monster, the Procell’s war potential should be reduced by more
than half… but if we were to snatch her away, the powerful golems, those weapons, all
of it, we would be able to gain access to those things too.”

“I investigated a lot. I sure. Monster is Elder Dwarf. Name is Rorono. Rorono not just
make golems, Rorono also controls. All golems can be stolen. That monster, Rorono,
humanoid wench. Tasty.”

“Wonderful! Not only will we finally crush Procell, we will also be able to improve our
own war potential.”

When the leader said such things, the other Demon Lords became excited.
Normally, to gain possession of a monster, approval of its current Demon Lord was
necessary.

However, [Pig] Demon Lord Agares had a means of snatching away such right of
control so long as the monster in question was a humanoid female.

And so, the leader began formulating their strategy to snatch away Rorono and gain
Procell’s war potential for themselves.

All that being said, they were overlooking four points.

The first was that they gravely underestimated Rorono. The strategy they were
making was focused on how to break through Avalon’s defenses as though actually
taking away Rorono was a foregone conclusion.

They were applying the general perception that production-type monsters were weak
to her despite her being an S rank monster, being a [Monster of the Covenant], and
having experienced multiple battles and wars already. Such estimation was simply too
naïve.

Their second mistake was their belief that the C rank holy birds were enough to take
care of Avalon’s aerial forces. They arbitrarily concluded that Procell neglected to deal
with the Darkness Dragons’ weakness.

The third point was that Procell and Rorono themselves recognized that Rorono was
Avalon’s lifeline and thus have set every possible kind of defense available to them to
protect her.

Finally, they misjudged how much love Procell had for his daughters. To him, his
daughters were the most important things in the world. If anyone dared to hurt his
daughters, he was willing to become the devil and use the inhuman weapon he had
prepared but hoped to never use.

Unaware of these four points, the alliance continued to make their plans.

It might not be too far off though for them to be forced to realized their mistakes.
TL note: [Pig] is what I’ve decided for the time being. 【豪】 is the one used in the
raws. It can translate to tremendous, huge. That kanji uses the radical 豕 which by
itself can mean pig. This leads me to think this might be some kind of wordplay that
doesn’t translate well. It’s very possible that I’m wrong, but for now, that’s how I’m
gonna address Agares. Thanks for your patience.
I was at the new [Mine] room in Avalon’s dungeon proper.

Two dragons were dancing in the sky. One had jade green scales and was clad in wind,
while the other was jet-black and was shrouded in miasma.

After directing roars at each other, the jade-green dragon conjured up a thunderstorm
and sent it to the other dragon. Meanwhile, the black dragon replied with a breath
attack of black flames.

In front of me was Aura who was protecting me with all her might using her barrier of
wind. If ever one attack somehow managed to get pass her barrier, it could mean my
death.

That was how destructive the attacks they were sending each other were.

For a moment, the two just stared at each other.

That was until the wind dragon moved. Still clad in his wind, he ascended higher and
higher. When I thought I couldn’t see him anymore, he swooped down. Using gravity
as his ally, he descended at speeds several times that of sound.

While the wind dragon ascended, the black dragon chose to go down to the ground
and gather his strength. A spherical force field of darkness then expanded from his
body.

In the next moment, the sound of collision was heard. The jade-green dragon smashed
into the force field of darkness.

Due to the force field, the wind dragon’s descent slowed down. It wasn’t enough to
fully stop the descent though. And the destructive kinetic energy that came along with
the descent was soon to hit the black dragon.
The black dragon didn’t mind though.

From the start, he never intended to stop the charge with the force field, just to delay
it enough so that he could launch an attack of his own.

And so, he opened his mouth and unleash a breath attack. Unlike the previous one,
this breath attack was made with the intent to kill.

The black flames of the breath attack was going to make a direct hit on the wind that
surrounded the jade-green dragon.

The jade-green dragon didn’t mind though.

He changed his wind into the shape of a spear, did whatever else he can to give it more
propulsive force, and used it to break through the breath attack.

Seeing that, the black dragon raised his miasma-covered fist.

Like that, the black dragon’s punch collided with the jade-green dragon’s charge.

Both of the dragons were thrown away by the impact. After the two rolled in the
ground for quite a distance, hitting some rocks and boulders along the way, they stood
up and glared at each other as though to say they were ready for more.

“That’s enough! Enlil, Duke, you did well!”

I shouted so.

I wanted to watch a little bit more, sure, but at their current rate, they were bound to
kill each other.

Nevertheless… a fight between 2 S rank monsters truly was epic.

Their fight had transformed the very topography of the [Mine] area.

Even the Darkness Dragons who were nearby at first to watch the fight took some
distance because they got scared of the two’s power.

Enlil was superior in terms of speed and Duke in Firepower. However, because this
was a head-on battle, Enlil took more damage than Duke this time. It would seem we
needed to teach Enlil this way of fighting more.

At any rate, after I shouted, the two dragons shrunk in size.

Duke assumed his middle-aged dragonewt form while Enlil became like a child dragon
that was the size of kitten.

These forms were their less power consuming forms.

“Enlil-dono, you did really well. I thought I had you when I slowed you down with my
darkness field.”

“Gaugau!”

“Hahaha, oh you flatter me.”

The two were laughing together so much it was hard to believe they had a fierce fight
just a few moments ago. Which I guess would be a great advantage when cooperating
with one another.

I wasn’t the only Demon Lord audience though. Enlil was here, so his master was too.

“Amazing, isn’t it? A fight between S ranks, I mean. I was shaking just watching it.”

“Yeah. But imagine, these two are said to be just barely enough of a challenge for that
Emperor Dragon Typhon. How much of a beast can that one be?”

Enlil and Duke fighting one another wasn’t just for entertainment. They were actually
doing this as a part of their special training.

In order for them to win against Caesar, their team needed to be greater than the sum
of its parts.

That necessitated advanced teamwork which in turn necessitated that they

understood each other really well. And the simplest way to achieve that was to make
them fight like they just did.
“But, yeah, like I thought, Enlil’s quite absurd. That condition to hold back his [Berserk]
just being you only need to be nearby is just so damn easy to fulfill.”

“In my opinion, even though Duke can only use his [Berserk] for a limited time, the
fact that he can be deployed elsewhere is quite envious.”

Stolas and I expressed our opinions about the other’s dragon.

The ability called [Berserk] was one of the strongest skills a monster could have in
that it increased that monster’s overall capabilities by a full rank. In other words, it
allowed an A rank monster to somehow go toe to toe with an S rank monster. However,
it came with a heavy cost: the monster’s sanity.

My Duke’s [Berserk] could be turned off and on at will. Moreover, he had the skill
[Valor] which gave him mental resistance (maximum) as well as morale and offensive
capabilities boosts. Because of this, when he did activate his [Berserk], he was still
somewhat sane.

As much as he was holding it off though, [Berserk] still gnawed at his mind and sanity.
By leveling up, Duke was able to stretch the time he could be in his dragon form and
thus activate [Berserk], but at most, it was only for 15 minutes. Any more than that
and he might not be able to deactivate it ever again.

In his dragon form, Duke was one of the strongest monsters in terms of pure fighting
strength. In his dragonewt form though, he was a lower-tier S rank monster that
specialized in commanding others.

“I guess the grass really is always greener on the other side.”

“I guess so too”

As for Enlil, he had [Chivalry] which allowed him to retain his sanity and gave him
some stats boosts so long as the one he must protect was nearby.

Obviously, that meant that as long as Stolas was nearby, the adverse effects of
[Berserk] were nullified. Another way of looking at it though was that if Stolas was not
anywhere nearby, Enlil would go fully mad.

That wasn’t all. If ever there came a time that Enlil would no longer regard Stolas as
the one he must protect, [Chivalry] would be pretty much useless.

“Master, I’m done concocting the potions!”

“Many thanks, Aura. Now, please give those potions to Duke and Enlil right away.”

The two dragons received considerable damage in this mock battle. To ensure that the
rest of their special training later wouldn’t be affected, treatment was necessary.

And so, Aura gave them potions. After drinking it, the two headed our way.

They weren’t in perfect condition right away, but considering the efficacy of Aura’s
potions and a dragon’s high rate of self-healing, they should be within an hour.

“My lord, Enlil-dono truly is reliable. I look forward to the day we fight side by side.”

“Gaugau!”

Looking at the two and their closeness, it warmed my heart.

During the war between Stolas and the [Blade] Demon Lord, Duke used his [Dragon
Emperor] and gave Enlil a little bit of help. Thanks to that and, of course, Enlil’s own
efforts, Enlil managed to get Stolas out of that dire situation.

Enlil felt indebted to Duke for this. Meanwhile, Duke was quite fond of Enlil.

“Duke, I believe this is the longest you’ve ever activated your [Berserk]. I worry that
there might be some kind of abnormality. If you feel something, no matter how trivial,
tell me, okay?”

“Thank you for your concern, my lord. However, there is no issue at all… if anything, I
feel it’s still safe to assume my dragon form for a bit longer.”

Duke wasn’t just putting on airs.

If he says he’s fine, he’s fine.

And so, with the extended time for Duke’s transformation in mind, we began
formulating our strategy. That extended time would surely be a great boon.
“Great, then. Anyway, after your break, I want the two of you to try out working in
tandem. Stolas and I have some ideas and strategies in mind, but because you two have
fought each other and have seen how the other fights, maybe something else will come
to you. If that happens, you don’t have to wait for our approval. Just try it out.”

“Certainly, my lord. Enlil and I will do our best to meet and exceed your expectations.”

As ever, Duke was quite the reliable fellow. I had lost count of how many times he had
helped me out.

When I turned to look at Enlil, I saw him perched at Stolas’s shoulder while making a
very cute cry.

Stolas was petting him, prompting him to make those purrs.

It was so cute.

I wanted to pet him too, so I stretched out my hand, but was only greeted by a screech.
Enlil didn’t want me to pet him.

By nature, monsters didn’t want to be held by Demon Lords except for their master.
There’s that, but it might also be the issue of him thinking I was trying to take Stolas
away from him.

We passed the time together until the potions took full effect.

We deemed the break over and began the next phase.

“One more push, Duke.”

“Enlil, go show me something cool again, ok?”

The two dragons nodded in response.

And so, the two assumed their larger forms and flew to the sky.

While staring at them and the sky, I spoke with Stolas.

“We must do all that we can for them. Allotting a time and place for them to learn to
coordinate with each other, raising their levels as much as possible, and more if
possible.”

“Yeah, they surely will be helped by some extra levels. That’s the greatest shortcut,
isn’t it?”

[Resurrection] was used on both Duke and Enlil. As such, their previous levels were
carried over when they became S rank monsters.

It hasn’t been long since Enlil was reborn from being an A rank static-level monster,
so his level was almost unchanged.

As for Duke, he was previously a B rank Wight with a static level and thus was reborn
at level 56. Since then, he had earned a large amount of experience points, especially
during our campaign to save Marcho. Right now, he was also around the level of an A
rank monster with a static level.

When compared with Caesar, the level gap was huge.

Despite that, at their current level range, they couldn’t raise their levels dramatically
just by defeating C rank monsters born from [Maelstroms]. So, in conjunction with
grinding for levels in the [Crimson Cavern], we were also making the dragons defeat
the copy of monsters made by Stolas’s [Omnipresence].

All that said, reaching the level of an S rank monster born with a static level within a
month would surely be a tall order.

“Hey, Procell”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Once the dragon’s trial is over, there’s something I want the two of us to talk about.
When everything’s over, can you make time for it?”

“…alright, I promise I’ll make time for that. When you make that face, it’s kinda scary,
you know.”

I teasingly said so, but her face remained serious to the point she looked in pain.
I could imagine what she wanted to talk about, but right now, we should be focusing
our attentions on the trial.

No matter what, we had to overcome the trial. It was our duty and obligation to inherit
what our esteemed predecessor was leaving behind.

I fully believed Duke and Enlil had the capabilities to accomplish this. All that was left
was to figure out how to use those capabilities.

This dragon’s trial, we will absolutely overcome it.

Duke and Enlil’s special training was going well.

Both were on the verge of having the standard levels for an S rank monster.

They were tirelessly power leveling by making use of the [Crimson Cavern] as well as
Stolas’s [Omnipresence], but in the short span of just one month, that was the most
they could do. If anything, that was amazing already.

As for their cooperation, it was perfect.

This was the only way we could stand a chance at winning. For if we challenged Caesar
head on, it would be our massacre.

“I’ve also gotten a new [Creation] medal.”

Between setting up the casino, taking care of Tiro, and Duke’s special training, a month
passed by just like that.

It was a little perplexing how to use this new medal, to be honest.

Along with the earnings of her dungeon, Marcho had also given me this month’s
[Beast] medal.

Combining [Beast], [Creation], and even just an imitation medal, I could make an S
rank monster and bolster my war potential.

However, no matter how versatile the [Beast] medal was, how useful would a new S
rank monster be right now without a purpose in mind?

Even if I made a new monster now, I couldn’t afford to level it up because most of the
limited monsters that could be turned into experience points were being given to
Duke and Tiro to defeat.

On the other hand, making an S rank monster with a static level was unappealing to
me and I would rather avoid it if I had a choice. I wanted my S rank monsters to be
true trump cards and the only way to achieve that—eventually—was giving them the
ability to level up.

“Just holding onto it makes sense too.”

My [Creation] medal was highly valuable.

It could prove itself useful as a bargaining chip.

I wanted to increase the number of Demon Lords in my faction even by just a little.
The [Creation] medal would surely be useful in convincing them. Moreover, trading
my [Creation] medal to them so that they could buy B-rank-producing Maelstroms
would be more meaningful to us as a faction than using it myself.

There was also a chance I could obtain some other medal later, giving me the choice
to make a powerful monster that I couldn’t with the medals I had at hand.

Besides, I could always make an S rank monster with a static level anytime. Since it
had a static level, it shouldn’t matter much if I did it now or later. Like I said, I didn’t
prefer it, but in times of emergencies, it might just be the key.

For those reasons, I decided to hold back on using the [Creation] medal. A wait-and-
see approach, so to speak.

Anyway, today, I was taking a walk around Avalon.

Soon enough, I would be gone for two days. My destination was the [Time] Demon
Lord’s dungeon.

The [Time] Demon Lord was hosting a sending off party and invited [Beast] and
[Dragon] as well as myself and Stolas. On the second day, we were going to have the
Dragon’s Trial.
“Oto-san, Avalon’s peaceful today too!”

“Yeah… but I’m quite concerned about Rue and the others’ reports.”

“You’ve remembered our reports properly, huh… that’s right, patron, Avalon is being
targeted!”

While imitating some kind of sound effect, Ruhe pointed at me.

…this girl, is she imitating the anime she saw?

A while ago, Rorono got stuck in a rut in the development of the new Avalon-Ritters.
As such, she requested that we watch nothing but robot anime for a while during our
after-dinner bonding time.

Kuina really enjoyed galactic pretty boy; Rorono liked absolute obedience; Aura was
pleased with the vision; and Ruhe loved blue comet.

“There’s no way you’re joking, is there?”

“I’m absolutely serious. Numerous spies have been sent to Avalon to gather
information. Without killing any of them, we have managed to capture them. We have
tried to turn the tables and get information from them instead, but somehow, each of
them has actually, genuinely forgotten who their Demon Lord was… I can see how this
can be helpful for intelligence gathering, but I hope you, patron, don’t copy this tactic.”

It was very much possible that among the enemy forces was a monster that could
manipulate memories. And when we captured the spies, it must have triggered the
wiping of their memories.

“Don’t worry, I won’t copy it. I love all of you too much to do that.”

“I’ll believe you. Patron is an overly soft Demon Lord, after all. Well, that aside, the
abyss puppies sure are very helpful.”

Recently, the Ocean Singers, Ruhe’s subordinates, had been partnering up with Abyss
Howls. Thanks to that, our intelligence corps was stronger than ever.
Many monsters could conceal their forms or the sound they made, sometimes even
both, but rarely if ever could these monsters hide their scents as well. For that reason,
the Abyss Howls and their excellent noses proved useful inside and outside of the
other dimension.

“Ruhe, can you confirm that the number of spies being sent here is increasing by the
day?”

“Yup, that’s our assessment of things.”

The Abyss Howls’ noses were so good that it could pick up an intruder’s lingering
scent as well as ascertain how many days had passed since the intrusion. So, even if
they couldn’t catch the intruders, they could still find clues.

“I see…”

“And no matter how we look at it, they’re definitely targeting Rorono-chan.”

“Will the intelligence corps be able to provide enough security for Rorono?”

“Yes, and we already are. Rotating teams that each consist of two Ocean Singers and 8
Abyss Howls are watching over her from the other dimension. Meanwhile two Abyss
Howls guard her in the surface world. After getting her approval, a golem that has a
function to produce light and water is also near her. Because there will always be a
light and water source near her, the rest of us will be able to reinforce her and her
guards in case something does happen. But I think the 10 puppies will be enough for
most cases.”

It would seem that the enemy forces were particularly interested in Rorono’s workshop.

They might have realized that I relied heavily on Rorono to the point that she was
Avalon’s lifeline.

If we lost her, Avalon’s war potential would be decreased by half. From the enemy
forces’ perspective, she would be the monster they would want to kill first and foremost.

As part of my war potential, she was valuable, but she was much, much more than
that: she was my precious daughter. There was no way I was going to lose her.

With several Abyss Howls guarding her, I was able to have some peace of mind. Their
ever-vigilant ears and noses would make it hard for any intruder to get close, much
less slip through.

But if the intruders were somehow able to, a group of ten Abyss Howls meant that
their [One with the Pack] would activate. They were high-end B rank monsters to
begin with, but with improved attack power and endurance as well as shared senses
which allowed for better teamwork, they should be able to deal with most monsters.

And, if ever they still couldn’t take down the intruders, at least they could help stall
for time.

I would be gone for two days.

For the sake of security, I had commanded Ruhe, Kuina, Rorono, and Tiro to stay in
Avalon. That was four S rank monsters that would be supported by Avalon-Ritters and
B rank monsters. As long as they could buy some time, all the rest would be
manageable.

At the very least, they would be able to prevent the assassination or the kidnapping of
Rorono.

“Ruhe, that’s an impressive setup.”

“Well, you know… Besides, we owe Rorono-chan for the good number of new assault
rifles we made her make for us. We’d like to repay that favor, at least… we, Avalon’s
intelligence corps stake our pride on keeping her safe.”

Ruhe, who was usually quite aloof, looked very serious as she said so.

Being so resolved to protect Rorono, I was convinced she cared deeply for her allies
and had a strong sense of responsibility.

“Then, I’ll entrust the protection of Rorono and Avalon to you.”

Looking at both Ruhe and me, Kuina swelled up her face and spoke.

“Kuina will be guarding too! Oto-san can rest assured all will be fine!”

It seemed like she was slightly jealous.

Seeing her all childish like this was so cute too.

“Yup, that’s right, sorry. With you here, I have peace of mind. I really wanted to take
you with us, though.”

Kuina, being Avalon’s strongest monster, was my bodyguard. She was supposed to be
always by my side.

However, there was a clear threat of military action against us and what better
opportunity could they find than my absence. Duke would usually be in charge of our
defense while I was away, but he was the reason we were going in the first place. So,
for insurance, I was forced to make Kuina stay behind.

As for the duty of my bodyguard, I could entrust that to Marcho.

“Kuina will protect Avalon as much as Oto-san and Duke will. So, be at ease and go.”
I brushed Kuina’s head and she squinted her eyes as though she was pleased.

So long as Kuina was here, Avalon wouldn’t fall.

Alright, it’s almost time to go. But before that, there’s a girl I have to greet first.

The next place I headed to was Rorono’s workshop.

When I entered, I was greeted by two Abyss Howls. While swinging their tails, they
were rubbing their heads against me, so I decided to pet them. When I did so, they
seemed nothing more than just oversized dogs.

After that, I entered the laboratory room where Rorono was.

She was so absorbed in using her LCD tablet to draw a blueprint, she didn’t notice me
come in. Beside her, a computer that was running some kind of simulation was
whirring.

Seeing how much she was concentrating, it felt bad to disturb her and thus I decided
to just watch her work in the meantime.

While waiting, I thought to myself that it was clearly a good idea to assign Abyss Howls
to guard her while she was like this. She was an S rank monster and had the ability to
protect herself, sure, but when she focused on something, she tended to ignore
everything else, even her surroundings. Even if I tried to hug her from behind, there
was a real chance she wouldn’t notice until we had made physical contact.

After about 30 minutes had passed, Rorono raised her head and took a sip of her now-
cold coffee.

“Rorono, is the development going well?”

“Ah! Master. Welcome.”

She finally took notice of me.

“I wanted to see you before I left.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I wanted to see you too… it’s just a shame I can’t show anything
before you leave.”

The completion of Rorono’s new models had been delayed. Which wasn’t surprising
considering she was developing three technologies at once. Their base parts were
similar, but for each of the unique parts the three would have, she had to design those
from scratch. That was definitely time consuming.

“I look forward to seeing them after my return, then.”

“Mhm, please do. They’re the three strongest knights. Actually, I’ve just finished the
framework for Black, the most versatile of the three.”

That was a nice surprise.

“Are the initial concept ideas still being followed?”

“Mhm. Red is still a heavily armored, one-hit kill unit. White is a long-range attacker
with high mobility. It can shoot down its targets before they ever come near… actually,
I’ve made it participate in one of the dragon races recently and it won by a large
margin. White has completely corrected the preconception about golems.”

When I thought about it, I remembered that there was a commotion in the races
recently. Reportedly, the fastest among the Darkness Dragons, the dubbed as the king,
had lost.

I was realizing now that it was due to Rorono.

A long-range attacker that could move faster than the Darkness Dragons, of course I
was excited to see it.

“Meanwhile, Black is the best in terms of versatility. Its features include humanoid
joints, tenacious internal structure, and many high-powered posture-adjusting
thrusters, allowing it to move its body in all sorts of ways. It has no fixed armament
loadout, instead using whatever fits the situation best. This child’s intellect differs
vastly from the others in that it can learn. There’s too much it can do that programming
it all beforehand is just impossible.”

If it was going to choose and use skillfully the most appropriate weapon for the
situation, a more advanced intellect would indeed be necessary.

“That’s amazing. They have flexible movements, plus they have good mobility and
maneuverability. It might be simple, but it has all the things important in a fight.”

Like what a man who had returned from Jupiter once said, what was important in a
mobile suit wasn’t firepower or transformation capabilities, but rather a highly
operable and reliable body.

“Please look forward to how Black will perform. Right now, my plan is to put the three
knights into the trial phase, analyze the data, and put into mass production the one
that performs the overall best.”

When I heard that, it kind of made me want to set up a stage where the three knights
would shine.

The one-year grace period given to us new Demon Lords was soon to end and we
would be forced into wars with the others. When that time comes, I would entrust my
first war to them.

…but then again, there was a chance my enemies wouldn’t wait that long.

“When I return, I want you to show them to me right away. Prepare with that in mind.”

“Mhm, I will… and should the results please father, may I get a reward?”

While her face was bright red and turned away, she spoke out loud that she wanted
something.

Before replying, I brushed her head.

“Yeah, it’s a promise. Whatever you want.”

“Mhm. I’ll concentrate harder for the upcoming two days then.”

She’s more eager than ever… Oh, wait, I almost forgot the most important bit.

“Rorono, I think you might have heard from Ruhe already, but you’re being targeted.”

“Mhm, I’m aware. That’s why I’ve taken on guards and have made the necessary
precautions. Monsters and adventurers don’t know of electronic devices and thus
aren’t vigilant against them. I’ll make them regret underestimating the defenses of this
workshop too much… to that end, I want to fight myself and see the performance of
the [Mechanical Warmaiden] I’ve continuously been working on. It isn’t that often that
I get a chance like this.”

Rorono seemed to have given it a lot more thought.

And so, the anxiety I felt before leaving have lessened.

At that timing, I heard a knock from the workshop’s door.

“Come in.”

When Rorono said so, the door opened.

“I’ve been looking for you, master! I’m here to pick you up. You better be grateful!!”

It was Fel. A Fel that had a crow monster perched on her head, to be more exact.

It would seem the [Time] Demon Lord had sent them to get us.

“Oh, it’s time to go? Just give me a minute.”

I wanted to talk some more with Rorono, but it was time to go, so I went with Fel.
It’s finally here, the dragon’s trial. Let’s clear it with flying colors. And then, when I return,
I’ll marvel at Rorono’s newest models. Now, let’s go!

TL notes:

1. These are just my guesses, but I think these are the anime the girls liked: Kuina’s
is Star Driver, Rorono liked Code Geass, Ruhe liked Blue Comet SPT Layzner,
while Aura liked The Vision of Escaflowne. If you think there are other works
that fit the bill better, feel free to let me know. Thank you.

2. Also, I believe the line Ruhe said, Avalon is being targeted, comes from Blue
Comet’s “The earth is being targeted”. I googled and skimmed an episode or
maybe it was a movie, I don’t know, and sure enough, a character warns the
others that the earth is in danger from outside forces.

3. In the raws, Aura liked “Heavens”. For those that don’t know, “The Heavens of
Escaflowne” is the Japanese title for Visions.

4. Finally, the man from Jupiter is likely referring to Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam’s
Paptimus Scirocco. I haven’t found the episode being referred in this chapter, so
I just translated as is. The actual quote might be different.