Chapter 17 – Episode 17 ― Reconstruction of Likeability (2)
Episode 17 ― Reconstruction of liking (2)
– Really?
The whispers of the servants were heard. A conversation outside the room, in a dark hallway where only servants roam. Originally, it would not be heard by their owner in the room.
However, Roan was eavesdropping on their story using focused ‘detection’. It was an exercise in confining and gathering power that normally spread widely in a narrow place. When I first started practicing, it was difficult to determine the location, but now I’m used to it.
[Looks like you’re used to it now, right?]
‘Shh, stop talking to me.’
[Joy.]
He knows that his voice will not be heard by the users in the hallway, but when he goes into eavesdropping mode, he whispers for no reason. Even when playing games, didn’t I just mute my voice for no reason in the scene where I was peeping at something from behind the wall?
Hearing Roan’s scolding, Fiora grumbled lightly, but said nothing else. He has a very cool personality. Besides, it was none other than Fiora who encouraged her to use her skills consistently.
―Yes, somehow expensive food was fed to slaves…
― I think this harvest festival will be truly amazing! I’m so looking forward to it!
―I didn’t know that His Majesty would pay attention to such a thing. Even if I go by His Majesty’s side these days, I don’t feel like I’m going to die like before. It’s so amazing.
‘Um…’
About a week has passed since we first met at the meeting and talked about the future direction. It is now quite familiar to enter the body of the demon king and act. He can now navigate the cafeteria, library, and other places outside of the training ground without guidance.
In the meantime, he also visited Princess Grünent’s new residence a couple of times. It was a room in one of the steeples built on the edge of the royal castle.
It was a place where a princess abducted by the demon king could have stayed, but Grunent’s quality of life seemed to have improved considerably. It seemed to play a large part in the well-being of the princess that he allowed the ladies-in-waiting he had brought with him from their home country to stay with them. Thanks to that, Grünent’s liking was small but steadily progressing.
“Somehow, it seems that the misunderstanding continues to deepen.”
[Are you wrong? Oh, you mean the festival pigs at the harvest festival?]
“Can you stop telling humans they are pigs?”
[It doesn’t make much of a difference in that it’s a piece of meat that gets cut off to me, but it is. You mean the edible humans at the harvest festival?]
Fiora’s voice is always cheerful, and the gap is even creepier when she’s talking about this kind of thing. In the end, she realizes that it is a sword that kills someone.
“… Mmm.”
Roan let out a groan and focused on ‘detection’ again.
Apparently, on the first day of attending the meeting, it turned out that Shkvienna had misunderstood. There was no way she didn’t know that if such rumors spread among her servants, she would only be disappointed later.
However, rumors about the harvest festival were gradually spreading throughout the city.
Depending on the servants who noticed that the treatment of humans was different, it might be the result of finding the reason.
Roan sighed again and rose from his desk in his office. As he left the door, a small room connecting the office and the corridor appeared. The office secretary who was sitting at her desk stood up.
“Have you come out, Your Majesty?”
She was the secretary of the Faunus tribe, who was surprised enough to cause a match at first when she saw the demon king appearing in her office. But now he too was getting used to this routine.
The hairy secretary with goat horns on his head politely asked the demon king where he was going.
“Are you moving as planned?”
“Okay. Go to the training room.”
“Come on. Your majesty.”
The secretary’s hooves protruding from under the luxurious clothes are impressive. The faunus secretary saw Roan go out into the hallway and sat back down at her desk to resume her work.
‘I’m worried about you. It’ll be fine since Diobe is here.’
Heading to the ‘training room’ she had told the secretary, Roan remembered her second visit two days earlier.
*
“I researched and posted the things you did in Xiamen last time. Your majesty.”
The desk in the small conference room was surrounded by towers of documents and was a mess, but the file folder Aranya calmly handed out to the demon king was thin and neat.
It is a report that compresses all the contents on the desk and contains only what is necessary. Looking at Roan, who was lightly reading the report, the chancellor said.
“And the organization of the search party was completed yesterday. We will be leaving as soon as the supplies are ready.”
“Okay?”
Following Aranya’s words, Minoreus answered the demon king’s words.
“Yes. Your majesty. The quickest in our knights and the most discerning. Then, among the Arachne clan, those who were trusted were selected and divided into four teams. Two each to the north and south.”
“I look forward to the results.”
It was a search party to find out what was said at the end of the last meeting. It was used well in the game, but since the background in the game is Merde, the kingdom of humans, it will be difficult to find out how many there are in Evirgio, the country of the devil.
However, Roan remembers the map of the Moira continent he saw in the game. He vaguely gave the location information and search conditions, so the task behind this is the job of the search team.
The secret that the warrior was able to go back and forth across the continent to perform feats and level up. Roan was looking for a waypoint. An ancient ruin that neither the human king nor the characters of Evirgio are aware of its existence. The hero finds this and uses it to level up, and he can easily access Basel, the capital of Evirgio.
‘I’ll write some this time.’
Roan laughed a little mischievously inwardly.
“Then, let’s see.”
The first report was brief. It was about “How long can we survive if our current finances provide a substitute food supply for Basel and other large cities where human supply is cut off?” Roan asked Leeron.
The treasurer’s forecast was two years if food was supplied while maintaining consumption at the current level, and four years if the maximum period of supply was reduced by reducing the consumption amount of the capital and reducing food to the extent that riots did not occur.
“Even if it’s four years, the atmosphere will be quite harsh after that, right?”
“I don’t dare to openly express my dissatisfaction, but I think there will be more noisy people than now. Your majesty.”
Richie’s finger bones scratched the skull as if in trouble.
“One reason is that there has been less room to stock up on grain in Basel for the past few years, as the amount of harvest going to the battlefield is higher than in normal times, and it is also because the volume of trade has decreased. Even if we have money or supplies, there are no neighboring countries that sell grain. Your majesty.”
“Why?”
“As the war dragged on, Erd was determined to cut off grain from going to our people. We started putting pressure on countries that sell food to Evirgio, and it seems to be working.”
“I get it. Then talk.”
Let’s listen to the story first. Roan leaned back in his chair.
At Aranya’s glance, Sheik Viena opened her mouth.
“Comes about human uses. First of all, there are three things that we briefly culled.”
Roan looked at the table of contents of the second report and listened to Shykviena’s words.
“First, there are occasional people who can use power, even if not as much as us. They are usually soldiers or hunters who have handled weapons. I think they can be brainwashed and used as a workforce.”
Roan quietly raised his head and looked at the correctional officer. Then Shik Viena felt the demon king’s gaze and dyed her face red.
… Should I be brainwashed?
However, I didn’t want to tackle him during the report, so I decided to let Roan go.
“Second, it is used for brain-intensive tasks such as calculations. On average, humans are inferior, but there are quite a few individuals that exceed the average level of our demons when it comes to handling letters and numbers. In particular, those from the Royal Academy, civil servants, merchants, priests, and wizards seem to have a lot to write about.”
“The last one?”
“The last one is for technical jobs that require delicate work. Unlike our demons, the human hand is standardized as having 10 fingers, 5 each, and the length of the fingers is also somewhat constant, so it seems that they are proficient in most manual tasks.”
Roan nodded his head. The hands of three of those in this room are not human hands. Aranya’s hand is in the form of a spider’s legs split like a large thorn or a finger, while Lyron’s hand remains only a bone, and Minoreus’ hand also has three fingers.
Roan would have no problem handling large objects, familiar daily items, but had trouble picking up thin objects such as paper or small teaspoons.
So they use dedicated sized everyday items. Of course, it is a luxury that is only possible because it is noble.
“Especially for the second and third tasks, using humans seems to be more efficient. There are many people who think it’s a lowly thing for us demons to do, so there are many people who don’t want to touch it.”
Roan remembered what the maid-in-waiting had said before.
The work of servants who are considered inferior to those without power.
However, it is equally important to actually sit down and use your brain to think about changing technology and social systems, or doing delicate work.
The world will not develop just because there is only one. Already, he was from a Korean who was familiar with real examples.
The story of Jang Yeong-sil, a born inventor, and the story of sitting at the desk and reciting only Young master, disregarding newspaper articles, and later losing the country to Japanese imperialism, are famous enough to be known even by those who did not study much in the old world.
So, after that day’s report, it was the ‘education room’ that the demon king had to prepare in a hurry.
Originally designed as a ballroom, the spacious hall is now filled with sectional walls and desks. The hall, which had been cluttered until yesterday, felt somewhat tidy.
“Have you come? Your majesty.”
“Your majesty.”
Schikwiena and Diobe bowed their heads to the demon king. Even if you are the person in charge of personnel management in the royal castle, teaching people of different races and living cultures is a slightly different matter. That’s why the demon king assigned Diobe, a human who had worked in the demon world for several years, to the correctional officer.
‘My liking level has risen subtly.’
The figure of -83 was written on the favorability window that floated up and disappeared beside Diobe, leaving a loud beep beep beep. In the meantime, it is thanks to the fact that the likability rose slightly, one by one.
“How is the progress?”
“It looks like the hall will be cleaned up sooner than I thought. It’s taking a little time to organize the training course, but that too will be completed by tomorrow. The full-scale training will begin the day after tomorrow.”
After hearing Shykvienna’s briefing, Roan asked Diobe.
“Is the classification of humans over?”
“Yes. Your majesty. Received classification information from the correctional officer, divided it as it is, and assigned the slaves to the desired educational field. If you think you have talent or if you have a clear previous job, we give priority to assignments that match your aptitude rather than your wishes.”
It was a world where occupations were still determined by family business or parental support rather than individual wishes.
It is not yet common on this continent to look for special skills or ask about one’s hopes for education. The correctional officer and Diobe felt refreshed by the new method.
“Hmm. Then, how long do you think it will take those who are more educated to start working for the first time?”
The demon king’s purple eyes shone brightly with strong interest. Diobe thought that those eyes were very beautiful for a moment, and was horrified at the thought.
“I’m thinking about a week, Your Majesty.”
*
Grunent looked out of her window. It looks like a confined princess from a fairy tale book, but in fact, it doesn’t feel that bad.
The outside is dreary, but the cool breeze is refreshing.
There were new flowers in the window. The Demon King would sometimes light his face and send flowers from the garden. Grünent could clearly see that her thoughts about the demon lord changed every time.
“Your Highness, Princess. I’m here to clean up.”
At the voice of her handmaid Carol, Grünent turned around and was startled.
It wasn’t her usual goblin maid who cleaned her own room.
“… Human… , Is it?”
“Yes, yes.”
With a nervous voice, the green-haired girl lowered her head. Grünent asked, perplexed.
“Were there any human servants in this castle?”
“I am not an official user. It’s a fix.”
“Probation?”
“Originally, I was brought to this castle as a slave, but I am being trained by a servant. After three months of proper training, you can become a full-time employee.”
A woman with vibrant green hair looks similar to her age, but she is a beauty with a mature charm. She was surprised that she met another human in the castle, but she was even more surprised by the content of the words.
“Formal means… , Are you getting paid?”
“Yes.”
The apprentice servant’s voice was full of joy.
“Your Majesty has found a way for us to live.”
Lisa smiled brightly.
