Chapter 235 – Chapter 235 ― It’s Already Been a Year (2)
Episode 235 ― It’s already been a year (2)
Leaning against the watchtower and staring blankly at the west, the orc’s eyes widened.
“… Uh?”
This watchtower is one of the places built on agricultural land stretching from north to south surrounding Zeno Castle. At the order of His Majesty the Emperor, it was built in a hurry while clearing land on the outskirts of Zeno.
To the east of the sparsely planted watchtowers is a clearing that has turned green from right to left.
Move your gaze further east, and instead of the horizon you can see the majestic ramparts.
It is the Geno Fortress, the walls built along the fortress, and the Daelord Castle.
In other words, every place where people live is on the opposite side of the west side that the orcs were looking at.
To the west of Zeno Castle is the land of Merde.
No one appeared there for three or four months after the watchtower was built.
The saying that humans appear from the other side is usually synonymous with conflict and, by extension, war.
The guard’s heart is to look to the west, but in fact, he hopes that nothing can be seen.
However, as spring arrived and the days were certainly warmer, the same thing began to happen.
The orc immediately poked the side of his successor who was standing next to him, chinned him to raise the flag, and then shouted down at him.
“Stop!”
The soldier is not surprised anymore.
It was because it had happened to him the day before yesterday, the day before yesterday, since he had been told about this incident a few days ago.
Hesitantly, a few humans walking toward the border watchtower stopped at the orc’s cry.
A large yellow flag began to rise above the watchtower. Sooner or later, the castle will send someone to take the humans.
**
— Humans indeed appeared.
About a week after Roan’s second human migration, it was June.
It’s been a year since he became the Demon King.
It’s only been a year, but it was thanks to the report of the West Blood Spirit that he received that day that Roan felt the word ‘extraordinary’.
Thanks to this, it is a bonus that Roan and Grünent’s concern over how to explain the sudden increase in humans was resolved not long ago.
People crossing borders. Plain truth.
Of course, the direction is slightly different.
— There are less than ten of them, but shall we send them to the imperial castle?
To summarize, this is a report.
The reply from the imperial castle was simple.
-Wait. More to come. Eat well in the meantime.
Seohyeollord made a strange expression.
“You mean that much of a mess…”
As if His Majesty had foreseen all this,
When the land reclamation work began in earnest, he delivered the procedure to the lords to deal with the humans who would come over from the west.
With the addition of an explanation of how Merde’s situation is.
“Yes. I don’t know much about human appearance, but… At least they looked more emaciated than the humans who worked in our clearing. It was also a mess.”
The Minotaur soldier who led the humans discovered by the Orc sentry spoke in a gruff voice.
The Minotaur has the head of a bull, and his size is also different from that of a human. It may have been difficult for him to take a glance at a human appearance or facial expression.
There was an instruction to place soldiers who would lead humans as similar to humans as possible. That’s why they deployed a stronger Minotaur soldier, though bipedal, but would it be better to change the race?
“The humans who took care of them said they starved for several days.”
This, too, was as predicted by His Majesty.
The Grand Duke frowned at him.
Our food situation last year was not good, but no one thought of crossing the border.
What kind of existence is the king of humans that makes humans even think about jumping into the world of demons?
“What did they say they were doing?”
“They say they farmed near the border.”
The Grand Duke could well imagine the situation.
He was farming
Crops would have been taken away from above and the land would have become an unusable space caught up in the war.
Although they signed a truce, humans die more easily than demons. It’s probably because all the humans who farmed before didn’t come back.
No matter how successful farming has been, crops near the border are still growing. It’s too early now to harvest anything.
Maybe they’ve been pushed into a situation where they can’t wait any longer to grow something?
I heard that succubuses are easy to attract to humans. Was there a soldier or knight who was a succubus in the castle?
The Grand Duke of Jeokru, who was lost in other thoughts for a moment, came to his senses when he saw the Minotaur still on one knee in front of him, waiting for his command.
“Hmm. Okay. Go away.”
And on that day, when the leader of the Minotaur had three audiences with the lord, the lord finally made the decision to quickly change the lead.
**
“At Arteala, they think of it quite favorably.”
“Thanks to that, they say that the number of the 2nd Exploration Team coming into Dos this time has increased.”
Aranya and Shikviena threw one word at a time.
A year ago, just attending a small meeting caused a commotion, but now I am busy and it is difficult to attend every small meeting.
Is this normal for a normal emperor?
Looking back on Roan’s ‘past’ that Naor told us, it seems that the previous emperor didn’t attend the small meeting too much. That made it harder to guess what was normal.
Fortunately, anyway
The sub-meeting is that they now take it for granted that the emperor is sitting here.
“Aren’t there many minerals in Northern Baengnyeong that Arteala doesn’t have? If they develop it properly and hit the jackpot, they will call for cheers.”
“Anyway, I was worried about the conflict because it is not as familiar with humans as Basel, but it seems to be helpful to have people who have encountered humans before the war.”
Lyron and Minoreus continue their opinions. This is the story of the investors of Arteala who are currently coming to develop the mine in Dos.
Most of the northeast beyond Dos in Bukbaekryeong is wasteland. It is not an exaggeration to say that more than half of the people of Northern Baengnyeong are all gathered near Dos.
Most of the people living in Bukbaekryong are engaged in fishing or mining. It is said to be mining, but because of the harsh climate and lack of technology, it did not produce very good results despite knowing that there were veins.
However, by using the emperor’s knowledge of the game’s specialties and the knowledge of the mine development of the people of Arteala – Arteala’s special product is a strange magic tool -, Roan developed a mine buried in the Northern Kingdom in Arteala was able to successfully attract investment.
“The Count handled humans well.”
“North Baengnyeongju is quick to calculate. Your majesty. We also received a significant amount of support from investors who came earlier.”
“You have an attachment to the territory, and you probably got used to humans a little while going to and from Basel.”
Reron’s words were supported by Correctional Officer Shikvienna.
The Count had worked with the human Helen close by. There will be no hesitation in making human and business relationships.
In that respect, Bukbaekryeong’s business seems hopeful. He doesn’t mind humans, and the Count isn’t someone to lose.
The case about humans who crossed the border through Seohyeolryeong and other issues were organized. As the meeting was wrapping up, Roan asked Aranya.
“Prime Minister. How about the empress?”
The education of the Empress is in charge of the small council and officials. She’s the empress, and she can’t interfere with outside affairs, but she has to manage the castle’s household and lead the social world.
And managing the Ansalim and social gatherings of a castle where hundreds of people live is not something one can learn overnight.
“Your Highness is not a very clever person. She seems to get used to it quickly. She also became close to the people in the castle. She seems to be taking time off to go to her lab again lately.”
“Hmm. Okay. He said he would start the study again.”
Eleanor is a great mage. Being said that she was an empress, she did not have to quit her studies, so she took one of the castle towers and assigned her to her laboratory.
Of course, the demonic energy was emanating from the laboratory that I looked around in the middle. She sprinkled Astor powder from time to time, and thanks to that, the stench felt from the depths of Erenia’s room and her laboratory was greatly reduced.
In addition, the strategy of long-term quests has also improved slightly.
The first digit has changed, and the current progress of Elenir’s attack is 72%.
She has just over 214 days left.
It took time, but she would have to erase the influence of ‘greed’ little by little.
While thinking about it, I decided to take a look at Eleanor.
After leaving the small meeting room, Roan headed to Erenier’s office. Roan, who habitually held the hilt of his sword as he walked through the quiet corridor, returned his hand again with a bitter smile.
Fiora, who gave her advice, is no longer by her side.
What’s in the sword belt is another fairy sword sent as a gift by the Duke of the Forest Fairy after hearing that Fiora was freed.
It was a sword of the same size and weight as Fiora, but with calm decorations.
Good stuff, but
A corner of my heart is lonely
Fiora was the one who always helped Roan even when he had nowhere to turn to.
“Your majesty? What did you come here for?”
Erenia treats me as emperor in front of her strangers since her marriage. Erenia, who stood up in front of her desk full of papers and greeted me politely, had her attendants prepare her tea.
I’m a wizard, but I’m not good at paperwork
Her face was slightly drawn.
“Looks like you have a lot of work.”
“Ah, yes. There is more to look at than you might think.”
“What is that document?”
“This is the province’s financial data for the past dozen years. Your majesty.”
The basic finances of the castle are managed by the empress with the approval of the treasurer, but since there has been no empress or former empress, the correctional officer has taken over the task.
As it were…
This can also be said to be one of the (former) demon lord’s karma.
“… Mmm.”
Erenia, who read her apologetic expression, waved her hand.
“Oh, no. Your majesty. I am not blaming You.”
“Still, if the empress had been brought to her castle early, she wouldn’t have been pushed back as much.”
“I am happy just to do this and that for Your Majesty.”
Eleanor’s smile was sincere.
Roan smiled and bit the ladies-in-waiting who served refreshments. A smile was mixed with his question.
“I don’t like the face too much for something like that. According to Aranya, the education was completed well, but isn’t it that you’ve been splitting your time between going to and from the lab too much lately?”
“… But, she’s a better fit that way. It’s too much of a headache to just look at the numbers, the list of people and things.”
She did not receive a proper education as a lady until she grew up as a wizard. Since she is half-human, she would never have thought of marrying her off to another of her nobles.
Because of this, Elenia did not receive any of the etiquette education that other noble ladies receive from an early age, and the education on managing the family’s household that a noble lady should know. She doesn’t even know life in society. The fact that her mother was absent to guide her on such things must have been a big factor.
When she became engaged to the demon king, she said that she studied her internal affairs in her spare time, but at that time she had already taken a place as a wizard. Magic has become a necessary prerequisite in her life.
She didn’t have a mother who would slap her on the back and say, ‘This girl, shouldn’t you learn how to live!’, So in the end she…
In other words, they come and cram.
“It’s good to study, but don’t harm your health too much.”
At Roan’s words, Erenia just smiled.
Wouldn’t it be a little better if it wasn’t for that intense sleep? Saying so, Erenia recalled for a moment the thought that she would have said a year ago that she was full.
“Come to think of it, while talking with Lee Ron, she came up with something curious about magic.”
I thought he had no interest in magic, but he seems to be studying various things while awakening her recent holy power.
Roan came to ask questions about magic to Eleanor. It’s rare, but I’m glad.
A gentle smile appeared on Erenia’s face.
“Huh? What?”
“What do you need to summon a demon?”
The smile disappeared from Erenia’s face as she tilted the teacup.
