Chapter 113: The Sage is Keenly Aware of a Rulers Concerns

~Audience hall~

I was busy handling a huge amount of paperwork there.

Day by day, the amount of desks in the room gradually increased.

There were too many documents, so much so that I couldn’t handle all of them by myself.

As a result, the number of workers steadily increased as well.

In the room, people who weren't executives were also doing paperwork.

“OOOOOOOO! It fills me! This amount of work fills my heart!”

Grom cried out as he worked.

He was using his eight arms to process the paperwork.

The reason he was strangely enthusiastic was because he was happy that I was relying on him.

He has always been like this.

Thinking back on it, he was also in a similar state a few days prior.

Anyway, he was full of motivation.

I was worried that Grom might exhaust himself due to overwork, but then I remembered he was an immortal.

He was an existence that would never be affected by physical fatigue.

Even if he suffered a fatal injury, he could heal and restore himself as long as there was enough miasma and magic power.

There was no need to worry about him.

“Hey, Bone Minister. Go outside if you want to do vocal practice.”

Luciana complained in irritation.

She looked depressed as she leaned back on her chair.

It seemed that she was exhausted due to the amount of work she had to do.

Once we were done with this, I was planning on giving her a vacation.

As Grom heard such a complaint, he stood up and looked at Luciana.

He raised his pen as he started arguing with her.

“I wasn’t doing vocal practice! I was working for Demon Lord-sama’s sake!”

“Stop being so loud, it hurts my ears.”

Luciana frowned as she said so.

She seemed to really feel annoyed about that.

As Grom realized that, he sat back down on his seat somewhat uncomfortably.

“So, Sorry about that…”

“It’s okay as long as you understand. Well then, let’s get this over with.”

Then they silently returned to their work.

The room was filled only with the sound of moving pens on paper.

Exchanges like that happened from time to time.

Everyone seemed used to it, since they just continued on with their work without stopping.

I didn’t care about it either.

I was aware that both of them weren’t particularly on bad terms.

The reason they frequently quarreled was probably because they could trust each other.

They were doing well in their own way.

I was grateful about that.

However, this seems like it's neverending…

I felt discouraged as I looked the piles of documents on each desk.

There was a reason for this dramatic increase in the amount of work.

It was due to expansion of the Demon Lord’s Territory.

Half a year has passed since my battle against the previous Demon Lord Diella.

The environment around the Demon Lord Territory was showing change.

First of all, the whole territory of the Republic was claimed as is, and became part of the Demon Lord’s Territory.

I actually didn’t intend to make such a bold invasion.

Once the territory expanded too much, we would be overwhelmed by administrative work, just like what was currently happening.

However, the situation forced us to do so.

Because of the machinations of Baruch, a former member of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Republic turned into a dangerous zone filled with demonkin and demon beast.

If left as it was, there was a risk of the damage spreading to other nations.

As expected, that was a situation that I couldn’t just overlook.

If the uncontrolled demonkin and demon beast breached the borders, various nations would fall into chaos.

It was a situation I wanted to avoid.

Therefore, I took initiative and occupied the entire republic.

We slaughtered or captured the demonkin and demon beasts, and secured the people who have yet to turn into either.

The survivors in the cities were dispatched to the Demon Lord’s Army under the pretext of occupation.

Although we put them under watch, we were also promoting assistance in the reconstruction of their homes.

Recently, we made a lot of capable subordinates nesides the executives.

It was not uncommon for those who were prisoners of war to end up receiving unexpected career advancement.

I wasn’t involved in that, but I'd heard of such reports from Luciana and Henry.

Such people were appointed as persons in charge for each region.

I would eventually go and greet them.

Although we were the Demon Army who slaughtered and massacred over and over, we were fortunately blessed with capable people.

Although I wasn’t able to do it recently, I planned to visit the territory I'd just conquered.

I no longer heard stories about people there planning to rebel or declare independence; apparently, they were leading peaceful lives there.

Occasionally, the lord of the territory might do things like corruption,  so I would warn them on the way.

If there were still those who didn’t repent despite my warning, I would put them under our control using Luciana’s charm skill.

We would reduce them into mindless puppets.

However, they were currently a minority.

I wanted to respect their autonomy as much as I could, so I planned to count on the conscience of said lords.

By the way, the treatment of the demonkin and demons we captured in various locations was decided by me at my own discretion.

Amongst the demonkin who still had their reason, those who didn’t like to fight would live as residents in the capital.

To avoid clashes with other races, they lived in specially prepared areas.

However, this would only be a temporary measure.

It was my hope that people, regardless of their race, could eventually live together.

In the current capital, humans and demons lived together.

There was some distance between them when it first started, but rapid development of the capital blurred their sense of resistance.

I thought the demonkin would eventually be treated the same way.

As for those who already lost their reason and those who were mostly malignant, they were sent to the laboratory together.

They would be asked to cooperate in experiments to return demon beast and demonkin back to humans.

Among the demonkins, there were many of them who sought to return to their former appearance.

They were victims of Baruch’s plot, and I wanted to make such a wish come true.

On the other hand, some demonkins were assigned to the demonkin Army.

We only took those who volunteered under our banner.

There was no backlash regarding this matter.

Since I was the one who proposed it, it might've made it difficult for them to complain. However, the biggest reason was how the Demon Lord’s Army was originally composed.

Originally, the Demon Lord’s Army was mostly composed of demons and undead.

Even if we add demonkins there, it wouldn’t feel much different.

Rather, those with excellent fighting capability would be welcomed.

The Demon Lord’s Army was built on the basis of meritocracy.

Even though the number of personnel, and by extension the command system and unit subdivision, has increased, the fundamental part remained the same.

That was decided by Henry and Grom who stood at the top of the army.

A competent person could rise up, regardless of their origin.

Because of such circumstances, the strength of the Demon Lord’s Territory only continued to increased.

It didn’t bring shame upon the army’s name.

It was something to be happy about.

Other nations felt threatened and focused their hostility at us.

It was believed that the Republic was transformed by the Demon Lord’s action.

There was even a rumor that Baruch was actually my subordinate and was sent to the Republic to destroy it from the inside.

Obviously, what actually happened was a bit different from what they thought.

However, it was a fact that I did conquer and occupy the territory.

From the perspective of a third party, it was natural to interpret the series of events like that.

I tolerated that false information.

It was an evil act suitable for the Demon Lord.

It conveniently matched my purpose, so I let it be.

The executives of the nations were trembling in fear because of that.

They naturally thought of countermeasures against the Demon Lord.

As proof of that, I could no longer hear any news regarding war between nations.

It seemed that alliances were forming everywhere.

For the last half a year, the entire continent stayed quiet.

Mankind was steadily sharpening their claws to subjugate the Demon Lord.

The current situation almost matched my ideal.

Although there were still some issues, the reign of the Demon Lord managed to deter conflict between humans.

However, I still couldn’t let my guard down.

This was the calm before the storm.

The nations would eventually make their move.

Once that happened, I had to moderately repel them.

If a major problem occurred, I needed to promptly deal with it.

It was the same policy up until this point.

The other change that occurred was the fact that part of the Slave Autonomous Region had actually surrendered to the Demon Lord’ Territory. 

The city which had been attacked by the Demon Lord’s Army prior surrendered before another invasion could be launched.

We had conquered about 10% of the Autonomous Region’s territory.

That was a nice miscalculation.

The ruler of that land boasted that they could regularly provide me with talent.

They were very good at being turncoats.

Since the Autonomous Region wasn’t considered a nation per se, they didn’t feel like they were betraying anyone with their actions.

The Demon Lord’s Territory has grown into one that possesses the largest amount of land.

This led to a significant increase in work and chronic shortage of human resources.

We weren’t troubled when it came to military power, but such details frustrated us greatly.

Perhaps I would eventually have to accept the offered slaves.

Despite such events, the Demon Lord’s Territory was still standing.

I was dragged into troublesome circumstances many times, but I managed to resolve them.

I would work hard so the world would achieve its permanent peace.

At that time, the door of the audience room opened.

Yuura appeared at the entrance.

There was a pile of documents in one of her hands.

Even at a glance, I could tell there were about a hundred of them.

She carried that amount of documents easily.

“Reporting to Master — I have been entrusted with some documents. Please check its content and sign it.”

“…I know.”

I nodded quietly.

I intended to take a break by the afternoon, but it didn’t seem like that was going to be possible.

I had no choice but to work all night this day as well.

I should learn from the enthusiastic Grom, and take advantage of the characteristics of an immortal.

As I received sympathetic gazes from my subordinates, I rolled and cracked my shoulder bones.