Book 5: Chapter 16

Several Mazoku were gathered in the council room of the Demon King Castle that was in the Zadark Kingdom.

Demon King Vermudol, Central General Gordy, Eastern General Fainell, Southern General Raktor. These four along with Ichika and Rokuna sat surrounding the table.

They were members to be feared, but with the topic this time being sightseeing policy, it was something quite peaceful.

「Sightseeing huh…… So why would you call for me?」

Ichika glared at Raktor who yawned looking like he found this to be a pain, but Raktor showed no sign of being bothered by it. Rather, he sent a gaze back at Ichika that said “if you have a complaint, then bring it on”.

Vermudol stopped that with his hand, and opened his mouth.

「It’s simple. Recently, I had a chance to go to a town in your place called Elgrad, see.」

「Ahー……That town huh. Then that means, you’re talkin’ about that huge castle, right?」

The Southern Army’s sub-headquarters was in a castle that was even bigger than the royal capital Arkverm’s Demon King Castle. It was a building created as a result of freely investing the latest technologies of the Norms and the continued pursuit of something even better.

「Exactly. There’s no objection to having that as a target for sightseeing, right? It will also become a good chance to display our culture and technological strength.」

Vermudol thought of this as being one of the reasons to accept tourist from other nations.

Culture was about how polished and creative that country was, and technological strength demonstrated how abundant resources, personnel, and knowledge was within that country.

This was not mere boasting, it would turn into a message to other countries that said “don’t you want to try interacting with such an excellent country” or “there’s something to gain from interacting with us”.

And then, at the same time, it was also connected to creating an atmosphere of desiring peace with each other.

Other things like a stimulation to the economy was nothing more than a nice extra.

「Culture and technological strength……huh.」

「That’s right.」

Vermudol gently nodded back at Raktor.

「When speaking on the point of technological strength, the south is at the forefront. Although it was created from the Norms getting carried away, that castle is without a doubt a compilation of culture and technological strength. There is no way we can’t use that for sightseeing, and above all, that town is usually peaceful for the south.」

There were many ruffians in the south. Manual laborers such as miners and blacksmiths made up a majority of the population, and that was also the reason why there were many bars that operated starting in the daytime.

Going all out at working, going all out at eating, raging about with all one’s might, and sleeping with all one’s strength. That was the south’s 「normal」, and was basically weakly related to the word “culture”.

However, Elgrad was unusual for the south as it was about as peaceful as the capital city Arkverm.

「Ahー……Of course it is. That place was originally a town of craftsmen after all.」

Raktor answered while scratching the back of his head.

What he meant by craftsmen was probably about those that dealt with various decorations. From small rings to sword decorations, as well as gigantic sculptures, the range of those jobs was broad. However, the one point that they shared was that they were delicate jobs.

They, who were requested for delicateness that was different from the blacksmiths, fundamentally hated strife, and had a tendency to close themselves off in a space where they could immerse themselves in their work.

Those craftsmen creating a town for themselves was an extremely justified course of events. The town of Elgrad had started off like that, and had now become a site for interaction with the other regions of the Zadark Kingdom.

「Ahh, right, there certainly were a lot of handiwork goods in the stores there. Those seem like they would become good souvenirs.」

Vermudol said that while remembering the state of the stores.

「And so. I was thinking of adding the town of Elgrad to the sightseeing route」

「Even if you say that. Are you goin’ to expressly prepare Transmissioners for the sake of that?」

「There’s the Dragon Road Service, right?」

Hearing that, Raktor said “I see” and nodded.

The Dragon Road Service was one of the government services that the Southern Army managed. The speed and large build of the Earth Dragons that ran across the land was effectively put to use, and they would go around to stations established in various places in the Dark Continent on a schedule. Due to the noise created, stations were established in places separated from urban areas, but it shouldn’t be a problem if they created a special service route that went to and from Elgrad.

Since there were many Earth Dragons that aspired to be transferred to the road service recently, if the demand for the road service were to increase due to sightseeing, it would be possible to grant those aspirations to a certain extent.

「In that case, I’ll need to increase Elgrad’s security.」

「Yeah, I’m counting on you.」

Raktor sighed looking as if he found it to be troublesome from the bottom of his heart, but Vermudol had the sense of security that he would definitely get it done.

Raktor was a hopeless man in many ways, but he would perfectly complete any tasks he took on. He didn’t know if that was due to Raktor’s pride as a proud Dragon, or if that was due to Raktor’s own personality though.

「Well then, next is me, isn’t it.」

「Yeah. In the end, are we unable to show off the fields?」

「Yes, it is dangerous after all.」

Vermudol also nodded in agreement at Fainell who declared that it was dangerous.

Without any joking of the sort, the east was much more dangerous than the south in a certain way. The east was a land where the crops would run away from the fields. It was possible to make the ruffians of the south obey others in one way or another, but the crops would definitely not listen to anything they were told.

Moreover, the crops were important export goods. Showing a scene that could make the other party lose their appetites for it, that should be prevented as much as possible.

「And that is why they will be limited to the urban areas without showing the fields……Let’s see, I am thinking of having the town of Luluera which is the Eastern Army’s headquarters be a target for sightseeing.」

The town of Luluera was idyllic and the roads were wide, and with it being a town whose atmosphere was overall warm and snug, many of the inhabitants were also gentle.

That might also be related to the fact that Fainell was general that possessed the most gentle atmosphere among the Four Cardinal Generals.

For the Mazoku who believed that strength was everything, things like 「cozy」 and 「relaxed」 were originally words that they were way too unconnected to.

However, the town of Luluera was tranquil, and was truly a wonderful place as a tourist attraction. In other words, it would break the image of the wild and violent Mazoku that the typical member of mankind harbored, and possessed the possibility to raise up friendly emotions in them.

「Yeah, I also feel like that is what we should do. However, for me……or rather, for Mazoku, that place would be a tourist attraction in a certain meaning, but it would be different for mankind. Is there something there?」

The atmosphere of the town of Luluera itself was a tourist attraction to the Mazoku.

However, to make something a tourist attraction for mankind, there had to be something for the sake of that.

「Yes. Through the cooperation of the many shops of the east, a Luluera eating tour map was completed.」

After saying that, Fainell slid some papers that she had prepared on top of the table.

Each person took up the paper that was prepared for each of them and started looking at it……and before long, they let out voices of admiration.

「Heeh, I see. So each shop would have something prepared that wouldn’t overlap with one another.」

「It seems that it was limited to goods that could be carried around.」

Rokuna and Gordy were impressed and muttered that.

It seems that it had touched their heartstrings, but Ichika raised her head from the map and spoke out her worry.

「Being able to walk while eating……With that being the case, have you taken into consideration the clean up of the trash that would be created from that?」

「It’s not a problem.」

Fainell wasn’t perturbed by Ichika’s sharp identification of a problem. She had thoroughly gone through this beforehand with the Eastern Army Adjutant Roka.

「We have prepared this sort of thing.」

Fainell took multiple things that looked like stones that had loops attached to them from out of a bag. It seemed that the decoration carved into the stones were different for each one. The loop string had a size that was just enough to have them placed on the arm.

「What……is this?」

Seeing Vermudol take them into his hands looking curious, Fainell boastfully puffed up her chest in pride.

「I am glad you asked that. That is the eating tour medal that we plan on issuing.」

「Hou?」

Vermudol urged Fainell to continue.

「Please look at that eating tour map. There are drawings of designs that match the eating tour medal, right?」

After they confirmed it after being told that, there certainly were different marks drawn for each store, and the same marks were respectively engraved in the respective eating tour medals.

「After shopping at the targeted store, they will receive that store’s eating tour medal……that is the plan.」

「Ahh? What’s up with that? In other words, isn’t that just a souvenir?」

Fainell gathered strength at Raktor’s question.

「Kukuku……You’re wrong. This is a secret measure of the east’s sightseeing policy!」

Although he thought “this was probably something that Roka thought of anyway……”, Vermudol watched over Fainell with warm eyes. Vermudol wasn’t unable to pick up on the mood to the point that he would throw cold water over the rare scene of her working hard. Even Fainell was working hard in various ways.

「By having the guests that were given eating tour medals hand over the trash of the store that they received their eating tour medal at to the next store, the plan is to give them a discount. Of course, in cases where the trash was thrown away somewhere else, the discount rate will be lowered.」

「……I see.」

In other words, it was a plan meant to encourage the eating tour.

It was also possible that guest who bought goods at a store somewhere would simply take that eating tour medal as a souvenir.

However, if they were told that it was an 「eating tour」, a tourist wouldn’t just go for one, they would seek the next one and would walk as directed on the map. And by getting a discount from the eating tour medal and trash that they received, smart guests wouldn’t end up littering the place with trash. This would lead to the trash being properly collected.

「Fortunately, we received voluntary cooperation from each store on this point, so a smooth installation of it is expected.」

Vermudol nodded looking satisfied at Fainell who said that in a boastful way.

Certainly, it wouldn’t be a problem with this in place. Even the all important eating tour menu had nothing eccentric that would prompt a need for reconsideration, and made perfectly good use of the foodstuffs of the east.

「As expected of you, Fainell. I have nothing to complain about with this.」

「Thank you very much, Demon King-sama.」

「Yeah. Please keep things up like this.」

After saying that, Vermudol moved on to the next topic.

「Now then, with this, the general sightseeing plan has been completed but……Gordy, how are things going with that matter?」

「Yes. This is a problem regarding the lodging area that would accompany the commencement of the sightseeing but……the land has been secured.」

Once the sightseeing started, lodging problems would naturally also come out.

At first, he had the idea of making it only a day trip, but due to Gordy’s opinion that since Arkverm at night was also beautiful it should also be shown to them, the need to secure lodging locations came out.

It was there that they ended up buying one of the ryokan (traditional inns) that were originally aimed towards Mazoku within the country and rebuilt it into a prominent building.

「The employees of the purchased ryokan have been hired for the new establishment and remain there. In regards to the lack of personnel, I have already gone ahead and posted a recruitment request at the Guild. Since the application condition was made to prioritize that they wouldn’t lay any hands on the guests, it is expected that it will gather people who have a certain amount of composure.」

「Yeah. That is important after all. I’m counting on you.」

Unlike Mazoku, members of mankind are fragile. If they were to be hit, there would seriously be an incident where casualties would appear.

「Since the security will be laid out using Magic Operated Armor, it surely won’t be anything strange.」

「Well, that would be appropriate.」

The Magic Operated Armors were an existence that being made known little by little in the Jiol Forest Kingdom that they planned on accepting the request for sightseeing from this time around. After all, the ones protecting the Jiol Forest Kingdom’s national borders were Magic Operated Armors. Recently, it’s been said that they have grown popular due to their honesty and the coolness of their appearance.

There was the concern that they would be avoided due to being armor that was empty on the inside, but this really is an example of not knowing how things will fall over.

「The construction of the inn has started, but it will be a bit slower than planned. I am considering recruiting additional personnel through the Guild.」

「Yeah, I leave it to you.」

「Understood. Well then, in regards to the actual establishment’s functions after the planned completion……」

At the moment that Gordy tried to take out some documents──the council room door was violently struck upon.

「What is going on, being so noisy.」

After Ichika called out towards the door sounding displeased, an answer could be heard without the door even opening.

「This is an urgent report! In the Lulugal Forest to the east, a gigantic castle has suddenly appeared!」