Book 7: Chapter 38

「……Fuu. Is today’s work done with this?」

「Yes, good work.」

In the Demon King’s office that was in the Zadark Kingdom’s Demon King Castle, Vermudol made a large stretch.

With the documents he handed to Ichika just now, he had completed the support duties that were made with Altejio and the others being gone.

Since they would be coming back today, things would finally return to their normal structure.

「……Now that I think about it, I’ve done nothing but burden Altejio with work. It might be my obligation to do work on his behalf for another two or three days and give him a good amount of rest.」

While listening to Vermudol’s muttering, Ichika quickly checked through the documents she was handed.

She thought that he didn’t need to worry about that since the Northern Army had its own rhythm of doing things, but that spirit of his was something wonderful as an administrator.

That is why Ichika decided to not make a statement until he sought her opinion……but.

「……Wait. Don’t joke with me. If you’re going to talk about obligation or whatever, wouldn’t it be fine if you just increase the Northern Army’s personnel. Or could it be that you have no intention of considering the burden placed on me?」

Receiving a protest, Vermudol turned his gaze to the desk that was temporarily placed in his office.

What was there was Ykslaas’s figure as she fell prostrate onto the desk, and she was glaring at Vermudol with upturned eyes.

「No, you do have my gratitude. You do work better than I expected.」

In response to Vermudol’s honest answer, Ykslaas replied with an unconcealed tongue click.

「What. I’m. Saying. Is. Increase the Northern Army’s manpower. You can do that, right?」

「Fumu.」

Understanding that what Ykslaas was saying wasn’t about hiring but about Mazoku Creation, Vermudol made a vague nod.

「I can’t do that thoughtlessly either though. I also think that that sort of time has passed.」

「What do you mean. Shouldn’t you face the lack of personnel as a realistic problem?」

「And that is the reason why. Right now, rather than creating the necessary personnel, I am thinking that we should be transitioning to raising them.」

Vermudol’s Mazoku Creation ability was certainly convenient. The power to create necessary people when they were needed could even be said to be what supported the Zadark Kingdom’s foundation.

「In reality, what makes the current Zadark Kingdom move is the Four Cardinal Generals and the Four Cardinal Armies……In other words, the power of the Mazoku that were originally in this country is a large part of it. A majority of the Central Army are Mazoku that I created but, well……A lot of the work that the Central Army does is supervisory stuff rather than practical stuff after all.」

「Hーn. And so?」

「In short, it’s like this. Even if I don’t create the necessary personnel and supplement them with that, there is the possibility that each army will find the necessary personnel and raise them, and that is why I am thinking that now is the time where that should be done.」

Of course, in cases where there is an urgent need for personnel when there is no time to raise them and there is an ability that is needed but there was no one with the know-how to do it──like the diplomat Nanalus for example, Vermudol would need to create them from now on as well.

However, if that wasn’t the case, each army would be able to resolve it. He was thinking that as long as they were in the shape of a country, they should shift into that direction before long.

「……Well, I can understand what you’re saying, you know?」

When Ykslaas raised her body up, she cracked her shoulders.

「But look. Realistically, right now, at this moment, isn’t there a lack of people. Considering the importance of the Northern Army’s work, this situation where it turned out like this just by taking Altejio out is extremely unstable. Yes, even if it’s now where the work amount has temporarily increased with the connection of the tourism, see.」

「Mu……」

「If you say that you’re going to go in the direction of raising them no matter what, at the very least, you should take this chance to re-examine the Northern Army’s work structure. You should do either that or form a budget and drastically increase the personnel.」

In response to Ykslaas pointing that out, Vermudol sank into silence and pondered.

Ichika silently watched over him as he was like that……then said “I will make some tea” and left the room.

And then, switching with Ichika, Rokuna came barging into the room.

「Ver-cchi, I just got back! Tte, ara, if it isn’t Ykslaas. What’re you doing?」

「That sure is a sudden greeting. I was doing support on the work around here.」

「Ara, is that so. Thanks for the hard work, I’ll treat you to something next time.」

After saying that, Rokuna turned back around to Vermudol.

「Yeah, welcome back, Rokuna. Have Altejio and the others returned already?」

「Yes. You said that it would be fine if I made the report alone, right?」

「Pretty much.」

Hearing that, Ykslaas breathed a sigh.

If it were any other country, at a time like this, it would be normal to have a return report done in the audience room. A summary would be exaggeratedly heard there, and they would receive some sort of words of praise from the king……that sort of ceremony-like event would be performed.

However, Vermudol said that that was pointless and cleanly discarded it.

This sense of distance between Vermudol and Rokuna, it was a relationship that would be impossible between a normal king and vassal but……in a certain way, could this also be said to be a merit of the Zadark Kingdom?

「So, how was their reaction?」

「Let’s see……The negotiation itself ended normally. There were some people that were more or less hard to deal with, but putting it in reverse, I suppose that was all to it. I’ll summarize the specific results later, but at that time, I want to discuss with you about the plan from now on.」

Hearing Rokuna’s report, Vermudol went “fumu” and nodded.

「Yeah, got it. But, basically, we’ll move forward with your leadership.」

「Heh? Is that alright?」

「Yeah, I don’t mind. As long as it’s at the level where we don’t have any loses, it’s fine if you compromise.」

Rokuna made a blank look at Vermudol’s words, and Ykslaas displayed an expression that looked like she understood something.

「Could it be that you……」

「Yeah, that’s exactly it.」

Vermudol nodded at Ykslaas.

「The negotiations with the Cylas Empire, give the arrangement of them maximum priority. What’s important is the friendship itself.」

The greatest objective to forming a friendship with the Cylas Empire was there.

To Vermudol, what was important wasn’t what could be obtained through the friendship, but the friendship itself.

「……What do you mean by that?」

「Let’s see……First, fundamentally, I don’t trust mankind.」

Mankind has something boundlessly troublesome called 「justice of the entire world」. Acting for the sake of a future that surpass individual fences, it was something like that. And then, it was also a disease that tormented mankind by telling them to 「execute it」 in the form of conscience blame.

Even with Borkio who Vermudol had extended a hand to in the past, in the end, with the 「justice of the entire world」, he betrayed that kindness for the sake of protecting mankind’s peace, and departed the Dark Continent to warn the world of the Demon King’s existence.

This was something where nothing could be done about it any longer.

Vermudol had slightly tinkered with the Life Seed of Sarigan, the king of the Jiol Forest Kingdom, so that he would lose his prejudice towards the Mazoku, but he couldn’t possibly apply that sort of treatment to the entirety of mankind.

That being said, it wasn’t like it was a story where it would be fine if he tinkered with only the royalty either.

Just like how it could be understood by looking at the Canal Kingdom, the 「justice of the entire world」 would occasionally try to overthrow the royal authority as well. If the king’s policies were to suddenly change, there was probably the possibility that a civil war would break out just like in the Canal Kingdom.

If mankind were to conclude that Vermudol was the cause of that civil war, that would unmistakably mean the second coming of the Hero war. That alone was something that needed to be avoided.

「First of all, forming the relationship called friendship is what’s important. We need to create the accepted practice of being able to join hands with Mazoku.」

Forming a friendship with the Jiol Forest Kingdom──with the Sylphids, was relatively easy.

They had loneliness due to their longevity from the start. They had a tendency to seclude themselves in communities of fellow Sylphid who lived in the same time, and they lived by restricting themselves with disciplines.

And then, the St. Altlis Kingdom’s upsurge of the Demi-Human Argument, which could be said to be a rampage, deepened that loneliness even further……and during that time, the Zadark Kingdom, a country of Mazoku, appeared.

Although there had been a couple of unexpected difficulties with persuading the king’s close aides, the existence of the Mazoku who were able to live in the same time as them was much larger to the Sylphid than expected. Particularly, the Majin who had mostly the same figures as them──speaking more specifically, it seemed that the existence of Nanalus whose demeanor was gentle and refined was astonishing to them.

Through that Nanalus, the Sylphids of the Jiol Forest Kingdom remembered the figures of the Majin that came out in the parade commemorating the friendship of their two nations.

With Vermudol the Demon King as their chief, it was a kingdom of Mazoku who had figures identical to themselves, and lived in a time identical to theirs.

Moreover, rather than the St. Altlis Kingdom, there was the possibility of being able to understand them.

For this reason, the result of placing the past alliance on a balance scale with that, the citizens of the Jiol Forest Kingdom accepted the existence known as the Zadark Kingdom. And then, the relationship between both countries was also in the middle of progressing through the current tourism plan.

「Accepted practice……」

「That’s right, accepted practice. That they can come to an understanding with Mazoku. That we can get along. This accepted practice will exterminate the accepted practice that said that Mazoku should be destroyed. With that, we will finally reach the beginning.」

That’s right, it was there that it would finally start.

The common sense where Mazoku are arbitrarily regarded as evil would, for the first time in their lives, change the direction of the justice of the entire world.

Was destroying Mazoku really justice?──It would become possible to insert that question into them.

「We won’t create a chance to make them summon the Hero. That’s why, Rokuna……I’m expecting great things from you.」

Hearing those words that were filled with various thoughts, Rokuna gently nodded.