A Cruel Conference

——Field Hospital, the village of Rabbi.

Tahara was scribbling notes on several sheets of paper sprawled out on a desk before him. He seemed to have more plans in store for the future of the village.

Yu walked into the room, looking strangely elated. “Is this your office for the day?”

“Boss Man’s back, so the resort’s a little crowded.”

The ladies staying at the resort had caused an uproar, demanding to see the Demon Lord in the flesh. Some seemed merely curious, while others obviously had more calculated intentions in mind. The reconciliation between the Madam and Harts, brokered by Luna, had become public knowledge, and the savvier nobles and ladies had already moved to secure their place in the soon-to-be-shaken-up power dynamic of Holylight. Some of the ladies even seemed to discern that the man who called himself the Demon Lord was an integral part of this shift in power, despite remaining in the shadows for the majority of his operations.

The ladies of Central high society, the Madam included, were all brilliant. Otherwise, their houses would not have survived. Knowing power, sensing power, and ruthlessly following and adhering to the powerful were all integral to their battle for survival. Both Tahara and Yu considered those savvier members of society to be easier to deal with, if anything.

“And what about the wayward princess...?” Tahara asked.

“Brilliant girl. I think I’ll have her assist me in my work.”

Tahara looked up from his paper. “You sure don’t say that every day.” His interest was piqued, what kind of person would make the Witch want to take her under her wing? “Must be a real fox, that princess.”

“I much prefer her to Ren or Akane...”

“Alrighty then...” Tahara seemed to infer some meaning from that and decided to change the subject. “Think she’ll be a good banner for when we take on Xenobia. Boss Man won’t let anything slip through his fingers... Feels like he reads a hundred steps ahead in every direction.”

“Yes, such a wonderful gift for him to bring us...” Yu adoringly said, imagining the Demon Lord planning move after move with nearly clairvoyant calculations.

Tahara muttered “Makes me wonder more and more why he keeps us around,” with a satisfied smirk on his face.

They were both convinced that everything was playing out according to the Secretary’s master plan. If the Demon Lord himself had confessed that he’d just happened to stumble upon the princess, Tahara and Yu would have laughed it off as a joke. The Demon Lord would not have found it so funny, but one could hardly blame the advisors for finding him reliable.

“And I tried making some of these.”

“What’s that?” Tahara asked, looking at the vial containing some neon orange powder.

“The powdered peel of a carrot harvested here.”

“As in the garbage part of the thing? What are you gonna use that for?”

“Is there anything inside that skull of yours? There’s an abundance of beta carotene in carrot peel.”

“Caro... what, now?”

“A strong antioxidant. Our bodies store it and change it to vitamin A as needed. That’s on top of boosting the body’s immune system. It also has properties to combat cancer and infections, stabilize mucus production and even prevent eye fatigue. It can improve your skin and stimulate circulation to—”

“I got it! So it’s good for you, right?!” Tahara interjected, looking to escape the impromptu lecture. While he could quickly learn and master most things, he wasn’t an expert in medicine or pharmaceuticals.

“I’m thinking about prescribing this for mild symptoms. We have so many patients sometimes that I can’t tend to them myself.”

“By ‘mild,’ you mean like a cold?”

“That would be a good example. I’ve added properties to help with mild headaches, fevers, stomachaches, and general pain.”

“That’s a handy little prescription. Knowing that you made it, I can’t help but think the secret ingredient is something a little more nefarious than some TLC.”

The prescription, now effectively a cure-all for mild ailments, would allow Yu to get through to many more patients.

“I’m thinking of prescribing a small amount of this as a cure for epidemics.”

“What do you mean by epidemics?”

“Scurvy, the Black Death, whooping cough, tuberculosis, malaria, the mumps, diphtheria, leprosy, syphilis, cholera, smallpox, chicken pox, measles, rubella... Plenty of diseases in this world, too.”

“Haven’t heard some of those names in a while.”

Many on Yu’s list had been conquered by humanity in exchange for much time and countless lives. Now, Yu was planning to catch this world up without paying such an ultimate price.

“What’s this green one?” Tahara asked.

“Blended carrot leaves.”

“Another find from the kitchen scraps...?”

“How does your brain even function? I’m genuinely curious. Carrot leaves contain calcium, magnesium, vitamins E, K, C... Not to mention—”

“Agh, all right! My bad! Wow, it’s so good for you!” Tahara shouted in desperation to avoid the looming masterclass on nutrition.

“I plan to call the medicine for mild symptoms the ‘Rabbi Pill.’ It should be an effective advertisement for the village.”

“That’s a great idea! Works with the Boss Man’s idea of gaining a reputation.”

“I call the one that cures epidemics the ‘Nine Interworld Nirvana Elixir.’”

“Nine... Inter-what who now?”

“Nine. Interworld. Nirvana. Elixir. It embodies the mercy of the Secretary.”

“That’s...” Tahara didn’t know what to say. In their previous world, their zealous supporters were dubbed the Nine, but Yu was acting as if she wanted to convert the entire population of Holylight to the Nine. “At least the sick folks won’t care why you’re saving their lives... They’ll probably keep thanking you in tears,” Tahara added as a jab.

In truth, the medicine could save countless lives. It wouldn’t be amiss to imagine that those patients would turn their gratitude towards the man behind the doctor and her concoction.

“These will become a specialty of the village, on top of raw carrots.”

Business-wise, it couldn’t get much better than using the byproduct of the carrots.

“I agree. We’re swimming in carrots, now.”

“On the other hand, I wonder what Akane is up to...”

“When she’s out, it’s on the Secretary’s orders. If we stick our nose into it, we might get burned.”

“Fine... I don’t want her wandering about the village anyway,” Yu spat out.

Akane, who always looked to fight the big fights on her own, who had a tendency to sympathize with the weak, was never destined to get along with Yu, who always put the Demon Lord’s aspirations above all else, and cut out anything unnecessary to their cause. As far as Yu was considered, she felt a much stronger kinship with Cake than she ever did with Akane.

“Well, now that Boss Man’s back... Let’s take care of some business.”

“Yes, let’s. I’ve also watered the flowers to celebrate his return.”

“Is that so...” A look of disgust flashed on Tahara’s face, as he knew exactly what those flowers were. Just the other day, an archbishop of the Tzardom had been added to the eerie flowerbed.

“It’s a very militaristic nation,” Yu handed Tahara a stack of documents thicker than the one she brought over the day before. She seemed to be documenting everything she extracted from the archbishop. Today’s docket included detailed information down to the most secretive aspects of the Tzardom of Light.

“Elemental Knights, huh? Each order is 40,000 strong... A grand total of 120,000.”

The organization was the largest order of knights on the continent by far. The Tzardom was utilizing the order to expand their forces west while maintaining small battles in the north. There was no doubt that they had one of the most powerful armies on the continent.

“120,000... Now that’s a feast,” Yu remarked. Neither of them seemed troubled by the number, the thought of which shook the strategists of the Tzardom’s neighboring nations. In fact, Yu seemed like she was eyeing a bountiful buffet.

“Then there are the Temple Knights and the two Paladins...” A shadow fell over Tahara as he recalled his encounter with Weeb the other day. Tahara, as someone who preferred to scheme and plot, wanted least of all to deal with the likes of him. Tahara already knew that, the more he plotted to recruit Weeb, the more his heart would drift away from his cause.

“If he is a hindrance to the Secretary, I’ll take care of him.”

“Can’t sign off on that... The people like him too much.”

“I’ll simply make it so he never existed.”

Yu had the terrifying skill Propaganda, which had been a skill for the players to hide their information in the game, but had much more varied uses in this world. With the use of rumors and buzzwords, Yu could manipulate information out in the world. She had simply refrained from using the skill thus far because it could have backfired if they didn’t completely understand the mechanisms of this world.

Tahara answered, “No matter how many times you blot out the sun, it’ll rise again in the morning.”

“What? Is that supposed to be some kind of riddle?” Yu demanded coldly. Tahara ignored her and leisurely hit his cigarette. She scowled in return. “You’re in a hospital, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“Huh? The Secretary smokes this place up like a chimney.”

“Don’t put the Secretary’s smoking and yours in the same realms of existence!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Yours is just...unpleasant.”

“Unpleasant, my ass! You’re concerned about what goes in a hospital? Now, that’s a laugh! What about your creepy labs and flowerbeds?! This is a slaughterhouse, let’s call it what it is!”

“Oh my... Looks like you might need some brain surgery...”

Even as they bickered, they didn’t forget to round up their documents to prepare for the next day, when there would be a formal meeting of the Demon Lord’s army.

——The next day.

Yu and Tahara were in the office within the Hot Springs Resort organizing documents. The room contained an executive desk meant for the owner of the establishment, a genuine leather couch for guests, and even a tropical aquarium tank.

The pair quietly continued their work in silence, accompanied by an array of flowers displayed all around the executive desk. The vibrant arrangement of flowers in vases was coordinated around the color purple, and it seemed to make Tahara a bit uncomfortable. He could feel some dark feeling curdling in his gut. The flowers had become even more vibrant than before, almost blindingly so, suggesting that Yu has been making regular modifications. Perhaps the essence of evil was the best fertilizer after all.

Finally, Tahara couldn’t take any more of it. “Dammit! How am I supposed to concentrate in this greenhouse?!”

“Watch your mouth,” Yu jabbed. “I didn’t grow these flowers for you.”

“You better not have!”

Tahara spoke no more after that, as the flowers seemed to him to groan and lament in the faintest whispers.

Then, the Demon Lord entered with a deep furrow on his brow, exuding an aura that warned his advisors to consider their words before speaking to him. He seemed to be dreading the incoming barrage of suggestions, comments, and misunderstandings from his advisors who far outsmarted him. Even before the meeting began, there was a sharp pain in his stomach. (Did I screw up by taking the leash off of Akane? But she could have made things so much more confusing... What was I supposed to do?) Then, he suddenly noticed the array of colorful flowers around the room.

“What is this...?”

“I took the liberty of decorating the room,” Yu pounced, “With a palette of your favorite colors, Mister Secretary.”

“Impressive... It makes the space very calming,” the Demon Lord smiled.

“Thank you, Sir!” Yu answered gleefully.

It was Tahara’s turn to frown. It wasn’t even funny to hear the Demon Lord say that a room full of these flowers was ‘calming.’ To Tahara, it seemed like his work environment was becoming more hostile by the day.

The Demon Lord sat in the desk chair, and the purplish flowers glowed even more venomously, as if to accentuate the darkness about him. “I never had much interest in flowers,” he said, “but this is changing my mind. There’s something quite exceptional about these, knowing that you grew them, Yu.”

“Mister Secretary...”

The conversation made Tahara want to cover his ears. He felt the urge to press an HR rep for how his workplace could have fallen this far. This was like working in a haunted house alongside real ghosts.

“H-Hey, Boss,” he interjected. “Hate to interrupt the gardening sesh, but could we move on to our agenda?”

“Mm.” The Demon Lord nodded, running his finger along the petals of a flower near him. He then placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit it, completing his usual look. The council commenced. “I’ll start by catching you up on my end.” Having apparently rehearsed the speech, the Demon Lord went on to list the recent series of events, from meeting Olgan to what took place in Animania and Hellion territory. Despite his matter-of-fact tone, this was an incredible tale to his advisors. He had somehow taken in the pair of Star Players, two of the best adventurers on the continent, used some of the Anima to his advantage, and invaded Hellion lands. Belphegor, on the receiving end of the invasion, had his entire territory trampled by the apes, and his castle blown to smithereens. Not even an all-out war could have caused this much damage, and the aftermath of the invasion made it seem like a natural disaster had come and gone. To top it all off, the Demon Lord had acquired a very useful asset in the form of the refugee princess.

Hearing these events in sequence, the advisors could consider no other explanation than the Demon Lord having planned it all out in his brilliance.

Tahara puffed some cigarette smoke. “You can’t help pitching a perfect game, can you, Sir? It’s getting really sleepy in the outfield,” he joked. And it was only natural for Tahara to have this impression. He had made connections with Anima, brought home a princess in his pocket, and recruited Star Players to his side. The simple yet effective repetition of striking down enemies and seeking out potential allies had begun to snowball, compounding the strength of the Demon Lord’s army with every move he made.

“Merely a tea-time game for the Secretary,” Yu chimed in.

“Not too amusing for our opponents, though!” Tahara laughed, prompting a smile from Yu.

The Demon Lord, on the other hand, was secretly steaming, (No, you’ve got it all wrong! I just went out there for some anti-magic item...!) That simple catalyst had led to excessively impressive results. Before the barrage of undeserved praise from his advisors grew out of control, the Demon Lord solemnly laid out the two things he had acquired on the desk: a pair of rare items called Amanda’s Stone and Amanda’s Seed. The former prevented a certain degree of status conditions while the latter temporarily boosted MP. “These are the anti-magic items I could get my hands on.”

His advisors acknowledged them with reverence. They seemed to have a thought or two about the blatant existence of magic in this world.

“Speaking of magic, Mister Secretary, my lab coat seems to prevent status conditions. I’ve conducted some experiments, with Luna’s assistance,” Yu handed him a report.

The Demon Lord pondered, reading through the report. (Come to think of it, I wrote that into Yu’s lab coat... ‘Prevent all status conditions,’ or something like that. Didn’t seem right for the best doctor in the world to get a status condition.) In the game, there were numerous status conditions like Poisoned or Paralyzed that affected characters. (On top of that, it apparently prevents most damage from class-2 spells...) While the Demon Lord had no means of seeing his advisors’ stats, Yu already had an impressive Magic Defense of 20. Considering that Mikan, a top-tier attacker, had a Magic Defense of 10 after accounting for her armor, and Yukikaze had a Magic Defense of 30, Yu’s stat was definitely significant.

“This seed is yours for now, Tahara. Don’t hesitate to use it if you have to.”

“Sweet! Magic seems like a whole can of worms, so I thought my best shot’d just be to draw first.”

“Yu, use your connections with noble patients and the Madam to find as many of these items as possible. Behind closed doors, of course.”

“Understood, Sir.” Yu nodded, agreeing that publicly calling for anti-magic items would work out as well for them as walking around with a big red target on their backs.

Then, the Demon Lord went on to explain what happened in the depths of the Bastille Dungeon.

“‘Let’s play,’ huh...? Someone’s got a death wish, eh, Boss?”

Yu glared at Tahara for this. “It’s not funny. Who knows what lowly, miserable, worthless scum it was, but we need to hunt it down and exterminate it. Now.”

“That’s exactly why the Secretary’s preparing for that.” Tahara understood the current plan of the Demon Lord to be expanding their territory and solidifying their base of operations, while amassing a collection of anti-magic items. “Any guesses on who that was, Chief?” Tahara asked, apparently intrigued by the mysterious figure in the dungeon.

“It’s anyone’s guess. I don’t recall making any enemies.”

Tahara burst out laughing. “I’m sure they won’t see it that way!”

(What does he think I did?! Well, I guess my record hasn’t been entirely clean...) Back in the Empire, Hakuto Kunai had created too many political enemies to count. Tahara looked at him as if to say ‘what’d you expect?’ Feeling rather hurt by the assumption that he was some big bad villain, the Demon Lord changed the subject to affairs within Holylight.

“Can you take a look at this first, Chief?” Tahara interjected.

“Hm...” The Demon Lord took the document that was handed to him. The packet outlined the current power dynamic in Holylight, the change in number of workers, their salaries, logistics of their commute and meals, and so much more in great detail. The Demon Lord felt a dizzy spell at the assault of words and numbers from those pages.

“Word o’ mouth’s spread as much as it can. Thinking about throwing up a barrack or something, especially now that we’ve got more working hands on deck. Thanks to you, Sir.”

“Hm...”

“The village is getting pretty cramped, and fast. Lately, I’ve been inviting the neighbors over,” Tahara grinned, adding subtext to his remark.

Yu looked at him with reproach. “You’ve been feeding the dogs a lot.”

“You make me sound diabolical or something. I’m just showing them around the village out of the goodness of my heart. With a barrel full of water for them to take home.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s called kindness, for your information. It just happens that they are moved by our kindness and start going on about how jealous they are of our prosperous village,” Tahara said with a dramatic flair as he puffed his cigarette. After all, eastern Holylight was a wasteland, detested by the rest of the country. The neighboring villagers must have shaken, in disbelief as they experienced the current state of Rabbi.

“Then we should incorporate those neighboring villages immediately. Managing the happiness of the population is one of the Secretary’s primary directives.”

The Department of Citizen Happiness Management was the clunky yet official title given to the Demon Lord and his advisors in their previous world. Yu knew no other way to govern. In fact, she knew no other happiness than living under the rule of the Demon Lord.

“Easier said than done,” Tahara countered. “The folks ruling those villages might have a few things to say about it.”

“We can silence them. Forever. Sew their mouths shut.”

“Or make ’em tongue-tied? You’d actually do it, too...”

The Demon Lord silently groaned at the increasingly violent topic of conversation. His initial intention of improving his reputation had gone out the window, and now he was sounding like a bona fide invader. This was akin to finding oneself on the FBI’s most wanted list upon returning from an overseas business trip. (How could this have happened...?!) He gazed up at the ceiling. As if he was looking for an escape from reality, he let his gaze wander to the tropical fish swimming through the aquarium. They danced through the water elegantly, oblivious to the outside world. (Those fish have it easy... I was staring at fish like this, once before. A long time ago...) The Demon Lord tried to recall the details, but his memories seemed foggy. He decided to simply let his mind wander farther. (Swimming... Swimming... I know! I’ll build a pool! I promised Aku, too!) With his recently restored Admin Feature at the forefront of his mind, the Demon Lord’s spirits were immediately lifted. What could be more luxurious than a pool in eastern Holylight where it was scorching year round? He smiled, perhaps imagining a fun pool day with Aku.

Tragically, his mind was yanked back to reality by Tahara, “Our friendly neighbors... Guess we don’t have to hold back anymore, eh?” He grinned, giving the Demon Lord a look.

The gesture came across as if the two needed no words to communicate, which rubbed Yu the wrong way. “What are you talking about...?” she spat out.

“I’m talking about how Mister Boss Man took advantage of—I mean, had a heart-to-heart with little White.”

Tahara’s grin caused some cold sweat to trickle down the Demon Lord’s back as he thought of the time he accidentally shared a bath with White. (Dammit, who told Tahara...? And how much does he know?!) As the Demon Lord was secretly freaking out, Yu went silent, deep in thought. Of course, Tahara had heard of the incident from the Madam, including how the Demon Lord had given the Angel’s Ring to White. Tahara considered that a shot through White’s heart.

“Been busy flying around, eh, Chief?”

From Tahara’s point of view, the Demon Lord had made the top Holy Maiden fall head over heels for him, like he was some manther, before storming off to the north and the east to make some noise. This seemed like Kunai’s tactic to a tee, shrewdly switching off between pacification and brutality.

Despite his internal freak-out, the Demon Lord lit his cigarette with gravitas, and started in a convincing tone, “It is best, in any world and any time, to have a cordial relationship with those in power.”

“Sure thing, Boss.”

‘Cordial’ was an understatement, as they had shared a bath naked. The Demon Lord’s attempt at concealing the fact would have made even a politician blush.

“Never gets old being impressed by your handiwork, Chief.”

“That’s high praise... How do you see where I stand, Tahara?” The Demon Lord pushed aside his fear to finally ask Tahara’s perception of him, in a desperate attempt to resolve any misunderstandings between them that he could.

Tahara cruelly replied, “What do you mean, ‘how’? The first thing you did was lure Luna into your clutches, setting yourself up as her guardian. You got your hands on Rabbi for close to nothing, and, the unyielding conqueror that you are, started reaching your devilish claws into neighboring lands.”

“There’s a huge misunderstanding here,” the Demon Lord croaked.

Tahara followed up, however, by speaking directly into his mind. Yeah, yeah, of course! You want to set Yu on the right foot today. I got you, Chief.

(Oh, no... What the hell is he talking about?! Do I need to get an interpreter?!)

Watching the Demon Lord remain silent, Tahara nodded, much to the Demon Lord’s annoyance, with a knowing smirk. As far as Tahara was concerned, the Demon Lord was determined to curtail Yu’s philosophy of killing their way through every obstacle. If killing solved every problem, the Empire would not have fallen as it did.

Tahara eloquently paraphrased the Demon Lord’s strategy as he understood it. “My bad, my bad, that’s not the complete version, is it? The important part’s where you’ve got the Madam wrapped around your finger, and had the high society nobles make up with the military nobles. Without a single drop of blood, you’ve restructured the entire power dynamic of the country. Used to take lots of bloodshed and loads of money to reach a reconciliation like that. That would have given the people a usurper dripping with blood and coin.”

“Hm...”

“But not this time. You set it all up without a single drop of blood. Thanks to that, Luna’s got a clean reputation too, doesn’t she? Public perception’s the one thing you can’t buy with gold. A ruler’s doomed once they give off a rotten impression.”

“That’s absolutely right...” the Demon Lord muttered, after quietly waiting for Tahara’s storm of an interpretation to end. The nerve-calming cigarette between his lips was the last line of defense for his sanity. (What reconciliation...? I had nothing to do with that!) Despite the Demon Lord’s internal scream, the power dynamic of Holylight had actually changed overnight, making this nothing short of a miraculous political endeavor. A reconciliation between the Madam and Harts via any other method would have been almost impossibly complicated. Of course, the Demon Lord felt like he had returned from out of town to his house having been completely remodeled without his knowledge. It was out of the blue, to say the least.

“You sprang a trap against the leader of the nobles—that the people hate—with a music box, and he fell right for it. The leader of the Holy Maidens ain’t unfriendly towards us now, either,” Tahara rattled off and blew a cloud of smoke with satisfaction. He seemed incredibly impressed at his boss’s meticulously crafted master plan. Despite starting out in this world with zero foundation, he had found solid ground, was rapidly expanding their forces, and steadily gearing up to take over the country and eliminate any opposing forces. Anyone else would have been just as impressed as Tahara was.

(This is unreal... I’m being treated like someone who’s accomplished a feat, when I haven’t done a single thing!) The Demon Lord shuddered at the growing mountain of misunderstandings that had piled up before him. He felt that, if he were to touch on any of these in an attempt to remedy even one of them, the whole house of cards would come crashing down on him.

Yu seemed to have picked up what Tahara was putting down. “I understand the Secretary’s long-term objectives...”

“Good to hear. Your medical practice is the driving factor in growing our popularity among the poor. You can’t be the one to step out of line, here,” Tahara plainly explained. Yu sighed in acknowledgment. More than anything, she wanted to avoid the Demon Lord thinking that she was short-sighted. Seeing that Yu understood his point, Tahara turned back to the Demon Lord to summarize their current state of affairs. “Right now, we’re giving work to those who need it, pouring the funds we get from the Madam into all sorts of industries. It’s slow and steady, but some merchant and production groups started knocking on our door.” Politically, he had taken in the Holy Maidens and convinced two major noble factions to reconcile, while socially he was appealing to the laborers, merchants, and producers. All in all, it was a brilliant coup, considering there had been close to no bloodshed until this point. “Gifting the Holy Maiden an Angel’s Ring. Now that’s delicious irony, Chief.” The Demon Lord of the Empire creating an angel... The irony was certainly not lost on Tahara, but Yu was preoccupied with another thought.

“Gifting the Holy Maiden... Sir?”

While the Demon Lord could not read her expression as she stared at the floor, he sensed an inexplicable pressure. Letting his eyes wander to the aquarium again, the Demon Lord tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. “A small token for getting to know each other.”

“Getting to know each other...” Yu parroted, prompting a drop of sweat to trickle down the Demon Lord’s back.

“Speaking of...” Tahara started cheerfully.

The Demon Lord shot him an expecting look, hoping for his genius advisor to clear the tension in the air. (Good work, Tahara! Now’s the time to let your ‘genius’ backstory shine!)

Alas, Tahara followed up with a cruel suggestion. “Speaking of gifts, I’d love for you to get Yu something, too.”

The Demon Lord heartily nodded. Unbeknownst to him, he had just dug his own grave. “I was just thinking the same thing. Yu, your great work certainly deserves a reward.” He had promised Tahara a big reward, after all: his sister. Leaving Yu high and dry did seem unfair. After sensing a foreboding air about her, the Demon Lord was quick to jump on the suggestion. (Wasn’t it like this with White, too...?) He recalled how he had given White the Angel’s Ring to make her feel better. More recently, he had done the same with Olgan when he gave her the Devilish Horns. He had created an angel here and a devil there, just to get out of an awkward situation. This tendency of his made for a rather dangerous pattern. (A gift is a small price to pay to cheer her up...) the Demon Lord thought conclusively and leaned back into his chair, confident that he could prepare any gift Yu wanted.

“Then why don’t you take a break, Boss, and have a nice soak in the hot springs with Yu? Have her wash your back or something, eh?” Tahara struck the nail into the coffin.

(Wh-What the...?!) The Demon Lord nearly fell out of his chair from surprise, but managed to compose himself. He had expected to give her some sort of item from the game; the last thing he expected was for him to become the gift.

“You gotta be tired, Chief, after all the overtime you put in. Time for some R ’n’ R, don’t you think?”

(Are you nuts?! ‘R and R’ would stand for Rattled and Restless!) The Demon Lord’s mind began to rattle at the catastrophic suggestion.

Tahara ruthlessly followed up via a direct Communication, Yu’s a ticking time bomb right now. Thought that was a sweet tee-up if I do say so myself. What’d you think, Chief?

(That was some friendly fire! A headshot, at that!) The Demon Lord wanted very badly to protest, but relented, given that he had basically just set himself up. Still, the desperate man tried to wriggle his way out of this predicament. “Wait, Tahara... Ordering a woman to wash my back would definitely be classified as sexual har—”

“A splendid idea, Tahara...!” Yu cheered, drowning out the Demon Lord’s feeble protest. Overjoyed, Yu gave Tahara a beaming smile. “You are helplessly stupid, lazy, and musky, not to mention dysfunctional and incestuous, but color me impressed.”

Tahara twitched at the comment, but managed to force a smile over it. He knew full well how dangerous Yu could be if she were to be properly enraged. As far as Tahara was concerned, some simple alone time with the Secretary was a dirt-cheap price to pay to keep Yu happy.

(Wh-What can I do...?! I’m heading up a creek without a paddle!) The Demon Lord’s cogs were turning fast. While he might have been happy with the idea of sharing a bath with someone as beautiful as Yu, he knew better than anyone how terrifying she could be. He was the one who wrote all of her backstory, after all. That being said, he had never written any chemistry between Hakuto Kunai and Yu beyond a strictly business relationship. The sense of going off script only added to the Demon Lord’s dread. “We’ll settle on a day off when we get things settled,” he said. “There’s something I need to share with you first.” If one thing was certain, it was that the Demon Lord did not give up easily. He pulled the ace from his sleeve in one final attempt to clear the air. “I plan to summon two more advisors to this world in the near future. I have my thoughts as to who, but I want your honest input on this.”

The air in the room did change. Both Yu and Tahara knew that this was a serious matter. Yu was the first to speak out, “I recommend Shizuka, Sir.”

“Hey, hey, hey! What do we want with that pseudo-Terminator?! Unless you want to make this world a post-apocalyptic wasteland.”

Shizuka Matoba. Those who knew the name shuddered to hear it. Her backstory depicted her as a serial killer for the history books, the one who sent the capital of the Empire into panic. Shizuka had a very detailed history, which concluded as follows: “She is secretly determined to kill Hakuto Kunai to avenge her capture.”

As Tahara and Yu were unaware of such detail, they were engaged in a heated debate.

“Just like the Secretary said, we’re only going to make more enemies. We need someone like her who knows how to fight and won’t back down from anything.”

“That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard... You think she’s gonna listen to anybody in a world without the Empire?!”

“You’re dumb. The Empire is being rebuilt from scratch by the Secretary himself.”

“I’m saying we’ve got to wait until we build a fence to keep the beast in. Otherwise, she’d tear up the country from the inside out.”

The Demon Lord pondered as he listened to the argument. While Shizuka was as beautiful as a sharpened katana, she was an uncontrollable berserker on the inside.

Considering the mysterious figure that sent him the eerie message in the Bastille Dungeon, the Demon Lord couldn’t deny that he might need her raw strength down the line. But, he was sure that now wasn’t the right time. (We’ve barely got our engine running. Better take things slow.) He considered the village of Rabbi to be a chick that had just hatched from an egg he had been warming for a long time. One wrong move, and the little chicklet would be eaten alive.

Meanwhile, Tahara kept voicing his suggestions. “My vote’s for Nomura. Uncle Nom. Kondo’s got the silver medal. I’m thinking about the security of the village, now that we’re about to expand.”

“They would be better at defense.”

“In any case, Ren’s a shoo-in. That’d be a great help to me.”

“Oh? I think Kato would liven this place up. Well suited for taking out our enemies.”

“Kato. We’d need a fence for that thoughtless brat too.” Tahara facepalmed. He seemed to be lamenting how the majority of his colleagues were so difficult to handle.

Meanwhile, the Demon Lord was organizing his own thoughts. (Long story short, Tahara’s concerned with defense while Yu’s thinking of offense...) He could fortify protections around his chicklet, or shove the thing out of the nest to spread its wings and fly high into the sky where no one could reach it. There were arguments to be made for either side, with no clear cut answer. This seemed like a situation where the right answer could only be found in hindsight. “You both made valid arguments...” The Demon Lord solemnly declared, silencing the advisors at once. He seemed ready to announce which two he was going to summon. “Considering our rapidly growing village, I want to keep Kondo stationed here, almost permanently.” The statement was met by nods of approval by the advisors. Kondo, who was agoraphobic, would do so without any prompting. Akira Ono had designed him as such. The Demon Lord expected him to become the optimal security chief without a word of complaint. Then, if any intruders were to come near the village, they would have nowhere to run from Kondo’s eyes. “I will be spending more time out of the country,” the Demon Lord added. “I intended to summon Ren as my bodyguard.”

Tahara threw his fists into the air, clearly excited to have a level-minded colleague join the fray. “Now we’re talking! Ren would be a huge help around here! Take half of my duties, at least!”

Unsurprisingly, discontent flashed over Yu’s expression for a moment, but she managed to swallow any objection she might have had. “I have no objections, Sir...” Since the Demon Lord had chosen his new advisors with an emphasis on defense, she looked ready to take care of the offense herself.

“I have other powers unlocked, too. I’ll get to those.” Seeing that his advisors heard him, the Demon Lord closed his eyes as if to announce the dismissal of their council. He was certainly relieved to finally get away from the stomachache-inducing meeting, but he kept his expression hardened. At the same time, he began thinking about his newly unlocked powers. (That Still Angel seemed to expect Kunai to annihilate this world...)

—Congratulations!

You’ve reached a milestone through actions taken within the current map — Unlocked Area Construction.

(Whoever’s sending me this thinks this is a game...) The Demon Lord guessed that whoever this was, it wasn’t the Still Angel who had summoned him. If they wanted him to destroy this world, they would have never limited his features. (But what do I care what they think?) The Demon Lord opened the admin screen and perused the selection of Areas to construct. Most Areas were still blocked off, but he expected each area to unlock at certain thresholds.

—Play with me, Demon Lord.

The infuriating message from the dungeon appeared in his mind again. Still, the Demon Lord couldn’t help but wear a savage grin as he took in the list of nostalgic Areas. (I’ll play with you, all right. Have fun with your god complex until then, dumbass...) The Demon Lord’s dauntless grin was frozen by the words he heard next.

“Mister Secretary. I’ll be eagerly awaiting your invitation...to the hot springs.” With a stunning smile, Yu quietly closed the door as she left.

Now left alone, the Demon Lord’s grin had fallen, color drained from his face. (You’ve got to be kidding me! I thought I’d swept that whole thing under the rug!) The Demon Lord collapsed onto the desk, shaking. Despite the prospects of sharing a bath with a gorgeous woman, he couldn’t help but picture a bloodbath.