Volume 3, Chapter 14-2 – Imperial Expressway

What did that mean?

“Make use of… the advantages we already have?”

Dorothy tilted her head and murmured to herself.

A moment later, she shot to her feet.

“I know!”

“We can start a logistics company!” Dorothy excitedly waved her little hands. “The Mirror Door’s teleportation mechanism is really convenient! As long as I remember where a mirror is and establish a passage, we can use it to travel quickly across the Abyss!”

Her eyes sparkled.

“We can definitely make money delivering packages with it!”

Remedios froze.

Then realization dawned on her.

“Right… that’s right!”

“If we operate under the name of civilian logistics, we can openly establish teleportation nodes throughout every region of the Abyss.”

Remedios murmured, rapidly scribbling with her marker.

“Not only can we completely bypass Elector Mammon’s checkpoints, break their monopoly over trade routes, and earn enormous shipping commissions…”

The faster she wrote, the more excited she became.

The marker drew thick, straight lines across the whiteboard, connecting every circular node.

“We can even use each mirror as a foothold to penetrate territories all across the Abyss!”

“Once we establish an unobstructed and efficient teleportation network, it’ll become the foundation for us to conquer the Abyss in the future, and even enter the surface world!”

“We’ll build palaces, stages, artificial hills, and miniature landscapes along the way. With these barriers as camouflage, we’ll be able to twist and turn our way forward along the main route, just like advancing toward an enemy position.”

She erased the title at the very top with the board eraser, then wrote several enormous black words with the marker, covering the entire upper section of the whiteboard.

Remedios planted both hands on her hips.

“I call it…”

【Imperial Expressway】

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The characters were bold and full, their strokes straight and forceful.

Stella could only stare blankly, wearing an expression as if she’d just thrown out her back.

The bizarre things smart people came up with could genuinely leave her dumbfounded.

Stella had already experienced Remedios’ ability to get things done and her wild imagination countless times before.

But taking a few sentences of nonsense that barely even formed complete subject-verb-object structures and instantly turning them into a grand blueprint meant to overturn the economic lifelines of the Abyss was already beyond Stella’s comprehension.

The key thing was that it actually sounded pretty feasible.

The Mirror Door teleportation mechanism was Dorothy’s talent, so it required no additional cost.

Civilian logistics could operate directly under her name and avoid taxes imposed by the other Electors.

Once enough locations were established, they could connect teleportation nodes throughout the Abyss.

But the problem was Elector Mammon.

As the ruler of greed.

A full hundred percent of the Abyss’ logistics and trade routes were controlled by the enormous Mammon family.

They would be snatching meat straight out of someone else’s bowl.

Once the Mammon family noticed, they would definitely come knocking.

Stella lowered her eyes.

The title of Valentine heir really was a useful shield.

But for the Electors, tripping each other up, manufacturing accidents, and making a few students physically evaporate from the Abyss was as easy as crushing a few ants.

If they wanted to make trouble for her, it would be effortless.

Today they could send tax officials to inspect the accounts, tomorrow they could send merchant caravans to drive prices down, and the day after tomorrow they could simply open an identical logistics company across the street and wage a price war.

But what was even more terrifying was the latter half of Remedios’ statement.

Enter the surface world.

Stella’s gaze shifted toward Dorothy, who was sitting there looking perfectly obedient.

If Remedios really spread the Imperial Expressway across the entire Abyss, integrated those enormous resources, and then opened an exit directly onto humanity’s defensive line.

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No… they could even bypass the heavily fortified fortress complexes entirely and appear directly behind the defensive line.

An elusive demon army that could appear and disappear without warning.

‘…That’s terrifying.’

Although Stella no longer had any idea what exactly her outward appearance had become, she knew that she was still a Saintess candidate of the Holy See, humanity’s ultimate weapon against the Abyss.

If she, as President of the Lionheart Society, personally led the construction of an invasion route into the Human Realm…

Rounding things off, wouldn’t that make her the greatest traitor to humanity in history?

At that point, there would be no need to wait for the Holy See’s Chastisement spirits to cross realms and hunt her down. She could just carry the firewood herself and climb onto the stake.

‘I have to think of something.’

Remedios’ ultimate goal was to accumulate an enormous amount of money and influence, invade the Human Realm, bring the Saintess back with her, and lift her elder sister’s curse.

Stella thought it over.

She needed to put helping Remedios’ elder sister break her curse on the agenda as soon as possible.

As long as she handled that matter and made Miss Book Demon owe her an enormous favor, Remedios should give up on the idea of invading the Human Realm, right?

Although she would still need to see the actual situation before figuring out how to approach her and how to lift the curse.

Taking the initiative was still better than sitting here waiting for all of humanity to condemn her as a traitor.

Stella made up her mind. Once she had some time, she would have to make contact with Remedios’s elder sister.

“Does anyone else have any objections?”

Remedios pressed both hands against the tabletop and swept her gaze across both sides of the long table.

More than a dozen succubi sat bolt upright.

Patolize was scribbling furiously in her notebook. She had already traced the words Imperial Expressway three times.

Ophelia’s eyes were glowing, and she seemed to have already started planning food services for the logistics hubs.

Even Beatrice, who rarely spoke, was whispering with Dorothy as they discussed which city-states had mirrors that would be easier to locate.

“Very good.” Remedios straightened up. “Since no one has any objections, starting today, all resources and operations of the Lionheart Society will revolve around the Imperial Expressway plan.”

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“President, do you have any other ideas?”

“…”

Stella really wanted to speak up and directly veto this deadly expressway plan.

But she genuinely couldn’t think of an alternative.

If they didn’t find something for this group of absurdly energetic demons to do, demons who caused trouble at school every single day.

They really would tear Blood Demon Manor apart.

And…

Stella looked at Dorothy’s sparkling eyes, then at Cheryl’s expression, which for once showed no sign of objection.

Everyone thought this plan was workable.

Would it make any difference if she alone opposed it?

Still, she had to struggle a little.

Every day she could delay it was another day gained.

Stella gripped the armrests of her chair with both hands and stood up.

“Everyone’s very enthusiastic.” Stella began, “But I need to throw some cold water on this.”

“You’ve all seen what Blood Demon Manor looks like right now.”

Stella pointed toward the dilapidated courtyard outside the window, then toward the vaulted ceiling above them that was still shedding dust.

“If we want to open for business, then we need to properly clean this place up before we start receiving customers.”

She paused.

“The Imperial Expressway is fine. But not now.”

“First, clean up Blood Demon Manor, set up the mirrors, and stabilize the teleportation passages. Once the infrastructure is in place, then we can talk about conquering the Abyss.”

Three thousand square meters.

The main building, corridors, underground wine cellar, garden.

Even with cleaning spells, that should delay them by at least a few days, right?

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Stella thought.

“President is right. A towering building rises from level ground, and every brick and tile is part of its foundation!” Patolize nodded vigorously.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get to work!” Ophelia was already rolling up her sleeves.

“I’ll go upstairs later and see if there are any usable mirrors!” Dorothy said excitedly as well.

“Meeting adjourned.”

Stella announced.

Applause rang out.

The dozen or so people present all clapped at once.

Thud, thud, thud.

Stella froze.

She raised her head. Even from the direction of the attic came a series of muffled thuds, almost like… applause?

The corner of Stella’s mouth twitched.

‘Don’t tell me…’

‘The wish-granting undead had been hiding in the attic all this time, secretly watching us?’

From stealing eggs, packing things, tying bows, to helping them find a whiteboard, and now applauding…

‘What is this supposed to be?’

‘A voyeur?’

Translator Note

Oh~! Not food delivery but close enough lol