漫画大王

Chapter 70

“Good work, everyone. Nobody got hurt in the end, so everything went as planned.”

“It’s all thanks to Your Highness’s excellent strategies and bold decisions.”

Sarkegar offered me yet another flattering compliment, and Eleris was smiling as well.

“To be honest, we were lucky, Your Highness. They were frozen in shock for quite some time when the dragon appeared during the surprise attack,” Sarkegar said.

“Yes, it was indeed a surprise, even for me.”

In reality, it wasn’t a real dragon that had actually appeared; it was just Sarkegar, who had transformed into a dragon.

Dragons were creatures of legend, and there were no eyewitness accounts that described them. Hence, Sarkegar could only manifest what was thought to be the shape of a dragon, drawn from images.

It was possible that dragons did not exist at all, and if they did, no one knew whether they resembled the commonly known image of one or not.

If the holy knights had come to their senses even a little faster, we might not have been able to recover some of the prisoners, or either Loyar or Eleris might have been badly injured or killed.

I felt a chill thinking about what could have happened if I hadn’t used the Revise function to ensure everyone would be safe. Fortunately, the outcome was good.

“I heard you let the prisoners decide their own fate.”

I nodded at Loyar’s statement.

“If returning to the Dark Land means they can live in peace, then let them be. There’s no need to force them to follow me.”

After all, sneaking nearly a hundred people into the imperial city without being noticed was beyond what I could manage. Moreover, they had all lost their magical powers.

It was hard enough to take care of myself, let alone protect all of them.

Therefore, returning to the Dark Land, where the influence of humans was relatively minimal, was probably the best course of action for them.

***

A while later, after hearing from Airi that they had finished their own discussions, I returned to where the prisoners were gathered.

They all had somber expressions on their faces. They had probably learned through Eleris and Sarkegar what I was up to—infiltrating the imperial capital by attending classes in the Temple in order to reconstruct the Demon Realm.

The idea that they were nothing more than a burden, that there was nothing they could do but watch as their prince undertook such a dangerous task in the heart of the enemy territory, seemed to make them feel pathetic.

“So, have you all made a decision?” I asked.

Airi nodded in response.

“Almost everyone has chosen to go back to the Dark Land.”

Airi seemed apologetic for being unable to offer anything in return for the risks I’d taken to rescue them. Her sorrow seemed compounded by the fact that she had hated me and abused me tremendously in the past.

“There’s no need to be sorry. Go back to the Dark Land, and you can live without worrying about fighting or war anymore.”

Moved by my consideration, they began to shed tears. They would be sent to the far border regions of the Dark Land, to places untouched by humans.

Their pride and identity as members of a high-level demon race had disappeared along with their horns. There were other races present as well, but it seemed they too had determined that they could not be of any help.

It was clear that living freely in the Dark Land would be better than living as slaves to humans.

“I will go ahead and prepare the spell then.”

Eleris began to prepare the Mass Teleport spell. Considering the number of demons and the fact that it was night, it would take two casts of the spell to send all of them to the Dark Land.

After roughly an hour, Eleris had managed to send most of the prisoners to the Dark Land.

“...”

“...”

With that, I was left staring blankly at those who remained.

“Why didn’t you guys leave?”

About ten succubi, along with Airi, had remained behind and were looking at me.

Wait a second.

I recalled Airi saying that “almost everyone” had chosen to return, implying that some had decided not to go.

Airi spoke up on behalf of the group. “We’ve chosen not to return.”

“... Well, if you don’t return, what are you going to do?”

“I may be of no use and no help in battle, but I am still royalty of the Demon Realm. When I see you putting in so much effort here, I cannot simply return to the Dark Land and conveniently forget everything that happened.”

Airi seemed to think that since I was working my butt off while undercover in the heart of the empire, despite my past as a disreputable character, she too, as a member of the Demon Realm’s royalty, was obligated to try to be of some help to me. The other ten who stayed seemed to share the same sentiment.

This was absurd.

I understood their desire to show loyalty and their eagerness to repay their debt, but what use was staying behind? What were they going to do?

“We have lost all our powers. We know we can’t be of much help. But we still have our bodies—our final weapon.”

“... And what do you plan to do with that?”

Airi looked at me with resolve on her face.

“To survive in the human world, we need money.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that.”

“And sometimes, just the existence of a tremendous amount of money can be a threat to the human world.”

I was not sure if they were implying that the empire was about to be plunged into a financial crisis or something, but such an event was possible.

But what exactly were they trying to say?

“Baalier, we’re going to start a business.”

‘... Huh?’

Did I hear them right?

“Achieving great success in business and gaining control over the empire’s wealth would be of great help in rebuilding the Demon Realm.”

“Oh, Your Highness the Princess is indeed admirable. I am truly in awe of your vision.”

Sarkegar was nodding furiously as if utterly convinced by her words.

“Once we have regained sufficient strength, if we control the continent’s financial power in a war with humans, we could surely win without fighting. Or, we could cause division and chaos within the empire. In this past war, we relied on brute force, but next time, we must use every means available to us.”

As I listened to Airi’s words, the expression on Eleris’ face became increasingly bizarre.

The look on Eleris’ face was one of utter disbelief as if she were wondering, “What nonsense is this bitch feeding my child?”

A Succubus Queen, who belonged to a high-level demon race, was advising us that, in order to bring down the empire, we should seize control of its financial power.

I understood the point that it was perfectly fair to use any means to take down the empire, but wasn’t this advice rather undemonic? Instead of smashing the empire with power and magic, they were talking about inducing an economic depression...?

And yet, she had a point. There was some truth in those words.

But what did that have to do with them choosing not to return to the Dark Land?

“Uh... True, that does make sense. But you know I don’t have the skill nor the talent when it comes to business and finance, right? Plus, I’m currently a student at the Temple, so I don’t have the time for that. Moreover, from what I understand, starting a business requires a substantial amount of capital, and we’re not exactly rolling in money.”

Sure, if we started looking into crime or using Eleris’s magic for illegal activities, it wouldn’t be impossible to start gathering money. But I wasn’t about to get involved in that.

“You don’t have to worry about that part.”

Airi seemed to already have considered the issue of capital. She pointed at herself and the other succubi who had remained.

“... What do you mean?”

“If we sell ourselves as slaves to humans, we will be able to raise a huge amount of money. That can be used as the start-up capital...”

“Are you out of your damn minds?!”

Was this some sort of twisted joke? I had rescued them so they wouldn’t have to be slaves, and now they were telling me they wanted to sell themselves into slavery to make money? What utter nonsense!

In response to my outburst, Airi began to sob.

“But this is the best I can do!” she cried. “In this situation, I’m utterly useless, and this is the only way I can be of any help to you! If I can get revenge against those human bastards by letting my petty pride be trampled upon, then I would do it ten times, a hundred times over!”

“Stop it, just stop!”

Perhaps because of what I had done for them, Airi even seemed ready to die if I commanded it. She seemed to have forgotten all about the past.

“Baalier, we’ve made up our minds. Don’t worry. It’s a small price to pay for the reconstruction of the Demon Realm. So please...”

—Your Highness!

—Your Highness!

Behind her, the other succubi were prostrating themselves and repeatedly imploring me to command them.

“Shut up all of you!”

I had enough of this nonsense.

Regardless of how I shouted, the succubi continued to plead tearfully, begging to be sold as slaves.

This was pure madness.

***

After I had gone to great lengths to save the succubi from the black market, these few had rediscovered their hope for the reconstruction of the Demon Realm, and had decided not to return. Instead, they were choosing to become slaves again.

Most of them had returned home, but Airi and the remaining ten had decided to repay the favor they owed me by engaging in such a bizarre course of action, aiming to use their sacrifice as a stepping stone to seize control over the finances of the empire for the reconstruction of the Demon Realm.

Wasn’t it far too bizarre for them to reach such a conclusion? Having succubi sell themselves at a high price to acquire capital, and then take control of the empire’s financial infrastructure to create chaos during the next war—it was quite the narrative.

I obviously could never permit such a thing.

Sarkegar seemed to think it was an interesting idea, but after seeing my genuine anger, he closed his mouth.

It seemed these succubi were in despair over the loss of their powers, and perhaps they were trying to prove their worth in some way.

The more I thought about it, Airi’s proposed idea of seizing control of the empire’s finances sounded plausible—that is, assuming I had a huge talent in commerce and finance. Which, of course, I didn’t.

I never paid attention to things like stocks in the past and knew nothing about that kind of stuff.

Seeing my anger at her suggestion, Airi began to ponder other possibilities.

“Then, what if we work at a brothel and send you a certain amount of money every month? It wouldn’t be a large amount, but still...”

“... Why does your mind always go down that sort of route? Can’t you think of something beyond that?”

Why did her ideas always swing in that direction? Was it some kind of succubus trait? The thought of receiving money that was earned by them selling their bodies every month would make me want to die.

I was certain it would do more harm than good.

“It’s unfortunate that you’ve lost your horns and tails, but you look human enough to blend into human society properly. If you really want to help me, don’t ever do that kind of work, ever. Instead, find a proper job. You’ll have to work further away from the capital for safety reasons, and you’ll need new identities.”

Of course, I was aware that succubi grew stronger by absorbing vitality through such acts, but since they had lost their powers, wasn’t that impossible for them now? If that ability was no longer available to them, there was surely no reason or need to earn money that way.

“Us... working proper jobs?”

Her question, as if such a thing was unheard of, made me sigh.

“Well, I don’t know whether it’s impolite to say this to succubi, but I really don’t want you to work in such... fields. And I don’t want money obtained that way to fall into my hands either. Loyalty is important, and so is the reconstruction of the Demon Realm, but ultimately, the Demon Realm is for demons, and not the other way around. If you want to help me, just leave me out of it and find your own way of living, okay?”

“Your Highness! Without the Demon Realm, the demons will cease to—”

“Shut up!”

“Y-Yes, Your Highness...”

Sarkegar tried to interject but shrank back after being rebuked by me.

My suggestion to the succubi that they find their own happiness rather than pledge loyalty to me made them well up with tears.

It was like everything I did had the opposite effect.

They perceived me as nothing other than a benevolent ruler, so no matter what I said, it would merely strengthen their loyalty to me.

‘No! I’m not a benevolent ruler; I sincerely just want you all to do what you want and live your lives! It’s just so bothersome!’

“I’m not sure what you all are capable of, but there’s plenty more out there you can do. Seriously, what’s stopping you from driving a cart or laying bricks?”

The thought of a Succubus Queen doing manual labor seemed somehow inappropriate, even if it was probably the right decision.

“But it seems unlikely that such jobs will raise enough capital for us to gain control of the empire’s financial system any time soon...”

Her point, that such jobs would only earn them pennies and that it would take forever to accumulate any substantial wealth, left me speechless.

“That was just an example. You can do anything else, just not that line of work. I’m fine whether you run a tavern, an inn, a transportation business, or whatever.”

The thought of a succubus family business transforming into a transportation empire on the continent almost made me laugh, but it wasn’t impossible. Airi pouted and remained silent for a while, seemingly deep in thought.

She seemed somewhat disappointed that I had flatly rejected her idea of self-sacrifice.

“Okay... Baalier. I don’t know about anything else, but I promise not to do the work that you find distasteful.”

The Baalier of the past would have felt a tremendous sense of triumph that the ‘bully queen’ would make such a statement in front of me.

To me, though, Airi’s behavior was just burdensome.

“In any way I can, I will become a person who can be of help to you.”

Her expression when she said that, as if she would really do anything I asked, made me uncomfortable.

Of course, I clearly understood that she meant she would find some other way to be helpful since she couldn’t assist me with strength.

However, she was after all a succubus... And a queen as well...

She was royalty, and so was I...

‘Hmm... I wonder if she can help me with something else...’

‘Ah, no, what am I thinking? I have to get my head out of the gutter!’

This body of mine was still underage!