It was unthinkable for nobles on this continent to give up their territory, so Harts wasn’t ready to take Tahara’s outlandishly sweet deal at face value. If Tahara were to break his word after sequestering the northern territories, the Militants would be left starving.
“On the contrary, I’m proposing a binding contract,” Tahara said. “It all starts with an army we can trust. As the military grows in number, I’ll bump the payroll accordingly.”
Tahara wasn’t sweet-talking Harts either. After the Sleepless Castle—defended by a small, elite squad—fell to a tsunami of Players, it was only natural for him to want a large, powerful army to defend his new home.
“What guarantee is there that your contract will continue in the future?” Harts demanded, refusing to hold back. “We will not have you pretend that no such deal was made after we give up our territories.”
“What are you on about, man?” Tahara countered. “Why do you think a Holy Maiden’s in attendance?”
Harts struggled to find a retort to that. In addition to their duties as diplomats, the Holy Maidens also served as arbiters for any disputes among nobles. It was perfectly appropriate that White would serve as guarantor for deals like this. “What do you make of it, Lady White?” he finally asked.
“Lord Lucifer will not betray us. That, I promise.” Clasping her hands before her ample bosom, White closed her eyes as if in prayer. Her perfectly divine grace, achieved with the aid of her Angel’s Ring, made it very difficult for Harts to openly doubt her word.
Meanwhile, the root of all this trouble, the Demon Lord, sat with his eyes closed, enjoying his third beer and a beef skewer, lost in a pleasant dream.
Grasping for his last straw, Harts asked Queen the same question.
The Queen of Bloodshed snapped out of her trance and gazed up at the ceiling. “Why not? I second her guarantee,” she said without a care.
“Lady Queen...”
“Does the Dark Angel sitting there look like a two-faced weasel to you? He’d save himself the time and come genocide your asses himself,” Queen pushed.
The Demon Lord might have protested this claim, but Queen wasn’t wrong. The man who, by all appearances, looked like he was sitting in quiet confirmation, never held back against anyone who started a fight against him.
Harts had nothing to add, apparently having reached the same conclusion.
Although most of Queen’s brain cells were occupied with thoughts of Zero, she was aware of one thing, crystal clear. “He wiped out those shit-eating pigs in a day. That’s good enough for me.” Short and sweet.
Someone who could annihilate the entire Central faction overnight—and could do the same to the Militant faction—had no reason to resort to trickery.
“If you both say so, I have no choice but to accept,” Harts said begrudgingly.
“I get where you’re coming from, but don’t sweat it,” Tahara said. He very much valued Harts’s talent as a military general. “It’s in our best interest to keep you guys in tip-top shape. That’s why the Secretary set up the public bath in your territory.”
“That has been a...wonderful gift to all of us,” Harts admitted.
“The Secretary’s never built one outside of Rabbi before. Not even in the Madam’s territory,” Tahara added. Despite all appearances of the Madam receiving beyond royal treatment from the Demon Lord, he had never set up any facilities at all in her territory.
Speaking of the Demon Lord, he finally awoke and showed a knowing smile. In truth, he was secretly terrified that the entire meeting room was staring at him while he slept. He was starting to learn that this kind of smile could get him out of most binds.
Harts asked the Demon Lord, ready to glean more information from the answer, “The King of Suneo has sent an astonishing ten thousand gold medallions...along with a message of encouragement and congratulations.” An enormous fortune—the equivalent of two hundred million dollars—that would have blown the socks off of any working-class citizen.
The Demon Lord, however, had no idea what Harts was talking about. Barely managing to pick up on the “congratulations” part, he turned to Tahara in hopes of passing the conversational buck to him. “Apparently, this king can read steps ahead on the board,” the Demon Lord remarked with a smug air to him.
“You’ve taken the time to set up that stage, Chief. Let’s hope we can be friends with them for a long, long time,” said Tahara.
I haven’t done anything! the Demon Lord desperately wanted to cry out. Luna was the one who wreaked havoc! Unfortunately for him, Luna was merrily on her way home to the village of Rabbi.
Harts shuddered at the Demon Lord’s response. The Kid Company had delivered vast quantities of supplies too. At face values, these deliveries were simply wartime aid. Hidden in them, however, was the implied threat that the Demon Lord had already established close ties with foreign forces. Even if the militant nobles were to resist his offer, they stood no chance at taking on both the Demon Lord’s legion and his foreign allies. Harts was shaking now, wondering how many hundreds of steps ahead the Demon Lord had to calculate in order to orchestrate situations like this.
The answer was none, of course. As far the Demon Lord was concerned, this foreign aid had come out of the blue. In his attempt to dodge all responsibility, the Demon Lord said, “If it was sent in congratulation, throw a party with it.”
“A p-party...?! Using all ten thousand gold medallions?!” Harts stammered, failing to imagine how he could even spend that much money on a celebration.
Chuckling, Tahara chimed in, “The north’s been too cheerless. Blow the whole thing on a wild celebration.”
“What...?” Harts groaned, shaking his head. “I just don’t understand...”
Tahara had made the offer in earnest. However, unlike the Demon Lord, he’d calculated a practical benefit for it. Holylight had such a skewed economy that, while noble pockets weighed heavy with gold, commoners only used bronze coins and medallions for most of their lives. Even half-bronzes and quarter-bronzes—made from splitting a single bronze coin—were in circulation. Many small villages still bartered goods. Even if it took throwing money at the problem, Tahara wanted to stimulate the economy—and by extension, all industries—in the poorer parts of the country. The Demon Lord’s impulsive idea perfectly suited Tahara’s agenda.
“Long live the Secretary, am I right?” Tahara smirked. “A generous boss makes the office run tighter.”
He’s reading into it... the Demon Lord thought. I’m not going to touch this topic with a ten-foot pole! He resolved to make himself into a statue. It wasn’t like he could contribute anything meaningful. In fact, his silence would only make the meeting go faster.
“Now that the dust’s settled on Holylight, I bet the Secretary’s got oodles of miracles in store for you guys, since you like them so much,” Tahara said. “Well, flip to the next page for me.”
That page detailed the process of manipulating the Water Spell Stone market and the various expected outcomes. Tahara’s strategy was apparently to keep lowering the price at all costs until they had a monopoly.
“Get this. The twenty percent off is our first move. Once they try to undercut us, we cut them right back and keep going until it’s half off the current price,” Tahara explained.
“Half...?!” Harts repeated in shock.
After all, water was an essential component of survival—a resource no one could afford to skimp on. Battle-sharpened instincts warned Harts there was something sinister about underpricing a resource like that. That instinct was confirmed when Harts flipped the page and found plans to buy out the Spell Stone mines that would go bankrupt from this price rigging. Ultimately, Tahara intended to take control of all Spell Stone mines.
Contemplating the financial scheming yet to come, Tahara was grinning, smoke wafting through his teeth. “Apparently there’s a huge range in price depending on the water’s quality, but the average cost for Water Spell Stones is about a silver coin a month, right? That’s the average water bill. Once we knock that cost down, everyone living in countries we export to will weep at the Secretary’s generosity.”
Once a monopoly was achieved, of course, Tahara could spike up the price again, if he was so inclined. The mere supply chain of the stuff could be used as a weapon of war.
The Demon Lord’s heart beat faster and faster the more Tahara talked. I know he’s planning something crazy! Just keep me out of it, please...! Fearing what was to come, the Fallen Angel stood from his desk and wandered to the window, keeping his back to the meeting while he seemed to enjoy a leisurely smoke...while concealing his ashen face.
“Good blast of PR that’ll let the world know this country’s new and improved,” Tahara said, as if it was nothing more than a dice roll in a game. Naturally, stories of Holylight’s change would come with stories of Lucifer’s return. There was no such thing as bad publicity in Tahara’s book.
The rumors would invite many tourists to Holylight, and improved tourism meant more money in the pockets of local businesses. Some workers might even immigrate to Holylight, and Tahara would welcome them all. He would also welcome any force that decided to attack Holylight to get their hands on the country’s newfound wealth.
“Finally, we will hand out Water Spell Stones to every town in Holylight until we finish setting up Wells with Buckets. Chief, can I trouble you for a thousand or so Buckets?”
He’s trying to kill me with boredom! the Demon Lord thought as he made a show of accepting without a second thought.
White let out a breath at the guarantee that water would be given to Holylight citizens for free, considering Dona had plunged the nation into a deadly drought by tightening the supply.
Now Tahara directed the attendees to the next page, which showed a map of Holylight separated into five districts.