One day, all of us in my family were visiting the beach in one of the dungeon territories I owned. The phantom ship dungeon drifted aimlessly at sea. The sight was so beautiful the first time I’d seen it that I’d decided to make it part of my domain. I’d been here before to swim, and I’d even brought the Groll clan here to welcome them when Lew and I had gotten married. I thought it was entirely possible that this beach was on a different continent than the one we lived on. Once, I’d flown around for a few hours to check out the surrounding terrain, but I hadn’t spotted anything that looked like this place. I’d been looking at Maps the whole time too, so I was pretty sure I was right.
Naturally, I couldn’t be a hundred percent positive because it could just be somewhere I was unfamiliar with on the same landmass. Whatever the truth was, though, at the very least, I was confident in saying that this area was definitely uncharted territory. There wasn’t a single settlement or town for several hundred kilometers. Off in the distance towered a huge mountain range that stretched seemingly across the entire horizon. I suspected that, more than anything, was responsible for deterring the humanoid species from encroaching here. While a sea route did exist, the monsters inhabiting the vicinity were surprisingly strong. All in all, this place just wasn’t fit for the various races of mankind.
Though the monsters here were nothing compared to the ones in the Demonic Forest, they were strong enough that you’d need at least a unit of normal soldiers to take one down. In comparison, one monster in the Forest required an entire army.
I thought there might be people on the other side of the faraway mountain range, but I had no plans to explore that far, so I’d just leave this place the way it was and develop it as my private property. Mwa ha ha ha! Time to create the perfect demon lord resort here!
“Wow! When was that house built?!”
“Oh! Amazing!”
“Yup...it is.”
The little-girl gang was super excited, pumping their arms into the air. Meanwhile, the wraith triplets flew around however they darn well pleased, enjoying the beach. I bet I knew what they were thinking, and that was, “Ah, freedom.” Next to them, the adult gang looked kinda dumbfounded.
“When in the world did you even... Never mind. You only excel at such things.”
“I can’t believe you were making all this without us ever noticing, Mr. Yuki.”
“You really are a genius, my lord! Everything you make is always so thrilling and beautiful.”
“I do believe this would be a pleasure to tidy up.”
Before our eyes lay a log cabin styled like a beach shack. A huge terrace fronted the windows, and a pier extended from the building for walks out over the water or some fishing. I’d made it as a contrast against the beautiful color of the sea here. The whole design was simple, but I thought it’d turned out pretty well. And why wouldn’t it have?! When you were a demon lord of my caliber, you could leverage the scenery and create something that looked even more incredible in photos. Never mind that normal photos didn’t exist in this world and only magical devices that could render something like them.
You might be wondering why we’d even come to the beach today. Answer: no particular reason. Nell had the day off, so we’d been brainstorming ideas for fun things to do. Then, I’d remembered all the renovating I’d done here and decided to bring everyone with me.
We weren’t gonna swim, though. I mean, if the little girls wanted to, they could, and I was ready for that, just in case. But the main purpose of this jaunt was camping, simply because I’d realized that I’d never been before.
Despite the beach-hut-style log cabin, we didn’t actually plan on using it except for short breaks or things like using the bathroom. If someone said the word “camping,” the first thing you’d think of was the mountains. We spent all our time in the mountains, though, so they didn’t really get us excited like that. While you couldn’t knock the Demonic Forest for all the terrific views of nature it had, the ocean was a less familiar sight to us, which made it more novel.
“Oookay, what do you guys wanna do? I’ll get everything set up for camping, but if you wanna swim in the ocean, go ahead. You can play on the beach too, just don’t go too deep into the forest behind here. If you do, make sure you take Rir and the others with you.”
This time, I’d brought my entire pet army with me. They were relaxing nearby. Their job was to eliminate any monsters that came near, but I’d already done it for them since I hunted monsters in the area regularly. Nothing had come calling recently. Besides, wildlife wasn’t stupid. The locals had probably already figured out that a creature, aka me, had claimed this area as his territory. And my pets were at the top of the food chain here.
By the way, if you were wondering about the phantom ship dungeon, well, it continued to drift out to sea day in and day out. It hadn’t been near land lately, meaning no gain of any new territory. Even if it did, the only thing around here was just a normal, boring forest, which I didn’t really want. A solitary island was a different story, though. I’d remodel all of it and turn it into a playground. I only did cursory checks of the ghost ship’s surroundings when I felt like it, but maybe I needed to check more often and more thoroughly from now on.
“Ummm, I’ll help you first, Yukiki! Setting up camp looks like fun!”
“Me too! ReiRei, sisters, you come too!”
The wraith triplets floated back to me at Shii’s call. “Okaaay!” “Huh?!” and “I’ll help” were their reactions as they possessed their respective dolls to help out.
“Leave...it to me. I’ll do anything.”
“Yeah? You little cuties are the freaking best. All right, let’s do this!”
And so, we started setting up camp. The first thing I took out of Inventory was a tent. I began by assembling the frame.
“So this is a tent! It’s huge!”
“Even Rir can fit!”
“G-Grr.”
“It’s...like a secret base. I’m excited.”
“I’ve slept in tents a few times, but I’ve never seen one this big.”
Nell commented while skillfully helping me set it up. No surprise that soldiers had plenty of opportunities to use them.
“Yeah, I thought about getting two, but I felt like that was a bit much, so I settled on one big one.”
We had a lot of people. Not counting the wraith triplets, who hardly ever slept, there were eight of us. And an eight-person tent was ginormous. But! This way was more fun.
The sheer size of the tent meant lots of rods and parts for the frame, making it look like a puzzle. You probably already guessed that I’d bought it with DP. And since it was a product from my past life, it was stupid expensive. I kept that last part a secret from everyone, though. It really shouldn’t be a big deal, because we’d all enjoy it and use it for however long. In that sense, it had solid bang for your buck, right?
“Hmm... Assembling this contraption you call a tent is quite difficult. Why is it so complicated?”
“I used one back in my village once, and it was a lot easier to put up than this thing. What was this material again, my lord? Right, plastic— Gah!”
One of the frames she was putting together smacked Lew across the cheek. Apparently, she’d used too much force, so it’d bent, then snapped back with a vengeance.
“Unnngh... Ouch.”
“Yo, you okay?”
“Gosh, Lew, you need to be more careful.”
“LewLew, Shii help with her special magic! Pain, pain, fly ’way!”
“Thanks, Shii... Grrrr, I can’t believe the darn tent attacked me.”