After hearing my proposal, the complexion on Prince Leonard’s face changed.
His kingdom, the Axela Kingdom, was in a critical state at the moment. Instigated by the [Black] Demon Lord, they marched their armies onto the [Dragon] Demon Lord’s dungeon. However, the [Dragon] Demon turned the tides against them, causing them—the supposed-to-be attackers—to be on the receiving end instead.
Their losses were great and it continued to grow by the day.
Aside from their diminished numbers, medical treatment fees, bereaved family pensions, training costs for the replacement soldiers, replacement for the lost equipment, and of course, the creation and maintenance of the supply lines for their soldiers were all also very significant concerns.
To make it worse, even if they win, there was nothing for them to gain.
And yet, stopping the war was not truly an option for them either. For if they did, it was not unlikely for the [Dragon] Demon Lord to burn their cities to the ground in an act of retribution.
The Axela Kingdom knew full well the consequences of this war: whether win or lose, they would suffer. The only reason they were in this mess was because the Rigdolg Faith told them to.
For that reason, I decided to extend a helping hand.
“Is that true? Is that really true? Can you truly prevent the [Dragon] Demon Lord from doing any retaliatory attacks?”
“Definitely. I can only ask that you believe me on this matter, but the [Dragon] Demon Lord and I do not break our word.”
By guaranteeing there would be no retaliation, a peaceful conclusion to this war was made possible.
Of course, there was no way that that was the only complication in this whole mess.
“…I am deeply thankful for your proposal, but I am concerned of what the believers of the Rigdolg Faith might think of us letting their god’s enemy go unchecked.”
In the first place, this war was waged to take revenge against the wicked god that attacked the holy capital of the Rigdolg Faith.
“I advise you to say to them that you have fatally injured their god’s enemy and that it fled in fear of its life. In this instance, there is no harm in lying and making yourself look good.”
Even if you lost in a war, there was no need to be foolishly honest about it.
“…but–”
“Or, are you saying you are fine with how things are at the moment? With how you continue to waste money and resources on a war you can’t possibly win? How about all the soldiers you let die and are letting die?”
“I understand what you’re saying, but…”
“No, apparently, you don’t. Because if you do, you wouldn’t be second guessing right now. As you worry what to do, the nation you love is dying in vain each minute, no, each second.”
For some reason, my rather irresponsible comments seemed to work on the serious Prince Leonard.
“…I would like to agree to your proposal, but first, what were those terms you spoke of? I’ll form my decision after hearing those.”
Ohh, he’s become more inclined.
“To begin with, don’t you think there’s something wrong with the current state of affairs? How can a single religion have so much sway over an entire nation?”
“Of course, I have always found that to be troubling.”
“In my opinion, it is because your nation views the Rigdolg Faith as the state religion.”
That Rigdolg Faith’s strongpoints were their numbers and their dominance over such numbers. To take them down, they had to lose one or the other.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t follow, Procell-dono.”
“I’ll go over it in sequence. First, I propose that you abolish the idea of having a state religion; declare your government separate from religions. Next, approve of the introduction of Avalon’s religion. That is to say, approve the introduction of the Holy Grail Faith!”
It seemed like Prince Leonard’s quick wit allowed him to grasp easily the meaning of what I said.
If there was another major religion in his nation, the Rigdolg’s Faith’s influence would certainly diminish.
And if that happened, the Rigdolg Faith shouldn’t be able to freely manipulate the Axela Kingdom.
“Procell-dono, I’d like to confirm two points. First, unless something major has happened, most wouldn’t switch religions. While accepting the Holy Grail Faith into the holy capital is relatively simple, would you really be able to convert our citizens who are mostly devout believers of the Rigdolg Faith?”
“Do not worry about that. Our right and proper teachings of striving for a happy life and of the coexistence of humans and demi-humans will prevail, allowing our religion to spread quickly.”
In truth, the plan was to gather humans into the church we were going to build in the holy capital of the Axela Kingdom by promising them money and other things such as a free meal, and then using the combo of Aura’s [God’s Smile] and Ruru’s hymn. But in this case as well, there was no need to be foolishly honest.
I thought it would be more pragmatic to hire a minister that would be regularly present in the church. That way, our religion would still have a presence even when Ruru and the Ocean Singers only performed once a week.
The church in the holy capital wasn’t the only one I was planning on building; I aimed to build a church in at least three other major cities. Hopefully, a rotation system would work so that Ruru’s group still only had to perform once a week.
“I still doubt it would go well, but if Procell-dono says it will, I guess it will… For now, let’s move on to my second concern. Even at the best of times, the Rigdolg Faith has been troublesome, but now that we are going to adopt a new religion, their harassment is bound to get worse. What do you propose to do about that?”
“The only reason they’ve been able to do those things was precisely because they were the only religion. With another religion present, they would be much more careful.”
The prince understood, but in his view, if there were advantages to accepting my religion, there would surely also be disadvantages.
“…However, there have also been times that the RIgdolg Faith have been so helpful.”
“Maybe, but again, isn’t it because of your reliance on them and their help that they now have so much control over you? Believe me, things would only get worse if you chose to let the Rigdolg Faith be the only religion in your kingdom. In my opinion, accepting the Holy Grail Faith would be the more advantageous decision for you. At the very least, your current crisis with the [Dragon] Demon Lord would be solved. At any rate, please follow me.”
I said so, stood up, and then walked toward a carriage. The prince and his subordinates also stood up and followed me into the carriage.
Our destination was a certain warehouse. Avalon had many of such warehouse under its strict control. To top it off, each one was also as big as a mansion would be.
Upon arrival, I greeted the Mithril Golems guarding the warehouse, told them to unlock the entrance, and went in.
“What!? A mountain of treasure!? This is enough to match an entire city’s fortune!”
“This is not all that we have. We have three other warehouses that holds the same amount of fortune, if not more, than this one. If it means you would accept our Holy Grail Faith, I am prepared to hand over all the contents of this warehouse over to your kingdom.”
Our golems were mining 24 hours a day non-stop in my [Mine] dungeon room. Frankly speaking, from our point of view, minerals like gold and silver whose value was less than mithril were failures.
However, simply throwing them away was wasteful, so we instead stored them in warehouses.
Furthermore, we also gained money through taxing. Even though our taxes were much, much cheaper compared to other cities, since we had a lot of people to tax, we still wound up collecting a huge amount.
“So, what is it, Prince Leonard? I imagine this amount is enough to cover for all your spent war expenditures and even pensions, is it not?”
Upon hearing my proposal, the prince gulped down.
As I thought, this is the effective move.
By showing rather than just telling them of the warehouse, the effect rose multiple times.
Well then, one more push.
“Don’t worry though; this is not all we’re willing to offer you. We’re prepared to give you a hundred golems which are one of this city’s prized possessions. The ones we’ll lend are not for fighting though; they are specialized for transportation. To complete the set, I’ll add in special carriages too. I believe you’ve become familiar with their abilities, haven’t you?”
“…you’re giving us those magical, untiring carriages that outpace even our kingdom’s fastest? If we have those, our circulation of goods will surpass those of other countries… and did you say you’re going to give a hundred golems?!”
“In addition, like I said in the beginning, you may send your injured soldiers to Avalon so that they may recover faster. Medical fees are nothing to scoff at, and your facilities for treating all the wounded should be insufficient now with the ongoing war. If you send your injured here, we just might be able to lessen the loss of excellent soldiers.”
In Avalon, rather than use horses or such animals for our carriages, we used golems.
Silver Golems were strong enough to match even a C rank monster or a first-class adventurer. In other words, it was strong enough to protect itself and oftentimes didn’t need an escort. Unlike a horse, it could continue to travel non-stop, without ever needing to sleep, eat, or even drink. It was the perfect existence in terms of workforce.
It was worth killing and dying for. The Axela prince wasn’t so ignorant as to not know its value.
That’s why, we were only going to give Silver Golems, and not Mithril Golems or Avalon-Ritters. Otherwise, it would actually cost us.
By also offering to heal their injured, I had made the deal perfect for them, if I may say so myself.
But then again, by having a lot of high-level humans in Avalon for an extended period of time, I would be able to feed on lots of delicious emotions and also gain DP. It was actually also a boon for us.
Once the soldiers have known of the many great things in Avalon, they just might decide to move and live here. If they did, there was the chance they might be influenced by the Holy Grail Faith and become believers themselves. If that happened, we could send them back to the holy capital of the Axela Kingdom, this time as devout believers of the Holy Grail Faith who would enthusiastically spread our religion.
“It is time to make a decision, Prince Leonard. You just need to accept our Holy Grail Faith and nothing more. If you do, you will receive all the support that I promised.”
He was faltering.
Although I called it support, they were basically just cash offers. However, considering the Axela Kingdom’s treasury was almost non-existent due to war expenditures, it was the better option. The only other option of getting money being raiding other countries.
“…before I say yes, what does Avalon stand to gain in all this?”
“This is a necessary step in spreading our Holy Grail Faith. Furthermore, I want to weaken the [Black] Demon Lord’s influence no matter how much.”
I didn’t put it into words, but the reason I wanted my religion to spread outside of Avalon was because I wanted humans to someday make a pilgrimage to Avalon. That way, I could obtain the pure emotions of my believers from all over the world at a regular interval.
Also, some of those believers would surely want to live in Avalon itself, causing Avalon’s population to grow.
“…Are you in conflict with the [Black] Demon Lord?”
“Yes. It’s futile to hide it, so I confess: he is my enemy.”
His suspicion confirmed, the prince looked straight at me.
“I want you to promise one thing in regards to that. Don’t make the Axela Kingdom your battlefield. If you can keep that, then I agree to your terms. I’ll stake my pride and convince my father to agree.”
I see. He worries about his country in his own way.
If the [Black] Demon Lord and I were to seriously fight, it wasn’t an exaggeration that a whole country could be destroyed.
“I promise. But if I am attacked, I will have to counterattack. In that case, I promise to at least try to keep the damage to the minimum.”
“Fair enough. Then, I formally request financial aid, the loaning of the golems, and the medical treatment of our injured.”
The third prince said so and then lowered his head.
Despite his social position of being a prince, he was ready to do so for the sake of his nation. That made a good impression on me.
Afterwards, we discussed the finer details of our deal.
Little by little, my influence was making its way to the capital of the Axela Kingdom.
I need to work hard to realize my plans. Things are going to get a whole lot hectic, but also a whole lot more exciting.
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. We had obtained many great things in exchange for things we didn’t really care about.
My ideal city where humans and monsters could peacefully and happily coexist was slowly but surely becoming reality.
Note: I changed Axera to Axela.
Shameless Plug: Please consider disabling adblock. Also, please consider being a patron to support me further. Click this to view my Patreon page
Thanks for the chapter
LikeLike
ah, unfortunately, finally reached the latest chapter, been reading from v1 for a few days now. This is such a nice world building fantasy novel.
thanks for the meal~
LikeLike
There’s a chapter 10, actually. I just don’t have an internet connection at home to edit the blog.
LikeLike
oh, I was using the Next button so I thought I am already at 10, thanks for telling me
LikeLike
Regarding “Shameless plug”. Adblock is whitelisted but Ghostery is not. Reason being:
With Ghostery active pageload time is between 1-3 seconds and zero lag on scrolling
With Ghostery disabled pageload times are between 15 and 21 seconds with minor stutter on scrolling and periodic lag as an ad thinks it needs to refresh itself.
6 seconds with zero stutter and zero reload lag is my personal standard. If your website ever gets within that level I will happily whitelist fully.
LikeLike
Lol… In the 90s the seconds would be replaced with minutes XD lmao
LikeLike
And here i was forgetting to whitelist this website on adblock on such nice translation blog. Thanks for the reminder, whitelisted.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh well, looks like i went full “engrish” in here.
LikeLike
I honestly don’t care if you’re going with Axera or Axela but make up your mind and then stick to the name that won, don’t just keep open and close the votes and jump back and forth all the time.
That would just be annoying and confusing for the readers, you have the answer from the last vote, Axela, you don’t have to change it over and over again to make things complicated you know..
Thank you for the chapter and the treat. (^_^)/
LikeLiked by 3 people
This deal is so sad, Axela play Despacito
LikeLiked by 1 person
Procell: So with all of those conditions do we have a deal?
Prince: *still feeling unsure*
Procell: *alright one more push* “I could inflate the population of lolis in your country too”
Prince: I accept the deal!
LikeLiked by 8 people
Thanks for the chapter …
LikeLike
Thanks for the chapter XD
LikeLike
Thank you for the chapter~
LikeLike
Thanks for the chapter.
LikeLike
Thanks for the chapter.
He made the Prince an offer he couldn’t refuse……….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the chapter
LikeLike
Dude is excessively rich and is gonna destabilize the human world economy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The existence of infinite gold and silver mines with no nation in clear control makes currency backed by either absolutely ridiculous. With no means to control the supply there would be wild and unchecked inflation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
By the way; is there no dugeon cleaned and used by hero, then owned by nation which can freely dig inside with slave?!
Basically making silver and gold worthless?!
What the fuck polititian of this world are thinking?!!!!!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I guess that’s why there is an incentive for demon lords to crush other demon lords’ crystals.
Also, iirc, Marcho said her own Mine wasn’t a hit, or at least not as much as she wanted it to be. If so, I think not a lot of demon lords would have Mines.
I do think there should at least be one like your saying though. But then again, there’s Black Demo Lord and his wish to enslave humanity.
LikeLike
I believe it was never a hit because DLs don’t put their mines on the first floor, with the notable exception of Procell aka the exception at everything. I believe the DLs didn’t want just any average joe mining because higher levels give more DP and just leaving your orichalcum or mithril being mined by a dozen lowly slaves would make them feel cheated (Adventurer’s would get stronger materials equipment and not die and suffer as much in their dungeons with their monsters being depleted faster). That makes necessary for a suitable adventurer to reach further floors to mine valuable metals. Those adventurers that did it probably in fear that something would just suddenly come from behind and kill them just got enough rare metals for their purpose or a bit more for a spare and left the place. Also, mining isn’t as easy as people think, it’s way easier to kill stuff than mine metals from a metal vein; it’s likely even more true to those hard magic metals that need orichalcum pickaxes. That’s my theory.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Golems are the simplest answer. There’s no need with such rounabout answer & theory. They are dirt cheap, no DP cost whatsoever and can work 24/7. Profit
LikeLike
@gesterns: Apart from Procell, who can employ golems to menial tasks? We were talking about humans exploring an infinite mine. If another DL wants to do it would be quite easy with skeletons that cost iirc 20 DP, just not as fast as golems.
LikeLike
Devil whispering~~ maybe about loli XD
Thx For CHapTEr!!!
LikeLike
Thanks
LikeLike
Thanks for the new chapter!
LikeLike
Feel like he handed too much stuff freely for only a chance of a foothold in the empire.
LikeLiked by 1 person
as he says at the end though, he doesn’t really care about what he’s giving away.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He only cares about 1 thing; the destruction of the [Black] Demon Lord.
With his identity already known by the prince, he had to come clean. The Rigdolg faith has been mass-manufacturing heroes, who are inferior to the real deal ones. I think it’s time for the “I DON’T WANT TO SERVE THE PEOPLE!” idiot to step down and forever chill.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Since the country is going to accept multiple religions. I would like to spread a new faith. One that even lolicel would accept. That is “Roxism”!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kind of doubt this deal will go smoothly. Does a mere prince even have they authority to change the state religion? The king and his advisors Nd ministers are still under mind control curse. And Procell did inform him of that so the prince isn’t going to make a concerted effort to purify their gov of the curse before trying to implement this deal. So shit is gonna hit the fan they’ll probably just take his gold and not deliver on promises
LikeLike
Remember, Procell gave the prince the wine that removes the curse and told the prince to share with his family and close people (prominent nobles and ministers). Unless the prince gets greedy and hog everything for himself the curse is good as gone from the high command.
LikeLike
Yeah, but, if you were a prince, what would you do first?
A)Tell your father about the deal you made with the lord of Avalon that will help your country to escape imminent destruction
B)Say “Oh father, this wine is so fucking good! Please drink some”
I think the answer is “A”, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
There some protocol to be done first; he’s a third prince, not the crown prince. He’ll first tell about the marvels of Avalon while pouring the wine and in the end get serious.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trick your dad first, then initiate plan A. While saying that enough death and destruction for this year, let’s do it another year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks 4 the chapter!
The carrot and the stick approach. With the carrot being very obvious and the stick less so.
LikeLike
Thanks for this chapter
LikeLike
This whole conversation makes me cringe a bit. It can be boiled down to a single question, “Do you want your nation to continue existing, yes or no?” Despite that, the whole chapter has him act as if it is a difficult choice to make.
I mean seriously, the moment it was revealed Procell was a demon lord the entire original plan to seize the resources by force clearly became impossible. If the prince were at all competent he would immediately switch to negotiating terms, not debate the merits of damning everyone he knows to annihilation. Rather than enhance the protagonist with a show of preparation and intelligence, it just makes it clear that he only seems clever in contrast to a world of morons.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I wish Procell would at least ask for the Holy Grail Faith to be exempt from taxes in the Axela Kingdom by royal decree. They could even dress it up as a request to build and run an orphanage instead of paying taxes. And secondly for the land the church is build on in the capital and three other major cities to be officially acknowledged as property of the Holy Grail Faith or at least get the status of an embassy. If you want to build a church in hostile territory they’re going to need to be able to guard themselves and/or get some protection from the local forces.
Right now he’s handing a lot of perks out for seemingly free. Sure he has his reasons and plans, but from the prince’s perspective it’s only the right for the religion to exist in the kingdom to obstruct the [Black] Demon Lord. Something the royalty wants themselves to undermine the Rigdolg Faith’s influence. It’s no wonder the prince is hesitant even though he has little other choice then to comply. If a deal seems to be too good to be true, it usually is. So if Procell were to ask for more then he wants/needs, they would actually become less suspicious and cooperate more easily.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I know right? Seems to be prevalent in a lot of Jap novels; where MC basically hands away more than they have to. Doesn’t even bother negotiating/haggling, to boot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
no, he’s doing the right thing if you view it politically
if you accept the other side’s conditions too easily, they will look down on you
he don’t want that, he have his position as a prince to uphold after all
sometimes you still need to balance the scales even if both sides already know the result, because unbalanced relationship is bad for both sides in the long run
LikeLike
Hmmm shouldn’t Procell have told the prince about the mind control curse that was on his group, possibly on the royal family?
LikeLike
The problem with that is he can’t prove it to them. If he told them of the affects of the wine it could seem like he was the one brainwashing them. Remember the humans don’t really have a way to confirm if what he tells them is true so it would give any Black Demon supporters a foothold to oppose Procell.
LikeLike
Thanks for the chapter~
LikeLike
Thanks for the treat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Woot! Thank you !
LikeLike
Thanks for this chapter !!
LikeLike
Thanks for the chapter.
Procell is acting more like the devil than a demon lord right now…
LikeLiked by 1 person
he made an offer that can’t be be refused
a deal with the devil, lol
LikeLike
He had to. The [Black] demon lord is throwing a temper tantrum that threatened his friend, his mother, and forced him to up his game.
So the only thing I would be thanking is the [Black] demon lord for forcing Procell to be the better man.
LikeLike
thanks for your hard work~
LikeLike
Thank━━━━s
∧,,∧ⓝⓔⓟⓤ!
(・ω・`) /|
/くT ̄ ̄二=二] 三二─
 ̄ ̄ ̄\二\
 ̄ ̄
LikeLike
/ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ \
| Thanks!!!! Spoil!!!! |
\_____ ___/
∨
(´T_T)
ぶお~ん( ⊃┳⊃
ε´ヽJ⌒ノ
( ( ・ω・)
≡≡≡◎-◎^^⊃^⊃
Wanna race?
LikeLike
Thx for the Chapter~!!
(´。• ω •。`)
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike