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Also check out my other novels
" That's Time I Got Transmigrated In Naruto With A Gamer's System "
and
" My Whole Class Got Isekai'd In Uninhabited Island In Another World "
and
" Çonfinement King "
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You don't have to be at my beck and call, so if you want to go back to the Darklands you can do that.
After instructing Airi to deliver my message to all of the prisoners, I held a meeting with Sarkegaar, Eleris and Loyar in a secluded place.
"Everyone worked hard. No one got hurt, so we achieved the best result."
"It is all thanks to your brilliant wit and bravery."
Sarkegaar sprinkled me with flattery again, while Eleris smiled.
"To be honest, we were lucky. They were frozen for quite a bit after they saw a dragon appearing in the middle of the raid."
"That sure was surprising."
Sarkegaar took the form of a dragon, so it wasn't a real dragon that showed up.
Dragons were legendary creatures to begin with, so there were no eyewitness accounts. He simply took the form of what people thought a dragon would look like. Dragons didn't exist, and even if they did exist, no one knew whether they'd look the same as people imagined them to look like.
If the Paladin awakened from their stupor a bit faster, some of the prisoners might not have been able to be rescued, or either Loyar or Eleris might have gotten seriously hurt or killed.
I was terrified of what would have happened if I didn't use the Revise function to make sure everyone would be safe. Anyway, I was glad that it turned out the way it did.
"I heard you told the prisoners that they could decide where they would like to go themselves?"
I nodded at Loyar's question.
"If they could go back to the Darklands and live in peace, that would be better. There's no need to overdo it."
Secretly infiltrating 100 people into the Capital wasn't something I could do at my level in the first place. They also lost their magic abilities. It was already difficult enough to protect myself, so it was impossible for me to protect them as well.
Therefore, it would be best if they were to return to the Darklands, which was still relatively untouched by the humans.
* * *
After a while.
After Airi told me that they were done talking among themselves, I returned to the place where the prisoners gathered.
They all looked sad. They probably heard from Eleris and Sarkegaar what I was doing here. That I infiltrated the Imperial Capital and attended Temple to rebuild the Demon Realm.
The Prince was plotting such a great thing in the middle of the enemy camp and they felt so pathetic that they couldn't help in the least. They felt like they were only a burden in their present state.
"Has everyone decided?"
Airi nodded at my question.
"Almost everyone has decided to go back to the Darklands…."
We took the risk to save Airi and the rest, so they seemed apologetic that they couldn't do anything for us. She probably hated me a lot in the past, but she genuinely seemed sorry for having teased and bullied me.
"No need to be sorry. Forget about fighting and war. Just live peacefully."
As if they were touched by my consideration, they began to tear up. They would be sent deep into the Darklands where no human could touch them.
Their pride as high-ranking demons disappeared along with their horns. There were other races here as well, but they seemed to have judged that they wouldn't be of any help to us either.
It certainly seemed to be the much better option for them to live their lives freely in the Darklands than to live as slaves for humans.
"I shall prepare the spell then."
Eleris began preparing the mass teleport spell. It was night time and they were just that many. If she cast it twice, she should be able to teleport all of them to the Darklands. After about an hour or so, Eleris was able to send most of the prisoners to the Darklands.
"...."
"...."
I was staring blankly at those who were still left here.
"Aren't you guys returning as well?"
About 11 succubi, including Airi, remained here. They kept looking at me.
No.
She did tell me that almost all of them would return. Then that would mean that there were some who didn't want to return, huh?
"…We don't want to go back."
Airi spoke as their representative.
"…No, what do you want to do then, if you don't want to go back?"
"We aren't able to do much and we wouldn't be much help in a fight, but I'm still a Royal of the Demon Realm. You're working so hard as well, Valier, so I can't just go back to the Darklands, forget about everything that happened and live comfortably."
Airi seemed to think that I, who had a dog-like personality before, was completely helpless hiding in the heart of the Empire, so she wanted to be of some help to me as a Royal of the Demon Realm. The other ten thought similarly.
No, it seemed like they made up their mind.
I knew that they really wanted to be loyal to me, and repay their debt to me, but what were they even going to do staying here?
"We have lost all our strength. I know we won't be of much help, but these bodies are the only weapons we have left to offer."
"...So what are you going to do?"
Airi looked at me with determination radiating from her face.
"You need money to live in the Human Realm."
"That's right."
"And I know that sometimes huge amounts of money could pose a great threat to the Human Realm itself."
I didn't know if there would be a financial crisis in the Empire some time in the future, but there was no law that it wouldn't happen. So what was it she wanted to say?
"Doing business, Valier."
What did she mean by that?
"If we could achieve great commercial success and hold the Empire's gold coins in our hands, it would be of great help in restoring the Demon Realm."
"Ooh, that's a great plan. As expected of Her Highness the Princess. I can't help but admire your wisdom."
I mean, she isn't wrong. Sarkegaar was nodding and responding as if her words were plausible enough.
"After re-establishing enough power, if we had a firm grasp on the Human Realm's money, we could win against the humans without fighting in a war. We could also divide the Empire and send it spiraling down into chaos. We have only used force up until now to fight wars, but this time we shall use any means available to us."
Listening to Airi's words, Eleris' expression became more and more complicated.
It was an expression that seemed to shout "No, what is that little brat saying to my kid?".
The Succubus Queen, a high-ranking demon, was advising me to first seize the monetary strength of the Empire to lead it to its demise. I get that she was trying to overthrow the Empire but wasn't that a rather unconventional advice? Rather than saying "Let's destroy them with strength and magic!" she went "Let's cause a great economic depression in the Empire!" instead.
But in the end, she was right.
However, what did that have to do with them not wanting to go back?
"Erm… You're right. You're absolutely right, but there's no way I'd be any good with commerce and finances. I'm still attending Temple as well… And as far as I know, commerce requires a huge amount of capital. We don't have that much money though."
There was nothing we could do but turn to crime or exploit Eleris' magic. I had no desire to do that though.
"You don't have to worry about that."
Airi pointed at herself and the remaining succubi, as if she had already thought about the capital issue.
"…What's with you?"
"If you sell us as slaves to humans, you'd be able to make a lot of money. That money should be enough if you use it as capital…."
"Huh? What kind of bullshit is this?!"
I just saved you from becoming slaves, so why the hell are you telling me to sell you as slaves to get money?
When I shouted at her, Airi cried out.
"Still, this is the best we can do for you! This is the only way we can be of use to you in this situation. Otherwise we are completely useless! If I can take revenge on the humans by throwing away my petty pride, I can do it hundred times over!"
"Frickin hell!"
Perhaps because I told her that I forgot all about what I had done, Airi seemed willing to even die for this cause.
"Valier, we have made our decision. You don't have to worry. If it's for rebuilding the Demon Realm, tis but a cheap price to pay. So…."
-Your Highness!
-Your Highness!
Behind her, the succubi were calling out to me as if chanting.
"Shut up, you guys!"
There was a limit to how much bullshit I could deal with.
Regardless of whether I shouted at them or not, the succubi cried and begged me to sell them.
This was driving me crazy.
* * *
After rescuing the succubi from the black market to the best of our abilities, they decided to become slaves again in the hopes of rebuilding the Demon Realm.
Some of them returned, but there were 11, including Airi, who remained, trying to repay the kindness they received even if they had to do something like this, to become my starting point in seizing the Empire's finances for the reconstruction of the Demon Realm.
Wasn't this just too weird, even if this story line was already crazy enough? They said that they want to sell themselves at a high price, raise capital for me, enabling me to seize the Empire's commercial sphere and create total chaos when we decide to go to war again.
Of course, this was absolutely unacceptable. Sarkegaar did say that it would be a good idea, already moving the abacus in his head, but quickly shut his mouth when he saw that I was being serious.
Apparently, they felt very desperate after having lost all their power, and seemed to have thought that this would be the only way they could be of any use to us.
Considering Airi's words that we should have a firm grasp on the Empire's money, being able to shake their economy, this was certainly a very plausible scenario. Given that I was extremely gifted in commerce. Of course, I wasn't.
I mean, I didn't even spare the stock market a single glance in my past life. I didn't have a single clue about all this.
When I grew furious and told her that this would never ever happen, Airi began thinking of other ways.
"Then how about we all join a brothel and send you a certain amount of money every month? It won't be a huge sum, but still…."
"…Why does your mind always wander into that direction?"
Why was it like this? Was it because she was succubus? I thought I'd rather die than get them to send me the money they earned after they sold themselves like this.
Rather than accepting it, I'd sent it right back to them.
"It's a pity that you lost your horns and tails, but like this you wouldn't have much trouble fitting into human society. If you really want to help me, don't do things like that. The Capital is dangerous, so you have to keep your distance from it. For now you will need an identity."
Of course, I knew that succubi absorbed spirit to grow stronger through such actions, but weren't they made incapable of that? In that case, there would be no reason for me to earn money through these kind of things.
"Are we…. No good?"
I sighed at her question.
"Hey, I don't know if that might come off as rude, considering you are succubi, but I really don't want you guys to do that kind of work, okay? And I don't even want to touch money earned like that. Being loyal and wanting to reconstruct the Demon Realm is good and all, but how could there be a Demon Realm without demons? There can be demons without the Demon Realm though. I really don't care if you leave and find your own way to live. You hear?"
"Well, Your Highness! If there is no Demon Realm, the demons as a…."
"Shut up!"
"Yes, Your Highness…."
Sarkegaar tried to interrupted, but after I shouted at him he kept his silence, albeit appearing slightly crushed.
The succubi began to shed tears again when I told them to find their own way to live happily, but they still wanted to remain loyal to me.
Whatever I did was counterproductive.
They just saw me as nothing more than a benevolent monarch, so no matter what I said it would only strengthen their loyalty towards me.
No! I wasn't some benevolent monarch, I sincerely just wanted you guys to go on with your life! This was just too annoying!
"I'm not exactly sure what you can do, but I'm sure there's something you can do well enough. How about driving wagons or carrying bricks?"
I imagined a scene were the Succubus Queen was doing manual labor. Wasn't that even worse actually? No, I mean, it's true, right?
"But it would be very difficult to raise enough capital to take over the Imperial Financial World through such means…."
I had nothing to say to that.
"It's okay to do whatever you want as long as it's not these kinds of things. You could work in a bar, in an inn or start a transportation business, everything's fine."
Even just imagining the succubi becoming a continental transportation conglomerate made me almost laugh out loud, but there was nothing I could do about that.
Airi kept her mouth shut and didn't open it again for a while, as if she was thinking about this.
She said that she wanted to be useful to the best of her abilities, even at the risk of putting herself in harm's way, but she seemed really sad when I refused her like that.
"…Hmm…. Okay, Valier. I don't know how to do much else, but I'd never do something you wouldn't like."
If I was the real Valier, I would feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment hearing my former bully say something like that in front of me.
I, however, just felt really burdened by what Airi was doing.
"I will make sure to become someone who'll be able to help you in any way possible."
Seeing that expression on her face, saying that she would do anything I wanted her to do, made me feel insanely burdened because I felt like she would really do anything I asked her to do.
Of course, I wouldn't be able to change her mind by force, so I had to find another way. I clearly knew that.
But well.
She's a succubus….
And a Queen at that….
That's.
We're both something like royalty, so we would be of the same status….
Well….
Ah, I can't do that.
I mean, I'm still underage in this life!