A few years have passed since I named Ultima and acquired Universal Sense.
I also acquired the Extra Skill: [Magic Manipulation], making my magic more efficient to use, and combined with my Resist Skill: [Holy-Demonic Attack Resistance], my defenses against magic and otherwise Magicule-based attacks became extremely high.
The fact that my soul is of a human while my body could be considered a mix between a spirit and a monster allows me to acquire more skills than others, similar to how Rimuru could.
I didn't think about it during my first years in this world, where I relied completely on my status and training. But after the Harvest Festival, the Black Heart skill takes care of everything, and I started to think about gaining more skills.
"I'm bored..." Ultima complained.
My eyes twitched as I dealt with the paperwork I somehow had. While only one-third of it related to anything to the castle, the rest was reports of everything happening around the continent.
The best thing about having practically undetectable shadows is that they are very good at gathering information.
"Then go and annoy some random kingdom," I replied.
"Ohhh... But doing it alone is boring." She complained, "Let's do it together. Didn't you say something about cursing a royal bloodline a few years ago?"
"Hmmm..." I thought about it for a moment, "That's a lot of work. How about just planting man-eating bugs in some random noble's bedroom." I know doing something like that is wrong, but I find it fun for some reason.
"Eww..." Her face turned slightly green in disgust, "I may be a demon, but that's too much even for me."
"Well, we can curse them instead of a royal family. It would be easier, and I don't have any kingdoms I want to destroy now," I said, returning to my paperwork.
"Fine... But cursing a noble family is less fun than doing it to a royal family..." She grumbled.
"And cursing them would still take years before we see the result of it. So you would still be bored."
"Ahhhh! I can't deal with this anymore. The only thing we do is sit in this office and do paperwork!" She shouted.
"I do the paperwork while you sit around and complain." I corrected her with a deadpan look.
"Hey, it's not my fault I have nothing to do. Your shadows care for everything around here, and you haven't given me anything to do." She complained, giving me an annoyed look.
"It's not my fault you can't come up with anything else to do alone."
"Says the one that gives himself paperwork to do and then complains about having it."
"And what did you do before joining me? Lazing around in the underworld and waiting for a vessel?"
She looked slightly offended, "Humpf! And what did you do before meeting me?"
"Oh, I don't know, getting stronger, building an army, becoming a member of the demon lord council, becoming a True Demon Lord, fighting Veldora..."
"Okay... Fine. You did more during the past ten years than I did for a couple of decades," She grumbled, "But now you are sitting here and doing nothing."
I chuckled, "Maybe you're right." It's hard to believe it's already been ten years, and I will be twenty years old in just a few months. Being twenty years old isn't much for someone technically immortal like me, especially when talking to someone born ever since the dawn of creation.
"Fine, let's go curse a noble family. How about the Lissus family? Their son was the general of the army that attacked me," I said, remembering the Skill Issues guy.
"They attacked you?" She asked, completely serious now, "How about torturing them instead." She asked with a crazy look on her face, and I somehow found her very attractive.
"If you want to, then go for it. We completed the torture chamber in the basement of your sub-island."
"Really!" She went to me and hugged me, "Thank you!"
Awww, she looks so cute while talking about her torture chamber. She asked about having one after multiple people came here to challenge me for my position or just to kill me, and I didn't see why I shouldn't get her one.
"Then I will go and find them," When she was about to leave my office, she stopped and turned around, "Do you know what kingdom they are part of?" She asked.
"The only thing I know is that they are from the Western part of the continent."
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Ultima left to find the Lissus family and returned a couple of days later with five people, who she brought directly to her torture room and continued to go there every day for multiple weeks.
Every time she returned with blood on her face, I started to think something was seriously wrong with me when I found her attractive when she has blood on her face.
Maybe it's something wrong with me, or it's the Vampire blood in me that finds it attractive. But I doubt it since, after the Harvest Festival, my race evolved into Monarch.
'My liege, the upgrades to the castle have been completed," Beru's voice came through the Thought Communication skill, a sub-skill of my Ultimate Skill [Shadow Monarch: Ashborn] and an Intrinsic Skill of all the named shadows.
'Good job, Beru. You can take the rest of the day off,' I replied.
There isn't much happening right now, so I'm using my shadows to upgrade the defenses of my castle and all the sub-islands so it would be protected from any threats.
It's not like many people would be stupid enough to attack me, especially after I easily wiped out an army, but you can never be too sure. Plus, there could be a moment every shadow is with me, and there is no one to protect the castle.
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Author's Note:
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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