We checked the surroundings and looked for any other hostile reactions.
There were still a few baby bugs left, but that seemed to be all that remained, and soon the cleanup of ruin's inside was complete.
"Phew…that was helpful. Thanks, Spirit King. Thanks to you, we were able to preserve the shape of these ruins. If it had been me and my pets fighting, it would have been a brutal fight to the death, we might have let the whole ruins collapse if things didn't go our way."
The Spirit King looked at my pet army and said with an amused tone in his voice.
[Hmm, you and your followers are excellent, particularly because your followers are rather big.]
I could see that they were somewhat nervous, perhaps because they were in front of a powerful being. The only one whose attitude did not change was Seimi.
Come to think of it, they knew about Spirit King, but this was the first time they had ever seen him directly.
Well, it couldn't be helped.
As a monster, they were probably more sensitive to such things as strength than I was.
"Thanks, guys. Leave the rest to me… it's probably too cramped inside, so please wait outside."
With that, my pets let out a cry and walked out of the ruins.
Finally, I had enough time to take a closer look at the interior of the ruins.
This one…looked very different from the ruins in the west area of the Demon Forest.
The structure and shape were completely different.
There was no throne, and it didn't look like a dungeon, in the least.
"Do you know what kind of place this ruins was, Spirit King?"
[No, I don't know the details, but I have seen the shape of these ruins before. Perhaps, it was built by the humans of this country. At this scale, it must have been built for a king… or emperor, perhaps? It must have been built by someone with that kind of power.]
I see…I had no idea when, but one of the successive emperors of the Rogard Empire must have built this place.
Certainly, when I looked at it that way, the weathering was still relatively light compared to the ruins in the Demon Forest.
It must be a relatively newer ruin than the one over there.
[But one thing I don't understand is this living golem. This technology was used in the age of the Gods…. ancient technology… How in the world did they manage to make it work here?]
"Oh, that probably was due to the function of a dungeon. I don't have proof of that, but perhaps the emperor who built these ruins was familiar with such things."
[Hmm? This country had something to do with a labyrinth?]
"Yes. The emperor of this country inherited a dungeon core from generation to generation and was also a Demon Lord. Now that I've inherited the dungeon core, or rather, I've absorbed it, the emperor who will be born in the future will not be a Demon Lord anymore."
…So thinking about it that way, I wonder how long I would have to stay as emperor.
I promised to do as much as I could, but it would be quite unhealthy for the country if the emperor remained the same for a long period of time.
This territory already belonged to me, and I had no intention of giving it up… Hmmm, I would probably have to discuss this with the Demon King soon.
(T/N: Demon King here refers to the one handling the Rogard Empire on Yuki's behalf.)
"By the way, what are you doing here?" (Yuki)
[Well, I heard that the great human kingdom in the south had undergone some kind of change. I thought it would be interesting to see it, and when I came here to look around, I felt a familiar presence – your presence – from all over the place. Is this perhaps your country now?]
"Well, technically yes. I am the current emperor, in a way. A lot has happened…a lot, really, has happened. It's a long story…"
[I see, I see. I have time. More than enough time, that is. If you have time, I'm all ears. Why don't we sit down and talk about it?]
With that, he created a poof of light, brightening the dark ruins and creating a table and chairs in the middle of nowhere.
It was a stylish use of magic.
I sat down on one of the chairs he created, and he sat down on the opposite side of the table.
I did not know if it was appropriate to describe him as sitting or not sitting, since he did not have a physical body.
…So, first I told the Spirit King what I have been doing so far, starting from the Rogard Empire.
What happened and how this country came to be what it was today.
Next, what happened in the Dwarven Village.
What I went through and what I learned.
And then, the ruins of the Demon Forest, which I found just recently.
My thoughts about that place.
[So…you have learned a lot. Especially about the mission of the Lord of the Labyrinth and the Gods.]
"Ah. I heard it from the Divine Spear God Ruin. That God was a funny guy. He was such an interesting God that from now on, if anyone asked me what religion I had, I thought I'd say Ruinism. The doctrine was, 'Live your life to the fullest.'"
Living life to the fullest.
Celebrating life.
It was the duty of those who have life.
His words remained with me to this day.
His words were the most God-like praise of life I have ever heard.
I had been saying for a long time that if I were to ever accept faith, it would be in a Flying Spaghetti Monster religion… but I didn't expect to finally find one, and now I have converted.
From now on, I intend to live my life as a believer of that God.
[Ku, Kuku, Master Ruin was indeed such a person. He was funny, a joker, and he praised the idea of living all the time.]
"A joker…yes. That was one of his characteristics."
And my encounter with him was simply out of luck.
I guess that was also to be expected from a God that liked to joke around.
And…this old man knew about them.
"Spirit King, you must have been living for a really long time to know them."
[Mm. I was born near the end of the Divine Era. Therefore, I don't know everything. In particular, I know as little as you do about how they fought with each other. I only know that they fought with each other because of their convictions and because of what they believed in.]
"…I see."
[Your wife, Leficios, should have been more powerful than me, even though I have lived much longer than her. The dragons are a very powerful species… but encountering her was the first time in my long life that I ever felt threatened by someone.]
"…Lefi's said that now that she had a humanoid body, she would almost certainly lose if she played with you…"
[Hm? But in dragon form, I wouldn't stand a chance.]
"No, actually, for some reason, she can't go back to her dragon form. She said that…maybe because of her pregnancy, she can only stay in her human form."
The Spirit King then looked at me, seemingly surprised.
[! Oh, is that so! That's a very happy thing to hear. What are your plans for childbirth?]
"I don't know the exact timetable, due to the unique condition of having a human body, even though she was originally a dragon, but she will probably give birth in another year and a half or more."
[I see…I see! I have heard very good news. When the day approaches, I would love to visit your labyrinth again.]
"Oh, I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure she'll be very happy to see you, too."
Probably a little embarrassed as well.
It was Lefi after all, I could easily imagine it.
[Mm, mm, oh, what a delight! What would be a good gift… my power… no, that would be somewhat tasteless, wouldn't it? Then, some kind of amulet or object to protect the child…]
I smiled at the Spirit King, who looked like an old relative as he started worrying about what to bring as a present to Lefi.
"I appreciate you worrying about it, but it's still a long way off."
[What do you mean, a year and a half is just a blink of an eye for beings such as myself, you know? My name as the Spirit King will be ruined if I can't give a gift for the greatest celebration of life, the birth of a child. I must be prepared.]
Ah, I see…from this person's point of view, a year and a half seemed like a very short time.
"Ah…I'm soooo thankful, but do it in moderation, or if anything, I'm just glad to receive your feelings. Anyway, you don't have to push yourself so hard in thinking about what to present, alright? More importantly, why is that fellow (Lefi) so powerful?"
As the recipient of the gift, anything I would say directly would sound strange, so I asked that question to change the subject.
[Leficios is much like her ancestor, the dragon Lucinarius.]
Lucinarius…
"Is that… the God of the Dragon Race, who was in the original Eight Pillars?"
[Ummm… He was of a different gender and character from Leficios, but possessed similar great power and had a body of a similar nature. And unlike other Gods who have the mission of making the world prosperous, Lucinarius-sama had a different mission. He was the protector of the world…]
…I see.
So, that was the reason why Dragon Race had a strength that separates it from other living creatures.
[I'm certain that your guess is as good as mine. It was Lucinarius who made that forest his home. It was he who built the Dragon Village, and I heard that he later fell in love with that place and made it his final home. Incidentally, it was probably the Dwarven God Dverg who created the Asura Golem you speak of.]
"Really? Is that so?"
The Spirit King nodded.
[I don't know how it happened, but judging from their personalities, Lucinarius-sama probably said that he wanted to make the ruins more fashionable, and Dwerg-sama agreed and built those Asura Golems. If there were many of them in a row, Lucinarius must have liked them and asked for more. And Dwerg-sama probably made them with a resigned sigh.]
The Spirit King, who was detailing what could have probably happened during that time, seemed amused, as if he were recalling the scene.
–Oh, that's nice.
I, too, could picture the same scene in my mind.
I bet the Dragon God was as pure and innocent as a child.
I have no evidence to support this, but I could sense such a character from the words he wrote about in the ruins of the Demon Forest.
And the Dwarven God who was asked by him to make the golem, though he might complain saying, "This is just a pain in the neck," but in actuality, he would have been in a good mood to make the golems. That's because the golems over there were all elaborately made, completely devoid of any mistakes.
"They must have gotten along."
[Mm. They were good… Gods. They were to be worshiped and loved].
After that, I talked with Spirit King about many things.
Like stories of what he had witnessed and heard around the world during his travels and what he knew about the past.
Illuna once told me that he was called "Sensei" in her village. He knew so many things and spoke so well that his words came easily to me, and above all, the way he told his stories was very interesting.
I was a typical idiot who had not studied seriously in my previous life…but if I had had a class with this person, I might have liked studying more.
We were having a great time talking like that when my pet cat, Byaku, came trotting towards us from outside.
"? What's wrong, Byaku?"
"Meow~"
She meowed as if to say, "The soldiers seem to be in a state of panic, so why don't you go back and report about the situation?".
…Come to think of it, I should be at work right now.
"Sorry, Spirit King! I'm sorry, but I have to go back to report… Oh, yeah, you said you were interested in what's going on inside the capital. Do you want to go there with me? If you stay with me, you won't be surrounded by soldiers. Also, I'd simply like to talk more."
[That would be great. I'd love to. I would also like to talk more with you.]
◇◇◇
I left the ruins with the Spirit King, and returned to the fortress city with my pets.
The soldiers seemed to be worried about me not coming out of the ruins, and there was a bit of a dispute over whether to come out to help or not, so there was a bit of a scramble.
Byaku saw this and called me over.
Sorry for leaving it to you guys.
I was so caught up in talking with the Spirit King that I had forgotten about this.
***
"For now, there are no more problems with the ruins. We've eliminated all the bugs, so there's no problem with resuming excavation. As for the rest of the wreckage, I'm sorry, but you'll have to dispose of it on your own."
"Yes, yes, of course, thank you very much. We are very grateful for your help, Your Majesty, but, uh, who is that?"
The first person I had met, the supreme commander of this fortress city, looked at Spirit King with a cramped expression on his face.
He looked as if he had a stomach ache.
"This is my friend, the Spirit King, Yg-Drazil. Don't be rude. This man, for the record, is dozens of times stronger than me."
[I am Yg-Drazil. I am somewhat interested in this country. I would be grateful if you would allow me to tour it.]
The supreme commander asked me in a polite tone, "So, this person is His Majesty's friend. If it's possible, may I contact the Imperial Capital first to inform them about it?"
"Oh, please do so. I don't mind. I leave it to you."
After all, Spirit King's presence seemed to be quite unusual not only for humans, but also for other humanoid races, and the soldiers from various countries in this fortress city were all looking at us.
The most common reason for this situation was that the people who were in the city were not able to get a good look at Spirit King.
[This army is quite diverse, isn't it? There seems to be many soldiers of other races, but this is not the only place that is like this, right?]
"Ah. Well, we needed a lot of people after all to manage things around. I've heard that they are planning to reduce the total number of soldiers in the future. But things are still unstable. So it might take a while."
[I am not sure if this is simply because of you, or because you are not a native of this country, that they have been able to work together to build a country where other races can live. I have seen a few countries that were founded with the same intention, but they all collapsed internally due to differences in the nature of their races. Differences in customs, differences in lifespan, are such a difficult thing to deal with].
"…I agree with you on that point."
After all, things like a big difference in lifespan, habits, customs, etc. always made things complicated.
As was the case in my previous life, for example, many things like what could be considered as food, etc. were being suppressed because of religious reasons.
It was also implicitly agreed upon what customs would be allowed in different regions.
There would be a small but important difference in awareness among the people of each race, and this difference could easily become a source of conflict.
If races were mixed up, judgment in case of crime would have to be decided according to the customs of the races involved. And most of the time, this would create difficulties because of the difference in their practices and values which would not be understood without explaining each side.
[However, this scene…is not bad. The way in which the many species spend their time together, side by side, reminds me of the age of Gods. It is a pleasant reminder of the Divine Era. I hope your attempts will be successful.]
"–Ah, I will do my best to try and aim for it."