Tajima Sanzo, the 669th Demon King, woke up feeling oddly… victorious.
For once in his tragic isekai life, he had recruited a new member! His Demon Army had grown from a pathetic duo to an unstoppable force of four!
Step aside, world! The Demon King is—
CRASH.
Tajima shot up from his crate throne. "What the hell!?"
A blur of pink muscle and panic tore through the shack, knocking over everything in sight.
His newest recruit, the unconscious boar, was no longer unconscious.
In fact, it was fully awake and actively rampaging.
Beelzecluck flapped wildly to avoid getting trampled.
Raviria watched from the sidelines, casually nibbling on a carrot, looking completely unbothered.
Tajima lunged for the boar. "Oi! Wait! I haven't given you a name yet!"
The boar's panicked eyes met his.
And then—
It ran.
Straight into the forest.
At full speed.
Without looking back.
Tajima stumbled forward, reaching out uselessly. "N-NO! WAIT! COME BACK! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE PART OF THE ARMY!"
The boar was gone.
Silence fell over the ruined shack.
Beelzecluck shook its head in disappointment.
Raviria took another slow bite of her carrot.
The system, as always, decided to rub salt in the wound.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE LOST YOUR FIRST MINION.]
[DEMON ARMY SIZE: -1.]
Tajima collapsed to his knees.
"…I had him for less than a chapter."
---
Tajima, still in mourning over his boar betrayal, gathered his remaining army—Beelzecluck and Raviria—for an emergency strategy meeting.
The "meeting room" was just a few logs and a rock outside the shack.
Tajima stood before them, arms crossed. "Alright, listen up. I've been thinking—"
Beelzecluck and Raviria immediately looked skeptical.
Tajima cleared his throat. "Look, I know our recruitment efforts have… not been great. But instead of going out and begging more random monsters to join us—"
Beelzecluck gave him a hard stare.
"—I mean, strategically recruiting new members! Maybe we should focus on fixing our base first."
Raviria stretched lazily, looking only 10% interested.
Tajima slammed his fist into his palm. "Think about it! If we had an actual Demon King base, we'd look more intimidating! Right now, we're just a bunch of weirdos living next to a shack that looks like a strong breeze could knock it over!"
The system immediately refuted him.
[TRUTH DETECTED. THE SHACK IS INDEED A DISGRACE.]
Tajima twitched. "I didn't ask for your opinion."
---
Tajima drew in the dirt with a stick, making a completely ridiculous blueprint of a giant fortress.
"Alright, here's the plan! We transform this shack into a glorious Demon King Castle!"
Beelzecluck and Raviria stared at the terrible drawing.
The "castle" looked like a kindergarten doodle of a house, except with spikes and flames drawn around it.
Raviria tilted her head.
Beelzecluck bawked in disbelief.
The system joined the mockery.
[WHAT YOU WANT: A DEMON KING FORTRESS.]
[WHAT YOU HAVE: A PILE OF STICKS.]
Tajima crushed the stick in his hand. "I hate this system so much."
---
Tajima dusted himself off and stood tall. "Alright! If we're going to turn this shack into a fortress, we need supplies! So here's how we'll split the work!"
He pointed at Raviria. "You're in charge of hunting and gathering food! You're the strongest one here, so you'll be able to bring back something big."
Raviria rolled her shoulders and stretched, already preparing for a hunt.
Tajima turned to Beelzecluck. "You're in charge of supervision. Which is a fancy way of saying you're gonna sit there and judge me while I do all the hard work."
Beelzecluck looked very pleased with this arrangement.
The system interrupted.
[ERROR: YOU HAVE NOT ASSIGNED YOURSELF A TASK.]
Tajima sighed. "Fine! I'll start fixing the shack!"
Beelzecluck bawked skeptically.
Tajima clenched his fists. "I CAN BUILD THINGS, OKAY!?"
Raviria immediately ran off into the forest, ready to violently dropkick her prey.
Beelzecluck climbed onto a rock, already in 'lazy supervisor' mode.
Tajima cracked his knuckles. It was time to work.
---
Tajima rolled up his imaginary sleeves.
"Alright! First step! Reinforce the walls!"
He grabbed a random log and shoved it against the shack.
It fell over instantly.
Tajima gritted his teeth. "Okay, maybe I need to nail it in place first!"
He looked around. "…Wait. I don't have nails."
Beelzecluck shook its head in shame.
Tajima panicked. "ALRIGHT, NEW PLAN!"
He started stacking random rocks around the shack, hoping pure determination would hold it together.
It didn't.
Wind blew.
The rocks collapsed.
Tajima collapsed with them.
Beelzecluck gave him a slow, judgmental look.
Tajima groaned. "Fine! You do better!"
Beelzecluck immediately turned away, pretending not to hear him.
After several hours of failure, Tajima slumped against the shack.
His hands were covered in dirt, splinters, and broken dreams.
The shack looked exactly the same.
The system chimed in.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SPENT HOURS WORKING WITH ZERO VISIBLE IMPROVEMENTS.]
Tajima let out a long, defeated sigh.
"I am never going to have a real castle…"
---
Just as Tajima was preparing to crawl into a hole and give up on life, Raviria returned.
Her paws were covered in dirt.
Her ears were twitching aggressively.
And, most importantly—
She had nothing.
Tajima sat up. "Wait… where's the food?"
Raviria looked away.
Tajima's heart sank. "Don't tell me… you failed?"
The system took this moment to deliver a final insult.
[CONGRATULATIONS! TODAY WAS A COMPLETE FAILURE ON ALL FRONTS.]
Tajima collapsed face-first into the dirt.
"I hate this world…"
---
To Be Continued…