Chapter 418: The Stamina Supplement Empire
[Morning, Ras Vegas.]
Meri’s V-Beam had undeniably swept through the entire cavity. Naturally, any slime dragon touched by the divine power disintegrated into light, vanishing without leaving so much as a magic stone behind.
But even that bombardment hadn’t destroyed the Imugilaim’s body entirely. Befitting a level 90 creature, only the areas directly hit by the divine power bombardment were blown open, and the wounds that were already exposed had been seared away by the divine light as if cauterized by fire.
As a result, even though the Imugilaim was dead, roughly half of its corpse remained. Half might sound modest, but the amount of slime left behind was equivalent to mashing five hundred slime dragons into one.
"At first, I was going to sell this stuff as-is. As you can see, even I’d finish instantly if the undiluted solution touched my skin."
I uncorked the glass bottle containing the Imugilaim’s yellow slime. A sweet, honey-like fragrance drifted through the air, and the women gathered around immediately began to flush.
Click.
I sealed the lid right away.
"It contains aphrodisiac compounds so potent that even Lune and I couldn’t endure prolonged exposure. Using it straight isn’t really an option, so once Lime and the Slamias have consumed it all, we’ll work through their bodies."
From Slime Dragon Unit 4 through Unit 12, I used the leftover magic stones to summon nagas and turned them into Slamias. They would swim through the Imugilaim’s body alongside Lime, absorbing the yellow slime into themselves.
"I don’t know if they’ll turn orange or stay red, but the aphrodisiac compounds will gradually mature. We bottle the result in glass vials like these and sell it."
Even diluted, this stuff wouldn’t merely warm someone up. On top of that, it was essentially a dungeon byproduct, so unlike stockings, there was no need for some elaborate distribution pipeline to get it into the world.
"Eila, slime bodily fluids are already circulated publicly as aphrodisiacs, right?"
"That’s correct. Ordinary slimes produce weak ones, but slime dragon fluids are used quite extensively, from what I understand. Adventurers are among the primary consumers."
"If aphrodisiac potency scales with star rating, this potion will undoubtedly deliver extraordinary results. But Master, why sell it specifically as a ’stamina supplement’?"
Tentative name: Imugilaim Fluid Potion.
"You’re asking why I wouldn’t market it for use during sex, even though it works when applied topically?"
"Yes. That would attract buyers much faster."
It had a range of effects, but the one I intended to promote front and center was the stamina supplement angle. Its potency was strong enough to give even me, a man perpetually at full mast, a second-stage erection, so it was bound to be a huge hit with human men.
"Heh heh, Shaitan. First impressions matter, don’t they? What did we do when we first started selling stockings?"
"We caused a culture shock with the bunny girl outfit."
"Exactly. We latched onto ’stockings are arousing’ as the selling point. Of course, humans ended up focusing on other uses, which actually helped sales even more, but... anyway, look at how this stamina supplement is presented. When it’s in a little glass bottle like this, what does it make you want to do?"
The Imugilaim fluid was stored inside a cylindrical glass bottle shaped like a pickle jar.
"Hmm... scoop it out and eat it?"
"Right. But what if the bottle were a bit smaller?"
"...Drink it?"
"Exactly."
A product that boosts virility when drunk. Its effects kick in immediately, and the more you drink, the stronger they get.
"We’re going to start selling this in earnest. We’ll also be selling goods our legion produces, like Vapula meat and stockings, but we need luxury items like this too if we want to attract serious merchants."
It would spread on its own, just like the stockings did. And since we’d be the only ones selling it, the stamina supplement would naturally circulate under the table. It’s not exactly the kind of product you’d sell out in the open.
"Hmm... then Master, aren’t you going to make a version for women? It’s not like it doesn’t work on them too."
"Rub it on your dick and thrust, and it’ll do the job automatically. And the people who’d actually come to buy something like this... aren’t women."
"Why not? Our people wouldn’t bat an eye at that sort of thing."
Lune’s question was fair enough. Our legion had become so sexually liberal that slime secretions were distributed as adult snacks, but humanity still wasn’t ready to embrace our sexual culture.
"That’s because you’ve gotten used to how things work in the legion. Humanity isn’t that sexually open yet. They’re actually quite conservative, thanks to the Goddess Church."
"But the witch weakened the Goddess Church, didn’t she?"
"You can’t uproot the Goddess Church’s influence from people’s daily lives with just one witch. Even if you bed the Saintess and conquer the Goddess Church’s holy land, fanatics sprout up like weeds."
We still had a long way to go before guiding humanity down the path to Rastopia.
"So for the new world we’re heading toward, the Leo Marquisate isn’t a place to rule with brute force. Economics, culture, religion. We spread our legion’s influence through every means available."
The first step was barter trade. And establishing a venue for it.
"Starting now, we’re going to build a free market on the border between the Marquisate and the Barony."
Long live capitalism.
***
Belial was trapped in the slime, unable to move.
Part of it was that the aftereffects of the divine power had burned away all the mana in her body, but she’d already lost the strength to move by the time the slime dragons had encased her.
’....’
The slime trembled. At the same time, her own foul fluids brushed against the corner of her mouth. The juices she’d released after climaxing over and over filled every gap in the slime, enveloping Belial’s entire body.
’I genuinely wish I were dead.’
The Imugilaim had wrapped Belial in its slime to consume her, but it had died before it could finish the job. Belial survived thanks to her slime prison, but she was buried under the collapsed ceiling’s debris and couldn’t escape.
’If I stay here like this, how will I eventually die?’
Being a demon by birth, she could sustain her life force somehow. But the aphrodisiac compounds in the slime, which she was helplessly absorbing through her skin and every mucous membrane, sent Belial over the edge again and again inside her prison.
Trapped in an endless loop of climaxes with no end in sight, Belial gave up thinking altogether. She even resolved that if someone, anyone, rescued her, she would pledge her loyalty to them with absolute sincerity.
At that moment, light began to seep into Belial’s eyes.
’Finally, someone found—’
Grrrr.
A ghoul, looking no different from a corpse, was tilting its head at her. Seeing what was clearly nothing more than a 1-star ghoul, Belial’s heart sank.
Grrrrr.
When the ghoul turned and jerked its head backward, someone approached and shoved a hand in. A knight in sturdy medium armor plunged both hands into the slime and hauled Belial’s body straight out.
"Gaaah!"
Belial gasped violently and broke into a coughing fit. It was the same dungeon air, but breathing inside that slime had been absolutely agonizing.
"Th-thank you for saving me. I’m Belial, a, a subordinate of Andromalius’s dungeon...."
"Belial? Hmm, we got a Belial here too."
Clap. Belial turned her head, and there stood a black-haired man wearing a sly smile directed right at her. Her heart sank once more.
"The predecessor...!"
"Predecessor? Hmm, I don’t know anything about that. Daughter, what do we do with this one?"
The man called out to a pink-haired woman: the Hero of the Holy Sword. The sight of someone who was clearly a demon addressing the Hero of the Holy Sword as his daughter sent Belial’s mind reeling.
"Hmm... is she really Belial?"
"That’s what she says."
"Did Andromalius go around clearing the ranks all the way up to 65th...? Well, whatever. Whether it’s Dantalian or Andromalius, let’s round them all up. Hases, toss her in."
Whoosh. Belial sailed through the air and landed in a circular space. Huddled there were the former dungeon lords who had joined the assault alongside her.
"Okay, listen up. Anyone who doesn’t pay attention from this point on is getting stabbed with Watermelon Popsicle."
The Hero of the Holy Sword brandished her sword, the one called Watermelon Popsicle, and threatened the demons.
"Dad’s looking for a body for Belial right now, and you lot seem like just the right candidates. So I’ll be accepting exactly one of you."
Grrrrr.
The ghouls raised their sharpened fingers and formed a circular fighting ring.
"First come, first served. I’m scouting exactly one person. And I’ll give you the chance to kill this guy."
"Mmmngh?!!"
There, bound at all four limbs and being violated from behind by a slime dragon, was Andromalius. The Hero of the Holy Sword scattered divine power just above Andromalius’s neck and grinned.
"Who wants to kill this bastard and join our legion?"
Belial, for the first time in her entire life, charged forward faster than anyone else.
***
[Meanwhile, Lion Castle Regulus.]
"Can this truly not be a trap...."
Marquis Gotdaihal Leo had been lost in deep contemplation since before dawn, staring at the parchment and small box placed before him.
"If I die, war will follow immediately. Would the enemy knowingly send me poison, aware of that?"
The Demon King’s Army couldn’t be trusted. But the elves, the Elf Queen, could be trusted. Even if they were lying, he could trust his own judgment to see through it.
"The enemy genuinely doesn’t want to fight."
Even with the Elf Queen’s power at their disposal, they didn’t want war.
"Then they’re preparing to build their strength?"
A plausible assumption. A fool would have gotten drunk on conquering the Barony and picked a fight, while a wise leader wouldn’t even dream of challenging the might of the Leo Marquisate.
The economic exchange was likely nothing more than a ploy to spy on the Leo Marquisate. The Marquis let out a sigh of relief and picked up the glass bottle.
"Our interests have aligned, then. Tch."
It wasn’t a complete ceasefire treaty. He’d treated the other side like a rival noble in a territorial dispute, but he didn’t trust them in the slightest.
It was simply that marching troops there right now, while justifiable, would be poorly received by the public. Until the chaos that the witch Levis Ann had caused was quelled, he couldn’t mobilize his forces.
"Everything I do isn’t to save some witch; it’s to protect the Marquisate...."
Calming the citizens, who were anxious that an all-out war with the Demon King’s Army might be imminent, was proving difficult enough on its own.
The Holy Knights argued day after day about the Demon King’s Army’s injustice and Levis Ann’s innocence, but ever since the elves had visited Lion Castle Regulus, public opinion toward the witch had only worsened.
"Please, let nothing happen to the Marquisate."
If the problems caused by the Goddess Church were real, then all he could do was pray that the Goddess Church would deal with the Demon King’s forces lurking in the Barony, whether they sent the Saintess herself or a cardinal.
The Marquis had staked everything in his life on the Leo Marquisate.
"So is this really poison, or is it genuinely some kind of unusual medicine?"
The Queen had staked her personal honor and declared it wasn’t poison. But the sloshing yellow liquid certainly didn’t look like something you’d casually drink.
"...Is it truly ’that kind of product’?"
The Queen had explained the liquid’s true nature in detail. Her words didn’t seem false, and if she was right, this wasn’t meant for him but for his young heirs who hadn’t yet produced children.
However.
"There’s no harm in... testing it myself."
If it was poison, that would work out in its own way. If the medicine the Elf Queen had vouched for on her honor turned out to be poison, the elves would be exposed as nothing more than the Demon King’s Army’s puppets, and humanity could unite once again.
Then the Marquisate could subjugate the Demon King’s forces in the Barony without a shred of hesitation.
The Marquis had already prepared everything to ensure the Marquisate would run smoothly even if he died, handing it all off to his heir. He was willing to lay down his own life for the Marquisate.
"...May my death not be in vain for our Marquisate."
The Marquis wrote his will on a sheet of paper, then opened the lid of the yellow liquid. Its scent, sweet as honey and savory as cheese, made the Marquis’s body heat up involuntarily.
"Hoo, hoo."
The thought that he might die steeled his resolve as he raised the potion.
"The moment I drink this and die... the elves will lose all their credibility."
Sluuurp.
The Marquis tipped the liquid into his mouth in one go. It went down smoothly, sliding down his throat like swallowing milk mixed with honey.
"It’s really not poison...?"
The mana the Marquis had gathered in his hand, just in case, now felt rather foolish.
"Was it a prank...? Phew, I got worked up over nothing. Then let me use my mana to bring it back u, UAAAAGH?!"
The Marquis screamed and shot to his feet. And then he froze, standing stiff as a board.
Bang!
"Your Grace!!"
The head butler burst into the room. Having already been briefed on the entire situation, his eyes reddened at the sight of the Marquis.
"I knew it, the elves and their cunning schemes...!"
"Shut the door! Now!!!"
The Marquis let out a lion’s roar, and the head butler immediately shut the door and locked it. The Marquis was drenched in sweat, but he didn’t appear to have been poisoned.
"My lord, what has—"
"It’s up!!"
"...Pardon?"
The front of the Marquis’s trousers was pitched stiffly upward. The head butler, who suffered from the same affliction, was utterly stunned at his lord’s condition.
"I’m hard.... It’s standing, I tell you!"
Blubber.
For the first time in twenty years, the Marquis’s tears soaked his trousers.