Chapter 419: Two Banks
Another day had passed.
Basement 2 was completely organized, and Meri had begun remodeling the dungeon to her liking in earnest, using the Slamias.
"Master, I’m heading back as the baroness."
"Why? Wouldn’t it be better to stay here with Meri?"
"Either me or Meri needs to be in Raspica."
If the baroness or her retainer was absent for too long, people might grow suspicious. One of the two, Meri or Lime, had to return to the Barony, so Lime volunteered to go back.
"Alright, but more importantly, who’s the demon woman you brought along?"
"Belial?"
"...Belial?"
The wounded demon woman being dragged behind Lime on a leash was apparently named Belial.
"Andromalius staged an uprising against dungeon lords above him and made them all his subordinates. He kept one and killed the rest."
"So only Belial survived. ...This must be fate."
I pulled a magic stone from storage. Belial fidgeted nervously, terrified of what I was about to do, and in the meantime, I summoned the sole remaining name on the Bond Summon list.
"...It is my deepest honor to stand before you once more, Master."
Belial reappeared before me as the same black-haired man I’d first met. It was a little puzzling, but not a big deal. I pointed Belial toward Belial.
"Do you want to synthesize, or devour?"
"...Is that the Belial after me? I’ll devour her."
"Mmmngh?!"
Belial (female) started flapping her wings and thrashing wildly. Belial (male) took the leash from Lime.
"Then, if you’ll excuse me."
Belial (male) unhinged his jaw like a snake, ready to bite down and consume her. Belial (female) fell flat on her rear and screamed with her entire body.
"Damn! Belial, you bastaaaard!! I told you to eat, did I tell you to eat?!"
"...???"
Maybe it was because she’d been trapped in the Bond Summon list for so long, but Belial seemed to have forgotten our legion’s method of execution. So I pulled out the newly refined liquid, a red fluid tinged with vermilion, and splashed it over both Belials.
"Ugh, gaaagh!"
Belial collapsed forward the instant the liquid touched him. He writhed in agony over the sudden erection in his lower half. I called Rastujad over to keep watch on him.
"Belial, Ras Belial to death!"
"Nngh, y-yes, yes!"
Belial seized Belial’s leash and disappeared beyond the cave. Belial trailed into the darkness, dripping arousal fluids instead of blood.
"I’ll assign her to Meri."
"You want to put her in charge of the slime corps?"
"No, she’ll be Meri’s mentor. He clawed his way up from the bottom, so he’s bound to have his own know-how when it comes to dungeon management. Meri can absorb that experience, and... he’s going to need some time to adjust to our legion. Even after all that screwing... tsk tsk."
"When you think about it, wasn’t it basically one-sided rape?"
"Lime, let’s just move on."
I crossed through the portal with Lime. The newly expanded dungeon facilities didn’t need immediate attention, and for us, carving out new sales routes was the top priority.
"I’ve been waiting for you, Master."
Eila, dressed in a sharp knight’s uniform, greeted me in the square. Behind her, ghouls stood in a line, each carrying a single log harvested one tree at a time from the Elven Forest.
And that wasn’t all.
Every orc not deployed on the front lines was also standing behind the ghouls. Each one had set down their weapons and was holding a shovel brought from Raspica instead.
"Master, here."
I took the shovel Eila handed me. When I stepped onto the platform, all eyes locked on me, and I raised the shovel high into the air and bellowed.
"Listen up, everyone! Every battle we’ve fought until now has been a bloody one. But the battle ahead will be different! The fights from here on out will be even harder, and relying on brute force alone will lead us to ruin!"
The orcs began murmuring at what sounded like weakness. I drummed the shovel against my belly like a war drum. The solid thud of it echoed in every direction.
"So we must harness new kinds of power! The power of capital! The power of culture! The power of religion! If a pen can topple the enemy just as well as a sword, I will use that weapon without hesitation! This too is war! A new kind of war fought not with blades but with money, not with swords but with words!"
I felt for the orcs, but for the time being, they wouldn’t have the chance to shine in the war against humans.
"You are soldiers! Warriors! Your battlefield is a place of cutting down enemies, drawing blood, and standing victorious; not a place where you lose your money, fall for some religion, and weep tears of blood over losing your families! That role belongs to the newcomers in our legion: the humans! With their cunning silver tongues and shrewd tricks, they will drag the humans of the human alliance into a pit of despair."
The orcs nodded along.
"Our job is to build the new battlefield where they’ll do their work! We will construct a battlefield of capital, where tongues swing instead of swords, and money flows from the enemy’s pockets instead of blood!"
The construction of a brand-new battleground was about to begin. Eila called forward the men standing behind her. They shuffled up with visibly awkward expressions, but their sturdy builds and broad shoulders made their profession obvious.
"Let me introduce them! These are Raspica’s skilled carpenters! You will build structures under their direction! I’ll say it once more: this is a construction operation to build a position for fighting the enemy! If anyone slacks off or disobeys orders just because a human is giving them, I will hand out punishment through them!"
MOOOOOO!
Six minotaurs emerged with axes in hand. Raised as an elite few, they were far more powerful than the orcs, and they held their lances ramrod-straight toward the sky.
Clank.
The minotaurs yanked the chains in their hands and pulled away the cloth that had been covering what stood in front of them. Beneath it, cream elves with chains fastened around their necks were panting for breath right beneath the minotaurs’ lances.
"If you slack off, the elves will be taken by the minotaurs!!"
The orcs’ eyes went bloodshot. With elves on the line, of all things, discontent began to creep into their gazes.
"But if not a single elf ends up under a minotaur, I’ll let every one of you spend one night with the elves!"
"""OOOOOOOHHH!!!"""
The orcs erupted in cheers. That was enough to quell the instinctive dissatisfaction over taking orders from a human rather than Eila. I grabbed my shovel and mounted a unicorn.
"Move out! To build our new battleground!!"
"""RAAAAAAS!!!"""
A large force marched toward the Marquisate to construct the position.
***
Zibru Jarzier, a carpenter drafted from Raspica for market construction simply because carpentry happened to be his trade, couldn’t wrap his head around this first-in-a-lifetime experience.
"Human, be careful."
"O-oh, yes, yes."
Riding a unicorn was strange enough on its own, and on top of that, he had to hold tight to the waist of the female dullahan sitting in front of him. He and the other carpenters had been placed on unicorns on the grounds that they were skilled labor.
"Human, something’s poking my rear."
"N-no it’s not?!"
"Just messing with you. Hold on tight. Don’t fall off and get me chewed out."
"...."
Were all monsters like this? Zibru thought, to hell with it, and squeezed her waist even tighter. Her body was cold as a corpse, but the feel of her beneath his hands was unmistakably a woman’s.
’I’d heard dullahans smell like a dead body.’
Strangely, there was nothing of the sort. A faintly sharp scent, maybe, but at the very least, the smell coming off the dullahan wasn’t particularly foul.
"May I... ask you something?"
"By all means. But I get to ask one back. Who was the first monster you Rassed?"
"...It was an Andras. Then... is it really okay for me to be riding a unicorn like this?"
Zibru gestured with his eyes toward the orc horde walking behind them, shovels in hand.
"What, did you think we’d put a collar on you and make you walk because you’re human?"
"...To be perfectly honest, yes."
"Pfft. You are skilled labor that the Legion Commander personally ordered to be treated well. When it comes to building structures, you possess talent and skill that surpasses anyone in the entire legion."
"...."
Zibru’s heart swelled with mixed emotions. Nobody had ever acknowledged his trade, and here he was, being recognized by demons of all people; orcs, no less. The feeling was strange.
"And I’m personally interested in you, as well."
"...Pardon?"
"Hmm, they say carpenters have impressive stamina... and it seems that’s no lie. You’re quite sturdy."
Slide. The dullahan lifted her hips slightly and settled onto Zibru’s lap. The moment her plump rear rubbed against his crotch, Zibru instinctively tried to pull back.
"Might as well enjoy the ride. Look over there; the Legion Commander’s enjoying himself too, isn’t he?"
Zibru’s eyes drifted to the orc riding a horse far ahead. He was moving forward with a lady knight seated in front of him.
"No way...."
"Doing it on a unicorn is tradition, you know. Of course, doing it before the mission even starts could hurt our fighting strength, so...."
Slide. The dullahan moved Zibru’s hand from her waist toward her chest. Her breasts were every bit as lush as her rear, and Zibru’s vision went dark.
"If you’re bored during the ride, mind giving me a feel?"
"...."
Zibru gave up thinking.
***
[Shortly after, a gorge near the Barony.]
"This should be a good spot."
We arrived at the gorge where Levis Ann had once tried to fly across during her escape. It was called a gorge, but it was really more of a narrow road cutting through the middle of a hillside.
"On both sides... there are decently tall mountains, so managing the area should be manageable."
"So you’re planning to build the market here? If the enemy attacks, it would be destroyed in no time."
"No. You’re right that this spot is exposed. I’ll be building a temporary fortress here."
The plan was to build a checkpoint-slash-fortress right in front of the gorge, then set up the market a short distance away from it.
"This is the only road leading into the Marquisate. At the very least, we can screen anyone coming through the road right here."
"And anyone who climbs over the mountains or sneaks in can be assumed to have hostile intentions."
"Exactly. And I’m going to issue passes to anyone who clears the fortress. Eila, take a look at this."
I pulled a small wooden tag from my coat. Stamped with the Seal of Wrath, the tag bore clear proof that it had been issued by our legion.
"It seems to smell like you, Master...?"
"Spot on, Eila. It’s a carving made from wood that was soaked in demonic essence. Even if someone tried to forge it, they wouldn’t be able to replicate the scent."
"I see.... So you plan to use these as proof of identity for people crossing through the fortress."
"And at the same time, it’s a permit to trade freely."
Thud, thud, thud.
The satisfying sound of shovels striking earth rang out. Following the human carpenters’ suggestions, I had the ground leveled out wide on both sides of the road. The ghouls set down their logs and dug at the dirt with their claws, while the orcs packed the soil down with their shovels.
"One side will be where merchants from the Marquisate sell their goods, and the other will be where our legion’s merchants sell theirs. The road runs down the middle, so I’d worry about trouble between the two sides, but...."
"That might be unavoidable. The nature of what each side is selling is completely different."
"True. The road is only about ten feet wide to begin with. Slap a crosswalk down and they’ll figure out the foot traffic on their own."
"A crosswalk...?"
"Ah, a crosswalk is—"
"Master!!"
One of the Harpy Aellos who had been scouting from the sky came hurtling toward me. Lune, perched on her back, pointed toward the far side of the gorge with a hardened expression.
"There’s movement from the Marquisate’s knight order! They look like they’ll be crossing the gorge any second!"
"Tch, they were watching our movements closely after all. Eila, put on the mask."
"Yes, Master."
Eila pulled an Andras mask over her head. Revealing that there were humans on our side was fine, but letting the outside world know about Eila ’Aries’ was out of the question for now.
"If they’re coming to fight, I’ll take them on any day. Heh heh, how kind of them to hand us a justification."
I gripped my seax and mounted the unicorn. The knight order that had just crossed the gorge spotted me standing at its end and pulled their reins.
"Halt! Who goes there!"
"I am Erectile, head butler of the Leo Marquisate."
An elderly man riding at the center of the knight order lowered his head with a courteous voice.
"We’ve come to trade...?"
"...Uh, hm."
I was, for once, genuinely caught off guard.
"W-we’re not open yet?"
Who would’ve thought the customer would show up before the store even opened.