Chapter 5
Only one question. Just think… What should I ask? For now… Should I just put it on hold?…
“Wh?! The [Return] b.u.t.ton is gone!”
Now, I can’t return to the home screen unless I ask a question. In other words, I won’t be able to a.s.sign BP or create my domain and subordinates. Scratching my head, I tried to come up with various questions.
Q: What happened? A: The World Salvation Project.
Q: What’s the World Salvation project? No, it’ll probably just be the same explanation the Mastermind already gave.
Q: What’s my family name?… What am I going to do with that knowledge?
Q: Who is the Mastermind?… What am I going to do with that?
Q: How can I exit out of this screen?… That’s just putting the cart before the horse.
I thought of different questions and then eliminated them from my options. If it was like, say, granting one wish; I could’ve wished for “The strongest ability!” or “The strongest weapon!” or “The strongest subordinate!” Or something like that, but… It had to be a question. With that, I began to piece together all the information I have.
I am a Demon King. However, there’s a vast number of Demon Kings. To be precise, a million. One million Demon Kings? What is up with that? Oops, I went off track. The things a Demon King should do was: Create a Domain; Create subordinates; and defeat the members of [Law] that’ll come to attack. Their a.s.sault will come after a month and until then, I won’t be attacked. Though, I can’t leave my domain either.
I will most likely grow – level up – if my subordinates kill the attackers. While that is happening, I’ll also have to fight against the other members of [Chaos] just to expand my Domain. Perhaps, they’ll even invade me as well. A crucial a.s.set to increase my Domain are the [Bloodkins]. Mmh? Bloodkin, what’s that?
A servant? A special sort of subordinate? A confidant?… Blood relative? The Mastermind had frequently used the word [Bloodkin], hadn’t she? So I guess my question would be: What are [Bloodkins]? Would this be alright, or are there any other important questions I could ask?
I wrack my brain.
Attribute: Isolation. Alias: Loner. That’s me. In my head, I think up several scenarios (delusions) and simulations. After a while, a question arises that I want to ask. I type this into the phone.
『Can a Demon King, or their subordinates, leave their Domain?』
『Under certain conditions, it is possible when a Demon King raises their level. Subordinates may also leave, with certain conditions; but still, they’re reliant on their Demon King raising their level to do so.』
My hunch is correct, but with that answer, the question of what those conditions are pops up. To my surprise, instead of returning back to the home page, the screen displays a single line of text.
『Marvellous! A great question! As a bonus, 10 BP has been added!』
Oh? An unexpected bonus! Like this, I had dealt with a major concern and also earned BP at the same time.
As for what I should do next, according to the Demon King’s B-C, it’s to spend my BP. I work my smartphone and tap on [BP a.s.signment]. These were the following entries I could a.s.sign them to: [Body], [Mana], [Knowledge], [Creation], and [Evolution]. All my values are graded E, and I have 20 BP on hand. So what is E?
If considering it normally, I’d think you become stronger the higher in the alphabet you got, such as E, D, C, B, and finally A. There was no way it’d go like E, F, G, H, and I…right? Furthermore, if I a.s.sume A is the strongest, it’d cost 4 BP to raise a rank all the way. Since there are 5 categories, you’d need 20 BP to turn all of them into A ranks. And right now, I possess exactly 20 BP.
Eh? Don’t tell me! All-A from the get-go?!
Originally, I had 10 BP.
Was the initial idea to specialize in two categories as A’s, or was it to be balanced by making all of them into C’s? Well, that has nothing to do with me though. Even after I agonized over where to spend my BP, it all came to nothing? While breaking into a smile as I laugh through my teeth, I a.s.sign BP into the entry I had planned to raise.
I tap on [Evolution]. Huh? The value next to [Evolution] is still E on the screen. Could the screen’s sensitivity be messed up? I tap on [Evolution] once more, and finally, it changes to D.
Pheew. That’s great. I take a breath and tap [Evolution] again… Eh? [Evolution]‘s value is staying D. Why is the phone’s touch sensitivity acting up!? I double tap [Evolution] twice in quick succession… Hah? Its value still is staying D… Do I need to get a new smartphone? I had only bought this one less than half a year ago though? Could I even go into a phone store as a Demon King?
Regardless, I continue to tap on [Evolution] until it responds. Once I did, it’s value finally changes to C on the third tap. Afterward, I frustratingly tap on [Evolution] until it responds again. At first it doesn’t react, but eventually, it changes to B. The phone’s reactivity is getting worse… Please spare me from the phone breaking at this rate…
Eh?
I look down at the screen. I remember being happy over the thought of being an all-around Rank. Then I remember getting irritated over the phone’s response. Now, a single line reflects in my tunneled vision…
[BP: 3]
Hah…? If I remember correctly, I had 20 BP before I began to a.s.sign points. Now it is 3. A panic attack quickly a.s.sails me.
Cancel! Cancel! Where’s the cancel option!?
No matter how hard I look, there isn’t a cancel option.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!?”
In my confusion, I scream. Time won’t turn back now though… Calm down… Calm down… Calm down… Let’s cool down for a moment. I open the small one-person freezer to take out some ice… There’s a silver shining orb in my freezer. Eh?
Don’t tell me this is the [True Core]?!
Another panic attack came over me…
Chapter 6
The shining-silver orb was slightly larger than a softball, and stored in the freezer; it was ice-cold. I don’t recall ever putting this...o...b..into my freezer, or rather, I don’t remember having something like this in the first place. That’s why I’m a.s.suming that this is likely the [True Core]. If this gets stolen, I’ll lose my Domain, correct? What happens to a Demon King who loses his Domain? … Death?
There’s too many things that I don’t know about this completely reformed world. To begin with, why was something so important put inside my freezer? Are you telling me that my freezer is the central point of my Domain? Or, does the orb melt at room temperature?
There’s a lot of things I have to do. I feel like untouched homework was piled into a mountain before my eyes. I want to abandon it. I want to escape reality. I’m going to attempt escaping from a world that already seems to have escaped reality itself.
However, even if I waste time, the problems won’t solve themselves. If the Mastermind’s words are true – though it’s highly likely they are – I only have a month. I can’t tell if this is a long, or short time. With all the issues, I decided to start with the BP a.s.signment. I only have 3 BP left. The me being happy over having 20 BP almost seems like a lie now. First, I will recall the circ.u.mstances from my first a.s.signment of BP to Evolution.
My smart phone was not defective. It responded to all my taps. That is my a.s.sumption. The value of [Evolution] didn’t change on the first touch, but the second one. That was when it changed from [E] to [D]. In other words, from [E] to [D], it took 2 BP. After that, I double tapped, then tapped three more times for [Evolution] to go from [D] to [C]. In short, it took 5 BP for the value to change. At the end, I had become desperate, and barraged [Evolution]. I don’t remember how many times I tapped it.
My current BP is 3, however. Since I had 20, I used up 17 BP. The amount needed to level up from [E] to [C] was 2+5 = 7. If you count backward, that means you need 17-7= 10 BP to go from [C] to [B]. If I consider the point requirement, [C] to [B] is painful. If I had just noticed this detail from the beginning…
My initial plan was to spend my BP to specialize in [Creation] and [Evolution]. As for the reason, I noticed that a Demon King – or in short, I – can’t leave the Domain.
These are the various scenarios I came up with, based on the information I had been given: In order to survive in this world, I have to become strong. How should I achieve that? Ascetic training? That was impossible to do in a month. Muscle training? That wouldn’t amount to much within a month either.
The answer is to raise my level.
The concept of [Levels] was introduced into this changed world. So what should I do to raise it? The answer is to kill my enemies. Who are my enemies? At present, it is the humans of [Law]. According to the Mastermind, they will invade my Domain. They’ll also have the will to bet their life on it.
There’s one crucial aspect to be considered here though; that maybe this concept only applies to [Chaos]?
No, if the aim is to create conflict by making us struggle for supremacy; it likely also applies to [Law] as well. The humans of [Law] are going to raise their levels too.
This means it’s necessary to defeat them early on, before they could raise their levels. Even if it meant killing the humans of [Law] – the enemy. There are two methods to accomplish this. The first is victory goes to the one making the first move. Once the month ended, my side will attack the humans of [Law]. This would be to use their confusion after being told the truth by the Mastermind. The second is to defeat them when they attack my Domain. The former is more likely to succeed. If I start on day 1, the humans of [Law] will, without a doubt, be level 1. The chance to succeed will probably be higher as long as they’re confused.
Feelings of guilt? I am a Demon King, so no! Though, I think it’s more accurate to say that I lost that emotion. While losing my memories of everyone except myself, I also parted with any sentiments towards humans. I do understand love, grat.i.tude, decency, and empathy as words. But right now, there was no one I would give those to. I lost those emotions with my memories. At the same time, when I thought of all this, I got hung up on several of the Mastermind’s words. One is that the creation of [Bloodkins] would augment a Domain.
The other is “The Domain itself will be stolen if it’s by a member of [Chaos]”. The Mastermind talked about the humans on both sides, however, only here she talked about [Chaos] as a whole. In other words, a Demon King can’t personally steal a [True Core]? When that matter crossed my mind, I asked the Special Service ☆. The answer was: Bingo. In that case, the method to raise my level becomes the latter. Defeating the humans of [Law] when they invade. This is the only feasible option.
That gave birth to another concern. The number of Demon Kings is one million. Although that is 0.02% of the population, it’s one in 5,000 people. The population of j.a.pan is 80 million, and the population of Kanazawa is… if I remember correctly, 300,000 people. That means Kanazawa already has 60 Demon Kings. Bluntly put, there’s too many. The size of Kanazawa amounts to 467.8 km². 23.3 km from east to west, and 37.3 km from north to south. Why do I know these details? It’s because I learned it to use as a conversational topic! The result…? Haha! My attribute is isolation…
Oops, I digressed. In short, it’s possible for a car to cross town in less than an hour. Which Domains are the Humans of [Law] going to attack first? There is an a.s.sumed number of 60 choices. Am I to trust in my luck? What will I do if I lag behind? The enemies’ levels will be higher than mine while I’m stuck at level 1. Me losing is a foregone conclusion.
In short, it’s necessary for me to set up a trick to lure them in. Accordingly, I also remembered various books that had been saved in my head. There were no books matching up perfectly with this, but there were a few similar ones. I am a Demon King, and my Domain is a dungeon in a way. I guess when all’s said and done, you could call the humans of 【Law】 heroes or adventurers. What do they desire from a dungeon…? First, the prestige of subjugating a Demon King. The other are treasures.
Yes! Powerful weapons are asleep in that dungeon (my Domain)! If a rumor like that spreads, wouldn’t the humans of [Law] flock to my Domain? Being targeted is a huge con. However, if I’m going to get invaded anyways, it’s better for it to happen early on. I want them to fight in my Domain before their grow into skilled heroes. I want to level up by defeating them. Sooner or later, I will also have to fight against fellow [Chaos] members. In that case, let’s aim to become the strongest Demon King in Kanazawa. That is why I specialized in [Evolution].
For the sake of luring in [Law], I’ll create my own treasures. Moreover, I’ll be able to strengthen myself with equipment as a byproduct. It’s certainly killing two birds with one stone. It’s not necessarily the case, but…if I were to fight heroes with high-level equipment and low level; or heroes with low-end equipment and max level, there’s also the possibility of it being an even match. While I was harboring that faint hope, I allocate my BP into [Evolution].
Having said that, I went too far. I spent too much BP on [Evolution], though I didn’t intend to do so. There’s no point to luring in humans of [Law] if I can’t beat them. Originally, I wanted to strengthen my body as well, but I spent 2 of the remaining 3 points in [Creation]. I was anxious about whether all these entries require the same amount of BP. But I felt relieved when [Creation] advanced from [E] to [D] without a hitch.