I spent some more time trying to make my translations flow better for this chapter, but tell me if you notice anything! Thanks for reading~
As I returned to the demon king territory, I was informed of the betrayal from our followers.
It made me feel a little down, but I also felt that it couldn"t be helped anyway.
Strife and betrayal happen even between people of the same race.
The Dioral Kingdom, a human-only country, was torn from the inside, and other countries are trying to attack it, taking advantage of their situation.
I can feel relieved since I left Ellen behind there, but we don"t have anyone like her in the demon king territory to hold them down.
The hearts of the persecuted races that had become one until the previous demon king was defeated, is now in pieces.
When the previous demon king was only just defeated, they saw Eve as a champion, but now there are even people that think of the kokuyoku race as a hindrance in making their own race prosper.
…… There was a reason for that.
The kokuyoku race had received especially terrible persecution from the previous demon king, turning them into a puny race with hardly any survivors, land or a.s.sets remaining.
No one would want to obediently follow a puny race, even if they produce demon king candidates.
‘Danger past, G.o.d forgotten." Once that happens, they start doing whatever they want to.
"They"re so stupid." (Kearuga)
If they didn"t do anything, they would"ve continued receiving favour as a race that helped defeat the previous demon king, but now they"re losing everything to greed.
They"re probably trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate Eve to make their own demon king candidate become the next demon king, despite not knowing which demon king candidate will be chosen next.
Or maybe they"re just going to killing until their demon king candidate becomes the demon king.
"Kearugaa." (Eve)
Eve rubs her cheek against my chest while talking in a fawning voice.
Since I gave her plenty of love, she became tired and went to sleep.
Eve is the only one I don"t use contraception for.
There"s nothing to worry about since she doesn"t journey with me like the other girls, and we need to increase the population of the kokuyoku race.
Even I want a child since it"s a symbol of happiness.
If I were to become a father, I would pour all my affection into my child.
I stroke Eve"s head as I fall asleep.
I"ll have to start working from tomorrow.
I awaken to my wake-up call like always.
My back is trembling from pleasure.
"Morning, Setsuna." (Kearuga)
"Nn, good morning. It"s thin today. Setsuna is jealous of Eve. She was given so much love." (Setsuna)
Regardless of how fast I recover, if I exceed my limit the day before, it"ll inevitably become thin.
Since Setsuna does this every day, she seems to be able to tell how hard I went yesterday from the difference in taste.
I shake Eve.
"Kearuga, is it morning already?" (Eve)
"Yeah, morning. Well then, I"ve finished relaxing. It"s time for work. I"m going to eliminate the enemy, so I want your permission." (Kearuga)
I"m a gentle person, so I usually don"t hurt other people unless they do something to me first.
However, I don"t hesitate at all against anyone that tries to harm me or my women.
I"ll clean them up at once.
From the moment they decided to harm Eve, they were already my revenge targets.
It"s worthy of death.
"Sure. Rather, I"m happy you"re going to do that. But don"t do anything too terrible, okay? Those people are our comrades after all." (Eve)
"I can"t do that. If I don"t punish them completely, other people will get c.o.c.ky. By punis.h.i.+ng them as tragically as possible, there won"t have to be any more victims. A severe punishment is necessary to guarantee your safety and to keep the sacrifices to the minimum. Besides, they aren"t our comrades any more. Saying they "were" is correct, since they bared their teeth at you." (Kearuga)
Since Eve is kinder than me, she would try to cover for all the traitors if I don"t go this far.
And yet, she"s still worrying. I hate the people that tried to take advantage of Eve"s naivety.
I"ll have to harden my heart for her.
"So it"s really necessary, right?" (Eve)
"To make sure you don"t get killed, yeah. Do you understand what would happen if they killed you? Everything that we restored at great pains, is all going to come to nothing. The system will change entirely, causing chaos and a war of dominance to start, making thousands of people shed blood." (Kearuga)
"That"s true. Okay, do it mercilessly, however you want to. That"s why I made you my direct knight." (Eve)
Good girl.
I stroke her head. I"ll go make the people that scorn Eve see h.e.l.l.
After gathering even more detailed information from my pets, I went outside, taking Kureha and Setsuna with me.
It"ll definitely break into a fight, so being with them is safer, and I want to raise Setsuna"s level too.
There"s a group doing public works behind the demon king castle, so I head to them.
Only the snow leopard race is working on it. They"re a race of therianthropes that have a light layer of blue fur on their bodies.
The snow leopard race is fairly close to humans in appearance, but their slender bodies, slanted blue eyes and blue hair gives off a sharp impression.
As I ask the man and woman in command what they"re doing, they timidly said they"re repairing the wall that broke from the battle some time ago.
That makes me laugh.
According to the information my pets gathered, they"re making an underground tunnel while pretending to be repairing the wall, to drag people opposing the demon king into the castle.
"I see. Good work. Here are some refreshments." (Kearuga)
I brought ice-chilled citrus fruits for them.
It"s one of the treats that labourers are most pleased with, as the acidity hydrates dry throats and cures their fatigue.
"Direct knight, I am grateful for this. Thank you." (Snow leopard man)
As I pa.s.s it to the man, I activate【Recovery Heal】to read his memories.
My pets are excellent and faithful, but there are times where they could be wrong. I"m not foolish nor inhuman enough to hand judgement down to someone with no conviction.
After reading his memories, I smile, draw my sword and behead him.
The woman screams.
"Kyaaaaaaaa, Kamun, Kamun was!" (Snow leopard woman)
"Treason against the demon king has a death penalty. You reported false information to the demon king"s direct knight." (Kearuga)
I only drew my sword once I was sure that he"s guilty by reading his memories.
Ignoring the woman"s scream, I walk past her and use magic to blow off the impromptu tarpaulin that was supposedly made to cover all the baggage.
Then, I see a dug up hole and people of the snow leopard race desperately digging it.
That was an awfully sloppy concealment.
"I came here because I heard there were idiots plotting the demon king"s a.s.sa.s.sination. I also heard that those idiots were making a tunnel to pull in fighting power from outside. In reality, there is a tunnel here. That man was lying, so I had to kill him." (Kearuga)
I smile at the woman.
"N, no, that"s, um, something we were doing that"s necessary for the foundation, and you might not understand it, but it"s technic-." (Snow leopard woman)
Her mouth stopped there.
It"s because my sword touched her throat, cutting her skin.
"Fumu, do you think I"m stupid enough to fall for lies like that? In addition to lying to me, you even slighted me, so a lenient punishment like the one I gave that man won"t be enough. I"ll have to torture you until you start pleading me to kill your family, friends and people you love. And, I"ll do just that in front of your eyes, with you meeting the same fate at the end." (Kearuga)
I felt killing intent from the people of the snow leopard race that heard me say that.
Their eyes are saying, "I have to kill you, now that it"s exposed."
In the next moment, they had started to move.
As demons that had the nature of a leopard, the fastest creature in the world, they rushed at me swiftly.
However……
"Did you not even question why I came with only these two? It"s because we"re enough to take you on." (Kearuga)
There were six people from the snow leopard race attacking us, wherein five were beheaded by Kureha and skewered by Setsuna. The last one was able to reach me, but I simply made him turn into ashes with fire magic.
Our levels are just too different.
These guys are strong, but compared to us, level 50 is just too weak.
The only remaining person was the woman in command.
"Now, here"s a question. Why do you think I let you live?" (Kearuga)
"I, I don"t know." (Snow leopard woman)
She trembled as she racked her mind to think of a way to escape.
However, there"s not even the slightest chance for her to do that.
Setsuna and Kureha moved to block her escape routes.
"Saying you don"t understand when you don"t understand is a virtue. Very well. I"ll teach you. It"ll be over if I kill you after all. Your boss will probably say that you guys did it of your own accord and that some other race probably bribed you with money. They might even apologise as a representative of their race." (Kearuga)
That"s for sure.
Like a lizard cutting off its tail, they"ll treat it as an individual problem, instead of the race"s problem.
"Once that happens, the snow leopard"s political strength will fall, but that"s not taking responsibility properly. Leaving it like that would trouble me. I need someone that would make a testimony, saying that the whole snow leopard race supported it. Besides, I want to know the races you guys are working with." (Kearuga)
"I, I can"t do, something like that." (Snow leopard woman)
"Fumu, you"re more faithful than I thought. You know that you"re going to get cut off, right? If I ask for it, your boss will happily present your family to me, alright? They don"t care about you, but if you cooperate with me instead, I can promise you the safety of your family." (Kearuga)
"…… This is something I did under my own will!" (Snow leopard woman)
It seems like she won"t change her way of thinking even after being threatened this far.
She must love her race that much.
She knows that if she makes that testimony, her whole race would either be purged or at least taken off from their current position, where they have control in the government.
That"s why she"s fine with sacrificing herself and her family.
What a beautiful self-sacrificing mind.
I"m glad to see that. It would decrease my enjoyment if she was obedient from the start.
"I see, it can"t be helped then. I"ll persuade you until you change your mind. I"m good at that. Come on, don"t be so scared. Fortunately, you"re beautiful so I can persuade you in a way that"ll feel good for you too." (Kearuga)
I"m confident in my ability to persuade others.
With my special potion, I can make her obedient in one shot, but I have time and I feel like playing. I"ll keep trying all sorts of things without relying on the medicine.
The woman bites her tongue in an attempt to suicide.
It blocks her throat, closing up her air duct. She should die within a few minutes like that.
However, unfortunately for her, I"m the greatest healing magician in this world.
"【Recovery Heal】" (Kearuga)
If the other person doesn"t instantly, I can immediately restore them back to normal with【Recovery Heal】.
She made a dumbfounded face from being healed, so I smashed her teeth with my fist, which made her unable to try to commit suicide any more.
"Let"s go the dungeon. I remade one of the rooms to become a room where I can make anyone end up wanting to spill everything. I"m sure you would be lonely alone, so I"ll get your friends to come too." (Kearuga)
I walk while dragging along the snow leopard woman as she struggles violently.
She"s standing out a bit.
If this disturbance reached the higher-ups of the snow leopard race, they"ll probably conceal the evidence, so I should order my pets to interrupt them.
I"m going to be busy playing with this woman after all.
"After I bring your friends to you, what do you think will happen next? I"ll make you talk about everything in front of the ten chiefs ruling the government with the demon king. Well, our princess is kind, so she probably won"t ma.s.sacre everyone." (Kearuga)
I"m sure about that, which is why I"m going to be the one that"s strict.
I"ll make everyone involved in this incident see h.e.l.l.
This is my first revenge after a while.
The snow leopard woman has an adult charm that Setsuna and the others don"t have. I prefer girls, but tasting adult women from time to time isn"t bad.
Besides, her heart seems pretty strong and she will probably resist until the very end.
It would be boring to play with her otherwise.
We arrive at the dungeon. The snow leopard woman is making a pale face from seeing all the toys in the room.
Now, the game has started.
I wonder how long you will last?