City Building s.h.i.+ft
There were reasons that construction was able to finish so quickly.
The first was that Gottlieb was a brilliant leader and planner.
The second was that the architects that worked under him were very capable.
The third was something that I had devised.
In this world, construction was generally done through human strength. There were no machines such as bulldozers or cranes like they had in some other worlds.
But on the other hand, this world had demons.
And so I gathered together some ingredients and put them in the Klein bottle.
I had to summon people who were very big.
Giants.
There had been a merchant in town who sold fossils that were said to contain the bones of giants. I added those along with the horn of a unicorn.
I imagined the giant as I sent my magic into the bottle. The ingredients went in, and a famous monster came out.
Rarity: Gold Rare ☆☆☆☆
Race: Giant, Cyclops
Job: Warrior
Combat Ability: 1788
Skill: Monstrous Strength
The thing that came out was so tall that I had to look up.
A cyclops that was about eight meters in height.
It reminded me of a small mountain.
They would fight as viciously as any demon on the battlefield, but they had other uses as well.
Yes, they were so large as to able to become subst.i.tutes for machinery.
Subst.i.tutes for bulldozers or cranes.
And that was a great thing to have in this world.
These cyclopes could carry large stones and materials and raise pillars as if they were nothing.
Demons tended to be proud, but the giant tribes were more simple and even preferred this kind of labor.
They silently obeyed the orders of the construction division and lay stone over stone.
There were other monsters that I summoned too. As well as those already summoned and even more humans that were hired. And so construction moved along at full speed.
The work continued for twenty-four hours a day.
Saint Jeanne frowned when she heard of this.
"You truly are a Demon King. Even the devil wouldn"t force people to work for twenty-four hours."
"Well, neither would I. We have established a s.h.i.+ft system."
"s.h.i.+ft?"
"Eight hour work days. Each team works at different times."
"I see. Well, that is at least fair."
"That"s the way we are at Ashtaroth Castle. There is no overtime."
There were eight hour s.h.i.+fts and a bonus for those who worked during the night.
Furthermore, I summoned many Salamanders, or fire fairies, so that the builders could work safely.
The tongues of the Salamanders kept their surroundings well lit.
There were also rest breaks during the eight hour s.h.i.+fts, and of course, food was provided.
Eve had selected the cooks herself and created a high calorie menu to keep the workers healthy.
And like that, three months pa.s.sed.
To be precise, the city was completed in eighty-nine days.
Not all of the interior work was complete, but people now had places to live.
And so the residents seemed very happy as they entered their new houses.
Apparently, they were very comfortable, and people would bow their heads and thank me every time I walked through the streets.
"Lord Ashtaroth, it is because of you that we have a fine place to live."
"Bless you for accepting such wanderers as us."
"We are much more comfortable here than we were in Sabnac"s city."
They told me.
Every time I would tell them that their words were best directed towards the planners and architects, however, the architects then told them to thank me.
Gottlieb would say,
"It was the Demon King who gave me the freedom to work as I please. He hired my architects with generous wages and increased their morale. Things would not have happened so swiftly without the Demon King."
Eve would add,
"I happen to know that the Master has worked tirelessly without a single nights rest for these past months. Aiding Gottlieb, negotiating with the residents and managing the workers, all of this was because of my Master"s work."
Eve lowered her head in admiration.
Saint Jeanne continued.
"Yes, the Demon King is not only adept during battle, but in governing. He is the greatest of the Demon Kings."
I was grateful for their words, but taking them too seriously would cause me to puff up with pride.
So I accepted about half of it.
"With so many more people here now, you will make more in taxes as well."
Gottlieb said.
"Yes, that is true."
I looked at Eve. She pulled out some paper.
She had predicted that this subject would arise and was prepared.
That was my maid for you.
I said as much to her, and her cheeks flushed a little.
Then she coughed and read out a forecast for this period"s taxes.
Gottlieb listened to this with wonder.
"It is more than twenty times that of our old home."
He said.
Yes, that was amazing. I would be able to strengthen my army with so much funds.
"Master. You will finally be able to make that army of humans that you have been planning."
Eve said with a smile.
"Yes. I can now hire human mercenaries and give them weapons."
"You will of course, allow us dwarves to make these weapons?"
Said Gottlieb.
I nodded and said I had every intention of doing just that. And so we quickly went about hiring human mercenaries.
It was not as if I hadn"t hired any before, but it was at a very small scale, due to a lack of funds.
However, that was no longer a problem.
We would not see the money for at least half a year, but with a city so big, we would also be able to borrow from human merchants.
They were all such sharp-eyed creatures.
They would not balk at the idea of lending to a Demon Lord who was expanding.
And so I had Eve procure the required funds and then set up billboards around the city.
Tos.h.i.+zou Hijikata looked at them and said in a low voice.
"Are you not being a little stingy?"
"It is eighty percent of what most mercenaries make, but I see no problem with it."
I declared.
People tend to believe that mercenaries go where the money is, but such mercenaries were already hired by the wealthy countries or Demon Kings.
I could not outbid them even if I wanted to.
The only thing I could offer them was "insurance."
"Insurance?"
Tos.h.i.+zou asked.
"Insurance for when they die or are injured. They will be granted a sum of money when they are injured and unable to fight. If they are killed in battle, their families will be paid. With such an incentive, even weak soldiers will fight bravely."
"I see. So you have thought this through then."
Tos.h.i.+zou was oddly satisfied with this. Then he added, "the s.h.i.+nsengumi should have done the same," and laughed.
It was an honor to be praised like this by the demon vice-commander.
And my plan seemed to have worked. For while the people that came were not the strongest, they were all serious and looked to be of patient disposition.
I put Hijikata in charge of commanding and training them, so I could watch from afar.
I had actually wanted to be more involved, but Eve stopped me.
"The Ashtaroth Army will fail to grow if you insist on doing everything yourself, Master."
Yes, that was true.
Gottlieb had said something similar. And so I left the training of the soldiers to my two strong generals, Tos.h.i.+zou and Jeanne.