—–

Once things were said and done, we moved to the airship. Our golems were easily secured inside of my Inventory, and as we traveled across the skies on the airship, we learned more about the Silvertide Kingdom.

“The capital has already been taken down by the demons for a while now. Part of the royal family escaped to our territory, and we’ve been sheltering ever since then.” Monica explained. “However, although the prince and princesses are fine, the queen and king were killed by the Demon Overlord that has now made of our capital city’s castle as their nest.”

“That’s awful…” Erika sighed.

“Indeed.” Monica cried. “The prince and princess are very young as well, both are twins, no older than five years by now… They are not strong enough nor old enough to lead the Kingdom either.”

“Hmmm, it will become rather different once things end.” I said. “Hypothetically speaking, once we defeat the demons, the entire Kingdom will be in a terrible state. I wouldn’t blame some neighboring kingdom if they tried taking over the territory.”

“T-That sounds awful…” Monica cried again.

“That’s why we need to come out with a plan too.” I said. “Until the Kingdom becomes stable, someone else must become its governor. Your father… or you.”

“B-But that’s… is it even possible?” Monica wondered.

“Of course it is.” I smiled. “I’ll make it possible. Without the governing royalty there to stop you, you could easily claim the capital as your territory… And become the new royal family by force. Like a coup.”

“T-This young man talks like he’s a sixty-year-old cunning bastard!” Eustace was shocked. “Is he really just thirteen years old?!”

“I’ll be fourteen soon.” I laughed.

Monica took my words seriously, unlike her retainers.

“If things really end after the demons are gone then… I would gladly employ your help, Blake.” She smiled, suddenly changing her expression, as her eyes shone with a slight gleam of cunningness.

“Good.” I smiled, looking into the vast skies through the airship’s windows.

I’ll make sure to profit much more out of this conflict than anybody thinks, of course. If things go well, I could even ask for a large part of the territory for myself. I could use it to plant and harvest vegetables, fruits, and tubers, and raise cattle.

Like this, I could probably help the Kingdom get back to its original state before the war in a few years, while also earning a large quantity of passive profit. At the same time, I could create connections with other Kingdoms in similar situations.

Help them get food at cheaper prices than other areas, and slowly yet surely, build a dependence. This war is terrible, and I want to end the demons, but I would be a fool if I weren’t to take these opportunities that would only appear in a war where humans are constantly fighting.

There’s a need for food and resources everywhere. And the producers and distributors cannot help everyone either, they can’t produce enough goods for everyone, it creates a huge void in the market. And I’ll fill it all with my own products.

Not only to help humanity and aid their battle against the demons, but also so I can secure a good future for my family, and all of its future generations. If I plan to have children, at the very least, I must make them the wealthiest family in the entire world, is it not?

It is the very least I could do. I will also use this future authority to crush the corrupted agencies and those that attempt to monopolize everything… I’ll play with their same tactics and crush them one by one.

But well, that’ll happen much later… For now, I should concentrate in the present.

After a day of traveling across the skies, the terrific sight of the Darkage Territory came into view. The grassy plains were completely burned into dry ground.

Forests were completely destroyed by the demons. And huge waves of red spread across the land, they were all demons, marching and rushing across, swarming the territory’s walls, magically enchanted with dwarven technology to create powerful magic barriers.

“T-Those are all demons?!” Alberta cried in surprise.

“Unbelievable…” Eric sighed in shock.

“And that’s not all of them…” Monica sighed.

“There’s at least… over one hundred thousand more spread through the territory, the majority living within the capital.” Said Eustace.

“Eventually, we’ll fight millions of them in the future.” I said. “This is nothing but a few insects. All of you need to prepare. Let’s use this as our starting point.”

“Millions in the future?!” Chris asked. “Where could there be so many?”

“To the north of our continent, where the battle against the Demon King’s army is raging the most, there have been reported to be millions of demons.” Said Evelyn.

“Indeed.” Erika’s mother nodded. “One of the primary reasons why we couldn’t come to the Silvertide Kingdom’s aid was… because of the sheer number of demons we had to deal with in the north. In fact, even with all three major continent’s armies combined, it might seem not enough.”

“We are… in the losing side. We are simply slowly prolonging this battle. Trying to find hope.” Evelyn sighed.

“…” I remained in silence while glancing at the scene down below.

How many times have I heard these words?

How many times have I seen the despair in the eyes of innocents?

In my past life, I saw this all the time.

Entire worlds consumed by the flames of the demons.

Civilizations destroyed in just a few days.

The despair and screams of the innocent souls consumed by their endless greed.

After I managed to go so far as to free almost the entire universe from them, I went to the root of the problem.

Hell itself.

I sealed all seven Archdemons, and once I stepped into the last stage… I lost everything.

Lucifer on his foolishness gave me a second life only to torment me, but little did he knew that such a thing would be his greatest mistake.

I’ll use this opportunity your stupidity created to crush you once and for all, Lucifer.

And I’ll free this world from your tyranny.

—–