344 – 329. Short Peace-1
I held the king hostage and released him with the imprint of a curse on him.
I withdrew from the kingdom, leaving a message to negotiate with the demons if you want to lift the curse, and came to report to the demon king.
When I informed him of the progress of events, the Demon King looked quite disappointed.
“Wasn’t the peace agreement with humans meant to take over the kingdom and hand it over to me?”
“Conquest must be achieved through one’s own strength. “You’re not very happy about borrowing someone else’s power, right?”
“Yes, but… ….”
“And I hope that the world will be quiet while I am alive. “You can figure it out later, after I’m gone, whether you fight or not.”
I will do my best to bring harmony between humans and demons, but if the relationship does not improve, I plan to give up.
It means that the root of the relationship between the two races is deep, and there was nothing I could do about it.
But as long as I keep my eyes open, neither humans nor demons will be able to mess around.
A shady kingdom and a demon who tried to kill Renee and drive Breeze crazy.
I have an antipathy toward these two and am prepared to stop them at any time.
“Specially because I will lay the board. “You take care of the rest.”
“Okay.”
We entered the waiting room, passing the knights who were glaring at us as if they were going to kill us.
Across from the space we left, King Holden, Princess Charlotte, and the Prime Minister were sitting.
After that, the general stood solemnly with his large sword stuck in the ground, so it looked the same to me.
And, as we had requested, there were three seats provided for us, but they were destroyed without even looking.
“What is this?”
“Again.”
“Yes?”
“The chairs the people of the kingdom are sitting on are all gorgeous, but the chairs we will sit on are shabby. Did you want to show off your authority like this? “I don’t think I have fully grasped your position yet, but when I make a gesture, the king sitting over there will become a person from the underworld from that day on.”
“What a rude guy! The curse you placed on His Majesty has already been lifted! Nevertheless, Your Majesty entered into negotiations with great magnanimity, but you can be so rude!”
“Just do it in moderation. The curse I placed is an ancient curse that has not even been recorded. “Even if a goddess came down, let alone a person of this era, she wouldn’t be able to do anything for me, so where is the trick?”
“Oh, an ancient curse…” ….”
It was the blood curse I learned from Aira, the beginning of vampires who have lived from the distant past to the present.
It is not a curse that uses demon energy, but rather a curse that injects poison into the blood itself, so divine power does not work.
The kingdom’s statement was a clear lie, as no herb was of any use and it could only be cured by drinking the blood of the caster.
If he had truly lifted the curse in the first place, he would not have come to the negotiating table.
After ambushing the large army in the waiting room, they probably tried to attack us all.
“Listen carefully. If you use your tongue in front of me one more time, all of you bastards here will not be able to return with their heads glued to their heads. Okay?”
“Pfft…” !”
“And as long as you are here, both sides are equal. “Don’t do something as trivial as now, such as discriminating in the quality of chairs.”
After giving the warning like a nail, only then did the people in the kingdom start to get nervous.
The attendant who was waiting outside urgently brought in chairs for us to sit on and arranged them neatly.
The quality is still a bit poor, but I decided to deal with it and replaced it with a Holden King chair.
Marjan also followed me and took the Prime Minister’s chair, and the Demon King shook his head and just sat down.
“Then shall we begin the conversation in earnest?”
With me, the Demon King, Marjan, and Lily as our guard, we matched the numbers with the kingdom.
The kingdom’s general was displeased with the fact that maids, rather than knights, were his bodyguards.
If the two face each other, the difference in skill will be revealed in less than a second, which is ridiculous.
“First of all, the demon side’s request is to provide a portion of the kingdom to the demons as well. Of course, we are not asking for the eviction of local residents who provide services. If I can live with demons, I don’t mind staying the same. “If you say you cannot live with demons, I will help you relocate for free.”
“There is something I would like to ask you carefully about.”
“What is it?”
“First of all, since demons also live in the kingdom, do they have to pay taxes?”
“No, so that means it’s a vassal country, right? “The region where the demons live will become a completely independent country and have separate tax collection obligations.”
“How much of our kingdom’s share do the demons want to ask for?”
“20% Of the kingdom’s territory.”
“If you give up so much territory and don’t collect taxes, isn’t that a unilateral loss for the kingdom?”
The Prime Minister, who was leading the negotiations on behalf of King Holden, was furious and pounded on his desk.
There was certainly a feeling that the requirements revealed so far were excessive.
Territory is taken away, but taxes are also reduced.
You may even think that it would be better to go to war.
“Calm down. Instead, our demons have come up with a plan to make up for the damage.”
“What kind of plan is this?”
When I looked at the Demon King in response to the Prime Minister’s question, she nodded her head.
Since the plan to make up for the damage was designed by the Demon King himself, it would be better for her to say it with her own words.
“As everyone knows, we, the Demon Clan, are a clan that deals with demon energy. And demonic beasts refer to animals that have been engulfed by demonic energy and mutated. “Humans have also begun to deal with demonic beasts, but even so, I think they are a new blood compared to demons.”
“So you’re saying we’re teaching humans how to handle demonic beasts?”
The Demon King shook her head at the sarcastic Prime Minister, as if she did not like her content.
As someone who heard the devil’s plan in advance, I think it is a completely different story from technology dissemination.
“We demons can tame gluttonous locusts, which not a single human could handle. Therefore, we demons will make up for the loss of giving up land by controlling the swarms of gluttonous locusts that try to approach the kingdom’s agricultural lands every year.”
“They say you can control gluttonous locusts… ?”
After hearing her story about the devil, the Prime Minister, who had been so enraged, began to struggle while touching her chin.
A calculator weighing profits and losses is probably running in his head.
After showing the card, we quietly waited for him to come to a conclusion.
However, King Holden asked the Prime Minister if he was lacking patience and urged him to answer.
“How is it? “Can we make up for our losses under the conditions they say?”
“Yes, first of all, to clarify the reason for the poor harvest in the kingdom this year, 10% is due to problems within the territory, 20% is due to natural disasters, and the remaining 70% is due to the gluttonous locust swarm that I just mentioned.”
Gluttonous grasshoppers were famous beasts, with each one eating about 10 times more than an ordinary grasshopper.
It is very agile and has a hard shell, so it is difficult to catch or rescue it, but it eats a lot of food.
It is known as the natural enemy of farmers, and it is said that there is no food in areas overrun by swarms of gluttonous locusts.
In fact, it is close to a disaster, and while we are doing this, some areas will be suffering from gluttonous locusts.
“I believe that if we can solve the gluttonous locust problem, the amount of taxes that can be collected each year will increase. Even if 20% of the territory is taken away, there may be enough left over.”
“Hmm… ….”
In addition to fall, the harvest season, swarms of locusts appear in all seasons and eat up medicinal herbs and seasonal fruits.
Every time, vigilantes, knights, and even guild adventurers came to the rescue.
As the year changed, the number of locusts increased, and the cost of extermination also increased accordingly.
What if it could be solved for free, including all costs?
It was bound to be an attractive offer from the kingdom’s standpoint.
“It’s still not a bad offer. “Any other requirements?”
“As I said earlier, we plan to hold a festival or event every year where humans and demons can unite. “At first, the Demon Kingdom will take the lead, but each year, the Holden Kingdom and the Demon Kingdom will take turns preparing.”
“Are we going to use the budget in turns?”
“That’s right. Please note that this request is my will and has nothing to do with the Demon King. So, even if both sides don’t like it, just accept it calmly. Unless you both want to die right here!”
He spoke with an easy smile, but the atmosphere was actually cold.
Even the Demon King looked fed up, while Lili and Marjan were clapping and saying it was great.
Peace that is being created by force. It may be meaningless, but if I don’t mediate, they will fight endlessly, so if I don’t do something like this, I can’t make progress.
Even if I was criticized, I had to go ahead and create exchange and understanding between them.
“I would like to ask because it is unprecedented for humans and demons to come together. How will the event be conducted?”
“Of course…” ….”
As soon as she opened her mouth to reply, Princess Charlotte across from her was shaking her head from side to side.
She was pleading with me, saying that that answer wasn’t enough.
But there was no model answer that I had come up with.
Above all, I believed that Princess Charlotte would soon enthusiastically participate in the festival of unity, so I put those words into her mouth.
“s*x!”
That day, the chairman was completely upset.