Maou-sama no Machizukuri! ~Saikyou no Danjon wa Kindai Toshi~ Volume 2 Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Proclamation of War


We ended our hunting session for the day and were setting out to return to our city of Avalon.
Kuina—merrily swinging her new weapon—and Ancient Elf seemed satisfied that they were able to perform so well.
And even after the girls fought with all their might, their guns proved reliable and didn't show any sign of breaking down. Reliability is the utmost important thing to consider about guns; no matter how powerful a gun can be, it is worthless if it can't be used when you need it most.
"Master, I'll work even harder from now on."
On our trip back, Elder Dwarf, rather, Rorono was adherently sticking close to me as we walked.
I noticed she reverted back to calling me master. She did say she was only going to call me Father from time to time so maybe that meant it was only going to be on special occasions.
Kuina always had a sort of rivalry with Rorono and would compete to be the one to be close to me but this time, she was just quietly and joyfully watching us. She did prided herself as an elder sister so this was probably her being one and giving way to her younger sister.
"I'm expecting much from you, Rorono."
"Mhm."
The moment I said Rorono,she smiled from ear to ear.
I then looked back to Ancient Elf who was walking about two steps behind me. She too was smiling.
She had worked hard as well so I wanted to also give her a name.
However, before I even had the chance to voice my thoughts, she went first.
"Master, don't worry about me. I still haven't done enough to earn a name."
Really, why are all my monsters so obstinate?
Even though I thought each of them had done more than enough…
"Alright, I'll give it to you at a later time."
I figured she would at least accept my intention of naming her.
"Yes, I'll look forward to it. I'll do my utmost to be worthy of being named."
With the way things were going, the day I would grant her a name didn't seem far.
Truth be told, I already had an appropriate name for her.
◇
We had returned to the transfer array at our home.
"Master, I have work to do so see you later."
"Me too, to grow more apple trees. Pretty soon, the demand will outweigh our supplies."
Rorono and Ancient Elf quickly returned to their own duties.
I then remembered that soon a full month would have passed since I last made a [Creation] original medal and would thus soon be able to make another.
I have to carefully choose which monster I'm going to create next, I thought.
It seemed like I already had enough monsters that could help around with the administration of the city so a monster focused purely on battles was what I wanted this time around.
Kuina and I then read the proposal that came from the people at the Curtrude trading company regarding the city's administrative policies.
"Oto-san, you're making a scary face."
"No, it's just that I didn't think the humans would show their greed so soon."
Perhaps it was because I was being too generous but their proposals had been rapidly becoming more and more demanding. I wondered: are they under the misguided thought that they were the rulers of this city?
By my guess, the trading companies would eventually tell the country about the particulars of this city and assist on the city's requisition. They would then collaborate with a large amount of soldiers and adventurers and try to drive me and my monsters out of the city to claim it for their own.
Well, if at least that much did happen, they would soon realize the cost of their folly.
I figured it would take the country at least a half of a year to determine they would indeed attack my city, collect the necessary funds, recruit and train the soldiers for their cause, formulate a stratagem, and then finally mobilize. If so, then I had more than enough time to build my fighting force and have a plan of my own.
"I guess I have to subtly warn them. Geez, if only they observed what is right and proper, all would be happy."
Oh well, even if it did happen, it won't be anytime soon.
Thus, I put an X on the documents.
"Ah, Oto-san, I feel magic power from that letter!"
Among the bunch of documents, it was another letter addressed to me.
Recently, petitions from the city Eclaba and those surrounding it had arrived. These petitions requested the exportation of the apple seeds and the dwarf-made weapons. In addition to these petitions, many were also asking to buy the golems.
Of course, I had turned all these requests down politely.
Since there were many merchants looking to directly buy our products in large bulks, I implemented a policy that, for items like the swords, we would sell only one of such per person.
The smart Mythological Foxes had good memory so they knew whom to not sell the swords again. Even resale merchants would find it hard to procure many swords at once since they had to buy each sword from a different person, thus forcing them to stay in this city which was beneficial to me.
"It seems to be from a Demon Lord from the same generation as I am in."
I found it quite amusing that to send a letter, a Demon Lord would make use of the same communication networks used by the humans.
I read the letter and it said that the other party wanted to meet face to face and that if I was interested in the said meeting, I should go to a certain café in Eclaba on the specified date.
It was tedious but such couldn't be helped. After all, us new Demon Lords had a rule that forbade us from harming one another other than when both parties were at [War]. As an exception to this rule, if a Demon Lord were to somehow creep himself into one's dungeon, the dungeon owner was allowed to one-sidedly attack the intruder as a form of self-defense.
So in short, if Demon Lords wanted to have a peaceful conversation, somewhere outside of both of their dungeons was preferable.
"Oto-san, what will you do?"
"I'll go."
"But it's dangerous. That Demon Lord might declare war on you."
Once a declaration of [War] was made, [War] couldn't be refused.
There was also rule that stated both Demon Lords had to be facing each other when declaring [War] so if one were to lock himself within his own dungeon, extremely speaking, he could kill his would-be-[War]-opponent Demon Lord assuming that Demon Lord came into the dungeon.
Furthermore, even if the declaration of [War] was successfully made, by killing the enemy Demon Lord before he left the dungeon, it would be considered a victory even before the [War] has officially started.
"It's alright. Even if it turns out to be like that, I don't think it's such a bad thing. After all, I am required to be in a [War] within a year's time. So I should not pass up the chance to be safely in one."
I was sure I was invited for something like that.
The other Demon Lord had most probably done his own preparations for a [War] but I didn't fear losing for I believed in my subordinates.
Besides, I was sure I had the best DP income among the new Demon Lords. So long as it was through standard means, I seriously doubted newly made dungeons could make as much in this short amount of time.
"Alright but if they do intend to fight, I have a good finishing move thought up!"
The mention of finishing move got me worried but Kuina was always serious when fighting so it should be fine.
"Now then, I wonder just what the heck kind of talk this will turn out to be."
As I continued to go through the paperwork for the administration of the city, my thoughts unconsciously wandered toward my meeting with the other Demon Lord.