Chapter 132 – Reign ②
Just as 《Pseudo-Peace》 came to an end, I left my Domain with all my bloodkin – except for Yataro, Izayoi, and Saburou – and more than 300 subordinates.
I comprehend by instinct how to invoke 《Reign》.
All I have to do is to silently think about activating 《Reign》 on the land ruled by humanity ― 【Law】.
“I’m going to start 《Reign》 now! All hands, get ready for any unforeseen situations!” (Shion)
――《Reign》!
I close my eyes and think the skill name, while holding out my right hand towards the ground.
……
Nothing has changed.
Going by my intuition, this should be the right way though…? I check the display of my smartphone.
『Ｅｒｒoｒ. Mutual interference between the coverage of 《Reign》 and a Domain』
Error? Mutual interference?
The range of 《Reign》 is 3000 m in a circle around me, so I just have to be 3000 m away from my Domain, no?
“We’re going to move north.”
Leading my subordinates, we move, kind of like a daimyo’s procession. 1
◆
I measure the distance we move with the health app installed on my smartphone.
Then I stop marching onwards at a ridge between rice fields, located around 60 minutes away by foot from my Domain.
“I’m going to start 《Reign》 now! All hands, get ready for any unforeseen situations!” (Shion)
――《Reign》!
I close my eyes and think the skill name, while holding out my right hand towards the ground.
――!?
The ground trembles, and then a black vortex, with a diameter of around 30 cm, that seems to swallow space around it, comes into existence right in front of my right hand.
I instinctively understand that 《Reign》 will fail if I move my hand away.
Thus, I take out my smartphone with my left hand, which I can still move freely, and check the display.
『You have started 《Reign》』
『《Reign》 has been announced to the hostile entities within its effective range』
『Please remove all hostile entities in range within 180 minutes』
『Alert! Hostile forces confirmed within the effective range. Please eliminate them at once.』
『Display map of effective range? 【ＹＥＳ】 【ＮＯ】』
A series of messages appears on my phone’s display.
I tap 【ＹＥＳ】.
Okay, I got it…
Looking at the map displayed on the screen, I understand how 《Reign》 works.
Although I call it a map…it’s just a very simple draft showing several dots (・) in an area with a radius of 5000 m, without adding any roads or place names. Well, it’s polite enough to indicate the effective range with a circular line at the 3000 m mark.
There are three types of dots in total: Blue, red, and white.
The majority of the dots are the blue ones, which are amassing in the center of the map ― my subordinates.
The ones ranking second in number are the red dots ― very likely the humans of 【Law】.
The white dots, which number only three, are most likely the humans of 【Neutral】.
Even though this is a lightly-populated area, only three 【Neutrals】, huh…? That’s not much. At a glance, the number of red dots amounts to approximately a hundred.
Well then, I’ve got a grasp on the situation now.
What I should consider next is the actions I should take.
1. Start attacking the humans ― the red dots. I’d like to say that it’ll be a surprise attack, but the humans have been informed about me enacting 《Reign》. The merit would be that
I’d be able to recommend submission through a show of strength. The demerit would be that it’ll be questionable whether the humans will accept my recommendation after I’ve slaughtered a good bunch of them.
2. Recommending submission by using the 【Megaphone】. As a merit, I’d be able to obtain human subordinates without putting any work into it. If all goes well, there might be some humans good at the cooking my group of former Demon Kings longs for so strongly. The demerit would be giving the humans additional time.
If I’m going to turn the humans into my subordinates, it would be better to make the recommendation in advance, so as to not cause any hard feelings, wouldn’t it?
After simulating the futures derived from the two options, I take out the 【Megaphone】.
“Ah, ah, test, test… I can be heard, right? Oops, my name is Shion. I’m the Demon King ruling over places such as Kanezawa, Kahoku City, the Kahoku District, and Hakui.”
I start my speech through the 【Megaphone】.
It’s quite a hurdle to talk one-sidedly, without seeing any reaction from the other party…
“From now on I’m going to turn this region into my Domain. By this region, I mean the entire area that can hear my voice right now. If you have the will to fall under my rule, strongly focus on that notion. If you’re going to resist, my subordinates ― monsters will deal with you. You have ten minutes. Consider it carefully.”
I state my conditions.
“Oh, I forgot to mention it, but if you become my subordinates, I’ll guarantee that you will receive, at minimum, food, clothing and shelter. Of course, I will expel any humans who try to just laze around, though.”
At the end, I also tell them about the merits of becoming my subordinates.
When I decided to go ahead with 《Reign》, I worried about how to treat the humans.
If I use 《Reign》, the humans who submit to me will become my subordinates. I felt like this would be something similar to a great merit, but I immediately arrived at the controversy, whether I need humans as subordinates to begin with.
The relationship between me, a Demon King, and humans ― or to put it another way, 【Law】 and 【Chaos】 is a hostile one. It’s based on killing each other and plundering each other’s lands. If I were to be asked about the merits of humans, I’d squeeze out a reply, namely experience points. Even as subordinates, humans aren’t as loyal as created subordinates, and unlike former Demon King subordinates, they don’t have any great abilities either.
I don’t want humans as subordinates to such an extent that I’d follow the troublesome process of turning them into bloodkin by using all of my precious CP. Those are my true feelings.
However, what if I didn’t need to use any CP…? Their emotions, which can be described as human relations and free will, are annoying, but it’s also true that they have more leeway in their thinking than created subordinates. As far as I hear, the produce of the humans, who I had turned into bloodkin as experiments, and who are nowadays engrossed with farming, seem to be a lot tastier than the food alchemized by me. Also, if I make them gather information under Kanon, they’ll gather information that would be impossible to collect with created subordinates.
At present my Domain has a size of more than 540 km². It’s a territory which you can’t describe as a country yet, but…I think the scale will increase to that of a small nation in the future. Would it be okay for my territory to contain only created subordinates once that comes to pass? …To be precise, is a territory inhabited by just my created subordinates feasible? It also makes me anxious about the question of whether they would be able to defend my Domain when a huge enemy force comes attacking.
In such a case, I’ll slowly form my Domain into the shape of a nation from now on.
If selfish, incorrigible fools show up…I just have to get rid of them. I might be called simplistic and controlled by fear, but I’m a Demon King.
As a Demon King, I made up my mind to start building a nation with this land ― the Ishikawa Prefecture, as its origin.
◆
Ten minutes later.
I check the map on my smartphone.
Hoh…
Some of the red dots have started to move toward the edge of the effective range. Another group has changed into yellow dots.
Is a yellow dot proof of the person having surrendered?
The number of red dots remaining in the effective range is…78. Many of them are converging in the northeast.
“Takaharu, Sarah, you will take 100 subordinates and head northeast.”
“Sure thing.” (Takaharu)
“’kay.” (Sarah)
I instruct Takaharu and Sarah while pointing northeast.
“Chloe, you will take 50 subordinates and head west.”
“Yes, master!” (Chloe)
I point west, where red dots are located.
“Layla, you will take 50 subordinates and head east.”
“Okay!”
I point east, where red dots are scattered. Given that it’ll be inter-personal combat this time, I leave Rina at my side.
“Contact me if they have the intention to surrender.”
I’m going to assist upon contact once red dots turn into yellow ones.
“Okay then. The 《Reign》 operation starts now!”
Upon my order, my subordinates begin to raid their respective locations.
Chapter 133 – Reign ③
~Takaharu’s PoV~
After gettin’ the order from Shion, I head northeast with that annoyin’ elf woman ― Sarah, and the subordinates.
“So, what’s da idea? It okay to slaughter all da humans in da northeast?”
“Haah? Taka-chi, are you for real? Did you even listen to Shion-chi?” (Sarah)
“Huh? So, what’s da plan?” (Takaharu)
“《Reign》, got it!?” (Sarah)
“Dat’s why I’m askin’, what’re we goin’ to do in 《Reign》!?”
“Eh? Y’know, that! Like what Shion-chi said, right? …Deal with them with brute force?” (Sarah)
“Hah? In short, it’s okay to slaughter da humans then, no?” (Takaharu)
“…Maybe?” (Sarah)
――Totally wrong! Show your power, and if they show their intention to surrender, contact me!
Shion’s voice directly resounds in my head.
“Ooh!? You heard?”
“Yep, yep. I heard, I heard. Still, isn’t it kinda unfair that only Shion-chi gets to talk to us?” (Sarah)
“It’s da privilege of da winner, aight?”
“Taka-chi, you’re totally a sore loser…you gotta admit that.” (Sarah)
“I mean, it’s a fact dat I lost… Tsk, let’s cut da talk ’bout borin’ shit n’ get goin’.” (Takaharu)
I finish dat dumb topic, n’ head towards our destination.
◆
Hmm? Dat’s…?
At the location we went to, according to Shion’s order, is a large building ― an elementary school.
“It’ll be alright if we show our strength to da guys in dat school, right?” (Takaharu)
“Won’t it?” (Sarah)
Takin’ the subordinates along, I pass through da school’s gate with Sarah.
“M-Monsters…”
“N-No way…t-there’s too many of them…”
“H-Hiii…t-that’s why I-I told you that we s-should run away!”
‘Round 30 shabbily equipped peeps’re tremblin’ in front of da school’s entrance.
I just gotta show my strength to these guys…? They look like they’re goin’ to croak from bein’ lightly stoked tho?
“Now then, what we goin’ to do?” (Takaharu)
“Eh? Like, it’s no good to kill them?” (Sarah)
“We’ve gotta show our strength, don’ we? Ain’t it okay for some of them to bite da dust?” (Takaharu)
As I’m talkin’ with Sarah about our next action in front of da quiverin’ guys…
“Hii…t-t-that guy is…Unoke’s Beast King!?”
A single dude, who has readied his sword while standin’ in front of their group, is surprised when he sees me.
“Unoke’s Beast King…that’s about you, Taka-chi?” (Sarah)
“Guess so?”
“Uwaahh!? Taka-chi, you’re a totally unexpected celebrity!?” (Sarah)
“Haah!? You just now gettin’ dat?” (Takaharu)
“But, the fact that he knows about you means…you let him get away, didn’t you Taka-chi? …Pupupu.” (Sarah)
“Shut it! I’m going to beat da shit outta you!” (Takaharu)
“Kyaa! The famous Beast King of Unoke got angryyy…you’re like totally making me cry out of fear or something like that?” (Sarah)
I’m gettin’ pissed off at Sarah, who smiles nastily while fakin’ tears.
“W-W-What’s your objective here…?”
An old guy, who showed up from inside da school, shouts with a tremblin’ voice.
“Hah?”
“H-Hii…”
I glare at da old dude while still pissed off from before.
“See…anyone’s going to tremble if they’re glared at with a scary face like yours, Taka-chi.” (Sarah)
“Shuddap!” (Takaharu)
I threaten Sarah with her nasty smile, but dat girl keeps smilin’ without any fear.
It’s pointless…talkin’ with this retarded elf just pisses me off. I’ll simply get stuff done here quickly.
“Our objective…Shion told ya, didn’t he? You haven’t listened?” (Takaharu)
“I-Is it about us submitting…?”
“Dat’s it!”
I roar at the quiverin’ guy.
“W-Why do you guys…a Demon King, demand us to submit…now of all times!?”
Why now…? I ponder about an answer to da man’s words, but…
“As if I know! Submittin’ or dyin’, pick one, now!” (Takaharu)
I don’t have a clue about da answer either. In the first place, it ain’t like I have a duty to answer anyway. I urge da humans to choose.
“Just a sec, Taka-chi, Taka-chi?” (Sarah)
“Wut?”
In t’is tense atmosphere, Sarah’s completely relaxed voice reaches my ears.
“We gotta confirm that matter, don’t we?” (Sarah)
“Dat matter…?” (Takaharu)
――!
Dat matter, eh…? Yep, dat’s definitely important. For me of all people to have forgotten ’bout it.
“Hey! Is there anyone among ya guys who’s good at cookin’?”
I forgot about da great mission to secure guys who can cook for us.
“…”
“You deaf!? Ain’t there anyone who’s good at cookin’ among you peeps!? Raise your hand if it applies to ya!!” (Takaharu)
“”H-Hiii…””
Several humans, who were overpowered by my words, timidly raise their hand. I memorize their faces, removin’ those guys from da candidate list for showin’ off my strength.
“Alright…dat means it’s fine to kill everyone besides ’em to show ’em our strength.” (Takaharu)
“Taka-chi, Taka-chi.” (Sarah)
“Wut?”
“How about starting by beating up strong-looking humans for now, and then check the situation?” (Sarah)
“How annoyin’…” (Takaharu)
“If you kill them, it’ll become a total hassle after the rest turn into subordinates, y’know?”
“――! You, aren’cha quite smart?” (Takaharu)
“Haah? Taka-chi, that’s like Captain Obvious!”
The course of action is set. The humans still haven’t given an answer to my question. It’s a fuckin’ pain, but I guess there’s no choice but to go with Sarah’s idea.
“Anyway, you, you, you…and while we at it, you as well.” (Takaharu)
“――!”
“Eh?”
“M-Me too…”
“W-What…?”
I nominate four peeps wearin’ proper gear.
“Now I’m gonna fight ya myself. I’ll teach ya da difference in strength.”
Simple is best. Bein’ freed from doin’ stuff I’m not used to, I reveal my best smile.
“Come on! Those not nominated by me, make some space! You guys, come at me with all ya’ve got!” (Takaharu)
“Kuuh…!?”
“I-I guess we have no choice but to go for it…”
Responding to my threats, the people move away from ’round da four designated guys, and da four ready their weapons with tremblin’ hands.
“Let’s go!”
I kick off da ground, closin’ the distance to a guy, who readied his sword, in an instant.
――《Flying Swallow Kick》!
My right leg, which swiftly lashes out like a warpin’ whip, sends da guy’s sword flyin’. I grab hold of da guy’s face, as he stares dumbfoundedly at his hands, and push his head down towards da ground.
Dat’s the first one. …He’s not dead, is he?
The ones remaining are an ax-wieldin’ guy in heavy armor, an archer dude, and a woman with a wand.
I fake chargin’ towards da archer, but move in front of da heavy-armored dude, by switchin’ direction in the middle with a strong kick against da ground.
“――Wh-!?”
The heavy-armored guy prepares his shield in a hurry, but…
――《Demolishing Fist》!
My unleashed right fist easily breaks through his shield, and punctures even da heavy armor behind it.
It didn’t go all the way through his body…he’s still alive, right?
…Uh-oh!
Once I bend my upper body after hearing da sound of wind bein’ cut, an arrow passes da place where my face had been just now.
I turn my face towards the archer with a broad smile.
“Hii…”
I kick da ground once again, chargin’ at da archer. Even though he shoots several arrows at me on da way, I reduce da distance to da guy while repellin’ the arrows with da gauntlets Shion gave me. I send a gratified smile at da terrified man, and then follow through with my right hand, hittin’ da guy’s face with my palm.
With this, only one human’s left ― the woman who holds a wand, her inner thighs’re shaking.
At da moment when I’m about to kick off da ground ‘gain to head over to da woman――
“Taka-chi! Wait a sec, okay!?”
The voice of dat fuckin’ elf puts da brakes on me.
“Sup?”
“Looks like it’s from Shion-chi? All the humans here have kinda submitted.” (Sarah)
The shitty elf suddenly got a smartphone in her hand. I’m pretty sure she’s called Shion when I got goin’ with da display of strength.
“Then we done here?” (Takaharu)
“Taka-chi, good job.” (Sarah)
I get irritated at Sarah’s smile, which totally lacks any sincerity.
Translation Notes:
