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After announcing the meeting’s end, I hold back Mrs. Tamura, Sousuke, Yataro, Rina, and Chloe from leaving.
“Sorry for stopping you. I’d like to hear about the progress from each of you.”
The five I’ve called over are all in positions where they are in charge of others.
“First Mrs. Tamura. How’s the life of the residents? Are there any complaints?”
“The level of comfort is improving by the day. Nowadays we can maintain a living standard higher than the one before we became your residents, Shion-sama. The people aren’t unhappy, but several requests have been brought up by some of the residents.”
“Requests?”
“Yes. The residents working at industrial manufacturing have been asking for more materials ―― machines. Also, since the residents affiliated to farming wish to start dairy farming and animal husbandry, they’ve been asking for cattle.” Mrs. Tamura concisely lists the residents’ requests.
“The materials are, let’s see… Yataro? You think any of the former Demon King bloodkin could be used for this?”
“Used for this…as in working outside the Domain, right?”
“That’s the idea.”
All my subordinates, except for the invasion teams, are under Yataro’s control, also including former Demon Kings.
“All of the former Demon Kings have rather quirky personalities… For the time being, I’ll try to pick out several.”
“Please do.”
Then the matter with the cattle… There are two ways to solve this.
First, stealing them from the humans. But, if things go badly, it could provoke Kanezawa’s humans to turn their hostility away from Kaoru.
Second, 《Domain Creation》. I don’t know when it was unlocked, but 【Cattle】 has been added as a category to 《Domain Creation》 at some point. Currently I can create chicken, cows, pigs, sheep, horses and others, but…
“By the way, you say cattle, but…substituting those with rats and wolves would be――”
“No good ~ssu!”
“I’m against that.”
Sousuke and Mrs. Tamura object before I can even finish speaking.
The CP cost for 【Cattle】 is high. Even the cheapest animal, a chicken, costs 10 CP. Cows require 50 CP per cow. Aren’t they way too expensive…considering that you can’t even use them for the Domain’s defense or invasions?
“What’s the reason for your objection?”
“Right now we’re trying to have the humans and monsters get along with each other! Regarding monsters as cattle will definitely produce friction in the future ~ssu!”
“I share Sousuke’s opinion.”
Rats, wolves…and even 【Cattle】 …if you trace them back, they’ll all be creatures created by me. And yet 【Cattle】 poses a problem while monsters don’t. I’m a former human as well. I can understand their reasoning, albeit it looks contradicting at a glance. But, you see…
“I think Kanon-san would also be angry if we were to treat monsters as livestock ~ssu!”
“I also support Sousuke and Mrs. Tamura’s opinion.”
“I also believe that it’s just as Tamura-sensei says.”
With me showing my disapproval, Yataro and Rina jump in to help Sousuke and Mrs. Tamura.
“How ridiculous! We’re offering our absolute loyalty to master! If master tells me to become cattle, I will gladly offer up my body!”
On the other hand, only Chloe proudly agrees with my opinion.
Friction between monsters and humans, eh?
“Okay, I got it. I promise to provide cattle in the near future.”
As an outcome of weighing various options, I decided to go with the creation of 【Cattle】.
Chapter 185 – Monsters and Humans
“Next, Sousuke, how’s the relationship between the residents and monsters?”
“Hmm…it’s strained ~ssu. Some people trying to get along with monsters have appeared among the children, and the residents who haven’t experienced any battles, but…”
“Is there some kind of problem?” I ask Sousuke as he hesitates to speak up.
“The biggest problem is the language barrier ~ssu. The only way for them to communicate with each other is with gestures ~ssu.”
“Language barrier, huh…? Would that be resolved if I dispatched bloodkin as interpreters?”
“Let’s see ~ssu… Since it’s possible to speak with all monsters if Kanon-chan is present, it’d be a big help.”
I haven’t the slightest intention to use Kanon for such a mundane task. I guess I’ll send over some bloodkin… Creating bloodkin requires a huge amount of CP. This is a matter I have to consider carefully.
“Shion-sama, may I?”
Mrs. Tamura calls out to me as I’m pondering.
“What’s up?”
“How about introducing language study at school?”
“Language study?”
“Yes. I think it will be possible as long as someone capable of interpreting will assist during the lessons.”
“I see… Let’s give it a try. Would you like to start with a dhampir, dark elf, werewolf, lycanthrope, orc, goblin, or kobold?”
I bring up the names of the demihuman subordinates I can create.
“Oh! Then goblin first would be great ~ssu!”
“Goblin…? Why?”
“There’s many of them ~ssu. And they are also friendly towards humans ~ssu.” Sousuke answers me while repeatedly glancing at Chloe.
“By the way, what about dark elves?”
“A d-dark elf is…” Sousuke falters to answer my question.
――Sousuke! Answer truthfully!
“Dark elves and dhampirs are very exclusive ~ssu. They’re looking down on us humans ~ssu. Since kobolds and orcs have strong feelings of fellowship, it’ll take some time for them to compromise with humans ~ssu. I’ve never seen any werewolves or lycanthropes to begin with ~ssu.”
“Humph, that’s only natural. Us dark elves are――”
“Chloe! Do you want to say that my residents are inferior life-forms?”
“――!? I-I’m terribly sorry…T-That’s not what I…”
I rebuke Chloe who acts arrogant in response to Sousuke’s honest answer.
“Haaa… Well, whatever. There’s an order to everything.” I spit out a sigh, deciding to adopt Sousuke’s view. “In that case, I suppose we need to check whether it’s possible to teach the goblin language first.”
I summon Blue and another goblin.
“What ~ssu? I was enjoying my day off――”
“Blue!” Chloe reprimands Blue who starts to bicker around as soon as he arrives.
“Blue, have the goblin over there say, 『Hello』.”
“Huh!? If you order him, Shion-sama, I won’t be needed…”
――Do it! Support the translator by reading it on his blog!
“R-Roger ~ssu. Say hello ~ssu.”
“Gii (↑) gii (↓).”
“Next, 『Thanks』.”
“Say thanks ~ssu.”
“Gii (↓) gii (→).”
――?
To me all of it just sounds like 『Giigii』.
“Did he really say 『Hello』 and 『Thanks』?”
“He did ~ssu!” Blue angrily snaps back.
“I didn’t hear any difference, but…can you work with this?”
“Would it be okay to hear it once more?”
Once I check back with Mrs. Tamura, she requests to hear the words once more.
“Gii (↓) gii (→).”
“Thanks, it is…?”
“Correct ~ssu!”
“Gii (↑) gii (→) gii (↓).”
“Hello…? Is it?”
“Unfortunately, it was “congratulations” ~ssu.”
“How should she know that!?”
I loudly retort at Blue who looks strangely triumphant when Mrs. Tamura gets it wrong.
“Gii (→) gii (↓) gii (↓) gii (→) gii (↑) gii (→).”
“That just now was: 『I’m fine with meat as reward for this ~ssu』 ~ssu.”
In the end, the goblin speaks without even being asked to do so.
“Okay, you can go back now.”
“Eh? The meat――”
I toss a low-ranked chunk of meat at the gaping Blue.
“Thanks ~ssu! Hmm? This meat is low-ranked――”
Chloe drives her fist into Blue’s belly who’s about to whine again, causing Blue to flee the room.
“Are you really sure…that you want them to be the first monsters to form bonds of friendship with?”
“Haha… Blue-san is special ~ssu…”
Sousuke smiles wryly at me who feels a pang of uneasiness.
“Okay then. We should have several goblin bloodkin, so…I’ll leave two with you.”
“Oh? Just one thing ~ssu.”
“What is it?”
“If possible…I’d like to appoint one of the two.” Sousuke requests.
“Appoint… Blue is out of the question, okay?”
“Ahaha… Blue-san would be too much to handle for me…”
“So, who is it?”
To be honest, I don’t really know any of my goblin bloodkin besides Blue. Even their names are random stuff I came up with like Gobo, Gobsuke, Gobmi, etc.
“It’s Gobfuto-san ~ssu.”
“Gobfuto?”
I check the list of bloodkin on my smartphone.
“There’s no bloodkin with the name of Gobfuto…”
“Ah, that’s because Gobfuto-san isn’t your bloodkin!”
“――?”
He has a name but isn’t a bloodkin?
“Gobfuto-san is a goblin who became your subordinate alongside Kanon-chan.”
Became my subordinate alongside Kanon… Ah, there was a goblin like that. I summon memories from a distant past.
“Are you asking me to turn him into a bloodkin?”
“If possible…! I’ve been associating with him for a long time. He’s one of the monsters with the most sympathy towards humans.”
Sousuke, who always acts timidly and often humbles himself, speaks up with a strong will for the first time. It’d be 10 hours worth of CP. I could use it to start a 《Reign》, increase the number of bloodkin for our combat forces, prepare some equipment, provide 【Cattle】, or even make Yataro happy.
After pondering about it for several minutes, “Okay, bring Gobfuto here.”
I turn Gobfuto into a bloodkin as the right-hand man of Sousuke who acts as a link between humans and monsters.
Translation Notes:
