◆
The place for the trade ceremony would be an office located on the highest floor of a conspicuously large building which allows for an unobstructed view of Aster Empire’s residential district. It’s the room where Mrs. Tamura is usually working.
For this very day I have made a special exception by connecting this place to a 【Transfer Array】 near the entrance of my Domain. The official venue has been completely prepared, so now we’ve only got to wait for Kaoru to arrive.
Around ten minutes before the appointed time, my smartphone informs me of invaders ― Kaoru’s visit. Once I checked my phone, I spotted a slender man wearing a tricorne at the entrance area of my Domain. In addition, Kaoru alongside ten arch demons.
Using the 【Transfer Array】, I move to Kaoru’s location.
“Welcome, Demon King Kaoru.”
“Thank you very much for your kind invitation.” Kaoru answers me, who bows exaggeratedly, with a childish smile.
“Just in case, I’ve prepared an official venue to hold the trade ceremony, but what would you like to do?”
Last time I turned down Kaoru’s offer, and negotiated with him at the entrance area of his Domain. If Kaoru insists on the same, I won’t have a choice but to heed his request.
“Okay…then I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”
――!?
I’m startled by Kaoru agreeing so readily.
“You okay with that?”
“Hmm? You’re not going to pull a sneak attack on me or anything, are you?”
“Of course not, but…”
“Then it’s alright. Shion, you said it yourself, didn’t you? That we’ll build up our trust slowly. I’d say this is the first step towards that.”
“Let me answer your trust with trust of my own then as well.”
“By the way, would it be better for us to give our weapons into your custody?”
“No, keep them. Well then, I’ll guide you.”
I took Kaoru and his retinue with me, transferring us through the 【Transfer Array】.
“Eh? Wha-…? I-Incredible…!!”
Looking at the residential district through the window in the office ― the transfer destination ― Kaoru is lost for words.
“Hmm? Kaoru, you don’t have any residents in your Domain?”
“No, I do have residents, but…not to such a large extent…I mean, look, making residents surrender tends to be quite annoying and the profits are low.”
Kaoru gives one the impression of being cunning, but right now he’s appearing to be unusually frank.
“For better or worse, we’re calling ourselves a nation, so that’s why.”
“I see. This is certainly a country.”
“As for the scale, it’s still no more than the size of a town.”
“Maybe I should build a town myself as well once I get back… By the way, is there any merit in doing all this?”
“Merit, huh…? If it becomes widely known that my residents can spend a happy life here, future Reigns are going to be easier, I guess. Also, the quality of the food has improved.”
“Eh? Shion, you eat?”
“I do it when I have some free time. Well, the ones most delighted about the food improvements are my subordinates.”
“Shion, you have the image of being cruel, but are you unexpectedly affectionate towards your subordinates?”
“I wonder.”
I’m bragging to be kinder in the treatment of my residents and subordinates than most normal Demon Kings, but affectionate…if I were to be asked for my honest opinion, I’d be hard pressed to answer since I do have ulterior motives with this.
“By the way, who are your companions?” I shift my look to the man and the ten arc demons Kaoru brought with him.
I suspect the man to be Barbatos. But I don’t get the meaning behind bringing along ten arc demons. They’d be a bit too weak to qualify as guards.
“I’ll introduce you. He is Barbatos. He’s my prized subordinate who I’m going to transfer to you this time.”
“Nice to meet you, Shion-sama. My name is Barbatos.”
The slender man with the tricorne ― Barbatos, bows respectfully.
“I’m Shion. Nice to meet you. And the remaining lesser demons are guards?”
“No. They’re a present from me. Kind of like a proof of deep affection?”
“I understand. Thank you for your consideration.”
Ten lesser demons, huh…? I check my inventory. I take out an outfit ― the Robe of Magic Crystals and hand it to Kaoru.
“It’s proof of deep affection from me.”
“Thanks! Is this proof of deep affection? Or is it because you don’t want to owe me?”
“Feel free to interpret it as you like.”
The Robe of Magic Crystals is an outfit I’ve become able to create when my Alchemy became A-Rank. It’s ability doesn’t lose out to that of the unique robe that can be made at B-Rank.
“Oh right! It’s a bold copying from you, but I also gave my country a name!”
“Hooh…”
“Now that we’ve formed an alliance at last, it’d be better for my country to have a name as well, right?”
“So, what is it?”
“Kaga.”
“So you used the place’s name just as it is, huh?”
“I wondered whether I should go with Komatsu, but Kaga is cooler, isn’t it?” Kaoru explains cheerfully.
“Then we’re going to form an alliance, right? We’ll stream us officially forming the alliance live to the whole world.”
“That sounds really awesome. I wonder whether I’ll become a celebrity overnight?”
“Who knows.”
Kaoru and I exchange smiles.
“Shion-sama, Kaoru-sama, is everything ready ~ssu?” Tusk, whom I had entrusted with setting up the technical side of the live stream, calls out to us.
Kaoru and I exchange a look, and nod.
“Then let’s go ~ssu! 3, 2, 1…action.”
The red lamp of the video camera in Tusk’s hand turns on.
“Nice to meet you, all humans in the world and dear Demon Kings. My name is Demon King Shion. I’m a Demon King ruling over a part of Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture.”
“Hello, everyone. Whoa…it sure is nerve-wracking. My name is Kaoru. I’m also a Demon King ruling over a part of Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture.”
“There’s something we’d like to report to all of you on this fine day. Today, my Domain ― the Aster Empire and――”
“My Domain ― Kaga, are going to form an alliance.”
“The alliance’s name is going to be 『Ishikawa Alliance』! Whether this alliance works out smoothly…
“…or whether it utterly fails…”
“We’d like all of you to make your own judgment after witnessing the future of the Ishikawa Alliance, and therefore streamed the current live show to you.”
“I’m really excited about what will happen!”
“Please allow us to excuse ourselves at this point.”
Once I lower my hand, the video camera’s recording lamp turns off.
Like this, the probably worldwide first alliance between Demon Kings came into existence.
Chapter 275 – The Impact of the Alliance
On the night of the day when the Ishikawa Alliance was established, we had a huge feast inside Aster Empire. Kaoru was also happy with the warm welcome he received at the Aster Empire, and returned to his own Domain on the next day.
And then we started all kinds of experiments, starting with the next day.
Experiment ①
Can we level by sacrificing subordinates to each other?
This was a proposal by Kaoru who had received a sacred treasure ― the Growth Greatsword. 1
Starting with the conclusion: This experiment ended in failure. According to Kanon, the main cause for the failure was 『It looks like you can’t get any experience points if you kill enemies without any hostility』.
When I complained to Kanon to tell me about this restriction earlier, she told me that she apparently received that knowledge immediately after we did this experiment.
Assuming Kanon’s words to be correct, was this possibly an update? Or a specification change? I guess the sole gain out of this was the understanding that Mastermind is always watching what’s happening in this world, and that Mastermind is going to impose restrictions on actions going against their intention.
Experiment ②
Can we become invincible by plugging up the room for other Demon Kings to attack us if we send in 24 subordinates into each other’s sectors?
Starting with the conclusion: This experiment also ended in failure. It looks like enemies with no hostile intentions are not counted towards the limit.
I only feel pissed off at the Mastermind for arbitrarily changing the rules of the world.
One week after the establishment of the Ishikawa Alliance.
All our experiments have come to naught, but the alliance itself had a big impact on the domestic humans and Demon Kings.
Just as usual, the humans immediately censored the information by deleting our video, but apparently they were unable to completely cover up this sensational event as many humans and Demon Kings showed interest in it.
１ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＰＯＨＸＬＥ６
Whoa! Demon Kings have formed an alliance!
２ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：３ＨＬ６ＺＩＫ
>>1
Details?
３ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＰＯＨＸＬＥ６
Ishikawa Prefecture’s HeartChaDe☆ has formed an alliance
４ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＸＶＨ６Ｌ７Ｆ
HeartChaDe☆? Who’s that?
５ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ︰Ｎ５ＺＨ３ＲＫ
Heart-throbbing☆Chaos☆Demon Kings, like obviously
６ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＫＺ７ＶＨＣＮ
Just say Thirteen Evil Stars, dammit!
７ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：８ＨＹＮ２３１
>1
Source?
８ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＰＯＨＸＬＥ６
Go to 【Video Link URL】
９ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＫＯＺＱＩ５Ｍ
The Thirteen Evil Stars member of Ishikawa had such a face?
１０ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＯＫ１ＳＸＶ５
Kaoru-tan prprpr 2
１１ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＨＮＶＯ２ＳＥ
Weren’t Demon Kings hostile to each other?
１２ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＮＩＵＬ３ＫＩ
Demon King Shion is a shota. That’s why he formed that alliance.
１３ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＨＦ６ＶＫ７Ｈ
>12
Orly?
１４ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＮＩＵＬ３ＫＩ
Rly
１５ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＨＦ６ＶＫ７Ｈ
>14
Sauce?
１６ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＮＩＵＬ３ＫＩ
Worcester
１７ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＨＦ６ＶＫ７Ｈ
FU
１８ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＯＥ５ＮＹＱＩ
So we’re going to get Humans vs. Demon King Alliances from now on?
１９ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＨＬＯ９ＫＦ８
That’s impossible, no? Our local Demon King also announced that he’d formed an alliance or such, but they immediately had a falling out through betrayals.
２０ Nameless Adventurer ＩＤ：ＮＩＵＬ３ＫＩ
What you’d expect of Chaos rofl
The Ishikawa Alliance also became a huge topic on the Laplace forums.
１ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙４６２
Recruiting Demon Kings to ally with Mr. Y☆
２ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙２８
How are nameless Demon Kings supposed to form alliances roflmao
３ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙２６４
>1
First, name yourself. Everything else follows after that.
４ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙４６２
You’ll believe me if I introduce myself as Honma?
５ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙２６４
I’d say it depends on the place
６ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙４６２
【This account has been blocked due to a violation of the rules】
７ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ：２６４
Secret Technique – Eternal Freeze
８ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙３０１
ID462, what an utter moron lol
９ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙１９７
Alliance is no special ability, is it?
１０ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙５９６
Nope
１１ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙１９７
You’re saying Kanezawa’s Thirteen Evil Stars member has formed an alliance based on trust alone?
１２ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙５９６
Gotta be like that. He mentioned something about wanting us to judge the future.
１３ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙１９７
Unbelievable. I’d never be able to pull that off
１４ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙１９
From now on all Demon Kings are probably going to closely watch the Ishikawa Alliance
１５ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙６３７
Shion, was it? He became a celebrity overnight, I’d say
１６ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙７６２
He was a HeartChaDe☆ to begin with, so he was in the center of attention anyway
１７ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙５０７
Come to think of it, that Shion dude is participating in Laplace as well, isn’t he?
１８ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙２７
I’m Shion. Did you call? roflmao
１９ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙５０７
The real deal is heeeere
２０ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙３９４
Eh? For real?
２１ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙３９７
Lil’ HeartChaDe☆ Shions are poppin’ out all over the place lmao 3
２２ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙１９５
Ah, those are part of a HeartChaDe☆ series no one needs, yep
２３ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙８３
Considering it logically, he’s a fake
２４ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙３７
If it was the real deal, he’d suffered an Eternal Freeze after all
２５ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙６８４
I’d really laugh my ass off if the real HeartChaDe☆ Shion got banned lololol
２６ Nameless Demon King ＩＤ︙９９
An alliance, huh?
The way how Demon Kings handle things might change
Stuck with having huge attention drawn on me all over the world, I calmly set up my plans for the upcoming future.
Translation Notes:
