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“Demons have a method of passing on information that’s called newspaper, and the public opinion is often formed based on what’s written in those newspapers. Seeing how politicians are voted into office through an election, politicians and the journalism of newspapers, which serves as criterion for the people to vote for certain politicians, is quite tricky. If a politician were to criticize the newspapers, turning the media house into their enemy, they could potentially lose the public’s backing, resulting in them losing in the election.”
“Ohh─── Earl Baumeister-san, you sure are quite knowledgeable about this.”
“I’m also someone who could be described as a newcomer among high-ranking nobility.”
“I see, you’re really up to date.”
I just tried to come up with something suitable, but Lumi was thrilled about my commentary. I’d suspected it was a possibility, but it looks like corrupt people also exist among the demons’ media folks.
“Those in power will always become corrupt over time, so the same might also apply to newspapers as well.”
“That’s a biting remark there, good sir. You truly understand our country quite well, don’t you…?”
A new journalist of the demon newspaper Everyday Journal had suddenly appeared in front of us. She was called Lumi Carchs. She boasted that she was working for the newspapers with the most sold copies in the demon country.
“And you were allowed to report on the diplomatic negotiations despite being a newcomer?”
“The delegation’s leader Remy-san promotes emancipation for women. I was chosen since I’m a woman myself. Well, it’s not like I’ve got anything special to do, though.”
“I thought you’d cover the negotiations? Or are you not going to do that?”
“Luise-san, was it? That’s just a public front. If a young, female newbie reporter like me were to butt in, the veteran male reporters would give me hell.”
“And Remy-san doesn’t say anything about this?”
“That woman is quite clever, too. As long as a woman is part of the press group accompanying her delegation, she won’t mention anything since that much is enough for it to work as a publicity stunt. Though, personally I’m kind of conflicted whether you can actually call that a step towards equal rights or just a meaningless formality.”
It sounds like Lumi has nothing to do with reports about the negotiations since there are several male reporters with a lot more experience already covering that part. She might have been taken along for publicity, but it’d probably be asking too much from the publisher to let a newcomer reporter, and moreover a woman, to cover the news regarding an important negotiation.
“So who would read a report about those boring negotiations in that newspaper of yours anyway?”
“You can phrase the articles in various ways to make them more appealing like, 『The politicians of the Civil Rights party are a lost case, seeing how they’re endlessly dragging out the negotiations』, or 『Nothing less of the Civil Rights party, they position themselves as tough opponents during the negotiations』. How people interpret the articles later on depends on the readers.”
“You sure don’t hold back…”
Burkhart-san was appalled by Lumi’s honest, blunt way of speaking.
“Many of the former Everyday Journal reporters are currently members of the Civil Rights party. Of course, some of them are in the National Sovereignty party as well, though. The current chief editor for politics used to be a subordinate of a reporter who became a politician of the Civil Rights party. If an article comes across as too much of a criticism against the party, he’ll bicker so that the wording gets softened down.”
“How half-assed.”
I don’t know whether I should call this collusion, adult circumstances, or plain corruption, but I guess one’s way of talking changes in various ways depending on a person’s position.
“At the moment, true journalism is no more than a dream within a dream.”
Something akin to newspaper extras has been distributed in the Kingdom and Empire as well. Basically it’s similar to tile block print that’s being published around once in a week or once in a month. The common masses can get some information through this, but it’s difficult for such outlets to criticize the lord in a noble fief.
In the past, Margrave Breithilde wrote up a report of my stay in the capital in a humoristic way and distributed it to the residents of the Baumeister Knightdom. That became one of the reasons for Kurt going haywire, so nobles and politicians are no different when it comes to using information and news as means to control politics.
“So, does that mean you are going to write an article that covers us?”
“Elise-san, was it? It will cover you perfectly! Ah, of course I will show you the article before publication as I’m currently in a position of monopolizing the news coverage of you and your family. Some of our folks are also very pesky about privacy issues and so on.”
With that said, we had Lumy write an article about us while enjoying a vacation with the negotiations still going on.
＊
“Earl Baumeister-san, you have to work, right?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
Given the current state of the negotiations, I use Teleport to go back to my earldom every once in three days in order to do some public works. Though on the condition that my schedule would be adjusted so that I can finish in the morning while I’ve got nothing else planned on that day, according to Roderich.
Moreover, once a week I teleport to Sirius’s port and supply mana to the magic propulsion systems of the ships I lent to the fishermen. My soldiers and retainers, who I’ve left back in the city over there, are managing the fishermen on top of selling the haul to the armies stationed there and the market.
“So other than your work time, you spend your time on vacation here?”
“For better or worse, it’s called being on standby.”
“Gotcha!”
Minister Überschaar and his diplomats apparently want to avoid relying on me as much as possible, so I’m being ignored for the most part. Then again, it’s only natural that they’d be upset, if some rookie were to give his opinion on their specialized work. Accordingly, I’ve been spending the rest of my time as I please.
In the first place, I didn’t come here because I wanted to do it, and it’s not like I’m that eager to get involved in the negotiations that I’d steal the work of others.
“For the diaper changing time to occur almost simultaneously is unfair!”
In the morning, Amalie-san was running about by herself, changing the diapers of my babies. Given our current location, we left the maids behind in Sirius except for a few who accompanied us. Because of that, Amalie-san’s workload is much bigger than usual.
Dominique, Lea, and Anna are with us as well, but they’re currently in the middle of preparing breakfast.
“Ah, I’ll help out as well then.”
“Wend-kun, you can join in over here, but you mustn’t do the same back in the Baumeister Earldom, okay?”
“I know, I know.”
At first I struggled with the changing of the diapers, but after having done it a few times, I became quite skilled at it. Well, a person can handle anything as long as they get used to it.
“Hoh, you’re helping with the diaper change, Earl-san?”
“Usually I don’t, but I’ll chip in during times like this. I usually don’t do it because of my reputation as Earl and because it’d be a problem if I were to steal the maids and babysitters’ work as family head. But, over here it’s basically just family, so it’s no issue for me to help with the diaper change.”
“Nobles sure got it tough as well.”
“I will help out as well.”
“Katharina, did you finish your magic practice?”
“Yes. My mana won’t rise anymore, but I still have a lot of room to improve my accuracy.”
Following Katharina, Elise and the others also came back after wrapping up their special training outside. Thus, we all changed the babies’ diapers together while my wives also breastfed.
“I’ve already heard that your breasts would grow once you give birth to children, but…even yours have become somewhat bigger, haven’t they Katia?”
“Gah! Luise! Don’t be so mean! I’ve had a moderate chest to begin with!”
Luise grumbled about the difference between her breasts and those of the others while feeding her baby. It’s not like she’s lacking milk, so I don’t see any particular problem here…
“Say, Reporter-san, do the breasts of demon women also grow when they give birth?”
“Yep. I suppose there are some individual differences, but since I haven’t given birth myself, I can’t quite comment on it.”
“Lumi-san, do you live for your work?” Lisa asked.
She had finally given birth after turning thirty, but before that she was solely focused on her job as adventurer.
“I’d like to marry if possible, but my job has irregular work hours and since I don’t have a partner either, I’m single. Still the sight of nine babies is quite amazing in and by itself.”
Because Haruka-san is currently taking care of her own child as well, we’ve got nine babies in the room right now. According to Lumi, you can only find so many babies on one spot in a big hospital when it comes to her own country.
“Which reminds me, the demons had a declining birthrate and an aging population, hadn’t they?”
“So you heard from my countrymen, huh?”
＊ ＊ ＊
Lumi had noticed the existence of Arnest and his former pupils a good while ago.
『Sensei, what are you doing here?』
At first, Lumi was surprised to find Arnest over here.
『Hmm? Ah, a former student of mine. I am currently doing my real research over here』
『I see you haven’t changed your ways of being a weirdo, Sensei』
『For not a single of my students to have pursued the path of archeology…what a truly deplorable state』
『You can’t put any food on the table with archeology』, Lumi said the same thing Mall and the others had mentioned before.
『If you had been a reporter for the culture department, I would have praised you as my student』
『The culture department is being treated badly at my publisher. The star among the departments is the politics one』
At the beginning, Lumi explained that her newspaper wasn’t just all politics, but in reality, she was actually a member of the politics department.
『How regrettable』, replied Arnest
Lumi went to the same university as Mall and his friends. She apparently had been two years above them. And on top of that, she also used to be a student under Arnest. However, as far as Arnest was concerned, Lumi was a failure as his student.
『I’m surprised to see you still alive, Sensei. According to the news, you were eaten by a monster during the exploration of an unknown ruin in the 『Great Atemongo Forest』』
Personally, I wouldn’t believe that someone with the mana of Arnest’s level would easily become fodder for a monster…
『This guy would not die even if you kill him!』
Doushi seemed to believe the same, but since he’s also the type of guy who won’t die even if you kill him, I doubt that he’s qualified to comment on others.
『I am bad at fighting since I focus on scientific research』
『How ridiculous!』
In the end, Arnest and Doushi aren’t very compatible as characters.
『Still the media does have rather low standards. Even though I actually headed to the Lingaia Continent in search of new ruins, they got swallowed up by corruption, reporting what the government wants them to write, despite being the fourth power according to them, huh?』
『As always, you dish out well, Sensei. Moreover…I see, my useless juniors at university are with you as well』
Lumi’s eyes pointed at Mall and his two friends. Even so, the word seems to definitely be a small place.
『Indeed』
『We’re happy with this, so it’s fine』
『For you to have sneaked out of the youth corps, just to end up with Earl Baumeister-san together with Arnest-sensei who was supposed to be missing; truth definitely is stranger than fiction』
Lumi was flabbergasted by her juniors which wouldn’t be able to complain if they were branded as deserters.
『Are we going to receive the death penalty for desertion?』
『In that case, we will apply for political asylum』
『I’d hate to go back just to be killed, so that’d be okay with me, too』
『Death penalty? No clue whether it’s going to result in that. Though, there’s no doubt about you guys being nutcases』
The defense forces have already given up and accepted that the members of the youth corps are useless bums who only cause problems. Then again, even if you call it causing problems, most of them are just bad at working or bicker about higher salaries. Among those corps members, the three guys over here left the island under the pretext of going fishing. This should have been more than enough to make their superiors at the defense force panic.
『Because our defense forces are the regular army due to an ancient law, desertion is punished by death. However, it’s not like they’ll be killed in reality. Even though they’re part of the youth corps, they’re merely temporary laborers』
Given that they aren’t official military personnel, it’d be impossible to kill them just because they ran away. Even if they were punished by broadly interpreting the law, it’d produce other problems.
『Some people don’t consider the defense forces a regular army anymore. We have groups advocating peace, who obviously prefer to not have any wars. They share the opinion that the defense forces are merely responsible for public order and disaster relief. They also regard the current dispatch of the defense forces very critically. In their eyes, the idea of reviving the army and punishing deserters is abhorring, and it’d very likely trigger them to start protests against any such motion』
At that point, demon rights groups and people advocating the reduction of the defense forces would join that peace movement, resulting in a huge uproar. The current government wouldn’t be able to oppose them because many of those people would be supporters of the ruling party.
『A political problem, huh…?』
『Well, such things exists as well. We demons have our own share of troubles, too』
It sounds like many people were pitying the ruling party for being faced with this situation right after coming into power, but politicians have no use if they don’t produce results.
『Given those circumstances, I will look the other way while covering you, Earl Baumeister-san. I’ll pretend to not have seen Sensei and my juniors over here』
Lumi also promised to not mention them in her article.
『If I wrote about them, some demons would kick up a fuss over them being traitors and so on』
And in such a way, Arnest managed to reunite with yet another of his former students.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Wend-kun, we put all of them to sleep.”
“Okay, let’s take a break then, shall we?”
“Sure, I will brew tea.”
My babies were peacefully asleep after having had their diapers changed and their bellies filled with milk. But, it’s the duty of babies to sleep, so it’s fine like this.
Because Amalie-san brewed tea for all of us, we continued to chat with Lumi while taking a break at the same time.
“Demons have it hard to give birth to children. I envy you humans.”
“You envy us?”
“Ina-san, I’d like to marry and give birth to children as well.”
Demons live almost three times as long as humans, so their lifespan lasts around 250-300 years. The longer the lifespan, the harder it is to give birth to offspring. And because of that, the demons appear to be worried about their dwindling birth rate.
Lumi also said that she’s still single.
“Demons have a long youth and almost no one will marry before fifty.”
It sounds like there’s not much difference between demons and humans when it comes to growth until the age of twenty. But, since demons won’t find a job even after turning adults at twenty, they spend an awfully long time as students.
“And we don’t grow old until the age of 200, or in human terms, during the first half of our twenties. Only after that, we’ll gradually grow older for the remaining fifty to hundred years.”
That means, that grandma called Remy is actually older than 200 years old, eh…?
“If you marry at an age of fifty, you can give birth to two or three children.”
Marrying late has festered in demon society, and many of them marry past the age of 150. As such, they only have time to raise one child. And if you cut the birth rate by 20%, it basically means a decrease in population. 1
“The government has been adopting countermeasures, but since half of the young demons are jobless, it makes it hard for them to marry.”
Lumi’s eyes wandered to her three juniors.
“Because Lumi-senpai’s abusive language doesn’t lose out to Sensei’s, she never had a boyfriend during her student days.”
“Even I had a girlfriend during my time at school…”
“Senpai, your looks and figure aren’t bad. But, I thought that you were missing something. And after seeing Elise and the others, I can say with conviction that you simply don’t have enough kindness in you!”
“Uugh….you guys are pissing me off…,” Lumi glared at those three reproachfully after they had apparently found out about her not having had any boyfriends as student. “But, I’m pretty tolerant, so I’ll accept a guy as husband as long as he takes care of the house.”
“Marry you?”
“No, thanks.”
“I think you’re a nice person as a friend, but…”
“I was rejected even by my juniors who are jobless, virgin losers!” Lumi dropped her shoulders.
It looks like Mall and his two friends aren’t fine with just any woman either.
“Whatever! I’ll simply live for my work!”
However, Lumi got a rather positive mindset, so she quickly recovered, resuming her work as a reporter.
＊
After we finished taking care of the babies, breakfast was up next.
Currently, the air force of the demons was patrolling the archipelago, but it was a treasure trove of fish anyway since fishermen usually didn’t come all the way out here anyway. At times when we couldn’t fish ourselves, we left it to the fishermen we brought with us, and ate their haul.
Since it was such a rare opportunity, I made sur to serve plenty of dishes based on fresh fish. And because I had also stocked lots of ingredients from Mizuho, many of those dishes ended up being Japanese.
“───Maaan, a drink in the morning rocks.”
“Burkhart-san, it’s bad to drink too much.”
“It’s just one cup.”
Burkhart-san had been drinking wine since morning while eating dried fish as a snack to go with his booze. Erw was eating rice while chiding him for that.
“Fresh fish sure tastes great.”
“Right? You have to eat plenty!”
“No, eating such a big bowl like you, Doushi-sama, is impossible for me…,” Katia commented
“Another serving please,” Wilma requested curtly.
“Always the same with you, Wilma!”
Wilma was even more amazing than Doushi for ordering a second serving of that big bowl.
“You’re not going to eat some traditional meals of the Earl Baumeister family or some such?”
“Huh? You want to eat something like that?”
Lumi had apparently heard that noble families had traditional dishes and believed the nobles would constantly eat those. But, no matter how you think about it, I’m sure even Lumi, who comes from a middle class family, is eating better food than that thin salt soup.
Maybe she’s actually misunderstanding me as a descendant of some super high-class family or some such. Also, she might not have realized that there are all sorts of differences between nobles.
“I’m kind of interested, yes.”
“How eccentric… But, right now I can’t make it since I don’t have the ingredients at hand.”
We actually don’t have the veggies, meat scraps, and hard, black bread with us to make that soup. Unfortunately, it looks like our palate has evolved beyond that, and nowadays even my parents have stopped eating that soup.
『Tastes absolutely horrible. We sure did well to have been able to eat this nasty stuff for decades』
『Dear, even without you forcing yourself to eat something like that…』
Some time ago, Dad messed around and tried to eat that soup of the past after having my mother cook hit for him, but since it was very thin with its only seasoning being salt, I heard from Paul-niisan that our Dad couldn’t eat it any longer because of the lackluster taste.
“I guess the documents were wrong? The demon nobles of old wrote that it’s supposed to be like that among human nobles.”
The Kingdom’s nobles have something like a menu they’ll serve when they want to impress their guests, but usually they don’t eat any fixed menus. However, since the ingredients available were limited, just like it had been for my family in the past, many noble houses would eat the same stuff.
“In the past, the Baumeister family basically ate the same menu every day, but…”
Once I told Lumi about the menu and the reason for it, she clearly looked like she’d lost all interest in eating it.
“So you clawed your way up from being very poor? That’ll make for a great news story.”
Lumi continued to take notes while appearing overjoyed.
“Is such a story going to be well-received among demon citizens?”
“Definitely.”
It seems like novels about people building up their own companies after weathering through a childhood of poverty, or people who made a name for themselves and became politicians, often become bestsellers in the demon country. Personally I feel like it’s a bit weird to put me on the same level as such amazing folks.
“Demons and humans are the same in idolizing such success stories.”
“I guess you got a point.”
I can understand that demons hold strong curiosity and yearning towards successful people, just like humans.
“But, that’s great. It sounds like I’ll be able to write a great article. By the way, do humans like eating fish?”
“Demons don’t do it?
“They do, but only small amounts. Majority of the fish eaten by us demons are farm-raised. Moreover, only a small fraction of local fishermen and people, who like to angle as a hobby, eat freshly-caught fish. And on top of that, every once in a while news about those few fishermen clashing with animal rights groups would make the rounds. Those groups claim that fishing destroys nature and that it’s pitiful to kill wild fish.”
“I feel like you also kill fish when doing aquaculture though…”
“Erwin-san, that’s just the usual pattern of deceiving yourself by coming up with all sorts of excuses.”
“It’s not understandable to me…”
If you catch too many fish in an area, it can throw the ecosystem into chaos, so it might follow the train of thought that cultivating fish would be okay. However, because of that thinking, the demons don’t eat much fish, except for those living along the coast.
“The demons living in inland areas eat meat and grains as staple food.”
Large food makers process ingredients which can be obtained cheaply at huge farms and ranches, and sell them. The variety of goods is low for the sake of making a profit with little effort, so if you want to eat something unusual, you need to go to high-class grocery stores or obtain and cook the ingredients by yourself.
“Many demons eat the same things every day.”
Because the demons are used to similar daily meals, the makers can mass produce food at a cheap price, also resulting in food being left over. In such a society, starvation won’t become a reason for a revolution, but it might also lack appeal when it comes to food.
“The food on the human’s side is more delicious.”
“Sensei, didn’t you used to be indifferent to taste in the past? You ate bread everyday since you didn’t leave your laboratory.”
According to Lumi, Arnest stopped going outside except for excavations whenever he got zealous about his research. But, if I consider things closely, it’s the same nowadays as well.
“I did not have any interest in food in the past. At present I am very satisfied as well since a huge variety of dishes is being served to me.”
Come to think of it, Arnest always eats all of his food without leaving anything behind. At first I thought that he had no interest in the food, but it sounds like he actually enjoys his meals.
“But, will a report about such commonplace livelihood be any good for a news article?”
“It’ll be alright. It looks like Earl Baumeister-san is actually understanding as well, though.”
Erw probably thought that Lumi would be talking with me about stuffy politics and consolidate all of it into a news article. The actual newspaper, which we had Lumi show us during the initial explanation, seemed to have that sort of political-paper feel.
“Our newspaper doesn’t only cover politics!
＊
And then, in the evening of the same day Lumi handed a manuscript of her article to us.
“『The negotiations between both countries aren’t quite finishing! The young noble Earl Baumeister, who had suddenly made an appearance during the negotiations on the Kingdom’s side, was someone completely overthrowing our image of nobility!』 will be the title.” 2
In addition, she wrote about me taking care of my babies, enjoying some fishing with my wives, preparing the haul and cooking it into dishes during my spare time when I’m not working hard at the development of my territory as lord.
“It’s a depiction of Wend’s usual daily life, but is this going to be of any use?”
“Erwin-san, the biggest problem of the current negotiations can be found in both sides not knowing much about each other and thus making assumptions based on some weird prejudices.”
The demons consider the humans to be savages who live in outdated, feudal societies, and the human’s side is resisting that labeling. The negotiations won’t get anywhere as long as we can’t somehow break up that wrong image of humans, Lumi apparently believed.
Unfortunately, female politicians such as Remy apparently don’t think so.
“For that reason, it’s essential to tell the demons through this article that the Kingdom’s humans aren’t that different from them.”
“Oh, okay. I see.”
Lumi was apparently planning to have humans and demons reconcile by deliberately publishing such a news article. She got a fairly bold and determined way of thinking, despite being a newcomer reporter.
“I mean, I’d hate the idea of a war starting.”
“Does such a danger exist?”
“Yes.”
At present, we can’t even see a start to resolve the standstill in the negotiations. As such, it’s possible that some people start to claim that it’d be fine to resolve things by waging war.
“The number of hawks among the demons is low, but they’re loud.”
“And there are people behind them who instigate things, right?”
“That’s correct, Earl Baumeister-san.”
According to Lumi, some of the demons have started to argue that this would be no war, but a special operation to bring democracy to the humans on the continent by defeating the nobles and royals reigning over them through an old feudal system.
“No…democracy…”
That’s doubtlessly impossible on the continent as it is right now. Most of the people are barely capable of reading characters, so it’d be way too fast to implement democracy, I think.
“I think it’ll only lead to unnecessary chaos…”
“Accordingly, they’re saying they’ll take the necessary positions for themselves and guide the foolish humans in the proper way.”
How boring. So they’re basically using democracy as front while actually wanting to rule over the humans with a few demons.
“Nowadays it’s often normal for the seat of a politician to be hereditary, and those politicians allow their family members to make careers in enterprises or public institutions through their connections. We’ve got plenty of people who are no different from nobles.”
It’s unclear whether this corruption is the reason, but the demon country’s economic strength has been gradually declining over the years. The hawkish demons want to invade the continent to resolve this issue. The companies are looking for new markets while the politicians desire new land to rule. In the past on Earth, this sort of ideology was called colonial expansion and rule.
“What a pain in the ass.”
“However, I think you can say that this isn’t overly popular with the ordinary people.”
It’s certainly true that many of their young people have no job, but it’s not like they struggle to survive either. Lumi says that only a portion of the demons are kicking up a fuss while the majority of the populace is looking critically at their demands.
“In the first place, if everyone was so eager and full of energy, we wouldn’t possess so much undeveloped land in our country.”
Apparently, most of the land that proved to be impossible to maintain had been abandoned in the last few centuries. The regions, where the population dropped to zero because of the extreme advancement of depopulation, were tagged as waste of taxes to manage.
“Are the demons going to be okay?”
“I do hope so.”
It’s inevitable to feel uneasy. It looks like many demons share the opinion to leave things to the providence of nature. The ones making a racket might only be politicians, whose income has dropped, and businessmen whose markets shrunk.
“At the time of the Ancient Magic Civilization’s destruction, the demons’ population amounted to no more than 100,000. Maybe nature is simply trying to return our numbers to a reasonable amount since we’re currently just too many.”
“I see.”
The demons might be headed for decay after having passed their golden age. Still, their population has grown tenfold since the era of the Ancient Magic Civilization, huh? As I thought, you cannot underestimate the demons.
“So, it won’t be any problem if we publish this article, right?”
“No.”
“That’s a big help. Even I would have found it difficult to write an article about you levying your fief’s population with heavy taxation and labor while indulging in luxury every day and summoning any pretty woman in your territory to your own harem.”
“I never did any of that…”
Lingaia is a huge continent, so I can’t say that no one does any of that. But, rather than that, I’d prefer to avoid getting any more women.
＊
Because the article had no particular issues, it was published in Everyday Journal.
“The response isn’t bad.”
The number of politicians advocating, 『Our technological level is above theirs, so we’ll be able to defend ourselves against any potential attack by them. As such, wouldn’t it be smarter to simply sell valuable goods to the continent? It’ll yield a nice profit』, apparently started to increase in the parliament.
After reading the article, they apparently reached the conclusion that it’d be better to form a treaty with us since our side was civilized as well. In addition, a report stating, 『Right now we won’t be able to maintain the occupation, even if we take over the continent. Even if we pool all of our soldiers, bureaucrats, and engineers, we’ll be able to field 50,000 at the most. Such number would be far too low to rule over the humans who have an ever-growing, estimated population of 50 million』, was released by the defense force.
『Can’t you dispatch more personnel?』
『That’s impossible. We also have to take care of public safety in our own country. In the first place, that number was based on the idea that the defense force would be significantly bolstered with personnel. It’s pretty clear that we’d suffer casualties if we tried to overthrow the Helmut Kingdom, and Holy Empire Urquhart which isn’t negotiating with us right now』
『How many casualties does the defense force expect?』
『We estimate the losses to number 2,000 at the least while it could also go up to around 10,000』
『At the least 2,000 people…』
In the current demon country those would be losses which would lead to the current cabinet resigning and the opposition definitely winning in the next election. The demons, who hadn’t gone to war for a long time, probably wouldn’t be able to stomach the death of their brethren.
『This is the estimate of the losses during the invasion. When it comes to maintaining the occupation of the continent on top of that…』
It’s possible that the humans would start to resist the demons as their vicious rulers. Knowing that they wouldn’t be able to win in a frontal assault, the humans would start terrorist acts. Crushing those terrorist organizations and their bases would produce further losses among the demons.
『It’s possible that the casualties would grow above 30,000 over ten years』
『Don’t we possess a lot more mana than humans, and outstanding technology!?』
『That is true, but it’d be impossible to prepare against human terrorism always and everywhere. After all, we are at an overwhelming numerical disadvantage』
The humans could poison their food or cut their throat during sleep. Because there’s not much of a difference between a human and demon body, demons could be seduced by beautiful women or men, just to be lured to a deserted area in order to get murdered over there.
『We will drastically increase the defense forces personnel!』
『With those young demons in military employ?』
『Indeed!』
『Those people will probably get killed right away after showing the slightest opening』
The defense force’s might came from its members regularly running strict drills. Even if they upgrade the youth corps to regular soldiers all of a sudden, it’d just increase the casualties, the officer of the defense forces explained.
『We will head out if the government orders us to do so, but I can only remind you that the government will have to bear responsibility for the casualties caused by that decision』
『Uugh…』
Debates like the one above were held at the parliament, and the government apparently lost the possibility to advocate a troop dispatch. However, a part of the parliament members still kicked up a fuss about it.
“Some people are also talking about a demon-human-economical-sphere or a demon-human-cooperative-body.”
It sounds like the right and left wings are also clamoring about such political ideas.
“You might get angry if I say this, Earl Baumeister-san, but in regards to these political ideas, I actually prefer the war advocates.”
“Because a conquest of the continent would mean that they’re aware of themselves committing a crime, huh?”
“Yep.”
The ones being more dangerous are the demons arguing to overthrow the nobles and royals for the sake of teaching democracy to the humans.
“They truly believe that they’re doing something very good.”
However, right now I can’t do anything in the current situation. I’m not participating in the negotiations. Though I didn’t forget to regularly contact His Majesty.
“Even if they conclude the negotiations in a hurry, it likely won’t lead to a decent outcome.”
I think it’s just as Therese says. From my point of view, it was questionable whether the diplomatic delegations of both countries were actually doing their job, but His Majesty apparently planned to leave the negotiations in the hands of Minister Überschaar and his diplomats for the time being.
“However, there exists one unresolved issue.”
“You mean the captured Lingaia and its detained sailors?”
“Aye. Our government wants to return them as quickly as possible.”
“Does it cost that much to take care of them?”
“It’d be a huge problem if rumors about them treating the imprisoned humans badly were to crop up. Detention eats up money as well. And that big ship called Lingaia has no use to us as an outdated model by demon standards either.”
It looks like we were the only ones expecting the demons to use the nobles, government officials, and sailors of the Lingaia as hostages during the negotiations. In reality, it cost money to detain the crew, and the ship itself was no more than dead wood to the demons. Because it has been occupying a dock of the defense force for an extended period of time, the government has been pressured by the parliament to quickly send back both, making it very likely that the Lingaia and its crew would be released very soon.
“An issue of expenses, huh…?”
“Recently our national budget has become quite tight because of the increase in social welfare spending. My newspaper has also been pointing out in articles that our government is wasting quite a bit of money.”
Somehow it’s a story I feel I’ve heard somewhere before.
As I thought something like that, I suddenly heard my MHCD ringing. Once I took the call, His Majesty was on the other end.
『Earl Baumeister, I actually have a request』
His Majesty gave me a certain order while skipping on the greetings. He called it a request, but since I couldn’t refuse, it was basically an order.
“Yes, what might it be?”
『I’d like you to check on the status of the imprisoned Lingaia crew』
“Me?”
『The other side has started to talk with us in a way that kept stressing they were advance, civilized people. They shouldn’t arrest you all of a sudden. Accordingly, I’d like you to directly visit the demon country』
“Okay…”
That’s fine with me since I’m interested in the demon country anyway, but it’s also possible for the demons to suddenly attack me.
“Earl Baumeister-san, us demons are bragging over being a sophisticated, civilized nation! We aren’t the demons of old either. If you visit as an official, special foreign envoy, no one will attack you!”
It sounds like Lumi has quite a bit of pride as a demon, seeing how she denied my worries with all her might.
Certainly, even the Kingdom only killed the messengers of the Empire in the very distant past, during the war. If it’s the demons who haven’t been at war for more than 10,000 years, the possibility of them killing is next to impossible, I guess.
『Is that the newspaper reporter you mentioned in your previous report?』
“Yes.”
『It’s quite troublesome that Minister Überschaar hasn’t been able to make any progress at all. Having said that, it’s quite possible that the conditions will become disadvantageous for us if we hurry the negotiations. As such, I’d like you to go there and settle things skillfully』
“I don’t mind that, but aren’t there any other applicants for this task?”
Their numbers might be low, but I think the foreign affairs faction should have other nobles.
『All of them were seized with fear when they heard about the demon country. In the end, they claimed that you’d be suitable for this task as hero who achieved so many military exploits during the Empire’s civil war』
“Haaah…”
Seriously, the nobles of the foreign affairs faction truly deserve to be called useless bums.
『I’ll leave all of it in your capable hands. The crew of the Lingaia takes maximum priority. Feel free to choose the personnel you wish to take with you』
“Got it. I shall hurry to the demon country.”
＊
Of course it was impossible for me to reject His Majesty’s order, and thus it was decided that I’d be heading to the demon country.
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Translation Notes:
- Not sure what the author is counting here. If you lower the birth rate from 2-3 children to one child per couple, it’d be a decrease by 33-66% in birth rate. You could average that and say 46%, but surely not 20%. A birthrate of 1.0 is definitely a decrease. A steep one at that.
- As typical for JP authors: coming up with catchy titles is asking too much.
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