Volume 2 Chapter 5 (2/2)

Our advertisement here did enough impact and the news of our town would probably be spread by word of mouth.

…although, of course, it would depend on the events to follow whether or not my dungeon would actually be built there.

With our task done, we left soon after.

By the way, we were later scolded by Kuina and Ancient Elf for leaving the both of them behind.

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After we exited the commercial area, we then paid the agricultural area a visit and it was tremendously vast. Despite that, however, the poverty of the farmers could be immediately perceived.

With dreams within their hearts, an awful lot of humans had dared their fortunes and came to grand cities like this one, only to find that there wasn’t any plot of land left to farm. And so, they scrambled for jobs in the city. The humans that knew no other skill but farm work needed to have either luck, connections, or outstanding talent in order to secure employment. The ones unlucky enough to have none of those rented land from some great landlord and cultivated some crops.

Indeed, life was harsh. Even so, they were no longer able to leave this city and return to their home villages for they had already tasted the city life and no other place could satisfy them now.

Ancient Elf was observing the field that spread all around us. She was examining the condition of the land using her abilities.

“How is it? How’s the land? I would be rather troubled if the land’s still in a somewhat good condition.”

“The land’s location and geology are just fine but it’s so exhausted, I just want to go and heal it.”

Based on Ancient Elf’s analysis, the land itself was good but it seemed like the overuse of the land in order to raise the amount of crops harvested to impossible heights, the planting of the same plant over and over again, all the flooding, and various other problems had occurred.

“What would happen if crops are planted on this land again?”

“If a lot of fertilizers are used, I think that maybe it just might yield some harvest but yeah, it’ll be hard. If the farmers continue to push the land, its condition will become much harsher. If possible, I would like the land be left unused for next two years or so.”

“Is it possible for you to grow the same crops planted here in the dungeon we’re gonna build?”

“Of course, with an abundant harvest to boot.”

The crops were just about ready to be harvested so I could have taken a few of them with me to my new town but I preferred to be safe than sorry. And so, I bought some seeds from a farmer that worked on the field at a rather high price.

“After you’ve prepared the farmlands, I want you to accelerate the growth of these seeds until just before it’s ready to be harvested.”

“Alright but what for?”

“Rather than promoting the immigration to a so-called fertile land, wouldn’t it be better if we just showed them?”

Humans believed most what they could see.

By the way, I intended to collect 10% of the farmers’ harvest as compensation for the house and lot I was going to offer them. The house and lot would be free of charge until they could make a harvest and in case of a crop failure, the fee would be lowered.

These rates were already exceptional. I could also offer it for free but then that would be too suspicious.

The farmers would live out their life as usual but for those that were too attached to the city life, I would explain to them that it was alright to occasionally go back and forth between my city and this one. If I did that, their decision to move would be an easier one. The ability to travel between cities within a day was monumental.

After touring the city briefly, the four of us went to a play, ate at various restaurants, and simply just enjoyed ourselves.

It was quite fun. The girls also found it fun and insisted on coming back. I then therefore decided that I should create opportunities to have fun like this on a regular basis.

But there were still work left for us to do today so I thought that we should head out of the city soon.

“Oto-san, that bird…”

“It’s Stolas’s monster, isn’t it?”

The blue bird flew to us and then perched itself on my shoulder.

It was the monster [Wind] Demon Lord Stolas used to send me letters. This little one had memorized the magic power flowing within me so it could deliver the letters to me even when I was outside.

I then opened the letter tied to its leg.

…Interesting, I thought, they were finally able to show themselves.

“Oto-san, what’s up?”

“Well,”

According to the letter I got from Stolas, one of the new Demon lords had approached her and suggested an alliance. The purpose of the said alliance was to suppress the [Creation] Demon Lord Procell, or in other words, me.

They thought that no Demon Lord by themselves could defeat me. They were also afraid that I would declare [War] on one of them so they allied with each other to crush me before I even could. It was a sound train of thought.

It seemed like Stolas had rejected their offer but she had also written that I should be careful.

By the end of the letter though, I wasn’t able to help myself from letting out a laugh.

>

I was thankful of her news about the other Demon Lord’s coalition and their intention to attack me. I thought that I must properly thank her the next time we meet.

“We have to hurry on building our city.”

There wasn’t much time left; I needed to quickly advance my preparations.

I had gathered from our inspection of this town that it would be exceedingly desirable to build a dungeon nearby. Should the [Time] Demon lord accept my proposal, I would then be able to start building my dungeon.

And so, we were off to pay him a visit. I was both afraid and excited on meeting with him.