Volume 7 Chapter 9 (2/2)

Upon arrival, I greeted the Mithril Golems guarding the warehouse, told them to unlock the entrance, and went in.

”What!? A mountain of treasure!? This is enough to match an entire city's fortune!”

”This is not all that we have. We have three other warehouses that holds the same amount of fortune, if not more, than this one. If it means you would accept our Holy Grail Faith, I am prepared to hand over all the contents of this warehouse over to your kingdom.”

Our golems were mining 24 hours a day non-stop in my [Mine] dungeon room. Frankly speaking, from our point of view, minerals like gold and silver whose value was less than mithril were failures.

However, simply throwing them away was wasteful, so we instead stored them in warehouses.

Furthermore, we also gained money through taxing. Even though our taxes were much, much cheaper compared to other cities, since we had a lot of people to tax, we still wound up collecting a huge amount.

”So, what is it, Prince Leonard? I imagine this amount is enough to cover for all your spent war expenditures and even pensions, is it not?”

Upon hearing my proposal, the prince gulped down.

As I thought, this is the effective move.

By showing rather than just telling them of the warehouse, the effect rose multiple times.

Well then, one more push.

”Don't worry though; this is not all we're willing to offer you. We're prepared to give you a hundred golems which are one of this city's prized possessions. The ones we'll lend are not for fighting though; they are specialized for transportation. To complete the set, I'll add in special carriages too. I believe you've become familiar with their abilities, haven't you?”

”…you're giving us those magical, untiring carriages that outpace even our kingdom's fastest? If we have those, our circulation of goods will surpass those of other countries… and did you say you're going to give a hundred golems?!”

”In addition, like I said in the beginning, you may send your injured soldiers to Avalon so that they may recover faster. Medical fees are nothing to scoff at, and your facilities for treating all the wounded should be insufficient now with the ongoing war. If you send your injured here, we just might be able to lessen the loss of excellent soldiers.”

In Avalon, rather than use horses or such animals for our carriages, we used golems.

Silver Golems were strong enough to match even a C rank monster or a first-class adventurer. In other words, it was strong enough to protect itself and oftentimes didn't need an escort. Unlike a horse, it could continue to travel non-stop, without ever needing to sleep, eat, or even drink. It was the perfect existence in terms of workforce.

It was worth killing and dying for. The Axela prince wasn't so ignorant as to not know its value.

That's why, we were only going to give Silver Golems, and not Mithril Golems or Avalon-Ritters. Otherwise, it would actually cost us.

By also offering to heal their injured, I had made the deal perfect for them, if I may say so myself.

But then again, by having a lot of high-level humans in Avalon for an extended period of time, I would be able to feed on lots of delicious emotions and also gain DP. It was actually also a boon for us.

Once the soldiers have known of the many great things in Avalon, they just might decide to move and live here. If they did, there was the chance they might be influenced by the Holy Grail Faith and become believers themselves. If that happened, we could send them back to the holy capital of the Axela Kingdom, this time as devout believers of the Holy Grail Faith who would enthusiastically spread our religion.

”It is time to make a decision, Prince Leonard. You just need to accept our Holy Grail Faith and nothing more. If you do, you will receive all the support that I promised.”

He was faltering.

Although I called it support, they were basically just cash offers. However, considering the Axela Kingdom's treasury was almost non-existent due to war expenditures, it was the better option. The only other option of getting money being raiding other countries.

”…before I say yes, what does Avalon stand to gain in all this?”

”This is a necessary step in spreading our Holy Grail Faith. Furthermore, I want to weaken the [Black] Demon Lord's influence no matter how much.”

I didn't put it into words, but the reason I wanted my religion to spread outside of Avalon was because I wanted humans to someday make a pilgrimage to Avalon. That way, I could obtain the pure emotions of my believers from all over the world at a regular interval.

Also, some of those believers would surely want to live in Avalon itself, causing Avalon's population to grow.

”…Are you in conflict with the [Black] Demon Lord?”

”Yes. It's futile to hide it, so I confess: he is my enemy.”

His suspicion confirmed, the prince looked straight at me.

”I want you to promise one thing in regards to that. Don't make the Axela Kingdom your battlefield. If you can keep that, then I agree to your terms. I'll stake my pride and convince my father to agree.”

I see. He worries about his country in his own way.

If the [Black] Demon Lord and I were to seriously fight, it wasn't an exaggeration that a whole country could be destroyed.

”I promise. But if I am attacked, I will have to counterattack. In that case, I promise to at least try to keep the damage to the minimum.”

”Fair enough. Then, I formally request financial aid, the loaning of the golems, and the medical treatment of our injured.”

The third prince said so and then lowered his head.

Despite his social position of being a prince, he was ready to do so for the sake of his nation. That made a good impression on me.

Afterwards, we discussed the finer details of our deal.

Little by little, my influence was making its way to the capital of the Axela Kingdom.

I need to work hard to realize my plans. Things are going to get a whole lot hectic, but also a whole lot more exciting.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling. We had obtained many great things in exchange for things we didn't really care about.

My ideal city where humans and monsters could peacefully and happily coexist was slowly but surely becoming reality.