Ellie glared at Arute unhappily. This role should have been his to play. If he had put in some effort, she wouldn't have to do such a thankless job!
But since she had already done it once, she could only bite the bullet and continue to play the role of the Great Demon. Thinking this, Ellie walked towards the lake next to the settlement with a frustrated expression.
"Ultimate Magic... Hydra Summon!!!" Ellie shouted unhappily at the lake.
When Livia-san saw Ellie about to summon Hydra, she thought Ellie was just pretending and actually wanted her to help with the summoning. She quickly grabbed her staff, cast a hidden spell on herself, and then wanted to run over and summon it.
What she didn't expect was... countless magic circles suddenly appeared around Ellie, a dazzling effect only seen when casting Ultimate Magic. Moreover, the casting speed was as fast as if she had used an instant summon spell, completing the summon in an instant.
Just as Ellie's voice had barely faded, a water ball floated up from the calm lake surface. The water ball directly melted into the tranquil lake, and then a huge vortex appeared on the previously undisturbed lake surface. From within that vortex, nine snake heads, very familiar to Livia-san, shot out.
"Oh my goodness?! My... my Hydra!!!" Livia-san exclaimed, looking bewildered at the Hydra summoned by Ellie.
The result was self-evident. After Ellie summoned the Hydra, those people, who had been like salted fish, were instantly terrified again. Ellie didn't want to use intimidation, but it was the best way to deal with these guys who had been enslaved for so long and had completely lost their will to resist.
And so, under the deterrence of Ellie the Great Demon and Hydra, those people obediently complied. Following Arute's instructions, they were divided into groups of twenty, with one person from each group chosen to come and collect and distribute food.
However, even so, with tens of thousands of people, efficiency remained low. This was unavoidable. There was only one Basket of Abundance, and Arute was holding it and pouring things out. Although a continuous stream of various fruits poured out, the quantity was still too small.
If they only relied on this, distribution alone would take a whole day, let alone doing anything else. They needed to find other methods. They had to ensure logistical supply first before these guys could become self-reliant. Of course, they couldn't just spoil them like this.
Ellie, standing on Hydra's head, looked at the vast crowd of people below, her head aching... Farming was not her strong suit, let alone starting from scratch!
The Rimuru next door at least started by managing a village with a complete ecological cycle, but now she was starting from nothing.
Hmm? Speaking of starting from scratch... these people didn't just appear out of thin air, did they? If they had been raised in a Ranch since childhood, then how did they learn to communicate verbally?
And after a quick glance, there were quite a few elderly people among them. Putting herself in the shoes of the Dragon King running a human Ranch, she certainly wouldn't let the 'livestock' in her Ranch learn to speak, nor would she raise them to be so old? That would be a waste of food.
This means... at least some of these people must have been captured from other places.
"Hey! You lowly commoners, listen carefully! Next! I want you to establish a country for me here!" Ellie declared directly.
"Huh??" Never mind the bewildered crowd, even Arute and the others couldn't understand why Ellie was talking about establishing a country at this moment. During their previous discussions, hadn't they only talked about helping them return to a normal life?
"You've all seen... there's nothing here, so I need your labor! But you lowly commoners can rest assured! As long as you are willing to contribute your labor, or prove your worth from other places! I will not treat you unfairly. As for those who are unwilling to work? Then I can only make them my pet food," Ellie shouted loudly.
The crowd below immediately started to murmur, but just as they began to argue, Hydra's other heads opened their gaping maws as if to intimidate them, and the people instantly fell silent.
"Of course... I am not a devil. Any lowly commoner unwilling to stay here and accept my protection can leave now. I promise not to make things difficult for you, and I will even give you food for your journey back," Ellie continued.
Actually, this was her real goal: to use this to verify if her idea was correct. Among tens of thousands of people, there were bound to be a few who didn't want to stay, assuming they were truly captured and had their own homes before.
Sure enough, as soon as Ellie said this, there was another commotion below. However, this time Ellie didn't let Hydra continue to intimidate them, but instead allowed them to communicate freely. Before long, a group of people indeed pushed their way out of the crowd. The young man leading them looked up and shouted at Ellie, who was physically high above him.
"Are you really willing to let us go back?!"
No sooner had the young man finished speaking than one of Hydra's heads lowered directly and opened its huge mouth at him, nearly swallowing him whole.
The young man was so scared that he plopped down on the ground. The other people who had come out with him, wanting to leave, probably thought that when this Great Demon said she would let everyone go, she actually wanted to kill those who proposed leaving! Many people wanted to run back.
"Three strikes and you're out. This is just a warning! I made it very clear when I first saved you! When speaking to me, use honorifics!" Ellie said unhappily.
"Alah Alaf... Your Excellency, are you truly willing to let us go... go home?" the young man asked timidly, as Hydra's large head was still glaring at him from beside him.
"Very good, I keep my word... If you want to go back, I won't force you to stay. If you want to leave, go to my subordinates and get some food before you go!" Ellie said.
Sure enough... the young man mentioned 'home,' which meant that a large portion of them must have originally had their own homes and were later captured by the Dragon Race. This makes things easier.
So the young man stood up, somewhat skeptical, and then walked over to Arute. Arute gestured for him to take as much as he wanted, as it was limitless anyway.
With only two empty hands, how much could the young man take? He just scooped up a small amount and started to leave.
As he walked, he kept looking back, probably afraid of being ambushed as soon as he left!
Seriously... If I wanted to kill you, would I need to ambush you?
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"