Because it was supposed to be the hero kneeling before the king, but now it was the other way around, even though he wasn't a hero.
But this muttering was heard by Aura, who was idly playing with the crown beside him. It was as if she had heard some utterly absurd fantasy, and she suddenly turned her head to look at him.
At this moment, the way she looked at Ash was like she was staring at some strange object. After hesitating for a long while, she finally couldn't help blurting out in disbelief, "Hey, Ash, is your head really okay?"
"Don't look at me like I'm an idiot."
"No, I mean, we're demons, you know. And what we're doing right now is completely villain stuff. In those storybooks you used to force me to listen to, aren't we exactly the kind of villains who are doomed to get wiped out sooner or later?"
"Please, don't raise weird red flags," He unconsciously covered his face and shook his head, "I was just saying it casually. I mean, everyone has times when they want to be a partner of justice, right? Like you…"
"No," Aura answered without even thinking.
"Uh, yeah, figures. Anyway, let's talk about something happy now."
"What's next?"
"I just said let's talk about happy things. Why are we back to work already?"
Faced with someone who didn't understand even the slightest bit of social nuance, Ash couldn't help letting out a long sigh, forced to accept his fate.
There was no helping it. Even though he really wanted to slack off, the work still had to be done. At least after controlling the king and the nobles, he still had to continue refining his plan.
At least for now, it wasn't time to slack off yet.
———
Even though when Ash broke into the royal city, the city's garrison quickly rushed in to reinforce and protect the king, still, before they could even step into the castle, the king had already come out and told them that the invaders had voluntarily withdrawn and that no reinforcements were needed, sending them away.
And the explanation given to the outside was that the kingdom had humiliatingly been forced to accept the invaders' conditions, and from then on would no longer forcibly conscript orphans as cannon fodder.
Clearly, this was a nation compromising with the strong, although the actual situation was slightly, a bit different.
Inside the castle, where the aftermath was being handled and damaged areas repaired, at the end of the audience hall, between the thrones atop the steps, Aura, just like Ash earlier, sat on the armrest of the throne and looked over the royals and nobles kneeling all over the floor, suddenly sighing with emotion, "It's really hard to believe. Human generals and those so-called heroes, even when they're being controlled, can sometimes put up a bit of resistance. But why can't the top ranks resist at all? And why do the ones on the front lines obey such weaklings?"
"The social structure is different."
"I really can't understand it. This guy is mediocre and useless, all he does every day is think about women. So why don't his subordinates just kill him and take his place? Wouldn't that be better?"
Aura glanced at the king kneeling beneath the throne, who had just confessed his own situation, her face full of confusion.
"In reality, he's actually a very standard noble here. When everyone's about the same, no one can really laugh at anyone else. On top of that, there's legitimacy and others' support to consider. Successful coups aren't that easy."
"Hmm, still don't get it!", Even though she was the one who asked, she quickly stopped caring. She strolled freely between the thrones and laughed like a child who had gotten a new toy.
"But if we just replicate this step by step, ruling humans and then using humans to become the Demon King, that's only a matter of time, right?"
"It's not that simple. You just saw that bishop die. It's probably the goddess's blessing that makes it impossible for you to control people like that," Dealing with this demon girl who could go off the rails at any moment gave Ash a real headache, and he reminded her, "Also, the goddess faith is very strong in the human world. It won't be long before a new bishop comes to investigate the previous one's death."
"Then just kill them. Kill one if one comes, kill two if two come. What's so hard about that?"
"Killing church leadership at random will cause serious trouble. The country would become unstable. It's better to lock them up first, then come up with a good excuse to brush it off and control this bishop."
"Ash, you're so gentle?"
"I do dislike meaningless killing, but this isn't about gentleness."
Resting his chin on one hand on the throne, he let out a big sigh, worried she'd act recklessly, and began explaining to her some of the internal situation among humans, as well as some even more critical issues.
After all, if it were really that simple, the Demon King would have had Aura do it long ago. And he still wanted to go find Frieren to have some fun, but for now he could only explain all sorts of precautions to Aura.
———
In this world that had been basically medieval a thousand years ago and still hadn't made any progress even now, the upper ranks of the Goddess Church had always occupied seats among the leadership of every nation.
In this situation, if the bishop couldn't be controlled, it would definitely become a serious problem.
After all, Aura's magic had a major flaw. People with strong will could occasionally break free of her control.
That was precisely why she would cut off the heads of those she controlled.
Fortunately, this country didn't have any strong-willed figures at the top, and most other countries' nobles were probably the same.
But after two countries, three countries, sooner or later a rare strong-willed noble might show up.
If one careless moment allowed them to contact the local bishop, it would be troublesome. And even if they could keep killing new bishops, or constantly imprisoning bishops in newly conquered countries, it would inevitably draw the attention of the Goddess Church.
Even if the Goddess Church couldn't figure out why they were constantly targeting church leadership, given enough time and enough cases, the Holy City might very well organize a crusade.
That would run completely counter to his original goal. After all, he wasn't here to cause an even larger-scale human civil war.
Even without a large-scale civil war, if Aura's existence were discovered, humans would surely organize an elite force and launch an assassination attempt against the two of them.
So it was better to stabilize this country first and develop it properly. That would minimize the risk. As for time… they had plenty of that.
This was how Ash taught her. After planting this chess piece, he planned to proceed steadily and cautiously.
Aura, on the other hand, seemed a bit unwilling. But since she had lost to him earlier, she couldn't really object, so she prepared to rest and recuperate in the castle for a while.
And before long, she even brought over the weakest of her demon subordinates, the young girl Linie, to avoid her accidentally dying outside. While the others stayed behind with the undead legion to guard the ancient castle. Bringing too many demons over would also increase the risk of exposure.
———
The days after occupying the kingdom passed in the blink of an eye. Half a month went by.
The child who always liked to hide in dark corners, Linie, after coming to this castle, had been secretly observing Ash the whole time.
While Ash was handling state affairs in place of the former king who had been obsessed with women and reckless in every way, he unconsciously stopped his work, squatted down in front of Linie, and carefully examined the little girl.
Linie didn't seem displeased at all. She simply bit into a fresh apple and looked back at him expressionlessly.
After a long time, she gradually stopped eating the apple and asked in confusion, "Is something wrong, Lord Ash? Did I do something wrong?"
"Not really."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
"..."
The conversation ended there, but seeing him still staring at her, Linie unconsciously handed over the apple.
"Does Lord Ash want to eat an apple too?"
"No, but… you really like apples, huh."
"Because where I was born was an apple orchard. When I was little, I was always eating apples?"
"I see. By the way, what are your interests?"
"Interests….observing?"
"That's a pretty good interest."
Faced with this child tilting her little head in confusion and staring at him without blinking, Ash genuinely didn't know how to communicate with her anymore.
Was it because he was getting old and wasn't good at talking to kids? The legendary generation gap? But then again, Aura hadn't been this cold before, right? Was this kid strange, or was Aura strange? As Ash unconsciously rubbed Linie's head, his feelings were mixed, unsure whether to doubt Aura or Linie.
There was no helping it. He had interacted with too few demons, and the types he'd met were all rather extreme.
"By the way, what kind of magic are you good at?"
"Imitation. Lady Aura said I have excellent perception, so I can read and remember other people's movements, then use them myself."
"That's really... uh, that actually sounds pretty good?"
To be honest, he didn't really know how far this imitation magic could go. He just praised her casually and returned to work with lingering doubts.
Normally, demons wouldn't care about children at all. Having future potential just meant having no current strength.
Among demons, no one looked at the future. They only associated with those of similar strength, or at most dominated those weaker than themselves but still somewhat capable.
Yet Aura had picked up a child who, for now, was basically useless. This clearly didn't fit demon logic.
So thinking about it, maybe Aura really wasn't normal? And also…
"Why is it that I'm clearly supposed to be the king's master, yet I have to do all this weird work? Isn't a king supposed to just enjoy himself?"
"The previous king thought the same way, and that's exactly why you have to work now~", Hearing his complaint, Aura leisurely flipped through a grimoire beside him, legs crossed, throwing out sarcastic remarks, looking completely at ease.
Knowing full well that dumping things on Aura wouldn't solve anything, Ash had no choice. Even though he was resentful and dissatisfied, he couldn't do anything about her, and could only gloomily bury himself in work alone.
He even casually pulled Linie onto his lap, writing with one hand while stroking her hair with the other, muttering to himself, "The main account failed, so let's just train a sub account. Linie, you must be a good child, no, I'll definitely raise you to be a good child!"
"And then have lots of babies for Lord Ash?", Linie asked with an innocent expression.
That nearly made him jump in shock.
"What kind of filthy thoughts are those? Am I really that impressive? Did I corrupt you this fast?"
"The women in the palace say men all think like that… isn't that right?"
"Of course not! That king was a piece of trash. Do you think his lovers were any good? You can't learn bad things from them!"
He glared sternly, and Linie nodded blankly.
"Is that so? I'm sorry."
"Seriously, please. I want you to become an excellent administrator and work in my place! If you turn out like Aura, I really will faint!"
Even as he said that, he was actually a bit worried about whether a place like the palace would have a bad influence on a child.
Of course, he wasn't very confident that he himself could have a positive influence on a child either.
But… what he really wanted right now was to train a proper subordinate who wouldn't die anytime soon, preferably someone loyal and capable like Schlacht was to the Demon King.
Otherwise, he was afraid that in the future he'd have to handle everything himself every day, with no time to play, turning into a heartless work machine like now, and wanting to go find Frieren would probably have to wait another month.
———
Normally, replacing a king should mean endless indulgence.
But when it came to Ash, it turned straight into endless overtime, to the point where he wondered why he had made such a thankless decision in the first place.
But having already taken over the country, he'd feel uncomfortable if he didn't govern it properly, so he was forced to start working.
And just like that, a month passed in the blink of an eye.
On the night before his planned departure, he was still working overtime, arranging all kinds of matters for the kingdom after his departure. And meanwhile…
"Come here~", Ash merely patted his thigh lightly. Linie, the cute little girl who always stayed in the corner, immediately understood and scampered over to sit on his lap, proactively acting as a self-heating pillow on this cold northern night.
Feeling the warmth in his arms, he finally felt a trace of human warmth amid this cold world, but…
"Linie, you must work hard and not disappoint me."
"Yes, Lord Ash," Linie nodded obediently, without the slightest resistance.
Judging by her actions, she really was very well-behaved. But, over this month, she didn't seem to have made much progress.
Maybe he was being too impatient, but in his impression, the biggest change in this child was that when he patted his thigh, she understood immediately and would run over to sit on his lap.
This strange "progress" made his feelings rather complicated, and even made him question his life choices.
Aura, who was flipping through a grimoire on her own nearby, noticed his gloomy expression and couldn't help teasing him, "Ash, you really are raising a future woman, aren't you? Just like this king."
"Don't think of me as that kind of pervert. I'm not playing some raising game!"
"So you're not raising her and just going straight for it? I've heard a lot of nobles in this country have that kind of interest. No, I guess most nobles in human countries do? Who would've thought you'd develop that interest so soon after becoming a noble. You really can't judge people by appearances~"
Aura covered her mouth and snickered, practically wearing schadenfreude all over her face.
That made him glare sideways at her.
"Stop talking nonsense already. Honestly, sometimes I really wonder if you're actually a demon."
"Compared to me, you're not much better, are you?"
"Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with you. Anyway, after a while, help find a proper teacher for the child."
After this period of trying to raise her, he was sure he didn't have enough spare capacity to teach a child himself, so he could only outsource it, but...
"Why are you looking at me?"
He had only glanced at Aura while speaking, but she turned her body away from his gaze, silently expressing that she didn't want this dumped on her.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.