"By the way, is the treatment proceeding smoothly?"
"Yes! We're making progress while mobilizing additional mages and taking breaks in between."
"I see."
Hearing this satisfactory answer, I nodded.
The treatment in question was one of the projects being researched here.
In the past, due to the machinations of Balk, a former member of the Four Heavenly Kings, the people of the Republic had been transformed into members of the demon race.
Ultimately, I ended up taking them under protection in the Royal Capital.
Currently, the demons were living as either soldiers or civilians.
No method had been found to restore them to their original forms, so they had been forced to endure.
However, a few days ago, a treatment method had finally been discovered.
That said, it was not possible to restore them completely.
The transformation into demons was irreversible.
No matter what measures were taken, they could not be turned back into humans.
This had been determined in the early stages, and no amount of experimentation could produce contradictory evidence.
What they came up with was magical reconstruction surgery.
Demon-specific body parts would be removed and replaced with substitute parts.
Along with this, the color of their skin and eyes would be altered as well.
By doing this, they had succeeded in making them at least appear closer to human.
Of course, on the inside they were still demons, but unless the observer was a practitioner capable of detecting magic power, it was nearly impossible to tell.
Distinguishing them based on appearance alone was nearly impossible.
At the very least, they could now live alongside other races without difficulty.
Establishing this method had required considerable effort.
Since the completed procedure itself required various forms of magic, it needed to be carried out by multiple people.
Currently, they were in the process of teaching the reconstruction procedure to practitioners in the Demon Lord's Army.
Only trusted mages were being recruited, and the reconstruction was being carried out on demons who wished for it.
Because of the large number involved, it could not all be resolved at once, but the efforts were steadily succeeding.
This should reduce the inter-species friction that had been a concern for some time.
The demons who had undergone the procedure were pleased as well.
Their new appearances had been generally well-received, and I heard they could now live more comfortably.
When I had the time, I also participated in the procedures, doing my best to alleviate the demons' concerns even a little.
It would not take much longer until every willing candidate had received treatment.
"If any problems arise, let me know immediately. I'll handle it."
"Understood! I'll include progress updates in the regular reports as well."
"Yes, please do."
With that conversation having been exchanged, I went together with the director to inspect the institute's developments.
Some of the technologies developed here were distributed throughout various parts of the Demon Lord's territory.
They were adopted in towns and villages, enriching people's daily lives.
Whether it was due to this generous provision of life-enhancing aid, gifts of gratitude regularly arrived from the territory's residents.
Meanwhile, weapons development was also going well.
The main reason was probably the director's particular enthusiasm for it.
As a result, weapons unsuitable for military adoption were being invented one after another.
Although the director oversaw nearly every field, she seemed to have a particular fondness for weaponry-related projects.
The quantity had grown so large that management was beginning to become a problem.
Since they were weapons, they could not simply be discarded carelessly, nor could they be relocated to other parts of the territory.
The staff had even been quietly requesting that a dedicated storage facility be established.
What I came up with was a plan to convert vacant districts and underground spaces in the Royal Capital into facilities exclusive to the institute.
This was not solely for the director's benefit.
An expansion of the institute's grounds meant a corresponding expansion of her sphere of activity.
Therefore, the director could be factored into the Royal Capital's defensive infrastructure.
Her abilities fundamentally affected only the research institute.
Conversely, within the institute, she could wield her power freely.
With the director alone, the Royal Capital's defenses would become remarkably robust.
Even if I were absent, I could safely declare that it would not fall.
Unforeseen circumstances could always arise.
I had many defensive measures in place, but having too many preparations was hardly a problem.
Once the concrete plan was finalized, I intended to consult with the director.
She would agree without hesitation.
She would not be especially enthusiastic about the defense aspect per se, but the institute would grow larger.
A larger facility meant more research projects that could be conducted simultaneously.
She would likely increase her own numbers to match the expanded grounds.
The director had truly manifested an extraordinary ability.
Honestly, if she were not my subordinate, I would have gone to eliminate her immediately.
Her power was too dangerous.
If she tilted even slightly toward aggression, she could bring about the ruin of the nations across the continent.
I intended to keep a firm rein on her while continuing to have her produce useful inventions and research.
"How was the rifle from the other day?"
"The repeating one, right? The golems' physical strength was more than sufficient to handle it. Still, I had the impression they struggled somewhat with reloading."
"Oh! Thank you for the valuable feedback. Let me review the design for the improved version!"
The weapons that had been developed thus far were wreaking havoc on the battlefield.
Even after the demigod's death, conflicts on the continent continued unabated.
The surrounding nations continued to carry out attacks on the Demon Lord's territory as before.
However, these movements were somewhat passive.
They never pushed deep into the Demon Lord's territory, conducting only operations aimed at partial territorial seizure.
Nations that did not possess outstanding military power seemed unable to adopt an aggressive stance.
There had been no intelligence suggesting that a hero had appeared during the past six months.
Since there was a possibility they were keeping it secret, I had sent spies to investigate.
Attempts to replicate ritual magic had been discovered, but nearly all of them had failed.
The technique of elevating an ordinary person to a hero had spread in the form of uncertain rumors.
However, the essential methods remained unknown.
This was because the demigod had erased all evidence without a trace.
It seemed his efforts had not been in vain.
In the rare cases where a spell showed signs of succeeding, I personally went to destroy it.
It would nearly come together based on principles somehow tied to the will of the world, though I could never quite understand the reasoning.
There was absolutely no room for complacency.
A technique for artificially creating heroes should not exist.
It would inevitably bring chaos to the world.
It could even lead to new forms of racial discrimination.
Balancing the power dynamics among nations was also my responsibility.
A situation in which heroes could be created at will would dramatically overturn those power dynamics.
That was why it had to be suppressed.
Fortunately, there were no signs of any nation's activities escalating.
The successive wars had inflicted devastating damage, depleting military resources and leaving them exhausted.
For the time being, they were expected to focus on replenishing their forces and stabilizing their national strength.
Continuing to wage war required enormous effort.
Continuing without achieving any notable results was exceedingly difficult.
Since it placed a burden on the populace, their discontent would only grow.
If distrust grew too great, the very survival of the state would be threatened.
All things considered, the only thing the nations had gained was roughly the territory of the Republic.
And even that had been essentially forced upon them through the Demon Lord's Army's intentional defeat.
The Republic's territory had at one point been divided and administered by the various nations.
However, due to its exclaves and the chaos of war, governance had been neglected, and it was now in a state of near-abandonment.
As a result, the people living there had begun forming their own system of self-governance.
According to Luciana's assessment, it would eventually be reborn as a new nation.
As an aside, the Holy Staff Nation and the Demon Craft Nation, which had conducted the ritual magic, had perished.
They had been greatly weakened by their wars against the Demon Lord's territory and ultimately collapsed under the discontent and pressure of their own people.
After spiraling into wars of blame-shifting, revolutions erupted in both countries.
Thus, after their de facto destruction, new nations emerged.
That all of this had occurred in just half a year meant it was an extraordinarily turbulent period.
The changes in the Demon Lord's territory were probably insignificant by comparison.
I had expected the situation to devolve into a quagmire and become a long-term problem, so I had been quite surprised when the new nations were founded.
It was fortunate that this spared me the trouble of intervening.
Thus, various developments were taking place across the continent.
However, if one took a broader view, the situation could be considered not unfavorable.
Though there had been some casualties, the hostility between nations was diminishing.
This only served to further solidify the policy of subjugating the Demon Lord.
I wanted to maintain this trend.
The only current issue was those intelligence operatives.
The director should be able to find a lead within a few days.
I would continue investigating quietly behind the scenes while waiting for progress reports.