I lay down with Laura. The bed gently cradled us both.
I brushed her hair back and sang her a lullaby. I had no talent for singing whatsoever, but the lullaby I had heard growing up since I was very young — I could hum that much decently. It was the song my mother used to sing to me.
"The sea calls out to you… this lullaby of mine."
Laura nuzzled her face against my chest. Like a chick that had already broken free of its shell, burrowing back into the very shell it had left behind. It reminded me exactly of a little girl throwing a tantrum for affection, and a smile crept onto my lips. I did not reject it. I accepted it wholly.
Laura murmured in a voice already surrendering to sleep.
"My lord. I've heard that if you become a Vampire, you live forever."
"Yes. I've heard the same."
"I want to ask a Vampire to make me one too. That way, I can stay with my lord forever. Just as I am now… beautiful."
A flicker of a memory crossed my mind. There was a girl there. A child who once declared with full confidence that death alone was hers to command. That child had now relinquished what was hers without a shred of regret.
It was a warm memory.
A pleasantness and wonder that life rarely affords you. I wanted to hold a polite funeral for the memory now. I gently placed it inside the glass case within my heart, and smiled kindly.
"That sounds fine. When a suitable opportunity comes along, I'll be sure to ask."
"Mmm, my lord. Together forever…."
Laura trailed off the words into sleep, her fingers still clutching tightly at the hem of my clothes.
Perhaps about thirty minutes passed. I quietly rose from the bed. Fortunately, Laura noticed nothing and continued breathing softly. She must have been carrying days' worth of stress and exhaustion. What she needed right now was deep rest. I pressed my lips to Laura's forehead.
Then I wandered aimlessly.
Anywhere my feet would take me.
Somewhere no human eyes could reach.
The Demon Lord's Castle had far too many people. The domain had far too many people. I slipped out through the escape passage I had built, emerging into the fields behind the Demon Lord's Castle. It was a riverside thick with reed forests. I had designed the passage to open onto a stretch of damp ground where cavalry pursuit would be difficult.
I walked slowly along the riverbank.
"……."
The sound of the river flowing reached my chest with a faint lapping. A comfortable melancholy soaked through my body. As I felt a stream flowing through my heart, I shifted my thoughts. Surprisingly, I still had enough energy left to think about something else.
The Black Death had been almost entirely suppressed across the continent.
Depending on the region, as many as half the population had died from the plague. But overall, the total damage stayed between twenty and thirty percent of the total population. Considering that the Black Death was originally expected to claim more than half the continent's population, humanity had actually held up remarkably well.
From here on, the rights of the peasantry would increase dramatically.
The land remained the same, but there were too few people to cultivate it. With harvests set to plummet, the landowners would spend enormous sums to secure labor. Competition among the landowners would heat up. Peasants would sell their labor to whichever landowner offered the higher price……
It wasn't just peasants who died from the plague. Death fell equally upon every class. Whether blacksmiths, grain merchants, or even cobblers, to replenish their drastically reduced numbers they would hire people regardless of origin or social status.
The phenomenon of avoiding military service would expand to unprecedented levels.
You could earn enough to live without having to become a mercenary. Unless you were a bloodthirsty madman, you'd want to earn your bread through means other than warfare. Mercenary bands would never disappear entirely, but at the very least, their asking prices would skyrocket.
As a result, the scale of wars themselves would shrink.
Even if monarchs and lords wanted to wage war, the costs would be prohibitively expensive. Whenever possible, they would resolve conflicts through diplomatic means rather than direct warfare.
And yet, there would undoubtedly be those among the rabble of humanity who would insist on war regardless. Fools, the lot of them.
They would squeeze the people dry with taxes to raise funds. But the peasants were no longer powerless victims of exploitation. They now wielded real power based on high wages, combined with the tight-knit solidarity unique to rural communities.
The peasants would refuse to pay taxes for wars that offered them no benefit whatsoever. They would boldly voice their opposition to the lords. The nobles who still failed to grasp the situation would interpret this as a challenge to their authority.
The lords' repression, the peasants' resistance……a massive peasant revolt was all but inevitable……the continent would be plunged into chaos once more.
The question was how to use this chaos. One could hardly overstate how critical this was to the future of the Demon Lord's army. Depending on the circumstances, they could spark a republican movement. They could strengthen ties with royalist nations. Or perhaps both……
"Court Count Dantalion?"
A familiar voice reached my ears. I raised my head to find the Longgwi Saint standing a short distance away. She must have bathed in the river, as moisture still clung to her hair.
"What are you doing here? No, more importantly, you……?"
The Saint of Longgwi widened her eyes when she saw my face. There was a moment of silence. She was horrified, as though she had laid eyes on a creature that should not exist in this world.
The Saint opened and closed her mouth several times. Then she furrowed her brows and let out a quiet sigh.
"……If you have any regrets you would like to repent before the goddess, I would not mind listening on your behalf. After all, I am a Saint, you know."
I couldn't understand what she meant. It was probably sarcasm — implying my life was bound to be full of regrets regardless. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Thank you, but I'll pass. My motto is to reflect on my actions but never to regret them. Personally, I consider it quite the profound saying."
"……He says that nonsense with a straight face……."
The voice was so faint I could barely hear it, the Saint muttering under her breath.
It was probably something useless anyway. I had already verified this Saint's political sense — it was worse than Parsi's. I didn't feel any particular need to continue the conversation.
"The sight of a Saint who has just finished her ritual purification is certainly a rare one, but I fear I might incur divine punishment if I linger any longer. I'll take my leave now."
"Wait a moment."
Just as I was about to walk past the Saint, she stopped me. It was a bit annoying. I wanted to be alone. Without a word, I turned my gaze and stared directly at the Saint.
"What is it?"
"Well……ah. What a nosy person."
The Saint of Longgwi scratched her bright red hair vigorously. After hesitating for a while, she seemed to have made up her mind and tensed the muscles around her eyes.
"Court Count. I have a few bottles of very precious liquor. I would like to drink today, but unfortunately, in this pathetic territory, there is no one I can share a drink with. I would be grateful if the Court Count would join me."
"What?"
I was so dumbfounded that a raspy voice escaped me.
"Just pick anyone at random."
"People look down on a woman who is a Saint even touching alcohol. Unless you are quite close to someone, you cannot have a drinking contest. And I have only just arrived in your territory, so I have no connections whatsoever."
"Well, that may be true."
I looked at her with an expression that asked whether she was out of her mind.
"So you're saying you want to drink with me?"
"...I really don't mean to be rude, but you're the only person here. What else can I do?"
The Saint looked utterly horrified. I had no idea what was going on. She could just drink alone — why invite me? There had to be some hidden agenda.
"Did Her Majesty the Queen hint at something?"
"Yeah, well. Let's go with that."
It was a highly evasive answer, but I had no real excuse to turn down a drinking invitation. I raised my shoulders in a reluctant shrug to signal my less-than-enthusiastic acceptance. At that, the Saint immediately spread a woolen towel across the ground and sat down.
"Saint of Longgui. You can't seriously be planning to turn this into a drinking bout? If my eyes aren't broken, there isn't even a single glass here, let alone alcoho—"
"Claustrom."
As the Saint uttered the magic incantation, a pure white aura unfolded around her wrist. As though there were an invisible pocket in midair, she thrust her arm into the shimmering light and rummaged around. Moments later, she pulled seven wine bottles and two glasses from the glow.
"There. This should be enough."
"...May I ask where you pulled those from?"
"The Great Temple's storehouse. I can bring out supplies whenever I want."
In short, the Saint of Longgui had just pilfered the alcohol that people had offered to the Athena Grand Temple — without permission. I grimaced as I sat down on the woolen towel.
"A Saint secretly siphoning off temple goods. It wouldn't be the least bit surprising if the Goddess sent down divine punishment right this instant."
"It's not like the Goddess can drink it anyway. If anything, she'd praise me for drinking on her behalf."
The Saint of Longgui replied with a perfectly straight face, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. So she wasn't merely a Saint with a temper — she was a woman with genuine character flaws. Then again, no one in their right mind would take on the absurd title of "Saint."
We passed the wine back and forth beside a gently flowing river.
I kept waiting for her to bring up something important, but the Saint strangely kept nothing but trivial questions on her lips. How had I come to govern this territory? What had I been doing before I became an adjutant of the Demon Lord's army?
She was a strange woman. Unable to figure out her intentions, I just gave half-hearted answers.
"Eek!"
It was around the time the sun was dipping red. A wolf had approached our drinking spot. I gave the Saint a nod meant to reassure her, then gestured the wolf over.
The wolf came obediently and pushed its head into my lap. I ran my palm through its fur. It let out a contented rumble. The Saint watched the scene, dumbfounded.
"C-Court Count. What on earth is…"
"It's drawn to the magic power I carry. If I had as terrifying an amount as the other Demon Lords, it would actually be scared and run the other way, but I have just the right amount. For some reason, animals seem to like it."
"Haa…"
The Longgwi Saint stared at the wolf with a vacant expression, much like a child gazing at a toy displayed behind a shop window.
I let out a small laugh.
"Would you like to pet it too, Saint?"
"Huh? Um. Is it safe, though?"
"As long as you don't kill me, you'll be fine."
The Saint swallowed hard and slowly approached. She tentatively touched the wolf's fur with her fingertips. The wolf turned its head slightly to look at her. She froze for a moment, but soon the wolf let out a happy sound.
Her face brightened, and she began petting the wolf in earnest. The wolf rolled over, baring its belly, and thoroughly enjoyed the woman's touch.
"Huh. The Demon Lord's magic power really is something, isn't it?"
"Scholars in the Demon Realm theorize this might be a clue to understanding the relationship between ordinary animals and Monsters. Well, it's beyond me — that sort of thing is foreign to me."
The drinking session dragged on. Even after the sun had set and night had fallen, the Saint kept pulling out bottle after bottle.
In the meantime, a dozen or so animals — deer, rabbits, foxes — had been drawn in by my magic power. They circled us and the Saint, sitting down quietly. The Saint seemed to find the sight wonderfully endearing, because she spilled out a smile I had rarely seen from her before.
In the end, long past midnight, the "important conversation" the Saint had hinted at never showed its face. It was the Saint who had gotten drunk first, collapsing face-down on the ground.
"Mmm… can't drink anymore…"
She was snoring away right in front of me, muttering in her sleep. Beyond exasperation, I let out a helpless laugh. What was all that about? Well, I suppose there are days like this too.
I lifted the Saint up. I set her on my wolf and made for the Demon Lord's Castle. After tossing her haphazardly into the guest bedroom, I returned to my own room.
Perhaps it was the alcohol, but the gloomy feeling in my heart had vanished. I lay down on my bed with a comfortable mind. It felt like I wouldn't have any nightmares tonight…….