A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss

–In an anteroom next to the training area that I entered after the meeting with the Royal Guards.

“You’re excellent at this, your majesty.”

The man who was talking to me was the deputy commander of the First Order of the Rogard Empire – in other words, the current Leader of the Order.

His name was Helger Landros.

He was tall, muscular like a soldier, and handsome, although he had a thick beard. He was probably in his thirties.

I was in the middle of a meeting with this old man.

We were trying to figure out the rules, future schedule, and other such details regarding the upcoming events.

“? About what?”

“It’s about the speech you just gave. Short, yet powerful words. It was brilliant.”

“Are you okay with that, though? I’m really just an emperor in name only. I’m a commoner to begin with, so I’m not used to such things.”

“That must be a joke. I mean, how can a Demon Lord be a commoner?”

I was not joking, though.

Of course, there might be commoners in the Knight Order, but most of them were usually nobles.

They were what could be called warlord nobles, in other words, a group of well-educated elites.

If a far-from-elite, simpleton like me suddenly arrived and ordered them around, it would not surprise me if they harbored antipathy in their hearts towards me, even if they did not show it in their attitudes.

Well, even though there were many nobles among them, the Rogard Empire had a very solid system to allow talented people to rise in ranks so that they would not be overlooked.

The King of the Demon Realm once praised this system, saying that it was quite innovative when compared to other countries.

The former emperor, Shendra, was responsible for the establishment of laws in this field, and I could once again feel the greatness of his skill.

“We could feel the passion in Your Majesty’s words. But to be honest, there were many who have never seen His Majesty before, while some of them simply followed you with the mindset of doing their job.”

“That’s sufficient, though.”

“No, we are not ordinary knights, we are the Imperial Guards. As such, absolute loyalty to His Majesty is a must. Currently, this country is in a special situation being ruled by a new Ruler, but regardless of the current situation, we will be considered a failure as Imperial Guards if we don’t work with loyalty.”

“…I see.”

A Knight’s mindset, huh?

Indeed, they were the closest to the King or Emperor, and if they were to rebel, they would succeed instantly. In my case, though, they would not be able to do so simply because I outmatched them in total combat ability.

Therefore, normally, to be part of the Royal Guards, one must be strong and also absolutely loyal.

…It occurred to me when we were discussing loyalty, that perhaps democracy did not fit in this world.

Monsters, other races, and such potential sources of trouble could be found everywhere in this world, so there were a lot of contingencies that could cause harm to people, and it would be difficult to move a force to subdue those contingencies unless power was centralized.

I did not know if things would change in the future, but for now, for better or worse, a community led by a King or an Emperor would probably be more suitable.

“However, because of the speech you just gave, I think everyone understood what kind of person His Majesty is. I think they now all have a different opinion about you.”

“Let me tell you something, Helger. I meant what I said before. If we are going to do this, we have to beat the other countries. This competition is a goodwill event with a side of socializing, and it’s only a game – but a game is no fun if you don’t take it seriously.”

“Yes, of course. This is an opportunity to show the world what we can do. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make my blood boil. Let’s do our best.”

At my words, Helger grinned with a manly smile.

–The competition, Battle Festa.

The basic format was rugby.

If you carry the ball to the opponent’s position, you score a point, and it is considered as a game of formation.

Of course punching and kicking were prohibited, but grabbing, pushing, rushing, etc. were allowed, and therefore all players were required to wear protective gear, or rather, armor.

Currently, participants were using normal armor as protective gear in training , but the dwarves were designing a special version for the actual game.

I heard that the Rogard Empire planned to take measurements of all participants for this purpose in the near future.

After all, if participants used normal metal armor as protective gear in the game, it would likely injure them. Even though there was recovery magic, it would definitely be better if there were no injuries in the first place, so I hope protective gears would be designed in a good way.

Magic could be used, but only three types were allowed: [Gust], [Earth Wall], and [Impact Shot].

None of them had direct offensive power, but they were intended to hinder the opponent’s actions. The way the magic was handled would broaden the scope of how the game could be played.

…Well, strictly speaking, there was one more magic that could be used in addition to these three.

In this competition, the most important factor was [Field Creation].

After the match starts, the field could be transformed by magic…

One could change the terrain to be more favorable for defense, or more favorable for offense.

Or maybe it could be changed to an all-around terrain that could do both defense and offense, or to a more peculiar terrain that no one would have thought of.

Changes could be made during the game, so the field may change depending on the situation.

This was a critical factor that could directly affect the outcome of the game.

The Field Creation was planned to be performed by using magic tools to make it a completely strategic element, eliminating the individualistic element.

The Dwarves and Elves have been discussing it and have even created a prototype for such a magic tool. A certain amount of magical power would be provided at the start of the match to which players would add their own magic power to make it fully operational. This would give players the opportunity to create plans on how to manage their limited resources during the match, which would also play a role in the game’s overall strategy.

There were a few other detailed rules, but this was the general outline, and more would be added as time went by.

The players participating in the games were mostly Royal Guards of each country, but any other groups that cleared the requirements could also participate regardless of their affiliation.

It was a good opportunity for the teams that did not belong to any of the Royal Guards to make a name for themselves, making this an even bigger event on the level of a [World Conference], so even the powerful organizations without proper affiliations were willing to participate.

Incidentally, I did not participate in the arrangement of the other competition – Magic Festa, but I heard that court magicians from the Rogard Empire would be representing the Rogard Empire in this competition.

The court magicians here have been well-trained by the former emperor Shendra and were deemed to be quite talented, so I think they would do well in this competition.

Usually, when it came to magic, there were many things to consider, like artistry and difficulty of the magic being cast or manifesting it, but all of these differences in innate ability between the participants would not be that relevant in the events.

I hope they succeed in showing off their skills to other races.

Thinking about it this way, at this stage of preparation, the dwarves and elves have played a great role.

Humans, demons, and beastmen have also been assisting them, but it was those two races that have taken center stage.

Without them, [Magic Festa] would have happened further down the road.

After my meeting, I was going to inspect the planned stadium construction.