The Story of Hero Among Heroes ~The Founding Chronicles of Arestia - Chapter 103 – Land of Demons Suppression Battle part 3

[It seems that Lord Darius and Lord Sigurd have both defeated the two Demon Lords.]

[I see. That’s surprisingly fast.]

In response to Zekka’s report, Ares looked behind him. There were Shion, Georg, and Elan as Ares’ advisors. Then he turned to Lilith.

[Safe to say we have managed to take control of the Land of Demons… am I right?]

[…..I am truly lost for words to say…]

It’s been only a day since the beginning of the subjugation, Lilith looked away as she muttered quietly.

[I made the right choice in surrendering.]

Ignoring the surprised Lilith, Shion spoke up.

[Milord, now, what will you do with the demons?]

[Right… I wish we can make use of the adult magic beasts. But most of them have too low of an intelligence… so we’ll subjugate them as needed. After that… about the demonkin, we could try to ask them whether they are willing to work for Grants. Same goes with the highly intelligent magic beasts.

Elan instantly raised his voice upon hearing Ares’ decision.

[But there might be backlash from all sorts of people…]

[Everyone needs to remember that the times are changing. The demons have great capabilities. In the future, we will recruit even more people with high capabilities… Of course, except for those with evil intentions.]

And then Ares laughed.

[There are certainly good mannered individuals, even among the demons. Some of them might also have the talent we need. Conversely, there are also evil individuals among humans. I don’t intend to make discrimination to someone because of their race. That’s what I want to do… in this land of mine.]

After Ares said so,

[Master, we have arrived.]

Lilith unexpectedly interrupted the conversation, pointing to the front.

[That is my abode… the center of this Land of Demons]

Looking ahead… there was a castle that didn’t seem suited in the middle of a forest.

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The first thing people would notice about the castle, was that it’s very clean. Despite its exterior being a very dense forest and the dark atmosphere surrounding it, the interior turned out to be brighter and cleaner than one would think.

[The abode is mainly inhabited by dark elves, succubi, and incubi. The cleanliness is all thanks to them.]

Lilith took Ares’ hand as she spoke, then continued on.

[Come, Master. There are two things I would like to show you. Can you come with me?]

Keeping hold of Ares’ hand, Lilith led him to the balcony of the castle. As Ares climbed the stairs and opened the door…

He saw many demons had gathered down below.

[Listen, people. He is your new master from now on! Give him your warm welcome.]

Lilith’s words cause the demons to make some noise, but they all lowered their heads regardless.

Seeing this, Lilith nodded in satisfaction before turning to Ares.

[These are my subordinates. They may have been gathered here in a hurry, but they all have chosen to swear their allegiance to Master from now on. Come, Master, speak to them.]

[Good grief, you’ve really made some preparations, haven’t you…]

Ares shrugged his shoulders, then turned towards the crowds of Demon downstairs. As he could see, there is anxiousness in their faces.

The demons and humans have been fighting against each other for a long time. Growing enmity in the process… was only natural.

The fate of a demon captured by humans… is harsh to say the least. Spending miserable days as a slave, being deprived of their magic, and maybe killed due to various vile experiments…

On the other hand, the same would happen to the humans if they’re captured by demons.

Surrendering to a human… just how terrible their fate would become? They desperately bowed their heads while concealing such anxiety.

Sensing this, Ares began to speak from the balcony…

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[Demonkin, I am Ares Schwarzer… Grants’ Lord of Frontier.]

He took a deep breath before continuing.

[The 『country』 that I’m going to build is a place where everyone can live equally. Take a good look at my soldiers…]

The demonkins turned around to see Ares’ soldiers that stood in stand by behind them. They instantly became wide-eyed.

[As you can see, they are humans, long-eared elves, and beastkin… how you ask? Because from now on, it will be the age where there will be no discrimination because of race or birth!]

Ares spread his gaze upon the crowds.

[All of you have great fighting prowess and magic power, you have the right to be proud about it. Therefore, you don’t need to bow to anyone. Everyone is equal. Everyone has the same right to seek happiness. And demons are no exceptions. We can hold hands with each other!]

After hearing that, some demons started to raise their heads up and looked at Ares eagerly.

[I promise to all the demons present in this place. You are all free. You are free to stay in this place and it’s alright for you all to go out to visit the towns. Trade, employment, you are free to do what you want. But I must ask you to promise me a few things in return. Promise that, all of you, as the residents of this land as well, to abide by our law and to welcome the other races as though they are your own siblings. And lastly… please lend your power to help develop Grants.]

Finally, Ares strongly declared.

[As long as you protect us, then this Ares Schwarzer will protect you in return!]

At first the crowds of demonkins were silent.

But then whispers started to resound.

[Oi, did you hear him?]

[Apparently he’ll treat us as equal]

[And he said we’ll be free!]

[Our King…!]

[Our King…..!]

[All hail Ares-sama!]

[All hail, Ares Schwarzer!]

It began with a small whisper. But soon turned into loud cheerings.

The cheer reverberated throughout the forest. And it didn’t stop until after a while.

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Watching Ares from behind him, Shion could only stand there in awe. And if one cared to see, so did George.

Overwhelming charisma.

This event can only be attributed to that. In history, has there ever been a human who could both enthrall and invoke respect from the demons before?

(I really want to see the country that Milord wants to create…)

Shion muttered inwardly as he watched enthusiastic crowds of demonkins downstairs.

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After the speech in front of that many demonkins, their next destination was the storehouse.

[Ares-sama’s speech must’ve moved the heart of many demonkins out there. It also made me really wet down there]

[….can you please use another expression to compliment me!?]

Going down the stairs while chatting, they finally arrived in front of a huge door.

[Now then, Master, shall we open it?]

When the door was finally opened, the content left Ares and the other speechless.

Not only there were treasures made of gold and silver, there were also other kinds of treasures with immeasurable value such as weapons and gems imbued with magic power.

Seeing such views… George immediately chimed in.

[This is… it’s no exaggeration to say that the value should be comparable to an entire nation’s budget.]

Shion also added to George’s assumption.

[I’ve heard that demons like to collect treasure… but I never thought that it will be this many.]

[What’s with this many treasures?]

Lilith replied to Ares’ question.

[Personally I’m not interested in any of these. But all these are the accumulated fortune that the previous owners of this castle had collected. It’s already this much when I became a Demon Lord and took over this castle.]

Sticking her tongue a bit, Lilith then turned to Ares.

[All of these treasures belong to Ares-sama now. Please use it to your heart’s content.]

A little too excited, George also spoke to Ares.

[This should cover our finances. It’ll also allow us to perform large scale development sooner. Please accept it.]

Hearing that, with a bitter smile, Ares replied to Lilith.

[Thank you. I’m truly grateful for this.]

[Just show the gratefulness in bed later~]

[……….Un, I guess I have to…]

While Ares was facepalming, Shion took the chance to ask Lilith about that one thing he’s been wondering about.

[Lilith-dono, where is the dragon vein?]

[Ah, it’s over there.]

Where Lilith was pointing at, green light was leaking out from the broken floor.

[Magic power is leaking out from that, isn’t it? It turns this castle into a cozy living place for demonkins. That’s why, in order to protect it… this castle was constructed here.]

Shion moved closer to take a look… then he shouted because he found something peculiar.

[My! Look at all those magic stones!]

Lilith stuck out her head to get a look, then responded.

[Ah, you mean those stones imbued with magic power? Any regular stone will turn into those after being in contact with the dragon vein for some period of time.]

She said with a chuckle.

However… not to mention Shion, George, Elan and even Ares were all surprised by this revelation.

[It’s possible to mass produce magic stones…?? …then wouldn’t this lead to a revolution in technology!?]

The light fixtures that decorated the imperial palace and churches in the capital were made from magic stones.

The recently developed [automobile] they’ve heard about also run on magic stone.

Light fixtures or automobiles are wonderful and all, but people are not yet aware of magic stone’s other uses due to its rarity…

Because it’s hard to obtain, it’s hard to develop around it…

[Milord, I just had this epiphany. We need to hurry back to Heinz to review our development plan. With this amount of funds and the magic stones… it might be possible to build the greatest city in the continent.]

All other present on the scene, except for Lilith, agreed to George.

And just like that, Ares conquered the Land of Demons, while at the same time obtaining a huge amount of treasures and magic stones, securing the foothold for the further development of Grants.

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Ares managing to secure the Land of Demons, turned out to be a major turning point in history.

The old belief that humans and demons will not be able to get along, was finally broken.

Ares used his authority as the Lord of Frontier to make a law in Grants that treated every race equally. At first, it was in-secret. But later on, the law was made known to the world at large.

It was of course, something unacceptable for both the church and the empire.

After this, Ares would enter a full conflict against the church who sought to expunct the beastkin and the demonkin from the country.