Read The Legendary Rebuilding of a World by a Realist Demon King

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　The ant war ended this way.

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　The citizens of Ashtaroth were not harmed. Instead, there were holes everywhere in the city of Ashtaroth.

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　The holes were dug by the army of ants, and I had a hard time filling them in.

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　I instructed Godreve the Dwarf to fill the holes and the next day he suggested to me to make good use of one of the holes.

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"What do you mean by 'effective use'?"

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"I found the source of a hot spring right next to the hole the ants dug.

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I want to dig it up and bring it to the surface and build a public bathhouse.

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"That's not bad. Like the public baths in Rome.

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I don't know about Rome, but it would be a place for the citizens to relax.

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I don't know about Rome, but it would be a place for the citizens to relax. Then please dig a hot spring so that we can raise the money.

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　Godreve said, "Yes, sir," and walked away, but I wondered how I could convince Eve.

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　Eve, the Lord Treasurer, was constantly poring over the nation's accounts.

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　The ant attack had caused only minor human casualties, but the damage to the city had been enormous. A budget had to be set aside to repair the damage.

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　In addition, a large number of refugees from Ismaria were coming to the city. It was not only a matter of feeding them, either.

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　I asked the finance maid about it apologetically, and she surprisingly gave me permission to do so.

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　There were several reasons for this, but first of all, she was of the mindset that things come as they come.

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　If there was a hot spring right next to the hole, it would be cheaper than digging from scratch.

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　Besides, it would be a way to comfort the wounded soldiers of this battle.

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　Eve gave me permission to build a public bathhouse for these reasons, but it was not for free.

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　Eve knew that I had taken a bath with Hijikata Toshizo in a hot spring in the basement of Ismaria. She was cunning, she said, and pressed me to go in with her.

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"There are separate baths for men and women in the public baths," she said.

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　She tries to refuse, but Godreve, a dwarf, says something else.

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We have a space for family baths. And before we opened them to the public, there were no men's or women's baths. The first bath is for the two of you.

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　Eve gives a slight gut-punch, but I say, "Don't do anything I don't want you to do,

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"Don't do anything unnecessary.

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　I say, "Don't do anything unnecessary.

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　Godreve says,

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"Old men are creatures of extravagance, you know.

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　Godreve lied, "Old men are extravagant creatures," and set to work on the construction.

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　The restoration of the city and the construction of the public baths were the sole domain of the dwarven engineers.

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　Watching their hustle and bustle, one could hardly complain.

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　And Eve's words must be a joke. It was not Jeanne, who would soon forget such childish promises.

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　I too immersed myself in the restoration project and let myself forget about it and waited for the city to be restored and the public baths to be built.

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　In the meantime, I had a few weeks to patrol the city with Jeanne.

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　This was also an inspection tour.

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　Recently, the city of Ashtaroth has been experiencing a deterioration in public safety.

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　The reason is the rapid increase in population. Refugees have come from all over the world, and they have been causing trouble with the original inhabitants.

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　The natives may have a lot to say, but many of the refugees have lost their properties in the disaster areas or war-torn areas. No, many of them lost not only their properties but also their families.

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　They were in such a high state of mind that many of them committed crimes.

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　It was the role of the city's rulers to comfort their hearts and educate them to be decent citizens.

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　Today, I stare at a group of young men who have migrated as refugees from a neighboring country.

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　They are drinking in the daytime without working.

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　If it was just that, it would not be a crime, but I could not overlook the way they pulled the hand of a town girl and forced her to pour alcohol.

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　Jeanne was no different.

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"You two, stop playing the role of rogues!"

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　But interestingly, beautifully, and purely.

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　The saint's declaration was dignified, but lacked power.

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　The blonde girl was more dainty and pretty than dignified.

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　The young men tried to get Jeanne to drink, but she was angry and punished them.

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　She pulls out the holy sword from her back and cuts the belt of their trousers.

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　The young man whose belt was mercifully cut runs away, holding his hands to keep his trousers from slipping down.

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"That's all over!"

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　Jeanne sniffs and declares her victory. The girl thanked her politely.

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"Those young men didn't mean to hurt you. They must have had a hard time in the other town.

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　She was a good girl. She saw me through it, and I would not punish them any further. I will, however, have the ninja check them out later and give them an educational lesson.

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　I was going to get them jobs in dwarven construction companies and teach them a lesson.

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　I thought that if they worked hard, their bad memories would fade away and they would not do anything unhealthy.

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　That was the end of the matter, but Jeanne backed out of my hand.

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　I think I found a new store on the corner.

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　Another new food place, I thought at first, but the place Jeanne brought me to was not a restaurant.

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　It was a small bookstore.

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　When she entered the bookstore, she said.

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"Demon king, Demon king, I have a present for you. I'll buy you a book of your choice."

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　But no naughty ones, she reminded me.

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　I'm not a child in his prime, so I don't buy him such a thing, but I'm curious about how he's blowing it, so I ask him.

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"It's unusual for Jeanne to buy you a present. She spends all her allowance on food and shopping.

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"Don't take this the wrong way. Don't take my word for it. I give gifts sometimes too. It's my way of saying thank you.

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"I can't believe this comes from the saint who ate for me the other day when we went out to eat."

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That was just a coincidence. Today I have paid for the book."

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　She takes out a bag of gold coins from her pocket. It's quite a lot.

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　At first I thought about refraining, but it seemed to me that refraining here would be an act of putting a damper on her spirit.

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　So I looked around the store and asked her to buy just one book.

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"Well, what shall I buy?

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　The thought of buying a book suddenly makes me very excited.

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　I am the king of book lovers. I was a book addict, reading at least one book a day.

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　Jeanne would never have guessed what would happen if she brought such a demon king to a bookstore.

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　I spent an hour looking at the shelves of the bookstore, probably because it was my first time to visit a bookstore. I explored the shelves so much that Jeanne was almost yawning during the process.

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　What I found out by this action was that this bookstore had the best selection of books.

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　This bookstore has everything from novels to technical and military books, but the small space is filled with my favorite masterpieces.

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　It was like looking at my own bookshelf.

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　I was looking at the bookshelves with fascination, but it seemed that Jeanne was getting bored. I might have to find a book before she starts to dawdle.

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　I pick up a suitable book. I flip through the ones I like the cover of and buy them.

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　As I buy it, Jeanne happily pulls out her purse and asks me.

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"What's the book?"

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　I reply.

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"This book was written by an individual and self-published," she says.

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"Self-published?

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A book written by an individual, not by a publisher or a book dealer.

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Do you enjoy reading such books?

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I don't know about that, but this book looks interesting. I don't know about that, but this book looks interesting.

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　Jeanne lightly clutched the book, which had a fine binding.

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　Jeanne looks at her and says, "That's good," but she doesn't seem to know what makes her happy.

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　Well, it was a feeling of elation that only a book lover could understand.

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I hope to share it with Jeanne someday, I thought as I went back to the castle and read the book.

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　It was quite an interesting book, and I read it until dinner time, when I suddenly remembered.

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"Well, I guess it's possible to publish a book by myself.

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　After dinner, I picked up my pen.

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　I took up the pen after dinner to transcribe and make a copy of a book. I did it all by hand. It became a regular ritual after work and my life's work.

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