Once again, this is Silmeria Nofault. My pleasure, 'Imadai Demon Lord'.

I'm Noah Whitefield. This is Jessica.

My name is Jessica Northlea Olvans.

　After introducing myself, I face the woman who called herself Silmeria.
　This is the royal castle--originally the mansion where the lord of this city lived. This is the place where it was decided to make our temporary royal castle, as it is a reasonably large building in the center of the city.
　Normally, I, as the king, would be sitting on the throne, but since it was originally the lord's mansion, there was no throne or audience room from the beginning. There was no choice but to show Silmeria to the parlor.
　Originally, the former lord must have had good taste. The furnishings are of a soothing hue, and a marble table is placed between the sofas facing each other. I sit on one of those sofas, and Silmeria sits in front of me. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to find a solution to this problem.
　Incidentally, he had just returned from the Kingdom of Olvance after adjusting, along with the super strong goblin called Red Cap that Jessica had brought along as her escort. I'm pretty sure this guy was level 40 or something. The goblins were made to leave, as their escort mission was finished for now, and now they had Jessica sitting next to them. In the case of difficult conversations and such, I'll take advantage of Jessica's help.

'Here's your tea.'

Oh, he's using some fine tea leaves, isn't he? Judging by the aroma, they come from Dandalusia in the north of the Empire.

No, I don't know where it's from, but I do.

　Silmeria judges the tea offered by an elf in the service of the royal castle to be so just by smelling it.
　I can tell a tea by its scent alone. I can only feel all tea leaves in the same way.

So... well, I'll tell you the story. What is the purpose of your visit to my country?

Of course the merchants are here for Zenith.

So, that's what I'm talking about in detail. Where in my country is there any money to be made?

　To be honest, I don't have much interest in money.
　Perhaps because the current deceased lord had accumulated quite a bit of money, he has plenty of assets. However, there's nowhere to spend it at all.
　In the first place, demons don't need logistics, and they don't need to worry about the most expensive 'foodstuffs' at all. At best, it's just food for the elves, but that's made up of the city's original stockpile and the vegetables sent from the elven settlements and so on, without any problems.
　And the demons don't have any particular tastes, and ornaments are nothing to do with them. I'm a king myself, but I don't really like to decorate myself that much. I'm not interested in decorations that cost tens of gold coins for a single ornament. I just think it is a waste of money.
　In other words, no matter how much money I try to make in my country, the economy itself is nonexistent.

Well, as you can see, we're a hapless merchant from the mercantile nation of Amelia.

...I suppose.

　The commercial nation of Amelia.
　I heard that it is a state that exists in the north of the Draukos Empire and is made up of a coalition of merchants. It's a nation where there is no monarchy or empire, but rather a coalition of merchant associations, and I remember hearing that the one with the most power among these associations becomes the head of state. I've heard that this is why they control most of the economy on the continent.
　However, the merchant nation of Amelia only has the territory around the northern coast and has no intention of expanding its land. I've been told that the commercial nation has its own unique way of thinking that "war is a waste of money," and that they have gained the protection of paying a certain amount of money to the empire. I've heard that in return, when the empire goes to war with another country, they are responsible for the sale of arms and weapons.
　It's such a nation that has developed through a kind of unique culture.
　Roughly every country has a merchant group from Amelia, and it's easy to see that their origins are Amelia. It's the accent in Silmeria's tone of voice - a dialect called 'Amelia Bushi'. This accent, which sounds vaguely harsh, is unique to Amelia.

Our No-Fall Society is one of the ten largest Amelia businesses. Our company, the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, is one of the ten largest trade associations in Amelia, and our Oton participates in the Amelia Council. The fact that we've come to this country is a different story.

What do you mean?

I told you, I'm a hapless merchant. We are a branch of the No-Fall Trading Company, but in effect we are just a branch of the company. My boss is also stingy, so he won't give me and my sales channel to him. Well, he did give us the capital, though. It's like they threw me out of the business, saying I had to use my wits to figure out how to make money.

...I see.

　In other words, Silmeria's arrival here has nothing to do with the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, one of Amelia's ten largest trading firms.
　It's only that Silmeria came here because of her own resourcefulness and because she judged that there was something in my country to earn money.

I heard about the "Demon King of Nowadays". It's a good thing that I'm here because I smell the smell of Zenith.

I don't really understand that.

　To begin with, I don't think my reputation is very good.
　I took over the city of Rafas with a demon, that's exactly what Silmeria said, 'The Demon King of this generation'. A normal person would never want to get close to him.
　It makes me sad to say it myself, though.

''I've got this many demons following me. I think they have a lot of things they need, don't they?

'No, that's not...'

　I glanced at Drake.
　Drake shakes his head silently. I guess that's all I'm trying to say.
　The fact that my army doesn't need logistics is something that should be kept secret. At the very least, our ally, the Kingdom of Olvance, can't know about it either. In particular, it must never be leaked to merchants who do business with no matter who they are.

I'm sure there are plenty of things we need just to survive. Of course we need food, clothing, medical supplies, and weapons if we want to fight a war. As long as you say you want it, we will build a sales channel with your country and bring it in.

Well, it's just in time.

Is it too late?

'We're getting by on what's left of the stockpile in this country. It's not like we really need anything new.

Wow.

　It may be painful, but I'll tell them that first.
　Since I'm a demon, I don't need foodstuffs. Demons are basically naked, so they don't need clothing either. As for the housing, it's mostly intact and remains intact, so there's no need for much renovation.
　However, weapons may indeed be necessary. Milo's axe, for example, is rather worn out. Part of me has been wanting a sword soon, too.
　But that doesn't mean I need it right now. I can't move for at least two years, so it's just a matter of getting it ready in the meantime.
　At my words, Silmeria smiled thinly and crossed her arms.

It's a good idea," she said, "but.....

What?

Oh, I don't mean dirty. Or are you just curious about my breasts?

....

　I didn't take it that way in the first place.
　I raise an eyebrow at Silmeria, who tells me to claim her ample bosom. Honestly, I'm a guy too, and I'm interested in it, but I probably shouldn't be saying that here and now. Jessica's lips were also puckered up, just to say she was uncomfortable.
　Hahaha, Silmeria laughed at me.

It's just a joke. Don't make that face.

No, so...

Well, to put it simply, we've done a lot of research before we came here. "Well, to put it plainly, we've been doing a lot of research before we came here. I am aware of that fact.

-Oh!

　Silmeria's words took my breath away.

''We don't stock foodstuffs from anywhere. It's unlikely that there are enough foodstuffs in this city to feed this many demons. If that's the case, we can only come to one conclusion. Demons don't eat food.......right?

It's a...

If they were going to keep it a secret, they should've secured a fake import route. We haven't had enough food from anywhere to feed an army of demons for at least a month. Even a simpleton would notice such a thing.

....

　I hadn't even thought about that.
　But it's true, Silmeria was right.
　I was too naive in my thinking--

Well, here's the thing.

...What do you mean by that?

　Silmeria laughs thinly.
　Because of her well-formed face, her somewhat evil-looking smile was even lightly cold.

''From here on out, it's all about Zenith.

....

Prepare yourself to listen with your ears wide open. As long as Zenith is involved, we'll do everything we can.

....

　Now that I've heard this far, I know exactly what I'm dealing with.
　It seems I'm dealing with a hell of a woman.