Chapter 309: Long Live Capitalism
The key to defending Ras Vegas is mobile warfare.
While the defenders hold out at the Stone Golem outer walls, highly mobile cavalry units will raid enemy positions and wipe them out in one fell swoop—that’s our basic strategy.
"The reason we’re deliberately going with cavalry warfare is because the cavalry needs to ride out and kidnap enemy troops."
The human prisoners we bring back are given a binary choice:
Either become servants of our legion by having sex with monsters and bearing their eggs.
Or refuse to have sex with monsters and die.
"Anyone who refuses to have sex with monsters dies and gets turned into magic stones by Rastujad. I get it."
"Killing them to make ghouls... I’m not exactly thrilled about that method, but now that the dungeon’s somewhat established, could you give them just one act of mercy?"
Here, the demon Shaitan and the human Eila disagreed. As a pure demon, Shaitan believed all humans who attacked the legion should be killed, while as a pure human, Eila pleaded for mercy toward the humans.
"Mercy... is that really necessary?"
"My father used to say an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. Didn’t Pisces territory send a massive mercenary force thinking Guinevere Pisces was dead? This time we got lucky and nothing major happened during the war, but we could end up fighting wars on both the dungeon and Ras Vegas fronts."
"Eila, I disagree with that. If we just let the humans go, it could come back to bite us. Our legion has grown stronger. Even if humans come, we can overcome that adversity and turn them into military strength. We’ll have more ghoul mages who can utilize human corpses, including Rastujad."
"Hmm..."
I couldn’t easily side with either of them. Setting aside the women’s appeal, this was a matter concerning our legion’s policy.
’Gotta separate business from pleasure.’
Both Eila and Shaitan were talking to me on an official level. Even though they knew they were making each other blush and fight, they were deliberately being harsh for the sake of me and our legion’s wellbeing and development.
"But can you really have this conversation while rubbing your thighs all over my dick like that?"
I grabbed both their chests as they snuggled against my sides. Both shot me looks at the same time for bringing up something completely different in the middle of a serious discussion.
"Master, we’re having an important discussion right now. How about accepting the human prisoners as regular residents of Ras Vegas? Even if they don’t have sex with monsters, they can prove their worth by growing crops or making fabric."
"But some won’t be able to handle the atmosphere in Ras Vegas and will try to escape. There were actually people who tried to run away while Eila was briefly gone. If killing humans really bothers you that much, just make them slaves. Put them to hard labor."
"It’s a complicated issue... but I need to make a decision. I can’t just keep killing human prisoners forever."
If the Holy Knights attack, will we kill them all? Will the harpies rape the men and the orcs rape the women?
’The only reason our legion has survived this long is because we weren’t considered threatening enough.’
I’d heard through the grapevine at Forneus’s dungeon how countless dungeons had disappeared. They all painted a target on their backs and got subjugated by named-class adventurers.
’The Hero of the Holy Sword might come looking for our dungeon for no good reason.’
At least we had powerhouses like Luna, but situations could arise where even Luna couldn’t step in, like with Halphas’s resurrection.
"Better safe than sorry. Alright, let’s do this. We’ll properly expand the old Ras Village. We’ll set up oversight so human slaves can live at the dungeon entrance. The ones in charge of that... yeah, Hases and Rastujad’s ghoul forces would be good."
Undead forces have the perfect appearance to create an atmosphere of fear as overseers who need to show a harsh side. With the dungeon right there, managing the slaves will be way easier too.
’Though honestly, there’s no real reason to go in front of the dungeon.’
Since all the portals are concentrated in my dungeon, there’s no need to stop by Ras Village when going to Ras Vegas.
’The ranch is already at capacity too.’
With Halphas’s dungeon becoming a new base, we can increase our troop capacity, but new forces need to go there anyway, so that’s off the table.
Therefore, Ras Village is the optimal place to manage regular prisoners outside the capacity limit.
"Then we’ll need a way to manage the slave citizens. Got any good ideas? Eila, is your suggestion farming?"
"Yes. I think having them farm could diversify our food sources. We’d collect taxes in exchange for protecting them from other demons and lords."
"Taxes. Good. So it’s basically protection money... Hehe, nice. Eila, how much tax did they collect in Aries territory?"
"Well, that’s..."
Eila looked away embarrassedly while simultaneously stroking my dick with Shaitan.
"Our territory was considerate of the citizens’ hardships, so we took 30% in taxes..."
"30%? Thirty percent? You take 30% in taxes? Holy shit, are you fucking ins—"
Shaitan poked my side with her tail without Eila noticing. Eila’s expression and hand started to freeze up.
"...To think you collect as much as 30%, ahem. I heard rumors that other cruel territories collect as much as 70% in taxes. Come to think of it, my old master, that bitch Forneus didn’t just take 70%—she took everything anyone earned for herself. Thirty percent. That’s conscientious. Ahem."
"...Yes, it’s quite lacking compared to the average for nobles in this kingdom. How embarrassing—I was only blowing my own trumpet for no real reason."
I felt relieved inside. It felt like Eila was deliberately overlooking my slip-up, but at least I managed to smooth things over somewhat.
’Still, 30% tax is way too much.’
"Eila, are the residents of Ras Vegas currently paying taxes?"
"No. You didn’t say anything about that..."
"...I see."
A devious thought started forming in my head. When it comes to dealing with humans as a species, no one understands humans better than me—not even other humans. I understand humans better than I understand orcs, actually.
"From now on, all taxes will be uniformly set at 10%."
"...Master? Did I hear that wrong?"
"10%."
"..."
Eila’s jaw dropped in shock. Shaitan also grinned bitterly as if I’d done something crazy.
’It’s kind of a trope for otherworlders from modern times to adapt to medieval tax systems, but there’s no reason I need to adapt to that.’
That’s just the human system—I’m a demon. And if I put my mind to it, I can deploy an "invisible hand" far more devious and cunning than anything these current humans could imagine.
"First thing in the morning, announce to all the current residents of Ras Vegas: for the next year starting today, there will be no taxes at all. But after one year, all residents will have to pay 10% tax equally."
"...Master, if you were a human noble, you’d be labeled a witch and burned at the stake immediately."
"Right? But if I don’t do something like that, why would they easily stay in our legion?"
"That’s true."
In this city overflowing with lovey-dovey sex every single day, there needs to be an equivalent trade-off for people to survive here.
"There needs to be something like ’This place sucks but I’m sticking it out because of this!’ We’ve got way too many weirdos to bet on Ras alone. If you dangle 10% taxes, I bet tons of people will come over, right?"
If this were a human city, it’d be such an outrageous move that a territorial war would be justified.
"Yeah. We need that kind of advantage so that even if human forces like the Holy Knights swarm in, they’ll become our shields and fight for us. Fear-based rule doesn’t last long. You need to grab people’s hearts with money, charisma, or carnal desire."
Charisma is obviously out of the question, and we have way too many monsters in our legion to seduce people purely with lust. So to win over humans, the best bet was definitely money—tempting them with financial issues.
"Capitalism, heh... ahem. Long live capitalism, basically. ...We started talking about handling human prisoners and ended up here. Productive, but let’s get back to the original topic."
"Yes. After all, if we can’t stop the Holy Knights, the human prisoners will all be a pipe dream anyway."
"...I’m sorry, I brought up something unnecessary."
"No, Eila. Aren’t you the mistress of Ras Vegas? You’re the representative of the human species in our legion. Representing humans is never a bad thing."
For diverse species to live together happily, they need to understand each other. For that, there needs to be at least one person from each species who can represent their kind’s opinions to me. In that sense, Eila is definitely doing her job well as a human.
"The main defense force is currently the orc unit led by Tristan, right?"
"Yes. If I could make one personal request, I’d like to increase the number of officers who can serve as squad leaders."
"I’ll do my best."
Orc forces are sufficient for defending Ras Vegas. The Storm Golems hiding in the walls will hold their positions unless we need to issue a total mobilization order for the worst-case scenario. And if their numbers increase, even better.
"Shaitan, in the morning, lock up Lancelot and Guinevere together."
"Understood. I’ll requisition one of the dark elf houses on basement level 1 of the dungeon."
"Good. I’d love to turn the children I have with Eila into officers, but..."
"Because I’m not capable of that."
Eila smiled bitterly. For some reason, Eila had become unable to bear fruit from my seed, except for the possibility of reincarnation. Specifically, when seed was planted, if it was for reincarnation the planting would take, but otherwise it would just stay inside and then slip right back out.
That said, I couldn’t very well force Lily to bear children either.
"Lancelot and Galahad need to step up their game."
"Yes. Next is the cavalry issue..."
"Ultimately, I’m thinking of bringing those guys—I mean the Holy Knights—under our command."
I needed an appropriate knight order to operate until Eila could bring the Holy Knights under her command.
"Until then, let’s have the Worwolf Riders and Death Knights stationed in Ras Vegas. This battle taught me something once again: cavalry doesn’t suit dungeons."
The Death Knights who faced the Pale Riders had to fight just one battle and withdraw. Their proper battlefield is anti-personnel combat, so going to Ras Vegas would be far more tactically sound.
"It’s getting late. Let’s sleep quietly and wake up early tomorrow morning. I’ve got a place to stop by."
"A place to stop by—you mean that place?"
"Yeah. The textile factory."
The comprehensive textile factory where all kinds of products like stockings, leotards, tights, and strap bondage are made—where the union boss is still hard at work making clothes.
"I specially ordered a piece of clothing."
I slipped my hands downward so the two women could sleep comfortably. In response, Eila and Shaitan grabbed my dick as if taking revenge.
’Not a chance.’
For the sake of the many on the waitlist behind them, I couldn’t cum. Holding back the urge to climax to the very end, I stirred both women’s hands with my fingers and sent them off first.
’Now that my level’s gone up, I can hold out even better.’
Even at 4-star, I could send two women off without cumming—what would a 5-star dick be like?
’I wanna evolve.’
I want to get stronger.
I wonder if a highest-grade magic stone will just drop from somewhere.
***
"Hmm..."
The reading was done. The book the Saintess gave him to learn as common knowledge contained stories of many senior Holy Sword users and helped him understand the mindset a hero should have.
’The will to protect someone.’
There wasn’t much information about the Holy Sword Taurus, but Orc-Brug was able to awaken to the conviction he should hold as a hero.
"Saintess, this place... she’s sleeping."
The two women on the bed had passed out hugging each other tightly without even properly washing themselves. Brug pondered how to clean things up, then lifted the Holy Sword.
"The Holy Sword’s power definitely includes the ability to maintain cleanliness."
Wuuung.
The Holy Sword began trembling with a soft glow, but Brug paid it no mind and moved it over them both like ironing.
"Always wash up properly after masturbating. That’s what my brother said, Saintess. ...Ah, but when women do it together, is that masturbation or mating?"
Brug fell into deep thought. But there was no one to answer, and eventually Brug looked up at the moon hanging high in the sky and began the routine he’d postponed.
"Running’s too hard... guess I’ll start with squats."
Brug began bending his upper body while still wearing his robe.
"Couldn’t exercise because I was following them around, muscle loss... huff, haah."
...He had no idea that the two women were hugging each other without sleeping, just watching him the whole time.