“Destroy Taizu, you say?! Requesting such nonsense!” (Ilias)
Ilias got angry at the winning condition set and readied her sword.
But the Gold Demon Lord still maintained her amused smile and continued.
“We are talking about a simulated world. It won’t be affecting the real world at all. I would even say this is a condition that’s favorable for residents of Taizu.” (Gold)
“What are you—” (Ilias)
“Ya all know the internal affairs of Taizu well. The strength of their army too. It should be easy to think up countermeasures for enemies ya know, right? Ya will be able to understand the strength of Gahne, and see the downsides of yer own country.” (Gold)
“Why do we have to do something like that?!” (Ilias)
For Ilias who has sworn fealty towards her country, it is natural for her to not like actions such as attacking your own nation even if it is play-pretend.
That said, there will be no end to this at this rate.
“I told ya before, right? This one wants to confirm whether ya are people worthy to interact with me. I have no words to throw to fools who just know how to swing their swords. This one has no intention of getting along with a country filled with people like that. If ya don’t like it, just declare yer defeat. This one can allow at least that much.” (Gold)
“Then, I won’t take t—” (Ilias)
Mix covered the mouth of Ilias.
We moved at the same time, but Mix was far faster than me.
“Lady Ratzel, don’t mistake your position. You are here as a bodyguard of Mister Friend. It would be troubling if you were to downgrade his standing. Are you planning on answering the expectations of Ani-sama with a second betrayal?” (Mix)
“—!” (Ilias)
She gave her the most effective persuasion on her. Ilias won’t be able to put her personal feelings here now that she has been told this.
“My apologies, Gold Demon Lord. We intend to take on the challenge. Isn’t that right, Mister Friend?” (Mix)
“Yeah, but there’s a condition I would like to add before that.”
“What is it? Even though I have said that this one will become yer ally if ya have more wins, ya still want more than that? If it is my body…I don’t really mind—” (Gold)
“There’s no need to do things like that to stir the surroundings. You can keep the conditions for victory or defeat the same, but I would like to confirm the specific flow of things first.”
I have already heard the winning conditions and losing conditions.
However, there’s still a lot of unclear points. There’s no assurance that there’s no unexpected pitfall.
“Yer such a worrywart. I will have ya all go to the simulated worlds that this one has made, and I will give ya bodies that can operate in them. It is okay for ya to think of yer standing to be the same as my current one.” (Gold)
So we are literally going to become residents of a game world to play.
But what would happen to our bodies if we are going to be moving just our minds?
“Ya don’t need to worry about yer bodies. The flow of time in the worlds this one creates are different. I normally would be able to condense it more, but considering the burden of it too, this one has made it so that it will only be consuming an instant to rule a single world. Even if ya were to enjoy that world fer a long time or finish it at the speed of light, that part won’t be changing. Basically, this challenge shouldn’t be taking more than half a day. Also, once ya return to the real world, yer memories of the simulated world will be condensed and ya will be able to obtain those memories as a summarized result. There should be no burden to yer body here even if ya were to live for 10 years in that world.” (Gold)
2 hours pass every time the Gahne of the simulated world falls. If it falls 10 times, 20 hours will pass and it will be time up.
Even if you pass a massive amount of time inside of it, your memories of it will be changed to simplified information like that of a result screen in a game. So you can concentrate on the challenge without worrying about the after-effects.
“We won’t be able to move our bodies while our minds are inside this, right? Is the safety of our bodies assured?”
“It is sad that ya doubt that part. It is made so that if ya get hit by a certain threshold while your mind is away, ya are forcefully returned. This one’s mind is normally inside here, but I have to deal with sudden visitors at times after all.” (Gold)
It is made in a way so that if something happens outside, you can return immediately, huh.
Is it okay to assume it is safe then?
“I of course won’t do something as low as assassinating ya one by one. Shall I make it so that everyone wakes up if one of ya is forcefully brought back?”
The Gold Demon Lord said this and smacked me lightly.
“Ya can wake up immediately if hit with shock higher than this. I normally make it so that I can return with just the sound of footsteps echoing, but…ya wouldn’t want to get interrupted in the challenge by small interferences, right?” (Gold)
If we do this challenge for as long as 20 hours, cabinet ministers like Ludfein-san could come here.
We wouldn’t want the results of the challenge to be made unclear because of something like that.
“I have already prepared a clone of this one inside of the simulated world to explain the internal affairs and the method to control the time. If ya don’t understand something, go ahead and ask any time.” (Gold)
So she has prepared a helper. A kind design for game newbies.
“The problem to begin with is that Taizu and Gahne are being properly governed. Even if we begin from half a year ago, a war won’t be happening.”
“No issues there. I will have Gahne forcefully declare war in the case it catches up to the present. That’s a necessary measure for progress.” (Gold)
So it would be pushing it to try governing properly and making it a long drawn battle.
Taizu is in the countryside. I was aiming for them to perish after being left behind by the times.
At any rate, there’s half a year of preparation time. Their military has expanded to a certain degree, but it is still somewhat lacking.
“This one has also prepared a number of special benefits for ya. Ya can confirm that stuff when yer inside. That’s about it, I guess?” (Gold)
“I get the general gist of it. Now then, I would like to add a condition.”
“Fumu, let’s hear it out first.” (Gold)
“We are 5. Obviously, we don’t have many people who know about politics and government. Having 3 wins out of 5 would be rough.”
“So what do ya want to propose?” (Gold)
“I want to lower the divide of the groups. How about 3 groups?”
The one who is completely hopeless in this challenge is Rakura.
If it were just simple fighting, it would be one thing, but the chances she can deal with the parade of multitasking that comes from domestic affairs and war is close to nonexistent.
Mix has a chance, but it would still be one win and one defeat.
The remaining two are Ilias and Wolfe. It would be difficult to get a win with them.
“I would have refused if ya said make it into just 1 group, but it is an odd number, so I don’t mind reducing it to 3 groups. However, what will ya do about the remaining 2? If they are not going to take my challenge, I will have them leave though.” (Gold)
“You can send their minds only too, right? In that case, I would like to have the remaining two to come as consultants.”
“Move the two to two groups, so there would be one group with only one person. Only one can act… Well, I don’t mind that much. And so, what will ya do about the pairings?” (Gold)
“Will the ones given bodies be allowed to fight?”
“Of course ya can. However, if ya die, you will only be there in spirit in that time until the match in that world ends, and will only be able to give out orders for things like internal affairs.” (Gold)
So the game won’t end even if you die, until you fulfill the win or defeat conditions.
I considered the possibility that it might continue forever, but if you can do internal administration, you can just destroy Gahne if the worst comes to worst.
In that case, the pairings will be pretty easy.
“Alright, I have decided. Ilias will have Rakura as the consultant. Wolfe with Mix as the consultant. I will be alone.”
I am a modern era person who has a certain degree of knowledge in this kind of games, so I will try and manage somehow by myself.
But I would like to divide Ilias and Mix who have knowledge.
Leaving Rakura as a consultant should be fine.
Ilias with her battle power will obviously be a player.
As for Wolfe and Mix, I would like Wolfe to do her best in the physical side since she has shallow experience, and I would like to put my hopes on Mix who can see things from one step back.
And so, it ended up with these pairings.
Grouping Ilias and Mix together might be the most effective method, but I should avoid regretful decisions like making Rakura and Wolfe into throwaway pawns.
We are facing a Demon Lord, so there’s no knowing what awaits us.
“Mister Friend, even if there’s no risk to your life, going alone is…” (Mix)
“So little trust towards me… If yer worried, wanna try using contract magic?” (Gold)
Contract magic is as the name states, a contract performed through magic, to tie their actions.
It is a spell that both parties can tell by intuition just how much binding power it has, and it is apparently used in important transactions.
But if you use this, you are basically declaring ‘I am not trustworthy and I can’t trust you’, so it is mostly intermediaries who use it.
“I am impressed you learned a spell like that that would only bring sadness when used.”
“There’s a lot of occasions when solving issues of trust become too much of a hassle as a ruler, so I have learned them even if I don’t like it.” (Gold)
“Well then, let’s do a contract to prohibit any physical harm in the middle of this challenge.”
“We should have done that from the beginning.” (Gold)
There’s contract magic that affects both parties and also ones that only affect one party.
This time around is a measure to have only the Gold Demon Lord not bring harm to anyone while in the match.
With this, even someone like me with no mana can still participate in the contract.
The contents of the contract resonate in my mind and it makes me understand that its binding power will be restraining the Gold Demon Lord.
With this, the Gold Demon Lord literally can’t attack us now in the middle of the match.
Mix and Ilias must have confirmed the details of the contract too, they calmed down their wariness.
But well, stuff like this always has holes…
“Don’t make that face. This one might end up crying if there’s so much distrust in me, ya know?” (Gold)
I actually would want a contract that doesn’t deal mental damage too, but with the contents of the game itself, Ilias won’t be able to avoid mental damage.
I am worried about whether she can separate the game from reality, but I will have to trust Rakura on that one.
The Gold Demon Lord wishes for a match by using the arena of her own power.
The rule explanations, conditions, and contract magic were all for the sake to smoothly perform this.
Basically, this girl is a pitiful person that readied a whole lot of methods to convince us.
“I understand that the Gold Demon Lord wants to enjoy the match. However, there’s way too many fishy points to be able to enjoy this match with the others.”
“*Sob*.” (Gold)
The more she prepares to make it look okay, the more suspicious it gets. It is rough for people who have the tactician aura.
The details of the game are things that would rub the participants in the wrong way to begin with, so it can’t be helped.
“This has gotten long, but how about we begin now.” (Gold)
“Before that, is it okay for me to talk with Wolfe and Ilias first?”
“Can’t allow that. This is not a match with just ya. Also, they already have 2 consultants.” (Gold)
I wanted to tell them the winning method to these kinds of games, but I won’t be allowed, huh.
It would be dangerous to tell them carelessly and sour her mood… Fumu.
“Then, this is a personal confirmation to the Gold Demon Lord. The winning condition is for Taizu to fall before Gahne, right?”
“Umu, that’s what I have been saying.” (Gold)
“That condition bothered me, you see. Even if you were to assassinate Marito, Taizu would keep on going, right?”
“Mister Friend?! Ani-sama trusts you, you know?!” (Mix)
“This is just a hypothetical. You don’t need to look at me with a face on the verge of tears.”
“Right. It certainly wouldn’t be judged as having fallen with just that. On the other hand, if the king of Taizu were to lose in the war, gives up on ruling the country, and falls under the rule of Gahne, it will be judged as having fallen even if there has been no casualties. Ya can test out a variety of things on that front.” (Gold)
Alright, I have given out my hints.
There’s a variety of factors in the fall of a country.
If I have instilled the fact that it is not just about winning a war, the effects are good enough.
“But that’s the end of yer questions. This one doesn’t plan on pampering ya that much.”
She found me out, but she has forgiven me, so it is safe.
Chairs matching the numbers have been prepared, and there’s soft pillows if you were to end up falling forward.
Ilias and Mix entrusted their backs to the chair, Wolfe and Rakura entrusted their bodies to the pillows.
It is not like I can sleep in a skillful way, so I should entrust my body to the pillow as well.
“Now then, let’s take it easy. This will be a good experience of its own.”
“I feel like this is advice in some way or another… Now then, off ya go!” (Gold)
I feel as if my mind separated from my body as the table shone.
As if my consciousness was falling into a bottomless abyss.
By the time I couldn’t even tell how deep I sank anymore, my consciousness was cut off completely.
“—Come on, wake up.”
I feel my cheek being poked. My body is somewhat heavy.
I faintly opened my eyes and I found myself in the throne room of Gahne.
Looks like I am sitting on the throne.
The table I saw before was not there. Not only that, Ilias and the others are not here either.
But then who was the one that woke me up just now?
“Above ya. Above.”
I raised my head as told and looked at where the voice came from.
The one there was the Gold Demon Lord—in an awfully shrunk state.
Did she shrink herself? That appearance of her floating is cute, but I find it hard to comment on.
“Nfufufu, let me get this out of the way first, but this one has had the memories of the real body implanted, and am like a special mana mass that has automated functions. I can answer questions that have answers set beforehand, but for anything else, the most ya can do is admire this one!” (Gold)
The small Gold Demon Lord is all fluffy.
The fact that she made herself a mascot character makes me feel like this is a depiction of her confidence in her own beauty.
She is probably telling me it is impossible to get information out of her to kill time.
“Woah there, no barbaric actions like taking my clothes off, okay? Such things, do them to my real body—” (Gold)
“Explanation of the special benefits.”
“Ya want to know about the special benefits? Alright, I will explain then.” (Gold)
I tried cutting her off and asked her in a systematic way, and she swiftly switched and complied.
Looks like it is not being moved by the will of the Gold Demon Lord.
That means the conversation just now was set beforehand. How meticulous.
“Yer currently ruling Gahne as the king. However, the capabilities of that body are not any different from the one in yer original world. If yer confident in yer strength, wave yer combat prowess as ya wish!” (Gold)
“What part of that is a special benefit?!”
What a terrible special benefit. I am a civilian with zero attack power, you know?
Even if not on the level of a Demon Lord, I would have wanted the combat power of a general.
I feel like it would turn into a different game with that though…
“By the way, ya don’t exist in this simulated world. If there were two people with the same name and same position, it would only bring about confusion. Aside from that, everything is pretty much the same as the official history, so don’t worry and enjoy it!”
Aah, I see. You could call that a special benefit.
It would serve well mostly for Ilias.
A knight on the level of Ilias would be added to Gahne, and the Ilias from Taizu will be gone.
So Ilias would be benefiting in both fronts.
You yourself being gone as an enemy is a big benefit for someone strong.
It would be somewhat good for Wolfe.
As for me, it would just mean a civilian would be gone.
Since the chance of Wolfe being found is gone, the chances of Wolfe being an enemy are low, but Ilias will definitely show up as an enemy.
“Explanation of your functions.”
“Want to know what this one can do? Fine, then choose the point yer curious about from this book!” (Gold)
The small Gold Demon Lord brings out a book out of nowhere. There’s a long table of contents, and I can tell that she has many features.
I begin by reading the instruction manual.
The verification system of this simulated world is extremely outstanding.
First of all, there’s a lot of things floating in front of my vision, and you can choose them as if it were a heads-up display.
There’s broad functions like Domestic Affairs Mode, Diplomacy Mode, War Mode, but there’s also detailed ones all the way to changing the breakfast of the soldiers today.
It is normally left in Auto Mode so a high spec AI takes over, and you can customize it to the smallest details.
It is like a high grade game where beginners and experts can play.
If I had to point out a downside, it would be that a casual gamer wouldn’t be able to keep up here.
I am sure Ilias and Wolfe are suffering right now.
That said, Mix and Rakura are hearing about this info at the same time as them, so their processing speed as their comprehension tower shouldn’t be bad.
The point to take into consideration is the fast forward feature. Time seems to be running in normal speed, but it has the ability to go x2 all the way to x60.
There’s even a skip function that lets you skip by day or month.
However, because there’s no pause or rewind, it would be dangerous to fast forward excessively.
For now, I will have the Auto Mode continue and get the necessary knowledge.
“Documents of Gahne’s army.”
“Want to know the details of the army of Gahne? Fine, then choose the point yer curious about from this book!” (Gold)
This mascot has a pretty limited vocabulary.
She didn’t get bored after the first dialogue, right?
I tried petting her head.
“Nfufu, go ahead and pet me more!” (Gold)
I tried pulling her tail.
“Hey, stop that! Keep it at just petting!” (Gold)
I am sure there are hidden commands. Let’s play with her in my break times.
I checked the documents of the Gahne army.
Due in part to the Auto Mode, the nation is being strengthened even now, and you can see the growth it will achieve after a certain period of time.
“The documents of the army of Taizu.”
“Want to know the details of the army of Taizu? Fine, then choose the point yer curious about from this book!” (Gold)
She brought it out the same way, but this one doesn’t have as much information.
So we have to figure that out ourselves.
But I understand the strength of the knights to a certain degree because of my experience in the real world.
As for the well known knights, there’s a certain degree of info on them, and I can even compare their capabilities to the generals here.
I can get a general idea of our strength with this.
I should try to understand each other’s abilities calmly first.
I checked the documents for around half a day, and I was shown just how dire the current situation is.
“…This is…she got us here.”
There’s barely any chance for Gahne to win if we were to wage war normally.
———
“Nfufufufu, I wonder what kind of face he is despairing with right about now?” (Gold)
I look at the 5 who have had their minds sent to the simulated world and have fallen into the same sleeping state, and a smile leaked out from me.
The army of Gahne has coordination and its whole army would be 100 times more than that of Taizu in numbers.
However, the nation called Taizu is abnormal even with that.
The trigger to this was when I declared war on them to play around in the simulated world.
The result was a complete defeat. I tried testing it out countless times after that, but I haven’t had a victory yet.
It is not like there’s no chance at all. However, I noticed that this was a deed that required a great deal of verifications in order to achieve, so I decided stop trying.
“In the first place, what’s with those knights?! They are not humans at this point!” (Gold)
Even the apprentice knights had abnormal strength.
The arrows strengthened with mana wouldn’t reach their flesh even if it pierces their armor, and if they try to face them head on, their weapons will be destroyed along with their arms.
Even if they fought for long periods of time without eating food, or sleeping, their battle strength barely deteriorates.
On top of that, even if their coordination with each other isn’t that good, when it comes to the commands of a knight captain, their morale will increase to abnormal degrees, and they will show far more capability than normal.
Even the horses have had special training, and their speed competes with that of a wyvern flying in the skies.
If it is just one knight, it is possible to surround them and overwhelm them with numbers.
But people who value order highly won’t be isolated carelessly.
The only ones who would be isolated are monsters that could face an army on their own.
Ilias Ratzel is one of them. This is my first time meeting that girl, but she has gotten to this castle as far as 3 times already in the simulated worlds.
It goes without saying that the generals protecting this castle were all cut down by her alone.
Even though she is a really beautiful girl, what’s with that barbarian?
That goes for the Ragudo Division that she is a member of and is led by Salvet Ragudo.
Even though they are filled with old knights without much left to live, I haven’t been able to defeat them on a one on one with any of my generals.
As for their knight captain, Salvet Ragudo, he is already at the same level as Yugura.
Yugura would win against him, but the Demon Lords who would have a chance to win against him would be Black, Green, and Scarlet.
He managed to behead me like normal even within the impenetrable barrier of this castle. I just don’t get it anymore.
The finisher is the king of Taizu, Marito Taizu.
The human who is called the Wise King even when young. A promising king that holds intelligence that matches me and progresses his nation with certainty even with me being able to create simulated worlds with my power as a Demon Lord.
Even when I changed my way of attacking them continuously, he would quickly deal with them efficiently.
On top of that, he is ruling them as the absolute symbol that continuously increases the morale of the knights, and the longer the war goes, the stronger the effects get.
The young’un said something about assassinating him, but I have already tried that out.
Not a single assassin I have sent has come back.
Is it because he himself has outstanding combat prowess, or does he have a bodyguard that matches Salvet Ragudo…?
“How scary even though they are countryside knights.” (Gold)
It should be safe to say I am pretty much guaranteed victory in this game here.
That said, in the world where Ilias Ratzel herself has come to our side, and the world where Mix Taizu, who is said to be an equal match to Marito Taizu, has become the consultant, there might be some sort of miracle happening.
As for the young’un…the special benefits have no point on him.
He has no choice but to do it with trial and error like me. It can’t even be called fair.
It is true that he shows promise and I do like him. I should celebrate his results regardless of victory or defeat and apologize to him.
“That said, I should have fun too.” (Gold)
The ones in front of me are sleeping and can’t move. All women are first class beauties.
This one can enjoy the beauty of both men and women, so there’s no way I wouldn’t enjoy this situation.
I can’t enjoy myself excessively because of the contract magic, but it should be possible to touch or lick them.
“Nfufu, I won’t harm them. Not harm them, that is.” (Gold)
There’s no need to hurry. There’s a lot of time.
I can check their progress with just 5 minutes.
I will check their state at around their second try and enjoy myself fully before they wake up.
First, I will drink some tea and enjoy the view until I feel full. I also have some snacks I had hidden.
I quickly do the preparations for the tea.
I may be a ruler, but times like this are fun.
A world where I can freely move in and freely enjoy the situation. Umu, not bad.
After taking my time preparing, I noticed an instance was about to pass.
“Let’s leave the young’un for last. Now then, which girl should I sample first?” (Gold)
I look at each one of them and evaluate them as I caress them gently.
Even the Ilias Ratzel that has taken great care of me in the simulated world and is a highly prideful knight is just a lovely girl when she is asleep.
The armor is on the way, but my hand might be able to go in between the gaps.
Rakura Salf is a cleric known in Mejis as a Great Devil subjugator priestess. Her body is the most thick out of everyone here.
That body of hers sleeping comfortably must be really nice to the touch.
Mix Taizu being from royal lineage yet being an adventurer really stirs me up.
She seems to be crude but that noble aura you can get a peek at deep in her makes me drool.
And then, there’s the white black wolfkin girl, Wolfe. The amount of mana of this one is truly splendid.
Silver hair that’s as gleaming as mine. She wouldn’t notice even if I were to chew on it a bit.
“Damn, that was a shocker.”
“Hm?” (Gold)
I moved my gaze. What was there was the young’un looking at me with a scornful gaze.
…Why?!
“W-W-W-W-Why are ya awake?! It still hasn’t been one—” (Gold)
No, an iteration has passed.
I took my sweet time preparing the tea and it was just close to one iteration. It is past one iteration now.
One instance; in other words, it is the time when the first iteration of the simulated world of Gahne is over.
“I have made Taizu fall just as you told me to -in my first run.”