Prologue
Several months had passed since I had graduated from the Royal Academy, and I’d slowly become accustomed to reigning as the lord of Dolkness County. The county lands had become somewhat derelict in the absence of attentive management, but after I assumed lordship, the demesne had gradually become a bustling and productive community.
This was only possible because of the aid of everyone around me. Patrick, my fiance, helped me to communicate with the public officials and servants without my being negatively misunderstood. Daemon, my deputy, made progress on various projects that he hadn’t been able to execute due to my parents’ interference. Ryuu, my dragon, became an iconic feature of the manor village, and he seemed to maintain order merely by flying around the place. Rita, my maid, worked hard managing all of the other servants.
As for me, the lord of this county... Wait. Thinking about it, I wasn’t sure I had made any contributions at all. I had continued to leave clerical tasks to Daemon, and I was pretty sure that Patrick handled almost all of our external affairs... Aha! I funded this entire operation. I had poured all of the funds I gathered from dungeon crawling into public works projects, spending it as freely as if the money just grew on the trees around the village. Other than that, I also... Besides that, I... It was no use. I hadn’t done anything of note. Even when it came to paperwork, all I usually did was give my stamp of approval with no further input.
“Am I unneeded in Dolkness County?” I murmured, without thinking about who might overhear.
“Yumiella?” The voice of the companion at my side jarred me from my thoughts. “Whatever are you muttering to yourself?”
"Oh, it’s nothing.”
The girl strolling down the streets of Dolkness Village by my side was Eleanora, the daughter of the (former) Duke of Hillrose. She had come to live with me following the revocation of her father’s title.
Eleanora and I were, well, something like...friends? So I didn’t mind helping her out for a little while. Because of that, Eleanora, as the daughter of a fallen aristocrat, was currently something of a freeloader —in other words, she was working even less than I was. There was no way a born and bred lady of the nobility like her could ever put in a hard day’s work.
With nothing better to do, she was consequently once again tagging along on one of my periodic inspections of the manor village, but wasn’t she bored spending time with me, going around such a humdrum town?
“I’m so happy that we get to walk together like this,” she sighed gratefully.
"I’ll support you for the rest of your life, Lady Eleanora. You won’t have to work a single day,” I assured her.
Who did this?! Who made Eleanora feel as if she were unnecessary? No matter how you look at it, I, in fact, am the most unnecessary person here.
"I’ve been helping out at the church, but... I don’t think that counts as working," she admitted.
“What? Do you mean the Sanonist church?”
“Yes. Oh! What if we visited the church together, right now?”
“I’ll pass on going to church.”
I prefer to stay away from religion... Wait, no. That’s not my concern right now. What I'm surprised by is the fact that Eleanora felt the impulse to do something like that at all Which brings me back to my point: am I actually unnecessary?
I continued my stroll through Dolkness Village while pondering the possibility of my uselessness. After all, as the lord of this county, it was important to see how the town was doing.
Is this actually important, though? Isn't an inspection basically just a vacation for important people? I don't think they actually do any work during an inspection. In fact, I’m not doing anything even approaching work right now.
I need to find something meaningful, some kind of work that only I can do...
Just then, Eleanora suddenly exclaimed, “Oh! It’s Sir Patrick!”
“Really? I wonder what he’s doing.”
Patrick had supposedly headed out this morning to take care of an errand. He said there was no need for me to go with him, but that just made me wonder more about what he was doing. This was not the first time that he'd gone out without mentioning what he was up to. Where was he going?
“Let’s follow him, Lady Eleanora,” I said impulsively.
“That sounds like such fun!”
“What’s Patrick doing?” I wondered. “Could it be...that he’s cheating on me?”
"I am certain that cheating is the one thing he would never do.”
Eleanora’s confidence in Patrick was admirable. Truthfully, I had only mentioned cheating as a joke, because I also trusted him greatly. This trust ran truly deep, and if I had to compare it to something, I might liken it to—
“We’re going to lose him!” Eleanora startled me from my Patrick- based reverie. “Hurry up, Yumiella.”
“Oh, right.”
Luckily, he hadn't noticed us at all. We continued to tail Patrick as he moved through the village.
Soon, we arrived at the outskirts of town.
"Patrick has something to do way out here?” I muttered.
“Whatever could that shack be?” Eleanora asked.
The building that Patrick had just entered was actually a guard station.
Oh, I see, he’s just doing his job.
The guards were soldiers hired by the Dolkness family, and the work they did largely consisted of maintaining order, much like a private police force. There were various stations scattered across Dolkness Village, and this particular one was positioned to observe anyone entering town. If someone suspicious-looking were to walk past, a guard would come out of the station and question them.
It occurred to me that it would probably be difficult for this small- time police force to handle an invasion from, say, a foreign army. I’d recently overheard somewhere that our guards weren’t actually very strong... That’s when it hit me—I had finally happened upon a job that only I could do.
I strode confidently towards the guard station, with Eleanora trailing behind.
“Oh, have we finished tailing Sir Patrick?”
“We’re done. I have found what I’m meant to do,” I declared. “I became the lord of Dolkness County in order to do it.”
I should have realized it sooner. I probably would have if I had interacted with one of the guards, but... That’s right. Now that I think about it, I’ve never spoken with any of them before. On paper, I am their boss, so I probably should’ve come to see them ages ago.
For whatever reason, I had never found the time to come by for an inspection, nor had I ever passed by a guard in town during my walks.
Could it be that...the soldiers are avoiding me? That can’t possibly be the case. There’s no way that the heroes that protect this town would be afraid of I continued my march towards the shack, and upon arrival, I vigorously flung the door open.
"Pardon me. I’m the lord of the county, Yumi—”
“Run!” a soldier shrieked.
Inside were seven men, and upon seeing me, everyone except for Patrick bolted for the back door in utter panic. The door in question was narrow—there was no way that the swarm of large men rushing toward it could escape easily through it all at once. As they piled up in an inevitable traffic jam at the exit, I cast a spell.
“Dark Bind.”
Black hands stretched out from the shadow of each man and bound their bodies. They screamed in terror, but there was nothing to worry about. Dark Bind was non-lethal, which was rare for the spells I used.
“What are you doing here, Yumiella?” Patrick asked.
"I followed you.”
“I’m sorry, everyone. This is my fault,” Patrick apologized, bowing his head to the bound men for some reason. He turned to me and continued. “I’m the one who kept these soldiers away from you. I arranged things so that you wouldn’t come by for inspections, and I instructed them to run away if they saw you in town.”
Why would he do something like that?I would never do anything detrimental to the guards
"I just wanted to help everyone,” I explained, trying to clear up the misunderstanding. “I thought I could help all the guards with their level grinding...”
Now that I had actually met them, I realized that our guards were much too weak. I wouldn’t expect them to be strong enough to beat me, but I wanted them to at least be able to deal with Dark Bind. How could anyone feel safe living in a town in which the people ostensibly meant to protect it were so easily restrained?
This was the one meaningful task I could take on.
I'll round up all of the soldiers, and we'll go dungeon crawling.If we’re fielding that number of people, we should have no problem pressing forward into the deeper levels I can guarantee their safety, too. Even if someone’s lower body gets slashed off and sent flying, I’ll heal them with my recovery magic.
I presented the gist of my level-grinding plan. As Patrick let out a deep sigh and the guards violently shook in their boots, Eleanora wandered in late and curiously glanced around the inside of the guard station.
"This is exactly why I didn’t want you to meet the guards.” Patrick met my eyes and spoke as if he were trying to explain things to a small child.
“What do you mean by that?” I huffed.
"Their job is to maintain order. They don’t need your level of strength for that.”
“I’m not saying they should become level 99.1 just think they should be a little bit stronger. Maybe...around level 50?”
If I remember correctly, the Commander of the Knight’s Order, who is said to be the strongest warrior in the kingdom, is around level 60. That seems like it would be a bit overkill, so III just leave it at level 50. Maybe that's actually too low?
The guards gulped as Patrick nodded to himself. “Yes, it does look like I made the correct decision.”
“Why—”
“Hold on, allow me to rephrase this. Don't take my work away from me. This is one of the ways in which we are dividing up responsibilities. Please take a step back from this. For me.”
"If that’s what you want...”
I see, dividing up responsibilities I guess it wasn’t right to try and take over someone else's jurisdiction. I’ve heard many stories about different factions fighting over official positions in the Royal Capital Public officials, military and civilian alike, trying to expand their territories.. Oh, I get it!
“You’re a military official, and I’m a civil official!”
“You? A civil official?” Patrick snorted.
“Hull? Am I wrong...?”
"No, you’re correct, you’re a civil official. Anyone would agree. You lot think so too, right?” Patrick turned to the guards for affirmation, and one after another they concurred: I was definitely more of a civil official.
I see, I get it now. I’m the lord of this county and a civil official! It's no wonder that the military wouldn’t like me getting up in their business. But...technically the guards are under my command. Oh, this must be what civilian control of the military is. I learned something new today!
On the way home, the three of us walked alongside each other, Patrick, Eleanora, and I. All that talk about military and civil officials seemed to have been too difficult for Eleanora to keep up with. It appeared that she had enjoyed looking around the station, but still, I thought it would be best to apologize.
“I’m sorry, Lady Eleanora. That must have been boring for you, with all that talk about civil officials and such...”
"I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Though one thing I thought I might mention is that Daemon seems much more like a civil official than you do, Yumiella.”
“That’s true.”
Daemon was kind of like the ultimate bureaucrat. The title of civil official fit him several hundred times more than it did me. From managing taxes to planning projects, Daemon was in charge of everything that seemed like a thing that a civil official might do.
Wait... Doesn’t that mean I’m not doing the work of a civil official?
“Convenient lies do appear in unexpected places,” Patrick said, pressing his hand against his forehead in a manner which suggested he might be feeling somewhat stressed.
Once again, I felt unmoored in my lack of purpose. Could I force the guards to level grind?
Walking alongside me, Patrick noticed that I was agonizing over something.
"Is something bothering you, Yumiella?”
"I have been thinking that maybe I’m unneeded in Dolkness County.
I’m not involved with training the soldiers like you are, I’m not able to manage taxes like Daemon does, I can’t do chores around the mansion like Rita, I can’t fly like Ryuu, and I can’t do...whatever it is Lady Eleanora does. I can't... Um, well, yeah.”
“That’s not true. There are many tasks that only you can do.”
"Don’t lie! All I have going for me is that I’m the strongest person in the world, and I have a lot of money!”
“Aren’t those two things enough? ...Well, it’s clear you’re not satisfied with that,” Patrick said with a wry laugh. “Daemon, Rita, Ryuu, even Lady Eleanora, as well as I myself—we all wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. It’s because you’re here that everyone can work hard for Dolkness County.’
Patrick’s words seeped into my heart, making it feel warm and full.
“You really mean that?”
“We need you. Everyone needs you, Yumiella.”
“Me too!” Eleanora chimed in. “I would never wish to be without you!”
To my right was Patrick, to my left was Eleanora, and back at the mansion, everyone else was waiting. In the past, I had been alone, but now I was surrounded by all of my friends. I’d never been happier, and it made me feel very proud to think I was the one who had built such a strong community.
I see now. Thank you, Patrick. I can't believe I had been so anxious because I couldn't see such a simple truth.
"Thank you. That must mean...that people are drawn to my overflowing virtue ”
“I don’t think that’s quite it...”
It seemed that others didn't consider me virtuous. Well, I guess truly virtuous people weren’t called the Demon Lord in some circles.
In the end, I didn’t discover my purpose in my life in Dolkness County, but I learned that I was surrounded by wonderful people.
I hope I can protect everyone with my level 99 strength, I thought to myself at the end of this perfectly normal day.
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