Dungeon Defense (WN)

100 gold coins were given for moving a single boulder.

This news quickly spread to all of the villages. People started to whisper among each other asking if His Highness the Demon Lord was perhaps pulling an extremely bizarre joke. Three days later, a new decree was posted at the front door of the Grand Assembly Hall. It was another ridiculous order.

– 300 gold coins will be given to whoever returns the boulder that Yammer had moved three days ago back to its original position.

This time no one complained. They all ran straight to the bottom of the hill.

“Get out of the way you old coots! You’ll break your backs if you push yourselves too hard!”

People shouted at each other as they ran to the boulder. A young man had arrived first, but the others didn’t care as they latched on to the boulder like a bunch of leeches.

“No, why are you guys acting like this when I got here first!? This is mine, mine I say!”

“There’s no such thing as yours or mine. Huhu, the decree doesn’t say that only one person can move it.”

“Dear Lord, this guy is trying to rob me in broad daylight!”

The young man blew a fuse. Even an old man who was past his 60s let out a snort as he stuck to the boulder.

“John, have you already forgotten the help I gave you when you were starving during last winter?”

“W-What? Why are you bringing that up now?”

“You brat! The Goddesses will probably become enraged and call you a bastard if you chase me away now!”

More people gathered once the young man hesitated.

“Hey! You know that my family runs a blacksmith, right? Just you try to take this all for yourself. If you do, then I’ll never loan you any more farming tools.”

“If you don’t want to become an outcast in your village, then you better share. Or you can try leaving your hometown and living well on your own!”

The young man looked like he was about to cry. It couldn’t be helped. In the end, a total of 14 people moved the stone together.

Once they placed the boulder in front of the Grand Assembly Hall, sure enough, the public order officer came running out and gifted them the gold. There were actually 300 gold coins in the box. The 14 citizens let out a cheer as they split the gold among each other equally.

Something strange happened after this. People would start to wait in line in front of the Grand Assembly Hall almost every day. The number of people there went beyond a hundred.

Unfortunately, another decree to move the rock never appeared again. People lamented.

“Uugh, as I thought, His Highness was just bored…….”

“I should’ve been there back then!”

Shortly after, a few dwarves came and started to sculpt the boulder.

The people there started to watch the dwarves curiously. Words were being engraved on the rock. The dwarves promptly left after they finished carving the words. The words were as follows:

「First Amendment. The land will be ruled by the Lord, the Immortal Sovereign. 」

「Second Amendment. The people of the land are equally delegated the right to live freely by the Lord. As long as the Lord’s sovereign power is not infringed upon, the people’s right to live freely and equally will be protected.」

「Third Amendment. The people’s freedom, the people’s assets, the people’s safety, and the development and peace of the world must be promoted according to the rights delegated to the masses and each individual person.」

Three amendments were engraved on the stone.

People immediately realized that they were the laws that were created recently. They also understood that this wasn’t some random joke by His Highness the Demon Lord, but it was so that he could hand his decrees down to them as clearly as possible.

There were actually more clauses to the new decrees; however, Dantalian decided to engrave the most important clauses into the heads of his people.

The stone was called <Yammer’s Boulder>.

Dantalian had named the boulder himself. He then gathered the people at the next Grand Assembly that was held and spoke there.

“From this point forth, if I wish to give you all an order or request for your cooperation, then I will place a decree in front of Yammer’s Boulder. For those of you who do not know how to read, I will order a proxy to read the decree out loud for you.”

“But why is it Yammer’s Boulder?”

“I am the one who will be creating these laws, but why is it that I chose to put the name of a normal citizen on this symbolic boulder instead of simply calling it Dantalian’s Boulder?”

“Men and women of my fief, it is because you are the ones who will ultimately carry out these laws!”

“Your right to live freely and equally undoubtedly comes from me, Dantalian. Nevertheless, I am not the one to live your free and equal lives. Bear this in mind.”

“Only you can live your lives.”

“Your Lord can never live your lives in your stead! Similar to how the Goddesses have given us life, we must also be the ones to cultivate our own lives. In other words, your Lord is like a priest that acts as a medium between you all and the Goddesses.”

“Therefore, I will call that stone Yammer’s. This means that these are your laws. My people, live while bearing this in mind.”

There were naturally artifices hidden within these words.

The most critical one was the fact that the sovereign was just one person, Demon Lord Dantalian, and not the people.

The people will live freely and equally; however, within the rights ‘benevolently’ given to them by the Lord. This meant that the people had to live while constantly feeling grateful to the lord, and, it was obvious, but this led them to treat Dantalian as a sacred being.

……What is the reason we live well? It’s obviously because we work hard. However, why are we able to work hard in the first place? It’s because His Highness Dantalian granted them the right to live freely. Even if we live well, enjoy peace, and bask in freedom, all of these things are fundamentally thanks to His Highness Dantalian…….

This was an uncanny and dangerous logic.

“Glory to His Highness Dantalian!”

However, the people didn’t waver as they cheered.

Authority was an unfamiliar concept to the people anyway. There was only one thing important to them. The fact that everyone under the Lord was equal. This meant that there were no nobles or slaves and that everyone was equal!

It was only natural for people to fervently support Dantalian since he had just declared to the people, who used to suffer by the tyranny of nobles, that ‘there will be no nobles or slaves in this territory’.

* * *

I returned to my Demon Lord room after I finished my speech at the Grand Assembly Hall. I had to hastily leave as people kept cheering out my name for a while.

Daisy had been at my side from start to finish as my attendant. Once we returned to my room━we were able to return quickly because the teleportation device to my room was finished━Daisy quietly opened her mouth.

“This does not make sense.”

The black-haired girl stared at me coldly.

“What are you saying doesn’t make sense?”

“Everything. Everything said by you was filled with deception and lies, Father.”

“I don’t understand what you mean by that.”

I chuckled. Daisy spoke back once I did.

“No one can live another person’s life in their stead, and people obviously have the right to live their own lives. You cannot live their lives in their stead, so how are you giving them the right to live their lives?”

Daisy raised her voice.

“You’re infringing upon your own words, Father. This is a contradiction.”

“Oh?”

“All you did was gather people and say some nice-sounding words to deceive them.”

I lied down on my bed and stretched.

“Mmm. So what?”

“…….”

“It seems that our Daisy has become a republican activist while I wasn’t looking. Were you infected by Luke? This is my land, in other words, my possession. I have no idea what you’re saying is contradicting when all I am saying is that what’s mine is mine. If you want to take something that is mine and make it everyone else’s, then, well, wouldn’t it be the people who should stand up on their own and not me?”

I never intended to create a democratic region. Why would I do that?

It was at that moment that the crystal ball on the table next to my bed started to glow.

I had several crystal balls, but the one to glow was the one directly connected to Paimon. I quickly got up and activated the orb.

– Have you been doing well, Dantalian?

The beautiful, red-haired Demon Lord was displayed in the air.

“Yes, I have been resting well thanks to you.”

Paimon would reach out to me like this occasionally. It wasn’t because of some important reason. We would have casual conversations about personal affairs and how the recent revolution was unfolding.

Paimon would often complain about how it would be harder than expected for the revolution to succeed.

I would smile gently and console Paimon every time she did.

“Miss Paimon, please do not grieve too much. People often become a slave to tradition and forget the fact that they are equal and free. You must overcome that power of oblivion and lead the continent to the true ideal society……. There is no way that this would be easy.”

Paimon let out a sigh.

– Of course. Nonetheless, I cannot help but complain……

“If you were to look at the hardship Miss Paimon is currently enduring from another perspective, this is not anguish for Miss Paimon alone, but anguish that you have taken upon yourself in the stead of mankind and demonkind combined. That anguish will naturally be heavy.”

– …….

“Do your best. Even if everyone else is unable to understand Miss Paimon and denounces you, I will, at least, always be here to support you. Until the day republicanism is victorious.”

Our conversations would mostly end like this.

Paimon was probably having a hard time as well.

She does have her allies in the Liberation Alliance, but, strictly speaking, they weren’t equal comrades. To a certain extent, Paimon was their leader. As the leader, she couldn’t show her weak side to her subordinates.

Moreover, among the Demon Lords who were equal to her in rank, none of them understood republicanism. Only I was in the position to hear Paimon out.

Well, I personally think of this as a type of counseling. I can maintain my friendship with Paimon by chatting with her like this for a couple of minutes. There was nothing to lose from this.

Once I turned my head, I saw Daisy staring at me.

“Mm? Ah, where were we?”

“……You were talking about how you have no intention to acknowledge your people’s right of freedom.”

“That’s right. If they want to get their own rights, then they should start a revolution or something. Well, there’s no reason to rashly give them their rights. That’s life.”

Daisy suddenly let out a big sigh.

“Hm? Who taught you to sigh when someone is talking?”

“No. I just realized that it was stupid of me to bring this up to you.”

Daisy mocked herself like someone in their sixties.

“Even though I know what sort of person Father is.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say. In any case, it’s true that you’re stupid.”

“Yes, it’s all my fault. Truly.”

Huh. Daisy was honestly admitting to her mistake for some reason.

Even though she was someone who was so prideful that she would never acknowledge her mistakes even if she were to die. This made her appear a bit cuter than usual. I was pleased by this, so I decided to not torment Daisy tonight.

This is why people need to be honest with themselves. You become so much nicer to look at when you’re honest.

***

Author’s Afterword

For reference, it may not have been depicted, but Dantalian has been training Daisy every day.

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, politics are weird. How do they work? Well, in other news, I’m going to be getting my booster shot in March and my brother is getting married next month. I sort of feel like I’m in a daze. It probably wouldn’t be such a big deal if my mom didn’t have an issue with my brother’s fiancee. Marriage issues often get dramatized in kdramas, but it’s nothing like that for us. Just my brother’s fiancee being somewhat rude and my brother being a pushover and not being able to mediate the situation properly. It’s just annoying for me since I end up having to mediate between my mom and my brother. Just let this be over with already.

In any case, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.

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