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And so, Lüenheit officially seceded from the city-state alliance of Miraldia and formed an alliance with the Demon Lord’s Army.
In effect, Lüenheit was now the capital city of the Demon Lord’s Army.
Which meant its infrastructure and defenses had to be strengthened.
It felt like playing a castle-building simulation game.
Except this time, actual lives were on the line.

“So, what should we do first?”

The day after the feverish celebrations of Lüenheit’s independence, Aylia and I got straight to discussing our next steps.
After all, Lüenheit was now a traitor in Miraldia’s eyes. If we took our sweet time dawdling around, we’d be attacked.
So I decided to put into motion a plan I’d been considering for a while.

“We’ll get rid of the troubling citizens.”
“What?”

Aylia blinked in surprise.

Of course, by troubling citizens, I didn’t mean the entire population.

“There are probably citizens who opposed independence, or who resent the Demon Lord’s Army, right?”
“Not many, I think, but yes, they exist.”

It’s only natural that not everyone would share the same opinion .

So I granted all citizens the freedom to leave Lüenheit. Anyone who didn’t like the new order could leave at any time.
Roughly a hundred people accepted immediately. Out of a population of 3,000, that was just over 3%.
There were probably many more still undecided, but this was a good start.

Aylia watched the departing citizens sadly as they carried their belongings out through the city gates.

“I hope they can find a place to settle safely…”
“I’ve made arrangements so they can return anytime. If things don’t work out, they can always come back to Lüenheit.”

After the whole incident with Priest Jucht, I had to reconsider the thought process of this world’s humans.
Once someone associates with demons, the rest of humanity tends not to trust them again.
Not all people are like that, of course. But I’d bet some portion of those hundred would fail to resettle and return here.

To prepare for that, I had the Demon Lord’s Army manage their homes and farmland. We’d buy the homes of those who wanted to sell, and buy them back for the same amount if they returned.
And if they came back broke, we’d allow interest-free installment payments.
With this system, we could tell who had returned and maybe get them to share what they’d seen outside.

Still, ideally, I hoped they would settle elsewhere.
Since they weren’t friendly toward the Demon Lord’s Army, they’d probably spread rumors about how we’re violent, arrogant, and so on.
That kind of fear would make other cities anxious about us.
Eventually, we planned to subjugate all of Miraldia’s city-states. At that point, the scary image of the Demon Lord’s Army would come in handy.
It was like running a mafia…

“You’re making an evil face, Lord Veit.”
“I won’t deny it, Lady Aylia.”

Now that we’d cleared out the opposition and set the stage for the future, it was time to move on.
We had to make Lüenheit bigger and stronger.

“If we rebuild the walls, the city will be defenseless during construction. Ideally, I’d like to keep the current walls and build new ones around them.”

That’s what I told a team of engineers.
It was a joint team of humans and dogfolk.
The humans were followers of the Sonnenlicht Church, who’d migrated from Tübahn under the direction of Jucht. They were helping develop Lüenheit as part of that.

The leader of the Tübahn engineering corps, a middle-aged man named Azur (Priest Jucht’s son-in-law), nodded at my proposal.

“That would be best, considering the timeline. Also, the current walls have significant historical and cultural value. Tearing them down would be a waste.”

Oh, they do? I’m not really privy about these things, but if something had cultural value, I suddenly felt sentimental about it.

However, Azur added:

“We’ll need to survey the surrounding land. Encircling the entire city will be a huge undertaking. I’ll draft a plan, but construction will take years. Is that acceptable?”
“Unfinished walls would be the perfect cover for an invading enemy…”

Maybe we should’ve done this before declaring independence…
This is a headache, but we still need it to be done all the same.

“If we don’t do it now, we’ll regret it later. Start from the east side.”
“Understood.”

For the time being, we’d avoid direct military conflict and focus on espionage and diplomacy.

Even as I steadily progressed with my “Demon Renovation” of Lüenheit, there were other matters demanding my attention.
Like the Demon Lord’s Castle, Grünstadt.
As usual, my master teleported me there for a report. Also as usual, Vice-Commander Baltze rushed toward me.

“Lord Veit, we can’t find His Majesty!”
“Again…?”

The Demon Lord, Friedenrichter, was a very busy man.
We depended on him not only for military matters but also for domestic policy. He had the knowledge of a reincarnated person, and everyone listened when he spoke.
Requests and documents from all departments constantly piled up on his desk.

The fearsome warrior Vice-command Baltze now wandered the halls carrying stacks of paperwork.

“This is bad. I’ve got urgent reports that need His Majesty’s review, but we can’t locate him.”
“Ah, in that case…”

I thought back.
Yesterday, while drinking green tea, he said something odd…

“It’s been ages since I last fought in real combat. I fear my reflexes have dulled.”
“No one here can keep up with you anyway, Your Majesty.”
“Even so, I must maintain the martial standards expected of a warrior leader.”

Ah, that’s it.

“He’s probably at the training yard.”
“Oh! Thank you!”

Sure enough, we found the Demon Lord at the training grounds, sparring wildly against a group of dragonkin recruits.

“Come, all of you — attack at once!”
“Y-Yes, sir!!”

About thirty recruits with training spears surrounded him and attacked in unison.
The Demon Lord spun his massive body and vaulted over them effortlessly.
By the time he landed gracefully, three recruits were already staggering. He’d tapped them with his stick midair. When did he even do that!?
After that, it was just a one-sided beatdown.

“Hmm. Not good.”

The Demon Lord looked down at the fallen recruits and sighed.
Please, praise them! If they were humans, they’d be running away screaming!

“Couldn’t jump as high as I wanted… I’ve gone soft.”

Oh, that.

“Your Majesty, urgent paperwork.”

Vice-Command Baltze handed over the documents, which the Demon Lord flipped through with incredible speed.

“Hmm… very well. Call an emergency war council this afternoon. Summon all senior officers.”
“Yes, sir!”

Vice-Command Baltze saluted and dashed off.

Afterward, the Demon Lord gave each recruit individual pointers from their earlier spar.
I knew nothing about spear fighting, but it seemed like intense and detailed coaching.

“You all performed admirably. Train harder so you can do even better in real combat.”
“Yes, sir!!”

After encouraging the stiff, nervous recruits, the Demon Lord turned to me.
I had a bad feeling about this.

“Veit. With you, I could train more realistically, perhaps?”
“I’ll pass.”

No way. He’s faster than a werewolf like me and stronger than a giant. How am I supposed to fight that?

“My specialty is unarmed combat. Vice-Command Baltze is a master swordsman. He’d be a better opponent.”
“Hmm, good point.”

Sorry, Baltze.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder. What’s this emergency war council all about?