Alana was a saytr. Running her small goat horns that poked out of her curly hair nervously, she waited with her friends outside the city of Daher with other nonhumans. A resident of the slums, she had been working in an inn as a maid cleaning rooms and making sure everything ran smoothly before a resident complained about not wanting demihumans to serve them resulting in her getting fired. After that life, which had already been hard for her, grew increasingly worse. And now, the notice with the promise of work given by the Demon Lord might well be her last chance.

"Do you think he will come?" her friend Kaede asked.

"He's a Demon Lord; he may have been killed by now."

"True. They say that they rarely live very long."

"But why are they called Demon Lords?"

"I can tell you that" a third person, a minotaur named Thistus told them. "Demon Lords gain their title by being labelled by the System as an enemy of humanity. Being a demon has nothing to do with it."

At that moment space shifted and before anyone could blink a human male appeared carrying a mermaid in his arms. Shocked by his sudden appearance, everyone looked at them warily and backed up a couple steps while James helped Jessica sit on the rocky ground.

"Hello everyone!" the human told them, raising his voice to address all of them. "I am James, also known as the Demon Lord. This is my wife Jessica. We are here to offer you all work. If you are interested, please line up and tell me why you want to come with me and leave Daher."

A desk appeared, and James helped Jessica into a chair before taking one himself and putting two more in front of the desk. Looking straight at her, James pointed her way.

"Miss?"

"Me?" Alana asked, pointing at herself.

"Yes, you. Please come up here."

She nervously approached the human, remembering the notice that had said no humans. So why was a human only accepting nonhumans?

"Hello, nice to meet you!" James warmly greeted her, offering his hand. "May I have your name please?" he asked as he took out a piece of paper and a pen.

"Alana."

"Okay Alana, and why are you looking for work?"

"I need money."

"Alright. May I please know your employment history?"

Alana felt her nervousness slowly fade away as the couple asked her questions. Nothing too invasive, and she soon found herself focusing on the questions and trying to answer them honestly to the best of her abilities.

"Alright. Your thoughts, Jess?"

The mermaid looked at the human and nodded.

"It's a yes from me."

"Perfect! Can you start right away? The job pays a silver coin a day if you are interested."

The assembled nonhumans exploded into loud exclamations and began to talk excitedly. A silver? That was a fortune for them!

Seeing them and their reactions, James felt like laughing. What would they say when they learned that he and Jessica could pull out dozens of gold coins like it was nothing?

Alana accepted their employment offer, and they offered her a written contract. It was not anything special, nor was it enforced by magic. But it did clearly state their employment rules, stating that they could not ask her to work more than eight hours a day for five days a week. For Alana, this was heavenly since she was used to working twelve to sixteen hours a day without a break.

The next interviewee was Thistus, and to everyone's surprise he had been a merchant who had lost his business when a human had a tax law implemented that targeted nonhumans, forcing him to sell his wares at a loss. This made James happy, as he wanted to make the fortress a place of trade and not simply a place to hide. After agreeing to finance him starting a new business for a period of one year before he would have to begin paying the loan back, and negotiating a five percent tax on all goods entering and exiting the fortress, the couple was happy to welcome Thistus.

The next person was a kobold who peed on the ground right in front of them as he walked up to the desk. Grimacing at the horrible first impression the young man had given them, he did not redeem himself in his interview, loudly spectating on what he could spend his wages on rather than the prospect of working hard and doing a good job.

"We're sorry, we do not have a position available for you. Please interview again if we visit again next time."

"What do you mean you have no position? Why not? You're giving them money!" the kobold angrily barked, pointing at Thistus and Alana.

"No, we are not giving them money, we are offering them compensation for their labour. Please leave."

The young male spat angrily, snarling at them as he turned and marched away. Fearing that they might not get any work positions, the remaining nonhumans crowded around the desk busily asking to be interviewed next.

"Alright, one at a time please! We will get to each of you!"

James looked over at his wife.

"You can take over anytime, wifey."

"You've got this. I believe in you" she told him, patting his hand.

In the end, they had twenty-seven people. Not many, but not for lack of interest. Most were afraid to accept an offer from a demon lord, so they didn't bother applying. Which was fine with James and Jessica.

They took everyone back to Unyielding Night and got everyone settled. Their new workers were shocked at the grandeur of their new home, but when they saw the comfort of their own bedrooms with fluffy pillows, actual beds and were introduced to the wonders of indoor plumbing, each of them was completely overjoyed to have taken the risk and passed their interviews for their new jobs. Thistus even asked James and Jessica if it would be possible to market some of the items he saw. James told him to check the warehouse and let them know his thoughts before he started selling anything.

James felt even more nervous leaving the Orb of Power just laying about. So he told Yao to stand guard over the throne room and allow no one inside, and also left instructions to that effect among their new staff as well. After making his wishes clear, he travelled again with his wife to the next location, a city called Hamur.

This time they found three regular humans and nineteen nonhumans waiting for them. Wearing a bizarre assortment of armour and robes, they looked to be an assortment of classes. This was quickly confirmed when they spotted them.

"It's the Demon Lord!"

"Attack!"

The group adopted a formation, with swordsmen leading the attack, attack mages in the middle, and healing professions in the rear. James sighed and just waited for them to approach. As Sun Tzu would have said, know your enemy. Didn't these idiots even know to check his level with analyze?

Feeling no pity for them, James quickly practiced his skills and magic. He used space magic to move behind the healing mages, using drain to steal their skill levels.

"Cassie!" one of the humans shrieked.

He wasn't done. From there he dealt with the mages next, slicing them in half as he used space magic to separate their upper bodies from their lower halves. He moved so unpredictably that most were killed before they could use their spells, with only one able to get a decent attack off by sending a fireball scorching through empty air as James moved again with space magic. While this was going on Jessica, in her human form, was dancing in and out of the melee warriors reach.

"He killed the mages!"

"No!"

A sword and shield bearer that looked to have a paladin class stepped forward.

"Miracle's Light!"

A glow appeared on the swordsman, leading James to believe that this was the warrior's skill. Whether it was an attack skill or a healing skill he didn't know, and he only drained him from a distance. It took longer than usual, but in the end the man eventually collapsed, never to stand again.

Almost pityingly killing the remaining assailants, James and Jessica quickly looted the bodies and their inventories before they continued on with their mission.

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In this way they soon gathered over two hundred people to work for them. Saytrs, minotaurs, dark elves and dryads, even a colony of fairies. While these creatures were small, James had no doubt that they could find a use for them.

Having visited every city and town on their list, James couldn't help but admit that his wife was right and having a staff was a nice addition. And having cooks to make their meals and workers for the mines and people to fish from the harbour certainly filled many roles that had previously sat empty. Over the next few days, James experimented more with making golems, since he wanted to cover the entire fortress in golems that could quickly use their space magic to eliminate all potential enemies. That, and it also spoke to his title as the Demon Lord of Devouring.

He also feared the use of magic. What would happen if a boulder or an artillery shell suddenly dropped on their heads? So after refferencing the magic books in the library and consulting with the craftsmen, he slowly created an anti-magic field. Fortunately, he made it in pieces so that there were still designated areas that magic could be used including in the crafting hall. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. Ironically, his next task was to use magic to create a shield. Nothing particularly grand or strong, but hopefully just enough to survive an initial attack or make a potential enemy think twice. The memory of Grobar and his people still haunted James, and he didn't want to repeat his mistake.

He also travelled anonymously to Sagaste. It felt strange to him to be back there, but he tried to quietly find out what had happened to Shaherabad. Partly from curiousity, but mostly from guilt. He also looked for Elizabeth's mother, but couldn't find her. In the end he could only return to Unyielding Night without learning anything.

In the days that followed, Thistus sent two ships with trade goods north along the coast. He ended up bringing back several items that had James dancing with joy, perhaps none more so than toilet paper and soap. Pleased with his work, James instructed the minotaur to keep his eyes open for anything and everything related to skills and magic, and also to be aware of items from earth while taking care to not get scammed by worthless junk. The minotaur assured him that he would be careful and likewise enjoyed some of the goods from the human world.

After two weeks, James and Jessica held a small party as a way of thanking everyone for their hard work. The warehouse was being filled up, the treasury was full, the craftspeople were being kept busy, and the two of them had each other. Everything seemed like a dream.

Then Thistus dropped a colossal headache on him when he brought back two hundred children. James met him at the docks, having been told in advance that the merchant was coming and wanting to see what goods he had found and purchased. What greeted his eyes were several young humans.

"Sir James!" the minotaur greeted him, walking across the ship's deck and hopping over the railing onto the dock as the children looked with awe at the fortress that towered over them.

"Thistus...what the hell, man?"

Thistus rubbed the back of his head ruefully as if caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"I found them near an abandoned school...I thought that I couldn't just abandon them, right?"

"Feeding them, finding them all the right size clothing, not to mention getting rooms for all of them...oof, this is going to be a lot of work."

Thistus was silent, even as James looked away absently and muttered his monologue. Abruptly his eyes snapped back to the miniotaur.

"You did good. Sorry, I'm not complaining, just trying to think of everything they need at once. Good job, and if you find yourself in a situation like this again please do the same."

"By your will" the burly bullman answered, relieved by James' words.

"How was your trip otherwise? Any problems?"

"None. We did find a few abandoned buildings we looted, and we were also able to purchase some herbs and alchemy recipes."

"Sounds great. Please prepare a shipping manifest when you have the time. For now though, take a rest! You've worked hard."

"Thank you, sir."

James helped unload the ships, working alongside everyone. As they worked the children joined them on the docks, looking with awe at the nonhumans. Judging by their appearances, James guessed that they were from some South Korean school. He guessed this by their facial features and the same school uniform they all wore. While he didn't know much about the country, he did know that they had an education system that could put all his knowledge combined to shame.

"Hello everyone! My name is James! Please come this way and we will get you settled!"

He quickly set about finding rooms for the students, then went to find his wife. He found her in the crafting room, trying out a loom. Marching straight to her, he immediately got down on his knees.

"Oh my darling wife, peerless beauty of my heart and ruler of my life, I have a humble request for you."

"What is it, oh darling husband?" she asked, amused by his shamelessness.

"Thistus has brought back some young adults. I think they are students from some school. I wanted to ask if you, oh wise woman, could please help me give them proper school materials so that they can continue their education while they live here."

"Sure, we have enough books."

He reached out and kissed her hand.

"It seems that nothing is impossible for you, oh Wise One."

"Get out of here!" she told him, swatting at him with her hand while she smirked. James laughed and danced out of the room like a true escape artist.

Getting the students settled was easier than he had expected, and soon they were all busy studying. He learned that they were all still human because the system didn't reveal a person's stats or offer anyone a race change until one turned sixteen. Which seemed off to him, but whatever. But this piece of information inspired a thought in his mind, one that quickly began to consume his thinking. So it was that two days later he went to see his wife again and found her in their harem.

It stank of luxury, with soft divans and gold goblets and cutlery and an abundance of silk. Even the pool in the middle of the harem was done in an over the top way. Finding his wife sitting at a desk writing by the light of an oil lamp, he went to her side and waited until she was finished writing.

"Yes?" she finally asked him, turning to look his way. James wordlessly handed her an unsealed envelope. Curious, she opened it and pulled out a letter.

My Darling Wife;

My first instinct is to make this letter one of those 'If you are reading this, than I must be dead.' But I can't do that, and for two reasons. The first is that I am still learning how to be a husband. You are my wife, which means that I can't and shouldn't make decisions without you. And the second is that women are terrifying. I have no doubt that if I were to get myself killed you would resurrect me just so you could kill me again yourself. Rinse, lather, and repeat. Ha ha ha.

I hope to accomplish two things. The first is to start looking for more djinn, and give you the egg we found in Tol-Namith to see if you can hatch and raise it. The second is something I dare not voice aloud, something outlandish and perhaps impossible. When I made the golems, I was able to connect them with my skills and impart some of my skills to them, albeit at a lower level than mine. This was done by connecting the golem cores with my mana. So if I can practice and level up my golemmaking skill enough, I hope to create a golem core that can trap the System itself.

Tell me your thoughts.

James