“The scouts’ words were spot-on…”

“Each one of these is stronger than His Majesty, right?”

“What could they have come here for…?”

“Hey, look, isn’t he wearing a crown?”

The group of Goblinoids, who appeared to have been picked for their relative intelligence, stirred as they laid their eyes on us. With one exception, the group contained only higher-class Goblinoids, such as Goblin Mages, Orc Elders and even a number of Trolls.

That one exception was a single, standard Goblin, though he was dressed in clothing much more elaborate than the rags that would normally come to mind with the word ‘Goblin’. That said, it wasn’t like that was a very high bar.

I was about to open my mouth when I recalled the royal etiquette Charlotte had drilled into my head many times over over the past five years.

“The likes of a plebeian should never be allowed directly to speak to the king,” was it, Charlotte? Then I can’t go addressing the lot of them...

The simple truth of the matter was that I didn’t really care about such things. Yet, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth to do something as boorish as disregarding the advice that had… probably… come from the bottom of her heart, and it was not as if I wanted to embarrass myself in front of my Demon Generals by showing a lack of etiquette, either.

With that in mind, I decided that, out of my five Demon Generals, Charlotte was the most suited to relay my intentions. Having decided such, I borrowed the [Telepathy] skill from a member of my army and told her what she should say.

She stepped forward and flared her wings to the side. “You are in th’ presence o’ th’ Demon Lord. ‘Twould be wise o’ ye to remain silent and grovel.”

I immediately regretted choosing Charlotte.

‘Silence’ does not mean ‘grovelling’, Charlotte…

I raised my hand to the side to gesture to her to stop, and crossed her off of my mental list of ‘people suitable for peaceful negotiations’. Given the already small size of this list, it left only Tempest. I sent my next orders to her, instead.

She cleared her throat. “His Grace has forgiven your sin of standing in front of him, and asks a question.” She pointed the Goblinoid I had indicated to her—that is, the single regular Goblin among the party of higher-evolved Goblinoids. “You have been chosen to answer. Is this a welcoming delegation? Do you have the manpower for that?”

I resisted my urge to shake my head at her condescending tone and instead paid attention to the answer. “Ah, uh, His Majesty the Goblin King thought it would be rude not to welcome you with an appropriate amount of people, sir!”

With a hand gesture, I prevented Charlotte from lashing out at the word ‘you’. “Goblin King, huh,” I muttered to myself, “in other words, there’s a Monster King…” Though it wasn’t unexpected, it still awakened my curiosity. In addition, back when I had still been able to play video games, I was somewhat of a collector—of course, a rare monster such as this would stimulate my collector’s instincts.

Davna perked up at my words. “Monster King? Is that like you, Master?”

“In a way, I suppose. I have the authority to rule over all monsters—but, inherently, not much more. In contrast, a Monster King strengthens their subjects, but only rules one species or perhaps species group.”

I realised I had gotten side-tracked and cleared my throat, then sent another telepathic message to Tempest.

“His Grace would like to congratulate you,” she said, once more gesturing to the regular Goblin.

“Huh…? For wha-” He was cut off by Charlotte’s piercing gaze. “A, Allow me to humbly accept.”

I nodded. “You are far more intelligent than any other Goblin I have ever seen. You must spend a lot of time with this Goblin King.”

His face paled, insofar as a green face could pale, and shook his head side-to-side several times. “Not, not at all! In fact, if anything, the ones who spend large amounts of time with him would be his harem of Kobolds…”

I blinked in surprise and called forth the appearance of a Kobold from the depths of my mind. Small monsters, a similar stature to Goblins, but rather than a Goblin’s green skin and warped human visage, they were covered in black or brown fur, had paws for hands and feet and possessed the facial features of a dog. In a sense, humanoid dogs, with roughly the same intelligence as a Goblin.

I quickly cast away the image that followed that one.

Well, to each their own preferences…

“Then,” Tempest said after my prompting, “a welcoming party of this size surely has other goals as well, yes?”

The Goblin nodded. “Y, yes. That is, I was to confirm your inten- your honourable intentions!” If one were ignorant of social cues—that is, if one ignored the Goblin’s trembling body and shaking voice—they might think he was in high spirits, what with the shouting.

“Confirm our intentions…? At th’ very least, thy King is proactive,” Charlotte said, nodding to herself. I noticed her gaze flit between only a few of the higher-ranked Goblinoids. As far as I could tell, they were no different from the rest.

I nodded and spread my arms, and for the first time, I addressed the whole crowd of Goblinoids as one. “Then, I will explain. You are facing hard times. Thus, rejoice. By the grace of Goddess of Darkness, Lady Entropy, we are here to save your lives. We shall raise you from incompetence into… yes, into proper citizens.”

Of course, I completely glossed over the fact that the Great Borm Forest was not inside the borders of Eskaria. That, I decided, I would figure out later. In fact, I already had some ideas.

“If the situation calls for it, we shall even lend our power directly. So take us to your King, posthaste, lest you want to die.”

Among the several ugly, relieved expressions of the Goblinoid party, the tallest Troll—a species of Goblinoid with long, thin, lanky limbs, a relatively small body and the ability to recover from all but the most grievous wounds—in the group stepped forward and bowed at a nearly straight angle. “Then, Your Grace, please allow me to-”

“No.” A vile, mischievous smile ran across my face as I spoke. “I want him to do it.”

In an action half caused by my desire to tease and half by my collector’s instincts, I pointed to the Goblin of the group, who was now shaking so much it was as if his head were about to fall off.

If I had to describe the man before my eyes in one word, I would use “excessive”.

Despite being a Goblinoid, he looked rather human, as if one took a handsome prince and made his skin green and his ears pointy. His golden throne glittered in the light of the sun shining in through the windows, and so did the various accessories on his body and the banged-up crown on his head. If he had known moderation, perhaps he could have passed for a wealthy, determined ruler—yet as it were, with the amount of accessories he wore, he reminded me of a nouveau riche.

I recalled Charlotte had once told me that in an encounter between nobility, the one with the lower rank should speak first, so I remained silent.

He took the hint.

“I am the Goblin Pharaoh, Sleehekt. It would greatly please me if you were to state your names.”

The moment before I could open my mouth, one of the doors behind Sleehekt’s throne opened, and a Kobold walked in, with white fur and black spots. It seemed to be a dalmatian-type. Rather than stop it, the guards in the room saluted to it, which I found rather puzzling.

Sleehekt hesitantly looked between the thing and me, but eventually pulled it onto his lap. I decided not to comment on it and spoke, making sure to put on a condescending tone.

“Let us do without the formalities, Sleehekt. I shall permit you to talk to me directly.” I saw him cringe at the implications of that sentence, and smiled internally. “I am the ruler of Eskaria, Astaroth. Surely you have heard why I have come here.”

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I glanced around his throne room as I spoke—as expected, it was as lavish and overdone as his appearance would suggest, and it looked more like a treasury than a throne room—and used [Appraisal] on him, not even bothering to hide my hand as I used the skill.

Name

Sleehekt

Sex

Male

Race

Goblin King

Grade

6 (Grand)

Skills

Goblinoid

[Goblin Horde Mentality] [Goblin’s Sex Drive] [Pitiful Goblins]

Goblin Horde Mentality

Passive: Goblinoids are creatures that live in large groups. Your coordination with other Goblinoids will increase appropriately to the size of the group you are in.

Goblin’s Sex Drive

Passive: to compensate for their weakness, Goblins breed like mad. This trait continues into the higher types of Goblinoid.

Pitiful Goblins

Passive: Goblins are the weakest of the weak. As such, if a Goblinoid makes an appeal of weakness to a being stronger than itself, the being will be more inclined to feelings of pity or endearment.

Other

[Strategist] [Monstrous Swordplay] [Earth-Attribute Magic: Defensive/Aura] [Wise (Inborn)] [Divine Protection: Gnome]

Strategist

Passive: you will find it easier to come up with plans.

Monstrous Swordplay

A version of the [Swordplay] skill that only monsters may obtain. In addition to various slashes and other techniques, you can incorporate your superior physical abilities into your way of fighting.

Earth-Attribute Magic: Defensive/Aura

You may use various earth-attribute spells that are geared towards protection and manipulation and detection of auras and aura-type skills.

Wise (Inborn)

Passive: your decision-making ability is faster and more sound than most. You have a natural insight into people.

Divine Protection: Gnome

Passive: your affinity for earth-attribute magic will increase. Your hardiness will increase. You will find it easier to spot people by listening to and tracking their footsteps and other related things.

“Ah, yes. I have heard you will assist us in withstanding the Heroes’ assault. You have my gratitude.”

I blinked at his status, though his words registered in some vague, desolate corner of my mind. It seemed he had an inborn skill—although these weren’t quite at the level of unique skills, they were still skills one could only obtain if they were lucky enough to be born with them, and often quite powerful.

In other words, in front of my collector’s eyes sat a high-grade catch.

“Your gratitude won’t cut it for a reward… but before that, Sleehekt. First, know that I am not here for you. Lady Entropy and Lady Gnome have requested I save you, so here I am.”

“Yes, of course.”

“And, in addition… Only if certain conditions are met will we engage in combat. Though the odds of these conditions being met are rather high, we will then only fight certain foes.”

“I see, I see… Then, pray tell, in what way will you be helping us?”

“As far as I can tell, you are utter morons.”

“Huh?”

“This village… to put it simply, these houses are no more than hovels, and you do not even have a wall.”

“Erk.”

“If I were to summarise this village… rather than saying it is a village, it is an agglomeration of houses. There is no wall, there is no watch… Like this, it is as though you are asking the Heroes to destroy your village.”

Briefly, his eyes trembled as he realised the hole he had dug for himself. Yet, soon after, they blazed with the flame of ambition—the ambition to save his people. “Then, from the flow of this conversation, you will be teaching us these things?”

Though she had remained silent up to this point, Charlotte had, of course, been keenly observing Sleehekt from the start. “Thine eyes… They are good eyes. Those o’ a ruler. Indeed, we shall be teaching you such matters. Yet, o’ course, ‘twill not be free…”

This was something we had discussed before we arrived here. ‘Lady Gnome will reward us, but it wouldn’t hurt to get something from the Goblins, too’—with that train of thought, we’d decided to extort the Goblins to the limits of our ability.

“Of course, of course. I would not expect such.” Internally, I smiled—he’d taken the bait hook, line and sinker. “For the sake of my village, I could part with some shinies. By all means, state your price.”

I nodded. “We can leave the compensation for taking a nation’s six strongest individuals, even if temporarily, for afterwards… For now, the personal rewards for my Demon Generals and I.”

One by one, they stepped forward and named their price.

“I desire nary physical wealth, but… a number of thy citizens have caught my attention. ‘Twould please me greatly to have my way with them.”

“I wanna fight your strongest warrior! That’d be fun~”

“I would love for your mages to share their research with me, though I doubt it would hold up against the research of Eskaria’s court.”

“Mmh… Well, the Saint’ll prob’ly be enough of a reward for me, but… Actually, Slee-whatever, yer magic smells delicious. Gimme some of that.”

“Navillus wants food! Navillus is hungry.”

Sleehekt nodded and leaned forward. The Kobold on his lap, in response, climbed onto his back. “All of those can be arranged without trouble, I am sure. As for you, Lord Astaroth…” He gestured towards the Kobold on his back, in a way that it wouldn’t be able to see his hand. “I’d even be prepared to part with a number of my beauties. How abou-”

I raised my hand, my index finger extended, and interrupted him. “Let me tell you three things, Sleehekt. First off, I do not share your… ‘interest’ in Kobolds. I may think they are cute, but even that is at the level of a pet dog, at most.” I extended my middle finger, too. “Second, I have no intentions of starting a harem of any sort. My heart belongs to a single girl, and her alone.” I extended my ring finger. “And third of all, I do not intend to take an unwilling Kobold. Find a Kobold who is willing to part with you. Forever.”

“So you’ll…?”

“I did not say I am against the idea of gaining a new subordinate, or perhaps a pet.” I turned around with a theatrical flutter of my cape, and took a few steps before stopping. “Ah, and prepare a large, open space. To summon my subjects, I’ll need a large magic circle.”

I ignored the sounds of the guards scrambling behind me and walked away, Demon Generals in tow.

“M’lord, I hath no intention to be rude, but… Might I inquire as to this girl’s identity?” Charlotte’s face contained not a shred of malice—merely innocent curiosity. As though triggered by her words, Davna, Lilith and Tempest, too, looked my way with interested gazes. Briefly, Charlotte’s face distorted, before it turned to its original expression as she continued: “ ‘Tis not, mayhaps, that new girl, Evyna, is it?”

I shook my head. “It is not Evyna.” I stopped in my tracks and directed my gaze to the ceiling. “She is… From the start, she has been by my side. Too gentle for her own good, and very shy… If I told you her name, she would have my head, but I can tell you this—you all know her name, and are closer to her than you might imagine.” A dark chuckle left my mouth, but any demon could tell it was dark simply due to my nature, and not my feelings.

“If she is able to make M’lord speak in such a manner, surely she is a splendid partner.”

“Someone stronger than Master? I wanna meet her!”

“Meeting her would surely be interesting, but if she is too powerful, her power might be incomprehensible… That would be troubling…”

“I guess it could be interestin’ to meet her, or somethin’.”

Navillus simply squelched with emotions I could not identify.