As darkness fell, the newly appointed Demon King, Mr. Murphy, convened with all the demon lords. By the break of dawn, he came to fully comprehend the pitiful state of his dominion – a veritable mess.
Regarding the current posture of his realm, King Murphy remorsefully voiced his qualms: "Look at the state of us demons. We're expected to fight against humans? How on earth are we supposed to pull that off? It's practically impossible, indeed!"
"It's utterly disgraceful! You'd assume that even if ogres haven't fed on human flesh, they'd at least witnessed humans. Regrettably, the younger generation for the past couple of generations hasn't seen a single human and now they're as starved as oversized skeleton soldiers. Do they still dare to call themselves ogres? They might do better gnawing on tree bark in some forgotten corner than to further shame ourselves.”
"And as for those reclusive vampires refusing even to step out the door. They rely on smuggling potions' cauldrons all the way from human realms. These price-gouging traders arbitrarily inflate the prices causing vampires to become so impoverished, they're practically on the brink of pawning their trousers, still insisting on their nobility.”
"Exaggerating, you say? How can vampires pawn their trousers? These imbecilic demons these days can hardly handle money, let alone comprehend the existence of pawnbrokers."
......
ufficiently forewarned yet taken aback by the current state of affairs, Murphy felt the crushing weight of reality post the intelligence sharing congregational meeting. Left on the brink of collapse, he sequestered himself in the royal palace, dismissing all demons save for the janitorial Slime.
The descriptions presented by the demon lords highlighted the abysmal situation of the realm, furnishing plenty of dire yet valuable tidbits. As a pacifist, Murphy realized there’s no victory without a fight. But the Holy Peace Agreement offered an opportunity for minor altercations, not major conflicts, between humans and the demon clan, at least for the next decade.
In order to weaken the opponent optimally within the given timeframe, Murphy’ original plan was to deploy strategic agriculture and run lucrative businesses in the parallel world. He intended to accumulate wealth by selling his innovative ideas to the humans, to fund a proxy war and strategize it like a business endeavor.
However, understanding the numerous problems, he recognized the escalating difficulty of the game shifting from an effortless less intellect mode to an infernally difficult mode. Growing standard crops on demon land, where even the trees have muscular structures, posed a challenge as unpredictable aberrations could occur. Using passing humans as guinea pigs was also out of the question.
Identifying two major issues with running the business: the demons being penniless and the viable goods being the deceased demons, Murphy desired to consult someone for strategies. After much deliberation, he found the skeletal lord Byron, a former human, more reliable than the rest.
Engaging in a friendly dialogue with Byron, Murphy arrived at few predictable conclusions reaffirming his speculations. For instance, the bone meal of skeleton soldiers is widely popular among the human aristocrats as a cure for certain discrete ailments. The higher the level of the skeleton, the better the curative effect of the bone powder became an accepted norm; Byron appeared somewhat uncomfortable recalling this.
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The adventurers capturing middle and lower level demons such as ogres and undead for deployment in mines could earn hefty rewards. Even large circuses posted high rewards for live werewolves to inflate their ticket prices during a full moon.
Reflecting on these, Murphy mused, "Byron, do you think there's a possibility that they could be the true demons?" The candid skeleton vehemently denied such a possibility.
Following the conversation, Murphy surmised that Byron must have been at least a minor noble in his human life. With this in mind, and using his experience from the past life, Murphy persuaded Byron to disclose many unknowable noble secrets.
In Murphy’s view, the competitive genes of these nobles are deep-rooted. Since the current aristocrats lack demand for demon products, it’s time to kick-off some new activities to create a demand. As an expert in solutions, this was just a trivial matter, but a glaring issue was the lack of funds.
The Demon King and the skeleton lord sat at the long table in silence, with Byron remaining unnervingly still. Being a skeleton, he needed not breathe nor blink, and if it weren't for the occasional flicker of soul fire in his sockets, he would appear a clothed bone. As it approached midnight, the home turf of demons, Murphy suspected that the remarkable skeletal scholar had stealthily dozed off, leaving him alone to fret about the funding sources.
As per Byron’s explanation, two sets of currency were prevalent globally; artificially minted gold, silver, and copper coins, as well as ones naturally formed, with the conversion rate of 100 to 1. Murphy was intrigued by how wealth was generated naturally, and so, Byron shared his most memorable experience – his first kill of a goblin during his human life that dropped fifty copper coins. This aroused the head-scratching wonder in Murphy on the bizarre functioning of this world, yet he declined the option to kill less significant demons for capital due to the unification issues as the demon king and the meager returns.
With his mind buzzing from all the thoughts, Murphy meandered to open Byron's profile:
[Name: Byron Reed
Race: Transfigured skeleton
Level: 20 (lord)
...]
Looking at the nondescript profile, he sighed, "Just as I thought, damn, no matter the world, skeletons are just cannon fodder. Even a skeletal lord is no exception. Just looking at his profile lets you know he's here primarily as a starter for any novice hero... that's what it means, right?"
The metaphor of 'starter' made him revisit Byron's profile:
[...
First Kill Reward:
Gold coins (1000), Fine Iron Armour (1), Bone Sword (1), Damaged Reed Family Crest (1)
]
"Of course! The first kill reward is still available." Murphy could barely refrain from laughing, "The Demon King has respawned, the elite demons have respawned, but the heroes have not, right? What interest would max-level heroes have in these trifling rewards?"
On reviewing the rewards, Murphy found them to be a newbie-reward package. It offered currency, armour, weapons and a family crest, presumably an item for a side-quest, required at a later stage.
Though there's no rule stating the first kill must be made by a hero, it could be made by anyone.
He then opened his own profile, looking for a specific skill in his skill set: [Demon Resurrection: Advanced Necromancy magic, revives a demon with a level lower than self, the resurrected demon’s level reduces by -5]
Eyeing the Necromancy magic and then at Byron, Murphy donned a benign smile.
"Hey, wake up, Byron." Murphy, rattling Byron's skeletal structure, resonated an odd sound.
The skeleton immediately came to life, the fire in its sockets glowing brighter, "My dearest lord, I sincerely apologize. As a skeleton, I tend to get drowsy during the day..."
"No matter, Byron," Murphy was in a hurry and couldn't afford to beat around the bush, "I just want to ask you one thing: are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the demon realm? I mean, right now."
"I am willing, my lord," confirmed the skeleton, his voice a picture of sincerity and conviction, "For the survival of the demon realm, I believe any lord would willingly sacrifice."
"Great, I'm in a hurry, so you die, now." Murphy said, conjuring a magic dagger and stabbing it right into Byron’s skull.
A minute later, the resurrected skeleton lord Byron, with a reduced level of 15, looking at the pile of gold coins beneath him and the scattered equipment beside him, slowly asked, "My lord, what has transpired?"