Chapter 187

Chapter 187

Otherworld Demon King Survival Guide.

Episode 187: Leveling Up Tech (2)

The day was joyously spent singing military songs together, fostering camaraderie.

Even those who couldn’t speak were shouting along to the rhythm, making it a truly delightful time.

Indeed, singing was not something to be taken lightly. Learning the military songs not only strengthened the camaraderie among the members of the Demon King’s castle but also improved the goblins’ linguistic abilities.

And isn’t singing together while working fun? This is a truly enjoyable event.

“The old pine was hurt and has lost its voice…!”

“Sob. Curse those evil humans!”

“We must kill them all!”

Sensitive pixies pondered the lyrics of the military song, discussing how evil humans had wronged the innocent old pine.

“Kereuk! Comrades! My family! Kereuk! I will protect them!”

“Kereuk! Kereuk!”

“Kereuk! Lord Buril! Are you protecting us?”

“Of course, Kereuk!”

Even after the workday ended, goblins cheerfully sang the military songs, cackling away. Similarly, the imps and kobolds were memorizing the tune, chirping and chattering.

My female guards and the lamias also memorized the military songs I taught them. The guards weren’t particularly thrilled, but they sang well when asked to.

After all, there’s not much else to enjoy here. When something new like a military song came along, everyone got into it.

“Lilriel sang it well too.”

“Ah, I’ve sung military songs quite a bit!”

Patting Lilriel’s head, I noticed a distinct change in her attitude.

“It’s simple!”

“Hehehe, I’m proud of you, Lilriel.”

“Hehe.”

She blushed as I jokingly spanked her bottom, implying harassment, just when Reika called me.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“You… you sing such songs well. Learned them in the demon realm, huh?”

“No. How did you know?”

They were indeed songs taught by the real demon army.

“The lyrics are clearly demonic in style.”

“Hehehe, that’s true. But you sang them well too, Reika.”

“I sang because I was told to, not because I wanted to…”

Reika blushed at my compliment, and it was nice to have such conversations.

“To be honest.”

Vanessa then said,

“There are some decent military songs. It’s embarrassing to admit… but I quite liked them. Ahem.”

“Wow! You recognize that! Respect, Lady Vanessa!”

“…”

Perhaps it’s because she’s a knight. She seemed to have a taste for such songs.

However, the best singer among us was definitely Lumica. Living by the lake and captivating people with her songs, like a Rusalka.

“Why does Lumica sing so well? Huh? A singer. A singer.”

“Well… I guess it’s instinct. Hehehe.”

She’s so lovely.

“Master. Today was fun. Let’s sing and play together again next time.”

“Hehehe, yes. Let’s do that. Maybe we should dance too?”

“Sha! Sharan will dance hard!”

It was a joyful day.

Now let’s get serious about development. We had enough troops, but now was the time to focus on maintaining them. We couldn’t rely on hunting for supplies forever.

If we didn’t start creating farmland now, we would undoubtedly face bloodshed. The strength of an army came from stable supplies. Miss a meal, and a soldier became nothing but a punching bag.

“Let’s go, Sharan!”

“Sha! Leave it all to Sharan!”

Today, we greatly needed Sharan’s strength.

Sharan was an expert at finding good land and plants.

In fact, I had been scouting around the dungeon with Sharan, discussing where it would be ideal to establish farmlands. Now it’s time to actually create them. There were also some things we had considered planting there.

“Lumica, please help out as well.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Water was the most important thing for farming, after all.

“Let’s go!”

I led my subordinates to the land we had surveyed.

“Everything is going smoothly.”

Creating farmland will inevitably increase the risk of exposure to humans. Unlike the dungeon, farmland couldn’t be hidden. It’s like advertising that someone lived here.

But for now, there was no immediate threat. Humans believed a series of disappearances were the work of orcs and had since left.

Then, I must use this quiet time to strengthen my forces. I couldn’t stay down forever.

“Hey there, you can sing the military songs along the way! Want to sing?”

Serinu was naturally included in the group. Pixies had lived simply, farming… Anyway. Serinu cheerfully suggested singing military songs as we traveled.

“Sure. Let’s all sing along the way. But first, let’s scout the area. See what’s around, and if it seems okay, then we’ll sing. Okay?”

“Got it! I’ll go scout and come back!”

— Buzz!

Serinu led the pixies out to scout. This habit of scouting will save us someday.

“We’re back!”

Serinu returned soon. Nothing significant to report. No peculiarities. Then it’s fine to sing military songs as we went.

“Between the marches! The military song! Start! The military song is! Monster Comrades!”

“Monster Comrades!”

“Start the military song! One! Two! Three! Four!”

We marched down the jungle path, singing the military song.

It felt like going on a picnic. The goblins joyfully sang the military song as they marched. The hobgoblins following were quiet, though.

Anyway.

As we moved on.

“Sha. Master. It’s nearby.”

“Oh. We’ve arrived already?”

“Go that way to get there.”

“Great! Let’s go!”

Leading with Sharan, we walked briskly and soon came upon the meadow we had seen before. The area was surrounded by jungle, but this part was relatively flat. There’s a small stream nearby, perfect for farming.

“This soil is good here. Small plants grow well.”

“But why aren’t there big trees growing here?”

That’s a bit puzzling. You’d expect a jungle to be so densely vegetated that you couldn’t even step on the ground, but the terrain here suggests otherwise.

These flat areas did appear from time to time.

“Sharan doesn’t know.”

“If you don’t know, nothing can be done. So, Sharan. Are there things we can plant? Bring them out.”

“Yes, Master.”

Sharan took the plants out of her bag. We had selected a few together. They were roughly primitive, resembling corn-like plants and some that looked like beans.

Pretty standard choices.

“Now, we’ll clear this area and plant these. Will they grow well?”

“They all grow well.”

“But we have to plant them all here. Will they still grow well?”

“Not that many yet?”

“We’ll gradually increase. Anyway, Sharan, which of these grows the fastest?”

“These beans. You can eat both the seeds and the shells, and they grow well. Even if you plant a lot, they grow well.”

“Great! Let’s try these first!”

I was about to give the order when,

“Wait a moment,”

Serinu said.

“Hey, Serinu, why?”

“If you’re going to plant that, you need to clear the existing vegetation, deal with the insects, and ward off wild monsters. You know that, right?”

“Of course, we’ll do all that.”

Only a fool wouldn’t know that.

“I plan to station hobgoblin soldiers here.”

We’d kidnap more hobgoblins and divide them between those working in the dungeon and the stationed soldiers.

“Stationed soldiers?”

“It means putting hobgoblins in charge of management.”

“That’s great!”

Master of skiving, Serinu.

“Alright, hobgoblins! And you, bumpkins, listen well! We are going to cultivate this place! We plan to clear this land and grow high-value plants! Simply put, think of it as growing plants here!”

“That’s tough to understand.”

Such blockheads!

“Just do as you’re told. All hobgoblins! I will draw the lines for you. Pull out all the weeds there.”

—Swoosh, swoosh.

I swiftly drew the lines.

“Begin!”

“Grak, grak.”

“Grakgrak.”

The hobgoblins, already accustomed to following orders, started pulling weeds without any fuss.

“Ah, right. Buril, hand out all the shovels we brought.”

“Kereuk, understood!”

“Goblins, help out too.”

“Kereuk.”

With that, the real clearing work began. When the hobgoblins and goblins got involved, the energy was palpable.

—Thump, thump!

—Thwack!

I really liked the vigorous shoveling.

“We’re going to need more agricultural tools.”

We’d need specialized agricultural tools and even livestock eventually. Fortunately, it’s still on a small scale and not immediately necessary. The soil felt soft and easy to dig.

“Master! Where should we gather the weeds?”

“Over there!”

“Cackle”

Everything was going smoothly.

Seeing my subordinates diligently working the fields warms a part of my heart. Now to plow the land a bit, plant some crops, and do some experimenting. Everything requires trial and error.

Stationing the hobgoblins… and building a fence. There’s a lot to do.

“Ah, Sharan. Can we build a fence here?”

“We can’t make it very big.”

“That’s okay. Just a few would be good.”

I examined potential spots to build a fence with Sharan.

“Sharan, the fence shouldn’t sap the strength from the crops.”

“Sha… that’s difficult.”

“Can’t be helped then.”

As we were discussing,

“Master! This area is clean now!”

“Oh!”

A plot the size of a garden was already cleared.

The weeds were completely pulled out.

“Then try plowing that area! Let’s test it! Sharan! We’re going to plant what we brought there now, can you help make sure it goes well?”

“Yes, Master. Sharan is an expert on grass, so leave it to me.”

“Alright!”

I had a good feeling that this wa sgoing to work out well!