I Became the Demon Lord and my Territory is an Uninhabited Island

I woke up at the usual time, then greeted the women who were preparing the meals. I’m going to explore the island again today so I asked them for more bread than usual. While they were working, I tried chatting with them.

「Do you have any problems over here? Like insufficient supplies or something」

「Let’s see…… We don’t have any complaints but we’re lacking in a variety of ingredients, aren’t we? I think it would be nice if there were all sorts of stores here, like in a town」

「We don’t have any complaints, you know? We’re already satisfied getting to eat three meals a day after all. It’s just that because we don’t have a lot of ingredients, it kinda gets repetitive」

「Hmmー, I see. It’s still too early to harvest the potatoes. The same goes for the wheat. I’m not even sure if I can use the money I got from the pirates. I can’t carelessly spend it so I can’t go to the port town nearby to buy goods」

Hmmー, I guess the ingredients that we have right now are certainly limited.

「I get that but…… Ah, now that our numbers have increased with the pirates joining in, don’t you think we have too few women now? Women might be happy being wooed but uhm, we’re getting a bit scared from all of the glares we’re receiving」

「Hmmー, I guess that’s understandable. The number of females was originally closer to the number of males after all. I’ll also keep that in mind and try to solve it as soon as possible」

「Please. We can certainly understand that this concern might not be solved right away since Maou-san is already attending to all our needs though……」

The women sighed after saying that so it seems like they were thinking that their concerns were still a long way off to being resolved.

Someone who manages islands goes through a lot of problems, don’t they? Anyway, I don’t really want to, but I guess I should just ask.

「I don’t really want to ask you this but how much do women slaves usually go for?」

「Uhm…, we are not criminal slaves since we became slaves because we couldn’t pay our taxes. Because of that, our unpaid taxes are added to the fee so slaves like us are more expensive than criminal slaves. The slave trader we were under was attacked by Demonkin and that’s why we ended up here」

Ah, it seems like I stepped on a land mine…… I even feel like I ax-kicked that land mine.

「Er…… uhm……, sorry…… If we want to increase the number of women as quickly as possible, we have to accept emigrants and buy slaves so I had to ask. Sorry for asking without considering your circumstances」

「No, you don’t have to apologize. If you think about it, compared to being forced to do needlework or labor in the coal mines without a decent pay so you can’t even get yourself out of that situation, this place is heaven. That’s why no matter what we say, we are already content being able to eat 3 meals a day and sleep without fear of being attacked by stray dogs and thieves」

The women smiled while saying that, then they resumed making breakfast.

「We don’t have to worry about getting assaulted and being used as playthings after all」

I’m not sure if she purposely let me overhear her mumbling but I guess it’s safe to assume that the public order here is generally good. This onee-san has a pretty dark past, doesn’t she?

「Well then, I still haven’t finished exploring the right and left sides of the island, if we’re facing the sun at sunrise so I’ll be away for a while longer. Please take care not to get injured while I’m away, okay?」

After we finished eating our breakfast, I said that to the villagers before transferring to the area where the hot spring is. Once there, I began moving towards the northern side of the island.

While I was walking, I noticed that pebbles were being dropped just ahead of where I was so I looked up and saw Facile flying in the air and before I knew it, she was already right in front of me.

「’suuuup」

「Morning. You’re still as energetic as usual, aren’t you?」

「I’m proud of the fact that I’ve never caught a cold you knowー?」

It’s often said that only idiots don’t catch colds but isn’t that only because they’re stupid enough to not notice having a cold? I didn’t say that thought out loud though. It’s just good that she’s healthy.

「I see. Want some dried meat? Have you already eaten breakfast?」

「I already ate but I’ll take it anyway!」

Facile snatched the dried meat away from my hand then started nibbling on it. What’s this? Rather than a Demonkin child, she’s acting more like a small animal.

「Haw hat hai hink ahaout itー」

「Finish chewing what’s in your mouth first before you speak, okay?」

She finished chewing the dried meat then swallowed it before she started speaking again.

「Now that I think about it, why have you been walking around here recently~?」

She rotated her head 90 degrees as she asked me that. It was a bit scary to be honest.

「Hmmー, you see, I still haven’t seen the whole island ever since I came here after all. You won’t know what you can do if you don’t know what’s there, right?」

「Want me to look from the sky?」

「Don’t you think it’s better to check things out by yourself? Remember that warm water you bathed in yesterday? I was only able to find that by just walking on the ground There are things you can only discover when you’re walking you know?」

「Muuー Reallyー?」

「Well, I might have a job I want to ask your father and the others though」

「Hmー? A job is hunting or catching fish to feed your family right?」

「That’s not the only kind of work you know? Just remember, if I have a job I want to be done, I’ll go to your place and ask your father. You got that?」

「Yup! The Demon Lord would come if he has work for us」

「That’s right. Thanks. Well then, I’ll go exploring over there so see you later okay?」

「Maou will come if he has work. Maou will come with work. Maou will work」

I was doubting how effective Facil’s method of trying to remember what I said is, so I took a blank parchment and wrote saying『I will inform you if I have an urgent job that needs to be done or if there are any dangers you need to know about. – Demon Lord』 then handed it to her.

「Here, it will probably be fine if you just give this to them and tell them it’s from the Demon Lord」

「Okay, got it!」

She replied energetically so it will probably be alright. Come to think about it, I only saw one nest back then so I wonder where the other harpies live?

While I was thinking that, I started hearing someone saying「From the Demon Lord. From the Demon Lord」 behind me so I don’t think she will make a mistake while delivering that. I wrote that it was from me after all.

After that, I wrapped around the mountain while descending to end up at the northern side of the island where I was met with a plain.

Unlike over at the western side, there was a thick forest spreading out really close to the foot of the mountain and there’s a hazy area far northwest so even though I can’t see it, there’s most likely a lake there. I still can’t see it but that just goes to show how large it is.

I’ve thought this before but there are more sources of water on this island than I expected. I’m starting to doubt if this actually is a volcanic island but I should just make use of these since we have them. Well, I’ll just ignore the one I found this time though since it would be quite a far detour and cut through the forest.

After walking for a while, I wasn’t able to find anything particularly notable. I did come into contact with a couple of goblins once in a while but I just hit them with my shovel to shut them up.

Since we don’t have an adventurer’s guild nearby, I won’t be able to sell the monster materials so I’ll just leave them there. It can’t be helped so I’ll just have to wait for it to rot. We can’t even use their weapons as tools for harvesting since they are in very poor conditions. Actually, I’m not even sure why monsters came out in the first place.

While I was thinking about that, I stopped walking since I suddenly noticed an almond-shaped fruit that looks like a long pumpkin growing on a tree’s trunk.

「A-are these cacao?」

It looks unnatural no matter how you put it. Do these things grow during this time of year? No, I really shouldn’t say anything since the harvest season for wheat in this world is during autumn.

I more or less know that these grow on trunks but do cacaos really grow on this kind of tree? Well anyway, since there is a lot here, I took one of the orange-colored fruit, cut it in half with my machete and saw that it was full of things that looked like giant corn kernels.

『Hmmー. Even the seed looks identical……』

Seeing that, I took out all of the seeds using my fingers then put them in a pan to roast over a low heat flame. Then, I tried milling it by roughly grinding it using a stone mortar made out of magic. The fermentation process should be next but I’ll just skip that for now.

Then, after all of that, a thick, dark brown fluid started coming out.

「Hmー, it’s pretty much similar to cocoa. I wonder if I can also extract the oil if I compress it like this? It would be nice to get some vegetable oil instead of having to use animal fat all the time. I haven’t found olives yet after all」

Well, for the time being, I put the liquid that was produced from milling into a cup, poured the hot water in and then tried drinking it. Yep, it is cocoa. Now I want some sugar and milk to go with this. It would be perfect with warm milk and plenty of sugar after all.

Well, it’s mainly because it’s really hard to drink, since I didn’t wring out the oil……

「Hmmー, should I bring as much as I can or bring two of the actual fruit and just pack my rucksack full with seeds?」

Either way, I began harvesting the fruit.

My rucksack was already heavy from the wheat, cookware, and seeds but since I didn’t think there would be anything ahead, I just crammed my rucksack full of the stuff.

I was in high spirits discovering that lone cacao tree for the first time but after walking further north and finding out that the forest was full of the trees growing that conspicuous, orange-colored fruit, that excitement had slowly died down.

But still, if you look at the bright side, the island is elliptically shaped so it would be a shorter walk to reach that area compared to if the cacao forest was located in the east or west. While thinking that, I continued pummeling the goblins that kept attacking me to relieve my stress as I walked back.

「Careful. More goblins compared to other forests」

I wrote that down in my memo when I took a break as I sighed while looking at the orange-colored fruit growing on the trunks of the surrounding trees.

「We need to getting rid of the shrubbery, cut the other trees that aren’t growing the cacao fruit, make a pathway that’s wide enough to pass through, and maybe build a house that’s close to the forest among other things」

I started coming up with things to do in order to efficiently make good use of the natural bounties of this island. I also thought about how it would create more jobs and increase our profits. Well, that’s still going to be pretty far off so I just put those thoughts in the back of my mind and I lifted my heavy rucksack and continued walking north.

It was already dusk by the time I managed to exit the forest, but I feel like I had been traveling for seven hours at a speed of 3 kph at this point. I thought I would probably be able to see the sea if I continued for two or three more hours. Because of that, I started forcing myself to continue walking but after a while, I found myself breathing heavily with my hands on my knees. I don’t want to say that I don’t believe in my experience and intuition but I don’t want to force myself anymore since I was already at my limit.

「Damn itー. Am I only going to find Cacao even after I left the forest!? Uraaaaーーー!!!」

I screamed as I surveyed the beach in total darkness once I reached the place. After stopping by the pitch dark hot spring to cleanse my soul, I went back home to sleep. While in bed, I overheard my neighbors playing the game that men and women do in the middle of the night, which caused my soul that was just cleaned to feel like it fell from the clothesline straight into a pile of mud.

I can hear you guys you know!? Your voices are even accompanied by the wonderful harmony played by the insects!

Would baking soda be able to clean my dirty soul? I could use some citric fruit when washing it as well. That way my soul would also smell nice.

I wanted to hit the wall but there was a pathway between this house and the neighbors so it won’t do anything. I also thought that they probably wouldn’t notice even if I went there to hit the wall so I just went to sleep.