Being naive might not necessarily be a bad thing... If the ministers were loyal, or the most trusted subordinate was competent enough, then a naive king who wholeheartedly trusted others would be the best king in the world.
Yila considered himself as someone who would never have a divided mind, so being trusted like this gave him a different feeling than when he was in the Empire.
Though he claimed he was only responsible for making the Demon King stronger, Yila found himself unknowingly involved in efforts to make the Demon King Territory more advanced... In a sense, he was a bit of a tsundere.
Yose once said, "If you think my daughter did a great job, just say so directly. Don't dawdle around with 'It's good, but it could be better next time' kind of comments. Hahaha!! As a man, if you can't be straightforward, I wouldn't trust the Empire in your hands!"
Those words made it seem like he was Yose's son or that he was trying to take the Empire...
What an impressive king!
...
The territory of the magic creatures was located in the southeast of the continent. It used to be vast, but now much of the land has been reclaimed by the Empire... The Demon King Territory was in the upper right of the Demon King Lands, with the sea to the north.
The area surrounding the Demon King City was the Demon King Territory, inhabited by many magic creatures with relatively lenient survival conditions... Magic creatures like harpies naturally lived on the high mountains outside the Demon King Territory.
But actually, they couldn't be considered outside the Demon King Territory. To be precise... the Demon King Territory stretched from the Demon King City down past the outermost farmland of the Demon King Territory, and then extended out to other rebellious or non-rebellious magic creature leaders' lands.
The outskirts of the other territories were still considered part of the Demon King Territory.
But generally speaking, the count only included the outermost farmland areas. Beyond that, it was just meaningless wasteland and jungle, inhabited by various wild beasts or uncivilized magic creatures.
The wild beasts were manageable, as the residents of the Demon King Territory were magic creatures, not citizens like those of the Empire. However, there was a fundamental difference between uncivilized magic creatures and the more civilized ones—encountering the former meant a feast, while encountering the latter meant becoming a feast oneself.
Those magic beasts didn't care if you were a subject of the Demon King or not; they saw no difference and were just as savage as beasts that only knew how to attack and kill.
The little fairy was the manager of all the residents, and within the territory, there were blacksmiths, stone masons, carpenters, tailors, and other professions earning food and living necessities from the Demon King City through their labor... Of course, they were also considered the property of the Demon King.
Therefore, the food, clothing, and daily necessities within the Demon King Territory had to be reported to the Demon King City by the little fairy. The Ghost Glasses Girl would compile reports from various generals and little fairies to conduct trade when traveling merchants arrived.
...
"Demon King~"
"Welcome to the"
"farm."
"The recent situation is"
"very bad."
The several leaders of the little fairies spoke one word at a time, one after another, in such a way that it was as if one person were talking normally.
On the outskirts of the Demon King Territory were fields of farmland. Most of the crops were unique to this world, like blue qing mushrooms, but there were also some foods that existed in the previous life.
The situation indeed looked grim. Most of the crops were drooping and growing unevenly, as if they were on the verge of withering.
"What exactly is the problem?"
Satan Ye asked this, and only at this moment did she somewhat resemble a lord... Yes, resemble, because generally speaking, a king wouldn't stoop to personally inquire about crop conditions.
"It might be because there's no fertilizer."
"The traveling merchant last time, and the time before that,"
"so many times,"
"didn't sell fertilizer."
"..."
The words of the little fairy leaders revealed the truth...
"It seems to be the reason."
Hilena felt she had discovered the truth. She explained to Yila and Satan Ye, "In fact, before a substance called 'fertilizer,' which looks like gravel, was available, we used to switch to a different area for farming after harvesting crops."
"Although we didn't know why, if we spread fertilizer during the planting process, it could ensure an increase in crops and reduce the need to frequently change planting areas. A few years ago, merchants said that fertilizer was no longer being sold."
"But it seems that the effects of the fertilizer lasted until now, but finally couldn't keep up."
Under Hilena's explanation and under Yila's dead-fish-like gaze, Satan Ye, who knew about this situation, said, "Next time, we should change the planting area... What exactly is fertilizer?"
"..."
"Uh, fertilizer is a specialty of the Empire."
Yila said this while names like "nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium" flashed through his mind. However, after careful consideration, he decided not to explain further... because they would probably not understand.
"Hmm, I know that."
Satan Ye nodded, blinking her eyes. She said, "We asked Ms. Vera, and she said that magic was involved in making the fertilizer, and it might have something to do with alchemy... Mr. Yila, do you know about this?"
Although she said this, Satan Ye and Hilena didn't have high expectations, as their impression was that Yila was a powerful governor, likely unrelated to alchemy.
"Well..."
Yila pondered, thinking about whether he should say it or not, and finally decided to say, "Actually, I improved the fertilizer, and I was the one who persuaded Isabella to ban its trade."
"Naturally, I am also familiar with the production process and materials of the fertilizer. Although it does indeed involve mana, the process and materials I designed for the fertilizer are not as complex as you might imagine... We should be able to make it ourselves."
**Surrounded by the scattered Headless Knights, Yila spoke to Hilena and Satan Ye standing around the fields... His gaze turned to the goblins and little fairies weeding the fields.**
"That's great! Mr. Yila!"
"..."
However, while Satan Ye appeared very happy, Hilena didn't show such joy. She knew very well that with Yila's status, this was something he shouldn't say.
*This was a secret of the Empire, also one of the means to weaken the magic creatures.*
*If Yila revealed it to the Demon King and to her, it would be genuine betrayal.*
...
"What can we offer in exchange for the method of making fertilizer? A title in the Demon King Territory?"
Hilena asked, very clear-headed, but she didn't consider the title valuable... One could say that if Yila accepted the title and nothing else, he would be at a loss.
This essentially was a roundabout way of asking Yila if he wanted to formally join the Demon King City.
"I don't know."
Yila replied... simultaneously addressing the topic of fertilizer and responding to Hilena's roundabout question.