章節 16: It’s basically a capitalism

The grass parted like a carpet beneath my sole, but aside from the blue color, it didn't look much different than the green variant that I used to know. However, when I bent down to touch it, there were soft bristles all over the underside.

Ah, it seemed to be a nice place for rolling around and having a picnic.

But as it happened, I didn't get the picnic on the grass event. Between Zia's "It's unbecoming of a lady to sit on the grass" and Angwi's hard stare that looked at me like I was some fragile glass that would break just because I touch the ground, we had our lunch inside a rotunda of the inner courtyard instead.

Which was still nice, so I had no complaints. The place was overlooking a garden full of colorful flowers that I couldn't name, including the ones adorning my—I mean Natha's—bedroom. The row of flowers continued their way to flank the stairs and corridor leading to another garden below, which was mostly filled with flowerless plants and topiaries. The end of the lower garden was a labyrinth-like structure made of—surprisingly—green-colored hedge. From up here, I could see the center of the structure, which opened up to another rotunda holding a comfortable-looking swing that seemed to be a nice place to read or just relaxing.

It would probably be nice to spend time there if I missed seeing the normalcy of green plants.

But in the meantime, I basked in the fascinating blue grass and pink shrubs and multi-colored flowers while listening to Zia, who started her seminar while munching on a sandwich.

I had mentioned before that, unlike humans who were divided into several sovereignties, demon people only had one king. But unlike the traditional sovereign, the Demon King acted more as the proxy of the Demon God, so the Demon King was their oracle, high priest, prophet, and everything in between. The governing role was tasked to the seven Demon Lords.

Zia told me that the Demon King used to govern them, but channeling the Demon God expand the King's energy too much. So the first Demon King divided the land into seven parts, created seven keys, and locked himself inside a dimensional sanctuary. These seven keys were given to the seven people he entrusted to govern the Demon Realm.

"So the keys are like their crown?"

"Yes, it's the symbol of Demon Lords." Zia nodded while taking another sandwich, glancing carefully at Angwi, and swiftly got rid of the vegetable while the 'nanny' was busy preparing my meal. "We don't pick the Lords based on their blood, background, status, or genealogy. As long as they have the keys, they will become the Lords."

So it seemed different from the humans, the demons emphasize the meritocratic system. "But what if the keys fall into someone other than demons?"

"That's impossible, since the keys can only be held by demons. It won't activate in your hands," she pointed at me, who obviously had no demon blood.

I see, so there was some kind of safety lock measure. In a sense, this system made sure that the Demon Lords didn't come from just one family, or one type of demon from generation to generation, and anyone could become a Demon Lord—provided that they were a demon and had the skill.

But was it as fair as it seemed?

"Are you saying that the Lords could be anyone? Even if the keys are being acquired through an unsavory manner?"

Zia tilted her head with a frown. "What do you mean?"

"Like stealing or killing or blackmailing—"

"Sure," the succubus nodded after taking a sip of her glass of juice. "It won't matter. If the current Lords lost their keys from such attempts, then it means they are too weak to be Demon Lords."

Wow, this wasn't just a meritocracy system. It was more like a jungle law—survival to the fittest. Like a flag game where the king would lose if his flag got taken away.

But succession shouldn't be a game, right?

"Wouldn't that make the situation chaotic?"

"Why?" Zia shrugged and lifted her arms open. "If a demon managed to activate the key, it means the key recognized them. All the other demons just need to follow the new regime," she answered light-heartedly, before flashing her purple eyes at me, lips parted to form a smirk. "You seemed to think under the assumption that taking a key away from the reigning demon lord is an easy thing to do."

...yeah, how idiotic. "It's not, isn't it?"

"Of course not! You think Demon Lord's key is something that only seating inside their vault to be robbed or something?" she shook her head, as if the very idea was ridiculous.

Yeah, I had to admit that I was stupid about that. Since I was comparing it to a crown, I was thinking of the key as an item—like a piece of jewelry or something.

I kind of forgot that this was a fantasy world. For all I knew, the key could even be something entirely intangible.

"Hmm...but there must be people who will try to keep the authority of the Lords for their own group, right?"

This was something that I managed to get from Zia; she and Natha came from the same clan. Her name was Ra Zidoa, and her brother—the Demon Lord of Lust—was called Asma Ra Kama.

Looking at their relationship, I couldn't help but think there would probably be clans or groups of power that tried to keep the authority for themselves by making their clan member a Demon Lord.

"Are you talking about my clan?" Zidoa leaned her back on the chair and smiled. The clan of Ra consisted of dream-walking demons, which was why Natha said he was a distant relative of the incubus. "Well, you're right of course. There will be groups that push their own people to grab the keys and become their proxies. That being said, we don't think it's a bad thing. Having support is also a form of power, just like being lucky is a skill."

She grinned, and I could understand that. In the first place, there was no way a lone individual could climb to the top from nothing. There would always be a force behind them that propelled them forward. While climbing alone was possible, maintaining it would be hard without support. If someone received the key without being protected by others, then the next hour, someone could plot to take the key forcibly. Unless one was an absolute being, they couldn't maintain power without support.

Besides, it wasn't always bad. Having support meant stability going forward, provided the supporters maintain a balance between their self-interest and the public's interest. It was an idiotic move anyway, if they took power just to screw the land—wouldn't they be the ones who suffer the consequences?

"Ah, but Natha had always been that one enigmatic cousin in the family, so he actually didn't use the Ra clan to get the key," Zia suddenly told me, as I was pondering about the nature of the political climate in the Demon Realm.

Oh? When I just stared at her with an inquisitive look, she continued her explanation, this time while having her dessert. "Nightmare is always rare, and among our clan, their branch liked to isolate themselves. You can see it from the way he build his lair in this kind of place," she threw her arms around.

"I thought he just liked high places,"

She giggled at that, and choked on her pudding a little bit. "Well—ugh—he liked that too, but that's not the main reason. Ah, actually, his reason for building this tower here had something to do with the Lord of Pride, but you should ask him that yourself,"

I just nodded casually while putting a small piece of sandwich in my mouth.

"Anyway, even with the clan's support, we can't make someone into a Lord of Greed," Zia shook her head.

"Why?"

"Because we don't have enough capital," she shrugged.

Huh? I just blinked at her until she continued. "The Demon King's Key is needed for someone to be a Lord. But the method of acquiring this key is different for each one. There's a key that is given from a master to their disciple. There's a key that can only be acquired through the Colosseum. For the Lord of Greed, there is only one criterion," Zia held up her index finger with a deep smirk on her face. "Wealth."

I raised my brow and looked around; at the tower, the garden, the whole mountain...

Well...that was fitting.

"So...the Lord of Greed has to be the wealthiest one?" Zia nodded firmly at my question. "But then, some groups could pool enough money to support someone, right?"

"They can, but no one had managed to topple Lord Natha's wealth," Zia made a negative gesture with her wiggling hand. "You were asking about this territory earlier, so I will start to tell you about it..."

And then she started her lesson again, while I had to finish the second plate of food Angwi shoved in front of me. It seemed like she really wanted to fatten me up.

It seemed that each demon's territory has its own trait. I still had no idea what other territory's trait was like, but for now, I only needed to know about the Land of Greed.

Which, upon listening to Zia, could be summarized into one essence; Commerce. It was the land where all kinds of trade were happening. It encompassed coastal lines where sea routes abound, and uses the vast land to build industrial complexes. L'Anaak Eed was probably the only place where other Demon Lords would not dare to mess, because their wealth was sitting on the banks and treasury in the capital city, and their territory's logistics came from there.

It was the paradise of merchants and business owners, where cutthroat competition and trading happened without rest. And thanks to the nature of commerce, the land was filled with demons of every ethnicity. There were also traders and merchants from the Elemental Realm, although I doubt there would be a human with enough courage to step in.

"The Lord Castle manages the laws and regulations, but as long as they abide by the standards, people were free to do anything there. The Castle didn't interfere much with the market, and it acted more like a safeguard to protect the system from any crash."

Zia leaned back in her chair and rubbed her belly in satisfaction. She spoke again in a languid tone, "Money is everything here, so every year, the Association will make a list of the wealthiest people, and Natha had been at the top before I was even born—ah, but if you ask me how, I wouldn't know..." her voice trailed off, and her lashes were fluttering in drowsiness, leaving me to ponder on myself about this particular information.

What...could I say about that, though? Apparently, I became a bride for a rich daddy.