Chapter 180. A Nation of Monsters
“Aaaah... I hate this~!!!”
I screamed while staring at the mountain of documents piled across an entire desk.
At this rate, I was going to get crushed to death by paperwork before World Gate ever got destroyed.
World Gate....
I had thought, Surely there can’t be that many players, right?
Heh.
Hehehe....
I was wrong.
This game was influential enough to appear on the news.
It was already a massive hit overseas too.
And now profiles of every imaginable kind of person were piled all around me.
All I really had to do as the final decision-maker was sign documents and stamp them....
But I still thought I should at least skim through everything once.
So I tried my best.
And the pile wasn’t shrinking at all.
“Expansion construction progress report, immigrant status report, compensation report for accidents during construction, quest management progress report....”
I laughed hollowly.
“Heh.”
“Hehehehehe!!!”
Then I snapped.
“Aaaaaah! Everyone die! Just die already!!”
I jumped out of my chair and nearly swept every document off the desk in frustration.
But then I realized cleaning it all up afterward would take forever.
My anger instantly died.
Should I just stamp everything without reading it...?
Knock, knock.
While sitting there blankly reading papers, I heard someone knocking on the door.
I had already told my kids not to bother knocking before entering.
Who was it?
“Yeees~ What kind of serious matter could possibly require knocking~?”
The door slowly opened.
Doll stood on the other side.
She was the kind of kid where it was much easier for me to go listen to her than to wait for her to come all the way over.
I was sick of sitting down anyway.
Perfect timing.
“What is it? Something happen?”
“...People called... journalists... came.”
Doll nodded while pretending to hold something that looked like a camera.
Now that was interesting.
Journalists.
Even though the whole place was still under construction, I had made sure the interior of the castle was protected from people spying inside.
Did they come directly because of that?
“...Good! Nice job!”
I immediately pointed at the desk.
“Then our Doll can sign these documents in Uncle’s place, and Uncle will go meet the journalists!”
“Yeees...?”
“I’m counting on you, Doll!”
I raised my fist.
“Fighting!”
“If you don’t understand something, bring the Undertaker!”
“Got it?”
“Yeees....”
I seriously needed to recruit someone who specialized in paperwork.
I was dying here.
Honestly, I thought it was a little ridiculous that I had this much work when it hadn’t even been a week since I announced that the country was open.
We were short on people.
Short on people to manage the players.
Short on people to manage the NPCs.
We needed specialists in every field.
My kids alone weren’t enough, so I needed to bring in outsiders.
But who the hell could I trust?!
Talented people....
There was that person in Karantlia....
What was her name again?
Sporty?
Something like that.
That octopus girl seemed useful.
Maybe I should bring her over if possible?
But then I’d have to send someone useful from our side too....
Should I send Aien’s parents?
Ahhh.
But if I did that, there’d be no one to manage the Abandoned District.
“...What a pain....”
I already had enough things to think about.
I didn’t want to live with headaches like this too.
...
Still, should I change into a suit before going?
I was meeting journalists, after all.
My face might end up plastered across the morning news.
Wow.
That was actually a little scary.
Let’s wear a suit.
And a mask too.
“Ah! Master! Good morning!”
“Oooh! Master! You dressed up a lot today!”
One of the Porters tilted their head.
“But what’s that mask?”
“A fox?”
I stared at him.
“It’s a wolf.”
“They’re both canines. Is that why you got confused?”
With the Porters, who had volunteered to serve as gatekeepers, cheerfully welcoming me, I arrived in front of the castle gate.
The moment I saw the massive crowd gathered outside...
My heart felt like it was about to explode.
Were all these people seriously waiting to enter my country?
Really?
Wait.
I had seen that guy’s face on the community before....
He was the guild master of the second-largest guild in World Gate....
I really got insanely famous....
“Everyone! This is our Master~!”
“He’s the king of our country~!”
“Guys, please....”
People started shouting.
“Demon King of Madness!”
“Indomitable Hero!”
Had the Porters gotten this excited because I finally let them get some fresh air after making them work nonstop in the Abandoned District?
“Ah! Hello!”
A man with a camera forced his way through the crowd.
Another man pushed forward beside him and suddenly shoved a microphone toward me.
His eyes were burning with passion.
“Are you the user Kim Ingwang, known as the central figure behind the first siege battle and nation-building event?!”
“Ah, yes.”
Everyone’s eyes focused on me.
Strangely enough...
Wearing the mask gave me confidence.
“Stop playing hard to get and sell citizenship~!”
“Why won’t you let us in?!”
Someone shouted.
“Are you only accepting first-class citizens?! Explain yourself!!!”
Another person yelled—
“Please join our guild!”
“We’ll treat you really well!”
“If you tell me to become a dog, I’ll become a dog! Please!”
I raised both hands.
“Let’s move somewhere else first.”
I should probably tell anyone who had already signed the modification consent form to stay in another nearby village for now.
This was way too chaotic.
“I said we should move, but...”
I looked around.
“This country is still under heavy construction, so there’s nowhere especially nice.”
The reporter nodded.
“Yes... that certainly seems to be the case.”
Then he looked around curiously.
“But wasn’t this originally the location of Skidukts Mountain City?”
“According to our information, that’s what it used to be.”
I frowned.
“Ski... what?”
“When I got here, a Demon King was ruling this place.”
I shrugged.
“The Demon King of Wisdom.”
The reporter’s eyes widened.
“...Ah! The Demon King of Wisdom!”
“I’ve seen him mentioned on the community!”
He looked around.
“So he was here?”
Looks like Grandpa Aro really had been actively spreading the information I gave him.
Maybe these guys only knew because they were journalists....
But there was no way they didn’t already know.
They had been watching the whole time while I fought the Demon King and his army.
And the moment I blocked them from spying, they came running here directly.
I stared at them.
“Let’s not pretend you don’t know just because you want some sensational quote like real-world journalists.”
The reporter laughed awkwardly.
“Come on~ Why would we do something like that?”
“Sure.”
I nodded.
“Let’s say that’s what happened.”
If this happened one more time, I was going to go flip their whole operation upside down.
In the game, of course.
Not in reality.
“...If you want, I even have the Demon King preserved.”
I smiled.
“Want to see him?”
“H-Haha... no, thank you.”
“Really?”
I tilted my head.
“I thought you might need to see it personally before believing me.”
“Unexpected.”
Then I gestured toward a nearby building.
“Anyway, let’s go in there.”
“That place was built first because someone’s already scheduled to move in.”
The reporter blinked.
“A café...?”
“Yep.”
I had successfully recruited the café manager from the Empire.
Apparently, business had gotten bad because he had been associated with me, a Demon King, for so long.
The downside was that any monsters he used as ingredients could no longer become residents.
Still...
It would’ve been difficult to accept absolutely everything anyway.
“So.”
Once we sat down, I got straight to the point.
“Why are you here?”
There was probably some sophisticated way to phrase that.
But I had just spent ages buried in paperwork.
I ended up sounding a little irritated.
The reporter laughed nervously.
“H-Haha... well!”
