King Marius the first of Tuban was an ornament.
When he looked for work, his wives and subjects would gently refuse him, saying:
“It’s alright.”
“Please just be a freeloader normally.”
It could be said he paid no mind to the dignity of a king.
Some might have been furious, but Marius thought, “It’s better than having only yes-men.”
Besides, he was effective just by existing, so he couldn’t be called completely useless.
One, the dark forces led by Auraniess were quiet.
This was something no one else could have achieved.
Two, the world was at peace.
Because Marius disliked war, even Asteria did not attempt to wage war.
The people rejoiced that they would not lose their families, lovers, or providers.
“Long live Lord Marius.”
They praised him with these words.
Although he felt a ticklish sensation, he didn’t dislike it.
Marius was indeed an ornament, but it wasn’t as though he didn’t have to do anything at all.
The king’s duty was to give final approval to various documents created by others.
Even if that job was practically just stamping his seal.
The reason he only had to do that was because the people around him were competent.
Marius just had to listen to explanations and nod.
Becoming king of a nation is considered a demanding job that is not rewarding if done seriously, but Marius proved that this is not the case if the king himself is not competent and his subjects are competent.
In fact, there’s a theory that this reality is the biggest reason Marius is teased.
In other words, the kings of other countries are jealous of Marius and are not preventing rumors about him from spreading.
“Can a country’s king really do something like that?”
He himself was skeptical.
Proverbs like “Evil spreads a thousand miles” and “You can’t stop the mouth of man” came to mind.
He might have the power to do so if he truly tried, but it felt a bit, no, quite immature to do so.
“Oh well.”
Marius decided not to worry about it.
Even if he had resistance to mental attacks, it wasn’t as though he was completely unaffected.
Besides, there was a reason he couldn’t keep agonizing over it forever.
“Marius, wanna play?”
Because some Demon Lord would come visiting like this.
“Don’t you ever get bored, day in and day out?”
“Bored? Why would I get bored when there are fun things to do?”
She looked at him with a bewildered expression.
Marius thought that such gestures were also photogenic, and that beauties were unfair.
(I’m surrounded by beautiful women though.)
Perhaps Auraniess was still the best.
He didn’t say it because he was afraid of her reaction, but he imagined it.
The Demon Lord’s eyes began to sharpen, depending on how she interpreted Marius’s silence.
“Hey, don’t tell me you’re tired of me and planning to break our promise?”
If someone didn’t know what was going on, this would sound like a lover’s quarrel.
Marius thought so.
“I’ll keep my promises. You keep yours too.”
“I’m keeping them.”
As Auraniess puffed out her chest, her surprisingly ample bosom swayed.
It was perhaps the sadness and foolishness of men to consider it a feast for the eyes.
Marius deliberately looked away and pointed out her misunderstanding.
“No, the part about training everyone isn’t being carried out.”
“Mmm.”
Auraniess scowled.
“Because those guys are weak! If it stays like this, they won’t be able to beat me.”
She said with dissatisfaction.
“For starters, stop thinking based on your own standards.”
He interjected for the time being.
“Mmmph.”
Auraniess sulked and started to make a gesture of kicking something.
“Don’t sulk.”
“Hmph.”
She clicked her tongue.
It was a sign of troubled times ahead, but to an outsider, it looked like a couple bickering.
(That feels like the most unreasonable thing.)
It was by no means easy to keep Auraniess in check.
Only Iris and Sophia seemed to understand this, and he felt that he was gradually getting along with them.
“Y-you’re not planning to make a move on those two as well?”
Barra and Zofi screamed, but.
Lovisa protested with a slightly cool gaze.
Al, El, and the maids remained indifferent.
“I’m not a womanizer.”
Marius flatly denied it.
“…Eh?”
“Hah?”
The women looked at Marius’s face as if he were the most absurd thing they had ever seen.
Marius despaired.
Later, El approached him and asked:
“Master, aren’t you going to make a move on those two? Should I discard the plan to empathize with them and get along, since we’re being bothered by the same person?”
“It was your scheme, wasn’t it!”
Marius was horrified.
But since they had finally gotten along, he gave the order to maintain the status quo.
This was perhaps the reason he was called the Sex Emperor, though Marius was not entirely aware of it.
No one realized that he wasn’t aware because of El.
In the end, Marius ended up playing with Auraniess a lot that day.
El, the root of all evil, thought, “If he becomes aware, I won’t receive his affection, and it’s not as though it’s harmful to my master…”
Being able to satisfy multiple women at once should be a point of pride for a man.
This was not just because El was a succubus.
She had thoroughly researched the reactions of men in the world.
As a result, she found that most men only envied Marius.
She believed that if it were to become a bad reputation, she should stop, but if it were due to jealousy or admiration, it would be an honor.
She also investigated the reactions of women.
“Heroes are said to have a preference for women,” and “If it’s Lord Marius’s child, they’ll probably be strong,” which were generally positive opinions, albeit with a sense of resignation, encouraged El.
After all, a person who is hated by the women of the world cannot be called a hero.
If she had been hated, she would have had to take some measures.
As a side note, El did not participate in any way in the public opinion regarding Marius.
She didn’t feel the need to.
She was aware that Marius genuinely disliked it, but she judged that it was better than being feared by an absolute power.
El went on her rounds again today.
Her role was to regularly patrol and check if monsters and humans were coexisting well.
She also used this opportunity to investigate reactions to Marius.
The place she was heading to today was Hordia.
Since that country had the mad Queen, El was chosen because she seemed capable of confronting her.
Auraniess and Emma would have been suitable too, but they were sent away for various reasons.
“Oh, it’s Lady El.”
A monster spotted her and approached.
Just like a succubus, El was a beautiful girl with large breasts that stimulated men’s instincts, but since she declared herself “devoted only to my master,” no monsters dared to try to seduce her.
At least, not for now.
“For now” meant that if El changed her mind, she could choose from plenty of lovers.
(That day will never come.)
El was confident of this, but she didn’t say it.
It was also the job of a female succubus to let men dream.
However, for those who spoke ill of Marius or committed acts harmful to him, she would make them suffer in hell.
She harbored such dark fighting spirit but didn’t show it on her face.
“Has anything unusual happened?”
“Nothing!”
In no time, a crowd, or rather, a monster-crowd, gathered.
Marius was stunned at first when he learned that El was so admired.
However, Zofi and Al, who had known her the longest, inexplicably broke out in a cold sweat, saying “As expected,” which led to new mysteries.
“Are you getting along well with the humans?”
“Yeah, you know, unless we commit crimes as humans, the King said he’d recognize us as citizens of this country.”
“Asteria?”
El asked in surprise.
No one present could have seen through her act.
“Yes.”
The goblin who had been talking to El’s was happy to chatter away.
She was a good source of information.
Thanking him, El flapped her wings.
Next, she had to hear from the humans’ side.
Coexistence between different races inevitably led to problems.
“How is it? Are the monsters causing any trouble?”
“Oh, El-chan.”
The humans also welcomed El normally.
Young men were smitten, which was understandable considering El’s revealing attire.
That alone would earn her the antipathy of women, especially young maidens.
“Do you know? This is one way to attract men’s attention.”
So El diligently gave advice on romantic matters.
Her uncanny accuracy also contributed to El’s unusually high popularity among her own gender for a succubus.
Today, it was a pure girl who had a crush on her childhood friend.
“Everyone is saying I should make him jealous by deliberately getting along with other men…”
El drew information from her mind and quietly shook her head.
“That’s no good. If you show him such a scene, seeing as he’s pure and earnest, I think he’d cry out ‘May you be happy!’ and run away, making things even more complicated.”
“R-really? Then what should I do…?”
To the flustered girl, El advised, “Try writing a letter.”
“A letter?”
“Yes. Write down your feelings for him. First, to confirm your own feelings.”
“I-I see.”
The girl tried her best and wrote a letter, then showed it to El.
“Your name isn’t written.”
“Eh?”
The girl looked bewildered, not understanding.
“Write your name. If you’re not ashamed of your feelings for him.”
“I-I’m not ashamed, though.”
It was embarrassing to convey it, but feeling it itself was not shameful, but rather a source of pride.
The girl, stating so, wrote her own name.
“How is this?”
“Let me see.”
El took the letter and leaped up, flying to the side of the girl’s crush, who happened to be passing by.
“Ah, my hand slipped.”
She said, handing the letter to the boy.
Ignoring the girl’s cry of “W-what are you doing!”
“But it’s addressed to you, so it’s fine.”
She said, urging him to read it.
The boy, seeing that it was El, couldn’t get angry or ignore her and hesitantly read the letter.
The girl, her face bright red and tears in her eyes, desperately ran over.
“Sorry, my hand slipped.”
“You handed it to him directly!”
“Amazing that you can yell right after running!”
“Don’t try to brush it off!”
El dodged the girl’s pursuit with a light push on her back.
“Wh-”
“I-I read the letter,”
The boy said to the girl, who was about to protest, after finishing the letter.
“U-uh, well, um, you see…”
“I-is it okay with me?”
“Eh?”
An awkward atmosphere flowed.
El was confident that it had gone well and moved away.
Thus, El succeeded in gaining popularity.
Therefore, she did not forget to add, “I’m just doing as Master told me.”
She was emphasizing that the truly great one was her master.
However, if co-existence between humans and monsters failed because of this, it could become a stain on Marius.
(I’ll absolutely never let that happen.)
If the need arose, she would pin the infamy on Asteria.
That was the purpose of her popularity-seeking, and she even pretended not to see through Asteria’s intentions.
To most people in Hordia, El would likely just seem like a friendly succubus.
They would never imagine that she was actually a dark schemer.
