Chapter 152 Abuse...of...Magic

The guards were muttering about him being able to dominate demons, and all of the possibilities associated with that…the idiots.

Joseph looked into the princess' mind again. She wanted to send the guards to the mines. He managed to keep a straight face when he saw that she referred to them as ogres.

He also saw that she knew where the royal treasury was, and it seemed to have a lot of interesting toys, there. As expected of the princess.

"Hero Joseph, please touch the plate. We must determine your level so we know which training dungeon to start you in."

Dungeons? Even Joe was surprised.

(UH. YEAH ABOUT THAT.)

'System, seriously?'

(WELL, ORIGINALLY, THEY WERE A GREAT SOURCE OF FEAR FOR THE POPULACE, BUT AS RESOURCES GOT TIGHTER, I HAD TO GET CHEAPER WITH THE MONSTERS.)

'Cheaper how?'

(INTELLIGENCE WAS THE FIRST TO SUFFER, HONESTLY. I WAS ON A TIGHT BUDGET. THE ADVENTURERS STARTED HARVESTING FASTER THAN I WAS GETTING RESOURCES FROM OTHER PLACES, BUT THE DUNGEONS WERE STILL A SOURCE OF FEAR SO I COULDN'T COMPLETELY ABANDON THEM.)

'You don't make them in our realm, do you?'

(OF COURSE NOT. I TOLD YOU, THIS WHOLE REALM WAS FULL OF DEAD ENDS.)

"I don't need a training dungeon. Take me to the treasury so I can get equipment and stop this demon king for you," he told the princess.

"But Hero, surely…"

ENSLAVE.

"Of course. As the wise hero says, this way."

"And put some more clothes on."

She took a cloak from the guard closest to her, much to his surprise. Joseph shook his head in disgust. Why would anyone have a slit in the back that high? Fortunately, Stella didn't activate her killing glare, or the princess would already be on the floor. Joseph could feel her restraint was getting thin, though.

"Tell the guards we don't need an escort."

"You may return to your stations, loyal knights. I will take him for an audience with my father after this."

The guards glanced at each other, wondering if they would actually follow the orders, but they all filed out. Joseph kept shuffling through the princess's mind while they walked.

Apparently, they had summoned heroes several times, in the past. The first, and greatest, made a harem of human and monster girls, and gave them curry rice. The second had a harem of the princess twins and his swordswoman companion, all humans, and set the tone for human supremacy after his cat-girl betrayed him. He gave them miso and soy sauce, then spent the rest of his days trying to recreate mayonnaise and kimchi. He got both of the king's daughters by his first wife, and the kings second wife after a mysterious accident. He also took at least two dozen maids, according to what Lili knew.

The reason she presented herself so strongly, was because the policy of the royal family after that, was to not waste too many princesses on a single hero. Over half of the kingdom was taken from the land of the demons. The other human ruled kingdoms, left this kingdom alone as a backwards country that was only useful as a buffer. All of the human kingdoms treated demi-humans as slaves, or at best 2nd class citizens.

Elves were pretty, and best used as black-market sex slaves. Dwarves were useful for their skills, but violent drunkards. And the princess actually believed this shavist!

"Stella, how big is your purse now?"

"Quite large, Joseph. Why do you ask?"

"I'm low on silver to enchant. They also have a lot of magical items and armor and weapons made from dragon hide, mithril, adamantine, and various other things I want to look into. Leave the gold, take the gems."

She nodded as Joe spoke up, 'Joseph, I think the only way they got enough mana to summon you, was with a live sacrifice.'

Ah. he focused on the MAGE EYE Joe had floating around the castle, and saw it had made it to the dungeons where the captured demons were.

'Yeah, pathetic. Why capture demons down to 4 years-old? Either kill them as enemies, or let them go. Keeping them handy, but malnourished certainly didn't look like it was for a good purpose.'

Joe agreed.

They had arrived at the treasury doors. Five guards were eyeing them suspiciously, but Joseph took care of them with SLEEP.

"Master, I am not allowed to open the doors to the treasury. There are many traps placed on them by the head mage so that only my father can go through."

Joseph hmphed as he rolled his eyes. These people were idiots.

PASS WALL.

Stella stepped through the wall beside the door. As she looted, he wondered if the demi-humans and demons would be willing to be his subjects and move to his realm.

'System, can you uninstall the old version so it doesn't infect our realm?'

(SHOULD BE DOABLE.)

"Take us to the king now," Joseph told the princess as Stella stepped back through the wall.

"Yes, master."

The king's guards were put to sleep and the king was enslaved like his daughter. Joseph took the rest of the royal family also, for good measure.

"Release an edict stating all demi-humans and captured demons are to be fed and taken in carriages to the border of the fighting. The army is to withdraw to the defensive line from 100 years ago. Also, you," he pointed to the third princess, who hadn't had a chance to summon her own hero yet, "get me a map of the known world."

"Yes, master."

It only took a few hours. A dozen HALO jumps in body of stone later, and they had hit every human capital in this realm, taken over all the royal families, cleared out almost everything from the treasuries, and released similar edicts in every land with the orders to send the demi-humans and captured demons to the demon land front line.

It would be so much easier to deal with the demon worshippers in his own realm, if they lived in large well-marked castles.

Now he wanted to meet the elves, dwarves, various demon races because they actually had their own thirteen different kingdoms. It was quite a busy afternoon.

(ARE YOU INTENDING TO BANKRUPT THE ENTIRE REALM?)

'Nope but if it happens, I won't be here. ENSLAVE is permanent, so I'm wondering if it will wear off after I leave the realm, but I don't care about these people enough to check.'

"This is a far cry from how you are normally, Joseph," said Stella, unaware of the system's comment.

He looked at her, and she threw up her hands.

"Don't get me wrong, I approve. You are just normally very nice. Steal the people and expand your kingdom. You will certainly rule them better than these idiots."