It seemed like everyone had their own reasons for getting Davey out of the palace, but they were actually being played by Davey in the end. He thought to himself, ‘Sorry, Your Majesty, but there’s someone to replace me even if I leave. Although, they are probably just keeping an eye on the nobility for now.’

The palace would be bloodied and relentlessly purged as soon as they saw the gift Davey prepared. As nobility valued justification, the momentum would be difficult to stop by then. But Baris and Winley, who were likely to become involved, were going back to the countryside, Davey didn’t have to worry.

“Your wish is my command.”

“When do you think you should leave?”

“Is there more to say? I will leave as soon as everything is prepared.” Davey knew that the sooner, the better. It might have been best for him to say that he would depart immediately, but he needed to make sufficient preparations.

-You’re twisted. A lot of people may die because of your actions.

‘It’s better for this kingdom to disappear if it will remain this way, even after Baris becomes king. So, let’s reform it before that.’ Davey wasn’t going to hand over an awful reality to his brother. He found this a good opportunity to get rid of all his enemies.

This battle was not going to bring down Queen Lynesse or the Duke Bariatta family at once, but it was clear that they would gradually lose power. Davey was very prepared. In fact, all of their ties would break at once, and there would be instant chaos. The result would be an internal war. Davey had no intentions of being involved in complicated political games, and he could get pulled into it by staying here.

Even if it wasn’t for Queen Lynesse’s manipulation, Davey had already thought of leaving anyway. He would come forward after they made an irreversible choice, and that would be when he would cut off their heads himself.

“We will do as you wish. I have high expectations, so bring celebration to the kingdom again.”

“I take that to heart, Your Majesty,” Davey replied, swallowing a chuckle.

* * *

As he left the room for a royal audience and returned to his palace, Davey saw a clean, smooth wall welcoming him. The palace no longer looked like an abandoned house, having undergone some rather dramatic improvements. But now, Davey was going to leave this behind.

“Amy, go to the finance and land department and get me all the documents about the Heines Territory.”

“What are you looking for specifically? Information?”

“Just get everything related to it. They’ll gladly send everything over if you tell them I asked.”

It might be difficult to read all that information in such a short amount of time, but it didn’t matter; Davey was confident of reading hundreds of documents and stuffing the information in his head.

‘Keep your friends close…’

-But your enemies even closer. It’s quite an interesting phrase. Is it a saying from your past life?

‘There’s something similar here as well, right?’

-It existed even when I lived. Proverbs always make you wonder about their source.

Perserque just giggled with an interested expression, as if she found this situation comical.

-Don’t you really love it?

“Love what?” Davey asked. He no longer had to converse with his will now that Amy had left the room with her head bowed.

Perserque flew onto Davey’s legs and perched there with her legs on one side. She looked up at him.

-I am very fond of boldness. Don’t you possess quite strong powers and skills?

“Hm.”

-And yet, you try not to cross the line of arrogance that you’ve created for yourself. It really is so interesting.

Davey couldn’t understand what Perserque liked. “Are you trying to live vicariously through me?” He guessed that, perhaps she was used to having a timid life from before, so she was now living vicariously through him. “Man, I never thought I’d be the example of living vicariously.”

-It’s something to be proud of since the last Demon Lord is about to be your fan.

Giggling, Perserque closed her eyes and lay down on Davey’s thigh.

-I’m a…little sleepy…”

After they had become companions, Davey realized that Perserque was the first woman to match the title 'Sleeping Beauty’ this well. It seemed like needing longer sleep was a price to pay for having stunning beauty. One could say that she was taking good care of herself by sleeping that much, or one could just call her out for being a lazy-ass.

-It kind of feels like… You had an unpleasant thought.

Perserque was unnecessarily astute. She was probably able to gain insight on people without using her power of discernment, because she had seen through many people in her life.

-I’m going to…sleep for a little bit… Don’t move…

-Your… Yawn… Leg is firm but soft. It’s very nice to sleep on it…

Perserque fell asleep after that. She didn’t disappear like before, but Davey let her be. He didn’t want to wake her.

“Your Highness! I brought the things you said!”

Davey thought it would take longer, but Amy was back pretty soon. He asked, “Is this everything?”

“Yes, they say that this is all the information regarding the land, Your Highness.”

“It really lives up to its name of being a remote and barren land.” Davey hollowly chuckled at the amount of information. He was expecting there to be too much of it, not too little. “Well done.”

As Davey took the documents and quickly read over them, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “The ‘Cursed Land’? How did they manage to hold onto this land?” It was an honest evaluation.

* * *

The ‘Cursed Land’; the ‘Barren Wasteland’; the land of never-ending droughts; the ‘Dying Land’... There were many other ways to describe the Heines Territory, but that was Davey’s evaluation of it. At first, he thought that Queen Lynesse had messed with the information to stop him from getting the correct information. However, that wasn’t the case. The land itself was so disastrous that no information needed hiding.

“90% of the ground is all dried out due to the drought.”

-Hm… There are no mines, but some exploration is needed to confirm that. And since there are no bodies of water nearby, you can’t do fishery or maritime trades.

Perserque, who was sleeping on Davey’s lap without a care in the world, mumbled and yawned. She was quite a clever Demon Lord. After all, she was the queen of a species and she had lived for thousands of years, even if she was sealed. In terms of knowledge, Davey wasn’t one to judge her.

“It’s so bad that the kingdom has been exempting them from taxes for five years because they couldn’t afford it.”

The policy to exempt poorer provinces from taxes was a proposition led by King Krianes when he was young. This was a justifiable policy, since collecting a high amount of taxes from a poor province could only bring about chaos.

This was the current state of the Heines Territory. It used to be a useful territory about 10 years ago, but now, all there was to boast about was its fairly advantageous location. The province was close to the road going to the Sacred Land.

“Perhaps getting thrown into a desert would’ve been better than this,” Davey groaned, but the situation probably wasn’t that bad.

-Nothing will come from diving into this headfirst. How much assistance can the kingdom provide?

“There’s only a small number of workers and material resources, but I declined just in case they decided to pick at it.”

-That’s definitely not enough. There isn’t anything to do before exploring the land once again.

“What do you think I should do?”

-Do you see this? The part where it says the land is cursed?

It had been five years since the last rainfall on the land. There was nothing known about the cause, but if the rumors were true, then there was an unknown curse on the land. It seemed like the curse was from the species living in the forest, but that was only a small possibility.

-If the curse is just about the severe drought, you could use a majority of the land as farmland if it rained at the right time.

“But aren’t the spirits already dead?”

-You underestimate your potential too much. Are you going to do nothing with your spiritual magic and alchemy?

“That’s right. Thanks for your advice.”

Perserque was quite a nice person to converse with and get advice from, since she did understand what Davey was trying to do. Although he learned many things in the Hall, Davey never studied anything like geography. Surviving on his own was very different from knowing how to change the world around him. However, Perserque was quite knowledgeable even about the things he didn’t know about. It was also helpful that she and Davey clicked well.

-Whatever it may be, it’s difficult to judge something without physically going there. Well, it’s not perfect, but I can lend you my foolish wisdom now that we are companions.

“And my legs pay the price?”

-There is no other bed as comfortable as your legs.

Perserque giggled adorably.

* * *

A few days passed, and Davey learned everything about the information classification that Perserque and he started by putting their heads together. He didn’t have to check anything anymore.

Due to the frequent all-nighters that Davey pulled with Perserque, talking about the development of his estate, the Demon Lord fell into a seemingly eternal sleep. It was probably because staying in a physical form with her soul’s power was more draining the longer it continued.

As the sun came up, the palace was busy because of the party that was leaving for the Heines Territory. It wasn’t a big party: it was just Davey, who would be the seigneur, his exclusive lady-in-waiting Amy, a few maids and servants, and a few knights coming along just for a little while.

‘I am a poor beggar…’

-It seems like you’re at ease since you’re having pointless thoughts.

‘Ahem…’

There were no knights or nobles who pledged their loyalty to Davey, and so, it was natural that his party was this small. Baris and Winley came to see him off, huffing and puffing in anger after they heard that he was leaving. It was probably because they also knew what kind of place the Heines Territory was. Baris, who was shouting that he would instantly petition to the king, teared up as Davey just told him to believe in his older brother and just left. Winley, who was dabbing her tears with a handkerchief, hugged Davey and spoke quietly.

-Brother, if you need help with anything, just call us. We’ll go to help you no matter what.

Davey didn’t know how these 14-year-old kids would take care of him, but he was still grateful for their consideration. As he patted her head out of appreciation, Winley couldn’t hold back her tears and wept.