An atmosphere of luxury, unusual for this place, prevailed on the balcony of the Castle of Great Darkness. Lilith, leaning against the stone balustrade, watched with slight surprise a procession of fair-haired rabbit girls carrying trays with devout respect.
"Mistress! Your tea."
"We have also prepared fruit for you, Great Mistress."
The girls, though still intimidated by Lilith's power, no longer resembled the terrified beings from the village the werewolves had once invaded. In their eyes, alongside fear, burned sincere admiration.
For them, raised in the brutal Forest of Chaos where the law of the strongest is the only law, Lilith's castle was a paradise. No one starved them, no one tortured them, and the fact that their mistresses were four beautiful, eternally naked succubi was merely a peculiar element of their new reality.
They knew from Lulu that their presence here was a pure whim of Mina, who had taken a liking to their appearance. This knowledge made each of them try to be as useful as possible so as not to lose this safe haven.
Lilith raised an eyebrow, looking at the steaming brew and the intricately arranged fruit. "Thank you..." she began, then hesitated. "But where on earth did you get cups, tea, and this exotic fruit?"
One of the girls, wanting to draw attention to herself, stepped forward. She bowed so deeply that her already meager chest wrap tightened dangerously, and she additionally pressed her arms to her sides to accentuate her substantial bust.
"Great Queen," she began respectfully, "Lulu asked Lady Mina if she could go to the werewolves and... 'request' a few daily items from them. We felt it was unbefitting for a ruler of your stature to live without a proper setting. Varg and his people were very... generous."
Lilith smiled to herself. She could imagine that "request" under Mina's cover - the werewolves would probably have given up their own fur just to ensure the succubus didn't "play" with them for too long.
Seeing, however, how the rabbit maid persistently tried to exhibit her charms, Lilith felt a touch of amusement. Apparently, the girls had a very specific (and slightly misguided) idea of what succubi expected from their servants.
"I see," Lilith nodded. "You may return to your duties. Great job."
All the rabbit girls bowed in sync and began to retreat from the balcony. Lilith popped a juicy fruit into her mouth, watching them go.
She couldn't help but notice that each of them, while walking backward or departing, unnecessarily swayed their hips, making their fluffy white tails shake rhythmically.
What a sight... she thought, resting her chin on her hand. Since these rabbits are behaving so well and bringing so much... life to the castle, maybe I should go a step further?
Her gaze traveled toward the horizon of the Forest of Chaos. Since she was a powerful Demon King, why should she limit herself to only one race?
The vision of a court full of exotic beauties - elves, cat-girls, foxes, or harpies - serving her every whim was incredibly tempting.
Yes, that sounds like a plan worthy of a Monarch, she smiled predatorily, sipping her tea.
I will create a harem of maids for myself that every other player in this world will envy.
After all... I've earned a bit of exoticism and beauty, being a Succubus.
The Demon King's Castle, once filled only by the echoes of four women and the cold wind, was now teeming with life. Lilith, observing the bustling maids, decided to examine their nature using her talent.
The results were promising: although these rabbit girls hailed from villages, their specializations lay far from the battlefield. They might be physically weak and unable to handle heavy agriculture, but their natural talents for cooking, aesthetics, and handiwork were invaluable.
Moreover, their intelligence far exceeded that of the goblins or werewolves, not to mention the mindless skeletons.
"Rabbit maids are definitely a better choice," Lilith muttered, and the mere thought of lisping goblins in aprons performing their roles sent a shiver of disgust through her.
Suddenly, her interface went wild. The system chat window was flooded with an avalanche of notifications:
[Mina killed: Soldier-Toad-Bat! Gold +7]
[Mina killed: Soldier-Toad-Bat! Gold +7]
[Mina killed: Soldier-Toad-Bat! Gold +7]
[...]
"Oh, already?" Lilith raised her eyebrows, setting down her teacup. "It seems our 'rabbit heroine' efficiently localized the nest."
She knew that as a Demon King, she wouldn't receive spectacular artifacts for slaying a rival, but gold flowed in a broad stream. Korgash had about two hundred servants - simple math suggested that over 1,400 gold coins would flow into Lilith's account just from the "disposal" of these pests.
Korgash's death was a foregone conclusion, so Lilith, instead of monitoring the slaughter, focused on her territory's finances.
Lilith summoned the translucent territory management panel before her eyes, the blue glow of the interface reflecting in her violet eyes. She slid her finger across the list of active structures, analyzing the numbers.
Currently, maintaining her dark domain cost her seventy-five gold coins a day. This amount consisted of:
15 coins for the Crypt of the Eternal Legion.
10 coins for the Laboratory of Clay Guardians.
50 coins for the Obelisk of Hidden Mist (the largest expense).
Of course, if she decided to activate all the Obelisks of Cursed Spirits for combat purposes, these costs could instantly jump to thousands, but in its resting state, her territory was exceptionally economical.
She looked at the bottom corner of the screen, where the sum of her savings was displayed: over fifty-six thousand gold coins. It was a fortune amassed from the painstaking, mass sale of her beloved potatoes.
"Seventy-five gold a day?" she muttered under her breath, tasting the sweet fruit on her lips. "With this kind of capital, that sounds like a joke. I could pay these bills for decades and still have enough left to bathe in gold."
The sense of financial superiority was incredibly refreshing. While other Demon Kings, like that wretched toad Korgash, trembled for every coin and risked the lives of servants for a few bags of vegetables, she could treat the maintenance costs of her empire like petty pocket change.
Lilith furrowed her brow, placing the now-empty cup back on the tray. Although at first glance her territory was growing in strength and soon even the main factions of the Forest of Chaos might have trouble stopping her, she felt a growing unease. She knew that if she ever wanted to challenge the great empires, the current development model was a dead end.
"I have a problem..." she murmured to herself, returning to her human silhouette.
She stretched lazily, her long, black, curly hair cascading over her naked shoulders. She toyed with a strand, looking into the distance with melancholy.
"My money isn't stable. The potato market will eventually saturate, or the price will drop drastically. Then those tens of thousands of coins will be just a memory. We have gold, but otherwise... we're shit, not a stable country."
She touched her smooth skin and sighed deeply.
"We can't produce even basic clothes. Not to mention everyday items like those wretched cups, or decent weapons. We had to 'ask' the stupid werewolves for such banalities because we are technologically in the Stone Age."
She bit her lip, and her gaze rested on the goblins and werewolves milling about in the distance.
"Units are a problem too. I thought that as a Demon, I would rule a kingdom of proud, dark beings... and meanwhile, I have a band of green runts and flea-bags. I think it's time to change plans. Instead of building a kingdom of one race that only mindlessly conquers the weak, I should create something bigger."
Her eyes lit up with a new, visionary glow.
"I need specialists. Dwarves for the forge, orcs and ogres for heavy labor and defense, intelligent beings who can create, not just destroy. I must create a Demonic City - an asylum where monsters of various races can live safely under my wings."
She looked around at the endless forest. Most monsters here only formed primitive settlements, eternally fighting for survival. If cities existed anywhere, they were likely ruled with an iron fist by powerful beasts or, worse, by humans pulling strings from the shadows.
"Creating a real city, giving these monsters security and the opportunity to develop... that will attract them. They will submit to me not just out of fear, but out of a desire to build something lasting. I will turn this place into a Monster Empire that will be self-sufficient. A city that won't depend on the price of a single vegetable, but on the genius of craftsmen and the strength of united armies."
She smiled at her vision. It was a path more difficult than simple conquest, but the only one that could elevate her to the top of this world.