Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"So, where do we start?" I asked in both of their directions.
"Shouldn't we be asking you that question?" Lucifer asked, raising an eyebrow. I shrugged.
"I have no idea what to do if there are any legal issues or anything that shouldn't be done first. My idea was to find a system to distribute them without causing problems. We need to Distribute them among the different areas efficiently." I said simply.
"Hmm, depends on how you want to do it. Are the houses some kind of rental? Do they require payment or some service? Or are you giving the land to the devils outright?" Lucifer asked, looking down.
"As I said, I was thinking of just giving it to them. They can have ownership rights. If necessary." I said simply. Lucifer nodded.
"Will they be paying property taxes?" Lucifer asked.
"Of course, I'm not that kind and stupid," I said dryly. Lucifer snorted.
"You could have fooled me," Lucifer said playfully. I rolled my eyes. "The same tax for everyone?" she asked.
"Do you have any ideas?" I asked simply. Lucifer frowned.
"Normally, lower tax for low-density areas, while a higher price for high-density areas. But… the city is small enough that even with the difference in zoning, you'll have the same access to all services, so I'd recommend the other way around."
"A higher tax for low-density areas, for the simple fact that they're residential areas with single-family homes, much more space, and less likelihood of disturbance and noise to the surrounding area." Lucifer said simply. I nodded slightly.
"That makes sense. Use the average rate that's normally used. If it's a little high, it doesn't matter; they're getting a free house. If there are too many complaints, we'll change it." I said simply. Lucifer nodded.
"How many… devils are we waiting for?" Lucifer asked.
"If everything matches up, approximately 15,000." I said simply. Lucifer wrinkled her nose but nodded.
"The city seems to have a capacity for over 100,000, if I'm not mistaken?" Lucifer said thoughtfully. I nodded.
"That is the minimum that is possible. I can build and remodel things if necessary at any time, but I don't really see the need for it." I shrugged.
"You said you wanted to spread them out across different areas… whatever that means. Do you have a map of the city or something to help with planning?" Lucifer asked. I hummed softly. I was still holding the small Philosopher's Stone. So I immediately transmuted a map.
It was effortless to transmute paper and ink. Even when I was mapping the city, a reasonably large map of the entire city, every street and building, quickly appeared. The sections were also color-coded, indicating exactly which area was what.
"Oh, that's what you meant by areas. Good layout for the city." Lucifer said as she looked at the map. Sirzechs, who was still silent, looked over her shoulder. Lucifer looked at the map and then down at the ground, back at the map, before looking at the city again. "Can you point out which part is which? I can find my way around by the stadium you built, but it would be better if it was easier to identify." Lucifer said.
I flexed the Philosopher's Stone once more, and immediately, all the rooftops and roofs of every building in the city were tinged with color, just like the map I had given Lucifer. Her eyes widened slightly.
"Okay, I see how you built a city in such a short time. I suppose construction is easy if you can easily do something like that on such a large scale." Lucifer said. I nodded. "Then. Fine. Will you let them choose, or are there some criteria you've thought of?" Lucifer asked.
"I was thinking more like assigning them based on their current or future jobs. So they're close to designated sections. Obviously, keeping those who are family close to each other unless they have any problems is also important. But other than that, I don't have any other guidelines," I said honestly. Lucifer nodded.
"Which of these houses are available, and what are their capacities? Do the streets have names? Are the houses numbered?" Lucifer asked, wrinkling her nose.
"Something like that?" I said distractedly. I walked over to the map and touched it lightly. The map quickly changed, and numbers appeared in the small squares that were the houses. "The first number is the house number. They start at 1 and end at 1, resetting with each section. The second number is how many inhabitants the house is designed for. The third, which only appears on the apartments, hotels, buildings, and other buildings, indicates how many dwellings the building has available. The buildings that don't have numbers are offices, factories, and other things."
"I Put the index here in the corner." I pointed to Lucifer. She nodded.
"Good, then this will be easy. I can get everyone organized. Give me 15 minutes, and you can call everyone else over. Don't open any contracts right now. We'll just be temporarily distributing the devils to your housing. Over the next few days, we'll be going door to door signing for all the necessary paperwork for them to become residents of this city," Lucifer said efficiently. I sighed in relief and nodded.
"Perfect. I'll leave it to you. Let me know when you're ready, and I'll call everyone over." I said as I looked at her gratefully. Lucifer nodded, walked away from the group of employed devils, and began barking orders.
"You did a great job with this city," Sirzechs said suddenly.
"Thank you, I put a lot of effort into it." I said. Sirzechs nodded.
"Do you need me to do something?" he asked softly. I grimaced.
"I'm sure we'll need to open food stores by… yesterday. Is everything ready?" I asked. Sirzechs raised an eyebrow at me.
"I almost thought you'd give it to them for free, too." Sirzechs said amusedly. I rolled my eyes.
"They're moving in for free. I'm sure they'll bring all the money they have. They'll probably have enough to buy food." I said dryly. Sirzechs laughed at me.
"Everything's ready. You can point out some buildings where we can place everything. I'll have it teleported urgently. It might not be anything extravagant at the moment, but I can arrange more shipments in the following days." Sirzechs said simply, and I sighed in relief.
"Well, it really will be necessary. I don't want a riot to erupt the day the devils move in," I said dryly. Sirzechs laughed lightly.
"By the way, weren't you going to build an agricultural zone?" Sirzechs asked curiously. My eyes widened slightly.
"Ah... I forgot about that," I said. I groaned loudly. Sirzechs burst out laughing, to which I just sighed tiredly. "Once you guys finish settling in, I'll work on it. Anyway, I don't think they'll start working for a few days until everyone is settled in."
"I need to tell Lucius to bring all the businesses he made contact with during the engagement and some trips to different cities before the party. I know he made some contacts with clothing store owners, restaurants, etc. The more work he can generate, the better. There's a lot to do," I said simply. Sirzechs nodded.
"That's a good idea. It seems like everything was really planned well." Sirzechs said, impressed. I sighed.
"It's a lot of work. Work I really don't want to do." I groaned loudly. Sirzechs burst out laughing.
"Welcome to the club!" Sirzechs said jovially, I glared at him.
"Die. Your smile makes me want to punch you in the face." I snorted dryly. Sirzechs laughed at me.
"Seriously, if you need anything, advice or help, just ask." Sirzechs said softly. I sighed and nodded.
"Okay, but… I think I can do it alone. I've been working and learning how to run a city from someone with vast experience. Lucius is learning with me, and Ravel wants to help as well. So I'm hoping the three of us can handle things ourselves. Or at least delegate enough to make everything go smoothly." I said honestly.
And I meant it. I had Rashek's memories. Lord Ruler had ruled an empire of over 100 million people. If I wanted experience, Rashek had it. But I was… conflicted about using it. Yes, Rashek had experience. But he had experience being a tyrant.
Rashek ruled with an iron fist, literally. Most importantly, thanks to him, progress within his empire had practically stopped. He systematically destroyed all knowledge and technology that could threaten his empire. A great example is how he destroyed the knowledge of gunpowder.
So Korosensei mainly was helping me identify the good and bad practices Rashek had implemented in his empire. At first glance, some of the laws seemed harmless, but they eventually repressed a portion of the population somehow.
So, I had a lot to work on on that side.
"Very well, I'll trust you." Sirzechs said as he nodded with a smile. I was about to speak, but Lucius finally appeared with a group of almost 1,000 devils. My eyes widened slightly. Lucius approached with a tired smile, followed by another sullen-looking devil behind him.
"Lord Lucifer." Lucius said respectfully. Sirzechs looked at him before looking over his shoulder and saw the devil, who paled slightly, and his entire face changed immediately. "I'll let them talk." Lucius said as he walked away from the two of them. I approached Lucius, and we walked away from the devil who seemed to be babbling before Sirzechs.
"I'm so excited!" Enid squealed happily as she approached, and I sighed tiredly.
"I want this to be over with, then I'm going to sleep for two whole days." I said dryly.
"Lady Prince?" I looked towards Lucifer, who had approached.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Do I have your permission to bring in more people to help expedite all the paperwork? The more employees we have, the more time we can significantly cut down on." Lucifer asked, and I nodded.
"Do it. How many people will you bring?" I asked.
"There should be around 200." She said.
"200 government employees? They'll all work here?" I asked curiously. She shook her head.
"I have connections, and no, I'll simply ask for help for today. Don't worry about any problems. The payment will come out of Sirzechs's pocket," Lucifer said dryly. I nodded while laughing lightly.
"Fine, I'll leave it up to you," I said. She nodded and walked away once more.
"Seriously! I've already arranged everything with them, but one question." Sirzechs said as he approached me and pointed at the devil who would be in charge of installing all the magic inside the houses. "What's their job?" Sirzechs asked simply.
"Just… They have to follow the devils to their new homes and install everything necessary to inhabit the houses. They will only do the occupied houses as There are too many to complete today. And not all of them will be used right now, so doing every house will be a waste of time." I said. Sirzechs nodded.
"Well, I'll let them know where to start." Sirzechs said with a smile.
"By the way, how long will it take to complete the work?" I asked curiously. Sirzechs placed a finger on his chin.
"I think… 5 minutes per house should be fine. They know what they're doing; as long as everything is in order in the houses, 5 minutes should be the average." Sirzechs said. I nodded slightly.
"Okay, tell them they can start with the red light district, especially the brothels. They're the three largest buildings in that area." I said directly. Sirzechs nodded and walked away from us. I sighed once more.
After a few minutes of chatting with the others, both Sirzechs and Lucifer approached me and nodded in my direction.
"Alright, are you all ready?" I asked as I looked at the devils in front of me. Lucifer and Sirzechs nodded. I waved my hand, and my Patronus appeared once more. "Tell Fengxian everything's ready; they can come right away." My spider quickly disappeared. It was only a couple of minutes before teleportation circles began to appear one after another in the sky. My shoulders loosened slightly.
There were almost 10,000 devils in this first wave. Were they all waiting together? Fengxian and her group were the first to appear. And then everyone else, I quickly looked over and… wait. They're all succubi?! Since when were there so many succubi!? They were all staring at the city below them in shock.
My gaze met Fengxian's, and I beckoned her to come over.
"Greetings, Lady Prince, I see that… you really built a city." Fengxian said in surprise. I nodded.
"Yes, yes, very impressive. 10,000 succubi, Fengxian?! Where did so many come from?! I'm sure Verdigris doesn't have more than 1,000 when it's fully occupied." I said incredulously. Fengxian nodded.
"You're right. But we spread the word to all the succubi throughout the Underworld. With a few scarce exceptions, all the devils are here. Half of them belong to the three brothels, and the other half are succubi who tried to live independently in different devil territories. But we're all here," Fengxian said proudly. Ah… I guess that makes sense then.
Verdigris was the least crowded brothel if what she said was true. If you can call more than 500 succubi a "small" brothel. Verdigris and the other two brothels were less of a single building and more of a complex of connected buildings where all the succubi congregated. It had a main building where clients were received and a few rooms for use. But most of the succubi had their own rooms in buildings attached to the brothel.
I'm sure that actually worked because the succubi didn't need to feed daily and were kept in rotation. And the lust emitted by the clients also fed them somewhat passively. It was the reason they hung out with each other most of the time.
Still, it was amazing.
"This is incredible. I suppose this is what you meant when you spread the word? I thought there would be other devils involved as well. But we can work with this." I said simply with a smile. Fengxian looked at me in confusion.
"But… we also made sure to tell the other commoner devils," Fengxian pointed. And just as she finished speaking, as if it were some kind of signal, teleportation circles began to appear in the sky. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands… I felt myself go completely pale.
"Fengxian… how many devils are there?" I asked, my stomach dropping.
"Around 100,000, I think, was the approximate," Fengxian said, completely calm.
"AAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"