I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake. Chapter 97

I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.

Chapter 97

Caesar’s eyes flew open like a child waking from a nightmare.

Despite it being midwinter, sweat was running down his hands and back.

Caesar looked up at the sky.

The sun was high in the deep blue sky.

Caesar calmed his turbulent emotions while gazing at the blue sky.

‘…This really feels like shit.’

Seeing himself getting toyed with from Vigilante’s perspective felt absolutely terrible.

At the same time, he could understand just how amazing Vigilante was.

Vigilante was like an analyst of sorts.

Vigilante analyzed Caesar’s weaknesses and bad habits, then cut them with his sword and stabbed them with his iron spike.

Not knowing how to respond to those attacks, Caesar either dodged with large movements or blocked them, which kept creating openings.

Vigilante kept widening those gaps until he created an opening big enough for a decisive blow, but instead of striking Caesar, he struck Hudson and the knights.

The reason was simple.

He thought it would be more beneficial to persuade or mentally shake Caesar to turn him into a devil rather than kill him.

Caesar took a deep breath and reviewed the weaknesses that Vigilante had seen in him.

When Caesar got excited, his horizontal axe swings became unstable.

Should he say that too much weight shifted forward, causing his body to lean slightly forward?

Now he finally understood why Joseph thought Caesar’s lower body was somewhat lacking.

The forward weight shift happened because his lower body couldn’t support the axe he was swinging.

‘And my attacks are too simple.’

Although he read all of Vigilante’s moves through psychometry, his own attack methods were too simple.

Even when he found an opening, all he could do was swing with all his might in single or multiple strikes.

Of course, this was partly because an axe itself is an extremely simple weapon, but Caesar’s attack patterns themselves were also easy to read.

Vigilante could tell which direction and how Caesar would move just by looking at his shoulders from the moment he decided to swing his axe.

He needed to figure out how to not give signals to the enemy until the moment he swings the axe.

Lastly, and this was the most fatal…

‘My reliance on Berserker is too high.’

It’s true that Berserker is a top-tier awakening skill that enhances strength, reaction speed, and mental power.

However, it uses too much aura, and Caesar himself isn’t handling that power properly.

The reason why Caesar’s weight shifts forward and his body sways when swinging the axe is because he can’t properly control the explosively increased power.

‘These problems need to be solved in the long term.’

Vigilante uses swords and spears, not an axe.

No matter how well he spotted Caesar’s weaknesses, he’s not someone who can provide solutions.

In the end, these are problems Caesar has to overcome himself.

‘I should start with lower body training first.’

Caesar isn’t a genius.

But he’s not an idiot either.

Repeating the same mistakes is what idiots do.

Caesar put down his sword and stood up.

***

Caesar listened to Harrison’s report while eating a late lunch.

“Yesterday we completed selecting the factory site. It’s a 10,000 square meter site in South Line.”

“Have you found candidates for president?”

“We’re scheduled to interview four people today. Since there are hardly any people with pharmaceutical business experience, we recruited former factory managers who have experience in manufacturing medical products instead.”

“Oh? How are you planning to conduct their interviews?”

“I was going to do it as usual… Would you like to join?”

Caesar took a sip of coffee before speaking.

“There are some people who want to plant spies in this business, so I should check them out myself.”

“Spies?”

“I mean there are people trying to interfere.”

“Ah… Yes.”

“Usually by now, the Royder Order should be starting to check on us, but it’s too quiet. It feels a bit strange, doesn’t it?”

Actually, Caesar had expected to find a dead cat in front of his house or have eggs thrown at it, but surprisingly nothing like that happened at all.

He even did unusual patrols to check for signs of intrusion, but there were none of those either.

“Are there any problems with other businesses?”

“No issues with cars, alcohol, delivery, or real estate.”

“This is really strange.”

There’s no way Hyginus would be this quiet.

In the game, when Gloria was selected as a saint, the Bellum Viscount family did everything they could to prevent sending Gloria.

But the Royder Order persistently tormented Viscount Bellum.

All business dealings with the Bellum Viscount’s enterprises were cut off, drying up their money flow, and other noble families publicly condemned them, and so on.

They completely destroyed the Bellum Viscount family.

Of course, there’s clearly a huge difference in value between a saint and malaria medicine, but he still expected them to cause trouble by mobilizing their zealous believers.

“Should I investigate more?”

“Yes. We need to know where we’ll get hit to counterattack. By the way, when does the interview start?”

Harrison looked at the clock.

“In two hours from now.”

“Then I should start preparing. Gloria, don’t skip training and work hard.”

Gloria glared at Caesar after swallowing all the sandwich in her mouth.

“I’m already working hard because I’m a weakling, you know.”

“Are you upset? Because I called you a weakling?”

“Ha! You stated a fact, why would I be upset? You’re making me sound petty.”

Gloria picked up another sandwich and stood up.

“Well, this weakling is leaving now. Because someone said I need to train.”

Oh boy.

She really seems upset.

Harrison sighed while looking at Caesar.

“Why do you keep tormenting Miss Gloria like that?”

“Because she’s cute. And her reactions are fun.”

“This really feels like watching my second son.”

“Your second son is quite handsome though.”

Harrison and Gideon let out a helpless laugh.

***

Caesar crossed his legs and looked at the faces of the president candidates.

They all stared at Caesar and Harrison with confused expressions.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a one-on-one interview?”

Caesar spoke while grooming his nails.

“I decided to see everyone at once. If you have a problem with that, you can leave.”

“……”

But not one of the four people left.

Well, who wouldn’t want to work under Caesar Sylvatil, whose stock price has been rapidly rising lately?

They need to endure at least this much attitude.

Harrison put down their profiles and said.

“Then shall we start with self-introductions…”

“What self-introductions? These are all well-known people in the industry, how could we not know them?”

“…Then what should we do?”

“Just answer my questions sincerely, that’s all.”

Caesar moved behind the candidates while using psychometry.

“What do you think is the biggest obstacle for this business? Your name was… Hans, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“You go first.”

Hans stroked his mustache and began speaking.

“Uh… Obviously it would be designing the factory system, wouldn’t it? Since it’s for patients, we need strict quality control as well.”

Caesar used psychometry.

-Didn’t they promise 1 million Del if I just contaminate the malaria medicine and create an issue?

-Let’s quickly build the factory within a year and get this over with. That should be possible.

Oh ho.

Instead of targeting Caesar directly, they plan to create issues by lowering product quality reliability?

That’s quite a good attack.

This would lower the overall reliability of non-magical drugs and prevent any future pharmaceutical business ventures.

While Cardinal Hyginus was contemplating how to attack Caesar, the problem solved itself more easily than expected.

Hyginus tried to place a Trojan horse in Caesar’s business.

Caesar massaged Hans’s shoulders while speaking.

“Right. I understand what you’re saying.”

“Thank you. And I…”

“No, no need to say more.”

Caesar sent a silent signal to Harrison to cut him off and moved on to the next person.

“What’s your name?”

“It’s Olive! For the past 20 years, I…”

“No, who asked for your introduction? I asked what you think is the biggest obstacle for this business.”

“That would be… The alchemists, I think.”

“Alchemists? Why?”

“There are magical drugs made by Valentine Magic Tower, right? The alchemists would…”

-They told me to drive a wedge between the mages and Caesar, right?

-That’s a piece of cake for me.

Wow, trying to make allies shoot at each other?

This guy’s out too.

Caesar patted Olive’s shoulders and said.

“Right. Thank you.”

“What? I still haven’t…”

Caesar looked at the next person and spoke.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Landon!”

“So what’s your answer to my question?”

“I think it’s the location.”

Oh, this is quite a different answer.

“Location?”

“Malaria mainly occurs in the jungles of the southern regions. Places like Dre, Royder, and Springfield provinces. If we produce in Wizard province and transport it south, there’s risk of product deterioration and increased distribution costs.”

Not a bad, fresh answer.

Let’s see if his intentions are as fresh.

-We’ll naturally move the factory site to Royder province.

-And then steal the core technology for malaria treatment in Royder province and give it to the Royder Order…

This one’s out too.

Are these all the best people Harrison could find?

Harrison is unrivaled when it comes to discovering talent.

If even he could only find people of this caliber, it means almost all the capable ones have been bought off by the Royder Order.

“Right. I got it. I got it.”

Caesar moved on to the last person.

He was a pitiful fellow with a shining bald spot in the middle of his head like Ramsky.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Harold.”

Harold?

Could it be the Harold I know?

Caesar glanced at his face.

That plump face like a toad and the baldness.

He was definitely the person Caesar knew.

“Can you answer my question?”

“I think it’s the Royder Order.”

When the words ‘Royder Order’ came out, the other three candidates all turned to look at Harold with rabbit eyes.

“Oh… Why do you think that?”

“Malaria is one of the few diseases that can be calmed with a potion. The Royder Order will seriously try to keep us in check. Just like how they approached me.”

That’s right.

No-nonsense Harold.

Also known as Head-butting Dinosaur Harold.

Honestly speaking, Harold is capable but difficult to handle.

This guy harshly criticizes players and curses at them to run the company honestly if they try to commit injustice, evade taxes, or break the law.

Still, if you keep ignoring Harold’s advice, you can see a scene where he head-butts you in the chest and leaves after writing his resignation letter.

That’s why he got the nickname Head-butting Dinosaur Harold.

“They approached you? What did they say?”

“They said they would give me 100,000 Del if I investigated and reported Caesar Pharmaceutical Company’s weaknesses.”

Harold looked at the three candidates.

“Others must have received the offer too.”

“W-what are you saying! How could the Royder Order order such a thing?! This is slander!”

“Take it or leave it.”

I like this guy’s personality.

When starting as a businessman, having Harold as an executive is very difficult.

How can you run a business only honestly when you need to evade some taxes and cut some corners to grow quickly?

But now Caesar Pharmaceutical Company needs to be managed more cleanly and transparently than ever before.

Then wouldn’t this guy be trustworthy?

-Royder Order. It’s time to teach those guys a lesson.

-This is revenge for my father.

Oh… It seems he even has a grudge against the Royder Order.

Not bad.

Caesar faced Harold and offered a handshake.

“I think I can trust and leave it to you. Discuss your salary with Harrison over there, and let’s see each other often.”

Harold stood up and accepted the handshake.

“Leave it to me!”

His eyes sparkled as much as his shiny head.

***

Caesar had a drink with Harrison in the study.

“Do you think Harold will do well?”

“Actually, he was the most trustworthy person. But because his personality is so unique, it was difficult to hire him easily.”

“You mean he won’t betray us, right?”

“That’s right. But because he’s too honest… He’ll be difficult to manage.”

Caesar took a sip of his drink before speaking.

“Rather, it’s right to proceed cleanly and transparently now. Although hiring him will require quite a bit of initial capital, we need someone who can push forward decisively like a bulldozer.”

“A bulldozer?”

“I mean push forward like a bull.”

“Ah.”

Harrison took a sip of his drink before speaking.

“By the way, the atmosphere at Parker Bank doesn’t seem right.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ramsky received a small note. They said the Parker family requested Lord Caesar’s account information?”

“Looking into my account suddenly…”

Could it be that little bastard Miles holding a grudge?

Well, I did irritate him a bit lately.

I rejected Miles’s proposal at the last Wizard Welcome Party, and recently I’ve been communicating directly with the Redfield family.

From his perspective, he must have felt quite threatened and uncomfortable.

Hmm… This is becoming troublesome at this timing.

While he won’t freeze my account or steal the gold and jewels stored in the vault, he might block loans or make loan conditions stricter.

“Do we have any spare capital?”

“Things are a bit tight.”

“What about using my personal assets?”

“If we do that, the capital flow would improve… But are you thinking of using your personal assets?”

“I need to shed some blood too. They’ll probably block my loans 100%.”

Harrison put down his glass and said.

“To be honest, why are you going this far?”

“What?”

“About the malaria treatment. What benefit is there in antagonizing the Royder Order? The place to sell malaria treatment is the southern region, and that’s where the Royder Order’s influence is strong. If we try to sell malaria treatment there, our salespeople might end up dead.”

“I know that too. But this is necessary work.”

“Can you tell me a bit about what picture you’re drawing?”

Caesar took a sip of his drink.

“We will distance ourselves from the Royder Order as much as possible. And we will collaborate with people who are at odds with the Royder Order.”

Harrison’s mouth fell open as if he had heard the worst scenario possible.

TL NOTE:

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support me or read up to 30 chapters ahead, you can do so via patreon.com/ChibiGiant. OR by unlocking chapters.

Please Rate this Novel in your free time @ NovelUpdate. It will help the novel get more readers.

Schedule: Every {Wed-Sat}