“Darling, what is going on here?”
“Stop asking and just follow me. If we hesitate and get caught, it’ll be a disaster.”
“Father… I’m sleepy.”
“Alright, just stay quiet. You can sleep in the carriage.”
In the dead of night, a middle-aged man hurriedly got into the carriage with his wife, who was still unaware of the situation, and his young son, who was barely awake.
Duke Volac.
Once a close confidant of the Emperor and considered one of the true powers of the Empire, at this moment, he showed fear and urgency, urgently giving orders to the servant driving the carriage.
“Hurry up and leave. We need to reach the border before dawn.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Don’t call me ‘Your Grace’ anymore. From this moment on, we are no longer nobles or anything else.”
Duke Volac, who had once taken great pride in being an aristocrat of the Empire,
no longer had any pride or loyalty left for his country.
The Empire was destroyed, the Imperial family had collapsed.
Even his sense of duty to protect the country as a noble had faded, tarnished by the people who, in their ignorance, labeled them as “evil.”
In fact, the increasingly harsh words and actions from the people began to create a direct sense of danger.
Psychologically broken and mentally cornered, Duke Volac saw only one path left for him.
To dispose of all the wealth he had gathered and flee the country with his family and retainers.
After all, the neighboring Elves and Dwarves had no particular issue with them, so there was little to fear.
And so, Duke Volac completely left.
In this filthy country, where staying would only lead to certain death, from the nation he had once sworn to protect with everything he had…
And this was not just the story of Duke Volac.
Nobles remaining throughout the Empire, and even the wealthy merchants who had aligned themselves with them, all simultaneously began their own escapes.
Even the demons, who were supposed to stop these actions, had accepted bribes and turned a blind eye to the situation.
Normally, bribes wouldn’t have worked on them, but for some reason, they were cooperating without question. While this struck them as strange, they no longer had the luxury to think about such things.
It was the banks located in the capital city that first noticed the unusual activity.
Lately, there had been an increasing number of people suddenly taking out huge loans.
The banks knew that this was the result of the large-scale land sales by the great lords.
The problem, however, lay in what happened next.
Money, by nature, circulates, and it was no different whether you were a noble or a commoner.
The lords who had made vast profits from selling their lands—where would they store all that money?
Naturally, it would be in the banks.
Thus, even though large loans had been taken and the vaults were left empty, the banks expected the money to eventually return to them.
However, contrary to their expectations, the empty vaults were never replenished.
The massive sums of gold that should have been deposited never returned, not even a single coin.
“Wait, what are these people doing? Did they decide to just pile up their money at home?”
“That can’t be right. Why would they keep that much money for what reason…”
The behavior of the nobles not bringing their money to the banks, considering the inconvenience of storage and the money-making potential of interest, was perplexing.
Still, the banks waited, thinking that surely the money would arrive tomorrow. Days passed.
As the vaults remained empty, it became increasingly difficult for ordinary people to even withdraw from their accounts.
Finally, the banks had no choice but to conduct a more detailed investigation.
And in the process, they discovered the truth.
In the past few days, the once quiet great lords had been up to something.
What they had done was…
“Empty… completely empty?”
“Yes, the lord’s castles are completely empty. Even the soldiers guarding the entrance were just temporary replacements, paid off to stand watch.”
“Could it be…?”
The anxiety they had been quietly harboring in their hearts suddenly grew, and the banks launched a more thorough investigation.
What they uncovered was a well-organized and large-scale escape plan by the great lords.
Having sold as much land as possible during the auction, they quickly turned their assets into cash and fled the country.
These were the nobles and merchants who had held 70% of the Empire’s wealth.
The news that the lords and nobles had fled with all their assets began to spread among the people.
“They actually ran away?”
“So that’s why they sold all that land like mad?”
Though the people were initially taken aback, they didn’t take the situation too seriously.
In a way, from their perspective, it was as if the “corrupt oppressors” had disappeared.
There were even some who felt relief at the news, glad that those who had always lived in luxury and looked down on them were now gone.
However, this sense of “ease” didn’t last long.
With 70% of the nation’s wealth now gone, along with the ruling class, the situation took a drastic turn.
In an era where cash meant gold and silver coins, it wasn’t like paper money that could be printed to increase its supply.
Even if it were possible, in the current situation, the value of any currency would be worth nothing more than scraps of paper.
Money was like blood flowing through the veins of the economy.
With that “blood” gone, it caused a massive contraction in commerce.
Markets that had been full of goods were now completely empty.
Even the occasional trade began to shift toward barter, but even that was hardly working.
The sudden increase in farmland caused grain prices to plummet.
People who had borrowed money to buy land now struggled to pay off their debts.
Naturally, the prices of the land they had worked so hard to acquire began to fall rapidly.
The paralysis of trade.
The skyrocketing prices of goods, aside from grain.
The collapse of the nation’s economy happened almost instantly.
What made it even worse was the fact that the ruling class and wealthy merchants, who should have been responsible for fixing the situation, had all fled.
Even those who remained didn’t think of working together to overcome the crisis.
Instead, they continued to fight among themselves, insisting on “equality” based on gender, age, and occupation, only deepening the conflict.
In such a time, the only ones the humans could rely on were the demons above them, but the help they received was only enough to keep them from completely perishing.
Even so, there was nowhere else to turn, and in the end, the humans had no choice but to cling to the demons, fully surrendering themselves to their power.
This occurred less than two years after the demons had taken control of the Empire.
Even after that, the human population continued to decline steadily, and after one generation, the once numerous and powerful human race had been reduced to less than half its former size.
In the end, humanity lost even the ability to survive on its own, and was relegated to a small, subordinate race under the demons.
And behind all of this, there was her…
Once known as the Great Witch, and later remembered as one of the Demon Lords who caused the destruction of humanity.
It was Mari.
“Umm…”
Mari, who had come to see me in person after a long time.
As I read the report she handed me, at a point where months of planning were finally reaching their conclusion, there were many details contained within it, but to summarize it, it was this.
“Is this… the conclusion you wanted?”
“Yes. Making all the humans into debt-ridden, living shells of themselves. Only when it reaches this point can I consider my vengeance complete.”
She added, “Except for Irushil and Karen, of course,” and gave a cold smile.
Watching her, both refreshing and terrifying, I couldn’t help but offer a bitter smile in return.
Even now, I could almost hear the sounds of humanity’s downfall ringing in my ears.
If I were human, I might have found it unpleasant in many ways, but to me now, it didn’t seem all that bad.
I too understood.
The enormous cake called humanity was too large for the Demon Kingdom to swallow in one go.
For now, as the occupying force, I had to suppress my dissatisfaction, but this situation couldn’t last forever.
The military burden was one problem, and humanity’s population was larger than that of the demons.
In such a situation, if another Hero with the name of “Savior” were to appear, who knew how things could turn around?
However, if humanity’s economy continued to collapse, if ideological divisions grew, and the birthrate kept dropping…
Not only would it be difficult for a Hero to emerge, but even if one did, it was uncertain whether they could actually fulfill the role of a Hero.
Even now, humans were tearing each other apart, arguing over ideologies, genders, and all sorts of trivial reasons.
In such a situation, if a Hero were to appear and show even the slightest vulnerability, they would be turned into nothing more than a trash can for human emotions.
“With this, there’s no need to worry much about humanity anymore.”
“Yes, that’s right. Now, humanity will live forever as slaves, licking the feet of our demon kind for generations.”
With those words, Mari casually swirled the wine in front of her.
I raised my own glass and lightly toasted in return, sending a subtle form of comfort to the humans crushed under the calamity they had brought upon themselves…