Reaction

The simple speech was over.

But the effect didn’t seem to be as good as Vivian had thought.

Watching the civilians begin to disperse and be led by the soldiers to their designated work areas to continue the reconstruction, Vivian fell into deep thought.

“Lady Demon Lord?”

The little succubus, Lunai, peeked her head out from the side, blinking her eyes curiously as she asked.

“Are you alright? Or is it the injuries from before…”

“I’m fine. I was just thinking about something.”

Vivian shook her head and, while she was at it, reached out and pinched Lunai’s delightfully soft cheek.

“Lunai, how was my speech just now? No need for flattery, just from your own perspective.”

“Hm?”

After thinking for a moment, Vivian turned her head and asked Lunai. The little succubus was slightly surprised by her question.

“I thought it was very good. Just like always.”

Lunai blinked her eyes, a little confused as to why Vivian would ask such a question.

“What’s wrong, Lady Demon Lord? Is there… a problem?”

“…No, it’s nothing—I just feel that the newly arrived civilians didn’t react very well.”

Vivian shook her head and said.

After her speech and the announcement of the new policies, although the civilians below were somewhat encouraged, and a glimmer of hope and excitement had been lit in their eyes, there was still a significant difference in their reaction compared to when she had rallied her remaining troops.

But perhaps she was just overthinking it.

Reconstruction work didn’t require much passion, excitement, or encouragement.

“I hope everything gets on the right track.”

Vivian let out a turbid breath and then returned to her tent to continue handling her affairs.

Her original plan had been based on the five thousand soldiers in her old army, but now with the addition of the villagers, the plan naturally had to change.

Various regional planning and food cultivation needed to be put back on the agenda.

At the same time, there was the most crucial matter—

Restarting the trade flow of the Evernight territory with the outside world, and restarting economic and production activities…

These matters were each more urgent than the last, and Vivian couldn’t help but feel immense pressure.

There were simply too many things to handle, far beyond what she, as an ordinary person from her past life, could manage.

It was only thanks to the memories and related experience left in the Demon Lord Vivian’s body that she could function now.

But the pressure from these matters was still considerable.

It wasn’t just about managing herself and her future child, but a solid five to six thousand mouths to feed.

These people needed to eat, to live better and more comfortable lives.

And simply ensuring food supply and housing needs through farming was only the most basic of matters.

The Evernight territory certainly had valuable industries, but due to the loss of personnel from the previous defeat, it was now an unknown how much remained.

“Phew…”

After returning to her tent and carefully calculating and planning the new tasks, Vivian summoned Lunai and reassigned her plans.

And by the time she had finished all this work, night had fallen without her noticing.

Vivian let out a turbid breath and stood up from her seat.

She began to walk outside—she wanted to see how the new Demon Lord’s Castle settlement was doing after a long day’s work.

So Vivian began to stroll around the settlement silently.

The sheds were more or less built, and rows of simple sheds or tents were neatly arranged according to Vivian’s plan.

New surrounding ditches had been dug in the camp.

Tomorrow, after redirecting the water from the nearby river into these ditches, they could be used for irrigation and daily water use.

Before that, the Frost Banshees were using their talents to condense water from the air to temporarily supply the needs of several thousand people.

The other artisans were processing wood, nailing them together to make the most primitive and simple fences and sheds.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

This couldn’t help but make Vivian’s mood much more optimistic.

She had many plans, many solutions.

The broad thinking from a transmigrator and the rich knowledge and physical fitness from the Demon Lord Vivian had once filled Vivian with confidence.

Therefore, seeing this nascent camp, a sense of ambition inevitably rose in her heart.

But after walking into the camp and taking a few more careful laps, Vivian couldn’t help but frown.

Because she saw the somewhat numb expressions on the faces of the artisans and civilian laborers, and their somewhat timid demeanor even with the assistance of the soldiers—as well as their various, not-at-all-clever techniques for slacking off.

And on those seemingly neat and compliant tents, sheds, and fences, signs of cutting corners and perfunctory work could be seen everywhere—a few missing nails was the most common phenomenon.

Some tents weren’t even tied down securely, and some sheds were not stable.

Under Aria’s supervision, the artisans could still complete their work accurately, but the civilian laborers helping them couldn’t be said to be operating randomly, but it was certainly a mess.

In fact, Vivian had also considered that most of the civilians in this world were completely uneducated, unable to read or count—

A classic medieval-style setting, a sword and magic type of game world, so only demons in the military could barely learn some characters for military purposes.

Therefore, at the beginning of the reconstruction work, Vivian had already clearly instructed her squad leaders on how to build the tents and sheds, how the entire camp should be planned, and then had the squad leaders teach their soldiers, who were now leading these civilians to build the residential area.

But now, it seemed that apart from placing the tents and fences in the strictly designated areas, almost every single metric in this camp was substandard!

‘Don’t they know that these tents and fences are their only shelter now, their guarantee of life for the coming period?’

Vivian couldn’t help but think with some annoyance.

She had clearly made a plan and, with the modern education of a transmigrator, wanted to let these civilians, even the peasants, live a good life as much as possible.

But they were so perfunctory even in the first step of building their own shelters.

How could they be entrusted with important responsibilities in the future?

Thinking of this, Vivian’s mood couldn’t help but sour—

It was so simple, and it even concerned their own well-being.

If they were like this, could these people be relied upon?

Could they be trained?

“Are the lowly still the lowly after all…”

Vivian frowned, and a similar thought involuntarily surfaced in her mind—but she quickly shook her head, banishing this unpleasant idea from her mind.