To the nobles and ministers, who became king honestly didn't matter in the slightest. What they cared about now was preserving their wealth and power.
In their eyes, Edomari's abdication wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
That king had been monstrously greedy—every time he ate meat, they were lucky to sip a bit of soup. Ren Kuroda, on the other hand, was undeniably powerful, but he also looked extremely young. Maybe—just maybe—he'd be easier to fool than Edomari.
They all understood one thing clearly: if they wanted to survive, they had to show enough sincerity and loyalty.
Unfortunately for them, before any of the nobles could step forward to flatter him, they were already surrounded by Nurikabe and the other yokai.
Ren, still holding little Nini's hand, walked up to the group. He casually pointed at one of the lavishly dressed nobles and asked,
"And you—what do you do?"
The noble Ren pointed at was initially terrified, but quickly recovered.
Perhaps… perhaps this powerful young man had heard of his family elsewhere and was trying to curry favor with him in a roundabout way?
With that thought, the noble straightened his chest proudly. After hesitating, he gave a gentlemanly bow and introduced himself.
"Honored sir, my name is Makiya Magari. I currently serve as the Minister of Finance, and my noble rank is Count.Might you also hail from some ancient lineage? Surely you've heard of the prestigious Magari family?"
Ren had never heard of the Magari family in his life.
He wasn't even sure why the man was saying so much—Ren had only asked what he did for a living.
Makiya, however, was extremely satisfied with his introduction. It preserved his noble elegance while subtly reminding the other party that he came from an old and powerful house.
Unfortunately, Ren wasn't buying any of it.
His expression remained calm as he turned to the little girl beside him instead.
"Minister of Finance… so you manage the money, right?Nini, how's the finance minister usually? Other than normal taxes, do they often collect extra fees from you?"
The finance minister, who had been smiling confidently just moments ago, felt his heart drop straight through the floor when he heard that question.
The scene before him was painfully familiar.
Just moments ago, the King of Farumusu had been exiled to 'retire' in another city—because of something this same little girl had said.
"I remember Mom saying…" Nini began hesitantly. After Ren explained what 'taxes' meant, she covered her mouth with her hand and thought for a long while before continuing,"Every time the soldier uncles came to collect taxes, they came more often—and took more—than what the king said they should…"
Because of her age, Nini didn't fully understand what taxes were. But after careful thought, that was what she remembered.
"Honored sir," the finance minister said quickly, cold sweat pouring down his back,"tax levels are decided by His Majesty the King. As for increased frequency or amounts, that may have been… individual misconduct by soldiers…"
As Ren's face darkened with every word from the little girl, the minister desperately tried to defend himself.
But when even a child could see the answer to a problem like this, Ren had no intention of believing him.
He merely cast a glance toward Tesena-Oni and the others.
Moments later, the finance minister was dragged away screaming, pulled off for some very intense "ideological education."
Even as he was being hauled off, he kept shouting that he was from the Magari family, that Ren would regret touching him.
Ren ignored him completely.
Honestly—he'd already chased the king himself into exile. Why would he care about some Magari family?
"And you over there—what do you do?"
As the finance minister disappeared, his screams quickly fading, the remaining nobles began to tremble.
Even if a kingdom fell, new rulers usually didn't slaughter nobles indiscriminately.
After all, nobles belonged to the same upper class. And many noble families had deep roots built over generations—purging them all would plunge the nation into chaos.
That was why these nobles had remained relatively fearless earlier.
What they hadn't anticipated was that Ren was nothing like conventional conquerors.
The Minister of Finance wasn't some nobody—at worst, he ranked third or fourth in power within the kingdom.
He was a count from an old noble house.
And yet… Ren had disposed of him without hesitation.
The noble Ren pointed at this time was terrified beyond belief, but he had no choice except to step forward and introduce himself.
If he didn't, the stone yokai beside him would never stop staring him down.
In the nobles' eyes now, Ren was practically a demon king—one wrong move, and someone would die.
"H-Honored sir… my name is Chisato. I am the Minister of Construction for Farumusu. As you said earlier… I handle infrastructure and greenery…"
Having learned from the previous example, none of the nobles dared mention their family backgrounds anymore. They were afraid of provoking Ren's unpredictable temper.
And after each introduction, every noble nervously turned their gaze toward the little girl beside him.
None of them had ever imagined that one day, they'd be desperately hoping to hear praise from a flat-chested little girl.
Nini was just a child. These nobles were mostly middle-aged or older. And yet, a single approving word from her made them beam like children themselves.
They had no choice.
The one who now held their lives and futures was this innocent-looking girl.
If she called you a good person—congratulations. Not only would you live, you might even rise higher later.
But if the word bad person came out of her mouth…
Then no matter your rank or background, your fate would match that of the finance minister.
Of course, Nini was still very young. She could only identify officials who had behaved particularly egregiously.
For many nobles, she didn't even understand what their jobs were—so she couldn't judge whether they were good or bad.
Those nobles were temporarily detained. Ren planned to later let the common people of the kingdom vote on what to do with them.
After this simple round of "good or bad" judgment, the once-crowded hall of nobles was reduced to just a handful.
It could only be said—these days, nobles with power rarely had clean hands.
As long as things hadn't gone too far, Ren wasn't interested in completely wiping them out.
Purging a wave of corrupt officials also helped atone for his earlier excesses. After all, Marisu City was still in a state of panic because of him.
The fastest way to calm that panic was to appoint a new ruler as soon as possible.
But when Ren looked at the remaining nobles in the hall, his face filled with helplessness.
Those who were still standing weren't necessarily uncorrupt—they were simply the type who hadn't crossed the line too badly.
But if he had to pick the tallest among these dwarfs to be the next king…
He couldn't find a single suitable candidate.
Because they were all dwarfs. Not one tall man among them.
"Why doesn't Ren-sama become the king himself?"
Spider Princess suddenly spoke up, smiling.
"Since there's no suitable candidate—and we did conquer Marisu City ourselves—I believe Ren-sama is fully qualified to be the new ruler.No… I should say that no one is more suitable than you."
Her suggestion was immediately met with unanimous approval from the other yokai.
Throughout history, powerful yokai ruling entire nations wasn't unheard of. If that useless, fat former king could rule Farumusu, then Ren would surely do far better.
"Besides," Spider Princess continued smoothly,"Ren-sama's current objective is to find so-called Named Monsters, isn't it?
"According to what I've learned, Named Monsters do exist in this world—but they're certainly not common.Although Ren-sama summoned us, and your yokai power can sustain our presence here for a time, searching such a vast world with just our numbers is… inefficient."
"But if Ren-sama were to become the King of Farumusu, everything changes.You could use the kingdom's intelligence network and manpower to locate Named Monsters much faster.
"Setting everything else aside—those thirty thousand soldiers alone could search enormous regions."
Spider Princess's proposal genuinely tempted Ren.
Still, he hesitated.
Could he really be a good king?
This wasn't a game. In his past life or this one, Ren had always been just a commoner. He honestly had no confidence in managing something like this.
"Ren-sama has nothing to worry about," Spider Princess said confidently."We will all assist you with everything we have.
"It's just a medieval kingdom. We all come from modern society—even if we can't manage perfectly, can't we just apply modern ideas?
"Besides, with Ren-sama's ocean-deep wisdom, ruling a small kingdom is nothing. In the future, even conquering the entire world wouldn't be impossible.
"Ren-sama is destined to lead all yokai and stand at the apex of our kind.Why not use this small kingdom as practice—to hone your leadership?"
As Ren's most devoted—and utterly uncritical—fan, Spider Princess possessed a terrifying level of confidence in him.
Even things Ren himself doubted, she firmly believed were merely signs of his humility.