The next day, the privy council meeting was kinda boring.

The [Scouts] surveyed a 50 km radius from the palace and still found nothing. To be fair, they did find something. Simple tools were found on the grass plain such as bone needles, rope and a wooden horse toy.

And also lots of animal poop. The [Scouts] mostly found horse, cow and sheep poop so far.

So there is civilisation of some sort around somewhere. The current theory is that there are nomads moving about.

But unfortunately, no trees or quarries to farm resources were found. The only solution is to once again expand the search area.

The second item of the meeting was the well and cesspit. Both were completed yesterday. Which is great news.

And thus the privy council meeting ended just like that.

Jack’s itinerary for the day wasn’t done. He had to attend a general meeting in the throne room.

This general meeting was like a royal audience where the lord heard complaints and suggestions from his vassals.

In Jack’s case, he had to hear complaints from the heads of each department in the palace.

For example, [Court Mages] in the Alchemistry Department of the palace were arguing with the [Blood Priestesses]. The issue was the use of mercury. The palace had only a limited amount of mercury stored and currently there wasn’t a way to replace any used mercury.

Both sides disagreed on how much mercury the other side was using. Frankly, Jack didn’t care much about this. He didn’t know which side of the debate was wrong or right.

“How about you both don’t get the mercury?” he glared at both representatives of the two sides.

“WHAT?!” they both screamed in disbelief.

The [Blood Priestess] representative was the first to get her composure. “My lord, we need mercury in our prayer ceremonies. The gods will not be pleased and might cause bad omens for us all.”

The representative for the [Alchemists] stepped forward, “But we need it more, my lord. Higher tiered scrolls and certain potions require the mercury. We can’t afford to relax. We’ll need as many potions in any upcoming conflict.”

Jack sighed. There was no easy answer and any decision he made would disappoint someone.

“Fine, both you are ordered to go into some kind of mediation. If you can’t settle on some agreement then both of you won’t get the mercury until mercury ores are found in this world.”

“Very well, my lord.”

They accepted his decision reluctantly. They were both suspicious of each other.

Jack now had to decide who’ll act as a mediator. He guessed Isoldea would know a couple of people who could do the job since she’s the steward.

“Next,” Jack ordered.

The next department to complain were the [Scribes] from the Archive Department. They wanted all officials to make copies of any decision they make and bring them to the archives for record keeping.

Jack refused to grant the request. There was a limited amount of paper in the palace. And since they hadn’t found trees yet, using more papers to do copies seemed wasteful.

So Jack spent the next three hours listening to mostly complaints. He had to settle some feuds driven by personality clashes in the palace.

This was not what he expected the life of a [Demon Lord] to be like. It’s one thing to deal with bureaucracy, it’s another to find the will to manage it.

When the general meeting was done, Jack found himself wanting to drink a strong alcohol and just go to sleep.

Yeah, it was now tempting to get himself drunk and loosen up the stress he had after such a long meeting.

If only he could just [Log Out].

Since he had nothing else to do for the rest of the day, Jack returned to his bed chambers. He threw himself on his soft silk bed and fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was dark outside. His stomach was rumbling. Time for dinner.

He got up and walked to his dining table. There he found a little bell he could ring to get room service.

But that was not the only thing he found on the table. There was a letter.

Jack looked at it with suspicion.

[Appraise].

Item: Letter

Description: There is a message written inside

His [Appraise] skill detected nothing amiss about the letter.

So he picked it up and opened it.

It read:

I apologise for my boldness, my lord,

But I must confess that I miss you dearly

It feels like ages since we last seen each other

I wonder if you feel the same. I understand that work has kept you busy

Could you spare some time for me?

Your Octavia
With Love

Huh. Jack’s mind was blank. It was a love letter. The first he has ever got.

Then again, Octavia was not writing to Jack. She was writing to Lord Zodark. So how should a [Demon Lord] respond to such a letter?

He could ask Isoldea. Jack shook his head. That sounded silly. He couldn’t ask Isoldea such a question, it would be very unprofessional. Jack had to separate the personal life and the professional/lordship life.

Maybe Leofric. No no no. Leofric was too serious and headstrong.

Jack sat down. Maybe he should respond with another letter. Maybe a letter thanking her. Such a letter would sound too formal.

He had to respond somehow.

There was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” Jack’s head raced. Could it be Octavia?

“Pec. My name is Pec, my lord.”

“Pec? Who’re you again?”

“I’m [Scribe] who writes the minutes of the meetings you attend, my lord. I thought it best I delivered the notes directly to you so you can review them at your leisure.”

There was no way in hell Jack would spend his free time looking at minutes.

“Uhm, can’t you deliver the notes to the Archive Department?”

“I can if that is what you want.”

“Yeah, do that. By the way, did I hear you correctly you’re a [Scribe]?” Jack asked.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Good good. Come in. I might need your professional advice about letters.”

The door opened.