Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Future Directions

Before I forgot, I decided to go thank Veldora and Ramiris.

For Veldora, I had some new clothing. He always went around topless with a cape, and I saw that as kind of a problem. He didn’t seem to mind it much— maybe he thought it was a good look for him—but I thought now was a good time to offer him an alternative in gift form.

“Ohhh, Rimuru! My heartfelt friend and ally! At long last, you have finally grasped how I feel, yes? I’ve always wanted to wear cooler clothes!”

“Uh, you know you could’ve asked Shuna anytime, and she would’ve set you up, right? Like, just go in the wardrobe room, and there’s a few outfits you can magically adjust the sizes of.”

“Fool! Only a custom-made outfit would be worthy of my time. And if my most trustworthy ally prepared it for me, I’m sure it would be the finest outfit in all the land, would it not?”

Um, I have, like, zero fashion sense, just so you know…

Veldora seemed to be giving way too much credit. I mean, I’m only wearing what the people around here tell me to wear. Looking back, I was horrible with my clothing choices in my previous life as well. I basically got by with business suits outdoors and sweats indoors. Lots of sweats. Comfy, no biggie if you get a stain on them… Perfect.

That was what I based my choices on with Veldora, and surprisingly, it was a bigger hit with him than I had guessed. He was rapidly throwing on every piece of the outfit, right in front of me.

“…Well, I’m glad you’re happy with it. Keep up the good work now, all right?”

“Mmm, yes, leave it all to me! Kwah-ha-ha-ha!”

Considering everything I get from him, this was ridiculously cheap compensation. I mean, yes, it’s a custom job made from top-of-the-line fabric, but still, you know… Next time I’m free, I’ll try thinking of some other way to thank him. But that can wait.

Next up was Ramiris.

“Ramiris, you really saved our necks. Thank you for that.”

“Aw, quit actin’ like we’re strangers or something! I owe you a whole heck of a lot, too, so you scratch my back, I scratch yours, y’know?”

Ramiris looked a little bashful. I wasn’t much good at expressing gratitude, either, but it’s important to do it when you need to.

“Right, so I thought I’d give you a reward as well.”

“Oh, what’s that? Did you make me a dress or something, like with my master?”

“If you want something like that, go ask Shuna. She’ll set you up. But as for me…”

There was no way I’d ever be caught designing women’s clothing. Shuna can tackle that for me. Myself, I had things to name.

“Oh, um, so you’re gonna name my cute li’l Dragon Lords?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“And I’ll basically be their mom?”

“Exactly.”

“Wow! That’s really incredible!”

I was kinda surprised by that, too, actually, but it really did work.

“At the event yesterday, I gave Adalmann’s pet the name of Venti. Once I did, she evolved, and now she can turn into a human anytime she wants and speak to us fluently. So I thought maybe you’d like the same for your own Dragon Lords, y’know?”

Those transformation skills threw me for a loop—but if you think about it, dragons taking human form is a pretty common trope in fantasy fiction, isn’t it? It’s not completely unexpected. Thus, I figured there was a chance Ramiris’s four Dragon Lords could pull that same trick. Then we’d have more staff on hand, and maybe life wouldn’t be so stressful for Beretta.

“In that case, name away is what I say!”

Ramiris happily nodded her approval. With her consent, it was time to get started.

“Do you have any ideas for good names?”

“Mmmm… You handle it!”

Guess Ramiris isn’t too good at coming up with names. If she was leaving all that to me, then they were probably gonna end up with fantasy game–style names… But maybe that works, actually? They are boss monsters, after all, so maybe it’s not worth sweating over.

So I had Ramiris go fetch the Dragon Lords and bring them to the labyrinth lord’s chambers where Veldora resided. Seeing all four of them lined up before me, it dawned on me that these guys have probably been beaten up by adventuring teams many times over by now. They remained doggedly devoted to their posts, however, so I really wanted some cool names for them. Being a Dragon Lord means having more magicules than even an Arch Demon, but it hadn’t been that long since Milim picked them up, so these guys weren’t quite as good as they could be. If naming them triggers evolutions, that ought to give them a ton more intelligence—and then they can be smarter, and stronger, than ever before.

With something like this, going with your initial gut feeling is always the best bet. The Fire Dragon Lord became Euros the Draconic Flamelord; the ice one became Zephyros the Draconic Frostlord; the wind one became Notos the Draconic Skylord; and the earth one became Boreas the Draconic Terralord. I was borrowing liberally from Greek mythology; these were the names of the Anemoi, the deities assigned to the winds of each cardinal direction, and I thought these would be perfect for the Dragon Lords.

These names were my creation, but Ramiris would be treated as the one who named them all. That seemed to work without a hitch, much to my relief. Thus, Ramiris and the dragons were now connected by their souls, and I hoped they’d continue to serve her faithfully.

So how did it work out? Well, just as I guessed, the Dragon Lords could all transform into forms close to human—not completely so, though, as they still retained some draconic characteristics. Euros, the Brimstone Dragon Lord, was a beautiful woman with red hair, her auburn skin covered in a dress made of dragon scale, and her tail resembled a flaming whip. Zephyros, the Frostkeep Dragon Lord, was a slender, handsome young man; his elegant, gentle appearance, combined with his long green hair, gave him an almost feminine sort of beauty. Notos, the Skythunder Dragon Lord, looked like a little girl, all cute from a distance but bearing jagged teeth and menacing fangs up close; the size and look were a mismatch for her incredible strength. Finally, Boreas, the Earthshaker Dragon Lord, was a large, muscular man covered in dragon scales, spines growing all over his body.

The four of them looked like they headed some legion of super villains, the combination of horror and beauty they presented resulting in a twisted sort of attractiveness. This shift, however, was just for looks only; they hadn’t turned dragonoid like Milim, and their species was still straight-up Dragon Lord. Dragonoids, after all, are spiritual life-forms with a physical body, a sort of mutational offshoot from the True Dragons. Even with all the Dragon Lords’ powers, they were still physical by nature, so they weren’t going to rank up there with the perfection the True Dragons exuded.

Still, despite the remaining Dragon Lords, I’d call this evolution a big success. Even better, they had acquired more magic force than I anticipated. They all had several times more magicules than pre-evolution, and it looked to me like they’d get close to the awakened Clayman on that front. Not quite a true demon lord, but still, a wonderful leap forward for them. Considering how much some simple names boosted them, I shuddered to think what would’ve happened if I consumed my own magicules for this. For all I knew, I could’ve suffered irreparable damage. This whole naming system is really scary, in a way.

All told, I consumed five thousand souls on this job. There’s just nothing at all logical about monsters, I realized all over again. But no point pondering over it. Either way, the evolutions of the Dragon Lords, which served as my thank-you gift to Ramiris, were now complete.

By the way, if you’re looking strictly at magicule counts, the Ten Dungeon Marvels are all about evenly matched with these Dragon Lords. However, it looks like there’s still a major gap in combat power, something you can’t express with numbers. Zegion’s a good enough illustration of that, but even the other Marvels make the evolved Dragon Lords look kind of weak. Yes, they had strong monster bodies and attacks that leveraged them, plus a bunch of magic. They were undoubtedly vicious, powerful forces… But they’d still lose out to their peers with better combat skills.

A lot of that just came down to lack of battle experience; they didn’t really have a firm foundation in combat yet. I’m sure it was frustrating for the Dragon Lords to keep getting whipped all the time during the labyrinth siege. In fact, the moment they evolved and gained language fluency, the first thing they did was ask me for training.

Having a new humanoid form meant they could now master human-style combat, and they now realized that a more refined skill set would get them a lot further than their monster-style techniques. Instead of relying on physical attacks like bites, maulings, and element-driven breath, they’d need to understand their magic better and incorporate it into their fighting. I assumed they wanted to learn how to fight as humans and try working that into their own approaches. They came up with that on their own, and really, that showed some pretty remarkable development already.

“Kwaaaaah-ha-ha-ha! I will gladly take care of them for you!”

Veldora, emboldened after doing such a good job raising Zegion, immediately accepted the trainer role for the Dragon Lords. Thus, their journey began.

In time, some of the Dragon Lords would demonstrate more strength in human form than as dragons. They mastered ways to transform their own claws and scales into weapons and armor—which seemed like kind of a backward way to do it, but oh well—and I assume they liked the results they got from that. I wouldn’t discover this until much later, but…yeah, I guess it’s just as well.

Three days had passed since Caligulio and his staff were resurrected, and by now, they had regained most of their composure. The shock of being brought back to life by a demon lord was hard to put into words, but somehow, they had managed to accept it as the truth.

The question then became: What happens to us, going forward?

For now, they were still living and sleeping in tents. Food was arranged for them, carried in regularly by monsters—skeletons, in fact, but nobody was complaining. These tents were lined up in a barren, hilly area with no real vegetation; the scenery was dreary, but it was neither too hot nor too cold, making it an oddly comfortable space. The death-laden atmosphere of the battlefield and the long rows of graves for the dead weren’t any big deal once you got used to them. The people these graves belonged to were out walking and talking in skeleton form anyway, so it’d be silly to fear them. In short, it wasn’t an arrangement to wail about at all.

According to what they heard, they had been set up on Floor 70 of the labyrinth. This was all explained to them by a wight king named Adalmann, who oversaw things on this level. Some of the people there had actually fought against him, so nobody doubted who he was. Besides, Adalmann was quite caring of them, treating Caligulio and the others pretty well by POW standards.

“My god, Sir Rimuru, has deemed fit to resurrect you all, and thus, I follow his divine will. He is not the type of person who would take away a life previously given. I will suggest you take your time to think about what you want your future to be like.”

Based on that philosophy, Adalmann had let Caligulio and his staff go free. But nobody was suggesting they break their way out of this level. Their lives were already in the hands of the gods, they realized, and so they decided to trust in the demon lord Rimuru. Caligulio agreed with this, and besides, he was confident any escape attempt would end in failure. That’s why, taking Adalmann’s words to heart, he decided to call his staff together for a meeting.

Nearly a hundred officers were now gathered in a large tent used for military conferences. These were senior staffers, some of the Empire’s greatest heroes, but any power they had was well and truly gone now.

“All right, people. First off, allow me to apologize. My incompetence is what put you all in this situation, and for that, I am sincerely sorry.”

Caligulio looked at his assembled audience and bowed his head. Nobody there thought the apology was warranted.

“What are you saying, my lord? We are just as guilty as you for not stopping His Majesty.”

The staff nodded their agreement to the aide’s statement. The senior officers—most notably Krishna—also agreed that Caligulio was far from the only culprit here.

“I am of the same opinion as everyone else. Thanks to our foolishness, we have incurred the wrath of God himself… And by God’s mercy, we’ve been given the opportunity to atone for our sins.”

As he phrased it, the Empire’s whole invasion was a sin, and Caligulio agreed with him. As overconfident of their military might as they were, they didn’t even try to learn much about their enemy. Looking back, Caligulio could hardly believe his own stupidity. The thought that his friends must all be feeling the same way brought an embittered smile to his face.

“Thank you. Hearing that makes me feel a little more at peace with myself. And I swear to God that I will never forget this feeling.”

The moment he said the word God, the image of the demon lord Rimuru flashed through his mind.

Yes… As far as I’m concerned, Lord Rimuru may as well be my god.

There was no place in the Empire for Caligulio to return to. If he did, he’d take the blame for the loss, and they’d skip the court-martial and jump right to his execution. He had no intention of shirking his responsibilities, but he thought it wrong to throw away the life granted by Rimuru for nothing.

Well… I’ll have time to weigh my options there.

It was natural for Caligulio to think about putting his own problems off for later. His face was no longer that of a brute driven solely by self-preservation and greed.

“Now, let’s get to the topic at hand. I’ve gathered you all here today because I want to build consensus on how we should move forward. Sir Adalmann has generously given me the freedom to consult with all of you in this meeting, so let’s try to get some work done so his kindness doesn’t go to waste.”

Once Caligulio said this, the people present exchanged glances and began discussing matters among themselves. That would be unthinkable during a typical military meeting, but Caligulio welcomed it—he wanted honest, unadorned feedback from everyone.

After chatting about it for a while, the group narrowed their thoughts down enough to form two major factions. One thought it best to stay here and retain their current allegiance to their captors; the other argued that they must return to the Empire without delay.

These two sides were deadlocked with each other, and both arguments were wholly understandable. It was only natural that those with families would want to return home, but whether that was possible depended on the intentions of the demon lord Rimuru. Perhaps it’d be doable with further negotiations, but if they made too much of a fuss about it, it could put the demon lord off.

“I would like to believe that he has no interest in executing us for no reason, as Sir Adalmann assures us. But we have to keep in mind that this doesn’t mean we’re forgiven.”

Given the way their lives were saved, their fates were all in the hands of the demon lord. They might’ve been granted a little freedom, but getting too selfish presented unknown risks.

“…I imagine all of us in this tent would be executed if we came back. But even despite that, I want to make sure that the soldiers who fought so bravely for their country can get home safely. I’d like to appeal directly to Lord Rimuru and ask him for his favor here.”

“Perhaps, but keep in mind, we are something akin to hostages right now, and we have no idea whether our nation will pay compensation or not. It’s a thorny issue.”

Then Major General Minitz, who had been silently listening to everyone’s takes so far, spoke up.

“It’s not gonna happen. We’ve never even imagined ourselves as defeated. You know how consistently ruthless we’ve been in our dealings with hostile nations.”

The floor fell silent. The Empire had never accepted anything other than unconditional surrender in the past. It was arrogant of them, but given their constant streak of victories, they had a right to be arrogant. But now that they had suffered a total defeat, they’d have no one to blame for themselves if they were unforgiven. Everybody here understood that—and they knew that even if they could return to the Empire, their future there would look pretty bleak.

Still, some wanted to fulfill their responsibilities to those soldiers with families waiting back home.

“Major General Minitz is right. I wonder what His Majesty the Emperor will think about all this…”

“I hate to say it, but I think our intelligence bureau was far too negligent. How many demon lord–class freaks do they think Tempest even had?!”

For an imperial officer, this remark was wading into taboo territory.

“Hey! Watch your mouth, you! I don’t care what happens to the IIB at this point, but the ones you called freaks are the major leaders of this nation, you know.”

“Sorry. Slip of the tongue…”

Free speech was welcome here, and there were no monsters in the tent. No one had seen Adalmann since yesterday; Caligulio assumed he was off attending to business somewhere. That’s why they were having this conference today… But that didn’t mean they could say anything and everything they wanted. They couldn’t forget their status as prisoners of war.

“Lord Rimuru seems to be a generous leader to me, but I doubt he’ll overlook any bad-mouthing of his staff. Remember that well, everyone, and keep an eye on what you say.”

Despite stating that, Caligulio agreed with his officer’s voiced opinion. At the very least, the fact that somebody under Rimuru’s command could handle magic as intense as Gravity Collapse told volumes about how dangerous this demon lord was. Why didn’t the Imperial Information Bureau know anything about them?

I fully understand why he called the IIB negligent. If anything, I wish I said that myself…

But then one audience member uttered something that threw cold water on Caligulio and his officers.

“Are all of you idiots? Listen to me. The IIB was definitely aware of some intel, at least.”

Bernie, silent until now, suddenly let out that bombshell with a chuckle.

“That’s ridiculous! So why did they withhold accurate intelligence from His Majesty?”

“They didn’t betray us, did they?!”

The whole group was agitated. Only Minitz and Caligulio remained calm, and Minitz was the first to respond.

“Your name was Bernie, right? The man on an undercover mission not even we were told about?”

“Right,” Caligulio added. “Single Digits like you probably would know some top secret information that we weren’t aware of. So what was the IIB thinking, and what did they want us to do?”

All eyes focused on Bernie after that question. Everybody on hand wanted to know. The IIB had sworn absolute loyalty to the emperor. It was hard to believe that they would betray anyone—and that meant Emperor Ludora was in a position to anticipate this happening all along.

Bernie snorted at the crowd as he looked around, giving Caligulio and the others sympathetic looks. Then, without hesitation, he dropped another bomb.

“Well, it’s exactly what you’re all imagining. The emperor knew everything. He was already taking your defeat into consideration.”

“That—that’s madness…”

“What do you mean by that? Are you saying His Majesty knew we’d be defeated but sent the entire army over anyway?!”

“Impossible! That’s far too much of an insult against the emperor!”

The officers were all getting worked up. But someone began to have an inkling of what was going on.

“I see. So we were just throwaway pawns the whole time?”

“No, that’s not quite the right way to put it, Minitz. If I had to guess, His Majesty’s purpose was—”

“Pfft! Keep your mouth shut, Caligulio. If someone needs to take the heat for leaking national-level secrets, let it be me, not you. Listen… All of us right now are dead, me included. And if we are, this won’t count as betraying the emperor anyway.”

Such was Bernie’s resolve. He had lost the powers that promoted him to the Single Digits, even the ultimate force granted to him by the emperor. Now it was time, as a leader, to show a new pathway for everyone.

“Bernie…”

“Sorry, Jiwu. But you know I’m never gonna be that loyal to His Majesty. I only served him for one reason—because I knew I could never beat him.”

That, too, was Bernie telling the truth.

………

……

…

Bernie, born in the United States of America forty-five years ago, was once an average, freedom-loving student. Somehow he wound up in this world instead, where Gadora discovered him. He was then taken in by Damrada, from whom he learned the art of fighting. This gave him confidence, and somewhere along the line, he became vain enough to think he was among the best in the world. But his confidence was shattered by a single woman serving at Emperor Ludora’s side. A beautiful woman—and also a truly monstrous creation. A lofty pinnacle that Bernie would never reach, even if he moved heaven and earth and went through thousands of reincarnations. It was hard to believe such a being even existed, but reality was all too cruel to him.

The woman’s name was Velgrynd—one of the Empire’s most closely guarded secrets, one that must never be spoken of to outsiders.

One day, Bernie was escorted by Damrada to the emperor’s palace, a great honor that fueled his ambitions even further. As a lover of freedom, he detested the idea of an emperor who dominated every aspect of people’s lives. He dreamed, however foolishly, that he could overthrow the emperor if he just had a chance. The price of that foolishness was paid in fear, for when Bernie met Velgrynd for the first time that day, he was immediately seized by it, giving in wholeheartedly to it.

As Bernie was gripped by this fear, Emperor Ludora addressed him from beyond the curtain.

“You have the qualifications… The requirements to serve as a vessel. I will lend you my powers. Please keep up the good work.”

Ludora’s voice sounded entirely free of emotion, as if it was echoing out from some faraway point. The next thing Bernie knew, he was in absolutely no position to defy the emperor any longer.

………

……

…

“His Majesty doesn’t care if a million of his elites are wiped out. In fact, that’s all part of the plan.”

That sentence, by itself, made little sense. But Caligulio knew what it meant.

“…Oh. So he’s willing to sacrifice a million officers and enlisted men if it results in someone like me awakening?”

Hearing Caligulio give the correct answer after so little explanation surprised Bernie slightly. But hearing him say “someone like me awakening” made it clear how he knew.

“Ah, so you’re awakened, too? Then I think you probably understand it all. Yes, you’re right. His Majesty’s goal is to build a collection of awakened people to serve as his pawns. If he can gain even one more of them, that’s easily worth a million casualties to him.”

This was a truth that not even the Empire’s senior officers were aware of. From the very beginning, Emperor Ludora expected nothing from his military. The most important thing to him was how many awakened personnel he could collect.

“Quality over quantity sort of thing? So when we took on Veldora three centuries ago and failed…”

Minitz gave Bernie a sharp gaze as he asked the question. Bernie was aloof as always.

“I don’t know what happened back then, but if you think about it, doesn’t it make sense to you? I can kill every man in this tent by myself… Or I could have, I mean. That’s how vast the power gap was.”

“I see, I see… And that’s why it was a given that we’d be defeated, then? The whole strategy was built on the assumption that we’d take horrific losses. I’d like to call it a brilliant move on His Majesty’s part, but this time, it was just a disaster.”

“Exactly. I’m sure His Majesty didn’t expect us to lose after your awakening.”

Minitz sounded convinced of it, Caligulio bitterly listening on.

“Well… I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough.”

He mumbled it out, his tone self-deriding, but Bernie denied it.

“It’s all right. It’s not that you weren’t up to the challenge. We just matched up poorly against our opponent.”

“Yeah. There was nothing we could do against that.”

Jiwu nodded her agreement. She and Bernie had both lost to Diablo, the same demon who defeated Caligulio. If they couldn’t beat a freak of nature like that, they assumed Caligulio couldn’t, either.

“So you’re saying Tempest’s strength was beyond what the IIB projected?”

“Looks that way, yeah. The plan was to use the demon lord Rimuru as a stepping-stone to gain more pawns for us, but we blew our chances because we misjudged our opponent’s strength.”

Bernie couldn’t help but laugh, as inappropriate as that was considering all the personnel lost. But he still wished he could rub this in the emperor’s face someday.

“…Well, Bernie, you were trying to use us as a diversion so you could stage your sneak attack, I suppose, but it failed. What are you gonna do now?”

“Ha! I told you. I’ll take the heat for it, okay?”

“What do you mean?” Minitz calmly asked. A few moments passed, everyone in the tent silently waiting for Bernie’s answer.

“…Let me get one thing straight with you folks first. Like I just said, you guys are all already dead. I don’t mean that metaphorically; I mean you’re dead as far as His Majesty is concerned.”

“Mm-hmm. Is it trouble for him if we stay alive like this?”

“That’s not quite the way to put it. The emperor has no use for soldiers who’ve been deprived of their powers and have zero chance of awakening. And if he has no use for you, then he has no reason to protect you, either.”

“I suppose not, no.”

“Think of it on that basis, and there’s a real good chance they won’t accept any prisoners if Tempest offers them. And not just that—if the surviving soldiers return home, it’ll spread antiwar sentiment across the Empire. Do you think that’s in line with His Majesty’s will?”

“Doubtful.”

Minitz sighed. Now he understood what Bernie wanted to say.

“And since we’re no longer important to His Majesty, we’re just a third wheel to the IIB?”

“You got it.”

“And they’ll seek out and deal with anyone who tries to return home?”

“Definitely.”

And then they’d pin the blame on Tempest to stir up the anger and vengeance of their people, likely. Bernie was confident that’s what the IIB would do, and that was the story he was giving the tent now.

“…But we’re talking seven hundred thousand people. It’d be impossible.”

“The people who underwent enhancement surgery didn’t lose that much power. If we fight back, we’d be fighting against our own side!”

Minitz raised a hand to quiet the startled officers.

“…Do you have an idea of who might be capable of that?”

Most of the audience thought the idea was ridiculous. But Minitz remained coolheaded. Caligulio, remembering what happened when he was awakened, remained silent. With that kind of power, he concluded, it wasn’t so impossible at all.

“Could the Single Digits do it?”

“If that’s a yes-no question, then the answer is yes. But that’s just armchair theorizing. If a single person has absolute power, that’s good for offense but not for defense. If the enemy swarms you with huge numbers, then inevitably you’ll have areas you can’t fully defend. At the same time, it’s also not a suitable approach if you’re pursuing a fleeing enemy. If they scatter in all directions, you’ll inevitably miss out on some.”

In this case, it’d be necessary for the Empire to take all of them out with no survivors whatsoever. Bernie didn’t know anyone who’d be capable of that…with one exception.

“Now, common sense dictates that this is impossible, right? But it’s not. The Empire’s got an absolute freak of nature who can pull that off.”

Bernie recalled the figure in his mind. It made him shiver. The beauty, and the horror, could only be understood by those who’ve had an encounter. Bernie was one of them, and that fact made him very unhappy.

“…Someone that makes a Single Digit like you quake in their boots? It appears that I’m gravely mistaken here.”

Minitz sat back in his seat and looked up at the ceiling.

“Me too. I joined the military because I dreamed of ruling the world in the name of the Empire. But now…”

Now everything was being decided in a place that had nothing to do with the military. These power struggles were being played by someone else, and there was no room for the non-awakened to butt in.

“Foolish of us, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. What a farce.”

Caligulio and Minitz exchanged glances, both looking ready to cry. And not just them—all the other officers in the tent looked like they had just woken up from a dream, and they weren’t happy about it. It’s so pathetic, Bernie thought. Everyone would’ve been a lot happier if they didn’t know the truth, but then they wouldn’t have been convinced about their situation. That’s why Bernie laid it all bare for them, leaving nothing behind.

“So do you see now? You understand the situation you’re in? If you go back home, there’ll be nothing but despair waiting for you. You gotta stay here as prisoners and just wait until the war’s over.”

“Sir Bernie, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going back to the Empire. The war’s not gonna end anytime soon at this rate, so Lord Rimuru is probably gonna try negotiating with the Empire… And he’ll need a guide for that, won’t he?”

And that guide would almost certainly be disappeared. The current, powerless Bernie would absolutely be assassinated. But he was determined to do it.

Now everyone was silent. Here and now, they understood all too well that the demon lord Rimuru had an iron grip on all of their fates.

After expressing my gratitude to Veldora and Ramiris, I decided to go to Floor 70 of the labyrinth.

Adalmann, following yesterday’s evolution ritual, had fallen into a deep sleep. His Harvest Festival was underway, but his castle was still fully wrecked, so we dragged him to a guest room up top and had him sleep there. Alberto and Venti were put into their own quarters as well, and I was sure they’d all be waking up soon enough.

But the imperial prisoners of war were a problem for me. Adalmann was taking care of them, and it wouldn’t be good to leave them unattended. Besides, I was hoping they were calm enough by now to give me some more information about the Empire. It was a good opportunity for that anyway, so I decided to go and check on them. I had my two secretaries accompanying me, and I figured that’d be enough to keep me safe through anything.

“You didn’t have to go do this yourself, Sir Rimuru…”

“Oh, you wanna do it for me, then?”

“Yes! Go down there and talk to them!”

“Keh… Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh. Right! Off we go, then!”

Diablo never changes, does he? And maybe that’s true for Shion, too. There’s no way they’d voluntarily go down there. I’d never let Shion do this alone, I thought as she hugged me close to her chest. It was odd that they were both fine the day after the evolution ritual, though. Shion was still unchanged after a full twenty-four hours, and Diablo was completely back to his usual self.

“So did you manage to acquire any new abilities?”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh! Well, thanks to you, Sir Rimuru, I’ve finally succeeded in obtaining an ultimate skill! Now I don’t have to sit there and fume while Guy annoys me with his bragging.”

I’m sure Guy found Diablo far more annoying than the other way around. Like, I’m totally confident about that.

“Well, if that was so frustrating for you, you should’ve acquired one on your own. I’m sure you could’ve figured out an ultimate skill without my help, Diablo.”

“No, no, I couldn’t have. If I gained the skill after Guy told me about his, it’d be like I was copying him. It would look terrible.”

I don’t get it. This isn’t about who’s copying whom, you know. If there’s something useful out there, why don’t you just have him teach it to you? Or am I thinking about this all wrong?

“Heh. How narrow-minded of you, Diablo. Better to ask than go astray, as I think they say—and ever since Sir Rimuru taught me that, I’ve always striven to listen to what people have to say. Gobichi has taught me the true essence of cooking as well, and now I’ve acquired full mastery of my craft!”

Shion seemed awfully smug about that, but personally, I think Gobichi just wanted to get away from her. I really wish Gobichi wouldn’t go giving Shion this strange confidence of hers, too. He needs to step up and take care of her to the bitter end, you know?

“Oh, was that the reason why Sir Gobichi was hospitalized a bit ago? If he had to put up with your cooking all the time, no wonder he fell ill.”

Yeahhhh… Maybe I shouldn’t be chiding Gobichi, after all. But Diablo’s gone through some tough times on this front as well, and Shuna doesn’t even dare taste test anything Shion creates. So who’ll deal with Shion’s cooking? It’s gonna have to be Benimaru, isn’t it? Yeah. It’s his responsibility to educate Shion, and I’ll make sure that’s clear with him. And I’m not saying that just because I want to needle the newlywed or anything. Please don’t misunderstand me here.

Shion got us all derailed, but as we chatted on, we reached our destination in no time. Once we were transported over to the hilly area of Floor 70, we were greeted by some people who shot up and saluted the moment they saw us. I’m not sure that’s really the appropriate thing to do with the demon lord of an enemy nation, but Diablo and Shion seemed satisfied with it, so I didn’t quibble.

“Lord Rimuru has graced us with his presence! Summon Lord Caligulio at once!”

And with that, the soldiers started jogging to and fro, forming a column that led directly to a single tent. Caligulio was conducting a military conference in there, according to the people guiding the way for us.

Inside the tent were a hundred or so important-looking people. They all saluted, on their feet and demonstrating impeccable posture. Getting this treatment from the top brass surprised me a little. I mean, I’m the king of their enemy, and I’m in slime form right now, too. But nobody was looking down on me, and I guess Raphael’s suggestion was more successful than expected. It’s only natural, I suppose, if you think about it. If someone kills you and then brings you back to life, it’s probably wise to fully submit to them. If I ran into someone like that, you can bet I wouldn’t defy them.

Convinced of this, I sat down on the seat at the head of the table I was guided to. I needed to be dignified here, so I changed over to human form, with Shion and Diablo behind me. Shion looked a little disappointed to not have me in her arms, but getting preoccupied with that was pointless, so I looked around the room and began to speak.

“All right, folks. Having all the big shots in one place is kinda helpful to me, actually.”

“““Yes, my lord!”””

They all bowed their heads at once. It was gonna be hard to talk with them like this, so I asked them to sit down before I began.

“Relax, guys, okay? I’ve got something I want to discuss.”

I gave them a warm smile. Hopefully this would ease their minds a little and enable us to have a nice, pleasant chitchat.

“Adalmann is busy with other matters at the moment, so he might not be able to come back for a while. So I was wondering if you guys had any requests for me right now.”

“That is too kind of you, my lord. We are always well taken care of here, so please, do not concern yourself about our plights.”

Eesh! So formal! Caligulio provided the answer for the rest of them, but this treatment was just beyond stuffy. Then again, they’ve lost the war, so I suppose this would be normal of them anyway.

“Well, great, then. So regarding our plans for the future…”

“Yes, my lord! There is actually something we would all like you to do on that matter!”

They had a request after all, huh? I was fine with that, as long as it wasn’t anything too unreasonable. Then Caligulio gave me quite a surprise.

“We are hoping that we could be taken care of within this country for the time being, so if possible, we’d like to ask for your continued kindness…”

Um…?

I pressed for more details. According to Caligulio, they were actually discussing their future direction when I stopped in. The conclusion they came to was that, if they returned to the Empire, it was very likely they’d all be killed.

“Whoa, whoa, are you guys crazy? What kinda country kills the soldiers that fought for it just because they lost?”

I couldn’t help but blurt that out.

“But I think that’s exactly what will happen.”

Bernie, of all people, replied first. He was calm and logical now; it was hard to believe this was the same guy who attacked us. As he explained, nobody here could say that this grisly fate wasn’t possible for them.

“Hmm… So they’d sacrifice a million to awaken just one person? You’ve got to be kidding…”

“It’s the truth, my lord.”

“Well, hang on. If that’s true, then isn’t it weird how they held off on a military invasion for so long because they feared that Veldora’s seal was broken? Maybe we had that wrong, and they were actually waiting for his return?”

“I’m afraid that not even I can understand Emperor Ludora’s thoughts on the matter. However, Lord Rimuru, I humbly believe that your observation is correct.”

Is this really Bernie? He was so polite that it seemed like a whole other person.

But that’s the deal here, huh? This guy Ludora’s true objective wasn’t just to win this war. He was going to pit the generals and soldiers of this Empire against an enemy powerful enough to weed out the losers from those who’d be awakened by the experience. The sheer scale of this was too much for regular people to even comprehend.

Report. It is an interesting idea.

Stop that, dumbass! There’s nothing interesting about using human beings as test subjects. Raphael does act up like this sometimes, doesn’t it?

Zegion was a successful example of such experimentation. For all I know, maybe I’m being the guinea pig for some other experiment of Raphael’s.

Negative. There is no confirmation of such a situation.

Oh, really? I mean, I believe you, but…

Anyway, that could wait. The question was whether to accept Caligulio’s request.

“You know, though, it costs money to feed all you guys. When we’re talking seven hundred thousand of you, that means importing food from other nations, too, so…”

If they’re likely going to be killed back home, I’m a little hesitant to just kick them out of Tempest. But honestly speaking, there’s no reason for us to take care of them. I’m only responsible for my own people. These guys—well, I’d like them to make the most of their lives, but I can’t do everything, you know? If we take in an influx of seven hundred thousand trained military personnel, our neighbors to the west aren’t gonna keep quiet about that, Blumund especially. In fact, it could even lead to needless blood being spilled. Still…it’d be kinda cold to just tell them to go home. I already saved their lives once, so I guess I should take responsibility for them right to the end.

No other option, really, besides taking care of them. But I wasn’t gonna do it for free.

“In our nation, you know, we have a credo that only those who put in the work deserve to have food on the table. If we’re gonna feed you, we need you to work for it, but are you okay with that?”

The room had awaited my response with bated breath. Once I finished speaking, they all looked delighted.

“Absolutely, my lord!”

“Order anything you want from us!”

They sure were motivated, even though I didn’t tell them what they’d be doing yet. Either way, I’d allow them to stay here, then. I had assumed that prisoners of war didn’t mean much to the Empire. There were no Geneva Conventions here, no rules that warring states were expected to follow. The way Bernie described it, these POWs wouldn’t be much of a bargaining chip for negotiating a cease-fire. If so, better to just commit and accept them as a labor force.

The length of their stay was still to be determined, but they’ll be working for us until at least the end of the war. They may not be too useful if their stay here’s too short, but we’ll have to wait and see how that pans out. Hopefully they’ll prove useful for something or other anyway. The officers here didn’t seem to have any intention of defying me, at least. Maybe I could just leave them to Geld and have him take advantage… But he’s in an evolutionary sleep right now and unavailable for a little while. So what can they do until he wakes up?

“By the way, are you guys any good at public-works projects?”

It often comes as a surprise that a military would be full of people good at engineering. In my previous life, it was a well-known fact that when a warlord of ye olde Japan wanted to build a castle, his samurai were the ones who oversaw the construction. Even in modern times, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces played a huge role in things like disaster relief; the news would talk about how active they were in overseas aid projects and so on.

Similarly, the engineers over in Dwargon have some pretty high-tech talent. They’re not the most glamorous soldiers, but they’re quite useful. It’s no exaggeration to say that Kaijin, ex-leader of the dwarven Engineering Division, literally laid the foundation for that whole kingdom. So there’s always been that link between the military and civil engineering, but…

“Oh, of course! I’m proud to inform you that the Empire’s technological capabilities are the best in the world!”

Good. In that case, let’s see what they can do.

“All right. Here’s your first task, then—you see that destroyed castle out there? I want you guys to restore it to its former glory for me. I’ll work out the supplies for it, but I want you guys to handle everything else, from design on up. Can you do that?”

Since they destroyed it and all, I thought it’d be nice if they could fix it up as well.

Caligulio eagerly nodded at me. “As you wish,” he said, looking supremely confident. A few men, presumably his staff, immediately got to work with all the swiftness of a well-oiled machine; they looked like people ready to do the job. Once Adalmann wakes up, he could send some skeletons over to help out, and I think we could get this thing rebuilt in the not-too-distant future.

Now the imperial army had a job.

Time for my other objective—intel gathering. I thought we needed to go into some depth today, so I took a few of Caligulio’s staffers familiar with imperial matters and asked them to join me in one of our conference halls. I wanted to hold a meeting with them and the members of my cabinet who were still awake, so we could talk about what we’d do with the Empire next.

At this point, the Empire was presumably still unaware that Caligulio’s force was defeated. Yuuki might’ve received reports from Misha and Laplace, but worrying about leaks from them seemed unwarranted to me.

Besides, we’re already aware of the Empire’s current maneuvers. I told Luminus about the three hundred airships traveling over the sea toward them. “Hmph!” she’d replied. “Watch me turn the tables on them all!” I doubted Luminus herself would take action, but we had a treaty, and she’d promised to guard against the imperial forces coming from the north. The Holy Empire of Lubelius, as the world’s religious headquarters, churns out a ton of paladins, and apparently they had their own standing force as well. Between that and the hidden threat that was the vampires, I felt fine leaving things in their hands. If Luminus got in any danger, the one-hundred-fifty-thousand-strong Western Deployment could step up, too; Testarossa had them standing by, ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

Most of all, though, Hinata was part of the team intercepting the airships. They were truly prepared for anything, but we still can’t let our guard down. I looked at my assembled group and announced the start of the meeting.

The following seventeen people were seated in the hall:

• My secretaries, Shion and Diablo.

• Benimaru, my supreme general, and Rigurd and Kaijin, my assistants in political affairs.

• Gabil and Gobta, my two corps leaders.

• Hakuro, my adviser; Soei, my intelligence officer; and Gadora, too, as a material witness of sorts.

• The three demonesses—Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera.

• On the imperial side, there were Caligulio himself, Minitz, and Bernie and Jiwu.

Including myself, we had eighteen people in here.

We started with introductions, and of course, the imperials were utterly stunned when they found out the three demonesses were all Primals. Man, were those stares painful to endure. Sorry, guys. It’s Diablo’s fault, not mine. I could already anticipate the complaints coming my way, so I decided to pretend nothing happened and get down to business.

“Um, so if there’s stuff you can’t share with me, that’s cool, okay? Just tell me whatever you can.”

With that, I used Argos, the Eye of God, to put up a display showing the airship squadron in flight. Caligulio would be explaining the current state of the Empire to us, as we agreed upon beforehand. The imperials looked pretty upset about the video on the large surveillance screen, but Caligulio kept his composure and promptly began his briefing.

I already knew a bit about the situation over there from Gadora. That old man didn’t seem to care at all about betraying the Empire, but Caligulio was a soldier. There might be some things he can’t talk about, and we’ll just have to follow up on that later. I told him what I knew in advance, so I’d be having him provide his briefing based on that.

“Very well. In that case, I will begin.”

He was even more brisk and businesslike than I anticipated.

The Armored Division that Caligulio led had a department called the Flying Combat Corps, which boasted four hundred state-of-the-art airships. Three hundred of them were flying to northern Englesia, carrying full troop loads. Each one could carry up to four hundred people, and a crew of fifty was enough to fly one, so that meant a maximum of three hundred and fifty passengers. All this was just as Gadora explained to me.

These ships were transporting the Magical Beast Division led by one General Gradim, a force of thirty thousand in all. However, it was actually more like sixty thousand, since each division member was partnered with a magical beast of their own. They were also joined by support personnel providing logistical services; they had a major general named Zamdo commanding them, but they were probably noncombatants who shouldn’t be counted in military numbers.

“It is a tad embarrassing to talk about this here, but most of the troops sent to Englesia are still novices. They can operate an airship just fine, but in an actual combat situation, their performance is likely going to suffer. Normally they would be conducting R & D for us, so I hope you can show them some mercy…”

As Caligulio explained, the Empire had deployed all its warpower to Tempest, so he gave his rival Gradim nothing but noncombatant personnel. The support staff numbered around thirty thousand in all, but there were hardly wizards or the like; most were sorcerers, a level below. Beyond that, the rest were airship operators and maintenance techs, and Caligulio asked me to take them prisoner instead of killing them, if possible.

“Of all the brazen things to say! You invaded another country, and now that it looks like you’ll lose, you want us to save them without killing anyone?”

Shion was enraged over this. It made Caligulio turn pale as he apologized. I tried to quiet her down a bit, but really, I thought she was right. Caligulio understood that well enough, too, which explained why he was so apologetic about it. But:

“Well, what happens over there isn’t in our jurisdiction. Depending on how things go, I might have to disappoint you there.”

“Yes, I understand that, of course. Please do as you wish, Lord Rimuru.”

I’ll consider his request if I think it’s possible, but I can’t make any promises. My resurrection magic isn’t a cure-all—sometimes it doesn’t work if the conditions aren’t right. And depending on how Luminus reacts to this, I may not be in any position to intervene anyway. I had heard that Gradim’s Magical Beast Division is a pretty considerable threat, and there’s no guarantee that they won’t deal serious damage to Hinata and her troops. If that happens, there won’t be any time for mercy. We’ve got a ton of defensive capability, so I don’t think we’d ever be defeated, but there are never any absolutes in war, so I can’t make guarantees like that lightly.

So that was the end of that. Now we had to talk about Dwargon’s eastern city.

I switched the Eye of God over to a shot of an army some sixty thousand strong. They were deployed and looking pretty relaxed, no tension in the air whatsoever. The imperial officers were shocked all over again, but I pressed on with my briefing.

“At present, Yuuki and I have somewhat reluctantly joined together in an alliance. This might look like a tense standoff, but it’s actually just kind of a big performance.”

Minitz snorted at this. “Well, look at that. If part of our army was compromised from the start, we had practically no chance of winning, did we?”

Caligulio nodded. “Yeah. And the moment my Armored Division and Gradim’s Magical Beast Division are wiped out, they’ll turn their claws toward the imperial capital, and then…checkmate, eh?”

They exchanged embittered looks. Now they knew they were defeated both in strength and in strategy. But not everyone was on the same page.

“I don’t think so. The emperor still has people in the capital who’ll protect him. I know I’ve said this many times before, but an awakened soldier is a literal one-man army. I’m sure they would’ve foreseen the possibility that Yuuki would rebel against them.”

It was kind of weird hearing Bernie talk like this. My image of him as Masayuki’s long-suffering flunky was still too strong in my mind; this seemed like someone totally different.

“Is this the real you I’m seeing here, Bernie?”

“Ah… No, the real me is more how I was when I was traveling with Masayuki.”

I asked the question on reflex, but Bernie was honest enough to provide an answer. So his current attitude is him in “military” mode, but he’s usually a lot more informal, huh? He also informed me that he’s originally from the United States and is forty-five years old; he was originally an average student like any other, so the Bernie I saw before me was all the result of his education in this world. That much probably doesn’t matter to anyone besides himself, although it did make me feel a little affinity for him.

“But you’re probably right. I heard that there’s someone in the Empire who could potentially kill me. And it’s totally expected that a cornered mouse can find a way to turn the tables on the cat.”

The “quality over quantity” dynamic in this world was tough to wrap your head around. No matter how big an army you assembled, they could still be defeated by one single person if they’re unlucky. That’s how we won, too, so we needed to consider being in the opposite position as well.

“In that case, why don’t I travel over there and show this someone a thing or two?!”

Shion’s hand was already on her giant sword. We had zero guarantee that she could win, so I had to turn down that request.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… In that case, allow me to—”

“Denied.”

I don’t even want to imagine a scenario where Diablo lost, but still, no. My policy here is to wait and see until we can create a situation where we’re totally sure we can win. That much, as I reminded everyone in the room, I wanted to be thorough with.

Intelligence is really the most important thing, though, isn’t it? I can’t even count the number of failures we’ve had because of lack of information. We gotta keep our ears open right now, so we don’t fall into the same trap again.

“So you guys were sticking with Masayuki because it let you get close to me without attracting suspicion, right? Honestly, I had no idea at all. And the timing of that attack was incredibly dangerous for me.”

I was talking to Bernie and Jiwu. They might’ve been acting on Damrada’s orders, but it really was a perfect strategy, one not even Raphael picked up on. I had to applaud them for that, enemy or not. I’m sure they had opportunities to target me before then, but it couldn’t have been easy for them to keep their maximum fighting skills under wraps until that one critical moment. We had the upper hand this time, maybe, but things could’ve easily gone the other way, and the emperor would’ve gotten exactly what he wanted. Tempest without Benimaru and me would fall into total disarray, and the Empire would’ve instantly overrun it.

“My pride got the best of me there. I was laboring under the assumption that the labyrinth is always safe. I need to remember that, during war, there is always another danger to consider.”

“Me as well. I will be sure to more thoroughly vet anyone who gets close to Sir Rimuru.”

Benimaru and Soei must’ve been hung up about that, but I can’t pin this on them alone. They had always been way more vigilant than I ever was, anticipating every potential eventuality. I just didn’t have my ears up for danger at all, and that was something I needed to improve on.

“Sir Damrada was the one who ordered us to protect Masayuki. He never told me what for, and I don’t think that order could’ve leaked out anywhere.”

“Me neither. We didn’t receive our orders at the same time; it was through different channels so we wouldn’t know each other’s real identities. I didn’t know Bernie was a Single Digit until the assassination order came for you, Lord Rimuru.”

Now Bernie and Jiwu were a full part of the conversation. I made it clear they had a right to remain silent, so I appreciated their willingness to talk for me. But something about these statements bothered me.

“Do you mean you didn’t know or that you didn’t remember until just then?”

“No, I’ve never met another Single Digit besides myself. I only learned Jiwu was one as well when I got that order.”

“Same here. I don’t think any of them know each other’s true identity except for the commander and vice commander.”

That was a surprise. The Empire’s best forces don’t even know each other at all? Why are they leaving them in the dark like that?

Understood. Presumably it is for the purpose of preventing treachery.

Mmm… If they don’t know each other’s identities, they can’t conspire to overthrow their bosses. That’s just beyond thorough. It shows how careful they are to protect the emperor’s safety, I guess.

“I can understand that, I suppose, but it strikes me as pretty wasteful and inefficient. If you two were acquainted, you could’ve been working together against me from the very beginning.”

My statement elicited a chuckle from Gadora. “Sir Rimuru, may I speak frankly and with the utmost of respect for you?”

“Sure, of course. Anything’s welcome.”

“Very well. If I may, Sir Rimuru, you possess a great deal of intelligence, but I fear that you are not very careful at times. I know this man Damrada very well, and I’ll inform you that he’s a cunning fellow. He doesn’t even trust his own subordinates, and for him, caution is his lifelong mantra.”

Sounds like Raphael was right—they arranged it that way to prevent any conspiracies. I knew Damrada was one of the three leaders of Cerberus and a man who trusted money and nothing else, but I guess he was that way with everything in his life, huh? And he was one of the highest-ranking Single Digits as well?

“I’ve never met him before, but he sounds like a pretty bad guy. Given his approach to killing Gadora, I figured he had to be a Single Digit… And if he was in a position to give orders to you two, Bernie and Jiwu, does that mean Damrada’s the head of the group?”

“No,” Gadora replied. “Damrada is likely the vice commander. I am all but certain the commander is Tatsuya Kondo.”

Right. The director of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau and one of the people Gadora had his eye on. Gadora said he didn’t know him very well, but despite the lack of information, he seemed fairly certain about that based on Damrada’s true identity. Having all this exposed left the imperials in the room despondent.

Bernie and Jiwu were giving me all sorts of useful info; they must’ve figured there’s no point hiding it any longer. They said Gadora was right—that Damrada is the vice commander of the Imperial Guardians, ranked Number Two in the whole Empire. We weren’t sure if Kondo was the leader yet, but there’s no doubting that Damrada’s still way up there in the hierarchy.

Good job, Gadora, I thought as I listened to them.

“And to tell the truth, the attack on Lord Rimuru wasn’t a command from Sir Damrada but actually a secret order from Commander Kondo.”

“It was for me, too. It was weird, I thought, because it overrode our orders to guard Masayuki.”

Jiwu explained to me that she had prepared a backstory for herself where her home village was rescued by Masayuki. That way, he’d instantly trust her, and then she’d be “repaying the favor” by guarding him.

“Well, if you were going to blow your covers at the same time, wouldn’t it have been better to work together from the start?”

“…I agree with you, yes. I believe he was using Masayuki to keep from arousing your suspicion, because it certainly was the perfect opportunity to kill you…”

Looking back on it, Bernie realized that he had some questions about the whole thing. Assuming there were no lies in their tale, and considering the overall situation, it might have been that Damrada and the commander had different objectives. Damrada organized this entire undercover operation; it’d be odd for him to order its total abandonment. Maybe it was a sacrifice made to improve their chances of success, but even so, I was sure there could’ve been another way. I thought it was natural for Bernie and Jiwu to wonder about that—and to suspect some underlying reason for it.

“By the way, have any of you Empire guys ever seen Emperor Ludora’s face?”

The question suddenly occurred to me, so I asked it. Only Gadora raised his hand.

“You’re kidding me. You don’t know what the man you serve looks like?”

Benimaru sounded pretty surprised.

“Well, Boss, you don’t act much like any other ruler,” Kaijin said. “You’re social enough to go eating and drinking around town, and you’re always willing to chat with anyone who wants to. That’s just weird!”

“Oh, come on!”

“Hey, no disrespect intended. King Gazel has that side to him, too, although he’s a bit stricter with his behavior than you. But you know, royals and nobles kinda like a little more…prestige in their lives, right? And I think a good number of them prefer keeping their faces away from the little folk.”

“Huh…”

“What Sir Kaijin said makes sense to me,” noted Rigurd, “but I’m still not sure I really understand it. That is to say, hiding your face from the people who’re supposed to be guarding you, even… Isn’t that a little too excessive?”

“Well, yeah, even I thought that was going way too far,” Kaijin agreed.

“It is weird, innit?”

“Not weird,” Hakuro said to Gobta, “so much as abnormal. Um, Bernie, was it? May I ask you a question?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Why is it that the emperor’s own guardians don’t even know what he looks like? How are you meant to guard him, then?”

Being exposed to that sharp gaze of Hakuro’s made Bernie sit back up, attempting to rally himself. “Well, it’s simple. Only people ranked sixth or greater have seen His Majesty in person. Our commander and vice commander are often out on other business, but the remaining four accompany our emperor at all times.”

The members of this quartet were apparently referred to as the Four Knights, and all of them were so formidable that, as far as Bernie and Jiwu knew, none of them had been replaced in many, many years.

“So the two of you weren’t quite as trusted as those four, then? Are you inferior to these Four Knights in ability as well?”

Hakuro certainly wasn’t shying away from the tough questions. It seemed to frustrate Bernie a little.

“You…could take it that way, yes. Trying to defeat any of those four would be an uphill battle for me. Plus, His Majesty is also attended to by the juggernaut we discussed before—the fearsome Imperial Marshal, someone I’d never have a chance against. In fact, I’m not sure the rest of the Single Digits together could even score a victory against this menace.”

There’s that so-called juggernaut again.

So far, we know about Kondo, Damrada, the Four Knights, and this Marshal figure, huh? That makes seven, and if you add Bernie and Jiwu to that, you’ve got nine people—one for each “single digit,” so to speak. But hang on—if the cutoff for access to the emperor was Single Digit Number Six, then the Marshal must not be a ranked member, technically. That means there’s still one more unknown Single Digit out there—in other words, eight people I better stay on my guard for in all. And if Kondo wasn’t actually the commander, that’d be one more figure to add to the mix. Worrying, indeed.

Learning about that was good and all, but I wanted to ascertain something else first.

“You know, I heard from Gadora that Masayuki and Emperor Ludora look exactly alike.”

Gadora nodded. The rest of the meeting hall considered this for a few moments.

“And Damrada ordered you to protect Masayuki, right? And he arranged things so that both of you would be in the dark about each other and nobody would suspect anything. But after all that trouble, you received an order that abandoned the entire setup. Is it me, or are Damrada and the Single Digit commander working against each other here?”

I was pretty sure about this by now, so I went ahead and said it out loud. If I had to guess, it seemed likely Damrada really was trying to keep Masayuki safe. Why? I don’t know, but the fact that he and the emperor are spitting images of each other must have something to do with it.

“But you said you were using Masayuki, right?”

“Right. I had no idea why we were asked to protect him, keep in mind. That’s why I didn’t question the commander’s order at all.”

“Me neither. Sir Damrada never explained his reasoning at all.”

They were using Masayuki to get closer to me. If Damrada ordered them to do so, it would’ve made sense—but then the commander had to stick their neck in. This brought up another question I had to ask.

“So do you think the commander’s aware of Masayuki’s resemblance to the emperor?”

“Hmm… That’s a good question,” Gadora said. “But if the commander is Kondo, as I believe he is, then he most certainly would have known.”

“We do know this man Kondo, although I can’t surmise what his situation was at the time. The stories say he’s a very sly man, who has an iron grip on all the intelligence the Empire has.”

“Yes, in his capacity as head of the IIB, he’s been called a mysterious figure stalking the halls of information. The IIB and military have never been on very friendly terms with each other, and I had a hard time dealing with him, too. We had tried launching hostilities against him several times, but they all ended in failure. That alone is proof that he’s far from ordinary.”

Funny how Caligulio was trying to fudge the details, only to have Minitz reveal everything anyway. It was clear that, to the imperial military, Kondo was seen as a wild card and a threat—and if he could get the better of someone as talented as Minitz, he was a force to be reckoned with.

“I could certainly never beat him anyway.”

Old man Gadora, despite appearances, is no slouch in battle. By my estimation, he might rank up there with a Saint in strength. His magicule count isn’t all that high, but he more than makes up for it with his casting skills. If someone like him claims he can’t win, then Kondo must be at least Saint level, a titan up there with Hinata or King Gazel. Besides, Bernie and Jiwu were Saints as well, and Caligulio went and got himself awakened. Without an ultimate skill to call his own, Gadora probably couldn’t have beaten any of them.

So now I knew that Kondo’s a danger in a fight and a master of spycraft. And he must have known about Masayuki, I imagine.

“But if Kondo was aware of Masayuki,” I said, “perhaps he had different intentions from Damrada, huh? Bernie and Jiwu’s attack was so massive, it’s clear they didn’t really care if Masayuki lived or died. That’s totally at odds with Damrada’s order.”

“Well…”

Bernie had a bit of trouble picking his words.

“…To tell the truth, what the commander told us exactly was to get rid of Masayuki as well, since he’d no longer be useful.”

Such was their orders, but after traveling together and building something of an attachment, they were both hesitant to just kill the guy. Hence they decided to put off discussing his fate until they were finished with me. If they could hide him somewhere, then perfect; if not, the idea they had was to magically erase his memories instead.

Anyway, it was all crystal clear to me now.

“So we know that something’s definitely up with Masayuki. I know he’s not gonna like this, but I think he’ll need to be kept under guard for a little while. Can I have you handle that, Soei?”

“Yes, sir.”

Right. I knew I could count on him.

“Let’s assume that Damrada and the commander have different agendas, then. One of them wants to protect Masayuki; the other one wants him dead. We don’t know why yet, of course, but clearly there’s a conflict here.”

“Yes. And if we can find a way to take advantage of this, it could be a great windfall for us.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy… But the fact that our enemy isn’t a monolith is itself good news.”

You think so? I guess. If you’re having trouble distinguishing friend from foe, then you have to assume everybody’s a foe. But let’s get some more information before we decide on matters.

Now that I knew what was going on with Bernie and Jiwu, I wanted to talk about the factions within the Empire. Not the military, exactly, but the other higher-ups with access to ultimate skills.

“All right. Can you tell me more about the Single Digits?”

Bernie obliged. “Sure. There are only nine Single Digits at any given time. For someone stronger to take up a position, it’s quite likely someone else would need to be forcibly kicked out of their rank.”

Hmm. Meaning that there’s not that much difference in strength among the top Single Digits?

“You mean that it’s possible for, say, numbers nine and ten to swap spots?”

“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “Rank number eleven is a sort of auxiliary Single Digit, while number ten is a substitute. If someone drops out of the Single Digits, one of those two can take their place, but only on a temporary basis.”

So there was a pretty insurmountable gap between ninth and tenth, then? Sounds like the clincher is whether you’ve got an ultimate skill. Only if you’re awakened, and that awakening nets you an ultimate, would you be considered for the Single Digits. Bernie, by the way, is ranked seventh, with Jiwu coming in ninth—which means I had to look out for numbers one through six, number eight, and this Marshal guy, too.

Meanwhile, the two of them didn’t know much about Damrada’s faction. They didn’t even know who besides themselves were Single Digits, so I doubted they were lying about that. But I wanted to know more about other people anyway, so hopefully they could give me something useful.

“Number ten, the substitute, is kept on call within Empire territory at all times, so they can spring into action the moment something comes up. Meanwhile, Imperial Knights ranked eleventh or below are assigned to groups of three and tasked with solving Empire-level cases and crises.”

As Bernie put it, Number Ten was a pretty powerful guy as well—no ultimate skill, but still maybe as strong as an awakened demon lord. With the remaining ninety Imperial Knights, you saw a pretty big talent gap between the twenties and the ranks below that, but even so, you had to be at least Enlightened class to become a member. Some of the people up top could rank pretty close to Saint level. If the Eastern Empire wanted to boost the Imperial Guardians’ overall strength, they’d likely have to stage a war pitting them against multiple demon lords at once.

“Are you kidding me?” Minitz countered. “They want to wage war against someone who defeated us without losing a single soldier?”

“Yeah. The fact that a hundred Imperial Guardians are more of a threat than a million-strong army sure gives me pause, though.”

“Well,” Bernie said with a sigh, “that’s how it is. The imperial army serves mostly as a visual threat to people, after all. The Empire needs a visible, public sort of deterrent for the unwitting fools who can’t comprehend what real strength is.”

I could tell he was talking about more than a threat to the nations in the west. It applied to the Empire’s own subjects as well, people who paid taxes in exchange for guaranteed safety. If the Empire told them a hundred people were all they really needed to defend the land, that’d make anyone uneasy. In this case, quantity truly did mean something important—after all, offense is one thing, but when defending, you need numbers. The more bases you have to maintain, the more personnel you need to defend them. In that sense, the Empire’s policy actually seems pretty sound.

“You know, in the past, the main purpose of our standing army was defense. We’d use only our elite forces to attack other nations and sap their will to fight. Once their work was done, we’d send the army over to establish rule in the name of the emperor. At some point, however, we began to dispatch our army first. I’ve always wondered why they did that, actually. It never occurred to me that it was so they could ‘manufacture’ more awakened people…”

Gadora seemed convinced. In fact, this sounded like a pretty important secret to me. Now I think I’m beginning to see Emperor Ludora’s objectives.

“So victory wasn’t the point of this whole invasion in the first place, was it? And Sir Caligulio did become awakened, along with several others whom I think came close. I think Emperor Ludora’s true mission was to add more fighting pawns to his collection.”

Benimaru must’ve reached the same conclusion I did. And Bernie was getting more talkative, too.

“You’re right. There were several people in this invasion deemed likely to awaken—not just General Caligulio, but also Major General Minitz, Colonel Kanzis, and Krishna and a few others, too. My orders specified that I should work with the newly awakened to find an escape route once the dust settled… But really, this is the first time I’ve seen the commander’s plans go this haywire.”

He accompanied that with a little chuckle, but I sure wasn’t laughing. If that many people awakened on us, we would’ve had more than just a tough battle on our hands. Besides, now that we knew the Empire was trying to awaken more of its troops, we had to admit that our assumptions about them were completely wrong. I thought they went to war because they were confident about beating us and the Western Nations, after all. Raphael agreed with me on that, and it certainly seemed logical to me, but…

…Report. Definitive conclusion failed due to a lack of information. This will be redefined later to achieve perfection.

I felt a hint of embarrassment from Raphael there. But asking it to read that deep was far too much to hope for, and I wasn’t about to do that. So no harm, no foul this time, I’d say—just as long as we can use this experience for next time.

Acknowledged. I will review the information so nothing is overlooked.

Great. I’m counting on you, okay? Really.

I’ll need Raphael as a reference on the Empire’s future movements. For now, though, let’s discuss our takes on these new revelations.

“So Ludora was collecting awakened people for his group of elite fighters. I don’t like admitting it much, but it seems like he can grant them ultimate skills, like he did with Bernie and Jiwu. Then you’ve got my group, the Octagram, and the assorted champions of the Western Nations. The emperor’s trying to gather enough people to crush them all at once and conquer the world, isn’t he?”

Benimaru and Diablo both agreed.

“It’s quite a headache, but it sounds right to me. And that’s why any non-awakened soldiers mean next to nothing for him.”

“Mmm, yes. Humans are inherently weak creatures, but possessing even one ultimate skill could put them on more equal footing with the likes of us.”

“Tough to admit, isn’t it?”

“I am not enjoying the thought, no.”

“Hey, it’s fine, right? If those skills are that useful, then we can just learn them, too, and we’re good.”

“It’d make fighting far less interesting, wouldn’t it?”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… That’s rather backward thinking, isn’t it, Testarossa? If our foe fails to possess such powers, then there’s no need to use them, is there? That was the thought process behind the ultimate skill I procured for myself, after all.”

“What?”

“Hey, that’s not fair!”

“Quit getting a leg up on us like that!”

“Ah, such delicious jealousy from the have-nots! I used to ignore Guy instead of letting him taste my envy, I’ll have you know.”

Diablo’s a pretty selfish guy, isn’t he? I thought he was backing me up here, but now this conversation’s going in stranger and stranger directions. If we don’t stop this, Testarossa and her friends are gonna start acting real dangerous before long.

“Getting back to the topic,” Rigurd said, “is it safe to assume that you think the Empire’s objective is to weed out the strong from the weak, Sir Rimuru?”

“Yeah, I’m with the boss on that one. This world’s full of people with superhuman force, starting with King Gazel and continuing on with Hinata and Her Excellency, Emperor Elmesia. Keeping these giants protected was what kept the balance of power in the world stable. And if they can build enough numbers to break that balance, well, that’s when the real fun begins, ain’t it?”

Rigurd and Kaijin both got me perfectly.

“Aha. So they pitted strong against strong, surrounding their allies with people who can assist them. That way, the weak wouldn’t get in their way.”

“Wow. Pretty awful. But at least the weak don’t have much work to do.”

“Yes, it’d be a blessing for the weak if it only took the strong to settle wars. But accepting all these sacrifices in order to create more strongmen truly does go against my aesthetic senses…”

Hearing Gabil’s and my other friends’ reactions made Caligulio and Minitz wince a bit. They were both neck-deep in that whole scene, and now the sheer madness of the operation was probably sinking in. Plus, I think Hakuro was right just now. War really should be fought only by people eager to fight. It’s crazy to get weaker people involved… But of course, the world doesn’t always work that way.

“By the way,” Gadora said, “I seem to recall that kid Yuuki saying that the demon lord Guy wasn’t happy to see the Empire gaining strength. They say he’s the strongest demon lord of all, so I found it rather odd that he’d be so concerned.”

Certainly, if they had ultimate skills on hand, maybe they had what it took to hurt Guy. It’s only natural for him to be wary.

“Guy’s objective is to unite the world under the rule of the demon lords, after all. The Empire is directly clashing against that, so it’s far more than just a conflict of interest between them. But…”

“That’s odd, though. How can someone as arrogant as Guy allow the Empire to keep existing?”

“The stronger the opponent, the more engaging the fight, after all. But Guy’s being surprisingly slow to act. If he was able to, I imagine he would have promptly gone out himself to lay waste to all those fools…”

Diablo, Ultima, and Carrera all had their questions. Testarossa had the answer.

“Oh, that’s easy. It’s because Lady Velgrynd lives in their territory, and if he messes with the Empire, he might get on her bad side. That’s why I was similarly on my best behavior in imperial lands.”

Caligulio gave her a surprised look.

“That was your best behavior?” Minitz muttered softly.

I don’t know what Testarossa was up to over there, but it’s none of my business. I don’t want to start being assigned blame for events that happened way before my time, so I let it slide.

The name Velgrynd piqued my curiosity. Could that be—?

“Hmm. Surprising. Blanc—er, Lady Testarossa, showing respect for the Flame Dragon from the Divine Aerie of Fire?”

Minitz was clearly trying to change the subject as rapidly as possible—Testarossa’s “come again?” smile probably unnerved him. But now I was convinced I knew who Velgrynd was. Here we had a True Dragon, one of four in the world; Veldora’s flame-wrangling elder sister. So that was the Empire’s ace in the hole…

“I wouldn’t call it respect, no. The relationship between our kind and the True Dragons was…somewhat complicated. But since our master, Sir Rimuru, and Sir Veldora are both on our side, it’d only be natural to pay our respects to his sister as well, wouldn’t it?”

Um, so if it wasn’t for their current relationship with Veldora and me, the demonesses wouldn’t show any respect at all for True Dragons?

“Hang on, Testarossa. So you stayed on your ‘best behavior’ because you couldn’t beat Velgrynd? Or could even Guy beat her?”

“Strictly speaking, no, I could not. Guy I cannot speak for, but victory would have been impossible for me. It’s not a matter of strength, though. The True Dragons are immortal beings; there’s no overcoming that unfair advantage.”

Testarossa was the epitome of unfairness in battle, I thought, but now she was using that term for this True Dragon. What could Velgrynd be like, even? I just hope none of this talk gets back to Veldora, though. I could already hear his haughty laughter in my mind.

“Sure. So maybe not even a True Dragon’s a threat for Guy, but he still can’t fully destroy them, huh?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. Not with magic, at least.”

If you can’t kill them, it doesn’t count as a win—that seemed to be the standard for demons, and if it was, there was never any beating a True Dragon. And I think Veldora told me before about how his race can always resurrect themselves after death. A demon could be eliminated by crushing their heart core, but in the case of True Dragons, they’d still come back to life anyway, although their personality and part of their memories would be reset, I guess. Maybe some True Dragons can retain those memories, though, like some demons can. If so, that’d render them truly immortal.

“I see. And if the Empire has someone like that for us, we can’t afford to make any ill-advised moves.”

What Velgrynd was to Guy I couldn’t say, but to us, she was absolutely a threat. But when I voiced that concern, Caligulio shot me a confused look—and then he, Minitz, Jiwu, and Bernie spoke up in order.

“If I may, my lord… As far as I know, the Empire has enshrined Lady Velgrynd as its official guardian dragon. If you look back in history as well, this dragon has protected us from attack by the angels. However…”

“However, she stays with the Empire only because they offer her tribute. It’s merely a whim on her part.”

“She is a beautiful, noble dragon of crimson, and she symbolizes the prosperity of the Empire as a whole. We in the Single Digits are granted an audience with her after His Majesty accepts us. There, we have her learn our names and appearances, and we swear that we will never defy her.”

“Yes, I went through the same ceremony. I’d have to be insane to defy her. No one could ever win that battle.”

So the Empire and Velgrynd were connected, but not in such a way that the Empire could ask her for any favors, I guess. Also, something about Bernie’s reaction bothered me a bit. More than a bit, actually. A whole lot.

“Hey, um, you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but you said that nobody could beat the Marshal, right? But who would win in a fight between that guy and Velgrynd?”

“…Sorry?”

“Let me rephrase that. In your dealings with them both, have you ever gotten, like, a similar vibe from the two of them, or that kind of thing?”

“Are you…?”

Bernie understood what I was getting at. He attempted to laugh it off but failed. I also noticed Jiwu going pale next to him, lost in thought. Now I was sure of it. This Marshal was actually Velgrynd the Flame Dragon… And there was no doubt that she was the reason why the demon lord Guy hadn’t attacked the Empire. That—and the Empire might have had some other threat that rivals this dragon—otherwise, Velgrynd alone seemed like too weak a reason for Guy to sit on his hands.

I turned toward our big screen and let out a sigh.

“Well, great. So if we make any kind of misstep, we’ll incur the wrath of Velgrynd, huh? Send out an army, and she could annihilate the whole thing in one go. In that case, working with Yuuki’s force to invade the Empire would be incredibly reckless.”

Intelligence gathering really is important. Becoming aware of Velgrynd at this point prevented me from stepping on a huge landmine. I wanted to win peace from the Empire, but staging a reverse invasion right now would be a fool’s errand.

“But if Sir Veldora’s sister is our enemy,” Benimaru said, “I’m not sure anyone among us would be capable of defeating her. Perhaps we could have Sir Veldora intervene on our behalf?”

It sounded a bit like a cop-out, but give the question some calm thought, and that’s the logical conclusion. True Dragons are an existence beyond gods, even, and anyone who thinks they could fight and win against one simply isn’t facing reality.

“Ooh, I dunno about that. I hesitate to get Veldora involved in our personal affairs.”

I didn’t want to ask Veldora for this—I’m sure he’d be reluctant to fight his own sister, for one. But that just made our next move more difficult to work out.

“I will need to inform my boy Yuuki about this, I think. He can hardly keep his army deployed out there forever.”

“Good point. We’re gonna have to rework our entire strategy now, so we’ll need to get in touch with Yuuki ASAP.”

Hmm. I pondered over this. But then my problem child Diablo dropped another bombshell.

“This sounds like a problem for Guy as well, so I’ve reached out to him. I think he’ll arrive here shortly, so why don’t we listen to what he has to say?”

Huh?

I couldn’t help but fix Diablo with a cold, sullen stare. He gave me a bashful look back, which almost made me want to kill him. Right when I was troubled the most, this idiot goes way the hell out of line like this…

“You called him?”

“Yes!”

No, not “yes”!

But I couldn’t ignore reality, so I adjourned the meeting and began getting ready for Guy’s visit.

Guy was clearly in a foul mood from the moment he arrived.

“Hey. I’m here. You got a lot of guts callin’ me all this way, you know.”

Yeah, really. But can you say that to Diablo, please, not me?

Guy plopped down roughly on his chair. He had been taken to our more luxurious reception room in the guest house to avoid offending him any further, but maybe that was premature of me. This was a house that we only opened up to the chosen few—royalty, nobility, that sort of thing. If he started taking his frustrations out on our furnishings, we’d be eating a lot of money in damages.

The decor in here was selected by Mjöllmile, who always had a good eye for that kinda thing; he imported fixtures from all over the world, and some of them were as artistic as they were valuable. It all matched with my tastes as well, so most of the pieces were more quietly elegant than “I’m rich”-type fancy. That Japanese sense of wabi-sabi, or quiet, simple refinement. Mjöllmile did a great job sticking to that theme, I think. Rigurd and his kin were still too inexperienced to reach this level of good taste; they never got to interact with artwork before, so understanding the quality of things would take them some more time. But Rigurd also said “It’s so relaxing, being in here” when he paid it a visit, so maybe we have matching tastes, after all.

Regardless, if Guy starts getting violent, I’ll deal with it then. We didn’t have anywhere else suitable enough for entertaining him, so maybe at least a little damage was inevitable. There was no way I’d do something as suicidal as entertain the world’s strongest demon lord in a bare-bones waiting room.

His chair was creaking ominously already. It was another first-rate piece of furniture, carved from fragrant wood. A soft sofa is always nice, but there’s nothing like a good wooden chair that can adjust itself to virtually any body type. It makes you feel like you’re surrounded by lush, inviting force, at peace with nature.

If he broke it, I’d have him pay for it—but now I was doubly glad I dismissed everybody else from the meeting.

The imperial group was back on Floor 70 for the time being, Gabil escorting them down; he’d be watching over them while Adalmann was absent. Soei was busy arranging for Masayuki’s security, while Rigurd was touching base with the relevant authorities to ensure the city was running fine while quarantined in the labyrinth. Kaijin, after conferring with Vester, was having him inform King Gazel of our meeting and its results; I didn’t want to hide anything from him, so we’d be in touch later. Gadora, meanwhile, was reaching out to Yuuki, reasoning that he needed to know about the current situation as they worked out a future course of action. Gobta and Hakuro were on standby in a nearby room, along with the three demonesses, just in case something flared up. It’d be safer to keep them out of Guy’s sight, because who knows what would happen if you mixed them all together, so that was what I decided to do.

So there were four of us in the reception room—Diablo (the original perpetrator), Benimaru, Shion, and me. Guy had brought along three women of his own. One, seated next to him, had a face that reminded me of Milim’s. Her white hair possessed a brilliant sheen, her eyes a deep blue that seemed to absorb anyone who gazed into them. She was surprisingly beautiful, but depending on how you looked at her, she could also be mistaken for a child. It was strange—and given how she casually sat next to Guy, they must have been on equal footing, and I knew only a small number of people like that. If I had to guess…

“This is the first time you met, isn’t it? Lemme introduce you, Rimuru. This is Velzard, Veldora’s elder sister. The Ice Dragon is probably a more suitable name for her, but either way, don’t forget it.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Sir Rimuru. I am Velzard. Perhaps you’ve heard the name Velzard the Ice Dragon before? I knew you were taking care of my brother for me, so I’ve been meaning to say hello to you.”

Well, I was right. She was Veldora’s sister, one of the four all-powerful True Dragons—Velzard the Ice Dragon, in the flesh. That graceful bow to me was so beautiful; just seeing her sit so gracefully on her chair was a sight to behold. She seemed to enjoy the scent of the wood, too… But as elegant as her smile was, it still sent a cold sweat running down my back.

Hanging out with Veldora all the time made me think I was used to handling True Dragons, but this lady was just bad news. The danger was just palpable; it would have been more appropriate to call her a being from another dimension. Veldora had only recently grown capable of controlling his aura with decent precision. I figured he had it down perfectly, but seeing Velzard before me, I understood just how naive I was. This woman made aura control look incredibly natural. I couldn’t sense any of it at all, which showed just how well she could handle it. If she didn’t introduce herself as such, I never would’ve known she was a True Dragon. In fact, I may’ve even thought she was a normal human being. There was no hiding that beauty and dominance, though, so I never would’ve looked down on her.

“Ah, hello. My name is Rimuru, and maybe I don’t look it, but I’m demon-lording it up around here. Your brother’s been a ton of help to me.”

Why do I always sound like such a putz whenever I introduce myself to people? And why does Raphael always clam up at times like these? It was so absurd, I thought, but I still tried to keep smiling.

“Aw, how humble of you! There’s no need to be so protective of him.”

Velzard let out a pleasant, high-pitched laugh. As soon as she did, her mature atmosphere dissipated, and the impression she made resembled a cute little girl’s. Honestly, she looks like she’s high school age and no older—she really is related to Milim. Thankfully, that smile did a lot to ease the heavy atmosphere.

Then we all introduced each other. The other two women in Guy’s entourage were Mizeri the Original Green, whom I met before, and Raine the Original Blue, whom I hadn’t. They were in their “dark maid” uniforms as usual, standing behind Guy with flawless posture. They were the same rank of demon as Diablo, but looking at the prudent step back they took, it sure didn’t seem that way. They were Primals, though, the strongest of demons and nothing a mere Demon Peer could compare to.

Better be careful I don’t exhibit any bad manners around them, I thought as I carefully wrapped up the intros. Benimaru, seated next to me, was the picture of politeness, but I was nervous through Shion’s entire greeting. With Diablo, I felt like someone trying to dismantle a live bomb. I wondered why I decided to take this group in, but it was too late to do anything about it.

Once we were all seated, I asked Shuna, who guided everyone in here, to make some tea for us. She did so without any sign of agitation, a seasoned pro when it came to hospitality. And not just her—all our servants were doing their jobs as usual, as if it didn’t matter who they were serving. Real professionals, all of them, and I’m sure I was watching Vester’s strict training bear fruit here.

After taking a sip of Shuna’s tea, I got down to business.

“So the reason I invited you here is because I wanted to ask you something, Guy.”

“Oh?”

“Um, so the Empire invaded my country, and I defeated them and stuff. I was thinking about staging an invasion of my own, but then I heard the Empire has Velgrynd—er, Velzard’s younger sister, I suppose. And judging from everything else I’ve heard, it sounds like there’s some manner of connection between you and the Empire as well…?”

“Huh. Smart of you to notice.”

Guy flashed me an excited grin. I had the worst feeling about all this. I really wish I didn’t have to delve any deeper, but things weren’t gonna work out that way.

“So you wanted to interfere with the Empire’s attempts at powering up their army, right? That’s why you let Yuuki live, too, I bet. I’m sure you didn’t want the Western Nations to fall, but it wasn’t only that, yes? You called it a game, but who are you playing this game with?”

I pretended that this was just casual curiosity on my part. In reality, though, a lot hinged on this. If the Empire boasted both Velgrynd and some other threat equal to her, I needed to know about it. If we attacked while still oblivious to this, there was an excellent chance some of my friends would’ve died. So I asked him, my eyes staring right into Guy’s.

“Heh-heh-heh… Good, good. If you’ve picked up on that much, why don’t I tell you the whole thing?”

Nice to see Guy wasn’t interested in lording it over me here. Scary, too, in a way. I listened on.

“To tell the truth, I have a bet going with a certain guy I know. This guy has a habit of going on about these crazy ideals of his, and I wanna present him with a little reality check. So we agreed that we’d never directly fight each other, but to use only the pieces we have on hand.”

In other words, they’d be letting other people do the fighting—and whoever defeated all their opponent’s pawns first wins.

“What kind of pieces are these…?”

I already had my hunches about this, actually.

“Heh. They’re you guys.”

Yeah. Thought so. I kinda wish he’d stop treating me as his game piece, but no point complaining about that here. Let’s just work through this and get as much useful information as we can.

“So is the person you’re playing in this game the imperial emperor?”

I was sure of it already but still felt I should check just in case. Guy had Velzard at his side, so it followed that the person with Velgrynd at their side was Guy’s opponent. That may not necessarily have been the emperor, though, so I wanted Guy to confirm it for me.

“You got it. Emperor Ludora is an admitted rival of mine.”

He had no intention of hiding it. In fact, he sounded happy to tell me. And if rival is the word he chose, should I assume Ludora is just as strong as Guy? I really can’t win against him, can I? And there’s nothing I hate more than playing a game where I’ve got no apparent path to victory.

“If I could say something…”

As I held my head in my hands, Benimaru was bold enough to speak up in Guy’s presence.

“Sure.”

“Then, I’d like to ask—what are the conditions for victory in this game? Do we have to defeat Emperor Ludora, or do we just have to subdue all his pieces? I’d like to have more exact guidance.”

Ah yes, that is important. I assumed beating Ludora was my only way out, but if beating his pawns—in other words, neutralizing the Empire’s force—was all that mattered, I liked my chances a lot more. We’d still have a lot of nasty dudes to fight, but that still beat tangling with someone on Guy’s level.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Perhaps eliminating Guy would be another way to win the—”

““Are you that stupid?!””

Guy and I shouted in unison. Honestly, Diablo just exhausts me. He must have exhausted Guy as well, because we wound up giving each other knowing looks. I didn’t expect to establish a rapport with him this way, so thanks, Diablo. I seriously can’t have you offending him right now, so my rating of you just plummeted straight for the basement, but thanks.

“So,” I said after advising Diablo to shut up for a while, “how would you answer Benimaru’s question, Guy?”

Guy, instead of answering, looked straight at me. The moment his lips curled upward into a grin, my sense of danger went into overdrive.

“Rimuruuuu…”

Oh, man. I got the worst premonition right then. In fact, it was beyond a premonition. Now I understood when Mjöllmile looked a little confused the first few times I called him Mollie. I’m sure I’m making the same face right now.

“You know, I have a favor I’d like to ask of you…”

“No.”

“Well, hear me out.”

I wish he’d hear me out first. But this is Guy we’re talking about. It’d never be smart to anger someone with this much potential for violence, so I had no choice but to listen on. Mjöllmile always heeded my requests, no matter how confused he looked about them, but I had absolutely no intention of honoring Guy’s.

“Basically, I want you to stop that bastard Ludora. I’m not saying you have to defeat him, but just do something about all his pieces and help me win this, okay?”

He couldn’t have looked eviler if he tried. Then he stood up and walked behind me, rubbing my shoulders as he continued.

“You’ll do that for me, won’t you?”

He started applying more force.

This is coercion, isn’t it?

“If I say yes, what’s in it for me?”

If this was one of those offers I couldn’t refuse, I at least wanted to negotiate a better deal. Maybe this was suicidal against someone like Guy, but I decided to work him as much as I could.

“You know that the world balance I’ve been maintaining is now thoroughly wrecked because of you, right? What do you think about that?”

“Sorry.”

In an instant, I was completely defeated. I was trying my best to build a new balance right now, but I’m certain that it was me who took most of the power from Guy’s side. To put it more bluntly, bringing Testarossa and the other demonesses under my wing was a bad idea. If I turned down Guy’s requests at this point, I was opening myself up to the risk of being seen as an enemy.

So my hands thoroughly tied, I gave up and accepted the offer.

Just as Guy returned to his seat, there was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal Shuna, the aroma of tea drifting in the air and dispelling the tension. She also had some slices of cake on a tray, so we took a break. I’ve already decided there’s no escape for me, so I promise this isn’t me procrastinating on my problems. Shuna had more tea and cake in the next room over, so my two secretaries and his two maids went over there. I thought they’d gripe about that, but they were surprisingly obedient about it.

I took a sip of Shuna’s tea. It had a soft, gentle flavor. Testarossa’s tea was all but complete perfection, but this was rather tasty as well, in a comforting way.

“Huh. This is pretty good, isn’t it?”

I was glad to hear Guy was satisfied.

“Oh, you’re right. And this cake is more than just a bunch of sugar—there’s so many layers of depth to it. The tea has a lovely, full-bodied aroma, but the bitterness only serves to enhance the sweetness.”

Velzard seemed to like it, too. That’s a relief.

“Yeah. This room’s got some nice decoration, too, doesn’t it? I really dig furnishings like these.”

I wasn’t expecting to hear that from Guy. A tyrant like him would’ve been the last person in the world, I thought, to understand stuff like wabi-sabi. Guess I really need to stop judging people on preconceived notions like that. They say that the warlord Oda Nobunaga was into this sort of look as well. He liked to spend time in tea rooms where he didn’t have to worry about his social status; maybe he valued the ability to reflect on matters over some tea that way. I’m just making all that up, but still, I guess showing Guy in here was the right move, after all.

Feeling a little more at ease, I decided to elicit some more feedback.

“Oh, yeah? I’m glad you like it. You’re actually the first people I’ve entertained in here. It’s the most extravagant reception room we have, so I only show it off to people I wanna impress.”

“Yeah? Trying to make yourself look good around me?”

“I sure am. Can’t really be a demon lord if I didn’t, y’know? If I was willing to abandon all my pride, I’d just spend my life sneaking around in the shadows instead. Which would’ve been fun, maybe, but…”

Right. So a quick jab to start. Show him that I wasn’t at his total mercy before I heard him out. Depending on his reaction, I’d adjust how I dealt with him. But Guy just laughed at how much I was overcompensating.

“Ah-ha-ha! Trying to feel out the likes of me, eh? Hilarious!”

It wasn’t, but at least I knew I was still wrapped around his finger now.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“But no, no worries. What I want from you, you know, it’ll help you guys as well, all right? I just want you to keep the war going and destroy the Empire.”

Guy paused to take a graceful sip of his tea. He’s totally in his element here, like some kind of fairy-tale king. I mean, demon lords pretty much are kings (or queens) in this world, but regardless. But how Guy-like to throw me a fastball straight down the middle like that, huh?

“In other words, you want me to reduce Ludora’s pawns to zero without killing him? Given your apparent reluctance to answer Benimaru’s question, I’m assuming it’s something like that.”

“Wellll, you know, there aren’t any real strict rules for determining a winner in this game. The only actual rule we have is that players can’t meddle with each other directly.”

“So if the opponent admits defeat, or dies, or it’s impossible to continue the game itself—any of those conditions will count as a win?”

“I suppose so.” Guy nodded, taking another sip.

As he put it, he and the emperor had been duking it out for over two thousand years. Not directly fighting, mind you—they had a few scrapes before then, but once Milim was born, and Veldanava the Star-King Dragon perished, they began exercising a little more restraint. Whenever they had a battle, the impact on the world was just too great—they could no longer throw everything they had into the conflict. It was a wild story, but one look at Guy in front of me, and I knew he wasn’t fibbing.

So the game continued to the present day, Guy building up his pawn count while maintaining the world’s balance. A lot of his monsters enjoyed incredibly long life spans, and he was patiently waiting for them to evolve over time. But nobody, not even his fellow Octagram members, knew Guy’s true intentions. Not even Milim, he claimed, was aware of the game between him and Ludora.

“Then why’re you telling me?!”

“Mmm? Why do you think? You’re the first person in all these years to push Ludora this far.”

Guy didn’t need me to inform him that the imperial army had been annihilated. With all the gigantic magic spells we were tossing around, I’d be shocked if he didn’t notice, but…

“Killing them all was absolutely the correct answer, though. You kept Ludora from earning any more pieces for himself.”

Sounds like Guy knew Ludora’s objective here, too. Thanks to him, I now had a fully accurate version of the story. The emperor, in so many words, was giving his elite soldiers a trial to endure—a crushing defeat, where the survivors would (hopefully) evolve for him. The basic idea was to gin up an excuse for war the citizenry would accept, expose his army to a lethal threat, and get as many survivors evolved as he could. He had proof it’d work, too, because the failed imperial expedition against Veldora long ago produced a certain number of Enlightened.

Guy had taken a similar approach. Non-awakened, to him, were useless as pawns, and so he tacitly accepted conflicts between demon lords. The more true demon lords that got awakened, the more of an upper hand he’d have in the game. That was the whole basis for his strategy, and after that, it was just a matter of timing. Once he was absolutely certain he was above his opponent, that’s when he’d stake it all. It had proven to be surprisingly difficult, however, what with all the obstacles in the way… So they had kept on playing up to now, with no winner decided.

For both Guy and Ludora, it was a grandiose operation, one that seemed to stretch across countless generations. For most life on this world, it was nothing but an annoyance, but for the two of them, it was probably just a way to fill their free time.

“And this time, too, if even a few dozen people could’ve survived an encounter with Veldora, some of them were bound to be awakened. I’m sure that’s what Ludora assumed.”

So I didn’t even register in Ludora’s mind, then? That must’ve made me one hell of a game piece for Guy. It’s a little frustrating, but that’s the reality here.

“And you want me to use this current opening to attack the Empire?”

“Well, I’ll leave the method up to you. And I know this goes without saying, but merely posing as a superpower is pointless.”

I’m sure he’s right. A show of force was no threat to these guys. It’d just lead to more casualties without offering any strategic advantage. So forget about me sending a massive army or anything.

“If you happen to know this, is there anyone in Ludora’s forces we should be particularly on guard for?”

“Ah, I dunno. My focus has always been on how well I can train my own hand in this game. If I’m the strongest, after all, then it doesn’t matter how weak or strong the other guy is, right?”

Just the kind of arrogance I’d expect from a tyrant like him. This is the type of guy who never bothers looking at his opponent’s discards in a poker game—then, just when you think you beat him, away he goes with a full house like it was nothing. Masayuki, too, was the sort of guy who could draw a royal flush straight off the deck; I wouldn’t want to sit at a card table with either of them. But all this “game” talk’s getting me sidetracked.

“Well, either way, I think we need to get things crystal clear with the Empire—and soon. That’s based on my own credo, though, not because you asked me to.”

We couldn’t put this problem off any longer. We needed to open dialogue with Emperor Ludora at once… And if we did, it’d be smarter to come in with as much of an advantage as we could.

“You’re not planning to travel there yourself, are you, Sir Rimuru?”

Benimaru looked a bit put off. But I wasn’t bending.

“What else can I do? I can’t leave Yuuki out to dry. I want to join up with him instead, and then we can hopefully work out peace on our terms.”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

“It’s gonna be dangerous no matter what I do. Let’s say that someone else goes out there and signs a peace treaty. Would you trust in that at all?”

I sure couldn’t. It’d clearly be a conspiracy to catch me off guard—and then, while I’m out walking in the woods or whatever, they’d send out their assassins to get me. I’d have to be on guard at all times, and that’s gonna majorly crimp the life of leisure I’m tryin’ to build here. I certainly don’t want that to happen, so I needed to settle this matter for good.

“That’s a fair point. Who will guard you?”

“You, of course.”

Benimaru gave this a half grin.

“That is fine by me.”

He certainly seemed confident. I knew I could rely on him.

Seeing this exchange made Guy chuckle. “Ah-ha-ha! You’re a funny guy, but so’s your associate over there. I sense something a bit odd about him, too. Maybe he’s still got some room to evolve, hmm?”

“He might, yeah. Benimaru’s already the most trusted of my inner circle.”

“Oh? What—and not Diablo?”

“Yeah, he’s strong, but…you know, kind of a handful…”

“I hear you.”

This felt like heartfelt sympathy from Guy. That—and also him treating me as a friend. I could tell from his reaction that he’s got a lot of problems of his own.

“Now, there’s one thing I wanna confirm with you…”

“What is it?”

“Ludora’s got the ability to confer ultimate skills on other people, right?”

Guy gave me a thoughtful look, eyes squinting. “Well spotted. Yes, Ludora’s got quite the remarkable little trick there, lending his powers to others like that.”

Thought so.

“And do you know how this ‘lending’ works, exactly?”

This was important. If Guy knew the terms of this deal, it’d help us narrow down the list of people in the Empire we had to watch out for. Right now, that list couldn’t have been more than ten people by my estimation, but I didn’t want to work entirely on assumptions.

“Ahhh, don’t worry. That power’s not omnipotent or anything. He can only hand out powers for a limited time, and they’re degraded versions, too. As for who qualifies… Well, I know you have to be awakened to receive the power, at least. That—and there’s some other restrictions, too, that I’m not fully aware of. It’s really not as much of a threat as it sounds like.”

It was a real Hail Mary of a question, but he gave a remarkably quick, succinct answer. That’s just about all the intel I need, I think.

But…like, it’d really take someone like Guy to say that passing out ultimate skills “isn’t a threat,” you know? I was starting to think Milim and Guy were cut from the same cloth. These differences in perception were needlessly complicating my job.

Watching Guy as he tucked into his slice of cake, I couldn’t help but resent him a little. Seeing him talk about world-altering battle while enjoying a fancy-pants teatime snack annoyed me, and the way he treated me like yesterday’s news once I accepted his request was similarly irritating.

…But wait a second. We’re supposed to be talking about some important stuff here… Or so I think, at least. But despite that, our little private chat seemed to be at its end, somehow. Disgusted, I stabbed my fork into my cake. Nothing like a little sugar to get the brain going. Time to sort out everything I’ve learned without letting Guy get under my skin too much.

It was quiet, the air calm and peaceful. But despite our business being over, there was no sign that Guy was leaving.

Skillfully, Shuna poured a refill into Guy’s empty teacup. She had a separate pot on hand for serving, so the remaining tea leaves wouldn’t get used up too quickly.

“Man, you’re good, you know that? None of the chuckleheads working for me could do any of this.”

“I’m flattered, my lord.”

Benimaru looked a little worried, but Shuna was unfazed, retaining her wits and not letting Guy bowl her over.

“Hey, you think I could have Mizeri and Raine train under you for a little while?”

“Train?”

“Yeah. I want you to teach ’em how to bake cakes like this.”

They cooked for us at the Walpurgis council, actually, and I thought it was a pretty nice spread—but when it came to desserts, Shuna had a clear edge. She was neck and neck with Mr. Yoshida in the race to invent new taste-tempting offerings, so she was polishing up her skills by leaps and bounds.

I accepted this as normal, but Guy’s reaction reminded me of how much of a luxury this was. Like, ever since I came to this world, I’d been doing pretty much whatever I wanted—something that only hit home with me now. Re-creating the things I used to love, striving to make all my favorite foods available over here… But no matter how much passion and skill you had, some recipes just couldn’t be re-created without the right ingredients. Even a chef as outstanding as Mr. Yoshida couldn’t have made this cake we’re enjoying without the high-quality liqueurs we’re producing in Tempest. Better remember to be grateful for that.

Anyway, what answer should I give Guy? I thought about just telling him to come over here and buy from us, but no need to be that stingy. So I decided to teach them only the recipes we’ve developed ourselves, keeping Mr. Yoshida’s inventions a guarded secret.

“Shuna, could you teach this recipe to the two women in the adjacent room later?”

“I would be glad to!”

“You’ll need our quality ingredients to make it, keep in mind, but maybe we can cut you a deal on them later.”

We refined our sugar to keep any impurities from mixing in. We had a machine for that and everything—my sweet tooth, combined with the technical skills of Kaijin and his team, was producing quality that didn’t suffer at all from what I knew in Japan. We weren’t cranking out enough to put on the market, but it allowed us to indulge, at least. Maybe we could add a couple sacks to our production quotas and pass them on to Guy.

“You’re okay with that?”

“Sure.”

And I meant that. I wasn’t giving away our tech, but if we had buyers for our product, I wasn’t going to hoard it. Having Guy invite himself into our nation whenever he wanted might cause some grief, I feared… But aides like Mizeri knew how to activate and run transport gates, so I was sure we could just send our goods through there once we finished making them.

That—and I had some other thoughts, too. If Guy found us useful, keep in mind, that all but guaranteed our security as a country. The deeper our ties with foreign nations, the more it connected to our own safety. Two countries needing each other meant that they couldn’t rattle the saber too casually. A regional economic zone is as good as a strong military alliance in my book; that was my pet theory.

I also didn’t want any trouble with Guy, so the more cards in our hand, the better. This was, after all, the first time I had ever paid so much attention to a potential opponent. (Or maybe the second time after my initial encounter with Veldora?) Putting aside the question of whether I could beat him, fighting would lead to more than just needless hassle. There’d be real harm done, and barring some unforeseen emergency, I intended to respect Guy’s intentions. Maybe he’d use and abuse me sometimes (like today), but I’d just have to put up with it. I have my limits, but…

Now that I had “enjoyed” several conversations with Guy, I was starting to realize that he wasn’t quite the blockheaded despot I thought he was. He was surprisingly rational and understanding, too, and his dealings with Diablo demonstrated that he wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty. I’d like to hope he saw us as useful enough that he wouldn’t make any unreasonable demands.

So um, you mind going home soon?

But my tiny little wish was soon crushed.

“Hold on. Before I leave, there’s one thing I need to ask.”

What? Is there something we haven’t covered yet?

“Yes?”

“Why did Diablo evolve?”

Da-dummm!!

I thought he didn’t notice, but I guess I was kidding myself. I hate dealing with people as perceptive as he is.

“Well, um…”

Now what? What kind of response would Guy be willing to accept, even?!

“And not just Diablo, either, huh? It took a while to scope out what was happening over in your labyrinth, but how come you got all those guys down there at ‘true demon lord’ strength, hmm?”

Guy’s lips were smiling, but his eyes sure as hell weren’t. I guess cheap excuses weren’t going to work…

Understood. You could frame it as experimentation with your Belzebuth skill, and that should be acceptable.

God is good!

Right, let’s do that. That’s the Raphael I know. I can always count on the dude at times like these.

“So you know, I’ve been experimenting with my powers a little bit lately, to see if I can beef up our forces for the battle against the Empire. As I did, I discovered that one of my skills has a pretty interesting side effect I can take advantage of.”

“Oh? What kind of side effect?”

I dunno.

Tell me, Raphael!!

Understood. The effect of reverting souls into pure energy and granting them to those capable of awakening. Call it forced evolution, and that should be enough explanation for the subject Guy Crimson.

Oh. That is what I did, isn’t it? That whole evolution ritual harnessed the power of Belzebuth, not Raphael. This was the unvarnished truth, even; I wouldn’t be lying or hiding anything from Guy. This might just be the way to go, actually.

“Belzebuth, you see, can take people’s souls and convert them back into energy. Then I can grant that ‘soul energy’ to other people, you see. If they’re not qualified for it, it won’t do anything at all, but—”

“Uh-huh. So if someone has the seed for it, they can get awakened that way? Wow.”

Guy seemed convinced. I suppose he could tell I wasn’t lying to him anyway. Raphael saved my bacon once again.

“Yeah, well, with wars in this world, individual strength is a lot more important than vast numbers, right? So it’s a given that I’ll want to enhance my team’s individual skills.”

“Yes, that makes perfect sense. By the way, I’ve been thinking this for a while… But you’re pretty abnormal, aren’t you?”

“Huh? No I’m not.”

“No, I mean…slimes don’t usually talk, you know? And I’ve been letting that slide, but then you won over Veldora somehow; you built up this whole town… It’s just not normal, by any stretch of the imagination. Are you a reincarnate, maybe? You are, aren’tcha?”

“Hmm? Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah, I died in a different world from here, and then I got reborn as a slime with my mind intact.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

We stared at each other. No, really, he didn’t know? I thought we had broken this down ages ago. I’d been pretty public with this fact, and it was a famous story over in the Western Nations, too. I thought for sure that Guy would’ve heard it somewhere or other. Maybe it’s not always a good idea to assume the other party knows everything you think they do—not that I misspoke or anything, but it was something to watch out for. Don’t want to give out too much information just because I want to keep the conversation going.

“It’s really true?”

“Yes, it certainly is.”

“Sir Rimuru never lies.”

Why is he so doubtful about this? Now he’s turning to Benimaru and Shuna for confirmation, the bastard.

“Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Wowww! I always assumed you were a pretty screwy monster, but that’s the story behind you, huh? Simply being reincarnated between worlds is a rarity in itself, but you got reborn as a monster? Man, talk about a bad break.”

Guy let out another belly laugh. I didn’t see it as all that funny.

“But now it all makes sense. If you traveled between worlds in soul form and still managed to keep your mind intact, well, no wonder you’ve got such a toughened heart core to ya. It explains why you’re picky about retaining a human form, too…and maybe why you evolved so insanely fast and got those ultimate skills.”

So in short, I’m a stubborn old ass, huh? Well, maybe. I like to think I’m pretty thick-skinned, not to brag. Never give up, never lose heart, always think positive—that’s what I live by.

“It’s that convincing to you, huh?”

“Yep. You always struck me as a shady guy, but now I think I can really trust you, after all.”

That’s just rude, isn’t it? But I’ll forgive it. I can’t beat him in battle anyway… And I certainly don’t want him all suspicious and hostile around me. Again, the power of positive thinking.

“Well, I’m glad we got that cleared up, and I think I’ve asked you about everything I need to. So I imagine you’ll be heading—”

“Oh, can I get some more of this?”

“Certainly.”

I was about to push Guy back home when he interrupted me and brazenly demanded a second slice of cake. Shuna immediately sprang into action, and it’d be weird if only he was eating, so I asked for another slice, too. Stress eating isn’t a good habit to acquire, but I just wanted some sugar to perk me up. But Guy got in my way yet again.

“So, Rimuru, let’s go back to what I was asking.”

I had a gut feeling that this was going to be painful.

“Huh? Asking about what?”

“You awakening your team members here. Because it sounded to me like you could share some of your power with my servants, too, but what do you think? Sound possible, or what?”

Dammit… This dude’s just like me, isn’t he? Incredibly shrewd, trying to take advantage of anything useful… Making me think the conversation is over, only to pull the “just one more thing” killer blow. Not that I’m this blatant about it… Or maybe I am?

No point pondering that, though. Guy needs an answer, and for that—

Understood. It is possible.

Oh. The guy answered me before I even thought of the question. That made me feel a little sad, somehow. I could almost feel it thinking I’m getting sick of dealing with you.

Understood. There is no such intention.

Something about this exchange made me think it’s incredibly angry at me. Better not prod it any further. Raphael’s all I have to rely on, so if it gave up on me, I’d be at the end of my rope.

Right. Now for a more serious question. If I built a soul corridor between myself and Guy’s “servants” (whoever they are), would that still work?

Affirmative. Forced intervention is now possible even if you do not share a common soul lineage with the monster in question. The target must not resist the connection, but as long as it is qualified to awaken, an infusion of energy is capable of inciting evolution.

Roger that.

This just leaves one problem—how many of my souls it’d consume. I don’t know how many people he wanted me to awaken, but if I don’t have the goods, we’re getting nowhere here.

“I don’t think it’ll be a problem, no. Can’t be sure unless I try, but I’m reasonably sure it’ll be fine. But I don’t have enough energy left to pass out to other people, though.”

This was my attempt at nimbly turning Guy down without angering him. I actually had just over one hundred thousand souls left, but Guy couldn’t have any way of knowing that. Surely he’d give up now.

“Right. So as long as you have souls to provide, you can do it, then?”

“Uhhh…”

He’s not giving up?

“Because you know, I once gave Mizeri about ten thousand of my own souls. It didn’t trigger anything at all, though. No sign of her awakening or anything. So I thought I was just wasting my time with that approach.”

He can just pass on souls as is like that? These demons are pretty clever, aren’t they? But that wouldn’t cause an awakening?

Understood. In order to incite an evolution, the requisite souls must be converted into the required form to be compatible with the target. Simply giving away souls is unlikely to have the desired effect. Furthermore, granting souls to other people is a highly inefficient use of energy, producing only about 10 percent of the anticipated value.

Aha.

So in order to make a would-be demon lord take root, you needed to give it the right sun and water and stuff? And of course, knowing how to do that is different from actually pulling it off. So would it be better to wait for his servants to spontaneously evolve, then?

Negative. A monster named by a higher-level being has its very nature altered. Even if it has souls it acquired on its own, that is unlikely to cause an awakening.

So once they’re named, that’s the end of the evolution process. It’s hard enough for someone to qualify for an awakening, but that sounds like quite the unexpected pitfall to me. The vast majority of monsters never qualify at all; naming is a much more likely method of powering up, so maybe it’s the same thing in the end.

Anyway, being named changes the nature of a monster to the point that it’s no longer able to extract the appropriate energy from the souls they acquire. Guy seems to be unaware of this, so I guess Raphael strikes again. Truly, it’s the smartest teacher I ever had in my life.

…

Oops. I was sincere with that praise, but maybe Raphael took it as me making fun of it. But I had my answer, so let’s just move on.

“Mizeri, huh? Did you try it with Raine or anyone else? And actually, you were the one who named them, right?”

“That’s right. Again, well spotted.”

“Well, there’s your problem right there.”

“Oh?”

“When they’re named by a higher-level life-form, that changes their nature enough that it won’t work, it looks like.”

“…Mmm. That sort of thing, huh? So it’s a waste of time no matter how many souls I give them. But you’ve got a way to adapt the soul energy so it’ll work on the target?”

I had to take a crash course from Raphael to figure all this out, but Guy was picking up on it super rapidly. Everything he said was right on the money, too.

“My approach ought to, yeah.”

“Okay. I wanna ask you a favor.”

Here we go. Now I was really starting to understand Guy’s personality. When he starts to use that wheedling voice of his, he must think there’s no way I’ll say no. I’d really like to slap a denial on him, but I’d be too afraid to try it. I value my life too much for that these days, so I’ll just play along for now.

“Um, just so you know, all the souls in the world won’t evolve someone if they don’t qualify for the right.”

“No problem there. Both of them meet the requirements just fine. You think you can awaken them for me?”

The way Guy was talking, his two maids were total garbage, useless in their current states. His evaluation standards are so weird. Based on what I heard, Mizeri and Raine are Primals on the same level as Testarossa and her gang. But he’s just slamming them like this instead? And considering one of my own secretaries made a sport out of egging Guy on, I was getting more and more nervous by the moment.

Ah, well. Now it boils down to whether I have the souls I need.

“Okay, so it’s only Mizeri and Raine you’d like to have awakened?”

“Yeah. How many souls is that gonna take?”

For a self-awakening, it was ten thousand; for a servant of mine in my soul lineage, it was a cool one hundred thousand, ten times as much. If I was working with unrelated third parties this time, I’m sure it’d be even more inefficient. So as for the number—

Understood. Five hundred thousand souls.

Five hundred thousand? So a quarter million each?! Twenty-five times more than usual—and over twice as many as a “soul lineage” job… It seemed like a ton, but if that’s Raphael’s quote, it has to be true.

“I think five hundred thousand would be enough for the two of them.”

“Huh? That’s all? Well, shoot, I got enough in me right now, then. I won’t even have to kill any more humans.”

He has them? And like, what was he gonna do if he didn’t?!

“Oh, you do? That’s, um, good.”

A dry chuckle was about all I could let out. I might’ve been begging Guy to stop right now if the numbers didn’t work out. I’m glad I didn’t have to, but considering all the casualties lately, I kinda had mixed feelings about this. The difference in how we value souls—and all that. I secretly prayed we didn’t have any more conflicts of interest going forward.

Benimaru and Shuna listened in on all this, worried looks on their faces. I decided there was no reason to hide my conversation with Guy from them.

“Well, if you could grab our guests for me, then…”

I had Shion and Diablo join us as well.

Guy was in an elated mood as he enjoyed his cake. Slice number three. Glad he likes it.

As soon as he handed me his half-million souls, he started acting like his work was done here. I already confirmed with Raphael that everything was set to go, but was it petty of me to be less than overjoyed about all this?

I pondered this a little as Shuna brought the two maids back in for me.

“You amaze me again, Sir Rimuru. That cake was excellent.”

“Yes, and we’re thrilled that you’re willing to share the recipe so freely with us.”

Mizeri was gushing; Raine was meekly appreciative. They must’ve gotten the message, and they were behaving perfectly kindly around Shuna. If this was enough to satisfy them, I really wished we didn’t have to play these dumb world-war games. The world was so full of surprises to explore! And besides, these two seemed like perfect maids to me. They didn’t have the world-destroying sense of taste that Shion did, and I was sure they’d hone their skills in no time.

Before that, though, I had an evolution ritual to perform.

“I am glad to hear that… And if we can continue to work in tandem, nothing would make me happier.”

Cooperation is so key, in my opinion. I’d like them to understand that cooperation isn’t a one-way street, but…

“Rimuru’s about to give both of you more power, girls. You need to be more thankful to him.”

So should you, man.

Swallowing the thought before I said it out loud, I smiled at the two girls.

“Now, a word of caution about this. Once I complete the evolution, you might suddenly get extremely sleepy. This is called the Harvest Festival, and it’s perfectly normal, but you might be too catatonic to travel much for up to a few days. In the meantime, you can feel free to stay with us.”

Guy and his entourage had traveled via Mizeri’s transport gate to a spot just outside the labyrinth. I then obtained Ramiris’s permission to let them inside, but once the evolution was complete, I didn’t think either of them were gonna be on their feet for a while. I doubted Guy was the type of boss who was thoughtful enough to bring them back home with him, so I intended to set them up with some lodging.

And besides…

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. So perhaps you two could send Guy and Velzard back home while you’re still awake?”

That was my aim. Our negotiations were over, and I really wished Guy would leave already.

“Huh? Ahhh, I don’t wanna impugn on you that much. We’ll take the two of them back with us, so just go ahead and start infusing, could you?”

Wha?!

Guy’s unexpected reply almost made me audibly yelp. And not just me—Mizeri and Raine themselves looked just as astonished. Their reaction told me what I already assumed: Guy actually lifting a finger to do something for them was unprecedented.

Clearly, he had an agenda of some kind. An agenda that, quite frankly, I found incredibly annoying. I didn’t want Guy to see my power in action; I wanted him the hell out of here. Then it occurred to me. It always struck me that Guy and I had a lot of similarities, but maybe we were even more identical than I thought. I mean, if I were him, of course I’d want to observe what went on and see if I could copy it. Even if I couldn’t, I still wanted as much info as I could get, so I could counteract it if need be. Based on that, it was very like Guy was thinking the same thing—and in that case, I was all the more motivated not to reveal my hand to him.

Or has he already spotted me out?

Understood. There is not a problem. As instructed, only Belzebuth will be brought to the forefront, so the rest will be kept fully hidden.

Sweet. Just leave it to Raphael, and I could even pull the wool over Guy’s eyes. Not that I can let my guard down yet. I just didn’t want him learning any more about me, you know?

“No, no, there’s no need to be shy! We’ve got tons of extra rooms, so you just get going on your way, okay?”

I wasn’t gonna negotiate. Guy was absolutely trying to stick around so he could observe my powers. I wasn’t about to expose my hand for no good reason. I’ve got to do whatever it takes to get Guy out of this place…

We exchanged polite smiles, even as intense psychological warfare erupted below the surface. Just as it did, the door to the room was almost blown off its hinges.

“Rimuru! I was looking for you! The surveillance feed’s gone silent over in the Control Center. I want you to restore it for us.”

“Yeah! I’m pitchin’ in to help monitor the world, too, y’know!”

Veldora and Ramiris certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. But we were in the middle of a very important conversation, so I wished they’d pick up on that a bit. Besides, the Control Center’s meant for waging wars, all right? It’s not your personal playroom. And yes, we are still at war, but I think you guys are just using that screen to search for neat new spots to visit.

…I had a lot I wanted to say, but I had no right to complain. It was all my doing, besides. “Once the war’s over,” I blurted out the other day, “why don’t we go out and have some fun?” They had been arguing over where to go ever since.

They’ve never traveled much around the world, despite how ponderously long they’ve lived, and I guess they caught the travel bug thanks to me. That’s why they made a routine out of using my Eye of God to bump around the world and take in the scenery when they had free time. This surveillance magic never used much energy, so we could keep it constantly active—and what’s more, changing the viewpoint was something anyone could do without much training. The Eye couldn’t cover every spot in the world, but it still had a wide range. Abuse it too much, though, and the magic effect would temporarily wear off.

“I’ll head down there later, okay? Just sit tight and wait a second.”

Guess I’ll have to lecture them later about keeping quiet when I’m entertaining guests. As their guardian, that’s my job. I mean, I wanted to do some travel research, too—or I mean, it was important that I gave them a good education about the world. But anyway, I was busy negotiating with Guy, so I tried to kick them out. However:

“Oh, hello there, Guy. Got some business with Rimuru, huh?”

Ramiris noticed Guy in the room. Veldora’s eyes were elsewhere.

“Looks like you’re having fun, Veldora.”

“Gahhh?! Wha-wha—?! Why are you here, my sister…?!”

“Here I thought you’ve matured a bit, but you’re as boisterous as ever, aren’t you? Great job taking human form, though. Looking pretty good for someone who just broke out of their seal, too.”

“I… I’m glad you are well…”

The fun was apparently over for Veldora. Now he was stiff as a board. Velzard was being perfectly nice to him, but for my friend, it must’ve looked different.

“But I’d love to spend some time talking with you. It’s been so long!”

“I, er… Well, I’m sure you’re a busy person, my sister, and I have work of my own to attend to. I’m afraid I do not have much free time…”

“Oh, no need to worry about that. I think Guy and Sir Rimuru have a lot to talk about still, so why don’t we have a nice, extended chat?”

Velzard’s emphasis was clearly on the word extended. She completely ignored Veldora’s claim of work obligations, and now he was looking to me for assistance. I gave him a brisk nod back. Good luck, man.

“Could we borrow a nearby room, Sir Rimuru?”

She flashed me a beautiful smile, and how I was going to say no to that? I can’t!

“Of course. I’m sure you’ve got a lot of catching up to do, so take your time!”

I had no choice. Farewell, Veldora. We’ll never forget your gallantry!

He looked pretty bent out of shape over not getting any help from me. Then, with a quick hand movement, he grabbed hold of Ramiris.

“Wh-whoa, Master! This isn’t any of my business!”

“Please! Don’t leave me alone!”

The pathetic display convinced me. Veldora must be ill at ease around his sister Velzard. Or maybe more terrified of her…?

In my previous life, I had a friend who didn’t like his big sister too much, either. “She’s such a dictator,” he’d complain to me, eyes glowing with enlightenment—and I guess that applies to True Dragons, too. (I also had friends who’d whine at each other about how annoying their little sisters were, but I only had one elder brother, so I couldn’t join in. I’m sure it was the same kinda deal with both sister types, and Veldora was starting to remind me of them.)

Then something occurred to me. A while back, Veldora and I were arguing over where we should go for a trip, and he was dead set against traveling north, like I suggested. He said it was too cold for him and so forth, but that seemed unnatural to me. There couldn’t be any way the cold would affect him. Looking back, though, maybe he knew Velzard was there?

As I watched Veldora, begging not to go as he held the door in a death grip, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Maybe I had it all wrong. I fully intended to abandon him since I didn’t want to get burned, but let’s lend him a bit of a hand. If it didn’t work out, I thought, I’d just relent and that’d be that.

“Hey, Guy… You live north of Englesia, right?”

“Mm? Ah yes, you call it the Tundral Waste down here. Pretty cold.”

“Yes,” Velzard said, standing up and turning to me as she kept a firm grasp on Veldora’s shoulders. “I don’t suppress my magical force up there, so no life can survive in the region. Guy doesn’t like the weak, so I did that to keep everyone else from blundering near him.”

Good, good. Let’s keep it going.

“So if I had to guess, Velzard, your power involves cold and ice?”

“…Not exactly, no. But in terms of the effects it produces, I can see if people think so.”

Perfect. No doubt about it, then. It’s funny to think that Veldora, as boundlessly confident and fearless as he was, still had a weakness like this.

“You have trouble dealing with Velzard, don’t you, Veldora?”

“D-do not say such ridiculous things! There is nothing I have trouble dealing with!”

What a time to act like a tough guy. It’s only causing you more damage, you know.

“Right? Of course not. After all, I took care of you for a long time, didn’t I?”

There was not the slightest cloudiness to Velzard’s warm smile. Not once did she ever suspect her brother might dislike her.

“When Veldora was just born, you know, whenever he went on a rampage, I promptly destroyed and rehabilitated him. Then, when he did it again after being reborn, I’d stop him, calm him down, maybe give him a gentle lecture or two. He had a few developmental problems—he couldn’t turn human, that kind of thing—so he’d always cause far too much damage. If I didn’t clean up after him, he would have grown even more out of control.”

Velzard told me about all the things she did in the past, framing them as sisterly acts of kindness. I dare anyone to listen to it all without bursting into tears.

“Veldora… You’ve been through so much…”

“You see that, Rimuru? Do you see that?!”

No wonder he preferred being away from her. What she did was devious—and the worst part was that she meant no malice at all. If we didn’t unravel this misunderstanding or assumption on Velzard’s part, Veldora might spend his entire life fearing her. But Veldora wasn’t helping his case much, either—that tough act made it impossible for him to defy her. He needs to drop that false courage, or he’ll never get along with people…or True Dragons, I guess. Whatever.

“Velzard, I don’t mean to meddle too much, but I feel that Veldora might have a few hang-ups when it comes to you.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Well, long story short, you’re overdoing it. Instead of just forcibly lecturing him without listening to his side of the story, if you gave him more guidance about what’s right and wrong, he’ll learn it more naturally that way. Veldora’s capable of listening to reason, after all. So instead of resorting to violence, can you just tell him how you really feel instead? If you want, we can even put you up here for the night.”

Velzard considered this for a few moments, then sighed and nodded. Whew. Glad she accepted it.

“R-Rimuru…”

“Aw, isn’t that great, Master? Can you let go of me now?”

“Very well. Looking back, I’m not sure I ever really considered Veldora’s thoughts. Perhaps we can take this opportunity to have a nice, long talk?”

So she was gonna talk his ear off regardless. Uh-huh.

“All… All right. Go easy on me, please.”

Veldora regained his composure, too, in a resigned sort of way. Hopefully this can help alleviate the rift a little bit. He exited the room (voluntarily this time), but he was still clutching Ramiris in his hand. I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.

“H-hey! Wait! This is none of my business!”

I think I maybe heard that plea from somewhere, but it disappeared once the door shut. I must’ve been hearing things. Time to focus on Guy again.

Veldora’s exit made the room suddenly feel very quiet.

“Right,” Guy muttered. I nervously swallowed as I anticipated his next words.

“Well, it sounds like Velzard will be staying here for a bit, so I think I’ll stay overnight as well.”

“Sure. I’ll have a room ready for the three of them, so don’t worry about that.”

“Huh? The three of who?”

“Oh, aren’t you leaving?”

I sure wish he was. But I’d be left disappointed.

“What are you, stupid? We’re pals, aren’t we? So let’s hang out today. Get these two evolved for me already.”

Grrr. He certainly was a persuasive speaker, but I hated letting him have his way like this.

“No, no, I’ll be glad to give you the royal treatment when things are less urgent, so for today—”

“Didn’t you say a moment ago that you have lots of extra rooms? I don’t need the ‘royal treatment’ today, so just set me up with whatever’s free right now. I wanted to try that ‘tempura’ thing you were talking about earlier, so you mind hooking me up?”

Welp, I lost. After all this, I had no possible pretense for saying no. It meant revealing what I considered to be one of my most powerful moves, but it beat refusing and stoking his anger.

“…All right. I’ll get you the best room we have out of what’s available… And I’ll arrange for a tempura dinner tonight.”

I nodded briefly at Shuna.

“Absolutely. I will start preparing at once.”

With a sweet smile and a perfectly polite bow, she left. Haruna silently took her place, standing by in one corner of the room. Her sheer unobtrusiveness demonstrated how skilled she was as a maid. Mizeri and Raine looked impressed as well, so I had to assume she was top-notch by international standards, too.

Guy, meanwhile, looked extremely satisfied with himself over beating me. It sucked, but I’d just have to admit defeat for now—but the moment I had that thought, the previously silent Diablo finally opened his mouth.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… I see. You’ll be staying over tonight, Guy?”

“Hmm? Yeah, but—”

“Ah-ha. Then you’ll have plenty of free time on your hands?”

“What are you…?”

“No, no, I just thought this would be a lovely opportunity for us.”

“An opportunity? For what?”

“I needed to finish the story I was telling you earlier, you know. And you bragged about your ultimate ability to me a long time ago, didn’t you? Well, I wanted to ask you about that in more detail today, so…”

Whoaaa! Nice one, Diablo. Now the tables were turned—Guy was on the ropes! I can’t let this chance pass me by!

“Well, in that case, Diablo, why don’t you take Guy here over to the inner chamber? You guys can chat your heads off the whole rest of the day!”

“Thank you very much, Sir Rimuru. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your kindness.”

As soon as he said it, Diablo put his hand around Guy’s shoulder.

“Huh? Ah! Wait!”

“No, I cannot wait to sit down with you. Let’s go.”

Guy was kind of like a house of cards if you poked him the right way, huh? All it took was Diablo’s quiet insistence to ferry him right out of the room. He can be so unexpectedly useful sometimes.

Now that Guy was gone, I could finally use my powers at peace. I didn’t know when they’d come back, so let’s get this ritual over with fast. I wasted no time pouring my souls into Mizeri and Raine, inciting the evolution.

Report. The prescribed amount of one hundred thousand souls has been reached. The subject Mizeri’s evolution has begun.

Um? That’s odd. Guy gave me half a million souls—

Moving on to the incitement of the subject Raine’s evolution… Successful.

I was down only two hundred thousand souls.

Huh?

So as long as they’re qualified to evolve, they can do it even if we’re not linked soul to soul?

…Hey, wait a minute! That’s not even the issue. You got three hundred thousand souls you didn’t use here! Don’t tell me…?!

Report. I have mastered the knack behind this, so the necessary number turned out lower than expected.

Oh, you got the knack down, huh?

…Wait, what? No! That’s no excuse! I received a zillion more souls than that! He’s never gonna buy that!

Understood. The subjects Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera were included in the required amount.

What the hell’re you doing to me?! Raphael’s gone crazy on me! How fearless can you even get? Are you seriously trying to get one up on the demon lord Guy Crimson?!

…Wait. Dude. If he finds out, I’m the one who’s gonna pay for it, man!!

Understood. It is not a problem.

No, it is. It’s a lot of problems. Seriously, I’m kind of afraid of you right now. Acting all fearless like this is so frightening.

Negative. This is simply the result of my information particle–handling skills performing better than expected. Any surplus can be considered extra remuneration.

You think so, huh? Because I think you’re reeeeeally stretching it, but…

Seriously, this is scaring me more than trying to run a scam against the yakuza. If Guy ever found out, he could disassemble me into a pile of broken atoms, and I’d have no reason to complain. I don’t sweat, so I wasn’t betraying any of my agitation on my face, but inside me I had cold sweat falling like a rainstorm. For the first time in a while, I’m actually glad I’m a slime.

So we partied it up that night.

Guy looked a little miffed with me, but he never did complain. In fact, he thanked me.

“There’s a lot I could say about today’s events, but I’m tired out for now. It looks like the evolution took place without a hitch, and for that, I thank you.”

He really did look exhausted. I wonder why? Diablo, meanwhile, was a stark contrast in how energetic he was. Weird.

“No, no, you’re quite welcome.”

Not getting involved was the smart bet here. I pretended not to notice anything as I left that sleeping dog to himself.

The food seemed to be to his liking, and the hot spring bath gave him what looked like a sorely needed recharge. Velzard was in a good mood after chatting with Veldora, and for an unplanned social evening like this, I thought we did pretty darn well.

“I’ll be back.”

“We’ll do our best to entertain you then.”

“I do look forward to that. We live in a very cold place, so that hot spring was so soothing to me.”

“Well, I’m glad you liked it, too. We can’t wait to have you back.”

“How polite of you! I’d love to see Veldora again before long, so we’ll be sure to take a few days next time.”

Speaking of Veldora, he wasn’t currently with us. That’s because he was prone on his bed, thoroughly battered and unable to move after going a couple rounds with Velzard.

“Hee-hee-hee… Kwah-ha-ha-ha! Tell him I went a bit easy on him this time, but don’t expect any mercy when I return.”

“You sure you want me to tell him that?”

“…Sorry.”

She seemed to be apologizing in an ever-so-wispy voice, but I’m a kind slime, so I pretended not to hear. Hey, I’m sure Velzard didn’t mean to kick his ass, and I’m sure Veldora will be good as new in a few days. Really, I hadn’t seen him take any wounds since that whole Chronoa incident, so it was a helpful reminder of just how strong True Dragons really were.

Veldora had another big sister over in the Empire. We have to figure out how to deal with her, so I think I’ll have Raphael give me the rundown on how True Dragons fight each other later on.

After giving me some valuable information to work with, Guy and his crew finally left. I’ll be using that info as a reference as I resume our deliberations on the next course of action.

As I resolved to do this, I saw someone jogging up to me in a tizzy. It was Mjöllmile.

“Ah, Sir Rimuru! I was wondering where you were. I’ve been looking all over!”

“Why the urgency?”

“You’ll know when you hear this: Big Mama’s here, and she wants to see you.”

“Big Mama?!”

I promptly rushed over to a certain inn in a prime spot of town. Big Mama always stayed there on her visits.

This was a nickname, of course, one shared only between Mollie and me. We gave it to her because bandying her real name around was bound to cause us trouble. It was Elmesia El-Ru Thalion, the Heavenly Emperor of the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion.

Among the Three Pranksters—the name we three gave ourselves—she was known as El. I was Rim, Mollie was Gar, and she was El. She led the group, I was second-in-command, and Gar was our minion henchman. We had a lot of fun with this, you could say.

If El wanted to see me this urgently, I had to drop everything for her. I’m pretty sure she’s aware we’re fighting a war right now, though…

“We told El that we’re at war, didn’t we?”

“Oh, of course. In fact, she told me herself that she’d save her next visit for when things settled down.”

Mollie here has actually known Elmesia longer than I have, sitting in for me when I’m busy and negotiating over this and that—both in public and private.

“Public” here meant official diplomatic relations with Thalion, and I was pretty much hands-off with that stuff, leaving it wholly to Mollie and Rigurd’s circle. They oversaw construction progress, established trade regulations, set up tariffs and other logistical matters, discussed security for merchants and visitors from both our nations… Anything and everything had to be looked over with a fine-tooth comb until they were mutually acceptable to us all. It was a daunting task, but they did their best at it without complaint.

“Private,” meanwhile, was more about the fun debauchery we got up to as the Three Pranksters. “Debauchery” might sound a little shady, and indeed, our little side hustles weren’t the kind of things your mother would approve of.

What were they, exactly? Well, basically we were attempting to take full control of our newborn (and gigantic) economic trade zone.

………

……

…

At first, the three of us were simply drinking buddies. We were discussing business matters at the bar before long, however, and the next thing I knew, this had ballooned into sensitive matters concerning the management of our nations. It’s on me for having such a big mouth, but Mollie’s equally as guilty for not stopping me. Besides, it’s not like us two were the only ones blabbering away; Elmesia leaked out a lot of secrets to us as well.

It’s little wonder we all let our guard down. All three of us were blaming it on the alcohol, essentially. Benders can be real scary.

This relationship was, of course, totally confidential—just a secret between the three of us. It’d have to be, because if word got out about these talks, we’d be subjected to a whole lot of vitriol. I’m sure my staff would be silently applying pressure on me to stop, and Mollie would probably develop an ulcer from all the criticism. I bet even Elmesia would become the target of some sarcastic remarks from Erald.

So we were a tight-knit secret society, the Three Pranksters, and by this point, our friendship had transcended our positions in society.

This arrangement began in earnest, if I recall, around when we won the battle against the Rossos.

Right when that clan was on the decline, the Western Nations’ criminal underground circles were all but decimated. Nobody was providing any cohesion, and things were starting to break down into factional warfare. I wasn’t about to abide by this, so I asked Testarossa to help keep the peace over there; that prevented things from getting out of hand, but we couldn’t keep things as is for long.

Only when the local police—or military, really—couldn’t handle matters did we provide some secret assistance to them. That, however, brought up the issue of how to deal with the criminals we caught. The reason local militias couldn’t handle these cases was because of the inevitable reprisals they would trigger. In some cases, local or regional government leaders were the ones committing the crimes, and the authorities would be hesitant to act in situations like that. They couldn’t let crimes go unchecked, of course, but if they pursued them too much, it could potentially lead to insurrection, even. In a lot of cases, the local state had no choice but to keep silent and not intervene.

It was all pretty troubling, so one night I was whining about it to Elmesia during one of her stops at our inn.

“I was rather hoping we could discuss something more fun than that,” she said at first, clearly reluctant… But as she listened on, she gradually opened up to me, leaning forward and asking for more details. Essentially, the way I painted things, it could be beneficial to not just me, but her, too. In other words, I was telling another what-if fairy tale to hold her interest.

Crime and the economy are inexorably linked. If the gap between rich and poor widens, that leads to resentment and could even affect national order. It’s why organized crime grows so huge; they serve as a receptacle for the poor, and after a certain point, they could wreck the entire power balance of the nation. Mollie, it should be said, was originally one of those underworld bosses, and I suppose his familiarity with matters let him grasp my point immediately.

What poor people need is a place to belong. We had to provide jobs available to anyone so they won’t turn to crime, no matter how far they’ve fallen. Oftentimes, this would be where the military comes in—they’ve got tons of positions to fill, and they’re always looking for people to fill them. But if the country itself is poor, sometimes not even that functions properly. So we wanted to provide a little under-the-table help to them.

“First off, we’ll create our own crime outfit. We’ve already laid the groundwork for this by absorbing all the groups we’ve crushed in each nation… And I’m thinking about taking out all the ones we’ve let survive for now, too.”

It might’ve been a bunch of drunken nonsense, but it did succeed in grabbing Elmesia’s attention.

“I see… No, there’s no group in the Western Nations that can complete with Cerberus. And I think a lot of people would swear their loyalties to this new group as long as they’re guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter.”

Elmesia hadn’t been too enthusiastic so far. But what I said next proved to be the deciding factor.

“Right? So we could take care of the poor that way. Next we’ll tackle the wealthy.”

“Hmm?”

“Now that Granville is dead, the Rossos are going to fall—and fall fast. They might still have a lot of power, but you know they’re going to do nothing but weaken over time. So I’m trying to move another project along to serve as a replacement.”

“A project? Let me hear more about it.”

“Well, you know it. The idea you mentioned before, about having Blumund function as a concentrated industrial hub. Sir Fuze is making preparations for me along those lines, and he’s already secured the necessary personnel, I understand.”

Mjöllmile and I had already consulted with each other on this grand concept. It’s important that we coordinate our interests with our neighboring countries, after all, if we want to spread friendship and prosperity.

“We could combine the Dwarven Kingdom’s industry, Farminus’s agricultural output, and Thalion’s industry as well. We’ll need to fine-tune things so we’re not competing against each other, but we could have all this industry flow right into Blumund—and then they could serve as a window into all that Western Nations territory.”

“Ah yes, Erald did report to me about that. So you were actually planning to go through with it?”

“Of course. Why not?”

“All right. But, Rim, how will you profit from it?”

“Profit’s secondary here.”

“Hmm?”

“Just kidding! But that’s what we’re trying to do. Taking control of core technology, releasing it to the world, you know. And I’m thinking we could build a really big educational institution and attract talented students from all over the world. Establish ourselves as a major tourist destination, then skim off the top behind the scenes!”

“Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha! And don’t forget about your patents concept! This wonderful system where money keeps flowing in without having to do any work! I understand it well enough, but it could take time to get other people to use it.”

“…Mmm, I see. So your idea is to create new products that require this core technology, then secure the intellectual property rights?”

“You’re so quick on the uptake, El! I’m glad for that. But don’t go copying the idea off me, okay?”

“First come, first served, is it? But no, no—I won’t copy it, but let me in on some of the action instead!”

“Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Pitch in for us, El, and this project is already as good as done!”

“Oh, Gar, you give me far too much credit! You’re right, of course, but…”

And so we laughed into our beer mugs all night.

The next day, we gave each other bleary looks, everyone wondering if we said too much.

“Hey, so about yesterday’s chat…”

“Yes, I recall it. You said some things you probably shouldn’t have, didn’t you?”

“Yeah…”

“If—if you could find it in you to keep it a secret… We can’t afford to have the project shudder to a halt at this point…”

“Oh, stop worrying, Gar. Maybe the drinks were talking for me, but I’m a woman who keeps her promises.”

And so through a failed attempt at fraternization through getting blasted, we were now all on the same wavelength.

We pushed on with plans at a steady clip from that point forward. When you had the leaders of two superpowers on the same page, things went fast.

Our inroads into the Western Nations criminal underground were progressing at a pace that would’ve easily surprised the outside observer. In just a few months, we had finished unifying all the region’s crime groups. Thus, a brand-new secret society was born, one we called REG—the Three Wise Drunks. The group’s members had no idea about the origins of that name, but that was certainly not our problem.

What’s more important is how the project’s moving along. The poor people facing oppression in their local regions were quickly taken in by the mysterious “REG” outfit, and after a month or two of examination, the right people were selected for the right jobs. Any outstanding talents, we decided, would be invited to my nation for further study.

All the little details behind this were being overseen by Glenda Attley, one of the former Three Battlesages who was still serving under Soei. She said she’d gladly take any job, dirty or not, and now she was acting every bit like a mob boss. Working beneath her were Girard, ex-leader of the Sons of the Veldt mercenary group, and Ayn, the elementalist who once worked for him. These were two pretty notorious names around the Western Nations, with the type of leadership skills that naturally attracted the seedier elements of the local population. This underworld fame served them well as they carried out Glenda’s orders.

Most people seemed to assume this trio was the Three Wise Drunks being referred to. We really were just three drunken idiots, but people were misinterpreting it as being “drunk on dreams” or other fancy stuff like that, so I’d keep the truth to myself.

So that’s what we had cooking underground. Now let’s examine our activities as public figures. For this effort, we decided it was better to create two organizations that would compete against each other, instead of a single monolith that’d be too vulnerable to corruption.

The first one is a new company founded by Mollie, mostly comprised of educated staff from Blumund and engaging in commercial business in tandem with the Council. This we named the Four Nations Trade Alliance, chaired by a representative from Tempest with a board of executives from Blumund, Farminus, and Dwargon as well. Mollie was installed as CEO, ensuring I’d always have a hand in its affairs.

The second group was a coalition of Western Nations trade groups that Elmesia would work behind the scenes to form. Doran, monarch of the kingdom that bears his name, would be lent money to establish the firm under his banner, which would allow it to absorb the surviving members of the Rosso family. Essentially, we were setting up a playing field for everyone who’s particularly hostile to us, but it attracted a lot more people than expected.

The firm was named the Western General Trade Company, with one of Doran’s sons serving as president—Prince Figaro Ros Doran, a descendant of the Rossos, who possessed all the intelligence and talent that name conferred. The prince and his father were the only people who knew about Elmesia’s involvement; they agreed to play along in exchange for her protection. “In the Rosso family,” Doran reportedly said upon hearing of the plan, “you need a flexible mind to survive. If the world’s most powerful demon lord and someone with as much influence on the world as the Heavenly Emperor are forming a team, deciding not to take part would surely spell our doom.”

If you’re gonna credit the Rossos for anything, praise them for how seriously they took their contracts. As long as we both fulfilled our side of the contract, we could trust this relationship to stay unchanged for the foreseeable future.

It’s also worth adding that between Elmesia’s shares and mine, we controlled 61 percent of the Western General Trade Company. Elmesia was the top shareholder, so if Figaro decided to betray us, the firm would collapse right then and there. “Not that someone as talented as him would do something that stupid,” Elmesia told me, and I was apt to agree with her. So Figaro was accepted as our trusted president for the time being.

Thus, we had two different companies kicking off at the same time. These two firms were ostensibly competitors in the same field, conducting price wars and scrambling to secure exclusive distributors. But this was all legal, healthy competition, with no use of force involved.

Some of the staff occasionally took the cowardly approach and tried tapping organized crime to lend them a hand, although for some reason, it always backfired on them. The REG group informed me of some pretty wild stories related to this. I deliberately didn’t try to stop any would-be criminals, but I hoped it was clear to people that if they went too far, they’d be the ones to pay for it. It was a shame that some ne’er-do-wells would resort to extreme measures, but at least both companies were bursting with motivation.

They were also growing much faster than expected. In just a few months, they had developed into stable organizations, with positions established in a multitude of specific fields and a firm hierarchy in place. Right now, when we were under imperial attack, I heard they were enjoying quite a bit of war-based demand for their goods. I wondered if this was a bit too opportunistic of them, but since I was taking in their profits as a shareholder, I decided to call it a necessary evil and leave it at that. It wouldn’t do to regulate everything, after all, and that goes double when it’s my own interests at stake.

And so in relatively short time, we were on our way to seizing the local trade community for ourselves.

………

……

…

If Elmesia had stopped by here without advance notice, there must’ve been some kind of emergency. Maybe Prince Figaro skipped town on us after all? We had countermeasures in place for that scenario, but it’d mean I’d have to give up some of my shares, so it’d make sense if Elmesia wanted to come over to discuss that.

At the inn, I was taken to a detached townhome Elmesia was occupying.

“Thanks for waiting for me. How’s it going, El?”

No point speculating any further. Time to ask what she wanted to talk about. She did look pretty miffed about something, not even trying to hide her depression as she stared right at me.

“Oh, um, something upsetting you?”

“‘Upsetting’ would be the kindest way of putting it! Do you have any idea what you have done?!”

Um, what? Oh, man, she sounds legit pissed. And this didn’t seem to be any “Wise Drunk” business after all…

“How do you mean?”

“Sit down.”

“Uh, sure.”

Not wanting to anger the sharp-eyed Elmesia any further, I meekly kneeled down on the tatami-mat floor. Mollie was doing the same next to me, and this seating position was clearly making his legs cramp up.

“Rim, is it true that you’ve been evolving some of your people?”

H-how does she know that?! I gave Mollie a quick side glance; he shook his head back to indicate he didn’t know, either. So where did the leak come from?

“My boy Gazel gave me an urgent message. He said he wasn’t sure whether to tell me but decided to in the end. Honest of him, isn’t it?”

To Elmesia, even a sly old fox like Gazel was still her “boy.” But that’s what happened? I wasn’t really hiding what I did, so I shouldn’t be that shocked, but the sheer speed was pretty unexpected.

“Well, the Eastern Empire’s a lot more dangerous than I thought, so I wanted to get ourselves powered up as best I could. I didn’t think hiding it was a good idea, so I invited Jaine to witness it.”

“Oh… So it’s true…?”

She stood up, turned her back to me, and looked out a window. There was something sad—sorrowful, in a way—about the sight.

“…Why are you talking like it’s somebody else’s business?!”

Then she whacked me on the head with the folding fan she took out from her pocket.

“N-no, I didn’t mean it like that…”

I was just trying to lighten the mood here a little. Sheesh.

“What do you even want to do with an army that powerful?”

“Huh? It’s not that I wanna do anything, really. I’m trying to build a country that’s fun to live in.”

“And Gazel tells me you have more Primals serving you than just Diablo now?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I thought I told you. I wasn’t aware of it myself until a little while ago. You know Testarossa, don’t you, El? I always thought she was really talented, but it turns out she’s a Primal, too, I guess. So there’s her and two more, Carrera and Ultima, and they’re serving as heads of our supreme court and chief prosecutor, respectively.”

When I finished explaining matters, Elmesia began to visibly shake.

“And that is the truth as well?” She groaned. Then she sat down in front of me, gazing straight into my eyes as she asked me directly, “Are you trying to destroy the world?”

“Huh? No way.”

“Because from my viewpoint, that’s the only thing this could be!”

Now she was shouting. I hurriedly began making excuses, Mollie joining my side, as we verbally sparred for the next half hour or so.

“So you’re telling me that Guy and Ludora are playing a game, using their respective pieces to decide on a winner?”

“Right, exactly!”

“Is that true, Gar?”

“I, um, I can’t say I am that well-informed on the situation, either… But really, I’m not entirely certain this is something I should be listening in on, is it?”

“Well, no, it’s not, but too late for that, right?”

“If I may, I’m not entirely sure ‘too late for that’ is much comfort for me…”

Yeah. Guess I totally dragged him into this, didn’t I? Sorry about that. But given the relationship we have, I’m sure Mollie will forgive me soon enough.

“Haaah… I think I understand now. If Guy was cajoling you, you were certainly in no position to turn him down, were you…?”

Yes! Precisely! Guy was threatening me—let’s phrase it like that.

“Indeed. It’s painful for me to accept as well.”

I was beginning to take on Mollie’s manner of speech, but either way, we were finally starting to appease her.

Elmesia sighed again; either her anger was gone or she was scrambling to regain her composure.

“So what are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not going to resign yourself to being a pawn in Guy’s game, are you?”

“I think I am, actually.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking…”

She seemed to have no idea what I was thinking. So I tried to give her more insight.

It seemed a given that the Empire still had some powerhouses—people of unknown ability—in store for us. Trying to avoid a fight was one potential option, but I thought it’d only postpone the problem. I’d have to live in hiding all the time, on constant lookout for imperial assassins. There’d no doubt be a few skirmishes with them, and no matter how well I defended myself, there were bound to be casualties.

To prevent that from happening, I wanted to keep the initiative on my side. To the Empire, war is something of a ritual devised to create awakened people—and if so, I’d have to keep fending them off for ages to come. Ignoring them would just give them more time to build their army up.

“So that’s the decision I’ve made. There’s no point in padding my numbers, so I’m just gonna march right over with my main force and negotiate a peace deal. If we can get rid of Ludora’s pawns while we’re there, hopefully Guy will take care of the rest for us.”

I really couldn’t rely on Guy at all, so I wasn’t expecting that much from him. But then the question became who to take with me.

“Are you going to be all right, Sir Rimuru?”

“Whoa, Mollie, who do you think I am? I may not look it, but I’m part of the Octagram, you know. Whether it’s an emperor or his personal guard, I ain’t losing sleep over any of their guys!”

“Ah, yes indeed! Truly, you are like a goddess to—”

“Hmm? Goddess?”

This guy’s still looking at me that way? One glare from me made him rethink his words.

“—I mean, truly you are a demon lord we can all trust in!”

“Yes, well…um…just leave it all to me, then! Ha-ha-ha!”

“Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

We both laughed our heads off.

I knew this wasn’t what he wanted to hear after this, but if things really went south over there, I was planning to turn tail and run back home. I’d have to pretty much become a shut-in, and I was prepared for that, so I didn’t bother dwelling on the idea much.

“Hmmm. So can you specify to me whether you planned to simply defeat Emperor Ludora’s guard or kill them all outright?”

I wasn’t a fan of any questions that assumed I’d be victorious, but I already had an answer to this one.

“I’ll avoid killing as much as I can. Based on the game’s rules for victory, Guy wins once I neutralize everybody except for Ludora, after all. Once I reach that point, I don’t think it’s a matter for me any longer.”

Elmesia gave that a satisfied nod.

“All right. Do your best not to disappoint me, then. If worse comes to worst, I will take care of matters in your nation.”

Please don’t say such ominous things to me!

“No need to worry! I’m not into sacrificing myself nobly for the greater good, y’know! My motto’s for everybody to have fun together, so no way am I gonna get killed over this.”

“Good,” she replied with a breezy smile. “But remember this as well: If you die, it will put this world fully in ruins. You are the only one who can tame monsters like Diablo and his Primals. The other creatures you evolved to demon lord level may not all agree with each other. If a conflict arises, it will inevitably erupt into war. Do you understand that? You can’t just cast off what you’re trying to do when you’re not even done yet. Never forget that.”

That was Elmesia’s heartfelt advice to me.

“I know. I get you. I really do.”

I swore it to her, my face dead serious.

The game was now in its final stages. Just a few more turns, and our victory would be set in stone. One wrong move, though, and the entire board would be flipped upside down.

We need to be calm—and careful. The first thing’s to contact Yuuki and discuss how we’ll deal with Emperor Ludora. Then, the day after that, we’ll set off for the Empire.