WORD FROM RAMIRIS

With our talks between national leaders complete, it was finally time for our anti-Clayman strategy conference. I figured we all needed to hear Soei’s report first, so I ordered the meeting hall to be set up once more.

As I did, I had the nagging feeling I was forgetting something. And it just so happened that I was. Ramiris. What was that noisy little pixie going on about? Was she still unconscious?

Worried, I headed over to Veldora, only to find… Well, take a guess. It was Ramiris, entranced by the manga she was reading! I was concerned she’d start bawling unless I gave her some attention, but I had nothing to worry about.

“…Hey. Hey, what’re you doing?”

“Shut up a second. I’m just getting to the good part.”

She didn’t even look up at me. Why was she here again? That manga had her full attention right now, but she had something important to do here, right?!

I suppose she must’ve woken up, set off to yell at me again, and then noticed the manga volumes strewn all over the sofa. They must’ve captured her imagination so thoroughly she didn’t even realize the summit was over. She must’ve made amends with Veldora as well, because now he was happily being served by Beretta, as if that whole fainting spell never took place. Eesh.

I turned toward Beretta.

“Congratulations on your evolution to demon lord,” it said with a polite bow. “Allow me to thank you, grand master, for letting me share in the benefits of said evolution. Thanks to you, I have transformed from an arch-golem into a chaos golem.”

This evolution had imparted elements of both holy and demonic force into it. That was mainly thanks to the skill Reverser, which allowed the user to obtain two diametrically opposed essences at once—in Beretta’s case, aspects of both demonic and angelic power, I suppose. A new spirit core was born inside it, fusing with its older, demonic one to create a new chaos core. This let it handle holy-element attacks, something it was weaker against before.

I couldn’t have been the only one who saw that as incredibly unfair. That rock-solid magisteel body, already impervious to most physical attacks and magic, and now it was even covered for what few weaknesses it had. You couldn’t ask for a better upgrade than that.

This unique skill Reverser was something involved with me, it seemed. A lot of the panic I felt at the time must’ve come across to Beretta. When I was encased in that Holy Field, my emotions when I was left powerless by the sealed-off magicules must’ve affected how this power manifested itself, I think. Given that an arch-golem runs on magicules, it must’ve feared that it, too, would stop in its tracks. So it came up with this countermeasure.

Between Reverser and that chaos chore, Beretta was turning into one extremely interesting research subject.

Report. The unique skill Reverser is already integrated into the ultimate skill Uriel, Lord of Vows. Its effect can be re-created by applying Control Laws to metallic elements. Creating a new chaos core requires providing the correct conditions and materials to…

What?!

Raphael just chucked that out offhand, but I couldn’t believe how useful he was. That’s it—Food Chain! I have Food Chain as part of the ultimate skill Belzebuth, Lord of Gluttony, so I can obtain the original model for any skills owned by my friends.

Beretta had it, too, so we talked about it for a little bit. It seemed rather satisfied with the skill and the fun it had experimenting in the labyrinth. Following its evolution, it figured something similar must’ve happened to me as well, too.

“In any case,” I said, “I’m glad you’re still doing well. Once this is all settled down, we should talk a little more in-depth.”

“Ha-ha! I appreciate you saying that. Now I have something to look forward to.”

“Yeah. I’m also glad you’re still listening to Ramiris. Keep that up, unless she gives you any orders that’re too crazy.”

“I will be happy to. I promise I will not betray your expectations!”

“Great. Hang in there. By the way, what’re you guys here for?”

I shot a glance at Ramiris, still enthralled by her manga.

“We…”

Beretta must’ve forgotten, too. It made a beeline for Ramiris, bringing her out of her trancelike state.

“Lady Ramiris, now is not the time for this. We must inform Sir Rimuru of the news…”

“Shut up! I’m really busy right now!”

“Please, my lady, recall your goals traveling here.”

“I told you! Fate has brought me and this wonderful thing they call manga together! Oh, which suitor will she choose in the end…?”

You can’t argue with that impassioned logic. Literally, you can’t. Oh, the pains Beretta must go through. I couldn’t let this go on. I had a general idea of what she was reading, so—with a sigh—I decided to threaten her a little. If I didn’t, we’d all be forced to wait until she was done with the series, and that one was an epic running over forty volumes, so even someone as calm and Buddha-like in his patience as I couldn’t hold out that long.

“Hey, Ramiris? If you don’t want me to spoil it for you on who she goes with, then tell me why you’re here already!”

The threat produced immediate results. “Right!” she shouted, saluting to me and hurriedly flying into the air, not a care in the world. It couldn’t have been anything serious—just her overreacting and carrying on as always. The rest of our visitors had stopped their chatting as they prepared to leave, also remembering that Ramiris was still there. I guess they all wanted to satisfy their curiosities before going.

The fairy noticed the attention and proudly puffed out her chest (or lack thereof), crossed her arms, and gave me the boldest nod she could.

“I’ll say it one more time! Tempest shall fall to ruin!!”

“Wh-what did you say?!” I replied without enthusiasm, following the script. She took the bait.

“Hmph! You know,” she said patronizingly, “that isn’t something I want to happen, of course. So I came all the way over here to tell you. You better thank me!”

I tried my best to avoid all her little jabs at me. Giving them attention would just prolong the conversation.

“So why’re we falling to ruin?”

“Well, before I tell you…” She stopped, turning serious as she looked around to size up the dignitaries around her. Then she nodded to herself. “Ah, I suppose this has a lot to do with you humans, too. All right—listen up, all of you. Clayman’s just proposed that we launch a Walpurgis Council!”

“A Walpurgis what?”

“Right, a Walpurgis Council. A special meeting of all the demon lords!”

Oh. She said “launch,” so I thought it was some kinda huge magic spell at first. I was planning to storm Clayman’s domain, so if she told me that Clayman was attacking first, I would’ve freaked out.

Pressing her for more details, Ramiris stated that staging Walpurgis required the consent of at least three demon lords, and once convened, attendance was very much mandatory. Absence was never forgiven. It was one of the very few things the capricious, self-serving demon lords had agreed to on paper (although this still didn’t prevent some extremely lazy demon lords from sending a representative with full rights to the Council instead).

“…I think I have read about this,” Erald said. “Once, all the demon lords came together to wage an epic battle, one that the Western Holy Church named Walpurgis, or the feast of demons.”

This was something he had apparently read in some records dating back a thousand years ago. The war was a costly one, causing serious damage and disasters across the land. Walpurgis, the term coined by the Holy Church for it, had the connotation of not just a demonic feast but one attended by those who spread chaos and destruction worldwide. These were worldwide affairs, I supposed.

So if demon lords gathered together like this, did it mean war among themselves, or them teaming up against some other enemy?

“So are the demon lords about to declare war on something?”

“No! I’m a busy woman! I don’t have time for wars and other annoying stuff like that!”

Ramiris looked like she had a lot of free time, but never mind. She was a demon lord, one who had been around for a long time to boot. Maybe she was part of those conferences of a millennium ago; it wasn’t out of the question.

Erald nodded at her. “I believe the demon lord Ramiris is telling the truth. The war in the records I read was officially called the Temma War, the War Between Heaven and Demon. It was fought by multiple factions, all vying for power. Of course…”

As he put it, these Temma Wars (or Great Wars) were triggered every five hundred years. There was a reason for that. It was because the forces of heaven—in other words, the angels—came down to earth at around that cycle. These angels were kind of natural enemies to demons, I suppose, but oddly enough, they would attack pretty much everyone indiscriminately. Developed cities and towns, for some reason, were a particularly favored target. Nobody knew why, but there you go.

“That is the reason why we never left the underground,” Gazel said—and maybe they had the right idea. As advanced as they were, they’d stick out like a sore thumb. The Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion took the same tactic, building a city in the hollow of a gigantic divine tree—that “fancy tree city,” as Gazel had mockingly called it. As superpowers, both nations spared no expense in keeping their lands safe.

So what about the Western Nations? The Council of the West was established to protect themselves against monsters, but also so they could survive an upcoming Great War. Member nations worked together, while Dwargon and Thalion basically hunkered down.

But the angels weren’t the only enemy to worry about. As if responding to their descent, the monsters on the ground would suddenly explode into action—in this case, the magic-born, knowledge-bearing monsters. Some demon lords would use Temma Wars to stage invasions of human nations as well. The Great War of a millennium ago saw that happen, which led to a lot of tragedy for everyone involved.

The humans, to their credit, weren’t anyone to be trifled with. That could be seen in what was likely to be the largest antagonist of the next war—the Nasca Namrium Ulmeria United Eastern Empire. The Empire’s thirst for power could strike anytime, anyplace. If the Western Nations showed any sign of weakness, the eastern power could bare their fangs at a moment’s notice.

Thus, you would have these wild, frantic world wars, with angel and demon and human brutally slaughtering one another. That was your typical Temma War.

So I guess it was kind of slander to accuse the demon lords of triggering them. Not that I wanted one of those, either. And what’s with angels setting their sights on the bigger cities? I wanted my city to be the richest one in the land, incomparable to anything else—but maybe I ought to wait a bit. Maybe it’s smarter not to develop the most important facilities we needed until we had the resources to defend them. But this was all in the future anyway. Let’s just put it in the file for now.

Back to this Walpurgis.

“So what is Walpurgis, though? What do all the demon lords assemble for?”

If it didn’t have anything to do with a Great War, there had to be some other motivation.

Wait. Is it that, maybe? Like, what Milim was talking about, how they punished anyone else who declared themselves to be a demon king? Are they gonna decide who’ll do me in?

“Um, well, first, I think you have kinda the wrong idea, so lemme start with this.”

What Ramiris had to say hadn’t occurred to me at all.

“These Walpurgis Councils, y’know; we hold a lot of them. All you need is three demon lords to agree to one, which is pretty darn easy. Back in the day, it’d just be this informal chat over tea with me, Guy, and Milim… But Walpurgis is just a place where demon lords come together, catch up on news, and talk about whatever’s happened lately. It’s really not a huge deal; it’s just that humans don’t know about it.”

This sounded like quite a revelation. Maybe she saw it as nothing, but it was almost scary how lightly she treated the demon lord job sometimes. Maybe I should take what she said with a grain of salt. If I accepted it as the unvarnished truth, it might come back to bite me in the ass sometime.

“Okay, then, stupid, if it’s just high tea with your friends, then why’s this nation gonna fall to ruin?!”

Even someone as kind as I am felt the need to yell at her a little. This kid just has no idea what’s going on.

“Look, no, all right?!” She waved her arms up and down. “The problem isn’t that they’re holding Walpurgis; it’s what they’re gonna talk about!”

What they’ll talk about? If they’re all meeting together, it’s gonna be about killing me, isn’t it…?

As Ramiris put it, two people agreed to Clayman’s initial Walpurgis request—the demon lords Frey and Milim. That triggered it—and the topic of discussion: “The new force born in the Forest of Jura and their leader assuming the title of demon lord.” So me, then.

“So you… You declared yourself a demon lord?”

I nodded. “Yep. And I don’t regret it one bit.”

“Mm, well, that’s not so weird coming from you. You might have to deal with a few tricky spots, but with all the power you’ve got, it oughtta work out, huh?”

Ramiris made it all sound like it wasn’t her problem at all. Which I guess it wasn’t. I mean, I was prepared for this, but still.

“You think they wanna punish me for it?”

“That’s how they’re phrasing it,” she replied, “but one of the unwritten rules in our line of work is that if you wanna punish someone, go do it yourself, if you care that much. They’re holding Walpurgis this time because they were betrayed by the demon lord Carillon. Plus, Clayman was going on and on about how Mjurran, one of his underlings, was killed.”

“What kind of ‘line of work’ is demon lord anyway?”

She ignored the question.

But apparently Clayman had already fingered “Rimuru, so-called new demon lord” as Mjurran’s killer. Which meant his goal was—

Report. It is believed to be the takeover of the demon lord Carillon’s territory and the suppression of the Forest of Jura.

Yeah. I think so, too. So that’s why his army’s en route. I guess he made the first move before we even realized it. Shrewder than I thought, I guess…

“Hey! Are you listening to me?” Now Ramiris was giving me an uncharacteristically stern look. “You’re acting like this no big deal, but it’s huge! Milim’s already taken down Carillon, I heard, and Clayman’s ready to send an entire army of magic-born someone’s way. Punishment, heck—this is war! Clayman’s come up with an excuse to take each and every one of you down, all right?!”

The summit attendees began to stir. Having one of the demon lords “taken down” was serious news to the superpower nations. I suppose it would be. It could totally disrupt the balance of power between them. And while it had already happened, the news was a total bolt from the blue for everyone else. Pretty heady stuff.

That, and:

“Lord Carillon, a betrayer? How dare that brute accuse him!”

“Clayman will pay for this. I’ll crush that upstart with my own two hands!”

“Whether Lord Carillon is there to lead it or not, our armies are unhurt and in full fighting shape. We’ll never let Clayman’s minions seize our land!”

It goes without saying that the Lycanthropeers had the most visceral reaction to it all. Nobody likes their master being called a backstabber, I suppose. Plus, from what Ramiris said, apparently Clayman was gunning for his whole territory.

Man, we really got a late start, didn’t we? I had no idea he’d be moving this fast. Better dispatch him quick—he can’t be up to anything good.

“Calm down a sec, Ramiris. Yes, it’s true I declared myself demon lord, but I didn’t kill Mjurran.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that Clayman’s telling you a pack of lies. I expected him to come out against me with that accusation.”

Plus…

“Wh-what?! You got any evidence to show for that?”

…either way…

“…Um, demon lord Ramiris? Pardon me for speaking me out of turn. I am Mjurran, the magic-born servant of Clayman who was allegedly killed…”

…I’m gonna crush Clayman.

The moment I made him think Mjurran was dead, I knew he was going to react sooner or later. I didn’t take the bait—Clayman was just hooked by my lure. The rest of the demon lords weren’t involved.

The sight of Mjurran threw Ramiris for a loop.

“Huh? Wha?! Wait, so… Now I get it! The demon lord Clayman’s the real culprit now, isn’t he?! I knew it!”

Good thing she recovered so fast. Too bad that was incredibly obvious to anyone else in the room. I felt bad for her, so I decided to follow up on something else I’d wondered about.

“Yeah, I agree with you there, but I wanted to ask you something.”

“Mm? What? Just ask Detective Ramiris here, and she’ll crack the case!”

Uh-oh. I wound up just egging her on, didn’t I? “Detective?” Seriously? She must’ve been peeking at whatever Veldora was reading, huh? I opted not to pursue that for now.

“How do you think the other demon lords will react to this?”

I wasn’t expecting much, but figured I had to ask. She had been a demon lord for ages, so I couldn’t deny the possibility that she had something to go on. The room went quiet, awaiting her response. It was a question of deep interest to everyone else, too. Too bad Ramiris was so indifferent to that.

“Huh? Well, I dunno. It was just, like, ‘Here’s what we’ll talk about during the party, so join in,’ okay?”

So nonchalant with it. I shouldn’t have expected anything else. Just a kid. I should be glad she came over to tell me at all.

Next question.

“Okay, so when is this Walpurgis, Ramiris? Do you know the exact date and time?”

I’d want to know that before we formulate our anti-Clayman strategy.

“Oh, didn’t I mention it? Um, it’s gonna be three days from now, on the night of the new moon.”

Three days? That’s sooner than I thought. Gonna be kind of hard to finish him off in just three days.

So…is this showdown gonna have to wait until after Walpurgis?

Another issue to bring up with the gang, I guess.

That was about all I wanted to ask Ramiris. That was all she was here for, it turned out, and it wasn’t like I’d be able to glean anything else useful from her.

Then a sudden thought came to mind.

“So why’d you come all the way here to tell me?”

“Mm? Well, really, it’s like, if you get killed, what’s gonna happen to my Beretta here? So I decided to take your side on this, and that’s why I’m here. That kinda thing. And I’m gonna build a labyrinth entrance here, but is that okay?”

“No, it’s not okay! Where’d that come from?! What kind of entrance anyway?!”

I appreciated her bringing the news, but this came right out of nowhere.

“Huhhh?! What’s the big deal? Don’t sweat the small stuff!”

She never was one for listening. No, she was much more for talking—and arguing her point until she got it. As far as she was concerned, this conversation was already over. She’s one of the most free ’n’ wild fairies I’ve ever met.

“I am sweating the small stuff, and you should, too! And don’t go around thinking that Beretta is all yours, either!”

I held my ground, refusing to let her get her way. Any “entrance to the labyrinth” built around here could never possibly bode well for us. And Beretta’s fate wasn’t just in my hands—it had a lot to do with the golem, as well. It wasn’t something she had any right to dictate. A simple question on my part led to what I could only call an outrageous proposal.

We argued vehemently about it for a while, to no effect, before the crowd finally broke up. I was too busy to deal with her any longer, and Ramiris, her business apparently done, went back to her manga.

As they left, I promised all the attendees that I’d inform them of whatever new information I found. They all agreed to this before they went their separate ways.

Fuze planned to stay the night at the inn before heading home. “I hope you’re prepared for what lies ahead,” he warned. “It’s your country being targeted this time. A demon lord is a very dangerous thing. I think I know how strong you are, Sir Rimuru, but…”

I understood what he meant. At worst, I could wind up making enemies out of several demon lords at once. Out of the ten of ’em, who could I count on as nonhostile? Carillon was AWOL. Ramiris promised to back me up, so there’s one. Milim… Milim’s my biggest worry. I’m pretty sure she’s just being tricked, but I’d still need to prepare myself for the worst.

So if I managed to completely screw up everything, I could have eight demon lords wanting me dead. Of course, if it looked like I was gonna lose Milim before that, it was probably best to run for the hills immediately at that point.

“Oh, I’ll figure something out,” I reassured Fuze.

Erald and Elen also whined at me about wanting some time to talk to each other. I agreed to have them stay for several nights before leaving—not at the inn but at our luxury ryokan-style hotel. All of Tempest was proud of that place, and if we could earn the duke’s praise for it, he was welcome anytime.

It was funny, though, seeing how different Erald the statesman was from Erald the person. He was so preoccupied with his daughter that I was worried she’d run off on him—I just had to pray he wouldn’t do anything to make her even angrier.

Gazel also opted to stay a few extra days, so I lodged him in the ryokan as well. As I guessed from seeing them speak, they had known each other for ages, even fighting in battles together. Erald must’ve really been a hell of a wizard. And now, funnily enough, they were using Tempest as a new channel to build geopolitical ties with. It’s always better to get along, of course.

We really enjoyed a celebrity lineup at this summit, though, didn’t we? Leaders who’d hold major sway over human nations in the future. And—if you think about it—I was standing on equal footing with them. Having that selfish fairy crash it at the very end made for a less-than-snappy ending, but I think it’s safe to say I gained a lot from it all.

We would’ve liked to rest up as well, but that wasn’t happening. I didn’t want demon lords breathing down my neck, and we needed some countermeasures.

After a meal, we all gathered again in the meeting hall. The Three Lycanthropeers and Mjurran were our only guests this time. Yohm and Gruecith were already preparing to depart—Gruecith really wanted a seat in the conference but relented after Phobio screamed at him. They had an important job to do, so I really wanted them to focus their full attention on that. I was hoping Mjurran would join in the preparations as well, but she was the one with concrete intelligence on Clayman, so I had to ask her to join.

And for some reason, Diablo was joining us. “Heh-heh-heh-heh… I hardly have any need to prepare,” he declared, and really, I had to assume he was right. There wasn’t any reason to kick him out, so I gave him permission.

The moment I entered the hall:

“Oh! You! You! What’re you doing? What’s the meaning of this?!”

Ramiris accosted me yet again.

“What do you mean?” I asked. Then she began yelling at me, her face turning red.

Here was the basic story: During this break period, she was called into the dining hall. I had totally forgotten about this, but Ramiris had a long history with Treyni and the other dryads, who served her back when she was still Spirit Queen. Treyni recognized her at once, of course, and it wasn’t long before they were all giving her the royal treatment, answering her every beck and call.

“That’s pretty great, huh?”

“Yes! Yes, it is great! Really great! So I’ve decided to live here, too, Rimuru!”

Guess Ramiris really likes this town. And as a lonely demon lord with no minions to serve her, I’m sure the dryad kindness lifted her spirits sky-high. Between that and being guided around town, soaking up all the sights, she decided to take the plunge.

“I told you to stop making all these unilateral decisions! Plus, remember, Treyni and the dryads are kind of busy managing things in the forest. They don’t live with you anymore! They can’t spend all day dealing with you here.”

I gave the three doting dryad sisters waiting behind her some serious side-eye as I lectured Ramiris. She wasn’t interested in listening.

“Oh, don’t be so stingy! What’s the big deal? If anything happens, I’ll help you out of it! Ol’ Ramiris is the strongest gal you’ll ever find!”

With your help, I’m headed straight for the— No. Never mind. If I said that out loud, it’d make her cry.

“Sir Rimuru,” Treyni said, “we promise to take care of Lady Ramiris. I do hope you will be forward-thinking in your decision.”

“““Do it for us, please!””” her sisters said in chorus. I dunno. She’s gonna be such a troublemaker. We’ll be dealing with even more humans here before long, and Ramiris flitting around will be hard to ignore.

Hmm… Another issue for the back burner, then.

“All right. I’ll think about it.”

“You will?! Oh, Rimuru, I knew you’d see things my way!”

Let’s give some thought later to how Ramiris’s presence would impact the town. I had other issues to take care of before that.

With Ramiris suitably placated, it was time to start the conference.

“Right. I know it’s tough, having all these discussions at once, but bear with me. We have two items on the agenda here: fighting Clayman and the Walpurgis Council. Ramiris here has just informed me that I am being targeted. First, I’d like you all to hear Soei’s report and discuss our strategy. Soei, give us your briefing on Clayman’s forces.”

“Sir!”

He began right after my introduction.

While we were holding our summits, Clayman’s army had been busy. They had stopped in Milim’s domain to rest and organize their troops.

“They do not appear to be led by Clayman himself,” Soei stated. “Their leader is accompanied by a slew of magic-born and boasts a great deal more magicule energy than the rest of them, but even then, his force is along the lines of the Three Lycanthropeers. If that is the demon lord Clayman, he is far too feeble a threat.”

Man, he’s brimming with confidence, too, huh?

“In terms of Lycanthropeer-level strength, I can think of three magic-born serving Clayman who would fit that description…”

That many, huh? Yep. He’s sure a demon lord, I gotta admit. These three were three of Clayman’s five fingers, his most favored of assistants: Yamza, the middle finger; Adalmann, the pointer finger; and Nine-Head, the thumb. Mjurran, by the way, was the ring finger. The final little finger was named Pironé but was mostly involved in intelligence gathering and rarely appeared in public.

I had been wondering about the Moderate Jesters group and their relation to Clayman, but Mjurran apparently knew nothing about them. “Clayman was never one to trust in his underlings,” she explained, “so it wouldn’t be strange at all for him to put observers in place to keep tabs on us during missions.”

You could call them the audience for his puppet shows, I suppose. They might’ve been active without any of Clayman’s forces knowing, like in the orc lord battle. Better make sure I don’t forget that.

“So who’s their commander, Mjurran?”

The leader Soei had spotted was a thin, frail-looking magic-born. His Thought Communication broadcast a perfect image of him to all of us.

“This is Yamza. Yamza, the Frozen Swordmage. He is a cruel, unfair, merciless lowlife but a regrettably talented one. He willingly swore his loyalty to Clayman, and we never did get on well after that.”

So the army was led by Yamza, a magic-born and (according to Mjurran) the strongest of the five fingers. Clayman had granted him an ornate, expensive magic sword with the power to freeze its targets, earning him the nickname. In other words, there was no guessing what his latent skills were without that weapon.

Yamza was commanding an army of some thirty thousand magic-born, all with varying levels of power. By Soei’s estimation, around four-fifths were a solid B rank, the rest mostly an A-minus. There were a few solid A’s at the top, but we’re still talking Gelmud level at best. That made them stronger and dicier than the Farmus army I annihilated but still nothing to really break a sweat over.

“A little too weak, aren’t they?”

Right now, the number of refugees we had taken in from the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania had surpassed twenty thousand. Around half, ten thousand, were in fighting shape, each averaging a B rank—which went up to A-minus after their beast transformation. It was a surprisingly powerful force. Even Farmus’s most elite knight corps were lucky to average a B, and that was with assorted magical enhancements placed on them, so it said a lot about how strong Eurazania’s fighters were.

Humans and beastmen were just different, down to the foundation. We had a big force of them, but Carillon’s domain still had more on reserves. These were beastmen that the army recruited from nearby villages during the capital evacuation, only to have them spread out across the countryside. The most powerful officers of the Beast Master’s Warrior Alliance had brought them back together, regrouped them, and sent them off to hide out at strategic points. Add their numbers up, and they, conservatively, amounted to over ten thousand themselves.

Thus, we had a total of twenty thousand A-minus fighters on hand. Carillon really was a demon lord. What a force he’d had on him.

“It is strange, yes,” Alvis said. “Yamza is undoubtedly a powerful magic-born, but we Three Lycanthropeers would never lose to him. And while his force outnumbers ours, we hold an overwhelming advantage in training and fighting ability.”

“Yeah,” agreed Phobio, “if you want leadership, we’ve got loads of it!”

“Do they think that Lord Carillon died, and we’ll just fall over like trees to them?” Sufia sniffed. “No, Clayman can’t be that much of a fool…”

All seemed to believe that Clayman’s force wasn’t much of a threat.

Benimaru wasn’t as sure. “One moment, though… Could Clayman be aiming at something besides this town?”

Ah yes. Maybe we had the wrong idea. Everyone was always trying to hit this town first, so Ramiris sort of assumed Clayman was after me once more and flew on over. And here I was hoping we’d get to strike them from both sides once the army left Eurazania. The best-laid plans and all that.

“So are they marching for the Beast Kingdom?! There are nothing but refugees left there, plus over ten thousand fighters. They may be better in combat, but Clayman’s numbers could overwhelm them!”

Right. Soei reported that they were camped in Milim’s domain for now, but they had already reorganized and were ready to head into Eurazania territory tomorrow or the next day. I didn’t think they’d attempt a night march, but we’d need to factor that possibility into the equation, too.

“I wonder if they are aware at all that we are on the lookout for Clayman,” Geld gravely stated. I wasn’t so optimistic about that. Better to assume the worst; then we can take action when it happens.

“But even if they are marching for this town,” observed Mjurran, “Clayman would never ignore danger from the rear. He would snuff out the source of that first before proceeding.”

Yeah. So would I, actually. But…“snuff it out”?!

“Wait, so you mean…Clayman’s intending to kill off all the fighters in the Beast Kingdom?!”

And who can say if it was just the fighters…

Understood. I have predicted the actions of the demon lord Clayman. There is a 100 percent likelihood that he seeks to awaken himself to become a “true” demon lord. I do not believe this town factors into his plans. However, to achieve this, he is likely taking the crude and uncertain tactic of hunting down all remaining life in the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania.

Ah. So genocide, then. I’m a total hypocrite for saying this, but I can’t say I’m a fan of his any-means-necessary approach.

Clayman never left any stone unturned. I was sure he’d been observing the highway leading out from this town. The moment we sent out reinforcements, he would know. And even before that—

“Clayman is a master of intelligence gathering. I imagine he’s aware that we Lycanthropeers and the main Carillon force have evacuated here. Even if we marched for home right now, it would take two days, at least…”

We’ve totally been given the slip. Just as Alvis said, Clayman had read through it all. An army composed of what’re normally B ranks wouldn’t make it in time, even if they never stopped to rest. I was intending to invest all my troops in the fight as well, but by the time we reached the battle, the Beast Kingdom would be massacred already, I’m sure…

But would that genocide be enough to make Clayman awaken?

Understood. Despite the lack of efficiency, he would be able to obtain a vast number of souls. Clayman’s chances of awakening are…78 percent. This probability would rise if he was able to obtain more souls shortly afterward.

That’s bad. We gotta stop him—if not for all those imperiled beastmen, then at least for my own ass. That being said, Eurazania’s people were on friendly terms with us, and trust is worth a lot more than money. Sometimes, compassion can help you as much as the other person. There’s no need to refrain from being fully involved.

“Benimaru, stop them.”

He grinned at my fairly reckless order. “You got it—or I should say, leave it to me!”

Nice to see he’s a man of integrity, too. Get him heated up, and he can’t help but drop the formal speech. He always treats me with so much respect in public, seeking to draw a line between personal and political life, but I wish he wouldn’t go through so much effort. I don’t want him openly sneering at me, so at least I don’t have to worry about that…not that public derision of me is a problem in this nation.

I suppose it’s kind of like if you get promoted beyond your former boss in your workplace, and it gets all awkward between you two. It’s just the way society works—deal with it. So I decided to deal with it and act the part of the boss.

“Great. We will now design a defense line for the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania. I want to hear suggestions for a way to win, with Benimaru taking the helm!”

My leaders all bowed at me.

“““Yes sir!”””

Even the Three Lycanthropeers joined them. I guess my dignity was more than intact.

Still, that Clayman’s even sneakier than I thought. Scheduling Walpurgis in the evening three days from now must’ve all been part of the plan. He’d stage his Eurazania genocide before any other demon lord could intervene, then gleefully report on it during the event.

It would take time to unite the scattered forces across the land; right now, any fighters in the Beast Kingdom would just be picked off, one by one. It’d be impossible to resist. And then you have all those powerless civilians being killed without a second thought…

Now that we’d decided to block that, the meeting hall was buzzing with ideas. Everyone wanted to assemble a force at once and head on over—but nobody verbally brought it up. Everyone here was deeply acquainted with the importance of starting with intel. I didn’t move immediately after declaring we’d defeat Clayman, precisely because I was awaiting Soei’s report.

Even now, we were having supplies gathered in the town’s main square and refreshing our soldiers’ equipment. Kaijin, Garm, and Dold were all crafting new weapons and armor, using their respective technical skills, and all our fighters were changing into them and preparing for the battle ahead.

No point in panicking. You had to know the enemy’s location, army formation, numbers, and mission. Running into the fray without at least that much won’t earn you any results to be proud of.

Now our deliberations were nearing their climax.

“So that’s about the war power we have on hand. If we can have them be there in time, we can win. The problem is transport, isn’t it? There’s no way to make it, so we need a way to buy time.”

“Why not send the goblin riders and Gabil’s force in first to stage a guerrilla resistance?” Hakuro suggested.

“No, it would mean nothing,” Benimaru calmly stated. “I’ve examined the geography of the Beast Kingdom, and much of it is either flat or features low hills. There are few natural elements to conceal oneself in. A surprise attack from the air would be effective, but a guerrilla force of a hundred or so simply wouldn’t be adequate.”

The best place to hide a force like this would be the fruit orchards lining rivers, but these were spread out across hilly areas with good drainage, so not as subtle as we’d want. The terrain wasn’t suitable for concealing large numbers of troops.

“Since when were you looking into our geography?” Sufia quietly groused. I was actually kind of wondering that myself. Benimaru probably did some research when I sent him to lead our first envoy team into the Beast Kingdom. I guess I really can rely on him to be thorough. Sufia didn’t seem genuinely offended, at least.

“We have a team of approximately four hundred beastmen who are geared for speed,” Alvis advised. “Bird types are rare among us—no more than a hundred. Sending them out in advance would be a death sentence.”

Simply being able to fly didn’t shield them from fatigue, after all. If they plus Gabil’s team couldn’t even reach two hundred, there was little point deploying them first. With the high visibility of the terrain, too, small squadrons couldn’t accomplish much.

So for our strategy, we would have to go back to basics. Plow everything into doing what we could, as accurately as possible. That’s it. We’d send messages out to the fighters across the land, gather up as many civilians as we could, and evacuate them out. Once they were in Tempest, the dryads’ protection should do a lot for their survival rate. We’d then have our speedier forces to use guerrilla tactics to aid in their escape. The slower armies would march as well, swallowing up the refugees as they prepared to face off against Clayman’s force.

That was the basic wrap-up. It was a battle against time and relied a fair bit on luck, but we didn’t have any better ideas. Thus, to prevent the worst, we decided that all of us should go out on the field to fight as well.

Our top leaders—Benimaru, Shuna, Soei, Shion, Geld, and Ranga—had all learned the Spatial Motion extra skill, giving them control over “transport gates” linking two locations together. Diablo was “born” with that ability, too, but he was with Yohm’s team at the moment. I could call him back if things got bad, but I wanted to handle this with us seven if possible, myself included. Each of us may’ve had the power of a whole army, but we couldn’t afford to push ourselves too far. Shuna, in particular, wasn’t too suited for on-the-ground combat; I wanted to have Gabil and Hakuro covering for her, if possible.

“Guess it’s the only way,” I reasoned. “If we can help earn our forces some time, I think we can pull this off with a minimum of casualties. Would’ve been nice if we could just bring ’em all over there with regular transport magic, but…”

I brought up that idea mainly so I could publicly shoot it down. Our problems would be solved if we had magic that could instantly transport an entire army from one point to another, but not even my Spatial Motion worked on ten thousand troops at once.

But:

Understood. Transportation magic allows for the transferal of materials at a low cost. It works by using a separate dimension to link two points together, but it is not effective for handling organic matter, due to heavy magicule irradiation. However, anyone protected by a Barrier would not be affected by the transport. Those are the fundamental rules of transportation magic.

Ummm… So that’s the difference between teleport and transport magic? It’s just that teleport costs more magicules to cast, since it includes spells to protect who you’re teleporting? Wait, so…

In other words, since magic-born and monsters have natural magicule resistance, anyone capable of erecting a Barrier over themselves can be transported successfully without issue. A full-transportation spell that included measures to protect the target would also be possible.

So if you’re strong enough not to die when exposed to a ton of magicules, you can go across this “separate dimension” or whatever. I guess that’s the way the Spatial Motion skill works. I should’ve noticed that. What’s more, if you can fully protect whoever you’re transporting, it’s no problem to send ’em over. I suppose that’s a sort of teleportation, really, but wouldn’t that just waste a lot of magical energy? Besides, trying to adapt that into a legion magic you could deploy on tens of thousands of troops is far beyond what I could do right now…

Understood. The spell has already been developed. I have also succeeded in pairing it with the extra skill Dominate Space to greatly reduce the magical force required.

Well, look at that! I can’t believe how much Raphael has grown, developing new skills and magic without me even having to ask. I mean, my skills must’ve evolved a huge amount when I awoke into demon lord form, but I still didn’t have a grasp of them all. They would’ve just been going to waste without Raphael. If I had to guess, this was Ability Adjust at work—but either way, I couldn’t ask for anything better. Right here, right now, it had just provided me the exact spell I wanted more than anything in the world. No complaints here!

“Sir Rimuru,” Shuna warned me, aware of the danger, “it’s too hazardous to attempt transport magic on an army…”

“Yeah, you’re right, Shuna. But just now, I’ve successfully developed a new spell!”

All our problems were cleared away. I felt bad for Clayman, kinda. He would’ve won if it wasn’t for my evolution.

“Ohhh…!”

“What on…?!”

“Just now?!”

Everyone gave me surprised looks. I nodded back at them. “The question is: Are you prepared for this? If we use this spell, we can send our entire army over there at once. But it’ll be the first time I’ve ever used it, and we haven’t tested its safety at all. There’s no time to experiment with it. But do you still trust me?”

I, at least, trusted Raphael. If Raphael says we can do it, then there’s no room for doubt. But what about everyone else? Do they trust me enough to stake their lives on this?

“No need to worry,” Benimaru said with a brazen smile. “I have given you my loyalty—and as your loyal retainer, I would gladly die if ordered to do so. I know all too well by now that you’d never give us a meaningless order.”

The rest of my leaders agreed—even Diablo, the new guy, was nodding with that eerie grin on his face.

The Lycanthropeers joined them. “You got my trust,” Sufia declared. “We can’t start getting suspicious of someone whose help we’re askin’ for.”

“He’s already saved me once. Our fighters know that, so I ain’t about to start whining now.”

“Oh dear, Phobio, you’re making it sound like I have no choice but to agree. But we’re the slowest force, and as long as we are, I’ll want to rely on Sir Rimuru’s power to help us out.” Alvis seemed a tad dubious still but not enough to turn us down.

I nodded at them all. “I hear you loud and clear! Time to turn the tables on Clayman’s schemes. It’s all up to you men and women now. Let me see some victory!”

“““Rahhh!!”””

I was starting to see some wild, ferocious smiles. If we can all make it in time, we’re sure to win. Plus, no matter how closely Clayman’s surveilling the highways, he’ll never notice our troops get transported in. It’s practically in the bag. No wonder everyone seemed so confident again.

So I left reworking our strategy to Benimaru. While he was doing that, Soei gave another report—that a group of one hundred “Dragon Faithful” had merged with Clayman’s force.

“One hundred? That much shouldn’t be a problem,” said Benimaru.

Did Benimaru know about this group already, or…?

“Soei,” I meekly asked, “what are these Dragon Faithful?”

“The name for those who worship the dragon—in other words, Lady Milim, the Dragon Princess.”

Oh, Milim’s people? I thought Milim said she didn’t have anyone working under her. So kind of like her fans, then? Her domain, which didn’t really have an official name, featured a population of under a hundred thousand, mostly people living off the land in harmony with nature. Maybe they were acting as bodyguards to Clayman’s force as they proceeded through their domain.

Soei didn’t have any more information yet, so we dropped the subject. For now, I ordered him to continue monitoring the Clayman army, as well as search for a suitable area to deploy our own forces.

Siti Dara

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