The next day, their conference began at a room inside the palace. The attendees were Yohm, Gruecith, and Razen, with Saare and Grigori standing nearby as Yohm\u2019s bodyguard detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mjurran wanted to join as well but was turned down\u2014she had only just given birth, and Yohm insisted she stay in bed and rest. Their newborn was a girl named Mieme, cute and resembling Mjurran. Prince Edgar was giving the little one all his doting care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, Master, what did you want to ask me about?\u201d said Razen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMmm\u2026 Well, before I broach the subject, I\u2019d like to point out a few things first. You\u2026 Saare, was it? You seem decently strong\u2026but magic is a weakness of yours, isn\u2019t it? Casting magic isn\u2019t about memorizing a spell, you know. You must learn how to correctly manage the magic force inside you. And this beastman, Gruecith\u2014as for you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus Gadora began pointing out the weaknesses of everyone in the room. Gruecith, as he said, needed to learn how to gauge the capabilities of his foes before attacking them. \u201cTransforming in front of your enemy,\u201d as he sternly put it, \u201cis all but ceding the first strike to them.\u201d For Yohm, while he was \u201cmore powerful than the average person, by the looks of it,\u201d he suggested focusing more on protecting his own body, as overreliance on his weapons and armor would be his downfall. With Grigori, on the other hand, he struck a bitter tone, simply ordering him to polish his skills more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, Gadora\u2019s eyes settled upon Razen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRazen, I see you\u2019ve been quite diligent. Your magic is possession-based, is it not?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, Master. The Secret Art of Possession, based on the theory behind your Mysterious Art of Reincarnation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMmm. A very interesting experiment. Unlike my<\/em> spell, it doesn\u2019t require the target to spend time as a weakened, defenseless child.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is an honor to hear\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut<\/em> it is all pointless unless you make the best use of it. You went through all the effort to seize that body, and you\u2019re not extracting everything you can from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, Master!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Razen bowed at the advice, breaking into a sweat. This was something he already knew about himself. It forced him to admit that Gadora was probably right about everyone in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Truly a fearsome figure. In the space of a day, he\u2019s perfectly judged every aspect of our abilities\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He fell silent, unable to put anything into words. But Saare and Grigori were less appreciative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhoa, where do you<\/em> get off lording it over us like that? How can you take one look at me and spout off all that nonsense?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah! I owe a great debt to Sir Razen, but I ain\u2019t got no reason to kowtow to his master, too. If you\u2019re that<\/em> confident about yourself, how about you and I have a little lesson together, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now they were ready to duke it out. Razen wanted to scream at them to shut up, but seeing the look in his master\u2019s eyes, he refrained. To Gadora, this much was expected, and he fully anticipated showing off his skills to Saare and Grigori.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If so<\/em>, Razen thought, perhaps there\u2019s still an amicable end to all this. Let\u2019s play along with my master.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So in a sort of warm-up before the meeting, Gadora fought a battle against Saare and Grigori. This was held in the palace\u2019s training grounds, and Gadora naturally destroyed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cN-no way\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis old man is crazy\u2026 He didn\u2019t even break a sweat whipping both of us\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gadora\u2019s overwhelming strength completely smashed their pride as former Battlesages. His intention was to show off his might, then use that to smoothen their negotiations, and Saare and Grigori reacted exactly as he had hoped. What happened after that, however, didn\u2019t follow the script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut you\u2019re not as good as that demon,\u201d said Saare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat bad, eh? Then again, I\u2019d say that dog I fought is about as strong as you, old man,\u201d Grigori added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Hmm?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They had just lost big but seemed oddly accepting of it\u2014and despite seeing Gadora\u2019s strength, they didn\u2019t act too surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026As strong as me? And a demon out there is more powerful than me, even\u2026?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The unexpected reaction confused Gadora, but it didn\u2019t seem like Saare and Grigori were being sore losers. They must have really meant it. And Gadora wanted to inquire in more detail\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can discuss this later, Sir Gadora. For now, allow me to answer your original questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026but Razen put a quick end to the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Returning to the reception room, the meeting was picked up anew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMan, you really are<\/em> Razen\u2019s master,\u201d a jovial Yohm began. \u201cWhat a monster! I don\u2019t think I could ever beat ya.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gruecith nodded excitedly. \u201cYeah, the magic-born Razen\u2019s made a big name for himself around here, but we never hear many stories about his instructor. Mjurran said you crafted a new system of magic theory, and the way you fought, I believe her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gadora\u2019s magic was stupendous, as expected. He interfered with the magical energy of his opponents, blocking their spells as he launched two of his own simultaneously, both with punishing force. It was a spectacular feat, one designed to serve as a dazzling demonstration. Saare and Grigori were much more powerful than even a charged-up, ready-to-rock Gruecith, and Gadora treated them like playthings. There was no doubting his strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, while Yohm and Gruecith enjoyed the spectacle, the losers seemed pretty discouraged as they dutifully returned to guard duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo,\u201d Razen asked, \u201cwhat is it that brought you here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026I wanted to show you my strength to make sure nobody tried pointlessly resisting me. As I believe Razen knows, my anger is entirely directed at Luminism. I have no interest in anything else, so I cannot bear to have this nation exposed to an imperial invasion and untold casualties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was an ominous statement despite Gadora\u2019s casual tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cImperial\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor real? C\u2019mon, man,\u201d said Yohm. \u201cDon\u2019t go barging in here while I\u2019m<\/em> the king.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou said it. We\u2019d never beat you, and I don\u2019t want Mjurran or my baby girl exposed to danger,\u201d added Gruecith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe\u2019s not yours<\/em>, dammit. Get that through your head already. She\u2019s my<\/em> treasure!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh, shut up!! She\u2019s not mine by blood, but she\u2019s my<\/em> daughter. I\u2019ve decided I\u2019m gonna live like a father from now on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s not for you to decide!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a pretty painful argument, waged between Yohm and Gruecith. Razen cleared his throat to shut them up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight. Now I see, Sir Gadora, why you came here. You\u2019d like Farminus to switch sides to the Empire, in exchange for not being touched during the war?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cQuite so. You know perfectly well how powerful the Empire is, I imagine? I am part of that package, of course, and should Farminus join our forces, capturing Dwargon would be a simple job. That nation is extremely vulnerable to being starved out. Keep anything from entering or leaving, and they\u2019ll quickly throw in the towel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, that would only work if something was done about Tempest. Razen was quick to point that out. \u201cI\u2019m afraid, Sir Gadora, that is not possible. A railroad has been built between the Dwarven Kingdom and Tempest that allows for high-speed transport. Even if we halted all food exports today, they can supply themselves well enough via that route.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s why I\u2019m asking you to betray them. Tempest itself is not terribly self-sufficient foodwise, either. What you grow here could\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSir Gadora?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Razen interrupted Gadora, as rude as he knew it was. He had realized Gadora was relying on outdated information\u2014he wasn\u2019t keeping up with the times. World trends were operating much, much faster than they used to. If they turned traitor to the Western Nations at this point, they\u2019d be banned from the world economy, and that would spell doom for their kingdom. Even if the Empire offered them protection and generous support, they couldn\u2019t expect as much luxury as they enjoyed at present. That was how much Farminus was now influenced by the West\u2014or really, by Tempest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026I see,\u201d Gadora said after Razen explained all this. \u201cI was aware, although I wanted to hear about it straight from the horse\u2019s mouth. But you truly think the demon lord Rimuru doesn\u2019t fear the imperial force? I suppose, of course, that he could even defeat an army of angels with his power, but it would cause untold damage to everything he has built up. The Empire has been considering a train system of its own, but we\u2019ve taken a wait and see approach for just that reason\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was how he responded to the news of a rail network linking the world\u2019s bigger cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSir Rimuru, I assure you, is not afraid of collateral damage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNah, not at all. The guy hates losin\u2019 people<\/em>, but anything else, I don\u2019t think he really cares that much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah. And hell, maybe he likes it. It gives people more work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Razen, Gruecith, and Yohm all lobbed out their opinions. Yohm\u2019s words, in particular, had real weight behind them. People find happiness in being relied upon; they want to use their skills to help others out. If there\u2019s no work and nothing to do all day, that\u2019d take the wind out of anyone\u2019s sails. Some of them might turn to crime. It was thus the job of a leader\u2014or employer\u2014to find new work for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnce all this construction work is wrapped up in each country, that\u2019ll just leave repair and maintenance. My pal Rimuru\u2019s been frettin\u2019 over what he\u2019s gonna do after that. We were drinkin\u2019 together a while back, and he was all like \u2018Ohhh, I wanna do this, I wanna do that, but our technical skills aren\u2019t keeping up\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd if the angels attack at a time like that, it\u2019ll breed a huge demand for rebuilding and recovery. I bet Rimuru\u2019d act pretty pissed off about it, but maybe he\u2019d actually be glad, deep down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even Gruecith was agreeing with Yohm. Saare and Grigori looked exasperated, but they didn\u2019t seem eager to refute them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut even if he\u2019s a demon lord, if he starts meddling too much in the human territories of the West, the Rozzos won\u2019t take that sitting down, will they?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Razen\u2019s story was generally a match with the information Gadora assembled, but some pieces of the puzzle were still missing. Gadora wanted to use this occasion to milk Razen for as much intelligence as he had. The Rozzos wouldn\u2019t wait for things to unfold; they\u2019d take action to protect their investments. If economics get involved, Gadora reasoned, they\u2019d engage in nonmilitary sabotage to get their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His question for Razen, of course, was framed so he could learn as much as possible about the Rozzos\u2019 current state. Razen, correctly reading this, gave Gadora what he wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Rozzos, my master, are finished. The Kingdom of Doran is still going strong, and the survivors are gathered inside it, but they will never hold sway over the Council at this point. The surrounding nations continue doing business only because Sir Rimuru allows it. King Doran has surrendered to him as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Razen explained this, he decided to divulge the truth behind why the Farmus military lost so badly. That was the first revelation of the day that truly surprised Gadora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026So the demon lord Rimuru laid waste to the Farmus army all by himself? And the Rozzos are no longer\u2026? But hold on one moment! If those are no mere rumors, then what of Gren\u2014of Granville Rozzo?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Granville the Hero was, in Gadora\u2019s mind, the most powerful man in the world. He had been so careful in his campaign plans against the West because he knew he led the Seven Days Clergy. But now Razen claimed the Rozzos were gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo the rumors that the Seven Days Clergy were killed\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are also true, Master. The Seven Days Clergy opposed Sir Rimuru, so they attempted to pit Hinata of the Crusaders against him. But the plot was discovered, and they were destroyed soon after.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now even Gadora was stunned into silence. Razen had clearly stated that everyone in the Seven Days Clergy was dead. Even Gren, the Sunday Priest, met his doom at the hand of Cardinal Nicolaus. It made Gadora realize just how feeble his intelligence network was. If Granville was dead, that lent credence to the reported fall of the Rozzo family. If he had learned that sooner, Gadora thought, he could have greatly revised their plan for this campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat little sneak\u2026 He knew it all along, and he never told me\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gadora recalled the face of Yuuki as he bitterly intoned the words. Perhaps the young man thought telling him would damper his lust for revenge; if so, Gadora didn\u2019t like it one bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy \u2018little sneak,\u2019 are you referring to Yuuki Kagurazaka?\u201d asked Razen. \u201cThat man\u2019s taken advantage of us as well, so I think I understand how you feel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being comforted by his apprentice put Gadora in a mood that was difficult to describe\u2014half frustration, half embarrassment. And the way Razen put it, Yuuki was a thorn in Rimuru\u2019s side, too, although the demon lord chose to see how things unfolded before declaring Yuuki his enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Damn you, Yuuki\u2026 Hiding things from me yet again, are you? You know full well I\u2019m here to destroy Luminism, and you give me nothing but the vaguest reports from the Western Holy Church. Is there something that would cause you trouble if I heard about it\u2026?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now Gadora realized he was being used\u2014and there, in front of Razen and the rest, he found himself unsure how their future would unfold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat a pickle this is. Now that I know all this, I really must reconsider our approach to this Rimuru.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The demon lord Rimuru was a greater threat than Gadora pictured. What was the correct way to address this? Gadora had his friend betrayed and killed; he wouldn\u2019t stop his crusade against Luminism now. But now everybody in the Seven Days Clergy\u2014the most urgent target of his revenge\u2014was already dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now there was no reason to advocate for the West\u2019s fall so passionately. Gadora and the Empire worked together because they had common goals\u2026and if that was no longer on the table, Gadora had no real obligation to the Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026No. There is still another. The god, the one at the top\u2014the demon lord Luminus remains.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n His friend\u2019s belief in their god killed him. There was no way a demon lord borrowing the name of a deity could be allowed to stay alive. The realization made Gadora renew his drive to soldier on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or it made him try<\/em> to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSir Gadora, forgive me if I am out of line, but I feel that stopping this campaign is your best choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHohh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the sight of Razen looking concerned for him made Gadora doubt his resolve all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven now, my master, I see myself as nothing more than your faithful servant. However, I have now devoted even more of my loyalties to another. And if you are going to wage war against his country, it will force me to become your enemy as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t mean Rimuru\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo. It is Sir Diablo, one of many serving him, who is my master now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This more than surprised Gadora a bit. Razen was his apprentice, one he was quite proud of, and hearing him serve someone who himself served a demon lord was a hard pill to swallow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI hate to interject,\u201d Saare said without prompting, \u201cbut I\u2019m gonna take this opportunity to say something. Diablo\u2019s the guy\u2026um, I mean, the demon who defeated me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The demon who was stronger than me? I have a hard time believing it, but if Razen serves him now, I can\u2019t discount it as a lie\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He still didn\u2019t think he\u2019d lose, but Gadora made sure to keep the name Diablo in his mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd let me tell you this as well, Sir Gadora,\u201d added Razen. \u201cSir Diablo is one of the old<\/em> demons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d imagine so. If you lost to him, he\u2019d have to be an Ancient. Maybe even a Prehistoric\u2014a rare breed indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If he was both that and a named creature, his powers could easily surpass a demon lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, nothing of that level,\u201d said Razen. \u201cHe is far, far above that\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe said he was a Demon Peer,\u201d Saare cut in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2026?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s ridiculous<\/em>, Gadora almost shouted. Demons could only evolve up to a set level\u2014that was a hard rule, and as far as he knew, only one demon had ever defied it. This Arch Demon found a way to enhance himself up to Demon Peer, and it made him the most powerful, most villainous of all demon lords\u2014Guy Crimson, the Lord of Darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSir Gadora, the life span of my master, Sir Diablo, is not a matter up for debate. I trust you understand what I mean by that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Razen\u2019s words seemed a planet away to Gadora. He couldn\u2019t believe it; he didn\u2019t want to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA\u2014a Primal?\u201d he mumbled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The affirmation cruelly reached his ears. He tried to calm his heart as he discerned how truthful this was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There certainly seemed<\/em> to be ample reason to doubt Razen. If a Primal Demon had taken physical form anew, it wouldn\u2019t be strange at all to see one reborn as a Demon Peer. If Razen was being truthful, it\u2019d mean a massive rewrite of the Empire\u2019s campaign. Looking at Blanc, the Original White, and the headaches she\u2019d caused the Empire, there was no need to explain just how dreadful a threat this was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But\u2026wait a moment. If a Primal has acquired a physical body, why hasn\u2019t any tragedy ensued?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Gadora had composed himself now. But even he knew the question wasn\u2019t important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now hold on just one minute. Does it even matter whether Diablo\u2019s a Primal? He\u2019s certainly taken Razen as his disciple\u2014that much is obvious\u2014and that could very well mean he\u2019s at least a Demon Peer already\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, hearing Yohm and the others chat among themselves, he froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, but isn\u2019t that Sir Diablo guy the butler to Rimuru or somethin\u2019 like that? Like, when I went to the opening ceremony for our railroad earlier, I heard he didn\u2019t want to deal with Rimuru\u2019s personal stuff on his own any longer, so he scouted some friends and brought \u2019em on board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh yeah, I caught sight of one of \u2019em! Rimuru made her his special diplomatic envoy, so we met at the Council. She\u2019s got this snow-white hair, these deep-red eyes\u2026 Like, crazy<\/em> hot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gadora sank weakly into his seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2014it can\u2019t be! Those are the exact physical traits of Blanc\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was looking more and more like the truth, but to Gadora, it was nothing but a nightmare. He looked at Razen, currently sagely nodding to himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is all true?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would never lie to you, my master.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Gadora realized something. Razen and his cohorts were being truthful. And it was purely out of concern for Gadora\u2019s health that they urged him to stop this war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s that bad?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gadora\u2019s question was greeted with silent nods across the room. And when he saw this, a new thought made the blood drain from his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah! Shinji\u2019s group might already be out on the field!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n The Tempestian capital of Rimuru was teeming with people. It was a real metropolis now, experiencing a major boom\u2014and even to otherworlders like Shinji and his friends, there was nothing rustic and unsophisticated about it. The capital in the province of Nasca wasn\u2019t so bad, but the surrounding towns still had a barnyard-animal smell to them. Nothing so unpleasant here. It was an incredible surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought they razed this whole city and left nothing but a gate in place. Guess that was wrong, huh?\u201d said Shinji; Marc and Zhen responded in kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI doubt it, man. Maybe they can flip it on or off, or maybe our agents saw an illusion or something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026We must remain on guard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trio looked at one another and braced themselves once more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They had been transported here via the elemental magic Warp Portal by Kagali, who had visited Tempest before. She left before very long, but they were due to meet Gadora here later, so his magic would drive their return trip. Until then, they were ordered to investigate as much as they could without exposing themselves to danger\u2014and Shinji\u2019s band, being no fools, intended to stick to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMs. Kagali sure was pretty, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhoa, Shinji, you wanna get dumped?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDumped? I\u2019d need a girlfriend first. It\u2019d make for a more exciting life if I had one, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHuh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Forget it, Marc. He\u2019s too slow on the uptake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc and Zhen shrugged at the whining Shinji. As they continued entertaining each other, they reached the town entrance and underwent the entry inspection. They had Free Guild ID cards provided by Yuuki, so the process went surprisingly fast\u2014a basic rundown, and they were on their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So they procured an inn, then started touring around town on their \u201cintelligence-gathering\u201d mission. It was all quite a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As otherworlders, they enjoyed great physical strength and generally good treatment wherever they went. This, however, didn\u2019t mean they did whatever they wanted, the way the demon lord Rimuru did, and they probably couldn\u2019t anyway. Yuuki had worked hard to improve their diets and living environments in general, and that was starting to trickle down across the Empire, but this city was well beyond that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shinji knew a fair bit about this already, so he was more amazed than surprised. There was takoyaki<\/em>, okonomiyaki<\/em>, yakisoba<\/em>\u2026even desserts like crepes and cakes. They also found places offering incredibly high-end meals, making them wonder how they ever tracked down the ingredients. From street stalls and caf\u00e9s to restaurants and fine dining, Tempest had it all. Everyone seemed so passionate about their food, and so much of it re-created the tastes and aromas of their old world. The locals must\u2019ve been flummoxed at first, but now they were used to all the variety. Shinji, for his part, cried literal tears of joy when he saw the curry rice on offer at one eatery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the bathrooms were first-rate. And their inn was nice and comfy, too\u2014complete with an open-air bath, added as entertainment for the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, you guys mind if I live here?\u201d said Marc. \u201cLike, how about we just don\u2019t<\/em> go back to the Empire?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhoa!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUh, my bad\u2026 I\u2019m just kidding. Don\u2019t get so angry, Shinji!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not angry, I\u2019m just\u2026like, seriously ready to consider it and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026I want to live here, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They all exchanged glances, then sighs. Until now, they thought the Empire was<\/em> the world, running at the bleeding edge of civilization. Now that they knew about Tempest, they realized how wrong they were. The town was alive with energy; there was tons of good stuff to eat. It was comfortable to live in, it seemed like a hub for entertainment and civilization, and new games and diversions were being invented every day. These games were all very familiar from their original world, and after the harsh environment they had been living in, such pleasures left the trio feeling nostalgic. The Empire had culture and entertainment of its own, but that was strictly for the nobility. It wasn\u2019t as free as this town, and it wasn\u2019t priced low enough for common people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, look at this<\/em> place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, no, no, we really can\u2019t\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah. I\u2019m sure Yuuki would be pissed, and I\u2019d be scared of Lord Gadora, too. There\u2019s about to be a war, besides\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Desertion\u2019s punishable by firing squad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They were right. War was fast approaching. This town was a clear target, incapable of avoiding the storm of battle. The three knew all about the Empire\u2019s military might, and thus it hardly seemed worth the time to consider Tempest\u2019s chances against their enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So without anything else to do, Shinji and his friends gave up on the idea\u2014and then, following their orders to the letter, they began challenging the labyrinth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cY\u2019know,\u201d Shinji began, \u201cthey said the Hero Masayuki just beat Floor 50, but this is actually pretty damn easy, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHa-ha!\u201d Marc laughed. \u201cOf course it is! Remember what Yuuki told us? He said Masayuki wasn\u2019t actually anything that<\/em> special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026But you can\u2019t play down his skill,\u201d Zhen pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, all the more reason he was super-careful, I bet. It took him over half a year, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This lively chat between Shinji and his pals took place as they advanced through Floor 40. They began their journey through the Dungeon on high alert for anything in their way, but the intensity was starting to wear off. It was just too easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before going in, they gathered as much intel as they could to avoid needless danger, but as the trio saw it, this was like a game packed with tons and tons of side quests and bonus content. Zhen grew up without much in the way of video games, but Shinji and Marc were hard-core gamers\u2014Shinji was a big fan of RPGs in particular, finding time between research stints in college to play through the big franchise titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pooling their knowledge, the trio concluded that this Dungeon was a huge joke. Whichever sadistic maniac designed it was clearly out to destroy the challengers\u2014but if you were familiar with video game tropes, a lot about it was familiar. This held especially true in one way\u2014Zhen Liuxing was gifted at detecting traps, and with his advice, they could find them all with surprising accuracy. And in this labyrinth, if you could deal with the traps, the monsters just weren\u2019t all that strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI bet a lot of challengers had trouble getting far in this just because it\u2019s too new. Like, nobody\u2019s got the right knowledge for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah. I called it an obstacle course earlier, but that still sounds pretty right to me. Once you understand how the creator\u2019s twisted, evil mind works, it\u2019s actually pretty doable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026And we don\u2019t die, either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They found out about the Resurrection Bracelet in their prior research. The admission desk even gave them one for free. With it on, if you died in the Dungeon, you\u2019d be warped back to the front door safe and sound. When they heard about this, Shinji\u2019s team exchanged quizzical stares. It was really hard to figure out how to take this. Here was this dead-serious world they lived in, and now someone had created this wacky comedy world inside it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the main issue they faced was not knowing just how deep the Dungeon went. They could keep advancing all they wanted, but they could only hold so much food at once. Shinji wasn\u2019t sure how best to prepare for this, but over at admission, the guy at the desk told them about something unexpected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh yeah, no worries about that. When you reach a stairway, you\u2019ll see an entrance to the inn. It\u2019ll cost you money, but you can stay in there all you want. You actually don\u2019t have to worry about food that much, either. Sir Rimuru said all refreshments are \u2018under three hundred yen<\/em>\u2019\u2014his words, not mine. I dunno what he meant by yen<\/em>, but I\u2019m sure it\u2019s something important, you know? Oh, and there are merchant traders stationed at the inn, too, and they\u2019ll buy anything you find but don\u2019t need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They literally thought of everything. Shinji cared a lot more about buying actual food than just light refreshments, but he didn\u2019t want to shout that out and be accused of insulting the leader of Tempest, so he kept that frustration to himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It had now been a week since they began navigating the labyrinth. The three of them were at a room in the inn, relaxing as they gazed at the booty they won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026You know, is it me, or are we making a ton<\/em> of money the past few days? And this inn\u2019s supposed to be a bare-bones joint, but it\u2019s actually pretty nice. Cheap, too. And the money from the equipment we don\u2019t need has to be really adding up now, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc was clearly enjoying himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhen lifted his head up a bit at this, a little curious. Shinji, in response, took a roll of gold coins out of his bag, their golden shine attracting the eyes of everyone in the room. This wasn\u2019t just the money they earned for selling items from monsters and chests; between that and the reward money for bounty hunts and the like, they had obtained several dozen gold coins and even one stellar. It was a laughably high pay scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, we\u2019ve saved up quite a bit. And from what I\u2019ve heard since, not even the frontline dungeon runners have made it past Floor 50 yet. Only Masayuki\u2019s party has reached that point, so that makes us number two.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even Masayuki and his team were reportedly stalled at Floor 60 right then, and everyone else was getting blocked by the boss monster on Floor 40. Thanks to that, Shinji\u2019s party had won the Dungeon Party of the Month award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh yeah, that\u2019s where that tempest serpent is, right? He was pretty strong, but still, y\u2019know, nothing we couldn\u2019t handle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tempest serpent was an A-minus foe in rank, one that\u2019d give even seasoned adventurers fits. Its dangerous ranged-breath attack was a menace in cramped quarters. There was nowhere to run, so you had to face up to the monster\u2014but the snake\u2019s body was tough as metal, and if he coiled it around you, it was all over. You\u2019d normally want to be on high guard against it, but Shinji\u2019s team managed to defeat it without too much of a fuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What amazed them wasn\u2019t the monster\u2019s strength but what they obtained after defeating him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo what\u2019s with this weapon? The one with a slot in it? Because it got appraised for this crazy high price\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So high, Shinji noted, that he was too afraid to sell it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These weapons with slots began to appear around Floor 40, and they were like nothing they had seen in the Empire, so Shinji\u2019s party couldn\u2019t understand the premium. They could sell them for a high price, but they honestly weren\u2019t sure whether they should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese recessed slots, though\u2026 My appraisal magic didn\u2019t turn up anything. Maybe we better keep \u2019em until Lord Gadora shows up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, we didn\u2019t find any until Floor 40, so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Right, yeah. We\u2019ve only seen them in boss chambers and as drops from the stronger monsters around Floor 50.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cY\u2019know, though, we saw them around town, too, didn\u2019t we? They were pretty rare, but they\u2019re circulating. People say there\u2019s a tiny chance you\u2019ll find them in chests from Floor 30 on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah. And it\u2019s clearly a good make, but is it really worth those<\/em> prices?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Is there some secret to them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d guess so. The merchants don\u2019t tell us anything, either. They just kinda smile at us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat is so<\/em> suspicious. We better not pull the trigger until the old man shows up. But hey, look at this thing!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc picked up his Minos Bardiche pole ax and showed it off to his friends. It gleamed a beautiful silver, an exquisite showpiece made of mithril. This put it in the realm of Unique weapons; they\u2019d picked it up from a treasure chest guarded by the Floor 50 guardian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a Unique, y\u2019know? You don\u2019t even see these in the Empire too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He must\u2019ve liked it a lot. His companions wondered if he\u2019d start hugging the pole ax and bringing it to bed with him. But it was<\/em> a nice piece. Becoming an Imperial Guardian granted you access to a set of Legend-class gear, but any officers and enlistees below that got normal, sturdy, non-magical equipment. Unique gear was hard to find even for career officers, so Marc could be excused for his excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, Yuuki told me the Empire mass-produces its weapons, so\u2026 And we hardly even get to see it, but supposedly the Legend-class gear is all identical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Is that even possible?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhen was asking Shinji, in essence, whether it was possible to manufacture Legend gear on any kind of scale. Logically, it was said to be unthinkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s kinda jumping the gun, isn\u2019t it, Shinji? Just because it all looks the same doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s a factory or something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc laughed off Shinji\u2019s idea, perhaps a bit miffed the subject was turning away from his new prize. If there was<\/em> a factory, he thought it\u2019d lower the value of the Unique in his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, you couldn\u2019t manufacture these any normal<\/em> way. Lord Gadora told us how hard it is to produce a lot of magisteel at once, even. But if you can keep things under the right conditions, it\u2019s not impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026The right conditions?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah. Basically, you need someplace with a super-high concentration of magicules. Like, enough that it\u2019d instantly kill most people. Even if you\u2019re B rank, it\u2019d kill you given enough time\u2014if you\u2019re above an A rank, all it\u2019ll do is make you really sick. So if you can put a sword or armor in there for a long time\u2014like, hundreds or thousands of years\u2014those are the right conditions to make it evolve. Then, once the equipment finds an owner it accepts, it\u2019ll start doing its own unique evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, like you\u2019ll find that<\/em> kinda place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Yeah, I doubt you would, either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight? But Yuuki and Lord Gadora said they exist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Okay. But so what if it\u2019s just \u2018possible\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, you know, I\u2019m starting to wonder if this bardiche was mass-produced, too\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t think, would you? But there\u2019s a slot in this ax. Have you ever seen one of these out in the wild?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo. What\u2019s with<\/em> that anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026It\u2019s a pretty weapon. Kind of eerily shaped, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shinji wasn\u2019t out to complain. He wasn\u2019t jealous of the overjoyed Marc. Neither he nor Zhen could wield large weapons the size of bardiches anyway. But:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut the way they\u2019re just giving these weapons away to people\u2026 Is it me, or is this nation more insanely powerful than we thought?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc and Zhen fell silent. They were feeling the same way\u2014after he won that Minos Bardiche, Marc was even worried they\u2019d confiscate it at the front counter. They knew the rules dictated that anything you found in the labyrinth belonged to the challenger\u2014but a weapon this<\/em> strong? Would a nation really allow you to waltz out the door with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Tempest took it away, Marc and his friends were prepared to accept that. They were beholden to Tempest at the moment, and they had to respect the nation\u2019s decisions. That\u2019s something that applied anywhere. Besides, they were technically spies, and no spy would go out of their way to stir up trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the reception they got was beyond any expectation. All the employees in the front-desk area applauded them, shouting \u201cCongratulations!\u201d in unison. Even more astoundingly, they gave the party another cash bonus. The party didn\u2019t really need any more evidence by this point\u2014Tempest really was<\/em> a crazy land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd even outside of the weapons, this whole nation\u2019s nuts, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a shock. I mean, we could earn a ton more money just beating this Dungeon, and it\u2019d be more fun<\/em> that way, too. Like, do we really stand to lose anything? If you\u2019re a wimp, it\u2019d be hard to make a living off this, but with us<\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, Marc. Remember what Zhen said about desertion?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Firing squad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Right, yeah, there is<\/em> that. But still, I think it\u2019d be so<\/em> much more fun to live here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shinji and Zhen nodded at Marc\u2019s words. But reality didn\u2019t work that way. It was certainly an inviting idea, but they couldn\u2019t go pursuing this pipe dream all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd you know the war\u2019s gonna wreck this place anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Yeah. I mean, if Tempest does<\/em> win, I\u2019ll gladly switch sides. But what kinda nation\u2019s gonna accept a deserter and<\/em> a traitor, y\u2019know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026I don\u2019t want to lose everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They all sighed, figuratively abandoning their sweet dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was time to mentally switch gears, and soon, their thoughts shifted to the next day\u2019s dungeon hacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOkay, so we\u2019re gonna head for Floor 51 tomorrow. That point on, people call the Haven of the Dead. Marc\u2019s Minos Bardiche is made from mithril with the holy attribute, so it oughtta perform well against undead and ghosts and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, that\u2019s the other weird thing, y\u2019know? This whole place really is<\/em> set up like a video game. Like, having the boss guard the one key thing for tackling the next section\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026And the challenge amps up step by step.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shinji picked up on this as well. He was the biggest RPG player in the group, so it occurred to him long before anyone brought it up. But he tried to banish the thought. It was just too creepy, because a lot of it was so familiar. And if anything, the boss monsters stationed every tenth level were getting harder way<\/em> fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First was the B-rank black spider, then the B-plus evil centipede. Floor 30 featured a B-plus ogre lord leading a small force of minions working together, making it more than a test of brute strength\u2014this was a choke point for many parties. Floor 40 had an A-minus tempest serpent, and finally, Floor 50 had Bovix, a talking magic-born tauroid. By this point, you were now talking about monsters who maybe<\/em> showed up once every hundred years\u2014a Hazard, to use the danger level Yuuki devised, which made it an A ranker. Certainly, Bovix was a menace, the kind of magic-born you\u2019d expect to be serving a demon lord\u2026and while Shinji\u2019s team had trouble, they still beat him. If they were really<\/em> serious, chances were just one of them could\u2019ve done it\u2014besides, since you didn\u2019t die in the labyrinth, you had the freedom to try some pretty reckless tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight, if a monster that<\/em> class is guarding Floor 50, I can only guess that the next one\u2019s gonna be that much stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Might even be the last battle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc agreed with Shinji, Zhen brooding hard over the future. Things had gone smoothly up to now, but all three agreed that it\u2019d turn into an uphill battle pretty quick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think Marc\u2019s gonna remain the key to our offense. You got a Unique with special buffs, so let\u2019s just see how far it\u2019ll take us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think you can collect many more monsters this<\/em> powerful, either. I think Floor 60 is the bottom of this thing, but if it\u2019s not, that\u2019s just scary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, no way,\u201d said Shinji\u2014but he\u2019d heard ominous rumors. Rumors he had no intention of telling Marc or Zhen. He was sure it\u2019d lower their morale if they heard this labyrinth might actually have a hundred<\/em> floors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s crazy<\/em>, he concluded. The next boss was concerning for him, but he wasn\u2019t going to get worked up about it. He figured they would win at the end of it\u2014they couldn\u2019t die, after all\u2014but it was likely to be a long, hard ordeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut hey, we can\u2019t die either way. Let\u2019s just try to keep our guard up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc and Zhen nodded at this. Their goal was the very bottom\u2014and to find out about the top-secret research facility there. Once they went over everything a final time, they retired for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three days passed. After conquering a poisonous swamp and a corroded wasteland, Shinji\u2019s team finally discovered the stairs to Floor 59. They were a short trip down to Floor 60 and that much closer to the boss\u2019s chamber. It had taken a week to reach Floor 50, but nearly half that again to get to 60. The size of each floor was shrinking, but the difficulty had ratcheted up to overdrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou guys ready for this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They had rested up the previous night. They were fully prepared, ready to take the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo they say the boss here is another guardian type, like on Floor 50. We can expect another sentient monster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight. A lot more trouble than the Death Lord yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Gotta go all out from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As long as they kept their cool, this boss would go down like the others\u2014all three thought so as they quietly nodded. Then, ever so carefully, they opened the door and swarmed inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Going back a little bit\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was in my chamber, debating with myself over our surveillance system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right then, Soei\u2019s and Moss\u2019s agents were on standby at important points across the Forest of Jura. We were also covering the entire coastline from Farminus to northern Englesia\u2014and even the mountain peaks in between. But despite that, I was still anxious about our intelligence gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, the time lag was the scariest thing. Our agents were spread out in teams of two, but there was every chance they could both be killed at once. If so, all intelligence would cease from that location. I\u2019d hate to lose those people, but the resulting delay in transmission could put the entire nation in danger. I warned Soei about this in no uncertain terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if our monitors were found, whether they were killed or not, they might be forced into battle. That, again, would cause delays, so I was feeling around for a way they could work while keeping themselves safer. As I did, I stumbled upon the idea of using magic to surveil our lands. Distant-view magic like this existed in the shamanistic family, but it turned out to be kind of tough to wrangle\u2014all you could really do was view a target, and it didn\u2019t give you too much information about them. It could also focus only on a single point, so you had to cast the spell again to watch somewhere else. This took valuable time, and your target could slip away in the meantime\u2014the magic just wasn\u2019t flexible enough for the job. Besides, if the target put up a magical barrier, the distant-view spell would simply bounce off it and dissipate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, I concluded, the spell was useless since you couldn\u2019t observe foes above a certain level of power with it. But I had another idea\u2014the physical magic Megiddo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Megiddo uses collected water droplets as a lens to focus sunlight on a single point. Reworking this magic, I thought, could make it work as a kind of surveillance spell. For example, what if we floated up balls of water across the land that reflected the area below it? If we could transcribe that somehow, we could easily check on faraway scenery. If not, perhaps we could project an image through a high-altitude lens, expanding and broadcasting the signal through a monitor. We\u2019d need a combination of a telescopic lens, photograph device, and a system for transmitting the information. Essentially, it was like building a monitoring satellite entirely with magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making all the required core magic work seemed like a hassle, but Raphael stated that with physical magic, spirit magic, and Dominate Space, it\u2019d be possible to implement. After that, I just needed to work out the little details with Raphael\u2014and with that, I had the complete magic I wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once this monitoring system was finished, it\u2019ll be a lot easier to gather information. It was safe, reliable, collected a massive amount of data at once, and made it a breeze to keep up with enemy movements, no matter what they did. You might be wondering why I was wasting time during such a busy period with this, but this was actually really important. \u201cThose who control information control the world,\u201d as they say, so I was sure I could control a war with it, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the Russo-Japanese War, Admiral Heihachiro Togo commanded his naval forces as it destroyed Russia\u2019s Baltic fleet in the Sea of Japan. In this fight, the key question for Togo was whether he\u2019d have a chance to encounter the enemy fleet. He had to guess at where he\u2019d intercept the enemy and be in position to engage them; if he messed that up, the battle never would\u2019ve been fought, and Japan likely would\u2019ve lost the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That, I felt, was similar to my current situation. If I spread my forces too thinly, there was a good chance I\u2019d lose, given how much I was outnumbered to start with. Victory came down to whether I could read the Empire\u2019s moves and concentrate our forces at the most suitable point of land. Meanwhile, if the Empire spread itself too thin, I could work out my plans in further detail and destroy every pocket of resistance. But if I wanted to work the battle to my advantage like that, and (most of all) if I wanted to be sure of victory, I absolutely had to complete this monitoring magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026Which, you know, I tried to build up the drama there, but we actually had a test setup already complete. What I was asking Raphael for now was extra frills\u2014the little things that\u2019d make it easier to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What? Why don\u2019t I do it myself? Don\u2019t be silly. Raphael is<\/em> my skill, so by anybody\u2019s definition, I\u2019m<\/em> putting in all the hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You know what? If you put it that<\/em> way, I think I\u2019ve been overworking myself a little. I think I\u2019ll take a quick rest to soothe my fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had my first cupful of Shuna\u2019s tea in a while, savoring the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I relaxed, wondering if I should give my completed monitoring magic a shot\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Sir Rimuru, I have an urgent report for you!!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Beretta\u2019s strained voice came in through a Thought Communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n He had quite a surprise for me. It turned out a second party had made it past Floor 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first one, it goes without saying, was led by Masayuki. They were taking a break from the Dungeon as we prepared for war, but they made it as far as Floor 59\u2014and thanks to them, our labyrinth was running a brisk business. Tons of challengers used our services on a daily basis, filling up our coffers\u2014and they got a lot out of it, too, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past year, our regular customers had really been stepping up their game. Little by little, we had begun to see more people take on levels in the 30s. Some were coming up with strategies that took advantage of the \u201cno death\u201d rule, such as \u201czombie attacks\u201d (continually dying and coming back to fight the enemy again) and \u201csacrifice runs\u201d (leaving someone behind to get preyed upon as the rest of the party forged onward).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you were into the 30s, though, you had more than just unfamiliar insta-kill traps to deal with. The monsters there began working in teams, and gimmicky tactics weren\u2019t as effective any longer. But some of our dungeon runners really were up to the challenge. Parties taking a strictly conventional approach still struggled to keep up, but they were honing their skills, and their equipment was improving by leaps and bounds, too. That, in turn, helped to strengthen them further. It\u2019s funny what your body can get used to\u2014some runners began to develop instincts for traps, dodging them no matter how vicious they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to all that, the front-running parties had started reaching the boss monster on Floor 40\u2026but as of now, that was the last stop for most. The monster they faced there was a tempest serpent, an A-minus creature. This was the very same black snake I first ran into way back when, packing an effective breath attack that just annihilated<\/em> parties. Many of them got destroyed, lost all their equipment, and tearfully trudged into the shops to buy more. We\u2019d be kind enough to lend them Tempest-brand equipment and the like\u2014on a \u201cyou break it, you bought it\u201d policy, of course, and that turned into another<\/em> nice income stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So yeah\u2014thanks, black snake! That little reptile was great for shaking our challengers down for all the profit they made up to that point. He was such a wonderful, reliable, moneymaking guardian for us\u2026but ohhh<\/em>, death should not have taken thee, black snake!<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2014and even our guardian on Floor 50 got done in. With Masayuki\u2019s party, we were admittedly cheating a little bit, so this new party must have been real<\/em> legit. We had to award them the bounty as well, but it was more than worth it for all the free advertising. The entire labyrinth lit up again upon the birth of a new set of heroes, and now things seemed busier than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Floor 50 was defended by a pair of sentient magic-born, Bovix the tauroid and Equix the equinoid, who took turns serving as the boss. I ordered them to the job, and neither was a pushover at all, so seeing someone pull off the upset amazed me. After all, if nobody was around to challenge them, they usually sparred each other, helping add more creativity to their battle approach. I was witnessing some real intelligent strategy in their fights now\u2014they weren\u2019t just big brutes any longer. What\u2019s more, they had become best friends, no longer snapping at each other all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This second party\u2019s success reminded me that I put a frankly pretty awesome prize in place for beating Floor 50. You only got it the first time you beat the boss, but it was a guaranteed drop from the treasure chest\u2014one item, picked at random, from the Unique-class Minos series. I named this after the mythical labyrinth-guarding minotaur, and they were both completely insane-looking and<\/em> stupidly powerful. In the weapons department, we offered the Minos Bardiche and the Minos Trident. There was no shield, and armor filled out the rest of the list. I figured it\u2019d be a while longer before someone made it this far, so I don\u2019t think I had more than, like, ten complete sets made yet\u2014but this was definitely top-of-the-line gear, a team effort crafted by the best of Kurobe\u2019s apprentices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Losing one of them was a problem, but what impressed me more was this party\u2019s fighting skill. Bovix and Equix got a lot<\/em> stronger when I named them, and if they managed to beat one of them, I\u2019d honestly wanna recruit them for our nation. If they said no, well, they might be our enemy someday, and that would kinda suck, so I planned to keep them under surveillance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was why I left instructions to inform me immediately if Bovix or Equix ate it, and that\u2019s what I got from Beretta just then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Who are they?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n (The winning team is a party of three people, all possessing unique skills.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe I know them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It turns out I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So here we had a set of just three guys, unique skill users, who beat Bovix\u2026and they were pretty brand-new to the Dungeon, too, not veterans at all. In times of peace, I\u2019d just sit back and marvel, but we were at war\u2019s eve right then, and in my eyes, they were likely spies picking at low-hanging fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We needed more intel on them badly, so I delayed my magic-monitor practice and headed for the command room inside the labyrinth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n I found Ramiris and Veldora already there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deeno and Vester had the day off, apparently. Vester really had been looking haggard lately (Deeno, not so much), so I wanted him to get as much rest as he could. Ramiris and Veldora, meanwhile, couldn\u2019t have been better. I\u2019m not sure they even knew how to be tired. They never stopped\u2014like children, if something had their attention, they just kept going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, look who\u2019s here! Hello, Commander!\u201d chirped Ramiris. \u201cNo changes to report yet!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n No changes to what? Ah well. I\u2019m sure she\u2019s just playing navy captain in her mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at the large screen set up in the room. It currently showed three young men, the group who had been storming through the labyrinth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their fighting style, I have to say, was extremely unique. One of them seemed to be grabbing the air itself, gathering and throwing it with intense force. Maybe some kind of air-compression blast? Definitely not something a normal person could pull off. The man was large, firmly built, with brown hair and a chiseled face, and he had on a tank top and jeans. You read that right: a tank top and jeans. Definitely otherworlder fashion, I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now for the other two. One was small, skinny, and mostly hidden inside a large black robe. The other was a young man wearing chain mail with a lab coat over it. Yes, a lab coat\u2014the kind you see in labs and hospitals, although not at all in this<\/em> world. His face suggested he was Asian\u2014and almost certainly Japanese. I couldn\u2019t guess about the dude in the robe, but Lab Coat and Tank Top sure seemed like otherworlders to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, they were still fighting as I watched on-screen. They were facing a pretty tough challenge\u2014a pack of six death wolves, lunging at them faster than a normal person could respond. They must have calculated that remaining far away would leave them open to attack with no way to respond. Once you plunged below Floor 50, even the minion-level foes had real intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A death wolf, by the way, was a B-plus monster, and that was for a single one of them. Six at once was an extremely dangerous encounter\u2014and being a ghost type, they were impervious to melee attacks outside of holy or magic weapons. Their bodies were made entirely of magicules, so even if you sent them flying, they\u2019d just regenerate themselves and jump right back in. Unless you had a good way to handle them, you couldn\u2019t win\u2014show any weakness for a moment, and you\u2019d be torn apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t mess with us, you stupid mutts! Hraahh!!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was Tank Top the air-thrower. Now he took out the ominous-looking battle-ax on his back and started swinging. A single swipe took out three at once, their bodies fading into particles of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026Whoa, that<\/em> ax! I remember that ominous-looking thing. It\u2019s the Minos Bardiche, isn\u2019t it? Once you got into the realm of Uniques, magical force came with the package as a given. That made this a type of magic weapon, easily capable of damaging ghost types; the magic alone could hurt monsters all by itself. We also worked hard on the materials for that bardiche; if I recall, we made them out of mithril, a special mix of magisteel and silver. That instilled the holy attribute, geared for mowing through undead and ghost enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMan, the Minos Bardiche can take out those death wolves in one hit,\u201d I muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, I believe Bovix drops that,\u201d Veldora replied with a nod. \u201cAnd look at how used to that weapon he is, so soon after picking it up. He\u2019s got a good head for battle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I watched the trio fight, I listened to Veldora and Ramiris recap this party\u2019s progress for me. Would\u2019ve been nice to have had some fries to snack on as I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From how they put it, Tank Top had been defeating most of the monsters so far, and looking at him, I could believe it. He was<\/em> strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What about the traps, though? The guy in the black robe had a knack for quickly finding them, tipping off his two companions. Our trickier, more ingenious traps began popping up on Floor 51, but as I looked on, Black Robe accurately marked out the positions of each trap they encountered. It must\u2019ve been his unique skill\u2014he was the ideal man to bring with you on a Dungeon run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, Lab Coat had only taken action once, really, according to my partners, during the battle against Bovix. Veldora\u2019s description of events was too cryptic to understand, so I asked Raphael to read out the labyrinth\u2019s past memories for me. When it brought them up, well, yeah, it was<\/em> strange. All he really did was take a syringe out from a pocket, inject both of his partners\u2014and then Bovix visibly slowed to a crawl. Was this some kind of status ailment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understood. According to an analysis, the attack sustained by the subject Bovix involved a nerve poison. The room was filled with poison gas, preventing the movement of those not resistant to it. It is no longer in effect.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, poison gas? And it looked like they could customize this gas for maximum lethality on the target, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heavily slowed, Bovix was easy pickings for Tank Top\u2014but Lab Coat delivered the final blow, removing a silver scalpel from a shirt pocket and slicing through the jugular vein. Lab Coat was the leader, it seemed, playing a control-tower role instead of getting involved in actual combat much. He was good at it, too, capable of fighting if he needed to, so Tank Top up front was pretty much free to go wherever he wanted. It was a really intelligent, well-balanced party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. It quietly opened up, revealing Shuna; she had brought along a file with information on these three people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHere\u2019s the immigration data we have on this trio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a light bow, she handed me the piece of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shingee: age twenty-three, magician<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: age twenty-six, warrior<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhen: age seventeen, huntmaster<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It contained a brief list of their names and professions. Their profiles listed them as being from a small province of the Empire. When asked what brought them to Tempest, they said a merchant told them about the Dungeon, and they came over to test their skill. Yeah, right. That was such<\/em> a lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raphael, meanwhile, was giving me its own analysis. As Beretta said, each one of them had their own unique skill. The idea that these three just happened to come together at the same time and form a party sounded pretty farfetched to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That, and their listed professions piqued my interest. The term magician<\/em> was reserved for advanced casters who learned at least two families of magic\u2014in Shingee\u2019s case, this was spirit and elemental magic. Smart young man, for sure. A warrior, meanwhile, had to be a master of both weapons and martial arts\u2014to be exact, one core martial art and at least one weapon. This could be a sword, a bow and arrow, or even throwing weapons like knives or stones; you were free to pick the one that suited you the most, but you then had to master the deepest levels of it. In Marc\u2019s case, he was a brawler with throwing-weapon and pole-arm proficiencies, a real multifaceted talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, a huntmaster was the moniker applied to those at the pinnacle of the hunting profession. It required a mastery of bowhunting, as well as Formhide, one of the more difficult Arts to learn. You also had to master the Detect Danger skill, and overall, it took a lot more than raw talent to become a huntmaster. In a hunting guild, they were revered as reliable partners. There just weren\u2019t many people with trap and monster discovery skills, both a vital part of any search mission. Huntmasters pretty much always came from hunting-oriented clans, and it was an extremely difficult job to get into otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So here we had three people with three esoteric, high-level jobs forming a party. It was all but asking us to suspect them of something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese really look like spies who took the bait.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIndeed\u2026but would spies so blatantly take center stage like this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diablo, standing unnoticed in the background, picked up on my muttering. He had offered me assistance in magical development, eagerly awaiting my new ventures in monitoring magic, and me canceling our next meeting about it really set him off. His eyes told me he was resenting the on-screen trio for it, but I think he was judging them correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, I was wondering that, too. I thought it might be a diversionary tactic, but things are calm around town right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was certainly a very suspicious party, but all the information they gave seemed to be the honest truth. Would they be stupid enough to not cover their tracks at all? Or was this<\/em> a clever feint, devised to make us start suspecting everything except for them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019re overthinking this, Rimuru,\u201d said Veldora. \u201cAren\u2019t you always telling me that honesty is the best policy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, it is<\/em>. But we need to figure out how we handle these challengers!\u201d replied Ramiris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Glad you<\/em> guys don\u2019t have a care in the world. I truly began to envy Veldora and Ramiris for that. But oh well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter who they were, we had to watch out for them. Shingee was the black-haired man in the lab coat\u2014I\u2019m just gonna assume he\u2019s using a fake name, and his real one is actually Shinji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc was the brown-haired tank top guy, and he did more than throw air around. Whether it was a monster corpse or a pebble on the ground, he could throw anything you could grab. I saw him throw a (still-alive) monster at a pack of skeletal warriors, crushing two of them, and it almost made me spit out my tea. He probably wasn\u2019t lying about his warrior job; I could tell by the way he expertly wielded his Minos Bardiche, taking down one ghost after another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhen was the black-robe dude, and I was sure he could use his eyes to detect traps. I thought it was Detect Danger at first, but judging by how he could avoid any dangerous place before it triggered, I figured a unique skill was granting him that. For most parties tackling Floor 50 and below, not even the monsters were as vicious a danger as the traps. The undead didn\u2019t need to breathe, so we adjusted the air in those floors to make sure everything was normal. There were some oxygen-free chambers as well, ensuring a quick death even if you just stumbled in unawares. To this we added poisoned lakes, acid swamps, rooms with corrosive gas, and so on and so forth. They\u2019d damage both you and your equipment, making for a truly atrocious gauntlet for challengers to gnash their teeth about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These were all ingenious traps that said a great deal about their creator\u2019s personality, and the whole concept of the floors past the fiftieth was to use them to keep people from advancing. But if someone could see through all<\/em> of them, they were useless. What\u2019s more, Zhen had an excellent sense of direction; he could easily find the shortest route through something, not letting rotating floors or anything else stop him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This whole labyrinth was meaningless to this trio. If anyone got hurt, Dr. Shingee could heal them. They could even disable poison, so I couldn\u2019t expect that to work too much. They may have only been a trio, but they couldn\u2019t have been better suited for deep dives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three days passed. Veldora, Ramiris, and I squealed with glee as we watched Shingee\u2019s party press on. No, we weren\u2019t watching for hints we could use for our own conquest. Really, we weren\u2019t. We were just watching them in awe, is all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diablo was sitting in a corner of the room reading while Shion was learning some new baking skills from Shuna, who poured out more tea for us\u2014black tea, with a pleasant apple flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy the way, Rimuru,\u201d Veldora began, \u201cyou mentioned that they \u2018took the bait,\u2019 but what did you mean by that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Huh? \u2026Oh, wait, you mean our conversation three days ago? Veldora\u2019s brain ran about as quickly as a dinosaur\u2019s sometimes, but then, that made sense for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh, don\u2019t worry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, don\u2019t be a stick in the mud. Tell me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He never usually cared about stuff like this, but today he just wouldn\u2019t get off my back. Whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOkay, well, to tell the truth\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I decided to lay it on him. When I said they took the bait, that\u2019s exactly what I meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We had added some evacuation training earlier because it had become possible for us to\u2014as nutty as it seemed to me\u2014sequester the entirety of the town inside the Dungeon. Ramiris\u2019s intrinsic skill Mazecraft really was<\/em> amazing. I knew she could freely reorder and rearrange each floor, but it turned out she could treat the ground level above the Dungeon as another \u201cfloor\u201d for her purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the town was quarantined inside, it\u2019d remain in there for twenty-four hours, but things like air and water supply weren\u2019t an issue. In fact, we could still see the sun, so I figured this \u201cquarantine\u201d wouldn\u2019t put much stress on our citizens at all. This took a gigantic<\/em> amount of energy, of course, but so what? We got Veldora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So essentially, we were crafting our war plans based on the assumption that our town could be stowed away for safekeeping. This was something we tested out several times, and that<\/em> was the bait meant to catch imperial spies. All we left behind on the surface was the labyrinth\u2019s entrance gate, which had to look incredibly suspect. In my talks with Benimaru and the rest of my cabinet, we concluded that someone from the opposing side was bound to investigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh, I see! Boy, my master\u2019s really powered me up, too, huh? Glad to see I\u2019m pitchin\u2019 in a little!\u201d said Ramiris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHeh-heh-heh\u2026 So this is thanks to me<\/em>, is it? Heh-heh\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Veldora looked at me, blatantly fishing for compliments. It drove me up the wall, but it really was<\/em> thanks to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, you\u2019ve been a huge help to all of us, Veldora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKwaahhhh-ha-ha-ha! Yes! Yes, I imagine I have been! So may I have some of that cake?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n No!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I was looking forward to that slice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPlease, take mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahhh, thank<\/em> you, Diablo!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSorry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot at all. If it will aid you, Sir Rimuru, this much is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such a big help, that one. Might as well indulge his graciousness this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Savoring my slice of cake, I looked up at the screen. The party was about to take on the guardian at the end of Floor 60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, if we know they\u2019re spies, shouldn\u2019t we detain them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNah. I wanna test them out, so I figured we could see how far in they make it. I hate paying out so much money to them, but it\u2019s generating a lot of buzz, so I can live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If worse came to worst, I could always arrest them and confiscate their winnings. I wanted to look incredibly generous for now, paying what I promised, and then wring whatever I could get from them in exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA fine plan, Rimuru.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s so dirty<\/em>! You\u2019re a true genius, y\u2019know that?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Veldora and Ramiris also had kind words for me, although I can\u2019t say they made me feel too happy. Shuna, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes at us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have to say, though, this didn\u2019t turn out like I meant. I didn\u2019t expect him to score a Minos Bardiche on the first try,\u201d I said. \u201cThat\u2019s a holy-attribute weapon, and it just rips<\/em> through ghosts and undead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have offered that guaranteed drop the first time around\u2026,\u201d Ramiris lamented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Floor 60 was guarded by Adalmann. I had him go by the moniker the Immortal King in the hopes that he\u2019d drive away challengers like back in his wight king days\u2026but really, his strength lay mostly in commanding armies. He was weaker than Bovix or Equix solo, and I had a suspicion we\u2019d be disappointed once more today. As a wight, too, he was laughably weak against the holy and light elemental attributes. As long as Marc bandied that Minos Bardiche around, I really didn\u2019t like Adalmann\u2019s chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had given Adalmann as much advice as I could, but the traps were supposed to be the main performers in this group of floors. I never expected a blockbuster performance from the boss himself, and that was why I felt okay with giving challengers a weapon that struck at his weak point. Now I felt like I wasn\u2019t fair to Adalmann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sad to say, I didn\u2019t see him stopping this trio. I\u2019d like to think I\u2019m just assuming the worst\u2026but yeah, I hope he won\u2019t have a grudge against me for this. So I turned my expectations toward the guardian of Floor 70 instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Upon realizing there were intruders in his domain, Adalmann the Immortal King let a smile cross his fleshless lips. His teeth softly scraped together, making a light clattering sound. It might\u2019ve been hard to tell, but this was Adalmann\u2019s take on a villainous grin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou seem to be in a good mood, Lord Adalmann.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was Alberto speaking, a former paladin and Adalmann\u2019s closest associate, following in his footsteps even after his boss fell into a trap and died. After joining Rimuru\u2019s force, Alberto had been demoted all the way down to skeletal fighter, about as low-level a monster as you could be, but at least he wasn\u2019t rubbed out entirely. He normally wouldn\u2019t be able to speak at all, but he demonstrated perfect fluency. Why? Simple\u2014the Alberto of right now was no longer a plain old skeleton. He wasn\u2019t even a death knight, several rungs up the ladder. No, he was a Death Paladin, far above either of those\u2014and while he was a wight and possessed no material body, he looked just the same as before death. True, he was rather pale, and there were blue will-o\u2019-the-wisps floating around him, so it was clear he wasn\u2019t living and breathing, but regardless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adalmann, meanwhile, had no particular attachment to his flesh body\u2014in fact, he rather liked being nothing but a skeleton. But Alberto didn\u2019t share his view, and given how his magical force far surpassed a regular death knight\u2019s, he had the ability to freely construct whatever body he wanted from magicules. And Alberto had both an affinity for and a sense of pride in his old appearance, a fresh and energetic-looking (or as energetic as a ghoul could<\/em> appear) young man. This body was protected by an ominous-looking set of armor, making it clear at one glance that Alberto wasn\u2019t to be trifled with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, Alberto. A very<\/em> good mood. It seems we have guests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alberto nodded gleefully. \u201cAh. So our moment is here at last?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They knew each other so intimately by this point that few words were needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIndeed. The time has finally come\u2014time to serve the demon lord who granted us this peaceful abode. With as much power as we\u2019ve been given, you know that mistakes will not<\/em> be permitted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course not. I, Alberto, am fully aware of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHee-hee-hee\u2026 Forgive me for repeating myself, then. All this excitement must be loosening my tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two looked at each other and smiled. Then another joined in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGroorrrrggghh!!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A bloodcurdling scream echoed across the city of the dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh, I see we\u2019re not the only excited ones here. Very well. Today you will have an occasion to fully unfurl your powers. Prove your loyalty to our god!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quietly, but thickly, the area was awash in the incoming trio\u2019s ardor. Adalmann\u2019s faith had died once, only to be reconquered by his new god\u2014the demon lord Rimuru. It had been several months since tasting bitter defeat. He hoped fervently that he could help Rimuru, and so in just those few months, Adalmann had regained his powers as a wight king, more powerful than even at the pinnacle of his career. That was how deep his faith extended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The next day, their conference began at a room inside the palace. The attendees were Yohm, Gruecith, and Razen, with Saare and Grigori standing nearby as Yohm\u2019s bodyguard detail. Mjurran wanted to join as well but was turned down\u2014she had only just given birth, and Yohm insisted she stay in bed and rest. Their newborn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tak-berkategori"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3549,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548\/revisions\/3549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}