\u201cIn that case, name away is what I say!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramiris happily nodded her approval. With her consent, it was time to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you have any ideas for good names?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMmmm\u2026 You handle it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guess Ramiris isn\u2019t too good at coming up with names. If she was leaving all that to me, then they were probably gonna end up with fantasy game\u2013style names\u2026 But maybe that works, actually? They are<\/em> boss monsters, after all, so maybe it\u2019s not worth sweating over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I had Ramiris go fetch the Dragon Lords and bring them to the labyrinth lord\u2019s chambers where Veldora resided. Seeing all four of them lined up before me, it dawned on me that these guys have probably been beaten up by adventuring teams many times over by now. They remained doggedly devoted to their posts, however, so I really wanted some cool names for them. Being a Dragon Lord means having more magicules than even an Arch Demon, but it hadn\u2019t been that long since Milim picked them up, so these guys weren\u2019t quite as good as they could be. If naming them triggers evolutions, that ought to give them a ton more intelligence\u2014and then they can be smarter, and stronger, than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With something like this, going with your initial gut feeling is always the best bet. The Fire Dragon Lord became Euros the Draconic Flamelord; the ice one became Zephyros the Draconic Frostlord; the wind one became Notos the Draconic Skylord; and the earth one became Boreas the Draconic Terralord. I was borrowing liberally from Greek mythology; these were the names of the Anemoi, the deities assigned to the winds of each cardinal direction, and I thought these would be perfect for the Dragon Lords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These names were my creation, but Ramiris would be treated as the one who named them all. That seemed to work without a hitch, much to my relief. Thus, Ramiris and the dragons were now <\/a>connected by their souls, and I hoped they\u2019d continue to serve her faithfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how did it work out? Well, just as I guessed, the Dragon Lords could all transform into forms close to human\u2014not completely so, though, as they still retained some draconic characteristics. Euros, the Brimstone Dragon Lord, was a beautiful woman with red hair, her auburn skin covered in a dress made of dragon scale, and her tail resembled a flaming whip. Zephyros, the Frostkeep Dragon Lord, was a slender, handsome young man; his elegant, gentle appearance, combined with his long green hair, gave him an almost feminine sort of beauty. Notos, the Skythunder Dragon Lord, looked like a little girl, all cute from a distance but bearing jagged teeth and menacing fangs up close; the size and look were a mismatch for her incredible strength. Finally, Boreas, the Earthshaker Dragon Lord, was a large, muscular man covered in dragon scales, spines growing all over his body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four of them looked like they headed some legion of super villains, the combination of horror and beauty they presented resulting in a twisted sort of attractiveness. This shift, however, was just for looks only; they hadn\u2019t turned dragonoid like Milim, and their species was still straight-up Dragon Lord. Dragonoids, after all, are spiritual life-forms with a physical body, a sort of mutational offshoot from the True Dragons. Even with all the Dragon Lords\u2019 powers, they were still physical by nature, so they weren\u2019t going to rank up there with the perfection the True Dragons exuded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, despite the remaining Dragon Lords, I\u2019d call this evolution a big success. Even better, they had acquired more magic force than I anticipated. They all had several times more magicules than pre-evolution, and it looked to me like they\u2019d get close to the awakened Clayman on that front. Not quite a true demon lord, but still, a wonderful leap forward for them. Considering how much some simple names boosted them, I shuddered to think what would\u2019ve happened if I consumed my own magicules for this. For all I knew, I could\u2019ve suffered irreparable damage. This whole naming system is really scary, in a way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All told, I consumed five thousand souls on this job. There\u2019s <\/a>just nothing at all logical about monsters, I realized all over again. But no point pondering over it. Either way, the evolutions of the Dragon Lords, which served as my thank-you gift to Ramiris, were now complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the way, if you\u2019re looking strictly at magicule counts, the Ten Dungeon Marvels are all about evenly matched with these Dragon Lords. However, it looks like there\u2019s still a major gap in combat power, something you can\u2019t express with numbers. Zegion\u2019s a good enough illustration of that, but even the other Marvels make the evolved Dragon Lords look kind of weak. Yes, they had strong monster bodies and attacks that leveraged them, plus a bunch of magic. They were undoubtedly vicious, powerful forces\u2026 But they\u2019d still lose out to their peers with better combat skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of that just came down to lack of battle experience; they didn\u2019t really have a firm foundation in combat yet. I\u2019m sure it was frustrating for the Dragon Lords to keep getting whipped all the time during the labyrinth siege. In fact, the moment they evolved and gained language fluency, the first thing they did was ask me for training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having a new humanoid form meant they could now master human-style combat, and they now realized that a more refined skill set would get them a lot further than their monster-style techniques. Instead of relying on physical attacks like bites, maulings, and element-driven breath, they\u2019d need to understand their magic better and incorporate it into their fighting. I assumed they wanted to learn how to fight as humans and try working that into their own approaches. They came up with that on their own, and really, that showed some pretty remarkable development already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKwaaaaah-ha-ha-ha! I will gladly take care of them for you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Veldora, emboldened after doing such a good job raising Zegion, immediately accepted the trainer role for the Dragon Lords. Thus, their journey began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In time, some of the Dragon Lords would demonstrate more strength in human form than as dragons. They mastered ways to <\/a>transform their own claws and scales into weapons and armor\u2014which seemed like kind of a backward way to do it, but oh well\u2014and I assume they liked the results they got from that. I wouldn\u2019t discover this until much later, but\u2026yeah, I guess it\u2019s just as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Three days had passed since Caligulio and his staff were resurrected, and by now, they had regained most of their composure. The shock of being brought back to life by a demon lord was hard to put into words, but somehow, they had managed to accept it as the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question then became: What happens to us, going forward?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, they were still living and sleeping in tents. Food was arranged for them, carried in regularly by monsters\u2014skeletons, in fact, but nobody was complaining. These tents were lined up in a barren, hilly area with no real vegetation; the scenery was dreary, but it was neither too hot nor too cold, making it an oddly comfortable space. The death-laden atmosphere of the battlefield and the long rows of graves for the dead weren\u2019t any big deal once you got used to them. The people these graves belonged to were out walking and talking in skeleton form anyway, so it\u2019d be silly to fear them. In short, it wasn\u2019t an arrangement to wail about at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to what they heard, they had been set up on Floor 70 of the labyrinth. This was all explained to them by a wight king named Adalmann, who oversaw things on this level. Some of the people there had actually fought against him, so nobody doubted who he was. Besides, Adalmann was quite caring of them, treating Caligulio and the others pretty well by POW standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy god, Sir Rimuru, has deemed fit to resurrect you all, and thus, I follow his divine will. He is not the type of person who would take away a life previously given. I will suggest you take your time to think about what you want your future to be like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on that philosophy, Adalmann had let Caligulio and his staff go free. But nobody was suggesting they break their way out of this level. Their lives were already in the hands of the gods, they <\/a>realized, and so they decided to trust in the demon lord Rimuru. Caligulio agreed with this, and besides, he was confident any escape attempt would end in failure. That\u2019s why, taking Adalmann\u2019s words to heart, he decided to call his staff together for a meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly a hundred officers were now gathered in a large tent used for military conferences. These were senior staffers, some of the Empire\u2019s greatest heroes, but any power they had was well and truly gone now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll right, people. First off, allow me to apologize. My incompetence is what put you all in this situation, and for that, I am sincerely sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caligulio looked at his assembled audience and bowed his head. Nobody there thought the apology was warranted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat are you saying, my lord? We are just as guilty as you for not stopping His Majesty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The staff nodded their agreement to the aide\u2019s statement. The senior officers\u2014most notably Krishna\u2014also agreed that Caligulio was far from the only culprit here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am of the same opinion as everyone else. Thanks to our foolishness, we have incurred the wrath of God himself\u2026 And by God\u2019s mercy, we\u2019ve been given the opportunity to atone for our sins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As he phrased it, the Empire\u2019s whole invasion was a sin, and Caligulio agreed with him. As overconfident of their military might as they were, they didn\u2019t even try to learn much about their enemy. Looking back, Caligulio could hardly believe his own stupidity. The thought that his friends must all be feeling the same way brought an embittered smile to his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you. Hearing that makes me feel a little more at peace with myself. And I swear to God that I will never forget this feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moment he said the word God<\/em>, the image of the demon lord Rimuru flashed through his mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes\u2026 As far as I\u2019m concerned, Lord Rimuru may as well be my god.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no place in the Empire for Caligulio to return to. If he did, he\u2019d take the blame for the loss, and they\u2019d skip the <\/a>court-martial and jump right to his execution. He had no intention of shirking his responsibilities, but he thought it wrong to throw away the life granted by Rimuru for nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well\u2026 I\u2019ll have time to weigh my options there.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was natural for Caligulio to think about putting his own problems off for later. His face was no longer that of a brute driven solely by self-preservation and greed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow, let\u2019s get to the topic at hand. I\u2019ve gathered you all here today because I want to build consensus on how we should move forward. Sir Adalmann has generously given me the freedom to consult with all of you in this meeting, so let\u2019s try to get some work done so his kindness doesn\u2019t go to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once Caligulio said this, the people present exchanged glances and began discussing matters among themselves. That would be unthinkable during a typical military meeting, but Caligulio welcomed it\u2014he wanted honest, unadorned feedback from everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After chatting about it for a while, the group narrowed their thoughts down enough to form two major factions. One thought it best to stay here and retain their current allegiance to their captors; the other argued that they must return to the Empire without delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These two sides were deadlocked with each other, and both arguments were wholly understandable. It was only natural that those with families would want to return home, but whether that was possible depended on the intentions of the demon lord Rimuru. Perhaps it\u2019d be doable with further negotiations, but if they made too much of a fuss about it, it could put the demon lord off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would like to believe that he has no interest in executing us for no reason, as Sir Adalmann assures us. But we have to keep in mind that this doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the way their lives were saved, their fates were all in the hands of the demon lord. They might\u2019ve been granted a little freedom, but getting too selfish presented unknown risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026I imagine all of us in this tent would be executed if we came back. But even despite that, I want to make sure that the soldiers who fought so bravely for their country can get home safely. I\u2019d like to appeal directly to Lord Rimuru and ask him for his favor here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cPerhaps, but keep in mind, we are something akin to hostages right now, and we have no idea whether our nation will pay compensation or not. It\u2019s a thorny issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Major General Minitz, who had been silently listening to everyone\u2019s takes so far, spoke up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not gonna happen. We\u2019ve never even imagined ourselves as defeated. You know how consistently ruthless we\u2019ve been in our dealings with hostile nations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The floor fell silent. The Empire had never accepted anything other than unconditional surrender in the past. It was arrogant of them, but given their constant streak of victories, they had a right to be arrogant. But now that they had suffered a total defeat, they\u2019d have no one to blame for themselves if they were unforgiven. Everybody here understood that\u2014and they knew that even if they could return to the Empire, their future there would look pretty bleak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, some wanted to fulfill their responsibilities to those soldiers with families waiting back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMajor General Minitz is right. I wonder what His Majesty the Emperor will think about all this\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI hate to say it, but I think our intelligence bureau was far too negligent. How many demon lord\u2013class freaks do they think Tempest even had?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For an imperial officer, this remark was wading into taboo territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey! Watch your mouth, you! I don\u2019t care what happens to the IIB at this point, but the ones you called freaks are the major leaders of this nation, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSorry. Slip of the tongue\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Free speech was welcome here, and there were no monsters in the tent. No one had seen Adalmann since yesterday; Caligulio assumed he was off attending to business somewhere. That\u2019s why they were having this conference today\u2026 But that didn\u2019t mean they could say anything and everything they wanted. They couldn\u2019t forget their status as prisoners of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLord Rimuru seems to be a generous leader to me, but I doubt he\u2019ll overlook any bad-mouthing of his staff. Remember that well, everyone, and keep an eye on what you say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Despite stating that, Caligulio agreed with his officer\u2019s voiced opinion. At the very least, the fact that somebody under Rimuru\u2019s command could handle magic as intense as Gravity Collapse told volumes about how dangerous this demon lord was. Why didn\u2019t the Imperial Information Bureau know anything about them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I fully understand why he called the IIB negligent. If anything, I wish I said that myself\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But then one audience member uttered something that threw cold water on Caligulio and his officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre all of you idiots? Listen to me. The IIB was definitely aware of some<\/em> intel, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie, silent until now, suddenly let out that bombshell with a chuckle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous! So why did they withhold accurate intelligence from His Majesty?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t betray us, did they?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The whole group was agitated. Only Minitz and Caligulio remained calm, and Minitz was the first to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour name was Bernie, right? The man on an undercover mission not even we were told about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight,\u201d Caligulio added. \u201cSingle Digits like you probably would know some top secret information that we weren\u2019t aware of. So what was the IIB thinking, and what did they want us to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n All eyes focused on Bernie after that question. Everybody on hand wanted to know. The IIB had sworn absolute loyalty to the emperor. It was hard to believe that they would betray anyone\u2014and that meant Emperor Ludora was in a position to anticipate this happening all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie snorted at the crowd as he looked around, giving Caligulio and the others sympathetic looks. Then, without hesitation, he dropped another bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s exactly what you\u2019re all imagining. The emperor knew everything. He was already taking your defeat into consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2014that\u2019s madness\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you mean by that? Are you saying His Majesty knew we\u2019d be defeated but sent the entire army over anyway?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cImpossible! That\u2019s far too much of an insult against the emperor!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The officers were all getting worked up. But someone began to have an inkling of what was going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI see. So we were just throwaway pawns the whole time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, that\u2019s not quite the right way to put it, Minitz. If I had to guess, His Majesty\u2019s purpose was\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPfft!<\/em> Keep your mouth shut, Caligulio. If someone needs to take the heat for leaking national-level secrets, let it be me, not you. Listen\u2026 All of us right now are dead, me included. And if we are, this won\u2019t count as betraying the emperor anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such was Bernie\u2019s resolve. He had lost the powers that promoted him to the Single Digits, even the ultimate force granted to him by the emperor. Now it was time, as a leader, to show a new pathway for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBernie\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSorry, Jiwu. But you know I\u2019m never gonna be that<\/em> loyal to His Majesty. I only served him for one reason\u2014because I knew I could never beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That, too, was Bernie telling the truth.<\/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 Bernie, born in the United States of America forty-five years ago, was once an average, freedom-loving student. Somehow he wound up in this world instead, where Gadora discovered him. He was then taken in by Damrada, from whom he learned the art of fighting. This gave him confidence, and somewhere along the line, he became vain enough to think he was among the best in the world. But his confidence was shattered by a single woman serving at Emperor Ludora\u2019s side. A beautiful woman\u2014and also a truly monstrous creation. A lofty pinnacle that Bernie would never reach, even if he moved heaven and earth and went through thousands of reincarnations. It was hard to believe such a being even existed, but reality was all too cruel to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The woman\u2019s name was Velgrynd\u2014one of the Empire\u2019s most closely guarded secrets, one that must never be spoken of to outsiders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>One day, Bernie was escorted by Damrada to the emperor\u2019s palace, a great honor that fueled his ambitions even further. As a lover of freedom, he detested the idea of an emperor who dominated every aspect of people\u2019s lives. He dreamed, however foolishly, that he could overthrow the emperor if he just had a chance. The price of that foolishness was paid in fear, for when Bernie met Velgrynd for the first time that day, he was immediately seized by it, giving in wholeheartedly to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Bernie was gripped by this fear, Emperor Ludora addressed him from beyond the curtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have the qualifications\u2026 The requirements to serve as a vessel. I will lend you my powers. Please keep up the good work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ludora\u2019s voice sounded entirely free of emotion, as if it was echoing out from some faraway point. The next thing Bernie knew, he was in absolutely no position to defy the emperor any longer.<\/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 \u201cHis Majesty doesn\u2019t care if a million of his elites are wiped out. In fact, that\u2019s all part of the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That sentence, by itself, made little sense. But Caligulio knew what it meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Oh. So he\u2019s willing to sacrifice a million officers and enlisted men if it results in someone like me awakening?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearing Caligulio give the correct answer after so little explanation surprised Bernie slightly. But hearing him say \u201csomeone like me awakening\u201d made it clear how he knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh, so you\u2019re awakened, too? Then I think you probably understand it all. Yes, you\u2019re right. His Majesty\u2019s goal is to build a collection of awakened people to serve as his pawns. If he can gain even one more of them, that\u2019s easily worth a million casualties to him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was a truth that not even the Empire\u2019s senior officers were aware of. From the very beginning, Emperor Ludora expected nothing from his military. The most important thing to him was how many awakened personnel he could collect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cQuality over quantity sort of thing? So when we took on Veldora three centuries ago and failed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Minitz gave Bernie a sharp gaze as he asked the question. Bernie was aloof as always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what happened back then, but if you think about it, doesn\u2019t it make sense to you? I can kill every man in this tent by myself\u2026 Or I could<\/em> have, I mean. That\u2019s how vast the power gap was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI see, I see\u2026 And that\u2019s why it was a given that we\u2019d be defeated, then? The whole strategy was built on the assumption that we\u2019d take horrific losses. I\u2019d like to call it a brilliant move on His Majesty\u2019s part, but this time, it was just a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExactly. I\u2019m sure His Majesty didn\u2019t expect us to lose after<\/em> your awakening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minitz sounded convinced of it, Caligulio bitterly listening on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell\u2026 I\u2019m sorry I wasn\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He mumbled it out, his tone self-deriding, but Bernie denied it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s all right. It\u2019s not that you weren\u2019t up to the challenge. We just matched up poorly against our opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah. There was nothing we could do against that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jiwu nodded her agreement. She and Bernie had both lost to Diablo, the same demon who defeated Caligulio. If they couldn\u2019t beat a freak of nature like that, they assumed Caligulio couldn\u2019t, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo you\u2019re saying Tempest\u2019s strength was beyond what the IIB projected?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLooks that way, yeah. The plan was to use the demon lord Rimuru as a stepping-stone to gain more pawns for us, but we blew our chances because we misjudged our opponent\u2019s strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie couldn\u2019t help but laugh, as inappropriate as that was considering all the personnel lost. But he still wished he could rub this in the emperor\u2019s face someday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Well, Bernie, you were trying to use us as a diversion so you could stage your sneak attack, I suppose, but it failed. What are you gonna do now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHa! I told you. I\u2019ll take the heat for it, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d Minitz calmly asked. A few moments passed, everyone in the tent silently waiting for Bernie\u2019s answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201c\u2026Let me get one thing straight with you folks first. Like I just said, you guys are all already dead. I don\u2019t mean that metaphorically; I mean you\u2019re dead as far as His Majesty is concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMm-hmm. Is it trouble for him if we stay alive like this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s not quite the way to put it. The emperor has no use for soldiers who\u2019ve been deprived of their powers and have zero chance of awakening. And if he has no use for you, then he has no reason to protect you, either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI suppose not, no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThink of it on that basis, and there\u2019s a real good chance they won\u2019t accept any prisoners if Tempest offers them. And not just that\u2014if the surviving soldiers return home, it\u2019ll spread antiwar sentiment across the Empire. Do you think that\u2019s in line with His Majesty\u2019s will?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDoubtful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minitz sighed. Now he understood what Bernie wanted to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd since we\u2019re no longer important to His Majesty, we\u2019re just a third wheel to the IIB?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou got it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd they\u2019ll seek out and deal with anyone who tries to return home?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then they\u2019d pin the blame on Tempest to stir up the anger and vengeance of their people, likely. Bernie was confident that\u2019s what the IIB would do, and that was the story he was giving the tent now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026But we\u2019re talking seven hundred thousand people. It\u2019d be impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe people who underwent enhancement surgery didn\u2019t lose that much power. If we fight back, we\u2019d be fighting against our own side!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minitz raised a hand to quiet the startled officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Do you have an idea of who might be capable of that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the audience thought the idea was ridiculous. But Minitz remained coolheaded. Caligulio, remembering what happened when he was awakened, remained silent. With that<\/em> kind of power, he concluded, it wasn\u2019t so impossible at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cCould the Single Digits do it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf that\u2019s a yes-no question, then the answer is yes. But that\u2019s just armchair theorizing. If a single person has absolute power, that\u2019s good for offense but not for defense. If the enemy swarms you with huge numbers, then inevitably you\u2019ll have areas you can\u2019t fully defend. At the same time, it\u2019s also not a suitable approach if you\u2019re pursuing a fleeing enemy. If they scatter in all directions, you\u2019ll inevitably miss out on some.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, it\u2019d be necessary for the Empire to take all of them out with no survivors whatsoever. Bernie didn\u2019t know anyone who\u2019d be capable of that\u2026with one exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow, common sense dictates that this is impossible, right? But it\u2019s not. The Empire\u2019s got an absolute freak of nature who can pull that off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie recalled the figure in his mind. It made him shiver. The beauty, and the horror, could only be understood by those who\u2019ve had an encounter. Bernie was one of them, and that fact made him very unhappy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Someone that makes a Single Digit like you quake in their boots? It appears that I\u2019m gravely mistaken here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minitz sat back in his seat and looked up at the ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMe too. I joined the military because I dreamed of ruling the world in the name of the Empire. But now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now everything was being decided in a place that had nothing to do with the military. These power struggles were being played by someone else, and there was no room for the non-awakened to butt in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFoolish of us, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah. What a farce.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caligulio and Minitz exchanged glances, both looking ready to cry. And not just them\u2014all the other officers in the tent looked like they had just woken up from a dream, and they weren\u2019t happy about it. It\u2019s so pathetic<\/em>, Bernie thought. Everyone would\u2019ve been a lot happier if they didn\u2019t know the truth, but then they wouldn\u2019t have been convinced about their situation. That\u2019s why Bernie laid it all bare for them, leaving nothing behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cSo do you see now? You understand the situation you\u2019re in? If you go back home, there\u2019ll be nothing but despair waiting for you. You gotta stay here as prisoners and just wait until the war\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSir Bernie, what are you<\/em> going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m going back to the Empire. The war\u2019s not gonna end anytime soon at this rate, so Lord Rimuru is probably gonna try negotiating with the Empire\u2026 And he\u2019ll need a guide for that, won\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that guide would almost certainly be disappeared. The current, powerless Bernie would absolutely be assassinated. But he was determined to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now everyone was silent. Here and now, they understood all too well that the demon lord Rimuru had an iron grip on all of their fates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n After expressing my gratitude to Veldora and Ramiris, I decided to go to Floor 70 of the labyrinth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adalmann, following yesterday\u2019s evolution ritual, had fallen into a deep sleep. His Harvest Festival was underway, but his castle was still fully wrecked, so we dragged him to a guest room up top and had him sleep there. Alberto and Venti were put into their own quarters as well, and I was sure they\u2019d all be waking up soon enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the imperial prisoners of war were a problem for me. Adalmann was taking care of them, and it wouldn\u2019t be good to leave them unattended. Besides, I was hoping they were calm enough by now to give me some more information about the Empire. It was a good opportunity for that anyway, so I decided to go and check on them. I had my two secretaries accompanying me, and I figured that\u2019d be enough to keep me safe through anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou didn\u2019t have to go do this yourself, Sir Rimuru\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, you wanna do it for me, then?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes! Go down there and talk to them!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKeh\u2026 Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh. Right! Off we go, then!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diablo never changes, does he? And maybe that\u2019s true for Shion, <\/a>too. There\u2019s no way they\u2019d voluntarily go down there. I\u2019d never let Shion do this alone<\/em>, I thought as she hugged me close to her chest. It was odd that they were both fine the day after the evolution ritual, though. Shion was still unchanged after a full twenty-four hours, and Diablo was completely back to his usual self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo did you manage to acquire any new abilities?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKeh-heh-heh-heh-heh! Well, thanks to you, Sir Rimuru, I\u2019ve finally succeeded in obtaining an ultimate skill! Now I don\u2019t have to sit there and fume while Guy annoys me with his bragging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m sure Guy found Diablo far more annoying than the other way around. Like, I\u2019m totally confident about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, if that was so frustrating for you, you should\u2019ve acquired one on your own. I\u2019m sure you could\u2019ve figured out an ultimate skill without my help, Diablo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, no, I couldn\u2019t have. If I gained the skill after Guy told me about his, it\u2019d be like I was copying him. It would look terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t get it. This isn\u2019t about who\u2019s copying whom, you know. If there\u2019s something useful out there, why don\u2019t you just have him teach it to you? Or am I thinking about this all wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHeh. How narrow-minded of you, Diablo. Better to ask than go astray, as I think they say\u2014and ever since Sir Rimuru taught me that, I\u2019ve always striven to listen to what people have to say. Gobichi has taught me the true essence of cooking as well, and now I\u2019ve acquired full mastery of my craft!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shion seemed awfully smug about that, but personally, I think Gobichi just wanted to get away from her. I really wish Gobichi wouldn\u2019t go giving Shion this strange confidence of hers, too. He needs to step up and take care of her to the bitter end, you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, was that the reason why Sir Gobichi was hospitalized a bit ago? If he had to put up with your<\/em> cooking all the time, no wonder he fell ill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeahhhh\u2026 Maybe I shouldn\u2019t be chiding Gobichi, after all. But Diablo\u2019s gone through some tough times on this front as well, and Shuna doesn\u2019t even dare taste test anything Shion creates. So who\u2019ll deal with Shion\u2019s cooking? It\u2019s gonna have to be Benimaru, isn\u2019t it? Yeah. It\u2019s his responsibility to educate Shion, and I\u2019ll make sure <\/a>that\u2019s clear with him. And I\u2019m not saying that just because I want to needle the newlywed or anything. Please don\u2019t misunderstand me here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shion got us all derailed, but as we chatted on, we reached our destination in no time. Once we were transported over to the hilly area of Floor 70, we were greeted by some people who shot up and saluted the moment they saw us. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s really the appropriate thing to do with the demon lord of an enemy nation, but Diablo and Shion seemed satisfied with it, so I didn\u2019t quibble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLord Rimuru has graced us with his presence! Summon Lord Caligulio at once!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And with that, the soldiers started jogging to and fro, forming a column that led directly to a single tent. Caligulio was conducting a military conference in there, according to the people guiding the way for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside the tent were a hundred or so important-looking people. They all saluted, on their feet and demonstrating impeccable posture. Getting this treatment from the top brass surprised me a little. I mean, I\u2019m the king of their enemy, and I\u2019m in slime form right now, too. But nobody was looking down on me, and I guess Raphael\u2019s suggestion was more successful than expected. It\u2019s only natural, I suppose, if you think about it. If someone kills you and then brings you back to life, it\u2019s probably wise to fully submit to them. If I<\/em> ran into someone like that, you can bet I wouldn\u2019t defy them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Convinced of this, I sat down on the seat at the head of the table I was guided to. I needed to be dignified here, so I changed over to human form, with Shion and Diablo behind me. Shion looked a little disappointed to not have me in her arms, but getting preoccupied with that was pointless, so I looked around the room and began to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll right, folks. Having all the big shots in one place is kinda helpful to me, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u201c\u201cYes, my lord!\u201d\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They all bowed their heads at once. It was gonna be hard to talk with them like this, so I asked them to sit down before I began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRelax, guys, okay? I\u2019ve got something I want to discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>I gave them a warm smile. Hopefully this would ease their minds a little and enable us to have a nice, pleasant chitchat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAdalmann is busy with other matters at the moment, so he might not be able to come back for a while. So I was wondering if you guys had any requests for me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat is too kind of you, my lord. We are always well taken care of here, so please, do not concern yourself about our plights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eesh! So formal! Caligulio provided the answer for the rest of them, but this treatment was just beyond stuffy. Then again, they\u2019ve lost the war, so I suppose this would be normal of them anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, great, then. So regarding our plans for the future\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, my lord! There is actually something we would all like you to do on that matter!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They had a request after all, huh? I was fine with that, as long as it wasn\u2019t anything too unreasonable. Then Caligulio gave me quite a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are hoping that we could be taken care of within this country for the time being, so if possible, we\u2019d like to ask for your continued kindness\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Um\u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pressed for more details. According to Caligulio, they were actually discussing their future direction when I stopped in. The conclusion they came to was that, if they returned to the Empire, it was very likely they\u2019d all be killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhoa, whoa, are you guys crazy? What kinda country kills the soldiers that fought for it just because they lost?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t help but blurt that out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut I think that\u2019s exactly what will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie, of all people, replied first. He was calm and logical now; it was hard to believe this was the same guy who attacked us. As he explained, nobody here could say that this grisly fate wasn\u2019t possible for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHmm\u2026 So they\u2019d sacrifice a million to awaken just one person? You\u2019ve got to be kidding\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s the truth, my lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, hang on. If that\u2019s true, then isn\u2019t it weird how they held off <\/a>on a military invasion for so long because they feared that Veldora\u2019s seal was broken? Maybe we had that wrong, and they were actually waiting for his return?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m afraid that not even I can understand Emperor Ludora\u2019s thoughts on the matter. However, Lord Rimuru, I humbly believe that your observation is correct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is this really Bernie? He was so polite that it seemed like a whole other person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that\u2019s the deal here, huh? This guy Ludora\u2019s true objective wasn\u2019t just to win this war. He was going to pit the generals and soldiers of this Empire against an enemy powerful enough to weed out the losers from those who\u2019d be awakened by the experience. The sheer scale of this was too much for regular people to even comprehend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Report. It is an interesting idea.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stop that, dumbass! There\u2019s nothing<\/em> interesting about using human beings as test subjects. Raphael does<\/em> act up like this sometimes, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zegion was a successful example of such experimentation. For all I know, maybe I\u2019m being the guinea pig for some other experiment of Raphael\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Negative. There is no confirmation of such a situation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, really? I mean, I believe you, but\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, that could wait. The question was whether to accept Caligulio\u2019s request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know, though, it costs money to feed all you guys. When we\u2019re talking seven hundred thousand of you, that means importing food from other nations, too, so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If they\u2019re likely going to be killed back home, I\u2019m a little hesitant to just kick them out of Tempest. But honestly speaking, there\u2019s no reason for us to take care of them. I\u2019m only responsible for my own people. These guys\u2014well, I\u2019d like<\/em> them to make the most of their <\/a>lives, but I can\u2019t do everything, you know? If we take in an influx of seven hundred thousand trained military personnel, our neighbors to the west aren\u2019t gonna keep quiet about that, Blumund especially. In fact, it could even lead to needless blood being spilled. Still\u2026it\u2019d be kinda cold to just tell them to go home. I already saved their lives once, so I guess I should take responsibility for them right to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No other option, really, besides taking care of them. But I wasn\u2019t gonna do it for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn our nation, you know, we have a credo that only those who put in the work deserve to have food on the table. If we\u2019re gonna feed you, we need you to work for it, but are you okay with that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The room had awaited my response with bated breath. Once I finished speaking, they all looked delighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAbsolutely, my lord!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOrder anything you want from us!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They sure were motivated, even though I didn\u2019t tell them what they\u2019d be doing yet. Either way, I\u2019d allow them to stay here, then. I had assumed that prisoners of war didn\u2019t mean much to the Empire. There were no Geneva Conventions here, no rules that warring states were expected to follow. The way Bernie described it, these POWs wouldn\u2019t be much of a bargaining chip for negotiating a cease-fire. If so, better to just commit and accept them as a labor force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The length of their stay was still to be determined, but they\u2019ll be working for us until at least the end of the war. They may not be too useful if their stay here\u2019s too short, but we\u2019ll have to wait and see how that pans out. Hopefully they\u2019ll prove useful for something or other anyway. The officers here didn\u2019t seem to have any intention of defying me, at least. Maybe I could just leave them to Geld and have him take advantage\u2026 But he\u2019s in an evolutionary sleep right now and unavailable for a little while. So what can they do until he wakes up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy the way, are you guys any good at public-works projects?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It often comes as a surprise that a military would be full of people good at engineering. In my previous life, it was a well-known fact that when a warlord of ye olde Japan wanted to build a castle, his samurai were the ones who oversaw the construction. Even in <\/a>modern times, Japan\u2019s Self-Defense Forces played a huge role in things like disaster relief; the news would talk about how active they were in overseas aid projects and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, the engineers over in Dwargon have some pretty high-tech talent. They\u2019re not the most glamorous soldiers, but they\u2019re quite useful. It\u2019s no exaggeration to say that Kaijin, ex-leader of the dwarven Engineering Division, literally laid the foundation for that whole kingdom. So there\u2019s always been that link between the military and civil engineering, but\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, of course! I\u2019m proud to inform you that the Empire\u2019s technological capabilities are the best in the world!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good. In that case, let\u2019s see what they can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll right. Here\u2019s your first task, then\u2014you see that destroyed castle out there? I want you guys to restore it to its former glory for me. I\u2019ll work out the supplies for it, but I want you guys to handle everything else, from design on up. Can you do that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since they destroyed it and all, I thought it\u2019d be nice if they could fix it up as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caligulio eagerly nodded at me. \u201cAs you wish,\u201d he said, looking supremely confident. A few men, presumably his staff, immediately got to work with all the swiftness of a well-oiled machine; they looked like people ready to do the job. Once Adalmann wakes up, he could send some skeletons over to help out, and I think we could get this thing rebuilt in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the imperial army had a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Time for my other objective\u2014intel gathering. I thought we needed to go into some depth today, so I took a few of Caligulio\u2019s staffers familiar with imperial matters and asked them to join me in one of our conference halls. I wanted to hold a meeting with them and the members of my cabinet who were still awake, so we could talk about what we\u2019d do with the Empire next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, the Empire was presumably still unaware that Caligulio\u2019s force was defeated. Yuuki might\u2019ve received reports from <\/a>Misha and Laplace, but worrying about leaks from them seemed unwarranted to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides, we\u2019re already aware of the Empire\u2019s current maneuvers. I told Luminus about the three hundred airships traveling over the sea toward them. \u201cHmph!<\/em>\u201d she\u2019d replied. \u201cWatch me turn the tables on them all!\u201d<\/em> I doubted Luminus herself would take action, but we had a treaty, and she\u2019d promised to guard against the imperial forces coming from the north. The Holy Empire of Lubelius, as the world\u2019s religious headquarters, churns out a ton of paladins, and apparently they had their own standing force as well. Between that and the hidden threat that was the vampires, I felt fine leaving things in their hands. If Luminus got in any danger, the one-hundred-fifty-thousand-strong Western Deployment could step up, too; Testarossa had them standing by, ready to respond at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of all, though, Hinata was part of the team intercepting the airships. They were truly prepared for anything, but we still can\u2019t let our guard down. I looked at my assembled group and announced the start of the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following seventeen people were seated in the hall:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 My secretaries, Shion and Diablo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Benimaru, my supreme general, and Rigurd and Kaijin, my assistants in political affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Gabil and Gobta, my two corps leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Hakuro, my adviser; Soei, my intelligence officer; and Gadora, too, as a material witness of sorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 The three demonesses\u2014Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 On the imperial side, there were Caligulio himself, Minitz, and Bernie and Jiwu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Including myself, we had eighteen people in here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We started with introductions, and of course, the imperials were utterly stunned when they found out the three demonesses were all Primals. Man, were those stares painful to endure. Sorry, guys. It\u2019s Diablo\u2019s fault, not mine. I could already anticipate the complaints <\/a>coming my way, so I decided to pretend nothing happened and get down to business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUm, so if there\u2019s stuff you can\u2019t share with me, that\u2019s cool, okay? Just tell me whatever you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that, I used Argos, the Eye of God, to put up a display showing the airship squadron in flight. Caligulio would be explaining the current state of the Empire to us, as we agreed upon beforehand. The imperials looked pretty upset about the video on the large surveillance screen, but Caligulio kept his composure and promptly began his briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I already knew a bit about the situation over there from Gadora. That old man didn\u2019t seem to care at all about betraying the Empire, but Caligulio was a soldier. There might be some things he can\u2019t talk about, and we\u2019ll just have to follow up on that later. I told him what I knew in advance, so I\u2019d be having him provide his briefing based on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery well. In that case, I will begin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was even more brisk and businesslike than I anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Armored Division that Caligulio led had a department called the Flying Combat Corps, which boasted four hundred state-of-the-art airships. Three hundred of them were flying to northern Englesia, carrying full troop loads. Each one could carry up to four hundred people, and a crew of fifty was enough to fly one, so that meant a maximum of three hundred and fifty passengers. All this was just as Gadora explained to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These ships were transporting the Magical Beast Division led by one General Gradim, a force of thirty thousand in all. However, it was actually more like sixty thousand, since each division member was partnered with a magical beast of their own. They were also joined by support personnel providing logistical services; they had a major general named Zamdo commanding them, but they were probably noncombatants who shouldn\u2019t be counted in military numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is a tad embarrassing to talk about this here, but most of the troops sent to Englesia are still novices. They can operate an airship just fine, but in an actual combat situation, their performance is likely going to suffer. Normally they would be conducting R & D for us, so I hope you can show them some mercy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>As Caligulio explained, the Empire had deployed all its warpower to Tempest, so he gave his rival Gradim nothing but noncombatant personnel. The support staff numbered around thirty thousand in all, but there were hardly wizards or the like; most were sorcerers, a level below. Beyond that, the rest were airship operators and maintenance techs, and Caligulio asked me to take them prisoner instead of killing them, if possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf all the brazen things to say! You invaded another country, and now that it looks like you\u2019ll lose, you want us to save them without killing anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shion was enraged over this. It made Caligulio turn pale as he apologized. I tried to quiet her down a bit, but really, I thought she was right. Caligulio understood that well enough, too, which explained why he was so apologetic about it. But:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, what happens over there isn\u2019t in our jurisdiction. Depending on how things go, I might have to disappoint you there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, I understand that, of course. Please do as you wish, Lord Rimuru.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll consider his request if I think it\u2019s possible, but I can\u2019t make any promises. My resurrection magic isn\u2019t a cure-all\u2014sometimes it doesn\u2019t work if the conditions aren\u2019t right. And depending on how Luminus reacts to this, I may not be in any position to intervene anyway. I had heard that Gradim\u2019s Magical Beast Division is a pretty considerable threat, and there\u2019s no guarantee that they won\u2019t deal serious damage to Hinata and her troops. If that happens, there won\u2019t be any time for mercy. We\u2019ve got a ton of defensive capability, so I don\u2019t think we\u2019d ever be defeated, but there are never any absolutes in war, so I can\u2019t make guarantees like that lightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that was the end of that. Now we had to talk about Dwargon\u2019s eastern city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n I switched the Eye of God over to a shot of an army some sixty thousand strong. They were deployed and looking pretty relaxed, <\/a>no tension in the air whatsoever. The imperial officers were shocked all over again, but I pressed on with my briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt present, Yuuki and I have somewhat reluctantly joined together in an alliance. This might look like a tense standoff, but it\u2019s actually just kind of a big performance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minitz snorted at this. \u201cWell, look at that. If part of our army was compromised from the start, we had practically no chance of winning, did we?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caligulio nodded. \u201cYeah. And the moment my Armored Division and Gradim\u2019s Magical Beast Division are wiped out, they\u2019ll turn their claws toward the imperial capital, and then\u2026checkmate, eh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They exchanged embittered looks. Now they knew they were defeated both in strength and in strategy. But not everyone was on the same page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t think so. The emperor still has people in the capital who\u2019ll protect him. I know I\u2019ve said this many times before, but an awakened soldier is a literal one-man army. I\u2019m sure they would\u2019ve foreseen the possibility that Yuuki would rebel against them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was kind of weird hearing Bernie talk like this. My image of him as Masayuki\u2019s long-suffering flunky was still too strong in my mind; this seemed like someone totally different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIs this the real<\/em> you I\u2019m seeing here, Bernie?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh\u2026 No, the real me is more how I was when I was traveling with Masayuki.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I asked the question on reflex, but Bernie was honest enough to provide an answer. So his current attitude is him in \u201cmilitary\u201d mode, but he\u2019s usually a lot more informal, huh? He also informed me that he\u2019s originally from the United States and is forty-five years old; he was originally an average student like any other, so the Bernie I saw before me was all the result of his education in this world. That much probably doesn\u2019t matter to anyone besides himself, although it did make me feel a little affinity for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut you\u2019re probably right. I heard that there\u2019s someone in the Empire who could potentially kill me. And it\u2019s totally expected that a cornered mouse can find a way to turn the tables on the cat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>The \u201cquality over quantity\u201d dynamic in this world was tough to wrap your head around. No matter how big an army you assembled, they could still be defeated by one single person if they\u2019re unlucky. That\u2019s how we<\/em> won, too, so we needed to consider being in the opposite position as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn that case, why don\u2019t I travel over there and show this someone a thing or two?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shion\u2019s hand was already on her giant sword. We had zero guarantee that she could win, so I had to turn down that request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKeh-heh-heh-heh-heh\u2026 In that case, allow me to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDenied.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t even want to imagine a scenario where Diablo lost, but still, no. My policy here is to wait and see until we can create a situation where we\u2019re totally sure we can win. That much, as I reminded everyone in the room, I wanted to be thorough with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Intelligence is really the most important thing, though, isn\u2019t it? I can\u2019t even count the number of failures we\u2019ve had because of lack of information. We gotta keep our ears open right now, so we don\u2019t fall into the same trap again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo you guys were sticking with Masayuki because it let you get close to me without attracting suspicion, right? Honestly, I had no idea at all. And the timing of that attack was incredibly dangerous for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was talking to Bernie and Jiwu. They might\u2019ve been acting on Damrada\u2019s orders, but it really was a perfect strategy, one not even Raphael picked up on. I had to applaud them for that, enemy or not. I\u2019m sure they had opportunities to target me before then, but it couldn\u2019t have been easy for them to keep their maximum fighting skills under wraps until that one critical moment. We had the upper hand this time, maybe, but things could\u2019ve easily gone the other way, and the emperor would\u2019ve gotten exactly what he wanted. Tempest without Benimaru and me would fall into total disarray, and the Empire would\u2019ve instantly overrun it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy pride got the best of me there. I was laboring under the assumption that the labyrinth is always safe. I need to remember that, during war, there is always another danger to consider.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cMe as well. I will be sure to more thoroughly vet anyone who gets close to Sir Rimuru.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Benimaru and Soei must\u2019ve been hung up about that, but I can\u2019t pin this on them alone. They had always been way more vigilant than I ever was, anticipating every potential eventuality. I just didn\u2019t have my ears up for danger at all, and that was something I needed to improve on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSir Damrada was the one who ordered us to protect Masayuki. He never told me what for, and I don\u2019t think that order could\u2019ve leaked out anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMe neither. We didn\u2019t receive our orders at the same time; it was through different channels so we wouldn\u2019t know each other\u2019s real identities. I didn\u2019t know Bernie was a Single Digit until the assassination order came for you, Lord Rimuru.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now Bernie and Jiwu were a full part of the conversation. I made it clear they had a right to remain silent, so I appreciated their willingness to talk for me. But something about these statements bothered me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you mean you didn\u2019t know or that you didn\u2019t remember until just then?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, I\u2019ve never met another Single Digit besides myself. I only learned Jiwu was one as well when I got that order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSame here. I don\u2019t think any of them know each other\u2019s true identity except for the commander and vice commander.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was a surprise. The Empire\u2019s best forces don\u2019t even know each other at all? Why are they leaving them in the dark like that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understood. Presumably it is for the purpose of preventing treachery.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mmm\u2026 If they don\u2019t know each other\u2019s identities, they can\u2019t conspire to overthrow their bosses. That\u2019s just beyond<\/em> thorough. It shows how careful they are to protect the emperor\u2019s safety, I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can understand that, I suppose, but it strikes me as pretty wasteful and inefficient. If you two were acquainted, you could\u2019ve been working together against me from the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>My statement elicited a chuckle from Gadora. \u201cSir Rimuru, may I speak frankly and with the utmost of respect for you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSure, of course. Anything\u2019s welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery well. If I may, Sir Rimuru, you possess a great deal of intelligence, but I fear that you are not very careful at times. I know this man Damrada very well, and I\u2019ll inform you that he\u2019s a cunning fellow. He doesn\u2019t even trust his own subordinates, and for him, caution is his lifelong mantra.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sounds like Raphael was right\u2014they arranged it that way to prevent any conspiracies. I knew Damrada was one of the three leaders of Cerberus and a man who trusted money and nothing else, but I guess he was that way with everything in his life, huh? And he was one of the highest-ranking Single Digits as well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve never met him before, but he sounds like a pretty bad guy. Given his approach to killing Gadora, I figured he had to be a Single Digit\u2026 And if he was in a position to give orders to you two, Bernie and Jiwu, does that mean Damrada\u2019s the head of the group?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo,\u201d Gadora replied. \u201cDamrada is likely the vice commander. I am all but certain the commander is Tatsuya Kondo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right. The director of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau and one of the people Gadora had his eye on. Gadora said he didn\u2019t know him very well, but despite the lack of information, he seemed fairly certain about that based on Damrada\u2019s true identity. Having all this exposed left the imperials in the room despondent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie and Jiwu were giving me all sorts of useful info; they must\u2019ve figured there\u2019s no point hiding it any longer. They said Gadora was right\u2014that Damrada is the vice commander of the Imperial Guardians, ranked Number Two in the whole Empire. We weren\u2019t sure if Kondo was the leader yet, but there\u2019s no doubting that Damrada\u2019s still way up there in the hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good job, Gadora<\/em>, I thought as I listened to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd to tell the truth, the attack on Lord Rimuru wasn\u2019t a command from Sir Damrada but actually a secret order from Commander Kondo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was for me, too. It was weird, I thought, because it overrode our orders to guard Masayuki.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Jiwu explained to me that she had prepared a backstory for herself where her home village was rescued by Masayuki. That way, he\u2019d instantly trust her, and then she\u2019d be \u201crepaying the favor\u201d by guarding him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, if you were going to blow your covers at the same time, wouldn\u2019t it have been better to work together from the start?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026I agree with you, yes. I believe he was using Masayuki to keep from arousing your suspicion, because it certainly was the perfect opportunity to kill you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking back on it, Bernie realized that he had some questions about the whole thing. Assuming there were no lies in their tale, and considering the overall situation, it might have been that Damrada and the commander had different objectives. Damrada organized this entire undercover operation; it\u2019d be odd for him to order its total abandonment. Maybe it was a sacrifice made to improve their chances of success, but even so, I was sure there could\u2019ve been another way. I thought it was natural for Bernie and Jiwu to wonder about that\u2014and to suspect some underlying reason for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy the way, have any of you Empire guys ever seen Emperor Ludora\u2019s face?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question suddenly occurred to me, so I asked it. Only Gadora raised his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re kidding me. You don\u2019t know what the man you serve looks like?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Benimaru sounded pretty surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, Boss, you<\/em> don\u2019t act much like any other ruler,\u201d Kaijin said. \u201cYou\u2019re social enough to go eating and drinking around town, and you\u2019re always willing to chat with anyone who wants to. That\u2019s just weird!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, come on!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, no disrespect intended. King Gazel has that side to him, too, although he\u2019s a bit stricter with his behavior than you. But you know, royals and nobles kinda like a little more\u2026prestige<\/em> in their lives, right? And I think a good number of them prefer keeping their faces away from the little folk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHuh\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cWhat Sir Kaijin said makes sense to me,\u201d noted Rigurd, \u201cbut I\u2019m still not sure I really understand it. That is to say, hiding your face from the people who\u2019re supposed to be guarding you, even\u2026 Isn\u2019t that a little too excessive?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, yeah, even I thought that was going way too far,\u201d Kaijin agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is<\/em> weird, innit?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot weird,\u201d Hakuro said to Gobta, \u201cso much as abnormal. Um, Bernie, was it? May I ask you a question?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you want to know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy is it that the emperor\u2019s own guardians don\u2019t even know what he looks like? How are you meant to guard him, then?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being exposed to that sharp gaze of Hakuro\u2019s made Bernie sit back up, attempting to rally himself. \u201cWell, it\u2019s simple. Only people ranked sixth or greater have seen His Majesty in person. Our commander and vice commander are often out on other business, but the remaining four accompany our emperor at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The members of this quartet were apparently referred to as the Four Knights, and all of them were so formidable that, as far as Bernie and Jiwu knew, none of them had been replaced in many, many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo the two of you weren\u2019t quite as trusted as those four, then? Are you inferior to these Four Knights in ability as well?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hakuro certainly wasn\u2019t shying away from the tough questions. It seemed to frustrate Bernie a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2026could take it that way, yes. Trying to defeat any of those four would be an uphill battle for me. Plus, His Majesty is also attended to by the juggernaut we discussed before\u2014the fearsome Imperial Marshal, someone I\u2019d never have a chance against. In fact, I\u2019m not sure the rest of the Single Digits together could even score a victory against this menace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s that so-called juggernaut again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, we know about Kondo, Damrada, the Four Knights, and this Marshal figure, huh? That makes seven, and if you add Bernie and Jiwu to that, you\u2019ve got nine people\u2014one for each \u201csingle digit,\u201d so to speak. But hang on\u2014if the cutoff for access to the <\/a>emperor was Single Digit Number Six, then the Marshal must not be a ranked member, technically. That means there\u2019s still one more unknown Single Digit out there\u2014in other words, eight people I better stay on my guard for in all. And if Kondo wasn\u2019t actually the commander, that\u2019d be one more figure to add to the mix. Worrying, indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learning about that was good and all, but I wanted to ascertain something else first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know, I heard from Gadora that Masayuki and Emperor Ludora look exactly alike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gadora nodded. The rest of the meeting hall considered this for a few moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd Damrada ordered you to protect Masayuki, right? And he arranged things so that both of you would be in the dark about each other and nobody would suspect anything. But after all that trouble, you received an order that abandoned the entire setup. Is it me, or are Damrada and the Single Digit commander working against each other here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was pretty sure about this by now, so I went ahead and said it out loud. If I had to guess, it seemed likely Damrada really was<\/em> trying to keep Masayuki safe. Why? I don\u2019t know, but the fact that he and the emperor are spitting images of each other must have something to do with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut you said you were using Masayuki, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight. I had no idea why we were asked to protect him, keep in mind. That\u2019s why I didn\u2019t question the commander\u2019s order at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMe neither. Sir Damrada never explained his reasoning at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They were using Masayuki to get closer to me. If Damrada ordered them to do so, it would\u2019ve made sense\u2014but then the commander had to stick their neck in. This brought up another question I had to ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo do you think the commander\u2019s aware of Masayuki\u2019s resemblance to the emperor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHmm\u2026 That\u2019s a good question,\u201d Gadora said. \u201cBut if the commander is Kondo, as I believe he is, then he most certainly would have known.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cWe do know this man Kondo, although I can\u2019t surmise what his situation was at the time. The stories say he\u2019s a very sly man, who has an iron grip on all the intelligence the Empire has.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, in his capacity as head of the IIB, he\u2019s been called a mysterious figure stalking the halls of information. The IIB and military have never been on very friendly terms with each other, and I had a hard time dealing with him, too. We had tried launching hostilities against him several times, but they all ended in failure. That alone is proof that he\u2019s far from ordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Funny how Caligulio was trying to fudge the details, only to have Minitz reveal everything anyway. It was clear that, to the imperial military, Kondo was seen as a wild card and a threat\u2014and if he could get the better of someone as talented as Minitz, he was a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI<\/em> could certainly never beat him anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Old man Gadora, despite appearances, is no slouch in battle. By my estimation, he might rank up there with a Saint in strength. His magicule count isn\u2019t all that high, but he more than makes up for it with his casting skills. If someone like him claims he can\u2019t win, then Kondo must be at least Saint level, a titan up there with Hinata or King Gazel. Besides, Bernie and Jiwu were Saints as well, and Caligulio went and got himself awakened. Without an ultimate skill to call his own, Gadora probably couldn\u2019t have beaten any of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So now I knew that Kondo\u2019s a danger in a fight and a master of spycraft. And he must have known about Masayuki, I imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut if Kondo was aware of Masayuki,\u201d I said, \u201cperhaps he had different intentions from Damrada, huh? Bernie and Jiwu\u2019s attack was so massive, it\u2019s clear they didn\u2019t really care if Masayuki lived or died. That\u2019s totally at odds with Damrada\u2019s order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie had a bit of trouble picking his words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026To tell the truth, what the commander told us exactly was to get rid of Masayuki as well, since he\u2019d no longer be useful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such was their orders, but after traveling together and building something of an attachment, they were both hesitant to just kill the <\/a>guy. Hence they decided to put off discussing his fate until they were finished with me. If they could hide him somewhere, then perfect; if not, the idea they had was to magically erase his memories instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, it was all crystal clear to me now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo we know that something\u2019s definitely up with Masayuki. I know he\u2019s not gonna like this, but I think he\u2019ll need to be kept under guard for a little while. Can I have you handle that, Soei?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right. I knew I could count on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet\u2019s assume that Damrada and the commander have different agendas, then. One of them wants to protect Masayuki; the other one wants him dead. We don\u2019t know why yet, of course, but clearly there\u2019s a conflict here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes. And if we can find a way to take advantage of this, it could be a great windfall for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be that easy\u2026 But the fact that our enemy isn\u2019t a monolith is itself good news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You think so? I guess. If you\u2019re having trouble distinguishing friend from foe, then you have to assume everybody\u2019s a foe. But let\u2019s get some more information before we decide on matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Now that I knew what was going on with Bernie and Jiwu, I wanted to talk about the factions within the Empire. Not the military, exactly, but the other higher-ups with access to ultimate skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll right. Can you tell me more about the Single Digits?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie obliged. \u201cSure. There are only nine Single Digits at any given time. For someone stronger to take up a position, it\u2019s quite likely someone else would need to be forcibly kicked out of their rank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hmm. Meaning that there\u2019s not that much difference in strength among the top Single Digits?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou mean that it\u2019s possible for, say, numbers nine and ten to swap spots?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cNo,\u201d he said with a shake of his head. \u201cRank number eleven is a sort of auxiliary Single Digit, while number ten is a substitute. If someone drops out of the Single Digits, one of those two can take their place, but only on a temporary basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So there was a pretty insurmountable gap between ninth and tenth, then? Sounds like the clincher is whether you\u2019ve got an ultimate skill. Only if you\u2019re awakened, and that awakening nets you an ultimate, would you be considered for the Single Digits. Bernie, by the way, is ranked seventh, with Jiwu coming in ninth\u2014which means I had to look out for numbers one through six, number eight, and this Marshal guy, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the two of them didn\u2019t know much about Damrada\u2019s faction. They didn\u2019t even know who besides themselves were Single Digits, so I doubted they were lying about that. But I wanted to know more about other people anyway, so hopefully they could give me something useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNumber ten, the substitute, is kept on call within Empire territory at all times, so they can spring into action the moment something comes up. Meanwhile, Imperial Knights ranked eleventh or below are assigned to groups of three and tasked with solving Empire-level cases and crises.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Bernie put it, Number Ten was a pretty powerful guy as well\u2014no ultimate skill, but still maybe as strong as an awakened demon lord. With the remaining ninety Imperial Knights, you saw a pretty big talent gap between the twenties and the ranks below that, but even so, you had to be at least Enlightened class to become a member. Some of the people up top could rank pretty close to Saint level. If the Eastern Empire wanted to boost the Imperial Guardians\u2019 overall strength, they\u2019d likely have to stage a war pitting them against multiple demon lords at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d Minitz countered. \u201cThey want to wage war against someone who defeated us without losing a single soldier?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah. The fact that a hundred Imperial Guardians are more of a threat than a million-strong army sure gives me pause, though.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell,\u201d Bernie said with a sigh, \u201cthat\u2019s how it is. The imperial army serves mostly as a visual threat to people, after all. The <\/a>Empire needs a visible, public sort of deterrent for the unwitting fools who can\u2019t comprehend what real<\/em> strength is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I could tell he was talking about more than a threat to the nations in the west. It applied to the Empire\u2019s own subjects as well, people who paid taxes in exchange for guaranteed safety. If the Empire told them a hundred people were all they really needed to defend the land, that\u2019d make anyone uneasy. In this case, quantity truly did<\/em> mean something important\u2014after all, offense is one thing, but when defending, you need numbers. The more bases you have to maintain, the more personnel you need to defend them. In that sense, the Empire\u2019s policy actually seems pretty sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know, in the past, the main purpose of our standing army was defense. We\u2019d use only our elite forces to attack other nations and sap their will to fight. Once their work was done, we\u2019d send the army over to establish rule in the name of the emperor. At some point, however, we began to dispatch our army first. I\u2019ve always wondered why they did that, actually. It never occurred to me that it was so they could \u2018manufacture\u2019 more awakened people\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gadora seemed convinced. In fact, this sounded like a pretty important secret to me. Now I think I\u2019m beginning to see Emperor Ludora\u2019s objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo victory wasn\u2019t the point of this whole invasion in the first place, was it? And Sir Caligulio did<\/em> become awakened, along with several others whom I think came close. I think Emperor Ludora\u2019s true mission was to add more fighting pawns to his collection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Benimaru must\u2019ve reached the same conclusion I did. And Bernie was getting more talkative, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re right. There were several people in this invasion deemed likely to awaken\u2014not just General Caligulio, but also Major General Minitz, Colonel Kanzis, and Krishna and a few others, too. My orders specified that I should work with the newly awakened to find an escape route once the dust settled\u2026 But really, this is the first time I\u2019ve seen the commander\u2019s plans go this<\/em> haywire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He accompanied that with a little chuckle, but I sure wasn\u2019t laughing. If that<\/em> many people awakened on us, we would\u2019ve had more than just a tough battle on our hands. Besides, now that we <\/a>knew the Empire was trying to awaken more of its troops, we had to admit that our assumptions about them were completely wrong. I thought they went to war because they were confident about beating us and the Western Nations, after all. Raphael agreed with me on that, and it certainly seemed logical to me, but\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026Report. Definitive conclusion failed due to a lack of information. This will be redefined later to achieve perfection.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt a hint of embarrassment from Raphael there. But asking it to read that<\/em> deep was far too much to hope for, and I wasn\u2019t about to do that. So no harm, no foul this time, I\u2019d say\u2014just as long as we can use this experience for next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Acknowledged. I will review the information so nothing is overlooked.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Great. I\u2019m counting on you, okay? Really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll need Raphael as a reference on the Empire\u2019s future movements. For now, though, let\u2019s discuss our takes on these new revelations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo Ludora was collecting awakened people for his group of elite fighters. I don\u2019t like admitting it much, but it seems like he can grant them ultimate skills, like he did with Bernie and Jiwu. Then you\u2019ve got my group, the Octagram, and the assorted champions of the Western Nations. The emperor\u2019s trying to gather enough people to crush them all at once and conquer the world, isn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Benimaru and Diablo both agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite a headache, but it sounds right to me. And that\u2019s why any non-awakened soldiers mean next to nothing for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMmm, yes. Humans are inherently weak creatures, but possessing even one ultimate skill could put them on more equal footing with the likes of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTough to admit, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am not enjoying the thought, no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, it\u2019s fine, right? If those skills are that<\/em> useful, then we can just learn them, too, and we\u2019re good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cIt\u2019d make fighting far less interesting, wouldn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKeh-heh-heh-heh-heh\u2026 That\u2019s rather backward thinking, isn\u2019t it, Testarossa? If our foe fails to possess such powers, then there\u2019s no need to use them, is there? That was the thought process behind the ultimate skill I procured for myself, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, that\u2019s not fair!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cQuit getting a leg up on us like that!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh, such delicious jealousy from the have-nots! I used to ignore Guy instead of letting him taste my envy, I\u2019ll have you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diablo\u2019s a pretty selfish guy, isn\u2019t he? I thought he was backing me up here, but now this conversation\u2019s going in stranger and stranger directions. If we don\u2019t stop this, Testarossa and her friends are gonna start acting real<\/em> dangerous before long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGetting back to the topic,\u201d Rigurd said, \u201cis it safe to assume that you think the Empire\u2019s objective is to weed out the strong from the weak, Sir Rimuru?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, I\u2019m with the boss on that one. This world\u2019s full of people with superhuman force, starting with King Gazel and continuing on with Hinata and Her Excellency, Emperor Elmesia. Keeping these giants protected was what kept the balance of power in the world stable. And if they can build enough numbers to break that balance, well, that\u2019s when the real<\/em> fun begins, ain\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rigurd and Kaijin both got me perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAha. So they pitted strong against strong, surrounding their allies with people who can assist them. That way, the weak wouldn\u2019t get in their way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWow. Pretty awful. But at least the weak don\u2019t have much work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, it\u2019d be a blessing for the weak if it only took the strong to settle wars. But accepting all these sacrifices in order to create more strongmen truly does go against my aesthetic senses\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearing Gabil\u2019s and my other friends\u2019 reactions made Caligulio and Minitz wince a bit. They were both neck-deep in that whole scene, and now the sheer madness of the operation was probably sinking in. Plus, I think Hakuro was right just now. War really <\/a>should<\/em> be fought only by people eager to fight. It\u2019s crazy to get weaker people involved\u2026 But of course, the world doesn\u2019t always work that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy the way,\u201d Gadora said, \u201cI seem to recall that kid Yuuki saying that the demon lord Guy wasn\u2019t happy to see the Empire gaining strength. They say he\u2019s the strongest demon lord of all, so I found it rather odd that he\u2019d be so concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Certainly, if they had ultimate skills on hand, maybe they had what it took to hurt Guy. It\u2019s only natural for him to be wary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGuy\u2019s objective is to unite the world under the rule of the demon lords, after all. The Empire is directly clashing against that, so it\u2019s far more than just a conflict of interest between them. But\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s odd, though. How can someone as arrogant as Guy allow the Empire to keep existing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe stronger the opponent, the more engaging the fight, after all. But Guy\u2019s being surprisingly slow to act. If he was able to, I imagine he would have promptly gone out himself to lay waste to all those fools\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diablo, Ultima, and Carrera all had their questions. Testarossa had the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, that\u2019s easy. It\u2019s because Lady Velgrynd lives in their territory, and if he messes with the Empire, he might get on her bad side. That\u2019s why I was similarly on my best behavior in imperial lands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caligulio gave her a surprised look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat<\/em> was your best behavior?\u201d Minitz muttered softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t know what Testarossa was up to over there, but it\u2019s none of my business. I don\u2019t want to start being assigned blame for events that happened way before my time, so I let it slide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name Velgrynd piqued my curiosity. Could that be\u2014?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHmm. Surprising. Blanc\u2014er, Lady Testarossa, showing respect for the Flame Dragon from the Divine Aerie of Fire?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minitz was clearly trying to change the subject as rapidly as possible\u2014Testarossa\u2019s \u201ccome again?\u201d smile probably unnerved him. But now I was convinced I knew who Velgrynd was. Here we had a True Dragon, one of four in the world; Veldora\u2019s flame-wrangling elder sister. So that<\/em> was the Empire\u2019s ace in the hole\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it respect, no. The relationship between our kind and the True Dragons was\u2026somewhat complicated. But since our master, Sir Rimuru, and Sir Veldora are both on our side, it\u2019d only be natural to pay our respects to his sister as well, wouldn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Um, so if it wasn\u2019t for their current relationship with Veldora and me, the demonesses wouldn\u2019t show any respect at all for True Dragons?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHang on, Testarossa. So you stayed on your \u2018best behavior\u2019 because you couldn\u2019t beat Velgrynd? Or could even Guy beat her?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStrictly speaking, no, I could not. Guy I cannot speak for, but victory would have been impossible for me. It\u2019s not a matter of strength, though. The True Dragons are immortal beings; there\u2019s no overcoming that unfair advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Testarossa was the epitome of unfairness in battle, I thought, but now she was using that term for this True Dragon. What could Velgrynd be like, even? I just hope none of this talk gets back to Veldora, though. I could already hear his haughty laughter in my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSure. So maybe not even a True Dragon\u2019s a threat for Guy, but he still can\u2019t fully destroy them, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHmm\u2026 I don\u2019t know. Not with magic, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can\u2019t kill them, it doesn\u2019t count as a win\u2014that seemed to be the standard for demons, and if it was, there was never any beating a True Dragon. And I think Veldora told me before about how his race can always resurrect themselves after death. A demon could be eliminated by crushing their heart core, but in the case of True Dragons, they\u2019d still come back to life anyway, although their personality and part of their memories would be reset, I guess. Maybe some True Dragons can retain those memories, though, like some demons can. If so, that\u2019d render them truly immortal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI see. And if the Empire has someone like that for us, we can\u2019t afford to make any ill-advised moves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Velgrynd was to Guy I couldn\u2019t say, but to us, she was absolutely a threat. But when I voiced that concern, Caligulio shot me a confused look\u2014and then he, Minitz, Jiwu, and Bernie spoke up in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf I may, my lord\u2026 As far as I know, the Empire has enshrined <\/a>Lady Velgrynd as its official guardian dragon. If you look back in history as well, this dragon has protected us from attack by the angels. However\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHowever, she stays with the Empire only because they offer her tribute. It\u2019s merely a whim on her part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe is a beautiful, noble dragon of crimson, and she symbolizes the prosperity of the Empire as a whole. We in the Single Digits are granted an audience with her after His Majesty accepts us. There, we have her learn our names and appearances, and we swear that we will never defy her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, I went through the same ceremony. I\u2019d have to be insane to defy her. No one could ever win that battle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the Empire and Velgrynd were connected, but not in such a way that the Empire could ask her for any favors, I guess. Also, something about Bernie\u2019s reaction bothered me a bit. More than a bit, actually. A whole lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, um, you don\u2019t have to answer this if you don\u2019t want to, but you said that nobody could beat the Marshal, right? But who would win in a fight between that guy and Velgrynd?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Sorry?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet me rephrase that. In your dealings with them both, have you ever gotten, like, a similar vibe from the two of them, or that kind of thing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bernie understood what I was getting at. He attempted to laugh it off but failed. I also noticed Jiwu going pale next to him, lost in thought. Now I was sure of it. This Marshal was actually Velgrynd the Flame Dragon\u2026 And there was no doubt that she was the reason why the demon lord Guy hadn\u2019t attacked the Empire. That\u2014and the Empire might have had some other threat that rivals this dragon\u2014otherwise, Velgrynd alone seemed like too weak a reason for Guy to sit on his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I turned toward our big screen and let out a sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, great. So if we make any kind of misstep, we\u2019ll incur the wrath of Velgrynd, huh? Send out an army, and she could annihilate <\/a>the whole thing in one go. In that case, working with Yuuki\u2019s force to invade the Empire would be incredibly reckless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Intelligence gathering really is<\/em> important. Becoming aware of Velgrynd at this point prevented me from stepping on a huge landmine. I wanted to win peace from the Empire, but staging a reverse invasion right now would be a fool\u2019s errand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut if Sir Veldora\u2019s sister is our enemy,\u201d Benimaru said, \u201cI\u2019m not sure anyone among us would be capable of defeating her. Perhaps we could have Sir Veldora intervene on our behalf?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It sounded a bit like a cop-out, but give the question some calm thought, and that\u2019s the logical conclusion. True Dragons are an existence beyond gods, even, and anyone who thinks they could fight and win against one simply isn\u2019t facing reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOoh, I dunno about that. I hesitate to get Veldora involved in our personal affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t want to ask Veldora for this\u2014I\u2019m sure he\u2019d be reluctant to fight his own sister, for one. But that just made our next move more difficult to work out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will need to inform my boy Yuuki about this, I think. He can hardly keep his army deployed out there forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGood point. We\u2019re gonna have to rework our entire strategy now, so we\u2019ll need to get in touch with Yuuki ASAP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hmm. I pondered over this. But then my problem child Diablo dropped another bombshell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis sounds like a problem for Guy as well, so I\u2019ve reached out to him. I think he\u2019ll arrive here shortly, so why don\u2019t we listen to what he<\/em> has to say?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Huh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t help but fix Diablo with a cold, sullen stare. He gave me a bashful look back, which almost made me want to kill him. Right when I was troubled the most, this idiot goes way the hell out of line like this\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou called him?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n No, not<\/em> \u201cyes\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>But I couldn\u2019t ignore reality, so I adjourned the meeting and began getting ready for Guy\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Guy was clearly in a foul mood from the moment he arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey. I\u2019m here. You got a lot of guts callin\u2019 me all this way, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, really. But can you say that to Diablo, please, not me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guy plopped down roughly on his chair. He had been taken to our more luxurious reception room in the guest house to avoid offending him any further, but maybe that was premature of me. This was a house that we only opened up to the chosen few\u2014royalty, nobility, that sort of thing. If he started taking his frustrations out on our furnishings, we\u2019d be eating a lot of money in damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The decor in here was selected by Mj\u00f6llmile, who always had a good eye for that kinda thing; he imported fixtures from all over the world, and some of them were as artistic as they were valuable. It all matched with my tastes as well, so most of the pieces were more quietly elegant than \u201cI\u2019m rich\u201d-type fancy. That Japanese sense of wabi-sabi<\/em>, or quiet, simple refinement. Mj\u00f6llmile did a great job sticking to that theme, I think. Rigurd and his kin were still too inexperienced to reach this level of good taste; they never got to interact with artwork before, so understanding the quality of things would take them some more time. But Rigurd also said \u201cIt\u2019s so relaxing, being in here\u201d when he paid it a visit, so maybe we have matching tastes, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, if Guy starts getting violent, I\u2019ll deal with it then. We didn\u2019t have anywhere else suitable enough for entertaining him, so maybe at least a little damage was inevitable. There was no way I\u2019d do something as suicidal as entertain the world\u2019s strongest demon lord in a bare-bones waiting room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His chair was creaking ominously already. It was another first-rate piece of furniture, carved from fragrant wood. A soft sofa is always nice, but there\u2019s nothing like a good wooden chair that can <\/a>adjust itself to virtually any body type. It makes you feel like you\u2019re surrounded by lush, inviting force, at peace with nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If he broke it, I\u2019d have him pay for it\u2014but now I was doubly glad I dismissed everybody else from the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The imperial group was back on Floor 70 for the time being, Gabil escorting them down; he\u2019d be watching over them while Adalmann was absent. Soei was busy arranging for Masayuki\u2019s security, while Rigurd was touching base with the relevant authorities to ensure the city was running fine while quarantined in the labyrinth. Kaijin, after conferring with Vester, was having him inform King Gazel of our meeting and its results; I didn\u2019t want to hide anything from him, so we\u2019d be in touch later. Gadora, meanwhile, was reaching out to Yuuki, reasoning that he needed to know about the current situation as they worked out a future course of action. Gobta and Hakuro were on standby in a nearby room, along with the three demonesses, just in case something flared up. It\u2019d be safer to keep them out of Guy\u2019s sight, because who knows what<\/em> would happen if you mixed them all together, so that was what I decided to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So there were four of us in the reception room\u2014Diablo (the original perpetrator), Benimaru, Shion, and me. Guy had brought along three women of his own. One, seated next to him, had a face that reminded me of Milim\u2019s. Her white hair possessed a brilliant sheen, her eyes a deep blue that seemed to absorb anyone who gazed into them. She was surprisingly beautiful, but depending on how you looked at her, she could also be mistaken for a child. It was strange\u2014and given how she casually sat next to Guy, they must have been on equal footing, and I knew only a small number of people like that. If I had to guess\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is the first time you met, isn\u2019t it? Lemme introduce you, Rimuru. This is Velzard, Veldora\u2019s elder sister. The Ice Dragon is probably a more suitable name for her, but either way, don\u2019t forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA pleasure to meet you, Sir Rimuru. I am Velzard. Perhaps you\u2019ve heard the name Velzard the Ice Dragon before? I knew you were taking care of my brother for me, so I\u2019ve been meaning to say hello to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Well, I was right. She was Veldora\u2019s sister, one of the four all-powerful True Dragons\u2014Velzard the Ice Dragon, in the flesh. That graceful bow to me was so beautiful; just seeing her sit so gracefully on her chair was a sight to behold. She seemed to enjoy the scent of the wood, too\u2026 But as elegant as her smile was, it still sent a cold sweat running down my back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hanging out with Veldora all the time made me think I was used to handling True Dragons, but this lady was just bad news. The danger was just palpable; it would have been more appropriate to call her a being from another dimension. Veldora had only recently grown capable of controlling his aura with decent precision. I figured he had it down perfectly, but seeing Velzard before me, I understood just how naive I was. This woman made aura control look incredibly natural. I couldn\u2019t sense any of it at all, which showed just how well she could handle it. If she didn\u2019t introduce herself as such, I never would\u2019ve known she was a True Dragon. In fact, I may\u2019ve even thought she was a normal human being. There was no hiding that beauty and dominance, though, so I never would\u2019ve looked down on her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh, hello. My name is Rimuru, and maybe I don\u2019t look it, but I\u2019m demon-lording it up around here. Your brother\u2019s been a ton of help to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why do I always sound like such a putz whenever I introduce myself to people? And why does Raphael always clam up at times like these? It was so absurd, I thought, but I still tried to keep smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAw, how humble of you! There\u2019s no need to be so protective of him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Velzard let out a pleasant, high-pitched laugh. As soon as she did, her mature atmosphere dissipated, and the impression she made resembled a cute little girl\u2019s. Honestly, she looks like she\u2019s high school age and no older\u2014she really is<\/em> related to Milim. Thankfully, that smile did a lot to ease the heavy atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then we all introduced each other. The other two women in Guy\u2019s entourage were Mizeri the Original Green, whom I met before, and Raine the Original Blue, whom I hadn\u2019t. They were <\/a>in their \u201cdark maid\u201d uniforms as usual, standing behind Guy with flawless posture. They were the same rank of demon as Diablo, but looking at the prudent step back they took, it sure didn\u2019t seem that way. They were<\/em> Primals, though, the strongest of demons and nothing a mere Demon Peer could compare to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Better be careful I don\u2019t exhibit any bad manners around them<\/em>, I thought as I carefully wrapped up the intros. Benimaru, seated next to me, was the picture of politeness, but I was nervous through Shion\u2019s entire greeting. With Diablo, I felt like someone trying to dismantle a live bomb. I wondered why I decided to take this<\/em> group in, but it was too late to do anything about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Once we were all seated, I asked Shuna, who guided everyone in here, to make some tea for us. She did so without any sign of agitation, a seasoned pro when it came to hospitality. And not just her\u2014all our servants were doing their jobs as usual, as if it didn\u2019t matter who they were serving. Real professionals, all of them, and I\u2019m sure I was watching Vester\u2019s strict training bear fruit here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After taking a sip of Shuna\u2019s tea, I got down to business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo the reason I invited you here is because I wanted to ask you something, Guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUm, so the Empire invaded my country, and I defeated them and stuff. I was thinking about staging an invasion of my own, but then I heard the Empire has Velgrynd\u2014er, Velzard\u2019s younger sister, I suppose. And judging from everything else I\u2019ve heard, it sounds like there\u2019s some manner of connection between you and the Empire as well\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHuh. Smart of you to notice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guy flashed me an excited grin. I had the worst feeling about all this. I really wish I didn\u2019t have to delve any deeper, but things weren\u2019t gonna work out that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo you wanted to interfere with the Empire\u2019s attempts at powering up their army, right? That\u2019s why you let Yuuki live, too, I bet. <\/a>I\u2019m sure you didn\u2019t want the Western Nations to fall, but it wasn\u2019t only that, yes? You called it a game, but who are you playing this game with?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pretended that this was just casual curiosity on my part. In reality, though, a lot hinged on this. If the Empire boasted both Velgrynd and some other threat equal to her, I needed to know about it. If we attacked while still oblivious to this, there was an excellent chance some of my friends would\u2019ve died. So I asked him, my eyes staring right into Guy\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHeh-heh-heh\u2026 Good, good. If you\u2019ve picked up on that much, why don\u2019t I tell you the whole thing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nice to see Guy wasn\u2019t interested in lording it over me here. Scary, too, in a way. I listened on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo tell the truth, I have a bet going with a certain guy I know. This guy has a habit of going on about these crazy ideals of his, and I wanna present him with a little reality check. So we agreed that we\u2019d never directly fight each other, but to use only the pieces we have on hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, they\u2019d be letting other people do the fighting\u2014and whoever defeated all their opponent\u2019s pawns first wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat kind of pieces are these\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I already had my hunches about this, actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHeh. They\u2019re you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah. Thought so. I kinda wish he\u2019d stop treating me as his game piece, but no point complaining about that here. Let\u2019s just work through this and get as much useful information as we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo is the person you\u2019re playing in this game the imperial emperor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was sure of it already but still felt I should check just in case. Guy had Velzard at his side, so it followed that the person with Velgrynd at their side was Guy\u2019s opponent. That may not necessarily have been the emperor, though, so I wanted Guy to confirm it for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou got it. Emperor Ludora is an admitted rival of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He had no intention of hiding it. In fact, he sounded happy to tell me. And if rival<\/em> is the word he chose, should I assume Ludora <\/a>is just as strong as Guy? I really can\u2019t win against him, can I? And there\u2019s nothing I hate more than playing a game where I\u2019ve got no apparent path to victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf I could say something\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I held my head in my hands, Benimaru was bold enough to speak up in Guy\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen, I\u2019d like to ask\u2014what are the conditions for victory in this game? Do we have to defeat Emperor Ludora, or do we just have to subdue all his pieces? I\u2019d like to have more exact guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah yes, that is<\/em> important. I assumed beating Ludora was my only way out, but if beating his pawns\u2014in other words, neutralizing the Empire\u2019s force\u2014was all that mattered, I liked my chances a lot more. We\u2019d still have a lot of nasty dudes to fight, but that still beat tangling with someone on Guy\u2019s level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKeh-heh-heh-heh-heh\u2026 Perhaps eliminating Guy would be another way to win the\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u201cAre you that<\/em> stupid?!\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guy and I shouted in unison. Honestly, Diablo just exhausts me. He must have exhausted Guy as well, because we wound up giving each other knowing looks. I didn\u2019t expect to establish a rapport with him this way, so thanks, Diablo. I seriously can\u2019t have you offending him right now, so my rating of you just plummeted straight for the basement, but thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo,\u201d I said after advising Diablo to shut up for a while, \u201chow would you answer Benimaru\u2019s question, Guy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guy, instead of answering, looked straight at me. The moment his lips curled upward into a grin, my sense of danger went into overdrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRimuruuuu\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, man. I got the worst premonition right then. In fact, it was beyond a premonition. Now I understood when Mj\u00f6llmile looked a little confused the first few times I called him Mollie. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m making the same face right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know, I have a favor I\u2019d like to ask of you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cWell, hear me out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wish he\u2019d hear me<\/em> out first. But this is Guy we\u2019re talking about. It\u2019d never be smart to anger someone with this much potential for violence, so I had no choice but to listen on. Mj\u00f6llmile always heeded my requests, no matter how confused he looked about them, but I had absolutely no intention of honoring Guy\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBasically, I want you to stop that bastard Ludora. I\u2019m not saying you have to defeat him, but just do something about all his pieces and help me win this, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He couldn\u2019t have looked eviler if he tried. Then he stood up and walked behind me, rubbing my shoulders as he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ll do that for me, won\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He started applying more force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is coercion, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf I say yes, what\u2019s in it for me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If this was one of those offers I couldn\u2019t refuse, I at least wanted to negotiate a better deal. Maybe this was suicidal against someone like Guy, but I decided to work him as much as I could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know that the world balance I\u2019ve been maintaining is now thoroughly wrecked because of you, right? What do you think about that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an instant, I was completely defeated. I was trying my best to build a new balance right now, but I\u2019m certain that it was me who took most of the power from Guy\u2019s side. To put it more bluntly, bringing Testarossa and the other demonesses under my wing was a bad idea. If I turned down Guy\u2019s requests at this point, I was opening myself up to the risk of being seen as an enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So my hands thoroughly tied, I gave up and accepted the offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Just as Guy returned to his seat, there was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal Shuna, the aroma of tea drifting in the air and dispelling the tension. She also had some slices of cake on a tray, so we took a break. I\u2019ve already decided there\u2019s no escape for me, so I <\/a>promise this isn\u2019t me procrastinating on my problems. Shuna had more tea and cake in the next room over, so my two secretaries and his two maids went over there. I thought they\u2019d gripe about that, but they were surprisingly obedient about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIn that case, name away is what I say!\u201d Ramiris happily nodded her approval. With her consent, it was time to get started. \u201cDo you have any ideas for good names?\u201d \u201cMmmm\u2026 You handle it!\u201d Guess Ramiris isn\u2019t too good at coming up with names. If she was leaving all that to me, then they […]<\/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-3693","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\/3693","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=3693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3694,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions\/3694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}