Majins’ Conspiracy
「I-I’m dying here, seriously…….」
As Laplace speaks, he appears before another in the room.
As mentioned just now, his body is heavily wounded.
「You’ve taken quite a beating now, haven’t you?」
The owner of the room, a black-hair young man, responds rather uncaringly.
This reaction provokes Laplace, prompting him to start complaining with a rude tone.
「Hold on a second here, wasn’t this supposed to be some simple walk in the park task? The infiltration was hard - much harder than anticipated, but escaping was even more difficult. No ordinary man can get through that even with multiple lives... 」
「That’s because I have faith in you.That, and you can’t be killed anyway.」
「I see you’re still as cruel as ever.」
Laplace begins fake crying, but the young man continues to play dumb.
「So, what did you learn from investigating the Western Saints Church? 」
「——About that.... I really don’t want to say this but…… I seriously can’t find anything.」
The young man doesn’t show any emotion as he listens to Laplace’ report.
His reaction, or lack thereof, towards this report makes it feels almost as if he expected to hear it; so he lets out a grin and replied:
「Oi——why are you doing this again, why can’t you ever just be honest? You’ve probably already discovered something by now, haven’t you?」
Laplace shrugs and sighs upon hearing the young man’s reply.
「You got me there. These pieces of information were all really difficult to obtain, and I was planning to sell them at a high price, yet you’ve seen through me like it was nothing. I’ll accept this defeat.」
「Hehehe, it makes me happy to hear your praises like this, but still, don’t expect a bonus, okay? 」
Hearing this, Laplace sighs: 「What a mean guy!」
「Hey now, don’t say that. I did say I’d give you the payment as agreed upon. Anyway, the consciousness of “that thing” has already been settled. I’ve transferred the “Demon Lord” from inside me into the body of a homunculus.」
The young man smiles gleefully at this declaration. He then rings his bell and summons the secretary that seemed to have been waiting outside of the room.
「Did you call for me?」
She looks elegant and dignified - a model secretary through and through.
Her beauty is decorated by pure, white skin which perfectly suits her braided blonde hair.
Her eyes are bright blue, as if shining with mysterious lazurite.
However, while the light in her eyes looks enticing somehow, it does not seem to bear ill will.
「Huh? Eh, , could you be….?」
Laplace becomes suspicious of the woman’s appearance, yet in her eyes, Laplace finds a familiar presence. He then seems to recognize her true identity, and the realisation quells his inner confusion. He bursts into laughter.
「Why are you dressing like this? Has your highness undergone a sex change? I’d say it hardly suits you to dress like this.It’s completely different from what you used to be.」
「Shut up. It took me ten years to obtain a body that I can move around freely in, these types of inconvenience are more than tolerable.」
The women replies rudely, not willing to let Laplace berate her.
Her model secretary like behavior disappears as she intimately pats Laplace on the shoulder and lets out ruffian laughter without a care. Then she sits down on a chair.
「So, you having me meet this guy means I can put down the act now, right?」
「No, I hope you can still keep up the act at least on the outside. But since we’re all familiar with each other here, it would be unnecessary. 」
「Oh? I suppose I’ll just do as the boss says. But for what reason exactly?」
「About that, it’s because currently you are still too weak, Kazaream. You’ve yet to recover your full power right? If you haven’t yet regained your full strength as the “Cursed Lord”, you should just sit back and observe Clayman.」
Kazaream, the woman who looks like a secretary, sighed with discontent at that.
Kazaream.
That is the name of an ancient demon lord.
There once was a human named Leon who proclaimed himself a Demon Lord near the border of Kazaream’s domain. Kazaream had then attempted to punish Leon for such bold declarations but was unsuccessful.
And this former Demon Lord Kazaream is the being that both Demon Lord Clayman and Laplace wishes to revive, and is also the president of the Moderate Jester Troupes.
Yet nowadays, Kazaraem is no longer in possession of such power and thus assumes the body of a fragile woman.
While near death, Kazaream was able to possess the flesh of this young man in a fateful encounter and thus cheating death. A few days earlier the former Demon Lord’s Astral Body was finally successfully transferred to the physical body of this homunculus.
Right now, his power is much weaker than it was during the days of his prime. As a result, Kazaream decided to recognize the young man as his master and to serve as his subordinate. This was the agreement between Kazaream and the young man, which is why he made no objections.
Having been with the young man for ten years, Kazaraem has fully recognized this young man as his master.
「That’s right. My power has yet to fully recover. I was defeated by that Demon Lord Leon so badly that I even lost my physical body. Sure my soul is able to settle in this homunculus, but this body is too fragile. If I am to fully release my magicules within it, it would completely destroy my body. That wouldn’t be a revival at all...」
「Is that so, now I see. So even the president is calling you boss. In that case, I too shall accept you as my boss. You are no longer just another client. I guess there’s no reason to hide anything from you anymore.」
「Seriously? You are one stubborn idiot. We’ve been collaborating for so long, and helped you revive your most precious president. Yet you still wouldn’t believe me till now... 」
「Hahaha, that’s totally different matter. Speaking of that, the president taking on the appearance of a super model is absolutely hilarious!」
「——Is that so? I don’t really care about my appearance.」
「No no no, the dichotomy between how you look and how you talk is just too much, it’s absolutely hilarious.」
「Alright——No, I understand now. If I must keep up this act, I need to talk more like a woman.」
「No no no, that isn’t the problem here, is it? Anyhow, it kind of suits you bett.... But, how should I put this… WHAHAHAHA!」
Laplace bursts into laughter, unable to continue.
「Shut your trap. It’s not like I wanted to end up like this. This body is a Sorcerer’s Dynasty Sarion special modified homunculus that boss has prepared just for me. 」
「Yeah. It’s quite expensive. If we didn’t prepare the container devoid of a soul, it may have contaminated the transferred soul, resulting in a failed transfer. Speaking of which, if Kazaream hadn’t escaped into my body, it might have already been mixed up with impurities and would have made it impossible to separate. In other words, I can’t really help with how it looks.」
「I really appreciate that, boss.」
But there was no delight in the voice of this young man and Kazaream expresses gratitude towards him. Even so, he still seems rather irritated and was only able to bring his good mood back after Laplace joined in expressing thanks.
「I guess I’ll let it go this time. I get that you two must be experiencing a lot of feelings right now, reuniting after such a long time, but I want to talk business now. Let's hear the results of your investigations, Laplace? 」
With that, Kazaream loses his smile and turns towards Laplace. Laplace also nods back, changing his attitude, and starts talking more seriously:
「Since you kept your part of this bargain and granted my wish, I would like to show you my sincerity as well. I’ve infiltrated the Western Saints Church, wishing to discover its secrets. Yet I was unable to discover any deeper truths.」
Laplace says as he begins to describe his investigation in detail.
Laplace’s mission this time was to investigate the secrets hidden within the organisation called the “Western Saints Church”.
This organization in particular is based in Holy Empire Ruberios and claims to be an independent religious organization.
They portray themselves as「The Just Protectors of The Weak」and have significant influence over the western states. To the young man, this organization stands as an obstacle between him and his goals. This is why he hired Laplace, a member of the Moderate Jester Troupe jack of all trades, to help find any exploitable weakness.
The young man believes there’s a hidden dark side to the Western Saints Church.
If they are indeed agents of justice they’re meant to be, he will have to resort to damaging their reputation by any means possible. But that would be his last draw.
Now is not the time to strike yet.
This is because the Western Saints Church also happens to have the strongest of the Saints, and Commander of the Holy Imperial Guards, Hinata Sakaguchi.
Laplace isn’t finished yet.
「And then, since Hinata was absent, I got to infiltrate the church, but I didn’t find anything suspicious. So I decided to go to the Holy City of Ruberios and the check out the holy “Inner Temple” at the top of the Spirit Mountain. 」
As he becomes more and more excited with his explanation, Laplace begins to illustrate visually with his hands and feet.
There, he witnessed something with his own eyes.
A fearsome truth indeed, that he laid eyes upon.
「I was real surprised, you know. The holy land was filled with holy aura. 」
「Isn’t that only natural? It’s a holy land after all.」
「Did ya hit your head or what? Have you become dumber since I last saw you?」
「No way, I definitely did not! By the way, president, your old tone is back again.」
「Same shi(t)——My business is irrelevant. Please proceed. 」
Skeptical about the treatment he’s receiving, Laplace continues to report everything he saw.
………………
…………
……
After sneaking past the Western Saints Church headquarters, Laplace found himself before the Temple of Gods. This is the hall of the Pope, who acts as the Agent of God, but it is also the place where politics are managed as well.
As he entered the Temple of Gods, that’s when he started to feel something amiss with the surrounding. He sensed a weak flow of magic that would affect one’s psyche.
Laplace possesses the unique skill 「Deceiver」and because of its defense mechanism, he was able to detect the existence of such intricate magic.
That’s a surprise. I didn’t anticipate there to be mental magic on par with my own here....
From there on, Laplace became more cautious and proceeded towards the Holy Church carefully.
Laplace had some knowledge about the enemy organization. However, he had little to no idea about the connection between this Western Saints Church and the Holy Empire Ruberios.
The Western Saints Church worships the monotheistic god Ruminas as their deity. It’s the same case for Holy Empire Ruberios, and it can be said that both are disciples in the religion of Ruminasim.
But in terms of power, the Western Saints Church far outranks Ruberios.
The reason being Hinata.
The reasons why the Western Saints Church have grown to be such an elite organization are all thanks to the achievements of Hinata Sakaguchi, with dispatchments of knights to the Church branches in western states, organization of group efforts to protect the weak and more.
The Western Saints Church was once an organization that spread the teachings of their Goddess Ruminas under the protection of Holy Empire Ruberios. Nowadays they’ve suddenly become「The Just Protector of The Weak」and lost its tie as a serving organization under Holy Empire Ruberios.
The reason of this transformation is the Holy Knight Order, which were trained personally by Hinata. And they are the real issue.
They are the strongest human knights—— and the Holy Knight Order includes many of these holy knights.
Even Laplace would consider them difficult to deal with. The Knight Order does not follow the Holy Empire Ruberios and instead, follows their one true Goddess, Ruminas——In other words, they follow Hinata’s every command, as she herself is a disciple of Ruminas.
This is the reason why the Western Saints Church was able to cut their ties with Holy Empire Ruberios, becoming a force of its own.
But there was another problem..
Holy Empire Ruberios’ military is not exclusively made up of the Holy Knight Order.
There is also the regular army of Holy Empire Ruberios, namely the Imperial Guards which serve under the Pope’s direct command. These regiments serving the Pope are another difficult organization to deal with.
They preached the saying “in God’s name, all men are born equal” , which allowed them to garner a variety of talents to serve in the order.
The condition for joining is very straight forward: be a faithful follower of Ruminas and have combat capability above Level A.
The conditions seem simple on paper but is more difficult to achieve in practice, which is the reason why the number of knights in the this regiment is so small. However, every single of them are all exceptional fighters or mages, who are allowed to recruit their own subordinates. This is why the Imperial Guards are not a force to trifled with.
Even within such a powerful organization, Hinata is still said to be head and shoulders above everyone else as the top knight. Moreover, the archon of the Pope’s ministry, Nicholas Spertus is an admirer of Hinata. With all that, it can be said that half of the Western Saints Church is firmly under Hinata’s control.
The biggest player in both organizations around the Pope refuses to pledge herself to the Pope. Due to people such as Hinata, the relationship between the Western Saints Church and Ruberios appears most twisted nowadays.
What a difficult woman to deal with…
Having summarized all that information, Laplace sighs with disdain.
The holy church is filled with the power of spirits, calling forth the grand holy attribute spirits.
Such a strong aura of holiness strongly affected the Majin Laplace. His senses seemed to become duller, and he wanted to retreat as soon as possible.
Laplace tried to encouraged himself to move on while thinking over his next moves.
He decided to head over to the top of the Spirit Mountain. It holds the 「Inner Temple」which seems to be used for communicating with the goddess.
While within the holy church, Laplace’s instincts told him there were some secrets hidden there.
「Alright, what should I do next...」
Laplace considered what he should do for a short while and then headed towards the 「Inner Temple」across the holy church.
Laplace had been concerned about the amount of time spent investigating, as Hinata would be returning at any moment. But since she wasn’t there at the moment, he needed to take the opportunity to have a sneak peek at the teachings of the western church——The identity of their deity.
(I’ll just take a look.)
He made up his mind and began to climb up the mountain roads.
However, he made the wrong call.
Well, in terms of results, it was the right decision as it netted incredibly valuable information, but at the time, it put his life in jeopardy and gave him an unnecessary arduous task.
Using the narrow steps set with stone that led up the mountain mountain, Laplace was able to reach the temple at its summit.
The temple was rather small compared to the Holy Church, yet the two were similar in terms of luxurity. This small temple must have been the real residence of god.
The surroundings were devoid of sounds.
The holy aura there was much more intense and it pressed against Laplace’s body and heart.
Yet there was a rather familiar magical aura he sensed in such holy environment.
——How could this be? Isn’t this a holy land, why is there presence of magicules? This is strange, it’s really giving me the chills……
The biggest obstacle, Hinata, indeed was not there.
And if any other people were around, though he would not take them lightly either way, they would not be dangerous enough to be a threat——Laplace made such judgement.
But, was it really the right judgement?
With how things were developing, unease started to fill Laplace’s heart as he doubted himself.
(I’m thinking too much, I could just go in with full stealth and run away against any overbearing opponent.)
Laplace thought, so to encourage himself and decided to give it a go.
He carefully enabled his「Deception Technique」and was about to go sneaking into the temple.
Yet in a instant——
He “seems” to have witnessed a light shining through his body. Immediately, the panicked Laplace made his rushed escape to the outside the temple.
「Useless fool. Trash like you dares to profane the residence of “God”.」
An incredibly powerful person emerged from the temple.
Under his dashing clothes, Laplace could vaguely see a strong muscular body.
The short, shining blond hair on his head displays the temper of its owner.
The style of a king.
The two canine teeth that stuck out of his mouth were the most eye-catching.
「How could this….A Vampire——!」
「Shut your trap, trash1. I shall punish you with my own hands. You should feel honored to be killed at my hand!」
What followed right after were strafes of red beams, all aimed at Laplace.
With nowhere to run and no plans of escape, Laplace was beaten to a pulp.
………………
…………
……
Laplace shivers as he recounts his experience.
「That guy sure was strong. I really thought I would die there.」
「Or rather…… why haven’t you died yet?」
The young man teases, hearing Laplace’s mumbling,.
Kazaream jests, astonished: 「Eh, you probably can’t kill this guy even if you wanted to.」
「It’s really annoying; shouldn’t ensuring an escape route and one’s own safety be common sense? But, I feel as though I’ve been getting beat-downs all the time lately. So it’s about time for me to act cool for once and show off what I am made of a little.」
「Yeah, yeah, yeah. But your role is to be a secret investigator, so I’d advise you to not try anything bold.」
「Yeah, Laplace. The goal is the important thing, playing cool is irrelevant, no?」
「Sure, you are both right. I’ll just allow them to beat me more. I may even become a masochist one day.」
「Why does that matter? It makes no difference if you lose.」
「Yeah, just live on and winning at the last moment is enough. Speaking of which——」
Kazaream’s expression becomes serious upon reaching this point in the conversation.
Laplace also nods in response:
「Yes, yes, yes, the more important issue is that he was able to beat the crap out of me, meaning that guy is definitely strong. The question here is who he really is. Logically, the question is how could such a strong Majin appear in a holy place like that? that’s definitely the breaking point. Could this revelation develop into an issue to shake the foundation of Western Saints Church?」
「Majin… The Western Saints Church has connections with even Majin, and on top of that, a high ranking Vampire... 」
Laplace, as if in sync with the other’s thoughts, pushes towards the core issue.
The young man nods in agreement. However, he is unable to hide the shock on his face at such an unexpected turn of events.
「Now this may be an issue. The man who beat Laplace, according to my available knowledge, can’t just be a simple Majin.」
「Indeed, I agree.」
「Hmm, how so?」
The young man responds with doubt, despite what Kazaream and Laplace believe..
「I’m not trying to brag here, but I am strong. For instance, against that Dryad back then, had I fought her earnestly, she wouldn’t have stood a chance. I just thought it was disadvantageous to fight in the forest, plus it would get real annoying real fast if she called for backup. That’s why I decided to run. There wasn’t really any point in fighting her. However, that guy was different. His strength could rival a demon lord. That’s why running away was my only choice. 」
In the forest, the Dryads are particularly powerful. Due to their racial attribute, they can teleport to anywhere within the forest instantaneously through the touch of any vegetation within their domain. Not only that, they are able to “share” all their information among members of their race. That’s why under such circumstances, their companions would surely come to her aid.
Dryads are a difficult race to deal with, and it’s the reason why Laplace had decided to flee. If it was only one Dryad, Laplace would be confident about his victory.
However, it’s different this time.
「That guy was a monster. Definitely stronger than me.」
Laplace asserts with confidence.
The air in the room suddenly feels heavier.
「I see, a Demon Lord….. Kazaream, what do you think?」
Kazaream sighes.
「As I’ve said——we may be in trouble. To my knowledge, there’s only one person that fits the description.」
「Oh？ And that would be?」
The young man asks upon seeing that Kazaream is beating around the bush.
「——Demon Lord Valentine. One of the ancient Demon Lords whose strength is rivaled mine when I was in my prime.」
「Yeah. No wonder. If he can fight the president on even footing, fleeing was definitely the right call. I’m glad I followed my instincts.」
Laplace shrugs as he responds.
He went through all the trouble of invading when Hinata was away, yet encountering a Demon Lord?——His expression tells all the story.
「.......Hmm——The Demon Lord resides within the Western Saints Church. Could it be——that the Pope is in fact Demon Lord Valentine?」
「Who knows really? It’s strange that a Demon Lord would seek help from the humans. President, what is this Valentine guy like?」
Upon receiving the gaze of both the young man and Laplace, Kazaream begins to recall the past.
He begins to knock his temple elegantly with his slim fingers, closing his eyes as he recalls a series of events in the past.
「Despite how I look right now, I’ve survived three of the great wars that have plagued the lands every five hundred years. This made me certified as one of the ancient Demon Lords. However, when I formally became a Demon Lord, there were already six others——」
Starting with that, Kazaream begins to tell the story.
Demon Lord Valentine himself has far more experience as a Demon Lord compared to Kazaream. With immense amounts of power, the title of King of the Undead Vampires is no title just for show.
The Demon Lord Valentine, who himself is the symbol of the undead, has always alarmed Kazaream who had evolved from the long-living elven race to the undead race.
「——As a matter of fact, I’ve fought against Valentine several times. But never did it amount to anything. When beings like us start fighting, even if we ourselves remain unharmed, our surroundings sustain heavy damages. That’s why we began sitting down and talking things over——this later developed into a system which decides on issues based on majority votes——Walpurgis Banquet. And the reason why any decision would be passed with three votes is a tradition inherited from the time where there’s only seven demon lords.」
Or perhaps it’s because everyone was too lazy to change it——Kazaream laughs elegantly. Kazaream's voice fluctuates between masculine and feminine, and while it is creepy, the owner of said voice doesn't seem to notice.
Kazaream’s smile gives way to a stern look as the story continues:
「I’d say, as someone who has fought against Valentine, he only ever sees humans and demi-humans as tools . There is absolutely no way that that man would go and become a guardian of humanity. 」
Laplace nods in agreement.
The young man also begins to ponder over Kazaream’s words.
「Right, then we should make a deal with him?」
「Come on Laplace. Remember, A deal is something that all parties involved have to agree to.」
「Oh yeah…...」
Knowing that he is not an equal to the other party, Laplace immediately banishes that thought.
「In addition, someone as stubborn as Hinata would never collaborate with a Demon Lord. Which means, the Vampire Laplace encountered must have just been some insignificant Majin instead of the real Demon Lord, right?」
The young man says, seemingly in agreement with Laplace. However, Kazaream disagrees.
「No, I’m sure that was Valentine. I’ve heard of the swaths of red beams attack before, there’s no mistaking it. Valentine's title was “Overlord of Fresh Blood”, and he’s specialized in the ability “Blood Flash Shockwave,” which turns blood into beams of magical particles.」
It is said that the “Blood Flash Shockwave” is a diffusing particle beam.
It turns one’s blood into magical particles and thrusts out as a violent barrage——The only person who has the magicule reserves to pull this off is, without a doubt, Demon Lord Valentine, concludes Kazaream.
If that’s the case….
「In other words, the Vampire who Laplace fought is most definitely Demon Lord Valentine, but he would never collaborate with humans. If that’s true, the only conclusion we can draw is that the Pope must be Demon Lord Valentine, right?」
「It’s possible….. And the most logical conclusion to make. But it still confuses how he’s able to keep Hinata in the dark about all this.」
Seeing the other two hum in agreement, Kazaream also expresses his own agreement.
「Indeed, that would be the most reasonable explanation. Although I still have my doubts, there are things that just don’t add up…… But right now our focus should be the location that Valentine resides, where only the Pope could enter.」
He says as he lists out the facts obtained so far.
「Let me confirm this again, he is a real Demon Lord, right?」
「Most likely. His appearance is rather identical to my recollection. On top of that, Demon Lord Valentine’s pride would never allow him to work for anyone but himself….」
「That’s right, there aren't many Majin who’s stronger than I am. If that kind of monster exists in that place, any investigation in the future may very well be in jeopardy.」
Since Kazaream and Laplace hold the same view, the young man also begins to accept the hypothesis that the Pope could very well be Demon Lord Valentine.
「Anyhow, this information is highly valuable. You’ve outdone yourself this time, Laplace.」
The young man is definitely elated to have obtained such a trump card to bring down the Western Saints Church. He shows no sign of worry though, even after learning the enemy is backed by a powerful demon lord.
Based on the newly obtained information, the young man now begins to plan out his next moves. As such, he enjoys the scheming of the coming events….
⃟ ⃟⃟⃟ ⃟
「My report ends there. By the way, how are things progressing on Clayman’s side?」
Laplace asks as he suddenly recalls that upon finishing his report.
The young man shows an annoyed expression of displeasure at the question. He brushes up his shining dark hair and replies with a complaining tone.
「Well about that… he messed up.」
「Did he fail?」
「Yeah. It was all smooth sailing until we had Hinata duel that slime you mentioned. However, things somehow didn’t go according to plan afterward…...」
The young man says as he begins to his explanation.
At the start, Clayman was successful in converting Demon Lord Milim to his side thanks to the use of the secret jewelry gifted to Clayman by the young man——all thanks to the dominating orb’s magic.
In order to examine its effectiveness, he’d had to confirm the extent of influence the orb had on Milim.
「And so we decided to have Milim fight an appropriately powerful individual to test out her strength. Demon Lords are all cunning and unfathomably powerful beings, so they decided to use the least intelligent-looking Karion as the test subject. 」
Kazaream also joins the explanation after the young man.
「And to top it off, the capital of Yuurazania could be taken down in the process. There are many ex-human slaves that reside there, and their souls could be used to awake Clayman as a True Demon Lord. 」
As they say so, the young man and Kazaream look at each other and sigh.
「To use them for Clayman’s awakening...talk about killing two birds with one stone.」
「But then Milim went out of control and decided to give a war declaration by herself.」
In the end, Karion and his men got an extra week to prepare themselves, which allowed the people residing within the capital to seek refuge elsewhere.
「As expected, manipulating Demon Lords with magic items is no simple task. We need to make sure to give more detailed commands next time before we try anything else.」
「You gotta have a bit of faith in me. I’m exceptionally good with mind manipulation magic, you know! My title “Cursed King” isn’t just for show. I made that domination orb myself; it is an incredible piece of magical equipment. The only reason our plan got messed up is because of that incompetent bastard Clayman.」
「It’s all water under the bridge at this point now. Anyway, the soul collection plan at Beast Kingdom failed so we set our sights on the Falmas Kingdom.」
「Falmas Kingdom?」
「Yeah, that country where they performed the summoning rituals in-house and gathered a number of otherworld travellers. And because of that, I thought it was about time to reduce their influence a bit. I secretly found someone to leak some information regarding the Manomo Kingdom and caught the interest of that greedy king and his subordinates.」
「And given how greedy they are, they bit really hard.」
The original plan of creating a new Demon Lord out of the Orc Lord failed spectacularly, so based on Laplace’s report they decided on another plan——Instigate the Falmas Kingdom to invade the Jura Tempest Federation.
That Kingdom has several high level Majin and we got to have them kill each other against those otherworld travellers from Falmas.
It just so perfectly happens that Rimuru, the leader of the country, was acting alone outside the country when Clayman’s subordinate infiltrated his nation.
Rimuru was the ideal bait to draw Hinata out for a fight, the plan is truly killing two birds with one stone. However——
「But to our surprise, that slime named Rimuru was able to escape from Hinata! This is one slime that we absolutely can not afford to overlook, just like you.」
「That’s a rather sharp jab….」
「There’s even worse things to come——」
「In my opinion, Falmas’s victory was all but guaranteed. However, once the leader of the Mamonos gets involved, the situation may very well be turned. But honestly, it makes little difference as to who wins. We’ll just have to negotiate with the side that wins. The real objective is to cause enough casualties——and slain souls. And I had thought we’d use those souls to help awaken our cute little Clayman, but...」
It was a complete failure.
The grand army of Falmas was completely decimated by a single slime.
「Unbelievable right, but it’s the truth.」
「It’s the first time for me to have my plans derailed like this, even despite my unique skill “Planner”.」
The young man is very disappointed and Kazaream looks quite angry about it too.
「H-hold on! Taken out by a single Manomo, how is that even possible? Did Falmas really underestimate to the Mamono Kingdom that much!?」
Laplace shouts in surprise upon hearing such preposterous claims, to which Kazaream made the following response.
「As I’ve mentioned, the Falmas Kingdom is rather interested. It prepared a huge army of twenty-thousand soldiers consisting of knights and mages. Yet the entire legion was eliminated. As said, there was no survivors.」
「Ehhhh! That’s just madness………...」
Laplace was completely baffled to discover this series of bizarre events. However, more surprisingly new information awaits.
「What’s more, according to Clayman’s post-war reconnaissance of the battlefield, he claims that that all the corpses have disappeared. It means that someone has used those corpses as a sacrifice to summon, or create some sort of Mamono…….」
「If I could use all those corpses to create a magic golem, god knows how powerful of a monster could be created? On top of that, those aren’t your run of the mill normal corpses; they’re all highly trained soldiers. The negative emotions on the battlefield have also created the perfect environment for casting this type of magic. With all of these conditions combined, one can expect to summon monsters that can at least rival a Demon Lord.」
「Is it even possible? The way I see it, it’s our loss that we couldn’t retrieve the souls. According to Clayman, he couldn’t even acquire a single soul at the scene, so his awakening plan is once again in shambles.」
Says the the young man as he lets out a sigh.
The young man lements his losses and reflects that the reason for all of this failure was because he has been operating on too many fronts.
Over-emphasizing efficiency and neglecting each individual strategy, that’s why they’ve been failing at every step along the way.
Perhaps I am being too greedy——thought the young man.
「Could it be that the slime named Rimuru was the one that harvested all those souls?」
「What nonsense are you suggesting, Laplace? That’s a feat beyond even a Demon Lord, so how would a single Majin manage that?」
Kazaream is right.
The collection of 20000 souls, as well controlling them would be a difficult task even for someone skilled in the art of magic. If one is to proceed without considering their own limitations, it will no doubt result in losing control of the souls.
Besides, if someone does pull that off successfully——
「Hahaha, right, Laplace. If this guy takes twenty-thousand souls in one sitting then they’ve probably evolved into a monster by now, right?」
The young man smirks at the possibility.
「I suppose you’re right. I might be overthinking this a bit too much, having too many bad thoughts going through my head.」
Laplace’s doubts are ridiculed by the other two believing it to be an unfathomable idea.
The conditions necessary to awaken as a True Demon Lord——That’s something even Kazaream doesn’t know in its entirety. If anything, it will probably require an insane number of souls.
In order to confirm such hypothesis, they’d decided to use Clayman as lab rat. And Clayman also attempted to experiment using the Orc Lord. However, all of these plans have since, annoyingly, failed.
Under such circumstances, even someone as calculated as Kazaream could not have expected a slime of all things to, out of nowhere, evolve into a「True Demon Lord」.
But Laplace’s guess has been right all along, it’s just that the three has yet to discover it.
「Speaking of which, what’s Clayman been up to lately….?」
Having infiltrated the Western Church and almost dying in the process, Laplace thought that Clayman will probably understand his hardship. His eyes drifts off as he asked out of doubts.
「He’s currently on standby. As it stands right now, it’s better to be acting cautiously. But thanks to Milim doing what she said she would, the Beast Kingdom has now been turned to dust. For now, we’ll slow down our pace and reassess our future strategies.」
「Oh? So not all of our plans have ended in complete failure?」
「Oi oi oi, are you mocking me, Laplace? Even with most of my power lost, strategizing is still my specialty.」
「That’s right. I’ll be really angry if all my plans just went awry like this! Despite the many setbacks to our plans, we are, at least, still successful in weakening the Falmas Kingdom. Consequently, the Western Nations will be more unified from now on, making it easier for us to control.」
「And the Jura Forest can act as defense against invasions from the Eastern Empire.」
「I see. So president, if we are going to negotiate with the winning forces, then there’s no need to destroy the Mamono Kingdom.」
Laplace fully agrees with the two.
Plans that change according to the circumstances to ensure that they are always profitable——These are the abilities possessed by Kazaream’s unique skill 「Planner」. Laplace recalls this and praises it in heart 「He sure has his way.」
「Milim defeated Karion, which means the domination orb is indeed effective. Our display of power should stop here, and can we wait to see how the other Demon Lords react.」
「Right. That’s why we’ve ordered Clayman to be on standby. The Eastern Empire is going to take action anyway, so there will be more chances for him to collect souls. 」
「Additionally, the Western Saints Church is also onto the Mamono Kingdom. So keeping that country around should make things more convenient for us.」
So that’s why you two are saying there’s no need to rush... Laplace realizes.
「Which means, our enemy at the moment is just the Western Saints Church?」
「That would be it for the time being.」
「However, things aren’t as simple as that. We must assume the enemy forces consists of both saints and Demon Lords, so it would be too dangerous to act without exercising caution.」
They don’t want to have a direct confrontation with the Church as they want avoid confrontation with the various other forces. Laplace asks if that is the current plan, to which young man nods in agreement.
The Mamono Kingdom will no doubt become an obstacle after they seize control over the Western Nations.
Apart from that, there is another reason.
They must reflect and take to heart the reasons of their continued failure. Next time, they must carefully assess their enemies and avoid taking a double-front approach.
The Western Saints Church, and the Holy Empire Ruberios behind it. These are the high priority enemies that they need to stuck down. This time, they need to be cautious and avoid leaving traces…..
This is why it’s rather convenient to have the Mamono Kingdom around for the time being. By exploiting the Western Saints Church’s doctrines, they can have the attention of people such as Hinata to focus on the Mamonos.
「The Church definitely won’t ignore a Majin like Rimuru. After the defeat of the Falmas Kingdom, it’s unlikely they could convince the rest of the Western Nations to wage a holy crusade. But in order to avoid the loss of faith,they will definitely need to make a move.」
「Indeed. If we are able to intervene somehow and instigate the two parties, and they may kill each other off. We just need to wait for both sides’ strength to decline. 」
Says the young man with an evil grin.
That Majin alone annihilated 20000 trained soldiers by himself. No one could deal with him except for Hinata. The young man must have concocted many plans waiting for this moment.
The arrangement of plans seem to be done. There is not a single sound of hesitation in the young man’s voice as he explains them to Laplace.
「But the things you reported is beyond our planning Laplace.」
「Yeah. I can’t believe that the Demon Lord Valentine came to mess things up. Could they actually be collaborating? Knowing Hinata’s personality, she will never collaborate with the Demon Lord.」
Both the young man and Kazaream note with a hint of anger. The tone itself is almost like saying that it would be much easier to deal with the Western Church if Demon Lord Valentine was never involved.
It’s not like it’s my fault. Laplace feels rather embarrassed as he tries to find an excuse for himself:
「I know, how about we draw out the Demon Lord to remove him from obstructing our investigation?」
「Hmm? What do you mean, Laplace?」
「Think about it, we only need to mention it to Clayman and tell him to convene the Banquet. Right now Demon Lord Frey is on his side and so is Milim. Three Demon Lords should be enough to initiate a meeting.」
Walpurgis Banquet——As long as the meeting is being held, all the Demon Lords will be be drawn to show up.
「——I see. In this way we’ll be able to draw Demon Lord Valentine out of Ruberios.」
Young man nods with a smile, having accepted Laplace’s proposal.
「Oh, it’s rather rare for Laplace to act smart once. Try to find an opportunity to lure Hinata out of the holy lands again so your investigation can proceeded.」
「Ehhh! Why me again?」
「It’s only natural.」
「You don’t say?」
Come on, seriously?——Laplace thinks to himself.
But neither the young man or Kazaream seem to care.
As such, without Laplace’s consensus, the Majins begin to draft a new plan.
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