Chapter 66 - Chapter 3-Towards Rebuilding

I was still dreading the talk with King Gazel I owed him, but today was our meeting with Masayuki's band. That's where my attention was fully devoted.

So I met up with Testarossa, feeling a bit relieved. This conference was more of a summit, potentially—a meeting between two heads of state—so we had to pick the attendees at the meeting hall carefully. Benimaru and Rigurd would join my side. Shion and Diablo would accompany me, of course, and Testarossa would round out the pack. Masayuki, meanwhile, was bringing along Velgrynd, followed by Caligulio and Minitz, with Bernie and Jiwu at the rear.

Our participating members were gathered in the lounge-style waiting room. This was all coming together suddenly, but nobody voiced any complaints about it. Shuna was volunteering to serve us all, even, so we couldn't be more prepared.

As for our aims today… Well, I wasn't here to take over the Empire. Michael and Feldway, the main criminals behind this war, were missing—and Lieutenant Kondo, architect of the entire operation, was dead. Kondo's thoughts were likely being controlled by Michael, and I wasn't about to pursue a dead man's crimes.

The Empire's flagship apparently contained most of the higher-up people in their military, or at least the ones who survived. Velgrynd, the once and former Marshal, was the most powerful among them, and since she had no interest in invading us and expanding the Empire's boundaries, I figured we'd be declaring the war over, working on reparations, and figuring out the rebuilding process. We had 700,000 imperial soldiers we could put to work, but how we'd divide them up was an open question. We'd need to appoint the most well-trained of them as foremen and divide the rest into evenly balanced teams to avoid vast

differences in technical skill.

But look at me, getting way too ahead of myself. Before me now, an eye opening beauty passed by, the breeze flowing past her blue hair. It was Velgrynd, and her gaze shot right into me. Ooof, owww. That really hurt. I had no (literal) stomach, but my stomach was nonetheless churning.

"Did you need something?" I asked her.

For everybody else's sake, I needed to look at least a little dignified. I thought I deserved some praise for maintaining a steady, non-shaky voice.

"Do you think I could have some time with you?" Velgrynd replied.

There was ample time until the meeting began, so I nodded—and then Velgrynd and I had a private chat.

"Is Veldora doing well?"

"Oh, very much so."

"Ah. That's good."

Velgrynd, despite her gentle smile, was concerned about Veldora. My response seemed to relieve her, but seeing her smile like that tugged at my heartstrings a little. Veldora, after all, still had a lot of hang-ups about his sister. I had asked him if he wanted to go see her, and he mumbled something about, "Oh, I have errands; I am quite busy," and walked off.

It was a pathetic act, but it wasn't like I was doing much better now. In fact, I felt incredibly awkward. I'm sure Velgrynd was shy herself. Better not pry too much.

"So," I began, heart pounding, "what did you need?"

"I wanted to thank you."

Thank me? I dunno…

"Why are you looking so pale? Did you think I was going to drag you behind the school and challenge you to a fistfight?"

"Why do you know that trope?!" I shouted.

Velgrynd snickered. "Well," she said, "my journey to find my beloved Ludora proved far more exciting than expected."

It sounded pretty grueling, from what I could tell, but Velgrynd had a mission in mind, so to her it was a journey of hope as well. That must be why she could describe it as "exciting."

"The journey brought me across many worlds, and many ages, in my search for him. In fact, I even paid a visit to your own native world."

"Whoa, no way."

"Way."

I was wondering why she was sounding a bit more casual with me. It should've registered with me when I saw her clothing, actually. She was in imperial garb now, but when she first showed up in our labyrinth, she had been in a T-shirt and jeans. That was her look as she beat the crap out of her enemies, and seeing the footage from our archives was just surreal. People on the scene who saw it, not to mention those getting their asses kicked by her, must've thought it was some kind of fever dream.

But if she was bumping around my world, that also meant there was a way to return there from this one. Of course, I died over there, so there wasn't much point in investigating that…or was there? Velgrynd had suggested she could travel through time as well. If I could analyze that ability, then perhaps…

Roger that. I will begin analysis.

Ahhh, how kind of Ciel to do that! Maybe I was just giving it a new hobby, but this kind of thing was right up the doctor's alley, yeah. It's wonderful to have a little hope, at least. I was sure at least a few otherworlders on this planet wouldn't mind a way back, and I'd love to make that happen in the future. But we'd pursue that later.

"So Masayuki's the reborn version of Ludora?"

"Yes, he is. There's no doubt about it. His soul is all but completely intact." Velgrynd lowered her voice a little. "Now we have to work on his memories."

Hmm. So Masayuki was still Masayuki even now, huh? Eyeing him across the

room, I thought he looked just as unconfident and lost as he usually did, so that was a relief. No offense to Velgrynd, but to me, at least, Masayuki wasn't Ludora at all.

"Well, I'm…not sure what to say to you."

Oh, that's wonderful didn't quite fit, and neither did aw, that's too bad, so I talked my way around it. Velgrynd lightly nodded, not angry at all. She seemed a lot less affected than I thought, which surprised me.

"Hee-hee! You look confused. But I've experienced a few things in my time. Dreamlike moments, brief instants that seemed to last forever, deeper and more intense than even my time with Ludora. So I really appreciate this, Rimuru. It's all thanks to you."

She framed the thanks with a blinding smile, one that'd make your heart skip a beat. That frigid dignity that could send you to the floor with one glare was completely gone. She felt so calm now, like a completely different person.

"Well…good, then?"

"Yes. So let me promise you one thing, Rimuru—I will never be your enemy again, as long as Masayuki doesn't wish me to be. So don't betray him, either, all right?"

I couldn't ask for a better pledge. And she didn't need to worry about Masayuki and me. I had zero interest in backstabbing him.

"All right. By my name and that of my friends, I swear I will never betray Masayuki. I might tell a few white lies sometimes, and maybe we'll get in disagreements, too, but as long as that's understood…"

Velgrynd's gaze turned icy again. Icy and terrifying.

"Ummm, okay, okay. I'll do my best not to lie to him, and I won't argue with him unless it's about something really important."

Eesh. Why was I the one making promises now? I kinda regretted being so honest with her.

Still, seeing Velgrynd express her gratitude to me certainly took the edge off

my nerves. I may've had my reasons, but I did do quite a bit to her, and seeing that she wasn't holding a grudge was a tremendous relief.

But just when I thought this summit would be a nice, tranquil affair, I heard someone tearing into the chamber from the waiting room. It was Vester.

"Oh… What's with all the panic?"

"I have good reason to panic, Sir Rimuru! I just received an emergency message from my residence—King Gazel is reportedly on his way here!"

By his "residence," he was referring to the family he'd left behind in the Dwarven Kingdom, I assumed. Vester was a big name in Dwargon—a duke, in fact, second in nobility only to the king—and he'd been in upper-class circles since birth. I was sure that's why he was so envious of commoners like Kaijin… but regardless, getting kicked out of Dwargon didn't mean he lost contact with his relatives. One of his dark-agent protégés was keeping his house in order, and they stayed in close contact with each other. Exile or not, Vester was still a duke, after all.

Hearing that King Gazel didn't strip Vester of his nobility or demote him was certainly a surprise to me, though. He only punished Vester himself; nothing at all happened to his name and family. He also didn't have any official successor yet, so his peerage hadn't been passed on to anyone else. King Gazel had to be smart enough to know he'd reappoint him to his cabinet at some point. That's why he didn't punish him that much—he just wanted to see some regret for Vester's actions.

Plus, I doubted he wanted Vester's family rebelling against him, either. If they made a serious effort, I bet they could easily trigger a civil war in Dwargon, so the good king wanted to avoid pointless conflict. He was objectively a talented figure, and his relatives were as popular as they were influential. King Gazel had to consider all of that in his decision, and that's how he wound up serving me.

So the Vester house was still alive and well in Dwargon. Vester therefore kept some connections with the royal palace, and that emergency message came from one of his contacts. But what would drive Gazel to do that?

"Um, why? We were going to brief him on things later, weren't we?"

"Yes, we were, but it would appear His Majesty's trust in me has been flagging as of late…"

"Oh, come on. That's impossible, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't be so sure. Between negotiating potion prices, picking out nonmedical technicians to work here, and deploying my entire family to procure personnel for us, I've been up to quite a number of things. If he suspected Tempest was toying with him, I'd have little to respond with. Remember, I'm still resolved to the eventuality I'll spend my whole life here."

Vester really was doing whatever he wanted, huh? I saw him as more sober than that, but I guess he was an ex-minister. As a politician, he must know everything about that world, along with its seedier side.

But I shouldn't be sitting here admiring him. If King Gazel was coming, now really wasn't the time to kick off a summit with the Empire. I couldn't afford to keep him waiting any longer, but I also felt that him storming in with no advance notice was a little rude, too. What does a leader do at a time like this?

"Isn't King Gazel the rude one here?"

I knew he had his grievances against Vester, but that was no reason for me to give him special treatment.

"Exactly. Visiting a foreign nation in secret… He shouldn't be surprised if someone tries to attack him. I'm sure he'll contact you at the border to prevent that."

Vester assured me that His Majesty wouldn't completely avoid custom like that—and, as if to prove him right, one of our communications agents came running in.

"I have emergency news to bring to you! His Majesty King Gazel of the Armed Nation of Dwargon has just requested permission to enter the nation. His group comprises five people in all. What should we do?"

They had no reason to refuse entry, but they couldn't just say yes on a whim —that's why this bureau chief–level agent came in to ask for my take. The right move to make in an emergency like this, I thought. I'd probably be just as flustered. Maybe he should have gone through one of my cabinet-level officials

first, but no need to mention that here. Shuna was also kind enough to bring the agent some water, which he gladly accepted.

"I'll talk to him," I said as I set up our messaging magitool.

In the end, we had King Gazel make an unannounced special-guest appearance at this summit—and now here I was, greeting him. Diablo and Shion were on hand to guard me, as usual.

"Heh-heh-heh… I appreciate this, Rimuru."

"Oh, yeah, like you weren't expecting this from the start."

Even on one of their flying warhorses, it took a full day to travel from Dwargon to Rimuru, our capital. However, both of our capitals were equipped with portals that allowed for instant magical transport. The fact that he was showing up at our border despite that likely showed that he wanted to talk to me first.

"Ha-ha-ha! You noticed?"

There was nothing funny about this, but I wasn't sweating it. "I'm just glad that Velgrynd agreed to have you participate in the summit."

"Mm, yes, about that—you're not planning to join hands with the Empire, are you?"

That was Gazel's concern? I thought so.

"It'll depend on how our talks turn out, but that's my intention, yeah."

"Huh. Well, can you hold on that for a moment until I can hear your reasoning?"

I had no reason to say no, so we went into a small café located close to the border. The staff set up seating for us in a tremendous rush—and the adventurers who were seated there before us prudently finished their drinks and left for the time being. I felt bad for that, so I declared to the place that I'd cover everyone's tabs, which made me a pretty popular slime for today.

We had about half an hour before the summit's scheduled beginning. We could travel there in an instant, but still, we had just enough time to talk about

all of this.

I spoke first.

"So I recognize we forced you to handle nearly all the postwar cleanup for us…"

"That's fine. Our soldiers are still working around the clock on those matters —it's hard work, but compared to dying in battle, it's nothing to complain about. None of them bears a grudge against you about it. In fact, they're quite thankful."

That was good. Nobody likes the guy who doesn't bother tossing his plates and empties at a barbecue, so I was a little worried. But yeah, it had been a tough battle. I was sure the joy of surviving it took all those little quibbles out of everyone's minds.

"All right, so what would you like to hear about?"

There were some things I didn't intend to settle on until after the summit, so I couldn't provide all the answers right now, but still.

"Well, I want to hear it directly from your mouth. You don't have any ambition to team up with the Empire and attack our kingdom, do you?"

What is this guy talking about? That sounds like work. Why would I ever volunteer to do something like that? I had no reason to and nothing to gain from it—plus, it'd destroy all the trust I'd built with the Western Nations. That choice was never available to me from the start.

"Not at all. I'd lose all the trust that I've spent so much effort building, wouldn't I? It'd cost me one of my most reliable backers, and it'd put so much needless trouble on my plate. Honestly, I'm wondering why you think I'm such an idiot that you felt the need to ask that question."

Gazel looked legitimately relieved at my snarky reply. Man. He was seriously worried about that sort of thing?

"Your Majesty, my sincerest of apologies. This scenario was my suggestion, and it is entirely my fault that I have raised your ire. Please find it in your heart to forgive me."

Dolph, recognizing my indignance, stepped up to apologize. I had him explain his reasoning to me, and basically, it went like this: If Tempest and the Empire were to join hands, Dwargon would find itself sandwiched in between two large rivals. Any military operation would become a suicide mission, so the dwarves were bound to lose a great deal of diplomatic power. If their rivals decided they didn't need to listen to a rival they weren't afraid of, they'd be all but forced to accept whatever conditions they were given. That's why they wanted to tackle that issue in advance.

"Huh? But either way, it's not like this is something Dwargon can stop, is it? I have no interest in going to war, but I do think it's possible we could join hands with the Empire."

"Exactly. It all comes down to what you think in your own mind. Dwargon is a large nation, but we don't have the war power that could defeat a True Dragon like Velgrynd or Veldora. Perhaps there was no point in Dolph voicing his concern, but as king, I am in no position to accept a scenario like that."

Gazel looked serious as he spoke. It was a king's job to take responsibility for his people, duly considering any possibility that may arise. Perhaps this was a pointless thing to be concerned about, but they had no 100-percent guarantee we wouldn't declare war on them—and the same was true of the Empire, even if we didn't act. What if we formed an alliance with the Empire and they attacked Dwargon? Which nation would Tempest side with?

These questions were kind of tough for me to answer, too.

"Do you understand now, Rimuru? You tried to negotiate once with the Empire to keep them from waging war. That is perfectly fine, but it didn't consider the needs of Dwargon, our nation, at all. That is not a bad thing, mind you. Your only responsibility is for your own people. But I have to say that I have difficulty accepting it."

Ah. That made sense. It was true that Tempest could form alliances with both Dwargon and the Eastern Empire, but there was nothing at all between Dwargon and the Empire. If they warred with each other, we'd be kept from moving much at all. But hang on…

"Right, but we have an agreement that if one of us is in danger, the other one

will offer military support…"

"But there is no time limit in place for that, is there?"

"Huh?"

"There is no such thing as an agreement that stays effective for all time. Everything must be done in increments, providing safety for only a limited time. In fact, an agreement with a built-in time limit could be seen as safer, actually."

I wasn't sure what this meant, but Ciel clued me in. Let's say you had an agreement you wanted to do away with. Which would be harder to cancel—the one with a time limit or the one without? Without a time limit, you could send out feelers toward ending the deal at any time—but with that time limit, both sides could call the deal safe until it expired. Breaking a deal and attacking the other side hurts your trust a lot more than waiting until the deal ends and declaring war then. That, of course, applies only to your reputation with other nations; someone like the Empire, with its territorial aspirations, likely didn't care about that at all.

Of course, for us, breaking a time-limited agreement was out of the question. The moment we renewed the deal, that gave us the duty of staying compliant with it. If we tried something funny, the Western Nations would abandon us, and that went completely against our strategy, so it was better to set some more formal rules in place.

"Right. So you see a scenario where we'd build an alliance with the Empire and break our agreement with you? And that worry's brought you over here?"

"I am glad you understand our concern," Dolph replied.

"Yeah, I can see that being a worry. Okay! In that case, if we do wind up signing an alliance, I'll be sure to carefully go over all the terms related to that kind of thing."

Everyone looked reassured by this.

"See? I told you that was too much worrying!"

King Gazel was lording it over his men now. Didn't he have a responsibility for his people and all that? He sure didn't show it to his own officials.

"Sir Rimuru, our time is almost up!"

Shion looked at her wristwatch. That was another thing I'd built with Kaijin and his team for fun. A secretary could probably use a watch, I thought, and she loved it when I gave it to her.

"All right. Ready to go?"

"Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… I will open a transport gate, then."

So our impromptu talk came to a close. We left the café, and in another moment, we were back in the meeting hall.

It was ten in the morning, and everyone was assembled in the hall, sitting around a circular table with a notch cut out of it—kind of like the C in a vision test back in Japan.

The formal name for it is the Landolt C. Invented by the Swiss-born ophthalmologist Edmund Landolt in 1888, it—

That was pretty smart of Ciel, but I didn't need any trivia at that moment. Stick to the main facts.

This notch was in place so people could walk through it and stand in the middle of the circular table if they so chose. We had a large screen set up facing the notch, positioned so nobody's view of it would be blocked. Since three nations were now taking part in this summit, we decided this arrangement would be better than having each side face each other.

The notch was on the south side of the chamber, and we sat toward the north. I had the true-north seat, Benimaru was north-northeast, and Rigurd was north-northwest. Shion and Diablo, as always, were standing behind me.

The imperial side was seated toward the east—Masayuki on true east and Velgrynd to his right on the east-northeast side. General Caligulio was east southeast, and Major General Minitz was southeast. Jiwu and Bernie were standing behind Masayuki, guarding him; if they were, I assume they'd worked matters out with each other. Nice to see.

Finally, on the west were Gazel and his band of party crashers. Gazel was

seated true west, Pegasus Knights captain Dolph west-northwest, and Dwargon arch-wizard Jaine on the west-southwest side. Henrietta the Knight Assassin and Vaughn the Admiral Paladin were providing guard duty for their king.

That's how our three sides were arranged, and as I surveyed the meeting hall, I noticed Masayuki looking restless. His face seemed tired, expressing, Why is this happening to me? more eloquently than any words. He wouldn't have to worry. I had an affinity for the guy, so if something went wrong, I'd step up to help him.

Testarossa, the chairperson of this summit, got to her feet. Everyone looked at her as she stood in the center and gave some opening words.

"The appointed time has arrived. Everyone seems to be here, so I would like to get this summit underway."

With a bow, she returned to the south side of the table. A chair was in place for her, so she'd have somewhere to sit when her services weren't required. I asked her in advance to lend me a hand if I got in trouble here, and I was sure she'd guide me through whatever might happen.

"I will begin by discussing the aim of this summit. We find ourselves at this event with little in the way of advance preparation, and I think some things might be said without being fully intended. If that happens, I'd like everyone to avoid belligerent behavior, stay calm, and listen carefully to the other speaker's opinions."

Testarossa paused here, gauging the audience's reaction. She represented us in the Council of the West, and she was used to proceedings like this. I just hoped things stayed this smooth until the end—that was my earnest wish as I focused on her.

"Now, I'd like to start by confirming one thing with all our participants. In anticipation of the closing of hostilities, the Empire wishes to forge an end-of war agreement. In addition, in consideration of our nation's relationship with the Empire, it would also like to ratify a new pact outlining our future direction. Do I have all that correct?"

"No objections here."

Masayuki looked like he was going to say something, but Velgrynd spoke up first.

"Yes, and none from me."

Gazel nodded his heavy head as well. They had both acted ahead of me, so I hurriedly spoke.

"Right, so first, I'd like to go over the current situation with all of us. Anyone mind that?"

I was sounding pretty awkward, but so what? I waited for everyone's reaction, acting like I deserved to be here. Masayuki looked toward me, gaze respectful. I love that guy. Why, yes, I do think I'm all that and a bag of chips. Like, this hall's filled up with the most powerful people from the most powerful nations in the world.

It's not like I was having dinner with the prime minister of Japan in my previous life. Hell, I never even saw a member of the National Diet in person. There was this one time when a director from MLIT (the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism) stopped by to check on our office; they were a client of ours. That's about it, though, and even then, it was just one of those awkward, informal office tours; we didn't wine and dine this person or anything. At first, I would've been nervous even chatting with someone like that about non-work topics; now, I was dealing with kings. Plural kings! It was kind of deeply moving, actually.

"If there are no objections, I'll have Testarossa begin, and we can discuss matters with one another when she's done. I'm willing to accept all feedback, and I'll have any mistakes corrected as well. You may begin."

The conversation went as Testarossa had outlined it with me beforehand. I'd tell everyone to stay quiet until we had our say before turning it over to her; she said this would keep things moving along. People on the same level as me— King Gazel, Emperor (for now) Masayuki, and his proxy Velgrynd—could speak up whenever they wanted, but anyone else who did so risked punishment for insulting the words of their kings. I wasn't sure how I liked that, but if it made things easier for me, let's do it.

So Testarossa began her rundown. She went over how things had worked out

atop the airship, stuff Gazel and the other dwarves weren't aware of, although she glossed over the truth at a couple of key points. Then I attempted to explain that Ludora, the imperial emperor, was actually a skill that had achieved sentience—but when we got to the part about how we won the battle against Velgrynd…

"Wait."

…Gazel called for a time-out.

"Oh? You can speak up later—"

"As if I could wait for that!"

Hey! Why's he yelling at me?!

"Um, King Gazel, is something wrong?"

That came off more modestly than I meant, but Gazel just stared at me, head propped against his hand. He remained silent as his eyes turned toward Velgrynd.

"I know this may be rude of me," he gravely began. "But does Lady Velgrynd agree with Sir Rimuru's statement just now?"

Gazel was being unusually polite. He'd called Velgrynd "Lady," even. Pretty unbecoming of a king, I thought. I looked on, wondering if this was going to work, but Velgrynd just offered him a placid smile.

"I have no problem with it, Dwarven King. I know you are a very intelligent man, far superior to Rimuru over there in terms of leadership. Ludora always has wonderful things to say about you—he wanted you on his team ever since you attained the title Master of the Sword. That's why I know you, and I certainly don't dislike you. So don't be so uptight, all right? Relax, and let's mingle with one another."

"Y-yes, my lady! B-but as a True Dragon, the strongest presence, and the guardian deity of the Empire, can you really say such things in public…?"

"No need to worry about that. You're Rimuru's friend, yes? If so, there's no reason for me to meddle with you. As Rimuru said just now, I was defeated by him."

Huh. That was surprising. I thought Velgrynd would claim she hadn't lost, like Veldora did, but she was perfectly frank admitting defeat. It was a shock to me, but much more than that to everyone else.

"Ehhhhh?! L-Lady Velgrynd was defeated?!"

"I can't believe it. The legend, the undefeated myth…"

The imperials in the room, raised in the lands Velgrynd ruled over, abandoned their silence and verbally expressed their extreme anguish.

"Whaaaaaaa…?!"

"Are you serious? That godlike presence, something no mere mortal could ever best in battle… You're saying he beat you? I can hardly believe it, but if she admits it, it can't be a lie, huh…?"

Dolph could not speak coherently, and Vaughn was having trouble accepting reality. Meanwhile, Henrietta alone was looking at them and King Gazel, having a little smile to herself.

"Hee-hee-hee… How refreshing to know I don't have to report back to anyone about this. If I told everyone, they would think I've lost my mind."

Sounded kind of rude to me. But that was a Dwargon matter, and now wasn't the time to bring up stuff like that anyway.

In the midst of this, Jaine spoke up, taking a step back and observing Gazel as he was deep in agonized thought.

"Gazel, all of you—calm down. I'm not surprised in the least. The whole matter with the Primals wrung every drop of surprise from my body…and when I saw the evolution ceremony, it taught me that surprise was for the weak."

Sounded like it was an enlightening experience for her. That's why she was the only calm presence left in the room, I suppose. But her words brought the Dwargon entourage back to their senses, and they bashfully recomposed themselves.

As for the response from our gang:

"What?! Sir Rimuru, you emerged victorious against Lady Velgrynd? Unbelievable. We must have another feast tonight, mustn't we?"

There he goes again. For Rigurd, any excuse is good enough for a party. And here I thought he never doubted my victory from the start.

"Yeah, well, I figured as much. I mean, I saw it and all, so…"

Oh, great, Benimaru had been sneaking a look?

But before I could admonish him:

"Benimaru, what is the meaning of that? Don't tell me you, and only you, were watching Sir Rimuru at his most gallant and awe-inspiring?"

"N-no, Shion, I…I was tasked with checking on the state of our battle. I merely stopped by for a few moments…"

He was trying to find a decent excuse, but Benimaru never was good at that. Diablo, meanwhile…

"Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Oh, you weren't watching, Shion? What a shame. Truly a pity you couldn't bear witness to such a wonderful battle!"

Don't agitate her; don't agitate her!

I didn't think anyone was as good at harassing people as Diablo was. I noticed Testarossa sighing at this sorry sight, too. You just didn't want to cross this guy at all costs.

"Quiet, please, everyone."

Testarossa might've been exasperated, but she didn't forget her role. Waiting until everyone was sufficiently calmed down, she spoke up to quiet the room. If she stepped in a moment later, Shion and Diablo might've started arguing. I offered her a silent good job for that performance.

Once things were chill again, the summit continued. Testarossa gave me the signal, so I kept going with my rundown.

"…So yeah, after I defeated Velgrynd, I captured her and put her through a thorough interrogation. That made me realize there were a few inconsistencies with her story. It seemed like Emperor Ludora wasn't who he claimed he was, so I put Velgrynd under observation for a bit, and then I discovered a terrifying fact. I'll cut out the details, but Velgrynd's mind was being controlled—

controlled by none other than Michael, the will contained within the emperor's skill!"

Now we were getting to the good part. I was about to continue, all smiles, when:

"Hold it."

Another objection? And from Gazel again, too.

"Um, if you could save the questions for later—"

Gazel heaved a heavy sigh, interrupting me. I was sure he was trying to collect himself with that sigh. Then, slowly, he spoke.

"Listen to me, Rimuru. I know I am speaking out of place…but I can no longer sit here silently."

"No?"

"No! Why are you cutting out the details?! How would we ever accept that a skill powerful enough to control the mind of Lady Velgrynd exists among us?! And what did you say? The will contained within his skill? I've never heard of such a thing. Do you know anything about this, Jaine?"

"…I've never heard of the like."

Gazel was trying to contain himself, but he just couldn't hide his agitation. Jaine, no doubt lost in her own thoughts, was slow to respond to him.

It was odd that nobody was complaining about Gazel's interruptions. Velgrynd was smiling a bit, enjoying all this, like nothing mattered as long as she had Masayuki. The current emperor, on the other hand, had already lost track of the proceedings. He was just sitting there, all but declaring to the world that this had nothing to do with him. I had a feeling such a bold presence would give Caligulio and his people the wrong idea and boost his rep, not that he'd ever notice. But enough about him.

Benimaru and the others looked really curious, too. They hadn't pressed me on this before, given how I didn't really want to talk about it, but I was sure they wanted to. That's probably why Testarossa didn't stop Gazel—but, quickly realizing her error, she tried taking over again like nothing had happened.

"Quiet, everyone, please. Regarding King Gazel's question…"

Her quick reactions were much appreciated, but this would be hard to recover from. Like, I guess we could just let this slide, but now I was thinking it wouldn't be so bad to just tell everyone.

"All right. I'll go over the details."

"Are you sure, Sir Rimuru?"

"Yeah. We have nothing but national leaders in this meeting hall. I doubt they'd go leaking secrets, and if they did, it wouldn't amount to anything."

It's true. Even if I revealed the existence of a manas, it wasn't going to hurt me at all. The only thing I absolutely wanted to keep secret was anything related to Ciel.

"I would appreciate that a great deal, Rimuru."

Gazel bowed his head, expressing his gratitude. He sounded the way he did back in our training-partner days; I guess he stopped trying to put on a formal facade with me. That put me at ease, too, so I dove right in.

I went over the complete story—how the ultimate skill Michael had achieved sentience thanks to the exhaustion of its owner, Ludora, turning into the manas Michael. I also discussed everything I knew about the skill's vicious abilities.

"An ultimate skill…? And no unique-level skills can work against anyone who possesses one…"

"Not precisely. The strength of skills can vary depending on the willpower driving them, so there are still some uniques strong enough to beat an ultimate. Those are the rare exceptions, though. Arts, too, are direct reflections of the wielder's will, so those can hit home against an ultimate as well. I think King Gazel's would, for example."

"They would…?"

"And magic's the same way, too. A magic spell is kind of a skill and an Art at the same time, so depending on your strength of will, you could defeat an ultimate-skill owner with it. I think you know what I'm talking about, don't you, Jiwu and Bernie?"

Having lost to Diablo, I figured they understood. They both nodded listlessly in return. Diablo, meanwhile, was giving us the most distastefully blissful smile as he pondered over something—nothing good, I was sure. I wanted to tell him to stop thinking, but if he was behaving himself, I guess it was no problem.

Shion was mumbling to herself, "I really should procure an ultimate skill for myself, then…," and the like. She realized they call them "ultimate" because they're really, really hard to get, right? But I had the strangest premonition that she'd actually do it. It kind of scared me, so I stopped thinking about it.

"So that about covers it. Michael's got a very special ability that lets him take full control over anyone defined as the angelic type. That's why Velgrynd couldn't resist it, and it brought her under its thrall without her ever realizing. I think Lieutenant Kondo was also affected by its rule. I was told that he was released from it just before his death, which gave him enough time to pass on his will to Carrera."

"Kondo? The figure stalking the halls of information? Him as well?" "It's hard to believe…but I'm not foolish enough to doubt Lord Rimuru." "Oh… So then Sir Damrada…?"

"Yes. I think he realized before any of us that something was wrong with His Majesty the Emperor."

The Empire side was stirring, although not enough to interrupt me. This normally wouldn't be allowed, but there wasn't much point clamping down on it. I kept soldiering on so no one would bring it up.

"Now, we believe that we've discovered Michael's goal as well. It is aiming to revive Veldanava, its creator and true master."

"""No!"""

The shouting began anew. I wasn't sure who it came from. Well, I did, but I wasn't going to start naming names.

"So now that we know they were under Michael's rule, I have no intention of pursuing the imperial higher-ups for war crimes or the like. If they decide to continue warring with us, though, that's another story."

I paused and looked at Masayuki's group. Masayuki himself was unmoved— he was so disinterested in this, it was almost mesmerizing. Caligulio and Minitz, meanwhile, were half chuckling at the thought. They had no reason to fight me and absolutely no chance of winning, either. I'd probably react the same way.

Looks like they're okay, then.

"…But I'd surmise that none of the imperials here wish to do that, and we've already worked out our differences with Velgrynd. Michael was disguising himself as Ludora, and now that he's disappeared, they'll need a new leader, won't they? That's part of what today's summit is about, but would the Empire be able to offer their take on that?"

I turned the floor over to Masayuki's group. We needed to know this so we were all on the same page and could figure out what direction the Empire was taking. That's what Gazel's team was most concerned about, and I felt we needed to lay everything out on the table for them.

It was a big bet, of course. Normally, in a summit like this, you'd state your opinions and get feedback from all parties involved before holding any public meeting, apparently. We were flying by the seat of our pants here, though, so I couldn't guess how it'd turn out. In national talks, you weren't supposed to do this…but Testarossa wasn't stopping me. This was just the consensus opinion on running a summit, after all, and she was smiling like there was no problem with my approach, so I ignored my worries and kept things frank.

So how would it turn out?

"Minitz?"

"Yes, sir! I, Minitz, will brief you on this subject. Regarding the current state of the Empire, we have lost more than two-thirds of our war power, making it impossible to continue with hostilities. We are prepared to accept a treaty of unconditional surrender, but there is one problem to address as well—namely, the lack of a fully ordained leader on our side. This is something Lord Rimuru himself mentioned just now, but our most important priority at the moment is establishing and backing a new leader for ourselves. And since we have this opportunity today, I hope that all of you will accept and recognize our new emperor here."

Minitz gave the speech without fumbling over himself once, bowed, then looked at Gazel and me.

"Mm, is that your proposal?" Gazel asked me. "So you were expecting me to appear unannounced from the start, Rimuru?"

What? Uh, not really.

"I see we've been outfoxed, haven't we? This meeting isn't about Tempest and the Empire banding together—it's about Tempest backing the new emperor and building a solid base for the Empire to grow on. And in that case —"

"Indeed. We in Dwargon would gladly contribute to this. I would expect something in return, however."

Whoa, whoa…

Why did we just go from talking about accepting this new emperor to this weird idea that we'd be "backing" him?

"I am honored to hear you say that, Your Majesty. We, of course, will provide consideration that should prove suitable for both of your nations, as much as we can possibly provide, so please be assured of that."

I have to say—Minitz here was talking and acting like a seasoned politician, wasn't he? Not at all like when he was in battle. He was elegant then, too, but I guess he was the type who looked natural doing just about anything. Meanwhile, I was struggling just to understand what was going on. Nobody could tell because I couldn't sweat, but inside, I was freaking out.

Anyway, if Gazel had given his approval, I guess I was up next. Benimaru and Rigurd were stealing glances at me. I lightly nodded back and began speaking.

"Sure, I approve as well. And depending on how things turn out, I promise I'll provide him our full support."

I was just going with the flow, and now my understanding was catching up with me. Helping Masayuki was my intention from the start, but if you thought about it, that connected to providing aid as a nation, too. If we could make them owe us a favor and build a better future relationship, I was sure that'd be

the end of all wars between us. Even if it didn't go that well, we'd be fine for a good while, at least. We'd let the next generation worry about the far future— we needed to build a "now" for the time being.

"Thank you very much. I'm sure His Majesty the Emperor is just as glad to hear your words."

Minitz bowed to us again. I really didn't need that formal stuff. Let's just keep this going.

"So by 'new emperor,' we're talking about Masayuki here, right? Or Emperor Masayuki, I guess I oughtta be saying?"

"Lord Rimuru—"

"Oh, no, that's no problem. Like, I can keep on calling you regular old 'Rimuru' like before, right?"

Ah, Masayuki, my heartfelt friend!

"Of course, Masayuki! It's hard, you know, figuring out the right thing to call people at times like this!"

"Rimuru! I never thought of you as so generous before! I was practically holding my breath the past few days…"

Yeah, I get it. All alone in a war zone, no allies to turn to? Velgrynd clearly didn't care about the Empire's common people, besides. She didn't see the point in worrying about any of that petty stuff—and the nobility were surely busy with their own affairs. Nobody could think about Masayuki's circumstances, so I'm sure he had to shoulder all that anguish by himself.

That was why I'd wanted to talk things over with him—but asking Shion to relay the message sure backfired on me. I was picturing more of a personal chat, where we'd sit down and think about what both of us would do. That's what I wanted, and I was sure Masayuki did as well. But there was no turning back now. I didn't know anything about manners, so I was just gonna do what I wanted.

"May I have a moment, everyone?"

Before anyone could say anything else, Testarossa got the ball rolling.

"Sir Rimuru, our leader, seeks a more informal discussion. I know we all have our own positions to think about, but would you mind conducting this summit more in accordance with our style?"

She surveyed the hall with a smile. I swear, there was nobody I could rely on more right now! And Masayuki looked happy about it, too. Gazel was smirking and shaking his head, but he didn't voice any objections, and his underlings weren't about to, either. That was the end of the formal summit—now to get our hands dirty.

"Boy, I can't thank you enough. I was about to keep my mouth shut the whole time, too."

"Yeah, I'll bet. That's what I wanted to do, too."

"Fools. We can't have the masters of entire nations acting like that!"

"Feh-feh-fehhh… You say that, Gazel, but you acted the same way, didn't you, once upon a time? Dignity and majesty are something anyone can gain…with experience."

"Jaine, do you really have to bring that up here?"

The tension was instantly gone—and just as quickly, everybody was relaxed.

Masayuki would now be officially named emperor, and we decided that all three nations would back the decision. The rest was just details; we didn't need to act so formal with one another now. I chose to be casual and ask the most pressing question on my mind.

"By the way, Masayuki, I'm glad you're gonna be emperor, but are the imperial citizens gonna accept that? I know we're all for it, but if the people aren't, we're gonna have problems, aren't we?"

Masayuki's eyes lit up. He must have thought the same thing. "Right?! It'd just be so weird, wouldn't it?!"

"Ah-hem! Your Majesty, if you could control yourself a little…"

Caligulio tried to corral him, but Masayuki wanted to clear the air on this— and Gazel was willing to help.

"For that matter, what are you going to do about the lineage? Because you have not a drop of Emperor Ludora's blood in you, right? I doubt the nobility will accept that."

"That won't be a problem," replied Velgrynd. "As our imperial court law states, 'The person so named by Velgrynd, protector dragon of the Empire, is Ludora, the emperor.' I'm sure many people think that's an archaic law, but it's both the truth and the most important part of the rules."

"Indeed," agreed Minitz. "Emperor Ludora has always been reborn as the legitimate child of a noble lady…but in our long history, there are some miscreants who tried to swap him out with another pretender to the throne. The one who sniffed out these crimes and punished the perpetrators is the Marshal—in other words, Lady Velgrynd here."

Well, yeah, trying to swap out the kid was never gonna succeed. If you knew how Ludora's reincarnations worked, there was no way you'd mistake a fake for the real thing. And I didn't even want to imagine the punishments involved. I didn't have to ask to know they must've been horrible.

"That being said, His Majesty always makes sure he passes on his sense of self to the next generation. Even if Lady Velgrynd never formally named him, I'm sure he'd be discovered in time as an adult."

Oh. So it gets easier to spot the guy once he's old enough to gain some self awareness?

"Okay. Are you gonna say that Masayuki was an illegitimate child or something?"

"That would never work, Lord Rimuru. Our senators still have their records of the old Emperor Ludora—his blood type, even his DNA information. We might present a suitable standin as his mother, but claiming that Sir Masayuki is the son of Emperor Ludora is all but impossible."

Whoa. Empire tech had advanced that far? I thought it was a pretty good idea, but Minitz stopped me in my tracks.

"I had no idea this world had DNA testing…"

"What is DNA?"

"Well…"

Gazel was asking, so I did my best to explain while Caligulio and the others chatted next to us.

"We didn't have that sort of precise testing back in the day, I'm sure. I heard it created some real problems for you."

"Oh, yes. People would come begging to me to help with every single custody battle in the Empire. It was such a pain."

That was great and all, but wasn't the Empire in trouble, then? Right now, their "real" emperor was permanently gone, and in his place was Masayuki, a reincarnate with none of Ludora's memories. It'd be difficult to prove his soul belonged to the emperor, and despite our nations' backing, we didn't really have a way to prove he should take the throne.

"Well, why doesn't Masayuki just pretend to be Ludora? Wouldn't that be easier? He's got the same face and everything," I offered.

Any testing could be faked well enough, given the emperor's powers. Then we could just shove Ludora's memories into his brain, and all would be well.

"Uh-uh."

I thought it was a neat idea, but Velgrynd shot me down again. "Could I ask why not?"

"You haven't forgotten about Michael's ability, have you? All the faith and loyalty the imperial population places on Ludora is what's powering Michael itself. If we announce that Emperor Ludora is dead, we could theoretically take all of that away."

Oh? Yes, yes, of course I remember that…

She is correct. Simply declaring him dead would achieve nothing, but if that loyalty could be pointed toward a new target, it would shut away Michael's abilities. However, Michael has likely expected this and changed the target of its abilities from Ludora to someone else.

Yeah. I'd suggested we kill off the Empire's entire population once, after all. If Michael was taking countermeasures, it had probably switched its energy

source to someone I couldn't touch. That, or someone incredibly powerful.

"I'm sure Michael is taking measures, yes, but it's better to commit to this than not to. That way, I won't have any reason to even think about touching the Empire's citizens."

"Yes, of course. That's why, instead of fretting over the details, I'm just going to declare by my name that Masayuki is Ludora. I doubt anyone would dare object to that."

Velgrynd sure had confidence in herself—but then, she deserved to. She's the Flame Dragon, the appointed guardian of the Empire, and the court law stated that Ludora was anyone she said it was. It made sense. Kind of the most arm twisting approach to all this, but it wasn't like anyone could ignore what Velgrynd told them.

"Are you fine with all that, Masayuki?" I asked.

"Do you think it's fine?"

"…Mm. I dunno."

I figured he wasn't fine with it, but he didn't have much choice. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Masayuki."

Yikes!

Velgrynd gave us a scarily gentle smile. Maybe that description was a contradiction in terms, but that was exactly how it felt to me.

"…Oh, I'll do it. I've been touted as a Hero or whatever up to now anyway, so it's not like yet another title's gonna change much."

Masayuki's declaration was made with glassy eyes, like his mind was on another plane of existence, but he was nonetheless certain. Minitz and Caligulio were happy to hear it—they needed a new leader and symbol for the Empire if it was going to stay operational. And yeah, I thought Masayuki was the right guy for the job. Between his looks and his skill, he was gonna be incredibly popular before long.

"Okay, so we're all resolved here that the Empire's gonna back Masayuki as emperor and take measures to firm up his position?"

Everyone nodded at me. Except Masayuki. He only followed suit once he saw that everyone else was nodding, with the greatest of reluctance. I knew he was a responsible young man despite it all; once he took up a job, I figured he'd see it to its end.

"All right. Then I'll officially announce that we accept this move. In fact, I'll also promise you we'll release the soldiers and officers held prisoner in Tempest in very short order. We won't try anyone for their actions in the war, but we can discuss reparations later on. We'll make all the arrangements once Masayuki's crowned emperor, all right?"

"That sounds wonderful to me."

"We are all moved by your great generosity."

I thought we'd all be in consensus on this, but Gazel looked like he had something to say.

"I have no objection to that approach, but I have one question. Sir Masayuki, you are attempting to take the throne while being a known Hero. How do you plan to unite your people behind you?"

He stared at Masayuki, his sharp eyes revealing everything in the world to him. Masayuki flinched a little at their force, flashing me a distressed look before replying, "Um…? I suppose I'll want to give them a world where we all can smile and live together?"

I snickered a bit. That was exactly my philosophy.

"Yes… That truly is the best!" I said to him.

"Right? I figured you'd agree with me!"

"Of course, Masayuki. I actually told Ludora the same thing, but he just wrote me off as young and naive and stuff. I was worried I had the wrong idea, but that concern's definitely in the past. I knew I was right!"

"That's great! I wasn't too sure, because I'm not any good at politics and all that. Now I think I can take the throne with some more confidence."

"Mm, yeah. We'll both have to do our best, then!"

Masayuki and I shared in a hearty laugh. The reaction from the crowd was

pretty diverse—Diablo and Shion were smitten; Velgrynd smiled warmly at us; Caligulio and Minitz exchanged an awkward, resigned chuckle; and Gazel rolled his eyes up toward the heavens.

"I've had it with you people!"

"Feh-feh-fehhh… I understand your concern, Gazel, but neither of them has any lust for conquest, you know. They are certainly both amateurs, however. You must guide them and make sure they stay on the right path."

"I know, Jaine. But it's going to be so much trouble, guiding these people who see governance in terms of these silly, youthful ideals…" Gazel sighed.

He always fretted over us like that.

"Aw, c'mon, you don't have to worry so much," I assured him. "I'm studying, too, y'know. It'll be fine!"

I was getting guidance from Vester and Ellie, too, not just Gazel. Everything would work out okay, probably.

"…You're studying? Really?"

Really. Only when I had the free time, though. But if he was that concerned, maybe I could relieve his mind a little more.

"Besides, I'm not planning to get that involved in politics. You could learn from that, Masayuki. Just let Minitz and his team handle all the real work."

"So I can do that? I was thinking about it, but I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. That's sure a load off."

Masayuki and I smiled at each other again.

"…Well, do what you want. You're not alone, anyway. Spread your responsibility among your peers and grow with them. I'll help you as I can."

Gazel was still nursing a headache over this, but at least he was accepting it. Or not. But either way, he was offering his support for the long term.

Then:

"And me as well; I have no objections to the decisions made at this summit. If the lands east of us remain stable, that brings peace to my kingdom. And I'll

provide as much support as I can for the rebuilding of our border areas as well." "I am overjoyed to hear that, Your Majesty!"

"My thanks to you, King Gazel!"

So everything got wrapped up pretty nicely in the end.

In the years to come, the history books would call this the day the Savior Emperor Masayuki Ludora Nam-ul-Nasca entered the scene.

Our direction was in place. Now it was time for lunch.

Things were already pretty informal by now, so the meal proceeded along agreeably enough. We were offering kaiseki today, a traditional multicourse Japanese meal that was usually the domain of super-fancy Japanese restaurants back home. This was the middle of a summit, so I opted for a menu that'd offer our esteemed guests the best experience possible. Shuna outclassed herself this time. I went with this choice for two reasons: one, Gazel was used to this sort of thing with me, and two, chopsticks had spread relatively widely throughout the Empire. A Japanese meal, I thought, would be the best bet.

"The food here never disappoints, to be sure."

"Yes. It's making me thirsty for something…"

"Don't you start, Vaughn! Whether or not you meant that, we still have an important summit to wrap up."

"You're so serious-minded, Dolph. Isn't he, Lord Rimuru?"

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't mind some sake, either. But…"

I snuck a look at Shuna. She beamed back at me. Nope. Not gonna happen.

"…But let's be patient on that for now and finish up this summit. That's your lesson for today, Vaughn and Dolph. Dedication is important!"

"Ha-ha-ha! How harsh. Should I expect a different side of you tonight, then?" "Hey—"

"Oh, of course," I said. "Right, Benimaru?"

"You certainly may. In fact, why don't we break out some of our very finest blackspell sake?"

"Ooh, that sounds nice! Glad to see you know how to have fun, Sir Benimaru."

"Ha-ha-ha! Well, ogres are known for their appreciation of fine drink, as I'm sure Shuna here knows."

"Whoa, Shuna drinks, too?"

I was only half listening, but Benimaru's revelation that Shuna enjoys alcohol was a pretty big surprise to me. Better sort this out…

"Just occasionally, my brother. Don't lump me together with Shion, please."

Huh. So she does drink. Shuna struck me as underage—not that age really mattered to monsters.

"Ha-ha-ha! Sorry, sorry."

"Lady Shuna! I don't drink that much!" Shion protested.

That was a lie. Alvis was about the only person I knew who gave Shion any competition at the bar.

Benimaru, all too aware of this, had a laugh about it. I didn't really picture him as a drinker, but he was married to Alvis now, so maybe he joined her on a fun evening every once in a while. I bet that built up his capacity for drink. It takes some getting used to before you find the taste of alcohol appealing anyway. Everything in moderation, of course. Enjoy the drink, but don't let it drink you up. We could all learn from that, myself included.

So we were all enjoying this lunch together when I suddenly heard someone crying. All eyes turned toward the sound at once, wondering where it came from. It turned out to be Caligulio.

"Um, is something wrong? Did the meal not agree with you?" Shuna came right to Caligulio's side to offer him solace.

"No, pardon me," he replied. "I just remembered out of nowhere—me, a military man… I know it's silly for me to say such things, but so many people lost their lives because they followed my foolish plans. Eating this wonderful meal, I

couldn't help but reflect on how none of them is ever coming back. I'm sorry; this is my fault… Farraga, Gaster, and Zamdo, too…"

Ahhh, a weepy drunk, huh? Not that we were serving any liquor; I guess he was just getting drunk off the atmosphere. But maybe this was a good opportunity for us.

"Testarossa?"

"Yes, I've already contacted Moss and told him to bring them here."

Well done. Before I even gave the order, she read my intentions and took action. Then, in less than five minutes, several dozen men appeared in our little lunch meet.

"Lord Rimuru! I, Zamdo, have come at your summons!!"

This was Major General Zamdo and his men, the exact people Caligulio had just mentioned. They had run full speed all the way here, making them red and sweaty, but they still stammered their hellos to me between breaths.

These men had died once. They'd been aboard the imperial flagship, killed by Testarossa's Death Streak nuclear magic and completely disintegrated. But the great thing about Testarossa was that she'd actually remembered that I accepted Caligulio's plea to spare the lives of Zamdo and his team, so she had retrieved all of their souls before triggering the magic. She was modest about it —"It was only possible because you had me evolve, Sir Rimuru"—but I was more impressed with the thoughtfulness she'd shown.

So I accepted their souls from Testarossa, installed them into pseudo-souls, then had them placed into homunculi.

"Are…are you Zamdo?! Lady Velgrynd told me you had all died! But you're alive?!"

"Oh, you're right. I doubted any of them could withstand Death Streak. Did Testarossa save them?"

"Precisely, Lady Velgrynd," Testarossa replied. "Sir Rimuru is a very merciful man, you see."

"Indeed, there's certainly no doubting that."

"Very intelligent of you."

"Hee-hee-hee…"

"Hoh-hoh-hoh…"

Now they were communicating via their tittering. It was kind of scary to see, so I looked away.

So Zamdo and his group were together with Caligulio now, celebrating their safety.

Farraga, sadly, I could do nothing for—I'm not omnipotent, you understand. Besides, if someone like Caligulio had the heart in them to mourn their dead companions, I'd hope they would never try something as stupid as war ever again. If you were defending yourself, then fine, but staging an invasion was the height of folly. I know that sometimes you can't solve problems with a bunch of pleasant words, but I still couldn't help but have this thought.

I wished politicians would place their families on the scales with war to see if it was ever really necessary. I hoped that they'd stick to talking as much as possible and try to stamp out pointless wars that way. I didn't say it out loud, but that's what I wanted.

After lunch, we continued with the summit at three in the afternoon. We had come up with our general direction in the morning; now we planned to go over it again and work out everyone's roles.

"All right," Testarossa began. "I would like to start by reaffirming our positions. First, the Armed Nation of Dwargon."

We ran down the list of what we had agreed on.

Tempest and Dwargon would be joint signers of a document affirming the crowning of the new emperor. That was the first step; after that, under the name of Emperor Masayuki, all three nations would declare an end to the war and a new alliance among them. This would be the basis for a new governmental framework, one separate from the Council of the West.

Dwargon would step up to rebuild the borderland areas between them and

the Empire. This included the highways and nearby buildings—not that much, really, but this pledge also involved helping the victims who lived there.

Once they had built trust with that, they'd get down to proper business and begin work on a train line toward the imperial capital. The plan was to take on this monumental project as they refurbished the path the Empire's Magitank Force cut across the base of the Canaat Mountains. We'd deploy teams of foremen from Tempest for the job, working together with dwarven engineers to complete it. Running magitrains across these tracks would open up fresh lines of distribution, encouraging people to travel more. It'd be the first step to an entirely new era of development, and dreaming of that day made me all kinds of excited. It reminded me anew of how much I loved construction projects like this.

Tempest's role in our agreement was mainly to provide our full support to Masayuki. We'd send Testarossa out to establish an embassy within the Empire, with the mission of sweeping away the Empire's old lines of thought and spreading the word about this new era.

The Empire's citizens had no memory of losing a war; Veldora had given them a good thrashing or two over the years, but they had no experience with apologizing to other nations. Anyone who had lost a loved one would understand the pain of that…but those on the home front who weren't directly affected could feasibly demand a second war from their safe enclaves. They turned their attention only toward the profits they could earn, ignoring the pain of others, and chances were they wouldn't like Masayuki's anti-war stance. They wouldn't take direct action against him, considering Velgrynd was there… but they might decide to act all loyal while sabotaging his efforts beneath the surface. It'd be a colossal pain to deal with.

Minitz would help persuade the nobility, and Caligulio would work to unite the military again, but I feared just those two wouldn't be enough to fend off all the seasoned, conniving schemers over there. Velgrynd would probably say something like, Why don't we just kill them all? but that was out of the question. The Empire had already lost enough important people; they couldn't afford any more losses in the bureaucracy. Instead, we'd have to take those fearsome opponents and use them to our advantage. It was going to be a tough

slog through harsh terrain, but the past few days of debate told us it was the only way.

That's where Testarossa came in. With the help of the sharp-eared spy Moss, she could uncover those schemers' plans in one fell swoop. They'd be troublesome to deal with as a group, but if she could blackmail them—er, persuade them the right way, I was sure they'd grow cooperative. Things were pretty calm over in the Council of the West, so Testarossa reasoned Cien could serve well enough there by himself.

So that was our decision, and along the way, we also decided that Venom would continue to accompany Masayuki as a bodyguard.

"Are you all right with that? We'd be putting one of your clan members on a long-term assignment."

"Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… That will not be a problem. If it will serve your purposes, Sir Rimuru, use and abuse him all you want."

I didn't have any comment about that exchange between Velgrynd and Diablo. Pushing the question accomplished nothing with that demon.

Unlike in the morning, the afternoon proceedings were comparatively lively. All the Empire's current issues were already laid out in the open, and we all conferred with one another to come up with solutions. It was a really worthwhile use of the time.

"We in the Empire will never forget all this generosity you're showing us."

"Whoa, whoa, we're still just planning this out, you know. Now we're gonna have to step up and make it happen, right? Thank us once all the work's completed."

"Ha-ha-ha! The work, eh? Ahhh, there's just no beating you, Lord Rimuru. Summing up national-level crises so pithily like that…"

Minitz chuckled over it, but his eyes were aglow, his passion set aflame by my words. I was happy to see his enthusiasm.

We had our basic direction set in stone now, but we still had one problem we

couldn't afford to forget. Gazel was the first to mention it.

"So, Rimuru, let me bring up the most important question—can you beat this enemy?"

Right—Michael, Feldway, and their servants. We still had threats stalking us, waiting for their chance to strike.

"Well, to be honest with you, I can't guarantee that I can. But I'm not coming in this to lose."

"I see. Knowing you, I'm sure you'll take any measure necessary to make those words come true."

"You're rating me far too highly."

"Hmph! When I saw Lady Velgrynd's strength for myself, I was prepared to lose the war and die at the same time. I figured she was strong, but I couldn't have guessed she was that much so."

Vaughn and Dolph nodded at this confession from Gazel. Yeah, when I saw Testarossa get taken down, I thought it was over, too. I got kinda angry after that, letting me overcome my fear—and really, the next thing I knew, it was over. But looking back, it's almost a mystery why we won.

At least I had Ciel now. That, and Veldora and Diablo's demons. I wasn't alone, and that in itself gave me strength.

"Well, I didn't think I'd ever let some slime defeat me. But…I'm thankful for that now, and I'm sure my elder sister Velzard could fare no better against you."

Velgrynd seemed unperturbed by Gazel's words. I wasn't so sure I could beat Velzard, given the reports of her beating Veldora in a one-sided whipping, but I knew that was what Velgrynd truly believed.

"Please, you're flattering me too much. I'm a little embarrassed."

"Oh, quit being so modest. You beat me in pure ability, not luck or anything. And it wasn't even close, either. You know that."

Velgrynd wasn't ashamed of her loss because it was all in the past to her, I bet. She had already dealt with it, and now she was accepting of it. Those types of people are the scarier ones. I secretly increased my level of caution around

her.

Now it was time for me to give my honest opinion.

"The fact is, we don't know the enemy's fighting ability, and we can't predict how they'll come for us. Regardless of their goals, I'd like to know what they'll aim for—and what methods they'll take."

I placed several people up on the meeting hall's giant screen.

"So these are the enemies who invaded the labyrinth. These existence points are a general measure of their strength, but they're around three million each, which puts them right there with the upper echelon of my own officers. I'd prefer not to fight any of them one-on-one, but they're going to be tough to fend off."

I then revealed as much as I knew about them. After I did, Velgrynd spoke up to provide some details.

"I defeated all of them, but let me give you a word of advice. These are ancient people, servants who aided my elder brother Veldanava, and they're as much trouble to deal with as the Primal Demons. Their actual bodies remained sealed away; what we saw earlier were just the weakened Separate Body versions. They can't be beaten by regular means, so all of us should remain careful here."

None of us really knew how to react. Didn't Velgrynd have no trouble at all destroying them?

That is the effect of Velgrynd's ability to leap across dimensions. Velgrynd herself can only make her leaps if she has a piece of Ludora's soul to aim toward, but she wouldn't have any trouble directing her strikes at those targets.

I see… So Velgrynd could just trace the connection Cornu had to his Separate Body to destroy his main body as well?

I believe that to be correct. This Dimensional Combo, capable of landing attacks across space and time, is impossible to escape even with Parallel Existence.

Really? That's crazy. Velgrynd is just too awesome.

I didn't know how much experience she had built over time, but she used all her abilities to a scary level of perfection. She had been great to start with, and now she was even better. Veldora had earned Parallel Existence as well, which he was delighted about, but I didn't think it'd really do anything at all for him. If he knew that…well, I'd pity him then, to be sure.

I wasn't the only one who didn't know how to react to this news. The imperials, along with Gazel and his team, seemed to chew over Velgrynd's words. To the Empire, Velgrynd still served as a last-resort measure; if things got bad, she'd figure something out for them. Dwargon, on the other hand, had problems.

"So we could not beat them…?"

"It seems so. We have no countermeasures, sadly."

"Vaughn!"

"It's the truth. No point trying to act tough about it—we should be frank with one another and work out a solution, shouldn't we?"

"Mm, you're not wrong, but…"

"No, Vaughn's exactly right. We can't beat this enemy, but we still need to think about what we'll do when they appear. Lord Rimuru, based on what you know about Michael and the Mystic Lord's goals, do you think Dwargon might become involved?"

Hmm. Didn't seem too likely, did it?

"I think you're all right on that count, probably," I said. "Not that you'd be safe—I just mean you're lower on the priority list."

"Yes," Gazel agreed. "If the enemy seeks to revive the god Veldanava, I suppose Dwargon isn't even a blip in their minds."

"Rude way to put it, but I suppose that's accurate."

"No matter. Rather disappointing to hear as a man of the sword, but as king of a nation, it does put my mind at ease." Gazel smiled. "Regarding those methods, however… Is the enemy that serious about this mission of theirs?"

"Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… You mean about gathering Sir Veldora and Lady

Velzard's power to resurrect Sir Veldanava? A foolish idea at best, I'd say."

"Sir Veldanava is immortal as it stands. It's incredibly presumptuous for mere humans to attempt reviving him."

Diablo was sneering at the idea, and Benimaru was enraged by it. It was a mystery why Veldanava wasn't waking up, but yes, True Dragons were immortal. I agreed that the idea wasn't likely to work.

"But in that case, would they try to go for the Dragon Princess, perhaps?"

Caligulio was sharp to notice that. Yes, Milim had inherited the powers of Veldanava, which would certainly make her a target.

"I can't rule out the potential," Velgrynd replied. "But they'd be killing their own chances if they tried laying hands on my elder brother's beloved. If all they sought was his power, that's one thing, but if they truly plan to resurrect him, I'd hope they wouldn't do anything to rile him like that."

Yeah, Milim was pretty strong, and I didn't think she had any angel-type ultimate skills. Carillon and Frey were awakened as well, so I didn't feel I had to worry about any of them. If Velgrynd agreed with me, I think just a warning to tip them off would be good enough. But I still had a concern.

"You're making it sound like Veldanava doesn't care about his brother and sisters at all."

"That's pretty rude of you."

Velgrynd looked at me, more exasperated than angry.

"Um, sorry. Just being honest and stuff…"

"It's fine."

Good. Velgrynd's generosity saved me again. I'll try to be careful next time.

"It's not that he doesn't care. True Dragons simply think in different ways from those with limited life spans. My sister Velzard is the same way; she's obliterated Veldora countless times in the name of 'educating' him. Thus, I'm sure that once Veldanava is revived, they'll want to release all our powers as well."

Ah, makes sense. It'd be like what I did—eating them up, then making them get resurrected. Their memories would be retained as well, and they wouldn't care if their personalities changed or whatever.

"So Lady Milim isn't a True Dragon, and therefore she's not immortal. And if she was killed, that would incite Sir Veldanava's rage."

Testarossa summed up Velgrynd's thoughts for us. It wasn't a lock, but I felt like that was the right thought to have.

"Okay," I said. "In that case, let me at least warn Milim."

Velgrynd nodded and turned toward Masayuki next to her. "You look like you think this doesn't involve you, Masayuki…but you're absolutely being targeted as well. You need to be the most careful of all here."

"Huh?! So they still haven't given up?"

"Your Majesty…unlike the labyrinth we're in, you can't be revived if you die in the Empire! You need to realize that and take better care of yourself!"

"We will stake our lives protecting you, but this is no normal enemy. We need you to take ample care in what you see and do for us."

"Sure, sure. I mean, um, yes. Thank you."

With that half-hearted reply, our afternoon discussions came to a close.

The dinner was pretty luxuriant—a full-course Italian meal.

It began with a beet soup (or something close to beets), then continued with a duck-gizzard confit and zeppoline. That was followed by vegetable couscous and a lightly grilled, medium-fatty fillet of spear tuna.

Everything was top-notch, but it didn't end there. There was a panna cotta with tank prawn, involtini with battleship fish, fortress-crab spaghetti—a truly heavenly menu brought to our tables. After an intermezzo of mushroom risotto, we were presented with a seafood soup containing the essence from all the day's fresh seafood. Every spoonful had a distinct taste, making it an exquisite masterpiece. Crafting it took half a day of simmering assorted soups and mixing them together, an incredible amount of work.

Our cooks put their lives into this menu, filling it with the kinds of hidden delicacies you'd get to enjoy maybe once a year. It was topped off with the evening's main dish—fillet of cowdeer veal. Gently cutting off a piece and putting it in my mouth, I found it melted before I even chewed it.

It was good. It was so good!! Benimaru and I gave each other high fives after we were done. No need for words—that was good enough. I mean, I normally talk my head off at meals, but everyone was silent tonight. Maybe that was a sign of just how satisfied we were. Only when the white-wine yogurt dessert was passed out did we express our opinions.

"What is this…deliciousness?! As an imperial noble, I'd like to believe I've enjoyed many good things, but this is on another level!"

"I know. Even as a prisoner of war, I was looking forward to the food here, and I don't think I've experienced such bliss in my life. Thank you, Lord Rimuru!"

"Man, y'know, if I get to eat stuff like this, maybe I'll put up with being emperor after all."

"I've studied cuisine myself, but I'll never get this good. No waste to it at all, but you can tell they carefully considered everyone consuming this here."

The imperial crowd sure dug it. But the Dwargon panel wasn't sitting there quietly, either.

"Well, Rimuru, it looks like your kitchen staff has improved their cooking skills again. Lady Shuna was her name, wasn't it? I'd love to invite her to our kingdom and have her teach us some recipes."

"So true. I'm more a fan of excellent drink than fine food, but I'll make an exception for this any day. The lack of quantity was a little annoying, but now it's made me want to enjoy it all over again. Everything's so carefully calculated to make me think that!"

"Nah, I'm not so sure about that, but I do agree with you on wanting to have more of everything on the menu."

"…Ah! Whoa! It was so delicious, I almost caught myself traveling to the afterlife for a moment."

"If you are, Lady Jaine, at least you cleaned your plate first, huh?" "Oh, enough from you, Henrietta! You ate just as much as I did!" "What?! It's rude to point that out, you know! Whether it's true or not!"

With dwarves, pretty much any kind of food worked as long as the drink was good, so I really wanted to wow them with this meal. Thanks to Shuna and her team, I'd call this mission accomplished for sure.

Even with all this, though, Shion and Diablo were the same as always. Diablo was pouring drinks for people, ever the faithful butler, while Shion was standing tall and motionless as my bodyguard. But I knew the truth. Shuna had told me she made a habit of stealing bites from the kitchen, calling it "testing for poison." Tonight she was even taking seconds, apparently. At least I didn't have to worry about her going hungry.

Now we were all relaxing post-dinner in the meeting hall's lounge, chatting and enjoying some coffee. Everyone was excitedly talking about the meals and their personal lives, but then Gazel lumbered right up to me.

"By the way, Rimuru, something is bothering me."

"Mm? What's up?"

"You did it again, didn't you?"

"Um…?"

"You evolved all your close advisers. Particularly Benimaru over there." "Oh, uh, yeah."

Great. He was gonna yell at me, wasn't he? I wished he'd stop springing this stuff on me out of nowhere. Wouldn't hurt him to give me some time to come up with excuses, would it?

But as I feared the worst, Gazel smiled from ear to ear. "Oh, don't be nervous. I'm not angry with you. The blood drained from my head when Jaine first told me, but now I realize what you did was eminently necessary."

"Y-yes, of course."

Phew. If he wasn't gonna yell at me, then great.

"But you're gonna have a lot of explaining to do, you know." "How do you mean?"

"Didn't it occur to you? The Western Nations, the Western Holy Church, Thalion, all the other human nations—they were watching this war closely, too. Declaring an end to it is fine, but you're gonna have to explain what happened during it, too."

"Well, I thought I could just make up some stuff…"

No way anyone would believe an earnest explanation. As long as I didn't tell anyone that my pals got evolved to awakened-demon-lord level, no one would ever find out, I don't think. I figured that fabricating some kinda story wouldn't be a problem, but…

"Yes, well, that would work with the Western Nations well enough. Blumund might have their doubts, but the rest are too peaceful to care about the details —and if anyone has questions, they probably won't press you with them, considering Tempest is pretty much an allied nation to them."

Right?

"So no problems, then?"

"Ohhh, yes there are! You won't trick that girl, for one. She'll ask you for an official explanation, you realize. What will you do then?"

Um, "that girl"?

Oh! Wait—that one?

"You mean Ellie? Well, I already told her, so no worries there."

Elmesia was worried about us as well, so Mjöllmile and I talked things over with her. They were considering their moves if we faltered and Thalion had refugees on their doorstep.

The three of us, as the Three Pranksters, maintained emergency contact with one another via a very handy magitool—compact and hinged like a flip phone. It provided encrypted voice chat via electronic and geomagnetic waves, making it

impervious to magical jamming. All of its components used rare, sought-after materials, though, making each handset worth a small fortune. I didn't even have enough to give to my top officials, which should tell you a lot about how much they cost.

But either way, these devices let me chat directly with Elmesia anytime I wanted. Before this party began, I dropped her a quick line just to say, "Hey, we won," and stuff. "Okay," she'd replied, "that's a relief. I'll stop by again soon to talk in depth, all right?" So no, Gazel had nothing to worry about on that count.

And yet…

"Did you just say Ellie?!"

Gazel shouted that at the top of his lungs as he stared wide-eyed at me, like he couldn't believe what I'd just said. Weird.

"What was so surprising about that?"

"Don't play dumb with me! Since when were you that intimate with the Heavenly Emperor?!"

Oh, that. Well…you know, I'm good at that kinda thing.

No matter how scary the other side is, I start with a conversation. It's important that you understand what they're trying to say. When I was running construction sites, I'd sometimes get into it with angry neighbors shouting at me with their complaints, but once they calmed down and talked things over, their problems could often be easily solved.

Not that everything works out great all the time. When it does, you just have to listen and keep listening. Then the other side will warm up to you; they'll see you as someone who understands what they're saying. That, and it'll buy you time until a solution comes along. You don't really have to do anything—just listen to the complaining and play along. Then they'll warm up to you, and it'll work out as I described it.

In my life, I always saw communication—the way I interacted with people—as the most important thing. That held true when I met with Elmesia, too; we kind of became friends without my realizing it. You might think it was because of all the drinking we did, but, well, I forgot how it happened anyway. Forgetting

inconvenient truths is another key in muddling through life, although it's also key to sizing up your regrets and avoiding the same mistake next time. It's a tough balance, and I'm still working on it today.

"Well, I have to keep the details a secret, but yes, we get along pretty well."

I didn't need to confess to getting drunk and shooting off my mouth around her. So I dodged the question, but Gazel wasn't buying it.

"Listen to me, Rimuru—merely gaining an audience with the Heavenly Emperor of Thalion takes a monumental effort. You'd be lucky if you only have to wait months for the chance; if we in Dwargon sent a request, we'd be waiting at least six. She's got such a long life span, a month feels like a day to her. But you claim you can get in touch with her that easily?"

"Uh…"

"I-indeed, Lord Rimuru! Thalion is very important to us in the Empire as well. Imagine, you having those sorts of connections…"

Now Caligulio was joining the conversation. He explained that the Empire once saw Thalion as its biggest threat, believing them to possess as-yet-unseen magical weapons. The plan was to attack and invade them last.

Gazel nodded at all this. A lot of the Western Nations kept a keen eye on Thalion as well; it was a gigantic nation that could easily take over the entire economy of the west, so they had good reason to. And here's me, talking their leader up on the phone with no appointment. I wouldn't have known, but yeah, I was sure it sounded pretty unbelievable. It was the truth, though.

"Ha…ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. I, uh, I guess you can call it luck?"

"Pfft. It's typical for you, eh, Sir Rimuru?"

"Yes, exactly! In fact, I'm sure Thalion is elated at the chance to stay so close to him!"

Diablo and Shion were singing my praises, but as I saw Gazel sighing to himself, I thought about how nice it'd be if they'd shut up at times like these.

Surprisingly, Minitz agreed with my secretaries. "Yes… If the Heavenly Emperor understands the value Sir Rimuru brings to her, her wanting to keep in

touch would make sense."

"True," Caligulio said. "And a leader that fearsome would certainly have the intelligence to see that. Our Empire believed Thalion wouldn't deploy their Magus corps in this war—but if their Heavenly Emperor expected that, perhaps Thalion would've targeted our nation if Tempest faltered in the battle. Perhaps we dodged a bullet after all."

Sounded like they were warier of Thalion than I thought. I never saw them as that dangerous a presence, but now I was glad I made friends with them. I had a standing invite from Ellie to pay her another visit, and I definitely had a lot I wanted to learn from her nation.

"I'm sure this information was all classified, but now I'm wondering how much our Imperial Information Bureau was keeping from us."

"Unfortunately," a smiling Velgrynd said to Minitz, "I didn't know anything about this, either. Or maybe I simply forgot about it. It was a long time ago."

Given her mean streak, I was sure she'd forgotten about nothing in the past. "Oh, did you want to say something to me?"

"No, nothing…"

Scary. It was like she was reading my mind. I hated making people like her angry.

Still, I didn't expect my friendship with Elmesia to provoke that much surprise. Better not tell anyone that Mjöllmile was in with us. There was the whole REG thing we had going, too, and I definitely didn't want to blab about that.

I silently swore to keep that to myself as I enjoyed the rest of the night.

Gazel and his team left the next morning. Caligulio was preparing to march our captured imperial forces back to the Empire, following the directions we'd decided upon at the summit. The paths they'd take were still under construction, but Adalmann's troops would handle the job for us. Some of the imperials wanted to stay in Tempest, but I preferred they went home first to help stabilize the Empire; they could file for immigration after that.

The preparations were done within a week, with the big departure coming soon after. We were working through the remaining issues, thinking up solutions, and checking on progress. Everything was going fine in the Empire, too. Until Testarossa contacted me to say something had changed, I was willing to take a wait-and-see approach with them.

I was slightly concerned about the Dwarven Kingdom, however. If a seraphim class enemy knocked on their door, Gazel and his armies would face tough going. The urban parts of Dwargon, though, were a natural fortress, further protected by a multilayer defense system, and it wouldn't be easy to break through.

If they could contact us before that system got breached, things should work out well. With that in mind, I gave Gazel one of my "cell phones" as a gift, instructing him to use it when necessary. That, and I deployed Agera, one of our own, to Gazel's side. Gazel said he wanted to redouble his efforts on his martial arts training, and Agera had expressed a desire to go out and see the world a little. He'd told me that he had some things on his mind he wanted to work through, and Carrera was all for letting him do as he pleased. Knowing Agera's background, I wasn't too sure how to proceed…but I figured he'd need some time off, so I accepted the proposal.

Now Dwargon was better prepared for a protracted war. Hopefully nothing would happen at all, but if it did, we'd take whatever action was required.

Farminus, home to Yohm and company, was also being taken care of. Diablo deployed Gadora to that kingdom to explain matters to them. I hadn't conducted any private interview with him, so he had set off two days ago.

He had his duties as labyrinth guardian to think of, but his Demon Colossus, the thing he needed for his job, was gone. We didn't even have a burned-out shell or anything, so we'd have to rebuild it from scratch. The guys at the lab were all happy about that; apparently, they had some new machine designs they wanted to test out. I was the one funding this, and this research certainly didn't come cheap, but they'd receive money from our treasury as well, so I told them to keep working on it until they were satisfied with the results.

Their work would naturally take time, so we decided Gadora would stay in

Farminus for now.

As for the kingdom of Blumund and the other Western Nations, we had Cien covering those. I had sent Zonda over to assist him, and demons are generally capable of Spatial Transport, so they could handle most anything that came up.

Honestly, I didn't see much strategic reason our enemies would strike at us from this area, so I wasn't planning any further measures than that. I doubted anything would happen, but if it turned out our enemies were in a human massacring mood, Guy wouldn't take that sitting down. He didn't want to see humanity wiped out, so I was sure he'd take action. He and Luminus, too—if the enemy tried any meddling in the area, nothing that required Guy's attention, Luminus and the Crusaders could handle that.

I had alerted the other REG members of this so Glenda and her team could step up behind the scenes, too. If things got too hot over there, I figured they could buy us enough time until we could work it out. Glenda had one of my cell phones as well—not her own but one I'd lent to her so she could stay in contact with REG. Since that gave us instant contact with the Western Nations, we decided no further action was necessary unless we received an alert.

The only problem that remained was the possibility of an unexpected traitor in our midst, I suppose.

Regarding that, I believe it rather pointless to mull over—

Can't say I agree with that, no. When push comes to shove, there's a big difference between being prepared for it or not.

So, as I sat in my office looking through a report of war damage by region, I considered my biggest anxiety. I had told Gazel to be on the lookout if someone in Dwargon had developed an angel-type ultimate skill…but he just stared at me with this hangdog look on his face.

"Listen to me, Rimuru," he said. "An ultimate skill is among the most vital secrets a country can hold. Our folklore says that Gran Dwargo, our first Heroic King, possessed one of them, and even then we claim there's no historical basis for it. Only a very few people know it was the truth—not even Vaughn or Dolph are aware! And yet here's you, going on about ultimate skills at this party…as if it's completely normal to run into people like that on the street!"

So yeah. His voice got pretty loud at the end, but I guess that's the conventional wisdom in this world. Only a handful even know about the existence of ultimate skills, and realistically, nobody had any way to track down someone with an angel-type ultimate. It just wasn't worth worrying about, so I decided to quit obsessing over it.

…Then again, if I sat down and calmly thought it through, I couldn't help but feel that special someone might be pretty close to us. Guy and Luminus definitely had a skill like that. Leon's strength was extremely unusual, so I could see him sporting one, too. Daggrull, I couldn't say, but even someone like Deeno had one, so we should at least assume he did, too, just to cover our bases.

Speaking of Daggrull, Luminus mentioned to me that in the future, he'd take advantage of the Empire to start a war—something Chloe told her, she said. This current conflict, however, wasn't related to that. Why would Daggrull do that, I wonder? Or was he doing someone else's bidding? If Michael was behind it, we could take measures against it, and I thought we'd need to discuss it in depth later.

What about Milim? Yeah, she could totally have an angel-type ultimate skill without my knowing. But I bet she'd tell me once I explained the story to her, and I was wondering how Carillon and Frey were doing as well. I thought I'd stop by and chat with them awhile.

As I let my mind wander around like this for a bit:

"Can you hear me? We are holding a Walpurgis Council right now. I know it's sudden, but all members are hereby summoned to the site. That is all."

Out of nowhere, a voice rang in my mind. Hang on. Was this—?

I looked at my right hand. The ring at the base of my pinkie, something I totally forgot I had on, was glowing. This was the Demon's Ring, which I'd received when I became a demon lord. That meant this was Guy speaking. I had never tried using this ring before, so I kind of forgot it had this feature.

But… Ah, no time to think about that now.

"Shion, bring Shuna in."

"Yes, sir!"

Watching Shion happily dart off, I looked at Diablo.

"It's from Guy. They're holding a Walpurgis Council right now."

"Oh? With no advance notice? That is rather unlike Guy. And I cannot understand why Guy himself is reaching out to you."

I was concerned about that, too. Guy was the walking epitome of pride and composure; not even his servants could talk to him, I heard. This was sounding pretty bad.

"I am here, my lord."

"Rimuru! What the heck, huh?! Guy himself gathering the gang… This has to be real serious!"

Shuna had arrived, but Ramiris, who I hadn't asked for, flew in as well, dragging Beretta and Treyni behind her.

Yeah, she's a demon lord, too, huh? I guess it was obvious if you thought about it, but she had a Demon's Ring, too.

As Ramiris told me, it was exceedingly rare for Guy himself to hold a Walpurgis. He occasionally would, back when there were just three demon lords—him, Milim, and Ramiris—but this would be the first time in more than a millennium. If he wanted us right this minute, though, I was sure it had to be an emergency.

"So yeah, Shuna, that's the situation. I don't have time to explain in any more detail, but I'm joining the Walpurgis Council with Shion and Diablo. Tell Benimaru to watch over things for me."

Shuna nodded, quickly picking up on the situation. "Very well, Sir Rimuru. I wish you the best of luck!"

I nodded back and began to prepare. Then I sat there, waiting for my guide to the venue. Before long, Raine, dressed in a perfectly ironed dark-red maid's outfit, appeared through a rift in space. Her wardrobe wasn't on my mind, though. What was were all the wounds covering her body. My bad feeling had been perfectly on target.

"Raine! You all right?!"

"What happened…?"

Ramiris and I were both shocked. But Raine quietly shook her head.

"There is no need to worry about me. We will explain matters once everyone is assembled, so let us make the journey at once."

No more reason to stall, then. I followed Raine into the rift—and on the other side, we instantly had more problems to face.