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		<title>Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi:Volume 13 Novel Illustrations</title>
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		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;2601:4A:C200:5A80:A083:CE8D:1DA9:3EB3: &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;div&gt;==Novel Illustrations==&lt;br /&gt;
These are novel illustrations that were included in volume 13.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;gallery&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 001.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Cover&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 002.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Cover&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 003.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 3&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 004.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 4&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 005.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 5&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 006.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 6&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 019.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 19&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 025.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 25&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 053.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 53&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 062.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 62&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 100.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 100&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 119.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 119&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 163.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 163&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 175.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 175&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 215.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 215&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 252.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 252&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 256.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 256&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
File:SnRK V13 257.jpg|&#039;&#039;&#039;Page 257&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;/gallery&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;noinclude&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
{| border=&amp;quot;1&amp;quot; cellpadding=&amp;quot;5&amp;quot; cellspacing=&amp;quot;0&amp;quot; style=&amp;quot;margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
|-&lt;br /&gt;
| Return to [[Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi|Main Page]]&lt;br /&gt;
| Forward to [[Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi:Volume 13 Prologue|Prologue]]&lt;br /&gt;
|-&lt;br /&gt;
|}&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;/noinclude&amp;gt;Prologue: Escape&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki Kagurazaka is a genius.&lt;br /&gt;
In the original world, Yuuki had special powers. A mental ability—that is, a psychic power of the mind,&lt;br /&gt;
a superpower that he used throughout his life.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, he never had an intention of doing anything with it, because he knew that letting others&lt;br /&gt;
find out that he had this power might get him caught up in something while demonstrating it.&lt;br /&gt;
Day-to-day life was boring, but he still had a good time.&lt;br /&gt;
Both his parents were good to him, and he had quite a few friends.&lt;br /&gt;
Making money wasn&#039;t hard for him at all, and as long as he wanted it, he could get it.&lt;br /&gt;
There was no dissatisfaction.&lt;br /&gt;
And then one day...&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki was suddenly met with misfortune.&lt;br /&gt;
He was just starting high school when his both of parents died in an accident.&lt;br /&gt;
His parents were not at fault. While in the same car, the whole family was hit by a truck whose driver&lt;br /&gt;
was dozing off.&lt;br /&gt;
Only Yuuki, who was sleeping in the back seat, was spared.&lt;br /&gt;
He felt it was too unfair.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki hated that hit-and-run, but he couldn&#039;t do anything about it. Japan is a country under the rule of&lt;br /&gt;
laws, and individual acts of revenge were not legally sanctioned.&lt;br /&gt;
The results of the trial came out and he eventually learned some more facts.&lt;br /&gt;
That is, transport companies still take on commissions with tough conditions even if they can&#039;t handle it&lt;br /&gt;
with their current processing power.&lt;br /&gt;
In the end, that burden is placed on frontline employees to continue working while still knowing that&lt;br /&gt;
they are overworked.&lt;br /&gt;
That driver was also a victim.&lt;br /&gt;
Then it should be the transport company that is at fault. But that’s not the case either.&lt;br /&gt;
If the company refuses a large client&#039;s commission, their client might not come back to place an order&lt;br /&gt;
in the future. If old friends come to place orders, that is not so easy to refuse either.&lt;br /&gt;
While this would naturally improve the nature of the business, it is also not easy to hire skilled drivers.&lt;br /&gt;
So even if the company wants to hire young people to train, their current situation is that they don&#039;t have&lt;br /&gt;
that kind of power to begin with.&lt;br /&gt;
What is this? Yuuki lamented.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There are too many things in this world that do not make sense, and his own power is too small.&lt;br /&gt;
Who do I really have to blame?&lt;br /&gt;
To put it bluntly, the problem lies in the whole social construct itself.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki would have loved to take revenge on such a society.&lt;br /&gt;
But he couldn’t do anything. Because he was a genius, he immediately figured out what his limits were.&lt;br /&gt;
The world is highly developed.&lt;br /&gt;
Even with his powers, a slightly stronger personal power won&#039;t change anything. There is no chance of&lt;br /&gt;
winning against the entire world, and even if he did, he couldn’t see a future.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki had wanted to destroy this society with self-abnegation and build it up from scratch...but that&lt;br /&gt;
would have set a lot of people up for misfortune.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki couldn&#039;t do any better.&lt;br /&gt;
If he really wants to change society as a whole, he can only take it one step at a time, slowly adding&lt;br /&gt;
partners who think like himself. If that’s the case, then becoming a politician and improving the country&lt;br /&gt;
to make it what he wants it to be is the only solution that Yuuki can think of.&lt;br /&gt;
It takes patience to walk this path, but if he is serious it&#039;s possible, even though it’s a future that can&lt;br /&gt;
take decades.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki was distressed...&lt;br /&gt;
But before a decision was made, he ended up taking a trip to another world.&lt;br /&gt;
Was this lucky or unlucky for him?&lt;br /&gt;
It was the Demon Lord Kazaream&#039;s spite that called Yuuki to this world.&lt;br /&gt;
Although he had lost his physical body with only his spiritual body left, he hadn&#039;t lost the power of&lt;br /&gt;
being a &amp;quot;spell king.”&lt;br /&gt;
He had spent some time preparing himself to be resurrected.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to do so, one must summon a physical body corresponding to one&#039;s own spiritual body.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course he had to be sure to check carefully that the person of the summoning is not constrained. Just&lt;br /&gt;
in case, this ritual can&#039;t go awry, use your dominant power to engrave the spell seal and then summon.&lt;br /&gt;
The called will have their hearts crushed without knowledge. Immediately afterwards, Kazaream would&lt;br /&gt;
take the soul power of the opponent and then take the flesh to bring himself back to life, and that was the&lt;br /&gt;
full picture of the plan.&lt;br /&gt;
But Kazaream missteps to summon Yuuki. The spell he cast didn&#039;t do anything for Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
Because Yuuki is a genius and has seen how the world works.&lt;br /&gt;
When he crosses over to this world, he gets the power he wants.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
That is the power that can change the world.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a pure energy, free to change essence, a &amp;quot;soul force&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Its name - the unique &amp;quot;creator&amp;quot; of technology...&lt;br /&gt;
He told Rimuru that he didn&#039;t have any special powers, and of course those were all lies.&lt;br /&gt;
First, he uses this ability to create the Ability Blocking, which nullifies foreign attacks.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, Kazaream&#039;s ploy was broken.&lt;br /&gt;
And he lost to Yuuki and fell in line.&lt;br /&gt;
And Yuuki finds the meaning of being in this world.&lt;br /&gt;
The world of the weak and the strong still has a long way to go before it is fully developed, and the&lt;br /&gt;
mechanisms in place are still incomplete. That being the case, Yuuki thought that all he had to do was&lt;br /&gt;
become the ruler of this world and guide it in the right direction.&lt;br /&gt;
He was determined to challenge this unjust world head-on.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki&#039;s code of conduct is to play the battle card to the world.&lt;br /&gt;
To conquer the world—to that end, Yuuki sets out.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki led Laplace, Footman, and Tear out of the chaos of the Great Hall.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately after, a line of men attempted to escape from the sacred royal state of Ruberios.&lt;br /&gt;
As much as it was tempting to stay there and observe the situation, they felt it was dangerous to remain&lt;br /&gt;
on the scene.&lt;br /&gt;
Chronoa, the &amp;quot;Gutsy One&amp;quot; who went into an out-of-control state, was not that easy to deal with and was&lt;br /&gt;
not something Yuuki had the means to check. The opponent is completely indistinguishable from the&lt;br /&gt;
enemy and treats everyone on the scene as if they were the enemy, a very formidable opponent.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s because of this that Granbell wanted to join forces with Yuuki, right?&lt;br /&gt;
Although Yuuki felt very bad about it, his opponent was slightly better this time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But this time it&#039;s really been a lot of trouble. It&#039;s a long way to go before the Demon Lord Ruminas is&lt;br /&gt;
revealed and the den has a chance to take advantage of him, and he&#039;s just about to get his hands on&lt;br /&gt;
Daredevil.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hehehe, that powerful force is already something from another dimension. It&#039;s a shame we can&#039;t get&lt;br /&gt;
that kind of stuff, but if we go after that guy, everyone on the scene will be killed, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Laplace complain, Footman responded thus.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, Footman is right, but Yuuki has doubts about this, thinking that the hero may not be able to kill&lt;br /&gt;
everyone easily.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You don&#039;t know that, do you? In any case, demon lord Rimuru was also crazy strong. Plus there&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminas and Leon over there. With three demon lords present, as well as several powerful Monsters, both&lt;br /&gt;
sides had a chance to win.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right. That Granbell was a former hero, and he was very good at it. People can&#039;t guess who the&lt;br /&gt;
final winner will be.”&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace and Tear don&#039;t seem as optimistic as Footman. Like Yuuki, they think the Rimuru crowd is&lt;br /&gt;
likely to win.&lt;br /&gt;
For Yuuki, a Chronoa victory is indeed the best result.&lt;br /&gt;
If this were possible, in addition to the thorny enemy Rimuru, the obstructive Granbell, the future&lt;br /&gt;
threatening Ruminas, and the hated Leon of Laplace and others, the bad guys who did them good would&lt;br /&gt;
disappear, and the shaped form would be able to rule the whole West.&lt;br /&gt;
While the remaining Chronoa is tough, there&#039;s nothing to fear from losing your self-will. They could&lt;br /&gt;
also find a random magical creature to bait and drive her to the far end of the desert.&lt;br /&gt;
With empty power, such an opponent is not a threat to Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
So he originally wanted to make sure and see who the last person who survived was, but...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, running away is the right thing to do. If it happens, we probably won&#039;t be able to get away with it,&lt;br /&gt;
and besides...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
There was a bad feeling—Yuuki’s intuition told him so.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to decide on the way forward, he should have analyzed the trend of that big mess. Despite&lt;br /&gt;
thinking so, Yuuki trusted his instincts and chose to run away.&lt;br /&gt;
If Chronoa lost the battle, the few demon lords who survived would surely see them as a thorn in their&lt;br /&gt;
side. Rimuru should have also found out that Yuuki had committed a betrayal, and probably couldn&#039;t find&lt;br /&gt;
any more excuses to stall.&lt;br /&gt;
All the strongholds and positions previously established in the Western world will be lost as a result of&lt;br /&gt;
this mistake.&lt;br /&gt;
If there’s anything to blame, it&#039;s for being so stupid as to have taken the Granbell path, Yuuki thought.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why he’s all on his own.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of this, now that he has chosen to run away, Yuuki is no longer confused. Being able to simply&lt;br /&gt;
do the cutting was an advantage for Yuuki, and he&#039;d been able to get through countless difficulties with&lt;br /&gt;
that kind of judgment.&lt;br /&gt;
So this time too, Yuuki thought so.&lt;br /&gt;
However...&lt;br /&gt;
He immediately found such an idea to be too naive.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Things came so suddenly that Yuuki and the others were about to bolt when a man stood in front of&lt;br /&gt;
them.&lt;br /&gt;
Next to him was a blue-haired beauty who made people&#039;s eyes glaze over.&lt;br /&gt;
However, this beautiful woman was wearing a very abrupt dark red maid outfit.&lt;br /&gt;
“—!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Who the hell are you?”&lt;br /&gt;
Sensing the danger, Yuuki stopped in his tracks.&lt;br /&gt;
Even when Laplace asked the other party who he was, the man didn&#039;t answer. He kept looking at Yuuki,&lt;br /&gt;
not looking at the others at all.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, since you&#039;re trying to get in our way...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Footman, who was standing in front, tried to get rid of the man and the beautiful woman, but someone&lt;br /&gt;
suddenly appeared and pinned Footman to the ground.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a woman, dressed in a dark red maid outfit of the same style as the blue-haired beauty.&lt;br /&gt;
Her hair was green.&lt;br /&gt;
The real identity, of course, goes without saying. It is Mizari, who was secretly messing around in the&lt;br /&gt;
Kingdom of Ingracia not long ago. The battle plan was suspended because of the presence of Testarossa,&lt;br /&gt;
and then the fire rushed to this place.&lt;br /&gt;
Since Mizari had come all the way over, it was clear from this that the blue-haired beauty&#039;s true identity&lt;br /&gt;
was Rhein. Then it is natural that who they follow is the one that there will be no second in the world.&lt;br /&gt;
He is the Demon Lord - Guy Crimson.&lt;br /&gt;
He is known as the Lord of Darkness, the most powerful overlord of all.&lt;br /&gt;
Red hair, thicker and deeper than blood, flowed, and bright red eyes glittering with gold and silver&lt;br /&gt;
starlight looked down at Yuuki from above.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hi. We should be meeting for the first time. You should be happy. Because I&#039;m interested in you.”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy&#039;s eyes were firmly locked on Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
The others couldn&#039;t get into his eyes at all.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing this, Yuuki didn&#039;t know whether he should cry or laugh.&lt;br /&gt;
When Footman was swung three or two times by Mizari, he could see just how much strength his&lt;br /&gt;
opponent had.&lt;br /&gt;
It should be said that the three in front of them had different hair colors, and two of them were wearing&lt;br /&gt;
very special maid outfits. Kagali, that is, Kazaream, and Clayman, who had mentioned some characters,&lt;br /&gt;
and these three corresponded to the characteristics of those people.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In other words, this man standing at the top of the world is what Yuuki is after.&lt;br /&gt;
As long as his ambition is to conquer the world, one day he must face off against this enemy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, you are the most powerful demon lord, Guy Crimson. It&#039;s an honor to meet you. My name is Yuuki&lt;br /&gt;
Kagurazaka. I didn&#039;t think you&#039;d come to me on your own initiative, are you planning to join forces with&lt;br /&gt;
me?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Not being overwhelmed by Guy’s aura, Yuuki smiled in response to the other.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, there&#039;s no such thing as good things under the sky. Just by looking at how they dealt with&lt;br /&gt;
Footman, it was clear that Guy and others could not have come running to construct a friendly&lt;br /&gt;
relationship with themselves.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki understands this, but he still talks to him intimately.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s his unique negotiation skill.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to get to the bottom of the other person and find out what he is up to, he will say some&lt;br /&gt;
inexplicable things in order to test his reaction.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah-ha-ha-ha! You&#039;re a funny guy. My opponent is me, and I have the guts to do so. The offer may not&lt;br /&gt;
be bad, but you seem to be the enemy of Leon. Besides, you&#039;re going to the East, right? Personally, I don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
want to see an increase in battle strength on Rudra&#039;s side.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Bargaining broke down.&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, Yuuki didn&#039;t think the other party would accept the offer in the first place. But rather than&lt;br /&gt;
wallowing in regret, Yuuki was more focused on chewing over the message revealed by Guy&#039;s words.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Rudra was the name of the emperor of the Eastern Empire, the united empire of the East of Nazca-&lt;br /&gt;
Namlium-Ulmeria.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The way it sounds, Guy and Rudra have some kind of relationship and the two are in a hostile position.&lt;br /&gt;
—so get rid of us before we meet up in the East? Although it wasn&#039;t quite ideal to go up against the&lt;br /&gt;
strongest demon lord, the way things had turned out, there is probably nothing else to do...&lt;br /&gt;
It would be impossible to avoid a fight with Guy in this way.&lt;br /&gt;
They had no chance to escape.&lt;br /&gt;
In this case, it&#039;s useless to do anything small.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead of doing that, do your best to challenge Guy, that would have a better chance of winning.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki so judged.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh... never mind, it&#039;s okay. Since we&#039;re the enemy, it&#039;s actually just right for me. Before moving the&lt;br /&gt;
stronghold to the east, I can test how much strength the strongest demon lord has.”&lt;br /&gt;
That was Yuuki&#039;s answer, as if to provoke Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
At the same time, a wave of excitement surged in his heart, which immersed Yuuki&#039;s entire being. He&lt;br /&gt;
had been hiding his strength, and it was at this moment that Yuuki decided to fully liberate in front of the&lt;br /&gt;
strongest demon lord.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t see himself losing at all and confronted Guy about it.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki is very confident.&lt;br /&gt;
If it&#039;s a one-on-one, he&#039;s confident of winning no matter what the opponent is.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing the out-of-control Chronoa, he felt this enemy was very dangerous.&lt;br /&gt;
But that&#039;s about it at best.&lt;br /&gt;
As long as you take it seriously, you will still have a chance to win even though you will get into a hard&lt;br /&gt;
fight.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet there were still several demon lords on the scene who were clearly enemies of themselves.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s Leon, and Ruminas.&lt;br /&gt;
And then there&#039;s that nice gentleman Rimuru, who must have sensed Yuuki&#039;s true nature as well.&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, Rimuru had seen that Yuuki was the enemy long before, which was in Yuuki&#039;s favor. If you&lt;br /&gt;
want to play dumb and use Rimuru, you&#039;ll get hit instead.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki didn&#039;t know anything about it, but he was right in thinking that Rimuru had indeed become an&lt;br /&gt;
enemy.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t feel so good about himself that he thought he could take on three demon lords and Chronoa at&lt;br /&gt;
the same time. Even if he didn&#039;t have an ominous premonition, he&#039;d still decide to retreat from the scene.&lt;br /&gt;
This time, however, is different.&lt;br /&gt;
The ominous foreboding was precisely because of this man standing in front of them.&lt;br /&gt;
Knowing this, Yuuki decided to do his best to get through this difficult situation.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, you think you can beat me?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Guy laughed heartily.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Sort of. I was going to beat you sometime in the future anyway, now I&#039;m just bringing the booking&lt;br /&gt;
plan forward.”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Yuuki like this, Rhein and Mizari exuded murderous aura. As much as it was tempting to kill&lt;br /&gt;
each other, it wasn&#039;t even possible to speak without Master Guy&#039;s permission.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy is absolutely dominant, and to go and worry about his personal safety is a great disrespect.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy is very spontaneous and has no mercy unless he recognizes the other person.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It was hard for Rhein and Mizari to get him to approve, and if they pissed him off, they&#039;d probably be&lt;br /&gt;
killed by him in a heartbeat. The gap in strength between Guy and them is just so stark.&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace couldn&#039;t move.&lt;br /&gt;
The frog being targeted by the snake—that’s exactly what this is about.&lt;br /&gt;
If he wants to save Footman, Rhein will act. It was four against three, but the difference in strength&lt;br /&gt;
between the two sides was too great to be of any consolation.&lt;br /&gt;
If the enemy had only been Rhein and Mizari, they might have been able to figure it out, but once Guy&lt;br /&gt;
appeared, they had no chance of winning.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki is going to challenge Guy and seems brave in Laplace&#039;s eyes.&lt;br /&gt;
We can&#039;t win. The troupe doesn’t care about this guy&#039;s opponent. That Chronoa is also worlds apart&lt;br /&gt;
from us in terms of strength, but this Guy Crimson is a monster like no other. We’re not his opponent at&lt;br /&gt;
all. There&#039;s no way to run away...the boss can&#039;t fight...it&#039;s all about survival...&lt;br /&gt;
Just for being able to get a glimpse of some of Guy&#039;s strength, Laplace deserves credit.&lt;br /&gt;
What was even more powerful was that in this situation, he remained undiscouraged and full of&lt;br /&gt;
thoughts on how to escape—this mental toughness was what made Laplace so powerful.&lt;br /&gt;
He also knew that Yuuki was strong.&lt;br /&gt;
However, the extent of Yuuki&#039;s strength, even these partners were kept in the dark, and it was unknown&lt;br /&gt;
whether it was useful against Guy...&lt;br /&gt;
Even if Yuuki can&#039;t beat his opponent, Laplace intends to save Footman and run away with Tear.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki should be able to read his mind and act in accordance with the times. Laplace&#039;s trust in Yuuki&lt;br /&gt;
allowed him to think that way.&lt;br /&gt;
The problem is that Rhein and Mizari are also extraordinary masters.&lt;br /&gt;
The opponent wasn&#039;t that simple enough to allow him to take advantage of the opportunity to save&lt;br /&gt;
Footman. Laplace didn&#039;t dare to take it lightly.&lt;br /&gt;
To find a way to save Footman—he was troubled by this, and did not expect the problem to be solved&lt;br /&gt;
in three or two minutes.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, let that guy go.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
This time Guy ordered to Mizari.&lt;br /&gt;
How could Mizari possibly resist, she immediately set Footman free.&lt;br /&gt;
—So relaxed. This way the troupe will have a chance to escape.&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace started to think in a good direction, but things didn&#039;t seem so simple.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t worry. If you beat me, I&#039;ll let you go and not hurt you a bit.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
This statement from Guy sounds contradictory.&lt;br /&gt;
If they could beat Guy, who needs him to let go.&lt;br /&gt;
The string of proclamations was utterly reassuring, and Laplace felt so melancholy after hearing it. Just&lt;br /&gt;
like that, he prayed for Yuuki to win and watched the battle on the other side.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The first person to take action was Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
Knowing that neither magic nor skill would work on him, Yuuki thus developed absolute confidence&lt;br /&gt;
and fearlessly unleashed his kicks at Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
The kick is sharp, heavy and fluid.&lt;br /&gt;
A kick that was originally aimed at the enemy goes over, but halfway through the kick suddenly&lt;br /&gt;
changes track and a nice top segment kick blows away on Guy&#039;s head.&lt;br /&gt;
However, it was Yuuki who appeared with a distorted look.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Geez, it&#039;s so hard.”&lt;br /&gt;
While smacking his lips, Yuuki mumbled something in his mouth.&lt;br /&gt;
His Ability Blocking is unbeatable and can penetrate all the enemy&#039;s defenses. Guy, who was&lt;br /&gt;
supposedly hit by him head-on, stood there unimpressed.&lt;br /&gt;
It didn&#039;t seem to hurt at all.&lt;br /&gt;
There was no movement behind the scenes. The mere flesh of gold is harder than diamonds.&lt;br /&gt;
This flesh is so rigid and flexible that that alone is a threat. Guy is just so powerful.&lt;br /&gt;
“That tickles. It&#039;s not going to be a fight at all. Have some more fun for me. Otherwise, I&#039;ll kill&lt;br /&gt;
everyone.”&lt;br /&gt;
Smiling as he finished the sentence, Guy&#039;s right hand bubbled up into flames.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the elemental magic &amp;quot;Hot Dragon Flame Fighter&amp;quot; —a directional, scorching flame that&lt;br /&gt;
transforms into a dragon, bending its long body to lunge at it, and the magic will burn the target to the&lt;br /&gt;
ground.&lt;br /&gt;
Temperatures can reach thousands of degrees, and the human race will disappear in an instant.&lt;br /&gt;
The fire dragon wrapped itself around Yuuki&#039;s body.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s a waste of time! Magic doesn&#039;t work on me...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
After shouting, Yuuki was about to attack Guy, who had been so lenient, when a cold shiver caused him&lt;br /&gt;
to jump away on the spot.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, your instincts are keen.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
At that moment Guy smiled and said this.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki didn&#039;t even have the strength left to talk back to Guy, who was desperately scrambling on the&lt;br /&gt;
ground, trying to make the flames go away.&lt;br /&gt;
This was indeed the result of the &#039;ability blocking&#039; effect, and Yuuki was thus not injured by Guy&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
magic. Yet in the meantime, the magical flames that were supposed to disappear immediately continued to&lt;br /&gt;
burn. And it wasn&#039;t just magic flames, it would also burn oxygen like a normal fire. At this rate, Yuuki will&lt;br /&gt;
have difficulty breathing and will be forced to face a fatal situation.&lt;br /&gt;
Somatically it felt like a long time had passed, but it had in fact only happened for a few seconds. So&lt;br /&gt;
although Yuuki wasn&#039;t injured, he would definitely be defeated if he continued to attack Guy without&lt;br /&gt;
realizing it. He knew this well enough to put out the fire even if he was in a state of discomfort.&lt;br /&gt;
And with Guy’s reaction, it seemed that Yuuki had thought of a possibility that made him unbelievable.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t want to admit it, but it was necessary to make sure. He didn&#039;t expect an answer from the other&lt;br /&gt;
person, getting up while asking out the doubts in his mind.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Why didn&#039;t you pursue it further? You don&#039;t want to compete with me, do you?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ahahaha, what a stupid thing to say. You noticed that earlier, didn&#039;t you? I&#039;ve discovered the secret&lt;br /&gt;
behind that power of yours!”&lt;br /&gt;
“.......”&lt;br /&gt;
“I see...&amp;quot; Yuuki thought bitterly.&lt;br /&gt;
His &#039;ability blocking&#039; was omnipotent and could be offset by whatever power he encountered. However,&lt;br /&gt;
when it comes to magic and skill fusion, there is no way to counteract both properties.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s the only downside, and the weakness.&lt;br /&gt;
Besides, no matter how hard Yuuki tried to improve his body, he was still human after all. Antibodies&lt;br /&gt;
can be used to fight the toxin, but you can&#039;t live without oxygen.&lt;br /&gt;
Human beings—every living thing—had this weakness, and now Yuuki realized that he was at a&lt;br /&gt;
disadvantage.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy stood idly.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There&#039;s a guy I know who can offset magic perfectly, but I still win in a fight. This is because that guy&lt;br /&gt;
can&#039;t counteract anything other than magic. And as far as I know, there is no way in the world to perfectly&lt;br /&gt;
defend against the laws of physics in this world. If it is reinforced against one point, there is bound to be a&lt;br /&gt;
breach somewhere else. But you seem to be able to counteract not only magic, but skill as well, don&#039;t you&lt;br /&gt;
think?”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy glanced at Yuuki and didn&#039;t attack any further, patronizingly telling his opinion. It was all carefully&lt;br /&gt;
calculated that there would be such an unhurried attitude.&lt;br /&gt;
Because it&#039;s easy for Guy to kill Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
But that isn&#039;t fun, so Guy wants to blow Yuuki&#039;s self-confidence and make him admit his defeat in&lt;br /&gt;
despair.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He had already thoroughly analyzed Yuuki&#039;s physique.&lt;br /&gt;
The first time he launched the attack, Guy saw through Yuuki&#039;s special physique and even thought of a&lt;br /&gt;
countermeasure.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if Yuuki could offset the magic and skill well, as long as he was human, beating him would be&lt;br /&gt;
easy.&lt;br /&gt;
Humans are fragile.&lt;br /&gt;
That frail flesh is weak everywhere, even with the method of killing human beings without bitter&lt;br /&gt;
thought.&lt;br /&gt;
And there&#039;s a big gap between Yuuki and Guy’s basic physical abilities.&lt;br /&gt;
When Yuuki kicked over just now, Guy only left a small &#039;barrier&#039; for defense, and as a result, the&lt;br /&gt;
opponent&#039;s attack didn&#039;t even hurt him.&lt;br /&gt;
As far as the amount of magicules goes, the comparison is even laughable. Guy was good enough to&lt;br /&gt;
rival the True Dragons, and as soon as Yuuki cancelled the magic, he could immediately restart it, which&lt;br /&gt;
wasn&#039;t hard at all.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If I just kill people, then I don&#039;t have to come here specifically. I&#039;ve come for a rare visit, so you&#039;ll have&lt;br /&gt;
to have some fun for me.”&lt;br /&gt;
Because of this, Guy arrogantly provoked Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
He was going to drive his opponent into a corner and give Yuuki his all and then beat the shit out of&lt;br /&gt;
him.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki knew exactly what Guy was thinking.&lt;br /&gt;
But he couldn&#039;t talk back.&lt;br /&gt;
The expression on his face was less subdued than it had been earlier. He began to carefully analyze the&lt;br /&gt;
battle situation to figure out how to break through this difficult situation.&lt;br /&gt;
His unparalleled brain of genius had already pointed out the desperate gap between the two sides. But&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki hadn&#039;t given up and was exploring every possibility.&lt;br /&gt;
The only turnaround was to make Guy look at them small.&lt;br /&gt;
And yes, it&#039;s understandable that the two sides have such a big power differential that they&#039;d be looked&lt;br /&gt;
down upon. But that guy is too arrogant.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki has other killer features.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s the innate superpower, and the &amp;quot;greedy one&amp;quot; that was snatched from Mariabell.&lt;br /&gt;
Plus the &amp;quot;Creator&amp;quot;. It can create the necessary capacity to respond to the situation, and with a &amp;quot;creator&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
it will be able to get through this crisis.&lt;br /&gt;
If you don&#039;t kill me when you can, it&#039;s your fault!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
After readjusting his breathing, Yuuki confronted Guy again.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s just a matter of seeing what I can do. It&#039;s too early to be proud.”&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s not that you can&#039;t afford to lose, those are true words.&lt;br /&gt;
If the other party is so angry that they lose their cool, they are more likely to make mistakes. Yuuki saw&lt;br /&gt;
this before he made a provocation.&lt;br /&gt;
While juggling these little tricks, Yuuki let his power scurry all over his body. Usually he suppresses&lt;br /&gt;
this force, but at this time he concentrates on building up his strength and transforming his flesh by his&lt;br /&gt;
own will power.&lt;br /&gt;
From human to &amp;quot;immortal&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Then it became &amp;quot;saints&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Let your own flesh evolve to a higher realm than Hinata, and Yuuki will never have to breathe again.&lt;br /&gt;
Complete and total &amp;quot;saints&amp;quot; equate to spiritual beings. Hinata was still imprisoned in the flesh, but&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki had come to a higher realm.&lt;br /&gt;
So he didn&#039;t need to breathe at all.&lt;br /&gt;
Abandon human weaknesses and greatly increase their power of existence. If one converted the current&lt;br /&gt;
energy on his body into mana, it would be enough to rival Leon or Ruminas.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy, however, was still unfazed.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What a bummer. Is this all you can do? With that kind of ability, it&#039;s impossible to beat me a hundred&lt;br /&gt;
times over.”&lt;br /&gt;
He&#039;s still so laid back.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Probably. In that case, you&#039;ll have a good time with me!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The words of Yuuki ignited the battle and they started fighting again.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately following...&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki finally knew why Guy was called the strongest overlord.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The scene was shrouded in despair.&lt;br /&gt;
The one who lies on the ground is Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
In the face of Guy&#039;s overwhelming strength, Yuuki&#039;s attack did not play the same role.&lt;br /&gt;
Even hawking ploys won&#039;t help.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He took the time to gather the greatest strength to launch the attack, but was unable to hurt Guy by a&lt;br /&gt;
single cent.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Damn it, you bastard...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki had lost even the strength to get back on his feet. At best, he was cursing Guy. But he&#039;s still not&lt;br /&gt;
disheartened, and that alone is worthy of praise.&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace didn&#039;t even blink, imprinting the battle deep in his mind.&lt;br /&gt;
Too bizarre. Boss is too weak, Guy is too strong...&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki is stronger than Laplace ever imagined.&lt;br /&gt;
He uses strange powers, or superpowers, to try all sorts of tactics against Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
Such as shooting stones, spitting fire, heavy pressure, and releasing psychic interference waves. But&lt;br /&gt;
these were defused with ease.&lt;br /&gt;
To Guy, using his physical abilities, which were more than 30 times higher than normal, to launch an&lt;br /&gt;
attack at a speed of over 100 meters per second was the equivalent of a child&#039;s play.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to this, Yuuki&#039;s main defense, Ability Blocking, is no exception and can no longer paralyze&lt;br /&gt;
Guy&#039;s magic.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s not working for me anymore.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
As Guy said in this sentence.&lt;br /&gt;
It looks like Guy has managed to break through the Ability Blockade by some means. This is chilling.&lt;br /&gt;
Kazaream and Clayman had also mentioned the Ten Great Demon Lords to Yuuki and others. He had&lt;br /&gt;
heard that Guy and Milim were particularly powerful, but he hadn&#039;t expected the gap to be so wide,&lt;br /&gt;
presumably even they themselves hadn&#039;t noticed.&lt;br /&gt;
How else could they endorse such whimsical ideas as conquering the world.&lt;br /&gt;
Is this what you call a cataclysmic level...&lt;br /&gt;
It was only now that Laplace realized that there were some enemies in the world that could never be&lt;br /&gt;
touched.&lt;br /&gt;
He himself hides his strength from his partner. But if the opponent is replaced with Guy, the demon&lt;br /&gt;
lord, even with that kind of strength, there is no point.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy&#039;s strength is just so far from theirs.&lt;br /&gt;
Can&#039;t even find a way to get down. Even Yuuki, whose strength was indeed above Laplace, lay&lt;br /&gt;
helplessly on the ground, like a small baby.&lt;br /&gt;
The way things have turned out, it&#039;s harder to get back alive now than it is to get to heaven.&lt;br /&gt;
Someone had to make a sacrifice - Laplace had this realization, and he put on his usual dangling&lt;br /&gt;
attitude and took a step to come before Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You are worthy of the title Demon Lord Guy. The “moderate clown troupe&amp;quot; takes on all kinds of&lt;br /&gt;
business, only to be hired by the boss because of it. The boss in the nest is Yuuki from the vegetarian side.&lt;br /&gt;
Now that the boss has lost, there&#039;s no reason for the nest to follow him...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“—!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Laplace, what are you talking about...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace pretends that he does not feel guilty about betraying his partner. He wasn&#039;t quite sure about&lt;br /&gt;
Guy&#039;s personality, but had heard it was very capricious and arrogant.&lt;br /&gt;
Totally uninterested in the weak, no one else is even allowed to talk to him unless they are approved by&lt;br /&gt;
Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
Treat that Guy with such an attitude and Laplace will surely be killed. However, by then his attention&lt;br /&gt;
would surely be on Laplace, and by taking advantage of this brief gap, Yuuki could possibly escape, a&lt;br /&gt;
possibility Laplace wanted to bet on.&lt;br /&gt;
Never betray a partner, and never betray a client—that’s the rule of the Moderate Clown Troupe.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of this, Yuuki must be able to detect Laplace&#039;s true thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;
Footman was too pushy and ill-thought out, but the man was very much for his fellow man.&lt;br /&gt;
Tear was still stronger than him, but didn&#039;t put her strength to full use because she was too timid.&lt;br /&gt;
Although these two have bad habits of getting carried away easily, they can be put at ease by handing&lt;br /&gt;
them over to Yuuki. Laplace thought so, before deciding to sacrifice himself.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The Troupe can help you, Lord Guy. So, what do you say we give them a chance to live?”&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace makes a bold declaration of betrayal.&lt;br /&gt;
While Footman and Tear had a puzzled look on their faces, Guy looked like he had seen something&lt;br /&gt;
interesting and a smile appeared on his lips.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s great, this will piss off Guy!&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace wasn&#039;t about to kill himself either.&lt;br /&gt;
Although the opponent was Guy with little hope, there was still a chance to save a life. He therefore did&lt;br /&gt;
not hesitate and intended to say what he was about to say.&lt;br /&gt;
And yet it&#039;s too late to get the words out...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ahaha, don&#039;t you force it, Laplace. Really, I can&#039;t be trusted?”&lt;br /&gt;
Someone snatched the words out first, and it was Yuuki who staggered to his feet.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki was mentally prepared, knowing that he might die.&lt;br /&gt;
But at this moment, his heart was filled with indignation.&lt;br /&gt;
Anger at his useless self.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Laplace say that made him even angrier.&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace could not possibly betray him. In other words, he said those words as an act, and he still chose&lt;br /&gt;
to believe that Yuuki had interpreted Laplace&#039;s thoughts correctly, even though he had ended up in such a&lt;br /&gt;
mess.&lt;br /&gt;
In response, he was happy and at the same time felt guilty.&lt;br /&gt;
If only I had more power...&lt;br /&gt;
Without deliberately thinking about it, the thought came naturally to Yuuki&#039;s mind.&lt;br /&gt;
No one would respond to his thoughts, as a matter of course.&lt;br /&gt;
But just at this moment, a force appeared in Yuuki&#039;s mind.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;You Want Power? Then join forces with me.&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh?&amp;quot; said Yuuki, confused in his mind. A bang.&lt;br /&gt;
I thought it was a hallucination, but this voice is too real.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;Just trade with me and you&#039;ll get the most power. Your wish is to conquer the world, and you can do it&lt;br /&gt;
easily by joining forces with me. Come on, make a decision...&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that voice say this way, Yuuki felt a pang of displeasure in his heart.&lt;br /&gt;
You shut up. I am what I am. If it&#039;s borrowing from a partner it&#039;s a different matter, but borrowing from&lt;br /&gt;
a stranger to achieve an ambition, I don&#039;t give a shit about that kind of classless thing!&lt;br /&gt;
So, Yuuki refused categorically.&lt;br /&gt;
Yes, personal ambition is something that has to be achieved by one&#039;s own hands to make sense, and&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki has his insistence.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;...&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The voice suddenly fell into silence and seemed confused about it.&lt;br /&gt;
It didn&#039;t matter if the voice disappeared, Yuuki immediately focused his thoughts on something else.&lt;br /&gt;
The situation was desperate at the moment, but there was something that made him care. To say what&lt;br /&gt;
the point of care was, it was that Yuuki felt that Guy seemed to have another purpose.&lt;br /&gt;
Indeed, one of the reasons was that Guy wanted to enjoy the fight. But beyond that, there must be&lt;br /&gt;
another reason behind it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Just now, Guy did say something like “I don&#039;t want the combat power on Rudra&#039;s side to increase&amp;quot;. On&lt;br /&gt;
the flip side, if they hadn&#039;t gone to Rudra and joined the Eastern Empire, Guy wouldn&#039;t have had to kill&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki and others - or so Yuuki interprets it.&lt;br /&gt;
To say why Guy didn&#039;t kill Yuuki right now...&lt;br /&gt;
Truly, hard knocks are not his match at all, but what comes next is brain power. But it&#039;s more likely to&lt;br /&gt;
succeed than having Laplace do the hard work!&lt;br /&gt;
Encouraging himself with these words, Yuuki stood up again.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
Even in this situation, Yuuki still smiled cynically when he dialed back the browser.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I didn&#039;t expect you to be so strong, outside of my calculations, but I found one thing after fighting you.&lt;br /&gt;
That means you&#039;re not going to kill us, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, why do you think that?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If you&#039;d intended that, we&#039;d have been killed to death. What does it mean that you attack repeatedly&lt;br /&gt;
and let me swim on the edge of death each time?”&lt;br /&gt;
Just like that, only to see Yuuki confidently questioning Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be reckless to do such a thing.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy showed such a strong power, and Yuuki dared to do that to him - that&#039;s what everyone thought in&lt;br /&gt;
their hearts.&lt;br /&gt;
Only, Guy himself still showed an attitude of fun.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You found out. But you don&#039;t need to know the answer...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
By responding in this way, Guy indicated that he wasn&#039;t going to reveal his thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki shrugged, he had expected the other party to answer that way. So he didn&#039;t panic and continued&lt;br /&gt;
with his next move.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I want to make a deal with you.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You want to make a deal?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. If you leave us alone, we will be of some help to you.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Will it help me a little?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Exactly. You don&#039;t seem to want us to join the Eastern Empire, but I want you to change that slightly.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Go ahead.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Since our aim is to conquer the world, we will one day be on a par with the Empire. I have now sliced&lt;br /&gt;
through your great power. I certainly don&#039;t want to make an enemy of you at the moment. You&#039;d want to&lt;br /&gt;
destroy the Empire first, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
You can&#039;t help but wonder what he is talking about.&lt;br /&gt;
Footman and Tear had listened without understanding.&lt;br /&gt;
Laplace was also at a loss for words about the situation at hand.&lt;br /&gt;
He was ready to launch the scheme with a determination to die, but his only hope - Yuuki himself - was&lt;br /&gt;
destroyed. At this point, we can only rely on Yuuki&#039;s negotiation. Although he was the only one who could&lt;br /&gt;
rely on him, the cold sweat behind Laplace&#039;s back returned when he heard these words, ‘Heaven is not&lt;br /&gt;
afraid of earth.’&lt;br /&gt;
Too messed up. Why does Guy look like he&#039;s enjoying it?&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Yuuki say such words, I don&#039;t know why, Guy smiled.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Are you going to keep challenging me?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s for sure. My ambition is to conquer the world. It doesn&#039;t look like there&#039;s any chance of winning&lt;br /&gt;
at the moment, but one day it&#039;s going to overtake you.”&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the fact that it was very difficult to stand on one&#039;s own, Yuuki was unyielding in his words.&lt;br /&gt;
If you mess with Guy, you&#039;ll be killed - Yuuki seems to be completely oblivious to this and still speaks&lt;br /&gt;
loudly.&lt;br /&gt;
The object is Guy, then facing it with such an attitude is the right choice.&lt;br /&gt;
If it&#039;s an ugly plea for mercy, the other party will immediately lose interest. That would be the only way&lt;br /&gt;
to die.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki didn&#039;t know about it and made the best choice in the situation.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What good will it do me if you bring down the Empire?”&lt;br /&gt;
That was the focus of this engagement, and Yuuki began to take it in stride.&lt;br /&gt;
Next, he looked back at Guy head-on, nodding his head forcefully.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Of course there are benefits. I don&#039;t know why, but you don&#039;t seem to want the Empire to be annexed&lt;br /&gt;
even to the west. Isn&#039;t that right?”&lt;br /&gt;
“......”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy must have had some sort of entanglement with Imperial Emperor Rudra.&lt;br /&gt;
Here&#039;s the point, Yuuki bluffed and lobbied.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m going to beat a lot of enemies. I did want to join the Empire, but did not want to let them do it.&lt;br /&gt;
Rather, it is to nibble at the whale from within and use each other for our purposes.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh. Turns out, the period where your intentions align with the Empire will help them, but not&lt;br /&gt;
necessarily after that. And you&#039;re going to borrow the power of the Empire to defeat Leon, and that guy&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
The sharp gaze seemed to have seen through everything, and Guy just stared at Yuuki like that.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki is a promise that cannot be kept.&lt;br /&gt;
He wasn&#039;t sure about Guy&#039;s relationship with Leon, or what Guy thought of Rimuru, and couldn&#039;t even&lt;br /&gt;
predict how his own words would make the other party react.&lt;br /&gt;
Even so, Yuuki still deliberately expressed his ambition.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it. I&#039;m going to take over the world, and it&#039;s you who&#039;s going to take down the last one - Demon&lt;br /&gt;
lord Guy Crimson.”&lt;br /&gt;
Breathing heavily from beginning to end, Yuuki finished what he wanted to say.&lt;br /&gt;
The rest is up to Guy to judge.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if we go along with Laplace&#039;s ruse, everyone will still be killed in the end. Sorry to have to get you&lt;br /&gt;
guys to go along with my plan.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki apologized to his partners in his heart.&lt;br /&gt;
See if it&#039;s all for the win or all for the loss.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki was greedy.&lt;br /&gt;
If you want to live, let&#039;s all live together —the stakes are just too high.&lt;br /&gt;
However, Yuuki won the bet.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re called the Moderate Clown Troupe, right? Ahahaha, you guys really look like clowns. Messing&lt;br /&gt;
up the situation in this game is no different than a ghost card. Sounds pretty good, and the offer is&lt;br /&gt;
interesting. For the love of your guts, I&#039;ll let you go this time.”&lt;br /&gt;
In the end, it&#039;s still not clear what Guy&#039;s purpose is.&lt;br /&gt;
What is certain is that Yuuki and others survived.&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with Guy&#039;s decision, Rhein and Mizari had no objection.With that declaration, Yuuki and the&lt;br /&gt;
others fled the scene safely.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Waiting for the Guy and the others to leave, Yuuki and the others came to the place where they were&lt;br /&gt;
supposed to meet up with Kagali and the others.&lt;br /&gt;
Although it felt like it should be fine by now, everyone agreed that they should have left sooner.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as he saw Kagali appear at the rendezvous site, Laplace opened his mouth to Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re so full of shit, I can&#039;t believe it. I can&#039;t believe I&#039;m so surprised at that monster...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
When Laplace had finished, Tear followed suit.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;And we got away with it. People originally thought it would be over this time.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ho-ho-ho. I&#039;ve had faith in the boss since the beginning.”&lt;br /&gt;
“You&#039;re just not using your head, are you?&amp;quot; Laplace spat this out to Footman, and Yuuki watched the&lt;br /&gt;
scene with the remaining light from the corner of his eye, looking tired as he sat down on the ground.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I had no choice. This may be the only way we can get away with it. And in the end like this, that&lt;br /&gt;
method worked and I don&#039;t take complaints.”&lt;br /&gt;
It is more mentally exhausting than the injuries sustained in battle. So Yuuki didn&#039;t seem to want to&lt;br /&gt;
continue arguing, he lay down on the ground in large letters and closed his eyes.&lt;br /&gt;
Kagali had no idea what&#039;s going on, and Laplace and Tear step in to explain what&#039;s going on.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You, you fought Guy...! I&#039;m glad you guys came back unscathed...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Kagali exclaimed in surprise.&lt;br /&gt;
It wouldn&#039;t take long for her tone to turn dumbfounded.&lt;br /&gt;
Ah, it&#039;s good to be alive.&lt;br /&gt;
Feeling the wind caressing his cheek, Yuuki thought so.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s when something suddenly occurred to him.&lt;br /&gt;
I heard a mysterious voice in the middle of a fight. What was it?&lt;br /&gt;
Is that another personality of mine? How can this be? This is ridiculous. No, wait? Although it doesn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
feel like there are other powers hidden within me, there is only one possibility that can be thought of.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki thought of the power he had recently acquired.&lt;br /&gt;
That is the exclusive skill &amp;quot;Greedy One&amp;quot;—if it is this skill, as one&#039;s desire grows greater, it also gains&lt;br /&gt;
more power.&lt;br /&gt;
Against Guy, every move that Yuuki made couldn&#039;t hurt him. And of course it also contains the&lt;br /&gt;
strongest Great Sin skill &amp;quot;The Greedy One&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
This &amp;quot;greedy one&amp;quot; is also a mystery, skills and magic are always outside the man and in the sky. Guy&lt;br /&gt;
used magic to break through my &amp;quot;ability blocking&amp;quot; and had to see the reasoning behind it...&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki had full confidence in himself, so being easily attacked by Guy gave him a big blow. But he&lt;br /&gt;
would not give up on that.&lt;br /&gt;
Now that he had survived unscathed like this, he had to think about what to do next. It&#039;s quick to switch&lt;br /&gt;
focus, and that&#039;s what Yuuki does best.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He had prided himself on gaining power over the demon lord that was the strongest person under the&lt;br /&gt;
heavens.&lt;br /&gt;
No, even if they are not the strongest, they can win no matter what kind of opponent they are facing if&lt;br /&gt;
they study more and formulate countermeasures.&lt;br /&gt;
With such a force as a backbone, and with the assistance of people like Kagali and Laplace, he&lt;br /&gt;
managed to construct a powerful force.&lt;br /&gt;
Everything is going well.&lt;br /&gt;
But recently it has failed one after the other.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, this encounter with Guy had completely shattered Yuuki&#039;s self-confidence.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, it was a fluke.&lt;br /&gt;
Things are starting to get very interesting. The harder the game, the more fun it is...&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s all, and Yuuki didn&#039;t suffer any setbacks as a result.&lt;br /&gt;
And he thought further.&lt;br /&gt;
In other words, Guy&#039;s ability is difficult to read even with Yuuki&#039;s &amp;quot;creator&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
The unique skill &amp;quot;creator&amp;quot; is very special and can even create skills that can be immediately interpreted&lt;br /&gt;
even if the opponent is using a unique skill.&lt;br /&gt;
Although the premise was that the opponent had to use those skills, Yuuki believed that no one could&lt;br /&gt;
hide anything under this ability.&lt;br /&gt;
But it doesn&#039;t work on Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
This indicates that the opponent&#039;s abilities are above unique skills.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki craves strength.&lt;br /&gt;
Wanting more power, being able to overcome the power of Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
Deep inside him, the fire of desire was burning brightly.&lt;br /&gt;
So to speak, the &amp;quot;greedy one&amp;quot; in me has a chance to evolve as well. I became more greedy than anyone&lt;br /&gt;
else. If it&#039;s to instill those desires in it...&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, Yuuki was so excited that he was shaking all over.&lt;br /&gt;
He began to think.&lt;br /&gt;
Losing to Guy made him think about how much injustice there is in this world.&lt;br /&gt;
He wants to fight it and win. This is exactly what Yuuki wants.&lt;br /&gt;
Closing his eyes, he came face to face with his inner voice.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Go deeper within, go deeper, go to the place that lies at the end of the abyss.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki pays attention to all corners.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;Want to join forces with me now?&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
No, it&#039;s not that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;What is your purpose then?&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I need to run something by you.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;What&#039;s Up?&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right. I want to receive your power.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;Don&#039;t Be Joking.&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m not kidding, I&#039;m serious.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;What a Silly Thing to Say...&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m sorry, you&#039;re in the way.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;—!&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately following the next second, as if to cover every corner of his heart, Yuuki outlined that&lt;br /&gt;
wish in his mind.&lt;br /&gt;
The desire to fulfill his true ambition to achieve that hegemony.&lt;br /&gt;
Be untouched by anyone and use the strong will as a weapon.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki is challenging himself.&lt;br /&gt;
And after that, the &amp;quot;Voice of the World&amp;quot; sounded...&lt;br /&gt;
—Confirmation completed. Conditions met. The unique skill &amp;quot;Greedy One&amp;quot; has evolved into the&lt;br /&gt;
ultimate skill &amp;quot;Greedy King Mammon”.—&lt;br /&gt;
At this point, Yuuki opened his eyes and showed an arrogant smile.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I will make good use of your power.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Next he muttered something so small that no one heard him.&lt;br /&gt;
This day, in this moment, in this place.&lt;br /&gt;
The most evil of demons is born.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Chapter 1: The Stepping Sound of Military Boots&lt;br /&gt;
The day the music exchange ended, we returned to our home countries.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Venom and others who had come to act as escorts, and Tako and others were unharmed, and everyone&lt;br /&gt;
was safe and sound.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the children that Diablo protected, I let them rest for a week. They weren&#039;t injured, but it was just&lt;br /&gt;
in case.&lt;br /&gt;
The difference between training and actual combat seemed to impress them, giving them less of the&lt;br /&gt;
vibrancy they normally had. They may be psychologically traumatized, so I want everyone to get some&lt;br /&gt;
rest.&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminas is on Leon&#039;s side, and we intend to meet another day to discuss it.&lt;br /&gt;
There was a dispute over which side to meet, and it was finally decided to meet in the capital of the&lt;br /&gt;
Jura Tempest Federation, &amp;quot;Rimuru&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Ruberios under the rule of Ruminas was busy rebuilding, and as for the Golden Country of Leon&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
territory, it seemed that something big had happened there and there was no room to entertain important&lt;br /&gt;
people from other countries.&lt;br /&gt;
At present, our Jura Tempest Federation has no problem in this regard and can find no reason to reject&lt;br /&gt;
it.&lt;br /&gt;
We already have two demon lords on our side anyway.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking of the winged fairy, and the lazy nobleman Dino, I promised Ruminas and Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
Time came the next day.&lt;br /&gt;
Neither had time to put their feet down and settle down, and the two came running in a hurry.&lt;br /&gt;
It seemed that Leon had gone back to the country once, and had made preparations before coming here.&lt;br /&gt;
I thought to myself that the two of them were in too much of a hurry, but Ruminas and Leon both wanted&lt;br /&gt;
to exchange information first.&lt;br /&gt;
I would also like to ask the two of them something about this incident. So I had no opinion and decided&lt;br /&gt;
to go along with what they wanted.&lt;br /&gt;
We came to the most luxurious reception room to assemble.&lt;br /&gt;
On the scene were me, Ruminas and Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
Since I&#039;m going to have a meeting with the other demon lords, then I can&#039;t act too shabby.&lt;br /&gt;
The people who came to the talks were all connected to this event.&lt;br /&gt;
We decided to consolidate the information first and then see how far the information related to Chloe&lt;br /&gt;
would be made public.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the importance of the matter, it would be better for everyone to hide it from their own men&lt;br /&gt;
as well—a point on which a few of us have made no secret.&lt;br /&gt;
The people who came from my country were Shion, Diablo and Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seriously, I don&#039;t want to have Veldora in. I wanted him to stay in his room and play, but for some&lt;br /&gt;
reason, he strongly insisted, ‘I can&#039;t do it without you!’&lt;br /&gt;
Now that he&#039;s talked about it, I had to be reluctant to let it go.&lt;br /&gt;
According to the theory, Shion should have been seriously injured, but she never expected to recover in&lt;br /&gt;
a flash. This made me realize that &amp;quot;super-speed regeneration&amp;quot; is really a scary skill.&lt;br /&gt;
Now she was standing side by side with Diablo behind me.&lt;br /&gt;
Hinata sat next to Ruminas, while Louis and Gonda stood behind the two.&lt;br /&gt;
There were also two knights standing straight up behind Leon—Alrose and Claude.&lt;br /&gt;
Finally there is the main character, Chloe. She&#039;s gone back to being a child, but I think it&#039;s okay to treat&lt;br /&gt;
her as an adult.&lt;br /&gt;
Placed here was a rectangular table with six more couches for personal use.&lt;br /&gt;
I sat side-by-side with Veldora, opposite Hinata and Ruminas. Leon sat face to face with Chloe in the&lt;br /&gt;
main seat.&lt;br /&gt;
With that, the temporary demon lord talks began.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The first thing to do is to ask Chloe to speak for herself. Hinata also stepped aside to help explain what&lt;br /&gt;
was really going on at that time.&lt;br /&gt;
In general, their words are incredible. However, I have experienced that spiritual landscape first hand,&lt;br /&gt;
so I accept these claims at once.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s how I got out of the Infinite Reincarnation, with the help of Hinata and Rimuru-san.”&lt;br /&gt;
Explaining to this side and concluding with a quote from Chloe.&lt;br /&gt;
People all put on a restless expression and observed the reactions around them.&lt;br /&gt;
In such an atmosphere, there are those who do not know how to read a room, and Veldora takes the&lt;br /&gt;
lead.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That is to say, the one who sealed me is...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That kind of thing doesn&#039;t matter.&lt;br /&gt;
Even though I thought so, Hinata reacted to that statement.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s me. Now we&#039;re both a winner and a loser. Wouldn&#039;t that be nice? To be able to taste defeat.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What the...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Gee, do you have a problem with that? In that case, it&#039;s okay if I have to fight you again.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, well, well, well! Now that you&#039;ve said so, let me show you my true power...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
You don&#039;t even have to drive at this rate. Hinata was normally calm, but for some reason, as soon as she&lt;br /&gt;
met Veldora, she became childish.&lt;br /&gt;
Looks like I&#039;ll just have to jump in and be the mediator.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;All right, that&#039;s enough.”&lt;br /&gt;
We&#039;ll talk about this topic when it&#039;s just the two of you next time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hinata, educating that stupid dragon is a vital thing. If you really want to make a move, my servant&lt;br /&gt;
will also help, you must tell my servant.”&lt;br /&gt;
Miss Ruminas, please don&#039;t add fuel to the fire.&lt;br /&gt;
Now that things have turned out this way, then I&#039;ll change the subject.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Anyway, it&#039;s good that it ended up being okay. One more thing that concerns me is that I seem to have&lt;br /&gt;
been killed, right? So it was really the Imperials who did it?”&lt;br /&gt;
For me, this issue is even more important.&lt;br /&gt;
At present, there are suspicious movements on the Imperial side, and if they really want to make an&lt;br /&gt;
enemy of our country, then we must remain vigilant.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Probably. Other than that, it should be the same person who killed Hinata. There seems to be some&lt;br /&gt;
very powerful masters on the Imperial side, or they&#039;ve sent several of them against you, but the glow that&lt;br /&gt;
runs through Hinata can&#039;t even be seen by me.”&lt;br /&gt;
It turns out that the other side can kill even Hinata, so killing me who hadn’t evolved into a demon lord&lt;br /&gt;
is not surprising.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ve evolved into a demon lord now, but I think it&#039;s better to be careful.”&lt;br /&gt;
Although it&#039;s a different timeline, the other side has beaten me down before and will subconsciously&lt;br /&gt;
guard against it. Since we are going to make an enemy of the Empire, one still has to be more careful.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I think it&#039;s better this way too. The Empire is even more dangerous than Mr. Rimuru had in mind.&lt;br /&gt;
After the killing of Mr. Rimuru, Mr. Veldora began to rebel, and it was the Empire that drove him back.”&lt;br /&gt;
Halfway through the showdown with Veldora, Hinata is killed and Chloe goes back in time. Later&lt;br /&gt;
memories are only fragmentary memories of Chronoa.&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, the out-of-control Veldora and Chronoa clashed violently, and the one who took&lt;br /&gt;
advantage of the situation seemed to be the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
We&#039;ve seen Chronoa&#039;s power with our own eyes, and just being able to intervene in that fight means&lt;br /&gt;
that the other side is very good. That being said, the Empire may have a fairly large war power, so large&lt;br /&gt;
that it&#039;s beyond our expectations.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s not just me, Ruminas and Leon seem to think so too.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone is igniting a sense of crisis about the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In the midst of this heavy atmosphere, Veldora’s next comments were simply misdirected.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I can&#039;t believe I lost it.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
He spoke with a smug look on his face.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that, people reacted as if they were saying, ‘What is this guy talking about?’&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s just as well that Veldora was able to play the idiot in such a serious atmosphere...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wait! Why are you looking at me like that? How could a gentleman like me get out of hand and run&lt;br /&gt;
amok!?”&lt;br /&gt;
Nope, I&#039;ll say it.&lt;br /&gt;
I heard that you made a big mess a long time ago, so I guess you were just as capricious at that time.&lt;br /&gt;
Well, maybe it was the resurrection and finding out I’d been killed that made him furious.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about it this way makes me feel a little happy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;All right, take it easy, let&#039;s just take it as it is.”&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about that in my head, I got a little warm in my heart and decided to placate Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The empire is dangerous”—that part of it comes down to this.”&lt;br /&gt;
Next we&#039;ll talk about Chronoa&#039;s memories and see how much Chloe can recall.&lt;br /&gt;
World War broke out after Veldora was defeated by the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
East and West were at war, and the battlefield was becoming increasingly favorable to the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
It was at this time that Milim launched into action.&lt;br /&gt;
My death became the fuse for her animosity towards the Empire. At this point Guy intervenes and the&lt;br /&gt;
worst of the battle—Milim versus Guy—is repeated.&lt;br /&gt;
There was also a military conflict between Dagruel and Ruminas, and as a result the war spread&lt;br /&gt;
throughout the world.&lt;br /&gt;
Then Chronoa lost her life fighting someone.&lt;br /&gt;
She rushed to the main battlefield and fought on as long as there was breath left. The only thought left&lt;br /&gt;
in her mind was to &#039;destroy everything&#039;, and I heard that Chronoa would kill the strong man regardless of&lt;br /&gt;
what she saw.&lt;br /&gt;
So not remembering who you were killed by......&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There aren&#039;t many people who can defeat that Chronoa, are there?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It must be Guy.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Only Guy can do it, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing my tweets, Ruminas and Leon responded immediately.&lt;br /&gt;
I think so too. I don&#039;t know who&#039;s going to die in the matchup between Guy and Milim, but there&#039;s no&lt;br /&gt;
second choice but Guy to kill Chronoa.&lt;br /&gt;
Only, it&#039;s not clear why Guy wanted to kill Chronoa, or maybe not him.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, why does Chronoa like me?”&lt;br /&gt;
After hearing what Chloe said, I still feel like I crossed paths with Chronoa.&lt;br /&gt;
Chronoa came back to life after I died, so she doesn&#039;t know me at all.&lt;br /&gt;
In spite of that, it felt like Chronoa liked me anyway. I&#039;m not a slow person, so I can at least find that&lt;br /&gt;
out.&lt;br /&gt;
Looking back on it now, it was like that in the beginning. When I summoned her for Chloe, she kissed&lt;br /&gt;
and hugged me as soon as I saw her. I thought it was the first time we met, didn&#039;t I? But I guess there&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
some reason why Chronoa would do that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s because...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Because Rimuru has helped me. In the world to come, I have been in turmoil, and it is you who will&lt;br /&gt;
save me.”&lt;br /&gt;
When Chloe was halfway through her words, Chronoa continued on.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What the hell, I&#039;m the one who has to explain!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What does it matter? It&#039;s just a small thing. I&#039;m you anyway. It&#039;s all the same, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
To the eyes of the others it would only seem that Chloe was splitting hairs. It looks like as long as&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe is negligent, Chronoa will step in and interject.&lt;br /&gt;
But this kind of thing is just fine to get used to.&lt;br /&gt;
Next, Chloe and Chronoa began to alternate narratives.&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe - it should be said that according to Chronoa&#039;s memory, the future me did not really die. I did get&lt;br /&gt;
knocked down by the Empire, but seemed to come back to life smoothly afterwards.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t care, but the &amp;quot;Great Sage&amp;quot; who evolved into the King of Wisdom, Master Raphael, does&lt;br /&gt;
everything right. It seemed to take a while, but it still had managed to keep me alive.&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, the world situation had changed significantly.&lt;br /&gt;
Veldora disappears and the Jura Tempest Federation is destroyed.&lt;br /&gt;
A great war erupted between the East and West, and a fierce tug-of-war ensued between the demon&lt;br /&gt;
lords.&lt;br /&gt;
Well—it’s not hard to imagine how I felt at the time.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, I am the party.&lt;br /&gt;
If it were me, I would definitely be desperately searching for survivors. Even if there&#039;s no way to save&lt;br /&gt;
everyone, at least save the people I know.&lt;br /&gt;
Then I found out about Chloe, aka Chronoa.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Chronoa&#039;s memory is left in bits and pieces, not remembering the most important parts. Still, she&lt;br /&gt;
remembers roughly the process.&lt;br /&gt;
After the encounter with Chronoa, We exchanged blows several times before I finally succeeded in&lt;br /&gt;
bringing her to her senses.&lt;br /&gt;
By this time, however, the world situation was set.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Just as everyone guessed, I did battle with Guy. Don&#039;t remember how things came to that, but I&#039;m sure&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru wasn&#039;t around at the time. When I was about to die, I was held by Rimuru again, and when I came&lt;br /&gt;
back, I saw Rimuru and myself as if I had seen the old Rimuru, that is, Chloe.”&lt;br /&gt;
About Guy, I was just surprised by what I thought was unexpected.&lt;br /&gt;
More than that, I&#039;m curious about what happened when Chronoa died...presumably she started &amp;quot;time&lt;br /&gt;
travel&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
But that alone wasn&#039;t enough to drive her back to the time when Chloe had stayed. It&#039;s also possible that&lt;br /&gt;
what I did is indefinable.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By that time I had evolved into a demon lord?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;He had evolved. By the time he met me, Rimuru had become even stronger than he is now.”&lt;br /&gt;
Uh, that kind of thing just by looking at it?&lt;br /&gt;
I think I’m strong enough on my own at the moment, but Chronoa isn&#039;t so strong as to misjudge her&lt;br /&gt;
opponent. In this way, the loss of my companions probably made me quite a mess.&lt;br /&gt;
However, those have nothing to do with me now, yet there is an empire behind them. I still think in a&lt;br /&gt;
good direction though, knowing that there is room for progress after myself.&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, those aside first.&lt;br /&gt;
Since she said it was better than the current me, then the &amp;quot;Great Sage&amp;quot; must have evolved into the&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;King of Wisdom Raphael&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
That is, letting Chronoa&#039;s spirit and memory fly to the young Chloe - it would be no surprise if I were to&lt;br /&gt;
do such an incredible thing.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;“...”&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Ohhhh, the guru can&#039;t deny that.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s a good indication that something is happening in the future.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Anyway, the end result was OK.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s too easy to say such things.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t say that. Anyway, Chloe was as seen now, the people were safe and sound, and Veldora had been&lt;br /&gt;
resurrected. As long as we keep a good eye on these two, we won&#039;t have to worry about them losing&lt;br /&gt;
control. In that case, all that&#039;s left is the Empire, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Hinata glared at me, and I responded with a cheerful smile.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it. If Dagruel attacks, I&#039;ll take care of it. After all, you&#039;re the one who saved Chloe, so let me&lt;br /&gt;
thank you a little.”&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that Ruminas and Chloe are really good together, and I saved Chloe&#039;s life with the stock going&lt;br /&gt;
up and down. Thanks to this, it seems that in the future the two parties will be able to maintain a better&lt;br /&gt;
relationship than before.&lt;br /&gt;
I was originally still worried about Dagruel&#039;s ambitions. This is something that Ruminas is willing to&lt;br /&gt;
underwrite. Without even asking me to please, Ruminas has promised to guard the Western world.&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, the Western countries were originally under the jurisdiction of Ruminas. While some areas&lt;br /&gt;
would clash with Guy&#039;s men, those were like games to Guy. Ruminas seemed to look away and think&lt;br /&gt;
there was no point in caring about that.&lt;br /&gt;
The bigger problem was Dagruel, and Ruminas seemed to be on constant alert, fearing the day when&lt;br /&gt;
the two sides would go to war.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It sounds like we&#039;ll still be at war in the future, and if the Empire makes a move, he&#039;s likely to follow&lt;br /&gt;
suit.”&lt;br /&gt;
Although Ruminas said so, I still held my doubts.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;However, Dagruel&#039;s sons have come to live in this country for a while. He wouldn&#039;t have resorted to&lt;br /&gt;
force so easily, I guess.”&lt;br /&gt;
Personally, I think there should be some sort of reasoning behind Dagruel&#039;s actions.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh? You say Dagruel&#039;s sons are here too? Is this true?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s true. They have now become minions of Shion and are working on their training.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes. Although those guys aren&#039;t quite there yet, they&#039;ve become more decent lately. To reward them, I&lt;br /&gt;
treated them to a homemade meal and they cried with joy. What a bunch of cute guys.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing me say that, Shion answered in a serious manner.&lt;br /&gt;
I wonder if they were really ecstatic?&lt;br /&gt;
They should be happy the girl of their choice cooks for them with her own hands...but only if those&lt;br /&gt;
things are edible.&lt;br /&gt;
No, as long as the appearance and taste can be tolerated, the cuisine of Shion can still be eaten.&lt;br /&gt;
That should be no problem. If they hadn&#039;t complained about it themselves, it wouldn&#039;t be an issue I&lt;br /&gt;
could intervene in. That&#039;s it.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that Dagruel&#039;s sons were staying in the country, Ruminas was aghast. But these things only&lt;br /&gt;
happened for a moment, and she immediately found her usual pace.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It seems to be true. It&#039;s a little strange to say that the Dagruel guy fell for someone&#039;s scheme too—no,&lt;br /&gt;
those are future things. It should be said that he might have been caught in someone else&#039;s trap.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminas said as she thought.&lt;br /&gt;
There will be war in the future, but for now there is peace.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, there must be some reason behind Dagruel&#039;s ambition to expand his territory. When I met&lt;br /&gt;
him at the Walpurgis before, he didn&#039;t feel like a big bad guy. I’ll check in with the his sons next time.&lt;br /&gt;
If there is anything wrong with that, I can discuss it with them. It&#039;s much better to sit down and talk it&lt;br /&gt;
out than to start a war.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;We&#039;ll try to look into this, too.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I&#039;ll leave it to you. I don&#039;t want to start a war for no reason either.”&lt;br /&gt;
With regard to Dagruel, we have decided to wait for future findings. It would be troublesome if he&lt;br /&gt;
followed the Empire into action, and just in case, I asked Ruminas to keep her guard up as well.&lt;br /&gt;
Louis and Gonda nodded their heads, saying that they could safely leave the matter to them.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;And then there&#039;s Guy...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Let me talk over there.”&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s no use going to Guy to complain about something that might happen in the future, but I&#039;m still a&lt;br /&gt;
little worried. It&#039;s better to explain to him what&#039;s going on, too.&lt;br /&gt;
That point is bitter to make though...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;After all, Guy is the &#039;mediator&#039;. Although the current me doesn&#039;t have him in my sights, it seems I was&lt;br /&gt;
exterminated by that guy a long time ago. Anyway, I don&#039;t remember any of those things, so it doesn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
count!”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s when those words came out of the blue from Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
It makes people wonder where he starts spouting off and how he does it.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy is a &amp;quot;mediator.&amp;quot; What does that mean?&lt;br /&gt;
Didn&#039;t think Guy had fought against Veldora before and Veldora had been exterminated.&lt;br /&gt;
Those were the first things I heard.&lt;br /&gt;
By the way, if you don&#039;t remember, you lose because you don&#039;t remember, and even if it&#039;s a child&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
excuse, it&#039;s still too low, but if you say it, it seems like you&#039;re pathetic, so don&#039;t say it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, in my opinion, Guy has done great things.”&lt;br /&gt;
“‘Mediator,&#039; right? It is true that Guy is not a partner of mankind, but he is also not an enemy of&lt;br /&gt;
mankind. It&#039;s reasonable to speculate that the reason why Chronoa was killed in the future was because he&lt;br /&gt;
feared that the world might end if he didn&#039;t take care of Chronoa, who &#039;just wanted to destroy&lt;br /&gt;
everything’.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Leon stepped in to draw the conclusion.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What exactly is a ‘mediator&#039;?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone understands what he means, and I&#039;m the only one who still can&#039;t react. I didn&#039;t hesitate to ask&lt;br /&gt;
questions, and Ruminas explained them to me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The so-called &#039;mediator&#039; is a different mechanism from the &#039;hero&#039; or the &#039;demon lord&#039;. The purpose is to&lt;br /&gt;
prevent the destruction of this world and is said to be the spokesman for the Creator, the Star Dragon,&lt;br /&gt;
Veldanava.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s what it&#039;s all about. My brother &#039;Star King Dragon&#039; Veldanava would set it up in such a way that&lt;br /&gt;
he did not want the world that he had created so easily to be destroyed.”&lt;br /&gt;
I see.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s because Veldora wanted to destroy the world that he was exterminated, right?&lt;br /&gt;
Now I totally get it. One more thing that is confirmed in passing is that the “true dragons&amp;quot; will indeed&lt;br /&gt;
be resurrected. I doubt very much that Veldora really has lost his memory, but let&#039;s not correct that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So it is. Then it&#039;s unlikely that Guy will keep an eye on the current Chloe.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. I also have memories of when Chronoa was out of control, and she didn&#039;t hate that demon lord-&lt;br /&gt;
san.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Hinata and Chloe seemed to be okay with that, and the two laughed and talked about it. As long as&lt;br /&gt;
there are no out-of-control doubts, it seems to be possible to avoid fighting Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, why don&#039;t you ask Leon to explain it to Guy?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Good. Because this is about my future with Chloe.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This has nothing to do with Brother Leon, does it?”&lt;br /&gt;
Leon spoke righteously, only to be rebuked mercilessly by Chloe.&lt;br /&gt;
I thought to myself how awful this innocence was and felt a little sympathy for Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
Leon looked very handsome and gave off a cold look, and the world seemed to treat him like the big&lt;br /&gt;
bad.&lt;br /&gt;
The matter with Miss Shizu seemed to be like that too, it looked like he was very bad at talking, in fact&lt;br /&gt;
he was in some ways considered disgustingly good. Maybe because of that, he seems to be easily&lt;br /&gt;
misunderstood.&lt;br /&gt;
For example, it&#039;s the opposite of Masayuki, so it&#039;s easier to understand.&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe thought of him as a kindly big brother next door.&lt;br /&gt;
There was not the slightest hint of romantic affection for him.&lt;br /&gt;
Leon seems to have been popular with girls from before, and the reason for that is probably here, and&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe is therefore completely unaware of Leon&#039;s love for her.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Come to think of it, I think Leon is actually a man full of sadness.&lt;br /&gt;
In my mind, I decided to be kind to him in the future.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Now that two demon lords have agreed to help, the talks have been a success.&lt;br /&gt;
That leaves the Empire as the object to be guarded against.&lt;br /&gt;
Let us then draw up our own response. As I am about to close the meeting...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Please, please wait! There are guests inside now, and important meetings are taking place.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, it&#039;s nice to see me invading. But I came all the way over, so let me say hello.”&lt;br /&gt;
Just then, a loud noise came from across the hallway.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s that voice, and the arrogance that flows from talking to people...&lt;br /&gt;
Whoever came was definitely the strongest demon lord Guy. There aren&#039;t many people who can do that&lt;br /&gt;
without being so close to me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Notice. There is no hostility on the other side.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
......have you found out?&lt;br /&gt;
Uh, now is not the time to argue about that.&lt;br /&gt;
I hurried to get up from my seat.&lt;br /&gt;
But before I act...&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo, who was originally standing behind me, walked towards the door with a look of displeasure.&lt;br /&gt;
“Hi!”&lt;br /&gt;
“Bye.”&lt;br /&gt;
After this brief conversation, Diablo vigorously closed the door.&lt;br /&gt;
“......”&lt;br /&gt;
It came so suddenly that we all froze on the spot.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oi oi oi, no need for that, Diablo.”&lt;br /&gt;
The doorway opened again and Guy burst into a roar.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Geez, you interrupted an important meeting. It&#039;s only been a day and I&#039;m not ready. I would like to talk&lt;br /&gt;
to you slowly afterwards, please wait until I invite you over.”&lt;br /&gt;
The use of words was still polite, but Diablo&#039;s attitude towards Guy was tough.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Did they already know each other?&lt;br /&gt;
I wasn&#039;t the only one who thought so, Ruminas and Leon were also amazed.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I can&#039;t believe it. I didn&#039;t expect that the Black Primordial would not budge in the face of Guy, so the&lt;br /&gt;
Black Primordial was really something.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is he truly the Black Primordial? How did such a ruthless character come to serve under Rimuru?”&lt;br /&gt;
...Hmmmmmmmm?&lt;br /&gt;
I vaguely heard some words that didn&#039;t sound good?&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo&#039;s a tough guy? No, he does have an arrogant attitude......&lt;br /&gt;
Then again...what are the Primordials?&lt;br /&gt;
Just as I was feeling a bit confused, there was a bigger commotion behind me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Rimuru, are you all right? Just now, my sister, she...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord, did you sense Red?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is there going to be a war? I&#039;ll do my best if you tell me!”&lt;br /&gt;
First it was Benimaru rushing over, Souei following behind him.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately afterwards it was Carrera who appeared, and then even Ultima broke in with her, coming&lt;br /&gt;
in at about the same time.&lt;br /&gt;
They caused a major uproar.&lt;br /&gt;
The way things had turned out, it was better to take Guy in instead of driving him back.&lt;br /&gt;
It’s just that I didn’t have an invitation at all. Why did things come to this? It seems necessary to ask&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo afterwards.&lt;br /&gt;
The immediate priority now is to clean up this mess.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Everybody calm down. Diablo, you also restrain yourself.”&lt;br /&gt;
When I said that, the people who had just run over also settled down with me.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing that the atmosphere around me had stabilized, I continued.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s not part of the plan, but we still have something to discuss with Guy. Since you&#039;ve all come over,&lt;br /&gt;
let&#039;s invite you directly to the meeting. Is that okay?”&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ll make sure to check in with Guy first.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No problem. I also have something to talk to you about, which is just right.”&lt;br /&gt;
Originally, he was going to ask Leon to explain it to him and it looked like he was going to change the&lt;br /&gt;
booking plan. This time Guy agreed, so I&#039;m going to disband the ones who came running later.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s the way it is, so no need to worry. If anything happens, I&#039;ll call you over, so you can get back to&lt;br /&gt;
work.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing me make such an announcement, everyone showed a look of relief.&lt;br /&gt;
Although a few people in the room said something like &amp;quot;Hmph, that&#039;s right, it&#039;s Red&amp;quot; to keep the world&lt;br /&gt;
in check. Even now, I can&#039;t see it coming,&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Tsk, I thought I had a chance to make a scene this time,&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
but in the end, it ended up just barely okay.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The people who had gathered were back at work.&lt;br /&gt;
Then, in order to make tea for those who stayed in the room, Shuna also exited the room.&lt;br /&gt;
It was at this point that Leon spoke first.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, what&#039;s going on? Why is the Yellow Primordial here?”&lt;br /&gt;
Huh?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;d like to ask you the same. The other one seems to be the Purple Primordial. Is that a servant who&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
been over minded? I heard that her personality is more gloomy and cunning, so my servant is a little&lt;br /&gt;
unsure.....&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Hmm...?&lt;br /&gt;
What yellow primordial and purple primordial, what the hell are these guys talking about?&lt;br /&gt;
—Ah, that can&#039;t be it!&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Are you talking about Carrera and Ultima? These two were poached by that Diablo over there, and I&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t think they&#039;d be better than I thought...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
I stepped in to explain, but couldn&#039;t finish the sentence.&lt;br /&gt;
“Carrera!? And another one named Ultima!? You&#039;re not going to name those people, are you?!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I can&#039;t believe it. Not only that Diablo, but you also took in other Primordial Ancestors as&lt;br /&gt;
subordinates, didn&#039;t you......&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Leon stood up suddenly and yelled, along with a heart-stoppingly surprised Ruminas. Both looked over&lt;br /&gt;
at me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Isn&#039;t that right? The reason I came over here was to find out what he was really up to.”&lt;br /&gt;
Eventually even Guy started saying inexplicable things.&lt;br /&gt;
You ask me? Who do I ask?&lt;br /&gt;
I didn&#039;t know how to answer, and at this time Shuna pushed the food truck to bring the black tea over.&lt;br /&gt;
To avoid disturbing her, we kept our mouths shut.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The scent smelled good and everyone gradually replied calmly.&lt;br /&gt;
I followed suit and calmed down to think about what everyone had just been talking about.&lt;br /&gt;
The key word is &amp;quot;Primordial&amp;quot; that Ruminas speaks of.&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of the Primordials...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. It is one of the benchmarks used to define the demon race.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s it, by the way, I remember hearing similar instructions.&lt;br /&gt;
The definition of a Primordial is the original demon.&lt;br /&gt;
Huh, the original demon...?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Diablo, you&#039;re not one of the Original demons, are you?”&lt;br /&gt;
When I finished asking the question, Diablo responded indifferently.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, that&#039;s right. I am indeed one of the first of the Seven Systems of the Demon Race to be born in&lt;br /&gt;
this world.”&lt;br /&gt;
......Oi oi oi, no way.&lt;br /&gt;
The demon I summoned when I evolved into the demon lord was not expected to be such a powerful&lt;br /&gt;
character...&lt;br /&gt;
I always thought he was so strong, I didn&#039;t expect it to be more so than I thought.&lt;br /&gt;
“...............didn’t you know?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I can&#039;t believe it. I thought you were a little careless, but I didn&#039;t expect you to be that careless...”&lt;br /&gt;
The way Leon and Ruminas looked at people hurt so much.&lt;br /&gt;
Can&#039;t blame me for that.&lt;br /&gt;
Since I casually summoned it and he responded, I guess it shouldn&#039;t be a big deal.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt; “....”&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
It was as if even Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, was speechless.&lt;br /&gt;
And there was this reaction as if it was not for Diablo&#039;s true identity, but because I didn’t know about it.&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, seems to think that I knew the Primordial Demons&lt;br /&gt;
as well.&lt;br /&gt;
No, wait.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, it seems that Elmesia, the Celestial Emperor of Sarion, also said something about the&lt;br /&gt;
Primordials. Turns out it&#039;s because she&#039;s also discovered Diablo&#039;s true identity that she&#039;s so vigilant!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If I had paid a little more attention, I would have detected Diablo&#039;s true identity sooner.&lt;br /&gt;
This is actually that.&lt;br /&gt;
Commonly known as preconceived notions.&lt;br /&gt;
There is no in-depth investigation of what is known, nor is it brought up for discussion. In the opinion&lt;br /&gt;
of Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, it just didn&#039;t feel the need to speak to me specifically about it.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a big loophole.&lt;br /&gt;
Even with a dictionary at hand, there&#039;s no point in not using it. Even Master Raphael, the King of&lt;br /&gt;
Wisdom, who would advise me recently, could not possibly grasp what I knew and what I did not know.&lt;br /&gt;
No matter how good a partner is, it&#039;s pointless if you don&#039;t let them do their job properly, and now I&#039;ve&lt;br /&gt;
come to understand it again.&lt;br /&gt;
Leaving the surprised me aside, Diablo began to tell the story of his acquaintance with me.&lt;br /&gt;
It sounds as if it goes back to when I met Shizu-san. There seems to be some kind of connection&lt;br /&gt;
between Diablo and Miss Shizu, and Diablo happens to go to that place when he finds out that Miss Shizu&lt;br /&gt;
is about to die.&lt;br /&gt;
It turns out that Diablo had been paying attention to me since that time, which surprised me, but I had&lt;br /&gt;
no idea what his intentions were.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s so abhorrent that a low-ranking demon belonging to my system was summoned before me by Lord&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru. However! I didn&#039;t panic over it, but waited for the time to come and finally answered Lord&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru&#039;s call smoothly!”&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of this side, Diablo showed a very happy smile.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Geez, is it not a coincidence that Diablo would respond to my summons, but a corollary to his long-&lt;br /&gt;
established calculations?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I was so surprised that even my head started to hurt.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, there was something I had never heard before, and it turned out that Diablo was very jealous&lt;br /&gt;
of Beretta and wanted to get rid of him without my knowledge. But Beretta&#039;s body was built by me, so&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo couldn&#039;t hurt it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This body was made by Lord Rimuru himself, and it would displease him if you were to strike at it.”&lt;br /&gt;
Beretta is said to have advised him so at that time.&lt;br /&gt;
How should I say it, should I say it&#039;s dumbfounding?&lt;br /&gt;
That said, it&#039;s stupid and long-winded to go on like this.&lt;br /&gt;
Somebody stop it—I think so, but Diablo&#039;s imposing presence is so overwhelming that no one seems to&lt;br /&gt;
have a chance to interject.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing that this was not the way to go, I spoke.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Diablo, Diablo-kun! Just talk about this side. It&#039;s almost time for us to get on with the meeting, too.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately after me, Guy followed suit and said.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s enough about this, right? By the way, that Dino kid is here too, isn&#039;t he? Can you bring him here&lt;br /&gt;
for me?”&lt;br /&gt;
When this came out of Guy&#039;s mouth, Diablo finally stopped talking.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then let me invite Lord Dino.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Shuna hadn&#039;t been able to find the right time to exit the room, and only now did she politely curtsy and&lt;br /&gt;
leave.&lt;br /&gt;
She&#039;s escaped—I think I&#039;m in the mood too.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s the rest that follows that&#039;s important.”&lt;br /&gt;
The look on Diablo&#039;s face was like he was saying there was going to be more to come, but everyone&lt;br /&gt;
united and pretended not to hear.&lt;br /&gt;
I wonder what he&#039;ll say if we keep listening. In order to keep my mind at peace, it&#039;s best to shut Diablo&lt;br /&gt;
up.&lt;br /&gt;
In the midst of this commotion, unknowingly, Guy&#039;s seat was also ready. The waiting room next door&lt;br /&gt;
had a sofa for guests to sit on, and Leon&#039;s men moved it this way.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, very clever.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Guy’s words, the knights under Leon, Alrose and Claude, nodded softly at him. It looked like&lt;br /&gt;
these two also knew Guy, otherwise neither of them would have made a move, because facing Guy could&lt;br /&gt;
not be done lightly.&lt;br /&gt;
It was supposed to be my job to prepare, but I didn&#039;t expect so much. It was a great help to have these&lt;br /&gt;
two people around, as one mistake could make Guy angry.&lt;br /&gt;
Even the secretary, who was supposed to be assisting me, seemed to be all talk.&lt;br /&gt;
On the other hand, Shion looked like she didn&#039;t care about her own affairs and had no intention of&lt;br /&gt;
leaving my side at all.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Sorry to bother you.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, please don&#039;t worry about it!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;We also know how much trouble His Majesty Rimuru has taken. You want others to stay out of this&lt;br /&gt;
room so we don&#039;t have to go to the trouble of policing, right? That being the case, we&#039;ll leave the trivial&lt;br /&gt;
matters of this magnitude to us.”&lt;br /&gt;
Alrose and Claude are delightful.&lt;br /&gt;
Hopefully Diablo and Shion will learn from them.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hear ye well, that ye also look unto them, and become more attentive.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Gee, gee, gee, gee, gee.”&lt;br /&gt;
It was Guy&#039;s fault for coming here without prior arrangement - Diablo seemed tempted to say so, but he&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t normally make such mistakes, except to say that this was a bad time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, I&#039;ll learn from that!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Shion was quite frank.&lt;br /&gt;
The girl only had her mouth full.&lt;br /&gt;
I prayed in my heart that she actually listened.&lt;br /&gt;
At this point Guy took his seat arrogantly.&lt;br /&gt;
At the same time, Shuna returned with Dino.&lt;br /&gt;
For some reason, Ramiris is with them, some interlude occurs in between, and the meeting unfolds&lt;br /&gt;
again.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The first topic to begin with is the Primordial Demons.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, Dino. May I ask why?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, what&#039;s the reason for this?”&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with Guy&#039;s question, Dino asked back in a straightforward manner. This attitude was starting to&lt;br /&gt;
set Guy on fire.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t pretend! This guy named those three demons, why didn&#039;t you stop him!?”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right, it&#039;s important!&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This guy&amp;quot; said as if it was me, and so did I. If I had known those three demons were so dangerous, I&lt;br /&gt;
wouldn&#039;t have named them.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Although it&#039;s too late, I&#039;d still like to at least give some advice.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I ask you, why do you think I sent you here?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, isn’t it for tourism?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No! It&#039;s to spy on the enemy, to spy!”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing this interaction, I thought to myself that Guy was having a hard time too.&lt;br /&gt;
I had guessed it might be that way. Was Dino really here to be a spy?&lt;br /&gt;
Only, it&#039;s best not to blab about the spy in person.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, and you! Don&#039;t act like it&#039;s none of your business!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Oops, that&#039;s anger.&lt;br /&gt;
It doesn&#039;t make sense to send someone over as a spy and scold me, but the reason is really on me. As&lt;br /&gt;
much as it was tempting to complain, a subconscious retort didn&#039;t seem good.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, the other side is Guy, and pissing him off is definitely the next best thing.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hahahaha, Guy, don&#039;t get mad about a little thing. It&#039;s not like this kid just named people randomly, it&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
not like it started today!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s rare that Veldora would speak for me.&lt;br /&gt;
I yelled &amp;quot;Go!&amp;quot; in my heart. Cheer him on. I didn&#039;t think...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You shut up! Don&#039;t interfere when your lordship is talking!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmmm, mmmm.”&lt;br /&gt;
At being yelled at by Ruminas, Veldora shut up. This alone makes it impossible to say anything back,&lt;br /&gt;
and it shows that he is bullying good and fearing evil.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, it was thanks to him covering me that the spear didn&#039;t continue to be pointed at me. I&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t let the opportunity pass and took the opportunity to spit on Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;All right, take it easy. Dino came here to spy on me, right? The complaints about that aside, Dino who&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t stop me is certainly at fault, but shouldn&#039;t someone who trusts him to send him should take on the&lt;br /&gt;
responsibility of being the overseer? Guy, don&#039;t you think?”&lt;br /&gt;
To put it bluntly, I&#039;m trying to get everyone to sit down.&lt;br /&gt;
How can you put all the blame on me, and let Dino and Guy share the blame?&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s obvious what Dino is responsible for, so again, just drag Guy down with him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Say it, Guy. After all, I wasn&#039;t meant to spy on people. It&#039;s surprising that you&#039;re forcing me to work.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s only times like these that he seems particularly shrewd, and Dino seems to have seen through my&lt;br /&gt;
ploy. He deftly matched me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You two....&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Only to see Guy with a chagrined face.&lt;br /&gt;
Now one has to be careful not to let him get even bigger and create consensus quickly.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I couldn’t stop it in time. I was so surprised to see Rimuru with the Primordial Demon that I couldn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
even speak. There are three demons of the Origin. The Black Primordial is a weirdo, which I can&lt;br /&gt;
understand, but I didn&#039;t think that even demons like the Pure White Primordial (Testarossa) would serve&lt;br /&gt;
someone else, which is beyond anyone&#039;s imagination!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s true.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ah, Dino began to say something about evading responsibility. Guy seemed to agree a few times to the&lt;br /&gt;
point that it wasn&#039;t good to go on like this.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I also had a bitter feeling because Diablo said they could be useful and brought them here, so I had no&lt;br /&gt;
doubt that he accepted. Not at all expecting such awesome characters, and they were polite and well&lt;br /&gt;
behaved and willing to be my men. These men are under Diablo&#039;s jurisdiction and Diablo should be held&lt;br /&gt;
accountable. If something happens, I&#039;ll help take responsibility, but I should have trusted my men, right?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ll just go with the flow and put all the blame on Diablo.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, Diablo is the one who started it all. It&#039;s just a little touchy-feely, so don&#039;t bother with me.&lt;br /&gt;
You will endeavor to bear the wrath of Guy—with that thought, my gaze fell on Diablo. Immediately&lt;br /&gt;
afterwards, hearing me say this, somehow Diablo nodded happily.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I am satisfied with the words of Lord Rimuru, who is willing to trust me. In response to your&lt;br /&gt;
expectations, I will refine even more.”&lt;br /&gt;
“......”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Diablo&#039;s bright smile, a tired looking Guy was speechless, and then the whole man leaned back&lt;br /&gt;
in his chair.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That is to say, the person in the wrong is Diablo?”&lt;br /&gt;
He opened his mouth high and questioned.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s not that it&#039;s all his fault...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It means we&#039;re victims too.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing that I was stammering, Dino was also embarrassed and swallowed back what he was about to&lt;br /&gt;
say.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the person in question, Diablo, he is the only one with a big, proud face.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This guy&#039;s been a weirdo since the old days, and it&#039;s no use complaining to him now...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Guy gestured to Diablo as he said this.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Dino, you were too late to stop Rimuru, which, given the circumstances, is understandable.”&lt;br /&gt;
Oi oi oi, things seem to be starting to go in a strange direction.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, Rimuru, it’s you!”&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s me!?&lt;br /&gt;
Why is the point being made at me?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What&#039;s wrong with me?”&lt;br /&gt;
We can&#039;t afford to get carried away at this time.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m going to put on a straight face and pretend like I&#039;ve done nothing bad and face Guy like this.&lt;br /&gt;
Having made up my mind, to avoid the other party finding out I was panicking, I handed over physical&lt;br /&gt;
dominance to Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s a relief. No matter how choppy my heart may be, on the surface it seems calm.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t you dare ask me what&#039;s wrong!”&lt;br /&gt;
Afterwards, Guy blurted out at me.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the good I did, the balance of power of the whole world completely collapsed, and because&lt;br /&gt;
of this, it is impossible to predict the future of the world situation. The content of the speech is serious,&lt;br /&gt;
and the time I cede the physical domination to the king of wisdom, Master Raphael, is equivalent to&lt;br /&gt;
nothing.&lt;br /&gt;
It looks like Guy&#039;s calculations are more meticulous than expected.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Not only that, but because of you, Mizari&#039;s battle plan also ended in failure. You have to take&lt;br /&gt;
responsibility for that!”&lt;br /&gt;
With that said, that&#039;s the end of Guy&#039;s preaching.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t know anything about those things, and he holds me accountable and listens to me in disbelief,&lt;br /&gt;
but it&#039;s kind of a bargain if doing it will get him to accept it. After making this judgement, in any case, nod&lt;br /&gt;
your head first and say &amp;quot;I see&amp;quot;, and find a way to muddle through.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The preaching time was over, but Guy&#039;s words were not.&lt;br /&gt;
It was said that he would periodically cause disasters that would make people think of him as the&lt;br /&gt;
common enemy of humanity. Because of the fear of a powerful enemy, people will not fight among&lt;br /&gt;
themselves and get into power struggles all day long, which is what he is all about.&lt;br /&gt;
When Granbell is in control of the situation, he keeps his eyes on the wall and doesn&#039;t act too blatantly.&lt;br /&gt;
This time, however, Granbell led the entire army to challenge Ruminas, and the balance fell apart.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why Guy ordered to Mizari, hoping to unite the people with fear.&lt;br /&gt;
The death of the elected members of the Senate will make the heads of the States that are members of&lt;br /&gt;
the Senate realize the threat posed by the demon lord. Laying it out in this direction, uniting the heads of&lt;br /&gt;
the Western nations—that’s the battle plan Mizari had in mind.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then Mizari attacked the venue, but I don&#039;t know why &#039;Primordial White—Testarossa—was there.”&lt;br /&gt;
Tsk, already used to calling her by her first name, she accidentally called her by her previous name—a&lt;br /&gt;
small mumble escaped her lips as Guy continued to speak.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In order to avoid a conflict with Testarossa, Mizari interrupted the battle plan. There&#039;s nothing wrong&lt;br /&gt;
with that part, the problem is later. Humans are very clever, and since there&#039;s no way to dominate them&lt;br /&gt;
with fear, these people will just start skirmishes. Now that the system of domination created by the Rosso&lt;br /&gt;
family has disintegrated, the power struggle will intensify, as it always has. Doing such a foolish thing at&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
a time when the Eastern empires were in a state of folly would inevitably lead to the defeat of the Western&lt;br /&gt;
powers. It&#039;s all your fault, Rimuru. What are you going to do about it? Tell me about it.”&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m so surprised.&lt;br /&gt;
The Western powers might be torn apart and want to prevent such a crisis before it happens - that&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
Guy&#039;s purpose.&lt;br /&gt;
He seemed to have little interest in humanity, but perhaps a little attention was paid to it for the time&lt;br /&gt;
being, lest it perish. That being said, it seems to be the role of the &amp;quot;mediator&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Not exactly on the side of mankind, and the approach is too radical, but a different perspective might be&lt;br /&gt;
a way of talking to us and understanding each other.&lt;br /&gt;
So the question is—I anticipate a policy of response to Western countries.&lt;br /&gt;
Although I didn&#039;t even know about the contact between Testarossa and Mizari, honestly it was too&lt;br /&gt;
much to say. Personally, I would love for humans to identify with us and construct a friendly relationship&lt;br /&gt;
with us, but...&lt;br /&gt;
I was troubled and didn&#039;t know what to say to Guy for good, but it turned out that Diablo stepped up in&lt;br /&gt;
my stead. He ignored Guy, who had a hint of disgust dripping from his face, and began to recount his&lt;br /&gt;
argument.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hmph, what else is there to say, the only goal is to achieve Lord Rimuru&#039;s ideals anyway.”&lt;br /&gt;
Although I was disturbed to know what he would say, I had no specific response. I guess idealism&lt;br /&gt;
doesn&#039;t work on Guy, so trying to gamble on Diablo&#039;s self-assured attitude is a failure, really?&lt;br /&gt;
I didn&#039;t realize that Diablo was using my rhetoric, which I thought was useless.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What does that mean?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Nothing, to put it simply. Guy, using fear to bind others—even if you do such uninteresting things,&lt;br /&gt;
indeed, people will obey you out of fear. But in this way, the human capacity cannot be fully realized. Not&lt;br /&gt;
only that, but the fear will fade over time. No matter how much tragedy you cause for humanity, they will&lt;br /&gt;
eventually forget. After that, there&#039;s only hate in the heart.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, go on.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That hatred will eventually turn to contempt, wanting revenge on those who bullied them. And&lt;br /&gt;
mankind just plays small and isn&#039;t smart enough to realize that they have a power differential from us that&lt;br /&gt;
they absolutely cannot fill. As soon as they are incited by a race like the Demon Race, they&#039;ll do&lt;br /&gt;
something stupid right away.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed it is. That&#039;s why I want to purge the human world of blood to curb such behavior.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Geez, I told you it wouldn&#039;t work. As long as humans are still that stupid, they are easy to fade away.&lt;br /&gt;
Things like that have been happening for generations, and I don&#039;t think that&#039;s changed. But...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
With that said, this side was temporarily suspended, and Diablo looked at Guy with a serious&lt;br /&gt;
expression.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Unlike the unilateral totalitarian rule of the Rosso, we can redistribute wealth, maintain a degree of&lt;br /&gt;
equity, and reconstruct relations between nations. This will give rise to a new economic system.”&lt;br /&gt;
“So?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;To create a new economic system, to preserve the right to choose, to mislead people into believing that&lt;br /&gt;
they chose the future with their own hands, and to make foolish humans believe that they started it all&lt;br /&gt;
with their own hands. Unlike memory, following such a system, one never forgets. We will then be able to&lt;br /&gt;
dominate the human world in a semi-permanent way. Lord Rimuru will be in charge, and that&#039;s our job.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Woo-hoo, Diablo is right on the money.&lt;br /&gt;
Do people cherish it because it was started by their own hands?&lt;br /&gt;
That said, have I ever thought of such a thing?&lt;br /&gt;
There seems to be an impression that something similar has been said, but it shouldn&#039;t be so&lt;br /&gt;
exaggerated......&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s that it feels a little scary to say that all this is premised on success.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So it is. The weak will come to you as long as they have a grasp of the economy and provide free&lt;br /&gt;
security, right? There is no need for bloodshed to fight this battle, and in a society like that, everything is&lt;br /&gt;
already arranged. This is perhaps more desirable than the way the Rosso have dominated.”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy nodded, seeming to look the other way at Diablo.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Of course it&#039;s better. More people will be happy in that world than if wealth were gathered in the hands&lt;br /&gt;
of a few. When that happens, demand and supply will respond to each other, and new possibilities will&lt;br /&gt;
surely open up. That&#039;s Lord Rimuru&#039;s heart&#039;s desire, Guy.”&lt;br /&gt;
Well, that&#039;s true.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m looking forward to an elevated level of culture in my life.&lt;br /&gt;
There will be movies and music, comics, novels. I want to increase this kind of mass entertainment.&lt;br /&gt;
A life of contentment and joy must be the basis for such artistic achievement. In order to discover&lt;br /&gt;
talents that have not yet been seen, I want to make people live rich lives.&lt;br /&gt;
Only, I don&#039;t have any plans for what comes after that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Having tasted and enjoyed the happiness that comes with living in peace, people are afraid of losing&lt;br /&gt;
that, aren&#039;t they?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it. If we were to express it in one sentence, this concept would be called &#039;gratitude&#039;. The people&lt;br /&gt;
thanked Lord Rimuru, the peacekeeper, and became willing to help keep the world at peace. It would be&lt;br /&gt;
more efficient for us to do that than for you to use fear to dominate human thought.”&lt;br /&gt;
When I looked back to find that Diablo and Guy seemed to have reached an understanding, the two&lt;br /&gt;
nodded at each other.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Diablo tell of such a future, not only Ruminas and Leon, but even their men looked at me with&lt;br /&gt;
admiration.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In such an atmosphere...I’m afraid to say...I didn&#039;t even think that far ahead.&lt;br /&gt;
“However, if you want to put these ideas into practice, you must have a long-term vision and a precise&lt;br /&gt;
calculation, right? It has to be managed, and if it goes on like that, it will be overpopulated, and one can&lt;br /&gt;
imagine the human race becoming overwhelmed. Do you have a way to take that part into account?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Hey hey hey, it&#039;s not like you&#039;re taking care of a pet and talking like the sink is overpopulated with&lt;br /&gt;
greenies...&lt;br /&gt;
&#039;&#039;Hmph, is that meant to say that Lord Rimuru can&#039;t even see into the future to this extent? Even if it&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
difficult for you to manage, it&#039;s an easy problem for Lord Rimuru. I&#039;ll be upfront with you, so you don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
have to worry about it.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hello?&lt;br /&gt;
Why did the premise become like this?&lt;br /&gt;
Uh, yeah, I seem to recall saying to Diablo that it&#039;s very demon lord like to manipulate the world from&lt;br /&gt;
behind. But to say such things in front of Guy and other demon lords, I think, I would be hindered.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s something that worries me, but it seems like I&#039;m overthinking it. Or I should say, they are...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah? Then I&#039;ll leave it to you. While I don&#039;t think things will go so well, even if it fails, it won&#039;t hurt&lt;br /&gt;
me. At most, let me get rid of the stupid ones myself then. Just let me see how you&#039;re going to take&lt;br /&gt;
responsibility for this.”&lt;br /&gt;
I didn&#039;t expect Guy to laugh.&lt;br /&gt;
Since it&#039;s all been said and done, I can only be aware of it.&lt;br /&gt;
They all nodded their heads and said, &amp;quot;I know,&amp;quot; but how can they say &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; now?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What Diablo said earlier was a bit of an exaggeration, but largely correct. A bit over-ideal, but I&#039;d love&lt;br /&gt;
to see that happen in the future. Without you saying it, I want to bring world peace in my own way.”&lt;br /&gt;
With that, I made a pact with Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
So much so that it was too late for me to figure out what was really going on, and I became the&lt;br /&gt;
administrator of the Western countries with the recognition of the Eight Star demon lords (Octagram).&lt;br /&gt;
The next thing you know, it would be nice if things ended up this way, but there seem to be other&lt;br /&gt;
problems behind it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Rimuru, I&#039;ll give you a word of advice first. Regarding Yellow Primordial Carerra, that one sometimes&lt;br /&gt;
has a messy side and will look moody while shooting nuclear strike magic. If you don&#039;t take care of it, the&lt;br /&gt;
city you&#039;ve built up so easily will fall to pieces.”&lt;br /&gt;
Leon gave me advice.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately after, Ruminas also had something to say.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it. I have something to tell you, too. As mentioned earlier, the Purple Primordial as the servant&lt;br /&gt;
knew it was insidious and vile, and synonymous with miserable inhumanity. Unlike the demon race, they&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
don&#039;t mean to kill all humans, but they are very fickle and do as they please. They seem to act like&lt;br /&gt;
cheerful maidens before you, but you must not be careless.”&lt;br /&gt;
Well, she says things that make people uncomfortable. Not only that, though the two of them didn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
make it clear, but it seemed that Testarossa was more tricky than those two demons.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a big one.&lt;br /&gt;
No, that&#039;s not quite right. It should be said that I finally realized that things were already in trouble.&lt;br /&gt;
It is now known that Testarossa and the others are the Primordial demons, and I will be in charge of&lt;br /&gt;
these people. If anything happens, I will be held responsible...&lt;br /&gt;
At the moment they are at least Diablo&#039;s men, but there is no way to use that as an excuse to get away&lt;br /&gt;
with it.&lt;br /&gt;
Elmesia is holding me accountable, so how can I say I can&#039;t do it when it&#039;s too late?&lt;br /&gt;
I wanted to beat the shit out of myself for not knowing anything at that time, but it was my own fault&lt;br /&gt;
that this was happening.&lt;br /&gt;
This part of the management seems more taxing than managing human society. I felt so melancholy just&lt;br /&gt;
thinking about this side, that I let out a quiet sigh.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Seemingly just waiting for Guy to finish his sentence, Ramiris, Dino, and Veldora stood up&lt;br /&gt;
unannounced.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;We seem to have been pestering you for a long time, so I&#039;ll leave the rest to you!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Just say it. I also have very important work on my hands. Mr. Vesta is waiting for me, that&#039;s the thing,&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ll see you some other time, Guy!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, I&#039;m going back to guarding the labyrinth, too. Ahhh, so busy, so busy, Kuahahaha!”&lt;br /&gt;
As if by prior agreement, the three were in tacit agreement, and at a glance it was clear that they were&lt;br /&gt;
attempting to flee.&lt;br /&gt;
Dino, in particular, doesn&#039;t seem to want to be read and thought of any more, and yet he speaks out&lt;br /&gt;
against his heart.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh? It&#039;s not funny that you have to go to work and say such a cold joke.”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy Crimson couldn&#039;t listen anymore either, and he hit the nail on the head. However, Ramiris stepped&lt;br /&gt;
in to respond.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, no, no, those are real. Dino is also my assistant now, helping out on my side!”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy was so surprised to hear that.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if he didn&#039;t believe Dino&#039;s words, but even Ramiris endorsed them as true, Guy had to believe&lt;br /&gt;
them.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You said Dino was working? Rimuru, what magic have you done?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
This surprised statement from Guy was addressed to me, but it was a question even I didn&#039;t know how&lt;br /&gt;
to answer.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t know! There is a rule in my country that &#039;people who don&#039;t work don&#039;t eat&#039;. It&#039;s just that there’s&lt;br /&gt;
no magic to make him follow the rules.”&lt;br /&gt;
If only there was magic that handy, I wouldn&#039;t have to work so hard. My heart seemed to come out&lt;br /&gt;
through those words and Guy didn&#039;t pursue it.&lt;br /&gt;
Then the three of them panicked and fled from this room. Watching them devour all the tea and&lt;br /&gt;
refreshments prepared by Shuna, it was obvious that they had been waiting for this moment for a long&lt;br /&gt;
time.&lt;br /&gt;
I thought to myself, ‘These guys are really no slouch.’&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Forget it. He&#039;s already picked on Dino, so he&#039;ll be more serious when it comes to gathering&lt;br /&gt;
information.”&lt;br /&gt;
At this time Guy muttered in a small voice.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m telling you, don&#039;t say that in front of me. I really don&#039;t know how to respond to your bold statement&lt;br /&gt;
about sending someone here to spy.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s just that, even if he said such things to Guy, he wouldn&#039;t have listened to it. Forget about that for&lt;br /&gt;
now, thankfully I don&#039;t have to pretend to test each other, I should be thinking in the good way like this.&lt;br /&gt;
I looked away and decided to do so, so I changed the subject.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By the way, did you come here just to ask about Testarossa and the others?”&lt;br /&gt;
If that&#039;s all there is to do, Guy should be prepared to go home. Seeing that he didn&#039;t do that, presumably&lt;br /&gt;
there was something else. As much as I don&#039;t want to face more questions, I get stuck without asking.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s something to care about too, yes, but I have other things.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of which, Guy leaned back in his chair.&lt;br /&gt;
He lowered his eyes to look around the crowd before his final gaze rested on Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m going to meet with the clowns who call themselves the Moderate Clown Troupe.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Oh?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Those are the guys you&#039;re dealing with, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Exactly.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with Guy&#039;s question, Leon gave an affirmative answer.&lt;br /&gt;
Huh, wait. He had just gently brought it up, but that topic was important!&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, did you see Yuuki, too?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“Right.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Guy nodded dryly, answering my question for me.&lt;br /&gt;
I am now ordering Souei to search for the Freedom Association Headquarters. Something like that&lt;br /&gt;
happened yesterday shouldn&#039;t be unexpected for Yuuki, so we think he&#039;ll run to the guild headquarters that&lt;br /&gt;
is used as a stronghold. But he shouldn&#039;t be able to show up in a big way, so I asked the Souei to pay more&lt;br /&gt;
attention to prevent Yuuki from disguising himself or finding someone to be his double, and even asked&lt;br /&gt;
them to keep an eye on him.&lt;br /&gt;
I didn&#039;t hear anything from the other side at the moment, but I didn&#039;t expect Guy and Yuuki to ever&lt;br /&gt;
meet.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, are you in cahoots with Yuuki?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh? What a stupid thing to say. It&#039;s just that the gang is planning to run away to the East, so I&#039;m&lt;br /&gt;
going to teach them a little lesson.”&lt;br /&gt;
I originally suspected Guy of colluding with Yuuki, and it doesn&#039;t look like that. That&#039;s a relief for the&lt;br /&gt;
time being, however in that case, I don&#039;t know what Guy’s purpose is.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You didn&#039;t kill them?”&lt;br /&gt;
This question comes from Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
That one concerns me too, but more than that...&lt;br /&gt;
It turns out that Yuuki is planning to give up his position in the West and flee to the East?&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a really dry decision to make, what a horrible decisiveness, and it&#039;s bold.&lt;br /&gt;
Just being targeted by Guy is bad luck for him. Guy said it was just a lesson, which should sound like it&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t kill them, but it must have taken a lot of pain.&lt;br /&gt;
No worse, I don&#039;t sympathize with them at all, and instead think they&#039;re making a fool of themselves.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I didn&#039;t kill them in the end. At first it was about getting these people arrested and selling you out, but&lt;br /&gt;
things changed.”&lt;br /&gt;
With that said, Guy started talking about what happened between him and Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
Finally, we can figure out roughly what Yuuki is doing behind his back.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki is the employer of the &amp;quot;Moderate Clown Troupe&amp;quot; and their boss. This, in fact, is just a&lt;br /&gt;
confirmation of my guess—the prediction of Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, I should say.&lt;br /&gt;
Here are the great and bad things that Yuuki has done.&lt;br /&gt;
1. Letting the Adventurers develop into a free guild.&lt;br /&gt;
2. Having the Rosso family, which dominates the Council, in charge of what goes on under the table.&lt;br /&gt;
And making a deal with Demon Lord Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
3. Accepting Clayman, making him the Demon Lord and manipulating him behind his back.&lt;br /&gt;
4. Defeating the Mother of Darkness (Echidna), who dominates the Eastern Empire&#039;s underworld, and&lt;br /&gt;
forming a secret association called the “Big Three (Cerberus)&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Ostensibly the leader of the Freedom Association, but behind the scenes it is the Chief Marshal of the&lt;br /&gt;
Secret Association.&lt;br /&gt;
Things about the organization that was the Mother of Darkness were still being heard for the first time&lt;br /&gt;
today, and it sounded like it was a very large dark force. This was information given by Leon and should&lt;br /&gt;
not be false.&lt;br /&gt;
By the way, it seems that the Slave Chamber of Commerce that Yuuki screwed over is also a&lt;br /&gt;
subordinate organization of the Big Three, and he may have some sort of connection to this organization&lt;br /&gt;
as well.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki is particularly adept at bringing down established organizations and taking over the nest.&lt;br /&gt;
This seems easy to say, but in practice it is extremely difficult to put into practice. He did all of this in&lt;br /&gt;
ten years, and the word &amp;quot;talented&amp;quot; no longer describes it. Even calling him a genius is not an&lt;br /&gt;
overstatement.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki is a genius, but overconfidence becomes a failure. No matter how good he is, the inability to see&lt;br /&gt;
through an opponent&#039;s strength is what will deduct points.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s only right that once you see Guy, you know that he&#039;s very strong.&lt;br /&gt;
Count him lucky this time, Guy let him off the hook, perhaps such luck would be commendable.&lt;br /&gt;
I had mixed feelings when I heard that Yuuki had saved his small life.&lt;br /&gt;
As a fellow countryman, I don&#039;t want his life so badly. But at the same time, I can&#039;t forgive Yuuki for&lt;br /&gt;
what he did.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki pretends to be a good man, but behind his back, he plays the Rosso and Leon led by Granbell.&lt;br /&gt;
And used the “Moderate Clown Troupe&amp;quot; to drag Hinata and me into the fight...&lt;br /&gt;
His goal was simply to fulfill a childish dream—to conquer the world in such a way that I couldn&#039;t even&lt;br /&gt;
laugh.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, why would Guy let Yuuki go?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then why did you let Yuuki escape?”&lt;br /&gt;
I was puzzled by this, so I got right to the point and asked Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
I earned it by his willingness to answer - and asked based on that thought.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, it&#039;s all about the game.”&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, Guy Crimson gave the answer without a care in the world.&lt;br /&gt;
He had just said play the game, a word that made for a dumbfounded listen, but Guy ignored my query&lt;br /&gt;
and went straight to the point.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He said that in a little while the Eastern Empire should act.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason for letting Yuuki escape is because Yuuki negotiated with Guy, saying that he would disrupt&lt;br /&gt;
the Eastern Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
“That—Guy, you don&#039;t seem to want the Western nations to perish. Why is that?”&lt;br /&gt;
Surprised, I asked the question, and as a result the other party gave a surprising answer.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It is my duty to manage to prevent the destruction of mankind. But then again, excessive prosperity&lt;br /&gt;
can be a nuisance just fine. Let all demons rule over all mankind—that is my ultimate goal.”&lt;br /&gt;
It looks like this is the &amp;quot;game&amp;quot; in Guy&#039;s mouth.&lt;br /&gt;
As long as Guy&#039;s plan for domination is complete, it seems to satisfy the game&#039;s victory conditions.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, why let Miss Mizari bring down the Council in this case?”&lt;br /&gt;
When the Eastern Empire attacked, all the members of the Council had been killed. If that happens, it&lt;br /&gt;
will be very bad for the Western countries.&lt;br /&gt;
States cannot join forces against the enemy and may even be defeated before the battle.&lt;br /&gt;
After listening to my question, Guy snorted and said, &amp;quot;It&#039;s okay to call Miss Mizari without adding&lt;br /&gt;
Miss,&amp;quot; and then added, &amp;quot;The reason for approving Mizari&#039;s combat plan is to unite the Western countries.”&lt;br /&gt;
What exactly does that mean...?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. In order to facilitate the master&#039;s domination of the Western nations, he plans to use fear to&lt;br /&gt;
control mankind.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Well, in other words, that&#039;s what it means, doesn’t it?&lt;br /&gt;
People go into a panic when members of the council are abused and killed by the demon lord.&lt;br /&gt;
If I reach out at this time, people will not hesitate to accept my shelter. To achieve this, sacrificing a&lt;br /&gt;
few is not a problem.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. That&#039;s how it should be.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I see.&lt;br /&gt;
The means taken were too aggressive, the self-directed acting was great, and it always felt like Guy&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
goals, Mizari&#039;s ideas, were a bit off, but would do it all for me.&lt;br /&gt;
No, it&#039;s not.&lt;br /&gt;
He also wanted to use me to run the Western States.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet things have gone beyond Guy&#039;s expectations, and I have long since gone out on the West. I don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
really have that deep of a grasp, but Testarossa has mastered the Council.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The purpose of Guy is not to bring about the destruction of mankind, but rather the opposite, to do the&lt;br /&gt;
proper stewardship so that mankind does not invite his own demise through their own foolishness.&lt;br /&gt;
Let me do this, I&#039;m sure Guy has his hands up in approval. In terms of results, that&#039;s what Guy wants to&lt;br /&gt;
see, too.&lt;br /&gt;
Now I understand one thing.&lt;br /&gt;
That is, Guy does things casually enough.&lt;br /&gt;
Indeed, he would have preferred me to strike.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, you&#039;re okay with me taking control of the Western countries, right?’&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s all right—I’m not going to interfere as long as the fools don&#039;t get carried away.”&lt;br /&gt;
That puts my mind at ease.&lt;br /&gt;
Although it seems that many of the formalities that I had envisioned were skipped, I was then left to&lt;br /&gt;
take over the management of the Western countries.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Since you&#039;ve said that, I&#039;m sorry. By the way, could you please not continue to send people to harass&lt;br /&gt;
the northern part of the Ingracia Kingdom?”&lt;br /&gt;
After inquiring from all sides, I learned that Guy&#039;s men would periodically rebel in the northern lands.&lt;br /&gt;
Originally the place was guarded by Razul (***was weirdly translated as Lancelot too, but I’ll just stick&lt;br /&gt;
w/ Razul like the FanTL now), but he was thoroughly crushed by Shion.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of this emergency, the Sarion Celestial Emperor Elmesia sent a regiment of magical warriors&lt;br /&gt;
to suppress it. It&#039;s strange enough that I&#039;m the one who says thank you, but as to whether or not I can ask&lt;br /&gt;
them to do it again, let&#039;s just say don&#039;t think too hard.&lt;br /&gt;
Since the Western countries are at my disposal, I will naturally be responsible for the defense of the&lt;br /&gt;
region in the future. This inevitably results in unnecessary defense costs.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course I don&#039;t want to increase that fee, basically talent like Razul is rare.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Please don&#039;t worry. Just give it all to Testarossa, including all the chores.”&lt;br /&gt;
As if to clear my mind of my troubles, Diablo reported back to me with a smile on his face.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s too late to ask for Guy&#039;s opinion...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s good. Those guys should also need a bit of a breather and a break, so do as you wish.”&lt;br /&gt;
I didn&#039;t expect even Guy to agree with Diablo.&lt;br /&gt;
At this time I thought to myself, ‘What those demons are thinking is beyond me as a person with&lt;br /&gt;
normal values.&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
Just do as Diablo says, and leave all matters concerning those demons to Testarossa. With Guy opening&lt;br /&gt;
his mouth, I thought using that as a reason wouldn&#039;t cause any disputes.&lt;br /&gt;
In that case, I will dominate the West in the future, but things are not over here.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then Rimuru, can the Eastern Empire be given to you too?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Being asked that by Ruminas, it occurred to me that there was still that question.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If the Empire acts, does that mean it will become a military operation?”&lt;br /&gt;
Insurance-wise, I asked this question, with the result that Guy rightfully nodded.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lately the Empire has been conducting military exercises all day long. The matter has also been a&lt;br /&gt;
matter of great debate in the Council.”&lt;br /&gt;
The Committee was informed by the President of the United Nations that he had appeared before the&lt;br /&gt;
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Now that they have a handle on the situation,&lt;br /&gt;
that means they have already formulated a response.&lt;br /&gt;
Personally, I don&#039;t think the Empire will invade.&lt;br /&gt;
Killing from either of the three routes would be difficult, and I think that&#039;s unlikely to come true.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be another matter if they didn&#039;t care how much they lost, but the benefits of conquering the&lt;br /&gt;
West were too little for the Eastern Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
So-called wars of aggression are actually waged for profit.&lt;br /&gt;
It is because there is no food, no resources, no place to live that other bountiful countries are locked in.&lt;br /&gt;
If these problems were solved, they would not have to force themselves into a bloody war.&lt;br /&gt;
But it&#039;s certainly not that simple to solve those problems. The rich country does not have to work for&lt;br /&gt;
the poor country, so if the aggressor takes the claim for granted, there will be disputes between the&lt;br /&gt;
countries.&lt;br /&gt;
It is for this reason that the rich nations must develop armies in order to defend themselves.&lt;br /&gt;
It becomes a big focus to show the invaders that they can&#039;t win easily against them.&lt;br /&gt;
Let us all be reluctant to resort to such means as war if the benefits gained are not proportional to the&lt;br /&gt;
blood shed.&lt;br /&gt;
Even so, the reason for wanting to go to war is...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. Because the other side thinks they are 100% going to win.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Can&#039;t think of any other answers, it seems.&lt;br /&gt;
The council is already under my control, so there will be no traitors. In this way, the opponent could&lt;br /&gt;
develop new technology or they could make up a list of tactics that make people unexpected...or they&lt;br /&gt;
could have other killer tactics.&lt;br /&gt;
“Hinata.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I know what you mean. Before you asked me to investigate the structure of the dwarven kingdom&lt;br /&gt;
right. As far as the conclusion is concerned, it is possible to use it to send out a large army.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Hinata immediately saw what I wanted to say and revealed the message I wanted to know.&lt;br /&gt;
The Dwarven Kingdom maintains a neutral stance and I don&#039;t think Gazel will let it go, but the fact&lt;br /&gt;
remains that the safest route of aggression into the West still exists.&lt;br /&gt;
No, maybe...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I always thought it was impossible before, so I didn&#039;t bother with it, but it&#039;s possible they attacked the&lt;br /&gt;
Dwarven Kingdom first isn&#039;t it?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, less pretending. I was asked to look into the matter because I had doubts about it,&amp;quot; she said.&lt;br /&gt;
Geez, is Hinata complimenting me on this?&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m actually just thinking about it now, so forget it, it&#039;s okay, let&#039;s just call it that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Were you found? Well, since there&#039;s such a possibility, we should work out a countermeasure first.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ll be in charge of contacting Gazel to figure out what to do.&lt;br /&gt;
Things are getting tricky now that they can&#039;t be called troublesome, but they must be faced. Now that&lt;br /&gt;
the military power of the Council has been handed over to the Jura Tempest Federation, it is our duty to&lt;br /&gt;
be on the front line.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Without you, most of the Empire would have been met by Granbell and Ruminas.”&lt;br /&gt;
It was at this point that Guy spoke unconcernedly.&lt;br /&gt;
It is not known how capable the Empire is of fighting.&lt;br /&gt;
The Rosso will mobilize all of their forces, and Hinata will lead the Paladins, plus Ruberios’ army.&lt;br /&gt;
Whichever side wins, Guy doesn&#039;t seem to care. Guy must have had his own intentions when he agreed&lt;br /&gt;
to Yuuki&#039;s terms of engagement.&lt;br /&gt;
The key to knowing what he had in mind was the word &amp;quot;game&amp;quot;, but even if I had asked, he wouldn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
have given me an answer, would he?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ll help, but I won&#039;t listen to you.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hinata had no incentive to go to the front lines of the war. So it would make sense to say so.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I honestly don&#039;t know if war will break out, but we&#039;ll find a way to prevent it first. Hinata, I hope you&lt;br /&gt;
are ready for battle first, in case the Empire attacks in a way that is unexpected to us.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Understood. Some spies pretend to be businessmen and we will take care of them.”&lt;br /&gt;
With a smile on her face but seemingly a bit too much trouble, Hinata just agreed. That&#039;s a relief, and it&lt;br /&gt;
looks like I don&#039;t have to say anything more.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Rimuru, if you are defeated, then my servant will come to the fight. In order to avoid such things, you&lt;br /&gt;
have to work hard.”&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminas said this with a look of amusement.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There is a need to know how many casualties there are and to repair the crumbling great hall of god.&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminas doesn&#039;t actually have any spare time for war, does she? Even if only Hinata stepped in to help,&lt;br /&gt;
we should be satisfied.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The next doubt is whether we can join forces with Yuuki...”&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m a little moody about that.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s because the guy was secretly screwing around that the Farmus Kingdom was manipulated into&lt;br /&gt;
letting Shion and the others get hurt.&lt;br /&gt;
The man who manipulated Clayman was also Yuuki, going back in time, and the reason for the uproar&lt;br /&gt;
caused by Geld’s predecessor when he was the Orc Disaster was also related to Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if someone asks me to put aside all previous grudges, I can&#039;t just say let it go, it&#039;s human nature.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Rimuru, are you worried about us?”&lt;br /&gt;
It was rare that Shion was so keen. I didn&#039;t say anything, but she said those words as if she could see&lt;br /&gt;
my inner struggle.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Sort of. After all, that kind of thing has happened before and it&#039;s a little hard for me to trust him&lt;br /&gt;
overnight.”&lt;br /&gt;
It should be said, I have no way to trust him.&lt;br /&gt;
Besides, if we do fight, there is nothing more unreliable than an untrustworthy self-army person.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t know what kind of action Yuuki will take after he escapes, either. But I&#039;m not interested, you&lt;br /&gt;
guys take care of the rest.”&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, Guy threw everything at us and said things like that.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that, I had a thought.&lt;br /&gt;
As expected, it was impossible to count Yuuki as one of our combatants.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Kufufufufu. Then please ask Souei-san to check the movement.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Let&#039;s do it.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
We&#039;ll talk about Yuuki later.&lt;br /&gt;
Whether they can work together also depends on the future.&lt;br /&gt;
At least there was no way I could accept him without him apologizing.&lt;br /&gt;
We&#039;re running a country at least, and depending on Yuuki&#039;s reaction, maybe we&#039;ll make peace with him.&lt;br /&gt;
But I may not be so big-hearted as to forgive him without paying any price.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Can Shion still accept him even if it&#039;s like this?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Of course! If he is at enmity with us, then I will strike him down completely, and if there is to be&lt;br /&gt;
reconciliation with us, let me spare him with one blow!”&lt;br /&gt;
Please don&#039;t send him to hell with one punch—I didn&#039;t say that, silently asking in my heart.&lt;br /&gt;
If it does happen then, consider it an accident. Shion and I didn&#039;t mean to kill him, so let&#039;s just insist&lt;br /&gt;
that it wasn&#039;t intentional killing.&lt;br /&gt;
In that case, Yuuki&#039;s matter will be decided later.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s more than that and another thing Guy has to say.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s what he wanted to talk about the most this time, something to do with the &amp;quot;Hero&amp;quot; —Chronoa.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I already know what Granbell is up to, Ruminas is desperately trying to hide something in that place&lt;br /&gt;
and he&#039;s going to release that thing. So I kept watch in case the guy got out of hand and messed around,&lt;br /&gt;
but this Diablo kid said to leave it to Rimuru.”&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that Guy came to this side to confirm the follow-up status.&lt;br /&gt;
When did this happen—it dawned on me that Diablo had disappeared for a while, halfway through his&lt;br /&gt;
fight with the others. It was then, I&#039;m afraid, that Diablo made a superfluous bargain with someone.&lt;br /&gt;
I thought to myself that Diablo was real too, but as far as results go, it was handled pretty well. If even&lt;br /&gt;
Guy had come to join the fray at that time, I wonder how things would have turned out.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s what we were talking about, right now. Let&#039;s just go over it again and have me explain it&lt;br /&gt;
myself.”&lt;br /&gt;
I stepped in to preside over the plenary and begin the presentation.&lt;br /&gt;
I think Leon and Ruminas shouldn&#039;t be talking too much, but it&#039;s better to be careful.&lt;br /&gt;
These things about Chloe&#039;s ability to make time jumps and repeat time travel several times are so&lt;br /&gt;
important that I decided to keep them hidden. Anyway, as long as I keep my mouth shut, the other party&lt;br /&gt;
won&#039;t know about it, based on such considerations.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s the way it is, after defeating the runaway Chronoa, the matter is finally settled.”&lt;br /&gt;
I put all the blame on Chronoa, but it was also to protect Chloe. The fact that Chloe is Chronoa is going&lt;br /&gt;
to get complicated to illustrate, so I&#039;m going to hide this from Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I see. Thank you very much. So, I have a question for you.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, if you have any questions, just ask.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That one’s a &amp;quot;Hero&amp;quot; in every sense of the word. How do you explain that?”&lt;br /&gt;
Grunt.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m going to muddle through, but this shouldn&#039;t work on Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;During that battle, the power that lurked within this girl awakened...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
I explained it in that direction, and it made sense.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Listen to what you&#039;re saying.”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right.&lt;br /&gt;
While battling a human being to the point of awakening internal power is a classic plot, and there is&lt;br /&gt;
usually a bridge like that, it&#039;s a stretch to use that as an excuse.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Actually, it&#039;s like this...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ve been using the Specific Calling to find someone, and that person is Chloe. I don&#039;t know why she&lt;br /&gt;
was there, but thanks to that it helped us a lot.”&lt;br /&gt;
Replacing me, who didn&#039;t know how to answer, Leon spoke.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t know what Leon is going to say next, but I guess I&#039;ll just have to hitch a ride while I&#039;m at it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it. Even my servant was surprised that the maiden named Chloe was suitable for a sealing&lt;br /&gt;
device.”&lt;br /&gt;
Before I could even go on, Ruminas came running out to take Leon&#039;s words. They&#039;re adding fuel and&lt;br /&gt;
saying more, am I taking over now?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You mean the Sealer?”&lt;br /&gt;
Only to see Guy say this with a foxish expression and then look towards me.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;d like to know what it is, too—but since it&#039;s come to this, there&#039;s no way to tell the truth, so I&#039;ll have to&lt;br /&gt;
go along with it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. According to Leon, she seemed to have a special physique that could seize the opponent&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
power no matter what kind of opponent she faced, sealing that power away. I was half convinced even&lt;br /&gt;
after hearing about it, but after seeing the effect with my own eyes, I had to believe it too.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
How about this!&lt;br /&gt;
I was hinting at handing over the baton to Leon and leaving the rest after that to him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s how it is. Even though even my servant&#039;s killer weapon was taken away, it&#039;s better than not&lt;br /&gt;
being able to control it and letting her make a mess everywhere.”&lt;br /&gt;
What a chagrin—with such a look, it was completely impossible to see what was being played, and&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminas immediately jumped in to take over. I can&#039;t help but feel admiration.&lt;br /&gt;
Let Leon take the final wrap-up next.&lt;br /&gt;
“...yeah. Guy, including you, there are many strong people in this world. In response to these threats, I&lt;br /&gt;
wanted to take Chloe under my wing beforehand, but I didn&#039;t expect her to use that power just after I met&lt;br /&gt;
her. It&#039;s my bad luck.”&lt;br /&gt;
Putting on a melancholy look—one even wonders if it&#039;s really an act? Leon let out a sigh.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If Ruminas is the best female lead, then Leon is the best male lead.&lt;br /&gt;
But in this way, things make sense.&lt;br /&gt;
Since Chloe seals Chronoa, she gains the power of the Hero, thus completing the above setting.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, you guys aren&#039;t trying to trick me, are you?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, not at all.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Your bad problem is being paranoid.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Just say it. Never mind that little thing.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing that Guy was suspicious, several of us were in denial. It&#039;s because the three of us cherish Chloe.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But it&#039;s true that she gained the power of the hero, isn&#039;t it? In that case, can we just sit back and do&lt;br /&gt;
nothing?”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy&#039;s words made Leon react and get up from his seat, but Guy smiled a little and said, &amp;quot;Don&#039;t worry, I&lt;br /&gt;
won&#039;t do anything to her,&amp;quot; out of his mouth, thus reassuring Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s good. If you draw a sword against Chloe, then you must pass me first, and remember that.”&lt;br /&gt;
Leon also stepped in to put the word out, then resumed his seat.&lt;br /&gt;
The atmosphere of the scene hit right off the bat, but Guy had no intention of hurting the killer from the&lt;br /&gt;
start.&lt;br /&gt;
I was also wary that Guy would do something, but to my surprise, he didn&#039;t have any killing breath.&lt;br /&gt;
This is what reassured me, but then it turned into a cold sweat situation.&lt;br /&gt;
A blade of light flashed by.&lt;br /&gt;
Not knowing where it came from, Guy held a longsword in his hand and saw that it was about to swing&lt;br /&gt;
down at Chloe&#039;s neck.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy&#039;s speed out of the sword was simply divine. My speed of perception has been pulled up to a&lt;br /&gt;
million times, but even now it&#039;s too late to strike.&lt;br /&gt;
Not just me, but Leon and Ruminas as well. Everyone wore a desperate look, not daring to look at the&lt;br /&gt;
tragedy that would follow.&lt;br /&gt;
But...&lt;br /&gt;
Just the next moment, a crisp sound rang out.&lt;br /&gt;
“—!”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe, who was originally a child, suddenly turned into an adult, not knowing when she drew her&lt;br /&gt;
sword and took Guy&#039;s attack with that sword. Also, the clothes on her body became the ones that “the&lt;br /&gt;
hero&amp;quot; was wearing. It looks like Chloe can live &amp;quot;armed with the holy cloak&amp;quot; in a very natural situation.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“Greetings, demon lord. This is the first time I&#039;ve seen you, you&#039;re really something.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ahahahaha, you&#039;re not so bad. There are only a handful of people, including me, who can fully utilize&lt;br /&gt;
that power.”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy said hello to Chloe in this way. The two looked amiable, but aside, I couldn&#039;t stay calm.&lt;br /&gt;
What just happened? I did read it and didn&#039;t understand it. Even if the perception speed increased to a&lt;br /&gt;
million times, it was still impossible to see the two of them in action.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s obviously not super high speed or some kind of three-legged kung fu. This is because the&lt;br /&gt;
surrounding air is not disturbed at all, nor does it appear abnormal from the point of view of the laws of&lt;br /&gt;
physics.&lt;br /&gt;
Is this magic? Or something else?&lt;br /&gt;
This is the time to bring in a reliable partner to make an appearance.&lt;br /&gt;
Come on, explain it to me, Master Raphael, King of Wisdom!&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. The situation is unknown. What the individual name &amp;quot;Chloe O’Bell&amp;quot; just did, the&lt;br /&gt;
phenomenon &amp;quot;analysis and identification&amp;quot; failed.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Geez, no way.&lt;br /&gt;
Master Raphael, the rare king of wisdom, would say &amp;quot;the result is unknown&amp;quot;. Sometimes they make&lt;br /&gt;
predictions, or they make calculations, and they give me some information, as a matter of course.&lt;br /&gt;
The absence of even this bit of information indicates that something beyond the realm of reason is&lt;br /&gt;
really happening this time, already outside the understanding of Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom.&lt;br /&gt;
That means we&#039;re running out of steam.&lt;br /&gt;
Surprised, I looked around to see what everyone&#039;s reaction would be.&lt;br /&gt;
Leon and Ruminas were also like me, with iron faces. It felt more like a desperate effort, a desire to&lt;br /&gt;
clear up what had just happened in front of me than the anger that came with watching Guy do such a&lt;br /&gt;
thing.&lt;br /&gt;
Others, not to mention. It seemed as if he couldn&#039;t even see where the sword was going, completely&lt;br /&gt;
unaware of what was going on.&lt;br /&gt;
Hard to say it was only Diablo showing a look of surprise. Perhaps seeing those phenomena just now,&lt;br /&gt;
he could think of nothing to say.&lt;br /&gt;
I’ll ask him after this, now to stop Guy and Chloe first.&lt;br /&gt;
As if to say the next move was my turn, Chloe began to attack Guy. The greeting just now was clearly&lt;br /&gt;
very amiable, why did it turn out like this...&lt;br /&gt;
They traded blows several times.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s like a fast-forward, two swords going at each other in an offensive and defensive battle that doesn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
look coherent—probably.&lt;br /&gt;
Oops. Since I can barely see, I can only describe it as &amp;quot;probably&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Pause, pause...!”&lt;br /&gt;
This time I stiffly intervened between Chloe and Guy. It was a bet to go and predict at what point the&lt;br /&gt;
move would come next and it looked like it worked.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, don&#039;t mess around. If you don&#039;t make a mistake, you&#039;ll be hacked to death by me.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That is, Rimuru. Guy wasn&#039;t serious, just testing me. But it makes me happy that you&#039;re worried about&lt;br /&gt;
my safety.”&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as that was said, Chloe came over and hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.&lt;br /&gt;
This move is also like a fast forward. There&#039;s no way to dodge it, and I&#039;m going to claim it&#039;s force&lt;br /&gt;
majeure.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the person in question, Chloe, she kissed me and became smaller—back to my original Chloe, I&lt;br /&gt;
should say.&lt;br /&gt;
And with a big red face and a big sulk in her mouth, she said, &amp;quot;Really! She took the liberty of hugging&lt;br /&gt;
Sir. Rimuru and kissed him!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Could that be Chronoa?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. We changed hands halfway through.”&lt;br /&gt;
The one that started out first was taken by Chloe, but after that it was all Chronoa out to face, or so&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe said. The two of them were identical in appearance, and it seemed difficult to tell the difference.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Rimuru, it is agreeable that you should try to save Chloe, but I will not allow you to continue with&lt;br /&gt;
her.”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing that Chloe had finally calmed down, Leon first said this, then picked Chloe up.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I hate it. Brother Leon is too much of a worrywart.”&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe mouths this, still letting Leon put her in the chair, followed by Leon staring at Guy with an icy&lt;br /&gt;
expression.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Guy, didn&#039;t you say you wouldn&#039;t do anything to Chloe?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Sorry. It was just to try it a little. Of course, I didn&#039;t mean to kill her.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Not even that. It doesn&#039;t matter if you want to kill or not, it&#039;s not a joke if you&#039;re using your power.”&lt;br /&gt;
It looked like Leon was on fire, while Guy, who was the opponent, did not back down in the slightest,&lt;br /&gt;
complaining loudly.&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, Chloe stepped in to ease her cheeks, desperately explaining that Guy wasn&#039;t trying to hurt&lt;br /&gt;
her, and that she wanted to try out how much Guy could do.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s also because of this that Chronoa exhibits a bit of out-of-control behavior, indicating that the fault&lt;br /&gt;
isn&#039;t entirely on Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
I think it&#039;s probably the case that it was Chloe—I should say Chronoa—who was intent on testing&lt;br /&gt;
Guy&#039;s strength by speculating that she might die at his hands in the future.&lt;br /&gt;
The situation is different now, and unlike the future that Chronoa has experienced, there is an&lt;br /&gt;
awakening of a new power that was not there before—an ability that seems to be the ultimate skill of&lt;br /&gt;
Jugoslavos, the King of Time and Space.&lt;br /&gt;
Whether or not that force could hurt Guy, Chronoa would be interested in that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;“Notice. That may be so. The unique skill &amp;quot;Time Travel&amp;quot; is integrated with the ultimate skill&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Jugoslavos, King of Time and Space&amp;quot;, which allows an individual named &amp;quot;Chloe O’Bell&amp;quot; to manipulate&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;time&amp;quot; —a phenomenon that cannot be observed out of the same timeline, so &amp;quot;analyzing and identifying&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
the phenomenon is bound to fail.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Ah, so it is...&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe&#039;s newly awakened power—the true face of it-is the power to suspend time, or so it is.&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that Raphael, the king of wisdom, has also been &amp;quot;analyzing and identifying&amp;quot; the structure of&lt;br /&gt;
the unique technology &amp;quot;time travel&amp;quot;, but it is said that it will take some time before a conclusion is&lt;br /&gt;
reached. It seems that Chloe&#039;s &amp;quot;King of Time and Space Jugoslavos&amp;quot; is simply absorbing &amp;quot;time travel&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
directly.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s no wonder that it shouldn&#039;t be easy to understand unobservable information.&lt;br /&gt;
In other words, it was Chloe herself who gained that power. This is too much, and at the same time&lt;br /&gt;
makes me want to scream, &amp;quot;It&#039;s too foul to be able to take a timeout&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
No wonder the speed of perception accelerated to a million times is also unrecognizable. Those things&lt;br /&gt;
happen in a world where time stands still, and those of us who are still in the flow of time naturally have&lt;br /&gt;
no way of recognizing them.&lt;br /&gt;
No, no, no, wait?&lt;br /&gt;
If this hypothesis holds, then the world of inaccessible time stasis, no matter how strong, is no better&lt;br /&gt;
than those who can stay in the stasis world...?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. This interpretation should be correct.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Fool it, hey.&lt;br /&gt;
I can&#039;t help but think in that direction, but about that, I have to accept it.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, even a Chronoa that good had been killed by Guy. If time is stopped, there is nothing to be&lt;br /&gt;
done, think about the natural consequence.&lt;br /&gt;
On the flip side, wouldn&#039;t the current Chloe be able to go up against Guy?&lt;br /&gt;
On the surface she just looks like a cute girl, but that means that Chloe&#039;s strength is even above mine.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I found out about this and secretly broke out in a cold sweat.&lt;br /&gt;
The result was that Leon finally gave in and the two sides reached a settlement.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;As much as you value it, I value Chloe. That&#039;s something I hope you keep in mind.”&lt;br /&gt;
This was not uncommon at all on cue, and Leon sat back down after he finished.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s what I thought. Guy, my servant admits that you are the strongest, and even then, without our&lt;br /&gt;
help, that would be a big loss, right? If you really want to make an enemy of us, that&#039;s a different matter,&lt;br /&gt;
but I hope you know that to do it to Chloe is to make an enemy of us.”&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that Ruminas is also very angry in private, counting down Guy with Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be a bad idea to say publicly that you particularly value someone, but your opponent is Guy,&lt;br /&gt;
so the effect is just the opposite.&lt;br /&gt;
If Guy was really going to make an enemy of them, then whatever was done was for naught. Those two&lt;br /&gt;
thought so, that&#039;s why they wanted Guy to take a shot at Chloe.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;All right, all right. I don&#039;t want to bog things down either. As long as you do not come in my way, I&lt;br /&gt;
will not strike at your treasure.”&lt;br /&gt;
Surprisingly, I didn&#039;t think Guy would be able to ensure the safety of Chloe.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Chloe, who is very dear to everyone, she is actually far more powerful than we are, but it is&lt;br /&gt;
better not to say such things.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
By the time we were done with the meeting, the sun was also setting.&lt;br /&gt;
Shuna had dinner prepared for us, so we had a dinner party somewhere else.&lt;br /&gt;
It should be said that there was no food, and everyone didn&#039;t seem to have any intention of beating&lt;br /&gt;
around the bush.&lt;br /&gt;
The main course of the day was pork—a magic pig-like creature, I should say—cooked in soy sauce&lt;br /&gt;
with grilled eggplant and tofu with sprinkled vegetables. And miso soup, and freshly cooked rice, which&lt;br /&gt;
is black— &amp;quot;magic black rice&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
It wasn&#039;t a set meal, but then we had a meeting that wasn&#039;t on the schedule and we were in no position&lt;br /&gt;
to complain.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What&#039;s the matter? I didn&#039;t see the tempura.”&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminas grumbled there, I didn&#039;t expect her to like tempura so much.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s okay, Ruminas. These should be delicious too. Rimuru&#039;s penchant for good food is not to be&lt;br /&gt;
underestimated.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hinata became an advocate of the enigma.&lt;br /&gt;
Should I be happy, or not?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Just identifying with what I&#039;ve accomplished in this part feels a bit subtle and honestly not happy&lt;br /&gt;
enough to feel complimented on it.&lt;br /&gt;
Never mind.&lt;br /&gt;
The dinner thus began and everyone seemed to eat to their satisfaction.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s what it tastes like. Your food is not bad.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The words came from Guy, and the tone seemed somewhat admiring.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It tastes amazing, but to cook it to this level is a pass.”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing as how Leon wasn&#039;t even picky about eating all those dishes, consider him praising us for being&lt;br /&gt;
nice.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, just like Hinata said. These are rare dishes again, but they&#039;re delicious.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re really good at this. The food is really nostalgic. I didn&#039;t think it would be nice to eat these&lt;br /&gt;
dishes again and feel alive.”&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminas looked satisfied, and as for Hinata, her happy performance had come to very exaggerated&lt;br /&gt;
proportions.&lt;br /&gt;
No, come to think of it, two thousand years had elapsed before she had the opportunity to eat marinated&lt;br /&gt;
meat with rice.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wouldn&#039;t it be better with white rice?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thank you for your understanding. But this is the part I&#039;m used to.”&lt;br /&gt;
Yeah, that&#039;s good.&lt;br /&gt;
Having lived for 2,000 years, I&#039;m sure I&#039;ve seen all kinds of cuisine, but it&#039;s not a big deal that the colors&lt;br /&gt;
are different.&lt;br /&gt;
Until then, unlike Chloe, Hinata can&#039;t even seem to taste it. Probably because she only had access to&lt;br /&gt;
visual intelligence, so she was very thankful to have a meal alone.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about Hinata&#039;s situation, one can imagine that she would naturally feel grateful.&lt;br /&gt;
The dinner ended afterwards and was generally well received.&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as they finished eating, the demon lords were busy making preparations to return home. Since&lt;br /&gt;
they&#039;re all here, it&#039;s okay to stay for a while, but they don&#039;t seem to plan on staying long after they&#039;re done.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Chloe, if you hate it here, don&#039;t worry about it, and just contact me. I&#039;ll be right over to pick you up.”&lt;br /&gt;
Seemingly not dead in the water yet, Leon spoke defiantly.&lt;br /&gt;
Who was going to take in Chloe, after which for a time fell into a glue.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;My friends are here, and I&#039;d rather be on Mr. Rimuru&#039;s side.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In the end we decided to respect Chloe&#039;s wishes, but I don&#039;t think that would have made Leon accept it.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, Leon&#039;s obsession with Chloe was obvious enough.&lt;br /&gt;
I have a bit of an opinion about the means that Leon has taken. But as far as protecting Chloe&#039;s feelings&lt;br /&gt;
alone was concerned, that sentiment was true.&lt;br /&gt;
This sentiment of Leon&#039;s did convey to Chloe as well.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Brother Leon, I&#039;m happy to know you&#039;re worried about me. But you don&#039;t really have to worry about&lt;br /&gt;
that. I&#039;m not a child anymore!”&lt;br /&gt;
After saying this, Chloe hugged Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
For his part, Leon gave a gentle smile and touched Chloe&#039;s head.&lt;br /&gt;
I heard that they had grown up together as close brother and sister, and it looked like Leon really&lt;br /&gt;
valued Chloe.&lt;br /&gt;
At this point, Chloe let go of Leon, followed by turning into an adult.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You see, by the power of Chronoa, I can become grown up. So brother doesn&#039;t have to worry about me&lt;br /&gt;
anymore.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Seemingly trying to reassure Leon, Chloe finished with a whiff of a smile.&lt;br /&gt;
The destructive power of this smile was unusually strong.&lt;br /&gt;
Should I say that smile was pathetic? Looking vulnerable, yet giving the impression that she has a&lt;br /&gt;
strong heart. That smile contains that charm.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s true. You&#039;ve become a very wonderful woman. But I want to cherish you and your mood&lt;br /&gt;
remains the same. It&#039;s okay for you to look up to me whenever you want.”&lt;br /&gt;
Leon smiled and said this to Chloe. He&#039;s a handsome man with a lot of charm. Is that the kind of&lt;br /&gt;
calmness you should expect from an adult? It feels very handsome.&lt;br /&gt;
This kind of thing doesn&#039;t seem to be something I learned. Thinking about this side, I watched from the&lt;br /&gt;
sidelines, not expecting Leon to turn his head and look at me with a cold look.&lt;br /&gt;
The fallout between this is said to be as intense as it gets.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Chloe says she&#039;s grown up, so maybe you...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No! I don&#039;t have a gender, how could I do something like that!?”&lt;br /&gt;
What a misunderstanding.&lt;br /&gt;
If it were me, he wouldn&#039;t seem to have all the composure of an adult.&lt;br /&gt;
I also tried desperately to explain. Chloe, who found out we were talking about this, came out and&lt;br /&gt;
counted on Leon, thinking that Leon would accept it..........it looks like all that was just cosmetic.&lt;br /&gt;
The evidence is...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I think you know better than to put Chloe in danger, don&#039;t you?”&lt;br /&gt;
To go back, he whispered a warning in my ear.&lt;br /&gt;
This makes it seem like he&#039;s overprotective of Chloe, but Chloe was sucked into the otherworld with&lt;br /&gt;
him in the first place, and Leon once went out of his way to find her. It&#039;s not that I don&#039;t understand how&lt;br /&gt;
Leon would feel worried. Then he went back to his home country docilely, for now.&lt;br /&gt;
I made an appointment with him and said that I would take Chloe over to play next time, and thanks to&lt;br /&gt;
Chloe, there seemed to be a chance for us to establish bonding with the Golden Township ruled by Demon&lt;br /&gt;
Lord Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
He felt a bit like a brother-in-law, with an annoying feeling, and it was okay for me to put up with it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, it&#039;s over, after all. Chloe, you are a very important friend. If you encounter any difficulties,&lt;br /&gt;
please feel free to come to me for help. You take care of yourself.”&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately after Leon, Ruminas also pampered Chloe. Of course, I didn&#039;t say any of these things.&lt;br /&gt;
Don&#039;t try to piss her off on purpose.&lt;br /&gt;
And so it passed—leaving these words, and Ruminas and her party departed with them.&lt;br /&gt;
Hinata also went back, leaving only Guy in the end. I looked over at him and thought to myself, ‘Isn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
he going back yet?’ As a result, Diablo was seen pestering Guy over there.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, I&#039;ll go on and finish what I didn&#039;t say...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, I&#039;ve heard enough of those words.”&lt;br /&gt;
You don&#039;t have to be so polite.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t send me weird invitations too...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
What the hell is Diablo doing!?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Geez, there&#039;s nothing we can do about that. I&#039;ll change the subject and tell you what you&#039;d like to hear,&lt;br /&gt;
like how Testarossa and their work is going, and anecdotes about Lord Rimuru...”&lt;br /&gt;
It made me look at him with a dumbfounded look, mentally thinking ‘how much he wanted to say that,’&lt;br /&gt;
and later found out that Guy seemed to be in the same mood.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, no, no, you guys seem busy right now, I&#039;ll come over and play next time you get settled.”&lt;br /&gt;
Guy hurriedly opened his mouth to refuse, and then hurriedly fled the scene.&lt;br /&gt;
I was so impressed that I thought to myself, ‘It turns out that Guy has a panicked side too.’&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing the unexpected side, I think he might not be so difficult to communicate. Although you can&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
take this person lightly, you shouldn&#039;t have to worry as much as you originally thought.&lt;br /&gt;
The other side also accepts the fact that Chloe is a &amp;quot;hero&amp;quot; and the biggest problem is arguably solved.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
All that was left next was Yuuki&#039;s movements and his attempt to flee to the Eastern Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Let&#039;s put aside whether or not Yuuki is worthy of belief.&lt;br /&gt;
There might be a war after that—I sighed at the thought of it.&lt;br /&gt;
One wave has not yet subsided and another has risen.&lt;br /&gt;
I wish the day of peace had come sooner, I was beginning to feel melancholy.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Although it was only a verbal agreement, the most important thing was the assistance of the two demon&lt;br /&gt;
lords. If there is a real war, that alone makes one feel reliable if there are trustworthy friendly countries&lt;br /&gt;
around.&lt;br /&gt;
They can be expected to send support, and even asked to consider accepting refugees if the worst&lt;br /&gt;
happens.&lt;br /&gt;
But it&#039;s best not to have a war.&lt;br /&gt;
This depends on how the other side plays, we can only react to the situation......&lt;br /&gt;
Complaining here isn&#039;t the way to go, so I decided to think about countermeasures first.&lt;br /&gt;
The first thing to do is to stand firm, to the point where even a war with the Empire would be fine.&lt;br /&gt;
Be prepared for everything—I made up my mind.&lt;br /&gt;
Chapter 2: Results and Preparation&lt;br /&gt;
Months passed after the meeting with Guy and the others.&lt;br /&gt;
Time flies, and a year has passed since I became a demon lord.&lt;br /&gt;
Attended the Walpurgis.&lt;br /&gt;
Matched up against Hinata.&lt;br /&gt;
Had the Founding Festival.&lt;br /&gt;
As well as fighting against Mariabell and the Rosso.&lt;br /&gt;
Probably because of a lot of things that happened, the year really turned around.&lt;br /&gt;
We only found our own people and quietly held the Tempest Resurrection Festival, but the Empire still&lt;br /&gt;
did not act. Having said that, according to the information brought by Souei and Moss, it seemed that&lt;br /&gt;
there were supplies coming in one after another in the major capitals near the military border.&lt;br /&gt;
Things have come to this point where even I can see it.&lt;br /&gt;
Knowing that war will break out soon afterwards.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Now that a war had been established, the entry scrutiny into the Jura Tempest Federation would&lt;br /&gt;
become even stricter.&lt;br /&gt;
It can&#039;t be the same as before, no matter who&#039;s coming, you&#039;re welcome. The only people who are able&lt;br /&gt;
to enter the country are adventurers or businessmen who are able to confirm their wealth, otherwise they&lt;br /&gt;
are referred and others who have similar qualifications.&lt;br /&gt;
Such measures were taken to police spies, but there were actually other reasons.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s what&#039;s used to differentiate.&lt;br /&gt;
Human beings are not the only ones who visit our country; everyone&#039;s abilities vary. People with&lt;br /&gt;
unclear backgrounds are usually barbaric and we would be overwhelmed if they were allowed to enter our&lt;br /&gt;
country in large numbers.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, even with an explicit ban on fighting behavior in town, there&#039;s still no stopping idiots from&lt;br /&gt;
running amok. We do set &amp;quot;boundaries&amp;quot;, but it is difficult to resist magic completely.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s different from towns that are inhabited only by humans, and different from towns with magical&lt;br /&gt;
creatures.&lt;br /&gt;
So we went to consult with Gazel and decided to emulate the Dwarven Kingdom.&lt;br /&gt;
Educate people a little as they enter our country and let them learn our regulations. This is what is&lt;br /&gt;
called an immigration review.&lt;br /&gt;
If the other party&#039;s goal is immigration, they&#039;ll have to do more careful study first. We have other&lt;br /&gt;
institutions set up specifically to deal with that and will take them to that place for education. Wait until&lt;br /&gt;
they learn how to work, then they can issue a permit to enter the country.&lt;br /&gt;
These matters were best left to the men of Shion. Even if the other side is brutal, they still have a way&lt;br /&gt;
of letting the other side know where the division is. There are also spies from the Empire that can be&lt;br /&gt;
found in passing, so we should continue to maintain this system in the future.&lt;br /&gt;
We will make a distinction in advance at the time of immigration screening, and we will also ask each&lt;br /&gt;
other about the purpose of entering the country. In addition to preventing people with no money from&lt;br /&gt;
infiltrating our country, they can also prevent trouble in advance.&lt;br /&gt;
The arena is surrounded by many hotels of average standard, which are used by people who have no&lt;br /&gt;
money on them.&lt;br /&gt;
We would take the moneyed merchants and nobles to the high class hotel area. As for the upper class&lt;br /&gt;
accommodation in the capital &amp;quot;Rimuru&amp;quot;, it&#039;s for the top people.&lt;br /&gt;
There are also travelers who want to come to our side for retreats and are brought to this high-class area&lt;br /&gt;
by us.&lt;br /&gt;
Recollection is priceless—that kind of sophistry does not apply in our country. Our ethos is that the&lt;br /&gt;
user pays and then the holiday is happy.&lt;br /&gt;
Prices vary from person to person, with the average user spending from 30 silver coins a night. For the&lt;br /&gt;
rich and low ranking nobles, it was more than one gold coin.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s no cap on the amount of money that can be spent again, and we&#039;re going to stay in a room that&lt;br /&gt;
costs more than ten gold coins a night—geez, why is it that I&#039;m the one who&#039;s playing publicity...&lt;br /&gt;
Presumably, this is the way to distinguish.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to make it a tourist area, we hope that the more people use it, the better. For example, some&lt;br /&gt;
businessmen who do big business with us and those who break through the ten floors of the labyrinth, we&lt;br /&gt;
have prepared gifts for them, such as accommodation packages to stay in high-end hotels.&lt;br /&gt;
Maze Challengers rates these rewards highly.&lt;br /&gt;
The fact that the meal is of high quality is passed on to everyone and helps to boost morale.&lt;br /&gt;
Just eating a meal would cost more than ten silver coins.&lt;br /&gt;
If you go to a cheap hotel, you can stay for as little as three silver coins, and from that point of view,&lt;br /&gt;
the price is quite high.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said...&lt;br /&gt;
There are times when people want to be extravagant, so some people will spend the money they get&lt;br /&gt;
from maze hunting or doing other activities on this.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s also our organizers&#039; duty to provide some space for these people to spend their money.&lt;br /&gt;
If they make it to the tenth level, they must be able to team up to defeat large spiders (dark spiders) of&lt;br /&gt;
B level difficulty—in other words, teams of adventurers of C+ or higher. If it could be beaten alone, it&lt;br /&gt;
would be the equivalent of a grade B or higher, and there&#039;s nothing wrong with recognizing that they have&lt;br /&gt;
a corresponding right.&lt;br /&gt;
In small countries, these people can already be knights. In the Freedom Association, if you come to B&lt;br /&gt;
level, you&#039;re good enough to be a knight no matter what country you go to.&lt;br /&gt;
As long as one acknowledges the status of the other like this, it is natural for people to pay attention to&lt;br /&gt;
their words and actions.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, if it&#039;s a B-grade adventurer there should be quite a bit of money in it. The same is true of the&lt;br /&gt;
Labyrinth Challenger.&lt;br /&gt;
Eren and the others don&#039;t seem to have much money, but let&#039;s just say this group is the exception.&lt;br /&gt;
Basically, if it&#039;s causing problems, there won&#039;t be a second chance.&lt;br /&gt;
The premium lots were fenced off with a moat and were heavily guarded. We had explained to people&lt;br /&gt;
that if they were kicked out they would not get another chance to come in.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone understands this, no one messes around and the image strategy can be very successful.&lt;br /&gt;
The merchants were no less than businessmen, and they flocked to the weapons and artifacts produced&lt;br /&gt;
by the Jura Tempest Federation.&lt;br /&gt;
There are also people who make big deals and have a lot of money.&lt;br /&gt;
Even without a voucher, the number of guests coming to spend money naturally increases.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The items we put in the hands of the merchants are either equipment made by the apprentices under&lt;br /&gt;
Kurobee’s men, or fine craftsmanship made by the Dold apprentices. Those qualities are, of course, all&lt;br /&gt;
very good and quite well received.&lt;br /&gt;
As for items such as special equipment opened from the labyrinth treasure chest, those merchants ran&lt;br /&gt;
off to acquire them. This has me in a bit of a mixed mood, but we have been keeping an eye out to avoid&lt;br /&gt;
an exodus of dangerous items, so we&#039;ll wait and see for now.&lt;br /&gt;
When these things are sold around the world, people&#039;s opinions of our country spread.&lt;br /&gt;
Thanks to this, the average consumer has also recently started to see an increase. I can&#039;t help but feel&lt;br /&gt;
admiration for the power of word-of-mouth.&lt;br /&gt;
This may lead one to think, ‘What the hell is going on when you&#039;re in a war crisis?’ But that&#039;s a&lt;br /&gt;
different thing.&lt;br /&gt;
I also know that I am too spontaneous and do what I want.&lt;br /&gt;
Although wary of the crisis that will one day come, I am not afraid. Not giving up on the daily routine&lt;br /&gt;
and taking one step at a time to do what you can is best.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Just as the capital is developing smoothly, we continue to overhaul our transport network with other&lt;br /&gt;
countries.&lt;br /&gt;
As Benimaru stepped in to convince, Momiji and the Tengu Clan were willing to assist. The tunnels&lt;br /&gt;
have now been opened and the road paving work is still partly complete.&lt;br /&gt;
There was also the mechanic brought by Duke Elalude who was about to complete the handover, so it&lt;br /&gt;
wouldn&#039;t be long before there was a direct path between the Jura Tempest Federation and the Sorcerer&lt;br /&gt;
Dynasty Sarion.&lt;br /&gt;
We have also begun to work on laying the track to the Kingdom of Farmenas.&lt;br /&gt;
The goal is to complete it quickly.&lt;br /&gt;
As far as the route to the Kingdom of Ingracia is concerned, the tracks have been opened as planned.&lt;br /&gt;
The same goes for the Dwarf Kingdom, where even the hotel town with its parking lot is being built.&lt;br /&gt;
Through the great forest of Jura, we came to the site of the rendezvous with the Ameld River, which&lt;br /&gt;
was used as a resting place and a good base for construction when the street was being opened up. We laid&lt;br /&gt;
the track along the river and this place was just right for a middle base.&lt;br /&gt;
There were also magical creatures that lived nearby that gathered to form a small town. This of course&lt;br /&gt;
had to be utilized a bit, so we tidied up that town and let it develop into a town for people to stay in.&lt;br /&gt;
This hotel town will become a major metropolis with a repeater station in the future, it’s a major focus&lt;br /&gt;
where most of the importance will be increased.&lt;br /&gt;
And on the Eurazania side, work was done to widen the road. The paving of certain parts of the road&lt;br /&gt;
has not been completed, but movement is not a problem.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Since it was really uncomfortable to ride in a high-speed carriage, the merchants were begging bitterly,&lt;br /&gt;
‘I hope we finish sooner.&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, safety and convenience have evolved considerably compared to the past and have&lt;br /&gt;
reached a point where they are not comparable.&lt;br /&gt;
For the sake of travelers who advance at night, we always have street lights lit at night, fully automatic&lt;br /&gt;
magic engines set up at every distance, and the &amp;quot;barrier&amp;quot; used to expel monsters do work.&lt;br /&gt;
Just like that, in less than a year, the overhaul of the traffic network has been largely completed.&lt;br /&gt;
The Dwarven Kingdom and the Kingdom of Ingracia have begun to test run the Magic Train, which&lt;br /&gt;
can be used in practice.&lt;br /&gt;
We will obtain the information generated in the experiment and use it to consolidate the problem. In&lt;br /&gt;
fact, all aspects of the testing have been done, and this is called a practical experiment.&lt;br /&gt;
It maintains an average speed of fifty kilometers per hour and can carry a lot of stuff. Now the history&lt;br /&gt;
of logistics will be rewritten.&lt;br /&gt;
Even ingredients from distant regions can maintain freshness during delivery. In this way, people will&lt;br /&gt;
eat more and more abundantly, and fewer people will starve because of famine.&lt;br /&gt;
Rationalizing the logistics system is indispensable in order to enhance the country&#039;s strength. I&lt;br /&gt;
recognize that again.&lt;br /&gt;
Along with gathering this information, I intend to produce a detailed operating cycle. Constant testing&lt;br /&gt;
in order to create a schedule.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the section connecting the Dwarven Kingdom and the Jura Tempest Federation, the entire&lt;br /&gt;
distance was about a thousand kilometers. Moving at 50 km/h would take 20 hours—less than a day to&lt;br /&gt;
reach.&lt;br /&gt;
The distance to the Kingdom of Ingracia is about three hundred kilometers, and it only takes six hours&lt;br /&gt;
to get there.&lt;br /&gt;
But these are all numbers that have been calculated with security in mind.&lt;br /&gt;
Theoretically, the speed can be increased four times, and even the handling capacity can be calculated&lt;br /&gt;
to exceed a thousand tons. However, it has not yet achieved any success in practical application, and if it&lt;br /&gt;
runs at full speed, it will be difficult to cope with any accident.&lt;br /&gt;
Let&#039;s wait and see for now.&lt;br /&gt;
Practical application will certainly be troublesome, and also take into account the rest time. In addition,&lt;br /&gt;
the &amp;quot;Magic Train&amp;quot; can be used continuously to its limit, and it will run at night for a while. On top of that,&lt;br /&gt;
refurbishment work such as replacement parts has to be done at night, and technicians and train crews&lt;br /&gt;
cannot be allowed to work around the clock.&lt;br /&gt;
So far we have prepared twenty power vehicles.&lt;br /&gt;
Each power car is connected to two wagons, plus three passenger cars, for a total of six cars in one&lt;br /&gt;
train.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The passenger car has eighty seats, but can carry up to one hundred and fifty passengers. However,&lt;br /&gt;
station guests have to spend hours on their feet, so I think it&#039;s better not to approve it.&lt;br /&gt;
If the target for a drive is 200 or more passengers, the ridership is over 80 percent. Considering the cost&lt;br /&gt;
of transporting each person, how exactly should the fare be booked—geez, why am I even thinking about&lt;br /&gt;
that?&lt;br /&gt;
I would have done well to leave this sort of thing to Myourmile-kun.&lt;br /&gt;
Sooner or later, we will be able to really get through, and it will be more convenient for us to have&lt;br /&gt;
more performance to improve the operation rate more or less.&lt;br /&gt;
Let&#039;s aim to exceed the speed of 100 km/h and increase the number of train cars to about ten.&lt;br /&gt;
This is not a dream, but a reality that will soon come true.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s pretty much it, and the results of the year can be said to be substantial.&lt;br /&gt;
If these results were to be published, I think the world would be in a state of amazement and&lt;br /&gt;
excitement.&lt;br /&gt;
A bright future will be created, and the benefits of our efforts, of our country, will be widely known.&lt;br /&gt;
Life will be fulfilling.&lt;br /&gt;
There will be delicious food and a variety of entertainment cultures from around the world.&lt;br /&gt;
The switch to slime didn&#039;t even occur to him that a fun and happy life was just around the corner.&lt;br /&gt;
If there were no problems brought about by the Eastern Empire, there would be no need to be upset&lt;br /&gt;
about anything and one could indulge one&#039;s interests...&lt;br /&gt;
Then it occurred to me that I could declare war on the Empire by myself, Veldora and the volunteers,&lt;br /&gt;
and at the same time take the Empire down.&lt;br /&gt;
Once civilization is highly developed, an army of angels may come, but there is no telling where those&lt;br /&gt;
opponents are. So it&#039;s difficult for us to attack on our own initiative, but the Empire is a different story.&lt;br /&gt;
Since they&#039;re making big moves to prepare for the offense, there&#039;s no complaint that they&#039;ve been beaten&lt;br /&gt;
to the punch—I can&#039;t help but think so.&lt;br /&gt;
On the one hand it&#039;s not in my character to wait and think offense is easier than defense no matter what.&lt;br /&gt;
If the Empire&#039;s intention is to annex the Western countries, they can ignore us without attacking the&lt;br /&gt;
Great Forest of Jura for a different strategy.&lt;br /&gt;
The resurrection of Veldora has become so well known that a little investigation will reveal that being&lt;br /&gt;
an enemy to me is the same as being an enemy to Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
The choice is in the hands of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
The current situation is putting us under a lot of pressure.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
So, to say whether they will invade the West directly......&lt;br /&gt;
There’s no way to take the sea route.&lt;br /&gt;
Considering the possibility of being attacked by a large sea beast, it was not safe to prepare many giant&lt;br /&gt;
warships.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be too risky to take into account when fighting on the territory of the Great Sea Beast. It&#039;s not&lt;br /&gt;
even known if you can cross the sea safely.&lt;br /&gt;
To fight at sea where it was difficult to gain a foothold, the conditions were too harsh for those knights.&lt;br /&gt;
Besides, there are a lot of soldiers to transport, I wonder how many ships to prepare.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if they were to transport tens of thousands of soldiers into the Kingdom of Farmenas, Youm and&lt;br /&gt;
the others would not be not idle. They were indeed defended and prepared to meet the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
If it was impossible to build a forward position at the beginning of the attack, the Imperial side would&lt;br /&gt;
not have sent additional manpower to reinforce it. There were large sea beasts in the rear and the&lt;br /&gt;
Farmenas Kingdom Army ahead. In this way, the Empire&#039;s soldiers will also lose morale, and cutting in&lt;br /&gt;
from a tactical point of view will be like winning a battle.&lt;br /&gt;
Was it possible, then, for the Empire to ignore the Kingdom of Farmenas and attack northern Ingracia?&lt;br /&gt;
The conclusion is that this is not easy to implement.&lt;br /&gt;
North of Ingracia is the playground of the demons.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy also doesn&#039;t seem to have any intention of stopping his men, who are currently in charge of&lt;br /&gt;
defending that area from Testarossa&#039;s men.&lt;br /&gt;
There are a lot of militants in this area who would fight regularly, and if the Empire attacked there, it is&lt;br /&gt;
conceivable that they would just happen to be targeted by everyone.&lt;br /&gt;
So I think it&#039;s unlikely that they&#039;ll take the sea route to launch an invasion.&lt;br /&gt;
Now taking a look at the land route......&lt;br /&gt;
To pass through the interior of the Dwarven Kingdom, they must first cross the Dragon&#039;s Lair, located&lt;br /&gt;
in the Great Mountains of Canaat.&lt;br /&gt;
The latter is too high of a risk to be taken into account.&lt;br /&gt;
This is because wanting to march at an altitude higher than North Peak, no matter how well prepared, is&lt;br /&gt;
an act of suicide.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s impossible to train an ordinary soldier to be an expert mountaineer, and even if there was a way,&lt;br /&gt;
there&#039;s A-ranked monsters waiting in front of them—a swarm of evil dragons.&lt;br /&gt;
By normal thinking logic, no fool would choose that route.&lt;br /&gt;
So what if the route is through the interior of the Dwarven Kingdom?&lt;br /&gt;
Since Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, had pointed out the possibility, Hinata went to investigate,&lt;br /&gt;
and it sounded as if the great army was likely to pass.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, Gazel could not allow this to happen, and if it did, the Empire would have to attack&lt;br /&gt;
the Dwarven Kingdom before it could attack the Western nations.&lt;br /&gt;
Trying to attack the Dwarven Kingdom was too much of a stretch.&lt;br /&gt;
The declared neutral armed power, Dwargon, has a well-developed standing army for the security of its&lt;br /&gt;
country. The army&#039;s equipment was built with good technology, and those were no fun. They even&lt;br /&gt;
enjoyed the reputation of &amp;quot;no weak soldiers in Dwargon&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Basically, just observing the terrain will also reveal that the Dwarven Kingdom is constructed like a&lt;br /&gt;
fortress. As long as you guard the entrance and exit, you will be able to resist even if a large army comes.&lt;br /&gt;
There are three major cities—Isthmus, Wester and St. Doral.&lt;br /&gt;
There are a total of three entrances and exits, and if the Empire really wanted to attack, they would&lt;br /&gt;
have chosen either Isthmus or St. Doral. Wester was able to lead to the kingdom of Farmenas, and there&lt;br /&gt;
was no need to be alarmed in this regard.&lt;br /&gt;
There is nothing more dangerous than the Isthmus connected to the Empire&#039;s borders, but Gazel is not&lt;br /&gt;
dimwitted. He told the troops to focus here and asked them to check on the Empire&#039;s movements.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ll be there if something goes wrong, and the Dwarven Kingdom should be safe to hand over to Gazel.&lt;br /&gt;
That is the situation that our country is currently facing.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, I think the Empire had to choose to go through the Great Forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
These days it&#039;s been a daily meeting with Benimaru to discuss, and until then I keep thinking the same&lt;br /&gt;
thing.&lt;br /&gt;
The Great Forest of Jura is guarded by us, and if the Empire chooses to pass through here, then their&lt;br /&gt;
biggest bottleneck is obviously Veldora. My guess is that they will not be able to break through from the&lt;br /&gt;
front, but will prepare troops as bait, intending to use them to trick Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
Taking this possibility into account, I have to think about what to defend within our borders.&lt;br /&gt;
In the great forest of Jura, there are three routes by which military operations can be conducted.&lt;br /&gt;
Except, one of them was right next to the Dwarven Kingdom. If the Empire ignores our warnings and&lt;br /&gt;
invades, they will be besieged by the Dwarven army and our army. I think the Empire should also be well&lt;br /&gt;
aware of the dangers that would be encountered if they took this route, and even lowering their guard&lt;br /&gt;
should be fine.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire is likely to attack through two other routes of aggression.&lt;br /&gt;
But is it really that simple?&lt;br /&gt;
Scattered forces are not conducive to fighting a large army, so it is possible to send half of the force to&lt;br /&gt;
follow Veldora, the other half being our army. If we adopt such a tactic, the forces on the Imperial side&lt;br /&gt;
that are prepared to be used exclusively as bait may be sufficient.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m not an expert on the military to that extent. Those soldiers are dedicated to war, and I don&#039;t think&lt;br /&gt;
they would adopt such a pure form of combat.&lt;br /&gt;
And the Empire is in danger of underestimating us.&lt;br /&gt;
They think they have an overwhelming army, whether it’s against an army of Veldora or a monster&lt;br /&gt;
army, which can be ravaged at will.&lt;br /&gt;
Or they might not attack with a straight face, but instead go the other way.&lt;br /&gt;
The regular army can be used as bait to divide the elite troops into many small groups and fight with a&lt;br /&gt;
sound bite. Breaking into small groups and taking the forest, then meeting up somewhere—what in that&lt;br /&gt;
case?&lt;br /&gt;
In this case, it would be impossible to monitor all the forest trails.&lt;br /&gt;
Depending on the size of the opponent, casualties may occur among our personnel if reconnaissance&lt;br /&gt;
forces are casually placed.&lt;br /&gt;
If, as Hinata did to them, the other side dispatched strength like a small squad of Paladins...&lt;br /&gt;
Even taking that possibility into account, I can think of several routes through which they might attack,&lt;br /&gt;
not enough to cover all of them given the number of troops we have.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s too risky to identify a target for the empire to step up to the plate again, and I want to avoid that as&lt;br /&gt;
much as possible. If we lose our lead, we will be in an irreversible situation.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s to avoid that, so we&#039;ve been on guard, but the most important key—the movement of the Empire—&lt;br /&gt;
we’ve never been able to see that.&lt;br /&gt;
In the so-called war, if the opponent can be taken by surprise, the situation will be in his own favor.&lt;br /&gt;
Make tactics that take your opponent by surprise, and by doing so alone you have the potential to win.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, we must consider the possibilities...&lt;br /&gt;
This keeps spinning in place.&lt;br /&gt;
No way.&lt;br /&gt;
The more I think about it, the more I get tired of it.&lt;br /&gt;
Or should we attack first?&lt;br /&gt;
Or should that be done, as soon as the Empire steps in to declare war, we launch a special attack?&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s not like the Empire is necessarily going to send out troops the way we envisioned, so there&#039;s no&lt;br /&gt;
point in continuing to think about it.&lt;br /&gt;
Either way it makes more sense that we take the initiative and attack without waiting for the other side&lt;br /&gt;
to strike.&lt;br /&gt;
That way there&#039;s nothing to worry about and we take the reins.&lt;br /&gt;
...but I wouldn&#039;t do that just yet.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s hard to think of an answer.&lt;br /&gt;
This kind of thing depends on improvisation.&lt;br /&gt;
Responding to a crisis.&lt;br /&gt;
How well that word is pronounced, giving the impression of a shrewd and capable man.&lt;br /&gt;
So much so that I made my usual conclusion and next reached towards the cream puffs prepared by&lt;br /&gt;
Shuna.&lt;br /&gt;
Use up your brain and you want something sweet.&lt;br /&gt;
Eating too much would make one too bloated, but that kind of thing wouldn&#039;t happen to me.&lt;br /&gt;
If it&#039;s really too much to eat, plan for it then.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, only you eat yourself good.”&lt;br /&gt;
I used the black tea that Shion had made for me to moisten my throat while enjoying the cream puffs,&lt;br /&gt;
and by this time the Benimaru had finally arrived.&lt;br /&gt;
The location is my office. Lately I&#039;ve had to discuss something with Benimaru every day, and today he&lt;br /&gt;
was a little late.&lt;br /&gt;
There may be a war with the Empire in the future, and I asked Benimaru to prepare before doing&lt;br /&gt;
something in that direction, so he seemed busy. Although he was a little late, he complained that he was&lt;br /&gt;
too narrow-minded.&lt;br /&gt;
Huh? You want me to help you? What was being said, I didn&#039;t understand at all.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s not for laymen to interfere with.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s a convenient phrase to think about...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Shion, pour a cup of black tea for Benimaru too.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, sir!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The cuisine that Shion cooked seemed to cast a shadow on Benimaru&#039;s mind, causing him to always&lt;br /&gt;
show a guarded look. In fact, only the black tea is okay, but Benimaru still dare not be careless.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thank you. Feeling tired makes one want to eat something sweet.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. Now you can use sugar as much as you like and hope that these peaceful days will continue.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right. But even if we have to fight each other, it doesn&#039;t matter, just beat them to death.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru is as confident as ever.&lt;br /&gt;
While solid, let&#039;s hope he doesn&#039;t forget to make an effort to avoid the war.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Go ahead!”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
At this time, Shion served tea to Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
She also poured me a second cup of tea and the aroma was very healing for me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By the way, where&#039;s Diablo?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, he went to play arbitrator today, too.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Again?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. Here we go again.”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right, Diablo kept running to be an arbitrator.&lt;br /&gt;
Every day Ultima and Carerra cause problems.&lt;br /&gt;
It didn&#039;t feel like the two were at loggerheads, but they just loved to fight.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yesterday it was a debate over the extradition of the prisoners, and before that it was a fight over what&lt;br /&gt;
to do with the suspects in custody.&lt;br /&gt;
Sometimes there are fights over the menu of the meal, or over who will buy the latest version of the&lt;br /&gt;
costume first.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s okay to just fight verbally, but once those two start fighting, there&#039;s a resistance that even the yakuza&lt;br /&gt;
are afraid of.&lt;br /&gt;
Only Diablo could stop them.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Diablo&#039;s subordinate, Venom, he was not only beaten by two major forces, but he also quarreled&lt;br /&gt;
and lost.&lt;br /&gt;
But there was no harm done to the townspeople, and in fact they became a famous commodity, even a&lt;br /&gt;
gambling object, which, having said that, could not be left untouched.&lt;br /&gt;
It was based on these considerations that Diablo was sent, but perhaps it was time to think of a&lt;br /&gt;
response to the underlying problem. This is because Diablo might have put up with an unbearable fury if&lt;br /&gt;
he hadn&#039;t done so.&lt;br /&gt;
Previously Diablo had also taken Ultima and Carrera into the labyrinth. Not going in for a date, not so&lt;br /&gt;
sweet, he boasted of thoroughly lecturing the two.&lt;br /&gt;
They wouldn&#039;t die inside the maze, so he could teach those two a lesson and beat them to death, but&lt;br /&gt;
even then, they wouldn&#039;t reflect on it.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead, they’re happy and hoping to fight Diablo.&lt;br /&gt;
Ahhh, why is the demon race so belligerent...&lt;br /&gt;
Personally, I think there&#039;s no end to dealing with these two.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ve kept you waiting.”&lt;br /&gt;
After I chatted with Benimaru for a while...&lt;br /&gt;
A weary Diablo returned.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re back, after all your hard work.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, that&#039;s not hard work, it&#039;s time spent for Lord Rimuru...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You don&#039;t look tired at all. Let&#039;s get to the point.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I thought so.”&lt;br /&gt;
He can still say stupid things there, which means it should be okay.&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo seemed to want to say something, which should have been to show off his fight record as usual&lt;br /&gt;
anyway. I don&#039;t think those things need to be taken to heart, and Benimaru decided to start the discussion&lt;br /&gt;
today.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As mentioned earlier, more and more migrants are entering our country.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, the question is how to assign work to those visitors.&lt;br /&gt;
I think it&#039;s the same in every country, employment rates are very important.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to increase the productive capacity of the country, the focus is on getting every citizen to work&lt;br /&gt;
seriously.&lt;br /&gt;
The more people are employed, the more personal consumption will increase and the boom will follow.&lt;br /&gt;
Conversely, a worsening employment boom will be followed by a worsening crime rate.&lt;br /&gt;
This must be properly managed, and that is something that the leadership of the country should be&lt;br /&gt;
doing, but in practice it is very difficult to achieve.&lt;br /&gt;
Accepted immigrants vary in their individual abilities, and there is limited pure labor work that anyone&lt;br /&gt;
can do.&lt;br /&gt;
The country is developing and there is a rush to work everywhere, so so far there is a way to distribute&lt;br /&gt;
work. But now that those projects are nearing completion, what to do in the future will be an issue.&lt;br /&gt;
People with better abilities won&#039;t have a problem.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s relatively easy to accept people like skilled people who have a skill, who can feed and clothe&lt;br /&gt;
themselves without worrying about their talent.&lt;br /&gt;
The problem is people who have no knowledge and no way to make money.&lt;br /&gt;
If it&#039;s a farmer, just give them farmland.&lt;br /&gt;
If they are craftsmen, just introduce them to the workshop.&lt;br /&gt;
If it&#039;s adventurers, they have mazes to wade through.&lt;br /&gt;
If it&#039;s entertainers, the theater can hire them.&lt;br /&gt;
How should people without these talents be treated?&lt;br /&gt;
In the face of this problem, my answer is to set up an educational facility.&lt;br /&gt;
Ask the other person what they can do during the immigration review, and then ask them to do&lt;br /&gt;
extended learning. The place dedicated to their learning is the educational facility, which is currently used&lt;br /&gt;
by the military under the jurisdiction of Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The number of immigrants continues to increase, and the number of volunteers who want to join the&lt;br /&gt;
military is also increasing. But it is still a question of whether it is useful, and if it is only for policing in&lt;br /&gt;
the country, it should be possible.”&lt;br /&gt;
This is the reason why we have tried to implement this practice, but as things stand, there seems to be&lt;br /&gt;
more people.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s food on the table when you join the army, and you learn skills for free, and you even help with&lt;br /&gt;
referrals—rumors are spreading.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, not only the immigrants, but also many adventurers and mercenaries gathered one after&lt;br /&gt;
another.&lt;br /&gt;
Well, since the defense of Western countries is also our responsibility, armament enhancement is also a&lt;br /&gt;
major issue.&lt;br /&gt;
These are also the reasons why there are no problems at the moment. There are a few minor situations&lt;br /&gt;
that come up one after the other, but those can be adjusted within the military.&lt;br /&gt;
The problem is that we are more and more likely to go to war with the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
How to get people who have just joined the army on the battlefield and have to reconfigure the force is&lt;br /&gt;
imminent.&lt;br /&gt;
So I ordered Benimaru to come up with a new organization chart.&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru took out a piece of paper and spread it on the table.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This is the organizational chart I reimagined. This kind of staffing is a bit bold, but I think it should&lt;br /&gt;
work.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The power of command is in Benimaru&#039;s hands, including the power of appointment, and I hold the&lt;br /&gt;
power of command.&lt;br /&gt;
This is a bit complicated, as the right to command is supposed to include the right to command. I&lt;br /&gt;
separated it out and handed it to Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In terms of commanding the military, I, a layman, shouldn&#039;t interject—because I think so, military-&lt;br /&gt;
related matters are given priority to Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Also because of this, in the army, Benimaru&#039;s orders are still bigger than mine.&lt;br /&gt;
Except, strategic orders are a different matter.&lt;br /&gt;
Things like assigning people to the top military appointments or making judgments to bring the war to&lt;br /&gt;
an end in time of war.&lt;br /&gt;
The following general assignments can be arranged by Benimaru according to his own authority, but&lt;br /&gt;
the establishment of a legion or the appointment of a general is left to my decision.&lt;br /&gt;
Whether or not to approve the organization chart produced by Benimaru must be confirmed by me.&lt;br /&gt;
“Oh... if you think that&#039;s okay, then I&#039;m okay with that, but...”&lt;br /&gt;
Not going to be picky, but it&#039;s tempting to say a few words sometimes.&lt;br /&gt;
Since the power of appointment is in my hands, I am responsible if anything goes wrong.&lt;br /&gt;
However, we&#039;ve actually argued several times about the staffing this time around.&lt;br /&gt;
There is no point in saying that we do not intend to express our views.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As for the personnel arrangements I insisted they adopt, it was this paragraph—“First Army Chief&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The proposal to make Gobta a general was at first exaggerated, but he seemed unexpectedly suitable.”&lt;br /&gt;
Looking at Benimaru&#039;s reaction also shows that there are those who are for and those who are against&lt;br /&gt;
making Gobta a grand general.&lt;br /&gt;
Indeed, it is disturbing to appoint that fool, Gobta, as head. With Gobta&#039;s judgment of the lives and&lt;br /&gt;
deaths of his right and left minions, no wonder Benimaru and the staff under him were so troubled.&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta also sleeps a lot during meetings, and he doesn&#039;t have any problems—even I don&#039;t think so.&lt;br /&gt;
However, I am well aware that Gobta has been sneaking in special training and that he has been&lt;br /&gt;
working hard and wants to defend this country.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I told you so! This man will work hard when he should.”&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s just that when you don&#039;t have to be serious you&#039;re going to completely mess it up.&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, Gobta&#039;s men trusted him, don&#039;t look at him like that, he was actually very good at&lt;br /&gt;
taking care of people.&lt;br /&gt;
I trust him a lot.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That guy is also one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and Lord Rimuru is definitely not looking away!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. On top of that, just in case, I&#039;m sending Testarossa over as an inspector to help make up for any&lt;br /&gt;
shortfall.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Both Shion and Diablo, part of the same &amp;quot;Four Heavenly Kings&amp;quot;, elected Gobta.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Since you have all said so, as the head of the Four Heavenly Kings, how can you refuse?”&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, Benimaru also revealed a bitter smile.&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, he endorses Gobta.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed, as Diablo said. If something goes wrong, we&#039;ll just have to come back up. Just let him do it.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Should be fine. It doesn&#039;t look like much, in fact it seems to be very desirable.”&lt;br /&gt;
With that, we decided to make Gobta a general.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The military chiefs outside of Gobta also need to be sure, I&#039;ve been looking at the organization chart.&lt;br /&gt;
There are three legions under Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
The First Legion is currently the talk of the town.&lt;br /&gt;
With Gobta as head of the army, Hakurou was made military adviser.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The soldiers under the banner are as follows.&lt;br /&gt;
*Hundred wolf and ghost (ogre?) soldiers.&lt;br /&gt;
Each one has grown to the A- level, with strength equivalent to a hundred men.&lt;br /&gt;
*12,000 in the Green Corps.&lt;br /&gt;
The 4,000 men who had joined at the beginning of the Kusaka (???) period became superior soldiers,&lt;br /&gt;
and underneath were the 8,000 subordinate soldiers who were later employed. They seem to act in groups&lt;br /&gt;
of three.&lt;br /&gt;
The troop strength has increased dramatically this year, but most of it has been magical creatures from&lt;br /&gt;
the Great Forest of Jura. So it&#039;s not too much of a problem to apply.&lt;br /&gt;
Although subordinate soldiers only have C to D ranks, superior soldiers are trained to the equivalent of&lt;br /&gt;
B ranks. Should be able to play a considerable amount of combat.&lt;br /&gt;
Then there is the Second Corps.&lt;br /&gt;
With Geld as Chief of Staff.&lt;br /&gt;
With regard to this Second Corps, it is currently serving as a working force and is active around the&lt;br /&gt;
world. We expected to call them back as soon as we entered wartime, and they would become the main&lt;br /&gt;
army of the Jura Tempest Federation.&lt;br /&gt;
The soldiers at the bottom are as follows.&lt;br /&gt;
Two thousand in the Yellow Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
The Order of Orc Generals had been Geld&#039;s men from the beginning.&lt;br /&gt;
The personal ability is equivalent to a B+, which is very powerful and can be integrated with Geld to&lt;br /&gt;
form an impregnable defensive line.&lt;br /&gt;
At the same time, these men serve as squad leaders and are responsible for leading the new troops.&lt;br /&gt;
*The Orange Legion is 35,000 strong.&lt;br /&gt;
The newly arrived Orcs volunteered to join the army. It was the equivalent of a powerful C-ranked&lt;br /&gt;
force, but there were only fifteen thousand veterans who could step up to the plate. The remaining 20,000&lt;br /&gt;
are expected to put them in rear support jobs, or as engineers.&lt;br /&gt;
Finally, the Third Corps.&lt;br /&gt;
Having let them actually fight in the field, this regiment can be described as our killer weapon, a&lt;br /&gt;
guerrilla force that can fly in the air.&lt;br /&gt;
The head of the army was the man who founded the legion—Gabil.&lt;br /&gt;
The soldiers at the bottom are as follows.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hundreds of Flying Dragons&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Needless to say and know, they were the strongest force in the Jura Tempest Federation.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone&#039;s fighting ability is equivalent to A-, and in addition to having the ability to fly, they also&lt;br /&gt;
have superior command abilities.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ve heard that some individuals even make it to the A level. Their best move is &amp;quot;Dragon&lt;br /&gt;
Warriorization&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
*Three thousand in the Blue Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
Some of the volunteers were from the Lizardman Warrior Corps, and they all came because they&lt;br /&gt;
admired Gabil. The main members of this force are them, with capabilities equivalent to C+.&lt;br /&gt;
However, the essence of the Blue Legion is not here. This regiment is characterized by its ability to&lt;br /&gt;
fight on flying dragons. This unit has air control and has the highest strike power in the war.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, there were only about three hundred flying dragons currently cultivated, not enough for&lt;br /&gt;
everyone. Their main task was to cultivate the flying dragons and provide support, and they might not get&lt;br /&gt;
a chance to make a big splash until afterwards.&lt;br /&gt;
Even so, they cannot be underestimated. The Flying Dragon is a subspecies of the lower-order dragon&lt;br /&gt;
race, equivalent to a B+ monster. Gabil succeeded in capturing them and bred them smoothly, but the goal&lt;br /&gt;
going forward is for the numbers to increase. If all the members had flying dragons available, then the&lt;br /&gt;
Blue Legion would have played to their true worth.&lt;br /&gt;
Above are the three legions directly under Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The Second Corps to Geld, and the Third to Gabil? It should be fine.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, I&#039;ve done a lot of evaluation, but I think it&#039;s the most appropriate distribution.”&lt;br /&gt;
With little explanation, Geld would make a solid general.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s nothing wrong with Gabil&#039;s side either.&lt;br /&gt;
He does get carried away, but is very good at combat. He was so good at mock battles that even&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru saw him as a competitor.&lt;br /&gt;
Although he doesn&#039;t seem to be very good at thinking about tactics, he’s accurate when it comes to&lt;br /&gt;
tactical situations. Also very good at taking care of subordinates and knowing when to step back behind&lt;br /&gt;
the scenes.&lt;br /&gt;
Impeccable and a good fit for a military chief.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;These will remain as they are.”&lt;br /&gt;
At this point, Benimaru took out another piece of paper.&lt;br /&gt;
Three forces are recorded above.&lt;br /&gt;
There are three hundred members of Benimaru&#039;s pro-army group, the Kurenai.&lt;br /&gt;
Led by the A-ranked Gobya, the members of this elite force were all very powerful, all above A-. Also&lt;br /&gt;
currently serving as principal staff officer.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing their battle training, I think that these high ranked monsters of Gobya should be able to gain the&lt;br /&gt;
upper hand when they compete against Kalmud (???).&lt;br /&gt;
The rest of the team is no exception, and some of them are even A-ranked if you take their skills into&lt;br /&gt;
account. Some people would not lose even if they went one-on-one with the Paladins, and the combined&lt;br /&gt;
battle power of this force was difficult to estimate.&lt;br /&gt;
The benchmark for judging the strength of a magical creatures is mostly determined by the amount of&lt;br /&gt;
magical power.&lt;br /&gt;
There is no concept of hierarchy for naturally powerful magical creatures. However, in addition to the&lt;br /&gt;
inherent physical properties of our magical creatures, they also carry out military training. This would&lt;br /&gt;
seem to accumulate strength better suited for actual combat.&lt;br /&gt;
Even at a level higher than the usual standard of judgment, it is not excessive to give such a rating.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, just look at this exception of Hakurou and you&#039;ll see that I was obviously right.&lt;br /&gt;
The members of this unit are all tough characters who can survive Hakurou&#039;s special training in hell.&lt;br /&gt;
All are fairly well trained.&lt;br /&gt;
There was also the Blue Shadow Group, an intelligence force led by Souei—over a hundred of them.&lt;br /&gt;
This force is a mystery, completely obeying the orders of Souei, and significantly fewer people know of&lt;br /&gt;
their existence.&lt;br /&gt;
But—as far as I know, there are experts inside.&lt;br /&gt;
For example, Souka and the four captains under her were all Grade A.&lt;br /&gt;
There are many more masters there too. Glenda is one of them, with several Special A&#039;s.&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, Testarossa poached some talents through judicial dealings, and those were received by Souei.&lt;br /&gt;
There was Gerard, the chief of the mercenary regiment, the Apostles of Green, and Aine, the elven&lt;br /&gt;
emissary who was previously under him. These two are also awesome characters who have surpassed the&lt;br /&gt;
A rank and are now becoming highly skilled spies who are making a big splash.&lt;br /&gt;
I used to joke that this secret service specializes in taking in problem children, but now it gives the&lt;br /&gt;
impression of that.&lt;br /&gt;
Souei says one can&#039;t expect them to perform in battle, but I&#039;m not buying that one. Because they seem&lt;br /&gt;
to be very good at assassination.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s that there are so many A-plus masters on their side that I really want to say &amp;quot;what the hell are you&lt;br /&gt;
talking about” to him.&lt;br /&gt;
What exactly was Souei&#039;s goal?&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone is rumoring that this force feels a little scary, but in a way, it can&#039;t be helped.&lt;br /&gt;
And then look at the &amp;quot;Yomigaeri&amp;quot; with Shion—there are a hundred of them.&lt;br /&gt;
The characteristic of this unit is that they don’t die easily.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Using their fearsome regenerative abilities, all members of the team have become strong, equivalent to&lt;br /&gt;
B+, after a brutal special training session. They were all C&#039;s originally, sort of growing the most.&lt;br /&gt;
They are also very active when fighting with the Paladins, so it&#039;s possible that there are people in them&lt;br /&gt;
who have broken through the limits to A rank.&lt;br /&gt;
If I had to say which force would be reversed, I&#039;d say it&#039;s the &amp;quot;Yomigaeri&amp;quot; of Shion.&lt;br /&gt;
This unit is the equivalent of my pro-war unit in the organizational chart proposed by Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
Personally, I don&#039;t really want to do this, but people are considering putting into practice the ability to&lt;br /&gt;
fight with their hit resistance—when the bait buys time.&lt;br /&gt;
If there&#039;s anything I can do, I&#039;ll use the Yomigaeri as bait to facilitate my escape.&lt;br /&gt;
Shion once proudly explained this to me.&lt;br /&gt;
Let me state up front that they don&#039;t take orders from me even though they are called the Pro-Guards.&lt;br /&gt;
The value of this force&#039;s existence is to protect me, and I have heard that it is strictly forbidden for them to&lt;br /&gt;
act on my orders without permission.&lt;br /&gt;
So even if I scream no, they&#039;ll go out of their way to sacrifice themselves for me.&lt;br /&gt;
This is too much.&lt;br /&gt;
But even though I asked them to help with the chores, they still agreed in a flash&lt;br /&gt;
It was better not to tell these things to Shion.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s still a distinction to be made between making superficial appearances and being true to one&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
heart.&lt;br /&gt;
By the way.&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, Shion had another secret army that wasn&#039;t even documented in the organization chart.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a secret, but everyone knows it, so it should be considered a well-known secret.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s the unit that claims to be directly under the Shion.&lt;br /&gt;
They later became the pro-villains of Shion, but in fact were simply a fan club.&lt;br /&gt;
The number of people is not known.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t think any more than a thousand.&lt;br /&gt;
Because this force is not a regular army, it is not under our jurisdiction.&lt;br /&gt;
Is it okay that the number of people and their abilities are unknown?&lt;br /&gt;
Just don&#039;t make a scene.&lt;br /&gt;
These people were secretly cultivated by Shion, so their strength was also unknown.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I heard that Dagruel&#039;s sons had made an effort to serve as captains, and even the adventurers who had&lt;br /&gt;
original combat experience seemed to have run to participate.&lt;br /&gt;
Maybe it will really come in handy in the future, but I&#039;m more upset than I am expecting.&lt;br /&gt;
Not to the point of not being on the stage, but there was no way this unit could be sent to the front, no&lt;br /&gt;
wonder Benimaru didn&#039;t put them on the organization sheet.&lt;br /&gt;
I returned the piece of paper to the Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Nothing seems to be wrong. The combat power seems to have increased, but there is no need to make&lt;br /&gt;
changes regarding the use of these troops. Don&#039;t interrupt me or you, either.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s true. I&#039;m proud of the fact that the Kurenai is a unit I&#039;ve cultivated with my own hands. Souei&lt;br /&gt;
and Shion probably thought so, so these troops weren&#039;t written into the organization chart.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Benimaru say so, Shion nodded vigorously along with it.&lt;br /&gt;
I had no problem with it personally, so I approved it and told them &amp;quot;just do it&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
For troops who cultivate themselves, whoever it is will want to use it for themselves.&lt;br /&gt;
Seriously, actually Gabil&#039;s &amp;quot;flying dragon congregation&amp;quot; doesn&#039;t have to be written on the organization&lt;br /&gt;
chart either. On this point, all because of the adoption of the Gabil opinion.&lt;br /&gt;
By the way, although the Wolf Rider Force was not cultivated by Gobta, they were fellow soldiers and&lt;br /&gt;
war buddies, and everyone was Gobta&#039;s partner and all recognized his strength. So even if we were to&lt;br /&gt;
change commanders, we would be concerned about the mood of these people.&lt;br /&gt;
At this point, Benimaru took out a third sheet of paper.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s important to start here. These aren&#039;t the legions that belong directly to me, so here they are.”&lt;br /&gt;
Finally getting into that part?&lt;br /&gt;
The form previously produced only recorded increases and decreases in existing troops and personnel.&lt;br /&gt;
The only one more notable is the fact that the First Army Corps is headed by Gobta. This one was&lt;br /&gt;
proposed by me, so it didn&#039;t wow the crowd.&lt;br /&gt;
So come and see what&#039;s in this one.&lt;br /&gt;
With nervousness, I began to look at the piece of paper.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
A few diagrams are documented on the left and right, respectively.&lt;br /&gt;
On the right is written all the military numbers listed so far.&lt;br /&gt;
The First Corps - under Gobta, about 12,000 men.&lt;br /&gt;
The Second Corps - under Geld, about 37,000 men.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The Third Corps - under Gabil, about 3,000 men.&lt;br /&gt;
That adds up to about 52,000 people.&lt;br /&gt;
These were the standing army of the Jura Tempest Federation and it felt so intimidating.&lt;br /&gt;
Even so, we still have room for troops. The country&#039;s population has already surpassed one million and&lt;br /&gt;
is increasing at a breakneck pace. Thinking calmly, our national strength is increasing dramatically.&lt;br /&gt;
It is because of such a powerful nation that it is possible to raise such a large army. Add to that the fact&lt;br /&gt;
that there was a second regiment as engineers to maintain such a force.&lt;br /&gt;
If these guys are unproductive, I think things should get pretty grim. Be thankful for Geld.&lt;br /&gt;
Excluding Geld and others, the remaining strength was about fifteen thousand.&lt;br /&gt;
These men alone are not enough to fight the Eastern Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
The question of what to do about it has always bothered me and Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;As soon as the war starts, I&#039;ll call Geld and them back. This is done as intended. Still, it&#039;s not enough.&lt;br /&gt;
The Western nations seem to have their own armies, but getting them to mobilize those armies is also a&lt;br /&gt;
big problem.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. It would be a big loss to not have to use the military power of the Senate, but to do so could&lt;br /&gt;
cause a dramatic backlash.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There is also the inability to contain problems within the Western countries if they arise. And then&lt;br /&gt;
things are going to get tricky.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There is no problem within our borders, but it will be very difficult to do things in the future if people&lt;br /&gt;
in the West have doubts about our ability to govern.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed it is.”&lt;br /&gt;
So and so, those things we&#039;ve discussed several times.&lt;br /&gt;
In response, Benimaru wrote the answer on the left side of this organization chart, right?&lt;br /&gt;
Come see what&#039;s on the left.&lt;br /&gt;
Western armies - 150,000.&lt;br /&gt;
The Monster’s Army - 30,000.&lt;br /&gt;
Volunteer Corps - 20,000.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s all it says above.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The numbers are huge. What kind of army are these on the left?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s basically a legion under our command. It was mentioned earlier that there is also an army under&lt;br /&gt;
the Council, that is, an army on the Western side. These national armies, unlike those of individual&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
countries, are directly employed in this way by the army of the Senate, or so it should be said, mostly&lt;br /&gt;
financed by our country.”&lt;br /&gt;
Indeed, since the Senate is willing to hand over military power to us, we have the power of command&lt;br /&gt;
over the army that is vested in the Senate. I understand that, but...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There&#039;s that many?”&lt;br /&gt;
The military, which is vested in the Council, exists only formally. Those were originally brought in by&lt;br /&gt;
parliamentarians from their home countries, mainly knights and soldiers.&lt;br /&gt;
The number was also only about a thousand, and the main business was to guard the meeting place of&lt;br /&gt;
the Ingracian capital.&lt;br /&gt;
In principle, the Western countries have their own armies, and the security of each country is guarded&lt;br /&gt;
by them. There is almost no need for the Council to send out an army, so there is no need to raise a really&lt;br /&gt;
large army.&lt;br /&gt;
It is because of the current situation that they simply cede military power to us...&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, I would want military power, not to respond to any situation.&lt;br /&gt;
The only reason is that it is necessary to lay the tracks for the Magic Train to open in various countries.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be too much trouble to wait for approval one by one if the working forces of the Jura Tempest&lt;br /&gt;
Federation were to be sent there.&lt;br /&gt;
If something does happen, then our country will send its troops. With this in mind, we will first allow&lt;br /&gt;
the soldiers who were previously part of the Senate to return home temporarily.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to this, a force was established to maintain law and order under the condition that it would&lt;br /&gt;
be &amp;quot;financed by us&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
And I thought it would be more reassuring to plant humans and subhumans than magical things, so I&lt;br /&gt;
ordered the people below to look for people locally.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Those armies were first disbanded, and then the new ones became more numerous. According to the&lt;br /&gt;
report from Testarossa, one is not afraid of running out of food if one joins the army, a rumor that spreads&lt;br /&gt;
all over the place, with the result that many people come as soon as they are recruited.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But the purpose of that army is to keep the peace, right? It takes 150,000 people.”&lt;br /&gt;
Since countries still have police powers, we are going beyond the call of duty to catch the perpetrators.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if the purpose is to keep the peace, the activities are mainly about disaster prevention, and honestly&lt;br /&gt;
my purpose is to get them to help work the troops, otherwise it&#039;s to go to the rear to support.&lt;br /&gt;
Don&#039;t say it&#039;s 150,000, not even 10,000.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;On this matter, according to Testarossa, it seems as if the States wished to do so.”&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru began to elaborate on me.&lt;br /&gt;
Testarossa has made a name for herself in the Council and has been bold enough to push for tectonic&lt;br /&gt;
reform.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s something I also know, and the results have triggered widespread reverberations, big enough to&lt;br /&gt;
exceed my expectations.&lt;br /&gt;
In any case, in this reform we are only playing the role of a consultative object. Domination is in the&lt;br /&gt;
hands of States, with our country providing the technology.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s like ODA - official (government) development assistance.&lt;br /&gt;
The Council bets on official funds, which our country treats as a national cause, sending its workforce&lt;br /&gt;
and lending a helping hand to countries in trouble. Go local and hire local people for technical instruction&lt;br /&gt;
while responding to their requests.&lt;br /&gt;
This way our side can create jobs and earn fees, and those who are helped by us can get assistance,&lt;br /&gt;
creating a win-win situation.&lt;br /&gt;
But there is no such thing as a free lunch.&lt;br /&gt;
There is of course another side to this support system and we will demand something in return from&lt;br /&gt;
each other.&lt;br /&gt;
To put up a dam, for example, and see how much we pay for construction, would require us to take&lt;br /&gt;
back an equal amount of water rights.&lt;br /&gt;
When the railroad opens and the train rides are taxed, then we can always reap the benefits through the&lt;br /&gt;
levy. The same goes for the opening of the street, we will maintain the management, but the other party&lt;br /&gt;
must withdraw the tariff or give us various benefits.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s like a trick that only a demon lord would do.&lt;br /&gt;
Pretending to act cordial actually does something very vicious.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s just that it will definitely be more convenient for the other party later, so there&#039;s no loss in trading&lt;br /&gt;
with us. We expect to get those unseen benefits in the future, which will be paid for by them, just so.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, I guess those big congresses want to do something on their own.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if there&#039;s no way to do it at the moment, there&#039;s still a chance to sneak a lesson after seeing the&lt;br /&gt;
real thing. Steal our techniques and use them yourself—I think that&#039;s generally the case.&lt;br /&gt;
I didn&#039;t think...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s how it is. I&#039;ve heard that the big countries are asking for an early opening of the train,&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So we don&#039;t have enough manpower for our work force alone, and we need to mobilize those hired for&lt;br /&gt;
rear support?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. Even that&#039;s not enough, we&#039;re going to go to the scene and get someone to help...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The reason for this is right here, is that why the military is so outnumbered...&lt;br /&gt;
I made Testarossa a diplomatic marshal, with full authority over me.&lt;br /&gt;
She doesn&#039;t have to report to me about small things, and can just sign off on them—that&#039;s what I&#039;ve&lt;br /&gt;
already told her, so it seems that even Benimaru has only recently learned about these things.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
She turned out to be hiring a bunch of people, didn&#039;t she?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But that&#039;s what the big powers are up to, right? As long as we train technicians, it will be easier to use&lt;br /&gt;
in the future.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s more efficient than stealing technology. That kind of thinking is really brutal, but I don&#039;t begrudge&lt;br /&gt;
this approach either. As a leader, one would certainly come up with this response.&lt;br /&gt;
The technicians we have trained will be the backbone of every country in the future. While it is a pity&lt;br /&gt;
that some rights and interests cannot be acquired, it is actually a great pleasure to be able to trigger&lt;br /&gt;
healthy competition through technological development.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It doesn&#039;t look that way. How could these big countries let those technicians go?”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, I hear you&#039;re saying that all the support soldiers Testarossa has sent over here are going to be&lt;br /&gt;
integrated directly into the Western Army?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right.”&lt;br /&gt;
Facing the surprised me, Benimaru responded with a wicked smile.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be a shame to bury these technicians in the ground. In that case, it&#039;s best to do disaster relief&lt;br /&gt;
training or bodyguard work and urban defense training as well—it looks like Benimaru knows how to be&lt;br /&gt;
meticulous.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Testarossa says it&#039;s done and wants them fired, but it&#039;s a waste.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s true.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I thought I could prepare them for work, so I arbitrarily named them the Western Armies and formed&lt;br /&gt;
them into this army.”&lt;br /&gt;
So that&#039;s it, I see.&lt;br /&gt;
However, in just one year, those people shouldn&#039;t be proficient enough to go anywhere. That said, if&lt;br /&gt;
they also continue to train in the future, they should be expected to turn into a professional force&lt;br /&gt;
responsible for disaster prevention, and to do so in a big way.&lt;br /&gt;
It can also be used to deal with accidents, and as Benimaru said, it should be used in a variety of&lt;br /&gt;
scenes.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I see. That&#039;s a good judgment, Benimaru.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t think it&#039;s all that great.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Saying that, Benimaru looked shy.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, the West is equipped with an army, right?&lt;br /&gt;
A hundred and fifty thousand is a rather large number, but to send these people to Western countries at&lt;br /&gt;
the same time, even that many people would not be enough.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If they are able to secure entitlements, they are equivalent to being able to earn what they need to live&lt;br /&gt;
on their own.&lt;br /&gt;
I didn&#039;t think things would turn out this way at first, and it made me happy to hear the happy news.&lt;br /&gt;
Come see the next one.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I already know what the Western Army is, and what is the Monster Army?”&lt;br /&gt;
The number of people is as high as 30,000. Is it the magical creatures from the Jura Forest that come as&lt;br /&gt;
soldiers?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that legion, it&#039;s mostly majins who used to work under Clayman. Geld wants these captives to work,&lt;br /&gt;
but he picks people who are good at fighting and rents them out. Instead, some of the Inhumans have their&lt;br /&gt;
own projects on hand and just happen to have nothing to do, so they go and fill in the gaps for these&lt;br /&gt;
majins.&lt;br /&gt;
According to Benimaru&#039;s words, it seemed that careful arrangements had been made so as not to affect&lt;br /&gt;
the works of Geld.&lt;br /&gt;
In that case, it&#039;s okay.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead of getting some laymen over, it would be better to get some people with combat experience to&lt;br /&gt;
consolidate the army, which would be stronger. But...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Those guys don&#039;t seem to fit in very well?”&lt;br /&gt;
When it comes to Clayman&#039;s minions, most of them are B&#039;s. But there are a few of them who are above&lt;br /&gt;
A level.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a very strong group, but weak from a Legion perspective. How could this group of monsters, who&lt;br /&gt;
obeyed orders only out of fear, possibly win over a trained professional soldier.&lt;br /&gt;
It should not be too late to gather the gang for military training.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;At the moment, thanks to Geld&#039;s presence, no one is coming out to mess around. However, even if&lt;br /&gt;
such fools do appear, I will still shut them up.”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right.&lt;br /&gt;
If it was Benimaru, it would be easy to bring them to their knees with brute force.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But they&#039;ve only gotten used to the work, and now they&#039;re forced to go to war...”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing the difficult look on my face, Benimaru said no problem.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That thing was initiated by them. Seems they want to show themselves to Lord Rimuru so you know&lt;br /&gt;
they can come in handy too.”&lt;br /&gt;
“What?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
What Benimaru said was a good surprise.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Those monsters who do what they do are even offering to join the army.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There&#039;s good food and like-minded partners. Add to that the need for their supervisor, and a job well&lt;br /&gt;
done. They argued vigorously, saying that in order to guard these, they themselves sprang into power.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Really......”&lt;br /&gt;
The happy miscalculation refers to this, and it was very helpful for us to have them come forward.&lt;br /&gt;
This is because the troops that are conscripted are simply useless when it comes to actual combat. On&lt;br /&gt;
the one hand, it&#039;s necessary to do it for the sake of family and country, but if you measure the profit/loss&lt;br /&gt;
ratio, sometimes unconditional subjugation is the smart thing to do.&lt;br /&gt;
It is unbearable to become a slave of another country, but if you are just taxed heavily and you submit&lt;br /&gt;
to the other country in such a situation, you can actually be in the mood to disobey.&lt;br /&gt;
To put it in a harsh way is to be patient for now and wait for the opportunity to take revenge.&lt;br /&gt;
As long as the aggressor does not act in an excessively cruel manner, being good enough to suffer some&lt;br /&gt;
damage is also an option.&lt;br /&gt;
But in this case, one cannot ignore how the people living in that country feel.&lt;br /&gt;
Owning your own future requires taking responsibility and making choices. Being the dominant one&lt;br /&gt;
just has to respond to their mood.&lt;br /&gt;
I therefore believe that the conscription system is the worst possible means and that they should not be&lt;br /&gt;
forced to be patriotic towards our country.&lt;br /&gt;
This country of the Jura Tempest Federation is under my patronage.&lt;br /&gt;
If someone comes out of nowhere and makes an arrogant claim, I&#039;m not going to take it.&lt;br /&gt;
I do not intend to give up our rights lightly, so that there will be a confrontation of views in any case. If&lt;br /&gt;
the other side is unwilling to compromise, war is bound to occur, and if there is a backlash as a result, it is&lt;br /&gt;
actually a nuisance.&lt;br /&gt;
If people don&#039;t want to defend their homes on their own, they’ll want to escape to somewhere else as&lt;br /&gt;
soon as possible, that&#039;s what I&#039;ve always thought.&lt;br /&gt;
Make no mistake about knowing who you should be protecting.&lt;br /&gt;
I do not intend to take care of them to the extent that those who join us afterwards will only assert their&lt;br /&gt;
rights.&lt;br /&gt;
If I hadn&#039;t had the people I was supposed to protect, even I would have fled long ago. Then go&lt;br /&gt;
somewhere and find like-minded partners and start a new country together. For me, it&#039;s no use obsessing&lt;br /&gt;
over the land.&lt;br /&gt;
But...&lt;br /&gt;
Our home is the Jura Tempest Federation, and if you all love this land, I want to do my best to respond&lt;br /&gt;
to your hearts.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No matter what foreign enemies you face, do your best to defeat them.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if the opponent is demon lord Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
I have been made aware that I must defeat my opponent no matter what means are used.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, Guy is really tough to deal with and I hope things don&#039;t turn out that way.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I do feel their enthusiasm, and I&#039;m sure they really think so. In addition to this, some people from all&lt;br /&gt;
over the great forest of Jura have expressed their willingness to assist us when they hear of the war to be&lt;br /&gt;
fought. Gather them together into one legion, and it is the army of monsters.”&lt;br /&gt;
Even so, there was still the matter of excluding the weak... Speaking of which, Benimaru smiled&lt;br /&gt;
bitterly.&lt;br /&gt;
Well, that sounds really good.&lt;br /&gt;
This gives everyone the incentive to work hard and I feel happy.&lt;br /&gt;
About the last Volunteer Corps.&lt;br /&gt;
I heard that it was a legion of humans, residents from the Jura Tempest Federation, or gathered by&lt;br /&gt;
neighboring countries.&lt;br /&gt;
In any case, if we are defeated, the countries around the Great Forest of Jura will also be destroyed.&lt;br /&gt;
Since it would be better to offer assistance from the beginning, people who are willing to offer full&lt;br /&gt;
assistance will gather here.&lt;br /&gt;
Most of the team is made up of adventurers or mercenaries. We have taken in some immigrants and I&lt;br /&gt;
have heard that a number of people have volunteered.&lt;br /&gt;
The idiots who desperately explore the underground labyrinth—each time becoming prey to one of our&lt;br /&gt;
“stand-ins&amp;quot;--also have a large contingent gathered.&lt;br /&gt;
The total is 20,000, which is not that much to look forward to, but we count them as a contribution to&lt;br /&gt;
the country&#039;s fighting strength.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s about how it feels on the left. To say there is any difference between the right and the left, it is&lt;br /&gt;
the level of loyalty to the Jura Tempest Federation—or, should I say, to Lord Rimuru.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;To me?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That being said, the legions on the right, these men bet their lives not for Lord Rimuru, but for this&lt;br /&gt;
country. But these people on the left have their own intentions as to why they have gathered. Some people&lt;br /&gt;
may have a noble interest in volunteering, but we didn&#039;t have time to interview them all, so we organized&lt;br /&gt;
them in such a way.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s it......”&lt;br /&gt;
Behind me, Shion and Diablo nodded vigorously.&lt;br /&gt;
I seem to have overheard some dangerous conversations, such as wanting to treat these people on the&lt;br /&gt;
left as outcasts, or having them go through a trial to select only the elite, but that must have been my&lt;br /&gt;
mishearing...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then the next question is who should be appointed as chief of each army.”&lt;br /&gt;
So now we finally get to the point.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Let&#039;s start with an assessment of the Western equipped army.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the largest legion, and they belong to the Senate, whose members are still scattered around the&lt;br /&gt;
world.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If we just look at the number, they will become 200,000, but as for the 150,000 men who are equipped&lt;br /&gt;
in the West, I intend to leave them unused and leave them on the spot.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right. They nominally belong to the legions of the Council, and it is not convenient for us to use&lt;br /&gt;
them without permission, so we cannot deliberately call them over here either.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
If they were gathered somewhere, I could magically move them over in one breath.&lt;br /&gt;
To move a hundred and fifty thousand people in one breath would be very labor-intensive to manage&lt;br /&gt;
alone. The chain of command is not yet finalized, and I don&#039;t think there is any way to conduct a decent&lt;br /&gt;
military operation. In order to avoid the spies sent by the Empire to make trouble in various countries, it is&lt;br /&gt;
best to be on the alert.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I thought so. It&#039;s okay to use them with my power, but I want to maintain the status quo on the Western&lt;br /&gt;
side of the military. At the moment there is no army chief on their side, but I intend to put Testarossa, who&lt;br /&gt;
is a diplomatic marshal, in charge as well.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s not a bad option...but once the war starts, maybe it&#039;s time to get Testarossa back home too. It&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
worrying not to know if we&#039;ll be able to get in touch with those legionnaires.”&lt;br /&gt;
Those troops are scattered all over the West. How do we get in touch with them?&lt;br /&gt;
You can use &amp;quot;magic communication&amp;quot;, communication crystals for contact, or &amp;quot;magic wire&amp;quot; to create a&lt;br /&gt;
contact network. With such a variety of means of communication, countries and major metropolitan areas&lt;br /&gt;
have successfully established communication networks.&lt;br /&gt;
But as things stand now, some of the end towns or villages are not so well equipped. It should be said&lt;br /&gt;
that setting those things up is also the task of the working force.&lt;br /&gt;
There are majins in every unit, and I think it should be possible to use &#039;magic communication&#039;, but...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No problem. If it&#039;s Moss, there&#039;s a way to manage it even with hundreds of troops.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right, I&#039;ve heard about it from Souei too. Moss works with Souei on intelligence gathering, and&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m told he also uses his work gaps to handle liaison work between troops.”&lt;br /&gt;
Really!&lt;br /&gt;
This Moss guy is really good to use.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, why don&#039;t we just make Moss head of the army?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“No, should I say that Moss is pathetic...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed, judging by Testarossa’s nature, it would have been a terrible fate for Moss. It&#039;s none of my&lt;br /&gt;
business, but I kind of feel for Moss.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“...okay. Since that&#039;s the case, let&#039;s make Testarossa the army chief for now.”&lt;br /&gt;
Not only Benimaru, but even Diablo was sympathizing with Moss. Then I&#039;ll have to read between the&lt;br /&gt;
lines, and say it&#039;s better not to let Moss be the army chief.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the Western armed forces, let them concentrate on their own business this time, which is&lt;br /&gt;
policing.&lt;br /&gt;
If something goes wrong, it&#039;s not certain, but sending out Western armies is a last resort.&lt;br /&gt;
The chief of the army was then held part-time by Testarossa. But I will state up front that this is a&lt;br /&gt;
temporary arrangement and the baton will be handed over when the right person is found.&lt;br /&gt;
This is where the arrangement for the Western armies comes in.&lt;br /&gt;
Next up was the Mixed Monster Army.&lt;br /&gt;
Why don&#039;t we leave it to Benimaru to arrange this?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I personally recommend Mr. Rigur.”&lt;br /&gt;
Rigur is right.&lt;br /&gt;
Indeed, Rigur has experience in leading a police force and is beyond A-grade, truly impeccable.&lt;br /&gt;
However, the fact that Rigur was in charge of aiding Rigurd makes it doubtful that he was available to&lt;br /&gt;
serve as chief of the army.&lt;br /&gt;
If I can, I&#039;d like to see a showdown with just the standing army. However, it was still unclear how many&lt;br /&gt;
troops the Imperial side would prepare.&lt;br /&gt;
We have sent men to scout, but there is no way to even get information from inside the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, we have had intermittent information about military exercises, and on the basis of this&lt;br /&gt;
information, it is assumed that they may also mobilize at least over 300,000 troops. Maybe more than a&lt;br /&gt;
million troops will be sent out.&lt;br /&gt;
In that case, we didn&#039;t have to postpone the use of this monster army&#039;s remaining strength.&lt;br /&gt;
I was not displeased with Rigur’s command, but felt uneasy. It&#039;s dangerous to think about it anyhow&lt;br /&gt;
when you have to use troops that are scattered all over the place when you suddenly start fighting.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, I&#039;d like to give Benimaru the responsibility for this legion. In the future, this army of wizards&lt;br /&gt;
will be called the Red Army. From among the Kurenai, a thousand leaders will be chosen to run the army.&lt;br /&gt;
This one will serve as the Fourth Corps, Benimaru, and you will be the leader of the Corps and directly&lt;br /&gt;
command them.”&lt;br /&gt;
Red because it&#039;s dangerous—just kidding.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s been a long time since I&#039;ve been able to tell a joke like this in a flash.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“...”&lt;br /&gt;
Hmm.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t want the scene to chill out, so let&#039;s stop.&lt;br /&gt;
The expression on his face was still serious, but he was thinking about such idiotic things. Everyone&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t find out about it and the meeting went off without a hitch.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I know. In that case, leave it to me.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that Benimaru also expected that I might say something like that. So he didn&#039;t panic and&lt;br /&gt;
agreed without a second word.&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru has a unique skill called &amp;quot;Generalissimo&amp;quot; on him. If the legion&#039;s lack of training could easily&lt;br /&gt;
be compensated for by using a large group of soldiers, Benimaru was the most suitable person.&lt;br /&gt;
Just like that, in addition to commanding the entire army, Benimaru also had to command his&lt;br /&gt;
immediate unit, the Red Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
That leaves the Volunteer Corps in the end.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What are you going to do with the volunteers?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s the problem.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with my question, Benimaru responded with a difficult tone.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, almost all of this volunteer army is human. If a monster were to be the leader of such a&lt;br /&gt;
legion, it might cause unnecessary resentment—that seemed to be what Benimaru was worried about.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s a real problem. If rumors emerge that mankind will never be able to emerge from the heavens in&lt;br /&gt;
the kingdom of monsters, that alone will bring down our image.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The only people who worry about that kind of foolishness are three-legged cats and dogs. These&lt;br /&gt;
people won&#039;t accomplish much anyway, so I don&#039;t care!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, Shion. That&#039;s true, but some people don&#039;t know us, and they&#039;ll think it&#039;s true when they hear it.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Just say it. Humans are hard to serve.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Shion seems unable to agree, but image strategies are important.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be funny if we were called racist for something like that, so I think there is a need for a serious&lt;br /&gt;
review on that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But I thought we couldn&#039;t find the right person.”&lt;br /&gt;
At this point Diablo jumped in to interject.&lt;br /&gt;
Right now, the situation was just as he said it would be, so Benimaru was also troubled about it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. Basically they&#039;re a volunteer army, and I didn&#039;t even think there would be this extra army.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That said, there&#039;s no need to do it for nothing.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s it.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m thankful that those who volunteered to join us had that heart and didn&#039;t want to let their efforts go to&lt;br /&gt;
waste.&lt;br /&gt;
But to put their abilities to good use, one must find a competent commander.&lt;br /&gt;
If you want to find someone to unite them, you won&#039;t be able to find anyone other than Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
So what do we do now?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What about Gerard, who works in the shadow?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No way. We got him by secretly trading with the Kingdom of Ingracia, and the guy doesn&#039;t seem to&lt;br /&gt;
like public appearances either.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t know what kind of deal he and Testarossa made with each other, this one I didn&#039;t ask, but I don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
think it&#039;s good to have Gerard publicly active. He may also be labeled as a human traitor, and it seems&lt;br /&gt;
difficult to convince the crowd without saying that the man is dead.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m naturally under no obligation to protect him, but there&#039;s no need to force him to behave outside.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It would be deserved if it were just his strength, but it&#039;s really not feasible under realistic&lt;br /&gt;
conditions...”&lt;br /&gt;
It looked like even Benimaru was just talking about it, not really pushing him. In a flash, he dismissed&lt;br /&gt;
the idea and named the next candidate. The crux, however, is to lead humanity. He named names one after&lt;br /&gt;
another, but none of them caught anyone&#039;s eye.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Shall we ask the Paladins for help?”&lt;br /&gt;
At this time, Shion suddenly proposed so.&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru and I first looked at each other, and then began to stare at Shion.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, I guess not.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, this kind of thing...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, should we call Mr. Masayuki?”&lt;br /&gt;
It can&#039;t be done—I was just about to say that when Shion interrupted and she said a name.&lt;br /&gt;
Masayuki.&lt;br /&gt;
When I heard that name, I was struck by thunder.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re great, Shion!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I yelled at the same time as Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
It was at this moment that the military chief of the Legion of the Righteous and Brave decided that it&lt;br /&gt;
was Masayuki.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
We didn&#039;t make this personnel decision with my consent, but it was a fantastic decision that everyone&lt;br /&gt;
agreed with.&lt;br /&gt;
Only Masayuki himself disagreed.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Why me......”&lt;br /&gt;
When I told Masayuki about it, he was very distressed.&lt;br /&gt;
But it&#039;s something that can&#039;t be helped.&lt;br /&gt;
Sad as it is, this is war. It has nothing to do with my will.&lt;br /&gt;
Although it was completely unexpected, I couldn&#039;t care less about Masayuki&#039;s feelings.&lt;br /&gt;
Because if we give it to Masayuki, even if we do nothing, there seems to be a happy ending.&lt;br /&gt;
At times like these, he&#039;s a very reliable companion.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m already very good at controlling my own unique skill, ‘Chosen One&#039;. And it won&#039;t be like the old&lt;br /&gt;
days of being complimented on whatever you do. But I can&#039;t even use it this time, so don&#039;t expect too&lt;br /&gt;
much.”&lt;br /&gt;
As such, I am fortunate to be doing the dying struggle and attempting to escape, but I know that none&lt;br /&gt;
of that is true. Because, fortunately, he is still as popular as ever and still has a huge impact today.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You want to show Kenya and the others how handsome you are, don&#039;t you?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wuh, this...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
If he is willing to take the job and instill strange knowledge in the little children and respect them, I&lt;br /&gt;
will turn a blind eye to it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No problem, you can do it!”&lt;br /&gt;
“But......”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What else. Didn&#039;t I help you when you faced off against Gozu?”&lt;br /&gt;
It was fortunate that they had broken through to the fiftieth level. At that time, in order to weaken Floor&lt;br /&gt;
Guardian Gozu, I had to secretly use fake magic bodies to help.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thanks to you for this...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, you know what to do, don&#039;t you?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
I threatened and cajoled, tried to pacify him, and finally the bargain stood.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I got it. Mr. Rimuru has taken good care of me, and I would like to take this time to repay your great&lt;br /&gt;
kindness...”&lt;br /&gt;
Although he was reluctant to do so, Masayuki was willing to serve as the military chief.&lt;br /&gt;
The volunteers were okay with that. Don&#039;t say it&#039;s an opinion, they even say &amp;quot;Great! &amp;quot;We&#039;re going to&lt;br /&gt;
win this one! The culture of winning before the battle begins to spread.&lt;br /&gt;
No matter how heavy Masayuki&#039;s expression was, the matter was now settled.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So it&#039;s come to this...”&lt;br /&gt;
He just said that he was already very capable of controlling the unique skill &amp;quot;Chosen One&amp;quot;, what&lt;br /&gt;
exactly is it...&lt;br /&gt;
Sure enough, just like I thought, Masayuki&#039;s claim that he&#039;s already good at using that skill is simply a&lt;br /&gt;
lie.&lt;br /&gt;
Or does it have nothing to do with skill at all, because Masayuki&#039;s super fortune is at work?&lt;br /&gt;
That would have surprised me even more.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Leon, he just happens to be the opposite of Masayuki, no matter what he does, he will be&lt;br /&gt;
interpreted in a bad direction. I heard that he used to be like this when he was still a hero, so maybe it&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
not that simple to change everyone&#039;s innate temperament.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Geez, come on. It&#039;s not good for me to decide, but you have to be a spiritual symbol to inspire&lt;br /&gt;
people!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
All in all, I console Masayuki with these words.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, in the name of &amp;quot;the hero&amp;quot;, the 20,000 men of the Volunteer Corps will follow the command&lt;br /&gt;
of Masayuki.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The organizational chart was amended so that the right wing became 52,000 and the left wing wrote&lt;br /&gt;
50,000.&lt;br /&gt;
The top commander is Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
At the bottom, the heads of the various regiments are lined up.&lt;br /&gt;
This large army totaled more than 100,000, but I still wasn&#039;t sure it could stand up to the Imperial&lt;br /&gt;
Army. But we don&#039;t need to panic. Because all the preparations are being done.&lt;br /&gt;
There are reserves—150,000 troops in the West.&lt;br /&gt;
Countries also seem to be preparing reinforcements, with members from the Order of Knights they&lt;br /&gt;
have. And to organize the Western coalition as the last and ultimate line of defense.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m afraid the total number is no less than 200,000, if anything, it should be relied upon.&lt;br /&gt;
With mercenaries, there is also support from various countries.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It all adds up to about the same number, should we say that it&#039;s more or less...&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that Testarossa has threatened everyone at the Council and because of that, everyone is willing&lt;br /&gt;
to assist. In any case, if we are defeated in the war, they will suffer next, so they have to help.&lt;br /&gt;
But to mobilize this army, that too will have to wait until we are likely to lose this war.&lt;br /&gt;
To say which part benefits us, it is that we have the advantage.&lt;br /&gt;
Then there&#039;s the fact that we have Veldora on our side, plus the ability to expect assistance from the two&lt;br /&gt;
demon lords, Ruminas and Leon.&lt;br /&gt;
Even Milim has promised to help us out. Carrion&#039;s Beast Kingdom Warrior Regiment was ready to send&lt;br /&gt;
troops at any time.&lt;br /&gt;
There is also the killer weapon that belongs to me personally, the Black Legion under Diablo at the&lt;br /&gt;
ready.&lt;br /&gt;
Since I&#039;ve handed over the entire command of the army to Benimaru, it&#039;s honestly possible to think that&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t have an army that I can use directly—which at first glance may seem true, but it&#039;s not.&lt;br /&gt;
Only this black legion, they obeyed Diablo, and his subordinates, the three demon girls.&lt;br /&gt;
This legion is not under the command of Benimaru and operates completely independently.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s all we have at the moment in terms of war power.&lt;br /&gt;
As for how Yuuki will act, this element is not accounted for.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There&#039;s going to be a war.”&lt;br /&gt;
Staying in my room, I muttered something in a small voice.&lt;br /&gt;
Is it really the purpose of the Empire to annex the Western powers?&lt;br /&gt;
Guy once mentioned the word &amp;quot;game&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
He seemed to have some sort of entanglement with the Imperial side, and it always seemed like there&lt;br /&gt;
was some sort of dangerous attempt on the Imperial side as well.&lt;br /&gt;
But, even if that&#039;s the case...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Whoever comes, if they intend to strike at our paradise, then I will beat the hell out of them.”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s the truth of my heart.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t want to make the same mistake again.&lt;br /&gt;
Because I am a demon lord. How to prioritize cannot be misjudged.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
At the same time.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The place came to the Eastern Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru and the others were preparing for war, just like them—no, the empire took longer, so long that&lt;br /&gt;
the two were simply incomparable.&lt;br /&gt;
They prepare carefully and literally.&lt;br /&gt;
Ready to make a big push.&lt;br /&gt;
In a little while, the Empire will awaken from its long sleep.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s only a few moments left before they launch a fierce attack...&lt;br /&gt;
Intermission: The Inside Story of the Eastern Empire&lt;br /&gt;
The Eastern Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
It was one of the oldest countries.&lt;br /&gt;
Its official name was the United Eastern Empire of Nazca-Namlium-Ulmeria.&lt;br /&gt;
There is a long history, and it is said that a state was in operation two thousand years ago, and that&lt;br /&gt;
became the foundation of the present empire.&lt;br /&gt;
It took a long time for what was originally a small Nasca Kingdom to absorb and annex what was&lt;br /&gt;
originally a large country, the Magic Kingdom of Namlius, and the Eastern Union of Ulmeria, to give&lt;br /&gt;
birth to the empire it is today.&lt;br /&gt;
Set against a backdrop of overwhelming military power.&lt;br /&gt;
In these two thousand years...&lt;br /&gt;
In the name of the unified Emperor Rudra Naam Ulu Nasca.&lt;br /&gt;
The empire did not allow the countries they annexed to rebel and held extremely powerful power.&lt;br /&gt;
To be the absolute ruler, to rule these countries completely.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the United Eastern Empire of Nazca-Namlium-Ulmeria, commonly known as the &amp;quot;Eastern&lt;br /&gt;
Empire&amp;quot; —the above is the actual state of this country.&lt;br /&gt;
It is said that the emperor promotes hegemonism.&lt;br /&gt;
The current emperor, who also bears the name &amp;quot;Rudra&amp;quot;, is a descendant of a tyrant with a pure&lt;br /&gt;
bloodline.&lt;br /&gt;
Regardless of the actual situation, the emperor&#039;s preference for absolute power—as it should be.&lt;br /&gt;
Thus the core philosophy of military units is that &amp;quot;strength is everything&amp;quot;, in a special form, where one&lt;br /&gt;
can stand out if one has strength.&lt;br /&gt;
Rumors were circulating among the subjects of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There is only one reason to say that the Empire did not invade across the Great Forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
That is—it&#039;s not ready.&lt;br /&gt;
About three hundred and fifty years ago, they tried to get the &amp;quot;Storm Dragon&amp;quot; Veldora to do their&lt;br /&gt;
bidding and failed, and one of the metropolises was wiped out. If the fickle dragon is accidentally&lt;br /&gt;
offended, there is no room for regret, and the same fate is met directly with this city.&lt;br /&gt;
The victim city was the largest at the time, with a population of 100,000, and was a fortress city&lt;br /&gt;
immediately east of the Great Forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to attack the Great Forest of Jura, it took them a hundred years to build this front city.&lt;br /&gt;
Using this city as a military stronghold, the empire would be able to expand further by breaking&lt;br /&gt;
through that forest. Driven by this ambition, the military units of the time began to draw up operational&lt;br /&gt;
plans.&lt;br /&gt;
To get through this Great Forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
That was the Empire&#039;s sad wish for a hundred years.&lt;br /&gt;
They were already a bountiful nation and wanted to expand their territory for one purpose only.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s how the Emperor wanted it.&lt;br /&gt;
For no other reason than that, all the subjects have no complaints.&lt;br /&gt;
The drawing is well underway, and the imperial-trained army is building up its strength and preparing&lt;br /&gt;
to make a splash.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately afterwards, they issued orders in the name of the Emperor to prepare for an invasion&lt;br /&gt;
campaign.&lt;br /&gt;
But a certain troop leader came up with a foolish idea that made all the battle plans fall apart.&lt;br /&gt;
‘Since it is all going out, let us let the lord of the great forest of Jura do as he commands. It&#039;s just a&lt;br /&gt;
giant lizard, anyway, not big enough to be our enemy’ —because of this overly stupid idea, it lead them to&lt;br /&gt;
destruction.&lt;br /&gt;
As for what they once did, it didn&#039;t actually pass down to posterity. This is because the people&lt;br /&gt;
responsible for keeping the documents, the places where they were kept, all went down in flames&lt;br /&gt;
together.&lt;br /&gt;
The empire&#039;s sad wish, the emperor&#039;s ambition, just went up in smoke.&lt;br /&gt;
And then time flew by and came to the present.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire had been quietly nurturing its strength.&lt;br /&gt;
For the injuries suffered by Veldora have healed.&lt;br /&gt;
However, the emperor never approved the launching of the invasion campaign.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Forbidding any act of aggression against the Great Forest of Jura, after three hundred and fifty years,&lt;br /&gt;
they had once again built up a force that had been waiting for the right moment for them to play well.&lt;br /&gt;
So, next came the political system of the empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Within the Empire, the political and military branches were the Emperor&#039;s right and left hands. Both&lt;br /&gt;
parts, political dominance and military command, were in the hands of the emperor himself.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s a lot of power.&lt;br /&gt;
In the political branch, the Imperial nobility organized the House of Peers and enjoyed great power. But&lt;br /&gt;
that is only what is seen on the surface and does not in fact give those nobles any decision making power.&lt;br /&gt;
The only thing that is good for you is your reputation and your rights, and you are at best a bureaucrat at&lt;br /&gt;
the will of the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
These nobles were hereditary and did not need a vote to become members of parliament. Even if they&lt;br /&gt;
have lofty ambitions in their hearts, they can&#039;t gain enough power to realize their dreams.&lt;br /&gt;
All the territory of the empire went to the emperor. Just lend these to the nobles and let them manage&lt;br /&gt;
those lands.&lt;br /&gt;
Those who support these nobles are official men of high learning.&lt;br /&gt;
It was also these officials who were responsible for setting up all kinds of projects, and they were&lt;br /&gt;
backed by the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
These officials therefore swore allegiance to the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
The same goes for the military.&lt;br /&gt;
Military command—this supreme power of decision is not vested in the State, but in the Emperor. All&lt;br /&gt;
the military power of the Empire belonged to the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
Some of the local metropolises that were annexed by the Empire and are now part of it are in the same&lt;br /&gt;
situation. All the territories were to be surrendered, as if they were leased from the Emperor. The&lt;br /&gt;
defensive forces guarding there were no exception, armies lent to them by the Emperor&#039;s grace.&lt;br /&gt;
Such a policy has worked, shutting down any potential rebellion everywhere.&lt;br /&gt;
What makes this possible is the difference in national strength.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire accepted the surrender of other nations, but that was tantamount to agreeing to surrender&lt;br /&gt;
all rights. If they feel unconvinced and want to disobey, they will be cleansed in blood.&lt;br /&gt;
This is to prevent people from thinking that way again and to eradicate it completely.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, the Empire was able to maintain order.&lt;br /&gt;
Overwhelming force creates fear and gives the submissive a security of life—a means of grace and&lt;br /&gt;
power. It is only through thorough management in this regard that the Empire will always be able to&lt;br /&gt;
maintain peace and quiet.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A state of this magnitude ruled by only one man would not be possible under normal circumstances.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only that, but in these two thousand years of long history, the dominance of the emperor has never&lt;br /&gt;
wavered.&lt;br /&gt;
Even with the change of generations, the emperor&#039;s power still hasn&#039;t faded.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s weird from either perspective.&lt;br /&gt;
If this was all the work of the emperor, then the emperor should not be human either.&lt;br /&gt;
Next, look at the military power of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, the military organization of the Empire can be roughly divided into three main legions.&lt;br /&gt;
Mecha Corps (Armored Corps)—The main force of the Mecha Corps is the Mecha Technicians, which&lt;br /&gt;
have been adjusted.&lt;br /&gt;
The possession of military weapons, such as chariots, is a modernized armed force and a technological&lt;br /&gt;
symbol of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Legion of Warcraft (Magic Beast Corps)—The Empire has captured all kinds of warcraft from all over&lt;br /&gt;
the world, within their territories, and from other places.&lt;br /&gt;
This legion would dominate those magical beasts and use their power, a symbol of the Empire&#039;s power.&lt;br /&gt;
Hybrid legions (Mixed Corps)—consisting of out-of-spec mechs, or berserk beasts that don&#039;t fit in, sort&lt;br /&gt;
of garbage camps.&lt;br /&gt;
This legion is too focused on individuality for group action.&lt;br /&gt;
But their power is unknown, and together they have the potential to pose a huge threat.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the spiritual symbol of the Empire. However, that &amp;quot;heart&amp;quot; is currently immature.&lt;br /&gt;
Unlike the Western powers, which focus on sword and magic, the Empire believes that it is up to them&lt;br /&gt;
to usher in a new era with magic and science.&lt;br /&gt;
Behind the development of the Empire&#039;s military power is a close relationship with the Otherworldly&lt;br /&gt;
Visitors.&lt;br /&gt;
There is another world of knowledge that this world doesn&#039;t have, and someone has taken to that.&lt;br /&gt;
The man was a great wizard from a long time ago who lived in the palace—his name was Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Contrary to his pale appearance, this man is full of energy. Eager to soak up all the knowledge, not just&lt;br /&gt;
limited to magic, he also enjoys hearing things from people coming over from the other world.&lt;br /&gt;
So he knew that in the other world there were also many countries, not unlike the world on this side,&lt;br /&gt;
where the inhabitants spoke different languages, but overcame the barriers of dissident thought and were&lt;br /&gt;
able to coexist.&lt;br /&gt;
Also know that there is no magic in that world, civilization is highly developed, and the type is&lt;br /&gt;
different from this world.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora lived for a long time. Once his life is coming to an end, he repeats the reincarnation through a&lt;br /&gt;
mystical ritual of his own creation, the mystical mystery of reincarnation.&lt;br /&gt;
It is because Gedora has the ability to observe &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; over the years.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s knowledge is vast, and he also speaks a variety of otherworldly languages. In addition to that,&lt;br /&gt;
if an &amp;quot;otherworldly visitor&amp;quot; came to this world, he would definitely send someone to bring the other&lt;br /&gt;
person under his own protection.&lt;br /&gt;
It wasn&#039;t just magical beasts that were collected from all over the world.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora also argued against the utility of &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; to the emperor, who, with the&lt;br /&gt;
emperor&#039;s approval, could do as they pleased.&lt;br /&gt;
Some people have special abilities, others are knowledgeable.&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; who come to the Empire are treated with favorable treatment and are&lt;br /&gt;
overwhelmingly numerous compared to other countries. Thus inundating the Empire with their culture&lt;br /&gt;
and identity.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, the Empire has also recruited many people with exclusive skills, and they are doing ongoing&lt;br /&gt;
research. From this point of view, the military technology of the Empire has advanced to a point where it&lt;br /&gt;
is beyond the reach of many countries.&lt;br /&gt;
Within the Empire, they have abolished the profession of knight.&lt;br /&gt;
The concept of fighting by riding horses has long since faded and established a tactic based on&lt;br /&gt;
modernized weaponry. Soldiers who mechanize their own flesh are called &amp;quot;mechs&amp;quot; and are the spiritual&lt;br /&gt;
symbols in the Empire when they fight.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire&#039;s main mech armor corps showcases this in full.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, the Warcraft Legion also lives on with knowledge from another world.&lt;br /&gt;
DNA - Deoxyribonucleic acid - is a biological polymer that governs the genetic information of an&lt;br /&gt;
organism. All of this knowledge comes from &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; and allows the Empire to analyze the&lt;br /&gt;
power of magical beasts. Further research is no exception...&lt;br /&gt;
As for the Hybrid Legion, there are many powerful &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; in it. Everyone&#039;s unique&lt;br /&gt;
skills had been awakened, and that fighting power should not be underestimated.&lt;br /&gt;
Just like that, in addition to technology from another world, there are special abilities. By drawing on&lt;br /&gt;
these elements, the empire can create legions that are as powerful as they are powerful.&lt;br /&gt;
Because Gedora&#039;s enthusiasm was what made the Imperial Army stronger, and even that wasn&#039;t too&lt;br /&gt;
much to say.&lt;br /&gt;
Unlike the three main legions cultivated by Gedora, there was another group responsible for protecting&lt;br /&gt;
the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
This group was at most the size of a squadron, with only a hundred members, and was called the&lt;br /&gt;
Imperial Emperor&#039;s Order of the Near Guard.&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;quot;knight&amp;quot; has been abolished, but they are calling it that.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
That leaves only one form, as old as it is—the ignorant would probably think so.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet this is not in fact the case.&lt;br /&gt;
This is because the Near Guard Knights in the Imperial Emperor&#039;s Order of the Near Guard are all&lt;br /&gt;
selected from the top of the various legions.&lt;br /&gt;
There is no shortage of &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; among them.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the best proof that the Empire does not treat one person differently just because they are who&lt;br /&gt;
they are, faithful to the Empire&#039;s idea that &amp;quot;power means everything&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
These people did not benefit from the pedigree and power of the ancient empire and fought for that&lt;br /&gt;
throne purely by strength. This Imperial Emperor&#039;s Order of Near Guard Knights were all endowed with&lt;br /&gt;
legendary level equipment to prove that they were the strongest candidates.&lt;br /&gt;
The most powerful masters are equipped with the best weapons and defenses, complementing each&lt;br /&gt;
other to create an unbeatable effect. Together, these people&#039;s fighting abilities even surpassed the various&lt;br /&gt;
legions.&lt;br /&gt;
They are also guaranteed top-notch treatment.&lt;br /&gt;
Each is a superior general with at least the rank of major when it comes to special missions.&lt;br /&gt;
They were the vision of the Imperial soldiers, the Empire&#039;s most powerful fighting force—that was the&lt;br /&gt;
Imperial Emperor&#039;s Order of the Near Guard.&lt;br /&gt;
As mentioned above, there are four fighting groups within the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
As the commander of such a legion, one must show strength to bring others to their knees. It must be&lt;br /&gt;
recognized by all as the strongest in the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
So, how do you prove it?&lt;br /&gt;
That part is decided by a battle of the rank and file within the Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
In the presence of an objective third person, this system allows the inferior to challenge the superior,&lt;br /&gt;
that is, it allows the inferior to commit an offense, so that the ranking is constantly changing.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, there are several conditions that must be met in order for a ranking battle to take place.&lt;br /&gt;
It cannot be held in military operations and is invalid without witnesses. Not only that, but if you are&lt;br /&gt;
defeated in a challenge, you have to wait a year for the right to challenge next time. The same is true of&lt;br /&gt;
killing an opponent who is facing off against himself.&lt;br /&gt;
Since those in power have the right to kill the challenger, the exercise of the right to challenge requires&lt;br /&gt;
careful thought.&lt;br /&gt;
It takes an overwhelming amount of power to get an opponent to submit.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the system of &amp;quot;power for all&amp;quot;, which is really very imperial.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Even so, those who wanted to become a kamikaze still went on and on, presumably because the idea of&lt;br /&gt;
the empire had already taken root in everyone&#039;s hearts.&lt;br /&gt;
The high ranking within the empire is clearly determined in this way, but Gedora is not in it. His stance&lt;br /&gt;
was peculiar and seemed foreign to the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Not counting Gedora, the members of the Imperial Emperor&#039;s Order of Near Guards were selected from&lt;br /&gt;
among the others, and the heads of the various legions were chosen.&lt;br /&gt;
If there is a need for a replacement, they will also choose from the top 100.&lt;br /&gt;
For those who want to move up the ladder, they give the opportunity equally. Therefore, those who are&lt;br /&gt;
truly powerful will not be buried, everyone is honing their strengths and waiting to excel.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, the Empire elects one &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; and three &amp;quot;generals&amp;quot; at the top.&lt;br /&gt;
Adding, by the way, that the person at the top is automatically chosen to be a marshal. Instead, they&lt;br /&gt;
would name the right person to be the &amp;quot;Grand Admiral&amp;quot; only after the Emperor, Marshal, and Gedora had&lt;br /&gt;
agreed.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason is simple, and that is that being strong alone does not make a good soldier.&lt;br /&gt;
All in all, those who remained in the various legions were weaker than the near-guard knights, and the&lt;br /&gt;
&#039;Grand Admirals&#039; who became army chiefs were certainly the most powerful masters in the various&lt;br /&gt;
legions. It is in this way that the chiefs of the various legions are determined.&lt;br /&gt;
These four men represent the most powerful people in the Empire to the outside world.&lt;br /&gt;
The marshal and the three brigadier generals will all receive equipment commensurate with their status.&lt;br /&gt;
Since the Imperial Emperor&#039;s Near Guard Knights would obtain legendary level equipment, the&lt;br /&gt;
equipment bestowed on these four people would be better than them.&lt;br /&gt;
Those outfits were all secret treasures of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
In ancient times, it was the most powerful weapon used to suppress other countries—a mythical&lt;br /&gt;
weapon.&lt;br /&gt;
This mythical equipment even makes people wonder if it really exists, and having several mythical&lt;br /&gt;
equipment is just the thing to show the prestige of the empire.&lt;br /&gt;
The average human with only flesh and blood has no chance to touch these extreme equipment. Those&lt;br /&gt;
who want to use those gear must be eligible. It&#039;s getting recognition for those gear that can be of real&lt;br /&gt;
value.&lt;br /&gt;
Top-notch strength paired with extreme weaponry.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s the reason why the empire is standing.&lt;br /&gt;
And then...&lt;br /&gt;
Such empires appear mutinous.&lt;br /&gt;
Decades apart, the army chiefs change.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
That man also made arrogant achievements, the mixed legion was originally a scattered mess, that man&lt;br /&gt;
made them a powerful centripetal force.&lt;br /&gt;
Less than a year after joining the army, progress has been unprecedented and unprecedented.&lt;br /&gt;
Defeating warriors who have been through a hundred battles and have not lost at all.&lt;br /&gt;
A teenager had climbed to one of the tops.&lt;br /&gt;
His name is Yuuki Kagurazaka.&lt;br /&gt;
Things take a more drastic turn because of Yuuki&#039;s rise to power.&lt;br /&gt;
Chapter 3: Visitors from the Empire&lt;br /&gt;
In a luxurious room, three people stood with a nervous face.&lt;br /&gt;
They stood upright and awaited the arrival of the owner of this room.&lt;br /&gt;
The owner of the room is Yuuki, the man who came to the Empire and became a military commander in&lt;br /&gt;
an instant.&lt;br /&gt;
In the eyes of these few people, that sort of thing is no surprise.&lt;br /&gt;
This is because Yuuki is dominant over the few of them.&lt;br /&gt;
He is also the General Manager of the secret association &amp;quot;The Big Three (Cerburus)”.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, I&#039;ve kept you waiting! You can actually sit and wait.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
With a side of his mouth, Yuuki entered the room.&lt;br /&gt;
At the rear followed Kagali, who looked like a secretary.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, no, no, Yuuki-sama. We are your faithful ministers, so don&#039;t worry about us.”&lt;br /&gt;
One of the men responded in place of everyone else.&lt;br /&gt;
He is one of the chiefs of the secret association of the &amp;quot;Cerburus&amp;quot;, Damrada of &amp;quot;Wealth&amp;quot;. It looks&lt;br /&gt;
suspicious and makes one wonder.&lt;br /&gt;
The other two, one of whom is Misha, who represents “Woman”. It looks both like a teenage girl and a&lt;br /&gt;
mature woman. It&#039;s the beauty that exudes eerie charm.&lt;br /&gt;
The last man was a man who symbolized &amp;quot;Power&amp;quot; and was named Vega. Possessing a flesh as even and&lt;br /&gt;
strong as a carnivorous beast, the sense of oppression emanating from it seemed as if it would shoot&lt;br /&gt;
anyone he saw to death.&lt;br /&gt;
These three figures are several of the chiefs of the &amp;quot;Big Three&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
The three men first bowed to Yuuki and then took their seats.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Congratulations on your assumption of command.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Yuuki even escaped from the demon lord&#039;s men, that&#039;s for sure.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, if it were up to me, running the legion would be a piece of cake.”&lt;br /&gt;
Both Damrada and Misha showed up to congratulate, and in the end it was only Vega who looked&lt;br /&gt;
disgruntled.&lt;br /&gt;
But Yuuki didn&#039;t mind.&lt;br /&gt;
Indeed, you should be able to climb the top 100 if it&#039;s you. But after that, there was no way out. It&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
impossible to be a military chief because you can&#039;t be expected to show command.&lt;br /&gt;
He only smiled bitterly in his heart.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But then again, it was thanks to Damrada that I was introduced to Master Gedora.”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki said these words in an attempt to change the subject, and Damrada responded with a smile.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What do you mean by that? We have come this far thanks to the fact that we had anticipated such&lt;br /&gt;
things and made arrangements in advance. I just introduced the &#039;visitor&#039; prepared by Yuuki-sama to Master&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora, and did not do something so praiseworthy.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hahahaha, Damrada&#039;s as stubborn as ever. In fact, you could have just acted happy.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That won&#039;t do. Letting people hold onto excess expectations is also a nuisance for me.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Haha, what a joke.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki and Damrada looked at each other and the two smiled. The reason why we can have a common&lt;br /&gt;
heart is because we have confidence in each other&#039;s strength.&lt;br /&gt;
After the two men laughed together for a while, Yuuki cut to the chase.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then, Kagali, please explain the movement of the Demon Lord Rimuru.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, Yuuki-sama. The demon lord Rimuru is now...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Following Yuuki&#039;s orders, Kagali began to report.&lt;br /&gt;
Her sources of information came from Freedom Association members who stayed in the West. Most of&lt;br /&gt;
the people who used to be Yuuki&#039;s henchmen had fled, using this as a baffle, and they left a few spies&lt;br /&gt;
behind.&lt;br /&gt;
Kagali explained succinctly and forcefully in a clear, lucid voice.&lt;br /&gt;
She said that the Western nations were completely dominated by Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
It is also said that the other side organizes legions of such size that they are fearsome and used to guard&lt;br /&gt;
against imperial aggression.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, there are sometimes incredible phenomena to be seen in the capital &amp;quot;Rimuru&amp;quot; —and so&lt;br /&gt;
on.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, there&#039;s a town along the Ameld River for people to stay, and he&#039;s going to use it as a military&lt;br /&gt;
stronghold, isn&#039;t he? That&#039;s right, if you want to extend the defense line to your home country, you&#039;ll have&lt;br /&gt;
to do it.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes. Nearly 20,000 soldiers were already stationed at that location. It seems that even the transporting&lt;br /&gt;
of supplies is facilitated by things like the Magic Train, and I&#039;ve heard that there is enough food to fight a&lt;br /&gt;
lasting war.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s great. In that case, it shouldn&#039;t be that easy for the Imperial side to win.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. That country imported enough food from the Kingdom of Farmenas to feed a population of over&lt;br /&gt;
millions. The power of the country is no longer comparable to what it was a year ago, and maybe they&lt;br /&gt;
alone can fight the Empire. Not only that, but even the Western States Council was in the hands of the&lt;br /&gt;
demon lord Rimuru. If he brings together all the war power of the West, it must be very considerable.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s hard to say. Mr. Rimuru intends to make himself utterly cruel, but by his very nature it is easy to&lt;br /&gt;
be soft. If he intends to fight with numbers, it will only increase the number of casualties, so he probably&lt;br /&gt;
intends to drive out the Empire with the elite forces at home, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;How is this possible...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;At least he&#039;s the one who became the demon lord, so he shouldn&#039;t have done such a stupid thing...”&lt;br /&gt;
Although both Kagali and Damrada denied it, Yuuki&#039;s thoughts remained unchanged.&lt;br /&gt;
That man is really naive and inexplicably powerful and might manage to do something about it...&lt;br /&gt;
Though he thought so, Yuuki didn&#039;t put those words out, and he asked Kagali to continue.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m sorry. I’ll continue to report.”&lt;br /&gt;
After an apology, Kagali then resumed her report.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;More than 50,000 soldiers are waiting in the capital &#039;Rimuru&#039;, and reinforcements are arriving from the&lt;br /&gt;
old Eurazania side. The estimated total strength should be over 100,000.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That sounds great, but the Empire still has the advantage.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, after all, there&#039;s a huge difference in numbers. The army on the Imperial side numbered over a&lt;br /&gt;
million, and even the soldiers at the far end had had bizarre makeovers. Even the miscellaneous soldiers&lt;br /&gt;
were at least C-rated in strength, plus they had a lot of strange armor. Seriously, demon lord Rimuru and&lt;br /&gt;
the others are no match for the Empire at all.”&lt;br /&gt;
Kagali really thought so.&lt;br /&gt;
Having an army of 100,000 is indeed powerful.&lt;br /&gt;
These soldiers are highly trained and their morale is high.&lt;br /&gt;
The scale of this is, by definition, very commendable.&lt;br /&gt;
However, it was dwarfed by the entire Imperial Army.&lt;br /&gt;
In the past, when she was still a demon lord, Kagali created a very confident work, the defensive&lt;br /&gt;
structure of the Monster City stronghold, but she was defeated by a large number of Imperial troops. The&lt;br /&gt;
disparity between the two is such that it makes no sense to have an army of only 100,000 people at most.&lt;br /&gt;
However, Yuuki has a different view.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Your comments will be used as a reference, go ahead and report.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I&#039;ll take it up with the country&#039;s technical skills...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Kagali reported on faintly.&lt;br /&gt;
She mentioned that very rare new products were suddenly on sale within the Jura Tempest Federation.&lt;br /&gt;
There are props that make life more convenient, and there are high performance premium gear.&lt;br /&gt;
The uses are varied, but everything is practical.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, many people want to sign exclusive contracts with the developers of these goods. Yet, no&lt;br /&gt;
matter how hard those merchants try to find the source of the manufactured goods, it all still seems like a&lt;br /&gt;
fog.&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;quot;Magic Train&amp;quot; mentioned earlier is one of them, and that country, like the Empire, seems to be&lt;br /&gt;
experiencing a new wave of technological innovation. Only unfortunately, they seem to have completely&lt;br /&gt;
prevented classified information from being leaked. There&#039;s no way to find the source by the strength of&lt;br /&gt;
the guild members alone.&lt;br /&gt;
I”&#039;m afraid it&#039;s being developed somewhere in the country. This can be determined, but it is not known&lt;br /&gt;
where the location is.”&lt;br /&gt;
Kagali was also chagrined, but the other party was the Demon Lord Rimuru, so it was always&lt;br /&gt;
impossible for her to step up. Other than that, it would have been ruined if it had been suspected, so they&lt;br /&gt;
couldn&#039;t force it on their hands either.&lt;br /&gt;
At this time, something suddenly occurred to Kagali.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Come to think of it, maybe they&#039;re developing new weapons, too. With that possibility in mind,&lt;br /&gt;
perhaps we need to keep our vigilance higher and not just target the number of soldiers we see in front of&lt;br /&gt;
us.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that, Yuuki smiled.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You did notice. That&#039;s it. It was surprising to know that the Empire had been developing chariots, but&lt;br /&gt;
Mr. Rimuru had also managed to develop the Magic Train. Scientific weapons are not the preserve of the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire, and one cannot go expecting them to have an advantage on that.”&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire is not the only one with technology from another world. Rimuru also has the memory of&lt;br /&gt;
still being an &amp;quot;Otherworldly Visitor&amp;quot; in the past and wonders what kind of weapon he will develop.&lt;br /&gt;
If they were facing an ordinary country, the other side must have been terrified in the face of such an&lt;br /&gt;
unknown war power. Even if the other side has an &amp;quot;otherworldly visitor&amp;quot;, in such a case, the other side&lt;br /&gt;
will be desperate because of the relevant knowledge. The difference in fighting power between the two&lt;br /&gt;
sides is clear and they will find themselves with no chance of winning.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet the opponent also possesses a high level of skill and can develop the exact same thing.&lt;br /&gt;
They were immediately able to formulate countermeasures that would crush the so-called advantage.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead, it should be said that if someone is overconfident in such a dominant force, the rapidly changing&lt;br /&gt;
situation may overwhelm them and leave them behind.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki has seen this already, so it&#039;s not unlikely that they will win at Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
At this point Vega interjected.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Boring! Just beat the crap out of them. If you&#039;re worried, wipe them out! That way everything is&lt;br /&gt;
settled.”&lt;br /&gt;
Whether it&#039;s weapons or armies, get rid of them all if they get in the way—Vega confidently declares.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a headache for Yuuki to hear the other person say something like that without understanding the&lt;br /&gt;
context.&lt;br /&gt;
This guy has a lot of power, but a bad head—or should I say no head at all...&lt;br /&gt;
If he had been a little smarter, he himself could have handed over more useful positions to him, Yuuki&lt;br /&gt;
sighed in his heart.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I&#039;ll leave it to you. Don&#039;t misjudge the situation.”&lt;br /&gt;
With that vague phrase, Yuuki told Vega to shut up.&lt;br /&gt;
However, Vega’s words were not without merit.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki was lost in thought and thought, ‘After all...’&lt;br /&gt;
In this world, quality is more important than quantity.&lt;br /&gt;
No matter how large a military force was gathered, it was no match for the demon lord Guy. As you can&lt;br /&gt;
see from such examples, the power of individual warfare should never be taken lightly.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In order to achieve strategic goals, it is crucial to see how strong the opponent is—such intelligence&lt;br /&gt;
warfare. To achieve this, it would be quicker to send someone of some strength to try in the past.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only that, it is one of the means that should be used, as is rarely the case, to give up when the fight&lt;br /&gt;
is not won.&lt;br /&gt;
If several combatants are allowed to attack at the same time, it is possible for them to achieve strategic&lt;br /&gt;
objectives, no matter how strong the individual strength of the opponent.&lt;br /&gt;
In other words, there is no point in looking at integrated warfare capabilities alone, and it is more&lt;br /&gt;
important to have a strategic approach to what forces are at hand and how they can be used effectively.&lt;br /&gt;
From this point of view, the Jura Tempest Federation is a very tricky enemy.&lt;br /&gt;
It wasn&#039;t just Demon Lord Rimuru that posed a threat.&lt;br /&gt;
In that country, there were several monsters that were exceptionally powerful.&lt;br /&gt;
For example, the four heavenly kings heard from the people&#039;s mouths—Benimaru, Diablo, Shion, and&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta.&lt;br /&gt;
The mere presence of these men was like mobilizing four tactical units, and simply defeating them&lt;br /&gt;
would become a high task.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s not just a matter of technical prowess. There&#039;s a lot of tricky talent in that place, and I don&#039;t think&lt;br /&gt;
it&#039;s going to work no matter how many people are gathered to deal with them. So thinking of it another&lt;br /&gt;
way, surrendering to the demon lord is the right thing to do.&lt;br /&gt;
As far as Yuuki knew, he knew a few people who were better than Gobta. That is, at the very least,&lt;br /&gt;
there are others who are comparable to the Four Heavenly Kings.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There is nothing more difficult than those monsters, who are comparable to saints or demon lords.”&lt;br /&gt;
Damrada&#039;s opinion seemed to echo Yuuki&#039;s, words mumbling out of his mouth.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right, there aren&#039;t just the four heavenly kings in that country, there&#039;s also monsters like Geld or&lt;br /&gt;
Gabil. Why there are so many Demon Lord level people gathered there makes it a little hard to&lt;br /&gt;
understand.”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki felt that the more he thought about it, the more wrong he was.&lt;br /&gt;
Those people were strong enough to rival Clayman, and there were quite a few of those under the&lt;br /&gt;
demon lord that was Rimuru. People who know these things can&#039;t even help but complain, saying &amp;quot;what a&lt;br /&gt;
joke&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Fortunately, we&#039;re not at odds with the Demon Lord Rimuru.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The other three nodded silently, except for Vega, who heard Yuuki say the words softly.&lt;br /&gt;
At the moment Yuuki and the others were surrendering to him because of the pact they had made with&lt;br /&gt;
demon lord Guy. In other words, to fight against Yuuki is to fight against demon lord Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
Since Yuuki and the others weren&#039;t going to make a move on Rimuru, it could be said that the two sides&lt;br /&gt;
were in a truce for now. Count Yuuki lucky, he intends to make the most of this situation.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Even if one day they would have to deal with each other, that would have to wait until they made up for&lt;br /&gt;
the losses they suffered in the West. In this way, Yuuki switches moods and brings the topic back on track.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So is your report over?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
He turned to face Kagali and asked.&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with this question, Kagali seemed to remember something, adding.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The people down there don&#039;t seem to have detailed military intelligence, and the ones that are more&lt;br /&gt;
accurate are the ones just now. Only, there is one thing that intrigues people.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What is it?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In the capital, Rimuru, there are activities called disaster prevention training, and later, evacuation&lt;br /&gt;
training.”&lt;br /&gt;
The training done so far has been very specific, such as escaping into a solid building, or being trained&lt;br /&gt;
to put out a fire in a building that is on fire. This time, however, the evacuation training was a bit&lt;br /&gt;
confusing—a quick escape through four doors into the town.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You mean run into town?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. The investigators were puzzled, so they split up.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Inside and out?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it. As a result, they saw an incredible phenomena, like they were dreaming...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Seeing the unthinkable?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right, Misha. Making something incredible happen, a full ten minutes passed after the broadcast&lt;br /&gt;
ended and the vast town suddenly disappeared. And then there&#039;s only one door left over there.”&lt;br /&gt;
The investigator who had remained outside reported to her that, in addition to the door, there were&lt;br /&gt;
several more vigilantes left there to bring those who had not escaped before they could make their way to&lt;br /&gt;
the cave.&lt;br /&gt;
After making sure that none of them remained on the scene, the investigator made up his mind to go in&lt;br /&gt;
the door. It was later discovered that there seemed to be a maze built with stones inside.&lt;br /&gt;
Panicked investigators were able to escape to the outside, which means people should be able to come&lt;br /&gt;
and go freely.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Maybe that&#039;s the underground maze...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Do you have a plan, Yuuki-sama?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. As you know, Kagali, that town has a tourist facility called the Underground Maze, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, there are magical creatures lingering inside, and adventurers challenging inside, right?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I think that&#039;s it. I heard that there is a city underneath that underground labyrinth...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There&#039;s a city in the underground maze?”&lt;br /&gt;
A disbelieving Damrada asked each other back, but both Yuuki and Kagali responded in earnest. It&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
hard for the uninformed to explain, they can only say that it&#039;s all true.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Exactly. It would be unthinkable to go on with the usual ideals, but it is possible that Mr. Rimuru&lt;br /&gt;
could do it. After all, that labyrinth has a total of one hundred floors underground, and I&#039;ve heard that&lt;br /&gt;
there&#039;s still Veldora guarding there.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...is all this true?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Of course. These words were spoken by Veldora himself.”&lt;br /&gt;
After hearing Yuuki&#039;s words, Damrada was speechless.&lt;br /&gt;
With a sympathetic look at such a Damrada, Kagali opened her mouth next.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, it makes sense to think in that direction. There should be an important facility in that city, a base&lt;br /&gt;
for technology development, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, so it is. It&#039;s a possibility, no, it makes sense to think that way.”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki felt more than surprised when he thought about it.&lt;br /&gt;
Although the idea was only speculation, he felt that he was not far off. If it was possible for Rimuru to&lt;br /&gt;
make these things come true, he was so sure.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But what will become of the war?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, even I don&#039;t know about that. I didn&#039;t think I would be able to play a decent hitting style against&lt;br /&gt;
such an opponent, but didn&#039;t expect him to play urban defense that way. The Imperial Army would be&lt;br /&gt;
surprised by that too.”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki had always believed unilaterally that it was impossible for Rimuru to fight a duel in the country.&lt;br /&gt;
Because he won&#039;t let the townspeople get hurt.&lt;br /&gt;
However, if the town defends perfectly...&lt;br /&gt;
It looks like the tactics envisioned for possible use must be revisited.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Does that mean that fighting people in a hotel town is just a way to see what happens, but the real&lt;br /&gt;
focus is on the capital? If the Imperial Army ignores that door and passes directly in front of it, then the&lt;br /&gt;
other party may snipe from behind.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s how it is, with the Western allies, we can still contain the enemy.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;First, send the vanguard forces to test the Imperial Army&#039;s combat capabilities and analyze them.&lt;br /&gt;
Afterwards, while the Western allies fight the Imperial Army in a war of attrition, they can slowly figure&lt;br /&gt;
out how to cope.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s a terrible thought. It&#039;s worthy of the Demon Lord.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
After understanding Yuuki&#039;s thoughts, Kagali, Damrada, and Misha all had a surprised look on their&lt;br /&gt;
faces.&lt;br /&gt;
They knew that Demon Lord Rimuru was not something that could be handled by sending ordinary&lt;br /&gt;
combatants, but they hadn&#039;t expected to be so powerful as to go this far.&lt;br /&gt;
The mere thought of being hostile to each other in the future makes one&#039;s head go up in smoke. Because&lt;br /&gt;
of this, Yuuki and the rest of them were looking forward to what the Imperial Army&#039;s showdown with the&lt;br /&gt;
Demon Lord Rimuru would end up as.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then, Yuuki-sama. How do you plan to act in the future?”&lt;br /&gt;
Finding the right time, Misha raised questions.&lt;br /&gt;
Misha they also knew that Yuuki had lost to demon lord Guy. They followed Yuuki knowing that, but&lt;br /&gt;
they couldn&#039;t see what Yuuki really thought.&lt;br /&gt;
It would have been nice if Rimuru had let the Empire suffer, but they didn&#039;t want an accidental burial.&lt;br /&gt;
The gang can&#039;t help but think so.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki didn&#039;t take the deal with Guy seriously enough to work for the Empire. However, he became a&lt;br /&gt;
military commander, which made people suspicious, fearing that he would become a cocoon and tie&lt;br /&gt;
himself up.&lt;br /&gt;
For the &amp;quot;Big Three&amp;quot;, it is indeed attractive for the top military subordinates to side with them, but on&lt;br /&gt;
the other hand, there is a risk of being implicated by the military.&lt;br /&gt;
To eat each other up, or to be devoured?&lt;br /&gt;
Get it wrong and by then they are waiting to perish.&lt;br /&gt;
Misha would ask that because she was worried about it, and of course, Yuuki knew it well.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t worry. If Mr. Rimuru is approaching us, it will be just right for us. To achieve our ideals,&lt;br /&gt;
empires get in the way, don&#039;t they? Not just because demon lord wants us to do that, but to bring down the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire one day anyway. As I become the army chief, I will be able to control the point in time that allows&lt;br /&gt;
the Empire to be destroyed. Just think of it this way.”&lt;br /&gt;
Now that Yuuki had become one of the three generals of the Empire, it could be said that the inside&lt;br /&gt;
information of the Imperial Army was all within reach. As long as one knows the military strategy of the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire, one knows how to adjust the footwork to match. It will be possible to predict the timing of&lt;br /&gt;
military operations, the size of the army, and even to know precisely when the imperial defense network&lt;br /&gt;
will weaken.&lt;br /&gt;
If the Western countries resist fiercely, the empire will have to devote a corresponding amount of war&lt;br /&gt;
effort. In this way, no matter how tight the defense is, there will always be a breach, Yuuki thought so.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;We&#039;ll kill him before he knows it!”&lt;br /&gt;
With a hard slap on the table, Yuuki so declared.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the others in their seats, they were all excited by the meaning of the words.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;A coup d’état?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, it&#039;s unbearable. That&#039;s how you look Yuuki-sama.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey hey, that sounds like fun. Even if it&#039;s an empire or a demon lord, so what, watch me beat the shit&lt;br /&gt;
out of them!”&lt;br /&gt;
It always felt like Vega was overexcited, but Yuuki didn&#039;t take it to heart.&lt;br /&gt;
He listened and began to cut to the chase.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Anyway, that&#039;s the end of it. The pact made with Guy was also to disrupt the empire and must be kept.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ll also disturb the West in passing, but on that point, the other side has no reason to complain.”&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of which, Yuuki smiled smugly.&lt;br /&gt;
Guy did not deliberately ask that he not be allowed to take on the West. In other words, whatever Yuuki&lt;br /&gt;
wants to do is his freedom.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You want the Empire to compete with the West and get rid of the head of the Empire...?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The idea is as vicious as ever.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You can&#039;t say that. An idea like that could come to anyone&#039;s mind.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Even if one could think of it, no one would want to put it into practice. No, maybe someone really&lt;br /&gt;
wants to put it into practice, but no one is that capable of making it happen. Yuuki is a special case.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I also put out all sorts of messages to Master Gedora. The old grandfather was fond of new things and&lt;br /&gt;
had flexible ideas, but didn&#039;t know why he hated the Western powers so much. His hatred is so strong that&lt;br /&gt;
it&#039;s not too much to say that it&#039;s the product of that hatred that he has developed all kinds of weapons for&lt;br /&gt;
the Empire.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed, it&#039;s a very famous thing, even I know about it.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right? He would have seen the Demon Lord Rimuru as a threat, thinking that the other side would&lt;br /&gt;
thwart the ambitions of the Empire. He must have struck, to see how dangerous the other party was.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...So, how will things go?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Master Gedora has great influence over the Imperial Army, but in reality has no authority whatsoever.&lt;br /&gt;
This is because, that old grandfather is only interested in revenge. So that said, if we are cleverly induced,&lt;br /&gt;
we should be able to get Master Gedora to take on the demon lord Rimuru.”&lt;br /&gt;
At the same time, he also wanted the other party to make sure to spy on the intelligence of the&lt;br /&gt;
underground maze. Yuuki is playing this game as he sees fit.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, apart from finding trouble with Demon Lord Rimuru, it will also make the Imperial Army&lt;br /&gt;
weaker, won&#039;t it?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it!”&lt;br /&gt;
At this time Yuuki nodded satisfactorily towards Damrada.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki wasn&#039;t about to take on Rimuru himself, and he was happy to welcome others to go over and&lt;br /&gt;
challenge him without permission. It is because of this that many despicable schemes have been devised.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki further revealed his thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It seems to me that there are three people in the Empire who need to be put on guard. One of those&lt;br /&gt;
people is Master Gedora.”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora is the Great Wizard, and the Wizard of Eternal Life. Everyone was afraid of him, thinking that&lt;br /&gt;
he was a strange man who knew the inner workings of the Empire, and that the last great invasion-the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire had fought the &amp;quot;Storm Dragon&amp;quot; Veldora, when he had also survived as a heroic figure.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, who are the other two?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Kagali stood behind Yuuki and asked with interest, at which point Yuuki gave a somewhat chagrined&lt;br /&gt;
expression.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The fact that I don&#039;t have their true identity yet makes it tricky for sure.”&lt;br /&gt;
Even using the intelligence network that Yuuki had, there was still no way to find out the true identity&lt;br /&gt;
of those people. Just by hearing that, one should know how difficult the other party is.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Could it be that the Imperial Emperor&#039;s Knights of the Near Guard are among the top ranked?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Misha seemed to have some idea too, she said so.&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with this question, Yuuki nodded ambiguously.&lt;br /&gt;
Rumors circulate within the Legion that the knight who is the &amp;quot;Double 0 number&amp;quot; is more powerful&lt;br /&gt;
than the army chief.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki had felt it firsthand and knew it wasn&#039;t hearsay. Despite climbing to the rank of army chief,&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki&#039;s ranking is &amp;quot;ten digits&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if it&#039;s a rowdy battle, there&#039;s no point in not knowing who your opponent is. In order to become a&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;single digit&amp;quot; one must apply with the Emperor, race in front of him and win.&lt;br /&gt;
Only those who are actually very much expected to acquire this right know about it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s just my guess, but I should be able to beat &#039;single digits&#039;. But I didn&#039;t want to release the killer in&lt;br /&gt;
front of the enemy, so I didn&#039;t apply with the Emperor.”&lt;br /&gt;
That said, Yuuki was chosen as the army chief, but that was because he was lucky enough to have&lt;br /&gt;
Master Gedora backing him up.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;However, if we haven&#039;t really fought each other, I don&#039;t know if the boss is better than those people. In&lt;br /&gt;
that case, doesn&#039;t the tricky part become—how shall I put it? That would make it more than just nine&lt;br /&gt;
people, wouldn&#039;t it?”&lt;br /&gt;
At this point, Vega hits the nail on the head.&lt;br /&gt;
Apart from being a bit surprised by this, Yuuki agrees.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, that&#039;s true. Maybe there&#039;s a tricky guy among these nine people. Still, there&#039;s no way to go on&lt;br /&gt;
guard. You haven&#039;t seen your opponent, have you? I was talking about the people who are in the open.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What do you mean?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That question came from Damrada.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m talking about Tatsuya Kondo, the head of Imperial Intelligence.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So it is. Indeed, that man is too much to touch.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s strange to know his name and what he looks like, but not to know the truth.”&lt;br /&gt;
From Tatsuya Kondo, who is also known by this name as the &amp;quot;Otherworldly Visitor&amp;quot;, he is unable to&lt;br /&gt;
gather further personal information.&lt;br /&gt;
There are even rumors that Kondo Tatsuya is a &amp;quot;weirdo who feeds on information&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
His rank was that of lieutenant, but even the chiefs of the various regiments had no right to order him.&lt;br /&gt;
This means that there is also an Imperial Intelligence Service in existence, of a higher status than the&lt;br /&gt;
military organization.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I mean, this is weird, right? Personally, I think that guy is one of the &#039;single digits&#039; as well.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“...so it is.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I hear you say that, it&#039;s possible.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Damrada felt quite the same way as Kagali.&lt;br /&gt;
Misha also looked puzzled, but she didn&#039;t seem to mind.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;And who is the other one left?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
It was only Vega who showed a lack of interest, asking this as if he was urging Yuuki to finish his&lt;br /&gt;
sentence.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hahahaha, you&#039;re a real hothead. The first thing about Tatsuya Kondo is to go and meet him for a&lt;br /&gt;
while. I will look for opportunities to request an interview. Next, about the remaining one, I&#039;m not really&lt;br /&gt;
sure.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What did you say? What does that mean?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You calm down, Vega.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Whoa, whoa, whoa. I&#039;m sorry.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Emotionally overwrought, Vega accidentally mouths off, Yuuki warns slightly. His tone was even mild,&lt;br /&gt;
but Vega, who had been reminded of it, was nervous to the point of cold sweat.&lt;br /&gt;
At this very moment, the difference between his &amp;quot;status&amp;quot; and Yuuki&#039;s was already real.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The one left is the man with the Emperor. Even if one stayed behind the curtain used by the Emperor&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
imperial court, one could still feel him, exuding a very powerful sense of presence.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“...?”&lt;br /&gt;
No one but Yuuki had even noticed the existence of such a person. Just looking at that alone shows how&lt;br /&gt;
dangerous that figure is.&lt;br /&gt;
“—There is such a person? This kind of thing has never even been heard of...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
At this point, Dhamrad seemed to speak everyone&#039;s mind.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re right. Although he exuded a very strong sense of presence, people didn&#039;t realize there was such&lt;br /&gt;
a person. That means he&#039;s very good.”&lt;br /&gt;
The words of Yuuki sent everyone into silence.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is there really this guy? My side didn&#039;t get any rumors about that guy either.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;On the other hand, if Yuuki-sama hadn&#039;t brought this up, I don&#039;t think anyone would have believed it.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“......”&lt;br /&gt;
For the minions who were still a bit skeptical, Yuuki smiled.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s okay, don&#039;t worry too much. If a coup d&#039;état is contemplated within the Reich, you need only&lt;br /&gt;
remember that these three will create obstacles. First to rule out Master Gedora, Damrada, will you help&lt;br /&gt;
me investigate Kondo Tatsuya?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, sir.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Misha, you continue with the task at hand.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I understand. I will continue to focus on enlisting the Mecha Legion&#039;s army chief.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So what do I do?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ll have to ask you to join the Legion of Warcraft. With your strength, join the Imperial Emperor&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
Knights of the Near Guard right away. But you mustn&#039;t kill the army chief!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Got it. I&#039;ll try.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Not having to continue to take orders seemed to amuse Vega, who gave a plagiaristic grin.&lt;br /&gt;
Is it really okay? Yuuki was worried, but this time he decided to trust Vega.&lt;br /&gt;
If the army chief was actually killed, the Empire&#039;s military action would be delayed. It was disturbing,&lt;br /&gt;
but he decided to look away and see what happens then.&lt;br /&gt;
After the “Big Three” retires, only Yuuki and Kagali are left on the scene.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By the way, Yuuki-sama, will they really dance according to our arrangement?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, I don&#039;t know. Even I thought I was being cautious in my actions, but still stepped on Guy&#039;s tiger&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
tail. So I&#039;m not qualified to say anyone else, but I still hope things work out.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Damrada went to investigate Kondo Tatsuya.&lt;br /&gt;
Misha attempts to cage the Mecha&#039;s army chief.&lt;br /&gt;
He ordered Vega to rise to prominence in the Warcraft Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
They are all going on a dangerous mission to work for Yuuki. As a commander-in-chief, one can only&lt;br /&gt;
go and trust that the ministry will get things done.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But we&#039;ve finally come this far. There will be war in a short time.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, right. The next thing is to wait and see which side will win.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s so easy to say. Even if the coup d&#039;état succeeds, more important things are yet to come.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed. Just for that, I&#039;m also going to get Laplace and the others to do something about it. It must be&lt;br /&gt;
foolproof.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
After saying that, the two of them smiled at each other.&lt;br /&gt;
Their goal was not to make the Empire triumphant.&lt;br /&gt;
The more this war sinks into the quagmire, the lower the Empire&#039;s national power will be. That&#039;s what&lt;br /&gt;
they&#039;re after, and the success of the subsequent coup is at the heart of Yuuki and Kagali&#039;s plan.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;To make the emperor a puppet and build a new empire. In addition...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Let us reconcile with the Western nations by peaceful means.”&lt;br /&gt;
“And...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The assassination of the Emperor!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
If it was difficult to defeat the demon lord that was Rimuru, so it was not necessary to force it.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the defeat to Guy, he gave up on conquering the world in the short to medium term. To&lt;br /&gt;
conquer the world by brute force without acquiring enough power to be proud of the world&#039;s masters was&lt;br /&gt;
a foolishness of the highest order, and he had come to realize that.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead of that, it would be better to focus on increasing the aces you have available at hand for now.&lt;br /&gt;
Just let this scourge of war widen and much blood be shed...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I&#039;ll be able to awaken as the true demon lord.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m looking forward to it, Kagali. Until then, I&#039;ll also use the new power I&#039;ve acquired since then.”&lt;br /&gt;
Now Yuuki&#039;s ultimate skill has awakened. As a result, he has actually felt his life span increase&lt;br /&gt;
significantly.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only that, but he also learned another fact, there were even more powerful people in existence in&lt;br /&gt;
this world, and overlords like demon lord Guy were dominating this world.&lt;br /&gt;
Trying to skip these people and conquer the world is just nonsense.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He was going to fool Guy&#039;s ears and reserve his strength now.&lt;br /&gt;
The agitation of the empire has prolonged the war and drained both East and West. Let the boredom&lt;br /&gt;
spread, and while everyone is fed up with war, let the Emperor&#039;s assassination happen again—and the&lt;br /&gt;
world will be plunged into a more miserable state of chaos.&lt;br /&gt;
They could take advantage of the chaos to awaken the more powerful forces in their bodies—that’s the&lt;br /&gt;
full picture of the plan Yuuki and Kagali came up with.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Anyway, be careful.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. Be cautious.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
After saying that, the two looked at each other and smiled again.&lt;br /&gt;
Although these two were smart, they didn&#039;t take the underground maze too seriously.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a formidable organ, one that could hide even important facilities and towns—the most they&lt;br /&gt;
could do was think of it and get Master Gedora interested in finding trouble on the Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
Depending on the situation, it might be necessary to go there in person, and the most that can be done&lt;br /&gt;
to find out what to do is to investigate beforehand - these two people only think so lightly.&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, the Underground Maze Raiders team would bring back unexpected reports, although Yuuki&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t expect that.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
After receiving the information brought by Yuuki, Master Gedora fell into contemplation with a hard&lt;br /&gt;
look on his face.&lt;br /&gt;
Hmmm—I thought this was a good opportunity to get the Empire out again to crush the god Ruminas...&lt;br /&gt;
Due to the resurrection of &amp;quot;Storm Dragon&amp;quot; Veldora, he had to drastically reassess the plan.&lt;br /&gt;
It was also forced.&lt;br /&gt;
During the last great march, the &amp;quot;storm dragon&amp;quot; made the plan fall apart.&lt;br /&gt;
To this day.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to plan well, some say it&#039;s better to wait for the &amp;quot;storm dragon&amp;quot; to disappear.&lt;br /&gt;
There are also those who say that the new weapon they have successfully developed is powerful&lt;br /&gt;
enough to bring the &amp;quot;Storm Dragon&amp;quot; to its knees.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to avoid confronting the Storm Dragon, there were also those who advocated bypassing the&lt;br /&gt;
Great Forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
People&#039;s opinions split into these three factions, thus giving the Empire a head start, and as a result&lt;br /&gt;
giving the Storm Dragon a chance to be resurrected.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The militant faction, which believes that it should &amp;quot;bring the Storm Dragon to its knees,&amp;quot; is outraged,&lt;br /&gt;
but the other two factions are mainstream, so their opinions are ignored.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, if the new weapon they mentioned didn&#039;t work, the plan would fall apart again.&lt;br /&gt;
To Gedora, the &amp;quot;storm dragon&amp;quot; didn&#039;t matter at all. His goal of survival is to expel the Ruminas Sect&lt;br /&gt;
from the West and take revenge on the &amp;quot;Seven Celestial Sages&amp;quot; who killed his friend.&lt;br /&gt;
He got some news from the West, with a headline that read &amp;quot;Heroes Fall Out&amp;quot;, and it was about the bad&lt;br /&gt;
things that the &amp;quot;Seven Celestial Sages&amp;quot; had done. He also learned that the news reported the demise of the&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Seven Celestial Sages&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet Gedora did not take this information alone.&lt;br /&gt;
At the very least, he determined that Sage Master Gran must be alive and sneaking around somewhere.&lt;br /&gt;
Over the months, intelligence from the West has been complex and difficult to corroborate through&lt;br /&gt;
investigation. So it was never clear whether it was true or false, but it was heard that the Rosso had also&lt;br /&gt;
been destroyed.&lt;br /&gt;
All in all, it&#039;s not clear what&#039;s true or false. I&#039;m afraid that the Sage Master Gran was killed by that&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;hero&amp;quot;. Despite his advanced age, he is certainly an opponent not to be underestimated.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s what Gedora thought.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to this, while the domination of the Senate appears to be rock-solid on the surface, behind&lt;br /&gt;
the scenes there is a lot of action.&lt;br /&gt;
In these messages, there was no news received about the weakening of the Holy Church in the West. In&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s opinion, he thought this was enough to prove that Gran the Sage Master was still alive.&lt;br /&gt;
It would have been nice to ignore the Storm Dragon and attack the West sooner...&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora thought in his mind, but he was well aware of how difficult it would be.&lt;br /&gt;
The Storm Dragon and the demon lord are teaming up? That kind of monster had already jumped out&lt;br /&gt;
of the so-called magic laws, and it was too stupid to send out an army to deal with it. I had also helped&lt;br /&gt;
structure the theory about the new weapon, and with that kind of thing, it should be able to stop him from&lt;br /&gt;
moving for a while. Whether or not he can be exterminated, however, is another matter. Not to mention to&lt;br /&gt;
dominate him...&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was one of the survivors of the last great long march and had already experienced firsthand the&lt;br /&gt;
menace that Veldora posed.&lt;br /&gt;
In his experience, he thought the main warring faction was too brave and unscrupulous.&lt;br /&gt;
Talking about spiritual domination over spiritual beings—those fools have no idea how hard it is!&lt;br /&gt;
It is not impossible to exercise spiritual domination over spiritual beings. He had used the Demon Race&lt;br /&gt;
as a test subject and made some achievements.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora knew this well. He was the one who came up with that theory, too, and it would be odd if he&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t know.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He had already sought out various results, and based on them, he concluded that they could never make&lt;br /&gt;
a move against the &amp;quot;Storm Dragon&amp;quot; Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
He had given this report to the Emperor, but sadly it was not endorsed.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Some people want to try, so let them try.”&lt;br /&gt;
In the end Gedora&#039;s comments were silently ignored.&lt;br /&gt;
Let&#039;s put that aside.&lt;br /&gt;
This time there was another problem, and it had something to do with the Demon Lord Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
He built his kingdom at a frightening rate, and this demon lord ruled the great forest of Jura. If this&lt;br /&gt;
demon lord joined forces with the Storm Dragon, attacking the Jura Great Forest would simply be a&lt;br /&gt;
foolish act.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be a different matter if all the Imperial armies were mobilized, so that in order to lay out the&lt;br /&gt;
entire army for the most efficient use, the enemy must be introduced into the terrain in our favor.&lt;br /&gt;
As usual, that&#039;s an impossible thing to do.&lt;br /&gt;
What about fighting on the other side&#039;s territory?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;To fight in the underground maze? And they may have developed weapons from another world...&lt;br /&gt;
right? This must be investigated. It would have been nice to take down Veldora and Rimuru with our army&lt;br /&gt;
losing so many. If that is not possible, it will be impossible to fight the Western countries after that.”&lt;br /&gt;
As if to encourage himself, Gedora spoke to himself.&lt;br /&gt;
By this time Gedora had gotten it all wrong.&lt;br /&gt;
He thought that the target of vigilance should not be the Jura Tempest Federation, but the Ruminas Sect&lt;br /&gt;
that dominated the Western nations.&lt;br /&gt;
Being able to spot this mistake or not, that will be the key to determining the success or failure of&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
At the behest of Yuuki, three people stood out.&lt;br /&gt;
The condition was that Master Gedora also knew, and must be affiliated with, the Hybrid Legion —&lt;br /&gt;
three were thus chosen.&lt;br /&gt;
It was to be a day for them to meet, so Yuuki invited Gedora to his room.&lt;br /&gt;
First up is Shinji Tanimura.&lt;br /&gt;
He was originally a college student in Japan and spent his days in the research room. After coming to&lt;br /&gt;
this world, he also loved to wear white, which now became his unique mark.&lt;br /&gt;
Mark Lauren.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Left with coffee-colored hair and a lot of muscle on his body. He was about twenty-five years old, the&lt;br /&gt;
oldest of the three. Wear a tank top with jeans for a healthy body in the winter too.&lt;br /&gt;
Zhen Liu Xing.&lt;br /&gt;
The man was young and had few words. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but the words spoke&lt;br /&gt;
for themselves. The black hair was braided into a sisal braid and hung behind his back, and he wore a&lt;br /&gt;
loose-fitting Chinese-style outfit. I heard that he had a lot of concealed weapons hidden under his clothes.&lt;br /&gt;
Both Mark and Zhen would obediently listen to Shinji. Also because of this, unknowingly Shinji&lt;br /&gt;
became their leader.&lt;br /&gt;
The three men stood upright in front of Yuuki and Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Master, long time no see!”&lt;br /&gt;
The dark-haired youth, Shinji, greeted Gedora on behalf of everyone.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Long time no see, Shinji, and Mark and Zhen, how are you doing?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, we&#039;re doing fine. It&#039;s good to see Grandpa you&#039;re tough too.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...Teacher, I&#039;m not having a good time.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Mark and Zhen respond in this way, Gedora smiled happily back.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re still the same. It seems to be working hard on the Legion side as well, so I&#039;m relieved.”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others are &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; who were taken in by Yuuki. Yuuki has brought in&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; from all over the world, and all of them are sent to the Empire, whether they are&lt;br /&gt;
particularly good at fighting, or not.&lt;br /&gt;
The Imperial side is responsible for receiving them from the secret association of the &amp;quot;Big Three&amp;quot;, and&lt;br /&gt;
then they will be given to the Imperial Grand Wizard, Master Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
His purpose was to ask for knowledge from another world, but personally, if he had a talent for fighting&lt;br /&gt;
and also had that will, Gedora would exercise them.&lt;br /&gt;
These people come to a place where special talents rich in personality are gathered after being&lt;br /&gt;
exercised—the Hybrid Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
But the Empire wasn&#039;t that good of a mixer, and wouldn&#039;t hold high ranking positions in the Legion just&lt;br /&gt;
because they were from another world. One must be able to live one&#039;s strength properly in order to be&lt;br /&gt;
worthy of the title of a good warrior.&lt;br /&gt;
The so-called power is the unique skill that is revealed in each of them.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others were able to use their unique skills so that they could establish a solid position&lt;br /&gt;
within the legion.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, in the mixed army I lead, the three of them also belong to the first line of masters. I think it&#039;s a&lt;br /&gt;
good fit to take on this investigative assignment.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Since Yuuki-san has said so, I have no problem with it either. Sit down, you guys.”&lt;br /&gt;
The three men were terrified because the strict wizard asked them to take their seats, and only then did&lt;br /&gt;
they take their seats.&lt;br /&gt;
Looking at the three of them like that, Gedora smiled slightly.&lt;br /&gt;
They&#039;ve all become lone soldiers, and it&#039;s fun to see themselves still looking like nervous apprentices.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, Mr. Yuuki, you&#039;re going to lend these three to me about the investigation you mentioned before,&lt;br /&gt;
right?”&lt;br /&gt;
Playing around with other people&#039;s performance all the time wasn&#039;t the way to go, Gedora pulled open&lt;br /&gt;
to ask.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. I&#039;d love to go and investigate on my own, but it&#039;s really not convenient to go to that country.&lt;br /&gt;
Only by sending Shinji and the rest over to them, I wasn&#039;t so relieved, so I wondered if I could ask Master&lt;br /&gt;
to supervise them.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. I&#039;ve already read the report, and it&#039;s very interesting. If what is written above is true, it must be&lt;br /&gt;
investigated before the Great March.”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora looked at Yuuki with a tentative look, waiting for him to react. Yuuki seemed to have expected&lt;br /&gt;
this from the other party, and he nodded.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Those are all true. I also explained to the three of them that this mission was a bit special and I wanted&lt;br /&gt;
to ask them to investigate a certain maze.’&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute, please! You called us here to get through the maze? Are we that&lt;br /&gt;
untrustworthy? Even if Gedora-sensei stepped up to the plate to please, a massive military invasion is&lt;br /&gt;
about to take place, I don&#039;t think it&#039;s something that has to be done on the eve of an invasion!”&lt;br /&gt;
Of the three, Mark was the most subdued, and he began to question Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
It is common for such behavior to occur. If it&#039;s not acceptable, just ask, Yuuki himself has given them&lt;br /&gt;
permission to do so.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mark, don&#039;t get excited. It&#039;s a very important thing.”&lt;br /&gt;
“But!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Take it easy, Mark. Mr. Yuuki must have something in mind, right? We can hear what he has to say.”&lt;br /&gt;
While placating Mark, Shinji turned his head to face Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then please explain.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Of course not. I think after listening to this, you guys should stop complaining.”&lt;br /&gt;
After saying that, Yuuki began to explain the mission in detail.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora knew those contents beforehand, and he listened to Yuuki as he made sure there was no&lt;br /&gt;
discrepancy between the two.&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them were surprised.&lt;br /&gt;
The warriors who follow Yuuki&#039;s orders—those with unique skills that make them particularly good at&lt;br /&gt;
fighting—blend into the various legions and live in hiding. The aim is to rise together when the time&lt;br /&gt;
comes so that the legions can be mastered.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
People hadn&#039;t heard of the specific plan, but they all agreed that the day was near.&lt;br /&gt;
So did Shinji and the rest of them, now that the Hybrid Legion was in Yuuki&#039;s hands, they thought it&lt;br /&gt;
was only a matter of time before he ordered it.&lt;br /&gt;
To conquer the world...&lt;br /&gt;
When they heard this dream from Yuuki, it was like a child&#039;s dream, and at first everyone thought it was&lt;br /&gt;
impossible.&lt;br /&gt;
But as people hone their strength and become more and more aware of the world situation, these people&lt;br /&gt;
begin to feel that they have a chance to realize that dream.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others started to become obsessed with Yuuki and kept waiting for the right moment to&lt;br /&gt;
come.&lt;br /&gt;
It was at this time that the other party suddenly gave the order for them to go through the maze.&lt;br /&gt;
No wonder the three of them were so confused.&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, while listening to Yuuki&#039;s explanation, their thoughts changed along with it.&lt;br /&gt;
Some preparation and investigation has been done regarding this war, only the interior of the maze has&lt;br /&gt;
not been investigated. Therefore, there was a good chance that there was some kind of secret hidden in&lt;br /&gt;
that maze.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that the enemy could hide an entire town in a maze became a problem that was hard to ignore.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I see...so the Imperial Army can&#039;t ignore this underground labyrinth if they want to make a move?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;And there&#039;s a town in there? It&#039;s still unbelievable to not see this kind of thing with your own eyes.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...that’s why we have to go there.”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others will have to accept that now.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Explained as above. But then you get the idea, right? If the Empire were to invade the Great Forest of&lt;br /&gt;
Jura, the period of warfare would be extended to some extent, and we expect a military mutiny to be&lt;br /&gt;
launched at that time. When the time comes, hopefully it will distract the Imperials as much as possible.&lt;br /&gt;
With Demon Lord Rimuru&#039;s army alone, and &#039;&#039;Storm Dragon&#039;&#039; Veldora, that wasn&#039;t enough for the Empire&lt;br /&gt;
to send out all of its troops. I need stronger motivation, to be able to get them to always mobilize.”&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m not sure if that maze can create such a motive, if it can&#039;t, just make one up at random, Yuuki said so.&lt;br /&gt;
When they bought time in that way, Yuuki and the others were going to suppress the Imperial Capital&lt;br /&gt;
with one breath.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji was surprised by this.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A coup d&#039;état had long been thought of in the future, but this was the first time he had heard such a&lt;br /&gt;
specific account. And before that, Gedora was here. Not being careful enough with words could cause&lt;br /&gt;
their plans to leak out, so Shinji and the others didn&#039;t expect Yuuki to be here to talk about that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wait a minute, Yuuki-san!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji tried to stop Yuuki, but Yuuki replied with a smile.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I know, don&#039;t worry. Master Gedora knows my plan.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Huh?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Heh heh, that&#039;s for sure. This old man had feelings for His Majesty, but what would happen to the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire has nothing to do with me. This Old Master&#039;s goal is to destroy the Ruminism religion. The true&lt;br /&gt;
face of the god Ruminas was actually Demon Lord Ruminas, a blind spot that hadn&#039;t been discovered&lt;br /&gt;
before. What will become of those believers, I am not interested in knowing. But those guys killed my&lt;br /&gt;
friends, and it&#039;s hard not to bury them with their own hands. I heard that demon lord Rimuru and demon&lt;br /&gt;
lord Ruminas were very close, and the first thing that I wanted to solve was demon lord Rimuru. That&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
why I will also participate in the Maze Raiding Operation.”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora flashed a frantic smile and said that what happened after that didn&#039;t matter to him at all.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course Gedora had also heard rumors of the demon lord Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
A year ago, the Kingdom of Farmus fell as a result of angering the &amp;quot;Storm Dragon&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
It is said that after the Storm Dragon&#039;s power was exhausted, it was the demon lord Rimuru who took&lt;br /&gt;
him in.&lt;br /&gt;
The truth is not known whether they were actually taken in or simply assisted. However, from that time&lt;br /&gt;
on, the Storm Dragon showed no signs of rebellion, nor did it detect the huge demonic aura. Gedora&lt;br /&gt;
thinks those rumors have a certain amount of credibility.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, there was movement among the demon lords.&lt;br /&gt;
Several demon lords have been removed from the Top Ten and are now said to be &amp;quot;Eight Star Demon&lt;br /&gt;
Lords (Octagram)&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Although the story had spread to human society, it was definitely the Demon Lord Rimuru who was&lt;br /&gt;
behind it.&lt;br /&gt;
Clayman, who was originally one of the Ten Demon Lords, disappeared, and newcomer Rimuru was&lt;br /&gt;
listed among that group. The fact that this happened means that Rimuru is stronger than Clayman.&lt;br /&gt;
Clayman the Demon Lord was cunning and could not be underestimated, but demon lord Rimuru was&lt;br /&gt;
more threatening than he was.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only that, but the demon lord Rimuru has also established borders with human nations and has&lt;br /&gt;
become increasingly influential in the Council.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn’t know what the Western powers thought, but Gedora thought it was dangerous to offend the&lt;br /&gt;
demon lord Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
Plus there was something that bothered Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
That is, over 20,000 troops were said to have participated in the military operations of the Farmus&lt;br /&gt;
Kingdom, but only three of them survived in the end. One of them was killed, and in the end all that&lt;br /&gt;
remained was the former king and Razen, who had previously been an apprentice of Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
It seems necessary to confront Razen about this.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora took note of this first.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to that, there are many enigmas on the Demon Lord Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t dare be careless.&lt;br /&gt;
It was said that the great army of the Kingdom of Farmus was buried in the hands of the &amp;quot;Storm&lt;br /&gt;
Dragon&amp;quot;, but there was no way to prove that event was true. That alone makes one feel weird.&lt;br /&gt;
Generally speaking, if there are 30% casualties in a battle, then the operation is a failure. This is the&lt;br /&gt;
time to surrender, but I don&#039;t see where a relevant record has been left stating that the army of the&lt;br /&gt;
Kingdom of Farmus has ever made such a move.&lt;br /&gt;
Surrendering to the &amp;quot;storm dragon&amp;quot; is useless—and there are certainly those who argue that.&lt;br /&gt;
But on this point, Gedora denies it. After all, Gedora had picked up a life and survived the last great&lt;br /&gt;
march, so he was very familiar with the character of Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
A simple description is that he does things very casually. Won&#039;t go after those who run away, though&lt;br /&gt;
there will be heavy casualties, but only those who are caught up in the attack in the first place.&lt;br /&gt;
According to this logic, under normal circumstances, a 20,000 large army could not be wiped out.&lt;br /&gt;
So, was there something going on with the demon lord Rimuru... According to the rumors about&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru&#039;s people, Gedora thought it was impossible.&lt;br /&gt;
If we surrender with him, we should not be killed. But in the end everyone was killed.&lt;br /&gt;
It would seem that this should be interpreted to mean that when the army of the kingdom of Farmus&lt;br /&gt;
surrendered to Veldora, he killed them all at once.&lt;br /&gt;
Seriously, Gedora felt horrible just thinking about it.&lt;br /&gt;
It is because of this that they avoid going head-to-head with each other and also prepare relevant&lt;br /&gt;
counter-strategies.&lt;br /&gt;
There are oddities in the demon lord Rimuru, but there is still a chance to solve them by investigating&lt;br /&gt;
from now on and thinking about countermeasures.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, Gedora switched his thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t hate Demon Lord Rimuru, but he was on the same side as Demon Lord Ruminas, and that&lt;br /&gt;
would be the same as an enemy of Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Since it was the enemy that had to be defeated, having said that, Gedora was not about to act rashly&lt;br /&gt;
either.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He spent a long time arranging plans to get the Empire to send out troops to attack the Western nations.&lt;br /&gt;
Now that that plan was about to come to fruition, he couldn&#039;t be foolish enough to sulk.&lt;br /&gt;
So Gedora acted cautiously and then cautiously.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki and Gedora had the same interests at stake, and after talking the two decided to work together.&lt;br /&gt;
They would share the information they held in their hands with each other, and the relationship between&lt;br /&gt;
the two could be described as that of a war buddy.&lt;br /&gt;
Secrets were revealed in three or two times, and Shinji and the others were all pale.&lt;br /&gt;
When they suddenly hear someone say something like that, of course they want to say &amp;quot;please pause.”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji wasn&#039;t stupid either, he didn&#039;t think the other side would trust them that much. Though I think so,&lt;br /&gt;
I think I should not treat them as discarded sons.&lt;br /&gt;
The other side was testing them—so Shinji thought.&lt;br /&gt;
Mark and Zhen seemed to think so.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I know! We will do our best to investigate.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Anyway, we won&#039;t hold Grandpa back...stay tuned!”&lt;br /&gt;
“...I&#039;ll cheer.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
This is certainly an important mission. If they take this opportunity to do something—no, they have to&lt;br /&gt;
do something good this time so they can live—Shinji and the others realize this.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I&#039;ll test you all. You do know how many demon lords there are in the world, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, there are eight, right?’&lt;br /&gt;
“...Huh? Aren&#039;t the ten demons lords? No, it should be increased to eleven, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
“...Mark, they just had a big shuffle last year...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
This caused Gedora to sigh and a roar to come out of his mouth.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Shinji, hurry up and give this idiot the right message. If you join the army and can&#039;t even gather&lt;br /&gt;
information, you&#039;ll know he&#039;ll be the first to die!”&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as his mood calmed down slightly he began to explain.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There are eight demon lords in all, and they call themselves &#039;Eight Star Demon Lords (Octagram)&#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
The implication should be that one thinks one can compare oneself to the stars, but some of them do have&lt;br /&gt;
that ability. The reason why this is mentioned is because the opponent this time is &#039;Newbie&#039; Rimuru. You&lt;br /&gt;
can&#039;t take him lightly, but don&#039;t explore that issue this time. There is another reason. Among these demons,&lt;br /&gt;
there is a person known as the Labyrinth Fairy. All right, what do you guys think after listening?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That comment made the three of them take a backward breath from Shinji.&lt;br /&gt;
Even Yuuki put on a surprised expression and kept staring at Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You said labyrinth fairy...is that the point?”&lt;br /&gt;
At this time, Shinji was afraid to express his opinion.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora nodded solemnly, pulling out a piece of literature for the three men to look at.&lt;br /&gt;
There is a labyrinth named &amp;quot;Elven Goddom&amp;quot;, said to be in the western Republic of Ulgrasia. The world&lt;br /&gt;
says that the great maze is covered under the ground, or in the air, but it is not.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s true in one respect, but it&#039;s not entirely true in another.&lt;br /&gt;
It was written in that document that not only spirits lived in the &amp;quot;Spirit Realm&amp;quot;, but also that the queen&lt;br /&gt;
who changed from an spirit to a monster also lived there.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This queen is the Labyrinth Fairy, Ramiris, one of the demon lords from ancient times.”&lt;br /&gt;
These words of Gedora weighed heavily on the three men.&lt;br /&gt;
He further revealed the truth.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The door to that maze used to be in the Ulgrasia Nature Park, but now it&#039;s gone. That&#039;s what the old&lt;br /&gt;
man himself investigated, and it&#039;s certainly true. As for the period of disappearance, from what I&#039;ve heard,&lt;br /&gt;
it&#039;s presumed to be the same period as when Rimuru became the demon lord. Then the country went&lt;br /&gt;
public with their underground labyrinth...”&lt;br /&gt;
When Gedora finished, Yuuki added next.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s a long way off. I&#039;ve wondered before how Rimuru made a maze like that, and I think it must&lt;br /&gt;
have been created by Demon Lord Ramiris. In other words, Demon Lord Ramiris and Demon Lord&lt;br /&gt;
Ramiris have joined forces.”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki seemed to have decided that this was the case and had a wide smile on his face.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji they didn&#039;t come out in denial either. Not only that, but they felt that the difficulty of the&lt;br /&gt;
investigation was bound to increase and they began to become very melancholy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I look forward to your performance.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Remember to be on guard at all times.”&lt;br /&gt;
After that, Yuuki repeatedly told them how scary and cunning the demon lord Rimuru was, and Shinji&lt;br /&gt;
and the others left the scene after listening.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The day after Yuuki called him there, his secretary, Kagali, came to lead Shinji and the others and sent&lt;br /&gt;
them to the outskirts of the Jura Tempest Federation.&lt;br /&gt;
After sending Shinji and the others out, ten days passed, and Gedora was on his own to other&lt;br /&gt;
destinations.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Yuuki threaten Shinji with them, he planned to leave the investigation task to these people at&lt;br /&gt;
first.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m afraid Yuuki didn&#039;t really mean to treat those three as outcasts. To get Shinji and them to get serious,&lt;br /&gt;
just threaten a little.&lt;br /&gt;
Then again, Yuuki-san isn&#039;t forthcoming enough. It&#039;s because he&#039;s overly competent himself that he&lt;br /&gt;
wants others to reach this realm.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora had seen through that a long time ago.&lt;br /&gt;
But it could be applied to him as well.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora also didn&#039;t intend to watch his apprentices die, and he intended to lend a helping hand if they&lt;br /&gt;
were in trouble. But Gedora wouldn&#039;t put these thoughts out there; he would only silently pressure others,&lt;br /&gt;
so that others would find him scary.&lt;br /&gt;
Unaware of this himself, Gedora went to the old site of the Kingdom of Farmus.&lt;br /&gt;
He remembered that he had taken in an apprentice a long time ago, intending to go and gather&lt;br /&gt;
information related to the Demon Lord Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately afterwards, Gedora flew towards the old Farmus capital &amp;quot;Maris&amp;quot; and headed straight for&lt;br /&gt;
the palace.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen was working in his office, at which point he jumped up from his chair.&lt;br /&gt;
Originally thinking that the great teacher, Gedora, was dead, he felt the other&#039;s breath.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I didn&#039;t think...he was still alive...”&lt;br /&gt;
While muttering something to himself, he thought to himself that this would be bad.&lt;br /&gt;
Not sure what Gedora&#039;s intentions were, but he had come here to find himself, I guess.&lt;br /&gt;
What is certain is that it is not to reminisce with him.&lt;br /&gt;
And there was also the problem that none of the soldiers in Farmenas knew the man Gedora. If this&lt;br /&gt;
goes on, they will be stopped and questioned at the gates, and those who displease Gedora may be hurt.&lt;br /&gt;
In case one accidentally turns them and Gedora into enemies...&lt;br /&gt;
This is not good. If it turns out that way, there&#039;s no way for me to hold Lord Gedora back.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen was quick to judge as above and to act.&lt;br /&gt;
He calls out to his later new apprentices through &amp;quot;magical communications&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Can you hear me?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Geez, don&#039;t call me out of the blue.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You must have found something.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There. Although Gregory didn&#039;t seem to notice it, there was an unusual aura just now. He&#039;ll be at the&lt;br /&gt;
gates in a little while, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Since you know so well, it&#039;s a good thing. You go to the gate, too.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...you have been gracious to me. Got it.”&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;quot;magic communication&amp;quot; was interrupted this way.&lt;br /&gt;
His new apprentices were two in total.&lt;br /&gt;
They were Sare and Gregory.&lt;br /&gt;
These two men were both originally &#039;Three Martial Immortals&#039; - the Hall of the Emperor of the Sacred&lt;br /&gt;
Emperor&#039;s Kingdom of Ruberios, and had previously stayed in the Imperial Near Guard Division, which&lt;br /&gt;
was directly under the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
When Razen knew them while he was touring the country in order to inspect them, they made a major&lt;br /&gt;
mistake and dared not return to the Hall of the Emperor, so Razen took them directly as apprentices.&lt;br /&gt;
Not to give them favors, but to be able to experience how they feel.&lt;br /&gt;
Especially Sare, who seems to have lost badly in front of journalists from various countries. Hearing&lt;br /&gt;
that his opponent was Diablo, Razen could no longer stay out of it.&lt;br /&gt;
Sare had an arrogant attitude, but he still recognized Razen as his master.&lt;br /&gt;
Gregory does show fear of something from time to time, but is slowly finding his old swagger.&lt;br /&gt;
Looking at the strength alone, these two were impeccable, so Razen decided to exercise these two and&lt;br /&gt;
one day get them to work under the tabletop of the Kingdom of Farmenas. That also includes crisis&lt;br /&gt;
management like this one.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s me, Sare and Gregory. Add Mr. Grucius after that, and we should be able to confront Lord&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
The average soldier cannot be useful in the face of a single individual with overwhelming power. The&lt;br /&gt;
current weakness of the Kingdom of Farmenas is the lack of heroic level talent.&lt;br /&gt;
In the old days when the Kingdom of Farmus was still in existence, his fellow Knight Commander&lt;br /&gt;
Folgen and the warriors of his rank were now figures of the past. Talent must be found that can replace&lt;br /&gt;
them—this is the subject of the Kingdom of Farmenas.&lt;br /&gt;
Again, Razen recognized this, chagrined that he was too late to deal with the problem.&lt;br /&gt;
When he rushed to the city gate, Sare and the others were already there.&lt;br /&gt;
And are being confronted by Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I say, I don&#039;t know what it is that brings you to this city, but we are under care here. You understand&lt;br /&gt;
that you can&#039;t let unidentified people go, don&#039;t you?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right, Grandpa. We&#039;re not going to sue people, so you&#039;ll just go back today. If you want to meet&lt;br /&gt;
with someone, you can apply to the counter and get a response in about two or three days.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Sure and the others wanted a peaceful resolution, blocking the front of the road to keep Gedora from&lt;br /&gt;
passing. But in Razen&#039;s eyes it reduced his life expectancy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Stop it! Let the lord pass.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, aren&#039;t we supposed to stop him?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, why did you call us here?”&lt;br /&gt;
Both men seemed unhappy with the order, but Razen didn&#039;t have time for that sort of thing.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Long time no see, Lord Gedora. I didn&#039;t know you were still alive, so I didn&#039;t bother to greet you.”&lt;br /&gt;
Razen knelt down on one knee before Gedora and said so from his mouth.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He wanted to avoid making an enemy of Gedora. If anything, he would have been ready to become&lt;br /&gt;
aware and stop Gedora even if he released all his power, but it seemed as if he was overly vigilant.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Long time no see, Razen. You don&#039;t look the same anymore, but it looks like you&#039;re really him.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, I&#039;m not like Master, I have to change my body to live...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s not a reproach, so don&#039;t be so afraid. The reason I&#039;m here today is to ask you something. It&#039;s okay if&lt;br /&gt;
you don&#039;t have to be so vigilant about the monster hiding over there. If I were to come against you, I&lt;br /&gt;
would not have come alone.”&lt;br /&gt;
The words of Gedora always eased the tension.&lt;br /&gt;
In spite of this, Razen and the rest were not careless, they were going to prepare the meeting place so&lt;br /&gt;
they could talk to Gedora, so the group broke up on the spot.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The next day, they met in a room somewhere in the castle.&lt;br /&gt;
Among those who participated were Youm, Grucius and Razen. Sare stayed indoors with Gregory to&lt;br /&gt;
protect Youm.&lt;br /&gt;
Myuran also wanted to participate, but was rejected. She had just given birth and had to be completely&lt;br /&gt;
still, so Youm desperately tried to stop her.&lt;br /&gt;
The child is a girl named Mim. The child, who looks a lot like Myuran and is very likeable, is now in&lt;br /&gt;
the care of Edka, who dotes on her.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By the way, Master, what is it you want to ask?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, before we get to the point, let me correct a few points. Kid, your name&#039;s Sare, right? You&#039;re not&lt;br /&gt;
bad, but magic&#039;s your undoing, isn&#039;t it? That kind of stuff doesn&#039;t just get learned to apply, and it&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
important to manage your magic properly. That monster over there, your name&#039;s Grucius, right? As for&lt;br /&gt;
you...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora began to point out each person&#039;s shortcomings one by one.&lt;br /&gt;
He wants Grucius to develop the eye to see through his opponent&#039;s strength.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Transforming in front of the enemy is like giving the opponent a chance to make a first strike.”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora even goes so far as to harshly point out the shortcomings.&lt;br /&gt;
On Youm&#039;s side, he first said, &amp;quot;You look stronger than average...&amp;quot; and then said that relying on&lt;br /&gt;
equipment is not a good idea and that you have to concentrate on how to defend yourself.&lt;br /&gt;
He was even more ruthless in the face of Gregory and told him to continue to improve—with these&lt;br /&gt;
words alone.&lt;br /&gt;
Finally he looked to Razen and said to him this.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Razen, it looks like you&#039;ve improved a lot. Your magic is possessive...?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, based on my master&#039;s theory of the mystical meaning of &#039;reincarnation&#039;, I have arranged the great&lt;br /&gt;
secret art of &#039;possession and reincarnation’.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. This is another interesting attempt. Unlike the Old Master&#039;s magic, it doesn&#039;t temporarily&lt;br /&gt;
weaken and rejuvenate into a small baby.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thank you...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But it&#039;s pointless if you can&#039;t play it all out. It&#039;s rare to take away someone&#039;s flesh, you&#039;re not&lt;br /&gt;
performing, are you?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with Gedora&#039;s correction, Razen was sweating profusely and in fear. He himself knew these&lt;br /&gt;
things and had to admit that all the accusations hit the nail on the head.&lt;br /&gt;
This adult is still terrible. I can&#039;t believe that we can see through our strengths at once...&lt;br /&gt;
Razen was speechless and could only be silent in response.&lt;br /&gt;
However, Sare and Gregory listened very badly.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What the hell, look at me just sitting there thinking I&#039;m not even listening. What did you see in me to&lt;br /&gt;
say something like that?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. Mr. Razen was kind to me, but there was no reason to fear even his master. Since you&#039;re so&lt;br /&gt;
confident, let&#039;s ask for your advice and show you what you can do!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Eventually they began to pester Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Shut up--Razen was tempted to shout the words, but seeing the look in Master Gedora&#039;s eyes, he didn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
get them out.&lt;br /&gt;
For Gedora, this was all to be expected. It was only then that Razen realized he wanted to show Sare&lt;br /&gt;
and Gregory what he could do.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, things will still end well. Just do what the Master wants you to do.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen so calculated.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately after, as if to warm up a little before the talks, Gedora began to square off against Sare and&lt;br /&gt;
Gregory.&lt;br /&gt;
They battled it out on the practice field and the result was a landslide victory for Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;How is this...how is this possible...?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This old grandpa is amazing... I didn&#039;t expect to deal with us both at the same time, he&#039;s not tired at&lt;br /&gt;
all. I totally lost to him.....&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was so strong that it completely shattered their pride of being the &amp;quot;Three Martial Immortals&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
To boast of one&#039;s strength here, to make the bargain go smoothly—that was Gedora&#039;s purpose, and both&lt;br /&gt;
Sare and Gregory&#039;s reactions were expected. Only, the next development was unexpected.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Still, not as good as that monster.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is that all? The dog I&#039;m fighting with should be about as strong as my grandfather.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Hmm?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Clearly losing to Gedora, Sare and Gregory instantly accepted this fact. On top of that, Myuran had&lt;br /&gt;
seen the strength of Gedora, and the two of them were not too surprised.&lt;br /&gt;
Can you compare this monster to me? Not only that, but there are monsters that are stronger than&lt;br /&gt;
Razen...?&lt;br /&gt;
The unexpected reaction confused Gedora, and it wasn&#039;t like Sare they were losing by saying those&lt;br /&gt;
words. Thinking so, those should all be true.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was going to question this...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Gedora, that matter may also be saved for later. I&#039;ll start by answering the questions Lord Gedora&lt;br /&gt;
has to ask on this trip.”&lt;br /&gt;
At this point, Razen jumped in and said this, and what had happened so far came to an end for the time&lt;br /&gt;
being&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The venue went back to the reception room and they started talking again.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s true that you&#039;re the master of Razen, a majin. Not an opponent I can beat.”&lt;br /&gt;
At this time Youm spoke in a relaxed tone.&lt;br /&gt;
Grucius echoed this sentiment.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The majin Razen is well known, but rumors of his master are few and far between. That&#039;s what&lt;br /&gt;
Myuran said, she said that the master was a great man and also structured a new system for magic theory,&lt;br /&gt;
looking at the battle just now finally understood.”&lt;br /&gt;
He said this excitedly.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s no wonder, after all, Gedora&#039;s magic is powerful.&lt;br /&gt;
You can interfere with your opponent&#039;s magic and prevent them from unleashing magic, and you can&lt;br /&gt;
unleash more than two kinds of magic at the same time for unparalleled effect and power.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s simply a clear manifestation of that, he just played a beautiful game in front of everyone.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, Sare and Gregory&#039;s strength is far beyond the serious Grucius. The two of them had been&lt;br /&gt;
toyed with by Gedora, so there was no doubt about Gedora&#039;s strength.&lt;br /&gt;
In perfect contrast to Youm and Grucius, the two men who lost to Gedora were depressed. But the man&lt;br /&gt;
was still at peace on the scene, focused on his escort duties.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, what is your business here?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
This question comes from Razen.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The reason for the old man&#039;s demonstration of strength is to avoid unnecessary resistance from you.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen should have understood that the old man&#039;s anger was directed at Ruminism and was not interested&lt;br /&gt;
in other things. That&#039;s why I can&#039;t bear to see this country suffering from imperial aggression and&lt;br /&gt;
unnecessary casualties.”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora said this terrible thing as if it were nothing.&lt;br /&gt;
“The Empire...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No way. Don&#039;t call me when I&#039;m king, okay...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Really. I don&#039;t want Myuran and my daughter to be in danger.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s not your daughter. That baby is my baby!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What a noise...! Although not related by blood, that child is my daughter. I have decided to live as a&lt;br /&gt;
father in the future.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t make up your own mind...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Youm and Grucius start to get into an ugly fight.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen coughed a few times, telling the two fools to shut up.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, I see why Lord Gedora is here. In return for saving us from the scourge of war, do you wish the&lt;br /&gt;
kingdom of Farmenas to fall and submit to the Empire?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Exactly. You do realize how powerful the Empire is, don&#039;t you? And there&#039;s still the old man there, so&lt;br /&gt;
if Farmenas, led by you, joins our camp, even Dwargon can be easily taken. That country is not good at&lt;br /&gt;
dealing with attacks on troops and food. Just stop dealing with people, and they&#039;ll be wailing in no time.”&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, to do that one must first dispose of the Jura Tempest Federation. Razen points out this node.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s not possible, Lord Gedora. Nowadays, the railroad between the Dwarven Kingdom and the Jura&lt;br /&gt;
Tempest Federation has been laid, allowing for high-speed transportation. Even if our country is cut off&lt;br /&gt;
from food supplies, they can still resupply through other countries.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s why you betrayed me. There isn&#039;t much food self-sufficiency within the Jura Tempest&lt;br /&gt;
Federation. If your country is cut off...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Gedora.”&lt;br /&gt;
Knowing it was rude, Razen interrupted Gedora&#039;s words anyway. For he found that the information in&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s hands was too old to keep up with the times.&lt;br /&gt;
The situation in the world today is changing rapidly and is very different from the past. As things stand&lt;br /&gt;
now, a betrayal of the West could lead to exclusion from the economic sphere. Representing a country in&lt;br /&gt;
danger of perishing.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if one accepts the shade of the empire and is assured of the abundance it will give, it will not be&lt;br /&gt;
as prosperous as it is now.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It was the Kingdom of Farmenas that was so deeply influenced by the West—no, so deeply influenced&lt;br /&gt;
by the Jura Tempest Federation.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen addresses this point.&lt;br /&gt;
“...so it is. In fact, I already know, but I just want to hear the truth from you. But isn&#039;t the demon lord&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru afraid of the armies in the sky? Of course, if the power is enough to defeat even angels, even if it&lt;br /&gt;
were so, the things that were built so easily would suffer great disasters. The Empire had originally&lt;br /&gt;
considered importing trains as well, giving up for this reason...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora said this when he heard that the other side was going to connect the metropolis by rail.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;His Majesty Rimuru has no fear of harm.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. The young master hates to have injuries, but doesn&#039;t care about other losses.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Maybe he&#039;ll be happier with a new job.”&lt;br /&gt;
Razen, Gruicius, and Youm feel free to say what they think.&lt;br /&gt;
In particular, the words of Youm are particularly important.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, creatures like humans feel happy to be entrusted with something because they want the skills&lt;br /&gt;
they&#039;ve learned to come in handy. If you don&#039;t have a job, you&#039;ll lose your motivation.&lt;br /&gt;
Maybe someone else will run off to commit a crime, too. To avoid this, preparing for a new job is the&lt;br /&gt;
responsibility of the leader—the employer.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Once the consolidation of the countries is complete, all that remains is maintenance and repair. What&lt;br /&gt;
to do when the time comes, Young Master Rimuru has been troubled. That one wants to do it, this one&lt;br /&gt;
wants to do it, but the technical side can&#039;t keep up. When I went to have a drink with him, he kept&lt;br /&gt;
complaining about it.”&lt;br /&gt;
If angels were to come and attack at a time like this, there must be many special needs in order to&lt;br /&gt;
rebuild after the disaster. In that case, the young master may be angry on the surface, but he may be happy&lt;br /&gt;
in private.&lt;br /&gt;
Then even Grucius started to take it out on Youm’s nostrils.&lt;br /&gt;
Although Sare and Gregory posed with expressions that they couldn&#039;t stand, they didn&#039;t seem to be in&lt;br /&gt;
denial.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But even if he were a demon lord, the West is the domain of mankind, and the Rosso clan wouldn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
just sit back and watch, would they?”&lt;br /&gt;
Razen&#039;s words were consistent with the information that Gedora had gathered, but still some parts were&lt;br /&gt;
missing. Taking this opportunity, Gedora intended to squeeze as much information out of Razen as he&lt;br /&gt;
could.&lt;br /&gt;
Without waiting for the armies from the sky, the Rosso clan would make moves to defend their rights.&lt;br /&gt;
And this incident has to do with the economic dimension, and they should not take military action, which&lt;br /&gt;
would hinder in other ways, Gedora asked Razen about this.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, his intention was actually to probe the current situation of the Rosso clan.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen correctly interprets his intentions to give the answer that Gedora wants.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The Rosso clan is finished. The kingdom was not destroyed and the survivors were gathered there, but&lt;br /&gt;
now there was no way to influence the Council. The reason why the surrounding countries still deal with&lt;br /&gt;
them to this day is because His Majesty Rimuru allows them to do so. King Delan also surrendered to His&lt;br /&gt;
Majesty Rimuru.”&lt;br /&gt;
Razen shed light on the matter. By the way, tell the truth about how the national army of the Kingdom&lt;br /&gt;
of Farmus was defeated in battle.&lt;br /&gt;
This time Gedora was finally shocked by a situation she didn&#039;t know about.&lt;br /&gt;
“...Are you saying that Demon Lord Rimuru relied on him alone to kill all the armies of the Farmus&lt;br /&gt;
Kingdom? And to exterminate the Rosso clan...no, wait! If these are not just hearsay, what happened to&lt;br /&gt;
Sage Gran—-Granbell?&lt;br /&gt;
Granbell the &amp;quot;Hero&amp;quot; was recognized by Gedora as the strongest man in his heart. It was because he&lt;br /&gt;
thought that this man was the leader of the “Seven Celestial Sages&amp;quot; that he was cautious about the Great&lt;br /&gt;
Long March plan on the West.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet Razen says that the Rosso is destroyed.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then the rumor of the demise of the Seven Celestial Sages...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Master, this is also true. The Seven Celestial Sages were hostile to His Majesty Rimuru, and they set&lt;br /&gt;
up the Paladin, Hinata, to make her fight with us, but their schemes were uncovered and they perished.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that, this time Gedora was truly speechless.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen has explicitly said that all the &amp;quot;Seven Celestial Sages&amp;quot; perished.&lt;br /&gt;
Even that sage master Gran was buried by Cardinal Nicholas himself. When Gedora learned this, he&lt;br /&gt;
couldn&#039;t help but lament the lack of accuracy of his intelligence network.&lt;br /&gt;
Now that Granbell is dead, it is logical that the Rosso destruction should take place. Had this&lt;br /&gt;
information been available earlier, the Great Long March program could also have been substantially&lt;br /&gt;
reassessed.&lt;br /&gt;
In the meantime...&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking of Yuuki&#039;s mouthy face, Gedora muttered hatefully. Probably trying to tell Gedora about it&lt;br /&gt;
might make him feel less like taking revenge, but in Gedora&#039;s opinion, it made him feel bad.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You mean Yuuki Kagurazaka? We were also used by that man, so we understand Lord Gedora&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
feelings very well.”&lt;br /&gt;
Being so comforted by his apprentice, unspeakable feelings surfaced in Gedora&#039;s mind, feeling a bit&lt;br /&gt;
chagrined and a bit ashamed.&lt;br /&gt;
According to the sound of Razen&#039;s words, it seemed that the demon lord Rimuru had also been&lt;br /&gt;
victimized by Yuuki. But the other side added that even so, they would observe the situation first for the&lt;br /&gt;
time being and not be completely hostile to each other.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
That Yuuki guy, looks like he&#039;s hiding something again. Apart from those... He knew that Gedora’s goal&lt;br /&gt;
was to destroy the Ruminas Sect, and he revealed information related to the Western Holy Churches, but it&lt;br /&gt;
was always ambiguous. Is it inconvenient to tell the old man...?&lt;br /&gt;
When Gedora found out that he was being used, he began to worry about what to do next in front of&lt;br /&gt;
Razen&#039;s men and others.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s big down here. After hearing these things, one must rethink how to correspond with the demon&lt;br /&gt;
lord Rimuru.”&lt;br /&gt;
The dangers of the monster Rimuru were unexpected by Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
What exactly is the right thing to do in the face of such a threat?&lt;br /&gt;
Because his good friend was duped into being killed, Gedora continued to take revenge on the&lt;br /&gt;
Ruminism.&lt;br /&gt;
However, the Seven Celestial Sages, the ones he most wanted to get revenge against, are all dead.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, he would not be so keen to destroy the West.&lt;br /&gt;
It was because the Empire aligned with Gedora&#039;s stakes that he stepped in to help, and less of that&lt;br /&gt;
motivation would have given Gedora no reason to back the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
—No, the reason is still there. The culprit of all this, the god, the demon lord Ruminas, is still alive.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking that his best friend died because he believed in her, he couldn&#039;t let the demon lord who was&lt;br /&gt;
beckoning in the name of god live. Thinking about this side, Gedora made up his mind again and decided&lt;br /&gt;
to continue with the battle plan.&lt;br /&gt;
No, it should be said that he was planning to do just that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Gedora, you may find me nosy, but you&#039;d better stop thinking about it.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Oh?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Razen had been watching for Gedora&#039;s reaction, and at this point he threw a cold shower on Gedora&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
determination.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I am still your faithful disciple, and proud of it. But I have an even stronger loyalty to a certain lord. If&lt;br /&gt;
you intend to fight against his country, I must treat you as an enemy.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Could it be the demon lord Rimuru?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No. It was one of his men, Lord Diablo—he is my master now.”&lt;br /&gt;
The words surprised Gedora a little.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen was his proud disciple. The fact that not only someone was able to get such a Razen to serve&lt;br /&gt;
him, but that he was also willing to be a demon lord&#039;s subordinate, was unbelievable.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I may not be in that position to interject, but since I have this opportunity, I&#039;ll just say it in passing.&lt;br /&gt;
That fellow Diablo—that lord is the demon who defeated me.”&lt;br /&gt;
Obviously no one asked him, Sare took the liberty of adding.&lt;br /&gt;
Is that the demon who is said to be more powerful than Razen? Although unbelievable, it&#039;s hard to&lt;br /&gt;
assert that it&#039;s a lie when even Razen can take it in.&lt;br /&gt;
Still, Gedora didn&#039;t think he was going to lose, and he took down the name Diablo first.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Gedora, this message is also revealed to you. Lord Diablo is an original demon.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Think also. It should be an ancient species, or maybe a rare prehistoric demon, that can take you&lt;br /&gt;
down.”&lt;br /&gt;
Plus that demon still had a name, so even if the strength surpassed the demon lord, it wasn&#039;t surprising.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, it&#039;s not just that. That lord is much more powerful...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ve heard he&#039;s the &#039;Demon Lord’.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What the...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
How could this be—Gedora couldn&#039;t help but want to scream.&lt;br /&gt;
Demons have so-called evolutionary limits.&lt;br /&gt;
It was an absolutely unbreakable rule, and the one who could break this law was the only one known to&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
That demon surpassed the high-ranking demon generals and became a demon archduke.&lt;br /&gt;
The most powerful and evil of all, the Lord of Darkness, Guy Crimson.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Gedora, then, my lord Diablo, there is no need to argue how long he will live. If it&#039;s you, you&lt;br /&gt;
should understand the meaning of that phrase, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
These words of Razen seemed so distant to Gedora&#039;s ears.&lt;br /&gt;
This is unbelievable and he’s unwilling to believe.&lt;br /&gt;
With that in mind, words mumbled out of Gedora&#039;s mouth.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is it the Primordial?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
So asserted Razen, the voice came cruelly into his ears.&lt;br /&gt;
So it is, thought Gedora, while soothing a confused heart and trying to discern the truth of these words.&lt;br /&gt;
If so, it is understandable that Razen would submit to the other.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In addition, once the primordials have acquired flesh, it is not surprising that a new &amp;quot;demon archduke&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
is born. It should be said that if what Razen says is true, then the Empire&#039;s plans for the Great Long March&lt;br /&gt;
will have to be substantially reassessed.&lt;br /&gt;
Look at the White Primordial that has embittered the Empire, the tricky level speaks for itself.&lt;br /&gt;
—No, wait. If the Primordials acquired flesh, why didn&#039;t anything terrible happen?&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora began to regain his composure, but he pushed back on his thoughts that that sort of thing didn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
matter.&lt;br /&gt;
Hold on a second. Whether Diablo was the Primordial or not, that doesn&#039;t matter at all now. At least&lt;br /&gt;
one can know that he really made Razen subservient, at least as a &amp;quot;demon archduke”...&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately afterwards, he heard Youm and the rest of them casually chatting about something that&lt;br /&gt;
made Gedora stiffen.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, Mr. Diablo, he&#039;s working as Master Rimuru&#039;s butler, right? Earlier, to commemorate the start of the&lt;br /&gt;
train, there was a commemorative event, and I ran over to congratulate him, and at that time slightly&lt;br /&gt;
overheard something, and he said he didn&#039;t want to be a handyman himself, so he went and searched out&lt;br /&gt;
people he knew and made them his ministry.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Whoa, whoa, that demon you&#039;re talking about, I had an involuntary glimpse of. The young master&lt;br /&gt;
assigned her as a diplomatic marshal, which is why I met her at the Council. A great beauty with white&lt;br /&gt;
hair paired with deep red eyes and is very pretty.”&lt;br /&gt;
At this point Gedora leaned back in her chair with his body in disarray.&lt;br /&gt;
This, this isn&#039;t true, is it? Aren&#039;t those features just like the White Primordial...?&lt;br /&gt;
Those things suddenly began to feel so real that it sounded like a nightmare to Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
He looked to Razen, only to see the other side nod with a satisfied face.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This is all true, isn&#039;t it?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I will not lie to my master.”&lt;br /&gt;
It dawned on Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Knowing that Razen and the rest were telling the truth was really for Gedora&#039;s sake in trying to&lt;br /&gt;
convince him not to start a war.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is it really that dangerous?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
To this, the response given by those present was a silent nod.&lt;br /&gt;
And when Gedora looked at it...&lt;br /&gt;
Ah, Shinji and the others might have left for their mission!&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, his face completely lost its color.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In the capital of the Jura Tempest Federation, &amp;quot;Rimuru&amp;quot;, there was a huge crowd of people.&lt;br /&gt;
The metropolis was so well deserved that even people like Shinji from another world looked at it and&lt;br /&gt;
thought it was a highly developed city, not at all like a backwater countryside.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire is a different story, but even the surrounding city has the stench of animals, and this place&lt;br /&gt;
has none of that uncomfortable feeling. This incident surprised them.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I heard they left a door open and this place is all empty. I think it&#039;s a mistake.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t think so. Perhaps the other party is free to manipulate freely, or the spy is seeing visions.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...in that case, we can&#039;t be careless.”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji the three of them you look at me and I look at you and tense your nerves again.&lt;br /&gt;
Someone used the elemental magic &#039;stronghold move&#039; to send Shinji over to them, this person had&lt;br /&gt;
visited the Jura Tempest Federation before and she was Kagali.&lt;br /&gt;
Kagali went right back, but there was no need to worry about what to do on the way back. They would&lt;br /&gt;
rendezvous with Gedora and go back by his magic.&lt;br /&gt;
Their orders were not to push too hard until then, just investigate whenever possible. Shinji and the rest&lt;br /&gt;
are not fools either, and they will obediently do what they are told without ordering them to do such&lt;br /&gt;
things.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ms. Kagali is really beautiful.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If I say that to Shinji, I&#039;ll get dumped by my girlfriend.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Girlfriend? Nothing like that. If I had a girlfriend, my life would have been more colorful...”&lt;br /&gt;
“Huh?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“...It&#039;s no use, Shinji is slow.”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Shinji sighing there, Mark and Zhen shrugged.&lt;br /&gt;
They chatted freely while being screened for entry at the entrance to the town.&lt;br /&gt;
Since Yuuki had the Freedom Association ID cards prepared for them, it was easier than expected for&lt;br /&gt;
them to enter the country with just a simple explanation.&lt;br /&gt;
They then went to check in at the inn and sightsee around the town in the name of gathering&lt;br /&gt;
information.&lt;br /&gt;
Three people are so surprised.&lt;br /&gt;
They are &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; who have the power to be treated favorably in this world. But they&#039;re&lt;br /&gt;
not like the demon lord Rimuru, who does what he wants, and then again, he can&#039;t do it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki put a lot of effort into improving his diet and living environment, and the empire introduced that&lt;br /&gt;
system, but it was overtaken by this country many times over. Shinji knew those things so well that it was&lt;br /&gt;
no longer a surprise to describe it, it even made him dumbfounded.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s takoyaki and okonomiyaki, and yakisoba. There are even a variety of desserts, like cornflakes&lt;br /&gt;
or cakes.&lt;br /&gt;
The store also has a variety of extremely expensive items that make you want to ask where the&lt;br /&gt;
ingredients came from.&lt;br /&gt;
There are small stalls, cafes, and everything from small restaurants to fine dining.&lt;br /&gt;
The items inside give a sense of their passion for eating and drinking, recreating the flavor of another&lt;br /&gt;
world. The inhabitants of this world must have been confused at first, but now they seem to be getting&lt;br /&gt;
used to the variety of cuisine.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Shinji, he was so happy that he shed tears when he saw the curry rice in the cafeteria.&lt;br /&gt;
The toilets here are also perfect, and the hotel is very comfortable to stay in.&lt;br /&gt;
Coupled with bathhouses that can be used for a fee, it takes root for mass entertainment.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Why don&#039;t I just come live in this country? Gentlemen, let&#039;s not go back to the Empire, shall we?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Hey!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, I&#039;m sorry...I was joking, it was all a joke. Don&#039;t be angry, Shinji.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m not angry, I&#039;m thinking I can seriously consider—&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“...I want to live here too.”&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them looked at each other with a sigh coming from their mouths.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others had always thought that in this world, the Empire was the most civilized.&lt;br /&gt;
However, it&#039;s only now that you know this country that you realize you were wrong about what you&lt;br /&gt;
thought before.&lt;br /&gt;
The town is thriving and the food is great.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to being a comfortable place to live, it seems to have become an entertainment and cultural&lt;br /&gt;
center of gravity, with new ways to play emerging one after another.&lt;br /&gt;
Those rides were all familiar in the original world, these guys had always survived in harsh&lt;br /&gt;
environments, and for them those things were all nostalgic.&lt;br /&gt;
There was no shortage of culture and entertainment in the Empire either, but those were for the&lt;br /&gt;
aristocracy to enjoy. It&#039;s not as free as this town, and if civilians want to use it, the price is too high.&lt;br /&gt;
By comparison, this town...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, no, no, that&#039;s still not good.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right. Mr. Yuuki might have an opinion, and Gedora-sensei is horrible. Besides, the war is about&lt;br /&gt;
to start...”&lt;br /&gt;
“...a deserter will be shot.”&lt;br /&gt;
Right.&lt;br /&gt;
There will be war before long.&lt;br /&gt;
This metropolis is a clear target, inevitably facing a war.&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them knew very well how much military power the Empire had, and to say how much this&lt;br /&gt;
country stood a chance of winning against the Empire, just thinking about it made them think they were&lt;br /&gt;
out of luck.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why Shinji forced them to abandon that lingering attachment.&lt;br /&gt;
Then begin to stay true to the task and set about challenging the maze.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I heard that the hero was lucky to have broken through the 50th level, but it&#039;s easier than I thought.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Haha, that&#039;s for sure. According to Yuuki-san, the strength of this man is really no big deal.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...but his skills are not to be underestimated.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s why it takes more than six months of careful planning.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
At the moment of advancing to the fortieth floor, Shinji was snorting at them.&lt;br /&gt;
They were still on guard against the underground maze at first, but now they felt comfortable and less&lt;br /&gt;
nervous.&lt;br /&gt;
Because they didn&#039;t want to take any chances, they had to gather information beforehand, but Shinji&lt;br /&gt;
and the others always felt that this maze was full of game elements.&lt;br /&gt;
Zhen seems to have lived a life that has nothing to do with video games, but both Shinji and Mark&lt;br /&gt;
enjoy playing video games. Shinji, in particular, loved role-playing games and would indulge in a series&lt;br /&gt;
of adventure games whenever he could while doing research in college.&lt;br /&gt;
Compared to his knowledge of the game, one can&#039;t help but think that this underground maze is pretty&lt;br /&gt;
ridiculous.&lt;br /&gt;
There was indeed a deliberate attempt to malign the challenger.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, those with the knowledge are familiar with these...&lt;br /&gt;
Zhen Liu Xing was best at sensing traps. Plus there was Shinji to give him advice so he could actually&lt;br /&gt;
see through those traps.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As long as one could find a way to deal with these traps, it was no big deal even if the magical creature&lt;br /&gt;
was powerful.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In this maze, the challengers may not have enough knowledge to get up.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Should be. I also used to laugh at the fact that this maze is a competitive play area, and it really is that.&lt;br /&gt;
Stuff like that, as long as you know how the author is going to screw people, it&#039;s accidentally pretty&lt;br /&gt;
broken.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...and you can’t die.”&lt;br /&gt;
While gathering information, they heard about the &amp;quot;Resurrection Ring&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s also a free one handed out to them at the counter. As long as you wear this, even if you die in&lt;br /&gt;
the labyrinth, you seem to be able to come back to life at the entrance.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that, Shinji and the others were in a subtle mood.&lt;br /&gt;
How should I put it, in this serious world, it&#039;s only here that it seems like another world full of jokes&lt;br /&gt;
that make them feel unspeakable.&lt;br /&gt;
The problem at the moment is that it&#039;s not clear how deep the maze is.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if one wanted to attack in one breath, the food that could be brought to the table was limited.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others were still wondering how much to prepare when they heard unexpected&lt;br /&gt;
instructions on the counter side.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, there&#039;s no need to worry about such things. As soon as the stairs are found, there will be an&lt;br /&gt;
entrance and exit to the hotel. Although you have to pay, you can stay there overnight, so don&#039;t worry too&lt;br /&gt;
much about the food. Lord Rimuru once said, ‘A snack can only be 300 round at most.’ Not sure what that&lt;br /&gt;
means, but it should be important. By the way, there will also be a merchant waiting inside the hotel, so&lt;br /&gt;
we can buy things that are in the way.”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s very thoughtful.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji was tempted to yell, “How about information about acquisitions which are more important than&lt;br /&gt;
snacks!” But he didn&#039;t want to be accused of being disrespectful for shouting out strange sentences, so he&lt;br /&gt;
chose to hold back on the spot.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
Time comes to now.&lt;br /&gt;
It had been a week since they have started raiding the Maze.&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them rested at the inn in the maze, looking out over the loot on one side.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, I&#039;ve been making a lot of money these last few days. Although the hotels here are said to have&lt;br /&gt;
only minimal facilities, they are very comfortable to stay in. The cost of accommodation is cheap in&lt;br /&gt;
comparison, and you can make a lot of money selling unnecessary equipment, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The moody Mark asks the question.&lt;br /&gt;
Seemingly somewhat interested, Zhen also raised his face.&lt;br /&gt;
Like in response to these two, Shinji took the gold coins out of the bag.&lt;br /&gt;
The golden glow had the three staring intently.&lt;br /&gt;
They get all kinds of props from magical creatures or treasure chests, and these aren&#039;t just money for&lt;br /&gt;
selling props.&lt;br /&gt;
There were also bonuses—dozens of gold coins, and even star gold coins. Such remuneration is simply&lt;br /&gt;
unprecedented.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Sort of. We made a lot of money. Then I heard something about how not even the group that attacked&lt;br /&gt;
to the front of the line broke through the fiftieth floor. It&#039;s said that only Masayuki&#039;s group broke through,&lt;br /&gt;
and we are the second group.”&lt;br /&gt;
Even Masayuki’s group was currently stuck at the sixty level. It was conceivable that people should be&lt;br /&gt;
blocked from going by the floor guardians on the fortieth floor.&lt;br /&gt;
Thanks to this, Shinji has made them the MVP of the month.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh yes, it&#039;s the Tempest snake, isn&#039;t it? Very strong indeed, but not our opponent.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The Tempest Snake is A- rank, and even the more powerful adventurers who encounter this magical&lt;br /&gt;
creature will be in a bitter battle.&lt;br /&gt;
It would make ranged attacks, spitting out dangerous spray that was particularly vicious in a cramped&lt;br /&gt;
room. Because there was nowhere to run but to face, but the snake&#039;s flesh was so tough that it would be&lt;br /&gt;
finished as soon as it was wound up in a circle.&lt;br /&gt;
It should be a magic creature that cannot be taken lightly, but for Shinji and others, it was actually not&lt;br /&gt;
that hard to defeat this opponent.&lt;br /&gt;
What is interesting is not how strong the magical creature is, but the treasures that can be obtained after&lt;br /&gt;
the defeat.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This weapon has holes in it, I don&#039;t know what they are. Things like this can sell for amazingly high&lt;br /&gt;
prices...”&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s because the price is so high that they&#039;re afraid to take it and sell it.&lt;br /&gt;
With regard to this kind of weapon with holes in it, coming near the fortieth floor will slowly begin to&lt;br /&gt;
appear. They hadn&#039;t seen that sort of thing in the Empire, so the Shinji crew wasn&#039;t sure of its value.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What the hell is this hole? Even if I can&#039;t find out the results with my identification magic, it might be&lt;br /&gt;
better to stay until Master comes.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No such weapon has ever appeared before on the fortieth floor.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“...hmm. Only the demon lord&#039;s room will appear, otherwise the powerful magical creatures near the&lt;br /&gt;
fifty floors will fall.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, that&#039;s right. But in fact it seems to be circulating in the town, though rarely. I&#039;ve heard that&lt;br /&gt;
treasure chests below the 30th floor will open such things with a very low chance.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, the quality is really good. But even if you use this as an excuse, it shouldn&#039;t be so expensive,&lt;br /&gt;
right?”&lt;br /&gt;
“...is there a secret?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Should be. Even if you ask the merchants, they just smile and don&#039;t tell us.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey hey hey, that&#039;s too suspicious. We might as well keep it until Grandpa comes over. Forget about&lt;br /&gt;
that for now, look at this, look at this!”&lt;br /&gt;
With a side of his mouth, Mark took out the minotaur&#039;s battleaxe and showed it off to everyone.&lt;br /&gt;
It radiates a beautiful silvery white glow.&lt;br /&gt;
That kind of thing is made of magic steel, and it&#039;s the supreme dream escape.&lt;br /&gt;
Also a special-grade weapon, the floor guardian of the fiftieth floor was guarding a treasure chest,&lt;br /&gt;
which was opened from the treasure chest.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s a special-grade weapon. Even within the Empire, it&#039;s hard to get something like this!”&lt;br /&gt;
Mark looked so smitten that he rubbed his cheek against the tomahawk.&lt;br /&gt;
Seriously though, that weapon is pretty awesome.&lt;br /&gt;
If one joins the Imperial Emperor&#039;s Knights of the Near Guard within the Empire, one is given&lt;br /&gt;
legendary level equipment. But for the generals and soldiers underneath, the equipment given to them was&lt;br /&gt;
high quality and sturdy, but there was not even magic from above.&lt;br /&gt;
As for special-grade equipment, that kind of stuff was hard to get even a superior general to get his&lt;br /&gt;
hands on. No wonder Mark was so excited.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right. To hear Yuuki-san say, it seems that all of the Empire&#039;s equipment is mass-produced. We&lt;br /&gt;
don&#039;t get to see it very often, but I&#039;ve heard that even the legendary gear is the same style.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...Is this possible?”&lt;br /&gt;
Zhen wants to ask Shinji if it&#039;s possible to mass produce legendary equipment.&lt;br /&gt;
Theoretically—it’s not possible to do that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Shinji, that&#039;s what you&#039;re saying, isn&#039;t it? Just because it&#039;s all the same shape doesn&#039;t mean it&#039;s a product&lt;br /&gt;
of quantity?”&lt;br /&gt;
Mark seemed to have a problem with that too, laughing at Shinji&#039;s remark. If such a thing could ever&lt;br /&gt;
come true, then the value of the special-grade equipment he got would also slip.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Of course, not in the usual way. Even Master Gedora said that it would be difficult to mass produce&lt;br /&gt;
&#039;Magic Steel&#039;. However, it still seems possible to do so if one can maintain a special environment.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...special environment?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. It is said that if you place your equipment in a place with a high concentration of this type of&lt;br /&gt;
mana for a long time—often hundreds to thousands of years—you will be able to meet the conditions for&lt;br /&gt;
equipment evolution. After that, as long as the equipment recognizes good owners, they will begin to&lt;br /&gt;
evolve individually.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t think there&#039;s any such thing.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...hmm. I don&#039;t think so either.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right? But both Yuuki-san and Gedora-sensei said something like that.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, let&#039;s say it&#039;s possible, then, so what?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s nothing. It means that this minotaur&#039;s battleaxe is probably mass-produced too.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;How can that be?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You don&#039;t think that&#039;s possible either, do you? But this tomahawk also has holes in it. We&#039;ve never seen&lt;br /&gt;
a naturally occurring one look like this, have we?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Haven&#039;t seen it. What the hell is that?”&lt;br /&gt;
“...but this weapon is beautiful. Although the shape is weird.”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji wasn&#039;t trying to be whiny.&lt;br /&gt;
Nor was he envious of Mark to see him so happy. After all, a large weapon like the tomahawk was&lt;br /&gt;
difficult for him and Zhen to master.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji just...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I just think the ease with which this country can provide that kind of weaponry means that they&#039;re&lt;br /&gt;
more powerful than we thought...”&lt;br /&gt;
His words sent Mark and Shinji into silence.&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, the two of them were in the same mood.&lt;br /&gt;
Mark had been worried about whether the counter staff would take the Minotaur&#039;s battleaxe after&lt;br /&gt;
getting it.&lt;br /&gt;
The props obtained in the maze are all the challenger&#039;s property—the other side has already mentioned&lt;br /&gt;
this rule to them. However, he still had the idea that such powerful weapons would normally be collected&lt;br /&gt;
in the treasury.&lt;br /&gt;
From the standpoint of a few of them, if things turn out that way, so be it, we can only go against the&lt;br /&gt;
grain.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, several of them are spies, provided they don&#039;t make a big deal out of it.&lt;br /&gt;
However, the results were unexpected.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
People clapped their hands and congratulated them, and the staff present offered their blessings. Not&lt;br /&gt;
only that, but even a bonus.&lt;br /&gt;
So the three couldn&#039;t help but feel that it was proof that the Jura Tempest Federation was beyond the&lt;br /&gt;
pale.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Same thing with weapons, this country is weird.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What a surprise. If you&#039;re serious about how to approach this place, you&#039;ll not only have money to&lt;br /&gt;
take, but you&#039;ll also feel like you&#039;re having fun. It should be said that there seems to be no loss to us. It&lt;br /&gt;
should be hard for the weaker ones to earn a living here, but if they&#039;re as good as we are...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No way, Mark. Think, what would happen if you run away?:&lt;br /&gt;
“...the death penalty.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, that&#039;ll happen. But no matter how you think about it, the way of life here seems to be happier.”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and Zhen share Mark&#039;s views.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet the reality is harsh.&lt;br /&gt;
Mark&#039;s words were charming, but they can&#039;t keep dreaming here.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If there&#039;s a war, this country will suffer, too.”&lt;br /&gt;
“—should be. If this country wins, I will happily betray the Empire and join them. But no country is&lt;br /&gt;
willing to accept such a person if they run away and betray their country.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...losing our place will be very disturbing, there&#039;s no way around it.”&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them let out a sigh and decided to throw away their naive thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others changed their moods and began to think about their plans for tomorrow.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;From tomorrow, we will enter the fiftieth floor, and I have heard that next this place is called the&lt;br /&gt;
Paradise of the Dead. Mark&#039;s Minotaur Battleaxe is made of Holy Attribute magic steel, and its effect on&lt;br /&gt;
the Immortal or Necromantic lineage is worth waiting for.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This is it. It&#039;s also incredible at this point, it really seems like a game. The key to the next level is&lt;br /&gt;
guarded by the demon lord.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...and it&#039;s getting stronger.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing the two of them appear this reaction, Shinji actually noticed it too.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji&#039;s best game is role-playing, and without anyone else saying it, he&#039;d thought of that a long time&lt;br /&gt;
ago. It just felt too weird, so he deliberately didn&#039;t think about it.&lt;br /&gt;
He found many things.&lt;br /&gt;
Like the floor guardians located on ten multiples of floors are suddenly stronger.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It starts with a large spider (Dark Spider) with difficulty equal to B, and then a large centipede (Evil&lt;br /&gt;
Centipede) with difficulty equal to B+.&lt;br /&gt;
After that, on the thirtieth floor, a B+ ranked Big Ghost Maniac King (Ogre King) showed up with&lt;br /&gt;
several of his men. Since these magical creatures work together, it is difficult to deal with them simply by&lt;br /&gt;
strong brute force.&lt;br /&gt;
On the fortieth floor there is the A- tempest snake mentioned earlier, and on the fiftieth floor there is&lt;br /&gt;
the human-speaking monster from a tribe of bull-demons, named Gozu.&lt;br /&gt;
At this level is a monster that doesn’t even appear once in a hundred years.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s equivalent to a disaster level—according to Yuuki&#039;s rank, it’s a rank A magical creature.&lt;br /&gt;
The equivalent of a monster underneath a demon lord is a very dangerous opponent.&lt;br /&gt;
However, if the three of them went on together, it would take a little effort, but they could still beat&lt;br /&gt;
him. If that&#039;s what it means, even if one person goes out to fight alone, they should be able to win.&lt;br /&gt;
But one thing must not be forgotten. It doesn&#039;t die in the maze, so it can be hard-tried during combat.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s true. Since the fiftieth level is that kind of ranked magical creature guarding it, it might get&lt;br /&gt;
stronger in the next breath.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...it may be a fight to the death then.”&lt;br /&gt;
Mark agreed with Shinji, and Zhen nodded with an expression full of awareness.&lt;br /&gt;
Progress was good on this side, but a harsh battle would follow—so thought all three.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Just like before, the next tactic is still dominated by the mark. We also get weapons with special&lt;br /&gt;
effects, let&#039;s see how far we can fight.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...and right.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t think there&#039;s a lot of powerful magical creatures around. I think the next sixty levels should be&lt;br /&gt;
the bottom, and if that&#039;s not the case, it&#039;s pretty scary.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, no, no, I don&#039;t think so.”&lt;br /&gt;
Although Shinji came out and denied it, he actually heard annoying rumors.&lt;br /&gt;
He wasn&#039;t going to tell Mark about it to them. Because he knew that if he said it, the morale of the two&lt;br /&gt;
would definitely drop.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, that rumor was that the underground maze had gone down to a hundred levels below ground.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s ridiculous.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the conclusion of Shinji.&lt;br /&gt;
The floor monsters to face next made him uneasy, but it was useless to care about those.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
They won&#039;t die anyway, and Shinji and his crew think they&#039;ll be able to win in the end, only they may&lt;br /&gt;
have to fight for a long time next.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It can&#039;t be as bad as it looks, so let&#039;s just try and see, and remember to be vigilant.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Shinji say that, Mark and Zhen nodded.&lt;br /&gt;
The destination is at the bottom.&lt;br /&gt;
Supposedly there was a research facility there and they were going to make sure it wasn&#039;t true.&lt;br /&gt;
Later, Shinji reconfirmed their policy, and that was the day they went to sleep.&lt;br /&gt;
Three days passed after that.&lt;br /&gt;
Breaking through the poisonous swamp and erosion zone, Shinji and the others finally found the stairs&lt;br /&gt;
located on the 59th floor.&lt;br /&gt;
Walk down this staircase and you&#039;ll reach the 60th floor below. Finally, I was able to get to the front of&lt;br /&gt;
the room of the floor guardian.&lt;br /&gt;
It only took them seven days to hit the fiftieth floor directly, and it took them three whole days to go&lt;br /&gt;
from fifty to sixty. Although the area is smaller, the difficulty is much higher.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Are you ready for this?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;All right.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...hmm.”&lt;br /&gt;
Yesterday they were fully rested and fully prepared.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a lot of energy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It seems that like the fiftieth floor, there are so-called floor guardians ahead. It must be a monster with&lt;br /&gt;
intelligence.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I know. Should be tougher to deal with than yesterday&#039;s Necromancer Long.&lt;br /&gt;
“...let&#039;s give it our all from the start.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with the next hurdle, it&#039;s okay to just deal with it calmly. Thinking so, the three nodded silently at&lt;br /&gt;
each other.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately following...&lt;br /&gt;
They reached cautiously toward the door and pushed it open with one breath.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Time goes back a little...&lt;br /&gt;
Staying in my room, I considered constructing a surveillance network.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Currently, Souei and the spies released by Moss are on standby at the Jura Forest focus area. Not only&lt;br /&gt;
that, but we also have personnel deployed along the coast from the Kingdom of Farmenas to the northern&lt;br /&gt;
part of Ingracia and even on the mountain tops.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, the intelligence gathering still gives me a hint of unease.&lt;br /&gt;
My biggest fear is the time delay.&lt;br /&gt;
The intelligence officers released were in groups of two, taking into account the fact that both could&lt;br /&gt;
have been killed at the same time. In that case, the information coming out of that location would be&lt;br /&gt;
interrupted.&lt;br /&gt;
As heartbreaking as it is for people to be injured, information that comes too slowly could be&lt;br /&gt;
implicated in an existential crisis for the country. In order to avoid such a thing, I want Souei to speak to&lt;br /&gt;
those people with heavy words.&lt;br /&gt;
Once a surveillance officer is found, he or she may engage in a fight with the other party even if not&lt;br /&gt;
killed. This delayed the speed of information transfer, so I&#039;ve been fumbling around, looking for ways to&lt;br /&gt;
operate more safely and smoothly.&lt;br /&gt;
So I wondered if I could use magic to spy.&lt;br /&gt;
There are some spells that can see far and exist in the spell system, but they are more difficult to use&lt;br /&gt;
than one might think. At best, the amount of information that can be transmitted is not that much more&lt;br /&gt;
than confirmation of the other party&#039;s posture.&lt;br /&gt;
And only a single location can be monitored, and if you want to see a different place, you have to&lt;br /&gt;
rewire the magic.&lt;br /&gt;
It takes some time on the switch, and it doesn&#039;t make sense if the opponent has already passed through&lt;br /&gt;
that location, so this magic doesn&#039;t have enough flexibility.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition, if your opponent releases a magic barrier, the magic will be bounced off and disappear. It&lt;br /&gt;
simply can&#039;t be used to spy on the more powerful, and the conclusion is that it won&#039;t come in handy in the&lt;br /&gt;
real world.&lt;br /&gt;
But then an idea came to me.&lt;br /&gt;
That is &amp;quot;physical magic&amp;quot; —the &amp;quot;Megiddo&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
The so-called “Megiddo&amp;quot; magic causes water droplets to gather into the shape of a lens, which is used&lt;br /&gt;
to gather sunlight. As long as we follow this theory, I think we should be able to create surveillance magic&lt;br /&gt;
as well.&lt;br /&gt;
For example, let those beads of water float around and reflect the scene. If I can copy out those scenery,&lt;br /&gt;
I think I can confirm what&#039;s going on in the distance as well.&lt;br /&gt;
If that doesn&#039;t work, then I&#039;ll let a lens that floats about 10,000 meters into the air shine those images,&lt;br /&gt;
and then I&#039;ll let the images expand so that they project onto the screen.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s an integrated system with telescopes, photos and intelligence rewrites. Combining these together, it&lt;br /&gt;
is possible to create satellites for surveillance by magic—it should be easier to understand in this&lt;br /&gt;
direction.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It seems like a lot of trouble to construct these principles one by one with magic, but the King of&lt;br /&gt;
Wisdom gave the answer, saying that it can be achieved with &amp;quot;physical magic&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;spirit magic&amp;quot;, and &amp;quot;space&lt;br /&gt;
domination&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Next, just send the detailed requirements to the King of Wisdom.&lt;br /&gt;
Just doing that alone will create the magic I want.&lt;br /&gt;
When this surveillance system is completed, gathering intelligence will become easier.&lt;br /&gt;
It became safe, and it did. The amount of information we can get our hands on will also become so&lt;br /&gt;
large that we can easily keep track of the enemy&#039;s movements, no matter how they act.&lt;br /&gt;
One might think that there&#039;s something to be done with that when you&#039;re so busy, but it&#039;s a very&lt;br /&gt;
important thing.&lt;br /&gt;
He who controls information controls the world—even to such an extent that it is important, and so on,&lt;br /&gt;
to control war.&lt;br /&gt;
When the Russo-Japanese War was fought in the past, it was in the Sea of Japan, where the Japanese&lt;br /&gt;
Navy, under the command of Heihachiro Togo, Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Fleet, wiped out the&lt;br /&gt;
Russian Baltic Fleet.&lt;br /&gt;
It is said that the most important subject in this naval battle is whether or not to encounter the enemy&lt;br /&gt;
fleet.&lt;br /&gt;
Predict where you will be able to catch your opponent and where you will be able to meet them. Had&lt;br /&gt;
the guesses been wrong, there would have been no such battle in history. In terms of results, Japan would&lt;br /&gt;
have lost the war too, right?&lt;br /&gt;
In other words, that&#039;s exactly where we are.&lt;br /&gt;
If the fighters were spread out, our troops would be at a disadvantage in numbers and likely to lose the&lt;br /&gt;
battle. The ability to see through the Empire&#039;s movements and concentrate the fighters in the most suitable&lt;br /&gt;
locations is what will make the difference to victory.&lt;br /&gt;
Conversely, if the Empire has left their armies scattered, we can draw up a more detailed battle plan to&lt;br /&gt;
break them up individually. In order to make the playing field favorable like this, and most importantly&lt;br /&gt;
for us to actually win, this magic must be done.&lt;br /&gt;
Although I&#039;m being cool by saying this, in fact, the completion of the magic has come to the trial stage.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The reason why the King of Wisdom has been asking for it is because I want it to be more user-&lt;br /&gt;
friendly, and it is my fine point in this regard.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Huh? I didn’t do it myself?&lt;br /&gt;
Don&#039;t say stupid things like that.&lt;br /&gt;
The King of Wisdom is my skill, which is to say it equates to me having to work on it myself.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about it makes me think that I might be overworked lately. To combat the fatigue, I wanted to&lt;br /&gt;
catch my breath a little.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
After a long absence, I began to enjoy the black tea that Shion had made for me.&lt;br /&gt;
During this period of relaxation, I intend to use the surveillance magic that has been done...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Rimuru, I have an urgent report for you!”&lt;br /&gt;
It was at this time that Beretta contacted me urgently through the &amp;quot;Communication Network&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
His report was astonishing.&lt;br /&gt;
A second group of Raiders who had broken through to the fiftieth level in the underground maze had&lt;br /&gt;
appeared.&lt;br /&gt;
To add, by the way, without further ado, the first people were Masayuki and his crew. There is currently&lt;br /&gt;
an imminent war with other countries, so they are temporarily on hiatus, and their record break is 59th&lt;br /&gt;
floor.&lt;br /&gt;
Thanks to a few of them, the maze was in full swing.&lt;br /&gt;
Every day, many challengers come and use it to bring us wealth.&lt;br /&gt;
And of course it&#039;s good for the challengers.&lt;br /&gt;
Over the course of the year, they have also become quite skilled. The teams that started attacking the&lt;br /&gt;
30th floor one after another, created strategies to take advantage of the immortality phenomenon by using&lt;br /&gt;
combat methods such as coming back from the dead or making their teammates be honorably sacrificed&lt;br /&gt;
as living sacrifices.&lt;br /&gt;
However, after breaking through the thirtieth level, those who encountered those traps for the first time&lt;br /&gt;
would not only die, but the monsters would also begin to fight in collective action. If you use some evil&lt;br /&gt;
and devilish ways, it will be very difficult to correspond.&lt;br /&gt;
Still, there&#039;s no shortage of strong people among these challengers.&lt;br /&gt;
Those who attack with proper play tend to be slower on their feet, but they are more skilled and more&lt;br /&gt;
full of equipment. At the same time, the strength will increase. It&#039;s scary to get used to such things, and&lt;br /&gt;
even when encountering vicious traps, some people will start to dodge them by instinct.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s roughly the case, the nearest frontline Raider Team is closing in on the 40th Floor Guardians—&lt;br /&gt;
yet for now they&#039;re all stuck here.&lt;br /&gt;
Because the floor guardian on the fortieth floor was the A- rank Tempest Snake.&lt;br /&gt;
It was also one of the first black snakes I started encountering and was good at launching very effective&lt;br /&gt;
spray attacks against whole groups of people. A lot of people were sprayed by this guy until their&lt;br /&gt;
equipment broke and ended up coming to our stores with tears in their eyes.&lt;br /&gt;
This time of year we&#039;ll be sweet enough to lend out equipment produced by the Jura Tempest&lt;br /&gt;
Federation.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s another good deal to break it and claim it against them anyway.&lt;br /&gt;
Oops—thank you, Mr. Snake!&lt;br /&gt;
Take away their previously earned savings from the challengers for us completely. I was going to say&lt;br /&gt;
that this guardian is just that reliable, just that great, and can bring us wealth... It&#039;s a shame to be beaten&lt;br /&gt;
down.&lt;br /&gt;
And I heard that even the floor guardians of the fiftieth floor were taken out.&lt;br /&gt;
It was fortunate that they had played some small tricks when they broke the barrier, which meant that&lt;br /&gt;
the people who came this time were very strong. They took even the prize money, but it was just enough&lt;br /&gt;
to offset it as a promotional expense.&lt;br /&gt;
The maze was abuzz with talk of a new hero being born, and the event seemed to be even bigger than&lt;br /&gt;
before.&lt;br /&gt;
Regarding this fiftieth floor, I asked the wise monster to take care of the defense.&lt;br /&gt;
Ordered the Gozu of the Bull Beast Clan and the Mezu of the Horse Beast Clan to take turns guarding.&lt;br /&gt;
Those two weren&#039;t weak, and being breached surprised me well.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, the two of them would compete against each other whenever they had the time, and would&lt;br /&gt;
start playing around with ideas to make the fight more complicated. They are no longer fools who only&lt;br /&gt;
rely on brute force and can tell when they have a mind in the way they fight.&lt;br /&gt;
Now those two are less prone to strife, like good friends.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the fifty floors that have these two people taking turns guarding, it occurred to me that when&lt;br /&gt;
people break through this floor, I have pretty awesome prizes ready.&lt;br /&gt;
Only the first time will the equipment be opened from the treasure chest with a 100 percent chance.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s the special-grade equipment—the Bull Head and Horse Face Series.&lt;br /&gt;
The name is taken from Minotaur, guardian of the labyrinth. The gear is strong, strong as a mess.&lt;br /&gt;
If a weapon is fired, it&#039;s a minotaur&#039;s battle axe or a horse-headed minotaur&#039;s battle gun.&lt;br /&gt;
There are no shields, all that&#039;s left are defenses for all parts of the body.&lt;br /&gt;
Originally I thought it should be a while before anyone hits this level, so I only seem to have about ten&lt;br /&gt;
sets ready. But in terms of quality it&#039;s all first class. The high disciples from Kurobee gathered their skills&lt;br /&gt;
to create these fantastic creations.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a problem to be getting that kind of stuff, however what&#039;s more important is the fighting ability of&lt;br /&gt;
these Raiders.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, because of naming Gozu and Mezu, they got stronger. Being able to take these two down, the&lt;br /&gt;
country is keen to cut their corners.&lt;br /&gt;
If they are not willing to let us cut corners, they may become our enemies. That would be troublesome,&lt;br /&gt;
so we anticipate watching these dangerous people.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
For the above reasons, if the Gozu had been knocked down, someone would have contacted me&lt;br /&gt;
urgently.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why Beretta came to contact me just now.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, how&#039;s it going?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In your words. There are three breakers in total. Everyone has a unique skill.”&lt;br /&gt;
Maybe it was someone I knew—I had speculated that, but it was overturned at once.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only did it take three men to defeat Gozu, but they had unique skills. Not only that, they weren&#039;t the&lt;br /&gt;
ones who had been active before, they were newcomers who had just recently joined.&lt;br /&gt;
If it was a normal visit that’d be fine, but war was imminent, so it was likely that spies had been lured&lt;br /&gt;
here by a decoy.&lt;br /&gt;
It is necessary to gather detailed information about them.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of this, I suspended the scheduled practice plan for monitoring the magic and headed for the&lt;br /&gt;
command room located in the maze.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Going inside, I found that Ramiris and Veldora were already there.&lt;br /&gt;
Dino and Vesta seem to have the day off.&lt;br /&gt;
Dino is fine, Vesta seems to be working a lot lately, I hope he gets some rest.&lt;br /&gt;
Ramiris and Veldora were in good spirits.&lt;br /&gt;
These two probably don&#039;t know what fatigue is.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s called childish energy.&lt;br /&gt;
Just do what you&#039;re interested in and you won&#039;t feel exhausted at all during this time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, there you are, Commander! No change in the situation has occurred yet!”&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t understand where the change didn&#039;t occur.&lt;br /&gt;
Probably just say something decent.&lt;br /&gt;
I looked to the image reflected on the big picture.&lt;br /&gt;
Three young people are indeed reflected there.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It looked like they were breaking through those floors with a swagger of momentum. Not only that, but&lt;br /&gt;
they fight in an extremely specific way.&lt;br /&gt;
One person with a decidedly abnormal throwing power is catching the &amp;quot;air&amp;quot; throw.&lt;br /&gt;
Something like an air-compressed bullet or something, right? It was absolutely impossible to do it with&lt;br /&gt;
human power.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a stout and tall man with coffee-colored hair. His five features were deep and he wore a tank top&lt;br /&gt;
with jeans.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right, tank tops with jeans. Just looking at that makes him seem like an &amp;quot;otherworldly visitor&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Looking at the other two...&lt;br /&gt;
One of the men covered his thin frame with a black cloak, the other wore lock armor, and the youth had&lt;br /&gt;
a white coat over his body.&lt;br /&gt;
White. That&#039;s right, a white lab coat.&lt;br /&gt;
Often seen in research rooms or hospitals, it is the white coat that is everywhere. But it&#039;s not that&lt;br /&gt;
common in this world.&lt;br /&gt;
The white clad youth&#039;s five features looked like an asian man.&lt;br /&gt;
He looks Japanese no matter how I look at him.&lt;br /&gt;
That black cloak didn&#039;t matter, the man in the vest and the white youth should both be &#039;otherworldly&lt;br /&gt;
visitors&#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
Those aside first.&lt;br /&gt;
In the big picture, the battle goes on.&lt;br /&gt;
This time the opponent was a powerful character—six other Necromancers joined the battle and&lt;br /&gt;
attacked the three of them.&lt;br /&gt;
So fast that the average person couldn&#039;t react, the Necromancer wolves approached their prey with a&lt;br /&gt;
flourish.&lt;br /&gt;
The Necromancer probably thought that pulling too far away would only result in a one-sided attack.&lt;br /&gt;
Here, after the 50th floor of the underground, even the miscellaneous demons that appear have high IQs.&lt;br /&gt;
By the way, just one Necromancer has a B+ ranking, and gathering six will be very tricky. And they are&lt;br /&gt;
also necromantic, characterized by the fact that physical damage must be inflicted through holy attribute&lt;br /&gt;
weapons or magic weapons.&lt;br /&gt;
Their flesh is constructed of magical elements and will immediately regenerate even if they are beaten&lt;br /&gt;
to a pulp. It&#039;s a very difficult thing to defeat without a countermeasure.&lt;br /&gt;
One accident and they will bite you to death in one breath...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t underestimate me. I&#039;m just a dog! Watch this...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Someone let out a shout, it was the brunette who had been catching air and throwing it earlier. This&lt;br /&gt;
time picking up the dreaded battleaxe on his back and jerking it back vigorously there.&lt;br /&gt;
This wave alone made the three Necromancer Wolves turn into balls of light and disappear.&lt;br /&gt;
Ahhh, that thing! I was going to say that the dangerous-looking tomahawk looked familiar, and it&lt;br /&gt;
turned out to be a minotaur&#039;s tomahawk.&lt;br /&gt;
Since it was a special-grade weapon, of course it would carry magic. That is, it was a magical weapon&lt;br /&gt;
that could inflict damage to the Necromancers with ease. The magic power possessed by that weapon&lt;br /&gt;
alone could do damage to magical creatures.&lt;br /&gt;
And the Minotaur&#039;s battle axe is, as a matter of course, also very good in terms of materials. The&lt;br /&gt;
impression was that it was something that had been specially ordered, made from magic silver mixed into&lt;br /&gt;
the magic steel. This is a holy attribute, and this weapon is specifically used to inflict large damage to the&lt;br /&gt;
Immortal or Necromantic lineage.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right, if it&#039;s a minotaur&#039;s tomahawk, it only takes one slash to kill a necromancer wolf.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. That weapon seems to have been dropped by Gozu. Just picking up the weapon and being able&lt;br /&gt;
to use it so purely, it looks like that person has a talent for fighting.&lt;br /&gt;
I mumbled something there, and Veldora agreed with me.&lt;br /&gt;
As I watched them fight, I listened to what had happened.&lt;br /&gt;
At this very moment in the day, I wish I had potato chips to go with it.&lt;br /&gt;
It looked like most of those fights before were also the same one where the coffee-haired man took the&lt;br /&gt;
enemy down.&lt;br /&gt;
After actually seeing it with my own eyes, I finally understood.&lt;br /&gt;
The coffee-haired guy was really strong.&lt;br /&gt;
So, what about the various traps?&lt;br /&gt;
On that point, it was all the black cloak that quickly found out and told his companion the location.&lt;br /&gt;
Beginning at the fifty-first level, some ingenious traps, or sinister traps that will kill those who&lt;br /&gt;
encounter them for the first time, are officially employed.&lt;br /&gt;
A look will reveal that the black cloak has all the traps correctly pointed out.&lt;br /&gt;
That should be his unique skill. It can be said that such a member is indispensable in order to approach&lt;br /&gt;
the maze.&lt;br /&gt;
The last man in white has only made one appearance so far. I heard it was against Gozu.&lt;br /&gt;
Veldora&#039;s commentary on them was baffling, so I asked the King of Wisdom to pull up the records of&lt;br /&gt;
the Labyrinth&#039;s past. Next thing you know, it turns out he&#039;s actually done some pretty incredible things.&lt;br /&gt;
He took a syringe out of his arms and administered the blow to both partners.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately afterwards, Gozu&#039;s movements suddenly became sluggish.&lt;br /&gt;
What kind of status change is conferred?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. It is poison. Based on the results of the analysis, we know that the attack on the individual&lt;br /&gt;
named &amp;quot;Gozu&amp;quot; came from a neurotoxin. That room was filled with toxic gas that seemed to be able to&lt;br /&gt;
hinder movement if someone was not resistant enough. No impact at this time.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Ah, so it&#039;s poison gas.&lt;br /&gt;
And it&#039;s free to match the opponent&#039;s modulation on the spot.&lt;br /&gt;
Gozu&#039;s movements turned sluggish, just in time to become the mark of the brunette man.&lt;br /&gt;
However, it was the man in white who sent him to the Western Heaven. He took a knife that glowed&lt;br /&gt;
silver out of his arms and properly sliced through the veins in Gozu&#039;s neck.&lt;br /&gt;
This man in white was the leader of the three of them.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s not that he barely gets a chance to play, it&#039;s that he&#039;s responsible for calling the shots.&lt;br /&gt;
And it&#039;s not bad. The coffee-haired man, who appears to be the front man, can also move freely.&lt;br /&gt;
They have a good balance and can be described as a good team.&lt;br /&gt;
Just at this time, a knock on the door of the room rang out.&lt;br /&gt;
The door opened silently, and Shuna entered the house.&lt;br /&gt;
She brought a piece of paper with the three people who had been the subject of conversation just now,&lt;br /&gt;
with the information the three of them had used to log in.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This is the information that the three men logged in when they entered the country.”&lt;br /&gt;
Next, Shuna gave a bow and handed me the piece of paper.&lt;br /&gt;
Sincerely: twenty-three years old, wizard.&lt;br /&gt;
Mark: Twenty-six years old, fighter.&lt;br /&gt;
Zhen: Seventeen years old, a hunter.&lt;br /&gt;
A brief note on paper with their names and occupations.&lt;br /&gt;
From a small country next to the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
When the merchants heard the rumor of the underground labyrinth, they came to try their hand at it—&lt;br /&gt;
the purpose of entering our country is stated above.&lt;br /&gt;
No, no, no, it&#039;s a lie any way you look at it.&lt;br /&gt;
Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, also presents the results of the analysis of those three men. Just&lt;br /&gt;
like Beretta had said, it looked like those three people each had unique skills.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
These three would form a team and still come at the same time and teach people how to believe.&lt;br /&gt;
A couple of points about the careers they propose also concern me a bit.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to be a mage, you must be able to do more than two systems of magic, which is a more&lt;br /&gt;
advanced profession. As for that ‘Sincerely’, he seems to have learned &amp;quot;Spirit Magic&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Elemental&lt;br /&gt;
Magic&amp;quot;, and can be said to have great qualities.&lt;br /&gt;
The same goes for the fighter, who must excel in both his use of weapons and his fighting skills. Under&lt;br /&gt;
these conditions, at least one of each is required for basic fighting techniques and the weapons that will be&lt;br /&gt;
used.&lt;br /&gt;
If with a sword it is swordsmanship, with a bow and arrow it is shooting, among which there is&lt;br /&gt;
throwing such things as throwing a short sword or throwing stones. To choose from a wide variety of&lt;br /&gt;
weapons that suit you. It also requires flexibility, which is the ultimate in weapon use skills.&lt;br /&gt;
That Mark seemed to be good at throwing abilities and using a spear in addition to fighting abilities,&lt;br /&gt;
which felt very versatile.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the last hunter, that can be called the top of the magic hunter.&lt;br /&gt;
In the shooting technique, special emphasis is placed on the bow and archery and learning to the&lt;br /&gt;
extreme, as well as using the &amp;quot;invisibility method&amp;quot;, which is the most difficult in the technique. And one&lt;br /&gt;
must also learn the skill of &amp;quot;crisis awareness&amp;quot;; one cannot become a hunter by talent alone.&lt;br /&gt;
It is the most revered profession for those who are attached to the repression department.&lt;br /&gt;
In a world where it&#039;s essential to be able to spot traps or magical creatures when exploring, there are&lt;br /&gt;
very few people with that kind of skill. The situation is such that the only people who can become hunters&lt;br /&gt;
seem to be members of the hunting nation, a difficult profession.&lt;br /&gt;
All three have very rare careers, and they come in teams. Either way, it feels like they’re saying &amp;quot;please&lt;br /&gt;
doubt me&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;These three really look like the spies who took the bait.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes. But would a spy reveal his identity as generously as this?”&lt;br /&gt;
After my muttered words, someone picked up, a Diablo with a thin sense of presence.&lt;br /&gt;
When I was doing the magic development, he was the subject of my consultation and was looking&lt;br /&gt;
forward to the experiment of the new surveillance magic, but the experiment was interrupted because of&lt;br /&gt;
this summoning, and he seemed very unhappy. His eyes seemed to be filled with hatred for the three&lt;br /&gt;
people in the picture, but it turned out that judgment was still normal?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, I wonder about that too. I used to think they might have to make a move, but the town is pretty&lt;br /&gt;
stable.”&lt;br /&gt;
This team is indeed suspicious, but the information documented above is really too candid.&lt;br /&gt;
Did they really write those things honestly—to give rise to such doubts, even as to the ingenious battle&lt;br /&gt;
plan to make us suspect a dark spirit?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Rimuru, you&#039;re overthinking it, aren&#039;t you? Don&#039;t you always say honesty is most important too?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Say what? More than that, how to entertain the challengers is the most important thing right now!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
No way, I envy you both, neither of you have to use your brains.&lt;br /&gt;
They shouldn&#039;t be bothered, I&#039;m starting to envy Veldora and Ramiris.&lt;br /&gt;
Never mind.&lt;br /&gt;
Whatever the truth is, it&#039;s definitely important to pay more attention to these people.&lt;br /&gt;
The dark-haired young man in white was named Sincerely.&lt;br /&gt;
I think Sincerely is a pseudonym. Either way I look at it, I think his name should be Shinji (***I think&lt;br /&gt;
that Shinji has a meaning or a sound similar to ‘sincere’ in japanese which is why the pseudonym refers&lt;br /&gt;
to what Rimuru thinks is his real name).&lt;br /&gt;
The brown-haired guy is Mark.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t just throw air bombs, but also things like the corpse of a magical creature, a dropped rock, or&lt;br /&gt;
anything that could be caught, as if he could throw anything.&lt;br /&gt;
He also grabbed a live magical creature and threw it out to smash two skeleton warriors into pieces at&lt;br /&gt;
the same time, causing me to almost spit out my tea as I watched.&lt;br /&gt;
He looks like he should really be a fighter. Deftly manipulating the minotaur&#039;s battle axe, he knocked&lt;br /&gt;
those dead spirits down one after another.&lt;br /&gt;
The man in the black cloak was Zhen.&lt;br /&gt;
This guy definitely has an eye for seeing through traps.&lt;br /&gt;
At first, I thought it was &amp;quot;crisis awareness&amp;quot;, but seeing that he could avoid all dangerous places&lt;br /&gt;
beforehand, I thought it was probably due to his unique skills.&lt;br /&gt;
Originally the vicious trap after the fifty layers was more threatening than the powerful demon.&lt;br /&gt;
The Immortal System&#039;s magical creatures don&#039;t need to breathe, and to avoid unnatural situations, we&lt;br /&gt;
adjust the composition of the air. The room without oxygen was so violent that even if you accidentally&lt;br /&gt;
stepped in it, you would die immediately.&lt;br /&gt;
Others prepare poisoned water, acid swamps, corrosive gas rooms, etc.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only the flesh, but even the equipment is damaged, and very annoying various traps await the&lt;br /&gt;
challenger.&lt;br /&gt;
Those insidious traps are exactly the character of the producer, and the design concept of the Fiftieth&lt;br /&gt;
Levels is to use these dangerous traps to hinder everyone.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet the trap was so thoroughly seen that it&#039;s pointless.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, their sense of direction seems to stand out, not being fooled by the spinning floor,&lt;br /&gt;
simply taking the shortest distance forward.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The labyrinth obviously makes no sense at all.&lt;br /&gt;
If they suffered some injuries, the white-clothed youth, Sincerely, would heal them. If he can also break&lt;br /&gt;
down toxins, can&#039;t seem to expect those traps to have much effect.&lt;br /&gt;
Although there are only three of them, they are particularly well suited to Raid the Maze.&lt;br /&gt;
Just like that, three days passed.&lt;br /&gt;
The three of us, me, Veldora, and Ramiris, had fun watching Sincerely and the others raid the&lt;br /&gt;
Labyrinth.&lt;br /&gt;
No, they&#039;re not meant to be used as a reference model to replace their own maze!&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s the one—just admiring the beauty of a master fighter.&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo was reading a book in one corner of the room, and Shuna was teaching Shion how to make&lt;br /&gt;
snacks.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, Shuna poured fresh tea for the three of us.&lt;br /&gt;
Today&#039;s drink is black tea, but the apple aroma inside is soothing.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By the way, Rimuru, what do you mean those people took the bait?”&lt;br /&gt;
Well, what are you talking about—it dawned on me that I was talking about a conversation from three&lt;br /&gt;
days ago.&lt;br /&gt;
The sluggishness is not on par with a dinosaur, but he&#039;s still Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s okay if you don&#039;t have to care about that.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s a little out of line, isn&#039;t it? You can tell me.”&lt;br /&gt;
Usually I don&#039;t give a damn about such things, but today I&#039;m particularly obsessed. Well, it&#039;s okay if you&lt;br /&gt;
ask me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So I said, actually...”&lt;br /&gt;
So much so that I decided to explain it to Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
Uppercut means literally.&lt;br /&gt;
We have additional asylum training. The reason is that we&#039;ve been able to do something as exaggerated&lt;br /&gt;
as isolating an entire town directly into an underground maze.&lt;br /&gt;
The inherent ability of &amp;quot;labyrinth creation&amp;quot; in Ramiris is really impressive. I knew she could replace&lt;br /&gt;
floors, but didn&#039;t think even the above-ground metropolis could be replaced as a floor.&lt;br /&gt;
Although the isolation was carried out, it was fixed for twenty-four hours. But there is no need to worry&lt;br /&gt;
about water or air. It should be said that the sun can still be seen and does not seem to be too much of a&lt;br /&gt;
burden on the minds of the residents.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Of course that requires a very strong force, and this is the time to look for him—we have Veldora-kun&lt;br /&gt;
here.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of this, our approach to warfare was primarily to segregate towns in time of war.&lt;br /&gt;
—and practiced it several times, which is the bait we sow on spies.&lt;br /&gt;
Only one door was left in the ground, and that was the junction to the maze that looked as suspicious as&lt;br /&gt;
it said it was. In discussing with Benimaru they came to the conclusion that the other side would&lt;br /&gt;
definitely come and investigate.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So it is. Thanks to Master, my power has also increased! It seems like a big help, which is great.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh-huh, so. Thanks to me? I see.”&lt;br /&gt;
Veldora looked at me with a look that was very much intending to be complimented.&lt;br /&gt;
This guy is a pain in the ass, I thought to myself, but thanks to Veldora it was the truth.&lt;br /&gt;
“Geez—that was a big help, Veldora-kun~”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Kuahahaha! I guess so, that&#039;s it! So, can I have this cake?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That won&#039;t work...!&lt;br /&gt;
This cake is one that I&#039;m going to keep and enjoy.&lt;br /&gt;
“In that case, please have my share.”&lt;br /&gt;
Oh, Diablo, thank you!&lt;br /&gt;
“Sorry.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If anything, it&#039;s no big deal if it’s for Lord Rimuru.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
He’s so reliable.&lt;br /&gt;
Then I will respectfully submit to Diablo&#039;s kindness.&lt;br /&gt;
Enjoying the cake on one side, my eyes looked to the big picture.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately afterwards, the group challenged the floor guardians that were about to challenge the 60th&lt;br /&gt;
floor.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Since we know they&#039;re spies, shouldn&#039;t we take them in?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, I want to test their strength and see how far they can go forward. It&#039;s a big loss to pay a bonus, but&lt;br /&gt;
they fired up the atmosphere so that should be fine.”&lt;br /&gt;
The big deal is to still arrest them and get those things back anyway.&lt;br /&gt;
Now let them think we&#039;re going to booze and come and use these people completely.&lt;br /&gt;
“That’s Rimuru for you.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So dirty! Your ideas are genius!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Obviously complimented by Veldora and Ramiris, why am I not happy?&lt;br /&gt;
Shuna looked at the few of us with dumbfounded eyes.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s a failure. Didn&#039;t expect to fire the Minotaur&#039;s battleaxe the first time. That one is a holy&lt;br /&gt;
attribute, and the damage to the Immortal or Necromantic lineage is greatly increased.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I can&#039;t believe we&#039;re having a first-return limited-edition giveaway. We seem a little overwhelmed...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The guardian of the sixty levels is Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
Just like in the old days when he was King of the Dead, he went to meet the challengers, so I let him&lt;br /&gt;
take the title of &amp;quot;Immortal King&amp;quot;, but...&lt;br /&gt;
One has to lead the army to play to Adalman&#039;s strengths. If he was the only one, actually weaker than&lt;br /&gt;
Gozu or Mezu, there was always the feeling that there might be a regrettable result this time too.&lt;br /&gt;
And Adalman is a dead spirit and is very vulnerable to holy attributes or light attributes.&lt;br /&gt;
As long as Mark had the Minotaur&#039;s battleaxe in his hands, the odds of Adalman&#039;s victory were slim.&lt;br /&gt;
I did make some suggestions with Adalman, but this floor boss is actually a trap.&lt;br /&gt;
There wasn&#039;t a lot of expectation for the strength of the floor guardian, so I think it&#039;s okay to give the&lt;br /&gt;
challenger weapons that can attack weak points.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m sorry Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
Unfortunately, there&#039;s no way to stop those three on his own.&lt;br /&gt;
Well, it&#039;s probably my fault, just please forgive me.&lt;br /&gt;
For the above reasons, I was more looking forward to the 70th level of the Guardians.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;quot;Immortal King&amp;quot; Adalman spotted an invasion of his jurisdiction and his fleshless lips lifted&lt;br /&gt;
upwards.&lt;br /&gt;
Teeth rubbed slightly, making a tiny sound. It was hard to tell, but Adalman smirked to himself.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You seem to be in a good mood, Lord Adalman.”&lt;br /&gt;
Someone opened their mouth to Adalman, the man who had been his beloved comrade long ago.&lt;br /&gt;
This man was originally a Templar and his name was Albert.&lt;br /&gt;
Even when Adalman was set up to die, he always followed Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
After becoming a member of Rimuru&#039;s ministry and taking the last seat, Albert became a lower-ranking&lt;br /&gt;
magical creature called a skeleton swordsman. To even be able to exist in the world was good luck, so he&lt;br /&gt;
becomes something very weak.&lt;br /&gt;
Certainly even less likely to speak.&lt;br /&gt;
Today, however, Albert speaks fluently.&lt;br /&gt;
Why is this?&lt;br /&gt;
The reason is actually very simple.&lt;br /&gt;
Because the current Albert is no longer some skeletal swordsman, nor is he a Necromancer who&lt;br /&gt;
evolved several stages backwards.&lt;br /&gt;
Rather, he’s a more powerful character—the Paladin of the Dead.&lt;br /&gt;
Since he is a dead spirit, he will not possess flesh. Yet he stood there with the same posture he had in&lt;br /&gt;
his life. Only there were blue ghostly flames flying around, and his skin was a miserable white color, so it&lt;br /&gt;
was obvious that he was not a living person.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman had no attachment to the flesh of his life, and preferred the present posture, with only bones&lt;br /&gt;
left. But Albert seemed to think differently, and since he had been given a much larger amount of magic&lt;br /&gt;
power than the Necromancer, he was now free to rely on the magic vein structure flesh.&lt;br /&gt;
Albert still had a fondness for the way he was when he was alive, and that look made him proud.&lt;br /&gt;
He becomes a young man with a fresh face—strange to say that the dead are fresh.&lt;br /&gt;
Guided by seemingly dangerous equipment, a glance at Albert could tell he was no panhandler.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, I&#039;m certainly in a good mood. Albert, it looks like a guest is coming.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that, Albert nodded happily too.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So you&#039;re here at last?”&lt;br /&gt;
These two befriended each other so well that they knew everything about each other, and with a little&lt;br /&gt;
conversation they were heart to heart.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. This moment has finally come. Lord Rimuru, the demon lord, has given us peace of mind,&lt;br /&gt;
which will now help that lord. Since he has given us such a powerful power, you must know that we must&lt;br /&gt;
not lose our temper like before.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Of course. I, Albert, understand perfectly.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, it looks like I was nosy. It&#039;s probably because he was so excited that he started nagging about it.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately after, the two of them looked at each other and flashed smiles at each other.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to them there is another one.&lt;br /&gt;
“Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A ferocious and violent roar roared through the interior of the city of death.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, I see you&#039;re looking forward to it, too. All right then. Use your power well today. We have to&lt;br /&gt;
prove our faithfulness to god!”&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s both serene and thick.&lt;br /&gt;
The enthusiasm of those three men enveloped the room.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman&#039;s faith died for a time, and demon lord Rimuru became the god of his renewed faith.&lt;br /&gt;
Months passed after a bitter defeat.&lt;br /&gt;
He hoped to be able to contribute to Rimuru, and in just a few short months, Adalman had taken back&lt;br /&gt;
the power of the King of the Dead, which was nothing compared to the heyday.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman&#039;s faith has become so strong.&lt;br /&gt;
In Rimuru&#039;s perspective though, he only felt that faith was too much to bear.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only that, but he was also thinking in his mind, ‘Sorry, you guys shouldn&#039;t have a chance to win,’&lt;br /&gt;
and was already looking forward to the next floor guardians. Adalman and the others were completely&lt;br /&gt;
unaware of this matter, and everyone was in full force.&lt;br /&gt;
This time it has to be—no, it can&#039;t be the next time.&lt;br /&gt;
Failure is not allowed, he must keep winning.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman and his partner were full of energy, thinking that the foolish intruders should come over soon&lt;br /&gt;
and start discussing countermeasures cautiously.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
A fierce battle opened and ended in the blink of an eye.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a real battle—I’d like to make that comment, but it was too much of an understatement to say.&lt;br /&gt;
I had even prepared poker cards in order to defuse the boredom, but those were completely useless.&lt;br /&gt;
The result was a landslide victory for Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
The win was glorious—glorious to the point of being speechless.&lt;br /&gt;
It wasn&#039;t that the challengers were weak, and they weren&#039;t sick or injured.&lt;br /&gt;
Those people seemed to be in good physical condition and full of energy. But at these levels, Adalman&lt;br /&gt;
and the others are even better.&lt;br /&gt;
This time the challenger was very strong.&lt;br /&gt;
Their skills are also analytically complete and I think they should be better than Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
Those three people were all above level A, and each of them had unique skills.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The unique skill of Sincerely is called &amp;quot;Healer&amp;quot;, and it is a very rare skill. Through that skill, you can&lt;br /&gt;
manipulate the construction of tiny viruses. If the other person is a creature, it seems to be able to still&lt;br /&gt;
destroy from within the body. It also seems to be able to manipulate the air components and spread tiny&lt;br /&gt;
attack viruses.&lt;br /&gt;
Honestly, that&#039;s too good to be true. If the opponent is a living creature, there&#039;s probably no way to beat&lt;br /&gt;
it, right?&lt;br /&gt;
Without a microscope, there was no way to distinguish those extremely small attacking bodies, and if&lt;br /&gt;
there was no way to see those things, it should be impossible to win over Sincerely right now.&lt;br /&gt;
And of course he can administer therapy. That&#039;s superior to medical nanobots, a skill that&#039;s also&lt;br /&gt;
excellent in terms of its versatility.&lt;br /&gt;
Then there&#039;s Mark, whose power is the exclusive skill &amp;quot;Thrower&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
As long as it&#039;s something that can be held in the hand, it seems that anything can be lost. Seeing as he&lt;br /&gt;
can hold magical objects in disgrace, being able to lift things seems to apply to this skill as well.&lt;br /&gt;
If combined with magic that manipulates gravity, it could be more tricky than your average mass&lt;br /&gt;
weapon. Rather than being used against a single individual, it may be more effectively used, especially&lt;br /&gt;
against the military.&lt;br /&gt;
Finally, there are the skills of Zhen, which contain many convenient skills.&lt;br /&gt;
His unique skill, &amp;quot;Observer&amp;quot;, contains &amp;quot;Intuition Avoidance&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Crisis Sense&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Trap Sense&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Magic&lt;br /&gt;
Object Sense&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Breath Sense&amp;quot;, and seems to be able to see even the smallest of sincere attacks. Combined&lt;br /&gt;
with his individual fighting abilities, he was especially good at running away. Not only is he fast, but he’s&lt;br /&gt;
also a natural enemy of the maze as it won&#039;t be countered by traps.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s about it.&lt;br /&gt;
Those skills that look good let me be the reference.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone is excellent, and those three have a tacit understanding, no wonder they’re so strong.&lt;br /&gt;
I think it&#039;s understandable to think that these three would be able to beat Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
However....&lt;br /&gt;
In the intervening months, that Adalman guy seems to have grown substantially.&lt;br /&gt;
Without self-willed magical creatures, it is impossible to increase the fighting ability substantially from&lt;br /&gt;
the initial value. It&#039;s a different story if one lives for decades, but nothing will change in just a few years.&lt;br /&gt;
But Adalman and Albert...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I say, what&#039;s going on? Why have they become so strong with Adalman?”&lt;br /&gt;
And what is that dragon?&lt;br /&gt;
This time, the floor guardian has an evil dragon he&#039;s never seen before in addition to Adalman and&lt;br /&gt;
Albert. Standing nearly ten meters tall, his body exuded a terrible darkness.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
From which side do you bring such things...?&lt;br /&gt;
What was going on when I went abroad to inspect the town that was out of town?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey hey hey, you&#039;re scared! Actually, we&#039;ve been keeping it a secret. Didn&#039;t you equip them, Rimuru?&lt;br /&gt;
They seem to be having fun, so they exercise hard! And there&#039;s also the fact that the concentration of&lt;br /&gt;
mana in the maze is high, right? Because of the absorption of these magical elements, both Adalman and&lt;br /&gt;
Albert regained their original power!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The spoof worked! That&#039;s probably how I felt when Ramiris spoke to me.&lt;br /&gt;
Indeed, a closer look will reveal that Adalman has evolved from a Necromancer to a Necromancer&lt;br /&gt;
King. I didn&#039;t notice because he was all bony and had luxurious clothes, in fact his magic had become&lt;br /&gt;
very big.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There was another person, Albert who seemed to have evolved beyond the Necromancer into a higher-&lt;br /&gt;
order magical being like the Necromancer Paladin.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That Necromancer King and Necromancer Paladin, both of them have the equivalent amount of mana&lt;br /&gt;
to a high ranked demon general...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Kuahahaha! It&#039;s a small cast, but they&#039;ve worked hard to get the glory for us!”&lt;br /&gt;
To say that they evolved speaks volumes, but the level of reinforcement has been overwhelming.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I ask you, what is this dragon like?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, don&#039;t you know about it Rimuru? That&#039;s Adalman&#039;s pet!”&lt;br /&gt;
Pet....?&lt;br /&gt;
Well—so to speak... Adalman seems to have said he wanted a pet, but I didn&#039;t expect such an evil&lt;br /&gt;
looking dragon.&lt;br /&gt;
This dragon is a Necromantic Dragon that stands at the pinnacle of the Necromancy. Because of the&lt;br /&gt;
fact that Shuna and the rest seemed to be familiar with this opponent, people assumed that I was also in&lt;br /&gt;
the know.&lt;br /&gt;
I was actually negligent in this matter as well. I can&#039;t help but feel that reporting, liaising and&lt;br /&gt;
negotiating is really important.&lt;br /&gt;
So, let&#039;s take a look at the most important part, which is the combat content.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s not much more to say about that.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman didn&#039;t move half a point from his throne. On the left hand side, there was a Necromantic&lt;br /&gt;
Dragon sitting.&lt;br /&gt;
Albert alone came forward to fight, but he took everyone down directly.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the minotaur&#039;s tomahawk in Mark&#039;s hand, it was simply too late to be of real value. Blocked by a&lt;br /&gt;
spite spirit sword that was also a special-grade weapon, Mark was simply beheaded.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Zhen looked so surprised that he couldn&#039;t speak, and in that instant there was a break. Albert didn&#039;t let&lt;br /&gt;
go of this great opportunity, and with such speed that one would think he had disappeared, he launched an&lt;br /&gt;
attack on Zhen in response. This alone will end Zhen&#039;s career.&lt;br /&gt;
“What!?”&lt;br /&gt;
Sincerely was surprised, but he hurriedly released the divine magic &#039;Spirit Holy Cannon&#039; towards&lt;br /&gt;
Albert. That&#039;s the kind of magic that Paladins are good at, and there aren&#039;t many people who would use it&lt;br /&gt;
in general. It&#039;s not even on the application form at the time of logging in, so this should be a sincere stunt.&lt;br /&gt;
This spell is great for a quick attack that hits Albert directly.&lt;br /&gt;
It looked like he could get away with it. Was it too much for Albert—he thought so, so he didn&#039;t have to&lt;br /&gt;
worry. Because there was no need to hold back, Albert didn&#039;t act.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s a lie!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Aiming with astonished sincerity, Albert swung down his sword.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s over when you get to this side.&lt;br /&gt;
Albert is also an immortal, so the holy attribute should be a weakness, right?&lt;br /&gt;
If anyone thinks that way, the sentiment is the same as mine.&lt;br /&gt;
Definitely true.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason why Albert is fine lies with Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s Adalman&#039;s killer technique—the add-on &amp;quot;Holy Reversal&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. The &amp;quot;Holy Reversal&amp;quot; is a mystical mystery created by the individual name &amp;quot;Adalman&amp;quot;. The&lt;br /&gt;
effect of this skill can replace the &amp;quot;Holy&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Magic&amp;quot; attributes.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Thanks to this skill of Adalman&#039;s, Albert converted from a magical attribute to a holy attribute.&lt;br /&gt;
That wouldn&#039;t affect the equipment, but Albert would still be dead and wouldn&#039;t be absorbing essence. It&lt;br /&gt;
seems that even property changes don&#039;t seem to be a problem.&lt;br /&gt;
If the creature is one of your own, don&#039;t worry about developing resistance.&lt;br /&gt;
Holy dead, what a joke this is—think of it, because of Adalman&#039;s &amp;quot;holy reversal&amp;quot; and the event thus&lt;br /&gt;
becomes a reality.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman they are necromancers, able to resist attacks of various attributes. As far as physical attacks&lt;br /&gt;
go, most of them don&#039;t hurt.&lt;br /&gt;
They have overcome the weakness of holy attributes. In this state, the average challenger can be said to&lt;br /&gt;
be at a loss for words.&lt;br /&gt;
With no use of the magic I teach, Adalman and the rest have won.&lt;br /&gt;
The situation was such that the three of them were defeated in just two or three strokes, turning into&lt;br /&gt;
many small balls of light and retiring.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Did you see it? O, my god Rimuru? We win for you!”&lt;br /&gt;
Looking at the high pitched Adalman, I had a thought.&lt;br /&gt;
It seems like Adalman and the others are going overboard as the 60th level of defensive play.&lt;br /&gt;
Under the impression that I did say to Adalman that against a group opponent just use the group back.&lt;br /&gt;
In response, they did abide by my admonition that no opponent facing an offense sent more men than&lt;br /&gt;
they did.&lt;br /&gt;
But that&#039;s fraudulent.&lt;br /&gt;
What&#039;s that?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. Special Class A—Three catastrophe classes appearing at the same time, all of which can&lt;br /&gt;
wipe out a small kingdom.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The way it looks, they should have something else to hide.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m going to wait until it&#039;s over before I question Ramiris, and I&#039;ll comfort the Adalman group for now.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well done, Adalman! It&#039;s not convenient to be so far away, so you can come to this command room.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Thank you very much, I&#039;ll be at your side in a minute!”&lt;br /&gt;
He&#039;s as polite as ever.&lt;br /&gt;
Forget it, it&#039;s only like Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Albert can talk now, too, can&#039;t he? Bring him along.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, sir. What about the Necromancer...?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Let the dragon take care of the house anyway.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The Dead Spirit Dragon looked as if it was sad, but I refused with an iron heart this time.&lt;br /&gt;
Up to ten meters, that&#039;s too big.&lt;br /&gt;
If it was the dedicated hall of the Veldora, located on the 100th floor of the ground floor, it would be a&lt;br /&gt;
different story; this commander&#039;s chamber is not that big. Sad as it is, please give it up.&lt;br /&gt;
I ordered Shion to prepare black tea for Adalman and Albert, and the next moment she asked me with a&lt;br /&gt;
serious expression.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;They&#039;re all bones. Is there a way to drink them?”&lt;br /&gt;
“.......”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yeah, that&#039;s right.&lt;br /&gt;
Albert seems to be in the flesh? But Adalman is still a skeleton, right?&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, can they at least enjoy the scent?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s the heart that&#039;s important at a time like this.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s it, I see!”&lt;br /&gt;
The two of us talked while we waited for Adalman and the others to come over.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Long time no see, Lord Rimuru!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I am grateful to see you in your presence.”&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman and Albert knelt before us.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead of looking through the big picture, the two are viewed up close. Their power soared that it even&lt;br /&gt;
made one wonder if it was the same person as before.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, good on you guys. Your name is Albert, right? You&#039;re very good. And Adalman, as a Guardian,&lt;br /&gt;
you&#039;ve done very well. Keep up the good work in the future too!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, I&#039;ll have to ask you guys to do the same.”&lt;br /&gt;
Before I could talk to them, Veldora and Ramiris stepped in to motivate them. If you don&#039;t speak first at&lt;br /&gt;
a time like this, you get more and more worried about what to say.&lt;br /&gt;
Well, let&#039;s not get too hard on the words.&lt;br /&gt;
“Geez, that&#039;s really it. It&#039;s been a long time since I&#039;ve seen you guys, and you&#039;ve grown so much, it&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
amazing to me.”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s not growth anymore, it&#039;s evolution.&lt;br /&gt;
Those three challengers were so good, I thought I&#039;d have a hard time dealing with them on my own—&lt;br /&gt;
that sentence was swallowed hard. Even if I really feel that way, it&#039;s better not to say it—it happens&lt;br /&gt;
sometimes.&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman and the rest were touched by a million things.&lt;br /&gt;
To force away some of the guilt, I asked them to sit in a chair.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It smells really, really good. If someone else had bought us a drink, I would have thought they were&lt;br /&gt;
being sarcastic...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Ah, so that&#039;s it?&lt;br /&gt;
Is it too much for someone who can&#039;t drink?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But this is an invitation from Lord Rimuru, and the scent alone heals the mind, feeling all the fatigue&lt;br /&gt;
in the body gone.”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s fine, except that the person who made these teas was Shion.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yummy. It&#039;s like manna with a sweet, sweet aroma. I am grateful to you for this brief moment of&lt;br /&gt;
immense happiness.”&lt;br /&gt;
You two are overdoing it...&lt;br /&gt;
Albert seems to be using the magical vein to structure his flesh.&lt;br /&gt;
Probably only possible in a maze, temporary flesh.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Adalman, aren&#039;t you going to create a body of flesh like Albert?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Huh?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Nothing special, just wanted to say this way, you can even enjoy black tea, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Say, say, maybe so, but I personally seem to value the atmosphere more...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
So it turns out, I don&#039;t quite get it, but Adalman has his preferences I guess. Since that leaves no room&lt;br /&gt;
for me to interject.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If that&#039;s the case, I won&#039;t force you.”&lt;br /&gt;
So I decided to change the subject.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By the way, the additional skill &#039;Holy Demon Reversal&#039; is a good focus. Just developing something&lt;br /&gt;
like this shows you&#039;re working hard.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thank you! On that sort of thing, Mr. Beretta also assisted. Besides...”&lt;br /&gt;
I changed the subject and went to ask about the &amp;quot;holy reversal”, only to hear a surprising insider&#039;s story.&lt;br /&gt;
Didn&#039;t realize it had anything to do with Ruminas.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Lord Ruminas said to me, &#039;Consider this a repentance,&#039; and the Beneficent gave me a mystical ritual,&lt;br /&gt;
the reversal of day and night. Mr. Beretta used a unique technique called &#039;Heavenly Evil Ghost&#039; to modify&lt;br /&gt;
it, and as a result, I learned it successfully.&lt;br /&gt;
It is said to be so.&lt;br /&gt;
When Ruminas said she wanted to &amp;quot;make amends&amp;quot;, she meant to turn a blind eye to the fact that the&lt;br /&gt;
Seven Celestial Sages were out of control.&lt;br /&gt;
Why did Granbell exclude the capable Adalman? My reasoning on this point is as follows.&lt;br /&gt;
With the exception of Granbell, the other Seven Celestial Sages were desperately trying to find a way&lt;br /&gt;
to exclude the Adalman bar in order to avoid having their status threatened. But Granbell felt that&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman had to overcome that level of trap to be of use to himself.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman and the others fought the dragon and lost both. Maybe Granbell didn&#039;t see it coming.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
An enemy of even this magnitude can&#039;t be defeated, can&#039;t be a guardian of the human race—I always&lt;br /&gt;
felt things should be like this.&lt;br /&gt;
It was the sight of that lone figure, the way Granbell looked before he died, that gave me the idea.&lt;br /&gt;
But it&#039;s a bit uncomfortable to talk about that kind of thing.&lt;br /&gt;
Hopefully someday Adalman will find out for himself. With a prayer in my heart, I changed the subject&lt;br /&gt;
again.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s great. I&#039;ll go and say thanks to Ruminas afterwards too, Adalman!”&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If it&#039;s you, you should be able to defeat the floor guardian currently in charge of the 70th floor, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What do you mean by that?”&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with a confused Adalman, I decided to elaborate.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
Currently the sixty-one to seventy levels are all magic puppet zones.&lt;br /&gt;
These soldiers have no blood or tears, and do not know what fatigue is. As far as the special geographic&lt;br /&gt;
guardians go, a few of them are even equipped with the guns we tried out.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the types of traps, most are vicious, with organs such as mines. Not to the point of death though,&lt;br /&gt;
we mainly wanted to set it up for the repartee spellcasters to use as a practice field.&lt;br /&gt;
Other than that, the things that we use as floor guardians are new machines that transform the Holy&lt;br /&gt;
Spirit Guardian Giant.&lt;br /&gt;
Kaijin helped, too, and finally Vesta got these things done.&lt;br /&gt;
The high defenses built with Magic Steel are still there, and they&#039;ve managed to make them smaller and&lt;br /&gt;
lighter. Track performance has increased dramatically and the driver&#039;s seat protection is flawless.&lt;br /&gt;
Such things have no self-will and are constructed to allow the driver to ride. The ability to operate from&lt;br /&gt;
a distance using the NIKIKI is also excellent.&lt;br /&gt;
It should currently be being controlled from a distance by Beretta.&lt;br /&gt;
If it&#039;s operated from a distance, it doesn&#039;t matter if you come across a tiny attacking virus. The bodies of&lt;br /&gt;
those things were made of steel, and even the battle axe of a minotaur would not work. Not only that,&lt;br /&gt;
there were several layers of armor on his body, and he was also blessed with the &#039;magic obstruction&#039; from&lt;br /&gt;
Charybdis Scales.&lt;br /&gt;
It is the completely invincible Guardian of Steel.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the holy guardian statue, the Floor Guardian Colossus&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Sincerely and the rest could not break through the 70th level. I&#039;ve been pretty sure of that before.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
But this time, when I saw Adalman and the others fighting, my thoughts changed.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Veldora, who do you think is stronger between Adalman and the Floor Guardian Colossus?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. It must be Adalman.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right? That&#039;s it, Adalman. I&#039;m going to make you go up to the seventy level.”&lt;br /&gt;
Sure enough.&lt;br /&gt;
Since Veldora thinks so, I should be right about that too.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. The individual named &amp;quot;Adalman&amp;quot; is more powerful than the floor guardian colossus...&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Ahem.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s all about the atmosphere, not the numbers.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...! In response to Lord Rimuru&#039;s expectations, the younger&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman will work even harder at whatever comes his way.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Brilliant Albert, you will give your full support to my master, Adalman.”&lt;br /&gt;
Kneeling before me, Adalman and Albert so proclaimed.&lt;br /&gt;
After just a short while, their strength has shifted dramatically.&lt;br /&gt;
The holy guardian statues weren&#039;t weak either, but honestly, they lacked the aura of a floor guardian.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, being broken again would be overwhelming. If you don&#039;t actually put the &amp;quot;soul&amp;quot; in when&lt;br /&gt;
you use it, you can&#039;t be affected by the power of Ramiris. There&#039;s no way to do random experiments and&lt;br /&gt;
see if it comes back to life when it&#039;s broken.&lt;br /&gt;
If these things had self-will, the situation would be different.&lt;br /&gt;
Or is it better to let someone actually control it?&lt;br /&gt;
No, why not just get possessed, that way you might not have to deal with it as a prop...&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s just a shame we don&#039;t have that kind of booking plan. So there&#039;s nothing wrong with letting&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman upgrade them.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes! Then from today onwards, exchange the fifty to sixty floors with the sixty-one to seventy floors&lt;br /&gt;
for me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Got it, I got it!”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s it, floor shifting within the maze.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
I praised Adalman and the rest, and decided to swap floors.&lt;br /&gt;
With that done, I was about to order Adalman and them out of the room.&lt;br /&gt;
And yet at this very moment...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I think we&#039;ve come to the end of our conversation. I have something I want to report to you.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo, who had been so quiet just now, spoke up.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What is it?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It is so, my servant Razen has made a magical communication with me, saying that he wishes to make&lt;br /&gt;
an urgent report to Rimuru. It was as if his former master had come this way, and the man seemed to wish&lt;br /&gt;
to pay an audience with Lord Rimuru. I heard his name was Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Um...what?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. In several Magic Guide books, the author&#039;s name is written about this character.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Sounds like a very famous person.&lt;br /&gt;
Razen was also known as an excellent Grand Mage, but his Master was even more famous.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m kind of interested, and meeting him is fine.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Isn&#039;t that a trap? It&#039;s really suspicious that we&#039;re about to have a showdown with the Empire to meet at&lt;br /&gt;
this time.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes! With a suspicious person like that, there&#039;s no need for Lord Rimuru to meet him deliberately!&lt;br /&gt;
Shion is on full alert, and the suspicion is greater than mine.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s not that I don&#039;t understand what she means. After all, these are sensitive times, and since she&#039;s a&lt;br /&gt;
member of my pro-war team, protecting me from unnecessary danger is part of the mission.&lt;br /&gt;
My vigilance is a bit weak, and it&#039;s best to listen to the minions at times like this.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed. It is Razen, and his opinion is used without taking it all in stride. I don&#039;t think I need to go to&lt;br /&gt;
him for questioning.”&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo took that for granted, but he was just afraid of trouble, right?&lt;br /&gt;
Since both secretaries were against it, the matter was off—halfway through the conversation, I noticed&lt;br /&gt;
that Adalman seemed to be very impetuous.&lt;br /&gt;
So, I actually understand how Adalman is feeling right now.&lt;br /&gt;
During a meeting with a superior officer, I was about to leave after the conversation, when a visitor or a&lt;br /&gt;
call came. Because I didn&#039;t want to disturb my boss, I just stayed put and wasted that time, feeling sad.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I want to go back, but I can’t—that&#039;s often what happens when you leave society.&lt;br /&gt;
Hey, is it just me?&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, those things don&#039;t matter.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Adalman, I&#039;m sorry we got off topic. It&#039;s okay for you guys to go first.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, no! Don&#039;t worry about us, but compared to that...”&lt;br /&gt;
“Hmm?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Actually that one, this one...”&lt;br /&gt;
“Hmm?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I was just talking about this guy Gedora...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s been said.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I wonder if he&#039;s my friend.”&lt;br /&gt;
“What?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
I couldn&#039;t help but stare at Adalman, and as a result he became flustered and displayed bizarre&lt;br /&gt;
demeanor.&lt;br /&gt;
No, I don’t take you for a traitor. The level of panic on the other side makes one want to say that.&lt;br /&gt;
I wanted Diablo to wait a bit before replying and decided to listen to Adalman in detail first.&lt;br /&gt;
It sounds like a thousand years ago, Gedora and Adalman were good friends. Since the other party&lt;br /&gt;
should have already died, it was not surprising that Gedora was a great magician, even if he used the&lt;br /&gt;
mysterious spells he created to extend his life.&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that the person who saved Adalman by using the mystical Upanishad &amp;quot;reincarnation&amp;quot; was&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
The name Razen also struck Adalman, and he wondered if the man was one of Gedora&#039;s long-ago&lt;br /&gt;
apprentices—one of the senior ones.&lt;br /&gt;
As Adalman spoke more and more, I began to think that it was Gedora himself who was right.&lt;br /&gt;
“Diablo.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, sir. I&#039;ll grind out the dates and set up the meet-and-greet talks.”&lt;br /&gt;
As expected of the more competent secretary. Just calling him by his first name tells me what I&#039;m&lt;br /&gt;
thinking.&lt;br /&gt;
The other, dumber secretary seemed okay with it, so I decided to see Gedora for a bit.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
After the defeat at the sixtieth level, the three of them, Shinji’s group, experienced the so-called death&lt;br /&gt;
back to the original point for the first time.&lt;br /&gt;
When they went back, many people told them they had worked hard, or encouraged them loudly, others&lt;br /&gt;
cursed and made jokes, and others comforted them, saying that it could not be helped, and people said all&lt;br /&gt;
kinds of things to them.&lt;br /&gt;
The battle scenes inside the labyrinth are broadcast exclusively by the Jura Tempest Federation, and&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji’s group has gained high popularity for their challenge.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, if the screening can be decided by signing the contract, the person concerned is free to&lt;br /&gt;
choose or refuse. But for two reasons, Shinji and the others decided to sign the contract.&lt;br /&gt;
The first reason is that a portion of the screening revenue will go into their pockets.&lt;br /&gt;
The second reason was that after the rush to fame, he thought that his personal safety would be secured.&lt;br /&gt;
It is within the enemy&#039;s sphere of influence and famous people are less likely to be assassinated. In&lt;br /&gt;
addition, it will only be shown when you are fighting against a floor guardian, so you don&#039;t have to pay&lt;br /&gt;
attention to it even on the way. The amount of money that was able to get seemed substantial, and in&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji&#039;s opinion there was no reason to refuse.&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with Shinji&#039;s decision, the other two were okay with it. That&#039;s why they signed the contract, and&lt;br /&gt;
as a result there is now such a reaction from the crowds around them.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What a pity. We can work on it more and challenge it again another day.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, no, no, no, no. That&#039;s not gonna cut it. What the hell is that monster? The speed of his sword is&lt;br /&gt;
simply extraordinary, and the skeleton man sitting on the throne is a legendary magical creature, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I guess it&#039;s the King of the Dead. Even the great monster, the one who is in charge of the plagues of&lt;br /&gt;
death, is not even in sight.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, the dragon is alive? It looks like it&#039;s more than just decorations, if even that dragon joins the fray,&lt;br /&gt;
humans really don&#039;t stand a chance of winning, do they?”&lt;br /&gt;
And so on and so forth, there are many questions.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji they laughed at those words and managed to avoid such a scene.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Anyway, let&#039;s look forward to Masayuki.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Now you&#039;ll have the same record as Masayuki-sama. If you want to win over them, you can find a&lt;br /&gt;
strategy to defeat that floor guardian while Masayuki-sama is busy preparing for the war.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That makes sense. I&#039;ve placed a bet that you guys will win. I&#039;ll leave it to you next time!”&lt;br /&gt;
Turning their backs to these voices, Shinji’ group returned to the hotel where they were staying.&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as they entered the inn, the three men collapsed on their beds.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, what&#039;s next?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t do it. Give me a break first.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Mark looked for Shinji to speak, but Shinji was exhausted. They challenge the level demons with full&lt;br /&gt;
energy, but the difficulty is so high that it makes you think that 59 levels were cute before.&lt;br /&gt;
Coming to the 60th floor, even the stray monsters that appeared were well trained. The magical&lt;br /&gt;
creature, known as the Necromancer, had a self-willed mind, and also carried the soldiers underneath to&lt;br /&gt;
launch a surprise attack.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and his party manage to beat them down and come to the main floor guardian’s room with&lt;br /&gt;
dismal results.&lt;br /&gt;
Zhen pointed this out to him, and Shinji got up from the bed.&lt;br /&gt;
He sat on the bed, a sigh escaping his mouth.&lt;br /&gt;
Mark and Zhen also climbed up and the three sat face to face again.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What&#039;s the report? That enemy can&#039;t be beaten. I didn&#039;t expect the depths of the maze to be so&lt;br /&gt;
difficult.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, it went pretty well up to the 59th floor. But what about the 60 layers? The Elder Necromancer&lt;br /&gt;
would lead the Necromancer and prowl in small groups. The average soldier will only get killed if he&lt;br /&gt;
encounters something like that!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Should be.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...those magic creatures are not simple. Arriving at that level suddenly became guarded. Not only the&lt;br /&gt;
knight who defeated us, but also the Skeleton Man and the Necromantic Dragon who sat on the throne,&lt;br /&gt;
making one wonder if the three of them were the hidden demon lord.”&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them began to speak out loud.&lt;br /&gt;
Probably too excited to care at all how the other person reacted.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Before yesterday, I was able to get away with it, but today, my remaining strength is gone.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;And the skeleton man. It&#039;s the guy sitting on the throne, it&#039;s the King of the Dead. If someone could&lt;br /&gt;
use advanced identification magic, they should be able to see right through him. But I can&#039;t compare it to&lt;br /&gt;
what I saw on the screen!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Exactly. If we do run into this kind of guy afterwards, our side won&#039;t be able to handle it.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...seriously, I don&#039;t want to challenge a second time.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Zhen say so, the other two shared his opinion.&lt;br /&gt;
“That Necromancer didn&#039;t even join the fight. It seems to be only responsible for exuding the majesty&lt;br /&gt;
of kings, not moving half a point from the throne.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The minotaur that looks like a normal floor guardian is also equivalent to level A in strength. Using his&lt;br /&gt;
strength as a benchmark, sixty layers is too much fortification, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
“...this part is really exaggerated. I think the fifty tiers were trying to get the challenger to fall off the&lt;br /&gt;
wagon before.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But now we&#039;ll know for sure. With such a powerful demonic creature guarding it, there must be a&lt;br /&gt;
ghost in that maze.”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji so asserted.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Possibly. After all, the knight who called himself Albert was strong as a mess.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The equipment is different from the others. When Mark was in combat, I took the opportunity to try to&lt;br /&gt;
qualify him, and to my surprise, he wore all of the quality top-notch stuff.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No wonder. It was thought that with my minotaur&#039;s tomahawk I could hack him up along with his&lt;br /&gt;
weapon.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s to say that the weapon you found just happens to be used to fight the guardian monster,&lt;br /&gt;
something that only happens in video games...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s true. A few of us seem to have gotten ahead of ourselves.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...hmm.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Later, the three of them looked at each other, and a deep sigh escaped their mouths.&lt;br /&gt;
Talking over here, the three finally calmed down a bit.&lt;br /&gt;
They made their own tea and took a break to catch their breath.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Do you want to take on the challenge again tomorrow?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Are you serious?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;...we are no match for them. No matter how many times you fight, you’ll lose.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I guess so.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Those people were talking about the hero... I think it was Masayuki that Yuuki-san mentioned, right?&lt;br /&gt;
I heard that it&#039;s just a lucky teenager, I don&#039;t think he&#039;s ever gone to challenge the sixty levels.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, I don&#039;t think so. I&#039;ve heard that he&#039;s done well before and hasn&#039;t even died once.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What about the others?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I heard that the people in the top ranking are challenging for the 50th floor. But they don&#039;t seem to&lt;br /&gt;
have a playing contract, and the highest record of having been shown is the 50th floor that Masayuki&lt;br /&gt;
challenged. There are a couple of other groups challenging forty levels, and that&#039;s about it.”&lt;br /&gt;
Even if a screening contract is signed, it&#039;s not as if it&#039;s tracked on every floor. The camera will only&lt;br /&gt;
capture the Floor Boss Room on every tenth floor. In addition to that, I heard that sometimes the&lt;br /&gt;
interview team would walk with the challenger for reasons like events.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s because of Shinji that they challenged the sixty layers in this situation that they burst into red in a&lt;br /&gt;
flash. They were breaking records one after another, and that&#039;s why they became the ones who signed the&lt;br /&gt;
bet.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I think someone told Masayuki the secret behind it. It says that there are still hidden level monsters on&lt;br /&gt;
the 60th floor.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, it&#039;s understandable that we would lose. So there are two strong magical objects in total,&lt;br /&gt;
and the other one is a dragon. The balance of that maze is too poor.&lt;br /&gt;
There should be towns after that.&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them just talked and took those words to comfort themselves. Not only that, but discussion&lt;br /&gt;
of future intentions began.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Now that we&#039;re all so conspicuous, there&#039;s no way we can continue to be spies.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There&#039;s no problem. It&#039;s been explained before, so we&#039;ll be safer.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...we only have the maze to investigate anyway.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Shall we wait for Lord Gedora? Just the few of us, no matter how many challenges, won&#039;t help, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
Or is it going to be a practice? Mark asked half-jokingly at this point.&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that, Shinji responded with a bitter smile.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There must be something going on. The guardian of such a thing is extremely powerful, should we&lt;br /&gt;
report this to Yuuki-san?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Tell him how great the maze is, by the way. It&#039;s supposed to expand by some kind of magic, it&#039;s big&lt;br /&gt;
and deep there, not like it&#039;s built by hand.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...the battle strength is also exceptionally strong compared to the other floors—that’s something I&lt;br /&gt;
can&#039;t forget to say.”&lt;br /&gt;
Since Mark had said that to Zhen, Shinji nodded his head without saying a word.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I know. So when we&#039;re done, do you want to do some sightseeing?”&lt;br /&gt;
The order of precedence was decided, and they were to move quickly.&lt;br /&gt;
The three regrouped and came out into the night streets.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and his entourage came tentatively to the outskirts and began reporting in order.&lt;br /&gt;
Briefly compiling the report and transmitting it to Yuuki, after about ten minutes of that, Yuuki&lt;br /&gt;
contacted them using the &#039;magic communication&#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, you guys seem like you&#039;re in good spirits. That&#039;s great.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Up until yesterday, I was in good spirits, but today I&#039;m in bad shape.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ahaha, it looks like I&#039;ve suffered a lot. What about your plans for the future? What are you going to&lt;br /&gt;
do?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;See your master. It&#039;s impossible for us to break through the sixty levels alone, even if we wanted to&lt;br /&gt;
sneak in, there&#039;s no way to do so inside the maze.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I think so, I know. Then I&#039;d like to ask one thing.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Please?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Just say what you feel. How strong is that 60-story barrier?”&lt;br /&gt;
Ask Shinji how strong they are, and only they will be able to hear the meaning of this paragraph.&lt;br /&gt;
It means to compare it to the Imperial Emperor&#039;s Order of the Near Guard, and the opponent&#039;s rank is&lt;br /&gt;
roughly equivalent.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki&#039;s question had Shinji pondering.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji wasn&#039;t interested in the battle for rank within the legion. He wasn&#039;t so intent on making a name&lt;br /&gt;
for himself that he didn&#039;t even participate in this rowdy battle.&lt;br /&gt;
Because Yuuki picked him up, was kind to him, and took good care of him, Shinji wanted to return the&lt;br /&gt;
favor before he did anything under him. Shinji did not want to help the criminal organization, so he chose&lt;br /&gt;
to join the army. Later, Yuuki became the army chief, and Shinji, who was originally in the Mecha Corps,&lt;br /&gt;
was transferred to the Mixed Corps.&lt;br /&gt;
Among the &#039;otherworldly visitors&#039;, several of them were in line with Shinji&#039;s thoughts. Not wanting to&lt;br /&gt;
show their power, those who live their lives casually in order to avoid taking on too much responsibility.&lt;br /&gt;
The strengths of these people were opaque, and it was still unknown if the Near Guard was really the&lt;br /&gt;
strongest group, but nominally this group was definitely the strongest group within the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
In some ways it will certainly be used as a benchmark for ranking strength.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Let&#039;s see, I can at least squeeze into the top 50. Those at the bottom of the ranking shouldn&#039;t be able to&lt;br /&gt;
defeat the floor guardians.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Are these comments only for the knight named Albert?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes. Ah, I don&#039;t know if I can use this as a reference, I used to be a doctor in the army and had to take&lt;br /&gt;
part in the High Rank Demon General crusade mission. There was a slight glimpse at that time, and the&lt;br /&gt;
amount of mana was about the same as the King of the Necromancers seen today.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Are you talking about the Lakeshore Dyed in Scarlet Incident?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, right. That&#039;s the one.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Got it. Very informative. Then you can enjoy yourselves before you meet Master Gedora.”&lt;br /&gt;
After saying that, Yuuki ended the &#039;magic communication&#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Regarding the Lakeshore Dyed in Scarlet Incident, it was one of the ominous events that took place in&lt;br /&gt;
Imperial territory.&lt;br /&gt;
The imperial vassal state, which is adjacent to a beautiful lake, intends to betray the empire by saying&lt;br /&gt;
that they want independence. The country was not fighting as well as the empire, and their king resorted&lt;br /&gt;
to certain means, and that became the fuse of tragedy.&lt;br /&gt;
He used forbidden occult spells to summon demons.&lt;br /&gt;
The king ordered the court magician corps to summon the strongest demons that could obey their&lt;br /&gt;
orders, and those court magicians complied.&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, the demon summoned up the High Rank Demon General and destroyed that small country.&lt;br /&gt;
With a population of less than 10,000, this small country has no chance of winning against the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Even so the king decided to be independent and there was a corresponding reason behind it.&lt;br /&gt;
There was an only daughter under the king, and the nobles of the empire wanted this princess as his&lt;br /&gt;
beloved servant.&lt;br /&gt;
The empire was so powerful that the emperor used not to bother with the movements of the smaller&lt;br /&gt;
countries. All the territory was vested in the emperor and given to the nobility to administer.&lt;br /&gt;
It was up to the nobility to decide how to govern these dependencies.&lt;br /&gt;
There was a frontier count in charge of the area outside the capital who used the emperor&#039;s power for&lt;br /&gt;
his own good, something that was common within the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
And the demon wanted the princess of that kingdom.&lt;br /&gt;
The king flatly refused, however the head court magician went mad at the sight of the demon and&lt;br /&gt;
agreed to the demon&#039;s request.&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, the demon showed an evil smile and possessed the princess.&lt;br /&gt;
The king was furious. But his anger was immediately replaced by fear.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the acquisition of flesh, demons began to rage.&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, the small nation perished, and the matter was passed back to the Empire proper, where they&lt;br /&gt;
decided to send men to suppress the demon.&lt;br /&gt;
If they had moved any slower, it would have spawned a second Guy Crimson.&lt;br /&gt;
The blood of the inhabitants of the small country stained that beautiful lake and turned its waters red.&lt;br /&gt;
It was the creepiest thing in the Empire&#039;s recent centuries of history, arguably the most tragic in history.&lt;br /&gt;
Someone stepped in to solve the Lakeshore Dyed in Scarlet Incident, a Mecha Legion that had&lt;br /&gt;
branches throughout the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
On the surface.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yet this is not in fact the case. Shinji, who had joined the army, watched from a distance as the high-&lt;br /&gt;
ranking demon generals that his own troops couldn&#039;t help, were defeated by a few soldiers stepping in.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
This whole thing is also very suspicious.&lt;br /&gt;
It was true that the aristocrats were playing favorites, but that demon had not even spared the nationals&lt;br /&gt;
of his own country, and Shinji thought that the truth should be at odds with those rumors.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, the speed at which the empire had begun its operations had been too fast.&lt;br /&gt;
When it happened, the news came back to the Empire, and then they decided to send soldiers to crush&lt;br /&gt;
it, and also to prepare the crusading force.&lt;br /&gt;
If it took that much time, the demons would have been done with physical possession.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet things didn&#039;t turn out that way.&lt;br /&gt;
Just the fact that the Empire hadn&#039;t allowed the demon to succeed in gaining flesh was proof enough&lt;br /&gt;
that the Empire had known from the beginning—Shinji thought so.&lt;br /&gt;
He wasn&#039;t going to speak his mind to anyone else.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing how powerful the people who fought the demons at the time were, he realized that some things&lt;br /&gt;
in the world were still better without knowing it.&lt;br /&gt;
Those people are probably the first few masters of the Order of the Near Guard...&lt;br /&gt;
If one were to go up against those people, no matter how hard Shinji tried, he couldn&#039;t win.&lt;br /&gt;
The two sides are simply people of different worlds.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why Shinji lost interest in the battle of the rows.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
Letting out a breath, Shinji finally let out a sigh of relief, at which point Mark spoke to Zhen to find&lt;br /&gt;
him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is it over?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;...hard work.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, that&#039;s what reporting to someone is all about. Master will come over later, so let&#039;s go relax until&lt;br /&gt;
then.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. So Shinji was a survivor of the Lakeshore Dyed in Scarlet Incident, huh?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;...and I&#039;m glad I got my life back.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, I faked my own death to get away with it, but I was able to come up with that.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, no, no, it would be awesome just to survive. Isn&#039;t there almost no chance of survival for that&lt;br /&gt;
thing?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Just say it. It made people not want to do it a second time—and then again, I was in the army as a&lt;br /&gt;
doctor, but it didn&#039;t help much.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...Huh?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, because the person who was attacked died on the spot, there was no chance to heal them or&lt;br /&gt;
recover. So I had to get away with it as soon as possible.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That sounds really tragic. Is a high-ranking demon general really that scary?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The demon I saw is no longer something that two words can describe as scary. Honestly, I felt like I&lt;br /&gt;
had an eye to eye with the other person, but the other person seemed to let me off the hook. Just thinking&lt;br /&gt;
about those crimson eyes makes me want to pee my pants.”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing the two men with a surprised look on their faces, Shinji smiled and said the words.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But you said that we are on the same level as such a dangerous high-ranking demon general, so how&lt;br /&gt;
can we possibly defeat that skeleton man?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;...are they really of the same class?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;At best, it&#039;s the same amount of mana. The longer you live, the stronger you are, the so-called demons.&lt;br /&gt;
About the one I saw, it&#039;s just my guess, but she should have lived a long time.”&lt;br /&gt;
Otherwise, the Empire&#039;s superiors would not have taken that response. Just as he was about to get that&lt;br /&gt;
out, Shinji swallowed the words back again.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s useless to care about such things anyway. My country seems to be developing machines that can&lt;br /&gt;
investigate the strength of its opponents, but I don&#039;t think there is much point. The one called Albert was&lt;br /&gt;
actually the same, if you look at the amount of monster element, he was too strong for people to imagine.&lt;br /&gt;
But just think about when you were in school classes in the past, whether a fight was strong or not wasn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
just about physical strength, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, I know what you&#039;re trying to say.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...hmm.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s what it&#039;s all about. That means that among the monsters, there are those whose strength is&lt;br /&gt;
unfathomable. You guys just have to remember that.”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji said that these things had nothing to do with himself and others, and the other two listened and&lt;br /&gt;
decided to stop thinking about it.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The three men changed their moods and rushed in before the Freedom Association&#039;s office was even&lt;br /&gt;
closed, selling the &#039;magic crystal stone&#039; and unused equipment to the resource department.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s amazing, it&#039;s a deep &#039;magic crystal&#039; with a world of difference in quality.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Another weapon with holes in it? And it&#039;s made of pure &#039;magic silver&#039;, so it&#039;s not available in other&lt;br /&gt;
countries.”&lt;br /&gt;
Blah, blah, blah, those guild members were happy.&lt;br /&gt;
If the target of trafficking is strictly selected, there should be more benefits to be gained. But Shinji and&lt;br /&gt;
their purpose was to infiltrate the investigation, not wanting too many people to know them.&lt;br /&gt;
And it&#039;s a good price to sell to the Freedom Association.&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the bottlenecks in the investigative mission, a lot of income was generated. These days alone&lt;br /&gt;
have made them a lot of money.&lt;br /&gt;
Those who join the army receive an annual salary.&lt;br /&gt;
The money will be paid in advance and if there is a promotion, the excess will be made up next year.&lt;br /&gt;
It doesn&#039;t matter if you don&#039;t have any money on you, just join the army and you&#039;ll get your reserve that&lt;br /&gt;
day. The military would first count the number of days left in the year and then pay that money to those&lt;br /&gt;
people as part of their pay.&lt;br /&gt;
Basically the military has nothing to lose. Even if a soldier dies in battle, the money paid in the first&lt;br /&gt;
place can be used as part of the condolence money.&lt;br /&gt;
The general soldier, Private, receives only his salary.&lt;br /&gt;
The amount is ten gold coins—the equivalent of a million won a year.&lt;br /&gt;
The military would take care of their food, clothing and shelter, a large amount for those without&lt;br /&gt;
money.&lt;br /&gt;
There is also a step increase or various allowances, and sometimes a hazardous duty allowance.&lt;br /&gt;
Mark and Zhen&#039;s rank is Lieutenant, and Shinji is a Major with a military medical qualification.&lt;br /&gt;
Although there is no power of command, they are treated with courtesy in every way.&lt;br /&gt;
Within the Empire, &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; are treated well. There were at least some second lieutenants&lt;br /&gt;
available, and compared to those people, Shinji enjoyed more favorable treatment.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Shinji and the others, their income is also a lot more than the average soldier.&lt;br /&gt;
There were thirty-six gold coins for the addition of the rank of lieutenant.&lt;br /&gt;
The addition to the rank of Major was forty-four gold coins.&lt;br /&gt;
Just one step up will add four gold coins.&lt;br /&gt;
Mark and Zhen can get about 50 gold coins a year. Shinji, on the other hand, is a little over seventy.&lt;br /&gt;
The military pays more than the average salary for the average person, but doesn&#039;t go so far as to give&lt;br /&gt;
people a lavish life. If they go to a more remote place, they will become rich, but prices are high in&lt;br /&gt;
Imperial City. That being said, the conditions of existence in this world are harsh enough to allow them to&lt;br /&gt;
break away from the military and stand on their own.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The mere fact of being able to live a peaceful life is attractive.&lt;br /&gt;
But this time they learned one thing.&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them can live together in the labyrinth city without having to wait for the army.&lt;br /&gt;
The proceeds from this sale alone were more than three hundred gold coins, and the money earned&lt;br /&gt;
from this mission in a short time was more than the annual salaries of the three of them combined.&lt;br /&gt;
Plus they could still get their own special-grade equipment, if the Imperial side hadn&#039;t sent it to them,&lt;br /&gt;
they wouldn&#039;t have had a chance to get it in their lifetime. It is not too much to say that such a result is a&lt;br /&gt;
bumper harvest.&lt;br /&gt;
All three of them noticed it, but kept their mouths shut. Then they continued in silence, taking silent&lt;br /&gt;
steps.&lt;br /&gt;
The three of them dined at a restaurant that is considered to be a high class restaurant in the Capital&lt;br /&gt;
City &amp;quot;Rimuru&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
“I haven&#039;t enjoyed it this much in a long time.”&lt;br /&gt;
“...how about this? Selling the equipment without permission.”&lt;br /&gt;
The more timid Zhen Liu Xing said with trepidation.&lt;br /&gt;
However, Shinji and Mark were unfazed.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s okay. It&#039;s not like they&#039;re all sold, there are still some samples left.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Besides, we can&#039;t take them all back anyway. Just leave the ones of better quality and the higher-ups&lt;br /&gt;
won&#039;t complain.”&lt;br /&gt;
The loot obtained in the course of military operations all belonged to the military unless they were&lt;br /&gt;
given permission from above to seize it. And this time, even if all the equipment was taken, they couldn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
have any complaints.&lt;br /&gt;
But their mission this time is to investigate the maze, hiding their identities and pretending to be&lt;br /&gt;
adventurers. It&#039;s more natural to act accordingly, and it&#039;s okay to treat this income as a small benefit.&lt;br /&gt;
And Yuuki shouldn&#039;t have asked them to hand over the loot either. Other than what was necessary,&lt;br /&gt;
everything else would surely give way to the Shinji line.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But if all the money we get is taken away, we&#039;ll seriously consider moving then, won&#039;t we?”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Shinji say this, the other two people also felt the same way.&lt;br /&gt;
One gold coin is equivalent to 100,000 won.&lt;br /&gt;
Coming to the Empire is of equal value.&lt;br /&gt;
The gold coins circulating in the market are from the Dwarven Kingdom, and the Empire defines those&lt;br /&gt;
coins as official gold. Since it&#039;s the same thing, bringing it back will work.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I think it really works.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;...hmm. Not long ago, I thought it was a joke, but I think I&#039;d be happier trying.”&lt;br /&gt;
While Shinji only half meant what he said, Mark and Zhen&#039;s intentions were higher than expected.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire is really at the forefront of culture and technology and is great urban.&lt;br /&gt;
The food was good and the stay was comfortable.&lt;br /&gt;
As long as they have money, they can still have a good life, even compared to the old world.&lt;br /&gt;
However, they were attached to the army. The risk of death does lurk behind it.&lt;br /&gt;
As far as that goes, that underground maze can be described as perfect.&lt;br /&gt;
Because they don&#039;t have to worry about dying.&lt;br /&gt;
I was half-trustful at first, but after the actual experience, there was no room for doubt.&lt;br /&gt;
Since they don&#039;t have to worry about losing their lives, wouldn&#039;t it be better if they could just make&lt;br /&gt;
their money there and have a good time every day? There is no reason why they should think so.&lt;br /&gt;
There is no point in having money for nothing but entertainment. But there are many playgrounds in&lt;br /&gt;
the Capital City, Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
There is a place called the Colosseum that is open to the general public on days when there is no&lt;br /&gt;
activity. This time of year residents seem to be able to go over there and have fun. Various sports with a&lt;br /&gt;
playful nature, such as football or baseball, are popular, and those who are maze-challengers seem to be&lt;br /&gt;
having fun with them.&lt;br /&gt;
There are also spas or opera houses.&lt;br /&gt;
According to the survey, there are plays being performed there, and they are full of activity every day.&lt;br /&gt;
As for the deliciousness of the food, it&#039;s not on par with the Empire—no, it should be above the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
There are a wide variety of desserts and a wide variety of sakes, all of which are often eaten in Japan&lt;br /&gt;
and are nostalgic. Even the dishes that are not available in this world have been successfully recreated,&lt;br /&gt;
which appeals to the Shinji-like people from Earth.&lt;br /&gt;
Seriously, the only person they owe favors to is Yuuki, and it doesn&#039;t look like Yuuki wants to be hostile&lt;br /&gt;
to demon lord Rimuru. That being the case, even if Shiinji moved a few of them to live in this country,&lt;br /&gt;
they shouldn&#039;t be seen as traitors.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Although running away from the battlefield is punishable by death for treason, it&#039;s not a time for war,&lt;br /&gt;
is it?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, Shinji. I was also wondering if it should still be possible to petition for retirement and leave the&lt;br /&gt;
army in this way, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
“...It&#039;s up to Yuuki-san to decide.”&lt;br /&gt;
Once the war started, they would turn into a fringe, and thankfully it was still the usual. Explained&lt;br /&gt;
differently, they could also leave the military in the form of a discharge, perhaps with that possibility.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The problem is...war is coming.”&lt;br /&gt;
At this point Mark muttered something.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason they can&#039;t make a decision. The question now mentioned is why.&lt;br /&gt;
What is certain is that war is about to begin and the place will be shrouded in war.&lt;br /&gt;
If that weren&#039;t the case, they would have decided to move in a long time ago.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Which side do you think will win?”&lt;br /&gt;
“...so to speak, what should we do if we are ordered to attack this city?”&lt;br /&gt;
Three people you look at me and I look at you.&lt;br /&gt;
Just now I thought the meal was delicious, but now it&#039;s suddenly tasteless. Once again, they thought to&lt;br /&gt;
themselves, please give me a break.&lt;br /&gt;
The three had only been in town for a short time, but they loved the town and didn&#039;t want it to&lt;br /&gt;
disappear.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s another point.&lt;br /&gt;
Judging from the strength of the floor guardians inside that maze, they vaguely imagined that the&lt;br /&gt;
strength of the leaders in this country should be very great.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thinking about it logically, the guardians responsible for guarding important facilities are certainly&lt;br /&gt;
strong, right? However, assuming that the members of this country&#039;s army are weaker than the Guardians&lt;br /&gt;
—that would be wishful thinking on our part.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I thought so. At the very least, demon lord Rimuru&#039;s strength should be above the average person. I&lt;br /&gt;
heard that the evil dragon called Veldora had once wiped out a city, and that didn&#039;t seem like a joke. Even&lt;br /&gt;
that Necromancer King is no exception, I think he has the potential to annihilate the city.”&lt;br /&gt;
Mark&#039;s words struck a chord with Shinji.&lt;br /&gt;
The fact that this country&#039;s magical creatures seem to have the potential to trigger a similar disaster.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s just my guess, but they seem to be able to manipulate even high-ranking magicians and nuclear&lt;br /&gt;
strike magic, which should be on par with so-called nuclear weapons by Earth&#039;s standards.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s how it should be. Our common sense would be to think, &amp;quot;We&#039;ll win if we have more people,&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
but there&#039;s no point in sending a bunch of people to fight the demon lord at that level.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;A warrior of our rank would not have won without sending dozens of men.”&lt;br /&gt;
The three men looked at each other face to face and were troubled there.&lt;br /&gt;
Just the next moment, Gedora contacted the three of them with a &#039;thought communication&#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
An old man bowed before me.&lt;br /&gt;
In the back were the three challengers who had seen it through the big screen yesterday, and they all&lt;br /&gt;
bowed to me like the old man.&lt;br /&gt;
The old man&#039;s name is Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
It was through Diablo and Razen that he asked to see me.&lt;br /&gt;
The dress code didn&#039;t look flashy, but he wore what looked like a very high level of mantle on him. The&lt;br /&gt;
eyes were sharp, not at all like old people.&lt;br /&gt;
Sincerely, just as I expected, his real name was Shinji.&lt;br /&gt;
His real name was heard to be Shinji Tanimura.&lt;br /&gt;
The other two people seem to have originally used their real names.&lt;br /&gt;
All three seemed to be under the Great Wizard Gedora. They were all said to be working under Yuuki,&lt;br /&gt;
this time assisting in the investigation, temporarily loaned to Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Those things are what they&#039;re telling me now.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora posed like this right after he finished speaking, and Shinji and the others followed his example,&lt;br /&gt;
but it was impossible to talk properly at all.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, actually...I had already guessed that might be the case. By the way, there&#039;s no way to have an easy&lt;br /&gt;
conversation in this state, is there? Let&#039;s go somewhere else, shall we?”&lt;br /&gt;
When I finished, Shion nodded.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Put your face up.”&lt;br /&gt;
Somehow, she swore high and mighty.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why I find it complicated to visit people.&lt;br /&gt;
It felt like it was bound to be in the wrong order at some point, and honestly I wasn&#039;t very keen to do&lt;br /&gt;
that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Obey, obey...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Gedora promise with great exaggeration, I couldn&#039;t help but think ‘the next talks might be&lt;br /&gt;
troublesome too.’&lt;br /&gt;
The location changes to a cheaper reception room.&lt;br /&gt;
Because this side is more peaceful.&lt;br /&gt;
The more expensive reception rooms are also made of superior materials, making me afraid to mess up&lt;br /&gt;
the place. If one accidentally spills the tea, that alone could leave a stain on the premium carpet...&lt;br /&gt;
What kind of people live in those kind of places. For me, a small citizen, the more approachable&lt;br /&gt;
furniture makes me more comfortable.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others seemed to think so too, blushing better than just now.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Black tea or coffee, which do you prefer?”&lt;br /&gt;
I asked bluntly, and Shinji reacted to that statement.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then, then, I&#039;ll have coffee.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Shi-Shinji...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora, whose face had changed drastically, cried out, but I placated him and told him to take it easy.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What about Mr. Gedora?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Old, old man? Then, then—just like Shinji.”&lt;br /&gt;
Huh? Could it be that there&#039;s no coffee in the Empire?”&lt;br /&gt;
It seems to be there under impression, maybe not so popular.&lt;br /&gt;
I looked over to Mark and Zhen, who also nodded sullenly.&lt;br /&gt;
Looks like they want some of the same.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Shuna, four cups of American coffee!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You mean Americano?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, you want something strong? Should I mix the coffee then? Or is it the proud Tempest of this&lt;br /&gt;
country?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, no, no, it&#039;s not that, it&#039;s because...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Hmm.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wouldn&#039;t His Majesty Rimuru be a visitor from the otherworld?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is that right?”&lt;br /&gt;
Huh, you didn’t know?&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a basic skill to gather this kind of information, isn&#039;t it?&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, I looked around at the expressions of the four of them and only Gedora had a&lt;br /&gt;
&#039;bad&#039; look on her face. It looked like he had known it all along, but had forgotten to tell the other three.&lt;br /&gt;
Forget it, that kind of thing doesn&#039;t matter.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then let&#039;s talk in depth.”&lt;br /&gt;
The coffee prepared by Shuna was given to everyone, and the table had milk and sugar on it. I decided&lt;br /&gt;
to listen to what Gedora had to say first, without bothering to look at those people, such as Shinji, whose&lt;br /&gt;
faces were moved.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji whispered after taking a sip of his coffee, &amp;quot;This is so good!” But being stared at by Gedora, it&lt;br /&gt;
was nice of me to pretend not to see.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I am actually a reincarnationist.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s when Master Gedora suddenly uttered words that surprised people.&lt;br /&gt;
The other three were also so surprised that they turned their heads to look at Master Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Since a long time ago, Master Gedora has wanted to be the Great Monster Mentor who rose to the top,&lt;br /&gt;
and I&#039;ve heard him go back and forth to be born several times.&lt;br /&gt;
Each reincarnation would go around looking at the secret collections of the various royal palaces,&lt;br /&gt;
accumulating a huge amount of knowledge.&lt;br /&gt;
One of those times he went into hiding for magic research, and it was at that time that he met his later&lt;br /&gt;
good friend Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;As I said earlier, I hate the Holy Church in the West. I hate them because they killed my friend&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman. So for hundreds of years I have been working on a plan and decided to incite the Empire.”&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of which, Gedora began to reveal himself.&lt;br /&gt;
Knowing that Adalman had been set up, he vowed revenge. He then went to the Empire alone, slowly&lt;br /&gt;
gaining people&#039;s trust in him.&lt;br /&gt;
He still seems to have experience fighting with Veldora, and the past seems to be more climactic than&lt;br /&gt;
one might think.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Seriously, doing the reincarnation ceremony beforehand is the right thing to do. Because I want to see&lt;br /&gt;
with my own eyes the limits of the &#039;monsters&#039; that come naturally...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
In this world, only four “true dragons&amp;quot; were born, and they stood at the pinnacle of magic, the strongest&lt;br /&gt;
race in this world.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the experience of having actually fought, Gedora did not think the Imperial Army would be&lt;br /&gt;
able to defeat Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
And he uttered these words right in front of Veldora&#039;s own eyes, and isn&#039;t Veldora peeping at me with a&lt;br /&gt;
happy expression on his face?&lt;br /&gt;
Please don&#039;t do this, really.&lt;br /&gt;
I think you&#039;re great too, but I don&#039;t think that compliment is necessary.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, it should be said that tactics have a chance to win, but those fools want to dominate Lord Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
Frankly, I have repeatedly persuaded them that it&#039;s impossible, that it&#039;s useless to do that, that they should&lt;br /&gt;
give up.”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was only interested in the West—it should be said that he wanted revenge on the Ruminism&lt;br /&gt;
religion, and so didn&#039;t want to divide his forces over something boring. That is why he tried so desperately&lt;br /&gt;
to emphasize the reality of the situation and to convince those people, but the army chiefs thought too&lt;br /&gt;
highly of himself and reportedly did not listen to him at all.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
However...&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s nature doesn&#039;t seem to be a bad one, as those words suggest, and yet he seems to have been&lt;br /&gt;
the one who drove the growth of imperial hegemonism.&lt;br /&gt;
I asked him to omit the irrelevant part, and I inquired in detail about the recent developments.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In other words, the reason why the Empire started the war was mainly because of your connections?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, one could say that&#039;s partly true...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
No way, although he said it vaguely, but either way think the reason is out of this old grandfather.&lt;br /&gt;
Presumably noticing my deteriorating mood, Gedora hurriedly began to explain.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s not like that! The empire was originally hegemonic, and had it not been locked in one direction,&lt;br /&gt;
the whole world would have been affected by war. That&#039;s why I let them lock on to the West. It just so&lt;br /&gt;
happens that it&#039;s the same as my purpose, so I&#039;ll just go with the flow—something like that.”&lt;br /&gt;
What just now?&lt;br /&gt;
Then we were simply swept by the tail of the typhoon!&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I also opposed their invasion of the great forest of Jura before. I didn&#039;t want to end up like the last&lt;br /&gt;
time, so I proposed to stir up the Dwarf Kingdom, but I didn&#039;t realize that many people were too stupid&lt;br /&gt;
and wanted to solve everything by force...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora lamented so, but I didn&#039;t have time for that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wait a minute! Is the Empire really planning to strike at the Dwarven Kingdom?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
I always thought that it should not be so, but now I have to take into account the combat operations&lt;br /&gt;
through the Dwarven Kingdom as well?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;ve noticed? What Gedora said was not something so specific as asking them to send out troops. I&lt;br /&gt;
personally want to make an alliance with King Gazel to turn a blind eye to our military actions. After all,&lt;br /&gt;
the only thing the old man hates is the Western Holy Church...”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora already knew that Adalman was safe and sound, and had long ago made an appointment to see&lt;br /&gt;
him when the meeting with me was over.&lt;br /&gt;
It is also because of this that Gedora found himself working in vain and has now changed his position&lt;br /&gt;
against the war.&lt;br /&gt;
His relationship with the emperor also seems to be good, but not in a position to be able to petition for&lt;br /&gt;
the withdrawal of military plans. He would therefore advocate against war at the conference.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, his handling was a little too easy, but with Gedora&#039;s help I might have said less if I had&lt;br /&gt;
been able to avoid war.&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, try to get information out of him.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru and the others also stayed in the other room, eavesdropping on our conversations while&lt;br /&gt;
conducting combat sessions. It was my job to get Gedora to willingly give it all away.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t suppose King Gazel promised?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, of course not. So the Imperial side was going to resort to assassination, but Gedora was against&lt;br /&gt;
it. I think that if I&#039;m going to do it, I&#039;m going to attack it righteously!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Now is not the time to say such things with a proud face.&lt;br /&gt;
Old Grandpa Gedora was more like a martial artist than I thought.&lt;br /&gt;
Feeling dumbfounded, I questioned further.&lt;br /&gt;
I asked what&#039;s going on inside the Imperial Army and what their higher-ups are thinking.&lt;br /&gt;
There was even a surprising amount of information asked about Yuuki&#039;s attempted coup.&lt;br /&gt;
I asked for all the information that Gedora knew.&lt;br /&gt;
Finally he began to blurt out his heartfelt words off the cuff.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t look at me like this, I don&#039;t owe the Empire anything. The legions nurtured by me were&lt;br /&gt;
disbanded and all the minions were taken away. It&#039;s because Shinji and the others are my disciples that&lt;br /&gt;
they&#039;re here. Adalman is all right—it’s a bit of a stretch to say, but he&#039;s doing well, so I don&#039;t have any&lt;br /&gt;
more attachment to the Imperial side.”&lt;br /&gt;
He says he is downright selfish and has nothing to do with so-called loyalty.&lt;br /&gt;
This old man really isn&#039;t a cover.&lt;br /&gt;
A glimmer of respect for him sprouted in my heart, and that was the secret.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s the way it is. If I can be a part of His Majesty&#039;s plans, I&#039;ll work for you, even if I&#039;m with you,&lt;br /&gt;
and I&#039;ll die for you!”&lt;br /&gt;
Daring to assert that you have no loyalty and having that courage to say that you want to be my servant.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t hate this guy.&lt;br /&gt;
However, Benimaru and the others were in the next room, taking in the conversation here. I have a&lt;br /&gt;
feeling that Gedora&#039;s attitude is going to set him on fire and it might take a lot of work to placate him&lt;br /&gt;
later.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately after that...&lt;br /&gt;
We took old Grandpa Gedora as a guest and decided to hire him for the time being.&lt;br /&gt;
Since he himself said he wanted to be my subordinate, I&#039;ll let him do his job.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t expect his allegiance to me, but should be able to expect it.&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, after he meets up with Adalman, I give him permission to &amp;quot;teleport&amp;quot; to the 70th floor.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
His knowledge should come in handy, and maybe even make him an assistant to Ramiris. But before&lt;br /&gt;
that it was expected to first get him back to the Empire and ask him to do one thing.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Shinji and the rest, the three of them will move directly into this country. They seemed to want&lt;br /&gt;
to relax and rest before they could figure out what to do in the future.&lt;br /&gt;
After some persuasion from Gedora, they themselves offered to join, so I had no reason to refuse.&lt;br /&gt;
If they betray us, I’ll drive them out of this country. They didn&#039;t seem to want this to death, and even&lt;br /&gt;
swore allegiance to me.&lt;br /&gt;
Only Shinji and the others seemed to respect Yuuki and didn&#039;t want to behave in a way that was hostile&lt;br /&gt;
to Yuuki. There&#039;s really nothing wrong with that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;We have a complicated relationship with Yuuki&#039;s gang. It probably feels like a truce right now.&lt;br /&gt;
Honestly he&#039;s done a lot of things that piss people off and I would love to get revenge on him, but I just&lt;br /&gt;
can&#039;t seem to hate the guy.”&lt;br /&gt;
Even if Yuuki was that virtuous, he was still Miss Shizu&#039;s disciple.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about how happy Ms. Shizu was about Yuuki before, I couldn&#039;t help but want to forgive him.&lt;br /&gt;
I thought it was too naive myself, but we are, after all, from the same country.&lt;br /&gt;
This kind of thing is absolutely unprecedented, but those things were reserved for the time being.&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, it would be another matter if someone asked me if I believed him.&lt;br /&gt;
Go ahead and trust that kind of guy, no matter how many lives are not enough in this world.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You too, better not trust Yuuki too much.”&lt;br /&gt;
When I say that, somehow Gedora keeps nodding his head.&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that he has a feeling about it too.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki and Gedora not only knew each other, they seemed to have a partnership. It seems that being&lt;br /&gt;
able to be a bridge between us and Yuuki, perhaps making Gedora our partner is the right thing to do.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s reluctance to over-trust Yuuki alone suggests to me that he is trustworthy.&lt;br /&gt;
After that, I asked Gedora to meet with Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
They both missed each other.&lt;br /&gt;
Because Adalman had promised to take Gedora in, he is currently being sent to him first.&lt;br /&gt;
But before we do that...&lt;br /&gt;
After asking for all the information, I ordered Gedora to go back to the Empire first and act according&lt;br /&gt;
to my plan.&lt;br /&gt;
It starts with anti-war activities.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is this possible?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Leave it to this old man. I&#039;m used to getting my hands behind my back.’&lt;br /&gt;
Well, I guess so.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, it&#039;s impossible to make a national policy stop at the whim of one person, as a matter of&lt;br /&gt;
general logic.&lt;br /&gt;
Not to say I don&#039;t believe in Gedora, but I think it&#039;s better to think of a filing.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If I can get the war to stop, that&#039;s what I&#039;d like to see the most. But by the sound of those words, I don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
think it should be easy. The empire espouses hegemonism, right? In that case, there&#039;s no stopping them&lt;br /&gt;
once they&#039;re out in force.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“But......”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So if anything, I hope you introduce them to this maze.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What do you mean?”&lt;br /&gt;
No matter how many casualties there were in the maze, there was no problem.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why I said that to Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s why I&#039;m planning to weaken the Empire&#039;s war power in that place, so that they lose their&lt;br /&gt;
fighting spirit.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it. Also, Yuuki should take the opportunity to act as well, once there&#039;s a commotion on the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire&#039;s mainland, there&#039;s no way for the Empire to continue pushing for war, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m not sure things will go so smoothly, but coming to the maze without death or injury is a fact.&lt;br /&gt;
I explained this to Gedora, giving him several pieces of equipment from the labyrinth, and three&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;resurrection bracelets&amp;quot;. Wanted to use this as bait to sell Maze to the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s also tricky to get attacked from behind from a military perspective.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t think they should leave the labyrinth behind and just head west, but if they can make each other&lt;br /&gt;
feel like they can still gain treasure by entering the labyrinth...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So it is. Your ideas are really great. This old man already knows which commander is greedy, and His&lt;br /&gt;
Majesty Rimuru&#039;s ploy will surely succeed.”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora took this task with confidence.&lt;br /&gt;
If things go well, the war will have ended.&lt;br /&gt;
If not, introduce the Imperials into the maze.&lt;br /&gt;
Again, it&#039;s all up to Gedora&#039;s work.&lt;br /&gt;
These four outlaws were received by my country at my whim.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
And just like that, with unexpected company, the commotion ended.&lt;br /&gt;
Chapter 4: The Empire is Out&lt;br /&gt;
There is a strange man in the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
His name is Kondo Tatsuya, an &#039;Otherworldly Visitor&#039;, a man who was well aware of the dark side of&lt;br /&gt;
the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Because he is representing that very dark side of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Adorned with neat short black hair. The smooth bows drape around his eyes, giving a softer, more&lt;br /&gt;
serious look.&lt;br /&gt;
At first glance he appears to be an upstanding youth.&lt;br /&gt;
He looks young, under twenty-five.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet he is cold by nature.&lt;br /&gt;
His face is expressionless, and his eyes are shining, so sharp that he stares at his opponent, giving&lt;br /&gt;
people the illusion of seeing through everything. There was not the slightest glimmer of gentleness in his&lt;br /&gt;
eyes, giving the impression of old cunning.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s no wonder.&lt;br /&gt;
Tatsuya Kondo, Lieutenant Kondo, was not as young as he looked.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
In this imperial capital, &#039;otherworldly visitors&#039; are not so uncommon. That was the approach taken by&lt;br /&gt;
the Imperial Capital to bring these people to the Imperial Capital from all over the world in the name of&lt;br /&gt;
protecting the &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
He is also one of those who have been saved by this approach.&lt;br /&gt;
There is so-called magic in this world. That&#039;s why he was able to get his life back.&lt;br /&gt;
Seventy years ago...&lt;br /&gt;
He gambled his life for the sake of his homeland to make a special attack on the enemy&#039;s sea strike&lt;br /&gt;
fleet.&lt;br /&gt;
As to whether such a fight was right or wrong, he will not comment. Thinking back on the situation, he&lt;br /&gt;
thought that it was the only way to go at that time.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking of the minions who had lost their lives, he wanted to find some meaning for those actions. So&lt;br /&gt;
he also remembered not to forget them.&lt;br /&gt;
To live with those comrades, because he didn&#039;t want to forget the legacy of his men, he was still a&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;lieutenant&amp;quot;, maintaining the rank of the time.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In order to carry out the sting operation, Tatsuya was going to die, but somehow, amidst the light and&lt;br /&gt;
searing heat from the explosion, he came to another world. Brushing up against death, he survived.&lt;br /&gt;
The man who saved him was the Emperor himself.&lt;br /&gt;
He got lucky.&lt;br /&gt;
The place where Tatsuya appeared was a courtyard where only the Emperor and a few of his attendants&lt;br /&gt;
had access. The emperor happened to be resting in that place.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Interesting. That&#039;s the way fate would have it.”&lt;br /&gt;
Upon hearing the sound, Tatsuya suddenly lost consciousness.&lt;br /&gt;
When he opened his eyes again, there was no longer half a wound on his body.&lt;br /&gt;
He was also lucky to get his life back.&lt;br /&gt;
And in return for this kindness, he vowed to give his life for the Emperor, which he had once given up.&lt;br /&gt;
Crossing the world and nearly losing his life awakened his power, and Tatsuya offered it all to the&lt;br /&gt;
Emperor. To this day, he still lives only for the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
Never onstage activity.&lt;br /&gt;
He doesn&#039;t age, he stays the way he is.&lt;br /&gt;
Becoming part of the dark side of the Empire, to the Intelligence Headquarters, which lurks in the&lt;br /&gt;
shadows of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
He&#039;s a weirdo who feeds on intelligence.&lt;br /&gt;
Lurking in the shadows of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Being both human and walking with the devil.&lt;br /&gt;
This man had various “aliases”, he is Lieutenant Kondo.&lt;br /&gt;
He’s the Imperial Army’s Director of Intelligence.&lt;br /&gt;
Even the chiefs of the various legions could not ignore him, and the people were afraid of him, not&lt;br /&gt;
knowing what he really was.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
In order to raid the underground labyrinth, Gedora sent Shinji over to them, and Imperial Intelligence&lt;br /&gt;
also had the information.&lt;br /&gt;
Lt. Kondo was a man of few words.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, that&#039;s hard work.”&lt;br /&gt;
That was all he said, and nothing more was said after that.&lt;br /&gt;
Those who came to report were used to it, and left the scene after a bow.&lt;br /&gt;
Lieutenant Kondo the man would not tell anyone else his opinion.&lt;br /&gt;
The report also contains detailed information about Yuuki&#039;s men.&lt;br /&gt;
The number of &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; collected from all over the world has exceeded a thousand.&lt;br /&gt;
Among these people, those whose unique skills had not awakened probably accounted for a little over&lt;br /&gt;
10%. All of these people are living peaceful lives in the Imperial Capital.&lt;br /&gt;
After the awakening, people with unique skills suitable for fighting are about 10% or 20% faster. Over&lt;br /&gt;
a hundred &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; are assigned to the various legions according to their personalities.&lt;br /&gt;
Others are placed in workplaces where they can excel, doing a variety of jobs in various places.&lt;br /&gt;
The problem these days is the &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; who are capable of fighting.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki—Yuuki Kagurazaka, the man who founded the Freedom Association in the Western countries. A&lt;br /&gt;
year ago he was also the Grand Master of the Freedom Association, trying to use his powers to protect&lt;br /&gt;
those &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s what Yuuki himself said, but the results of the Imperial investigation showed that those were all&lt;br /&gt;
lies.&lt;br /&gt;
He had also infiltrated the Rosso clan and used their power.&lt;br /&gt;
He also carries out &amp;quot;otherworldly visitor&amp;quot; summons that are forbidden on the Western side, and&lt;br /&gt;
according to the survey, they summoned quite a few people.&lt;br /&gt;
Otherwise there wouldn&#039;t be so many people who are particularly good at fighting.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, if it&#039;s an &amp;quot;otherworldly visitor&amp;quot; who&#039;s been summoned over, a &amp;quot;spell&amp;quot; can be used to&lt;br /&gt;
force them to swear allegiance. Wanting to be prepared not to betray one&#039;s own ministry, summoning is&lt;br /&gt;
most appropriate.&lt;br /&gt;
And these &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; are scattered throughout the legions.&lt;br /&gt;
Lt. Kondo had a sense of crisis about this and thought that something bad would happen if we&lt;br /&gt;
continued to let it go. He&#039;d thought right—this man possessed intimidating insight.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, Lt. Kondo&#039;s misgivings were not wrong.&lt;br /&gt;
The results are clearly written in this report. After Yuuki moved to live in the Empire, we can conclude&lt;br /&gt;
from his words and actions that he was likely to stage a coup d&#039;état by force.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to that, those who were sent in against Yuuki have also been found.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of Yuuki&#039;s good record in the past, he escaped to this side of the Empire to be accepted. Yet he&lt;br /&gt;
forgets this favor and seems to be trying to expand his power without permission. Some became his men&lt;br /&gt;
and were sent to various legions.&lt;br /&gt;
And a few of them joined the glorious Order of the Near Guard.&lt;br /&gt;
In the case of other legions it is a different matter, the Imperial Order of the Emperor&#039;s Close Guard&lt;br /&gt;
must protect His Majesty and will not tolerate betrayers.&lt;br /&gt;
In Lt. Kondo&#039;s opinion, the matter could not be ignored.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s dangerous. Yuuki Kagurazaka—it looks like we have to get rid of you.&lt;br /&gt;
Lt. Kondo was determined.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet now is not the time to act.&lt;br /&gt;
He received word that Master Gedora, the Grand Wizard of the Imperial Heavy Town, was linked to&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki. Evidence is also available, but it&#039;s not clear how deep their relationship runs.&lt;br /&gt;
Needless to say, Master Gedora was also a very important figure to the Empire. It shouldn&#039;t be so easy&lt;br /&gt;
to betray, but Lieutenant Kondo also knew that he was coming to the Empire&#039;s aid only because his&lt;br /&gt;
purpose was in line with the Empire&#039;s philosophy.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way it was also possible to pit him against the Imperial interests for some reason.&lt;br /&gt;
If that&#039;s the case, the old man is also in danger. That being the case...&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki and Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki looks like a teenager, but he is very sophisticated in his behavior. Like Lt. Kondo, he was&lt;br /&gt;
dangerous and could not be judged on appearances alone.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora is an old man on the outside, but his essence is a monster that has survived for over a thousand&lt;br /&gt;
years. If one is going to be hostile to him, one cannot challenge such an opponent without being&lt;br /&gt;
thoroughly enlightened.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why information is collected.&lt;br /&gt;
Although some evidence has been found, the intelligence is still insufficient.&lt;br /&gt;
It is too early to act blatantly.&lt;br /&gt;
He&#039;s going to carefully investigate Yuuki&#039;s &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot;. Find out afterwards if anyone is&lt;br /&gt;
dominated by the &amp;quot;spell&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
However, if Yuuki or Gedora are found to be behaving unnaturally...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t expect to be tried in public.”&lt;br /&gt;
Lurking in the shadows of the Empire - Lieutenant Kondo would never spare a traitor.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Dance for the Empire. Your life is in my hands.”&lt;br /&gt;
In the shadows of the Imperial capital.&lt;br /&gt;
A cold glow rose in his eyes, and Lieutenant Kondo murmured quietly.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
It was the office attached to a plush desk, with a one-eyed man in a high-class chair.&lt;br /&gt;
With his left eye covered with a blindfold, he was a very thin man who looked to be about forty years&lt;br /&gt;
old.&lt;br /&gt;
His name is Calgurio.&lt;br /&gt;
He has the greatest power within the Empire and is the military leader of the Mecha Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
There were several &amp;quot;magic crystals&amp;quot; on the table in front of him.&lt;br /&gt;
This is the source of magical energy, high purity, high quality &amp;quot;magic crystal&amp;quot;. Because Yuuki brings&lt;br /&gt;
certain techniques, it is possible to refine these &amp;quot;magic crystals&amp;quot; into magic stones.&lt;br /&gt;
In other words, &amp;quot;magic crystals&amp;quot; are taken from the core of magic creatures and refined to produce&lt;br /&gt;
magic stones that can be used to generate magical energy.&lt;br /&gt;
There are also natural magical stones that fall from magical creatuers, but only individuals with a large&lt;br /&gt;
amount of magical elements and a grade of A or higher can harvest them. These natural magical stones&lt;br /&gt;
are of a high quality, unmatched by other magical stones, and generally do not generate energy, but are&lt;br /&gt;
used as decorative objects or magical mediums.&lt;br /&gt;
If it cannot be taken on a regular basis, it has no value as a source of energy.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio reached out and grabbed the &#039;magic crystal&#039; on the table. The more closely he looked, the more&lt;br /&gt;
he knew the quality of something like that was great.&lt;br /&gt;
Reluctant to let go of the touch that remained in his hand, Calgurio placed the Magic Crystal Stone&lt;br /&gt;
back on the table. Instead, he picked up the report book that had been sent with the stone.&lt;br /&gt;
This is a report from the Institute.&lt;br /&gt;
If it is a &amp;quot;magic crystal&amp;quot; of this purity, it will be able to produce a hundred of the magic stones made by&lt;br /&gt;
the Empire. It can also be converted directly into energy with high purity. If you want to take this level of&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;magic crystal&amp;quot;, you must at least defeat a magic creature of B level or higher.&lt;br /&gt;
It is so written.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That Gedora guy! I can&#039;t believe you&#039;re keeping something so profitable from me...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio was outraged by this.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He had bribed those Institute personnel to inform himself of anything. The result is this report.&lt;br /&gt;
This &amp;quot;magic crystal&amp;quot; is something that Gedora brought recently. He didn&#039;t let on where it was harvested,&lt;br /&gt;
but since there were several it meant he might have found a place that could give birth to a large group of&lt;br /&gt;
magical things. After all, these stones are all of first-rate quality, and the test results indicate that almost&lt;br /&gt;
all contain the same amount of energy.&lt;br /&gt;
Different kinds of magical things can&#039;t take on the same quality. There will always be deviations, which&lt;br /&gt;
must be refined before the magic stone can be worked on.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet here the &amp;quot;magic crystal&amp;quot; is of almost the same quality. This means that there is a large group of&lt;br /&gt;
magical creatures of the same race.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t think it would be possible to breed these magical creatures, but with regular attacks and then&lt;br /&gt;
executing them at intervals, it should improve the Empire&#039;s energy problems.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet it seems that things are more complicated.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio&#039;s face twisted with desire.&lt;br /&gt;
If the goal is to stabilize the energy supply, it is necessary to ensure the location of the production of&lt;br /&gt;
this &amp;quot;magic crystal”—the report concludes.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only do they have an eye on the habitat of these magical creatures, they also lock down locations.&lt;br /&gt;
That place was within the domain of the demon lord Rimuru, the legendary underground maze.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Recently, Gedora and Yuuki were so close that they didn&#039;t even come to see me. It&#039;s inexcusable to do&lt;br /&gt;
something so profitable in private!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s what sets Calgurio on fire.&lt;br /&gt;
And things follow.&lt;br /&gt;
The high-ranking nobleman who was walking very close to Calgurio told him an interesting thing.&lt;br /&gt;
A large group of them ran over, with obnoxious smiles on their faces, and came over to report to&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio. Upon hearing this, it becomes clear that Gedora ran off to investigate the maze and lost three&lt;br /&gt;
more apprentices.&lt;br /&gt;
If that were the only thing, it would only be sympathetic and not funny at all, yet what Gedora brought&lt;br /&gt;
back was a problem.&lt;br /&gt;
Because Gedora not only brought back the &amp;quot;magic crystal stone&amp;quot;, but even the treasure.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a sword that adorned Calgurio&#039;s room.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only is it made of pure &amp;quot;magic steel&amp;quot; of high quality, but the technology is also of a very high&lt;br /&gt;
standard. Not far from the most powerful artisanal forge in the Dwarven Kingdom. It&#039;s a great sword. No,&lt;br /&gt;
this side is better in terms of the material.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s a distinct difference from what circulates within the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As for the excellent sword, it was one that Calgurio had bought with a high-ranking nobleman. There&lt;br /&gt;
were three in total, one of which was taken to the technical department of its own army for testing.&lt;br /&gt;
The high-ranking nobleman said proudly, &amp;quot;This is something precious, perhaps with incredible effects.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
His words were exaggerated, lobbying Calgurio to buy.&lt;br /&gt;
Even though it was dedicated to that nobleman by Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio asked him if Gedora had any demands, but the other said in a loud voice, &amp;quot;How can I tell you&lt;br /&gt;
that? That&#039;s for sure, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
It turned out that a sword asked for a hundred gold coins and sold for a total value of three hundred&lt;br /&gt;
gold coins, but Calgurio did want to know something.&lt;br /&gt;
Because he bought three at a time, the other party finally gave him a clue...&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio was of lower aristocratic origin and became a military chief by strength.&lt;br /&gt;
The empire is entirely a powerhouse society, and therefore has a higher status than the nobleman with&lt;br /&gt;
an empty exalted status.&lt;br /&gt;
Originally, there was no way he would have had the opportunity to speak to these high ranking nobles.&lt;br /&gt;
However, facing the current Calgurio, these same men had to give him three points of courtesy.&lt;br /&gt;
They clearly looked down on me in private, but now that doesn’t matter. More important now than that&lt;br /&gt;
is the clever use of these people.&lt;br /&gt;
High-ranking nobles do everything for their own benefit. Informing things based on good intentions—&lt;br /&gt;
there is no such thing as good intentions under heaven.&lt;br /&gt;
Would have told Calgurio what Gedora had said, also all carefully calculated.&lt;br /&gt;
In other words, they put Yuuki on the scale with Calgurio to measure.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Those greedy aristocrats! But more important now is Gedora. Even the aristocrats are lobbying them&lt;br /&gt;
to use the hybrid legions to attack the maze! Since I&#039;m going to Raiders, I should recommend my army...I&lt;br /&gt;
took the Mecha Legion from that guy, I didn&#039;t think he&#039;d still hold a grudge over it now...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Because of Gedora&#039;s assistance, the Mecha Legion managed to become the Modern Legion. The force&lt;br /&gt;
inside swelled from tens to hundreds of times, and Gedora had no command over it.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio thought the reason lay there, and Gedora was therefore jealous of him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No harm done. Good luck getting information from the nobility. This way we can get ahead of those&lt;br /&gt;
guys and let my army hold the benefits.”&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, pulling in high-ranking nobles requires some money.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if Calgurio gets the benefit, part of it has to go.&lt;br /&gt;
Even so, Calgurio still thinks it&#039;s a good deal.&lt;br /&gt;
The only thing you can get from inside the maze isn&#039;t just &amp;quot;magic crystals&amp;quot;. The quality of this sword is&lt;br /&gt;
also great, currently equivalent to the Rare class. But in another hundred years, it might turn out to be a&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
special class. If the body is built with so much &amp;quot;magic steel&amp;quot;, it might evolve even faster. That alone would&lt;br /&gt;
be worth it for me to master that maze!&lt;br /&gt;
It was precisely because that was what Calgurio thought that he decided to go and pull in the high&lt;br /&gt;
ranking nobles.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio is making plans for the future, but one doubt just can&#039;t wave it out of his mind.&lt;br /&gt;
—then again, what is this hole?&lt;br /&gt;
The high aristocrats say &amp;quot;it has an incredible effect,&amp;quot; but those are all from Gedora&#039;s side, I guess.&lt;br /&gt;
In Calgurio&#039;s opinion, he did not find a similar effect.&lt;br /&gt;
However....&lt;br /&gt;
One thing that made him suspicious when he read it was the holes in the sword.&lt;br /&gt;
Is there a meaning behind this?&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio had no way to tell.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why those were given to the technical department, but the analysis is not yet available.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s okay, the Empire is not like the West, and nowadays the era doesn&#039;t fight with swords anymore...&lt;br /&gt;
So no matter how much value this sword contained, it wouldn&#039;t make sense in a modern army.&lt;br /&gt;
Only a highly skilled warrior can live with this sword.&lt;br /&gt;
Yeah, just like Calgurio with his right hand.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking on the one hand, Calgurio looked forward to seeing the results of the analysis come out.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately following, a few days later.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio received an amazing report.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Let me explain.”&lt;br /&gt;
The director of the technical unit explained it in person.&lt;br /&gt;
After a scientific analysis of this sword, they found many things.&lt;br /&gt;
The orifice was not decorative.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a device that could absorb energy, a medium that could unleash magic with high efficiency.&lt;br /&gt;
That is to say, it&#039;s not just a sword, but a magic unleashing device.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;He&#039;s called the Demon Lord Rimuru, right? I can&#039;t underestimate him for coming up with such an&lt;br /&gt;
interesting idea.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. It&#039;s a weapon that makes you think it&#039;s a sword—that is, a weapon that fights at close range, and&lt;br /&gt;
then uses magic to make an unintended attack. As long as the source of the energy supply that matches&lt;br /&gt;
this hole is found, the caster—in this case the owner, I guess—can cast the magic without any burden.”&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right.&lt;br /&gt;
The greatest feature of this weapon is the ability to manipulate magic as well as unleash it, breaking&lt;br /&gt;
existing common sense.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But did you really get this in the maze?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;About that I can prove it&#039;s true. I had men sent over, and it doesn&#039;t sound like Gedora was lying.”&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio also sent his own men to the magic capital &amp;quot;Rimuru&amp;quot; to gather information related to the&lt;br /&gt;
maze. Internal investigations hit a bottleneck near the fortieth floor, but those people had interesting&lt;br /&gt;
rumors from the merchant side and the rest of the population.&lt;br /&gt;
They said they could get weapons with holes in them from the maze. Although the transaction amount&lt;br /&gt;
is high, it&#039;s cheaper to buy than Trinity level.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, what is the other party&#039;s purpose in doing such a thing...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh! Just think about it for a moment. At least we have to experiment before we can use this as a new&lt;br /&gt;
weapon!”&lt;br /&gt;
The director of the technology department has a good head but doesn&#039;t think about the tactical side of&lt;br /&gt;
things. After listening to Calgurio&#039;s explanations, I finally found out what the point of doing so was.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, so it is. Adventurers abound, to give those things to them and let them investigate the effect? It&lt;br /&gt;
does sound reasonable. When the magic stone was placed into this hole, the sword&#039;s rank was raised by&lt;br /&gt;
one stage. Would turn into a high powered magic sword, but seemed to have other uses. It takes a lot of&lt;br /&gt;
time to master these various experiments.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Exactly. Just send those things to the adventurers at random and ask them to try them individually.&lt;br /&gt;
Once the data is all out, come back and wait for that data to be recycled.”&lt;br /&gt;
In a way, Calgurio correctly interprets the intent of Rimuru. And judging from experience that such an&lt;br /&gt;
experiment would take time, he was well aware of that.&lt;br /&gt;
At this stage, these are just experimental weapons. Yet procrastination is dangerous.&lt;br /&gt;
Humans are interesting creatures, some of whom can see things by intuition. Most of these people are&lt;br /&gt;
particularly prone to having that excellent instinct, especially when they are in danger.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This is a great idea—human experimentation in a maze where no one dies.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I think I need a bracelet like this to get inside, but the results of the analysis are still a mystery. If the&lt;br /&gt;
rumors were true, conducting military training wouldn&#039;t have to be so hard.”&lt;br /&gt;
The director of the technical department pulled out a small box, which was tightly sealed, and he held it&lt;br /&gt;
out to Calgurio.&lt;br /&gt;
In this chest is one of the treasures that Gedora brought back—the &amp;quot;Resurrection Bracelet&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Those things certainly sound suspicious. However, if our army mastered this labyrinth...”&lt;br /&gt;
That way they can discern the truth of the rumors, and if things are true, that would be a great&lt;br /&gt;
achievement.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, so Lord Calgurio is so ambitious that he wants to fight the demon lord?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s for sure. It&#039;s a bad idea to go after each other for nothing, but the Great Forest of Jura is on our&lt;br /&gt;
invasion route. Plus that maze is in a location that can&#039;t be ignored, someone has to step up to the plate.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, how dare you.”&lt;br /&gt;
After that, Calgurio and the director of the technical department looked at each other and smiled.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;A stable supply of magical crystals and an efficient place to experiment. If things go well, we can still&lt;br /&gt;
capture the enemy&#039;s new weaponry.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then we must get ahead of the other legions and let Lord Calgurio&#039;s mech legions go over and&lt;br /&gt;
suppress them first.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You don&#039;t have to say that. You just have to wait there and expect results.”&lt;br /&gt;
The director of the technical department wore a pleasant smile, and a light smile appeared on Calgurio&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
face.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But the master is getting old and his mind is beginning to be unclear.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Exactly. I was blinded by the &amp;quot;magic crystal&amp;quot; and didn&#039;t see that the maze was more important, and&lt;br /&gt;
misjudged the performance of the sword.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s only by relying on magic that you can do this harm. It&#039;s unheard of for a weapon to make a change&lt;br /&gt;
in rank like this.”&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio thinks the director of the technical department is right.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was a great man, yet it was no longer the time to rely on magic. A new wave is blowing up, and&lt;br /&gt;
that is science, so that things go hand in hand with magic, opening a new era.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s because of this that the Mecha Corps should let me lead. The old man would have had a little more&lt;br /&gt;
respect if he&#039;d rested on his laurels. Since he&#039;s now teaming up with that so-and-so Yuuki, there&#039;s no need&lt;br /&gt;
to be polite with him.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, a battle plan popped into Calgurio&#039;s mind.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be foolish to go up against several demon lords at the same time, but just dealing with demon&lt;br /&gt;
lord Rimuru would be fine.&lt;br /&gt;
And the &amp;quot;Storm Dragon&amp;quot; has long been an object of crusade, and that&#039;s what the Empire has always&lt;br /&gt;
wanted. Calgurio intends to use the newly developed weapon to put the Storm Dragon in place.&lt;br /&gt;
If successful, even a small sacrifice would be profitable. Master Gedora, however, was adamantly&lt;br /&gt;
opposed.&lt;br /&gt;
So this became the key reason why Calgurio and Gedora were pitted against each other.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ha! As long as the evil dragon is able to be captured, the Slime demon lord is no match for us at all.&lt;br /&gt;
This time make sure to show everyone that we are the strongest legion in the Empire!&lt;br /&gt;
The time had come, and Calgurio was excited about it.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was against him to thwart his opponent&#039;s sharpness and consolidate his position in the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
So Calgurio must build up a reputation for making the Mecha Legion crush the Evil Dragon no matter&lt;br /&gt;
what.&lt;br /&gt;
For this reason...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Let&#039;s go in at the next imperial meeting and advocate a march.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oooohhhh, finally...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hmm,&amp;quot; nodded Calgurio.&lt;br /&gt;
No need to wait for the Demon Lord to be ready. He&#039;s going to use that as an excuse to silence those&lt;br /&gt;
who object.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora, I definitely can&#039;t let you get ahead of yourself. And then there&#039;s Yuuki, the brat. So you&#039;re just&lt;br /&gt;
going to get carried away by joining forces with Gedora? I&#039;m going to show you how much of a pound&lt;br /&gt;
you have.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio was laughing at his stupid peers.&lt;br /&gt;
There was clearly an opportunity to get important information, and the idiot just missed it by not&lt;br /&gt;
finding out about it.&lt;br /&gt;
Just a half-baked fool, anyway, Calgurio was convinced.&lt;br /&gt;
While laughing at his peers, Calgurio continued to think.&lt;br /&gt;
What should I do to get the most out of myself?&lt;br /&gt;
He pondered the matter deeply, while sorting out what was to be played to the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire began to stir as a result of Calgurio&#039;s actions.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The imperial meeting was about to begin.&lt;br /&gt;
This time the situation was very different from the usual, not only the soldiers and generals who&lt;br /&gt;
participated, but even the civilian officials present were nervous.&lt;br /&gt;
Presumably sensing this atmosphere, people who had nothing to do with it didn&#039;t want to be anywhere&lt;br /&gt;
near the big convention hall.&lt;br /&gt;
This meeting was different than usual.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s something people feel.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Someone announced the arrival of the Emperor, and everyone bowed their heads in unison.&lt;br /&gt;
On the other side of the curtain, someone seemed to appear.&lt;br /&gt;
That would be the Emperor of the Unification Empire, Rudra Naam Ulu Nazca.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
At the pinnacle of the united eastern empire of the most powerful military power, Nazca-Namlium-&lt;br /&gt;
Ulmeria.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No one knew what was going through the Emperor&#039;s mind, and the voice appeared on the other side of&lt;br /&gt;
the curtain.&lt;br /&gt;
Except for a few close servants, no one has ever seen the true face of the emperor, a supreme being,&lt;br /&gt;
who just stays there and lets others not dare to make a scene.&lt;br /&gt;
The emperor is the only one who cannot be questioned.&lt;br /&gt;
Only a fraction of those dare to speak out against the emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
There were nearly two hundred people in the meeting room.&lt;br /&gt;
First there were the &amp;quot;three generals”—they were the chiefs of the various legions, and their deputies.&lt;br /&gt;
The elite members of the Imperial Emperor&#039;s Near Guard Knights were lined up.&lt;br /&gt;
There are also ministers who deal with the administrative affairs of the State, and the Grand Council of&lt;br /&gt;
Peers, which is the center of the State. The best and brightest from all walks of life are gathered here with&lt;br /&gt;
their heads bowed.&lt;br /&gt;
All that remained in the solemn hall was the sound of clothes scraping.&lt;br /&gt;
Then the voice disappeared.&lt;br /&gt;
At this moment, the Prime Minister winked at the official of the ceremony.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Your Majesty the Emperor...is here...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Upon hearing this, all the people in the room unanimously said a salute.&lt;br /&gt;
Breaking the silence, it was like a roar of rage, a hundred voices.&lt;br /&gt;
This imperial meeting began with the question of whether the Great March that will go down in history&lt;br /&gt;
is right or wrong.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
The imperial meeting took place in a serious atmosphere.&lt;br /&gt;
On this occasion, the issue of the Great March was raised, with one group advocating prudence and the&lt;br /&gt;
other advocating troops, in which the militants were again divided into two factions.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The first thing to ask is what is the name of the war?&lt;br /&gt;
This is a stupid question.&lt;br /&gt;
Plundering because the emperor wanted it so badly—it’s just that.&lt;br /&gt;
Does that work?&lt;br /&gt;
At this point, there is again a substantial difference of opinion.&lt;br /&gt;
Some advocate that one should be cautious, others advocate attacking from the front and ravaging the&lt;br /&gt;
enemy.&lt;br /&gt;
The civil officials felt that they should persuade the other side to surrender, exerting pressure and&lt;br /&gt;
coercion, starting with diplomatic negotiations.&lt;br /&gt;
If the emperor wished to go to war, then they would have no room for opinion.&lt;br /&gt;
But at present the emperor did not give a holy decree, and everyone had their own opinion during the&lt;br /&gt;
meeting.&lt;br /&gt;
It is only a matter of time before war starts.&lt;br /&gt;
The question is what method to use.&lt;br /&gt;
The demon lords in charge everywhere were also in the way, but as long as they didn&#039;t infringe on their&lt;br /&gt;
territory, they wouldn&#039;t do anything about it.&lt;br /&gt;
The only obstacle is the &amp;quot;storm dragon&amp;quot; Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
Later on, all the talk was directed towards the Great Forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
One of them came out to petition and said he was against the war.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I am afraid, Your Majesty. I&#039;m against sending troops.”&lt;br /&gt;
He is the Great Wizard of the Empire, Master Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora did not fear the emperor at all, and he entered boldly.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What a cowardly thing to say! Is that again to be mentioned, Sir Gedora?”&lt;br /&gt;
Some have ridiculed Gedora, one is of the &amp;quot;three generals”—Calgurio, the head of the Mecha Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
Every time.&lt;br /&gt;
These two men represent the Deliberative and the Militant, respectively.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If it&#039;s just to hit the West, that&#039;s fine. But there was the evil dragon Veldora in the great forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
The resurrection of the evil dragon was just confirmed two years ago. Of course you have to be careful!”&lt;br /&gt;
Some share his view.&lt;br /&gt;
There were also those who laughed at Gedora&#039;s weakness.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The calamity brought about by Veldora was projected to have passed over three hundred years ago, and&lt;br /&gt;
that fear had long since passed with the wind. Now that more people are starting, things are not looking&lt;br /&gt;
good on Gedora&#039;s side.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio has seen through this and wants to agitate further by words.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Master, your attitude of prudence is something we should learn from. But as I&#039;ve said many times, the&lt;br /&gt;
countermeasures used against Veldora are foolproof. With the new weapon we&#039;ve developed, we have a&lt;br /&gt;
chance to bring that evil dragon to its knees!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ridiculous! Don&#039;t talk in your dreams, Sir Calgurio. Since it cannot be denied that this operation has&lt;br /&gt;
the potential to fail, it is certainly prudent to proceed. And now there&#039;s a new demon lord ruling that&lt;br /&gt;
forest! Although it was impossible for a demon lord to join forces with each other, it was not good to&lt;br /&gt;
deliberately work against them. And that evil dragon had been resurrected and seemed to have joined&lt;br /&gt;
forces with the newly installed Demon Lord Rimuru. Usually, people tell the devil that the water from the&lt;br /&gt;
well does not violate the river!”&lt;br /&gt;
As long as the &amp;quot;Valley of Death Creek&amp;quot;, which is connected to the old Clayman territory, is passed,&lt;br /&gt;
there is that possibility to get the army to move. However, they didn&#039;t choose to do so because the Empire&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t want to offend the area under Demon Lord Milim&#039;s jurisdiction.&lt;br /&gt;
The march through the fertile earth will be faster than through the forest. Yet the benefits gained were&lt;br /&gt;
not great enough to offend the demon lord, Milim.&lt;br /&gt;
Likewise, just by going through the Great Forest of Jura, they could lay their hands on the West.&lt;br /&gt;
However, now that Veldora the Storm Dragon has been resurrected, he has also joined forces with the&lt;br /&gt;
demon lord Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
With no intention of adding enemies—the above is Gedora’s claim. Upon hearing this, several civil&lt;br /&gt;
officials nodded their heads in agreement. However, Calgurio snorted and questioned Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is it not true, then, that His Excellency Gedora wants us to give up a long-held ambition of the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire?”&lt;br /&gt;
It would have been difficult to send a large army to the west without going through the great forest of&lt;br /&gt;
Jura. It is for this reason that Calgurio&#039;s question was supported by the military.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;His Excellency Calgurio has a point, Master. In the face of the great Imperial Army, a single Demon&lt;br /&gt;
Lord is not even a threat!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;How dare you speak insultingly in front of His Majesty! Could it be that His Excellency Gedora wants&lt;br /&gt;
to defy the Emperor&#039;s will—!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No! Come to think of it, instead of making an enemy of the demon lord, it would be better to enlist the&lt;br /&gt;
help of the Dwarf King. That way we don&#039;t get hurt and it&#039;s relatively easy to master the West!”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora yelled loudly, refuting those objections.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet there are those who scoff at Gedora’s claims.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s you that&#039;s funny, Sir Gedora. The Dwarf King is a man of great virtue and respect, known as the&lt;br /&gt;
Sword Saint. The previous generation was also a hero, and the kings of this generation have extraordinary&lt;br /&gt;
strength. His companions are all famous heroes, and this side is a stronger opponent than slaughtering the&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
newcomer demon lord. Even I wanted to put my hands together and beg for mercy, but that wasn&#039;t the&lt;br /&gt;
point this time. It is better to fight with heroes than to crush the demon lord, so that the world will look at&lt;br /&gt;
us more positively!”&lt;br /&gt;
Someone who uttered the phrase was one of the &amp;quot;three great generals&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
The Beast King Gladim, the leader of the Beast (Warcraft) Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
Just standing up exudes a sense of oppression, enough to overwhelm the entire field.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s very kingly.&lt;br /&gt;
Even the Beast King, Gladim, could get them to give in by strength. It is the premier martial arts&lt;br /&gt;
faction in the Empire, with a highly combat-oriented army chief.&lt;br /&gt;
The class is the Grand Admiral.&lt;br /&gt;
They say he is the second most powerful man in the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Although Gladim was not in the &amp;quot;single digits&amp;quot;, he was in the &amp;quot;tens&amp;quot;, but because he was strong enough,&lt;br /&gt;
he became a military commander very early. He used to think of himself as the strongest without having&lt;br /&gt;
to compete with others for ranking. Therefore, he has always had a bad taste in the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; who is&lt;br /&gt;
allegedly stronger than himself.&lt;br /&gt;
It was said that this man possessed the bloodline of an orc race, but it was not certain if that was true or&lt;br /&gt;
not. It&#039;s the type of person who acts on instinct, which Gedora is not good at dealing with.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It was His Excellency, Lord Gladim, and the comparison is not correct. I&#039;m just asking you to get King&lt;br /&gt;
Gazel!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Stupid. If the dwarven kingdoms are to be annexed together, I can understand what you are saying. If&lt;br /&gt;
you dare to obstruct the empire&#039;s unification of the world, all you have to do is beat the hell out of those&lt;br /&gt;
guys. But! What are you playing at here? It&#039;s because you keep saying that, even with all the troops in the&lt;br /&gt;
field, we still can&#039;t get started, can we...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Don’t say something stupid! The Dwarf Kingdom is a natural stronghold, and they&#039;re trying to take it&lt;br /&gt;
down...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Shut up...! To say such useless things in front of His Majesty is the reason why you were dismissed&lt;br /&gt;
from your post and could not continue to be a military commander...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The Beast King Gladim roared out the words.&lt;br /&gt;
He is telling the truth.&lt;br /&gt;
About thirty years ago, Gedora led a magical legion that was one of the three major legions of the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire. Today, however, those who are able are assigned to technical departments, while others are&lt;br /&gt;
transferred to various units.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason for this is that the use of magic can only depend on talent.&lt;br /&gt;
You can&#039;t manipulate magic without it in the first place. It&#039;s not something you can learn with effort, so&lt;br /&gt;
there are very few people who can use it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
While also useful in combat, the Empire later developed weapons that could replace magic.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s the Magic Gun, a small magic guide weapon.&lt;br /&gt;
Using the magic stone as a source of energy, unleash the magic array carved into the body of the gun.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, this weapon allows anyone to use magic. The weakness is that only one kind of magic can be&lt;br /&gt;
put out, but practicality is naturally out of the question.&lt;br /&gt;
As for fighting close range battles, they have the &amp;quot;Imperial Style Magic Sword&amp;quot;. The same is true in&lt;br /&gt;
principle, with the added magic of a strengthened weapon, which is a small magic-guided weapon.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s because of these things that the tech department found out what the hole-filled weapons from the&lt;br /&gt;
labyrinth could do.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone is thinking the same thing—in a nutshell.&lt;br /&gt;
Now that people without talent can use magic, the Magic Legion no longer serves any purpose.&lt;br /&gt;
As if announcing the end of the magical age, it was a sad thing for Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, there was another person who laughed at such a Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ha ha ha, Master. You&#039;re getting old. Your knowledge of magic is a treasure to the Empire. There is&lt;br /&gt;
also assistance for the development of a new type of magical guide weapon for our mecha legion...but&lt;br /&gt;
like Lord Gladim said, what was said earlier was inappropriate. Have you become a coward?”&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio sneered contemptuously at him.&lt;br /&gt;
The sound of snickering came from both the Noble House and the military units.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Do you really understand? That evil dragon in charge of the storm is the strongest race in this world!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Master, you don&#039;t understand. The Imperial Army is not the same as before. Many people from the&lt;br /&gt;
other world brought knowledge to us—we studied these &#039;sciences&#039; and began to have a very different&lt;br /&gt;
system of technology from this world, and the military power of our Imperial Army has increased dozens&lt;br /&gt;
of times compared to the previous generation. Wizards like you, who can&#039;t keep up with the times, can&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
keep up with the current way of fighting anymore. I am indebted to the emperor, so please live in peace.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You, what are you...!?”&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was outraged by this, but it was really all an act.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, Gedora had surrendered to the demon lord Rimuru. He tried his best to talk in the direction of&lt;br /&gt;
not going to war, but after that he just left it alone.&lt;br /&gt;
These guys are really pathetic. Science is great knowledge, yes, but even the Sorcerer Dynasty of&lt;br /&gt;
Sarion has a secret knowledge that belongs to them—“Magical Science&amp;quot;. His Majesty Rimuru was also&lt;br /&gt;
originally an &amp;quot;Otherworldly Visitor&amp;quot;, and the Empire relied on these military forces to secure their&lt;br /&gt;
superior status, but there&#039;s no telling how much of an effect that would have...&lt;br /&gt;
Now that Gedora had gotten to know the Jura Tempest Federation and Rimuru, he began to wonder if&lt;br /&gt;
the Empire would win.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t want to see any misfortune happen to his peers, and felt that His Majesty the Emperor had&lt;br /&gt;
been kind to him. That&#039;s why he’ll try his best to bait everyone in the hope of avoiding war, but if they&lt;br /&gt;
fail, they’ll have to wait and see.&lt;br /&gt;
It is expected that Yuuki will stage a coup, and if it happens, he intends to go and ensure the personal&lt;br /&gt;
safety of the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki would have wanted to assassinate the emperor, right? Since his purpose is to conquer the world,&lt;br /&gt;
nothing gets in the way more than a great leader.&lt;br /&gt;
If it had been before, Gedora would have intended to leave it alone. But now that the reason for starting&lt;br /&gt;
the war was gone, Yuuki&#039;s approach would throw the whole world into chaos, and Gedora would not&lt;br /&gt;
allow him to do so.&lt;br /&gt;
But I don&#039;t know what happens after that, so there&#039;s probably no point in going on about it. Then the&lt;br /&gt;
next step is to follow His Majesty Rimuru&#039;s orders to &amp;quot;keep the Imperial Army&#039;s attention on the&lt;br /&gt;
underground maze.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora made up his mind darkly.&lt;br /&gt;
Then began to pay attention to Yuuki who was still silent now.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Gedora fall into silence, Calgurio thought he had won.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s magical legions were dismantled and the military structure reconfigured. After that, Gedora&lt;br /&gt;
could only titularly serve as technical advisor to the Mecha Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
But he is known to have the power to be a hero, and perhaps still has more influence than Calgurio.&lt;br /&gt;
Recommending Yuuki the brat for army chief, that too is Gedora alone. It&#039;s infuriating.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s something that makes Calgurio feel bad.&lt;br /&gt;
The great wizard Gedora—the hero so called—was now old too. But his feats were still glorious, and it&lt;br /&gt;
was inevitable to pay him a little tribute, and Calgurio thought so, but...&lt;br /&gt;
Heck, he&#039;s an old-time character anyway. This has turned out to be an old scourge...&lt;br /&gt;
As the times have evolved, the Empire has become more and more combatant. The poor old man could&lt;br /&gt;
no longer keep up—that’s Gedora now.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire ushers in a new era.&lt;br /&gt;
The three major legions of the new generation were so powerful that they simply could not be&lt;br /&gt;
compared to before.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio&#039;s Legion of Mechs...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Combining the science and technology of another world and their magic technology to become the&lt;br /&gt;
largest legion of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
The total number of troops that can be mobilized is over two million. However, this includes the&lt;br /&gt;
number of troops on standby throughout the Reich, so that if a military operation were to be launched&lt;br /&gt;
immediately, it would in fact be possible to mobilize only a million people at most.&lt;br /&gt;
Even then it was a massive legion, unimaginable a hundred years ago, so to speak, beyond reason.&lt;br /&gt;
And then there&#039;s Gladim&#039;s Legion of Warcraft (Beasts)...&lt;br /&gt;
Using DNA analysis, a technology from another world, they have been able to breed captured beasts.&lt;br /&gt;
The cultivated magical beasts will be re-educated and strengthened to become the center of this legion.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s like the impossible cultivation of a magic beast according to common sense so far. Not only did&lt;br /&gt;
they achieve this, but they even tamed those demonic beasts. In this way, the tough magical beast can&lt;br /&gt;
become a riding beast.&lt;br /&gt;
The men who rode these magical beasts were heroes within the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Heroic bloodlines that have been active since time immemorial—they use them for analysis, so that&lt;br /&gt;
those people have this power.&lt;br /&gt;
They come down in life to be strong.&lt;br /&gt;
Let the powers that remain in their bloodline awaken, and the members of the Warcraft Legion are all&lt;br /&gt;
heroes.&lt;br /&gt;
To be as talented as they are, it is said that there is only one out of 100,000 people, and this legion is&lt;br /&gt;
small, only 30,000. However, the demonic beasts they rode were all above A- rank, and the strength of the&lt;br /&gt;
human-demonic oneness was immeasurable.&lt;br /&gt;
Only 30,000 people could be called the Legion, the strongest elite force that the Empire prided itself&lt;br /&gt;
on.&lt;br /&gt;
And then there&#039;s the &amp;quot;hybrid army&amp;quot; led by Yuuki...&lt;br /&gt;
Although this force is heavily staffed, their potential capabilities are very high.&lt;br /&gt;
Without understanding group cooperation, these disordered molecules are collected, and there is a nest&lt;br /&gt;
of these redundant members—the world generally thinks so, but in fact that assessment is wrong. The&lt;br /&gt;
reason why it is impossible to coordinate with other people is because each of them has excellent abilities.&lt;br /&gt;
The individual talents are outstanding, so powerful that they are difficult to control—many of them are&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; and the potential abilities are unknown.&lt;br /&gt;
Also, as a result of various experiments, some individuals have begun to possess irreproducible foul&lt;br /&gt;
elements—magical beasts with A-rank power that are difficult to master but have extraordinary fighting&lt;br /&gt;
abilities.&lt;br /&gt;
As well as weapons whose performance has been abandoned without knowing why things have turned&lt;br /&gt;
out the way they did—many of the products of the new experiment have been gathered in this unit.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Before, they were simply governed by people, but then Yuuki, the leader, appeared before them. The&lt;br /&gt;
result is a hybrid legion of trump-like forces, so powerful that it is difficult to calculate them numerically.&lt;br /&gt;
The total number of the army is 200,000.&lt;br /&gt;
Half of them are intelligence generals or general service soldiers, and the actual number of soldiers&lt;br /&gt;
available is 100,000.&lt;br /&gt;
There is also a force of carefully selected members at the head.&lt;br /&gt;
Those people were believers in Yuuki, the soul of the Hybrid Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
...........&lt;br /&gt;
........&lt;br /&gt;
The above are the three fledgling legions of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
It was a massive force of war.&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as the emperor gives the order, the army of one hundred and thirteen thousand can now be sent&lt;br /&gt;
out and a military operation will be launched.&lt;br /&gt;
At present, the Imperial Intelligence Bureau has studied the total war power of the Western countries,&lt;br /&gt;
which translates into less than a million troops. Considering the number of people they might mobilize, it&lt;br /&gt;
would be a blessing to gather up to 400,000.&lt;br /&gt;
And they did not think that the countries would join forces smoothly, concluding that there was&lt;br /&gt;
probably no way to use it militarily intelligently.&lt;br /&gt;
Against a crowd of 400,000, the Empire had over a million elites.&lt;br /&gt;
This large army was up against an enemy that was simply no match for them.&lt;br /&gt;
At the heart of this overwhelming Imperial army was the mech legion led by Calgurio.&lt;br /&gt;
This time, Calgurio intends to send specially selected fighters to the field to fight.&lt;br /&gt;
He expects to mobilize millions, with the following members.&lt;br /&gt;
The main force is the &amp;quot;Mecha Modification Corps...”&lt;br /&gt;
Draw on technology from another world to magically transform those soldiers. The minimum personal&lt;br /&gt;
combat ability is also a C+. Some of them even came to A rank.&lt;br /&gt;
With seven hundred thousand men in the regiment, it was the main force that kept the others from&lt;br /&gt;
seeing the light of day.&lt;br /&gt;
The Magic Chariot Division...&lt;br /&gt;
They have a practical new weapon, the Magic Guiding Chariot, with a total of two thousand units.&lt;br /&gt;
The Magic Chariot is going to be manned by five people, but can play a very powerful performance,&lt;br /&gt;
breaking common sense so far.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The main cannon is called the &amp;quot;Magic Guide Cannon&amp;quot; and can reach a speed of 2,000 meters per&lt;br /&gt;
second at first strike. The ability to load fifty rounds of ammunition, and shoot five rounds in one minute,&lt;br /&gt;
is so powerful that it&#039;s as destructive as tactical magic—the Super Advanced Explosive Flame style.&lt;br /&gt;
By the way, the shell itself is a &amp;quot;block of iron&amp;quot; even though it is fired using magic principles. A quality&lt;br /&gt;
weapon that can easily penetrate the boundaries of magic or defense against bows, etc., is intimidating.&lt;br /&gt;
Originally, this kind of power could only be harnessed by magic instructors and belonged to a few&lt;br /&gt;
elites, but now even ordinary soldiers could use it. Add to that the difficulty of defending, and there is a&lt;br /&gt;
great deal of meaning behind this.&lt;br /&gt;
Including the maintenance team, the number of soldiers inside was 200,000, so just by increasing the&lt;br /&gt;
number of chariots, the combat power would increase.&lt;br /&gt;
And a classified weapon, the Air Combat Corps.&lt;br /&gt;
There are four hundred blimps inside.&lt;br /&gt;
It could be said to be a treasure of the Empire, a crystallization of knowledge from another world.&lt;br /&gt;
Each blimp can carry up to four hundred people.&lt;br /&gt;
Fifty staff members operate, while others are responsible for waging defensive magic or controlling&lt;br /&gt;
artillery fire. There are many magic-enhanced cannons inside, which are excellent for attack and defense.&lt;br /&gt;
Also a very useful means of transportation.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s not too much to say that there is &amp;quot;no concept of air power&amp;quot; in this era. The complete absence of the&lt;br /&gt;
alert air allows for the transport of large numbers of troops while the enemy is inattentive.&lt;br /&gt;
If you want to surround the enemy back and forth, you can do it simply by using the airship.&lt;br /&gt;
This is an invention that subverts established tactical theory.&lt;br /&gt;
The regiment had a total of 100,000 soldiers, and most of the former members of the &amp;quot;Magic Legion&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
were affiliated with this regiment.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the preparation of such a large force, Calgurio felt that he could do nothing.&lt;br /&gt;
For example, although it depends on the size of the country, the average strength of a knight in this&lt;br /&gt;
world is at best a C. The use of weapons or protective gear, watered down, and rigorous training is not&lt;br /&gt;
guaranteed to barely reach B level.&lt;br /&gt;
Conversely look at the mecha legion, which can magically transform members as long as they have the&lt;br /&gt;
will to do so. To demonstrate a high degree of compatibility in a health diagnosis would semi-forcing&lt;br /&gt;
them to undergo revision surgery.&lt;br /&gt;
The result succeeded in turning the entire legion&#039;s fighting prowess from the valley.&lt;br /&gt;
On this point, the people stationed everywhere were no exception, and Calgurio believed that the&lt;br /&gt;
Empire was rock-solid.&lt;br /&gt;
As for this big long march, he expected to send out all the magical chariots and hovercrafts.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Even if other countries unite, these soldiers still far surpass them in quality.&lt;br /&gt;
Plus there are a lot of new weapons that are being made public for the first time.&lt;br /&gt;
If you want to show the power of the Empire, you must send an army of mechs, Calgurio, to be so sure.&lt;br /&gt;
We have such a powerful army, whether it&#039;s Veldora or Demon Lord, there&#039;s nothing to fear! My legions&lt;br /&gt;
alone can be the world&#039;s greatest!&lt;br /&gt;
Heart full of such confidence, Calgurio watched again to see how Gedora reacted.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why he noticed one thing. That was when Gedora turned his gaze to look at Yuuki. The next&lt;br /&gt;
moment, as if waiting for this opportunity, Yuuki spoke up.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Grandfather Gedora was too cautious, and I agree with that. In my opinion, we are overly vigilant&lt;br /&gt;
about the Storm Dragon. Just like the Calgurio army chief said, if it&#039;s the current Imperial Army, it&lt;br /&gt;
shouldn&#039;t be a problem to deal with them, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
At this imperial meeting, Yuuki spoke for the first time.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t expect him to agree with himself, which made Calgurio wary.&lt;br /&gt;
This guy is going to take this opportunity to attack the maze, right? It&#039;s naive to think I didn&#039;t notice&lt;br /&gt;
that! How can one take on the important task of a military chief without intelligence?&lt;br /&gt;
In spite of his heart, Calgurio flashed a friendly smile at Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
To make an exception there is still the figure of Gladim, but he was only chosen to be the military chief&lt;br /&gt;
because he was powerful beyond reason. It&#039;s too early for a Yuuki in the district to become a military&lt;br /&gt;
commander, and on weekdays, Calgurio sees Yuuki as a thorn in his side.&lt;br /&gt;
Hiding this side of his heart, Calgurio began to speak.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re worthy of the title of Lord Yuuki. As a young up-and-comer, you’re really something else.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, you&#039;re flattering me. I&#039;d say that if we were to start a war, we&#039;d have to investigate first, right? To&lt;br /&gt;
pass through the Great Forest of Jura, one must pass through the area governed by the demon lord&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru. But an interesting thing happened here, I heard that the demon lord was able to make their city&lt;br /&gt;
escape into the maze.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, you mean the maze?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. Properly speaking it should be an underground maze. I don&#039;t know what kind of principle is&lt;br /&gt;
behind it, but I&#039;ve heard that the entire metropolis has disappeared, leaving only a gate in the ground.”&lt;br /&gt;
While Calgurio, who pretended to be unaware, asked this question, Yuuki replied to him with a &amp;quot;just&lt;br /&gt;
what I want&amp;quot; look on his face.&lt;br /&gt;
Huh, boring. Is he trying to say he&#039;s going to go over and investigate, intending to take away the&lt;br /&gt;
benefits that can be gained in the underground maze?...that&#039;s why I said you were too tender)&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, Calgurio snickered.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, is this information accurate?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If it&#039;s true, we can&#039;t ignore the underground maze. When our military comes through, they may attack&lt;br /&gt;
from behind.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed. If the West wasn&#039;t so stupid, they would have built a line of defense to strengthen their&lt;br /&gt;
defenses. If supplies are cut off by the demon lord&#039;s army, our army will be in desperate straits.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, it&#039;s dangerous to go through the Great Forest of Jura.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Yuuki say so, everyone began to take their own positions. That seemed to be what Yuuki&lt;br /&gt;
wanted, and the expression on his face lit up with it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The credibility of this information is beyond question. After all, it was Grandpa Gedora himself who&lt;br /&gt;
came to investigate it for us!”&lt;br /&gt;
Finding the right time, Yuuki said this. And then, after a victory lap, he continued.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Master Gedora has confirmed with his own eyes that he finds the Demon Lord Rimuru threatening,&lt;br /&gt;
and has brought back a certain rumor. That is, it was said that the underground labyrinth had a total of one&lt;br /&gt;
hundred layers, and the guardian was &#039;Storm Dragon&#039; Veldora. This rumor is not based on a definitive&lt;br /&gt;
basis, but the investigation was interrupted by the presence of the victims on the 60th floor underground. I&lt;br /&gt;
heard that even Masayuki “the chosen hero&amp;quot; hasn&#039;t broken through on this floor, so I think the difficulty&lt;br /&gt;
is equivalent to A+. Whichever route to attack the West from, I think there is a need for investigation.”&lt;br /&gt;
Abandoning the dangling attitude from before, Yuuki spoke in a serious tone.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There are victims...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s a shame. I can relate to the feelings of Lord Yuuki.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s okay to just go and investigate, so let the Hybrid Legion handle it.”&lt;br /&gt;
The aristocrats began to speak their minds. Calgurio looked on and began to get annoyed.&lt;br /&gt;
Geez, it&#039;s just some dumbasses who get paid for it! Yuuki, this kid, what a smartass. This guy shouldn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
be a military chief, he should be a politician.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Yuuki show such a sincere attitude, even the people who hadn&#039;t been bought off began to take&lt;br /&gt;
his side. Annoyed by this, Calgurio decided to speak out.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wait a minute!”&lt;br /&gt;
He said aloud, and the man stood up after him.&lt;br /&gt;
Then a bow to the Emperor on the other side of the curtain.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Your Majesty! It seems that Master Gedora and Lord Yuuki are very much afraid of Veldora, but not&lt;br /&gt;
me. Of course, the Western countries are not worth mentioning at all! May His Majesty be at peace, and it&lt;br /&gt;
is my wish that you order me, Calgurio, to &#039;conquer them&#039;! In that case, I, Calgurio, will risk my life and&lt;br /&gt;
limb to go to war!”&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio so upstaged the Emperor that his words shook the room.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
How dare you speak frankly to the emperor and ask him to comply with his wishes.&lt;br /&gt;
“What!? How dare you say such treacherous things...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Sir Calgurio, it is inexcusable to do such a thing!&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Calgurio, are you going to sneak away? Your Majesty, we Demon Beast Legion are the same, ready to&lt;br /&gt;
go to war at any time. Please order us to march as well!”&lt;br /&gt;
It was at this time that even Gladim volunteered.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki hurried to pick up the conversation.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, please make sure you send the hybrid army to investigate!”&lt;br /&gt;
Even Yuuki stepped forward, and the &amp;quot;Three Generals&amp;quot; unanimously bowed their heads and asked for&lt;br /&gt;
orders.&lt;br /&gt;
The only person who can calm the scene now is the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
No.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s another one.&lt;br /&gt;
The figure stood up from behind the curtain with a voluptuous smile.&lt;br /&gt;
That is the Supreme Leader of the Imperial Army, the &amp;quot;Marshal&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You fools, take it easy. You&#039;re in front of Lord Rudra.”&lt;br /&gt;
He dared to call the emperor by his first name, the average person would never be able to make such a&lt;br /&gt;
rude move. The only one who could do such a thing with no change of face was the one who was the&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Marshal&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The so-called &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; is equivalent to the strongest man in the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
Only a handful of close attendants knew his true face.&lt;br /&gt;
Even his name was not disclosed to the public, and it was said that he always stayed with the Emperor&lt;br /&gt;
to protect his safety.&lt;br /&gt;
Because the man said that, the scene fell silent at once.&lt;br /&gt;
All of them bowed and bowed, and a sound came from the air.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What&#039;s with Veldora. The last great march was hindered by him, but can the empire be shaken by it?”&lt;br /&gt;
“No!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s for sure. For this empire is guarded by the great Emperor.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes...!”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Already more than just shocked by it, no one can disobey, such an atmosphere dominates the scene.&lt;br /&gt;
It was at this point that the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; opened his mouth to ask.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Your name is Yuuki, right? Although you&#039;re less than a year into the Empire, the accumulated merit is&lt;br /&gt;
worthy of praise. But it was tepid, too tepid. Why the Empire has not acted until now since the&lt;br /&gt;
resurrection of Veldora—do you know what the reason is?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Because it&#039;s not ready...”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki thought about how long it had been since he asked this, but he still gave an answer that didn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
offend anyone.&lt;br /&gt;
However, the &#039;marshal&#039; laughed out contemptuously.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Not so. It&#039;s because the fools are imprisoned by the fears of the past and keep finding reasons to&lt;br /&gt;
escape. Isn&#039;t that right, Gedora, isn&#039;t that right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, yes...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone knows deep down, that things are just as he said.&lt;br /&gt;
Even Gedora was no exception—he couldn&#039;t answer &amp;quot;no&amp;quot;. Without debating whether or not he would&lt;br /&gt;
be able to defeat the Storm Dragon, his stated opinion had always been to avoid the war, so there was no&lt;br /&gt;
room for half a rebuttal.&lt;br /&gt;
—But what&#039;s going on? Why is &amp;quot;she&amp;quot; so anxious?&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was one of the few people who knew the true face of the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot;. That&#039;s why he sensed that&lt;br /&gt;
the always transcendent &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; seemed a bit restless.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet there was no way he could ask for understanding at this time.&lt;br /&gt;
Without knowing the reason, Gedora felt only a vague sense of unease.&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; continued.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Trying to negotiate with the Dwarf King Gazel—that’s not going to work, is it? You should understand&lt;br /&gt;
that. Why are you so stubborn? Or are you actually more stupid than I thought? It&#039;s not like it&#039;s getting in&lt;br /&gt;
the way of the empire&#039;s hegemony, is it?”&lt;br /&gt;
The cold voice sent a chill down Gedora&#039;s back.&lt;br /&gt;
Did she see through it? Surprisingly...&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora found it hard to believe.&lt;br /&gt;
He was considered an original figure in the Empire, and even a subject of the Emperor&#039;s consultation.&lt;br /&gt;
Even such a Gedora could not help but shy away from the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
So to speak...I don&#039;t even know her “name”...&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora is trusted, and he is indeed important.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yet this may just be Gedora&#039;s wishful thinking. Thinking about this side, Gedora was stunned.&lt;br /&gt;
Apart from that, the empire—the emperor, he should say, who he really was—it was the first time that&lt;br /&gt;
he had doubts about the matter.&lt;br /&gt;
Never mind such a Gedora, the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; is pointing the finger at Calgurio.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, Calgurio, you should have a chance, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes...! Of course, Your Excellency, Marshal!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah? Then tell me the battle plan you came up with.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This, this...”&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio was originally imposing, but his dominance in the face of the &amp;quot;Marshal&amp;quot; was overpowered.&lt;br /&gt;
Wanting to rely on the majority of the army to take down his opponent, he was forced to find that his&lt;br /&gt;
thinking was too childish.&lt;br /&gt;
As for fighting the Storm Dragon, Calgurio also has a case in mind.&lt;br /&gt;
Because he had been orchestrating this for a long time.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio wasn&#039;t afraid of Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
It was just a dragon anyway—he’d always thought so.&lt;br /&gt;
There are some dragons that inhabit the Great Canaat Mountains, and those are indeed powerful&lt;br /&gt;
magical creatures.&lt;br /&gt;
Regardless of the lower-ranked dragons that inhabit the foothills, if they grow to middle-ranked&lt;br /&gt;
dragons, the strength of these individuals is above grade A.&lt;br /&gt;
If it was a high-ranking dragon clan with attributes, it was a very dangerous opponent, enough to&lt;br /&gt;
overthrow a small country.&lt;br /&gt;
However, if you switch to the Empire, all they have to do is to send a large force of about five hundred&lt;br /&gt;
men from the Mecha Reformation Corps and they will be able to suppress it. Several of their military&lt;br /&gt;
drills have been to crush dragons, and as long as they don&#039;t get anything wrong, there shouldn&#039;t be too&lt;br /&gt;
much damage.&lt;br /&gt;
This is proof that the empire is powerful. Their national strength was enough to raise tens of thousands&lt;br /&gt;
of soldiers, even if their opponent was a group of dragons, they would be able to overcome.&lt;br /&gt;
Veldora was also a kind of dragon—a perception of Calgurio, only a dragon, so what was there to fear?&lt;br /&gt;
He even generated such a state of mind.&lt;br /&gt;
How strong the magic is, that is determined by the amount of magic element. No matter how powerful&lt;br /&gt;
the individual, such a rule applies.&lt;br /&gt;
Dragons are strong because they contain a huge amount of mana that seems to be proportional to their&lt;br /&gt;
mass.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There is a high level of defense and a jet attack that can annihilate a large area. All of this is possible&lt;br /&gt;
because the dragon has an overwhelming amount of magic.&lt;br /&gt;
That being the case, there&#039;s no need to go head to head.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio and the others have their own magic plan.&lt;br /&gt;
They are already working on a classified new technology called &amp;quot;magic vector disrupted radiation&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
If you want to make your opponent weaker by magic, it probably won&#039;t work against a dragon. Some&lt;br /&gt;
individuals can even be disabled by &amp;quot;magical obstruction&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet this new technology is unaffected.&lt;br /&gt;
Whenever you expose yourself to &amp;quot;magicule disrupting radiation&amp;quot;, you will have an effect on magicules&lt;br /&gt;
as a substance. It wasn&#039;t manipulating the mage, it was putting the magicules into chaos. In other words, it&lt;br /&gt;
has the effect of making a substance such as magicules lose control.&lt;br /&gt;
If the opponent is a wizard, they are hindered from chanting so that the magic cannot be waged.&lt;br /&gt;
If the opponent is a magical creature, the magical elements used to structure the body will be scrambled&lt;br /&gt;
and there will be difficulty in movement. Simply put, it gets weaker. If it goes well it can make the&lt;br /&gt;
opponent lose power.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s particularly effective against high-magicule aggregates like Veldora&#039;s, and is the reason Calgurio is&lt;br /&gt;
so confident.&lt;br /&gt;
He has another ace in the hole, which is the Magic Chariot.&lt;br /&gt;
The Magic Guiding Cannon is so powerful that it can kill you even when you&#039;re facing a large monster.&lt;br /&gt;
They experimented with the captured dragons and found that even an A-grade creature could be killed&lt;br /&gt;
with a single blow from the &amp;quot;Magic Cannon&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Then there&#039;s the killer blimp.&lt;br /&gt;
The airship is a classified weapon and can be described as a result of magical technology.&lt;br /&gt;
The top speed is even above the speed of sound. A creature made of flesh and blood could not escape at&lt;br /&gt;
such a speed.&lt;br /&gt;
The battle plan that Calgurio came up with in order to fight Veldora was as follows.&lt;br /&gt;
Let the faster-moving soldier lure Veldora out, then seal his movements with the magicule disruption&lt;br /&gt;
radiation set in the forest.&lt;br /&gt;
The blimp also released a massive mana-disturbing radiation for irradiation, completely weakening&lt;br /&gt;
Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
In the end, a fatal blow was delivered, using 2,000 Magic Guided Chariots to fire the Magic Cannon&lt;br /&gt;
simultaneously. In that case, even the ancient evil dragons must have been destroyed.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if he survives. No matter how strong a “true dragon&amp;quot; is, it can&#039;t be unharmed.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The so-called battle is that the more information you have, the better the chances of winning. They&lt;br /&gt;
killed uncountable dragons and had accumulated enough intelligence.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio believes they will win, holding absolute confidence.&lt;br /&gt;
However, Calgurio, who spoke to the &amp;quot;marshal,&amp;quot; was reserved.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Just, just configure the chariot and lure the evil dragon over there...”&lt;br /&gt;
Since Calgurio had always believed that he could win with a large military force, he expected the&lt;br /&gt;
detailed combat segment to be decided on the spot.&lt;br /&gt;
No matter how treacherous the road ahead, any chariot could make its way through the forest.&lt;br /&gt;
It is said that there are also streets connected from the Dwarf Kingdom side. If it went this way, I heard&lt;br /&gt;
the road was still wide enough for the chariots to pass easily.&lt;br /&gt;
He thought that the layout of the chariot was a trivial matter, but he could not talk nonsense in front of&lt;br /&gt;
the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m too focused on augmenting the war effort and neglecting the most important field investigation.&lt;br /&gt;
This is my misstep, isn&#039;t it...&lt;br /&gt;
The sanity to make such a judgement remains in Calgurio.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Incompetent. I think you&#039;re going in the wrong direction. What was the point of wiping out Veldora?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Eh?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Not knowing why the other party was asking, Calgurio couldn&#039;t help but ask back.&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with such a Calgurio, the &#039;Marshal&#039; glared coldly.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Since Veldora has been sealed before, why do you think the Empire hasn&#039;t moved?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This, this is because it&#039;s not ready...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s not that, dumbass. It&#039;s to wait for the resurrection of Veldora, to go head-to-head in full form. So&lt;br /&gt;
that everyone can know how great His Majesty the Emperor is. To achieve this, what&#039;s the use of&lt;br /&gt;
destroying Veldora? He must be defeated and dominated if the Empire is to win!”&lt;br /&gt;
There was silence in the meeting, and the words overwhelmed the room.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone&#039;s heart seems to be clenched tightly, unable to tell if it&#039;s because of fear or awe, dominated by&lt;br /&gt;
feelings like that.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora felt equally warred.&lt;br /&gt;
No way, do you mean it when you say that? It&#039;s clear that all the instructions were made before that&lt;br /&gt;
mental domination is useless. But...&lt;br /&gt;
But the phrase &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; is so inexplicably convincing that it always feels like it might be possible.&lt;br /&gt;
Sensing this, unspeakable fear rose up in Gedora&#039;s heart.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
So much so that it&#039;s actually mind-boggling to think about. Who the hell is the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot;? I&#039;ve seen her&lt;br /&gt;
before, but I&#039;ve never been suspicious until now without knowing the other person&#039;s name. This, this is...&lt;br /&gt;
It was a fact that Gedora was forced to confront, however.&lt;br /&gt;
That meant that the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; might be a master of spiritual domination beyond the likes of the&lt;br /&gt;
Imperial Grand Wizard Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Rather than saying it&#039;s possible, it&#039;s almost so certain.&lt;br /&gt;
At this point Gedora opened her eyes and fixed them on the other side of the curtain.&lt;br /&gt;
The curtain is woven with expensive flat silk, reflecting soft silhouettes. To Gedora, it was like a&lt;br /&gt;
monster beyond human imagination.&lt;br /&gt;
If it was a humanoid gesture that the Dragon Race had taken on—Gedora began to get the illusion and&lt;br /&gt;
shrugged it off.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone in the meeting swallowed nervously, stiffening their bodies.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I&#039;d like to submit a plan of action.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
At this time, a teenager spoke up.&lt;br /&gt;
He&#039;s Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
The mere fact that he dared to speak in such a situation is commendable for his audacity.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You tell me about it.”&lt;br /&gt;
A gentle, cold voice gave permission for Yuuki to speak.&lt;br /&gt;
Hiding his true thoughts inside, Yuuki made a salute.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t think it&#039;s time for the legions to be in each other&#039;s crosshairs, so I&#039;ve decided to speak from the&lt;br /&gt;
heart without any hesitation.”&lt;br /&gt;
After laying out the first sentence with that, Yuuki began to elaborate on the battle plan with a serious&lt;br /&gt;
expression.&lt;br /&gt;
The first thing is for the Mechs to attack the Great Forest of Jura head-on. The army of the demon lord&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru is gathering near the junction of the Great Forest of Jura and the Great River of Ameld. It appears&lt;br /&gt;
that the hotel town there is being used as a base for a state of siege.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, the Imperial Army&#039;s route of march would pass between the Great Mountains of Canaat and&lt;br /&gt;
the Great Forest of Jura. There are no roads to the east of the Jura Forest, and it would take too long to&lt;br /&gt;
cross that way.&lt;br /&gt;
They could come to the front entrance of the Dwarven Kingdom, down the great south river of Ameld,&lt;br /&gt;
and they would reach the inn town. Then the two armies will meet, but this side will have a problem.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wait, Mr. Yuuki. Not going through the forest would have irritated Dwargon! It was said that King&lt;br /&gt;
Gazel and demon lord Rimuru were on good terms and the two nations had formed an alliance. Wouldn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
we have been pinned down right away if such a move had been made!”&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio came forward to testify, and his opinion was well taken.&lt;br /&gt;
Not through the streets along the great river of Ameld, but through the forest. The fundamental reason&lt;br /&gt;
for thinking this way was to avoid hostility with the Dwarven Kingdom.&lt;br /&gt;
Once the battle begins, the Dwarven Army will also send support. In order to cope with this situation,&lt;br /&gt;
they must not allow someone to cut off the army&#039;s supply lines.&lt;br /&gt;
Caught between the forest and the river, the entire army would be unable to move. They will lose their&lt;br /&gt;
numerical superiority if they are pinned back and forth. Even if there are blimps, there&#039;s no way to&lt;br /&gt;
resupply if you can&#039;t maintain the formation.&lt;br /&gt;
For Calgurio, Yuuki&#039;s idea can&#039;t be heard.&lt;br /&gt;
However Yuuki seemed to have expected that, and he smiled.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You may rest assured of that, Sir Calgurio. Our goal is not an inn town, but a dwarven kingdom. Since&lt;br /&gt;
King Gazel won&#039;t negotiate with us, such a country is not a friendly one, is it? There&#039;s no need to keep&lt;br /&gt;
them.&lt;br /&gt;
“What...!”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki&#039;s speech surprised Calgurio to the point of being speechless.&lt;br /&gt;
The scene of the meeting was in an uproar.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Do you intend to attack the armed power of Dwargon? No, we should be able to win, but I don&#039;t know&lt;br /&gt;
how many casualties there will be!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There&#039;s no room to continue attacking the West.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;After all, that country is like a natural fortress.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, the participants in the meeting began to exchange views with each other. Hearing those&lt;br /&gt;
words, the smile on Yuuki&#039;s face deepened.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. That country is a fortress. Because it&#039;s particularly easy to defend, it&#039;s so far been said to be&lt;br /&gt;
easy to defend and hard to attack. But we have chariots on our side. It was because Dwargon had&lt;br /&gt;
particularly strengthened their magical defenses that their defensive capabilities were solid. As long as we&lt;br /&gt;
can break through this defense network, it will be easy to take that kind of country, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, well...”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Yuuki point this out, Calgurio thinks it makes sense too.&lt;br /&gt;
Suppose they were to attack the Dwarf Kingdom.&lt;br /&gt;
Then their target is either East or West. If the enemy was to be taken lightly, they would not attack&lt;br /&gt;
Isthmus, which was next door to the empire, and should attack St. Doran, the frontal entrance to the Great&lt;br /&gt;
Forest of Jura, where they could escape.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Pretend they&#039;re going to attack the hotel town on the demon lord Rimuru, and then directly surround St.&lt;br /&gt;
Doran with chariot troops...&lt;br /&gt;
This would not only stop the Dwarf Kingdom from sending additional reinforcements, but also take&lt;br /&gt;
down the inn town at the same time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So it is, it&#039;s an interesting plan of action, maybe.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right? If the Dwarven Kingdom is in crisis, the Demon Lord Rimuru must also act. All we have to do&lt;br /&gt;
is prepare a battlefield where we hold the reins and wait to greet each other...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then the combat situation will be favorable to our army.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That works—Calgurio nodded.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m afraid that only the advance party remains in the hotel town. Having said that, fighting in the Great&lt;br /&gt;
Forest of Jura benefits the opponent and will cost us a big loss no matter what. But if we take down the&lt;br /&gt;
Dwarven Kingdom in one fell swoop, that natural fortress will protect us this time instead.”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki&#039;s words are partly deceptive. If they actually attacked with the Magic Guided Cannon, it would&lt;br /&gt;
destroy St. Doran as soon as they started shooting at the same time. Even if the opponent escapes into a&lt;br /&gt;
maze-like underground cavern, the city near the entrance will be greatly damaged.&lt;br /&gt;
In the future, the Empire will absorb the city and rebuild it, but it won&#039;t be available in this battle.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio noticed this, but he decided to go along with Yuuki&#039;s words this time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I don&#039;t think things will go so well, but there are certain points worth looking at. At least it&#039;s better than&lt;br /&gt;
chasing rats around in a pesky forest, setting traps and waiting for rabbits to be killed in one fell swoop.&lt;br /&gt;
After beating the hell out of them, we&#039;ll attack the capital of the Jura Tempest Federation.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t worry, I have a plan to follow. As you know, we in the Hybrid Legion are better at individual&lt;br /&gt;
combat than group combat. So, traits like ours are best suited for investigating mazes. As mentioned&lt;br /&gt;
earlier, it was heard that the underground one hundredth floor was guarded by Veldora. To find out if it&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
true or not, it&#039;s necessary to investigate, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
So that&#039;s what you&#039;re going to do—Calgurio snickered inwardly.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t think Yuuki would part with the benefits he was able to get, so he had long thought the other&lt;br /&gt;
party would say that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then don&#039;t. If you ignore the hotel town and go to the capital of the Jura Tempest Federation, you risk&lt;br /&gt;
being attacked from both sides. That being the case, I should let my legion advance to the west and open a&lt;br /&gt;
path to the underground labyrinth of something. After all, it&#039;s still hard to believe that a city disappears&lt;br /&gt;
without seeing it with your own eyes. It must be assumed that Demon Lord&#039;s main army is waiting right&lt;br /&gt;
there, it makes more sense tactically.”&lt;br /&gt;
When Calgurio so retorted, though only for a moment, Yuuki showed a chagrined expression.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio didn&#039;t miss it.&lt;br /&gt;
huh huh, you&#039;re still too young. Thought everything was going to work out the way it was supposed to,&lt;br /&gt;
this smug brat!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, he reveled in the pleasure.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately following...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This military conference is finally getting more decent. Just as well, Calgurio seems to have a lot of&lt;br /&gt;
confidence, Demon Lord Rimuru is in your hands.”&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the &amp;quot;Marshal&#039;s&amp;quot; words, they decided to let the Mecha Legion carry out the Jura Grand&lt;br /&gt;
Forest Invasion Battle.&lt;br /&gt;
The words of the &amp;quot;Marshal&amp;quot; were not finished.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The light is too weak just like that. Since it&#039;s going to be an attack on Dwargon, it&#039;s best to put&lt;br /&gt;
pressure on Easter as well. This task was left to the Hybrid Legion. You will be the chief of the army, and&lt;br /&gt;
you will be responsible for protecting the capital.&lt;br /&gt;
“...yes.&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki originally wanted to retort, but he put his mind to it. Because from the tone of the &#039;marshal&#039;, it&lt;br /&gt;
sounded like there was no room for a turnaround in this matter.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead, someone had something to say, and that was the remaining army chief, Gladim.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Please, please wait! Does it sound like we&#039;re supposed to stay in the Warcraft Legion? My Legion&lt;br /&gt;
promises to do something about it. I beg you...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gladim, with an anxious face, shouted towards the opposite side of the curtain. If the other side ordered&lt;br /&gt;
them to stay here, the numerically disadvantaged Warcraft Legion would have no room to play. With all&lt;br /&gt;
the key vacancies taken away, Gladim will lose the chance to build up the war effort.&lt;br /&gt;
He definitely didn&#039;t want that, which is why Gladim was so desperate.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t panic, fool. I have indeed prepared the stage for you as well.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“What!? So, then, what am I responsible for doing?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You will lead the legions of beasts and attack northward with your whole army.”&lt;br /&gt;
Gladim asked in passing, and was astonished by the mindlessness of the answer given by the&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Marshal&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Both the demon lord Rimuru and King Gazel will concentrate on defending their country. They could&lt;br /&gt;
take the opportunity to invade at the same time and kill the West before they are caught off guard.&lt;br /&gt;
Then they quickly set up their marching positions before the Western Convocations could respond.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Want us to attack north? Is it to go over the Great Canaat Mountains?”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing the meaning behind the &amp;quot;marshal&#039;s&amp;quot; words, Gladim was shaken by them.&lt;br /&gt;
He understands the reasoning. It wasn&#039;t just a frontal attack from two directions, but a frontal battle&lt;br /&gt;
from three directions simultaneously, with the Empire having the corresponding combat power.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
However, strategy aside, it would be difficult to implement this operational plan from a tactical&lt;br /&gt;
perspective. The idea of sending 10,000 troops to attack the Great Mountains of Canaat makes one&lt;br /&gt;
wonder if the other side is crazy.&lt;br /&gt;
Gladim hesitated to point that out, and at such a him, the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; smiled out.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it, Gladim. You&#039;re going to take the sea route to attack the kingdom of Ingracia. As for the&lt;br /&gt;
rejuvenating kingdom of Farmenas, it will be exterminated no matter what time it takes to bring down&lt;br /&gt;
Dwargon.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What, what? By sea? No, but our country has no naval warships for mass transportation at all...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;We do. Isn&#039;t that right, Calgurio?”&lt;br /&gt;
Called by name, Calgurio now knew he couldn&#039;t afford to be fooled. The rudeness of calling them by&lt;br /&gt;
their first names is even more so now. Under the circumstances, he didn&#039;t even have the strength to&lt;br /&gt;
complain.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s how oppressive the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; felt to him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The marshal is right. Our military has developed the latest weapon, the &amp;quot;Airship&amp;quot;. The Air Combat&lt;br /&gt;
Flying Corps is using this latest type of weapon, they should be able to transport the Beast Legion.”&lt;br /&gt;
The words of Calgurio brought the atmosphere in the venue to a boil.&lt;br /&gt;
I did not realize that there were other ways to attack the Western countries without going through the&lt;br /&gt;
great forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
No wonder they were so excited.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But if we&#039;re going to fight the Storm Dragon, it&#039;s a necessary killer weapon, and we&#039;ll only help deliver&lt;br /&gt;
it, okay?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
These words of Calgurio were addressed to Gladim.&lt;br /&gt;
He would keep a hundred blimps at his disposal for maximum arming. Even with the other 300 left, the&lt;br /&gt;
maximum number of troops that could be transported would be at least 100,000. As for the number of&lt;br /&gt;
people the blimps can transport, one can carry four hundred people. Even minus the personnel who had to&lt;br /&gt;
come to pilot the ship, a ship could still carry three hundred and fifty people.&lt;br /&gt;
The Legion of Beasts—there were thirty thousand heroes inside, and thirty thousand demonic beasts&lt;br /&gt;
they rode. Adding up to 60,000 in total, there were support troops in the rear, plus supplies to add to the&lt;br /&gt;
mix in order for them to be at full strength. If one were to transport these things, three hundred blimps&lt;br /&gt;
should be enough.&lt;br /&gt;
Although one couldn&#039;t expect the combat power of the hovercraft itself, it was relatively easy to&lt;br /&gt;
transport the Warcraft Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio immediately showed Gladim the absolute no-good bottom.&lt;br /&gt;
Gladim knew this too, and he was in deep thought as he whispered.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a great honor for a warrior to fight against the demon lord Rimuru or the &amp;quot;Storm Dragon&amp;quot; Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s certainly a shame to miss out on this glory, but the battle plan proposed by the &amp;quot;Marshal&amp;quot; is also&lt;br /&gt;
charming.&lt;br /&gt;
That electrifying battle plan breaks down established concepts.&lt;br /&gt;
The Western countries had been so careless that they must not have been able to deal with Gladim’s&lt;br /&gt;
Warcraft Legion.&lt;br /&gt;
They amount to winning, and such a combat plan makes perfect sense.&lt;br /&gt;
To top it off, there seems to be a group of heroes on the western side called the Paladins. Not only are&lt;br /&gt;
they good at individual combat, they are also said to be the strongest at fighting group warfare.&lt;br /&gt;
It was said that the Imperial Kaiser&#039;s direct division was also very powerful, and the Holy Imperial&lt;br /&gt;
Kingdom of Ruberios had a Hinata Sakaguchi.&lt;br /&gt;
She was the chief knight of the Imperial Close Guard Division under the direct authority of the&lt;br /&gt;
Emperor, and was also the head of the Paladin Order, and was truly the strongest knight in name. Fame&lt;br /&gt;
even spread to the Empire&#039;s side, but it was recently heard that she had fought a draw with the Demon&lt;br /&gt;
Lord Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
That being the case, the best dressed knight of that kind was no match for Gladim at all.&lt;br /&gt;
He would expel the heroes led by Hinata and ravage the sacred city.&lt;br /&gt;
The beastly blood that was flowing in Gladim&#039;s body began to heat up.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, then! If I can get us to the battlefield, I&#039;ll follow this battle plan!”&lt;br /&gt;
The Beast Lord Gladim roared his agreement, and the atmosphere in the large conference room grew&lt;br /&gt;
more heated.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;We&#039;ll win, we&#039;ll win!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Victory is ours, victory belongs to the Empire!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Long live the Emperor...!&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
The situation is such that some people have even begun to indulge in the imagination of victory.&lt;br /&gt;
Echoing such enthusiasm, Calgurio packed his ticket to Gladim.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If you take the sea route, then you can avoid fighting dragons. You may as well leave it to me,&lt;br /&gt;
Calgurio.&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, this was originally one of the schemes that Calgurio came up with.&lt;br /&gt;
Considering the distance that the dragons can fly, taking the sea route can be far away from the&lt;br /&gt;
Dragon&#039;s Nest. In addition, you don&#039;t have to worry about the big sea beasts, which are so tricky, you will&lt;br /&gt;
be able to travel to the West by relatively safe means.&lt;br /&gt;
It was just that it would not be possible to join forces with the Chariot Force at all, so Calgurio thought&lt;br /&gt;
it was too early to present this option.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Because of this, he also did thorough prior research.&lt;br /&gt;
The new weapons had been put to use in an unexpected way this time, but Calgurio thought it would be&lt;br /&gt;
good.&lt;br /&gt;
Interesting. The Legion of Warcraft was transported by blimps, after which it was thoroughly supported&lt;br /&gt;
and resupplied. It may be possible to create such an illusion and to plunder the profits to their heart&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
content. On top of that...if a large army emerges in the north, the Western coalition will be caught off&lt;br /&gt;
guard by us as well. That way they become a rabble. There is simply no room to send reinforcements to&lt;br /&gt;
support the demon lord Rimuru, and there will definitely be chaos by then.&lt;br /&gt;
The countries of the Western countries were currently only on the alert for the Great Forest of Jura, and&lt;br /&gt;
it would certainly be confusing to encounter an unexpected situation. In this way, Calgurio&#039;s plans for&lt;br /&gt;
their battle would run smoothly.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s what Calgurio thought.&lt;br /&gt;
He had to concentrate on the underground maze and the &amp;quot;storm dragon&amp;quot;. That way he would be able to&lt;br /&gt;
produce more fruitful combat results, as Calgurio calculates.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Is there a problem?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No. Then I will discuss an outcome with Lord Gladim and come up with a plan of battle that is&lt;br /&gt;
possible.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Good. As long as it gets us there without a hitch, we&#039;ll make a big splash then!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, then I&#039;ll make an effort to demonstrate against the Dwarven Kingdom.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Once the battle begins at St. Doran’s, there will be no movement on Esther&#039;s side. But...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s hard to guarantee that red-eyed dwarves won&#039;t come and attack our army—is that right? I know.”&lt;br /&gt;
Even in the face of the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot;, Yuuki&#039;s attitude is still the same as usual.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone present, including the other army chiefs, looked at such a Yuuki with a different look.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s time to say he&#039;s too retarded or has a bad head. Everyone&#039;s eyes looked like they were saying that,&lt;br /&gt;
but Yuuki didn&#039;t care at all.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Good. Then go and prepare yourselves at once!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The higher-ups have ordered it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Emperor Rudra did not even say a word, and the empire was simultaneously engaged in a three-&lt;br /&gt;
pronged war of aggression.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
On this day an edict of war was issued in the name of the Emperor.&lt;br /&gt;
Blood was feverish up and down the country of the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Having lurked for a long time, the Empire will once again show their majestic majesty.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
It was a relief to Yuuki that the meeting was over.&lt;br /&gt;
In previous meetings, the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot; had never intervened, yet this time he actively intervened. Because&lt;br /&gt;
of this, Yuuki&#039;s plan also more or less needed to be changed in some places...&lt;br /&gt;
Never mind, there&#039;s nothing wrong with that. As expected, my army seemed to be able to be placed next&lt;br /&gt;
to the Empire. The Mecha Legion forces were the biggest and most in the way, but most of them were&lt;br /&gt;
going to execute the Jura Grand Forest invasion. I didn&#039;t expect to see even the Warlord Legion I sent&lt;br /&gt;
Vega to infiltrate in to strike, but the Hybrid Legion alone should be able to pull off a coup.&lt;br /&gt;
Following the original plan, the mainstay of this coup was placed on Vega, who intended to lay all the&lt;br /&gt;
blame on him in case of failure.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course Yuuki&#039;s troops would also be secretly supporting them. It should be said that Vega is in&lt;br /&gt;
charge of the fake action, and the main action is actually Yuuki&#039;s.&lt;br /&gt;
Now to be forced to dispel that thought, but he thought it was generally okay.&lt;br /&gt;
Because as much as he thought, the dumbass Calgurio seemed to be going to act.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be better to say that Calgurio was a military general than to say that the man was a soldier.&lt;br /&gt;
Fighting was indeed strong, but the man was not willing to take risks, too obsessed with strategy and&lt;br /&gt;
winning 100 percent. And he was greedy enough to not count the loss at this time if there was a reason&lt;br /&gt;
worthy of his presence.&lt;br /&gt;
Simply put, just create the motivation to give it to him.&lt;br /&gt;
The Jura Tempest Federation is rich, and has new technology worth taking.&lt;br /&gt;
Just tell Calgurio that the underground maze hides these things...&lt;br /&gt;
Of course talking to him directly would make the other person suspicious, so it was better to make the&lt;br /&gt;
other person think that Yuuki was trying to get those things.&lt;br /&gt;
Using the information and items that Gedora had brought back, Yuuki smoothly got Calgurio up and&lt;br /&gt;
dancing.&lt;br /&gt;
But, then again...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Look at that look on your face. What&#039;s wrong?”&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki questioned the man sitting across from him, Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. About the ‘marshal’...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Marshal?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. She was so anxious, I thought there should be some reason behind it.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Anxious? Does it look like it?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s face was frozen for that little reason. It seemed to Yuuki that he didn&#039;t need to care so much&lt;br /&gt;
about these things, but Gedora seemed to be hung up on something.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But then, at today&#039;s meeting, I was thinking that the man was also a terrible monster. Seriously, I don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
know if I would have won if I hadn&#039;t actually fought her—it’s pretty awesome.”&lt;br /&gt;
Even without having to fight each other, Yuuki could see how much strength most people had.&lt;br /&gt;
Nowadays, with his awakening of extreme skills, he can even see through the hidden strengths of his&lt;br /&gt;
opponents.&lt;br /&gt;
Even such a Yuuki couldn&#039;t tell how much the other party was capable of, and it must be possible to&lt;br /&gt;
know how dangerous that person was without much explanation.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Whenever His Majesty Rudra is about to change generations, he will name the &#039;Marshal&#039;. This time&lt;br /&gt;
was no exception, and both the previous and previous generations were included, always guarding His&lt;br /&gt;
Majesty the Emperor&#039;s safety. It is because of the power of the king at the pinnacle of the empire that he is&lt;br /&gt;
called &#039;marshal&#039;. But even so. To the best of my knowledge, no record has been kept of the &#039;marshal&#039;s&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
comments on the military. But this time it&#039;s why...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Marshal&amp;quot; is a tough guy, which is a big miscalculation in Yuuki&#039;s opinion.&lt;br /&gt;
But those are to be expected.&lt;br /&gt;
This is because that most powerful demon lord, Guy Crimson, seems to have a particular problem with&lt;br /&gt;
the Empire. Even if it wasn&#039;t Yuuki would rightfully think there was a ghost behind it.&lt;br /&gt;
Why would Guy Crimson leave the Empire alone when he’s clearly so strong?&lt;br /&gt;
The arrogant demon lord did not act for some reason.&lt;br /&gt;
Was it because someone on this side of the Empire had made him so wary that Yuuki was so suspicious.&lt;br /&gt;
If that person is the &amp;quot;marshal&amp;quot;, then he can accept that possibility without saying a word.&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, when this war expands and the world goes into chaos, there should be a huge shift by then. In&lt;br /&gt;
this way, we may see what&#039;s been hidden behind all this time!&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki began to think about the aftermath, forcing himself to suppress a surge of pleasure and snicker&lt;br /&gt;
there.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Yuuki like this, Gedora sighed, but he really couldn&#039;t keep worrying. Gedora regained his&lt;br /&gt;
composure and began to discuss future plans with Yuuki.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By the way, Yuuki, I&#039;ll follow the plan. Nowadays, it is not necessary to take revenge on the West and&lt;br /&gt;
hope to avoid war if you can.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This kind of capricious request doesn&#039;t work, does it? So far, they have clearly been inciting others to&lt;br /&gt;
war.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, there&#039;s no denying that.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora is also a very egoistic man who doesn&#039;t care what anyone says about him. As long as both&lt;br /&gt;
himself and his beloved partner are safe and sound, nothing else matters at all.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He is the great wizard, but not a god.&lt;br /&gt;
He didn&#039;t get cocky and feel like he could do nothing, making a clear distinction between what he could&lt;br /&gt;
and couldn&#039;t do.&lt;br /&gt;
It was because Gedora was such a man, and this was the last time he would serve the Empire, that he&lt;br /&gt;
desperately advocated avoiding war.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone says that Demon Lord is the enemy of humanity.&lt;br /&gt;
There is absolutely no resistance to the demon lord, and it would be wise to essentially abstain from&lt;br /&gt;
each other from the beginning to the end.&lt;br /&gt;
Not wanting to be hostile to the Demon Lord, Gedora also had contact with the now long-dead Demon&lt;br /&gt;
Lord Clayman. It was through him that even Yuuki knew him.&lt;br /&gt;
It is all about defeating the West and defeating Ruminism.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason for allowing the demon lord to dominate the rich territories was so that the demon lord&lt;br /&gt;
would not covet the territories of other nations—so that they would not develop such ambitions—and&lt;br /&gt;
there was nothing wrong with Gedora&#039;s approach.&lt;br /&gt;
While all of this eventually became meaningless, it was also because of this that Gedora, in turn,&lt;br /&gt;
wanted to stop the Empire from continuing on the wrong path.&lt;br /&gt;
Plus Gedora had already seen the demon lord Rimuru first hand.&lt;br /&gt;
He was a very gentle man, and Gedora thought it wise to live with him with an ordinary heart. And the&lt;br /&gt;
friend who was there, Adalman, looked like he was living a very happy life, even though he looked&lt;br /&gt;
nothing like he did when he was alive.&lt;br /&gt;
What surprised him even more was the fighting strength of that country.&lt;br /&gt;
As a matter of fact, Adalman&#039;s strength should be on a par with Gedora&#039;s, and even his mission was&lt;br /&gt;
only to guard the 60th floor of the underground maze. He seems to have been assigned to the seventy&lt;br /&gt;
levels, and even so, there are still people outside of him and people outside of him.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, the real subordinates are everyone else.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s stupid to be an enemy of such a country.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was so convinced.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s why he had an idea.&lt;br /&gt;
It was thought that the empire would be defeated in this war.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t know what Shinji thought of them, but for Demon Lord Rimuru, Gedora always felt that this&lt;br /&gt;
person was deep and unpredictable. Partly because of this, too, he was particularly opposed to going to&lt;br /&gt;
war.&lt;br /&gt;
Although the result was regrettable, he fulfilled his pact with the demon lord Rimuru.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Successfully getting the Imperial&#039;s attention to the underground labyrinth, again he just had to figure&lt;br /&gt;
out how to handle himself.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Those who do not listen to me, what will happen if they do not do what this one says. This old man&lt;br /&gt;
will apply for a final audience with His Majesty, after which he will travel to the Monster Realm.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This declaration of betrayal speaks volumes.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This is not betrayal. I just live my life as I wish. Yuuki, I won&#039;t break up with you because of this. If&lt;br /&gt;
you are in trouble, please come to me.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora is a man who, though I am a man of my own accord, is still very kind to those close to him. He&lt;br /&gt;
seemed to like Yuuki so much that he said that to him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ahahaha, please teach me more then!”&lt;br /&gt;
With a bitter smile on his face, Yuuki nodded.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But I became a newcomer when I arrived in that country. The trust of the other party must be&lt;br /&gt;
accumulated in the future. Even if you want to use the old man, it&#039;s useless, you have to remember that.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This is outrageous! Even if you think so, you can&#039;t say such things!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Cut the crap. A neurotic guy like you who doesn&#039;t speak so clearly can&#039;t convey it to you at all. By the&lt;br /&gt;
way, speaking of nerve-rackers, I was too late to say hello to the clowns. Now you&#039;re sending them off&lt;br /&gt;
somewhere to do something weird?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Sort of. If I tell it to you now, you&#039;ll probably tell it to Mr. Rimuru, so I&#039;ll leave it at that.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! That&#039;s right. Then I won&#039;t ask, you go and tell them, if you get into trouble&lt;br /&gt;
come to me.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thanks, I&#039;ll have them do that.”&lt;br /&gt;
After answering that, Yuuki smiled along with it.&lt;br /&gt;
He was also very fond of Gedora. This loyalty to one&#039;s self, this way of being, looks a little flashy.&lt;br /&gt;
The two smiled at each other for a moment, then shook each other&#039;s hands.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I&#039;ll be going. Yuuki, you want a big coup or whatever But—!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I got it. You just can&#039;t kill the Emperor, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. Since you know, that&#039;s fine. Farewell then!”&lt;br /&gt;
With that, Yuuki said goodbye to Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s request to see the Emperor has been accepted.&lt;br /&gt;
Should the emperor be admonished?—wondered Gedora nervously.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Even if he went up, he wasn&#039;t sure His Majesty was listening. Even so, the other party is at least the&lt;br /&gt;
object of his loyalty so far and has a share of love, so he wants to do his loyalty while he can for the last&lt;br /&gt;
time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;His Majesty is already waiting for you.”&lt;br /&gt;
The man in charge of leading the way said so to Gedora, and he followed the close attendant who&lt;br /&gt;
covered his face down the passage.&lt;br /&gt;
The corridor connected to the upper part of the building was rubbed until it glowed and a light red&lt;br /&gt;
cherry blossom could be seen.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s Manen Sakura.&lt;br /&gt;
These petals never wither and are used as symbols of imperial prosperity.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Still as beautiful as ever. But the Japanese from the other world don&#039;t seem to like it very much.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“So?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. He said there should be &#039;the beauty of desolation&#039;, that is &#039;the beauty of destruction&#039;. It&#039;s because&lt;br /&gt;
the cherry blossoms fade that they look beautiful and dreamy. That&#039;s one way to look at it. Isn&#039;t that right,&lt;br /&gt;
Kondo-sama?”&lt;br /&gt;
“.......”&lt;br /&gt;
Under the cherry blossom tree, a well-featured man appeared.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I should have been invisible.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. I didn&#039;t find a single trace of it either. Only, it&#039;s supposed to be a hunch, right? There was a sense&lt;br /&gt;
of vagueness, as if anticipating the danger ahead.”&lt;br /&gt;
In response, Gedora pulled out the staff he loved to use.&lt;br /&gt;
Unknowingly, the near-servant had disappeared.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I can&#039;t let you see His Majesty.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Why?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m not going to tell you why, and even if you did, there&#039;s no point.”&lt;br /&gt;
Lieutenant Kondo replied with a side, still holding the blackened iron in his hand.&lt;br /&gt;
Southern-style large automatic pistol—the first automatic pistol in Japan.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Are you going to kill me?”&lt;br /&gt;
Even as Gedora questioned with a sharp gaze, Lieutenant Kondo was indifferent.&lt;br /&gt;
“Kondo...you...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora was about to raise his voice further and shout, when just then his chest hurt and the man fell&lt;br /&gt;
backwards.&lt;br /&gt;
He wasn&#039;t careless, and Gedora was familiar with guns, had been paying attention to the movement of&lt;br /&gt;
Lieutenant Kondo&#039;s fingers, and hadn&#039;t heard the shots.&lt;br /&gt;
Beyond that, the point is...&lt;br /&gt;
The pain in his chest was coming from behind, it wasn&#039;t from a gunshot, it was from being stabbed by a&lt;br /&gt;
short knife, and as consciousness blurred, Gedora made the judgment as above.&lt;br /&gt;
That means it wasn&#039;t Lt. Kondo who did it, but someone else...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Why did you do it?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Because this man is dangerous. If we let the traitor go, it will be a hindrance to His Majesty&#039;s future&lt;br /&gt;
rule.”&lt;br /&gt;
The man&#039;s voice struck Gedora as a former acquaintance. But what makes people unbelievable, and&lt;br /&gt;
even suspect, is that they have hallucinations before they die.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;However, this man is also a friend of His Majesty...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s consciousness drifted away, and Lt. Kondo&#039;s voice grew smaller and smaller.&lt;br /&gt;
This time Gedora is really going to die.&lt;br /&gt;
Is it poison? It&#039;s been done flawlessly. It&#039;s all about punishing me for betraying His Majesty Rudra...&lt;br /&gt;
but...&lt;br /&gt;
It does kill you to go on like this.&lt;br /&gt;
Petals of cherry blossoms that would never wither fluttered, and in the midst of that beauty, Gedora&lt;br /&gt;
made his final bet.&lt;br /&gt;
He unleashes pre-placed magic...&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s realization interrupted this side.&lt;br /&gt;
Chapter 5: Before the War&lt;br /&gt;
After sending Gedora to the Empire, interrogation time followed.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s Shinji and the others...no, it&#039;s Ramiris.&lt;br /&gt;
There were a few things in there that were concerning.&lt;br /&gt;
She&#039;s going to bully me, and there must be something else she&#039;s keeping from me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh, how come...I&#039;m not hiding anything...?”&lt;br /&gt;
Behaving distinctly suspiciously, Ramiris had a flushed look on her face.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s obvious at first glance that something is being held back.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No cake from now on—just after the threat was made, Ramiris answered with a speed as fast as a&lt;br /&gt;
machine gun.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You, you said you had something to ask. What is it, Captain?”&lt;br /&gt;
And call me captain...never mind.&lt;br /&gt;
Go spit and lose, so I started questioning.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That being said, Adalman has become stronger than I know, so let&#039;s leave that aside. What about the&lt;br /&gt;
others? Didn&#039;t think that Albert alone could repel Shinji and the rest, and hadn&#039;t heard that there was still a&lt;br /&gt;
Necromantic Dragon. Something strange isn&#039;t happening on the other floors too, is it?”&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of which, Albert is no longer just a slightly stronger demon.&lt;br /&gt;
He has become a Paladin of the Dead, and in addition to his physical abilities, he also possesses&lt;br /&gt;
excellent skills and is able to make the most of them. In the past when he was still a Death Spirit Knight,&lt;br /&gt;
he was evenly matched against Hakurou when he fought, and now Albert had no idea how strong he was.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Albert, he&#039;s been mentoring that young man Arnaud, hasn&#039;t he? And then this time, to try his hand at it,&lt;br /&gt;
he challenged the bottom floor again...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Pause!!!”&lt;br /&gt;
I hurried to get Ramiris to stop explaining for a moment.&lt;br /&gt;
Albert instructed Arnaud, which I didn&#039;t understand.&lt;br /&gt;
Arnaud is the captain of the Order of the Paladins and is quite a handful. Yet still he is not in the&lt;br /&gt;
position of a guide, but rather is being guided?&lt;br /&gt;
I didn&#039;t understand a word of what Ramiris was saying.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That is to say, after Arnaud and the others were scolded by Hinata, they got up and challenged the&lt;br /&gt;
underground maze once again. This time, it was because the Floor Guardian Colossus was still under&lt;br /&gt;
development, so they broke through the seventy levels.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hmmmmm, then what?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;And then those guys lost again!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Kuahahaha! That was fun!”&lt;br /&gt;
Ramiris explained happily.&lt;br /&gt;
Veldora nodded along, watching him laugh as if he found it amusing.&lt;br /&gt;
It should be really fun then, I guess.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. There are record-keeping battles.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Really?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Master Raphael, King of Wisdom you are awesome!&lt;br /&gt;
Come back later to enjoy the record, and for now, focus on Ramiris’ instructions.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So where did they hit Arnaud?”&lt;br /&gt;
“Most came to the Dragon Pass on the ninety-sixth to ninety-ninth floor. There are additional terrain&lt;br /&gt;
effects there that should be harsh on flesh-and-blood humans.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;When I think about it, it seems to me that...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;They lost the next level to the next floor guardian in one fell swoop. The look of running away while&lt;br /&gt;
crying can only be described as a joy.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hey, hey, hey, that&#039;s too evil, right?&lt;br /&gt;
Hey, the next floor guardian?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Weird? Is the eighty level barrier demon lord that strong?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh, why do you say that?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s nothing. I&#039;m just saying that Arnaud is at least one of the Ten Saints, and his strength should be&lt;br /&gt;
comparable to that of the old demon lord like Clayman, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
I realized one thing when I asked the question myself.&lt;br /&gt;
Come to think of it, even Adalman and Albert seem to be able to defeat the pre-Awakening Clayman.&lt;br /&gt;
With that undetermined Necromancer, even facing the awakened Clayman, he should be able to defeat it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This, this......”&lt;br /&gt;
Under the impression that I seem to have assigned Zegion to be the floor guardian of the 80th floor.&lt;br /&gt;
Could it be that he feathered himself from his chrysalis state and evolved into a full body?&lt;br /&gt;
I hear that Veldora has been working him out, but that also seems a bit puzzling to me.&lt;br /&gt;
Because Zegion is an insect-like creature.&lt;br /&gt;
What he teaches about something as dubious as the &amp;quot;Veldora Style Killing Arts&amp;quot; is how to live it. I left&lt;br /&gt;
it alone because it was a pleasure to watch Veldora, but I probably should have thought about it more&lt;br /&gt;
seriously.&lt;br /&gt;
I used my cells to allow the wounds on Zegion to heal, and the shell was repaired with &amp;quot;magic steel&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Perhaps because of this, he was able to move quickly and seemingly summon dependents.&lt;br /&gt;
Miss Treyni had already endorsed him, so I was okay with that.&lt;br /&gt;
But this arrangement is like having a worm-like beast that can move at high speed after a slow-moving&lt;br /&gt;
puppet, and playing with people in this way.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, how&#039;s Zegion now?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I was about to further question the seemingly suspicious response of Ramiris, but Veldora jumped in&lt;br /&gt;
first.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;My apprentice Zegion has been completely converted. Now a warrior of the world, inheriting the&lt;br /&gt;
skills I taught you!&lt;br /&gt;
“.......”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Not only that! Arnaud, and a few of them are simply not enough to see without my apprentice Zegion.&lt;br /&gt;
Someone who slaughtered them to death was the seventy-ninth layer of Domain Guardians!”&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ve got the situation.&lt;br /&gt;
Arnaud and the others lost to the Seventy-Nine Tiered Realm Guardians, the Queen Bee Apito.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only is she capable of super-fast action, but she also possesses the ultimate toxins.&lt;br /&gt;
Arnaud and his fellow Paladins had especially honed their swordsmanship, and even with this kind of&lt;br /&gt;
skill, there seemed to be no way to run into her.&lt;br /&gt;
Later Arnaud they were stabbed all over the head by Apito&#039;s dependents and heard that a line of people&lt;br /&gt;
were running away in tears...&lt;br /&gt;
How ridiculous is that—I want to scream.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Say it clearly. Say it clearly! I&#039;ve been busy with work these days!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Because because! I&#039;m not the only one, even Master says it&#039;s cultivation, to exercise that bug!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Stupid, stupid! You betrayed me!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Because it&#039;s not fair that only Master is acting like he&#039;s not doing anything!”&lt;br /&gt;
“Coo-woo-woo......”&lt;br /&gt;
I guess Veldora had a hand in that.&lt;br /&gt;
Running into something so interesting, everyone will want to join in.&lt;br /&gt;
But I had a feeling of being betrayed.&lt;br /&gt;
They hid it from me, only they were playing by themselves......&lt;br /&gt;
No, handing it to these two was the wrong decision.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s something to reflect on, but one thing concerns me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I say, I’m curious from a moment ago, what do you mean by training Zegion?”&lt;br /&gt;
He&#039;s a bug, isn&#039;t he?&lt;br /&gt;
Could it be that Zegion&#039;s complete metamorphosis is capable of turning into a humanoid?&lt;br /&gt;
Turns out I was correct in my speculation.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So, you finally noticed? I&#039;ve already figured out you&#039;re going in the wrong direction, but it&#039;s funny that&lt;br /&gt;
way, so I&#039;m not telling!”&lt;br /&gt;
Well, it&#039;s not surprising how arrogant Veldora can be...&lt;br /&gt;
Looks like I was completely screwed this time.&lt;br /&gt;
I began flipping through the records of the underground maze, asking Master Raphael, the King of&lt;br /&gt;
Wisdom, to show the images. The next thing you know, Zegion has turned into a slender humanoid form.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s it.&lt;br /&gt;
Shion once defeated the worm-like beast, Razul, at Ruberios.&lt;br /&gt;
Zegion had the look of the strong to messy Razul, exuding the air of a strongman.&lt;br /&gt;
Because he evolved into a humanoid form, he was heard to have learned combat skills as well. This is&lt;br /&gt;
the gift of anomalous evolution.&lt;br /&gt;
The same is true of Apito on this point.&lt;br /&gt;
She had a beautiful figure, like a woman, and one thing only occurred to me as I watched. One should&lt;br /&gt;
be alert if Hinata is guiding her.&lt;br /&gt;
I thought they were just doing mock battles over and over again, looks like they were really taking&lt;br /&gt;
instruction. She did learn combat skills, and Apito&#039;s movements were pure.&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that there is also combat training with Zegion to learn high strength combat skills.&lt;br /&gt;
The proof is that Arnaud and the rest were flopped.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then Arnaud seemed to have re-examined himself...”&lt;br /&gt;
They let the mood return and began to walk through the underground maze from the beginning.&lt;br /&gt;
But lost to a knight at the 60th level.&lt;br /&gt;
It was Albert, the Paladin of the Dead, who was the strongest Knights of the Templars hundreds of&lt;br /&gt;
years ago, and who was the confidant of the &amp;quot;Immortal King&amp;quot; Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then they were completely repaired by Albert, that&#039;s what happened.”&lt;br /&gt;
Albert beat the hell out of Arnaud and the rest of them on his own, and later asked, “You seem to have&lt;br /&gt;
changed your name to Paladin lately, and even your quality has deteriorated?”&lt;br /&gt;
After hearing that, Arnaud was angry and took out the Watcher&#039;s Skill to fight, but even the Must Kill&lt;br /&gt;
Five Color Spirit Sword couldn&#039;t hurt Albert.&lt;br /&gt;
Albert manipulated the swordsmanship of his life with physical abilities only found in magical things,&lt;br /&gt;
and it was said that even Arnaud was no match for him.&lt;br /&gt;
Immortal bodies do not tire and can recover even from attacks that cause physical damage. Seriously&lt;br /&gt;
it&#039;s foul, there&#039;s no way to beat an opponent if you can&#039;t take advantage of his weak attributes to attack.&lt;br /&gt;
And with the Holy Demon Reversal of Adalman, the level of invincibility increases a bit more.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s nothing they can do about it—I think so.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the absorption of the magical elements inside the labyrinth, Adalman and the others evolved&lt;br /&gt;
into higher-order magical creatures. Arnaud and the others came over just in time for the challenge,&lt;br /&gt;
thinking that this man was very unpicky about timing.&lt;br /&gt;
But you can actually think the other way around.&lt;br /&gt;
It would be lucky to be here to learn from scratch with the strongest knights of hundreds of years ago.&lt;br /&gt;
Time comes now.&lt;br /&gt;
The members of the Order of the Paladins under Arnaud all came to be mentored by Albert, and they&lt;br /&gt;
alternated in groups, cultivating on one side.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s about it. The 60th floor turned into a danger zone...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What about the other floors?”&lt;br /&gt;
When I hear this side, I know it in my heart too.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman and Zegion are not the only ones who must have evolved abnormally.&lt;br /&gt;
The result was just what I expected.&lt;br /&gt;
From the Underground Maze, was born the masters known as the Ten Lords of the Labyrinth&lt;br /&gt;
(Labyrinth Ten).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Maybe their fighting ability is comparable to the main subordinates, too.&lt;br /&gt;
Adalman needs no further explanation, his subordinate Albert being one of them.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Apito, who completes the abnormal evolution, she also seems to have turned into a Labyrinth&lt;br /&gt;
Ten and is titled &amp;quot;Bug Queen&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Zegion, he even became the most powerful of the ten.&lt;br /&gt;
There was also the Nine-Tailed Beast Kumara, who could become an adult by absorbing the demon&lt;br /&gt;
beasts that her tails turned into, and that was her true form.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then allow me to speak next!”&lt;br /&gt;
With that said, Ramiris informed the Labyrinth of the current distribution of forces within the Labyrinth&lt;br /&gt;
and an update.&lt;br /&gt;
Start from the ground up, in that order.&lt;br /&gt;
Following Milim&#039;s instructions, Ramiris carefully cultivated four dragons with only attributes, and&lt;br /&gt;
these guys beautifully evolved into Dragon Kings.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s all because of the daily absorption of a large pile of magical elements from Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
There were four in total: the Flame Dragon King, the Ice and Snow Dragon King, the Gale Dragon&lt;br /&gt;
King, and the Earth Shattering Dragon King.&lt;br /&gt;
I really don&#039;t want to know this, but it&#039;s reality.&lt;br /&gt;
This isn&#039;t over.&lt;br /&gt;
The floor guardian of the ninetieth floor was the Nine-Tailed Kumara of the Nine Beasts.&lt;br /&gt;
The guardian of the eightieth floor is the &amp;quot;Bug Emperor&amp;quot; Zegion.&lt;br /&gt;
Apito, the &amp;quot;Bug Queen&amp;quot; of the Seventy-ninth Level, the Guardian of the Realm.&lt;br /&gt;
The floor guardian of the 70th floor - Adalman, the &amp;quot;Immortal King&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
The vanguard of the 70th level - Albert &amp;quot;Paladin of the Dead&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Plus the fiftieth floor guardians Gozu and Mezu.&lt;br /&gt;
Actually, Gozu and Mezu are not part of the Labyrinth Ten. As for the last of the Labyrinth Ten, it was&lt;br /&gt;
Beretta who was responsible for being the administrator.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Personally, I don&#039;t want to get involved in this kind of trouble—ahem, this honor should be given to&lt;br /&gt;
someone else...”&lt;br /&gt;
While talking, Beretta looked over to Treyni and the Flame Giant—wrong, it should be Charys.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Alas, I have to take care of Lord Ramiris, and there&#039;s this big job to do.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So do I. I&#039;m Lord Veldora&#039;s only confidant. It&#039;s a lot of work just to take care of the master.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
With a beautiful smile, Miss Treyni said so.&lt;br /&gt;
Charys seems to have been played by Veldora, but he himself seems content. It doesn&#039;t look like there is&lt;br /&gt;
any intention of taking on any other work.&lt;br /&gt;
I sighed inwardly, thinking that the two men&#039;s thinking patterns resembled a certain housekeeper.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You seem to be having a hard time, Beretta.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You can understand, Lord Rimuru!”&lt;br /&gt;
I kept nodding my head.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to re-affirming how deep my bond with Beretta runs, I confirmed a few things in passing.&lt;br /&gt;
First of all, who should be in charge of the Labyrinth Ten?&lt;br /&gt;
The Underground Maze balances interests and substantive interests and is a facility that several of us&lt;br /&gt;
operate together. In fact most of it had to rely on the power of Ramiris, but what was certain was that it&lt;br /&gt;
couldn&#039;t be messed with without Veldora&#039;s mana.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, the question arises, which is who the Labyrinth Ten should obey.&lt;br /&gt;
As far as the chain of command was concerned, it should have been attributed to Ramiris, but...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;On that note, we have interviewed each of them, in the form they wish!”&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of which, Ramiris began to explain.&lt;br /&gt;
Beretta followed Ramiris, unchanged.&lt;br /&gt;
Each of the dragon kings were under Ramiris and did seem to enter into contracts.&lt;br /&gt;
The Dragon Kings are self-aware and has their own consent to this.&lt;br /&gt;
Then there are the other members.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only did Kumara become good friends with the children, but life in this land was satisfying to her,&lt;br /&gt;
and her gratitude to me seemed to break through the skies. She also boasted about replacing Ranga as my&lt;br /&gt;
pet.&lt;br /&gt;
Zegion and Apito liked me very much and expressed their desire to honor me as their lord.&lt;br /&gt;
Not to mention Adalman. He seemed to have gotten something wrong and even worshipped me as a&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;god&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Albert, too, was indoctrinated by such an Adalman and looked as if he was going to offer his loyalty to&lt;br /&gt;
me through Adalman.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s about it, these five men became my minions.&lt;br /&gt;
Both Gozu and Mezu seem to stay in the labyrinth to work, I think it would actually be possible to turn&lt;br /&gt;
them into Ramiris&#039;s minions, but...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
They themselves politely declined to become a part of Ramiris&#039; men, wishing to take orders from me.&lt;br /&gt;
Also true. They used to be a race of believers in power and might judge Ramiris by her appearance.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Not so! Didn&#039;t you name them Rimuru? It seems to make them happier than paying them, so they say&lt;br /&gt;
it&#039;s the only thing they can&#039;t compromise on.”&lt;br /&gt;
Well, so it turns out.&lt;br /&gt;
It felt good to hear them say that.&lt;br /&gt;
Next time I encounter them, I’ll be kind to these two as well.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, while observing the three previous intruders in action, I found the situation inside the&lt;br /&gt;
underground maze to be surprising.&lt;br /&gt;
This is what I mean by astonished to the point of dumbfoundedness, and it&#039;s certainly a good thing that&lt;br /&gt;
the guardians have become stronger. Yet they&#039;ve evolved beyond belief, which is a bit disturbing.&lt;br /&gt;
The faint-hearted have this bad habit, I guess.&lt;br /&gt;
Those aside, with the Labyrinth Ten, even if the Empire fought over, they could still rest assured.&lt;br /&gt;
Only in the face of general challengers, I ordered them to release mana appropriately. Otherwise, it&lt;br /&gt;
would be impossible for the average person to breach the maze.&lt;br /&gt;
It always felt sad that everyone had to challenge a maze that had several Demon Lord level opponents.&lt;br /&gt;
There were only a hundred layers to guard to the end anyway, but that was all that needed to be handed&lt;br /&gt;
over there to Veldora.&lt;br /&gt;
The other floors—hopefully everyone will attack at least as far as near the 80th floor.&lt;br /&gt;
Since we&#039;ve been building it so hard, I hope you can see what a maze can do—presumably based on&lt;br /&gt;
this mood.&lt;br /&gt;
But those will have to wait for the day when peace is restored.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
After confirming the current situation inside the maze, I looked around at the various guardians.&lt;br /&gt;
I wanted to be sure and see for myself how far they had evolved—grown.&lt;br /&gt;
The results exceeded expectations.&lt;br /&gt;
With such a huge amount of battle power, even if the Empire attacked, I felt that I wouldn&#039;t lose as long&lt;br /&gt;
as I was inside the maze.&lt;br /&gt;
The next few days passed.&lt;br /&gt;
The surveillance magic is finally complete, so I&#039;m going to experiment.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It is located at the &amp;quot;Strategic Military Control Combat Command Post&amp;quot;, commonly known as the&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Control Room&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
It felt cool to read it smoothly and imposingly—that’s probably how it felt, after consulting with&lt;br /&gt;
Veldora and deciding on the name...but after calming down and reflecting a little, it felt too long.&lt;br /&gt;
Honestly, I think we&#039;re talking to the wrong person.&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru and the others only knew it as the control room, and there were very few people who knew&lt;br /&gt;
what the original name was.&lt;br /&gt;
Veldora&#039;s private room was located on the hundredth floor of the labyrinth, and the control room was&lt;br /&gt;
located next to his room, with access from the usual combat conference room.&lt;br /&gt;
If the metropolis on the ground was isolated in the labyrinth, we would be using this control room alive&lt;br /&gt;
as a base camp.&lt;br /&gt;
The preparations for the war were flawless.&lt;br /&gt;
If it was a day job, that would actually make me personally happier.&lt;br /&gt;
Surveillance magic brings good results.&lt;br /&gt;
We set up several large screens that are also useful at martial arts conventions, and let those screens&lt;br /&gt;
shine out in different places separately.&lt;br /&gt;
There were various areas within the Great Forest of Jura, as well as trade routes to the Dwarven Realm&lt;br /&gt;
that became available to begin monitoring in various key areas.&lt;br /&gt;
Even the seaway connecting the Kingdom of Farmenas, the top of the Great Mountain of Canaat, was&lt;br /&gt;
smoothly reflected.&lt;br /&gt;
The principle is simple.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, the physical magic I developed, &amp;quot;Megiddo&amp;quot;, is also useful for allowing spirits to manipulate&lt;br /&gt;
lens-shaped water droplets.&lt;br /&gt;
Huge mirrors unfolded high in the air to find the expanded image of the destination. We let these&lt;br /&gt;
images reflect and then transmitted the informative images.&lt;br /&gt;
Referring to what Moss did, I sent my &amp;quot;doppelgänger&amp;quot; slimes to various places as a medium to unleash&lt;br /&gt;
magic. Therefore, it will be connected to the &amp;quot;space domination&amp;quot; launched by me, so that data can be&lt;br /&gt;
transmitted directly without the slightest error.&lt;br /&gt;
Those clones are all very small and not self-conscious, and as long as I&#039;m not focusing on that side,&lt;br /&gt;
they don&#039;t drain energy. It wouldn&#039;t be easy to ship them near the location you wanted to see, but Souei&lt;br /&gt;
and Moss said they would try to help.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s an excellent system with very low energy costs.&lt;br /&gt;
A name for the system was also given to the physical magic—“Argos (God’s Eye)“.&lt;br /&gt;
The high resolution image is shown on the screen with the &amp;quot;King of Wisdom&amp;quot; processing.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
You can stay in the warm control room to confirm the status of the scene. Everyone was so happy when&lt;br /&gt;
I finished this wonderful spell.&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo, in particular, was particularly excited, so let&#039;s just pretend he didn&#039;t see it.&lt;br /&gt;
Next, as this surveillance system is completed, there is actually one more benefit.&lt;br /&gt;
You can stay in this control room and unleash the &amp;quot;Megiddo&amp;quot; at the location shown on the screen.&lt;br /&gt;
I was surprised when I actually finished the experiment. Aiming at the feet of Gobta, who had been&lt;br /&gt;
training in the plaza, and hit a shot to try it, not expecting it to work.&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta startled the entire crowd into a jump, and his face was unforgettable.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You idiot! It&#039;s your fault!”&lt;br /&gt;
Instead, I preached to him, when in fact Gobta was not wrong.&lt;br /&gt;
On top of that, the performance of &amp;quot;Megiddo&amp;quot; had gone up.&lt;br /&gt;
This was originally magic that Great Sage had made the best adjustments to produce, but it didn&#039;t seem&lt;br /&gt;
acceptable enough to Master Raphael, the current King of Wisdom...&lt;br /&gt;
We made further precision modifications, resulting in a system that allows several satellite lenses to&lt;br /&gt;
float in mid-air at any time.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of the connection with “Argos”, the “Megiddo” can be unleashed at night. The power was&lt;br /&gt;
more or less low, but I managed to get the light to reflect between the satellites, causing the light to gather&lt;br /&gt;
into a beam.&lt;br /&gt;
Seriously, my efforts seem to be misplaced.&lt;br /&gt;
What actually created the satellites were big spirits, and I was just supplying the mana. The complex&lt;br /&gt;
arithmetic is handed over to Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, and is very simple to operate.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course there is no energy dissipation during the day, and the power is greater.&lt;br /&gt;
The amount of light and heat that can be operated has increased and can be used like a hot-wire cannon.&lt;br /&gt;
If the opponent is a human army, maybe I can get them all killed without even moving a step.&lt;br /&gt;
All the previous magical transformations couldn&#039;t help but make one feel this way.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
After confirming the success of the experiment, I returned to the office.&lt;br /&gt;
At this time, Shuna happened to come over and told me that there was a visitor.&lt;br /&gt;
Don&#039;t look at our country, it&#039;s actually a lot of guests.&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, it&#039;s not too much to say that most of my work is in entertaining guests.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
All that&#039;s left is to develop the magic, or to conceive of interesting merchandise and then distribute it to&lt;br /&gt;
the right people to do it. After that comes the management of the labyrinth operation, or being the subject&lt;br /&gt;
of Myormile&#039;s consultation...all sorts of things.&lt;br /&gt;
Play is also part of the job.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s probably the case, but hosting guests is paramount. I&#039;ll do it all seriously.&lt;br /&gt;
Led by Shuna, I went to the reception room, only to see Shinji and the others waiting with nervous&lt;br /&gt;
faces.&lt;br /&gt;
They fled to this country and I&#039;ve been able to ask all the things I&#039;ve been able to ask these last few&lt;br /&gt;
days.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course it wasn&#039;t torture, they had a choice, and the three of them were being questioned in a peaceful&lt;br /&gt;
manner in separate rooms.&lt;br /&gt;
I have told them that they can do whatever they want with their free time and they should have time to&lt;br /&gt;
figure out how to conduct themselves.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason they are coming over today is to tell me what they have decided.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So you&#039;ve decided on what you want to do?”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the others were confused and didn&#039;t know whether they should take office in our country or&lt;br /&gt;
become free-spirited adventurers.&lt;br /&gt;
If they continue to be adventurers, these people can go and challenge the maze and live a privileged&lt;br /&gt;
life.&lt;br /&gt;
The downside is that now they know how strong the lineup is in the maze and can&#039;t see the future.&lt;br /&gt;
I have the Floor Guardian Colossus Statue set up on the 60th floor, but it should be a struggle to really&lt;br /&gt;
cure them to deal with something like this.&lt;br /&gt;
Plus even if they broke through this layer, there was still an Adalman line waiting for them on the&lt;br /&gt;
seventieth floor. No matter how you think about it, it&#039;s a dead end. If you ask them if they&#039;re going to&lt;br /&gt;
spend their whole life there, they&#039;re going to feel very annoyed.&lt;br /&gt;
Because it&#039;s been seen, they&#039;ll feel very unfulfilled doing the job. Even if you can make money, life will&lt;br /&gt;
become monotonous and boring.&lt;br /&gt;
But Adalman and the rest have gotten stronger than I expected, so I don&#039;t have much left to laugh at&lt;br /&gt;
people now.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking logically in general, one doesn&#039;t expect to grow so much—evolution, I should say—so that&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
something that can&#039;t be helped.&lt;br /&gt;
Forget about that. Forget it.&lt;br /&gt;
What will happen to the other challengers, and I&#039;ll leave that out of my mind.&lt;br /&gt;
So what happens when you come to work in our country?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
At best, the appointment is only a temporary assignment, but a secure life is guaranteed. Only we&#039;re&lt;br /&gt;
about to go to war with the Empire, and Shinji and them seem to be worried about whether they&#039;ll be&lt;br /&gt;
forced into battle.&lt;br /&gt;
Personally, I don&#039;t want to force them, but I also can&#039;t assert that they won&#039;t suffer the ripple effects. I&#039;d&lt;br /&gt;
better not mind my own business and talk nonsense and wait and see how Shinji and the others judge.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Report. I, the three of us rather, as a result of our discussions, came to the conclusion that we wanted&lt;br /&gt;
to be able to work in His Majesty&#039;s country of Rimuru. After all, Master Gedora is also going to serve this&lt;br /&gt;
country, and we would love for this country to hire us. I wonder if that&#039;s convenient?”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji said this with a nervous face.&lt;br /&gt;
The other two also nodded with serious expressions, looking like they didn&#039;t object.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Got it. In that case, you are welcome to join.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, thank you!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ll try my best!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“...I&#039;ll work my ass off.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Just like that, Shinji and the rest became part of this country.&lt;br /&gt;
Then things are moving in that direction, come and see what work to get them to do.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;m going to let Grandpa Gedora manage the 60th floor. Ask him to study the Floor Guardian Colossus&lt;br /&gt;
Statue and expect to have him possess it in the future.”&lt;br /&gt;
The old grandfather had a keen curiosity and seemed to have a keen interest in the matter. As soon as I&lt;br /&gt;
showed him the Floor Guardian Colossus Statue, he yelled with excitement.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s just sent to Adalman&#039;s side first for now, but it should be nice to have him as a floor guardian on the&lt;br /&gt;
60th floor in the future.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So you guys don&#039;t want to go to this war, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, yes. There are people we know over there, if that&#039;s okay...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The way Shinji replied, it didn&#039;t look like he wanted to do that very much.&lt;br /&gt;
That being the case, instead of coming over to be my men, it would be better to have them go to the&lt;br /&gt;
labyrinth as researchers.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, I decided to introduce Shinji and them to Ramiris.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
I bounced forward through the maze and came to the Institute of Ramiris.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ramiris, should we try to get Shinji and the others to work on your side?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, Rimuru! They&#039;re the ones from before, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, that&#039;s them.”&lt;br /&gt;
Ramiris had been looking for assistants, but could not find any decent talent.&lt;br /&gt;
A researcher from another country could not have been casually sent by Ramiris. Having said that, a&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
magical creature with not enough intelligence was not strong enough, and could not understand the pie-in-&lt;br /&gt;
the-sky ideas of Ramiris.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a good thing there&#039;s Dino, but he&#039;s not reliable enough alone.&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji and the rest happened to show up at this time, and were arguably just the right talent for the job.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yoo-hoo! I&#039;m Ramiris. You guys want to be new assistants and come work with me?”&lt;br /&gt;
“This......”&lt;br /&gt;
Shinji didn&#039;t know how to answer, and looked as if he hadn&#039;t realized what kind of person Ramiris was.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Fantastic! Hey, Shinji! There are real fairies here!”&lt;br /&gt;
Mark was there yelling in surprise. Was it his first time seeing one? I don&#039;t know how long he&#039;s been in&lt;br /&gt;
this world, but if seeing the fairies surprised him like this, then that guy was more innocent than I thought.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ve been looking for an assistant. How about for a paycheck? We&#039;re short-staffed, and we&#039;ve earned it&lt;br /&gt;
by finding decent educated visitors to the Otherworld—that’s what Rimuru said before!”&lt;br /&gt;
Ah, I can&#039;t believe that Ramiris is so talkative.&lt;br /&gt;
Although that&#039;s true.&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;quot;otherworldly visitor&amp;quot; is highly skilled and flexible in its ideas. They&#039;ll be on the field soon, and I&lt;br /&gt;
hope Shinji accepts them if he can.&lt;br /&gt;
“...I agree. It&#039;s more peaceful to do research.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Zhen was direct. Presumably, Zhen was just like that, and Shinji seemed to have made up his mind.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thank you very much, then!”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing such a response from the other, Ramiris flew around happily.&lt;br /&gt;
And then held up a flat chest while looking like she was the best...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hmph! You guys seem to be that good. Good, you&#039;re all qualified. But you must obey my orders when&lt;br /&gt;
you work!”&lt;br /&gt;
She gave an ultimatum to Shinji and the others.&lt;br /&gt;
Turning your face is like flipping a book, even I was surprised to read it. That floppy look just now was&lt;br /&gt;
like a hallucination.&lt;br /&gt;
To say that this is very much in the style of Ramiris, is very true.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Regardless of Shinji&#039;s shocked face, Ramiris straightened out the working conditions in a flash.&lt;br /&gt;
The monthly salary is three gold coins.&lt;br /&gt;
That translates to thirty-six a year, plus dividends.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, both me and Ramiris are in the mood to give money, and it&#039;s best not to expect too much&lt;br /&gt;
from the dividends.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead, the burden of food and clothing would seem to be placed on the shoulders of the woman. She&lt;br /&gt;
was probably trying to use our canteen, but that part was fine.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s how it was. Shinji&#039;s relocation was settled in one fell swoop.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
A few more days passed after that.&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that the three of them are also used to the workplace and now work as both right and left hands&lt;br /&gt;
of Ramiris.&lt;br /&gt;
That part is fine, I&#039;m more worried about Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as he returned to the Empire, he cut off contact with us.&lt;br /&gt;
The old grandfather was very shrewd, I think he&#039;s fine, but...&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m starting to worry now and hope he contacts us.&lt;br /&gt;
While thinking about it, I went to the control room today to discuss it with Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
On the screen for surveillance, the image I got with the &amp;quot;Argos&amp;quot; was reflected there.&lt;br /&gt;
The images came from various locations, but today was no different.&lt;br /&gt;
I would also like to gather intelligence within the Empire&#039;s territory, but it would be satisfying to have&lt;br /&gt;
images of the military borders for now.&lt;br /&gt;
A large number of soldiers were gathered there, around the perimeter of the security base. It&#039;s the only&lt;br /&gt;
area that&#039;s always in a hurry.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;There doesn&#039;t seem to be any movement today either.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. That said. This magic is really convenient. This is the magic Lord Rimuru has been working on&lt;br /&gt;
lately, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
There were only a few of us today, so Benimaru&#039;s tone was less preachy.&lt;br /&gt;
I personally prefer it this way, it feels more relaxed. It was only unfortunate that in front of the others,&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru would revert back to a polite attitude.&lt;br /&gt;
But there were exceptions, and that was when Souei or Diablo were present.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It felt a lot like a group of loser friends, and I loved it so much that sometimes the four of us would go&lt;br /&gt;
to Ingracia Kingdom for a drink together.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes! What makes this magic so great is that it all starts with the softness of thinking. The energy cost&lt;br /&gt;
to spend is low and the effect is great. In order to unleash this magic, the complexity of the calculations is&lt;br /&gt;
as beautiful as a work of art, and it does not drag on at all. So...”&lt;br /&gt;
“Pause...! That&#039;s it. You&#039;ll never stop bragging about it, just wait until I&#039;m gone and tell someone else,&lt;br /&gt;
okay?”&lt;br /&gt;
A slight oversight turns into this.&lt;br /&gt;
It bothers me that Diablo will start bragging about it.&lt;br /&gt;
This magic is indeed powerful, but only with Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, can it be practiced.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a little embarrassing that it&#039;s not entirely out of my league.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Shut it, Diablo. If you don&#039;t act a little more restrained, you will cause trouble for Lord Rimuru.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s not possible. What the hell are you talking about, Benimaru? Nothing of the sort, right Lord&lt;br /&gt;
Rimuru?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No, Benimaru is right. You&#039;re always talking too much about the long way and the short way.”&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo must be warned indeed this time.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
He put on a greatly distressed expression, became well depressed and must have been acting anyway.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s no big deal.&lt;br /&gt;
I had heard that Diablo was a very dangerous demon, and I was worried about what to do. But after&lt;br /&gt;
thinking it over and over, it turns out that this guy was always a weirdo.&lt;br /&gt;
Even that Guy kept getting caught up in him, and coping was seriously downright foolish.&lt;br /&gt;
As I found out about this, I&#039;m not going to be able to cut corners anymore.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,&lt;br /&gt;
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,&lt;br /&gt;
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,&lt;br /&gt;
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.......”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I told you to stop it!”&lt;br /&gt;
I told you so, didn&#039;t I?&lt;br /&gt;
This guy is not reflecting at all.&lt;br /&gt;
Slightly in a sterner tone he said exactly.&lt;br /&gt;
A sudden report interrupted our relaxing time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Rimuru, someone teleported directly into the maze! Based on this reaction, I think it&#039;s our newest&lt;br /&gt;
grandfather!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Got it. I&#039;ll be on the 70th floor in a minute.”&lt;br /&gt;
I stood up, and this action alone seemed to make Benimaru and Diablo sense that something was up.&lt;br /&gt;
They were so good that, in addition to being impressed, I briefly informed them of the main points.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Gedora seems to be back, but it sounds like something must have happened. I&#039;m going to make sure.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Got it. Then I will continue to be on guard here.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In that case, let me be Lord Rimuru&#039;s escort.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Please.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s times like these that Diablo feels particularly reliable.&lt;br /&gt;
If only this was his usual attitude...no, better not think about it.&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo is excellent, but the difference is too great. With regret, I headed for the living room that had&lt;br /&gt;
been allocated to Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
Turns out Gedora was really there.&lt;br /&gt;
There was no need to worry about whether he was safe or not, he was alive and well.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oops, I thought I was going to die.”&lt;br /&gt;
It didn&#039;t look anything like the dying Gedora said so.&lt;br /&gt;
The only people gathered there, except for us, were the Adalman group.&lt;br /&gt;
After a while, Ramiris and Veldora also rushed over, knowing that Gedora was okay and went back.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What happened to the result?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Back to your word, here&#039;s the thing. This old man advocated anti-war at the Imperial Council,&lt;br /&gt;
following Lord Rimuru&#039;s orders. In the end, however, there was a tendency to go to war. But this is all to&lt;br /&gt;
be expected, so considering it a final act of loyalty, I intended to go directly to His Majesty Rudra to make&lt;br /&gt;
a petition.”&lt;br /&gt;
Then Gedora applied for a meeting with the Emperor, and the application was accepted.&lt;br /&gt;
The day of the appointment came and it was today.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora said that in the emperor&#039;s chambers he was assassinated by someone. Those things happened&lt;br /&gt;
just minutes ago, less than ten minutes apart.&lt;br /&gt;
Ask him if he&#039;s all right. It&#039;s not a good way to see the occasion.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, I have the Resurrection Bracelet for you.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, Lord Ramiris is quite powerful, and it was thanks to something like that that I was able to save&lt;br /&gt;
my life. I thought that something like this might happen, so I set the return magic first.”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing that he was safe and sound, I figured that might be the case.&lt;br /&gt;
His brain was moving really fast. As long as you return to the labyrinth, no matter how badly injured&lt;br /&gt;
you are, even if you are about to die, you can still be safe with the &amp;quot;Resurrection Bracelet&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
After witnessing real-life cases like this, I re-affirmed that the power of Ramiris was practical.&lt;br /&gt;
Having said that, to be able to set up magic beforehand, Gedora really has a way with that. He seems to&lt;br /&gt;
have taught this move to Razen, so I&#039;ll practice it next time.&lt;br /&gt;
I have &amp;quot;thought acceleration&amp;quot; on me, and perhaps even more powerful magic can be created through&lt;br /&gt;
alignment combinations.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then who attacked you?”&lt;br /&gt;
Even if one were to find someone in our country who could defeat Gedora, there shouldn&#039;t be that&lt;br /&gt;
many. Gedora was always on guard, and seemed to be thoroughly defended through magic, so even if he&lt;br /&gt;
was sneakily attacked, he shouldn&#039;t lose to his opponent...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In this regard, the other party is able to keep me out of sight, even if it is too late to confirm the other&lt;br /&gt;
party&#039;s true identity. But the thought of who the other party might be just makes it a little hard to&lt;br /&gt;
believe...”&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of which, Gedora turned his back to me and showed me the torn cloak.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The injuries to the body have healed, but the equipment has not recovered. The cloak left marks that&lt;br /&gt;
looked very much like it had been corroded, and at a glance you could tell it wasn&#039;t just a physical attack.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;A stab in the heart from the back, huh?”&lt;br /&gt;
&#039;&#039;The defensive spells built with magic have also been broken. It looks like there are people there who&lt;br /&gt;
use very interesting moves.”&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo also had a look of admiration on his face, the opponent seemed to have come from no small&lt;br /&gt;
place.&lt;br /&gt;
There should also be people on the Imperial side who are strong enough to kill me. Maybe it was the&lt;br /&gt;
same guy who assassinated Gedora, and it&#039;s best to assume there are other masters around.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora didn&#039;t seem quite sure who the enemy was. He wanted to investigate a little, so the matter was&lt;br /&gt;
left to Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
It didn&#039;t sound like Gedora was lying, it looked like he was really confused. It seems too early to trust&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora, so I decided to observe the situation first this time.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Anyway, it&#039;s really good that you&#039;re okay. Now that it has been reaffirmed that the Empire is an&lt;br /&gt;
opponent that cannot be taken lightly, we will be more careful in the future.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The words of Lord Rimuru are sufficient. Even if we investigate further, we won&#039;t be able to get any&lt;br /&gt;
information that will be refreshing.”&lt;br /&gt;
It seems Diablo thought so too.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora nearly died trying to get that information, now it&#039;s time to be satisfied with having that.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about this side, I comforted Gedora while listening to him explain the situation.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
According to Old Grandfather Gedora, the Empire was preparing for war.&lt;br /&gt;
Once an empire wants to go to war with another country, none of them will declare war first.&lt;br /&gt;
Because they think the emperor is unique and does not recognize other nations.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, it was at best an outwardly created image. In fact, they also have bonded with the&lt;br /&gt;
Dwarven Kingdom and have not interfered with them ruling their own country.&lt;br /&gt;
When it comes to invading other countries, the Empire is ready for anything. So they will not declare&lt;br /&gt;
war, but rather persuade other nations to surrender.&lt;br /&gt;
That too is limited to one time.&lt;br /&gt;
If they obeyed, then so be it; if they did not, there would be war and then the Empire would attack&lt;br /&gt;
without mercy.&lt;br /&gt;
How self-righteous and arrogant is this country?&lt;br /&gt;
You can&#039;t make friends in the international community in such a difficult country!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I began to worry about it, but the Empire was never part of the international community.&lt;br /&gt;
Thus, international law, as laid down by the Western consultative councils, has not been ratified, and&lt;br /&gt;
once war is waged it is not a matter of right and wrong.&lt;br /&gt;
What agreements to make in case of defeat, what to do with prisoners, what acts to forbid in case of&lt;br /&gt;
war—that sort of thing, the empire did not make any agreements at all in that regard, so the Western&lt;br /&gt;
countries were very afraid of them.&lt;br /&gt;
No wonder it&#039;s scary. This is really scary.&lt;br /&gt;
Maybe even killing people would be justified, and losing to the Empire in a war would be the same as&lt;br /&gt;
losing everything.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t think there&#039;s even a chance to talk about compensation.&lt;br /&gt;
For everything belongs to the Empire, and the defeated nations have no right to speak of.&lt;br /&gt;
If you want to negotiate with the Empire, you should at least fight them to a draw.&lt;br /&gt;
That being the case, there&#039;s no need for us to drain the water.&lt;br /&gt;
It must be won and lost in one fell swoop and the root of the scourge must be cut off.&lt;br /&gt;
Now that the empire&#039;s movements have been determined, it&#039;s time to think about what to do when the&lt;br /&gt;
war begins.&lt;br /&gt;
The first step is to set up an operational integration headquarters in the control room. While that just&lt;br /&gt;
sets the mood, this kind of thing is important.&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru and Souei would stay here from time to time.&lt;br /&gt;
When Souei is able to send the clones around the world to conduct reconnaissance operations, it&#039;s not&lt;br /&gt;
just my Argos that he can rely on. He will work with Moss and can gather very accurate intelligence.&lt;br /&gt;
That way we&#039;re a few steps ahead of our opponents.&lt;br /&gt;
Honestly, in this world of warfare, wait for the two armies to meet before they really start fighting.&lt;br /&gt;
They would put out scouts and use long-range magic to monitor the enemy&#039;s movements, but it was&lt;br /&gt;
generally assumed that this was something that would be done soon after an encounter with an opponent.&lt;br /&gt;
We all have the idea of intelligence warfare, but I don&#039;t think any other country will be able to find an&lt;br /&gt;
army that has so thoroughly intensified its surveillance of enemy forces.&lt;br /&gt;
Hinata and Gedora have also told me about this, and it shouldn&#039;t be my own imagination, but the fact&lt;br /&gt;
that it&#039;s true.&lt;br /&gt;
“These...these images are from the air...?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Kufufufufu. It was generated through the magic of Lord Rimuru. All it took was a little bit of magical&lt;br /&gt;
essence, and the magical reaction had gone to the outside of the atmosphere. The number of people who&lt;br /&gt;
can sense these reactions must be very small. It probably takes a super intuitive ability just to sense it.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, indeed. I&#039;m also confident in my magical senses, but this magic is so natural that it&#039;s hard to&lt;br /&gt;
imagine someone manipulating it behind the scenes...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Exactly! Even high-ranking magicians who were good at using magic would be fine, if only three-&lt;br /&gt;
legged cats probably couldn&#039;t detect it. It&#039;s really impressive. You think so, don&#039;t you?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s what I thought! It&#039;s really quite a bit of magic!”&lt;br /&gt;
Somehow, Diablo put on a smug look and began to show off to Gedora. Gedora agreed with him, with&lt;br /&gt;
a look of excitement.&lt;br /&gt;
“Shion.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, sir!”&lt;br /&gt;
This was really in the way, so I ordered Shion to take them to another room to isolate them.&lt;br /&gt;
When the scene regains its tranquility, we cut to the chase.&lt;br /&gt;
Returning the surveillance image from high in the air was a foul move.&lt;br /&gt;
Think about it, people.&lt;br /&gt;
It wasn&#039;t long ago that it bothered them which route they would attack from and things are now like a&lt;br /&gt;
joke.&lt;br /&gt;
This was because not only the suspicious routes, but even the vicinity of the border with the Empire&lt;br /&gt;
could be watched, and once they were out and about, they would be able to see clearly.&lt;br /&gt;
We can see all the situations on the board, but the opponent seems to be playing blind chess.&lt;br /&gt;
They can only see their pieces. As long as we&#039;re not too young, we can&#039;t lose even if our opponent is a&lt;br /&gt;
good chess player.&lt;br /&gt;
There was no need to send high commanders to check their male soldiers, we had an absolute&lt;br /&gt;
advantage.&lt;br /&gt;
Besides, there are no rules to fight.&lt;br /&gt;
The people who win say everything is right.&lt;br /&gt;
The other side&#039;s unilateral aggression, that&#039;s beyond horrifying. Apart from the fact that there is no&lt;br /&gt;
convention to fall back on, anything can happen in war.&lt;br /&gt;
But I made a rule anyway.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Do not shoot at the general public!”&lt;br /&gt;
The rule is this.&lt;br /&gt;
Of course, it is strictly forbidden for us to take the lead. And once I declare the war over, no attacks can&lt;br /&gt;
be launched after that.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;m sure no one will go against my will to disobey this order.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Today, in this control room, our subordinates are gathered together.&lt;br /&gt;
The commander was Benimaru, with Hakurou as an advisor.&lt;br /&gt;
Souei is the head of the intelligence service.&lt;br /&gt;
Plus Rigurd, and the three heads of power who supported him on the side—Rugurd, Regurd, and&lt;br /&gt;
Rogurd.&lt;br /&gt;
On this side of the female lineup, there are Shuna and Lilina.&lt;br /&gt;
As well as Rigur, Kaijin and Kurobee, who silently supported everyone behind them.&lt;br /&gt;
Vesta and Myourmile serve as consultants.&lt;br /&gt;
On the side of the chiefs of the various armies were Gobta and Gabil, plus Geld, who I had asked to&lt;br /&gt;
interrupt his work.&lt;br /&gt;
I also called in the three female demons—Testarossa, Carrera, and Ultima.&lt;br /&gt;
Diablo looked like he was reflecting, so I allowed him to participate. He got along well with Shion,&lt;br /&gt;
standing in his usual fixed position.&lt;br /&gt;
To find a reference, I also had Gedora and the Shinji trio take their seats together.&lt;br /&gt;
Someone came late, and he is the one who is now the spiritual pillar of the people.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wait a minute. How did I become a pillar of the people&#039;s hearts? Please don&#039;t talk nonsense, for&lt;br /&gt;
goodness’ sake!”&lt;br /&gt;
Oops, accidentally speaking your mind?&lt;br /&gt;
Masayuki snapped at me.&lt;br /&gt;
Watching Masayuki and I interact like this, somehow Gedora didn&#039;t even look away.&lt;br /&gt;
Maybe there was something that mattered to him, it was possible to ask him when the meeting was&lt;br /&gt;
over.&lt;br /&gt;
The last remaining members were two more.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s Veldora and Ramiris who came to help.&lt;br /&gt;
Beretta, Miss Treyni, and Charys were also all waiting in the corner of the room.&lt;br /&gt;
These are the full members of the above.&lt;br /&gt;
I nudged Ranga, who was sitting next to me, and looked around at everyone sitting in the chair.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I thought it would not be necessary to say much about the meeting that brought you here today to&lt;br /&gt;
discuss how to fight the Empire. Benimaru and I had already thought about the approximate combat plan,&lt;br /&gt;
but we also wanted to hear from everyone. Please take the floor.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s the thing, the meeting is about to begin.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
We began to look at the images, which reflected the gathering of the Imperial army.&lt;br /&gt;
Something made of steel rumbled and moved against the track.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s a chariot.&lt;br /&gt;
We observed from above that the number of war vehicles was two thousand.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Wait, no! Why are there chariots there?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as I saw those things, the thought immediately came to me.&lt;br /&gt;
I hastened to ask Shinji about it, and found out that there are modern weapons in the Empire that use&lt;br /&gt;
the knowledge of the &amp;quot;otherworldly visitors&amp;quot; to develop modern weapons using science and technology.&lt;br /&gt;
Using an internal combustion engine, which is an alternative to petroleum, mana is equipped with an&lt;br /&gt;
internal combustion engine that replenishes energy by circulating the atmosphere. It&#039;s a well thought out&lt;br /&gt;
system with both heat dissipation and magicule supply.&lt;br /&gt;
This chariot is capable of a wide range of applications, if only to compare performance, slightly&lt;br /&gt;
surpassing the highest performance chariot in the native world.&lt;br /&gt;
According to Gedora, the Imperial side analyzed the magic center-controlled power furnace excavated&lt;br /&gt;
from the ancient ruins and then modernized it. It seems that the magic stones will also be replenished and&lt;br /&gt;
used as fuel.&lt;br /&gt;
If only for general use, they would harvest from nature, and I&#039;ve heard that magic stones are used in&lt;br /&gt;
battle.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only is it possible to travel at more than 100 km/h, but it seems to be fine even when it encounters&lt;br /&gt;
treacherous roads.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ve heard that it&#039;s also possible to float slightly off the ground and float in mid-air, although this will&lt;br /&gt;
consume energy.&lt;br /&gt;
Seriously, I found out we were a step late.&lt;br /&gt;
If only we had developed it too, that chagrins me. There was no thought of developing chariots in a&lt;br /&gt;
world full of knights.&lt;br /&gt;
We&#039;ve built the train, but it&#039;s one step away from being a chariot.&lt;br /&gt;
But we don&#039;t even have a car here, so we build chariots. In addition, it is important to think a little bit&lt;br /&gt;
about this.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s convenient, but it&#039;s dangerous.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone will want one by then, but asking me if I could have one for everyone, I don&#039;t think I can.&lt;br /&gt;
There is also the problem of energy depletion, and no matter what one thinks, there will be car owners&lt;br /&gt;
and carless people.&lt;br /&gt;
I think the goal is to build cities that don&#039;t need cars.&lt;br /&gt;
When all this construction is tidied up, I’m thinking of developing cars that rich people will be&lt;br /&gt;
interested in.&lt;br /&gt;
Making access to these cars their goal—that’s probably how it will feel. Let everyone have a dream,&lt;br /&gt;
and for the sake of status, it&#039;s not too bad to buy something fancy.&lt;br /&gt;
But all this will have to wait until after the war is over.&lt;br /&gt;
Because it&#039;s not just the chariots that are surprising.&lt;br /&gt;
And boats flying through the air.&lt;br /&gt;
Really—it took a lot of work just to swallow that scream.&lt;br /&gt;
With something like that, it&#039;s a lot easier to transport. If used in war, the problem of supplies can be&lt;br /&gt;
solved as well.&lt;br /&gt;
Also, I found myself being too self-righteous.&lt;br /&gt;
There was always optimism that we were the only ones who could take over the airspace.&lt;br /&gt;
We&#039;d like to develop something like that too—it’s been thought of before, but in reality it&#039;s not possible.&lt;br /&gt;
To build a ship that can fly through the air, that&#039;s not something that can be done overnight.&lt;br /&gt;
I think it should take a while, but developing something isn&#039;t that simple. All of the merchandise was&lt;br /&gt;
wrongly thought out and finally corrected to the point where it could actually be used.&lt;br /&gt;
This time I should compliment the developers on the Empire side in good conscience.&lt;br /&gt;
So you can&#039;t blame me for wanting to grab a developer unharmed.&lt;br /&gt;
If I were to think more flexibly, more freely, and then ask people to develop those things, then we&lt;br /&gt;
would now—no, don&#039;t think.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s useless to be chagrined here, so let&#039;s make that a topic for the future.&lt;br /&gt;
When this war is over, I want to try to develop all sorts of things in a more liberal way.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
The current state of the empire is just as it’s seen.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ve known this kind of thing in the world before, but some people are seeing it for the first time.&lt;br /&gt;
Those people could hardly hide their surprise, staring at the images with dazzled eyes.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The total number of invaders is estimated to be in the millions! Anyway, as we&#039;ve seen, the military&lt;br /&gt;
weapons on the Imperial side are also intimidating, but we still retain superiority. Everyone rest assured.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The most important element in warfare is how much mastery you have of the enemy&#039;s fighting power. It&lt;br /&gt;
is at this point that we have equated the enemy&#039;s unreserved presence.&lt;br /&gt;
According to the calculations of Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, the total number of the enemy&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
army was in the millions. The turnout was a real mess, but I still don&#039;t think we&#039;ll lose.&lt;br /&gt;
Because that&#039;s how we&#039;re doing right now.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I&#039;ve heard from Gedora&#039;s side that there seem to be three major legions within the Empire. One of the&lt;br /&gt;
legions is called the Mecha Legion, and they have the chariot unit that just appeared in the picture.&lt;br /&gt;
They&#039;re called the Magic Chariot Division, and they&#039;re the main force of the enemy.”&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of which, I began to explain the inside story of the Chariot Force.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora gave more information than that. He had gone to a war meeting on the Imperial side and told us&lt;br /&gt;
everything he heard.&lt;br /&gt;
The story of Gedora&#039;s escape must have been passed back, and it&#039;s possible they could change the battle&lt;br /&gt;
plan, but I don&#039;t think the outline will change.&lt;br /&gt;
After all, there was still Yuuki on the Imperial side, and it seemed like his goal was to stage a coup.&lt;br /&gt;
In order to disrupt the other legionnaires, the guy would surely assert that Gedora was dead, using no&lt;br /&gt;
need to keep an eye on him.&lt;br /&gt;
And Gedora also said that Calgurio, the Mecha Legion&#039;s army chief, had fallen for the bait I had sown.&lt;br /&gt;
The underground labyrinth is full of resources and treasures, trying to get ahead of the competition.&lt;br /&gt;
That being the case, he shouldn&#039;t want to see a drastic change in the battle plan and is likely to accept&lt;br /&gt;
Yuuki&#039;s proposal. It is dangerous to operate according to one&#039;s own speculations, but it is easier to&lt;br /&gt;
speculate on the enemy&#039;s purpose of action by watching how Calgurio arranges his army.&lt;br /&gt;
I have just finished my statement, and Gobta has taken the lead.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;May I ask, will my regiment stay in the hotel town and fight those chariots?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s a great entry point. It should be said that he himself has been assigned to the post of chief of the&lt;br /&gt;
army, so it is a matter of life and death, and it must be asked.&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta always slept during meetings and I now thought that he had grown. You have to be responsible&lt;br /&gt;
to grow up...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What&#039;s the point of asking such a question as a matter of course? You are to lead the First Corps in&lt;br /&gt;
slaughtering this chariot corps.”&lt;br /&gt;
I was still deep in emotion when Benimaru said just that.&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta was greatly shaken, and the whole people were shaken.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Why haven&#039;t I heard...”&lt;br /&gt;
He was there alone to shred his thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Well, I know exactly how you feel.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You don&#039;t think we&#039;re going to have to hold down a hotel town, do you?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta asked the question with a deadpan face and I smiled at him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;How can...! Based on the performance of the chariots I just heard, you should be able to win if you&lt;br /&gt;
use the right method, but I don&#039;t know how much damage will be done. Basically it&#039;s more difficult to&lt;br /&gt;
defend than offense, and the Green Legion has no real-world combat experience and will probably just&lt;br /&gt;
become a dartboard for chariots. So we can&#039;t fight at all by just holding on.”&lt;br /&gt;
To reassure him, I explained it thus.&lt;br /&gt;
I asked Hakurou to back up Gobta, and he seemed to see what I was thinking from the start, nodding&lt;br /&gt;
his head frequently as he listened to me.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What&#039;s to be done?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s the chief&#039;s job to think about things like this, but it&#039;s hard to do at first. Benimaru, you explain.”&lt;br /&gt;
This time I ordered in high spirits.&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, I&#039;m like Gobta in that I don&#039;t know anything about the military side of things. The details were&lt;br /&gt;
left to Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
The good thing about me is that I&#039;m forgiving of myself.&lt;br /&gt;
If Gobta is working hard and growing, I can make it easier.&lt;br /&gt;
So I&#039;d love to see Gobta make more of an effort, while listening to the Benimaru instructions with him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Listen up, Gobta. The hotel town is an important stronghold, but there&#039;s nothing to worry about losing&lt;br /&gt;
it. If it&#039;s broken and rebuilt, it&#039;s a good idea to take it away and take it back. The only problem is that it&lt;br /&gt;
hurts the residents. But in this regard, Rimuru-sama has already thought of a countermeasure. An order&lt;br /&gt;
has been issued for the residents to evacuate to the capital ‘Rimuru&#039;.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Hmmm.&lt;br /&gt;
Knowing that the Empire would be in action, I began to have them evacuated. The evacuation will take&lt;br /&gt;
some time, but it should be done before the Imperials arrive.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Ah, so there really are fewer people.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I guess so. Your job is to keep those remaining residents safe and sheltered as well. Come back here&lt;br /&gt;
afterwards.”&lt;br /&gt;
When Benimaru finished, he pointed to a certain location, which came from the large map spread out&lt;br /&gt;
on the table.&lt;br /&gt;
The official name is the armed power, Dwargon. It&#039;s their central city.&lt;br /&gt;
“Huh?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Look at this image. It looked like the Imperial Army would let their forces spread out, launching&lt;br /&gt;
invasions from several routes. Some troops have entered the Great Forest of Jura, but the chariot units&lt;br /&gt;
have not moved. One can tell by the direction of this troop&#039;s march that they intend to move along the&lt;br /&gt;
foothills of Canaat’s great mountain. The trees are less dense there and the army is less affected when&lt;br /&gt;
marching.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hmm, that&#039;s right...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You don&#039;t get it, do you? Never mind. All you have to do is defend the Dwarven Kingdom.”&lt;br /&gt;
While speaking, Benimaru picked up the pawn representing the Gobta Legion and placed it in front of&lt;br /&gt;
the Dwarven Kingdom. Next, take out the Dwarven Legion&#039;s pawn and place it with the Gobta Legion&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
pawn.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You will fight with them.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Oooohhhhh......!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
It looked like Gobta had finally figured it out, looking both surprised and excited.&lt;br /&gt;
This battle plan was based on information given by Gedora.&lt;br /&gt;
I&#039;ve made a deal with Gazel.&lt;br /&gt;
The Empire&#039;s target was the Dwarven Kingdom, and according to the alliance pact, I revealed this&lt;br /&gt;
matter to Gazel. At the same time, it said it would send reinforcements as agreed.&lt;br /&gt;
And of course, Gazel found the Empire&#039;s actions to be haunted. The opponent repeatedly asked for&lt;br /&gt;
permission to march, and Gazel seems to have refused to the point of annoyance.&lt;br /&gt;
And he seemed to have seen that the impatient empire that would soon be waiting would act.&lt;br /&gt;
My offer is also cause for celebration for Gazel and is good for both of us.&lt;br /&gt;
I decided to give up the hotel town and would rebuild if it was destroyed. However, as long as we don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
use it as a battlefield, the Empire shouldn&#039;t be destroying that place recklessly.&lt;br /&gt;
We&#039;ll get the hotel town back soon, even if we give up.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The reason why the Empire chose to pass through in a conspicuous place was to let us know that they&lt;br /&gt;
would march in from this side. A big action move like this would have caught anyone&#039;s eye.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That is to say—is this a demonstration?”&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta this guy, he actually knows these tough words.&lt;br /&gt;
You&#039;re learning, you little brat...I&#039;m a little impressed.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right. This route is located right on the border between Dwargon and the Jura Tempest&lt;br /&gt;
Federation. Both countries will indeed notice that it is most appropriate to test the other&#039;s movements in&lt;br /&gt;
this way. If the other side casually comes over to pick a fight, they can use that as an excuse to go to war&lt;br /&gt;
immediately. Of course, we have strictly forbidden our personnel to strike, so they will be warned first.&lt;br /&gt;
Do you understand me?”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If we hadn&#039;t made our move, the Imperial Army would have crossed the great river of Ameld and&lt;br /&gt;
come to a place that overlooks the front entrance to the Dwarven Kingdom. There is a large plain without&lt;br /&gt;
trees, perfect for laying out an army.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s it...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It is impossible for King Gazel to remain silent in such a state. They will send troops to confront them&lt;br /&gt;
and deal with each other. On that point, as do we, the Empire will be an enemy to our two nations, the&lt;br /&gt;
Jura Tempest Federation and Dwargon.”&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru moves the pawns on the map and illustrates them in a way that seems shallow and easy to&lt;br /&gt;
understand.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;According to Mr. Gedora, it seems that the Empire is on guard to avoid being encircled by the Dwarf&lt;br /&gt;
Kingdom and the Jura Tempest Federation, but if this location is suppressed by them, there is no way to&lt;br /&gt;
do it. The opponent has been waiting for a long time, so it makes no tactical sense to sneak up on that&lt;br /&gt;
place.”&lt;br /&gt;
The so-called sneak attack, this tactic is to pick when the opponent is careless.&lt;br /&gt;
Now that the other side has figured out our strategy, there&#039;s no point in doing so, and that&#039;s where it&lt;br /&gt;
works against us.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So we&#039;re going to meet it from the start. Then attack from the front and completely crush their army!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Speaking of this side, Benimaru let Gobta&#039;s chess piece go against the one representing the Empire.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, oh, oh...!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta looked on in admiration.&lt;br /&gt;
The other subordinates didn&#039;t seem to have a problem with it either, but I wonder what they think about&lt;br /&gt;
the war power gap?&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Third Army Commander Gabil!”&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Your job is to keep a vigil over the people who took refuge in the past. Watch from the air to see if&lt;br /&gt;
anyone is running too slow or in distress, and lend a helping hand when you can.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, sir!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Also, after successfully leading everyone to shelter, you go directly to help Gobta. If the timing is&lt;br /&gt;
captured well, we should be able to meet him before the Imperials arrive.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;My legions move the fastest in the Jura Tempest Federation. We will definitely catch up!”&lt;br /&gt;
Gabil responded confidently to Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
But it really shouldn&#039;t be easy to do.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
While those residents are relocating, I plan to put the full speed train to use. However, even out of the&lt;br /&gt;
train, it still takes a while for tens of thousands of broken people to move.&lt;br /&gt;
Conversely, the Imperial Army was moving at an abnormally fast pace.&lt;br /&gt;
Even taking into account the effects of the legion&#039;s magic, the calculations were astounding, speculating&lt;br /&gt;
that they could advance eighty kilometers a day.&lt;br /&gt;
The Reichs are still near the national border. It was about 1,500 kilometers from the intended site of the&lt;br /&gt;
war. At this rate, it would take about twenty days for the Imperial Army to arrive at the site of the&lt;br /&gt;
scheduled war.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason for this marching speed is that every soldier has undergone reconstructive surgery. I&#039;ve&lt;br /&gt;
heard that even if you don&#039;t eat or drink for a week, you&#039;ll still be able to move, and your maximum&lt;br /&gt;
combat speed will definitely be faster.&lt;br /&gt;
It is said that without supplies, the chariots can move at an average speed of ten kilometers per hour.&lt;br /&gt;
Even at night they could absorb magical elements that could be paired with the chariot&#039;s energy&lt;br /&gt;
replenishment intervals to rest.&lt;br /&gt;
It is indeed a bad idea to wear yourself out before the war has even begun.&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora&#039;s instructions cut to the chase, and I had these in mind when I did my calculations with&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru.&lt;br /&gt;
“—that&#039;s just the way it is, the Imperial Army may be arriving here faster than one might think.&lt;br /&gt;
Everyone, be careful!”&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru concludes with this sentence, and then proceeds to the next stage of the narration.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The main army of the Reichs would have been here, as Gobta just said, it was a demonstration. It&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
also known as a fake move. Their main army will actually aim their operations directly here!”&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru said as he pulled out another Imperial chess piece of the same color. Several pieces of this&lt;br /&gt;
color were then placed in various parts of the great forest of Jura.&lt;br /&gt;
Pretend the chariots are their main force, the real main force is actually configured somewhere else is&lt;br /&gt;
it?&lt;br /&gt;
We were able to see the enemy&#039;s movements clearly, and honestly, I just thought, “Yes...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;In case things go beyond our expectations, there&#039;s Geld guarding this place! Geld, you need to get all&lt;br /&gt;
your minions back from all places as soon as possible.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I know. I&#039;ve already communicated it using the &amp;quot;Thought Communication&amp;quot;. It won&#039;t be long before&lt;br /&gt;
everyone comes to my side to rally.”&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru and Geld seemed to have a tacit understanding and didn&#039;t need to say much to reach a&lt;br /&gt;
consensus. Not bad for a Geld, really reliable enough.&lt;br /&gt;
After that, Benimaru&#039;s gaze returned to the map.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The main force here should continue to operate on a hidden trail. It was a pity that with Lord Rimuru&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
spying magic, &#039;Argos&#039; couldn&#039;t even see what was going on inside the forest. This is the time to switch to&lt;br /&gt;
Souei.”&lt;br /&gt;
As soon as Benimaru&#039;s words were finished, Souei nodded and stood up.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The forest is dense with grass and trees, so it&#039;s difficult to watch from high above. Even trying to get&lt;br /&gt;
my men to lurk in there, the area is too large and there is a risk of being discovered. So I went to ask&lt;br /&gt;
Moss. This guy put out many &#039;clones&#039; of extremely small size that could receive information. They&lt;br /&gt;
couldn&#039;t be expected to exert their fighting abilities in such a situation, but &#039;&#039;Divergent&#039;&#039; seemed to have no&lt;br /&gt;
problem even if they were knocked down. The eastern part of the Great Forest of Jura is currently under&lt;br /&gt;
Moss&#039; surveillance. He already has the relevant information and knows that the Imperial Army is divided&lt;br /&gt;
into several squads and is marching in the area, so it is our intention to break them up individually.”&lt;br /&gt;
Souei revealed a cold smile when he finished.&lt;br /&gt;
It felt a little scary, and thankfully he was on our side.&lt;br /&gt;
It is possible to break through individually, but it will be a problem if the main force runs out&lt;br /&gt;
afterwards. So the battle plan that Benimaru came up with was to wait for the other side to gather to a&lt;br /&gt;
certain point.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Since the purpose of the Imperial Army is the underground labyrinth, let&#039;s bring them in and clean up&lt;br /&gt;
again. If there were any other troops left on the ground, the Second Corps led by Geld and my main force&lt;br /&gt;
would slaughter them from above.”&lt;br /&gt;
The battle plan is simple and straightforward.&lt;br /&gt;
But what is most puzzling is the battle power gap.&lt;br /&gt;
No one has been picking on that since just now. I wonder what people think about this?&lt;br /&gt;
Shouldn&#039;t it be my turn to ask at a time like this—I was confused for a moment, when the control room&lt;br /&gt;
was surrounded by a shout.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I see! It’s a relief to have Gabil-kun come over as well. We&#039;re going to win this one!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s so good to hear you say that! I&#039;ll make a big splash when I get there, and I won&#039;t lose to Mr.&lt;br /&gt;
Gobta!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Originally, I was worried that I wouldn&#039;t get a chance to play this time, so I&#039;m sure it&#039;s Shogun&lt;br /&gt;
Benimaru-san. Leave me the greatest honor of guarding my country. I&#039;ll definitely put this power to good&lt;br /&gt;
use!”&lt;br /&gt;
It was because Benimaru had just assigned those three army chiefs to do those things that they had that&lt;br /&gt;
reaction.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only that, but every civil servant was also excitedly exchanging words. There wasn&#039;t a hint of&lt;br /&gt;
sadness, even the three female demons were chatting happily.&lt;br /&gt;
I also think it will be us who win in this war.&lt;br /&gt;
The inner feeling is easy, but that doesn&#039;t mean it&#039;s all unnerving.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yet everyone doesn&#039;t seem worried at all, it&#039;s amazing. Even Gobta, who at first seemed to be in a state&lt;br /&gt;
of delusion, was now full of energy.&lt;br /&gt;
I felt uneasy despite having Hakurou as an advisor to follow him.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;After listening to Benimaru&#039;s explanation, is there anything you don&#039;t understand?”&lt;br /&gt;
I tried to ask, but no one came forward to question it.&lt;br /&gt;
Instead, Benimaru jumped out to speak for everyone.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Rest assured, Lord Rimuru. We are not worried about losing the war. But that doesn&#039;t mean we think&lt;br /&gt;
we won&#039;t lose, but because we will fight to the best of our ability. We have enough to overcome, and a&lt;br /&gt;
magnificent battlefield. If we lose the war in this way, we ourselves are too incompetent to follow the law&lt;br /&gt;
of the weak and the strong.”&lt;br /&gt;
He smiled brightly when he finished.&lt;br /&gt;
The other monsters reacted in the same way, even Shuna, who was a female, and others.&lt;br /&gt;
They weren&#039;t afraid to lose to each other, afraid to run away from the matchup. even more...&lt;br /&gt;
I always felt like I could relate to their mood.&lt;br /&gt;
In that case, I&#039;m going to do my best.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Testarossa, Ultima, Carrera!”&lt;br /&gt;
“Yes!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
The three female demons stood up without coincidence at their names being called and bowed to me.&lt;br /&gt;
It was here that I gave the order to the three of them.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You will follow the generals of the various legions and support them in their operations!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Understood, Lord Rimuru. The council side will be handed over to Cien. Until this war is over, I will&lt;br /&gt;
also join the war.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Finally, it&#039;s my turn! I&#039;ll take care of it, Lord Rimuru!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;My Lord, please look forward to it. I will show you all my strength!”&lt;br /&gt;
The three demons raised their faces and spoke happily.&lt;br /&gt;
I nodded and introduced the three of them to the generals.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Testarossa, you go with Gobta.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, I&#039;d love to.”&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing Testarossa respond in such a way, Gobta looked dubious.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No problem? It&#039;s hard for a woman who hasn&#039;t fought in a war like this to come to the First Legion,&lt;br /&gt;
right?”&lt;br /&gt;
He uttered words that were frightening.&lt;br /&gt;
Several of them are very vicious &amp;quot;primordials&amp;quot;, and I didn&#039;t understand this until recently, so I don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
seem to be in a position to say anything about anyone else, but seeing the hobgobs who don&#039;t know what&lt;br /&gt;
to fear makes me feel so scared.&lt;br /&gt;
You...will be slaughtered—-though I thought so, I didn&#039;t say so.&lt;br /&gt;
Because it seems more fun that way.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Gee, I&#039;m counting on you.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Testarossa finished and smiled, but the person who didn&#039;t dare to look straight into those eyes should&lt;br /&gt;
not be just me.&lt;br /&gt;
Even if the other party is Testarossa, an apology should still be given, goblin-kun. So much so, I am&lt;br /&gt;
looking forward to seeing the day that Gobta discovers the true identity of Testarossa.&lt;br /&gt;
By contrast, Gabil has grown.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I still have a lot to live up to. Please tell me more!”&lt;br /&gt;
He gave a low bow to Ultima.&lt;br /&gt;
According to Diablo and the various people involved, the most brutal of the three demonesses seems to&lt;br /&gt;
be this Ultima. The easiest to get out of control is heard to be Carrera, but the scariest is Ultima.&lt;br /&gt;
Although she will obey my orders, she will also drill holes to get revenge on the other side. There is a&lt;br /&gt;
good chance that Ultima will do something like this.&lt;br /&gt;
Gabil&#039;s correspondence is correct.&lt;br /&gt;
Ultima seemed to like Gabil a lot, and she returned the greeting with an adorable mimicry and a&lt;br /&gt;
mouthful of, &amp;quot;Mmm! I&#039;m going to ask you to teach me a lot!”&lt;br /&gt;
Gabil often admonished himself in his day-to-day life not to get carried away. This worked, and it looks&lt;br /&gt;
like he was saved. Makes me feel like I have to pay more attention to the usual, which is important.&lt;br /&gt;
There was no problem on Geld&#039;s side. He was shaking hands with Carrera.&lt;br /&gt;
Both have a similar temperament and a martial arts flair, and I think they would be a one-two punch.&lt;br /&gt;
That said, the combination I arranged was really good.&lt;br /&gt;
If Gobta and Gabil’s counterparts switched with each other, Gobta would be in danger, right?&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s great, I thought to myself, followed by some words to inspire the three groups.&lt;br /&gt;
Only a few people know the true faces of these three women.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
When Guy came over earlier, some of the people who had been at the meeting at the time had been&lt;br /&gt;
gagged by me. It doesn&#039;t help to make people feel afraid, and I want those three female demons to&lt;br /&gt;
discipline themselves.&lt;br /&gt;
The order that they must never reveal their true identity and must obey the orders of the army&lt;br /&gt;
commander, but they seemed to meet and do something without changing their colors, scared me. If I&lt;br /&gt;
didn&#039;t know who these three girls really were, I would have been happier...&lt;br /&gt;
No, I’ll trust them.&lt;br /&gt;
If it hadn&#039;t been for my order, those three would have watched peacefully from the sidelines.&lt;br /&gt;
All in all, that sets up three groups. With the three of them following, they can help out in case of any&lt;br /&gt;
unexpected situation.&lt;br /&gt;
The thought of this put me at ease.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s all there is to it, is there anything else to discuss?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Then it depends on how the Imperial side will act, we just have to improvise.&lt;br /&gt;
The matter of working with King Gazel is also important and must be discussed in detail. But these are&lt;br /&gt;
the things that the Operational Integration Headquarters should be doing. Those army chiefs all had their&lt;br /&gt;
own assignments, and if there was nothing going on, they should be allowed to disband first.&lt;br /&gt;
I personally thought so, but at this point someone quickly raised their hand.&lt;br /&gt;
It is Masayuki.&lt;br /&gt;
“That...may I interrupt?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;What&#039;s up, Masayuki?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Actually, I have a question...”&lt;br /&gt;
“Hmm?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Leaving aside the question of why I was made chief of the army, there seems to be no indication as to&lt;br /&gt;
when you will give my regiment, the Volunteer Corps, to take up and what part of it you will be&lt;br /&gt;
responsible for...?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Well, turns out to be asking this.&lt;br /&gt;
There should have been a lot of things that left him wondering.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing that he was only a high school student at his current age and was suddenly asked to be a military&lt;br /&gt;
chief, of course he was confused.&lt;br /&gt;
If it was Japan a long time ago, this might be normal, but after Japan entered the era of peace, this kind&lt;br /&gt;
of thing can be a bit confusing for the young people who live there.&lt;br /&gt;
But I&#039;m having a hard time of it too.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Once you&#039;re back, you become a demon lord, and you have no boss to rely on.&lt;br /&gt;
Thinking about it this way, I think that Masayuki is really lucky.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t you think so?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s it, I hope you explain!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Ah, yes.&lt;br /&gt;
Even though I said a bunch of things in my head, unfortunately it still didn&#039;t seem to get through to the&lt;br /&gt;
other person.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a lot like making excuses when you say it, but there&#039;s no way around it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;All right. I&#039;m sorry to suddenly put a heavy burden on you.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Huh, no...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But to stabilize the town&#039;s population, I think it&#039;s better for you to do it than for me.”&lt;br /&gt;
If there were only magic creatures in town, even if war was about to start, that would be fine.&lt;br /&gt;
Because they will only have high morale and no one will come out and disturb the peace.&lt;br /&gt;
But those immigrants are a different story. Fear and anxiety can put them out of order, and it&#039;s possible&lt;br /&gt;
that someone will come out and do something bad.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So at this time, I hope to use your power to ease everyone&#039;s anxiety.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s it...it sounds like my ability should be able to do something.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing me explain it like that, Masayuki seemed to be able to accept it.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Waahahaha, you&#039;re so modest! I&#039;m sure you don&#039;t want to be tied down to a particular country, as little&lt;br /&gt;
me and the people underneath know! But this time, for the sake of the powerless people, I hope to borrow&lt;br /&gt;
your power!”&lt;br /&gt;
At this time, Myourmile looked at Masayuki with bright eyes and spoke those words. He still has a&lt;br /&gt;
misunderstanding of Masayuki&#039;s strength, but I don&#039;t think it&#039;s necessary to correct it.&lt;br /&gt;
That being said, it&#039;s surprising that even Hinata misunderstood Masayuki.&lt;br /&gt;
Good thing. You&#039;re scary! Although I think so, I think it&#039;s best to keep waiting for the legend of&lt;br /&gt;
Masayuki at a time like this.&lt;br /&gt;
“...yeah.”&lt;br /&gt;
Masayuki replied with a reluctant face. Seeing him make that face, it was obvious he was already&lt;br /&gt;
annoyed by the whole thing.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s a bit pathetic, but hopefully he&#039;ll make an effort this time.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then I&#039;ll leave it to my volunteer corps to keep the peace.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Please. I think you already know that, thanks to the help of Ramiris, it should be possible to keep the&lt;br /&gt;
damage to the town to a minimum. Once the war starts, the metropolis on the ground will also be isolated&lt;br /&gt;
into the maze.”&lt;br /&gt;
This information has been communicated to the subordinates and all concerned.&lt;br /&gt;
We didn&#039;t deliberately outlaw it, and while we were doing evacuation training, some people were too&lt;br /&gt;
late to escape, and some rumors probably got out from their side. On the one hand, it is thought that in&lt;br /&gt;
this way, we can more or less relieve everyone&#039;s anxiety.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah! It&#039;s true that my strength is very powerful, but I was able to reach that level thanks to Master!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Mmm. I divided the overly powerful magical element on my body to give to Ramiris in order to&lt;br /&gt;
complete this great spell. To put it bluntly, it&#039;s friendship that wins.”&lt;br /&gt;
It was thanks to Ramiris that she was able to isolate all the construction on the ground in the maze, but&lt;br /&gt;
that too would have taken a little help from Veldora. This is the time when I should be frank in my thanks.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Thank you both, you&#039;ve been a great help.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hey, is that so? Yeah, that&#039;s right! Can you say a few more words?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Kuahahahaha! You can compliment us a little more!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;All right, all right. Thanks for the help!”&lt;br /&gt;
A slight exaggeration and it becomes this.&lt;br /&gt;
But this time they really helped a lot.&lt;br /&gt;
Although it was isolated in the maze, everyone could see the sky and some residents didn&#039;t even notice&lt;br /&gt;
that anything was wrong.&lt;br /&gt;
That way they wouldn&#039;t be ravaged by the Imperial Army either, which is really impressive from that&lt;br /&gt;
point of view.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But Rimuru, you must remember one thing.”&lt;br /&gt;
“Hmm?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Now let&#039;s just say that if something does happen—if Master is knocked down and the 100th floor is&lt;br /&gt;
breached, the town will run out into the maze. It&#039;s called the opposite effect.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s the part that does worry me, too. But the premise for that to happen is that Veldora was&lt;br /&gt;
defeated, right? If things do turn out that way, there shouldn&#039;t be time to care about what happens to the&lt;br /&gt;
town.”&lt;br /&gt;
If this kind of thing does happen, then we&#039;ll all be fighting as hard as we can too. There&#039;s simply no left&lt;br /&gt;
over for what&#039;s going on in the town.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;I can&#039;t lose anyway.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah. And there&#039;s also the Labyrinth Ten, I personally don&#039;t think there&#039;s any need to worry about&lt;br /&gt;
that!”&lt;br /&gt;
Indeed, as Ramiris said, there would be basically no chance of Veldora making an appearance at all.&lt;br /&gt;
However, if anything...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;If something really happens, we&#039;re still lucky.”&lt;br /&gt;
“What!? First, wait a minute! It&#039;s just that policing is okay, so what can I do if things do turn out that&lt;br /&gt;
way?”&lt;br /&gt;
Masayuki yelled that he didn&#039;t even have military command experience, and the rest of us thought that&lt;br /&gt;
made sense. Even Myormile, who thought of Masayuki as a hero, kept nodding his head with an&lt;br /&gt;
expression of ‘that&#039;s right.’&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t worry, Masayuki. I don&#039;t think you can command an army. I’m currently talking to Hinata and&lt;br /&gt;
want to ask her to send someone from the Paladin Order to be your Auxiliary Officer. I think she would&lt;br /&gt;
have agreed, intending to find someone to be your second-in-command and help you out.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So that&#039;s it, then I&#039;m relieved.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;One more thing! I will let the children be your guards, so that your personal safety—wrongly said, you&lt;br /&gt;
will protect them.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Whoa, whoa, whoa! If you can let the Hero guard them, those children will be safe!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;When, of course.”&lt;br /&gt;
Sweating like rain, Masayuki agreed.&lt;br /&gt;
Masayuki also knew how much strength the children had and knew that the one being protected would&lt;br /&gt;
be himself.&lt;br /&gt;
Besides, Chloe was there. If something really happened, she would protect Masayuki and the others.&lt;br /&gt;
With that, the necessary topics were discussed.&lt;br /&gt;
Everything has been thought out, but no one knows what will happen until the last minute.&lt;br /&gt;
Besides that...&lt;br /&gt;
Still something about it is unsettling.&lt;br /&gt;
In Chloe&#039;s memory, I would die.&lt;br /&gt;
There are currently masters in the Empire who can kill me—that is an undeniable fact.&lt;br /&gt;
If that guy showed up, even the Labyrinth Ten couldn&#039;t resist. No, the other way around...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;&amp;lt;Answer. In order to get to the bottom of the enemy, our side will set up the Labyrinth Ten.&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I think so.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It seems that Master Raphael, the King of Wisdom, put my personal safety first from start to finish in&lt;br /&gt;
his arrangements.&lt;br /&gt;
This made me happy and at the same time I made an awakening.&lt;br /&gt;
No matter what happens, I will guard those partners.&lt;br /&gt;
I don&#039;t want to hurt anyone for a stupid act like war.&lt;br /&gt;
It is with this determination that we close this day&#039;s meeting.&lt;br /&gt;
***&lt;br /&gt;
Things seem to be going well for Masayuki to convince the residents.&lt;br /&gt;
Eventually things seem to evolve into ‘he convinced the demon lord that he had made an appointment&lt;br /&gt;
to protect the town.&#039;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re a hero!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;So reliable!”&lt;br /&gt;
Both the adventurers and the immigrants praised Masayuki, and some saw him with a complicated&lt;br /&gt;
expression at the time.&lt;br /&gt;
But even that look...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re so adorable.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It seems that the Hero still isn&#039;t satisfied with such a big concession from the Demon Lord.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Exactly. It exudes solemnity and is very attractive.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This town is guarded by the hero. And there&#039;s also the Demon Lord Rimuru, so even if the Empire&lt;br /&gt;
fights over, there&#039;s nothing to be afraid of!”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes! Leave it all to them, that&#039;s a relief to us!”&lt;br /&gt;
In the end, people&#039;s explanations turned out to be this way, and as a result, people spoke more highly of&lt;br /&gt;
Masayuki.&lt;br /&gt;
No one else found Masayuki very distressed.&lt;br /&gt;
In this way, the town&#039;s residents still live a peaceful life. And then the day finally came. The Imperial&lt;br /&gt;
Army showed up.&lt;br /&gt;
The days of peace are marked with a hiatus.&lt;br /&gt;
It was like a midsummer night&#039;s dream that ended abruptly.&lt;br /&gt;
Immediately thereafter, the war began...&lt;br /&gt;
Epilogue: Emperor’s Overlord&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You&#039;re awake, Rudra.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
To a man in a fancy garb in a wheelchair, a beautiful woman with blue hair asked him.&lt;br /&gt;
This beauty was the one who held the reigns in the large conference room. She is the “Marshal&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Right. How did the meeting go?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It has been decided that the Great March will commence.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Hard work. Gedora was against it, right?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yes, the old man is realistic. There was no way that the weapon of the Otherworldly Visitor could be&lt;br /&gt;
used against the True Dragon Race—it was a matter of course, he couldn&#039;t have missed it.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s true. But even so, there is still a big long march. To let everyone know that I am the king of this&lt;br /&gt;
world.”&lt;br /&gt;
It was a pact with Guy—Emperor Rudra whispered. The next moment his thoughts turned, a peaceful&lt;br /&gt;
smile appeared on his face.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right, Velgrynd. How do you see it going this time?”&lt;br /&gt;
Velgrynd—there are only four &amp;quot;dragon races&amp;quot; in this world, and that is the name of one of them.&lt;br /&gt;
The red dragon&#039;s palm, which symbolizes the flame, &amp;quot;burns&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
It is an individual even older than the &amp;quot;storm dragon&amp;quot; Veldora, the eternal and indestructible dragon. Its&lt;br /&gt;
name is the &amp;quot;Scorch Dragon&amp;quot; Velgrynd.&lt;br /&gt;
There&#039;s only one person in the world who can bear that name...&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing Rudra ask this, the beautiful woman gave an answer.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;We will win. Definitely. I&#039;ll force the dwarves out of their lair, crush the arrogance of the rookie&lt;br /&gt;
demon lord, bring my lazy, stupid brother to his senses, and make Guy admit that the ruler of this world is&lt;br /&gt;
Rudra—you!”&lt;br /&gt;
There was absolutely no semblance of unnaturalness about being called by that name, the other person.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s right.&lt;br /&gt;
She is Velgrynd.&lt;br /&gt;
One of the strongest “true dragon species”—the &amp;quot;Scorch Dragon&amp;quot; Velgrynd.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Faced with this great Velgrynd, Emperor Rudra continued to speak in an intmate tone.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah? That&#039;s great. So do you think your brother will be out in force?”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing that, Velgrynd answered directly without even thinking about it.&lt;br /&gt;
“He will, Rudra. He&#039;ll show up. Because that kid loves to get together. However, it seems that although&lt;br /&gt;
his seal had been lifted, he has not been restored to his original state. The violent magic storm that hadn&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
detected the madness raging, the demonic aura that has been sensed in all corners of the earth, has now&lt;br /&gt;
completely disappeared. Perhaps his resurrection is not complete?”&lt;br /&gt;
“...In that case, perhaps my army can defeat him.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s a lot of fun, too. Just bribing my stupid little brother was too much, and this demon lord even&lt;br /&gt;
screwed over my lovely brother to make him suffer a bit.”&lt;br /&gt;
Talking over to this side, the two looked at each other and smiled.&lt;br /&gt;
For Rudra and Velgrynd, the success of the combat plan was simply not important.&lt;br /&gt;
He plays a game with Guy, betting on the dominance of the world.&lt;br /&gt;
There are no complicated rules for this game. Just use the &amp;quot;pawns&amp;quot; to suppress the opponent&#039;s position&lt;br /&gt;
and you&#039;ve won.&lt;br /&gt;
The board is the whole world.&lt;br /&gt;
Monsters and humans are their pawns.&lt;br /&gt;
At first the pawns in Guy&#039;s hands were magical creatures and demons, and Rudra was the human who&lt;br /&gt;
held part of it. Yet the long years of constant shifting alternated and now both sides were in disarray.&lt;br /&gt;
Even taking away the enemy&#039;s pawns is not a problem from a rules standpoint.&lt;br /&gt;
In addition to that...&lt;br /&gt;
For Guy and Rudra, the strongest pawn is their respective partners, the True Dragons.&lt;br /&gt;
Only the pieces mentioned above can be used—that’s the only rule that must be followed in this game.&lt;br /&gt;
On the flip side, as long as Guy and Rudra don&#039;t go head-to-head, they can do whatever they want.&lt;br /&gt;
But if the world ends, of course the game will end. This goes against their will and needs to be properly&lt;br /&gt;
held so that it doesn&#039;t happen.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s just that there&#039;s an element of uncertainty about this game.&lt;br /&gt;
It is the last of the True Dragons, Veldora, and the Primordial Demons.&lt;br /&gt;
These uncertainties are not part of the game. It&#039;s all up to players Guy and Rudra to make them their&lt;br /&gt;
own, or to make them the enemy.&lt;br /&gt;
One of Guy&#039;s pawns—his helper, Demon Lord Leon’s domain has been threatened by the Yellow&lt;br /&gt;
Primordial.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There is still Purple Primordial in the West, and a rash move could lead to great disasters.&lt;br /&gt;
And on the eastern side, there is the White Primordial.&lt;br /&gt;
Those demons have immense power and will never die. It is not impossible to exterminate them from&lt;br /&gt;
the source, but you need to be prepared for everything.&lt;br /&gt;
Rather than sacrifice so much, it&#039;s best to deal with them and make them their own. In order for his&lt;br /&gt;
game with Guy to progress in his favor, it was the best thing to do, or so Rudra and Velgrynd thought.&lt;br /&gt;
If Velgrynd stepped up to the plate, she could bury even the White Primordial. But in this way, the&lt;br /&gt;
damage to the local area will be beyond imagination.&lt;br /&gt;
The conclusion is that it is not feasible in reality.&lt;br /&gt;
And they also misjudged one thing, which is that the Western powers began to emerge with their own&lt;br /&gt;
set of ways of playing.&lt;br /&gt;
In that land of the West, the local god Ruminas was born and unwittingly grew into a monotheistic&lt;br /&gt;
religion. Its system of domination is quite solid and unites the peoples of the West.&lt;br /&gt;
They had already discovered that Ruminas&#039; true identity was the Demon Lord, but it had become a&lt;br /&gt;
deeply entrenched religion and it was too late to do anything about it.&lt;br /&gt;
When Rudra completely dominated the East, the West also formed a circle of power and united. Here&#039;s&lt;br /&gt;
why Guy and Rudra&#039;s game is in a state of glue.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Because Chronoa and Granbell were very active, it became more difficult to attack the West, which&lt;br /&gt;
was a major drawback. If those people hadn&#039;t shown up, you would have won by now.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It&#039;s too early to make a decision. There will be those who will hinder the oligarch&#039;s domination of the&lt;br /&gt;
world, presumably as a test for the oligarch given by Veldanava. Because that man used to love pranks.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, it does. Brother really...”&lt;br /&gt;
That said, this side, Rudra and Velgrynd were like reminiscing about the past with smiles on their faces.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But the time has come. All the pieces have appeared, and soon I will win.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;This time, we&#039;re going to take Guy and my sister, Velzado, into the army.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Oh, Guy&#039;s been waiting for an opportunity. If you fight with Veldora, he&#039;ll take advantage of it.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right, it&#039;s annoying. If it hadn&#039;t been for that, I&#039;d have taken care of that child Veldora myself by&lt;br /&gt;
then...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
This is talking about the failure of the last great march.&lt;br /&gt;
Once Velgrynd stepped in, not even Veldora counted as a threat. But doing so will likely bring Guy to&lt;br /&gt;
the fisherman&#039;s bag.&lt;br /&gt;
If you want to move your strongest pawn, “True Dragon&amp;quot;, you must be prepared.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
And now is the best time to do it.&lt;br /&gt;
Rudra sent spies all over the world, and they brought back all kinds of reports.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;It was long, but the wait was worth it. The biggest obstacle to the West is gone.”&lt;br /&gt;
The true face of the god, Ruminas, was actually the Demon Lord Ruminas. Now that the true face is&lt;br /&gt;
known, it&#039;s conceivable how much the opponent&#039;s fighting power is.&lt;br /&gt;
And the demon lord who had previously represented Ruminas was also destroyed, along with the loss&lt;br /&gt;
of the &amp;quot;Seven Celestial Sages&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Not only that...&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The threat from the Western nations is much less.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Indeed. Those who stand in the way of my dominion over the world need not have my hand; they have&lt;br /&gt;
taken it upon themselves to perish.”&lt;br /&gt;
It was an apocalypse, and in saying that Rudra should rule the world—Rudra and Velgrynd were&lt;br /&gt;
convinced of that.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;By the way, Rudra, how are you doing?”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;No problem at all. The power of the oligarchs—the army of angels (Armageddon)—is available at all&lt;br /&gt;
times.”&lt;br /&gt;
The Army of Angels is the ultimate power that Rudra has. The starting conditions are harsh, and after&lt;br /&gt;
one use, the next one can only be used after long intervals.&lt;br /&gt;
There is only one reason why the Empire has not acted so far.&lt;br /&gt;
For they had been waiting until the day when Rudra would be able to use the &amp;quot;angel army&amp;quot; again.&lt;br /&gt;
As a result, Granbell, who they took as their biggest obstacle, also disappeared. In a way, Rudra would&lt;br /&gt;
certainly believe they were on the verge of winning this time.&lt;br /&gt;
As for Guy, he didn&#039;t have complete control over those Demon Lords.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s hard to say that they&#039;ll work with each other, each Demon Lord does what he or she loves. Each of&lt;br /&gt;
them had a large sphere of influence, but in Rudra&#039;s view they were not even a threat.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;The situation is too good for us this time.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;But there&#039;s not enough time, is there? I really want to force my stupid brother to our side. This will&lt;br /&gt;
also be used against Guy. If I could find a way to get rid of my sister Velzado as well, Rhein and Mizari&lt;br /&gt;
would be nothing. That&#039;s why I need to talk to you. Is your power of domination okay?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t worry. As long as we keep Veldora&#039;s consciousness focused on the battlefield, I will be able to&lt;br /&gt;
take advantage of the opportunity to unleash &#039;kingly domination&#039; and completely manipulate that guy.”&lt;br /&gt;
Hearing these words, a soft smile spread across Velgrynd&#039;s beautiful and cold face.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Gee, then we&#039;re gonna win this one.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s for sure. Everything is going according to my arrangement.”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s good. I&#039;m more worried about you...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Then don&#039;t say it. It is also a natural philosophy. The human flesh is really inconvenient...&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
“Rudra......”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;After inheriting self-will and reincarnating memory several times, the &#039;soul&#039; will be consumed. If, like&lt;br /&gt;
Gedora, there was a period of rest, that would be fine, but it was an impermissible luxury for the widow.&lt;br /&gt;
If I do that, my &#039;power&#039; will be sealed again.”&lt;br /&gt;
That way, Rudra would have to start all over again if he wanted to free his power. If he did this every&lt;br /&gt;
time he was reincarnated, then he would have no chance of defeating Guy.&lt;br /&gt;
This time Rudra had been waiting, waiting until his powers were fully developed. Thus his power was&lt;br /&gt;
completely liberated and could be said to be in a state of perfection.&lt;br /&gt;
But...&lt;br /&gt;
To maintain this state, Rudra was very reluctant.&lt;br /&gt;
This life&#039;s Rudra is not even a side consort, not even a crown princess. Although the imperial consort&lt;br /&gt;
was merely an ornament, this situation was not normal.&lt;br /&gt;
This means that they did not even give birth to the vessel that was expected to be used by Rudra—the&lt;br /&gt;
prince.&lt;br /&gt;
To give birth to a prince does not mean that his powers will separate. Rudra&#039;s reincarnation is special in&lt;br /&gt;
that the prince born will inherit all power and knowledge.&lt;br /&gt;
It&#039;s a complete hereditary system—it’s no longer an heir, and it can be said that the prince is an emperor&lt;br /&gt;
in the truest sense of the word.&lt;br /&gt;
But in this life he has not done so.&lt;br /&gt;
The reason is related to the period during which the &amp;quot;Angel Army&amp;quot; was used.&lt;br /&gt;
If the royal son is allowed to inherit power, skills will be limited until he grows to manhood. The&lt;br /&gt;
reason for this was that an overpowering force would have a countervailing force, and he was unable to&lt;br /&gt;
suppress this force, a trait that even Rudra could not reverse.&lt;br /&gt;
And today, the best conditions of this life come together. It would be a waste of more than ten years to&lt;br /&gt;
let these good conditions go and reincarnate as a prince.&lt;br /&gt;
Rudra didn&#039;t want that.&lt;br /&gt;
There was something else that also bothered Velgrynd.&lt;br /&gt;
Because of accumulating power to the limit, Rudra&#039;s mental fatigue seemed to be approaching a critical&lt;br /&gt;
mass.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The intervals between going to sleep were getting shorter and shorter and he often felt tired. This state&lt;br /&gt;
accelerates the depletion of Rudra&#039;s &amp;quot;soul&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;
Those symptoms would be more alleviated if the power was ceded to the prince and the &amp;quot;angel army&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
was allowed to start later. Yet Rudra just didn&#039;t want to do it.&lt;br /&gt;
To this day.&lt;br /&gt;
He was going to share the spoils with Guy this time.&lt;br /&gt;
Such a Rudra made Velgrynd look uncomfortable.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;How much time do you have left, Rudra...?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;You don&#039;t have to worry about that. At least I can promise you that I won&#039;t fall down until I conquer&lt;br /&gt;
the world.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Yeah, yeah. If it had been you, you would have said so...”&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Don&#039;t give me such a sad look, Velgrynd. This time I want to win and put an end to it all. You don&#039;t&lt;br /&gt;
have to worry about it, just see how I rule the world.”&lt;br /&gt;
Once that was said, Rudra smiled proudly.&lt;br /&gt;
That&#039;s what it&#039;s like to be a dominant person.&lt;br /&gt;
He will rule over all, and I will be the only one in heaven and earth. This is the heroic Emperor Rudra.&lt;br /&gt;
Seeing such a Rudra, Velgrynd also made up her mind.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;That&#039;s right—after all this time, let me have a rain of mercy. Let the people die in peace, and kill all&lt;br /&gt;
who stand in the way of your world domination!”&lt;br /&gt;
Velgrynd finished and gently hugged Rudra.&lt;br /&gt;
And then the two of them continued to talk...&lt;br /&gt;
Time came to the next day.&lt;br /&gt;
The unprecedented army left the Empire and marched towards the Jura Tempest Federation.&lt;/div&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>2601:4A:C200:5A80:A083:CE8D:1DA9:3EB3</name></author>
	</entry>
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