Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 7 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 14===
Located at the highest part of the ancient arena was the special viewing room that overlooked the stage.

Admirath arrived here to report that he had lived up to their expectations of victory. Every one of the Council members smiled and applauded at him.

“Ahaha, a splendid victory…as expected of Mardones-dono’s number one confidant.”

“Indeed. Not only did you obtain one win, you also caused the opponent of the next match to break the rules and be disqualified, all according to plan.”

In front of the master, Mardones, everyone praised his subordinate, Admirath.

“As the recipient of everyone’s great praise, I am deeply honoured. Since that girl would have lost without a doubt, I simply gave it some further thought to win in a way that would make all of you even happier.”

After receiving a round of praise, Admirath grinned as he said

“Just by taking a slight advantage of the absence of Jin Toujou’s son, I said that we had taken him hostage, and she was scared into obedience, it was really so cute.”

In fact—

“In order to lure the opponent into interfering and breaking the rules, thus causing an automatic loss, it feels a bit regretful that I couldn’t kill that girl…since victory in the end belongs to us all the same, I really want to finish off that desperate girl personally.”

While Admirath said that to the other members of the Council, he slowly walked up to face his lord

“—You did well, Admirath.”

After being praised by Mardones with a slight smile, Admirath respectfully bowed. Mardones felt fully satisfied with his subordinate’s performance as he thought—

''…During these four battles, we’ve had three wins and one loss.''

Two of these wins were by the Council — moreover, they were both single-handedly by Mardones’ subordinate, Admirath. The credit for this was undoubtedly monopolised by Mardones, and would not be covered by just the ‘Council’. The fact that Leohart’s subordinate lost one round was also a miscalculation that made them happy. If the Council had not obtained two wins, then they would only be even with the Moderates faction right now. This would make Leohart’s unity decline, and the public would once again reconsider the importance of the Council. At this time—

“Excellent…this means we’ll be able to stick to the plan, and preserve [that thing].”

The words spoken by the other members of the Council caused Mardones to feel even more satisfied. This way, not to mention the Moderates faction, not even Leohart would see the treasure in his plan. The effect of this matter would definitely be even greater in the future. Since Belphegor was currently absent, the one in charge of this plan was Mardones. If it was successfully completed, the positions within the Council would skyrocket/soar.

''…Let’s wait and see.''

Mardones didn’t want to remain below Belphegor forever as the Council’s number two person. By using this decisive battle, he could put away the Moderates faction as well as Leohart and his subordinates. Using these merits as a weapon, he could go after Belphegor’s decision to make Leohart the Demon Lord, as well as his dereliction of responsibility in being absent for this key decisive battle, choosing instead to play with women, thus he could force him to resign. Therefore, the future of the unified Demon Realm would belong to Mardones. The position of the new Demon Lord to replace Leohart would be given to Admirath, allowing him to deal with the political affairs on the surface. Belphegor’s mind was occupied only by his new toy, Zolgear’s playground; that old guy who had long been hiding in the shadows as he controlled the politics of the Demon Realm should have long tired of the political game. Racking one’s brains all day long was better than not thinking about anything at all, such as simply seeking amusement by soaking in a bed of women all day.

''…He can have as many playgrounds as he likes, so long as the Demon Realm is in my hands.''

Just when Mardones was secretly snickering with his own ambitions—

“—Speaking of which, where exactly has that son of Jin Toujou gone to?”

Unconsciously, the discussion between the Council members had shifted to the whereabouts of Basara. Let alone the Moderates faction, even the Council couldn’t find out where Basara was; Leohart’s side was unable to find any clues either, he was completely missing.

“It would be funny if he ran away with his tail between his legs, but something like that is unlikely.”

“His opponent will most likely be Leohart. That elimination ability is indeed a threat, but I don’t think he’d be a worthy opponent even if he was to face Leohart directly. If he had any self-knowledge of that, he might currently be hiding in some place to do some final practice for his secret strategy.”

“That is reasonable, and certainly very possible. The Hero Tribe can use barriers…as long as they use that, we can’t track down his spiritual reaction.”

“In any case, it’s just his final struggle…no, it would be better to call it a completely wasted effort.”

“Indeed, that’s what it is.”

Everyone followed on from each other as they smiled from ear to ear—

“———”

It was only Admirath who expressionlessly opened the door to check on the movements in the corridor outside of the viewing room.

“What’s wrong?”

His subordinate’s sudden action aroused the questioning of Mardones.

“It’s nothing, please don’t mind…it seems like it was just my imagination.”

After saying that, Admirath gently closed the door.


In the quiet corridor.

“I can’t stand this…they keep chatting back and forth about conspiracies, and they seem happy about it.”

Appearing out of thin air space was Balthier, who had been ordered to investigate the movements of the Council. It should be said that it was not unexpected for the Council to harbour such intentions. The most intriguing thing was—

“…Like this, they can [preserve that thing], huh?”

Balthier stepped through the corridor as he thought about the conversation that he had just heard. Based on that tone, it was probably a trump card of the Council…but there weren’t enough clues so it was impossible to guess. Based on the possibilities of the present, perhaps the special ability to win the fight that Admirath reserved—

“Perhaps…it’s the representative for the fourth battle.”

The Council hadn’t revealed even a word of their list of members to Leohart’s side. Before they went onto the stage, there was no way of knowing what kind of people the Council had chosen.

“Just in case, it would be best to investigate…”

Because the fourth round was won without a fight, the identity of the fourth warrior would remain a mystery if ignored. Continuing the decisive battle with such uncertain factors could actually result in fatal issues at a critical juncture.

''…If I remember correctly, the lounge prepared for the Council’s representatives was on the south side.''

While those thoughts went through his mind, the sound of thunderous applause was suddenly heard from the arena, causing Balthier to stop in his tracks, and observe the situation on the stage through a window that seemed as though it had been dug out of the wall. The fifth representative of the Moderates faction was already on the stage, and the fifth representative of the Council had just emerged from the passageway. The Moderates faction had sent out a girl from the Hero Tribe…the elder sister of the girl who had lost to Admirath. On the other side—

“That is — Lord Benares’ subordinate.”

As Balthier whisphered, a tall burly Demon appeared in his sight as he stepped onto the stage.