Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 7 Prologue (section)

===Part 2===

Wilbert, was hailed as the strongest Demon Lord in history.

Ramsas who had continued after his great brother’s work, was currently in his office watching the contents of the recording crystal Leohart had sent over.

“—the recording ended here.”

With the display of the recording on the wall getting smaller and smaller, Lucia reported, and then began to think silently.

After receiving the attacks from those giant spirits, the situation between the Current Demon Lord Faction and the Moderates Faction had changed rapidly. Leohart’s proposal need only few representatives from each faction, and the one-on-one battles will take place will become the decisive battles.

''…It isn’t actually all that bad.''

Although it was a suggestion from the enemy, it was one that was advantageous for the Moderates Faction who had the disadvantage in overwhelming military force, and there was no reason for the conflict to turn into an all-out war; moreover, although they had the assistance of Basara and the others and had successfully withstood the sudden attack with the giant spirits from the enemy, the number of their troops who had died or sustained injuries aren’t small.

“…So, what do you plan to do, Ram-chan?”

As Lucia was in deep thought, a man addressed the Ramsas she respected and loved in a unimaginable way, breaking the silence in the room. Usually, Lucia would never allow for anyone to show disrespect to her own master. And yet she kept her silence. It was because she understood all too well, that just what kind of man that person was.

Toujou Jin, the scary figure of the one called God of War back in the last Great War. He had once fought with Wilbert who was also similarly known as the strongest Demon Lord, and they had fought neck and neck with each other. As that battle had happened secretly, no records of it were left at all.

''…Not only that.''

Lucia had heard her mother Sheera say before, that despite their positions as enemies, they were very heroic, bold and loyal, and after going through many different twists and turns, an unbreakable bond of trust and brotherhood had been born between them; reportedly, even Wilbert’s decision to withdraw his troops from the Human Realm and end the Great War, was all because of a secret promise between the two.

And now, Ramsas had inherited the bond Wilbert had with Jin. Thus, if Lucia were to scold Jin for his disrespect, she would be the one not knowing her place.

''…Speaking of which,''

Jin was currently sitting on the sofa opposite to Ramsas, shaking his legs while smoking as if without a care in the world, and there was a certain strange charm unique to him to it. Lucia who had already pledged her allegiance to Ramsas of course can’t fall for him; but amongst the servants serving Jin, there was already someone head over heels over him.

“—we don’t really have the option of rejecting.”

Just then, Ramsas opened his mouth and let out a low voice.

“For them to suggest a decisive battle tailored to cover up for our problems, I’m afraid that there’s a inside story that’s no trivial matter. Even if it was truly a trap, this suggestion raised is still not bad to us.”

Lucia had no objections towards Ramsas’s view. Rather, she was still expecting for Leohart to change his mind and raise the request for them to decide the results with their military mights.

“Well, I guess that how it is then…”

Jin replied.

“Ah, that right, what about that old man Klaus? Did he say anything about this?”

“The spy he had sent into the Current Demon Lord Faction and saw as a trump card… it seems he had taken a large blow at the news of Lars’s betrayal, and had voluntarily took up the responsibility for the robbing of the captive and its consequences and wanted to let everything be decided by us for this battle.”

“Lars is Basara’s best buddy with the alias Takigawa, right? I had heard that his mind was very sharp… To be bitten by one of his cards, it really does seem the Virtuous Elder has really become old.<ref>Making a joke with his nickname</ref>”

Jin sighed while making a bitter smile.

“However, things would originally not go as one had planned… Like with Wilbert’s death, it was earlier than planned by two years, and now even Mio had returned back to the Demon Realm. Just where had their judgements went wrong?”

“The reason for bringing forward Wilbert’s death, was that the number of people in the Moderates Faction who had had stupid dreams exceeded expectations.”

Ramsas answered Jin without any hesitation.

“As for… calling Mio back to the Demon Realm, it was because the youth the Council had brought out as the new Demon Lord had gained much more influence than we had expected.”

“I see… Nn, well that young man called Leohart, did indeed look very much like his role.”

Jin then said with a hand on his chin, as if completely understanding:

“Before coming here, I had first dropped by over at their capital to see how he looked like, and while we had fought for a while, judging from his looks, he is definitely qualified enough to get the title of the Demon Lord.”

“In any case, he is indeed the one chosen by the Council to succeed the throne of the Demon Lord. Tch, I was expecting for them to choose someone who would listen to them obediently while toeing the line, someone easily manipulated.”

Those guys in the Council probably saw that the influence of Wilbert hadn’t died down, and had done something like this out of fear. If they didn’t have the power to counter-balance it, the whole chain of power would collapse……. Really, how ironic.”

“………………..”

Hearing Jin say that, Ramsas, remained quiet.

“However, since things are going to be settled like that now, it just shows that no matter how much their plans are going to change now, it still wouldn’t have much impact on the whole script at all.”

Jin then continued:

“Let’s change the topic. Speaking of which, I had went to the meeting spot we had agreed on if something happened, but there was not even 『Her』 shadow there… Is there anything on your side?”

“…None, I don’t even know of her whereabouts.”

Towards Jin whose tone became slightly serious, Ramsas shook his head and said:

“If she really wanted to hide, not even the Council will be able to find her… But as the situation already turned like this, I don’t understand just why won’t she come and look for us.”

Just then—

“Actually… I feel that Safia-chan isn’t even in the Demon Realm at all.”

An innocent immature voice cut into Jin and Ramsas’s conversation. Turning to look, sitting beside Jin on the sofa, was a very small succubus who had appear since some time ago – Sheera.

“Okaa-sama… Haven’t I advised you multiple times to go through the door properly when entering Ramsas-sama’s room?”

Although Sheera was like Jin, having a close relationship with Ramsas, Lucia was unable to be accommodating to that extent to her own family. [Stop being so strict~].Sheera shook her hand while trying to appease her. While Lucia sent an accusing glare at her, she thought—

''Speaking of which, why are they bringing up Safia-sama’s name now?''

Lucia knew clearly who that person Sheera had mention was. Other than her, it seems practically no one else in the Moderates Faction knows about her existence.

However, she was unable to comprehend why Jin and Ramsas’s conversation had brought up Safia.

Most probably – it had contained something that couldn’t be leaked to Lucia.

“—what are your thoughts, Sheera?”

“I can’t make any guarantees… I can only say that it’s a woman’s intuition.”

“Your intuition has always been accurate…”

Jin said while casually scratching his head:

“Shucks, nothing over here too… Never mind, in any case we have to deal with the problem before us first, or things will turn bad. So, regarding the battle – what are you plans for that?”

“At the very least, it mustn’t be completely left to those kids.”

Seeing Ramsas say so with a heavy expression, Jin sighed.

“Oi Oi, Ram-chan… I held myself back despite wanting to make a move badly and came to look for you, you know? At least try to help me in that department, okay?”

''Well—''

“Well it is correct that Leohart was much stronger than expected, the situation now has to be left to those runts. If we were to stupidly run out into the open, the situation might turn into one much worse than we expected, making it impossible for us to advance to our goal; Besides, the you right now can’t really fight, right?”

“I’m fine either way. If those kids were to lose, all of our efforts made in the past would just go to waste.”

“I too know that. Going by the current situation, they will indeed have much difficulty in defeating Leohart and his subordinates, but… isn’t there still a few days before the decided battle? Though short, before they go over to their territory, we can use our way to teach them a little – on a way for them to achieve, one that they can possibly do. It still wouldn’t be too late if we were to defer making our conclusions to until then, right?” 

Jin gave a crooked smile to Ramsas, and then sighed a few times going: [Uuahh].

“Alright, that’s all for today, I guess. I want to go and take a rest now. After doing such a long trek, I am slightly tired now. How’s Fio doing?”

“The boy Jin-dono brought along? He’s probably resting in one of the guest rooms.”

Hearing Lucia say that, Jin stood up from the sofa.

“While we do have an empty bed… however, wouldn’t it be better to use the same room as Basara-dono? I’ve heard that you two haven’t seen each other in a long time, don’t you two have a lot you want to say to each other?”

The God of War of the Heroes – Toujou jin, smiled at Lucia’s caring vision, and said:

“Forget it… For today, it’ll be better for me to sleep in a different from.”