PROLOGUE


    THE MAGIC-BORNS RUSE


    Hoo dear, nearly bit it for good back there


    Lace was muttering to himself as he appeared before his master. He clearly had the injuries to back that assessment up.


    Tough, huh? casually replied his lord, a boy with ck hair and a powerful presence.


    Well, hang on there,d, Lace whined. Tough hardly even begins to describe what I had to wade through back there, yeah? Getting inside was painful enough, but getting outoh, dear, who can say how many times I toed the line?


    Oh, I think someone like you would work it out. Even if someone killed you, Im not sure youd even know how to die.


    Oof. Youre a mean one, you know that?


    So, the boy aloofly continued as Lace cried the best fake tears he could, did you find out what lies behind the Western Holy Church?


    Um. I know this aint the kind of report I should be giving, but Well, no. Nobody can. Its bloody impossible, is what it is.


    This stone-faced admission didnt faze the boy at all. He gave a soft smile, as if he expected that reply the whole time.


    Hmm. Ever the liar, arent you? You had to have uncovered a hint or two, at least?


    Lace shrugged and sighed. Sheesh. After all I went through for my info, I figured I could name my price with ya. But you just see right through me, dontcha? Theres no beating ya.


    Hee-hee-hee. Thanks for thepliment, but my prices remain firm, all right?


    Theres no beating ya, Lace repeated.


    Oh, no need forints. Ill pay your full asking price. And in fact, our demon lord friends consciousness has taken root for a while now. Hes done a wonderful job transferring over to his homunculus.


    The boy gave Lace an amused smile as he rang a small bell to call for the woman stationed outside the door.


    Yes, sir?


    Into the room strode a beautiful womangraceful, polite, the epitome of the ssic executive secretary. Her skin was smooth, light in color, and her well-defined facial features suited the bun her blond hair was tied back in. She had blue eyes that shined like a pair of mysticalpiszulibut no matter how mesmerizing the light from them was, they still couldnt hide a vague sense of evil lurking inside.


    Huh? Ah, you dont mean?


    The sight of the woman startled Lace, but he could spot a familiar glint in her eyes. Then he erupted intoughter, realizing who she truly was.


    Well, whats with that getup, huh? Didja make a gender swap while I didnt notice? It looks good on you, I aint gonna lie, but it couldnt be much more different from before, eh?


    Enough from you, countered the woman, ignoring Laces bait. It took me ten years to obtain a body I could freely move around in. I am not going toin about minor grievances.


    Polite was no longer the way to describe her. She stood boldly, sporting an undefeatable grin. She gave Lace a friendly pat on the shoulder before sitting down.


    So if youre introducing me to this man, I suppose theres not much need to keep the act going?


    No, replied the boy, but Id like you to maintain the facade in public, please. If its just between us, I suppose theres no great need, no.


    Oh? Well, if thats what you want, boss, Ill do it. Is it all right if I ask why?


    Because youre weak, Kazalim. Your powers still arentplete yet, are they? Just watch over yman until your full Curse Lord force is back with you.


    Kazalim, the woman posing as his secretary, gave this reply a sullen nod. She had the name of a very old demon lordthe one who attempted to punish a human named Leon for dering himself a demon lord of some faraway backwater area and paid for it with his life. Once, he was head of the Moderate Jesters; now, she was a lord both yman and Lace were attempting to resurrect.


    Her overpowering strength was long gone. All that remained was a prim, graceful young woman. Just before she could be obliterated from existence, Kazalim experienced a rather unlikely series of coincidences that caused her to possess the body of this boyand just the other day, they had finally managed to transfer her astral body into a recement homunculus. The boy was her boss for now, the power from her glory days long gone. That was the way their pact worked, and Kazalim had no quarrel with it. Over the past ten years of dealing with this acquaintance, she had fully epted her ce in the power hierarchy.


    Fair enough. My power is iplete. I let that demon lord Leon defeat me, and I lost my body in the most unsightly of fashions. I know my souls settled in this homunculus, but its so fragile, Id tear it apart if I unleashed my full force. I cant really call this aplete resurrection


    Ah, is that the issue with ya? Well, if our president is callin this guy boss, then I guess youre my boss, too. Sure aint just another client by this point, no! So hopefully you dont mind if I clear the air with you guys a bit.


    You never change, the boy said. After all this time, and after you helped us revive our fallen president, you still dont trust me?


    Ha-ha-ha! Nah, nah, thats a different story. But I gottaugh at how you look now, sir. Youre this crazy beautiful woman now!


    Am I? What do my looks matter?


    Nah, I mean, the dichotomy between your speech and your looks Its funny, thats all.


    I know that, you Or I am aware of that, perhaps? If I am going to keep up the charade, I had best sound more like thedy I am.


    Uh, thats what youre concerned about? Because, I mean Ba-ha-ha-ha!


    Silence, Kazalim spat at the guffawing Lace. Ill have you know this body wasnt my choice. The boss here provided a homunculus modified with special technology from the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion.


    Yeah, I sure did. And that didnte cheap, either. We needed a vessel without any soul at all, or else theyd get all mixed up, and the transnt probably wouldnt have worked. The boy sneered. For that matter, if you had fled into anyone besides me, Kazalim, youd probably be too tangled up to split off at all, I dont think. All right? So I really dont want to hear anyints about how you look.


    I appreciate it, boss, said Kazalim.


    The boy still didnt seem pleased, not until Lace offered his own thanks.


    Sure. So can we move this along? I know its great were all back together again, but I want to get down to business. Tell me what youve found, Lace.


    The smile disappeared from Kazalims face as she turned her eyes toward Lace. He nodded, taking a more serious demeanor.


    Yeah, you kept yer promise and made my dreame true. I better show you a little sincerity, too, eh? So I infiltrated the Western Holy Church to find out whats behind it, but I tell you, I just dont have any idea.


    He then began to describe his findings.


    Laces mission was to find out what made the Holy Church tick. It remained an independent religion, headquartered in the Holy Empire of Lubelius, but much of its internal workings remained a mystery. It positioned itself as an advocate for justice and for the weak, enjoying tremendous influence on the Western Nationsa very inconvenient truth for the boy. That was why he employed Lace from the fixer team of the Moderate Jesters to find who they really wereand exploit any potential weaknesses forter.


    The boy was fairly convinced there was another side to them. If the Western Holy Church was really an advocate for truth, hed have to undertake whatever scheme it took to rip them away from that pedestal, but that was strictly ast resort. Now simply wasnt the time for it. The Church, after all, enjoyed the services of Hinata Sakaguchi, head of the Western Nations crusaders and the most powerful pdin the world knew.


    So, Lace continued, thanks to Hinatas absence, I managed to make it into the Church all right, but there was nothin suspicious about anything I saw inside. So I headed over to Lubeliuss holyndsto be exact, the Inner Cloister, at the peak of their holiest mountain.


    He began to gesture excitedly as he spoke. It was there, after all, where he saw the fearsome truth.


    And the most amazing thing, you know The entirend was just filled with this kind of sacred presence!


    Why wouldnt it be? the boy asked. Its a holynd.


    Whatre you, stupid? Kazalim added. Did someone erase your brain sincest we met?


    No, no, listen to me! And youre falling back in to nondy mode again, President.


    I dont need your I mean, dont worry about little old me! Just keep going.


    So Lace kept going, a little resentful at this treatment.


    A little ways from Western Holy Church headquarters was the religions Holy Temple. This was where the Papacy was located, the political arm of the Church that worked at the behest of the Holy Emperor, spokesperson for the heavens.


    It wasnt until he entered this Temple that Lace began to feel something was off. Within its chambers, he could detect a faint amount of magic that applied itself to his nervous system. It was a very ingenious spell, one he noticed only because it was automatically blocked by Falsifier, his unique skill.


    Theres a surprise, aint it? Must mean somebody here can wield spiritual magic as strong as mine


    Lace braced himself as he walked toward the cathedral.


    He already had some knowledge of the enemys organizational structureand from what he could see, the rtionship between the Church and Lubelius was very tangled indeed.


    The Church was built to worship Luminus, the one and only god in the world (as they defined it). Lubelius was the same way, which meant one could say they were allies when it came to religious issues. In terms of the bnce of power, however, the Church held nearly all the cards.


    The reason? Simple: Hinata. The Church had its knights deployed at points across the Western Nations, providing an effective bulwark to protect the weakand it was Hinata Sakaguchi who built them, and by extension the Church, into the powerful group it was today. Technically speaking, the Church worked under the patronage of Lubelius, charged exclusively with spreading the good word about Luminism. Now that their mission had extended out into doing good for the weak atrge, the rtionship was no longer as simple as that.


    More than anything, though, the real problemy with the knights Hinata herself had trained. Even Lace couldnt help but fear them a little, for their allegiance was not at all with Lubelius but solely with the one god, Luminusand with Hinata, who devoted herself fully to Luminism. That was what enabled the Western Holy Church to exist independently from Lubelius.


    And this brought up another problemLubeliuss war power resided in more than just its crusaders. Even the Holy Emperor kept an official Lubelian force, the Imperial Guard that answered to nothing but the Papacy below it, and this was another group to be reckoned with. Founded on the ideal that everyone is equal under the name of Luminus, it was a motley collection of soldiers in assorted clothing and equipment. The qualifications for joining were straightforwardbe a devoted follower of Luminism and be at least an A-ranked fighter. Thanks to these clear but fiendishly difficult requirements, the Imperial Guard was small and exclusive, packed with the best of the best in warriors and magicians, along with their servants. This force was underestimated at ones own peril.


    Hinata was listed as head knight in this Guard as well, and the Papacy listed Cardinal Nicus Speltus, a dedicated admirer of Hinata, as its chief counsel. Hinata could almost im the whole of the Church for herself, and this was the main reason why. She had control over both wings of the Holy Emperors main force and yet was exempt from having to swear her allegiance to that leader. It was thanks to this inscrutable woman, Hinata, that rtions between the Holy Church and Holy Empire were as twisted as they had be.


    And simply recalling all this advance knowledge he had procured made Lace sigh in frustration.


    What a crazydy


    The cathedral was full of spiritual force, more than enough to call forth the greatest of holy spirits. To a magic-born like Lace, this spiritual presence was supremely difficult to deal with. It dulled his senses, making him want to flee the site as quickly as possible.


    He took a moment to gather himself before deciding which way to go. Heading toward the peak of this holy mount would reportedly lead him to the Inner Cloister, where one couldmunicate with Luminus. His senses were telling him there was something to be found here in the cathedral as well.


    So, ah, now what?


    He wavered, but for only a moment. Then he strode out of the cathedral and straight for the Cloister. Spend too much time in this building, and Hinata coulde back at any moment. Now, while she was gone, was his best chance to find a hint as to what Luminus, the central doctrine of the Western Holy Church, really was.


    Ill just hop on up, he thought as he traversed the mountain path, and take a quick lil peek around.


    It was his choiceand it was a mistake. No, it wasnt fruitless; he certainly learned much from the experience. But to Lace, the danger that resulted proved far beyond hisfort level.


    Proceeding up the stone steps, Lace finally reached the shrine at the peak of the mountain. This was notably smaller than the cathedral down below, but in terms of grandeur, the two were iparable. This small structure was, in the true meaning of the term, the gods domain.


    Now, it was divine in its silence, putting pressure upon Laces mind. But even amid that solemnity, he could detect the familiar feel of magic.


    The heck? Magic, in this supposedly holiest of ces? Thats weird. Dont like that too much, no


    He could tell that Hinata, the most formidable obstacle in his way, was not here. If the magic belonged to someone else, that someone couldnt be ignored, butin Laces mindit was no threat to him, either.


    But was that the right appraisal to make? Now Lace, deep down in his heart, wasnt so sure. Come on, man. You know yourepletely hiding your presence here. Everythings perfect. If some ruffian shows up, just run.


    Bracing himself, Lace reactivated his Stealth Mode and attempted to slip into the shrine. Then he rolled right back out, barely maintaining his bnce, stymied by the vision of a beam of light piercing straight through his body.


    You insect, you mere cockroach, dirtying the throne of your god!!


    All of a sudden, the shrine was filled with an overwhelming presence, dressed in luxuriant garb that covered a chiseled, muscr figure. His short, curly blond hair shined brightly, exhibiting the full force of his will. This was a ruleran absolute rulerand what Lace couldnt help but notice first about him were the tworge fangs jutting out from his lips.


    A-a vampire?!


    Silence, insect. I will judge you myself. Consider it an honor to die here!


    The next moment, beams of crimson light danced across the peak. His path of escape cut off, Lace stood there helplessly as his body was torn to shreds.


    Lace took a moment to quiver as he retold the story.


    I tell you, it was downright scary. I thought that was it for me!


    Um, yeah, the boy replied, but why wasnt it?


    Kazalim merely smiled. Like I told you. He doesnt know how to die.


    Oh, stop phrasing it that way. Anyone should have an escape n and a decent amount of security backup during an op like that, yknow? But Im telling you, Ive just been dragged across the coalstely. Wish I could have something to brag about for a change!


    Yeah, yeah. You know youre a covert operative. If youre fixin to be the hero in shining armor, maybe look for another line of work?


    Hes right, the boy agreed. Lace, the key to your job ispleting your missions. Howgant you look doing it hardly matters, does it?


    No, true enough. Its just, if I keep this up, Im gonna start getting used to being a loser


    Whats the problem with that?


    He said it. As long as you survive and win in the end, we have nothing toin about. Kazalim hardened her expression. So what happened?


    Lace nodded at her. Right. Theres the rub. If this guy can overwhelm me that much, theres no mistakin that hes one strong dude. The question is, who is he? Whats a magic-born of that caliber doin in this supposedly high holy ce? Thats the key to all this, and it could be enough to shake the very foundation of the Western Holy Church, huh?


    A magic-born, huh? And a high-level one, a vampire, conspiring with the Church


    The boy nodded his agreement, unable to hide his surprise at this unexpected development.


    Whoever he is,mented Kazalim, he is dangerous. A man capable of defeating Lace, to the best of my knowledge, would have to be far more than merely magic-born.


    Yeah. Im with ya there.


    What do you mean? the boy asked.


    Well, not to brag, but Im not exactly a wimp, yknow? Even with the dryad I faced down before, if I seriously duked it out, I woulda won, yknow? I just fled cause I was on their home turf in the forest, and I didnt want em callin for reinforcements on me. No real point going all out to try to kill er, either. But this foe was on another level, I tell you. It didnt feel like some sub-demon lord to meit felt like a full one, through n through. Someone like me, all I could do was run.


    Dryads were extremely powerful foes in forestnds, intrinsically capable of instant teleportation through the trees. The nt Whisper skill let them share any and all information with others of their species, sending friends over to help their brethren anytime it was needed. This made them enough of a threat that Lace opted to run away thest time he saw one, even though he could likely conquer one in a duel.


    This guy, however, was different. That was a monster, Lace dered. Stronger than me, no doubt about it.


    The atmosphere in the room grew heavy.


    A demon lord, huh? What do you think, Kazalim?


    Kazalim snorted. I told you. He is dangerous. As far as I am aware, only one man could match that description.


    Oh? Whos that?


    The demon lord Valentine. One of the old guard, a man on par with myself during my glory years.


    For real? Cause if hes a match for you, I see I was totally right to flee. Lucky thing I trusted my instincts.


    Lace shrugged. He had taken pains to break in when Hinata was away, only to stumble right up to a demon lord. The irony of it made him wince.


    Hmm. A demon lord within the Church, huh? Dyou think this Valentines actually the Holy Emperor, then?


    Ooh, I dunno about that! You think a demon lord would raise a finger to protect humanity? President, what kind of guy was Valentine when you knew im?


    Kazalim closed her eyes and searched through her memories, tapping a graceful finger against her forehead as she recalled the vivid images of the past.


    This body may not show it, she said, but Ive lived through three of the Great Wars that ur every five hundred years. Three of them. You can call me one of the old guard as well, but by the time I joined that club, there were already six demon lords ahead of me


    As she put it, the demon lord Valentine had attained the title before Kazalim herself. His force was massive, more than worthy of the term vampire and the connotations of immortality weaved into it. To Kazalim, who had evolved from an elf (simrly known for longevity) to a walking dead, the thought of a vampire, the symbol of eternal life, also serving as a demon lord gave her pause.


    To tell you the truth, Valentine and I have dueled to the death a few different times. It never reached a definitive conclusion, though. Once you reach our level, you cany waste to an entirendscape without hurting yourselves at all. So instead, we adopted the tradition of talking over things and deciding by majority voteand that led to the Walpurgis system. The fact that it takes three votes to convene one is a throwback to when there were still only seven demon lords in existence. Guess nobody cared enough to change it.


    She let out an elegant,dylike chuckle. The juxtaposition between this and her other, masculine mannerisms was starting to unnerve the other two people in the room, not that she noticed. Then her face turned stony once more.


    And thats why I feel safe in telling you this. That man, Valentine; he sees humans and demi-humans as nothing more than chattel. Even if the entire world was turned on its end, the idea of him serving as guardian is simply impossible.


    Lace nodded his agreement as the boy thought over Kazalims assessment.


    All right. So maybe they forced some kind of agreement?


    Are you listening to me, Lace? Promises and agreements only work between two parties with equal force behind them.


    Yeah


    He didnt seem too married to the idea himself.


    Plus, the boy said, I find it hard to believe that someone as closed-minded as Hinata would team up with a demon lord. I wonder if what Lace ran into wasnt a demon lord at all, but some magic-born whose name we are not aware of yet?


    No, Kazalim replied, I do think that was Valentine. Those dancing beams of crimson light? Thats the giveaway. Valentine also goes by the name of Bloody Lord, and he can take blood and vaporize it into beams of magicules known as Bloodrays.


    As she put it, a Bloodray was a type of spread-fire particle cannon. By converting his own blood into magical particles, he was capable of firing it off in concentrated rays of force. The amount of magical power that process required meant it had to be a demon lord working it.


    So youre saying that Lace ran into the demon lord Valentine, and that Valentine would never willingly cooperate with human kingdoms. Wouldnt that lend more credence to the theory that the Holy Emperor is Valentine?


    Yeah, muttered Lace, that would exin matters. Id sincerely wonder how he managed to pull the wool over Hinatas eyes, though.


    Well, Kazalim stated, I suppose it remains the most convincing exnation we have. I do have my doubts and concerns about that But the important thing is, we now know for a fact that Valentine, a demon lord, was lurking inside a domain that only the Holy Emperor has ess to.


    And youre sure its him? the boy pressed.


    Im fully convinced. Laces description matches my own memory, and from what I know about him, Valentine would never willfully serve under someone else


    Yeah, there aint that many magic-born who could whip me, I dont think. But if Im dealin with the likes of this, well, I dunno how much more reconnaissance Im capable of here.


    Well, the boy said, apparently convinced, this is still pretty useful intelligence. Expertly done, Lace.


    His face shined now, revealing traces of the joy he felt now that he had a tool powerful enough to potentially take down the Holy Church. There was a powerful demon lord among his enemys forces, but that didnt seem to concern him at all. He was too busy thinking about what to do next with this intel to care. For him, formting his next n of action came as easily as figuring out the next epic prank to pull off on the kids next door.


    So thats all the info I have for ya. But speakin of demon lords, whats yman up to these days?


    The boy scowled at Laces apparently unwee question, pulling his dark, shiny hair back with one hand. Well, heined, that wound up being a total failure.


    Failure?


    Yeah. Everything went fine up until we had Rimuru, that slime you mentioned, fight against Hinata. Then it all fell apart, pretty much


    The boy briefed the others on how things unfolded. First, yman won over the demon lord Milim, thanks to the Orb of Domination the boy provided him. Once he did, they needed to test her out, to see just how deep the orb had put Milim in their thrall.


    So we tried to find a decent opponent to test her strength on. But instead of demon lords that we didnt have much intel or even a location on, we picked Carillon, since he seemed to be the least intelligent out of them all.


    Along the way, Kazalim continued, we thought we could have her destroy the capital of the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania. The city wouldve been packed with former enved humans, souls to harvest so I can be a true demon lord once more


    He and the boy exchanged nces and sighed.


    We figured those souls would energize yman, too. Two birds with one stone.


    But then Milim went out of control and dered war on the guy


    And thanks to that, Carillon and the other targets had a weeklong head start to prepare for the battlemore than enough time to evacuate the capital.


    You know, the boy reflected, looking back at it, I guess its pretty hard to enthrall a demon lord with a magical item like that. You have to apply all these conditions to it, or else itll get all messed up.


    I hope you would trust me more than that. They dont call me the Curse Lord for show, Ill have you know. That Orb of Domination was a perfectly crafted Artifact, one of my best pieces of work. It was yman who ruined everything.


    Ah, no point dredging that up any longer. Anyway, we couldnt collect any souls in the Beast Kingdom, so we decided to check things out in Farmus next.


    Farmus? That kingdom?


    Right. Thanks to that summoning ritual they invented, Farmus had a ton of otherworlders living there. I figured now was as good a time as any to pare down their forces a little. So I used a few back channels to give them intelligence on Tempest and whet the appetites of their greedy king and his advisers.


    You wouldnt believe how quickly they bit, either.


    That idea grew from Laces previous report, back when their operation to make an orc lord into a malleable demon lord ran into setbacks. The idea was to whip Farmus up into enough of a frenzy to make them dere war on the Jura-Tempest Federation. With all the high-level magic-born in their ranks, Tempest surely had what it took to take out at least a few of Farmuss otherworlders before going down for the count.


    Whats more, Rimuru, lord of the monsters, was traveling abroad on his own business, and ymans own minions had infiltrated Tempestnds. The boy had nned to use Rimuru as bait for Hinata; as far as he was concerned, this n offered the best of both worlds.


    But then, well, nothing went ording to n. I mean, that slime Rimuru actually fled Hinata with his life intact. You cant let your guard down around him for a moment. Kind of like you, Lace.


    Thanks for thepliment.


    And as if that wasnt bad enough


    By my prediction, Kazalim continued, that still wouldnt be have been enough to keep Farmus from winning the war. If the monsters lord joined the battle, that would be another matter, but honestly speaking, it didnt matter who won. Wed just work with the victors. The purpose of the war was to generate dead peoplemore souls to harvest. Then we could finally awaken our beloved yman to his true self. And then


    And then it all fell apart. The entire Farmus force was wiped off the face of the earth by a single slime.


    Its hard to believe, but its the truth, the boy grumbled.


    In all the many times Ive used my unique skill Schemer to formte a n, the clearly angry Kazalim added, Ive never seen it go quite this far awry.


    H-hang on a second! Just one slime? You pullin my leg? Did Farmus get caught that off guard, man?


    I told you, you wouldnt believe how quickly they bit. With a snap of the fingers, they had a force of twenty thousand knights and magicians on the ground. And just like that, they were all gone. We couldnt confirm any survivors at all.


    Whaa?! Thats ridiculous


    The unlikeliness of it all had even Lace at a loss for words.


    Oh, it hasnt even begun to be ridiculous. yman surveyed the battlefield after it was over, and ording to his report, there were absolutely no corpses left to be found. That could only mean a monster was summoned, or created, using the bodies as an offering.


    If I cast Creation: Golem with that number of corpses, Kazalim said, I couldnt even begin to guess what kind of monster would result. And not just corpsesthe corpses of strong, well-trained fighters, in a battlefieldden with anguish and despair. The perfect casting environment! I would expect a sub-demon lord to result from it, at the very least.


    Sounds like it. Although its the fact we couldnt retrieve those souls thats the worst of all. yman said there wasnt a single one left floating around. So once again, weve failed to awaken him to the next level.


    The boy sighed in regret. He began to wonder whether conducting all these ns in parallel wasing back to bite him. He had focused on efficiency, only to put too many things into action at onceand once one tactic came undone, it affected everything else. Maybe, he thought, I was too greedy myself.


    So youre sayin that this slime Rimuru sucked up all those souls for imself?


    Is that some kind of joke, Lace? No magic-born could do that! Not unless he is the seed of a demon lord.


    Kazalim was right. Even the most seasoned of wizards would have a hard time gathering twenty thousand souls and keeping them all under their control. Recklessly attempting that would cause the soulstent energies to unravel, quickly falling out of control. And even if it worked


    Ha-ha-ha! No, I know what you mean, Lace, the boy said. If he did snatch up twenty thousand souls, then hell have turned into one hell of a monster by now, eh? Was that what you were thinking?


    Pretty much, yeah. Just a passing thought, really. Better not overthink it.


    Laces mere suggestion caused them both tough at him. The concept was simply beyondprehension.


    Not even Kazalim knew the exact conditions required for making a potential demon lord into a true demon lord, although she could at least guess that it required a tremendous number of souls. They were currently limited to having yman experiment to see what results they got. yman had tried to experiment on the orc lord, of course, and everybody in the room knew how that turned out. And given that knowledge, the idea of something like a slime appearing out of nowhere and bing a true demon lord was beyond even Kazalims imagination.


    Lace, of course, was absolutely correct, even if none of them knew it at the time. He began to wonder what kind of odyssey yman had been on while he was running for dear life from Valentine.


    So, ah, whats yman up to right now?


    Awaiting further orders, said the boy. At this point, we cant do anything bolder than what were doing now. Luckily, Milim kept her end of the promiseshe waited a week, and then she turned the Beast Kingdom into a field of ash. So were pulling back for now, to reconsider our strategy.


    Oh? So things havent been a total failure, then?


    Underestimate me at your peril, Lace. I may have lost most of my force, but trickery remains my core asset.


    It sure is. If everything went awry, even I would blow my top a little about that! So maybe things have been dyed a bit, but we did weaken the kingdom of Farmus tremendously. That pretty much puts the Western Nations in order, so itll be simple to seize them all.


    And once that happens, reflected Kazalim, the Forest of Jura should provide a fine breakwater against the Eastern Empire.


    Ah, I see, President. Negotiate with whichever side wins. Aint no need to destroy the monster nation at all, huh?


    That, in a way, was the true worth of the demon lord Kazalims Schemer ability. No matter how things turned out, she had a knack for concocting ns where her side wound up on top. Recalling that, Lace was relieved to see Kazalim was still herself after all.


    Plus, the boy continued, with Milim defeating Carillon, weve proven that the Orb of Domination is an effective tool against this caliber of enemy. Thats all the force well need to show. Beyond that, all we need to do is see how the other demon lords fall into ce.


    Precisely. Thats why I ordered yman to refrain from taking further action. The Eastern Empires going to do something either wayand with thates our opportunity to recover some souls for ourselves.


    Uh-huh. And as long as the eyes of the Western Holy Church are on the monster nation, its more convenient for us to keep that federation around anyway.


    Lace could see the logic in this. No need for panic. Just keep your eyes on the Church and avoid conflict with any of the other forces.


    So for now, at least, were targetin the Church?


    Thats the n.


    Not that itll be easy, cautioned Kazalim. We have to consider the possibility of Hinata and Valentine working as a team. Needlessly prodding them would be dangerous.


    As she and the boy saw it, as long as the Western Nations were in their hands, the monster nation didnt have to be considered an obstacle. Plus, considering the mistakes they made, they now thought it wiser to fully gauge the enemy forces, avoiding a dual-pronged operation for the time being. For now, they were gunning for the Western Holy Churchand the Holy Empire of Lubelius behind it. Those two would be struck firstcarefully this time, making sure none of their activities were noticed on the surface. In that scenario, the monster nation was actually helpful to them. As long as they kept fanning the mes of Church doctrine, itd be childs y to keep the eyes of Hinata and her force squarely upon Tempest.


    The Church can hardly afford to ignore the presence of the magic-born Rimuru, either. With Farmus thoroughly defeated, I doubt the other nations will be so willing to take on the mantle of waging holy war. Theyll need to perform some kind of action to reaffirm their authority.


    Yeah. The boy grinned. If we can parry them and keep both sides engaged, they might even destroy each other. All we have to do is wait for an opportunity to weaken the both of them.


    They were talking about a magic-born capable of single-handedly sweeping a force of twenty thousand into the afterlife. Without Hinata on the scene, taking him on was patently impossible. So they would wait for the right moment ande up with the perfect scheme for itand the way it sounded to Lace, they already had a pretty solid idea what theyd do. Neither sounded irresolute at all about it.


    But the problem, Lace, is that your report was a littleunexpected, said the boy.


    Very much so, agreed Kazalim, also a tad indignant. Valentine being involved in this Assuming he truly is involved with anything at all. I find it hard to believe Hinata would ever cooperate with him, judging by her personality.


    It was clear from the way they phrased it that conquering the Western Holy Church would be far easier without Valentine around. It made Lace feel awkward, despite it being no fault of his.


    Well, he attempted, we dont know about that yet. But if youd just want to lure the demon lord out into public so he wouldnt get in the way of our investigations, we could pull that off, couldnt we?


    Mm? What do you mean, Lace?


    I mean, why not just ask yman to convene Walpurgis? Freys bound to join us on that, and her along with Milim gives us the three signatories we need, yeah?


    Convening the Walpurgis Council would bring all the demon lords together.


    The boy smiled a bit. I see. That would drag Valentine out of his holy domain, I think.


    Well, well! Your eyes are sharper than I thought, Lace. If we can just find the right timing to keep Hinata away from the mountain as well, your inquiry should advance by leaps and bounds.


    Huh? You want me going back there?!


    Why wouldnt we?


    Yes, why wouldnt we?


    Oh, brother, Lace thought. But the boy and Kazalim werent interested in his feedback. They had the outline of a n, and now it was time to work out the details.