PROLOGUE


    A STATUS REPORT


    You are quite a spiteful man, Granville. I came very close to dying, Ill have you know.


    Dont be absurd. You fled before you could even get involved, didnt you?


    I had no choice. Did my protg deliver the news to you?


    More or less, yes


    That demon was more of a monster than I ever imagined. The Empires regr forces would hardly stand a chance. We would need the most powerful army I know, the Imperial Guard, to defeat him. But enough about that


    Damrada and Granville were seated facing each other, each sizing up their partner as they calmly chatted. In Damradas eyes, their n had failed. Thus, he felt it prudent to keep his distance from the Rozzo family until the heat died down a little. If their scheme had worked, that would have given them an advantage in the negotiations, but if not, he was likely to face demands he found singrly unreasonable. Right now, he simply wanted to cut his losses and move on.


    But things had changed. On his way to Tempest, he had received a magical call, reporting the news to him:


    Hinata is defeated. She and the demon lord Rimuru have agreed to terms.


    Damrada had pictured this happening. But it was still the worst possible oue imaginable. Hinatas survival made it harder to do business in the nations where the Western Holy Church held sway. If she had made peace with Rimuru, it was unlikely anyone could rile that demon lord up once again to kill her. Damrada and Granville joined forces on this scheme because they both stood to gain from it, but it was now safe to say the whole thing failed miserably.


    Although, depending on how you view this, you could call it fortuitous


    Their strategy had failed, but to Damrada, this was at best a ncing blow. It meant losing part of their foundation in the Western Nations, but there were other trade routes. Cerberus was a group as enormous as it was shadowy, operating several different trade organizations as fronts for its activities. Furthermore, Damrada had no personal interest in whether Hinata lived or died. Granvilles failure was therefore not all that irritating to him. And thanks to that, Damrada was currently trying to work out his and Granvilles future rtionship to his advantage. After a hasty change of ns, Damrada hade to meet with Granville once again.


    But what about you, Granville? Were you all bark and no bite? Not only did you fail to take care of Hinata, her connection to Rimuru is even stronger than before


    Blind to his own involvement in their failed strategy, Damrada moved to criticize Granville instead. But Granville himself was likely expecting as much.


    Yes, Granville replied. I must admit to that. There will be no rebncing the scales now. Farmus, for all its history, has fallen, and I imagine a new nation will rece it. It is exactly what Rimuru wanted, and it means your project is in shambles.


    He didnt hesitate to agree with Damrada and went on to expound on his own theory before getting right to the point.


    Damrada, well aware of the current situation, chose to respond with silence.


    So what will you do?


    What do you mean?


    Rimuru seems to want the Forest of Jura to be the financial center of the world. We of the Rozzos will not stand for that.


    Mmm


    Damrada coldly calcted how to respond. He had no intention of deliberately getting on the Rozzos wrong side. As far as he was concerned, if they could both just put this state of affairs behind them, all was well. And Granville, to his credit, seemed to be of the same mind, going ahead of Damrada and turning his eyes toward the future.


    So what would quarreling with each other aplish? Now that a fight between the demon lord and Saint Hinata is unlikely to happen, any further public activity would be ill-advised. The same is true for your side, too, is it not?


    Granville seemed to be reading his mind. Heh-heh. I see there is no outwitting you, my good man. No, there is no point trying to assign me for this failure. The Five Elders have been more than kind to us up to now, and I know this remains the case. We may not have been able to profit off a potential war, but so be it. As long as we remain alive, other opportunities wille.


    Well said, Sir Damrada. I do appreciate how quickly you understand me. Let us continue to work together to block this new economic threat before it begins!


    It went without saying that Damradas mission was to protect his interests in the Western Nations. Maribel, Granvilles treasure, had predicted that this nation in the Forest of Jura would potentially be a financial juggernaut. If it did, that would inevitably weaken the Rozzo familys influence on the world.


    Granville would never allow cracks to open on the system of rule his ancestors spent thousands of years building up. That was why he wanted to interfere with Rimuru, to crush his ambitionsbut without his status as part of the Seven Days Clergy, he could no longer use the name of the god Luminus to his advantage. Thus, no matter what it took, he needed support from Cerberus. The other Five EldersGranvilles descendants andradessupported him on that, applying pressure to the Council of the West and ensuring that the postwar cleanup over on Farmus took as long as possible. They couldnt stop that country from crowning a new king, but they could do whatever it took to dy the inevitable.


    The Rozzo family still had a few aces up their sleeve, but it was too premature to use them. Better to take advantage of Cerberus instead, Granville thought.


    Ah, one moment on that


    But Damrada wasnt ready to agree with him. The Rozzos, and the Five Elders they controlled, were excellent business partners; he truly had no intention of doing away with their rtionship. But thinking this meant Damrada was theirpdog would be a mistake. He was a merchant, motivated by money, and he had a flexible mind. Cerberus had grown fabulously rich thanks to the exclusive control it held over trade between the East and West, yes, but the arrival of a new customer to work with was nothing that hurt Cerberus. The Five Elderss loss of influence over the Western Nations was no business of theirs.


    I truly do desire to maintain friendly rtions with you and your family. However, Im afraid I cannot readily agree to your suggestion. After all, our organization has no reason to be hostile to Rimuru.


    How dare you!


    Heh-heh-heh As you yourself said, now that Hinata knows me, any further activity in the Western Nations is out of the picture. Instead, I will return home and provide you with someone else.


    The message Damrada gave was clear. If Granville had eliminated Hinata as promised, he could be more active right nowbut that hadnt happened.


    For now, we will continue our transactions as before. As for this incident, I suggest that we should just forgive and forget.


    Damrada stood up. Granville had misread him, and he could no longer force the point. The Cerberus group had an iron grip on the Eastern Empires underground. Angering Damrada, one of their bosses, enough to sever their rtions for good was too much of a loss for the Rozzos to bear right now.


    Very well. We will handle it ourselves, then, so I do hope you will at least refrain from interfering in the matter.


    That much goes without saying, Damrada replied with a smile. Look back at our previous dealings. You are safe trusting us.


    With a polite bow, he left the room.


    From start to finish, Damrada had been sincere in everything he said. On the surface, he was the very picture of an honest merchant. But if Hinata had been killed as nned, he would have reached out to Rimuru long ago, pitting the Rozzos against the demon lord and profiting off the eventual sh. But an impartial observer never would have suspected any of that. People called him Damrada the Gold for a reason.


    But Granville was a sly old dog himself. He had a (mostly) urate grip on Damradas motivations. Yes, he was unlikely to interferebut he didnt say anything about not courting Rimuru. He had told no lies, which was the minimum anyone would want to see from a merchant, but Granville was the leader of a family who ruled over much of the worlds business. Damradas attitude wasnt something he was willing to abide.


    I detest him so much, Granville whispered, now alone in the room. He thinks he can take advantage of me? Once this matter is done with, youre next.


    The humiliation in his eyes darkened into surging rage


    And that was how things worked out with the Five Elders, Damrada reported to the boy sittingfortably in a chair.


    Ah. Well, Im d matters have been settled with the Rozzos the way you wanted them to. Now we can continue to use them as a point of contact for negotiation.


    Damrada was the height of arrogance while dealing with the Rozzos. With this boy, he was far more self-deprecating. It was to be expected. After all, this boybroadly nodding his approval at Damradas reportwas both his master and the leader of the Cerberus group.


    Quite true. But curse those rats! Pushing a monster like that on me without even informing me about it


    Ha-ha-ha! That mustve been quite an adventure. But at least you were able to step back at the right time.


    Heh. Yes, that was quite a stroke of luck. His name wasDiablo, if I recall. A fearsome demon, one who might even be the equal of nc over in the Empire. Rimuru himself is far from the only threat.


    Yeah I got a feeling Rimurus gonna grow stronger before we can get ourselves fully back in order.


    I agree. That demon lord has the uncanniest luck working for him. Hes assembled quite a number of magic-born, and hes even tamed the Storm Dragon himself


    To tell the truth, I think a frontal assault would be a pretty bad idea.


    Iwouldnt go so far as to call it unwinnable. But no, I doubt Cerberus would survive when the dust settles.


    Well, no point fretting about it. Weve got time to work with. We can think about it.


    That we can. Things will remain rather chaotic for a while toe. Joining in the fray could burn us badly.


    Mm-hmm. I used Hinata to get back at em a little, but that sure didnt work out, huh? Its too dangerous to make any other moves. Better toy low for a while.


    The boy smiled, not seeming to care too much. Damrada thought things over as he returned the smile. Then, he seemed to remember something.


    Still, he glumly stated, I have to say, the Five Elders were all bark and no bite. Going on about how they would destroy Hinataand look how that worked out, huh? With both surviving, Im sure theyll work out their misunderstandings. That could end the whole rift between Tempest and the Holy Church before too long.


    I thought that would happen, the boy replied with a chuckle. Rimuru is too generous to humankind. I didnt think he had it in him to kill Hinata. I was kind of hoping that generosity would spell his downfall, sooner orterbut perhaps he wasnt that generous.


    I think the Five Elders were aiming to conspire with Rimuru so they could keep a lid on the Storm Dragon.


    Well, if that was all it took, we wouldnt have any problems right now. I had you keep close tabs on them precisely because I figured theyd screw it up.


    Ah, I see. But that saved me in the end. If you hadnt contacted me, sir, I wouldve had to duel Hinata herself in front of Rimuru.


    Perhaps, with some more luck, he wouldnt have blown his cover. But he wasnt optimistic about his chances fighting Hinata. He deeply appreciated the boys advance warning about the danger Although, of course, the danger only came about because of the boys orders. If Hinata hadnt been fed false information, Damrada never wouldve been revealed at all.


    Still, this was nothing that troubled Damrada deeply. The orders of the boy who led Cerberus took precedence over everything else. His mission, after all, was no less than to conquer the entire worlda goal Damrada shared. He adored the boy. With him, he felt, this childlike dream of world domination could really happen. That was why he never questioned any of the orders he received.


    If I had lost you, the boy casually said, my n wouldve been sabotaged beyond repair.


    Well, Damrada replied with a bold grin, at least I managed to escape for you.


    One did not be the leader of Cerberus solely through business acumen. It took real talent to make the powers that be in the underground bow to you.


    The boy, perhaps knowing this, let a devilish grin creep onto his face. Ha-ha-ha! But dont go all out or anything, all right? Because thats the absolutest resort. So lets just sit and watch a bit. I look forward to seeing how this struggle ys outespecially since theres no real power involved.


    Going all out, as he put it, meant calling upon every asset Cerberus had on hand. That required bringing the two underbosses not in the room, people directly below the boy himself, into the fold. There would be nothing covert about the results. It could lead to a full-blown war that involved all the Western Nations.


    Damrada nodded at the boy, knowing that wasnt what he wanted. In that case, he said, it might be best for me to return to my nativend.


    Yeah, probably. You said she didnt see your face, but this is Hinata were talking about. Shes probably got her sights on you, and that makes open activity difficult. No, better to have someone else step up. Although


    Damrada knew what the boy was getting at. Cerberus had three underbossesDamrada and two othersand one of those two was a problem.


    Lets not ask Vega to fill in for you, huh?


    Very well, a convinced Damrada replied. In that case, Misha, then?


    Yeah. Lets go with that.


    The bosses were nicknamed the Gold, the Lover, and the Power, the three symbols of a mans greed. Misha, the Lover, was someone you never wanted to let your guard down around, but she at least listened to reason. Vega, the Power, was a handful. He was a living, breathing personification of violence, as his name suggested. Damrada could do nothing to sway his mind; he only listened to direct orders from the boy, who knew that well enough and didnt want Damrada to deal with him.


    That sounds good, sir. So how should we wind down the ve trade I had been working on here?


    Oh, right, there was that, wasnt there? The Orthrus ve Market always was a pain to deal with. Lets shut it down. I never liked very anyway.


    Mmm. I have no objections, but are we just going to release all the rare monsters we circte around Mishas Echidna Club?


    No, anything designated confidential should be treated the same as always. We still have a link to the Rozzo family; we might as well use it.


    Very well. Ill leave the rest in your capable hands, said Damrada before he took his leave.


    The boy closed his eyes, gleefully moving the mental chess pieces around in his brain. Then he heard the tapping of footsteps. His lips curled into a smile as he spoke to the woman behind him, a secretary.


    You were listening, werent you, Kazalim?


    I sure was, Boss. Why are you intent on dismantling Orthrus now?


    This was Kazalim, a trusted confidant and adviser to the boy.


    Its simple. I thought Id let him y the good guy on this.


    Is that the only reason?


    Do I really need to say the other one? That slime controls the entire Forest of Jura, from one end to the other. If we go monster hunting in there, wed get crushed. So why dont we dissolve Orthrus now while itd be to our advantage?


    Yeah I suppose. We just need to protect our core assets, huh? Like a lizard thats lost its tail.


    Right? So can I leave the arrangements to you?


    Let him y the good guy Oh, him, you mean? Youe up with the most interesting ideas sometimes, Boss. All right. Ill take care of it.


    Thanks, Kazalim.


    Of course. Also, not to change the subject, but can you call me Kagali?


    The boy turned toward Kazalim, eyebrows raised. Oh, youre finally going through with it?


    Uh-huh. With yman dead, its time to step up. Until I have my revenge against Leon, Im putting the demon lord Kazalim name on ice.


    Sure thing. In that case, get to work, Kagali.


    Yes sir.


    They gave each other a nce and grinnedopening the curtain on a new age of chaos.