bookworm

THE IMPERIAL GUESTS
Three people stood there in the lavishly decorated room, all looking nervous and standing straight-backed as they awaited the chamber’s owner—Yuuki, the man who came to the Empire and immediately shot up to the rank of commander.
To them, the story of Yuuki was not any sort of surprise. After all, Yuuki was their boss, the leader of the Cerberus secret society.
“Hey,” he said when he finally came in, “sorry to keep you waiting! You could’ve sat down, you know.” With him was Kagali, standing politely toward the rear like a secretary.
“Not at all, Sir Yuuki,” one man among the visitors said. “We remain your faithful servants. You hardly need to be considerate of us.”
This man was Damrada the Money, one of Cerberus’s three boss-level officials. He was a hard man to grasp, all greasy and shady-looking. The other two were Misha the Lover—a beautiful woman with a strange air about her, at times looking like both a young girl and a mature woman—and Vega the Power, whose supple, well-balanced, carnivore-like body dominated anyone who laid eyes upon her. This was the trio at the top of Cerberus’s operations.
They all saluted Yuuki before sitting down.
“First, let us congratulate you on reaching the rank of commander.”“Yes. As someone who survived an encounter with the demon lord Guy, I was sure you could do it, Sir Yuuki.”
“Pfft! Let me at that force, and taking over a division would be child’s play.”
Damrada and Misha expressed their good wishes to Yuuki. Vega, at the end, didn’t seem so impressed. But Yuuki didn’t let it bother him.
You’re right, I think, he pondered with an internal sneer. You really could be part of the hundred…but after that, you’d never hold out. No way anyone could ask you to command anything. You wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Well, I have to thank you, Damrada,” he said, changing the subject, “for intervening on my behalf with Lord Gadora.”
“Oh, don’t be silly! It was all in anticipation for this moment, Sir Yuuki. All I did was introduce Lord Gadora to an otherworlder you secured for us, so there’s hardly any need to thank me that much.”
“Ha-ha-ha! You’re always so stiff, Damrada. Why don’t you just accept my gratitude for a change?”
“I am afraid I cannot, sir. I don’t want you to expect more from me than I can provide.”
“Ha-ha! That’s a funny joke.” Yuuki looked at Damrada and grinned. That brought the point across well enough. After many years, they each trusted in the other’s abilities.
After a shared laugh, Yuuki moved to the main topic. “Now, Kagali, brief us on what the demon lord Rimuru is doing.”
“Yes, Sir Yuuki. The demon lord Rimuru is currently—”
With his order, Kagali began her briefing. Her information mainly came from members of the Free Guild who remained in the West. The majority of Yuuki’s agents there had fled, but several had used that as a cover to become underground spies.
Kagali went over everything in her clear voice. Rimuru had total control over the Western Nations and was using it to form an army of fearsome size, preparing for an imperial invasion. She covered all of that and more, alongside some unbelievable phenomena occurring in the capital city of Rimuru.
“Oh… So they’ve designated the lodging town along the Great Ameld River as a military base?” said Yuuki. “Yeah, if they’re going to put defensive lines in their own nation, they’d have to do that, huh?”
“Indeed,” Kagali replied. “There are already nearly twenty thousand troops stationed at that base. They are using something called magitrains for material transport, so they likely stored up enough food resources to survive a siege.”
“That’s Tempest for you. The Empire’s not gonna have an easy win there.”
“I agree. They’re importing food supplies from Farminus, so they’ve got enough to feed a population of several million. The nation as a whole is far more powerful than it was a year ago, and I’d say they could fight off the Empire all by themselves. Plus, the Council of the West is now entirely controlled by the demon lord Rimuru. If they can collate the West’s forces into a cohesive whole, that would be substantial, too.”
“You think so? I’m sure Rimuru tries to be thorough with everything, but he’s pretty naive, as far as I’m concerned. He probably figures that pitting numbers against numbers will just lead to more casualties, so I bet he wants to chase off the Empire with just his elites.”
“That’s ridiculous…”
“I doubt someone like a demon lord would attempt something so foolish…,” Damrada added.
He and Kagali discounted the idea, but that didn’t change Yuuki’s mind.
No, seriously, he really is that naive. But between that and how freakishly strong he is, I feel like he could actually do something…
Despite his thoughts, he asked Kagali to keep going.
“Thank you. Continuing with the briefing… The capital of Rimuru has a force of over fifty thousand on standby, and reinforcements are streaming in from the former Eurazania. Their total fighting power will likely surpass one hundred thousand in the end.”
“That’s pretty amazing, but it still gives the Empire a big advantage.”
“Certainly, the numbers don’t compare. The Empire has over a million, and their foot soldiers have been undergoing some kind of weird modifications, too. I think even the lowest infantry would rank at least a C. And consider all their bizarre armaments as well—honestly, I don’t think they stand a chance.”
Those were Kagali’s honest feelings. Yes, a hundred thousand pairs of boots on the ground was impressive, especially given their expert training and high morale. Normally, Tempest would be worthy of high praise. But compared with the Empire’s full outfit, it simply paled by comparison. Even the defenses Kagali built for her castle back when she was the demon lord Kazalim wouldn’t hold out against the violent charge of the Empire’s numbers. A mere one hundred thousand, faced with that maelstrom, meant nothing.
But Yuuki had different ideas. “I’ll keep your advice in mind. Keep going.”
“Right. Now, moving on to their nation’s technology…”
Kagali continued reporting the facts.
Tempest had suddenly begun offering a variety of curious goods for sale—tools to make life more convenient, for example, and fancy high-end weaponry; they served different purposes, but all were very effective gadgets. A lot of buyers wanted to sign exclusive contracts with the developers of these goods, but try as they might, none of the merchants had figured out where they’re coming from. Their origins remained a mystery.
“…The magitrains I mentioned are another example, but as with the Empire, we’re seeing a wave of technological innovation. Unfortunately, they are doing a thorough job with preventing information leaks. The Free Guild members weren’t able to trace these goods back to their creators.”
They were probably being developed internally. That much was clear, but nobody had any idea where. It frustrated Kagali as well, but they couldn’t send her out to deal with the demon lord Rimuru herself. If she arose suspicion again, it’d be all over, so Yuuki couldn’t push his inner circle like that.
Then Kagali suddenly recalled something.
“If you think about it, they must be developing new kinds of weapons, too. Considering that, perhaps we should be concerned about more than the size of their armies.”
Yuuki gave this a grin. “I thought you’d notice that. You’re right, though. I was surprised to see the Empire developing tanks, but Rimuru’s not far behind with his trains, either. It’s not like the Empire has an exclusive license for scientific weaponry, so it’d be stupid to look to that for an advantage.”
No, the Empire wasn’t the only side of this fight with otherworlder tech. Rimuru retained all his otherworlder memories, so there’s no telling what kind of weapon he might decide to fund.
If the Empire were fighting any normal nation, that opponent would have been shaken to the core by all its mysterious firepower. Even if that opponent had otherworlders, the knowledge they’d learn from them would only add to the despair. The difference in fighting ability would become clear as day, and they’d understand that there was no chance of winning. But what if the other side had the technical skill to develop the same kinds of things? They’d immediately work out countermeasures, and any advantage would be evened out in the blink of an eye. In fact, if one side trusted in their tech too much, they’d have the tables turned and lose terrain on their foe so quickly that it’d make their heads spin.
Yuuki had seen all this, and by his estimate, he thought Rimuru’s chances of victory weren’t at all minor.
“Ridiculous!” interjected Vega. “Just crush them, then! If you’re that worried about that stuff, just tear it all down! Problem solved!”
Whether it was a weapon or an army, the eminently confident Vega thought, all you had to do was trample over everything in your way. His observation demonstrated a critical lack of comprehension across this whole conversation. It made Yuuki rub a hand against his head.
This guy… He’s strong but so stupid. Too stupid, even…
If he had even a bit more brains in his head, he could be useful for so much more.
Yuuki sighed. “Well, if it comes to that,” he said, “you can be sure I’ll ask you for it. But we can’t misread the enemy here.”
That bit of ambivalence ought to have shut Vega up. Besides, he thought, in this world, quality counted for a lot more than quantity. No matter how big an army you assembled, you’d never beat the demon lord Guy—an example that proved you could never deride the power of an individual.
To reach your strategic goal, it was important to master the information war and fully gauge your opponent’s abilities. The easiest way to do that was by throwing someone decently strong against your foe and seeing what happens. In addition, abandoning an unwinnable battle was a proper practice to employ. And no matter how powerful an individual foe might have been, attacking with multiple forces at once could let you overcome them. In other words, looking at a side’s overall war power was meaningless. What mattered was tactical skill—how well they could effectively operate the forces at hand.
Along those lines, Tempest was a troublesome enemy. Rimuru was far from the only threat—that nation had a ridiculous number of powerful magic-born. Even the Big Four—Benimaru, Diablo, Shion, and Gobta—were like four tactical units of their own. Defeating any one of them was a highly difficult mission.
I doubt it’s just a matter of tech. They got a lot of tough people on their side, so sheer numbers aren’t gonna matter with them. Guess it shows how right I was to capitulate to Guy earlier, huh?
As far as Yuuki knew, there were several people stronger than Gobta, which meant at least a few others were as powerful as the Big Four.
“My real concern is the magic-born comparable to Saints or demon lords,” muttered Damrada, apparently in agreement.
“You’re right. Because it’s not just the Big Four with them,” said Yuuki. “There’s magic-born like Geld and Gabil as well. It’s hard to understand why all these demon lord–class people keep coming over there.”
The more Yuuki thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Multiple people, each with strength on the level of Clayman, in the service of Rimuru, a lone demon lord. If you were aware of that, you’d almost wish it were a joke.
“Lucky for us that the demon lord Rimuru isn’t our enemy right now.”
Everyone except for Vega quietly nodded at Yuuki’s statement. Now they had a sort of agreement with Guy that placed them under his affiliation. Anyone who messed with Yuuki and his team would be inviting the wrath of Guy upon them. With Yuuki uninterested in challenging Rimuru, they were at an armistice, more or less—and Yuuki was selfish enough to try using this situation as best as he could. Even if they faced off sometime, it’d only be after he regained his losses in the West.
With that resolved in his mind, he returned to the main topic.
“Does that complete your report?” he asked Kagali.
“We weren’t able to obtain detailed military information, so that’s all the accurate intel we have. But there is one curious topic I’d like to bring up.”
“What’s that?”
“In the capital of Rimuru, there’s been ongoing disaster training taking place, but the local government recently added evacuation drills to the schedule.”
This training involved pretty sensible matters—running into sturdy buildings, putting out fires, that sort of thing. But the evacuation drill this time had citizens practicing fleeing into town from outside the four main gates. It didn’t make much sense.
“Fleeing into town?”
“Yes. Our investigators weren’t sure what it was about, so they decided to split up and take a closer look.”
“One on the outside, one on the inside?”
“Exactly. Then, they said, they saw something—a strange sight that looked like a dream—”
“A strange sight?”
“Yes, Misha. There was an announcement, and exactly ten minutes after that, the entire town vanished without a trace. All that remained was one single gate.”
According to the investigator left outside, there were some security personnel left by the gate, guiding any stragglers into a nearby cave. Once the coast was clear, the investigator braced himself and went through the gate—only to find himself in a mazelike chamber of stone walls. He quickly fled back out the gate in a panic, proving that it had two-way access.
“That might be their Dungeon, I think…,” said Yuuki.
“Do you know what it is, Sir Yuuki?” Damrada asked.
“Yeah. I think Kagali knows, too, but there’s a tourist attraction in town called the Dungeon, right?”
“Correct. A structure with wandering monsters for adventurers to challenge themselves against.”
“It’s probably that. I heard a rumor that there’s a whole city inside that Dungeon, so…”
“A city inside it?”
Damrada didn’t seem ready to believe that, but Yuuki and Kagali were serious. It was hard to explain to someone who didn’t already know, but that was the reality.
“Yeah. It’s a little crazy to think of normally, but… You know, it takes someone like Rimuru to make it possible. The Dungeon goes down a hundred floors, after all, and it’s guarded by Veldora at the bottom.”
“…Is that really true?” Damrada questioned.
“Of course. I heard it from Veldora himself.”
That shut up Damrada pretty quickly. Kagali felt a little bad for him.
“But if you think about it,” she said, “it makes sense. Do you think this Dungeon city might contain vital infrastructure for Tempest—for example, their technological development site?”
“Ah, I see,” replied Yuuki. “I can believe it… In fact, it makes good sense.”
There was no limit to what Rimuru would try. Yuuki didn’t even let it faze him any longer. If anything, it excited him. And while this was only a guess, he doubted he was wrong. If it was Rimuru, he concluded, it had to be true.
“What does this say about the war, then?”
“That I really don’t know. I always thought you couldn’t take those guys with a normal approach, but handling a city defense like that? I’m sure it’s gonna shock the Empire.”
Yuuki had assumed that Rimuru wouldn’t fight the final battle on his own turf—he’d never let his citizens become casualties. But what if he had a surefire method to ensure every single civilian was out of harm’s way? If he did, the enemy would have to rewrite their entire strategy.
“Yeah, so maybe they’re taking a wait-and-see approach with the lodging town—see if they wind up fighting there or not. Maybe they’ll fight the real war around their capital. If the Empire forces miss the gate and pass right on by, there could be a surprise attack from the rear, kinda thing.”
“And then the Western Nations’ army can pin them down from the front.”
“They could send an advance team to examine and analyze the Empire’s fighting power. Then, while the Western Nations and the Empire are fighting a war of attrition, they can take their time crafting a response.”
“What a terrifying approach to think of. He really is a demon lord.”
Once they understood Yuuki’s thoughts, Kagali, Damrada, and Misha all showed visible surprise. They knew conventional warfare wouldn’t be enough to stop the demon lord Rimuru, but they hadn’t thought this far. Just imagining having to fight him gave them all headaches. It’d just be too hard—and now, the fight between Rimuru and the Empire was starting to sound like a lot of fun to watch.So, Sir Yuuki, what’s your next move?”
Misha was waiting for the right time to ask. She and her cohorts knew Yuuki took on the demon lord Guy and lost. They remained loyal to him anyway, but they still weren’t sure what exactly was on his mind.
The Cerberus trio was fine with the Empire giving Rimuru and his friends a hard time, but no matter what, they wanted to avoid playing a role in that. Yuuki promised Guy that he wouldn’t seriously support the Empire—but if he was a commander now, there was every concern he’d get caught in his own trap. For Cerberus, having an imperial commander on their side was extremely attractive, but it also came with the danger of getting involved in military affairs. That was an eat-or-be-eaten world; one wrong move and they’d face annihilation.
Those were the motives behind Misha’s question, and Yuuki was fully aware of them.
“You don’t have to worry. If Rimuru holds out for me, that suits all of us just fine. I mean, if we want to make our ideals a reality, the Empire gets in the way of that, don’t they? I want to send them to their ruin someday, and not just because Guy told me to… And now that I’m a commander, I get to control the timing. Just think of it like that.”
Now that Yuuki was one of the Empire’s three top commanders, he knew all about their internal operations. Getting an inside view of their military strategy even let him read into the common ground he shared with them. Naturally then, when they went on the move, he’d be able to predict the size of their forces—as well as when defenses in imperial territory would be the lightest. If the Western Nations put up a tough fight, the Empire would have to deploy that much more firepower against them. Then, no matter how stout their defenses, Yuuki was sure he’d find an opening.
“And we’ll hit them where they’re open!” Yuuki said, smacking the table for effect. Kagali smiled, still standing up straight, while Damrada and the others grew excited in their seats.
“Are you suggesting a coup…?” Damrada asked.
“Ah, I love it,” Misha gushed. “Now that’s the Sir Yuuki I know.”
“Heh-heh! Sounds like a lot of fun. Empire, demon lord, I’ll crush ’em all!”
Vega was a little too excited, maybe, but Yuuki decided not to worry about it as he got back to the point.
“Well, that’s my final goal anyway. Part of my promise with Guy was to stir up trouble with the Empire, too, and I gotta live up to my end of it. I’m gonna mess around with the West, too, but I don’t think anyone’s gonna complain about that, so…”
He smiled warmly. Guy hadn’t warned him against that, so Yuuki was free to do what he liked.
“Are you talking about having the Empire fight the Western Nations, then taking the Empire’s head in the meantime…?” Damrada inquired.
“Vicious as always, huh?” said Misha.
“Oh, not really,” Yuuki answered. “I think it’s a plan pretty much anyone could come up with.”
They would, maybe, but few would actually go through with it. Or maybe they’d try but not be powerful and talented enough to make it happen. Yuuki was the exception.
“Lord Gadora gave me a lot of information, too. That old man loves anything novel, and he’s got a flexible mind, but for some reason, he just hates the Western Nations. Like, to an obsessive level. It’s a lot of the reason why he’s developed all these weapons and contributed them to the Empire.”
“Ah yes, that’s a famous story,” said Damrada. “Even I was aware of that.”
“Right? ’Cause if he’s looking for things that could crush the Empire’s ambitions, you’d think he’d see the demon lord Rimuru as that. I’m sure it’ll dawn on him once he starts messing with the guy.”
“…And then what will happen?”
“Well, Lord Gadora has a ton of influence with the imperial military, but in terms of actual power, he’s got almost none. That’s because he’s more interested in revenge than anything. So if I can lead him the right way, I think I can pit him against Rimuru himself.”
At the same time, thought Yuuki, he’d like to have Gadora poke around for information about the Dungeon.
“This is your way to hassle Rimuru and weaken the Empire at the same time?”
“You got it!”
Yuuki briskly nodded at Damrada. He wasn’t going to touch Rimuru, but if someone else wanted to challenge him, they were perfectly welcome—hence all his conniving plans.
He took this opportunity to discuss his thoughts in more detail.
“The way I see it, there are three people we need to watch out for in the Empire. One of them is Lord Gadora himself.”
Gadora was a master sorcerer, a magic-born who had lived for many, many years. People saw him as a mystery figure who knew everything that went on behind the scenes in the imperial capital, and he was also a hero in his own right, one of the few survivors of the previous invasion attempt against Veldora.
“Who are the other two?” a curious Kagali asked behind Yuuki. He gave her a frustrated scowl in response.
“Well, I don’t know much about them yet, exactly. That’s why I know they’re so much trouble.”
Even with his extensive intelligence network, Yuuki hadn’t found these two. Just hearing that indicated how slippery they were.
“Are they among the Imperial Guardians’ upper ranks?” Misha asked, perhaps suspecting something.
Yuuki gave this a vague consent. There were rumors around military circles that certain Imperial Knights—referred to as the Single Digits—were even stronger than the three division commanders. In Yuuki’s opinion, this was more than just a rumor. He could feel it. Here he was, a full-fledged commander, but his own numerical ranking was still in the double digits. He could try challenging someone higher up to a ranking duel, but he’d have to figure out who to challenge first. Becoming a Single Digit required winning a battle staged in front of the emperor, and even that fact was revealed only to those very close to earning a shot.
“I’m thinking that I can beat any Single Digit in the group, but I don’t wanna reveal my best moves in front of the enemy, so I haven’t sent a request to the emperor yet.”
Yuuki became a commander despite that, thanks to some lucky connections with Lord Gadora.
“Thing is, though, even if you try taking someone on, maybe the real boss will be someone else the whole time, huh? You can’t be sure about anything. So what I guess I’m saying is: There’s at least nine people you gotta watch out for, sort of.”
Vega had a good point. It surprised Yuuki as he nodded at him.
“Yeah, you’re right. There’s a chance my real nemesis is hidden among those nine. But I can’t watch out for someone I’ve never seen before, you know? So right now, I’m looking closely at someone who’s a more public figure than that.”
“Who?” Damrada asked.
“His name’s Tatsuya Kondo. He runs the Imperial Information Bureau.”
“Ah yes. He is hard to grasp, isn’t he?”
“We know his name and face but nothing else about him,” said Misha. “It’s bizarre.”
Tatsuya Kondo, as the name suggested, was an otherworlder. Any more personal information than that was a complete unknown. Rumors pegged him as a “mysterious figure stalking the halls of information.” His rank was first lieutenant, but none of the unit commanders had the right to give him orders. The Imperial Information Bureau, in other words, was higher up the hierarchy than the military itself.
“Yeah, it’s freaky, isn’t it? My guess is that he’s one of the Single Digits, too,” said Yuuki.
“…I see.”
“Put it that way, and it makes sense.”
Damrada and Kagali deeply nodded. Misha pondered this as well but had no objections.
“So who do you think the other one is?” Vega asked, already sounding disinterested and hoping to hurry Yuuki along.
“Ha-ha-ha! Patience, okay? The first thing is to meet up with this Tatsuya Kondo. I’ll see if I can request a meeting with him. So as for the second person, she’s also kinda a mystery.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Calm down, Vega.”
“Ah… Sorry.”
The tone of Yuuki’s voice as he gave Vega a light warning was warm, almost gentle, but it made Vega break into a nervous sweat. It showed, in that moment, just how wide the chasm was between those two.
“The second person is someone who sits next to the emperor. I don’t know who it is, but she strikes this incredible presence. I can feel her even with the imperial set of blinds between us.”
“““…?”””
Nobody knew who it was—or really, nobody except Yuuki even realized someone like that existed. That made the potential danger crystal clear.
“…So there’s someone like that, always with the emperor?” Damrada asked, speaking for his companions. “I haven’t heard anything about it…”
“I didn’t think so. She felt so present in the room, but nobody notices her at all. That has to be bad news.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
“And you’re sure she was there? I haven’t even heard rumors of such a figure.”
“Well, look at it another way—if we heard that from anyone except Sir Yuuki, we never would’ve believed it, right?”
“…”
Yuuki smiled at his doubtful underlings. “Eh, it’s no big deal. Just remember—if I attempt to stage a coup in the Empire, those three are probably gonna get in our way. I’ll eliminate Lord Gadora first, so…Damrada, can you look into Tatsuya Kondo for me?”
“Absolutely.”
“And, Misha, keep up with your current mission.”
“Understood. I will continue engaging the commander of the Armored Division.”
“What about me?” Vega asked.
“You’re going to go undercover in the Magical Beast Division. With your muscle, you’ll get in the Imperial Guardians in a flash. But whatever you do, don’t kill the division commander, all right?”
“Sure. I’ll try not to.”
Vega flashed a ferocious smile, glad to finally be on duty. Is he really gonna be all right? fretted Yuuki, but he decided to trust him anyway. If the leader did get killed, that’d delay the Empire’s entire military operation, which was a concern… But Yuuki opted not to worry about it unless it happened.
The three heads of Cerberus left the chamber, leaving Yuuki alone with Kagali.
“Sir Yuuki… Do you think they’ll all pull it off?”
“Who knows? I thought I was being pretty careful, and then I caught a tiger named Guy by the tail. I’m not in any position to say this, but I sure hope they can.”
Damrada was off investigating Tatsuya Kondo. Misha was attempting to inveigle herself with the Magical Beast Division commander. And Vega was about to embark on a standout career in the Composite Division. These were dangerous missions, and they were doing them all for Yuuki’s sake. As their leader, he’d have to trust in their success.
“But we’ve finally made it to this point, haven’t we? The battle’s about to begin.”
“It sure is. It’ll be fun to see who wins.”
“As if you can just sit back and watch. Even if you pull off that coup, the hard part comes after that.”
“Yeah. I have Laplace and the gang working on that for me. I got everything covered.”
The two shared a smile.
Their mission wasn’t to have the Empire win. The longer they could drag out this upcoming war, the weaker the Empire would become. That’s what they wanted, and the fate of Yuuki and Kagali’s plans rode on whether the ensuing coup attempt succeeded or failed.
“First, we make the emperor our puppet and establish a new Empire. Then…”
“…Why don’t we forge a peace treaty with the Western Nations?”
“And then…”
“…We’ll have the emperor assassinated!”
If the demon lord Rimuru proved too hard to kill, there was no need to force that. Guy had defeated Yuuki fair and square, and with that, Yuuki gave up on conquering the world in the short-to-midterm time frame. Until he had the kind of absolute power he needed, he now realized, trying to get his way with violence was the height of folly. For now, he thought, adding more winning cards to his hand needed to be his focus.
And if the war kept raging, and more blood could be shed…
“…Then I’ll awaken to a true demon lord once more.”
“That’s what I’m hoping to hear from ya, Kagali. And by then, I oughtta be able to fully use all the new powers I got.”
Yuuki had awoken to an ultimate skill. Already, he could feel his life span extending. And now he knew the truth: There were those greater than him—people like the demon lord Guy, ruling over the world with absolute force. Conquering that world without addressing them would be a fantasy.
For now, best to slip under Guy’s radar and build up force. He’d stir up the Empire, keep the war going, and weaken both the East and the West. Once pessimism set in, and everyone was weary of war, if he could take that moment to assassinate the emperor…the world would face an even more appalling age of chaos. They could ride that chaos, he and Kagali, and awaken yet more within themselves…and that, in essence, was the plan.
“Well, keep being careful, though.”
“Of course, Sir Yuuki. Keep being careful.”
Once more, they looked at each other and smiled.
…Even two intelligent schemers like them didn’t see the Dungeon as a very important factor. They just saw it as a neat way for Tempest to hide their top-secret facilities—even a town, for that matter—and they figured bringing it to Lord Gadora’s attention would be a good way to drive Rimuru nuts. They may be visiting it themselves someday, so they figured it’d be a good idea to have it checked out for clues on how to crack it—but neither of them spent much time thinking about it.
Thanks to that, when their dungeon runners came back with a rather unexpected report, Yuuki paid it no mind.
Upon learning what Yuuki showed him, Lord Gadora wrenched up his face, deep in thought.
Hmmm. Right when it’s time to put our Empire on the move and defeat the god Luminus, too…
With Veldora resurrected, they had to embark on a major rewrite of their plans. That couldn’t be avoided. The last time they staged a campaign this large, the Storm Dragon crushed the whole thing.
Now, in order to ensure their plan was impenetrable, some wanted to wait until the Storm Dragon fully disappeared from existence. Some wanted to tame him with the power of the new weapons they successfully developed. Others wished to point their armies around the Forest of Jura to avoid riling the Storm Dragon.
Opinions were split evenly among the three factions, delaying the Empire’s movements—and thanks to that, they went and let the Storm Dragon revive itself. This greatly angered the war hawks in the “tame the Storm Dragon” faction, but the more mainstream minds in the other two groups didn’t give them room to speak. If those “new weapons” didn’t work, after all, their hopes were dashed a second time.
In Gadora’s mind, the Storm Dragon didn’t really matter. His mission, the reason he kept living, was to eradicate Luminism from the West and take revenge against the Seven Days Clergy who killed his best friend.
A newspaper he ordered from the West contained an article outlining the Seven Days Clergy’s evil deeds, under the headline THE HEROES’ DECLINE. He also knew, at the same time, about reports that the Seven Days Clergy were slain. But Gadora refused to accept this at face value. At the very least, he was sure Gren, the Sunday Priest, was alive and lurking in the muck somewhere.
Over the past few months, information from the West had grown garbled and entangled, and it was hard to investigate much of it. Thanks to that, he had no way to confirm it—but there were rumors that the Rozzos had been toppled as well.
Ah, but it’s all rumors. I’m sure Gren was what ultimately became of that one Hero. He may have been old, but he was no adversary to sniff at.
What’s more, while the Council seemed to be on sure footing, Gadora had confirmed some serious goings-on behind the scenes. Nothing he heard, however, indicated that the Western Holy Church had weakened at all. That was proof positive, in Gadora’s eyes, that Gren was alive.
It’d be so easy to ignore the Storm Dragon and just invade the West, but noooo…
Gadora’s thoughts were along those lines, but even he knew how difficult that would be.
So the Storm Dragon is teaming up with a demon lord? It would be sheer stupidity to position an army against a monster like that, living outside any sort of reasoned magic. I helped construct the theories behind our new weapon, and it should be possible to stop him in his tracks, at least—but destroy him? That’s another story. And forget about ever taming him…
As a survivor of the Empire’s last campaign, he had personal insight into the threat Veldora posed. The experience taught him that the war hawks were being far too rash.
Those fools completely fail to understand how hard it is to rule over a spiritual life-form with a spirit of your own!
It wasn’t impossible. They had conducted experiments on demons along those lines, and some of the results had been encouraging. Gadora knew that well enough—he came up with the theory for the work, so of course he would. But based on their verified results, he concluded that Veldora was strictly off-limits.
He had submitted a report to the emperor along those lines, but sadly, he was shut down. “If someone wants to try it,” he was told, “let them.”
Regardless, the problem now was Rimuru, a demon lord who built a nation and unified the Forest of Jura at an astonishing pace. If he had teamed up with the Storm Dragon, attacking the forest would have been nothing but foolish. If the entirety of the Empire’s military were deployed for the effort, that would be one thing—but to make the most effective use of such a force, they’d need to lure the enemy into more advantageous terrain, and that was an impossibility.
What, then, if they must fight the enemy on their own turf?
“The Dungeon, eh? And they might be developing otherworld weapons as well? We must investigate this. If we could defeat Veldora and Rimuru while losing less than, say, a third of our force, I’d call it a fine job. Otherwise, we have no chance of winning against the Western Nations, at the end of it.”
The words were mostly directed at Gadora himself. But he was making a mistake. He thought that Luminism, and the Western Nations supporting it, would be where they’d make their stand—not Tempest. And whether he picked up on this error in judgment would be key to deciding his fate, going forward.