bookworm

Once we were all seated, I asked Shuna, who guided everyone in here, to make some tea for us. She did so without any sign of agitation, a seasoned pro when it came to hospitality. And not just her—all our servants were doing their jobs as usual, as if it didn’t matter who they were serving. Real professionals, all of them, and I’m sure I was watching Vester’s strict training bear fruit here.
After taking a sip of Shuna’s tea, I got down to business.
“So the reason I invited you here is because I wanted to ask you something, Guy.”
“Oh?”
“Um, so the Empire invaded my country, and I defeated them and stuff. I was thinking about staging an invasion of my own, but then I heard the Empire has Velgrynd—er, Velzard’s younger sister, I suppose. And judging from everything else I’ve heard, it sounds like there’s some manner of connection between you and the Empire as well…?”
“Huh. Smart of you to notice.”
Guy flashed me an excited grin. I had the worst feeling about all this. I really wish I didn’t have to delve any deeper, but things weren’t gonna work out that way.
“So you wanted to interfere with the Empire’s attempts at powering up their army, right? That’s why you let Yuuki live, too, I bet. I’m sure you didn’t want the Western Nations to fall, but it wasn’t only that, yes? You called it a game, but who are you playing this game with?”
I pretended that this was just casual curiosity on my part. In reality, though, a lot hinged on this. If the Empire boasted both Velgrynd and some other threat equal to her, I needed to know about it. If we attacked while still oblivious to this, there was an excellent chance some of my friends would’ve died. So I asked him, my eyes staring right into Guy’s.
“Heh-heh-heh… Good, good. If you’ve picked up on that much, why don’t I tell you the whole thing?”
Nice to see Guy wasn’t interested in lording it over me here. Scary, too, in a way. I listened on.
“To tell the truth, I have a bet going with a certain guy I know. This guy has a habit of going on about these crazy ideals of his, and I wanna present him with a little reality check. So we agreed that we’d never directly fight each other, but to use only the pieces we have on hand.”
In other words, they’d be letting other people do the fighting—and whoever defeated all their opponent’s pawns first wins.
“What kind of pieces are these…?”
I already had my hunches about this, actually.
“Heh. They’re you guys.”
Yeah. Thought so. I kinda wish he’d stop treating me as his game piece, but no point complaining about that here. Let’s just work through this and get as much useful information as we can.
“So is the person you’re playing in this game the imperial emperor?”
I was sure of it already but still felt I should check just in case. Guy had Velzard at his side, so it followed that the person with Velgrynd at their side was Guy’s opponent. That may not necessarily have been the emperor, though, so I wanted Guy to confirm it for me.
“You got it. Emperor Ludora is an admitted rival of mine.”
He had no intention of hiding it. In fact, he sounded happy to tell me. And if rival is the word he chose, should I assume Ludora is just as strong as Guy? I really can’t win against him, can I? And there’s nothing I hate more than playing a game where I’ve got no apparent path to victory.
“If I could say something…”
As I held my head in my hands, Benimaru was bold enough to speak up in Guy’s presence.
“Sure.”
“Then, I’d like to ask—what are the conditions for victory in this game? Do we have to defeat Emperor Ludora, or do we just have to subdue all his pieces? I’d like to have more exact guidance.”
Ah yes, that is important. I assumed beating Ludora was my only way out, but if beating his pawns—in other words, neutralizing the Empire’s force—was all that mattered, I liked my chances a lot more. We’d still have a lot of nasty dudes to fight, but that still beat tangling with someone on Guy’s level.
“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Perhaps eliminating Guy would be another way to win the—”
““Are you that stupid?!””
Guy and I shouted in unison. Honestly, Diablo just exhausts me. He must have exhausted Guy as well, because we wound up giving each other knowing looks. I didn’t expect to establish a rapport with him this way, so thanks, Diablo. I seriously can’t have you offending him right now, so my rating of you just plummeted straight for the basement, but thanks.
“So,” I said after advising Diablo to shut up for a while, “how would you answer Benimaru’s question, Guy?”
Guy, instead of answering, looked straight at me. The moment his lips curled upward into a grin, my sense of danger went into overdrive.
“Rimuruuuu…”
Oh, man. I got the worst premonition right then. In fact, it was beyond a premonition. Now I understood when Mjöllmile looked a little confused the first few times I called him Mollie. I’m sure I’m making the same face right now.
“You know, I have a favor I’d like to ask of you…”
“No.”
“Well, hear me out.”
I wish he’d hear me out first. But this is Guy we’re talking about. It’d never be smart to anger someone with this much potential for violence, so I had no choice but to listen on. Mjöllmile always heeded my requests, no matter how confused he looked about them, but I had absolutely no intention of honoring Guy’s.
“Basically, I want you to stop that bastard Ludora. I’m not saying you have to defeat him, but just do something about all his pieces and help me win this, okay?”
He couldn’t have looked eviler if he tried. Then he stood up and walked behind me, rubbing my shoulders as he continued.
“You’ll do that for me, won’t you?”
He started applying more force.
This is coercion, isn’t it?
“If I say yes, what’s in it for me?”
If this was one of those offers I couldn’t refuse, I at least wanted to negotiate a better deal. Maybe this was suicidal against someone like Guy, but I decided to work him as much as I could.
“You know that the world balance I’ve been maintaining is now thoroughly wrecked because of you, right? What do you think about that?”
“Sorry.”
In an instant, I was completely defeated. I was trying my best to build a new balance right now, but I’m certain that it was me who took most of the power from Guy’s side. To put it more bluntly, bringing Testarossa and the other demonesses under my wing was a bad idea. If I turned down Guy’s requests at this point, I was opening myself up to the risk of being seen as an enemy.
So my hands thoroughly tied, I gave up and accepted the offer.
Just as Guy returned to his seat, there was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal Shuna, the aroma of tea drifting in the air and dispelling the tension. She also had some slices of cake on a tray, so we took a break. I’ve already decided there’s no escape for me, so I promise this isn’t me procrastinating on my problems. Shuna had more tea and cake in the next room over, so my two secretaries and his two maids went over there. I thought they’d gripe about that, but they were surprisingly obedient about it.I took a sip of Shuna’s tea. It had a soft, gentle flavor. Testarossa’s tea was all but complete perfection, but this was rather tasty as well, in a comforting way.
“Huh. This is pretty good, isn’t it?”
I was glad to hear Guy was satisfied.
“Oh, you’re right. And this cake is more than just a bunch of sugar—there’s so many layers of depth to it. The tea has a lovely, full-bodied aroma, but the bitterness only serves to enhance the sweetness.”
Velzard seemed to like it, too. That’s a relief.
“Yeah. This room’s got some nice decoration, too, doesn’t it? I really dig furnishings like these.”
I wasn’t expecting to hear that from Guy. A tyrant like him would’ve been the last person in the world, I thought, to understand stuff like wabi-sabi. Guess I really need to stop judging people on preconceived notions like that. They say that the warlord Oda Nobunaga was into this sort of look as well. He liked to spend time in tea rooms where he didn’t have to worry about his social status; maybe he valued the ability to reflect on matters over some tea that way. I’m just making all that up, but still, I guess showing Guy in here was the right move, after all.
Feeling a little more at ease, I decided to elicit some more feedback.
“Oh, yeah? I’m glad you like it. You’re actually the first people I’ve entertained in here. It’s the most extravagant reception room we have, so I only show it off to people I wanna impress.”
“Yeah? Trying to make yourself look good around me?”
“I sure am. Can’t really be a demon lord if I didn’t, y’know? If I was willing to abandon all my pride, I’d just spend my life sneaking around in the shadows instead. Which would’ve been fun, maybe, but…”
Right. So a quick jab to start. Show him that I wasn’t at his total mercy before I heard him out. Depending on his reaction, I’d adjust how I dealt with him. But Guy just laughed at how much I was overcompensating.
“Ah-ha-ha! Trying to feel out the likes of me, eh? Hilarious!”
It wasn’t, but at least I knew I was still wrapped around his finger now.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“But no, no worries. What I want from you, you know, it’ll help you guys as well, all right? I just want you to keep the war going and destroy the Empire.”
Guy paused to take a graceful sip of his tea. He’s totally in his element here, like some kind of fairy-tale king. I mean, demon lords pretty much are kings (or queens) in this world, but regardless. But how Guy-like to throw me a fastball straight down the middle like that, huh?
“In other words, you want me to reduce Ludora’s pawns to zero without killing him? Given your apparent reluctance to answer Benimaru’s question, I’m assuming it’s something like that.”
“Wellll, you know, there aren’t any real strict rules for determining a winner in this game. The only actual rule we have is that players can’t meddle with each other directly.”
“So if the opponent admits defeat, or dies, or it’s impossible to continue the game itself—any of those conditions will count as a win?”
“I suppose so.” Guy nodded, taking another sip.
As he put it, he and the emperor had been duking it out for over two thousand years. Not directly fighting, mind you—they had a few scrapes before then, but once Milim was born, and Veldanava the Star-King Dragon perished, they began exercising a little more restraint. Whenever they had a battle, the impact on the world was just too great—they could no longer throw everything they had into the conflict. It was a wild story, but one look at Guy in front of me, and I knew he wasn’t fibbing.
So the game continued to the present day, Guy building up his pawn count while maintaining the world’s balance. A lot of his monsters enjoyed incredibly long life spans, and he was patiently waiting for them to evolve over time. But nobody, not even his fellow Octagram members, knew Guy’s true intentions. Not even Milim, he claimed, was aware of the game between him and Ludora.
“Then why’re you telling me?!”
“Mmm? Why do you think? You’re the first person in all these years to push Ludora this far.”
Guy didn’t need me to inform him that the imperial army had been annihilated. With all the gigantic magic spells we were tossing around, I’d be shocked if he didn’t notice, but…
“Killing them all was absolutely the correct answer, though. You kept Ludora from earning any more pieces for himself.”
Sounds like Guy knew Ludora’s objective here, too. Thanks to him, I now had a fully accurate version of the story. The emperor, in so many words, was giving his elite soldiers a trial to endure—a crushing defeat, where the survivors would (hopefully) evolve for him. The basic idea was to gin up an excuse for war the citizenry would accept, expose his army to a lethal threat, and get as many survivors evolved as he could. He had proof it’d work, too, because the failed imperial expedition against Veldora long ago produced a certain number of Enlightened.
Guy had taken a similar approach. Non-awakened, to him, were useless as pawns, and so he tacitly accepted conflicts between demon lords. The more true demon lords that got awakened, the more of an upper hand he’d have in the game. That was the whole basis for his strategy, and after that, it was just a matter of timing. Once he was absolutely certain he was above his opponent, that’s when he’d stake it all. It had proven to be surprisingly difficult, however, what with all the obstacles in the way… So they had kept on playing up to now, with no winner decided.
For both Guy and Ludora, it was a grandiose operation, one that seemed to stretch across countless generations. For most life on this world, it was nothing but an annoyance, but for the two of them, it was probably just a way to fill their free time.
“And this time, too, if even a few dozen people could’ve survived an encounter with Veldora, some of them were bound to be awakened. I’m sure that’s what Ludora assumed.”
So I didn’t even register in Ludora’s mind, then? That must’ve made me one hell of a game piece for Guy. It’s a little frustrating, but that’s the reality here.
“And you want me to use this current opening to attack the Empire?”
“Well, I’ll leave the method up to you. And I know this goes without saying, but merely posing as a superpower is pointless.”
I’m sure he’s right. A show of force was no threat to these guys. It’d just lead to more casualties without offering any strategic advantage. So forget about me sending a massive army or anything.
“If you happen to know this, is there anyone in Ludora’s forces we should be particularly on guard for?”
“Ah, I dunno. My focus has always been on how well I can train my own hand in this game. If I’m the strongest, after all, then it doesn’t matter how weak or strong the other guy is, right?”
Just the kind of arrogance I’d expect from a tyrant like him. This is the type of guy who never bothers looking at his opponent’s discards in a poker game—then, just when you think you beat him, away he goes with a full house like it was nothing. Masayuki, too, was the sort of guy who could draw a royal flush straight off the deck; I wouldn’t want to sit at a card table with either of them. But all this “game” talk’s getting me sidetracked.
“Well, either way, I think we need to get things crystal clear with the Empire—and soon. That’s based on my own credo, though, not because you asked me to.”
We couldn’t put this problem off any longer. We needed to open dialogue with Emperor Ludora at once… And if we did, it’d be smarter to come in with as much of an advantage as we could.
“You’re not planning to travel there yourself, are you, Sir Rimuru?”
Benimaru looked a bit put off. But I wasn’t bending.
“What else can I do? I can’t leave Yuuki out to dry. I want to join up with him instead, and then we can hopefully work out peace on our terms.”
“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“It’s gonna be dangerous no matter what I do. Let’s say that someone else goes out there and signs a peace treaty. Would you trust in that at all?”
I sure couldn’t. It’d clearly be a conspiracy to catch me off guard—and then, while I’m out walking in the woods or whatever, they’d send out their assassins to get me. I’d have to be on guard at all times, and that’s gonna majorly crimp the life of leisure I’m tryin’ to build here. I certainly don’t want that to happen, so I needed to settle this matter for good.
“That’s a fair point. Who will guard you?”
“You, of course.”
Benimaru gave this a half grin.
“That is fine by me.”
He certainly seemed confident. I knew I could rely on him.
Seeing this exchange made Guy chuckle. “Ah-ha-ha! You’re a funny guy, but so’s your associate over there. I sense something a bit odd about him, too. Maybe he’s still got some room to evolve, hmm?”
“He might, yeah. Benimaru’s already the most trusted of my inner circle.”
“Oh? What—and not Diablo?”
“Yeah, he’s strong, but…you know, kind of a handful…”
“I hear you.”
This felt like heartfelt sympathy from Guy. That—and also him treating me as a friend. I could tell from his reaction that he’s got a lot of problems of his own.
“Now, there’s one thing I wanna confirm with you…”
“What is it?”
“Ludora’s got the ability to confer ultimate skills on other people, right?”
Guy gave me a thoughtful look, eyes squinting. “Well spotted. Yes, Ludora’s got quite the remarkable little trick there, lending his powers to others like that.”
Thought so.
“And do you know how this ‘lending’ works, exactly?”
This was important. If Guy knew the terms of this deal, it’d help us narrow down the list of people in the Empire we had to watch out for. Right now, that list couldn’t have been more than ten people by my estimation, but I didn’t want to work entirely on assumptions.
“Ahhh, don’t worry. That power’s not omnipotent or anything. He can only hand out powers for a limited time, and they’re degraded versions, too. As for who qualifies… Well, I know you have to be awakened to receive the power, at least. That—and there’s some other restrictions, too, that I’m not fully aware of. It’s really not as much of a threat as it sounds like.”
It was a real Hail Mary of a question, but he gave a remarkably quick, succinct answer. That’s just about all the intel I need, I think.
But…like, it’d really take someone like Guy to say that passing out ultimate skills “isn’t a threat,” you know? I was starting to think Milim and Guy were cut from the same cloth. These differences in perception were needlessly complicating my job.
Watching Guy as he tucked into his slice of cake, I couldn’t help but resent him a little. Seeing him talk about world-altering battle while enjoying a fancy-pants teatime snack annoyed me, and the way he treated me like yesterday’s news once I accepted his request was similarly irritating.
…But wait a second. We’re supposed to be talking about some important stuff here… Or so I think, at least. But despite that, our little private chat seemed to be at its end, somehow. Disgusted, I stabbed my fork into my cake. Nothing like a little sugar to get the brain going. Time to sort out everything I’ve learned without letting Guy get under my skin too much.
It was quiet, the air calm and peaceful. But despite our business being over, there was no sign that Guy was leaving.
Skillfully, Shuna poured a refill into Guy’s empty teacup. She had a separate pot on hand for serving, so the remaining tea leaves wouldn’t get used up too quickly.
“Man, you’re good, you know that? None of the chuckleheads working for me could do any of this.”
“I’m flattered, my lord.”
Benimaru looked a little worried, but Shuna was unfazed, retaining her wits and not letting Guy bowl her over.
“Hey, you think I could have Mizeri and Raine train under you for a little while?”
“Train?”
“Yeah. I want you to teach ’em how to bake cakes like this.”
They cooked for us at the Walpurgis council, actually, and I thought it was a pretty nice spread—but when it came to desserts, Shuna had a clear edge. She was neck and neck with Mr. Yoshida in the race to invent new taste-tempting offerings, so she was polishing up her skills by leaps and bounds.
I accepted this as normal, but Guy’s reaction reminded me of how much of a luxury this was. Like, ever since I came to this world, I’d been doing pretty much whatever I wanted—something that only hit home with me now. Re-creating the things I used to love, striving to make all my favorite foods available over here… But no matter how much passion and skill you had, some recipes just couldn’t be re-created without the right ingredients. Even a chef as outstanding as Mr. Yoshida couldn’t have made this cake we’re enjoying without the high-quality liqueurs we’re producing in Tempest. Better remember to be grateful for that.
Anyway, what answer should I give Guy? I thought about just telling him to come over here and buy from us, but no need to be that stingy. So I decided to teach them only the recipes we’ve developed ourselves, keeping Mr. Yoshida’s inventions a guarded secret.
“Shuna, could you teach this recipe to the two women in the adjacent room later?”
“I would be glad to!”
“You’ll need our quality ingredients to make it, keep in mind, but maybe we can cut you a deal on them later.”
We refined our sugar to keep any impurities from mixing in. We had a machine for that and everything—my sweet tooth, combined with the technical skills of Kaijin and his team, was producing quality that didn’t suffer at all from what I knew in Japan. We weren’t cranking out enough to put on the market, but it allowed us to indulge, at least. Maybe we could add a couple sacks to our production quotas and pass them on to Guy.
“You’re okay with that?”
“Sure.”
And I meant that. I wasn’t giving away our tech, but if we had buyers for our product, I wasn’t going to hoard it. Having Guy invite himself into our nation whenever he wanted might cause some grief, I feared… But aides like Mizeri knew how to activate and run transport gates, so I was sure we could just send our goods through there once we finished making them.
That—and I had some other thoughts, too. If Guy found us useful, keep in mind, that all but guaranteed our security as a country. The deeper our ties with foreign nations, the more it connected to our own safety. Two countries needing each other meant that they couldn’t rattle the saber too casually. A regional economic zone is as good as a strong military alliance in my book; that was my pet theory.
I also didn’t want any trouble with Guy, so the more cards in our hand, the better. This was, after all, the first time I had ever paid so much attention to a potential opponent. (Or maybe the second time after my initial encounter with Veldora?) Putting aside the question of whether I could beat him, fighting would lead to more than just needless hassle. There’d be real harm done, and barring some unforeseen emergency, I intended to respect Guy’s intentions. Maybe he’d use and abuse me sometimes (like today), but I’d just have to put up with it. I have my limits, but…
Now that I had “enjoyed” several conversations with Guy, I was starting to realize that he wasn’t quite the blockheaded despot I thought he was. He was surprisingly rational and understanding, too, and his dealings with Diablo demonstrated that he wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty. I’d like to hope he saw us as useful enough that he wouldn’t make any unreasonable demands.
So um, you mind going home soon?
But my tiny little wish was soon crushed.
“Hold on. Before I leave, there’s one thing I need to ask.”
What? Is there something we haven’t covered yet?
“Yes?”
“Why did Diablo evolve?”
Da-dummm!!
I thought he didn’t notice, but I guess I was kidding myself. I hate dealing with people as perceptive as he is.
“Well, um…”
Now what? What kind of response would Guy be willing to accept, even?!
“And not just Diablo, either, huh? It took a while to scope out what was happening over in your labyrinth, but how come you got all those guys down there at ‘true demon lord’ strength, hmm?”
Guy’s lips were smiling, but his eyes sure as hell weren’t. I guess cheap excuses weren’t going to work…
Understood. You could frame it as experimentation with your Belzebuth skill, and that should be acceptable.
God is good!
Right, let’s do that. That’s the Raphael I know. I can always count on the dude at times like these.
“So you know, I’ve been experimenting with my powers a little bit lately, to see if I can beef up our forces for the battle against the Empire. As I did, I discovered that one of my skills has a pretty interesting side effect I can take advantage of.”
“Oh? What kind of side effect?”
I dunno.
Tell me, Raphael!!
Understood. The effect of reverting souls into pure energy and granting them to those capable of awakening. Call it forced evolution, and that should be enough explanation for the subject Guy Crimson.
Oh. That is what I did, isn’t it? That whole evolution ritual harnessed the power of Belzebuth, not Raphael. This was the unvarnished truth, even; I wouldn’t be lying or hiding anything from Guy. This might just be the way to go, actually.
“Belzebuth, you see, can take people’s souls and convert them back into energy. Then I can grant that ‘soul energy’ to other people, you see. If they’re not qualified for it, it won’t do anything at all, but—”
“Uh-huh. So if someone has the seed for it, they can get awakened that way? Wow.”
Guy seemed convinced. I suppose he could tell I wasn’t lying to him anyway. Raphael saved my bacon once again.
“Yeah, well, with wars in this world, individual strength is a lot more important than vast numbers, right? So it’s a given that I’ll want to enhance my team’s individual skills.”
“Yes, that makes perfect sense. By the way, I’ve been thinking this for a while… But you’re pretty abnormal, aren’t you?”
“Huh? No I’m not.”
“No, I mean…slimes don’t usually talk, you know? And I’ve been letting that slide, but then you won over Veldora somehow; you built up this whole town… It’s just not normal, by any stretch of the imagination. Are you a reincarnate, maybe? You are, aren’tcha?”
“Hmm? Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah, I died in a different world from here, and then I got reborn as a slime with my mind intact.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
We stared at each other. No, really, he didn’t know? I thought we had broken this down ages ago. I’d been pretty public with this fact, and it was a famous story over in the Western Nations, too. I thought for sure that Guy would’ve heard it somewhere or other. Maybe it’s not always a good idea to assume the other party knows everything you think they do—not that I misspoke or anything, but it was something to watch out for. Don’t want to give out too much information just because I want to keep the conversation going.
“It’s really true?”
“Yes, it certainly is.”
“Sir Rimuru never lies.”
Why is he so doubtful about this? Now he’s turning to Benimaru and Shuna for confirmation, the bastard.
“Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Wowww! I always assumed you were a pretty screwy monster, but that’s the story behind you, huh? Simply being reincarnated between worlds is a rarity in itself, but you got reborn as a monster? Man, talk about a bad break.”
Guy let out another belly laugh. I didn’t see it as all that funny.
“But now it all makes sense. If you traveled between worlds in soul form and still managed to keep your mind intact, well, no wonder you’ve got such a toughened heart core to ya. It explains why you’re picky about retaining a human form, too…and maybe why you evolved so insanely fast and got those ultimate skills.”
So in short, I’m a stubborn old ass, huh? Well, maybe. I like to think I’m pretty thick-skinned, not to brag. Never give up, never lose heart, always think positive—that’s what I live by.
“It’s that convincing to you, huh?”
“Yep. You always struck me as a shady guy, but now I think I can really trust you, after all.”
That’s just rude, isn’t it? But I’ll forgive it. I can’t beat him in battle anyway… And I certainly don’t want him all suspicious and hostile around me. Again, the power of positive thinking.
“Well, I’m glad we got that cleared up, and I think I’ve asked you about everything I need to. So I imagine you’ll be heading—”
“Oh, can I get some more of this?”
“Certainly.”
I was about to push Guy back home when he interrupted me and brazenly demanded a second slice of cake. Shuna immediately sprang into action, and it’d be weird if only he was eating, so I asked for another slice, too. Stress eating isn’t a good habit to acquire, but I just wanted some sugar to perk me up. But Guy got in my way yet again.
“So, Rimuru, let’s go back to what I was asking.”
I had a gut feeling that this was going to be painful.
“Huh? Asking about what?”
“You awakening your team members here. Because it sounded to me like you could share some of your power with my servants, too, but what do you think? Sound possible, or what?”
Dammit… This dude’s just like me, isn’t he? Incredibly shrewd, trying to take advantage of anything useful… Making me think the conversation is over, only to pull the “just one more thing” killer blow. Not that I’m this blatant about it… Or maybe I am?
No point pondering that, though. Guy needs an answer, and for that—
Understood. It is possible.
Oh. The guy answered me before I even thought of the question. That made me feel a little sad, somehow. I could almost feel it thinking I’m getting sick of dealing with you.
Understood. There is no such intention.
Something about this exchange made me think it’s incredibly angry at me. Better not prod it any further. Raphael’s all I have to rely on, so if it gave up on me, I’d be at the end of my rope.
Right. Now for a more serious question. If I built a soul corridor between myself and Guy’s “servants” (whoever they are), would that still work?
Affirmative. Forced intervention is now possible even if you do not share a common soul lineage with the monster in question. The target must not resist the connection, but as long as it is qualified to awaken, an infusion of energy is capable of inciting evolution.
Roger that.
This just leaves one problem—how many of my souls it’d consume. I don’t know how many people he wanted me to awaken, but if I don’t have the goods, we’re getting nowhere here.
“I don’t think it’ll be a problem, no. Can’t be sure unless I try, but I’m reasonably sure it’ll be fine. But I don’t have enough energy left to pass out to other people, though.”
This was my attempt at nimbly turning Guy down without angering him. I actually had just over one hundred thousand souls left, but Guy couldn’t have any way of knowing that. Surely he’d give up now.
“Right. So as long as you have souls to provide, you can do it, then?”
“Uhhh…”
He’s not giving up?
“Because you know, I once gave Mizeri about ten thousand of my own souls. It didn’t trigger anything at all, though. No sign of her awakening or anything. So I thought I was just wasting my time with that approach.”
He can just pass on souls as is like that? These demons are pretty clever, aren’t they? But that wouldn’t cause an awakening?
Understood. In order to incite an evolution, the requisite souls must be converted into the required form to be compatible with the target. Simply giving away souls is unlikely to have the desired effect. Furthermore, granting souls to other people is a highly inefficient use of energy, producing only about 10 percent of the anticipated value.
Aha.
So in order to make a would-be demon lord take root, you needed to give it the right sun and water and stuff? And of course, knowing how to do that is different from actually pulling it off. So would it be better to wait for his servants to spontaneously evolve, then?
Negative. A monster named by a higher-level being has its very nature altered. Even if it has souls it acquired on its own, that is unlikely to cause an awakening.
So once they’re named, that’s the end of the evolution process. It’s hard enough for someone to qualify for an awakening, but that sounds like quite the unexpected pitfall to me. The vast majority of monsters never qualify at all; naming is a much more likely method of powering up, so maybe it’s the same thing in the end.
Anyway, being named changes the nature of a monster to the point that it’s no longer able to extract the appropriate energy from the souls they acquire. Guy seems to be unaware of this, so I guess Raphael strikes again. Truly, it’s the smartest teacher I ever had in my life.
…
Oops. I was sincere with that praise, but maybe Raphael took it as me making fun of it. But I had my answer, so let’s just move on.
“Mizeri, huh? Did you try it with Raine or anyone else? And actually, you were the one who named them, right?”
“That’s right. Again, well spotted.”
“Well, there’s your problem right there.”
“Oh?”
“When they’re named by a higher-level life-form, that changes their nature enough that it won’t work, it looks like.”
“…Mmm. That sort of thing, huh? So it’s a waste of time no matter how many souls I give them. But you’ve got a way to adapt the soul energy so it’ll work on the target?”
I had to take a crash course from Raphael to figure all this out, but Guy was picking up on it super rapidly. Everything he said was right on the money, too.
“My approach ought to, yeah.”
“Okay. I wanna ask you a favor.”
Here we go. Now I was really starting to understand Guy’s personality. When he starts to use that wheedling voice of his, he must think there’s no way I’ll say no. I’d really like to slap a denial on him, but I’d be too afraid to try it. I value my life too much for that these days, so I’ll just play along for now.
“Um, just so you know, all the souls in the world won’t evolve someone if they don’t qualify for the right.”
“No problem there. Both of them meet the requirements just fine. You think you can awaken them for me?”
The way Guy was talking, his two maids were total garbage, useless in their current states. His evaluation standards are so weird. Based on what I heard, Mizeri and Raine are Primals on the same level as Testarossa and her gang. But he’s just slamming them like this instead? And considering one of my own secretaries made a sport out of egging Guy on, I was getting more and more nervous by the moment.
Ah, well. Now it boils down to whether I have the souls I need.
“Okay, so it’s only Mizeri and Raine you’d like to have awakened?”
“Yeah. How many souls is that gonna take?”
For a self-awakening, it was ten thousand; for a servant of mine in my soul lineage, it was a cool one hundred thousand, ten times as much. If I was working with unrelated third parties this time, I’m sure it’d be even more inefficient. So as for the number—
Understood. Five hundred thousand souls.
Five hundred thousand? So a quarter million each?! Twenty-five times more than usual—and over twice as many as a “soul lineage” job… It seemed like a ton, but if that’s Raphael’s quote, it has to be true.
“I think five hundred thousand would be enough for the two of them.”
“Huh? That’s all? Well, shoot, I got enough in me right now, then. I won’t even have to kill any more humans.”
He has them? And like, what was he gonna do if he didn’t?!
“Oh, you do? That’s, um, good.”
A dry chuckle was about all I could let out. I might’ve been begging Guy to stop right now if the numbers didn’t work out. I’m glad I didn’t have to, but considering all the casualties lately, I kinda had mixed feelings about this. The difference in how we value souls—and all that. I secretly prayed we didn’t have any more conflicts of interest going forward.