That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 6

by Fuse

  As I observed them, I was struck by the odd feeling that a chilly wind was blowing over me. I turned to find a blond-haired beauty coming in, blessed with looks that only the gods themselves could have given her. She walked right up to me.

  “…You are Rimuru?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  I thought about saying “Yeah, but who’re you?” at first. I definitely didn’t know her—but then it dawned on me. There were four demon lords left. Carillon was missing, and that just left Clayman, Milim, and Leon. Leon was blond-haired, I think, and beautiful enough that people called him the Platinum Devil… Hmm…

  “…Oh, you’re Leon? Did you need something?”

  “Yes, I am Leon. And no, I need nothing from you. The sight of you brought back some memories, is all.”

  It was him. He was beautiful, so much so that you could easily mistake him for a woman. In my past life, I probably would’ve been jealous enough to wish for him to get hit by a truck. He was formerly human, I was told, but kept a majestic presence about him—the majesty of a demon lord.

  And I brought back “memories”? I suppose my face was essentially Shizu’s at a young age. So Leon must have—

  “Shizu’s dead, Leon.”

  Seeing me simply conjured up old memories of Shizu in his mind.

  “I know,” he coldly stated. “And of course she would be. She took in Ifrit but refused to become a magic-born.”

  “She asked me to punch you out for her. Mind letting me do that?”

  I just kind of blurted it out. I wasn’t trying to start stuff; I just didn’t like how Leon was talking about her. It was maybe a little too direct, but Leon handled it with calm composure.

  “No, thank you. I wanted her to live as a human being. I even gave her Ifrit as a farewell gift. I see no reason why I deserve a beating for it.”

  What a disappointment. I figured he’d be enraged, but he just calmly fired back at me.

  “…But I do have a bit of an interest in you. If you have an issue with me, I’ll happily invite you to come visit. You can turn down the offer, of course, if you think it’s a trap.”

  Talk about a one-sided deal. He was basically daring me to chicken out. I had to accept it.

  “All right. I’ll do that. Feel free to send an invitation, if you get around to it.”

  I didn’t say anything more after that.

  Leon nodded, looking a little annoyed. “I will. Assuming you walk out of this meeting hall alive, that is.”

  With that blunt rejoinder, Leon settled down in the seat just to my left. It was his way of saying our conversation was over. For now, I was fine with that. I got to tell him about Shizu, and I now knew that Leon wasn’t out to antagonize me. At least not here at the Council. He wouldn’t have said yes to that invitation thing if he was.

  Maybe it was just postponing the dispute for later, but right now, I wanted to focus on Clayman as my enemy.

  These proceedings all unfolded in the hour after we reached the meeting hall at midnight. It looked like the older demon lords had been guided in first, with me getting a head start because I happened to be traveling with Ramiris. It wasn’t any official rule, though, given that people like Leon could travel here themselves.

  All that remained were Clayman and Milim. And just when I thought the Council was about to begin, Benimaru tossed a Thought Communication my way.

  (Sir Rimuru, may I brief you for a moment?)

  This hall seemed like it was in another dimension of sorts, but I guess this link with Benimaru still worked?

  Understood. A soul circuit has been established with the monsters under your command. The link is using this to allow your conscious to interact with them.

  Oh. That sort of thing?

  I guess this soul circuit got hooked up with the gifts I handed out to everyone for my evolution. It didn’t seem as robust as the connection I had with Veldora, but it was good enough for talking, at least.

  So I asked what was up. Apparently, the battle ended less than an hour after it began—incredibly lopsided and pretty much as we planned it. Our side had numerous casualties but no deaths. Clayman’s forces had at least a thousand killed in action and over three thousand wounded. That was fewer deaths than I expected, but in this world where you can always get healed as long as you stayed alive, that much was a given.

  Still, that was a massive, overwhelming victory. We managed to take some prisoners as well, so I couldn’t ask for much more.

  Yamza, the enemy commander, had turned into Charybdis for some strange reason, but Benimaru was kind enough to vaporize the guy for me. Apparently. I’m not really sure what all that meant, so I just kind of glossed over it for now.

  …Or I wanted to. But how did he deal with Charybdis’s Magic Interference?

  Understood. A number of Arts and skills combined with the unique skill Born Leader allowed him full control over Hellflare.

  Aha. So he used control beyond what Magic Interference could handle to hit it with a direct, massive wave of heat. Easy for me to say, but that has to require a hell of a lot of talent. Benimaru’s gotten stronger than I even imagined. Pretty hot stuff.

  One factor we didn’t expect was the Dragon Faithful. They were reportedly a pretty formidable fighting force, as you’d expect from Milim’s followers. We didn’t lose anyone to them because they weren’t really out there seeking to kill…but I guess it was my bad for not thinking about them. I figured a force of a hundred-odd was no big deal, but I was wrong. Wars in this world depended more on the powers of a few than the many, but my conventional wisdom from my old world was making me forget that.

  Lucky thing that didn’t result in any major breakdowns. I’d have to be more careful next time.

  Based on Benimaru’s report, we had a general idea of Clayman’s story.

  The force led by Yamza was marching on the pretext of investigating Carillon’s betrayal. They wanted to collect evidence that he backstabbed the other demon lords, killed one of Clayman’s top leaders, and was connected to me. Well, not collect. More like concoct.

  With our victory today, that line was cut off. I didn’t know what kind of excuses he would come up with here, but I didn’t imagine they would be well received by any other demon lord. Of course, I intended to kill off Clayman in the end, and I was prepared to do the same to anyone who got in my way. Let’s just try to steer this so I’d secure victory here in the easiest way possible.

  I’ll be counting on you, Raphael!

  ……

  Raphael’s rarin’ to go, too. That’s a relief.

  Whoops, here’s another report from Soei. Sounds like they’ve captured Clayman’s headquarters. Man, there is just no mercy with that guy. Hakuro pitched in a hell of an effort, too, but apparently Shuna shined the brightest in the fight.

  Also, it turns out that I now have an army of undead for some reason? I sort of missed the plot on that, and Soei was being oddly vague about the whole thing, simply stating “Lady Shuna will explain the details later.”

  The most important thing, though, was that Carillon wasn’t being held in Clayman’s castle. Plus:

  (—We discovered the castle’s treasury, so we’ve called upon Geld to begin the transport process. The room included some evidence linking Clayman to the Moderate Jesters, which I think should help your case.)

  Wow. No mercy. We’re even pillaging Clayman’s treasure vault. That doesn’t count as theft, does it? Oh, well. No point sweating the small stuff. We’ll just call it collecting damages for all the trouble Clayman gave us. There’s reportedly a lot, which should help our own budget out greatly.

  More important, however, was that dossier of evidence. Benimaru had sent some over for me, and Soei had discovered some more. All of it was now safely received in my Stomach, and with it, I should be able to shut down the basis for any excuse he comes up with. It’d be important to make myself look good around here.

  So, much quicker than I expected, we had thoroughly and completely crushed
Clayman’s force. It’d remain to be seen how he’d approach this Council, but let’s try using these developments to my advantage.

  …And then, just as I finished reading the reports, Clayman finally appeared before me.

  He was more handsome than I pictured him—and high-strung. His clothing looked expensive, and I suppose he placed a lot of importance on his appearance, because he was sporting a whole array of Unique equipment that would make him a more-than-decent fighter. It certainly befitted his image as a demon lord not to be trifled with.

  What struck me the most, however, was the fox he was carrying in his arms. It was packed to the gills with magicules and mystical force, maybe even up to demon lord levels. That was one of his attendants, and I suppose a demon lord’s servants had to be pretty damn powerful, too.

  That, and I tried running an Analyze and Assess on him, and something interesting caught my eye there. I didn’t want to coast on this just because we had occupied his HQ. It was important to finish him off right.

  Anyway, Milim followed behind him, completing the night’s attendee list.

  All were real monsters, ready to burn you at a moment’s notice. Doing the A and A once-over on Leon produced nothing useful, either. It was kind of funny, seeing Raphael say that it couldn’t analyze something. It meant he had an ultimate skill of his own, something on the same level as mine.

  Then I made a realization. Guy had let me read fake info, but was that his way of fending off ultimate skills? If I couldn’t use my ultimate to analyze something, it meant the target had an ultimate, too. That may be why he was feeding me a bunch of nonsense instead—I just happened to know it was fake nonsense because Raphael was smart enough to see that. If it hadn’t noticed, I could easily have been tricked.

  This meant, of course, that Guy had an ultimate skill as well. I suspected Milus (?) did, too, and Leon definitely did. An ultimate was several orders of magnitude more powerful than a unique skill requiring an intersection of one’s attributes, luck, and a plethora of incidental conditions. They were rare—uncommon enough that even a true, awakened demon lord may not have one, and all were great as a last-resort ace in the hole.

  That was why I needed to be extra careful here. That, and—ugh—it was safe to assume Guy knew I possessed an ultimate now. Big mistake. My lack of experience playing this game screwed me there. I was dealing with some of the orneriest demon lords out there; I should’ve been more on the alert.

  Still, what’s done is done. It wasn’t a lethal mistake, either. I just needed to figure out how to deal with it. It’s easy to hide mind-reading skills, just as Gazel did. Guy still didn’t know what type of skill I had, so I probably didn’t need to be too hung up about it. Hell, I could even use this to make them think I’m a fool. To be exact, I would direct Raphael to hide everything at all costs, but maybe show off one ultimate skill that was okay to reveal as my trump card. That way, I could still keep a few cards hidden at all times, right?

  It was a gutsy bit of subterfuge, but I was safe in pulling it off with the four ultimate skills I enjoyed. I was planning on kicking up one hell of a storm in the upcoming battle against Clayman anyway, which would make the debut of—

  Suggestion. Hiding Belzebuth, Lord of Gluttony would be difficult.

  Yeah, I think you’re right. It was a great offensive and defensive weapon, capable of consuming and destroying nearly any attack thrown at it. Predation was a pretty core battle tactic for me, so revealing Belzebuth seemed like a good idea. Let’s go with that as my main battle weapon, keeping my other skills hidden until otherwise needed.

  I suppose I’m glad that I noticed the need for something like this early on. If I got out of here safely, I’d need to rethink my battle tactics a little. No point being reluctant to use my skills if it wound up killing me.

  After that moment of regret, I saw one of the most amazing sights of my life.

  “Move it, you half-wit!”

  Out of nowhere, Clayman closed-fist punched Milim. That Milim.

  “Sit yourself down, you stupid dunce,” he said, ruthlessly bossing her around. I thought I’d explode in anger, but I held it in. Not yet. Just a bit longer. I have to hold back until I have the chance to declare it all, following the rules.

  But what on earth happened to Milim? Milim the Destroyer? If it was Clayman being punched, well, that’d just be Milim being Milim. But this? Oh, man, I fear for his safety…

  …and yet, despite this bout of violence, Clayman didn’t look like he’d be decapitated anytime soon. Milim did nothing to resist or complain about his treatment. She just followed his orders and sat at her seat.

  This is weird. Is she under his control after all? I may have to consider the worst-case scenario here. And to add insult to injury, some of the other demon lords, Daggrull and Deeno included, were looking similarly flummoxed at this. Guy was stone-faced; I don’t know what he was thinking.

  Clayman, meanwhile, was looking like he was king of the world, his superiority complex written all over his face. It made my anger burn all over again… Don’t expect your death to be an easy one, Clayman. You’ll pay for hitting my friend.

  And with that oath to myself, Clayman’s death was now set in stone. I had no intention of forgiving him, no matter the excuse. But there was no need for panic. The Council had only just begun.

  The event was attended by a total of nine people, minus Carillon:

  “Lord of Darkness” Guy Crimson (demon)

  “Destroyer” Milim Nava (dragonoid)

  “Labyrinth Master” Ramiris (pixie)

  “Earthquake” Daggrull (giant)

  “Bloody Lord” Roy Valentine (vampire)

  “Sleeping Ruler” Deeno (fallen)

  “Sky Queen” Frey (harpy)

  “Marionette Master” Clayman (walking dead)

  “Platinum Saber” Leon Cromwell (ex-human)

  …And then, me—the subject of this Council, the slime who’d dare call himself demon lord.

  Raine, the maid in Guy’s service, made all the above introductions in her clear, loud voice.

  Leon was the one who piqued my interest the most. I seem to remember his nickname being the Platinum Devil, but now he was acting all cool and calling himself the Platinum Saber. He certainly looked more the part of a dashing swordsman, but who thought up these nicknames anyway? They didn’t make them up themselves, did they? …Well, I probably shouldn’t comment, given my track record for naming things. Let’s let that topic die on the vine.

  After the intros ended, Clayman stood up as the host.

  “All right. First, thanks to all of you for answering my invitation and coming here. It is now time to begin our festival! I hereby declare this Walpurgis Council convened!”

  Thus, with the chance for cataclysmic events electrifying the air around us, the event kicked off.

  Taking advantage of his position as chairman, Clayman started things off by going into a speech, eyeing all of us in order and looking supremely satisfied with himself. His eyes stopped for just a moment when they reached Valentine, but maybe I imagined it—that’s got nothing to do with me anyway.

  Leon was seated to my left; the chair on my right was empty, and to its right were Clayman’s and the absent Carillon’s seats.

  Clayman went on for a while, explaining matters with an obvious sense of pride, and I diligently listened to all of it. Here’s the executive summary:

  • The demon lord Carillon enticed me into declaring myself a demon lord. This allegation is backed up by the fact that Carillon’s armies are stationed in our town.

  • He then incited the kingdom of Farmus into attacking the Great Forest of Jura, requesting my cooperation to fend them off and using that as an excuse to meddle with human nations.

  • After defeating Farmus, I assumed the title of demon lord, enjoying Carillon’s support behind the scenes.

  This kind of unauthorized collusion violated the demon lords’ agreements.

  He was better prepared to m
ake this argument than I gave him credit for. It was all a bunch of nonsense, totally ignoring the actual timeline of events, but proving that would be difficult. All of this happened at the same time as the demon lords withdrew from their mutual nonaggression agreement for the Forest of Jura, and (as he bluntly put it) there was no excusing that. As if, you know, I cared about that.

  “…That is the testimony I have received from Mjurran, one of my advisers. However, upon briefing me about this, she was murdered— by that fool over there, Rimuru. Thus, I decided to exact my revenge.”

  What is he, a thespian? If not, he missed his calling. He almost convinced me, even… Almost. I mean, Mjurran’s pretty alive right now.

  “Rimuru was conspiring with Carillon to make an attempt upon my life. And with her last gasps of breath, Mjurran sent me a magical missive to inform me of the plot.”

  He paused a moment, pretending to be overcome with emotion. His handsome looks certainly made it a moving sight, but it mostly served to rankle my nerves.

  So he’s saying I tried to kill him to claw my way into a demon lord’s seat? And it was Carillon who engineered it all? I have to say, that’s a pretty impressive story to make up. If you actually knew Carillon and how relentlessly in your face and warlike he was, it’d be enough to make you blurt out laughing.

  Clayman’s tales continued, meandering here and there, but basically, he was accusing Carillon of betraying the Council. This enraged Milim enough to destroy the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania, and Carillon was now dead. Hmm. Dead? Not missing? That seemed unnatural enough to worry me, but I kept on listening.

  Milim had taken action out of concern for Clayman, but he had rebuked her, since wrecking nations without any evidence was generally frowned upon. Ever since, she had fostered an affinity for Clayman, relying on and trusting in him—and with his adviser Mjurran dead, Clayman decided to send out a force to secure evidence linking me to Carillon. In addition, he wished to use this Council to discuss how to handle me, after I tried to kill him and declare my rights as demon lord.