by Fuse
…
The whole reason I was stewing over this was because I didn’t want to have anybody killed. If I went with massive numbers to tire out the paladins, victory was assured, but it’d result in tons of casualties. We had all kept ourselves alive and well up to now; it’d be ridiculous to stop that streak now.
But…this was Hinata we were dealing with. She’s seriously bad news. I focused squarely on running away the last time we tussled, but if I had truly tried to fight her, I almost certainly would have been dead. Even though she wasn’t even giving her full effort.
Right now, I was the only one of us who could give Hinata any kind of challenge, and if it was a one-on-one duel, I didn’t think I’d lose. If she was paired with her paladins, though, I couldn’t be so sure. Striding in with too much confidence could get me killed. Those hundred other paladins were another issue, too; how should we handle those? If she just wanted to talk with me, she wouldn’t have taken this many people with her. And given how she was going out of her way to avoid notice, you’d have to be silly not to be alarmed.
“Wait!” Veldora suddenly belted out. “I know! How about I just happen to test out my dragon’s breath when they arrive? We’ll simply pretend it was a misfire and I wasn’t aware anybody was near me!”
“Can you shut up one second? You’re the final defense line, and I mean the really, really final one, all right?”
I swear. He was like a bratty kid sometimes. If Hinata did want to talk, and we pulled a stunt like that, it’d blow the whole thing. There was no telling how much damage that breath would cause, either. It was too scary to think of. It’d be happier for everyone, us included, if he stepped away from the battle. His plan did make sense if we were in this to kill, but I had to know for sure what our opponents wanted first. We couldn’t leave them to their own devices, though, because a few paladins were all it’d take to build another Holy Field over me. They had to be watched but not killed.
Paladins were positioned as the guardians of humankind, protected by the elemental spirits. In this world, monster-based mayhem was no laughing matter. It was a daily threat to one’s life. The paladins Hinata trained grew up knowing that fear, as they patrolled the villages and frontier towns they offered their free protection to. Many people owed their lives to them. The Crusaders held a special place in the hearts of those survivors, along with Luminism. Their strength was top-shelf, each one ranking an A or above, and we’d take serious casualties in a frontal assault.
But that wasn’t the problem. Killing these knights, these fighters with the hopes and prayers and anticipation of the weak and helpless heaped upon their shoulders, would undoubtedly be the source of untold headaches to come.
If it wasn’t for Luminism’s stance that monsters were the common enemy of humanity, maybe we could’ve talked this out. I hadn’t abandoned that hope, but I couldn’t be too confident that this attempt would work out any better than the last one. To them, we were simply evil, and they didn’t negotiate with evil. And I could understand their thoughts. Some of them must have survived their own villages being destroyed, their parents being killed. Being tricked by the wrong adversary meant the loss of life—not just theirs, but those of everyone who needed protection behind them.
Even now, there were wild monsters causing havoc everywhere. Their numbers had gone down in the lands around Tempest, but in other realms, they were still appearing from the woods and going berserk. If we wiped out the paladins, who would keep the countryside safe then? If you think about it that way, I wasn’t so sure we should just wipe all these guys out.
If Hinata had just opened up and talked to me last time, there wouldn’t even be this whole misunderstanding. Sadly, though, she didn’t. Because I’m a monster. She was stubborn like that—stubborn enough that, even after that message I sent, she brought a whole force along with her.
Concern. Some factors seem unnatural about that. There is likely a high possibility this paladin activity goes against Hinata Sakaguchi’s desire.
Huh? So there is room to talk, then?
If I put my foot down and declared her an enemy, there were a million and one ways I could defeat her. But as long as I didn’t know what they were up to, it was all but impossible to figure out our best move. There were a few reasons for that, but if I had to pick one, I guess it just comes down to the fact that I didn’t want to kill Hinata. Shizue was worried for her, too, and now that I had taken on her will, I didn’t want to resort to violence.
Ugh! And this was all because of how headstrong she was. So annoying.
Either way, though, if talks failed, we wouldn’t avoid a fight. If that was how it turned out, we were at a disadvantage, really. We were dealing with an anti-monster expert, nobody we could afford to trifle with, and I was certain that I wanted to avoid casualties on either side.
We would need to assume the worst in our approach, no matter what they did. If talking didn’t work, I wanted it to be a duel between Hinata and me. That was exactly what my message said, so that shouldn’t be a problem. They might be considering a more full-on battle, but if they were, they were gonna do it on my turf.
If we could spring a trap or something on them, that could buy time enough for me to defeat Hinata. It was a pain to think about, but it had to be done.
“All right. I’ve got it sorted out. We need to consider the future here, and along those lines, I want to do our best to avoid killing any of the paladins as well.”
That was the direction I wanted to go with—assuming talks failed, of course—and it ignited some more debate among my staff. It’d be a terrible waste if we took casualties of our own in an effort to avoid hurting them. We had to work out the best possible approach, and the surest way was for me to beat Hinata and break the paladins’ morale. As a result, our primary focus was earning as much time for me as possible.
“So why don’t we just slash ’em all up and silence them that way?”
“…”
“I was joking,” Shion said with a cough. Is she really all right? The way she acts alarms me almost as much as Veldora.
“Basically,” she continued, “you want to maintain the battle, without killing any paladins, and without losing anyone on our side. In the meantime, you will defeat the enemy’s leader. Am I right, Sir Rimuru?”
“Yeah. That’s what it is. I’m glad you get it.”
Oh, so she did follow me. I was seriously worried for her sanity for a moment there. And if she got it, I was sure the rest of my staff did. But just when I breathed a sigh of relief, Shion confidently beamed at me.
“In that case, I have an idea!”
Uh-oh. I began to feel anxious, for reasons I couldn’t put into words.
“…What is it?”
“There just happens to be exactly one hundred members in Team Reborn, the group I lead. They would certainly be up to the challenge. I’d like them to engage the paladins!”
She looked defiantly at me.
“What are you, crazy?! Team Reborn’s only about a C-ranked threat level! They’re not gonna be up to the challenge—no!”
I wanted to know where Shion’s confidence came from. They may have matched numbers-wise, but in terms of strength, it was like night and day.
“…There are some issues with that suggestion, yes, but I think it would be an effective idea.”
Surprisingly, it was Benimaru who defended her. Everyone in Team Reborn had the extra skill Complete Memory, which made them hard to kill with regular attacks. It was unlikely, he said, that our foes would break out their worst, most soul-crushing attacks on the first salvo against a weaker force. As he put it, their weakness “would put the paladins off their guard, giving us a hole to plunge through. If buying time is what we’re looking for, they might actually be well suited for that.”
He was starting to convince me. If the paladins didn’t have any way of directly attacking the souls of their foes, Team Reborn would even be at an advantage. It could make things a lot easier than
if we sent any other force their way.
“Benimaru is right!” Shion bellowed. “And also, Sir Rimuru, I have been carefully training them all. They have successfully acquired Cancel Pain, of course, and they also resist poison, paralysis, and sleep. When it comes to tenacity, at least, they won’t lose out to anybody. Hakuro said so himself.”
Hakuro was nodding at her. It must’ve been the truth, but I thought I’d check to be sure.
“How did they acquire those resistances, by the way?”
“Well…”
Her reply surprised me. Apparently, she asked Kurobe to make them all weapons that inflicted their targets with status ailments, then had them use those weapons while training against each other, building up their natural immunity. They were largely immortal, so they’d never go easy on their sparring partners, and it was so hard to knock them out entirely that battles tended to last forever with them. In the simulated fights they carried out, it was more a matter of “whoever’s left standing is the winner.”
“And if Team Reborn is in danger, Sir Rimuru, I can send Team Kurenai in to help them out. Are you up for that, Gobwa?”
Benimaru was talking to the large, attractive-looking ogre guarding the door for us. She came over to me, kneeled, and bowed her head to us both. This Gobwa was the squad leader of Kurenai, apparently. She must’ve been a goblin at the time I gave that name to her, but you’d never believe it now—at this point, she was an elite officer, dressed in a striking scarlet-red uniform.
“Sir!” she said, puffing out her chest. “I have been training our squad just as hard as Lady Shion has. Please allow us to serve your needs on the field, Sir Rimuru!”
Her eyes were sharp, giving her a strong presence. She was also an A rank, maybe higher, which made her at least as strong as Soka. I guess Benimaru’s been raising some real talents of his own.
“They may not be an even match for the paladins,” Benimaru said, “but my fighters are talented, indeed. Two of them could engage one of the paladins long enough to allow Team Reborn time to escape.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! My team can neutralize the paladins all by themselves!”
They started bickering. Both of them were certainly ready for a fight, at least. Maybe it’d be worth leaving this job to them.
“All right. Shion, I accept your offer. Gobwa, you handle the rest.”
“Y-yes sir! Gladly!”
Gobwa’s cheeks reddened as she replied. It must’ve been exciting for her, which was fine by me. It’d be more ideal if I didn’t need to use them at all, but regardless.
“Remember, Shion, don’t send them out until we’re sure that the talks are a nonstarter, all right?”
“That’s fine! But if our foes make any suspicious moves…”
Yeah, that’d be a different story. I forgot about the need to interfere with them in advance, lest they toss a Holy Field our way.
“If they try anything funny, don’t be afraid to hold back then. Check with me via Thought Communication first, then take action!”
“Roger that,” Shion replied, giving a satisfied nod as Benimaru ordered Gobwa back to the door.
So we now had Team Reborn assigned to delay the Crusaders and Team Kurenai providing emergency backup, about three hundred people against a hundred paladins. I was happy with that. Now we just had the question of who would handle the four saint-class paladins accompanying Hinata.
First off, who among us was powerful enough to handle them? By my estimation, the group included Veldora, Ranga, Benimaru, Shion, Soei, Geld, Gabil, Diablo, and me. Hakuro had the sword skills to keep up as well, although his magical strength wasn’t quite up to everyone else’s level. Shuna… I wasn’t sure. A magical fight was one thing, but against a close-range expert, I didn’t like her chances. The Ten Great Saints were reportedly on a level with a pre-ascended demon lord or Orc Disaster; that’d be a lot to ask from Shuna.
So counting Hakuro, ten people. I was handling Hinata. Veldora was out of the question—I didn’t want him going out of control on me, so he could focus on town defense. I mean, for all we knew, there could be yet another enemy force on the move that we hadn’t noticed yet. We needed our defense to be as solid as possible. Geld, meanwhile, I didn’t want to bother if I could help it.
I wanted to have Diablo, Ranga, Hakuro, and Gabil focus on Farmus, not this fight. Which left:
“So the only people I have free are Benimaru, Shion, and Soei, huh?”
Ideally, I’d like one fighter per adversary, but I was short one body. So now what?
“I will join the battle, of course,” Benimaru said. This was exactly why he let Hakuro lead Yohm’s reinforcements. I couldn’t have him miss this one.
“I will stay as well,” Soei added. “My Replications can handle my intelligence duties well enough, and Soka and the others are proving fairly useful by this point.”
“Me too!” shouted Shion. “As your secretary, Sir Rimuru, I will forever remain by your side—”
Report. If there is an Enlightened-level fighter among the hundred paladins, attempting to buy time with them may prove impossible. It would be safer to devote some of your war power to them as well.
Ohhh. Yeah, there’s always that concern, too. Thanks for the actual useful feedback! I knew I could rely on Raphael.
“Hang on, Shion. There’s something I want to ask Soei first. Do you know if there are any Enlightened among the paladin force, separate from Hinata?”
Soei closed his eyes for a few moments. “My apologies,” he replied. “All of them are at least an A rank, but none particularly stood out from the pack in my perception.”
With monsters, it was pretty easy to figure out, what with the way they let their aura hang out all casually. The stronger they were, the more you could feel it from them. But with (for example) Hinata, she didn’t feel different from any other human being. I couldn’t pick her out at all, which was what made her strength so surprising. Ah well. We’d find out quick enough in battle
anyway.
“Just in case, I want Shion to monitor the group of paladins. We’ll have her command both the Reborn and Kurenai groups. Is that all right, Benimaru?”
“If that is your decision, it is not a problem at all, Sir Rimuru. Soei and I can each engage two of Hinata’s companions.”
Talk about confidence. To Soei, this all seemed perfectly natural.
“One moment, Sir Rimuru,” said Rigurd. “Perhaps this would be a good opportunity for me to join in? I am content with arranging our political system around town, but even I want to smash some heads sometimes!”
“In that case, I, too, am available,” added Shuna with a smile. Look, you aren’t suited for close-quarters combat, all right? It’s gonna be too dangerous for you.
“And so am I. I don’t want Gobta to hog the spotlight forever!”
Now Rigur was throwing his hat in the ring. He and Rigurd were both past the A rank, but neither was anywhere near demon lord status. It would be throwing their lives away.
“Hang on, hang on. I think this is a little too dangerous for you all.”
“But we don’t have anyone else, do we?”
“With us involved,” Benimaru said, “that will be more than enough.”
“Perhaps,” countered Rigurd. “I know your team is powerful, but it would be best not to underestimate our foes, wouldn’t it? Allow Rigur and me to take this responsibility…”
The debate was starting to heat up. All this worrying might be for naught if a fight didn’t break out in the end, but I wanted to tackle this with as much confidence as possible. If we were going to pull out all the stops with this, maybe we should call back Geld after all, just for that one day.
I was pondering this as I tuned out the endless debate my staff was having when there was a loud noise on the other side of the door.
“I told you,” I could hear Gobwa say, “we are in the middle of a meeting—”
“Yes, and we want to be part of it!”
&n
bsp; “Stop being so belligerent, Sufia. Come on, lady, all we want is to repay a favor we owe him, okay?”
It was Sufia and Alvis, two of the Three Lycanthropeers. The door was finally opened to them.
“Hey. Sorry to barge in. I saw that bony dude runnin’ around just now, but what’s up with that? We wanna join in, too, Sir Rimuru.”
“Demon Lord Rimuru, please forgive our sudden visit. Sufia is being rude as usual, but we truly to seek to support you. Please, allow us the chance to repay the favor you gave to us.”
The two of them were in front of me, kneeling. Well, not directly in front of me, since Gobwa was still trying to drag them out by the ear. Benimaru raised a hand to stop her, finally allowing them to approach—but now it was Diablo standing between them and me. Benimaru seemed to trust them as well, but either way, a few people here were kind of antsy about them being close to me. Diablo, in particular, eyed them with open suspicion. If I ordered him to, I’m sure he would’ve chopped off their heads in an instant.
Sufia and Alvis contrasted starkly with each other, but on this point, they were two beastmen of the same mind. They pushed their way in here, knowing it would offend, and asked me to let them help out. The cold treatment from some of my staff was something they seemed to expect.
“Benimaru, Diablo, both of you, step back.”
“Understood.”
“Yes, Sir Rimuru.”
As they returned to their seats, I had chairs set up for Sufia and Alvis. After a few moments to ensure everyone had calmed down, I continued.
“So you want to help us?”
“Yes, Sir Rimuru. We are dealing with some of the Ten Great Saints here, right? It seems you need someone to stop them in their tracks, and we want to be the people who do that for you.”
“Yes! Combat’s pretty much the only thing I can do, y’know. We’ll never be able to repay our debt to you otherwise. Please, use us freely!”
I thought about this. Force-wise, this was not a problem. But if either of them got hurt, how would I ever explain it to the (ex-)demon lord Carillon?