That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 7

by Fuse

  His spreading the word that the hero Yohm was keeping the old king, Edmaris, safe was enough to convince Edward that the two were conspiring against him. That armistice, after all, was unilaterally signed by Edmaris. There was no need, Edward had made it very clear, for the new administration to honor it. And as Edward told his people, he had attempted to reason sincerely with them, only to have Edmaris and Yohm raid their royal coffers and steal away their money.

  To Farmus’s urban dwellers, far removed from the borderlands, a hero incapable of anything except combat wasn’t that worthy of their appreciation. Being so safe in their cities, after all, made them underestimate the need for such stout defense. Some even questioned the need to keep people like Yohm and his force fed on the public dime. It was funny to see how such a large swath of people failed to realize that safety came at a price.

  In the midst of this, the announcement that the hero Yohm and the old king, Edmaris, had embezzled the reparation funds infuriated Farmus’s upper class. More and more of them volunteered their support for Edward; nobody doubted his moral superiority on this question. And with that support egging him on, Edward had deployed his troops.

  If current trends continue, it wouldn’t be long before Yohm and Edmaris were arrested on trumped-up charges and executed. They wouldn’t be willing to accept that, of course, which meant war was on the horizon—just as Damrada drew it up.

  Yohm had only about five thousand troops here in Migam, but they had been taking in reinforcements for the past three days.

  Hmm… So Rimuru hasn’t abandoned Yohm after all. How terribly naive of him. Now Hinata the Enlightened has a better chance of victory than ever before. Perhaps now is the time to move…

  This, too, was within Damrada’s realm of imagination. On a wholly personal level, he would love it if Hinata could be taken out of the picture for good. It was likely that she knew she had been taken advantage of by her lies, so it was best to eliminate her before she got in the way. Damrada doubted she’d ever forgive him for it, and he needed to keep that in mind during his operations in the Western Nations.

  For now, though, he would have to leave Hinata in the hands of the Five Elders. Any more direct intervention with her would be too dangerous.

  Ah well. Not like this mission will end in failure…

  The leader of Cerberus ordered him to trigger a war in this region. Nothing else. As far as Damrada was concerned, his job was already done, so it’d be a smarter bet to pull out before Hinata got back. But there was just a bit of unfinished business left. Damrada didn’t care who won between the hero and the new king, but if he wanted to secure future profits, he had a promise with the Five Elders to fulfill. The demon had to be killed.

  This, however, was where his plans began to go awry. Earl Nidol Migam had tipped Damrada off on an internal meeting held in his domain, and judging by the report, this demon was aiming for a quick end to the battle as well.

  What would this mean to him? It meant that the new king and the demon wanted two completely different things for Farmus. Edward had no intention of hostilities against Rimuru. The monster forces clearly outclassed his, and there was no way Farmus could beat Tempest alone. But despite that, Rimuru had still sent reinforcements to the hero Yohm. That indicated to Damrada that he wasn’t afraid of war, should it come to that. All that talk about a “just cause” was turned on its side the moment the demon lord sided with Edmaris. He had changed his mind, it seemed.

  This gave Damrada some concern. In the midst of his investigations as he sought the demon, he had come to learn that the magic-born Razen was now serving the demon Damrada was trying to kill, not Edmaris. Which meant…

  …Was it that demon who defeated Razen, not Rimuru himself? This is no Johnny-come-lately demon given physical form on this world, then. Perhaps an older demon has been revived…

  The thought made him grimace. There wasn’t enough intelligence to work with; not even the Cerberus leader provided any information about the demon. This adversary, he reasoned, would have to be considered at least an early-modern Arch Demon, possibly older. The strength of this type of demon depended greatly on their age, and while “modern” ones were one thing, early-modern Arch Demons—two or three hundred years old—were a calamity-class threat. A “medieval” one, pushing nearly a millennium in age, could be powerful enough to serve as a demon lord’s aide. It was a completely different level of strength from some lower-level evolved demon. If an Arch Demon like that was on this world, it was devastating news, a threat to humankind as an ongoing concern.

  It was worth noting that human beings had only successfully summoned demons up to the medieval level of age. That was as far as the records showed, and it made sense, because anything more powerful than that would mean the end of the summoners’ souls. They’d be immediately consumed. That was why the Eastern Empire’s latest research regularly called for limitations on demon summoning—although it took a hero-class summoner to make an Arch Demon do their bidding in the first place.

  “The magic-born Razen, though…?” Damrada murmured.

  Yes, Razen’s name was known far and wide across the Empire. Power like his was easily the match for a medieval-aged demon. If there was a demon out there who could defeat the likes of him…

  Plus, the Five Elders seemed to be fairly blatantly scheming with one another. That piqued his curiosity a bit as well, but his instincts told him this was one wasp’s nest he was better off not prodding. Best to make good my escape, he thought, before I am caught up in anything else.

  “Is something the matter, Sir Damrada?” his servant said, responding to the words he spoke to himself.

  Damrada weakly smiled back. “Heh-heh-heh… This is too hot to touch. No more of this. We have word to lie low for now, and I’d consider it wise to heed that advice.”

  “Pardon…?”

  “We are retreating. Leave two or so observers behind and order everyone else to leave this nation.”

  “Yes sir. What about you, Sir Damrada?”

  “I will extend my formal greetings to King Edward, then pay a visit to Tempest.”

  “But I thought you were advised to lie low…?”

  “Hmm? Heh-heh-heh… Oh, I will. For now, I will cease my behind-the-scenes maneuvering, in favor of other advances. There’s no law against a proper merchant requesting an audience with the demon lord Rimuru, after all, in order to improve his business.”

  “I see. Very well. And what should we do with the six Contractors we brought over from our homeland?”

  “We’ll bring them to the new king. They will be a fine souvenir for him.”

  “So it’ll all be pushed on King Edward’s shoulders, then?”

  “If you want to put it that rudely, yes. It’d be a favor to Edward, all while I fulfill my promise to the Five Elders.”

  These Contractors were an Eastern Empire organization that served roughly the same purpose as the Western Nations’ Free Guild. They were a group that assigned work to specialist professions, including demon hunters who worked full-time pursuing the demons of the realm. Only the best, most experienced monster fighters would be granted a license for this profession, and Damrada had paid a princely sum to bring six of these demon hunters with him. He had hoped to use them as advertising for Contractors at large, but now he sensed that things were too dangerous even for them.

  “But do we really need to be on our guard this much? We haven’t fully made back our investment yet…”

  “We’ll see, we’ll see. I may be overthinking it, but I like to trust in my instincts. I’m also not enough of a fool to lose my life when I should’ve been cutting my losses.”

  “Ah. Yes, my apologies for doubting you. In that case, I will begin preparing for our retreat.”

  “Good. And I will prepare another present for the new king.”

  The servant left the room. Preparations went quickly after that, and before much longer, Damrada had put Migam behind him. He was right to do so, for if he had daw
dled any further, he might have had an angered demon trying to kill him.

  Edward, newly crowned king of Farmus, was beside himself with excitement.

  The nobility across the land was falling over themselves to pledge their support to him, expanding and strengthening his forces. It surprised him to see the hero Yohm side with Edmaris, his elder brother, and when Rimuru sided in turn with Yohm, he feared his entire plan would fail. But the heavens hadn’t abandoned him.

  With Archbishop Reyhiem dead, the wheels had begun turning. Hinata herself was off to slay Rimuru, he had been informed, with the Crusader forces in tow. Even better, the heroes of the Holy Empire of Lubelius—the Three Battlesages, the royal officers second only to Hinata in strength—had offered their support to Edward’s cause, deploying the Temple Knights for the effort. The divine-enemy label hadn’t been formally announced yet, but given this deployment, it had to be a matter of time.

  The Temple Knights were assigned the task of defeating the demon who killed Reyhiem, but that was just a convenient excuse. In Edward’s mind, they were actually aiming to mount a resistance against the demon lord Rimuru, armed with an enormous force that was essentially the federated armies of the Western Nations. That was why he granted them safe passage through his lands, as well as the right to engage in any military activity they saw fit.

  He had no intention of tangling with Rimuru, but under the circumstances, that didn’t matter. There was no way Hinata would lose to the demon lord, and with this large a force, he reasoned, defeating the Tempest forces wasn’t an impossibility at all. Veldora remained a concern…but with a dragon that finicky, the combined forces of the Western Nations ought to be able to seal him up once again.

  Now he needed a just cause to link all these efforts together, and that was already taken care of. A powerful merchant from the East had visited him, bringing a letter from Earl Nidol of Migam. It was a request for help, and it instantly solved all Edward’s problems. It didn’t take long for him to reach a conclusion.

  With reinforcements flowing through the border from all sides, it might be best to use Migam’s rescue as an excuse to deploy my own.

  A full-on war wasn’t in his plans, but deploying his force outside the city walls should prove enough of a deterrent. There was nobody around Edward to warn him otherwise—which he would come to regret later—as he sent out the order.

  In Glenda’s eyes, the plan had gone seriously out of whack, but that sort of thing was a given on the battlefield. She just had to adjust her tactics, make things work more her way, and she’d be fine. Looking at it that way, things didn’t seem so bad to her. A large number of nations were taking an interest in their moves, and a virtual army of journalists were here to see her in action.

  Everything was set up just as she wanted it. Rimuru not focusing exclusively on Hinata was an unwanted surprise, but as Glenda saw it, it just meant he spread out his forces too wide for his own good. It wasn’t a problem.

  Damrada had fled the country, but he had left a team of anti-demon experts with King Edward as a symbol of goodwill, each one battle-steeled and ranking an A or better. She figured they could be trusted to do their job.

  No reason not to sacrifice them, if we need to, Glenda idly thought. No matter how it turned out, she optimistically believed that the demon would be out of her hair. That breezy mood didn’t last for long.

  Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…

  Diablo, the demon in question, let out an evil laugh as he spread his batlike wings, looking like a sign of the apocalypse as he surveyed the land below. He was searching for the traitors who outed him, causing shame and embarrassment in front of his beloved Rimuru, and he wasn’t in a forgiving mood.

  Not once in his life had he ever felt anything resembling fear. But the mere thought of being relieved of his work duties made him quiver. Picturing Rimuru staring at him and saying “All right, you can go away now” sent shivers up his spine. The terror tore him apart.

  Now Diablo had to pay back the people responsible for that feeling. He contemplated what he’d do once he tracked them down. It made the smile even broader.

  Then he found Edward, the new king, at the rear of the forces. With him were several others who stood out of the crowd strength-wise, at least somewhat—enough so that they could at least go toe to toe with Diablo. Part of the Ten Great Saints, perhaps?

  Rimuru instructed him not to kill anyone who wasn’t involved. If they were involved, that didn’t apply—at least that was how Diablo and Hakuro, his overseer, had interpreted the missive. Any troops not defending themselves would be let go, of course, but if they attempted to fight him, that was another matter—especially if they decided to initiate hostilities themselves. Then, there was no need for mercy.

  Resisting the urge to greet this new king at once, Diablo sent a Thought Communication, reporting his findings to Hakuro.

  (Sir Hakuro, I have found one standout among them headed your way. He should keep Sir Ranga occupied, I would imagine.)

  (Hmm. Roger that. Is it better not to kill him?)

  (Yes. I believe he is related to Lubelius, the origin of those rumors against me. Capturing him alive would make him a useful pawn in our negotiations.)

  (Very well. I will inform Sir Ranga.)

  (Also… This target is leading approximately five thousand troops. By the Free Guild’s ranking, this includes several fighters graded at least an A.)

  (Hmm. Perfect, then. Let’s point Gobta and Gabil at them.)

  (Yes, a fine idea. I am sure this is a battle they cannot lose, but…)

  (No need to worry. I will be watching them, so feel free to do whatever you like.)

  (It relieves me to hear that from you. Excuse me, then.)

  (Don’t overexert yourself.)

  With his report given, there was now no need for restraint. He flew down toward his prey.

  The sight of Diablo swooping in from out of nowhere froze the blood in Edward’s veins. Saare, enjoying a cup of tea with him, was barely able to react at all.

  “Hello there. I believe we have met before, King Edward? My name is Diablo.”

  He gave them an elegant bow. Before he could even finish his greeting, Edward’s knight captain was barking out orders.

  “Fan out! Take defensive positions! Protect King Edward!!”

  The royal guard jumped into action, grabbing Edward and trundling him toward the rear. The guard instantly formed a line of defense to cover Edward and create a wall of humanity between the devil and the king. Diablo took his time to react, simply standing there while all these troops scurried around. As far as the demon was concerned, his target was in sight. The hard work was all done. There was no reason for undue haste.

  In another instant, Diablo found himself surrounded by Saare and his forces, covering the large, opulent royal tent the demon had landed in front of. He looked at them all, enjoying the sight—but although nobody noticed it, his eyes were burning with rage.

  Soon, a group of journalists was on the scene, curious to see what was going on. Diablo kept smiling.

  “I will not harm any of you. Just stay over there for me, please.”

  Then, with a snap of his fingers, the press corps was covered in a barrier—a bit of helpful consideration on Diablo’s part, to ensure against collateral damage. He also meant to suggest that exiting the barrier would be seen as hostility punishable by death, but the journalists (luckily for them) never even entertained that thought.

  By the time the forces were all in position, Edward had regained some of his composure.

  “Well, well! The agent of the demon lord Rimuru, then? May I ask what brings you here?”

  The greeting may have lacked much in the way of royal majesty, but it certainly succeeded in sounding pompous.

  “Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Oh, just a warning for you.”

  “A warning? What kind?”

  “Send your troops back immediately and hold talks with Sir Yohm. Then you will not have to taste the kind of fear y
ou are better off not knowing about.”

  For appearances, at least, he began by recommending talks. That, however, was not what Diablo really sought. If anything, it’d be a pain for Diablo if Edward actually agreed to them.

  “Ha-ha-ha! What a strange proposal this is. Besides, all of this began when my brother embezzled the reparation money from our accounts. We are simply trying to recover these funds, in a gesture of sincerity toward your nation. I see no need for you to meddle in our affairs!”

  “I see. So you’re stating your intention to adhere to our peace accords?”

  “Of course… Although I now see there was no need to. I was almost tricked myself!”

  “Meaning…?”

  “Hmph! Enough playing dumb! You are conspiring with my brother Edmaris to charge us for double the reparations, are you not? Don’t think I haven’t seen through your little schemes!”

  “……”

  “Nothing to defend yourself with, is there? Whether he calls himself a demon lord or not, this Rimuru fellow has already demonstrated just how shallow he is to me. He seeks to plunder us, by fair means or foul, and he’s spreading the seeds of war across the land, is he not?”

  “…………”

  “But what a pity, isn’t it? You may have killed Archbishop Reyhiem in a bid to keep him quiet, but his words are recorded right here!”

  Edward took Diablo’s silence as an invitation to chatter on and on. The crystal ball he took out was held high above his head, ensuring the press on hand could see it. It depicted a very haggard-looking Reyhiem, perhaps after a torture session or two. “I had no intention of betraying you!” he shouted. “Please, please forgive me!” One could tell any viewer that this was footage of Reyhiem’s final moments in this world, and they’d believe it.