by Fuse
“Well, based on how these merchants were involved with every step of this, I’m sure this was more than just a convenient business relationship. Clayman was trying to ascend to ‘true’ demon lord level. Farmus was trying to take our land for its own expansionist purposes. And someone, we don’t know who, was engineering it all.”
“Someone, huh? The one Clayman mentioned?”
I nodded at Luminus.
“What do you mean?”
Benimaru and the others already knew about this, but the humans in the room didn’t. Realizing this, I gave them a quick recap.
“Well, it looks like Clayman was doing the bidding of someone else himself.”
“Yes,” Luminus added, “and he refused to divulge this someone’s identity until the very end. Impressive for someone as small-minded as him.”
“Oh…”
“Could this someone be the Seven Days, then?”
The idea came to me suddenly, and when I gave it voice, it felt even more plausible. But Luminus shot me a dirty look.
“What? Are you accusing the Seven Days of taking action unbeknownst to me?”
She might have wiped them off the planet by her own hand, but I guess she didn’t like people second-guessing her staff. That was fair. I was about to apologize when her associate Louis spoke up.
“Hmm… I cannot fully deny that possibility, no.”
“Now you’re spouting that nonsense, Louis?”
Her ire had turned on Louis, though he appeared unbothered.
“Lady Luminus, please, listen to me. The Seven Days Clergy craved your affection. I’m sure you sensed that?”
“How do you mean?”
“I am talking about the Love Energy, the energizing kiss you give in a special ceremony. The last time you did that for them, it was over a hundred years ago. At one point, it was a weekly rite, but the intervals between them grew longer and longer over time. Did you not notice?”
Luminus gave Louis an unpleasant look. “Aha. Yes, my eternal youth tends to make me forget, but they all were human. Without my energy, they may not die, but they would certainly grow old.”
“Exactly. That was why they worked so fervently to ensure no other ‘favorites’ besides them ever appeared.”
As Louis frankly put it, the Seven Days were once a very special presence in Luminus’s life. But as humans, they couldn’t live forever. This Love Energy rite must’ve been how they overcame that.
“…I subsequently imagine that they must have tried to curry favor with you. It wouldn’t be strange at all to imagine them working with the Eastern merchants to secretly entice Clayman into action. They weren’t about to let Clayman get a leg up on them—especially Gren, the Sunday Priest.”
It was just a passing thought, but it kind of surprised me how well these puzzle pieces fit together. Scary stuff. I’m shocked at the sheer well of knowledge flowing out from me.
…
Raphael sounded like it wanted to say something, but I’m sure I was just imagining things. Maybe it was just envious of my genius, or maybe it thought I’d stolen its thunder because I didn’t ask any questions of it.
“Do you think,” an exasperated Hinata asked, “the Seven Days thought I was a thorn in their side because of that?”
“Sounds like it. They probably intended to help Clayman ascend, then have you get killed fighting him. They could never have defeated you, after all, so I don’t think they had much other choice.”
It wasn’t a totally far-out concept. Step one, have Clayman defeat Hinata. Step two, either kill off Clayman somehow or operate him like a puppet. I couldn’t say what they wanted to do with him, but Clayman’s faith in them was genuine—if they could get Hinata out of the picture, Clayman would do anything the Seven Days wanted. Meanwhile, they’d have Farmus wipe us out and firm up the foundations Luminism worked with, naturally making sure everyone got to share in the resulting profits. A nation as big as Farmus mobilizing would mean big money for Eastern armor and weapon dealers. Plus, more than anything else, the Seven Days would be back on Luminus’s good side.
I didn’t want to jump to conclusions too early, but the possibility of all this seemed worthy of consideration to me.
“So you think they pitted me against you in hopes I’d be defeated?” Hinata asked, interested in Louis’s theory. “Between that and protecting the tenets of Luminism, I suppose it’d be two birds with one stone.”
This gave me another idea.
“But are we really sure the Seven Days were behind that?”
“There’s no doubting it,” replied Renard, seated next to Hinata. “It was the Clergy who introduced us to those merchants in the first place.”
That certainly cast more suspicion on them. Having such a heroic band make the introduction, nobody would ever doubt their intentions—which would make it easier for the Clergy to reach their goals. I’m not sure they’d thought it out all the way like that when I fought Hinata for the first time, but the second? They definitely wanted me to kill her. Those conniving bastards. It scared me a bit, but they were all gone anyway, so it was water under the bridge.
“…But hang on. There were seven people in the Clergy, right? Isn’t one of them still left?”
Hinata seemed pretty at ease as far as the Clergy were concerned, but thinking about it, this wasn’t over yet at all. Whoever the final survivor was had to be up to their ears in this. It unnerved me, but Hinata just flashed me a cold smile.
“Ha-ha! Nothing to worry about there. Nicolaus contacted me from his sanctum to say the final one had also been eradicated. It happened after they discovered that the crystal ball you sent had been tampered with. That was enough evidence to execute him.”
The thin smile that accompanied her words would be enough to make anyone feel threatened. The sight of this beautiful woman talking about such sinister conspiracies was probably one reason it was easy to get the wrong idea about her. But anyway.
“Okay, but who was this last guy?”
I hated to think it, but it wasn’t Gren, right? The Sunday Priest fabled to be stronger than even Clayman? Because if so, it meant I’d need to keep a careful eye out for this Nicolaus guy, too.
“I was told it was Gren, the Sunday Priest and chief of the Clergy. He almost never took the initiative on anything by himself, so it made sense he was the last one left.”
Luminus’s ears perked up. “Oh? Old Granville was defeated? Nicolaus… That cardinal was infatuated with you, wasn’t he? How did he do it?”
“It wasn’t the most heroic approach,” Louis replied, “but he had a Disintegration spell set up in advance, and it was enough of a surprise move to do him in.”
“Ahhhh… Granville must have aged terribly, if he fell for a trap like that.”
She sounded sad about it, but my mind was on other matters. Unfortunately, it seemed that I would need to add a new entry to my mental list of people to watch out for. It might’ve been a surprise move, but I couldn’t let my guard down. Disintegration was lethal against most people. Cardinal Nicolaus… Let’s remember that name.
“By the way, Lady Luminus, by Granville, do you mean Gren?”
Hinata had a thoughtful expression. The name Granville must have rung a bell.
“That I do,” Luminus replied. “His real name is Granville. He was known as the Hero of Light in his glory days. He even fought me once.”
For a god, Luminus acted so oddly innocent at times. I might’ve been imagining it, but sometimes it felt like she was trying to act all high and mighty and not quite succeeding all the time. Was all this, you know…an act?
Then I felt it: her eyes, dead upon me.
Yep, I was just imagining things! So much for that suspicion.
“Did he…? I-I’m sure it couldn’t be, but…”
Hinata seemed to have an idea in mind, but she must not have been fully sure about it, because she went no further.
“He was pretty strong in the past,” she instead recalled. “Up to
my level, in fact.”
“You could say that,” answered Luminus. “Anyone who calls themselves a Hero usually finds themselves bound by fate soon enough. Perhaps he resented me, somewhere deep in his heart.”
Perhaps, indeed. Just like Milim told me, Heroes and demon lords often intertwined. Granville was defeated by the demon lord Luminus, opting to swear his allegiance to her instead. Deep down, though, he might’ve had mixed feelings about her—feelings he couldn’t escape from, even after becoming a living legend who brought many champions in their own right into the world. But at this point, it was all just guesswork.
“Well,” I said, “that’s a relief, at least. It means that everyone who picked a fight with us—Clayman, Farmus, the Seven Days Clergy—they’ve all met their end.”
Benimaru and my other officials nodded their agreement. “All’s well that ends well,” Rigurd eagerly commented with a smile.
“You said it,” I replied, returning the smile as I felt the tension escape the hall. “We had to deal with a lot of dangerous foes, but at this point, most of the problems are safely behind us. But I sure don’t want anyone controlling me behind the scenes. If we hadn’t noticed these merchants scheming in the shadows, I honestly would’ve started to suspect Yuuki.”
Yuuki was pretty suspicious. When it came to humans in Englesia with deep ties to Hinata, Yuuki was the prime candidate. I felt bad about it, but I couldn’t take him off the list.
“Yuuki?” Renard asked. “Yuuki Kagurazaka, the guild master?”
“Yeah,” I answered with a nod.
Thinking about it impartially, it made sense. He was the prime suspect at the time. But Yuuki had no reason to have Hinata and me fight each other. If there was no motive, it was pretty hard to picture him as the culprit.
…
On the other hand, maybe someone was deftly scheming to frame Yuuki. The Eastern merchants could pull that off well enough, I thought—they’d proven more than capable of carrying out multiple operations remotely at the same time. If the Clergy were the main bad guys, the merchants would have a motive to take the heat off them a little. It made sense.
But:
“Yuuki, a suspect? Can’t say that’s out of the question, no.”
Right when I had convinced myself, Hinata threw me with that observation.
“Whoa, you’re doubting someone from your own homeland?”
“Hmm? I’m only considering every possibility. For that matter, it may be a bit early to assume the real mastermind is gone. The Moderate Jester that killed Roy is still on the loose, and those Eastern merchants still have deep roots all over the Western Nations.”
It felt like she was splashing cold water on me. She was right. It was too early to breathe easy. I braced myself anew.
“Yeah… I guess you’re right. It’s not over yet. We can’t afford to be too optimistic.”
“No, we can’t. We’d better inform everyone about this.”
Benimaru nodded, while the paladins facing him looked similarly convinced.
“As Hinata said,” I continued, “it’s very likely that the person or persons behind all this is still around. I know I said the Clergy might be the main bad guys, but that was just a passing idea more than anything. It’s no good to throw blame around without any conclusive evidence. Let’s keep a close eye on this as we go forward.”
Everyone murmured their agreement at this conclusion. No, it was a bad idea to cast judgment without merit. I was fairly confident in my supposition, but Raphael didn’t offer its agreement. It didn’t disagree, either, though, so I think the possibility was there; I just didn’t have the evidence to be sure. For now, I’d have to trust in Raphael—and with the paladins happy with this conclusion, I thought it best to leave it at that.
That wrapped up our recap of past events. We knew we had to investigate the possibility of another mastermind out there, but that could wait for later. Today, we were here to figure out how we needed to work together to bury the hatchet for good.
It was at this moment that Shuna brought in coffee and snacks for us. It seemed that scones and French fries were on today’s menu. I had to hand it to her; she demonstrated impeccable timing. I immediately tackled my plate as the paladins sat there figuring out what to do.
“Oooh, snacks? I’ll take a double portion.”
And of course, Veldora chose this moment to finally delve into the conversation.
“Very well,” replied Shuna, well used to this act.
“Mmm, this is good.”
Hinata was sampling her plate as well, which was enough to set the paladins to action. After our previous talk, we all needed to kick back and relax a bit like this.
A few minutes later, I suddenly spoke up.
“All right. So about our future relations…”
“Ah, before that,” Hinata interrupted, “I want to make one thing very clear to all of us. Should I assume you’ve accepted our apology for all these events?”
“Sure. I want us to become friends as nations going forward. I don’t intend to drag that problem along any further.”
This wasn’t my sole decision. I came to it after discussing matters with Benimaru and my other officials. There was no need to fight any longer, and all our misunderstandings were now worked out, so I felt it was time to make a deal.
But Luminus wasn’t convinced.
“Absolutely not. I hate owing anything to anyone. This entire incident was clearly our fault, and I wish to compensate for it in some way. We can strike a deal after that is done.”
She gave Veldora a hateful glare. Basically, I suppose, she didn’t want Veldora to feel like he could ask her for something later.
“Yes,” replied Hinata, “and if that is Lady Luminus’s will, then I must say that it troubles me to put you through such pain and not make up for it. I want to show you as much as possible that I am being sincere.”
Okay, sure, that’s great, but what kind of compensation are we talking about? Because if Luminus—well, Lubelius as a nation, really—if they were willing to acknowledge us as a nation, then I was good to go. Combine that with an oath of non-hostility, and what more could I ask for?
“Hmm… Well, how about you formally recognize our nation, and we open up diplomatic relations?”
Luminus casually nodded. “Fair enough. Although, I won’t expect us to be fast friends. And I will need to settle the score with that lizard sooner or later.”
Pretty much all of Luminus’s smoldering anger was pointed right at Veldora. If it really, really came to it, I was willing to offer him as a sacrifice. If that was enough to usher in a century-long era of peace, it was a dead simple decision to make.
“Wait a moment, Rimuru,” I heard the dragon ask. “I hope you are not picturing anything…cruel for me.”
“Just your imagination, Veldora. As long you act smart and mature, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“No, I know what you’re thinking when you talk down to me like that. It usually means you’re up to no good!”
Tch. He’s getting sharp. But not as sharp as me.
“Now, now… Here, I’ll give you my scone, so play nice with Luminus, all right?”
“What? Well, in that case, I will do my level best. Although if I ever truly willed it, it’d be child’s play to make Luminus recognize my vast strengths! Kwaaaaah-ha-ha-ha!”
You see? Dealing with him is so simple. Luminus audibly sighed, but it looked like she would remain true to her word.
“Don’t get cocky with me, you! For now, though, let us call a truce. I will open international relations with you for a period of one hundred years. I think that would serve amply well as an apology?”
Well, that came more easily than expected. Like, really? We’re good? Benimaru, Rigurd, and the rest of my team looked just as shocked—to say nothing of Hinata. I doubt anyone expected this.
“So,” ventured Hinata, “you’re willing to open diplomacy with Tempest, if not necessarily go all the way wi
th a nonintervention treaty?”
“Quit pestering me about this. I’ve said what I meant!”
With that, she reached for a second scone, content to let someone else work out the details.
“I suppose,” Louis dryly stated, “we will have to carry out her will—”
“Diplomatic relations? Are you sure?”
Renard, however, seemed unconvinced. He appeared ready to bring up an issue but not quite sure if he should go through it. He gave Hinata a quick glance, receiving a nod in return.
“What’s the issue?” chimed in Fritz. “If Sir Rimuru and his nation were truly evil, we would have been wiped off the map long ago.”
“True,” Arnaud said. “I can trust in Sir Rimuru, yes. We need to cast off our prejudices against monsters.”
“I agree with them,” added Litus. “Sir Soei was such a gentleman to us.”
Even the notably taciturn Bacchus was nodding. Renard, hearing them all, hesitated for a moment. As vice captain of the Crusaders, he couldn’t give his ready agreement just yet. If anything, this choir of support only firmed his resolve.
“Yes, but there remains one problem. How will we explain this in the framework of our faith’s teachings? Because depending on our approach, the Western Holy Church may face an onslaught of criticism, and I can’t allow that to happen.”
Their faith—a faith that refused to accept the existence of monsters. Yeah, if they accepted me now, it’d be like, hey, what about all the teachings from the past X number of centuries? I thought we were close to solving all our problems, but I suppose it never comes that easy.
But as I worried over this, Luminus dropped another bombshell.
“Don’t be silly. Those teachings are nothing I established. I don’t see why failing to protect them qualifies as betraying me. Those were meant to be guiding principles for those lost in their lives. Really, they’re only a bunch of rules thought up by the leaders at the time.”
This came as a shock to all the paladins in the room, Hinata included. “What?!” she shouted. “I’ve never heard that before…”
“Ah yes,” Louis blandly replied, “I suppose you might not have. The original texts defining the faith are open to anyone who might want to browse, but the first written drafts they’re based on have been lost long ago. If you read through those, then you’ll see how those tenets were crafted.”