Rather than standing around chatting, we decided to head inside.
I guided Guy towards a VIP lounge located in Tempest.
Its furnishings were chosen by Myourmilles, and if he went on a rampage there we would incur heavy losses.
Some expensive pieces of artwork had also been displayed.
It was a special lounge where only the specially selected, or the highest of nobles were accommodated.
Showy things aside, the arrangements also allowed one to experience elegance, simplicity, and a subdued refinement, which truly showed Myourmilles' sensitivity to my own tastes.
To reach this level, Rigurdo and the others still needed much more experience. However, since he had said something like 「This place is very calming.」, our tastes may unexpectedly match.
Returning to the topic, if Guy went on a rampage we'd handle that then.
Since we had no other suitable rooms to accommodate him, we had no choice but to expect a certain level of damage. We couldn't just take the strongest of the Demon Lords to a common guest lounge.
And whilst half-resignedly guiding him,
「Hey, You've got some good taste. I also happen to like this type of furnishings.」
Guy complemented.
That was pretty surprising, as far as surprises go.
I had misunderstood him as this tyrant who wouldn't have any idea of subtle elegance.
No, when you think about it, even Oda Nobunaga may have perhaps had this sort of taste...
Maybe, the more short tempered and violent ones were more likely to have peaceful hearts.
No well, it might just be my mistaken impression, but it really was the right choice bringing him here.
Sitting on a high-class wooden chair carved from aromatic woods, I faced Guy.
On top of a small table between us, tea was served and its aroma wafted through the room.
It looked simple at first glance, but a surprising amount of attention to details was put in...
「You're pretty good! Our dimwits wouldn't be able to pull this off at all.
I wonder if should I should send them here for some training?」
Well I'm glad you're pleased.
Or rather, even since I came to this world, I've been doing nothing but what I pleased.
In any case, this was the first time I had to be this careful around the other party.
No, after meeting Veldora, this would be the second time?
Putting aside whether or not I can win against him, I just wanted to avoid conflict as much as possible.
It's too troublesome to deal with. Because it will definitely result in some broken things.
「Oh really? You're actually the first one I've brought here you know.
This is the highest grade parlor we have, we only bring in those who we want to make a good impression on.」
「Ah? So you want to make a good impression on me?」
「Yeah that's right. Or else I couldn't call myself a good Demon Lord now could I.
If I had thrown away my pride, I'd be living a more or less good life snooping around in the shadows.」
I started with a jab. (EN: metaphorical)
I'm not gonna be pulled along with your pace, I made my statement with this intention.
Depending on his reaction, I was going to have to adjust my attitude towards Guy.
In any case, I had to, first and foremost, to find out the reason he came here.
I suspected that he must have gotten a report from somebody, when he mentioned the Demon Lords.
Probably, the only one who would do this was Dino. In fact, he confessed so himself.
After all, any spies within the country had been completely cleared out. This I could say with full confidence.
With the surveillance network spread out by Souei, and by using magic to detect malevolence, we could absolutely eliminate any kind of counter-intelligence activity.
In any case, since I put intelligence gathering above all else, not letting the enemy do the same thing to us was just common sense.
I had used any and all means I could come up with to eliminate all spies within my country.
「Ahaha. Are you trying to probe me? Aren't you interesting!
Oh well, let's save ourselves the trouble.
I came today because I heard you're having a fight with the empire.
Ah, and as you might have expected, I heard this from Dino.
He's here right? In this place.
Well, I've gotten a report from that guy, but I heard you've slain around a million people?
And, you've also got a number of Demon Lord class subordinates under you.
This reminded me about that fellow you brought in during the previous Walpurgis, and that got me interested in any others you've got.」
Saying all that, he drank the black tea with elegant movements.
The way he held himself, It was as if he was the king of some country.
No, Demon Lords were more or less kings anyway.
But, that Guy. Right after declaring that he wouldn't probe, threw a straight ball.
Basically, he wants to see my strength. No, isn't there more?
Isn't he oddly interested in my dealings with the Empire?
「Indeed, I do have several Demon Lord class subordinates.
The 3 you knocked out earlier are also included.
Naturally, there are others. But I have no intention to tell you about all of them.
In the wars of this world, isn't individual strength more important than numbers?
Raising individual strength is naturally important.」
「I see, so there are others.
Or rather, are you an "Otherworlder"?
And a slime, for that matter?」
「Nn? Huh? You didn't know?
I'm a slime that has retained the heart of an "Otherworlder", A "Reincarnator" you know?」
「Seriously?」
「Seriously!」
Guy and I locked eyes with each other.
Or rather, he didn't know. I thought for sure something like that was well known.
I had already declared this to the world, and thought it was surely passed along to the kings of each country.
It may have only been my impression that all the information was known by everyone.
I don't think there was any miswording, but it seems I needed to consider them not receiving any information. I'll make sure to consider it next time.
「Ahahahaha! Oh Wow! To think such a thing could happen!
No wonder you like that human form despite being a monster.
You've got an impressive mimicry going, but this explains the reason behind your fixation.
I see, that also explains how you're able to obtain an Ultimate Skill.
Under normal circumstances, it isn't something you can obtain so easily.
But if a soul was able to preserve its ego after "World Crossing", of course that soul would get much stronger.
I was suspicious that Rudra was just performing some self-scripted act, but if that's the case, then I'm convinced.
My bad for doubting you.」
Hm? Self-scripted?
It was curious so I inquired the details.
The story goes, Emperor Rudra and Guy had been at odds for over a thousand years.
And in the midst of that, I had appeared.
I had suddenly awakened as a true Demon Lord, and even obtained an Ultimate Skill.
At first, it seemed that I had something to do with Veldora's resurrection, and they had decided to take a wait-and-see approach, but the recent conflict with the Imperial army raised a bit of suspicion.
According to Dino's report, we escaped unharmed, and the imperial army was massacred.
At this point, Guy was thinking something was up.
Against only a single demon lord, could Rudra――that's the emperor――actually suffer such a crushing defeat?
Despite wanting to wait-and-see, there was no point in suffering that much of a loss.
It seems Rudra's purpose was likely to promote evolution amongst the survivors.
He didn't care even if there were only 10s of survivors.
Once upon a time, when Veldora had rounded-up and killed a lot of them, since some survivors managed to evolve into Sages, Rudra didn't feel it was his loss.
He made up an understandable reason to appease the public,and trained the army by putting them in danger; Then, having the survivors evolve was the Rudra's basic combat strategy.
Guy also approved the Demon Lords fighting each other was also for a similar reason.
To clash, and then rise up as true Demon Lords, was the end result that he expected.
That being the case, both Guy and Rudra were fighting as if playing a long game of chess.
As if killing time, it was a game of patience.
But, the number of survivors this time was 0.
There was the problem.
Guy couldn't leave alone the fact that I had gained multiple Demon Lord class subordinates, and that there was not a single survivor.
The reason was simple.
A meaningless military action was something Rudra would never allow.
He must have acted with some kind of purpose in mind...
In Dino's report, he hinted that he was of the same opinion. What the hell are you even doing, Dino.
So Guy suspected a self-scripted act.
Causing a grand military campaign, pretending to go to war with Demon Lord Rimuru in order to strengthen Rimuru's forces.
In other words, I had betrayed Guy's Demon Lord faction, and joined Emperor Rudra is it? This was the gist of his doubts.
Or rather, he even thought that I could be a spy sent by Emperor Rudra right from the beginning.
A just recently born monster (Slime) obtaining an Ultimate Skill, normally this would be inconceivable.
Couldn't it be that due to the Emperor's instigation, it was given an Ultimate Skill and evolved? So he thought.
「To give an away Ultimate Skills to someone, is that even possible?」
「If it's this kind of ability, then it's not impossible. However, it's limited to only granting an inferior form.
And the receiving target must be someone above a certain strength threshold, it's not to the extent of being a threat.」
I wanted to hear more because I had doubts, but then he just dropped a bombshell of an announcement on me.
Or rather, you're the only one who'd say someone with an Ultimate Skill was not a threat, dammit! I wanted to shout.
Perhaps, Milim's in the same category as Guy.
Their perspective of things tended to be somewhat skewed.
His words and appearance of enjoyably eating cake were in complete contrast.
Wait a minute, he's talking about something important right now.
Undeceived by his appearance, I needed to keep calm and organize this information.
I stabbed the fork into my own cake whilst sorting it all out in my head.
When it comes to thinking, sugar intake is very important.
A self-scripted act. (EN: hypothetical scenario here.)
When the emperor released and dominated Veldora, he bestowed an ability onto a slime he found there.
With the slime under the protection of Veldora, he would bring the Great Jura Forest together, and awaken as a Demon Lord.
Guy predicted that with Veldora's help, awakening as a Demon Lord would be a simple matter.
However, since Veldora's presence couldn't be felt for some unknown reason, he didn't completely trust this prediction.
Up till there, it was fine.
After that, as the slime awakened as a Demon Lord, Veldora had revived simultaneously .
There was definitely some kind of relation between these two events.
The slime, as one of the Demon Lords, would infiltrate Guy's faction.
It would crush and devour Guy's faction from the inside, befitting the name of Gluttonous King Belzebuth.
This time, after getting a report about there being no survivors, he decided to drop by and check on the situation himself.
As Emperor Rudra and Guy were at constant war, if I really were on the emperor's side, he would simply get rid of me.
Being a simple guy, he believed my words and our misunderstanding cleared, but one wrong step would have resulted in a catastrophe.
Let's kill this guy off because his strength is a pain, was something he could have considered. I guess I got lucky he decided to talk first.
Thanks to many little strokes of luck, the misunderstanding was cleared in the end.
「Now then, my story ends here.
Next, shall we hear yours?
Now tell me. Why are there so many of awakened Demon Lords here?」
There it is.
The origin of the misunderstanding: Demon Lords awakening en-mass.
This had prompted Guy into thinking I was Rudra's pawn.
For that reason, he decided to abruptly visit and ask「What's going on here?」.
Suspecting a self-scripted act, He came to find several Demon Lord in the making.
Certainly it's a bit suspicious. Or rather, we got lucky he didn't decide to just wipe us out without hearing anything.
In case I was a traitor, since he had confidence to take us all on and come out on top, I guess that's why he had room for interrogation.
If Guy wasn't this strong I would easily beat him, but because he was too strong, we could resolve this through words alone.
Now I just had a complicated feeling.
Well, in the end we didn't need to fight, that's good.
Now with that misunderstanding cleared, I needed to explain the matter of the Demon Lord awakenings.
"Solution. There is no problem with saying it's all through the ability of Gluttonous King Belzebuth"
The heavens hath spokenーーー!!
Alright, let's go with this. I've got nothing else to rely on.
As expected of Raphael Sensei, a skillful dodge.
「Actually, I did it with my Gluttonous King Belzebuth's ability.」
「Huh. How does that work?」
(Wisdom Lord Raphael sensei, how does this work?)
"Solution. By reducing the Soul's power into Energy, it is possible to forcefully evolve those with the qualifications."
「Gluttonous King Belzebuth has the ability to reduce the Soul's power into Magical Energy.
Naturally, those qualified are limited to Demon Lord class individuals.」
「What did you say? Is that true?」
(Is this true, Wisdom Lord Raphael-sensei?)
"Solution. (I have trouble comprehending why I am being called sensei, but) it is true."
「Of course it's true.」
「Huh....Then, is it also possible to do it with my servants?」
"Solution. It is possible."
Ah, she answered me before I could even mentally ask that question.
For some reason, I feel a little lonely.
Like a, It's getting annoying to deal with you, kind of intention.
"Solution. I have no such intention."
This time, I felt minute traces of anger.
Fanning the flames anymore will be bad. I should just let it go here.
「There's probably no problem. I can't tell for sure without trying, but it's probably possible.」
「Huh, so all I need to do is prepare the souls right?
When there weren't signs of awakening even after using 10,000 souls, I thought it was pointless...」
「You talking about your subordinate?
The one during Walpurgis, the maid-san called Misery?」
「Ah, her and someone else, a Demon Duke called Hillary.
Since they're both Demon Lord class, I think they're both sufficiently qualified.
They're at the same level as the trio I went against earlier...
But right now they're so weak, they're not very helpful at all...」
Hey now.
You're saying they're at the same level as those girls, and they're worthless?
This guy's judging criterion seems a little strange.
「So you gave 10,000 human souls to each of them?」
「Ah that's right. But since there were no signs of evolution, I've got a lot more lying around.
I tried it on myself, but that was also pointless.
So, how much do I prepare for them to evolve?」
"Solution. 500,000 will do."
「It'll be fine with 500,000.」
Ay, hold up!
You, 500,000 you said, are you thinking of…
"Solution. Individuals named: Gerudo ・ Adalman ・ Testarossa ・ Ultima ・ Carrera
I have counted the amount necessary for those individuals in addition."
That's just reckless!!
Does she not know fear?!
You're totally trying to and lead the Guy ・ Crimson by the nose, aren't you!
No, wait a second... This means the one he'll be after when he finds out, is me isn't it!
"Solution. There are no problems."
No, it's full of problems!
Just now, I actually thought you were scary you know?!
This is exactly why I'm scared of fearless people.
「Ah? So 500,000 will do?
Then, even if I didn't go destroy any more towns, I probably have enough in my reserves」
「Ah, is that so? That's wonderful.」
At this point, I can only emit a dry laugh.
It's more terrifying than trying to swindle a Yakuza.
If I'm caught, I guess I can't complain even if I get destroyed.
I didn't have any sweat to wipe off, nor did any turbulence show on my face. It's been a while since I last thought it's great to be a slime.
Guy was now cheerfully eating cake.
That was his third one now.
It seemed he really liked it.
Since negotiations had ended, I wanted to have him leave soon, but apparently someone else was coming so we were waiting for them.
Honestly, this was annoying.
Just earlier, he created a Gate and summoned Hillary and Misery from his domain.
Once you had been to a certain location once, a Gate could be easily created there. If I could do it, Guy couldn't possibly not do it.
And, in order to grant the 2 summoned individuals the souls, 500,000 souls were handed over.
Wisdom Lord Raphael said that we could use these without problem.
I wanted to bestow it to them immediately but,
「Wait. First, teach these two how to make this cake.」
He said.
Just come and buy it! I replied.
We had been glaring at each other for a while, but it didn't look like he'd give up.
It can't be helped. It was against the rules, but I'll teach them the recipe.
If I wanted them to go back quickly, I can't afford to be stingy.
I'd make these two be able to at least make a cake.
it's probably impossible to replicate it just by taste, so I'd give them the recipe too, and having them taste it once would probably make replicating it easier.
Leaving aside Shion's catastrophic sense of taste, as maids these two seemed to be perfect.
The tea from earlier was also good.
And as they took a bite of the cake,
「Splendid!」
「As expected of Demon Lord Rimuru sama!」
They simultaneously gave me high praises.
If you're this happy by such things, there's not need to play a boring game putting the fate of the world on the line.
Though I think the world's full of even more surprises if you care to look.
And in the midst of this, Ramiris suddenly burst into the room.
「I-it's terrible! Master(Veldora) went over to Ruminas' place!」
She shouted coming in.
One trouble after another.
It looks like I won't be able to rest easy anytime soon.