Rimuru quickly caught the falling Phobio and placed him on the ground.
I calmly walked towards them and observed Phobio's body, "He has almost completely merged with Charybdis and will return to power in less than an hour."
"What are you going to do?" Milim said as she landed beside me.
"I've got to completely isolate Phobio from Charybdis," Rimuru said and crouched.
"Well, good luck with that," I said, giving him the thumbs up and watching from the sideline.
"Thanks, I guess..." Rimuru deadpanned before going to work and using [Degenerate] to separate Charybdis from Phobio and [Gluttony] to devour Charybdis.
After a while, Rimuru sat back and relaxed, "All done. It was a success."
"I see you got stronger after devouring the core," I said. He was currently stronger than Clayman and around the level of Frey.
"Uhh. Thanks." Rimuru said.
...
..
.
Sorry! Uh... I mean, I humbly apologize, Sir!" Phobio, who woke up, now on his knees, bowing, "All of this, I did on my own! Demon Lord Carrion had nothing to do with it! Take your vengeance with my life alone. Please!"
I must admit Carrion had good subordinates. Even though the guy has a big ego, he admits to his actions. I knew people that would hide behind being a subordinate of a Demon Lord instead.
"Why would I save your life just so I could kill you after that? I only want you to answer some questions." Rimuru said in his slime form. Holding back the urge to say, 'I would,' I continued to listen, "Go ahead, Treyni."
"Thank you," Treyni, the Dryad, looked at Phobio, "How did you know where Charybdis was kept hidden? It was in a place that only we, the Dryads, knew after the Hero entrusted it to us. I do not believe that you found it by coincidence."
Well, that was partially true, as I and my shadows knew the location but didn't bother doing anything with it.
"I was told of the place by two clowns wearing masks." He said, not lifting his head from the ground.
"Masked clowns?" Treyni drew a picture of a clown mask on the ground before asking, "Did they look like this?"
"No, the one with me was a girl wearing a weeping mask and a fat man with an angry mask."
"A fat man with an angry mask?" Benimaru asked, shocked.
"If I recall correctly, there was a higher Majin wearing such a mask who called himself Gelmud's agent. His name was Footman, and he was from some kind of 'Moderate Alliance,'" Geld said.
"The Moderate Harlequin Alliance. They said they carried out all kinds of odd jobs." Phibio added.
"Well, I do recognize the pattern Lady Treyni drew. A clown who named himself Laplace, an agent of Gelmud's," Gabiru said.
"Gelmud was the one taking charge of the Ord Lord Project. I do not know of any Moderate Harlequin Alliance."
"I heard of them." I said, and everyone turned to me, "Once when I was spying... Ekmm... Gathering information, I stumbled upon them, and from what I could gather, they were a group of powerful Majin created by Kazalim, a previous Demon Lord who Leon Cromwell killed. They are a jack-of-all-trades that can be hired to do various kinds of jobs, and their number one and the absolute rule is never to betray their friends and clients."
"So a group that was serving a Demon Lord... We'll need to keep an eye out for them, but for now, this day is over. Get Some rest, everyone." Rimuru said before turning to Phobio, "And you take care on your way home, Phobio."
"Huh?" He looked at Rimuru, shocked, "But you can't just forgive me after all I did."
"I'm not saying you were innocent, but the real culprit was using you, and we didn't suffer any casualties."
"Yeah, b-but!" He turned to Milim, "Is this all right with you, Milim?
"Yes! I was going to give you one good wallop, but I've decided against it!" She said, giving him the peace sign before turning around, "Is that all right with you, Carrion?"
"Yo." Carrion, who has been hiding for a while, stepped forward, "I want to thank you for rescuing him alive like that."
I went slightly annoyed as I was completely ignored, and Carrion started talking to Rimuru, "Sorry for letting my subordinate go out of control like that. I hope you can forgive him and chalk this up to me not paying attention as I should. Let's just say that I owe you one after this. Anything you need, just say the word."
"In that case. I'd love to sign a pact of non-aggression with you."
"Sure thing. In the name of Beastmaster Carrion, you have my word that Eurazania will never bare its fangs toward Tempest." He then turned to me, "You certainly have a lot of information if you knew so much about the Moderate Harlequin Alliance. I'm interested in who you might be."
"Oh?" I awkwardly scratched the back of my head, "I'm Cale, just a passing traveler who has seen a lot during the years." I then shook hands with Carrion. I actually forgot he doesn't know I'm Ashborn.
Milim jumped on my back and pointed at me, "Huh? Carrion, don't you recognize him? It's Ashborn, but don't say it to anyone. He wants to keep it a secret!"
"Milim, didn't I tell you to keep it a secret," I asked as my eyes twitched.
"Huh... huh... HUH!" He looked shocked before coughing, "Sorry, I didn't recognize a fellow Demon Lord with you not even emitting a shred of your aura. I assumed you were a Human." He said.
"That was the point..." I replied with slight annoyance, "I like to go around without everyone knowing who I am. So keep it a secret."
While not many knew my true power from what I have shown, I have the strength of a True Demon Lord but on the weaker side.
Seriously Milim, why must you always reveal my identity to everyone...
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Author's Note:
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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