I couldn't help but wonder, "So, where did these guys come from?"
After the battle was over and the wounded had been treated, we were in the middle of the stadium.
In the stadium, which had suddenly become noisy with soldiers and onlookers who had immediately rushed to the scene, the Dwarf King and I were standing in front of the two corpses.
The Dwarf King replied, "…The logical conclusion is that someone used space magic to transfer the monsters. However, a few questions remain. First, to transport a monster of this size using space magic, it would require a lot of magical power and a lot of preparation. It would take a long time to get it ready, especially if it was not some extraordinary monster like you or some other idiot who had enough capability to do so."
Well, I could not deny his claim, but…
"Well, since they appeared in this stadium, the device to summon these guys should still be around… but you know, we have set-up really strict security in this stadium, and it's not like they're going to be able to get away with it that easily with us around here." (Dwarf King)
"…That means you guys have been really strict with inspections, right?" (Yuki)
"Oh, of course. The Devil King is keeping a close eye on things, and it won't be easy to outwit him. Besides, we've been working here for a while now. If there were any suspicious magic circles or tools around, even our guys, who were a bunch of idiots, would have surely noticed them." (Dwarf King)
So there were also enough eyes watching.
Nevertheless, even with strict security, someone was able to transfer the monsters here.
They simply came out of nowhere.
The Dwarf King said in a worried tone, "When I hired people to work here, I did a thorough background check, and after working with them, I can assure you that there are only good-natured idiots in this place. So I'd like you to believe that it wasn't one of our guys who did it…"
"Well, to begin with, we were all having a meal when these monsters appeared. That would make the people on guard rather suspicious… but I don't think it was them either, so I have to look at it from a different angle. One possibility I can think of is that there might have been a trigger or something to activate whatever brought those creatures here." (Yuki)
"You mean it may have been a timed event?" (Dwarf King)
"Yeah. But I don't really know if it's triggered when certain conditions are met, or if it's triggered at a predetermined time, but as far as I can tell from the map… after I checked using my power as a Demon Lord earlier, the moment the monsters appeared in the stadium, there was no other biological activity in the vicinity. There were only guards a short-distance away, but I doubt they would have done anything in such an overtly suspicious situation."
"…I agree. It depends on the purpose, but I don't think there are many people who would commit a crime knowing who was currently around here."
Their purpose, huh?
Yes, there should have been a purpose for this…but what on earth was it?
If the purpose was simply to get someone to agree to their demands or to assert their existence, wouldn't there have been some kind of announcement in advance?
Were they planning to issue a proclamation after this?
While I was thinking about other possibilities, the Dwarf King resumed the conversation while rubbing his magnificent beard.
"There is one more thing that concerns me. –The strength of the monsters. These guys were strong. If it weren't for you, there would have been at least dozens, maybe hundreds, of deaths before they could be defeated. And there's even two of them. I don't even know how on earth they were able to prepare the monsters."
That's certainly a good point.
It would take the power of a Demon Lord to find and capture a monster… Wait…
Even a shred of the Demon Lord's power… Wait… What if there was someone who had a piece of that Demon Lord's power?
Since I was in the middle of a battle earlier, I only checked their level, ability values, and skills and ignored other details. So now, I immediately invoked my analysis skill on the corpse again.
"…Just as I thought."
It was showing a title in the title column.
There it was, [The Demon Lord's Household…]
What it means was that these guys were monsters of a dungeon, just like Rir and the others.
I see. Their origin itself was now known.
"…Master. Look at this…"
Just then, Enne tugged at the hem of my clothes.
"? What?"
I looked in the direction Enne was pointing with her small hand.
It was mixed in with the debris, but thanks to Enne's help, we quickly found a foreign object… It was a dagger.
But of course, it was no ordinary dagger. There was something intricately patterned on its surface.
Dagger of Transfer: Depending on the amount of magic power put into it, it could transfer the target to any point at any given time.
Quality: A+
I see.
It was a dagger with an ability that could probably be called a national treasure, but here in the Rogard Empire, it was not surprising that it existed.
Because this place was a dungeon before.
With the DP catalog, as long as you have DP, you can acquire almost anything.
Perhaps there was someone else with the basic authority to operate the dungeon.
(T/N: Basic authority here refers to how Yuki shares the dungeon's basic function with his family.)
The monsters and this dagger could be prepared with that… No, wait…
As I recalled, it was said that only emperors of the past had the authority to manipulate the DP catalog. They didn't give basic authority to their family members, like at home.
However, it might not only be the previous emperor Shendra who would be able to prepare it, but it might have been passed also to someone else from within the Imperial Family line.
A dagger of this size could be easily concealed and could be used to cause trouble even if the culprit was not nearby.
The dagger was, in fact, buried in a pile of materials, a location that was exquisitely hidden from the eyes of the crowd.
From the looks of it, there was a possibility that it had been hidden in the pile of construction materials when it was brought in.
As to where they summoned those monsters from… I have no idea, but I have no doubt that they were summoned with dungeon-related abilities and were transferred here using the tools we just found.
When I inherited the Rogard Empire, the number of monsters under my control actually increased, and they were monsters that the previous emperor or rather previous emperors had created through DPs. They became mine after the dungeon was handed over to me.
However, I did not intend to have any more pets, and unlike the undead in the ghost ship dungeon, the ones in this country were living creatures with a normal will, so I left them in the care of a unit in this country called the Monster Guard, which controlled the monsters and was not involved in the dungeon operation at all.
They were a unit that was only used when fighting in the war, but they were suppressed by Shendra who was the previous Demon Lord of this empire. And although those pets were now just living peacefully in the Demon Forest, they were still seen as a considerable threat from the perspective of the surrounding countries because they have witnessed the empire establishing means to completely take control of monsters.
In reality, however, those monsters controlled by the empire were simply servants of the Demon Lord of the Empire.
Well, I was not so sure if that was really the case for every monster Empire has. After all, even if monsters belonged to the Demon Lord, they may still show disobedience if they wanted to.
Those two monsters, however, looked quite frightened when they saw me, and I would not have had to kill them if they had simply surrendered immediately.
"How did you manage to find this, Enne?"
"…Hmm. It had a strange magical power."
Enne replied happily as I patted her head.
While patting her head, I continued my thoughts.
–Let me summarize the information so far.
First, this situation was caused by an item or something from a dungeon.
Since it could be said that only emperors have the authority to operate the DP catalog, the item could have been prepared by an emperor before my predecessor.
Was it prepared during the war but was never used in the end?
Or did it exist for an entirely different reason?
I would have to ask the culprit to find out for sure, but one thing was certain: There was an enemy somewhere out there who did not think highly of this competition.
And it was most likely someone from this country.
I couldn't say for sure, but it would be difficult for anyone below a certain level of power in this country to obtain or use items related to DP.
The average citizen did not even know that this place was a dungeon.
When I think of enemies, the first thing that comes to my mind were those people from the human supremacists group… but I also had a feeling that this was not the case. After all, this new enemy acted differently from the human supremacist people I know.
I also couldn't understand what the purpose was, but this time, I think it was more calculated than before, and there must have been some kind of intention.
The human supremacists, those I met in the Allysia Kingdom, were very calculating and forward-thinking.
Perhaps, the people responsible for this were acting with the goal of spreading bad sentiments towards other races, like in the case with the ones I encountered not so long ago.
And now, it has come to this.
The current Rulers I know cooperated with each other, especially King Allysia, who was a human, somehow managed to bring the situation regarding human supremacists to its current weak state, but it could have also caused those desperate to make drastic moves.
But…from that point of view, their actions were more short-sighted.
In my opinion, most of the so-called "human supremacists" just didn't like other races for various reasons, like blaming other races for losing their jobs.
I believe that the idea of human supremacy was chosen as an outlet for their dissatisfaction.
Actions born from short-sighted thinking were also short-sighted.
They could only get a bit of satisfaction from doing this, but this would not get rid of what was really causing these feelings.
If there was one question that remained, that was why did they wait until now to do what they had to do?
If they had intended to destroy the competition completely, the most effective time to do so would have been during the actual competition.
There was no doubt that summoning those monsters during the event would have caused more chaos and terrible damage.
Nonetheless, why take action at such a halfway point before the event?
Because of this incident, security would be even tighter in the future, and preparations for the competition would be made with even greater fervor.
How much sense did this action make?
Did they expect me to be taken down that easily, or did they think there would be more damage to the stadium?
Regardless of their reason, I was now aware of their existence, and have already discussed it with the current guards about it. This way, we should be able to prepare for a more effective way of dealing with those terrorist threats.
If an incident like this had occurred in a situation where many countries and many spectators were gathered, the reputation of the Rogard Empire would have been greatly damaged.
This world was not as lenient as my previous world.
If I have an enemy, it does not matter what their race is, or even if I have trusted them before. I would be willing to crush them thoroughly.
Well then, after getting this far, even I would not be able to tolerate any more of this, since they literally become an enemy of this country, my country.
If this was an attack from a different Demon Lord, then I would definitely consider them as prey to be devoured.
There might also be the angle of wanting to interfere with the events, but they didn't want too many casualties.
So, could I assume that the one who caused this was someone from this country?
"…"
I looked at the map.
The map was very useful.
The most wonderful thing about a Demon Lord's power was that they could do anything with DPs, but next to that was this map function.
It allowed a Demon Lord to see what the enemy was doing and where they were at any given time, and to see their threat level in detail.
But…in this case, it might not work effectively, if not useless.
Because basically, almost everyone around here was considered an intruder in my dungeon, other than my family members and those connected to me.
Previously they were simply intruders, but now they became my enemies.
But one specific function of the map that I could use was to search for specific enemies.
It may sound simple, but making it work properly was anything but that.
"…Damn. I guess it's not that easy."
Even after a few filters, there were still many enemies around.
It was annoying as heck, but…I wouldn't lose.
No matter what their intentions were, I would trace them down and make the event a success.