The central area was close to the location of Rosemary-san's presentation, and we still had some time to spare, so we decided to go there on foot.
Alice, who appeared earlier to throw a tsukkomi at Lunamaria-san also remained and went along with our group, perhaps because Aoi-chan spoke to her before she disappeared.
[...I guess that would be all the monsters around Symphonia's Royal Capital.]
[Thank you very much, Alice-sama! I've learned a lot.]
[...Seriously, it's because Kaito-san teaches you strange things. Because of him, Aoi-san and Hina-san often come to my weapon shop in the basement to ask questions...]
[Ahaha, well, it's just like Alice to eventually answer even if you say all that.]
Aoi-chan and Hina-chan used to be a little afraid of Alice, but after all the things they went through when they became adventurers, they have come to realize that she is caring and kind, even though she speaks like pushing them away, so they've gotten quite attached to her lately.
They had even changed the way she called her from "Phantasmal King-sama" to "Alice-sama".
Since becoming adventurers, the two have often visited the weapons shop in the basement, where they receive advice on how to care for their weapons and other things.
Alice looked at me like she was complaining about me causing all this... but if I'm not mistaken, I think it was Kuro who suggested that Alice instruct them at that time.
[Alice-sama, may I ask you a question too?]
[...I'd like to see you return your attention to the Harmonic Symphony though... So, what is it?]
[Since the topic of monsters has just been brought up, I've gotten curious. What is the most powerful monster?]
[...Fumu.]
To be honest, I'm also curious about the question Hina-chan asked. For example, Behemoths like Bell are called legendary magical beasts, and although it's often said that they are among the strongest, I have never heard of them being called the "strongest monster".
[It depends to some extent on how much is included in the definition of monster. It would take quite a while if I were to explain everything to the smallest criteria, but roughly speaking, if monsters have a certain level of strength and intelligence, they're basically considered as Demons rather than Monsters. The one who does the judging about this would be Magnawell-san.]
[So, it's not just having one or the other, both strength and intelligence are required?]
[Yes, for example, Kaito-san's pet, Bellfreed... Behemoths, if it's judged only by their power, they could be considered as Demons, but as they had low intelligence, they're classified as a Monster, not a Demon.]
Alice concisely answered my question. Now that she mentioned it, even though there was some difference in age between them, when I compare Bell and Lynn, I think Lynn is more intelligent than Bell.
[Considering that it's stronger than some Dragons that are acknowledged as Demons because of their strength, I guess that makes the Behemoths the most powerful monster?]
[Nidhogg, the Special Individual Wyvern, whose name is famed alongside Behemoth, is highly intelligent and is classified as a Demon when they reach a certain age, so just as Aoi-san says, it may be said that Behemoth is the most powerful monster... but why do you think they aren't called that?]
[...Was it because there are other Demons that are stronger than them?]
Alice's words made Lilia-san and the others look as if they thought of something, which probably means that there are other stronger monsters.
[Well, I'm not really sure if we should really treat that as a monster or not... but it seems that Lilia-san and the others know what I'm talking about, right? What do you think is the strongest monster?]
[It's extremely rare to directly see one... but it's the "Mystic Silver", isn't it?]
[ [ [ Mystic Silver? ] ] ]
Hearing Lilia-san mention the name of an unfamiliar monster, me, Aoi-chan and Hina-chan tilted our heads.
[That's right. Well, since the three of you are probably not familiar with it, let me explain... Mystic Silvers, of which fewer than 100 have been identified in the past, has this disposition of "self-destructing and dying in a day at most". I mean, this may sound extreme, but it may be accurate to say that "they're the rampage of some monsters given form" rather than monsters.]
[The rampage given form?]
[Yes, there are about four types of them in total, but they are all fox-shaped demons that have the property of taking in the surrounding magic power, and as a result of taking in an enormous amount of magic power that exceeds their own capacity in a short time, they end up rampaging. In many cases, it occurs in places where magic power tends to gather, called magic pools, but there's no regularity to this, and in most cases, death occurs when they take in more than the allowable amount of magic power... However, in the rarest cases, it can cause a magical rampage without dying, which allows them to be in a state known as Mystic Silver.]
Pausing her words after saying that much, Alice takes out some kind of notepad and draws a picture. The picture looked like a fox surrounded by silver light... or rather, it looked like silver light in the shape of a fox. This is probably the appearance of the Mystic Silver.
[Mystic Silvers aren't Special Individuals or anything like that, but they had already been confirmed in multiple types of fox-type monsters. Furthermore, this Mystic Silver has "1 to 9" tails, with the numbers of tails changing during the mutation stage, but there's no regularity to it and seems to be random. The more tails they have, the more powerful they are. Mystic Silvers with 1 tail isn't much of a big deal, but Mystic Silvers with 9 tails are extraordinary.]
[Are you saying that the 9-tailed Mystic Silver is the most powerful monster?]
[Yes, the first time one was confirmed was in one of the lands governed by Lillywood-san, and at that time, Lillie-san happened to be nearby and responded, so it was defeated without damage, but at that time, Lillie-san reported to Lillywood-san that "if it had been a Baron-rank that dealt with it, their strength might be lacking", which caused a bit of a stir. Anyhow, a monster with the strength of a Peerage-rank, holding no intelligence and going on a rampage, it was truly a disaster.]
In other words, the 9-tailed Mystic Silver is a dangerous monster with the power of not just a High-ranking Demon, but a Peerage-rank Demon.
According to what I have heard before, even Sieg-san, who can win a narrow victory against Bell, who is already stronger than an adult Behemoth, still doesn't have the power of someone with a Peerage-rank, so that certainly makes it worthy of being called the strongest monster.
[Well, Mystic Silver is special in many ways. As I said at the beginning, they're in a state of rampaging with the large amount of magic power they had, and even if left unchecked, it will die after a certain amount of time. To be honest, rather than calling them monsters, it might be more appropriate to think of them as some kind of magical disaster.]
[I see, I learned a lot.]
[Well, they're beings that you wouldn't even know whether one would appear every few hundred years, and we don't know where or when they'll appear. Even if they do appear, they are often dead before people see them. It's a monster with many unknowns about them.]
Exceptions can exist. Mystic Silver, the most mysterious and powerful demon... In fact, an exception could be born.
As a result of taking in magic power far beyond their capacity, they mutate and go on a rampage, leading to their death. This was the characteristic of Mystic Silvers.
However, as a result of taking in such an enormous amount of magic power in the body of a baby that its parents died of shock in the aftermath, and completely controlling the magic power that should have exceeded its capacity, turning it into its own with its abnormal resourcefulness... and there, a being that could be called an exception among exceptions were born. She had mutated into a "10-tailed Mystic Silver", which is still unprecedented in the world, but remained stable and completely self-aware.
That such a being would stand before a certain one among the Six Kings, was something known about yet.