Soon, the paladins were ushered into the banquet hall. They had just come out from the bath, wearing the yukata and jinbei prepared for them. It must’ve been a novel experience, but they looked comfortable for the most part. You’d be hard-pressed to find something even more relaxing to wear around the house, after all—kind of like lounging around in sweats all day.
They all seemed a bit on edge as they were guided inside. The lack of tables and chairs must have thrown them, not to mention the custom of taking off their footwear before going up on the tatami floor. The goblinas guiding them along were in their element, however, demonstrating some pretty surprising elegance. Vester must’ve been teaching them well. I could tell some of the paladins weren’t sure what to make of them.
Luminus sat down first, the picture of high society as she settled next to me. Louis was next, a practical mirror image of the former demon lord Roy and every bit as dignified as his papal rank suggested. Third was Hinata, who (after sitting down) looked at me, determined.
“I have to apologize for all the trouble we’ve given you. What happened today, as well as the last time we met, was thanks to my own poor judgment. It wasn’t an order from Lady Luminus, and my paladins are not responsible for it. I don’t know if you can find it in yourself to forgive me, but—”
“Whoa, stop right there!”
I had to stop her before she started kowtowing to me on the tatami. Our first encounter? Yeah, that was all her fault. But our most recent rumble was all a misunderstanding, the Seven Days guys pulling the strings behind it, and Luminus had already taken care of them. And with Diablo wrapping things up over in Farmus as well, I saw no reason to keep dragging out the issue.
That’s why I stepped up to interrupt her. But then I made an astonishing new discovery. I… I thought I could see it—the smoothly undulating twin peaks, unfolding underneath her partially opened yukata!! Slightly flushed after the bath and so supremely captivating!
I hadn’t deliberately tried for that, but man, talk about good timing! Was this Raphael at work?
Understood. That is not the case.
That reply sounded a little cold to me, but it didn’t matter. Oh, man. I was starting to feel…adventurous. Now would normally be when I began sporting wood, but that thing was long gone. Ah well. A man never leaves his sense of adventure behind! Good thing I don’t get nosebleeds in this body, either.
A yukata, though, huh? Wow. Talk about packing a punch. A woman, fresh from the bath, in a yukata. There’s just no beating that. And if that woman was as beautiful as Hinata, the fearsome synergy that results…
…Well, she got me. I gave in. Defeated. I’d forgive her for anything she’d done. In fact, I already had.
CHAPTER 2THE INVITEES
You could try hiding it all you wanted, but it was doomed to spread. In short order, the rumors had reached the ears of leaders in the nations surrounding the Forest of Jura—
Hinata, the Saint, was defeated by Rimuru, the demon lord.
The news came across several routes, delivered with careful precision, ensuring it would reach the people it was intended for. It sounded so eminently plausible, and of course, someone was behind its spreading—but in another moment, the word had traveled so far that nobody would ever know who.
No matter how secret the Crusaders’ invasion was, there was no way to keep everyone in the dark forever. The reason was obvious: Tempest was now the center of attention, and to the nations that had relations with it, they had to be constantly vigilant about intelligence collection. The Crusaders’ deployment to Tempest was an open secret by this point, and that helped make this new rumor seem even more believable. And this news was interpreted in many different ways by many different people. Some feared the demon lord Rimuru. Some angrily dismissed Hinata as a feckless fraud. Others proceeded with caution, trying to decide how best to keep their homelands safe.
But along with these flowing rumors, news was also coming from official sources: Hinata, the Saint, and Rimuru, the demon lord, fought to a draw. The result of this: a truce between Lubelius and the Jura-Tempest Federation, along with the signing of a nonaggression treaty.
Things were getting complicated—and that wasn’t the only problem giving world leaders headaches. Those very same leaders were receiving invitations from Rimuru himself, the demon lord at the core of this crisis.
None of these nations were about to accept the Council of the West’s official announcement as the whole story. It would turn all common sense on its head—and alter the fabric of the world itself. Every leader could smell it in the air, and even if they lacked the whole story, they knew that the paladins had suffered no casualties. That told them everything they needed to make a decision.
And in the midst of all these wild, twisting motives, the Western Nations were about to experience earth-shattering change.
In a corner of the Dwarven Kingdom, the Armed Nation of Dwargon, a group of ministers and top officials had settled down into a meeting.
“Ah, now he’s done it.” The dignified voice of Gazel Dwargo, the Heroic King of the land of dwarves, rumbled through the chamber.
The kingdom’s dark agents, their network of spies, had been busy lately. Intelligence was flowing like a torrent, and their agents had to spend sleepless nights analyzing it all, deciphering recorded images and crafting dossiers from the finely mined details. Multiple copies of these reports were written out for the ministers, and with all
