It was grueling work, but it was still better than the situation a few months ago, back when that slime Rimuru became a demon lord and immediately pivoted into a duel with Clayman. The dark agents, the agency behind them, and Gazel and his officials—they had all suffered terribly from a lack of sleep. Compared with those days, this was a walk in the park.
“Heh…heh-heh-heh. I find it hard to believe, but believe it I must. It would appear your sparring partner has defeated the Saint.”
“You are being disrespectful, Vaughn,” chided Dolph, the hardheaded captain of the Pegasus Knights. “This is a public meeting hall, not your personal chamber. Remember where you speak!”
Vaughn shrugged and gave him a languid nod before turning a more vengeful eye toward the ministers and coughing once.
“Do not berate him too much, Dolph,” King Gazel said. “I am as surprised by this as anyone. I am sure Vaughn couldn’t help but laugh.”
The assembled members had no choice but to accept this. The news had shocked them all. Now was no time to go on about Vaughn’s lack of decorum.
The reports in their hands laid out all the details behind recent events, and it was a roller coaster of a read from start to finish. Over a hundred Crusaders, the strongest force among humankind, had staged a clandestine violent assault on the nation of monsters. Even Henrietta’s dark agents, the pride of Gazel, had only picked up the news the other day—or really, only found out once battle began. And if the dark agents knew, there was no doubting every other nation’s secret service did. Tempest, after all, was crawling with spies. Rimuru seemed to be aware of them, but essentially left them be, perhaps to better advertise his moves. Once full-bore combat began, even the most amateur intelligence organization would know what was going on.
In the end, the Crusaders lost. The demon lord Rimuru had won—and without killing a single one of them. The dark agents sadly failed to witness the battle for themselves, but that was the report they gave.
“But Your Majesty,” Henrietta said, “I saw it happen myself…”
As she explained, she was around to see the fight eventually devolve into a one-on-one duel between Hinata and Rimuru. However, due to an onrush of out-of-control magicules, the dark agents were blocked from magically eavesdropping on the event.
“…We also detected a powerful aura surrounding the area, and we believe that was the cause of this.”
“So someone triggered a magicule storm powerful enough to block all monitoring magic?”
“It was not a magicule storm, Lady Jaine, so much as a clash of opposed energy waves triggering a jamming signal.”
“Hmm,” mused Jaine, the elderly arch-wizard of the kingdom. “So you didn’t see how this duel ended yourselves? Why are you so sure Hinata lost?”
Hinata, all-powerful head of the Crusaders, required no introduction to Jaine. She had personal insights into the Saint’s strength, and she found it hard to believe Hinata tasted defeat.
“I can only offer circumstantial evidence in my defense,” replied Henrietta. “But after centuries of refusing to side with monsters, the Western Holy Church has overturned its own doctrine. They’ve even sent us word about opening official connections with us, the dwarves. The nation of Lubelius is also moving to establish relations with Tempest. Word of this has been sent to governments worldwide, and we are now awaiting the official proclamation. These are drastic changes, and I believe they offer the clearest evidence yet that Hinata was defeated.”
“Mmmm. Certainly, if those human-supremacist blockheads so quickly changed their tune like that…I suppose it means something must have forced their hand. But… King Gazel, you know this means there’s a greater chance than ever that the demon lord Rimuru has grown more powerful than you, do you not?” Jaine seemed to find even asking the question painful.
Hinata, the Saint, and Gazel, the Master of the Sword, were an even match, whether Gazel wanted to admit it or not. If Hinata just lost, simple logic dictated that Rimuru now outclassed Gazel.
“Ridiculous!”
“How dare you insult His Majesty, Lady Jaine!”
The ministers howled at Jaine, but she refused to budge. As far as she was concerned, the truth was the truth. And Gazel agreed.
“That much growth in the space of a few months?” Vaughn casually asked. The question was greeted by a snort from the king. It’s no longer a matter of growth, my good man! he thought.
Even the last time they met, something about the demon lord Rimuru seemed strange. This wasn’t some gushing geyser of pure force in front of him—everything was calm. He couldn’t feel a thing. Gazel’s own power—the unique skill Tyrant, which let him see through everything, even other people’s thoughts—gave him no insight at all into the creature. It meant Rimuru was able to completely restrain his force. Maybe he didn’t know everything about the outcome of the duel, but Hinata surviving the ordeal was an achievement in itself.
“It is likely so,” he said, considering this. “The evolution into demon lord means his powers now rival mine. Him defeating Hinata wouldn’t be unusual at all.”
“B-but, Your Majesty! You, the hero of generations, on an even keel with a monster born but a few years ago…”
“I agree wholeheartedly. Surely my liege must be mistaken?”
“And even if it is so, wouldn’t that make the demon lord Rimuru far too dangerous?”
The ministers were uproarious once more. Gazel sighed to himself. If that was how the logic went, Rimuru was far from the only threat.
He looked down at his dossier. In it, the dark agents described how the officers under Rimuru fought against the Ten Great Saints—and according to their report, not one of the monsters fell. Each one scored a complete victory, some of them even overwhelming several Saints at once. It was amazing news, and if it could be believed, there was no denying that Tempest’s overall ability to wage war surpassed Dwargon’s.
The magically recorded video
