LS – Chapter 61: Do my best at present

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After the shocking revelations of the dark side of history, we get another shocking revelation.

Just how many times are we going to be shocked here? My stiff shoulders might heal at this rate.

“A Demon Lord…aiming for Gahne? Aren’t Demon Lords comrades?”

“I won’t deny that we were all given new life by Yugura after agreeing and being made into Demon Lords. But there’s none who form factions. It is complicated in terms of mentally and by constitution.” (Gold)

The Gold Demon Lord created a golden sphere on her palm.

I can tell from experience that it is a mass of mana, but I don’t feel like she has done anything special to it. However, it had a clear color.

“This is the mana that creates Nethers, but its special traits differ depending on the Demon Lord. Just like how the mana of the Nether is poisonous for people, the mana of each other brings about bad effects on us. Several Demon Lords can’t stay in the same domain.” (Gold)

“So you all don’t like to approach each other physically, huh. And so, what about the mental front?”

“That’s just a simple matter of our personalities being way too different. Black hates the world, Scarlet seeks strife, Green wants isolated peace, Purple desires absolute control, Blue…I don’t really know.” (Gold)

“And the Gold Demon Lord?”

“What this one wanted was…a place to be. I want to make the best place I can.” (Gold)

It is true that the Gold Demon Lord was angry when I ruined Gahne even if it was in a simulated world.

Even if she knows the distinction, it is the place she raised with care.

It should be safe to say she is not lying in that front.

“I would like to know the basis of your assumption that a Demon Lord is targeting you. Judging from the way you said it, it doesn’t seem like you know which one it is after all.”

“Umu, regarding the basis of this, there have been signs of many monsters amassing in the Gahne Nether. They are not fighting each other, but gathering under one will. The only ones who can make that possible are demons or Demon Lords.” (Gold)

“The Gahne Nether was created by the Scarlet Demon Lord, right? Then—”

“I thought the same too at first, but I am not certain. Just as I have said before, the special traits of the monsters born in the Nether are different depending on the Demon Lord. But the monsters gathering in the Gahne Nether are not beast types that are often seen there.” (Gold)

The Gold Demon Lord said this and created a slideshow of pictures in thin air.

What was shown there were the bizarre figures of what’s called monsters.

These bizarre beings that are not humans or animals were gathering in alarming numbers.

They are close to humanoid, but there’s some that have crustacean claws, some that have tendrils, and there’s also many others who I would have a hard time describing.

Their numbers are astounding but their variety is also dizzying. There’s some creatures that would fit right in with the deep sea creatures or the mythological ones.

Let’s just categorize the ones that are difficult to describe as Creature.

“By the way, these are the monsters that are often seen in the Gahne Nether.” (Gold)

Saying this, she slid it to one other image.

At that one, there were classic fantasy monsters like goblins, orcs, ogres, and those types of beast-like monsters.

They are different from demi-humans like Wolfe. I could feel the savageness of a beast that follows their instincts in the eyes of those monsters.

They are most likely like demi-humans, but because they were born in the Nether, their nature has changed.

“If it is not the Scarlet Demon Lord, what about the other Demon Lords?”

“I knew ya would say that so I prepared others too.” (Gold)

The monsters of the Black Demon Lord are monsters that hold giant scythes like a death reaper, a faceless knight, a black horse with many legs; a repertoire that would make my right hand itch.

Makes sense for a world hater to have the punisher kind of monsters.

This might have pulled some strings in my heart if it had been when I was in middle school.

The monsters of the Green Demon Lord are: wyverns, dragons, orochis, and tree giants. All monsters that stand out when it comes to size.

This type is what gets my heart racing at my age.

Most of the monsters that appear in Taizu are shown in this picture.

The Blue Demon Lord’s monsters are stuff like skeletons and ghosts. It is on theme with them being able to use necromancy.

But I don’t see that many undeads out of human corpses like the time with Dokora. Looks like zombies with humans as their base won’t appear naturally.

No, what about skeletons? Maybe those are simply modeled after humans?

The Scarlet Demon Lord’s monsters have already been shown, so we go past that one. They are the most fantasy-like.

The Purple Demon Lord’s monsters look humanoid, but there’s beast parts here and there like devils. Rakura would often say: ‘Ah, I have defeated that one’.

“This is weird, right?” (Gold)

“There’s no traits for the monsters of the Gold Demon Lord and Colorless?”

“This one was defeated soon after making the Nether by Yugura. It was purified before monsters were born. If anything, the only Nether of mine remaining would be this Gahne Castle?” (Gold)

“Eh, this is a Nether?”

“I can still live without one, but there’s the need for the bare minimum space in order to use this one’s power. Due to this, I have limited the entry here.” (Gold)

The Demon Lord can show their full strength in the Nether.

For the Gold Demon Lord, the inside of this castle alone is her Nether.

“But monsters don’t get born.”

“The creatures born inside the Nether become monsters. Green made the grass and the insects into monsters too, but it seems like this one has a bad affinity with that, ya see.” (Gold)

If the individual traits of the Demon Lord are reflected on the monsters, then the ones the Gold Demon Lord would create would be…she is a fox and gives off a Japanese feel, so maybe Japanese youkais?

The slides once again show the Creature type monsters.

They don’t match the characteristics of any Demon Lord’s monsters. It is true that it won’t be possible to narrow it down.

“In that case, the one that remains would be Colorless.”

“I have never met Colorless and they have never stood on the public stage after all. It is true that they are certainly suspicious, but I also think there’s the possibility the other Demon Lord is purposely breaking their appearance.” (Gold)

“That’s possible?”

“This one personally investigated this but…what creates the Nether is the original mana of the Demon Lord. However, there have been cases where there’s changes in the monster if ya match the oscillations of energy when that happens. Ya either train for it or…” (Gold)

I see. For example; if you were to emit your mana with anger as the emotion, a ferocious red dragon would be born, and if you were to emit mana with cold emotions, an ice dragon would be born, or something like that?

But creating such bizarre monsters, rather than calling it training, it is more like…

“I am interested in what kind of mental state they were in when they created these monsters.”

“Umu, it at least wouldn’t be anything decent.” (Gold)

“That said, it was originally the Scarlet Demon Lord’s Nether. There’s also the possibility they were born as byproducts of a new Nether appearing.”

“I have not tested out on that front. Demon Lords have fought a few times in the past, but there have been no scrambles for territory.” (Gold)

“So it has happened before.”

“Umu. The personalities of Green and Scarlet are pretty strong, ya know. Blue and Purple came in to arbitrate and were left half dead by Green.” (Gold)

So the Green Demon Lord is so strong that they can leave the other Demon Lords half dead even when joining forces…?

Someone like that being in the Nether that connects to the Taizu territory is pretty heavy.

“Black and Green have fought before, but Yugura was the one that came in to arbitrate at that time. If he didn’t, Green would have died before being defeated by Yugura.” (Gold)

And the Black Demon Lord can overwhelm the Green Demon Lord. And that Black Demon Lord, against a slime… No, let’s not talk about that.

“You can contact the other Demon Lords, right?”

“It is not like I always can though. We can send our consciousness to the space that Black made in the past only on full moon nights. It is the place for interactions between Demon Lords that was prepared under Yugura. Ya can speak in a sort of telepathic way there. I heard about ya from Scarlet at that time.” (Gold)

Full moon was just recently. There’s close to 1 month before the next full month.

But the Demon Lords that don’t interact with each other meet once every month —no, it is kind of like a net call.

Being forced to participate in such a gathering… Yugura is evil.

“Did you not confirm?”

“I spoke about it the month prior. They were all acting as if they knew nothing about it.” (Gold)

According to what she says, they are forced to participate in that meeting for a set period of time. And so, they use that opportunity to exchange information.

The Gold Demon Lord is telling whether a Demon Lord has been resurrected or not by the participants.

The topics of conversation are varied, but they barely breach those topics and there are even times when those monthly meetings end without speaking at all.

“This one talks about the world of the humans, Purple mostly about the fights of monsters, Scarlet would talk about things that they have judged should be shared, Blue would lament each topic, Green would be angry the whole time about how it is noisy and how it is hindering their sleep. Colorless has not said a word until now.” (Gold)

I feel like I have gotten a pretty good grasp of the other Demon Lord’s personalities and at the same time don’t.

The two Demon Lords that properly talk being the aggressive ones feel kind of fatal though.

“Even when I breached the aforementioned topic, there wasn’t much of a change.” (Gold)

“Isn’t there the possibility that a demon is making a move?”

“Demons can control monsters too, but they can’t create a Nether. Ya need to form a new Nether in order to create those aberrations. In that case, it would still ultimately come to the cooperation of a Demon Lord.” (Gold)

This is most of what the Gold Demon Lord wanted to say.

There’s a lot of areas that are outside my expertise. I don’t have enough ingredients to grasp the identity of the Demon Lord behind it.

If we go by simple logic, the most suspicious would be Colorless. The characteristics of their monsters are unknown and there has been no interaction with them until now.

However, as long as they are maintaining silence even when the topic is brought out, there’s no way to confirm.

“Do you remember being hated by the other Demon Lords or have had your life targeted?”

“I am being targeted by everyone.” (Gold)

“Want me to apologize together?”

“This one is not at fault! This is the fault of Yugura. The participation of the regular gatherings is one, but Demon Lords have also been planted the notion of ranks within our group. It is a curse when, in the case when a ‘priority order’ is demanded, ya have to obey the hierarchy. A rank was given in the order of birth, and this one is second.” (Gold)

Hierarchy, huh. In that case, the Gold Demon Lord is the 2nd in the hierarchy…and since the Black Demon Lord is not present, she is the one with the highest priority order.

This is the highest in the hierarchy of Demon Lords…

This is…

“How influential is that hierarchy?”

“This one can hold most of the leadership in discussions. On other occasions, when deciding on the orders, this one would have the highest priority. A really unpleasant curse will take place on the person themselves if they go against it.” (Gold)

What a vague curse. But a curse being able to make someone the level of a Demon Lord feel really unpleasant is in a sense very powerful.

So they would have no choice but to let her take the leadership in discussions at least.

“This is obvious, but you can ignore the hierarchy if you push it into a battle of strength. Utilizing it too much to my advantage would make it scary for the future.” (Gold)

This is most likely a restriction in the vein of ‘Your big sister is prioritized’ in the eyes of Yugura.

Having your right to speak be stolen by the Gold Demon Lord, who is inferior in strength to you, and her receiving more favorable treatment would definitely be frustrating.

In the eyes of the highly prideful Demon Lords, the existence of that hierarchy must be unbearably displeasing.

She can force them to accept something they don’t want with that authority, but until then, they will have to be wary about the curse that is the hierarchy, and will have to yield to most things to the Gold Demon Lord.

“By the way, how unpleasant is it?”

“I don’t know. At the time when Black was there, this one feared them, and didn’t try to go against them after all. However, whenever it turned into a dispute between Demon Lords, the ones in the lower ranks would look like they were feeling really bad.” (Gold)

So there’s the possibility it is on the level where it could hinder you in battle, huh. No wonder they wouldn’t just outright come and end the Gold Demon Lord.

If the Gold Demon Lord asked for help and they were to refuse, they would be made to feel unpleasant due to the hierarchy curse of Demon Lords.

In other words, if they were to attack the Gold Demon Lord in broad daylight, there’s the possibility of drawing the hostility of other Demon Lords.

“I wouldn’t have minded much if it was only this one who was killed though. Aah, if they make it so clear they are readying to invade, I will also get troubled by it.” (Gold)

“Can you tell when they will make a move?”

“I don’t. Even in my simulated world, that army didn’t show signs of moving. A downside of the simulated world is that it can’t create Demon Lords after all.” (Gold)

“…Speaking of which, when did Raheight begin to search for the book?”

“Somewhere around more than 1 year ago… It was right after Doko…what was it? The so-called Anbu of Mejis appeared at the place of Scarlet after all.” (Gold)

The stocks of Dokora have been raised again. Even though he is dead, you can’t just write him off.

Or more like, doesn’t this mean that we could get the details of the Scarlet Demon Lord if we ask Dokora in the simulated world?

…Well, let’s leave that for later. We have to concentrate on the issue of the Gold Demon Lord first.

Raheight got the order to search for the stolen book by the Scarlet Demon Lord at the time before  the simulated world began in the match.

Therefore, that mission alone remained even in the world of Ilias and made him show up.

But the reason there were no big moves was because she couldn’t create a Scarlet Demon Lord in the simulated world to report to… It does make sense.

There’s also the possibility that we didn’t allow him to do anything in the simulated world though.

The monsters in the simulated world of Gahne’s Nether wouldn’t have a Demon Lord for them to be controlled, but it wouldn’t be strange for them to charge in today at earliest in the real world.

“Did you try fighting those monsters in the simulated world?”

“Umu, I sent the soldiers of Gahne, and they were almost on par. Due to their advantage in the terrain, we had to take flight, but we wouldn’t fall immediately if we were to concentrate on defending.

The monsters are there, so it is possible to make the soldiers of the simulated world clash with them and check the difference in strength.

The result is that they are almost on the same level, huh. Different from a battlefield where you would have to retreat if a few percent of them die, the invasion of the monsters will most likely continue on until not a single one remains.

So if we think of it like that, even if they were to attack or defend, the casualties will be massive.

The 1st layer…no, the battlefield will be dragged all the way to the 3rd layer.

How about asking for reinforcements from the chivalric order of Taizu.

No, with just the fact that Demon Lords are present, they don’t have the leeway to leave the country open. There’s a limit to the soldiers they can move for the defense of another nation.

It would be a powerful helper without a doubt, but it is weak as a way to solve this.

“By the way, do you plan on helping the Gold Demon Lord?” (Ilias)

Ilias asked me.

Of course…well…yeah.

“As long as she is not an enemy, I can’t abandon her.”

“Nfufufu, this one being so attractive must be a sin.” (Gold)

Ah, she is getting pissed.

I understand your feelings, but calm down, Ilias.

“…What would you have done if we had lost the match?”

“Right… If ye were an unreliable bunch, this one would have driven ya away and would try to do something on my own. But at the time when ya immediately won, I was thinking about asking ya to help out even if it was only ya alone.” (Gold)

Of course she wouldn’t ask for the help of incompetent people, huh.

I am happy to be acknowledged, but this is still a rough situation.

It is an invasion from monsters that have the same power, so casualties would be unavoidable.

What? A strategy that allows for an overwhelming victory? As if something like that would exist.

If it were Taizu with the cheat battle force that are the knights, they could use that and the forest to their advantage to set traps and ambushes to make it possible, but Gahne only has plains.

An all-out war can’t be avoided.

Of course, if they were to cast a powerful spell that wiped out the enemy…but this is not a world where such conveniences work.

With the strength of Ilias, she might be able to defeat around a hundred, but this is on a scale unlike the bandits and undeads.

It is of course not an amount that can be dealt with completely with just her strength, and even Ilias would be left helpless if she were to be swallowed by the numbers of those monsters.

It might be possible if it is just to protect the Gold Demon Lord, but protecting the country of Gahne itself is not that easy of an issue.

At the moment my thoughts reached that point, the door of the throne room opened. The slides of the Gold Demon Lord disappeared at the same time as this happened.

The one that showed up was Ludfein-san. Speaking of which, it has been more than 7 hours since the match began.

The morning sun has already risen a long time ago. Even though the others have been sleeping for around 6 hours as a whole, I have been talking to the Gold Demon Lord for the whole night over here.

Yeah, I am sleepy.

“I came here worried and what do I see… King, how can you make the guests accompany you until morning?!” (Ludfein)

“Nfufufu, we had such a good talk here that it ended up getting late, ya see. Well then, let’s wrap it up here fer now.” (Gold)

“Please do. Good grief… Are you going to be taking a break now, everyone? Or would you like breakfast first?” (Ludfein)

Ludfein-san said with a sigh.

This ‘king’ is doing quite the funky thing in terms of diplomatic moves after all.

“…Right, I would like to take a bit of a break after having a meal.” (Ilias)

“Me too… Ah, I would like to drink some booze before sleeping.” (Rakura)

“Rakura, drinking alcohol in the morning is…” (Ilias)

“It is before sleeping, so it is okay.” (Rakura)

“…I am sleepy.” (Wolfe)

“What will you be doing, Mister Friend?” (Mix)

It would be nice to take a break, but…the gears in my brain are nicely greased up right now.

I would like to arrange the information for a bit more while I am running optimally.

“Gahne King, do you mind me having my meal here?”

“Want to eat together with this one? I normally would be refusing, but it is ya, so this one allows it.” (Gold)

“…You seem to have gotten really close.” (Ludfein)

The king that normally doesn’t meet with anyone aside from the cabinet ministers is having a meal with her guests. Of course it would be a rare sight.

Even so, the eyes of Ludfein-san seem blank and it is scary. I feel like those eyes were saying ‘Aah, she has made bad influences’.

“If Mister Friend will be doing that, I will also do the same.” (Mix)

“…No choice but for me to do the same as well.” (Ilias)

“What, there’s no need for bodyguards. We will be getting along just the two of us here, so ya can leave.” (Gold)

““Who is going to leave.””

Rakura who is faithful to her desires and Wolfe who can’t win against her drowsiness returned to the manor, and we dined on the meal that was brought afterwards.

My food was reduced by 20% with the poison tasting of Mix, but it is a meal after an all-nighter, so I can’t complain.

“Now then, we have finished our meal, so—”

“Want to sleep together?” (Gold)

“Gold Demon Lord, can you let me cut you down once? You are going to resurrect anyway, right?” (Ilias)

“I don’t think that’s something ya ask of someone though.” (Gold)

The two react to every joke the Gold Demon Lord does. They shouldn’t worry that much though.

In the first place, she bats both ways. She was even getting aroused by you girls too, you know?

The Gold Demon Lord may have a teasing personality, but she likes humans.

They may have fought each other in the past, but they now are joining hands, and she is a beloved being that is trying to create a desirable place.

Shouldn’t it be okay to spare her some breathing room as long as she doesn’t mean any harm -aside from her strike zone being as vast as the plains here.

“I will have you bring out a pillow and have you guide me to the simulated world. I can recover the fatigue in my body at least while I am over there, right? I would like to go there while lying down.”

“I can do that, but…there’s still the mental fatigue, right? Ya can do this after having a good sleep.” (Gold)

“I would like to solve the worries as soon as possible -is in part the reason, but…I am feeling pretty good here. I will do this to a degree that isn’t too taxing for me.”

I once again head to the simulated world.

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