LS – Chapter 119: What’s targeted next

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The information of the countless undead that appeared at the defensive wall dividing Kuama and the Kuama Nether was transmitted to the capital of Kuama as the day changed. And then, it was relayed to the Yugura Church, and Taizu afterwards.

Mejis dispatched a cleric team, and it was decided that they will be sending reinforcements as they raised their alert around the perimeter of the Kuama Nether.

What they know at present is that a chilling amount of undead, enough to cover the whole ground, are marching towards the defensive wall, and Kuama is putting all their strength into defending.

The undead are showing a united desire to get to the other side of the walls, but it seems like they are not coordinated and are simply attacking as a mindless mass.

Due to this, the burden on the soldiers is incomparable to anything before, but there’s currently no risk of being breached.

“It is just as ya said, Ser: Blue has moved. But that’s a way too honest way to attack.” (Gold)

“Right? Even though Blue should be able to easily breach the walls if she were to fan them out in several directions considering their numbers, you know?” (Purple)

We are currently sharing information at the villa of Purple and having a strategy meeting.

After I was called by Marito and was told about the army, I was consulted by Pope Euparo.

Archbishop Seraes and the people from the anti-3rd Faction apparently exclaimed that we should be made to cooperate in resolving this issue.

According to Archbishop Seraes ‘if we are to call ourselves neutral, it should be our responsibility to calm down any disputes’, and the other people chimed in to this.

“What a selfish bunch. Neutral also means that we can freely enact noninterference though?” (Purple)

“It seems like ya accepted though, Ser. Is that really okay?” (Gold)

“This is a good opportunity to get their trust after all. Also, since there’s the possibility to persuade the Blue Demon Lord, there’s the need to prepare a way to get involved.”

If we were to decide to become spectators, the chances of us getting involved in the battle between the humans and Demon Lords will drop sharply.

I don’t think it will happen, but in the off-chance that another Demon Lord were to ask for our help, it is possible we won’t be able to respond to it.

“What, are ya taking the side of Blue?” (Gold)

“It is not like I don’t feel a connection to the Demon Lord who I learned the history of for the first time. But more than that, this is an opportunity to bring in the Blue Demon Lord to the 3rd Faction. If we can achieve that, our position will be strengthened to a decent degree.”

The Blue Demon Lord has barely any independence and is someone who gets washed by the opinion of others.

The reality is that they began attacking the humans extremely easily once instigated by Purple.

They were stopped by Yugura at that instance after many casualties happened.

It should be safe to assume that 9 out of 10, they are being made to act exactly as planned by the Scarlet Demon Lord.

There’s the chance that this Demon Lord with no independence can become our ally if we persuade them properly.

When that happens, the only Demon Lord antagonizing the humans will be the Scarlet Demon Lord, and we would have 3 Demon Lords on our side.

It would be the best opportunity to keep the Scarlet Demon Lord at bay.

And so, this may be a bit calculative, but we have decided to head to Kuama, so I have come to explain it to these two.

“By the way, you two will be staying behind.”

“Why?” (Purple)

“Just think about what will happen if other Demon Lords appear while they are being invaded by a Demon Lord. It would just instigate more chaos.”

The ones who are cooperating with Kuama are mostly the Yugura Church (Mejis).

It wouldn’t be good for Purple to show up in front of the most radical anti-Demon Lord faction led by Archbishop Seraes as the one who ravaged the lands of Mejis.

“This one could act as reinforcement from Gahne though?” (Gold)

“It would be better for Gahne to be ready to protect their own country. The Gahne Nether is adjacent to the Mejis Nether. The Scarlet Demon Lord is hiding in the border between those two.”

They are currently leading the clerics of Mejis to Kuama with the attack of the undead.

If they were to confirm that the Gahne army is moving, there’s a high chance the Scarlet Demon Lord would utilize that opening to begin an invasion against Mejis or Gahne.

“Purple, spread your lesser devils widely to see whether the Blue Demon Lord will attack other spots, and see whether the Scarlet Demon Lord will invade other countries.”

If the Scarlet Demon Lord uses this ruckus to move, Taizu will become a center piece.

Purple helping out in coordinating them will increase the efficiency.

She has numbers that don’t lose to the other Demon Lords even now, so there’s no point not to use them.

“I don’t mind, but…it is sad that I can’t help you out directly though?” (Purple)

“Your face is known now after the meeting with the Colorless Demon Lord, so I can’t bring you to Kuama.”

“…Then, let’s do this.” (Purple)

Purple said this and ripped apart the hem of her skirt.

What is she doing? It did make my heart skip though.

“I will entrust the devils that I have adjusted, okay? …Right, let’s have them reside in that wooden sword of yours?” (Purple)

“Won’t they be noticed with detection magic?”

“No issues. I have tinkered them in a way that they won’t be detected as devils at all, you know? They are not intelligent enough to have unnecessary desires, so it will depend on the instructions given though… They can do pretty much anything an average High Devil can do, got it?” (Purple)

“I am grateful for that, but…are they really going to listen to what I tell them?”

“I will transfer the authority of the lord to you. Can I have one drop of your blood?” (Purple)

I give her my palm.

Purple changed a part of her clothes into a thin needle and lightly stabbed the center of my thumb.

She pushed the drop of blood that came out onto her ripped clothes and muttered something.

When she did, that scrap began to wriggle, change into a shadow, and coil around my partner.

It returned to its original form without any visible changes after a while.

“This should be fine? I think they will react to your voice. Can you try testing it?” (Purple)

But my partner didn’t do anything.

“There’s no reaction.”

“You have to call their name. It would be troubling if it were to react just from your voice, right?” (Purple)

“True. What’s the name of this devil?”

“None, you know? I can control them with my will alone, so there was no need to go out of my way to call them by name.” (Purple)

Dyuvuleori is a Unique that has thought up his own name, but the other devils are nameless, huh.

Then, that means it should be fine to give them a name of my own, but…it would be difficult to call them if I use a too weird name.

I feel like if I were to call it something like Gugugeguderstaf, I would end up getting caught up in the trouble before I finish saying it.

“Kutou, respond.”

“Yes, Master.” (Kutou)

Ooh, they answered.

I just took the kutou from bokutou <wooden sword>, but I don’t think it is a bad name.

It is as if my partner is answering me and it really hypes me up, yup.

But what a neutral voice. Do devils have genders?

“Hey, does this devil have a gender?”

“Devils don’t perform reproduction, so they don’t have the concept of gender, you know?” (Purple)

“But Dyuvuleori and the other Great Devils had the appearance of men.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true, huh? Maybe they take the form of a man in order to bring out the most out of their power?” (Purple)

I haven’t thought even once that women are weak in this world though.

Especially Ilias. She has surpassed race and has become a gorilla after all.

Or more like…

“Why are you sucking my thumb?”

“Hn, you are not affected by healing magic, right? In that case, this may be a primitive method, but we should disinfect the wound with saliva to treat it, right?” (Purple)

It is not like I don’t understand it, but couldn’t the injured person do it himself?

Well, she is treating me here, so I won’t complain though.

“Speaking of which, I don’t remember seeing the staple succubus within the devils.”

Purple is the Demon Lord that uses Enticement. In that case, it shouldn’t be strange for there to be monsters like succubus and incubus who charm humans.

The reality is that the only ones I have seen have been guys with sheep horns like those of demons.

“What kind of monster is it?” (Purple)

“That you don’t know must mean there’s none?”

I give her a simple explanation of a succubus and an incubus.

Purple went ‘fumu fumu’ and after listening seriously to it, she answered with a serious face.

“Instead of going out of their way to creep into their dreams, I feel like it would be faster for them to just eat them while they are asleep though?” (Purple)

“True.”

There’s the pretext that it is exactly because they are weak that they have to take a long time to corrupt a human and get power though…

The succubus and incubuses were stories told on Earth as excuses for cheating after all. They might not have that kind of deceptive story here.

In the first place, the people in this world and the ones from the Nether are clearly separated.

I doubt there’s any devils who would mix into the human society and perform evi—right, there’s the Demon Lord.

“Do you want a devil like that?” (Purple)

“I personally don’t, but it does sound like something that would be handy to charm nobles. Well, I don’t need that though.”

If we really want to charm someone, the power of Purple is enough.

Indirect methods would just lead to suspicions anyways. If they were to catch tail of that, it would just complicate the situation.

I may have been slightly tempted to enjoy a night with a succubus, but having Purple prepare that would be bad.

There’s no way I would be able to ask her to prepare a tool to deal with my desires for the opposite gender.

“Well, if Kutou has no gender, that makes it more comfortable. Can it turn into a devil?”

“It can create things like claws and wings, but it doesn’t have an original form, you know? If anything, I would say the form it is residing in would be it?” (Purple)

“Fumu fumu… Kutou, bring out wings and suspend yourself in the air.”

When I say this, a pair of wings like those of bats appeared from Kutou and flapped.

I felt a floaty sensation like the time when I used the Ekdoik Taxi, but…

“It is tiring on the arm…”

It seems like it can carry my weight, but I would fall if I am not holding it the whole time.

Should I fasten my arm to it? No, that would place a burden on my arm and shoulder.

It seems like I have to think up a variety of things before giving it orders.

But I can hold some hopes if it can provide the same amount of work as a High Devil.

Ekdoik and Ilias have to show a bit of attention on my safety even against small fry, but this should be able to provide relief on those occasions.

I don’t want to get too dependent on it, so I should not forget that this is simply just to bring a bit of peace of mind.

“Hm, it gives that nice feeling of raising it from zero. Thanks, Purple.”

“I actually would have wanted Dyuvuleori to reside in it, but…that weak weapon wouldn’t be able to endure it, you know?” (Purple)

“That wouldn’t be good for my partner and for Dyuvuleori, so I will have to politely refuse.”

My partner has changed names from Spider Nest Mowing Sword to Kutou.

The power of the name has decreased, but it is like a sentient sword. Not bad.

“Speaking of which, does this need to be fed?”

“The mana of the person… But you barely have any mana, right? It is made in a way so that it will go to sleep if it doesn’t have enough mana, you know? Please make someone replenish it every now and then, okay?” (Purple)

It seems like there’s the possibility of running out of gas too. Let’s use it strategically.

“Muuh, I would like to give something to Ser too, but… Right, a small clone of this one.” (Gold)

“I refuse.”

“Instant reply?!” (Gold)

“I would like to refrain from things that stand out.”

A small demi-human floating around would stand out like a sore thumb.

In the first place, Archbishop Seraes knows the face of Gold too.

“Too bad, Gold?” (Purple)

“Ngugu, are ya not going to give a proposal here?!” (Gold)

“Why is the one being given a parting gift the one who has to propose it?”

In the end, it was wrapped up nicely by cutting a piece of Gold’s tail and making an ornamental cord to attach it to the pommel of Kutou, using it as a lucky charm of sorts.

I obviously stopped her when she was on the verge of preparing an ornamented scabbard.

It is in part because a scabbard is not needed for a wooden sword, but it is also because I would feel bad about cutting off the fur from that fluffy tail.

“By the way, I don’t plan on stopping you from going to Kuama, but do you have the confidence to pull this off?” (Purple)

“A decent percent. I will try to play my cards well.”

◇◇

The Blue Demon Lord had begun their invasion of Kuama. Comrade had agreed to help out on stopping this invasion, so I am now heading together with him to Kuama.

We can arrive in less than a day with my chain wings.

That said, because of the weight limitations, Ilias, Wolfe, Mix, and Rakura had no choice but to follow by carriage.

Everyone should be acting together in a normal scenario, but I agreed with Comrade who said that he wanted to know the situation of Kuama before acting, so we are going ahead to Kuama to gather information.

But…

“To think we would be imprisoned in the town that’s right before the capital of Kuama. Hahaha.”

“This is not a laughing matter…” (Ekdoik)

We landed in a nearby town to gather information about the surroundings of Kuama first.

We did this because we thought it would be better to wait for the members on the carriage that can prove their identities as people of Mejis and Taizu before entering the capital, but the sentries found suspicious the two men that careless appeared, so we ended up getting surrounded.

We explained to them that we were the people the Yugura Church asked for help from, but judging from their reaction, they most likely didn’t believe us.

We also showed them the official request form that Pope Euparo gave to Comrade, but it was confiscated.

“What’s with those sentries?! They didn’t believe us at all!” (Ekdoik)

“Well, considering our appearances… A rowdy adventurer and a demon-looking man having a connection with the top of the Yugura Church lacks a lot of credibility after all.”

He really poked where it hurt. The color of the hair and eyes of Comrade are extremely rare.

A somewhat competent combatant would be able to tell with certainty that he is not dangerous by checking the mana inside of him, but I forgot that there’s the chance for half-baked ones to deem him as dangerous.

Of course, my appearance is also not one that’s seen favorably.

“We could have shaken them off right then and there. Why did you tell me to not resist?” (Ekdoik)

“What’s the point of fighting the very people we have come to help out? Even if we manage to escape without injuring them, their impression will worsen because we escaped without proving our innocence. We just have to stand tall here.”

“That depends on the person. This town called Lilbe is within the Kuama territory, but the ones ruling it are nobles. You can tell how they rule this place with the attitude of the sentries just now, right?” (Ekdoik)

Kuama is present progressively being invaded by the army of the Blue Demon Lord.

And yet, the soldiers stationed here are perfectly fine. They have barely dispatched any troops.

This town is only thinking about protecting themselves despite this being a situation where other countries are helping out.

I don’t know if this is the decision of Kuama or the decision of Lilbe, but it is certain that their minds are filled with self-preservation.

“Well, they do feel rebellious compared to the strict knight country of Taizu. A settlement ruled by nobles is pretty much like this.”

“…You are awfully calm despite your plan having been obstructed, Comrade.” (Ekdoik)

“We have been imprisoned, but it is not like we are suffering interrogations or being roughed up, and the only things that were confiscated were the letter of Pope Euparo and a few days of traveling funds. I have Kutou with me.”

“Our actual luggage is with Rakura and the others after all. The reason why that wooden sword was not confiscated was because they snorted at you and called it a pathetic weapon.” (Ekdoik)

A wooden sword is a training tool for children. There’s no need to confiscate something like that.

My chains haven’t been confiscated either. The stakes that could become a weapon are originally chains I have transformed.

There’s no issue if I just return them to chains.

They confiscated our traveling funds because we wouldn’t be able to run far if we didn’t have money. Or maybe it simply went to the pockets of the sentries?

“I have experienced prison life a number of times. It doesn’t seem to be used often, and it is pretty clean. —Also, this situation is a desirable one.”

“…I understand a bit now the feelings that Ilias would leak every now and then.” (Ekdoik)

“So she has been complaining to you too?”

“I was told a variety of things while we were confirming your action patterns. You have the habit of acting without explaining the important parts, so I was warned to be careful.” (Ekdoik)

“It is because the plan has a lot of variables taken into account, so there’s no knowing which one will actually be the one that will be falling into. If I explained every branch of the plans in my head, there would be no end to it. It is possible that I would be changing it depending on the situation after all.”

“You do have a point there.” (Ekdoik)

“Now then, we have time until they make a move. I will explain a number of predictions of what might happen afterwards. I have also included the possibility that we might have to do a prison break, so I am counting on you for that one if it does happen.”

And then, Comrade explained to me what might happen.

The more he explained to me, the more I was convinced by what he told me and it made sense.

But the number of them is overwhelming. Just how many variables is he considering if he takes into account the possibilities outside these developments he is telling me?

“Even a situation like that… Is there a need to consider that far?” (Ekdoik)

“Of course. Don’t look down on cowards. Right now the ones with the highest chance of happening would be the 1st and 3rd one I explained to you.”

“Fumu… But is it my imagination that it feels like your head is turning quite fast this time around?” (Ekdoik)

“I got a general idea of Kuama because Purple has been living here before. The more information I have prior, the more precision my actions have even without needing my Comprehension.”

The strong point of Comrade is that he can act while comprehending the other party.

I have experienced with my own body the precision of his control when he is completely in the zone.

It means there’s barely any realization of the fear from all events being in the grasp of his hands until it is too late.

Comrade looks harmless at a glance, but if you make him your enemy, you can end up getting cornered without your notice.

I am pretty much alive right now because Comrade judged me as useful.

If he had judged me as uncontrollable like Pashuro, I would most likely already be…

I reminisced about the past for a bit there, and I felt cold sweat flowing down from me.

This is a sensation you normally wouldn’t feel even against an enemy far stronger than you.

What’s most scary here is…that Comrade can corner the strong despite him supposedly not having any strength himself.

Even someone like Comrade with no fighting talent can become a threat. That means all the people I will be meeting in the future have the possibility of becoming threats.

I can feel the ones who are strong. But how can I detect danger when it is someone as weak as Comrade?

“What’s the matter, Ekdoik? Is there anything bothering you?”

“…No, I was simply looking back at the information just now and memorizing it.” (Ekdoik)

“That wasn’t the face you were making… Let’s just leave it at that.”

Comrade has comprehended me once. He might have seen through my thoughts just now.

I can still clearly remember the eyes he looked at me with at that time.

I at first thought they were creepy eyes filled with hostility, but once I understood the meaning of them, I began feeling clear fear towards those eyes.

That’s right. It is not like everyone becomes a threat. There’s no way you would be able to live a proper lifestyle if you were to hold such a worry on the regular.

But the carefulness of Comrade… This is not the time to be thinking too deeply about that.

“Now then, wonder how the mayor of this town will be moving… If possible, I would like things to proceed without me having to feel any guilt.”

“…Right.” (Ekdoik)

Comrade is an ally at present. But I feel like he has included the actions that I might take that even I can’t predict.

…No, there’s no need for me to be anxious about that.

This life was spared once already. If it is going to be expended for the sake of Comrade, I just have to act in a way that brings out the most worth.

At the very least, there’s no doubt that he will be creating more results than I would have done if I was living alone.

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